tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post8675673261485140653..comments2024-03-17T00:10:44.022+00:00Comments on From Arse To Elbow: That Dunkirk SpiritDavid Timoneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03568348438980023320noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-29595725094833237942017-08-08T21:41:39.050+01:002017-08-08T21:41:39.050+01:00Herbie many apologies for the joke.
Had a few too ...Herbie many apologies for the joke.<br />Had a few too many and posted. <br />I've sobered up.<br />No offence intended.WaitingForTheFootballSeasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01689985844765501965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-67261261358538680372017-08-08T19:29:21.184+01:002017-08-08T19:29:21.184+01:00Another thing, we are constantly told ISIS are evi...Another thing, we are constantly told ISIS are evil and we have to take that very seriously and soberly. To the point that to deny it would be bordering on criminal.<br /><br />But your reaction to Westerners indifference of people dying in the Med is to make a joke of it.<br /><br />That is why I am pessimistic and the spirit I am fighting.<br /><br />I don’t see gardening being the answer.<br />Herbie Destroys the Environmentnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-82104794464871904112017-08-08T18:30:17.820+01:002017-08-08T18:30:17.820+01:00My pessimism will start to wane a touch when the l...My pessimism will start to wane a touch when the leftist leader after Corbyn is elected.<br /><br />This will show 2 things,<br /><br />A) Corbyn was a success<br />B) New labour no longer controls the Labour party.<br /><br />But as things stand there are two problems:<br /><br />A) That hideous creature Theresa may is still in power<br />B) The Labour party is still owned by the careerist New Labour elements and Corbyn was be a blip<br /><br />And even Corbyn can't put all that invasive technology back into the box or change the imperialist mindset of this nation overnight.<br /><br />Speaking of which, Brailsford of course is in a sport that gives advantage to advanced nations and is a sport where simple technical changes can make a difference, along with taking drugs. As soon as the degree of skill increases that approach is fundamentally compromised. The Brailsford approach will not work in a complex system, in fact it can only retard and stifle it.<br /><br />Having said that I am very cheery that Corbyn is doing well and think if elected he will improve things greatly.<br />Herbie Destroys the Environmentnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-14248070247415895462017-08-08T15:56:56.086+01:002017-08-08T15:56:56.086+01:00Truly, if Corbyn is invited onto Gardeners World w...Truly, if Corbyn is invited onto Gardeners World we'll know the revolution is imminent.David Timoneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03568348438980023320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-35417540994978002162017-08-06T16:56:14.351+01:002017-08-06T16:56:14.351+01:00Herb you are being way too pessimistic.
Every day...Herb you are being way too pessimistic.<br /><br />Every day I wake up and pinch myself.<br /><br />The statement 'Jeremy Corbyn could be the next prime minister' is taken seriously everywhere. The smart money have stopped laughing.<br /><br />The Tory party are fighting like ferrets in a sack. Every scratch and bite is reported at great length in the media.<br /><br />The chances of the Tories making anything sensible out of Brexit look remote.<br /><br />We just need to get over the final hump.<br /><br />I'm a believer that small changes can add up and make a big difference. See Dave Brailsford and cycling.<br /><br />It doesn't surprise me that the British public were unmoved by a dead baby on a Greek beach. But what would have happened if a dead puppy had washed up on a Greek beach? A campaign to rescue the trapped pets of Syria would have gained more traction than child refugees. I can easily see a 1000 strong convoy of 4x4s driven by irate home countries matriarchs setting out to rescue the pets of Syria. Of course each rescued pet would have to be accompanied by a rescued pet owner. We could have got thousands out. Who knows RSPCA inspectors are a disciplined force. A couple of battalions of heavily armed elite RSPCA inspectors, with air support out of Akrotiri and we could still be holding Aleppo.<br /><br />Pondering the success of Corbyn I can't help thinking that gardening has played an important part. The press depicts Corbyn as the devil incarnate and this jars with the public's knowledge of a man with an allotment who knows his way round an onion set. We need to take advantage of this. Don't restrict Corbyn to the politics shows get him on Gardeners World and the Chelsea flower show. Does John McDonnell own a dog? If not buy him one a labrador or golden retriever. What does John McDonnell's garden look like? Could it be filmed?<br /><br />Anything can happen. <br /><br />2015-16 Premier League Champions Leicester City<br />WaitingForTheFootballSeasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01689985844765501965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-19154504227646258842017-08-06T09:33:19.999+01:002017-08-06T09:33:19.999+01:00I think one thing often overlooked about the Brexi...I think one thing often overlooked about the Brexiteers is their pro Americanism and their desire to align to the USA’s red in tooth and claw capitalism rather than the USA’s welfare capitalism . I often think of the Brexiters like general Melchett in Blackadder, I imagine them saying, there is a bit of the old afraid to leap over the top and run stark naked into no man’s land about European capitalism!<br /><br />I remember Teresa Gorman endlessly reporting from her trips to the USA informing us just how wonderful the US system was in comparison to Europe.<br /><br />People tend to look at empire favourably because deep down they know that this exercise in mass theft and murder has directly benefitted them. While a good number of people would gladly see kids die in the sea rather than them reaching our shores for asylum, at the same time they hope somehow the mass theft, grotesque exploitation and murder can enforce the their privileged status in the world. To these people the number of desperate refugees turning up in the Med is not a story about globalisation but one of inconvenienced holidaymakers. <br /><br />Just never let these people tell you that they represent civilised values, this is all I ask. Not too much to ask is it?<br /><br />I think ultimately labour (i.e. workers) will lose as a result of Brexit. And that is the entire point of it. You may not have noticed but there is a coordinated project going on to force people onto subsistence living, in the UK for example households subsidise business with utility costs (a cost you cannot really escape). Forcing people into debt is the plan to solve the realisation issue, but this can only ever, in the long term, be enforced by authoritarian regimes.<br /><br />Which brings me to the other trend, the inexorable move toward totalitarian regimes, that is going on without so much of a blink from liberals. Though to my mind when i look at conservative arguments all I see are conservative arguments dressed in liberal clothes. Modern Feminism is built on this.<br /><br />As usual only a mass movement of workers can stop any of this and even then I doubt they could.<br />Herbie Destroys the Environmentnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-58257156027037244072017-08-03T22:50:42.884+01:002017-08-03T22:50:42.884+01:00The British Empire a disaster for subjugated peopl...The British Empire a disaster for subjugated peoples.<br /><br />But what is the the British attitude to developing and third world countries today? When you use your smartphone consider the 'artisanal' miner who dug the required tantalite. The IMF and World Bank continue to cripple the development of many countries as effectively as any imperium.<br /><br />In May 1940 the Tory party was split. To fight on or negotiate. To support the fight a monumental defeat was spun as a victory (Dunkirk). In 1945 a Labour landslide.<br /><br />In August 2017 the Tory party is split. Hard Brexit or a Soft Brexit as close as possible to what we had. The Tory challenge to spin Brexit as something positive. In 2022 a Labour landslide?WaitingForTheFootballSeasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01689985844765501965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-67729663688362526402017-07-31T19:27:17.571+01:002017-07-31T19:27:17.571+01:00There has been some confusion from historians (A.J...There has been some confusion from historians (A.J.P. Taylor for one) on the issue of empire, as the claim that empire was not provoked by economic benefit largely depends on not acknowledging the difference between 'informal' and 'formal' imperialism.<br /><br />The 'classic' era of colonialism that started with the Scramble for Africa around 1870 did take place largely for non-economic reasons, mainly as a demarcation of territory that sought to stabilise relationships between European colonialists. But that is to ignore the fact that both Old World colonialism and assertions of military strength had been taking place for centuries, and were essentially means to extort wealth on the basis of a preponderance of power!<br /><br />The irony with Brexit is that for all the Right's bluster about global opportunities it effectively involves the UK willingly assuming a place at the receiving end of imperialism, begging to be economically as well as militarily dependent on the US, and prostituting stereotypes of its history in East Asia in order to make a few bob. As you suggest, this could well benefit the Left who can at least offer something more uplifting in terms of wrapping social justice in the flag. Ben Philliskirknoreply@blogger.com