For a decade Nigel Farage has been flung into our living rooms continually by the BBC. Even when UKIP barely registered a blip in the opinion polls, he was a regular on Question Time and the other news, current affairs and politics programme. Farage’s celebrity was a BBC creation. He served an important purpose. At a time when the wealth gap was growing exponentially, and working conditions and real incomes of ordinary people were deteriorating sharply, Farage helped amplify the Establishment message that the cause of these problems was not the burgeoning class of billionaires sucking up the world’s resources, but rather the poor immigrants also scratching to make a living.
Having undermined the prospects of a left wing reaction to massively increasing inequality, Farage has now served his purpose. The exigencies of fighting an election under first past the post are such that Farage has become a potentially serious problem for the wealthy elite. The Brexit Party is a fundamental threat to Boris Johnson’s strategy of moving the Tory Party decisively to the hard right and attempting to win seats on the back of working class anti-immigrant votes in the Midlands and North of England. More liberal Scottish, London and South Western Tory voters have been deliberately abandoned, and consituencies sacrificed, in order to chase hard racist votes. Those indoctrinated to hate their fellow man if he has a Polish accent, are now required by the elite to vote Tory, not to vote for the Brexit Party.
The remarkable result of this is that, at precisely the point where Farage’s influence will be most crucial in determining the future of politics in the UK, he has been dropped by the media. I am extremely confident in my perception that he has appeared less in the last month than at any period in the preceding decade. Having been boosted into prominence by the BBC when they were insignificant, the BBC will do everything it possibly can to dampen down Farage and his Brexit Party now they legitimately deserve coverage as a critical factor.
I am happy to state with confidence that this election will backfire on the Tories. The strong evidence from both the 2017 election and the Scottish referendum campaign, is that once broadcasting rules on equal time come into play, the impact on voters is profound of hearing direct from normally derided people and their normally ridiculed arguments.
The Johnson/Cummings electoral strategy is catastrophically bad. First past the post rewards regional voter concentration. Cummings plan is to sacrifice votes in traditional Tory areas in order to pile them up in traditionally hostile areas. The result will be to even out their vote, lose regional concentration and lose the election. They can pile on two million racist votes in traditional Labour constituencies without gaining more than a dozen seats. That will merely cancel out losses in Scotland. That people en masse are going to forget the devastation of their communities by Thatcher or the generations of fight for a decent living is far from probable. The antipathy to the Tories in parts of the UK is not “tribal”, it is the result of generations of hard experience.
The Brexit Party may have more appeal than the Tories in traditional Labour consituencies, but neither they nor the Tories will win any significant number of them. It is in the marginals of the Midlands and Lancashire where the Brexit Party may damage the Tories’ chances, not in Sunderland and Hartlepool which will stay Labour. The SNP is going to sweep Scotland, the Liberal Democrats make substantive gains in London and the South West and the Labour Party will do much better in London and the North than anybody now expects. The Midlands, both East and West, are hard to predict and the key battleground, but the number of possible Tory gains is not enough to compensate for their losses elsewhere. The Tories could end up with the largest share of the vote, perhaps 36%, but less seats than the Labour Party. That is what I expect to happen.
The fly in this alluring ointment is that the Liberal Democrats have shifted so decisively to the right on economic policy. In general I advise everyone in England to vote tactically to defeat the Tories in their constituency, but obviously both Lib Dems and Labour have individual right wing horror candidates I could never ask anyone to vote for.
Here in Scotland, Independence remains the overriding priority. We must escape from Tory domination and the right wing jingoism that so infects English politics; but also it is simply normal for a nation to be Independent. So we all have to vote and campaign for the SNP in what could be a decisive moment in our history.
Incidentally, there is not a single constituency in Scotland where there is a plausible argument that to vote SNP risks letting a Tory in. I am hopeful that we will sweep the Tories out of Scotland completely this time. I am also quite keen about the SNP helping Corbyn pass the basis of a radical left wing reform agenda through Westminster, whilst briefly on a swift route to Independence.
Now that would be a good Christmas present.
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This “anti immigration” things is mostly a nonsense. The number of people who hates someone “for having a Polish accent” is negligible. If the Tories are actually trying to manipulate this demographic, then they are stupid.
I’m going to say something that is probably unpopular, but I’ll say it. I am not anti-immigration, I have nothing but respect for people who come here, work, abide by the law and integrate. I have worked with Polish people, they are hard working and they learn the language. They socialise with locals, they are great people.
My problem is with Islam. I am not in favour of us welcoming members of an oppressive religion that treats gays as sinners, women as subordinates and members of other religions (and atheists) as infidels. Frankly I’m tired of being assumed “racist” for despising oppression. Islam is not a race, it is a religion. If I told people I did not like Satanism or Scientology, most people would find that a reasonable thing to say. Why is Islam any different? Why is Islam immune from critisism?
Anyone who is a Muslim who wants to come here to free themselves of their oppressive religion, I would welcome. So this is not a matter of “race”. Immigration is a good thing, so long as those that come here share our values.
Yes this country does have a problem with racism, but it’s a minority of people and they are not going to swing the vote.
As for Farage, I dearly hope his party can muster up an acceptable policy beyond “Leave the EU”.
Matt.
A great many of my friends are Muslim, not to mention my wife and one of my sons. Your characterisation is as daft as judging Christians by the Rev Ian Paisley.
You might not see someone say this often, but I sincerely hope I’m wrong. However, the oppression of gays and women is clear as daylight. I can’t get behind it, no matter how pleasant some Muslims might be. I do not have a problem with individuals, and it is my assumption that your friends and family are the kind of Muslims who are willing to integrate. An Islamic woman marrying a white British man is certainly a strong sign of integration.
I believe that the people you refer to are an exception. This is what I hope I’m wrong about.
Regardless, the point remains… despising oppression is not racism.
A lot of what you claim is fake news put out by Islamophobes, or by media seeking to wind up such people – a standard media tactic, much as even the Guardian puts out pro-Brexit slants on stories because it gets people clicking. And you read those stories and believe them. Saudi Arabia is not a civilised country. It is not representative of Islam in general, but has an extreme ideological position (Wahhabism) which is very similar to Bible-belt evangelical Protestantism. Iran, which is a civilised country, doesn’t hang gays, as you will claim, but it does hang drug-dealers (opium-smoking was a big problem in Iran under the Shah, and the religious regime has cracked down on it). You’ll find, if you study any case of so-called gay-hanging in Iran, that it was actually about drug-dealing, and the story’s been turned around to give people like you justification for your beliefs.
Laguerre – The oppression of women is fake news? I must be imagining their faces covered up in public then. This has nothing to do with Brexit, by the way. Also, Iran might not hang gays, but by law, homosexuality is punishable by death. Saying “it’s illegal but we won’t actually hang you for it though” is not exactly a civilised position. And we’re talking about Iran here, which is one of the most civilised Islamic nations. If you’d like to know where I got this information from, it’s not the Guardian, it’s Wikipedia.
Here’s a fun activity… go to wikipedia, and search “death penalty for homosexuality”. Is there anything interesting about the global map showing which nations have such a law?
You can pretend Islam tolerates homosexuality if it makes you sleep better, but I live in the real world.
Veiling your face is Gulfi not Iran. It started in ancient Assyria, where aristocratic women veiled their faces in order not to be insulted in the street. Unfortunately it got a bit out of hand, and many women started doing it, for religious reasons. For a woman, it’s a reasonable action. protect yourself against being pestered by making yourself inaccessible.
@Matt – Do you think in your beloved “free” Britain people are allowed to go anywhere they want with all their body parts uncovered? Or does your belief in which body parts should be covered and which it’s OK not to be covered correspond exactly with the current state of the mores and laws in the country you were raised in? Then you talk about “integration”? Integration into what? Into complete compliance? Sounds like Saudi Arabia.
Matt, first of all racism is quite capable of swinging a close vote, no matter what the degree is. And it is being played by politicians and the establishment.
As for Islam and ancient biblical values, in the whole scheme of things we in the UK were not so fast ourselves to see how unjust they are and still haven’t got it right. Pointing the finger at other religions for what they are only legally allowed to do in certain other countries won’t achieve anything to improve our own society.
At the last count at least half this country want to bring back capital punishment. Our media is in the pocket of the establishment. We are still quite happy to bomb other countries to bits. A recent poll revealed that half of us agree with violence toward politicians. We have a long way to go before we can point the finger.
You make reasonable points. But acknowledging our own cultural failings does not mean we should ignore those of others, especially when we are importing such culture. The UK has come a long, long way in my life when it comes to tolerance. Yes we have problems, but the law does not permit racism or discrimination. There is no oppression here, not on an institutional level at least. Can you name me an Islamic country where homosexuality is tolerated in law? Can you name me an Islamic country where women are equal?
Honestly, it’s alarming that liberal minded people will defend such a religion, even using the word “racist” to describe those who do speak out. It’s akin to putting fingers in ears and going “la la la I can’t hear”.
Your ignorance slightly surprising ..had this been the Daily Mail or Sun but coming to CraigMurray.org would ordinarily indicate some intelligence…
Let’s forget that women only gained the right to vote in UK in 1918. You’ve had ONE female PM until May (Pakistan-1 and Bangladesh -2). Iran has 50% of its parliamentarians as women – erm…in UK you struggle to reach 25% and have stupid arguments about “women should be allowed to breastfeed in public” (btw in most Muslim countries, no one bats an eyelid if a woman feeds her child in public; she does it with modesty). In Islam, women regularly challenged the Prophet (PBUH) and were included in discussions (that’s over 1000 years ago) and in no other religion do you have quotes such as “heaven lies at the mother’s feet” or “educate a man and you educate an individual; educate a woman and you educate a nation”. You might also have known that the Prophet’s first wife (25 years until her death – she was older than him) – was a businesswoman.
And no I don’t want “sexual liberation” in Muslim countries – we do not need your societal breakdowns. As a doctor (would you believe that being a Muslim female???), I see the result of your liberalisation in clinics and I’m not surprised that mental health is such an issue – there are no values, morals or ethical framework left. I feel sorry that in your society, a housewife and mother is no longer valued – it’s the most important job in the world. Yes I have lost my 18 year old “feminist” nonsense – I think a man should be responsible for his family and not allowed to go scot-free (or with childcare costs being chased) – in Islam, a woman’s money is hers should she CHOOSE to work (surveys still show that 75% of housework is done by women….great liberation! just have a job, the kids and do everything else…with zero security). In 2019, we are still arguing for equal pay!!!!
PS If you knew a little about Islam, the only requirement re marriage is marrying another Muslim (and I’m fine with that) – what’s that got to do with you?
PS2 look up where the world’s first universities were, who were the earliest mathematicians, astronomers, philosophers …whilst you were living in caves. The Islamic world collapsed with imperialism but it will rise again so I’m not worried and that golden age will return. We won’t be defined by the terrorists (ISIL..clue is in name) that you’ve funded on our soils.
PS3 Your animosity towards Muslims…dare to say that about Jews? Why don’t you count how many there are – but importantly, dictating YOUR country’s agenda (start with MPs, banks, supermarkets…is it because they’re cleverer or that they have usurped the system..?)
PS4 Islam has definite views on homosexuality – unlike Christianity we don’t feel the need to change the scriptures to encourage ppl through the doors
PS5 You must have heard of the Crusaders? Who triggered the wars on Muslim lands on pretext of terrorism?The scorge that is ISIL (they go to Israel to be treated!), Slavery (btw islam encouraged slaves to be freed)…and the list goes on
I’m honoured to be a Muslim. I’d have it no other way. i don’t feel the need to apologise for Islam.
It is Western arrogance to assume that we want your system
Goodbye you ignoramus.
“Your animosity towards Muslims…dare to say that about Jews?”
Do Jews make their women cover up in public?
“Islam has definite views on homosexuality”
Yes, intolerant views.
“You must have heard of the Crusaders?”
Yes, how long ago was that? I appreciate that Islam likes to still fight about Aisha’s Mother, but me, personally, I don’t look at the crusades with any shame, because that was a very, very long time ago and is completely irrelevant.
“It is Western arrogance to assume that we want your system.”
So why come to the West? To impose your system on us? I’m not trying to impose western values on people in Iran. I expect western values to be imposed on immigrants who come here to live. Is that unreasonable?
Sara
Only 8% of the Majlis, the Iranian parliament are women, so your entire post was based on misinformation.
As for your claim that Islam requires Muslims to only marry each other, well I am married to a Muslim and it was done with her late father’s permission.
You have obviously never heard of the Arabian slave traders.
Matt
November 1, 2019 at 07:11
“Your animosity towards Muslims…dare to say that about Jews?”
Do Jews make their women cover up in public?
Orthodox Jewish women in Israel are definitely subordinate.
Self-flagellation is part of Shia male culture (Ashura); didn’t know women were allowed to join in.
Here’s an example…
I work for a charity shop. Outside, we have a young Islamic lady who sells the Big Issue. She’s very nice. Often she comes into the shop. She is regularly talking on her phone (almost appearing as if she is talking to herself). When she is on her phone, she will talk to the ladies at the shop, but not me. When she is not on the phone, she will talk to me. My assumption is that she is talking to her husband, who will not tolerate her talking to another man.
This lovely young lady is a victim of oppression.
She’s correctly divined that you’re a dangerous sociopath and is asking for advice from a girl friend, hence not wanting to look at you when asking how to deal with unwanted male attention.
I assume.
Matt
She is probably Bosnian and Christian.
She’s Syrian.
“Outside, we have a young Islamic lady who sells the Big Issue”.
Matt what do you actually mean by an Islamic Lady? Is it the way she dresses, the way she looks or the way she keeps saying Allahu Akbar? Isn’t the presumption that this lady is Islamic not in itself a prejudged statement? Maybe you meant she was Muslim but Islamic may have other connotations.
Is there a difference between “Islamic lady” and “Muslim lady”? Forgive me.
Well if you’re glowering at her
I can see that it hurt to type the words “shes very nice”
Incorrect. I quite fancy her, if I’m honest. I like talking to her, she has a lovely accent.
I consider Islamic women to be victims. I have no animosity towards an individual for their religion. I have animosity towards an oppressive system.
You totally misunderstand the situation. The kind of behaviour you describe is deeply ingrained within their culture so that it is not just her husband who would find it shocking but also she, herself would feel deeply ashamed by it. Therefore, there would be no need for her husband to opress her as she would conform to their societal norms.
She’s perfectly pleasant to me when she does speak to me. I don’t get the impression that she’s ashamed to speak to white males. If I did, I would not say hello, not ask her if she would like a drink, or a chair.
And it has to be said, my argument isn’t really that her husband is oppressing her, rather her culture is.
Craig, what you say is entirely correct. But we have to realise that Islam covers a pretty huge geographic area, and that it presents very differently according to the mores of the region it inhabits. Given that most Muslims coming to Britain are from the areas that tend towards a strict medieval interpretation of the religion, then it could be claimed that a lot of the Muslims that hit the public perception are indeed the equivalent of Northern Irish Free Church types ?
Sadly, there does not seem to be too much evidence of British Islam recognising these facts, and trying to shape its future in a way that other religions have adapted to in a society where freedom of conscience is one of the basic building blocks.
Thomas Jefferson is said to have come out with the quote, ” It concerns me not if my neighbour worships one god or three, it neither picks my pockets, nor breaks my bones”. He does not seem to have considered the possibility of his neighbour trying to force him to worship three gods ? And we have to admit to the fact that much of the Islam that is present in the UK today is of the proselytising variety that sees its religion in terms of worldwide submission, however unrealistic that vision may be.
As ever. the current climate in which discussion of the subject, even in a moderate way, brings down condemnation, is not likely to be productive in the long term ?
“…..that treats gays as sinners, women as subordinates and members of other religions (and atheists) as infidels…”
……. ummm, can you please remind me how few years ago these were ‘British values’.
Here in the UK, women are equal, and gays are legally protected from discrimination. This has been the case for as long as I can remember. This isn’t the 1970’s.
How long ago was the 1970s? Not very long. I was in contact a few years ago with a gay transsexual from a Christian African country who was in fear of his life from the authorities. So, according to your argument, Christianity is as much a barbaric religion.
You would have a fine point if this were common across Christian nations.
This may not be the 1970’s but i can gaurantee that “discrimination” is ripe and fruitful in this day and age. Just look at the Genocide being authorised and condoned by the Tory regieme against disabled and vulnerable people. The removal of our rights to choose to participate in certain areas of healthcare for our children, the errosion of employment rights and the chance to have them protected in a court of Law.
Things are far worse than the 70’s, they are just hidden by the rot we have “in power”…
And anything you say against the 70s has to be balanced by the fact that, back then, employment protection and worker’s rights were far stronger. But these days, who wants to know about the hard breadline conditions when we have much more exotic matters like “lifestyle choices” to fret about?
I’m not sure this is relevant to the points I was making. You seem to be saying we should tolerate the oppression of women and homosexuals because our government is harsh to the less fortunate in our society. I think you’re moving in the wrong direction.
“You seem to be saying we should tolerate the oppression of women and homosexuals because our government is harsh to the less fortunate in our society.”
Quite a revealing statement there. The implication is that the ones you are calling oppressed are NOT the less fortunate. That would make sense since it is only the affluent who could make such a big deal (i.e. diversion) out of identity politics.
George – you’ve chosen to interpret my comment that way. Of course the oppressed are “less fortunate”. We shouldn’t accept oppression, certainly not in this country.
I’m not really sure what you’re getting at. Do you think I’m affluent and engaging in identity politics? I’m certainly not the former, and I don’t think rejecting oppression qualifies as identity politics, but you are free to disagree.
There are plenty of other religions that are anti gay including many Christian religions. Not sure about female oppression as we have many female Muslim politicians, doctors, lawyers , journalists. I don’t agree with arranged marriages but think this practice is dying out and again not confined to one religion. However it should be illegal. Personally I’m not keen on any religions but there are none so ominous as Scientology.
What exactly don’t you agree with? I think you mean forced marriages.
I’m not fan of religion in general. And yes, Christianity still has work to do to accept gays. However, it is moving in the right direction, albeit slowly. And an important point to note is that very few Christian countries outlaw homosexuality. Gays are legally protected here, and in most Christian nations. Homosexuality is illegal, in many cases punishable by death, in the majority of Islamic nations.
Matt, the Catholic church is a predatory paedophile protection ring. You’re applying double standards – a typically racist thing to do.
That rather depends on what you mean by “homosexuality”. Try Morocco.
Actually Islam is another red herring. The important point is that Nigel Farage and those who support the restoration of Britain’s independent sovereignty want to reduce immigration because Britain today is about 4-5 times overpopulated. That is, Britain could maintain a population of about 15 million more or less indefinitely. Since we currently have well over 60 million, the first step should be to stop digging – or, depending on your choice of metaphor, start bailing.
Unfortunately our education system and our severely slanted social incentives mean that almost all politicians, many business leaders, and vitrually everyone else except actual scientists, engineers and mathematicians, are innumerate. They can’t distinguish between a million, a billion and a trillion.
Even immigration, however, is only a small part of the overall picture. We want Brexit because we would like to return to being citizens of an independent sovereign nation. Yes, it’s true that the ruling class is completely uninterested in the people’s wishes. Yes, it’s also true that the existing system of “representative democracy” effectively prevents any danger of true democracy. nevertheless, “the thousand-mile journey begins with a single step”. If we don’t take the first step, we will never reach our final destination.
Our population is a lot less than Japan’s, a similar sized island nation. We certainly have population problems, especially in the SE, but the problem is infrastructure. The island itself is easily capable of supporting the population. We just need to be smarter about how we develop, and how we allocate resources.
I voted for Brexit because I see the EU as a dangerous superstate. I also think the Tories are dangerous, but if we keep voting them in, we deserve it.
Britain: 80,823 sq mi
Japan: 145,936 sq m
It’s besides the point, though. We will not become a ‘sovereign nation’ as Tom Welsh appears to think – you can define what that means if you like – through leaving the EU. Not when we are governed by the paid representatives of the world’s largest multinational corporations, and certainly not when we take our most significant orders from the US. By the latter, I’m talking about going to war, handing over the profitable divisions of the NHS, providing all details of our own citizens, or setting up people for extradition on the direct command of US personnel from their Embassy in the face of due process.
I am guessing that if you live near a large mosque they will have a program of open days and community outreach. Try going along to the next one with an open mind and see if you can learn a thing or two.
I’m an atheist with no time personally for organised religion, but to dismiss a billion odd people in such an uninformed manner is a bit daft.
Do you think I could go to a mosque wearing a dress?
How far would you get going to a Christian Church wearing a dress?
Is that what you have against Islam, that generally speaking mosques aren’t especially welcoming to transvestites?
“The number of people who hates someone ‘for having a Polish accent’ is negligible.”
Bear in mind that many racist morons wouldn’t know a Polish accent from a hole in the ground. I know a Scandinavian woman in London who told some white British door-canvassing double glazing scammers she wasn’t interested and 10 minutes later she was loudly abused by them in the street (once these young male heroes were driving off in the safety of their van) as a “Polish c***”. Either they assumed she was Polish because she is white European-looking and speaks with a foreign accent, or else they were using “Polish” as a term of abuse for that demographic, just as “P***” can be used as a term of abuse not just for Pakistanis but for many other ethnicities too.
Get a Bitcoin address and join the monetary independence movement.
Craig, it’s ‘fewer’ seats, not ‘less’
Not in Norfolk it isn’t!
Well, get your thoinn back up to Scotland, then
I am at home in Edinburgh John. But my Norfolk childhood shows through sometimes!
Also, it’s Cummings’s plan, unless one has been infected by apostrophe-challenged US culture-creep.
Broadly agree that this election will not be a shoe in for Johnson due to regional concentration of votes, but I would predict that the Tories come out as the largest party, but having burnt their bridges with all other entities will be unable to form a coalition majority.
Even if Johnson is invited to try and form a government, the numbers just aren’t there to resurrect his deal, it’s all in the arithmetic.
The SNP should be able to comfortably take 10 seats from the Tories.
The Tories have 21 seats in highly Remain sympathetic London. 10 of these are rock solid with majorities >18%, so another potential loss of say 10 seats to Remain voting MPs (accepting that Labour’s official position is Leave but this is unlikely to be the position of individual candidates in London).
The assertion that there are a rake of Tory seats in the SW of England that will just drop into the hands of the LibDems doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny, but for the sake of argument let’s say there are a small number.
There are 8 Tory seats in Wales all of which should be vulnerable to the LibDem / Plaid / Green pact. One seat is held by the departing and solid Europhile Guto Bebb so the net Remain gain in Parliament should be around 5.
The argument is that the Tories will make up for losses by gains in the North of England and the Midlands, but 19 Labour MPs (mostly) from these constituencies are already in the “Boris’s Deal” camp, so even if the Tories did take these seats the net gain would be zero.
So a total of around 30 seats transfer directly from Leave voting Tories to Remain voting MPs, but those transfers are double dunters in terms of a Remain / Leave vote in Parliament, so 60 votes in total.
Last Wednesday, Boris’s deal was passed by 30 votes and 60 is a larger number than 30.
Johnson is set to be in a worse position after the election than he is now.
Due mainly to Swinson being a drooling cretin, any form of Remain government of unity can be discounted.
End result, Emanuel Macron completely looses patience and we crash out without a deal on the 1st of February (a course of events I suspect Cummings and the ERG worked out some time ago).
Vivian, if your figures turn out to be true, parliament would still be in a position to get rid of Johnson via a no confidence vote, followed by revoking Article 50.
I think revocation without the support of the (in this scenario, no-confidenced) government would need the suspension of SO24 followed by a Bill, because it would repeal some Act the title of which I don’t have to hand. And if MPs can do that they can also call a referendum, which more of them may support.
I agree with this. Abandoning the traditional Tory voter, to go for Brexit types, is the height of folly. The degree to which the traditional Tory stance has been abandoned is to be seen in the removal and subsequent refusal to restore the whip to Hammond. A more mainstream Tory figure it is difficult to imagine. He was Chancellor, but yet he is out. I never thought to see such centrist, but Remainer, figures thrown out. The Tory party has abandoned its broad church position in favour of radicalism, what they always accused Labour of. I can’t see that going well in the Tory heartlands. Traditional Tories will stay at home rather than vote for anyone else.
The Tories won’t have one simple message for the entire county. The Cambridge Analytica “scandal” showed it will be more nuanced. Traditional Tories will be fed the anti-Corbyn message and urged to get out and stop him from nationalising everything and wrecking the country. Johnson probably has significant personal pull here. The pro-Brexit parts of the country (left or right) will be told to get out and make sure the job is done.
Targetted publicity isn’t going to work, when the issue is that big in the media, such that everyone knows about it.
one of the big election winning social-media ‘nudges’ that does appear to reliably work is the individually targeted do not bother going out to vote today as our secret polling shows that we the XXXXX party are going to win comfortably. Signed (or maybe not) by the XXXXX party – but actually sent to their FB media channels by the supercomputer on behalf of the YYYYYY party.
Although it’s not quite ‘publicity’ as none of this is done publicly, and FB have today stated they will continue to allow ‘politicals’ to be delivered (it does earn a few hundred mill $ after all)
then….during the last election, not only was widespread postal voting open to manipulative agencies ballot-stuffing, but the odd lorryload of blank votes were mysteriously nicked
Nobody knows anything.
Everyone’s confused.
Same as in the US, with the Trump and the Russians thing.
Distractions from all those horrible social and economic infrastructure problems.
Meanwhile, Eurasia is busy building bonds, and undoing all the areas of tension, which themselves were part of the old sea-power management order.
With the assistance of that old order.
The Western order is being dismantled and accrued wealth transferred to Byzantium.
Again.
Remainers are unlikely to be swayed by any of Johnsons special messages
Speaking as one, Brexit types will vote for a Brexit Party candidate if one is available.
Otherwise, it’s a shot in the dark. Which habitual liar do you choose to trust?
“in order to chase hard racist votes” nice to read your blood libel, Craig. But in the absence of that … do you have a critique?
Bravo!
It’s such a shame Craig. You are so insightful and intellectually conscientious when writing about geopolitics and civil liberties. Yet once again you broach the subject of Brexit and immigration with a total lack of nuance.
Your ill-spirited insistence on smearing anybody with legitimate concerns about the effects of unbridled immigration as “racist” is totally counterproductive if you genuinely wish to appeal to those other than remainer dogmatists.
To be quite honest I find it very weird that such a clever person can be so wilfully stupid as to dismiss the entire complicated issue in such binary and emotive terms. Here’s a little clue from your own piece…
“the burgeoning class of billionaires sucking up the world’s resources, but rather the poor immigrants also scratching to make a living”
These are not unrelated phenomena. The latter enables for former. Until people like you start talking about labour market dynamics rather than the phantom menace of wacism, you’re going to miss the point entirely.
Actually it’s the former enabling and exploiting the latter. Anyway I voted Brexit and am not bothered by immigration but do have an issue with linking the movement of people with the movement of goods. It seems to me the containers of trafficked slaves is the logical conclusion of viewing people as chattel
Calum,
I find it strange that you start by claiming there is no link between Brexiters and racism, and then go on to posit that immigrants are enablers to billionaires.
Until you understand that an economy is not of a fixed size, and an immigrants’ prosperity does not reduce yours, you have been sorely misled.
More calculating racists of course will have voted to remain.
Yes those human traffickers for example might do so.
Different kind, but Tony Blair is probably a calculating racist too.
Craig,
I find it strange that you can leap effortlessly from “immigrants are enablers to billionaires” to talk of “racism”. The first statement has to do with economics and politics, and would be equally valid of everyone involved – immigrants and billionaires – were first cousins.
“I find it strange that you start by claiming there is no link between Brexiters and racism”
Craig, you’re not that stupid. You know full well that I didn’t claim there is “no link” between Brexiters and racism, I simply state very clearly that it is a complex issue, and that legitimate concerns about the effects of open labour market exploitation aren’t served any justice by the blanket (and never fully defined) pejorative of “wacism”.
“and then go on to posit that immigrants are enablers to billionaires.”
Again, you’re not stupid enough to honestly believe I said that. I posited that that “phenomenon” of unbridled immigration acts a mechanism for wealth polarisation. Not the immigrants themselves. This is a very orthodox socialist criticism of open borders immigration and ensuing labour market exploitation. Why are you so determined to pretend you don’t understand it and simply squeal “wacist!”.
“Until you understand that an economy is not of a fixed size, and an immigrants’ prosperity does not reduce yours, you have been sorely misled.”
Well at least you’ve stopped scweaming about wacism here. However it’s a silly straw man argument, and the kind of condescending idiocy I would expect from George Osborne, not from you. Nobody has ever suggested that any economy is of a “fixed size”. The dynamic natural of an economic whole doesn’t in any way change the immutable law of oversupply and diminution. You really, honestly believe that the vast majority of workingclass people (yes, even in Scotland) voted for brexit because they are inherently nasty and wacist, rather than because they saw the value of their labour being diminished by the strategic oversupply of competition?
This really is basic stuff, and you know it is. You rumbled the EU ages ago as an inherently neoliberal, crytopfascist organisation. What’s really behind your emotionally zealot defence of open borders immigration?
Craig peddles the racist smear for the reasons outlined in the following poem, https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/345522-how-to-create-a-non-person/
How to Create a Non-Person
… to deprive a man
of voice and vote is easy
… call him a racist …
Craig simply wants to deprive a whole group of people of both voice and vote. As I said in an earlier comment, in the absence of this blood libel where is his argument?
Craig, you could equally say that Remainers are racist who wish to bring in cheaper foreign labour to replace useless overpaid British workers.
Your second assertion that the pie is not of a fixed size but can expand to include all immigrants is unlikely to be true, it could also get smaller. Able and willing workers may leave to go somewhere with better prospects possibly leaving their old and unwell to be looked after by the state.
‘an immigrants’ [sic] prosperity does not reduce yours’ – don’t you understand the basics of supply and demand, Craig??? MORE workers (especially at the low end) = LOWER pay; MORE workers = higher rents. Combine the 2 together and you will get MORE suffering and a LOWER standard of living etc.
But let’s try that in Scotland FIRST, Craig, OK? Like in Edinburgh. I expect to see you out on the streets there PROMOTING it, OK? And let’s try that for 20 years for starters.
Calum,
I think your point is good.
I have nothing against Poles; I have never met one that I disliked. The Poles, as a nation, like us Brits too; after all, we got into WW2 because they were invaded; we stood by our treaty obligations. They regard us as friends.
What I don’t like is that all of the grocers in my neighbourhood (apart from the big supermarket chains) are Polish grocers. I don’t care for sauerkraut, and I don’t know enough about polish cured meats to be able to choose. And anyway, I can’t read the labels on anything. And yes, I realise that part of the reason for the disappearance of “native” grocers is the big supermarket chains. I object to them too.
I look back nostalgically to the days when there were fishmongers and fruit-and-veg vendors with open, wall-less fronts on every shopping street.
Look at this another way, without the Polish Grocers you’d probably not have any at all. Best to thank them.
Parliament will be dissolved on November 5th. No irony intended. Nato Summit 3-4 December
The UK has already agreed to hold the summit of allied leaders in central London to mark NATO’s 70th anniversary. On the list of attendees is the US president Donald Trump. Will Corbyn be there? He ought to be.
But of course, since Parliament will have been dissolved, officially none of our policiticians has a job. So – hmm??
Craig, do you have any preference for a regular bank transfer to the account above (ie set up as a direct debit) vs a regular PayPal subscription?
If PayPal is taking any commission that the bank wouldn’t, I’m happy to swap to my subscription to a DirectDebit… every little helps!
MB a kind thought and yes, that would be helpful.
You’re showing your unpleasant socialist roots now. Everyone that doesn’t think it’s a good idea to erase western culture with barely educated third world immigrants is not a racist believe it or not. They just might have legitimate and well founded grounds for concern proven by the massive increase in violence wherever those immigrants are most numerous across Europe. Name calling does not make you virtuous, quite the reverse. A radical left wing agenda from Corbyn would wreck the economy and replacing already left wing politicians with a communist nightmare. Boris is not and never will be a hard right leader. He is establishment. His so called “deal” is no more real than May’s and the only way he’ll deliver real Brexit is if he is forced to. You are so clear headed with regard to the Skripal affair and other similar things yet so blind in politics. Amazing.
Anone who describes immigrants as barely educated is a racist, Keith. That is a (ahem) uneducated and incorrect analysis of who immigrants actually are.
It would be an unfair generalisation based on insufficient evidence. Even then it is not “racist”.
However, on average, it is manifestly correct to claim the 2015 influx were “uneducated”. They were.
About 90% are unemployed.
This does not make them bad people of course.
do you have any evidence of your assertions? how about evidence that their employment rate is directly related to being uneductated, as opposed to a lack of jobs in the fields they are educated in, or difficulties getting uk to recognize their credentials?
According to migrationobservatory the unemployment rate of non EU migrants was 7.6% and EU 4.7%(UK born 5.3%). Since then the unemployment rate for all three groups has fallen so Graham is talking nonsense.
According to the LSE in 2015: EU immigrants are on average more educated than the UK-born – almost twice as many of them have some form of higher education (43% compared with 23% UK-born).
For non EU migrants education level depends greatly on country of origin. On average they are lower educated then UK born, but only slightly.
@ Mighty Drunken
Thanks for those UK figures,
I was not talking about UK immigrants., I am talking about the disastrous open door policy decision of 2015. Most went to Germany.
Most are on the dole. Most really are uneducated. These are facts.
My point is that it is NOT RACIST to call someone uneducated if that is true.
“On average they are lower educated than UK born, but only slightly.”
Aye, but UK levels of education wouldn’t be that high as it is, and the product of that system seem to get by, more or less. Careers on TV, Politics etc.
Education isn’t intelligence, adaptability and so on.
And there was hardly any education in the past, up to 1948 Ed Act, but a very functional society and system, even in the cities,
Peeps seem to learn on their own. We know that monkeys do this, but the state kinda pretends that humans do not.
So. this education stuff ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
For the masses, anyway.
The only education worth having is from some old mentor at Peterhouse who knows the whole thing.
The shortcut to all knowledge.
The only things worth reading, seeing, hearing, doing etc.
But, there’s a price for that.
You have to try to engineer a situation in which one of your antecedents became romantically involved with a king, and produced issue within the family, and you arrive a hundred and whatever years later to serve the ordinary people of the UK.
As PM.
“Everyone that doesn’t think it’s a good idea to erase western culture with barely educated third world immigrants is not a racist believe it or not. ”
Why would you bring this up? While the Conservatives pose as anti-immigration, the whole Brexit debate has nothing to do with what you say as all EU members are not “third world” and tend to be well educated. The Conservatives have been in power for 10 years and in that time immigration from “third world” countries has only increased and will increase further if we leave the EU.
Well I would expect nonsense from someone who calls Corbyn-supporting politicians, communists.
You could be correct. However I am sure I read somewhere that Bulgarians are racist. It seems that the relevant soccer authorities agree with this view and have acted to punish the Bulgarians for their racism.
Still the UK needs immigrants for the purposes of economic growth. Unlike Bulgaria which needs less people in order to secure the economic growth of Bulgaria. Consequently Bulgaria now has a labor force of about 2.3 million people. This compares with 2.5 million Bulgarians earning their living outside of Bulgaria.
Presumably if British newspapers, and British and international soccer authorities are to be believed then exporting Bulgarians also exports racism.
All of this poses a number of questions which luckily for you no-one at all has any interest in answering.
I remember giving a lift to a Czech engineer from Wisbech to Kings Lynn in 2005. He was dwelling in a caravan for which he had to pay, off his wages. He earned £2.70 an hour and was gping to get himself some cloth from a charity shop. Kings Lynn offered more cloth as immigrants used the charity shops in Wisbech a lot.
This man had an advanced engineering degree, he made a 4 year apprenticeship followed by three years studying physics.
Youe assumptions, Keith, are wholly misleading and some well trained polish builders/ plumbers can vouch for it with stories of having to fix ‘cowboys’ bad expensive mistakes and shoddy repairs.
For what possible reason would a Czech with an advanced engineering degree work in England for £2.70/hour?
In the period 1009-2019 unemployment in the Czech Republic averaged 2.87%. Average wages in the Czech Republic are around 60% of the EU average (which is a lot higher than £2.70/hour), and i any event you would expect a person with an advanced engineering degree to be earning well above average wages.
Based on the information you provide your Czech engineer is an example of someone who is not operating in his own best economic interests, an example of someone who has foregone the culturally easier option of working in Germany in order to voluntarily experience a life of hardship and poverty in England. For what possible reason (other than the reason of exploitation) should England want migrants such as this?
For that matter, I clearly remember getting a ride in a minicab somewhere in England back in 1972. I got talking to the driver, who appeared to be as English as one can get. He told me that he had had a job designing complex multiprocessor chips for Mullard, but had had to give it up when he got married as his salary wasn’t enough to support a wife and children.
Driving a minicab, he said he earned about twice as much.
I spoke to a 27 year old electrician on the London tube a decade ago. He left school at 16, took an apprenticeship and 10 years later, with no student debt, was earning £70,000 a year doing contract work on big London projects like Terminal 5, Wembley Stadium, Olympic Park etc. He said he took 10 weeks holiday a year.
I went to Cambridge to study science, got a PhD and an MBA (self-funded) and was not earning as much as him.
Qualifications and salaries do not by any means align.
It seems to me that the only barely educated one here is you Keith.
Keith Alan
” erase western culture ”
I’m 65 tomorrow so I’m a child of post-war hope for peace abroad and the welfare state at home.
How would you yourself be if you were brought up under the menace of Soviet atheist dictatorship or the collapsed economy of a post colinial nation? What strikes me about your remark is that the Tories have stripped my country of everything civilised and attacked all the dreams of my generation. We can’t replace the assets they stripped. We can’t hope to be able to afford the universities and social education they have destroyed.
But why complain about the mistakes of our colonial past, revisited on us through immigrants from Asia and the Soviet Union? Our colonial forefathers created those problems. Why not complain about the Empire2 Tories who have spent 30 years destroying Muslim countries in the same colonial vision?
You are the sum total of all your previous decisions. If colonialism destroys education, why vote for colonialists who will annoy future generations. Stop illegal wars in Libya Syria Iran by the Tories which is in your power to do by voting for Corbyn.
“…unpleasant socialist roots…..radical left wing agenda…..already left wing politicians…..communist nightmare….”
What the hell are you talking about? After four decades of ruthless neoliberalism and the transformation of the Labour Party into the Tory 2 Party, we have a moderate Left reformer, i.e. somebody who actually believed what Old Labour believed, and he’s Stalin?
And being “the establishment” automatically makes you “not and never … a hard right leader”?
Well – since that might not wash, let’s play the old “Oh my god, our culture’s under threat!” rap. Our culture has been going down the drain for decades now and it has nothing to do with “Leftism” or immigration and everything to do with these relentless assaults on the public purse.
And as for wrecking that mysterious deity called “the economy”, along with the concern about rising violence attributed to immigrants, I’ve seen the rise of the most miserable zero-hour gig economy, the stripping back of working conditions, endless cuts to vital services etc. The rise in suicides amongst the young doesn’t surprise me. They are well aware they have no future under this parasitical regime – who operate a low-intensity terrorism re: the stripping back of livelihoods.
‘your unpleasant socialist roots’
Why is socialism so ‘unpleasant’? Is it because its values clash with those you hold Keith? A lot of what you have said is deeply unpleasant – associating a massive increase in violence with immigration? Did that Polish doctor give you a good going over (and not in a good way) when last you visited an NHS facility?
And why would a socialist agenda wreck the economy? Mr Corbyn’s Green Industrial Deal would actually invigorate the economy and help us on the road to saving the planet. Or does that not sit well with your values either? I don’t recall anything having been said about the environment or climate change from the Tory camp. Times are a-changing Keith. The old order is falling. Better get used to it or you’re going to be mightily unhappy.
I do so pray that you are right – and if the SNP do well that they will work with the Labour Party to deliver a decent economy before they consider another indi-Ref, for the sakes of all of the Scottish and English who are suffering under this awful government.
Although I sympathise with folk in the rUk over Brexit, its not for Scotland to help sort out their problems of their own making.
First and foremost we (Scots ) need to exit this unfit union. Infact I think EVEL laws brought in by Cameron forbid Scots MP’s from voting on English only laws. First championed the day after the 2014 indyref, whenhe asked Scots not to leave but lead the UK.
The rest as they say is history.
100% agree with this but do wonder what Farage is up to because he’s not a person to be easily dispensed with especially as Johnson’s WA for Farage is worse than May’s. Normally one would expect him to be screaming betrayal. I wonder whether a tacit agreement has been done?
Mr Farage has been rather ‘high profile’ on LBC and more so today because he was ‘in conversation’ with Mr Trump, POTUS, aka ‘The Don’.
His agenda is, in its scale, about much more than Brexit. He, and his ally, Mr Banks will do well financially when/if that happens. He has an unholy alliance with Mr Trump and Mr Bannon and his far-right friends across Europe. When Mr Farage stands in front of a picture with lots of brown faces on it and seeks to ‘terrorise’ those of us with white faces into believing that it is they who are the enemy, he reveals himself whole. He is no friend to those of us who wish to peacefully co-exist in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance and respect. Brexit is a mere, but profitable, step towards a greater goal. White supremacy.
Thank you Royd. You have expressed this unpalatable truth far better than I can. Farage is targeting the dispossessed, the socially alienated, the left behind, who need a whole new vision for Britain. Labour will invest in new industries and innovation, but change will not solve the current hardship. Farage has his finger on the pulse of the former industrial heartlands, and their anger with current policies is now being orchestrated and misdirected by this malevolent entity
“two million racist votes in traditional Labour constituencies”
As they say on the Internet, citation needed. This is the sort of nonsense drivel I would expect from some EU / Soros / North Atlantic Council / CIA-USAID thinktank, and it really does negate anything positive you do such as your highlighting the condition of Mendax. Or perhaps that is the point?
“the burgeoning class of billionaires sucking up the world’s resources, but rather the poor immigrants also scratching to make a living.”
How does a billionaire pay so little for labour? He imports the cheapest he can get. Notice the rise in pay that has accompanied the loss of immigrants to these shores, but that is just cause an effect, which does not seem to exist in your world view.
“I am also quite keen about the SNP helping Corbyn pass the basis of a radical left wing reform agenda through Westminster”
“I appreciate that it is really annoying to constantly read appeals for funds.”
So you want the government to take more of our money, yet at the same time you wish us to voluntarily give our money to you, well I don’t have enough to pay two masters.
“How does a billionaire pay so little for labour? ”
If the labour is unorganised and not in a union it is very difficult to improve your pay. Most people need or want to work, if we don’t work then we are far more greatly affected than the company not having a member of staff.
Even if the labour is highly organized and unionized, it can’t necessarily exert any influence over pay rates and working conditions.
In the USA there was a long history of police and even soldiers being brought in to crush union meetings, often killing numerous workers, before unions became virtually extinct.
That’s what happens when the same people who own industry also own the machinery of government and most of the politicians engaged in it.
“A TORY MP is a director of a company that has become a major player in how elections are managed in Scotland, it has emerged.
Concerns have been raised with the Electoral Commission about the involvement with Idox of former Tory Cabinet minister Peter Lilley, who is a senior non-executive director.
Idox has had a hand in providing count software, including postal vote management support, among other services, for elections since at least 2012.
Montreal-based CGI and Idox won the £6.5 million contract to provide an electronic vote counting system for the 2017 local government elections in Scotland.
Objectors have questioned the rationale of awarding contracts to Idox when it has links to one political party, and about the “creeping privatisation” of elections.”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14478267.concerns-raised-over-senior-tory-mp-link-to-election-count-firm/
The dodgy Tories think of everything…..
Thanks for that info – it is a missing link that i have been looking for.
I have increasingly suspectef that actual ballot box ‘stuffing’has been taking place for some years now. Particularly in both the referendums.
The EC does not publish sufficient information about postal votes.
Open borders immigration dealt a massive blow to organised labour and collective bargaining in the UK. It’s one of the reasons the employer class loves so-called Freedom of Movement.
And when I say the ’employer class’, I include virtue-signalling North London luvvies with their Polish cleaners and Au Pairs. At least the millionaire tory famers and chicken processing factory owners don’t hide behind their bullshit identity politics and virtue signalling. However they are of the same voice in decrying an end to their source of unlimited, cheap, compliant, disposable working-age labour – ideally the kind with pidgin English, no union affiliation, no sense of their basic employment rights etc.
I haven’t met anyone yet who intends to vote in this farce. I won’t be and it looks like turnout will be low. The election has nothing to do with the governance and welfare of our citizens and is simply a slugfest between two well funded monoliths, each at odds with its individual members, seeking power to align with either the EU or US.
Countries align with trading partners. What is your suggestion?
Monster: it’s not a farce and I’ll be voting, although I agree that the British voting system is in urgent need of reform.. My vote on its own will make no difference to the result as my MP, who has campaigned consistently against Brexit, already has a 5-figure majority which she looks likely to increase further. But voters on safe seats can help their cause by campaigning in nearby marginal constituencies.
Well… it is a farce inasmuch as the British electoral system was thoroughly gerrymandered centuries ago. Elections and constituencies are so organized that – together with the baleful influence of the political parties – the citizens can want anything they like without ever being able to elect a government that will give them it.
That is the marvellous thing about the whole Brexit mess. The referendum made it so obvious that no one could possibly ignore it that Parliament is set up, not to fulfill the wishes of the people, but to dilute and frustrate them. We may not be allowed democracy, but at least it’s now patently obvious that we aren’t.
In the upcoming election voters who wish to ensure that Britain leaves the EU can either vote for the Brexit Party (which cannot secure many – if any – MPs) or for another party that may promise to secure Brexit – but that will certainly break all its promises as soon as the election is over. Even if there are many millions of Brexit supporters, the system prevents them from exerting any political power.
well, actually if all Brexiteers voted TBP, Nigel Farage would be PM with a thumping majority. when did Blair or Thatcher ever get 15 million votes?
Very true, Rhys. The problem is essentially the Prisoner’s Dilemma – each Brexiteer is liable to fear that a vote for TBP would be “wasted”, whereas a vote for the Conservative Party might somehow lead to some form of Brexit (however perverted and watered down). (When are we going to find a suitable name for that party that doesn’t involve the blatant lie that they are in any way “conservative”?)
The problem is greatly exacerbated by the fact that the MSM – almost all of which are owned and run by people who fervently want to Remain – have been brainwashing everyone credulous enough to listen. For instance, how many people believe that May and Johnson were trying to obtain Brexit, with the best possible “deal”?
Whereas in fact any “deal” entails remaining in the EU to a greater or lesser extent (usually greater). The only true, “clean break” Brexit is what they have been calling, for three years, “No Deal” – as if that were a bad thing.
I don’t know where you get the idea that virtually all the UK media is pro remain. The various editions of the the Mail, the Telegraph and the Express – all owned by tax dodging exiles – have campaigned on a daily basis in favour of Brexit as has the Morning Star.
The Murdoch press gives out mixed signals on the EU reflecting their owner’s strategy for filling his own pockets and increasing political influence.
So that just leaves the Mirror, the Guardian and the Independent. Oh and the Star but you can discount that because it’s just tits and bums and celebrity drivel.
Sorry if I was wrong, Bystander. It may be because I have not read any UK newspaper or magazine since about 2010. I do get most of my cues from the BBC, whose “news” and political coverage I sometimes suffer for as long as i can bear it – usually about 30 seconds.
They certainly seem to be firmly on the Brussels payroll, as do the other TV and radio corporations.
If Johnson wins the GE England and Wales at a later date will feel the wrath of the Tories, Johnson has already made idle threats to take back control of the NHS in Scotland. One doesn’t have to think too hard to realise that big US pharma are salivating at the prospect of reeling in the NHS in the UK.
Inferior US produce will flood the UK market, causing untold economic damage in the process.
However Scotland has a lifeboat in the shape of independence possibly in 2020/2021.
Please register to vote if you’re not already registered, it only takes fives minutes.
https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
Lets return 50+ SNP MPs to Westminster, showing Johnson et al that Scots want out of this unfit for purpose union.
US pharma produce is not inferior, it is their HMO/insurance scams which are the dangerous thing.
Also, the NHS has strict evaluation protocols informing drug purchases, which means that premium prices need premium outcomes over here.
Procurement is what must remain under UK control, letting the US get hold of that will make us a health colony. I happen to believe that 90%+ of UK people would not be seen dead importing US Healthcare practices…
“US pharma produce is not inferior, it is their HMO/insurance scams which are the dangerous thing.”
Apologies if you picked it up wrongly, when I saud US produce. I should have said not their medicines but other things such as food produce.
Which will surely undercut British producers, who will need to lower the quality of their produce to compete, diversify or go bust.
British consumers can nevertheless go on enjoying healthy, nutritious food if they are prepared to pay for it. That usually entails buying from carefully chosen organic or top-end suppliers. (In my case, Abel & Cole, and occasionally Donald Russell for meat).
Of course some will reply that only the rich can afford to pay for good food. That’s not strictly the case. It’s a matter of priorities. To my mind, there is literally nothing more vital than healthy food and drink – although housing, exercise and sleep are equally essential. Everything else is a “nice to have”. Albert Einstein got through most of his life with two pairs of cheap trousers, two cheap sweaters, and some underwear – no socks, notoriously. Nor did he own a car, a computer, or a TV.
What has happened is one of those very nasty, pernicious illusions. Governments deliberate devalue their currencies, to force people to spend their income and to prevent anyone poor from being able to improve their lot by saving money. (The rich own property, companies, art, stocks and bonds, etc. rather than cash).
This steady inflation means that money is worth less every year – although (and this is the key) most people are unaware of the fact. Today, £1 buys about one-tenth of what it did in the 1980s, and far less than one-hundredth of what it did in 1914.
After adjusting for inflation, the household incomes of the “middle classes” in “the West” have remained static since 1970 – when, by an odd coincidence, Nixon removed the gold backing from the dollar. That means that, among other things, most families now need two full-time incomes to buy what one income did in 1970 or 1980.
Naturally, families economize as much as possible, and food – which they don’t think very deeply about – is an easy item to economize on. When I say that it costs £200-300 a month to feed one adult healthily in today’s Britain, I always meet with cries of incredulity from people who claim they feed their families for £50-100 a head per month. But that means they are relying mostly on cheap carbohydrate foods made with lots of flour and sugar, and getting insufficient meat, fish, dairy and eggs. Even good fruit and vegetables are quite expensive nowadays.
It’s ironic that everyone well-informed knows about the iniquities of “hedonic” pricing used by Western governments to fudge the inflation figures. Notoriously, when steak got too expensive for most budgets, the US government simply substituted hamburger (mince to us) – which helped to make the cost of food look lower than it is.
Meanwhile, people of limited means everywehere have played the same trick on themselves by budgeting far too little for food, with the result that they consume lots of very unhealthy items. Then they get chronically sick and cost the NHS – which they pay for! – tens of billions for treatments that would never have been necessary if they had been eating right.
Who cleans up? The manufacturers of “food-like substances”, the mass monoculture farming corporations, Big Pharma, and everyone who works for the NHS – in proportion, of course, to the size of their salaries and benefits.
“Albert Einstein got through most of his life with two pairs of cheap trousers, two cheap sweaters, and some underwear – no socks, notoriously. Nor did he own a car, a computer, or a TV.”
Since Einstein died in 1955, it would be pretty damned surprising if he DID own a computer! This is the sort of thing that was around back then:
https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/650/650_album.html
Do you think personally ownership of something like that was so widespread, that it was notable if one did not?
Television ownership in America at the start of the 1950s was about a couple of million. Car ownership, maybe 25 million, out of a population of about 150 million. Again – lack of ownership was not particularly notable.
Craig you might well be correct in the main thrust of your analysis re the tory tactics and Farage.. But I don’t think it’s right to say that the working class vote for Brexit in the Midlands and North was an anti-immigrant one.
My experience of growing up in a working class Midlands town in the fifties and sixties is of a largely amiable community tolerant of incomers of all kinds. There were many from Durham, Scotland and Wales as well as those from India and Pakistan. I don’t remember religion featuring largely in anybody’s life in my neighbourhood. Many of the folk I grew up among, if they thought of it at all, regarded church/temple/mosque attendance as a mild aberration! And a strange accent was just as likely to be a Geordie one as Polish or Hungarian.
I see the vote for Brexit in these areas as a protest at the inadequacies of schools, housing and health provision and the social injustices that bedevil the lives of all but the very few. I hope that message will be hammered out on doorsteps over the coming weeks.
“I see the vote for Brexit in these areas as a protest at the inadequacies of schools, housing and health provision and the social injustices that bedevil the lives of all but the very few.”
I would agree, but if the Tories see the vote for Brexit in these areas as one against immigration and are pitching their electoral strategy accordingly, they are going to have a nasty shock. That would be a shame!
I will be voting for the Brexit Party because I believe in democracy.
I also believe a country should govern itself – not have rules set by an unelected body from Brussels.
Farage is not a racist. People ought to understand the actual meaning of the words they use.
It is ironic that Craig Murray was accused of libel unfairly with regard to anti semitism nonsense.
But I think that makes up for the times he accuses decent folk of racism unfairly.
Anyone who calls me racist to my face – be prepared for a broken jaw.
So you are violent too.
The Brexit party are actually a limited company ergo a business so how does that fit with ‘democracy’?
As an old Bennite I too will be voting for the Brexit Party. Corbyn has compromised his own views too much in order to appease the Blairite neocons in his own party. People can call me a racist if they want, I don’t care.
What powers, if any, do you expect to come back to you/ the uk ? Andy
As far as i know your environmental laws are about to be watered down.
As for dubious court decisions and political judging? Taking back control over monies bypassing the exchequer would be a great thing? But its a mere wet dream by some brexiteers who have been misled, it will never happen.
The decision will be stark, either people vote for WTOeconomics, ten years of trade talks with the EU, and a proto fascist Government that operates a low wage, tax cuts for the rich, no security of jobs economy.
Or a Government that re adresses the balance on gender pay, taxes for those who have received hand puts for the last ten years, an end to child poverty and lack of opportunities for the marginalised, a green deal that will create long term jobs, an end to the loss of safety regulations, an end to fracking, and control over off shore assets that are stashing untaxed stale money in offshore havens under British jurisdiction.
Ten years of austerity backlash is about to hit the ballot box.
You overreact, Andy – and by so doing you give your opponents an undeserved advantage.
In practice, I rather doubt if you would carry out your threat. But the movies and TV have conditioned us all to believe that bloodthirsty threats and lurid violence are the only valid tokens of sincerity.
The term “racist” is pretty close to meaningless. Inasmuch as it means an instinctive caution and apprehsnion when confronted by people who look, talk, behave or even smell very different, it’s not entirly under conscious control. What’s more, it may in some circumstances be a valuable survival mechanism. (Incidentally, if you are triggered by my mention of smell, I was thinking of the normal distaste that Chinese and Japanese people feel for whites, on account of what they perceive as a rank body odour).
There is also “academic” racism – the kind that was universally respected, accepted and even popular in Europe and North America between 1870 and, perhaps, the 1950s. There may have been a few individuals who did not share the belief in the “white Aryan race”‘s superiority over “the lesser breeds without the law” – but if so, they were very exceptional. (Even Gandhi has come under fire for racism towards Afircans).
Academic racism suddenly and violently fell out of favour during WW2 – although right till 1945 white American servicemen could be seen and heard showing the grossest racism towards their own “coloured” colleagues. Nowadays almost the only people you are allowed to hate purely on account of their nationality are Russians.
” but also it is simply normal for a nation to be Independent”
The first thing Scotland will do when gaining “Independence” is apply to join the EU – something Mr Murrays approves of !
I absolutely respect a people’s right to self determination under the UN Charter. But it ain’t “independence” Scotland is looking for, is it ?
Ireland is independent yet a member of the EU, as are the other 27 nations, imagine if Ireland wasn’t a member of the EU, do you think Johnson or May would be giving a monkeys then about the GFA or a hard border.
Also there would probably be no devolved administrations in the UK either without the EU, its legislation compelled Westminster to bring them forth and begrudgingly they had to.
Who wants a hard border? Only the EU, in order to protect its precious customs union and single market.
Well not really the EU, Johnson wants/wanted a no deal which would/will result in a hard border, the EU wants a deal.
So you could say its the British government that’s pushing a hard border, however if NI stays in the Single market for however long (Bringing a massive unfair advantage to NI’s economy though the DUP don’t like it) a hard border might not be needed.
Of course Johnson doesn’t want a hard border. Not only would a hard border be illegal (under UK, Irish and EU law), an open border into the EU single market would provide huge economic opportunites and benefits to the UK that would threaten the very existence of the EU. Which is why the EU is so exercised over the issue.
Whoever heard of a one sided custom’s union?
I don’t believe that’s correct. Craig is principally concerned with independence. An independent Scotland will then be able to determine its own destiny, and EU membership may not be the preferred destiny of the Scottish people.
I think you are right that Craig’s view is that an independent Scotland would be better off in the EU; but more important to him is that Scotland should be able to determine that independently. And I agree that “independence” inside the EU is not independence, and I also think that Scotland would be better-off outside the EU.
(I apologise for putting words into Craig’s mouth, but he didn’t reply to your comment, so I thought I’d pitch in)
Something I have never understood is why Mr Murray is dead set on having Scotland leave the UK but remain in the EU.
I can easily understand his distrust of and dislike for the people in London. But doesn’t he notice that the people in Brussels are just as bad?
As for the argument that we won’t get independence by breaking free from Brussels because we will still be enslaved by Washington, or the banks, or the Jews, or the Queen, or lizards from space… One thing at a time. First get rid of the Brussels bureaucrats; then we can think about loosening the chains of London.
The Media smears campaign against Corbyn wil be huge.
Expect stuff like this.
https://i.postimg.cc/bwhg5r1t/babies.jpg
Not will, is, I’ve channel hopped on British radio stations and have heard Corbyn and McDonnells names banded about by presenters and so called unbais guests, as if they were on Interpols most wanted list. Sturgeons name wasn’t far behind.
As you know I’m no fan of Corbyn, or Labour for that matter, however he’d be a hell of a sight better PM than Johnson or the wishful thinker Swinson.
The media are using “Workington man” to attack Corbyn all ends up. Alas his inept dithering over Brexit for years will probably cost him dearly, and if he doesn’t win Labours neoliberals and the media will call for him to stand down.
Oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we practice to deceive.
According to this article England is a seething cesspool of racism and racists. According to known facts net immigration to England is at historically unprecedented levels. it is stated as being racist to suggest that immigrants are uneducated.
So how would you describe immigrants that are prepared to take inordinate risks to reach a land infested with racists? What compels immigrants to scrape out an existence in English slums surrounded by English racists when they could hop on a bus to the nirvana that is Scotland?
Something is happening here and what it is aint exactly clear – but whatever it is it is wholly disconnected from intellectual coherence. Most probably just a cheap trick to try and justify the manifest and provable hatred and contempt for 17.4 million people. If these 17.4 million people were really racist then they would have strung up people like you a long time ago. After all the Nazis managed to lay waste to the western half of the USSR with an invasion force of just over 3 million. Imagine what 17.4 million of them could achieve.
“According to known facts net immigration to England is at historically unprecedented levels.”
Really?
The FT begs to differ, on EU nationals anyway.
https://www.ft.com/content/1cb17f3c-c4c1-11e9-a8e9-296ca66511c9
You are right,
Record number of migrants cross Channel to UK in single day
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/11/record-number-of-migrants-cross-channel-to-uk-in-single-day
If Labour doesnt deal with this fact, Brexiteers will excel coming years.
There’s a superfluous “at” in your quote from Walter Scott.
“According to this article England is a seething cesspool of racism and racists.”
I doubt it, but if that’s what the Tories think and are basing their electoral strategy on, then hurrah!
“Never interrupt you enemy when he is making a mistake.”
In Scotland, last time there was a lot of collusion between the unionist parties.
It was probably in the seat that Jo Swinson re-gained that someone said he got 13 direct mail letters form her party and nothing from the others.
The collapse of the LD vote in some constituencies did look rather suspicious to me.
The SNP doing some deal with Labour on Trident would be welcome.
I think you will find that all things Trident are ultimately, albeit indirectly, controlled by Washington. The people that matter dob’t care at all what Labour or the SNP may think – indeed there is a good chance that they have never even heard of them.
Maybe the SNP could demonstrate their international credentials by adopting the words of Goethe as their marching slogan “There are none so firmly enslaved as those who falsely believe themselves to be free”
If this is slogan is of interest then you maybe you should move quickly as there could be competition from Sinn Fein and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya.
Maybe the SNP could demonstrate their international credentials by adopting the words of Goethe as their marching slogan “There are none so firmly enslaved as those who falsely believe themselves to be free”
Spare us all the platitudes, if South Africa can ditch its nukes, so Scotland can remove them as well.
Of course they’ll just move South of the border but they’ll be out of Scotland and that suits me fine.
As the Nazis began to lose in Russia a number of Austrians surrendered to the Soviets and tried their best to convince their captors that being Austrian was very different to being German. Sometimes the Soviets let them finish speaking before they shot them.
Do you really think that under conditions of nuclear war Moscow will spend time examining the distinct characteristics that differentiates Scotland from England? If you do then you are completely delusional and if you don’t then you are just arguing for sake of arguing.
As usual you completely miss the point, Faslane will be a target basically forever with or without nukes.
However removing them will do no harm, infact removing them and especially the loch polluting nuclear subs of which (SEPA) Scottish Environmental Protection Agency is powerless to do anything meaningful about because the MoD supersedes it, is a step in the right direction.
I should add that hundreds of minor accidents (and possibly some major ones covered up as well) have occured with regards to the British nuclear subs at Faslane, bearing in mind Scotland’s most populated city is just 30 miles from Faslane.
Moving nuclear submarines south of the border would, at the very least, be very difficult. And that is before any popular mobilization against it from the communities affected. Why would people want something that the people of Scotland rejected?
Why do you think they were put in Scotland in the first place?
It looks like Trident replacement is going to be delayed yet again:
https://cnduk.org/possible-delays-to-trident-replacement-programm/
“I am happy to state with confidence that this election will backfire on the Tories … The Johnson/Cummings electoral strategy is catastrophically bad.”
I hope you’re right! If so, I wonder whether there will be a second EU referendum.
A typically cynical reading of why Farage has been curiously disappeared from our screens.
I thoroughly concur with it. The stakes are too high for him to be allowed to jeopardize Tory chances
I don’t have a TV so I wouldn’t know about a missing farage. Have you checked he isn’t just slightly off screen, or moved into your living room helping himself to your hospitality without you knowing>
I agree with you 100% that this election is a Tory miscalculation. We voted Leave to get rid of the warmongering Thatcher spawn Cameron. Now that brexit is agreed, who needs Johnson? We will vote Labour or LibDem for the same reasons we stimied Cameron. To put an end to war criminals fighting illegal wars and very rich people gambling with hedge funds against the British economy.
Less and less people either own or watch TV these days.
Anyone looking for information on any subject at all would be well advised to steer clear of the TV.
Loony
Darling.. we have so much in common .. why don’t we merge under the single handle of Loonygin?
Of course, you can get news on BBC Radio 4 without paying for a TV license. 🙂
tony Blair is a more salivating warmonger than Cameron. did you vote for him? would you vote for Hillary Benn?
they are all warmongers, I suggest you grow beyond tribal childhood pretty quick….
Rhys
Never
Brexit has not been agreed until it passes the meaningful Parliamentary vote something which Mr Johnson was forced to postpone.
The Liberals are now fully committed to its cancellation. Nothing is settled yet.
Thanks for the bank data. I appreciate the opportunity to contribute and have done so.
The reason why people go to Farrage is because the left have stopped caring about the people that they used to care about. Namely workers and the most impoverished people in our society. But now, the most important thing is so called anti-racism and utlimately the care, protection and glorification of immiration and immigrants themselves.
There is only this and that many resouces, houses, jobs. Open door for immigration obviously mean someone will get hit sooner or later by that politics – that someone is white native low-class workers and their offsprings.
White impoverished people get no compassion by the Labour party anymore, that is why Farrage (and to a certain extent even Tories) have gained alot of voters from Labour, still Its not a UK thing, same dastardly change of the left is going on throughout the west.
This whole debate about alleged racism, its is so negative for the left. I would say the biggest threat racism pose come from immigrants themselves, but the analysis that leftists often do today that that is impossible and apparently a taboo to talk about altogether.
I sympathize with leftist views, but not the views that is nowadays pushed by the mainstream parties, thats for sure.
I don’t think that’s true at all. Labour has many policies to tackle poverty amongst working people including ending zero hours contracts, improving workers rights, putting workers on boards, the 4 day week to name a few. What Labour doesn’t want to take on is the Tory/Farage argument that the foreigners are to blame.
This comment suggests you are either totally misinformed or wilfully ignorant about certain key facts.
a) the reasons why growing numbers of people are impoverished in the UK.
b) what Jeremy Corbyn has stood for and advocated his entire career.
c) what Nigel Farage has stood for and advocated his entire career.
Why do you think growing numbers of people are impoverished in the UK?
Do you think it could have anything to do with an insolvent system being prescribed a cure for a liquidity crisis? Zero interest rates and money printing are guaranteed to produce asset price inflation. If you did not have assets at the start of this process then you are not going to get them now. As a lot of assets are of the real estate nature and pretty much everyone needs somewhere to live then this causes a problem – specifically it causes a problem of impoverishment.
People will not become less impoverished because some loon wants to talk about fairness and racists and transgenders and immigrants and all the rest of it. They will become less impoverished only through a recognition of the insolvency issue and a break with globalism and the institutions of globalism.
Absent breaking the stranglehold of globalist institutions there is nothing anyone can do – be that Corbyn, Johnson, Farage or the man in the moon. Any attempt to normalize interest rate policy will not be tolerated. If interest rate policy is not normalized then asset price inflation will continue and hence the impoverishment of the population will continue. There will come a point when the state loses its ability to use social security to ameliorate the worst effects of the impoverishment, and then things will start to get interesting.
One thing that Corbyn has stood for and advocated his entire career is a loathing of the EU. For some reason he seems strangely silent on this issue for the moment – except of course when he is speaking Spanish on Venezuelan TV.
Xavi
Thats false, since immigrants cost more for the state than what they are giving back:
Read this link for example,
“£17bn, the true cost of immigration to the UK every year – They consume more in public services and benefits than they pay in taxes ”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3593872/17bn-true-cost-immigration-UK-year.html
One could pick and chose from any survey – the conclusion is always that it is a loss for the state to adhere to mass immigration by unskilled immirants.
Why else do you think people lack faith in the left today? If Labour would actually care about the working class – and I will say native voters – why arent they getting their votes? Its because Labour dont care about these people anymore and you have Farrage on the other side making an argument around that and picking up these people easily.
Also, feel free to read this link,
“The demonisation of the white working class”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/08/22/the-demonisation-of-the-white-working-class/
Jack
You and Loony are my go-to guys on British politics and I look forward to reading more of your well-informed, well-intentioned reflections on our election.
Xavi
Please repond to what you dont agree with.
Less of the sarcasm, pal.
Jack
Alt right blx, looking for any reason to justify irrational hate. You must think I’m a moron.
Iain
Indignant on the part of racists again Iain, I’m seeing a pattern here.
Xavi
Immigration from outside Europe ‘cost £120 billion’
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11209234/Immigration-from-outside-Europe-cost-120-billion.html
You need tell us why especially lower class voters would vote for 120 billion going to immigration? How do lower-class people benefit from this?
Baldrick, you know what irony is, don’t you?
Jack
When was the Labour Party ever a defender of the working class?calling troops out during dock strikes in fifties, not repealing, anti trade union laws brought in by the tories, non support for the miners, the re armament of Germany,the wage freeze freeze during Wilson government,plus numerous others.
seydlitz
Yes you have a point, however in my opinion it has been worse than that past 10-15 years very much in part because of the globalization and immigration.
“The reason why people go to Farrage is because the left have stopped caring about the people that they used to care about. ”
I can’t recall Farage saying he cared about the poor in society. However I do recall him standing in front of a huge billboard with people on it, and Farage claiming that they were all heading for the UK.
The poor and the working poor who voted for Brexit thinking it will make their lives better will rue the day they made that ill informed choice.
Republicofscotland
Makes total sense for them to vote like that . Since the low class are the ones that are hit the worst by immigration as far as resources, welfare, job goes.
You need to tell me how does low-class people benefit from influx of millions of people?
Feel free to watch this short documentary about just these people and how we got Brexit, Trump:
Deplorables: Trump, Brexit and the Demonised Masses
https://www.spiked-online.com/video/deplorables-trump-brexit-and-the-demonised-masses/
I also think that Johnson’s particular character is a potential turn off for female voters. An alleged serial groper and philanderer who refuses to say how many children he has… he perhaps doesn’t know. His ability to draw the queen into an illegal act and the fact that he is twice divorced and in a relationship with a younger woman which is stormy and potentially violent. As a woman myself, I’d say he’s unfit and would ask the question has such a person ever been voted as prime minister in recent times?
The UK is home to people with widely differing views – a diversity of views in fact, and as we all know diversity is a great strength. Do you think these female voters are likely to be overly exercised by groping and philandering?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWP00eDf4Es
Yes I do. It speaks to an untrustworthy character who uses women even the queen.
So as these women are openly boasting about philandering your argument is that they take pride in engaging in actions and yet despise others who engage in those same actions.
In other words you are relying on your arguments being attractive only to people that are too stupid to understand those arguments. Way to go!!!
Thank goodness no woman has ever manipulated or used men. Luckily that could never happen.
“His ability to draw the queen into an illegal act….”
Do you seriously believe that statement? The Queen is not some doddering old lady, she is one of the most powerful and powerfully protected people on the entire planet, and if there were a confederation of planets that statement would still apply. In every sense of that word she is protected and advised waaaay beyond anything any Prime Minister could supposedly dupe her into. Do you think there has been a single prime minister in the last half century that would even dare try? Seriously? Those that might have the inclination are a few rungs above that. And even if she were not so protected and advised you do her a great dis-service, I suspect her mental finger is on the pulse of events just fine
Actually the main objection was that the act was not illegal – not even close. The following article explains why, in terms as simple as possible.
https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2019/09/17/stephen-tierney-prorogation-and-the-courts-a-question-of-sovereignty/
Actually, it is the “Supreme Court” that is the odd man out. Created for no good reason at all, it is clearly set on a course that is likely to damage – or completely destroy – the delicate workings of the British Constitution.
As Edmund Burke so brilliantly put it,
“[The constitution] has not been struck out at an heat by a set of presumptuous men… It is the result of the thoughts of many minds in many ages. It is no simple, no superficial thing, nor to be estimated by superficial understandings. An ignorant man, who is not fool enough to meddle with his clock, is, however, sufficiently confident to think he can safely take to pieces and put together, at his pleasure, a moral machine of another guise, importance and complexity, composed of far other springs and balances and counteracting and co-operating powers. Men little think how immorally they act in rashly meddling with what they do not understand. Their delusive good intention is no sort of excuse for their presumption.
Another factor concering the election is also Integrity Initiative psyop efforts, at the same time, Corbyn seems to falling behind in the race with Boris at the moment/polls so they are perhaps laying low?