The Ignominious Death of the United Kingdom 1074


I am in Ghana and had some Ghanaian friends in the apartment here while I was watching the budget. I was ashamed, and they were incredulous, at the sheer crassness of the entire event. Hammond’s manner and delivery were beyond embarrassing. The constant stream of infantile jokes, of which the lengthy stream of toilet humour was just one part, was beyond childish. The worst thing about it is that Hammond apparently genuinely believed he was funny.

But even worse was the petty party nature of so much of it. The obsequious reference to DUP MPs by name, the grovelling towards new Tory “star” Ruth Davidson, the puerile digs at the SNP, the shoehorning in of an anti-semitism reference, the pathetic jibe at John MacDonnell’s accident. The Ghanaians with me observed that it would all have disgraced a school debating society.

Most of the budget’s rehashed public spending announcements and tax cuts for the wealthy are not worth analysis. The condemnation of PFI was very welcome, but it has taken 20 years for the political class – Red Tories or Blue Tories – to acknowledge the blindingly obvious, that they have used it as a device massively to abuse public services to rip off the taxpayer to the benefit of the bankers and wealth managers who funded the PFI schemes.

Hammond made the constantly repeated Tory claim that the income gap between rich and poor in the UK is shrinking. It depends what you are measuring. While it is indeed true that the income gap between the top and bottom deciles is slightly shrinking, the gap between the top centile and the bottom decile – or any other decile, including the between the top centile and the top decile – is expanding very fast. In short, we are taking on the characteristics of a helot society, where distinctions between the upper middle class and working class are reducing, but the gap to the extremely wealthy is growing.

In Ghana this last week I have made a point of asking a large number of Ghanaians, from drivers and students to businessmen and senior ministers, whether, in exchange for a higher standard of living and free immigration to the UK, they would give up Independence and become a colony again. I have been met with incredulity and outrage that I would even ask such a question, and even anger from those who misunderstood my motive in asking.

Ghanaians are of course quite right. Any nation should be outraged at the idea it would voluntarily become subservient, or that its allegiance can be bought for money. Which is why I am incapable of understanding the mentality of unionists in Scotland, many of whom were swayed in 2014 by arguments their pension might be reduced or their currency depreciated.

As everybody who canvassed in the 2014 knows, and opinion polls confirm, it was not those on the breadline who were influenced by these arguments. The worse off were solidly pro-Independence (except for the Orangemen, whose thought processes are not rational). It was the bungalow dwellers of suburbia who were swayed by the fear that they might not be able to trade in their Nissan Qashqai after three years as they intended.

In fact, I think the arguments Scotland will be worse off after Independence are demonstrably nonsense. But even were they true, I cannot express the degree of my contempt for those who value national freedom in pennies, and weigh self-respect against gold.

Independent states which are geographically, climatically, and in population and demographics closest to Scotland – Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland – are all markedly wealthier than Scotland, despite Scotland’s terrific endowment of national resources. Why do some Scottish people believe they are inferior to the inhabitants of these countries, and would be unable to run their own affairs and economy?

The fact that Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden are all markedly wealthier than England, but that Scotland is poorer, should be sufficient indicator that the Union has not brought the claimed historical benefits, compared to those small independent states. So should the fact that, in 1707, the population of Scotland was a quarter that of England, and after three hundred years of union it is a tenth, while the population of the Highlands has only just returned to the original level. The fact that the A1 is, amazingly, still not much dualed north of Morpeth, while Crossrail is a national UK expenditure; the fact that high speed rail – like Crossrail accounted for in GERS as a national UK expenditure – will not come north of Leeds; the massive concentration of central government functions in London, and the long term effect of that on economic development: given all these indicators, you have to be slightly crazy to believe an independent Scotland would not be better off.

Astonishingly, this collection of untalented careerists that constitutes the “government of the United Kingdom” is managing currently to extend its lead in the UK wide opinion polls, while falling back again into third place in Scotland. I have sympathy for friends in England who do not wish Scotland to be independent, because the Tories have such a majority in England. But they have no right to force Scotland to live under a succession of Tory governments, which it has not voted for in over 60 years. Similarly, the Scots have no right to prevent the English from living under Theresa May – or even under Jacob Rees Mogg – if the English continue inexplicably to wish to do so.

I have expressed for many years the hope that I will see Scottish Independence and a United Ireland before I die. I am happy to say I am now convinced that I will do so. That the end of the UK would be marked by such a squalid, incompetent and dysfunctional political leadership I could not have dared to hope. Thank God the UK will soon be over.


Allowed HTML - you can use: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

1,074 thoughts on “The Ignominious Death of the United Kingdom

1 4 5 6 7 8
  • N_

    Why doesn’t someone in the Labour party say what every decent person in the party must surely know, that there is NO “anti-Semitism” problem in the party, or on the left more generally, and that the party is being SMEARED by elements in the state and by the right-wing press, just as it was by MI5 and the Daily Heil in 1924 with the Zinoviev letter? This should not be difficult to call what it is. C’mon Diane!

    Which is the same kind of question as “Why didn’t the Labour left denounce the sh*t out of the Blairite project?” There was no excuse. The proponents of the project openly proclaimed their admiration for Thatcher.

    What’s next? Go peacefully when they lock you up, mouthing the words “Yes sir, I have sinned”?

    • jazza

      the labour party is asleep or dead – it is not a true opposition party any longer – there is no viable opposition to the dictatorship of the tory regime in britain today- they don’t mind picking up their paychecks though!!

  • Republicofscotland

    The Met police going after Labour.

    “Scotland Yard has opened a criminal investigation into allegations of antisemitic hate crimes linked to Labour party members, according to the commissioner of the Metropolitan police.”

    “Cressida Dick said officers had reviewed a leaked party dossier detailing 45 cases of alleged antisemitism that was passed to her in September by the radio station LBC.”

    “The UK’s most senior police officer told the BBC she believed there could be a case to answer and, as a result, the force was consulting with prosecutors on the next steps.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/02/met-police-opens-criminal-inquiry-into-labour-antisemitism-claims

    • Makropulos

      I just heard this shit on the BBC news. I love the passive voice: “This matter will not go away”. As if “this matter” was acting all on its own with no-one stirring it.

        • Makropulos

          Well that is very interesting. If there is to be no investigation into the Labour Party then why did the BBC give the impression there was? I’ve heard of “Fake News”. Perhaps there should be a new term for withdrawable insinuation?

          • Shatnersrug

            BBC news has two masters now, the Conservative party and the Isr*eli Embassy. Channel 4 News now has Ian Katz in charge so its seems they’re going the same way.
            It really is not a very good smear tactic though, and could only exist in a Westminster bubble where ‘Antisemitism’ is the worst crime anyone can commit, and of course by ‘Antisemitism’ I don’t mean prejudice against Jewish people, I of course mean the criticism of Isr*el in anyway shape or form.

            And how could they be anymore blatant.

            https://m.jpost.com/Opinion/Battling-Corbyn-Israels-main-British-enemy-569858

          • laguerre

            There appears to be a difference between investigating the allegations and investigating the Labour Party.

          • Bayard

            “If there is to be no investigation into the Labour Party then why did the BBC give the impression there was?”

            I think the key lies in that weasel word “linked” as in “Scotland Yard has opened a criminal investigation into allegations of antisemitic hate crimes linked to Labour party members, according to the commissioner of the Metropolitan police.”
            All it takes is one person to make an allegation of antisemitic hate crimes against one member of the Labour Party, however imaginary and unfounded and, hey presto, the two are “linked”. It’s a great word for manufacturing a news story out of absolutely nothing.

      • Tony

        1sr@el is terrified of there being a Corbyn-led government, and is calling in all it’s UK favours to this end.

      • dkws

        You have to wonder who made the decision for that story to be the lead item on the BBC’s 10 o’clock news? It’s an almost identical story to the one they used the previous evening, as 3rd or 4th item. On the BBC’s own website newspages, the story is only to be found under ‘Politics’ (where it shouldn’t necessarily be anyway), rather than amongst their miscellaneous ‘headline’ items. So, who? Why?

    • Piotr Berman

      On the half-full side, dissing Trident triggers various hostile reactions, but so far, no prosecution. But woe to Trident dissing doubters of The Only Democracy in The Middle East.

    • N_

      Tom Watson, Labour deputy leader, says he is pleased the dossier had made its way to the police. (“The dossier” is supposed to be a file compiled by Labour party members. Who they are and whether they happen to be Z__nist partisans who joined the Labour party by post at some point is not clear.)

      If people have committed hate crimes then they need to be dealt with by the full force of the law, there is no role for them in the Labour Party (…) If this does one thing it will be able to silence a very small number of people who still believe that antisemitism doesn’t exist in my party or in other parties (…) That hampers the campaign that many of us have had over many months now to try to deal with this problem as quickly and as swiftly and as forcefully as we can.” He said that if people within the Labour movement had “crossed the line on criminal behaviour through hate crime” it would not surprise him.

      Is this guy supposed to be for or against the party he’s deputy leader of?

      Why doesn’t the swine go the whole hog and say much how he admires the Tory administrations which have been in office since Labour departed from government, the same way Tony Blair did in the mid-1990s?

    • Jo1

      One day we get a senior police type saying they don’t have enough police to tackle real crime. Then up pops the heid bummer at the Met announcing they’re investigating more anti-S stuff involving Labour Party folks!

      • Tony

        Talk with anyone in London: the Met have long been politicised. You couldn’t trust them as far as you could throw them. That’s why they’re always used to override ‘difficult’ regional stuff. Remember the dossier handed to then Bury Times editor Don Hale by Barbara Castle?

    • Paul Greenwood

      Very dangerous ground for the Met. They may have to treat softly if they do not want to upset a lot of Muslim constituencies by interpretation of criticisms of Israel and zealots. I do not think this is a good idea and May should think carefully before letting her appointee Cressida de Menezes Dick politicising the Met any more than is decent

  • Dave

    When New Labour was elected in 1997 they had manifesto promises to improve public services and hold a Euro-currency referendum and campaign to join. Both Labour and Conservative had promised Euro-Referendum due to the influence of Sir James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party.

    But this created a dilemma because to improve public services required a big increase in public spending, but joining the Euro required a cap on public spending to meet the convergence and sustainability rules for joining the Euro.

    To resolve the dilemma they promoted Private Finance Initiative to spend private rather than public money on public services. This distinction was challenged by the National Audit Office, as the public infrastructureprojects were all underwritten by the taxpayer, but officially this very expensive way of providing public kept public debt within the rules for joining the Euro. And PFI was continued by pro-EU New Conservative.

    Cameron held the EU Referendum, partly for internal party reasons, but mostly he intended to use a Remain vote to trump the earlier promise of a Euro-Referendum join the Euro. He would have used a Remain vote to join the Euro as the solution to the EYU crisis by promoting further fiscal integration.

    Brexit may be betrayed, but at least the Brexit vote killed the prospects of Britain joining the Euro. Its the recognition of this that’s finally ending austerity, which has always been EU austerity to save the Euro, by allowing the books to be balanced over a longer period, hence the big expansion in public spending announced by the Chancellor after years of saying it was impossible. I.e. Brexit provides the money tree, because it killed EU austerity.

    • Republicofscotland

      According to media reports David Cameron wants to return to politics. Lord North they say lost America, and David Cameron has now lost the EU. However Lord North somewhat redeemed himself in part regarding the 1770 Falkland Crisis. I doubt David Cameron possesses any such qualities.

      • giyane

        RoS:
        “According to media reports David Cameron wants to return to politics”

        Yes , every used car salesman who’s lost his licence wants to get back into the game. Cameron is completely unemployable in anything other than snake-oil lying. Seeing his sexual rival temporarily kicked in the short and curlies through his own stupidity and ineptitude, he raises a frail hand.

        I once found myself for some reason in the beautiful arms of a Tory heiress who explained that although she did have a boyfriend, she kept him in a cupboard to play with from time to time. I shot out of the room faster than if I found a tarantula on my pillow before any damage could be done.

        Theresa May is in No 10 because and only because she does not belong to that ‘buggard’ Tory class of privately-educated broken toffs whose brains have been fried by scary women tarantulas. She is their Madonna, their girl from next door, squeeky pin up girl. Like all inflatable models, they squeak and they are washable. But ultimately they either emotionally or aerobically always let you down.

    • Ian

      More leave nonsense. There was never any chance of us joining the euro in the foreseeable future. Honestly, the fantasies that leavers keep peddling.

          • Dave

            “Balancing the books” is a mantra intended to deceive. That is balancing the books seems an eminently sensible thing to do, but the fact is you can chose to balance the books over a short or long period. Lab/Con/LD Government (Remain) have been saying we need to balance the books asap and its ruination and a betrayal of the young if we don’t.

            So austerity has been dressed up as vital to balance the books. But as I say the books can be balanced over a longer period, on the basis that if you cut too deep too soon you undermine rather than help the economy recover aka Greece.

            The real reason the books had to be balance early was to save the Euro, although in truth Britain had more flexibility being outside the Euro, and UK austerity targeted certain sectors harder to help pay for military adventures overseas.

            But now the Government, at least for now, has given up on joining the Euro, it can balance the books over a longer period, hence providing the money tree, and so after the conservatives denounced Labour for even mild attempts to increase public spending as wild eyed socialism, they have done so themselves with abandon, which has made McDonnell miserable.

          • Piotr Berman

            I also believe in keeping the budget close to balance, they key is that deficit translates to debt, and that is harmless if the economy grows sufficiently quickly. However, for a very advanced economy it is hardly possible, so the Scandinavian way seems best: spend enough to have well functioning state, no homeless beggars, shabby schools and hospitals, potholes etc., and tax enough to pay for it. Tory model seems to be to keep cutting spending, especially at the local level, and then toxic bottles can lie in public parks for months until someone picks them up — at least, the official version presents rather ugly picture of public parks in Salisbury which chimes with news about stress on municipal finances.

            Independence may allow to cut spending on stuff like military, one can easily save 1.5% of GDP there. That would require to exit NATO and base the national security on avoiding conflicts, actually a bonus. My biggest misgiving about Scottish independence is a chance that entire UK may become a sensible country, but it seems that even turning Labour into a sensible party is a tall order. But not impossible, so I would advocate some flexibility on the Scottish side in case Labour reciprocates. In an ideal universe, Labour and SNP could make a wide agreement on issues like budget and national security (neutrality), reach an agreement on tactical voting to eliminate almost all Scottish Tory MPs, and agree to return to independence question say, three years after forming the coalition government.

          • Ian

            Uk austerity had absolutely bugger all to do with the euro. This is just anti EU claptrap. Or you will be able to provide some evidence for your fantasy claims.

          • Dave

            @ Ian

            The evidence is PFI. PFI is a mad, very expensive and inefficient, way to finance public services, so why do it? Because it allowed for some creative, mickey-mouse, accounting, that allowed for an increase in poor value public spending, but nevertheless an increase, dressed up as private spending, to improve public services, without falling foul of the Euro membership rules. I.e. the political goal of joining the Euro, as good EU Europeans, trumped the waste of PFI. Simples!

          • Bayard

            “I’m just asking why the Tories have announced an end.”

            Well considering that “austerity” was always a sham: the Tories were simply cutting budgets they would have cut anyway, regardless of the state of the public finances, perhaps they have simply decided to drop the pretence.

        • Ken Kenn

          Fear not.

          ” The end of austerity ” is only going to start in 2019 and then the end of the end of austerity will commence once again depending on th the opinion polls..

          Expect the start of an election campaign sometime in 2019 – say………..ooh………….after the Brexit
          deal falls flat or the can is kicked further down the road?

          The Tory party will then know where it stands or lies down by then.

          My money with Billy Hills will be on the can kicking strategy.

        • Dave

          Alas the Greeks forsook the Drachma and common sense because they wanted to be good modern Europeans, whereas the British are happy to be eccentric, old fashioned and detached, but then again the EU has always been at heart a political rather than economic project. Hence the EU austerity to keep the show, Euro, on the road to ever closer union.

          • Tony

            So, Brexit allows the UK to take the shackles off our economy. Who’da thunk it? Certainly not remainers: they bought fully into the ‘economy will crash’ nonsense peddled by Project Fear. And they’ll still be talking things down in five years time, when the economy is soaring, continuing to insist that we’d be better off being weighted down by the globalist EU project. Hey, but remainers are the clever ones, right?

        • Shatnersrug

          The Greeks wanted to stay in the EU because they actually believe in a united Europe, having suffered the full effects of WW2 and post world war to the EU means more to many Europeans than just the idea of a single market. Trying to explain this to some blockheaded English people seems to be an impossible task. Most Europeans realise that having their useless leaders working on one project ie the EU is far less destructive for their countries than having their useless leaders conspiring against their counterparts as it was before WW2.

          British people and in particular English people have been fed an unbelievable amount of rubbish about Europe for the last 70 years and probably the same before WW2

          We are islanders – apart from the rest of our continent, this works against our overal intelligence levels, it makes us tribal and slightly stupid, which means we’re easily manipulated.

          • GlassHopper

            Yeah. Like those thick Japanese who insist on seeing themselves as islanders and protecting their culture when they could be taking their laws from enlightened types in Beijing, Seoul and Pyongyang.

            What is wrong with these dimwitted island types. Awful people!

          • Tony

            Coincidence? Hammond declares his EU divorce budget and, within days, we go from ‘no deal’ to all interested parties announcing that a deal is weeks away.

          • Blunderbuss

            @Shatnersrug

            “We are islanders – apart from the rest of our continent, this works against our overal intelligence levels, it makes us tribal and slightly stupid, which means we’re easily manipulated”.

            So the EU is better off without us. Three cheers for Brexit!

          • Dave Lawton

            Shatnersrug

            “We are islanders – apart from the rest of our continent, this works against our overal intelligence levels, it makes us tribal and slightly stupid, which means we’re easily manipulated.”

            You reckon do you ? You talking about yourself .We know exactly what is going on.
            “Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals we dare not present to them directly. All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and disguised”
            (Valery Giscard D’Estang. on the Lisbon treaty)

          • Bayard

            “The Greeks wanted to stay in the EU because…”

            Thanks for that little outburst, but the question was “why the Greeks wanted to stay in the Euro”.

          • Blunderbuss

            A currency is meant to be used to buy goods and services, not to be bought. It’s this buying and selling of currencies that causes all the trouble.

          • N_

            I don’t know what you mean by “not meant”. The reality is that no state will be able to avoid going bankrupt if it uses a newly-issued currency that the big players in the international financial markets don’t want to buy. I think we agree completely that that is a highly undesirable state of affairs, but it is the reality.

        • Dave Lawton

          giyane
          November 3, 2018 at 01:33

          “After Brexit two pounds will buy you one euro so we won’t ever be able to join.”

          Did you not know that the EU is a Pyramid scheme.

        • Tom Welsh

          “After Brexit two pounds will buy you one euro so we won’t ever be able to join”.

          That would be odd, giyane. After all, when the Euro was introduced in 1992 it was worth about 70p, compared to about 90p today. It’s hard to see why it would suddenly soar to 200p.

    • Stonky

      In 2005, the Labour Party Election Manifesto contained a specific commitment that there would be a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. I imagine all the members of the cabinet signed up to the manifesto.

      In 2007 we discovered that we weren’t having one after all. David Miliband, then Foreign Secretary, stood up and made a speech at Mansion House, during the course of which he denounced referendums as “the refuge of despots and dictators”.

      This has always been one of my favourite examples of the baldarsed hypocrisy of our political elite, and the utter contempt in which they hold the electorate.

      • Bayard

        If we had had one and voted against the treaty, we would only have had to vote again, like the Irish, until we gave the “right” answer.

  • Sharp Ears

    Did anyone know P Charles was heading for the sun?

    Craig Murray
    @CraigMurrayOrg
    2h
    Here in Accra, I am happy to tell you that 99% of Ghanaians are just as uninterested in the visit of Prince Charles as I am.

    🙂 🙂

  • Dan

    I’d accept the dissolution of the UK in an anarchist revolution, but Scottish nationalism is pure Hitlerism.

    • Iain Stewart

      “Dan hails from the wild west town of Cactusville. He was originally a bit of a desperado on the wrong side of the law hence his name, Desperate Dan. He later on became a friendlier character helping his fellow town folk and even becoming deputy and sheriff of Cactusville from time to time. Dan is arguably the strongest and toughest man in the world. Examples of his strength have been lifting whole buildings and using a crane to fish. He also uses a blow torch and chisel to shave. He like’s nothing more than to tuck into a huge cow-pie which seems to be made of a whole cow with even its horns and tail sticking out of the pastry.”
      And he makes occasional contributions to Craig’s blog.

  • nevermind

    After comig for the unemployed and the disabled and those on longterm benefit, its going to be the 11 million pensioners next, the Torys cant fathom anyone but their cronies benefitting from taxes, especially if their numbers will go up by another 9 million in the next 50 years.
    Hope these brexit loving leavers will realise what they unleashed with this coty of London wreckxit.

    • Bayard

      “Hope these brexit loving leavers will realise what they unleashed with this coty of London wreckxit.”

      Yes, the possible end to the Tory parties. That’s got to be worth quite a lot of economic pain, don’t you agree?

      • Blunderbuss

        ” It also follows a string of Israeli intelligence coups against Iran, including the extraction from Tehran in January by the Mossad of the contents of a vast archive documenting Iran’s nuclear weapons program”.

        Hasn’t Is_l got a secret nuclear weapons program too?

        • Clark

          I’d need to check, but I think the “vast archive documenting Iran’s nuclear weapons program” was a fabrication; a collection of old documents, already disclosed, but allegedly found recently in a lock-up garage in Iran. There was a similar incident a few years ago; nuclear weapons plans attributed to Iran, delivered to Washington by the Israeli Mossad, but actually identified under technical scrutiny as forgeries.

          Yes, Israel has nuclear weapons.

        • Paul Greenwood

          No. Israel simply has a nuclear weapons programme paid for by Konrad Adenauer (in return for swift execution of Eichmann before he talked too much about Hans Globke) and equipped by France with help from Edward Teller. It is not subject to inspection nor is it covered under NPT Treaty and Israel has Jericho missiles with range of 5,000-6,000 km capable of hitting Russia or much of Europe and certainly Iran.

          http://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/jericho-3/

          Quite why anyone would nowadays forego nuclear weapons in return for a scrap of dissolving paper with the USA is unclear so I don’t expect Kim Jong-Un to go for it, nor Pakistan, nor India, nor Russia, nor China. Any future arms treaty will require France and UK to disarm and they cannot so long as Israel has the ability to destroy them

  • N_

    Ipswich school reports ‘pupil aged 30’ to Home Office“.

    Isn’t it his “right” to “identify” as whatever age he wants? Age is “socially constructed”, right? Insisting that a person’s age divided by a unit of one year must give a positive real number that then increases according to the Earth’s movement around the Sun is akin to saying a Y chromosome makes a person male and its absence makes them female. Two plus two equals whatever anyone says it does! Everything is true! Everything is normal! Crap is custard! Men can have babies! A woman who puts a sausage in her underwear is a man if she thinks she is! A 30-year-old is 12 if he wants!

    • N_

      The relationship between Jimmy Savile and organised J__ish power is interesting, and it supports the view that said power network is neither a “race” nor a “religion” but rather a gang. As well as his meeting with senior figures in I__ael which has been much reported, and the advice he claims to have given them, there is also the less reported fact that the company that does the security for Marks and Spencer (and from what I recall has been censured for breaking security “industry” regulations on a number of occasions – i.e. they are a bunch of criminal thugs whom you seriously would not want to meet either in a dark alley or a car park) was deeply involved in Savile’s “charities”, having directorships thereof.

      I didn’t know that it was Edwina Currie who appointed Savile to his role at Broadmoor. Interesting!

      • giyane

        N_
        You’re getting me all confused. John Major is the guy who was so far to the Left of the Tory Party, and so far to the Left of the Blairite Tories who took over from him, that like all good socialists he took a mistress while he was living in No 10. And that mistress was, compared with any of her Tory contemporaries and the rabid tory right who now govern us, not only from the Jewish Left, but also Tory Left wing, bordering on human by comparison.

        That same John Major is the target of every Right wing Tories ire, as having betrayed the 2 basic principles of Tory existence, firstly not managing to produce aerosol Tory foam in his politics, and second in having crossed the red line of the Tory ‘buggard’ ( i.e. mentally ill ) by admitting to a sexual indiscretion .

        The point I wanted to make is that when Tories now refer to funding ‘Mental Health’, what they mean is helping those whom they label as mentally deficient because they do not subscribe to or cope well in the world of Tory raving boners foam. Those who think people should tell the truth at all times and those who think it is the state’s job to help the weaker in society. Instead of being ‘ buggard’ like themselves and lying at all times, which every Tory must do to qualify for the name.

        So yesterday we had the Right Foaming top Tory Ian Macbeth-Smith weighing in against the Right Foaming members of his own party for not protecting the ‘mentally ill’ from bankrupting themselves and their families by gambling at ridiculous stakes. And somehow the Right Foaming member is unable to see the foaming ‘buggardness’ of changing a welfare system that currently helps people on irregular and low earnings to a system that makes low-income and job insecurity completely unsurvivable because you constantly have to prove your fluctuating earnings in order to qualify for universal credit.

        The mentally ill in the definition of the rabid Tory right wing are those who have failed to gain access to regular paid work, i.e the majority of the population. If you cannot prove that you have earned enough in a particular month to qualify for universal credit you will forfeit your benefit. The idea of a ducking stool for trying witches was probably a fairer system.

        • Blunderbuss

          Have you noticed that Mental Illness has now become Mental Health? We now have news reports about people “suffering from mental health”.

    • Isa

      So true . And it deeply irritates me the media comparison with trump . Mark my words , Bolsonaro is only there because of USA interference by putting Lula in jail . They made up charges to put Lula in jail , did the same in Argentina and groomed Sergio Moro the judge to rule with them . Time for pay back , Bolsonaro has nominated the USA puppet judge to minister for justice . This allied to the military support he has . Trump is a nationalist populist that works within the law . Bolsonaro is a Fascist propped by the USA .

      “Local elites in Latin America are tied umbilically to US elites, who in turn are determined to make sure any socialist experiment in their backyard fails – as a way to prevent a much-feared domino effect, one that might seed socialism closer to home.”

      • giyane

        The enlightened ones on this blog can readily understand the truth of what you are saying about the US treatment of Latin America but totally fail to comprehend how USUKIS supports the Muslim Brotherhood against the Saudis closer to home. It’s so much easier to see the deviousness of neo-con politics a few hours daylight round the world to our West, than to see the deviousness of neo-con politics where our own little Israel is concerned a few hours East of our timeline.

        The US secretly supports Iran against the Saudis to waste Saudi resources in the struggle against the Shi’a misinterpretation of the religion of Islam. And Craig says Muhammad bin Salman is a ” dangerous psychopath “. Nothing whatsoever to do with NATO / neo-con support for the extremely dangerous psychopath who unleashed the Daesh on oil-rich Iraq, Stolen Erdogan.

        • giyane

          BTW the Western MSM have constantly referred to Assad’s Alawites as Shi’a. Alawites comprise about a quarter of Turkey’s population; Erdogan himself is probably an Alawite and the Alawite sect has absolutely no connection to any branch of Islam. Indeed imho, Islamism has zero connection to Islam, but is merely a Zionist-inspired tool for disgracing the religion of Islam.

          as in your point about South America:

          ” Bolsonaro is a Fascist propped by the USA .”

          “Local elites in Latin America are tied umbilically to US elites, who in turn are determined to make sure any socialist experiment in their backyard fails – as a way to prevent a much-feared domino effect, one that might seed socialism closer to home.”

          The Queen, being the leader of a wealthy sect of the deviance we call Christianity in which Jesus pbuh is considered to be one of a Trinity, is one of the main totem-poles of Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism. roman Catholics may have long since discovered that the Pope’s infallibility is on the blink, but most Brits, not-including Craig who found out the hard way, still believe that Her Majesty’s parliament is working for the best interests of Britain, in the best of all possible jurisdictions

          • Laguerre

            The Syrian Alawites are a rather heretical variety of Shi’s, the MSM are right. But they are not the same sect as the Turkish Alevis – the only point in common is the name.

          • giyane

            Laguerre

            The only points on which Shi’a Islam and Alawism touch are in their mutual deviations from Islam. As for hard and soft ‘v’s, a VW is a VW in either pronunciation.
            Did you get your vonky ideas from Wonkypedia, or is it just simpler to believe the BBC’s lies?

          • laguerre

            According to the Encyclopedia of Islam:

            “NUSAYRIYYA (the other name of Asad’s Alaouites), a Shi’i sect widely dispersed in
            western Syria and in the south-east of present day
            Turkey; the only branch of extreme (ghuluww) Kufan
            Shi’ism which has survived into the contemporary
            period.”

            It is the Alevis in Turkey who are not Shi’a. Your ideas are getting weird, as others have noted. But I’m not going to go into deep research on the subject.

          • Paul Greenwood

            Sorry but how do Unitarians represent a belief in a Holy Trinity ?

            Anyway it is only Muslim sensitivity about Al-Lat and Al-Uzza and Manat that causes them the problem with Trinitarianism confusing it with Polytheism which is the true basis of the Ka’aba. AlLah had 3 daughters in the Muslim Trinity.

            Christian Trinitarianism does not have Polytheism since the Holy Trinity are One and Indivisible representations of The One True God since Jesus is Of The Father and the Holy Ghost is the Sublimation of the Soul into the Oneness of God through his earthly reification in human form.

            Islam has terrible Soteriology and poor Theological foundations lacking principles of morality or redemption

  • Tom reid

    I have voted for independence since I became 18 l will will be72 soon it hurts to think the people of Scotland cannot wake up to the fact that we will be better off one day.

  • giyane

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/asia-bibi-christian-woman-death-row-pakistan-blasphemy-law-prophet-muhammad-islam-insulting-a8571596.html

    I receive insults from the imam just for daring as an Englishman to pray in his stupid mosque.

    This Christian lady in Pakistan had brought some water for her Muslim fellow workers but they refused to drink water that had been fetched by a non-Muslim. I’ve just paid £100 for the second part of my water bill. Should I complain to Severn Trent that their water is haram?

    The mosque is from the formerly Berelvi group Ahle Sunne wal Jamat. I originally went to help their sister sect do electrical testing and inspection on the madrassah in Sussex which the police raided in 2005. Contrary to my specific requests to work anonymously the mosque gave my name to the council that was asking for electrical certification. So I spoke to the council to make clear that I did not think the electrical installation was satisfactory.

    The mosque then accused me of betraying them to the English authorities. They did not want to spend any money on the electrical installation. All they wanted from me was me to tick boxes, thus putting responsibility for electrical faults onto my professional name.

    One has to question the sanity of a people who choose to live in a country which they despise, distrust and disagree with. The present head of the Deobandi sect, Sheikh Riyadhul Haq once said in a mosque in my hearing that when their people had become strong enough in this country, they would fight the English on the streets and blood would run.

    At present the British government has succeeded in diverting this pent-up rage by encouraging the Asian Muslims to make jihad on their Syrian Muslim brothers and sisters, and this has kept them busy for a time.
    But how long is the insanity of Pakistan going to be kept out of the streets of Birmingham? Already we have had to defend my wife’s country Kurdistan from the ravages of Islamic State.

    The imams need to take a long cool look at their racist attitudes to British Muslims. This country has just started to grasp the nettle of race rape. If every time I enter a mosque the imam insults me with his recitation from the Qur’an, we will eventually be reporting them and bringing them to account for race hate, encouraged by their big sheikhs. At present the government’s Prevent programme only serves one purpose, to connect volunteers for Islamist jihad against their fellow Muslims in Syria, with Tory HQ, to make up David Cameron’s “moderate” rebels to assist in Syria’s re-colonisation.

    • Paul Greenwood

      They are not “imams” but use the visa to get into the country. Otherwise their pass is smoothed by the Saudi Cash Machine. Destruction of the House of Saud is critical to Western Civilisation and hopefully the usurpation of its current leadership will be underway. NICEIC has some good standards and I know electricians pay a fortune to gain certification, I am therefore irritated if people trying to subvert the standards fail to be prosecuted or served with Court Orders

  • SA

    Some people worry about being censored because their comments were moderated. In fact this site is extremely liberal in its moderation and as with any moderation there are times when it may veer one way or another but in general it is fair and I commend the moderators and thier hard work. I have in the past had some comments moderated but then did not go back railing against the moderators but have reflected on what I had written to find out that maybe I did cross that line that is against the blog policy and it has been an opportunity to reflect on how one can get your POV across without offence to others. And in general I have also notice that some of those who had been regularly personally offensive, have now posted much less frequently. Maybe they have been banned or maybe they just burnt themselves out.
    So the first thing to reflect on when your post is deleted is to ask yourself: has my post been interpreted by the moderators as possibly racist, especially if I have had a history of the same?

      • Antonym

        From this site’s moderation page:
        This is essentially a free speech forum… ……

        The biggest problem we face is anti-Jewish comment, which I will not tolerate. We are not in the business of stigmatising anti-Zionism as anti-Jewish,
        Indeed anti-Jewish comment is the biggest problem on this site, and it hides behind the veil of anti-Zionism here. As Israel contains 44% of all Jews on this globe, the two notions are close. There is just too much negative attention for such a small country with so few people on this UK(?) blog. The end result is clear for neutral observers.

        • Bayard

          “As Israel contains 44% of all Jews on this globe, the two notions are close.”

          Since most nations contain the majority of the members of that nationality, then criticism of any government must be, by your reckoning, criticism of an entire nationality.

          “Indeed anti-Jewish comment is the biggest problem on this site, and it hides behind the veil of anti-Zionism here.”

          Perhaps you could also explain why Jews should be considered above criticism, whatever they do, simply because they are Jews and, whilst you are doing that, perhaps you could point me at a criticism of any Jewish person on this site, which criticism would not be equally valid if it was levelled at a Gentile.

          • Antonym

            Jews are not above criticism, just above unproportionalcriticism, as their numbers a small. The reverse is true for a big group like Muslims, but I don’t see that reflected here at all. If only this site would attract half as much comments on Zionism as about the various Muslim rape or brainwashing gangs in the UK (or Sweden, Germany) it would be a bit balanced – but this is sadly not the case.

          • Antonym

            Most nations… There is only one little nation where Jews are in the majority. There are dozens where Muslims or Christians are in the majority. Sorry, you can’t fool me, nor any neutral observer.
            A 1% group could get 1 or 2% of criticism, but not ~ 50% of all negativity as Israel received here.
            This site is in favor of an one own nation for the Scots, fine, but is against a one safe own nation for Jews; plain weird. Arab Muslims already have many nations.

        • bj

          The problem with your comment is that any dissent from it is seen by you as anti-semitism.
          Nice try but no cigar.
          Go on living in your own bubble.

        • SA

          Did your reflection on why you were ‘censored’ reveal to you the possible cause of this censoring?

          • Antonym

            Make me think SA is one of the moderators here. S/he is very anti Israel, but basically mum on the many misdeeds going on in the dozens of Islam dominated nations next to IS and beyond. This kin of lopsided criticism has a name ….

          • bj

            @Antonym
            November 4, 2018 at 02:12

            Leaving aside your lame whataboutery — your kind of despicable disdain has a name and it is “Apartheid & racism”.

          • SA

            You know some false accusations do not need rebuttal. But what I can say with certainty is that blatant racism of any sort appear not to be tolerated on this blog and are usually swiftly deleted, hence your need for soul searching.

  • giyane

    http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/erdogan-says-order-to-kill-khashoggi-%e2%80%98came-from-the-highest-levels-of-the-saudi-government%e2%80%99/ar-BBPhHRe?ocid=ientp

    NATO’s Erdogan, the man who ordered the murder of Jackie Sutton in the hospitality lounge toilets of Istanbul Airport, seems to be suffering from Sultan-memory loss, normally resolved in Saudi Arabia by decapitation.
    The Sultan, uncomfortable with his overwhelming guilt at garrotting a British journalist who was flying to Erbil in Iraq to report on the maltreatment by Erdogan’s Daesh against women, is projecting his horrible guilt onto the leader of Saudi Arabia, hoping the charge will stick because of Saudi Arabia’s appalling reputation for human rights.

    I am going to carry on asking the question until Erdogan shuts up and climbs back into his own straight-jacket:
    If Erdogan knew the murder was going on, why were his secret services not outside the Saudi Consulate to investigate the crime. Erdogan, like our own leaders in the UK, are always ready to murder when their lies are likely to be exposed, but as with Dr Kelly, the plots neither convince the public, nor the police that are trying to cover up for them.

    • laguerre

      It seems to me that Erdogan has demonstrated his case pretty well over the death of Khashoggi, detail after detail coming out, whereas Erdogan being responsible for the death of Jackie Sutton is just an allegation by the Kurdish opposition, as far as I remember. Kurds are not particularly known for their truth-telling, but rather for their nationalism. Apologies to your Kurdish wife, by the way. Expecting Erdogan to have been able to intervene in real time, when it’s diplomatic territory, and Turks can’t enter without permission, is just absurd. I don’t have any particular feelings in favour of Erdogan, but he’s done quite well on this one, putting a dent in MbS.

      • giyane

        So the video was taken by a spy, maybe a Turkish member of staff, who was not noticed during the filming and later reported to the police. Is this a case of getting so involved in making movies that he or she did not excuse themselves and call 999?

        Do you really believe all those daesh head-chopping movies were not set up by professional film-makers? Do you really believe turkey is not shielding Daesh and providing the paperwork for them to come to Europe?

        I think you must be the most gullible man alive. When Erdogan poops in to see Mrs May on behalf of his Kurdish mate Barzani, does the magic money tree have roots in cheap oil from Kurdistan, delivered to NATO by Erdogan?

        thanks for telling me Kurds are liars. You wouldn’t know the truth if it squashed you in the disguise of London omnibus. Why do you think Blair invaded Iraq? Why do you think he’s still being rewarded for his services to the UK? All of that pain and misery was inflicted by USUKIS on the innocent Muslim populations of Libya Iraq Syria by USUKIS islamists and direct bombing all because Mrs Thatcher couldn’t be bothered to make things and sell them.

        ignorance insult injury. The UK is so successful at papering over the cracks of banking crime.
        Has it never occurred to you that if we still made things instead of charging people interest, we too might have money for the old the sick and the disabled?

        • laguerre

          Everybody’s shielding Da’ish apparently. Either it’s Asad, or Israel, or the US, before we get to Erdogan. Why it should be Erdogan who’s more evil than anyone else, and more protecting of Da’ish, I can’t see – unless of course you have an obsession for the Kurds, which would be perfectly natural in your case.

          The problem of the Kurds is that they foolishly listened to the whisperings of the Israelis in their ears, whose only interest was to do down the Arabs, not to support the Kurds – and didn’t have the good sense to hold back on joining in the idiotic policies of the US, which were just copies of the failed French and British strategies of the 1920s (and known to be failures, if anybody bothered to read the history books). As a result in Iraq they’ve had a severe knock-back, and there’s more to come in Syria. Fortunately the Rojavans are more sensible, and are preparing to do a deal with Asad.

  • giyane

    http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/trump-echoes-game-of-thrones-in-cinematic-warning-to-iran/ar-BBPgFsM?ocid=ientp

    Trump himself knows nothing about international politics, but his current advisors Matthis and Bolton feel entitled by Trump’s lack of knowledge and lack of interest in the Middle East, to project an image of US power in the Middle East.Since they are unable to do anything because of Russia’s de facto control over Syria, all they are able to do to look big is to undo stuff unilaterally. I’m big because I don’t sign the Paris accord on climate change. I’m big because I pull out of the nuclear treaty with Iran. Mushroom soup anyone?

  • Ottomanboi

    No fan of the UK Unionist Labour party but the allegations of ‘antisemitism’ has shades of the notorious Zinoviev letter.
    The British state apparatus is on the offensive. Scot Nats and leftist Labourites threaten the order. After Brexit expect a tidal wave of British ie anglo-cultic propaganda prossibly followed by a general election ‘to swab the decks’ of the good ship Britannia as she sails forth to meet her destiny.
    The nightmare that thanks to Nationalist strategic errors and an unimaginative ‘belt and braces’ electorate Scotland may be dragged along in her turbulent wake recurs.
    See you at BritFest 2019….do hope not. We deserve better!

    • giyane

      Ottomanboi

      swab. what a word, could mean washing down the blood or taking a sample from an infected appendage.
      Since the zionists have attacked their critics, I have become more opposed to zionism. I didn’t know that Corbyn personally had accepted the zionist defintioin of anti-Semitism , or is that more fake news from the Beeb.

  • Sharp Ears

    Execution of Indonesian workers by Saudi Arabia who kill with impunity. The method is not stated. Stoning or beheading?
    Chilling. There are 18 others on ‘death row’.

    These UK allies are such kind and just people. You will note the rigour of the Indonesian protest.

    Saudi Arabia executes an Indonesian maid after she killed employer who was trying to rape her
    Mother-of-one Tuti Tursilawati said she was acting in self-defence
    Riyadh hasn’t given Jakarta prior notice of an execution three times in four years
    The execution came a week after the Saudi Foreign Minister visited Jakarta
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6338277/Execution-Indonesian-maid-killed-employer-raped-sparks-outrage.html

    ‘Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest destination for Indonesian maids and earlier this month the two countries signed a new agreement to jointly ‘supervise, monitor, and evaluate’ the workers.

    After the execution, the executive director at Indonesia’s Migrant Care advocacy group, Wahyu Susilo, called on Indonesia’s government to cancel the agreement.’

    Sorry it’s the Mail but I don’t see this reported elsewhere.

    • Sharp Ears

      38 Degrees. Open letter to Boris Johnson et al.

      ‘Boris Johnson accepted a £14,000 all-expenses-paid trip from the Saudi Arabian government. [1] And he’s not alone – a total of 38 MPs have received freebies from the regime over the past five years. [2]

      MPs visiting other countries can be a useful way of building international understanding. But when the government footing the bill are believed to have ordered the murder of a journalist and are involved in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, it’s completely unacceptable. [3]
      If any of our MPs now accept freebies while the circumstances around the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi go unsolved, it gives the Saudi Arabian government legitimacy: it says that it’s OK for their actions to go on.

      Boris Johnson’s “all expenses paid” trip has been splashed across the news. [4] But you can bet the MPs involved in these trips will be hoping that the fuss just goes away. That’s where we come in.

      If thousands of us sign an open letter to MPs, asking them not to take any freebies from the Saudi Arabian government, they’ll hear us. They’ll know that we expect them to do the right thing and hold back on giving the Saudi government legitimacy, while the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is unresolved.’

      https://38d.gs/readmore/

    • laguerre

      Stoning for women, I think. In Beirut, the Far Eastern maids “accidentally” fall from the apartment balconies, according to the Angry Arab. He used to cite cases every week. I have great pity for anyone who’s forced to go and work in Saudi Arabia (and thus obliged to hand over their passport to their employer, putting their lives in the hands of their employer). I refused, and Brits get much better treated. It’s hard to imagine the depths of desperation of these women that leads them into accepting these contracts, in order to feed their families. The truth about their treatment must have trickled back home by now.

      Mind you there are some funny stories about the situation of foreigners in Saudi. Back in the 70s, there was the case of a Dutchman who had a dispute with his employer, who retained the passport until the dispute was settled. In desperation, the Dutchman packed himself up in a crate, and exported himself as air-freight. Fortunately, the hold of the aircraft was pressurised….

    • giyane

      Sharp Ears

      In Islam it is not permitted for a man to be in the same room alone as a woman who is not his wife or immediate family. The Saudis do not apply the Shari’ah to their own.

  • Republicofscotland

    Leaked accounts from dossier seen by LBC.

    A Labour councillor inflicting ten years of insults on a child, referring to him constantly as “J*w Boy”

    Another alleged case two MP’s were threatened that they’d be thrown off a building.

    Another saw a party member post on social media, We shall rid the J@@s who are a cancer on us all.

    Other claims include calling a child a chocolate monkey and complaing she smelt of curry, whilst spraying her with airfreshner.

    Tom Watson when asked about the matter, didn’t try to deflect surprisingly. Instead Watson said Im not surprised.

  • Brian c

    I agree the UK is not long for this world. Would only add the terms self-serving and short-termist to the list of adjectives you apply to our ruling mediocrities.

  • Sharp Ears

    What have the people of Ghana, The Gambia and Nigeria done to deserve this? A nine day tour by P Charles and the Croc wife, joined by the drippy youngest brother.

    Greetings from Ghana! Accra rolls out the red carpet for Charles and Camilla as they touch down from The Gambia on day three of their West Africa tour
    Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall touched down in Accra on Friday
    After visiting The Gambia, flew into Kotoka International Airport in Ghana
    On day three of their nine-day official royal tour of West Africa
    Greeted by the Ghanaian president and First Lady at Jubilee House in Accra
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6346697/Royal-tour-2018-Charles-Camilla-arrive-Ghana.html

  • Sharp Ears

    Haaretz’s use of phrase ‘relative calm’ at the Gaza ‘border’ actually means that 87 Palestinians were wounded yesterday.

    In the photo the IDF snipers are seen looking out over the top of the earth bund facing the protesters..

    Relative Calm on Israel-Gaza Border: Thousands Protest as Egyptian Delegation Monitors
    Palestinian Red Crescent says 87 wounded, with no severe injuries reported
    Egyptian security delegation arrives at the protest encampment to keep close track of events
    Nov 02, 2018
    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/relative-calm-on-israel-gaza-border-thousands-protest-as-egypt-monitors-1.6615821

    Many of the wounded are treated at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. One of the doctors who works there, Khamis Elessi, is over in the UK as a recipient of a degree at an awards ceremony at Oxford University next week. Sir Iain Chalmers writes about him here.

    Oxford’s recognition of individuals can promote their recognition at home
    https://www.cebm.net/2017/06/oxfords-recognition-individuals-can-promote-recognition-home/

    That is the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine.
    https://www.cebm.net/what-we-do/

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shifa_Hospital – written by a supporter of Zionist Israel by the looks of it – Allegations etc.

    • Sharp Ears

      The Israeli settlers have been busy with their sewage again. What vile people.

      ‘ Israeli settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Shaare Tikva dumped their sewage into a Palestinian school in the Azzun Atma village in the northern occupied West Bank district of Qalqilia, on Thursday.

      Azzun Beit Amin School principal Alaa Marabeh said that the school’s playground was flooded by sewage causing a foul smell inside the school. The principal added that this is the second time in a period of two months that Israeli settlers dump their sewage on the school property

      Marabeh pointed out that it takes over 10 days for the sewage water to dry, causing health issues for students and community at large.’

      Nov. 2, 2018 4:01pm
      https://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=781663

  • Republicofscotland

    A Christian woman from Pakistan who has been acquitted of Blasphemy, (insulting Muhammed) can’t be released from prison, as thousands of Islamic radicals want her hanged.

    Asia Bibi, spent eight years in prison in solitary confinement, and now she’s to be released radical Islamists have blocked the major roads near the compound where she it to be released.

    They want the decision by the Supreme court overturned, and Bibi hung. Security forces have threatened to shoot the demonstrators if they don’t disperse, however thousands led by the local cleric said, that they’re willing to die to show their love for the prophet.

    Two prisoners in the same prison as Bibi, were arrested after plotting to strangle her before she’s released.

    If she makes it out of the country alive, she and her husand and two children have been offered asylum in Spain or France.

    • GlassHopper

      She sounds like an incredible lady. I would hope she’d be welcome here, but she might find herself applying for asylum alongside White Helmet types and get her head chopped off!

  • Trowbridge H. Ford

    Just keep banging on while what’s left of the civilzed world goes down the tubes.

1 4 5 6 7 8

Comments are closed.