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May 2014

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Party leaders must respond to the rise of the UK Independence Party by setting out detailed plans to renegotiate the relationship with the European Union, business figures say today.

When will people sodding get it?

The relationship with the EU is not up for negotiation. The EU doesn’t wish to do so. They have us where they want us, by the short and curlies. Why should they negotiate anything?

The only way is out. And the sooner the better.

And now for the neopatriarchy!

Beatrix Campbell of course.

End of Equality argues that there is a new global settlement: neoliberal neopatriarchy. This is an ugly term for an ugly relationship. Neoliberalisation is the subordination of the social state to the market, and neopatriarchy tolerates girls being astronauts or bankers, but resists genuine reform of the sexual division of labour. It helps to be clear about what this new sexual settlement is not. It is not just a backlash, or a relic of olden times. It is not the temporary brutality of globalisation, or the collateral damage of austerity. It is an epochal enemy of feminism because it is a repudiation of the social solidarities and welfare states without which feminist agendas wither.

Yup, all the fault of us neoliberals. That market, which cares not one whit which set of genitalia you have, nor how you deploy it, is the enemy of feminism.

Go figure.

Neoliberal neopatriarchy is shaping the world. Before China embraced capitalism in 1979, workers were poor, but pretty much equally so. In 1988, women earned 87% of men’s pay – now they’re down to 67%.

In 1979 the average Chinese wage was around $600 a year. Today it’s around $6,000 a year (constant dollars). This is a bad result is it?

Some state spending is great but not all of it is

Looking back to the most successful period in British economic history, which was the mixed economy era of 1948-1979 in which the economy grew by an average of 4.5% of GDP per year and over the 32 year period the national debt was reduced from 237% of GDP to only 43%, this period of extraordinary levels of economic growth and debt reduction coincided with vast levels of state investment in infrastructure, social housing, power stations, NHS facilities, the motorway network and countless state operated enterprises. The UK has never again seen economic growth and debt repayment on this scale, ever since Thatcher initiated the neoliberal revolution in 1979 and started slashing government investment and selling off profitable state run enterprises.

Yep, great times. And government expenditure as a percentage of GDP was well under 40% from 1947 through to the late 1960s.

Today it’s 44%.

Looks like there’s another £60 to £100 billion to cut yet then, eh?

A very interesting recycling problem

So, there’s this EU target for recycling. And we’re not going to hit it. Boo hoo. But here’s where it gets interesting.

SITA also argues that hitting the targets is becoming ever trickier as households are generally using – and therefore throwing away – less glass and paper, two of the most commonly recycled kinds of rubbish.

SITA said this was especially problematic because local authorities measured recycling volumes by weight.

“Two of the biggest and heaviest components, paper and glass, are in structural decline, driven by a chronic decline in newspaper readership as we consume our news by screen rather by papers. Glass is being substituted increasingly by plastic bottles,” it said.

Obviously, any recycling system will be set up to deal with the most common items first. Those used to be paper and glass. But we now have a structural shift away from using those two materials. Meaning that the total weight of waste is falling. Which is, you would think, a good thing by the standards used to measure these things.

But no! Waste is declining but the proportion of waste that is recycled is also falling. And that’s a bad thing.

The fall will make it almost certain that Britain will miss tough EU targets of recycling half of all household waste by 2020.

…… the fall, which risks the UK having to pay millions of pounds in fines.

Yep. The amount of waste falls and the EU then fines us because we’re creating less waste.

We’ve just done the voting, probably time to start shooting.

I shall do such things!

But I’m not going to tell you what they are:

The former field marshal likely to win this week’s presidential election in Egypt has defended his refusal to publish a full manifesto by suggesting parts might be a state secret.

But, y’know, vote for me anyway.

Taking Burke just a little further than it might be right to take him perhaps. I am your representative, not your delegate, you are selecting the person to represent your interests….and given that times change it’s difficult to know exactly what the correct plan is. That might work as an MP, not sure it does when running for President.

Cameron’s spouting nonsense again

David Cameron is drawing up new immigration laws in response to rising anger over the number of EU migrants moving to Britain, The Telegraph can disclose.

The first details are expected in a Bill to be announced in the Queen’s Speech next week, a senior government source said.

Even stronger measures to block Europeans from poor countries coming to Britain for work are likely to be included in the Conservative manifesto for the general election next year.

The plans represent a concerted attempt to combat the rising popularity of the UK Independence Party which threatens to derail the Tories’ hopes of winning an outright parliamentary majority.

Measures under discussion include a law to discourage British-based companies from employing cheaper foreign workers, deporting unemployed Europeans after six months and a new “wealth test” to prevent vast numbers coming to Britain from the poorest EU countries.

You simply cannot do this and remain in the European Union. Freedom of movement really does mean freedom of movement. This is just window dressing. Saying that they’ll pass a law, a law that they know will actually be illegal and which will get struck down.

Eh?

Government hopes that Britain can emulate the US by starting a shale-gas revolution have been knocked back after a long-awaited report unexpectedly concluded there was no potential in fracking for gas in the Weald region of southern England.

But who in buggery has been arguing that there is shale gas in the Weald? Hasn’t everyone been saying that there’s oil in the Weald and gas in the Bowland? That shale 10 times the thickness of the Marcellus?

Is this just misdirection from The Guardian?

Quite bloody right too

The first attempt to seize the home of a convicted terrorist using new laws has failed, after a judge ruled it would be unfair to make his family homeless.

The Crown Prosecution Service applied for the forfeiture of a house where extremist Munir Farooqi, 56, attempted to recruit jihadist fighters to kill British soldiers in Afghanistan.

They used new powers under Section 23A of the Terrorism Act 2000 to apply for the seizure of Farooqi’s £200,000 home in the Longsight area of Manchester.

But in a landmark ruling yesterday at the High Court in Manchester, senior law lord Sir Richard Henriques QC, rejected the application on the grounds it would make Farooqi’s “wholly innocent” family homeless.

Punishment is for those found guilty of a crime in a trial. And only for those.

Cat, meet pigeons, pigeons, meet cat

Vast areas of southern England will on Friday be identified by the Government as targets for fracking, with ministers also announcing that energy companies will be allowed to frack under homes without owners’ permission.

A British Geological Survey study of the South, spanning from Wiltshire to Kent and including the South Downs National Park, will be published, mapping out the likely location of billions of barrels of shale oil.

What a lovely political fight this is going to be!

Peter Tatchell really is a twat sometimes

Anti-EU sentiments and parties are experiencing unprecedented support. Calls for withdrawal are more widespread than ever before. Revived nationalism is gaining ground at the expense of retreating Europeanism.

This is hardly surprising, given that mainstream parties across Europe offer no real vision for the future of Europe – just more of the same. There is not much to distinguish the European policies of the governing and opposition parties in most EU countries. Their manifestos for the European elections share a collective imagination deficit. They’re stale and uninspiring. No wonder many voters are turning off. They see no prospect of serious reform and no captivating future agenda.

What is to be done? A common criticism of the EU is that it is remote and distant. We have to bring the EU closer to people.

One way to achieve this, and to simultaneously undercut the xenophobic nationalism of the far right, would be to transform the EU into a decentralised federation of the regions. It would mean giving direct representation, negotiation and power to the hundreds of regions across the EU member countries. Might not this localisation of the EU give people a greater sense of involvement and value?

In the UK’s case, the regions could be based on existing EU parliamentary constituencies: the North West, London, East Midlands, Wales and so on.

This same direct representation could be given to regions all across the EU, including Brittany, Catalonia, Bavaria and Sicily. As well as diminishing toxic nationalism, this decentralisation would empower often marginalised places.

Sigh.

This has always been the EU’s aim and point in having the EU regions in the first place. So as to wipe out the unitary nation state and make sure that all of the real decision making power resides in Brussels, not the national capitals.

Tee hee

An internal Liberal Democrat document reveals that the party is braced for a complete wipeout in the European parliamentary elections.

Meaning that we’ll get UKIP, Labour, Tories and Greens as the four major groups. And that, in turn, means that next euro elections the Lib Dems won’t be part of the BBC’s coverage of the big boys. For what determines whether you are at that top table (ie, during the election period, if they’ve got a Tory on then they’ve got to be balanced and have the other three top parties on) is your performance at that type of election last time around.

Good folk, the Swiss

A Nazi salute is not illegal racial discrimination provided it is intended as a personal statement, Switzerland’s top court ruled on Wednesday.

The Federal Tribunal’s ruling, entitled “Hitler salute in public not always punishable,” said the gesture is a crime only if someone is using it to try to spread racist ideology to others, not simply declaring one’s own conviction.

Sounds about right. However vile your opinions are you should be allowed to express them. But perhaps not to attempt to convert….akin to incitement to violence possibly?

But much more importantly:

The Swiss were shocked by a mass march on August 1, 2000 when a neo-Nazi mob booed and humiliated then-Finance Minister Kaspar Villiger during his speech on the Ruetli and, according to the anti-racism commission, Adolf Ogi, who was Swiss president at the time, “had to apply for special protection during a national celebration, which was paid for privately”.

That’s the correct way to treat politicians. They want protection from the howling mob then they can pay for the protection themselves.