Politics, The Final Frontier (Politics)

[Hatty]

[Mick Harper]

Even so a pretty dreadful thing to say. Hoddle lost the England gig for something not half so bad. On the face of it, grounds for expulsion (of Speakman, that is -- Mann is just being a dickhead dragging the Fürher's name in). Assuming Speakman is a Momentumist, and given that Momentum has recently captured the commanding heights of the Labour Party's disciplinary apparat, it will be interesting to see What Happens Next. My prediction: nothing.

[Boreades]

Harpo!

Bob Rae needs your help on Twitter:

Bob's biog = Lawyer-OKT,Prof, Uof T: Mediator, Speaker, Writer. Special Envoy to Myanmar First Nations, Social Justice, Governance, Democracy, Conflict Res.

[Mick Harper]

I just noticed I spelled the Fuhrer's name wrong in my last post. That disposes of any doubts about my own anti-semitism. Not that I have any rooted objection to charismatic leaders (as an AE-ist I cannot have rooted objections to anything) but certainly Venezuela is lacking one at the moment. Blimey, it's like the Soviet Union after Uncle Joe died. The big difference being that the Russians couldn't leave. And now those bastards in the surrounding countries are preventing the Venezuelans leaving. It's an international conspiracy to do the revolution down!

[Mick Harper]

A feminist's eye view of Tudor history

[Mick Harper]

Even I'm beginning to worry about this migrant army surging through Mexico. There's no guarantee the US Army can stop them (who have the Yanks stopped lately?) so there's practically only Canada, Greenland and Iceland between them and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Come on if you think you're hard enough.

[Mick Harper]

On a more than averagely momentous news day, both Channel 4 News and the Guardian decided to lead on a report by Phililp Alston, the UN's Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. Blimey, he's got his work cut out, who is it this time? Oh, it's us. Phil, an old fashioned liberal Brit, wandered round the country for a fortnight and presented a report that said exactly what the Archbishop of Canterbury, the CPAG, the Rowntree Trust and half a dozen others have said since the fall of Labour (or the onset of the financial crisis, depending how you measure these things).

I don't take issue with Phil's findings -- a bit below average bollocks but otherwise fair enough -- but I do take issue with Channel 4 and the Guardian. This is not news unless the UN wasting its scarce resources and waning reputation on this kind of thing is news. It's just a liberal beefing off about conservatives. On the other hand, it was a slightly better than average day for a beleaguered Conservative Prime Minister, so maybe it was worth bigging up. You don't get visits from UN rapporteurs every day of the week. For two weeks. The Yemen should be so lucky.

[Wile E. Coyote]

You do wonder why so many poorer people are trying to get into countries like the US (Phil's last but one report) and Britain. Clearly Channel 4 and the Guardian are keen to make Phil's reports more available, so they can understand just how bad it will be when they get here.

I can see flotillas turning around as I post.

[Mick Harper]

I can see riots at the food banks as the 'working poor' stand their ground against Hondurans. There's only so many tins of Jolly Green Giant to go round. Which reminds me I'm fresh out and qualify for a top up. "Are you or have you ever been on Pension Credit?"

[Mick Harper]

Today I came across something called the Corbett Report, more specifically a couple of You Tubes called the WW1 Conspiracy. Basically it was all down to a cabal of WASPs. Plus a Rothschild. I can confirm the basic facts and recommend it so long as it is taken for granted that human beings are not capable of such strategic thinking.

[Mick Harper]

I was just beginning to get my head around LGBT, if not always in the right order, when the Guardian informs me it is now LGBTQ. Sorry, but that does it for me.

[Wile E. Coyote]

[Wile E. Coyote]

I don't know what is happening Zimbabwe, no internet, troops out, is it a coup? Or was it a military regime already?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/16/authorities-launch-major-crackdown-amid-protests-zimbabwe

Anyway little coverage because of media obsession with Brexit.

[Mick Harper]

Your last two posts, Wiley, are illustrative of Mayor Daley Syndrome: Nasty regimes are not necessarily bad regimes. It's hard to argue with the fact that the post-Mao Chinese government might be a thoroughly noxious bag of snakes but have worked absolute miracles in terms of alleviating poverty. And, to some extent, promoting liberal freedoms, at least for the Han Chinese section of the population.

Rhodesia/Zimbabwe has always had bags of snakes at the top, which have worked no miracles in terms of alleviating poverty and have promoted liberal freedoms only for the ruling tribal elite (initially white, latterly Shona).

[Mick Harper]

Political Conundrum of the Week: Should an Arsenal fan watch home games?

Arsenal stadium has sold its stadium naming rights for a vast sum to the Emirates, one of whom is Bahrain. Bahrain is trying to extradite a footballer from Thailand for a vandalism conviction. It is said he vandalised a police station even though, it is said, he was playing in a televised football match at the time. It is also said that he faces a ten-stretch. It is said that the footballer is wanted in reality for being a political dissident.

I understand that some of this, even all of it, might be standard lefty puffery, but it is for sure football-related, so Arsenal as a minimum should not just take the money and run. What it should do is a matter for reflection, but it should at least be reflecting. As far as I can see, it couldn't give a monkeys.