When I was a student, an appalling toothache on a Sunday led me to take too much paracetamol. I didn’t take vastly too much, and only two tablets at a time, but over 24 hours about twice the recommended dose. I am pretty certain it would have done me no harm, but I was sharing a flat with medical students and they insisted on rushing me to Ninewells. There the staff acted on the presumption that it was a particularly ineffective suicide attempt, which it most definitely was not, and instead of doing something useful about the toothache they lectured me about paracetamol.
My long introduction was simply to set the scene for that lecture, which has remained vividly with me, because the picture it painted was horrible in an Edgar Allan Poe sort of way. The doctor said that when people try to commit suicide with paracetamol, they generally wake up a few hours later in hospital and find they are not dead. Most of them are pretty happy about that. But then the hospital has to tell them that they are going to die anyway. Paracetamol has destroyed their organs and in five long days they will be dead. There is nothing the hospital can do to save them. Usually they are distraught.
I have no idea if that is true or just the doctor’s way of improving my views on toothache management. But I certainly never forgot it. It led me to wonder whether today’s statement by Harriet Harman that the Labour Party will not oppose Tory benefit cuts is the equivalent of taking that last bit too much paracetamol. The frank admission that the purpose of the Labour Party is to discern what wins the election and then support that, should finally drive away anybody with any interest in principles from that party. I was not joking when I said that Osborne’s budget outflanked Labour to the left. That is true, even though it was the most unabashedly right wing budget of my lifetime.
The parliamentary opposition to the benefit cuts will come from the SNP, Plaid and Greens, but it will not be allowed much time or given much publicity. The great question remains where the great mass of the abandoned people, with their left wing views, find political expression in England. I should love to believe that horror at Harman’s position will bring a surge of support for Jeremy Corbyn. But you only have to read Guardian and Labour List comments columns to see that the majority of Labour members swallow the line that you have to be right wing to win a general election – a myth carefully fostered by the corporate media but which I comprehensively demolished here.
It was at least as unthinkable that Labour would lose Glasgow as that they could now lose Darlington or Liverpool or Newcastle. But, with Clegg having moved the Lib Dems a long way right, there is still no sign of a challenging party that can emerge other than UKIP and their racist panacea. I find it hard to see what will happen in English politics. But Labour are going to wake up shortly and find they are facing a rapid and inevitable demise.
“And that’s even worse terms than the referendum refused…”
Time for another referendum, surely.
That is of course the real point, which party will challenge the Tories in the future, Labour at present can’t or won’t commit to what they stand for.
Since the days of Blair Labour have lurched ever more to the right. Harriet Harman’s comments on supporting George Osborne’s plans to cut welfare and limit child tax credits should come as no surprise.
Infact Harman even went as far as to suggest that Labour had lost the General Election, because they weren’t tough enough on welfare.
Labour, instead of listening to the people and what they wanted, they allowed themselves to be dragged ever further to the right by the Tories.
You see we all know what expect from the Tories, and they know it, what shocks the public though is Labour acting in the same manner as the nasty patry.
Labour really need to return to their old values, but I think it’s to late for that, as the heart of the party has already shifted to the right, champagne socialism should’ve been a warning sign, not a sign of success.
Next time you have the toothache Craig rub some whisky on it, it will take the pain away.
I had no idea what paracetamol was until I looked it up on Wikipedia and learned that it is what here in the U.S. we call “acetaminophen” (commonest trade name Tylenol). Liver damage from overdose is a particular danger for people who drink a lot of alcohol.
Greece forced to sell off valuable assets to pay debts.
Greece forced to privatise power companies, the list of stringent demands seems more like a coup than a debt repayment plan.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/jul/12/greek-debt-crisis-eu-leaders-meeting-cancelled-no-deal-live#block-55a382dde4b05111b7559d81
As to paracetamol, yes it has killed people, just google “Killed by half a paracetamol” and similar news.
“And that’s even worse terms than the referendum refused…”
Indeed. The Greek people have, predictably, been shafted by Tsipras.
I wonder if the Greek people, disappointed by what Syriza has done, will now turn to the fascist Golden Dawn.
Thatcher on steroids…
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/13/david-cameron-open-to-workers-saving-up-fund-own-sick-pay
It’s going to be a riot of a summer.
O/T (sorry about this chaps, and chapesses)
Most propriety remedies use this substance and charge over the top for the brand that it is sold under, the plain Acetaminophen costs normally a lot less than the propriety stuff, but for some reason none of the chemists ever point this out?
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Muscle Guy,
I read your liposis snippet in another thread and throughly enjoyed it, have you any other data on this subject? Also if you would be kind enough to point out any papers on adipose cells close to epidermis and the scaffold structures for he same?
Thanks in advance.
“Time for another referendum, surely.”
I think the Greek people have been shafted by Syriza. There is simply no appetite for further cuts at the behest of yet more QE of bundles of cash into the pockets of bankers. We are talking about widespread civil disobedience.
Yvette Cooper, one of the front runners in the leadership of Labour, agreeing with George Osborne’s cut in Corporation tax.
Yet during the Scottish referendum when Alex Salmond mentioned cutting Corporation tax, Labour espoused it was a terrible thing, a race to the bottom.
Labour are a lying bunch of hypocritical nobodies.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=coLKS_ZwP2s
This whole Labour outflanking business is a continuation of the “triangulation” theme popularized by Clinton and then Blair, and where Labour is today is a bit like where the US Democrats were around 10 years ago.
Whilst I don’t think Obama and Hillary Clinton are anything other than corporate-owned, centrist politicians, they do have to make obvious overtures to the left-wing… and things like benefit increases are now close to becoming party orthodoxy. This is a pretty recent thing, it’s not a surprise it’s happening while Bernie Sanders draws large crowds and other Democratic candidates make things like cutting tuition fees and serious criminal justice reforms centre-pieces of their campaigns.
I don’t know where Labour might find it’s left-wing inspiration, but somehow the Democratic Party found some, and it works.
ROS,
The Labour Party is now officially dead. If Corbyn fails in his bid and consequently doesn’t leave the Tory party, we in England are reliant on the SNP to take the lead on our behalf. What the “negotiations” have resulted in is the transfer of national Greek sovereignty to the bankers who are now in a stronger position than they were prior to Syriza coming to power on a mandate of anti-austerity. The gap between the 1% and the rest of us has become even greater. Harman’s announcement and Tsipra’s capitulation is a double-whammy for the working class.
Do you think there is a Payback for the Greek people kicking out King Constantine?
Quite probably, RC.
If Labour doesn’t choose a left-of-centre leader, and the neocon silent takeover continues, then we must expect the two-party equivalent of a one-party state.
‘I think the Greek people have been shafted by Syriza.’
The alternative explanation, reported by Evans-Pritchard at the Torygraph last week, was that Syriza expected a ‘Yes’ in the referendum ,which they called merely as a symbolic gesture. On losing the vote they would have resigned and left their opponents to implement the bailout terms.
So, by underestimating the cussedness of their own people, Syriza has ended up with a harsher deal that the one offered before the referendum, and the ignominy of having to try to push this deal thru their own parliament- an own goal of massive proportions.
“Yvette Cooper, one of the front runners in the leadership of Labour, agreeing with George Osborne’s cut in Corporation tax.
Yet during the Scottish referendum when Alex Salmond mentioned cutting Corporation tax, Labour espoused it was a terrible thing, a race to the bottom.”
That’s right.
Alex Salmond was talking about cutting corporation tax in Scotland to attract businesses away from the rest of the UK. The rest of the UK would then have had to lower corporation tax themselves leaving Scotland having to lower the tax even further if they wanted businesses to locate north of the border. That is called a race to the bottom.
George Osborne is cutting corporation tax for the entire UK. It could trigger a race to the bottom with other European countries but I would expect George Osborne has considered the risks of that happening and decided it unlikely in the current financial climate.
Britain and Scotland being in competition with each other would not have benefited either.
“Do you think there is a Payback for the Greek people kicking out King Constantine?”
I don’t know. What I do know is that the demands upon which the Troika-heavy deal were based are intended as a warning – by an unelected clique and the various politicians’ who sing to their tune (including Tspiras) – to the rest of Europe that a left-wing government anywhere will not be tolerated.
Any theoretical non-capitulation by Tsipras would have effectively been construed as the something akin to the threat of a good example being set to the rest of the nations comprised of PIGS. Thus, this outcome would have been regarded by the clique as totally unacceptable.
What has happened in Greece is a lesson for the rest of us. I am in absolutely no doubt at all that European democracy is in the process of being usurped by an elite banking clique at the top of society.
Good analysis, OldMark.
“Britain and Scotland being in competition with each other would not have benefited either.”
That’s right and that was one of the main issues Galloway highlighted as rationalizing his anti-SNP stance. On that, I agreed with him.
Why place hope in Jeremy Corbyn to persuade/cajole or force power poodle types such as Harriet Harman back into a socialist fold? it is an irrational hope.
far better to see Labour strangle itself via any of the three others and l;eave them to it. Its time they die out in England too , not just in Scotland, morphed red Tory’s have to die out just as dinosaurs.
“The Labour Party is now officially dead. If Corbyn fails in his bid and consequently doesn’t leave the Tory party, we in England are reliant on the SNP to take the lead on our behalf. What the “negotiations” have resulted in is the transfer of national Greek sovereignty to the bankers who are now in a stronger position than they were prior to Syriza coming to power on a mandate of anti-austerity. The gap between the 1% and the rest of us has become even greater. Harman’s announcement and Tsipra’s capitulation is a double-whammy for the working class.”
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Daniel.
I don’t think Jeremy Corbyn will be successful in his attempt to be Labour leader, in the party’s eyes he’s too left wing, and Labour are anything but left wing at the moment.
As for Greece, Syriza and Tsipras have capitulated to the troika, and after around 26 hours of negotiations it would appear, deeper austerity along with privitisation and asset selling will now be forced on the poor Greek folk, with the profits going to the banks.
Sunday’s referendum on austerity in reality mean’t nothing, it achieved nothing, I fear there will be more deaths coupled with despair, which in turn will lead to mass rioting.
It’s a sorry state of affairs.
ROS,
As far as Corbyn is concerned I fear you will be right. Your analysis on Greece is spot on too. It’s all rather depressing.
“Alex Salmond was talking about cutting corporation tax in Scotland to attract businesses away from the rest of the UK. The rest of the UK would then have had to lower corporation tax themselves leaving Scotland having to lower the tax even further if they wanted businesses to locate north of the border. That is called a race to the bottom.”
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At that time Salmond was planning to attract business to Scotland in the event of independence, lowering corporation tax would’ve been a attractive option to bring business to Scotland.
I fail to see what’s wrong in attracting business away from the rest of the UK if there’s a possibility that your country will become independent from the UK, London has been sucking the life out of the rest of the UK for decades.
In order for a country to be attractive to business it must set the right paramiters, if I recall it was George Osborne who was worried about corporation tax becoming to low, not Alex Salmond, APD is another factor that makes Scotland less competitive, independence would’ve seen that slashed as well, to draw business away fro the black hole of London.
“Britain and Scotland being in competition with each other would not have benefited either.”
“That’s right and that was one of the main issues Galloway highlighted as rationalizing his anti-SNP stance. On that, I agreed with him.”
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Daniel.
You fail to grasp what independence is, it’s exactly about controlling and using all the levers of government, to make your countries society a prosperous one.
Undercutting neighbouring countries is common practice, that’s what globalisation does you use your levers to make yor country more attractive to business than your neighbours.
Scotland cannot compete properly at the moment, Westminster is fully aware of this, however a independent Scotland would be a completely different matter, infact in my opinion, Westminster fears a independent Scotland.
Mostly due to a severe cut in revenue, that Scotland sends to the Exchequers coffers.
The race to the bottom, which England and Scotland playing the one off against the other would have resulted in, would have a been a strategy of despair for both.
“As far as Corbyn is concerned I fear you will be right. Your analysis on Greece is spot on too. It’s all rather depressing.”
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Daniel.
If I recall, (press article) Mr Corbyn was said to have been included in the Labour leadership race, not as a serious rival but to add more variety and gravitas, to the leadership race.
I find that very condescending to Mr Corbyn, it would be most pleasing to see Mr Corbyn get one over on his detractors.
“Undercutting neighbouring countries is common practice, that’s what globalisation does you use your levers to make yor country more attractive to business than your neighbours.”
I understand that. But in my view, the cost to the mass of the working class of both countries was a price that neither were prepared to pay. I strongly believe that this was a major reason why Scotland voted No.
ROS, Indeed it would be most satisfying, particularly for my sister who put £100 quid on Corbyn winning from the outset, prior to his selection, at ridiculous odds. Put it this way, if Corbyn does win, she will be be treating four of us to a trip to Madagascar for a month all expenses paid.