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.
Michae Norton.
Michael you posted this comment to me yesterday.
“ROS I hope you are not trying to compare Nazi Germany with the present day United Kingdom”
I explained I wasn’t I was merely comparing the politicising of the Olympic games, then and now.
However I thought you might find this picture interesting.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/falang_bah2002/2260617481
Apparently it’s the England team at the 1938 Olympic games giving a Sieg Heil salute to Adolf Hitler.
Should read 1936 Olympics, I do apologise, I’m getting my Empire Exhibition date mixed up with my Olympic date.
Well I’m sure those boys all opposed Hitler during the war and did their bit for the war effort.
Unlike the SNP.
We’ve been round this roundabout before Fred, I hardly think British security services say so amounts to evidence.
Just like the untimely demise of Willie McCrae, the security services are at best suspect.
But a picture says a thousand words Fred, don’t you think so?
http://nypost.com/2015/03/01/how-britian-covered-up-the-friendship-between-hitler-edward-viii/
Yes a picture does say a thousand words.
http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/attachments/photos-papers-propaganda-third-reich/695944d1401251128-scottish-hitler-youth-lol-former-leader-snp-arthur-donaldson-10382745_10203268595667048_5361220851165933808_n.jpg
Isn’t that the Donaldson tartan? What regiment was he in again?
Fred.
It is a possibility that it could be Donaldson, but then in 1930’s or there abouts Hitler’s youth movement made many visits to Britain, so it could be anyone. Hitler’s youth movement interactions extended the to the Boys Scouts.
It’s known that at least seven substantial Hitler Youth groups, each of about twenty young men, took cycling holidays in Britain in the 1930s. These were generally the older members of the Hitler Youth: in their late teens or early twenties.
“Their itineraries were usually built round visits to the great English historic sites – Oxford, Cambridge, London. Though one party was touring Scotland and another finished in Wales.”
“In July 1937, 22 young German university students, who were members of the South Bavarian troop of the Hitler Youth, toured Lincolnshire and were entertained by Spalding Rotary Club who fed them a ‘sausage and mashed potato supper’. Apparently they charmed the local people with their good manners.”
“Some of the Hitler Youth groups met or shared camps with British Boy Scout groups. The most striking was the Tamworth Scout troop – for whom this was a return visit. They had already been guests of the Hitler Youth in Hamburg earlier in the summer, thanks to their very pro-German Scoutmaster.”
The link you failed to include Fred.
http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/photos-papers-propaganda-third-reich/scottish-hitler-youth-lol-former-leader-snp-arthur-donaldson-438861-2/
I might add, the picture is not a conclusive one of Donaldson, no such speculation however is needed, over the England team, nor Edward VIII.
England team?
Four of those players you call the “England team” played for Queens Park.
Those are Scottish players you are talking about.
Fred
I thought you might be interested in this article, please do pay attention to the very last sentence.
I’ve highlighted it (*) for you just incase you miss it.
The British team’s presence was notable not only for their poor play. Between their two matches the players were taken to meet Hitler for propaganda purposes. “According to [Casuals’] Terry Huddle, the squad were taken to Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s castle nearly 400 miles away from Berlin,” writes Menary in GB United?. “Huddles even saved a photo showing the squad escorted by black-suited SS guards. All the footballers had to shake the dictator’s hand. Into their nineties Huddle and [Cambridge University’s] Daniel Pettit had still not forgotten. ‘I’ve been washing my hand ever since,’ said Pettit.”
To their credit, however, the Great Britain players disobeyed instructions to give the Nazi salute before their matches, although the ferocity of the reaction from German diplomats would ensure the snub was not repeated: * hence the infamous Nazi salute that the England team gave when they visited Berlin in 1938.*
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/nov/24/forgotten-story-football-1936-olympics
So the team you claimed was English was if fact British and had four Scottish players on it and Arthur Donaldson was interned for subversive activities during the war.
That’s right Fred little england beat the nazis all on their own without any help from the Scots that they were quite prepared to abandon in the event of an invasion
I said “the SNP” not “the Scots” they aren’t the same thing as how much they think they are.
Games were in 1936, RoS and apart from the English footie team giving the Hitler salut, ethey were visited, on the NSDAP’s invitation, by 256 county surveyors from the UK, having a glance at the Autobahn. Sadly that’s all they gazed at, if they would have ventured into Cities they could have seen neat cycle path next to most roads, as well as pedestrian path in front of houses.
But they did not miss the handshake between Mussolini and Hitler for the world of it, such fun.
Jessie Owen did not comply with the Nazi’s rule but he was not snubbed by Hitler, a convenient lie, he gave him a little salute and smile, they waved at each other. President Roosevelt on the other hand, did not invite Jessie into the white House after his success, he did not even send him a congratulating telegram.
After his return he had to do odd jobs and on weekends during breaks at Negro league baseball, he ran against horses/motorcycles for money, just to get some income.
He is one of Berlin’s hero’s were there are many sculptures of him. He always was one of my hero’s since my granny told me about him and his amazing athleticism.
Olympics are about amateurs at their best, today its a construct.
If the Olympics want to survive, they have to advocate sharing efforts with neighbouring states, like we should have shared with France and made it cheaper, shown an example on how its done. France had all the major venues in place, we would have paid 3-4 billion on security and other arrangements and its would have been fine.
Nope, too many people wanted to earn themselves golden noses, hallo Seb Coe, so we spent loads amoney.
Anyway, now you know were E. Marples 1000 miles of motorway originated, were his surveyors got their ideas, he was loving it, all that lovely concrete his family firm produced for the taxpayer…..
Another small point Anon and MN might like, Jessie Owen ran his world records and jumped furthest in Adi Dasslers prototype sewn leather shoes, a small shoemaker who lobbied the German team and other athletes to wear his shoes. years later he formed the company know today as Adidas.
Is it not the case however that Hitler refused to present Owen with his medals?
It’s true that Owen wasn’t invited up to shake hands with Hitler like the other athletes.
But then he wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with FDR like the others either. He didn’t even get a telegram of congratulations from his own president.
So far as I know only one criminal in the UK has sought to murder people by way of grenade attack. This gentleman killed a total of 4 people – 2 members of the criminal underworld and 2 on duty police officers. Memorials for the deceased police officers and the ensuing court case attracted the ongoing attention of the national media.
Yesterday in Sweden an 8 year old English child was murdered when someone threw a grenade through the window of the apartment in which he was staying. It was possible that the intended victim was a person already convicted of murder in Sweden. What is it about Swedes that allow convicted murderers to live free from incarceration? What is it about Swedes that allow them to be so cavalier and uncaring for the lives of innocent British children. Are the Swedes a nation of psychopaths? All civilized societies should treat Sweden as a pariah state – severe restrictions should be placed on all Swedish nationals seeking to visit other European countries.
“All civilized societies should treat Sweden as a pariah state. . .”
I would never advise any young man to go on holiday to Sweden. Look what happened to Julian Assange. The Sirens are waiting there to sing you onto the rocks. With more than a little backing from the wallet of Uncle Sam.
I would go much further.
For so long as the UK has nuclear weapons then they must be aimed somewhere. Sweden is the obvious place to aim them.
very long AssPress url Associated Press is reporting breathlessly that an Egyptian man has been sentenced to six years in prison on charges of attempting to disturb public order, violating the Saudi kingdom’s labor laws and communicating with a sorcerer to bewitch his employer
is there someway someone could use that last bit on our beloved former teflon PM? communications with a/many sorcerers to bewitch his people?
surely there must be a ducking style trial still available somewhere in Albion??
Celtic football club, fans have raised £45,000 pounds for Palestinian charities, as they take on the the Israeli football club Hapoel Be’er Sheva tonight in usurped lands. That action alone in the eyes of many, proves Celtic football club are winners, no matter what the outcome of tonights match.
The fans raised the money for Medical Aid Palestine who deliver medical care to those worst affected by the brutally oppressive Israeli regime.
In gratitude for there solidarity the Celtic crest will be beamed onto Palestinian buildings tonight, along with Scottish Saltire flags flown aloft, in Gaza and the West Bank.
Here the community group the Lagee Centre based in the Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem in the West Bank, thank Celtic fans for their solidarity, and for the funds they’ve raised.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=Zdm09DOieHc
One does wonder however if a modest football club like Celtic can raise thousands of pounds to aid the oppressed Palestinian people and draw attention to their plight by waving their national flag. Then why can’t FIFA or UEFA, or any other sporting body draw attention to it?
Although it’s not illegal to own a Palestinian flag in Israel, authorities have said that they’ll come down heavy on any Celtic fans waving them, at the match tonight.
God bless the fans, who raised that money!
“The People are the Problem”
The statement by German President, Joachim Gauck, (August 2016) that; “The elites are not the problem, it’s the people who are the problem”, reveals far more than perhaps was intended. Indeed, it is worth considering this opinion in a much wider context. This reactionary outburst was asserted in relation to the millions of German nationals who are increasingly opposed to the current levels of immigration. However, this arrogant attitude is symptomatic of a much broader characteristic demonstrated by the political and economic elites the world over. From the perspective of the economic and political elites, the people are always the problem when they do not agree with or follow their suggestions or dictates. This symptom applies to all elites, whether of the left, centre or right wing inclinations. When they are allowed to vote, people are capable of voting the ‘wrong’ (sic) way – according to the elite mentality.
For example, after the result of the Brexit vote in the UK, many pro-European politicians, economists, academics, pundits and commentators considered that the problem lay with the millions who voted against their wishes. These Brexit voting people were alleged to be ill informed, racist or just not capable of being rational. In the USA, the people who are supporting the elite loose cannon Donald Trump are likewise being characterised by the dominant media outlets as racist, or insufficiently intelligent to know any better. The people really are becoming a serious problem for the economic, financial and political elites the world over. This same elite attitude was also revealed not too long ago when the people of Greece massively voted against Brussels proposals for austerity. The Greek people were seen by the Brussels elite as causing a problem, not the political elite who created the sovereign debt issue by reckless borrowing and the finincial elite by their aggressive lending.
These three recent examples make clear that from the perspective of the elites, the ‘people are the problem’. This is especially so if they object to the way the current neo-liberal phase of the capitalist mode of production is being administered. In the advanced countries, when the people demonstrate or ‘occupy’ to protest they are considered such a problem that they are pepper sprayed, kettled, arrested and injured. In less advanced countries people who protest against elite corruption are incarcerated, tortured, assassinated or simply disappear. During the 20th century, the Bolshevised and Stalinised elites of Russia and China etc., despite a rhetoric of concern for the oppressed, still treated millions of working people as a problem requiring, torture, incarceration and assassination to get them to ‘toe the (Party) line’. For elites the world over, the manifold problems infecting and effecting the modern world are never caused by themselves or the system they uphold – it is always the people!
So the contemporary response of blaming the victims by the elites is nothing new. The 20th and 21st centuries are full of such examples. In the UK, the US and Europe, the people were celebrated when they fought and died in two world wars to defend the capitalist system. However, as soon as they tried to defend the living standards achieved in the aftermath of the Second World War, they once again became perceived as a problem. After having laboured to reconstruct the post-war economies and create new levels of wealth for the new elites, the ‘people’, particularly working people, were once again perceived as an intractable problem. They were considered a problem of such magnitude that the full force of the nation – states of Europe and North America were successfully marshalled to corrupt, marginalise and destroy their organisations of resistance (trade unions) and communal associations.
With the achievement of a partial socio-economic destruction of peoples lives and communities under the Thatcher and Reagan periods of the 20th century, a new (big-bang!) neo-liberal phase of the capitalist mode of production was introduced. It has been a period of unregulated and unchallenged financial domination in which everything except the air people breathe has been up for sale to those who had gained wealth during the previous stage of reconstruction. In the UK for example, water, gas, electricity, transport, communications, were privatised and transformed from public services into sources of further profit for the financial, economic and political elite. Not content with this, the same financial, economic and political elites also devised stealth inspired manouvres to get control of profitable areas of health and education.
Not surprisingly under the new conditions of large-scale unemployment, low pay, precarious employment and contraction of welfare services, working people are again faced with a serious predicament. Do they passively accept the policies handed down to them by their elites or do they resist them? It is clear that increasing numbers of the citizens of the various nation-states have little or no trust (or faith) in the established bourgeois methods of social democratic governance. In addition in most countries, there is a new generation of well educated, jobless young people who recognise the corruption, the self-interested greed and the general incompetence of the political elites. They are also rejecting the two Janus faces of bourgeois social democracy, Republican and Democratic; Labour and Conservative; or Socialist and Social Democratic. They have already realised, that the problem is not the people, but the elites.
That is the first stage of recognising the real problem. It may take some time before this new generation recognises that it is the mode of production which needs to be changed, not simply the political puppets (left, right or centre) who constantly dance to its various tunes. Meanwhile, faced with frustrated careers, social exclusion and austerity, these new workers may well vote for demagogues, not vote at all or even protest and riot. Sooner or later, however, if they conclude that ‘another world is possible’ they will need to become revolutionary rather than reformist or abstentionist. More importantly still they will need to be revolutionary – humanists if they are not to recreate the the patriarchal vanguardist pretentions and totalitarian conditions of the various 20th century Bolsheviks, Trotskyists or Stalinists. As revolutionary humanists they truly will become a problem for the elites of all political persuasions and at the same time collectively become part of the solution to the problems now facing humanity and the global eco-system upon which humanity ultimately depends.
Roy Ratcliffe (August 2016)
https://critical-mass.net/2016/08/23/the-people-are-the-problem-sic/
Thanks Alan. There are a surprisingly (unless you think about it) large number of bloggers producing provocative and thoughtful stuff like Roy.
Dmitry Orlov is worth following too: http://cluborlov.blogspot.ca/2016/08/a-thousand-balls-of-flame.html#more
Thanks for your second great article you linked to today,Alan, sustainability has never been more important and any society striving towards it should start with a sustainable financial system based on real values.
Increasing loss of habitats due to a changing climate, an ever changing equilibrium above our heads will soon account for the methane releases now amassing in the northern hemisphere. Glacial and sea ice melts are at a record high and rising sea levels are guaranteed.
Anybody with foresight must also be able to plan for guaranteed facts, we must become more adapt to live on water, have boats, not houses, build swimming houses and marry sea defences with energy generation.
But are people ready for it? Is there still too much salt in the butter? are we not enough disturbed yet? rest assured any assembling of thoughts and organising along these lines of possible solutions would attract the highest attention of the elites, be frowned upon and outlawed.
But, what the heck, what would grandfathers do for their grandchildren? what would anyone do to provide for future generations what has sustained us?
Socialism can only be sustainable, if its does not plan or apply the same rules for non voting children and their future offspring, it can’t be social, its rapacious, so whatever Corbyn has got in mind, he has got to realise that his membership is fairly well educated and will drag the Labour party into the 21st. century.
Well done Celtic fans. O that other clubs could follow your lead. Hats off to you all.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/celtic-fans-triple-palestine-fund-target-after-uefa-fine.21493
I’ve done something very few others have done. I slept the night at Celtic Football ground and there was a nice man outside selling those square sausages for breakfast in the morning 🙂
Must be a great team with fans like that! Stars one and all.
On a different topic here is a new approach to potential government wars. Please sign to get a debate in parliament. Thanks.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/160146
done John, one wonders whether equally worded petitions are running all over Europe.
No! I used to have two cardinal rules back then, “I do not spend the night in Glasgow or Liverpool”.
So how much do you think they paid to get me to break a cardinal rule? If only they had given the money they paid out to get their air-con back on line, to Palestinians? Back in the 80s this was when they did the place up.
Anyway, I signed your petition.
I mean, it’s just so great that Celtic have now developed this affinity with the Palestinians, but where have they been since The Six Day war? 1967 that was, and it’s now 2016, so that is a total of 39 years. Wow!
Need I say any more? Need I say, 39 years too late?
49 years*
Yes, you’re right WeeTam. Why don’t we just even it out and say “Half a Century too late!”
Wow! I’m impressed; Not!
Being football fans they are probably fucking stupid. So what has happened is someone has told them to fly Palestinian flags as this will apparently upset their opposition. But all that happens is they get fined a lot while nobody in Israel knows or cares.
Someone should have given the thick sectarian mongs Swaziland flags and then they would have flown those having been told they were Palestinian flags.
Being football fans they are probably fucking stupid.
Well yeah! They talk about “Bread and circuses” but they just love their football.
I think Anon1 should be barred from posting. His bigotry is beyond belief with phrases like ‘sectarian mongs’ to go with all his hatred of Muslims and love of all things British like a Union Flag wagging member of the National Front in the seventies, and all things Israeli, like a Zionist preacher of race-hatred. He deserves a red card – not for the first time.
Why should Anon! be banned and not – for example – you?
A man who threatened to kill a Labour MP in a two-minute answerphone rant has been spared jailed.
Geoffrey Farquharson admitted leaving the message on the phone of Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw the day before Labour’s Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in June.
The call to his Westminster office, that ended with Farquharson warning “I will kill you”, also included a homophobic remark about Mr Bradshaw.
The 37-year-old from Exeter was jailed for 12 weeks, suspended for two years.
Sentencing at Exeter Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Stephen Nichols also gave Farquharson a restraining order which bans him from contacting the MP and visiting his Exeter office.
Judge Nichols delivered the sentence after considering psychological reports and hearing Farquharson described as “very vulnerable and lonely” by his defence.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-37163116
I expect Ben Bradshaw is very up with the LGBTI movement.
You could not make this stuff up.
What do they use for brains in Scotland these days?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37166422
Police Scotland uniform to include Muslim hijab
Now you are monopolizing this thread with your own drivel (note spelling).
Of course he is. I have to agree with Habba, his sole intent is to make this the “michael norton blog”.
Do you seriously believe a single word the BBC utters? What planet do you live on? You don’t even have the excuse that you live on Planet America.
I believe some of the stuff the BBC utters, some of the stuff the BBC utters, I do not believe.
What I do is use my brain, then make a judgement.
What do you do?
I assume, since the September Dossier that the BBC is doing whatever the government tells it to.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_Dossier
I mean, we were really 45 minutes from doom, which after being 4 minutes from doom for all those years seemed something of a relief to us mere mortals, but not to Phony Tony, or you, apparently.
I mean, 4 minutes gives you no more time than to bend down and kiss your arse goodbye, but in 45 minutes you can dig yourself a big hole in the ground to hide in, but then again, maybe you don’t know how to use a shovel?
Of course, on the other hand, I believe exactly what the BBC told me:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Nightmares
Which, despite the BBC’s efforts, is still available:
https://freedocumentaries.org/documentary/bbc-the-power-of-nightmares-the-rise-of-the-politics-of-fear-baby-it-s-cold-outside-season-1-episode-1
If you want to know what is really going on – even if you may agree with some of the political objectives of those corruptly controlling politicians and the media, you should read this-
http://www.activistpost.com/2016/08/soros-hack-top-10-machinations-master-manipulator.html
Extract
“Everything that is expected from an ordinary weapon is expected from a silent weapon by its creators, but only in its own manner of functioning. It shoots situations, instead of bullets; propelled by data processing, instead of chemical reaction (explosion); originating from bits of data, instead of grains of gunpowder; from a computer, instead of a gun; operated by a computer programmer, instead of a marksman; under the orders of a banking magnate, instead of a military general.”
“The public cannot comprehend this weapon, and therefore cannot believe that they are being attacked and subdued by a weapon.”
“When a silent weapon is applied gradually, the public adjusts/adapts to its presence and learns to tolerate its encroachment on their lives until the pressure (psychological via economic) becomes too great and they crack up. Therefore, the silent weapon is a type of biological warfare. It attacks the vitality, options, and mobility of the individuals of a society by knowing, understanding, manipulating, and attacking their sources of natural and social energy, and their physical, mental, and emotional strengths and weaknesses.”
Re. the wearing of the hijab (which is at least better than the bin bag):
I once briefly knew Somali and Pakistani members of the Mooslim Comyunitee in South London and according to them this prevelance of hijab wearing among young Muslim women was much more an ideological, politically motivated, anti-Western statement than an expression of religious observance or conformity to their parent’s wishes (their mothers mostly did not wear the hijab). In addition, I was told that, behind the hijab, these young Muslim women were shagging around like there was no tomorrow, even surpassing their non-Muslim contemporaries in this particular field.
Any chance you could pass on the contact details of these delightful young women, Anon1?
Well I met their spiritual predecessors in the Riyadh Euromarché hypermarket, they were Chanelle’d up to their eyeballs with often transparent hijab/abaya/burkas. I preferred to stay alive (death of a princess) so just played squash with nice Egyptian ladies. The British ‘slamic girls are well educated, sensible ( it’s the male members of the family that you need to watch out for – but that exists still in Corsican families, fraternal ‘care’) Surely there’s an app for that? Haram-dating-online!
Exclusive: France is the most likely country to follow Britain in voting to quit the European Union amid a ‘bankruptcy of ideas’ about how to tackle its well-placed Eurosceptics, experts say, two months on from BREXIT.
Economic woes, terrorist attacks and the re-emergence of Nicolas Sarkozy could all play into the hands of Marine Le Pen at next year’s presidential elections, according to Euroscepticism specialist Simon Usherwood, providing the conditions that could open the door to a referendum similar to that held across the channel in June.
http://www.euronews.com/2016/08/23/why-france-is-the-most-likely-to-be-the-next-to-quit-the-eu
I certainly think it highly likely, as Nicola would say, that FRANCE will be next to leave the drowning corpse of the E.U.
You seem to have missed that the elite, such as yourself, have utter contempt for, and always blame “The People”, for whatever goes wrong with their (The elite’s) plans for “We The People”.
Please forgive somebody as unworthy as me, for posting things on your blog that do not meet your approval.
@ Alan August 23, 2016 at 18:57
‘Yes, you’re right WeeTam. Why don’t we just even it out and say “Half a Century too late!” Wow! I’m impressed; Not!
Pity, really, that your good post acknowledging Celtic’s support for Palestinians is suddenly changed, by you, to a ‘Why didn’t they do it sooner?’.
‘King James 2000 Bible
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons, who need no repentance….’
So, they are now doing the ‘right thing’; and instead of beating the joyful drums, you sink into slagging them off for not doing it sooner!
Come on!
Football Against Apartheid’: https://footballagainstapartheid.wordpress.com/
Oh no, I merely said I once slept the night inside Celtic football ground. I got paid well for it too. Sorry to cause confusion.
@ Anon1 August 23, 2016 at 19:44
‘Being football fans they are probably fucking stupid. So what has happened is someone has told them to fly Palestinian flags as this will apparently upset their opposition. But all that happens is they get fined a lot while nobody in Israel knows or cares.
Someone should have given the thick sectarian mongs Swaziland flags and then they would have flown those having been told they were Palestinian flags.’
Hmmmmn, which team do YOU support?
I’m sure you, ‘H’ and Co. will just LOVE this: (if not, please comment):
‘It’s not rockets Palestinian kids throw at Israel its STONES does that give a right for Israel to bomb GAZA?
Posted: 22 Aug 2016 10:29 AM PDT
The media keep repeating that Palestinians are throwing rockets into Israel the only problem is these rockets aren’t weapon type rockets they are just stones and bricks, children worldwide throw…
Visit BDTN For More On This Story
Rabbi who called for slaughter of a million Palestinians is to supervise Israel’s ‘Red Cross’
Posted: 22 Aug 2016 07:16 AM PDT
A notoriously racist rabbi who once called on Israel to slaughter a million Palestinian civilians has been appointed to head a supervisory committee for Magen David Adom (MDA) – Israel’s equivalent…
Visit BDTN For More On This Story
Israeli Minister “We always use the anti-Semitism trick or bring up the Holocaust” (Video)
Posted: 22 Aug 2016 06:28 AM PDT
Please comment below.
Visit BDTN For More On This Story ‘
Hmmp hmmmn…. perhaps a long wait for a response (intelligent one, that is! – I know ’twill be ‘tres difficile”, pero…
This link to Mondoweiss is worth looking at:
http://mondoweiss.net/2016/08/about-russian-influence/
For all followers of false gods (in this case, Mr Alexis Tsipras and his far left/far right governing coalition)
(from the English language version of Kathimerini):
“George Pagoulatos GEORGE PAGOULATOS
An odious prosecution
COMMENT 10:28
If there is one single eurozone economy whose failure and bailout warrants no mystery, it is Greece’s. Unlike Ireland or Spain, Greece failed in the most predictable way.
“There is nothing more unpredictable than the past,” experts on Soviet-era methods used to say. Government has the means to elevate its story into official history. It can create scapegoats to deflect attention from the real culprits. It can devise diversions and fictitious conspiracies. It can propagate hearsay, which with the help of unscrupulous media will become “news,” and with any luck a court case. And thus history can be rewritten or a narrative can become salient in the public sphere.
The reactivation of the criminal prosecution against Andreas Georgiou is emblematic. The former head of the independent Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) is accused of undermining the national interest by colluding with Eurostat to inflate the public deficit and debt figures in 2010, leading to higher official financing needs and heavier austerity. A case that should have never been introduced is now being resurrected in court and exploited by politicians in the SYRIZA-Independent Greeks coalition. It is also being rekindled by certain prominent officials who were members of Costas Karamanlis’s New Democracy government in 2004-09, which bears most of the blame for the explosive deficits that led to Greece’s financial meltdown. The government benefits from the revival of the Georgiou case in that it creates division inside the ND opposition party, whose new, reform-minded leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is seeking a break from his party’s clientelistic practices of the past.
The supposed inflation of the 2009 deficit figure is the foundation stone of the “anti-memorandum” demagogy. According to this myth the budget deficit for 2009 was artificially bloated, with the help of “executioner” Georgiou (as the SYRIZA daily Avgi branded him) in order to force Greece into a heavy bailout program. The absurdity of this allegation has not prevented it from acquiring a life of its own in the shadier sections of the media ecosystem, systematically reproduced by politicians of the demagogic left and the irresponsible right.
Let’s take a look at the actual facts. In October 2009, the European Commission estimated the 2009 fiscal deficit at 12.7 percent of gross domestic product. In April 2010, Eurostat revised the deficit upward to 13.6 percent, and subsequently in November 2010 to 15.4 percent. Correspondingly, the public debt was also revised from 115.1 percent of GDP in April 2010 to 126.8 percent in November 2010. Both dealt a severe blow to the government of George Papandreou, which was forced by the troika to take additional fiscal measures. The revision contributed to an already harsh fiscal consolidation, which further amplified the recession. But it also made things difficult for Greece’s eurozone partners, who appeared to be financing a fiscal wreck of a country, a bottomless pit. It is hard to discern what the supposed motives for inflating the deficit could be, other than the actual reason: that the deficit was revised to 15.4 percent because that is indeed how much it was.
Why the upward revision? The deficit was revised to conform to Eurostat’s European system of national and regional accounts (ESA95) – which hadn’t been applied until then – and included 17 loss-making general government corporations, transfers to social welfare organizations, other expenditures and obligations, as well as past off-market transactions about which the European Commission had not been notified. Given the lamentable record of Greek statistics, the country needed to come clean. Those attacking Georgiou are implying (or even explicitly stating) that he should have continued to misrepresent the official numbers, which would not have been possible anyway, given the post-2010 close scrutiny of Greek statistics.
The myth of the “inflated deficit” feeds another associated myth: that the bailout could somehow have been avoided if it hadn’t been for the bloating of the deficit figures. For one thing, Georgiou took office four months after the country had resorted to the April 2010 bailout. But there’s more. If there is one single eurozone economy whose failure and bailout warrants no mystery, it is Greece’s. Unlike Ireland or Spain (where private sector imbalances led to the crisis), Greece failed in the most predictable way, through excessive fiscal imbalances and public over-indebtedness, as warned against by every orthodox EMU textbook. With public expenditure at 53 percent and revenues at 38 percent of GDP, the Greek economy was sleepwalking straight to the edge of the cliff. The public debt rose from the area of 140 billion in 2000 to 240 billion in 2007 and 300 billion in 2009. Greek governments failed to curtail the debt/GDP ratio despite a long period of rapid growth until 2008, instead running primary budget deficits every year from 2003, adding new debt, especially foreign debt. Under a spiraling budget deficit (shadowed by a gaping current account deficit) the country was shut out of the markets. And instead of reflecting on the causes of the fiscal imbalances, the denialists of the leftist/right-wing populist coalition are prosecuting the person who gauged their magnitude. Portugal entered its own bailout program with much more modest imbalances (a fiscal deficit of 9 percent in 2010 and public debt at 90 percent) and yet no one dared to suggest that someone had manipulated the numbers to force it into a memorandum.
The most worrying part is not the prosecution itself of Greece’s first independent chief statistician, who transformed a disgraced government service into a respected statistical authority. It is not that the country is once again facing discredit internationally for the poor functioning of its institutions. It is not that the government is desperately seeking to produce any news that will obfuscate the glaring fact that since July 2015, the economy has undergone four consecutive quarters of year-on-year negative growth, after experiencing six quarters of weak but positive growth between 2014 and mid-2015. It is not even that such political tactics come at a sizable economic cost, undercutting the country’s credibility, raising the risk premium, discouraging potential investors, prolonging stagnation and leading to even heavier taxes for citizens and businesses that have already exhausted their limits of financial endurance.
The worse of all is perhaps the sad reminder that, seven years into this awful crisis, the clientelistic and populist half of the political system (the leftist/right-wing government coalition in tandem with the apologists of the fiscal recklessness up to 2009) refuse to abandon their old tricks, despite voting for adjustment programs and reforms, and despite claiming to implement them. Like the Bourbons of the Ancien Regime, they seem to have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.
George Pagoulatos is professor of European politics and economy at the Athens University of Economics and Business.”
link? oh dear, he’s frit…..
Would not surprise me if this was not Habbabkuk quoting from his own comment since he hardly ever uses links. He must be very proud of it if that is the case. 😀
Is George Pagoulatos actually Habbabkuk? He is a professor. And Habby is no Noddy so to speak.
http://www.pagoulatos.eu/en/
Is George Pagoulatis actually Habbabkuk, with his Oxford education?
http://www.pagoulatos.eu/en/cv/
If he is he must have a cushy number.
That’s an entirely credible rant from the desk of George Pagoulatos – Habba isn’t up to extended streams of bile. Pagoulatos is a centrist (read Blairite) economist who advised the former PM Lucas Papademos, whose rejection by the Greek electorate was so heartwarming. If you’re a European banker’s shill who is terrified of democracy (Papademos….ho ho) Pagoulatos is where you go for a Press homily. Pfft.
It is unclear what points you are making. (This is an improvement, mind you. Normally the points that you are making are all too obvious.)
Perhaps you could explain what your position on Greece is? Is Russia to blame? Is communism to blame? Is the international banking system guiltless, a victim of popular greed?
What strikes me about the history of this persecution of a people is that the plan, which ought to be unexceptionable, to conduct a thorough audit of the Greek national debt was never allowed to proceed. In the absence of a clear account of the debt and the history of Greece’s accession to the Euro regime, we are reduced to competing, and as Pagoulatos’ article shows, windy assertions about the nature of politics and politicians.
What Greece should have done was to leave the Eurozone, repudiate the debt and take charge of its economy. Instead successive regimes have put the interests of the bankers above those of the people. In an international economy in which a interest rates are hovering around zero, the Greek people are being bled by usurers.
This was directed at the Habbacomment. Either i can’t use the ‘reply’ function or it don’t work . Never mind, this is a very useful service provided gratis, merci.
Bev
“Perhaps you could explain what your position on Greece is? Is Russia to blame? Is communism to blame? Is the international banking system guiltless, a victim of popular greed?”
_________________
The article is clear enough to anyone who takes the trouble to read it carefully (which admittedly is more difficult than penning the occasional ill-informed rant about international “conspiracies” against Greece).
Ah but who made a big profit, Habbabkuk? Who Profited From The Greek $440 Billion Bailout?
http://truepublica.org.uk/eu/profited-greeces-440-billion-bailout/
This shows how the partially Soros-funded coup in Ukraine in which US ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt was up to his eyeballs succeeded (if 10,000 dead bodies can be seen as success). What a cock-up under the Poroshenko war.
http://theduran.com/leaked-memo-proves-george-soros-ruled-ukraine-in-2014-minutes-from-breakfast-with-us-ambassador-geoffrey-pyatt/
Incidentally I see nothing of Poroshenko in Ukraine even in Kyiv Post. There are references but no hard evidence that he is in Ukraine now. Furthermore Geoffrey Pyatt has been called home. Something is afoot and the madmen of the US are likely behind it.
Did you see this, John?
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/23/political-writer-daughter-of-ukrainian-dissident-detained-and-charged-in-ukraine/
No Bevin, I had not seen that article, though of course I was aware that there is no freedom of expression in Ukraine. It is against the law to tune into Russian news programmes, and as Miroslava Bednyk has learnt by her own experience (and her father’s before her) criticism of the Ukrainian government and its western allies is not allowed.
For Russian readers here is her blog. The link in the article goes to another blog.
http://odnarodyna.org/author/119
@ Habbabkuk August 23, 2016 at 22:06
What brought on ‘H’s’ loquacity? could it ‘conceivably’ been his inability to respond to my comment to Anon1 @ August 23, 2016 at 19:44?
Well, I just got an email from Football Against Apartheid, with this video clip, so I’ll include it, as well as giving the links to the articles I mention: https://youtu.be/1quvXJ01768
Links: ‘It’s not rockets Palestinian kids throw at Israel its STONES does that give a right for Israel to bomb GAZA?ed in my comment to Anon !: http://breakingdownthnews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/its-not-rockets-palestinian-kids-throw.html
‘Rabbi who called for slaughter of a million Palestinians is to supervise Israel’s ‘Red Cross’:
http://breakingdownthnews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/rabbi-who-called-for-slaughter-of.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+$%7Bbreakingdownthenews%7D+($%7BBDTN%7D)
‘Israeli Minister “We always use the anti-Semitism trick or bring up the Holocaust” (Video)’:
http://breakingdownthnews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/israeli-minister-we-always-use-anti.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+$%7Bbreakingdownthenews%7D+($%7BBDTN%7D)
Ouch!!!!
As the ‘Sun’ would say: !!!Gotcha!!! : EXCLUSIVE:Owen Smith said in a 2006 Telegraph interview he agrees with BLAIR on EVERYTHING:
http://breakingdownthnews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/exclusive-owen-smith-said-in-2006.html
‘…Born-again-socialist Owen Smith gave an interview to the Telegraph in 2006 in which he said he had no areas of difference with Tony Blair. Smith told the paper he opposed the Iraq War, despite previously praising it, but then claimed he agreed with Blair on everything else. Here is the excerpt from the interview:
oilysmith
Would he describe himself as a socialist?
“I am a democratic socialist, yes.”
And Mr Blair, is he a socialist?
“Yes.”
Mr Smith, 36, believes the Law movement is no more than a political spasm. “Their campaign is about the past and reminding people about the past. We are looking to the future.” Trying not to sound like a New Labour clone, Mr Smith dips his toe in a puddle of controversy. “The invasion of Iraq was a mistake,” he offers. “The world would have been a safer place if we hadn’t done it.”
Any other areas of difference with Mr Blair?
“No, I don’t think so.”
On Iraq, he had previously praised the war to his local paper and refused to say he would’ve voted against. So the truth is he agreed with Blair on everything. He’s now shamelessly claiming to be Corbynista-lite to win votes, but this is why Labour types who know Smith describe him as “more Blairite than Blair”…
Thatcher, evidently, described Blair and New Labour as her greatest achievement.
Surely electing this Smith character in Pontypridd (that is as in “Ponty-fucking-pridd” is the ultimate achievement of New Labour and the US and Israeli Embassies.
There was a time when….
Barbara
Perhaps Mr Smith genuinely wants Labour to win the next general election?
Labour under Mr Blair: 3 wins in succession
Labour before Mr Blair: 4 defeats in succession.
Hmmm…..
Sshh….
#KeepJezSafe
So Labour can only win if it’s not Labour?
No worries mendevilson will have the last say – umunna !!
Election results since Corbyn’s won the leadership: Labour won every election since. They said that A.Bevin was unelectable then and they were wrong, just as pet Habby.
“Perhaps Mr Smith genuinely wants Labour to win the next general election?..”
Why?
In order to do what?
Invade Syria?
Assist Israel in its genocidal colonisation of Palestine?
Transfer the NHS into the hands of Pharmaceutical manufacturers and Insurance monopolists?
Attack Russia?
Hold referenda on the EU until opponents give in?
People such as Smith are interested only in maintaining themselves in the style to which they have grown accustomed. They are ready to auction off the sovereign powers of Parliament, trade agreement by military alliance in order to do so.
That is what they need to win elections for.
It is far better to lose elections fighting for principles, such as free medical care available to all,the rights of workers to organise unions and strike work, and opposition to criminal wars of aggression (Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan etc) than to win elections by promising the oligarchy to do nothing different except to provide the Establishment with a new face.
Bevin,
His desire to be PM is in order that he will issue a stand fare economy train ticket to Corbyn in order to ship him out of Westminster, that, and the fact he’s a patsy for some of the biggest moral cowards I’ve ever witnessed in the UK – all the ChickenCoup Plotters remaining hidden and silent – perhaps they fear the demos?
Well-even an idiot could see the complete nonsense of having Tory Party Part 1 and Tory Party Part 2 which were essentially the same, but simply pretended to be different. And with a bit of nominal tweaking the electorate were taken in. Good job people are waking up, then, isn’t it?
Strongly recommend you read ‘Broken Vows’, by Tom Bower, to get up to speed with what Blair did with those three ‘victories’, the economic tailwind propelling him, for which neither he nor Brown was responsible, and the utter shambles that resulted from making up policies on the hoof. Though it would be churlish to expect you to reflect further on his legacy of burgeoning inequality or his slavish compliance with the financial interests whose economic castle in the air collapsed in 2007. Still less to acknowledge that a savvy socialist might have avoided some of that.
UK woman stabbed to death in Australia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-37171751
It is alleged the 29-year-old French suspect used the Arabic phrase “Allahu akbar” during the attack.
Vulnerable families are being exploited by “rogue landlords” in the midst of the first minister’s constituency, a BBC Scotland investigation has found.
They are living in substandard homes in the Govanhell area of Glasgow – but many are too afraid to speak out.
Come on Ms. Nicola Sturgeon, get on with your day job, stop strutting your stuff you are not the President of the Republic of France, but you are the M.P. responsible for Govanhell.
Norton
For the fourth time: it is the French Republic, not the Republic of France.
Owen Smith needs to pipe down and respect the decision of the people of the UK to leave the EU.
Even his own constituents voted to leave, ffs.
Annon1
It might seem to some that Mr.Owen and Ms. Nicola have some aims in common.
perhaps the Biggest they both would rather Mr.Jeremy wasn’t so liked by so many people.
There will be an “Algerian democracy” re-vote included in the e;ection manifestos at the next general election – THERE WILL BE NO BREXIT, Uncle Sam insists upon it.
They published the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland report today, we have a fiscal deficit of £14.8 billion, 9.5% of GDP. That compares with a 4% deficit for all UK.
So will the FM be answering questions at Holyrood? No? Will anyone else answer questions? No? So just why did they alter the publication date of GERS to coincide with all the SNP MSPs being abroad on holiday?
Fred.
I anticipated your pushing of GERS crystal ball predicitons, and so have many others by the looks of it.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-six-key-facts-about-gers/#more-87453
I doubt the usual jingostic naysayers speel will work again.
RoS
I anticipated you trying to counter the GERS report with the Rev’s spin doctoring.
http://chokkablog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/wings-idiots-guide-for-gers-deniers.html
That’s what someone who knows what they are talking about thinks of your link.
Fred.
I almost fell of my chair laughing at your link.
One of the funniest things I came across, on Twitter was Micheal White (supposed Journalist of the Gruan) citing Kevin Hague as some kind of economic guru, and not just some demented pet-shop owner from Edinburgh.
You’re a funny guy Fred, I’ll at least give you that.
Well he certainly wiped the floor with your Reverend Campbell. Not that that’s difficult of course.
Our Zi0nist friends:
“Israel sold weapons to Argentina at height of Falklands War reveal declassified Foreign Office files”
“British diplomats cited evidence that Israel had supplied the Argentine military junta with arms that were used against the Task Force during the campaign to liberate the islands.
“Israeli military exports before the war included the Skyhawk jets that would later be used to bomb “British warships, killing dozens of soldiers, sailors and marines.
“Four British warships were sunk by bombs dropped from Skyhawks, including RFA Sir Galahad, a troop carrier that was set ablaze while anchored in Bluff Cove, killing 48 sailors and soldiers. Simon Weston, the badly burned veteran, was among the survivors. Another four ships were damaged by Skyhawks.”
Here’s a list of Labour Friends of Israel :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Friends_of_Israel
Here’s a list of Conservative Friends of Israel :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Friends_of_Israel
Does the Knesset have a ‘Friends of UK’ parliamentary group?
They are only partial lists. Here’s a better one for Labour Friends of Israel (and of Palestine): http://jfjfp.com/?p=36683
Note there are a long list of Labour Friends of Palestine, but ‘Conservative Friends of Palestine?
Well….there aren’t any Conservative Friends of Palestine. The Tories do not have an equivalent group. The nearest they have is the Conservative Middle East Council which aims to help “parliamentarians to gain a unique, first-hand understanding of the Middle East.”
Paul thanks for the link, here’s one in return you may find interesting.
http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il
It’s account of former Israeli soldiers, and the dreadful acts they carried out against the Palestinians. However they realised what they were doing was wrong, and are bravely speaking out about it.
This is consistent with Israel supporting right-wing dictatorships (some of them genocidal) in Central America at the same time. As recently as 2009, Israel supported the coup government in Honduras.
Link:
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/israel-sold-weapons-to-argentina-at-height-of-falklands-war-reveal-declassified-foreign-office-files/ar-BBvYpDD?li=AAdeCd7&ocid=spartandhp
The actual position (allegedly) on cybersecurity
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/former-nsa-analyst-russia-can-listen-in-on-anything-it-wants/article/2600029
It seems that a recent presumed Russian spy wasn’t asked/tasked to go for UKUSA comintel – as presumably that was already available? I’m confused with cyberspy vs. cyberspy! or was it a magic squirrel superbluff
Mia Ayliffe-Chung, 21, dead after hostel stabbing in Home Hill, Queensland
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/24/british-woman-allegedly-stabbed-to-death-by-frenchman-at-australian-backpackers-hostel
Queensland stabbing: British woman killed by attacker who allegedly shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’
https://www.gov.uk/government/people/menna-rawlings
It is being taken very seriously, Her Excellency Menna Rawlings CMG is going to the scene.
Can I ask a question:
if you post a few links pointing out inadequacies in Ms.Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency they get deleted,
yet if you constantly go on about ISRAEL and how evil they are, that now seems to be fine,
only asking, is Ms. Nicola Sturgeon off limits on this Scottish blog?
Maybe your posts got deleted because this site isn’t a drop-point for random news items which catch your eye.
Seriously – if I want a news-ticker feed, I’d get one. I can subscribe to the NYT etc. for email alerts. Kind of you as it might be, we’ve managed without your news-gathering service here for many years, and I daresay we’d manage without it again.
Are u a moderator of just have a high view of yourself?
@MN: Just letting you know what the standards and practices are around here, something anyone with manners would have figured out for themselves. Imagine if scores of people provided the same “service” as your good self, and posted dozens of random news items every day – as if nobody could get the news anywhere else.
Instead of your knee-jerk belligerence when encountering constructive criticism, try engaging your brain and considering what is being said to you, for once in your life.
But it does not answer the questions asked about the problems in the constituency of Nicola, does it?
You asked a question of why your posts might have disappeared. On the basis of my experience here, I offered an explanation. Obviously, helping you out (even at your direct request!) is a singularly thankless waste of time.
Glenn.
I have to agree with you there, the newspaper industry, especially the Express, must be losing a fortune as Michael repeatedly posts snippets of news, day in day out. ?
RoS: I thought MN worked for the Express on the sly, and was trying to promote the rag!
Queensland stabbing: British woman killed by attacker who allegedly shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’
Sydney stabbing; British woman stabbed by attacker who didn’t shout ‘Allahu Akbar’.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/mar/09/british-backpacker-has-surgery-after-being-stabbed-in-australia
He probably just forgot. No doubt he left behind his passport and a copy of the Koran.
Terrorists always leave behind their passport and a copy of the Koran. Terrorists are incredibly careless in that way.
I think they’re trying to be helpful. It means we don’t have to waste time investigating their crimes properly.
If course Israel supports “right wing” governments. It rushed to the support of Suharto, Pinochet and successive fascistic coups in Latin America.
It serves as the epicenter of international fascism, the only avowed Fascist government in the world and constantly working to spread its doctrine of racial superiority and the worship of violence.
It supports the government of Ukraine, which is based upon parties which celebrate the pogroms and concentration camps of the Nazi regime which they, and the predecessors of governments in the Baltic states, collaborated with as para military police and irregular auxilaries.
It flirts with the current Indian government in Delhi, notoriously controlled by the RSS another fascist party which insists on racial superiority and shares with Israel its hatred of muslims.
It provides military and logistical support to Al Nusra, Daesh and other wahhabi militias, also organised in accordance with racist and authoritarian principles, fighting in Syria.
It is allied with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf kleptocracies. Like them it constantly promotes the salafist ‘jihad’ against shia and christians and any others who cannot defend themselves and thereby vindicate their religious sects.
The Friends of Israel are also the friends of war, chaos, caste privilege, racism and imperialism. How they can, simultaneously pose as ‘social democrats’ or liberal reformers, let alone Socialists, remains to be explained.
Last night Habbakuk regaled us with some tedious ruminations on the Greek economy.
This is much more informative:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/24/greek-debt-and-the-new-financial-imperialism/
Jack Rasmus argues that this is a new, refined form of imperialist exploitation:
“…By imposing austerity to pay for the debt the Troika since 2010 has forced the Greek government to extract income and wealth from its workers and small businesses-i.e. to exploit its own citizens on the Troika’s behalf-and then transfer that income to the Troika and Europe bankers and investors. That’s imperialism pure and simple-albeit a new kind, now arranged by State to State (Troika-Greece) financial transfers instead of exploitation company by company at the point of production. The magnitude of exploitation is greater and far more efficient…”
On another subject, it is noteworthy that the number of comments, which has already passed through 1066, 1688 etc is now approaching the date of the Union, still controversial. Whether it will catch up with the current date and overtake it, remains to be seen.
Overcrowding on trains – Nationalise them.
Overcrowding in hospitals/GP surgeries – Nationa….. Ohh, hang on.
Re-nationalising the NHS wouldn’t be a bad idea. A combination of profitising / underfunding doesn’t work.
By the way, I’m curious why you’re you still so subservient to The Establishment, when they’re doing their level best to thwart/ignore the wishes democratically expressed, to leave the neo-liberal EU super-state.
I think the PM, for one, will carry through the democratic will of the people as expressed in the referendum, whereas other “Establishment” interests will try to keep us in Europe.
Many commenters here, including Craig, Nevermind, Mr Goss, consider themselves anti-Establishment and opposed to neo-liberalism, yet they were for Remain (Nevermind still hopes that the result will be thwarted/ignored).
Could I suggest that the matter is a little more complex than your rather lazy, silly question suggests?
And if “The Establishment” is taken to mean the powerful and important people who run the country in politics, the media and so on, then no, I am certainly not subservient to it. I hardly think I would get very far with some of the opinions I express on here.
It’s one thing to have supported Remain before the referendum, and quite another to oppose carrying out the will of the people that was expressed in that referendum.
“Many commenters here, including Craig, Nevermind, Mr Goss, consider themselves anti-Establishment and opposed to neo-liberalism, yet they were for Remain”
You forgot RoS.
RoS has only been for remain since the referendum, if you read his posts before the referendum you will see he was very much pushing Leave propaganda.
Like this.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/06/will-vote-remain-love-mum/comment-page-2/#comment-605193
Fred.
I clicked your link and it took me to my comment, in which I said I really don’t want to see Turkey in the EU. (I still don’t ) stop the press! That’s 100% conformation that I wanted out of the EU, again Fred you’re a funny guy, almost as funny as Kevin Hague, who’s infatuated with the WingsOverScotland blog.
Incidently Fred, here’s the real story.
“Brexit is projected to cost the Scottish economy up to £11.2 billion each year, according to the Scottish Government.”
“Leaving the European Union will also hit tax revenues by up to £3.7 billion annually, its analysis found.”
“First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the figures are further evidence of the need to protect Scotland’s relationship with the EU.”
“The Government analysis paper suggests that by 2030, Scottish GDP is projected to be between £1.7 billion and £11.2 billion per year lower than it would have been if Brexit did not occur.”
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14698930.Brexit__will_cost_Scots_economy___11_2bn_each_year_/
That wasn’t the only post of yours repeating Brexit propaganda. In one you actually stated you wanted Scotland out of Europe.
@Anon1:
Not much hurry from the PM, is there? There’s talk about delaying until after the French elections, and then the German elections, and someone’s bound to have another election we can wait for after that.
Not that most of the Remainers you’ve mentioned see absolutely nothing wrong with untrammelled immigration, open-door, borderless policy – everyone on board – and accuse those who are a little more cautious of being motivated by racism alone. They must think swamping the UK is so important that it takes priority over countering neo-liberalism.
You might express some opinions I don’t like, and the Establishment wouldn’t voice – at least in public. But at heart, I don’t think you say anything that the Establishment wouldn’t agree with in private. Can you think of an example? Apart from voting Leave of course. Which is why I asked in the first place.
What matters, Glenn UK, is that the leave voters won, innit? Waiting for something comes naturally,eventually, might happen one day, it works even better if there was a queue.
So we’ve gone from what “The Establishment” does in action, to what it allegedly thinks in private. You’re trying to cover all bases, Glenn. Ultimately, if I’m not whining on about Israel, the bedroom tax and Tory SCUM selling off the NHS, then I’m an establishment lickspittle.
Anyway, off the top of my head:
The EU
Corporatism
Mass-immigration
Multiculturalism
Scottish independence
Foreign “aid”
Political correctness
The BBC
Migrant “crisis”.
Far from being “subservient to The Establishment”, I form my own opinions based on things as I see and understand them. Sometimes I am in agreement, other times I am not. You just have to accept that there are legitimately held differences of opinion to your own.
I’d put a major typo in above – should have read “Note that most of the Remainers…”, not “Not that most of the remainers”. It totally negated the point I was making, sorry about that. Perhaps a friendly MOD will correct it? 🙂
I certainly understand that there are opinions different to my own – jeez, I find plenty of that from just around here where hardly anyone agrees with me! Not that that matters, I’m not here to try and win a popularity contest.
However, nearly all the positions you mention are actually favoured by the Establishment. Tories (being mostly racist at heart) hate all the points you’ve mentioned such as foreign aid, PC, multi-culturism and mass immigration, foreigners in general, migrants, the BBC – I think you’ve got nearly all of them.
Likewise, sucking up to that insane, genocidal bastion of neo-fascism Israel is one of your hobbies, right? As is perusing an aggressive foreign policy. So I think my point stands rather well, in fact, it’s strengthen by your admissions here.
Foreign “aid”
It should be virtually stopped, most of the electorate were incensed with this Lib-Con CRAP.
Pay? Not out of public funds I trust.
Anon1.
Now that you mention trains, most of the press are carrying a story today that, doesn’t portray Jeremy Corbyn in a good light. They claim he boarded a train, then walked past unreserved empty seats, and sat on the floor. The press claim that he did so in aid of complaining about overcrowded carriages, and that nationalisation is the way forward.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/corbyn-strode-past-empty-rail-seats-before-making-video-complaining-that-train-was-ram-packed.21534
The train company is in breach of the data protection act and should not have published those photos of its passengers going about their lawful business.
Here it is RoS.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-virgin-trains-row-cctv-footage-data-protection-information-commissioner-a7206916.html
“Jeremy Corbyn Virgin Trains row: Probe launched into possible data protection rule breach over CCTV footage release”
Thank you Alan for that link, putting aside the legalities of the issue for a moment, I’d like to know if there is any truth in the accusation, or is it just another smear attempt.
As Richard Branson is involved (that paragon of truthfulness and transparency), we can take it that it’s a smear. NB Virgin Trains owes the taxpayer ~£3Bn according to recent reports.
Ba’al.
I’ll always remember Richards Branson’s quote of:
‘”If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!”
Right after he came out and said, on Scottish independence:
“The big problem with Scottish independence is that there are so many imponderables – we don’t know what the situation is going to be like afterwards,”
Judt don’t ask me what I think of Branson, you may not like it.
The BBC have been running this as a top story (reluctantly moved to allow for earthquakes briefly) for two days now. Naturally, they were all over this “scandal” at a press briefing today which Corbyn called to discuss the NHS and funding – you know, nothing anybody’s actually interested in.
So when Corbyn wanted to drag the subject back to the NHS, he was “irritated”, “testy” and “rattled” according to the BBC. Professional, unbiased journalism at its finest.
I have just added 100 iodine tablets and 10 cans of beans to my water supplies.
Now should I hoard a few spices, garlic keeps quiet well, you got to have something to cut through the stench.
And how do you stop beer from getting irradiated, will I really need a lead fridge?
I think the BBC should tell us what to hoard, keeping in mind their corporate responsibilities vis a vis the nudge nudge wink wink factor, and then MN can link to it ad nauseum.
and for the more discerning connoisseur….
http://realsurvivalist.com/best-emergency-food-supplies/
Is this for when Trumpo wins the November election, and gets shot?!!
Those pre-prepared meals are expensive and likely to go to waste. Probably best to stock up with sacks of staples like rice and pasta plus tinned foods, all of which last a long time and can be consumed in the meantime so you haven’t wasted your money.
SEEDS.
You’ve got the iodine tablets which should protect you from the effects of radioactive beer.
I expect it is mostly hype from the sellers of bottled water and tinned food stuffs.
If you hoard food and water for a while, you will not fancy it ( unless a real-lock-down happens)
so you chuck it away, unused (* apart from the booze)
win-win for the water & tinned food sellers.
Probably diverting from Owen Smith’s marital infidelity (with or eithout a pig)
The idea of renationalising the railways should fill anyone over 40 with horror.
Why should it fill anyone with horror?
British Rail weren’t perfect – and you have to put BR into the context of post-war recovery – but it wasn’t a total rip-off on the fares they charged.
Back in the day I once traveled from Penzance to Edinburgh for forty quid (this was in the 1980s). I believe you’d have to take out a mortgage for a similar journey today – Penzance to Edinburgh is/was the longest continuous rail journey in the UK. If I remember rightly, when I did it all those years ago it took about 14 hours. The train was half empty for most of the journey, and after getting pissed-up in the buffet car, once we got into Somerset and night, I went to the guards carriage, unrolled my sleeping bag and had the best nights sleep I’ve ever had on a train on a pile of mail sacks. I was awoken early the next morning at Waverly station, as the carriage doors were rolled open by mail workers and my little hide-away was flooded by sunlight.
Why? The trains were far more cutting-edge for their day back before Thatcher’s regime started in on it, profitisation, cutbacks and the Tories’ corruption by the road and oil lobbies. Fares were reasonable, passengers weren’t being bilked to keep a bunch of investors happy.
I’ve put this challenge out before – can anyone produce an example of a state owned entity (i.e. built and owned by the taxpayer) which was actually improved as a result of profitising it for the sole benefit of the investor class?
Nuclear weapons?
” can anyone produce an example of a state owned entity (i.e. built and owned by the taxpayer) which was actually improved as a result of profitising it for the sole benefit of the investor class?”
_____________
Glenn.
That’s easy, the House of Lords. ?
Good tries both, but let’s think more of what used to be a service in this county – entities that provide a substantial part of the national infrastructure, vital parts of our lives and the national economy.
Nuclear weapons and Lords are all utterly useless wastes of time, space and money, and ought to be done away with entirely.
I’m over 40, and I remember it was possible to buy a ticket at any station, to anywhere on the network, for a more-or-less affordable price, with a reasonable expectation of getting to the destination at something like the published time. It was also possible to get to a lot of places which no longer have stations or lines unless a local heritage society has salvaged them. I also remember when guards were guards and not ‘train managers’ pretending to be airline pilots, when you could put a bicycle (even a motorcycle) in the guard’s van….hell, you could even open the carriage windows. Maybe you’re so old you’ve forgotten, Anon. Or maybe you just swallow any claim of progress made by an authority figure.
The Steam Trains from Oldham to Blackpool and Southport were Brilliant in 1956, and in 1958, I traveled on a steam train powered by the same steam engine as I had in my Hornby train set. I’m sure it was doing well over 100 miles an hour most of the way – from Manchester Piccadilly to London…in just over 2 hours. It only stopped at Crewe and Rugby on the way. I have no idea how much a ticket cost, but it can’t have been much cos we were skint.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Scotsman_(train)#/media/File:Flying_Scotsman_in_Doncaster.JPG
Memories, Tony. My granddad sometimes took me to Paddington to look at the steamers when I was nowt but a nipper. On Sundays, the police silver band played there too.
None of this bleary-eyed stuff about open windows and guards standing to attention is relevant to privatisation.
Equally, I remember NHS nurses wearing crisp uniforms and stern matrons ensuring the highest standards of cleanliness and care.
It has nothing to do with the publuc vs. private debate.
A reply to Anon at 19.14:
Now, in 2016, a friend of mine recently traveled from Angouleme (in south west France) to London for not much more than 80 euros (which before Brexit was about £60).
To put that into context, it’s much more distance than a journey from London to Glasgow or Edinburgh.
But keep pumping out the corporate propaganda, old chap.
Ba’al Zevul,
All the second class seats will be legit and reserved in advance, but this causes serious inefficiencies particularly on long distance routes. The reason for this – is if you know you are going to travel a few days in advance from say London Euston to Wigan – the price you pay is about £27 – and your seat will be reserved – and stay reserved for the rest of the journey to Scotland.
If you just turn up and buy a ticket at the station…or you miss your train you pre-booked – cos London underground is buggered…you will have to pay considerable more – like £100 more – and if you want to travel first class £200 more.
Its daft and grossly inefficient.
Sometimes its cheaper to fly.
Tony
Doesn’t it, Anon? Perhaps you think that paying PFI contractors four times the cost of building and running an NHS hospital has nothing to do with it? That ‘privatisation’ of this kind doesn’t – as its prime objective – simply result in an added obligation on the taxpayer to incentivise an offshore hedge fund? That having multiple operators fighting for the same network with the sole objective of maximising profits is the best possible way of building an integrated and efficient nationwide transport system which Joe Public – not just Cedric Canary-Wharf – can afford to use, to say nothing of being a wonderful route to directed investment in maintenance and new infrastructure?
Sure, guards standing to attention are irrelevant, which is why I didn’t mention this facet of their existence (if it occurred at all, it must have been before even my time). Re. nurses trained in delivering the highest standards, well, what happened to them? MRSA would not be possible in a ward subjected – as they used to be – to regular deep cleaning. But that kind of thing knocks lumps out of both corporate profitability and the amount available to pay unproductive management… native to the now-corporate NHS compelled to outsource every service it provides and get it off the government’s books. The disappearance of …what shall I call it?… a disciplined approach to patient care in favour of all-too-easily rigged performance metrics supervised by management which can’t tell a cannula from a candlestick was simply a waypoint on the route to privatisation. Though I quite take your point. As the NHS hasn’t been fully privatised yet, it’s not a good case to cite. Yet. And I didn’t.
RobG
There is not that much difference between the distances. The Angouleme trip is made possible only by the privately financed Channel Tunnel. Also, your friend will have booked well in advance for such a cheap ticket.
Anon1.
The East coast line, was, a nationalised line that National Express ran, they handed it back to the government. It was then run as a nationalised venture, it made huge profits and returned millions of taxpayers cash, into the governments coffers.
Bob Crow, (remember him and his highly suspect demise) general secretary of the RMT union, said the figures “destroy from top to bottom this Government’s case for handing the East Coast back to the rip-off merchants from the private sector.
Don’t let them tell you that a nationalised railway system can’t run efficiently or make a profit, it can and did.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nationalised-east-coast-rail-line-returns-209m-to-taxpayers-8866157.html
It used to be quicker when it was BR, cheaper and you could smoke.
Reply to Anon1 at 19.56:
No, the fare my friend paid from Angouleme to London was a walk-in and pay fare, and that was on the high side because of the travel times.
Your eyes would water at the incredibly low fares the retired, disabled, unemployed, etc have to pay. It’s the same in many European countries.
I agree with you that we should privatise La Manche/English Channel. So much better to let big corporations profit from tax payer’s infrastructure, and charged ridiculous prices for crossing 21 miles of water.
(incidentally, in the early days of the Chunnel all passenger and freight services were heavily subsidised by the British and French governments, and to some extent they still are)
Oddly enough, no.
So far as I can tell from a very quick look at the evidence…
Corbyn didn’t book tickets in advance – for himself, his wife and his entourage…
All the seats he walked passed were reserved (except first class – which he didn’t have any tickets for)
He couldn’t find even 2 unreserved seats together in Second Class for his wife and himself.
He sat on the floor and someone did a “PR” video.
He then was offered a free upgrade to First Class – but declined the offer.
The train manager – offered the upgrade to First Class to other Second Class Passengers – and Corbyn and his wife sat together in their vacated seats in Second Class.
The press and even Richard Branson are trying to do a massive anti Corbyn PR stunt re this load of nonsense – but they will get very little support from anyone who actually uses trains on a regular basis.
Tony
Thanks for that, Tony – I wondered if there was more to the story than meets the eye. Many a time I’ve had to walk past rows of reserved seats, even though nobody took them for several stops.
I’m thinking thet Ripoff Rail plc puts reserved signs on all the pig-class seats just to piss of those without reservations and make them reserve next time.
For ‘piss of’ please read ‘piss on’ or ‘piss off’, as you will.
Glenn, The most impressive trains I have traveled on were in Holland – like traveling in an air conditioned Rolls Royce.
They were Double Deckers – not that much taller than our british trains..
So instead of this HS2 ridiculously expensive and disruptive nonsense – why not simply – make our existing train bridges and tunnels on existing train routes – just maybe 3 feet taller (to increase the clearence – maybe less with a bit of decent train engineering). It would be far cheaper, and very much quicker and very much less disruptive – if planned properly.
We could do all the work ourselves in The UK – Make our British Trains a world leader and export the technology all over the world..
Then we would be doing something useful.
Tony
and whilst still on the train subject…we should be building train lines alongside most existing long distance motorways…most of the geographic changes have already done – and for long distance – electrified train travel is far more efficient and quicker than car travel….(it took me over 8 hours to travel by car from London to Southport fairly recently ( a train could do it in less than 3 – and so could I if the motorways weren’t blocked)
Tony
Tony: All agreed, particularly about the European trains.
Our friend Anon1 is trying to make out the service isn’t that badly priced really, etc. – but no rail user today could tell you with a straight face that we have good value or even a halfway decent service.
There are better trains (and roads for that matter!) in Morocco than this country. We have 3rd world service, yet the world’s highest prices. Trains are filthy, crowded, irregular and unreliable. Travel during “peak times” (i.e. 6am to midday, and 3pm to 9pm), and you will pay more than a taxi would cost for the journey.
Even in a country with fuel taxed as highly as we have it (in rip-off Britain, just about the most expensive in the world, while roads would rival its poorest), a single person can drive the distance in a car more cheaply. This is utterly non-sensible.
Tories absolutely hate this country and want to destroy it.
One reason there are so many empty seats with reserved stickers on them is, people make the reservation then don’t bother to find the reserved seat, they just take a vacant seat. So the reserved seat stays empty.
Regarding Branson, some years ago on local radio an old girl said, “We used to have people like him during the war. These days they call ’em entrepreneurs but in those days we called ’em spivs.”
Branson is a carpetbagger, a middleman only. He’s not an industrialist who invented something like Mackintosh or Dunlop, nor did he invent an industrial process like Nobel or Ford. He made millions selling other people’s creations – music, records, phones, planes, trains – and now he makes billions poncing from the public purse including buying a bank on the cheap.
He’s a very greedy man. An ugly trait.
Did you know that Mike Oldfield, of Tubular Bells fame, made Branson’s Virgin record label. And possibly his stores and the entire empire that followed. Oldfield, on the other hand, didn’t even recover the bus-fare to take him to the studios to produce the record that made Branson rich.
Good stuff! I knew Jeremy wouldn’t stoop to ‘faking’ a situation.
And, where, oh where, are the MSM on this? Up the PTB’s a**holes, their favourite abode (giving up on the cold, undersides of slimy stones).
I don’t know why he didn’t just travel by private helicopter like Nicola Sturgeon does.
Don’t mention the sainted Ms. Nicola, they’ll probably rub u out, no bad things ever happened in her sainted community, only good things, value for money things, Proper Scottish things, all pucker.
Wonder why you spelt ostracised “ostracized”, the American way?
Seems to be happening a lot these days. This work of the devil called “Outlook” insists on helpfully turning s’s into z’s, without a by-your-leave, it appears to be part of a world-wide takeover to Amerikanise the civilised world.
Incidentally Paul Craig Roberts latest subscribers’ bulletin arrived in my email inbox this morning bearing the subject line: The Term “Conspiracy Theory” Was Invented by the CIA In Order To Prevent Disbelief of Official Government Stories. In the bulletin Roberts recommends to readers seeking further enlightenment the book :
Conspiracy Theory in America (Discovering America)
by Lance deHaven-Smith
Excerpt from the Amazon book description (at link above):
“Conspiracy Theory in America investigates how the Founders’ hard-nosed realism about the likelihood of elite political misconduct—articulated in the Declaration of Independence”
And who was the one founder who campaigned the most in the realm of hard-nosed realism about the likelihood of elite political misconduct? Why it was an Englishman by the name of Thomas Paine, whose statue stands proudly in Thetford, Norfolk. He is even alleged to have written the Declaration of Independence, but of course, because he rejected Christianity, which is essential to “Manifest Destiny”, as well as his leaving for France, he got written out of the story.
http://www.ushistory.org/paine/
“These are the times that try men’s souls.” He sure told it like it is.
And before you ask for proof of what I say:
http://www.crookedlakereview.com/articles/67_100/76july1994/76williams.html
“Ever since the Revolution there has been a tradition in certain parts of the country that the real author of the Declaration of Independence was Thomas Paine. The storm of opprobrium that beat upon Paine’s name because of his religious writings almost eradicated this tradition.”
“Soon after I had published the pamphlet Common Sense, in America, I saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion. The adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it had taken place, whether J-wish, Christian, or Turkish, had so effectually prohibited by pains and penalties, every discussion upon established creeds, and upon first principles of religion, that until the system of government should be changed, those subjects could not be brought fairly and openly before the world; but that whenever this should be done, a revolution in the system of religion would follow. Human inventions and priestcraft would be detected; and man would return to the pure, unmixed and unadulterated belief of one God, and no more.
Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The J-ws have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet, as if the way to God was not open to every man alike.
Each of those churches show certain books, which they call revelation, or the word of God. The J-ws say, that their word of God was given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say, that their word of God came by divine inspiration: and the Turks say, that their word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from Heaven. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all.
Thomas Paine, Age of Reason, January 27, 1794.
Wasn’t Thomas Paine so right on the money?
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/Visit_Us/Ancient_House/Thomas_Paine/index.htm