Politics is in a very surreal and dangerous place this morning.
Here in the UK, Rishi Sunak is desperately trying to muster support for his Rwanda Bill that, at its core, seeks to legislate untrue opinion into law. In the process it deliberately overrides human rights in a way that sets a desperately dangerous precedent.
We have not, in modern history, seen a Prime Minister gamble his or her fate on something so absurd: even Boris Johnson had something more of substance to offer when he fought for Brexit, however misguided he was.
I have no idea whether Sunak will command the House of Commons tonight, and it seems as if no one else has either, Sunak included. But, in a very real sense whether he does or not makes little difference: the fact that he has actually tried to promote legislation so bad that the House of Lords will have to challenge it, and thereafter the Supreme Court would have to rule it illegal, despite the backing of parliament, is so dangerous that the crisis that we are in is hard to comprehend.
The crisis is not just here in the UK, however. At COP 28, it would appear that OPEC has taken control. The world over, everyone knows that we have to phase out the use of fossil fuels if there is to be a chance of continuing human life here on earth. But, in their own interests, the OPEC countries are trying to water down the international commitment to that process, merely seeking that the use of such fuels be reduced.
This is as dangerous as Sunak's attempt to legislate false opinion. In the pursuit of the interests of a few, Sunak and OPEC are both threatening the stability of society as we have known it, quite consciously aware of the consequences, and apparently indifferent to them.
I have often felt that we are close to a tipping point. Today, that feels closer than ever, and apart from drawing attention to the issue, I have little other clue what to do about it. It feels like some people are driving the world towards insanity, and no one is sure how to stop them.
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And that’s why ordinary people should not feel overly guilty that climate change, inequality, the death of democracy etc are ‘our fault’. Of course we should all do our best to avert or mitigate disaster in whatever way we can, but it’s the nutcases in the driving seat that are actually responsible for driving us towards the cliff-edge at high speed. We’re trapped in the back seat with the child-locks on the door.
Definitely sympathise, but if those at the top aren’t going to save us, then who’s left but us ordinary folk to act? The great Carl Sagan nails whats at stake here…
Join the dots. Look at the interconnectedness of things. Find the leverage points and work on the ones you can work on.
I’m part of a team that’s been working on this for the last year or so:
https://publish.obsidian.md/carbon-dots/%E2%97%8F+Welcome
It’s a spin-off from the Carbon Almanac: https://thecarbonalmanac.org/
Lots of people are doing good things, but you won’t hear about them in the media because despair is what the 1% want – it leads to inaction:
A couple of examples:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/just-build-power-stations
https://www.earthruns.com/
Thanks
In your first paragraph you neatly encapsulate the problem that in the last 45 years has done so much to destroy everything that was good and effective in Britain, Tory governments that ” legislate untrue opinion into Law” Excellent phrase.
Where do you start?
Monetarism.
Trickle-down economics.
It is all the fault of Trade Unions
The “market” knows best.
A modern society can thrive without a strong manufacturing base.
Public Services need to be turned into Pseudo-markets to be more efficient.
All Public Services need a major top down reorganisation.
Austerity.
Brexit.
Etc. Etc.
Name your own list.
I think the only difference between now and 1979 is that now there are blogs and social media around like yours and it makes it much harder for them to conceal the failure, the incompetence and the corruption.
Thank you! You are so right in what you say.
One source of hope in these distracted times is that there are now valuable sources of information and sensible discourse, such as this, which is provided by Richard.
It really is a time when choosing to ” live with one’s head in a bucket” becomes increasingly unacceptable.
Change will only occur when enough ” ordinary” people want and demand it, and the Establishment are running out of ways to prevent sufficient numbers from doing so.
And the information is there for those who seek.
It’s an insane mix of ignorance, arrogance, self interested greed and failure of imagination I’m seeing.
I was reading the Covid enquiry minutes the other day to see that Rishi as Chancellor had panicked because a sale of gits had failed during Covid that gave him the impression that the Government relied on private funds to spend!!!!!!!
I couldn’t believe what I was reading – that a person of high office would seem to genuinely think like that and be so wrong about the tools he had to play with.
All I can say about Rishi and many other of our crap politicians is sod your convictions – it’s about time you read the bloody manual about how to do things properly!
Sickening and maddening in equal measure.
PSR wrote: “I was reading the Covid enquiry minutes the other day to see that Rishi as Chancellor had panicked because a sale of gi(l)ts had failed during Covid that gave him the impression that the Government relied on private funds to spend!!!!!!!”
Let’s not forget that Sunak was in charge of the UK Treasury at that time and therefore ultimately responsible for control of the entire economy. How on earth did he get the job when he clearly didn’t understand its fundamentals? It tells us every everything about Boris’s leadership and, no surprise, that Boris had no better understanding than Sunak. Lunatics and the Asylum come to mind.
That’s precisely my point Ken to be honest.
How can those in charge be so wrong?
I cannot say for sure if writing ‘gits’ instead of ‘gilts’ was entirely a mistake!! The word does come to mind when thing about the Tories.
“Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.” John Lennon
In an Opinion piece in today’s Guardian (“The new ‘Rwanda deal’ was a shock to Rwandans. We know this is no place for asylum seekers”), the Rwandan Opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza says:
“I was sentenced to 15 years’ jail for speaking out about the government in my country. Its human rights record is appalling. …… The [UK] policy should be opposed on the basis of the facts. Rwanda is not a free country because political rights are restricted and civil liberties are curbed …..”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/12/rwanda-deal-rwandans-asylum-seekers-human-rights
This should be compulsory reading for all MPs before tonight’s vote on Sunak’s dreadful and inhumane bill. Can anyone get it to them, especially among the so-called ‘One Nation’ Tories who could be persuaded to vote it down, but also to Keir Starmer (a human rights lawyer!) & the labour front bench who appear to oppose it more because of the cost for little effect than for it’s non-respect of basic human rights. A good strong speech to this effect is sorely needed today.
Thank you
I think the now almost mundane genocide in Gaza, Palestine, fading out of some BBC news bulletins, should have been added, to misquote the late Ian Dury, to the ‘reasons for insanity, pt 3’ as sketched above.
I’m sure there have been times in the past when there was a sense of humanity at a tipping point. But not quite like this. The old line from Rosa Luxemboug, socialism or barbarism, is never more relevant.
Here’s Ian to remind us that in some ways, us humans, most of us anyway, aren’t that bad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIMNXogXnvE
He was brilliant
It’s time to change the name of this site again Richard
This time to
‘Lions Led By Hyenas’
🙂
And no!
I’m struck at this moment by the lyrics of a song by Talking Heads from their 1988 album ‘Naked’, a track called ‘The Facts of Life’:
‘The monsters we create
They welcome us aboard
The best in advertising from coast to coast
The boys and girls combine
Like monkeys in the zoo
The clouds of silver linings
Looks pretty good.
People fall in love like in fairy tales
I’m not sure I like what they can do
I’m afraid that God has no master plan
He only takes what he can use.
Someday we’ll live on Venus
Men will walk on Mars
But we will still be monkeys
Down deep inside
If chimpanzees are smart than we will close our eyes
And let our instincts guide us
Oh oh oh oh no…………………………….’
George Monbiot doesn’t mince his words – we are governed by psychopaths:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbnKtH8a-IQ
He is right