May be is eye, maybes no
Can I claim credit for the prediction? Looks like the monster is just about to eat "the Gover".
If there is history after this, it will note that Brexit disaster immolated its two top Tory proponents.
I'd love to be invited to dinner, chez gove, c'est soir. How are our cut-price 'Underwoods' coping?
What Gove may never have twigged is probably no one really likes him in the Tory party, he is polite and minds his ps and qs, but to them he is jumped up smart arse. Being clever in the stupid party is not a route to success.
So where are we, it is like the moment from "In the thick of it" when Jamie tilts his head and says "Claire Ballantine".
Is this where we have reached, Theresa May looks the acceptable choice?
She is what she says, a hard right wing politician with no vision and no imagination. She is going to hard Brexit. The hard Brexit will destroy her reputation because no freedom of movement means economic disaster.
Another notch on the ratchet to chaos, the corporal moves closer.
Thursday, 30 June 2016
In which I eat humble pie
Michael, I did you wrong. You are a wide-eyed fanatic as well as your wife's email shows cynical.
No shame then, hard Brexit and collapse the economy. You and the Peoples Front of Judea are a marriage made in heaven.
We will be unloved unwanted back of the stairs sprogs, soon to the enemy of the people. The shame of Europe.
Boris what can I say, your fall has the brightest spot of light in the whole sorry shambles. Of all the leavers your unparalleled cynicism and ambition coupled to sheer lethargy might just have saved the country from the worst of Brexit. But, since I believe we are well past saving, watching you fall was worth a cheer, thanks.
For those who love their contradictions heightened, let me introduce our card carrying fanatics running for next PM. Theresa, slash immigration, English is bad as a second language (sheez what about multilingual being good Theresa), May. Michael, assuming a cow is a perfect sphere the pope is a closet protestant and evolution is a myth, Gove.
So here we go, who can outbid the corporal on immigrant bating?
Its the end of days, it really is. ( I think perhaps I should join Momentum?)
Michael, I did you wrong. You are a wide-eyed fanatic as well as your wife's email shows cynical.
No shame then, hard Brexit and collapse the economy. You and the Peoples Front of Judea are a marriage made in heaven.
We will be unloved unwanted back of the stairs sprogs, soon to the enemy of the people. The shame of Europe.
Boris what can I say, your fall has the brightest spot of light in the whole sorry shambles. Of all the leavers your unparalleled cynicism and ambition coupled to sheer lethargy might just have saved the country from the worst of Brexit. But, since I believe we are well past saving, watching you fall was worth a cheer, thanks.
For those who love their contradictions heightened, let me introduce our card carrying fanatics running for next PM. Theresa, slash immigration, English is bad as a second language (sheez what about multilingual being good Theresa), May. Michael, assuming a cow is a perfect sphere the pope is a closet protestant and evolution is a myth, Gove.
So here we go, who can outbid the corporal on immigrant bating?
Its the end of days, it really is. ( I think perhaps I should join Momentum?)
Wednesday, 29 June 2016
Devine Vine
You know I could sort of take in a cynical nihilist we are so screwed whatever sort of way Boris Johnson. I mean everyone knows what he is, ambitious, officer class, articulate, lazy and extremely right wing. He does not hide it that well nor pretend to have any great vision, a few latin phrases and some buffoonery, topped off with slice of casual racism and dash of snobbery.
But Gove, wasn't he the principled deep thinker, the intellect that could not be stilled. A man driven by a deep sense of duty to get us back our mojo. For this higher purpose, he held his nose, rolled up his sleeves and set to work with the corporal up to their ears in the stuff that stinks.
It is a tough job, you know wrecking the country, splitting it top to bottom so badly that it will never recover. Fair enough the Judea people's front are busy doing the same thing, I can sort of dig their belief in something. So I was prepared to cut Gove the slack of being a wide-eyed fanatic, a dangerous lunatic who should have been weeded out of politics. Yet, I need not to have puzzled how he got this far nor worried about his sanity.
As the devine Ms Vine proves, he is all that one could hope for weak, cynical and ambitious, in every way, a small person. It is so awful, I agreed with Zoe Williams (there is a first time for everything), it makes life easier to believe it was a forgery. Its like Ben Swain, chancellor that is it, chancellor!
Michael, you'll never read this nor will anyone else, but if in you there is a just a trace of a soul left from your Scottish calvinist upbringing we shared, then look at our country and what you have done and tell me that a small part of your soul does feel 'black burning shame'. Please I could not bear to believe you have no regrets. For whatever reason you went into politics, I hope it was not this, since if it was all is lost.
You know I could sort of take in a cynical nihilist we are so screwed whatever sort of way Boris Johnson. I mean everyone knows what he is, ambitious, officer class, articulate, lazy and extremely right wing. He does not hide it that well nor pretend to have any great vision, a few latin phrases and some buffoonery, topped off with slice of casual racism and dash of snobbery.
But Gove, wasn't he the principled deep thinker, the intellect that could not be stilled. A man driven by a deep sense of duty to get us back our mojo. For this higher purpose, he held his nose, rolled up his sleeves and set to work with the corporal up to their ears in the stuff that stinks.
It is a tough job, you know wrecking the country, splitting it top to bottom so badly that it will never recover. Fair enough the Judea people's front are busy doing the same thing, I can sort of dig their belief in something. So I was prepared to cut Gove the slack of being a wide-eyed fanatic, a dangerous lunatic who should have been weeded out of politics. Yet, I need not to have puzzled how he got this far nor worried about his sanity.
As the devine Ms Vine proves, he is all that one could hope for weak, cynical and ambitious, in every way, a small person. It is so awful, I agreed with Zoe Williams (there is a first time for everything), it makes life easier to believe it was a forgery. Its like Ben Swain, chancellor that is it, chancellor!
Michael, you'll never read this nor will anyone else, but if in you there is a just a trace of a soul left from your Scottish calvinist upbringing we shared, then look at our country and what you have done and tell me that a small part of your soul does feel 'black burning shame'. Please I could not bear to believe you have no regrets. For whatever reason you went into politics, I hope it was not this, since if it was all is lost.
I'll have my Calvinistic pessimism neat, please
So what has today brought us? The destruction of the Labour party as we know it. Whatever happens now it's done for 5 years; the peoples' front of Judea. Pity they did not do this after Gordon Brown, then we might just have had some sort of useful opposition by now.
To those with ears, sounded like Scotland is indeed out of the EU, I had hopes (well not hope really, just ill founded cynical guesswork) the French would offer a deal if nothing else to stick it to John Bull but NON. The Spanish, we all knew. So this is now a MAJOR disaster for Scotland. If I might riff on the 78 theme, I remember the victory parade before we went to Argentina, turned out premature that's what hope does to you; it's the dream of a foolish man (to quote Bill Donald). So now we are Indied up with nowhere to go.
Don't get me wrong I was for the Union (both), but if Scotland was going to jump then I could console myself we were jumping into the EU. This now seems unlikely, we would jump into the void and hope in five years to get back in.
Ah, you say a typical unionist doing us down. Not at all, if the Yes went over all hard slog on us but no disconnection from the EU, I might have voted Yes (probably not, but I might!).
So having written the check, "I call on my ministers to get indy2 ready", the First Minister will have to decide to cash it or not. To be fair to her, she (and Keizia Dugdal, Willie Rennie, Tim Farron and even Ruth Davidson) are about the only political leaders who I don't wish to shout incessantly at.
Cometh the hour, cometh the woman. She has been a beacon of common sense and grit. I imagine she knows that voting for the void might win Indy2 because let's face it, after the EU referendum voting for a plague of frogs if it meant we could get away from the parlour games, outright racism, chaos and shambles doon sooth would get 50 % of the vote.
However, despite my rejection of all things SNP, there is something in her I admire that I did not in Alex Salmond. Watching and listening to her, she has risen to this occasion.
How about Corbyn, Cameron, Johnson, the corporal, Labour party, Tory party etc lived up or down to this crisis?
She seems to care that she is the FM of all Scots, hence I guess she knows the void option would in fact bring not just the plague of frogs but much worse. We would be out alongside our biggest and recently divorced trading partner (still adjusting unhappily to their unbearably stupid self-harm). The economic consequences would be dire, the potential for vindictive point scoring bust up with John Bull high and if I look in her face, I sense she knows and unlike Salmond, I think she cares.
Still as the scorpion said to the frog, its my nature. As a politician, she is now in a real bind, having set phasers to independence she either fires or get fired. My guess is she fires, expect to see her do the Boris Johnson, "shit I own this" face in the next 18 months. After which we get our very own celtic flavoured shit storm.
So what has today brought us? The destruction of the Labour party as we know it. Whatever happens now it's done for 5 years; the peoples' front of Judea. Pity they did not do this after Gordon Brown, then we might just have had some sort of useful opposition by now.
To those with ears, sounded like Scotland is indeed out of the EU, I had hopes (well not hope really, just ill founded cynical guesswork) the French would offer a deal if nothing else to stick it to John Bull but NON. The Spanish, we all knew. So this is now a MAJOR disaster for Scotland. If I might riff on the 78 theme, I remember the victory parade before we went to Argentina, turned out premature that's what hope does to you; it's the dream of a foolish man (to quote Bill Donald). So now we are Indied up with nowhere to go.
Don't get me wrong I was for the Union (both), but if Scotland was going to jump then I could console myself we were jumping into the EU. This now seems unlikely, we would jump into the void and hope in five years to get back in.
Ah, you say a typical unionist doing us down. Not at all, if the Yes went over all hard slog on us but no disconnection from the EU, I might have voted Yes (probably not, but I might!).
So having written the check, "I call on my ministers to get indy2 ready", the First Minister will have to decide to cash it or not. To be fair to her, she (and Keizia Dugdal, Willie Rennie, Tim Farron and even Ruth Davidson) are about the only political leaders who I don't wish to shout incessantly at.
Cometh the hour, cometh the woman. She has been a beacon of common sense and grit. I imagine she knows that voting for the void might win Indy2 because let's face it, after the EU referendum voting for a plague of frogs if it meant we could get away from the parlour games, outright racism, chaos and shambles doon sooth would get 50 % of the vote.
However, despite my rejection of all things SNP, there is something in her I admire that I did not in Alex Salmond. Watching and listening to her, she has risen to this occasion.
How about Corbyn, Cameron, Johnson, the corporal, Labour party, Tory party etc lived up or down to this crisis?
She seems to care that she is the FM of all Scots, hence I guess she knows the void option would in fact bring not just the plague of frogs but much worse. We would be out alongside our biggest and recently divorced trading partner (still adjusting unhappily to their unbearably stupid self-harm). The economic consequences would be dire, the potential for vindictive point scoring bust up with John Bull high and if I look in her face, I sense she knows and unlike Salmond, I think she cares.
Still as the scorpion said to the frog, its my nature. As a politician, she is now in a real bind, having set phasers to independence she either fires or get fired. My guess is she fires, expect to see her do the Boris Johnson, "shit I own this" face in the next 18 months. After which we get our very own celtic flavoured shit storm.
Tuesday, 28 June 2016
The end of Britain as a normal country
Say what you like about the British, we do it in style. Republics and democracies fail from within. Ours has failed.
The elite (as used to be known) of civil society, business, parliament, professions, trade unions and universities all argued by large majorities for the UK to remain in the EU. Yet a small band of this elite had the genius idea of gaining power by using the popular will expressed through a referendum. The public obliged and the whole edifice has come down because no one believed it could happen. It is quite a coup. This is the lasting effect of Brexit, its not a new idea its how all big changes occur (in these pre end fof EU days, can I use the French phrase 'trahison des clercs' its not quite right but has a ring) .
The Labour party is going to tear itself to shreds. The hard left are not going to give up, this is their chance for a revolution. Jeremy Corbyn and his praetorian guard have their eyes on the far future, they are not the elite. Even if they are defeated then the Labour party will be split beyond recognition, if he wins, 170 MPs (to some extent the defeated elite) will be deselected forcing them to oblivion and succeeded by true believers. How did Corbyn and his fellows get to this position, because the elite fearing for their jobs went along, thinking he could be managed, grateful for the extra members he apparently brings. Unlike them, he means it when he wants big change.
The Tory party is also hopelessly split. No serious person believes they can deliver what the Brexiters promised (sorry outlined potential for). The only question is how many of the defeated elite go along with the Farage style populism in an effort to stay afloat.
The clear winner and genius of all this is Nigel Farage. He prepared the pitch, encouraging fear in the Tory right for their elite positions, it is they who embraced his cause. In Boris Johnson he found the ambitious dupe, the front man he cannot be, who would serve to batter down the last defences of the elite. It is a moot point whether Johnson wished to win, abstractly yes, in he likes to win games but to face this mess, I doubt it. Boris, I have read his books, is neither very smart nor very hard working, merely temporarily popular. The corporal is always the one to watch.
As we reflect upon the rubble of the UK with outright racism in public, an MP murdered in the street, Momentum protesters with exterminate vermin T-shirts and a shattered elite squabbling who can be Caesar whilst the republic falls, we can ask what next?
If you feel angry about Boris or Gove etc, don't worry too much. When republics fall, these transitionary people usually get their rewards as the popular will does not really like them either. Their mistake is to think they can control it, no one ever does. These people are the elite, the only people who really liked them are their fellow elites whose morale they shattered. You might ride the tiger for a while but in the end it eats you.
My guess both the hard left and hard right (who have so much in common) will fight this out in the streets for control. Democracy requires compromise but neither believes in sharing power, so in the end its violence. The collateral damage is society and the result a failed state, of rule of the strong (think Somalia under Adid). When and what sequence to watch for? Timing is uncertain but steps along the way mishandled Brexit is for sure, either economic calamity or betrayal of anti-immigrant popular will. Either outcome strengthens extremes. An outsider comes to the mainstream party who breaks taboos about the role of parliament and dissent. They will use the people's will as a weapon either through referenda or protest. Near the end, what remains of the civil society elite embrace their strong man or woman to bring order to chaos.
Who is to blame? Well in my view, everyone and no one. It is human nature. If London is so tolerant why did not we not try harder to make the rest of the country like London sooner? If we fear the popular will in an unequal society(as elites really should) why did we pander and celebrate those who were harnessing it. Why not do something for the people before it reached this stage? Because those in the elite like being the elite. Well, it was nice while it lasted.
In case this sounds like praise for the elite, it failed because it was rotten to the core. Insufficient attention to the effects of globalisation, seeking to blame the other, running frantic do or die campaigns with demonisation of opponents as a show not belief and making serious mistakes. Where to start on their blunders, a short list that could fill a blog MP's expenses, Iraq war, housing crash, housing shortage, paedophile rings, way over done austerity, politics as a game for insiders, no apologies.
Say what you like about the British, we do it in style. Republics and democracies fail from within. Ours has failed.
The elite (as used to be known) of civil society, business, parliament, professions, trade unions and universities all argued by large majorities for the UK to remain in the EU. Yet a small band of this elite had the genius idea of gaining power by using the popular will expressed through a referendum. The public obliged and the whole edifice has come down because no one believed it could happen. It is quite a coup. This is the lasting effect of Brexit, its not a new idea its how all big changes occur (in these pre end fof EU days, can I use the French phrase 'trahison des clercs' its not quite right but has a ring) .
The Labour party is going to tear itself to shreds. The hard left are not going to give up, this is their chance for a revolution. Jeremy Corbyn and his praetorian guard have their eyes on the far future, they are not the elite. Even if they are defeated then the Labour party will be split beyond recognition, if he wins, 170 MPs (to some extent the defeated elite) will be deselected forcing them to oblivion and succeeded by true believers. How did Corbyn and his fellows get to this position, because the elite fearing for their jobs went along, thinking he could be managed, grateful for the extra members he apparently brings. Unlike them, he means it when he wants big change.
The Tory party is also hopelessly split. No serious person believes they can deliver what the Brexiters promised (sorry outlined potential for). The only question is how many of the defeated elite go along with the Farage style populism in an effort to stay afloat.
The clear winner and genius of all this is Nigel Farage. He prepared the pitch, encouraging fear in the Tory right for their elite positions, it is they who embraced his cause. In Boris Johnson he found the ambitious dupe, the front man he cannot be, who would serve to batter down the last defences of the elite. It is a moot point whether Johnson wished to win, abstractly yes, in he likes to win games but to face this mess, I doubt it. Boris, I have read his books, is neither very smart nor very hard working, merely temporarily popular. The corporal is always the one to watch.
As we reflect upon the rubble of the UK with outright racism in public, an MP murdered in the street, Momentum protesters with exterminate vermin T-shirts and a shattered elite squabbling who can be Caesar whilst the republic falls, we can ask what next?
If you feel angry about Boris or Gove etc, don't worry too much. When republics fall, these transitionary people usually get their rewards as the popular will does not really like them either. Their mistake is to think they can control it, no one ever does. These people are the elite, the only people who really liked them are their fellow elites whose morale they shattered. You might ride the tiger for a while but in the end it eats you.
My guess both the hard left and hard right (who have so much in common) will fight this out in the streets for control. Democracy requires compromise but neither believes in sharing power, so in the end its violence. The collateral damage is society and the result a failed state, of rule of the strong (think Somalia under Adid). When and what sequence to watch for? Timing is uncertain but steps along the way mishandled Brexit is for sure, either economic calamity or betrayal of anti-immigrant popular will. Either outcome strengthens extremes. An outsider comes to the mainstream party who breaks taboos about the role of parliament and dissent. They will use the people's will as a weapon either through referenda or protest. Near the end, what remains of the civil society elite embrace their strong man or woman to bring order to chaos.
Who is to blame? Well in my view, everyone and no one. It is human nature. If London is so tolerant why did not we not try harder to make the rest of the country like London sooner? If we fear the popular will in an unequal society(as elites really should) why did we pander and celebrate those who were harnessing it. Why not do something for the people before it reached this stage? Because those in the elite like being the elite. Well, it was nice while it lasted.
In case this sounds like praise for the elite, it failed because it was rotten to the core. Insufficient attention to the effects of globalisation, seeking to blame the other, running frantic do or die campaigns with demonisation of opponents as a show not belief and making serious mistakes. Where to start on their blunders, a short list that could fill a blog MP's expenses, Iraq war, housing crash, housing shortage, paedophile rings, way over done austerity, politics as a game for insiders, no apologies.
The failure of politics
What is democracy? Is simply the majority voting for something? Can we, for example, have a law that requires the rapid deportation of all non-UK citizens because the majority voted for it in a referendum? Before you rush to say people won't vote for that, I remind you that we have lived through "people won't vote for that".
Should they be asked the question? If not why not? It is a simple enough question to put the voters and they understand the consequences.
Who decides what are things we cannot ask or what are universal rights? How are we to define the will of the people?
We know TV shows get great voter engagement, should we run democracy like that. After the news, we all get to vote on questions to be asked with answers and then we get to choose?
-It has the advantage of getting people involved and registering an opinion. The obvious flaw is that minds change, the need for reflection and debate. It cedes power to those who frame the choices. Engagement is wide but shallow.
Participative democracy at local levels, committees with procedures and rules, frequent meetings, long debates and decisions.
-In some ways the model, all views are heard and individuals can have great engagement. The danger is this is the world run by the self-selecting few who have the time / inclination / enthusiasm to turn up. Engagement is deep but narrow. Student Unions, for example, are notable for the proliferation of elected posts and lack of anyone else at their meetings.
Representative democracy, put a cross on the ballot paper, leave the winner of your voting group who spent time persuading you with a plan to sort out the decisions with other winners from other voting groups with a different plan.
- This is the current model in the Scotland and the UK. It tensions engagement against individual participation.
The process should not matter in an ideal world. Democracy requires compromises, politics is about arriving at compromises without violence. We are at a point now where we don't do compromise. Maybe we always we were, we just did not allow participation to the extent that this was visible. So I wonder how do we settle claims between groups? I suspect we are about to use violence.
What is democracy? Is simply the majority voting for something? Can we, for example, have a law that requires the rapid deportation of all non-UK citizens because the majority voted for it in a referendum? Before you rush to say people won't vote for that, I remind you that we have lived through "people won't vote for that".
Should they be asked the question? If not why not? It is a simple enough question to put the voters and they understand the consequences.
Who decides what are things we cannot ask or what are universal rights? How are we to define the will of the people?
We know TV shows get great voter engagement, should we run democracy like that. After the news, we all get to vote on questions to be asked with answers and then we get to choose?
-It has the advantage of getting people involved and registering an opinion. The obvious flaw is that minds change, the need for reflection and debate. It cedes power to those who frame the choices. Engagement is wide but shallow.
Participative democracy at local levels, committees with procedures and rules, frequent meetings, long debates and decisions.
-In some ways the model, all views are heard and individuals can have great engagement. The danger is this is the world run by the self-selecting few who have the time / inclination / enthusiasm to turn up. Engagement is deep but narrow. Student Unions, for example, are notable for the proliferation of elected posts and lack of anyone else at their meetings.
Representative democracy, put a cross on the ballot paper, leave the winner of your voting group who spent time persuading you with a plan to sort out the decisions with other winners from other voting groups with a different plan.
- This is the current model in the Scotland and the UK. It tensions engagement against individual participation.
The process should not matter in an ideal world. Democracy requires compromises, politics is about arriving at compromises without violence. We are at a point now where we don't do compromise. Maybe we always we were, we just did not allow participation to the extent that this was visible. So I wonder how do we settle claims between groups? I suspect we are about to use violence.
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