The Funny Tinge Group Ltd is a Boon to the SNP 672


It did not take me long to be proved right about this tweet, as the Funny Tinge Group Ltd was immediately promoted to a seat on BBC Question Time, and are going to be there next week too.

The BBC no longer has Westminster’s third party on QT every week, or given much airtime on other news and current affairs programmes, on the grounds the SNP are a “regional body” and thus not entitled to the consideration the Lib Dems got as third party in Westminster. The Funny Tinge Independent Integrity Initiative Group Ltd (Dir. Shai Masot) are of course not a party at all, they are a limited company, and they have no members. One thing they most certainly are is a “regional body”. Not a single vote in Scotland or Wales has ever been cast for them. Though I can think of a disused factory near Auchtermuchty that might vote for them.

What do we know of their policies? Well we know that are very much against criticism of Israel. We know they think the Cameron coalition government did a very good job on austerity. We know they are against renationalisation of utilities and against abolition of tuition fees and against higher taxes on the rich. I am sure something will eventually distinguish them from the Tories other than Brexit, but they haven’t thought of it yet.

At some stage they will have to form a political party. Once the unbounded bias of the MSM is moderately constrained by general election rules, they will need to be a party to get broadcast time. If they enter into an alliance with the Lib Dems, they will have to split the Lib Dems broadcast time; I do not see that happening.

Has anybody heard any of the “Independent Group” ever mention Scotland, once, in the vast tsunami of media coverage they have been given? I presume at some stage, somebody will alert them to the existence of Scotland, and possibly even tell them how to come here.

The political landscape of Scotland is very different to that in England and Wales. A large majority of the left-wingers who flocked to Corbyn are, in Scotland, unavailable as they are committed to the Independence movement, myself included. Scottish Labour has therefore been led by a rump of unreconstructed Blairite careerists lurking in the branch office (that may be slightly unfair on Richard Leonard, but as I still have no idea who he is I cannot be sure). With no deselection pressures, the Labour MPs have little career incentive to move, except perhaps Ian Murray, elected very largely on Tory votes and a right winger of limited intellectual grasp anyway. The Independent Group plc is both right wing and fashionable, and therefore a perfect fit for Morningside.

Scotland’s Tory MPs are mostly, aside from the Ross Thomson testicle grabbing tendency (allegedly), on the wet side, with pro-EU voters. But their voters are rural and traditionalist and unlikely to be thrilled by the appeal of a wholly new group. It should be remembered too that, contrary to incessant MSM propaganda, the media-induced Davison “surge” peaked at 28% and is now around 25% and falling faster than a Hebridean barometer.

The Funny Tinge Corporation is nonetheless going to need to insert itself into Scotland. This cannot but be great news for the SNP. It is really simple. A unionist vote split three ways will now be split four ways which, under FPTP, is a disaster for the Unionists. The corollary is that it is more important than ever that the Yes movement stay united behind the SNP. And the further corollary of that is that the SNP must listen to the voice of the Yes movement, forget the devolution settlement and push on towards early Independence.

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672 thoughts on “The Funny Tinge Group Ltd is a Boon to the SNP

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  • Hieroglyph

    I’ve been trying to think what the new name will be, for the new party. Something pretentious, and vaguely fascist sounding, no doubt. The Democratus Party. The New Democrats. The National Democrats. The Dawn Movement. Possibly The National Socialists, but that’s very much a long shot.

    They are all airhead media types with scarcely a brain cell between them, and thus all ther other airheads will love them. Luckily, nobody pays much attention to the MSM these days, so the airhead bubble have very much collapsed …for now. They are banning non-airheads, to prop up the bubble, but I think this will fail.

    • Herbie

      It’s called Kakistocracy.

      How, in the most controlled societies, the worst rise to the top. Those most deviant from the norms.

      Emerges from a Polish academic study in Poland under Communism.

      They called it Ponerology, which became Kakistocracy.

      But anyway, applies to the West now.

      • giyane

        Herbie

        Hedge funds comes from racing gambling. Gambling might not be forbidden in your religion but like interest it is in mine. We paid the price of devouring interest in 2007 when we discovered the bankers had not only eaten interest but continued eating the entire capital entrusted to them.

        Hedge funders get rich at our expense. There is no magic money tree except us – what we own collectively which the Tories privatise and what we own individually. Hard brexit is the same hardness as the hardness of vulture capitalism.

        ERG stands for Excessive Rogue Gambling. I’m afrsid Jeremy Corbyn has turned out to be as much of a waste of space as Gordon Brown in as much as he has failed to put the intellectual case against Tory destructive greed.

        What is needed next is radical reform of the labour party chopping out the Tory clones and bringing forward the intellectual alternative to this scumbag cabinet of Excessive Rogue Gamblers

      • Tom Welsh

        It stands to reason. Just as, in the Olympic Games, the first set of heats are run to eliminate those who aren’t quite fast enough; then further series of heats weed out all but the few select finalists.

        In politics, the heats weed out all those who aren’t sufficiently cynical, cruel, ungrateful, lacking in empathy and ambitious.

        The finalists are those who rule us.

    • giyane

      The patriotic party.. has the double edge of not telling you which country they hold allegiance to….

      BACPAC. Whatever AIPAC stands for in the B- ritish version?

    • Garth Carthy

      “’I’ve been trying to think what the new name will be, for the new party. Something pretentious, and vaguely fascist sounding, no doubt.”

      How about “God’s Chosen Ones”?

  • giyane

    Mrs May in Egypt today to instruct the Arabs and the EU on their Spring.so far the springs are under repair in a Bulgarian blast furnace.

    The Red Sea reminds her of her red lines and the Red hot poker of her Man date she’s going to shove up the EU when she gets the chance…

    • Borncynical

      What certainly warms the cockles of my heart is the multitude of comments below the article which show that even DM readers are no longer buying into this propaganda.

    • Sharp Ears

      Links on the RT website: https://www.rt.com/

      – Who burnt the truck? Venezuelan FM says ‘false flag expert’ Pompeo should look among his ‘agents’

      – ‘Embrace democracy, Venezuela!’ Bolton threatens new sanctions, Pompeo vows ‘action’

      – ‘All options open’? Venezuela’s Guaido set to meet Pence, ‘formally’ requests aid to topple Maduro

      – ‘PR stunt to justify intervention in Venezuela’: Experts slam US regime change ‘gangsterism’

  • Sharp Ears

    More snakes.

    One of Labour’s biggest private backers has donated to The Independent Group
    23 FEBRUARY 2019
    One of Labour’s biggest private backers has donated to the new breakaway grouping of MPs, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

    Sir David Garrard, a property tycoon who gave £1.5 million to the party under Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, was approached to fund The Independent Group, after abandoning Labour over Jeremy Corbyn’s approach to anti-Semitism.

    /..
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/02/23/one-labours-biggest-private-backers-has-donated-independent/

    Garrard – ‘In 2013, Garrard hosted a visit to Israel by eleven Labour MPs, including shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy, shadow defence minister Gemma Doyle, Labour Friends of Israel chair Anne McGuire and vice-chair Louise Ellman. He also sponsored the 2014 Labour Friends of Israel annual lunch, which included a speech by Labour leader Ed Miliband.’
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Garrard_(property_developer)

    • giyane

      Is that the Garrard that got locked up last week for obscenities to MPs outside parliament.
      Oh sorry the obscinities are parliament and the guy on College Green was just telling the truth

  • Sharp Ears

    UpChuck time. Chuka is being given over ten minutes at the opening of Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News for a rant against Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party.

    He attended St Dunstan’s College, a co-ed independent school which was previously an all boys school. He is listed here.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Dunstan%27s_College#Notable_Old_Dunstonians.

    He used to be a member of Labour Friends of Israel.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuka_Umunna

    His accent has become more ‘estuary’ lately!

    Q. Why does he have three separate sole director companies? https://companycheck.co.uk/search?term=chuka+umunna

    • michael norton

      I am actually lost, now John, who are these people/person supposed to be?

      I think that somebody should write to our Home Secretary asking for Yulia to be set free.
      Under British law they cannot hold her against her will.

      • michael norton

        John, why are no members of parliament bringing up Yulia’s case
        habeas corpus
        a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person’s release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.

        • John Goss

          That’s something that I have wondered too. My own MP, Steve McCabe, is very pro-security and I know he would not take it up. I have however included him in an email questioning where my emails are going. He has yet to respond.

    • John Goss

      I urge everybody who has not already done so to look at the images in the article above. Tell me in all honesty has Bellingcat deliberately distorted the images? What do you think?

  • Isa

    Yesterday’s coup failed . I’m perplexed at how many lies I saw in the media yesterday trying to set false flags . All the independent journalists and people filming from Venezuela stopped all this by documenting what really happened .

    Bolton and allies thought this would be like the white helmets films but forgot that others were there to counter the lies .

    meanwhile guaido the coward puppet has not returned to Venezuela . I’d say he’s on a flight to Miami to join his fellow traitors . Good riddance .

    No pasarán !

  • Glasshopper

    Spare a thought to the 17.4 million Leave voters who are lucky to get one out of five representatives on Question Time.
    The BBC’s pro Remain bias is a disgrace.

    • Ian

      Poor little leave voters. Always playing the victims. Despite the constant right wing and formerly ukip presence on QT and most dull programmes.

  • Dungroanin

    Todays sermon is about The Grauniad circle of Hell this weekend – LaevilHyde has stuffed her goodJekyll up the chimney and has gone cackling Psycho, driven to foaming rage at Gorgeouses comparision of the msm AS attack on JC as Goebellian propaganda – no Mardina, that doesn’ mean it has to be targeted just at Jews and not commies or gypsies or mouthy feminists or homos or disabled or Jeremy Corbyn and the labour members.. to be a valid comparison.
    Her fellow groupies In-Cohen-rant and ‘Ridiculous’ Rawnsley equally orgasming over the readers at the sight of Labour defectors – meaning that JC must obviously go! Because they say so! Again and again !!

    Like the first orchestrated resignations on the days immediately following the brexit result – the obsessive-groaners didn’t bother handwringing or demanding that the mandate wasn’t compelling enough to proceed – their only priority was the removal of the elected socialst leader and reinstallation of their neolib/con artistes.
    Then the second orchestrated chickencoup using members funds in highcourt case against their own right to vote in that rerun for leadership (funny how Watson remained deputy). They didn’t encourage the defections then either when JC increased his vote!

    They didn’t encourage the disaffected not to stand as Labour mp’s under the party manifesto at the election that wasnt supposed to happen until next year!

    They didn’t encourage the defection at last years conference.

    They do now and as the perpwalk is glamorously cheered at the towers as the dozens of the hazbeens and neverwillbeenz proceed as directed while pretendng they just made their mind up.

    But not one has or will decide to a by-election – how jolly independent and democratic – NOT.

    The Obsessive Groan has turned its shiny new kngs palace into a festering stable.
    They shovel it daily to ‘loyal readers’.

    And of course comments are not allowed on their opinions which are stuffed down the willing throats of thick as shit socialists who can never believe that their paper of choice is a poisonous rag fattening their livers for consumption by their ‘enemies’.
    Because they think they know best and won’t except that they are hostages who have fallen for their captor. Wake up you dummies! These who love your obsessive groaners. Ask Whiner – how many commentators have been disappeared? Why she doesn’t acknowledge the IoS/II revelations? Etc etc. Remember the travesty of SDP1 as traitorous atlantist moles handed a supermajority to the Thatcherites to end the post war social democratic comsensus and send it into reverse.
    Rember the SDP2 – the return of the moles as Blairite NuLabourInc, who accelerated that reversal and are comfortable with the obscenely rich.
    SDP3 – the remake because there is no other plan??? Not in my name. Not again. Fooled me once, twice but not thrice.

    Let us pray by rolling on the floor laughing lots as the establishment BEGS us to not free ourselves from under their yoke and not vote for JC at an Easter election.

    • Clive P

      Cohen is absolutely demented today (more so than usual). He claims Corbyn is “dominated by communism’s Stalinist wing while also being infected with antisemitism”. Berger, who has made a career out of complaining about antisemitism since 2005, is of course a martyr and “the left turned on her as it will turn on any Jew who will not parrot the party line.” He thinks “a century of Labour history” might end “with the triumph of the communist tradition over social democracy.” Labour is becoming “an antisemitic, anti-European home for creepy fanatics.”
      Meanwhile the BBC is showing its usual balanced approach on Pienaar this morning. The softest possible interview of Brandon Lewis who was allowed to spout PR bollocks. Then for ‘balance’ we had Maureen Lipman with no expanation of why she was on. She was given a free rein to slag off Corbyn and the Labour party which she left years ago. Corbyn apparently goes round the country ‘radicalising’ young people (we can all get the hidden message) and her solution to the problem was that he should stop supporting Palestine and instead support Israel.

      • Deb O'Nair

        Tom Watson on Marr stating that Corbyn will never become PM unless there is a radical change in Labour’s attitude to MSM AS smear psyop, i.e. buckle under and give full support to the Likudites in Israel, just as he and his numerous colleagues from LFoI have.

        The obscene hypocrisy of seeing someone like Tom Watson, who has trousered £500,000 from fascist anti-Semite Oswald Mosley’s son (who frequently campaigned on behalf of his father) whilst accusing JC of tolerating anti-Semitism is beyond tolerable. When Tom Watson’s financial backer’s father was marching his Blackshirts into the Jewish East End of London to give them a good going over JC’s mum was standing shoulder to shoulder with the locals in Cable Street to resist them.

        Such is the state of this country today that disgusting lies, slander, defamation and hypocrisy of the highest order are not only tolerated but promoted across the media without a single word of dissent or criticism.

      • Dungroanin

        Indeed the plan moves through the gears – obviously ending with svelt Wato claiming he is forced out and inviting the voters to follow him.

        His last act being the tame agreement to go with the tory plan on media and news control that is aimed at indy sites such as this and indyminded commentators that are more than a match for billion £ funded propaganda machine.

        They, the Funny TINGers, will collectively campaign on a ABC manifesto. Nothing else will matter. They will attempt stitch ups with the tories, to snatch seats by like SDP1.

        They will lose.

        Meanwhile It is time to start dragging the deepshit journo state operatives into the light – lets start with Laura.
        Kuenssberg has a interesting family history that goes from nazi germany to the nazi school Gordonstone to the dodgy slavery of her fathers business including in nazi South America. Her own trajectory via US CIA connected private university ‘journalism school’, BBC scotland, to fast track to the top of the political propaganda pile with the help of Andrew Neil and familial contacts in the FCO.

        The DS may be deep but it does not hide – it is in plain sight and we are supposed to demure and not give them the eye!

        Tough.

    • Tom

      Thanks for the summary so I don’t need to read their rubbish. I gave up with the Guardian/Observer when I noticed that there wasn’t a single comment piece about politics that didn’t include some dig at Corbyn (or worse). All the while they signally fail to lift a finger against the atrocious May and the worst government in history. Clearly they are under orders from the banker and intelligence agency bosses not to praise Corbyn in any way. What’s the point of a left-wing newspaper that props up this Tory shambles?

      • Loony

        Yeah good idea – cycle around Birmingham that will have a massive effect on pollution being generated in China.

        Still, if you are really interested allow me to make a few policy suggestions:

        Massively increase the levels of tobacco consumption, entirely defund pre and post natal care. You are looking to increase rates of infant mortality and to increase the numbers of Mothers that die in childbirth. Consider reintroducing smallpox and make all anti malarial drugs illegal. Restrict all hospitals everywhere from providing anything but palliative care and be supportive of any and all wars irrespective of location, cause, or justification.

        Consider that anyone overtly advocating these policies would be locked up in either a criminal or mental institution and then understand that absent these polices all of your bleeding heart concern is just so much bullshit.

    • Loony

      What is the exact correlation between “civil disobedience” and environmental collapse? Are people supposed to believe that civil disobedience somehow reduces emissions – if so how?

      If these people had even a shred of integrity they would point out that the only possible way to feed the global population is via industrial agricultural methods. These methods rely almost exclusively on fossil fuels – from farm machinery through to pesticides and herbicides through to food transportation and distribution.

      Either these people are Class A idiots or they are genocidal to a level never envisaged by either Hitler or Stalin.

      The same mindset that motivates people to become part of Extinction Rebellion is exactly the same mindset that caused all these problems in the first place, and the same mindset that continues to promote policies that exacerbate these problems.

      Check out the exponential function and try to understand that it just does what it does. It is impervious to moral outrage, it does not care how upset you become and is completely unconcerned as to whether it kills you and everyone else.

      • Clark

        Loony, as ever, you are infallibly correct. I and my collaborators have not a shred of integrity, I am a Class A idiot, and more genocidal than Hitler or Stalin’s wildest dreams. Oh and e^(i*pi)+1=0 is my favourite equation.

        • Garth Carthy

          I wonder how old ‘Loony’ is? He certainly comes across as a somewhat adolescent attention seeker.

      • Garth Carthy

        “Either these people are Class A idiots…”

        Says a Loony!
        As usual, you make shallow and disingenuous arguments.
        The whole world does not need industrial agricultural methods. The West needs to be less wasteful of food and needs to allow the developing nations to grow their own crops for their own consumption instead of being forced by the so – called ‘Free Market’ to produce and export on the West’s terms.

        • Loony

          Really? Did you know that as late as the 1960’s there was mass famine in China?

          In 1965 the population of China was just over 700 million. In the following 54 years the population of China doubled.

          Next take a look at Chinese grain production and note that in the reference period it has more than doubled. Try to understand that this has been achieved by the application of energy intensive farming methods and by the application of vast amounts of hydrocarbon based pesticides and fertilizers.

          None of this has anything to do with the wasteful west or the outside imposition of free market practices. It has everything to do with growing human populations and the unarguable fact that these populations can only be maintained by the application of fossil fuels.

          If you actually got out more you might begin to realize just how inconsequential the west is in all of this

          • Dungroanin

            Xi is an agroscientist. He had a big influence in improved rice production. Fertiliser used to be sourced from guano. Your lunatic droppings could be useful if they weren’t so toxic.

          • Loony

            Whether I am toxic is a matter of opinion.

            Whether grain is the same as rice is a matter of fact. Surprisingly you are in factual error and happily for you you can forget all about facts and continue to luxuriate in your opinions which are no doubt pure and unadulterated and kept firmly separate from your own ego.

          • Ian

            No, don’t flatter yourself that you are toxic. You are just extremely boring, luxuriating in your own pompous sense of self-importance, never failing to drip condescension on those who fail to measure up to your ineffably smug screeds of drivel.

          • Clark

            “the unarguable fact that these populations can only be maintained by the application of fossil fuels”

            It doesn’t matter a damn where the fuel comes from. The above is merely the blatherings of a Trump supporter.

            Very well put Ian.

          • Dungroanin

            ‘China grows enough staples to feed its 1.4bn people. The rice crop of 2017 was a record; output of grains has risen more than 40% since 2003. Cereal yields per hectare are higher than Canada’s. This is a stunning success for a country where millions starved in Mao’s Great Leap Forward, and has freed millions from the rural grind to join China’s industrial revolution.’

            The Economist.

            ‘China’s biggest-ever overseas acquisition, announced this month, isn’t about gobbling up resources to feed its industrial maw, broadening its financial leverage, or enhancing its strategic position. Rather, the $43 billion bid for Swiss agricultural company Syngenta is about something a lot more basic and a lot more important: ensuring that its farms will be able to produce enough food to keep pace with the country’s still-growing population, already the world’s largest.’
            ForeignPolicy.com 2016.

            ‘IRRI and China have been collaborating for more than 30 years. A key partnership began in 1997 through a mega-project intensively focused on rice research and training. This huge undertaking of 12 collaborative projects resulted in 49 super rice varieties being released in China since 1999. Yields increased to as much as 12 tons per hectare.

            China is the world’s largest producer of rice, with 207 million tons produced in 2014. China’s average yield is around 6.5 tons per hectare, among the highest in Asia.’
            https://irri.org/where-we-work/countries/china

            A bit of roughage there may help curtail your leaky sphincter.

      • Clark

        Two processes with a common cause proceed in parallel, but with opposing outcomes. Modern healthcare and food production methods result in increase of the human population. Education, prosperity and empowerment of women result in a decreased birthrate.

        In computer security this is called a “critical race condition”; the overall outcome depends upon the relative speed of the two processes. Regarding population, the second factor has been winning out for several years; far from being exponential, the population growth rate is actually decreasing. Being explicit to avoid (deliberate?) misinterpretation, the population is still growing, but the rate at which it is growing has been falling for some years.

        So, to minimise the eventual equilibrium population without coercion, redistribute resources to optimise education, prosperity and empowerment of women in areas where population growth rate is highest.

          • Clark

            Yes, but it’s increasing slower year on year, so it will reach a maximum and halt there.

            Think of starting to run, or the free-fall stage of a parachute jump. Your speed is increasing! But that doesn’t continue forever and soon your speed stabilises.

          • Loony

            You are correct the speed of a free fall parachutist does not increase forever. It stabilizes at something called terminal velocity. The clue is all in the name.

            There is a reason why terminal velocity is not the same as “exponential velocity” and that reason is simply that different words have different meanings.

          • pete

            Loony Re velocity.
            Terminal velocity is not exponential, is true, according to wiki “the terminal speed of a skydiver in a belly-to-earth (i.e., face down) free fall position is about 195 km/h (120 mph; 54 m/s)” In such a situation, after you reach 120 miles an hour you do not go any faster. Terminal velocity need not be fatal as long as you remember to take a parachute and deploy it.

            Thanks for mentioning terminal and exponential are not the same words, that at least is true, Clark did not say they were the same.

        • Loony

          Let me try and help you out here.

          In 1800 global population stood at an estimated 1 billion people. In 1900 it stood at about 1.6 billion i.e. 600 million people were added in a period of 100 years.

          In 2000 global population was just over 6 billion. In 2018 global population was 7.6 billion. In just 18 years 1.6 billion people were added to the population. Do you see a problem here?

          But that is not the half of it. Take Sweden as an example.

          In 1960 Sweden consumed 2,968 kg of oil equivalent on a per capita basis. In 2015 Swedish per capita oil equivalent energy consumption had increased to 5,102 kg.

          So you are adding quite extraordinary numbers to population and on top of that you adding massive increases to per capita energy consumption.

          You can look at any data set you want and the answers will be the same, Reason forces me to restate that either people like Extinction Rebellion are Class A idiots or they are genocidal to a level never envisaged by either Hitler or Stalin.

          • An Arkhos

            What would you propose? The only actual suggestions you made in this thread seem to put you firmly in the genocidal camp.

            Most people who have the courage not to be in denial about these issues would seem to advocate a change in lifestyle in order to reduce per-capita resource usage and also a reduction in the birth rate in order to reduce population. I don’t think many people expect the problem to be solved, but if we can bring about some kind of “soft landing” for humanity then that would seem a benign goal, yes?

            We humans are monkeys, and we behave like it. The actions of our foolish species are an aggregate of the actions of individuals. You are an individual as am I. Often we cannot (thankfully) force others to behave the way we want, but we do get to choose how we behave. It’s also worth saying that social pressure has an effect, we are social animals after all. This is why I have posted more than once on this blog pointing out that people shouldn’t fly in airplanes, that it’s morally inexcusable. When outrageous ecocidal acts like participating in aviation are discouraged by the mass people will (to a large extent) stop, because people are driven to seek social acceptance.

            I think there is an ethical case to be made for genocide being preferable to omnicide, but I don’t want to be the one to make it. Either way it seems certain we are approaching a population bottleneck. I expect the lunatics who run the world will engineer a thermonuclear war at some point, in order to reduce both population and consumption, and fight the warming with a touch of nuclear winter.

            It is good to see you recognize the severity of the problem, but please try to be constructive.

          • pretzelattack

            climate change may drive the human race to extinction. where are you accounting for that?

          • Clark

            Loony, the ‘fact’ in your 12:28 comment is simply wrong, global population is no longer growing exponentially. But instead of admitting error you jumped to a different set of facts, describing a different problem that, obviously, requires different solutions.

            There are solutions to these problems but they require investment and governmental commitment. The objective of Extinction Rebellion is to force governments to make that commitment before they are forced to by physical circumstances, by which time suffering on a massive scale will be inevitable.

            The contradiction you are labouring under is that Trump, your chosen hero, has committed his policies to the most outdated and polluting power source in use; coal.

          • Loony

            Not all problems have solutions – and so why worry about something that cannot be addressed?

            Take a look at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her proposed Green New Deal. Something like this is what is required on a global scale. From a US perspective it involves the complete elimination of fossil fuel usage with a 10 year period, and a complete dismantling and reconstruction of all existing US infrastructure – also within a 10 year period. It also involves the state being willing to pay people who refuse to work.

            These ideas are widely considered to be impossible to implement – hence no planning at all is taking place to implement this scheme. This is not a good sign when your task is so monumental and your timescales so tight. All major politicians are distancing themselves from these proposals and the general public seem more invested in alien abductions than in the Green New Deal. Furthermore even the author of the entire scheme is rapidly rowing away from paying people who refuse to work.

            I have no interest in genocide and even less interest in someone deciding to genocide me and mine.

            The people screaming most loudly about this problem are by and large the very same people who scream even louder about possible solutions. Austerity is a good place to start as it cuts down peoples discretionary expenditure and hence they consumes less energy. Anyone in favor of more austerity. There is an entire “fuel poverty” industry in the UK. You need more not less fuel poverty. Can you imagine anyone standing for election on a platform that tells poor people to sit in the dark and buy warmer clothes.

            Stopping all immigration would be another good idea. In Somalia the average oil consumption is 0.5bbl/day per 1,000 people. Move them to the UK and that goes up to 25.73bbl/day per 1,000 people. Try suggesting that and the chances are you will be arrested for hate speech or similar.

            The facts that there are no solutions is not necessarily negative – although it is negative for the mentally enfeebled who who consider their unending sense of unending entitlement to be both a right and a virtue. All things must pass away – seems easy enough to understand to me.

          • Clark

            “Can you imagine anyone standing for election on a platform that tells poor people to sit in the dark and buy warmer clothes”

            Actually in the UK parliament a bunch Blairites voted with the Conservative austerity benefit cuts to the disabled on exactly the point that they believed it to be electorally popular.

          • Clark

            Ah of course, preventing immigration is the solution to everything. Funny, that.

            Let’s try and stop the great migrations of bird populations too. Why should other animals enjoy any more freedom than humans? Then you get those bloody continental butterflies, coming over here and stealing our nectar. Bastards.

      • Clark

        The exact correlation with environmental collapse is to use civil disobedience to motivate governments to change policy, because it has proven itself the most effective method time and time again.

          • Clark

            Yes, that is a failure of government to produce effective policy. It is also an expression of the law governing corporations, that they must maximise returns for shareholders.

          • Loony

            What corporation can you identify as being responsible for tipping garbage into the Amazon?

            Which government has failed to produce effective policy? Is it the government of a country in which you are resident, or is it the government of a country that you know nothing about and your only option is to invade that country overthrow the government and reconstitute a government on terms acceptable to yourself?

            Are you Tony Blair?

          • Clark

            The corporations don’t always tip the garbage, they manufacture the plastic that becomes garbage, because doing so is cheaper, more competitive than making biodegradable or reusable products.

            Are you Shirley Bassey?

        • An Arkhos

          If governments were going to do anything positive they would have done it decades ago. Instead they are “increasing security” so when the food riots start they are in a better position to “maintain stability”, perhaps with machine guns and drone strikes. I have no time for governments, they are a way to abdicate one’s personal responsibility and surrender one’s agency.

          • Clark

            Governments have done positive things, and they did start some of them decades ago. I thoroughly agree that often they haven’t done enough, or done too little too late, and have a very unhealthy obsession with ‘security’, a euphemism for means of oppression and control.

            But, for instance, governments did stop acid rain, and depletion of the ozone layer by CFCs.

            Yes, people frequently abdicate their personal responsibility, and use governments as an excuse. But at present governments hold the power and resources to implement solutions, and support for anarchism can equally serve as an excuse to not exert pressure upon governments.

          • Blunderbuss

            If people want to reduce carbon dioxide production, the first thing they should do is to stop using cars and aircraft. I haven’t noticed many people making this sacrifice so I conclude that most people are not too bothered about carbon dioxide production.

          • Clark

            “If people want to reduce carbon dioxide production, the first thing they should do is to stop using cars and aircraft”

            No, their first priority should be to pressure government.

            Reducing personal consumption results in a reduction of demand locally, but the world operates as a market economy, so reduction of demand causes a decrease in price, causing demand to be taken up elsewhere. Consequently, the only way to reduce total emissions is to reduce supply, and only international cooperation of governments can achieve that. Leave the oil in the soil and leave the coal in the hole.

            This is not to say that individual reduction has no positive effect. Reducing consumption reduces the price, making fuel more available to people in poorer economies, who need it much more than we do.

            “I conclude that most people are not too bothered about carbon dioxide production”

            A proportion do not care, of course, and a proportion have been misled by the corporate-seeded disinformation and conspiracy theory. But many do care; some spend extra for a hybrid vehicle, some choose to fly less or not at all, some choose public transport or cycling. Some install solar panels on their roof. In my village, an emissions-negative design was chosen for the new village hall.

          • Blunderbuss

            Thank you Clark. The Mods obviously agree with you that I am a threat to the future of the planet. It’s very flattering but, in reality, my influence is negligible.

          • Clark

            Blunderbuss, our influence is amplified by commenting on this blog of relatively high readership; I’ve seen this blog help to bust conspiracies, prevent deportations and possibly even avert the start of a war. The Internet has extended publishing to everyone, and individuals’ ideas get about these days. But with the old gatekeepers bypassed, greater responsibility falls to all of us, and we have to rise to that challenge.

        • Dave

          But the population of Britain is increasing resulting in an increased carbon footprint. So halting immigration is a vital green policy to reduce carbon emissions and save the planet.

          • Clark

            The problems need to be solved everywhere. That’s what’s meant by a global problem. Any given country’s emissions increase as its economy develops, and that’s what needs to change.

          • Loony

            What are you proposing now? That you stop poor countries from developing?

            Who exactly are you to opine on what is best for people you know nothing about. According to you a bunch of South Americans tipping garbage into the Amazon is the fault of corporations producing plastic.

            Of the worlds top 10 manufacturers of plastic 4 are American, 2 are German, 1 Italian, 1 Korean, 1 Saudi, and 1 British. So with this kind of concentration it should be pretty simple to simply ban the sale of all plastics and plastic products into South America.

            Only by banning South Americans from utilizing plastic can we save the world. The unspoken racism is nauseating.

          • Clark

            Loony, less developed economies need to develop with clean technologies and renewable power sources. Remaining on fossil fuels will be disastrous for them because its price is bound to rise as the resources are depleted; wind and solar are getting cheaper all the time.

            Plastics must be regulated at source. The economy of plastics is a travesty. Plastics are among the most versatile substances ever developed; plastic can be made any colour, any flexibility, any texture, and electrical conductance etc. etc. – is it really too much trouble to develop packaging that would burn cleanly? Then it would become valuable fuel instead of long-lived waste.

  • Republicofscotland

    If you want to know what lies in store for poor folk of Venezuela if the Great Satan’s coup is successful, then look no further that Haiti, one of the poorst countries in the western hemisphere.

    Poverty, starvation and civil unrest are the norm in Haiti, however a pro-US government, combined with the wealthy who live in gated communities in the likes of Petionville, has left the poor folk with no chance of changing the future.

    Is it any wonder then that Maduro is resisting US infiltration, arms smuggled in under the banher of aid.

      • Republicofscotland

        Yes Alex, the US has interfered in every South American countries politics, yet we here constantly on western tv propaganda channels, that Russian interference is the big problem.

        This from your link Alex.

        “Panama will overtake Chile this year and compete with Uruguay to become one of Latin America’s wealthiest nations, according to International Monetary Fund projections.”

        The IMF, like the World bank are controlled by the US.

        Recently (Last week) in Haiti, America ex-navy seals, Chris Osman, Chris MacKinley, and marine veteran Kent Kroeker, and several other ex-US military personnel who worked for the private security firm once called Blackwater, were arrested in Haiti.

        Inside their vehicle police found six automatic rifles, six pistols two professional drones, and three satellite phones.

        A phone call to their boss in the US, saw them released, and on the next flight to Miami, the men faced no charges.

        Just what were those men up to?

        You can bet something similar is going on in Venezula.

        • Charles Bostock

          What’s all your guff got to do with the excellent point Alex was making? It’s completely irrelevant, isn’t it.

          • D_Majestic

            Well, hardly. Alex wrote and posted links. SE responded. Nothing irrelevant at all. Unless of course one has something against free speech and expression.

      • Isa

        Noriega worked hand in hand with the CIA for years before becoming the enemy . And yeah I’m sure people of Panama enjoyed the USA death squads immensely .

        As for the imf being happy I’d have to look at their figures as I’m not too familiar with their economic indicators . But al least Bloomberg calls it what it was . A USA invasion .

    • Sharp Ears

      P Charles + Croc Wife may cancel their visit to Cuba on their Caribbean itinerary (“I fancy going somewhere hot Charles”, said Camilla, when they were planning their next jaunt) because Cuba is too close to Maduro politically.

      Royals face pressure to call off Cuba visit over concerns regime is helping prop up Nicolás Maduro
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/02/24/royals-face-pressure-call-cuba-visit-concerns-regime-helping/

      ‘Earlier this month Clarence House announced that Charles, 70, and Camilla, 71, would visit the Caribbean from March 17 to 29. The tour will take them to six countries, 10 islands and one overseas territory – the Cayman Islands.

      Clarence House said “at the request of the British Government, Their Royal Highnesses will also visit Cuba to highlight the growing bilateral relationship with the UK and showcase some of the cultural links between the two countries.”

      Note that Cuba is a ‘regime’ whereas we are a ‘democracy’. Aren’t we lucky!

  • Courtenay Barnett

    SPEAKING OF WHAT’S FUNNY – AND WHAT IS NOT…

    SERMON: LESSONS FROM MY MOTHER – FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP
    Dear beloved we are gathered once more at the altar of the Almighty truth.
    Today’s sermon is entitled ‘Lessons from my mother’. It concerns the building of character and the importance of personality development as each of us mature and advance through life. The list is not intended to be exhaustive but hopefully is instructive. These were the lessons I learned from my mother ( long since deceased but still lovingly recalled):-

    One should tell the truth and not lie.
    There should be room for compassion, in one’s thoughts and deeds.
    There should be understanding on several levels. One such is for an understanding of our human differences as to our different human features; the tolerance of different cultures and religions. In short we should not be ‘racists’.
    By extension of cultural and religious tolerance we should not be xenophobic.
    We should show humanitarian decency and not mock others less fortunate than ourselves in life and show understanding about poverty, need and uninvited suffering which either our fellow human beings are born into or which at some uninvited point in life befalls them.
    In our professional, work and/or business life we should be honest.
    Our language should be modest, tempered and balanced and restrained to give consideration to and for the person(s) we are addressing and the situation(s) in which we speak.
    In our success, if we are so fortunate, should be humble and modest, and should not be braggadocios.
    In our failures we should be willing to accept our shortfalls and/or failings giving rise to same and be instructed by our mistakes. We should always accept personal responsibility when it is our action to be blamed and not seek to transfer blame to the blameless other(s).
    One should have a sense of humour and be able to laugh at one’s self when stupid mistakes are made.
    These are ten injunctions to help guide one through life by application of sound, sensible thoughts and proper and appropriate actions.
    Those who are Christian know of the Ten Commandments. But, these are ten injunctions learnt from my mother via her words as well as her conduct and consequential examples taught to me throughout her life, which are intended both for the ‘churched’ and the ‘unchurched’ alike; in other words, I believe that my mother’s lessons can usefully be applied by all of humanity.
    And, then I thought, whether there is one human being dead or alive who represents the epitome and opposite of my mother’s lessons.
    I reflected from my early childhood through to school and higher education and business and professional life. So far no such person.

    Then, I thought about friends and associates in Africa, Asia, South America and Europe. No such person.
    Then I reflected on Canada and there was still no such person who came to mind.
    I went as far as historical figures and contemporary leaders and I began getting a bit closer.
    Finally, I reflected on the United States of America and there I found the perfect match. The thought then sprang to mind, that if I could ask but one question, it would be this:-
    “ Please Mrs. Trump, when you were raising your son, Donald, could you kindly share with us – what lessons did you actually teach him?”
    So endeth my sermon for today.
    AMEN!

  • Sharp Ears

    This was raised this morning on the radio. One person said that theoretically the eleven should not be sitting in the Commons chamber.

    I bet they are all collecting their salaries and expenses.

    ‘Independent Group criticised for not registering as political party
    Corbyn loyalists claim failure to register is in order to avoid reporting donors
    19 Feb 2019

    The Independent Group currently only exists as a limited company called Gemini A Ltd.

    The new Independent Group of former Labour MPs has been criticised by Corbyn loyalists for not registering as a political party, with some accusing it of deliberately failing to do so in order to avoid reporting donors.

    However, even if the group were a registered party it would not be required to report its donors until April, and it has said it intends to publish all donations over £7,500 alongside donors’ names.’

  • Republicofscotland

    BoJo telling porkies, surely not.

    “A prosecution against Boris Johnson for the “lies” told during the EU referendum campaign has taken a step closer after legal papers were lodged.”

    http://archive.is/xFaxa

    • Ian

      How about suing him for the return of the taxpayers money he knowingly allowed to be spent on the Garden Bridge, without the correct procedures being followed. £45m or so.

  • Goose

    Today’s Robert Hannigan story is quite shocking. The real question is why was he appointed by Cameron in the first place? Despite having no knowledge of network infrastructure or any sort of coding background. He was at the FCO, wasn’t he.

    • lysias

      MI6 officers often have diplomsic cover, and so on paper are FCO.

      I suspect the pedophile priest business is a cover story to conceal the real reason for the resignation days after Trump’s inauguration: involvement in the anti-Trump cabal in British intel.

  • Dave

    There is no defence to the charge of AS that will satisfy the accusers beyond abject surrender to the Likud Zionists (and doubtful even then) so responding with a rational denial wont work, as whatever’s said will be taken in bad faith and deemed further evidence of AS.

    So what to do to save the Labour Party from being riven over this issue beyond repair. Corbyn’s tactic of turning the other cheek is heroic and has worked with only a few irreconcilables leaving the party, but most MPs holding firm to the manifesto.

    A more robust defence, however tempting, would just escalate the matter and take attention away from the issues that will deliver Labour a big vote with the popular message of for the many not the few. Perhaps its no accident his initials are JC!

  • JohninMK

    Proof that it was not the Maduro Government that touched those aid trucks yesterday. In the link there is a video showing clearly just who threw the petrol bombs. Earlier there was another video of them filling the bottles with petrol. Grade 1 false flag with low grade implementation, allowed it to be filmed???

    Things are not what some want everyone to believe! Haven’t seen this clip on the BBC yet.

    https://twitter.com/graffitiborrao/status/1099540683575185408

    • Vivian O'Blivion

      I didn’t know Tel Aviv had a music venue named after Frank Zappa. The Jewish Antidefamation League of America sued over the song “Jewish princess”. Nice to know not everyone has had a sense of humour bypass.

    • FranzB

      “In September 2010 in response to being told that for every Israeli killed, six Palestinians had died, he [Ben-Ari] remarked that “For every one dead on our side, we need to kill 500 and not six.” This was five times the number of hostages that the Nazis murdered in Yugoslavia for every German soldier killed. Ben-Ari holds left-wing Jews and human rights organisations in particular contempt, referring to them as “germs” that need to be eradicated. During the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defence he stated that “there are no innocents in Gaza…mow them down! Kill the Gazans without thought or mercy!” This is who Netanyahu has gone out of his way to ensure will be a member of the next Knesset.”

      Apparently Netanyahu needs to get right wingers into the Knesset to shore his coalition up.

      http://azvsas.blogspot.com/2019/02/netanyahu-invites-neo-nazi-otzma.html

  • freddy

    Couple of (snippets of) conversations I had with friends recently re. Brexit, with remainers (weren’t arguments, surprisingly!)

    A) Has recently moved to the country out of the city:

    Me – “Seems like you’re enjoying it”

    “They’re all farmers and rabid brexiteers”

    – “Why did you move there, then?”

    “The quality of life is so much better, especially for the children.”

    – “What about Brexit?”

    “Well, actually, they never really mention it”

    B) What I’d call an ardent europhile, lives on the edge of a small town, in a lovely little, isolated house:

    Me – “Some people have seen the entire fabric of their neighborhoods changed due to immigration, you can understand they might be upset?”

    – [I can’t remember exactly, but along the lines of racist, xenophobes who are too stupid to know what’s best for them]

    – “How would you feel, if you found yourself in the middle of a new housing estate, a sudden cultural minority?”

    “It will never happen”

    But they aren’t metropolitan types, clearly.

    • Clark

      The bit that’s headed to the Moon will be tracked internationally, by professionals and amateurs, so it’s almost certainly genuine. If it is like many other science projects its transmissions will be used by universities all over the world. It’ll be useless for surveillance of events on Earth because it’ll be too far away.

      If some launch stage or auxiliary module has been left in Earth orbit, that could be used for surveillance. That’s probably not part of the plan, however, because its coded transmissions would be picked up and civilian scientists and amateurs would expose it, which would taint further Israeli science projects.

    • Deb O'Nair

      “They’ve just launched a spacecraft (Beresheet)”

      Great name, nothing remotely amusing about it.

  • Republicofscotland

    Westminster.

    “By 2009, according to the Channel 4 documentary Dispatches – Inside Britain’s Israel Lobby, around 80% of Conservative MPs were members of the CFI.[3] In 2013, the Daily Telegraph’s chief political commentator, Peter Oborne, called CFI “by far Britain’s most powerful pro-Israel lobbying group.”

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Friends_of_Israel

    Labour as well.

    At least 80 Labour MP’s and 20 odd Lords.

    The LibDem are also FoI.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Democrat_Friends_of_Israel

    Europe.

    The European Friends of Israel, is Europes version of the US AIPAC.

    Israel is already in with Colombia and Brazil, both staging posts for the Great Satan’s illegal coup coming soon in Venezuela.

    https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/119566/netanyahu-christian-friends-brazil/

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-colombian-president-open-to-moving-embassy-to-jerusalem/

  • Dave

    If I say I like Jews is that “pro or anti-Semitic” and who decides? And if someone claims to be a victim of an “anti-Semitic attack”, then presumably they must be “Semitic”, although “hate crime” legislation says there is no such requirement, but how do you prove whether you are, or not, Semitic? Under “hate crime” legislation there are “protected characteristics”, but how is this legally determined beyond people claiming those protections? And does the new “self-identifying” approach blow a hole in the whole thing?

    • freddy

      Inflates, rather than deflates. When it becomes illegal to offend anyone, you will have no freedom at all.

    • Blunderbuss

      According to my dictionary, a Semite is “a descendant of Shem, or a member of one of the peoples (including Hebrews, Phoenicians, Aramaeans, Assyrians, Arabs and Abyssinians) reputed to be descended from Shem”.

      Funny how all but the Hebrews get forgotten.

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