OPINION: Why the G8 is bad for all of us

The G8 are meeting at Camp David this weekend. The world's leading industrialised nations supposedly sorting out the economic woes of the world and finding a path to recovery following all the turmoil of recent years.

But they won't.

The G8 is a club. It is a club of capitalists and all they will achieve over the next few days are a few bland and, ultimately, meaningless statements, some nano disagreements to make it look like they explored a range of ideas, and then a plan which will anoint to nothing more than papering over the cracks and then continuing with the same failing policies.

There will be no vision for a better future, because the imbeciles who attend benefit personally from more of the same no matter what hardship it imposes on the rest if society.

The G8 needs to accept that capitalism and consumerism have failed. They fail every few years. They fail more and more often and each time is worse. Each fail is more detrimental to the majority of people but the G8 leaders don't care. They adopt policies that protect themselves from the fallout of their own failures and, in doing so, they divide all societies more and more.

And they not only divide their own societies, they also divide the world further. Sure, each G8 nation makes token contributions to the third world but they won't ever do anything to balance the inequalities of nations. Why would they? It might mean their personal power and wealth would be dissipated.

The G8 fear democracy. In the UK we, supposedly, have 3 major political parties, but, in reality, they are different wings of the same capitalist/consumerist party. They have no interest in making things better for society. All they care about is appeasing the proles so that they don't rise up and overthrow the abhorrent system that keeps them in the lap of luxury.

The Eurozone crisis is a perfect example of the inequality of nations and the evil of the big ones. It shouldn't be seen as Greece's problem, or Spain's, or Italy's. The solution is simply but, to the greedy parahias of the G8 elite, it would make the champagne and caviar in their stomachs to go rancid.

We need to accept that capitalism has no future. It makes a few wealthy whilst shackling the majority of people, and nations, to a yolk of virtual slavery.

All debt needs to be cancelled. After all, money is purely notional. Let's just zero it all.

BUT we can't then just go back to the nonsense of capitalism. A different, fairer international system beefs to be used. It must enshrine equality of all people and it must make sure that no one is living a life of luxury while others starve.

Yes, we need, at the very least, genuine socialism but, better still would be a global communism. Not soviet style communism (that wasn't real communism) but everyone working together for the better, to genuinely improve everyone's lot

Sadly, I accept that the public are too blind and too stupid to act. They will continue to elect clones of the same politicians who will run their nation and the world for their personal benefit.

It is time for a revolution. It is time to throw capitalism on a bonfire of greed. It has no place in a modern world. Capitalism fails. Let it die.

OPINION: Budget 2012

Yesterday, George Osbourne presented his third budget to the House of Commons and today, and for most of the next week or so, the petty bickering, attempts at point scoring, and politicking goes on.

As far as I can see, yesterday's budget tinkered. There were a few good things, a few bad things and just about everything except the so-called "Granny Tax" had been leaked in advance.

Yesterday's budget can best be summed up as "meh".

There was no great innovation on the proposals. There was no vision for the future. There was no sense of a new political ideology or fiscal system.

George Osbourne may as well have stood up and said "Everything increased by inflation. That's it!"

Where are the great pitical visionaries? Why is there no desire to do more than tinker? Where I'd the politics of principle and ideology?

Yesterday's budget, once the dust has settled, will be viewed as a non-event that did nothing for the UK, its citizens, or the wider world.

The UK has become a one-party state, but a one-party state with different faces so that the proles think that change has happened.

Opposition oppose for the sake of opposing but offer no alternative and no vision for a better future. And yet, while they're busy opposing, they refuse to say they'd do anything different or reverse decisions.

We have hit a stalemate in which bland consimerist capitalism is the only choice available and it makes no difference who delivers the budget.

COMMENT: The Portas Review - what nonsense

Mary Portas has, today, published her plans to save the "traditional high street" after many months of consultation.

Her suggestions include less regulation for high street traders and a National Market Day. If we follow these, apparently, we will have a thriving high street.

I think the term that comes to mind is "poppycock"!

We don't have a thriving high street because shoppers, in their droves, have turned their back on them. They, generally, offer a smaler range of goods at more expensive prices than out of town centres and, when car park charges are included, there seems little to recommend the high street.

My objections to her proposals are numerous, because her report is fundamentally flawed.

We live, rightly or wrongly, in a capitalist system. It is not for the government to be manipulating the marketplace to favour one type of shopping outlet over another. Businesses fail because they fail to find customers and fail to move with the times. It is right that bad businesses fail - and no good business fails, ever.

Portas' suggestion of a "National Market Day" is silly style over substance nonsense of which Barack Obama, the ultimate style over substance politician, would be proud. Yes, events can help drive business, but they have to be events with a purpose and, probably, a local focus.

In our already overly consumerist society,do we really want another day to celebrate shopping and consumerism? I'm sure Hallmark are already planning on printing "Happy Market Day" cards that they will sell... In their out of town mall outlets!

Some towns do manage to have thriving and successful town centres and high streets. If some can succeed then it is only incompetence that makes others fail, and location is a factor. Many thriving high streets are in places where lots if peope visit, there is a tourist pull.

And isn't it right that everything, including the way in which we shop, evolve? Some may not like shopping malls but they are what the majority of people choose to use. Why should they be penalised because some monstrous woman, and some idiots on the Tory right, have a rise-tinted view of what shopping used to be like.

Things change. Live with it.

Yes, I agree that out of town shopping centres have an unfair advantage when it comes to parking, and that parking charges in some towns is quite expensive, but aren't we meant to be discouraging car use, for the sake of the environment? I'd favour all shops, malls and out of town retail parks having to charge for their car parking - and probably at a higher rate than at present. Certainly, it's wrong that the likes of the Trafford Centre and Meadowhell can offer free parking all day - but it is equally wrong that car parking charges in small towns are reduced. Look at the big picture.

Now I agree with Portas about reducing red tape - but not reducing it for the sake of it, only when it is not necessary - again, ths should apply to all businesses, not just high street shops. And ket's not forget, some red tape is essential.

Ultimately, shoppers will go where they will get the most convenient value for money. The high street has had it's day and, apparent from in tourist towns, I suggest it has died - and so be it.

As my wife will attest, I'm not a fan of big shopping malls, but I won't shed a single tear for the death of the high street, andI think it is wrong that any public money is used to keep this dodo on a life support system just to appease those who haven't moved with the times.

The high street is dead. So what?

OPINION: Capitalism is dead.... Long live... Ummm...

Why, when capitalism fails every few years in bigger and more dramatic ways, do governments not look for a better system?

Capitalism has been failing, regularly, for years. Today, it seems, there is hardly a nation in the world not in some sort of serious debt. Banks have failed their investors, the public and governments across the world. Inequality gets more and more entrenched.

Surely, it's time for a different approach? Surely, it's time for governments to take action beyond bigger and bigger band aids?

When the dyke has a hole, the hole can be stopped for a while but there is a weakness there. Eventually, another hole opens or the first hole bursts again. At some point, the dyke is unable to hold the water back, the dyke collapses and everything is washed away.

It's not a case of replacing capitalism and free-markets with a different version of capitalism, adding safety nets or extra regulation to "protect" society, eventually a completely different approach, a different system needs to be put in place.

I've long argued that all current international/national debts should be written off. It's all just numbers, huge numbers, that are meaningless. They're notional debts, not real ones. Capitalism thrives on debt, borrowing and, consequently, inequality and poverty.

In the UK, we've never genuinely had a non-capitalist government. Even Harold Wilson and James Callaghan's left-wing governments, some 30-40 years ago, were capitalist with a social conscience. At elections we don't have a realistic choice of different systems, just variations on the type of capitalism we want. This is wrong.

Labour has failed the working class in the same way that the Conservatives have failed the wealthy. Labour's abandonment of socialist principles mean that it is, as has been for some time now, Tory-lite. The Lib Dems, well, they let everyone down by going into partnership with the Tories!

It is time that either Labour returned to its core socialist principles and offered a genuinely socialist, if not communist, system as an alternative to the capitalist, consumerist system that has dominated politics since the Industrial Revolution, or that people finally turn from the big two (maybe three) parties and promote one of the lesser, untried parties that can offer an alternative approach. I'd suggest, though not Peet, the Green Party are most likely to be able to offer a genuinely alternate system.

I don't mean a Stalinist communism (in reality, that was closer to Fasism than communism), I mean a new, 21stcentury approach in which government take back control of the budgets, in which a more equality-based approach is key to the way in which governments organise the economy and, of course, an environmentally-friendly angle is included.

There is nothing wrong with success, making-money or even profit but it is how the success is managed, and what the profits are used for that need to be addressed.

Sadly, it won't happen. The British are a fundamentally selfish and greedy society; they continue to vote for the status quo because, ultimately, they all think they might be the fat cats themselves (why else do so many play the National Lottery against the odds?!) and, in the end, they don't care about society, they care about themselves and their families. The British are their own worst enemies.

But, of course, this needs to be done globally, not just in the UK. This requires international co-operation that goes beyond anything the jack-booted Little Englanders who read The Sun or Daily Mail would ever allow. This needs brains not bigotry and xenophobia

How many times does capitalism have to fail before it gets replaced? Too many.

Next time there is an election I do hope more people vote for change, because, clearly, the current system has failed, but I won't hold my breath.

65 things I hate

This is a list of the things I think the world could do without, because I hate them.

Some are more major than others but I find all of them abhorrent: 

1. The Monarchy - really, in the 21st century, what is the justification for selecting a head of state by which birth canal someone passed?

2. Adverts during movies on TV - it's just so irritating, particularly if they're at totally random moments 

3. Paul McCartney - he makes my skin crawl - smug and arrogant, prides himself on his ignorance of musical notation and there are major questions to be answered as to who really wrote his various "classical" compositions 

4. Religion - all superstitions - based on lies, it's the biggest fraud in the world - used the manipulate, control and abuse - truly evil 

5. Honours - I have no issue with honours given for genuine achievement but people who accept knighthoods, OBEs, MBEs, etc. in the name of the British Empire - ugh! The British Empire was an appalling institution that abused its position of power around the world 

6. The Military - pure evil - arms trade, politicians, soldiers, sailors, airmen

7. People who argue against racism/sexism but, in reality, are only proposing a different bigotry - in this category I would include those who support Harriet Harman's faux-feminist leanings

8. Manchester United and, very specifically, Alex Ferguson 

9. Positive discrimination - there is nothing positive about positive discrimination - it is just discrimination 

10. David Jason - over-rated and Only Fools and Horses isn't funny 

11. Reality TV shows and the way they now dominate the TV schedules - sure, have a singing competition but does it really need 2 hours of Saturday prime time AND an hour on a Sunday?

12. Tories

13. The need for speed - thosepeople who refuse to stick to speed limits and see it as an infringement on their civil liberties rather than a safety measure

14. Alan Carr - how on earth has he had a career?

15. Using less when it should be fewer and using fewer when it should be less - Alexander Armstrong on Pointless is the worst offender in the world!! Less sand, fewer grains. Less beer, fewer pints!

16. Unions - they don't unite they divide and, increasingly, they play politics rather than simply represent workers

17. Phone in shows where dullards and bigots are given airtime - just cut them off 

18. Tracy Emin - ugh!

19. Lib Dems who stayed being Lib Dems after they had sold out for 30 pieces of silver

20. People who think it's cool to be thick, common, ignorant - the TOWIEfication of society

21. Mis-used apostrophes - it's really not that hard to learn when and when not to use an apostrophe 

22. Cliff Richard - awful, awful, awful - loved it when he was shown up as a wine fraud! 

23. Victoria Derbyshire's Radio 5 show - inanity and soft questioning are queen

24. Nigel Farage - UKIP's leader... says it all really

25. People who can't debate properly 

26. Tailgaters - just get back you idiot!

27. Eddie Jordan - probably the worst sports presenter in the history of the world

28. Cold-callers - even as a member of the Telephone Preference Service we still get cold-callers trying to sell us stuff, so intrusive

29. Angling - cruelty masquerading as sport - let's rip apart a fish's mouth then throw it back in the water!

30. The Sound of Music - dreadful songs, ridiculous story... awful movie

31. Red poppies - not the real flowers (they're lovely), the ones sold by the British Legion for remembrance but increasingly a symbol of jingoism

32. The normalisation of gambling - its gradually become a normal part of life, slot machines everywhere, discussed on radio - it's a stupid thing to do and should be banned

33. Excessive street markings and road signs - also too few (roundabouts that don't give a clue) - there are way too many signs and too many markings. They spoil the countryside in particular. 

34. That song from Titanic - the ship deserved to sink if that's the song it is now best remembered for

35. People who read your blog but comment on Twitter or Facebook rather than on the blog

36. Christmas - there's nothing wrong with a mid-winter festival but why have one based on a lie, an historical event that never happened that celebrates someone who never existed

37. The clocks being changed - twice a year they're put forward or back - why? Choose one time and leave it alone all year

38. Andy Parsons - his presentation is just horrible - lots of his jokes are quite good but he wastes them with his grating voice and demeanour

39, Party Politics and the whip system - all MPs should be individuals voting freely on all issues 

40. People who do Follow Friday for ALL the people they follow on Twitter

41. Nationalism/Jingoism and having to be British - I just don't get why anyone would be proud to be any nationality - the root of all the wars not caused by religion

42. Meat - there's no need to kill animals for humans to survive - our teeth are herbivore's teeth (small incisors) not those of meat-eaters

43. Inverted snobbery - people from working class who have irrational hatred of things like Oxbridge

44. The right-wing press - Daiky Mail, Daily Express, Daily Telegraph, The Sun, etc.

45. Intelligent Design - when the Christian church realised that the creationist lie wasn't accepted by sane people they tried to con people with I.D. - just as much a fraud as creationism

46. Popular culture that masquerades as art - the worse excesses include people who claim Eminem is the new Shakespeare or that if Mozart were alive today he'd be composing pop songs 

47. Windows computers  - it's very simple, they're not as good as Apple (who they continually mimic several years late)

48. Memory (from "Cats") - awful, awful, awful whining 

49. Shaving - really hate shaving - I wish there was a permanent way to stop the hair growing

50. Facial hair - "Never trust a man with facial hair" - and always be concerned about women with facial hair!

51. TV shows that continually tell you what's already happened - this particularly happens on Channel 4 lifestyle shows like Location, Location, Location and anything fronted by Sarah Beeny

52. Louis Walsh - how has this moron had such a successful career

53. Pet dogs - they're just stupid, smelly, shit machines 

54. Disney Stores - so much plastic tat, it makes IKEA seem environmentally friendly 

55. Boozy Brits - not just the binge drinkers and clubbers lying in gutters on a Saturday night but those who arrive somewhere and instantly want to know where the bar is

56. Unchained Melody - just dreadful song that keeps being covered

57. The dumbing down of education - what hope for the future when the UK's education system is aimed at the average student (at best)

58. Answering back - I just can't tolerate it

59. Capitalism - time and time it fails but, because the banks rule the world, it keeps getting more and more chances

60. Theme Park rides - they make me feel sick

61. Pescetarians who claim they're vegetarians - if you eat fish you are not a vegetarian - it's very simple

62. Horse racing - it's animal abuse - doesn't matter if it's flat racing or jumps. 

63. Imagine by John Lennon

64. Patrick McLoughlin, MP - my local MP and Chief Whip for the Conservatives - he used to claim £400 per month groceries without producing a receipt and also flipped his house to rip off the tax payer

65. McDonald's - they've tried to make themselves appear greener and healthier but they're still destroying the rainforests and produce very unhealthy food that they target at children  

There's many more things.... but these will do for starters!