In which Peter Hitchens makes up my mind for me: Dammit, there are so many things going on about which I should be able to analyse and then take a reasoned position but, dammit, I never quite get round to it! Take this problem of Ms. Shamima Begum, for example. Should we strip her of her British identity and leave her and her baby to rot in the 'fester-pit' which she chose, or not? Immediately you enter a multi-handed dilemma - on the one hand this, on the other hand that until you end up turning in circles. Thus, yet again, I am grateful to Mr. Peter Hitchens in The Mail for making up what passes for my mind for me.
If we allow politicians to strip Shamima Begum’s citizenship from her, they will get a taste for it. And so will our own, home-grown mob. And those who think they are leading mobs always end up discovering that they are, in fact, being chased by them. That never ends well.
Sorted! Thanks, Mr. Hitchens … again.
You never stop learning: And that is why I am signing on at my local Technical College for a course in 'Tapology'. This is an unbelievably complex science but I must master it given the decrepit - 'decrapit?' - state of my waste disposal system since those 'Brainiacs' at Taunton Hospital zapped me with their 'death rays'. I now visit sundry toilets a day - and night - and consequently wash my hands on an almost non-stop basis. Or at least, I would if only I could get the hang of these bloody, new-fangled taps some 'smart-arse' has designed and which defy logic as to how you may extract water from them! This morning I made use of my friend's bathroom and was faced with a beautifully sculpted tap which appeared to be totally solid. I tried to twist it and turn it and in the end thumped it but all to no avail. In the end, I found out that the sculpted top which made it appear solid was in fact hinged and if lifted that produced water! Grrrrrrrrrh!
Stand by, Master Thomas Cromwell, I am about to visit you: I mentioned a few days ago that I was about to launch into Diarmaid MacCulloch's 'yuuuuuuuuge' history, "Thomas Cromwell: A Life". Of course, the rest of the world has already done that and enjoyed it by reading Hilary Mantel's novels and the very successful TV series. I avoided them, not because I doubt Ms. Mantel's skill but I am always chary of fictionalised history as opposed to real scholastic history. You only have to check out the historical nonsense perpetrated by that country bumpkin from Stratford to know what I mean! Anyway, I will let you know in due course what I make of it but, given the size of it, I may be some time!
Joke of the day - week? - month? - year? According to the very naughty boy who runs Zero Hedge, some satirical magazine/site 'over there' has suggested that the lying, little 'scrote' who, with the help of two hired black guys, invented an incident in which he was racially assaulted, has been offered a job by CNN "after witnessing his skills at fabricating a story entirely out of thin air."
Hmmmn, got that one wrong! I vaguely remember that when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first appeared as the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia and indicated that he would ease the harsh rules and regulations governing the ladies of his land, I expressed some hopeful remarks that perhaps - maybe - possibly - things might change for the civilised better in that ghastly land. Then he slaughtered that dodgy Saudi correspondent, and yesterday, on a visit to China, he offered some mitigating excuses for the fact that the Chinese government had imprisoned millions of Uighur Muslims and slaughtered thousands of them. With a friend and co-religionist like that, who needs enemies?!
No more rumbles
Once you renounce and denounce your country as this person did and choose another society you give up your rights in the former.
Might seem a bit harsh but there is also a broader message to those who want a fling at a society hostile to yours and then when it turns out not so good want to come back.
Western societies are slow to learn that we are in a long battle for survival.
Posted by: AussieD | Sunday, 24 February 2019 at 10:46
Hear, hear Gaffer.
I vomit in my mouth a little at the thought of that bitch back in the UK bringing up a child.
But I also remember Gordon Brown swearing blind he wouldn't use Jack Straw's anti-terrorist laws for anything other than terrorism - yet when Iceland impounded UK assets in some row or other a few years back, he immediately impounded Iceland's assets using those very anti-terrorism laws.
Brit pols are the greater evil, greater even than a Jihadi Mum.
However, just remind me why you would want Brit pols to have unfettered control over us and why you would want to remove a layer of inspection and governance from them?
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Sunday, 24 February 2019 at 10:54
OzD,
Jews left Germany in the 1930's and "renounced and denounced" their country.
You saying they have no right to return?
The Jerry government doesn't agree with you, Jews are welcome back in what the Gaffer calls "The Fourth Reich".
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Sunday, 24 February 2019 at 11:03
SoD,
"However, just remind me why you would want Brit pols to have unfettered control over us and why you would want to remove a layer of inspection and governance from them?"
How about British voters finally take hold of the pols and their own government while they still can. It could get noisy and messy. That's just the price of it. Is there no majority of citizens up for it anymore?
Posted by: Whitewall | Sunday, 24 February 2019 at 13:12
SoD,
It's difficult to keep up with your degree of anti-authoritarianism and to tell when you're trolling, but good points all. Let's hope there are enough Europeans like the you of this thread:
https://www.apnews.com/1766c107d0d74a69b5edfbeff41e9a25
Posted by: Bob | Sunday, 24 February 2019 at 15:50
SoD,
Sorry, I should have written something like "how anti-authority you are". Given our current leadership, I've had authoritarianism on my mind lately.
Posted by: Bob | Sunday, 24 February 2019 at 16:04
"With a friend and co-religionist like that, who needs enemies?!" Only as long as he is useful. There is no better killer of Muslims than other Muslims.
Posted by: Whitewall | Sunday, 24 February 2019 at 18:01
David,
I hope both you and the Mrs. are recovering and the US version of the 'Speccie' hasn't walled y'all off:
https://spectator.us/mom-tested-stds-manaforts-home-life/
Can American politics get any more surreal? My guess would be "yes".
Posted by: Bob | Sunday, 24 February 2019 at 20:03
Jews left Germany in the 1930's and "renounced and denounced" their country.
You saying they have no right to return?
Wrong analogy SoD. The Jews leaving Hitler's Germany were leaving a system which systematically deprived them of their citizenship, their property and any protection under the laws imposed. If they stayed they were destined for the Concentration Camps.
Those who returned to Germany after WW2 were returning to a different regime where they were not going to be arrested or murdered purely because of the accident of birth into a particular religion.
You can hardly compare the almost obsequious way the UK treats radical Muslims with the treatment meted out to Jews by the Third Reich. Rotherham and the other child sex crimes and the official inertia in doing anything about it spring to mind.
If you choose to commit cultural suicide so be it.
Shalom
Posted by: AussieD | Sunday, 24 February 2019 at 21:45
Thank you for your good wishes, Bob, and as to your last question, well, it all reminds me of the Kennedys, the Clintons, etc, etc!
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 24 February 2019 at 22:11
"How about British voters finally take hold of the pols and their own government while they still can. It could get noisy and messy. That's just the price of it. Is there no majority of citizens up for it anymore?"
Spoken like a "democratic centralist"!
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov would be proud, Comrade!
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Monday, 25 February 2019 at 08:26
UGH!
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 25 February 2019 at 11:18
David, that's cute, but under Sodium Pentothal you'd admit there's a difference.
Posted by: Bob | Monday, 25 February 2019 at 14:36
Bob, I prefer dry martinis - served very cold!
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 25 February 2019 at 16:03
At least democratic centralism has a certain evil logic to it that its cousin radical centrism lacks. The difference is the unbelievably dumb idea that somewhere between a third and half a loaf is better than none, even if it advances your opponents' cause. It also assumes politics can be conducted in a wrote, unemotional way, which misses the whole point of politics. It's closely related to the "third way":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_centrism
Posted by: Bob | Monday, 25 February 2019 at 16:10
Thanks Bob for making me vomit in my mouth a little for the second time in a day ...
"For example, British radical-centrist politician Nick Clegg considers himself an heir to political theorist John Stuart Mill".
Liberals like Clegg are merely authoritarians with good intentions.
It's Libertarians that are the opposite of Authoritarians of all types including the well meanings ones, and JSM was a Libertarian.
Why would you put a person like Clegg who has no track record in running so much as a whelkstall in charge of an industry no matter how well intentioned?
JSM specifically said if you must do social, do it at the bottom not the top. In other words, don't tip the tax take into the state system and public sector, at all, ever. Turn the tax take around as buying power at source and at the bottom, the ordinary folks, as tax cuts or subsidies to individuals.
Then you don't need any authoritarians, including the well meaning ones and the supposedly democratically mandated ones.
Democracy is Liberty's little bitch, not the other way round.
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Monday, 25 February 2019 at 21:14
SoD,
As long as there are authoritarian followers there will be authoritarian leaders. That's a feature of human psychology that's been studied extensively. Hannah Arendt was one of the more influential writers on the subject, though we know a lot more now.
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." - H. L. Mencken
It usually works on enough people.
Posted by: Bob | Monday, 25 February 2019 at 22:28