There is, for example, a phenomenon called climate change. No broadcaster need balance that opinion with the view of someone who denies this: any alternative claim is not credible.
It’s also true that climate change has been advanced by human activity. In that case it is beholden on us, now, to address it if we wish to secure the future for human life on earth. This is fact.
Well, none of the actual science says human life on Earth is at risk. So, are we allowed to discuss that?
There are many other such facts. For example, deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda is racist. That’s a fact. The merits of the policy can then be discussed, if a broadcaster thinks it useful. But the racism should be on the table.
No, not, it’s not. We have Britons of many races. So, distinguishing between Britons and non-Britons is not racist – because citizenship does not depend upon race.
That Brexit has failed is also indisputable. Key social, economic and political indicators make that clear. It is evident people are unhappy about this. What to do about the failure of Brexit can be discussed, but denying that failure is no longer credible.
How dare you question my beliefs?
It’s also a fact that people will suffer and some might die this winter if they are not supplied with more help to pay their energy bills and meet other costs. They need help whether that be directly or by way of inflation matching pay rises. This is a fact.
Or, you know, we could try reducing energy costs?
It’s also a fact that when wages are rising at a rate lower than inflation that they cannot be the cause of an inflationary spiral. That’s not possible. So no journalist needs to say it.
No journalist should question my analysis of inflationary pressures.
It’s also a fact that governments need not balance their books. We have had a national debt since 1694. It’s served us well. Almost no national debt at all has actually been repaid since 1945. And our economy works because this is the case. Just say it.
That the national debt hasn’t been a large problem is not the same as stating that the economy only works because of the existence of the national debt now, is it? But this is unquestionable now.
It’s also a fact that taxpayers do not fund government spending. Quantitative easing proves it. The crises of 2008 and 2020 were not paid for with tax. They were paid for with Bank of England created money. This is a fact. Denial is not possible.
As the QE caused inflation arises then how is it not taxpayers paying for it? Especially given fiscal drag…..
It’s also a fact that we do not need to repay the national debt. Apart from the fact that about a third of it is already owned by the government, which makes repayment hard, the owners of the rest really don’t want to sell it. Celebrate that. Don’t pretend it’s not true.
Actually, we do have to repay it. People would be right, right, pissed if their gilt wasn’t worth money at the end of its term.
Stop pretending too that the national debt is a burden on our grandchildren. For some grandchildren it will be an asset they will inherit. For others, the national debt is a cheap funding mechanism that makes their future – even their survival – possible. How is that a burden?
That assumes that government spending money is more efficient than government not spending that money. Sometimes it’s true, fer sure, but how often?
Whilst we’re talking about ridiculous claims, might we stop pretending Covid is over? It is not. Deaths are up. People are still suffering from it. It’s still massively disruptive in our economy and society. Let’s talk about what to do about that, and stop denying it.
The conversation’s rather moved on from that. We’re now talking about how many are dying because we locked down to prevent people dying.
Let’s also face facts about democracy. Assaults on the right to vote, the Electoral Commission, the right of organisations to comment during elections and much more are combined assaults on democracy, and free speech. These are facts.
A list of things journalists shouldn’t talk about because they’re facts in the mind of a retired accountant is something of a threat to free speech itself.
Whilst we’re talking free speech, the pattern of media ownership in the UK oppresses free speech by introducing massive bias into our media. This is a fact. Talk about what to do about it. But please do not deny it.
Well, yes, some have indeed been complaining about the BBC for some time.
There are many more.
– Our society is structured to advantage the wealthy.
– We are systemically denying access to the law to most people in this country.
– Student debt is designed to crush younger people into debt compliance.
– Benefits are intended to perpetuate poverty
These are all truths which must not be – cannot be – discussed. Because….
I could keep going. The point is we need to say these things as the facts that they are. Journalists need to report then as fact. They are indisputable. Then debate on their consequences can begin. But we can’t progress whilst some deliberately dispute the truth.
The fake news agenda, as embraced by the Tories here as it is by the Republicans in the US, actually spends its time promulgating falsehoods. Let’s stop giving them the permission to do that. Might we instead talk about the world as it really is? Think how useful that might be.
This is the Word according to the Murphatollah.
And when we come to think of it, is it possible to think of anything more oppressive to freedom and liberty than that we all have to acknowledge as undistputed truth whatever Spud has managed to misunderstand today?
I think it might have been Noel Scoper or even Ironman who said that to read Murphy’s output was useful if only to see the sheer number of formal or informal fallacies on display.
It’s not often you quote him at this length Tim and I’m grateful you saved me the trouble!
I can’t help but be reminded of a certain unemployed Austrian from the 1920s when I read through the post – the same absolute belief in his own infalliability. The same disdain for his opponents. The same unshakeable conviction. Scary stuff indeed.
This is fact(ual): trying to extract meaning from his gibberish is more pointless and worse than sifting through a refuse heap hoping to find gems. Or seed potatoes.
“For example, deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda is racist.”
Surely complaining about the policy is racist. After all the implication is that Rwanda is a shithole because its in Africa, and isn’t a white country…….
You see, where you guys go wrong is taking Murphy at face value. He is much like Michel Foucault really. Nearky all he says is factually wrong and he manages to draw the wrong conclusions from obvious situations and fails to understand how technology. But that’s immaterial, you see ? What we are interested in is the underlying thesis. For Foucault it was all about power structures and for Murphy it’s all about…you know….thing.
He is much like Michel Foucault really
A boss-eyed French pederast?
Article 16 of the Rwanda agreement stipulates that we (the UK) must accept ‘vulnerable citizens’ from Rwanda in return for them taking our illegals. Is this racist?
Talking of parallels with unemployed Austrians. Quoting William L. Shirer from his book about the said Austrian when he was complaining about being poor: “It never, however, drove him to the extremity of trying to find a regular job.”
《As the QE caused inflation arises […] 》
《How dare you question my beliefs?》
《Actually, we do have to repay it. People would be right, right, pissed if their gilt wasn’t worth money at the end of its term.》
Why not just repay old bonds with new bond sale proceeds?
He is much like Michel Foucault really
To his credit, Murphy plays with trains in his spare time, not underage boys.
Dennis – do you know WHO ELSE was obsessed with getting the trains to run on time?
The Fat Controller.
To his credit, Murphy plays with trains in his spare time, not underage boys.
Do we know this as a fact?
That Irish independence has failed is also indisputable. Key social, economic and political indicators make that clear. It is evident people are unhappy about this. What to do about the failure of Irish independence can be discussed, but denying that failure is no longer credible.
Hey, no, you can’t go banging on about “well, sixty years later….”. Irish independence clearly and indisputably resulted in social, economic and political damage then-to never before seen.
That Murphy suffers from a serious and incurable narcissistic personality disorder is an indisputable fact. We can discuss what to do with it, but we must accept it as fact and…
oh, we already do.
jgh: Heheheh! Three can play at that game…
That Scottish devolution has failed is also indisputable. Key social, economic and political indicators make that clear. It is evident people are unhappy about this. What to do about the failure of Holyrood can be discussed, but denying that failure is no longer credible.
Gosh, this is fun. Much easier than constructing a coherent argument. No wonder the Left prefers it.
Mr W. I really don’t know how you have the patience to trawl through and analyse Murphy’s drivel.
What would be nice is if, next time Murphy is used as a talking head, the branch of the meeja using him for such invites you along at the same time.
Now, that would be worth a watch/listen.
“ Why not just repay old bonds with new bond sale proceeds?”
And when people stop buying new issues?
If it’s possible he’s sounding even more deranged. It’s time for schools and universities to start reopening, has Professor Professor Professor Murphy become just plain old Murphy and it’s driving him to further bouts of insanity?
That majority rule in South Africa has failed is also indisputable. Key social, economic and political indicators make that clear. It is evident people are unhappy about this. What to do about the failure of the ANC can be discussed, but denying that failure is no longer credible.
This IS fun…
When I hear the ‘assertions’ of people like him, I’m always reminded of that stupid statement by J M Keynes, “you’re entitled to your own opinions, but not to your own facts” – as though ‘facts’ can never be a matter of contention, or multifarious or diverse and complex.
Orde S Didn’t Keynes – the old fraud – also say the ‘when the facts change I change my opinions’?
I do feel a tinge of sympathy for his students – am presuming they at least suspect they’re going to a University rather than a left wing madrassa. (Although the two might be indistinguishable)
At least one thing about Murphy is correct. He clearly didn’t pass his undergraduate degree as he’d have learned that his rather selectively Gradgrindian approach to ‘facts’ is the mark of an uneducated person…..
I think I mentioned her before, but I have an ex-friend who lives in the Dordogne and has become an arch Remoaner. She even quotes Murphy and Al Campbell on her Twitter feed, that’s how mad she has become.
It is sad, she was quite intelligent and atteactive , but like that Maitlis woman has become a gibbering loon.
He keeps denying he’s a fraud, and that’s a settled fact.
Sure enough just looked
Retweet 1 Murphy
Retweet 2 Jolyolyon
Retweet 3 Unfunny comedian trying to take mickey out of LizT about “The Button”
sigh
@VP: at least the unemployed Austrian had a flair for art. Murphy seems to have no flair at all except for losing his rag.
Dearieme
That is a talent which got him barred from every hostelry in Downham Market let we forget – quite an achievement
All of these edicts are quite reasonable when you accept they are made by the Größter Feldherr aller Zeiten.
Ottokring,
“I think I mentioned her before, but I have an ex-friend who lives in the Dordogne and has become an arch Remoaner. She even quotes Murphy and Al Campbell on her Twitter feed, that’s how mad she has become.”
I believe that Brexit is more about “we’re no longer in charge”. I don’t think the madness is really about free movement and trade barriers. Most of the people who make noise seem to be involved in a parochial existence of working for the state, the BBC and it has little effect. I think it’s tribal, and tribes have their tenets, churches, priests and ceremonies. UK Boomers are no different with the BBC, David Attenborough, modern art wank, The Beatles, the UN and the EU. Losing one of those things makes them feel like they’re no longer running things.
Like I know a woman who works in the museum service who lost her mind over Brexit, and I suspect that if you did some psychoanalysis, it’s because she feels the barbarians are going to come for the museums next (probably true, as most of them are empty of visitors).
Guffaw!
Stevie Taylor says:
August 25 2022 at 10:30 am
The big question is how do we even begin to get these truths out to the people who need to hear them? How do you begin to get this across to a section of the population who have been systematically conned into voting directly against their own best interests?
Reply
Richard Murphy says:
August 25 2022 at 11:34 am
This is why I use Twitter
Murphy’s ranting is certainly worth Foucault.
BoM4 – I believe that Brexit is more about “we’re no longer in charge”
That’s half of it, the other half is the Toyota Corolla: THOSE PEOPLE* should not be allowed to have a voice in democratic processes. Or at all.
*Kippers, Trumpies, Climate Deniers, antivaxxers, ‘racists’, Yellow Vests, Canadian lorry drivers. Y’know, scum.
Same mentality behind the closing down of free speech on the internet. For years, the cry was “if you don’t like it, build your own platform :smirk:”.
But of course, if you build your own platform and it gains traction, the MSM will accuse you of being a nazi, payment processors will cut you off, and they’ll pressure your hosting company and DDOS prevention services into dropping you as a customer.
But of course, if you build your own platform and it gains traction, the MSM will accuse you of being a nazi, payment processors will cut you off, and they’ll pressure your hosting company and DDOS prevention services into dropping you as a customer.
” But it’s not the GOVERNMENT doing it man, it’s just the FREE MARKET working. Don’t you guys LOVE the FREE MARKET?”
I was complaining to a friend the other day that a take away I went to didn’t take cash.
She “I quite like not carrying cash. It is a good idea.”
Me “Until the government locks your bank account.”
She “Why would they do that ?”
Me “Protesting, you know like the Candian lorry drivers.”
She “Oh, they wouldn’t do that here !”
sigh (again)
“the barbarians are going to come for the museums”: over the years museums have largely disappointed me. It’s inevitable: you look at a thing, you want to handle it, and of course you can’t.
Art galleries, though, work for me. Paintings are made to be looked at and that’s exactly what art galleries encourage.
There is, for example, a phenomenon called climate change
Yep, has been for some 400 billion years. Every creature, every plant changes climate by tiny amount every second
400 million to 200 million years ago, long befor hominids, temperatures were much hotter and there was no arctic or antartic ice and life thrived. Long before mominids it was so hot Mediterranean Sea was a dust bowl. Since humans we’ve had ice ages, warm periods, cold periods…
Global warming: stopped in ~1998 apart from a few up & downs. UK now colder than 10 years ago and wind farms making UK colder by ‘stealing’ energy from gulf stream
– Yep, has been for some 400 billion years.
The universe is generally considered to be somewhere between six thousand years and thirteen point eight billion years old.
– 400 million to 200 million years ago, long befor hominids, temperatures were much hotter and there was no arctic or antartic ice and life thrived.
The poles were ice free (Antarctica forested) 100 millions years ago.
– Long before mominids it was so hot Mediterranean Sea was a dust bowl.
The Med stopped being a sea (Messinian salinity crisis) because it was cut off from the Atlantic (and the rivers weren’t enough to fill it against evaporation), not because the global climate was hot. Several times between six and five million years ago. Hominids have been around for at least fifteen million years.
But hey, if you’re going to type shit from memory and not bother to check it before posting, a thread about murphybollocks is a good place.
But hey, if you’re going to type shit from memory and not bother to check it before posting
Hey, I do that al the time. If people are interested/disagree/whatever they can bloody check it themselves.
PJF, Other commenters made reference to the subjects in Murphy’s rant but you chose not to criticise them, so why Pcar?
And if you think it is not the correct place to post, it isn’t the correct place to reply either.
A Certain Person must have a huge garage to house all the bandwagons.
– Hey, I do that al the time. If people are interested/disagree/whatever they can bloody check it themselves.
– Richard Murphy
And so I did. And I shared the corrected information. You are welcome.
–And if you think it is not the correct place to post . . .
I believe I said it was a good place to post, and seeing as Pcar’s comment was a response to a Murphyism quoted by Tim, it was obviously the correct place to post.
–. . . so why Pcar?
Partly because Pcar’s rambling bullshit doesn’t help to counter Murphy’s rambling bullshit, – but, really, mostly for a laugh. You know, picking up on one particular supply of bullshit and countering it. I don’t think I’m quite as obsessive as Dennis on Ecks, or Tim on Murphy. Not yet.
@PJF
Some mistakes eg earth 4 billion, not 400, sure. I made some number mistakes, but message, which your nitpicking doesn’t seem to dispute, still stands. Got a grudge?
Climate has always changed from hot to freezing and back and up down long before hominids appeared. UK colder & wetter than 10 years ago. Windfarms destroyed gulf stream warmth
Green nuts like moonbat now want farming banned as it causes Global Warming. Funny it hasn’t for ~12,000 years . Does moonbat believe humans ~165,000 year existence caused ice age too and dogger bank submerged?
What about dinosaurs 165 million year rule? They did nothing to climate?
Ramblings? You mean those fact quoting ones you dislike, but you can never provide facts to support your claims? Your oil production one was my favourite
@Ottokring, Addolff
Thanks
Ramblings? You mean those fact quoting ones you dislike . . .
You didn’t quote facts, you vomited half-remembered, eighth understood concepts.
Your oil production one was my favourite
No surprise your favourite is your own misremembered misunderstanding. My actual suggestion as the primary reason for invasion was the politics of energy supply. The foundation of Russia’s economy and power is energy supply to Europe and the control thereof. It can’t afford to have Ukraine undermine that with its relatively recently found vast reserves. It’s no accident that Russia now occupies much of those reserves and is attacking the epicentre (Kramatorsk) of the remainder.
For some reason, you find “Nazis!” a more convincing explanation. But then, hey – you do you.
Strange thaat @PPJF brings up Nazis again, seems to be only one still in denial
Oil: I knew @PJF would take the bait. I quoted facts, not memories which totaly destroyed his no evidence claims
@PJF claimed the 2014 seizure of Crimea stole Ukraine’s oil reserves. Also that and war destroyed high production and export
Wrong: Most reserves are in West Ukraine and Ukraine has never since at least 1992 been a net oil exporter, it imports ~80% of what it consumes
Unsurprisingly no facts @PJF went silent
@PJF claimed the 2014 seizure of Crimea stole Ukraine’s oil reserves. Also that and war destroyed high production and export
Should be easy enough for you to link to. But you won’t, because you can’t. Because delusions and lies.
The 2014 invasion prevented Ukraine fully developing much of its energy reserves (including those in the Sea of Azov and Gulf of Odessa either side of Crimea) – obviously energy companies won’t bother with a war zone. I’ve never said Ukraine was a major energy producer. My whole point is that it is being prevented from being so.
I’ve told you before that I won’t bother engaging with you once the thread goes off the front page.
Oh I can Mr PJF, but lets see your evidence first as you never or rarely provide any for your assertions and ad-hom attacks on others
Oh I can Mr PJF, but . . .
No you can’t, that’s why you’re but butting. Put up or fuck off.
As usual when challenged the PJF refuses to supply supporting evidence and resorts to ad-hom attacks
Evidence, well I quote data and regulary supply sources, the PJF never does, it opines
This time he’s being called out and as expected the PJF has a tantrum
Highly aamusing
Come on @PJF, man up and provide citations