Dictator

What makes a dictator?

Could anyone have seriously thought that in the 1930’s a tiny ex military man, not a very successful one at that, would take the world to war?

Would anyone have thought Ferdinand Marcos would have denied his citizens in the Philippines the right to an election?

No, no one thinks these things generally because they are not the sort of thing that happen in our country, whichever country we live in

Few have started out planning to cancel our democracy. They get to the point where their actions are such that giving up power and the protection which comes with it becomes too terrible to contemplate.

What is it which changes a democracy into a dictatorship?

It is the absolute belief that the need of the party is greater than the need of the nation. Though, the leader will always say they are taking measures to secure the needs of the nation and protecting them from the dreadful possibility of someone else coming to power and messing everything up.

How difficult is it to convince the nation that the others are so terrible that the incumbent has to stay in place?

Very easy indeed!

There is an expectation already in place that the leadership of the country are inherently going to work for the best interest of the country and, though we know they ‘all’ lie that these untruths are needed in the interest of national security.

Our current leader, Boris Johnson ( #boris ) is a typical Brit. Somewhat eccentric, a little barmy but, a loveable rogue and, says the many, that’s OK. He himself stated in an interview a few years back that the way he operates is to create so many stories, so many scandals that it becomes difficult to keep up with it. During the confusion he can do just about anything he wants as the people can no longer tell the truth from the lies.

Almost since Parliament began has been a thing called the parliamentary code. It is a rule developed to ensure that when a minister lies, they must resign. It forces a certain standard. The minister has always had the option to decline an answer and, indeed, to step around the question on the basis of National Security as Margaret Thatcher often did during the Falklands war. But, that code of honour was there to protect us from a minister, even a Prime Minister who would seek to subvert truth for their own personal gain. Boris Johnson, this Prime Minister has done this, he has lied to parliament. 

Any other minister would have been honourable, held their hands up and resigned but this is not how the current resident of Number 10 Downing Street thinks.

What he has done is to change those rules. He can now not be investigated unless he approves it and when he is found guilty of lying to parliament, it is him who decides the punishment which is no longer resignation, it can be as basic as an apology much like all those he has issued with regard to the parties he attended.

When a person in power starts stripping away the safeguards which could stop them being in power it is a fast downward slope. His party have already been changing electoral boundaries to make it more likely their own candidates will win in a General Election. But, there remains still the chance that the people might still find a way to rise against that.

With the war in the Ukraine raging said to last another maybe even two years, I can hear it now. Boris announces that in the interest of effective government at a time of international instability, he has suspended the general election until further notice and yes, he has that power.

Let me have this little bet with you …

In two years time the Government of this United Kingdom will announce exactly that. In the interests of National Security at a time of International instability, elections are hereby terminated.

That is then ‘it’, we are no longer a democracy. The Conservative Party have an 80 seat majority and will be able to pass any law they like unchallenged in any meaningful way.

That is my little bet with you, there will not be a General Election in two years time. If I am wrong I will resign apologise

6
Feb, 2022
Camilla

Who would be Queen?

Camilla

I respect that the current Queen has the right to an opinion but, to go against the general feeling of the country, is that OK?

It is the problem with not having a constitution and just going by the way we’ve always done it, there really are no hard and fast rules to dictate what is right and the will of the people and what is wrong and not the will of the people because, what we think does matter even though the monarchy is not a democracy.

Many of us will feel that it sets a terrible example where the next monarch so openly had an affair throughout his marriage and then goes onto become the head of a Church which still says divorce is wrong and adultery is a sin. To be in charge of that one must at least give the impression of being squeaky clean.

We were all but promised when Diana died that Camilla would never be Queen and yet, here we are.

They make the rules but, they don’t follow them

What do we do?

We know there is a pandemic, that means that every country on this planet lives with Covid, no country is unique, no country has got rid of it.

We do not need a government to tell us these things unless we really are that obsessed with fake news.

However, to keep safe we have to be advised on what keeps us safe and what makes no difference.

Shall we look at those measures and examine them, no fake news just common sense?

  • Face masks? Ask yourself this, pandemic aside, would you feel comfortable going to a dentist if they didn’t wear a mask or, would you be happy if you were wheeled into an operating theatre and none of the nurses or surgeons were wearing a mask? Did you ever see any surgeon anywhere who was not wearing a mask? If they didn’t work against virus and other nasties, why do we expect them to be worn, why is that just ‘normal’? So, it stands to reason, that it is common sense that wearing a mask during a pandemic makes sense.
  • Vaccinations, do they work? A little history, smallpox … we don’t have this horrible illness in the UK now because we have a vaccine against it. Other countries which do not vaccinate against it still has smallpox. Likewise, measles, mumps and rubella, none of those are life threatening in the UK yet, they are in countries which don’t have the vaccines given automatically to the majority of us as children. In short, if enough people have it and there is a critical mass of people who have to have it, they just work. Even if we are suicidal or believe we are so healthy we do not need the vaccine, it protects others amongst us that might actually become seriously ill from a virus or, indeed, prevents death and, we don’t know who those people are, we might think we do but, we really don’t. To make matters worse, the people who might become ill or die don’t know it’s them. How can that be? Because people who think they’re healthy don’t go see a doctor, we have no routine testing for otherwise healthy people. There are mates who might have a heart condition, they don’t know they do but, there it is. These ‘healthy’ people get covid and then, they’re dead, a statistic. Some have lung problems they don’t know they do but perhaps their parents were heavy smokers and they still live at home, don’t smoke themselves but, their lungs are damaged. They’re just 18, crazy healthy, play football at weekends, can stay up all night clubbing but, their lungs are damaged and the first thing covid attacks are the lungs, they die. It’s not just about you nan of the old bloke in Primark. We can all understand the argument there, they’re old so they are going to die soon so, what difference does it make … well, stop thinking about them. It’s your brother, sister, best friends of your teenage children.
  • Vaccine risks, what about that? Every vaccine in some very rare cases has some bad side effects which might in even more rare occasions, lead to death. Your argument here is that you are never going to put yourself at risk of death regardless of the low risk because you are more sensible than that except that … all these things are many more likely of causing death than any vaccination and yet, how many of them apply to you? Smoking, using a car, crossing the road, standing on a ladder, unprotected sex, binge drinking, using cannabis, using any other ‘recreational’ drug … do you need more to find one or two which apply to you? All that which you accept as an OK risk but, you won’t take a vaccine which can save your life or the life of someone you care about.
  • Vaccine passport, that’s just too much control isn’t it? When it comes to things which can kill we are surely used to quite evasive measures to prevent such things before getting into a club are we not? Do they use scanners? Do they look in bags? Do they pat people down to check for weapons? Do they ask for proof of age at all? So, all those things to keep you and me safe, they’re just part of going to such places and we accept that don’t we? Can we go clubbing in Ibiza without having a passport? So, why are you really making an argument about showing a covid vaccine? Are you the sort of person who still refuses to wear a seatbelt in a car because it takes away your life choices? Do you still smoke in the pub despite knowing it’s illegal? If you are doing both those things still then, you are that sort of people who will ignore all common sense to shove it to the man. Hmm.

Because we know now that the Government has not been following the rules they have told us we have to follow, how do we behave now?

The Prince caused an accident, he was a figurehead of the country, part of the system. Was he wearing a seat belt?

If you get angry that a seat belt wasn’t worn do you stop wearing one? Maybe you are ‘that’ person who would do exactly that, I don’t know. I would love to think most people would never now be persuaded to not wear a belt because they know it isn’t just their safety but it’s the safety of all our mates in our car or our kids in their car seats … it’s a happy coincidence that it might also save the life of someone we care about in another car.

So, what is the difference between wearing that seat belt and abiding by all the common sense things we looked at earlier? Most if not all of those now we are doing because, it’s just ‘right’ to do it, I can but hope I have shown you that in what I wrote earlier.

Let’s not allow our decisions to be drawn down into the abys by those who have less standards than we do.

Fake news … to show how easy it is to fall for a compelling argument even though it’s totally untrue, I lied, the prince was wearing a seatbelt. As Boris openly admitted in an interview and, this is 100% honest, now and then someone needs to lie to get people to do the right thing. He was referring to a bus advertising £350million day which he knew was a lie but said it was important to get people to vote leave.

Be you, don’t be daft and become them because they annoy you. Because they were wrong on that doesn’t mean that the science is wrong.

26
Oct, 2021

White Privilege

White Privilege – WTF?

For some reason this keeps cropping up and people keep rising to it like it’s the latest thing to hold onto. A government minister, no less, recently instructed schools not to teach is as being ‘fact’ but as a talking point, as purely a consideration.

Look, white people, out and about, where ever, it doesn’t matter, can and sometimes do get preferred treatment over non white people. This is a truth but it is also a non changeable reality. It is a fact of life.

Let me give some other examples, many gay men, in particular, in many public places outside of the huge cities, cannot walk hand in hand with their partner, it’s just not safe. Is that ‘straight’ privilege? Many disabled people who look disabled (stuff off with the politically correct term argument), they are going to experience ‘able bodied privilege). White guy walks into a bar in a majority black neighbourhood, likely he will be victim of black privilege.

Sure, this should never happen, live and let live, equality for all and that’s a great way of thinking but, it’s not real!

Many thought that after the push throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s to eradicate racism in the UK that the majority of the country finally ‘got it’. No, that never happened. The reality was that rather than being public about their opinion, all those people were more careful where they voice it.

Want any proof of that? OK then, Brexit, a campaign the major selling point of which was to ‘get our country back’. How can that line even be said without it being racist and, the majority (albeit, only just) went for it. We committed trade suicide to satisfy the racist beliefs of those around us, get rid of Jonny Foreigner and get good old Blighty back … now we actually did get rid of rather a lot of them those same people are complaining the country is falling apart and blaming the EU … don’t go blaming them, we’re not part of that any more, we got our country back.

No, I didn’t digress (not much anyway), I am trying to say that, in order to live here we have to accept that our culture is rooted in privilege. There is no such thing and never will be as an interview without privileged bias. I’ve done it myself, interview door opens, someone who doesn’t meet my requirements physically and  they’ve no chance. It is both wrong and right. Do we force people to go against their nature and give equal consideration to everyone else and pretend they actually do not have a bias?

How many male interviewers pick attractive ladies? I’ve known gay interviewers pick attractive boys. It doesn’t mean they are not able to do the job, it just demonstrates the preference of the interviewer, what they want to see each day.

So think about it, in many situations there is, indeed, white privilege. I sometimes do it. I see a black guy sagging across the street, get the whiff of weed and think to my white privileged self, he’s up to no good. He could be a lovely guy, I don’t know but he’s not ‘my’ sort of person so I instantly consign him a pigeon hole.

If I see a group of guys walking toward me, white guys, young adults, hands down the front of their Adidas tracksuit bottoms, I don’t automatically think that there are a good trustworthy group of lads because they are white, I actually think, best watch out for this lot because of the way they carry themselves.

We just have to accept that each of us in any given location or situation has privilege. How much we want it to work against us depends entirely on our choices of where we go.

As a white, gay, disabled man who is overweight and very short, am I going to get the same or worse treatment going for an interview as a straight, fit tall black man? No, I think not. I’ve been turned down for jobs because of my circumstances. It is obvious why, I can see what the people who work there look like and they don’t look like me.

Is this ever something we can change? If you say ‘yes’ then, you are deluded.