The Tom Sawyer Principle (Politics)

[Mick Harper]

Could you list the top ten things? It would be useful to compare them with the other half, the things they shouldn't disagree with Trump about.

[Grant]

Things they shouldn't disagree with
1 set up Space Force
2 unemployment down 4 million
3 black unemployment lowest ever
4 growth rate now 4.2 per cent
5 passed First Step act which reforms US prisons
6 provided all women in prison with free sanitary products
7 refused to join in Neocon plans to destroy Syria
8 repudiation of regime change across the world
9 peace moves in Korea
10 withdrawal of large numbers of US troops in Afghanistan and Syria
If Obama had done any of this he would have won another Nobel prize

[Grant]

Things they should disagree with (as liberals)
1 clamp down on immigration
2 tax breaks for the rich
3 attacks on free trade
4 speaking about pussies
5 building the wall (although that's academic as he hasn't actually built even a single mile of wall)
6 nominating conservatives to Supreme Court
7 recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital
8 attacking liberal press
9 withdrawal from Paris climate accords
10 appointing his idiot son in law to a senior job

[Mick Harper]

I am furious. I was expecting to wait twenty-four hours and then post up 'OK, one will do'. You will find, Grant, this website operates a strict tall poppy policy.

[Mick Harper]

Starting with this. From your twenty examples, select those you yourself agree with and the ones that either you predict I would agree with or what an AE-ist would agree with (or both). But go slowly. Some of the others might not be able to keep up.

[Wile E. Coyote]

[Mick Harper]

[Wile E. Coyote]

[Mick Harper]

Well, the MSM (main stream media, everybody) are overwhelmingly concerned with advanced countries so their ills are their ills. It can scarcely be denied that the confident new day of the post-Second World War globalist free-market model worked a treat (for advanced countries) for fifty years and then started stuttering. Japan, the really big good news story, stuttered to a stop but all other advanced countries' MSM's have been reporting "working families have seen no significant increase in their real take home pay since ... " the year varies but it is always long enough ago to suggest it isn't a temporary situation.

AE says it might be temporary all the same. MJH says we might just be measuring the wrong things since GDP doesn't measure everybody being on their computer eight hours a day and that is surely how we measure our lives now, not by how new our car is. Personally I agree with you: we've got plenty, so why worry? But politicians have to worry because, as the Tories are about to find out, you can't bribe the voters unless you can rely on a steady 2-3% annual increase in GDP.

[Mick Harper]

In this regard I was chatting to a my-age Welsh working class chappie in a biggish, newish car who had drawn up outside the front steps upon which I was smoking -- just for Christmas, you understand. "I could smell it down the street." I asked him about what he smoked as a youth. (I knew he wouldn't now but would have then.) Woodbines and Weights in packets of five as it turned out. "So you were poor?" I said rather cheekily. "We all were," he replied, without rancour. But of course so was I. We all were. That's what we smoked. I can patronise him now because I'm from London and I've got a university degree but actually he was clearly much better off than I was and could have happily patronised me back if he had chosen to do so.

We have (differently) arrived at this situation because we're both rich. Everyone is. The Golden Generation will do that for you every time. 2-3% GDP increases our whole lives. He's rich in having all the stuff his parents wanted him to have in their wildest dreams. I'm rich because I'm allowed to do sod all and be an intellectual. Neither of us would have it any other way but we both worry a bit about the younger generation just in case they can't.

[Mick Harper]

A nice detail in the Trial of Christine Keeler. Equity wouldn't let Christine play herself in a film about herself on account of her not being in Equity and, no, they would not allow her to join Equity. The luvvies are not all that lovely when it comes to protecting their own collective interest. Though whether 'collective interest' means actors or the union is not entirely straightforward since the film naturally didn't get made and a whole bunch of actors had to stay resting for a little while longer.

PS The name Equity is historically interesting since it is 'nice sounding' rather than descriptive of its members. Unite, Unison and the rest took a hundred years to follow suit.

PPS Actually when I bothered to look it up, Equity only dates from 1929 and was originally called British Actors' Equity Association but, hey, I'm in the British Screenwriters Guild. Or would have been if only...

[Mick Harper]

As your window on the world I have to watch three hours of Al-Jazeera News, Andersen 360 and Cuomo Prime Time every weekday (watching Channel 4 News and Newsnight counts as my own time). Fortunately for my day job as one of Britain's most gifted writers, I am a dab hand in fast forwarding. At the moment I can do this in three minutes since the three hours are devoted to deciding whether to call witnesses to the Senate Impeachment Trial to testify on matters that have been established already from multiple sources about something that two thirds of the Senate are not going to impeach the president on anyway. I can give that a miss without missing anything.

However I did have to pause for a moment because some dim Republican Senator, who isn't up for re-election, may vote for the witnesses to be heard, which means that instead of the whole charade being wrapped up today, Al-Jazeera, CNN, the BBC and Channel 4 can go wall-to-wall for the whole of next week as well. It will be good to hear from the horses' mouths what we already know the horse's arse did. The Senator is going to reveal his intention tonight, as a nation waits transfixed. Will he, won't he? It's finely balanced.

I am in two minds about it myself. On the one hand I'm not getting my usual news-fixes but on the other the rest is doing me good. It's a pity in many ways the USA isn't in the EU so it could spend a bit of time leaving. I can thoroughly recommend that. We shall not see its like again. Though possibly something similar. As Lance Armstrong sang, "It's a wonderful world."

[Grant]

Interesting thing about Brexit is how well Parliament delivered when it came to representing the will of the people. I assumed they would conspire to give us a new referendum. Instead they argued for three years before coming up with a half arsed "solution" which will doubtless involve leaving but still following most of the EU rules.
This is a perfect reflection of the 52/48% vote. Perhaps it truly is the mother of parliaments.

[Mick Harper]

And yet, Grant, you seem somehow unsatisfied. Despite the signals, such as they are, indicating we won't be following EU rules. Are you readying yourself for another far right, farfetched campaign? Never mind the mother of parliaments, you tell your Uncle Mick all about it. First fifty minutes is free.

[Grant]

No I'm fairly satisfied. The principle has been accepted and, whilst I would have been happier taking a harder line, I can't expect everyone to agree. We will have slightly freer trade with the rest of the World and that's a good thing. When they see how easy it is, other nations will follow us.