Friday 24 July 2009

Norwich was a self-inlicted wound; the incumbent had been a relatively benign thorn in the side of Gordi's project, yet they chose Gibson rather than Blears, who was far more self-serving in her tactics, for de-selection.The audience on Thursday night's Question Time bore witness to the constituency view on that particular wizard wheeze.

And in that respect, Gordi's government represents the UK as it is today; micro-managed with an ineptitude that is staggering. Too many clever-clever tactics ineptly executed, all wind and no sails.

Time for a change. How about Real Change?

"For these defendants, corruption was a way of life, Ralph J. Marra Jr., the acting United States attorney in New Jersey, said at a news conference. They existed in an ethics-free zone."

Coverage of some of this may have been more interesting?

Addendum (#2) It might even open a few people's eyes to the true nature of racial discrimination against minority groups and how blame may have been perniciously shifted through people's poor grasp of risk and demographics?

When you discuss this, please remember the most important statistic:

The Tories have one with ONLY 17% of the registered voters voting for them.

The fact that your Tory guests will be singing and dancing over this terrible statistic says so much about politics.

The real winner today is the silent majority (54.2% of them in Norwich) who are telling our politicians to go get lost.

#4 Gurbear

Yes

Gurubear, talk about sour grapes, Labour received only 1 in 9 of the votes, the Conservatives 2 in 9 of the votes, if the votes were reflected in a General Election the Conservatives woul have over 400 MP's in the House of Commons.

I guess that all the Labour guests will be telling us how they will learn from this landslide drubbing, and blame everybody but themselves.

And whilst we are talking about the silent majority, Tony Blair won less than 30% of the vote when Labour won the last UK election and the Conservatives 27% of the vote, so how does that fit your narrative?.

Poster 4, your comments show how ridiculous your claims are, please read the BBC own statistics on the Norwich North election

Chloe Smith (Con) 13,591 (39.5%)
Chris Ostrowski (Lab) 6,243 (18.16%)
April Pond (LD) 4,803 (13.97%)
Glenn Tingle (UKIP) 4,068 (11.83%)
Con majority 7,348 (21.37%) 16.49% swing Lab to Con

Do you understand that the 16.49% swing from Labour to the Conservatives is a result that destroys any pretence Gordon Brown and the Labour party have about claiming a mandate to run the country?.

Do you also understand that Labours share of the vote is one of the LOWEST since WW2?.

The Conservatives received over twice as many votes as Labour, even LabourList have admitted that this result was a "massive victory" for the Conservatives, it seems that only you and Gordon cannot understand this fact.

" The Tories have one with ONLY 17% of the registered voters voting for them" writes Labour apologist #4 who has forgotten how to spell "win"?!

Norwich is about Labour culture - they used to be the party of dissent and independent thinking throughout the 1970's and 1980's but now they
have it seems no place for MPs like Dr Ian Gibson who had a hinterland
(to use Denis Healey's phrase).

But Ben Bradshaw is a pretty lightweight Cabinet Minister for them to be putting up to defend this dire situation ..... where is Balls? He was in
Norwich as was General Election Co-ordinator Douglas Alexander. All gone
to ground? And will anyone on Labour's NEC be challenged in September???

https://www.labour.org.uk/National_Executive_Committee

Earlier on today, in the blog #34, I said I might be resending my new dittie regarding the animal, puppet and water game that has now been going on for years, not only at Newsnight but in the media at large. I have not come up with anything new, although am not 100% happy with all the rhymes and rhythms, but am looking forward to watching the programme anyway.

Celtic Lion, Gangofone and Kashibeyaz
I see you're being slagged off by JadedJean in no uncertain terms.
Although I don't think I want to get drawn into any specific issues you've been raising, I intend to carry on reading your blogs as not infrequently you seem to be making quite interesting points and it is not you who I find grandiose in word and intent.

I did of course buy Rushdie's book - on principle - after it was burnt
and loved the first chapter .... but then put it down ....

#6 and #7

I interpret Gurubears post not as sour grapes or some spin by the Labour Party but as a reference to the 54.2% who did not vote. Those who are completely fed up with political parties and politics, whoever or whatever they are.

To me Gurubear appeared to be looking at the 'political game' objectively from outside the box. No political party has the ability to resolve the challenges of this country or offer a meaningful contribution to those of the world. So why do they bother wasting our time pretending. Apart from a self help job creation scheme.

All any political party will do is give the illusion of doing something, until the tide turns, then another has a go for a while.

Perhaps we should allow politics and political parties as they are to go the same way as sending children up chimneys, and not have any misplaced nostalgia.

Look at the mess the country and the world is in. It is being 'supposedly run' by politics and political parties. If it isn't, why bother with them.

Politics is a game, we need to deal with reality. Oh Cameron has just been on the TV, "what we need is change". Yes go away the lot of you, say the 54.2% majority.


Celtic Lion

Rustigjongens (#7) "Poster 4, your comments show how ridiculous your claims are, please read the BBC own statistics on the Norwich North election"

Isn't his (accurate) point that still only about half the elctorate turned out,so at the moment, isn't he right that it's more the case that most of N. Norwich doesn't dislike the Conservatives as much as they dislike New Labour and Liberal-Democrats?

Incidentally, despite the way the media spin it, the incumbents don't have to refresh their mandate every day. Once they win the General Election, they have a mandate for five years, or until they go to the electorate to tell everyone a new set of fibs. In the meantime, they can pretty much do what they iike, and they do...

mimpromptu (#9) "Celtic Lion, Gangofone and Kashibeyaz
I see you're being slagged off by JadedJean in no uncertain terms.
Although I don't think I want to get drawn into any specific issues you've been raising, I intend to carry on reading your blogs as not infrequently you seem to be making quite interesting points and it is not you who I find grandiose in word and intent."

This is because you don't analyse matters objectively, so, when the content (i.e the written statements/propositiona) that you post are critically appraised as propositions, you don't look to see whether you have anything to learn, but instead take offence, and respond in kind. This is much the same behaviour that one sees from the other three that you mention. Ask yourself what the point of posting is.

You need to learn how to take constructive criticism. This is a public forum. Your posts are presently getting more and more subjective/silly/irrational. I reckon that will continue to your disadvantage unless others constructively criticise.

#9
I forgot to mention MrTweedy's earlier reply /#21/ to JadedJean's PRC dictatorial model and the reasons for it.
MrTweedy
I thought your comments were excellent and particularly loved the last one re: pre-Elvinism.

mimpromptu (#9) "I forgot to mention MrTweedy's earlier reply /#21/ to JadedJean's PRC dictatorial model and the reasons for it.
MrTweedy I thought your comments were excellent and particularly loved the last one re: pre-Elvinism."

More silliness. The above is nothing more than a fascile attempt at gang-recruitment. I bet you won't recruit MrTweedy.

The PRC democratic-centralist model of democracy is an elected 'dictatorship of the people' from a party vanguard. Read the constitution and learn something about socialist politics rather than Liberal-Democratic propaganda.

This is not Facebook.

#15
I've never been into betting or neurobehavioural models. Go and try it on somebody else.

#14 Mimpromptu

I hope you have read JJs post #13 and taken notice of it. What JJ posts is always correct and if you disagree with it, you really need to understand why you are wrong.

There are two ways to post for you and I hope I can make the rules clear. There is the wrong way and the JJ way.

PS Please could you check your post 14 again. I think Mr Tweedy referred to pre Elvis. Elvin pertains to something else.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elf

JJ provides a valuable service by offering a critique of liberal capitalism from a perspective of socialism. Though it is important to consider this with reference to a JJ previous post on Tu quoque.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque

Therefore this does not mean socialism, national socialism or the PRC model are correct. Two wrongs, with respect to the present global dynamic and challenges, do not make a right.

Keep posting whatever you want. The moderators decide. Everyone else has a right of reply within house rules.

Celtic Lion

KCL (#17) "Therefore this does not mean socialism, national socialism or the PRC model are correct."

What matters is whether statements are true or false. It doesn't make sense to say 'socialism, national socialism or the PRC model are correct', in fact, it's meaningless or just bad English (as was mimpromptu's last post).

If I don't point this out, you can be sure that many other educated readers will think it (whether they post to the blog to say so or not).

Mimpromptu and others posting here need to grasp why this is so, and why it's important.

It is not for moderators to decide what is true/false or nonsense. That is everyone's responsibility. The moderators just decide what is or is not compliant with House Rules.

Please don't encourage people to post nonsense, or post nonsense yourself. Pointing out nonsense is nonsense, or that statements are false is just that. It is not a personal matter. You too need to learn this it would seem.

Congratulations on ruining Newsnight Review!

Why change from reviewing the week's cultural highlights to a thematic discussion of (very often) disparate works of art?

Sure, it might be interesting to discuss The Satanic Verses 20 years on somewhere on the BBC it may even merit its own documentary  but Newsnight Review is not the place for it. I want to be told about the week's biggest/most culturally significant film, book, television programme, play, etc. Where on BBC TV can I now find a programme that does this?

I just don't understand the justification for the change. Are you trying to reduce audience figures? Is Jonathan Ross losing viewers and you thought you'd help him out by giving him some of yours?

Also, four panel members is too many. Each contributor is now so rushed for time, they struggle to say anything remotely interesting.

The camera work on Newsnight Review tonight was quite exceptional ....

INTERNECINE FISHWIFFERY

It's all getting a bit wild on here. However, I notice a need to SPOIL PARTY GAMES is well attested in some posts. (Games are present in other posts, but of the Eric Berne variety.)

The earliest chance of striking a blow against corrupt Westminster politics, is to put enough independents of integrity into that Palace of Darkness at the next election.

Spread the word in your local rag: "SPOIL PARTY GAMES". Get onto the high-street when the election is called and ask passers-by: "Will you vote for the soulless rosette or the spineless rosette-stand?"

Newsnight Review is supposed to be a review of 'the week's cultural highlights'. The Satanic Verses was published 20 years ago. What's going on?

Does feedback from regular viewers of Newsnight Review suggest that they prefer the recently-introduced issue-led format rather than the menu of new cultural highlights that the programme used to be? We have already had this year - the 20th anniv of the fatwa against Rushdie - extensive discussion of The Satanic Verses affair in BBC output, including an excellent and lengthy BBC TV documentary that covered all the bases. I didn't find that tonight's discussion added much to the debate. The Hanif Kureishi play The Black Album turned out to have been disappointing for most of the panel, and there wasn't much connection between that damp squib and the discussion of The Satanic Verses. Germaine Greer had made her opinion on The Satanic Verses clear at the time of the fatwa, and she subsequently used similar arguments against Monica Ali and the novel and film "Brick Lane". Her views are well known: did we really need to hear them again? The prolonged discussion on Satanic Verses meant that there wasn't time for the panel to discuss the new film "Skins" which had been glimpsed at the beginning of the programme. How did Martha let this running away of time happen? All in all a disappointing programme and not worth staying up for. I hope there may be a return, at least some Fridays, to the former Newsnight Review format that highlighted what's going on in the arts across the board rather than the concentration of talking heads on one theme.

Given that the Green Party only managed to poll 3,350 votes in one of its allegedly strongest local constituencies, perhaps Ed Miliband's Corporate Nazi climate change proposals have no democratic mandate. Even when you take into account support for the watered down eco-fascist Lib-Demmic's( 4800 ), alleged " green " policies are only supported by a minority of the electorate as a whole.

Despite the fairly recent expenses scandal, the fact that turnout in the Norwich by-election was only 45% may be explained by the probability that most of the potential electorate live on planet Coronation St / Eastenders / Emmerdale. This factor is extremely dangerous for our democracy, people potentially voting for a party of which they have no idea of a range of their policies. Murdock is in such a position that he can influence the election to suit his own Corporate Nazi agenda just like Berlusconi in Italy.

JadedJean may back me up on this one but the fact remains that a significant number of the population can't even remember what went on last week, let alone last month. Ask them to remember what went on last year and many are totally stumped leaving them wide open to Corporate Nazi media manipulation.

Perhaps the electorate may fail to notice that they are faced with a 15% " private tax on their domestic energy bills to pay for wind farms to stand idle 75% of the time. Likewise the proposed 17% private tax on business energy bills which could threaten the long term viability of their job. I suspect that most people will notice the massive increase in their family car tax, but the Tories haven't proposed any realistic alternative on any alleged green policy.

Of course the spin doctors claim that relative motoring costs have gone down in recent years. Perhaps true is you are 50 and run something like a brand new base Kia Picanto ( with 2000 quid scrappage discount ) on zero percent interest. However, a Picanto is not big enough for the average family and luggage or shopping, normal family cars are as expensive to run as ever. Spin doctors attempt to portray that motoring cost have gone down relative to the cost of public transport, but all that demonstrates is just how totally inefficient the corporate cartel bus operators have become in the past 20 years.

The future doesn't look very bright, even the youthful Chloe Smith has links to the stock market parasites in her short career. Even if the Tories win the next general election there is little chance of anything being done to tackle the fundamental problems with our economy. GDP figures down more than expected over the last quarter yet the stock market continues to climb. Perhaps its simply a case of the same old parasites generating the same old false money again. The parasitic employment agencies have never had it so good with the number of unemployed. Little chance of molding a sustainable inclusive economy with a genuine concern for the ecology of our planet.

#17
Celtic Lion
There is absolutely no way I could ever have any time for JJ's type of self-obsessed, demagogic, dictatorial, perfidious and 'educated' dreams and ideology. All he can ever do is to quote and steal other people's concepts and ideas.
About 19 years ago I got myself involved in hands-on politics on the side of the Conservatives and have been perhaps occasionally misunderstood and maltreated but in the end was always allowed to speak up and offered practical help despite being quite an enigma to them. More often than not it was the so-called socialist ideologists (the control freeks) who caused me most hardship and grief whereby at least twice I found myself virtually without a roof over my head and left in a state of almost total despair. I have now decided to take a step aside from politics for reasons of freedom of expression and commitment to truth as I see it rather than be guided by tribal loyalty.
In capitalist democracy, the way I perceive it, there is room for ecology, culture, etc, but there is also room for freedom to all who want to and have the right kind of skills to make money if they so wish. Nevertheless, as I said before, there is also need for properly functioning political and judicial systems keeping an eye on the excesses of the financial markets and businessmen.
So there you are, that's where I stand from the political point of view but ultimately prefer to wave may arms around while gliding, twirling or spinning to music - of all sorts! It turns out, and it's a very recent discovery, that I quite enjoy making words dance. Oh, it does feel good!
P.S. liked your piece on rats and Chinese plastic bags.

Re: tonigh's Newsnight and Newsnight Review
I don't think the pizza man delivered a satisfactory topping on the script and editorial positionings. 'Essentially' it left an unpleasant after taste although the guests did seem to be true to themselves.

#21 Barrie

SPOIL PART GAMES

When people vote not what they believe or think or what is right. But vote in the way the party or the whips tell them. Then if the two are different. They are liars.

Parties mean we have a country run by liars. Where does that get us, Exactly where we are.

Sir Salman Rushdies Satanic Verses was discussed tonight on an Arts programme on BBC Television. Predictably all the panellists made foolish remarks. Germaine Greer offered a personal insight suggestive of Rushdies arrogance and her own fatuity which, truth to be told, worked equally well as a demonstration of her own arrogance and Rushdies fatuity- her complaint being that the objectionable portion of the text- a mere 70 pages- was quite well written and thus didnt really belong in it. Rushdies reaction was to forbid her to speak about the book. However, there was no suggestion at all that he pulled her hair or that his own hair loss was attributable to a retaliatory strike by the Australian Amazon.

This being the case, it falls to me to explain the true significance of the Satanic Verses and why blogging about it might not be an indication of softening of the brain.

In 1988, when Rushdies book came out, things were starting to warm up in the Kashmir valley- the area he identifies as his ancestral home. Rushdie had previously proved his anti-Imperialist credentials with a short book on Nicaragua- The Jaguars smile- and was beginning to take an interest in New Delhis mishandling of Kashmiri State politics.
From the Indian Governments point of view it made eminent sense to cut Rushdie down to size rather than have him perpetually peering over their shoulder bringing to World attention their habitual bungling.
A former Indian diplomat, inducted into parliamentary politics by the right wing B.J.P- Syed Shahabuddin decided to kill two birds with one stone, making a name for himself by writing an open letter to the Times of India calling on Rajiv Gandhi to ban the book, which he admitted he hadnt read, coz it was offensive to Muslims who hadnt read it. Previously, Penguin India had decided not to publish the book in India on the advice of Khushwant Singh- an elderly Sikh writer- who still remembered the stir that had been caused by the publication of a defamatory book about the Prophet called Rangeela Rusool. Since the Indian Government has wide powers to prevent the importation of anything it likes by the stroke of a pen, Rajiv Gandhi was only too happy to oblige. The memory of Rushdies libels upon his late mother still rankled and, in any case, Rajiv needed to placate the Muslims as he was busy stealing the clothes of the Hindu nationalists on the Babri Masjid issue.
At that time, people like me still believed that Rushdie was a Cambridge man of the stamp of Bhutto, Bandarnaike, Nehru etc. In other words, the reason he talked and wrote like a silly ass was because, as a Cambridge man, he knew the hoi polloi deserved no better. However, the moment his own skin was threatened, he was sure to turn into a wily street fighter. All he needed to do was to play the Kashmir card. The fact that Shahabuddin had been an Indian diplomat and that he belonged to the Hindu supremacist party would be enough to damn him in the eyes of young, politically conscious, Muslims. Rajivs agreement with Farooq Abdullah and the subsequent bungling of the polls had already incensed Kashmiri youth. Thus, Salman could have rounded on Rajiv and given him a good pummelling. Everybody in India would have been on his side. It is a recognised function of a man of letters to stand up for his own region or community. Dom Moraes renounced his Indian Citizenship on B.B.C Radio over Nehrus invasion of Goa. His stock shot up. Not just Nehru, even his daughter went out of their way to befriend him. More important, with Rushdie on the case, perhaps the 89 insurgency would have evolved very differently and tens of thousands of lives would have been spared. Rushdie really did love Kashmir. When he eventually wrote his Kashmir novel- the super silly Shalimar the Clown- lashing the Indian security forces, he was literally smothered in the capacious bosom of the Indian liberal intelligentsia.
But Rushdie didnt play the Kashmir card. Not even after the Indians had banned the book and the Pakistanis and the South Africans had followed suit. Khomeni- who had been attacked in the book- was able to score a big diplomatic victory for Iran, to set off against the debacle of the War of Cities that ended the Iran-Iraq war, with his fatwa. But Khomeni wouldnt have done so had Rushdie played the Kashmir card. He himself had an Indian connection.
Rushdies failure to play the Kashmir card might, of course, simply have been a reflection of his own ignorance. However, surely he could have called a few journalists around for a drink and said Some joker called Shahabuddin is trying to maro my gand. How do I pulverise that gandu without getting tatti all over my lund?
Once the Pakistanis understood that the Indians had, once again, scored an own goals, Rushdie himself wouldnt have needed to get his hands dirty. The Mirpuris of Bradford and so on would have showed up outside the Indian High Commission baying for blood. You take our land, rape our women, but now you even take away our religion! Who are you to decide if we are or are not apostates!
Rushdie could have become the Edward Said of the Kashmir issue.
The comparison is apt since the objectionable portions of Satanic Verses can be explained away as a satire on Orientalism- i.e. the Wests eagerness to swallow any tatti about the East.
Indeed, the book is nothing but a concatenation of clichés- a Bollywood star who plays Hindu Gods but who goes mad, eats pork, starts hallucinating an alternative reality with an evil Muhammad who licences sodomy but forbids any variation on the Missionary position etc, etc.
All very moral from the Islamic point of view- pork is bad, dont eat pork, otherwise youll go mad and kill your beloved and commit suicide and have silly hallucinations and so on.
Why could Rushdie not make a better case for himself once he realised his life was in danger? Coz hes a silly ass? Or because hes a member of the Western literary intelligentsia? Two ways of saying the same thing surely.
The answer, perhaps, has to do with a profound aporia at the heart of the entire project of equating Enlightenment as Freedom with Enlightenment as Bildung. Except it doesnt. I was kidding about that.
As Mahatma Gandhi said the doctrine of an eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind- adding in an undertone to Nehru- however if someone dun dick you in the ass givim a gand destroying chilli enema why dont you?- but with Love, Man, Love and Peace. Words Rushdie should have remembered when first reading Shahabuddins open letter. Not just Kashmir- think of the Sivas massacre in Turkey- the whole world would have benefited if only Rushdie hadnt been such a gentleman.

I see from comments here re last night's Newsnight Review that I'm not the only viewer unhappy with its recent transformation from a 'new cultural highlights-led' show to a 'theme-led' one. I'm curious to know whether there has been public discussion of the change anywhere to explain to viewers the change in policy. I see lots of discussion in the media these days on matters such as the merits and otherwise of BBC drama, but I don't recall seeing anything on the changed approach in Newsnight Review. Does anyone have any pointers, and would it be possible to get some feedback from moderator of this board or Newsnight Review producers? There is otherwise so little coverage of new books, theatre and so on on BBC TV output. Or is the Culture Show supposed to have taken over this function from Newsnight Review? If so, then I find I am not catered for. The Culture Show tries too hard to be trendy and down with the kids, and I am neither, plus it is on at an inconvenient time. Newsnight Review used to be an enjoyable and informative way of rounding off the week.

mimpromptu (#25) "There is absolutely no way I could ever have any time for JJ's type of self-obsessed, demagogic, dictatorial, perfidious and 'educated' dreams and ideology."

That's quite a confession.

JJ is anonymous. I do not see JJ referring to her/his personal life but to objective issues. JJ has been presssed for a perosnal view once in a while, but rarely gives one. Why is that? Perhaps you could enlighten us as to why you think otherwise. If you do, be sure to cite evidence verbatim rather than appeal to what you imagine.

"All he can ever do is to quote and steal other people's concepts and ideas."

There are many assumptions there. Let's take one. The language you use, is it your own? Are the words that you use not those of others in the reinforcing verbal community? When you were educated, did you take what you were told and translate it into your own words? What was that? Was that plagiarism or just distortion? In the sciences/technologies (e.g. medicine/engineering), if one does not take the 'words' of others and show that one can reproduce/apply them accurately without changing them, one is regarded as incompetent, if not dangerous. Research and professional practice (even sound reporting in journalism) depends on competence with such skills in order to be able to usefully add to an accumulating, pragmatically useful body of knowledge.

Do you see the point being made here? You clearly like to draw attention to your self, but why is that? Why not draw attention to matters in the world instead? See narcissism: for some this is an unresolved problem of infancy/adolescence where self-identify is normally forged and omnipotence takes a series of hits in the process of finding one's place amongst others.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Clarkson was right, and I dont much care for him. We have a situation where by many thousands of peoples lives have been ruined by Gordon Brown. Clarksons comment really doesnt even scratch the quiet rage some voiceless people feel. Those who work for the BBC - the Oxbridge and better University elit to which we are forced to pay really dont get it. If each and everyone stopped paying the fee for a few years THEN they would get it.Being as everyone wont we will continue to get sanctimonious public humiliations like teacher naming and shaming in class, how crass. I urge all talent who work for the BBC to speak your mind on Gordon Brown - he who allowed the banking sector to take us to runiation, he who set up a the FSA which remained pathetic for 10 years allowing cowboys to do mortgage and insurance fraud. And the likes of Kautilya Nandan Pruthi perhaps the ultimate UK expression of delusional fraud.

And they didnt see it coming - everyone

What the hell kind of muppets do you think we all are ?


BTW mimpromtu JJ loves a set-to so maybe its best not to give him/her one. Just watch out for the obvious mistakes make sure your reply is very strong and go for it all guns blazing then move on - dont return the bate.

#31
I don't think the moderators will let my posting through /which I hope made them smile at least/ so here is a new version:
Im not one bit interested in getting drawn into any discussions with you and am not going to give any reasons for it. I just wonder what the PRC stands for the Peoples Republic of China or a contraction of some 5-letter word? Whatever it stands for, I suspect the British people would not be keen on either model. Dont bother replying, though. Thats it.
#32
streetphotobeing
As above, I was thinking on similar lines this time. Thank you for your advice.

streetphotobeing (#32) "...maybe its best not to give him/her one. Just watch out for the obvious mistakes make sure your reply is very strong and go for it all guns blazing then move on"

That looks remarkably like a projection from someone who 'loves a set-to' but can't acknowledge that in themselves because that would be socially undesirable. Here's a tip, don't explain behaviour in terms which don't explain behaviour. If you see mistakes, why not just helpfully correct them? You clearly haven't leaned what education is about, it is not about fighting, but improving security/safety. You too are too focused on narcissistic injury perhaps?

mimpromptu (#33) "Im not one bit interested in getting drawn into any discussions with you and am not going to give any reasons for it. I just wonder what the PRC stands for the Peoples Republic of China"

Of course you're not, you might learn something, i.e risk changes to your pubic behaviour and that would be a narcissistic injury would it not? This is how Liberal_Demcoracy seems to work for many, and it's pathological thanks to Tony Blair and his entourage of anti-elitists/anarchists. This is how moie and more people suatain self-destructive behaviours, and their looking for support from others who behave the same (i.e parties, groups, companies) really is the height of hubristic folly. Try to see criticism as an opportunity to grow.

#25 Mimpromtu

wordy twirly dancing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53V7lt7H6m8

Rats

https://celticlion.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/and-weve-been-caught/

#34 JJ

mistakes

"risk changes to your pubic behaviour"

steady on now and how did that get past the mods?

KingCelticLion (#36) Because it's clearly a typo and not infantile/pubescent humour. You're providing grist to my mill on what drives group affiliation.

You evidently haven't grasped what's being explicated/illustrated... but you're instantiating it.

I thought Newsnight Review was superb last night .... sorry guys! And I seem to remember last week's programme discussed a Pynchon novel that I
still can't find in bookshops - so the programme does remain topical. I
think The Culture Programme does an excellent jobs as well .... what is
quite refreshing about them too is that they cover cultural activities
all over Britain and not just the latest things on down in London ....

If Newsnight Review has had a weakness it is that it rarely ventures
North of Watford .. but no doubt that will all change for the better
when production is moved up to BBC Scotland in Glasgow - as promised.

barrie (#21) "It's all getting a bit wild on here. However, I notice a need to SPOIL PARTY GAMES is well attested in some posts."

You've seen how primates behave when they sense a threat in their territory.

That's why we'll never truly see an end to 'parties' :-(

#15; "This is not Facebook"; nor is it Jeanbook, thankfully.

The Satanic Verses is, in my opinion, a book a bit like its author; bloated, pompous and quite superficial while purporting to be "deep and serious".
Sally was fortunate - or his fortunes were fortunate - that Khomeini issued the fatwa; or was it a plan all along?

kashibeyaz (#15) "... a bit like its author; bloated, pompous and quite superficial while purporting to be "deep and serious"."

Food for thought?

THE JOY OF DEMOCRACY (#39)

Norwich North went ahead and voted for more PARTY GAMES. They didn't 'get it'. This is the 'you have to have parties' mentality in operation.

In my brother's nursing home, you have to take tablets and pills with water, but as any fule kno, they go down a lot easier with ice cream, milk-shake, soggy biscuit or a host of other lubricants.

The unlimited mass of 'have tos' that humankind get caught up with, indicates our juvenile state. So little thought involves first-principles as a starting point, yet if Israelis and Palestinians could apply first-principles to their impasse, it would become passably soluble over night.

As JJ has indicated, we are threatened primates (and threatening). I suggest we primates are using the human add-ons to make clever threat-aids, rather than finding wise solutions.

SPOIL PRIMATE GAMES

barrie (#42) You may find this interesting, and his subsequent posts on the same subject.

Not too long ago, when James Dyson was explaining why he'd moved manufacturing to the Far East, I recall him giving some remarkable statistics for the number of physics graduates produced by the PRC. With a mean IQ of ~108 to our 100, this speaks volumes, to me, at least.

#41; "Food for thought?" - far be it from me to suggest so, but "bon appetit" anyway, Jeannie!

BEYOND THE PLANET OF THE APES

Apart from the psycho dance mumbo this is very good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0t9o6BQZ-4&feature=related


Mim

wordy twirly dancey stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53V7lt7H6m8

Celtic Lion

continuation of #33
streetphotobeing
me not he, i'm a she
You were absolutley right to point out that I should avoid making obvious mistakes. Although English is not my first language, I do not think this is a good enough excuse to make them.
One of the erros I've made recently was in the spelling of the word 'freak'. So, I sent off the parts of my brain responsible for spelling on a bike trip to the purgatory and that's what they've come up with:
The Freak Miss Meek
Let us take the word 'freak'
And see whether we can eek
Something spicy about Miss Meek
Dear Miss Meek in her hair had a streak
Not dissimilar to that of a leek
And with ribbon tied up on its peak.
P.S.
One of the justifications for me to keep posting my dittie verses is the hope that perhaps they might occasionally make some faces smile. For free.

ISHKANDAR POSTS (#43)

A thought provoking 'outside' view JJ - thanks. Some years ago Radio 4 ran a program on Cheng Ho, or Zheng He, and the non-colonising mentality of early China was very apparent. I often ponder the Eastern tendency to philosophy rather than dogma; perhaps picture-based script and a larger cerebellum (with presumably other brain differences) are clues. It is galling to think that Christians saw fit to convert Chinese to their mind numbing (advisedly)creed.

I remember a bunch of American missionaries got killed in some 'primitive' land. One bloke who survived, came back 'converted'; he spoke eloquently of realising their lives were as valid as any lived under Christianity! We are truly The Ape Confused by Language.

#46 apologies - one line went missing

The Freak Miss Meek

Let us take the word 'freak'
And see whether we can eek
Something spicy about Miss Meek
Dear Miss Meek in her hair had a streak
Not dissimilar to that of a leek
Causing places she went to reek
With ribbon tied up on its peak.

#48 Mimpromptu

The Freak Miss Meek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUU2BHwBm54

Celtic Lion
#36 re: public pubic
Each person has a place called pubic
Though rather rarely shaped cubic

Unless it's a clever robot, of course,
The world known, renowned Mrs Joyce.

Mrs Joyce's pubic place is cubic
And her uncle is known as the Rubik.

#49
have watched them all with the Tom Tom Club as the favourite

#50 Mimpromptu

Chose Tom Tom Club first for you. Basically Talking Heads without David Byrne. Tina Wainright, bass, takes over.

Re China plastic bags once had a respect for life and nature. Linked in with the old religions and philosophies of the area. Tao Buddhism etc. Words are just discreet quantums of thought we line up one after another to convey some semblance of the true holistic reality of out thoughts. The pictograms of language of the east were a closer model of true reality.

Now China appears to have little regard for life, nature and the ecological systems which support our life. This is a fear amongst some. They are now exporting cruelty. Changing the older traditions of the west, whether that be Celtic Shamanism or the native American philosophies.

The destruction of life in some insane conversion to economic growth is probably the greatest danger to us all.

Celtic Lion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM_Hlx_yZRE

KCL (#51) "Now China appears to have little regard for life, nature and the ecological systems which support our life. This is a fear amongst some."

What do you expect from 'evil-dooing' (statists)? I take it you won't be voting for any nasty planet-destroying statists in your neck of the woods, just one of those freedom-loving (de-regulating, nasty state-busting) liberal-democratic parties....

#51
Celtic Lion
While browsing through the websites dealing with shamanism I came across the following quote which I think is rather good:
Virgil said in the Aeneid -
"It is easy to climb down into hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air - there's the rub, the task".

AND THE BEAT GOES ON . . .

"Parent beating on Child" (Eric Berne). Child winding up Parent. Adult nowhere to be found, in dumbed down Britain.

With governance and state media in the hands of 'girls (all body types) who just want to have fun' - to quote Long John Silver: "The dead will be the lucky ones".

continuation to #46
streetphotobeing
I'm spitting into my own chin /a translation from Polish/ - I still managed to find a couple of mistakes in the text trying to stave off mistakes /though this time they were of a typing sort/. Apologies. However, talking about incorrect use of English, I'd like to share with you the following:
To err or not to err

I reserve the absolute right
For my words to put up a fight.

One with another for place they vie
For prize there will be soup made of rye.

It's not the rhyme that is the prime
It should be rhythm that does the climb.

Rhythm is all, rhythm is boss
Rhythm is that one that does the toss.

Articles, grammar, logic and sense
May have to move to lasting suspense.

and as an example of the above:

Miss Match and her Niece on a world tour

There is a catch to mighty Miss Match
While on a world tour went she

Seeking some piece and taking her niece
First went off to café Caprice

Coffee had she and coffee had she
Which they enjoyed with ponderous glee

To ponder they liked over ice-cream
Weaving a web of subconscious stream

What happened next? Just wait and see
The author first needs to go for a pee

barrie (#54) "With governance and state media in the hands of 'girls (all body types) who just want to have fun'"

It's got to be seen as political subversion 'in support of' free-market economics if one judges by co-incident events and outcomes. The new Nazism has, in recent times, been evil-doing Islamic fundmentalists, who were regularly depicted as patriarchal, women-oppressing, anti-fun, barbaric people (which is of course all nonsense). What do we get in return? ... almost total collapse of our economy as others amongst us milk the easily misled. :-(

Are our leaders fools or knaves?

#52 JJ

As you should realise I will not be voting for any politician.

NR

There is a cultural curfew. There always has been. Platonic thought was hidden under the language of 'alchemy' to escape the inquisition. Of course these days people are told people really did think they were changing lead into gold. No alchemical works appeared after the end of the inquisition.

so what are the taboo subjects the press hound people for? we all know them. However, like the inquisition, they never investigate themselves which is why the guardian has not published the names of journalists it says have broken the law yet the yaparrazzi were happy to hound MPs who had [in most cases] broken no law but just 'looked greedy'.

the responsibility of the artist is that their art has wider benefit. If their art has no benefit then it is not art. The greater the benefit the greater the art.

KingCelticLion (#57) "As you should realise I will not be voting for any politician."

Perhaps not, but imagine a party which had the policies which you currently endorse. Imagine voting for that. How would it square up to what the PRC is doing? What I am trying to do here is highlight how the electorate is generally being shaped. Do you not think it a little strage that the largest socialist nation in the world is not gungo-ho about the issues which preoccupy you. Socialists put people first (despite the Western propaganda). Dig out Sidney and Beatrice Webb's book on Soviet Communism some time as it's the system they wanted for Britain. They got the beginnings of it in 1945 as I read the history. What happened, and who brought about its demise? These are rhetorical questions.

The most important thing to focus upon in the liberal-democracies, I suggest, is the below replacement level birth rates, which is even worse amongst the brighter half of these populations. Surely this is an index of something being very wrong, as it means that these populations are slowly heading for extinction. How can that be an index of a healthy political system?

The population of the PRC is explicitly managed in this respect, they are open about it, note. They are also vilified for it. This tells one about something either surreptitious or unwitting at work domestically I suggest,

#59 JJ

From 1986 This is the Sea album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv_6B77pfCQ

Seems like the end of linking to songs then.

There once was a blogger called Jean,

Who on Gauss was incredibly keen,

And Lysenko as well,

This dysgenesis hell,

Is where Jean says,

For years, we have been.

To the tune of "Bringing in the Sheaves";

Spoiling party games,

Spoiling party games,

Barrie comes a-rambling,

SPOILING PARTY GAMES.


Back to/from the drink/brink.

Cameron was on Andrew Marr this morning talking about the possibility of introducing toll roads and what a good Tory idea the M6 toll road was. It would appear that a future Tory government with a big majority will be a license to further the Corporate Nazi ( anarcho capitalist Trotskyite ) agenda. It would appear that the relevant stock market parasite lobbyists have switched focus and funding to the " other side " of the Corporate Nazi coin since Adonis ruled out toll roads until at least after the next government.

Nos 55

I get slammed for my pathetic efforts that could hardly be described poetry, but it makes a change for the mind and brings a different thinking. So how ever bad for me its good and that one gave me a smile.

Look forward to reading some more !

#62
Kashibeyaz, what a fine verse
On Jean to blog and to converse!

#63
Brilliant!

here's a video for you lot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4FpTvp0tgs&feature=channel_page

I THINK HE NEEDS A GOOD SLAP FROM ONE OR TWO LADIES I KNOW (#68 link)

It's not fair! I would love to rant on like that, on YouTube, and get all those hits. It's sort of e-Moseley isn't it! But I would get sorted.

I prefer Markus Brigstocke's multicultural rant - where he put the boot into various religions in turn (though he missed Dawkianity - the faith of Dawks - high priest: Richard Dawkins.)

When that bloke makes a video wherein he offers a viable solution, post a link cookie. Cheers.(:o)

thecookieducker (#68) Fine, except a) The Muslims learned the phobia bit from the Jews, but couldn't use the anti-semitic line as it had been already been taken (and used most effectively too), and b) we aren't all born equal either, any more than all dogs are born equal (see Chiwawas and Great Danes, worse still, see Bull Terriers, aka the model psychopaths in the canine world (see a). ;-)

A CAT AMONGST THE PIGEONS

A sign we may be doomed, methiks? There's no nice way of pointing it out though.

NEW BROWN INITIATIVE: 'ROOM FOR DOOM' (#71)

In boom-town Newbury, you can't move for shoppers buying stuff they don't need. Could it be that ultra-low interest rates are luring the dummies into even more debt? And why are unemployment figures so un-alarming? The government wouldn't lie to us would they? Where does the black economy figure in all this?

#71 JJ

So?

Are you sure you have not been brain washed by the liberal market capitalists.

KCL (#73) "Are you sure you have not been brain washed by the liberal market capitalists."

At some stage I'm sure I was, and to some extent still am, but I've been doing my best in recent years to counter-condition myself, and to share the process with others who might be interested to come along for the journey if only to see how things look. I take it you have worked to the end of the above blog? I find the reactions quite remarkable given the facts.

baz 69:
Marcus Brigstocke has to be the worlds worst comic and he can't do a 5 minute set without slagging off the Daily Mail or its readership...i hate the fella...am his biggest heckler!
Whats Marcus Brigstocke and the Guardian Newspaper got in common?..everything!...ie, he's a ****.

MEMORY FADE. (#75)

It's late. I can't remember if we are supposed to hate the message or the messenger.

In passing, I heard that 1% of the population are now official sexual 'don't knows'. They are sure to want their own toilets! Now that so few vote, they might just get them! I am sure Sarah will march.

It really is late . . .

JadedJean #71

In your Stephanomics post 16 you suggest that the current financial problems go back to 1993, but perhaps the real trigger was the stock market crash of 1987. It would appear that 1988 was the start of all the false economic growth stuff, I went to Aussie in Nov 1987 and returned in April 1988. When I got off the plane at London it was like I had landed in a different country to the one I had set off from, everything now seemed a rip off. Our local village pub had been " done up " in the meantime perhaps theoretically inflating the Whitbread share price. However, the price of beer had gone up 20p a pint, everybody just went out an hour later and the landlord packed in because takings would no longer cover the rent. Said pub has never really paid its way since.

Perhaps Thatcher was deposed because she was no longer prepared to go along with all the false economic growth stuff. Major loved it, introduced stuff like traffic calming to make everyone use more fuel then massively increased road fuel taxes making our manufacturing industry uneconomic. Plenty of work for the corporate asset strippers, fiddle the balance of trade deficit to make things look better than they actually were.

#74 JJ

All the blogs by the BBC to me, or rather to an objective datum of reality, external to the systems being discussed debated etc, amount to no more than:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_many_angels_can_dance_on_the_head_of_a_pin%3F

#76 Barrie

End of second verse

https://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bob+dylan/all+along+the+watchtower_20021157.html

or as Mim put it in # 53

"It is easy to climb down into hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air - there's the rub, the task".

The task for an entire planet

PRC - The BBC mice
Drinking tea in the morning, drinking tea at night
- with china standing either for crockery or tea, in Russian chai

Rhyming on rhyme, what a wonderful time
Writing on writing, well worth an outing
Thinking on thinking, just as exciting

While others squabble proving their point
Winking and blinking, gnawing and boring.

To get attention, not worth a mention,
They'll drink their tea and that will be it.

It'll never work, oh what a jerk,
The 'china man', him and his mate.

It's all some nonsense they have invented
All they are after is 'fun' in bed.

And dreaming with it for fame and some dosh
Their life has become just an empty galosh.

HERE'S A 'NICE' QUOTE:

Logic is an organised system of thought that enables you to be wrong with confidence. Charles Franklin Kettering.

Definitely one for aspiring gurus! (:o)

"In your Stephanomics post 16 you suggest that the current financial problems go back to 1993, but perhaps the real trigger was the stock market crash of 1987. It would appear that 1988 was the start of all the false economic growth stuff, I went to Aussie in Nov 1987 and returned in April 1988. When I got off the plane at London it was like I had landed in a different country to the one I had set off from, everything now seemed a rip off."

I see it much the same way. In a much earlier post (to Peston, Flanders, and Mason's blog) I once asked if it was down to the Big Bang and electronic registration of shares. The volatility of the markets and rapid growth (see the DOW since the 80s and note it is a log scale) of the DOW and FTSE. Since shares have been held in nominee accounts, it's all taken on a speculative life of its own where investors are just overly trusting dupes as I see it. What we have lost touch with is 'fundamentals'. We no longer invest in companies on the basis of a sound analysis of their business fundamentals and track record. It's now largely just casino capitalism which attracts people in it for the buzz like all gamblers. It's not criminal but it is venbal. I made a shorter point along these lines here. Like you, I despise it all for its predatory venality. The people who do this are self-centred, and in my book, a danger to others. Alas, they are much in demand, and highly paid.

A blogger named KingCelticLion,

Says,"The world is mos' definitely dyin';

All the oceans now stink,

Of green algae, I think,

Man, the globe is not warmin',

It's fryin'!"

To the tune of "Bringing in the Sheaves";

Brossen99,

Brossen99,

Global corporate Nazis,

Fleece us every time.

#83 & #84

A new talent's unfolding
Sending verses foreboding

#61
Celtic Lion
Why don't you send us an occasional song link? But, as far as I am concerned, it would be preferrable if you didn't do it under the dictat of JJ and the other tea & vodka loving BBC mice.

Ah well

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5912130/New-rules-encourage-immigrants-to-live-in-Scotland-not-England.html

I suppose those of us north of the border have stayed out of the immigation debate. Now it seems both Labour and the SNP are happy with this one.

Mind you when the cold and long winter nights have their affect the bright lights and warmth of the English cities will look tempting.....

#87 Leo I'm not so sure when you say.. Mind you when the cold and long winter nights have their affect the bright lights and warmth of the English cities will look tempting.....

The eastern blockers have very similar weather to you, it gets mighty cold in Poland. And what about the Taleban, they live up in the mountains, and it's pretty cold and bleak up there, much like the highlands! ; ) Hhhhmm and with all the shops closing in our english cities the doorways are pretty cold these days as well! ; )

'Alistair Darling has said he is "extremely concerned" that banks may be charging firms too much for loans.'

Does this prove that Vince Cable was right and that the de facto nationalisation of some banks was not enough. It should have been explicit in order to force through the changes needed.

If the banks don't get anything but their own short term concerns right now why will they "look up" in the future?

#82 Jaded_Jean

"The people who do this are self-centred, and in my book, a danger to others."

As opposed to those on the far right who revere Hitler and would end democracy? There are those who would apply nonsensical laws on the basis of nonsensical science that fails to see that genetic variation is greater within a race than between races. There are those who would introduce eugenics and euthanasia. There are those who can look the other way on the Holocaust and have a hatred of Jews because Stalin ejected some in the thirties. Rather than try to make an analysis on race you could have used hair or eye colour.

The BNP are not a solution to anything as they basically have no core ideology, its more of a cult. That London Assembly BNP representative is having to explain three murders that never were. The BNP are "not a Nazi party" they are "modern and progressive". They use images of a Spitfire and Churchill on their literature rather than a Stuka and Hitler.

"Mein Kampf" is not a solution to anything except severe ego problems for those that would engage in a cult.

It says a lot about the BNP that they will happily use the music of those that despise their views in their bids to raise money through their CD's and attention through being obnoxious.

#59 Jaded_Jean

"The most important thing to focus upon in the liberal-democracies, I suggest, is the below replacement level birth rates, which is even worse amongst the brighter half of these populations. Surely this is an index of something being very wrong, as it means that these populations are slowly heading for extinction. How can that be an index of a healthy political system?"

1.Liberal democracy has many more advantages to national socialism.
2. You have a racial view that fails to understand that is not based on science. Genetic variation is greater within a race than between races. Broadly the science that "the Incredible Human Journey" is based on shows that as a fact. There is no scientific basis for your views hence there are no major scientific establishments that would endorse your views.
3. Your "index" notion is based on false science with a ludicrous conclusion. Truly worthless.

But the other area you usually dive into is there being too many Jews who survived the Holocaust for it to have happened. But you are "agnostic" and won't be taking your profound and "high end" analysis to the Djemjanjuk trial. If there was no Holocaust he could have committed no crime.

Hence its hard to believe that you don't know that your analysis is "bent" and its like the lies the BNP London Assembly member told about non-existent murders. Ridiculous and attention seeking with only the hope that people will keep following the "mirage" of truth to the next hill and the next hill .... In the long run that strategy won't work.

The BNP aren't a Nazi party. You aren't a Nazi or the BNP - but you revere Hitler and think people should vote for the tyranny of National Socialism that would replace democracy.

With all of these Bear Grylls survival programmes on TV I have observed that not a once does he start a fire and then put a shotgun cartridge in the fire and sit next to it.

Do you think he reads different manuals to Nick Griffin who lost an eye in that manner?

thegangofone (#90) "As opposed to those on the far right who revere Hitler and would end democracy?"

1) Socialism (note nazi = National Socialist..(will this ever sink in?) is left wing not right wing.

2) It is those on the right wing (libertarians) who tell lies about socialism because the left threatens to regulate them out of speculating. This is what Hitler and the national socialists did in Germany in the 1930s. Speculators don't like that. Germany was very harsh on such people. They on the opther hand felt 'persecuted' After all, what is wrong with sub-prime predatory lending?

Please stop posting nonsense. Just because almost everyone else gets this all wrong doesn't make you right, just akin to sheep.

Repeat after me: 'National Socialism is not extreme right-wing - it is left wing. Anarchists are extreme right-wing. Lots of people who say otherwise just don't know what they are talking about'

Liberal-Democratic politicians tell lies about this because they fear National Socialism. National Socialism is bad for Financial Services. Those in financial services in NYC are predominantly Jewish. This is a function of the demographics of NYC. Please look into this (links provided before). It is just a fact. It can not be denied. It is also a fact that this sector came very very very close to destroying the US and UK economies. The public bailed them out. Now they have to pay interest rates 5% above base-rate to get their own money loaned to them! This is what Hitler, the German National Socialists and the Axis Powers, were taking on in the 1930s. Look into it.

Can you see why Liberal-Democratic politicians and bankers etc are very scared of National Socialists? Can you see why they and their activists might be inclined to tell great big lies about National Socialism? Can you think of anyone else who has been talling big lies ... about WMDs etc? Who funded these people? Why?

#94 JJ

more criticism of capitalism

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/just-96-months-to-save-world-says-charles-1738049.html

See how he refers to ecological life support systems. Just like I always do, not climate change.

But Charles is working with the New Economics Foundation, who on NN in January 2008 referred to my work--on ecological life support systems.

See how systems of ideas can be influenced, you don't need to grasp them.

KCL (#95) "See how systems of ideas can be influenced, you don't need to grasp them."

No. I see you egocentrically drawing attention to yourself again rather than writing allocentrically.

It's all in the sentence structure. Such behaviour is generally socially frowned upon. Do you know why?

#94; I think it was Goebbels who said if you lie, tell big ones and keep repeating them, so I don't think I'll be following this particular set of orders - even although we're told they must be followed at all times.

As the lunatic said; "I'm always right, you're always wrong. What could be fairer than that?"

Repeat after me; I MUST TAKE ALL MY MEDICATION EVERY DAY.

kashibeyaz (#97) Do you not realise just how daft your posts make you appear? You're taking issue with easily looked up facts. Why? You don't ever provide refuting evidence, just silly posts like the thegangofone with better sentence structure. Instead of firing off a daft post every time you see something which undermines your preconceptions, why not spend a few days following up the links you're provided with and see if you have something useful to learn from them instead.

For instance - best estimate of mean IQ for Turkey is 90 (same as Albania and Chile). Look up Turkey's PISA results.

#98; "Do you not realize just how daft your posts appear?";

Nope; do you?

#98; looked up Pisa's turkey results; got nowhere; help me, Jeannie!