大象传媒

I'd rather not to have experienced the second part of the eighties and it pains me to be reminded of them day in and day out. I must have made quite a big impact or is it just a dog competition?

Lord Croquet Prescott talking to Zac Goldsmith:

"It might be down to some of your mates who are bankers. It is the bankers who buggered up the economy and everyone realised that started in America."

So one it was New Labour that went large on the financial sector and set up the arrangements for regulation that did not work. Two the UK was not far behind the US banks and Tony Blair helped set up the situation with the insistence on light touch regulation and a toothless FSA. Three said Blair now works for the banks and Labour seemed to employ most bored million bankers as advisers. Four if it started in the US then it was an American problem and not the "unique global economic phenomenon" that was just like the Wall St Crash - yet in fact the UK banks were heavily involved in taking up the toxic debt. They wanted risk and they got it as they say.

Finally most people don't see it as Labour do - that they were the economic saviours of the world - hence their share of the vote and Prescott's views don't tally with Gordon Brown's view that there should have been more regulation and they did not get it all right.

The utter cynicism and spin of Labour won't be changed overnight if ever.

I am very happy that Newsnight is running the piece on the future of oil. Hopefully they can tease out the discrepancy between the fact that we are approaching a shortfall and all of the noises we hear from those responsible for projections and oil companies and governments is that there is no problem.

Beyond Petroleum BP may have something of a carryover problem image wise as things stand particularly if these submerged plumes of oil are as staggeringly big as some fear and travel and take a long time to break down.

Despite the cuts that are inevitable I hope that the coalition live up to their rhetoric on renewable technologies and get things moving as we need energy security and to cut the carbon emissions.

One area I am concerned about is whether new biofuels - that I am generally against due to food price impacts on the global poor - could be a stop gap for the military in a future crisis.

Forgot to say that the Green Howards piece was excellent and really brought home the visible strains and sacrifices of the soldiers and the less visible strains on the families who have to worry about their heroes serving the nation.

Although I believe in the merits of the Afghan war and I don't believe the Talibs and al Qaeda would cease their assault on Westerners and Muslims who did not share their views it can't go on forever.

But I assume that is not lost on Obama and McChrystal.

Forget peak oil.. what about peak economic development in G7 nations.

We can not grow any more, nor should we try against abackground of diminishing returns of human happiness from the current level of mechanisation and technology we enjoy.

We can not possibly consume enough to continue to 'grow' without becomming some grotesque obese super slob sat atop a mountain of rubbish imported from abroad.

There must be another way, there is another way and it is good, but it never breaks through into the mainstream to form part of the general public perception of the situation we are in .... I wonder why that is?

On Iran has there been any movement to control the border area in Afghanistan where so many munitions seem to be coming in that probably go to making up the IED's?

On the nuclear front Russia seems to have been blowing hot and cold on sanctions and you have to wonder how realistically they can impress upon the Iranian leadership that if you were to own nuclear weapons whilst making very nasty noises about Israel and the West then you create a hair trigger situation.

POLITICAL NON-THINK ABOUNDS (PMQs and Daily Politics)

Britain indulges in elective warfare (aka HUNTING Johnnie foreigner) carried out by mercenaries 'doing the job they love' - not in the name of a majority of Brits - while Brian May (!) agonises over FOX HUNTING and Dave MUTTERS at the Despatch Box (hoping to go unheard) "and I supported it". Dave and Harriet named our dead.

Regarding that other killing, Dave inferred that only madmen kill people they don't like - wholesale ("should consider mental health of gunmen"). Spot the inference. Might the term 'Redcoats' draw fox-hunting and elective war under one aegis?

Oh - it's all going terribly well.

"And we will be asking what is our "folk memory" of the 1980s and why does it continue to influence our culture and politics to such a degree?"

When the 大象传媒 broadcasts programmes about the 60s and 70s they only ever interview with people who were babies, toddlers or unborn at the time. Its a policy that ensures the programmes are hilarious for their historical inaccuracy. I hope Newsnight will be following in this tradition by only asking for the views of people who were born post-1985.

On the West Bank I would be happy to see economic progress for the ordinary people. I believe in a two state solution with 1967 borders.

Perhaps science and genetics may one day offer a way forward in that quest for long term peace.

If you have two peoples who both believe totally that "they" own the land then there is trouble.

But I seem to recall from years back there was some study about the possibility of smart biological weapons being used against Israel on a racial basis. But the study found that in fact the Palestinians and the Israeli's were far more similar than expected and so in fact there was no prospect of there being any such weapon.

Just as science has shown us where the human race originated from and how it expanded around the world perhaps it may show that in fact in the Middle East they are essentially the same family and not as distinct and unfriendly rivals.

yippee, just hear Diane Abbott has made it on to the short list for the Labour leadership so it is not all about Oxbridge types ending with the name Milliband and we can have a semblence of a real contest. We need a woman on the ticket and a voice of the left...like I said...yipppeeee

'Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said President Barack Obama's acknowledgment that he hasn't directly spoken to BP's chief executive shows it "bodes well to have some sort of executive experience before occupying the Oval Office."'

Err, yeah ... Palin would be the one that quit as Alaskan Governor as only a dead fish would go with the flow.

I wonder whether Obama has taken up any Palin ideas like having staff available to "open the bottled water at the appropriate time" on the Lear jets. Is that the executive way these days?

I am surprised that the odious Nick Grifin of the BNP has signalled that he would step down in three years as he had "too much baggage" - like Holocaust Denial and praise for Hitler and so on and so on and survived.

In my world that shows that he is a lame duck and if there have been many internal party disputes and I believe Collett, who was arrested for threatening to kill his party leader in a "palace coup", is not off the hook. So you would have expected some shark to see the weak Griffin struggling in the water and decided not to wait for three years.

But then again I suppose Griffin controls those Euro expenses and they must be pretty broke after losing all of those deposits.

Plus they probably have costs to deal with with regard to the EHRC and their failure to comply over non-racial membership rules.

You can see why Griffin wants to use his "expertise" more in Europe. Better expenses and the people don't really know what he is about.

#10 'er Stevie I think you're insulting Diane, she is a Cambridge graduate , in fact Newnham College which I understand is difficult to get into, especially back then.

I also remember her sending her son to private school, hhhmm very socialist.

If you read Wikki which I'd forgotten about, she was very rude about Finnish nurses. Now I wonder why we don't have the same problem with all our overseas nurses in the NHS?

star chamber or a thinly disguised dragons den format? tedious. maybe the bbc needs a few cuts?

south africa

its pretty clear kiss means kill. notice what happens at the end with the fingers and the gun sounds.

#5 Jericoa

That'll do nicely. Though could we add the destruction of the ecological life support systems of the planet to your 'diminishing returns of human happiness...'

Folk memories of the 1980s?

At that time I had three young children, I remember being very hard up, loads of money didn't come into it. Child benefit didn't keep up with inflation, and then it was frozen, it was also very low compared to nowadays.

And then there were the very high interest rates, wonderful for savers, but murder for mortgages. Culminating in the 90s at 15%, I wonder how people would cope now with such outrageous rates?

Life was wonderful if you were young, single and worked in the city, but not much fun for the rest of the population.

#13 Ecolizzy

And who is Godfather to her son?
So it says here
See family

re south africa: solution is what zimbo should have done - change companies into cooperatives. Nationalisation in the hands of political ideologues usually means the wealth from such nationalised companies flows into the hands of the now controlling politicians.

both sides have to shoulder much of the blame for post-apartheid SA. Btw, one thing from your report - yes, many SA white men are not living in SA - but that is to a large degree simply because they want to see the rest of the world, and post-sanctions they now can.

btw, changed to current name because gnuneo was PBed by the mods. Its my first new nom-de-net for 7 or more years*, and i quite like it. ::wub:

can anyone now remember a single word that the new LibDem Treasury Press Officer said last night? Sir Humphrey would probably have offered him a (higher paid!) post in the Civil Service for his performance last night. We see the truth of this current ironically labelled 'govt' now.

Iran.

i see the bias continues. How can the UN be serious if its not consistent? UN is a waste of time.

ecolizzy - Its true that interest rates were high - 17% in our case - but happily our house had suddenly increased fivefold in value so we flogged it and bought another one for cash.

HISTRIONICS R US - APPARENTLY

The Moral Maze tonight will investigate Britain's descent into OTT behaviours. As Melanie Phillips winds herself into yet another frenzy over yet another imagined affront, will they notice the irony? I do hope not.

What a convenient 鈥榳ithdrawal鈥�!

Tokenism, blatant, or what!

(At least something on Thursdays will be a bit more watchable!)

When will it ever end i.e. a person being regarded purely on merit not their gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation?

Now there鈥檚 a thought!

Incessant, patronising, obsessive, devout adherence to every whim of the PC brigade was, for the large part, responsible for the inevitable downfall of the last Government and yet, still, the likes of Ms Her-own-man with the (half-baked) half female Shadow Cabinet - and others - cannot see, nor accept, that people want to be treated as equals and 鈥榚levated鈥� on their own talents!

Maybe - under the guise of working 鈥� in the best interests of the nation鈥� - it鈥檚 time to cut large parts of the EHRC ( exemptions being the elderly and less abled ) and save an absolute, and wasted, fortune?

Just think of the financial 鈥榮tack-up鈥� effect in government department and local authority budgets! Then think of the 鈥榗ulture trickle-down鈥�! No 鈥楧iversity Officers鈥�, no language translation costs, no 鈥楽outh Rinekistan Rope Knitting Society鈥� subsidies! The savings would be enormous, might even clear the debt faster!


And .... Oh yes!

Nice to see HMG is starting the process of giving 鈥榩ower back to the people鈥�!

Oops! Error on my interpretation .... That should read .....

Nice to see HMG is starting the process of giving 鈥榩ower back to the people' whom can afford to benefit the most at the expense of those that can do the least about it鈥�!

ORWELLIAN EU RESOLUTIONS

"All resolutions are applicable, but some are more applicable than others."

What is it about politicians that makes them impervious to looking a part? (anag.) So much of their posturing is unsustainable, except by gall and bluster.

In passing, I think I heard someone advise the Westminster Mob NOT TO CONTINUE TO CALL THEMSELVES 'HONOURABLE'. They went right on, of course, but doesn't it sound hollow!

Oh - it's all going terribly well.

#18

Mindys_Housemate

Do you mean you share the house with Mandy or are you one of the 'occupiers' of some other 'house' that you like to 'share'?

I wonder also whether the house has both the front and rear entrances, and if so, which one do you prefer to use?

re sanction on Iran:




odd thing was, reading this if the word "Iran" has been replaced with "Israel", then it would have all made sense.

which of the two have a history of bloody invasions of its neighbours? Which of the two has attempted to sell nuclear technology to States that were internationally isolated, pariah nations who would have used them against their own civilian populations? Which of the two has COMPLETELY ignored repeated UN resolutions on its behaviour?

which of the two recently attacked a peace aid convoy, illegally, on the High Seas, murdering many of the activists?

which of the two openly uses assassination as a tool of 'State-Craft'?

which of the two have been threatening regional cities with its WMD, including European cities within range of its missiles?


which of the two has oil-reserves that US neo-cons are eyeing to invade and occupy??

russia/china - if you imagine ANY Iranian oil would flow to you after a US backed invasion, - i do have a London Bridge that you can buy very very cheaply...!!


an attack upon Iran, either by the US war-hawks or their proxy Israel (which MUST bring in the US to "prevent a counter-strike") would utterly destroy the current global trading system, as well as spark a general conflagration across the entire ME. It could only be considered by complete lunatics, or else religious fanatics who believe they are soon to achieve "rapture". The same thing, basically. There are some in the West who appear to be living dangerously in the Age of European Empires, Iran is not just some backwater, sandy desert.

THESE are the people who America are currently threatening:

Oils well that ends well!

I timely reminder for those yet to have seen the link:



Rob Newman's History of Oil. A potted history of the 20th Century using a consumate blend of energy, economics and political posturing. Highly informative and entertaining. I wonder if NN will live up to this standard?

#26: i *totally* second that recommendation, haven't seen it for years, but i remember he puts a great deal quite succinctly. I remember the first place the UK send soldiers to at the beginning of the War...

one of the best history lessons i can ever remember! :)

@Stevie... are you trying to imply that Dianne Abbott is not an oxbridge graduate?? Or are you just making ignorant assumptions?

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

Peak oil is irrelevant - even if we find it, we can't burn it - calculate how many cubic meters of CO2 would be released if we burned the oil companies estimates of reserves - if we burned it would we have a livable in planet? - no - so we can't burn it - we must stop thinking we can and find alternatives now.

Regarding Peak Oil.

Within the next few years the price will be out of reach for all but the wealthiest and elite classes around the globe.

We have probably already passed a significant milestone in the post 'gold standard' petro-economy. That point is known by economists as 'Peak Oil'.

Essentially when that point was reached, the world entered an era where the demand for and production of oil exceeded the volumes of newly discovered reserves.

Over time this problem will be compounded due to emerging market countries insatiable demand for energy.

It took 200 million years for the sun to convert carbon to plant and animal waste and subsequently to oil. It has taken just over 100 years for cars etc to reach the 'Peak Oil' point with a relatively gentle upward demand slope and a steep new reserves curve.

Looking at the numbers now, 10 years is actually optimistic regarding the affordability of the remaining reserves.

As we are probably as greedy as our parents and grandparents, I don't hold out much hope for an alternative scenario to emerge.

Diane Abbot what ROT nulabour got my kids in2 this MESS
how can you spend money you havnt got, basic housekeeping skills easy init

I dont pay tax its A Muggs Game, Do I Feel Guilty MMM NO

So, tonight's article on "peak oil" was yet another example of unjoined-up reporting, where the implications for global warming of further extraction and burning of fossil fuels were completely ignored. I can believe that economics "editors" and environment "editors" either don't speak to one another or speak different languages, but surely front-line presenters like Jeremy Paxman cannot fail to see the connections. Or can they?

Peak oil has at last been featured in an article on Newsnight, and is at this time the same as was climate change in the eighties. Mostly ignored and scoffed at.
Yet as the expanding human populace all want to have lifestyles like ours, a peaking of oil is certain, afterall the planet isn't growing as is our population.
Governments, citizens, economists, business people .. wake up because we cannot function without it now and must develop ways to live with less of it soon.
The global banking crisis is not as serious as peak oil could become if it is ignored much longer.

---TO ATTACK AN IRANIAN SHIP ON THE HIGH SEAS WHEN ITS GOVT DOES NOT RECOGNISE THE LEGAL RIGHT OF THE BLOCKADE IS A DIRECT ACT OF WAR BETWEEN NATIONS.

this is called a 'Causus Belli', and is an *old* method of causing a war - imagine the peace activists had had a war fleet to defend their aid convoy with - what would have happened *then*?!

it is insane the Chinese have agreed to this. Let alone the Russians, who have the very real possibility of radiation clouds over its territory if they DO allow a war to begin and progress. And consider the incredible numbers of possible refugees if their advanced neighbour to the South is destroyed.

the Americans may not give a [bleep], but the Russians and Chinese should have incredible doubts about allowing a sanction regime that can ONLY lead to war with the Iranian Govt. Ahmedinadjad is a complete fruitcake, and there is no doubt that the 'Republican Guards' are the equivalent of America's Military Industrial Complex, but the consequences of military action upon Iran dwarf even the worst possible threat from them.

Na-Nu, Na-nu

The 80鈥檚 and me.
The 70鈥檚 ended for me with an annus horribilis or two. In the 80鈥檚 I was entering my third decade. I found:

鈥� who I was
鈥� An amazing mentor
鈥� Opportunities and adventure
鈥� Loss and love and loss and love Actually!
鈥� Running away was fun
鈥� Running away from running away (coming back) was hard but good
鈥� Karen Carpenter鈥檚 death harrowing
鈥� Local Hero delightful
鈥� Music lightweight
鈥� Fashion fashionable and powerful
鈥� Settling down desirable and possible
鈥� Contentment comfortable
鈥� Getting on the housing ladder 鈥� achievable
鈥� Having anything left 鈥� increasingly impossible
鈥� The meaning of life, the universe and having children 鈥� incomprehensibly wonderful
鈥� My hairdresser made clothes for Boy George

鈥�...... why does it continue to influence our culture and politics to such a degree?"

Because:

鈥� It is still recent living history for the 50 somethings
鈥� It was a seed change
鈥� It was long term application of what began post war, grew in the 60鈥檚.
o Choice 鈥� Opportunity 鈥� Selfishness 鈥� Colour - Removal of restrictions - Mass media piped into our homes from every corner of the globe every moment of the day - The rise and rise of the Cult of the individual, the self, the media, celebrity (15 minutes of fame)

Was it so different from any other decade/era? It all depended on your age, stage of life and situation. I was a responsible, reasonably educated lower middle class working girl (NO, not that sort) . I worked hard, lived simply, got by, didn鈥檛 get rich but neither did I get poor. I knew some at either end of the diverse spectrum. Piggy in the middle.



The Damned (Leeds) United. Sure I read somewhere that JP is an LUFC supporter. I share a home with three of that breed. Norman DOES bite your legs - oops, that鈥檚 the 70鈥檚!). I occasionally make my presence felt by whistling 鈥楤lue is the Colour鈥� when they get carried away. Revie was revered in the 鈥楾hing鈥� household. Strong personal connections.

Nurse is bringing my medication and making me lay down my rose tinted beside the bed. Aw, Shazbot!

So Long, and thanks for all the fish!

#36

While mine, Brightyangthing, despite all the imposed misery continuing till the present moments, still, was a discovery. Twenty years on or so, narrow laws are being broken, global impact made, modern communication evolving without loss of soulful humanity, and musical ice exploration continuing to assume new flights of fancy.

I fell into a blissful sleep on the grass by Watts' Horseman this morning only to be woken up by drops of rain falling on me and my bags and, afterwards did make it to the ice rink, though did consider giving up this particular activity faor the day, and somehow managed to transform the earlier tears into 'icy' tenderness and rhythmical elevation.

mim

P.S. Talking about fish, BYT, I had fish for supper tonight and enjoyed watching the inimitable Jeremy, as per Diane Abbot, afterwards.

Off Topic but I just HAVE to share this.

BEAUROCRACY GONE MAD.

I have just had to complete (took me almost 4 hours including referring to other professionals) a risk assessment form to enable 10 or 12 pupils aged 13/14 from local school come to a free one hour 鈥楪irls Allowed鈥� taster session at a local tennis club.

I had to fill it in, provide copies of all disclosures, licences the teacher bringing them had to fill it in, our coach had to fill it in, a head of dept/management team at the school had to fill it in and it had to be signed off by a member of local Council.

Assuming that my hourly rate (ha ha) is the lowest of them all, I can guestimate that the paperwork to enable this activity to go ahead has cost not less than 拢30 per attendee.

Doh! Drat! Shazbot!

Oh, and in order to provide the hour, I will also have to give approximately 1.5 hrs of my time free as an on court assistant. Risk of laughing themselves to death is NOT on the form!

Big Society lives!

It took me several minutes to get over the fit of hysterics over action to take should a participant suffer from sunstroke!!!!!!!!!!!

on council houses in the 80s: actually, what *really* happened was that the BANKS came to own the property, and the residents paid money to *them* to buy them - this is called a "mortgage", its a fairly familiar term to most i believe. SO Thatcher did NOT spread "home ownership" - she removed the ownership of housing from Councils to the Bank(sters). By the by, the Tories back then also prevented the income from the sale being used to build new council housing. The end result, with the crash from the 80s housing bubble, was that the banks were able to foreclose on over-valued mortgages, acquiring properties at knock-down prices, after having former tenants pay *them* for living there at higher rates than they had previously paid the council's rent!



----


the woman on about the 80s - lol, what she is describing, probably unwittingly, is the cultural switch from monochrome amphetamine, to chroma-chrome cocaine. :)

people in the 90s, who were 'on the edge' in that decade, felt there was a shift from chroma-chrome to psychedelic - the switch was from cocaine use to MDMA use - or largely pure ecstasy pills.

--lol, even those not 'in the wave' would feel that cultural impact, as the music, fashions etc would follow the pattern. Not *everyone* takes the milieu drug to be in the decade's cultural pattern!! ;D

#38:

Mindy's_Housemate calling Jeremy... Mindy's_Housemate calling Jeremy... Come in Jeremmmmyyyyyy...


"why do humans put so many obstacles in their own way, you fattest of the rolliness?"

"WHY MINDY'S_HOUSEMATE, DO YOU NOT ALSO???"

"...! that is not fair, your Holy Polyiness, i am here to observe!!"

"NONETHELESS, IT IS ALSO TRUE OF YOU. PERHAPS YOU ARE REVEALING YOUR HUMANITY???"

"heck... maybe i should rewatch more of the show???"

--- I can *guarantee* my kids (if i ever have any) will watch this show!!! xx


na-nu na-nu..? lol ;)
brighty, xxx


regarding peak oil, an old (but still good) documentary on the topic is "End of Suburbia" (couldn't find a good link, torrent??)

[!!just before posting this, the song by KT Turnstall 'Suddenly i see" started playing on random (over 1400 playlist)!!! :D "Sweet"!!! 鈾�

brighty: just started rereading "so long..." - read it before, but can't remember it... hope it has a good ending!!! :D :/ xx

I was wondering why Jeremy was given only 3 newspapers at the end of Newsnight last night. Is is the 大象传媒 getting mean or was it something to do with a mean person making a symbolic statemebt?

Mindy_Housemate!!!xx - do you know anything about it?? - continuing the 80-ies, are you??

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

1980's
Economy -
Generally I had a great time ,I was . During college , a rather pointless course I must admit, I had a weekend job at a burger restaurant , no I never progressed up to flipping burgers , I mopped the floors, but it paid enough to fund my Friday and Saturday nights out.

The only time I needed to sign on was between leaving college and getting on a YTS scheme, I was very lucky with my placement and after that ended I got a proper paying job, based on those newly acquired skills.

Political Philosophy -

Context of Mrs T's "No such thing a society"
quote -


鈥淭hey are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there鈥檚 no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours.鈥�

She attacked again and again, because like Locke, Rousseau, Jefferson and all the great champions of liberal democracy, she recognised that a paternalist government, based on the benevolence of a ruler who treats his subjects as dependent children, is the greatest conceivable despotism which destroys all their freedoms (aka socialism).

The socialists have never forgiven Mrs T for the drubbing she gave them, and at that time, some of them were very upset that it was a woman that gave them such a drubbing.

The Iron Lady Rocked !

For the sake of history, I'd like to repeat a suspicion, db has a mate in a high place at the 大象传媒, never mind others who may have gone off him by now, however, with jealousy, greed and revenge being their main motives.

Mindys_Housemate - you should have been cleverer at 'reading signs'.

#44

Steve_London

But now a Muscle/Synapse female has emerged, grateful to Maggie for helping POLAND and so many other East European countries becoming FREE again and she can rock & roll like nobody's business.

Is db planning 'the last dance' with her, I wonder, and is he still 'barcling' you know what?

M

Brightyangthing

Having just done some vigorous belly exercises and a challenging day ahead, I think I shall withdraw for a snooze for a while with plans for more belly exercises before setting off into the sunshine.

mim

#41: read it, ::struck dumb:: 鈾�

#44: steve-london

"鈥淭hey are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there鈥檚 no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours.鈥�

She attacked socialism again and again, because like Locke, Rousseau, Jefferson and all the great champions of liberal democracy, she recognised that a paternalist government, based on the benevolence of a ruler who treats his subjects as dependent children, is the greatest conceivable despotism which destroys all their freedoms (aka socialism)."

steve, the simple use of the word "democracy" immediately brings into being "society". If a village gets together and organises that each pay an amount to install street-lighting and maintain it - then that is tax, and a community. It is politics, it is a society.

taxes are money that the community, whether village, city, region or country, has decided it is beneficial for all to take part in. The costs, for instance, of refusing to pay for decent education for children of the poorer members of the community, are not only the almost inevitable crime that comes from the palpable lack of future for them when they reach adulthood, but also the 'loss of potential' - what could those children/adults have thought, have created, have invented had they had been given a decent chance in Life? To pay for their education, is not a cost, but an investment. An extra well-trained teacher early on, can save police and prison guards later. A wise community looks to the future, and builds accordingly.

to create a universal Health Service, another use of taxes from the community, allowed health coverage to ALL - whilst costing very little more (due to cutting out the profiteering from the system) than the previous coverage only for the wealthy. And again, this represents a saving mid to long term by the Community. To set someone bones means they can work again later. To check their teeth, is to prevent losing hundreds of working hours due to later agony. To give eye-tests, is to enormously improve efficiency, safety and productivity.

and again, - most wise members of a community will realise that providing basic income to a family that has fallen on hard times, perhaps due to unemployment, is in the mid to ling term *completely* in the Communities interest - after all, it could be *them*, or their children, or their grandchildren next...

this here is the essence of Society.

there is no requirement from that to going towards a paternalistic society (or maternalistic?), in the sense of reduction of Civil Liberties.


what Thatcher was referring to, cunningly, and deliberately, was the destruction OF the very notion i was just referring to - that individuals within a Community, will voluntarily come together and organise for the benefit of the Community. Thatcher attacked civil society everywhere she could, she destroyed local working class communities (miners, manufacturing), she forced councils to sell their housing stock reserved for the neediest, she eroded the notion that vital sectors of the economy should have national stake-holding, she attacked cooperatives, including the milk providers, she attacked and criminalised ancient squatting rights, she EVEN created new laws to prevent community organised free parties!!

she did everything she could to prevent the notions of individuals acting together freely, she not only proclaimed the "End of Society", she did everything in her power to make that come about.

she, and the post 'Thatcherite Revolution' Tories (and sub-set nuLabour), have been the worst blight on the UK for centuries.

...imho. ;)

diane is labour's boris. it would be a laugh if she won.

#47

Re: gambling with life, not only one's own but those of others

One gets what one deserves!!

Were you hoping for a free party in the early hours of this morning or blowing out your chances for any kind of recovery even further away? It looks like it's far too late to indulge in picking up debris from the floor. Personally, I wouldn't bother any more asking kiddies to pick imaginary bits up from ice. They might as well learn a bit of twirling, they love it!!!!

#46 update

Brightyangthing

I was successful at snoozing and woke up at approximately 7.40 am feeling so bright & creative that went on to fruity colour improvisation which I've recorded on my iPhone camera.

Hope you have a lovely day today, BYT

mim xxxx

Just one more thing, BYT, before I start getting ready to jump on my bike.

We've exchanged recently a few quotes about relaxation and the pleasures of living in the present and have just had an idea about looking up a few in Cervantes' 'Don Quixote'. Although I do not have enough time to read them all now, I was particularly struck by 'The pen is the tongue of the mind'. Good, isn't it?

Anyway, here's the link, a mine of wisdoms, it seems:

Conflicting memories of the 1980's? That was the entire point of the decade! If you had the luck to be in the right place, or the greed and ruthlessness to put yourself there, loadsamoney was yours. On the other hand, if you lived in a community that was marked for destruction or did some worthwhile work that wasn't immediately making someone very very rich, too bad for you.

Best analogy for the 80's - Edgar Allen Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death". The chosen few having a wild, unending party (somewhat spoiled by enduring the capricious sadism of their lord and master)in a castle under seige from the plague victims outside. Of course, at the end of that story, the plague found its way into the castle and killed the revellers - let's hope that isn't what happened in 2008.

'8. At 1:18pm on 09 Jun 2010, MaggieL wrote:
Its a policy that ensures the programmes are hilarious for their historical inaccuracy.

So much can be done even prior to the cameras rolling to assist what can still be solved in post in the edit suite.

Risible 'what people [we've chosen] are saying' vox pops are now a fundamental part of our 'opinion as reporting'/'pr as news' media culture.

80s brought in market fundamentalism. new labour entrenched it through immigration, non regulation and pfi. Breaking society to make wealth was seen as a price worth paying. Now we have neither society nor wealth and have gone from a country that could leave homes/cars unlocked to spending billions a year on internal security.

people sneer at the need for skill in philosophy but look at what happens to a country unskilled in it. Salepersons with all sorts of bad ideas and false beliefs find a ready market to fill the vacumm.

the essential question is 'if the good is the highest idea of the mind what follows'. People skilled in this question are harder to deceive or trick with the fools gold of bad ideas.

Fraud, Banks and Jerome Kerviel:



Onet.pl gave the above story the title of a rhetorical sort, re: 'Fraud of the Century?', while I'm telling you, 'You haven't seen anything yet'.

M

Good programme, particularly the items re. oil and the return of 80's austerity.

I worry about my young children. Oil availability underpins every aspect of life in 'developed' countries. I don't see enough happening to develop an alternative energy source or a social 'metabolism' which can function healthily without it. I expect huge socio-political problems in my children's lifetimes as a result. Unacceptable.

Peace's "fractured Britain" is an understatement. Our political parties do not have the collective wit or inclination to tackle the banks; either domestically or globally(hence there was no party I could even vote for). The prols in Britain remain inert, again paying the price for the 90s feast of the bankers, fat cats and polititians. Pub Landlord's "broken Britain" is more the case. Unacceptable

It may turn out just to be lip service, but Obama seems to have inherited a similar mess - and seems at least to be rooting out the right 'asses to kick'; with no deference to the bankers, oil bosses or ruling classes. It will be impressive if he sees this through to the bitter end. Our polititians wouldn't even consider challenging these people. Unacceptable

So, on best judgements we can expect the price of oil to start going through the roof somewhere between 2015 and 2025? No problem, because we have all the long term policies in place which will allow us to cope:

We're extending our rail system, and building new electrical generation capacity based on non-fossil sources.

Our education policy ensures most people are in walking distance of a good school for their children.

We're encouraging dispersed retail in the town centres and housing estates, rather than out of town megastores.

Our private sector has lots of dispersed enterprises offering high quality jobs with minimal travel to work, while IT has allowed large numbers to work from home, and

We have efficient, integrated public transport which is the envy of our european neighbours.

Or perhaps we don't.

#57

i.e. 'pimpy prostution' going/coming through the roof?