Taking back our humanity… What nonsense is that?

I wanted to write a piece about taking back our humanity, but that didn’t seem right. What on earth was I thinking? You can’t take back something that you’ve neither lost nor forsaken nor had stolen from you, although through relentless propaganda the government and media try and, for some, succeed. I found myself laughing […]

A word of caution about Esther McVey’s ‘u-turn’ on housing benefit for young people

Originally posted on Politics and Insights:
Thanks to Joe Halewood for the screenshot A little background on the “Youth Obligation”. The ‘national living wage‘ (which is actually an inadequate rise in the minimum wage) was one of the centrepieces of the Osborne budget back in 2015 – which does not apply to those people under 25. Osborne exhorted…

This is genocide

Samaritans are available 24 hours a day. Free call from any phone – 116 123 Like the British Raj and the Empire that preceded them, the modern day Tories use privilege to cover their crimes. They throw mud at the living and rejoice when some inevitably sticks, whilst presiding over a silent genocide. The dead […]

Oh all right, let’s talk about that mural then

Originally posted on TheCritique Archives:
by Martin Odoni The largely-fictitious ‘anti-Semitism-in-Labour’ controversy is clearly never going to be allowed to die. I have no doubt more examples will be brought to public attention in the final days before the Local Elections in May, and most accusations will stem from heavily-distorted information, just as Mike Sivier…

YouGov Are Asking Whether Benefit Claimants Should Be Allowed To Vote

Originally posted on Same Difference:
Same Difference is deeply upset by this YouGov poll question. Of course, we answered that benefit claimants should be allowed to vote.

Go and be fabulous

I was on the phone to my dear friend Eileen the other day and at the end of our usual deep and wonderful, mischievous and iconoclastic conversation she said something in parting that rocked my world. “Go and be fabulous.” No one has ever said anything as astonishing to me in parting and nor has […]

Humans redundant, not likely

There is a conception that Artificial Intelligence will, fairly soon, make humans redundant or even obsolete. I have argued elsewhere that this reasoning is based on the notion that machines are increasingly taking over the world of work but, for human kind, it is work that is becoming obsolete and we now need to look […]

Manufacturing consent – The manipulation of the masses

Buried in the heart of increasing right wing governments is a little recognised phenomenon, even by those who walk the corridors of power, what we call ‘The Establishment’, those who formulate and dictate the life of nations. It is not a new phenomenon and can be discerned throughout history in the attitude of the ruling […]

The BBC’s disgraceful attempt at a McCarthyist-style shaping public of perceptions and flouting impartiality rule

Originally posted on Politics and Insights:
Many of us have criticised the BBC over the past 7 years of bias, and of reflecting broadly establishment opinion. However, the broadcasting corporation has persistently defended itself against legitimate charges of ideological favouritism, claiming a reputation for fair coverage.  Given the BBC’s reach, and the trust placed in it,…

Statement by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, Ambassador Alexander Shulgin, to the OPCW concerning the Salisbury attack

Originally posted on Politics and Insights:
Following on from my earlier article, below is the text of the statement made yesterday – March 13 – by Ambassador Alexander Shulgin to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons at the Hague. I agree that the UK government need to abandon the “the language of ultimatums and threats…