Guess what we almost froze our toes off doing last weekend? Watching the police from the Lothian and Borders, Strathclyde, Tayside, Fife, and Northumbria constabularies keep the far left away from the far right on the Royal Mile, that’s what!
The original plan was to head out for a long walk but my curiosity was piqued when we couldn’t cut through to the Mile. So we hung around near Holyrood Palace (well away from any protestors) and stickybeaked. There was a huge number of police out in force. All we saw of the ‘conflict’ were the ‘anti-Fascist’ protestors, who seemed blissfully unaware that their demands to purge fascists from our streets were pretty fascistic in the essence (something I’ve bleated about before), and all we could hear from their chanting and singing were the words ‘Nazi’ and ‘fascist’ — not the effect they were intending, I’m sure.
And Neil pointed out that a large number of anti-fascist protestors were part of socialist / communist groups, who are ignoring that the Nazis were the National Socialist party. The far right and left live next to each other in the circle of political extremism.
So I’ll rant instead about how no one in power will give a shit about Liu Xiaobo beyond making a few noises — if at all — and it’ll be business as usual with China. Happy Christmas!
How I know that Scottish media (at the very least) has its head so far up its own arse: why in Deity’s name are Christmas cards sent by politicians worthy of news headlines?
For that matter, why are politicians wasting taxpayer-funded time in worrying about the ‘message’ sent by their cards? Can’t they just go and buy cards from charity shops?
Which reminds me, Neil mentioned Band Aid’s Do They Know it’s Christmas, because Mount Kilimanjaro is located in Africa, and there’s snow on it. Plus, why would the starving Africans in the 80s have wanted snow in order to ‘know’ it’s Christmastime? They were suffering from famine — hypothermia would’ve just killed more of them!
Yup. Bah humbug.
Democracy Live looks pretty cool, if that’s your sort of thing.
“Skinny but tough” — yep, that’s me too. We should really let him have more time to put America back on the road to decency. He’s not going to be able to do much, but a little positive progress is better than a lot of the negative kind.
All this chitter-chatter about Nick Griffin going on Question Time tonight (not that I’ll be watching since we don’t have a television licence nor do we have any intention of getting one soon) just shows that those vehemently opposed to his appearance are just as idiotic as he is. Here are some interesting talking points from someone who’s not being shrill about it.
Demonstrate and protest and make yourself heard that you oppose his party and his views, that’s good, but how can you demand that freedom of expression be denied to someone you disagree with? That makes the anti-fascists just as fascistic.
It’s freedom of speech, innit? Those who want to stop him from going on the show are saying him and his party are illegitimate and total fascists, but the fact is the BNP got almost a million votes at the European elections and two seats in the European parliament. The fact that ex-London mayor Ken Livingstone has said there’s usually an increase in race-based violent crime (I also heard the soundbite on the radio this morning) after the BNP speaks in public says shedloads about the British people.
If there are simmering tensions in the community about racial ‘differences’ and some publicity is all that’s needed to make it boil over, there are some deep problems in British society that need to be dealt with. The same goes for many countries, and does this mean that the only way to ensure ‘racial harmony’ is to restrict everything, like Singapore does?
It seems like those protesting Griffin’s appearance on Question Time don’t want to accept that in a liberal democracy — which is what the UK purports to be — you’ll get horrible stuff along with the good.
Update:
I encountered a ‘protest’ (more like a demonstration) near the BBC studio in Edinburgh and it was a bit sad, really. Silly emotive language from most (saying Griffin looks like a turd isn’t making you seem like a rational person), and such disparate groups trying to unite against this one party seems like a recipe for implosion. People should be working on making sure those most vulnerable to bigoted attitudes are given the opportunity to broaden their horizons, rather than shouting to the converted and feeling smug about being ‘activists’.
And I’ve seen some excerpts from Question Time on the BBC website. I wish there was more of Griffin speaking so we can get a good idea of what nonsense he spouts rather than watching people attack him with emotional language.
In the news today is more about Trump’s proposed golf course in Aberdeen — there’s a council meeting being held today to see if they’ll allow Compulsory Purchase Orders to be served on the four homeowners who’re refusing to move.
The Trump people say they’re doing everything they need to ensure the environment is protected (the area they want to develop is a Site of Special Scientific Interest), but they’re not building a nature reserve, they’re building a golf resort. The council had initially voted ‘no’ on Trump’s planning application but the SNP government stepped in to overturn the vote (that’s representative democracy for you).
So, only four households are against giving up their houses to Trump. Continuing to change the landscape and natural habitats for wildlife is seen either as necessary economic development or destruction of the environment. Trump is a businessman and is in it for the money (it’s expected and natural). Alex Salmond wants to play with the big boys.
What’s the solution? Ban golf. It’s a dumb game.
As Neil says, You have got to be kidding me: Smeaton promises to ‘bring a storm down on Westminster’ if elected. He’s right in one respect, though — vote or stop complaining.
If electing Smeato is the way to demonstrate how ‘celebrity’-driven politics is these days and that we’re all going to hell in a handbasket because we’re too fucking complacent to care about how a country is governed, bring it on. BRING IT ON. We need it.
