Whose clothes are you wearing?

 The prime minister and other senior politicians have had clothes bought for them by rich donors to the Labour party. The donors have paid thousands of pounds for their favourite politicians to wear designer clothes, designer shoes and spectacles. Some of these gifts have cost thousands of pounds.  The recipients of the largesse have claimed that they need to look smart on the campaign trail or when meeting richer foreign politicians and royalty etc. They have a point.

However, the voter in the street has to pay for his or her own clothes and most voters have nothing like six figure salaries. Many voters are on their "uppers" and are disappointed that  privileged and well paid politicians are happy to receive "freebies". The public expects better. They can see no reason why some pensioners who are not rich have had their winter fuel allowance taken off them when they can't afford designer sheep skin coats etc. to keep them warm as they sit in their frozen flats and houses.

Politicians are expected to look smart by both the public and the media. Power dressing is very much in vogue. A former leader of the Labour Party turned up at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, in 1981, dressed in a donkey jacket; he was traduced by both the public and the press, and accused of being being disrespectful to the dead and wounded from two world wars. Come off it many "respectful" people  wearing designer suits are often hypocrites  or crooks or both: many of them politicians. You can show respect without wearing a thousand pound suit. Let us all be rational about it and keep our hands clean no matter what we are wearing. Let us stop criticising people who don't have the money for power dressing. Perhaps we would have a better society for it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8djply3z18o

https://insidecroydon.com/2023/11/09/donkey-jackets-nod-sense-and-the-wisdom-of-old-harry-patch/

 

Bad reputation

A distant cousin of my wife who was born in France has married a lovely lady from Vietnam she has resided in France long enough to become a French citizen. One of the first things she wanted to do with her new French passport was to visit us in London.\she always had an admiration for the UK and this was an opportunity to make a visit without the rigmarole of obtaining a visa. The recent events have made her change her made . The riots have put her off, as she is worried that she might be attacked by a violent "racist" yobbo. Despite assurances from us that she will be safe, as we know how to avoid trouble in the UK she is not convinced. Many potential visitors to these shores will also be put off especially if they are from South East Asia. It is clear that no-one has the right to attack anyone else or to spread fear amongst the immigrant, or visitor community. Many British citizens whose parents hail from South East Asia are also living in fear.

Britain is losing its good reputation not just at a personal level but also at a national level. The populist politicians have also stirred up an angry mob to hold other nations in contempt especially European Nations and the nations of South East Asia. Britain has lost respect which has severe political, diplomatic and economic implications for us How can Britain progress in a global economy when it it has lost the respect of many nations.

Our politicians need to wake up to assuage some of the very angry people who have been let down and who have been left impoverished without hope. Not everyone who joined in the riots was politically motivated; some of them were just angry, and they were influenced by dark political forces to direct that anger against innocent asylum seekers and those who support them by providing them with services. All of the violence was completely unjustified, but our society needs to be careful as it could easily descend into a populist hell. Not all of the angry people were out on the streets but they could be manipulated to do so. Don't believe that it could not happen here, watch out be careful, be woke!

Age of criminal responsibility

 Recently, a number of children aged 12 and 13 were in the UK courts being prosecuted for violent disorder during the the riots. No doubt they will be punished in some way, if the are found guilty, but they will not be sent to prison. Of course violent disorder is a serious matter and no-one should be allowed to get away with it no matter what age they are. However, I am of the opinion that children of 12 should not be held criminally responsible for their actions. Most European nations do not treat children under the age of 14 as being criminally responsible for what they do. The parents of children who commit crimes should be held responsible. What were parents doing allowing children out onto the streets during a riot, these children should have been at home with their parents. No-one should be a rioter who endangers the lives of the police and emergency service personnel or members of the public. No-one has the right to pick upon unfortunate asylum seekers some of whom are escaping from violence and prejudice in their home countries. Children should not be encouraged to riot or act violently. It is the adults who  encourage their children to be violent who should feel the full power of the law. We have seen enough of anti-semitism and islamophobia, and it is time for it to stop, and for children who indulge in this to be restrained and re-educated. 

Violent connexions

 The violence seen lately on the streets of the UK has at least one glaring connection with the violence seen lately in the Middle East: irrational hatred. One group of group of people hates others so much that they want to kill them. It doesn't matter whether it is an unprotected policeman being targeted or a child at a dance party, some revellers at a kibbutz festival or children in a Gazan hospital, let's see this violence for what it is: irrational hatred. The violence is caused by people who are sick in the head falling victim to their own internal irrational hatred. The human race should be careful not to allow this sickness to infect us all, as we could destroy ourselves.

Jailing oil protestors

 I can't help thinking that jailing  a stop oil protestor for five years is excessive. This was the jail term handed out to Roger Hallam for blocking the M25 in 2022. Some of his fellow protestors were given similar sentences. 

The protestors inconvenienced thousands of people but they did not injure or kill anyone directly . The protests were non-violent. Violent offenders have been given lesser sentences. They were protesting for political reasons, and it looks as if they are right to point out the dangers of climate change. Climate change has serious implications which could result in the starvation of thousands and huge migrations of people with all the attendant problems. The protestors believe that no-one is taking  the dangers seriously, so they are obliged to take drastic action  to get every one to take notice.

 I don't believe that it was right to block the M25 motorway, as emergency vehicles could have been prevented from attending fires and serious accidents; dying people could have been stuck in ambulances. However, I don't believe it was just to jail them for so long; they could have been given suspended sentences, so that they they would be forced to contemplate that they would be jailed if they take further illegal action.

The jails are full and the authorities are having to release prisoners early, so what is the point of jailing non-violent offenders when they could be given suspended sentences?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/just-stop-oil-founder-jailed-for-record-five-years-over-m25-motorway-protest/ar-BB1qdGtO

Joe Biden dropping out

 It is my opinion that Joe Biden did the right thing by dropping out of the US presidential race. He may be perfectly healthy for a man of his age and still have acute mental faculties. His fumbling mistakes and his general physical demeanour, however, have led to a perception that he is not up to the job of being the next President of the US.  He would have lost the election because of how he is perceived. 

He is, now, right to concentrate his considerable abilities to  solving the conflict between Palestine and Israel, to ensure a lasting and just peace. If he can do this he will be recognised as  one of the greatest Presidents of the US.

He was also right to endorse Kamala Harris as the next prospective candidate. Ms Harris is very intelligent and comes across as a strong character who has an sharp sense of humour. She is also socially liberal. She is just the right person to put the misogynistic, spiteful and hateful  populists in their place. Machismo men are secretly frightened of a strong and intelligent woman, and Kamala Harris has all of the character and ability to appeal to the American public in order to win the election. She can  protect the American  people from the worst aspects of prejudice and extremism. I wish her well and hope that she wins.

Who to vote for?

 The UK is in a complete mess. The National Health Service is falling apart. Brexit has and will be a failure. The prisons are so full that the government is thinking of releasing some prisoners early. There are delays in judicial procedures. The immigration system is in complete disarray. Thousands of asylum seekers have not been processed: the boat people have not been stopped nor will they be without co-operation from our former partners: there is some doubt about the legality of the Rwanda deportation  policy. Threatening to leave the ECHR is almost as stupid as actually doing it. There is uncontrolled pollution of our rivers and seas. Now some people have been disenfranchised by the late reception of postal voting packages. The government has failed us and we need a change.

Who to vote for? Tactical voting will probably fail to remove my local Conservative MP as he has a huge majority. I cannot vote for Labour because of their policy on Europe; we need to re-join the single market and customs union. Britain voted to leave the EU not the single market, so there should be no argument about re-joining the institution, as Norway is a member of the market without being in the EU as is Switzerland, albeit by using separate treaties. When we were in the single market immigration was under control and the free market in labour was a better means of controlling the market than points based immigration systems.

I have no choice but to vote for a political party that supports re-joining the single market as a step towards re-joining the EU itself, if our friends in Europe accept this. This means that I have two choices the Greens or the Liberal Democrats. The more voices that are registered to support re-joining the EU  the better.