I am in Ghana and had some Ghanaian friends in the apartment here while I was watching the budget. I was ashamed, and they were incredulous, at the sheer crassness of the entire event. Hammond’s manner and delivery were beyond embarrassing. The constant stream of infantile jokes, of which the lengthy stream of toilet humour was just one part, was beyond childish. The worst thing about it is that Hammond apparently genuinely believed he was funny.
But even worse was the petty party nature of so much of it. The obsequious reference to DUP MPs by name, the grovelling towards new Tory “star” Ruth Davidson, the puerile digs at the SNP, the shoehorning in of an anti-semitism reference, the pathetic jibe at John MacDonnell’s accident. The Ghanaians with me observed that it would all have disgraced a school debating society.
Most of the budget’s rehashed public spending announcements and tax cuts for the wealthy are not worth analysis. The condemnation of PFI was very welcome, but it has taken 20 years for the political class – Red Tories or Blue Tories – to acknowledge the blindingly obvious, that they have used it as a device massively to abuse public services to rip off the taxpayer to the benefit of the bankers and wealth managers who funded the PFI schemes.
Hammond made the constantly repeated Tory claim that the income gap between rich and poor in the UK is shrinking. It depends what you are measuring. While it is indeed true that the income gap between the top and bottom deciles is slightly shrinking, the gap between the top centile and the bottom decile – or any other decile, including the between the top centile and the top decile – is expanding very fast. In short, we are taking on the characteristics of a helot society, where distinctions between the upper middle class and working class are reducing, but the gap to the extremely wealthy is growing.
In Ghana this last week I have made a point of asking a large number of Ghanaians, from drivers and students to businessmen and senior ministers, whether, in exchange for a higher standard of living and free immigration to the UK, they would give up Independence and become a colony again. I have been met with incredulity and outrage that I would even ask such a question, and even anger from those who misunderstood my motive in asking.
Ghanaians are of course quite right. Any nation should be outraged at the idea it would voluntarily become subservient, or that its allegiance can be bought for money. Which is why I am incapable of understanding the mentality of unionists in Scotland, many of whom were swayed in 2014 by arguments their pension might be reduced or their currency depreciated.
As everybody who canvassed in the 2014 knows, and opinion polls confirm, it was not those on the breadline who were influenced by these arguments. The worse off were solidly pro-Independence (except for the Orangemen, whose thought processes are not rational). It was the bungalow dwellers of suburbia who were swayed by the fear that they might not be able to trade in their Nissan Qashqai after three years as they intended.
In fact, I think the arguments Scotland will be worse off after Independence are demonstrably nonsense. But even were they true, I cannot express the degree of my contempt for those who value national freedom in pennies, and weigh self-respect against gold.
Independent states which are geographically, climatically, and in population and demographics closest to Scotland – Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland – are all markedly wealthier than Scotland, despite Scotland’s terrific endowment of national resources. Why do some Scottish people believe they are inferior to the inhabitants of these countries, and would be unable to run their own affairs and economy?
The fact that Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden are all markedly wealthier than England, but that Scotland is poorer, should be sufficient indicator that the Union has not brought the claimed historical benefits, compared to those small independent states. So should the fact that, in 1707, the population of Scotland was a quarter that of England, and after three hundred years of union it is a tenth, while the population of the Highlands has only just returned to the original level. The fact that the A1 is, amazingly, still not much dualed north of Morpeth, while Crossrail is a national UK expenditure; the fact that high speed rail – like Crossrail accounted for in GERS as a national UK expenditure – will not come north of Leeds; the massive concentration of central government functions in London, and the long term effect of that on economic development: given all these indicators, you have to be slightly crazy to believe an independent Scotland would not be better off.
Astonishingly, this collection of untalented careerists that constitutes the “government of the United Kingdom” is managing currently to extend its lead in the UK wide opinion polls, while falling back again into third place in Scotland. I have sympathy for friends in England who do not wish Scotland to be independent, because the Tories have such a majority in England. But they have no right to force Scotland to live under a succession of Tory governments, which it has not voted for in over 60 years. Similarly, the Scots have no right to prevent the English from living under Theresa May – or even under Jacob Rees Mogg – if the English continue inexplicably to wish to do so.
I have expressed for many years the hope that I will see Scottish Independence and a United Ireland before I die. I am happy to say I am now convinced that I will do so. That the end of the UK would be marked by such a squalid, incompetent and dysfunctional political leadership I could not have dared to hope. Thank God the UK will soon be over.
We may recall independence was deemed a national security issue, by the powers that be. This strongly suggests that independence is simply not allowed. Scotland could vote 80% yes, and it makes no difference, but thanks for playing. @BlairPatterson below notes that Scotland may have to fight for independence, and Craig himself has mentioned that we are likely going to have to go down the Catelonian route. I concur, belatedly.
I’m going to make a big call here: Scotland can never, and will never, achieve independence under Nicola Sturgeon. The internet never forgets! Personally, I’ve never had much time for her, and consider he a useful insider, Scotland’s version of Pauline Hanson, but even if she is genuine, she doesn’t strike me as the type to go the Catelonian route, not at all.
Oh, and one other option could be considered. Lobby Donald Trump. Trump’s mum, we know, was Scottish, he regularly visits the homeland, and may well be a Scots nationalist (I strongly suspect he is). He is bound to tell us that he doesn’t interfere in foreign matters, but every POTUS says that, and it’s utter bullshit. I swear Clinton got Kevin Rudd fired, for one. Deal with the devil?
I was under the impression that PFI was widely expanded across the public sector by the SCOTTISH MP Gordon Brown, when he was LABOUR Chancellor in the 1990s. Just saying.
Too right!
P.S. How do you keep your hat on?
Big hat pins!
Of course!
Too right Mary Paul. PFI was half heartedly introduced by John Major but then fully embraced and expanded by Brown. PFI and the so called foundation trusts and payment by results were policies pushed by Brown which put in place the mechanisms of NHS privatisation, much more so than the previous Tory Government dared to go. Many labour MPs at the time who are still MPs supported this and actually many ex labour MPs hold leading posts in private healthcare companies now trying to snap up bits of the NHS in a process of slow privatisation.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/02/an-apology/comment-page-49/#comment-758996
Mary Paul
Please look up the Powerbase chart that is referred to in my post. The strong Blairites presence is there to see. Alan Milburn and Oatricia Hewitt made real profits out of the privatisation of the NHS pushed by Brown.
Milburn is still making money from OUR NHS via his membership of the European Board of Bridgepoint, the US venture capital outfit. They own many healthcare assets in the UK.
He also had a financial interest in Alliance who are contracted by the NHS to perform diagnostic scanning.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Milburn#In_government
His tentacles are widespread. – ‘In 2013 Milburn joined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as Chair of PwC’s UK Health Industry Oversight Board, whose objective is to drive change in the health sector, and assist PwC in growing its presence in the health market. Milburn continued to be Chairman of the European Advisory Board at Bridgepoint Capital, whose activities include financing private health care companies providing services to the NHS, and continued as a member of the Healthcare Advisory Panel at Lloyds Pharmacy.
[..]
‘Early in 2015 Milburn intervened in the British election campaign to criticise Labour’s health plans, which would limit private sector involvement in the NHS. Milburn was criticised for doing so while having a personal financial interest in the private health sector.’
‘ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Milburn#
How I loathe these traitors.
Milburn is a typical example of the pernicious corruption that arises from the revolving door system that US has exported to the world.
Every Exporter needs an Importer. Just sayin’.
The exporters were pushing an open door in this case.
This was under New Labour, referred to by some people as Red Tories. Corbyn’s Labour has long wished to end PFI.
The Guardian doesn’t do this kind of ‘journalism’ any more.
PFI contracts: the full list
How much will the UK have to pay out in PFI repayments? Get the full list of each contract – and find out what’s in the pipeline
• Get the data
• Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/05/pfi-contracts-list
One of their latest reports –
Taxpayers to foot £200bn bill for PFI contracts – audit office
Cost of privately financing projects ‘can be 40% higher’ than using public money
‘Taxpayers will be forced to hand over nearly £200bn to contractors under private finance deals for at least 25 years, according to a report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog.
In the wake of the collapse of public service provider Carillion, the National Audit Office found little evidence that government investment in more than 700 existing public-private projects has delivered financial benefits.
The cost of privately financing public projects can be 40% higher than relying solely upon government money, auditors found.
They also disclosed that the government has a £2.6m equity stake in one of Carillion’s major projects – public money that is now at risk.’
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/18/taxpayers-to-foot-200bn-bill-for-pfi-contracts-audit-office
Of course it was. Lamont created the wheeze to enrich The City and HSBC especially creating tradable assets. Gordo Bruin sold HMRC estate off to George Soros in Grand Cayman which was the ultimate irony. Then again Gordo was a fan of Jimmy Maxton but ended up as Philip Snowden
The question of why Scotland voted to remain in the UK in 2014 is highly complex. We can be sure that the lies and propaganda played a huge part though, facilitated by a MSM that was regimentally opposed to Scottish independence. The exercise would undoubtedly have failed to meet OECD standards as far as its definition of a fair election is concerned.
I don’t think it helped that the independence movement shape-shifted in the run up to the vote and became a sort of socialist revolution, though. No sense in taking over it all now, but the idea that Scotland could become a sort of European Cuba simply doesn’t appeal to everybody. I’d take it over what we have now, but I wish they’d put a lid on that stuff.
The Orange community in Scotland seems to be without any reliable political representation which I actually think is quite disappointing. I have no idea if they are rational or not but, even if they aren’t, that’s no basis upon which anyone should be excluded or discriminated against; I don’t really regard anybody anywhere as entirely rational.
Someone should make overtures towards them and invite them to get involved. They have every right to do whatever it is they do and believe what they believe. Attacking and ridiculing them on the basis that their culture is stupid is only going to make them defensive and more entrenched.
Politics, economics, class, religion, culture, everything, should be stripped away from the debate on independence. The argument should be based on whether you agree with the principle that a country ought to manage its own affairs or not. Do that and you can talk to, and hopefully convince, anyone and everyone.
they should be given reassurances that hatred and intimidation of catholics will be welcomed and won’t be discriminated against.
Lol zooty
You mean the Cameron Raid on Northern English Councils to scoop up funds to shower on Scotland had no effect ? Getting rid of Scotland would give Northern England the funds it needs…..after all Scotland has the population of Yorkshire with about 25% higher public spending per capita.
the areas that voted Remain in the BreXit Referendum ALL have higher per capita Public Spending than those that voted Leave
Paul, try factoring in tax receipts and you’ll soon see why Scotland and Yorkshire are treated differently. Then multiply Scottish tax receipts by pi times x. As tax expert Richard Murphy makes clear, the whole system is institutionally rigged so as to understate Scotland’s wealth and tax contributions — it’s impossible to calculate accurately and that’s no accident.
The policy of successive U.K. governments since the late 70s has been to foster dependence on Barnett funds on one hand whilst driving Scottish industry into the ground on the other. Wife beaters across the world won’t need anybody to explain that approach. The goal is to make Scotland so weak and incapable economically that independence is unthinkable.
Thatcher basically deindustrialise Scotland. I watched this process with my own eyes. Huge cranes and plant systematically destroyed, literally with dynamite. It was like a war — all that was missing was the jets flying over.
A lot of people assume Scotland’s wealth derives from oil but I was listening to a friend who happens to be an economic historian talking about Scotland in the early 20th century and he was clear that Scotland more than paid its way — or paid more into the UK pot than it received back — right through the first half of the 20th century.
Scotland is basically a neo-colony, possibly the world’s first. This is a technical term with a very specific meaning but one of the primary characteristics of a neo-colony is that it denotes a country that is run by a ruling class in line with the demands and requirements of a government of a foreign country; the 1707 treaty basically enshrined that relationship and indeed was hatched and signed on that basis against the wishes of the general population.
The fact that the people of Scotland voted NO at the last independence referendum (despite obvious rigging of postal votes and YES ballots being placed on the NO pile, even ballot papers with no number on the back) makes us seem to be worthy of the contempt shown by Westminster. Even though they were the instigators of the fraudulent actions of their minions, we the people of Scotland let them do it with impunity.
Yes Bruce, also the large amounts of online social ‘nudge’ and psyop warfare in the various forums’ ‘comments’ section indicated a massive intelligence agency attack on free speech. The most obvious part of this was when everything went silent here, three days before the Scottish vote itself – as obviously their internal polling/sentiment analysis showed that they had manipulated their desired outcome.
The worst aspect of abusing intelligence agencies to attack the actual people of the UK , was that it emboldened the idiots to try the same vanilla plan on the exit referendum. This has bitten them, and us, in the bum – tho’ I respect the actual democratic wave that blasted through this second psychological operation, and gave some of the people what they think they wanted.
Radar,
Please look up the EU Finance Bill 2019 which becomes law and binding for 20 years, or until modified. Among its provisions is banning EBTs, offshore banks, offshore registered offices for companies, and any tax avoidance as well as tax evasion. All British Overseas Territories are included if we stayed in. The new tax regime for the 27 begins April 1st 2019. We are leaving on Saturday March 29th, just in time for the Caymans, Gilbraltar, channell islands etc etc to keep up the good work.
Would love to see a reference and read its provisions rather than take your word for it
I struggled through EUR-Lex, banged my head on Google searches, including meta-searches, and couldn’t find exactly what you are referring to JM.
I take your general point , perhaps relating to the efforts to transpose into UK law the disclosure regimes under the EU’s directive on administrative cooperation 2018/822 (DAC 6) and the OECD’s ‘model’ mandatory disclosure rules (MMDR)?
key terms “disclosure of tax avoidance schemes” (DOTAS), “common reporting standard” (CRS), automatic exchange of information reporting (???) and many other things that seem they are likely to shine a light on non-doms and non-transparent city behaviours.
Might possibly be another british-exit co-factor, certainly!
Craig ..
I have given up on politics it’s truly a dirty sports nowadays and people egos .. You only got to look at history for the last 80 years to notice this and go deep to see what has actually gone on to know the truth ..
It’s why we see a lot of problems today due to it all and it all started under the British Empire all the way back then when colonising seem to be the in thing to do back then in all fairness with you and it goes much deeper with how things connect with the whole world now ..
it affects everything now due to it all not just one nation as we have all seen, Just look at the state of the middle east and guess who cause that mess in the first place British double-dealing during the First World War ignited the conflict between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East.
Same like the British Invasion of Iraq before WW1 was about oil same thing happened again under Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher plus the arms trading deals they were hiding too all for what may i ask you..? money of course this what it always comes down to these days ..even Mark Thatcher made millions from it he also had a nickname the International Fixer
What happened after all this under the bush’s and blair was about money too .. I think when John Major was PM he actually knew this and was sort of in disbelief what Margaret Thatcher had done you know you could see it in his body language when the war between Iraq & Kuwait started ..
Again this was about money between Iraq owe Kuwait – United Arab Emirates if anything this was just a big distraction for the arms trade dealings that we’re going on back then and still making big profits today .. and just look at the comparison of both countries to Iraq i think if Iraq was left alone they too would have been just like Kuwait – United Arab Emirates we all see today ..
Nicolas,
When exactly did the Birtish invade Iraq before World War 1?
IrishU
period was around 1915 / 1916 also the french were involved too ..
The Sykes–Picot Agreement, officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was a secret 1916 agreement between the United Kingdom and France, to which the Russian Empire assented. The agreement defined their mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in Southwestern Asia a shameful act to do
Why shameful ? If you are going to dismember the Ottoman Empire what do you suggest….let the Martians run it ?
Hi Nicolas,
I was confused when you stated there was British action in Iraq before World War 1. I am aware of the Mesopotamian Campaign which was waged during the War, not prior. It commenced around November 2014. There was no French involvement in the Mesopotamian Campaign. The forces sent to Basra, who then went on to capture Baghdad before ignominious defeat at the Siege of Kut, were mostly Indian troops with support from Australia and New Zealand.
IrishU
I look at way too much history these days because I would like to know the truth but you will find a lot more about it ? in Promises and Betrayals: Britain and the Holy Land (Israel/Palestine Documentary) on YouTube.
Am trying to understand the world to help people but it takes you down some very shocking paths to be 100% with everything am learning and will get a bit mixed up but this will give you the truth to what really went on back then same like EUROPA The Last Battle explains too much of what we see today in all fairness ..
It’s a bit like what Karen Armstrong – How Little We Know – Empathy and Compassion in Society talks about too very complicated society we truly live in right now and a lot of it down to what has happened in the past ..
And how things really connect with the world we live in today and it’s a shame people don’t say I don’t know instead of thinking everybody has all the right answers and that people are not talking with each other to solve problems instead of creating more problems.
Yes but Iraq came under the purview of the Indian Army which was British anyway. Huge losses due to disease in Basra
Iraq was founded 1 Oct 1919. You might want to look up Armistice of Mudros. You forgot to mention The Ottomans……..quite an oversight really.
You should read this book to brush up on your facts…..
http://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Countries-Weve-Ever-Invaded-ebook/dp/B009UV5PT6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540992781&sr=8-1&keywords=countries+invaded+by+uk
Am looking at so much stuff and it’s only me doing the work for safety reason in case of backlash from the establishment .. And thanks for the for the advice and i will checkout the book in due course because am very busy at the moment with a lot of subjects into a lot of matter Paul..
Paul that book reminds me abit like..? Why does the US have 800 military bases around the world?
Re IrishU ” When exactly did the British invade Iraq before World War 1″
It was one of the first forces to be dispatched, this site says 1914:
http://countrystudies.us/iraq/19.htm
British double-dealing during the First World War
Good job Sazonov of Russia was not involved. Great that Giscard d’Estaing’s grand uncle Picot was not a signatory. It buzz all the British Empire wot did it . without the British Empire there would have been Universal Peace and Felicity under the Russian German, Austro-Hngarian and Ottoman Empires
Paul i think you need to check out europa the last battle it’s eye opening and puts everything into place with what we see today you know .. Do be forewarned though, your worldview will never be the same again ..
I thoroughly agree! Add to your list the paucity of motorway provision in Scotland compared to England. Only when transport was devolved, did we get a completed motorway between our two largest cities. I could go on but you have covered most of it!
While I too support Independence and voted for it, persuading many colleagues to do likewise,I am horrified that the SNP simply wish to swap one autocratic monster for an even bigger, more voracious one. That is not true Independence, that is subservience and not what I originally voted for. An alliance with Europe yes, but don’t pretend we’ll be truly free or self-determining under the cosh of Brussels.
Why don’t you learn something about the EU before spouting off? Most Brexiters don’t even know what it it is that they’re against, and you appear to be one of them.
La Guerre, NOONE in Europe knows much about the EU and how it functions and what it does. Its failures are manifest however. Far from giving us the deep and wide Capital Markets and self-sustaining growth (most trade is INSIDE the Customs Union)…..it is unable to withstand US Sanctions on Iran, cannot create an alternate payments system to US Banks, and is dependent on US dollars to pay for imports of oil making a complete mockery of the Euro as a major currency.
Oh, and my scorn is because I wish it had not failed in these things
Apparently you too don’t know much about the EU. Others do.
The EU is not omnipotent, just as the US is not. If you ever studied history, you will know that things advance slowly, in any area. The US itself, for example, is forcing the development of an alternate payments system, by their constant recourse to sanctions (that being the only working weapon the US has left in its armoury).
Where did I say the EU was “omnipotent” ?
I have studied factual history.
SWIFT is NOT a US system it is headquartered in Belgium. Still the US says jump and European business says “how high ?”
The EU has in 60 years FAILED to insulate itself from the Whims of Washington. Even de Gaulle managed that in little France
I hope you dont develop a serious illness that needs instant action, cause at present you still can access EU hospitals at free will and travel.
and the NHS pays the bills at the BASIC domestic provision rate. You could hover take out travel insurance as any sensible person would
Fundamentally Brussels draws in funds to redistribute as development seed corn to the less economically developed regions. The Highlands & Islands were once a recipient. The Republic of Ireland benefited in a big way. Now the funds are targeted Eastward.
Westminster draws funds in and that is where they remain.
All the examples cited by others in this thread. The notion that spending £56 billion on HS2 will regenerate the North is fallacious. If you want to regenerate the North, spend £56 billion in the North, not engaging in compulsory purchase in a speculative bubble around London.
All rails lead to London.
HS2 is a joke. What is needed is a high speed line from Liverpool to Hull alongside M62. A separate freight line should run from port to port with container traffic and perhaps even trucks on rail.
You can build spurs from Leeds and other cities to huge car parks by motorways and free cities of non-electric vehicles
You will need a Council of The North to make sure London does not subvert everything
“Fundamentally Brussels draws in funds to redistribute as development seed corn to the less economically developed regions.”
Worked well for Greece, didn’t it? Some development! But of course, I was forgetting, that was all the fault of the Greeks, who are a feckless people, apparently, and brought their bankruptcy upon themselves because they didn’t pay enough tax … (just as the Spanish were dismissed as lazy when they were suffering similar financial collapse, there always seems to be a burst of racial slurring to soften up public opinion before seriously devastating austerity is imposed on one hapless victim of the banking crisis after another, the blame for this state of affairs, like the burden of the remedy, passed swiftly from the financial sector to the broad mass of those least responsible for it, and least equipped to bear its consequences). No, Greece’s disaster had nothing whatsoever to do with primarily German banks lending Greek banks shedloads of money in a lending frenzy, prior to the global financial collapse, of monumental irresponsibility, inspired by Greece’s higher rates of interest, and in order to sell German goods. Apparently, the financial gurus of Europe’s banks had no feckin clue as to the precariousness of the Greek economy, just as they hadn’t a clue whether or not Greece met the necessary financial criteria when it joined the Euro. Some uncharitable people might say that if you lend billions to an economy about which you’re clueless, then you’re as responsible as those people you lend to when it all goes up in smoke. Normally, in business, the debtor declares bankruptcy when that happens, and the lender pays the price for having made a bad loan, but the EU has that covered – Greece wasn’t allowed to declare bankruptcy; and so began the scheme whereby shedloads of money were once again lent to Greece so that it could pay the vast majority of it back to Deutsche Bank, who had made the majority of the greedy, ill judged and irresponsible loans which, rather than the shortfall in taxes paid by the Greek people, was the real cause of Greece’s financial collapse; it was the weakest link in the broken chain of the neoliberal banking cartel at the heart of the European project, but it could just as easily have been Italy, or anyone else. This scam was called ‘the bailout’. Under it, Greece’s debt has grown far beyond any prospect of its reimbursement. The only party bailed out was Deutsche Bank. In the process, Greece lost the sovereign right to elect its own finance minister, in effect; Greece’s economic programme is decided in Brussels, not by Greeks. The EU is about to try this on with Italy. A bunch of unelected bureaucrats are attempting to tell the Italian people that they have no right to choose their own economic policies. So much for democracy. And once again, the banks, in Italy, are at the root of its problems. Guess who Brussels wants to pay the price for their failure? My guess is we’ll be hearing all about certain character traits of the Italians before very long.
Incidentally, has anyone ever considered why, if the EU is such a bulwark against the prospect of division and war in Europe, we are currently witnessing the rise of fascism throughout it? Could it be because, for a very large number of people at the bottom of the social pile, standards of living are in decline? That’s usually why people vote for such extreme politics. They don’t, as a rule, do that because they’re content, or happy. Most people, left to their own devices, are woefully uninterested in politics. Only a decline in their circumstances can explain such a widespread change in voting habits across the western world. And could that be because, in brief, we pursue a neoliberal economic agenda which transfers wealth from the base to the apex of the social pyramid? Could it be that for increasing millions, the social contract is well and truly broken? Because if that’s true, and I believe it is, then, in Europe, it broke under the EU and its economic policies, which are neoliberal to the core.
Science loves an experiment. Guess we’re about to find out which is the worst bad option for the masses. EU neoliberalism or UK neoliberalism on steroids / Malthusianism.
Well, under Corbyn, we’d stand a real chance of reversing the neoliberal diktat. We’re an election away from that. I see no prospect whatsoever of doing anything of the sort through the EU.
The EU’s neoliberal project faltering and stumbling after the 2008 market implosion. hit the European working class hard. Unfortunately the traditional political allies of the wage earning classes had, in the previous decades, sold their collective souls to the Devil and all they could offer the increasingly alienated and disenfranchised working folk, who were forced into an open ended austerity regimen while their money was used to bail out and reward the scum in the banking towers who paid no price for their crimes, were platitudes about hard work and innovation…and mumbled nonsense about ‘market based’ solutions.
What happened next is not surpising. When the left fails to do its job, the fascist right thrives. The Nazis were able to seize power because the social democrats and the communists were never able to get their shite together and mount an effective pro-worker campaign. Today, the far right thrives because the left accepted capitalism as inevitable and when the working class got clobbered, the left was rendered impotent and had nothing to offer.
Just like in the US, where the neoliberal Democrat Party can’t accept that the mess the country finds itself in is a direct result of its selling out the working class, the Euro left can’t accept it is to blame for the disaster befalling the EU. So they double down on trying to save the venal and avaricious neoliberal monstrosity that created the problem in the first place. It is insanity.
Add to that the looming crisis that awaits when climate change kicks in hard and the Trump administration’s apocalyptic foreign policy that seeks to halt inevitable American decline by brute force and we have a perfect storm in which “our betters” are leading us to armageddon while an increasingly unhinged nuclear armed superpower is going full on rogue and attempting to play out its Bond villain world ruler fantasy. Totally mental.
But everything will be just fine and the EU will save the day. Lmao. If Scotland gains independence it won’t make much difference seeing as the west is collapsing and all. Lmao Good with the EU tho. I’m sure Dr. Schäuble’s replacement will treat you no worse than his predecessor treated Greece. Lmao. Fools.
Here is some of the anti-Palestinian rhetoric yesterday by member of the Friends of Israel lobby groups in the HoC when FCO questions opened the session. Burt and Hunt wrung their hands instead of telling these creeps where to go.
eg Hollobone, Ellman. Austin.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-10-30/debates/B47E1D1A-8825-4261-859B-16927AB199B9/Israeli-PalestinianPeacePlan
Tommy Sheppard SNP Edinburgh E spoke up for the Palestinians here. Good for him.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-10-30/debates/4EFBC063-CEDD-4FFD-B48B-A22871B5B072/TopicalQuestions
The subjects of Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Salisbury also came up in the session.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-10-30
Hunt seems to be out of his depth in this portfolio.
Got anything from the Russian version of Hansard?
James
I do not really follow the purpose of your question. Since SE and this blog are in UK, I wonder why we should be looking at Hansardsky?
“I wonder why we should be looking at Hansardsky?”
Because any such content on Salisbury, Saudi Arabia, Yemen & Syria would be relevant?
I wish there were reports of Duma Proceedings online but then again Hansard is no longer widely distributed since Thatcher cut the funding. Why everything comes down to Russia I don’t know. Maybe it is time to renegotiate the INF treaty and for France and UK to give up their nuclear weapons as Gorbachev wanted last time in 1987. If Trump wants renegotiation there is no way UK and France will be nuclear powers
Thanks for that. But I notice this answer from Burt:
The Minister for the Middle East (Alistair Burt)
“I discussed the proposed United States peace plan with the US President’s middle east envoy, Jason Greenblatt, on 28 September in New York. The Foreign Secretary discussed this with the special adviser to the US President, Jared Kushner, on 22 August. The UK remains committed to a negotiated settlement leading to a two-state solution based on 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as a shared capital.”
I wonder what Jared told him in answer?
This is very common in the HoC. We get half an answer and nobody presses for the other half.
Jason Greenblatt who attended Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy was lawyer to The Trump Organisation which makes him a perfect accompaniment to Jared Kushner who sleeps with Ivanka Trump
Amen to the A1 north of Morpeth needing to be made into a dual carriageway (at least).
Yes brilliant, more disruption on our way to Scotland for years to come.
“We want a better road link between England and Scotland”
“I’ve got good news for you, we are going to dual the A1”
“No we can’t have that, think of the disruption”.
What is not immediately apparent from the slimy Hammond budget is that giving more money to the NHS is also about passing more money to their supporters who are feasting on the piecemeal privatisation of the NHS. This of course was facilitated by the Lib Dems in the coalition government wholehearted adoption of the NHS deregulation that paved the way to the privatisation bonanza.
“more money to the NHS” is just shorthand for more money to private healthcare companies. The NHS will get to keep very little of it.
Even during the Blair Brown days the extra money spent on the NHS was on the main to try to make it easier to cost and privatise. During that phase there was a vast expansion in management who told doctors that trusts could no longer bid to treat patients with complex and expensive to treat problems.
LIFT is the key to GP surgeries
Today in the ‘chamber of horrors’.
11:30am
Oral questions Northern Ireland
12:00pm
Prime Minister’s Question Time
Ten Minute Rule Motion
Banking and Post Office Services (Rural Areas and Small Communities)
Debate – Continuation of the Budget Debate
Adjournment – Air pollution in relation to the A10 and Broxbourne
“Banking and Post Office Services (Rural Areas and Small Communities)”
Is this about selling the Post Office to W H Smith?
I have just bought a book of 1st Class stamps. 12 for £8.04
Dame Moya Greene ex the Canadian postal system, also privatised, has departed. The aims were achieved for the British system and the City boys went off with sackfuls of loot.
.
‘Royal Mail chief’s 23% pay boost
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-mail-chiefs-23-pay-boost-clbks2qh8
28 May 2017 – Greene’s salary was unchanged at £548,000, and she received a £200,000 contribution to her pension. Her £43,000 benefits pot includes a car allowance and flights to her native Canada. Royal Mail said: “We understand that executive remuneration is a sensitive subject in the current economic environment.”
The new boy is Rico Black (not ex Mafia with a name like that, but German straight from Switzerland where he is domiciled and from where he will operate).
‘In 1989, Back was a founding member and managing director of German Parcel, bought in 1999 by Royal Mail and subsequently rebranded as GLS. As of 2018, Back is head of Royal Mail’s European subsidiary General Logistics Systems (GLS). He succeeded Moya Greene as CEO when she retired in June 2018, and will receive the same ++£790,000 pay and benefits package, plus a possible £1.3 million bonus++, and will pay UK tax’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rico_Back
Royal Mail defends male boss’s salary
April 23 2018
Moya Greene’s successor Rico Back is being paid £100,000 more in salary than she was
Royal Mail has been forced to defend paying its incoming male chief executive £100,000 more in salary than its departing female boss.
The delivery company said that the discrepancy between the base salary of Rico Back, who will begin his role in June, and that of Moya Greene was to compensate for lower contributions to his pension scheme.
A Royal Mail spokeswoman said that when Ms Greene had taken over at Royal Mail, she received a cash pension allowance of £200,000 a year, about 36 per cent of her salary. However, after changes in 2016, Mr Back’s cash pension allowance will be £112,000 a year, or 17.5 per cent of his salary.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-mail-defends-male-bosss-salary-h853ksxdd
YCNMIU
Locally there is this ad for postal delivery workers –
‘Start times vary from 7.00am/ 9.00am – 3.00pm Monday to Saturday (work 5 days out of 6 approximately 25-30 hours per week, although flexibility is required to work additional hours when needed)
Pay rates: £8.00 minimum Monday- Friday. £9.00 minimum Saturday
Wages increase after 13 weeks continuous employment to around £10.50 an hour!’ Glass Door.
Canada Post was so awful it could not guarantee next day delivery over 20km. As for Back, GLS is a nightmare in Germany but so you are aware. Royal Mail routes its parcels to its German sub GLS which is awful. German Post Office is branded as DHL which is the best of the options but you might not access it from Royal Mail, and as a result GLS cannot deposit parcels at German Post Offices.
Royal Mail is a mess but I believe it is largely owned by Government of Singapore now. Don’t worry though German State Rail is trying to sell Arriva trains and buses but no-one is interested
Stop telling porkies Greenwood. The postal services you denigrate all worked perfectly fine. Get yourself a length of sturdy rope, locate the nearest lamppost and wait for further instructions. Run along now…there’s a good chap.
Sharp Ears
” have just bought a book of 1st Class stamps. 12 for £8.04″
On a point of information, postal rates are more or less the same throughout Western Europe.
The deal with W H Smith is for Post Office Counters (not yet privatised) not Royal Mail (already privatised).
The older the UK voter, the higher the likelihood of a Tory vote. Depressing.
This is the first in a series of tweets.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1056930198724206592
Data from Deltapoll, YouGov, Ipsos Mori and Survation [Scotland].
O/T a bit, but I see the Russian Federation has just added to it’s submarine fleet…
https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=152810184626
I think it was an MI6 sabotage operation following Putin’s assertion that HMS Queen Elizabeth “presents an easy target”.
It seems you have posted the wrong link, it refers to workplace equality and not to Russian submarines.
The Russians must have hacked the link.
I always said it was silly to buy one gigantic aircraft carrier. We should have bought several smaller ones.
If it was silly to buy one, what is the word to use when Gordon Brown bought two in a fit of pique?
And both with virtually no support ships to protect them.
We already have the biggest Aircraft Carrier – the British Isles.
Isn’t strange that Russia only has the need for one such ship.
@ Old person October 31, 2018 at 10:51
‘…Isn’t strange that Russia only has the need for one such ship.’
Which has been damaged while undergoing a refit when it’s ‘dry dock’ sank:
‘The first video has emerged from the location where a floating dock holding Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov became submerged overnight Tuesday.’:
https://sputniknews.com/russia/201810301069358893-admiral-kuznetsov-dry-dock-video/
There is another in the pipeline. ‘HMS Prince Charles’. A snip @ ++£6billion
Latest News
https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/princeofwales
“A snip @ ++£6billion” – Rubbish, that’s the cost for two of them.
Rumour has it the second one wasn’t binned earlier as there is likely to be a market for it as an almost new model.
My money’s on Russia buying it to replace it’s sunken antique aircraft carrier that cannot operate without a fuel tanker shadowing it.
Sharp Ears ain’t so Sharp. HMS Prince Charles doesn’t exist. These aircraft carriers cost 3Bn each and have kept Scottish shipyards in business for 2 decades. Meanwhile the ruskies can’t even keep their ancient one afloat as a museum. LoLz
More effective and much cheaper would be to have several life size cutout models that can be deployed widely thus confusing the enemy.
Aircraft carriers are only as useful as the range of the planes……600 miles is the distance a flat-top can be from a missile battery. With Chinese DF-41 missiles having a 1500km range and Russian P800s, Kh-35s, 3M22 Zircons…..it is not clear these ships have any purpose.
Since UK ships will use the (currently grounded) F-35s which when fully loaded cannot VTOL…..it seems arcane. On RS-28 Sarmat solves the UK problem
You might want to think a bit more about your post.
Anti ballistic missiles exist which are fitted to carrier escorts and F35B whilst not in service yet are certainly not grounded. Additionally STOVL versions of the aircraft increase the operational range than the ability for VT. https://www.naval-technology.com/projects/sea-ceptor-missile-system/
https://www.forces.net/news/f-35b-jets-make-first-night-landings-hms-queen-elizabeth
https://tinyurl.com/y9q7rdho – Un-hackable link to RT story.
Aegis SM3 missiles have never been tested against Zircon or DF-26 only against US missiles where the same force controls both attacking and defending missile (farcically).
Oh and F-35s landing on the deck of that carrier were US Navy test planes. As for grounding I suggest you read up latest…..
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2018/10/25/some-f-35s-grounded-again-for-new-round-of-inspections/
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/entire-f-35-stealth-fighter-jet-fleet-grounded-by-military-after-crash-in-september/ar-BBOeOlb
@James Mackie-F-35’s. Really? They’ll never sort it out. A turkey, the Handley Page Hereford of today.
On-topic: and how about the proposal to appoint private-sector spivs such as Richard Branson and Alan Sugar as British ambassadors?
Fortunes will be made for a tiny few when food supplies start breaking down. Perhaps Richard Branson, ambassador to France, will be hailed as a hero (imagine him in a beret and with a string of Breton onions around his neck) if in return for turning the M1 into the Virgin Highway (a small payment of £500 for a gadget in your car that allows you to use it) he does a “deal” with France to get a few potato lorries on a boat from Dover to Margate when the motorways are blocked.
“Branson – he does great deals for Britain. Ask God to bless him when you get your first meal for a week”.
And what’s this? Alan Sugar, ambassador to Ireland, in return for getting his hands on 300 hospitals and 50 prisons, is running a “Sugar Convoy” of buses full of unemployed Irish youth to work in some Welsh fields now that the seasonal Polish labour won’t come.
(See that “caravan” in Mexico? You ain’t seen nothing yet!)
Perhap Nicholas van Hoogstraten can be made British ambassador to Zimbabwe? How about it, Nick, oh philanthropist among philanthropists?
Once the idea of billionaire spiv British ambassadors has sunk in, and we’ve been told about what great “People’s Deals” they “do for Britain”, it won’t surprise me if members of the royal family grab themselves some public roles as ambassadors or running trade agencies or other operational parts of the state or other agencies (medical supplies?), going that “extra mile” to sacrifice themselves for the public good (bravo your royal highnesses!), as the bastards line their pockets from the megaheist opportunity which will manifest for most people as famine.
But that has already been done with disastrous effects in the case of Mr Fergie
Richard Branson owes so much to his Barrister mother such as paying off HMRC when young Richard forgot to pay VAT on record sales
N_
“Fortunes will be made for a tiny few when food supplies start breaking down.”
You keep going on about food supplies breaking down (and famine) after Brexit. You know that is nonsense. And it is extremely boring to hear you repeat it all the time.
But I want to be fair – please present a reasoned case for your obsession. We are willing to listen.
Charles, of course there will be famine. Have you forgotten all that food that we will be trying to export, rotting in the lorries at Dover?
Bayard
That will not be the worst of it.
Imagine if you are a big haulage company and there’s a 25 mile tailback at Dover.
Would you send your British truck and driver to a European customer with your truck and the
contents some firm will pay you for on delivery to join the queue?
They won’t bother sending the trucks as it will be a waste of time.
They won’t like paying the drivers to hang around in a traffic jam.
So they won’t do it.
The Europeans will do the same.
“and there’s a 25 mile tailback at Dover.”
There are other ports on the South Coast, you know.
I will be happy to fast , knowing these evil grasping tories will be thrown out of office
@Craig – “While it is indeed true that the income gap between the top and bottom deciles is slightly shrinking, the gap between the top centile and the bottom decile – or any other decile, including the between the top centile and the top decile – is expanding very fast. In short, we are taking on the characteristics of a helot society, where distinctions between the upper middle class and working class are reducing, but the gap to the extremely wealthy is growing.”
This is spot on. There are streets in London in which no resident uses normal commercial flights when they fly. And I don’t mean Kensington Palace Gardens or Eaton Square. I am talking about streets in places like Regent’s Park where this was NOT the case even 10 years ago. The super-rich are doing absolutely great as the country collapses.
As for this bit…
“The worse off were solidly pro-Independence (except for the Orangemen, whose thought processes are not rational). It was the bungalow dwellers of suburbia who were swayed by the fear that they might not be able to trade in their Nissan Qashqai after three years as they intended.”
…as if the YeSNP appealed to voters’ rationality!
Luxury flats in London’s Centre Point building at the end of Oxford Street have been taken off the market by the “developer”, Almacantar.
Everyone knows that prices at the high end of the property market have soared. But many don’t get further than noticing that the super-rich are so rich that they can buy super-expensive properties. Sure, that’s true. But prices are set by demand and the reason why they are so high, AND in particular the reason why the price differential has stretched out so much, is precisely BECAUSE the super-rich have got richer and richer. Demand has grown.
In the rest of the market, which is practically a different market, the reason for price rises is different. It’s because the banks have been successful in encouraging people to get into huge debt. That is why prices for ordinary properties are so high in Britain compared to in other countries. It’s because moneylenders have gripped people so hard.
This should all be obvious I know, but I encounter many who don’t understand it.
A decent-spec three bedroom ordinary-sized house could be built at a cost of about £70,000 on materials and services if this was actually allowed.
Most of the price asked for property is related to the price of the land and that is why there is so much differential between areas. The answer would be the power of compulsory purchase by the government where national interest outweighs personal profit.
The price of the land is determined by supply and demand. It is not naturally higher in one area than another.
What I would like to see is a Labour government allow all the major banks to go bust and to nationalise their remaining assets, which include millions of charges on property titles called mortgages. These charges could then be exercised, so that the government takes over the houses and allows their former legal owners to live in them at subsidised social rents on secure tenancies. Since the house price market will have collapsed, soon other people without mortgages would want to have the same arrangement and the government should offer to buy their houses at say a tenth of what the price was previously and should then give them the same secure tenancies. For further incentivisation there could be a Cuban-style law making it lawful to own a house but not to sell it privately.
Even some petty-bourgeois rednecks who currently like to loiter by their front gates glaring at working class people and black people walking past would soon wise up and realise what moneylending and mortgages were really all about; that they affect almost everyone, even those who have paid off all their debts or who have never been in debt; and that social-democratic reform that puts an end to rape capitalism would be the best damned thing that’s ever happened to them.
(And if they didn’t wise up, f*** them.)
Moneylending rampant is the reason house prices are so high, except at the top of the market where the reason is different. Practically nobody in Sweden would borrow more than 2 times their gross income for a house purchase, whereas in Britain it’s common for the multiplier to be 4 or 5.
Moreover the cause of the last collapse was exactly subprime lending which artificially raised the value of property and deliberately lent to individuals who would not be able to pay and then bundled the risks and sold them. It worked as long as the con trick was not exposed.
“The price of the land is determined by supply and demand. It is not naturally higher in one area than another.”
That is, I am afraid, complete and utter bollocks. The price of land is determined by its location. There is a huge amount of evidence for this, whereas I challenge you to come up with any evidence for your view.
You compare Scotland’s position with that of “Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden” but I still find it difficult to reconcile your passion for Scottish independence with your enthusiasm for membership of the EU. Indeed of the countries listed in quotation marks only Ireland has joined the Eurozone and now, I think, bitterly regrets having done so.
I’ve suggested to you before now that there could be most interesting prospects for Scotland as a member of a sort of Northern League with Norway and Iceland, with almost exclusive collective control of a vast fishing area plus much to learn from Norway about hydroelectric power and energy storage – something which would fit well into the great tradition of Scottish engineering expertise.
Add Sweden and Denmark…
You must be well aware of the growing financial and politico-social strains in the EU (doune the plughole, you might say). Why not have a bolder vision for your country’s future?
“(A)lmost exclusive collective control of a vast fishing area”
🙂
What if the people of Shetland, none of whom view themselves as Scottish, “self-determine” the wrong way?
And good luck with finding people in Sweden and Denmark who want those countries to leave the EU and end their close trading relationship with Germany, end Sweden’s clout in the Baltic, etc., in order to join up with an independent Scotland.
As all Swedes know, Sweden is owned by one man, a man called Jacob Wallenberg. Why not try to try to persuade him that his future lies with fishing quotas as if he were in Iceland?
At least if rump Britain is outside the EU and so is an independent Scotland, then the border that Scotland does most of its external trade across may stay open. Or to be blunter: lorries may still be coming up the M74 and there won’t be a problem with a big refugee camp on the north bank of the Tweed.
Am I right that a close trading relationship between an independent Scotland and rump Britain doesn’t suit? You don’t even address the question of what the relationship with that other country – the big nearby one – would be. Surely an independent Scotland would have something to offer?
“You don’t even address the question of what the relationship with that other country – the big nearby one – would be. Surely an independent Scotland would have something to offer?”
Or are English people too smelly to want to deal with?
N.
You’re having a rare old conversation with yourself I see. ?
“At least if rump Britain is outside the EU and so is an independent Scotland, then the border that Scotland does most of its external trade across may stay open. Or to be blunter: lorries may still be coming up the M74 and there won’t be a problem with a big refugee camp on the north bank of the Tweed.”
However EU lorry drivers will avoid Britain like the plague, not wanting to be stuck at customs for more time than necessary.
As for refugee camps the French could stop halting them in France after Britain leaves the EU. Allowing them to try and frosd the Channel by hook or by crook into England.
Agreed, France could stop allowing British checks in Calais. What a nightmare that would be on the English side of the Channel. But if rump Britain is outside the EU and an independent Scotland is inside, migrant workers from the continent will still be able to come to Scotland and some of them will try to get to London and Manchester. Despite being a sh*thole, London still has the “bright lights” image that it did for many immigrants in the 1950s. It need only be a small proportion to try the Scottish route for there to be a problem on the Tweed.
London is a “sh*thole” in large part because of the runaway immigration brought in by Blair (although already excessively high since the 1948 Nationality Act). When I was born there in 1960 the settled, indigenous population were still a large majority; now, we are vastly outnumbered in what was, well within living memory, our own city.
Spare us the ukip crap. London is a great city because of its rich cultural mix, thanks to centuries of migration and exchange.
It is a fact that the bosses and their governments have encouraged mass immigration of foreign workers to do mostly low-paid and non-unionised service jobs, and that such immigration accounts for the large growth in what until a few decades ago was a falling population in London.
This has brought all sorts of social problems but indigenous working class people are told they’re filth when they mention them. It is an excellent example of how both the indigenous and the immigrants are treated by the elite, who (even while being very “mid-Atlantic”) have an attitude that is close to colonial. “They run Britain as if it were the empire” used to be common knowledge on the left.
This kind of operation is what a famous landlord called Peter Rachman once specialised in in Notting Hill. “Get the schwartzers in and destat” was this disgusting man’s succinct description of his business approach. That meant “Get some black tenants, encourage strife between them and white tenants so that the white tenants with protected tenancies move out, and then watch the price of the property shoot up when it doesn’t have any sitting tenants any more”. What was done in a few areas of London including Notting Hill and Brixton has now been done across most of London. Most of London has now been Rachmanised.
Let me say that again: what is going on in London is Rachmanism.
Rising rents, increasing racism and ethnic tensions, worsening housing conditions, and people being ever more under the boot of private sector landlords – these and the running down of social housing are all part and parcel of the same thing. I have no time for the observation that London is
just like New Yorka “great city” when no recognition is made of these changes. (And I am a Londoner.)The bosses love whatever divisions they can cause and fuel in the working class. Rather than denounce all white people in the working class as a bunch of UKIPpers, what we need is stronger trade unions that make a huge recruitment effort among people in crap jobs, including both immigrants and natives. That is the only way the far right will be defeated. The subjective conditions are now far worse than they were on the eve of the Battle of Cable Street.
What utter nonsense. You would get a fail in Sociology 101, or recent British History 101. Just a litany of sweeping statements with a tenuous link to the actual situation. Btw, conditions are not ‘worse than Cable Street’/. Preposterous hysteria.
Re N_ at 10.20
I had not heard of Jacob Wallenberg before, so for anyone unfamiliar, like myself, here’s a short profile of him: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/jun/16/privateequity.
Apparently, he does own a significant part of Sweden.
Pete, Swedish companies tend to issue A and B shares where the A shares have more votes, ie 10:1, 100:1 or even 1000:1 in the case of Ericsson. So the Wallenbergs and their ilk can have a controlling vote without a majority shareholding.
The Glazers have done the same thing with Manchester United. Having taking the club private, loaded it with LBO debt and hoovering up as much money as possible, they have started issueing B shares with no votes.
And Danish businessman Anders Holch Povlsen is now the largest landowner in Scotland
Just like the old days with Danelaw
“Indeed of the countries listed in quotation marks only Ireland has joined the Eurozone and now, I think, bitterly regrets having done so.”
On the contrary, Ireland is now reaping the benefits of EU protection against the Brits.
As for Scotland in the EU after independence, well EFTA is my preferred choice. However a vote could be held on it.
Well written. The uk government is beyond disgraceful. And that is the best word I can think of. Love from Scotland x
Michael Gove mocks Prince Charles and compares him to Adolf Hitler.
This is an amusing clip, if highly superficial on matters “brown green”. Later Michael Gove with Dominic Cummings’s help put his name to the book Celsius 7/7, so he can’t have upset Z__nist interests much with that video.
P Charles is coming up to his 70th birthday. The state broadcaster heralds the event.
Prince Charles’ 70th birthday marked with £5 coin – BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-45862598
16 Oct 2018 – A commemorative series of £5 coins has been released to mark the Prince of Wales’ birthday. It features an engraved portrait of Prince Charles, …
BBC promises ‘intimate’ documentary on Prince Charles to mark 70th
A behind the scenes documentary about the Prince of Wales is to be broadcast by BBC One to mark the heir to the throne’s 70th birthday on 14th November.
‘ The 60-minute documentary is entitled Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70, and has been described by the BBC as ‘intimate documentary’ offering ‘a unique insight’ into the future king. Charlotte Moore, director of BBC Content, said: ‘It’s a real privilege to be given access to the Prince of Wales and those closest to him to mark his 70th birthday. ‘This intimate documentary will offer a unique insight into his life and work and those who know him best.’
Have your forelocks at the ready to doff.
The State Broadcaster grows ever more comfortable fulfilling its duties. I’m sure their treatment of Chuckie will be toe curling in its obsequiousness.
The recent bio on the Assad dynasty ran for three hours. Not one mention of General Wesley Clark’s “7 countries in 5 years” statement. Managed to cover Rifat al Assad the “butcher of Hama” but miraculously neglected to mention that he lives happily in the SE of England.
Pedantry Corner:
You doff your hat and tug your forelock (if you’re too poor to have a hat, like me, for example)
” Cap wringing is so last year ”
Noel Gallagher.
Bowing and scraping is a la mode.
BBC Execs are on trend.
“Guard! Off to the tower with that disrespectful bald pauper!”
Forelocks come off??
You can doff your hat or tug your forelock, but what you have written can’t be done m’dear.
It can if you wear a wig.
Gideon Falter of the Campaign Against Antisemitism is pressing the CPS to take action against contributors to the same site used by the Pittsburgh gunman so as to prevent a similar event taking place against British Jcws. I believe the website is called GAB. He says that they are guilty of hate speech.
I heard that news item on LBC.
Falter is a very active activist for his cause.
http://powerbase.info/index.php/Gideon_Falter
How did Theresa May start PMQs? With a tribute to those killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Corbyn has just added his sympathy.
https://news.sky.com/story/pmqs-live-theresa-may-and-jeremy-corbyn-face-off-over-budget-11540799
I have had to turn down the volume as she is shouting. Ghastly woman.
Surprised Theresa didn’t jump on a plane, as she seems to like flying so much, and join Trump in Pittsburgh to lay a pebble.
What hypocrisy. Compare those 11 deaths to the literally millions of Muslims and other peoples that the USUKIsNATO axis has killed. It’s just exceptionalism for Pittsburgh.
I thought GAV+B was simply an uncensored Twitter. Frankly I would ban Facebook, Google, Twitter and all the rest
Gideon Falter of the Campaign Against Antisemitism’s time would be better spent shaming, isolating and ostracizing those within the Jewish community supporting the far-right/neo nazi groups across Europe and America with finance, weapons, strategic and legal support – see Tommeh and co, Ukraine, Hungary, Canada, USA, anywhere they can stir hate.
One of the biggest threats to the Jewish community out side of Israle seems to be the a portion of the Jewish community within Israle who seem to take a position that there exists a lot of ”wrong type of Jews” – see leading Israli Rabbi who could not even recognize that the synagogue that this horrible act of hate happened in is a synagogue. Some really pathetic people exist in this world. Making no distinction between these groups does no good Sharp Ears. Even Syrian and Iranian people were offering their condolences to this tragic event. After all the shit they deal with regards IDF war crimes the can still separate out Jewish people from Zi*nists. Go join a ‘Jews for Palestine’ , ‘Jews against Zionism’ group Sharp Ears and expand your knowledge. You come across in a similar vein as the ”all Muslims are child abusers” loony brigade. It takes away from the brilliant stuff you highlight here for people. Peace.
I know more about Israel and Palestine, especially Gaza, than you will ever know.
Meanwhile there’s a storm brewing, as some in the Labour party want the IHRA rolled back so they can openly criticise nasty Israeli actions.
By standing up to criticise Israel, they’ve been branded anti-Semitic.
It would appear that soon Israel, and its actions will be above reproach
http://www.thenational.scot/news/17189782.im-no-anti-semite-says-labourite-under-inquiry/
In the Guardian, in the meantime, the ghastly Harriet Freeman, is busy worrying in her column, about how soon she can tell her 3 year old daughter of the dangers of Corbyn getting into power as he is so anti-semitic and will come after the likes of them.
I couldn’t agree more. Giving the rich another tax break is scandalous.
Meanwhile”People are getting penalised for being poor”today’s society is seriously messed up..
How are people being penalized for being poor? What can you do to them apart from making them poorer – and who is doing that? Even the poorest person in the west is substantially wealthier than the richest person would have been a few hundred years ago.
Obviously rich people can do different things than poor people, but young people can do different things to old people, healthy people different things to sick people etc. etc.
So many category errors there, it is another meaningless Loony Tunes classic.
“How are people being penalized for being poor? What can you do to them apart from making them poorer ”
Loony.
You’ve answered the question right there.
But it entails much more that just a lack of money.
For instance, the poor, who are already struggling will not be able to heat their homes if they have one. Nor buy quality foods, socialising is out of the question, they could become withdrawn, and develop health problems younger, which inturn puts a greater strain on the NHS. It can lead to trouble with the police and imprisonment, which only adds to the drain on the taxpayer.
Many will not have access to the internet making it even more difficult to meet DWP criteria. I do believe in some instances their children miss school due to financial worries at home, and in the Summer holidays when school is out, some go without a decent meal all day. The long term effect of this is more uneducated and poor young adults, without the skills needed to rise out of poverty.
The Trussell Trust, has year on year shown a rise in the need for foodbanks, indeed there’s even now a sanitarty towel bank, a childrens clothes bank, a baby clothes bank, a childrens school uniform bank, those a just the ones I’ve heard of, there could be more out there.
Poverty isn’t just about cash, it is a whole social structure, more often than not, it’s a vicious circle that many never break free from.
How about this?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/homeless-people-fined-imprisoned-pspo-sleeping-rough-a8360766.html
As someone once said it’s all about the economy! Why upset a system that works and benefits all? Look at the debacle of the trying to leave the EU, that would just be the same unnecessary shambles should Scotland gain Independence. And then the SNP want to rejoin the EU so we end up with a hard border to England. As for UK rail projects, im sure the highlands are upset about the focus and concentration on the Central Belt that the Scottish government has.
Sure MPs are elected for a UK wide government, so what? There are areas in Scotland who don’t want an SNP government.
Difficult to be confident with nothing to calibrate against, but if Trump’s hysteria is any indication, the Republicans view the mid-term election as a blue tsunami.
Recent pronouncements / actions from the orange, ambulant clownfish.
He will deliver a 10% tax cut to middle income earners in early November.
There are Middle Easterners mixed in with the Honduran caravan.
ISIS is entering the US via the Mexican border.
The NY Stock exchange opened the day after 9/11.
Sending 5,200 troops to the border and calling it “Operation Faithful Patriot” (my teeth hurt with conscious stupidity of that one).
Stating that he can end birthright citizenship by Presidential decree.
Stating that he can end birthright citizenship by Presidential decree.
I am sure he can by Executive Order. HE is after all The Executive.
You might look up Lindsay Graham’s Bill in The Senate……”Finally, a president willing to take on this absurd policy of birthright citizenship. I’ve always supported comprehensive immigration reform — and at the same time — the elimination of birthright citizenship,”
The Supreme Court has never stated the 14th Amendment extends privileges to ILLEGAL residents
Citizens victimized by genocide or abandoned by the international community do not make good neighbors, as their thirst for vengeance, their irredentism and their acceptance of violence as a means of generating change can turn them into future threats. Very deep indeed but just think about it .?
Just like, Let’s say you have ten insurgents. Huh? Now, let’s say you kill two of ’em. Now, how many insurgents do you have left? Hmm? Hmm? Well, you’d say eight, of course. Eight. Right? Right? Wrong! In this scenario, ten minus two equals 20. Let’s say the two insurgents you just killed, uh… each had six friends or brothers or some such, who are hovering on the brink of… of joining the insurgency. They’re thinking about this insurgency thing. “Looks interesting. But, you know, for one reason or other, not for me.” But… So, then you go and kill their friend. Now you’ve just made up their minds for ’em. Those hovering friends are now full, paid-up members of the enemy. Yeah. And so, in the math of counterinsurgency, ten minus two… equals 20.
Then top it off with all the Propaganda is information that is not objective and is used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is presented. Propaganda is often associated with material prepared by governments, but activist groups, companies, religious organizations and the media can also produce propaganda.
And what do you in the making some very pissed off people looking to take revenge for all the pain and suffering they caused someone and for what really money and resources of some country ..
It’s a bit like ‘A man is no less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years.’
There may be a queue of refugees at the border when Scotland becomes independent, Craig. I hope you’ll find room for us. Happy to learn some Lallans.
I am a Cymro. I live in Cymru. That’s the country which borders England. We are one of the poorest countries in Europe and have never voted for a Tory government in Westminster or anywhere else. The Assembly has been Labour for 20 years. No one highlights our predicament outside our borders. Please include Cymru (rich in natural resources, raped by our neighbours), in your further articles if you can, otherwise there’s a possibility when Scotland becomes Independent and a united Ireland is restored that Cymru will be attached to England in perpetuity. Diolch yn fawr.
Solidarity brother.
For what it’s worth Cymru needs to find its own path. I was a little alarmed at Adam Price’s starry eyed assessment that Plaid should replicate the strategy of the SNP to achieve success. A great deal of the heavy lifting in 2014 was done by a myriad of groups and associations outwith the SNP. You may be surprised how many prominent and influential nationalists are not party members.
Cynt i fwyd brain
Nog i argyfrain
Yeah Carwyn Jones has done nothing for Wales of any value, the Welsh people need to wake up from their long slumber, and regain a bit of that old Owain Glyndwr spirit.
Davis gives his instructions.
Brexit deal will pass as ‘terror will win’, David Davis says
Henry Zeffman, Political Correspondent
October 31 2018, 12:00pm,
David Davis said the country would succumb to its “irrational fear” of a “no-deal” Brexit
Theresa May’s Brexit deal will be backed by parliament because “terror will win”, David Davis has predicted.
The former Brexit secretary, who resigned over the prime minister’s plans for a close relationship with the EU, said the country would succumb to its “irrational fear” of a “no-deal” rupture with the bloc.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank, Mr Davis said: “Terror will win . . . the fear of no deal, I think — but I think that’s an irrational fear of no deal or a WTO [World Trade Organisation] deal. That will win and there will be a deal.” He added, according to The Sun: “It may take a few passes, but it will pass.”
paywall
At a Green Party meeting here last night (I am not a member but it was an open meeting) with one of the London/SE MEPs, the thought was that there would be a ‘no deal’ with the ensuing chaos.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/brexit-deal-will-pass-as-terror-will-win-david-davis-says-pfxkc2ft3?
Tonight I am going to a book launch. ‘A New Way of Doing Politics’
Louise Irvine who nearly succeeded in dislodging Hunt in SW Surrey will be speaking amongst others.
“Theresa May’s Brexit deal will be backed by parliament”
May’s “deal” has already been rejected by the EU so parliament can pass it to its heart content, It’s dead in the water. It takes two to tango.
‘Louise Irvine who nearly succeeded in dislodging Hunt in SW Surrey…’
No she didn’t. In the general election on 7 May 2015 Irvine received 4,851 votes, putting her in fourth place. In the general election on 8 June 2017 Irvine received 12,093 votes, coming second to the sitting Conservative MP, Jeremy Hunt, who received 33,683 votes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000953
Whatever. As someone who doesn’t live in England or Surrey, you seem very eager to put up that correction. Are you very interested in English constituency voting?
Try reading this profile of Dr Irvine of the National Healthy Action Party. She campaigned and saved Lewisham Hospital. She comes from Paisley.
https://www.theguardian.com/profile/louise-irvine
The Con hold in SW Surrey went from +8.6 in 2010 to +3.1 in 2015 to -7.8 last year.
Formerly the seat of his cousin, Virginia Bottomley. Handy that. This piece gives the lowdown.
‘I doubt there is anything that is more guaranteed to get the backs up of English workers than hearing some upper middle-class Tory bastard telling them that they need to work harder.
Earlier this year at the Tory Party conference in Manchester, the multi-millionaire Health Secretary, Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt, claimed in a conference speech that low-paid workers lacked dignity and self respect and ought to graft like the Chinese “Who put in punishing hours” in a sweatshop. Needless to say, having been borne into a life of privilege, this former head boy of Charterhouse and student of Magdalen College Oxford, would know all about hard graft.
/..
http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-secret-of-hunts-success-hunt.html
I believe in accuracy, it is a pity you do not. It was also a very obvious mistake, despite significant attention on numerous social media platforms, including this one, Dr Irvine did not perform as expected against Jeremy Hunt – someone who has been labelled as the most unpopular Cabinet Minster in decades…
I am interested in UK politics as a whole so I would keep an eye on marginal consituencies, minsiterial consituencies where there is a risk of a Portillo moment (hence SW Surrey) and then consituencies where I have either lived or have a connection to.
I also take a more than passing interest in elections in the Republic of Ireland and the United States, just for future reference.
As it comes to light that Saudi fighter pilots are being/were trained in Wales, and that British forces are embedded in command and control centres in the Yemen conflict assisting the Saudi’s.
“A former cabinet minister has said Britain is “complicit” in creating a famine in war-torn Yemen because of its support for the Saudi-led coalition.”
The British government will stoop to any level to keep arms sales to Saudi Arabia flowing.
“Theresa May’s government has previously argued, with high court backing, the supply of weapons to Saudi Arabia does not breach UK arms export licence laws as it claims there is no clear risk of a serious breach of humanitarian law by the Saudi coalition.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-civil-war-saudi-arabia-arms-sales-uk-famine-coalition-houthi-rebels-a8609516.html
As the Brexit disaster looms large on the horizon, applications for an Irish passport have shot through the roof.
“In the first five months of this year, almost 45,000 British people had requested an Irish passport, according to figures from Neale Richmond, Chair of the Irish Senate’s Brexit committee.”
“London’s Irish embassy has issued more than 176,000 since 2016 – more than 10 times that of any other office.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-europe-46030552
Meanwhile.
The Metropolitan Police is to launch a line of branded clothing and souvenirs to raise money to pay for policing.
I find that shocking to think that the police need to hawk clothing and trinkets to help make ends meet. In my opinion its just one step closer to privatising the police.
What next I ask, Royal Navy swimwear? SAS fashion boots? A leaning tower of Trident trinket? Where does it end I ask myself.
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/metropolitan-police-to-launch-clothing-range-11540569
This is quite amusing.
Essex village used in ‘appalling’ Trump candidate ad
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-46047494
An advert used an image of Jaywick Sands, near Clacton in Essex, to attack Dr Nick Stella’s Democrat opponent.
The campaign picture, which showed an unpaved road and rundown homes, said: “Help President Trump keep America on track and thriving.”
It has received angry criticism from locals and Tendring District Council.
My greatgrandparents used to have a bakers shop near there, I expect it is derelict – now.
Michael Norton is back! It must be Hallowe’en 🙂
I agree with both predictions Craig. I think Ireland might even be united before Scottish independence. I just hope that our future governments care about the minority outwith the central belt. The highlands and Ireland have benefited greatly from EU support and despite serious and IMO justified misgivings about the EU, their contribution to both Ireland and our highlands has been very important.
The Colossus of Gujarat was unveiled today in India, it’s the tallest statue in the world.
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/31/india-unveils-worlds-biggest-statue-sardar-patel-amid-protests
RoS, off thread but you’ll recall this link you posted on Saturday, regarding a parliamentary vote in 2016 about withdrawing support from Saudi Arabia. Ian Murray is named as one of the Labour MPs who abstained, but he has emailed me to confirm that he was ‘paired’ for that vote and is an outspoken critic of Saudi Arabia. Fair play to him for responding to my email, even if our views on independence differ! ?
https://evolvepolitics.com/heres-a-list-of-labour-mps-who-abstained-on-a-bill-to-withdraw-support-from-saudi-arabias-murderous-war-in-yemen/
JOML.
Yes point taken, fair play to him for responding.