UK General Election 2019

All the hate and toxicity around General Election 2019 is fuelling my anxiety. I have woken in the wee small hours two nights in a row having a panic-attack. So, I have decided that this is my last political post until after the election.

Please do use your vote. The number of electors who abstain outnumbers those who vote for any party. We can collectively make a difference. Abstention in effect means support for whoever takes control. And by abstaining you are sharing in the culpability of their wrong-doing through your failure to act.

Please do vote wisely. Where necessary use tactical voting to ensure no-deal BREXIT is not the result. Currently, a vote for Brexit is also a vote for the collapse of the United Kingdom, as Northern Ireland will be forced to re-unite with Eire and Scotland will do its darndest to secede.

I should personally like to vote Green; but where I reside they have little support. On Thursday I shall be voting Labour, not out of love nor respect nor even admiration, but because I believe they are the only party at this election who just might be able to turn around the UK and prevent its break-up.

A final reminder: no-one will be able to turn around after the election and say that they did not know the consequences. Democracy is about shared responsibility of all the people for the people. Don your individual responsibility, use your rights and vote with your conscience for policies not for personalities!

Thank you for reading. %)

The Establishment is Destroying the UK

Looking back on the past year, I am not certain ¨society¨ as such is to blame for the milieu in the UK, but rather the individuals who make up our communities.

Many of my Facebook friends refuse to participate in anything ¨political¨ - even intelligent individuals who must realise that all issues affecting the individual/community/society are political. In some cases it is apathy; for some it is fear of repercussions by the powers-that-be (DWP; intelligence services; etc.); but there are simply far too many folk who just do not care for anyone outside their immediate loved ones. This is why despite all the reasons put forward why BREXIT will harm each and everyone of us, so many folk have NOT changed their minds. They are only looking out for themselves. They do NOT care for others. This is a mass failure of empathy, of mutual responsibility.

Neo-liberal politicians of so-called left/centre/right have undermined the tax and social security systems and the justifications for shared social goods.

They have been aided and abetted by the MSM, which of course only pushes the agendas of their respective billionaire owners. Folk are inculcated into believing that the poor, elderly, disabled, underemployed, single mothers, refugees, migrants, and whoever-else can be picked upon, are all stealing from the hard-workers’ pockets.

Society is NOT the problem.

The Establishment, the powerful élite are the problem. And they are not going to relinquish power, influence nor wealth.

Why are we rubbish at recycling recyclables?

I mainly food-shop from Waitrose, Marks and Spencer (a.k.a. M&S), Abel and Cole (online only) and top-up from my local Co-op.

As much as possible of my purchases are organic/Fairtrade. Even companies that allege they are responsible and care for the environment use multiple layers of packaging or non-recyclable packaging. Why is my cucumber enveloped in an almost impenetrable layer of thick plastic? As a disabled person who is obliged to buy ready-meals to fit in with carer schedules and so forth, it is impossible to buy products that are environmentally-friendly.

Spain has a national refuse disposal system. There are three types of bin: glass; packaging & landfill. At communal points one can also find separate collections for paper & cardboard &/or clothing &/or shoes. All packaging goes in the yellow bins to be sorted/recycled.

Many plastics are recyclable; but here in Trafford where I reside -  likewise I assume the whole of Manchester as Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority covers all boroughs - such items as yoghourt-pots and food-trays (clearly marked as recyclable) cannot be recycled via the waste-management systems currently in place.

 [Image description: the three recycling-bins in the writer's kitchen]

I have been recycling as much as possible or selling on at boot-fairs or donating to charity shops since 1994. I have written to the head-offices of the places in which I shop on several occasions enquiring about their packaging & recycling policies. I am doing my bit. The onus needs to be switched from consumers as many of us want to recycle more, but are prevented by systems from doing so. I have been invariably fobbed off with a standard spin of "we are fulfilling our legal requirements". Supermarkets and so forth have switched much packaging to recyclables - but more could be done as the article below elucidates. However, waste authorities need to be obligated to take all recyclable products &/or fined for putting same into landfill. Local authorities, such as Trafford, similarly need to be forced to collect recyclable products that cannot be binned from households which do not possess a vehicle to take same to a local refuse collection point.

Alas, UK governments, of whichever persuasion, are too timid about legislating to force and enforce action. I also suspect that BREXIT will be used as an excuse to scrap the regulations we currently have. It will be interesting to see how much/many of companies' green policies have actually been green-wash!

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Almost a third of supermarket plasticpackaging (sic) not widely recyclable, Which? finds

BREXIT: no party is innocent

I am very much pro-Europe, but am less than enthusiastic when it comes to the European Union. I have said since joining the Euro was proposed, that the UK should not do so until such time as the EU begins to bring its own house in order.

However, on many levels, the EU is far more democratic than the UK, and we should be learning from it and improving our own democracy. Instead, little Englanders & Welshies stubbornly insist on perceiving what the neo-liberal media feeds them as being reality rather than the propaganda it is. How else to explain the gullibility of accepting the promise that the NHS would receive the £350million.

Human Rights legislation comes from the Council of Europe (not to be confused with the European Council), NOT the EU itself. Those laws were drafted with guidance from Britain. To reject laws we helped create is quite bizarre!

The following article is worth reading: the EU is not innocent of machinations & unreasonable stubbornness. The termination of an affinity is very rarely the fault of just one side.

Britain’s divorce from the EU will be bitter. Yet the failure is Europe’s too

Brexiteers' Pyrrhic Victory*

Well, I suppose we all have to wait to see what the PM decides to do. Treaty withdrawal requires an Act of Parliament, but I imagine if he so chooses, he can consider the ‪‎Brexit‬ referendum a mandate to notify the European Union of our intention to withdraw.

From what I have been reading in related news-articles this morning, it sounds like Gove & Johnson [prominent Leavers] have drawn up a list of EU directives, and ECJ [sorry - European Court of Justice] rulings they are now going to rip up ahead of any formal withdrawal. One more goose-step towards ‪‎totalitarianism‬.
 

Very sad day for the United Kingdom, that now will be broken up. Scotland voted remain in every single one of its authorities. The more liberally minded Scots will want to remain in the EU. Surprisingly - to me at least - Northern Ireland has similarly voted for remain. And as I predicted, moves to re-unite Ireland are already being mooted.

The Pound has dropped to a 31-year low: so that's all imports that are going to go up in price from fuel, heating costs, food, wine, etc. And the ensuing result will be a steep rise in inflation and thus mortgage costs and then rents. So unless one happens to be independently well-off - like most Tory MPs - the cost-of-living is about to become very burdensome.

And don't be counting on your pension: the pension funds have just lost £millions and that will be the continuing trend for the foreseeable future.

The ‪‎NHS‬ will lose many of its highly trained European staff - we do not produce sufficient doctors & nurses to fully staff the NHS. So service at hospitals and even GP surgeries - who often rely on EU docs to cover weekend and night-time call-outs - will deteriorate. Who knows, I bet access-charges are just around the corner. And remember many of our meds have to be imported, so that will probably mean prescription-charges will shoot up.

Pensioners, disabled, sick, poor, unemployed, low-employed, homeless folk will all lose out. The younger generation, already brassed off with the raw deal that baby-boomers have left them, will become ever more jaded and cynical with the scraps they are begrudgingly offered.

And university costs will soar, because there will be very few high-paying foreign students entering here. So expect several unis to collapse in bankruptcy.

And don't forget the navy, army, airforce, etc. have been cut to the bone - they will not be able to take on extra border duties and continue with the prestigious international affairs our oligarchs are always so keen to participate in.

So well done all those of you who thought you were doing Ole Blighty a favour: you have just shot the Nation in the foot!

'Bye-'bye Europe! I don't suppose we shall see the EU flag (below) flying here for very much longer.

Such a sad, sad day………

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* "A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has been victorious in some way. However, the heavy toll negates any sense of achievement or profit. Another term for this would be "hollow victory"."

Per Wikipedia.

Is this the beginning of the end…?

I try to be a reasonable, rational and liberal (note lower-case ell) person. I am and always have been non-partisan when it comes to politics, having never agreed with the party-political system using whips that we have in the United Kingdom. It cannot be viewed by any sensible person as democratic, for it is essentially oligarchic. My parents held opposing political views and my siblings and I were raised to try to see the other's perspective. My personality - and that of very many ordinary Brits - is one that cares about one's neighbours and neighbourhood.

 The slogan reads:

I'm voting

REMAIN

FOR

OUR NHS

For most Brits social justice is, or used to be, at the very core of our values; the quintessence of Britishness. Just look at all the folk who raise money for charities &/or who volunteer, or the folk - not just relatives - who take on caring duties. Most are happy to support our NHS in any way we can - despite the on-going privatisation by successive governments. And just look at the out-pouring of care whenever there is an international disaster! We are not, however much the likes of UKIP and other extremist parties might like to believe, little Englanders. We have always been outward looking (- not always necessarily for the best as huge mistakes were made in relation to empire). Nonetheless, to this very day, millions of Brits reside in countries outside the UK and are spread right around the globe.

With the exception of a rather hateful era when Jews were exiled from England, we have welcomed workers from abroad whether refugees, merchants, traders or artists and artisans. Not only has this contributed to our rich history and culture, but this stand-point has substantially benefitted our economy.

A vote for Brexit will not mean that these folk will be forced to go back to Europe. Many have set up businesses and employ folk - who will certainly fight to retain their jobs. Most have grown networks of friends, neighbours & colleagues within communities - who will certainly fight to retain their valued members. Such folk should surely vote Bremain.

A vote for Brexit may very well mean that many of the few million Brits residing in Europe will be forced to return to the UK. The pressures on housing, other infrastructure and the NHS will remain at least the same or heighten - for many of the folk who will return will be pensioners who will need healthcare and social care due to being removed from their support networks and inclement climate here. So, if one is concerned, even worried, about immigration then one should surely vote Bremain.

A vote for Brexit will permit this and any future government to do pretty much as they please with no international oversight. The previous and current governments have acted as they please, ignoring judicial orders to obey the law of the land. Cameron has even repeatedly stated that he wants to abolish the House of Lords, which, whilst archaic and in many ways undemocratic, nevertheless is often the only check & balance on the power of the Executive (thus paradoxically acting democratically!). There is a democratic deficit within the European Union. The Executive, in this case the European Commission, has usurped too much power (rather as has the United Kingdom Executive). I agree wholeheartedly that the democratic systems within the EU have to be changed and improved so that European citizens believe and know that they are heard and responded to. However, the only way to change a system is from within. If Britain votes out, then we are immediately locked out of any kind of influence. So anyone that wants to change the EU for the better should surely vote Bremain.

Today and tomorrow one of the United Nations' committees is quizzing the UK over its treatment of disabled people, having collected a wealth of data and documentary evidence to demonstrate that we are being abused, mistreated, scapegoated, demonised and starved of funds & access due to social security (welfare) cuts, propaganda and mainstream-media misrepresentation. (See for example this article for a more in-depth analysis.) The EU has and continues to draw up laws and rules for pan-European access to goods, services and support. Here in England & Wales, the government is only now, after a couple of decades, going to try to enforce the law which is supposed to prevent taxi-drivers from refusing to take disabled passengers - yes, this has and continues to occur to hundreds of individuals each and every day. Without European oversight, I very much doubt that a laissez-faire - let alone an overtly disablist - government will pursue expanding disability access rights. If you know someone who is disabled or chronically sick, and you care about them, you should surely vote Bremain.

The slogan reads:

I'm voting

REMAIN

FOR

WORKERS'

RIGHTS

I could write about many, many other areas that the EU improves for each and every one of us - such as environmental laws that ensure clean water or the labelling of clean/dirty beaches; or laws that protect workers rights to pay, conditions, holidays; or laws that ensure our human rights§ (like not to be arrested and detained without trial, and so on). However, I have limited energy and resources. If  the reader is interested, please do your own research. Once you have done, you will surely vote Bremain.

The EU has much that is wrong with it, just like our very own political system here in the UK. Whilst one has the opportunity to vote to leave the former, one cannot exit the latter. Tomorrow I shall be voting Bremain.

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§ Technically this is due to human rights laws (based on British submissions & jurisprudence) via the European Council; but it is the intention, I understand, of the Conservatives with UKIP support to withdraw from both the EC and the EU if the Brexiters win.

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The images I have used were sent to me by the Labour Party. Their use here does not imply any kind of support on my part for Labour, other than the stances contained within the slogans.