Here's how I'd stake out the landscape:
- everyone keeps having the excellent excuse of waiting for the Next Scheduled Event - after which, presumably, they'll understand everything and will doubtless let us know. Right now that's the Euro Elections and maybe also the Locals. Who bothers trying to call them? The only game being played is to tell your own party: "if we don't do X [get rid of May, promise R2, commit to revoking A50, fill in your own heartfelt disideratum here] we'll be wiped out ..."
- there is no sign of leadership. Anywhere, really. OK, Starmer and Farage are being a bit more purposeful than most. But that's about it
- there is no sign of coalition-building. Around anything. Every faction seems to think the best tactic is to retain its own purity of position. (For Corbyn, of course, this means high-principled fence-sitting, which must eventually start to affect the flow of blood to those bollocks of his that the Momentumites so admire)
- rather against my own views on How Things Happen, there isn't much sign of the grown-ups seizing control. Quite the reverse: the children are happily blocking the streets, metaphorically-speaking on quite a wide scale, as well as at Marble Arch
Do we see any candidiates for the role of Lenin? I am quite sure McDonnell dreams about this - but he doesn't look he part to me.
Have at it in the comments, chaps.
ND
14 comments:
Looking into the future, I would ask dominic cummings.
Once its all over I would ask Tim Shipman.
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Personally I return to my old C conservative view that
1- govts generally only make things worse
the best they can really do is react to events and stop future harms - like regulating FOBT machines
the worst they can do is start wars in foreign countries where we have no 'skin', like libya - ignoring iraq etc. or HS2 etc etc.
2- govts dont actually have that much power
If you are rich and you do not like the govt, you move countries, like a number of russians, or if you do not like your countries foreign policies you make your own up (bill gates) or if you do not like the politics at home, you get your people elected , your own tv channels, your own parties (koch bros)
Govts actually have immense power, but it is dispersed across a number of organisations/institutions and is highly rule based. When you think of Govt, you think of the PM or home secretary. These people get little opportunity to fill in the potholes at the end of your road - or make them deeper.
The last person to direct a law at one person afaik was David blunkett and that anti war protestor who camped outside parliament.
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We may well be heading towards the end of capitalism, but if I were a marxist (and actually marx is much underrated) I would not be too sanguine.
One straw in the wind I would pluck at is the enthusiasm for autonomous cars. These things will only work if you simplify the built environment.
i.e. no old people, children, pedal bikes, scooters, unplanned roadworks, cars parked in off places, indeed, card driven by humans. Or people crossing the road outside designated locations.
Some people really think robot cars are a good, practical idea.
There are many ways of finally solving all those problems and making life much much simpler...
ps
I blame the inevitable decline of western civilization on Subway.
There really is a generation of people who think "Have it your way" is an historical inevitability.
I'm expecting, or more probably hoping that one day soon I'll read the headline " She's gone and we're out!"
I also see no movement in the "cross party talks" and no indication that May will go voluntarily in the next month, which indicates that we will take part in Euro elections in May. If you believe the polls, the Brexit party will win the biggest share of the vote (currently polling 27% and trending up)
I think the big question that remains to be answered is - will that EU election result be enough to wake up May/Tories/Westminster, or will parliament shrug its shoulders and say, "but it's only the Euro elections"? Surely someone at CCHQ is smart enough to add up 27, 15 (Cons) and 7 (UKIP) and realise that a stonking parliamentary majority is up for grabs? Even if we discount UKIP and assume that their voters will never vote Tory again, that's still a 100+ seat majority if replicated in a GE (which is what the Tories should be getting vs Corbyn's commies)
I simply cannot believe that every way we turn we get Marxism.
We vote for Brexit and get Marxism. We vote Conservative and get Marxism.
The Marxists take to blocking the streets and the police behave like fellow Marxists, until someone points out that they are not meant to be Marxists.
So there's your answer.
The Marxist revolution has already taken place, only we haven't been told about it - the damage limitation since the Brexit vote has not just been about the withdrawal from the EU but May stalling in telling us that we can't have it because... we're Marxists !
Look at it in that context and it all makes perfect sense.
It isn't about the Blue Team or the Red Team - it's about the Civil Service Politburo keeping control, and any manner of coalitions will do so long as none is too strong.
I have a feling E-K has the nub of it - your Deep State actors, Nick, are already in play, just not in the way we expected. Sometimes doing nothing, not intervening, allowing streets to be taken over by anarchists, presiding over a breakdown in our old friend Laura Norder, just paves the way. All we need are some crap economic stats, a car plant closing, s terrorist incident, Batten's loonies beating a Muslim to death, transport strikes or whatever and Right Thinking People will support hard line State intervention, army supporting police and hey presto the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 can be brought into play.
The job of the Deep State's political dags is to keep quiet, not make a fuss and do what the Grey Men tell them to do when the time comes.
Tinfoil hat stuff? Perhaps. I certainly hope so.
It is worse than that - it is a hive mind in operation.
Piles of complex rules that mean little, or perhaps something benign when taken by themselves.
They all together have an emergent property which is to produce an environment that is conducive to more rules.
Almost none of the deep state actors realize what they even are,
anymore than a flu virus understands that it is driven by its DNA.
Be happy for we are All Watched Over by Procedures of Loving Grace
@ must eventually start to affect the flow of blood to those bollocks of his
LOL
Andrew - actually marx is much underrated
OK, you write some interesting stuff: what of Marx, over and above his being an insightful C19 sociologist, would you point to?
(I had a short 200th anniversary stab at it here and here)
Thank you, Raedwald.
Why the doom and gloom.
Whoever organised the Donald to come over in June must have had an eye to the eventual plan. No EU elections; out on our ear from the EU; and Donald (The Cowboy) Trump to the rescue with a beautiful trade deal.
The Donald wouldn't want to come over in June just to take part in our endless navel gazing. He must have been briefed on the final act of this typical English farce.
Rejoice as that woman said.
If Leave thinks its got problems, try this for a despairing account from Remain. How many ways will the Remain vote be split at the Euros?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/19/remainers-defeat-european-elections-eu-vote
Trump is coming in June for the D-Day celebrations.
75th anniversary.
Tess the Mess can get him over, down Pall Mall, and out the country very quickly. All while preaching European solidarity. The President can visit Europe and the EU have to be nice to him. The French forced to be on their best behaviour. The Germans forced to be very quiet throughout.
Trump can legitimately be sent to visit UK armed forces. An Airfield. A dockyard. Places where he will be safe and no protestors can go. The Commandos are in the west county. Nice and remote enough. Far enough from Mayor Khan's virtue signalling hordes.
I'm trying to ignore everything at present but when I do surface its worse than ever so down I go again.
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