India Knight Defines a New Sub Set of the Population

India Knight, in her column in the Sunday Times, identified a new sub set of the population – “stolid, slightly boring, living slightly ploddy lives”.   I should not miss out the fact that she has "written before about her admiration for such stolidity; she genuinely finds it very touching." How does she identify this new group in our population?  Well you can apparently recognize them because of one characteristic.  They stay with their partners. 

India Knight Rules OK

Don’t get me wrong; I have always loved India’s column; I thought her full of common sense with a remarkable down to earth approach to life if her column is anything to go by. 

I have noticed recently the occasional tone of disdain creeping in, and a note of admiration for the self-focused, tiny group of people most of whom live and work in London, who work in and around politics, government, journalism, top industry and finance.  The tiny group of people who control the flow of wealth and information to the rest of us, who have been degrading that flow for the past 10 years. 

Back to the article; I am perfectly aware that India started out to defend long relationships, and to decry the need of so many people for “BIG FAT WEDDING DAY” type excitement.  I am aware that she was getting across the need to see marriage as more than a wedding.  But oh, the mocking turn of those phrases, the bursting through of the conviction that she was not like that, that she would never have to live in such a tedious, dreary way.

Look out for your language India; this is not the first time you have allowed that tiny glimpse of contempt to show through.  We would not like to see you descend from your throne of wonderful, kind common sense to become another shrill mocking recorder of your view of the world.  Like me.

www.idiocy.com - Or How Industrial Leaders Eat Their Own Profits.

I wanted an illustration to show a fat person
 eating their own backside
 (with apologies to fat people).
  Because that is what I believe companies are doing

What is the world economy based on?  Expenditure by - well people

Is the majority of expenditure on "high price" items? - I don't know, but I am guessing that the majority of profit is made on items worth less than £500.00.

What proportion of the world is rich? (has an income of over £200,000 a year - yeah, my own dodgy definition). - almost certainly less than 10% of the world economy.

I am guessing that the majority of profits made by all companies throughout the world result from people spending on low value items or services.

What are all big companies trying to do?  Reduce the wages and salaries, hours and job security of the people working for them.

What is the results?  Less money in the economy to spend on - well anything.

To summarise.  In order to increase their own profit and bring more wealth into the hands of their owners/shareholders (e.g. Barclays reported that 231 of its key staff were paid a combined £554m in 2010 - an average of £2.4m each.  Their counter staff were paid an average of £16,000 annually), organisations are pushing down the incomes of the very people who create their wealth.

No wonder we have fallen into what seems to be an unending recession.

Like I said - world wide web of idiocy

Press in the Dock?

The UK press are no doubt delighted with current events in England because it takes attention off them and their propensity to use underhand methods to get news.

Perhaps we should be asking questions about the role of the press in our problems with the current riots.

How many times have the press slammed the police because of how they handled a protest (definition - middle class? Protest.  Underclass? Riot.) 

They were too soft, too hard, too wishy-washy, not collegiate enough.  In other words, no matter how the police treat protestors they are slammed by the press, TV etc.

Then, our two top Met policemen resigned rather than be dragged down in scandal because it emerged they used the same tools as politicians to try and protect their force against this type of onslaught.

Is it any wonder the Met (for whom I have little sympathy generally) floundered when these riots broke out?

Once more the UK press need to inspect the filthy corners of their own houses.

A World Wide Web of Hypocracy

We are spending a fortune and wasting the lives of wonderful young people (of all nationalities)  because of the mess we have made trying to bring "democracy" to Afghanistan.

In support of that effort the Americans (and us?) are spending a fortune helping a rotten government in Pakistan.

We welcomed the "Arab Spring" and the uprising of people against their dictatorial governments in Tunis, Egypt, Lybia, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain (and why do all commentators forget Bahrain when commenting on these events?)

We are spending a fortune and risking the lives of our own and other NATO young people by helping rebels in Lybia. 

The world is strongly condemming what is happening in Syria - and all have positively welcomed decisions by the governments of Saudi Ariabia, Bahrain Kuwait etc to withdraw their Ambasadors from that country.

So how come there is no protest against the continuing crack-down on Bahraini Shias by their own government supported by Saudi Arabia's troups? 

How come there is no protest from America or the UK when Pakistan (being massively financially supported by the West don't forget) agrees to continue to send troups to Bahrain to support Saudia Arabia and the Bahrain government in the crack-down on those Bahraini citizens who object to being treated as second-class citizens because of their religion, and medical staff because they treated protestors?

It is true that my freedom fighters are your terrorists, and my protestors are your criminal rioters!

Passive Agressive oldies

Yeah, I know I am an oldie.  But I hope I am not this passive aggressive.
An elderly couple sat waiting in the sun for a ferry to arrive.  She asked him if he wanted a cup of tea.

"No", he said grumpily, "it's too late.  The ferry will be here soon."
"if you want a cup, I'll get you one"  she replied.
"It's too late." he huffed.  "You took too long shopping.  I don't have time."

"I'll get you a cup" she said and walked away.  A little later she came back out to where he sat sunning himself and put a big cardboard cup of tea in front of him. 

"Oh good", he said.  "Coffee."
"You asked for tea".  She exclaimed.

"You got me tea!" he said.  "And in this bloody silly great cup!  Well that's just great."  Silence. 

I have sulked because I did not get my cup of tea or whatever; but only for a few minutes, and I have never done anything like this.  This goes beyond  grumpy to nasty IMHO.

Barclays "Threaten" to Leave UK

I read in the Financial Times today that Barclays is threatening to leave the UK if the tough measures proposed by the Vickers Commission about big banks being made to ringfence core high street operations from the rest of their business are implemented.

Barclays may not actually have taken government hand-outs in the last recession, but without the handouts from the British taxpayer to its fellow banks it too would have gone down the tubes.  But did this cause them to hesitate when deciding how much to pay in bonuses?  Did it hell.  This year they paid out £2.7 BILLION in bonuses - nearly half of their profits.  I am surprised shareholders take it! 

Now I accept that some tax is paid on this.  But I will bet my bottom dollar that not a single big bonus winner pays anything like full PAYE - I have no doubt at all that Barclays hire a raft of tax lawyers to help find ways of avoiding tax for their "big swinging dick(head)s"

Well, this wise old woman (a customer of Barclays) says sod off Barclays; we will not be blackmailed by you.  If you want out we want you out.  We will close down our accounts, and you will lose a huge income stream as well as you reputation in this country.

Laughter is the Best Defence

"Killers like Breivik are useless, stupid, pathetic, even ridiculous individuals whose only chance of fame is to create this agonising kind of chaos"

Anders Behring Breivik committed a terrible crime in Norway, and I would like to start this post by extending my deepest condolences to the victims, their families, and to the people of the lovely country of Norway.

Here in the UK we have spent the past three weeks being regaled with the story of the Murdochs; their many media outlets and the illegal and disgusting approach some of their reporters took to collecting materials on which to base their stories.

The Murdochs of this World are Linked to the Breiviks

Why am I mentioning this?  Because I believe there is a strong link. 

In Britain anyone in public life was terrified of the power of News International, the Murdoch’s media company and its ability to “control” public opinion, ruin careers and even lives. 

They got this power because our politicians, police, companies and we the public, gave it to them.   Politicians, the police and many other important public bodies courted News International and used them.  They employed their ex-employees so that they could conduct their PR in the same way.  They tried to become like the organization they all professed to despise.  And we, the public, lapped it up.
And having used this power to make themselves a huge fortune, they did not even pay tax on it.

The Press feed off Killers  

Killers like Breivik, those who take a weapon and mow down as many people as possible in a short time, know that they will be killed or captured.  Often they kill themselves.  But they also know that, dead or alive, they will get a lot of publicity and this knowledge makes it all worthwhile to them

These are useless, stupid pathetic, even ridiculous individuals whose only chance of fame is to create this agonizing chaos.  They have no talent, no ability, no work ethic and no real intelligence.  Combine this with a total lack of empathy and you have a psychopath.  What they do have is a grudge, a belief that we owe them something and a determination to collect.

And the press help them “collect” because it also helps the press to make money.

The Press Want us to be Frightened

The press want us to be horrified and frightened at what has happened, because that way we will read more, listen more and pay more for the materials they produce.  “Why did the killer do it?  Who’s fault was it they could get the tools/ access/ freedom to do it?  Who made mistakes?  How will the police / politicians / security services stop it happening again?” 

It is not just the press.  Politicians of all hues and beliefs, military, defence and security bodies trying to bolster their profile and/or budgets, insurance companies trying to sell policies, and those selling personal security.  All these people and more benefit when we are frightened.

Laugh at them, don’t fear them

The victims of men like Anders Behring Breivik deserve our attention, complete compassion and every assistance we can give them.  But the men themselves deserve only derision, contempt and ridicule.

Think about what would happen if that was the only attention these killers received from us.  They could not be used by all those mentioned above to support their cause.  They would hate the type of publicity they got, and it would, I firmly believe, stop many of them undertaking these dreadful actions. 

Laughing at the perpetrators is not the same as laughing at the victims, and this is a mistake we should never fall into

So join my chain and see what you can come up with to make us laugh at him, mock him for the useless parasitical despicable, worthless person he is.  See if you can come up with really cutting ways to illustrate the empty stupidity, the futility and vain ineffectuality that lies at the heart of men like Anders Behring Breivik.  Leave your quote below and let the chain get ever longer.

In five years time, Norwegian society will begin to recover, but Anders Behring Breivik will be stupid forever.  Join the mocking chain.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/299543.stm