Recently an Angus mother of three infant children was separated from them and jailed for ten months for over-claiming £10,000 per year in benefits. Meanwhile the Duke of Westminster evades £3.6 billion in inheritance tax through a transparently fraudulent use of trusts which “have the option” to give the money to someone else instead.
The United Kingdom is a socially backward and sometimes vicious polity, an island which prides itself on the state enforced conservatism which allowed it to evade intellectually motivated reform and retain a historical legacy of gross injustice and privilege.
For historical reasons land reform is an immensely popular cause in Scotland, and one of so many areas where SNP timidity is a deep, deep disappointment. The fact that they are covered in buildings does not make the vast London estates of the Grosvenors any more acceptable than the unnecessarily empty Highland estates where golden eagles are destroyed so the chinless wonders, hedge fund managers and sheikhs can blast away at tame grouse.
The late Duke of Westminster is characterised as a “philanthropist” by mainstream media even though the percentage of both his income and his wealth he gave to charity was less than most ordinary people’s mite, myself included, and I am willing to bet that what he did do, was tax-deductible. That a parasite who sat on £9 billion of unearned money in a country where disabled people commit suicide from poverty, and who got two O levels from Harrow, was Prince Charles’ closest friend, cuts through the lying propaganda about the Royal family we are constantly fed.
The political class have a deliberate will not to enforce inheritance tax on the super wealthy. They have a political will not to tackle landlordism, which as it affects both residential and commercial tenants is a fundamental malaise of the British economy. Neither problem is technically difficult. The problem is that the political class as a whole are in the pockets of the super-wealthy, promote their interests and ache to join them.
Which is why in the UK it is important that the threat to them posed by Corbyn is maintained, and why in Scotland it is essential that the SNP membership now push their own leadership into bold action on fundamental land reform and Independence. To call the current SNP approach to both issues desultory would be excessively polite.
The batshit crazies in Washington are now pushing the world even closer to a major war (note that this US communique came at the weekend, during the final few days of the Rio Olympics). Quote:
“Over the last 24 hours, the United States has made clear its status as a hostile occupational force in Syria. Yesterday, the US issued a communique to the legitimate Syrian government and the Russian anti-terrorist coalition assisting the Syrians. The United States has indicated that it has carved out a swath of Syria with boots on the ground fulfilling the roles of active duty personnel, such as special ops forces, advisors, trainers, mechanics, and supporting units. The US has declared a no fly zone and threatened to target and shoot down Syrian and Russian planes within Syrian airspace”
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/08/breaking-us-occupation-of-syria-now.html
Thank you Rob, for that link, it would appear the Great Satan is prepared to break international law, if and when they please.
I do wish European nations would wake up, with regards to America, the UN headquarters for a start, should be removed from New York influences, and placed in Europe.
The Great Satan, could be intent on a full scale war in Syria, like a mulish hector who can’t get his way, the Great Satan, will lay waste to all in Syria.
Republicofscotland, I agree with what you say about the European nations waking up. I would venture, though, that many European leaders are bought and paid for by Washington, or else they’re on some kind of hold from the all evasive American surveillance system. How else do you account for them going along with the American-led sanctions against Russia, which has really hurt European economies (particularly French farmers)?
Rob.
Yes the unfair sanctions by the EU on Russia, have hurt, not just EU nations economies, but economies further afield. I recall if I’m not mistaken that Greece did a roaring trade with Russia, in fruit and vegetables, and as you rightly add French farmers are caught up in the mix as well.
One wonders if the Great Satan’s influence, spans across the EU, for EU nations to hurt their own economies, at the behest of the Great Satan, one must conclude that it does.
The striking factor must be that by complying, the EU is actually damaging businesses within its borders.
A 69 page report will advise German people to “prepare appropriately for a development that could threaten our existence and cannot be categorically ruled out in the future” that might mean stockpiling food and water for 10 days and other protective measures.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-security-stockpiling-idUSKCN10W0MJ
Pigs heads on the fence posts?
Is Obama planning a farewell jaunt for NATO into Russia, or even a mega event that will prevent Trumpo from taking over as POTUS upon trouncing killary?
This excellent article from the offGuardian site, makes the point, often forgotten by the younger generation, that the real ‘swivel eyed, tin foil hat wearing conspiraloons’ are not those who question such obvious whitewashes as the Hutton Report and the 9/11 Commission Report but the right wing security services and their mad fantasies about Reds and Communist subversion.
https://off-guardian.org/2016/08/22/corbyn-is-right-we-would-never-go-to-war-with-russia/
Here is a taste of an extremely interesting article:
“…Unfortunately, however, the spirit of Jimmy Anderson and Major Harry Truscott remains very much a feature of the present age. The party that the Prime Minister leads contains any number of them. Another party, still complete with a member of a House of Commons, has only such people in it, or even so much as voting for it. There would seem to be no shortage of them even in the Parliamentary Labour Party.
“Some of them believe that both the Sino-Soviet Split and the fall of the Soviet Union were faked. Many of them believe that the KGB murdered Hugh Gaitskell in order to install Harold Wilson. All of them believe that Wilson was a Soviet agent. They really, truly, honestly believe these things.
“They are convinced that Scargill was trying to stage a Red Revolution on the 1917 model, and that Gormley had more or less done so in 1974. It never occurs to them that the Heath Government, which in any case they profess to despise, was “toppled” by nothing other than the votes of the electorate, four years after that same process had installed that Government.
“The theory of the Great Red Peril, including The Enemy Within, continues to be propounded, but tellingly by people who for the most part are not employed by academic institutions. The same was true of that theory at the time. As it also was, and very largely still is, of the economic theories to which Thatcher, who was as illiterate economically as she was historically and geopolitically, was so attached.
“Across the full range of her agenda, the intellectual guiding lights hated the Conservative Party, not least when they were nominally members of it. They had no roots in it; nor had she. Not uncommonly, they had Marxist roots instead. The Conservative Party hated them back, which led it to hate her, until eventually it became the only organisation ever to succeed in getting rid of her. She then spent 15 years a joke figure, and just under another decade as one of those extremely old people who are only waiting for the end.
“But even during her Premiership, it was not as if there were no ties to the Soviet Bloc. Very soon after Polish miners had been gunned down, the Thatcher Government was importing coal from Poland to order to assist in breaking the Strike.
“On the other side of the Sino-Soviet Split, Thatcher fully deserved her designation by Red Star as “The Peking Plotter”. She never saw a Maoist whom she did not like. She installed Robert Mugabe, having refused any other settlement, and she even arranged a knighthood for him. Then there was Nicolae Ceaușescu. Then there was Pol Pot. When Nelson Mandela died, her flame-keepers could be heard criticising him and his for their criticism, in turn, of Steve Biko….”
One of the saddest things about our political debate is the historical illiteracy of a conformist right wing which sees British politics through the pebble lensed (neo-con renegade Trotskyist) glasses issued in Washington. The long radical traditions of each of the UK’s constituent parts are lumped together as ‘Marxism’ despite the reality that, as Marx was well aware, they long pre-date the industrial age.
David Lindsay’s piece is a reminder that the sort of radicalism to which Corbyn is appealing is in the great English tradition. That it is authentic and deep rooted is what makes it so unacceptable to a political/media class which despises England and yearns if not to be American then the plastic hybrid of the EUropean, out of authoritarianism by US Imperialism.
Dysfunctional Belgium
Woman wielding machete attacks three in Belgium bus assault – reports – shot by police
https://www.rt.com/news/356750-brussels-stabbing-attack-woman/
According to the national broadcaster RTBF, police sources have revealed that the woman was Asian and had a history of mental illness. Investigators do not currently believe that this was a terrorist incident.
If you are own your own are you still a lone wolf if you are female?
Dysfunctional, maybe. Broke too probably but still able to get credit enough to splurge in an age of austerity:
US-UK-Saudi PR firm gets the Syrian rebel’s message out to Fox News, Reuters & NYT
“The British government is picking up the Western-backed opposition’s $1.4 million annual tab influencing policymakers in Washington and at the American United Nations mission in New York, Justice Department records reveal. And Saudi Arabia helps get the rebel point of view in the media via the kingdom’s $8 million contract with PR giant MSL Group (formerly Qorvis).” “Separately, Riyadh pays to provide “media support” for the Syrian High Negotiations Committee, an umbrella group that includes the opposition coalition, as part of a broader contract with MSL Group worth $7.96 million in 2015. The PR firm has helped to get the opposition’s message out to major media outlets such as Fox News, Reuters and The New York Times, according to the latest available lobbying records.”
Well thank goodness the Olympic games are over, after weeks of the BBC politicising the event at every turn, on its tv channels or radio stations.
The gusto with which the BBC pushed the GB “feel good” factor over winning gongs, was intentional to give out the feeling of all is well, in the land of the dis-United Kingdom.
Pushing propaganda during the Olympics isn’t a new idea, a certain madman went down that road in the 30’s, only for the propaganda to backfire spectacularly, in the shape of one man, Jesse Owens.
ROS I hope you are not trying to compare Nazi Germany with the present day United Kingdom,
that would be very shameful and would point to your true colours
Michael.
I’m comparing the political use of the Olympic games.
Incidently Michael did you know that each “feel good” factor medal won by team GB cost a whopping £4.1 million pounds to attain.
I’m sure there are far better and more worthy causes, the money could’ve been spent on. Doesn’t feel so good now does it ?
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/rio-2016-team-gb-medals-how-much-did-each-cost-uk-tax-olympics-medal-table-a7203321.html
The funding (UK Sport) comes out at about £1.50 a year per person. That’s not just to win a medal, that’s funding given to each sport (which is, yes, determined by medals won) which they can then determine where that gets spent. That could include better training/ supplies/ equipment for the elite but it could also include grass roots and getting more people active in that particular sport. How’s that a bad thing???
Dysfunctional Labour Party
Owen Smith Pledges To Give More Power To Labour Members
The Labour leadership hopeful calls for a “revolution in accountability” as he makes his pitch to party members.
http://news.sky.com/story/owen-smith-pledges-to-give-more-power-to-labour-members-10547629
shyster
I did not see any comments below the article. That’s probably because those of us who rejoined Labour, and those already in Labour who support Jeremy Corbyn are not there for the likes of Owen Smith and Sadiq Khan, but I hope they will support Jeremy Corbyn when he gets elected leader for the second time. All they seem to want to do is stab him in the back – the spineless snakes.
“Venezuelan President ‘spent £305,000 celebrating Fidel Castro’s birthday’ during national hunger crisis”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/venezuelan-president-nicolas-maduro-fidel-castros-birthday-celebration-cuba-national-hunger-crisis-a7202131.html
#socialism
Where does the money come from for the SNP to splash on LGBTI nonsense.
Thousands brave the elements to join Glasgow Pride weekend and push for mandatory teaching of LGBTI issues in schools
http://www.thenational.scot/news/thousands-brave-the-elements-to-join-glasgow-pride-weekend-and-push-for-mandatory-teaching-of-lgbti-issues-in-schools.21448
ORGANISERS are celebrating a massive turnout for this year’s Pride festival in Glasgow.
Thousands of people braved wind and rain on Saturday for the annual parade, while many more enjoyed fair weather for yesterday’s celebrations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) pride.
The key theme of Pride Glasgow this year was a call to ensure that schools play a bigger part in tackling discrimination and bullying.
Campaigners want the SNP Government to introduce mandatory teaching of LGBTI issues in Scotland’s schools.
They believe the move is needed to protect pupils suffering from homophobic bullying and say such a reform would be potentially more groundbreaking than the same-sex marriage equality law passed in the last parliament.
Other key demands at this year’s Glasgow Pride centred on more recognition of the rights of transgender people, with Transgender Rights Now a slogan of the weekend.
There were also calls to take a tougher line against homophobic hate crimes and for civil partnerships to be available for all couples in Scotland, not just those in same-sex relationships – a proposal the government is currently considering.
Motorised floats playing loud party music carried revellers dressed in colourful costumes, while members of trade unions such as Unite and EIS carried pro-equality banners.
Others groups on the march ranged from members of the Episcopal Church right through to US Democrats Abroad.
SNP deputy leadership contender Alyn Smith, who is gay, said he expected his party to make it compulsory for schools to do more to promote LGBTI issues.
Smith, an MEP, said: “We need a more comprehensive approach and they [SNP ministers] are totally on board and are just mulling it over.”
Jamie Greene, a Tory MSP for West Scotland who is also gay, added: “I was bullied at school and it’s sad that 25 years on it’s still going on, so we do need a firmer line on the issue.”
Tim Hopkins of the Equality Network said that while the Scottish Government had a good record on equality, more needed to be done.
“The Scottish Government deserves a lot of credit for its record on equality such as over equal marriage in the last session and it has got a good record,” he said.
“While the situation in schools is much better than it once was, there are some schools where there is still a problem with young people being bullied.”
“In education, we’re calling on the Scottish government to show leadership. There are a number of practical things that can be done such as providing more training for teachers on LGBTI inclusion.”
Scotland’s Equalities Secretary Angela Constance said it was important to make sure young people were getting the support they needed.
“It’s great that it’s recognised that Scotland is a leader in LGBT equality, but there is no place for conceit or complacency,” she said.
“It’s important we listen to people where they are saying that we need to make sure young people are getting the support they need in schools.
“We want to increase confidence support for all young LGBTI people in education.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZONWQ8VOOg
What a prized TWAT
SNP deputy leadership contender Alyn Smith, who is gay, said he expected his party to make it compulsory for schools to do more to promote LGBTI issues.
So if you get Independence will you still be able to waste Scottish tax payers money on this nonsense.
Any idea how normal people view this twaddle?
Certainly employers will favour skills over promoting “LGBTI issues”.
I do hope that one long overdue day this degenerate filth will be kicked into the dustbin so we can return to some semblance of normality.
Please. It makes me want to vomit.
When you’d rather be dropping bombs on people, because it enforces your superiority complex.
Scotland has to move away from subsidies and start paying your own way, time to fucking GROW UP
start by ditching LBGTI issues that you want to ram down young peoples throats at
tax payers expense.
“According to opposition lawmaker Carlos Berrizbeitia”
___________
Anon1.
I was going to agree with you on the lavish spending in a nation of which its economy depends on oil, oil being at a very low price.
However the above sentence combined with the news being reported by none other than Fox news (latino).
Helped me decide that things might not be what they seem.
“THE seafood industry north of the Border faces a £93 million black hole over the next six years because of Brexit, it has emerged.”
“Scotland was to be handed €107m from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) but the financial support is now at risk following the referendum result to leave the EU.”
“The value of subsidies in jeopardy was highlighted in a parliamentary answer by the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy, Fergus Ewing.”
“He also revealed that £77m of EU investment had created or safeguarded 2,000 jobs in the seafood sector since 2007 and that the Scottish industry was a substantial beneficiary of the EU scheme and on course to receive just under half of all the money earmarked to the UK by 2023.”
“Seafood exports to the EU were worth £438m last year, more than 60 per cent of all Scotland’s food exports to Europe.”
Oh dear, the Tory oneupmanship game, known as Brexit, will inevitably damage the Scottish economy. With the fools at Westminster not even sure when to trigger Brexit, Scotland must initiate a second indy ref sooner than later, possibly 2017/18.
The Westminster ball and chain must be unshackled somehow.
http://www.thenational.scot/politics/brexit-vote-puts-93m-of-subsidies-for-scotlands-fishing-industry-at-risk.21460
Couldn’t the government just give the farmers the subsidies they owe them then they could pay the fishermen out of the £125 million they would save in fines and we’d still have some change left over.
Wasn’t this lost “EU investment” just a rather derisory sum given back in return for the handing over of virtually your entire fishing industry, along with some of the most productive fishing grounds in the entire world, to foreign trawlers?
I mean, you’re either a Scotch Nat or you’re not, RoS.
As a country that is virtually allowed to run itself within the UK, you complain about that rather than address your near complete loss of powers by way of your willing subservience to the EU?
Don’t you find it even the slightest bit embarrassing that you call yourself a Scottish nationalist?
US blogger re al-Ghouta and killary -“Our last great investigative reporter, Seymour Hersh, has just told us for the first time that the sarin nerve gas, actually used in Syria a few years ago a few times, was transshipped from Libya under her auspices. Hundreds of civilians were hideously killed by America’s proxy fanatics in the clearest of war crimes. It was an effort to create a crossing-a-red-line stunt with which to blame Syria’s beleaguered, elected government so that Obama could send in the jets and bomb the crap out of yet another country. Only Putin’s deft statesmanship prevented that disaster.”
it would appear the reason Ambassador Stevens was murdered in Libya , because he raised objections to the transhipment of arms and chemical warfare supplies to Syria.
He was silenced to prevent his exposing the Washington/CIA plan to overthrow Assad.
“Under her auspices”. Under whose auspices? Hillary’s?
A lot of us were aware of the CW ‘False Flag’ long afore Seymour Hersh published it. The ‘Killary/ Snopes Hildabeast’ is nought other than a soul-sold puppet of the PTB.
It is really a lot more than 1% we are up against; there are all the forces they can control though blackmail, bribery, and simple criminal mindset.
Ley me give y’all a wake-up call: ‘Cathy O’Brien was a witness to George HW Bush saying what follows below, at Bohemian Grove.
She was there as a totally Mind Controlled sex slave, so nobody minded saying or doing anything in front of her, or indeed to her; it was believed she could never remember the events unless they used their programme on her.
But, thank God, she and her mind-controlled 8-year old daughter were rescued by an Intelligence guy, Mark Phillips, who not only deprogrammed Cathy, but made her his wife. Sadly, he could not completely deprogram her daughter, because high-tech ‘Harmonic’ programming had been used on her since birth, and he did not have access to the equiptment’.
Notice that Haiti was listed as one of the first for depopulation, and remember the (HAARP?) earthquake, and the ‘accidental’ epidemic of cholera spread by the Nepalese troops? (http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/11/20121115101554961482 .html ):
And notice also the probable birth of the ‘Shape shifting lizard’ business; it obviously wasn’t just being thought of then, because Bush actually tried the hologram on her:
(so looks like Icke & Co. were led up the proverbial garden path)!!
Beginning quote:
‘Darpa’s artificial intelligence was reliant on secrecy, and a terrifying cover for reality was chosen to divert people from the simple truth. Since people perceive aliens as being physical like them,it was decided that the technological reality could be disguised according to preconceptions. Through generations of genetic encoding dating back to the beginning of man, serpents incite an innate autogenic response system in humans to ‘freeze’ in terror. George Bush was excited at the prospects of diverting people from truth by fear through perpetuating lizard-like serpent alien misconceptions. ”People fear what they don’t know anyway. By compounding that fear with autogenic fear response, they won’t want to look into Pandora’s box.”
Through deliberate generation of fear; suppression of facts under the 1947 National Security Act; Bush’s stint as CIA| director during Ford’s Administration; the Warren Commission’s whitewash of the Kennedy Assassination; secrecy artificially ensured by mind control particularly concerning DARPA, HAARP, Roswell, Montauk, etc; and with people’s fluidity of conscious thought rapidly diminishing; the secret government embraced the proverbial ‘absolute power that corrupts absolutely.’
According to New World Order plans being discussed at the Grove, plans for reducing the earth’s population was a high priority. Mass genocide of so-called ”undesirables” through the proliferation of AIDS was high on Bush’s agenda. ”We’ll annihilate the ni**ers at their source, beginning in South and East Africa and Haiti.” Having heard Bush say those words is by far one of the most torturous things I ever endured. Equally as torturous to my being were the discussions on genetic engineering, human cloning, and depletion of earth’s natural resources for profit. Cheney remarked that no one would be able to think to stop technology’s plan. ”I’ll destroy the planet first,” Bush had vowed.’
(Copied verbatim, page 168 ‘Access Denied: For Reasons of National Security’ by Cathy O’Brien with Mark Phillips. A footnote also points to Chapter 23, ‘Whirled Vision’, of ‘Trance Formation of America’ by same authors.)
Here Is a videos of Cathy and Mark:
Mind Control & MK-ULTRA + Cathy + Mark Phillips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaX1hqGgK4U
I altered the actual wording in the book by substituting a couple of ‘** ‘s for a couple of ‘g’s’, for obvious reasons.
Again, to get the trolls really frothing at the mouth (and probably all other orifices):
‘Satanic subversion of the U.S. Military’ by Jeffrey Steinberg:
http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/satanic_subversion.htm
Get it, trolls? You are pissing into the wind, and long may it ‘blow back’.
What with the constant spewing of racism/hatred on Craig’s comment threads, perhaps I should link to the anathema of the Kipper’s theme.
John Cooper Clarke’s ‘Beasley Street’, recorded on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test in 1980…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euD0o0x-jAo
Can someone chuck a bucket of cold water over Craig.
There’s mega stuff going on at the moment which needs addressing.
“Can someone chuck a bucket of cold water over Craig.
There’s mega stuff going on at the moment which needs addressing.”
Yes, his blog is rapidly getting very dysfunctional 😉
Recall a few posts back, CM mentioned a family matter – that probably takes priority even over making regular updates to this blog, and keeping happy the oh-so serious people that hang around these parts.
Like unruly ants demanding more sugar.
Have you any idea what it means to work hard behind a bar from 10 am until early morning when the revellers peter out? changing barrels, ensuring that the fridges all work, ensure the six beer lines run smooth. deal with old fashioned gravity fed barrels and make small talk with everyone, many friends and folk you know, a family feel situation. Whilst the workers behind the bar change morning afternoon and evening, you stay there, bar your breaks for food or else.
Then there are the items you run out of and need to replenish, keep in touch with the brewery and have someone ferry bottles of soda, whiski, gin, rum, lemons, ice cubes for the poor souls that need quenching, and all the other nice things people don’t like be without on a fair site.
so calm yourself’s, you need at least two days just to get your rhythm back.
then have two hours of sleep get up clear up the bar for the next day and do it all over again.
Well, the FROGS are becoming Dysfunctional
He’s Doune a rabbit hole.
Julian Assange assassination attempt fears after man spotted scaling Ecuadorian Embassy walls:
How was this possible with all the CCTV cameras in London. And aren’t the London police keeping that embassy under constant surveillance?
Yes, the police have been on guard for years outside the embassy, ready to give Julian the kicking of his life, should he show himself, he is lined up for rendition from Glasgow-Prestwick onwards to Guantamano or Diego Garcia or some hell hole in Poland.
Hmmmn, extremely interesting. The ‘Police’ have not issued a CCTV picture; were all the CCTV trained on the place ‘out of order’?
Do the police say there aren’t any CCTV cameras constantly monitoring the Ecuadorean Embassy?
I suspect some folks will be bringing this up (including, hopefully, an MP or two in the Commons.
More details from the Australian News: Man jumps wall at Assange’s embassy home:
One wonders if this was an attempt to snatch him and thus forestall his questioning by the Swedish prosecutors.
The President of the Republic of France, continues to strut his disgustingly fat carcass on the European stage
( his time limit is almost up – Hallelujah, cry the people of FRANCE) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AWFf7EAc4
Common defence, intelligence sharing and reducing youth unemployment will be the priorities once the UK leaves the bloc.
http://news.sky.com/
Hardly. Psychological Warfare’, more like. That Embassy is fenced in by security 24/7. Were they all on a ‘tea break’, including the CCTV’s (oh, of course, CCTV’s don’t need tea breaks, unless they’re made in the UK).
Biscuit anybody?
The leaders of France, Germany and Italy are meeting on Monday to discuss how the European Union can best bounce back in the wake of Britain’s Brexit vote.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is hosting French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the trio’s second such mini-summit since the shock referendum result in June.
Other challenges on the agenda include Europe’s migration crisis. The leaders will give a closing news conference on the Italian aircraft carrier, the Garibaldi, which is deployed as part of the EU’s naval operation in the Mediterranean.
http://www.euronews.com/2016/08/22/merkel-hollande-and-renzi-celebrate-europe-in-mini-summit-after-brexit-blow
Is the Garibaldi being used as a proxy for the Titanic?
The 30 year old Garibaldi is kitted out with harrier jump jets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_aircraft_carrier_Giuseppe_Garibaldi#/media/File:Italian_TAV-8B_Harrier_II.jpg
Even the brand new Italian aircraft carrier is equipped with harrier Jump Jets commissioned in 2008
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_aircraft_carrier_Cavour
Your point being? Other than filling space with random snippets from the Express? Clue: we don’t have any carriers and the proposed aircraft for them are still hugely problematic. Harrier is still good in some roles – does what it says on the tin. Good budget choice. The US Marines thought so too….
Making aliyeh….to Germany?
http://gulfnews.com/news/europe/uk/brexit/once-unthinkable-more-british-jews-seek-german-citizenship-1.1879918
Oh boy. I’ll have to just think the conclusions from that one.
I voted to remain. I accept that others whatever their nationality or religion may be so disappointed they cannot remain now the exit has been voted for (however marginally). If any figures are produced about population decline in the future the exodus (hope that’s not a banned word) should also be taken into account.
I believe in no borders. Integration is the only way forward. It is good that the allied countries imposed this on Germany. But oh how times have changed. Muslims today are the new persecuted religion. Free movement is very difficult for them and it shames me, especially in the context of apartheid Israel, where, as with American blacks, South African Blacks, Indians, native Americans and others, free movement and equal rights have been derogated.(in the legal sense).
John – There are 2.8 billion people in this world who live on less than $2/day – 100% of these people would be economically advantaged by moving to the UK.
How many of these 2.8 billion people do you suppose should be granted the right to live in the UK? On what grounds do you propose discriminating against people denied the right to live in the UK?
You may persecute Muslims – I do not know. I do know that if you head out to the KSA and a variety of Gulf states then, assuming you are not a Muslim, you will be persecuted. You will also be persecuted if you are the “wrong type of Muslim”
I understand that persecution of the “wrong type of Muslim” recently made its presence felt in old Glasgow town. Still I guess that is all part of the multicultural utopia that absolutely no-one is interested in discussing
How many of these 2.8 billion people do you suppose should be granted the right to live in the UK?
Why, all of them of course! Otherwise, you must be a racist. Heard it right here on this blog, so case closed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2795168/israel-s-fury-young-jews-moving-berlin-cheaper-life-abandoning-homeland-pudding.html
It does seem to be turning out the promised land for many it seems.
It would be “strange” if all the embassy trained cameras are found to have been disabled, just as julian was beaten almost to death by the police, prior to his exceptional rendition from Glasgow-Prestwick to a far off American paid-for hell hole?
Hey RobG: How about this:
http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/07/victims-nice-attack/491480/
None of those people were real, right? Just pure inventions. Not that I’m a fan of the Express, but:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/689767/nice-terror-attack-france-uk-britain-british-victim-victims
That guy doesn’t exist – right? Just a put-up job. Gosh, it’s so easy to just deny, deny, deny. Even if someone had taped a funeral for your viewing pleasure, you’d deny they were real mourners – just actors. Even then, you’d say they were burying a coffin full of rubble. And if it were prised open (for your personal delight) to reveal a dead body, you’d deny it was a victim of terrorism – just some RTA case put up for the job.
That’s the trouble with people like you, RobG – there’s no proving anything. Australia doesn’t exist. The moon is a hologram. It’s possible to deny absolutely everything, and somehow all this denial is easier for you than realising that our foreign policy has resulted in blowback.
This is what beats me – do you think our NATO/US/UK foreign policy has never stirred up any freak? Or was the invasion and occupation of Iraq (for instance) a non-event, for which no retaliation should be expected?
Or do you really want it all ways – we attack other countries AND our own in “false flag ops”, that stirred-up foreigners are incapable of doing a thing by way of revenge, no matter how hard and unjustly we smite them?
We live in the post-fact world now Glenn, it no longer matters if something is true or not, all that matters is if you can get people to believe it.
https://granta.com/why-were-post-fact/
Nevernind @ 10 23
Thank you for that.. What they / we did to that Country sickens me,..hope you are well.
Rob G and Alen –
” Can someone chuck a bucket of cold water over Craig ”
We should manage a while as the blog dose keep a flow..Look at the Gems from page 11 for example…links ect.
I was talking to Craig yesterday..Worked his ass off at DTRH.. But hey Even (especially) Political bloggers need a Break.. And what better way than Music… So, Some scenes from Doune.. Cheers –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDI_yFmLmis&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgNwhGZ7rZk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUBY5mOAWGo
Well done Brian for being there. I intend (hope) to be there one year. It is such a long way from Birmingham so I (maybe we) would need antoher attraction perhaps (a cheap golf tour ticket perhaps). The golf has got so expensive in Scotland only the rich tourists can afford to go. And who wants those twats clogging uo the course?
😀
By the way, I adhere to golf protocol, because that is the way it is. When I get told to tuck my shirt in I do. I don’t agree with it though.
Now here is a lesson from the great British Olympic Cycling team (medal-winners all) whose sportswear was designed to make them ergonomically superior to their opponents. What price dress-code there?
On the other hand there is more honesty (by and large) with golfers. You se it on tour. New Zealander, Lydia Ko, the top woman golfer in the world questioned a ball that moved in strong winds after she had addressed it, which would have cost her a stroke through her honesty. Fortunately the official did not penalise her and she went on to take second place.
Football? I know what you are all thinking (the good ones).
Never mind the “You se” the comment makes it seem like I am calling the cyclists dishonest. In no way do I think they are. My comarparison was with sports where bonuses lead to cheating. I may have mentioned one sport in the above comment.
Noticing the p was missing from comparison I highlighted the the ar and replaced it with p and that is where the unusual word “comarparison” came from. Software used to be so forgiving. Now it is designed to make decent people look like twats.
thanks for the video’s Brian, I’m splitting ash for the winter, would have loved to come up but its just not possible this year.
yesterday the German Government called for all Germans to hoard enough food and water for ten days, an unprecedented move that needs explaining.
http://diepresse.com/home/politik/aussenpolitik/5072905/Zivilschutz_Deutsche-Regierung-raet-dazu-Vorraete-anzulegen
We know that there are IS in Germany, but what could they possibly do?
poison the water supply? unlikely, there is no central water supply so the impact would be controllable. What event could possibly take out or contaminate the water supply.
Are there any plans by the Home office to ask UK citizens to do the same? Are we being scared to consume? or is the scare real?
Let us assume that Chinese navy general Guan’s visit to Syria and support for Assads regime has put another domino stone in place for the Washington war mongers.
Assange’s possible assailant could not be apprehended? why, lets see on CCTV how he got away. Was this an action designed to stop the latest batch of highly damaging emails coming out over Shillaries past misdemeanour’s?
What else is she planning to do to get elected? to trounce Trump in a clash of the mentally challenged?
So get in your water and rations, in the absence of any warnings in this country, also challenged, according to our now numerous security services, by hundreds if not thousands of IS sympathisers, we best do the Home offices work and publicise it ourself.
GET IN YOUR WATER AND FOOD FOR TEN DAYS SUPPLIES. Do not try and build a nuclear bunker before November, its not worth coming out of it should you need to use it, you might as well just walk into the open and be done with.
Maybe it has something to do with the US moving into NE Syria and declaring a no-fly zone for Syria and Russia? That’s the same as the Nazis landing a few squadrons in Kent during the Battle of Britain and telling the Brits don’t dare try anything or else. It can’t be allowed to stand. They have to be faced down or the whole world falls under the Wall Street jackboot, a rapacious capitalism that kills who it pleases using murderous savages as bad as anything Hitler turned loose.
It can’t end well if that’s the US position. They have manoeuvred for war.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/22/wind-musicians-warned-over-hygiene-as-fatal-case-of-bagpipe-lung-reported
I’ve argued for many years that Government Health Warnings should be printed clearly on the side of every set of bagpipes.
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/38725-up-to-50-airstrikes-on-gaza-in-worst-israeli-assault-since-2014
Just in case anybody missed it: these bombs are blamed on Lieberman, the new defence minister.
Israel also bombed Syria today, in support of ISIS and Al Qaeda.
@ glenn_uk August 22, 2016 at 23:53
‘……That guy doesn’t exist – right? Just a put-up job. Gosh, it’s so easy to just deny, deny, deny. Even if someone had taped a funeral for your viewing pleasure, you’d deny they were real mourners – just actors. Even then, you’d say they were burying a coffin full of rubble. And if it were prised open (for your personal delight) to reveal a dead body, you’d deny it was a victim of terrorism – just some RTA case put up for the job……’
‘Operation Northwoods’: http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf
‘Sandy Hook Justice’: http://sandyhookjusticereport.com/
How come, with all the ‘blowback’ and murderous ‘Muslims’ itching to kill us, does it not happen much more frequently?
Why is our infrastructure not hit, bridges, railway lines, tunnels, electricity grid, poisoning our reservoirs, hitting our nuclear facilities?And nuclear fuel and spent fuel transport? Our schools and hospitals? A real enemy does this: look at the bombing campaigns in Serbia, Iraq, Gaza, Yemen.
Many of these attacks would be very easy to accomplish, and the ‘bomber’ or whatever would be safe to carry on a campaign of terror and mayhem, rather than a one-way ticket to 76 Virginville via a ‘suicide belt’ or backpack.
Notice, Paul, that nearly all of these whacked out conspiracy theories you promote, just happen to favour the far-right agenda?
Sandy Hook – which we’ve been through over and over again – was a massacre. Useful idiots like yourself are doing the NRA’s dirty work for them, pretending that the cuddly little Bushmaster assault rifles couldn’t possible have caused any harm! No, no, no – therefore, it didn’t exist.
The really annoying thing about people like you is we can go right through the implausibility of your crazed BS, and you’ll bring it up afresh the next time.
Why don’t you become a Scientologist or something – they really value 100% credulity in cults like that.
glenn_uk The gun issue in the US is largely incomprehensible to the European mind. However it exists and there are arguments on both sides.
Obviously mass shootings could not take place if there were no guns. However most of the people committing these crimes have been heavily medicated. It is far from clear that medication is less responsible for such outrages than the possession of guns.
You hear a lot about banning guns – but much less about over medicating young children/adolescents. I wonder why that could be.
Did you know that Swedish primary school teachers have noticed that young boys tend to leave class faster than young girls and that this is a sign of innate sexism. What could be a more natural response than medicating the boy children to slow down their sexist/natural exuberance.
Oh how I wonder whether Sweden will see an explosion in violent senseless crime.
Loony: Are you saying Sweden is having a surge in medicating their children now? I wonder about over-medication too. (Funnily enough, I’ve just started reading “Bad Pharma” by Ben Goldacre. It’s largely about the prescribing of medicines of dubious efficaciousness.)
That freak who perpetrated the Newtown school massacre was more than a bit odd even before being medicated, by all accounts. His mother was also a “prepper” – fully expecting an end-times style breakdown in society, and had a house full of provisions and “freedom protectors” (otherwise known as shooting-guns) ready for the occasion. If someone wants to go nuts, having battlefield style armaments to hand is likely to make a problem distinctly worse.
I was astonished and pretty alarmed by the proliferation of guns while living in the US, and the situation has got much worse since. I had a gun pulled on me too, which is not a very nice experience.
You may have identified a secondary problem – the overuse of pharmaceuticals, and the unpredictability of their effects – but guns remain the primary problem IMHO. America is an astonishingly violent country. The prison population is vast, the conditions there violent in the extreme. Domestic violence is huge – it’s the number one reason for emergency dental treatment for women, for example. We can’t blame all this on an over-medicated population.
Italy, France and Germany vow to boost EUROPEAN EMPIRE security in wake of attacks!
http://www.france24.com/en/20160822-germany-france-italy-vow-boost-eu-security-after-terror-attacks
From the deck of the 30 year old Italian aircraft carrier Garibaldi armed to the teeth with Harrier Jump-Jets
The leaders of Italy, France and Germany vowed Monday to boost joint European security efforts in the wake of Islamic extremist attacks as they made a symbolic bid to relaunch the European Union after Britain’s vote to leave.
There, the three leaders pledged their commitment to European Unity and “plotted” a common proposal to relaunch the “European Project” focusing on three key areas: improving security, boosting economic growth and strengthening options and programs for young people.
I wonder if that means ramming LGBTI values down young peoples throats, like in Scotland?
http://www.france24.com/en/20160822-france-sarkozy-announces-election-bid-presidency-upcoming-book
Meanwhile, Sarkozy has launched a book and announced his intention to again become the President of the Republic of France
The Dysfunctional, extreme political correctness, BREXIT hating BBC
Fury as BBC appoints Tony Blair’s former Labour minister “chum” as head of radio
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/702783/BBC-appoints-Tony-Blair-chum-former-Labour-minister-head-radio
No doubt it will be full steam ahead for the LGBTI agenda
You can’t buy happiness Michael, it is an inner feeling that overcomes you and sometimes, fill your eyes with tears.
The Olympics: a reflection of society under capitalism
The Olympic games are here again and while it’s sold to us a demonstration of peace and solidarity and the finest humans have to offer, it is often anything but that. In fact, in many ways, it is a reflection of the very worst of society under capitalism.
The modern Olympics were established with the highest ideals, and a desire to foster peace. Instead they have become little more than a display of nationalistic pride and flag waving by nations who co-opt the efforts of the athletes to further their own schemes. From the very first games this has been demonstrated when the 1896 games in Athens led to a surge in Greek nationalism, and an eventual war with Turkey in 1897.
The rich countries of the West also get the chance to reinforce their perceived superiority over the rest as the Games are heavily weighted in their favour. From the very beginning the Games were set up by European elites and built on western sports. Many non-western countries have long histories of indigenous sports and games that were ignored and continue to be. In response to this, Brazil saw the hosting of the first World Indigenous Games in 2015 where over 2,000 participating indigenous athletes from 30 countries, including 43 Māori athletes, competed in a variety of sporting events. These ranged from a few Western-style competitions (football, athletics) to many indigenous traditional games, such as xikunahity, a football-style game in which the ball is controlled only with the head.
Added to the disadvantage for the poorer nations is that most athletes, if they are to be successful on the global stage, require a fair amount of social and financial support for training, facilities and travel. This means that better off countries usually do better. For the Olympic games to be genuinely open and fair there would need to be vast improvements in health care and education for participants from low-income nations.
Not only is the Olympics an excuse for chest-thumping, but it also represents the worst kind of gross commercialisation and exploitation. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) collects massive wealth from its product but, like all such multi-national corporate institutions, the workers, in this case the athletes, get very little of the wealth they generate, while the executives at the top reap huge rewards.
The IOC stands to earn more than ever from this year’s Olympics as they take their share of the revenues, which are expected to be upwards of a record US$ 9billion. Although the IOC states that they plough ninety per cent of revenues back into supporting athletes, many say the crumbs that eventually fall from the top table are not enough. A recent study showed that just 6 per cent of the money generated by the Olympics goes back to athletes as salaries. The reality for the average US athlete is a salary of $16,533 according to figures collected by The Washington Post. Those from many other countries receive less. In 2014 Canada found that the country’s elite athletes spent $13,900 per year more than they earn, while in New Zealand, there are probably just five New Zealand athletes who could make enough money from the sport to class themselves as professionals, according to Athletics NZ Sport Manager Brett Addison, while other athletes don’t receive nearly enough to live on.
The reality is that while the billions flooding in may make Rio 2016 the richest Olympics ever, away from the elite athletes, who admittedly do well as they reap their rewards in endorsements from companies desperate to be linked with their celebrity status, most of the athletes will see almost none of the wealth they generate. At the top of the IOC chain it is a different matter. The “volunteer” president, Thomas Bach, gets an annual “allowance” of $251,000 and lives rent-free in a five-star hotel and spa in Switzerland, which recently priced its cheapest suite at $1,068 per night. Other IOC members, a distinguished group that includes various members of Europe’s royal houses, also enjoy generous perks. When on IOC business, members fly first-class, stay in luxury hotels, and also get cash for expenses at the rate of $450 per day for regular IOC members, and $900 per day for the IOC’s executive committee. These rates also apply to the Games themselves, which means in Rio some IOC members will get paid more to watch the Olympics than many athletes will get paid to compete in the Olympics.
In addition to the athletes being exploited the poor of Rio de Janeiro have also been bearing the brunt of the games. Since Rio was chosen to host the Olympics at least 22,059 families, a total of 77,206 people, have been displaced due to the infrastructure projects required for the Olympic games. These evictions have affected mostly Rio’s per such as those living in Vila Autódromo, a favela that had been home to some 900 families, and was almost entirely demolished to make room for Barra Olympic Park, a cluster of nine sporting arenas where much of the action is taking place.
In return for their money given to the Olympic movement, the official sponsors get to exclusively bombard the spectators with messages and images about their products. Of course we won’t see images from official sponsors of those who make their products and profits, like the highly exploited workers toiling in poor conditions at low pay to make sports gear. Nor will Coca Cola and McDonalds sponsorship be questioned by those taking their money, despite their products being of dubious nutritional value and a contributor to the obesity epidemic affecting much of the world – the very antithesis of what the Olympics is supposed to be about.
In fact the IOC’s official charter forbids the expression of anti-Olympic dissent, stating in Rule 51, “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” Yet the whole charade is based around the promotion and reinforcement of values that suit capitalism. While we sit there consuming sports such as the Olympics we are also taking in the assumptions that life is a competition, that most of the rewards go to the winners, and that losers have only themselves to blame in that they weren’t good enough, or never worked hard enough.
So what’s an anarchist to do during the Olympic spectacle? We could just ignore them, which can actually cause some consternation among those who suddenly discover an appetite for athletics and other sports once every four years; better still we could actively oppose the Games, by writing articles like this one, circulating leaflets, holding protests, and boycotting sponsors among other things.
Related Link: http://www.awsm.nz/2016/08/14/the-olympics-a-reflection…lism/
(You’ll have noticed that I have been ignoring the Olympics up ’till now, thus denying them the oxygen of publicity.)
Alan – Who could disagree. If only you could have found the time to examine the role of one Sebastian Coe in the sad farrago of athletics administration.
The BBC have done that:
In his first year as president of world athletics, Lord Coe has had to deal with the fallout from the biggest corruption scandal the sport has ever seen. Mark Daly investigates what Lord Coe knew about the scandal and when, and also uncovers links between the IAAF president and the man at the centre of the corruption.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07gy406/panorama-seb-coe-and-the-corruption-scandal
You can add corruption in boxing to that, see:-
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/16/michael-conlan-accuses-boxings-ruling-body-after-being-cheated-in-defeat
Following the above, “Olympics for whom?”. Ignatius J. O’Reilly writes from Rio about how the Olympics were experienced by the people of Brasil and the protests that resulted.
https://rs21.org.uk/2016/08/23/olimpiadas-pra-quem-olympics-for-whom/
“Unfortunately, for many millions suffering the financial and administrative crisis (almost perpetually) going on here in Brasil, the Olympics, and the vast expense and organisation entailed, are no joke at all. In fact they are from it.
They are no joke for the thousands forcibly removed from their homes and communities of many years and generations, such as Vila Autodrómo, to make way for the construction and development of the new stadia and accommodation necessary to host the games. There are absolutely no concrete guarantees of their being able to return to the newly built athlete’s villages that now stand where their homes once did. The likelihood is that most of these will be sold off after the games, to property developers for sale to the lucky few that are able to afford such exclusive locations and properties, in order to ‘offset’ some of the underestimated overheads of the entire Olympic project.” more>>>
Civil rights activists are up in arms as Tory Justice Secretary Lizz Truss, revealed that the government, is committed to scrapping the Human Rights Act (HRA).
Despite being a key part of the Tories manifesto no real details of the British Bill of Rights has been revealed yet. However it is thought that unlike the HRA, the British Bill of Rights will not offer universal protection.
I’d imagine that could be a worry for those who have official citizenship in the dis-United Kingdom.
We could see a diluting of our enshrined freedoms, thankfully the Scottish government look set to try and block any moves to amend the HRA, in Scotland.
Meanwhile Oxfam, have accused the government of the dis-United Kingdom, of being in dissary and denial, over arms sales to Saudi Arabia, that have been used to, murder women and children in Yemen.
Oxfam have concerns that International Human Law (IHL) is being broken in Yemen, and feel that Westminster has switched from being a enthusiastic backer of the Arms Trade Treaty, of which the dis-United Kingdom is a signatory, to one of being a significant violator.
The charity will bring the matter up at a meeting in Geneva today.
When the murderous Argentine Junta (perhaps significant that Chile, Argentina and Brazil were prime ‘boly holes’ for the ‘Ratline’ Nazis after WWII, assisted in their flight by the Vatican and USA, were all taken over, courtesy of the US, by the barbarous Military Dictatorships) was in power (before the Falklands affair), and their were calls to stop a big (I think 50,000) order of Sterling sub-machine guns due to Human Rights concern, a Lord got up in the House and defended Argentina, on the grounds of ‘what good customers they were’.
I can’t find any reference on the web, but as I was campaigning against Argentina at the time, I think my memory is correct on the number of weapons. They were to be supplied to the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance’ (AAA), a brutal ‘death squad’.
And when I was later campaigning for East Timor, Britain continued selling Hawk aircraft to Indonesia, despite very strong protests (just like Carter’s White House sold OV-10’s to Indonesia (despite his admittedly more Human Rights guided arms sales policy).
When it comes to big money, our government rides roughshod over laws and it’s own stated principles, National and International ). A further good case in point is Briitain’s disgraceful depopulation of Diego Garcia so it could be used as an American base.
Thank you Paul for that engaging and informative comment, you are indeed correct arms sales supercede human rights. The dis-United Kingdom has even sold chemicals to Syria that could be used in warfare.
“MPs have fired a warning shot across the Government’s bows, questioning the checks made on more than 3,000 export licences worth over £12bn to 27 countries on the FCO’s own list of countries of human rights concern.”
http://news.sky.com/story/britains-chemical-sales-to-syria-revealed-10440017
Sorry, should read ‘bolt holes’.
Here we go again, as Brexit, a Tory oneupmanship game looks set to cost Scottish universities millions of pounds of funding, in the long run.
http://www.thenational.scot/politics/snp-urges-no10-to-cover-funding-losses-brexit-may-cause-to-scots-universities.21497
Surely it must be just a matter of time before the dis-United Kingdom, disintergrates completely.
One wonders how heavy the cost will be to Wales and Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile as we laud Olympian medals at £1.4 million pounds a piece, millions of families in the dis-United Kingdom are sinking in a sea of debt, as wages flatline.
Still not to worry I’m sure, those drowning in debt, in this low wage economy, will be heartened by the billions that are about to be spent on renewing Trident.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/16-million-uk-families-living-in-extreme-debt-says-union-report.21500