Category: Politics

I’ve now developed a headache so I thought I would share!

The case against the notion of historical objectivity is like the case against international law, or international morality; that it does not exist.
Sir Isaiah Berlin

Berlin was a philosopher and a political theorist.

I have a very vague recollection of some of his ideas, but from memory, the most interesting one was his dismissal of the idea that there was only one sort of right answer, or universally “correct” system of ethics.  He was not talking about the physical world we inhabit, which can to some extent be defined by science or mathematics, but rather the inter-reaction of human beings which cannot be determined, or categorised using the same “rules”.

His work was naturally influenced by events at the time; the fight against Communism and Fascism, but one does wonder what he would have made of the present battle of ideologies.

It would also be interesting to see how future historians view these present conflicts, and which ethical values will they use to do so, but I doubt any of us will be around to find out.

Your Freedom: The Government’s invitation to the public to comment.

http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/restoring-civil-liberties/increasing-infringement-by-the-police-of-photographers-rights-to-take-photographs-in-public-places

will take you to an item I have posted on “Your Freedom”. Your support would be welcomed. By the way, the link setup doesn’t seem to be working properly, or I haven’t sussed it out, maybe, so Please copy and paste in your web browser to reach it, until someone educates me…

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” — Ben Franklin.

I lost my moisturiser.

On my way back from Bucharest to Moscow I had to transit through Munich. Since it was a short trip, I was travelling with hand-carried luggage only. In my washing kit I had a bottle of moisturiser. (After 25 years of running around in the open, the first seven in a semi-permanent haze of diesel smoke, if I don’t moisturise regularly I turn into a remarkably good stand-in for the amazing Lizard Man.)

Hosted by imgur.com Airport Security is pants

Whacko of the Week

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell who is to give 19 million hard-earned taxpayers pounds to UNRWA.

The UNRWA was founded in 1949 to deal with the refugee crisis caused by the invasion of the new State of Israel by five Arab armies. 61 years and billions upon billions of pounds later, it has demonstrably failed. The Arab refugees of Palestine have been kept in misery by the neglect of the states in the region, the intransigence of Arab States in refusing to recognise the State of Israel and the pouring of billions of pounds into armed attacks on that State, instead of into the provision of basic necessities for refugees and the means for them to remedy their own misfortunes by their own efforts. I present the example of Cyprus, a small country burdened with a huge refugee problem by an Invasion by a foreign Country in 1974. Find a refugee camp in Cyprus. Find refugees from Famagusta or other areas occupied by Turkey still living in squalor and poverty. Hint. You can’t.

Another 19 million pounds of British tax-payers’ cash flushed down the toilet.

ESC 2010

120 million viewers all over Europe (mostly) watched the finals of the 55th annual Eurovision Song Contest, live from Oslo, Norway, last night. As usual, there was satisfaction and grumpiness, depending on which camp one was cheering for, but overall it was a big, colourful, fun party. According to veteran UK commentator Sir Terry Wogan, ‘Eurosong’ is not a contest at all. It’s a music fair; a gathering for European countries to showcase and celebrate their music to the rest of the continent. There is an element of competition thrown in, to keep things interesting, but deep down it’s a party, meant to be fun and not taken seriously.

For the record, here are the results, including snippets from the top performances of the evening, for the Sunday recreation of the rest of the world.

Continue reading “ESC 2010”

White Guilt 2

It will be 55 years this December since one of my heroes, a lady, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a man. It’s 40 -odd years since the sufferers of the religion of White Guilt imported a distorted version of the Civil Rights campaign, of which she became an icon, from the United States and began the great shaming of white England as one condition of the founding of a new social equality. The other condition was, of course, the shaming of non-white England into sharing the ridiculous and totally unfounded belief that somehow the colour of their skin made them incapable of competing in society on the same level as the white majority. Frederick Douglass had it about right a century and a half ago: What did he have right?

White Guilt

On a recent post by Araminta, my attention was caught by this:

why we may have more of a problem with assimilation than younger democracies.

and this:

with goodwill and determination on both sides

These quotes raise a number of questions. What is this ‘problem with assimilation? Historically the United Kingdom, more specifically, England, has ‘assimilated’ immigrants from all sorts of cultures. When groups of people have been at need, the UK has opened its doors, if not entirely its arms, and invited them in – the last such (large) group I can think of being the Ugandan Asians chucked out by Idi Amin. That group of people ‘assimilated’ without too much trouble – yes, some of them suffered discrimination in some cases, but they sucked it up and got on with it. What is the problem with assimilation?

On This Day – 5th May 2005

I look at the BBC’s  ‘On This Day’ site most days.  Today, I found one of the headlines for the 5th of May 2005:

BLAIR SECURES HISTORIC TERM

The News for the the following day reported Blair’s speech, where he said that he would “focus relentlessly” on the public’s priorities.

He was reported as saying:

I think I have a very clear idea of what the British people now expect from this government for a third term.

Britons …  do believe there are real problems in our immigration and asylum system and they expect us to sort them out and we will do so.

I want to make this a particular priority for this government – how we bring back a proper sense of respect in our schools, in our communities, in our towns, in our villages.

There would be a “radical programme” of legislation to deal with the priorities of education, health and law and order.

Well, he may have known what the electorate wanted…

Better Luck on Thursday!

Religion and the state

Islam and democracy
The practice—and the theory
Can rule by the people be reconciled with the sovereignty of Allah?

“TURKEY sets a fantastic example for nations around the world to see where it’s possible to have a democracy coexist with a great religion like Islam.” Those were George Bush’s words of welcome, this week, to Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul.

This was in 2008, but is this still valid?