What Has Happened to the Labour Party in the U.K.?

We welcome Andrew Edwards, a Welshman and now a successful business man from a village north of Cambridge, England, to these pages for the first time.  'Drew' offers some cogent thoughts on the state of Britain's major opposition party to the Conservatives who are now in power.  What follows is an excellent review of recent governments and the state of the Labour Party today. If you wish a refresher or a first time exposure to U.K. political parties, take a few minutes to read this essay. - Glenn N. Holliman

What has happened to the Labour Party?

Let me be very clear before you start reading this.  My political leanings are naturally centre left.  I grew up in an environment where politics if not discussed were never far away.  Both my parents lineage can be traced back the heavy industries of South Wales – Steel, Coal Mining and Railways. 

Right, Andrew Edwards of England with this review on recent English political history.

It was out of this cauldron the Labour Party was borne – a political party to represent the working man.  In early part 20th Century there were only 2 mainstream political parties in the UK – Conservatives  and Liberals.  The Liberals claimed to be the party of the working man but it was felt that they were loosing touch with their supporters and as a result Labour – a largely untried political party started to gain strength and formed a minority government in 1924.  Since then there has only been two political parties with any hope of forming a majority Government with them swapping roles on a fairly regular basis.

 Right, Ramsay McDonald, Labour's first prime minister in 1924

The only exception to this was in May 2010 when the then leader of the Conservative Party was forced into a ‘coalition’ with the Liberal Democrats due to their inability to form a government with working majority.  I could now write on the reasons that this was a mistake for the Liberal Democrats but the results of the election in 2015 amply demonstrated this.  It will take a generation for them to get back to where they were prior to 2010.

Even before the 2010 election disquiet was growing within the voting population.  The involvement in the second Gulf War crystallised the belief that politicians were more than happy to lie to us.  The feeling amongst the public was that this was war to settle the scores and protect the interests of the oil companies.  The false claim that Saddam Hussain had weapons of mass destruction  – which was based on the ‘dodgy dossier’ seemed only to be an excuse to go to war.  

Right, Tony Blair, Labour prime minister from 1997 to 2007 who led the U.K. into the controversial Iraq War with the United States.

We then had the MPs expenses scandal – which confirmed what we all thought.  They were a group of privileged people who were out for what they could get.  True or not this was the perception.

The change of government didn’t seem to help.  We were told the country was close to being bankrupt.  Although it was the fault of the banks we needed to take our share of the blame – everybody of course with the exception of the banks who were too big to fail, spent a period in purgatory and then went back to making huge profits

Further revelations followed, the MP’s expenses, press intrusion, politicians cosying up to Rupert Murdock and so it goes on.  The outcome of all of this of course was that the public didn’t trust politicians and perhaps more importantly didn’t believe what they were being told.

So forward to the General Election in 2015.  Rather than sweeping to power the Conservative Government fell over the finishing line.  The problem for David Cameron was that whilst he had a working majority the numbers were slim and he has a number of issues with members who wanted to leave the EU.  Hence Brexit – but that’s another story.

Left, Jereym Corbyn, current leader of the Labour Party in the U.K.

The problem for Labour is that they lost when they should have won.  Ed Milliband resigned and it was time to elect a new leader for Labour.  You had the usual ‘mainstream’ candidates coming forward.  Scraping in as a ‘no hoper’ was Jeremy Corbyn the stalwart of the left.  Up until this point he had always been characterised as a maverick, didn’t support the party line and had been a strong supporter of Michael Foot in the 1980s.  

Whilst not seen as a strong candidate what he did have was the support of those who had been disillusioned by politics – someone who was ‘non-establishment’ and didn’t carry the baggage of the past.  He started to gain strength, won the first party election, was deposed by MPs and then won the second party election by an ever greater majority. 

From a position of ‘no-hoper’ he was now undisputed leader of the Labour Party and the Leader of Her Majesties Opposition.  Democracy in the UK is unusual in having an official opposition.  These are posts that are fully funded by central government and have an important role in calling the government of the day to account.  However to do  this the Leader of the opposition needs to have the support of their MP’s and its clear that Jeremy Corbyn doesn't.

After his latest election its clear that the Labour MPs are waiting until the time is right.  There is talk of a General Election in 2017.  If opinion poles are to be believed then it is likely that Labour will fair very badly and the Conservatives will have a significant majority that could ensure that they are in power for the next 10 to 15 years before they are seriously challenged again.

There will then be a period on infighting which has a number of potent outcomes.  It could be restructured Labour Party as happened in the 1980s, the rise of a new political group to take the centre ground of British Politics or even the emergence of the Liberal Democrats.

Whatever happens the next 20 years are likely to be extremely challenging for the centre left of British Politics – and that’s before Brexit, Scottish Devolution, English Devolution, Welsh Devolution, Cornish Devolution…..

Whatever happens its going to be interesting …….

Regards

Andrew

Comments?

Ain't It Awful

A friend of mine here in Pennsylvania gave me a quotation the other day that made me imagine a grandmother replying to a complaining teenage about some issue in the youngster's bountiful life.  "Ain't it awful" goes the saying - so awful - you live in a world of instant light, hot water, three meals a day, heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer, the Internet, security from violence, a roof over your head, college in front of you, a nation where the government is kept in check and is a servant, and in the United States of America where the standard of living is the highest in the world.  Oh yes, ain't it awful.

So in an election cycle, where one party proclaims how terrible the world and USA is and its downward trajectory, I present a blog sent to me this morning by a second cousin in Georgia, an educator who has devoted his career to helping economically under privileged children. 

Frank Schaeffer is an American author, film director, screenwriter and public speaker. He is the son of the late evangelical theologian and author Francis Schaeffer.  One does not have to accept his theology, but Mr. Schaeffer, whom I would call a post-Christian Christian, does present some controversial, highly-opinionated, blistering and telling observations. Here are some exerts from his newsletter.  And one does not have to agree with everything he says. - Glenn N. Holliman

Frank on Frank...an Ex-Evangelist Looks at the Election

There is a reason that the white American underclass is so out of step with the rest of America: if you live in a pretend world for long enough you snap. The white Trump-loving underclass is uneducated. But lack of university education isn’t their problem. Their problem is that they live in a fantasy world.

That world was concocted by two implacable enemies of fact-based truth: evangelical Christianity and right wing mythology.

And when I use the words white underclass I’m not talking about wealth or poverty. Delusion is a state of mind, not an economic bracket. You can be a billionaire who went to Harvard and still be a member of the delusional white underclass. 

The white underclass has not just drunk the Cool Aid (as it were) of the so-called Alt-Right, it has deformed its collective brain with overlapping religious and political mythology to such an extent that it is now incapable of functioning in the actual real world. It is a tribe of losers because you can’t get ahead if you embrace unreality as truth.

The white underclass is living in an alternative reality.

They believe lies such as-

Guns make you safer…

The economy is in trouble…

Terrorists are a deadly threat to America…

Climate change isn’t real…

Crime is going up…

The economy is in trouble…

Noah’s Ark was real…

Hillary Clinton is a crook…

Donald Trump is a winner…

None of these things are true. Thirty million or so Americans believe they are. These folks aren’t evil. They are however insane– quite literally.

In the real and actual world:

Consumer confidence is near its highest level since the end of the recession.

The stock market is near all-time highs.

Wages are growing at the fastest pace of the recovery.

The unemployment rate is below 5% . Crime is down –way down.

The rate of violent crime is at a 45-year low.

As of 2014, the most recent year of national data from the FBI, during the Obama presidency violent crime is down 20.3 percent, for a rate of 365.5.

The decline in the murder rate is even more impressive. At 4.5, it’s the lowest since 1957, down 55 percent since its peak in 1980.

The teen birth rate in the U.S. is at a record low, dropping below 25 births per 1,000 teen females for the first time since the government began collecting consistent data.

Nonwhite and younger teens have led the way in declining birth rates in recent years. Since the most recent peak in 2007, the birth rate among all teens has dropped by 42%. The declines among Hispanic (50%), Asian or Pacific Islander (48%) and black (44%) teens have outpaced this national average, while the decline among white teens (36%) has been somewhat more modest. Birth rates among younger teens ages 15-17 have also fallen faster – dropping by 50%, compared with a 39% decline among older teens ages 18 and 19.

The mentally ill white underclass of Americans are choosing to arm themselves at a time when the FBI tells us violent crime and property crime have been falling dramatically for two decades.

Yet owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun. For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home. 43 percent of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.

In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger. In 2014, according to FBI data, nearly eight times more people were shot and killed in arguments than by civilians trying to stop a crime.

Even including the 9/11 attacks an American’s chance of being killed within the United States by a terrorist was about one in four million per year. For industrial accidents, it’s one in 53,000, homicides, one in 22,000, auto accidents, one in 8,200. Since 9/11, an American’s chance of being killed by an Islamist terrorist is about one in 40 million per year.

In white underclass La-La Land none of this good news can pierce the thick wall of Alt-Right Bible-based “End Times” fantasies and doom…

In “The Great Democratic Inversion” Thomas B. Edsall writes in the New York Times that “Three recent studies of the American electorate illuminate the upheaval in the two political parties: the first, published on Oct. 12 by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, the other two published Oct. 19 and Oct. 25 by the Public Religion Research Institute.”

The UVA-IASC survey highlighted the political and cultural gulf between upscale, predominately Democratic whites and downscale, predominately Republican whites.

The first group, “the Social Elite” in UVA-IASC’s terminology, is made up of whites with advanced degrees. They are 49 percent Democratic, 16.8 percent Republican. 87.5 percent say the Democratic Party represents their views very or fairly well, compared to zero percent who say the Republican Party represents them very well and 24.2 percent who say that it does so “fairly well.” They plan to vote for Clinton over Trump by 74.3 to 14.1 percent.

The second group, termed “the Disinherited” in the UVA-IASC survey, comprises religiously conservative whites without college degrees. Republicans outnumber Democrats 52.3 to 11.1, and 60.9 percent say the Republican Party represents their views very or fairly well. They plan to vote for Trump by 74.3 to 13.5 percent.

…More affluent and well-educated white voters have substantially different policy agendas from their less affluent and less well-educated fellow citizens.

First, the downscale whites.

Nearly half say they feel alienated from contemporary America (“a stranger in their own land”), that they have little or no power to change the course of events — 84.4 percent believe public officials do not care “what people like me think.” 83.5 percent agreed that “in general, Americans lived more moral and ethical lives 50 year ago.”

These voters are convinced (72.6 percent) that they can no longer get ahead in America through hard work, and that the government in Washington threatens the freedom of “ordinary Americans” (75.3 percent). In a nation where same-sex marriage has gained public acceptance and gays routinely appear in television and movies, 54.9 percent of these voters say their own “beliefs and values” are different from those of gays and lesbians, and 66.2 percent oppose requiring every state to permit same-sex marriages.

White evangelical Protestants have the bleakest view of all: “Nearly three-quarters (74%) say American culture has changed for the worse since the 1950s.”

The origins of this bleak evangelical view–a new anti-Americanism of the right–lie in the bitter social and cultural conflicts of the 1960s and 1970s my dad and I helped foment.

As long as the white underclass combines a belief in the Bible as “true” with the view that actual information is “rigged” and only alternative “information” be that about climate change, evolution or a “woman’s place” is reliable… no amount of job training will help.

The white underclass can’t be helped. They are prisoners of their own minds.

While most Americans head to college or a job, learn to use a new app or read a book, The Disinherited head to the Creation Museum or another gun show.

When floods rise and heat destroys they see God’s judgment or a foreshadowing of the End Times not a call to examine the science of human-caused environmental destruction. 

And these days the white underclass have been given a new voice by the world’s biggest Loser’s Loser. Call this a murder-suicide pact: Trump is murdering the last hope of a return to sanity for the white underclass, and they in turn are committing moral and intellectual suicide. A vote for Hillary Clinton is — therefore — a declaration that the rest of us aren’t willing to kill ourselves too. - Frank Schaeffer's Newsletter

Whew!....Comments?

From a Librarian in Virginia....

I find myself nodding in agreement as I read your "Aint It Awful" article.  

I fear we are looking at 4 more years of gridlock, no matter who wins.  I hope for the Establishment Republicans to grow a backbone and establish a new party.  I doubt that Paul Ryan makes it a second year as Speaker.  

From a Businessman in Tennessee...

I largely agree with the "Ain't It Awful" article. We need an honest assessment of the Trump phenomenon, and why he and his ridiculous views are so popular with the "white underclass". However, the article screams of an us versus them mentality:  smart, enlightened liberals against the ignorant conservatives. That mentality will only continue to alienate those in that "white underclass".  

Compromise and moderation are the way forward -- not continued division into us vs. them camps.

From an Educator in Tennessee....
Glenn, has anyone mentioned the book, Hillbilly Elegy, in any of the postings?  If not, I encourage you to read it.  You may know of it already.  (Yes, I know of it and find it enlightening and disturbing....)

The Reactionary Phenomenon

by Glenn N. Holliman

I have seen this before.  A charismatic talented speaker and media savvy politician with an extreme message steps to the stage when the culture or economy is under stress.  It was in Alabama, the state of my birth and high school years that when I was a teenager George C. Wallace, governor many times, flourished with his anger and message of division and rancor.

Times were changing in the 1960s.  World War II had ended and African-Americans, called Negroes at the time, had taken the results of the conflict seriously. This very large southern minority were demanding better schools, freedom to travel in the front of the bus and all the other opportunities we white people took for granted.  Wallace labeled some 'outside agitators' and often called out the Alabama Highway Patrol to enforce his racial segregation policies.

George C. Wallace of Alabama ran for president in 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976. An assassination attempt in 1972 severely paralyzed him for life. He died in 1998.

Wallace was on the wrong side of history as a quick glance at the racial make up of the University of Alabama football team attests.  I don't know which did more to desegregate the races in the South - Martin Luther King or Southeastern Conference Football.  That question is no joke.

Over time a generation died and racial tensions subsided, and an increased measure of civil liberties were made available for blacks.  Younger generations of white southerners emerged, more open to acknowledging societal wrongs, better educated and focused on business rather than the past.  The fact that blacks now had a court-enforced ability to vote was and is the telling force today.  The power of the buck and ballot eventually dulled much of the sharp edge of hate.

A racial divide of course continues.  No place more so than the southern Protestant church on Sunday morning. The Republican Party scooped up the young white professionals and their blue collar cousins.  The Democratic Party in the Deep South today is largely that of minorities and highly educated whites.

So where am I going with this?  Now I am aged 70, not 16, and once again a semi-demagogue has arisen to play on our nation's fears and to accentuate our regional, religious and cultural divisions.  I did not like it in 1963 and I don't like it in 2016.

During this election cycle as I have for decades, I struggle to understand the culture of my birth - the Deep South.  I can better understand the economic fears of today's rust belt communities of the Midwest. 

So in reading a book review in the October 24, 2016 issue of the New Yorker, I knew I found something.  Professor Mark Lilla of Columbia has written "The Shipwrecked Mind", a collection of essays on political and religious reaction, i.e, that part of the political spectrum most drawn to the promises of Donald Trump, most open to his assurances of nirvana that only he can bring.

Lilla defines reactionary as 'an organic response to political and social revolution, and the quite sensible fear that the shared common life of a people has been wrenched out of its cherished patterns."  In simple terms, a fear, an anxiety generated by cultural or social change.

In the 1960s in this nation, it was the assault on white racial mores and a never-ending violence in Southeast Asia.   In 2016, it is anxiety generated once again in this country by the arrival of immigrant groups who somewhat look, talk, worship and dress differently.  And the loss of an assured job in one of the nation's declining manufacturing and mining sectors.

Ask the Ohio middle aged male whose steel plant closed in the past year who he is voting for?  No question - he is supporting the person who promises he 'will fix' it and will reverse globalization and 'drain the swamp' in Washington where 'bad trade deals' are made. Never mind that automation or economies of scale have had a lot to do with the decrease of manufacturing employment in America.  Or that the service and technology sectors are the areas of job growth.

Wallace's slogan was 'Stand Up for America'.  Not 'Make America Great Again'.

Demagogues and their sound-alikes always have simple answers.  It is always 'they', the outsider, the enemy, a scape goat who are responsible, not the individual whose employment or cultural comfort is under assault.  Not the endless force of dynamic capitalism.

While I despise the demagogue, I do not 'deplore' those who respond to his cries and unrealistic promises.  In my advanced years, I have come to better understand how difficult it is for humans to deal with change and especially change one cannot control.  For the person with only one or virtually no marketable skill in a post-industrial economy, life is one of anxiety, of seeing most of America move forward economically, of feeling and actually being left behind.

As Lilla notes, the reactionary spirit arises from anxious groups because "to live a modern life anywhere in the world today, subject to perpetual social and technological changes, is to experience the psychological equivalent of permanent revolution."

In America we have geographical pockets of poverty and economic depression.  In America we have communities challenged by the influx of Hispanics or other immigrants.  In America as in the rest of the world, nihilistic terrorists, almost always young men, bring random and deadly destruction.  And since this nation's founding, the racial divide by color and history persists.  

Yet in America the unemployment rate is down to 5%, the historic norm in good times. The stock market is almost three times what it was in 2008.  Certain careers are crying out for trained personnel.  Certain towns, such as one of my youthful domiciles - Cookeville, Tennessee - are extremely economically healthy looking for workers.  Most of us are doing well, a few very, very well.

Those who are the most educated in America are doing the best economically and socially in dealing with the stress of constant change.  There is no question the more one understands the world - its history, its economic cycles - the more one can cope with the on-going cultural changes of a vibrant world.  And generally the more formal education one has, the more marketable skills one has.

In 1950, reports the November 2016 edition of Harpers, less than half of all adults had graduated from high school.  Today, almost 90%, yes, 90% are graduating!  

In 1950, even with the G.I. Bill, only 8% of the adult population had a college degree.  Today, that percentage is 36%!

Judging from these statistics, younger Americans are responding to the changing world by getting ready for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

The presidential polls note that the majority of college graduates in this county are not voting for Trump. Generally he is attracting non-college white males, those most aggrieved in a geographically spotty economy, in a service and technological economy, that continues to shed manufacturing jobs.

I suggest those responding most to the extravagant claims of the bombastic egotist are making a wrong decision in their lives. 

To those those who have not prospered in this 21st economy, if you are young stay in school, technical or professional.  Get several skills.  Your job in the 2020s may not be there in 2030.

If you are displaced career-wise and middle aged, go back to school.  Get that GED, a new technical skill, whatever.  Get a government grant to help you manage tuition.  Relocate if you have to.  Move, don't just sit there and moan.

To our elected officials, flood our pockets of poverty and underemployed with education and training programs for those who have lost their jobs to closing factories or mines. 

Offer an allowance for families to move to states and towns where there are jobs.  My ancestors uprooted themselves constantly seeking a better farm, a better job, and I have followed the same pattern.  

Change is a constant in a global, largely capitalistic economy.  No demagogue can stop change.  He may channel your despair and fears but he is offering wrong answers.  Bridges of understanding, not walls, better deal with cultural migrations. Unfortunately all too often in this nation and others, the angriest voice, rather than the coolest head, carries the day, at least temporarily.  We shall know more on November 8, 2016 in America.

Comments?

A Humorous Note from South Africa!

One of the delights of the Internet is instant communication with friends all over the world. Our friend, Sid, whose family has lived in South Africa for generations, continues to share information on his country.  The following he emailed to me this morning, with a sense of humor that reminds me also of Australian friends interpreting their unique culture to the Northern Hemisphere. - Glenn N. Holliman

This is from Sid, a business man from Cape Town, South Africa with 'tongue in cheek'.

YOU ARE PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN WHEN:
# You call a bathing suit a "kossie".
# You call a traffic light a "robot".
# You call an elevator a "lift"
# You call a car hood a "bonnet"
# You call a car trunk a "boot"
# You call a pickup truck a "...bakkie"
# You call a Barbeque a "Braai"
# Employees dance and sing in front of the building to show how unhappy they are.
# You get cold easily. Anything below 16 degrees Celsius is Arctic weather.
# You know what Rooibos Tea is, even if you've never had any.
#You can sing your national anthem in four languages and you have no idea what it means in any of them.
# You know someone who knows someone who has met Nelson Mandela.
# You go to braais regularly, where you eat boerewors and swim, sometimes simultaneously.
# You produce a R100 note instead of your driver's licence when stopped by a traffic officer.
# You can do your monthly shopping on the pavement!!!!!
# You have to hire a security guard whenever you park your car.
# You know a taxi can move twice its certified number of people in one trip.
#You travel 100's of kilometres to see snow.
# You know the rules of Rugby better than any referee!
# More people vote in a local reality TV show than in a local election.
# People have the most wonderful names: Christmas, Goodwill, Pretty, Wednesday, Blessing, Brilliant, Gift, Precious, Innocence, Given, Patience, Portion and Coronation.
# "Now now" or "just now" can mean anything from a minute to a month.
# You start every sentence with yes/no or ja/nee.
#You continue to wait after a traffic light has turned to green to make way for taxis travelling in the opposite direction.
# Travelling at 120km/h, you're the slowest vehicle on the freeway.
# A bullet train is being introduced, but potholes can't be fixed.
# The last time you visited the coast you paid more in speeding fines and toll fees than you did for the entire holiday.
# You have to prove that you don't need a loan to get one.
# Prisoners, Police, Doctors and Nurses go on strike.
# You don't stop at red traffic lights, just in case somebody hijacks your car.

Comments? 

Accepting the Vote

From our reader in the Midlands of England, David, a retired educator and ardent traveler of the world. He is noodling over the recent and now repeated observation by USA presidential candidate Donald Trump that he believes the campaign is rigged and may not respect the forthcoming election results.  Such comments have caused an uproar in the body politic.- Glenn N. Holliman

Dear Glenn:

In much of the continent of Africa, there has, for many years, been difficulty with understanding the principle and practice of democracy. The problem, as seen by the rulers, is that they can never be sure how the people will vote. 

If they vote the right way, then democracy is good: if they vote the wrong way, it's bad, and the vote is best ignored. The usual excuse for their ignoring the vote is to claim, loudly and often, that the result was 'rigged'. How sad to see the same attitude promoted in the United States of America.

Here, in your mother-country, during the furore over our EU membership, I didn't like the idea of a referendum taking precedence over our more familiar system of representative democracy: I liked the result even less, but, heigh-ho, (just) over half of those who voted, voted for the UK to leave the EU, and so, reluctantly, I must accept the result. 

David, left, with two traveling companions in a more whimsical moment, his normal mood when not contemplating how difficult it is for human beings to govern themselves!

Why can't would-be dictators, the world over, accept the results of their people's democratic decisions? Failure to do so, especially before the election has taken place or the result known, undermines the whole system, which, as a means of government, may not be the most efficient, but it's "the least worst system" available.

Despairingly,
David

Comments?

Conflict in Yemen

Regular columnist David Lott, Englishman, a retired RAF pilot and both a participant and observer of British politics, reflects on Yemen, a conflicted state on the Arabian peninsula where a war with Saudi Arabia has been raging for over a year.  In the USA, news of this war and others has been largely pushed to the media's margins due to the on-going drama of the seemingly never-ending presidential campaign. - Glenn N. Holliman

Finding the Truth

By David Lott

As a sit-at-home observer without the means or inclination to travel the world to constantly gather information, it is very difficult to arrive at the truth. Whilst there has always been spin and dissimulation going back centuries, it is since Dr Goebbels propaganda that we have faced a massive overload of this intangible evil commodity. The age of the investigative reporter seems to have ceased altogether and the MSM will not touch any independent investigator. PR now stands for propaganda and no longer public relations.

I try to get nearest to the truth by observing what is not said rather than what is. To succeed at this one must troll through many media outlets around the world. I use US, UK, EU, French, Arab and Russian media outlets together with various on line news sources. Let me give you an example:

In the week before the last UK general election (2015) I saw on Al Jezeera TV (based in Qatar) that the UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was paying a visit to Saudi Arabia lasting some days. I noticed it because it was odd considering he would normally be madly campaigning on behalf of his Party in the final week before the polls. At that moment the polls were showing his Party was likely to lose the election or at best form a coalition or minority government.  So I looked for mention of his visit in the British press and TV news programmes but there was none.

So what, I asked myself, was he doing there? I was also aware from many sources that President Hadi of Yemen (The US approved Leader) had been defeated by not only the Iran backed Houthis but also Al Quaeda and those loyal to his predecessor. 

I guessed that an attack by Saudi Arabia against the opposition to President Hadi was pending and to which the UK Foreign Secretary was giving his blessing, a blessing that would last a mere 3 days if the Conservatives lost the election. Such a decision must also have the backing of the USA. I also suspected that a substantial arms deal was likely to have been concluded.

I wrote of my suspicions at the time but the UK media was obsessed with the election and its result, which turned out to be a surprise Conservative victory. 

Within a week of the election Saudi Arabia launched its attack on the Yemen, an attack using US and British weapons as I had predicted. I had not predicted they would employ British made cluster bombs against Houthi civilians; a little more on that subject later. The UN Security Council did not meet to approve this attack and for a long time the Yemen war took a back seat. It was eclipsed by those wars in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and the violence and mass movement of people through Libya to either drown in the Mediterranean or trek through Italy to reach the ‘promised land’ in the EU at Germany’s invitation.

Thus the technique of using what was NOT said produced an accurate prediction. Do try it yourselves; it is not difficult.

We hear much about the use of cluster bombs in Aleppo by Russian aircraft in Eastern Aleppo. The cluster bomb was designed as an anti-armour weapon and each bomblet had a shaped charge designed to penetrate armoured vehicles. The RAF Harriers used this weapon against Serbia. It was discovered that these bombs were very effective at creating an instant mini minefield. Civilian casualties on a very large scale resulted for obvious reasons as ordinary people set off the explosive having no idea they were passing through such dangerous ground. As a result of these awful civilian casualties the bomb was banned by the UN.

So how did these bombs get from store in the UK (where presumably they had been kept in or even possibly been newly manufactured) to the weapons station of a British made fighter aircraft in the Saudi Air Force? It had to have been part of the Philip Hammond’s deal with Saudi Arabia.

You can see why our masters keep this sort of thing quiet. All we can do is make sure they do not remain our masters for much longer. - David Lott, a founder of the United Kingdom Independent Party

Comments?

Two Trillion Glaxies

by Glenn N. Holliman

How Many?  Two Trillion!

Perhaps you have been reading in the major news outlets that those amazing astronomers have released new data that the universe contains two trillion galaxies, or 10 times as many as previously believed!  My learned son, Chris, and I discussed this news over breakfast yesterday morning.  I suspect we were the only persons in our Richmond, Virginia Cracker Barrel, a popular 'country' restaurant franchise in the USA, having a conversation on this esoteric topic.

One had the feeling that between the massive servings of bacon, eggs and grits, that most persons were talking about one of  Saturday's football games or speculating on how many more women were going to reveal additional caddish behavior by Donald Trump.  Maybe the subject of the size of the universe is just not something that effects the average person's life!



Right, Chris, the librarian....the son also rises.

So Chris and I did the numbers - two trillion galaxies contain say 100 billion stars each and each star has eight major planets on average as does our solar system, that means, well, I can't do the simple arithmetic, but there must be sky-zillion earth-like rocks out there. 

By the law of averages that means a very large number must be in the 'Goldilocks' position from their radiation source, i.e. sun, not too hot and not too cold and have water in three forms - solid, liquid and gas - and have existed long enough in this such condition for life to develop as it has on earth. 

So, then we are not alone?  Or are we?  There may be life on one of Jupiter's moons, but I bet it is not 'conscious life'.  By definition a life form must be able to nourish and replicate itself (essential for life to continue), but to think, reason, play games, enjoy art, pay  income taxes, etc, nope, I don't think so.  

Further out in our own galaxy?  In one of those 2 trillion other galaxies?  

The odds are yes, conscious life exists. So why don't they contact us?  Simple, one can't defy the laws of physics.  

Nothing can exceed the speed of light, those photons that stream through the universe at 186,000 miles a second. Astronomers measure distant in 'light-years' that is how far does light travel in one earth year.

While some earthlings believe those crop circles are made by visitors from outer space and UFOs keep popping up in the minds of many, there really never has been any type of contact from other beings simply because the distances are too great.  Bear in mind, it has only been 120 or so years since radio waves were generated by beings on this planet.

Left, H. Bishop Holliman, the grandfather in 2015

When Chris's grandfather was born in 1919, there was only one recognized galaxy - our Milky Way.  

And about the time I was born, astronomers began hypothesizing that our universe began as a 'Big Bang' because, well, everything outside our galaxy seemed to be moving away from everything else.  And since Chris was born, we have a pretty accurate figure when the initial 'inflation' occurred - about 13.7 or .8 billion years ago!  That's a lot of scientific progress in just a century.

My son and I love to noodle over these issues.  Wonder during the life time of his son, Derek, if these ultra-wise scientists will discover where all that matter, atoms, particle of atoms, grains of sand, etc. came from before the Big Bang?  Granted our theologians of all stripes and plaids have been puzzling over this question since homo sapiens looked up at the stars and moon and wondered.

Left, Chris and his son Derek

We humans did not discover writing until about 3,000 B.C.E  We are only a few hundred earth orbits around the sun since we began utilizing scientific reasoning. The past few centuries have revealed the universe as not known to all previous generations. What answers will come by Derek's old age?

Sigh....ultimate questions on a Sunday morning.

In the meantime, more coffee anyone?

Comments?

Reflections from Australia

Comments from Down Under in response to my recent words on the American presidential election.  Steph is an accomplished author and playwright, and well read. - Glenn N. H0lliman

Hi there Glenn

Interesting to read your comments, and I agree with you that Trump is absolutely unfit to hold high office. HOWEVER, if and when Hillary wins I do hope she sits up and gives great consideration to the core concerns of the Trump voters. 

These are, and please correct me if I’m wrong. 

1. Immigrants ‘stealing’ jobs from USA residents at a time when jobs are hard to get
2. Increasing foreign ownership of important US companies and properties  
3. Islamic immigrants 
4. Gun control

These, minus the gun control, mirror the exact concerns of the Pauline Hanson followers here in Australia, and now these people, who have been simplistically called ‘racist’ in order to silence them, feel they might have a voice at last. 

Lorikeets in Steph's garden in South Australia!

 I believe that the Brexit voters also came out in force because Cameron and Co simply had been ignoring their very vital concerns. I think the first two factors are pretty understandable by the public in general, and it is the third one where the topic hots up and becomes distorted.

You implied that Islamophobia flourishes because Muslims have called their god by another name, but I don’t believe that. Nobody in Oz worries one bit about our Hindu or Buddhist residents, so why are we worried about the Muslims? It’s not just that terrorists may be seeded amongst them. It’s more that their core values (concerning women, music, homosexuality etc) are incompatible to ours. I’ll go further and say they frighten me.

I had a letter published in our main paper the other day, and this is what I wrote. So far no-one has written back to attack me.

"It was with great admiration and delight that I saw a TV report on The Open Mosque in Cape Town, where homosexuals are welcome, women are treated as equals and unsegregated, and the Burka is not condoned because it is not mentioned in the Koran and is therefore a man-made invention to allow complete control over women. Of course, I was not surprised to learn that the South African Open Mosque has (literally and metaphorically) come under fire from the orthodox Muslim brigade. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all Moslem schools and mosques could adopt the same tolerant and egalitarian approach? If this should eventually occur Australia-wide, I feel pretty confident that there would be no more mobs of Australians clamouring for ‘No More mosques’ or ‘No more Moslem Immigration’.  And why? Because at last our core values would be compatible.

Before I close I would just like to add that before the resurgence of Pauline Hanson in this country I may not have had the courage to go public on my thoughts, for fear of being branded a racist. So while she, like Trump, would make a terrible President or PM,  her views should not be mocked or dismissed by our current leaders. They will do so at their peril, as David Cameron discovered." - Letter and comments from Steph in Australia

Comments anyone?