I was going to write a blog about how much I hate the artificialness of Valentine's Day. How it allows people to assume that a one-off gesture on a specially selected national day of lovey-doveyness is the same as being romantic. Then I was going to rant a little about smug couples & their twee messages to each other.
Then I decided that I wasn't going to be that much of a cynical bastard. Love is a wonderful thing, if you get a chance to experience it. Just because for one day of the year we have to put up with treacly nonesense doesn't de-value love & romance. There's another 364 days to have fun with.
Being single on Valentine's Day is always an irritant but only because we're supposed to be unhappy about being single. But I'm not. There are benefits to being single: you get to live your life. You don't have to compromise & you don't have to justify how you live your life. You don't have to be in a couple to be a 'complete' person. I think the whinging of single people on Valentine's Day tends to dilute that. It makes us look bitter & needy when we're often neither.
Maybe one day, in a twist on the words of Bill Hicks, I'll find that special woman (or a bunch of average ones) but in the meantime I shall enjoy all the benefits that come with being single & allow couples to enjoy Valentine's Day.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
One Law For Them...One Law For Us To Ignore
Aren't politicians such a barrel of laughs. Whinging about this, demanding we do that. Stuffing their pockets with tax payers money whilst asking us to tighten our belts. All the usual demogogery & hypocriscy that comes with the territory of professional politics.
Yet this week they've gone & done something brilliant. They voted - mostly Tories but pretty much a cross-section of the parties - to stick two fingers up at the European Court of Human Rights by voting against giving prisoners the vote. It's a question of national sovreignty & pride apparently that since the 19th century prisoners have been denied the vote automatically as part of their punishment. We're happy enough with this situation, say a large chunk of our politicians, that we'd like to keep it as it is. Sod the ECHR. Sod the rule of law. It's a law we don't like so we're not going to obey it.
Now this blog isn't about prisoners right to vote. It isn't about the ECHR. It isn't about sovreignty. I'm not going to talk about the pro's & con's of either of these things. It's about hypocriscy.
It's about the fact that if we, as citizens, were to say, "I don't like this law. I'm going to tell them to shove it & carry on before." Then there would be consequences. Trade Unions can't ignore judges who find their ballots to be unexceptable because the law is ridiculously biased in favour of the employer. They'd be found in ccntempt of court & sanction would follow.
However it is OK for our politicians to do so. Judges have ruled. Our politicians don't like it so we carry on as before.
Politicians constantly whinge about obeying the rule of law & yet they have given us a great example to follow: if you think a law is bad, just ignore it. Complain about the court. Carry on as before.
If it is alright for parliament, it's alright for the rest of us.
Yet this week they've gone & done something brilliant. They voted - mostly Tories but pretty much a cross-section of the parties - to stick two fingers up at the European Court of Human Rights by voting against giving prisoners the vote. It's a question of national sovreignty & pride apparently that since the 19th century prisoners have been denied the vote automatically as part of their punishment. We're happy enough with this situation, say a large chunk of our politicians, that we'd like to keep it as it is. Sod the ECHR. Sod the rule of law. It's a law we don't like so we're not going to obey it.
Now this blog isn't about prisoners right to vote. It isn't about the ECHR. It isn't about sovreignty. I'm not going to talk about the pro's & con's of either of these things. It's about hypocriscy.
It's about the fact that if we, as citizens, were to say, "I don't like this law. I'm going to tell them to shove it & carry on before." Then there would be consequences. Trade Unions can't ignore judges who find their ballots to be unexceptable because the law is ridiculously biased in favour of the employer. They'd be found in ccntempt of court & sanction would follow.
However it is OK for our politicians to do so. Judges have ruled. Our politicians don't like it so we carry on as before.
Politicians constantly whinge about obeying the rule of law & yet they have given us a great example to follow: if you think a law is bad, just ignore it. Complain about the court. Carry on as before.
If it is alright for parliament, it's alright for the rest of us.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Let's be AVing you
I'm an agnostic on AV. I've no strong opionions one way or the other on it so my vote is up for grabs. I suspect I'm not the only one.
Whilst I'm tempted to vote No just so I can give that duplicitous diet Tory Nick Clegg a well-deserved bloody nose I know that this is a purely tribal response.
So I would like to listen to what both sides have to say in a reasonably intelligent manner so I can make a properly informed decision.
Instead what we seem to be watching is two sets of children throwing accusations at each other of 'gaffes' & 'nastiness'. Yes to AV & No to AV seem more interested in chucking crap at each other than actually talking to people who will be voting.
Preaching to the converted they don't seem to realise how many people out there either don't give a flying fig about AV or are still to make up their minds.
It would seem to me that on the basis that those people bothered enough to have picked a side aren't going to have their minds changed much by accusations or cock-ups. People don't really do that. So you might what to stop attacking each other & concentrate on building a case for your side of the debate & trying to talk to people who might not have quite made up their minds.
If nothing else a proper intelligent debate might actually get people to actually vote because it is telling that the government is so frightened about turnout that they are actually going to over-turn the Lords amendment making the voiding the vote if turnout is less than 40%.
So we all know that the issue is perceived to be so irrelevant by most of the electorate that the government isn't even confident enough to stick its neck out on a 40% turnout.
So please No to AV & Yes to AV stop sniping at each other's campaigns & get on with making your case to the neutrals & the not bothereds.
Whilst I'm tempted to vote No just so I can give that duplicitous diet Tory Nick Clegg a well-deserved bloody nose I know that this is a purely tribal response.
So I would like to listen to what both sides have to say in a reasonably intelligent manner so I can make a properly informed decision.
Instead what we seem to be watching is two sets of children throwing accusations at each other of 'gaffes' & 'nastiness'. Yes to AV & No to AV seem more interested in chucking crap at each other than actually talking to people who will be voting.
Preaching to the converted they don't seem to realise how many people out there either don't give a flying fig about AV or are still to make up their minds.
It would seem to me that on the basis that those people bothered enough to have picked a side aren't going to have their minds changed much by accusations or cock-ups. People don't really do that. So you might what to stop attacking each other & concentrate on building a case for your side of the debate & trying to talk to people who might not have quite made up their minds.
If nothing else a proper intelligent debate might actually get people to actually vote because it is telling that the government is so frightened about turnout that they are actually going to over-turn the Lords amendment making the voiding the vote if turnout is less than 40%.
So we all know that the issue is perceived to be so irrelevant by most of the electorate that the government isn't even confident enough to stick its neck out on a 40% turnout.
So please No to AV & Yes to AV stop sniping at each other's campaigns & get on with making your case to the neutrals & the not bothereds.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
A Pragmatic Approach To Romance
In politics, as in many things, I'm a romantic. To steal a slogan from Paris '68 I like to Be Realistic & Demand The Impossible'. So romantic am I politically that I've slipped from being an out & out socialist to some kind of fuzzy anarcho-communist.
As a result there isn't really a political party in this country that comes to close to representing my beliefs that is going to come within a mile of genuine political power. My head tells me this. The regular internecine spats between the harder left of the left-wing confirms it.
We seem to have much more interest in fighting each other than putting together some kind of 'Popular Front' to take on the real enemy.
Ideological purity seems to be more important than actual power.
You'd have thought the almost total failure of the left to actual benefit from the biggest crisis capitalism has faced since the 1930s might have taught us that what the right does better than the left is turn talk into action & action into power.
Which is when horrible pragmatism slaps me around the face. What's the point of politics if it isn't to win. Whether that's winning a campaign or winning an election. If we're not in this to beat our opponents then what's the point. To run this country, with the political system as it now stands, you have to win an election. To win an election you have to appeal to the British people as a whole, not just preach to the coverted. That means you normally have to take the edge off.
So Labour is my party of choice. Even though I know that I'll be disappointed with how middle of the road they are. That they'll do something at some point so odious that I'll find myself banging my head on my desk.
I know I should just jack all this Labour Party stuff in & go join the Green Party or the SWP or the Communist Party of Great Britain. No, I should ignore party politics altogether & get involved in individual causes & protests. Party politics is a dead end I hear my inner Bakunin cry.
Except it isn't.
Does anyone serious expect the British people to rise up in the name of revolution & sweep aside the 'system'? Come on...anyone? I wish I did.
It might happen one day but in the meantime we have to go through the tedious process of winning electoral majorities & I'm afraid to say that only the Labour Party can deliver that.
There you have it. Romance skewered. Let us walk into the future together bitter & cynical about the political system. Angry at the perceived betrayals of the soft left. Let's stick to the romantic & exciting stuff.
The romantic in me would like to see a genuine 'Popular Front' uniting the Labour Party with the harder left & the various protest movements to create a grass roots up movement to change our politics.
The pragmatist in me wants victories. Let's get rid of this Tory led government before it is too damn late. Let's get rid of them before they have a chance to bed themselves in for thirteen years.
Fuck ideological purity. Fuck losing. Losing sucks.
The romantic in me thinks we just need to go out there & sell our beliefs better. That we've done a shit job at explaining what the left stands for & that some of us gave up too easily when the Berlin Wall came down & we were told socialism was dead. Maybe if we do the job well we can move the country towards the left & the Labour Party with it.
Most importantly let's win. Let's win the arguements & win the elections. Let's unit as much as we can & concentrate our fire on the real enemy. We're never going to agree with each other on everything. The gap is too wide but let's at least try.
Perhaps in the end I'm saying do we want to be a 'Popular Front' or 'The People's Front of Judea'? Do we want to win or not?
As a result there isn't really a political party in this country that comes to close to representing my beliefs that is going to come within a mile of genuine political power. My head tells me this. The regular internecine spats between the harder left of the left-wing confirms it.
We seem to have much more interest in fighting each other than putting together some kind of 'Popular Front' to take on the real enemy.
Ideological purity seems to be more important than actual power.
You'd have thought the almost total failure of the left to actual benefit from the biggest crisis capitalism has faced since the 1930s might have taught us that what the right does better than the left is turn talk into action & action into power.
Which is when horrible pragmatism slaps me around the face. What's the point of politics if it isn't to win. Whether that's winning a campaign or winning an election. If we're not in this to beat our opponents then what's the point. To run this country, with the political system as it now stands, you have to win an election. To win an election you have to appeal to the British people as a whole, not just preach to the coverted. That means you normally have to take the edge off.
So Labour is my party of choice. Even though I know that I'll be disappointed with how middle of the road they are. That they'll do something at some point so odious that I'll find myself banging my head on my desk.
I know I should just jack all this Labour Party stuff in & go join the Green Party or the SWP or the Communist Party of Great Britain. No, I should ignore party politics altogether & get involved in individual causes & protests. Party politics is a dead end I hear my inner Bakunin cry.
Except it isn't.
Does anyone serious expect the British people to rise up in the name of revolution & sweep aside the 'system'? Come on...anyone? I wish I did.
It might happen one day but in the meantime we have to go through the tedious process of winning electoral majorities & I'm afraid to say that only the Labour Party can deliver that.
There you have it. Romance skewered. Let us walk into the future together bitter & cynical about the political system. Angry at the perceived betrayals of the soft left. Let's stick to the romantic & exciting stuff.
The romantic in me would like to see a genuine 'Popular Front' uniting the Labour Party with the harder left & the various protest movements to create a grass roots up movement to change our politics.
The pragmatist in me wants victories. Let's get rid of this Tory led government before it is too damn late. Let's get rid of them before they have a chance to bed themselves in for thirteen years.
Fuck ideological purity. Fuck losing. Losing sucks.
The romantic in me thinks we just need to go out there & sell our beliefs better. That we've done a shit job at explaining what the left stands for & that some of us gave up too easily when the Berlin Wall came down & we were told socialism was dead. Maybe if we do the job well we can move the country towards the left & the Labour Party with it.
Most importantly let's win. Let's win the arguements & win the elections. Let's unit as much as we can & concentrate our fire on the real enemy. We're never going to agree with each other on everything. The gap is too wide but let's at least try.
Perhaps in the end I'm saying do we want to be a 'Popular Front' or 'The People's Front of Judea'? Do we want to win or not?
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