The dreadfully stultified pageantry of the British state has been on full display the last couple of days, all mouldy ermine, fraying gold braid and musty velvet. But forms which evolved as a vibrant display of Imperial might have transmuted into rituals of obeisance, as the nonogenerian Prince Philip stumbles behind the Chinese President along lines of men wearing decaying bears on their heads. The sickness of Britain’s monarchical system was never more bluntly revealed than by the rictus grins of the aristocratic clowns balancing their tiaras at the state banquet.
The Chinese are the imperial masters now. Cameron begs them to build a nuclear power station for which the British state guarantees it will pay double the market price for electricity produced, for twenty years. And a government which has just announced the extension of thought crime to the expression of non-violent or anti-violent thought deemed “extreme”, has no locus to talk about human rights, a concept at least as alien to Teresa May as it is to the Chinese Communist Party. Britain has its own war criminals like Blair and Straw running around, immune and very wealthy.
The British state is an immoral entity which I view with disgust. That is what drives for me the imperative to early Scottish Independence to be rid of it. Every day as a British citizen is like bathing in sewage.
John S Warren
Thank you for that.
I am reminded by what you say of an anecdote (I do not know whether it is true, but if not, e’ ben trovato)about Sir Walter Raleigh. It is said that when imprisoned in the Tower of London, he envisaged writing a history of the world but gave up the idea when, one day, someone in the Tower was killed in a brawl and he (ie, Raleigh) was unable, despite his best efforts, to find out exactly the circumstances and truth of what had happened.
Fred and Habba are purposely ignoring my link at 6.32pm, hoping that it will get lost in the ‘noise’.
God, is there going to be a day of reckoning…
Republicofscotland
“In the latter stages of the parasitic infection the subjects begin mumbling constantly Dieu et Mon Droit, when referring to the parasites”
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I have never heard anyone mumbling Dieu et mon Droit when going about my daily business.
Nor even when going about my weekly or monthly business.
Any good tips on where I could myself hear such a mumbler?
Has anyone else on here come across one?
Has any poster on here ever come across one of those
The constant negative propaganda about China is irritating. There is never ever anything positive about China or Chinese people on the UK MSM. This is not how the rest of the world (I mean Asia, Africa, ‘Latin’ America, etc.) sees China. For mutual self-interest, China actually is doing more good in Africa right now than we’ve done in 200 years, for example. China did not invade and destroy four Middle Eastern countries over the past 12 years. Yes, I know about Tibet.
Speaking of the word tóu [head], I was greatly impressed by the pork meatballs (獅子頭, shīzi tóu [lion’s heads]) when they were prepared for us students by the faculty of a summer school of Chinese that I once attended. Unfortunately, the Chinese restaurants here where I live now seem unfamiliar with the dish.
“I have never heard anyone mumbling Dieu et mon Droit when going about my daily business.
Nor even when going about my weekly or monthly business.
Any good tips on where I could myself hear such a mumbler?
Has anyone else on here come across one?
Has any poster on here ever come across one of those”
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You wouldn’t hear it Habb sealed inside your 77th Brigade coms room at Hermitage Berkshire.
Republicofscotland intones:
“None of it is ever properly reported by the presstitutes (the above link, from January this year, is the latest I can find on all things USS Reagan. There’s now an almost total news blackout on it).”
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Well, Wikipedia must have escaped from that almost total news blackout – ro perhaps you haven’t been looking very hard.
The following is from Wikipedia:
“On October 1, 2015, the Reagan arrived in Yokosuka, Japan replacing the USS George Washignton and taking it’s new place as the flagship of Carrier Strike Group Five. [38]”
************
While waiting for the Oxford Greatsman and former “US naval officer” to perhaps bring us up to date on the USS Ronald Reagan, allow me to speculate that you are an individual whose posts make a strong case for the govt. to substantially increase funding and funding for the care of the mentally disturbed.
The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Ronald Reagan has at last left dock in California. The past few issues of the Navy Times have seen it traversing the Pacific. Apparently it has now docked at Yokosuka in Japan. Abe likely to board USS Ronald Reagan in Yokosuka:
I wouldn’t want to be one of the sailors on or the Japanese to board this jinxed ship. Look at the latest news on it: Aircraft catches fire aboard USS Reagan prior to Japan PM visit; no injuries.
RobG
“2015 has been a game changer as far as renewables goes.”
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The problem with that is that a “game-changer” seems to pop up every few years or so. Allegedly.
But funnily enough the game itself doesn’t appear to have changed.
The name of the game is: solar and wind power – in the UK – can contribute to energy production but will never provide for more than a fraction of the country’s total energy needs.
Craig, I know you joined the FCO in 1984. I will play devil’s advocate and ask, did it stick in your throat to be promoting the British state, because I think it could be described as the exact same back then? Were your feelings back then any different to what they are today?
“None of it is ever properly reported by the presstitutes (the above link, from January this year, is the latest I can find on all things USS Reagan. There’s now an almost total news blackout on it).”
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Habb, responds to me, about the above comment, a comment I didn’t write, do pay attention Habb, if you intend to post drivel please make sure it’s to the correct recipient there’s a good chap.
Republicofscotland
There you go – you’re now up to date as far as the USS Ronald Reagan is concerned.
Now say “thank you” to me and my Transatlantic Friend 🙂
Republicofscotland
Whoops, you’re right – the USS Ronald Reagan chappie was RobG.
But surely my mistake was understandable as it’s usually difficult to tell the two of you apart.
There’s more recent news on the Ronald Reagan: Abe becomes first Japan PM to board US carrier.
Asia Times also has an article on both the visit and the fire, Prime minister Abe’s US carrier visit signifies a new age for Japan’s military doctrine, with this interesting comment:
I wouldn’t want to be one of the sailors on or the Japanese to board this jinxed ship. Look at the latest news on it: Aircraft catches fire aboard USS Reagan prior to Japan PM visit; no injuries
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Lysais, I rather be a sailor onboard that ship, than have been a sailor on the USS Indianapolis.
“Craig, I know you joined the FCO in 1984. I will play devil’s advocate and ask, did it stick in your throat to be promoting the British state, because I think it could be described as the exact same back then? Were your feelings back then any different to what they are today?”
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I once asked Craig a vaguely similar question but about a specific event; he replied that he was too young to have been politically aware at the time.
Fair enough, of course.
So I suspect (copyright Lysias) that his answer will be: I wasn’t aware at the time and my conviction that the UK state is irremedially evil arose over time and in the light of personal observation and experience.
Habb writes,
(But surely my mistake was understandable)
I’m afraid Habb old boy nothing is (understandable) about you.
Habb then writes,
(as it’s usually difficult to tell)
Yes Habb we know it’s difficult for you, you’re stating the bleeding obvious.
Suhayl
“For mutual self-interest, China actually is doing more good in Africa right now than we’ve done in 200 years, for example.”
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I believe that opinions vary somewhat on the mutual nature of the self-interest you refer to. Some would opine that China gets a lot more out of its efforts in Africa than do the African countries themselves.
Glenn your idea of pay as you go royalty indeed is a damn good idea, however I would extend this to the august institutions like HoC, beebeecee, and the City too! anyone using or wishing to use or interface with these can pay for the honour of doing so, and leave the rest of us recalcitrant in our darkened and empty lives with less expenses and taxes on our meagre earnings.
Habbabkuk
Np, it is not. It is silly and inaccurate, as I said. Even if we were to accept your 1 million figure (and many say that that figure is highly questionable), it pales in comparison to the number of Chinese who died in Mao’s various experiments; you have heard of the “Great Leap Forward” and the “Cultural Revolution”, I suppose?
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A. The Great Leap Forward took place 50 years ago, and though appalling, is irrelevant to this discussion. When Cameron is exhorted to challenge the Chinese on human rights issues people are referring to the situation today.
Even if you don’t accept the figure of 1 million Iraqi deaths you must have a counter figure, what is it? Half a million? A quarter? Surely not less.
Although precise figures are hard to come by for executions in China it is believed to be a few thousand each year, so clearly as I stated this figure pales in comparison to the Iraq War figure. Or have I missed something?
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Here we are again – the people are “brainwashed”. This is always the argument people like you put forward when public opinion happens not to agree with your own particular vision of world events.
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Of course the people are brainwashed: every moment of their waking lives they are fed a myth about Britain that leaves half of its history out. Instead of learning about the egregious brutality and cruelty of the British Empire we are told that it was all rather benign and we are a nation of jolly good chaps. When they start teaching school children about the Bengal Famine, the Mau Mau uprising, the Chagos Islanders etc. I will revise my opinion.
P.S. You have the gall to accuse me of whataboutery and then ask me what about the Great Leap Forward? Ha ha #Fail!
Republicofscotland
To avoid all misunderstanding I should have said “It is often difficult to tell you apart from RobG”.
Take that as a compliment or a criticism – it’s your choice. 🙂
KOWN
Well, I allowed myself to enter onto the terrain you yourself chose (ie, “what about”-ery) because of the particularly foolish bit of “what about”-ery you selected.
As a last comment : the Great Leap forward was indeed some 50 years ago. Could you just remind us of the dates of the Bengal famine and the Mau Mau rebellion which you mentioned?
“Fred and Habba are purposely ignoring my link at 6.32pm, hoping that it will get lost in the ‘noise’.”
Tesla are making yet another very expensive inefficient battery so what?
£2,300 for 10kWh, you could do that with lead acid for less than a thousand. Lead acid would be bigger and heavier but probably last longer.
They may well sell a few where size and weight are an issue but it’s by no means a game changer.
Lead acid batteries are the Neanderthals of stored energy. Hats off to Tesla for being the first to notice and address the need for a Manhattan-type project on battery technology. It may not be perfect but this is gong the correct way.
O/T but current:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3283162/We-believe-Jacky-acted-Family-BBC-journalist-dead-Turkish-airport-toilet-say-accept-death-suicide.html
Doubts will remain, I think.
Habbabkuk
Feeble. Your reference to the Great Leap Forward was rejected as being irrelevant to the discussion of China’s human rights abuses today. The Bengal famine and Mau Mau rebellion were raised in the context of a separate discussion, namely the claim that the British people are brainwashed by having such facts airbrushed from their official history. In that context–how we are fed a distorted view of our own history–historical events are of course totally relevant.
And a decent bank of gel=cells will cost $1000 dollars easy and last about ten years. Pathetic.
Says Uzbek:
Given how much taxpayers’ money the Chinese would like for their overpriced power station, this is very well said – albeit accidentally.
Lysias, they’ve sent the USS Reagan (which is the most expensive aircraft carrier ever built) back to Japan because Japan is totally fried, as is the Reagan. There’s nowhere else they could send it.
By funny coincidence the USS Reagan taskforce found itself right off the coast of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March 2011, shortly after the reactors and fuel pools were blowing up and melting down. The sailors on these US warships (some 12,000 in total) received huge amounts of radiation, and many of them are now sick and dying (see my earlier link).
After spending 80 days trying to dodge highly radioactive plumes, the USS Reagan left the coastal waters of Japan, because the Japanese refused to allow it into port because the ship was too radioactive. South Korea and Guam also refused to allow the USS Reagan into port, for the same reason. Thailand did allow the USS Reagan to dock for a short while, then it returned to its home port of San Diego, on the west coast of America.
Incredibly, as a PR stunt, local school kids were then invited to play a game of football on the deck of the Reagan. In January 2012 the USS Reagan went to Puget Sound Naval Ship Yard in Washington state, for a ‘Docked Planned Incremental Availability’, which presumably meant decontamination. It was at the Puget Sound Naval Ship Yard for just over a year, returning to its home port of San Diego in March 2013, and thence on to Japan.
If interested in further reading I would recommend this excellent article from Roger Witherspoon, which is in two parts:
http://japanfocus.org/-Roger-Witherspoon/3918
http://japanfocus.org/-Roger-Witherspoon/3919
Nothing funny about US sailors being exposed on the USS Reagan, unless you have a disturbed sense of humor.