brainwashed

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Greta Thunberg has been told to get an economics degree to be taken serious. Yet, going through years of some education may brainwash you into believing that the only way to do business is the old one.

There are sciences, which are pure and do not relate to current affairs but those decisions that need to be made in relation to climate change are actually not calculated on pure science but on the greed of those wanting to make profits.

Having listened to the Grenfell discussion on ‘politics live’ this morning, we’ve heard that some tower blocks are not so dangerous as they have night patrols. The answer was that many leaseholders cannot afford to pay for it.

Private ownership again hinders progress being made. Of course owning something privately means you rely entirely on your own resources. The smaller the building the less economical can it be to share and spread costs and if a private building owner has to replace a load of cladding on a building it becomes unaffordable.

Nobobdy questions the principle of private ownership, they question why the government hasn’t yet introduced laws to force owners to change the cladding. But this is a Conservative government, a government that supports private ownership.

Question the logic of this.

I don’t think there is a pure state in existance today that has a properly installed community government.

• North Korea, is a kind of family tyranny, that starves it’s population but which tries to blow our planet apart with constant nuclear testing
• China, a half-capitialist government, which is unelectable and relies on trade with capitalist countries
• Russia, a pseudo communist country that charges a flat tax rate to all, regardless of income. Nothing is being shared around there.

This planet is being run into the ground by large money accumulators who run business and produce goods that keep us in employment, the economy moving and make them richer.

The poor have no choice but to work in jobs being offered as they have to work to be part of an acceptable community, which relies on taxes.

Round and round and round it goes.

People ask again and again why didn’t the German’s stop Hitler, ask yourself, why does nobody stop the destruction of the environment.

 

Not so free after all

Having watched Charles I: the killing of a King, I got a sharp reminder how unfree Britain really is. Remember Extinction Rebellion have been listed as terrorist organisation and ‘order, order’ is the most important value Britain has.

I grew up in the 70s in Germany, the time of the student revolt. Despite never having even taking part in anyone of the many student demos, I was arrested and locked up for 3 months just because the security services felt like it. Of course they eventually came round to admitting that it was all a mistake.

My arrest came about because I was sofa-surfing and one address I stayed at for a few days was under the watchful eyes of the security services.

So, any individual can become over-scrutinised if a national security situation becomes frightful through activities such as XR these days do. Thankfully, XR has not committed any terrorist offences yet.

I saw it coming and I mentioned previously, do not get involved in those street demos of XR or XR as they will suffer the same fate.

Of course I am not certain whether they will eventually grow into a radical movement just as German students did with the Baader-Meinhof gang but the radical ideology is not dissimilar. Yet XR is funded by Western Billionaires and Baader-Meinhof were German rich kids too who gotten trained by Gaddafi and the like.

It shows ‘the being in 2 minds uncertainty’ Western power figures are. On one hand they are really powerful and on the other they want to throw it all over.

So what is the point in having even a monarchy. Either you have a monarch, who is a real ruler with all the power that comes with it or you don’t. Monarchs tend to be despots with no regard for the rights of their subjects. They just rule and abuse.

Today’s monarch seems more like a display of puppets who do a function, which looks good but has little power.

In fact looking at the reality of it, they can’t do much at all without being constantly watched, criticised and controlled.

Some would call it stalking. Yet, it is their job to be stalked and written about and having their photos taken and being discussed. If that was a private individual, they would have better rights.

Who is really pulling the strings in Britain. It can’t be the monarch, who despite having use of an impressive real estate portfolio has very little actual power but a mere ceremonial function.

Boris Johnson seems to have been selected into post only because of his personality. He comes across as somber and believable. You can hardly resist his voice. When he is together and has his suit on, on TV, Boris is a great actor.

The people of Britain are tightly controlled. Made to work all hours. Kids are taken from their parents at the earliest opportunity and stuck into schools for about 8 hours a day, making the influence parents actually have over their children negligible.

There is really no other way of making it in the public domain other than through kinky affiliations or by being a useful tool and doing what you are told by the ruling elite. And who are they?

I think Britain has a superb publicity machinery, which gives the impression that there is an actual democratic process but if you really look at it, its all talk and no input.

I won’t even go into how proper elections are but think people have not much real choice who to vote for. The public broadcasters and the press are all set to promote private ownership at present.

Whilst that is the mood of the moment, remember please once they stop making a profit from their businesses, we are on our own.

Whilst Labour with a nationalisation strategy gets ridiculed by the press, it seems the only viable solution to guarantee continuation of services when the going gets tough.

There is a general consensus, I would always support that we do like our basic strategy of personal freedom, and liberty of individuals, we should always defend it, that we do not enslave women and that we allow people the right to choose whether to have a religion or not but what seems the complicated part is how our life-styles affect our planet and those questions will rule our minds for some time to come.

We do need an army to defend ourselves from freakish countries like Iran and Northern Korea or Daesh because they are real dictatorships.

Yet so much relies on how our societies are run. Personal freedom often is only possible because we have the luxury of relying on services being available.

One always has to look at the greater scheme of things.

The pompeous

Enjoyed the opening of parliament today and the Queen’s speech, which mentioned 12 years of quality education for ‘girls’. Whilst at another occasion a judge ruled it is unlawful to ask whether a transgender person is male or female.

How would one know whether a person is trans-gender just by looking at them? I spoke to a neighbour, identifying as female and she said, nobody could ever find out she has ever been a man.

So I think the definition of gender needs some serious work.

Why did the Queen mention only girls’ education? Taking 18 as the ceiling it would enable girls to enjoy quality education from the age of 5. I would ask the Queen to guarantee a quality education for each person, rather than only for girls.

Otherwise I enjoyed the pomp and circumstance. I think dressing up into uniforms and looking pompeous stops people from being aggressive towards each other and preserves a dignified atmosphere.

I am a bit disappointed that the Speaker is not wearing a wig but look forward to a less aggressive and quick to throw arguments into people’s faces kind of speaker. Hoping the atmosphere in parliament is getting more settled and qualitative improved, the kind of discussion that validates the dressing up and equals quality of words with the quality of uniforms.

Just wondering whether the Queen would ratify every election result because if I look at some progressive countries like Holland, where they have legalised cannabis and where prosecutors of drug barons get shot in the street, I just wonder whether the Queen could refuse a government that bends the Church of England rules towards humanity for example and would refuse the Eutanasia ideas of Humanists and Animals Rights activists for example.

It’s good on her though that she still can deliver those speeches, with another becoming due at Christmas. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Indecision

It wasn’t about the policies, it was about decisiveness.  The prospect of another referendum, the not knowing for months to come was what lost Labour the election.

The policies I support, I don’t think Capitalism can cope with the policy changes needed to combat the climate emergency. It needs clear and concise policies to strictly reduce carbon emissions.

But Communism itself is not the answer either. China has the highest emissions on the planet because we get our goods from there. Even the US got 4 times more from China than they export there. Yet the US has the second highest carbon emission in the world.

This latest UK election has been about business and to please the investors and perhaps the North voted Conservative because some investors threatened to pull their investments and people faced job losses and their lifestyles.

The Scots didn’t need to rely on that venture Capital because the Scots already rely on Whiskey, Salmon and Chemicals and they have a steady stream of income from their own products.

London has a happy community of bankers who just love the place due to lifestyle and freedom choices. Yet all of us in Tower Hamlets and surrounding areas have no choice but to vote Labour because the Conservatives would eradicate our communities completely.

The hope that voters stay true to the Labour Party was always what caused me the most problems. During years of proceedings at the High Court, involving the Labour Party, it was actually voiced that I am perceived a traitor for relinquishing my party membership and looking at other parties. That philosophy that once Labour always Labour is what cost Labour the election because people just want to work and keep busy, live in happy communities and be healthy.

Labour in itself never was a true policital idea, it was borne out of defence against exploitation and a need to fight for workers rights in jobs that were provided by those who invented work.

The only true political idea that was put forward this time in 2019, was so out of touch with the actual reality of the situation that it was bound to fail.

Looking for political alternatives is not so easy as we need to keep going at this moment in time. Our children want to get educated and our people want to stay healthy and progress with life. There is little space for experiments.

Boris Johnson had to win as he was the only one, producing a strategy to get forward, to get some sort of a solution and certainty. That is all the Conservatives offer for now.

 

 

 

Sitting London ducks

Just reading up on ‘what the Tory election win means for your money‘ and find it has little to do with the practicalities of current financial realities.

There are these red specks in seas of blue. London is like an out-landish Labour bastion amidst the blue rural regions.

It seems to be the land- and property owners elections. Yet the young people, who want to get a fair outlook on life, voted Labour, those people who cannot count on their land-ownership and have to look at University fees and interest to be paid on those.

It doesn’t even bring much relief to think that the Living- or Minimum wage will rise and get allocated to younger people because the rents are too high and the housing costs and also commuting costs swallow up all earnings, making people reliant on food banks.

I personaly shouldn’t really complain, my pension is set to rise and I get free travel in London.

This election win, will mean little change to our current infrastructure. The same old class tensions will exist and probably be intensified through problems created in Scotland – who want to strive for Scottish independence and Northers Ireland, which is predicted to become part of the Irish nation within the next few decades.

Perhaps that is the reason why the visit of Boris Johnson to her Majesty the Queen took so long because is there really any way to explain to the Royals that the age of discontent has really only begun, rather than healed off?

Obviously – in terms of Brexit – the Brexitiers have won for England and Wales. Perhaps that will shape the future of the United Kingdom, in that it divides the nation and split off Scotland and Ireland from the Union.

Boris Johnson’s bariton voice can of course soothe emotional alarms instantly but rationally and analytically looking at this mess will simple not heal anything.

Those who are fobbed off by Boris Johnson’s calming effect really miss out on the reality of the situation.

Yes, the election results will calm foreign investors, will ensure that business knows how to prepare for the next few years but very little is resolved in terms of infrastructure and the one-nation agenda.

 

2019 general election

On reflection it was very risky of the Liberals to choose Jo Swinson as leader when her seat East Dunburtonshire is located in Scotland, a home nation, with gains for the SNP. I reckon she would have been much more likely to win a seat in an English contituency.

SNP gained 48 seats compared to the 35 in 2017.

The overall voting pattern, giving the Conservatives a clear 47 seat majority, was probably the voice of the people trying to end the uncertainty and make it easier for today’s business to invest and to make some certainty for jobs clear.

For the long term, I still think that the Labour Manifesto was better suited. In a climate emergency business cannot make good decisions other than those that lead to monetary rewards for individual investors. I don’t think that climate change will be profitable for anyone.

Yet the world cannot imagine change and business cannot change.

It will be interesting to see what happens to those arch Labour supporters up in North England who voted Conservative.

 

 

At the polling station

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He couldn’t remember his address, he gave the clerk various versions and she could not find any of them. The guy in front of me in the queue finally produced his polling card and was ticked off against the information on the polling card.

Then it was my turn, cleverly I thought, if I give her my polling card from the start, she won’t have problems finding me. She asked me whether I can confirm my name and address.

Yet the guy in front of me couldn’t even remember his address and was accepted.

Wow, what different measures are applied to different people. There was so much in the press about voting fraud. Doesn’t surprise me at all.

collapse of public accountability

I have just received an email from the chair of the Tower Hamlets Safer Neighbourhood Board (SNB) asking me to meet him for coffee to see if I can be of use. He copied in 3 serving police officers at the Met too.

I refused. It is abhorrent to think that one person can decide who gets the local voluntary positions. That is not democratic and there is no accountability.

There is now a collapse of democracy evident so far as the voluntary sector is concerned.

I used to be the chair of the Tower Hamlets Neighbourhood Watch Association. That was a post created out of a network of elected local Neighbourhood Watch panels, who democratically elected the chair of the local Association, which in turn worked in partnership with the local Metropolitan Police.

The then Mayors Office for Policing in Crime (MOPAC) funded the Tower Hamlets Neighbourhood Watch Association.

When my daughter became a successfull performance athlete in her sport, I needed to spend a lot more time to bring her to training sessions, starting at 6am, ending at 9pm and in between there was schooling.

I had a good relationship with local Safer Neighbourhood Teams and Neighbourhood Watch was set up through the SNT officers verifying the residents who registered as Neighbourhod Watches. I helped establish over 100 Neighbourhood Watches in Tower Hamlets.

Now my daughter has grown older and no longer needs as much help to get to and from places and I have more time to commit to the community again.

Unfortunately my successor in Tower Hamlets dissolved the Association. A new system called OWL was established, which is in fact just a communication system that works one-way. The police use it now to communicate with registered users only to give information on current situations and distribute news letters and invites to events.

I have been in communications with the national Neighbourhood Watch Network and attended one of their seminars. The former London Neighbourhood Watch Association has also been dissolved and there is no infrastructure left as it was previously.

Local people now often use WhatsApp to communicate among themselves, which is quite effective. Meetings with police are held via the SNT network and take place 4 times per year.

The SNT panels have a representative with the local Safer Neighbourhood Board.

Citizen’s Assembly on Climate Change

30.000 people around the UK will get letters inviting them to workshops on Climate Change. The initiative has been brought by a cross-party MPs to determine what members of the public can do to reduce CO2.

That will produce a final panel of 110 people to meet in Birmingham. This will restrict the people who can actually come to this as a lot of people will be working and can’t make this.

It is always difficult to assemble panels of people to physically meet at the best of times. I  have been on many groups and availability to meet was always an issue.

If the group only discusses personal CO2 use by the public is a little too restrictive as what is important is what is on offer to actually purchase and use made available by producers, business and public services too.

Zero Carbon by 2050 is a lame approach, we need action now and we need it real and not just by speaking about it.

But the principle of Citizens Assemblies I welcome very much in more subjects than the environment.

The worst outcome

Seeing the mood in parliament it seems to become a Home nations and Labour supporters versus the Conservatives.

But we do need certainty as business investment will rely on it.

As stated previously with a new election Boris Johnson wants to rid the Conservatives of those Members of Parliament who lost the whip and who voted against the government.

Experience shows that those standing as independents rarely win elections.

Perhaps those independents will find other mainstream parties to put them up as candidates.

I am in an unusual position. I am a pensioner and as such benefit from the triple lock Conservative policy, that raises pensions guaranteed but I am also solely in contact with young people all the time and get a good idea what young people and working people do not like about this government.

With all those new parties springing up and the Liberals getting a lot more support than before, which they lost due to the previous stint of collaboration with a Conservative government, I wonder whether we are going towards a repeat of exactly the last scenario whereby Liberals prop up the Conservatives again.

I think people want genuine change, better jobs protection, better housing and less crime.

Education has become a sore point because so many schools close and many others spring up with not enough regulation to ensure quality.

On one hand this government wants to tear education away from local authorities to get direct government funding for Academies but on the other hand the local authorities get more responsibilities to raise their own finance. So why do schools get taken out of the equation?

We do see the gentrification of local communities in the social sense but local councils are supposed to get more responsibilities running their local communities whilst the poor are moved around like pawns on a chess board.

The low tax, high wage economy is not working because crazy, unstable policies have driven business out of Britain and the home nations are in the mood to cry independence.

Our charities rely on individual donations and those attracting more money can care better for their needy but those failing to attract donations cannot provide services. This leaves whole swathes of needy people uncared for, hence a rise in crime.

Leaving things to sort themselves out is obviously not working.