Tag Archives: politics

What’s in a Name?

6 Replies

First I wrote about politics, then I wrote about politics again. However, it soon becomes clear when I write about politics, that I am just adding to an enormous pile of words on the Internet. If you were to sift the entire pile you would be hard pressed to find any wisdom. So I performed a self-edit – twice. This is my gift to you – two blogs about politics which you don’t need to read. Instead I had a fun ten minutes renaming things by writing on a map of the world.  I don’t have any crayons, so I can’t give it the authentic Trump look, but it was fun for a while.

Cormorant at Arnot Hill

The “British Ocean” now stretches from Ireland to the USA and the “British Holiday Sea” has taken the place of the Mediterranean. I toyed with the idea of renaming the eastern states of the USA from New England down to Georgia as “We Used to Own This” but seeing the mess they’ve made of it in just 250 years I’m not sure we want to admit any responsibility.

Anyway, with New England, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, the Carolinas, the Virginias and Georgia, the British element is pretty well established – the names Delaware, Maine and Pennsylvania also have links to the UK. Even if you disbelieve the explanation given in the article, Maine in France was under British rule in the time of Henry II and Richard the Lionheart so there’s another link.

Cormorant at Budby Flash

It’s a wonder that Trump hasn’t tried to rename all these old colonial names, after all, he did rename Denali as soon as he got into power again.

Of course, this is all history rather than politics, so I don’t mind writing it.

Talking of history, of course, it’s very tempting to write about the Guano Islands Act of 1856, a law allowing citizens of the USA to claim previously unclaimed island which had guano deposits on them. I came across it while researching guano, a product that has been protected by various laws since Inca times. It’s a very interesting subject, honestly.

Cormorants at Clumber

However, the Act is very tempting as the basis of a comment that US Foreign Policy and mounds of fishy-smelling bird droppings have been linked for nearly 200 years – because that might be political, and I don’t do politics.

Time, I think, to make some phone calls. But first – pictures of cormorants – they are noted for their guano production.

Cormorant

A “disingenuous grifter”

10 Replies

Owl Sculpture – Harlow Carr

I started writing a post about the Gladstone family yesterday, but as usual I became bogged down with diversions, wikiperigrinations (yes, I just made it up, though it wasn’t difficult)) and trying to trace a lost reference. It’s in my head but I can’t retrace it on the internet – I should have made a note at the time. It will involve upper class privilege, grave robbing and the end of Empire. Hopefully, I will have it done in the next couple of days and keep it down to 500 words. That of course, is the problem, it takes a lot longer to write 500 words on the subject than it does to ramble on for 2,000.

This reminded me of Mr Gladstone and the “tax on knowledge“. Gladstone, who passed a number of measures to help the working man, believed that an educated working class was better able to vote and to help themselves without government intervention.

How very different to events in the USA where Mr Trump is involved in a battle to steal truth and keep voters in ignorance.

We have the same here. We have just had a by-election where Nigel Farage, a political charlatan of the highest order, faced off against a comedian dressed as a waste bin. Farage claims the victory, which is true, because in the absence of any other major party he polled the most votes. He uses this to back his claim that voters support him as the anti-establishment candidate who really doesn’t deserve to be investigated for trousering £5 million donated by a crypto-currency billionaire who lives in Thailand.

However, a lot of people, over 9,000 voted for Count Binface. He’s a joke candidate, but a substantial number of people preferred him to the snake oil salesman.

It’s not really a resounding slap down for Farage, but, of course, the enquiry will go ahead again. It makes you wonder if the election stunt was to allow things to be tidied up behind the scenes.

This week’s political question is which word from “crypto-currency”, “billionaire” and “Thailand” is the most helpful one in establishing the confidence of you as a voter.

And just for the record, Nigel Farage, the anti-establishment candidate was educated at a top private school, worked as a commodities broker in the City and had a bank account at Coutt’s bank. These are not generally regarded as marks of a man who is not part of the Establishment, though many, including a member of the Coutt’s Board, consider Farage to be a “disingenuous grifter”. That’s pretty strong for a banker.

And just to show that I’m not biased, here are some poll results quoted on his (lengthy) Wiki page –

“YouGov found that overall, 73% believe he is “very” or “fairly sleazy”, the highest figure among party leaders (51% for Keir Starmer, 42% for Zack Polanski, 36% for Andy Burnham and 34% for Kemi Badenoch). Even among recent Reform UK voters, 40% believed that Farage was sleazy.”

Sorry about the politics, it just happened . . .

Owl carving – Sherwood Forest

I added the owls to inject a bit of wisdom into the post.

 

 

Absolutely My Last Word on Politics

17 Replies

OK, I know I said I was going to stop writing about politics, but what better way to start a blog post on politics than by breaking a promise? I was also going to blog every day and I have messed that up too.

Today I will talk about democracy. It is, as we have been told many times, the worst system of government available to us, apart from all the other models we have tried.

I won’t take much of your time as I am aware it’s a limited resource and I can’t hang about chatting if I’m going to solve the problems of the world and get some poetry written.

Democracy, to me, means that everybody has a vote and the people with the most votes get to make the decisions, though they do have to make sure that the minorities are treated fairly.

That’ the tricky thing to get right – the old two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch dilemma.

That’s why I get annoyed when I see politicians declaring that they won’t work with Reform. There are a number of things that I don’t like about Reform, I admit. But it’s undeniable that they did get a lot of votes – being  the equal second largest party in Scotland (alongside Labour) and the second largest party in Wales by a considerable margin.

Is it right that to just disregard that amount of voters because they are in a party you disagree with? Or is that the way to cause more bitterness and division in an increasingly fractured world?

Having said that, what do voters think of coalitions, I sometimes wonder. When the Tories were burning through Prime Ministers in their final years we had a lot of people saying they hadn’t voted for the new PM and should have a general election. That, unfortunately, betrays a general ignorance of the way our government works, and the creeping Americanisation of the UK, when people think they vote for a PM rather than a party.

And that is definitely all I have to say on politics.

 

 

 

 

After the Election

30 Replies

The Artist – Charlie Uzzel-Edwards

Well, I voted. I then wrote about it several times. My views on compulsory voting (with musings on enfranchisement and the Chartists) tend to take me off message).

So do my thoughts on Police Commissioners and why we don’t need such as elected law enforcement personnel and no win-no fee lawyers. I deleted them.

So, I will treat this as third time lucky and try to stick to the results. The Green party seems to be doing well. Reform is doing even better. To me that means that people are more concerned with illegal immigration than they are with climate change.

OK, fourth time, as the third time was a bit dull.

The local Green candidate won. We also got an extra Green councillor in Peterborough, meaning we now have six. . So far, so good. There are 8 Peterborough First councillors and 9 Independents, plus Conservative, Reform, Labour and LibDem. It is a very fragmented council and nobody has overall control. At one time, according to  newspaper article last year 25% of sitting councillors had been elected for a party that was different to the one they were currently claiming to be in. That often happens where you have Greens, Independents and someone in  a party with a town name and “First” after it.

Nationally the Greens did quite well, despite the fact we are supposedly anti-semitic and Reform did even better because they are riding a wave of populism.

And that is a summary of politics in England today – the big winner is a party led by a man who accepted a £5,000,000 gift from a businessman who wants nothing in return, is a friend of Donald Trump and has, several times,  been caught out for using anti-semitic and racist language.

In Wales Reform is going to be the second biggest party but in Scotland they did not prosper. The Greens won two seats in each country, which is a start.

Counting is still proceeding.

However, despite the shifts in power I don’t expect much will change, because they never do, The political climate will probably become less compassionate towards refugees, and to those with immigrant backgrounds, parties which promise a lot in opposition often fail to life up to the rhetoric when they come into contact with reality.

 

 

Statistics – the Greatest Lie

19 Replies

I’ve grown used to lying over the last few years. It all started after Donald Trump’s first election when he declared that millions of people had attended his inauguration and claimed it was far more than had attended Barack Obama’s inauguration. The pictures clearly showed this was not the case, and although it’s true that pictures can lie, is more likely that a politician was lying. We soon learned that if his lips were moving, he was lying.


The one on the left is a candlestick – it has a metal insert. The one on the right it a snowman. They always make snowmen when they have spare wood and time as they sell well at Christmas when they do the craft fair in the Cathedral.

WP is much the same. I have had over 400 views a day for several weeks now. I have also had an average of 12 people a day recorded as looking. So which is it WP – 400 or 12?

It could be AI robots, but in that case why don’t they show up on both counters. It could be that I’m being monitored by American Intelligence for my comments on President Trump and the Death of Democracy, but they wouldn’t do that surely? Juxtaposing the two words in view of the moronic outpourings we hear every day is surely just handing me an opportunity for mockery. It couldn’t be much else as nobody else would be interested, and in truth I’m sure it must be AI. Trump is flirting with Armageddon, but AI is setting up to slowly strangle the life out of us. It will be like the boiling frog – we won’t notice until it is too late.

The candlestick again. It started out as a bent bit of pine with a split and a massive knot. She just set to work, the knot pinged out, another, as you can see, stayed to make a decorative feature, and the split disappeared along with a lot of the wood. She is getting good at this.

It’s much the same with Julia’s wood turning (where she went today). I won’t notice that all the shelves are covered in turned wood products until it’s too late.

She baked simnel muffins over Easter too, but they don’t last, so they won’t be taking anything over.

 

 

 

Less Than Optimal Start to the Morning

17 Replies

After a good run on the email (months without errors) we are back to the old problem – can’t log in (can’t even get a page that allows me to attempt to log in) and a message telling me there is a problem (which I can see, without a message) and that I should try later.

I generally start by suspecting BT is useless. Then I go through a variety of dark suspicions , usually hinging on cyber attacks by malevolent foreign powers. Then I decide BT is useless. My evidence for this is that my other email account never seems to have the same problem. I just tried it. It is working perfectly.

I would use the alternative, but it just seems like a lot of trouble to change addresses. So far, I have avoided doing it. When I changed debit cards last year – just a simple renewal rather than a major change – it appeared to be a lot more complicated than previous changes. I have not become more complicated, but it seems the systems of various companies have become more complicated. One insisted I signed up to their app before I could change card details and TESCO failed to deliver my groceries because I had missed ticking a box when changing details.

It’s amazing how much we now rely on email and the internet. I’m sure that one day civilisation will end just because we can’t access the internet. Nobody uses cash these days and we would all have to turn to looting or starve.

However, I’m sure world governments will already have a plan in hand. After all, they can’t really concerned just about religious wars, oil and sending people into space with a non-functioning $23 million toilet, can they?

Well, that used to be what I thought. Now I’m not so sure.

In years to come will someone make a film of how a handful of billionaires turned world politics into a real life version of Risk: The Game of Global Domination?

Barely Restrained Fury

15 Replies

Drowned tree at Clumber Park

I just had an email from WP telling me how to activate AI on my blog. To be honest, I come here to practise writing, not to have my writing rendered into something resembling the verbal equivalent of pureed veg to be spooned into an elderly dotard. I want something with lumps in it.

They tell me that it will “Refine and tighten copy without losing your voice.” if it does that it will be a first for AI as every other example I’ve seen makes the writer seem like a simpleton or a zombie. 

Clumber woods

I’d rather they spent their money on making it easier for humans to write better, including restoring the old spellchecker I used to have that didn’t try to turn my spellings into American versions. I’d also love a reduction in annual fees rather than have money poured into technology I don’t want. I’ll write with a quill before I use AI to “improve” my writing.

However, I’m not going to become overwrought about it as I have promised Julia and the doctor that I will start to think about my health. Having a stroke whilst ranting about WordPress and AI would be bad for me, and would allow AI and WP to assume a greater importance than they should really have in my life.

Robin

I was very pleased to see the Greens win the by-election in Gorton. I have been voting green for quite a few years now, though I am far from agreeing with all their policies. I do, however, like the one about trying to save the planet by treating it better. A few months ago I almost joined them, but I’ve got this far in life without joining a political party so I decided not to.

Even if I didn’t support the Greens in any policies, it would be fun to see the reaction of the Reform Party, who are taking a trick out of the Trump play book and whining about voting irregularities. I know it’s cruel, but there are certain things I never get tired of, and watching spoilt brat politicians whine about being unfairly treated after being defeated is one of those things.

Fenland skies

There were undoubtedly voting irregularities, which have been growing over the years as we have been trying to ensure no voter gets left out, but there weren’t 4,402 voting irregularities, which was the size of the majority.

Meanwhile, I am going to redouble my efforts to avoid learning about current affairs and politics. As soon as I started to read about the election vote I found myself assailed by dozens of stories with varying degrees of hatred and accuracy and I can do without it.

Fenland skies

 

 

 

In Which I Break a Long Term Rule and Become Political

14 Replies

Sculpture at Ruffird – I will say no more…

I have answered comments. That has taken just over ten minutes. I am now sitting, looking at a screen, and wondering where all the inspiration goes. I wasn’t exactly full of it when I went to be and seven hours of broken sleep have not improved the situation. I have plenty to write about but it needs a spark of inspiration to get it going. I was going to add “just like the flames of the screwed up newspaper in the grate” and I stopped to wonder how many people reading this will have started a coal fire as a regular part of their home heating. It’s something you never see these days. A few people have wood burners, but the neatly made layers of paper, kindling and coal have passed into history, like cars with starting handles and, in fact, newspapers printed on paper.

That paragraph is the only survivor of my two attempts to write a post before taking Julia to wood turning. It’s turned to newspapers, and after turning to newspapers, I felt I had to mention Elon Musk’s AI for making pornography. Having mentioned that I felt necessary to move on to the concept that being opposed to child pornography is, in the eyes of some US politicians, an attack on freedom of speech.

Mallard drake shining in the sun – Idle Valley NR

However, that’s a bit serious for me, and people don’t come here for serious discussions on world news. If they did, they would be disappointed. So I junked it and took up the story again. This time I turned it to Elon Musk showing photos of Kier Starmer in a bikini. That’s the sort of bullying school yard response that shows exactly why we don’t need this sort of technology. Still a bit too serious. Plus it’s not a picture I want to store in my mind.

Then you have to allow for the fact that when I think of many US politicians, I think of pond slime and those formless things that squirm under stones in my nightmares. Unfortunately, under the Trump Administration “justice” has become weaponized (to use one of their favourite words) and is being used to shut down debate. (In the wind I hear a faint cry of Freedom of Speech for those who can afford it . . .)

Wren

Even though there are defences (for now) of truth and fair comment I can’t afford to be sued by pond slime and squirming things because I’ve lowered their reputation in the eyes of the public by associating them with US politicians.

Great White Egret

 

Thoughts of Hamsters, Wheels and The Devil’s Gallop

9 Replies

 

The list of things I’ve done today is simple – got up, checked emails, read WP. Read news online, regretted it, wrote a witty political blog post, decided, yet again, that I don’t want to do politics. Unfortunately it took me an hour to write and polish and delete.

Julia made breakfast, we skipped lunch, watched a bit of TV. I wrote. Julia cooked. Watched quizzes all evening. That’s about it.

Vegetables – Carsington Water

We duplicated some of the plants we ate yesterday but added an apple, an orange and Brussels Sprouts. We are a third of the way into the week and are now on 15 sorts of plant, so we are on target.

Wholewheat TESCO “Weetabix”
Blueberries
Bananas
Strawberries
Tea
Mixed dried fruit
Apricots
Coffee
Carrots
Parsnips
Leeks
Cauliflower
Apple
Orange
Potatoes
Brussels Sprouts

We also had spices – Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Mixed Spice not really enough to count and the vegetarian stuff in the sausage.

The bread in the bread pudding and the flour in the cake and pudding batter were both white, so don’t count.  We also had tomato relish, but probably not enough to count.

That’s sixteen so far and I have at least 21 sources of plant-based food in the kitchen, so we are going to hit target. I’m looking to do just over the 30. No point showing off or setting the bar too high in the first week.

Quite apart from the benefits of greater variety to my gut microbiome, there are definite benefits to my menu planning and recipe selection. It’s also making me blog more, which isn’t a benefit I’ve seen listed in any of the articles.

Stir Fry Vegetables

Now, having given a home to trillions of tiny organisms, all I need to do is avoid antibiotics. They have a disastrous effect on my internal functions, though to be fair, they did cure me when I was ill a few months ago, so I forgive them.

\one last thought – if you gather all the microbes in your gut together they weigh about as much as an adult hamster. Are you having the same mental picture that I am – a hamster on a wheel in my stomach? Now add the Dick Barton Theme as a soundtrack . . .

 

Mysterious Ways

12 Replies

Ely – Stained Glass Museum

It’s nearly two weeks since I last posted. I didn’t set off with the idea of leaving it that long, but it just crept up on me. I have actually written a couple of long posts about world events, but they depress me, and if they depress me they aren’t going to cheer anybody else up. We know the world is changing, and, to paraphrase Emperor Hirohito in 1945, not necessarily to our advantage. We don’t need to keep telling ourselves this, and if we do, we have plenty of people to do it.

The world, as it stands at the moment . . .

Tch! There I go again.

 

Actually, the most interesting thing to happen recently has been the election of the Pope. There was talk of an Asian Pope or even a black Pope, but they went for a white American Pope. It wasn’t a surprise, particularly as the American Catholics had been promising a billion dollar donation if the “right Pope” was selected. However, in the manner of these things, God, working through his devious and scheming Cardinals (I’ve never trusted a Cardinal – they are always bad news when they appear in history, or the Three Musketeers) has come up trumps with this choice. I doubt that the million dollar donation will be made now. (Yes, I did wonder about my choice of idiom there, but it seemed appropriate).

May I draw your attention to the Papal Bull of 1570 – Regnans in Excelsis. It caused quite a stir in its time and, as far as I know, could be repeated. Papal Bull, by the way, is what the Vatican calls them, it is not, despite modern usage of the word bull, a derogatory term.

I tend to leave the Catholic Church alone, as long as it leaves me alone, but I will point out one thing. While the discussion was going on about whether the next Pope might be black or Asian, there was one guarantee – he wasn’t going to be a woman.

I will now trust in Hemingway’s iceberg theory and stop writing.

Stained Glass Museum – Ely