Gordon Brown and wee Dougie Alexander once bestrode the world, bombing much of it. Now these mighty egos are confined within Elderslie Village Hall.
The problem is, the average member of the population does not have a high opinion of the dynamic duo. So it is essential that they are kept away from average people, and instead paraded only before vetted audiences of Labour activists. There are not very many of those; so the venues are tiny, with a small number of carefully bunched people holding silly placards, photographed by a compliant media only from carefully prepared angles.
Now I plunge happily into politically incorrect ground. As normal people have abandoned it and Labour has come down to the core of its core support, it is truly striking how remarkably ugly its hardcore activists are. I don’t mean that in any metaphorical sense. I mean that they are an aesthetic disaster. It is not a product of poverty, as the core support are all well employed as research assistants or doing pretendy youth work jobs for Labour councils. Other parties do not have such challenging physiognomy. It is very seldom you can look at a room and say Gordon Brown is one of the best looking people there. Perhaps Blair’s crimes have been written on the faces of all the complicit.
Douglas Alexander not only facilitated the use of Diego Garcia for torture and extraordinary rendition, in an act of extreme hypocrisy the evil little shit also declared a “marine conservation area” around it. In the 1960’s Britain forcibly deported the entire population of the islands to make way for the US Air Base. Faced with a continual political and legal fight for them to return, Alexander sought to make it impossible with his “marine conservation area”. There is nobody who better represents Scottish Labour’s loss of its soul than Alexander. If Mhairi beats him I shall be extremely happy.
“You old hypocrite, Mr Goss – you can’t believe it, but that doesn’t stop you gleefully re-telling it on here, eh?
++++++++++++++++++++++
Conclusion – get back to your own blog, you Cuckoo.”
I thought you were the gleeful one yesterday Noddy when I got reprimanded for posting a pro-Putin petition. Your insulting behaviour towards Mary, who has just come out of hospital, is beyond schoolboy mentality.
I could not bring myself to believe it, not until I watched the crucifixion video at this comment. Now I do not doubt it. So this is play-acting too is it?
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/04/31972/comment-page-2/#comment-522441
I wondered when the “people such as Fred” would start.
“Nazi, National Socialist. The SNP are Nationalists and they are Socialists therefore they are Nazis.”
__________________________
Clarke,you were right it didn’t take long.
He actually believes the SNP are Nazi’s.
What a scary mentality.
Thing is, John
This clown has probably worked at the highest levels in either the EU or NATO. I’d imagine that’s how Craig knows him.
If that’s the mentality of those working at NATO or EU then it explains the mess we’re now in.
“The SNP are on course to take 57 seats in Scotland in the general election after increasing their lead over Labour to 32%.”
_____________________________
Thanks for the link Lysais its very encouraging indeed,57 seats is,well to be quite honest fabulous,if it holds true come election day,it would be a wonderful result.
Here is the woman, I suppose you’ll go to your favourite fake ‘stopfake’ site to try and disprove it. I can tell you that the woman has been interviewed by more than one councillor and they believe her story.
http://www.sott.net/article/281891-Eyewitness-account-of-Ukrainian-atrocities-in-Slavyansk-Three-year-old-boy-nailed-to-an-announcement-board
If they move Trident to Gibraltar, I wonder what the Spaniards will have to say about that.
Pity the SNP isn’t running candidates in England. The way things are going, they might win a few seats in England.
“If they move Trident to Gibraltar, I wonder what the Spaniards will have to say about that.”
_____________________________
No doubt Lysais the Spanish would be miffed,and return to stopping and checking every single vehicle coming in and out of Gibraltar,like they did about 8 months ago over fishing rights around Gibraltar.
Like the Italians the Spanish are a hot headed quick tempered bunch.
“Pity the SNP isn’t running candidates in England. The way things are going they might win a few seats in England”
________________________________
Check this out Lysais,many people south of the border want to vote SNP.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/new-friends/
I think the SNP struck a cord with many folk on these islands.
Interesting article on the Greek economic situation from the English language version of the Greek newspaper “Kathimerini”. Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Greece’s day of reckoning inches closer as debt payments loom
By Nikos Chrysoloras
Greece will look for ways to assemble enough cash to pay its pensioners and employees this week, after euro area finance ministers on Friday said they won’t disburse more aid until bailout terms are met.
Europe’s most-indebted state will use the deposits of local governments, cities and other funds to meet end-of month payments totaling over 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion). By doing so, they risk straining liquidity buffers, after households and companies withdrew almost 1.3 billion euros in savings last week, according to a person who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Greece has fought to unlock aid since striking a deal to extend its bailout program in February. The government has repeatedly expressed confidence that a deal was imminent, only to be rebuffed by euro-area officials seeking concrete steps. Last week was no different: days after Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said views were converging, his counterparts across the region hit him with a volley of criticism.
Greek bonds fell on Friday, sending yields on three-year notes up 144 basis points to 26.3 percent.
Systemically Manageable
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week and later told reporters he was “very optimistic we are closer than before.”
Still, support for his confrontational strategy fell to 46 percent in a University of Macedonia poll for Skai TV published on Tuesday, compared with 56 percent a month earlier. Researchers interviewed 1,007 people between April 15 and 17 and the margin of error was three percentage points.
The consensus at the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington this month was increasingly that a Greek default would be systemically manageable, UBS Chairman Axel Weber told the Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung.
The Governing Council of the European Central Bank may debate on May 6 whether to raise the haircut on Greek collateral posted against Emergency Liquidity Assistance, a decision that could worsen the country’s cash squeeze. ECB staff have already proposed increasing the discounts imposed on the securities banks post as collateral when borrowing emergency cash from the Bank of Greece.
State coffers may be further depleted on the same day when Greece needs to find 200 million euros for an International Monetary Fund payment.
Liquidity Shortage
Bleeding deposits and unable to access ECB’s regular financing operations while the bailout review remains stalled, Greek lenders currently rely on a 75.5 billion euro ELA lifeline.
The assistance is subject to weekly review by the ECB. Any reduction of the value of collateral that Greek banks pledge may mean the days of ELA are numbered, further increasing pressure on the government to make a choice between complying with creditors’ demands or imposing capital controls.
“It is perfectly feasible and absolutely necessary to reach an intermediary agreement,” Greece’s deputy prime minister Yannis Dragasakis said in an interview with Avgi newspaper Sunday. If the cash-flow deadlock persists “we will be forced to adopt on our own measures, which we are currently trying to avoid,” Dragasakis told the Syriza governing party- affiliated newspaper.
A spokesman for the Greek finance ministry declined to comment on the country’s cash reserves and liquidity situation.
Greek Polls
Tsipras held a call with Merkel to follow up on their meeting last week, a Greek government official said in an e-mail to reporters on Sunday. The leaders agreed to stay in contact during negotiations, and the call took place in a positive climate, the official said.
Negotiations between Greece and creditor institutions will resume with a call on Monday, and they will meet in person on Wednesday in a bid to speed up the process, the Greek official said.
Two polls published over the weekend showed a majority of Greeks are worried the country is at risk of going bankrupt. According to an Alco survey published in Proto Thema newspaper, 63 percent of respondents said the risk of default is real, and 48 percent said they are worried about leaving the euro area.
At the same time, Syriza still enjoys a lead of as much as 15 percentage points over the New Democracy party, its main opposition, in recent polls.
“We are increasingly convinced that unless a deal involving sub-tranches is struck in the next few days, Mr Tsipras’ solution will be to call early elections,” Michael Michaelides, a strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London, wrote in a note to clients on Friday. “Elections will mean further noise, but given strong Greek public support for the Euro, we expect a probable Syriza victory with a new mandate to strike a deal will ultimately prove positive to finding a final agreement.”
“If that’s the mentality of those working at NATO or EU then it explains the mess we’re now in.”
Roger.
Mr Goss
“Here is the woman, I suppose you’ll go to your favourite fake ‘stopfake’ site to try and disprove it. I can tell you that the woman has been interviewed by more than one councillor and they believe her story.
http://www.sott.net/article/281891-Eyewitness-account-of-Ukrainian-atrocities-in-Slavyansk-Three-year-old-boy-nailed-to-an-announcement-board”
__________________
1/. Tell us more about your source – “www.sott.net”. What is it? Why is it more trustworthy than http://www.stopfake.org?
2/. So some (partisan councillors believe her story. Lots of people have believed lots of stories throughout history.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“I could not bring myself to believe it, not until I watched the crucifixion video at this comment. Now I do not doubt it. So this is play-acting too is it?
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/04/31972/comment-page-2/#comment-522441”
_________________________
1/. You’re doing it again, Big Ears: you can’t believe it but at the same time you just can’t resist re-telling/retailing it, can you. That’s called hypocrisy.
2/. You are a fine one to talk about play acting. Were you not among those who said – on here – that the videos of the Paris slayings were videos of a staged event with actors playing the various roles? Ditto Lee Rigby??
£££££££££££££££££££££££££
You really are a chump.
I know you good people are just having fun speculating and prognosticating, but there is no question of UK nuclear submarines being based at Gibraltar. None.
Sorry to spoil your fun.
Rather than read the Bloomberg hack. His Twitter feed is wall to wall baddie Greeks and goodie Troika.
Read this:
https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/greece-debt-exclusive-its-not-just-tsipras-whos-taken-over-from-varoufakis-merkel-has-taken-over-from-the-finmins/
Looks like Merkel is getting her finger out, at last.
Is German productive business finally trumping the useless parasitic bankers?
Let’s hope she can show some independence on the Ukraine mess as well.
It’s you doing it again, Noddy. You’re not watching the videos. Or if you are you have no heart. Which is it?
“Your insulting behaviour towards Mary, who has just come out of hospital, is beyond schoolboy mentality.”
______________________
So the grim old Stalinist is not above pulling out a few human compassion stops, eh.
If Mary is too ill to receive my strictures, then she shouldn’t be posting in here.
If, on the other hand, she is well enough to post on here, then she is well enough to stand up to my strictures.
You old hand-wringing Uriah Heep.
“You are a fine one to talk about play acting. Were you not among those who said – on here – that the videos of the Paris slayings were videos of a staged event with actors playing the various roles?”
Did I? Where’s that then?
Herbie
“Rather than read the Bloomberg hack. His Twitter feed is wall to wall baddie Greeks and goodie Troika.
Read this:
https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/greece-debt-exclusive-its-not-just-tsipras-whos-taken-over-from-varoufakis-merkel-has-taken-over-from-the-finmins/”
______________________
Yes, let’s all believe “John Ward” (who he?) writing on a blog called “The Slog” (what it?).
Thank you for that invaluable link, Herbie.
I’m glad I’m not one of your students. 🙂
*************************************
Victor Chavez’s dream of a NHS style care in Venezuela is on the verge if collapse,due to corruption.
Chavez, who died of cancer in March 2013 after receiving treatment in Cuba (he refused treatment at home, likely out of fear that the truth of his condition would leak), also created new diagnostic centers, many of which were manned by Cubans, that offered free exams.
Results were promising from 1998 to 2012, life expectancy at birth in Venezuela rose by two years from 72 to 74, while infant mortality rates fell, according to the World Bank.
At least part of this health crisis is due to Venezuela’s ever-worsening economic situation, which has forced the government to slash health care funding and reduce imports of vital medical supplies, resulting in the closure of many state-run health centers and clinics. Weak oil prices have further cut into government revenues.
It look like Chavez’s dream of a Cuban styled healthcare service,won’t last much longer.
Mr Goss
As you would say to me : don’t be so idle and look it up for yourself.
Republicofscotland : “He actually believes the SNP are Nazi’s.”
Fred actually believes that the SNP deliberately chose Hitler’s birthday to launch their manifesto.
Fred has lost the right to be taken seriously.
Fred has lost it.
Now I know it’s true. The British Ministry of Defence is denying that it has any plans to move Trident to Gibraltar. Defensa niega que plantee trasladar una base de submarinos nucleares al Peñón.
As Claud Cockburn used to say, “Believe nothing until it is officially denied.”
Since Herbie appreciated what I posted from the Greek newspaper “Kathimerini”, here’s some more.
The danger of putting inexperienced buffoons in charge of delicate negotiations has attracted the attention of commentators throughout history.
Enjoy.
**********************
“Tsipras reshuffles negotiating team after Riga debacle
By Renee Maltezou & Deepa BabingtonTsi
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday reshuffled his team handling talks with European and IMF lenders, after his finance minister was sharply criticized for his performance at a eurozone meeting last week.
Athens is dangerously close to bankruptcy and is scrambling to find a deal with increasingly furious lenders to unlock aid before it runs out of money or defaults on debt payments in May.
Tsipras and senior aides expressed support for Yanis Varoufakis and agreed the finance minister would supervise a new team negotiating a reforms deal with lenders, but appointed Alternate Foreign Minister Euclid Tsakalotos as coordinator of the group, a government official said.
The appointment suggested Tsakalatos, an Oxford-educated economist and professor who is soft-spoken and well-liked by officials representing creditors, would have a more active role in face-to-face talks from now on.
Varoufakis, a brash and outspoken economist who has rubbed many of his peers up the wrong way, was left isolated at a Eurogroup meeting in Riga and returned empty-handed at a time when Athens desperately needs new aid to avoid bankruptcy.
He was later criticized by media for failing to appear at a state dinner after the meeting. He responded by tweeting a quotation by American statesman Franklin Roosevelt which read «they are unanimous in their hate for me; and I welcome their hatred.”
Prominent conservative lawmaker Dora Bakoyannis was among those calling for his head, telling Skai TV that Varoufakis was a «drag» on the talks and that «the best thing he can do is to resign.”
“Support for Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who has been targeted by international media reports, was confirmed during the meeting,» the government official said, referring to a Sunday meeting of Tsipras with top aides.
“The finance minister always acts in line with collective decisions and the government’s leadership.”
In another move suggesting a less prominent role for Varoufakis, his general secretary Nikos Theocharakis, who had been leading technical-level talks with the so-called Brussels Group of lenders, will now focus on drawing up a plan for growth to be the basis for a new deal with lenders in June.
George Chouliarakis, considered close to the powerful deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis, will take over responsibility for talks with the Brussels group.
In an effort to show that Athens is serious about giving lenders access to data, a new team was also set up to support EU and IMF officials gathering information in the Greek capital.”
“Fred actually believes that the SNP deliberately chose Hitler’s birthday to launch their manifesto.
Fred has lost the right to be taken seriously.
Fred has lost it.”
_______________________________
Yes Node I have to agree with you there, I’m beginning to wonder if Fred’s okay, Clarke knows more about him,maybe he could speak with him.
The reason oil prices have fallen is that the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and allied Gulf states, instead of slashing production in response to falling prices, have been boosting production. It is very plausible that this is all an attack on Russia in the first place, but, if it also hurts Iran and Venezuela, they think that’s good too.
“If Mary is too ill to receive my strictures, then she shouldn’t be posting in here.
If, on the other hand, she is well enough to post on here, then she is well enough to stand up to my strictures.”
From one who claimed once he did not believe in torture, but for the previous nine months left the blog in doubt about such belief. That was when he did not make it clear whether torture in Guantanamo Bay was all right or not. His claim is back in doubt again.
Or has he seen so many crucifixions they no longer have any effect on him. Such people know not what they do.
Claud Cockburn admitted, many years later, that he regularly write articles which he knew were untrue in his publication “The Week” in the 1930s.
In other words, he admitting to having been a habitual liar.
If Russia, Venezuela and Iran had taken steps in good time and while they had the money to diversify their economies then they wouldn’t be hurting so much under the current low oil price.
What did they squander all their oil revenues on, I wonder?
Lysias at 8.24 pm. I would laugh if the oil ran out. They never know exactly how much oil there is in the wells.
I think Habbabkuk will be clocking off soon. He’s put in a long shift. Wonder who we’ll get next?
@Clark, your comment at 5.00pm contains so many disconnections from reality that I begrudge the time it will take me to address them all, so I’ll limit myself to this;
Clark; “NATO, though more often NATO countries, have fought aggressive wars in the Middle East; I object to this, but it does not invalidate NATO’s defensive role, which was its original purpose, as regards Russia.”
If you really believe this, how do you square it with your expressed reverence for Craig’s opinions ?
Craig; “In the past dozen years, the armed forces of NATO countries, whether operating under the NATO banner or in related ad-hoc coalitions, have killed many hundreds of thousands of people. Of those hundreds of thousands of people, only a few hundred at most ever had any connection to any attack on a NATO country.
Whatever modern NATO has become, a defensive alliance it is not; that fact is beyond rational dispute.”
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/09/nato-an-idea-whose-time-has-gone/
So are you really calling Craig irrational? 😀
Herbie; “If your thinking is that bizarre and disconnected then you’ve no business presenting yourself as some sort of independent arbiter.”
That’s a very polite way of expressing the point that Clark is so detached from rational thought & reality, that he often out trolls the trolls.
Mary; “WHY IS HE TOLERATED ON THIS BLOG – AND ENCOURAGED?”
He is tolerated because Craig shares some of his views & enjoys the baiting of Left Wingers.
He is encouraged by gullible useful idiots, especially two with frightening deficits of perception abilities.
(I often also wonder why Clark is encouraged by some who should know better)
@Habbabkuk, in relation to things Greek, did you read how they reached out & displayed such heart warming humanity in their attitude to the refugees whose boat broke-up off Rhodes ? If not I suggest you do, especially the part that states that most were actually Syrian;
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/25/migrant-boat-crisis-the-sergeant-who-did-his-duty-towards-people-struggling-for-their-lives