Friday, 23 January, 2009

Many of the responses to many of the blogs on this site provide significant insight and information. Few of the correpondents have any confidence at all in the government, its ministers or the appointed officials

First of all perhaps you could use this opportunity to ask the chancellor to resign and justify why he should not

Please then ask him to justify the government's permanent references to the global situation when it is very easy to see how much money say RBS lent to UK based institutions. The annual report is on the web and indeed it is very easy to find out who has borrowed money.

Please ask him whether he is aware that many of the so-called sub-prime borrowers actually bought 400,000 dollar homes in Arizona and that actually they borrowed money for short term fixes at below prime

Please ask him whether he knows that the banks arranging these mortgages pocketed a fee before selling on the debt that was making a loss from day one.

Please ask him if he knows that one of the UK nationalised banks is contracted to take on GMAC mortgage debt through 2009 and ask him what impact this has on UK borrowers and savers and tax-payers

Please ask him what impact he thinks government takeover of banks and impact on dividends has had on the banking sector and whether this has instilled confidence in shareholders?

Please ask him how he expects to be able to pay for all the public sector final salary pensions?

Please ask him how much money is committed in PPP and PFI schemes

Please ask him why the government thought it appropriate to appoint the ex vice chair of an investment bank to run the FSA

Please ask him why RBS is offering all sorts of sweeteners to its american Citizens Bank customers and whether he thinks it is appropriate that they are offering 30 year fixe rate mortgages at 5.3% and whether they could do the same from UK customers

If he can't give you decent answers to these questions ask him to resign again

I dearly hope that Mr Darling is asked some very pertinent questions and not let off the hook like GB was this morning

Please ask him why the Government is not obliged to make a formal bid for the banks they have controlling interests in under the city code on takeovers and mergers

The costs could be awful.

#1

Now that would make a interesting interview , lets hope News Nights asks such questions.

Ask him if the reported injection into Northern Wreck is because of the high level of non performing mortgages. (no performing loans have to have greater reserves). If not why not inject scrutinised loans into more stable building societies.

SPIN-DOCTOR GORDON?

Gordon Brown said the government had helped out pensioners through savings ISAs. But isn't it the case that assets held as ISAs are held in nominee accounts, and that those who manage such accounts on behalf of the ISA holder can use those assets effectively as their own, lending equity to hedge funds etc for commission (which goes to them, not the ISA holder) so the hedge fund manager etc can Short-Sell? I'd like to know how ISAs help pensioners exactly, especially as cash interest rates are now so low as to be hardly worth having.

The situation in the US is getting truly frightening with even the most successful companies making huge lay-offs. No doubt the same will happen here soon, and an unemployment total of 4 million is all too possible.

The Government seems to be spending all its time fire-fighting the mess that is the UK banking system, but even if we get the banks lending again, I doubt that will stave off the coming recession. Where are the Obama style work creation schemes? Where are other measures that could stimulate the economy like redistributing money from rich to poor, or re-working the tax and benefit scheme to make it easier for employers to hold on to staff?

The blog from Paul Mason I read this morning was the best appraisal I have read or heard so far of the current crisis.

Please would you ask AD to what extent the UK Bank Regulatory Authorities are to BLAME for the Global Crisis. Mr Brown and Mr Darling share responsibilty, along with mainly USA Regulatory Authorities for this debacle.

The International Community should be angry with the failed 'anglo-saxon'
banking model. Judging by the media response in Germany and Switzerland it is.

Why DO so many BBC journalists accept the word 'global' as preamble to an acceptable excuse. It simply isn't .

UK/USA have almost unaidedly brought the world to its awful present position.

How can they then blame Global Factors for THIER difficulties ?

In addition to 1 13MrsBloggsc2 very detailed questions, and indeed the other bloggers, and perhaps anticipating his rehearsed responses you could specifically bring to Mr Darling's attention the sound bytes

We will do whatever it takes
This is a global problem
We are introducing a package of measures

and ask him specifically if he truly believes that the public pay him and GB for this repetitive spin.

The public want full disclosure and nothing less.

LYING AT HOME FOR THE PARTY (#1)

Hi Mrs Bloggs. Unfortunately 'the professional politician' (including Pandaman) gains permission from his membership of the 'body politic' (where you may read 'member' as an unsavoury part of that anatomy) to eschew all finer attributes of human conduct. It has been said of 'The Diplomat' that they 'lie abroad for their country' - similarly freed from all decent constraint.
The whole charade, in which the BBC is (necessarily) complicit, engages in 'Games People Play' as defined by Eric Berne. To 'unanswer' a question (an activity one might expect in Wonderland) is to gain high marks in political circles. The horror of it is that we take school children to Parliament to see this all played out. Might as well tell them to watch Big Brother and I'm a Celebrity'. Only root and branch cleansing of out political establishment will change this.
SPOIL PARTY GAMES.

#10

I agree with all your comments but nevertheless live in hope that someone, somewhere will strongly challenge these members

Oh and by the way you could also ask the following:

What impact do you think government policy had on final salary pensions over the last 10 years?

What impact has goverment policy regarding larger cars had on Jaguar Land Rover?

Does he think the endless publicity about global warming has changed public perception about consumption here and in the US and what impact does that have on GDP?

Does he think that the substantial hikes in oil prices, utility prices and commodity prices in 2008 affected consumption and therefore GDP in 2007 and the first half of 2008?

Does he think the reductions in these costs over the last 6 months to individuals and industry have impacted on GDP at all and if not, why not?

And if he can't answer these questions ask him why he shouldn't resign again

Barrie (#10) My request for wise answers for the night: How does one effect a root and branch purge of mendacity if natural language is intensional/not truth-functional? That is, how does one prove that someone is lying rather than in error and not knowing/saying what is true? (See remark on Hain's exoneration by the CPS but not a Parliamentary committee).

Another example: How does one handle these calls for censure when the official plaque at the famous Eastern camp has been downgraded by millions?

Does truth matter, and if it does, can we handle it in natural language without, ultimately, coming to blows when 'diplomacy'/tolerance of mendacity/ignorance runs out as was the case over Gaza-Israel?

What's the betting that this is like the Jonathon Ross Show? Recorded on Thursday and edited before transmission. Every telecast with Tony Blair was recorded and edited under the supervison or presence of Alistair Campbell. One Sunday I attended a "live" pre-election debate. Had to take my place in an auditorium at 5.30pm for a recording to start at 7pm which lasted 105 minutes which was edited down to the 45 minute "live telecast" at 10pm.
Bet this is one of the same. The only clue that it is live will be if there is a means of checking the live stream.

@14

If this is the case then they should get GB on asap and put to him

WHAT A TEASE YOU ARE JJ (#13)

I hold out very little hope of pro-active change because the whole mess is a self-renewing downward spiral. My major plan (to positively subvert kids via TV) is, to my mind, both self financing and a glimmer of hope. But in the short term (and to address your post 13) I reckon it is just possible that the dozy masses might revolt against the pre-selected (rosette stand) party cipher approach; especially in the current disaffection. Am I right in thinking that in a America some guy with deep pockets advertised (with some success) "kick out the incumbent" before some elections? I can't (and won't) buy anyone with money, hence the simple slogan: SPOIL PARTY GAMES. It will not dent any bell curves, but it just might upset an apple cart. Anyway, I too am playing my games - a sort of money-free gambling . . . What else is a retired man's time for?

Has anyone ever seen any clocks (or close-ups of watches) on these programmes, or even on Newsnight? ;-)

"THE PRESENCE OF ALASTAIR CAMPBELL!" (#14)

What a heavy scent of doom that simple phrase carries. It could have been penned by Tolkien. It reflects back onto Blair, illuminating his dark psyche. From there it reflects onto our political system that gave us Blair (now Brown) flawed, needy and 'happy' to live in 'The Presence of Campbell' (unelected) who displayed a frightening, absolute allegience to New Labour and disturbing adoration of Tony Blair.

please can someone ask AD ...if the problems are truly global and nothing to do with anything the UK government has done, then why is sterling the only currency being sold?

Also can he justify the claim that according to Gordon Brown the UK has the lowest debt of all developed countries, and i dont mean the smoke and mirror figures where they leave out certain things...we are t

please can someone ask AD ...if the problems are truly global and nothing to do with anything the UK government has done, then why is sterling the only currency being sold?

Also can he justify the claim that according to Gordon Brown the UK has the lowest debt of all developed countries, and i dont mean the smoke and mirror figures where they leave out certain things...we are talking TOTAL debt!

MEDALLING WITH FREEDOM

You have to smile. Tony sold us down the river, was not stopped at the airport, and picked up a 'Freedom Award' in America.
Odd really; by all accounts, Tony doesn't even come cheap - let alone free.
Meanwhile, the rump of a country he fled, as reported variously above, is having its freedom-to-be-informed 'adjusted' by its Public Service Broadcaster! I feel a re-write of the dictionary coming on.

There should not have ben automatic pay rises, They should have been on good work and results.. There are too many Civil Sevants, and communication between Departments is nt sufficiently good.

barrie (#21) "I feel a re-write of the dictionary coming on".

That's what scientists are busy doing. They do their best to leave the old one to witches and warlocks ;-)

WITCHES AND WARLOCKS (#23)

Are they those loonies who say they can influence things at a distance without any physical transmission JJ? What ARE they like?

Must go, my imaginary dog has just gone to sit by the door, and I live alone (as you have - of course - deduced).

65 CONSECUTIVE QUARTERS OF GROWTH AVERAGING 2.5% PER YEAR

So, an average 2.5% growth each year for about 16 years means that a 1.5% contraction isn't, at present, a major problem but it's going to be....

It's also unfortunate about the high level of non-EU immigration which New Labour encouraged, their comparatively high birth rate, their low academic attainment level, and their already high unemployment rate. That, and all the Service Sector jobs which have been created which are now going belly up is going to create a major headache for New Labour and tax-payers, and given the birth-rate it will just grow and grow like Topsy.

But the BBC has been celebrating the surge in 'mixed heritage' births. What will we be encouraged to celebrate next? The divorce rate? Repossession rate? Violent Crime rate? Suicide rate?

USA:- Black people 14% of population, 50% of prison population. Yay!!

UK: Black people 13 x over represented in robbery - Yay!!!

Mr Peston is saying funny things again on BBC NEWS. Comapring this recession with earlier ones. But this one is based on chutzpah. This one is based on giving loans to people who were either not smart enough Monty Slater certainly wasn't!) to know they were being duped (or sold a pup in Monty's case), or not honest/restrained enough to refuse the too good to be true offers of those who took commissions and then let others securitize these toxic loans so some saps elsewhere (ideally in other countries) got lumbered. Given that so much growth was built on this 'scam', why should credit be forthcoming in anything like the rate which fuelled growth over the past decade or more? The banks aren't daft now that they don't have their MBSs etc to all back on.

Ask Mr Darling THAT please ;-).

Gavin Esler was right to ask about prosecuting senior bankers. Directors of banks stated in annual reports that they had good controls in place. Auditors approved their accounts, including the value of their assets! Those actions misled shareholders, investors and the public and there should be severe consequences, otherwise it will just happen again.

What a waste of air time. AD looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Lots of spluttering. What have we learned? It's going to be bad and he has no idea the true amount of debt in Banks.
Newsnight really need to read these blogs, round up the questions and let Paxman loose on them.

Just watched that appalling lady trying to justify the BBC not carrying the appeal for Gaza. Does she really think that most of us believe a word she was saying? All that talk about the BBC's audience not trusting them if the appeal was carried was pathetic. This audience member, anyway, trusts the BBC a good deal less than he did before he watched and listened to her performance.

DIDN'T HE DO WELL! (Alistair Darling)

They really are the Laurel and Hardy of national management! The more Brown is put under pressure the more he stutters and the more Darling is backed to the wall the more "you knows" flow from his mouth.

The use of 'failure of the Banking system' in place of 'failure of bank regulation' (by government) is equivalent to saying: "failure of the criminal classes to self-regulate" rather than: "failure of the police to catch criminals".

We are back with: Why doesn't the BBC ask . . ." in various posts above. But the GAME is played by keeping the ball in play, not by being unplayable.

Was it just me or did AD purposefully manage to avoid the usual suspect catchphrases whilst successfully avoiding the question as to whether bankers would be punished or whether we were entering a depression. He certainly sweated a bit when UK being best placed was quoted back at him.

What a bust. All puff and no substance. It told us zilch. At least I got four hours of entertainment while the telecast that I attended was made. Waste of time and space. Agree with above posts.
Hectoring by Gavin Esler was counter-productive. Both men had their own agendas and never tried to engage with each other. Still AD only gets £160K plus protection while GE has a fat £250k contract. So GE beats AD.
Why bother sums up the program

A DARLING RABBIT (#31)

Your eyes are better than mine. I could not tell where he stopped running for cover and started scampering for shelter - just before he sprinted to safety. But we shall have to get by without our rabbit pie. No one is going to kill him off for us.

@33
Where's Elmer Fudd when you need him. He'd shoot that Wabbit!

@32
Completely agree. I'm becoming more disgruntled by the day at the state of affairs and my only hope is that millions of other people feel the same way. Something's got to give.

Re: BBC refusal of Gaza appeal.

It’s really appalling that the BBC turned down the charity appeal to support people in Gaza.
The BBC showed a complete disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians.
While women and children in Gaza are in desperate need - hungry and homeless - it seems that the BBC’s main concern is not to upset Israel’s supporters.
It’s not a secret that Israeli lobbies are the most powerful force behind the American media. I would understand this sheepish attitude towards Israel if the BBC was sponsored by the Jewish Lobbies but the BBC is paid by British tax payers.

The fact that the BBC is giving so much time to Pro-Israel propaganda makes you think that the BBC’s agenda is to somehow justify the brutal Israeli massacre of innocent Palestinian women and children and to promote Zionist ideology.

No wonder that so many people have completely lost trust in the BBC!

The refusal of the BBC to carry the Gaza appeal has probably resulted in a bit more publicity for it - BUT - no address to send the money to. Does anyone out there know it? Or do we just walk in to our banks and say, Are you participating?
On second thoughts, our banks are probably too busy saving their own skins.

I am appalled by the BBC's decision to not allow the Disaster Emergency Committee to make an appeal for Gaza. The decision made it impossible for other broadcasters to air this as a consensus is required.The BBC effectively used a "Veto"

The reasons given by Caroline Thompson on Newsnight (Impartiality) are not convincing, on the contrary it shows a bias towards Israel.

I do not believe the BBC understand how much damage they have done to themselves (especially in the Middle East - check out this story on their media) and how BBC reporters will suffer because of this.

Licence payers expect better - if the BBC makes decicisions like these perhaps the Licence fee should be reduced.

I shall think very carefully before contributing to BBC appeals if they do not understand that the appeal would have helped the maimed and injured children that I have seen on my screen over the last 3 weeks (not the pro-Israel sanitized pictures that the BBC have been showing).

Congratulations Newsnight for questioning BBC senior management's decision not to run the Disaster Emergency Committee's appeal for the citizens of Gaza.

The BBC's defends its action saying "it wanted to avoid compromising public confidence in its impartiality". That is precisely the impact of not running the appeal, not I'm sure the intention but certainly the result.

I'm disgusted and appalled that the BBC is running scared of Israel and its bullyboy tactics in this way.

ELMER J FUDD - SHOCK REPORT (#34)

Elmer J Fudd, hunter, wabbit-twacker and gullible twit, went out on a limb by discharging himself from a sanatorium and 'buying' a mansion and a yacht. Although he bragged of these possessions to Bugs Bunny, he failed to mention huge borrowings. He has now sold the yacht for $1 to an oligarch and the mansion has been repossessed. No one escapes the Credit Crunch, not even a two dimensional fiction!

I'm also disappointed that the BBC will not show the DEC appeal.

However they have given full details for DEC and a link to DEC's website where you can donate in their web news article at https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7846150.stm

#36. RicardianLesley
and anyone else..........

If you want to make a donation and/or want more info here's the link

https://www.dec.org.uk/donate_now/

@41

Many thanks for the link

The party's over
It's time to call it a day
They've burst your pretty balloon
And taken the moon away
It's time to wind up the masquerade
Just make your mind up the piper must be paid

The party's over
The candles flicker and dim
You danced and dreamed through the night
It seemed to be right just being with him
Now you must wake up, all dreams must end
Take off your makeup, the party's over
It's all over, my friend

GAZA DEC APPEAL

Here's another, pragmatic angle on the BBC's refusal to endorse the DEC appeal.

The EU, whether one personally agrees or not, currently has economic sanctions against Gaza, and EU deputies' calls for sanctions against Israel have failed, so, when we read:

"A corporation statement added there were also doubts about "the delivery of aid in a volatile situation".

DEC said there was "clear evidence" the British public wanted to help."

as I see it, the BBC is rationally/legally/responsibly responding to a delicate diplomatic issue as well as acting in the best financial interests of British nationals, as:-

a) the ceasefire in Gaza is largely in Israel's hands and

b) any donations may not get there given that Brown was talking, not long ago, about contributing naval vessels to help enforce the 'smuggling' embargo.

There is no way into Gaza except by sea and Egypt, and as one condition of the cease-fire no re-arming of Hamas (the government), any aid for Gaza risks ending the cease-fire. Just look at what Israel did to UNRWA!

#11

True, but even if Alistair Darling agrees to give another interview on Newsnight, you know he will just spin and spin till our eyes fall out without answering THE question that was put to him. I say, just cut the small talk and bring in new people to do the job.

INCUMBENTS OUT UNITY - IOU (#45)

I think you might have the pragmatic approach for the next election mademoiselle_h.

I have been plugging 'SPOIL PARTY GAMES' as it was my 'spoiler' credo when standing in the 2005 election. Reading your post makes me wonder if the punters would pick up on IOU (they owe us respect we owe them a drubbing) more easily.

A web search of: 'Incumbents Out' (Charley Reese) is illuminating also: 'Vote Out Incumbents Democracy'.

I think this is worth exploring. I will certainly apply myself to it. We have nothing to lose but democracy itself.

barrie (#46) "We have nothing to lose but democracy itself."

An emasculated (by Lisbon) Parliamentary Democracy at that.

Meanwhile, some strange goings on:

"Mr Alexander said: "I think the British public ... can distinguish between support for humanitarian aid and perceived partiality in a conflict.

"I really struggle to see in the face of the immense human suffering of people in Gaza... that this is in any way a credible argument. "

It's a pity that Israel takes such a different view (e.g. targetting UNRWA facilities). Not long ago, during their measured, defensive operations in Gaza, we saw the IDF searching through humanitarian aid and allegedly pulling out 'contraband'.

Incidentally, given the BBC NEWS scrolling news update banner, is Mr Alexander 'The Government'? Or is the BBC guilty of a Rylean Category Mistake?

Is the USA still shipping M85 DPICM 'humanitarian aid' to Israel?

economy

yes 'building bridges to the new world'. ie looking to see where is the growth potential. the uk could build an empire of british companies and tech that will generate income. e.g a feed in tariff.

also we see, as people went to the usa to shop when the pound was strong so people are coming to the uk to buy luxury goods. e.g in an FT article we read

An Aston Martin DBS sports car is euro 60,000 (pound 56,600) cheaper in the UK than continental Europe, according to one UK luxury car dealer

and

The slumping London property market also looks increasingly attractive from abroad: Japanese buyers of a house valued at pounds 3m in September 2007 could buy it for under half that price now in yen, while Egyptians could save 45 per cent.


Gaza Charity


it just makes the bbc look mean spirited? And even if it did have their imaginary consequences then so what. it just looks like appeasement?

should not the bbc fee contract in line with the economy? Is the BBC executive mindset still living the boom economy lifestyle? Are they unreformable? Out of touch? Ivory towered?

CONTROLLING PARENT? (#47)

HI JJ. I think you are less than enthusiastic for Eric Berne's stuff, but it makes it easy (for me) to comment that both Israel and USA have a 'Controlling Parent' approach to the world - however you choose to couch it.
I suppose it it could be regarded as fortunate that they are still in cahoots, rather than fallen out and having a nuclear war!

Obama, himself, would appear to be part Nurturing Parent and Part Controlling. No doubt 'events' will resolve where he comes to rest on that continuum. (I worry that he is 'lawyer minded'.)
In passing, I don't think a man who delivers: "On the wrong side of history" as a damnation of 'them' is very far from 'Axis of Evil' Bush. Ho hum.

On the matter of man's inhumanity to man in Gaza. We both know that, born into another time, culture or religion, you and I would be very different - for good or ill (if such exist). We both float 'solutions' and we both know: against world inertia that 'resistance is futile'.

I believe the human branch of the DNA tree is defined by immaturity - self defeating. The Great Work is well advanced.

Just tried to phone the complaints line at the BBC after appeals in newspapers and the Today programme, after an hour I gave up such is the volume of calls beseiging the poor telephone staff at the beeb. To preserve the dignity and fairmindedness of the corporation they should allow the Gaza appeal and not be bullied by the Israeli press office because evryone I have spoken to thinks that is what happened.....a cowed BBC, never. They imposed no such restrictions over Darfur!

Jean made an important point: UNRWA is
the agency with the mandate for relief in
Palestine rather than these British NGOs
criticising the BBC for not running appeals:

https://www.un.org/unrwa/english.html

The main DEC agency involved in relief in Palestine is I think The Red Cross - and it
has a website for donations:

https://www.redcross.org.uk/news.asp?id=90292

As for bleeding hearted British ministers,
perhaps if they had been a little more
robust with Israel at an earlier stage
this man-made disaster might have
been avoided.

Douglas Alexander enjoys grandstanding
in such situations but his own organisation
UK DfID has of course poured taxpayer's
money into Palestine for years and years without proper auditing or accounting. A
lot of that has been used to play internal
PNA politics; and some of these projects
turned out to be "non-existent" I found.

Much better to work through the United Nations and co-ordinate with the US, EU and Russia through The Quartet. Britain
can play a role by speaking to Tony Blair.

This is the current state it seems of the UNRWA emergency appeal. The political
pressure should be to raise all pledges,
ensure journalistic access, and keep up
the pressure on Israel to account for all
its actions in breach of international law:

https://www.un.org/unrwa/finances/index.html

barrie (#49)"We both know that, born into another time, culture or religion, you and I would be very different - for good or ill (if such exist)."

We don't, except in the trivial sense that if we were born to different set of parents we would, almost necessarily be (but for chance necessitating thare are limits to personality types). It appears (from MZ and DZ twin studies raised together and apart) that much of our behaviour (i.e our personality) is an exprssion of the genes we inherit. There comes a time, after much applied work premised on contrary assumptions meeting with so little effect, that one has to begin to take very seriously the thesis that we are made the way that we are by the expression of our genes and that through selection of our behaviours we are in effect seeing selection of our genes.

As to Transactional Analysis, as I've said before, I'm not great fan of traditional (hydraulic) psychoanalysis, and Berne largely just euphemised Superego, Ego and Id in my view. What has more mileage to it is critical periods of development (infancy and adolescence) and how 'battered' people are by dysfunctional families as they naturally mature and become more independent of their parents. All sorts of genetic drivers are at work then, and I think one should look to the frequency of genes in groups which might make some more prone to extremes of personality than others. I've said how this may bear on the remarkable excesses one sees in response to stress/criticism by e.g. Israelis (all over the world) before. It may also account for statistical over-representation in some professions too. What is important to see, if this turns out to be true, is that if this is genetic (preferences), one would not be able to change these behaviours by talking/counselling, education or any other 'environmental' intervention. The track record of therapy and environmental programmes (measured in terms of attributable efficacy) is, if the truth be known, atrocious. here are a lot of snake-oil sales persons making a living out of other people's misery though, I think it needs to be much better regulated.

When asked for useful advice, it pains me to say this, but sadly, few people listen to, or learn from, experience, instead, they go with what they would LIKE to be true and they ignore the evidence. I would welcome refutation, but I think you'll find I summarise what's known both accurately and succinctly.

The BBC is also carrying this blog from one of the aid workers distributing parcels to the UN shelters in Gaza for Islamic Relief
Worldwide - a British-based charity I see:

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7802295.stm

And for those still wondering where to post
their money Tony Benn suggested this PO
Box Number on BBC's 'Today Programme':

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7848673.stm

Classic!

Stourton taken by surprise again it seems!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/3757393/Ed-Stourton-BBC-treated-me-worse-than-Jonathan-Ross-over-sacking.html

many thanks Marcus for the words 'the party's over' wanted them for years......

Hi Paul,

I do not watch television, by design, and am contributing to your blog on a one-off basis. I am a deserter from my brief toe-dip into Robert Peston's, where I saw recommendations to yours.

There is talk of the IMF, the ultimate 'Lender of the Last Resort'. It is funded by worldwide governmental subscription. Where does it invest those funds?

In the current Global mess, will those subscriptions be maintained? What proportion of its subscribers have unfortunate Icelandic status?

My last question is, "Can the IMF even afford to act as 'Ultimate Lender of the Last Resort" to Little Britain let alone the others?"

A tongue in cheek suggestion: Two Camelot style style operations could be set up; one for Banks [especially if they need bailing out] and the other for Sovereign countries, ditto.

Tickets would be in Billions of whatever denomination judged appropriate [ excluding Zimbabwe's currency].

Oh, I forgot, the weekly winner would likely either give the winnings away as bonuses to their brass or squander them on 'make-work' national schemes that would produce no actual benefit above the existing state.

The inherent waste in management consultancy, IT expenditure, poorly executed inflated contracts and political investigation would be more money down the drain if Little Britain were to, say, decide to drive on the right.

Hope our Olympics fares better.

Thank-you and bye-bye.

PARANOID IDEATION?

Each time I read about these prima facie, hysterical, reactions, surely one can be forgiven for considering them a little paranoid and highly suspicious? How is disputing what's conventional wisdom (much of which is demonstrably historically inaccurate) an 'attack' rather than rational analysis/discussion? The counter-argument is that an effort to make the loss of deportees/relatives between 1939-1945 as horrific as possible has a ring of political propaganda about it which serves vested interests which opens a very large can of worms as to whether the post WWII largely Western human/civil rights and equalities movement has been a subversive, anti-statist, political movement.

EVIDENCE DRIVEN TALKING

It should be obvious (but still isn't to many) why there is such proscriptive legislation in Germany and some other European countries. This served to push the politics of NATO countries away from the Democratic-Centralist 'totalitarian' Warsaw Block and USSR. The problem was that ove rthe decades, this pro free-market programme snow-balled into Trotskyist Neo-Conservatisvism and the anarcho-capitalist nightmare which we now have on our hands today.

My personal views -

Mr Darling Interview

"We did not see this coming" , what figures were they monitoring ?
Glad to hear Mr Browns regulatory system needs tightening up.

I'll just say Mr Brown should resign , the quicker the better as far as I am concerned.

Hint for NewsNight

May I suggest you talk to Peter Shiff, he was one of the people that sow this recession coming and understood why , unlike some other people who had lost touch with reality.

Peter Shiff trying to warn people starting in 2006

You got to admire this bloke , he was being laughed at by his peers on television and he still stood by what the numbers were telling him.

HELL HATH NO FURY

Steve-London (#60) I take it you appreciate that they weren't laughing out of genuine incredulity, they were laughing because they didn't want their lucrative bubble-economics popped. How does one ever get away with raining on narcisistic people's parades? Have you ever tried it, with any of these types? Hell hath no fury.......

One must see conditioned behaviour as essentially AVOIDANCE behaviour. It expands outwards, building a protective comfort zone around one, so to speak. So long as some people can keep seeing it growing they will do anything to ensure it does. Financial greed has its roots in basic avoidance behaviour, as does obesity, alcoholism, and other forms of substance abuse. That's why we need regulating 'nannies', however old we are. The market doesn't suffice.

Interesting perspective on the 'Gaza aid' issue from Alasdair Crooke on Al Jazeera:

"Clearly all of the Europeans are operating on the old mode - they haven't pressed the re-set button on their policies. They are perhaps waiting to see which way the [new] US administration will go.

They're trying to re-launch Abu Mazen, almost holding reconstruction and humanitarian assistance as hostage, almost trying to force Hamas to re-mandate Abu Mazen [whose term of office expired on January 9]. Not surprisingly, Hamas has expressed great anger at that.

If the Europeans try to hold the opening of the crossings hostage to Hamas re-legitimising Abu Mazen, I fear we might end up with another round of conflict in Gaza."

https://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009122163546386987.html

Perhaps someone should tell Channel 5??!

neilrobertson (#62) Surely what's important with respect to this aid appeal is that the public better appreciate that as the EU has economic sanctions against the government of Gaza, if any of this aid-money goes to Gaza, it may be deemed a violation of the sanctions and it could be argued by Israel that the EU isn't in control of its population any more than Hamas is of its 'militants'. Any actors or other do-gooders who say they don't care about the politics are, to be frank, behaving like highly irresponsible adolescents under te circumstances. If Hamas were to state that it had no control over what some of its people did (e.g. firing the odd mortar or rocket into Israel), Israel could quite legitimately take that as grounds for further strikes.

I hadn't appreciated that Abass had reached the end of his term on 9th. Thanks for that.

https://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/protest+outside+bbc+over+dec+emergency+appeal/2910107

Nearly time to tune in for our nightly fix of jousting with "Spokespeople" for Israel's
outgoing Prime Minister ......... but seems
some of them might be starting to get a
little nervous about war crimes charges?

https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058215.html

A time for journalistic impartiality indeed - or at least I guess that was on Auntie's mind?

This policy wording is quite carefully crafted:

"But BBC director general Mark Thompson said: "After consultation with senior news editors, we concluded that to broadcast a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully couched, ran the risk of calling into question the public's confidence in the BBC's impartiality in its coverage of the story as a whole."

He added: "We will continue to broadcast news about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and, if appropriate, to cover the work of the UK NGOs (non-governmental organisations) on the ground." "

But is Newsnight was told by Caroline Thomson last night "under constant
review" ...............

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7848673.stm

"I hadn't appreciated that Abass had reached the end of his term on 9th. Thanks for that."


Indeed. They certainly kept that quiet, Jean!

This is on-topic:

"ACADEMIC PAPERS ON THE ECONOMY AND finance are for the most part like uncooked oatmeal -- hard to digest. Particularly unappetizing is that they invariably are peppered with arcane equations, signifying nothing except the need of the author or authors to amortize the time and money wasted in their misspent youths wrestling with advanced math. The point of the exercise is to impart some veneer of gravitas to their pedestrian piffle. Nine times out of 10, the effect is to set even the most determined reader adrift with glazed eyes and nodding head.

Our heartfelt thanks, then, to Philippa Dunne and Doug Henwood, the worthy pair who put out the Liscio Report, for directing us in a recent commentary to a paper by a couple of certified academics that's not only mighty informative, but written in something that approximates the mother language, making it easy reading as well as rewardingly instructive."

It seems it's not that simple:

"There are competing legal arguments about whether his term is four years or five; if it's four, he ceased being president Jan. 9. Either way, a new election is due in less than a year."

The Presidential term is four years - but the
law also provides for Presidential elections
being held on the same day as legislative
elections (which seems to be the basis on
which 'Abu Mazen' is continuing in office??)

Britain's problem is that they have of course put all their eggs in the one basket refusing
to deal with the elected Hamas government.

[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]

This is a position taken up by the Palestine
Commission on Human Rights on the issue
of when the Presidential elections are due:

[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]

The key point, however, in respect of the provision of humanitarian aid is that the
United Nations role at this point is crucial.

Like The Red Cross they are respected by all sides, with the possible exception of a
few loose cannons in the ranks of the IDF.

So everyone is going to give generously to the Palestinian relief charities, yet like the BBC states there is not yet means to get the alleged aid where they need it. I am very suspicious of charities in general, but it would appear that the only beneficiaries of any immediate donations will be the stock market parasites who use alleged charity money to speculate in hedge funds etc. Perhaps they will use it to crash our pound further in order that " those in most need " receive less than the potential original sum. Far too many alleged charities just sit on and speculate with large amounts of donors capital, look how many got caught out with Iceland. All charities are really interested in is paying fat cat salaries to their directors and other parasitic cling on's

Thanks to posters who have put up information about how best to get money to the Gaza relief appeal. And good point about the Red Cross.

#Jaded_jean

"One must see conditioned behaviour as essentially AVOIDANCE behaviour"

"The problem was that ove rthe decades, this pro free-market programme snow-balled into Trotskyist Neo-Conservatisvism and the anarcho-capitalist nightmare which we now have on our hands today."

You pontificate but nearly always AVOID stressing what you stand for. Its to do with near certain rejection.

Its your conditioning according to your own spiel.

You don't stand for democracy. You have said you are not a nazi or the BNP - but you do feel that people who paint Hitler "in the worst possible light" are "anarchists and Trotskyites" (that seems to be most people from what I can be bothered to read).

There would then appear to be no political outlet for the ludicrous views you propose.

So any reader happening upon this site is I assume presumed to believe the rubbish you have written about genes.

"I've said how this may bear on the remarkable excesses one sees in response to stress/criticism by e.g. Israelis (all over the world) before."

You are like a nasty child who has found an encyclopedia and doesn't really understand it but wants to impress through pretense. Even a mickey mouse far right scientist would never come out with garbage like that.

You know no sane person is going to miss that you are a race "realist" and you neither "affirm nor deny" the holocaust.

thegangofone (#74)

1. Try to learn a little about Operant Conditioning. Operants are what we colloquially refer to as 'voluntary' behaviour. This is driven by genes, and selected/shaped by environmental contingencies.

2. Conditioned avoidance: as a simple example, think about eating. We tend to eat not to satisfy hunger (which would be escape behaviour), but to to avoid hunger.

3. There are several types of democracy. I am critical of LIBERAL democracy as it is evidently self-destructive/biologically unfit (see the TFRs of Liberal-Democracies - they are below replacement level, which is not government planned - it's one of the reasons why Germany focused on the family in the 1930s).

4. Liberal-Democracies are hostile to Command Economies (Statist Centrally Planned economies) including National Socialism. This has been a hallmark of USA (and allied) foreign policy for several decades, since WWII. The vilification of National Socialism is part of the Liberal-Democracies' Orwellian propaganda to reinforce Austrian School/Chicago School anarcho-capitalism/Free-Market Liberal-Democracy, domestically.

5. The Ashkenazim have the highest prevalence of a CYP21 polymorphism on Chromosome 6p21 (1/3 are carriers, 1/27 are homozygous) which results in a problem in the synthesis of 21-OHD. This is required for a critical step in the synthesis of the sex-steroids by the adrenal glands. The adrenals are critical components of the fight-flight system, and a critical part of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis which regulates responses to stress. This subtle anomaly has a number of phenotypic consequences (one of which is shorter stature in affected males - estrogen limits growth). I suggest you look into the endocrinological research literature, some of which, (as here I have referenced and explicated before. At the moment, I am just offering a conjecture based on a large amount of research into individual differences which may rationally account for historical group stereotypes. There are clearly exceptions to stereotypes.

6. It is impossible to rationally affirm or deny 'the holocaust' just as it is to recognise the state of Israel. This is a Quinean/Popperian logical-empirical point. a) The refusal of Israel to withdraw from the West Bank as mandated by the UN makes it impossible to recognise the State of Israel as nobody can agree on what its borders are. b) Similarly, as it is never made clear definitively what the holocaust comprises, nobody can rationally affirm or deny it.

I suspect these are conveniences for Jews/Israelis in both cases as it wrong-foots the opposition who naively think rationality will help here, it won't. This is at the root of the conflict as unspecifiable/untestable/unrefutable propositions are, literally/logically/empirically, meaningless, and just serve as sources of strife.

I request you give all of the above serious thought before posting again. Try not to argue from ignorance as it's irrational as the ad hominem.

On the other hand, if you know this, perhaps you are playing the same egregious game? If so, you're not very good at it.

CHANGES IN PARTY REPRESENTATION IN THE LORDS

Current composition

History:

Thatcher (C) 1979–1990 ..........200
Major (C) 1990–1997 ..........141
Blair (L) 1997–2007...........357
Brown (L) 2007–....................18

An international perspective on British democratic representation (NB: 0.5% of the population, and the the same proportion as the British Chinese (the highest achieving ethnic group in Britain, inluding in SAT English). Try to name the British-Chinese Lords).

Is this 'stacking the legislature'?

Further to post #68: undigested oatmeal is perhaps best kept in a Scottish economist's sporran along with Alfred Marshall's rules for the use of mathematics:

"(1) Use mathematics as a shorthand language, rather than an engine of enquiry. (2) Keep them until you have done. (3) Translate into English. (4) Then illustrate by examples that are important in real life. (5) Burn the mathematics."

(Marshall to Bowley, 27th February 1906; in Memorials of Alfred Marshall, edited by A.C. Pigou, p.427)

Banks and their "grossly over-rewarded" executives are partly to blame for the recession, a government minister says.

Meanwhile:

For Labour, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said opposition politicians and commentators must be careful about the language they used and ensure they didn't talk down the economy.

One set of rules for everybody? Trust in the banks (largely owned by us now)?

THERE SHOULD BE MORE JUDICIOUS BURNING

Baccy-Ken has been on TV this morning (Marr) discussing corruption, because (like ciggy smoke) it is in the wind.
I see from my dictionary that corruption takes many forms. Corruption can be of the will (e.g. addiction) the body (lungs, arteries) the truth (calling smoking a choice) and political (calculated elevation the corrupt).

Even (it seems) a link can be corrupted, but the links I make above stand in their own right.

neilrobertson (#77) Is that a variant of something like 'If it ain't already in common usage, I aint buyin it!' Or is it just a tip for authors interested in keeping their readers' attention? I tend to believe that something isn't worth reading/listening to unless I don't initially understand/agree with it.

We're all using the products of research in mathematics and logic in the early decades of the last century to type these words on the blog, and without that technology, every day life would be far less predictable/safe than it now is, but it has also create a false sense of omnipotence as most user haven't much of a clue as what's really going on as the interface has been made so simple in order to sell more product.

A (light-hearted) challenge: Define "real life", and if you're up to it, define the limits of 'Israel' and 'the holocaust'.

As far as I know, one can't reliably translate science back into English without (often serious) loss of information. The intensional opacity (associated largely with psychological verbs) inherent in Natural Language drives the (physical) sciences towards extensionality and thus towards mathematics. I've repeatedly seen misattributions of what I've posted here simply because a reader will not, or can not, grasp basic logical and statistical concepts. Having said that, some people thrive on ambiguity and opacity at other people's expense. The exorcism of intension (as ignorance i.e lack of knowing any better) was one reason why Quine's austerity was such a breaktrough, but also why it was so unpopular with metaphysicians given that it exposed them as fabricationists (see also Wall Street, City of London - the term 'Masters of The Universe' isn't used without good reason - these people really are malignant narcissists).

On a related, topical issue, and one I am not entirely comfortable with myself, have a look at [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator] and critically ask to what extent what is said is unreliable or malignant. It appears to be from about 1987. To the best of my knowledge, he doesn't stray from the facts and it is worrying close to what we face today.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

mrsbloggs13c2 wrote:

First of all perhaps you could use this opportunity to ask the chancellor to resign and justify why he should not

####

Thankfully Newsnight has neither the power or the right to ask anyone in the Houses of parliament to resign.

And anyway, why should he?

This problem has been growing for 30 years - most of those under the Tories.

So I would rather THEY did not come back to sort it out.

At the end of the day, this will sort out when the markets change their stance (basically stop being greedy cowards), and not before.

Our government and other governments have only the power to cushion the recession a little, and so they should.

But prosperity lies out of their hands - always has, always will. It is only the arrogance of the politician that he/she believes she actually can influence this.

A PLAGUE ON ALL SIDES OF THEIR HOUSE (#82)

"So I would rather THEY did not come back to sort it out."

I would rather see the back of ALL of them.

We need to outlaw parties (political cartels) and have locally derived, locally accountable MPs, voted to Parliament by those who have passed a Certificate of Voting Competence. Of they can't shake out a competent government between them, I suggest we hand over UK governance to some foreign power.

SPOIL PARTY GAMES - INCUMBENTS OUT

Gurubear (#82) "But prosperity lies out of their hands - always has, always will. It is only the arrogance of the politician that he/she believes she actually can influence this."

Realistically, most leading politicians know this. Practically all the two houses really do is legislate, much of which is done behind the scenes by Civil Servants. It all comes down to the executive arm (Civil Servants) being competent to enforce it anyway, and they clwarly don't do that very well - see Home Office, IND, FSA etc. The truth is that the Executive has been worn down over the last 30 years through constant restructuring, market-testing, PPP/PFI, recruitment quotas, PC mania......... and Press Officers, all of which has amounted to an anarchic fragmentation of the state to ensure that the free-market had its way. To reverse all that requires one to conceive of the electorate voting for authoritarianism - the very thing which has been systematically eroded for three decades (you can't easily talk about it even now - tere are effectively laws which proscribe expression of political ideologies). It's why Old Labour never got anywhere in the 80s and New Labour had to reinvent itself as anarchistic Neoconservativism.

Doesn't look promising does it?

See (#80, #81) for how this censure is effected. Unwitting, and well intentioned though it may well be, in practice, this simply serves the worsen the problem for everyone concerned as it reinfrces the opposite - anarchism.

Blogdog, please note.

THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS

See (#80, #81) for how this censure is effected. Unwitting, and well intentioned though it may well be, in practice, this simply serves to worsen the problem for everyone concerned as it insidiously and paradoxically reinforces the opposite - anarchism.

Blogdog, please note.

Sarah (Gavin)

It is very heart-breaking that the United Kingdom is in recession...But, in reality the economy will probably rebound in the long-term.

~Dennis Junior~

"BBC director general Mark Thompson has reiterated his belief that airing a charity appeal for Gaza would put the corporation's impartiality at risk."

Given the comments of the Newsnight Race "Realists" on this page recently regarding why have impartiality I am heavily with Thompson.

On this page I still feel if people have a history of making comments that are clearly indirectly inciting racial hatred they should be banned.

That said I do hope that the Gazans get plenty of aid. Will the UN themselves simply rebuild there I wonder?

TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES

thegangofone (#88) "On this page I still feel if people have a history of making comments that are clearly indirectly inciting racial hatred they should be banned."

Consider this: What if a specific endogamous group self-classified itself (albeit ever so loosely) so that one could not tell whether it was a) race, b) an etnnic group c) a religion or d) a set of political movements, and contrived internationally to get legislation passed which made any criticism of said group's political behaviour a 'race crime' or effort to incite 'racial hatred'?

Now, that would be a rather clever (but undemocratic and egregious) way to secure affirmative action/hegemony with relative impunity would it not? This would be highlighted by said group having disproportinate (for their base-rate in the population) access and control of resources would it not? It would be possible to show this through statistical deviation from the Null Hypotheis would it not?

WHITE LIES BLACK TRUTHS (#88)

We are all familiar with the discussions around 'torturing one man to save thousands' and 'telling her she looks a fright in that'. But what of discussion of dog breeds and their characteristics? Should every Pit Bull have a chance to be a guide dog? Genetics dictate sprinting success (and more recently football?). Why should genetics not dictate (or, at least, mediate in everything from size of big toe, to perfect pitch; AND ALL THINGS IN BETWEEN?
As my brother and I get older, we are getting many of the SAME specific ailments of decline. I feel free to point a finger at our parents without censure!

Supplement to #89. This is essentially just a way to get any exogamous opposition not to challenge group/party ideology. In the distant past, it's conceivably the case that the major Western religion (Catholicism originally) was a movement to a) induce dysgenesis as the Catholic clergy which was literate/intelligent was nevertheless celibate ensuring a culling of the intelligentsia) and honesty, fair play, turning the other cheek etc was encouraged in the masses to placate if not passify them - hence religion being teh opium of the masses. But consider who created this ideology.

Its creators (meant for others not themselves) extrictated themselves entirely from this entire ideology altogether and set up enclaves (settlements or colonies) as tax farmers and inn keepers. One should just see this as an example of group competition for resources, a battle for hegemony, it happens throughut the animal kingdom (see Robert Trivers and Kevin MacDonald). One should note that said group does not practice what it preached endogamously, in fact, it did exactly the opposite. This is what historically led to so much hostility I suspect. In the end it serves no group's best long term interests I suspect, although I may be wrong.

THE NOT A CONSPIRACY 'CONSPIRACY'

For those who don't like reading reports or watching video presentations, look at the ETS PowerPoint presentation which can be found here bearing in mind that the USA government education data (and that's what ETS is essentially reviewing as ETS runs the national tests over there) mirror our own over here, supplemmeted by the OECD's PISA data. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just wrong. Links to our national data at government sites have been presented repeatedly in the current and archived NN blog over recent years (as regulars will confirm) in an effort to make more people aware of what is being done eiter by omission or comission. One might ask why, when the data was presented earlier still from 2005 onwards (and before internally within government), sites like the Guardian's Comment Is Free removed posts and links after a few days (if they ever made it up at all). Breaking House Rules is rather an odd thing when the facts are public and produced at a national level. At the same time, we had the bizarre situation where several leding academics working in the relevant areas, publishing papers and books were either losing their jobs, having books censored or made prohibitively expensive, and literally having their careers threatened and in some cases terminated.

Strange though it may seem to many, this is all true, and that it is so can be shown by searching for the facts. There is a 'conspiracy' here, and it is a most odd one in the way that it operates as technically it is not a conspiracy at all, as it is not illegal. A conspiracy, by definition, must be illegal.

NOW YOU HAVE MY ATTENTION JJ! (#91)

I (in my small corner) always thought that the biggest Christian stitch-up was Nicea - i.e. the Church stitching up the proles.
What you seem to be suggesting is that Christianity ITSELF (including those poor celibate clergy) is a way of stitching up gentiles, across the board. WHAT A SUPERB THESIS! Never mind whether it is right or wrong, it's a great idea, and would show a far-sightedness that passeth all understanding.

BUT! Surely, by now, hints and clues of the foundation of this scheme, it's hatching and establishment, have been turned up? After all, there are some neat purported links between Freemasonry/Templars and ancient Egypt.

Is this specific to you JJ, or do you have any sources?

My little grey cells are waving 'thank you'.

OH DEAR - SAY IT ISN'T SO

I heard mark Thompson STRUGGLE with something undefined, when being challenged by Humphries on 'Today'. I tried to grasp his argument but couldn't really define it.
Then I saw a clip on TV of the same interview - 'a man in torment'.
Finally I looked up his situation on the web.
I feel rather stupid.

THE BBC NOT THE GAZA APPEAL BLAKCKOUT

Further to Barie (#94).

The BBC's statements: A load of pretentious, hypocritcal, mendacious, double-talking nonsense. Why?

Because if the BBC Management were at all sincere about this impartiality stance it would have had a complete blackout on coverage of this entire issue. Instead they've made it the centre piece news item all weekend with regular shots of the DEC website address.

Sadly, this has now become de regueur for the BBC (and others). Will they never learn that they are losing the integrity they were once respected for?

Time to clean out the stables.

The economic crisis should be treated as "the difficult birth-pangs of a new global order", with new rules introduced on trade, Gordon Brown says.

As opposed to rules that should have been in place before?

I hope that Newsnight won't go soft on Labour who don't want people to talk down the economy, whilst simultaneously trying to pitch all of the blame onto the bankers.

Well my friends and I completely back the BBC & Sky's decisions not to air an appeal for Gaza. Newsnight (and the BBC) has been impartial throughout the conflict - and I have been watching! Each side has been given the chance to put their points of view across and each side has been questioned fairly. I am glad there are still people in the world who can stand up to bullies - namely certain MPs who want to dictate to News Editors what they should be saying and doing. Since when was Britain a dictatorship?

#92 JadedJean

You sympathize with Hitler on race (whom you feel I paint "as darkly as possible" due to "party politics") and should the world ever be turned upside down I am sure you would cheerfully support policies - "that the times demanded" - of a similar ilk.

Your views on the Holocaust are vile and absurd.

When exposed by a geneticist you questioned his reputation (not the facts he put forward about generic variation within and between race) and I seem to recall "most mainstream scientists are Jews" anyway or words to that effect.

The pretense of science does usually disappear when you are forced to explain why so many people from different races have won Nobels.

If people use pretentious arguments and smokescreens but are still effectively talking about the same ideas put forward by mass murderers then I couldn't care less if they get a raw deal.

The bottom line for me is I don't think you genuinely believe the Holocaust , for example, did not happen. Hitlers "big lie" for the masses?

So I see you as a vile and hate-filled race "realist" intellectual failure with failed arguments.


#94 barriesingleton

"I feel rather stupid."

Nobody is going to fight you on that one.

EU CHIEF BLAMES HAMAS - HAMAS PRAY

No surprise that Louis Michel (EU envoy) blames Hamas. It would be a bit like Hayek going to Moscow in the 80s and expecting him to say anything other than it was all down to the wrong, 'tyranical' political system would it not?

The EU = A federation for legislating de-regulation and Balkanisation to further anarcho-capitalism, i.e. liberty for business people to prey upon (aka meet the needs of) consumers.

Guru1

Guru2

He's a bit keen on letting the Federal Reserve private banks print money. Can anyone suggest why?

Hamas of course are 'crackpot' statists - aka regulators (like the USSR was, Stalinist PRC is, and a bit like the SEC and FSA were supposed to be). These are to some, 'extreme evil-dooers' aka 'terrorists' (with the exception of the PRC which is much to big to call a terrorist and holds so much USA debt that the anarcho-capitalist poodles have to be nice to them, the SEC and FSA are just fascists of course). Hamas sees themselves as 'freedom fighters', i.e. they criminally try to free themselves from exploitation by anarcho-capitalist 'Satanists' who are more cunning than they are, but who keep mendaciously telling them that this isn't true at all, that they can't believe in IQ tests etc, as everyone is really equal....honest!).

Hamas tends to turn to God, and pray a lot, for help!

Hmmm..

A (light-hearted) challenge: Define "real life", and if you're up to it, define the limits of 'Israel' and 'the holocaust'. (post #80)

As young economists we were of course taught that 'it [real life?] is all in Marshall'.
But the quotation about his rules on the
use of mathematics predates Godel who
was only born in 1906. His name was dropped into the equation by George
Steiner - in a recent interview that I
was watching - when that subtle
linguist who trained as a mathematician in a French Lycee in the United States was explaining why he decided not to follow
his father into merchant banking ........

So my (light-hearted) response to Jaded Jean would probably now be 'it is all in Steiner' though even that is probably
incomplete given that his most recent
publication is called 'My Unwritten Books'.

George Steiner's thoughts on Israel and The Holocaust are also very interesting -
not least in terms of setting limits. When
I was in Gaza, I was taken aback to be asked directly about the Holocaust in a
class of young Palestinian professionals.

That question coincided with the David Irving libel trial in Austria and they were
very interested in the arguments in that
case and that it was a civil legal case not
a state prosecution. I suggested to their
teacher that she introduce them to The
Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. - but I
also left a copy of Albert O. Hirschman's
'Essays In Self-Subversion' for a library
in Gaza. A lot of sound Jewish wisdom!

https://www.ias.edu/spfeatures/kurt_godel/
https://www.alanmacfarlane.com/ancestors/steiner.htm