Wednesday, August 14, 2019
tiny_post
Seems a bit quiet at the moment. Probably a good time to do a tiny little post. Save me some effort. No point just typing for the sake of it. I insist on posting daily though!
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Witching Season, Part II
I said I'd follow up the Caroline Lucas "all female" cabinet story. It's fairly easy to do so. She was roundly criticised, not just by people on the other side of the fence, but also by people on her own side, who complained that her proposed cabinet was an "all white list of women" lmao. Something she's subsequently apologised for.
I wouldn't normally put lmao in a blog post, but it really is just getting a bit mad now. It's beyond satire even.
It seems like the progressive left have well and truly entered a purity spiral. Where the standards to become a member become ever higher. This is normally something you would associated with the alt-right - that's not the alt-right as envisioned by the mainstream media, i.e. anyone with an opinion about immigration other than complete open borders. But the actual unironic alt-right, the small minority of people who want an actual racial ethnostate.
It goes like this. They want their racial enthnostate, but the problem then comes "who gets in?". What counts as white European? Do we let the Italians in? What about the Irish? What about people that just "look" a bit dark?
"Steve has a great-grandmother who was an immigrant, do we let him in?"
Where do you draw the line?
The requirements to count as "pure" spiral ever upwards until no one's left that can fit. The bar becomes too high for anyone, even those deciding where the bar is.
This is what happens when an ideology is faced with reality. Either it's accepted that the idea is wrong, in this case that there's no such thing as a pure racial type, or you keep refining the criteria in an attempt to find it, excluding ever more people. (Or of course you just lie, to both yourself and others. As many with this ideology often end up doing).
In progressive politics we now have a similar situation. The ideology that is in people's heads, that says there must be absolute "equality" in all things, when confronted with a natural world or set of circumstances that doesn't quite fit, goes into spiral mode. Anyone not whiter than white (pardon the pun, but it's the perfect analogy) is excluded. Even Caroline Lucas, one of the most progressive politicians on the block, can be denounced as horrible, racist and prejudiced.
For all my criticism of her political positions she's clearly a very nice woman. She's certainly not a racist that's for sure. So it's just crazy for anyone to have any such complaints about her ..but as they say in the ironic, media-labelled alt-right, they end up eating their own.
How far this all goes and where it all ends is anyone's guess. However, you would think that surely examples such as this latest one will go someway in highlighting the absurdity. We're creating standards of progressivism that even the progressives making the rules can't live up to. Something has to give.
Finally, on a side note, I became aware of the following article from the Guardian from about a week ago. Stating that women are turning to witchcraft to counter Trump. It's another lmao. I thought I better highlight it as it once again fits very nicely with the Halloween theme.
I wouldn't normally put lmao in a blog post, but it really is just getting a bit mad now. It's beyond satire even.
It seems like the progressive left have well and truly entered a purity spiral. Where the standards to become a member become ever higher. This is normally something you would associated with the alt-right - that's not the alt-right as envisioned by the mainstream media, i.e. anyone with an opinion about immigration other than complete open borders. But the actual unironic alt-right, the small minority of people who want an actual racial ethnostate.
It goes like this. They want their racial enthnostate, but the problem then comes "who gets in?". What counts as white European? Do we let the Italians in? What about the Irish? What about people that just "look" a bit dark?
"Steve has a great-grandmother who was an immigrant, do we let him in?"
Where do you draw the line?
The requirements to count as "pure" spiral ever upwards until no one's left that can fit. The bar becomes too high for anyone, even those deciding where the bar is.
This is what happens when an ideology is faced with reality. Either it's accepted that the idea is wrong, in this case that there's no such thing as a pure racial type, or you keep refining the criteria in an attempt to find it, excluding ever more people. (Or of course you just lie, to both yourself and others. As many with this ideology often end up doing).
In progressive politics we now have a similar situation. The ideology that is in people's heads, that says there must be absolute "equality" in all things, when confronted with a natural world or set of circumstances that doesn't quite fit, goes into spiral mode. Anyone not whiter than white (pardon the pun, but it's the perfect analogy) is excluded. Even Caroline Lucas, one of the most progressive politicians on the block, can be denounced as horrible, racist and prejudiced.
For all my criticism of her political positions she's clearly a very nice woman. She's certainly not a racist that's for sure. So it's just crazy for anyone to have any such complaints about her ..but as they say in the ironic, media-labelled alt-right, they end up eating their own.
How far this all goes and where it all ends is anyone's guess. However, you would think that surely examples such as this latest one will go someway in highlighting the absurdity. We're creating standards of progressivism that even the progressives making the rules can't live up to. Something has to give.
Finally, on a side note, I became aware of the following article from the Guardian from about a week ago. Stating that women are turning to witchcraft to counter Trump. It's another lmao. I thought I better highlight it as it once again fits very nicely with the Halloween theme.
(meme magic vs witchcraft, the
final showdown)
Monday, August 12, 2019
The Witching Season Is Getting Nearer
I really need to keep this short as I have to head on out pretty soon. However, I feel this is one I could write a fair bit about.
Yesterday the following article appeared, where the Green MP Caroline Lucas calls for a "cabinet of national unity" made up of 10 all female MPs.
Where do you start with this one. Again, I'll have to get up and go take a shower in a few minutes so I can't overindulge (I've wasted enough time changing her face colour lol), but it ticks so many boxes. Brexit hysteria, gender politics, parliamentary shenanigans. It feels totemic. It's part amusing, part terrifying. Perhaps I should come back to it tomorrow maybe.
The point I will make here though is a point I've made before. Imagine these politicians were prepared to go to these lengths to tackle homelessness or knife crime, or the myriad other real problems we have.
It's very telling that of all the things they're prepared to cause chaos over this is the topic they choose - the fear that we'll leave an economic union.
..something that a majority of the voting population actually voted for too.
Yesterday the following article appeared, where the Green MP Caroline Lucas calls for a "cabinet of national unity" made up of 10 all female MPs.
(The Guardian article. I'll be honest, her face wasn't green
in the original image. I did that. I just couldn't resist. The first thing that
sprung to mind when I saw the article was a witches' coven. Sorry
if that's too un-PC, but it all fits so nicely with the Halloween theme)
Where do you start with this one. Again, I'll have to get up and go take a shower in a few minutes so I can't overindulge (I've wasted enough time changing her face colour lol), but it ticks so many boxes. Brexit hysteria, gender politics, parliamentary shenanigans. It feels totemic. It's part amusing, part terrifying. Perhaps I should come back to it tomorrow maybe.
The point I will make here though is a point I've made before. Imagine these politicians were prepared to go to these lengths to tackle homelessness or knife crime, or the myriad other real problems we have.
It's very telling that of all the things they're prepared to cause chaos over this is the topic they choose - the fear that we'll leave an economic union.
..something that a majority of the voting population actually voted for too.
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Autumn Calling
Kinda feels like the first day of autumn today. First time I've noticed it feel a bit chilly. Saying that I'm sat in shorts and t-shirt with the windows open, so it can't be that bad really. Still though it feels a bit damp and grey. Hopefully we'll get a few more spurts of summer before we head fully into autumn.
It'll start gradually getting colder as we gradually head towards Brexit. Some things transcend normal day to day politics and the seasonal weather cycle is one of them. We can't control the weather, we just have to work around it.
My first thought when the Brexit date was pushed back to Halloween was the weather. Spring is a new beginning, by Halloween you're heading into winter. Brexit followed by 3 months of summer is different to Brexit followed by three months of winter. Again, you just can't escape the weather. It's bigger than politics. Dark depressing nights, icy roads, all that jazz. So leaving at the beginning of November isn't going to be appealing to many people. It's the main reason I suspect it will be delayed. (Yet again).
Personally I'd leave in a blizzard, but that's just me. With green/blue eyes and freckled skin I feel like I'm genetically primed for dark nights, damp weather and bonfires. So Guy Fawkes might be fun if we do actually leave. I'm not optimistic though.
If we do leave though as planned one positive will be the Christmas economic spending bounce. Everyone will be spending more money buying presents and decorations and the economy will get its yearly kick.
Another positive regarding the weather is that it's going to be pretty cold around the leaving date. Hopefully if it's pouring down it'll make it less likely that all the outraged middle class remainers will head out onto the streets. It's easy to protest and have a nice day out when the weather is clement, but when you're soaked through and your cleverly worded placard is damp and dripping wet it's not quite the same. Likewise with the Tommy Robinson leave idiots. Not quite as easy to be all shouty and angry in the biting cold.
Perhaps we'll have some type of minor Armada moment where Providence brings a stormy tempest to disperse all the protesters from the streets.
Hopefully it'll piss down every day in the week running up to Halloween, then be nice and dry for the Guy Fawkes Day celebrations :)
It'll start gradually getting colder as we gradually head towards Brexit. Some things transcend normal day to day politics and the seasonal weather cycle is one of them. We can't control the weather, we just have to work around it.
My first thought when the Brexit date was pushed back to Halloween was the weather. Spring is a new beginning, by Halloween you're heading into winter. Brexit followed by 3 months of summer is different to Brexit followed by three months of winter. Again, you just can't escape the weather. It's bigger than politics. Dark depressing nights, icy roads, all that jazz. So leaving at the beginning of November isn't going to be appealing to many people. It's the main reason I suspect it will be delayed. (Yet again).
Personally I'd leave in a blizzard, but that's just me. With green/blue eyes and freckled skin I feel like I'm genetically primed for dark nights, damp weather and bonfires. So Guy Fawkes might be fun if we do actually leave. I'm not optimistic though.
If we do leave though as planned one positive will be the Christmas economic spending bounce. Everyone will be spending more money buying presents and decorations and the economy will get its yearly kick.
Another positive regarding the weather is that it's going to be pretty cold around the leaving date. Hopefully if it's pouring down it'll make it less likely that all the outraged middle class remainers will head out onto the streets. It's easy to protest and have a nice day out when the weather is clement, but when you're soaked through and your cleverly worded placard is damp and dripping wet it's not quite the same. Likewise with the Tommy Robinson leave idiots. Not quite as easy to be all shouty and angry in the biting cold.
Perhaps we'll have some type of minor Armada moment where Providence brings a stormy tempest to disperse all the protesters from the streets.
Hopefully it'll piss down every day in the week running up to Halloween, then be nice and dry for the Guy Fawkes Day celebrations :)
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Power Cut Strangeness
Yesterday was an odd one. What with the power cuts an' all. Fortunately my area was unaffected, which is the main thing :) It was quite strange though as it seemed to affect multiple parts of the country and not just a specific region. Which I guess would suggest it was more a systemic issue, rather than an actual physical issue or breakage in a particular part of the power network. It also seemed to disproportionately affect the transport network - though that may just be a false impression I have based on what I saw in the media. The loss of power at Newcastle Airport seemed especially odd given how remote it was from all the other areas affected.
Director of operations, Duncan Burt (I have no idea who that is I'm just copying a BBC article) stated it was an incredibly rare event, "the near simultaneous loss of two large power stations". The article also states that he did not believe it was a cyber attack.
Obviously I have no real idea what happened, but I would lean towards the idea that it was either a test of some sort (one necessitating that the public be kept in the dark), a cyber attack, or some other sort of digital malfunction.
Having watched more of the Duncan Burt interview he seems to suggest that power was deliberately directed away from transport services and hospitals by the system in response to the power shortage - a kind of automatic systems response. Explaining the disproportionate affect on the transport network perhaps. However, again this seems odd given that you'd think the system would prioritise hospitals and transport in such a circumstance. Something he acknowledged when pressed by the interviewer, saying it needed looking into.
So we have the simultaneous loss of two power stations. Unlikely, but certainly possible. Yet also a failure in how the network responded to the crisis. Again perfectly possible, these things happen. However, taken together with the loss of the two power stations we have a series of unlikely occurrences it seems.
Hopefully it won't happen again anytime soon.
Director of operations, Duncan Burt (I have no idea who that is I'm just copying a BBC article) stated it was an incredibly rare event, "the near simultaneous loss of two large power stations". The article also states that he did not believe it was a cyber attack.
Obviously I have no real idea what happened, but I would lean towards the idea that it was either a test of some sort (one necessitating that the public be kept in the dark), a cyber attack, or some other sort of digital malfunction.
Having watched more of the Duncan Burt interview he seems to suggest that power was deliberately directed away from transport services and hospitals by the system in response to the power shortage - a kind of automatic systems response. Explaining the disproportionate affect on the transport network perhaps. However, again this seems odd given that you'd think the system would prioritise hospitals and transport in such a circumstance. Something he acknowledged when pressed by the interviewer, saying it needed looking into.
So we have the simultaneous loss of two power stations. Unlikely, but certainly possible. Yet also a failure in how the network responded to the crisis. Again perfectly possible, these things happen. However, taken together with the loss of the two power stations we have a series of unlikely occurrences it seems.
Hopefully it won't happen again anytime soon.
Friday, August 9, 2019
Shrinking Island
Quick post today. Big news today seems to be that the UK economy has shrank by 0.2% between April and June. I blame Brexit. People were so disappointed that we hadn't left that they just stopped working and putting the effort in.
Seriously though it's always hard to read these things. July was hot as hell, so it'll be interesting to see what this quarter will look like, plus we're heading into another potential leave scenario. One poor quarter we can kind of dismiss it. Two on the bounce, with Brexit on the horizon, people will be hysterical. Also it flips the narrative a bit too. So far Brexiteers like myself have been able to say "look, the economy's doing great, all the doomsayers were wrong ..the European economies however.."
That was never going to last forever though. So it will most definitely now affect the dialogue. When you make such a big song and dance about economic numbers. Whether in a positive or negative way. When the numbers flip you're always going to get a lot of detractors saying "..ha, but you were happy to use these statistics when they were in your favour."
Seriously though it's always hard to read these things. July was hot as hell, so it'll be interesting to see what this quarter will look like, plus we're heading into another potential leave scenario. One poor quarter we can kind of dismiss it. Two on the bounce, with Brexit on the horizon, people will be hysterical. Also it flips the narrative a bit too. So far Brexiteers like myself have been able to say "look, the economy's doing great, all the doomsayers were wrong ..the European economies however.."
That was never going to last forever though. So it will most definitely now affect the dialogue. When you make such a big song and dance about economic numbers. Whether in a positive or negative way. When the numbers flip you're always going to get a lot of detractors saying "..ha, but you were happy to use these statistics when they were in your favour."
Thursday, August 8, 2019
UK: Football vs Politics
It's transfer deadline day for the English Premier League today, so Brexit has to take a backseat. In Britain there's a hierarchy and football is very much on top. We could be going to war, but the football season's starting and it's much more important to know who Manchester United may or may not be signing. Sadly, I'm just as bad as everyone else, so I'm much more consumed by the football at the moment.
In fact, I should really check the football calendar to see what clashes with the Halloween leaving date. If it's a dreaded international break then Brexit will be front and centre (no one wants to see an England friendly these days), but if there's a big game in the Premier League most people won't even notice Brexit happening. If on the other hand there's a big Champions League tie then that could be problematic. If fans miss an important game because of chaos at the border then that will probably mean a new Prime Minister. Or at the very least a Cobra meeting.
Of course, for all the doom and gloom constantly touted by the financial experts in regard Brexit - the so-called "uncertainty in the markets" - there's a rather distinct lack of it in the football world.
We don't see footballers and their agents going;
"Hmm, well, we would go to Manchester City, but what with the Brexit uncertainty an' all we'd probably better wait until we known for sure what the situation is."
The real world and the real market forces continue unabashed in the footballing world it seems.
In fact, I should really check the football calendar to see what clashes with the Halloween leaving date. If it's a dreaded international break then Brexit will be front and centre (no one wants to see an England friendly these days), but if there's a big game in the Premier League most people won't even notice Brexit happening. If on the other hand there's a big Champions League tie then that could be problematic. If fans miss an important game because of chaos at the border then that will probably mean a new Prime Minister. Or at the very least a Cobra meeting.
Of course, for all the doom and gloom constantly touted by the financial experts in regard Brexit - the so-called "uncertainty in the markets" - there's a rather distinct lack of it in the football world.
We don't see footballers and their agents going;
"Hmm, well, we would go to Manchester City, but what with the Brexit uncertainty an' all we'd probably better wait until we known for sure what the situation is."
The real world and the real market forces continue unabashed in the footballing world it seems.
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