#brexit misery

[harrison-abbott]

Musings on Brexit

I was reading a newspaper article today about what’s happened to the UK economy since Brexit. And amongst the details was an example of a trade deal that Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison (then Australian PM) made last year. It was hailed as a huge post Brexit achievement by Boris and co. at the time. And apparently it will contribute to a 0.02% rise in British GDP – which will come into effect in 15 years’ time.

The same article pointed out that Paris overtook London this week as Europe’s most valuable stock market, for the first time ever. Since Brexit (the initial vote in 2016), Paris’ CAC 40 index is up 47% and London’s FTSE 100 slumped at 16%.

There were trading deals the govt made with Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Japan, post-Brexit, which were basically replacements of deals that the UK had with each country pre-Brexit. They only had to make the arrangements for a second time, because Brexit legislation had scrapped formal affairs.

And I’m just reading another article just now, about how Brexit has affected the UK workforce, which says, that;

One in four workers in the hospitality sector were Non-British before Brexit, and that afterwards there are now approx. 188 000 vacancies within this sector, this winter.

Similarly, the shock to the supply chain industry was seen earlier this year, as food product deliveries dropped severely from overseas lorry drivers. This forced the government to backtrack on Brexit policies, whereby they then offered 5000 temporary visas to foreign lorry drivers in order to boost the supply network. This was insignificant, considering that the haulage industry estimates the lorry driver shortage post-Brexit being around 100 000.

And here I’m reading that, within the two years since the severance from Europe, the weaker pound has left UK households worse off across the nation, through the increased cost of imports, occurring in higher inflation and lower real wage growth. The International Economic Review reckons that Brexit has increased consumer prices by 2.9%, costing the average household an extra £870.

^^^ Aye, so there you go. You could argue quite reasonably that Brexit was the worst geopolitical muck up in the history of the planet. That’s the way I see it anyway.

[abalidoth]

whats your fav album/albums??

Like anyone else who was sentient and within earshot of a radio in 2012, I was aware of Call Me Maybe. It was inescapable, virulently catchy, an icepick of bubblegum straight to the tympaneum. As mocked as it was beloved, as society is unable to tolerate anything feminine.

I don't strongly remember my feelings about it at the time. I was probably self-aware enough at that point to not explicitly shit on it -- that was right around when I was making my first tentative steps towards not identifying as a guy. But my musical taste at the time skewed more towards They Might Be Giants and Imogen Heap so it wouldn't have been anything I sought out.

Flash forward to the summer of 2015. I'm in a bar in Ames, Iowa with a bunch of other mathematicians, there for the Graduate Research Workshop in Combinatorics. After a hard day of bootstrap percolation and RNA folding and graph discharging, we descended on this little college bar's trivia night like a swarm of LaTeX-using locusts. Combinatorists tend to be eclectic sorts, so trivia comes naturally to us, and I'm no exception; our four mathematician teams took the top four spots that night, and my team was first among those. There are a few other stories that came out of that night, but the relevant one is that I heard a little song over the speakers called I Really Like You.

Like Call Me Maybe, IRLY was uncompromisingly girly. But I was at a stage in my life where that was a balm to my aching soul. I had been slowly growing in my femininity month by agonizing month, living in the freezing wastes of Laramie, Wyoming. I wore skirts around the house, went by ze/hir pronouns online, but nobody in person knew. Every Friday afternoon my wife would paint my nails, and every Sunday evening I'd scrub the authenticity out of myself with acetone and a cotton ball. So the femininity of the song was appealing to me.

So, too, was the lyrical content. It was self-awarely about a liminal state in relationships, that hazy limerence where actual commitment isn't in the cards, but the feelings are strong, so why don't we ride them while we can? It's not that it hasn't been done before, but Carly Rae did it well. I added the song to the mp3 app on my phone and didn't think much more of it.

Cut to the summer of 2016. Brexit had just happened, I had just found out my dad was planning to vote for Trump. The sun over the Rockies was bright, but the world was feeling small and hostile. We were spending the week with my parents and some family in a mountain town in Colorado. Emma and I aren't the hiking sort, so when the rest of the folks went out in the wilderness, we decided to explore some of the little towns in the area. In one of those towns was a record store, and in that record store was a CD copy of E-MO-TION.

I recognized it as the album that had that song I liked from last summer. We listened to it in the car on the way back up to Laramie, and I liked it a lot. Now, we usually listened to music on the old iPod that was connected to our aux cable, rather than the CD drive. So that CD just kinda stayed there in the car.

November rolled around. Trump won the election. My dysphoria and my fear and my seasonal depression blended into a eutectic misery, greater than the sum of its parts, a suffocating miasma of soul-deep pain, that I had to keep off my face for the sake of my students.

I started listening to that CD in the car more and more. I memorized the track numbers, I knew exactly what stretches of songs were best for which emotions. That album became a lifeline for me. When I was driving an icy road in the dark on three hours of sleep, stressing about my lack of progress on my dissertation, and the intrusive thoughts came in that maybe, it wouldn't be so bad if the car spun out on the black ice?

I'd put on Making the Most of the Night. Carly Rae knew I was having a rough time, and here she was to hijack me, hijack me.

[meret118]

Video at the link.

[mariacallous]

Sipping pints of Guinness, swapping football shirts and purring about respect and new dawns, the British and Irish prime ministers seemed determined to inject long-absent warmth into the relationship between their countries when they met on Saturday. The thaw is overdue; Keir Starmer’s visit to Dublin was the first by a British PM in five years. In 2019, Boris Johnson’s visit came amid manifold anxieties about securing a Brexit deal, prompting a declaration from the Irish government that “the people of this island, North and South, need to know that their livelihoods, their security and their sense of identity will not be put at risk as a consequence of a hard Brexit. The stakes are high. Avoiding the return of a hard border on this island and protecting our place in the single market are the Irish government’s priorities in all circumstances.”

The distrustful atmosphere was a product not just of the June 2016 British vote to leave the EU, but a broader Tory ignorance about what the border in Ireland represented. The failure to consider that issue during the Brexit referendum campaign was compounded by simplistic distortions and assertions. The border was then resurrected as a touchstone, much to its discomfort, as imagined irascibly in the Twitter feed @BorderIrish: “I was just minding my own business, being a largely invisible little border that no one had thought about for years … after decades of misery … and then along comes Brexit, like some gobshite taking its first lesson, crashing all over the place.”

Unfortunately, it was worse than that for most Irish observers, who saw Brexit as many gobshites, driving multiple cars in too many directions with no knowledge of the destination. Ireland seemed a rock of political stability, maturity and calm as the Tories imploded. A deal was eventually struck that infuriated unionists as Northern Ireland remained half in and half out of the EU.

Brexit poisoned the well of British-Irish relations. The Tories’ romantic and selective view of Britain’s imperial past led to much renewed flexing of Irish nationalist muscles, a reminder of the continuing relevance of the observation by the then British ambassador to Ireland, Alan Goodison, in 1983 that in Anglo-Irish relations there was “a raw nerve which never sleeps”.

The desire to now reset appears genuine. Starmer, with an oft-expressed fondness for Ireland, a history of involvement with Northern Ireland issues and a strong component of staff with Irish links, is well placed to reduce strains. But we should not get carried away. One message that has resonated through the years is the advice given to another British Labour prime minister, James Callaghan, who, when he was home secretary, was urged to avoid “getting sucked into the Irish bog”.

That bog might be less perilous than it once was, but it still creates wariness in Britain.

Although the fervid days of the Troubles and violence are over and power-sharing has been restored in Northern Ireland, there are ongoing concerns about the prospects of Irish unity, immigration and the legacy of the Troubles. Starmer has committed to repealing the contentious Legacy Act, introduced by the Conservatives, which closed down criminal investigations into the Troubles. But what will replace it remains unclear.

Starmer is circumspect about Irish unity. And while historically there was the British Labour slogan “Justice for Ireland”, in practice there was much detachment and hesitancy about getting embroiled in Ireland.

Starmer’s Dublin visit generated healthy promises, including a formal annual summit between the two countries, protecting and developing an estimated yearly £100bn trade and business relationship, and nurturing cooperation on energy, climate change, sport, education and culture. There was also the assertion of the importance of both governments being co-guarantors of the Good Friday agreement.

None of this should be dismissed; geography as well as history has always been central to British-Irish relations, and what is being attempted is a recognition of the scale of our entwinements. But while a dose of British humility will be welcomed in Ireland and Starmer appears genuine, the Irish appetite for adapting to shifting British currents and priorities has waned.

Brexit fundamentally altered Irish foreign policy. The Irish public have consistently been enthusiastic about EU membership. Brexit deepened that; at the height of tensions in 2019, a Eurobarometer poll suggested Ireland topped the EU table for having a positive image of the EU at 63%. Only 7% had a negative image, hardly a surprise given the solidarity with Ireland shown by its EU partners amid the Brexit fallout.

Ireland’s foreign policy anchor lies heavily in EU waters. Security, the climate crisis, migration, economic and defence issues for Ireland demand more focus on Europe. The late historian Ronan Fanning identified a constant feature of the Anglo-Irish relationship when he observed in the most fraught days: “Britain looms larger in the Irish consciousness than Ireland in the British.” That endures, but it has faded somewhat.

When Starmer speaks of a British-Irish partnership reaching “its full potential”, he is also seeing that as a route to a warmer British relationship with the EU. That potential is somewhat limited; nor is the Irish consciousness quite as consumed by Britain as it once was.

[lesamis]

mary shelley is really so extraordinary. "little england" & "little englandism" became an entire political discourse in the late 1800s (best as i can tell from c. 1870 onwards) & denoted those - often, not always, anti-imperial - thinkers who advocated for economic isolationism and wanted to limit the british empire's expansion, administration, and aggression, maintaining that england was best when contained to its own borders. the term is still in use - nowadays in brexit contexts - and was throughout the entire twentieth century.

it is also, in much the same sense in which it'd come to be used fifty years after the novel's publication, somehow in The Last Man - which shelley finished writing in 1826.

The plague was in London! Fools that we were not long ago to have foreseen this. We wept over the ruin of the boundless continents of the east, and the desolation of the western world; while we fancied that the little channel between our island and the rest of the earth was to preserve us alive among the dead. It were no mighty leap methinks from Calais to Dover. The eye easily discerns the sister land; they were united once; and the little path that runs between looks in a map but as a trodden footway through high grass. Yet this small interval was to save us: the sea was to rise a wall of adamant—without, disease and misery—within, a shelter from evil, a nook of the garden of paradise—a particle of celestial soil, which no evil could invade—truly we were wise in our generation, to imagine all these things! But we are awake now. The plague is in London; the air of England is tainted, and her sons and daughters strew the unwholesome earth. And now, the sea, late our defence, seems our prison bound; hemmed in by its gulphs, we shall die like the famished inhabitants of a besieged town. Other nations have a fellowship in death; but we, shut out from all neighbourhood, must bury our own dead, and little England become a wide, wide tomb.

[sourcreammachine]

TORY PARTY MANIFESTO 2024 SUMMARY

tldr: little rishi is liz truss now. words 8, 9 and 10 of the manifesto are 'covid and ukraine', so they're swinging hard on excusemaking, and it's very negativist and defensive - attacking labour and justifying their terrible government. they know they’re losing so it’s a mess in an attempt to stop their base voting reform. this is the only major manifesto whose headings are written in serif, tryna act all official and luxe

💷ECONOMY

flat-rate employee national insurance cuts from 12% to 6% over the next two financial years, allegedly cutting income taxation for a £35k/a worker by £1,350 (their numbers) BUT also giving the highest 'employee' earners this same tax-cut

trickle-down economics: keep corporation tax at extreme lows

exempt the self-employed from national insurance contributions, essentially cutting overall income taxation by a couple percent

specific, direct threat to cut benefits for 'people of working age with a disability or health condition', restrict PIP entitlements with harsher assessments, massively expand 'fit to work' status over people with mental health and mobility conditions to remove benefits from 400k people (despite the current regime leading to misery and deaths), transfer fit note responsibility from GPs to the dwp to restrict more benefits, reduce the 'claimant review' date from 18 months to 12 months without work

transition child benefit entitlements to be based on 'household' earnings rather than individual earnings

"we will not increase the number of council tax bands, undertake an expensive council tax revaluation or cut council tax discounts, as labour is currently doing in wales", preventing councils from getting more property tax revenue whilst not increasing their funding from anywhere, enabling more and more and more and more councils to shit themselves and die, letting them blame labour for "bankrupting" the councils that the central government themselves squeezed to death

ban councils doing four-day week schemes

reduce net borrowing – curious considering the unfunded nature of the manifesto proposals

increase taxes on online distribution warehouses "to help the high street" [citation needed]

"use brexit freedoms" to recategorise many 'large' businesses as 'medium', exempting them from reporting requirements and allowing them to exploit their workers more

more fucking 'freeport' special economic zones

'strengthen the commonwealth' because that's the favourite excuse of europhobic excusemakers acting like severing trade with the mainland wasn't a horrifically bad idea. india and malaysia do not give a shit about us mate and it's ridiculous to think australia and guyana could ever offer as much economic integration as the mainland can

do nothing to supervise or control the City with a specific eye to doing nothing about "fintech" and "ai"

economic commitment to continue union-busting and restricting union rights, 'continue implementing' the so-called 'minimum service levels legislation' to enable strikebreaking and mandatory scabbing

🏥PUBLIC SERVICES

continue the privatisation of the NHS but with a focus on small/medium enterprises

expand, that's right, expand the indefensible multi-academy trusts, build more indefensible 'free schools' (ie with private charters, no oversight, and public cash), expand faith schools, strengthen ofsted to be even more bureaufascistic against attacks after that headteacher's suicide

continue and enforce the ongoing propaganda push into primary schools, "we will always support teachers to uphold and promote fundamental British values"

'close university courses with the worst outcomes' [clarification needed], again, threatening the higher education sector into compliance with their whims

stick all children not in school on a register

make the NHS app a single frontend for all NHS stuff

slash the size of the civil service and 'bring quango spending under control', incorporate so-called 'ai' into the civil service [clarification needed]

🏠HOUSING

lax planning laws including environmental protections and opportunities for legal challenge, and force councils to set aside land for builders, to allow more private-finance soulless newbuild sprawl, with no new infrastructure, no new community, only house-for-sale after house-for-sale

target the building of mcmansions on inner-city brownfields

expand help-to-buy for these horrible newbuilds

restrict social housing along xenophobic and classist lines: "we will legislate for new ‘local connection’ and ‘uk connection’ tests for social housing in england, to ensure this valuable but limited resource is allocated fairly"

'reform' leaseholds and cap ground rents, not abolishing this indefensible stain

give 105 towns a pathetic £20m

🚄TRANSPORT ?

build northern powerhouse rail including Bradford Station "using money saved from HS2" and £12b more, and upgrade the east midlands mainline

lax planning restrictions on new strategic (big and polluting) roads

deliver money centrally for transport projects: £1.75b for the midlands rail hub, a pathetic £1b for buses in the north AND in the midlands, and £13b for 'local priorities' to 'cut congestion' (read: roads)

introduce a specific 'death by dangerous cycling' offence

"automated vehicles will be on British roads in the next parliament"🤮

ban low-traffic neighbourhoods except on a 'road by road basis' 'with the support of the people who live there' and create a statutory right to challenge existing LTNs

"labour’s incoherent and ideological nationalisation plan would put the trade unions in charge", ie the incoming british railways (being set up) will continue the indefensible franchise-concession system that emerged after the final collapse of the franchise system in 2020

"include measures to reform outdated working practises in the rail industry" – ie forcing through driver-only trains and other things the drivers are striking against, possibly requiring strikebreaking them

👮FORCE

"in recent months we have seen shocking increases in protests being used as a cover for extremist disruption and criminality. we cannot allow a small and vocal minority to destroy our democratic values. that is why we unveiled a new extremism definition under which certain groups that promote an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance will be blocked from government funding and meeting officials. we have passed tough new laws to curb disruptive protests. our public order act 2023 [ie the Bill that the kill the bill protests were trying to kill] gave the police new powers to intervene where protests cause serious disruption to communities, leading to the arrests of over 600 just stop oil and extinction rebellion protestors in London alone. we will introduce further powers to ban face coverings, pyrotechnics and climbing on war memorials. we will strengthen police powers to prevent protests or marches that pose a risk of serious disorder, by allowing police to take into account the cumulative impact of protests"

"building on our new powers for the police, we will further speed up the use and enforcement of powers to remove illegal traveller sites, while giving councils greater planning powers to prevent unauthorised development by travellers", furthering the ongoing clampdown on the civil rights of our country's GRT people

surge funding for the armed forces

deliberate target to be europe's largest arms exporter by 2030 no i am not fucking joking

sabrerattle at the 'Axis of Hostile Actors' (russia, china, iran), giving a catchy name to the other side of this little cold war of theirs

abuse the permanent un council seat as much as possible

"we will push for a two-state solution in the middle east - our long-standing position has been that we will recognise a palestinian state that is most conductive to the peace process" [oxymoronic – SEE ME]

roll out broken windows policing

mandatory minimum of life for 'most heinous murderers', prohibit parole for rapists

not enact Leveson 2 and allow the press hate speech and corruption to continue, proceed with centralised renegotiation of BBC funding with all statecapture (or the effects of the threats thereof) that may entail

half-baked national service proposal. look, they know they're gonna lose so they've come up with this faff to win over their base. all 18-year-olds (no specific enumeration given so i'm guessing it means from yer 18th birthday to 19th birthday, interfering with exams and start of uni) forced to do one weekend a month 'community volunteering', or get one of 30k places in the military (out of a typical annual cohort of 400k) for a year, so the troops get distracted from their warcrimes by being forced to do childcare lmao. the compulsion to do this is not enumerated, with one rogue minister suggesting fines could fall at the feet of the parents of these adult people. takeaway: this is total nonsense and they don't have to make it make sense so who cares

legal cap on work and family visas, screen migrants for health conditions and force them to pay if they need treatment, do the rwanda concentration camp scheme, ban asylum seekers from countries 'that don't work with us', mass deportations of illegals [clarification needed]

LEAVE THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS if it finds against the rwanda concentration camp scheme

expand the NCA with a focus on being the hostile environment

promote the imperialistic ambitions of the anglosphere and english as the cosmocratic imperial lingua franca

only 30k of the so-called 'national service' would in the military, so basically forcing the military to do daycare

commitment to continued strikebreaking and union-busting

force landlords to evict "antisocial" tenants in a 'three strikes and you're out' policy

ban mobile phones in schools

pledge for a Bad Internet Bill to restrict online content, 'carefully consider' the bertin review to implement hostile measures against pornography

🌱CLIMATE ?

build new gas power stations and accelerate oil and gas extraction in the north sea

treble offshore wind, in line with labour's proposals

invest £1b into green energy – a pathetically small amount

approve more nuclear reactors

carbon credit scheme for imports of materials

restrict the mandate of the climate change committee

force solar power stations to be a minimum distance from another solar power station 'to protect rural landscapes'

allow nimby organisations to prevent onshore wind

reverse the ultra-low emissions zone expansion

slowly work towards a deposit-return system

a new national park. a new one. a. one

🗳️DEMOCRACY ?

"we remain committed to the first past the post system for elections, maintaining the direct link with the local voter. we will not change the voting age rom 18. we will maintain rules to tackle voting fraud, including the requirement to show id"

"we believe the governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland now have the right balance of powers"

"we will bring forward legislation to reapply the entirety of the trade union act 2016 (ie restricting the rights of unions) to wales. and a welsh conservative government would reverse labour's plans to expand the senedd" [relevance - this isn't a manifesto for the senedd election]

expand the useless sticking-plaster combined authorities, give powers first to Tees Valley in bare-faced partisan corruption

🏳️‍⚧️REACTIONARY AGENDA

"biological sex is a reality. the overwhelming majority of people in this country recognise that. it has been more than a decade since the equality act was passed by a labour government. it has not kept pace with evolving interpretations and is not sufficiently clear on when it means sex and when it means gender. the next conservative government will introduce primary legislation to clarify that the protected characteristic of sex in the equality act means biological sex. this will guarantee that single sex services and single sex spaces can be provided, for example in healthcare and sports settings, to ensure women and girls are protected"

"in recent years, an increasing number of children have started questioning their gender, the consequences of which are still unknown. parents will have a right to know if their child wants to be treated as the opposite sex and schools will have to involve parents when it comes to decisions about their children"

"attempts at so-called 'conversion therapy' are abhorrent. but legislation around conversion practices is a very complex issue, with existing criminal law already offering robust protections. in light of the cass review final report, it is right that we take more time before reaching a final judgement"

"we will work to strengthen the relationship between schools and parents, including by delivering new legislation which will make clear, beyond all doubt, that parents have a right to see what their child is being taught in school [they made it bold not me] and schools must share all materials, especially on sensitive matters like relationships and sex education. this builds on the progress [citation needed] we have already made, having updated relationships, sex and health education guidance to introduce clear age-limits on what children can be taught [the rightist outrage at 'sex education for five year olds' is literally stuff like gay people exist so don't bully billy two-dads for having two dads, which is of course fucking unacceptable to the daily mosley] and guarantee the contested concept of gender identity is not taught to children [clarification needed -- or not, because the vagueness is the point, it's Section 28 two, terrorising the entire public sector into silence about anything the daily mosley might clench their pearls about]."

commitment to implement the cass review, ban the private prescription of puberty blockers, accelerate the increasing prohibition of their NHS prescription, fight 'ideologically-driven care' and follow 'evidence' (in the context of the case review meaning absolute prohibition and literal torture)

stop public sector DEI [clarification needed]

'not allow the word woman to be erased'

🤔STRAIGHT UP NON-POLICIES

a load of stuff in the manifesto, especially in the economic section, is just 'maintain funding for...', including 'maintaining' the living wage (ie without even making it legally mandatory), and do ongoing plans instituted by public sector organs that wouldn't be theirs to organise

the so-called 'triple lock plus' or 'quadruple lock': the triple lock legally mandates three possible minima for the state pension, depending on which is highest. it's currently below the tax-free personal allowance, but it is forecast to go above the current personal allowance at some point, which would mean pensioners would start paying tax on the income above the allowance. the tories have made a huge song and dance about raising the personal allowance for pensioners in line with the triple lock. George W Bush 'Mission Accomplished' energy. they're trying to present 'removing' this weird and unhelpful discrepancy as a 'tax cut', even though it is currently not a 'tax' and would be easily rectified by any incumbent government facing this situation by just raising the allowance, because all pensioners would cause a hell of a storm were the government to forget to solve the discrepancy. and it totally ignores any possibility of the personal allowance being raised anyway

prevent first-time buyers from having to pay stamp duty! except there's been a 'temporary' lien for years so this is nothing

'maintain the ban on prisoners voting' is listed as an actual policy

[organsounds]

Ughhhh I miss living somewhere with good public transportation so much. Even though there were problems with London’s system, it was so fucking nice not having to worry about driving. Yes the social climate of the UK is more emotionally closed off, but in a lot of ways it has so much community that America lacks just because of publicly accessible spaces. My Venus line goes through London so I have a feeling I’ll be back when the time is right, I miss living there…but it’s so hard to even get a visa now because of stupid Brexit. Also when I lived there, the lack of truly natural spaces was really difficult. I have a feeling I will live there for like 6 months or something like that.

I choose to love where I live because I refuse to live in resentment and misery. But there are so many things about living in America that is physically and spiritually isolating because cities take up so much space. Our bodies are so separate here. Alone in our cars on huge roads, large parking lots, giant supermarkets with thousands of products.Huge huge suburban lots with enormous ranch style houses. I never go to the regular grocery store like Safeway or Ralph’s or Krogers or Food Lion because the sheer volume of products is disgusting to me. The overconsumption of our country is insane and it’s really just normalized. Then again, in London all the vegetables are wrapped in plastic at places like Lidl and Tesco and it’s like ????? I remember shopping at Tesco and being disappointed at the lack of product diversity because of growing up in the US. Everything is Tesco brand save a few products and the quality was bad.

This is why I need to experience and live other places because this is just me talking from having lived in two countries…so many other places out there to compare. Bottom line though is that this idea that this concept of MORE, MORE space MORE food, larger portions, more cars, more roads…….it breeds an isolation between humans.

[guattarianbitch]

«If the communist project is to be renewed as a true alternative to global capitalism, we must make a clear break with the twentieth-century communist experience. One should always bear in mind that 1989 represented the defeat not only of communist state socialism but also of Western social democracy. Nowhere is the misery of today’s left more palpable than in its ‘principled’ defence of the social-democratic welfare state. In the absence of a feasible radical leftist project, all the left can do is to bombard the state with demands for the expansion of the welfare state, knowing full well that the state will not be able to deliver. This necessary disappointment will then serve as a reminder of the basic impotence of the social-democratic left and thus push the people towards a new radical revolutionary left. Needless to say, such a politics of cynical ‘pedagogy’ is destined to fail, since it is fighting a losing battle: in the present politico-ideological constellation, the reaction to the inability of the welfare state to deliver will be rightist populism. In order to avoid this reaction, the left will have to propose its own positive project beyond the confines of the social-democratic welfare state. This is also why it is totally erroneous to pin one’s hopes on strong sovereign nation-states that can defend the welfare state against transnational bodies like the European Union which, so the story goes, serve as the instruments of global capital to dismantle whatever remains of the welfare state. From here, it is only a short step to accepting a ‘strategic alliance’ with the nationalist right worried about the dilution of national identity in transnational Europe. (As has de facto already happened with the Brexit victory in the UK.)»

- Slavoj Zizek, Lenin 2017

[falseandrealultravival]

Churchill's Actions and Quotes: Are They Profitable? (Essay)

Sir Winston Churchill is famous for his victory over Hitler's Nazi Germany and the temporary world peace, but I wanted to know more about him so I did some research.

--Winston Churchill

British politician. He first joined the Conservative Party and then the Liberal Party, successively serving as Minister of Commerce and Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of the Navy and Minister of Defense during World War I, and Minister of War and Minister of Colonization after the war. He later returned to the Conservative Party and became Minister of Finance. He returned to the gold standard. He served as prime minister during World War II and contributed to the victory of the Allies. After the war, he became prime minister again. He is the author of "The Crisis of the World" and "Memories of the Second World War". He won the Nobel Prize in Literature. (1874-1965)

He was by no means an omnipotent person, and he often failed in the war. (According to the wiki, when he was a child, he was rather an inferior student. At Harrow School, he was not allowed to study foreign languages because he did poorly, and was made to study only English. It is said that it helped him to improve his English expressiveness and led to winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in later years.) On the other hand, he has a certain eye as a politician. Germany opposes the appeasement policy, saying that it will only increase the number of Nazis. This achievement is probably due to the fact that he came from a military background and was able to realistically analyze the current situation with his sharp eyes. Anticipating the Cold War, he envisioned the unity of European nations, so to speak, anticipating the EU. (I wonder how he sees the current so-called Brexit.) Churchill was the foremost anti-communist.

Here are three of Churchill's most famous quotes.

＠The greatest lesson in life is to know

          Even fools are right sometimes.

＠I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober,

         and you are still ugly.

＠The inherent vice of capitalism is

            the unequal sharing of blessings,

The inherent virtue of socialism is

       the equal sharing of miseries.

The second statement would now be flagged as misogyny. I didn't say it, Churchill said it, sorry. BGM: Pomp and circumstance No. 1 (“British Second National Anthem”)

[collymore]

In real life I always focus on authentic situations; never delusional fiction!

By Stanley Collymore  

It would be laughable really if the concept wasn't quite so absurdly, pathetic! Britain, still, to all you undoubtedly delusional Empire loyalists, very unquestionably also Little Englanders, and obviously rather demented Brexit morons, still being regarded by you, as this great international power broker, likewise coupled with its simply, undoubted and rather clearly amazing powers to be obviously, a global influencer too, none of which in actual reality bears any natural resemblance, at all, to the truth! For put bluntly the UK very frankly, no longer matters in the obviously grand, and global scheme of things. And clearly the vast majority of countries literally and their inhabitants - undeniably other than rather specifically your very obviously, white racist Karen and actually evidently likeminded Gammon kin scum that arbitrarily infest the countries that they and their distinctly, obviously noxious ancestors, genocidally and rather barbarically stole, from their truly indigenous clearly lawful owners.

The barbarous usurpers being the convict inured, rather laughably but clearly delusionally Terra nullius Australia interlopers, also those of neighbouring New Zealand; equally Canada, and significantly, the detritus elements, which also similarly infest rather evidently the United States of America and now inconsequentially those in former Southern Rhodesia, now back to its original, and proper name of Zimbabwe and effectively significantly, South Africa; couldn't give a fig obviously about the UK's self-evidently, and unquestionably too, distinctively machochistically self-imperilled, really significantly white Caucasian, clearly toxically verminous; obviously, thoroughly brainwashed and, also, generally gullible while naturally delighted about it; vile feudal monarchical serfs, risibly attendant with their non-white Useful Idiots residing effectively in this country called Britain that's supposedly meant to be unquestionably, a modern democratic entity clearly in this 21st Century but very obviously quite categorically, simply isn't!

(C) Stanley V. Collymore 28 March 2024.

Author's Remarks: British scum, who are effectively doing far more than even their discernibly laughably and quite delusionally envisioned enemies to effectively destroy Britain. But who very much so, all the same, love nothing better than to undeniably very pathetically wallow in someone else's misery; and specifically so if that person or persons belong clearly obviously to their distinctively undoubtedly and naturally evidently, feudal monarchical and quite indispensable to them, and every aspect of their literally, discernibly pathetic and unquestionably meaningless lives, are members of the quite obviously perceived by them, integral elements, of the crucially, divinely in situ as "royals", quite irrefutably and significantly so by the full approbation of God Almighty - the actually indomitable Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Mountbatten-Windsor family!

[jayne-hecate-writer]

Happy New Year?...

As twenty twenty three passes into twenty twenty four, we can all sit back and reflect on where we have come as a society, marvel at the changes we have made for the better as things have improved for everyone, to ensure that they can live happy, worry free lives...

This is of course utter nonsense. Things have not got better, if anything, things have got considerably worse and many families in the UK are facing an uncertain future, filled with fear and misery. With heating bills rising, rents out of control even if you can find somewhere to live and medical waiting lists moving from months into years for essential health care. From this, we can only conclude that Britain is failing. The old Etonian schoolboys who have run the country for the last decade and a half have lined their own pockets, sold essential services to their friends and stolen the hopes and dreams of the poor. Food bank usage is higher than ever and of course, Brexit has been a huge, wonderful success... Opps sorry, I mean a catastrophic failure that we could all see coming, but somehow the likes of Farage and Johnson convinced the masses that a future separate from our biggest trading partners was the best option for us.

Why am I writing this now? I have kept quiet on my views for long enough. In twenty twenty three, I turned fifty. I never thought I would make it to fifty, I had always thought that I would have died in some exciting mountaineering accident, my mangled body slowing rotting in the high altitude sunshine, having dropped from an indeterminate ledge upon which I was having an epic climb. But arthritis and injury put a stop to that dream! Instead I am stuck indoors, riddled with pain and losing my mobility and independence, while living in fear of the next PIP assessment form that is going to drop through my door and force me to justify my existence.

I realise now that my hope for a happy peaceful future has evaporated. I am terrified of getting tooth ache, because I have no access to dental care. If I have an injury that needs medical attention, the NHS is so stripped of money, I will just sit on a waiting list to see a specialist Doctor who probably died of stress related alcoholism or Covid some time ago and may not have been replaced yet. I am not alone in these fears, so many others here in the UK have these fears and I cannot see a bright future for anyone here, except the very richest, most of which are already multimillionaires. Our current Prime Minister is richer than the King, meanwhile his wife has dealings with companies that are alleged to have made huge profits from Government involvement or even corruption. We all know that the Government are corrupt, but the media has carefully taken the hatchet to the anyone who would oppose them, leaving us with an opposition party who recently praised the work of Margaret Thatcher, the milk snatcher. The woman who destroyed the mining industry before it was cool to do so and also sold off our water and energy infrastructure, who took us back to the dark ages of the rich owning everything the poor rely upon to live. Currently, we have an unelected member of the cabinet, put there by making him a member of the house of lords, a completely unelected body who include people like Andrew Lloyd Webber and even Jeffrey Archer, of Weston Super Mare (some of us remember the scandal that involved him while he was in Government. Oh, they were such happy days, back when a political scandal meant that the minister was caught having intimate relations with someone he/she/they were not married too!). I am even getting e-Mails from Lord Michael Hesseltine, telling me that we have the same views on important political issues, such as Brexit and membership of the EU. OK, well only on that issue.

So what is my hope for twenty twenty four? It is this. I hope that nothing happens to me or my wife, because I do not know how I will pay the rent on my home. I hope that I do not need dental care or surgery. I hope that my car, that helps me with my daily mobility, does not fail the MOT in January. I hope that my Daughter and her partner can find a home of their own. I hope that my friends can find stability and freedom from debt. I hope that my seventeen year old cat makes it for another year . Finally, I hope that my arthritic hands can keep going as I explore my art and my writing. See? I do have hope after all.

My dear friends, I hope that the coming year brings you much needed peace and restorative rest, so we can face the horrors of our society and fight to put them right. I hope that we can remove these overly entitled bigots and old Etonian schoolboys from power and put in place a better, more egalitarian Government who don't want to ship desperate, hurting people off to the country that is still recovering from a horrific genocide of it's own people.

But if all of these hopes fail, you will find me on a mountain, real or metaphysical, praying to the spirit of nature to take me back home and away from this hellscape I have landed in... Oh yeah, I should mention that shouldn't I? Twenty twenty three was the year that I discovered that I had swapped universes, travelled across the metaphysical barrier between realities and landed in this unrelenting hellscape of far right politics and revolting nationalism. I should have guessed really, after all, what kind of lunatic would vote Boris Johnson into power or believe the lies and evil of Donald Trump? The world feels like a computer game, being played for laughs by a teenager who wants to see how evil a society can become before it implodes! Surely, at any moment, the points score is going to be so low that we are going to be wiped out by environmental disaster, while fighting global warfare started by underendowed oligarchs or simply failing to reach the next level in the game. I know how this works, I used to play Theme Hospital and occasionally I put the most evil and corrupt characters in charge, just for the giggles. Oh Heck... None of this is real. What kind of reality would allow for a fourth Matrix movie or make Darth Vader the sympathetic character we all feel sorry for?

Good luck my friends, I hope that despite it all, the coming year brings you the things you need to make your life safe, happy and peaceful. If it doesn't, then come and find me on the mountain and we can shout at the sky together.

With love always, Jayney XXX

[mariacallous]

PENRITH, England—A man in overalls whitewashes the front window of yet another shop closing on the city’s main street. Families stockpile blankets to ward off the cold as they sit shivering in their homes with no heating while lines of people who cannot afford to feed their children form at the local food bank. Bars shut their doors early, and some days, they don’t even open at all.

I’m not in Ukraine, where I’ve spent the last year reporting on the devastation caused by Russia’s war. This is life in broken Britain, a quagmire of misery and problems, where even February’s weather is predicted to be colder and glummer than usual.

In Penrith, a Conservative Party-supporting town in the far north of England, most of the shops now close their doors at 4 p.m. and don’t even bother opening three or four days a week. A popular pub—the third in recent months—and a local grocer have announced they are closing after 25 years and 18 years, respectively. Even a local store that sells cut-price clothing, which is (in fact) stock from insolvent chain stores, is closing due to a 50 percent slump in sales.

For the first time in my life, supermarket shelves sit empty due to supply chain problems. There is an egg shortage, a potato shortage, and a shortage of Wi-Fi bars; working in war-torn Ukraine is easier and more comfortable (missiles aside) than trying to do the same in peace-shattered Penrith. Britain’s troubles are legion: the fallout from COVID-19, high inflation, an energy crisis, a cost of living crisis, transport and health sector strikes, food shortages, rising poverty and inequality, the first war in Europe in a generation, and a possible recession. If the winter of discontent does sequels, we’re in it. Chief among all the culprits is the destructive effect of Brexit and bad governance.

Brexiteers promised the country would “take back control.” Instead, it is on course to be the world’s worst-performing big economy this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. It is predicted to be the only major economy to hit a recession in 2023, lagging even behind war-busy and sanctions-hit Russia.

As the third anniversary of Britain’s formal withdrawal from the European Union lands, many people are asking what, exactly, have they gotten control of? Brexit has added red tape and increased costs for both U.K. businesses and the foreign companies that once used Britain as a European base. It has stifled imports and exports as well as sapped investment. It has contributed to both labor shortages and problematic inflation. The U.K.’s Office for Budget Responsibility expected long-term GDP to drop 4 percent because of Brexit—or 100 billion pounds ($124 billion) in lost output and 40 billion pounds ($49 billion) in lost public revenues every year.

London has been one of the world’s biggest financial centers for a couple of centuries and was the largest financial hub in Europe. Brexit prompted finance professionals to relocate to Paris (among other continental destinations), and now the “City of Light” is challenging London. Foreign direct investment in the U.K. has dropped by 4 percent from 2010 to 1.7 percent in 2021. According to a report by the London School of Economics and Political Science, households are paying the brunt of the long-term costs of Brexit. Food bills rose by 210 pounds ($259) on average between 2019 and the end of 2021, costing consumers 5.8 billion pounds ($7 billion) and disproportionately affecting those on a low income. Meanwhile, Scotland, which has been in a union with England since 1707, is pursuing a second independence referendum: 62 percent of its voters wanted to remain in the European Union.

In 2016, 52 percent of Britons voted for Brexit. Buyer’s remorse has set in—belatedly. A recent YouGov poll found that, when asked if it was right to leave the EU, only 34 percent of respondents said yes and 54 percent said no. Yet the government, the same one that is mired in repeated sex and corruption scandals and has had five leaders in six years, maintains its smoke and mirrors stance that Brexit is the path to growth. Last week, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt—who in fact campaigned for Remain during the referendum—unveiled a plan to get the country back on its feet, saying “Our plan for growth is necessitated, energized, and made possible by Brexit.” Made necessary, at any event. Both the government and the opposition Labour Party refuse to publicly acknowledge the negative effects of Britain’s departure on the economy.

Almost 50 shops closed down every day across the country last year, and the forecast for 2023 is equally bleak. Brexit has left the country with a labor shortfall of 330,000 people, mostly in jobs like transport, storage, hospitality, and retail. Pubs, the stalwart of British society, are increasingly under threat. Tim Martin, owner of the popular low-cost pub chain Wetherspoons, was among the hardest campaigners for Brexit. Now, as he shuts 32 of his pubs, he is urging the government to increase EU migration. It’s beyond irony and into farce.

The Penrith area voted more decisively for Brexit than most of the country, with 53 percent in favor, but now 88 percent of local businesses say they have staffing shortages, according to local media. Bar staff told Foreign Policy that British people no longer want to work in hospitality due to long hours and low pay—and because COVID-19 closures pushed many people to find a new line of work. The problems are not helped by spiraling energy costs—a Penrith Mexican restaurant was quoted at having a 1,000 percent rise in its energy bill by providers at the beginning of winter.

After spending almost a decade abroad, the stark decline of my country is shocking, even after my time in Ukraine. I am typing this wrapped in cardigans and blankets, as it costs 10 pounds ($12.30) to turn the heating on for a few hours at home. People are increasingly turning to food banks amid stagnant wages and rising prices while rail, post, and national health service workers are all implementing rolling strikes. Waiting times even for emergency hospital patients can be longer than 12 hours, and travel is now so expensive that a round-trip bus ticket to nearby market town Keswick, just around 40 minutes away, costs 24 pounds—while the minimum wage is around 10 pounds an hour.

It wasn’t Brexit alone that broke Britain, but facing what by some accounts is the worst decline in living standards in a century, it’s clear Britons could have done without it. It remains to be seen how leaving the EU plays out in the long run, but for now, people are poorer and more miserable, and the country is more isolated. Philosopher Thomas Hobbes was right in the end: Lives are solitary and poor and nasty, if not quite brutish and short. The British can overcome outrages done by foreigners—there’ve been enough of them—but the worst part of all is that we did this to ourselves.

[alex-turners-world]

I thought about not sending this anonymously but I remembered snakes have ears and they are not taking care of the snakes like they should or promise lol Alex's life is really a mess! Some alienated (or bought) fans can't admit it and live on illusions and Alex thinks he lives his French romance along the lines of Serge and Jane because he is a dreamer with strange dreams anyway he has always been my idol and always will be and it may sound exaggerated but his life is doomed to failure if he has a future with Louise as a child or marriage. Everything I read about her and the people who defend her makes my stomach turn because she plays the role of victim so people can defender her of all things all the time and honestly I don't intend to love her or hate her, I'm neutral towards her, for me she doesn’t make the slightest difference just causes headache to the true fans and to Al’s circle but it is European adults who need to change this reality. For Alex I always wish only the best! But he will only be able to be happy if he wants to, as long as he lives resigned to misery he will be unhappy. The dictator needs to rebel! The Big Alexander needs to wake up you know

Preach!

Come on, Serge and Jane at least looked happy and in love despite of their fucked up relationship. Louise and Alex are just...well, miserable together. If they get married one day (lol) the divorce will come very quickly. They haven't moved in together after 5 years of relationship for a reason. And I doubt this reason is the troubles with visa and Brexit as some fans like to claim🙄

But yeah, I agree that Alex needs to pull himself together and work on himself. Maybe someday he will wake up and realize that living in misery is not the right way of living 🤷🏻‍♀️

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Lyft drivers spread the Gospel with ride-hailing ministries (AP) One is an ordained pastor in Brooklyn, the other a single mother and children’s book author in New Jersey. Both drive for Lyft. Both share the word of God as roving preachers. Pastor Kenneth Drayton and Tomika Reid try to inspire passengers through spiritual guidance on the road as part of what they see as mobile Christian ministries. “You don’t always have to go to a church or sanctuary to experience the restoration and the power of God,” said Drayton, 61, a minister who also preaches at Mantels of Promise Ministries in Brooklyn. He began to drive for Uber in 2015 after retiring from a career in the insurance industry. Listening to passengers who shared their stories on the road, he understood that his car could become an extension of the church. “The car is such an ideal place to do this because it’s personal,” said Drayton, who now drives for Lyft. “I can share my faith and it’s so important because that’s what I live for.”

The Snow Must Go On (NBC) New York is getting absolutely pummeled by a winter storm right now, and the state is having to call in reinforcements. New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the National Guard would be activated to help with cleaning up the massive snowstorm that swept through parts of western New York. 150 members of the National Guard descended upon Erie County, where Buffalo is, to help transport people in need of dialysis. The snow was falling at about three inches per hour, and in Orchard Park, southeast of Buffalo, almost 6.5 feet of snow had fallen by early Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. The daily maximum snowfall record in the city was also broken, with 16.1 inches of snowfall in one day on Saturday. The previous record of 7.6 inches in one day was set in 2014. There were 88 crashes in Erie County and 280 people had to be rescued.

As British voters cool on Brexit, UK softens tone towards EU (AP) The British government on Sunday denied a report that it is seeking a “Swiss-style” relationship with the European Union that would remove many of the economic barriers erected by Brexit—even as it tries to improve ties with the bloc after years of acrimony. Switzerland has a close economic relationship with the 27-nation EU in return for accepting the bloc’s rules and paying into its coffers. But despite the denials, the new Conservative government led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to restore relations with the EU, acknowledging that Brexit has brought an economic cost for Britain. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt last week expressed optimism that trade barriers between the U.K. and the EU would be removed in the coming years. The shift comes as public opposition grows to the hard form of Brexit pursued by successive Conservative governments since British voters opted by a 52%-48% margin to leave the bloc in a 2016 referendum.

Pope honors family roots in northern Italy with rare outing (AP) Pope Francis honored his northern Italian roots on Sunday by celebrating a special Mass in his father’s hometown and encouraging younger generations to not be indifferent to the poverty and misery all around them. Thousands of people turned out to greet Francis during his rare personal weekend getaway to the province of Asti, near Turin, and he returned the favor by taking a long popemobile ride around town. Francis used some of the Piedmont dialect his grandmother taught him in thanking the people of Asti for welcoming him and urged young people in particular to not “stay still thinking about ourselves, wasting our lives and chasing after comfort or the latest fads, but to aim for the heights, get on the move, leaving behind our own fears to take someone in need by the hand.” Francis’ grandmother, Rosa Vassallo and the pope’s grandfather ran a café in Turin and left Italy to join family members who had settled in Argentina, part of the mass migration of Italians to the Americas at the start of the last century.

Angry families say Russian conscripts thrown to front line unprepared (Washington Post) Irina Sokolova’s husband, a Russian soldier mobilized to fight in Ukraine, called her from a forest there last month, sobbing, almost broken. “They are lying on television,” he wept, referring to the state television propagandists who play down Russian failures. Sokolova is among dozens of soldier’s spouses and other relatives who are voicing remarkably public—and risky—anger and fear over the terrible conditions that new conscripts have faced on the front lines of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The soldiers’ relatives, mostly people who would normally stay out of politics, are tempting the wrath of the Kremlin by posting videos online and in Russian independent media, and even speaking to foreign journalists. They say that mobilized soldiers were deployed into battle with little training, poor equipment and often no clear orders. Many are exhausted and confused, according to their families. Some wander lost in the woods for days. Others refuse to fight. The relatives typically do not criticize President Vladimir Putin or even the war, but their videos have exposed the rock-bottom morale of many conscripts, as Russia tries to surmount its recent losses by throwing a claimed 318,000 reinforcements into battle.

Ukraine Plans Evacuations in 2 Stricken Cities as Temperatures Plunge (NYT) The Ukrainian government is preparing to help evacuate residents from two cities where shattered electricity and heating infrastructure has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis when winter sets in, officials said over the weekend. As Ukraine braced for a difficult winter ahead, both in cities on the front line and across the country, the true toll of the last eight months of fighting became still clearer. The country’s prosecutor general reported on Sunday that some 437 children were now believed to be among the more than 8,300 civilians killed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February. With reliable information from Russian-occupied areas scarce, the true death toll is likely to be far higher, said Andriy Kostin, the prosecutor general. More than 11,000 civilians have been injured, he said. With Russia’s unrelenting bombardment of critical infrastructure, officials across the country are worried about how to help Ukrainians fare in a winter when obtaining even the most basic necessities may be a struggle. But in Kherson, where Ukrainian soldiers found a crippled city when they pushed the Russian occupiers out just over a week ago, the authorities say that for many residents, the only solution may be to leave.

Amid political turmoil, Pakistan holds its breath for new army chief (Washington Post) Amid political turmoil, Pakistan’s attention is riveted on the outcome of a ritual, closed-door process in a drab military compound to choose and install Pakistan’s next army chief—the most powerful figure in this nuclear-armed state and still-fragile democracy of some 221 million people. By law, the chief must be changed every three years, and the handoff is always tense, writes The Post’s Pamela Constable. The military has seized power three times since the majority-Muslim country was founded 75 years ago, and it has often manipulated electoral politics behind the scenes.

Red Cross: Afghans will struggle for their lives this winter (AP) More Afghans will be struggling for survival as living conditions deteriorate in the year ahead, a top official of the International Committee of the Red Cross said in an interview, as the country braces for its second winter under Taliban rule. The religious group’s seizure of power in August 2021 sent the economy into a tailspin and fundamentally transformed Afghanistan, driving millions into poverty and hunger as foreign aid stopped almost overnight. “The economic hardship is there. It’s very serious and people will struggle for their lives,” Martin Schuepp, director of operations at the Red Cross, said in an interview late Sunday. Sanctions on Taliban rulers, a halt on bank transfers and frozen billions in Afghanistan’s currency reserves have already restricted access to global institutions and the outside money that supported the country’s aid-dependent economy before the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces.

The toll of Iran’s harsh crackdown (Foreign Policy) Iranian security forces’ use of rubber bullets and metal pellets against protesters has reportedly left hundreds experiencing acute eye injuries,  the New York Times reported. Over the last two months, human rights groups warn that Tehran’s crackdown has killed at least 300 people and wounded thousands more. According to Human Rights Activists in Iran, 58 children have died.

More than 162 killed, hundreds hurt in Indonesian earthquake (AP) A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck the Indonesia's main island of Java early Monday, killing at least 162 people, officials said. The quake damaged dozens of buildings and prompted landslides around Cianjur in West Java province. It was felt as far away as Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, which is about 45 miles northwest of Cianjur. Indonesia, located along the seismically active "Ring of Fire" string of volcanoes and fault lines, is no stranger to deadly earthquakes. A magnitude 6.2 temblor rattled West Sumatra province in February, killing at least 25 people, and more than 100 were killed and thousands injured in another 6.2 quake in West Sulawesi providing in January 2021, The Associated Press reports. Most of the roughly 230,000 people who died in a massive 2004 tsunami lived in Indonesia.

China’s Guangzhou locks down millions in ‘zero-COVID’ fight (AP) The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou locked down its largest district Monday as it tries to tamp down a major COVID-19 outbreak, suspending public transit and requiring residents to present a negative test if they want to leave their homes. The outbreak is testing China’s attempt to bring a more targeted approach to its zero-COVID policies while facing multiple outbreaks driven by fast-spreading omicron variants. China is the only major country in the world still trying to curb virus transmissions through strict lockdown measures and mass testing. Baiyun district, home to 3.7 million people in Guangzhou, also suspended in-person classes for schools and sealed off universities. The measures are meant to last until Friday, the city announced.

For Qatar, the World Cup is a high-stakes test and a show of clout (Washington Post) In a country whose wealth and ambition have often stirred questions about its identity—is it a mediator or instigator, a state bridging divides or a striver standing apart—Qatar’s national museum offers a succinct and shimmering self-assessment. “Qatar has transformed from a state that some people could barely identify on a map to a major player in politics, the economy, media, culture and sports worldwide,” the country’s emir, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, is quoted as saying, in words that are projected on a black background and hard to dispute. For all Qatar’s progress though, it will be tested over the next month as it hosts the World Cup—an event that has invited a degree of scrutiny and criticism the country has rarely experienced and that threatens a global image carefully cultivated over the years through creative diplomacy, humanitarian work and commercial endeavors like sponsorship of sports.

[steadhammond]

Autumn Statement live updates: IFS director warns of 'miserable' OBR forecasts - Financial Times

* Autumn Statement live updates: IFS director warns of 'miserable' OBR forecasts  Financial Times * Autumn statement 2022: it's going to hurt but will it work? - podcast  The Guardian * UK autumn statement: How much is Brexit to blame for the budget 'black hole'?  Euronews * Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Statement: Higher Taxes Possible as UK Faces Misery Ahead  Bloomberg * Letters: Punishing small businesses in the autumn statement is a mistake  The Independent * View Full Coverage on Google News

[theculturedmarxist]

Time to wake up and smell the cordite. Like shockwaves from an exploding missile, Vladimir Putin’s war on Europe’s edge is rapidly rolling westwards, blasting its way through the front doors of homes, businesses and workplaces from Berlin to Birmingham. Its fallout seeds a toxic rain of instability, hardship and fear.

The idea the Ukraine conflict could be confined to Ukraine – Nato’s politically convenient grand delusion – and that western sanctions and arms supplies would stop the Russians was always a nonsense. Now, enraged by Kyiv’s stubborn resistance and hell-bent on punishing his punishers, Putin’s aim is the immiseration of Europe.

By weaponising energy, food, refugees and information, Russia’s leader spreads the economic and political pain, creating wartime conditions for all. A long, cold, calamity-filled European winter of power shortages and turmoil looms. And like a coin-fed gas meter, the price of western leaders’ timidity and shortsightedness ticks upwards by the hour.

Russia’s destabilisation operations, social media manipulation, cyber-attacks, diplomatic double-talk, nuclear blackmail, plus its unrelenting slaughter of civilians in Ukraine, will only intensify Europe’s state of siege in the months ahead. The west’s fanciful belief it could avoid continent-wide escalation is evaporating fast.

Though not entirely due to Putin’s war [fucking lmao], Europe now faces fundamental challenges as big or bigger than the 2008 financial crash, Brexit, or the pandemic. Yet many EU and UK politicians skulk in denial. If, as predicted, the gas stops flowing and the lights dim, it will not just be a matter of closed factories, lost jobs, and depressed markets.

Freezing pensioners, hungry children, empty supermarket shelves, unaffordable cost of living increases, devalued wages, strikes and street protests point to Sri Lanka-style meltdowns. An exaggeration? Not really. Blowback, fanned by the Putin-admiring far right, is already gathering strength in Greece and Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

In prospect, too, is a shattering of EU solidarity as national governments compete for scarce resources. Brussels is due to publish a “winter preparedness plan” this week. But its provisions are unclear and unenforceable. The broader context is lack of an agreed, implemented EU-wide energy policy.

Despite bilateral cooperation pledges, a total Russian cut-off could pit country against country, further inflate prices, and split the anti-Moscow coalition. In such a scenario Putin would demand sanctions relief in return for resumed supplies, just as he has over blockaded Black Sea grain.

Import-dependent Germany is already taking unilateral steps, seeking alternative oil and gas suppliers. A national emergency moved closer after Moscow turned off the Nord Stream I pipeline last Monday. Many in Berlin fear (and some environmentalists hope) the shutdown – and any subsequent rationing – may become permanent.

Robert Habeck, Germany’s vice-chancellor, fretted publicly about a “political nightmare”. Bruno Le Maire, France’s finance minister, sounded similarly panicky last week. He predicted an imminent gas cut-off. Waxing Napoleonic, he urged European countries to form up in “order of battle”. But as in 1812, Russia has “General Winter”.

As if the mounting misery of millions were not daunting enough, then consider, too, the war’s knock-on impact on efforts to combat the climate and biodiversity crises. In the UK and elsewhere, net zero targets appear at increasing risk of being abandoned.

Because Europe faces “very, very strong conflict and strife” this winter over energy prices, it should make a short-term return to fossil fuels, Frans Timmermans, the European commission’s vice-president, suggested. Once again, Germany is showing a lead, increasing electricity production from coal-fired power stations. Once again, the west looks to tyrannical Gulf oil sheikhs for salvation.

A European winter of chaos may also strain US ties. By comparison, America’s post-pandemic recovery is more advanced, its economy more resilient, its energy costs much lower. Yet it is US president Joe Biden’s too-cautious leadership of Nato that has led Europe into this geopolitical cul-de-sac, even as a weakening euro slides below one dollar.

For Europeans, as they are re-learning to their cost, all wars are local. For Americans, as ever, all wars are foreign.

The sanctions, economic aid, and other non-military measures preferred by Biden were never going to be enough to bring Putin to heel. Some observers suspect a stalemate that slowly bleeds Russia suits US purposes, whatever the collateral damage. Yet right now, it’s Putin who is bleeding Europe. Sanctions are backfiring or poorly enforced. His energy coffers bulge. And Ukrainians aside, the pain is disproportionately felt by less wealthy European and developing countries. As instability grows, US-Europe divergence will feed pressure to change course.

The obvious escape route is a land-for-peace deal with Putin, agreed over Ukraine’s dead bodies. This kind of shoddy sellout has influential advocates. If (and it’s a big “if”), Russia returned to business as normal, it would alleviate Europe’s suffering – though probably not Ukraine’s.

Yet such a deal would also be a precedent-setting disaster for future peace and security across the continent and globally, too. Just think Taiwan. Or Estonia. It would destroy the sovereign integrity of democratic Ukraine.

Fortunately, there is an alternative: using Nato’s overwhelming power to decisively turn the military tide.

As previously argued here, direct, targeted, forceful western action to repulse Russia’s repulsive horde is not a vote for a third world war. It’s the only feasible way to bring this escalating horror to a swift conclusion while ensuring Putin, and those who might emulate him, do not profit from lawless butchery.

Intent on inflicting maximum disruption, Putin openly menaces the heartlands of European democracy. The writing is on the wall and may no longer be ignored. Enough of the half-measures and the dithering! Nato should act now to force Putin’s marauding troops back inside Russia’s recognised borders.

It’s not only Ukraine that requires saving. It’s Europe, too.

Nato propaganda is so tiresome. It wasn't Russia that created the conditions for war in Ukraine. It wasn't Russia that started the war in Ukraine. It wasn't Russia that imposed sanctions meant to punish Russia for fighting in Ukraine.

But it's all evil bad Putin's fault and we've got to wage WW3 to put a stop to him.

It's like that comic of the boy riding the bike and putting a stick into the spokes. EU committed economic suicide to please the US and now is crying "how could Russia do this???"