Well, I only produce my Monday Funnies to cheer up all you wage-slaves as you start the week but today being a Bank Holiday, and a sunny one as well, you are all, no doubt, lazing about in your gardens watching the weeds grow! Anyway, I will leave you a Tuesday Funny later tonight because I have an early start for 'Londinium' again tomorrow, so no posts on Tuesday. Anyway, today, as I keep taking shelter indoors from this unbelievably fierce sun, I will leave you the occasional mumble.
Euro founder calls for break-up: Not so much a case of chickens coming home to roost as 14-year old dead turkeys hitting the floor to rot! Courtesy of Ambrose E-P in The Telegraph, allow me to remind you of a long-lost name - Oscar Lafontaine - remember him? He was yet another in a long line of swivel-eyed Germans with a fanatical idea - a common currency for a United States of Europe:
Mr Lafontaine was labelled "Europe's Most Dangerous Man" by The Sun after he called for a "united Europe" and the "end of the nation state" in 1998. The euro was launched on January 1 1999, with bank notes following three years later. He later left the Social Democrats to found the Left Party.
Ah, but that was yesterday, or to be precise, back in 1999. Today, that nasty old real-politik has stuck its oar in and poor old Oscar has had to face reality:
Mr Lafontaine said he backed EMU but no longer believes it is sustainable. "Hopes that the creation of the euro would force rational economic behaviour on all sides were in vain," he said, adding that the policy of forcing Spain, Portugal, and Greece to carry out internal devaluations was a "catastrophe".
He foresees a resurgence of extreme anti-German sentiment across southern Europe including France. Whodathunkit? Well, lots of people, actually, but no-one listened.
Mary Bousted, edukatanist, earns an 'F' for Fail: According to this particularly dim light in the 'edukatanist' firmament, pupils should be allowed to skip the "slow", "boring" openings to the plays because they leave them "gritting their teeth" with boredom. I can only assume that Ms. Boustead teaches 'Media Studies' or 'Japanese Paper Folding' or some such vital subject because it is obvious that she hasn't a clue concerning Shakespeare and his plays. Happily, Ms. Bousted's terminal stupidity has permitted her to, er, rise well above mere class-rooms and reach the exalted heights of being general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. Yeeeees, quite!
Could Adam Smith be proven wrong? A truly fascinating article in Der Spiegel sent to me by the ever alert, 'SoD' - well done, my boy! In it, two economists and directors at the MIT Center for Digital Business dare to forecast the complete overturning of one of the central beliefs of free market capitalism, that is, that no matter if new technology (trains, for example) puts workers in outdated industries (farriers, stablemen, coachmen, etc) out of work, the increase in productivity will provide alternative jobs. According to these two swots this may no longer be the case because the rate of increase in computer controlled automata is such that human work is decreasing. For example, pause and consider for a moment the possible impact of driverless autos which have just been given licences to be tested. The implications, if true, are awesome! A fascinating article, worth reading.
Maybe, just maybe, Obama is nearing a 'Gotcha' moment: I must admit that one of the crucial events which convinced me that Obama would lose the election was the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi followed by the most obvious and disgusting programme of lies and obfuscation put out by his regime. He made Nixon look like a vicar! I thought at the time that American patriotism would be so enraged that they would slaughter Obama at the polls in much the way the American victims were slaughtered in Benghazi. But it didn't happen. Just like the outrage of 'Operation Fast & Furious' in which a Federal government sting took place and went hopelessly wrong leading to the death of an American border guard, a systematic barrage of foot-dragging and out-and-out lying went on and no-one, least of all the Attorney-General, paid a price for it. The deliberate docility of the Obama-lovin' lickspittles in the media was an enormous help, of course. But, as Michael Walsh points out at PJMedia, this time the people feeling betrayed by Obama's inaction at the time and his lying ever since are hard-bitten intelligence and Special Ops types who are thirsty for revenge on behalf of their friends. New Congressional hearings are due and the brown stuff is likely to hit the fan. Obama will be well and truly splattered but so also will 'Hillbilly'. Allow me to mention one word, perhaps more in hope than expectation, but even so - impeachment!
Critics - don'cha lurve 'em? Well, actually I do, at least, some of them. Take for example, Lloyd Evans in The Spectator, I love him because he has just saved me 'loadsa' money! I was trying to work out an underhand way of getting past that implacable backstop, normally referred to here as 'The Memsahib', in order for me to pay over the odds to get a ticket for the ROYAL National Theatre (I like to rub their proper title under their rotten republican noses) production of Othello. I don't have Evans' erudition but I just know that I would share a great many of his views - and his view of this production was exceedingly dim. So, money saved, time better spent and terminal grumpiness avoided - thanks Mr. Evans. And that's the end of this Monday Rumble.
What reckless bastrads they all were.
Posted by: dearieme | Monday, 06 May 2013 at 14:07
'Arrogant' is more the word I would use, DM.
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 06 May 2013 at 16:35
Der Spiegel is interesting as you say, but I wonder. The assumptions made are quite broad. They assume that Moores Law will continue when already we are seeing a slowing due to the limits of current miniturisation of chips (until and unless a new technology can be developed). Then the assumption that 'free market capitalism' has in fact ever been allowed, anywhere.
I suspect that more is being made of this evolution in the use of technology precisely because it is now affecting - their own areas, friends and class.
Just as with the industrialisation of manual labour based jobs these middle class/white collar workers are now wondering what will happen to their particular buggy whip expertise. But just as with the manual labourers the jobs actually increased - they just went elsewhere (the jobs created in Asia far outnumber any losses in the west, and who's fault is it they didn't stay here?).
As for the new technology of driverless cars, self-service check-outs and ATMs - I'm just waiting/hoping for the first computerised politician - now there's an area ripe for some job losses.
Posted by: Able | Monday, 06 May 2013 at 19:01
A "computerised politician"! At least you could switch the bugger off!
Even so, on a day when a working pistol is produced by a 3-d computer machine, you have to wonder.
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 06 May 2013 at 20:22
Never mind Othello, go and see Don Carlo at Covent Garden.
You'll continue your classical music education in the best possible way, it's getting rave reviews, and you'll have a great evening.
I've got the DVD and I can promise you it's brillant.
Posted by: Andrew Duffin | Tuesday, 07 May 2013 at 12:25
Thanks, Andrew, but alas, somehow, in some way, opera just doesn't do it for me. As a theatrical experience it is too slow moving and subtlety goes by the board. Of course, I like the great arias but more and more as I get older I positively dislike the pitch or tone of most sopranos. I'm a lost opera cause, I'm afraid.
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 08 May 2013 at 09:06