Some foreign observers may gloat over the disturbing scenes of rioting, arson, looting and urban warfare in the banlieues of French cities over the last week with an arrogant sense of schadenfreude, blaming the EU leadership, the French governance team, complacent left-branded politicians and naïve French voters for failing to address the root causes of
⋯Filtered by corporatism
How the Blair Era begat Corbynism
And how powerful forces commandeer youthful idealism to further totalitarian aims Labour’s new army of social justice warriors have learned a bitter lesson. While they may appeal to some special interest groups and social service professionals, they have lost touch with their base outside a few culturally diverse inner-city areas. As the results of the
⋯capitalism, communism, corporatism, Linguistics
The engineered breakup of the Yookay
Before sometime around 1990, while I lived abroad in Italy, most large institutions and the establishment media in the North West of Europe liked to refer a place called Britain and proudly used adjectives like British to include England, Wales, Scotland and, by loose extension, Northern Ireland too. Outside the UK confusion reigns supreme as
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Extinguishing Open Debate and Personal Freedom
In the age of narcissism, mass-consumerism and hyper-dependence All of a sudden, the streets of major European cities are full of impressionable virtue-signallers demanding immediate action against our modern way of life to save the planet from the spectre of man-made climate change. I instinctively sympathise with rebels, even if I don’t always share either
⋯capitalism, communism, corporatism, hegemony, human rights, limits to growth, migration
Falling Apart
In the age of Coming Together The beginning of the end for neoliberalism How can we reconcile shifting alliances and growing cultural divisions among parallel communities in the same geographic region on the one hand with the long-term trend of global convergence on the other? We see this at multiple levels. Is the USA reverting
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Anatomy of a Rebel
We may like to think of people as progressive or conservative, collectivist or individualist, egalitarian or meritocratic, caring or competitive, libertarian or authoritarian, selfless or selfish, nature-loving or materialist. All too often we simplify these issues along an arbitrary left to right spectrum, usually with the more virtuous stances on the left. However, one criterion
⋯All in the mind, corporatism, Linguistics
The Brexit Delusion and the End of Neoliberalism
I’ve long been critical of superstates and any extreme concentration of power, but only really from around 2014 did anti-EU feeling in the UK gain enough momentum to call into question Britain’s integration with the European project and to force a referendum, which the establishment hoped would endorse the status quo’s trajectory of ever-closer union.
⋯capitalism, communism, Computing, corporatism, immigration, limits to growth, migration
Do the elites want to eliminate us?
Or do they just want to control us by getting us hooked on their technology? As we progress into the 21st century, most of us find it harder and harder to understand the pervasive technologies that underpin our daily lives. This emerging reality can lead us to radically divergent conclusions. While many of us may
⋯All in the mind, capitalism, communism, corporatism, hegemony
The Destabilisation Game
How warmongers and open-borders activists collude to disrupt viable societies If you have a romantically humanitarian worldview, you may well welcome all policies that seem to help other people in need and oppose all actions that may either harm or hinder others. An idealist would resist all wars, abhor all violence and accommodate all victims
⋯capitalism, communism, Computing, corporatism
The Eclipse of the Democratic Delusion
No post-agrarian society has ever transferred all power to the people, but some have been fairly successful at involving broad cross-sections of their populace in the decision-making process through stage-managed consultation exercises. At various stages in history we may have fleetingly entertained the illusion of people power in workers’ councils set up in the midst
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Going with the flow against the Old World Order
The affluent professional classes, along with their army of assorted victim groups and infantile self-righteous student types, have set it upon themselves to amplify the mainstream media’s disapproval of leading proponents of the old world order of nation states, two-parent families and cohesive communities with shared values. Three weeks ago we saw a large demonstration
⋯capitalism, communism, corporatism, immigration, limits to growth, migration
The Net Contribution Myth
Inconvenient fact: Total Public spending is £23 thousand per worker This is quick one, but the subject keeps coming up in discussions about working parents, welfare dependency and mass migration. Yes, I know any mention of the last subject will put off many readers and ring alarm bells about potentially xenophobic rants, but the claim
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How to spot an Élitist
or rather how to spot their sycophants. There is a certain category of pseudo-intellectual whose views are utterly predictable, though this subspecies of mildly affluent trendy lefties may come in a variety of shapes, sizes and intelligence levels. In an insular British context we might refer to this group loosely as Guardian readers, the kind
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Fakenews Overdrive
A mindset pervades the British chattering classes whether nominally on the right, centre or trendy left. One may debate strategy, priorities or even the niceties of ethics, but one may not question the BBC and by extension the other main news outlets and opinion leading institutions. To do so invites immediate ridicule. When I debate
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Unmasking the True Enemies of the Liberal Enlightenment
The liberal enlightenment rests on three core tenets: Social cohesion enabling peaceful coexistence of all communities and relative equality of opportunity. Participatory democracy to resolve common disputes that arise in any complex society reliant on advanced technology Intellectual freedom to facilitate the free exchange of ideas letting ordinary people speak truth to power I could
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Why does the Regressive Left worship the NHS?
Or rather why do metropolitan elites not trust the Working Classes? Before you doubt my sanity, let me clarify a couple of buzzwords in the title. By regressive left I mean a widespread political current that positions itself on the progressive left, but always sides, when push comes to shove, with remote institutions who want
⋯All in the mind, communism, corporatism
Is Capitalism Morphing Into Communism?
Under communism you buy everything from a single state outlet, whereas under fully mature capitalism you buy everything from Amazon. Karl Sharro I once dreamed of a socialist utopia devoid of hate, fear, anxiety, poverty and interpersonal rivalry with common ownership of the means of production. This fantasy comes in two main flavours, idealistic anarcho-communism
⋯capitalism, communism, Computing, corporatism, hegemony
Destabilising Europe
What’s going on in Catalonia? I seldom comment on unfolding events before I can establish some basic facts and investigate all the forces at play. I woke up this morning to a twitter stream showing violent clashes between the Spanish Guardia Civil and unarmed Catalan citizens attempting to vote in the region’s independence referendum. I
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The Emerging Age of Absolutisms
What do corporate globalism, Islamic fundamentalism, communist idealism and neo-fascist romanticism all have in common besides being abstract isms? If you look at their attitudes to the key ethical questions of our age, their notional position on the left-right spectrum or their virtuosity in the public mind, they may appear at variance or even diametric
⋯All in the mind, capitalism, communism, Computing, corporatism, migration
Who's really behind Momentum ?
How former Blairites morphed into radical advocates of a borderless utopia Politics is really the art of winning influence over other power brokers to further one’s true agenda, which may be self-aggrandisement, commercial interests or the pursuit of long-term ideological change. Personally I think most politicians fall into the first category of wishful thinking opportunists,
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The Brave New World Test
Human history has had plenty of upheavals, but I believe we have never experienced such a rapid rate of technological and cultural change with worldwide reach. In 1931 Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World not so much as a reliable prognosis of human development over the coming six centuries (as the story is set in
⋯All in the mind, communism, Computing, corporatism
Another Day, Another Attack
How the British Foreign Policy Elite favoured its short-term commercial interests over the long-term security and wellbeing of its citizens. Just in case you haven’t read the news. Seven people were killed and 48 others injured in a van and knife attack on London Bridge and Borough Market, in which three suspects were shot dead
⋯corporatism, human rights, immigration, migration
Capitalism is Dead, long live global corporatism
Why some greedy bankers may want Corbyn to win I had wanted to expand on my Brave New World thesis in relation to mounting calls from the trendy left and business leaders for a universal basic income. We now see an alliance stretching from social justice warriors, environmentalists and no-borders activists to corporate CEOs all
⋯capitalism, communism, Computing, corporatism, hegemony, immigration, limits to growth
Your services are no longer required
Universal Basic Income for all (Terms and conditions apply) On behalf of trendsetting businesses around the world, we’d like to thank all semi-skilled workers for your tireless devotion to the complex industrial system on which we all depend. We are truly grateful to all our past and present colleagues and business partners including production line
⋯All in the mind, capitalism, communism, corporatism
Engineered Chaos
In the great debate on the relative merits of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and atheism as dominant ideologies, let me declare my relative agnosticism. Sure, on a purely empirical level I’ve long been an atheist and have yet to find any credible evidence of the existence of supernatural beings. However, I doubt we will
⋯All in the mind, capitalism, communism, corporatism, immigration
Realignment in the age of Elitism
I expect no prizes for forecasting the Conservative Party will win Theresa May’s Snap General Election on 8th June. That’s because none of the opposition parties offer viable alternatives that can convince ordinary pragmatic voters uninterested in foreign policy and who do not have an ideological commitment to socialism, environmentalism or universalism. If, like me,
⋯communism, Computing, corporatism
Do the Elites understand protest votes?
I wish I could rally behind one of the major or minor parties in Theresa May’s Snap General Election. To be honest, I have only ever voted as a protest, to show that the citizenry is somehow politically aware, but unhappy with our rulers’ mischievous actions and plans. The alternative is to spoil your ballot
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The Trump Delusion
Let’s agree that the left-branded neoliberal dream best associated with the Clinton Dynasty in the US and with Tony Blair and David Cameron in the UK has failed their core working class electoral bases. Ordinary working people are fed up with know-it-all talking heads on TV lecturing them on what they should think and belittling
⋯All in the mind, capitalism, corporatism
What Kind of Freedom Do You Want ?
We all yearn for freedom. Instinctively nobody wants to submit to the will of others whom we cannot trust to act in our best interests. However, in today’s complex high-tech society we’ve become so interdependent that we relinquish our personal freedoms and submit to higher authorities in all our daily interactions with the rest of
⋯capitalism, communism, corporatism, hegemony, human rights, limits to growth
Patronising Social Conformists
How the new left merely cheerleads the new globalist establishment As millions heed the call of the establishment media and celebrity charlatans to protest the inauguration of a new conservative American president, we must ask why the same media outlets barely reported massive grassroots opposition to recent military interventions in the Middle East. These stage-managed
⋯All in the mind, capitalism, communism, corporatism, limits to growth
Is Oceania still at war with Eastasia?
How President Trump could signal the demise of the USA as a superpower and how the globalist elite may switch allegiance to other centres of power. In George Orwell’s 1984 Oceania appeared to be in a never-ending war against Eastasia. Airstrip One, the new name for Great Britain, belonged to Oceania with North America and
⋯capitalism, communism, Computing, corporatism, hegemony, human rights, immigration, migration
Does the Trendy UK Left Support British Workers?
Or does it just think we need better mental healthcare I’ve long admired Ken Loach, a radical film producer who rose to fame with his 1965 classic, Cathy Come Home, about the homelessness of a young couple. Anyone who challenged the establishment had my support. More recently he has fallen into line with the infantile
⋯All in the mind, corporatism