The Dysfunctional United Kingdom 2388

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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.

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2,388 thoughts on “The Dysfunctional United Kingdom”

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  • YKMN

    “a disfunctional United Kingdom” and obsequious , incompetent , idiotic, unless this was also a carefully set-up situation and nobody told them anything, Pike!

    http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/14681974.Chinese____spied_on_secret_moors_base___/

    (it wasn’t quite so much spying as spending all their recreational time playing with BMEWS being shown around by the whole of the RAF & modplod)

    the only mildly amusing bit is that the dossier (from the americans) arrived on Theresa’s desk just at the same time that Russian oligarch/Blair friend Lord Peter Mandelson was saying on TV how we must complete the Hinkley project ASAP. . .”a disfunctional United Kingdom” indeed

    • Node

      You are on record as supporting a ban on women wearing veils in public. Would you also ban ‘burkinas’?

      • Alcyone

        Those veils are already banned throughout France and yes it makes complete sense to me. Take a step back and think deeply for a change (yes, I believe you want to see change in the World too?). Organised religion, all of them, are dangerous to your health. At any rate, don’t wear your religion on your sleeve. It is not even clear whether these veils are required by their religion at all; I would default to contemporary times and say no, non.

        Btw, how long have these religions been around? How long has modern manbeen around? How long has anatomically modernman been around? How long has the earth been around? The Universe? Does Islam exist on other planets in the Universe? Christianity, Judaism, The Books? Buddhism? The latter is very fashionable.

        As for burkinis, don’t stick out like a sore thumb. Like that newsreader on C4. If she is really into modesty, she shouldn’t appear on public television. At any rate, she looked like she had come to work the other day in her printed pyjamas and white dressing gown. You may as well have nuns reading the news. I once counselled a young Muslim lady-friend who was about to be married, that her fiance wanted her to start wearing a hijab after they married. She felt pressured, I advised her to put her foot down and not have any of that nonsense.

        Is Krishnan Gurumurthy going to start wearing a turban next? I already think Galloway looks stupid with his hat on in doors. Are Muslim lady MP’s going to start wearing full-face veils in Parliament? Would you approve of that?

        I don’t feel that strongly about scarves and turbans and other hair/head coverings, but there is a time and place for everything and good taste and judgment are required.

        • Node

          Those veils are already banned throughout France and yes it makes complete sense to me. Take a step back and think deeply for a change (yes, I believe you want to see change in the World too?). Organised religion, all of them, are dangerous to your health. At any rate, don’t wear your religion on your sleeve. It is not even clear whether these veils are required by their religion at all; I would default to contemporary times and say no, non.

          So you would ban all conspicuous religious garments? Catholic wimples and Jewish yarmulkes, for example? Or just Muslim ones?*

          Btw, how long have these religions been around? How long has modern manbeen around? How long has anatomically modernman been around? How long has the earth been around? The Universe? Does Islam exist on other planets in the Universe? Christianity, Judaism, The Books? Buddhism? The latter is very fashionable.

          200,000 years, 2,000,000 years, 200,000 years, 4,543,000,000 years, 13,772,000,000 years, no, no, no, no, no.

          As for burkinis, don’t stick out like a sore thumb.

          Would you ban me from wearing a suit of armour on the beach? Or is it only Muslims who must dress ‘like us’?*

          Are Muslim lady MP’s going to start wearing full-face veils in Parliament? Would you approve of that?

          I wouldn’t object.

          I don’t feel that strongly about scarves and turbans and other hair/head coverings, but there is a time and place for everything and good taste and judgment are required.

          Whose good taste and judgement will we be ‘required’ to adhere to? Yours? Mine? Anybody’s but a Muslim?*

          * Please answer this question

          • Alcyone

            Thank you for your reply. I’m going to have to disappoint you at least partially. So, which part of “Organised religion, all of them, are dangerous to your health.”, do you not understand? Do you agree with that statement? Have you thought these things through?

            I’ve been listening to sufi music all evening. Abida Parveen is still playing, singing like an angel descended from the heavens. I’m regretting I missed out on listening live to this group that i just discovered this evening: http://www.fanna-fi-allah.com . I shall see them again some other time.

            Islam has no place to influence the freedoms and liberal culture of Europe. Not at the level of religious dogma. Do what you want in your four walls of privacy, subject of course to the law.

          • Node

            So to summarise …..

            You’re not Islamophobic because you don’t like any religions but Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to wear what they want or appear on TV, but all other religions can wear and do anything they want and they aren’t a threat to the freedoms and liberal culture of Europe, but Muslims are and you don’t like George Galloway’s hat.

            Got it.

          • "Alcyone

            One more question Node, possibly more important than a rag or two here or there. Islam permit a man to have 5 fives at any time with fairly simple divorce processes. Should British/European muslims be allowed to have 5 legal marriages at a time?

          • Node

            No. Now let me ask you a question. It’s common for Roman Catholic priests to molest children. Should British/European Catholics be allowed to practise pedophilia?

          • "Alcyone

            If you’re going to the beach today in body armour, please be prepared in the very least for curious people to take your photographs. Also, you might be positing yourself as a person of interest in more ways than one.

          • Phil the ex-frog

            Habbakuk
            “Its like those idiots who say that male circumcision is the same as FGM. Silly.”

            Not all FGM is equal. Some is analogous to circumcision. A light cut of the clitoris or clitoridectomy. Sometimes even nothing more than a nick that barely draws blood. Yet all are conflated under the label mutilation. Women pay Californian surgeons good money (ha, as if any money is good) for cosmetic surgery that is no different to what is called FGM elsewhere.

            Not all FGM is Islamic. Far from it. Yet it is nearly always bought up in discussion about Islam.

            FGM can be part of female ritual and bonding. Female solidarity, most fervently defended by women, often older women. Do you think them all bitter old hags who butcher their daughters for their neighbour’s son? Are they crazed witches? Unchristian witches?

            I am not defending FGM. I am saying that the conflation of all FGM, to roars of outrage from those who otherwise display little concern for women’s rights, always in an Islamic context, possibly signals something beyond what is stated.

            The roots of modern religion, the power structures we know, were in neolithic settlers. Very recent indeed. No religion has been around for anything like the 200,000 years claimed above. It seems ever more likely, yet still debated, that the origins of symbolic culture, in the form of red ochre painted on bodies, is hundreds of thousands of years old. Red ochre, the colour of blood, on woman’s bodies. Women driven ritual around menstruation, group signaling sexual availability. Out of those first rituals grew egalitarian hunter gatherer communities, free from patriarchy as we know it, that persisted for most of our history (this modern shit is new). An interesting theory. Might this suggest a role for female bonding ritual in containing male oppression? And what might that mean for campaigns to end “FGM”? Or campaigns against female modesty? It’s an interesting question.

            But fuck it. I’m just a telepathic, grit-shitting, pamphlet-munching fraud.

      • RobG

        It’s usually H & Co rumaging through dustbins and sniffing knickers, trying to flush out those hoardes of evil Trots who are infiltrating the Labour Party.

        Little Johnny reports that today outside the sweet shop there were numerous bearded, bespectacled Trots, forcing kid’s arms behind their backs and making them swear allegiance to the Communist Manifesto.

        Bye, bye, Tom, and thanks for all the bullshit.

        • Alcyone

          I can’t stand that Tom Watson. The Labour Party doesn’t have much leadership material. They feel threatened by Corbyn that he might eventually replace the wimps with people of real vision and conviction and balls or ovaries as the case may be. Shorty Smith is just another opportunist but at least he’s not the pip-squeak that Umunna is. And the latter is keeping his head under the parapet quite successfully. What is he hiding?

  • Paul Barbara

    Yup, get out and shop! Listen to the ‘musac’, and watch the footie. Don’t forget ‘East Enders’ and ‘Britain’s got Talent’. Eh bien, alors!.
    Enjoy!!! (till Armageddon).

  • Alan

    “Do YOU realise how hard it is to do that if you are all alone..everything has gone wrong ..???”

    It’s dead easy compared with some of the alternatives you have available, such as standing on a railway line waiting for the next high speed train. Do you seriously want to discuss this?

    “I interrogated my wife…”

    Something you should never do. Who made you your wife’s inquisitor?

    • michael norton

      Labour MPs are desperately pleading with politician David Miliband to come back to the United Kingdom so he take on Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership race – and want him to stand in tragic Jo Cox’s seat.

      Mr Miliband – the brother of former leader Ed, 46 – left British politics in 2013 to run a “charity” in America.

      But senior Labour backbenchers want the 51 year old to come back to Britain to launch a bid against Corbyn – and they believe they have found a way for him to do it.

      They say a way of Mr Miliband – who lost out in the Labour 2010 leadership election to his younger brother – to return to politics will be to stand in the Batley and Spen seat in West Yorkshire. The seat was left empty following the tragic killing of Mrs Cox, 41, who died after being shot and stabbed in Birstall on June 16 this year.

      A by-election is due to be held and no date has been set. However, it is believed the seat would be perfect for Mr Miliband.

      • michael norton

        So who gets to fire the starting pistol
        to ignite the race for this seat, is it J.C. himself?

      • Alan

        Millipede’s hands are covered in as much blood as Phony Tony’s. The people of Batley always struck me as sensible so are they going to stand for this? I think not!

      • Habbabkuk

        Norton

        When you cut and paste, etiquette demands that you should use quotation marks and give the source .

        Could you try and remember that, please?

          • Habbabkuk

            Nor quotation marks and acknowledgements by the look of it.

            Do you really believe that people can’t spot it when you lift stuff wholesale?

    • Alcyone

      Better to Observe than to have ‘beliefs’, whatever they are and whatever their alleged role is supposed to be.

      Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. Beliefs don’t help there. I believe in “No Beliefs”, therefore.

    • glenn_uk

      RobG: If you think Trump was a put-up to get La Clinton in power, I’m afraid it’s obvious you haven’t been following current affairs in the US that closely.

      Sorry, no offence. The Teabaggers were _precisely_ what led to this freak being nominated, and their creation was no accident. Come on, there’s so much information that has been made available – it’s all out there in recent history. Trump wanted to be VP for HW Bush. He tried to get himself on the ballot several times. It’s been niggling at him for decades, and he’s made no secret of it. He saw a weak, divided field of candidates and realised the Republican nominees could be played off against each other, and picked off as individuals easily enough.

      Trump is the creation of the right-wing hate machine, and finally they’ve realised they’ve created a monster which was unstoppable – what do they do? Pretend they hadn’t meant all the race-baiting, sexist, bigoted things they’ve been dog-whistling about for the last 30 years?

      So now along comes Trump – not with a dog-whistle but with a megaphone. The faithful are enthralled. And you want to think it’s all some mysterious plot?

      Christ’s sake – it’s obviously not – it’s much more simple than that. Trump is a fascist, riding on the deep rooted racism and discontent that is the heart of Amerika, where a full third of the inhabitants would snap the straight-arm salute if a candidate declared himself the heir to Hitler.

    • Alan

      No surprise there. Labour are the party that gave us Robber Maxwell as an MP, and Phony Tony as a PM. Like Craig says “Dysfunctional UK”. Furthermore dysfunctional Labour is when something that is expected to happen, takes ages and ages to occur, and causes pain to those on the receiving end.

      • Martinned

        11KBW is a massive chambers, so banning all current and former 11KBW barristers from all business to do with the Labour party (and, presumably, its current and past policies) would blow quite a hole in the judiciary. Instead, we might remember that Court of Appeal judgements are handed down by three Lords Justices, and that in this case they all agreed and contributed to the judgement.

        • Ba'al Zevul

          Another of the judges, Lord Beatson, also has form. He’s on record as supporting closer engagement between the judiciary and government. This extract comes close to the bone:

          There are recent signs that the tide in England may be turning in favour of more engagement between the various branches of government in specific areas (see for example Sir Jack Beatson’s comments on 2 July 2015 in
          Closer engagement with Parliament: the importance of developing new conventions referring to The Politics of Judicial Independence in the UK’s Changing Constitution by Gee, Hazell, Malleson and O’Brien .

          All this must however be set in its proper context. England is a large jurisdiction which has an extremely sophisticated constitutional structure and a jurisdiction where the well-established ground rules in respect of engagement between judges and politicians, with a few notable exceptions, seem to be increasingly better understood by leading academics, senior politicians and members of the judiciary.

          But beware in small compact jurisdictions – commenting on government policy is still a minefield for judges and politicians.
          Comment by the judiciary may quickly become ammunition for those seeking to gain political advantage and may be the subject of spin by the various players in the political process.This could damage both the government and the
          judiciary.

          Separation of powers is, then, flexible. The creep towards an identity of interest between politicians and lawyers – never a distance goal – continues, and Beatson’s there.

          • Ba'al Zevul

            And sorry again – italics went missing. Extract begins ‘There are recent signs’ and ends ‘ the government and the
            judiciary.’ The rest is my opinion.

          • nevermind

            Has anyone in the judiciary dared to pick up on the very friendly relations Miranda had with the boys and girls in 11KBw?

            No? what a surprise. It is utterly ridiculous that they can’t even find one impartial judge these days, off course they are out to take Labour members money for old rope, utter allegiance to the establishment and the known scoundrels.
            Maybe the next article should deal with the most dysfunctional part of the UK, call it ‘the cesspit that is the City of London Corp., and its protectors’

          • Habbabkuk

            Nevermind

            Can you reassure me that you are not hinting that Mr Blair has engaged in homosexual activity with members of 11KBw ?

  • Squonk

    Nice of the BBC not to show Andy Murray’s Gold Medal ceremony on either live channel despite telling people it would be coming up. Only found out that it happened an hour ago and I missed it. Apparently it was buried unannounced on the red button..

    Also nice of the BBC to refer to tartan clad Murray supporters as “English”.

    Oh and the first hour of the match not even on BBC 1 and even when it finally appeared on BBC1 they cut away several times.

    Don’t complain to the BBC as the automated complaint system says you have 60 seconds to record your complaint then cuts you off after 10 seconds. Brilliant,.

    Well done Murray. Fuck off BBC,

    • glenn

      Ignorance, or incompetence?

      Yesterday, we were told on BBC4 that Mo Farah was due to run the 10K (a distance I’m particularly interested in) at 01:30. Good stuff. Turning on at 01:25, there was a bunch of fairly interesting but inconsequential weightlifting.

      Missed several minutes of the 10K as a result – no banner telling us about the really important event on the sister channel, and the commentators saw no reason to mention (while live) that this fascinating quarter-final bout between Iranian and Estonian weight-lifters might be less interesting than the historical running event – currently underway – and advertised earlier on the same channel, without mentioning that you’d actually have to watch a _different_ channel to see the event.

      • Squonk

        Finally at 3:10am they show a clip of the ceremony just before going off air. Presenter says “Some people don’t believe tennis should be at the Olympics”. Hmm was he referring to some at the BBC?

        BBC these days are ignorant and incompetent!

        It’s not that long ago a polite but determined caller could get all the way up to the BBC duty Controller – especially late at night. No way past the broken answer machine service now.

        • glenn_uk

          It’s long been noticed that an international Scottish or Welsh victory will be declared British or English, but the BBC will rarely mention a victory _over_ the English in anything during national news. A small club football team winning over another will long be mentioned ahead before conceding that is so happened that Wales beat England that day in Twickenham.

          Naturally, a victory _by_ England will be reported somewhat differently.

          Ve have _crushed_ ze Velsh at Rug-Bee to-day. Ze nation re-joice-ez.

          The regional variations – deference where it does occur – can only have been designed to enrage the viewer.

          Many a time, I have been forced to watch a boring set of old white men pontificate on the finer points of Welsh rugby, profoundly irrelevant to anyone not already fixated on the subject – in the place of a regularly scheduled programme on BBC1. That scheduled programme might have been one of a series, or even a concluding episode, but no matter – a protracted exchange about the coaching skills of Evan Bach, and the upcoming potential of Howell Jenkins clearly has every last one of the Welsh inhabitants yearning for this endless speculation.

          • michael norton

            Just looked at the myopic FRANCE 24 They still think Hinkley Point C is full steam ahead,
            no mention of Mrs.May putting it on Full Stop.

            However, there is no mention of U.K. winning tennis, cycling, gymnastics, Golf, sailing
            or indeed anything.
            Team G.B. is now second in the medal table and more than twice in front of any other European country.
            But FRANCE 24 keeps its public in the dark.
            Have they got instructions from their government to dumb down the news?

        • Node

          I watched the match – great game. Yes the commentator made me wince when he referred to tartan clad supporters as English, but I was in a forgiving mood due to an earlier remark he made to his male co-commentator that the Argentinian’s powerful forearm returns were due to the tendons in his wrist acting like a whiplash, “just like when I flick you with a towel when you come out of the shower.” He let the next point play out in silence before saying “Just kidding”.

    • nevermind

      I’d like to take this moment of oily Olympic tub thumping to thank all those who gamble on the National Lottery, believing that it benefits the NHS, when in reality it promotes and financially supports professional sports star’s such as Murray, professional Golfer Rose, professional cyclists Froome, etc. as well as some young up and coming amateurs who present the real ideas behind the Olympic Games.

      As for the problems of time and coverage. The confusion of various channels and covering mainly the national pride denies true excellence to many up and coming young enthusiasts who queue up at Athletic and sports clubs.
      They are only ever to get the national view of what is best, they do not get the ten best performances of the day or such like.

      So once again, thank you Britain, for all your gambling problems is ensuring that rich professionals get gold and young amateurs are hot housed using 335 million over the last few years.

      https://www.gov.uk/government/news/elite-sport-to-benefit-from-funding-in-run-up-to-rio-2016

      Finally, why should Golf, tennis and horse riding, the latter not a popular sport at all, be Olympic sport categories?
      Should poor Brazil have shared the very expensive Olympics with a neighbouring country?

      335 million

  • Tony_0pmoc

    So far as I can see – as things pan out after the summer..and its getting cold…

    In the USA they have a choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump

    and us british try hard to keep a straight face as we wiggle round and can’t stop laughing…

    and think ffs – is That the Best The Americans can come up with?

    We’ve got Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn and they aren’t even our Reserve Team.

    We haven’t voted for them yet.

    Not yet been given the choice.

    i would just like to see a bit of

    DEMOCRACY

    Tony

  • Ba'al Zevul

    On Radio 4 there’s virtually nothing but the bastard tedious pointless doped-up Olympics. (Anyone remember when it was an amateur-only event?)

    Having got that off my chest, here’s a full account of the Derry Irvine (Blair patron) – Philip Sales connection. Written when the Graun was still notionally not an echo-chamber for Blair. Something of a controversy over his promotion. And hush money duly paid.

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2000/nov/05/uk.labour3

  • fred

    “SNP accused of Holyrood power grab as junior MSPs land key jobs”

    “In the UK Parliament the equivalent of PLOs, Parliamentary Private Secretaries, are banned from participating in any business associated with the department or minister they serve.

    Yet the aides have all been handed a crucial parliamentary role directly linked to their boss’s brief at the Scottish Parliament.”

    http://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-herald/20160815/281487865749471

    Nationalism has never been about democracy, it is about taking absolute control and pushing your own agenda to the exclusion of all other and the SNP are no different.

  • Alcyone

    Back on topic:

    “A lot of people don’t like inheritance tax. It feels like stealing from the dead. It isn’t, but it feels like it. The reasoning goes: I worked hard for my money, I paid tax on it when I earned it (not all of the above quite applies to the late duke), so why shouldn’t I be able to leave it all to my children? Why should the taxman get any?

    The answer is that, in order to pay for public services, the government should take money out of the economy where it’ll be least missed, where its absence is least likely to plunge people into poverty or reduce consumer spending. The money of the dead is therefore ripe for taxation: the owner no longer needs it, and his or her heirs have been doing OK without it up to now. Inheritance tax doesn’t discourage earning, it discourages dying, which I think we can all get behind.”

    A witty and thought-provoking article: “Who the Duke of Westminster cares about … in descending order”
    David Mitchell
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/14/david-mitchell-who-duke-westminster-cares-about-9bn-estate

    • Martinned

      Yes, I saw that. Not sure about mentioning the daughters. I’m sure they’re well looked after, and it isn’t the late Duke’s fault that the title inherits to heirs male of the body, to the exclusion of female heirs and their descendants. (Anyone up for passing a statute to change that?)

      • Alcyone

        “Anyone up for passing a statute to change that?”

        Of course, sooner or later…including a change in the statute to tackle the avoidance.

  • michael norton

    This is England
    “A man was shot in the chest in the VIP tent at Royal Windsor Racecourse during a dance music festival.”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-37081828
    “The suspect is described as a black man, who is believed to be in his thirties.”
    This is Corsica
    “France Corsica brawl: Mayor bans burkinis amid tensions”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37082637
    “Witnesses say hatchets and harpoons were used in the Sisco beach brawl.

    The five injured on Saturday were later discharged from hospital, but tensions are simmering in the area.

    Tension has grown this summer between local communities and Muslims of North African origin in the south of France, especially following the massacre of 85 people by a lorry driver on the seafront at Nice on 14 July. ”

    Perhaps Craig could do a piece like: The Dysfunctional Republic of France

    • Martinned

      Why stop there? Why not a piece called “We should kick out all the brown people!” (I assume that’s what you’re after, give or take…)

    • michael norton

      “Corsica CONTROVERSY: Mayor Sisco prohibits religious symbols”
      http://www.ledauphine.com/france-monde/2016/08/15/corse-le-maire-de-sisco-prend-un-arrete-anti-burkini
      “After the incidents Saturday night that killed five injured in a brawl between young Corsicans and young North Africans, Mayor Sisco took Sunday night a decree banning the wearing of distinctive religious signs in public places.

      Ange-Pierre Vivoni had gathered Sunday evening an extraordinary council, after the violent brawl between Corsican youth and families of North African origin who had five wounded. Witnesses said the clash erupted when several women who bathed in Burkini, a swimwear used by Muslim women who want to cover their bodies, were photographed by tourists.

      The Socialist Mayor of Sisco has adopted a decree banning the “port of distinctive religious signs in public places.” The text will be recorded on Tuesday in the prefecture, said the elected, which says rely on two similar orders made in Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet prohibiting Burkini on municipal beaches. Challenged by a group against Islamophobia, arrested the mayor of Cannes had been validated last Saturday by justice.
      All concerned religions

      Mr. Vivoni defended Monday for adopting a discriminatory measure, saying that this order also would protect the people of North African origin Sisco. “The Muslim religion are pacifists people who are poisoned by us as fundamentalists. All fundamentalism, Christians, Muslims, Jews must be scanned because we must live together “, said he was on France Info.
      The feast of August 15 canceled

      Moreover, the town of Sisco took Sunday night the decision to cancel the festivities of 15 August in the Common, “not for security reasons but because people do not head to that.”

      According to the prosecutor of Bastia, an investigation was opened in flagrante delicto “for meeting violence” in order to establish the origin of Saturday’s events. Following this fight, about 500 people participated Sunday in a rally Bastia in a tense atmosphere. Crying “to arms, we will go up because we’re home,” the crowd had directed the district Lupino, the mobile police blocked the entrance. ”

      The Dysfunctional Republic of France

  • Alcyone

    ” Alan
    August 15, 2016 at 10:53
    There is an update to that story:

    http://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/appeal-court-judge-overturned-labour-leadership-case-strong-links-tony-blair/

    “Sales used to be a practising barrister at law chambers 11KBW, of which former Prime Minister Tony Blair was not just an employee but a founder member. At 11KBW they boast that they “combine a strong focus on clients’ needs with an unparalleled ability to navigate the law.” And they do. Clearly.”
    __________
    Alan, thank you very much for this. It is very interesting and revealing, so I’m re-posting your link to HIGHLIGHT!

    If true, this really shows the insecurity of the Blairite camp and how hard Blair is fighting through and still playing petty politics. Its important to appreciate that this is another front where Corbyn is fighting a daily battle against the powerful elite establishment.

    It really stinks of incestuous relationships and corruption.

    After learning this I believe that the plaintiff members should in fact, as a matter of principle, attempt an appeal at the Supreme Court. Regardless, it is comforting to know that JC is way ahead in the polls regardless. I like JC because he is completely transparent apparently and straight-talking. Rare is a politician that does the Right Thing. To that extent I think he’s Right and it’s hopefully Blair who’s Left Behind in his Rivers of Blood. The Evil Bastard!

    Thanks again, Alan.

    • Martinned

      Even assuming everything else is true, how do you reckon the “Blairite camp” moved one of their own into the panel deciding this case?

  • Doug Scorgie

    The attempts of the Parliamentary Labour Party to oust leader Jeremy Corbyn without the support of the party’s over half million members have hit another hurdle. With all signs showing Owen Smith set for a major defeat in the forthcoming leadership election, it looks like the coup is about to throw him under the bus, in favour of David Miliband.

    “The former minister, who lost out in the 2010 leadership race to his brother Ed, quit politics but party figures want him to stand for murdered Jo Cox’s seat.”

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/labour-mps-call-david-miliband-8626175

    • Martinned

      So what? Even if David Milliband is moved into a position where he can challenge Corbyn for the leadership, Corbyn will either beat him or he won’t. If the latter, then Corbyn shouldn’t be leader. There are legitimate concerns about the franchise for these elections, but coming up with new leadership candidates is fair game, I’d say.

      • Alcyone

        “There are legitimate concerns about the franchise for these elections,…”

        Would you care to spell it out?

      • Ba'al Zevul

        If the Labour Party exists to represent the interests of capital, globalisation, and a fraudulent financial system, then David Miliband, as an eager participant in and beneficiary of these, is obviously the ideal leader. However, if it exists to defend the rights and incomes of the less-economically-potent (I won’t say working-class, because that would probably make me a Trotskyite infiltrator)…if that’s what it’s about, David would be a lousy choice, as he doesn’t know anyone who didn’t go to Oxford (or MIT). In any event, he has a really well-paid sinecure in the USA, arranged by his influential friends, and very likely doesn’t want to be shouted at at Question Time any more.

        So before postulating the kind of leader the nice speculators in Canary Wharf would like Labour to have, it would first make sense to ask whether it is any of their fucking business anyway.

        Come on now. What does the Labour Party actually represent? Answer that, and then crowbar your candidate into the hot seat.

    • bevin

      The question of whether Cox’s old seat will want Miliband arises. It will certainly be harder, in future to foist ‘star’ candidates on local parties now that the membership is returning to its normal levels. (Will they be allowed to choose, or will only those who remained in the party during the Iraq war and during Harman’s ‘Cameron has a mandate’ period, be allowed to vote?)
      And can the CLP actually meet in these dangerous times when violent words (Blairite!!) and foul deeds (bricks thrown through neighbouring windows after the pubs close) not to mention episodes of ultra violence, too horrible to mention, abound?
      We live in wartime, as it were, when those responsible for the deaths of millions cannot appear in public without ultra Leninists and Bakuninites, averting their eyes in disgust, like stormtroopers. How can political meetings be held in such an atmosphere?

      • nevermind

        Thanks for making me grin from left to right, Bevin, I wonder about that too, because its very important that this ‘Scharmuetzel’ we are conducting is also being used to weed out central control freakery and cheating at elections.

        I would love to be able to declare that there will be no more safe seats, but that would come close to heresy, I mean we are used to all sorts, the strict appliance of cunning and guile, of our very own shicky mickey, aren’t we?
        Its not just in these 29 seats, lets face it.

        In a matter of self discovery and equality for all, the reform should start in Blackburn and Darwen, Jack Straws ex seat and true Labour for decades, as long as you can feed enough people during the campaign, it should be the first equality target, facts and figures are all present and available from Jacks local council hirarchy, from his line up of family elders and from the electoral commission. Come to think of it, there are also two candidates who can comment on what needs doing, a really good place to start.

        and once one shows humility and action, people will understand that change is possible, positive change, not just at the top. fairness for all.

    • Alcyone

      ““The former minister, who lost out in the 2010 leadership race to his brother Ed, quit politics but party figures want him to stand for murdered Jo Cox’s seat.”

      Instead of “party figures” read Tony Blair and those betrothed to him. All part of The System or The Scheme.

      But I’m afraid he’s history and isn’t he also tainted with Iraq? So, post Chilcot, we are in the next phase of sorting out the bloodthirsty from the Sane. and the Just and the Wise.

      • Martinned

        Just to make sure: you do agree that Blair and his allies are entitled to a voice in the party too? Or are some party members more equal than others?

        • Ba'al Zevul

          That depends entirely on what the Labour Party stands for. Are the alleged Trot entryists less equal than the trimming Blairites? Did Blair’s abandonment of Clause 4 disenfranchise the socialists in the party? Do tell.

        • Alcyone

          Woof! Do you have a Dog in The Race? You certainly are beginning to sound it.

          Let’s hear your interest; it’ll be a welcome change from your legal opinions which are just that, opinions, and not judgments.

          What ethical, moral authority have Blair and his bloodthirsty cronies left in the Post-Chilcot era?

          I think everybody should watch this sermon evry Monday morning before they go about their ‘business’.
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs9NfhnfQLc
          Jeremy Corbyn speaking at biggest protest in UK history against Iraq war

          It disappoints me that it has only 18,000 hits. It should be 1.8 billion

          • Martinned

            The Labour party won’t be back in government until some time long after I’ve moved on to another country, so I don’t have a dog in this fight. I’m just surprised to see people arguing in favour of the equality of all members when arguing against the NEC’s approach to the freeze date, and then against it when the goal is to shove everyone to the right of Stalin out of the party.

          • Alcyone

            Martin you’ve been canned. Your mask has slipped and now I’m afraid you’re all over the place. Where would you like to go and live?

            Let’s not lose sleep over the Labour Party’s fortunes; you’re a retired lawyer not a psephologist. Of course you are entitled to your opinion, but I am surprised you seem to depend on me to allow it. I take no such responsibility. Now stop putting words in people’s mouth; the clerk is recording here.

          • Habbabkuk

            Alcyone

            I have a lot of time for you and many of your opinions but I should lay off Martinned if I were you.

            He uses facts, laced with humour, to puncture many spurious arguments. Surely you should welcome him as a valuable antidote to some of the poisonous rubbish posted on here?

          • Alcyone

            Yes Habby don’t disagree. You’ll see downstream I came to realise that like-mindedness. And kudos to him to not just not rise to my provocative-style but to engage in an open constructive conversation in a way that the copy-paster-wasters here are simply unable to! 😉

        • nevermind

          No he has not, he has dragged the House of Commons into the mud by lying to it, he has misled them and has not been taken to task for it, whatever you think, however many words you might like to split.

          Off course, when you follow the system you worship the lies more than the truth, truth is what you pay for, right? His back room steering of this non stop attack, openly showing the public who the establishment is happy to work against, deliberate, with vehemence.

          And the judiciary is in on it!

    • Phil the ex-frog

      This Miliband story is the passing fantasy of a few desperate MPs. Nonsense subsequently hyped by Corbynistas. At least that’s what my gritty anarchist pamphlet says.

  • Republicofscotland

    The British press are attempting to smear Sputnik news, which has opened an office in Edinburgh. I had to laugh at the accusation that Sputnik news is a state owned news channel, of course it is, but so is the BBC. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, springs to mind.

    http://wingsoverscotland.com/iron-seas/

    The British media has also attempted to do down the presenters of Sputnik news in Edinburgh, whilst forgetting they have the likes of Laura Kuenssberg on their pay role.

    If anything the wheels of the British propaganda machine have turned peoples attention towards Sputnik news in Edinburgh, as they tune in to see what all the fuss is about.

    I’ve just listened to the presenters of Sputnik in Edinburgh, and I may listen more often.

    http://sputniknews.com/radio/

    • Martinned

      Yes, because British state-owned news channels are exactly the same as Russian state-owned news channels…

      Please, cut it out with the Putin-worship.

        • Alan

          Inter Alia

          [Latin, Among other things.] A phrase used in Pleading to designate that a particular statute set out therein is only a part of the statute that is relevant to the facts of the lawsuit and not the entire statute.

          Inter alia is also used when reporting court decisions to indicate that there were other rulings made by the court but only a particular holding of the case is cited.

          So how does Inter alia relate to this blog? I hope you can help clarify otherwise it’s going to look like you are using words you don’t know the meaning of. Hey, it could even mean you’re dysfunctional.

          http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/inter+alia

  • RobG

    The downward spiral of the Guardian newspaper has been going on for some time now, but I think many will agree that the big drop happened after the Snowden revelations in the summer of 2013 (which I would say was the last piece of serious reporting the Guardian did). This recent CounterPunch radio programme delves into the dynamics of the biggest propaganda machine in history (it starts 3m 50s in):

    How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood
    http://store.counterpunch.org/nicholas-schou-episode-52/

    The above programme deals with the media in America, but it’s the same stuff all across the western world. In the case of the Guardian, which is now a right wing rag, spouting out Washington’s propaganda…

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/15/syria-west-aleppo-destroyed-crimes-against-humanity-war

    … I would guess it goes beyond the CIA putting pressure on editors and journalists, and there’s been a complete take over job.

    • Republicofscotland

      Rob.

      The CIA have been controlling or influencing the US media since the 1950, following Operation Mockingbird. Back then they had journalists on the CIA payroll who passed on and reported in a fashion that suited the CIA.

      CIA heads Meyer, Dulles and Wisner took the programme further on, one can can now speculate as to just how much, of the US media is on the CIA’s pay roll.

      As for the BBC, in my opinion it’s a mouthpiece for Whitehall, what else can you expect from the state broadcaster.

        • lysias

          Some CIA high official — I think it was Alan Dulles –commented what ridiculously small sums sufficed to buy journalists. I imagine mind control would have been a lot more expensive.

          • Martinned

            Ah, but mind control is so much more reliable. And it’s mostly fixed cost anyway. Once you’ve invented it, it doesn’t cost so much to roll out.

          • Republicofscotland

            Lysais.

            Then again, obedient journos, I use the term journo, loosely, don’t have a mind worth controlling. Much easier to put them on the payroll.

          • Habbabkuk

            Lysias

            “Some CIA high official — I think it was Alan Dulles –commented what ridiculously small sums sufficed to buy journalists”
            _________________

            Care to source that, Lysias?

          • Martinned

            Not sure what part of that needs explaining. If you’re going to equate Sputnik news with the BBC, you must be really, really trying hard to make Putin’s regime seem less shady than it is.

          • Republicofscotland

            Martinned is there a difference between Sputnik a Russian state broadcaster and the BBC a British state broadcaster?

            Think carefully before you answer, the last of your credibility is on the line.

            What would Mark Rutte say?

          • Alcyone

            The Russian State does often seem to act more rationally on the international stage than internally towards their own people where there are few checks and balances on raw power.

            Maybe they are good diplomats–what do you think Craig?

          • Martinned

            He would say that the suggestion that HMG influences the BBC in the same way that the Kremlin influences the Russian media is preposterous, and that such an opinion isn’t one that can be held in good faith.

          • lysias

            Putin and his advisers realized what an opportunity the increasingly apparent mendacity of the Western media presented them with. All they had to do was to be halfway honest and credible, and they would automatically get a worldwide audience for their productions. Like the BBC during World War Two. (BBC insider Orwell was disgusted by the dishonesty he saw in the BBC, but it was a lot more credible than its competition.)

          • Martinned

            Bless your optimism. In an era of fact-free politics, the Kremlin-sponsored media and politicians don’t have to tell the truth to be influential. All they have to do is tell people wat they want to hear. In the case of the British left-wing, that the UK government and the official opposition are under the corrupt influence of the bourgeoisie, and indifferent to the interests of the proletariat. As long as they keep saying that, no one on the British left will care that Russia is run by a bunch of KGB agents sponsored by oligarchs, who care about the common Russian voter about as much as they care about the solution to the Times crossword.

          • Alcyone

            I was talking of diplomacy. Aren’t you being a little slow today?

            Anyhow, tell me of your view on Corbyn: Why do you think he would be a disaster as Prime Minister?

          • Martinned

            I never said I thought Corbyn would be a disaster as PM. I do think that, I just hadn’t expressed a view yet one way or another.

            The man clearly doesn’t play well with others, so a Corbyn-led cabinet would either consist of a bunch of politicians recruited from an embarrassingly small subset of the political spectrum, or there would be non-stop conflict. Both would be a disaster.

            Basically, I agree with excellent econo-blogger and self-professed Marxist Chris Dillow: http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2016/07/my-corbyn-dilemma.html

  • Republicofscotland

    An “unimpressed” Theresa May has told senior Eurosceptic ministers to “stop playing games” following Liam Fox’s attempted power grab on parts of the Foreign Office controlled by Boris Johnson.”

    “Tensions have been rising after a leaked letter revealed the international trade secretary called for a “rational restructuring” which would see his department take personnel and “clear leadership of the trade and investment agenda.”

    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/theresa-may-orders-ministers-stop-nonsense-focus-brexit-delivery-amid-turf-war-1576029

    The dis-United Kingdom is falling apart at the seams, and the punchinello’s at Westminster are squabbling, over who has the most powers.

    It’s all downhill from here on.

    • Alcyone

      No, it’s all uphill actually. Be careful of cliches. Anyway, while the cat’s away, the mice will play. So will the foxes.

      • Republicofscotland

        “No, it’s all uphill actually. Be careful of cliches.”

        ___________

        Alcyone.

        Uphill you say with BOJO as foreign secretary, give me a break, who’s going to take that ignorant fool seriously in Europe, even John Kerry was embarrassed sharing a podium with him.

        No, even Krishnamurti would make a better foreign secretary, and that’s stretching it.

        • Habbabkuk

          RoS

          My guess is that Boris Johnson, far from being an ignorant fool, is considerably more intelligent than you (however you define “intelligence”).

          But feel free to think otherwise, of course.

          • Republicofscotland

            Oh I do feel free to think otherwise, Brexit and the lack of a contingency plan by the main perpetrators Johnson being one of them, show what a idiot he really is, any fool can write a biography on Shakespeare or a apish column in the Telegraph newspaper.

            Your definition of intelligence appears to differ from mine.

      • Martinned

        “Climate of fear” you say? I wonder who would be interested in reinforcing that suggestion? Good thing Sputnik News don’t take their cues from the Kremlin…

      • Republicofscotland

        Alan.

        MP’s taught by Mossad, next they’ll have them carrying out god knows what for them.

        Still the Tories according to some reports indirectly caused the deaths of thousands of British citizens, by stopping their benefits unjustly. I can understand why then some of those vile human beings would need to learn self defence, from a foreign secret service.

      • Habbabkuk

        RoS

        “Still the Tories according to some reports indirectly caused the deaths of thousands of British citizens, by stopping their benefits unjustly.”
        ________________

        “Some reports”, “indirectly caused” and “unjustly” – all rather vague.

        Care to source some of those reports for us, RoS?

      • Republicofscotland

        Alan.

        Thank you for the link, as May and her beau saunter around the hilltops, listening to the Sound of Music’s, The Hills are Alive. The Joker has been left in charge of Gotham. ?

        • Alan

          I do think she should get a pair of those Nordic Walking Poles instead of those sticks in the picture. And she’s not wearing shorts.

          • Republicofscotland

            Alan.

            I’m afraid the walking poles are currently being used by the DWP, in their Lubyankas I mean assessment centres for the disabled. One prod with the poles and quadriplegics, are miraculously fit for work, or at least that’s what the reports claim.

            No need for the infirm or those without hope to go on a pilgrimage to Lourdes any more.

  • Alcyone

    ” Jeremy Corbyn wins backing of 285 CLPs after nominations close ”

    Can Corbyn do no wrong? He’s on a roll.

    http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/08/jeremy-corbyn-wins-backing-285-clps-after-nominations-close

    But of course the plotters are on to Tony amidst his mafiosi holiday.

    PS Btw have you guys noticed Owen Smiths hand-language? He’s copying Blair. Where is Umunna? And are the Milibands too unplugged? If I were Ed I’d be puzzling as to how Corbyn has so much support within the Party. 😉

  • Doug Scorgie

    Alcyone
    August 15, 2016 at 12:07
    …I wonder if you can tell me if you approve of Sharia operating in the UK…
    ………………………………………………………………………..
    I, in turn, wonder if you know what you’re talking about Alcyone.

    I am an atheist but I don’t berate people for belonging to religious groups. As to religious courts I am against them completely.

    We have religious courts operating in the UK but their judgments do not have any legal standing here. However, they can cause problems and distress to members of their community; principally women.

    Many news items about Sharia law in recent years has led to fears that we might see people’s hands being chopped off for stealing; or even worse, being beheaded for adultery.

    You and I, Alcyone, know that is nonsense don’t we?

    However, you do not mention the long-established religious courts used by the Je..sh community called Beth Dins. Was that an oversight on your part or did you not know about them?

    An example of Halakha (Je..sh law) in the UK might illustrate the problems faced by some Je..sh women:

    A devout Orthodox Je..sh woman from a close-knit community in North London wanted a divorce from her husband.

    Within Halakha (Je..sh law) only the husband has the power to grant a get – a Je..sh divorce document authenticated by a rabbi and given by a husband to his wife releasing her from their marriage.

    If the husband refuses (as he did in this case) his wife becomes an agunah (chained wife). Trapped in a marriage she cannot get out of she was shunned by her community, which forbids her from remarrying and any further children she has with anyone other than her husband will be considered a mamzer (illegitimate).

    So, I say no to all religious courts. I’m sure you will agree Alcyone.

    • Alcyone

      I say no to organised religions. You can stay attached to your paradigm of Analysis-Paralysis. It’s your shoddy little life.

      There are other paradigms. The Universe is Beautiful and Sacred!

      Ask PubicofScotland, he’ll tell you all about Krishnamurti, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. His work was that of a genius, an Einstein of the Mind. But let me warn you there is a lot of hard work involved in seeing all that he said in yourself so deeply that it becomes part of your DNA. Good luck with your journey.

    • Republicofscotland

      The Five Eyes, the successor to Echelon which was founded in the mid-80’s. Snowden said of the Five Eyes its a “supra-national intelligence organisation that doesn’t answer to the known laws of its own countries”.

      The 9/11 event allowed the Five Eyes to grearly increase its surveillance capabilities under the guise of finding and neutralising terrorism.

      The hunt for an Emmanuel Goldstein round every corner has given the Five Eyes a blank sheet of paper to collect data copiously.

      • lysias

        Five Eyes — I don’t remember if it was already called that — already existed when I joined the U.S. military at the beginning of 1969.

  • Alcyone

    Actually, on reflection, Martin I would like to hear your rationale for wanting to escape a Corbyn-lead Labour Government.

    My greatest fear for the Brexited UK is how to kickstart the private sector business economy, encourage entrepreneurs, small medium and large and widen that.

    Political and business leadership and banks need to come around that!

    • Martinned

      There will never be a Corbyn-led Labour government. Both major political parties in the UK, at least in recent decades, have gone into the wild after losing power, and have only returned to power when they have tacked back to the centre. That doesn’t mean that the Labour party should get rid of Corbyn, quite the contrary, a bit of ideological soul searching is healthy. It just means that Labour won’t return to power until it has formed a united view of which bits of ideology are capable of being sold to a majority of the British voting public and worth the effort of selling. Corbyn won’t be PM just like Michael Foot, William Hague, and IDS weren’t.

      • Alcyone

        Thanks, so what do you think of Corbyn’s primary agenda, let’s say his 10 commandments/pledges and the moral-intellectual fibre of the person he is?

        • Martinned

          I can’t say I’ve paid enough attention to be able to say. Outside of economic policy, where I agree with Corbyn & friends more than with anyone else in UK politics (although others are starting to sign up to the anti-austerity movement) I don’t have very strong opinions about things that animate British domestic political discourse. When asked, I have opinions on how to set up a sensible health care system, but that doesn’t mean that I have an opinion about any given argument about the NHS. No idea what the bedroom tax is, or how the UK pensions system works, or how unions negotiate in the UK. (I generally favour unionisation, but all things in moderation. Where the UK sits compared to what I would consider an appropriate amount of union power, I have no idea.)

          • Republicofscotland

            “I don’t have very strong opinions about things that animate British domestic political discourse. ”

            _________

            Martinned.

            Really!

            You seem “cock-sure” that the Kremlin influences it’s state broadcaster, yet you also said that Whitehall influencing the BBC in a similar fashion is preposterous.

            For one who doesnt have strong opinion, you sure do have a strong opinion.

          • Martinned

            I wouldn’t consider Putin to be part of domestic politics in the UK. (The same goes for Brexit, where I also have many strong opinions.)

          • Republicofscotland

            “I wouldn’t consider Putin to be part of domestic politics in the UK. ”

            _________

            Martinned.

            No one initimated that he was part of, UK domestic politics, but Whitehall is, and you were adamant that Whitehall hadn’t affected the BBC in a similar fashion.

            Yet your 17.45pm comment, states;

            “I can’t say I’ve paid enough attention to be able to say. Outside of economic policy”

            I agree, comments on economics is your forte, careful you’re heading into uncharted waters.

          • Alan

            Alcyone said “Putin’s government is essentially a mafia amongst his own people.”

            No similarity between Putin and Blair there then?

          • Alcyone

            Thanks for your response. Well I think we are possibly closer than I would have imagined. I don’t know much either about some of those details.

            What I see in Corbyn is that his grey hair actually reflects grey matter, even though I think that he is intrinsically a good human being first and last and a politician in between. Where do you find Wisdom in politicians these days? Where do you find true Statesmanship?

            Further, he is a man of great respect — he responds rather than reacts, even when he is aggressively probed, prodded and provoked.

            Who are these cheap leaders of the failing Labour coup? Angela Eagle, Hilary Benn, Owned Smith, Tom Fatson? We are supposed to respect these arses and cunts?

            Gimme a break! Been at this too long today. Will return with some music later–God’s language. Just so we don’t take these whores too seriously. Thank God there is Life beyond them and, at any rate, I don’t expect any of them to change our World. These are of the paradigm of MOD–Ministry of Defence, the greatest, cheapest euphemism of them all. I say MOO–Ministry of Offence. Change from within, then smell the perfume. Rant over!

            Sunset concert by friends of mine: Saskia is Dutch, Shubhendra Indian, erstwhile student of Ravi Shankar. They are the King and Queen of Indian classical and fusion–hugely underrated. Unfortunately recorded at a Late “Guru’s” ashram, don’t get me going on that now.
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiFUMbAT8Ik

          • Republicofscotland

            Habb.

            Oh such a magnificent response to my comment, I wonder if BoJo, will use a similar approach when trying to pronunce foreign minusters names, on his, shall we call them adventures? yes I think we shall, around Europe and beyond.

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