Writing's a fight and this boy needs a battle
News outlet.
The statistic that “sixty percent of all art graduates are women, yet their presence in galleries, museums and exhibitions often amounts to a maximum of 30%” is interesting when viewed along side this headline by Huffington Post, and a realisation only now researchers are “starting to consider how sexual harassment keeps women down”.
What strikes me about this story by Aditya Chakrabortty in The Guardian is how long it’s taken for people to realise what being done to them. How much suffering did Michelle Dorrell have to endured before she woke up? The sad fact is, the Tories were pushing ahead with the same policies when she “voted for them last time”.
How many others, like Michelle Dorrell, have voted and will continue to vote against their own interests? The blessing and the curse of her realisation is that she had to go through so much hardship before realising.
The Conservative Party are doing what neoliberal government’s have been doing for decades, concentrating “wealth, power and opportunity in ever-fewer hands”.
If this country is a horse, a massive “Boxer” of a horse, instead of rewarding his efforts with food, water, and care, the Tories have strung him up, cut his throat, and are watching while he empties of blood. The next step for Boxer is the glue factory. They want to wring every last penny from him.
I hope Michelle Dorrell is right, that the “Tories are screwed for a generation”. She punctuates her assertion with a moment of self doubt, a question, “aren’t they?” She knows her “kids will grow up knowing they’ve been screwed over by that lot”. What she doesn’t know is if “that lot” will be allowed to keep “laying waste to its own voters”.
It’s interesting to me that Jim Waterson and Peter Walker give Theresa May the last word, summoning the mythic notion of the media as an impartial force, speaking truth to power, the “bedrock of our democracy”.
I do not always enjoy reading what the media in my country writes about me. But I will defend their right to say it – for the independence of our media is one of my country’s greatest achievements. And it is the bedrock of our democracy.
Theresa May – September 2018
The media has and will always be the “propaganda of privilege”. The media chooses what we discussed, how that discussion is framed, and who has the last word. Having the last word is important. It bestows authority, allowing the comments to sit with an audience, letting that point of view be the “truth”.
This notion, pushed by journalists, that the media speaks truth to power is laughable. The media speaks to like minded people. It is nothing more than the post-show show, a propaganda vehicle for the main attraction, a Big Brother’s Bit on the Side to main show Big Brother, a fluffer on the set of a porno, there to keep the actors aroused.
The key line from Owen Jones in The Guardian is that “by demanding more boldness from Labour, the political debate can be shifted further left still”.
I’m sure it can, but I predict it will be met with even more hostility from the right. How do you combat that? Telling the truth doesn’t work, because it’s not just about appealing to the head, it’s about appealing to the heart, and more importantly the gut.
The problem for the left is that it’s very good at winning the intellectual argument, it just isn’t as good at hitting people in the gut. The jingoism of the right hits people where it hurts, and they carry it, remember it, act on it.
The left needs to do the same, and find a way to grab people by the intestines. Only when they learn to do that, will they be able to take a parliamentary majority with them.
I broadly agree with Owen Jones’s piece in The Guardian, a centrist split could be a gift to hard-right strategists.
Both Labour and Conservative are mistakenly committed to honouring the result of the referendum. We keep being told we’re defiantly, absolutely, positively, leaving the European Union. The only difference is the way we exit.
The Labour leadership seems broadly in favour a soft exit. Maintain the benefits of the European Union, mainly frictionless trade and workers rights, without being a member.
Government Conservatives, under the Chequers plan want the same thing, maybe? It’s definitely softer than hard-right Conservatives. They want to drive us off a cliff-edge.
Within that context, the appeal of centrists would be their pro-remain stance. Presumably it would attract MP’s from both parties, and damage both extremes equally. Their remain stance would appeal to the growing number of voters, slowly beginning to realise, leaving the European Union is going to have some very damaging consequences.
For me, one of the most dangerous parts of the centrist stance is their enthusiasm for neoliberalism. It wants to return us to the pre-election, pre-crash, status quo, and there lies its weakness. True, crashing out of the European Union would be a mistake. The cost of living will climb, and climb, and climb, with no deal. So the centrist can argue, with conviction, remaining part of the European Union is the lesser of two evils.
The hard-right Conservative version of exit, promises crisis capitalism that would make all but the wealthiest poorer. Which makes the Labour leadership’s stance either incredibly astute or incredibly reckless.
Centrist are hoping threats of a split will drag the Labour leadership towards them. It won’t, because what I’ve realised, exiting the European Union isn’t just about leaving, it’s also about exiting neoliberalism.
For Labour exiting offers a chance to draw a line under the neoliberal project. I could be wrong, I probably am, but the psychological break with the European Union is a chance to move us towards a country run for the many not the few.
That’s the astute part. The reckless part is letting the hard-right crash us out. They will then ramp up the hostile nationalism, and allow the profiteers to thrive.
I agree with George Monbiot on this one. People are being exploited by the food industry.
I think we need to adopt Marshall McLuhan’s counterculture anthem, popularised by Timothy Leary, “turn on, tune in, and drop out”.
We need to “turn on” to the way the food industry manipulates us.
We need to “tune in” to healthy food choices.
And we need to “drop out” of an exploitative food culture.
We have to stop brutalising animals so someone can buy a burger for 99p. Supermarkets have to stop squeezing farmers to maximise their profits. We have to stop buying cheap foods we don’t need.
Obesity is a form of poisoning.
No one would knowingly ingest cyanide, but that is what is happening. We are being fed poisons, then being blamed for poisoning ourselves.
This from Anna Smith in The Guardian, should make you think.
The key statistic in this article and the paper it refers to are sobering. “Animal farming takes up 83% of the world’s agricultural land, but delivers only 18% of our calories.”
If that’s not evidence enough to convince you, think about this as a comparison. A “plant-based diet cuts the use of land by 76% and halves the greenhouse gases” caused by food production.
I think current farming practices are unsustainable and foods they produce are making us unhealthy. If you don’t believe me watch What the Health on Netflix to understand what I mean. It’s not a perfect documentary, it has its critics, but even if only half the things claimed are true, it’s still a good argument for adopting a plant-based diet.
An album of previously unheard original compositions by the legendary jazz saxophonist has been discovered, 55 years after its recording.
I’m really interested to see comparative costs with traditional construction methods. Could it be one part of the solution to the housing crisis in the UK. At the very least it’s another square on the Grand Designs bingo card.
You must be logged in to post a comment.