Politics, The Final Frontier (Politics)

[Mick Harper]

I posted up a thought about oil on the Questions of the Day thread before I read this. Oil is never that important, the world is awash with the stuff, but ex-Royal Marines and people who listen to their tall tales always believe in Oil Theories because there's always oil to be found in any conflict zone. Like I say it can be found anywhere. But, hey, let's beggar ourselves and lose fifty thousand of our brave boys to get the Total concession.

[Boreades]

[Mick Harper]

We invented impeachment so I'd better give the Americans a lecturette on the basics. It's the nuclear option available to a legislature for when the government does something the country didn't vote it into office for. Thus far the Americans have impeached Andrew Johnson for being a southerner, Bill Clinton for being a sex pest, Richard Nixon for being an electoral crook and Donald Trump for mixing up national and personal business. All of which the country knew about when they voted them into office. Butt out and leave it to the electorate, you numpties, that's what they're there for.

[Mick Harper]

There is a very significant upheaval going on in Lebanon, largely unreported here (save on Aljazeera). Lebanon is ethnically divided and only semi-legitimate because of French shenanigans in colonial days so everyone votes along ethnic (strictly speaking, religious) lines. This means governments can be good or bad without electoral consequences. This means governments are bad.

For the first time (ever, anywhere in the world) the people have risen up because they want a competent government and are prepared to ignore their own personal ethnic/religious stripe to get it. Presumably they won't succeed but making sure they don't succeed will be interesting because Iran underpins the present regime and their argument that America is behind the unrest weakens visibly by the day. In fact, if Trump succeeds in getting America out of the Middle East for good and all, sanity may well start sprouting all over the place. But presumably he too will be stopped from doing such a monstrous thing.

[Mick Harper]

[Mick Harper]

Actually the real reason why I shan't be voting is because I've never voted and I'm now too embarrassed, at my age, to have to ask what to do. This reminds me of my brief career as a schoolmaster at an immensely large comprehensive in the nether regions of south London. I kept missing morning assembly due to oversleeping/snarly transport combinations and by the time I'd come to terms with this part of the working day (they don't warn you, do they?) it was too late to ask for directions without revealing my lassitude (it was his lass he chewed and other meaningless puns one goes in for first thing in the morning).

[Wile E. Coyote]

I don't know why no one is saying this, but most of these Corbynista tweets are anti-imperialist not anti-semitic.

They might be bollox, they might be nasty but they are anti-imperialist.

Comrades are just as much anti-English as Anti-Israel, and even more anti-American.

It is no longer OK to employ a racist trope, when exposing the imperialist yoke.

[Boreades]

[Wile E. Coyote]

Macron has basically the vision right on Europe. Insist the Eurosceptics bugger off. Create an enthusiastic Eurozone, exclude hostile nations from the European digital agenda, build a defence force. Stop giving daft opt outs, stop two speed Europe. He just really needs to advocate a fortress walled Europe against migrants (understandably) wanting to get in, to create a Euro popular appeal.

It is a shame Macron is so tactically inept.

[Mick Harper]

A very sound analysis. Macron has the brains to understand that populism is the way ahead but not the balls to do it. However Festung Europa is not quite the right vision. A liberal nation-state Europe would do most of the things you describe. Even the immigration bit, carefully handled. It will take thirty or fifty years though. Has he thought of that?

[Wile E. Coyote]

Folks keep on going on about Trump, populism and social media. Trump keeps on deliberately tweeting controversial things, and then playing the victim, and the mainstream media gets mega upset. Folks just shrug their shoulders.

It's all very Ken Livingstone. This stoke controversy populism never did Ken any harm whilst at GLC or as mayor. Ken's big mistake was to keep on going even after he was irrelevant, then the media took revenge. Same thing will happen with Trump.

[Mick Harper]

Beef Stroganoff with long grain and wild rice or nduja, mascapone and red onion ravioli? The reason I mention my choice of meal tonight is that we are going to hear a lot about poverty in this election so I thought you would like to hear about some of the problems of the really poor. I am really poor -- officially classed as the (equal) poorest person in Britain. My income is such that it has to be topped up to reach the minimum level the government deems necessary to keep me chugging along. You can't get poorer than me in this country.

I know, I know, spare me the caveats. I understand (better than you) that I am wholly fortunate in lots of ways but you must understand that the vast majority of us down here on the official poverty line are fortunate in all our different ways. We won't be appearing on Labour Party (or any other party) election broadcasts. Special cases will be but they're the hardest cases, the ones that can only be reached by giving all of us down here handouts. It takes talent, not generosity, to run a good welfare system and as yet no advanced country has found that talent. And believe me, there are none in the Labour Party or any of the other parties that will be governing us for the next five years. Though they've all got lots of talented people when it comes to making election broadcasts.

All this has been brought on by news of my £200 winter payment. This was speedily put together during God-knows which election by God-knows which party because God-knows which TV programme/popular newspaper/opposition party was going on about God-knows who suffering from God-knows what cold-related malady. But I'm not. So, please, whatever you do, don't raise the winter payment. Or pretty much anything else poverty-related. I can't take the guilt.

[Mick Harper]

As you know, ideological favouritism makes morons of even quite intelligent people but this statement, re the Question Time debates, plumbed new heights

[Mick Harper]

[Wile E. Coyote]