Friday 22 July 2016

[gilsey]

Question, can anyone in the last 6 odd years think of anything good happening politically, socially, that feeling oh-so-fleeting feeling of good being done, justice being served, Hillsborough is the only thing to my tired mind I can think of.

I did blub when Wales beat Belguim to reach the semi finals the other week, but that was partly maudlin and part happiness, people no longer here who I once followed Wales with. Struggling to think back of anything actually good happening, probably the same the world over, or maybe I'm being a grump coming off nights with three more to come..

Hard to think of anything that hasn't been wiped away by the 2015 GE and Brexit. The 2012 local elections and, for me particularly, Southampton council going from Tory control to Labour (which it held on to in 2016) was great, but then Southampton Itchen lost its Labour MP and voted Leave...

Olympics?

I can remember being appalled when London was awarded the games, but it turned out to be perfectly timed wrt the financial crisis, capital expenditure that even Gidiot couldn't postpone. And then a good time was had by all.

[fedup59]

Question, can anyone in the last 6 odd years think of anything good happening politically, socially, that feeling oh-so-fleeting feeling of good being done, justice being served, Hillsborough is the only thing to my tired mind I can think of.

I did blub when Wales beat Belguim to reach the semi finals the other week, but that was partly maudlin and part happiness, people no longer here who I once followed Wales with. Struggling to think back of anything actually good happening, probably the same the world over, or maybe I'm being a grump coming off nights with three more to come..

I had a sense of satisfaction at the No in the Indy ref, tempered by some family disappointment from the other side(in the end we were 3-3 so didn't really count). I got a real lift from the Occupy movement, that hasn't gone away but has sort of solidified, via Spain, Italy and Greece most of all, into a quiet hope for the future.

I am very concerned about the state of our politics as they are here but wonder if these are so broken that we have to rise to a much broader challenge that can deal with global capital. In my up moments I see space for internationalism and energy, in my down moments I just want to give up. Seems wrong not to rise to the challenge. Without continued struggle we wouldn't' t have even had a short period of social justice. But I sometimes wonder how our ancestors kept going in the face of continued attack and incorporation by those in power.

So I see shite but believe we are entitled to better and want to look for how we can achieve it. I see political involvement replacing a sort of acceptance of what was allowed that seemed to haunt the end of the new Labour years. I surprise myself by seeing hope, as well as fear, in political change.

[ohsocynical]

Cn-bfGlWEAA9hy1.jpg (83.05 KiB) Viewed 4776 times

Jim McMahon MP ‏@JimfromOldham 6h6 hours ago
Update Sir Philip Green knighthood objection. Cabinet Office have confirmed is being reviewed. Await outcome

[tinyclanger2]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... ote-so-far" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The fabulous world of Brexit, one month on.

[tinyclanger2]

Bloomberg reported on 8 July that the pound had overtaken the Argentinian Peso to become the world’s worst performing currency in 2016.

and other highlights

[tinyclanger2]

Am curious to rediscover the poem alluded to yesterday by caretaker of the Tarquin the Turquoise Tortoise, one Mr HindleA, but could do with a clue/series of clues.

Does it include the term: 1958

[utopiandreams]

There was a guy I've seen named by a fan on this very site that I took a particular dislike to when he repeatedly put himself above the other members of the band. Truth is he did go on to far greater success than they, but his vanity never quite left me.

Sorry, I don't know what prompted that.

If it's Bragg, I might have to ask you to step outside

Not at all, Robert, and even if it were I'm not going to argue with anybody today, thanks.

However whilst on the topic of people I found vain I remember being in some large house just outside of Manchester with some mates waiting for some friend of one of them. Several guitars lay around and illustrations from Lord of the Rings adorned the walls. Quite a few folk were wandering about coming in and out of the room.

Anyway said chap arrived and greeted his friend, then addressing the rest of us wandered around the pictures telling us that they were his own work and demanded to know what we thought of them. They were nothing special and obvious rip-offs of existing works but of course we expressed admiration. He then picked up a guitar and began to play. He was in a local band and okay I guess but again insisted on asking our thoughts.

Pretty soon two of my mates asked if they could have a jamming session. 'And so it was that they quickly put him to shame... or so it seemed because he stopped playing pretty well straight away and left them to it. Indeed they were far better, one classically trained who often played lead, the other a folk singer and guitarist who regularly toured Germany.

Meanwhile another of my mates, an art college graduate, had been quietly sat in the corner and had started sketching as was his wont. "Where's your loo mate?" he asked and getting up, dropped his pad and several loose sheets with almost photographic pictures of his circle, including said guy of course. Even though he looked he didn't even have the decency to comment but went into sulk instead. Such a shame he could have been enjoying himself.

Anyway I've met loads of talented folk. Pity it doesn't rub off.

[adam]

Toby posted a link to the story about John Stewart reappearing to talk about the Republican convention - you can watch the whole thing here - it's very good.

[youtube]mNiqpBNE9ik[/youtube]

[TR'sGhost]

One thing seems certain. Simply telling 16 or so million people "we don't care what you think, what you want or why you want it, you are going to be ignored in exactly the way the demagogues tell you you are" is a non-starter. Unless you want a Tory right/UKIP coalition government I suppose.

Sorry, neglected to respond to this point. This has never been what I've argued. My view - and this is what McDonnell articulated exceptionally well on the evening of the referendum - is that everything that is blamed on migrants is actually a consequence of a deliberate choice of, previously, the New Labour government and latterly, the coalition and Tories, of dis-empowering the workless and the working classes, cutting what they have to the bone, and then passing it off as being the fault of migrants that they have nothing.

I think the analogy someone posted on Twitter also exemplified my view: of a boss taking 99 coins from the 100 available and turning to his worker and saying, 'it's your immigrant colleague's fault that you now have to share that 1 coin'.

I agree.

And the anti-"bogus" asylum seeker bandwagon was set rolling in the first place by David Blunkett. Before him it was an obsession of the far-right, by the time he'd finished it was everyday Mail and Express fodder.

The current problem though is how to handle a lot of people who feel they are being ignored, and will only get more and more resentful and nasty if their expectation of being ignored yet again turns out, in their opinion, to be true. I'm not saying their views should be accomodated or compromised with, but stating "racists are racist, therefore we will never accede to them" is a often a good recruiting tool for the racists and those who would exploit racism.

More subtle, long-termist handling is required. Along with a no-holds barred crackdown on the racist right. Thoroughly expose them for what they are; thuggish, violent, aggressive (mostly) men who are trying to suck others into supporting their dream of racial civil war. A remarkable number of the British far-right have been found guilty of the sexual abuse of children, yet the far-right use the tiny number of Muslims found guilty of the same offences to build hatred towards all Muslims.

Yet the media never calls the far right out on this, and far-right terrorists get treated as insane "lone wolves" rather than the products of an ideology. It's like when J Edgar Hoover's claim that there was no Mafia, just US citizens acting as independent agents in quite unconnected criminal activities. Those who don't wish to see tend not to see.

[utopiandreams]

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yor ... t-11652011
where's the "speechless with a range of emotions I cannot possibly even begin to identify never mind articulate and certainly not in public" emoticon?

Dismay indeed, tinyclanger. One thing that did strike me however is never trust a man who cannot speak to a child.

Oh, seeing that in black and white could convey entirely the wrong message... Never trust a father that cannot speak their language.

[citizenJA]

Goodnight, everyone.
love,
cJA

[utopiandreams]

Come on people. I'm not sure but think I told you my daughter thinks he's a very nice man.

[utopiandreams]

Question, can anyone in the last 6 odd years think of anything good happening politically, socially, that feeling oh-so-fleeting feeling of good being done, justice being served, Hillsborough is the only thing to my tired mind I can think of...

Albeit ambivalent, partly because I've never considered marriage in spiritual terms, I guess same sex marriage. Just to be clear I hold different feelings toward parenthood.

[refitman]

Steve Richards echoing many of the points lots of us have made recently, and in the Graun of all places:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... owen-smith" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
labour-rebels-problem-jeremy-corbyn-owen-smith

[utopiandreams]

I blame Max Bygraves myself.

[tinyclanger2]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... iations-eu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
overwhelming really

[tinyclanger2]

not to mention scary

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... e31084101/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A “period of instability” is upon us, historian Margaret MacMillan told me this week, one that has parallels to the pre-war periods of the 20th century that she’s written acclaimed books about.

[pala]

http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2016/07/2 ... -bullying/

[HindleA]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... dApp_Tweet" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Removing patients from primary health care (Report, July 20) could breach the public sector equality duty, for some people with disabilities. We know many people resident in the community have difficulty initiating access to general practice if they have intellectual disabilities, and it is possible that some people with sensory or communication disabilities would also find the removals directly discriminated against them.

Sometimes our patients with learning disabilities would not open letters from the GP and if they set foot in the surgery it was only when accompanied by a parent. Over time, parents they had relied on to make contact for them could become incapacitated or pass away, and then GPs would “forget” that family and its relationship with the NHS.

To remove isolated, disabled patients from the practice population would remove their one point of contact with the NHS until eventually a medical emergency led them to A&E, and we know from Mencap’s report Death by Indifference what can happen to unfamiliar, disabled patients without any advocacy, in acute hospital settings. The observation that some persons do not book GP appointments for themselves should not make them non-persons.
Woody Caanhe
Cambridge

[HindleA]

Agent 3454

"The temperature remains hot this morning"