G is for Gratefull for what you've Got

So, you've unwrapped your pile of high-tolerance production, injection-moulded plastic shite and/or given a like pile to offspring, nephews or other younger members of you circle...spare a thought for those less well-off...

What an African child - converted to the Western Church - might find under his tree this Christmas, no actual tree of course, and he probably made it himself, or had it made by an elder sibling...if they didn't sell most of them to fat European tourists in ill-fitting khaki-shorts to get some hard cash in a usable currency!

Made from a Doom insecticide can with twined Coke-bottle tops for wheels, the ingenuity involved (and probably a bit of blood!) in these is lovely, no glue, no welding, no screws, nuts/bolts or nails, everything holds everything else in place with folds and bends.

There was a popular musical video in the run-up to Christmas showing on the soma-channels which showed one of these with rudimentary steering (lots of 'give' in the wheels) and a wire attached to the roof so it could be pushed along like a Fisher-Price puppy!

This could, however, be the future of toys here...the jobs aren't coming back, indeed Chinese companies are already moving production to Africa to avoid upward wage-pressure at home! Political ignorance is allowing the Right to dictate increasingly draconian policy, and the idea that Western civilization hasn't had its day is risible. 20 years from now things like this may be under the trees on our sink-estates, if they (the estates not the toys!) haven't all been sold to Arab investment companies and Chinese sovereign-wealth funds?

AV - for the last time, but it seems to matter?

Did anyone hear Lord Owen begging for a 'No' vote on the Radio this morning?

This man believes in Proportional Representation (PR) and thinks that a No vote for AV will result in an imminent vote for PR. The same man who ruined the Liberals for a generation and helped contribute to Labour's 20 years in the wilderness, yet - still thinking he has a superior faculty of judgement.

He has done more damage to political life in this country in recent memory than any other citizen bar the other three members of the 'Gang of Four'...one of whom was - if memory serves - a Televisual 'presenter', it says all you need to know about politics and the 'Ruling Class' in Britain for the last 35-odd years! And he got a Peerage!

Vote in the AV referendum, get out, and get your friends and neighbours out, Vote 'Yes' to save us from ourselves!

Or we will get the system we 'deserve'...a complacent, destructive, disinterested system lacking humanity and barely fit for purpose…

V is for Vote; for AV please - sorry 'Toy Soldier' people

I am putting this on all my blogs and it will stay here until after the referendum of the 5th May next month. I am one of those people who are always writing letters to a newspaper in their heads, but never actually do anything about it! The war ends, the politician goes to jail, the celebrity gets over their hissy-fit and life goes on, a new letter forms and gets edited in my head...

Indeed, the whole point of the PPE/Rant blog was to get some of those letters out there, but firstly; I rarely write anything on that blog and secondly; I'm the only one who reads them! The moral of the story...stick to toy soldiers! But today, I feel so strongly about something that I will 'Send the letter'...here.

I think it is absolutely vital that we 'The People' in Great Britain vote YES in the AV referendum next month and that to not do so will be to condemn ourselves to another hundred years of hollow promises from self-serving politicians who have grown far too fond of the support they leech from the pockets of a relatively anonymous, venal, moneyed-class.

Why do I think it is so important, when it is only a 'compromise' cooked up between the Conservative and Liberal democrats to get the coalition off the ground? Because it's a step in the right direction, and history is made of small steps. The illiterate Paleolithic tribes of the Serengeti didn't become the modern European democrats of today overnight, they didn't even do so in a series of easily defined moments, they did so in a trillion trillion little steps, with great slides backwards into right-wing, small 'p' protestant, reactionary bloodletting like the Dark Ages, the 'Reformation' and the Juntas of the 20th Century.

There is a lot of vitriolic rubbish, emotive nonsense and general brick-battery being put about by both sides, as far as the lobby groups go, the 'No' campaign is making more noise and of a seemingly more desperate fashion (which is usually a sign of a weak argument/feeling you've already lost the debate), but - while supporting 'Yes' I subscribe to neither camp as all lobbyists have - or think they have! - a secret hidden agenda that usually has nothing to do with the long-term goals of the man or woman in the street to see a greater level of fair play, decent governance, access to justice and advancement of the species, all preferably achieved without destroying the planet for their children.

It was said by someone the other day on Radio 4 of AV, that "Instead of the most popular candidate, you’ll end up getting the least unpopular candidate" as if to vote for such a thing would be the end of civilization as we know it! The truth is that with some people in Parliament right now, care of LESS than 1 in 5, 1 in 8 or even 1 in 10 of the adult population in their constituency or ward, it would seem to me (call me a retard if you're in the 'No' camp) that it will be a lot more 'civilized' to be represented by someone who has had at least one vote from over half those who turn out, than the current state where you might be represented by someone with less than a sixth of the votes cast - especially in a three-way marginal with a dozen candidates where one of whom is a 'Big-3' spoiler.

The fact that in a constituency with say 10 candidates, you will get the chance to rate all ten, and know that you have contributed to the final placing of all those you vote for will give you a greater 'vested interest' in whoever gets elected (and you don't have to vote ten times, if you like the old 'First past the Post' system, just cast one vote, and lose your voice if your candidate fails to get elected!), along with the feeling that because you gave the winner one of your ticks, you have more right to expectations of service from them.

Marginal’s will end up with a definite 'winner', 'safe' seats however will become two or three or more-way races, still with a definite winner, but not necessarily the colour who's been winning for the last 70 years! It means however, that all the candidates will have to mean what they say on the hustings, and then spend 4 or 5 years actually 'doing' the job we pay them for instead of filling their duck-pond from the gravy-train, while they line themselves up with a job in the industry they were supposed to be regulating, moderating or policing!

Moreover, if they have to prove themselves BETWEEN elections in order to justify themselves AT election time, there will be far less of the broken-promise politics we've endured for the last 50 years, they will actually have to find a way of legislating against BOTH rogue Landlords and rogue Tenants, instead of passing several score Rent, Property, Landlord & Tenant and Housing Acts, Regulations, Guidance notes and Amendments over half-a-century which achieve very little! After all, they managed to pass two gun laws and a dog law in weeks following Hungerford, Dunblain and the News of The World's various shouty-rag campaigns. Speaking of the Tabloids; If under AV politicians find they need to impress all their constituents most of the time, they might learn to ignore the most of the gobshite brigade all of the time?

And yes, I know the three pieces of legislation mentioned above were flawed, why do you think we don't still win the Shooting medals at the Olympics we used to! But they were enacted under First Past the Post. At the end of the day, History from time to time requires change, that change can come violently, or peacefully, but having been bankrupted by the Thatcher/Ragan-Bush/Blair generation of autocratic paper-money gambling grey-men, and being told we will have to pay, the NHS will have to pay, Social Services, Libraries, local services will have to pay while the grey-men move their bonus money to Nassau using 'Tax-minimization' vehicles, it would seem to me that now is a time for change?

AV offers that change. Whether we feel the need to go on to PR (Proportional Representation), or stick with AV only time and experience will tell, but to not chose change now would be - in my opinion - a terrible failure to our future selves. There are problems with both PR and AV in some of those countries that have already adopted them, but they are not in the same league as our One-party/Three-colours State (What? You mean you can still tell the difference between them!), and none of those countries are contemplating a return to First Past the Post?

Britain has always laid claim to lead the forward march of progress, democratization and tolerance, sometimes - it has to be said - at the barrel of a gun (history is always full of guns), one of the first to move against slavery, building a commercial empire while Napoleon destroyed Europe and the Congress of Vienna solved little. Standing alone against the Generals, Colonels, little chaplinesque-corporal and fat Italian who held so much of Europe in their collective grips from the 1920's until the mid-70's in some cases, paying the bill for that stand by giving up the Empire while America (currently paralyzed by the mad-hatters) payed for Germany and Japan to re-build.

Yet now we seem to be following, if we can't lead we should at least catch-up! Detractors say there will be a low turn-out? Prove them wrong, whichever way you chose to vote, there is still time to register if you've forgotten to do so...

Register, Turn-out, Vote...it’s easy…
I'll be voting YES to AV, yes to change.

I haven’t been payed anything by anybody for this (worst luck!).

N is for Newsflash! - Political Expenses....Latest!

The Bridges of Wet County

"Just here please mate!"

I've been meaning to get these photographs up and have a rant about the flooding 'oop North, but have procrastinated to the point that five minutes after I finally loaded them tonight, there was an ominous announcement from the news on 4 that the army WERE building a bridge ( over the river Derwent in Workington) after all...I'd heard some reporter last week saying a bridge had been ruled out as they [the army] "only build bridges suitable for tanks, not cars or lorries"...yeh, exactly! So I was ready to pull this article when the report carried on to repeat the rumour and state they will only be building a footbridge!?!

A spokesman for the army repeated the fact that the WWII style 'Bailey' bridge capable of handling 70-ton tanks is not, that's; NOT suitable for civilian traffic.

Well, as I was researching hoglets on google (see Greenfingers blog - Now here somewhere [13/10/2012]), I thought I'd better look into this more closely before shooting my mouth off...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I can report that the 5th richest country in the world; Phew, beat the..., can't build a civilian road bridge with military hardware because...we're not that sure whether we can or not, and will err on the side of caution, even if they [the Whitehall mandarins and local apparatchiks] allow traffic on some of the dozen or so bridges being contemplated (Bailey, Medium Girder and M5 ferry), it is likely to be limited to light vehicles in low numbers?

Now, pardon me for getting my rant after all, but what the F**K is this country coming to? We used to be able to span ship navigable Western European rivers in hours and get 100,000 tons of military muscle across them before the end of the week, yet here we are still contemplating where to put them over a week after the damage.

Is it that the surface of the bridge is too rough? Well - prepare the roadway, match it to the bridge and put three six-inch layers of macadam over the whole lot - as if it is a highway - and landfill it afterwards. After giving the bWanks billions, some of it in secret, there is no way you can use the 'two much money' excuse Mr. Brown Trousers, and I can't find another concrete reason for not getting on with it....too narrow? Build two next to each other or use single flow traffic lights....it's just not rocket science is it?

Any suggestions?

"Job Done, Where's the next one?"

On; Heaping Praise Upon the Ruling Elite

My definition of capitalists;

A small minority, selling the lowest grade of Snake-oil they can find to as many idiots as they can fail to educate as often as possible, for as much as they can get away with, while keeping the majority poor enough to keep dreaming of being rich...without caring what Snake-oil production might be doing to the planet.

My definition of Politicians;

An even smaller minority allowing a small minority to sell the lowest grade of Snake-oil they can find to as many idiots as they have failed to educate as often as possible, for as much as they can get away with, while keeping the majority poor enough to keep dreaming of being rich...without caring how legal or just Snake-oil production might be.

My definition of Priests;

Selling balm for Snake-oil burns

P is for the Planet's Bankrupt, Great!

Did anyone else catch 'This Week' tonight? They had a piece on the new bank saving package with Will Hutton, it was quite riveting, the size of the problem is almost unbelievable, like giving serious thought to comprehension of the vastness of the universe.

I will try to explain...The 'bad debt' owed (owned) by the UK's banks is greater than the national GDP (Gross Domestic Product), I think we had all got that, but it is 550% bigger! Assuming that banking started to run - from tomorrow - on an even keel, indefinitely, it would take 550 years at today's prices to pay it off.

Or that's how I understand it. Now the HOPE (and it's our politicians and bankers who have their fingers crossed and are doing the hoping!) is that some of the debt will 'come good' [reducing the bill a bit], that the economy will pick up [further reducing the total] AND that earnings will eventually rise again, allowing the government to raise tax and pay off the bill a bit quicker, AND perhaps loose some of the debt by hiding it in future credit booms and, and, and....

Now, that was also the hope when we bailed out the banks in October/November, and the fact that we had to bail them out again this week would suggest to any idiot that it didn't work last time...WELL, there's no guarantee it'll work this time either.

The reason no one can say it will work, or come up with a new plan that might 'work' better, is because while we know roughly how big this hole in our bit of the global economy is, none of the long-snouted money-men or pocket lining politico's who got us in this mess will actually put a value on the debt in pounds-shillings-&-pence. Until they do, we can't buy it in (to the bank of England...the Taxpayer), nor can we nationalise the banks (purchaser being...the Taxpayer), all we can do is keep throwing (Taxpayers) money at it.

We have so far thrown the equivalent of three-and-a-half Trillion quid at 'the (unpriced) problem'. This week the people of Iceland - who's government have been throwing relatively similar amounts at their 'problem', decided to throw rotten fish and yoghurt at the parliament building! But one has to ask what a country with a population smaller than that of Coventry was doing getting into international banking in the first place? likewise the Republic of Ireland, who's government ministers - so far - have escaped an avalanche of rancid Kerry Gold, only a matter of time now the citizens of Iceland have spoken with such erudition!!

The real 'scary thing' is that these conversations, these desperate money drains, these hopes are being held not just in America, Britain, Ireland and Iceland, but in nearly every nation in the developed world, while the second world starts to suffer, as the three-mile long factories they built to produce the mountains of battery-operated plastic shit we bought with that credit, suddenly find we're not buying it any more.

So, Trailer-park Bob has, by failing to pay for his speedboat, bankrupted the entire planet, not that he's bothered, his clinically obese wife has triple cancer and no access to medical aid of any use, nor money for the drugs suggested by the Medicaid people and he's more worried about who's going to feed the five kids! [Yes, I watched Panorama as well!]

The final irony is not that cynics like me predicted this for decades, but rather that it was all invented/paper/electronic/future money based on hopes, gambles and predictions, it had no gold to back it up and really never existed, however, if the city could 'find its nerve' it would all be back there tomorrow, like it had never been not spent on interest free-for-twelve-months, buy-one-and-get-one-free, unsecured handouts.

To find their nerve, the guys in the city need to know the value of the problem to the nearest hundred million, but because they have lost their nerve, they won't give it a value!

Hold on, I think I hear Yossarian Hughs at the door...

No, it was an old man muttering about rubber boats...Can I humbly suggest that as bin-men do a more useful job than bankers even when the economy is doing well, and - as far as I know - haven't lost their nerve, that we start paying bankers £7.50 per hour and give the bin-men a £250,000 bonus in April.

It would also do more to kick-start the economy than throwing future Taxpayers money (Ultimately, however you slice it, the citizenry will pay to maintain the luxury the fat cats currently enjoy) down a bottomless pit, at least the bin-men will spend it on consumer goods rather than a third flat in Knightsbridge.

If you think this is an arrogant rant, consider that I've just shown I know as much about the problem as the retards in the 'Square mile' or their House of Commons School-chums! Because they don't 'know' anything for sure, all they 'think' is; it's probably never been this bad before, whatever it is, EVER!