Mark Steel asks "Have the British got a "Naturally, Neolithic Subservience Gene?"

Well yes of course they have; who needs to ask?

Actually, being truthful, I am quoting Mark totally out of context. He said this in a discussion on BBC Radio 4 The Today Programme where Mark, the presenter and a French journo discussed the difference between French people’s reaction to social changes (currently burning their country to the ground in an effort to beat the government’s dictats about pensionable age) and us – about to have far worse cuts rained down on us and nary a peep from us, our unions or our politicians.

So What is the Evidence for this Subservience Gene?

The first bit of evidence is how we are reacting to the massive cuts proposed by our government compared to how our European neighbours are reacting to relatively smaller ones. i.e. they are burning the country down as mentioned above while here in the UK – nary a peep.

I Blame the Labour Party

In this case the subservience gene has been supported (or displayed) by the Labour Party. They lost the election and promptly tucked their noses into their collective navel. They spent the next five months deciding who would be their new leader. In the meantime they ignored Britain, and totally forgot their role as the only opposition. The unions spent the same few months assisting the Labour Party to ignore the country in order to try and increase their power over said party.

This was a vital 5 months for the UK because this was the time the new Government pulled together their plans to slash and burn the public sector. Anyone with half a brain would have known that opposition during that period was going to be vital. But of course, the leadership of the Labour Party – well that’s far more important than the future of this country isn’t it?

Group Think

As a result the Tories, led by Goc Won’t (George Osborne, Chancellor-won’t spend anything), have had months to tickle out that gene and persuade us that we have no choice but to submit to the cuts. The Lib Dems are displaying the gene in full glorious colour by going along with their new masters. The mindfree press are now batting for the Governmental approach so it’s a full house.

Scientific study has shown over and over again that groups tend to make more extreme decisions than individuals[1] and also that when groups get things wrong they support each other in their incorrect beliefs.  We are all now in the grip of a piece of groupthink introduced by Goc Won’t; i.e. that the only way to get out of this mess is to massively cut the State while protecting the financial industry.    Once again cleaners are going to pay for the mistakes of bankers.

---

[1] 59 Seconds – Think a Little, Change a Lot by Professor Richard Wiseman

Is it Cheaper to Buy Europe than to Win it in a War?

It seems that Germany will end up owning Europe.  At least those parts of Europe that use the Euro.

Greece needed to be bailed out because of her intemperate (and apparantly dishonest) spending habits. And no matter what the Greek people say,

Why Politicians and their Commentators are Blind Men in the World of the Sited

The Death of Vision

 

Why are all politicians and the vast majority of talking heads so confused about the suddenly spiking support for the Lib Dems?

 

The reason for their confusion is fairly simple. The group of people who earn their living in and around Westminster (and that is the vast majority of those who 'inform' us about what is going on politically, economically and even morally as well as those who govern us), have, in my opinion, their heads tucked so far up each other’s nether orifices, that they have no idea what people living in the real world think.

 

We Get What We Deserve

 

French political philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville said that in a democracy, we get the government we deserve. It seems that we also get the media we deserve.

 

In the Daily Mail Andrew Pierce points a finger of blame at the Conservative party for allowing the Liberal Democrats to have equal billing at the TV debate:

 

"It's a political miscalculation so monumental that it's even being compared to Neil Kinnock bellowing 'we're all right', days before he lost the 1992 general election.

So who on earth was to blame for allowing David Cameron to share a TV platform alongside Nick Clegg, thereby allowing the LibDem leader to portray himself as a serious contender for Downing Street, rather than a risible also-ran?

 

So, Daily Mail, anyone who dares to step into the political arena in the UK and who does not live up to your standards (and I am not going to describe your standards given the state of libel law in the UK today) is a “risible also-ran”. And how dare anyone give the British public the chance to freely judge the quality of the leaders on offer? Pshwahhhhh… Hang the beggers I say.

 

Tall Must Be Good

 

A piece of ‘wisdom’ is sweeping through the media at the moment that purports to explain the reason for Clegg’s current popularity. According to this wisdom, the reason the Lib Dem’s popularity has spiked is because he is taller than the other two leaders. "The idiot Proles", the argument goes, "saw during the debate last week that Clegg was the tallest of the three and made up their minds then and there".

 

“Ugh”. They went. “He tall. Must be good leader. Ughhhh.”

 

“It must be true that they think that way ” trilled Jim Nauchty on The Today Programme today “because when you ask them what the Lib Den’s policies are they don’t have a clue”.

 

I confess that I have not quoted Jim totally accurately, but the above sums his meaning up pretty accurately.

 

A Spike for a Head

 

In the old days – Henry VIII and all that – heads were put on spikes when their equivalent of politicians became unpopular. Now spikes put certain politicians ahead – but should be seen as the threat they are.

 

The ruling classes – and I include the media in that as they are the gate-keepers where information is concerned – have spent so long thinking they can hang onto their jobs by promising trash to the trash that they have forgotten, if they ever knew, that the trash have brains.

 

• We know we are up to our ears in financial mire that we all created.

 

• We know that we are out of gas and oil and all the income they brought in.

 

• We know that the world is in a bad place ecologically.

 

• We know that tax will massively increase, services will massively decrease and life will become very grey.

 

• We know that you will continue to send your offspring to private schools and your sick to private hospitals as long as you can persuade us to pay for it.

 

• We know that you won’t change the banking system because that is where you will get jobs when you leave politics.

 

We know all of this and still you lie about taxes, cuts, savings and what we can have after the election so that you can save your sad asses (and assets).

 

That is Why

 

That is why we don’t trust you. Because a) you have shown that most of you are as venal as us and b) because you don’t trust us.

 

References:

 

Seòlta: cunning, crafty, wily, skilful, ingenious, wise

 

Cailleach: old woman

 

Seòlta Cailleach- wise old woman (with apologies to Gaelic speakers).