What if ?

What if ? What if Scotland gains independence why will such a change be so earth shaking as the politicians in England seem to describe.
The country's we know as Scotland and England will not change enormously there will be changes at the periphery, perhaps head offices will need to be relocated, perhaps the currency question is the most thorny but it is one that can be worked out over a number of years and should not beyond the whit of man to sort out. The industries in Scotland that have shareholders in England are no different to the industries we own across the world, the people from either country will continue to work and live where they choose and in so many ways things will go on as before.
Of course there will be bruised egos, particularly within the English Establishment which has established fiefdoms in both countries and who traditionally have complicated interlinking family shareholdings within both countries.
One important element is that currently the populations are united and vote for political parties that are represented in Westminster, the seat of power in both countries. The make up of the Scottish population leads it to vote for the Labour Party and the state of the Westminster Labour Party is going to be crucially effected by loosing these votes which of course will be a gain to the Conservative Party and in a finely balanced House of Commons it could produce a swing that will ensure Tory hegemony for years to come. 
What ever happens it will not be as earth shattering as the usual members of the chattering classes who appear on our screens each night, project.
For no other reason, when I see the Westminster bubble types up in arms I, perhaps perversely, feel that a shattering of the established view, warning us of "dower implications"  which will lead to irrevocable damage, one is ever more reminded of the extremely poor standing of politicians in Westminster and of how we have simply lost faith in them.

The referendum.

How our present is caught in its past. Often in a fast moving and developing society the past is irrelevant, particularly to the young who are the motivating force for any society. A society struggling to reinvent its-self in the face of unprecedented technological change, hoping to cope with the electorates ability to research opinions from a much wider spectrum of information and question the drip fed established line.
Our heads of state and the organisational structure which allows them to manipulate society, (government and the civil service), is extracted from an exclusive branch of society who were taught to believe "we are born to rule". Through exclusive and expensive selective schools, a class of people are bred to seek out their own as the future play-makers within the boardroom and the Establishment its self. 
It is only when you have the opportunity to break this self perpetuating mould can you forge a new system which encompasses a larger more representative section of the existing society. What we are witnessing in Scotland is a dignified example of true democracy at work.
"One man one vote" is the call of Westminster, Washington and in most countries of Western Europe but we know from experience that Western "Democracy" is a mirage made up of vested interests, where money plays the all important role.
It is only when you have a referendum with a single question, each citizen having one vote, not asked to consider the party ramifications but rather an issue that they feel, one way or the other has an answer that it is theirs personally to give and theirs alone.

Sottish Referendum

As we crawl, some would say hurtle towards the Scottish Referendum, the likelihood of a major shake up between Scotland and England, which ever way the outcome falls, is inevitable. With the vote likely to be knife- edged what ever way it goes, 50% of the Scottish people will be dissatisfied and plainly ready for more confrontation.
The main argument was always that Scotland would be better governed by Scots, putting  Scotland's interests at the forefront of their actions.
In terms of the way we have become used to our Establishment running our country at the behest of a class oriented, elitist hierarchy , often at odds with the needs of the bulk of the population, the English are beguiled by a political system that has so few of them at their heart.
Scotland on being granted a Parliament separate from Westminster discovered that the intrigue which is at the heart of English politics (nobles oblige) and runs deep through our governance, was at odds for the people of Scotland much as it is for the majority in England. Its just that we have not yet figured a way of releasing ourselves from the bondage which is our history.   

http://twocents2012.blogspot.com.au/          

The why and the wherefore.

One of the distinct and most disturbing features of the ISIS phenomenon is that it is not unique and has many offshoots around the area of the Middle East spreading down into Africa.
A common denominator is that it flies under the Jihadist wing of extreme Muslim orthodoxy and attracts the young from many disparate, disadvantaged communities who feel dis-empowered and unable to carry any weight within their own society.
Historically its been a claim, of any working class section in any society and could have made down through the ages but it is  brought into focus these days by the ease of enhanced communication.
The internet binds people in many ways and one of the claims made against the internet is that individuals doesn't communicate any more with the person closest to them but instead, with people who share opinions, (often diametrically at odds with people in ones own close group, including family), opinions which dissemble the unity which rubbing shoulders with one-another brings. 
The issue I feel, which has alienated many people, young and old is the effect that 'globalisation' has had on all of us.
Its potential to bi-pass 'national economies' to the detriment of those in the local economy. 
Its potential to discriminate against the local work force, fielding out employment to low cost societies in other parts of the world, removing the jobs and the opportunities within the local economy, effecting the youth who see a life long cul de sac ahead of them and therefore become desperate.
The cement which binds some of these people, other than their financial plight is the religious argument.  The major global player, America, is, seen by many Muslims to have interfered in conflicts specific to Muslim countries therefore the harm done is shared amongst all Muslims.
The marginalised, alienated youth rise to the call of Jihad and we should be very concerned as these extreme movement spreads through corrupt, ill ruled, elitist societies that are so prevalent in Africa.
With such an extensive base they could reek havoc on everyone.           

http://twocents2012.blogspot.com.au/

Jabberwocky

Having travelled to Wales this week its as close as I have been to the "circus" that travels with the mighty who rule us.
On each bridge crossing the highway are armed police, on the roads vehicles are pulled over and searched we are in shut down mode all because the so called democratically elected leaders of the Western World need to come together to have talks about the future of that other part of the world that they don't represent. The cost and the need to go to such ends to protect these people is yet evidence of the crazy situation where our representatives have to be segregated from the people they represent.
There was a time, when I was young when one Bobby (policeman) would stand on Downing Street whilst people like my Dad and I would walk up to the front door of the Prime Ministers residence and pose for photos. Today its gates, no go zones and flack jackets on our policemen.
The security and accommodation, the disruption of peoples lives, the loss of income as the goons take over and all in the name of yet another conference to talk of many things - of shoes - and ships - and sealing wax of cabbages and kings ! Jabberwocky seems a fitting phrase.

And all this as we see the ridiculous scenario of the UK police issuing an arrest warrant to a couple who had "legally" removed their child who was suffering from a brain tumour from a British Hospital who could not offer the treatment he needed and  there was no hospital in the UK who could afford the Proton Beam equipment. Apparently Prague in the Czech Republic can afford to have the equipment and so the family travelled to Europe to make the treatment available to their son.
We had the unedifying scene of the parents being separated from the very sick boy and thrown in a Spanish jail on a warrant issued by the Hampshire Constabulary.
How crass how stupefyingly banal of the authorities in this country, both medical and the police to try to justify their actions with "there is no evidence that he would benefit from the treatment" to "we were acting in accordance with medical advice".   Not a scintilla of rational common sense amongst any of the authorities in which we are supposed to have respect.  
But and here is the crux of the matter, how many Proton Beam Machines, (which we say we can't afford) could we install for the cost of one Jabberwocky. Lewis Carroll wrote the poem as a nonsense verse but we seem to have inherited it lock stock and barrel into the every day world of politics.       

Autumn is just around the corner and another phase of the year is about to begin.
Autumn is the start of that part of the year least appreciated signalling long dark days and cold weather but as with all matters effecting change there is the pleasure of reflecting on the change its self and the effect it has on much we take for granted.
Lucky are we who have a house and a heating system to blunt the cold weather, a roof to secure ourselves from the rain, a solid enough door to prevent access from those wishing to do harm.
If as we peer out from the security of our home we lend a thought to the seasonal change going on around us, to the preparation for winter of the animals storing food and making their nests habitable and able to withstand anything winter can throw at them to the birds who vacate these shores for warmer lands. The plants who hunker down to out last the frost and prepare for the birth of Spring the fish who adapt themselves by slowing down their metabolism to cope with a water environment that will freeze over.
Mankind has placed himself above and beyond these concerns, one season is much like another, work is non stop and the need to get out modified by a heated motor car and thermal boots. To us the seasons are more symbolic, Summer for holidays, Winter for traditional festivals and a coming together as the weather draws us closer to the hearth and home and instinctively to family. 
But there is a change in our temperament we instinctively fear the onset of Winter, not for the damage it can do to us individually but for the weight it brings on life around us. We sense the struggle our genetic coding reminds us of our past and of days when we would also suffer the harsh Northern Winter when the ice cap enclosed us and we knew real hardship.
Today we have other worries as the ice cap shrinks and climate alters the options open for the seasons to carry on as before.
Perhaps we are not as secure as we would wish and "mother nature" has a lesson or two to teach us and shake our confidence in our invincibility.    

http://twocents2012.blogspot.com.au/          

Where does your loyalty lie.

As we are fed a diet of information on all aspects of a society, one often hears the attempt by the Establishment to brush real issues aside in the concern that the so called homogeneity they struggle to establish, is based on shifting sand.
As individuals, we are not a group but a separate identity . We chose to join what ever seems interesting, what ever catches our eye. We evaluate our choice, over time, with perhaps an eye to becoming more   involved in the future.
The only situation where this is not the case is when we concern ourselves with religious matters.
Religion is taught from a very early age and the seeds of its message and the ramifications of rejection make a big impact on the developing mind.
In the latest thrust from the intellectual, moderate, side of British Muslim Society there has been a shift of emphasis, from a reticent "unknowing", to a more aggressive "you have brought this on your own head" dialogue. 
The argument put forward is that the young "Jihadists" are the result of British/American Foreign Policy towards Muslim countries and that it is natural for those of their faith to wish to respond to the evils done to the Muslim people anywhere on the globe.
There you have it in a nutshell.
The National convent is trumped by a religious belief and whilst we tie ourselves in knots regarding citizenship and the European Conventions which we are signed for but count for nothing when the religious ties are in contention. The term "brotherhood" binds people, irrespective of the birth right.
To the Parliamentarians and Legislators who are faced with a religious layer of on top of any Monarchy/ Presidential hierarchy, and have to deal with people who have little allegiance to "earth bound" concepts of democracy or representation through the ballot box. Who now face a more geographically divergent people ruled by rules laid down in the Quran.
Lay your hand on one Muslim believer and you lay your hand on all those who follow the Prophet.
It is this frightening prospect with the exponential growth of people choosing an affirmation revealed through faith to the dissembling prospect of any sort of collective humanitarianism in a world governed by American hegemony  based on, winner takes all !!!