Abnormal Normal

-

 


I'm not sure where this 'new normal' is leading us. One thing is for certain, many more people than is usual will die this year, as a direct consequence of this government's mishandling of our economy. Period. The government continues, relentlessly, to uphold the first law of conservatism: don't touch the markets, capital will sort itself out and restore balance to society. This is palpable nonsense wrapped in a cosy blanket of hypocrisy and untruth: these people are paid handsomely to represent their constituents, which for some of them is an automatic shoo-in whatever happens, as they hold the modern electoral equivalent of the Rotten Boroughs of old: basically a dead cert, preaching and appealing solely to the converted - meaning comfortably wealthy - and guaranteed their place in parliament, no matter what tosh they spout.

The cracks, however, are showing, and the Red Wall seats will be the first to turn turtle: there is more common sense borne of desperation, than in times of relative prosperity, when the turn of the vote hinges on the subtleties of the price of, as we used to phrase it, cigarettes and booze, rather than anything of real significance, such as survival itself. The problem with most wealthy Tories - most of our current government are indeed wealthy - is that they simply have no context within which to operate: they have no real point of reference from which to gain any practical perspective on the lives of the vast majority of the population, who, under current economic constraints, will simply have nowhere to go and no resources to survive. It will be a brick wall for them: nowhere forward and nowhere back: just a void. An emergency convening of parliament - on a war footing [that in itself may not be so far away, the way things are going] - is what is needed: an enforced National Government of a coalition of all parties, to sort out this mess before 'business' - read unfettered liberal capitalism - finally shafts the country, its people, and ultimately itself, once and for all.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of Feedback & Wobbles

-
Image
Many years ago I came up with an analogy for poorly damped feedback loops. The feedback loop that prompted this frankly tart analogy was indeed a horror. Anyone who remembers shame-faced their first attempts at clutch control resulting in the good old kangaroo launch across the lights only to stall in the middle of the crossroads will have some idea of the kind of data transfer lag involved in said system. The analogy I made was that of a large blancmange. Untouched, a model of stasis and eminently stable and predictable; but prod the bugger and the resultant chaotic behaviour needs a very complex physical model and some very decent computing horsepower to predict its outputs, if at all. The system in question was a large and complex audio-visual display at what eventually became 'The Electric Mountain' in Llanberis. We were ultimately contracted to maintain the thing having been witness to and peripherally involved in its installation. Certainly not involved in its des...
Read more

A Time of Connection

-
Image
I was just reflecting on the vacuum of continuity that's left behind when someone dies: that sudden sense of disjoint, of fracture, in one's personal history that takes one completely by surprise at the oddest moments. These pinch-points in memory can often yield some surprising revelations of fact about periods in one's past. One such occurred to me tonight, tending my rather lazy meal of pizza in its journey from shrink-wrap to mouth via the oven. Al's recent demise still catches me out from time to time: the space he left bounded by forty plus years of friendship. But the thing that struck me tonight was just how much change was happening on a personal and social level in the very early years of our acquaintance. Between moving here from Birmingham in September 1980 and our buying our first proper house eighteen months later, all manner of things occurred that would chart the course of our lives to the present day. At around the time of our meeting Alan & Irene [...
Read more

Sister Ray

-
Image
Ray Keats - aka Ann Key - local artist & family friend, died this morning. She'd been ill for some years, but never let it get in the way of her work or of tending to the massive network of friends, colleagues and fans she had accumulated over the decades. Her house on the High Street of Rachub, just below where we live - a former cockle factory(!) - bought many years ago when she and her late husband Ronald moved here from Manchester to set up home in Yr Achub, is currently still home to her paintings and drawings, and the front window displays her work, including the last drawing she made in hospital, just days before she died. Her good friend Colin has been a diamond in her latter years, looking out for her and just being there when she needed him. She will be much missed by this tiny community of ageing bohemians up here in the hills, but suffice it to say, George, her cat, will be well looked after now she's gone.
Read more