Welcome to why I write this blog
The opinions I have formed over the years are rarely reflected in the main media sources which have become far too deferential to those in power.
I speak of the BBC’s television and radio broadcasts and their monumental but bland web presence.
Most of the other news media are funded by corporations who distort or hide news they would rather the public did not hear or see.
Come back Jeremy Paxman who famously asked Michael Howard the same question 12 times before getting an answer to his question.
My views are reasonably common among educated people of my own age. Most ‘oldies’ I talk with have a perspective that younger people just cannot have.
The meaning of words is important to me but today’s news media have forgotten how to use or speak the English language. Two words in particular drive me nuts because their commonly accepted meaning has nothing to do with the word source.
- Antisemitism – Today it is used as a euphemism for ‘anti Jewish’, with no clear reference to the Jewish religion, the Israeli government or the secular culture associated with “being Jewish”. In reality a Semite is a person who speaks one of a group of ancient languages including Hebrew, Arabic and several others no longer spoken. All Arabs are Semitic as are most Jews and a few other nationalities. I refer you to a full analysis of this in a post I wrote several years ago.
- Islamaphobia – The word should mean an irrational fear of Islam which itself is somewhat debatable. I think it is quite rational to fear Islam and the violence and misogyny it preaches. Today the media use it as an unfair criticism of Muslims which is the complete reverse of the word source! Please read this written in 2021.
Faith and religion
All religions were created by men to enslave others. Those creators of religion persuaded millions to believe in an invisible, non-existent god who supposedly cares for them.
Religion reduces the ability of the faithful to think rationally for themselves which creates religion’s power.
I write extensively on the dangers to humanity caused by that faith that religion creates in my second book “The Faith Virus“.
In my fifties I became an atheist, which meant that I celebrated not needing to believe in anything any more.
My journey from agnosticism to atheism was as a result of a slow self education in Socrates, Plato and then a jump to the philosophers of the European Enlightenment.
Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, Thomas Paine, Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and many more. The light of the Age of Reason was beautiful to behold and I would love these humans’ thoughts to be taught in all schools from age 5 onward. Just lose the “believe” word and replace it with the “think” word.
The world would be a far better place if humanity could grow out of its primitive need for faith.
Politics and its corrupted definitions
The true essence of politics (“of, belonging to, or pertaining to the state or its body of citizens”(OED)), has been hijacked by a strange class of ‘micro-intelligent(**)’ people. Party politicians, if you were wondering, who seem to blunder about making daft and sometimes criminally incompetent policy decisions based on no sound reason. They exhibit no philosophical basis and / or, in the case of the 2010 coalition, no mandate; the May 2011 referendum on the AV voting system is an excellent example.
This is the subject of my first book The Normal Curve, recently renamed and partly re-written as ‘British politics is broken, BUT…‘ which analyses UK politics from the end of the second world war to the present. A good read for anyone who hates or ignores politics and politicians.
We blunder on from election to election changing one lot of egotists for another bunch of equally direction-less power mad twits! It is clear to me that modern party politicians do NOT serve the citizens of this country in any useful or thoughtful way. They have become (and perhaps always were) a separate class of self congratulatory, self serving individuals whose main purpose is to maintain or regain power.
Professional journalists, for the most part, have become part of this weird parallel universe and mainly talk about politics(*) instead of the issues that actually should be the business of government.
Surely it follows that recycling party politicians just does not work?
Recycling may be good for glass and newspaper but not for politicians. Our deformed version of ‘democracy’, happiness well-being are at stake. I mean that the constant replacement of one ‘lot’ for the other ‘lot’ is not getting us anywhere. The last ‘lot’ continually prove that they are no better “at it” than the last ‘lot’.
Each ‘lot’ has its own party political agenda and it is clear that the long term benefit to the British people is not being considered by each “lot’s” self serving short term needs and desire for power.
At best, I think it is fair to say that the current system provides a fair degree of incompetent stability but even that is now being threatened by the failure of any “lot” to actually face up to the errors that all “lots” continue to perpetuate.
The problem is systemic and the system needs to be changed.
Government and party politics
Prime Ministers Question Time on Wednesdays is a farce where the the PMs ability NOT to answer any question put to him or her is unchallenged. We are moved on to the next question which is not answered either.
What is the effin point in that?
Boris’s failure as PM was his fault entirely and he just could not see it and still can’t.
In 2022 most of our politicians are bland, boring and worryingly incompetent. They waste most of their time in being politicians rather than actually working for we the people who they are supposed to serve. They are ill educated for the job.
Our General Elections
In my view the 2010 election was a wake up call for all of us, voters, non-voters, & politicians.
- The Labour party was finally exposed as criminally, economically inept (and are still so); Miliband / Balls learned nothing from Blair/Brown’s disastrous 13 years of debt driven “prudent” prosperity. Keir Starmer has no policies and is just a party politician of second rank.
- The Conservative party were pathetic in opposition and voted in a PR man as leader to make them look all shiny and electable again after their previous 18 years of sleaze, deregulation and privatisation disasters.
- The Liberal democrats still cling on to the idea that the EU was worth saving, god knows why (and she probably doesn’t exist!). The European Economic Community ‘construct’ was understandable as essential for promoting a peaceful Europe after WW2 –
- But the EU?; The Euro?; Absolute merit-less, idealistic tosh & piffle, as I easily demonstrate in my first book British Politics is broken, BUT ...
In 2010, the Lib Dems were our last best hope for a civilised democracy.
With “seers” like Vince Cable, a few us thought we might have a way forward in switching to them, but we see, sadly, that after 2 years of coalition we have the same problems there too. Millionaire Chris Huhne became corrupted into thinking he was above the law by his naked desire for power. Millionaire David Laws disgraced by his “cleverness” into claiming outrageous rental expenses from his partner. Even dear old Vince “the” Cable has been defused and demoralised by the Westminster power games that persist even after the Daily Telegraph’s wonderful work in the 2009 expenses scandal.
He was right about “going for Murdoch” of course, as the phone hacking scandal proved, but was demoted (for telling the truth about Murdoch’s news empire) and lost 70 staff to the department of Cheeriness & Crap (“Dept. of Art & Sport & Loveliness)” at colossal cost and no benefit to anybody!
Too much government in the wrong place
What on earth is the government doing with a department and a minister for the arts and sport? What a colossal waste of our money.
You think the MPs expenses scandal is over..?
Our MPs now claim more than they ever did before their exposure a few years ago. I use the government’s own figures to prove my point.
Too much time at the top of the Power Pyramid corrupts even the most idealistic politician; the perks, expenses, pension and prospect of a gong from the honours system does the job so well.
The 2010 election results can be interpreted in several ways, but my chosen, and of course correct, interpretation is a “chaotic” one.
My chaos theory is now explained.
Most voters, me included, could not find anyone worth voting for (other than possibly the Lib Dems) and ended up voting, if they did at all, in despair.
A few of us ”punished” the Labour Party; a few more failed to vote for the ineffectual Cameraman and his Eton millionaire crew and the rest of us voted half heartedly for the Lib Dems. I am convinced that the Lib Dems lost the election because potential voters heard and believed the well marketed “perceived wisdom” that they “weren’t ready for power”. Therefore, we voted like chaotic headless chickens because there was nobody worth voting for and our system does not do “None of the Above”.
I have to mention UKIP were the closest we had to a “None of the above” vote, and while I agree with their analysis of the EU, I’m afraid that Nigel Farage was just too frightening with his shiny blazers to reach most of us despite the fact that he spoke more far sense than the other 3 “lots” put together! Since his departure from UKIP he has been carefully losing any credibility he once had, he still shines occasionally but I fear the light will be out soon.
The Labour Party quietly lost the “New” bit and the fact that Ed Milliband won the leadership election supports my chaos theory beautifully. David Milliband was the obvious and correct choice (right for the Labour Party I mean, not for the British People of course), but the Unions didn’t want a Blairite (i.e. shiny David), and since they pay the bills, that was that. I’m sure Ed is a lovely chap and all that BUT he ain’t a leader. (Do you dare me to say why? Challenge accepted in meBook).
Its a shame about the Green Party
The Greens are just a bit too clever for most of us and just a bit too shrill. They are completely right about most things of course. It’s just that their marketing ain’t up to much and we ain’t used to thinking for ourselves. So we get the Lab Con flip flop over and over and over again.
* politics: now means the discussion of how what ‘someone’ said might be perceived by ‘others’ and whether or not this will damage their ‘credibility’.
** micro intelligence: the ability to create unnecessary complexity where wisdom is sadly absent. It requires a high IQ but no wisdom. OK I was talking about Gordon Brown …
Listen to an English Al Jazeera news program and compare that with BBC news broadcasts, the difference is quite illuminating!
Thank you
Derek Ruskin – a retired grumpy old git with the wisdom that only age and perspective brings <ahem>
I don’t think our country can really be described as “Christian” any more. Only a few hundred thousand regularly go top church, despite the huge increase in Catholics from Poland etc. in the last decade or so.
‘We the people’ have become a secular country but progress to complete secularism is hampered by a monarchy which leads a version of Christianity created by Henry VIII on a petulant whim. Daft or what? Monarchies were seen as past their sell by date 2000 years ago (by the ancient Greeks) but we have regressed, not moved forward.
I totally agree with you about non-faith schools. I believe that religion should be taught by the parents and all children should be taught without religion coming into their daily school lives at all, i.e.no praying whatever your religion during the school day. If peoples from abroad want to live in our Christian Country then they must alter some aspects of their lives to fit in with our culture, they certainly expect it from us when we visit their countries!