Two wrongs don't make a right.

What Hamas did is both unacceptable and against international law. 

Israel has the right to fight back but not to also go beyond international law.

There can be no victory for either side, only civilians suffering both Israeli and Palestinian.

It's not right to punish a whole population for a terrorist group within. While the current Hamas organisation may be defeated it will only create a new generation of terrorists.

In the past the UK suffered many IRA terrorist atrocities because of Northern Ireland. Would the world have allowed the UK to bomb Northern Ireland?

We must remember that Jewish people are not all the Israeli government nor are the Palestinian people all Hamas. It's not right to blame either or attack them for the actions of a government or terrorist organisation.

We have come so far as a human race yet we haven't left the starting line in many regards.

Election lost on the battlefield of culture wars?

I stated a while ago that I thought culture wars were sending the Tories down a cul de sac with ever diminishing returns.

People want answers to paying energy bills, putting food on the table & seeing a Dr etc. Not culture wars.

The local elections to this point, far from showing me this is wrong, have only fortified my thoughts on this.

But I think there is more to it than that.

A lot of people are looking at the Tories and seriously wondering what they have to offer if they were to get another five years.

You look at the front and back benches which are devoid of any heavyweight politicians. There are some more competent than others but overall they are extremists and ideologues. 

Even Sunak comes across as an over promoted school prefect.

They have no policies, solutions or ideas that will solve the current problems. The policies they do offer are only performative. Designed to create division and distraction rather than solve the issues they are supposed to address.

People have rumbled this and do not want another five years of destruction and decay.

Government, BBC, Culture wars and Lineker.

The most important thing to realise is that the BBC is simply the monkey not the organ grinder. The government is the organ grinder.

The government has applied political pressure to create division and a distraction. But in doing so they have not only exposed the blackness at their own heart they have created a platform which shows how many people dislike this government's divisive rhetoric.

They think culture wars will get them re-elected. I think this Lineker episode exposes the cul de sac that the tories are fast heading down.

In the cold light of the voting booth what will come to people's minds? Culture wars? Or energy bills? Rising rent/mortgages? Energy bills? High food bills? 9Struggling to get a doctor's appointment or access to a dentist? That long wait for treatment on the NHS? Pension moving ever farther away? The struggle to find a job? The worry about your job security due to economic mismanagement?

I think any culture war is going to be very low on the list. 

The local elections in May will show where things are on the list.

The Tories are the problem.

Sunak has a deal. The real question is whether he is prepared to take on the extremists in his party or rely on Labour votes? Or will he fold entirely and leave things as they stand?

Sunak is a weak leader in charge of a split party. 

The dance around the NIP this week illustrates why the Tories need to be removed from power if this country is ever to repair some of the economic and social damage they have caused.

This deal was needed to kill the NIP bill now in the Lords. This would have been a key step to build trust with the EU. In turn that could have led to.a closer relationship benefiting the economy.

The factions and individuals within the Tories may have dealt a fatal blow to their fading electoral hopes. The economy will now carry on scraping along ar the bottom. More importantly their blind ideological stubbornness and, in some cases, individual entitlement have solidified the damage in this country.

At every turn since and including the referendum individuals within, factions within and the Tory party itself have put it/themselves before the interests of the country.

EU law bill folly

Firstly there are no EU laws left. Since we left the EU all our laws are just that - ours. EU laws were incorporated into our statute. Why? Because either they are useful or would cause too much damage if removed.

Secondly if, as this bill requires, they are removed overnight it will cause chaos within business and therefore more massive economic damage.

So why do this? Because they have the letters E U linked with them? Possibly but more than likely only slightly. 

Scorched earth policy knowing they will likely lose the next election. Again possible but only slightly likely.

Doing it in the full knowledge the Lords will alter it substantially. In this case it keeps the eternal excuse going that if so and so had only done or allowed this Brexit would have been a success. A lot more probable than the other reasons.

The question is if they remove them what do they replace them with? It's unlikely they would remove these laws, causing all the ensuing damage, just to replace them with something similar. 

So you have to reason they want a clean slate to remove the rights we enjoy but inconvenience them. 

All the roads from Brexit far from leading to 'sunlit uplands' seem to lead downhill for the majority of us.

The tale of "under"....

Doctors, Nurses, Ambulance crews, Civil servants and transport workers ETC taking strike action.

University lecturers and now thousands of teachers across England and Wales.

Underfunded…

Under-resourced…

Underpaid…

Undervalued…

For 13 years. It is no wonder the final straw has broken the camel's back in so many public services.

Underfunded…

Under-resourced…

Underpaid…

Undervalued…

Also applies to their workplaces. Ten years of austerity and now even more austerity removing resources and funding. Expecting the workforce to hold everything together with lack of staff and old equipment.

The unnecessarily hard Brexit negotiated by this government leading to staff shortages.

This crisis is the child of this government's policies. A self inflicted crisis they have created.

Underfunded…

Under-resourced…

Underpaid…

Undervalued…

Brexit: Hearts and minds changing.

Polls are more and more showing hearts and minds changing regarding Brexit. But why?

Because during the referendum the Brexit proponents "over promised". We were told we were heading to "sunny uplands". There would be no downsides, only upsides. We held all the cards. There would be £350m a week for the NHS etc.etc,etc.

In reality there have been many factors that have made life worse - Covid and Ukraine to name but two. But Brexit played its part by weakening our economy and making the other factors worse comparable to other countries.

While not everyone will have appreciated the intertwining factors they will have noticed everything in decline both directly in their lives and wider. The cost of energy and food. Mortgages and rents rising. Inability to access a doctor. The NHS in crisis. Transport strikes and rising costs to use etc,etc,etc.

People then compare this to the afor mentioned Brexit "promises" and just see everything getting worse not better. Hence the change in minds and hearts. This will only increase as the decline drags on.

The only solution is a closer relationship with the EU. This will take a lot of time but is the inevitable direction of travel.

An artificial construct.

The government peddles the narrative, which Labour and other parties go along with, that the country's finances are akin to household finances. But the truth is the country cannot go bust and there is no national credit card.

We are money users, the government are money issuers (creators) and owns its own bank. The BoE is only in essence independent on paper. The government own it and the treasury holds all of its assets.

We cannot create money to pay our debt but the government can. The ability of the government to create money isn't unlimited. Creating too much will fuel inflation and overheat the economy. But the scope is very large before that happens.

Government borrowing actually pays for government expenditure. Tax is to control inflation and maintain social balance. Austerity is a political choice. The current "black hole" is also part of the narrative. For instance the calculation of the "black hole" is, among other things, based on assumptions the chancellor himself controls and has set. If instead of using the assumption we will "pay it back" over 5 yrs he say changes that to 10 the "black hole" shrinks massively.

The household narrative is one way to look at government finance; another is MMT (Modern Money Theory) , some of which I have illustrated here.

I took a step back from the government financial/ economic narrative to look at it through MMT.

What if we take a further step back? The arguments between the household finance narrative and MMT are part of a bigger picture.

The financial system/economy are, as they would say in The Matrix, an artificial construct. They are man made. As such we have full control over them. With enough collective will we can do as we please with them. We could end poverty and hunger. Tackle climate change etc. 

Two reasons we don't - Power and control. 

Just my crazy thoughts on a small piece of this crazy world.