Rishi's Green Light For War

Can we stop the cross-party lurch towards Armageddon?

I love Quentin Letts’ cheeky wit but in describing last week’s PMQs as ‘a bore’ he missed this explosive moment from Rishi Sunak:

‘I know at first hand how important it is that our Prime Minister can use his prerogative power to respond quickly militarily to protect British national security, sometimes without giving this House prior notice. These are perhaps the most difficult decisions that a Prime Minister can take, and I welcomed his support when I made them. I want to take this opportunity to assure him of the Opposition’s support if he deems it necessary to take similar action in the future.’

Done in plain sight: the Opposition handing carte blanche to the Government to declare war. Not that the royal prerogative needs it, and that is another issue.

In the first instance we assume this refers to Ukraine/Russia, though other countries are also swimming into view. In their exchange, both Sunak and the PM approvingly said, reporting from Starmer’s attendance at the NATO summit two days earlier, that Ukraine was on an ‘irreversible path to [NATO] membership.’ Given Russia’s red lines, the implications are umistakable.

In my view, the direction of travel is insane.

Also, what happened to our adversarial Parliament, a system designed to thrash out the truth and restrain acts of folly by the Executive? We have seen with the Covid fiasco how multi-party consensus has its dangers; how much more so, with the prospect of atomic Mutually Assured Destruction.

If only the fiery left-wing orator George Galloway had been re-elected to Parliament, so that he could raise his dissenting voice. Instead he is reduced to using YouTube to interview former weapons inspector Scott Ritter on the risk of nuclear conflict. UK Army head General Sir Roly Walker has told the RUSI Land War Conference that our armed forces are under-resourced and we need to double them by 2027. Ritter says the crisis may come sooner, for the latest START Treaty, limiting the use of strategic nuclear weapons, is due to run out on February 4, 2026. After this, both sides may rush to reinstall intermediate range nuclear missiles close to Ukraine’s border with Russia.

Ritter thinks NATO stupidly believes it can continue to push on and call Russia’s bluff, but because of technological development the time for leaders to make rational decisions in an emergency has shortened. Russia might have as little as six minutes to follow protocols and decide whether to respond with atomic weapons; and there is, he says, no such thing as a limited nuclear war.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has now set its ‘Doomsday Clock’, an indicator of their assessment of potential global disaster from various threats, to ‘90 seconds to midnight—the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been—in large part because of Russian threats to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.’

Would a Trump victory in the coming Presidential election ease back the hands on the clock? Not according to Ritter, on his Substack site:

Donald Trump, meanwhile, has proffered rhetoric which has led many to believe he would end the conflict in Ukraine, and thereby open the door for better relations with Russia. But this policy is predicated on the concept of the “perfect phone call” between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin where the Russian leader accedes to American-dictated terms regarding Ukraine which would fall far short of Russia’s stated goals. Trump has made it clear that if Putin fails to bend the knee on Ukraine, he will then flood Ukraine with weapons.

Ritter is proposing a mass US voter movement telling Dems and the GOP that their November ballots will go to whichever side pledges a commitment to peace and the prevention of nuclear war. Surely we in the UK, too, should urge our MPs to turn back from impending disaster.

We must also hope that Sunak’s replacement as Party Leader will offer a modified position on Ukraine. As Churchill said in 1954, ‘Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.’

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Also published at the Bruges Group blog

FRIDAY MUSIC: Stephanie Trick, by JD

Here is Stephanie Trick, a young boogiewoogie/stride piano player,  a style which emerged around 100 years ago. She is one of a surprising number of young musicians who are 'keeping the flame alive'

Stephanie Trick (born 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States) is an American stride, ragtime and jazz pianist.

Trick began playing piano at the age of five. Her interest outside classical music began at the age of ten, when her piano teacher introduced her to ragtime. She received her BA degree in music with honors from the University of Chicago in 2009. Trick demonstrates piano performance and composition styles of stride, ragtime and jazz piano from the 1900s to the 1940s. She emphasizes jazz standards, stride and boogie-woogie tunes with an accent on her specialty of Harlem stride.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Trick
https://stephanietrick.com/biography.htm

MARGIE | Stephanie Trick

SUDDENLY | Stephanie Trick

THE MINOR DRAG (Fats Waller) - Stephanie Trick

"BOOGIE WOOGIE STOMP": STEPHANIE TRICK, NICKI PARROTT, HAL SMITH at FILOLI 2012

Stephanie Trick plays Handful Of Keys by Fats Waller stride piano

Bach Up To Me - Stephanie Trick, 2014

FRIDAY MUSIC: Lake Street Dive cover Beatles/Traveling Wilburys, by JD

Came across these videos last weekend and they deserve an airing!

Lake Street Dive paying homage to the Beatles with a rooftop concert of their own. Followed by an equally tongue in cheek tribute to The Traveling Wilburys and this version of "Handle With Care" is excellent (better than the original?).

Lake Street Dive - "Don't Let Me Down" [The Beatles cover]

Lake Street Dive - "Two of Us" [The Beatles cover]

Lake Street Dive - “Handle With Care” (The Traveling Wilburys cover)

More!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by Wiggia

The more they get the more they waste…

Currently we are getting more of everything that is bad for us. How that will evolve over the coming months and years can only be guessed at. The ones who tell us otherwise, are still adding to the never ending pile of unnecessary legislature and administration all of which has little or no effect on everyday life and despite never ending assurances has no bearing on any progress. In this miserable downhill world, more is added daily to help with our demise. Surely things are not that bad? Well convince me otherwise.

Starmer offers us change. Where have I heard that before and has anyone ever meant it or achieved it?

Between December 2023 and March 2024 the number of public servants increased by 27,000. Will we see a cull as needed? And likewise in the NHS bureaucracy, our gay health minister in waiting, I mention his sex choice because before he barely scraped home in Ilford he managed to get his gay boyfriend on the candidate list, as did many others like Sue Gray’s son now an MP. Nothing really changes does it Keef? Favours, narcissism, nepotism all are still rife in politics.

At the same time Michael Gove, remember him after 14 years in government? suggests cuts: ‘Michael Gove joins a think tank, recommends civil service be slashed.’ He always was good for a laugh.

Just in…

More taxes, as expected. Total denial by the Labour Party in the run up to election day that taxes will go up on top of the current record level we already pay, but they have no money. The country is bankrupt. all that is left are areas that can be regarded as non taxes on paper but in reality are. Get ready after the honeymoon period, if there is one this time, for the likes of fuel duty pay per mile, new forms of council charging. They will try to not use the word ‘tax’, yet it has been said in the past that politicians would tax the air that we breathe if they could - but they are, the ULEZ scheme does just that in London, soon to be followed by councils everywhere who are bereft of any original ideas other than paying themselves inflated salaries to run quite large organisations badly, see Birmingham, London etc etc.

Our local council is reducing payments to the genuinely disabled. This is the same council as with all others who quietly put thousands of asylum seekers aka economic illegal migrants into rented accommodation at our expense. Here in leafy Norfolk it seems every bus stop has a migrant waiting to taken into town while using their free mobile phones. I am sure that Keef will smash the gangs and stop all this nonsense pronto, for he has spoken.

Will the new government do anything about the water companies other than agree that they can fleece the public even more as monopolies who put dividends ahead of providing a decent commodity and service? Of course re nationalising has ben mentioned and who will pay for that? The working public silly, same with the railways should they go this route.

But with the debt mountain we have there is no money other than extra raised from tax on everything.

Even with their backs to the wall pre voting day Boris is wheeled out to save the nation and the party, party first of course, more lies from a serial liar come from him during his speech.

I really can’t be bothered to dissect his diatribe. This from the man who must be the first leader to annexe part of his country, N Ireland, in order to get a poor deal from the EU; that alone should see him never returning and worse to politics, and yet the nodding donkeys love him, God help us.

Did David Cameron’s ‘bonfire of the quangos’ ever achieve anything? Initially it was believed 180+ quangos had been abolished but further investigation found new ones had sprung up and many others had been moved into existing ones and expanded. This was repeated in 2015 and then Rees-Mogg had another bite in 2022. None have achieved any visible decline and there are now more than ever disguised as companies or outsourced and privatised,

The seemingly ever increasing desire for devolved areas and yet more government has resulted in what exactly? Can anyone point to any improvements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? All that has been achieved is further layers of government and bureaucracy with the accompanying costs which are not small. Not content with that more layers are suggested by forming yet more mayoral roles across the country in areas and cities.

More mayors are wanted according to our rulers. All that will come of that will be more and bigger offices full of more people shuffling papers and demanding we pay more to keep the whole thing afloat. All this watering down of Westminster’s responsibilities gives the powers that be the ability to shrug off responsibility when things go wrong, the classic ‘not my fault guv’ rather like the attitude when dealing with the EU that they can’t wait to go back to.

Naturally all parties promise the earth in election run ups, little of substance ever emerges on the statute books.

Perhaps they should change the regulatoryexemption that political parties get with advertising. The fact that only political advertising is exempt from the legal requirement of the Advertising Standards Authority should a client make a claim means that anything said or promised in print is just words.

More seats in Parliament: Labour as with the previous government has gained enormously by our ridiculously biased first past the post system, though unlike with Brexit you will not have those same baying mobs demanding another referendum (because they lost in a record turn out) calling for the same when Labour got a smaller percentage of the vote than Jeremy Corbin did but ended up with 411 seats. Sadly proportional representation is just as flawed because ‘populist’ parties are so often squeezed out as undesirable by coalitions, so expect more of the same.

Is there a solution. Probably not one that would solve all the faults of the two systems used by most countries. The days of a “fair fight” for representing us are long past. Any method that keeps any incumbent in power is now fair game. By contrast the Swiss have a hybrid that though not perfect does allow the people to say no or yes occasionally.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands …

https://x.com/i/status/1804084121477554618

Btw, if our politicians can go back 50 years to prosecute our soldiers in Northern Ireland, then there should be no problem going back twenty years and prosecuting the politicians responsible for Iraq.

Our new leader has started as he intends to carry on in this as he resolves the migrant crisis…

https://www.amren.com/news/2024/07/starmer-appears-on-bangladeshi-tv-after-illegal-migrant-comments-spark-backlash/

Expect more Lords appointments soon. They will need an overflow building to accommodate all these extra Lords and the Exchequer will have to find even more money to look after all the freeloaders that sign in and then go home.

How long have both parties when in power spoken of reforming the Lords, with no intention of doing anything as it suits the current system of government. Unless of course it is about something sensible such as solving the migrant crisis: ‘that’s different!’

Change, eh, Mr Starmer?

FRIDAY MUSIC: Lake Street Dive, by JD

 More hidden gems. Here are Rachael Price (vocals) and Bridget Kearney (double bass) who together with (irregular) backing musicians are known as Lake Street Dive.

"Lake Street Dive is an American multi-genre band that was formed in 2004 at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. The band's founding members are Rachael Price, Mike "McDuck" Olson, Bridget Kearney, and Mike Calabrese. Keyboardist Akie Bermiss joined the band on tour in 2017 and was first credited on their 2018 album Free Yourself Up; guitarist James Cornelison joined in 2021 after Olson left the band. The band is based in Brooklyn and frequently tours in North America, Australia, and Europe."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Street_Dive

https://www.lakestreetdive.com/

 Lake Street Dive - Call Off Your Dogs [Official Video]

Lake Street Dive - "You Go Down Smooth" (eTown webisode #601)

Lake Street Dive - Hypotheticals [From Phantom Studios]

Lake Street Dive - Good Together (Official Music Video)

Lake Street Dive in the Studio: Rachael Price Sings "What I'm Doing Here" In One Complete Take

GE 2024: A Close Shave

How Jess Phillips MP nearly lost Birmingham Yardley

There was something in the air as we walked to the community centre to cast our votes. The polling station staff were unusually energised and cheerful. Asian women electors were coming and going.

We had almost decided not to vote at all. Our constituency is by tradition ultra-safe Labour. In 2019 Electoral Calculus put Jess Phillips’ odds of winning at 99%; this time, after boundary changes, 96%:

The forecast underestimated two factors: Nigel Farage lately taking the reins at Reform, and a Muslim bloc galvanised by what it sees as ‘genocide’ in Gaza.

Peter Hitchens had alerted us to Gordon Brown’s proposals for further emasculating Parliament, urging us to hold our noses and vote for anyone at all who stood a chance of stopping Starmer’s Labour.

On the face of it, Jess’ expected margin of victory was so great that she would win even if it halved. A flyer from the LibDems said they offered the best chance of defeating her; I didn’t believe it.

However the vehemence of Muslim feeling nationally about Palestine suggested to me that the new contender running under the flag of George Galloway’s Workers Party might prove interesting. I toyed with the idea of opting for him to lessen Labour’s joy, but I couldn’t do it. Galloway’s policy promoting a unitary Palestinian state may be simple idealism, but it threatens a bloodbath. Millions of Gazans have the Jew-hatred common to Muslim worshippers, but have had it intensified by the long, slow-burning conflict with their next-door neighbour and also by a disgraceful Hamas education system that fans the flames through the curriculum. After the open warfare following 7 October 2023, what peaceful coexistence could there possibly be?

Since there seemed no chance of successfully voting against Labour here, I could back Reform with a clear conscience, hoping that it might send a message to all three major parties about the people’s dissatisfaction with their Europhilia and complete failure to stop massive-scale immigration.

The pollsters were wrong. If my wife and I had chosen the Workers Party man, and 692 others had done the same, Jess Phillips would now be out. It could have happened so easily, because the turnout was only 49% (Wikipedia says 50.3%, possibly counting spoiled ballot papers.) 700 votes out of 35,000 abstainers - just two per cent of them - would have been more than enough. As Tony Benn warned Parliament in 1991: ‘Apathy could destroy democracy. When the turnout drops below 50 per cent., we are in danger.’

By apathy he meant despair of dismissing the government using democratic means. We have managed that; what we cannot do is appoint an acceptable alternative, at least one that I and millions of others would like to have. On crucial matters - e.g. the EU, what to do about Covid - we have had no proper Opposition to voice our concerns.

Benn went on to warn of two other dangers. One was riot which ‘has historically played a much larger part in British politics than we are ever allowed to know.’ This year’s ‘pro-Palestine’ demonstrations in London, which also featured a degree of intimidation, had a flavour of barely-restrained riot and the police appeared to control them very gingerly, certainly not as firmly as they did counter-protestors.

The other peril named by Benn was nationalism - something positively encouraged by New Labour’s regional devolutions, and on a smaller scale inherent in the further plans that Starmer tasked Brown with designing - how long before Yorkists fight Lancastrians again?

Yet now that the UK’s Muslims account for six per cent of the population, the most pressing challenge presented by over-zealous group identity has taken an ideological form.

Enter Jody McIntyre, a British convert to Islam who first visited Gaza in 2009.

Here is the flyer we received some days before the election - it was personally addressed - so we had a copy each; the printing bill must have been great. Look at the skill demonstrated in its composition:

How many of the problems he mentions can be laid at Jess’ door, or blamed on Birmingham’s Labour council, or on the national Labour Party? What could McIntyre do to make things better?

The killer point - it’s classic rhetorical technique - is saved for last: ‘funding wars overseas.’ Some might read that as including Ukraine, but surely the main thrust is at Jess’ membership of the Parliamentary group Labour Friends of Israel, as his Twitter/X feed shows:

As the national press has noted, the declaration of Jess’ victory was accompanied by unpleasant behaviour - booing and the chanting of Palestinian slogans. During her speech, McIntyre was shaking his head and when she came to shake hands with her rivals he declined (see third clip on that link.) This may seem small potatoes but the refusal of losers to concede graciously strikes at the heart of the democratic system.

McIntyre has since gone further:

This road leads ultimately to woe and blood. Britain has suffered from intransigent absolutists before: Henry VIII enforcing his Church of England, Mary Tudor determined to reinstate Catholicism, Cromwell the Puritan dismissing Parliament and ruling as Lord Protector. If we followed Bible fundamentalists we would still be burning witches today.

Most Muslims in this country - at least, those who have been here long enough to appreciate the benefits of a fairly well-ordered society - live quietly, look after their families and pursue their business interests.

However recent arrivals from much more violent and intolerant societies - ones that set little store by literature other than their holy scripts - are another matter.

So too is an element of the young who even though born here are excited by the opportunity to get power and status quickly using the potentialities of Islam. Think of Shamima Begum, abandoning the restricted life of a schoolgirl and dutiful daughter in favour of marriage to a heroic jihadi in Syria: with a single bound she was one up on her mother! On 13 September 2011 at a Birmingham school where I taught part-time, I was confronted by a trio of teenage Asian boys, whose leader was exceptionally bright; speaking for all of them he said ‘What happened on Tuesday, Sir - good, innit?’ How do you like that ‘Sir’ by the way - bearing in mind he was vocally contemptuous in every lesson?

The Muslim wife of our neighbour has expressed an interest in reading and learning more about her faith. There must be many like her here - just doing the right thing in daily life without getting into all the detail of their religion. Like the neglected underbrush that resulted in catastrophic fires in California, Portugal and Australia, they await a spark of controversy such as Gaza to set our politics alight.

What fools our representatives - especially on the Left - have been, celebrating diversity without considering any consequences other than annoying their political opponents! Let them read and fully understand what is in the Koran and Hadiths.

Conflict is not inevitable, if we stand strong for our values. Harun al-Rashid, the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad and the mighty Western emperor Charlemagne exchanged precious gifts. Yet give way too easily and it will be as Osama bin Laden said: ‘When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse.’

Liberalism has to be defended as stoutly as any hotheaded dogma. It begins with free speech, mutual respect and a firm hand with those who seek a short way to power.

Lords reform: a suggestion

Yet again the issue of first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting comes to the fore. In my constituency the support for the Labour Party is traditionally overwhelming and so my vote has no effect.

Advocates for proportional representation (PR) are told it’s a bad idea because it likely results in no party getting an overall majority. Yet the latter stages of the 2024 General Election has seen desperate attempts to minimise Labour’s margin of victory for fear of radical constitutional change planned by Starmer and Brown.

Another argument for the status quo is that it preserves the personal link between an MP and his/her constituents. Yet modern voting seems to be about parties and party leaders, almost like a US Presidential election. Great MPs like the late Frank Field have lost out when they have tried to stand as independents because of some issue of principle.

Meanwhile we see a House of Lords in a scrappy state after New Labour’s tinkering - and it’s still (in some cases) a place to put people who’ve been generous donors or reliable party stooges.

In a wild moment Tony Benn called for creating a thousand new peers and then abolishing the peerage. If this implied doing away with a second chamber altogether it could have meant disaster: imagine a dominant political party that could enact laws fast and without revision.

So why not have the best of both - FPTP and PR?

Keep the constituency system as it is, with its flaws but also with the connection to an individual representative. Replace the House of Lords with a Senate of 100 - which is sufficient for the USA, a nation five times larger - whose seats are filled according to party affiliation?

The electorate would have two votes, as they do already in Scotland and Wales. One would be for their local candidate for the Commons, the other would be for the party whose philosophy they found most attractive. Look at the 2024 results above and see under ‘vote share’ for how this year’s Upper House could be constituted. Labour, seemingly almighty in the Commons, would have to get its legislation through the revising chamber with the support of some other parties - which might not be taken for granted on particular issues. Even now a Conservative/Reform bloc representing 38% of the total would be a formidable opposition to Labour’s 34%.

Would this be a better balancing system?