The Sunday Rumble: 24.9.17

Will 'Mutti' waltz back into power?   Almost certainly, according to the 'experts' but then they said that about 'HillBilly'!  The really serious question is how well, or badly, the Right-wing AfD party will do at today's election?  The thought of an extreme Right-wing party gaining influence in German political circles is enough to make me swallow!  Mind you, just exactly how extreme they are is not clear.  Being anti-EU is not proof positive of Nazi tendencies despite the squeaks and squeals of EU fanatics.  Now, what's the German for 'we shall see what we shall see'?

 

Meanwhile, the bullfight in Catalonia kicks off:   I haven't followed the story in detail but the temperature and pressure between the Spanish government and the provincial Catalan authority seems to be rising by the day as the latter persist in making arrangements for an independence referendum.  What's the Spanish for "Stand-by for incoming"?

 

It's all us old, white men wot dunnit!   Well, when it comes to giggling, or yawning, whenever the tedious subject of anthropological global warming is raised, then according to 'The Graun' it's old, white geezers like me who are to blame.  However, Mr. Ross Clark at The Spectator is quick to provide a context:

But then an awful lot of the people who bang on most about climate change being an ominous threat to Mankind look pretty white and male to me, too. Al Gore, Nicholas Stern, George Monbiot, Lord Gummer and all the rest. Come to think of it, I can’t recall ever seeing a young black female propounding on climate change, either positively or sceptically. It might have something to do with the fact that Western civilisation in general, where a lot of this science is done, after all is still predominantly white. Or maybe the entire field of climate science is what the Guardian would call institutionally racist and sexist.

 

Are our Chief Constables really robots?   There was a time, which may or may not have been quite as blissful as I like to think of it, when Chief Constables were always retired senior army officers.  They may not have been too bright but they usually had some common-sense.  Today, they are all dim 'ex-PC Plods' who have greased their way up the slippery pole by swallowing every bit of politically correct nonsense.  Either that, or the government has secretly replaced them with robots.  A typical example is the Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police who has seized upon allegations that the late Ted Heath was a 'kiddie-fiddler'.  He began his dim-witted campaign by holding a public press conference outside the home of the former PM in which an appeal was made for information from any victims.  Cue: a rush by every publicity-seeking nutter who could smell the chance of financial gain.  So far, the 'investigation' has lasted two years and cost £1.5 million.  A summary is expected on Oct 5th in which it will be admitted that there is not a shred of evidence.  Can we expect that the Chief Constable might be reduced to the ranks?  Don't hold your breath!

 

How hard can it be to land a plane?   That's a question raised in The Telegraph today but happily I can answer it.  It's damned near impossible!  I know this for a fact because, courtesy of my trusty Microsoft Flight Simulator, I have crashed just about every aircraft in more locations than you can think of!  My old joystick still stands on a small table next to my computer, covered in dust, because I haven't touched it for years since I decided to retire from crashing, er, I mean, flying.  Mind you, seeing that article has brought it all back so maybe I might give it another try.  Jolly good show, 'wizard prang' and all that sort of thing!

 

'Jezza' dodges the bullet - again!   The Communist Labour Party (CLP), never comfortable with democracy for any of us, has now decided to ban it for their own members at their party conference.  Like the Tories, they are split between 'Brexiteers' and 'Remoaners' but the 'Central Committee' has decided that they will not permit a public debate on the matter - even if it is far and away the biggest political controversy for decades.  Tells you all you need to know about 'Jezza' and his Comintern!

 

Hitler's underpants sell for £5,000:   Whodathunkit?  Or perhaps more to the point, who would have bought them?  According to The Sun (We Love it!), they came up for auction in Maryland, USA.

I'm sure they are genuine although they seem to be a bit on the voluminous side give that the old song has it that "Hitler, he's only got one ball"!

 

The pollsters were right - for a change:   It looks as though 'Mutti' Merkel has - sort of - won her election but the moderate SPD on whom she was relying to form a coalition government were well and truly spanked and they have opted for opposition.  The big winners were the dreaded Right-wing AfD party, so that leaves 'Mutti' with only the Greenie loonies and the ultra-Left FDP to help her form a coalition government.  One expert is already forecasting another election fairly soon. 

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

Comments

[AussieD]

Duffers you have to get with the vibe. Old white men are responsible for anything that goes wrong, is imagined to go wrong or may at any future time go wrong or be perceived to maybe go wrong at any future time. If it doesn't go wrong when it should have then it is then the fault of old white men.

[Loz]

The dawn of a new era, that of continental Europe unified by diplomacy rather than military means, is upon us, if Merkel wins and can form the right coalition.

Aside from the pitiable agony of contemplating Blighty's blood and treasure expended over a couple of millennia trying to avoid this predicament all for nought, we might start to contemplate the predicament itself: what it is going to be like to have a USE next door?

Between 1945-75 Blighty was a dysfunctional self-harmer in an authoritarian downward spiral to tyranny. Next door, however, was a disunited mainly shambolic counterpart. So although Blighty was rock-bottom, others on the continent weren't much better, to spare us some blushes.

The 1945-75 characteristics of Blighty fettered and mitigated by EU rules and regs for the last four decades - that I bored y'all with last year and before explaining they were still there, while you mocked me and denied them - have been ably demonstrated by both Tory and Labour parties this year to be still there. And the pol party fiasco is just the beginning. As the old resentments: class, race, sub-state nationalism, resurge, you ain't seen nothing yet.

So this time, Blighty, no less a dysfunctional self-harmer, faces a USE next door.

Aside from any flash-in-the-pan golden-haired Thatcher, or other miracles, focus closely on the above outlined situation, and ask yourself: How does that play forward for Blighty?

SoD

[backofanenvelope]

Sod. Why don't you drop us a few lines on what faces the USE? Over run by millions of 3rd world migrants, what does the future hold for the USE? Up to half its under-25 citizens unemployed - what is their future? Declining share of world trade - how to change that? Most of its leaders are childless - import Japanese? Lots of stuff for you to get your teeth into.

[David Duff]

Sort of well done, SoD, because, whilst it was a-historical twaddle, at least you managed it without resorting to four letter expletives, of which, I would remind you, I do not approve!

[ortega]

Hey! I see you care for us. Thank you.
Some people here are gone mad. And they are not very clever neither. We are having to choose between the bad and the worse.
I can't help you with the translation. Does it mean: waiting for further news?

[David Duff]

Ortega, welcome back! We may need you in the next few weeks to provide some background because, as you will know better than us, recent Spanish history can turn exceedingly bloody! I really do hope that it will not.

The phrase "Stand by for incoming" is a military one meaning 'get ready for enemy artillery fire'!

[Timbo]

Perhaps "Cuerpo a Tierra" roughly meaning hit the deck?

[Loz]

BOE,

Having watched the EU, soon to be USE, rise to every challenge and achieve every goal in the last four decades, who'd bet they don't sort whatever challenges come their way or achieve whatever goals they set themselves, going forward?

Everyone said the Euro would take them down. Me too. An Ambrose Evans-Pritchard drone I was. They fronted the problem with resolution and courage, no-one would deny them that, and it won the political day.

And economically, the simple-clever formula they devised and stuck to, that of internal devaluation and reform combined with the pressure valve of freedom of movement of labour and capital, won they economic day. If the Greek authorities refused to make the Greek economy become viable, the labour and capital could move freely to where it needed to go to make a living. Local Greek authorities nil, market forces and EU 1.

The EU has shown that internal devaluation in a currency union is possible. So long as there is political will and freedom of movement for labour and capital. We should have known this of course - the English have been doing it to the Scots, Welsh, and Northern Irish for centuries!

Immigration, Ost Bloc illiberalism, Catalonian independence, Putin / Ukraine, Turkey, et al: the USE will munch its way through them all.

And Blighty? Can you see the same willingness and smartness from anything or anyone up to and including the horizon on the cards for Blighty?

SoD

[Whitewall]

"Immigration, Ost Bloc illiberalism, Catalonian independence, Putin / Ukraine, Turkey, et al: the USE will munch its way through them all."

Sounds Napoleonic!

[Loz]

So, my prediction.

Three possible outcomes. In order of most to least likely: -

(1) Britain re-joins the EU. Unrecognizable terms. Total compliance to the project: -

- Join the Euro
- Join the Schengen area
- Rebate gone
- Move to the centre of this diagram

http://craphound.com/images/5509980924_8227fac906_b.jpg

(2) Britain disintegrates. Scotland, Northern Ireland, London, Wales, Gibraltar, even Cornwall, all join separately. Last of all, the hinterland rump of England disintegrates too, lead by the North and Midlands. The most likely full and final fault lines for the disintegration will be those of the heptarchy, the seven original English kingdoms. Each joining separately over time.

(3) A golden-haired Thatcher flash-in-the-pan miracle.

Sigh. To be honest, it was probably for the best. Maybe you Brexiteers did us a favour. Nothing lasts forever. Life is an endless procession of saying goodbye.

It wasn't all good while it lasted, but some of it was good; good enough to be sorely missed.

I know, it was worth it! It was was worth it for the children. America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand: the torch is all yours now.

Be good. And if you can't be good, be careful.

SoD

[Whitewall]

"politically correct nonsense" = bad ideology that is killing every Western government, institution and culture. It is doing to the West what four decades of Cold War could not. Identity politics, eg "white male" this or that is a large factor in this bad ideology.

[Bob]

SoD,

I sincerely hope the US will come to its collective senses and regain some credibility in leadership, but for now it's been largely ceded to the big EU players.

David,

There were actually plenty of experts who pointed out that it's difficult for a US political party to retain power after two terms of an administration, Clinton was a poor candidate, changing our healthcare system generated backlash, and polling indicated Trump had a path to victory through the former manufacturing states. It just wasn't the narrative popular in the MSM, which is lazy and suffers from group think.

[Pat]

AfD is we are told right wing. What does that mean? Are they, like the original right in favour of an absolute hereditary monarch supported by the holy Catholic Church? Have my doubts. Only KSA and DRNK are even analogous to that worldview today.
Or are they right wing in the sense of nationalist, as against internationalist? Sounds more likely.
What form of nationalism though? And it really matters.
So they love their own country. Question is do they hate others, do they want to rule others?

[Whitewall]

I can land any plane any time. Once.

Merkel got the coalition she earned by misgoverning with bad ideology. She should be in prison. Pat's comment is the right take. The Western media are purveyors of bad ideology and have aided Merkel in destroying Germany. Any political party that forms to stop the madness will immediately be labeled "right wing" or "far right". Lets hope AfD can keep the real neo Nazis out of their ranks though all quarters will do their best to label each member "far right". This is a fight for the future of Germany.

[David Duff]

Pat, you are entirely correct to be wary of these short-hand 'labels' that are bandied about by the media - and even more by bloggers. Stand by for yet another repeat of one of my favourite Shakespeare quotes:

"Hence shall we see,
If power change purpose, what our seemers be."

[Loz]

The FDP aren't ultra-left.

They're centre-right liberals.

They don't hit it off with the green blob, so this coalition will take some forming.

Spells gridlock for any Brexit support from Merkel (unlikely though that was), and grid-lock for Macron and the EU to USE project.

Press the reset button ffs Ange, and have another go. Die of boredom waiting another five years for something to happen.

SoD

[Bob]

The AfD won't control a branch of government like their US counterpart Trumpists. Parliamentary systems do have their advantages.