On @Eceni's #AccidentalGods podcast this week, someone (I think it was @Eceni herself) described #Starmer's cabal as 'Stalinist'. I don't think this is right, but I think it's pretty close. I think they're more Leninist.The unprincipled pursuit of power at any price, the ruthless factionalism, the bad-faith negotiation, the mean-spirited opportunism are all very Bolshevik.
Their enemies may fear them, but their friends should fear them more.
I think I've whinged here before about my difficulties with #Shotwell after switching from #Ubuntu to #Debian. Well, I've fixed it, and I've published a gist in case anyone wants to do the same.
If you're saying that #Trans people cannot use lavatories of their legally assigned and recognised gender, you're essentially saying they cannot safely use lavatories in public places at all. Which means you're saying that they cannot travel, and cannot exist in the public realm. Which means you're also saying that that legal recognition is meaningless and worthless.
Trans people are our brothers and sisters, our comrades. Is this really the world we want to build for them?
@simon_brooke My argument exactly! What is the issue? Women’s toilets are all single cubicles anyway. Or just have cubicles separately that can be used by anyone. I get men’s toilets are often filthy, but get them cleaned regularly and have a separate space for urinals if you insist on having them.
"It was announced last month that former Tory minister Rob Wilson will be the new chair of the Consumer Council for Water, which represents water and sewerage customers across England and Wales"
OK, I honestly don't get this. How can he "represent" them? Did they choose him? Can they sack him? How can either he, or they, verify that he is acting in their interests? What prevents him from just getting cosy with the water companies?
"actual profit, i.e. reward in excess of effort expended, in the modern economy comes from exploitation, whether of natural resources, monopoly power, rents or the exploitation of people" – @RichardJMurphy
It's my belief that we should ban any political contributions above about £100 per annum completely. But an alternative occurred to me this morning:
How about we tax ALL political donations at 50%, and pay the proceeds into the campaign funds of those registered candidates who have received least donations?
@simon_brooke I'd also limit donations to natural persons who are registered to vote in the territory where the party is registered or in the territory where a non-party vote, such as a referendum, takes place.
Yes, this would ban donations directly from trade unions, but it wouldn't prevent those unions from encouraging their members to donate.
@simon_brooke (caveat - I also want the electoral franchise to be as wide as possible and voter registration could be on an opt-out rather than opt-in basis and otherwise automatic based on residency registration with the local municipality)
Is it really true that #Scotland's womens' football team is playing #ISRAEL at Hampden this weekend? How is this being allowed? What are we going to do about it?
Lesley Riddoch here arguing, essentially, that we all have to bite our tongues, haud oor whischt, and vote #SNP, because "they're the only parliamentary route to #ScottishIndependence. I count Lesley as a friend and as someone I greatly respect, but I think she's wrong here: there is no longer a parliamentary path to independence.
The environmental crisis accelerating in leaps, not steadily, and the shift in politics worldwide towards extremism, are not unrelated. Sociology of religion says that cognitive dissonance in general life drives people to adopt highly coherent, unchallengeable ideologies, and extremist politicians (and their marketing teams) know this. "Pragmatist" politics based on slow, steady, market-friendly changes are not able to cope with either (1) the actual changes happening or (2) the appeal of hateful, fearful politics.
"Yes, we can take good arable land which could grow human food, and use it to grow crops to use as feedstock to produce biofuel; but not much biofuel, because otherwise people starve. We can take surplus electricity that our grid can't yet handle and use it to split water to electrolise hydrogen; but not much hydrogen, because its an inefficient use of electricity which we're going to be critically short of anyway"
@simon_brooke Done it, shared it. Hope it proves useful. If nothing else the last few years show that having an official and funded Indy campaign had more positives than negatives. Sorely need one now, as the grassroots is spinning in the wind of SNP inactivity and lack of focus.
@Indyposterboy Could not agree more. The movement needs a focus which is entirely separate from electoral politics; while there are parties which 'support' the movement (and that's a good thing), the movement cannot afford to be driven by parties which inevitably have other concerns and interests.
"Over the past two hundred years — but mostly, in fact, over the past fifty years — we've burned several hundred million years worth of stored sunlight. We've dug up and pumped out and burned so much of that stored mineral carbon, returning it to the atmosphere, that the planet is ceasing to be habitable; and if we don't stop doing that, completely, very soon indeed, the planet will have ceased to be habitable."