I believe the term is “gallows humour” Badge. What a pathetic mess we have made of things, and I use “we” advisedly, because like it or not, we’re all in this together.
Good to see the Politics thread back up and running with the New Year just around the corner. This is a pretty scary read, even if only 50% of it happens, and the country is going to really regret the Tories getting into government with a large majority. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/30/tory-right-assault-progressive-britain
It is a mess caused by lies, untruths, fabrications, distortion of the truth, exaggeration and gullibility, and whatever else that can be added. I will just keep on reminding the Tory voters, on Facebook, of the promises and the breaking of them, but I fear that, until they are personally affected by the failure of the Tories to follow up on their (empty) promises they will continue to ignore what is happening elsewhere in the country.
The inequality of the FPTP voting system stuck me. I can't see any chance of a change under the current government depressing thought that.
I see you, 2019. I see you wander off into the distance, a mournful piano interlude playing you out as you disappear over the horizon. I see you look back, a wistful look in your eye, fingers desperate to wave one final goodbye, yet every back is turned on you. There’s no last hurrah, no grand farewell for you here. The fireworks are all damp, fizzing impotently on the ground. There was supposed to be a fanfare but every member of the brass band is too busy retching lumps of blackened phlegm into the dirt. You did your best, 2019. It’s just that your best was absolutely bloody awful, a toe-punt to the perineum when what we really wanted was a cuddle. What a ride it’s been and if there’s one thing we ought to thank you for, it’s the clarity. Yours is the year that showed us our naked self-interest, reminding all of us in the supposedly civilised west just how easy it is to be swept up in the sweaty embrace of nationalism and corruption. We end the year with a partisan wrangle over a brazenly corrupt White House, a British government helmed by an international joke and an Australian PM who’d rather do shots out of a hula dancer’s belly-button than even pretend to give a **** about the fact his country is literally on fire. Authoritarianism is not just creeping its way in; it’s kicked down the front door and swaggered over the threshold, wreathed in memes, dick swinging like a Dachschund in a hammock. Our political norms and sense of fair play and decency have been utterly upended, with the keys to the kingdom now going to whoever’s willing to cosy up to the most fundamentally un-democratic tactics. Money continues to buy power and power continues to insulate evil from consequence. It’s a pressure cooker, with the steam now venting out of cracks in the edifice from Hong Kong to Bolivia. It’s been a year of protests and political action even in the face of horrific oppression and the point-blank refusal to accept the ever-creeping excesses of the status quo is one of the faint glimmers of hope among a sea of turds. As those who would tyrannise and oppress seek to silence dissent, whether it’s through climate policy, voter suppression, rescinding Kashmir’s autonomy or just the old-fashioned barbarism of internment camps in which children die in squalor, there are always those willing to stand up against them. Turns out they’re generally ****ing useless at winning elections but hey, at least they’re trying. You even gave a us a perfect example of just how pathetically our beloved plutocracy is failing us, 2019. After the Notre Dame fire the billionaires rushed forwards with their promises of support, only to fade away on the wind when it came time to actually collect. Turns out all that trickle-down rubbish is only useful when the dripping sound might be noisy enough to generate some profitable PR. And so you go into the night, 2019, no bursts of colour in the sky to light your way and no band to play you out. It’s been a grim year but we’ll remember you - not as the shining triumph who began to plot our course out of this mess, but as the failure who catalysed us into action. Action to restore our checks and balances, to curb the excesses of our system, to defend actual democracy rather than the sort of lip service that merely tightens the grips of the demagogues and autocrats. It’s a lonely walk out of the door, 2019. Thankfully there’s probably a couple of politicians who’ll be there to keep you company. I see you, 2019. I ****ing see you.
.....yet there is hope. Despite the spitefulness, stupidity and ignorance of Donald Trump, regardless of the patronising and vicious accusations of Jair Bolsonaro and ignoring the indifference and condescending smirks of Boris Johnson.....a young girl from Sweden stood up and told the world the truth. The ‘leaders’ ridiculed her and dismissed her out of hand. So she told the so called financial and political ‘elite’ that they have shown themselves to be unfit to manage the world in which we live. And she really did tell them..... "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” "How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just 'business as usual' and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.” "You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.” "We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.” My vote for person of the decade goes to Greta Thunberg.
And mine too. A person who celebrates her own diversity and who gives her own generation a reason to fight, and ours a reason to feel shamed into action.
More immediately the problem is the Labour leadership. Moves are already afoot by Ian Lavery's stalking horse candidacy to install RLB " Becky from accounts" as the Corbyn continuity leader. Was it Einstein's definition of insanity that involved carrying out exactly the same experiment but expecting a different result ? Well maybe it will bring a different result , losing by only 70, or maybe 90. Let's face it the only way that Labour are going to get into power in the next five years is if Brexit goes spectacularly and horribly wrong casting us into a 1930's style depression. I suppose it might work .
That's an interesting one. I asked my brother what if. Brexit was to cost him ten per cent of his annual income, would he still be in favour? Both him and his wife said yes immediately to that. So this got me thinking, what if a spectacular a Brexit failure meant me taking a similar sized hit. And you know what? I'd go for it. Just to see the bastards eat gut busting portions of humble pie.
One thing worth considering is that Rebecca Long Bailey is brilliant speaker and she will have Boris tied up in knots if she does become the Labour leader. Also, with Angela Rayner as a deputy leader there will be two young and very forward thinking politicians that will look very seriously at progressive alliances with other parties. It certainly would not be the same Momentum driven Labour that we have had in recent years. It's only a matter of time before the impact of this Tory government starts to be felt by a lot of people who voted for them for the first time. The broken promises, lies and sheer greed of the Tories will seen for what it is. Labour has to start to build from the ground up if there is to be hope for a real change, with alliances and cross party cooperation with the Greens and Liberal Democrats to offer a cohesive and viable alternative to the disaster we have at the moment. A bigger concern than who leads the various political parties is the climate issue which is going to affect all of us. There really is no point to political squabbling when the planet is facing meltdown. There has to be world wide action to place protecting the environment as the number one priority in every country, but we all know that won't happen.
