Friday 7 October 2016

Eating each other

I began by thinking that the social hysteria and general political turmoil was a uniquely British thing, but - as with the 1968 revolt - it seems to be a worldwide phenomena.

Of the three national referenda that have taken place in the last few weeks, the people seem to have made the wrong decision, or at least not the one that had been confidently predicted by the politicians who offered them the choice.

Not only that, but the margins were almost identical to our Brexit one in  both of the others. The other thing they have in common with ours is that there seems to be no strategic follow-up plans for the vote to go any other way than incorrectly predicted.

The probable reason for this is that the results going any other way was an inconceivable outcome, the ramifications of which were impossible to write down concisely for the electorate to consider without spending all their spare time reading it for a year during the run-up, and possibly gaining a university degree in economics or social history at the same time.

I don't pretend to understand the situation in Colombia, but I would have guessed that given the choice between continuing to be bombed and shot at as they have been for decades, and accepting the surrender of arms by FARC in return for legal indemnity along the lines of Peace and Reconciliation, they would have chosen the latter, but they didn't.

I am not making any judgement about this - I am not qualified to do so - but I find it hard to understand why 86% of the residents of Sunderland would vote to leave the E.U. knowing that by doing so, Nissan would shelve plans for the expansion of the car plant there which employs so many people who have so many dependent families, and possibly even move the plant elsewhere to a more confident and economically predictable climate - if there is going to be anywhere like that in Europe in the future now that Britain has pushed over the first domino.

The only explanation I can come up with is that they didn't, because they were not given enough information and the vote brutally boiled down to a simple 'Yes' or 'No'.

The IT companies in the North East are very confident about their future, because they are very light on their feet. All they need is an office and a computer - unlike heavy industry. This is going to sound very class-oriented and socially stereotypical, but can you imagine pulling a miner out of a mile-deep hole and teaching him how to write computer code in a small office?

There is only one predictable outcome that I can see in Brexit, and that is - for good or bad - a whole section of society is going to fall by the wayside. It only takes a handful of people to operate Fracking machinery.

Footnote: Theresa May seems to be the only one to have learned a lesson from all of this, and the lesson is: 'Don't give the people a choice'.

After the several years that the Conservatives had pledged to embark on a program of devolution in giving more power to local government, the day before yesterday she overturned a local council's decision to ban Fracking in their area and gave a licence to a foreign company to begin as soon as they are ready. It's all gas.

21 comments:

  1. Just as the cursor reappears on my blog, the images disappear. Oh well, we can't have it all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The advent of robots in industry will also have a huge effect on traditional metal bashing employment. Learn a manual trade.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Robotic car construction has been around for many years now. A good plant makes one car every 15 minutes - from scratch.

      Delete
  3. What were our conundrums before Brexit and Trump?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The ones which produced the fertile ground in which they were spawned.

      Delete
  4. Only about a month to go now before our elections. No one really knows now just which voters will turn up at their polling places.

    There will be another presidential debate this weekend, done in a "town meeting" format, whatever that might turn out to be.

    Best wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. In areas where people left school at 15 or 16 and went straight out to work and not many went to university, and still don't, they voted Leave in a big way. They like the idea of independence for Britain and dislike globalisation and would like Britain to be as it was before the EU. Look at the North East and the East Midlands and Wales. Cameron and Osborne told what sounded like lies and rubbish and total insults to add to the feeling of wanting to leave and so you got the big Leave vote. It is simple and if you give people a Referendum this is the sort of thing that happens.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ironically, the U.S. business globalisation lobby are trying to ride off the back of the Brexit vote. Did you know there is a move to legally allow U.S. businesses to influence British trade decisions?

      Delete
  6. Brexit has scared me in regard to our election. You'll have to read my post a few posts back about fracking. Our state went from two earthquakes a year to more than a thousand a year because of the disposal of the poison water they inject back into the earth. We now area ahead of California in quakes. It is worse in areas with older structures that haven't been built for quakes. Hope your cities and towns will be able to outlaw it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As the pound drops against the dollar, we get increased tourists. If the Roman Baths dried up though fracking, why bother to come to Bath?

      Delete
  7. And now the Columbian head honcho has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize despite the ceasefire falling through, and the go ahead has been given to fracking in the UK, despite the very real dangers of earthquakes. I have an interest in earthquakes, (don't ask!) and I follow them on the US government's site, Oklahoma has daily quakes, and quite frankly, I think Mother Nature is quite capable of providing them without our help.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trump ws also a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. This is true...

      Delete
  8. Whatever happens we will be better off than the people of Syria, Haiti and Bangladesh. All is relative.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that does put it all into perspective. I live in a place where I am constantly stopping myself from complaining that I don't have enough space in the kitchen, but - for heaven's sake - I do at least have a kitchen and people around who are family. And we eat, which is a big bonus.

      Delete
  9. But, from your last reply, even if we were all willing to give up all the material and personal liberties we have, would it make a difference to the Syrians and others who are looking to us for protection?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They aren't even looking to God for protection these days.

      Delete
  10. And let's face it. What would happen if we could be given the option to going back, living in basic conditions, but the rest of the world could too? Oh, no fellow citizens, would we give up our basic facilities (electricity. phone lines enough food and drink, the internet. a decent medical service.) Would we be prepared to give up all that, if we could even out the resources and opportunities to make people all over the world the same? How much personal pleasure and comfort. would you give up to make even one other human's life better. think carefully before you answer this

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nobody is asked to give up food to help the starving. That's not the way it works.

      Delete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete