2024-12-26

Dominic Cummins, "enfant terrible" of the Boris government, explains the workings by which the UK government is run.

What does this tell us about the current "government"?

Does it amount to institutionalised fraud, protected by plausible deniability?

Or worse?

(3 minutes)

2024-12-26

Covid is the topic that divides the world.

Actually, the world divides itself into two camps - those who don't want to know regardless of the arguments, and those who are prepared to think the unthinkable, or perhaps merely just to look at it to check how unthinkable the unthinkable may actually be. I'm sure that there cannot be a single person alive who doesn't know people close to them in both camps.

It's not a race thing, it's not a left/right thing, it's not a religious thing, but it is possibly a maturity thing in so far as a child when faced with an unfamiliar intrusion (such as a less than familiar Nana and Grandad arriving on a too infrequent visit!) will cling to the familiar comfort of Mum or Dad to save them from the unfamiliar threat, whilst an adult would face the intrusion, try to understand it, and decide accordingly how to react.

The adult is responsible, the child is still neither responsible nor competent.

...

2024-12-26

After the climax of Christmas Day, how to fill the gap between the Christmas holiday and the return to normal life?

For some the gap may not exist, for others it may be no more than Boxing Day, for still others it may extend through the New Year celebrations. But however long this gap is for us, it's an interregnum that permits a opportunity for the curious to investigate matters puzzling yet inessential, quixotic yet not entirely irrelevant, or perhaps of potential import if only we could quiet ourselves for long enough to actually apply our minds to teasing out the hidden nuances.

So in this morning's welcome calm following the storm unleashed last night by the latest Wallace and Gromit escapade (actually, "escapade" is far too insignificant a word for this cataclysm...

2024-12-25

Put aside for now the notion of goodwill toward all men. This may be Christmas but the quotation actually reads "Glory to God in highest realms, and peace on Earth; goodwill among men" (Luke 2,14 - Keys of the Kingdom Holy Bible).

We don't yet have "peace on Earth", so "goodwill among men" is not yet universal.

There is yet the small matter of justice to be served for those whose deaths and disabilities were received at the hands of those who fraudulently persuaded them to take a "medical intervention". Until then, the war continues.

General Washington's audacious victory at Trenton on Boxing Day 1776 reminds us that though the odds may seem stacked against us, victory is not impossible.

Roll on

2024-12-24

Those well known storytellers of future events give us their views on the incoming year - so settle down, pay attention, pin back your ears, and prepare yourselves for a year like no other...

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(33 minutes)

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2024-12-23

Turkey (no, not the Christmas dinner fowl) is much in focus this week as President Erdoğan is reported to be seen as "encircling" Israel...   so it's the battle of the Zionists against the Islamists that's taking shape. Not that the "Christian" religions are faring any better - it seems that bankruptcies hold no religious preferences.

So how will Turkey fare in taking advantage of current Middle-Eastern geopolitics to rekindle some of the old Ottoman Empire?

And just what is Elon Musk the maverick mogul up to just now? (Modest subscription required for full access)

2024-12-23

This could be an exhortation for that post-prandial moment - Christmas Dinner has been consumed, the family is gathered around the hearth (well, those that still have one), mellow feelings of satisfaction and togetherness suffuse the atmosphere, and everyone makes due allowance for everyone else's faults and foibles.

In many families this will be a traditional time to hand out and undo the Christmas presents, wanted and unwanted, appreciated and unappreciated, but nevertheless welcomed with gratitude for their generosity - not necessarily in terms of price paid, but in time thoughtfully taken, for time is the ultimate arbiter of value in this world.

It's rare, but sometimes someone has the opportunity to give something of such vast value to so many that the mind recoils in surprise - indeed marvels in amazement that not only were they able to accomplish it with such deceptive ease, but that nobody actually had to pay anything for it!

Perhaps all it needed

2024-12-22

"Mistake" is an ambiguous word. On the one hand it can reflect a happenstance where the effect is unwanted but was not intended, on the other hand it may indicate that the action was intended but that the result was unwanted. Unhappily, some events such as "yes I thought that hitting the cricket ball out of the field was a good idea, but I hadn't reckoned with it smashing a window or hitting a passer-by on the head" might be considered a "mistake" on both counts.

However, deliberately throwing the cricket ball out of the ground at the head of a passer-by would not normally be regarded as a mistake, as the result would be clearly intended.

So we could recognise an intermediate state where hitting the ball out of the ground may avoid damage to windows and heads most of the time, but not all the time, so may be considered deliberately reckless, and thus culpable.

So we may transpose the argument to a different situation, and ask whether recommending a novel

2024-12-22

With governments around the world in crisis, how will the clashes between countries / power blocks evolve?

The aspects to this are economic, and political/military. Now that money-printing nears exhaustion, what will transpire?

Will governments go to war to impose a command economy, feeding the war in place of the aspirations of their people? How that would turn out is best not tested, but may be inevitable.

The Middle East is pivotal, and showing no signs of settling down.

(49 minutes)

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2024-12-21

Ivor Cummins and Dr Jacob Nordangard discuss the ideologies that have shaped our history since good Queen Beth and her spymaster John Dee.

Are today's events not but continuation of a centuries old movement?

Religions, rituals, dogma, secret societies, freemasons... it's not what you believe that matters, it's what they believed that counts.

Some hold similar beliefs today, and who is to say they are wrong, in the dawning age of ontology where physics is based upon consciousness?

(56 minutes) ...

2024-12-20

Ukraine / Syria centre stage, and President Putin setting out his analysis.

There's much power-play going on behind closed doors, largely unknowable. The only thing obvious is that there is no going back to the status quo ante.

And what exactly is "Greater Turkey"?

First up: Pepe Escobar

Then Scott Ritter at 61 minutes.

(187 minutes)

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2024-12-20

Argentina has had a chequered financial and political history.

"By 1900, Argentina’s economy was bigger than the rest of Latin America put together, and about the size of all of Western Europe put together. There seemed to be nowhere to go but up"

But, then the politicians did what politicians do.

"For much of the 20th century, Argentina slipped into severe economic decline and remained so for decades"

But President Milei has put a stop to the decline:

"Milei has abolished entire government departments, fired ministers and drastically reduced the size and scope of government"

"This year, Milei announced that Argentina had just run a budget surplus – its FIRST surplus since the golden years of the early 1900s

Send in the Drones!

2024-12-18

Interest of Justice reports that Costa Rica is holding Huawei accountable in the Courts for "alleged corruption and misconduct" in relation to its 5G network.

"By addressing corruption and cybersecurity risks associated with 5G networks, Costa Rica is proving that even a small nation can take on powerful entities to safeguard its people and principles"

"... accusations include fraud, bribery, influence peddling, and actions against the public treasury related to contracts for 3G and 5G deployment"

"The Chinese Embassy in Costa Rica swiftly condemned these actions, labeling the allegations against Huawei as “irresponsible and unfounded”

Read the full story.

2024-12-18

Martin Geddes once more highlights a case of apparent injustice.

Michael Humble court complaint

2024-12-17

It's difficult to know what to make of this article, but it's sufficiently different to give it some space.

There's no doubt in my mind that the world is showing up as being much the worse for wear than hitherto, but whether that is simply because the fault-lines are becoming much more visible, or because things really are much worse than they used to be, may be debatable.

See what you think.

2024-12-17

We are discussing America here, but that is neither to accept nor deny that the UK's Office of National Statistical is beyond reproach.

The Biden administration is rather a special case, since America never does things by halves, so if they are good they can be very good, but equally if they are bad they can be very bad indeed. Churchill is said to have opined that America always does the right thing in the end, but only after they have exhausted all possible alternatives...

Still, outright gerrymandering of the figures to make the economy look rosy does seem to be a step too far.

"Estimates by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia indicate that the employment changes from March through June 2024 were significantly different" - read lower - "in 27 states compared with preliminary state estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Current Employment Statistics (CES)"

All

2024-12-17

French and now German governments gone, what better time for Starmer to rejoin the UK into the collapsing EU? Would you bet against it?

"German lawmakers voted to dissolve the existing government by a vote of 394 to 207, with 116 abstaining"

No small margin then.

"... the political uncertainty could last for months"

Is this what happens when green pie-in-the-sky meets putting bread on the table?

Oh dear. Russia is beginning to look like a bastion of stability, with China not far behind.

Still, with the EU Commission and the EU Parliament, what need for national governments?

ZeroHedge

2024-12-16

A block buster report this week from Ben, naming big names and sharing big goings-on, including (but by no means limited to) his view on the developments in Syria.

These are indeed momentous times. (Modest subscription required for full access)

Don't miss.

2024-12-16

Mark Rutte, the much loved Prime Minister of whom the Dutch have only recently rid themselves, has been appointed to head up NATO (well, there was a vacancy and Mark was available - one can't let senior figures like Mark fend for themselves on the open market).

True to form he is now making waves across NATO with his demand to put the organisation "on a war footing" to deal with the perceived threat from those dastardly Russians. Yes, he's at least five years (probably ten) too late to build the necessary European armaments industry to a size and capability capable of matching the Russians, but like Ed Milliband, he can commandeer as much money as it takes to deal with this existential threat.

"Ukrainians are fighting against Russian swarms of drones. That’s what we need to be prepared for"

But wait - isn't Climate Change also an imminent existential threat?

Doesn't Ed Milliband have priority as the