The News In Shorts

How the news would look if everyone stopped waffling and told the truth.

Friday 8 December 2017

Whose Foreign Policy Is Driving The White House?

Within a year Donald Trump has managed to place the United States in jeopardy in the Far East where war with North Korea is fast becoming a near certainty, he has insulted most of America's allies in Europe and now, with the announcement that he recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, he has set the Middle East alight. None of this is in the United States interests since it reduces its reputation, its influence and divides its attention and resources at a crucial time in world history. So why would Trump be so stupid? Is it simply because he is stupid or is there something more sinister at work? His foreign policy is criminal in its ineptitude and, as Cicero once pointed out, when a crime is committed the first question that should be asked is "Cui bono?" - who benefits? The answer to this is blindingly simple - Russia. Driving a wedge between the US and NATO, embroiling the US in a conflict in the Far East and reducing its influence in the Middle East is a Russian wet dream and is frighteningly close to being realised. Even more frightening is how it is being realised since it is all based on the idiocy of one man - Donald Trump. Trump maybe a simpleton but his campaign to take the White House was well organised by someone and it is doubtful if the idiots that surround him could have been responsible. The evidence is beginning to suggest quite forcibly that Trump conspired with Russia to place him in the Oval Office and that Trump is nothing more or less than a Russian agent. For Trump patriotism doesn't even come into it. He is a businessman (and a shady one at that) and selling out his country was simply a business deal that was too good an opportunity to miss. With the hot and eager help of the corrupt Republican Party he's even managed to reduce the tax due on his foreign earnings. A contemporary of Cicero, Jugurtha the King of Numidia, described Rome as "a city up for sale, if only she can find a buyer." It would seem that Trump and the Republican Party found their buyer in the Kremlin.

Wednesday 29 November 2017

The Bill Is In!

Britain, confident in its glorious future as a trading super power, has told the EU that it is willing to pay £57 billion in order to leave the EU. Of course that means that the £135 million per week for the NHS will have to wait a bit (8 years) as we pay this off but it is small price to pay to get a really good trading deal. Like the one we've already got for instance. Rich people, like those who make up the majority of the Tory party, needn't worry though since it is those who are not rich who will be paying the taxes needed to meet the divorce bill. In the meantime the rich can break out the champagne since they will dodge the EU Anti-Tax Evasion Directive that comes into force in 2019 (Phew, that was a close call!) Jeremy Hunt was quick to get behind the deal as he revisited the idea of clawing back money from NHS workers for weekend work. Meanwhile, having successfully redacted much of the information in the government's own dismal assessment of Britain's economic future after leaving the EU, David Davis has reiterated that Parliament will have a "meaningful" say on the final Brexit settlement inasmuch as they can either accept it or take the blame for not getting any kind of deal. (Phew, yet another bullet dodged by the Tory party). There can be no doubt, however, that this deal is a triumph for the Tory party. Reports tonight suggest that streets across the nation have filled with deliriously happy Brexiteers all celebrating making themselves less well off by several thousand pounds per year. "We've got control of our borders at last" one breathless celebrant told our reporter. "And we've got a Royal wedding to look forward to in May". Asked about Meghan Markle our interviewee replied, "She's got a bloody good sun tan and Americans are not really foreigners are they?" Only the vexed question of the border between Northern Ireland and Eire now stands in the way of Britain's glorious future but the Tories are confident of finding a fudge that will fool everyone long enough to carry out Brexit before the truth catches up with them.

Saturday 18 November 2017

Why The Tories Betrayed The UK.

For those who are wondering why the Tories are so set on leaving the EU and why they wanted the leave date enshrined in law the following should be an eye opener. In 2019, just as Britain should be leaving the EU if the Tories have their way, a new Directive from the EU will come into force. This Directive is intended to end tax dodging by the rich and greedy. Let that sink in. The rich and greedy in the EU will no longer be able to dodge their tax liabilities across the whole of Europe just as the rich and greedy in the UK have arranged to take us out of the EU. Now this might be just a strange coincidence but, given that Theresa May's husband is a professional tax dodger as is most of the Tory party, this might be a little hard to swallow. The truth is that the Tory party has sold this country down the river to maximise their own profiteering at the expense of everyone else. Nothing illustrates better the Tory party's role as the political arm of organised crime than Brexit.

Saturday 9 September 2017

How Neoliberlism Drove Our Leaders Insane.

Hurricane Irma is a fitting symbol for the end of neoliberalism as an economic "theory". Neoliberalism forced the greedy and selfishness to deny the reality of global warming since it threatened to undermine the profits to be made from the profligate use of fossil fuels. Global warning, they insisted, was either a liberal conspiracy or a Chinese conspiracy depending on which "enemy" they had in their sights at the moment. With the reality of global warming now bearing down on the United in the form of hurricane Irma and another one following close behind those Republicans who still embrace neoliberalism may soon have to deny aid to their own citizens once again. Twenty State Representatives and both Texas State Senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, have all voted against a $50.5 billion dollar relief package for victims of 2012’s Superstorm Sandy when it came before them in January 2013 despite the damage to their own state. Will they now vote against an even bigger relief package in the wake of hurricane Irma? Neoliberal "theory" says they must since greed and selfishness are more important than decency, humanity or even common sense. Much the same can be seen in the Brexit debacle unfolding in Britain. The chance to deny human and workers rights in the UK is far too important to the political arm of organised crime known as the Tory party. Nothing is more important than their "right" to grab whatever money they can in order to stuff their tax free overseas bank accounts. Not even the economic future of the country must be allowed to stand in the way of this goal. How else can they privatise the NHS and flog it off to American health care companies without undue interference from Brussels? In both the US and in the UK the vehicle that is being used to sell this insanity to the voting public is nationalism and its handmaiden, patriotism. With neoliberalism exposed as the fraud it always was this is the only way to hang onto its idiotic precepts long enough to squeeze out the last drop of profit. As Ben Johnson once observed, patriotism truly is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Saturday 2 September 2017

Brexit Comes Home To Roost.

We've had the lies - money for the NHS, taking back control of our borders, the sunny uplands of economic freedom - but now the reality of Brexit is finally arriving. The money for the NHS was the first thing the swivel-eyed Brexit nutters dropped. Then came the weasel words about the need for "controlled" immigration. Lately we've had various government ministers, including Theresa May, being rebuffed by America, China, India and Japan as these countries point out that the UK doesn't actually produce anything they either need or want. So what was the point of Brexit? First and foremost it gave David Cameron the opportunity to placate those Tory backbenchers who threatened his job. Second, it provided a platform for the nationalist knuckle-draggers who hate all foreigners as a matter of principle and allowed them to vent their pent up hatreds. Third it allowed those little Englanders who watch endless documentaries about how the plucky Brits defeated Hitler to thump their favourite tub. So much for the Tory party but what about the rest of the 52% who voted for economic oblivion? The vast majority probably voted for this idiocy because the "Daily Mail" told them to. Which is pretty funny since it is owned by a man, Rupert Murdoch, who hates the UK with a passion. Many voted for it because they thought in some perverse way that it was a blow to "the establishment". Unfortunately "the establishment" (mainly the Tory party again) merely saw it as an opportunity to be as stupid, greedy and selfish as they always wanted to be. They are already lining up to tell us how wonderful it will be when they take our human and working rights off us. Still, those who voted for Brexit can always fly off to the Costas to drown their sorrows in cheap lager and insult the locals for not allowing us to have our cake and eat it. Except that the £ has sunk so low against the Euro that the Costas are becoming rather expensive and the locals don't give a damn about the UK's Brexit delusions. Brexit is a mess, manufactured by the Tories for their own narrow political interests - an ideologically-led insanity that makes about as much sense as that other favourite myth of the Tory party, trickle down economics. The only good Brexit, it is now abundantly clear, is a dead Brexit.

Sunday 20 August 2017

What Is Trump?

It is becoming increasingly difficult to understand what Trump actually is. He is clearly not really the President of the United States since he spends most of his time on the golf course and only appears on a regular basis on Twitter during the early hours of the morning. He is not a Republican as such since he seems so determined to bring the party into disrepute and make sure that it will not be elected into either Congress or the office of the Presidency for the foreseeable future. Nor is he an American since every utterance he makes is totally at odds with what the USA is supposed to be all about. He does have a soft spot for white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the KKK while harbouring nothing but contempt for the Constitution. All in all he seems to be nothing more than a confused and rather unintelligent grumpy old man. Yet this is strangely unsurprising since that sums up what America itself has become. Betrayed by the insanity of neoliberal voodoo economics, frightened by America's faltering grip as the world's only superpower and no longer able to discern what is real and what is not in the so-called "Information Age", many older Americans now find themselves poorer, baffled by their country's inability to control world events and bewildered by modern communications technology. For them Trump was a lightening rod, a mouthpiece for all their fears and prejudices - the last great white hope. Unfortunately he is just like them and has no more idea on how to run a country than they do. They wanted a John Wayne but all they got was a Marion Morrison. Trump is not a politician, still less a President and certainly not the leader of the Free World (whatever that was). He is a bundle of incoherent prejudices and half-baked ideas without any concept of what the consequences of his open-mouthed approach to America's problems might be. He is nothing more than a living, breathing neurosis on legs. He is what America has become.

Friday 21 July 2017

The Manchurian Candidate.

The links between the Trump election campaign, members of Trump's family and the Russians have continued to grow, prompting speculation that Trump himself may have been involved in a plot to influence the election in November 2016. So far, by telling lies, drip feeding his admissions of guilt, calling all such reports "fake news" and with the help of a supine House of Congress, Trump has managed to dodge impeachment. Despite this impeachment remains a distinct possibility if Congress and the people who voted for this fake President finally wake up and smell the coffee. The latest revelations about Trump's secret meeting with Vladimir Putin with only a Russian interpreter in attendance has raised eyebrows but not as much as his decision to remove all support for the moderate rebels fighting against Assad in Syria. This is nothing more or less than handing over the future of Syria to the Russians, infuriating two of the USA's closest allies - Turkey and Saudi Arabia - in the process. The secret meeting between Putin and Trump now looks for all the world as if Trump is a Russian intelligence asset with Putin acting as his KGB handler. The CIA are now openly calling Trump "The Manchurian Candidate" while the other 16 intelligence agencies in the USA are telling the American people that Russia is now in charge of US foreign policy. If so this would be a breathtaking intelligence coup for the Russians and Putin, a former head of the KGB, in particular. But surely Putin, with his experience, wouldn't be so daft as to demonstrate to the world that Trump is his lapdog? He might, if he thought that burning this asset was worth it. Such a high profile asset could not be expected to last long before being found out and rubbing America's nose in it might just be his end game. After all what would the result be? The American public could never be sure again that their political elite had not been fatally suborned because of their business interests which are all too often linked to Russian oligarchs. Putin would show that he is the master of intelligence while the Americans, hampered by their tortuous legal systems, could never hope to match his ability to act without restraint. The USA has been crowing for years about the defeat of Communism. How ironic if they were now defeated by a tinpot dictatorship shorn of its former might with Putin playing what appears to be a weak hand with all the consummate skills gained as the former head of the KGB.

Wednesday 19 July 2017

More People To Die Before Retirement.

The organised crime syndicate known as the Tory party has dropped yet another bombshell today in their bid to return us all to the 1840's and reward themselves with yet another juicy tax cut. Those of us unfortunate enough to be born during the 1970's or later will not now receive a state pension until they are aged 68. It is no coincidence that this measure has been taken in the same week that it was announced that ordinary people's life expectancy has ceased to increase. Austerity has delivered one of the glittering prizes for the Tory party - more people will die before they can claim their state pension saving £74 billion that can then be grabbed by the already rich, greedy and selfish and stuffed into their tax-free offshore bank accounts. Many of our children and grandchildren, burdened by the debt of an education, unaffordable mortgages or rent and crippling health insurance, will never be able to retire but will be worked to death in order to fund this windfall for the Tories and those criminal elements who bankroll them. The younger generation will not only be worse off than those now at retirement age, they will be worse off than their ancestors dead for 100 years. The Tories are succeeding in their bid to roll back the welfare state and replace it with the dog-eat-dog dystopia that existed before World War II. They are stealing our children's and grandchildren's future in order to strengthen and extend their cult of greed. They can be stopped however. All we have to do is stop voting for them and start voting for hope instead of despair.

Why There Should Be A Second Referendum.

There can be little doubt now that the Brexit campaign was one based on lies and propaganda. Remember the £135 million a week for the NHS? Remember the scare story that Turkey was about to join the EU? Remember "taking control of our borders"? Remember "the world will beat a path to our door eager for trade"? All these have now been abandoned by the leaders of the Brexit campaign since they are demonstrably untrue. All they are left with is "taking back control over our own laws" and wresting the legislative process from the "faceless bureaucrats from Brussels". Even these statements are demonstrably untrue since we always had control over our own laws while in Parliament 90% of all laws introduced are purely domestic and have nothing to do with Europe. As for the "faceless bureaucrats" has no one heard of MEPs - you know the people we vote for to represent our views in Brussels? Winning the Brexit campaign on such a basis was nothing more or less than a confidence trick perpetrated on the British public by a bunch of swivel-eyed nutters in UKIP and the Tory Party with propaganda supplied by newspapers who think nothing of hacking a murdered girl's phone. The result was simply illegitimate. But now we can see the edge of the cliff that this country is heading towards while we are all driven a breakneck speed towards it by the likes of Boris Johnson and David Davis. The only question is why the Tory party in particular is now so eager to embrace economic disaster? At the very centre of their thinking is the glittering prize of ending the influence of the European Court on Human Rights. Without their "interference" workers rights can be swept away, pay can be kept at poverty levels, collective bargaining can be dispensed with and, most important of all, the NHS can be flogged off at bargain-basement prices to the Tories party's rich mates in the American Health Industry. That is what Brexit is all about for the organised crime syndicate known as the Tory party in the UK. It's time for a second referendum now we know the truth.

Thursday 4 May 2017

Theresa May Appeals To The Morons.

After spending the first week of the general election campaign avoiding any mention of a policy and avoiding meeting real people Theresa May has finally come up with a cliché that her spin doctors think might find some traction. After voicing their opinion that Theresa May is a complete idiot with no idea as to what she is doing she has come back with an utterly brainless accusation that the EU is trying to spoil her election chances. This, she believes, will cause the British public to swing behind her as a latter day Boudicca and unite in the face of the real enemy - Johnny Foreigner. Given the utter vacuous stupidity of the British electorate she might well have a point. The social media is already replete with references to World War II, Winston Churchill, Waterloo and all the other historical nonsense trotted out by brain dead Brexiteers. As the bad news that Brexit represents piles up and the exit policy of the Tories continues to be non-existent May feels she has no choice but to wrap herself in the flag to rally her moronic troops before the truth flushes them down that creek where paddles are in short supply. We must all hope that Britain can find a market for its "Boy's Own History of Why Britain Is Really Great" to supplement its only other exports - arms for nasty dictators to kill their own people with and criminal banking services. For this alternative to a policy of any sort Theresa May is banking that the British people will be willing to see their NHS flogged off at bargain-basement prices to American healthcare companies, see more of their fellow citizens cast out into the streets, see even more of the disabled left destitute and see their children's and grand-children's future destroyed. Well for all you Brexiteers out there who think that a Tory government is a price worth paying and will actually vote for this murderous band of crooks, conmen and outright criminals, don't forget to wash your hands afterwards.

Tuesday 2 May 2017

The Great Brexit Alibi.

Brexit was won on the back of outright lies. There will be no end to immigration. There will be no extra money for the NHS. There are no lucrative trade deals being made with the rest of the world outside the EU. The Tories have no strategy for negotiating Britain's way out of the EU. There is no unity in the country. So, Theresa May must ask herself, how the hell can the Tory party survive the economic disaster that is about to engulf us all? While the PM's husband is poised to make millions out of his post-Brexit investments it is not difficult to understand why Theresa May's support for the Remain campaign was so lacklustre or why she was so eager to embrace leaving the EU as fast as possible. The Tory spin doctors came to her rescue with such soundbites as "Brexit means Brexit" and "the will of the people". How then to survive the looming disaster of the "negotiations" that seem to consist entirely of unreasonable demands and the threat to shoot Britain through its collective head if May doesn't get what she wants? First call a general election - you know the one she said she wouldn't call - and get an "overwhelming mandate" for her negotiating position. This will strengthen her hand she insists. This rather begs the question as to why the EU would give a damn about her "mandate", overwhelming or otherwise. The British electorate, it must be pointed out, don't vote in German or French elections and, consequently, German and French politicians simply don't care what they think. Not to worry though for, while the Tories pretend to have an exit strategy and the Daily Mail speaks of the EU negotiation strategy as a "plot" by dastardly foreigners, the fix is already in. When Theresa May walks away from the negotiations with a hatful of nothing she will address the nation from the steps of No.10 and explain patiently that she was merely carrying out "the will of the people". Now do you get it? "You" (or at least the less than 40% of the electorate who voted for this idiocy) are to blame. The Tory party which led us out of the EU and up this dark blind alley will not be to blame. It's all your fault.