Wednesday 4 March 2015

Still here/Is it just me?

I'm still here, just. I know I do on occasion deploy the editorial 'we' but its just me sitting here, there is no team. My Mum isn't well, she has Parkinson's Disease and recently its taken a turn for the worst, which is why there was no post last week and this week's is truncated. I could go on about my Mum but I won't, its just indescribably and heart-breakingly sad.

I've been keeping up with the various sound bites coming from all sides, I think someone needs to tell Jim Murphy the Holyrood Election isn't until next year - the one in May is for Westminster. Arguing the toss about what he'd do as First Minister of Scotland (mind your sides don't split) is - with the best will in the world - stupid.

Beyond that, in terms of the looming Westminster election, the choice in Scotland is stark. Despite the campaign double step being tapped out by Murphy, Dugdale and Marra etc - it couldn't be simpler. The Westminster parliament - of which 'Scottish' Labour is a strident participant - only cares about itself, we only figure in their workings as a means to an end. 

The idea of doing something for people like you, me or my Mum doesn't occur to any of them as a serious proposition, they are thoroughly immersed in the austerity consensus that see's the interests of abstract economic ideas and immoral, psychopathic cultures in business and toxic empires within state apparatus as the be all and end all.

When Jim Murphy issues a volte-face closely followed by a breathy denial that he ever thought differently, the media barely notice. Yet, when a political party announces a policy that puts people ahead of those hateful things in the paragraph above; they are vilified and dismissed as naive by the usual suspects, many of whom profit from the status quo.

That political parties would put things like Trident, Aircraft carriers or the personal enrichment of themselves and their cronies above things like free personal care for the elderly, providing a safety net for those whose prospects have been ruined by government mismanagement or looking after the poorest and most vulnerable in our society doesn't just beggar belief, its a fucking travesty of morality.

The whingeing effrontery puked out by embittered Libertarians as they descry the notion a vulnerable person might be getting something they need in place of something one of their wasp-chewing fellow solipsists want is an insult to decency and social responsibility.

I try not to be extreme here, it leaves you open to accusations of hysteria, but under the circumstances I think its okay to say; I hate Westminster and everything it stands for, I wish I could temper that statement with a line like; '...they do some good things' but even the good things they do are a sop to cover the callous disregard they have for those they've decided to leave behind.

Westminster doesn't work for us, it works against us. It seeks to convince us of a perpetual fait accompli - that our existences will be punctuated by struggle grudgingly heaped upon us by an apologetic ruling class, and to expect anything else is naive and simplistic - of course its all total bollocks because we can choose differently this coming May.

This last paragraph is aimed at one person in particular who quite likes their local MP. Unfortunately she's a Labour MP (Fiona O'Donnell). Her voting record is a lesson in itself, she's never rebelled against her party and since its a Westminster party, it stands for all of the above. Fiona might be likable, she might say she's against things like trident and austerity - but her record tells a different story. Austerity isn't just a word, it is a thing that bites, it impoverishes the already poor, puts essential services at risk yet keeps the rich in place - if ever a policy could be said to be psychotic; austerity would be it. 

Fiona might be fluffy in person but there's no getting round it - she voted for it.

Posts might be fewer and further between for a while, thanks as always to everyone who takes the time to read; its always appreciated.




12 comments:

  1. X might be fluffy in person but there's no getting round it - he/she voted for it.

    Well, that sentence might well adorn a leaflet or two

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    1. She voted aye, she didn't even abstain like the poltroon Curran, which is probably worse.

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  2. Another good and utterly true post.

    Why are we living like this? Why is there no alternative to misery heaped upon the poor by the rich who caused the problem in the first place?

    And why do they teat us like morons by lying through their miserable teeth (and making capital out of something that is sod all to do with them).

    I'll accept food banks and queues at hospitals when the rich are queuing too. When I see Curran and Murphy queuing up for a packet of pasta and some tinned peaches behind Cameron and Osborne, then I'll accept that that's what the country has come to. Until then they can stuff their "all in it together. We mustn't leave a mess for our children" shite.

    Truly sorry to hear about your mum, Paul. Wish I knew a way to help. I'd like you to know that I'm thinking about you though and if you can think of anything that I could do that would help, you've only to ask..

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    1. Thanks Tris for the kind words.

      No choice but to muddle through, make the best of it we can.

      I'm rereading some Iain M Banks books - from his Culture series. Its set in I suppose what you would call a utopia. No illness, no scarcity with science well and truly conquered.

      It may be far fetched in that regard, but his message was clear; our political system is primitive and self serving. What moderately ethical person would choose to build things that kill over things that keep people alive, its illogical. Its not like we have to do many of the things they say we need to do - there is a choice.

      Free personal care (for example) is a drop in the ocean compared to even on nuclear submarine and they seek to convince us the submarine is more important?

      Its not right.

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  3. I hate Westminster too, with a passion. It and it's hangers on, have ground the working class and the sick to mere inconveniences on it's balance sheet.

    Sorry, to hear about your mum, hope you get all the help you need.

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    1. Thanks.

      I'm usually not so damning, but I can't say it any other way - Westminster, if it ever was, is no longer a moral institution by any measure.

      I've moved away from dissatisfaction to hatred.

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  4. That's rotten news about your Mum, Paul, sorry to hear it. There's not much I can add to what others have said, but be sure to look after yourself too and keep your energies up. We'll be happy to hear from you when you're able.

    Don't worry about being more damning than usual - sometimes it's needed!

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    1. Thanks William

      Difficult decisions to make that are unavoidable - but there it is.

      It puts a little perspective on things, while I like to think Holyrood is a bit closer to actual people, Wm on the other hand seems to have forgotten what their reason d' etre actually is.

      (That would be us.)

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  5. Sorry to hear about your Mum, old age is hell. We lost my Husbands Mum a year November but in her case with Dementia we lost her a long while before she died.
    Their generation fought a war, came back and in a time of continuing shortages and no money put the Welfare State in and now when they need to cash in, it isn't there. You are right Holyrood is much closer to the people it serves, and the numpties can be seen for what and who they are. Said numpties manage to vanish into the carpets in Westminster.

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    1. Hi Helena.

      And thanks. As you say, my mum is still 'with' us but we can see her drifting away slowly - its heart-destroying.

      We seem to have our priorities all wrong, spending billions on crap when we could - should - be putting people first.

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  6. Pa

    How are you doing? Hope all is well

    Bruce

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    1. Hi Bruce.

      Still here, busy with parents and I moved this week, its been full on.

      Hope you are well and this election isn't proving to be too much, I reckon it's going to be interesting - I'm looking forward to the Westminster hegemony getting a good kick in the nuts.

      ;-)

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Thanks for comment as always and I apologise if you have to jump through any hoops to do so. Its just that, I'm still being spammed by organisations who are certain I can't get it up or when it is up its not big enough or that I don't have anyone to get it up for.

Who knew blogging could be so bad for ones self-confidence?