GLOBAL ENTITIES AND GLOBAL FOLLOWING

Just keep buying in my name

Well there is this perception or acceptance with the term Global Following for Global Brands or Entities. What is really meant by this, one asks oneself knowingly? In the case of U2, Beatles or Rolling Stones we get it instantly. Here is a band with four lads. This is their music. This is the CD. Bing Bang Bong!! Understood. Easy! U2, Beatles and Rolling Stones have a global following. Citizens of the world know of their music, their commodity, their product, their Brand!!

But, what about other commodities, other things or other brands? Basic things like bread, butter, milk, fizzy drinks, T.Shirts(???), super markets, cars, computers, mobile phones, credit cards, banks, etc, etc, etc. All these entities also strive to attain that same Global Following. So where ever you go in this world you will recognise their thing. And consequently buy their thing. In the normal classical and Old Skool sense of capitalism it is the way to go. Mr Marks meets Mr Spencer and work hard, identify and develop their market and hey presto, we end up with Marks & Spencer’s, after decades of continuous trading. They expand, because that is what we do within our system and soon or later they are just like the Rolling Stones. They have a Global Following. They are no longer a local or national entity but international ones. Global Entities.

Respect your local Global Entity

One major factor we all have to keep in mind is how our economies have evolved and developed over the last few decades. We can all agree that we have evolved ourselves into a nice and tidy consumer economy. We consume things, from Global Entities. We buy stuff. Choice or no choice. We buy things. In the UK 72% of the economy, is the consumer market. Bigger than the City, car or any other sector. Nearly three quarters of a rich nation's money comes through tills in various shops. There are some problems with overt emphasis on consumption. One is environmental degradation of raw materials, then wastage, pollution, use of unsustainable resources and so on. Then there is the problem of work force. The skill required to work within the sector is basic, or relatively unskilled. So it can never offer a very high salary, because the market forces within the labour market dictate that aspect too. So all your local boys and girls do not recognise working in the retail sector as "proper jobs". This is then justified by opting in doing nothing and going on benefits and a bit of ducking and diving to just get by, until a proper job comes along. I call this a waste of a generation. The majority of the work force do not want to work or take part in three quarters of the nation's income!! Woah!! We can all see the contradictions here, surely. Given that we no longer wish to get our hands dirty and yet have developed an obsession with buying things from Global Entities then we need to come up with someone who will make it. Oh yes, our lovely China Man. Job done. There are loads of Chinese people all sitting there doing nothing, they can make the table, the hairdryer, the dishwasher, the PC component and everything else for the Global Entities to maintain and entertain their Global Following. It is at this precise point that we all get ultra nationalistic and start bitching about the lovely China Man. Conveniently forgetting that we opted not to get our hands dirty, collectively. Personally, I love the China Man. Without him, I will not even have a sink! Or at least one that I could afford. Britain was called the workshop of the world. Now it is China. They make things and we buy things. There now exists the small issue of over consumption. We have to see an annual growth no matter what. If it don't grow then it is shit. Or is it? I suggest that soon our beloved Global Entities will need to become Solar-Fucking-Entities with their new Solar-Fucking-Following!! Planet earth ain't big enough! There is a limit to everything. How many varieties of pencils or cars or mobile phones do we really need?? 10-20-50-100-1000?? There has to be an end number here. Or am I being stupid again? But all these are also within the rules of our modern systems and that is exactly how tings get Global. Expansion through market manipulation via over consumption.

Then within this beautiful psycho-socioeconomic mix we have to add our new self created and yet unregulated markets. These are the markets that the Global Entities with their Global Following play in. Day in day out. They are all at it. In the pit, trading and selling. Buying Tesco shares and selling gold. Buying Euros and dumping British telecom or Royal Mail. Then they dump the whole lot and start buying gold. Maybe it is just for entertainment. Computers are set to do virtual trading at unbelievable rates. Thus distorting the real market. Then news comes on and the Global Entities who have their Global Following are now all watching the reports for that day. It starts off by saying and the markets did not receive the chancellor's announcement for opening 2 new hospitals too well. The market, namely, the sum total of the Global Entities did not like what our politician who we elected has to say. And we are all led to believe that the market does not lie. Not only does the market lie. The market which represents the entire set of these Global Entities is actually defrauding the whole lot of us. Classic and factual example of this was when President Obama was effectively fighting fist to fist in order to pass the new health care programme for which he was elected for, as part of his mandate. So how the markets perceive things seems ultra important. Why so? It is the new religion. The religion that uses currency instead of a book. There is no Bible or Quran here. Just hard core corporate and Global Finance. So any news or moves that remotely affects the well being of any Global Entity is, therefore, resisted, fought off, rejected or dismissed. The bigger the Global Entity the more influence it yields on the market and more pressure on the Political Class. So any unbeneficial legislation is reacted to in one way or another. This limits the way our elected politicians are permitted to work. At least the more honest politicians.

We are the 99%

So the reason we find ourselves in this current predicament in terms of our national psychology and other socioeconomic as well as our political structures, is because you and I are the Global Followers. We feed the Global Entities that feeds the media that feeds the Political Class that in turn does nothing for you and me. I suggest that the current state and multitude of Global Entities is the very Anti-Thesis of Capitalism. They operate outside of the realms of the free market at every given opportunity. The whole point of becoming a Global Entity is to ensure that you can Avoid competition. They are terrified of it. They inflate their true value, hide money, falsify records, defraud one another and do what ever is required for the board of directors to eventually retire somewhere very nice behind a 12 foot high wall with a security guard at the door. They are huge entities, using vast sums of money, employing thousands of people and yet remain effectively unaccountable, because we are theoretically a free economy. In practice it is some bastard Capitalist Version gone Communist scenario. The main difference in here is that the Politburo is our equilateral triangle of Media, Finance and the Political Class. The totality of the Global Entity and Capitalism is now stronger than ever as it remains unchallenged. Knowledge and education are now the new commodities, reserved for the new elite generation. As in the past, if you are poor, you best remain stupid. The peripheral interaction of religion within this triangle must not be ignored. When all fails, everyone gets religious and godly about it all. Religion is then applied and used as the subtle regulator of the triangle. When things get sticky it is because they are Catholics or Protestants, Jews or Muslims. They will tell you anything to avoid the economic and political conditions. The Divine Inter Galactic Entity who works hand in glove with all the earthly Global Entities to further its own power base, using the same finance and media.

As for us mere mortals, well we all work our arses off and play the game. We take part as believers. We are the Global Followers. We actually believe that The BBC reporter is telling the truth from where ever we happen to be occupying or bombing, illegally!!! As the Global Followers we are conditioned into mass consumerism so we pay more attention to the next consumer product than what is actually taken place down the road from our houses. So the obvious and naïve conclusion would be boycotting these Global Bastards. Don't buy from the Zionist Starbucks. Avoid Tesco's. Don't wear any socks and underwear until it puts Marks and Spencer's out of business. But that is too naïve. What we need to do is to totally deconstruct the existing paradigm. The supremacy of the Markets can not be allowed to continue unchecked. Markets do not tell the story any longer, as it is not a free market. We need to move away from our moral and political neutrality. We have to ask questions and demand answers like an irritating child. We have to quit going on and on and on about the Banks or Starbucks or big land owners. Leave that to the Liberal Democrats and other Sunday afternoon do gooders. The reason these Global Entities exist and do what they do, legally, is because they are allowed to. By Me and You; the Global Followers. We have been distracted, conned, deceived, conditioned, hypnotised and more all at the same time. How can the Greek Economy single handedly affect and threaten the economies of 26 other European Nations? How can the immigrants, who represent a small percentage of the population, be the reason for such huge shortages of jobs? Why is it that in 2011 and under the current economic crisis we have 30% more multi-millionaires in the UK alone when hundreds and thousands are in living in total desperation? So we have to give big thanks and respects to all those boys and girls who are occupying various parts of different Cities from New York to London to Madrid. Simply to open and force a debate by being present. They do not have the answers, I certainly don't, but the need for the debate and discussion is now becoming paramount. The problem with the Global Followers is that there will not be any challenge or action until things really hit rock bottom. Of course, rock bottom in the "Free World" is not the same rock bottom as in Rwanda or parts of Asia.

Global Followers Of The World Unite!

K Savage
December 2011

Further reading & learning, courtesy of Tent City University - http://tentcityuniversity.occupylsx.org

TOO BIG TO FAIL!!

Very big scary dinosaur creature: DEAD!!

In the case of our social, political and economic structures, this is exactly what is going on before our very eyes, each and every day. Out of sheer laziness we have all chosen to ignore every single warning sign. By nature we hate change. Change means thought, work, hassle, conflict and disagreement. There is not a single system in this world that has accepted change with open arms or willingly. In natural History and Biology, Charles Darwin had a hard time. In Physics Newton and much later Einstein had their fair share of being slagged off. The same applies in philosophy, economy and social sciences. We do not do change unless we really must or by force most of the time.

Mate of big Scary Dinosaurs: DEAD!!

There exists the most elaborate sociopolitical illusion in our lives. There are massive tremors rumbling just below the surface. Countries up and down different continents are having to duck and dive to make their papers look tight. Huge global corporate companies are gasping for the air that is called capital. So far they have managed to touch up their reports. To make it acceptable and believable. They can do that, because they can employ incredibly imaginative and "highly reputable" accountants, whose job it is to package bad numbers to look like good numbers. They also employ "highly reputable" law practices to ensure the legality of what they do is protected or better still covered up.

My job, your job and any other average person is to get up, work and generally play the game. Invariably we all find ourselves and our lives are inadvertently linked to the big global corporate brands.

Let’s have a look at utility companies that supply your gas or electricity who seem intent on cheating you, every which way they can. They are big big public companies with thousands of shareholders. Effectively less than a dozen companies control the whole of the Energy and telecommunications industries in the UK. You know the brand names, Eon, EDF, BT, Southern Gas and so on. When they need money, they issue more shares to more shareholders, that way they get access to even more capital. The bulk shareholding is normally with one or two chaps or companies. The owners are not necessarily British. They can be German, French or Spanish or even American. We are a "global economy"! When you have a telephone query about your bill you get redirected across the globe to Asia, where it is cheaper to chat shit and solve nothing. An English operator charges a lot more money to chat the same shit and give you the same nothing. They all go out of their way to load your accounts to the maximum in a set of complex account deals, where only an experienced business person is likely to understand the details. They all charge you for invoicing you their bills, and charge you to pay their bills. Paper billing is not eco-friendly? A little fresh coming from the biggest polluters on the planet, don't you think? But if you let them dip into your hard earned cash by direct debit you won't be charged. But in case of an overcharge due to an "administrative error", you have to wait and call the Philippines to chat shit forever. Why do they need to do all this, because the market has reached saturation point. The premise is that of infinite growth. If they made a 100 million last year their shareholders expect them to make 110 million this year. Why do their shareholders expect this: because this is how they flogged the dodgy shares to them in the first place! They sell an issue shares at an inflated rate through future projections. Remember global corporate can see in to the future!! So just like our prehistoric dinosaurs they have the full run and control of the field/market. AS they are very big entities and as such very difficult to get any of them to account for any failures. Social responsibility does not even come in to the equation. These are private companies.

Exactly the same applies to the commercial property market. Central London commercial properties are amongst the most valued in the world. But the bulk of the properties are under the control and ownership of less than a dozen companies/landlords. For instance, Regent Street, is all Crown Estates, Soho has a mix of landlords but mainly Soho Estates, Covent Garden is Capital and Counties in a number of disguises, Carnaby and West Soho is owned by Shaftesbury, Oxford Street is split between 2 or 3 owners, Peachy being the main one. So this particular market, namely, commercial properties, is also fully saturated by very few players controlling millions of square feet of office, retail and residential space in the heart of one of the world’s most important capital cities. Just like the big dinosaurs they are munching away at their tenants and anyone else, to retain the value of their shares to enable their lawyers and accountant remain as imaginative as a 4 year old boy. Like the dinosaurs they are simply too big to fail. These chaps work well in a symbiotic relationship with other but lesser and smaller dinosaurs. These lesser or smaller dinosaurs are their Global corporate tenants like Topshop, Jane Norman, HMV, Zavvy, French Connection, Habitat, Next , Nine West, Marks & Spencer, Woolworths and so on. Exactly half of the big dinosaur brands listed are no longer operating. Despite the symbiotic feed off and blood brotherhood that exists between the bigger dinosaurs and the smaller dinosaurs, failure became an inevitable event in their lives. We also have to remember that the smaller dinosaur brands are quite stupid like most medium sized scary dinosaur creature. Because they get all they want to sell real cheap via unregulated factories using child labour and outright exploitation and so on. And they still fail. Maybe we should view these as pre historic giant vampires bats. But they need to feed their bigger dinosaurs friends the controlled and closed market unrealistic rents. These rents are only sustainable if you are also a "Big Global Company". The net result is that you have this mono-tone cloned high street which is occupied by the same brands, forcing their products by eliminating choice. The very negation of a typical capitalist market economy is alive and kicking in your high street. The accountants and the lawyers make the future projections, the banks believe the bullshit, and the loans flow in. The shareholders wait for the rewards. The customers then end up servicing and paying the dinosaurs unrealistic rent and loans through buying their overpriced product or service, out of lack of choice. This is indeed the basics of the prehistoric food chain. All these guys have shareholders who have been lied to over and over again. Check American Apparel, can someone explain how you can operate whilst making $17 million of loses in less than 6 months. The answer is simple: bullshit via "reputable accountants" and more bullshit via "very reputable law firms".

Let’s now move on to any other industry sector, your choice, it can be anything. Finance and Banking, Building construction, Footwear, News and Media, Steel manufacture, Cars, Computers etc etc etc. You will again find no more than a dozen operators in each sector, dinosaurs, controlling and manipulating as much of the market as possible. They are all nearly unaccountable, except to their shareholders and board of directors. All doing exactly as they please without much regard for the end user, me and you. The psyche and ego is constantly telling them that they are too big to fail. We have power($$$ dinosaurs), we have friends, smaller dinosaurs. The perfect example of this was The News International (Sun, News Of The world, Sky etc) fiasco. The News Corporation controls over 42% of UK media. Yet not obliged to have any form of regulation to control the fucking monster. They control 75% of Australia’s media. Out of control dinosaurs? How rapidly did they have to shut one of their top selling Sunday News paper, errghh.???? I think it took less than 10 days.

The main issue to consider here is that Big Global Corporate Brands have evolved and come to exist and live through the most obscene and fuckt up mutation of capitalism. I cannot even call it imperialism as it is a new incestuous bastard beast of its own creation. They pretend to rely on the markets to determine prices when the market itself is far from being free and almost entirely under the control of very few Global Brands. This is classic Mafia tactics. They plunder, abuse, hide, cheat, steal and more to ensure that the very selected few who own the majority shares have a great time in bigger yachts, more cars, more private jets, more everything. So what happens when you have a dying dinosaur? They start screaming, don't they? Oh I am so gay, please help me? I must not collapse and die. Just look at my size. Because because because... Check Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland in 2009 in the UK and Fanny and Freddy in the USA.

In the past few weeks we have witnessed parts of this cataclysmic end game. Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece, France and United States as well as The United Kingdom. All economically bankrupt. All morally debased. Because they keep printing paper and calling it money. Based on gold reserves which cannot be properly verified. Even their other dinosaur friends like International Monetary Fund cannot help for much longer. Credit ratings slashed. Over priced unaffordable housing halted. The comical President of Untied States said this only a few days ago: " This is the Untied States of America. We have always had a triple A credit rating and we will always have a triple A credit rating". If dinosaurs could speak millions of years ago, they would have said this: ..." we are dinosaurs. We run tings on this planet. We will always be running tings on this planet".

Idiotic dinosaur/ president. Talk about living in denial.

Big Fossil remains of Capitalism.

It is not your government who is governing you. But the combination of huge global entities with fake valuations far in excess of most governments GDPs. They have their boys all in place, the " reputable accountants" the "super squeaky clean" law firms to ensure the job of wealth control and political power is permanently transferred and remains with the selected and trusted few. As and when they come across some one who tells them, to pay for the commodities in something other than their printed paper, then they sell the idea that we must invade, bomb and kill the bastard. Reference is being made to Colonel Gadaffi insisting that the western consumers should pay for their oil in gold!! If the Saudi’s even remotely utter the same words, they will get the same bombs on their heads. As far as Big Global Corporates are concerned the lives of people is somehow of no consequence. They send their young men to fight for things they should not be fighting for under a cloud of deception. Immoral and inhuman. Of course President Obama means well. But he is not allowed to do well. He became an overnight communist for health care reforms!! As it directly challenged the private health care industry in the US.

I will be the first to admit that I am not for one moment suggesting any past Soviet/Maoist alternatives. That shit did not work. But that has nothing to do with the rest of the world suffering a miserable dinosaur like extinction either. Capitalism in itself has had many merits and has been failing for many decades. It gave progress through individual civil liberties. But capitalism as you know it is no longer the operator here. It is living on borrowed time, pun not intended. It has gone passed imperialism and mutated itself in to Lendism or Global Corporatism. Our supposed representatives lost control long ago. They have made sure that every single one of us works his back side to the bone until you can no longer stand up. Your mum, dad, sister, brother and cousin, friends are all running and working like nuts in order to survive or retain a respectable life style. They have no time to attend to their human needs. The dehumanisation of the human being is at play and causing major social issues across the globe. Then you wonder why a 12 year old is rioting and looting in my Beautiful Britannia! All these and more are the inevitable by products of a failing system. I suggest that all the thinkers, the doer, the movers, the shakers and the groovers get together and become resourceful again. Just to consider possible new ideas. The system has clearly doomed and failed in many areas, just like the dinosaurs.

My friends: It is Time to reflect, Time to revise, Time to examine, Time to debate, Time to realise and Time to admit and Time to accept. We urgently need to come up with alternatives progressive systems for the continued success of our species in future.

K Savage
August 2011

FACTS AND SPECIFIC AGENDAS

I have been deliberating writing this for a good few days now. Normally, I get busy right away and can not wait to finish the article. But on this topic, Libya, it is all a little different.

Deadly, decisive & dedicated.

Collateral damage.

BBC offices in Benghazi.

So let’s go through a few bits and pieces and see if it gets any of us anywhere at all. Who knows?

• Fact: First and foremost we all have to admit, preferably publicly, but privately if you are Liberal Democrat, that the vast majority of European and American population does not give a monkeys about a single Arab or African for that matter. The main proof for this is of course Palestine and pretty much the whole of continental Africa. It seems to me that we have suddenly formed and joined the exclusive African Sahara Arab Lovers Club.
• Fact: Like all red blooded North African Arabs, Libyans too, felt that they needed to demonstrate against their long time ruler, Muammar Gaddafi. The demonstrations gathered momentum in the first 2 weeks of February 2011. The main opposition came from The Eastern tribal provinces, mostly settled in Benghazi. On the face of it, the Libyan situation, and correctly placed grievances of your average Libyan, did not appear much different to that of Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Saudi Arabia or Jordan.
• Fact: It goes without saying that real civilians with genuine grievances in any country do not, generally, go up and down their land on pick up trucks loaded with heavy machine guns. Apparently, this particular group of civilians had a need to be heavily armed to take on their government. The normal casualties start mounting on both sides. We have to remember the Libyan opposition started off with armed civilians. We have never been told how they got hold of their guns.
• Fact: On 6th March 2011, eight British service men, more than likely SAS officers, were arrested in rebel held territories outside of Benghazi, accompanying a British diplomat. They had multiple identities, multiple currencies, guns etc. They were dropped in to Libya by a British helicopter. So no border control for this bunch. The British ambassador referred to this incident as a misunderstanding, whilst the Libyan Rebel spokesman said there were no misunderstandings what so ever. They should not have been in Libya. Our Great Leader, Cameron, said nothing. Hushed it all up. He put a cushion on this one too.
• Fact: Mr. Bernard-Henri Lévy - the famous right wing journalist, activist, and filmmaker (all round bullshitter) - played a high-profile role in convincing French President Nicolas Sarkozy to take the lead in recognizing the rebels in Libya and establishing the no-fly zone. Levy was in Benghazi, and was so moved by the opposition leaders he met, that he phoned the French President, and later visited him in Paris to make the case that France needed to get involved. We must save these poor poor Libyans living in Benghazi. Worth noting that Bernard-Henri Lévy, like his President is also married to a glamorous woman who fancies herself as a bit of an actress come singer, Arielle Dombasle. The president’s wife is of course, a model, singer and very recently became a good Samaritan to the gardener in the Presidential Palace. Mr. Bernard-Henri Lévy also fancies himself as a philosopher, specializing in Philosophy of hypocrisy. Mr.Bernard-Henri Lévy influence has to be acknowledged to the full, particularly since he is not part of the French Government.
• Fact: On Thursday 17th March 2011 the United Nation Security Council passed Resolution 1973 to establish a no-fly zone forming "an important element for the protection of civilians as well as the safety of the delivery of humanitarian assistance and a decisive step for the cessation of hostilities in Libya". Resolution 1973 also demands the immediate establishment of a ceasefire and a complete end to violence and all attacks against, and abuses of, civilians". A number of extensive economic sanctions were also implemented, including freezing/seizing Libyan Funds and assets in the West. All this was fronted by Sarkozy (France) and the Great Leader of United Kingdom, Cameron, backed by the Dear Leader Nick Clegg. Their sudden love and devotion toward African Arabs was truly moving and convinced the whole world media readily. Russia, China, Brazil, India and Germany abstained. Resolution 1973 is quite specific in the non deployment of troops and any instigation of regime change. The resolution also exempted supply of arms and intelligence to either side of the Libyan conflict.
• Fact: On the 17th March 2011 The Transitional National Council of Libya was formed. This most esteemed council was duly and fully recognized by the United States and European Union as the correct and definitive voice of opposition to Muammar Gaddafi. Of course not one of us, including USA and the EU or NATO have the slightest clue as to how and when they became the representatives of who ever they are representing. It is clear that they hate Muammar Gaddafi. Since we do not like Muammar Gaddafi then it follows that they must be on our side. Are you sure?
• Fact: A massive and most intensive bombing was being carried out Against Libya by Saturday 19th March 2011. The targets included government buildings & Muammar Gaddafi’s palace/house/tent or such. Buildings, roads, bridges, schools and so on. Lord Have mercy!!!
• Fact: On the very same day that the whole of Libya was getting bombed, i.e. Saturday 19th March 2011, The Transitional National Council released a statement announcing their decision made at this days meeting to establish the "Rebel Libyan Oil Company" as supervisory authority on oil production and policies in the country, based temporarily in Benghazi, and the appointment of an interim director general" of the company, Mr. Wahid Bourgaighis. A Libyan Italian chap who is more connected than Vodafone and British Telecom put together. This effectively enabled the "Rebel Libyan Oil Company" to sell $100,000,000 USD worth of pumped Libyan oil. Mr. Wahid Bourgaighis confirmed that it is in "everyone’s interest" for NATO to keep a close watch over the oil facilities and the oil revenue was urgently needed. A Bomb and Pump operation no doubt.
• Fact: The British Parliament votes overwhelmingly in favor of this military action on Tuesday 22nd March 2011. Only 13 MPs opposed this action. This vote was taken 3 days after our troops were engaged. The normal procedure being that you go to Parliament first and then send the boys out to fight for our freedom, Queen, Country and way of life. Well, that was my understanding of it, up until now.
• Fact: The death toll in Libya has increased many folds since NATO forces started attacks on "Libyan Targets". The main target being Gaddafi’s compound. They have accidentally bombed their own supporters, as they could not tell on African Arab apart from another. Since the resolution was passed the media on both sides of the Atlantic have openly and unashamedly called, debated and encouraged assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, regime change as well as further military assistance to the rebels by way of hardware, namely more and bigger guns. Already getting illegal.
• Fact: Like many others I have watched footage and read the coverage of this conflict. Each time the press is showing the rebels there seems to be no more that 30-50 people shouting, screaming, jumping, firing guns in the air in their jubilation of their new found freedoms. Somehow, the evil dictator Muammar Gaddafi seems to have a much wider and bigger audience as well as grass root support. It seems that rest of Libya is not so sure of the intentions of the rebels. Given that they are mainly an Eastern Tribal Minority. This explains why the Cornish Separatists movement in the UK will never rule this country. Not enough of them to start with. This is the golden rule of democracy. Majority rules. Some majorities we do not like. For instance, we do not like Hamas. They were elected democratically by the Palestinians in Gaza. You will recall that we did not like the IRA when they got elected to the British Parliament, McGuiness/Adams. Generally we only recognize outcomes that serve our short term interests. Our short term interests are normally dictated by the who ever our Great and Dear Leaders are at the time. Cameron and Clegg for now. It is also imperative that our Media also like the outcome too, as they tend to be closely linked to the heart of government.
• Fact: It is astonishing and yet bewildering that a minority tribe would take on the more powerful sector of their community. Only to cry for outside help wihtin the first 5 minutes of their fight. Did they not know this man, Muammar Gaddafi, has an organized army? Of course they did. It is reasonable to conclude that someone somewhere is telling the Eastern Tribes men of Benghazi to go for it, because we are right behind you. We will help you get rid of your evil dictator so you can be free like us.
• Fact: The current situation is now at a complete stalemate with the rebels controlling little, and Gaddafi’s forces controlling most. This stalemate is directly attributed to the NATO bombings. Without NATO help the whole scenario would have been done & dusted. Benghazi would have fallen back to Muammar Gaddafi’s hands. He would have chased, punished, or killed a few of his country men, to teach a lesson to the rest of them. Casualty estimate in 100’s.The only way to move forward and have the desired regime change is to engage at ground level. Boots on the ground. This is exactly what Muammar Gaddafi wants. Hello, I think they are taking us back to Kabul or was it Baghdad? Illegal again.
• Fact: Since the air strikes, there have been in excess of 20,000 refugees pouring out of the war zone. Mainly into Italy. Italy has maintained that they are not able to deal with such huge influxes of refugees and has sought help from the United Kingdom & France. This cry was not heeded and cushioned up again. Italy has now issued thousands of temporary resident permits to the refugees who are now able to move freely within the European Union. By this time next year, your local minicab driver will be Libyan. I implore you not to moan, complain or even utter a word. Of course they will have social welfare entitlements.

Of course there are many other facts that can be added here, these were but a few that came to my mind. But the main issue in here is a simple one. Time and again from the very beginning we ask all the wrong questions. Such as, "we have to protect our interests". However, these interests are rarely defined or identified. Our interests should be one thing only. Do not interfere with other sovereign nations internal issues. We can not even be certain who the rebels really are. With reports of Al-Quida links amongst them and so on. We have now managed to single handedly turn a national struggle for freedom and reform in to a fully fledged civil war with ourselves bang in the middle of it. It is the Neo-Colonialist approach to puzzle solving. Our interests in the United Kingdom should be the integration and cohesion of our communities. Our interests should be annual £150,000,000,000 deficit with the sexy £950,000,000,000 national debt. The interests of Untied States should be getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq with dignity and triple quick. It is too expensive and not achieving any useful objectives. The interests of United States should be on how to restore confidence in its currency and strengthen its economy. United States currently has a national debt of $56,000,000,000,000 with a trade deficit of $350,000,000,000 with China alone. The Neo-Colonialist wars are mere smoke screens and distractions. Even getting the oil on the cheap will be short term. Our economic problems, however, are long term, and unlikely to be addressed by an oil tanker leaving port in the dark of the night in Benghazi. This is the 10% Estate Agent mentality that has plagued us for too long. The press were calculating the cost of each rocket fired by the 3rd night of Air raids in Libya. You do not go to war when you can not afford to do it effectively. Better still you do not go to war altogether if it is not your business.

The specific agenda here is simple. Split the richer nations into chaos and help yourself to their resources. This also serves to distract the home population when all the liberally minded do gooders start loving North African Arabs for Spring/Summer of 2011. The Autumn/Winter of 2011 will be full of Eastern Promise, starting in Syria and possibly Iran, the long term agenda. It is blatantly obvious that we do not love Bahrain Arabs or Saudi Arabs one bit what so ever. It is entirely incredible that over 20000 people were killed in Japan in the same time frames as the Libyan crisis with massive radiation issues for the whole globe. Yet no love for our Japanese friends either. Almost as if the Tsunami and nuclear explosions did not happen. This is an exclusive love reserved for a few hand selected special members with Syria joining the Neo-Colonial Love Club imminently.

K. Savage
April 2011

IN THE NAME OF DOLLARS

Things can get pretty peculiar at times. Just as we thought that we had it bad, and rightly so, with the recession and the collapse of many banks, along with our MP’s expenses, student riots all topped with a mish mash coalition government of ex-estate agents who want to run the UK infra structure and economy on a 10% commission, Conservatives and LIBERALS. The New Year started with nothing but uncertainty. Economic and political uncertainty, at that. We are now in a position to take a break from all of our uncertainties and misery, a tea break if you will, from our own internal misery & witness a different type of misery. The Middle Eastern Arab variety.

In the past 2 months we have seen incredible and unbelievable stuff in the Middle East and North Africa. Gathering momentum each day and evolving to apparently exponential and random directions. These events have left the whole of the Think Tanks and Secret Services in absolute bewilderment. All trying to work out how, when, where and why. The current Middle Eastern/Arab uprisings or popular revolutions are not isolated accidents. It has been in the pipeline for quite some time which is now reaching boiling point. In other words, the chap on the street is saying enough is enough.

The main ingredient or mandate of governance in any society is that of consent. Once consent is removed from the equation you will end up in very difficult situations such as civil disobedience, riots, arrests, deaths and such. Once the protests pass a certain critical mass it becomes a revolution of sorts. If it is a reasonably peaceful change then they name it after a variety of things such as a month, religion, colour, fruit or flower. For instance October Revolution (Russia), Islamic Revolution (Iran), Orange Revolution (Ukraine), Jasmine Revolution (Tunisia).

By and large The Western psychology does not see revolutions in a positive light. We have a real issue getting our heads around all revolutions. Loss of control, mainly. Because of events in Russia in 1917, the West has developed a natural aversion towards all that is remotely reminiscent of a revolution. Let us call this condition Revophobia. We are the Revophobic citizens of the Great West. Critical of all change in foreign lands and yet accepting and accommodating enough for ourselves. The greatest achievements in human history have always been based on revolutionary ideals, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Einstein, Mozart & so on. Characters like Cromwell, Marx et al are deliberately omitted, mainly because I want the reader to continue reading!! To challenge the status quo is good and evil at the same time. Love it. Hate it. The fine balance is between possible change and progress Vs short term uncertainty and confusion. In my view revolutions do have some merit. They only occur when things are not difficult or bad for the human condition, but damn awful or near impossible. This is exactly what has been happening in the Arab States in North Africa and Middle East. Things have been bad for a very long time. In all cases, we have had our paws in it. We have instigated, supported, courted, condoned or even encouraged these crazy dictators to continue without the consent of their communities. We have an interest in all of these Nations. We make money from all of them. We pay less when an idiot is in charge. Morality, rule of law, logic or justice do not come in to play at all. It is all about the Dollars and the 10% commission.

As current events in North Africa & Middle East unfold they are synonymous to a really good Tarantino movie, or a dramatic opera (if classically minded) there are different chapters, scenes and threads with a multitude of characters. All of which at first appear disconnected and yet become entirely connected intertwined as time goes on and the characters develop. They all have something in common. They all have the same mutual friend.

Tunisia: Ben Ali and his mate Sarkozy.

• Our first chapter is set in Tunisia. So what comes to mind? An Islamic Republic. Offers cheap North African Mediterranean holidays, cheap food, cheap hotels, trying hard to look and charge like a European City and yet entirely third world. A fair few camels, plenty of desert landscape & not much else. However, this all changes in less than 10 days. The chap in charge of this Fantastique Republique and the 10.4 million inhabitants was President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, more commonly known as President Ben Ali. In fact he had been in charge for just under 25 years. He was the main man for the previous President, Habib Bourguiba, who took over from French Colonialist rule in 1957 until 1987, when Ben Ali took over. President Ben Ali’s life was seriously disturbed when a street vendor set himself on fire on the 17th December 2010, in protest against the State’s disrespectfulness towards its own citizens. The street protests ensued and within 2 weeks he became part of history. President Ben Ali had to make a run for it on the 14th January 2011. He was of course a valued ally to the West. Irrespective of his evil & corrupt ways. Yet his fellow countrymen faced average salaries of less than $400.00 a month with a sexy unemployment of 24% and an inflation of 4%!!

Egypt: Hosni and his mate George Bush.

• Just as things were settling down and getting sorted in Tunisia the second chapter starts. Predictably this chapter has a more exotic setting. The scene is set in Egypt. So what comes to mind when we think Egypt? The Pyramids, Pharaohs, The Nile, Crocodiles, Red Sea, Cotton, Cheap North African Holidays, Mosques, Camels, sandy Deserts, non specific cuisine. Of course Egypt is also a Republic, with a population of 80 million. It also has a parliament, prime minister, etc, etc, etc. The chap in charge of this great nation was Hosni Mubarak. In fact he has been in charge for the past 30 years, after he took over form his mate/ex-boss Anwar Sadat who was in charge until he was assassinated in 1981. Mr Mubarak ran the Egypt like it was his family business. Like all good businessmen and fathers he obviously wanted the family business to go to his children when he retires. It goes without saying that Hosni Mubarak was also an ally of the West. Despite the mass unemployment with an average house hold income of, wait for it, $2.00USD per day. Egypt has an unemployment rate of 10% with a cool 14% inflation rate. We have to note that Egypt is one of the larger recipients of Financial Aid from the USA because we always help our friends. It would be rude not to. However, before anyone could say Oi Hosni he had to leg it and resign as well. The popular revolution on the streets of Egypt left good old Hosni with no other choice. The mass of Egyptians made him an offer he could not refuse, namely, leave now. Wow! Two revolutions in less than 6 weeks.

Bahrain: Khalifa and his mate Cameron.

• It would be difficult to beat the sheer exotic setting of Egypt. But the next turn in this rollercoaster is, Bahrain. Officially the Kingdom of Bahrain. So what would come to mind when we say Bahrain. Let’s see, Muslim country, not quite sure where, somewhere in the Middle East, lots of desert, camels, oil maybe, ergh can’t think of anything. The great and good Kingdom of Bahrain has been the domain of the current Royal Family for the past 200 years. It is a small island in the Persian Gulf with a total population of 1.3 million. You must not for a moment confuse this Monarchy with anything in the United Kingdom or Europe. The king, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa nominates the prime minster, a good mate of his, to head the government. The king remains in charge for a life. The prime minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa has been doing this job for 40 years, he must be tired by now!! They are very strong allies of the West. In fact we like the Khalifa’s so much that we park a lot of our aircraft carriers at their harbors. In return we sell them Ferraris and Bentleys for cheap oil. They love us. We love them. The average Bahrain citizen earns reasonably good money, compared to previous lands. They make about $65.00 USD per day. They also have many big and shiny sky scrapers. A clear sign of civilization. The problem in Bahrain is mostly the attitude. The king says and you do. A little bit like when King Henry used to say and we did. Of course there is also the small problem of 15% unemployment coupled with the 8% inflation. Last but not least the majority of the Bahrain citizens are Shia Muslims, except for the monarchy and the government. The guys running the joint are all Suni Muslims. Ouch!!!

Libya: Gaddafi and his mate Obama

• Just as we were trying to follow events in Bahrain a whole new development kicks in parallel. A bunch of people started uploading protest videos from their mobile phones on the internet. This time the setting is in Libya. Next door to Egypt. So what comes to mind when we think Libya? Muslim Nation, Desert, Oil, camels, British Police woman (RIP), blown up planes in Lockerbie. Libya is officially known as the Great Socialist People Libyan Arab Soviets (loose translation). It is the fourth largest country in Africa with a 6.5 million population. It has been run by one of the last psychos of the last century for the past 40 years. On the par to Stalin, Hitler, The Shah followed by Khomeini, Maggie, Reagan, Georgie, Sharon, Sadam and so on. He is from that very special group of people where you never know what the hell they are thinking or going to do next. They also never listen to a single person. Yes, it is the one and only Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Of course we hated this man with a passion. Specially, when his embassy officials shot a Woman Constable outside the Libyan Embassy in London. We also hated him when he was linked to the mid air explosion of a Hi-Jacked plane. We even bombed his house in Tripoli, where one of his children died as a result. But we inevitably had to kiss and make up. He has huge amounts of oil you see. Libya currently supplies 85% of oil to Europe. Besides we know how to kiss and make up only too well. Remember how we helped/encouraged/ignored Sadam Hussein of Iraq when he was mustard gassing the Kurds on the borders of Iran? We only established his tyranny much later. Just like Sadam, Gaddafi must be as confused as hell, thinking I thought we were mates? Currently he is a bad man. But he was a cool cat only last year. Despite the incredible wealth generated from oil exports the average Libyan earns about $20.00USD per day. This is coupled with an inflation rate of 12.5% and a cool 30% unemployment level. You can see why they are screaming on the streets. Instead he flies fighter planes over their heads, just like his neighbour Hosni Mubarak did in Cairo 3 weeks ago. We can safely conclude that his time has come and he will not be in power for much longer. Because of the severe personality defects, there will be more bloodshed on the streets of Tripoli. Not so good if you are a Libyan.
• So what of our journey through the exotic Arab & Middle Eastern lands? The Tarintino plot or the dramatic opera has not fully matured as yet. However, it will do so very soon. Consider the following countries: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan. All have incredible similarities, if not identical to the above. Long term dictators. High inflation, High unemployment, poverty in very rich lands, suppression and outright piss taking. The funny thing is that we all know they will follow shortly. Add the United States, United Kingdom, Israel and maybe even Iran to the plot and you will have the perfectly unbelievable plot. The irony being, that all this is for real. Real life, real hardship, real blood, real children and real human beings.

Whilst the West is in no way controlling or influencing events, for once, they are actually largely responsible for the mess and chaos. In all territories they are ex-colonies of Britain, France or even Italy. All these guys are our mates. Our allies. Our friendly nations in the region. We must do what we can to hang on to them. Another 50 years would do nicely thank you. Then there is the whole illegal elements going on in Palestine to think about as well. What the Arab People are doing on their streets is a natural by product of 30-50 years of being told to shut and put up. So our beloved Estate Agent prime minster can embarrass himself and this country even more. David Cameron’s visit to Egypt, as well as other Middle East Nations, with a full delegation of arms dealers this week was not just ill thought through or inappropriate, but another confirmation for the average Libyan, Egyptian, Tunisian or Bahraini that they do not matter. Democracy and freedom is an exclusive Western club for the Citizens of the Great West. But the final question that is totally begging here is a simple one. How come not one of us associate with gangsters, drug dealers, rapists and murderers? How come we are mostly at odds with having mates or allies who do dubious stuff and yet our democratically elected representatives have absolutely no qualms or shame in actively supporting and condoning outright dictators and murderers for decades. We will certainly try to arm the next lot for the next 50 years. Apparently it is in our interest and we are only in it for Dollars and the 10%!

K. Savage
February 2011

LEAK IT BABY!

Bailed today for £240,000.00 A lot more than your average paedophile.

Again, I find myself in conflict with mainstream media and the way they portray news. I am sure someone is paying them en-mass to distort & spin stuff to achieve something, I am sure. In the past, meaning a mere 10 years ago, this would not have been possible. They tell us & we have to believe what they tell us. Because none of us had any other forms of cross examining the news itself. But that is no longer the case. Internet has effectively destroyed this premise. Of course I still watch BBC News most nights. But, a pinch of salt is always sprinkled.

The current example is the Wikileaks saga. This is an internet site dedicated to accurate reporting on certain issues such as corporate crime & practices, International invasions of other territories & such. The founder is a geeky looking chap, Julian Assange. A young bloke who seems to enjoy rocking the boat & challenging the established media for their utter & entirely contemptible approach to reporting untruths. Day in, day out. He set up this website of his & enabled various people to have a triple secure disclosure of files. No photocopies, letters or interviews. Any time, anywhere & anyone. They get the files, they check it out & then if it is worth publishing then they publish.

Bradley Manning - Facing 52 years of jail for disclosing murder or being Gay. Locked up in Kuwait.

Without this we would never have known that American Helicopters go around shooting down Iraqis on their own pavements. Essentially a video footage showing a U.S. helicopter gunship in Baghdad which killed 2 journalists & a civilian from the heavens. This became known as The Collateral Murder Footage. See for yourself on collateralmurder.com. The guy responsible for this leak is now behind bars in Kuwait, Note: not The United States, but a friendly Gulf Nation to lock up a US soldier. Of course the young man is now facing a 52 year jail term. But the media concentrates on him being a hot headed & fiery loner who is a homosexual. Not a regular red blooded American soldier who is cool, calm & collected who prefers pussy.

The other main leak detailed torture & rendition of various individuals involved in the mess that is Iraq & Afghanistan. This is when they snatch someone in Peckham & the geezer ends up in Aberdeen. In this case, snatch them in Yemen and send them to Sweden for a while then export out to Cairo and eventually Guantanamo. Get tortured, water-boarded, and what not to extract information from the bad guys. Ex-president Bush recently confirmed that he did not consider water boarding as a form of torture, contrary to UN and other international organisations definitions of torture. Basically if you are made to feel that you are drowning & terrorised within inches of your life, it does not constitute torture. Of course our governments have to do all this in our name. It is for our security. Apparently.

The next set of significant leaks have become known as Cable Gate. This is a staggering 250,000 embassy cables, emails mainly, going backward & forward within the internal embassy & foreign office circles. We would also not have known about King Idiot Brut-Al-Mad of Saudi Arabia urging the United States to attack Iran. Nor would we have known about President Karzai's (Afghanistan) views on how ineffective the British have been in defending his country. I suppose he is referring to more dead British Soldiers here. Clearly needed more deaths. My question to President Karzai is why don't you get off your back side and get your people to represent & act & defend for themselves, since we are so rubbish at helping you protect your land? The answer I expect would be a lame one, like we do not have the funding to do the job or similar rubbish.

The lists are long and I am certainly not enormous. I deliberately do not want to dwell over the details of each outrageous and embarrassing disclosure. But more the core & fundamental questions. Do we as citizens of this planet have an innate right to any of the following

1. Freedom of speech
2. Freedom of information
3. Freedom of thought
4. Freedom of movement

I am one of those people who believes that we do have these rights. In fact it was Cyrus The Great, the funky King of Persia 2550 years ago, who declared these rights. You can get down to the British Museum and see it on a mud cylinder and read it for your self. It is of course in cuneiform.

So what about Julian Assange? What do we do with this irritating man, from down under, who resides in Sweden? What we have done, with the spin-doctors of each government department, is to smear this guy and try to gag him at each and every step. He did not go to the source and do a James Bond stunt to steal the information. People send him this stuff. He simply puts it out there for the rest of us to access. Then the next question is should I as a citizen know this information. Do I really need to know what our government is doing on our behalf? I am afraid the answer has to be a resounding yes. It is called democracy. Unfortunately, the powers that be prefer selective democracy. We tell you what we want to tell you. Half the German people did not really know what Hitler was up to. Same for Joseph Stalin, Khomeini and probably that silly King Idiot Brut-Al-Mad of Saudi. Us not knowing serves a great purpose. In fact the whole issue of differences between your Average European & your average American is exactly this. They actually believe CNN & FOX News to be telling them the truth. Europeans, because of the longer history tend to check stuff out in other ways and quiz their peers. The moment the news breaks out which is putting the established networks of media & governments who have a history of bull shit, we are told aah-ha, Mr Assange is now arrested for suspicion of sexual assault & rape in Sweden. This is the headline. Then you read the details, it turns out the sexual assault is that he did not use a condom when he was in bed with some girl in Sweden some months ago. As for the rape allegation, that refers to him having sex with another woman, many months ago, whilst she was asleep. See? This guys is not a good guy. He is a bad guy.

The soldier who leaked the Collateral murder video is a lonely hot headed nutty homosexual. Another bad guy. Paypal and Visa are good guys for not allowing any donations to go to this chap, whilst KKK & Neo Fascists, paedophiles are all OK to do business with. The sheer hypocrisy is not sickening but hilarious. So the moment some awkward news comes our way we have to expect a bad guy within that story to bury the story by discrediting it as much as possible. For my money, Wikileaks can leak and drip all over them. I am capable of making up my own mind of what is the truth & what is manufactured. If I can, then you can too. It is the contempt and assumption that the whole population is stupid that really gets to me not the half-arsed attempt of the cover up. People have said and will continue to say what they want, irrespective of what any one likes or dislikes. If it is the truth it will have the integrity it deserves and if not, then we stop taking notice of the messenger, Assange today, Lossange tomorrow. Don't believe the hype.

K. Savage
December 2010

153 DAYS OF NOTHING!

It has been quite some days since I wrote anything for our News Section. Partly because of insane work schedule. But mainly because I wanted to wait & see what is on offer with the new Government of United Kingdom. Well our government has been in charge now for 153 days as a coalition.

The 3 parties have had their summer breaks. The prime minister, David Cameron, has even had a new born. Ed Miliband defeated his Brother David Miliband & has a new shadow cabinet too. Nick Clegg gave his speech & left the country before they finished clapping for him. But what strikes me here is the sheer desperation as well as incredible Public Relations and manipulation of the truth. They want all of us to think that the British Electorate in its infinite wisdom made the greatest choice. A conservative Liberal Coalition that is working in the interest of each & every one of us.

So let us start with David Cameron’s Conservative Party Conference and see how genuine or honest this chap really is. In his speech he made assertions that are simply not true. All designed to make the average person feel that their representatives are doing something so I better go & get on with my life of juggling, work, family, travel, parenthood etc. This is how David Cameron cooks reality:

a) "first let's remember where we've come from. Three defeats"
Not quite right. The reason the Government is a coalition is because they did not win enough seats. Although one can always celebrate mediocrity & coming second or third.

b) "Look what we've done in five months. Just imagine what we can do in five years"...

• Corporation tax - cut. V. Very misleading. This is a 4% reduction to be phased over 4 years. Yet fails to mention capital allowances being cut at the same time. So a bunch of plant, equipment that would normally off set or reduce a tax bill, will no longer be permitted.
• The jobs tax - axed. Total & utter lie. He has forfeited £3 billion and compensated with new thresholds which are in fact higher for all those in employment.
• Police targets - smashed. Smashed is the correct word here. Each an every Police Force in the UK is now facing a more difficult job than 157 days ago. The idea sold to us was a stronger and more effective Policy on law & order. Less Police Officers means only one thing.
• Immigration - capped. Not at all. This will come in to effect next Aril. However, everyone is already criticizing the schemes viability. We need immigrants to do stuff in this country. It is not a number issue, but a global social issue.
• The third runway - stopped. This was still in consultation & was not going anywhere. Talk about taking credit.
• Home Information Packs - dropped. Yes, until some Eurocrat forces it back on the agenda. But the late Daddy Cameron, would have been mighty pleased with this, since he was a big property guy & a well known estate agent.
• Fat cat salaries - revealed. Again taking credit for some one else’s work. This is revealed under the freedom of information laws, which was finalized & endorsed by Gordon Brown. See why they all hated him so much, expenses scandal.
• ID Cards - abolished. There was nothing to abolish. Again taking credit for something that did not exist. It was in early consultation stage & no more.
• The NHS - protected. Complete rubbish. Even confirmed by Tory chums at The Telegraph, 24th July 2010. This is what is really in the pipeline. Beds cut. Operations cut. Nursing homes cut. Voluntary & compulsory redundancies. NHS Direct to be replaced, by something!!!!
• Our aid promise - kept. Partially & selectively kept. Aid is now destined to go to places where British interests are served best with political & security considerations at the heart of the provided aid & not the actual need. This was reported by the might wannabe liberal mish mash paper, The Guardian 29 August 2010.
• Quangos - closing down. Another lie & twist of reality. A good example is The Audit Commission, the guys that are supposed to check on value for money for the tax payer. But what Cameron failed to mention again is the millions of pounds worth of law suits in respect of broken contractual commitments by the government as well as redundancy pay offs for the dismantling of this particular institution.
• Ministers' pay - coming down. True. They have all agreed to a 5% pay cut as well as a 5 year pay freeze. But the fact still remains that non of these guys are doing this for the money. They are flipping millioners anyways. It is about the power & long term contacts to get the dosh later or in between. Besides they all had a good share of expenses over the years. So overall, they are still doing quite fine thank you very much.
• A bank levy - coming up. . Again this is taking credit for someone else’s work. The Bank Levy regulations are in conjunction with France and Germany. Something that was kick started by the previous Government and Gordon Bronw particulalry & not this government. More importantly it is not as instant as any of the other proposals. It is over a 4 year period & has to be phased in. So The corporation tax is reduced over 4 years, whilst the levy increases over 4 years. Round & round we go in our circle of trust.
• A cancer drugs fund - up and running. No it is not. It will start next spring & subject to approval by the national screening committee, who ever they are! This contrasts well with Labors pledge of diagnostic tests within 1 week of seeing the GP.
• £6bn of spending saved this year. Essentially a repetition of most of the above, which are all mostly in the "discuss phase" rather than actual implementation as implied.
• An emergency budget to balance the books in five years. True. Nothing concrete has been decided as yet.
• An EU referendum lock to protect our sovereign powers every year. This is a good one. Utter nonsense. You can not have it both ways with Europe. Be honest & stop the rhetoric. We are signed up to the EEA & EU treaties & the only way we can reference it the way Cameron is portraying it, is to actually come out of Europe. But you never know. There have been more stupid people in bigger governments.
• For our pensioners - the earnings link restored. Not directly. Unions are talking about industrial action over pensions for public sector pensioners. This is from reports that came out only a few days ago, The Times 6th October 2010.
• For our new entrepreneurs - employees' tax reduced. Total lie. Exact opposite.
• And for our brave armed forces - the operational allowance doubled. This is correct. But again he fails to tell us where & how. The increase is from £14.51 to £29.02 per day. Which is good. But it will be paid for from the main Ministry of Defense Budget. Total cost £58 million. Total loss to MOD is £58 million. Clever boy isn’t he?

c) "...as we've seen with child benefit this week."
Funny how he casually skates over this one. This is what we saw this week. If you are the single earner in the family and earn £44000 or more you loose your child benefit. But you do not loose your child benefit if you earn £43000 & the wife also earns £43000. Do you get this feeling that they are making this up as they are going along? Then blaming it on complex Tax Systems. Have a word. You have the whole nation’s advisers, experts and thinkers at your disposal, use it.

d) "The big society spirit blasting through".
This is my favorite. Because it leaks every where. Every crack & gap is left open to duck it & then dive it. How very Estate Agent like. So we do our own big society. The local schools are no good. We set our own up. The local Surgery is not up to scratch, we do our own neighborhood Doctor’s Surgeries. Then our own local Policing & Vigilante Work. We can put our own fires out too. After that we can sort out our road resurfacing, sewer maintenance and rubbish disposal.

All this is not a problem. We can for sure organize & do all this. Maybe a better job as well. Except for one small problem. Give us the bloody taxes back. As they do in The US. They do not tax you as in Europe & many things are run by small local businesses. Sales Tax (VAT) in the USA is anything from 2-6% maximum. Not 17.5% going to 20% in 2 months. Similar scenario in corporation & personal taxation. I have travelled to a fair few places & have seen BIG SOCIETY at Play. Live & Direct. Namely Villages in deepest Asia, Africa & South/Central America. They do not collect vast taxes so people become responsible for stuff themselves. Oppositie of what we have here. I invite the Coalition givernment to undertake & do these jobs for which they are charging/collecting for each & every day. Please quit talking rubbish or the late Daddy Cameron will soon have to go for a refund from the Head Master at the Posh School.

The Prime Minister of course did not mention a few other bits of pertinent information in his first 156 days.

• Why there is an increase in violence and unrest in Northern Ireland, just as everyone was settling down?
• Why was David Laws, Treasury Chief, not prosecuted properly & instead referred to a parliamentary committee over expenses of £40000 which he should not have claimed. Mr Laws, Liberal Democrat, claimed that he was shy a bout being gay. Whatever.
• Why has Mr Phillip Green the owner of Arcadia, TopShop/TopMan, all of a sudden become a special business advisor to the government. Mr Green of course does his selling in the UK but his companies are all owned by his beloved wife in TAX free Monaco. Yummy!!!
• Why is the Culture secretary trying to create division by naming/leaking a benefit claimant family of 10 children. Clearly, a total minority that does not warrant national headline. Is he trying to distract us?
• Why is Ian Duncan Smith, Former Leader of conservative party telling the chancellor, George Osborne: "Your officials must show more respect to my staff. They do not deserve to be treated in such an arrogant and rude way."
• The list of odd anecdotes & leaks is already too long. But telling of a pattern that is clearly emerging. They are not as stable as they make out & certainly do not get along as well as they like to think they do. They are Tories & by definition they always stick the knife in.
• Why do they ask us what policy we want. A little like your Doctor asking you what pills would you like me to give you. You are the professional politician, you wanted to be in this job. Then it is only correct that you will come up with the policy. If you can not then resign and let some one else do it.

This is a Mish Mash Government with no clear mandate what so ever and no hope of achieving a mandate. They know this too well. They have an incredibly heavy political agenda and all their policies seem to be driven on their political ideologies & not the "National Interest". We really have to remember who the ministers are. Over three quarters of the cabinet are multi millioners. This is the most unlikely bunch to even remotely understand what saving for a new anything means. A little like asking Prince Charles to understand the routines and budgets of a working family. They have deliberately & overtly over played the budget deficit to be the main agenda. When there was not a peep from any of them, whilst the banks were being dergulated. The budget deficit in the United Kingdom is not much different to that of Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Canada or USA. Nothing to do with who is in gevernment. A lot to do with Bankers & the way they go about their business & entirely due to our current format of capitalism. Which is not really capitalism, as there are not many players in the market place in most industrial sectors. The budget deficit empahsis is mainly a false argument to enbale & empower a different political agenda. Namely, sell off The Royal Mail, Part Privatise the NHS initially, deregulate Education to enable more fee paying schools & universities and so on. Basically go over anything Thatcher left out. Seel nationalised industries to your mates in the City on the cheap, re Brtitsh Telecom, Gas, Electricity, Bristish Airways & so on. The way this is projected to the electrotate is quite quite wrong. A government is not a small business. Where every part must be super efficient & make money or it has to be shut done. Therefore, advisors like Phillip Green are the wrong advisors altogether. People like Mr Green know how to turn private small buisnesses around. He has no experience of how decisions will impact single parent families, the elderly & the sick. It is all these very basic principles that are now at stake. Of course, soon or later, the Liberal Democrats, who are the real & total losers here, will have to bow out with Nick Clegg presumably joining The Conservative Party and the rest of the Liberal Democrats going over the other side of the House with calls for a general election. So turning to Mr Cameron’s famous words of think what we can achive in 5 years. I think the answer would be nothing other than lies. What they have given us in their short period in office is doom, gloom, exaggeration of facts, negativity and total uncertainty. History tells us, again & again, where there is uncertainty, there will always be conflict. We are, after all, very insecure creatures. For my money there will be a general election within the next 6 months.

K. Savage
October 2010

FLASH GORDON

Can The Real Flash Gordon Please Stand Up!  Please Stand Up!

I deliberately delayed writing this article by one week. I wanted to be as sure as I can be factually & not just instincts. With the whole UK election circus, I kept reading & listening & watching to understand the jigsaw puzzle with more clarity. How did the great British Public end up with David Cameron & Nick Clegg? Time & again, Gordon Brown's paddy paws appear to be thick in the pie!

So for me he is no longer frumpy looking Gordon Brown, but more like Flash Gordon. Capable of stuff that the rest of us do not see readily. Here is a list of stuff for you to ponder on:

• Why & how come Labour did not seem to have a marketing budget for this critical election? The likely answer is that Flash Gordon probably recommended against it or better still did not authorise it, as leader of the Labour party. It was obvious that Labour will have a hard battle & at best would only achieve a coalition & not a majority. Save money for later. Whilst the Conservatives were spending Lord Ashcroft's hard earned cash (??) on posters s & every means of marketing media possible.
• The Labour campaign for safe seats was almost non existent. But the marginal seats with the Conservatives took the main priority. This was reflected accurately when safe Labour seats in Northern England had vote swings of 8-12% to Conservative or Liberal Democrats. But not in the midlands & London, when things were a little more contested. The overall National Swing ended up at about 5% toward the Conservatives.
• So when Flash Gordon was pronounced as the loser prior to the election he came out as the actual winner. Because he effectively fought a tactical campaign to ensure, as much as anyone could, that the Conservatives do not get a big overall majority. The winner, however, David Cameron, has come out as the loser. He now has to sit down with Nick Clegg & listen to what he has to say about immigration, taxation, security & such. Let's face it, Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club will never have a congenial & civil cup of tea with Arsenal Football club. They do not remotely see the world with the same eye. The other real real real loser is Nick Clegg. To end up with less than you had after so much chat is pathetic. You can think of Nick Clegg as the Estate Agent who is on commission. If Labour had more seats then they be over that side. But Labour didn't so they went to the other side. A bunch of swinging monkeys. All good politically principled positions, I am sure we all agree! NOT!!
• The day after the election Flash Gordon makes a statement that "in the interest of the country" he is "staying in government until Liberal Democrats have had the opportunity of having discussions with both Labour & Conservatives to form a stable & strong government". Fair enough we all thought.
• The main premise here was that the whole concept of Labour & Liberal Democrat option was a total non starter. It would still have been short of a majority. Certainly would have been immoral, undemocratic & wrong, if Labour was still in charge with Liberal Democrats & a bunch of independent parties up & down the land.
• So, lovely Flash Gordon encourages the two kids to go & play with each other some more, whilst he is pretending to have the week end off in his constituency in deep Scotland. Fishing with the family presumably. He wanted them to go past that certain point of no return & yet give as many mixed signals as anyone could in such a short space of time.
• Then as everyone is talking, discussing & arguing, 4 days after the election results, he makes a statement that he will be resigning as leader of Labour party in September & implying that he may leave the political scene all together.
• This made it even more difficult for the Liberal Democrats to back track & more tempting for the Conservatives to bargain for more. He flogged Nick Clegg to David Cameron. Officially!! Phew! Could not write it for a movie script.
• But Flash Gordon was not quite done yet. As the other side are in White Hall, still arguing & discussing, he comes out of the blue, making yet another statement "I have informed her majesty that I will be handing in my resignation as Prime Minister". Not a word about a stable strong government of 4 days earlier.
• Having flogged Nick to David he has now flogged the job itself to David. Poor David. Well, David wanted to be Prime Minister. Now he had the opportunity to do just that. All David Cameron was left with is to accept the handover & the call from Her Majesty with pleasure. All this was going on in middle of meeting between all the heavy weights of Conservatives & Liberal Democrats. Unreal!
• So why would flash Gordon not fight as hard as he could have for the outright win. Because the result would have been the same or similar. Every form of media was against him. Not just the tabloids, but the "respectable papers" too. Television & radio as well as every website with a few more hits than mine!! The concentration was not on content & policy. But on his lack of smiles & a serious face. We were convinced of this terrible urge and "need for change" for the sake of "change". Like the urge you get for new shoes. The bottom line is that we seem to prefer an X-Factor or Britain's Got Talent type of face than Gordon's. Some one who would look good on the cover of Heat or OK magazine.
• The other main reason, probably the more important one, is that Flash Gordon knows a thing or two about UK & world economy. This is a matter of record & confirmed by the World Bank & International Monetary Fund. I believe that some nasty economic stuff is still due or heading our way & who wants to be in charge of disaster. It is far better for Labour to be in opposition & let the Conservatives take the heat.
• We have to remember a very important thing here. The economic melt down was not the fault of Flash Gordon by any stretch. This is a global situation caused partly by bankers & more broadly the way we do things in the Western capitalist economies. We all remember that whilst the basic deregulatory measures for banks were coming in to effect there was hardly any vote of opposition from the Conservatives or the Liberal Democrats. The other stigma attached whilst Flash Gordon was in the hot seat, as the chancellor, was the illegal Iraq war. This was solely due to the Americans suckering us into going in with them a few weeks after Tony Blair announced that we are shoulder to shoulder with the Americans. They were desperately trying to get the Germans & French to vote at the UN for a resolution. But the US military had already advised the invasion time window to be in April. Not enough time for resolutions. Not too dissimilar to the way Flash Gordon suckered the Conservatives with Nick Clegg! Bush bagged Tony!!
• The beauty of all this is that every single Conservative & Liberal Democrat knows how Flash Gordon stitched them up. They know they will not last for long. They both know that on any given day, a bunch of their people would either resign or call for their resignation. So we are in for some big internal cat fights yet.
• The other important thing is that the new government will not even get the opportunity of doing much. Parliament is going for summer break. So no real action taking place until after the part conferences. More rhetoric & not much policy implementation until god knows when.
• It is at this precise point that the electorate would simply look, think & say, well we gave you a chance to work this & you failed miserably again. The only choice at that point is Labour. The last man laughing will be Flash Gordon, as a back bencher if he still continues. I can not for a moment imagine that anyone will consider Conservative or Liberal Democrats in the next election, if this coalition is not at least 80% successful. I think there are more chances of winning the lottery than these guys effectively working together. But we can all remain wishful for a while.

Personally, the correct thing would have been for David Cameron to retain & stick to his Conservative values, by not pretending & to form a minority government, which he was entitled to from the moment the results were announced. Do his level best to keep all sides happy, independent of back room deals & keep things above board. Then make same, similar or possibly less compromises that he has already made, with out being in bed with Nick Clegg. That would have foiled the bulk of Flash Gordon's calculations considerably.

So from Flash Gordon's perspective instead of having the normal one Muppet as your counter part when defeated and in opposition. He managed to get two Muppets for the price of one! This was true brinksmanship on an unprecedented scale. Even Tony Blair did not manage this.

As for us mere mortals, well we have to brace ourselves & hope that not much can be implemented. One thing the two Muppets have managed well in their two weeks in office has been more rhetoric & non sense about nothing. Still no real policy announced or implemented or planned. Instead of getting on with the job, they sound like they are still campaigning. When in desperation keep on screaming. Who knows, Flash Gordon may send in his deputies to come and save your back side.

K. Savage
May 2010

SEEING STRAIGHT

Possible next prime  minister of the UK.	Your local Estate Agent  Chappie.

Sometimes it is not so easy to see straight. Things are not what they appear to be. Waters are some how quite murky & the air ever so smokey.

The British general election in May is a classic case of "not so obvious", a little woah & a little bit waah!! But is it really as complicated as we are led to believe? I don't think you need to dig very deep to see things as they should be, straight.

Of course the job of Prime Minster, even if it is for one term, is definitely a big income earner for the rest of their lives. So, from the money side it is very easy to see why they all want the job so bad. It doesn't pay much whilst on the job, but 20 times more when you quit the job. You can cross check this with Margaret Thatcher & Tony Blair. Become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom & you are connected for the rest of your life to the rest of the world.

My big issue right now is David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party & the favourite to win this election up to last week & thankfully diminishing as we get closer to polling day. So I think it is only right to scrutinise a hand full of the "policies".

• David Cameron is an Eton College lad who later went to Oxford. His whole back ground reeks of Tory pomposity. His dad a stock Broker & an Estate Agent with everyone else in the family on the same or similar social levels. He is who he is, a toff, just like the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, BoJo. Spoilt silver spooned brats. He is unlikely to understand what an average person has to do to earn their living. He has, from his childhood, been in a privileged class.
• One of his campaigners is Mr Jamshed Khan, who is due for a court appearance for vote rigging. Brush that under the carpet.
• David Cameron's main fund raiser, Lord Ashcroft, has a non domicile tax status, whilst making huge contributions to his party. It is not so easy to distance yourself from heavy donations. But that is also getting brushed under the carpet.
• David Cameron's party had the biggest collection of cheats & thieves over the expenses scandal. With the most members of Parliament going before courts for fraud. Brush this under the rug too.
• David Cameron blatantly steals other notable politician's catch phrases with out understanding the content. Time for Change: Obama or ": don't ask what your country can do for you...": J F Kennedy. Basically to make him self sound bigger & more important that he actually is.
• David Cameron has carefully studied Tony Blair since 1997. Check the ice cream eating publicity footage, or the open collar shirt with no jacket whilst on the road. We are talking words, postures, dress, accent & more. Admittedly he has a better looking Missus. But to me he still looks like a very cagey Estate Agent. Tells you anything you want to hear to get the deal.
• David Cameron names drops big business as supporters of his policies. Because big business like Marks & Spencer's, Sainsbury's or Next, don't want to pay tax. He is their guy, at the moment. Since when has big corporate business given a monkeys about right or wrong? They have obligations to their board of directors & their shareholders. Not me & you.
• David Cameron hired the same guys that helped President Obama during his campaign for US Presidential elections. If you are so right, then why the need for the Crème De La Menthe of Public Relations gurus? Spin away, my Selecta!
• David Cameron goes out of his way to mislead, twist & spin and a classic case is a poster of Gordon Brown, brandishing a rare smile, with the caption : ": I released 80000 criminals, Vote for me to do it again":. Not quite, the government is not responsible for releases, bail & probations. We have the judiciary & the parole board for that. It is incredibly misleading to suggest early release of prisoners to one person. But the poster is eye catching.
• David Cameron is telling us that we can form & run our own schools. Reason, because he is preparing to shut a load of them down to pay for the tax cuts benefiting the very rich. Same for hospitals. David Cameron does not seem to understand that certain things can not be done by private citizens. All sorts of conflicts will kick in. Stupid suggestion altogether.
• David Cameron also suggested that we can elect our Police Chiefs. No. Let us not elect our Police Chiefs, because we may then have to elect our judges, head teachers & Doctors. I mean let's face it; we can not even get ourselves back from France because of a volcano in Iceland. Another piece of ill thought through non sense pitched as policy.
• David Cameron is passionately anti European because of his back ground. When you get your education at Eton, you are taught to think Great Britannia of the past & not the United Kingdom of now. Without Europe we are not just isolated but definitely bust. Bankrupt and out of Business. We are trading with these guys in the billions each & every day.
• David Cameron hates the Lisbon Treaty & yet will not hold a referendum on it if elected, which is what he said not long ago. It is worth noting that it is because of the Lisbon Treaty that we got to even know about the expenses scandal.
• Give him the National Health Service & he will finish the job that Margaret Thatcher did not have time to finish off. Along with the Royal Mail, of course. Sell it cheap to old Eton mates in the City. Just like the utilities, gas, electricity and telecommunications.
• David Cameron wants to have a cap on immigration but can not say what the cap should be. It just sounds good to say cap it. I guess. So when a highly qualified surgeon or a famous footballer is trying to come in, I suppose they can not, if we have hit the cap!! Non sense again.
• David Cameron goes on & on about the budget deficit. Yet conveniently forgets about how it came about. Global Banking Collapse, starting in America. His mates with the big pay cheques for effectively betting on other bets. That is the main reason why are in this stew. The government had to bail out a bunch of greedy bankers. One question we all have to ask is what David Cameron would have done. I would suggest that he would have allowed them to collapse, blame their downfall on market forces & then allow the very same people to buy the bankrupt banks for nothing. Whilst people would have lost their savings, pensions, salaries & god knows what else. That is what happens when a private company, such as a bank goes bust, it takes everything down with it.
• David Cameron is reluctant to reform the hereditary titles for The House of Lords; again, it is an old boy Eton institution that gets to veto government legislation by a host of unelected individuals.
• David Cameron also has issues with inheritance taxes. Given his back ground I can certainly understand why. Tax the poor and middle classes & leave the rich to get richer. Which incidentally is the tiny tiny minority.

The bottom line is that David Cameron is an exceptionally well presented, heavily spinned, highly groomed well trained salesman. David Cameron has almost no policy to offer, other than idle chat & spin. On the policies that may have potential he lacks credibility as well as content. But he looks better than the current bloke.

Speaking of the other bloke, Gordon Brown, this is the guy that single handedly saved the British economy from going in to depression, by supporting the banks, an unpalatable option as it still is. The very same bloke that removed the government from setting the Base rate for the Bank of England, 12 years ago. Something nobody, particularly the media, mentions much at the moment, paying lowest mortgage rates ever for the last 2 years. Gordon Brown protected & supported the National Health Service as well as reducing the waiting time. But the main problem with Gordon Brown is his face. He looks serious, moody & does not smile too much. I suppose you become that way when you are in the serious business of government. The other problem is his inability to connect to the world of media & spin. The one thing that sticks with the government is the War in Iraq which we had no mandate on. Not in Afghanistan, but Iraq. Even in this case with Tony Blair as the prime minister and Gordon Brown as Chancellor, they were literally hog tied by the Americans. We had to go and stand shoulder to shoulder with our American Allies. All I know are the people I know around me. Big & small businesses. From Public Companies & to the market trader chap. They all seem to have done OK over the past 12 years. I also remember the Thatcher period. This was when all lost their houses & businesses.

As for Mr Nick Clegg, another Public School boy, who in Freudian terminology suffers from narcissism of small differences when it comes to David Cameron. They are both too close, therefore, they will not get along, even though they do. Like the English & the Scottish. Nick Clegg & David Cameron have near identical backgrounds. With one difference, Nick really does not know what he is talking about. But they both seem to have no problems with changing their minds on a weekly basis. The only thing his party and policies are really clear about is to get proportional representation so they get more seats in future. More seats equal more power & more power equals more money. They also want the country to be with out any defences, by getting rid of nuclear arms altogether. Novel idea, I suppose. Nick Clegg goes on about the two parties being in charge for the past 65 years, a bit too much. Duh? It is because the Liberal Party constantly comes up with crazy, day dreaming policies that do not convince anyone. So we end up with the other two. Nothing complex about that one.

So if change is for the sake of a new face then you got to give it to Cameron. But if it is real and tangible change then we got to go with Moody Brown. Ideally I would have preferred better choices. But between the three of them I think the only sensible one that can be half trusted is the Moody one himself. Reminds me so much of this Head Master I had at School.

K. Savage
April 2010

PPI

Think Tank That is You & I.  - Banksy.

Or to us regular folk Public Perception Index. This is an index where institutions, commercial & political, use to gauge the "feel" before doing stuff.

So if the index is high, you go for it. If it is low, it will be a no-go. The beauty of it is that it works flawlessly. Once the premise has been identified. The sale pitch begins & something that may not have been reality or even of significance starts becoming fact. PPI starts rising. Yeee-Peee!! It relies on the simple fact that people, in general, only read the headline; hardly ever get past the first paragraph. We are an instinctively territorial & lazy species. I mean when was the last time anyone read a handbook for a single appliance to see how the damn thing works.

This whole thing started way back in the very early days of News & Media last century. They had people going around photographing & recording their behaviour at bus stops, supermarkets etc. Of course all done manually. No Databases as we know today. Paper mountains were created. Miles of footage recorded and for who, one may ask? For the establishment, me & you. This establishment is not the government, the Royalty, the media, the military or the civil service. It is the sum total of all. The fully converted, true believers. It is pretty much all of us because we love this. Don't we? Our shit rocks, right?

The best thing about PPI is the get-out clause when it goes wrong and messed up decisions are made. Expect these type of answers:

a) We made the correct decision at the time based on what we had at the time.
b) With the benefit of hindsight we would, of course, have done things differently & so on.
c) The past mistakes were the result of a small misguided minority and are not the views of this Public Company/Government

Basically, PPI is there to mislead and can have devastating repercussions on us as a species. The most grotesque PPI in my opinion was prior to the start of the Second World War. Jews & all non-whites were somehow perceived to be the cause of all the problems facing Central Europe and its bankrupt economies. The argument was so convincing that a lunatic like Hitler managed to get elected over this; the German Nation followed him blindly and we all know the end result. What was not admitted or demonstrated is the real reason why Central European economies were bankrupt. That would have led to a catastrophic re-examination of the whole. No one was up for that. So we got to kill one another, murder millions of people in the name of an incredible falsehood. Effectively PPI is a subtle manipulation of the public mind. Convincing the populous about something they would not necessarily go along with.

There are a whole bunch of these going on right now. Let's look at Islam as another example. This is an Abrahamic religion. Which fully acknowledges & respects other Abrahamic faiths such as Judaism & Christianity. But a high PPI dictates that the public needs an enemy. It must live in fear. This way our guys get to spend billions on arms and a disgusting stockpile of weapons. The current perception being that Muslims across the world have developed a problem and want to constantly blow themselves up to kill others. Sure enough an obscene & insane act. But again it fails to try and examine why someone would want to do that. Is it possible that this tiny minority uses the opportunity to justify their murderous acts because there are an awful lot of Western armies in an awful lot of Muslim Nations, which is then fed through as proof that the West wants to kill Muslims and destroy their religion; therefore, we must fight back? This is what I call a double PPI. Two sides being misled simultaneously. Both enjoying very high PPI but opposing ones. The net result, in the case of Middle East would be, dead Muslim & Jewish kids. Personally, I can not tell the difference when I look at either one. Kids are kids.

The commercial aspect of PPI is best demonstrated in the property market. You create an illusion. A perceived demand. Trickery at its best. Bullshit & lies in reality.

So a house that was worth £200,000.00 last year is now valued at £320,000.00 this year by the same Agent. Gordon Brown called it "the ingenuity of the market". I prefer calling it legalised theft. We all end up worshipping the market forces and not once a single one of us tries to question or challenge the market. We will cough up. Pay the price as dictated by the Agent in the cheap suit, albeit with a nice accent. Because we know, that next year our £320,000.00 is going to be £420,000.00. No questions asked.

Then things start crumbling and bits begin to fall off. The insane mortgages become "Structured Investment Vehicles" and the more obvious dodgy deals become "Collateral Debt Obligation Funds". "Quantitative Easing" becomes the new trendy catch phrase. You bundle them all together and lend some more. Remember, the house was only £200,000.00 two years previous. But we must continue. Not question. But continue.

In this scenario I do not necessarily blame the establishment. I think we are all largely to blame. The establishment is telling us what we want to hear. They are feeding us so we feed them. A semi-parasitic-come-symbiotic relationship. We need to have fear. We must have enemies. It was the Jewish people 60 years ago, the fear then became the big bad Russian Red Commie bastards up to 20 years ago. The current fear is Palestinians & Muslims and more specifically an idiot who they tell us is living in a mountain, Osama what ever his name is. With fear in the background you are slowly becoming a believer. The justification for what ever is taking place grows. Standards and morality reduced. Unjustified Anti-terror laws and infringements of personal liberty are given away to compensate for the gain of perceived security & not-real security. Human right abuses become the flavour of the day by the same societies who owe their success to individual human liberties. You & I then become a kidnapping target when travelling abroad. We are forced to pay more & more for whatever it is that we have, such as a house or a pint of beer. Marks & Spencer's starts giving it all extra-large and Eco-Friendly by not giving you a bag to put your damn shopping in, whilst their plastic packaging from one of their packs of Cumberland sausages can give you over 50 high density bags. Meanwhile Lady GaGa is number one pretending to be doing music!

Essentially, Public Perception is the most deadly force. It changes governments, spells success or disaster for commercial entities retention or loss of your house, and of course, it can ultimately be responsible for death of thousands. All we have to do is to read & understand the full picture before our fears of the unknown are identified & exploited for other agendas.

K. Savage
March 2010

TO BUST OR NOT TO BUST?

Adam Smith 1723-1790  A very clever Scotsman &  Daddio of modern capitalism.

 As I was going through the archives I came across a few articles I did way back & thought what if I did a little research to see how we compare to what I was complaining about, 2,3 or 4 years ago. Again and again. So I do hope you stay with me for this short article. The idea being to simply consider & entertain an alternative & fresh outlook.

 Basically, it is not exactly a bed of roses for any one of us. It has actually got from worrying to bad to terrible to near impossible. Cataclysmic disaster would be a good way of visualising our economic situation. I will deliberately avoid bringing the United States into this to alleviate possible depression and or digression. I will also not mention the details of US guarantees for Israeli loans. Which, in itself is another first in human economic history. One sovereign nation is covering the economic activity of another, even though they are neck deep in it themselves. The blind leading the deaf, dumb & blind. So I will keep this particular debate firmly in good old Europa!

 The gross domestic product (GDP) or gross domestic income (GDI) is a basic measure of a country's overall economic performance. It is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year. It is often positively correlated with the standard of living. GDP is like one of the nation's main thermometers, economically speaking. When it is high we are doing good & when it drops you start noticing certain things, like repossessions, unemployment & inflation.

 The target figure, as set by European law, Maastricht Treaty of 1992 & 1993, stipulated that any EU member states budget deficit can not be higher than 3% of its GDP. Huh! Check this the current average for EU member states are running a 6.4% deficit on their average GDP. This is set to increase to 6.9% next year & more the following year still. The saddest part is that the average member state has a debt of 78.2% of GDP rising to 84.0% in 2010 & 88.2% in 2011. In simple terms, if you were to go to anyone & even attempt this scenario as an economic proposition they will laugh or possibly slap you for being stupid. As it is clearly an unviable proposition. You can not be 80% in debt, and rising, and expect to continue. Basic rules of capitalism, market forces, supply & demand, will automatically apply & dictate that you must stop operating in such a fashion. No one will lend you. You have a weak product. You are busted!!

 Our beloved governments, however, do not seem to play according to the rules either. First they are all running at more than double the deficit rate they all agreed over 15 years ago. Secondly, they are borrowing more to service the debt against the nation's income & assets. The same assets are constantly being reviewed for privatisation. So 80% of the nation's work & output is allocated to pay its debts for that year alone. They sell us this messed up scenario on a daily dose of misinformation, spin & public relation on a collective basis. In any such situation any small business owner will tell you that it is time for a restructure, a revision, and a re-think. Or just throw in the towel. Call it quits. Abandon ship. Say good bye.

 It is at this point that my thoughts kick in. Why not revise our current modern capitalist model. I do realize that one is not permitted to utter the word socialism. A little bit like when you can not say Black in front of an African American/Jamaican, as you will be a racist, or the word Jew in the presence of a Jewish person, as you will be anti-Semitic. In this instance you will immediately be branded a red-communist-bastard. The ex Soviet Union will be there to remind us all of the total failures of any such thinking or deviations. The fear the unknown scheme goes in to full swing. We must fear the Iraqis, Iranians, Afghans, Chinese, Russians & any one else that we can muster to ensure that issues remain unresolved & go undebated. This is it. All we got is our free democratic system & we must at all costs protect it. Perhaps that is all we got to sell right now. The ideal of a free democratic society is our ultimate product. So I try & protect it. Can I get a prosecution out of hundreds of MP's cheating their expenses? Naah! Can me & you have a real say about when we send our boys to kill & get killed on our behalf? Naah. Can the government not bail out greedy bankers & let them go bust as per clear definitions of our free democratic system? Naaah. In the UK £800,000,000,000 (800 billion) of borrowed money is tied to the banking system's failures. Quantitative easing is the new sexy word. But instead they rewarded themselves in the millions for their miserable failure knowing that they will be bailed out. Market forces are not applying here. We got institutions that have higher turnovers than some small countries. But in the name of the market, which I suppose is greater than all; we allow them to roam unregulated. They mess up. We pick up the bill. So what happened to the market? The straight answer is that the market is only applicable to me & you. Not the banks or government. They can operate as entirely dysfunctional & insolvent entities whilst giving the rest of us a lecture on the rules of the system. Let's look at a number of corporate beasts here. Telecommunication, but a hand full of suppliers. Commercial property in central London, less than half a dozen landlords control who is present or not present in the West End. Financial systems has about a dozen banks controlling the finances of the whole populous. Aviation & airlines the same thing.. Petro-chemicals & refineries, same thing again. The list & examples are endless & they all have one thing in common. They are terrified of competition. Me & you are the ones that have to compete. We compete for our services, products & labour. But these chaps would go to extreme lengths to avoid competition because they know there are no regulations once they control the bulk of the market. I am not for a moment suggesting that big companies are bad. Not at all. I am simply suggesting that if a commercial entity gets beyond a certain threshold then surely there must exist safety valves in case they go wrong without putting the failure back on the citizens lap. Since we never benefited from their fortunes in the previous years. We must decide which it is that we want. Capitalism & free markets or some from of socialism. Not a mish mash of the two as they are firmly in opposite corners. What if the government had not intervened? Well, you would have lost life savings, mortgages cancelled, and salaries due to be paid frozen & general financial mayhem, if you were a RBS, Lloyds or Northern Rock customer. What would be the public reaction if they lost all their lives savings. Simple: thousands would be on the streets probably with sticks in their hands to beat them out of office for not regulating these giant institutions & asking for their money. We could not have that now, or could we? Ever so Un-British!!

 I am suggesting that time is nearly up & revision of our current economic model is urgently needed. But to do so, we must be open minded & objective. Facing the truth is normally the most painful & yet the most fruitful. So check this. As of less than a day ago, China, (you know the little communist guys we slag off for making bad quality & inferior things who also eat funny things & pollute this whole planet), reported a fourth quarter growth in its GDP of 10%. Not deficit. But real growth. This is in tune with the near exponential growth since 1995. Yet, through some form of superiority complex we refer to nations like China, as developing, wanna be like us. I think they are better developed at this precise moment in history. Not because they are making money by the lorry load, but due to the fact that the China Man sat down & revised their Communist/Maoist economic model & merged & developed their very own & unique model. Some form of controlled & regulated Socio-capitalism. I can not come up with a sexy word for this. But I am sure it will come up soon enough. So why it is that China & India are booming? Again, it goes back to the basic definitions of capitalism. In order for the capitalist model to work effectively it must manufacture & produce commodities to supply a demanding market. They are busy making stuff. That is all. They make it competitively, & sell it at a profit & produce a surplus capital which results in growth. Why are they competitive? This is even a simpler answer. Their economy is not driven by the monopoly of a handful of landlords & banks controlling the bulk of the property & financial markets with no competition & regulation. Britain was the first modern industrial nation in the world & was famously referred to as the workshop of the world, because it was making things the rest of the world wanted. This is exactly what we have stopped doing. Because, we seem to prefer land and bank monopolies to control our governments & future destiny.

K Savage
November 2009

CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

Palestinian children

 I deliberately have not done much writing in this section of the website, because some geek referred to it as my blog. What the fuck is blog? That's geeks for you. I certainly don't see it as a blog thing. Or whatever they call these things.

But right now, I feel as outraged as when my town was being blown up in July 2007 as I was trying to get to work. Again it involves bombs. Except they are bigger bombs & a lot more of them & in a different part of the world. The Gaza Strip, specifically. Very recently they got 170 million dollars worth of it.

13 days ago the State of Israel took it upon itself to start the most devastating aerial, sea & land attack on the Gaza strip This unilateral action was sanctioned by the Israeli Cabinet & which currently enjoys 80% support of the population of Israel. This is not the first time, as we all know. In fact since 1948 there has been over 101 United Nation Resolutions on the issue of Palestine & Israel. Over 60 of these resolutions have condemned, recommended, demanded & even politely asked for The State Israel to remove its Citizens from Occupied territories & allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland & or compensate them. Not one has been complied with. Somehow they are the chosen ones & they do not need to comply with any rule of law or morality. Their mandate is also from upstairs, just like Hammas' & Hezbollah's. The argument being, which on the surface is perfectly valid, how would you like it if a neighbouring country constantly fired missiles at you?? Well I would be pissed off. But more importantly, I would want to know why they are doing it. Here are a few possible reasons why they keep chuking rockets over the border in to Israel;

• a) The whole of Gaza strip has been openly recognised as an Urban Concentration Camp for many years by every agency working within it.
• b) The inhabitants have no freedom & right of movement in or out.
• c) Their elected representatives, Hammas, have been tagged as Terrorists from day one, even though they were voted in. So the majority of Palestinians in Gaza are terrorists.
• d) the disputed territories & illegal settlements are still outstanding.
• e) Implementation of historical UN resolutions still outstanding.
• f) Palestinian Refugees are not permitted to return to their homelands after being displaced in the numerous wars.

I would suggest that your average Palestinian is really really pissed off. They are hated. Hungry, dispossessed & forgotten. They have been dehumanised to a point of no return. They have little else to loose. It has been going on since the Balfour Treaty in 1917. So they fire off their stupid homemade rockets. In the past 8 years 18 Israelis, I stress 18 too many, have lost lives to these attacks. In the past 13 days 700 Gazans have been killed. 220 have been children. 90 of them women. On the first 2 days of the conflict our prime minister, Gordon Brown, called for """""Calm""""". The current US president stated that "Israel must do what it has to do to protect herself." The President elect Barak Obama, "Yes we Can't", has said nothing. The EU president said that "Israel has the right to Self Defence & therefore correct to act in this way". Essentially we are now all party to one of the most tragic massacres in recent years. Simply by association. We vote for these super beings. The one thing we hear over & over again is that the responsibility is with the "Hammas Terrorists". They make us drop bombs on kids by being in an intensely over populated area. "YOU MADE ME DO IT."

The Philosophy/ideology or what ever we want to call this madness is that of a bully, a murder or a rapist. They never take responsibility for what they have just done to some one. It is always the other sides fault. It is the prefect mindset. You effectively get off the hook if you say what you have done is a direct result & reaction to the other side. Bosh! Job done & let's kill a few more kids. Has any one noticed the smirk on their military spokeswoman, or foreign minister? No shame. No regrets. Nothing. How do they sleep at nights? I wonder!

There are 2 schools of thought on this, one that says, oh well, it is all politics, complex, both sides are right, etc, etc, etc... The other thread is that it is simply not acceptable to target civilians & children. This is the bit that Geneva Convention covered. It is the same bit that puts Saddam Hussein, Milosevic, Himler, Goring, et al on trial. The funny thing with war crime trials is that it is always done a few years after the event. Any of the lovely chaps above would not have dreamt of being at the stand giving evidence to justify their actions. But they did. In the case of Israel, I believe that over a period of years there will be war crime action brought against them, because what is being committed is criminal in its entirety. We must remember that the press were not allowed in the area, until last night, under Israeli army supervision. We must also note that Hammas does not have a Department of Spin & PR & if they do, it is quite rubbish. In my view, in order to end up with an entity called Hammas, Hezbollah, or whatever, you must have some one behaving like the government of Israel. In other words, they create these monsters by their outrages systematic acts of violence towards a people. In this case, Palestinians. The sheer frustration, angst, disappointment & anger will result in your extremist being the elected body. The hero of the day. If you recall Margaret Thatcher called nelson Mandela a terrorist, Jerry Adams & Martin McGuinness were also locked up as terrorists, & better still the Jews in central Europe were branded as terrorists by the Third Reich. I will draw a historical parallel here. Hitler was elected into power. Hitler enjoyed incredible mass support for his policies from the German people. Hitler played the blame game incredibly well. The world stood by & watched. The world decided not to say anything. And humanity chose to ignore everything. The end result was 6 million Jews being killed in Europe. Then to bring that madness to an end, they had to Kill 100,000 Japanese to end the nightmare. Europe ended up with Hitler because Europe was bust. They needed a solution. They needed an escape goat. European Jews became the target. The rest of our beloved humanity abandoned them. Just as we have abandoned the Palestinians. Rule of international law & human decency were binned without a blink. Fascism was sold as nationalism & patriotism. Resistance as terrorism.

As a result of this Jewish people, bear a deep scar. They are a traumatised people. They can not forgive or forget. This historical mass murder endured by the Jewish people had to result in a new State that will jump & bite at the drop of hat. The State of Israel, which has ended up short changing the very people it has to represent. It is so bad, so paranoid & so inward that even if you utter a word of criticism towards the State of Israel, you are readily accused of being anti-Semitic. It is ironic that the same United Nation mandate that enables European Jews to settle in Palestine, ie. a right to remain to their homeland, is entirely ignored by the Government of Israel when it comes to allowing displaced Palestinians return to their lands from Jordan, Gaza, Syria & Egypt. But Israel is not alone in this psychology of the trauma. See the way the IRA behaved Vs the Brits. The Black majority behave in South Africa towards one another. Setting people on fire for relatively minor crime!! Or the knee-cappings in Northern Ireland. The practices are varied as per locality but the approach seems to be the same. Inhuman, overt & incredibly violent. Because they do not wish to even consider another moment of going back to what was before. Dehumanisation results in more of the same. At a singular level, if you look at rapists or serial murderers you can track back disturbing childhood stories. The tortured seeks to torture. It is the sick nature of our being, apparently.

The solution in here is a simple one. If we genuinely want peace & tranquillity, then we can not have events such as Gaza, South Lebanon & so on to take place. If we do, we will end up with extremists & idiotic fanatics such as Hammas & Hezbollah & previous & current Israeli prime ministers. If only there were such things as mass therapy/counselling. They say pictures can tell a big story. Children are children. Take a look & see if you see any difference in any shape or form what so ever. I see none & that is why I am pissed off. We have simply not learnt nor progressed. Shame on the lot of us who continue to sit on the fence. Today it is the Palestinian children. Yesterday the Jewish ones & god knows who's kid is next.

Polish (1940), Palestinian (2009), Austrian (1941) children

K. Savage
8th January 2009