Anti-capitalistm, attogram a ...

... meniscus tear and if the pain wasn't tough enough I discovered last Thursday I am diabetic, the world does suck at times.

They sit outside Saint Paul's cathedral under banners that proclaim "Capitalism isn't working", their right to freedom of expression should not detract from their misunderstanding of commerce.  Capitalism is working well, it is the mechanism that delivers my shirt at a price I am willing to pay in sufficient quantities to satisfy demand.  Now if the camps proclaimed the markets as having flaws that can be rectified through the use of the law they would have a case, monopoly power supply in the UK is one such case, monopoly or oligopoly (the decisions of one firm influence, and are influenced by, the decisions of other firms, it raises prices and restrict production in much the same way as a monopoly).

Unfortunately the protesters add to their message "Capitalism isn't working" the words "another world is possible", no word on what exactly this other world might be.  Public opinion on the other hand is mixed, a majority tells the authorities to evict the protesters, another majority tells Saint Paul's it was wrong to close, yet another majority tells the world that they support the aims of the protesters.  Weird times .........

On farming subsidies, do we all, including the poor of Anglesey, subsidise the lamb roast of Carwyn Jones, or should Carwyn Jones pay the real price of Welsh lamb, such is the case of farming subsidies.

Still no news on when my torn meniscus is to be repaired, having put down my loss of weight these past months to the pain in my knee, I was quite devastated when our GP diagnosed me as being diabetic ..............

.............. attogram, the weight of a typical e-book downloaded to the Amazon Kindle, lighter than a print book.

Subsidies, the taxpayers curse ...

... and the litmus test for any business, and that includes farming in Wales.

Today's report that farmers in Wales receive £280 million in subsidies (this amount equates to 80% of their income) is a cautionary indicator to those who generate the base wealth of Britain, it means farming in Wales has become an economic junkie, unable to function without its next "financial fix".

If our farmers (all the British farmers) need so much money from the British taxpayers, and EU money arriving in Britain is British taxes, then the businesses are probably not viable and should be allowed to sink with all the other insolvent businesses (including banks).

Government subsidies hide reality.

Jane Davidson ...

... said:

"There is a world of difference between the circumstances of my case and that of a Minister of Defence, for example, who goes and works for an arms dealer."


When responding to criticism that she failed to follow procedures when applying for a job whilst serving as Environment Minister in the Welsh Government.

In fact there is no difference, no defence ...............

The peoples president, ...

... I remember him well, on posters ...



... during the 1970's, they were wanted posters for republican terrorists, funny this world of ours, ...


... does a leopard change its spots ?


Politics .................

Crazy men and crazy ...

... women, compare the list with politicians.

• grandiose sense of self importance.
• preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance.
• belief that he/she is special and can only be understood by other special people.
• requires extensive admiration.
• has a sense of entitlement, favourable treatment, automatic compliance.
• exploitative, takes advantage of others to achieve his or her ends.
• lacks empathy.
• envious of others, believes others to be envious of him or her.
• shows arrogant, haughty behaviours or attitudes.

 "Diagnostic criteria for narcissistic disorder", from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic ................ Medical Disorders.

Find any five of the pervasive pattern of grandiosity from the list and discover a certain grandiosity.

Consider Alex Salmond ................... or other leaders from history, .... and we vote to give these latter day Nero's power.

WAG stags have nothing of quality ...

... to rut with !

The peoples of Wales have no opposition worth its salt, we only have an opposition of posturing ...

... bullfrogs, each of which has much to say about nothing.

... and the loony left of Wales say the NHS is best left as a public ...

... service, apparently businesses are incapable of providing a good enough service !

When I read the tired words of a sterile apology ...

Stephen Graves, chief executive of West Suffolk hospital, said: "We have passed on our sincere apologies for any anxiety or distress which Mrs Dixey experienced in our care and assured Mrs Jacques that lessons have been learnt as a result of her complaint. We are committed to ensuring that all of our patients are treated with dignity."

... I know the lessons and commitments are essentially nationalised industry bullshit.

The story from today's Sunday Times, written by Sarah-Kate Templeton the Health Editor, is horrific to those who might become elderly patients of the future, and that's everyone ...

On her visits to her mother during treatment at the West Suffolk hospital in Bury St Edmunds, Jacques would take notes of what she found. On one occasion her mother had become dehydrated and fluid charts showed she had had nothing to drink between 12pm and 7pm.  ........... Call bells were not answered, staff did not introduce themselves to patients or explain what they were about to do. Patients were also addressed in the most impertinent manner by young staff. She was addressed as a child. "Please is a word" [a nurse said to her].

Jacques mother, who was recuperating from a broken leg on a rehabilitation ward, died in April, just weeks after she had been discharged.


If the markets were in operation, if there was choice, if there were competition, would this particular parody of a caring organisation be open for business ?  I doubt it, it seems that to have the words "NHS Hospital" and "nursing" in the same sentence is oxymoron.


I am waiting for a knee operation, I think I might be safer paying for the operation, not for the surgeon, but the post op nursing ....................

Fagiolini in umido ...

... or braised beans with tomatoes in the vernacular, is a classic Tuscan summer dish from River café that should be doable all year round.

Ingredients for 6

• 1 500g jar of peeled plum tomatoes
• 1kg waxed yellow beans, tailed
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 bunch fresh basil leaves
• extra virgin olive oil

 
Method

• Blanch the beans in salted boiling water until tender. 
• Drain and set aside. 
• Heat the olive oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan and add the garlic. 
• Gently fry before adding half of the basil and season. 
• Add the tomatoes, and keeping the heat high, cook to reduce to a thick sauce, which should take 10 minutes. 
• Add the beans, stir to combine and season with black pepper. 
• Add the remaining basil leaves and serve drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

... alternatively you might like to read Betsans blog, it will bore you to tears, Welsh politics is so sleep inducing.

... they didn't ask me either, ...

... but they don't have to in Wales, they didn't teach me to read and write either ...

... so I couldn't "opt out", I'm not sure what "opt out" means, I can't remember "opt out" in our classes at school, why have the politicians hung my body in the cold room with the pork ...

... am I the Assembly bacon ?

Mean spirited, not the voice of Wales, or ...

... is it an attempt to impose a selective apartheid to further the aims of the separatist agenda ?


To understand the politics of Jac it might be necessary to read his latest diatribe supported by Miserable, it represents a separation of people based upon origin and social conditions, except where the origin might fit a comfortable criteria that is perceived to have no impact on the objectives of the nationalists of the North West (refugees and the persecuted).  It is of course an extension of "identity politics" so beloved of the nationalists of Wales.

The preoccupation with group injury is one of the most visible features of identity politics.  The rhetoric of victimisation indicates that it is a sense of vulnerability that fuels the demand for the validation of identity, and it is the fragile character of emotion-based identities that unleashes the permanent quest for affirmation.¹  It is a belief that precisely because the quest for identity can never be fully realised that it is open to the influence of intolerant sensibilities.  An insecure identity not only craves recognition, it also has difficulty dealing with challenges to itself.

¹ 'Fragile identities' Therapy culture:Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age. 2004. London: Routledge.

With the call by Jac and Miserable for the application of intolerance upon the most vulnerable sections of society, a group of people who might depend for shelter on the Social Housing sector, how soon before there is a call to extend their modern day Welsh apartheid to the rental market as a whole, or to apply conditions of residence before a person is allowed to buy a home in Wales.

And what exactly is this society that Jac and Miserable wish to stamp upon?  It is anyone they do not approve of, anyone that doesn't fit into their narrow vision of the future.

Intolerance of our neighbours takes many forms, the last European nationalists to identify and treat sections of society as less than desirable were the Nazi regime of Germany who discriminated against ...

• Jews
• Roma (or Gypsies)
• political prisoners
• homosexuals
• people with disabilities
• Jehovah's Witnesses
• Catholic clergy
• ...

... and who will be the local judge to determine acceptability, candidates best be devoid of social conscience and responsibility, maybe Jac or Miserable ............

What did Bethan Jenkins mean when ...

... when she said:

Any major cuts in BBC Wales' provision will be a severe blow to attempts to increase public awareness of our national structures and democratic institutions.

... and:

The BBC's news coverage in Wales has particular importance due to the shortage of media sources here".

In regard to the shortage of media coverage, this is a "Cnut" moment,where Jenkins is attempting to hold back the waves of public indifference to her political preferences.  The shortage of media reflects a public rejection of what she sees dear to the political process, the public of our 21st century just wish to be entertained, who watches Panorama when there is "Mock the Week" being televised, people prefer to laugh than cry.

I have a certain sympathy with the apparent lack of awareness of structures and institutions by the public, it is manifest every election.  Rhodri Morgan might have had an answer to this particular issue through the Welsh Baccalaureate, but by choosing it as a senior qualification he lost the plot, if it had been part of education from senior year 1, almost every pupil would leave school with what could have been a meaningful qualification, and along the way, with careful teaching, an understanding of political Wales.

When the Ucas general secretary said …

 … “we sincerely hope that it'll be possible to avoid further strike action, but that's in the government's hands now”.

The words of a seemingly powerful elite holding sway over the government elected by consent.

There is no place in Britain for a modern day Arthur Scargill, Elaine Edwards Ucac general secretary might like to read the history of that particular time and remember the little people who pay their taxes so that she and her membership can insist on a bigger share of the national cake.

... Theresa May, facist, not wanted ...

... on our democratic journey when she prevents Maryam Rajavi from exercising an invitation to speak to members of our parliament.

Theresa May and the pathetic civil service running her office is preventing an eminent and well respected dissident from the tyrannical Iran regime from speaking on the subject of "women and their mistreatment in Iran", her crime is "to call for a democratic and secular government committed to the rule of law and respect for human rights".

There is distinctly unpleasant smell emanating from the Home Office, it is the smell that accompanies lies, half-truths and appeasement, the government of the 1930's did much the same with Nazi Germany and 60 million people died as a result (including 6 million Jews).


In a parady of democracy Theresa May said she had taken into account the views of the Foreign Office and other departments ...

"I have concluded that maintaining Mrs Rajavi’s exclusion is justified as I do not consider her presence in the UK to be conducive to the public good.  The government makes no apologies for refusing people access to the UK if we believe they might seek to undermine our society."

Well, I have thought about our "freedoms of thought and expression" and about "appeasement of tyrannies" ...

...It seems our government and their civil servants prefer the company of "international bullies" to the more civilised company found amongst the British people and those Members of Parliament who try to represent their views and feelings.

... new European Union referendum on the cards ...

... after a petition signed by more than 100,000 people was submitted to MPs, the Commons Backbench Business Committee will agree to grant a one-day debate on a referendum after parliament returns from its summer recess next week, the debate, thought to take place before Christmas, would be the first seeking the public’s opinion since the historic 1975 decision to join the Common Market, (source The Sunday Times 2 Oct 2011).

The single question uppermost on many minds is ....

... why should we have an open door policy to economic migration, why should the poor of Anglesey or Tyne and Wear pay taxes that are used to subsidise foreign workers.

A second question might be ...

... should we continue to be dictated to by the unelected poltroons of Europe who decide to impose social conditions upon Britain without a mandate bought at the ballot box.

An interesting debate if the politicians voice the concerns of their electorate, and there are more than the two questions I might ask.