RETURN TO P.P.E.

I have been struggling with coming to terms with Mr Trump’s forthcoming presidency of the United States. The news reports about his choices for members of his cabinet do not in any way alleviate one’s fears. Indeed there is even greater concern that his less than even amateur approach to constitutional government will cause greater conflict and lead to policies even more detrimental to civilisation than his election already has. The rule of law has been replaced by a ‘concept’ of governance. He seeks to immunise criminality on a colossal scale by deploying cruel and vicious sycophants throughout his administration. The fact that his republican party acolytes are in the majority in congress gives him the freedom to run roughshod over the constitution unless those senators and representatives remember their sworn oath to uphold the checks and balances of the constitution. Their devotion to Trump seems to override their actual oath of allegiance to the United States of America.   It seems clear therefore that the current leadership of the country is without character, ethics, integrity or indeed any civilised philosophy whatsoever. The rule of the gangster and the mob is all.

 

As well as the above mentioned cogitations, I have been contemplating the mater of a degree in PPE at the Open University. According to Wikipedia, a Politics, Philosophy and Economics degree was first offered by the University of Oxford in 1920 as an interdisciplinary degree combining study of the three disciplines. In theory one would assume such an endeavour would provide one with a very strong platform from which to put oneself forward as a public servant. A thorough grounding in the activities of government and members of law-making bodies who can influence the way a country is governed, and the way in which it is governed, would seem to be a prerequisite for any elected or appointed representative.  As a compliment to this, knowledge of the various types of economy and how different approaches to commerce, industry and public services can affect the nation would also seem of some significance to maintaining a country’s ability to function. To cap it off, some grip of logical and ethical thinking might be appropriate if one is going to present oneself to the public as someone who understands humanity or at least has developed some knowledge of what can be called the human condition. Does one know anything? How can one know what is right or wrong? What is freedom? What is the best form of government for my particular country?  What are human rights? What’s it all about?

 

There are institutions around the world that recognise the necessity for combined study of these subjects with a view to improving the quality of its government and, as a result the better wellbeing of its society. The École Normale Supérieur in Paris is an instance in point.

 

“The school is very small in student numbers. Its core of students…are selected via competitive exam…Two hundred are…recruited every year…and receive a. monthly salary…and in exchange sign a ten year contract to work for the state…”

 

This clause is not necessarily applied although a number of alums go on to occupy elite positions within government, administration, and corporate forms in France. Good, bad or indifferent as the case may be, these are people with some dedication to public service who have undertaken a very specific course of study to understand what their function, as hired civil servants or elected officials, ought to be.

 

In the United States there are a number of universities who offer a form of PPE although some merely call it Political Economy or Ethics, History and Public Policy. At Yale it is Ethics, Politics and Economics. Some only offer the course as a postgraduate degree.. Whatever its designation it seems to have had little effect in the United States. 

 

What we now have in place in America is the populist amateur insanity. He has already indicated he wishes to rule by executive order and will seek to pass legislation allowing him to make appointments bypassing legislative scrutiny and consent. This is exactly what Hitler did within two months of taking office with the Enabling Act of 1933 or Ermächtigungsgesetz, officially titled Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich (Law to Remedy the distress of People and State).  If that parallel is not a warning of things to come, I don’t know what is.

 

But I digress yet again. I spoke of a return to university education.  At this late stage, and with some worry about my immediate short term memory, it is perhaps a frivolous expense, and I can hardly see myself seeking public office in Lambeth at whatever level. I would be hovering towards 90 at graduation, assuming I even make it to putting on the Mortar Board. So perhaps a more autodidactic approach would be best. My inspiration would be Abraham Lincoln, the man Mr Trump likes so much to compare his alleged achievements.

 

Unfortunately I do not read as much as Lincoln did, but then in the early 19^th Century in Illinois and Indiana there were no smart phones or Netflix or 100 TV channels to choose from, quite apart from movie theatres. There was little displacement activity to distract Lincoln from books, apart from his father hiding them or throwing them away.  This went on from Lincoln’s birth in 1809 to 1831 when Lincoln left the parental home. Twenty nine years later he was elected President of the United States. He was first elected to office in the Illinois House of Representatives where he served four terms from 1834 to 1842 during which time he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1836. He was elected to US House of Representatives as representative of Illinois’s 7^th district in 1847 until 1849. He was elected President in 1860. So he was not without some political education as well as commercial and legal experience in between civic duties, all the while continuously educating himself in all manner of ways. He was only 56 when he died. He achieved extraordinary things even though he, himself, claimed to be slow to catch on to concepts and ideas. Would that we were all so slow.

 

So, in looking at the Yale University list of core requirement for the study of Ethics, Politics and Economics, we have, inter alia:

Tradition and Modernity

Persuasion and Discontents

Recent Work on Justice

Normative Ethics

The Problem of Evil

Propaganda, Ideology and Democracy

Strategic Models of Politics

America from Scratch

Digital War

The European Union

Politics of the Environment

Debating Globalisation

Topics in Cooperative Game Theory

Platforms and Cultural Production

 

This is only a sample of what’s on offer.

 

As to the PPE course at the LSE, the 1^st year required courses are listed as:

PH103 – The Big Question: An introduction to Philosophy (Dr Paola Romero)

GV101- Introduction to Political Science (Dr Ryan Jablonski)

EC1A3 – Microeconomics I (Prof Ronny Razin)

EC1B3 – Macroeconomics (Dr Antonio Mele)

LSE100 – The LSE Course – flagship interdisciplinary course for all undergraduate students, designed to bring you into the heart of LSE tradition of engaging with big questions.

 

There are also options in the first year:

ST107 Quantitative Methods (Statistics), MA107 Quantitative Methods (Mathematics), MA108 Methods in calculus and linear algebra, MA100 Mathematical Methods.

 

In the circumstances, as much as I would love to get to grips with ‘America from Scratch’ and the ‘Problem of Evil’ at Yale, I thought I might get in touch with Doctors Romero, Jablonski and Mele, as well as Professor Razin, explain my situation and ask them for their reading lists and titles of essay assignments. I could then post the essays on the blog for comment.

 

Would anyone else living in London care to join in? We could meet up once a fortnight or month, or even week, for an hour or two, to discuss our progress. It could be a fun exercise and might keep the brain cells ticking over.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ADAM SMITH'S CONCERNED PERSON

I went into Guys Hospital on Tuesday the 5^th November 2024 at about 7:50 AM London UK time. After various administrative sessions and chat with a wonderful Attending Clinician Miss Pareeta Patel, the team did their stuff and I woke up in the recovery room and was wheeled into Aston Key Ward at around midday. I was to be kept overnight, just in case, and was administered antibiotics and hooked up to a drip feed of some clear liquid for eight hours through the night.

 

The following morning Wednesday 6^th November 2024 I got hold of the mobile and gleefully logged into the BBC online to see the United States election results. To my surprise, consternation and despair I saw a substantial lead for Donald Trump. It was deeply depressing and I could not bear to look at it anymore, nor could I bring myself to listen to or read any further reporting on the matter.   A brief glance at the numbers voting was even more disturbing.

Clearly a great many people had not bothered to vote, and it was reported that over 50% of women who had bothered to vote, voted for Mr Trump. If that is right, then the United States has definitely entered into a new dark age. The level of ignorance has reached catastrophic proportions.

 

I asked myself how any American women, who must surely be aware that independent juries, chosen in part by Mr Trump himself, found him guilty of sexual assault and possible rape as well as libel and ordered him to pay millions of dollars in compensation (which, as far as I know, he has yet to do), and convicted him of felonies trying to hide a sexual peccadillo, could bring herself to vote for Donald Trump as President of the United States.

 

That aside, I questioned how it was that so many allegedly college educated citizens could do the same. What is being taught in American Universities? The number of such institutions rated in the top 100 world university rankings is 33. Seven of the top ten are in the United States, including Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Cal Tech, UC at Berkeley and Yale. The University of Chicago is at number 13 on the list. The University of Pennsylvania is number 16, followed by Columbia at 17 and UCLA at 18. What are students coming away with? Are they completely incapable of rational thought? Are they completely unable to discern fact from fiction, lies from a semblance of truth? Do they have no concept whatsoever of mendacity? Are they just as devoid of character as Mr Trump? Is psychotic narcissism the new icon?  I ask again, what is being taught at American Universities?

 

Clearly very little of value. As a result we have entered into a new dark age and we will all suffer for it. So far as the UK is concerned, the Editor of the Telegraph Allister Heath heads his editorial with “Trump’s triumph is a disaster for Starmer and the self-regarding, virtue signalling elites – This resounding triumph is total repudiation of the Left’s brand of politics – and cataclysmic for Labour.” What else can one expect from the Telegraph. Nigel Farage has offered to help the Government as intermediary with Donald Trump. Can you believe that?

 

In other papers, notably the Guardian, one finds “Today is a day of despair for America. We are plunged into an anticipatory grief”, “People around the world are appalled by Trump win. But women have been gripped by a visceral horror”, “The shocking US election result will create a new world order – and launch a fresh wave of Trump wannabes”, “Why Donald Trump’s return is a disaster for Europe”, “Trump’s win is so much worse this time. Americans knew what they were voting for”, did they really? Clearly I am not alone in this despair.

This cartoon from The Times:

 

What can one expect now that gangster and fraudsters will now occupy the white house? The United States has lost any character it might have had. It started with the complete betrayal of constitutional rule of law, by granting the President of the United States immunity from prosecution. An outrageous action that has now made him invulnerable. This crass stupidity is completely contrary to the intentions of the founding fathers of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States.  

 

Now of course begins the posturing and behind the door’s meetings in every Capital around the globe on how to deal with Trump. As reported Farage has offered the UK Government help. The UK Government is rewording the various comments some of its Ministers have previously made about Mr Trump, including the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary. Putin and his mob will or course be delighted and will be ramping up the flattery and probably will be annexing the Ukraine any time soon. Netanyahu will possibly be a fly in the ointment as he will feel able to go crazy with his aggression. After all he has the ear of Mr Trump.

 

So much is uncertain. The counting houses are weighing up his tariff proposals and general economic manoeuvrings. The general American public, and mostly the lower income poorly educated he so loves, will probably suffer the most before they realise what they have done. As to the rich, they will love it. According to some investment merchants “Trump’s policies can be summarised as lower taxes, higher tariffs, and more domestic energy production with potentially less support for the energy transition.” There won’t be much help for the MAGA crowd despite what they think.

 

What is apparent from all this stuff is that despite Mr Trump’s previous advisors, both military and civilian as well as some members of his cabinet and executive team working with him in his first term as President, clearly stating that he was not fit to be President again, they have been ignored. Why? Was no one listening? I say again, his own people think him unfit to hold the office. Why is that ignored? 

 

In addition, he reiterated Ronald Reagan’s question, at a late stage, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” A difficult question given the difficulties around the world with increases in prices and the general need to fund climate disasters across a number of southern states. So of course a lot of people feel let down because of increases in general living expenses for food and energy. Nonetheless the economic situation in the United States was improving and showing more growth potential than any other country around the world. Being insular, Americans failed to take that in.

 

But, regardless of all that, what is glaringly apparent is Mr Trump’s total lack of character and his infantile psychotic narcissism, as well as his offensive divisive language, sexist, deviant and blatantly criminal behaviour. None of that seems to matter one jot. One can only draw the conclusion that the American public have lost all sense of civility or ethics. They no longer have any regard for integrity and have lost any sense of social consciousness. Let the gangsters’ rule and to hell with the rule of law so long as it makes me feel I am better off that I was four years ago. It has become a completely selfish society. Americans are as arrogant and narcicistic as their leader. Make Me First is what it’s all about. What other conclusion can one draw.

 

With that in mind, what difference education? Fuck the rest as long as I’m all right and don’t really have to think about much. Keep the foreigners out, just get rid of them. Why should my taxes be used to look after those losers?

 

Looking at the figures, some 20 million plus people did not vote. Excuses given are numerous. The Democratic Candidate was a woman, black, shaky on Gaza, flaky on immigration, too much aligned to social consciousness and we can’t vote for Trump either. What difference does it make anyway? 

 

Americans care nothing about character.

 

I post here another comment from Bob in California. Make of it what you will.

Well Ed,

 Looks like “the People” have spoken!

Trump and the right have so corrupted the way “the People” get their news that most voters remain uninformed as to the true state of affairs and are as likely to be influenced by the false statements proliferated on the right, the Russian firehose of propaganda poured upon us, and “X”, run by a South African born into an apartheid society, all who spread lies and false stories about the Democratic candidate.

So, the strategy was to kill the bipartisan immigration bill in Congress and voted against by more than 140 Republicans, who had previously supported it, but opposed by Trump, so that he could run on “immigration”.

The next step was to scare people about immigrants as he did in 2016, and smear Harris, calling her every name he could think of such as fascist, socialist, communist and calling her dumb and low IQ.  The two things that seem to work in politics are scare and smear, and that was his message, over and over. This was all accomplished in a fact-free environment, as they attacked the “main stream media” as being untrustworthy and dishonest. It would appear that many folks just turned off and did no fact-finding whatsoever.

But the Democrats helped out here as they discarded Biden and went for a “Black Woman”.  It would seem that the lessons of the past were not learned, when Trump defeated a white woman, but four years later lost to a white man. Many demographic groups really didn’t want a (black) woman as President, such as Hispanic men and Black men. Although this was not universal in these groups, the numbers were high enough to swing the election. Democrats though they could beat this by turnout on election day, which ignores this bias entirely. Instead of seeing the problem with a large racist portion of the population, they went for it, instead of choosing someone like the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who could actually have a chance of winning He has been relentlessly attacked by the right since he Governor of California in an effort to negate him as a candidate for President.

Additionally, the timid US Attorney General did nothing about the Jan 6^th riot at the Capital for several years, destroying any chance to conclude the prosecutions of Trump before the election. Apparently, he felt threatened by the Trump followers, who continued to threaten government officials and employees. The Jan 6^th Congressional Committee dropped all the necessary evidence into the Attorney General’s lap several years before the appointment of the Special Prosecutor, Jack Smith. Nothing happened! Truly tragic.

So, the United States of America will be led by a twice impeached, felon, who is a sexual predator and proven fraudster in New York. He apparently has an IQ in the 70’s, has trouble learning and incorporating new facts into his “thinking”, lies constantly, and admires dictators. What could possibly go wrong??

A NOTE FROM CALIFORNIA

It is very nice to get comment in response to the blog. In effect it's the only indication that anyone is bothering to read it even though the statistics of page views suggests that people are looking at it. Looking at, reading and responding are quite different matters.  Herewith below is a comment from Bob in California in response to blog. Thank you Bob and a thank you to all who bother to read.

"

Well…

 

In 2017, Trump’s racist appeal to the far right came early in his tenure as President, when he characterized the Nazi, torch carrying racists in Charlottesville, VA, who killed an innocent woman protesting against them. He said that “there are fine people on both sides”.  More than a hint, this set him apart from other politicians and their “dog whistles”.  The far right knew from that moment that he was their champion. Since then, they have been proselytizing conservative Christians and hard right conservatives.

 

When confronted by Biden’s comments regarding what he said about the events in Charlottesville, ["With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it.”] Trump was quoted as saying: “If you look at what I said, you will see that that question was answered perfectly. And I was talking about people that went because they felt very strongly about the monument to Robert E. Lee, a great general. Whether you like it or not, he was one of the great generals." A truly meandering comment by the prince of word salad.

 

Trump’s father marched with the KKK in New York in 1927 and was arrested twice. Both Trump and his father were charged with racial discrimination by the US Justice Department in 1973,  There’s little doubt as to who Trump is.

 

He’s been hammering on “illegal immigrants” destroying the country, but he asked his Republican members in Congress to vote against their bipartisan immigration legislation in February of this year, so he could use it as an issue in his election campaign. He’s been blaming Harris for the influx of immigrants.

 

It has always been clear that there are a lot of racists in the US, and that anti-Jewish sentiment was fostered by many, who kept their beliefs hidden. Unfortunately, Trump, with his history of racism, became the lightning rod for these people to come out in the open. So, it matters not what the candidates say, the Trump voters know who they’re going to vote for regardless of his numerous faults. When will they ever get another chance like this one to elect a racist to the Presidency in a society of immigrants?

 

So, the electoral college favors Republicans, which permits the minority party to continue to elect presidents, who would never be elected, if elections were decided by the popular vote. George W Bush and Trump would have never been President if the election were based on the popular vote. So, don’t expect Republicans to favor the abolition of the electoral college,

 

So, tighten your chin straps, this is going to be a rough ride!! "

 

There is also no doubt that a number of other countries’ journalists and commentators are stepping up in their views of the American election. I somehow feel they may have left it a bit late in the day, but it is clear in the light of the apparent closeness of the polls, that it is a matter of urgency that Mr Trump is defeated and relegated to obscurity. Several columnists in the Guardian have expressed strong views and have made suggestions to Prime Minister Keir Starmer that his adopting a neutral stance will make not the slightest difference, given that he might be dealing with Trump if elected. Trump has no regard for the UK or the European Union, or NATO or anywhere else for that matter. His adulation of Putin and other would be Caesars leave one with no illusions as to the insanity to come should Mr Trump once again step into the White House.  Mind you, the insanity that may come should he lose the election is equally worrying although it will hopefully be short lived and confined to the United States alone. As Bob says ‘tighten your chin straps’ (A nice reference to All About Eve- tee hee)

SPACIALITY MATTERS

There is a very interesting analysis of world affairs, in particular relating to Europe, by Misha Glenny, entitled Continental Divides, on BBC Radio 4, which can be found at:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m0023dqb

 

What it seems to reenforce is the notion that speciality matters. There is a lecture given by Professor Netta Cohen (https://videolectures.net/videos/sscs06_cohen_us) entitled Understanding Spaciality from 25^th February 2007, which deals with Spacialty in the brain and which in effect provides a theory or outline of what appears to be going on. It is a means of getting to grips with the notion of Complexity and understanding the features of complex systems. In referring to the system in the brain, she posits that “A single protein can change the macroscopic state of the system; a single perturbation can cause some gene expression which then causes some cascade which completely changes your system”

 

What causes me to bring these two lectures together is the notion that spaciality is of significant importance in trying to understand just what is going on politically. Currently there does indeed appear to be a move towards the right of the political spectrum. Much of this has to do with that single perturbation which can be labelled migration.

 

Throughout history there have been large movements of immigration from a variety of significant disturbances in one area, causing people to move to what they believe is a healthier, wealthier and more secure area in which to live. It would seem that in the current state of the world significant numbers of people from eastern Europe, the middle east, the far east, Africa, and the America’s south of the Rio Grande, are trying to find some form of safety, peace and equilibrium in their disturbed lives. They are therefore moving in substantial numbers towards western European countries and the United States. They do so very often at great risk to their own lives; and, given the nature of western European democracies at the present time, it has become very difficult for these countries to accommodate the numbers.

 

In what might have been a more fluid period of migration, refugees were accepted into societies and were, over time and with the assistance of the indigenous population, assimilated into the population, and acclimatised to the prevailing culture. There was space for them to blend in. Initially they gathered in sections of cities, towns and villages that were predominantly occupied by people who were of their own background. They gradually disbursed and amalgamated into the general population and became part of the system.

 

As the various countries grew and developed the system began to change and develop. More people were drawn from rural area to the wealthier urban cities, around which grew substantial suburbs. There grew up a liminal space between the city centres and rural spaces, that green belt surrounding the city. The system thus created a wealthier urban class, able to afford the higher demand and price for accommodation. The less affluent could only afford spaces in the suburbs surrounding the centre, and the even less affluent and poor lived in the space that was left between the rural and urban, that threshold, which now comprised housing estates, and council accommodation for those less able to afford more central urban properties. This liminal space between the urban, suburban and rural area is where the problems arise. More crowded and dense, more dependent on the state yet somehow far less influential. It is in these areas that those on the right of the political spectrum have gained momentum, gathering up the support of people who believe they have been left out and neglected despite the efforts of the state to offer them support. A strange dichotomy.

 

It is to these outlying areas that migrants are steered, creating threshold communities at the lower end of the economy, attempting to assimilate with a local lower economic society. Such an increased density of population, rather than bringing about closer relationships, in effect brought about division and resentment. The city of Paris and its greater area outside the peripheriques is a clear example of this. Other cities in western Europe have the same problem.

 

This influx of immigrants into these areas is rather like that single perturbation causing that cascade disturbing the system. Some resentment is felt by those living within those liminal spaces, and those on the periphery, towards this seeming invasion, and this is exacerbated by the rhetoric of right wing politicians. This is what is disturbing the equilibrium.  In the United States there has never been such violent verbal abuse towards migrants as has emanated from the likes of Trump and his acolytes. The intensity has not stopped since he lost the 2020 election. It has been relentlessly and recklessly promoted by him and adopted as a major concern causing serious division. Oddly, similar vilification has emerged in the United Kingdom from the likes of Braverman, Patel and other first generation British immigrants.

 

As a result of all this, the right has swept up the attention of the population on this threshold, and seems to be blagging its way to power. They offer no solution other than deportation, which even if successful will not change the economic circumstances in any way of the people whose support they have garnered. That is the strategy and the tragedy of the current political climate. This fantasy solution offered by people who are no better than snake oil sales persons. They offer nothing in exchange and never will.

 

It is unfortunate that this type of disturbance of the system, rather than leading to more civility and democratisation will only lead to rigidity and repression. The current violence around the present world is already evidence of that change, particularly in Ukraine and the Middle East, with leaders, and would be leaders, of Governments who put themselves above the well-being of its people. When the world needs so much more coming together, the separatists of the right are pushing division. My thinking may be complete nonsense and I would love some comment.

 

At the risk of appearing hypocritical, Trump et all, should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. An ancient American custom for dealing with his ilk. Vote for Kamala instead.

 

A FEW NOTES

Various things today. I have behaved appallingly towards a Sainsbury’s staff member in respect of a failed refund from Sainsbury’s Chop Shop. I shouted at the person rather than calmly complain about the cock up and ask it to be rectified a.s.a.p. My fault, but I trust it will get the desired result in any event.  He apologised for Sainsbury; I think I thanked him. It is not a large amount of money but principle is principal in such matters. I will have no qualms about going to the small claims court if necessary. It will be interesting to see how they handle a letter before action. Nonetheless my behaviour towards the help line person, whose name I did not take in, was very bad. More on remembering names to follow.  

 

Another event was attending St Thomas’s Hospital for a Pre-Assessment Face to Face Visit. I Had to wait a bit as waiting room quite crowded with patients and they were clearly running behind schedule; however, once my name came up on the digital board I was treated as if I were the only patient and given full attention. A most wonderful Nurse/Technician (not sure what her title actually is) Neethu Paulose was impeccable and I can say that she was the best person ever to extract blood for testing, and I have had a number of people taking blood from my arm.  As a phlebotomist she was superb. The only other person who matched her skill was a chap at Guys in 2015 when I was receiving treatment at the time which required frequent testing. He too was very good, quick and efficient. Neethu was brilliant. She dealt with all the various tests (ECG, Blood Pressure, cognitive etc..) with equal efficiency and care. 

 

Apparently everyone over 65 is now subject to a cognitive test (what day it is, what year, time, counting backwards etc..) when attending hospital appointments.  She asked me to repeat an address back to her, which I did, and at the end of the rest of the questions she asked if I could remember the address she’d give me to repeat. I remembered the town and the surname but could not recall the rest. Most disconcerting. It was less that a minute after I repeated it the first time. I suppose if I had been more familiar with the kinds of questions being asked I might have concentrated more; however, the whole purpose of the exercise is to see just how much the brain may have lost acuity. The series of questions will quite naturally vary and such quick response questions are necessary to gauge just how one’s internal information retrieval system is functioning. A small slip up, but what does it indicate? I shall be pondering this for some time. Are one’s marbles still intact? 

 

As to the rest of the day, I am not wholly surprised by Trump complaining about possible Labour Party members volunteering to assist in Kamala Harris’s campaign. After all he only had Nigel Farage giving him full on assistance and support, which might have had a negative rather than positive effect.  His willing acceptance of Reform Party support of any kind clearly requires him to lament the lack of Labour Party support. 

 

Trump's absence of character, lack of integrity, woeful stupidity, mendacity and coarseness are now more than ever on full display. That anyone with half a brain continues to contemplate his becoming President of the United States again is one of the world’s great mysteries. That aside, I am hoping that the plethora of YouTube podcasts that show up the Trump/Vance ticket as a catastrophe for the American people will indeed have some effect in the voting booths across the country and Ms Harris will be elected in a landslide. It may be a vein hope but it is all we have this side of the Atlantic. 

 

My friend, artist Duncan MacAskill is having an exhibition opening of the 6^th November 2024 and I trust that as well as admiring his work we will be toasting the success of Ms Harris.

 

STAND UP, SPEAK OUT AND VOTE IF YOU CAN

In the final days of the campaigns for the Presidency of the United States of America it is more than apparent that the country has serious divisions that could conceivably bring about its decline as a united nation. Any rational mature individual listening to and observing Mr Trump must surely conclude that he is an obsessive narcissist who thrives of the flattery and ridiculous support he is given by the sad and poorly educated Maga herd, but more importantly by a grouping of individuals claiming allegiance to what was once the Republican Party. The congress persons, senators, state governors and political pundits who make excuses for his more outrageous statements by reinterpreting what he says, and does, in order to reenforce the herd’s belief in Trumps infallibility. His incomprehensible speeches are sanitised and made palatable for the lower orders. He now believes that all he has to do is stand and sway to his musical chart whilst waving and smiling benignly to his worshipers. Another Elmer Gantry for the American Public to blindly follow to destruction. Whether or not, like Gantry, some event will occur to lift the veil over his deceit and deception, and open their eyes, is questionable.

 

That so many citizens are willing to follow and excuse his persistent atrocious and despicable behaviour is uncanny. He opens his mouth only to spew insult, hatred and division. He offers his followers nothing, save a concocted image of a glowing economy, rid of alien intruders, in splendid isolation from the rest of the world. He claims to be the saviour of America. Just how he has managed this idolatry is difficult to understand, but perhaps the fact that so many Americans over the years have been more that keen to ally themselves to charlatans and evangelical imposters is symptomatic of the nation. More than one author, besides Sinclair Lewis, has written about and portrayed such characters. The history of the United States is full of depictions of the general public clinging to such corrupt individuals until somehow they are unmasked and debunked. There are books, films and plays galore rendering version after version of the same story, and yet the phenomenon keeps occurring. Is there no learning at all? Must the crass stupidity keep repeating itself?

 

In contrast, his opposition, in the shape of Kamala Harris, must somehow gather together enough people to prevent this descent into idolatry. She has to come down from the mountain brandishing the tablets on which are written the words of reason. Unfortunately for her there is no burning bush to advise. It is no mean feat that she has come as far as she has in such a short time. If all she had to deal with was Trump alone, she would be a walk in; however, the cult members are so devoted and plentiful the task is made far more difficult. Opening the eyes of the cult members is seemingly impossible, even for those members of the Republican party who have seen through and decried the evil idolatry and insanity of Trump.

 

Frankly attempting to debate and sway the fanatically addicted right wing media is a waste of time. Just to be able to stand up to mendacious attacks on so called immigration policy is of no consequence where minds are already made up.

 

Indeed, there is a channel 4 Documentary about Trump and his behaviour over the 2020 presidential election. It makes quite clear the criminal activity and duplicity of Trump’s attempt to cling to power. It is full of testimony of the many individuals who had to stand up to Trumps assault on truth, integrity and the rule of law. Most of these witnesses are Republican party representatives who supported him to the full in 2016 and during his term of office. They have spoken out seemingly to no avail about the perfidious character of Donald Trump.  Why is that? I can understand the poorly educated Maga blobs not taking that into account, but elected Republican Party representatives in political office not to acknowledge this evidence and other findings of guilt against Mr Trump is bewildering.

So what happens to the United States, if this mega monster is re-elected as president, is a complete acceptance that gangsterism is now the fundamental political system and modus operandi of the United States of America. 

 

I do not know if Kamala Harris will manage to obtain the sufficient number of electors to gain office. I sincerely hope she does. It must be an almost impossible pressure to find oneself as a sole candidate to ensure the continued existence of a  “nation, under God, that shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

THE MASA MOVEMENT

The confusion and anxieties still thrive. There is an air of unease throughout. The relationship between the United States and the State of Israel is clouded in an atmosphere of frustration. The ongoing situation in Ukraine still smoulders without any end in sight. The sad display of pour Volodymyr Zelenskyy having to do a photo op with Donald Trump because the election is still to be decided, was disheartening. When asked about the relationship between Netanyahu and the Biden/Harris administration, the Vice President rephrased the question and said that the American People still support and back the Israeli people. She did not comment on whether or not the United States Government has any influence or sway over decisions taken by the Israeli Prime Minister and his government. Her avoidance of the question spoke volumes. The situation in the Sudan grows more horrific by the day and seemingly avoids being headline news over the events in the middle east.

 

On top of all the above, the United Kingdom’s new Labour Government is having difficulties finding its feet and making a favourable impression on the British public. The economics are such that the Chancellor is floundering to find a pathway towards the goals set out during the election campaign. The boast of hitting the ground running has faltered owing, in part, to the state of treasury’s books of account, and the unfortunate titbits and freebies lavished on some of the incoming ministers who ought to have known better. The Prime Minister is having difficulties endearing himself to the populous, as are many of his cabinet. His initial inside team has had to go through some rather unfortunate scrutiny and changes which do not inspire confidence, and indeed, has exposed the whole of the government to comment on many platforms. Not a good look or start.

 

There is of course the heating up of the election on the 5^th November 2024 in the United States, which is hovering over just about everything. For some obscure reason it is still touch and go as to whether the American electorate will elect an unprincipled charlatan or a relatively normal human being to be their Chief Executive.

 

I have seen a variety of views expressed on various outlets in support of Mr Trump, from the poorly educated diehard maga supporters, so beloved by Donald Trump, to other, supposedly more educated, followers. These overly patriotic and bewildered people who have swallowed the fear of immigrants’ rhetoric and the notion that Mr Trump actually has an economic policy, but who mostly put America First. They firmly believe that Trump loves America above all else and that he will put their interests first and foremost. For some reason they do not see through the sham, nor do they recognise the narcissism or conceit, but sincerely believe that he is their saviour.

 

The BBC presented its Question Time Program from the United States and there was a woman who spoke up and one could see that she was visibly shaken by the worry that Mr Trump would not be elected. She could not see, nor even contemplate, that the factual catalogue of his lies and deceit, or the fact of his being a convicted felon, might change her view. The simple slogan of making America great again was what drove her to distraction. The notion of America First was all consuming. That any woman can be blind to his misogyny and the finding by a court that he is a sexual predator is astounding. His apologists are apparently legion and many of them, young women who have some degree of higher education. That alone is an astounding feature of the current electorate of the United States. Not only are they blind to his character but are also more than willing to support and promote his lies.   

 

In the face of the mounting evidence of his past and clearly criminal activity, as well as the continuing daily visuals of his duplicity and lies, it is a mystery that any elected congressperson of senator would show him any kind of support; and yet they do. Time and again I hear, and find myself asking, why is the decision such a close call? Of the two candidates, which is the felon?  In the United States (except for Vermont and Maine) convicted felons lose their right to vote until after sentence or parole is completed, when it can be restored. Trump is a convicted felon who has not yet been sentenced so for all intent and purposes he has no vote. How is it he can even be on the ballot? So again, why is the decision so difficult?  How can nearly half the population of the United States even contemplate Trump as a President?

 

The tragedy is that the outcome of this election has great implications for the rest of the world. Who is president of the United States matters a great deal, particularly so far as continued support for Ukraine, the continuing premiership of Mr Netanyahu, possible restraints or laissez faire for Mr Putin, and any number of other areas in the world upon which the United States Government might have some influence.

 

In a sense, it is rather like the conservative party’s membership of 150k electing a leader who may be prime minister in a country of 68 million citizens. Given the election of Liz Truss, it is not a very satisfactory approach to leadership. There are 8.2 billion people in the world and only 346 million on the United States. Of that there are some 162 million citizens registered to vote. Effectively less than 1% of the world’s population have an influential say in what happens next.

 

Will the 5^th November 2024 be an auspicious day of reckoning? Will our anxieties be laid to rest? I do not know if the world will be any safer if Kamala Harris is elected President, but there will be a humanitarian presence in the White House. It is as much as one can hope for in the present climate. The chaos of a Trump administration raises anxiety levels we have yet to contemplate. I may be entirely wrong and a Trump Presidency may be without any dramatic incident. It may pass over without any appreciable difference to the rest of the world. Anxiety levels may remain the same.  He might even make good on his one phone call and stop the violence across the world. We might even be living in fantasy land.

 

What happens next is however very much in our minds. Yes there are problems of democracy in every country across the globe. The European Union is in somewhat of a state of flux. The United Kingdom, whether it realises it or not, has yet to sort out what kind of relationship it wants to have with the European Union and just how it can get back in. Yes there is strength in Union, economically and in terms of security. Middle Europe and the Middle East are on fire. The far east is equally in some turmoil and indecision, and going through economic pangs. Will some form of stability in the Americas over the next four years, perhaps even eight, make a difference to the rest of us? I have no idea, but I do know who I’d rather rely on at the moment. It’s the MASA movement – Make America Sane Again.

PROTECTION OF THE PEOPLE 2

Perhaps I am being a bit harsh in respect of the ongoing situation in the middle east, but the attempts at reconciliation and movement towards a peaceful and fruitful co-existence in the area has not been helped by the general treatment of the Palestinians by the Israeli authorities. Division and suspicion bread nothing but division and suspicion. The problem has persisted my entire lifetime and I was born in 1942. Is it not about time that vendetta and vengeance be set aside?

 

There is a very good point of view from Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/04/israel-israelis-gaza-war-7-october-anniversary

 

Nonetheless, the question “who started it?” is no longer relevant. It should not matter anymore, and the grownups must step up and out of the playground mentality that seems to pervade any talks leading to settlement and compromise. An accommodation must be found. What is so difficult to understand? So long as the posturing and blaming carry on, so long will all the people of the middle east continue to suffer. Leadership requires rational intelligent thought, with a view to the future. Why must I continue to put myself in other people’s shoes to see a point of view. I can see and sympathise with people’s suffering from demolition, disease and death. I do not want to watch this anymore.  It has surely gone on long enough.

 

I have taken a view on the insanity which may not be to everyone’s liking; however, the current arms rattling and bristling between the Israelis and the Iranians is endangering the entire world, now so full of governments that see nationalism and populism as the preeminent form of coping with domestic as well as international affairs. Repression and control under the guise of maintaining order in society, is still repression and control. So long as the likes of Netanyahu puff out their chest, there will never be closure. His position is to remain in control, that’s it, and so long as military action persists, he will exploit it.  Do not be fooled by his posturing as protector of the people. He is merely protecting himself. His trial on corruption charges is still ongoing. It hovers in the background and he will do anything to make it fade into the distance. He is not to be trusted.

 

That is not an anti-Israeli point of view. It is merely what the images and reporting from the region indicate is the case. I know ordinary Israelis as well as ordinary Palestinians are desperate for peace. Their so called protectors are the problem. They have become entrenched in their religious and fanatical enmity and are blinded and made dumb. The irony is that the same God hovers over them and permits the slaughter to continue.

FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE PEOPLE

I have been listening to various interviews with pundits, Israeli diplomats and spokespersons for the Israeli Government. Their impassioned plea is to try and impress people with the righteousness of their cause in protecting the Israeli people from the aggression and attacks coming out of Gaza, the Lebanon and Iran. They have been prosecuting aggressive defence since the disastrous attack of October 7^th last year by Hamas. Most western countries have acknowledged, through their leaders, that Israel is entitled to defend itself.

 

In the course of that defence they have acted with particularly brutal force without any concern, despite their claims, for those innocents who may be killed or injured in the process of protecting the Israeli people. They have lost sight of their humanity. Why do I say this?

 

Consider for a moment the events of the exploding pagers and mobile phones. The planning and execution of the, so called, security operation, must have taken months if not years to put into effect. Developing the pagers and phones, implanting the explosives, ensuring that they were purchased by the appropriate people, ensuring that they were distributed to the appropriate people and whatever else it might have taken to get the items into the appropriate hands. That involves careful and long term planning - let alone keeping it secret – for the sole purpose of causing death and injury. They did not care whether any innocents might be in possession of these death traps as they set them off without warning or care. It did not matter to them who might be killed or injured. If they did have a passing worry about the side effects, they clearly dismissed those thought in favour of protecting the Israeli people.  There can be no doubt about the intent of the exercise, kill and maim. Again, to put that intent into action must have taken some considerable time.

 

We also have the claim that the Israeli Defence Force have taken as much precaution as possible to ensure that civilians and innocentS are not injured by their actions, by warning them to move out of harm’s way, and indeed may have escorted some to move. Really, that’s a humane army in action? Please move out of the way so I can reduce your home and environment to rubble, thereby reducing you to homelessness, poverty and starvation, but you’ll be out of harm’s way. This is what is going on in Lebanon right now and has been going on in Gaza.

 

It is claimed all this is being done with the intention of fighting off  long-time aggressors for the protection of the Israeli people. The Iranians have now launched an aggressive strike on Israel provoking an almost gleeful response “They will pay the price”. The gung ho attitude is thick on the ground. You can be sure that whatever response is made, it will have been planned long ago in the bunkers of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, because that appears to be the only go to response of the Israeli government. They have for so long been playing the professional victim, that any victims who get in their way do not count. That is the poisonous persona that has for so long occupied their minds that they are way past protecting the people, but leading them further into yet more violence and retribution.  They know nothing else but to cry out for vengeance.

 

This is an attitude that seems to pervade the middle east. We are a continent of victims and there appears to be no let up from that position. When will they make an end?

 

If as much time, as has been spent on devising more devious methods of destruction, had been spent on planning peace and trade agreements then perhaps there might have been a very different picture. Frankly, the United States and Europe, long supporters of Israel, no longer know where to put themselves They are embarrassed at having to defend this out of control defence of a country that seems intent on dragging the world into its poisonous orbit, allegedly for the protection of the people. I am not suggesting that the terrorist aggressors are blameless in this endeavour, but the fault, in my view, rests now with people who really ought to know better, but are too blinded by vendetta and vengeance. For God’s sake end the cycle. Just stop the killing, it might just work.

TOO MUCH GOING ON

The democratic process in nation states seems to have become increasingly difficult due to the sheer numbers of citizens professing allegiance to their governments and the increasing itinerant movement of vast numbers of citizens no longer able to find security and safety in allegiances to their own governments, and so are seeking asylum elsewhere. Whether it be from wars, famines, dictatorships, persecution or natural disasters,  a vast number of refugees are on the move; however, room at the inn has become very problematic all over the western world.

 

It has become a serious matter of economics and the perceived threat to, and by, local citizens who believe the increasing influx of migrants will damage their way of life and ruin their prospects in the pursuit of happiness. Having, for years, pumped up and advertised how successful and wonderful they are, rich western democracies, who initially welcomed migrants are now seeking to close the doors. It has become a political question that seems to have moved to the top of the agenda all over Europe, Australia and the North American continent.

 

I put up here the last speech of President Ronal Reagan about the benefits of coming to America. This is only part of the propaganda long touted by many American political leaders and the more surprising that it comes from a conservative Republican President who signed new legislation controlling immigration into the United States.

President Reagan was a great conservative Republican hero and great friend of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It is important to watch the above video. It is a speech made 35 years ago and quite a contrast to the poisonous rhetoric we are now getting from former President Donald Trump and his view of immigrants as thieves, rapists and lunatics now eating cats and dogs and other family pets. How far we seem to have come from 1989 on the vexed question of immigration.

 

Mr Trumps view is extreme but not far off from Enoch Powell’s River of Blood anti-immigration speech delivered on the 20^th April 1968. The British have clearly had a problem with immigration for some considerable time now, and it has scarcely improved in the last 56 years. Herewith a short video about the speech and some its consequences:

So we have immigration full on once again as a controversial matter of policy. It is a matter which, apparently, the voters in the United States seem to lean towards the crass stupidity of Mr Trump, thereby presenting a difficulty for Ms Harris. The pundits have stated that Mr Trump should stick to issues such as immigration where Ms Harris is ‘weak’. I do not understand that reasoning in the face of the inanity of Mr Trumps dishonest rhetoric about the eating of cats and dogs.

 

What we do have however is a conundrum as to how Ms Harris should deal with Mr Trump. The rhetoric used by her to promote her candidacy as President of the United States is difficult. She must on the one hand, be allowed to comment on the character of Mr Trump and the outright lies that he spews out ad nauseum, as well as his lack of policies and his obvious ignorance of the real needs of the American public, and on the other hand promote her own views and plans she will seek to implement during her term as President on behalf of, and for the benefit of, the American public. She must also have an eye on the rest of the world and how she will position the United States towards other nations. The United States is still seen as a country with substantial influence. Just how effective it is, is always open to question.

 

The intensity and effect of her language must be such as to not be seen as encouraging violence towards her opponent. This is extremely difficult given the outrageous, insulting and inciteful language used by Mr Trump. His tendency to exaggerate every aspect of his pet hates ‘by a lot’ makes any rebuttal problematic. He effectively claims to be the ‘greatest’ without the charm, intelligence and talent of a Muhammad Ali. Ms Harris must, somehow, get through to those people who, for some obscure reason, cannot fully see or comprehend the disaster of another 4 years of Mr Trump. Despite what the pundits say he is not good on the economy, he is far from good on immigration, and he is a complete charlatan and buffoon on foreign policy.  

 

I get the impression that the movement towards supporting Ms Harris’ bid to become President is slowly growing and that a number of high profile individuals have come out openly to champion her cause. Whether this is just wishful thinking on my part, I cannot say, but I am hopeful. There appears to be a strong surge by democratic party activists to get people out to vote. Long may that continue and be successful.

 

In the meantime the newly elected Labour Party in the United Kingdom is going through a kaleidoscope of problems including gifts to ministers, economic management, civil servants and advisors’ salaries, rescuing the NHS and numerous other problems seemingly all coming together at once. What else did they expect? They wanted to hit the ground running. Well, where to and how fast is still to be decided.

 

Hovering over all of this is the terror from the minds of Mr Putin and Mr Netanyahu. Making them stop and preventing their adversaries from drawing them back in, has got to be a world priority. They have long ago passed from defence of the realm into outright appalling and criminal aggression. My levels of anxiety are yet to be abated. There is too much going on.