Passenger Announcement :

Folk say I look like James Dean or Steve McQueen. I see a 49 year old from Glasgow with hair and no fat staring back from the mirror.

If I was a character from Greek myth it would be Kassandra.

I've been head-butted by a flying fish.

I think this thread is getting older as it cycles so refuse to tag.

if you get this, answer with 3 random facts about yourself and send it to the last 7 blogs in your notifications, anonymously or not. let’s get to know the person behind the blog. (you don’t have to if you don’t want to, of course). hope you’re ok :)

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:O yeah!!!

1. i carry a kazoo with me everywhere i go

2. i speak arabic

3. my special interest is politics (i have adhd lmao) so please dm/ask me questions

@sailor-sisi @sokka-simp @eijiro-anon @error-loading-sorry @1-800-teddybear @reality-is-often-disappointing @ukais12thkid @annoyinglyseveredefendor @danny-likes-peas

"Young people make up a smaller proportion of the electorate than in 2016"~so by living Saunders is responsible for the aging population now. I can think of a few other septugenarians I would want to see euthenized before we got to Berne,( just to maintain a healthy demographic of course)

Reform the House of Lords Now.

A perennial subject that comes up every now and again but never seems to be resolved. Call it a venerable institution, or the most expensive daycare centre for the elderly on the planet, it's time has passed and we know it. But what do you replace it with? Some politicians cal for an assembly elected by proportional representation and this at least would inject some democracy. However it would be dominated by the same political parties as in the Commons, so would draw from the same pool of individuals that now fight for selection as MP candidates. Parliament would see this as an unnecessary distraction, and the public as just another vote on how well the govornment is doing. So what's tinpig's plan I hear you ask: A grand jury. 500 random members of the electorate, selected by a lottery, expected to serve for a five year term. Unlike a court jury, it would be voluntary and any selected individual could leave at anytime. To put themselves forward for this body only requires that the individual is on the electoral register, votes at elections, and is able to attend parliament on a regular basis. The pay would be exactly the same as an MP's. The benefits are that it would be the most effective way of making it truly representative, free from party political bias and narrow elitism. The assembly's responsibilities would be the same as those of the current House of Lords i.e. oversight of the govornment, tabling ammendments to bills with the one statuary role to decide how much the salary of MP's, ministers and other parliament officials. It would remain as subordinate to the Commons, except in the case of going to war, where a 2/3 majority could overule the govornment. But wait I hear you cry "It would be half full of idiots". That hasn't stopped the The House of Commons passing laws with a resonable level of legitamcy. The advantage is that on any issue the assembly will likely have members with more specialist knowlege than either the Lords or Commons now posseses. And it would be their responsibility to convince the less informed members in debates. Today we see the Commons as a body run by a political elite, divoced from the lives of everyday people. Let the electorate give back some legitamcy to the "Mother of Parliaments" and show the world that an assembly of informed citizens can help shape the destiny of a country. As the Westminster parliament is about to have £6bn spent on them, we have a truly historic opportunity to try out this form of representation. Suspend the Lords for 10 years. if it doesn't work we can always recall the piers, and in the interim old age should cull their numbers to a more acceptable number. Let's borrow the best of Athenian democracy and reinvent it for a modern age. Citizens we are smarter, better informed and much better looking than our "wise forefathers" so what is there to loose?

Bernie sounds like a decent trustworthy guy but sorry if Bloomberg can send me a computer program that performs oral sex then he'd get my vote. Failing that bold electoral pledge, he's welcome to suck my dick to achieve the same outcome.

BERNIE 2020!

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Scotland Northern Ireland Union

I consider a new country based on the two British nations of Scotland and Northern Ireland would be the ideal solution to the inevitable dissolution to the United Kingdom.

If we accept that most European states are largely based on the Late Roman/Early Medieval ethnic groups and the territory they lived in. Despite all the feudal struggle and later ethnic cleansing, these modern democracies reflect genetic groups.

Here in Scotland genetic mapping shows that southern Scotland and Northern Ireland are the same group. More closely related than they are to northern Scotland and southern ireland. If we accept that Scotland is made up of Gaels,Picts, Northumbrians, and Britons ( and the genetics proves it does); then the modern state should reflect that ethnically there is a core group that lives in southern Scotland/northern Ireland with periphery groups in the rest of Scotland. The sectarian decide that has divided both areas is irrelevant. Religion and Surname are poorer indicators of ethnicity than geography and language.

That said they are important. Sense of collective identity is inextricably tied to belief. We tacitly accept the 17th century idea of the one true Protestant Monarch, ordained by God, as the supreme authority to which all other govornment institutions are legitimised. But in a secular Britain, this hierarchy is difficult to maintain, especially when it is seen to monopolise wealth and privilege.

Or to follow the 18th century ideal of a united republican Ireland. A geo-political concept, denying history and ethnicity.

I believe a new union that accepts it's ethnic basis, overlayed with recent migration and geography is the best solution to the "constitutional crisis" that is looming in the UK.

It will force England to accept that it is basically one homogenous ethnic group plus Wales and the South-West. And has been since long before the Norman Conquest.

However any such idea as this would need enthusiastic support from both sides in Northern Ireland and all of Scotland. It would also need the agreement of the UK and Ireland govornments. Going forward I believe it is not only politically expedient but also the fairest long term devising of these isles. It would be compliant with the Good Friday Agreement and force the new Scotland to administer cross border trade with a post brexit UK. I'm sure a Scottish govornment would accept EU oversight of the border as a condition of applying for membership.

“By the middle of the 14th century, feudalism in Europe was losing steam. Population had stopped rising, food costs were higher and famines became more frequent, as was exemplified by the Great Famine of 1315–17. Feudal Europe’s long period of expansion had apparently come to an end, which explains why the impact of the Black Death was so severe; the plague’s effects were conditioned by this socioeconomic environment. What is more, it was only through the Mongolian unification of the Eurasian landmass, and the increasing intersocietal interactions that this facilitated, that allowed the plague to spread to Europe in the first place.”

— Alexander Anievas and Kerem Nişancıoğlu, How the West Came to Rule: The Geopolitical Origins of Capitalism

This is the true measure by which we should judge the utterances of our politicians.

Timothée Parrique, Giorgos Kallis - Degrowth: Socialism without Growth

Even socialists must shake off the idea that quantity can improve, when only quality counts.

Use values do not grow at a compound rate. Fundamental human needs like subsistence, protection, freedom, or identity can all be understood as thresholds of sufficiency: enough food to be healthy, enough living space to be happy, enough means of mobility to feel free, etc. The story of endless consumption to match endless needs is a capitalist discourse, created precisely to legitimate accumulation for the elite. And this is the central argument of degrowth: standards of living can improve without growth by redistributing and sharing wealth, doing away with artificial desires and the superfluous goods and appropriation of our time destined to the making of profit, and by shifting from valuing material goods to valuing relations. There is already enough for everyone to have a decent share – if the pie cannot grow, then it is time to share it more evenly.

Brexit Charade.

At last the absurd Brexit negotiations are over. It's taken 4 1/2 years of posturing from the British government but now the European Union has called it's bluff and We will be leaving in December.

I think we are now viewing the last hurrah for Gladstone's gunboat diplomacy. No longer can Britain negotiate trade access with its financial might backed up by the RN. The vague hope that individual European nations would have broken ranks and agreed to Britain's demands were just that. Faced with an existential crisis the EU27 collectively agreed a fair treaty with the UK .

So why does a bunch of trust-fund benefiting toffs refuse to sign? Because their idea of fair is different to ours. They have turned Britain into a conduit for the world's wealth. Through The City of London into offshore tax-havens like Bermuda and Jersey. They see this as fair, so when the EU called for taxation on financial transactions and more disclosure of assets for its citizens, David Cameron and Co. decided that wasn't fair. And so one referendum and two elections latter they still think it is unfair. And they are fully justified. The British public have consistently voted for these people so they must be right? I think the British media, run by like minded individuals, is mostly to blame. Along with many people's lack of curiosity. The British media has avoided any discussion regarding fairness in taxation that other countries regard as normal. We cleave to fudal laws when it comes to property and inheritance tax that these people see as fair because they have learnt how to avoid them. The media have portrayed the EU as inflexible and are the bad guys , whereas it's the UK government that are willing to break international law, first through Diago Garcia and now through the Internal Markets Bill. We are saddled with a ruling class that's sense of moral rightness is shown to be entitled hubris by the EU.

I just want to see how the BBC plays this one out for Prole consumption.

Reblog if you believe they/them ARE valid pronouns

Like if you believe they/them are NOT valid pronouns

This is an experiment

Covid Thoughts

So far the Covid pandemic has played out according to the models for respiratory virus disease. We are now seeing an increase of the infection rate above 1. The govornment wwwill invoke further quarantine measures with increasingly limited effect. But is this right?

Personally I don't think so. On the scale of deadly virus epidemics, the COR-SARS 2 virus is not that deadly. The average age of covid deaths in the UK is 82.6. In Scotland this is over the average life expectancy for both men and women. This is why the published death rate looks so high for Italy (11.5%) and the UK (9.2%) whose populations have a large old and frail cohort in which the virus was spreading through in January and February within the hospital system by the staff and by GP's in the communty,(mainly nursing homes).The models showed that (simmilar to SARS), hospitals would qickly not be able to take the increased number of patients with so many staff already infected. The govornment had to stop the exponential growth th allow hospitals to deal with the current infections, so imposed a national lock down. Adherence to the lock down by the populace was high and within days the r number dropped before 1. At this point I think the govornment should have relaxed quarantine quicker. Doing enough tests to have a reliable sample of the population meant the r number should have been monitored and allowed to stay around 1. By almost stopping infection over the summer the govornment has stored up greater infections over the winter compounded with all the other winter bugs. NHS hospitals have been quieter than usual over the summer but will now have more than usual until the epidemic has played out. Nicola Sturgeon said that "we must flatten out the curve". Correct but was it right to try and get rid of the hill completely?

I think Covid is the first example of the fourth stage of the above pictured population model. The UK's life expectancy has stalled since 2012 but the numbers of older people has continued to rise. This has created a pool of susceptible individuals who won't make it through the next serious infection. As an epidemic kills off that pool of people, the life expectancy rate drops. Then as time goes by the population fills up the older groups again leaving hills and valleys in the overall graph. No population in nature can remain stable for ever. Humans arn't exempt from nature.

I understand my assessment is rather sanguine and there is deaths and lingering conditions amongst younger people but there is always outliers in any virus and Covid is overwhelmingly fatal for the elderly. Any one individuals risk of dying in the next few months has not been increased that much but for some of the oldest that small change is enough. I think this pandemic has shown that if you give people accurate information they will collectively act to curtail the infection but the govornment hasn't been able to eradicate the virus because collectively we know it's not dangerous enough to sustain a lock down. And wreck the economy. It just isn't fair. Folk have to die of something and this year's trend is Covid.e

I think that at least when an existential crisis does come, some people's coping strategies may seem peculiar ( like purchasing large quantities of toilet toll), but collectively people' act sensibly. Because the next pandemic will be simmilar but could be much more dangerous like Measles.