Covid Thoughts

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.

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.

"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)

Passenger Announcement :

You are a special person, whose existence is of value to us.

Your interests make you unique.

You can imagine the impossible.

You know what's fair.

You are perceptive.

You are judgemental.

You know your own status.

You are deluded.

Now please get back in line with the other

7, 716, 499, 084 special people.

Thank you. ☺❤

Reblog if you believe they/them ARE valid pronouns

Like if you believe they/them are NOT valid pronouns

This is an experiment

The Return of the Flu – Swiss Policy Research

Swiss Policy Research

The Return of the Flu

The flu has returned to some countries with high rates of natural immunity against SARS-CoV-2. In contrast, countries with high vaccination

Now we start to see the Covid pandemic and the response in context. A population wide death rate of 0.15% regardless of what measures different countries took.

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.

“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