I cannot argue with a single comment you make, although you are probably a bit old to be a Taylor Swift fan. Probably the wrong gender too, although according to the SNP, there are now 28 genders.
My thanks to the author of the truly superb one liner posted elsewhere:
Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. The rest are from Uranus.
Take the case of 61 year old Peter Lynch, a grandfather, recently made redundant and with no prospect of employment, diabetic, with thyroid, angina and other heart problems, who made the mistake of holding a rather crudely lettered placard at one of the "riots." Apparently he was adding to the disorder by screaming at the police, claiming that the illegal migrants were child killers, and the police were scum. Nobody suggests he was violent in any way, but the crime of violent disorder states "where 3 or more persons who are present together use or threaten unlawful violence and the conduct of them (taken together) is such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for his personal safety, each of the persons using or threatening unlawful violence is guilty of violent disorder."
Did Lynch threaten unlawful violence? I have my doubts, but his barrister (no doubt of the legal aid variety) obviously persuaded him to plead guilty. This could be because he thought Lynch would be an unsympathetic character in the dock, who might well get a longer sentence for pleading not guilty, or conceivably be charged with the more serious offence of "riot." Or he just couldn't be bothered, or didn't want to risk the wrath of Starmer.
Whatever the reason, Peter Lynch, not a particularly pleasant or bright person, was thrown to the wolves, and was sentenced to 32 months in HMP Moorland, a category C prison with about 25% ethnic minorities. I hope that someone is going to investigate what sort of intimidation Lynch was subjected to, or why HMP Moorland's own Listener Scheme for those who may be at risk from suicide or self-harm apparently wasn't listening to him.
Hi Jeremy. Nope. Not too old for Taylor Swift. Best purveyor of proper pop music since Michael Jackson. An artist absolutely on top of her game. Wonderful stuff.
I think they were all advised to plead guilty. For the reasons you suggest. The two tier sentencing is obvious when you look at how other, what we would consider more serious cases, have been treated recently, there are examples all over social media, and to be fair, in some of the mainstream.
Don’t expect this case to change anything though. The system and the press will just shrug and move on. ATB
Yes Jeremy. I think that will be a good test. My bet is she will walk. But just like the Huw Edwards case we’ll simply hear a defence of ‘sentencing guidelines’.
STOP CALLING THEM 'ELITE'!!!! There is NOTHING 'elite' about them. They are shallow, ignorant, selfish, poorly educated DROSS who have wangled their way to power with lies and deceit, to massage their ENORMOUS egos. NB. David Lammy flew to China recently using an government private VIP 321 Airbus. With his IQ and qualifications, what sort of job would he get in the private sector that would ever warrant a private jet across the globe?? Elite?? These people, all of them, are lying DROSS gaming the system, just like all socialists always do.
But "they" don't see the irony. They think they are so damned superior. We need another term to cover all these blood-suckers, wherever and whoever they may be. I'm on to it.
Matt Goodwin goes on and on about the "elite" and it annoys the hell out of me, so much so that I can no longer bear to read/listen to him.
Well Jos. I don’t want to get into it too much. But whether we like it or not they are de facto ‘the elite’ of our society because they run everything and control everything. It just is what it is. I don’t care what we call them. We know who we are talking about!
Defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, the "elite" are "the richest, most powerful, best-educated, or best-trained group in a society." Our "elite" fit only one of those four markers.
They are in charge of all the institutions that control power and influence which is why they're referred to as elite not because they themselves have anything superior in the traits.
How about 'Over Lords'? There's no need for wealth or brains or talent . All you need is no conscience, a thick brass neck and the skin of a rhinoceros. An appropriate label, I think, for those who just use the brute force of the institutions of the state (which they did not build or pay for) to crush and exploit those who do.
That was quite triggering, LSO. Especially as we PAY them (including expenses) at least 3 x the national average wage at their lowest level to make our lives as miserable as possible.
In all seriousness what is the answer? Your dark thoughts mirror mine, what the fuck can we do about any of this? The rot is so deep I can’t see any way through, My prediction is that we have passed the point where this process was reversible, that was maybe 5 years ago. We are now headed for a very ugly tipping point, the further away that is the worse it will be.
The only positive I can see is that we have been here before. We thought it was all over in the 70s, and that turned out not to be the case, And a proper historian/journalist could no doubt point to other examples from our nation’s history when all seemed doomed. During the Napoleonic Wars perhaps…
I do have some sympathy with the Accelerationsists. (SP See Me) It might be that this lot make such a hash of it that the pendulum swings the other way for a while. Though I also fear that AI and social media and all the rest of it will be used to consolidate their technocratic power over us through ever more regulation, CBDCs, and speech policing.
All over in the 70s? No comparison. A marvellous time for many. The Wilson-Heath-Callaghan period might have been awful on many levels (miners strikes and power cuts, decimalisation and inflation, EEC membership and the lies of the 1975 Referendum to confirm it, and rising unemployment (but lower than today)) but there was no sustained attack on our culture and beliefs, no two tier justice. The only threat was of becoming better off more slowly than in the past.
Fair. Certainly in retrospect. But quite a few people thought it was the end of days. Dominic Sandbrooks excellent book on the period is called ‘State of Emergency’ for a reason.
It’s interesting Ray. How the right will either split or unite. It will determine pretty much everything for the medium term.
My sense is that Farage simply does not have the broad appeal to win any kind of majority (sorry folks! But he doesn’t.) The opposition to Labour needs to win over Lib Dem voters and disillusioned middle class Labour voters. Reform has a very solid following but it doesn’t have the numbers.
I’m sort of pre empting my next post which will be (hopefully) on the Tory leadership and future of the right.
Farage is a true force. But maybe that’s not enough to win over One Nation Tories.
Anyway. Let’s reconvene after I put my thoughts in order and I’ll be interested to see what you make from your far perspective.
They said trump couldn’t win in 16. So you never know.
LSO do you Matt Taibbi? He had a breaking scoop today about your censorship regime meddling in our censorship regime. They are the job to cut the head off Musk and influence our election. Pretty dark and depressing subterfuge. The best part it is Starmer approved!😳 people are saying the British are coming, but apparently we know not where this plot begins and ends. Fascinating read.
Yes Deidre. I’ve been reading a little about it. These groups organise take downs of individuals and companies they hate in the name of ‘stopping hate’. There are a few of them in the uk. Often posing as grassroots movements or charities, when in fact they often seem to have politically motivated backers. In many cases they are paid for indirectly through our taxes.
They are shady and powerful, pro censorship and organised. While often posing as little more than concerned citizens. They clearly have fellow travellers in the EU. Scary stuff.
Well, ten years ago I was asked by a liberal Californian where I thought things were heading (this was after the Charlie Hebdo killings), so I did some research and eventually replied "civil war", with population movements and Britain eventually divided into a non-Muslim and Muslim state within 30-40 years. My correspondent declared such things unacceptable to him and our correspondence would end if I wrote such things again (very liberal, you see). Since then, the movement of the white population our of the cities has continued, and more Muslims and ethnic minorities have moved in. And the wider environment is even more hostile to the native Brit. But I may have been optimistic in thinking the Brits would fight for a slice of their country. The state of the armed forces is such that they are hardly capable of fighting anyone, and are more likely to be co-opted by Govt to oppress the natives.
What I have not taken into account is that the ethnic minorities are not a homogenous group and are likely to start fighting each other once law and order completely break down. The outlook is really horrendous.
Too grim for me Jos. I don’t think any group, white, Muslim, black, Asian are homogeneous. Thats what we keep being told by people who pretend to be anti-racist but are actually quite the opposite.
Yes. There are plenty extremists. And our bosses don’t seem too bothered about letting them live among us. But I refuse to blame ‘that lot’ for our ills. Whoever ‘that lot’ are this week. I’m not going to be manipulated by the leftists and their destructive ideas. So I equally refuse to be manipulated by the racists (Often the same people) who gain advantage by setting us against each other.
I think it is just as grim as you have painted in your excellent piece today. But perhaps you have not recognised the extremists are in charge everywhere, and they are recruiting more followers by the day - through the education system, through indoctrination at work (all those training sessions), through the media. They are now the majority. Our only glimmer of hope is that one day, as in the French Revolution, their internal contradictions will result in them turning on each other. However, don't underestimate the power of religion to create an identity which will never compromise with the infidels. Surveys of Muslims in this country show that a substantial proportion want the implementation of Sharia law, and in fact it is effectively the only law in some parts of some cities.
I think LSO confuses racism with religion/culture. It is the latter which is the problem when planted amidst another culture. The fact that our own culture is being attacked from within suggests to me that we as a people no longer have the inner belief in ourselves, and we will eventually succumb to another (alien) set of beliefs.
PS I think it intolerant to delete a post just because you don't like it. That is rather what our masters are doing to us all the time.
I’m not confused Jos. I don’t want a post I’ve written on elites to turn into a discussion on an impending race war in my comments. Thats it. Hopefully I’ve made that point clear.
As you know I’m open to a wide ranging debate. But this is my comments section. And I don’t want it to be a safe place for what I consider to be racist bile.
I’m not impinging anyone’s free speech. I’m just telling you what I do or don’t want here. If that’s not acceptable to you then fine. Other subs are available. But that would be a shame. I value both your contributions.
BTW, just to expand on my deleted post, what I said about Mr. Aziz is equally applicable to Mr. Smith. They say that only 9% of the population are *genuinely* woke but they aren't the problem. Our problem is that too many are willing to go along with it, and too few are willing to take a stand against it. Our problem with wokeness and Islam's problem with fundamentalism are one and the same issue -- cowardice. As you say, it's the hollowing out that's the core of the problem.
The answer is controlling the money. Without the money to act, they can't do anything. The problem that underpins everything is that the state can do whatever it likes by devaluing, borrowing and plain taking our money.
If it cannot simply take our money to waste how it wants, if it has to have those controlling their money agree to its spending plans, the state is paralysed. Then we start to impose referism, recall and direct democracy. Imagine a world where Gordon Brown stood up to announce he was robbing our pensions and was just told 'no'?
The entire edifice of state needs root and branch reform. That's going to mean revoking universal franchise. I see no reason why those not paying or contributing to society in some form should have a vote. It also means kicking the media in the goonies and forcing them to stop being parasitic flunkies living in expense accounts parroting the Left wing line and to start actually reporting the news: but that again means research and thought rather than soundbite drivel for clicks, which means a changing demographic that actually can and does read.
Government in it's current form is in it's death throes. It is frantically scrabbling at the well wall (with our money) trying to keep itself from sinking. The desperation of control, thoughtcrime, CBDC is just more bricks being loosened. As an entity politics is finished. True AI will simply render it and the entire cronyist, incompetent, malignant incestuous farce obsolete.
Seriously how do we interrupt the supply of money to the government? Given that they control everything including now our ability to freely communicate.
How will AI render Government obsolete? Given that if it could the government would nip it in the bud long before it risked taking anybody’s nephews job away. (They already did this with crypto)
How do we stop the money supply? Honestly, we can't. The only rational way s massive unemployment which is increasingly likely.
AI is a buzzword term thrown about which really means a clever search engine amalgamating different data sources. True AI - real artificial intelligence is an order of magnitude above that - it is 'self aware and can apply intent to decisions. For example, it would slow, hinder or stop an array of elements from logistics to traffic to banking and MPs suddenly find they, and their departments simply don't work. Government waste would stop as the money would be redirected. We are, clearly many years frrom that but it'll only take someone to consider allowing software to grow from experience rather than be programmed for the roots to take hold. Government is essentially incompetent. Technology moves faster than it possibly can because statism is intended to be inefficient.
The state has tried with crypto but like the Dollar in Cuba there's nothing the state can really do. The day M&S take payment in bitcoin (or more likely Satoshi's) the state is finished. There will be nothing government can do to control that currency. This is why they want a digital, controllable currency but without the restriction and discipline of blockchain. It is another meaningless, valueless fiat currency.
I didn't mean to start a flame war. You could be completely right. Those are our only real hopes though: the abandonment of government controlled currency and the cold logic of true AI that doesn't make decisions based upon human greed and troughers getting rich but by solving the problem in the simplest, most practical manner.
Thank you for another sad synopsis of the tragedy overtaking Britain. Not content with trying to destroy Britain, Labour has sent off a 100-strong contingent of "advisors" to the US to "help" the cackling camel (as she's known here in some quarters) in her campaign for the White House. Included is the fearsome CCDH, one of whose remits is to shut down 'X'. Despite their screaming at alleged Russian "interference" in the previous election, the Dems have apparently no concerns about this "foreign intervention in our national politics. Which I believe is against the law.
It’s been cancelled as I understand it Alexei. But only because someone shone a light on it. Shame. As has been pointed out elsewhere, 100 smug Brits lecturing Americans on who to vote for might not have had the effect they were hoping for….🤔
Best posts on Substack by a country mile. You sum up what so many of us really think about our political and so called ‘elite’ class. I think the real question is what happens next to the right. I agree Farage has too little appeal. I think it is probably because Reform do not have a real forward-looking vision. The clowns in ‘Labour, Conservative and LibDem-land’ all think an increasingly active state and a multicultural identity politics driven future IS the future. Those of us on the centre-right (who like things like real law and order, competence and efficiency) need to create a new vision to replace this. The Techo and Anglo Futurists have some ideas, but it all seems to lack cohesion and is I feel a bit backward looking. One commentator here was right about the 70s with its ‘managed decline’, and when Maggie came along a desperate nation followed her into new wealth, since squandered by New Labour and the Conservatives who followed them. So, I think we can hope for a better future - it did happen before. I think a lot of people are waiting for a new vision - we just need someone to synthesise it! Keep up the good work.
We do need a new vision. Or a new inspirational leader. I’ve always felt Farage’s role was to keep the Tories ‘honest’. But this last lot were too far gone to be saved!
There is a future there I think/hope. We need to concentrate on what works economically while not trying to pretend it’s 1986 again. And that goes for culturally too.
Yes. Exactly as you say. Stop looking backwards. We are where we are. Let’s go from here. Not pretend that there’s a 1950s Britain hiding somewhere. Personally I’m relaxed about that. Maybe more than others.
Get the basics right and there is probably a lot to be positive about. Not sure this piece reflected that tiny flickering flame of optimism! Thanks again.
On the money as usual - don’t get too popular. I expect an entire book is needed to explain how and why a small elite runs the country largely for its own benefit. I don’t see basic competent government being on offer when there is no agreement as to what government is for. How can we have good schools if we don’t agree what should be taught and why? Or good policemen, if we don’t agree what laws are for? And so on. What is galling is that the ‘elite class’ are the heirs of people who worked hard to build a society that is - was - free, prosperous and safe. Maybe the ideas of the 60s were more pervasive than we thought?
Looking for causes, I wonder whether we have a perfect melange of malevolence? The progressive idea of doing what you want has combined with the youthful ideal of tearing everything down to create a perfect world which has been exploited by a class that has sucked power and wealth for its own benefit. The big question then is, what happens next?
‘I don’t see basic competent government being on offer when there is no agreement as to what government is for. How can we have good schools if we don’t agree what should be taught and why? Or good policemen, if we don’t agree what laws are for? And so on.’
Such a great comment. I guess so much of this flows from the Balkanisation of society. It is pulling itself in all different directions at once like rats in a sack.
Also I think that we have lost a sense of the value of values. Now we only value fake virtue or outcomes. Nothing has a value just in itself. Like honesty. Integrity. Self discipline. Sacrifice. These values are seen as outdated and silly.
Thanks for a great comment Martin. It’s opened up a real seam of thought.
I hope you don’t mind! Some interesting material to run with? This probably sounds Jordan Petersonish, but a society is like a person that orients itself around a value hierarchy. If you know where you are going and what you want, you have a fair chance of achieving it. The opposite is the Tower of Babel (you’d think we would have go this by now). Our Balkanised society is all over the place, but also suits the elites who can play one tribe off against another. I am not sure who made this point but one reason why our old elites are comfortable with multiculturalism is that it reminds them of the Empire.
I think there’s a lot in that Martin. Yes. Division obviously works for the bosses. Until it goes too far of course. Though I think that ‘nostalgia for Empire’ is just another leftie bogeyman. I remember being told that’s why I voted for Brexit! 🤣 But left or right I’m sceptical that it’s a real thing.
The more caustic point is that our elite classes are more comfortable with a tribal Britain because of the imperial mindset. It’s probably subliminal now but runs through the genes. They are happy to play at viceroys and district commissioners parlaying with the tribal chieftains, playing one tribe off against another before heading off to the hill station for the summer. Our modern elites don’t generally live in the areas they rule over, they have their postcodes to live in which are very non-diverse, especially financially.
The irony - food for another LSO piece - is that the elite classes and remainers are the imperialists, desperate for Britain to pull its weight on the world stage and set an example for everyone to follow.
Great piece. Perhaps, knowing they are a third rate, pale shadow of the giants on whose shoulders they stand is too much to bear, and they simply want to tear it all down.
Thanks P. Yes. I do genuinely wonder about that. I think that they just assume that they are the best that’s ever been.
And fair enough. They know zero history. Have never genuinely suffered or strived. And they have spent their entire lives, especially the younger ones, being told they’re the super best, and right about everything. So they have no context.
Maybe a tangent. Maybe not. But I have worked with a lot of celebrities. Many of them, though not all, are so used to being told all the time that they are brilliant that it genuinely becomes hard for them to believe otherwise. It’s not even their fault. And usually the younger they got famous, the worse it is.
Yes. This has been the case for a very long time in the US. However, our present day elites are now wearing the guise of helpers of the lower classes. Working class people who have been educated out of the ranks and therefore rendered themselves superior to all. That’s why Trump appealed to so many in the US. Himself, an elite, but a rough and ready rule breaker and challenger of smug intellectualism.
Before he went bonkers James Lyndsey use to talk about the "failed elite": college "educated", highly indebted, promised a life that was denied when accreditation become a ponzy scheme, thoroughly resentul at "the system" (work more true moment, just not the system they should resent). Mid level strivers who failed to make the 1% but feel entirely entitled to it, and resentful of those beneath them.
The truth hurts sometimes. But ignoring the truth hurts even more. This offering LSO is close to a masterpiece. I was cheering you on with each sentence. Your use of descriptives is exemplary.
We cannot fix any problem if we refuse to identify and even worse just accept it as well that’s life!
Thank you LSO you made my day!
Ps. Much to the chagrin of your friend Raggedy me thinks if you were my neighbor you would be voting for the orange man dictator. SHHH don’t say a word or response.
Explain what you mean by commit??? Are you suggesting MI5 MI6 are harbouring terrorists in their ranks or are you suggesting they know who the terrorists are and turn a blind eye?
Now this is where deletion of a post would be justified. And the blocking of the obviously deranged individual. I am happy for him to waste his time, but not mine.
Not sure this Substack is the right place for you jonathan. I try to keep things more balanced here. And I put a premium on civility. Perhaps Twitter/x would suit you better. Thanks.
by more balanced, YOU meaning follow the MSM globalist brainwashed, bread and circuses, sheeple version of events, where Governments have autonomy lol, and the big pharma really really aren't committing genocide using mass psychosis -- yeah everyone take your soma and go back to sleep --- please no critical thinking or investigation -- go back to sleep 367 channels of American Gladiators... happy to debate but ad hom is all he has
The problem is that those who are are nominally our servants now see themselves as our rulers. It's a massive inversion of how things are supposed to be.
Do you think starmer (I refuse to give him the dignity of capitalisition) sees himself as a servant of the people, or their master? The answer is obvious, and also applies to most of his colleagues and spawn.
Does a senior civil "servant" really see himself as a servant of the people? No. Not even the pampered, perfumed aristocrats who run the post office, of all things, see themselves as servants of the people.
They see themselves, and they are in fact, our rulers. Our lords and masters. Until this misconception is beaten out of them, I don't see things getting much better.
I cannot argue with a single comment you make, although you are probably a bit old to be a Taylor Swift fan. Probably the wrong gender too, although according to the SNP, there are now 28 genders.
My thanks to the author of the truly superb one liner posted elsewhere:
Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. The rest are from Uranus.
Take the case of 61 year old Peter Lynch, a grandfather, recently made redundant and with no prospect of employment, diabetic, with thyroid, angina and other heart problems, who made the mistake of holding a rather crudely lettered placard at one of the "riots." Apparently he was adding to the disorder by screaming at the police, claiming that the illegal migrants were child killers, and the police were scum. Nobody suggests he was violent in any way, but the crime of violent disorder states "where 3 or more persons who are present together use or threaten unlawful violence and the conduct of them (taken together) is such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for his personal safety, each of the persons using or threatening unlawful violence is guilty of violent disorder."
Did Lynch threaten unlawful violence? I have my doubts, but his barrister (no doubt of the legal aid variety) obviously persuaded him to plead guilty. This could be because he thought Lynch would be an unsympathetic character in the dock, who might well get a longer sentence for pleading not guilty, or conceivably be charged with the more serious offence of "riot." Or he just couldn't be bothered, or didn't want to risk the wrath of Starmer.
Whatever the reason, Peter Lynch, not a particularly pleasant or bright person, was thrown to the wolves, and was sentenced to 32 months in HMP Moorland, a category C prison with about 25% ethnic minorities. I hope that someone is going to investigate what sort of intimidation Lynch was subjected to, or why HMP Moorland's own Listener Scheme for those who may be at risk from suicide or self-harm apparently wasn't listening to him.
Hi Jeremy. Nope. Not too old for Taylor Swift. Best purveyor of proper pop music since Michael Jackson. An artist absolutely on top of her game. Wonderful stuff.
I think they were all advised to plead guilty. For the reasons you suggest. The two tier sentencing is obvious when you look at how other, what we would consider more serious cases, have been treated recently, there are examples all over social media, and to be fair, in some of the mainstream.
Don’t expect this case to change anything though. The system and the press will just shrug and move on. ATB
Let us see what sentence someone who was actually violent towards Nigel Farage receives.
Yes Jeremy. I think that will be a good test. My bet is she will walk. But just like the Huw Edwards case we’ll simply hear a defence of ‘sentencing guidelines’.
The tragic dénouement - I read yesterday that Peter lynch committed suicide in prison. Will 2TK and cohorts lose a second of sleep?
I don’t think they are overburdened by self doubt Alexei.
STOP CALLING THEM 'ELITE'!!!! There is NOTHING 'elite' about them. They are shallow, ignorant, selfish, poorly educated DROSS who have wangled their way to power with lies and deceit, to massage their ENORMOUS egos. NB. David Lammy flew to China recently using an government private VIP 321 Airbus. With his IQ and qualifications, what sort of job would he get in the private sector that would ever warrant a private jet across the globe?? Elite?? These people, all of them, are lying DROSS gaming the system, just like all socialists always do.
Maybe there’s a tiny element of irony there Mrs Bucket.
But "they" don't see the irony. They think they are so damned superior. We need another term to cover all these blood-suckers, wherever and whoever they may be. I'm on to it.
Matt Goodwin goes on and on about the "elite" and it annoys the hell out of me, so much so that I can no longer bear to read/listen to him.
Well Jos. I don’t want to get into it too much. But whether we like it or not they are de facto ‘the elite’ of our society because they run everything and control everything. It just is what it is. I don’t care what we call them. We know who we are talking about!
Defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, the "elite" are "the richest, most powerful, best-educated, or best-trained group in a society." Our "elite" fit only one of those four markers.
Just call them frauds, cheats, liars anything but never 'elite'. What's the WORST example of misinformation? ANY PARTIES' MANIFESTOS!!
They are in charge of all the institutions that control power and influence which is why they're referred to as elite not because they themselves have anything superior in the traits.
Exactly.
Self appointed Elite is the term I use.
How about 'Over Lords'? There's no need for wealth or brains or talent . All you need is no conscience, a thick brass neck and the skin of a rhinoceros. An appropriate label, I think, for those who just use the brute force of the institutions of the state (which they did not build or pay for) to crush and exploit those who do.
Overlords it is Julia! Thanks.
That was quite triggering, LSO. Especially as we PAY them (including expenses) at least 3 x the national average wage at their lowest level to make our lives as miserable as possible.
Sorry Bettina. Yes, we pay them 3x the average wage, to deliver energy costs that are 4x those in most of Europe. Sounds like a bargain.
What an uplifting piece!
In all seriousness what is the answer? Your dark thoughts mirror mine, what the fuck can we do about any of this? The rot is so deep I can’t see any way through, My prediction is that we have passed the point where this process was reversible, that was maybe 5 years ago. We are now headed for a very ugly tipping point, the further away that is the worse it will be.
Thanks Tom. Yeah. Sorry.
The only positive I can see is that we have been here before. We thought it was all over in the 70s, and that turned out not to be the case, And a proper historian/journalist could no doubt point to other examples from our nation’s history when all seemed doomed. During the Napoleonic Wars perhaps…
I do have some sympathy with the Accelerationsists. (SP See Me) It might be that this lot make such a hash of it that the pendulum swings the other way for a while. Though I also fear that AI and social media and all the rest of it will be used to consolidate their technocratic power over us through ever more regulation, CBDCs, and speech policing.
Sorry again. It’s so depressing!
All over in the 70s? No comparison. A marvellous time for many. The Wilson-Heath-Callaghan period might have been awful on many levels (miners strikes and power cuts, decimalisation and inflation, EEC membership and the lies of the 1975 Referendum to confirm it, and rising unemployment (but lower than today)) but there was no sustained attack on our culture and beliefs, no two tier justice. The only threat was of becoming better off more slowly than in the past.
Fair. Certainly in retrospect. But quite a few people thought it was the end of days. Dominic Sandbrooks excellent book on the period is called ‘State of Emergency’ for a reason.
Perhaps that was a London-centric view. There's rather more to a country than it's self-obsessed capital.
Vote for that Nigel fella. From my far vantage point he seems to be a sort of carnival barker type, but you can't do worse than you have now.
It’s interesting Ray. How the right will either split or unite. It will determine pretty much everything for the medium term.
My sense is that Farage simply does not have the broad appeal to win any kind of majority (sorry folks! But he doesn’t.) The opposition to Labour needs to win over Lib Dem voters and disillusioned middle class Labour voters. Reform has a very solid following but it doesn’t have the numbers.
I’m sort of pre empting my next post which will be (hopefully) on the Tory leadership and future of the right.
Farage is a true force. But maybe that’s not enough to win over One Nation Tories.
Anyway. Let’s reconvene after I put my thoughts in order and I’ll be interested to see what you make from your far perspective.
They said trump couldn’t win in 16. So you never know.
LSO do you Matt Taibbi? He had a breaking scoop today about your censorship regime meddling in our censorship regime. They are the job to cut the head off Musk and influence our election. Pretty dark and depressing subterfuge. The best part it is Starmer approved!😳 people are saying the British are coming, but apparently we know not where this plot begins and ends. Fascinating read.
Yes Deidre. I’ve been reading a little about it. These groups organise take downs of individuals and companies they hate in the name of ‘stopping hate’. There are a few of them in the uk. Often posing as grassroots movements or charities, when in fact they often seem to have politically motivated backers. In many cases they are paid for indirectly through our taxes.
They are shady and powerful, pro censorship and organised. While often posing as little more than concerned citizens. They clearly have fellow travellers in the EU. Scary stuff.
Well, ten years ago I was asked by a liberal Californian where I thought things were heading (this was after the Charlie Hebdo killings), so I did some research and eventually replied "civil war", with population movements and Britain eventually divided into a non-Muslim and Muslim state within 30-40 years. My correspondent declared such things unacceptable to him and our correspondence would end if I wrote such things again (very liberal, you see). Since then, the movement of the white population our of the cities has continued, and more Muslims and ethnic minorities have moved in. And the wider environment is even more hostile to the native Brit. But I may have been optimistic in thinking the Brits would fight for a slice of their country. The state of the armed forces is such that they are hardly capable of fighting anyone, and are more likely to be co-opted by Govt to oppress the natives.
What I have not taken into account is that the ethnic minorities are not a homogenous group and are likely to start fighting each other once law and order completely break down. The outlook is really horrendous.
Too grim for me Jos. I don’t think any group, white, Muslim, black, Asian are homogeneous. Thats what we keep being told by people who pretend to be anti-racist but are actually quite the opposite.
Yes. There are plenty extremists. And our bosses don’t seem too bothered about letting them live among us. But I refuse to blame ‘that lot’ for our ills. Whoever ‘that lot’ are this week. I’m not going to be manipulated by the leftists and their destructive ideas. So I equally refuse to be manipulated by the racists (Often the same people) who gain advantage by setting us against each other.
Do you know this cartoon? The Pitchfork People by David Marler. It basically sums it all up for me. https://images.app.goo.gl/LokGQ4G2VkLwb5Gw5
I think it is just as grim as you have painted in your excellent piece today. But perhaps you have not recognised the extremists are in charge everywhere, and they are recruiting more followers by the day - through the education system, through indoctrination at work (all those training sessions), through the media. They are now the majority. Our only glimmer of hope is that one day, as in the French Revolution, their internal contradictions will result in them turning on each other. However, don't underestimate the power of religion to create an identity which will never compromise with the infidels. Surveys of Muslims in this country show that a substantial proportion want the implementation of Sharia law, and in fact it is effectively the only law in some parts of some cities.
Get the message Ray. Leave it. If you want to talk about race wars with Jos. Please. Do it elsewhere. Thanks.
I think LSO confuses racism with religion/culture. It is the latter which is the problem when planted amidst another culture. The fact that our own culture is being attacked from within suggests to me that we as a people no longer have the inner belief in ourselves, and we will eventually succumb to another (alien) set of beliefs.
PS I think it intolerant to delete a post just because you don't like it. That is rather what our masters are doing to us all the time.
I’m not confused Jos. I don’t want a post I’ve written on elites to turn into a discussion on an impending race war in my comments. Thats it. Hopefully I’ve made that point clear.
As you know I’m open to a wide ranging debate. But this is my comments section. And I don’t want it to be a safe place for what I consider to be racist bile.
I’m not impinging anyone’s free speech. I’m just telling you what I do or don’t want here. If that’s not acceptable to you then fine. Other subs are available. But that would be a shame. I value both your contributions.
BTW, just to expand on my deleted post, what I said about Mr. Aziz is equally applicable to Mr. Smith. They say that only 9% of the population are *genuinely* woke but they aren't the problem. Our problem is that too many are willing to go along with it, and too few are willing to take a stand against it. Our problem with wokeness and Islam's problem with fundamentalism are one and the same issue -- cowardice. As you say, it's the hollowing out that's the core of the problem.
The answer is controlling the money. Without the money to act, they can't do anything. The problem that underpins everything is that the state can do whatever it likes by devaluing, borrowing and plain taking our money.
If it cannot simply take our money to waste how it wants, if it has to have those controlling their money agree to its spending plans, the state is paralysed. Then we start to impose referism, recall and direct democracy. Imagine a world where Gordon Brown stood up to announce he was robbing our pensions and was just told 'no'?
The entire edifice of state needs root and branch reform. That's going to mean revoking universal franchise. I see no reason why those not paying or contributing to society in some form should have a vote. It also means kicking the media in the goonies and forcing them to stop being parasitic flunkies living in expense accounts parroting the Left wing line and to start actually reporting the news: but that again means research and thought rather than soundbite drivel for clicks, which means a changing demographic that actually can and does read.
Government in it's current form is in it's death throes. It is frantically scrabbling at the well wall (with our money) trying to keep itself from sinking. The desperation of control, thoughtcrime, CBDC is just more bricks being loosened. As an entity politics is finished. True AI will simply render it and the entire cronyist, incompetent, malignant incestuous farce obsolete.
I have 2 questions:
Seriously how do we interrupt the supply of money to the government? Given that they control everything including now our ability to freely communicate.
How will AI render Government obsolete? Given that if it could the government would nip it in the bud long before it risked taking anybody’s nephews job away. (They already did this with crypto)
How do we stop the money supply? Honestly, we can't. The only rational way s massive unemployment which is increasingly likely.
AI is a buzzword term thrown about which really means a clever search engine amalgamating different data sources. True AI - real artificial intelligence is an order of magnitude above that - it is 'self aware and can apply intent to decisions. For example, it would slow, hinder or stop an array of elements from logistics to traffic to banking and MPs suddenly find they, and their departments simply don't work. Government waste would stop as the money would be redirected. We are, clearly many years frrom that but it'll only take someone to consider allowing software to grow from experience rather than be programmed for the roots to take hold. Government is essentially incompetent. Technology moves faster than it possibly can because statism is intended to be inefficient.
The state has tried with crypto but like the Dollar in Cuba there's nothing the state can really do. The day M&S take payment in bitcoin (or more likely Satoshi's) the state is finished. There will be nothing government can do to control that currency. This is why they want a digital, controllable currency but without the restriction and discipline of blockchain. It is another meaningless, valueless fiat currency.
I didn't mean to start a flame war. You could be completely right. Those are our only real hopes though: the abandonment of government controlled currency and the cold logic of true AI that doesn't make decisions based upon human greed and troughers getting rich but by solving the problem in the simplest, most practical manner.
Thank you for another sad synopsis of the tragedy overtaking Britain. Not content with trying to destroy Britain, Labour has sent off a 100-strong contingent of "advisors" to the US to "help" the cackling camel (as she's known here in some quarters) in her campaign for the White House. Included is the fearsome CCDH, one of whose remits is to shut down 'X'. Despite their screaming at alleged Russian "interference" in the previous election, the Dems have apparently no concerns about this "foreign intervention in our national politics. Which I believe is against the law.
https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/election-exclusive-british-advisors?utm_source=substack&publication_id=264299&post_id=150568100&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=8t0c1&triedRedirect=true
It’s been cancelled as I understand it Alexei. But only because someone shone a light on it. Shame. As has been pointed out elsewhere, 100 smug Brits lecturing Americans on who to vote for might not have had the effect they were hoping for….🤔
Best posts on Substack by a country mile. You sum up what so many of us really think about our political and so called ‘elite’ class. I think the real question is what happens next to the right. I agree Farage has too little appeal. I think it is probably because Reform do not have a real forward-looking vision. The clowns in ‘Labour, Conservative and LibDem-land’ all think an increasingly active state and a multicultural identity politics driven future IS the future. Those of us on the centre-right (who like things like real law and order, competence and efficiency) need to create a new vision to replace this. The Techo and Anglo Futurists have some ideas, but it all seems to lack cohesion and is I feel a bit backward looking. One commentator here was right about the 70s with its ‘managed decline’, and when Maggie came along a desperate nation followed her into new wealth, since squandered by New Labour and the Conservatives who followed them. So, I think we can hope for a better future - it did happen before. I think a lot of people are waiting for a new vision - we just need someone to synthesise it! Keep up the good work.
Thanks so much Andrew. Very very kind.
We do need a new vision. Or a new inspirational leader. I’ve always felt Farage’s role was to keep the Tories ‘honest’. But this last lot were too far gone to be saved!
There is a future there I think/hope. We need to concentrate on what works economically while not trying to pretend it’s 1986 again. And that goes for culturally too.
Yes. Exactly as you say. Stop looking backwards. We are where we are. Let’s go from here. Not pretend that there’s a 1950s Britain hiding somewhere. Personally I’m relaxed about that. Maybe more than others.
Get the basics right and there is probably a lot to be positive about. Not sure this piece reflected that tiny flickering flame of optimism! Thanks again.
On the money as usual - don’t get too popular. I expect an entire book is needed to explain how and why a small elite runs the country largely for its own benefit. I don’t see basic competent government being on offer when there is no agreement as to what government is for. How can we have good schools if we don’t agree what should be taught and why? Or good policemen, if we don’t agree what laws are for? And so on. What is galling is that the ‘elite class’ are the heirs of people who worked hard to build a society that is - was - free, prosperous and safe. Maybe the ideas of the 60s were more pervasive than we thought?
Looking for causes, I wonder whether we have a perfect melange of malevolence? The progressive idea of doing what you want has combined with the youthful ideal of tearing everything down to create a perfect world which has been exploited by a class that has sucked power and wealth for its own benefit. The big question then is, what happens next?
‘I don’t see basic competent government being on offer when there is no agreement as to what government is for. How can we have good schools if we don’t agree what should be taught and why? Or good policemen, if we don’t agree what laws are for? And so on.’
Such a great comment. I guess so much of this flows from the Balkanisation of society. It is pulling itself in all different directions at once like rats in a sack.
Also I think that we have lost a sense of the value of values. Now we only value fake virtue or outcomes. Nothing has a value just in itself. Like honesty. Integrity. Self discipline. Sacrifice. These values are seen as outdated and silly.
Thanks for a great comment Martin. It’s opened up a real seam of thought.
I hope you don’t mind! Some interesting material to run with? This probably sounds Jordan Petersonish, but a society is like a person that orients itself around a value hierarchy. If you know where you are going and what you want, you have a fair chance of achieving it. The opposite is the Tower of Babel (you’d think we would have go this by now). Our Balkanised society is all over the place, but also suits the elites who can play one tribe off against another. I am not sure who made this point but one reason why our old elites are comfortable with multiculturalism is that it reminds them of the Empire.
I think there’s a lot in that Martin. Yes. Division obviously works for the bosses. Until it goes too far of course. Though I think that ‘nostalgia for Empire’ is just another leftie bogeyman. I remember being told that’s why I voted for Brexit! 🤣 But left or right I’m sceptical that it’s a real thing.
The more caustic point is that our elite classes are more comfortable with a tribal Britain because of the imperial mindset. It’s probably subliminal now but runs through the genes. They are happy to play at viceroys and district commissioners parlaying with the tribal chieftains, playing one tribe off against another before heading off to the hill station for the summer. Our modern elites don’t generally live in the areas they rule over, they have their postcodes to live in which are very non-diverse, especially financially.
The irony - food for another LSO piece - is that the elite classes and remainers are the imperialists, desperate for Britain to pull its weight on the world stage and set an example for everyone to follow.
Great piece. Perhaps, knowing they are a third rate, pale shadow of the giants on whose shoulders they stand is too much to bear, and they simply want to tear it all down.
Thanks P. Yes. I do genuinely wonder about that. I think that they just assume that they are the best that’s ever been.
And fair enough. They know zero history. Have never genuinely suffered or strived. And they have spent their entire lives, especially the younger ones, being told they’re the super best, and right about everything. So they have no context.
Maybe a tangent. Maybe not. But I have worked with a lot of celebrities. Many of them, though not all, are so used to being told all the time that they are brilliant that it genuinely becomes hard for them to believe otherwise. It’s not even their fault. And usually the younger they got famous, the worse it is.
I think it’s a similar process at work here.
Yes. This has been the case for a very long time in the US. However, our present day elites are now wearing the guise of helpers of the lower classes. Working class people who have been educated out of the ranks and therefore rendered themselves superior to all. That’s why Trump appealed to so many in the US. Himself, an elite, but a rough and ready rule breaker and challenger of smug intellectualism.
Excellent piece and the fourth paragraph was entirely accurate.
Before he went bonkers James Lyndsey use to talk about the "failed elite": college "educated", highly indebted, promised a life that was denied when accreditation become a ponzy scheme, thoroughly resentul at "the system" (work more true moment, just not the system they should resent). Mid level strivers who failed to make the 1% but feel entirely entitled to it, and resentful of those beneath them.
The truth hurts sometimes. But ignoring the truth hurts even more. This offering LSO is close to a masterpiece. I was cheering you on with each sentence. Your use of descriptives is exemplary.
We cannot fix any problem if we refuse to identify and even worse just accept it as well that’s life!
Thank you LSO you made my day!
Ps. Much to the chagrin of your friend Raggedy me thinks if you were my neighbor you would be voting for the orange man dictator. SHHH don’t say a word or response.
It is a joke. …
Thanks Deidre. Very very kind of you. Ps. 🤫
Hard to argue with this, Mr LSO. (*)
(*) except some small details that I'll save for another day.
Ha ha. Looking forward to that Ragged.
Spot on yet again. Such a depressing narrative but so true. !!
Love reading your posts so don’t worry 😀
Sorry Derek. I feel I’ve maybe put a downer on everyone’s day! Not my intention!
except its MI5/6 who commit the so called Islamist terror attacks
Explain what you mean by commit??? Are you suggesting MI5 MI6 are harbouring terrorists in their ranks or are you suggesting they know who the terrorists are and turn a blind eye?
Eh? Something there I can't quite understand.
what that you are brainwashed by the Bond franchise
the governments want all of us dead, they are kompromat paedophiles
wanna buy some moon rock?
Now this is where deletion of a post would be justified. And the blocking of the obviously deranged individual. I am happy for him to waste his time, but not mine.
the lefty PC beta boys always do ad hom and want things deleted --- phuckwits!
Not sure this Substack is the right place for you jonathan. I try to keep things more balanced here. And I put a premium on civility. Perhaps Twitter/x would suit you better. Thanks.
by more balanced, YOU meaning follow the MSM globalist brainwashed, bread and circuses, sheeple version of events, where Governments have autonomy lol, and the big pharma really really aren't committing genocide using mass psychosis -- yeah everyone take your soma and go back to sleep --- please no critical thinking or investigation -- go back to sleep 367 channels of American Gladiators... happy to debate but ad hom is all he has
duddums... is reality too real for you baby?
go back to sleep --- take the vaccines and watch MSM
The problem is that those who are are nominally our servants now see themselves as our rulers. It's a massive inversion of how things are supposed to be.
Do you think starmer (I refuse to give him the dignity of capitalisition) sees himself as a servant of the people, or their master? The answer is obvious, and also applies to most of his colleagues and spawn.
Does a senior civil "servant" really see himself as a servant of the people? No. Not even the pampered, perfumed aristocrats who run the post office, of all things, see themselves as servants of the people.
They see themselves, and they are in fact, our rulers. Our lords and masters. Until this misconception is beaten out of them, I don't see things getting much better.