We`re Rich , Rich I Tell You !

Over the past few years there have been a number of subjects about which clever people were wrong, and ordinary people were right . Number one in the hit parade is the economy . Tribes of genuflecting idiots told Brown-the-clown what he wanted to hear, and he convinced himself that this South Sea bubble was a sustainable new epoch.. Ordinary people heard about a “Service Economy” and thought, servicing what ? Ordinary people went through a town centre noticed eight estate agents and not much else and thought , “This is rubbish ..isn’t it ?”.Ordinary people expected ups and downs , the congenitally challenged and differently intelligent thought “he “ had cured boom and bust.
Similarly endless Policemen have assured us that crime was going down ie they were doing a bang up job , well fancy ! Over time worries emerged about the statistics and mutters about under reporting gathered volume. In the end it is unclear if crime has gone down or the Police have become so useless at anything that no-one bothers to tell them any more . Meanwhile violent crime is up by any measure.
Immigration from the Eastern European countries was something the experts got spot on. 13,000 or so they estimated. They were out by the trifling matter of 587,000 as ordinary people expected . Immigration figures which were issued like holy writ turn out to be based on one or two people in anoraks hanging around at Dover and having a guess . The truth only emerged from local Coucils who began the find the presence of thousands of invisible people a strain on their budgets .

Now the experts are convinced that printing money is the answer to our problems , there is broad consensus about this , they even have a clever new name for it “Quantitive easing “ .Ordinary people think it’s a dreadful idea . Ordinary people think if your currency is ‘leaves’ you will have lots of cash but a bit of an inflation problem . Ordinary people remember the 15% inflation under Callaghan a proud nation was brought to its knees and years getting it out of the system .
Ordinary people like me think it’s the hard drugs of Policy , A quick fix now but an endless agony of cold turkey later.

Now who can we think of who does not care how much he puts on his tomorrow ‘card so long as it stays out of sight for 18 months ? That would be world champion fuck-wit national disgrace and walking corpse Gordon( the buffoon ) Brown. That’s why we have “Quantitive easing “ so Brown can make us borrow at usurious terms to bolster his precious career . The economists can keep a contrite and humble silence , we know . We always knew .

Brown Is Innocent .

Chris Dillow examines Brown culpability for Le Crunch and in a reasonable post argues that the accusations are pretty gaseous; I rather agree with him . I doubt any regime would have averted much of this. This is ,however, less obvious than in the case of the ERM debacle where the Conservative Party were the only ones with doubts and that is the “political” point . Had the Conservative Party been immediately acquitted of the ERM stigma and Labour not profited from a debt driven boom then we might call it quits .
I would go further ,dewy eyed perhaps, I would like to think a Conservative administration would have watched money supply a tad more and it is also certain that a lower tax regime would have created more wealth .
Better immigration policy, combined with shifting the sick note 2,000,000 would have helped us recover sooner .The 800,000 joining the state payroll to look after the subsidised poor are a fiscal dead weight we could do without whilst drowning .Had Brown not largely borrowed to fund this splurge and instead raised taxes then we would have far more scope for direct help. Had we reformed the public sector it would not be the money sponge it now is ....and so on.
Chris makes good argument because it is a Conservative one . He says in effect that Brown was forgivably ignorant , not a magician . He was actually a little silly cork bouncing on a stream of events he did not understand .
Well yes ; that we may well not know what is going on is why people are conservative , that the state is even less likely to know is an even better reason. This hardly saves a big state control freak. who think he knows everything. RIP Bean
Epitaph
In many ways now is easy bit for Labour .They are no less popular now than before this unpleasantness began .When the stories are gone and the taxes have to be raised .When inflation is stuck in the system , services are cut and unemployment stubbornly staying up at 3,000,000 then you will see the true fall out . The toxic legacy for Labour has not even begun .

If I Knew Then....

Epiphany (feeling), the sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something)

There seems to be an outbreak of badly timed epiphanies .Tom Harris on his blog, and in the Mail, has seen the light ...“ I’m a Labour MP, so some will undoubtedly be surprised, and shocked that I’m writing this. But I can no longer pretend that the army of teenage mothers living off the state is anything other than a national catastrophe". When he supported the needs based welfare ,and housing policies that created the problem, such wisdom eluded him. Quite why ,with Labour 20 % behind in the Polls ,Tom might want a belated “Maverick “ status I could not say.
Tony Blair writing in ‘,Church of England Today’ , bemoans aggressive secularization sidelining the church . “...there is a danger that people see faith as personal eccentricity “..he worries . He ,of course , presided over the administration that did not “..do god “ and lead the Party most opposed to the Church taxing marriage encouraging moral decay through state assisted idleness . His faith , at the time, was only the box tick version no leader of any major party has yet omitted ( Clegg …I am aware of ).
I enjoyed Gordon Brown recalling , in America , that he was for years a lone voice in the wilderness calling for better regulation of International banking . Oddly this conviction was never realized the point of doing anything about our failed regulatory regime, for which he was directly responsible . Of course that was not Gordon Brown’s fault it was America’s fault . It somehow slipped his mind to mention this whilst addressing the joint session of congress...
Curiouser and curiouser this grub from the heart of the Scottish socialist establishment now professes that he was inspired by America . Well good for him , same here . This inspiration was not especially well expressed though , was it. America’s tax as part of GDP is about 30% . Brown has been busily making this country less and less like America by increasing spending 55% and overtaking Germany in state managed expenditure . Without his assurances it would have been hard to spot this hidden passion ,unless it referred to his United States of Europe project.
He was of course addressing Obama on their supposed joint crusade to save the world from Protectionism . Obama has clearly already forgotten his own numerous promises to erect trade barriers and the “Buy American “ clause promising the reverse . On this at least I agree with Brown and were he a figure that the US cared about , he might even have done some good on his way out .

The Character of Nations

The English at their most typical , a queue

Trivia

Studies show that in America a Pizza will arrive quicker than an ambulance,

The Pepsi slogan "Pepsi Comes Alive " was translated in China as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave ".

Brown On Tour

Hopi Sen is not impressed with the standard of coverage accorded to Brown’s stateside tour. He thinks it should be more serious . Wrong .Obama has already signalled his relative disinterest in us ,and since he does not care what a political corpse thinks a farce is about right .Much will be said , I have no doubt , about the special relationship and, bored as I am ,with Brown and his drowning /waving ,I have had been medidating about our two nations .

Divided By More Than Sea
We worry about Englishness.Can you be black, Muslim and so on ? Americans have no word for American-ness , it doesn't arise because the automatic answer to all our questions would be ‘yes’, barring outright racism. We worry about identity and they do not . On the other hand they worry about destiny and ‘The American Way’ .What is our destiny ? To lose at cricket eternally, what could such thing mean ? They have Un-American activity , what would un-English activity be , eating croissants , showing your feelings , bothering strangers ....?.
That is the key to the myth .Identity and Destiny , we wish to be , they wish to do. Language can actually confuse things, we think the Irish are like us because they speak English , actually their easy tolerance of corruption and approach to “truth” are more typical of Italians . The English rarely lie, on the other hand they will never, ever ,tell you the truth . We queue ,and if I had to pick one image of the English its an orderly queue , the Continentals barge , the Americans move on . Anyway ,despite our common language with America ,we are in some ways less alike than it appears .
Stat attack
Oppose or disagree with right to Abortion US 46% UK 17%
Proud to be American/English US 97% UK 76 %
Taxation is too low US 1% UK 62% ( at end of Blair period )
Believe in The Devil US 45% UK 13%
Support ban on handguns US 32% UK 83%
People on 40% or less of median income US 14% UK 5%
Millionaires per % of population US 0.74% UK 0.58%
Gun Deaths oper 100,000 US 10.6 UK 0.3
Executions per year av. US 78 UK 0
Defence spending per head $ US 1059 UK 576
Government spending /GDP US 30% UK 42 % (ish)

Good News For Ducks

President Hundal of the Socialist Republic of Liberal Conspiracy is overjoyed “President Obama overturned a last-minute Bush administration regulation that many environmentalists claim weakened the Endangered Species Act. ...”CNN "Whoop whoop" he says.
I cannot share his joy, .... I opined thusly...

......Oh thats fantastic news Obama has saved the lesser twittering marshland goose has he ? On the other hand so far Russia has threatened nations it formerly enslaved, and cut our gas .Iran developed enough uranium for a nuclear bomb put up a satellite. Obamahs response has been weak He has over emphasized Asia and has sidelined the UK by comparison , despite the fact that we are the only people that America can rely on .We have to put up with the nauseating spectacle of an unelected plastic PM creeping around in the hope of some second hand stardust while we are humiliated .
On Afghanistan the signs are not good .As I have consistently said all this bull crap about a new style is really a way of America slithering into an isolationism ( and protectionism) that the Republicans would not countenance. Soft power=cheap, power . The President is proposing not only to turn down his security advisers' request that he replace the presidential helicopter fleet with craft less vulnerable missile attacks, at a cost of $11 billion, but to cut out expensive weapons systems. His budget reduces military spending to three per cent of GDP, the level it was at the time of the September 11 attacks
I wonder if those foolish enough to go and campaign for this light weight fashion accessory President will take responsibility as the world grows more and more dangerous . No more cricket in Pakistan , and next time it will be our team . The flames are growing higher ,and partly because the appeasers keep pouring petrol on the Islamic lunacy. Europe is more useless than ever as it has to worry about its own Muslim terrorists whose threats are quitely incopprated into policy .
The Liberal bleeding hearts never understood Bush .He did not think that it was all black and white it was precisely because it was grey that he had to tell our enemies get in line or else . Obama is leaving wiggle room and with his horrifying debts putting the US in hock to China he is hamstrung anyway .

To think we could have had a war hero at the helm instead of an actor. He may be a better actor than Reagan , sadly he is an infinitely worse President .Not to worry though he has saved the large crested warbler Daffy will be pleased . Utha utha utha uthats all folks !

Contenders Ready !

I look forward to further statements of support for Gordon Brown from the many suspects obviously running for the life boats fast

Now They Come For Drink

I told you I bloody told you !First of all they came for cigarettes and you did nothing , now they are coming for drink with a raft of nannying proposals from the SNP. Its all according to the numbers . First the initiative will be rolled out in some location deemed to have a special problem , where it is most likely to meet a low resistance . Think speed cameras or regional assemblies , in this case drunken Scotland . Getting it in in a devolved part if the UK produces a sense of inevitability , those opposed to it begin to look selfish .Then get your tame academics to fiddle the figures and start the building up the case. Base it not on nannying but on the supposed effect on others . Sure enough what should pop out of the hat today but some fatuously thin “research” based on Alaska….
Researchers reviewed the impact of two tax increases on alcohol in Alaska on the number of deaths from alcohol-related diseases including liver disease, oral cancers and alcohol poisoning ,by a 29 per cent reduction in alcohol-related deaths – 23 deaths a year. The second tax rise was followed by a further 11 per cent drop in deaths”
Next I see next but some rancid SNP toss pot calculating mythic cuts to NHS expenditure sick days and a veritable economic bonanza that will accrue from their anti drinking laws not to say saving the life of a “battered child “ etc. . The truth is whatever we do effects everyone ,if I walk down the street I spread colds that are massive “Killers “every Winter why not have a law against that .We will not get any reference to the 'landscape of risk ' (aka a sense of proportion )which would make the whole thing the imposture it is . Neither will a word be said by the left who are only for Liberty in the sense of 'Liberty to receive state vouchers others are at Liberty to donate'.
This is the ‘thin end of the wedge’ , I appreciate price controls might temporarily help pubs ( 80% of people according to a survey feel community values are under threat due to six pubs a day closing …) but in the end they mean evil to the embattled ' battle crusiser' . They are places of debate ,of meeting of freedom and the state hates them with a venomous instinct it can scarcely conceal. This is how its started for smoking , it may take time but before long Carloline heart-of-Flint will be talking about 'light touch policing 'of the no drinking in pubs ,law.Thats right ,mount your tobbogans ladies and gentelmen we are about to go down the "slippery slope".Weeeeeeeee

Forced Sex ..

...ual idenities ...
Hanna at Liberal Conspiracy has an interesting piece about sexism . I have rather mixed feelings about the whole subject . Naturally I abhor the lefty wimmin with their dungarees and poor personal hygiene but the popular role models for women are , I agree , offering a degraded menu to ordinary girls
She , Hannah , has a point when she points out that low level assumptions can be harmful. Amazon , for example sells magnetic words for children, with a separate versions for girls A few of the ‘girl’ words: clothes, lipstick, want, pink, makeup, princess, diamond, tiara, party. Compare these to a selection of the ‘boy’ words: monster, racing, moon, helicopter, grass, dogs, forest, swimming, blue. ‘Thank goodness the set excludes any complicated words like Doctor, or Car, or Career, or heaven forfend: Reading. ...” as one outraged woman says . Fair enough

Caitlin Moran in the Times is astonished that strip clubs are still legal ..... "They seem absolutely incongruous in a modern society - whenever I see one, it shocks me as much as if I'd just seen a sign going up saying “Minstrel Show!” or “Jew-Beating, Sticks £1!”. There's a Spearmint Rhino on Tottenham Court Road. Tottenham Court Road. To all intents and purposes, that means there's a titty-bar on the Monopoly board....."...
Its an entertaining article in which she revealingly feels she has to tell us she suffers from cystitis presumably to make the point she is not against sex per se . As I say I have mixed feelings and I certainly do not want a strip club in my road . but still what are we to make of the persistence of differing roles fro men and women....One of the first things women did after the Soviet Union collapsed was acquire make up and launch a Beauty Competition. Perhaps thats what many women want ?Do women find house husbands with added sensitivity attractive ? Not that I have noticed and the idea that Barbie is a plot against higher female consciousness will not survive the observation of little girls . I think feminism has to be more inclusive and more positive . A lot of women like sport and that could do with more encouragement, banning pink or even lap dancing is unlikely to change much and is inherently illiberal. A lot of men like clever women with a nice body , no reason why this should not be empowering .
One of the problems women have is that despite their protestations about equality they still refuse to support a man and marry “beneath themselves “ . The extent of childlessness amongst female graduates is terribly sad .It is possible to be very feminine without being ”Girly” or whorish .Smart glamorous sexy knowing and appreciative of men is the best combo. The hideous harridan of leftist anti porn is not the only alternative to a lisping drip.
There has always been a strain of puritanism in the left . From the English Civil war through the 19th century conformists to the modern man hater. The problem for a man is to work out when a woman is attacking sexism and when she is actually attacking sex.

Against The New (The Watchmen )

I was addicted to superhero comics when I was young and not so young ; the Watchmen promises to be an interesting addition to the film oeuvre. As ever I see a philosophical purpose in my predilections .
One of the things I detest about the steam-cleaned soulless world we have made is its obsession with the new. In the fin de siècle fag end of the Blair Brown period I look back on its endless initiatives with a weary contempt .Even now the confusion between fidgeting and useful activity besets them, as they seek to combat a rising tide by energetically making sand castles like children ,but I digress .Today I am exercising my atrophied culture muscle .
In artistic terms the “Cool Britannia “zeitgeist was best caught by the “Angel of The North” .This 'Regional initiative ',( the very words are revolting )..parachuted in an an obet d`merde “ which makes a virtue of its disconnectedness with the North , its landscape ,and angels .As a contribution to national barbarity it earns its corn well. There is also a faintly unpleasant gesture towards corporate figurative horrors that scar the City and ornament the antechamber of accountants and hairdressers alike . It is New Labour in statue form.

Super hero comics are an organic genre with archaeological layers available for the artist and audience . The Watchmen saga was published by DC Comics in single issues during 1986 and 1987, and originated from a story proposal Moore submitted to DC featuring superhero characters that the company had acquired from Charlton Comics. The character were re invented but they have roots going back to the 1940s , the so called golden age and reinventions on the “Silver age” of the 50s. By the 80s the form was ripe for deconstruction and shared understanding allowed vastly complex narrative structures and contemporary myth.
I love the way the innocent 40s are called the golden age with its echoes of Greek myth , I love the accretion of meaning over decades . Malory probably started work on Le Morte d'Arthur in prison but although he was transcribing stories with centuries of retelling behind them . The tales of knights and adventures have much in common with the super hero stories and a direct line of descent can be traced via the Gothic novels of the 19th century . These tales are almost sub literary and refresh ancient archetypes . Here the depth and freedom of tradition in art has been retained while high culture disappears into its fundament .
The Watchmen is set in an alternate reality which closely mirrors the contemporary world of the 1980s. The primary point of divergence is the presence of superheroes. Their existence in this iteration of America is shown to have dramatically affected and altered the outcomes of real-world events such as the Vietnam War and the presidency of Richard Nixon. In keeping with the realism of the series, although the costumed crime fighters of Watchmen are commonly called "superheroes", the only character who possesses obvious superhuman powers is Doctor Manhattan.The existence of Doctor Manhattan has given the U.S. a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union..... Now how intruiging is that !
This tale is a “Fallen “ story in which aging and disappointed characters manouver in a Noire world of savage surrealism but it relies on an intense relationship with an innocent past , of Captain America and the “Golden age .I have so often been disappointed but I will be sitting in cinema on my own hoping to be transported into myth.

On The Turn Of A Card..

The kid`s got the jack...

The Game Of Poker
Harriet Harmann was on her usual infuriating form today on the Marr-athon. She presented the part privatisation of the Royal Mail as a crusade to ensure its future .It is ,as she said part of the fabric of the Nation . The answer to the future of things that are the….’ fabric of the nation ‘ ,is privatisation then is it ? It would appear that the swift demise of the Labour Party is also part of that answer
The liar and crook Mandelson has been telling the Unions that if they are unable to put their jobs at risk Labour will lose the next election. He is also talking to the 139 MP`s on the Labour side who are rebelling . Lets just clear up what going on here . The Labour Party is funded and controlled by the Unions now as it was in the 70s . The Unions are concentrated in the Public Sector which between 1997 and 2007 achieved earnings increases of 35% (29% in the private sector ) . This is in addition to retaining working practices from the stone age, jobs for life and final salary pensions . Said paymasters of the Labour Party are well aware that we are about to enter a bit sectional war for dwindling resources and they are the nail that sticks up( Old Jap proverb , when the nail sticks up bang it down )
The only possible tactic their puppets the Labour Party can try is to remind them that if they are brought down, then Mr. Cameron may deal more harshly with them ,still .That is the game of poker being played
David Davies popped up as well to talk about the Convention on Modern Liberty in which people from all ends of the political spectrum, pretend they have something in common. Harman put up a good defence of biometrics DNA data bases and by implication any additional control of information by the state . As she rightly said CCTV is popular and makes people feel safe , as she also rightly said that it has caught rapists and murderers. She might have gone on to tell us that benefit cheats caught alone would pay much of the bill for ID cards but the amount that hangs on the turn of a card is something of an embarassment to the Labour Party . She is quite right, and if driving were banned we would save lives and if cameras were in our homes domestic violence would end .
People who believe in Liberty must embrace risk and accept it . This is why the left and Liberal support is illusory . When that choice has to be made they will always plump for safety . Its in their DNA and they have been caught .