timothy snyder on why american democracy needs protecting now

There was an excellent article by Timothy Snyder about the future of American Democracy a couple of days ago, a small part of which is below. lt sums up exactly how l currently feel about the future of the USA, and rather sadly, in a different way, the future of democracy in the UK, the longer the current government stay in power, and continue with their corruption and attempts at voter suppression, with the backing of  the right wing billionaire owned press. It's depressing.

Anyway, Timothy Snyder's thoughts are well worth your time, and you can read the whole article here

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bond street shopper leads the way i the fashion stakes

There's an interesting article in The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood  about Oli Claridge, the last resident remaining in London's rather chic and expensive Bond Street, which you can read here.  

However, what caught my eye in the article was the accompanying photograph below.  Now l'm not a complete idiot, and am aware that money often overrides a lot of flaws, allowing older, unattractive, boring twats to still get themselves power, partners, live by their own laws and avoid prosecution, but for fucks sake, this gentleman is taking the piss sartorially wise!!!

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brexit's stillgoing well

 

adrian phillips letter to keir starmer

An excellent open letter to Keir Starmer by Adrian Phillips in the West England Bylines, that expresses a lot of my feelings but in an eloquent way, unlike my off the cuff idiotic ranting. He puts forward a proposal at the end that would be marvellous if it happened, but there is no way l will be holding my breath for it (and l can hold my breath for a long time). 

Dear Keir,

I am 81. I have always voted Labour, or – since I now live in a Conservative/LibDem marginal – LibDem. I was a strong Remainer. My career has been mainly in public service here and abroad in the environmental sector. Now you know “where I come from”.

The Conservative Party has morphed from a centre right party into the English National Party.  The name has not changed but its core philosophy has altered fundamentally. I get the impression that the Labour Party has not realised the full significance of this. And perhaps the English have been slow to see it – but it is very apparent to people living in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

One thing ought to be clear: the Labour Party cannot be a second English National Party. Waving union flags and beating jingoistic drums (albeit more softly) will never convince those who want the true thing and will embarrass and alienate those who find this kind of gesture nationalism offensive. And yet the government has been able to define this as the playing field upon which you feel you are required to operate.

Stand back and see what is happening to our politics. The government has attacked key institutions and processes that might stand in its way by illegally proroguing Parliament, breaking international law and aiming to roll back judicial review. It is threatening to restrict the rights of democratic protest. It wishes to make it more difficult for marginalised groups to vote (c.f. the Republican Party). It intimidates and undermines the independence of the BBC (as if it did not already have overwhelming and largely uncritical support from the MSM). It is ready to provoke a series of skirmishes in the ‘woke wars’ designed to keep alive the “anti-elite” resentment that played so well for Johnson et al in 2016 and 2019. It is happy to project a mildly delinquent image of the UK on the international stage in the name of sovereignty.

Many see this as the first steps towards a very British kind of fascism, or at least a drift towards a Hungary-style, one-party state. Even if you are reluctant to describe what is happening in those terms, it is clearly a deliberate and sustained assault on many of our tolerant traditions and democratic ways of working. And it is also an attempt to create the conditions in which lies, distortion and corruption go unchallenged and where our leaders use every device to avoid accountability (for COVID errors, for personal failings and policy disasters too numerous to list).

This is not politics as usual, nor can it be addressed through politics as normal.  Given how our electoral system works, the Labour Party can only win power if it responds to the current crisis for British democracy by adopting a radically different way of working which completely re-sets the political landscape. In short, it needs to be bold in a way that it has – sadly – not so far shown an appetite for.

To grasp the political initiative, the  Labour Party should declare that it believes  there is now an unprecedented threat to our democracy which calls for unprecedented measures by all who value our democratic traditions: and that you are therefore inviting all other opposition parties – the Greens, the LibDems, the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Alliance Party, and the Social Democratic and Labour Party – to join Labour in forming an Alliance for Progressive Democracy, to confront the slide into narrow English nationalism.

Such an alliance, would be confined to democracy-related issues and would be an arrangement for the rest of this Parliament only. Basically, it would be a time-limited political truce – rather like the war-time coalition – with three specific aims:

• to join together to confront the Government at every turn in Parliament, in the courts and in other ways when it threatens democratic institutions and processes. It won’t stop it, but it will make the progress of legislation more difficult and controversial.
• to raise public awareness of the threats to our democracy so that it is talked about and properly covered in the MSM and on the BBC. Brexit taught us two things: a matter of marginal interest to most people before 2016 was skilfully manipulated into becoming the defining issue and fault line in UK politics; and not all politics is about bread-and-butter issues. Why wouldn’t a rallying call to ‘Defend our Democracy’ – there’s your three word slogan – achieve comparable success?
• to discuss and seek agreement on the elements of constitutional change we want to see in the UK so that democracy is made safe in future. This may be no more than reaching agreement before the next election on the need for a Royal Commission on a written constitution and on a few principles for a new voting system based on Proportional Representation (PR) rather than First Past the Post (FPTP). Obviously, the pressure for a Scottish referendum will greatly complicate matters, but that is no reason not to explore the common ground with as many of the parties to the alliance as possible.

Just think how such an initiative by this group of parties might alter the political landscape. You would be setting the agenda, not following that of the government. The government would be faced with a combined opposition that would represent 57% of the 2019 vote. Public opinion would be awakened to the real threat to our rights and privileges. Many voters would respond positively to the unusual sight of parties working together. Millions, young people especially, who feel politically homeless at present would have a cause to rally to. And the ground could be laid for a winning alliance at the 2024 election.

Perhaps it is naïve to hope for a bold cross-party initiative like this, but I believe that politics as usual is not up the task of defending democracy against the threats it now faces and that it falls to the party you lead to show a different way forward.

Yours etc.

Adrian Phillips

Ed: Adrian is chair of Cheltenham for Europe.

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and so it strarts - workers rights and priti patel talking crap

As expected, the chipping away at worker's rights begins after Brexit.  As for the people who voted for the omnishambles and are currently complaining about loss of income, jobs, food shortages and having to pay more for transported goods, a lot of Remainers are feeling sorry for them because they feel the Brexit voters were conned.  Those Remainers are better than me, as l have no sympathy, and it's not like they were not warned, so fuck them, the closet and not so closeted right wing, narrow minded, little Britain clutching at 'sovereignty' racists.

OK, there may be exceptions, but l prefer to gloat.  Not admirable, but it passes the time during lockdown, and cheers me up no end

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On a related theme, here's Priti Patel's answer to why the UK has the highest death rate.

And this woman is our Home Secretary.

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trump's gone

 The new Privat Eye.  At long last the orange git has gone, and l really hope the suing of him starts tomorrow.

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the sort of crap the left are up against

 

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political books

If l've been a bit political recently, this recent reading probably hasn't helped.  Then again, with Boris and Trump in power, politics is pretty important.

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the new european trump and the corrupt boris

 

A great cover by The New European. Only a few days to go until the would be dictator is removed, but l expect a lot more violence on the day and many days before then. As a general rule of thumb, right wing fanatical supporters who have been constantly lied to, stoked up, and have ownership of military grade weapons, is not a good thing in the lead up to a democratic inauguration. There's an excellent article about how Qanon type beliefs take hold which l was trying to add here (with no success), but if you are interested (and it is well worth it) ...

Look here

Rather sadly, the future of democracy is looking more fragile every year, and l also apply that to the UK and  Boris Johnson's corrupt money grabbing, two faced government, who have been using the same tactics as Trump, chipping away at democracy with blatant lies and lawbreaking since they gained power, and rather sadly, just at the time we need a strong but fair and compassionate  leadership. The right wing press barons and their apologists have a lot to answer for.

Never mind, we've now got blue passports and happy fish.

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georgia elections official gabriel sterling condemns trump

More of this kind of talk please. Gabriel Sterling slams President Trump for encouraging violence against his team.  It could be argued that as a Republican, he should have spoken out earlier, but at least he is doing it now, and he is right.  Other Republicans and many news outlets are should also back this kind of talk up, but l'm not holding my breath. Trump's deranged rhetoric will end up costing people their lives, but sadly, l don't think he cares, and l also think he probably wants it to end in violence, maybe even to declare a state of emergency as a grab for extended power. Nothing that twat does would surprise me. 

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our glorious leaders

 I take no credit for this, but agree wholeheartedly

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the brexit omnishambles

I've argued the Brexit point before of rich capitalist bastards trying to do away with regulations, but there's an excellent article in The Guardian a couple of days ago that l have just read by George Monbiot that goes deeper.  Here's a part of it, and the full article can be found here.

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donald trump sitting at his tiny desk

I bet this is produced a  flashback for the orange skinned bullying morally bankrupt charlatan when he had to repeat years due to his general ignorance and belief of self importance, against the teacher's revenge for him being a knobhead.

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priti patel and the immigration bill

Great stuff Priti.  So this means that non of us Brits (or Scousers) can work, travel, live or retire freely in the many European countries that we used to be able to.  Well done indeed you glory hunting, smug, dogs arse of a  mouth hobgoblin.  And fuck off if you think l believe you were taken out of context regarding starving the Irish, or that your self satisfied smile during the TV interview a while ago is your normal relaxed facial expression. You're a fucking liar who treats the populace as idiots.  Don't forget to take Cummings,  Gove, Johnson,  Hancock, Raab and all the other fuckwits with you, and don't fucking come back.

And in related news....

Good job they never tried coming here on a boat, as Priti would not have had their best intentions at heart

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cnn's van jones brought to tears as joe biden wins the american election

People who think all politicians are the same and it's a waste of time voting, watch CNN's Van Jones' reaction to Joe Biden's win.  Now the orange turd should just fuck off, but of course he will keep lying and tweeting, further winding up his supporters, but lives could easily be lost through his irresponsible and deranged actions. He should be prosecuted in the future for actions likely to incite violence (amongst many other things), but no doubt he will be pardoned, maybe even by Mike Pence if Trump resigns and Pence takes over, which wouldn't surprise me at all.  Twat. 

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cold war steve on the trump illness

This just made me laugh out loud. A brilliant bit of satire by Cold War Steve on Donald Trump's Covid treatment.

Please don't waste your time asking me about what l hope Trump's outcome will be.

On a related note...

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fred perry wants bugger all to do with the proud boys

 Well done Fred Perry for putting out such a statement. Mindless dickheads wearing their clothes who are violent racist bastards must really piss them off.

I might even wear one of my (many)  Fred Perry tops to work today as a (pointless) gesture of support 

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fines for breaking isolation rules, and don't buy wren kitchens

 So the latest magnificent idea from our glorious government is to issue fines of up to £10,000 for those that are tested positive for Covid and break the isolation rules

Now call me an old cynic, but won't this just stop people taking the tests so they don't have to self isolate, therefore cutting down on the demand?  Remember - It's up to everyone to follow the rules.

However, this comes to mind

What a bunch of twats. And speaking of which.....(From Private Eye)

There you have it. Malcolm Healey - another twat.

DON'T BUY WREN KITCHENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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marina hyde on dido harding

 Credit where it's due - This is a magnificent piece by Marinda Hyde on Dido Harding in The Guardian 

Do you remember Ye Olde Operation Moonshotte, an ancient promise by the elders of this government to test 10 million people a day? My apologies for the leading question. There are absent-minded goldfish who remember that figure, given it was announced by Boris Johnson’s government barely three seconds ago. The only representative of the animal, vegetable and possibly mineral kingdoms who doesn’t remember it is the prime minister himself, who on Wednesday told a committee asking him about it: “I don’t recognise the figure you have just given.” Like me, you probably feel grateful to be governed by a guy whose approach to unwanted questions is basically, “New phone, who dis?”

Like me, you will be reassured by Matt Hancock’s plan to throw another “protective ring” around care homes. What’s not to fear about a Matt Hancock ring, easily the most dangerous ring in history, including Sauron’s Ring of Power.

Like me, you are probably impressed that the government is ordering you to snitch on your neighbours for having seven people in their garden, while whichever Serco genius is running testing as a Dadaist performance piece about human futility gets to live in the witness protection programme. Shitness protection programme, whatever.

Speaking of which, like me, you probably feel relaxed to learn that Chris Grayling, who notably awarded a ferry contract to a firm with no ferries, is now to be paid £100,000 a year for seven hours work a week advising a ports company. When I read this story I imagined his aides pulling a hammer-wielding Grayling off the pulped corpse of Satire, going: “Jesus, Chris! Leave it – it’s already dead! We need to get out of here!”

Elsewhere, testing supremo Dido Harding has surfaced in parliament. It was starting to feel like we’d see Avatar II in theatres before we saw Dido front up to explain this mushrooming fiasco. Her last appearance before a select committee was as head of TalkTalk – after two teenage boys hacked the network, resulting in 157,000 people having their personal details stolen. When she was appointed to head up the test and trace programme, Hancock explained he “can’t think of anyone better than Dido”. Then take another five seconds, Matt. Off the top of my head I can come up with Baroness Gemma Collins of Towie, and Grandmaster Glitch from the Go Jetters.

Still, here she comes again – Dido Queen of Carnage, on hand to gloss the havoc. As she put it: “I don’t think anybody was expecting to see the really sizeable increase in demand that we’ve seen over the course of the last few weeks.” But Dido: they literally were.

At least Harding is visible. Huge amounts of the malfunctioning system are now being run – badly – by unaccountable figures. Take firms like Deloitte, which ran logistics at the testing site at what we might call Chessington World of Misadventures. Hospitals felt forced to ask to take it over after the results of NHS staff were serially lost or misdirected. The pile of 2020 sentences I never expected to type is now Earth’s tallest structure, but let’s add another one: “NHS commandeers Vampire Ride from accountancy firm charged with controlling spread of deadly pandemic.” (Seriously, stick a fork in me. I’m done.)

While Harding was defending the barely functional testing system, Jacob Rees-Mogg was telling the Commons that “instead of this endless carping saying it’s difficult to get [tests], we should be celebrating this phenomenal success of the British nation”. To which the only possible reply is four-lettered.

His own ma and pa clearly hopelessly overindulged Jacob Rees-Mogg, but millions of other parents just will not feel minded to take it from this rejected Charlie and the Chocolate Factory character. If there were any justice, Jacob would have been stretched into a mile-long liquorice lace by vigilante Oompa-Loompas as they sang one of their trademark cautionary songs.

Instead, he is somehow leader of the House of Commons. There, he speaks of what ordinary people “should” be doing – with the air of a man who knows that if any of the Mogg progeny are sent home from school with a possible Covid symptom, it’s not going to be him taking time off work to homeschool them and wait for a test spot to open up in Manchester a week on Friday.

There is zero uncertainty about childcare and loss of earnings in the Rees-Mogg household, where even the adults still have nannies. (At the age of 51, Jacob retains the live-in childcare professional who was – formerly? – responsible for wiping his backside.)

Yet again, the overriding impression is of a government run by men for whom the domestic sphere is a mystery they have no wish to get to the bottom of. One of them driving hundreds of miles to Durham – just in case he got ill and still had to do his own childcare – sounds, to the other guys, like a totally reasonable thing to have done. Meanwhile the big boss fails to be meaningfully involved in the lives of between 17% and 29% of his children (awaiting full data). If you can be persuaded it’s normal to drive a 60-mile round trip with a child in the car to test your eyesight, then naturally you believe parents should think it fine to stick a five-year-old in their own vehicle and travel 400 miles to obtain what’s necessary to get the child back to school and them back to work.

Either way, of course a government run by weirdo elitists didn’t reflexively foresee that September – back to school, back to offices – was going to mean a huge surge in testing demand. This is the trouble when “hardworking families” is merely a demographic you wish to appeal to, as opposed to who you are. Real-life “hardworking families” could have told you in a heartbeat that September was the main event. THEY could have predicted it. Because unless someone else does it all for you, huge amounts of parenting are about thinking ahead, planning, creating yet another routine that keeps the whole precarious show on the road – the endless foresight of it all.

Only this week Dominic Cummings was pictured slouching through the Downing Street gates carrying some archive letter written by US general Bernard Shriever, pushing for continued investment in ballistic weapons technology. Cummings should hang around the school gates instead, where any amount of mothers who’ve seen all this shit before and didn’t have time for it back then would be able to enlighten him in the simplest possible terms. Namely: Hey squidbrain, I’ve got some “data” for you! Mind if I “special advise” you with it, only I don’t have a window to put it in a 20,000-word blog? OK, here goes: I don’t WANT you to build me a fricking missile defence shield, I don’t CARE about the Manhattan Project, I think all your reading recommendations REEK of the business section of the airport bookshop, and I’m NOT going to be accused of “carping” by guys who’d have a nervo if they had to change a nappy.

You know what I want? A SWAB WITHIN A THIRTY-MILE RADIUS, YESTERDAY. Now spad THAT, genius.

• Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

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new cold war steve

 An update of a famous old photograph by Cold War Steve. Sad that it is still so pertinent

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