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What you want to say – 23rd November 2016 November 23, 2016

Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.
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As always, following on Dr. X’s suggestion, it’s all yours, “announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose”, feel free.

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1. sonofstan - November 23, 2016

Well now, aren’t we cute?

“He speaks at breakneck speed, in rich Irish sing-song”

Guardian interview with composer Gerald Barry. ‘

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Michael Carley - November 23, 2016

From the same stable:

Simms is an Irish citizen of mixed Irish and German family. His approach to the Brexit question combines Celtic mischief with Teutonic rigour.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/nov/13/what-will-brexit-mean-for-british-universities

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Gewerkschaftler - November 23, 2016

Superb. Straight out of the dodgy journalistic local colour algorithmic writing plugin for Libre Office called “Padding Partner”.

I use it all the time.

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Bartholomew - November 24, 2016

With a quintessentially British readiness to resort to national and ethnic stereotypes, The Guardian investigates….

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Michael Carley - November 29, 2016

And another one:

Michael Keegan-Dolan has deep choreographic roots in the Irish Midlands – a world where ancient stories are ingrained in mist, bog and stone but where the politics and stridency of modern Ireland beget their own wild dramas.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/nov/28/swan-lakeloch-na-heala-five-star-review-sadlers-wells

The Third Policeman:

My surroundings had a strangeness of a peculiar kind, entirely
separate from the mere strangeness of a country where one had never been before. Everything seemed almost too pleasant, too perfect, too finely made. Each thing the eye could see was unmistakeable and unambiguous, incapable of merging with any other thing or being confused with it. The colour of the bogs was beautiful and the greenness of the green fields supernal.

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Ed - November 29, 2016

Stupid Brits, thinking you can ingrain something in mist. No wonder their manufacturing base has gone down the pan

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Gewerkschaftler - November 29, 2016

LOL (as we should say in these parts).

I’d forgotten how cutting O’Nolan could be about such nonsense.

Of course it could be that the Tourist Board slip the journos a few grimy notes to print that kind of guff.

Was he really in Germany just after the Nazis took over? BO’N I mean. WTF was he up to? Does anyone know?

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Bartholomew - November 29, 2016

Maybe he’s thinking of this: Henry Piers, A Chorographical Description of the County of Westmeath in 1682:

http://www.johnsbookshop.com/products/a-chorographical-description-of-the-county-of-westmeath-in-1682/

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2. Joe - November 23, 2016

In my estimation, https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com does a good job of dealing with subject matter of this type. While often deliberately polemic, the material posted is generally well researched and challenging.

I think you should add Mr Applebaum’s tribute to your cv, WBS.

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3. Gerryboy - November 23, 2016

If the Parti Socialiste wants to beat Francois Fillon in the French presidential election, I think it should drop Francois Hollande, who looked silly on that scooter a few years ago, and choose a different candidate.

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Liberius - November 23, 2016

There’s a fair change of that, the most recent polling from Ipsos (from September) implies that Arnaud Montbourg has a fair chance of beating both Hollande and Valls (50/50 with Hollande and 51/49 against Valls), though this has to come with the serious caveat that open primaries are very volatile depending on who can be bothered to vote as attested to with Fillion’s rise in the LR primary a few days ago.

Here’s the Ipsos PDF, the relevant pages are 51-55.

Click to access Rapport_Ipsos_SopraSteria_EEF2017_Vague6_sept_2016.pdf

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4. Gewerkschaftler - November 23, 2016

Welcome to the Antrumpocene!

I’m trying not to amplify the despair at the next US administration but the removal of NASA from climate change observation and modelling is a disaster for our knowledge and action regarding this slow-moving catastrophe in human history.

As far as I know the NASA-derived data sets are vital and their models are among the best we have.

This loss of a vital global intellectual commons is being marketed as
benefiting deep space exploration. No comment.

I guess the Max Plank Institute or some pan-European collaboration needs to try to pick up the baton.

BTW this year was the hottest on record despite the sun being dimmer than it has been in 50 years.

But hey – no data, no problem!

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Gewerkschaftler - November 23, 2016
5. crocodileshoes - November 23, 2016

Anyone know anything about ‘Arthur Boland, Dublin 2’, who has had two long letters in the IT recently, criticising public service wage claims while professing to be a public servant himself? The contents are pure Stephen Collins/ Eddie Hobbs ( ‘lucky to have a job, gold- plated pension etc’) and about as typical of public servants as the anti- ASTI teacher Fintan O’Mahony, also afforded a lavish platform by the paper of record.

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6. sonofstan - November 24, 2016

Good to see that Zappone is proceeding with this and respect also to. averil Power for her persistence in getting and keeping the issue on the agenda:

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/more-than-50-000-adoptees-to-get-right-to-birth-certificates-1.2879812

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7. CMK - November 24, 2016

An interesting piece on the web summit and its adventures in Lisbon having dumped Dublin.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/11/the-warped-world-of-web-summit/508442/?single_page=true

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8. sonofstan - November 24, 2016

Great last line, you have to admit; from guardian article on the current state of the far right in the UK:

“Finally, the League of Saint George – “small, relatively inactive and irrelevant” in the view of Hope Not Hate – does little but publish and distribute fascist books. Its current list includes such titles as Hitler’s Olympics – The Facts, We Marched With Mosley and the unforgettable That Bastard Churchill.”

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9. yourcousin - November 24, 2016

I’ve plugged Sean’s Russia Blog here before but this week his podcast is on Russian labor. Well worth an hour of someone’s time.

http://seansrussiablog.org/2016/11/21/russian-labor-class-and-conflict/

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10. Aonrud ⚘ - November 25, 2016

RTÉ has a report on a Eurobarometer poll on gender based violence, which has some alarming stats in it.

In particular, the cases where people think sex without consent is acceptable: 9% of people think it’s acceptable in cases of “voluntarily going home with someone” and “wearing revealing, provocative, or sexy clothing” respectively. 9% is not small.

Looking at the report PDF (http://www.rte.ie/documents/news/gendervbasedviolence-ireland.pdf), there are some odd breakdowns as well. I don’t know what to make of a higher proportion of women (11%) than men (7%) finding the ‘provocative clothing’ case acceptable. Anyone better versed in stats might tell me is there a wide MOE there, or is that significant?

The age range breakdown of people who agree that domestic violence is unacceptable puts the strongest cohort at 40-54, and slightly weaker in younger groups.

Anyway, it makes it clear there’s still an awful lot of work to be done in this area.

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11. sonofstan - November 25, 2016
12. Phil F - November 26, 2016

Some interesting debate on why a section of US workers voted for trump and the issue of whether workers in the imperialist centres benefit at all from imperialist super-profits:

Stuck in the groove – a reply to Russell Grinker

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13. Phil F - November 26, 2016

Plus an interesting interview with John Smith, whose book on imperialism in the 21st century should be must reading for anti-capitalists: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/interview-with-john-smith-author-of-imperialism-in-the-twenty-first-century/

And with Tony Norfield on the financial system and his book about it: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2016/02/29/interview-with-tony-norfield-on-finance-and-the-imperialist-world-system-today/

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14. sonofstan - November 26, 2016

Castro has died.

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Michael Carley - November 26, 2016

And Radio 4 is the usual disgrace. They could not deal with Livingstone talking about American imperialism.

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WorldbyStorm - November 26, 2016

I’ve put a thread up. Isn’t that telling MC? Castro didn’t exist in a vacuum. The phenomena he represented and expressed didn’t persist for this length of time without many many different factors.

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15. CL - November 28, 2016

“The truth about the impact of Brexit is that it is uncertain, beyond the ability of any human being to forecast and almost entirely dependent on how the process will be managed. “Don’t know” is the technically correct answer….
The gatekeepers of western capitalism, like the Bourbons before them, have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.-Munchau
https://www.ft.com/content/05c98c0e-b251-11e6-a37c-f4a01f1b0fa1

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Gewerkschaftler - November 28, 2016

Disagree. The uncertainty itself is empirically already having an impact. That will only increase.

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16. Gewerkschaftler - November 28, 2016

I’m calling the French Presidential election runoff in May as a victory for La Pen.

The right has chosen a neo-liberal throwback to oppose her, and in consequence:

a) This has opened plenty of space to his left for classic fascist social protection – only for the ethnically ‘pure’ of course – against the further exposure to the brutality and systematic violence of the market that Fillon is proposing. The Front National is smart enough to re-calibrate.

b) Significant parts of the left leaning vote will stay at home rather than vote for a Thatcherite in the runoff.

That neither the French right or the liberal press (I’m looking at you Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung etc. etc.) understand this moment is a big part of our problem in fighting the growth of 21st Century fascisms.

I hope to be proved wrong, because I don’t relish the prospect of living between two nation states (Poland and France) moving rapidly the direction of fascism.

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CL - November 28, 2016

“The leader of the far-right National Front is preparing to tilt further to the left and appeal to disenchanted working-class voters in her pitch for the Élysée, exploiting popular anger towards the elites and the breakdown of old party loyalties.

Ms Le Pen has puzzled FN hardliners by developing an economic programme that embraces elements of socialism and statism…

about 45 per cent of blue-collar workers and 38 per cent of unemployed people or youngsters seeking their first job say they plan to vote for Ms Le Pen in the presidential elections,..

the FN’s shift poses a serious threat to Mr Hollande’s Socialists..

polls suggest Mr Fillon would be able to defeat the FN leader thanks to support from mainstream voters from the left as well as the right.”
https://www.ft.com/content/adddaea8-b53e-11e6-961e-a1acd97f622d

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Gewerkschaftler - November 29, 2016

I’m not convinced that the FT ‘gets it’ any more than more liberal papers do.

I should have added:

c) FN voters will be a great deal more motivated to come out an vote than Fillon voters will.

The ‘Socialists’ are screwed any which way.

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17. sonofstan - November 28, 2016

Post -truth:

from the Guardian

‘The exit from the EU could have devastating consequences on the economy of Wales, where the vast majority voted for Brexit.’

vast majority of 52.5%

It’s becoming a ‘fact’ that every majority is vast and decisive, even when it’s not, you know, actually even a majority, as with Trump.

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18. Joe - November 29, 2016

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