False Democracy Left Consciousness Shopping

Do we want to shop or to be free? We'd better choose fast | Neal Lawson | Comment is free | The Guardian

Self-righteous left-wing ideologue condemns shopping.

People want stuff because they just want it; because it makes their life more convenient, more pleasant, more comfortable. And maybe they want stuff to boast about status. Who gives a fuck?

If this is such an affront to the puritan Righteous of the Left then why has New Labour assiduously pursued Thatcherite policies over the last 12 years, encouraging people to get into debt in order to spend beyond their means? Why has New Labour basically turned politics into a form of shopping, pretending to offer the electorate a variety of 'choices' in this and that?

Most people are the same. That's because, as human beings, our differences (individuality) are greatly outnumbered by our similarities with regard to needs and desires. The left-wing concept of 'false consciousness' or 'bad faith' is operating here, and it is itself false. The best expression of the relationship between rulers and the ruled can be found in Machiavelli:

The people are more honest in their intentions than the nobles [politicians/ruling classes] are, because the latter want to oppress the people, whereas they [the people] want only not to be oppressed.

People just want to be free - not particularly for anything but just to be able to do what they want, or not do anything at all. This is an affront to the sanctimonious totalitarian impulses of the Righteous.

If I can afford it and I want to shop then I'll shop. If not, I won't. What I won't put up with is authoritarian liars presenting me with false dichotomies and false choices to cover up their own mendacity and to bully me into accepting their totalitarian policies.

Labour Continue Dismantling of Parliament and UK

Government defeat on committees. Another piece of the EU jigsaw New Labour are desperate to slot in place without anyone realising it, this time the regionalisation of the UK, with the eventual destruction of county and district councils. MPs were not given time to debate this; they were simply told to vote.

Regional Grand Committees. More on them here.

Education and Speeling The New Labout Way

Education, education, education...New Labour continues its relentless drive to eradicate education from schools as well as from the titles of its own ministries:

- Schools advised to abandon the 'i' before 'e' rule; the Department for Children, Families and Schools issues a 123-page document, Support For Spelling.

- Out of the nursery, into the rat race: the growth of private tutoring under New Labour. Labour is good for something then - private enterprise.

- Balls grabs more powers for himself in a new 'Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning' bill. That's his way of 'devolving responsibility locally'.

And Gordon Brown in the Guardian supplement:

And he really believes that the age we're living in is a progressive one. He cites a bit of evidence for this: for the first time, he says, teaching is the most popular occupation for people leaving university. "It's a great profession. I could move to teaching ... " He beams, as if to say, You see! There's always something else I can do!

Not a good idea.

DNA Crap Labour Database Deceit Hang Them From Lampposts

The great DNA database fudge c/o Big Brother Britain & Civil Liberties: lies, prevarications, deceit, bloody-mindedness, authoritarianism, arrogance - all the things you'd expect from the current UK government.

And the funny thing about this colossal database? It doesn't work. It's usefulness has been falling the bigger it's got: The Register.

That sums up everything about the New Labour government.

Racist New Labour

They're always keen to label everybody else racist, but nobody's racism is as vindictive or lethal as new Labour's own. We've had the fiasco with the Gurkhas and we've still got the disgraceful treatment of Iraqi interpreters left to their fate after working for the British military.

Face Punch Innovation Spawn Labour Slime

Bra Boss Withdraws Support For labour: Labour are now officially a bunch of sagging tits

A punch in the face for Darzi, Labour's Apparatchik In Chief For Fucking The NHS, who has declared we need to improve efficiency within the service by more 'innovation'. No, we fucking don't. We don't need 'innovation' in anything; we need common sense and honesty. Further efficiencies could be secured by abolishing all quangos and associated semi-governmental cash drains, including Darzi himself. The Curmudgeon delivers his response.

A punch in the face and a kick in the knackers for Gordon Brown, Prime Mentalist, Spawn of the Manse, Bottler in Chief - everyone else is calling for signatures on the online petition, so why shouldn't I? - sign the petition for the twat to resign.

A punch in the face for the Labour Party: another defection (followed by bilious reactions), at Labourhhome. The party ceased to be Labour in any form once Blair, Brown, Mandelson and the others got hold of it after John Smith died. Those in the party who think it can be rescued and returned to its roots are deluded. It's a sack of poison, a piece of earth scorched and ploughed with salt. It's like some creature from a horror movie - everything it touches turns to filth and slime.

Are the others any better? Unfortunately not a lot. British politics is run by a rancid bunch of professional politicos who're told what to do by another bunch of rancid politicos in the EU. So a punch in the face for the lot of them as well.

And another punch in the face for the Spawn, as his panic measure to defuse the MPs' expenses row blows up in his his flabby face.

And a punch in the face for Mandelson, just because I feel like it.

New Labour is More than just a Pain in the Arse

This morning I received a letter from my dentist telling me my next appointment in October (made months ago after my last check-up) has now been cancelled and moved to May 2009. A six month extra wait will make it a year between check-ups. When I spoke to the receptionist she said it was down to the fact that two of their dentists had left and they had been unable to find replacements.

This cancelling and postponing of appointments has become more frequent over the last four or five years. As has the change in dentists. Twenty years ago, when I moved to Lincoln, I had no problem in registering with a dentist and seeing him or her every six months. Ten years ago I had no problems registering with a new practice after my previous dentist upped sticks and vanished. In the last five years, the situation has deteriorated.

The government would have us believe that they are improving NHS dental services, especially since they introduced new contracts back in 2006. In Lincolnshire things have got worse, because it's big and rural - travel is expensive and public transport almost non-existent. When the new contracts came in dentists left the system in droves. I seem to recall that the then minister in charge (possibly Rosie Winterton - another characterless non-entity from the political classes) claiming it would all be a success, despite the fact that something like 10% of dentists had quit the NHS.

Looking at the newly-released figures from the NHS itself, it appears that despite the fact that 'the number of dentists has increased in every SHA between 2006/07 and 2007/08' and 'that in England, the population per dentist has decreased between 2006/07 and 2007/08 decreasing from 2,518 to 2,439', it is now becoming almost impossible to register with an NHS dentist. Even when you are registered, your troubles still aren't over - you may end up waiting a whole year for an appointment.

It's no wonder that millions of people - adults and children - are not going to a dentist at all. Again, the government's own figures show this decline: 10 million fewer adults saw a dentist in the 24 months up to March 2008 than in the two years leading up to March 2007; and 198,000 fewer children for the same periods. Mind you, the NHS managed to increase its revenue from those patients by £56 million. Pay more, get less is New Labour's strategy.

The system isn't working properly and it's falling apart.