Thursday 19h October 2023

[refitman]

Morning all.

[frog222]

Tamworth byelection --

[AnatolyKasparov]

Some people will lap that up, but most won't. I think the market for performative cruelty peaked around a decade ago.

How windy has it been where you are?

[gilsey]

That graphic was originally meant as satire when I saw it a while ago, calling out the performative cruelty.

[frog222]

Performative justice --

[frog222]

More on Powell,

PLUS a good clip from Glen Kirchner,
who has prosecuted BigTime criminals, on the 'bargaining process' --

[AnatolyKasparov]

Not the most important thing, but she is still the only female Sidney that I have ever come across.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Anyone got any idea when we'll get the by-election results?

In the meantime I'll have a go at this.

[frog222]

Thanks @sky


See it tomorrow AM !

[AnatolyKasparov]

Still waiting for this Israeli invasion of Gaza aren't we, hasn't it been "imminent" for about a week now?

One thing that makes me suspect that, behind the scenes, stuff is going on.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Question Time tonight came from Lisburn in Norn Iron.

For the Tories we had Chris Heaton-Harris, Minister for Northern Ireland and a complete waste of space. You see according to Chris his hands are tied when it comes to the problems of Northern Ireland because the Stormont Assembly isn't sitting, but when asked why he refuses to do anything about that Chris said it would be seen as Westminster imposing direct rule. So Chris is in the enviable position of being able to sit on his arse doing bugger all with convenient excuses to cover said arse while being paid a ministerial wage. And let's be clear they are excuses. Chris made it abundantly clear that his government's sympathies lie with the DUP and the concerns of the Unionist community, the very people holding Northern Irish democracy to ransom. He and his government is choosing to allow this situation to continue, accepting the DUP's grievances, while the democratic majority in NI is ignored.

For the insane distortions of reality party...sorry I mean the DUP, we had Jeffrey Donaldson. Despite a handful old blokes in the audience clapping everything he said Jeffrey had shocker tonight, especially at the hands of another panellist which I'll come to later. With the DUP it's hard to tell sometimes if they're a Dadaist surrealist movement or they actually believe the absolute shit that comes out of their mouths. For instance this evening Jeffrey claimed that the DUP's refusal to sit in the Stormont assembly was a result of the other parties lack of inclusivity. That their refusal to accept all the DUP's demands meant that they weren't being inclusive. Which is both historically hilarious, and made him sound either like a 5 year old in a huff or he had brain damage. We all know why the DUP are sabotaging democracy in NI and it's because for the first time Sinn Fein won the most seats. The DUP can whinge about the consequences of the Brexit they campaigned for and use it as an excuse until they're Orange in the face but everyone knows it's a bluff and they'll continue to hold democracy in NI hostage until either they regain supremacy of the assembly or someone comes along and kicks them up the arse.

For Sinn Fein we had John Finucane. I've been aware of John given what happened to his father but had never heard him talk before and have to say I was impressed. He gave an impassioned defence of the Palestinian cause, pointed out the multiple breaches of international law Israel has committed over decades and faced down a moron who directly accused him of supporting Hamas with such eloquence that he received an overwhelming round of applause.

For the Alliance Party we had Sorcha Eastwood. In one moment Sorcha stole the show. After sitting listening to the absurd excuses Jeffrey Donaldson had given for his party refusing to sit in Stormont she read back to him verbatim something he'd previously said on QT back when Sinn Fein refused to attend the assembly when they demanded Arlene Foster resign over the 'cash for ash' scandal. With glee she quoted Jeffrey going on about about how it was outrageous that one party could frustrate the democratic will of the people, she knew she had him skewered, and as the audience laughed and applauded I swear I saw the smug smile on Donaldson's face flinch into a grimace, just for a second.

For Labour we had Hilary Benn. A completely pointless man.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Sorry that's not entirely fair about Hilary Benn. I don't question that he's a good man who means well. It's just he's so fucking beige, so apparently lacking in any strong beliefs. He's more like a counsellor (of the mental health variety) than a politician, or even a diplomat. Which to be fair should be a good thing, calmly taking account of the concerns of all sides. Surely that's what we want from our politicians?

Sorry Hilary, you might be unutterably dull when it comes to a drunk QT review but I get the feeling that if I were to contact your constituency office with a problem you'd be one of the good ones.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Still waiting for this Israeli invasion of Gaza aren't we, hasn't it been "imminent" for about a week now?

One thing that makes me suspect that, behind the scenes, stuff is going on.

From what we've been allowed to know it's been Biden who has been warning the Israelis not to make the same mistakes the US made in Iraq and Afghanistan. To put it simply you can drop high explosives on a place and its people but you can never know what's going to happen in the aftermath.

An admission that the game theory the US has been using since the Fifties is junk.

Emergent behaviour is much simpler and more appealing but doesn't require funds for Pentagon supercomputers, a lot of simple things following simple rules can form complex entities. So for example a water molecule over the Atlantic can do fuck all on its own but if it's raised by warm winds to join more of its kind we have a cloud forming, but that cloud's complexity is a direct result of the simplicity of the molecules it is made from. They form a pattern it grows from. Getting more complex as each iteration is repeated until it rains on my house.

People are even worse because water molecules aren't stupid.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

[Sky'sGoneOut]