BREXMAS

Corbyn is a pudding and the PM is a turkey

The railways are in chaos and the banks are rather murky

But at least it’s Christmas and we’re buying piles of tat

Oh Jesus Christ, what d’ya think of that?

Corbyn is a fruitcake, Theresa is a stick,

The high street’s for the high jump and the NHS is sick

But at least it’s Christmas with our faces in our phones

Oh Jesus can you please control those drones.

May is a bit racist, Corbyn’s a bit slow

The environment is knackered and we ain't had any snow

Theresa gave us Windrush and the nasty ‘go home’ van

Jesus help us, Jeremy Corbyn still thinks he’s our man.

Jezz cannot articulate and May don’t give a shit

Brexit is Apocalypse and we are all bound by it

There is no Great Escape; there is only Die Hard 4

Oh Jesus Christ I can’t take any more.

There is no leadership, there is no opposition

Nobody is driving so we can’t change our position

How did we get to such a state, we didn’t think it through

Its Christmas once again lord but

It’s now to do with you…

MERRY CHRISTMAS

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BACK PROPER BLOGGING ON JAN 14th 

293. BREXIT – The conclusion of a Con.

Brexit will conclude the betrayal of Britain’s Working Class and the corruption of the post-war promise of equality.

I once heard a young journalist talking about the Iraq war after its nominal conclusion but before the financial collapse of 2008. He declared, even back then, people were – in his view – bored of talking about it.  I’d argue that we are still very much in the thick of the consequences of that illegal invasion so that comment seems even odder to me now than it did then.

To put this in context – I believe that Brexit – for those of us who don’t put political economic and social phenomena in neat boxes with a public interest sell-by date – has its roots way back before the turn of this century – and before the gutter press seriously got their teeth into anti-EU rhetoric – straight bananas and all that crap.

The betrayal of the peace dividend, the trashing of the welfare state, insane foreign policies and a stranglehold gained by the sly, stealthy and wealthy, is actually what led to Brexit. Bizarrely, many voters were easily diverted to an incongruous and catastrophic conclusion by the very people and the very class that betrayed them.

Here I offer up four videos I made for this blog, three short talking heads – two comedy and one not - and one monologue.  In this first extract from my recent show Just Words (a rather ropey recording – sorry)  I start with the world I was born into in the 1960s and the beliefs people then had, that slowly emerging opportunities for equality would grow not diminish...

BREXIT: 1 - The Con - a slice from my show 

Just Words clip

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When the world around us starts to feel scary, the con artists have an easier job and they love to offer rose-tinted spectacles.

BREXIT: 2 Rose tinted twaddle  - comedy poem

The Good Old Days!

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As the world was destabilised by the illegal invasion of Iraq, mass migration and economic corruption and with inequality growing exponentially especially in the UK and the US, terrorism (like much of everything else) went global. Predictably, people began to fear the mass migration set in motion by that destabilisation.

BREXIT:3 Reckless destabilisation - performance poem

New Improved Terror

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And with global credibility so important to all political, social and economic aspects of national life – the empire / colonial fantasists forgot that the world is watching.

BREXIT:4 Collapse of credibility - performance poem

African Journalist in Britain

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I'll be back blogging in January.

remember to check out my books

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amanda-Baker/e/B0181KEN9E

https://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Baker/e/B0181KEN9E

292. ‘Respecting the Will of the People’ is the nastiest Brexit euphemism going.

Respecting the Will of the People, is the nastiest political euphemism going and it is vomited up daily by Brexiteers and even politicians who voted Remain and know this is a disaster.

Satirists in the US are complaining they have a weak, senile, nazi at the helm. Here in the UK, we have no one driving this tug.

The offending phrase is worse than ‘let me be clear about this’ which occurs just before MPs prevaricate and muddy the waters. It is worse than ‘I wouldn’t insult the intelligence of the British people’ just as they do that very thing. It is worse than going all dreamy eyed when talking about our ‘friends and allies’ while alienating those very countries. It is marginally worse even than the phrase ‘taking back our borders’ when pretty much anything worth building a border around – all the family silver – was sold off between 1982 (first public utility sale of The Docks Transport Board  under Thatcher) and 2013 (last major sell-off - Royal Mail – thanks Vince Cable – undersold by £190m).

Many voters were lured in by the jingoism and xenophobic rhetoric, entirely missing the point that what the big hitters of the Leave Campaigns were actually slavering over was total de-regulation at a level thatcher could only dream of, the obliteration of all those pesky workers’ rights and environmental protections that stand in the way of profit.

The utter delinquency of the phrase ‘Respecting the Will of the People’ which is trotted out, ad infinitum, as an argument against holding a second referendum, is that  it means the double opposite of what it says.

a.     The ‘will of the people’ has palpably altered now folk know the extent to which they were lied to and catastrophic reality is staring them in the face.

b.     If the Will of the people is to be respected with regard to the above point, a full second referendum is not just common sense it is a democratic imperative.

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Thanks hugely to everyone who came to my gig last night. It was very, very much appreciated. This will be my last post this side of 2019 but if there are any good video clips I will try post them. Meanwhile – don’t forget to put one of my books on your Christmas list.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amanda-Baker/e/B0181KEN9E

https://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Baker/e/B0181KEN9E

291. Brexit T.V. debate - May v Corbyn? God please no…

I’d rather watch blood drying on an abattoir wall – and I’m a vegetarian.

I wonder though, does Corbyn’s eagerness to debate Brexit on telly with Theresa May mean he’s actually made up his mind which way the wind blows? Are May’s delusions now so complete she thinks she is Darcey Bussel? Once again I can be glad I gave up on TV last century.

It’s not exactly the Rumble in the Jungle is it? More like your local GPs oldest receptionist v that dull guy at the allotment you keep mistaking for a scarecrow. I listened in fascinated horror this morning to the radio as Labour supporters were interviewed about Brexit. Yes they were against May’s deal. No they have no idea what Labour’s position is.

While Trump is having wet dreams about the possibility of vulnerable migrants being shot on the Mexican border (because that is the situation he has set up in case you weren’t paying attention), Britain is shooting itself in both feet.

I assumed even the  foolish, blinkered, Blair old guard who put up a left winger to protect their democratic creds – would see Corbyn’s surprise election as evidence the rank and file were sick to the stomach of Blairism and New Labour and not that they were simply gagging for a different white male messiah. The party glitterati did not understand this and nor does Corbyn.

So, now here we are again – at crisis point(s) – which I know is the new normal. Our opposition political vegetable just sits there clogging up the drain while the most electable and capable and on-the-ball potential leader the Labour party has had in decades is trotted out for the media bits because she – Emily Thornberry – is actually, clearly leadership material.

You do have to ask of the party that has struggled with anti-Semitism, whose leader flirted with jingoism when he supported the Farage stance on no free movement of people yada yada yada – er, what about the misogyny? How come Labour remain the only major party – not just in Britain but in the developed West that seems to be woman-proof even when the most prominent woman is head and shoulders (and torso and legs) above the current lacklustre bloke?

I was right about Miliband – hang on to the bloke you’ve got and pretend everything is ok - FAILED. It will fail again with Corbyn; it will just be too late to matter.

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6 DAYS TO GO…

And remember to check out my books@

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amanda-Baker/e/B0181KEN9E

https://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Baker/e/B0181KEN9E

290. Brexit bedlam - who to despise most.

I know – it’s tough. When it comes to those responsible for the self-inflicted and now festering wound that is Brexit - you can choose from so many out-and-out scum bags to dithering idiots and everything in-between.

There’s the guy who landed us with the totally unnecessary, unplanned and unexplained sink or swim option and then pissed off - Cameron.

There are those who lied and lied and lied and whipped up xenophobia with agendas we could only guess at – like Farage, B Johnson, Gove, Ree Smogg.

There are those who corruptly connived behind the scenes – like Aaron Banks, Cambridge Analytica etc.

There are those who have played the mess entirely for their own gain – such as B Johnson (anyone want a second-hand water cannon?)

There are the rats that helped create the lunatic climate for Brexit and have since left the sinking ship in droves e.g. the Banks.

There are the 10 dinosaur DUP hypocrites who propped up Theresa May's listing Brexit government for a £1bn bribe despite Ireland voting Remain.

And there are those who made absolutely no effort to stop it because they were too inept, self-focused and slow witted to try (and actually didn’t want to) - Jeremy Corbyn.

Then there is the broad band of bonkers Brexiteers themselves who – now that the inevitable mess has come crashing down - are either fleeing for their political lives or blaming everyone but themselves. I mean – don’t you have to laugh at Dominic Raab? The recently resigned Brexit secretar claimed to be amazed and appalled at the deal he was in on negotiating and just a few days prior to that had admitted he hadn’t understood just how man essential UK supplies came into Britain on the Calais to Dover route…

Finally there's us – the hapless Remainers – looking on like bewildered spectators at the worst freak show in history – horrified, sickened but unable to escape. How did it come to this?

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On top of all that, the ‘C’ word is going to be regularly yelled in our ears with a megaphone at close quarters so, avoid THE CURSE OF THE CHRISTMAS SCENTED CANDLES -

http://browngirloutsidethering.blogspot.com/2017/11/256-black-friday-curse-of-christmas.html

- and instead get something original and worth having and that won’t be giving you  a headache by New Year – whether it’s for young readers who want adventure stories, little readers who enjoy picture books, adults who like quirky adult novels or dystopian sci-fi or even a very odd sortofautobiography. Check out my book page.

https://plus.google.com/collection/UNSKRE

289. A new top ‘N’ word for America…

By the slimmest of painful margins, US Democrats swung the House of Representatives back towards sanity. And while the effort and the votes were huge the gains are fragile. We know from Presidential elections that while the majority of Americans regularly vote Democrat, the Electoral College voting system and the weighted voting to Southern states (a hangover from the days of slavery) plus gerrymandering and voter suppression, often make the difficult – impossible. But gaining The House of Representatives is something. Now American needs to exercise a new top 'N' word – NO.

NO – to Trump’s white nationalism

NO – to racism and misogyny (this one already looking hopeful - see my letter in The Guardian last week - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/08/how-much-progress-have-the-us-midterm-elections-brought  or a fuller version in The Scottish Herald https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/17212281.sweet-irony-in-native-american-victories-in-midterm-elections/  )

NO- to denying climate change

NO - to corruption, nepotism and abuse of power - etc...

When I turned the radio on early Nov 7^th the first thing I heard was that Ted Cruz had managed to hang on in Texas and I was sweating for the next line. If someone as electable as Beto O Rourke couldn’t unseat a spineless creep like Cruz, what chance did everyone else have. Enough - it seems.

Here in the UK, if we only had some similar awakening but Brexit trundles on its crushing destructive brainless way.

On a local level there is uproar here in Edinburgh as 50 mature trees were chopped down in the small park area in front of Waverly train station to make way for extra temporary tourist Christmas tat - https://www.thenational.scot/news/17205567.letters-why-are-trees-being-felled-to-make-way-for-tat/

So – this side of the pond political folk are far from WOKE.

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Remember to check out some books for Christmas@

https://plus.google.com/collection/UNSKRE

288. YEMEN. If Saudi Arabia is a moral cesspit – what does that make us?

Yemeni children are suffering and dying in droves because both the US and UK current administrations value their weapons sales to the Saudi royal family more than dealing with the humanitarian horrors evident for years now in Yemen.

When it’s Arms v Alms, armaments win every time.

It was reported last week that, in the light of the Khashoggi murder, John Cena – WWE wrestler turned actor – pulled out of an event in Saudi Arabia. Not so Prince Andrew who went ahead and attended 'Davos in the desert' nor any number of representatives of firms from around the world and including Britain and America – who were not prepared to forgo the chance of lucrative profits just because the money might be soaked in children's blood. So, it seems, a wrestler has more moral fibre than the combined governments of the UK and the US. If it weren’t for Trump and Brexit that would be hard to believe.

Emily Thornberry – who SHOULD be the leader of the Labour Party but is currently shadow Foreign Secretary - recently spoke passionately about the link between arms sales to the Saudis and Theresa May’s pathetic side-stepping of this huge humanitarian crisis with an estimated 1.8million children under the age of 5 suffering severe malnutrition – and that is before we consider those civilians dying in the air-strikes and dying because they cannot access basic medical facilities or clean water.

In April 2016 I wrote a blog called Is Saudi Arabia the world’s moral cesspit? http://browngirloutsidethering.blogspot.com/2016/04/183-is-saudi-arabia-worlds-moral-cesspit.html

And that was before they chopped up Kashoggi in the Turkish embassy without too much effort to hide the fact.

I now need to add that if you hang on to the bloody robes of the Saudi regime for profit, you must be worse than a moral cesspit

 – I just can’t think what that is…

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My new show previews on December 3^rd and I’ll post details next week

Happy to sign books brought along (after the performance) or if you just want to get something more interesting for C’mas than the dreaded scented candle – check out my book page.

https://plus.google.com/collection/UNSKRE

287. Should I get a television?

The attempted multiple assassinations of senior US democrats and the anti-Semitic murders in Pittsburgh following Trump’s relentless haranguing of the press and opposition and his increasingly bold support for neo-Nazis is both scary and depressing, underpinned as it is by global economic destabilisation caused by his ridiculous tariffs and corrupt government.

On this side of the pond we continue relentlessly with Brexit via a minority government kept in power by 10 DUP dinosaurs (see blog 241 http://browngirloutsidethering.blogspot.com/2017/06/241-tory-dup-magic-money-deal.html )  As a result, Ireland is at risk of being plunged back into pre-Good Friday Agreement chaos.

In other words, the two most politically significant Western powers of the 20^th century have squandered Democracy.

And today The House of Commons will debate Philip Hammond’s fiscal fantasy in the form of The Autumn Budget when everyone knows it is just so much crap on a dung heap and none of it will be relevant come March 2019 – just over 4 months.

Should I give in and get a TV and just spend my time lost in spangled, scented shit like everyone else? Maybe I’ll get a smart phone (I won’t – I have no money) so an app can tell me when to breathe, then I won’t have to notice all the stupid, unnecessary, stupid, stupid, stupid, (did  I mention unnecessary?) mess.

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Well – dear bleader – I am in the midst of rehearsing the show I hinted at earlier in the year. Info will be on next week’s blog so if you like some politics with your comedy watch this space.

286. Nick Clegg - a Silly Con Artist heading to Silicon Valley thanks to Facebook

Nick Clegg is the latest in a long line of political scum bags to sail away into the sunset leaving behind the horrible mess they created for other people (Blair – Iraq, Cameron – Brexit, George Osborne – devastating cuts in welfare and so on and so forth).

Even with the distractions of the home-made Brexit disaster and the Trump catastrophe across the pond (including now – nuclear proliferation) and the more minor everyday diversions of celebrity shite and TV crap, social media anesthesia, what these bastards have got away with/profited from beggars belief.

I wonder, as Nick and Mrs Cojones head off to Silicon Valley to mop up the rewards for toadying to David Cameron so successfully after the 2015 general election, whether he and the Mrs will reflect on the different life chances their own children will enjoy compared the ones they left behind in massive life-crushing debt.

There’s lots of ruinous politics going on right now so in case memories are hazy or overloaded – Nick Clegg’s absolutely clear promise in the run-up to the 2015 UK election was that he – as leader of The Liberal party – would abolish student university tuition fees if elected. Following the indecisive results, Clegg took the Liberals into a coalition that supported a vile Tory administration that actually led to a huge hike in the fees he said he'd abolish. Clegg went along with it all. I still maintain that his decision to power grab at any cost broke the previous Liberal leader – Charles Kennedy’s heart. The popular and charismatic and principled Kennedy died of a heart attack shortly after the general election of that year.

Clegg was rewarded for his back stabbing with a knighthood. He is Sir Nick – just like that other f’ing shit Sir Philip Green who fleeced another demographic by asset stripping famous UK high street brand BHS before offloading what was left onto some moronic fall guy. Thousands were laid off and many lost pension rights and were thrust into poverty after decades of loyal service. Check out post 185 Does Sir Philip Green Kick Disabled Kittens in his spare time http://browngirloutsidethering.blogspot.com/2016/05/185-does-sir-philip-green-kick-disabled.html

Sir Nick served as an MEP before becoming an MP and leader of the Liberal Party. Presumably, Mark Zuckerberg, who offered Clegg the lucrative job as Head of Global Affairs and Communications at Facebook – thinks this is just the kind of oil slick in a suit he needs to get back into Europe’s good books. I wouldn’t hold your breath Mark. You should check out the Nick effect on young people – your main demographic - and even ask the good folk of Sheffield who ousted him from one of the few UK Liberal strongholds at their earliest opportunity.

Liberals have the credit of being the only prominent political party in the UK to staunchly oppose the madness of Brexit. They are morally hog-tied because they are also the party that sold young folk down the river. All the way.

Personally I hope that Mr and Mrs I’m Alright Jack fry in Silicon Valley as global temperatures both environmentally and politically soar.

Clegg is a silly con artist heading to Silicon Valley – students and their parents in the UK will be glad to see the back of him.

285. The Britain UKIP wanted is nearly here and it will harm the people they conned…

You could be forgiven for concluding that the emerging chaos, madness and random social destructiveness of Brexit is all a sly ruse by the well-off to simply re-deregulate Britain and make it – once more – a haven for the haves and a hell for the have-nots.

Yes, it appears to have been a muddle, with Britain unravelling alarmingly quickly since David Cameron sought to quell the right wing rats in his party and pander to the jingoists with an in-out referendum he’d not though through. But remember – as well as the underlying racism and xenophobia of the campaign there were decades of rabid ranting about regulations from Brussels. It’s true, you don’t hear so much bleating about EU Health and Safety Regulations since the Grenfell Tower disaster…

But two news stories over the last few days strengthen the ugly impression that there was an underlying, almost inevitable drive to the cliff top for very dark but clear reasons. One story relates to seismic instability of a geological nature and the other, seismic instability of a socio-political nature.

Fracking rules – we are told – may be relaxed. Apparently, they were too stringent when put in place following the earth tremors experienced in Lancashire 7 years ago after experimental fracking there. What wimps those Lancs folks are I hear you cry. Who wouldn’t want the experimental deep drilling on their doorstep which caused minor earthquakes last time it was allowed? 

With Brexit in their sights, Cuadrilla seem emboldened and determined to start the subterranean pounding that is – by the way – banned by their parent company’s country – France.

Then there is Universal Credit. UC is the over-arching welfare benefit being brought in to ‘streamline’ the benefits system. 

The new welfare benefit is, in fact – as is always the case with Tory administrations – euphemism for cutting benefits. In this case cutting dramatically. Some low income families will, reportedly, be £200 per month worse off – and they are already scraping by. One of the main targets is Tax Credits – one of the few things Gordon Brown can be given real credit for. Working Tax Credit and Family Tax Credit (I benefited from the latter) was brought in to alleviate the pounding the economy took from the unregulated fiscal sector that brought us the 2008 crash and wages so low families could not live on them. 

Although every informed commentator regards Universal Credit as a disaster – leading to horrible financial difficulties for those already struggling at the bottom of the income pile – just like Brexit – it is going ahead anyway. It is being rolled out further and faster by the very people who know it is not working. Complaints, from organisations such as the CAB and charities trying to help the needy, that it is causing untold misery to struggling families, fall on deaf ears.

It is increasingly difficult to drown out the howls of derisive laughter leaking from the gilded sanctuaries of the wealthy and powerful as they anticipate our newly de-regulated, austere, callous Britain. In my lifetime the UK went from a 1960's hopeful society that wanted to improve opportunities for ordinary people to one which greedily snatched those small concessions away. We will become again a haven for 1950's Rachman - style landlords in a world where young people cannot get on the property ladder and are crushed by personal debt. We will see again 1960s Cathy Come Home - style family break ups as the welfare system turns to concrete. And all in a socially and literally fractured land as profit trumps environmental concerns and humanity in the new backwards Britain.

So back to the good old bad old days – just what UKIP wanted and the Tories enabled.

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Also check out blog 142. Fracking Fraud

http://browngirloutsidethering.blogspot.com/2015/06/blog-142-fracking-fraud.html

284. Does anything disqualify a privileged white man from high office and huge remuneration in the supposedly democratic West?

Accepting that there are individuals who revolt us who do not fall into the category above (e.g. Theresa May laying the ground for the racist Windrush scandal while Home Secretary – seeing it come to fruition during her premiership then leaving one of her cabinet ministers to resign on her behalf!!!) there is a pattern none the less.

As a rule of thumb - none of the misdemeanours below seem to bar privileged white men either from tax-payer funded salaries or positions of power. Some of these things would put the rest of us in jail…

I provide a handy contemporary example for each –

Proven dishonesty (Tony Blair, Trump, Kavanaugh)

Embarrassing personality flaws (too many to mention)

Incompetence (too many to mention)

Homophobia (Trump, Ex Liberal leader – Tim Farron)

Incarceration of infants (Trump)

Misogyny (too many to mention)

Mocking Muslim women (Boris Johnson)

War crimes (Tony Blair)

Fiddling expenses or fraud to the rest of us (too many UK MPs to list)

Mocking the disabled and war heroes (Trump)

Sexual assault (Trump, Kavanaugh)

Complete lack of judgement (too many to mention)

Sexual predation of girls (Judge Roy Moore)

Corruption (too many to mention)

Necrophiliac bestiality (Cameron)

Laziness/stupidity (Trump)

General Uselessness (Corbyn)

Racism / jingoism / xenophobia (Trump, Farage, Boris Johnson etc)

Lack of backbone (The entire GOP - Nick Clegg)

Venality (Trump)

Fraud / tax evasion (Trump)

Being generally revolting (Trump, Boris Johnson, Kavanaugh etc)

And then the list just descends in to depressing crap - MP's using time the public pay for to watch pornography or simply using their time in office to enrich their families and line up lucrative jobs afterwards etc.

In conclusion, the answer to my question of last week is – much lower…

283. Kavanaugh v Johnson - ‘How Low Can We Go’ ?

Where is the horse & the rider?

 “Where is the horse and the rider?” a line from the wonderfully scripted Helms Deep speech in the film version of Lord of the Rings. Théoden is asking where is the leader, the much needed hero. It came to mind as I considered whether the US and UK are in some sort of weird competition to see who can promote the vilest character to high office at this time of immense human need. Among the mind numbingly moronic slop that passes for television entertainment these days, maybe someone slipped in a new politics reality show called ‘How Low Can We Go?’

Trump trumps Theresa May because she is just stupid and stubborn whereas he is a sociopathic, racist, crass, child-caging, narcissistic, misogynistic idiot. But who would win if we pitched Brett the frat brat Kavanaugh against Boris the blond blob with the runaway gob me, me, me Johnson?

And this is all happening at a time when the film industry is obsessed with onscreen heroes. Studios are spewing out clean cut, moral-ish, muscular men and women with convenient super powers like a full stomach with norovirus.

IN the US, it seems, Trump only wanted to drain the swamp so he could get to a deeper sewer level. As the weeks and months and years go on we seem (here in the UK at least) to be reaching lower and lower. We have scrapped the bottom of the barrel in terms of ‘leaders’ and ‘commentators’ and those whose opinions we laud. Now we are through the bottom of the barrel, below the slimy stuff you find under the barrel, below the floor boards into the cold damp sun-deprived earth. Surely we’ll hit bedrock soon?

After decades of gutter press poison, the swivel eyed loons crawled out from under their rocks with their bleached xenophobia, the xenophobes begat the bigots the racists and the jingoists – they in turn released the lunatics who set free the howling, rabid Brexit-at-any-costers. Whipping the mindless mob into a fury is the hideous Boris beast with his flab and his loose morals and his slack principles and flabby personality and mix and match ideals.

On the other side of the Atlantic it seems that the only people Trump knows and promotes are the scum of the earth or just entirely unsuited for any job he wants them for. Having watched Kavanaugh’s faux outrage and gibberish at the Ford hearing you can only conclude that even if he is innocent of ALL the accusations, he is the most unsuitable person for any high office let alone a lifetime Supreme Court Judge.

Dear Lord!

Old aunty Theresa May us as wooden as a windmill and just as immoveable. Corbyn – our opposition hope - is in permanent allotment mode.

WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS?

Where is our super hero, where are the leaders we need?

Where is Brain Man – with the wit to work out how to fix the mess?

Where is Charisma Woman to make us believe in the future again?

Where is Captain Common Sense to counter suicidal Brexitness, Anti-Batty-man to wake up those who are in fantasy 1950s, Irony man to make us see the crass stupidity? Can Hulk use his green bulk to break down the powerful invisible barrier growing exponentially and blocking our children’s birth right?

Why is it seemingly all slimy villains and no heroes?

To quote again from Théoden’s speech

“How did it come to this?”

282. Brexit, Cheqsit, Jexit - Wotaloadofshit & EVERYONE KNEW…

Ok – I know – after last week you will be wondering if this is my bad new habit of conflating words to make more madness – though in this case ‘Cheqsit (the exit of the Chequers non-starter deal) it could be argued that it is a conflation of three words as Brexit is already Britain’s exit – in case you’d lost the thread. I promise I won’t adopt this annoying habit (annabit?)

I mention Chequers in passing in a letter published in The Independent in early July.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/donald-trump-uk-visit-tower-of-london-jeremy-corbyn-world-cup-2018-latest-a8437686.html

It concerns the general nonsense perpetrated on the UK and US by the current appalling rag tag of degenerate, half-baked, abysmal, incompetent, venal, blinkered ‘leaders’. In among my mini rant about the smoke and mirrors folk are being subjected to on both sides of the Atlantic, I allude to the Chequers deal brokered by our broken government. I say it is a deal the EU will not agree to. I said this as soon as the basic details were public because it was obvious, clear, apparent the EU would not cross its well-known red lines for a country that was trying to be the wrecking ball of 40 years of passably good relations, peace and substantial trade benefits. 

Here is a handy summary of the Chequers deal if it’s all spaghetti to you - https://www.ecnmy.org/engage/chequers-proposal-explained/

And yes – I know that Cameron left Theresa May holding as stinking pile of entrails when he existed stage left pursued by his own inadequacy but dear lord – why does she constantly keep trying to serve it up to us as if its best steak?

Why did the people supposedly ‘in the know’ the ones running the UK, the people who are steering this badly listing vessel we call Britain – have to wait until the arse end of September to be told, at Salzburg, that Chequers was entirely unworkable/unacceptable on any reading of the broadest understanding of the EU rules? It was so so so evident

In the past on this blog I’ve pointed out, in a rather depressed way, when things seemed patently predictable like that Ed Miliband would NOT win the 2015 general election.  Ed Miliband subsequently lost that General Election. That seemed to have come as a surprise to people with far more info at their fingertips than me – the UK media – the Westminster commentators blah blah blah.

And talking of that utterly depressing subject – the total failure of opposition which  we can call Jexit – Jeremy Corbyn’s exit from reality – why is Labour not light years ahead in the polls when the Tories are making such a monumental mess of absolutely everything? One simple answer there – Corbyn. But somehow that is not to be admitted either.

Everyone with a political pulse knew Chequers was a non-starter. The Chequers’ nag keeled over in the stable but the owners were still placing bets.

Everyone knew.

EVERYONE KNEW

Everyone

Knew

Help!

Au secours…

Hilfe

281. Racism / Sexism - why do many privileged white men not see it?

Alan Howe of The Australian – helped me see why they don’t see - new rexism.

What do you call that super toxic blend when racism is tangled with sexism and nestled in the wire wool cocoon of free expression, vigorously defended by privileged white men?  It ought to be called ‘Rexism’ but there was a fascist party in Belgium in the 1930s called Parti Rexiste. I’ll use it anyhow as the word works so well on so many levels.  Rexism – is so much more than the sum of its parts as the Serena Williams cartoon and the reactions to it attest.

In the UK privileged white men reliably roll out to support our racist ex foreign secretary Boris Johnson every time he is racist (see two posts back). Many (usually older) privileged white men don’t seem to get that their views may just be informed by never ever having experienced the sorts of vile behaviour which go with not being white or male or privileged (or in positions of privilege). And when you synthesise sexism and racism the results are diabolical.

I recently wrote a two line letter concerning that racist/sexist cartoon of Serena Williams. Very surprisingly there was a bounce-back personal email response from Alan Howe of The Australian broadly informing me that racism is in the eye of the beholder…

What struck me was that he seemed to have no idea that his own perspective might have something to do with being a white male in a privileged and relatively powerful position. And – as if that point needed underlining – The Jamaica Observer published the concise letter http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/serena-cartoon-also-sexist_144108?profile=1326&template=MobileArticle

Their editor did not feel the need to contact me to tell me how/when to think.

This is all of our brief exchange -

Alan Howe - responding to the letter - 12th Sept 2018

It [the cartoon] is neither sexist nor racist. Only someone looking earnestly to be offended by something - anything - might come to such a conclusion. I am a migrant to Australia myself and like millions of others I have found it only to be a land of tolerance and acceptance. It's probably why so many people of so many colours and creeds - uncountable millions of them - wish to live here.

Me

Hi Alan,

Thanks for your interesting response.

I doubt the Aborigines would agree with your take but we are not talking about the whole of Australia but a cartoon aimed at someone who is a sports star at a very high level. It was clearly drawn because it would draw as much attention to the cartoonist as the subject and it makes clear play of both the female and black stereotype.

If you can find an equivalent of a white male sports star at equivalent level after one major bust up I'd like to see it.

Alan Howe

“One major bust up”? No, her bullying follows the pattern, perhaps of a lifetime. Her cheating is conceded. Her unpleasantness obvious. Her skills undeniable. The same cartoonist lethally dealt with Nick Kyrgios’s shortcomings days before, his exaggerated Greek features raising no offence anywhere on the planet. Think about it. 

Me

Dear Alan

I get that you are a white man and I am a black woman but I don't need to be told when to think about it...

My suggestion was a person of similar rank so - not NK and also - perhaps you could read around the subject of racism and misogyny - the weight of the problem depends on the history behind the bigotry. I'm not suggesting that some Greeks haven't had it rough (Odysseus) but come on...

Alan Howe

I founded Australia’s Immigration Museum. Next time you are in Australia you should visit it. Every country gets stuff wrong, very few get it so right. The museum is our evidence- and it is emphatic.

Me

ER - congrats - but I think you just descended into 'some of my best friends are black' territory.

AnyHOWE  this was fun but now I have to go downstairs and visit my 92 year old neighbour Betty for some good political debate.

G'day mate

Alan Howe

No one I know qualifies nor quantifies their friendships by colour or creed. It is not an Australian thing. Not that I am Australian. I wish Betty well. 

I’m sure Mr. Howe is a nice, if somewhat pompous sounding bloke – even if he is far from ‘woke’. However, even if you take a simple statement like ‘cheating accepted’ – the opposite is actually true. Serena Williams has been tested more than any other tennis star to the point where many regard that as racist.

The Serena Williams cartoon is absolutely rexist. I did email my own doodle (see above). Alan Howe did not respond or comment…

Q. Why do many privileged white men not see rexism?

A. Words 4, 5 and 6 of that last sentence.

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Try – blog 165. The Penisic Era or 187. British Boarding Schools Breed Posh Psychopaths.

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