Vardinio'sCat

Kudos to Claude for this, no one can say the old guard haven't had chances. Crucial game for our future direction.

Andrew Lansley was not my idea of a good health secretary, but he does have a point about the cost of not funding public services to a decent level. Real people with real lives end up suffering, and it can cost more to sacrifice prevention on the altar of cost savings. Anyone who doubts the strain on the NHS currently should check out the BBC documentary series Hospital. If you can face more than one episode, you are doing better than me. Former health secretary Andrew Lansley has revealed he is being treated for bowel cancer. But he said that cuts “wrongly” imposed by the Treasury had frustrated the delivery of a screening programme he introduced in 2010 which could have ensured he was diagnosed earlier. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/former-health-secretary-reveals-he-has-bowel-cancer-36768700.html

I have seen it said that we should focus all our energy on fixing the planet we have etc etc, but I think we have the resources to do more than one thing at a time, if we just use our money more wisely. Of course when I say we, I mean Elon Musk, obviously.

1-0 to the potheads! States that have approved medical cannabis laws saw a dramatic reduction in opioid use, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180402202236.htm

I wouldn't like to see it at the top of our 'to do' list, but I'm sympathetic to the idea that keeping all our eggs in one basket isn't a long-term solution.

I think it's an interesting thread really, because TM was the one backing off on stop and search. I'm sure she will have found support amongst the usual targets, but it is worth bearing in mind who reduced stop and search. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/stop-and-search-theresa-may-announces-reform-of-police-stop-and-search Perhaps Austerity has been a factor too, as it seems to have been across our public services. Weren't the police complaining about the loss of neighborhood policing in relation to terrorism offences a few months ago? I've always had a bit of respect for TM for stopping the inexorable rise in police budgets, but as with our other public services, eventually you will cut to the bone, and then services (on which we all depend) become less effective. On the day that the former health secretary Andrew Lansley said that NHS cuts might have stopped his cancer being caught early earlier, perhaps we could all reflect that every one of us is just one very bad day away from relying on public services that are seriously struggling. Thanks to Ealingfox for digging deeper and giving us better context. It's often better to have a good look behind the headlines, before going into full knee-jerk mode.

PC brigade as in Theresa May? Didn't she tell the Fuzz to reduce the use of the tactic? Perhaps other factors are in play regarding this story, as well as stop and search.

That was some header. Even when it bounced the ball lost no pace at all, and the goalie was a spectator. It looked like Iborra had been tasked (or encouraged) to find that killer forward ball, but struggled to find it. I think he isn't that mobile, which in a 2 is not a great thing, but I like his ability to shield and hold the ball with his strength. I also like the effect he has on us at set pieces, at both ends.

One final post on anti-semitism for now. I found much of this Wiki interesting, it has lots of recent data, and seems very even-handed to me. I give you the final few paragraphs as it seems quite relevant to the present discussion. Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry[edit] In 2016, the Home Affairs Select Committee held an inquiry into antisemitism in the UK.[326][not in citation given] The inquiry called David Cameron, Jeremy Corbyn, Tim Farron, Angus Robertson and others to give evidence. Its report was critical of the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, the Chakrabarti Inquiry, the Liberal Democrats, the National Union of Students (particularly its president Malia Bouattia), Twitter and police forces for variously exacerbating or failing to address antisemitism. The report endorsed various recommendations including the use of the Macpherson definition of antisemitism.[52] The report provided evidence of allegations of antisemitism in the Conservative Party including an alleged "toxic environment" in the UCL Conservative Society. The report found that Jeremy Corbyn had shown a "lack of consistent leadership", which "has created what some have referred to as a ‘safe space’ for those with vile attitudes towards Jewish people". The Select Committee found Ken Livingstone’s claims that Adolf Hitler "supported Zionism" unhelpful to the Labour Party, while they found Shami Chakrabarti’s report into antisemitism in the Labour Party to be somewhat lacking in a clear definition of antisemitism.[52] The report concluded that "...there exists no reliable, empirical evidence to support the notion that there is a higher prevalence of antisemitic attitudes within the Labour Party than any other political party."[52] The report also found that "The failure of the Labour Party to deal consistently and effectively with anti-Semitic incidents in recent years risks lending force to allegations that elements of the Labour movement are institutionally anti-Semitic,"[53] It found that, although the overt threat that the far right posed to Jews was no longer as great as it once was, nevertheless "Holocaust denial and Jewish conspiracy theories remain core elements of far-right ideology", going on to say that the British National Party (BNP) continues to stir up trouble and is damaging to societal cohesion.[52] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_in_the_United_Kingdom

Although I would agree with your first point, and have posted the same, I think there are plenty of right-wing conspiracy folks who buy into it too (indeed your Franco point backs this up), and I think that is worth pointing out. Also, I think it has as much to do with the Israel and Palestine, as it is with with anti-capitalism. As far as I am aware, 'The protocols' are widely available in many Middle Eastern countries, and as we know, many of those countries have attacked Israel in previous wars, so I think the roots of the problem come from more than one source. I equate Corbyn with someone like Michael Foot myself, and I would argue that he is more old left than hard left, but I sense we will never agree on that. I don't think it is controversial to say that the political spectrum has moved significantly to the right in my lifetime, and I would call the hard left people like Militant tendency in the 80's, rather than Momentum today. Having said that, I'm sure there have been some hard left ghosts returning to Labour, seeking to exploit the perceived opportunity of Corbyn's leadership and Labour's move back to the left. In a variation on your point, I would say that folks are not used to old-fashioned socialism, we haven't seen that since before Kinnock. I do think the present scrutiny, despite being an opportunity for a bit of a pile on from Corbyn's enemies in his own party and in the ideologically driven press, is helpful in forcing Labour to get a grip on some of these 'bad actors' within the party. They dogged Labour in the 80's, and imho, Labour would be wise to try and avoid a repeat of the same.

identity politics - a tendency for people of a particular religion, race, social background, etc., to form exclusive political alliances, moving away from traditional broad-based party politics. Imho, Identity politics isn't that bad (although when it dominates all other considerations it can be come a negative force), many of those groups who are complaining are very much steeped in it, but hey, we all have different views.

Having just gone back and looked again, I think you can read it either way, but just because they don't all have exaggerated features doesn't mean it can't be read as a group of Jewish (presumably) business men.

For me, at best it is what is often called dog whistle racism, so those who are steeped in anti-semitism, or those have a sensitivity to it, can read the signs. Strokes also said he didn't see it as that bad (I'm paraphrasing) in itself, so I don't think you are far from alone as not seeing it in the same way as, for example, I do. I genuinely believe that Corbyn didn't look that closely at it, and when he did he realised what it referred to, and how it plays into the old slurs. His mum was at Cable Street, so I think he is someone who is actually well aware of the history of anti-semitism.

Not everyone has such a keen eye for anti-semtitic content as you and I (and one or two others on here) do, many decent people haven't heard of 'The protocols' etc. I always tend to assume it is an issue (anti-racism) more natural to the left, because you very rarely see 'PC gone mad' BS and the rejection of identity politics as a whole, that you get from some on the right, and also the history of the issue in UK politics.

Oh, I don't feel bad about it at all, I just sometimes write them a bit quickly and therefore they can lack the clarity they usually do, and if people don't know I have skin in the game on both questions of Irishness and Jewishness (and therefore a fairly unique perspective), that post did read a bit odd, looking back at it. If I didn't waffle on so much it wouldn't be necessary once in a while.