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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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 Posted -
28/04/2011
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07:37
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Political comment is a high risk activity on the site these days so I thought I'd try again to give those who are interested in politics a safe haven!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 03/12/2011 : 04:46
"It isn't only in govermental life that those in charge are seeming to be less clued up than those they are trying to lead..it is happening with regard to all the old established higher orders.. doctors, teachers, priests once looked up to as the benign experts are nowadays no more equipped to explain things than the people they are trying to explain them to."
Dead right Belle. You only have to look at the track record. They are too busy playing politics or guarding their own corner and have lost sight of the ball. What they are missing at the moment is that this is a global problem and demands concerted global action on the fundamentals of the system, not throwing more phantom money at the symptoms.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk  |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 05/12/2011 : 06:51
I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday who is an eminent economist and I mentioned that Marx could have been right and she agreed but pointed out that Marx wasn't actually against the capitalist system, he realised it was an efficient mechanism and produced results. His beef was the way the system was run for the benefit of the few and of course I have always agreed with this.
I listen to the news reports and get the impression that we are in a sort of political limbo. Doubtless everything will go into purdah for a month as the world enjoys the holiday season. I get the feeling that Janiary and February are going to be interesting months!
I heard some discussion yesterday about the Clarkson incident and reflected that his comments didn't anger me half as much as the crass statements we heard from people Like Cameron, Gove and others on the one day strike. On the evidence, what drives them is the old Tory DNA, not a realistic appreciation of the situation down here at ground level. I have this yearning for a really statesmanlike speech coming out of Westminster Village.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 05/12/2011 : 09:53
"I have this yearning for a really statesmanlike speech coming out of Westminster Village."
Keep yearning Stanley, it's going to be a long wait!
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Tardis
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Posted - 05/12/2011 : 10:20
Seems like Nick Clegg is pushing the means testing towards pensions now, having done the benefits bit.
Not sure he fully undertands the IDS, back to work incentives.
You certainly don't allow people to stand on their own feet if they have to rely on the state to solve basic day-to-day issues.
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Tardis
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Posted - 05/12/2011 : 10:23
With regard to the Strike.
The narrative was about "shopping", the message was drowned by the poor quoting of the self seeking publicity machine that is Clarkson, then finally holed below the waterline by Lord Hutton.
I am now simply concerned that the message has played to the simplist of human emotions - envy.
Now we have a "them and us", and I wonder if any support that the Public Sector had will now be drowned out by the other rising power: the public outcry on the public radio and TV forums.
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Tizer
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Posted - 05/12/2011 : 15:44
The news and entertainment media have far too much power now in influencing the public. The 24th November episode of Radio 4's `Material World' programme was very good on communicating risk and how it gets garbled by the media. Lord Krebs, Chair of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, and Professor Sir John Beddington, Chief Scientific Adviser. Worth listening to - you can download the podcast or listen online from this BBC page [LINK].
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catgate
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Posted - 05/12/2011 : 17:14
"I have this yearning for a really statesmanlike speech coming out of Westminster Village. "
Actions speak louder than Stateman like twaddle. Sadly they have all lost their way since Bush first mooted the idea of a Road Map. They now all work on Satnav paid for by "The Lobby" (and may be drawn up by Bilderberg).
Every silver lining has a cloud.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2011 : 05:45
It takes statesmen and women to initiate the action Catty. Read Beveridge Report for a good example.
The EU scene gets even murkier. Sarcozy (junior partner) and Merkel have now come out of the closet and in effect have announced that they are going to force fiscal control from Brussells through 'come what may'. This is the first concrete step towards a full blown federal Europe and if anyone thinks this effort to reassure the markets is going to be quick, easy and universal among the 17 Euro members, dream on. Most telling part for me was Merkel retreating from expecting the banks to take a minimum 50% haircut. This signals that the banks have won the argument about such a threat to their stability.
At the same time Standard and Poors have issued a warning that 15 out of the 17 Euro states are on ratings watch, this includes France and Germany. This undermines anything Sarcozy and Merkel can do and could well be a death blow for the Euro. In particular it makes expanding the stabilty fund into a 'bigger bazooka' even more unlikely with obvious repercussions on the survival of the economies of the Mediterranean countries.
Here at home it becomes obvious, even to people like me who have always been in favour of greater cooperation between European nations, the prospect of loss of fiscal control and hence sovereignty is unacceptable. There will have to be a referendum and the result is a foregone conclusion, a massive No vote. Anything else will be seen as a disaster. Apart from anything else, who, in their right minds would vote for inclusion in such a political shambles? In addition, there is every prospect of the situation getting worse.
For another view of the Coalition policies, see this LINK.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tardis
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Posted - 07/12/2011 : 14:57
The euro situation is provoking some pretty emotive language. I have even noticed today references to the creation of Slave States
I don't normally, but today I have to agree with Boris who said "we are in danger of saving the cancer and allowing the patient to die".
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Tardis
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Posted - 07/12/2011 : 15:01
Local politics: very quiet West Craven Area Committee last night. Maybe it was the weather, or just getting ready for the Christmas season and the inevitable budget setting to come in the New Year.
Interesting that the Citizen's advice is asking the exec for £5000 to stay in the Rainhall Road building for at least this year whilst it tries to sort out the funding and finance situation.
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wendyf
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Posted - 07/12/2011 : 16:19
Hope the Committee didnt decide in favour of the 100k turbine going up less than 140m from my back door!
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Tardis
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Posted - 08/12/2011 : 10:43
no
quote:
wendyf wrote:
Hope the Committee didnt decide in favour of the 100k turbine going up less than 140m from my back door!
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Tardis
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Posted - 08/12/2011 : 10:47
Local Politics: Quite a lively Town Council meeting last night. Cllr Whipp very quiet for him, and the complaint from Whichcrafts is being taken very seriously. Even the Chamber of Trade had sent a letter of support.
Some issues around the remuneration.
Appears the Town Council are going to consult on the Superstores currently being planned for Barnoldswick (3 sites were identified). Looks like the Tesco one won't see the light of day until June 2012 because of all the reports that have to be drawn up.
Interesting that Craven Council have objected to the Tesco too.
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Tardis
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Posted - 08/12/2011 : 10:49
The Times is reporting today that the "binned" NHS computer programme is in fact possibly still alive and liable to cost the taxpayer about £2 billion up to 2017, having already cost more than £7 billion
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Tardis
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Posted - 08/12/2011 : 11:09
One thing from the Town Council last night:
The Core strategy resolution. I think that the numbers were being used to baffle, when I know that the planned development is for only 300 houses. They also avoided the obvious one, that if development of residential is allowed on "brownfield" industrial sites, then that industrial land must be reallocated elsewhere.
The "wind farms" scare is simply untrue, because as I understand it, whilst the sites may be suitable, there is currently no way for any manufacturer to bring the 'windmills' into the area because the roads aren't good enough. Use of a helicopter to site them would make them uneconomic.
Plus, on top of this, the Town Council can take up the Neighbourhood Development Plan which comes into legal force next year and allows them some discretion on planning and development issues. So far the Town Council have resisted my questions to build a strategy to do the necessary consultation, availability and construction that would allow them to modulate the demands of the Core Strategy.
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POLITICS CORNER
