Now you see it….

I have often thought that our rulers live on a different planet, but now there is proof that they exist in a different Universe. As any sci-fi enthusiast will tell you, the probabilities of a multitude of different Universes, where the lives of everyone are changed by seemingly subtle actions or policies, are quite high. For example, a Universe where David Cameron is viewed as a old-style Tory politician is possible, but not very likely. Similarly, a Universe where we, the British People, are asked on a very regular basis for our views on how we are governed might well exist, but that Universe’s chances of existing are deemed to be very low indeed.

And then we have the Universe inhabited by the likes of the crowd which is organising the London Festival, in and around the London Olympics, where the Second World War never happened, where all the aims of the ‘Lefties’ and the ‘Luvvies’ have been fulfilled without any of that nasty blood spoiling the nice posters advertising that same Festival!

‘All that glisters is not gold’

That famous quotation, taken from the words of William Shakespeare (and none other!!), reminds us of the illusion presented as fact.

Over on ATW, we have advised more than once that the Arab Spring is no more a  change in appearance for the peoples of those lands.

We here in Europe, along with America, part of the old Empire, now known as the Commonwealth and various other nations who have ‘seen the light’, have at least a semblance of Democracy. It has taken a long time to achieve this tenuous balance, with many mis-steps, side-steps and falls along the way. We see India, the worlds’ second most populous nation, changing governments without much tension or blood, due to the fact that the Nation has spoken in a ballot! We here in Britain gave them that, and it is a proud claim. Their laws are based largely on their inheritance from the old Raj, the British Empire. Many nations have tottered after independence, some have fallen under dictatorship, but many more survive.

Turn to America, that ‘shining light in the West’, and we see Democracy writ large. That nation grew from an intolerance of greed and stupidity laid heavily on it by the rulers of England, who saw it as a cash cow which would never speak back. By the actions of brave men, and by the thoughts and deductions of a Continental Congress which gave them a Constitution which certainly I envy, that young nation twice became the saviour of a tired Europe and an oppressed East.

Our victories have sometimes been imperfect, we still see evil perpetuated in high places; but we get by.

And that is what I argue has given us the ability to govern ourselves without resort to bullets and bombs. This is also is what has been lacking from countries with Muslim-majority Arab populations, they have no memory of democracy, they have no basis. no ‘folk memory’, no instinct to state without fear, “You cannot do that!”. So when the Egyptian revolt took place, who slid in to keep their own power and methods? The Military; closely followed by the Muslim Brotherhood of course, because they know what is right for Egypt, and no one else will be allowed a say! When Bahrain rumbled and writhed in protest, the royal family imported the ‘heavy weapons’ from Saudi Arabia, and crushed them before they has a chance.

So should we be surprised when we read this in our newspapers?

Prioritise!

Life, in these exciting, or alternatively troubled times, is all about priorities.

To be warm, or to eat well. For many of us on these Isles this is a choice. With prices rising for heating as well as for basic foodstuffs,, many on small incomes, battered beyond belief by inflation and price-gouging, it all comes down to choices, to alternatives.

Bur enough of reality; my question this morning is quite simple, do you agree with the priority choices of the Daily Mail when they lead, at least in the online edition, with the news of the Greek Referendum vying for lead space with pictures and an article about whether some young woman with a very strange name and lifestyle is getting a divorce after 72 days of marriage; and right down at the base of the page come pictures of the homecoming march of elements of  3 Commando Brigade, nineteen of whose personnel returned earlier, not of course because the weather was cold!

Shock; Horror!

A European politician threw the entire brigade of European politicians into turmoil last night by deciding to do what every other politician from that same Europe has failed to do; which is to ask the people who voted for his Party if they agreed with the policies of austerity and loss of sovereignty introduced by his Government. Our own bunch, Clegg, Milliband, Cameron, liars and thieves all, declare in ringing tones that they would ‘ask the people’. But when they have an opportunity to actually ‘ask’, the sounds of heels as they thudded on the boards taking them away overcame all other noises!

So here is a toast to Mr. George Papandreou, possibly a mediocre politician, possibly an adroit and careful survivor in the seas of deceit and corruption swirling around Greek and European politics.

Or should it be a toast to the ‘Only Honest Man in European Politics’?