Saturday 11 June 2011

Bill, Bahrain or Montreal, a question of ...

... ethics or a forlorn gesture.

I don't know anyone in Bahrain, yet the Formula 1 teams and drivers seem old friends.

It's all about freedoms, freedom of association and freedom of speech to name but two, the people of Bahrain are denied these freedoms, yet the FIA who enjoy these freedoms are not prepared as yet to acknowledge the people of Bahrain should also be able to protest injustices.

So this weekend I will sit out the race and watch "Chariots of Fire", sometimes we have to become principled, I cannot get it out of my head the Bahrain authorities put on trial the medics who treated people injured by the state to warn others of the futility of opposing the state.


Closer to home, Bill asked the question ...

"I think though that we need something better than the self serving elitist Westminster bureaucracy we currently have, and England really must have some form of identifiable government, and not just a vacuum like present.

Wales, with its assembly, seems to have taken an interesting turn of late. Could they lead the way?

But what should the format be? I don't know. But I'm open to suggestions."

Bill has opened our political Pandora's box just a little, just a chink, he questions the vacuum that exists in British politics, a vacuum that is home to 50 million plus voices that have no sound, where can Bill get his voice heard above the drone that is the Westminster hive of inactivity ; this same 50 million people who pay the lions share of revenue raised by government, who asks where is England in the great equation we call Britain and British.

I am on record as saying that no individual should expect more than the next person, yet we have a set of circumstances where Scotland receives the lion share of revenue per head of population, some argue that NI has a greater share, but that particular province needs additional help in the fight against terrorism and the effects of terrorism over many decades, although some expenditure goes towards certain people I remember adorning wanted posters .....

So in terms of Bill or Bahrain, Bahrain is a monster of morality, whilst Bill is the monster yet to come in Britain, "who speaks for England", not many I think.....

1 comment:

  1. John,

    I'm only really a monster on a Monday morning before I have had any coffee. (honest)

    Ignored and unrepresented, England is less of a monster, but more of an Elephant in the room that politicians are desperately seeking to ignore.

    I don't think any part of the UK can truly progress and develop our shared democracy (whether, separation/integration/federalism or whatever) until everyone at least gets a recognisable channel to voice their opinions.

    As for the FIA ignoring the events in Bahrain.
    I suppose the current kludge they came up with which looks like stopping the event is at least a half way house. Pity though they didn't have the balls to show some support for the victims.

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