NOT "a constitutional outrage", by JD

Constitutional outrage? No, not in the least!



Galloway explains very clearly why the prorogue proposed by the Prime Minister is perfectly legal. He also says that the UK has an unwritten constitution but that is not strictly correct because even though it is written down, it is not all in one single document and more to the point it is not sacrosanct and is amended constantly.

"Being uncodified, the Constitution of the United Kingdom is in a state of constant flux. Each new law, each new major decision by judges, becomes a new stone in the edifice of the British Constitution. Thus, the British constitution changes all the time, very slowly, often imperceptibly. Britain moves forward by evolution, not by revolution."
https://about-britain.com/institutions/constitution.htm

An amendment to the constitution can occur after an Act of Parliament becomes law but that amendment may not become apparent until many years later. A perfect example of that in our current situation is the 1972 European Communities Act. Nobody realised that Parliament had abolished itself and handed over all legislative power to the EU. A few people knew but they did not speak. EU law take precedence over UK law where there is a conflict between the two and that is what lies at the root of the conflict between those who wish to leave the EU and those who wish to remain.

In essence English and Scottish law is grounded in common sense whereas Europe's Napoleonic code is based on rules and regulations: in the UK we are free to do as we wish unless it is against the law - in Europe we are allowed to do only that which is specified in the law.

Sackerson comments:

Lord Justice Laws explained ECA1972 as a "constitutional statute" - a statute enabling secondary legislation, but of a higher order than other such, so that it overrode elements of later Parliamentary Acts where they clashed with it.

However, he went on to say (para 58 here):

‘There is nothing in the ECA which allows the Court of Justice, or any other institutions of the EU, to touch or qualify the conditions of Parliament’s legislative supremacy in the United Kingdom. Not because the legislature chose not to allow it; because by our law it could not allow it. That being so, the legislative and judicial institutions of the EU cannot intrude upon those conditions. The British Parliament has not the authority to authorise any such thing. Being sovereign, it cannot abandon its sovereignty.’

So the issue - and it touches on far more than EU laws and regulations - is about government by secondary legislation.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Lhasa de Sela, by JD

Lhasa de Sela was a singer/songwiter who died almost ten years ago at the age of 37. She is not well known but she had and has a huge following and justifiably so because her music is very very good. Might not 'grab' you on first listening but you will find that it burrows its way into your consciousness.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhasa_de_Sela

Tales From The River Bank, by Wiggiatlarge

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

This quote struck me last year when I saw the boat in these photos. It is owned by a neighbour who has a garden, large, that goes down to the river's edge. The scene down there is tranquil, a million miles away from the hustle and bustle to the front of his house.

The story of his acquisition is as remarkable as the little boat. He was talking to a friend who had visited and the friend said he should have a boat on the river; only a canoe or small rowing boat would be allowed on the couple of navigable miles as the river and area are deemed to be of natural interest.

To my neighbour's surprise the friend said he knew someone who could make him one. "Won't that be expensive?" "Not if you speak to the man nicely,"said the friend, "as he makes them and other items for pleasure not profit, but you will have to wait awhile if you agree to go ahead."

After meeting the maker it was agreed and a few months later the boat was ready and has been in use every year since. The price was not revealed but it appears to be not much more than materials and a large beer !

The other reason I was intrigued was about a  man who could put so much craftmanship into such an object - not easy to see in the photos but the different wood spliced paddles give an indication - and who would do it in his spare time just for the pleasure of the final result. He knows little of boats; I have no idea where he got the skills he needs for that type of building but it works and has been much admired by others who do know. The builder is/was a cabinet maker by trade who just likes working with wood; long may skills like that continue.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Chloe Feoranzo, by JD

A long time ago I pointed out that young people today have better musical taste than our 'pop culture' would have us believe. One or two of them featured here -
https://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.com/2016/05/friday-night-is-music-night-young.html

Chloe Feoranzo is especially talented and deserves a post to herself. Two of the following videos demonstrate why: in the first one below (seen in the previous post) she is half way through her solo when Bob Draga has a quiet word with the rest of the band and then says to her ".... you go girl!" and she does, effortlessly with a mere split second hesitation into a second chorus. That is class; and in Montagne Sainte-Geneviève she displays wonderful technical mastery of a very difficult piece and does it with great style.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloe_Feoranzo

JULIAN ASSANGE: A Letter to the Home Secretary

I've tried, and you can probably do much better - I hope you do. I see Assange as essentially a political prisoner and think that despite his faults he should be defended - for our sake as well as his.

You can also write to him direct to help his morale - I repeat the guidance for this at the end here.

___________________________________

Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, Home Secretary

2 Marsham Street

Westminster

London SW1P 4DF

Tuesday, 20 August 2019

Dear Ms Patel

Julian Assange

I write to you in your capacity as Home Secretary and congratulate you on your recent appointment.

As you know, Mr Julian Assange has spent seven years effectively in solitary confinement at the Ecuadorian Embassy and has recently been seized from there and confined in Belmarsh Prison.

You will be very familiar with the details of his case. As you know, there is widespread disquiet about the British Government’s treatment of this journalist whose work has been given the Serena Shim Award “for uncompromised integrity in journalism.” (https://serenashimaward.org/laureates/)

May I most respectfully request that your Department:

1. Ensures that Mr Assange’s medical problems are addressed promptly, appropriately and fully, seeing that the distinguished journalist John Pilger reports him to be in poor and worsening health (https://consortiumnews.com/2019/08/07/new-fears-for-julian-assange/)
2. Ensures that he has access to papers and sources of information relevant to his defence and that items illegally seized (as reported in The Guardian here https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/19/us-prosecutors-julian-assange-wikileaks-ecuadorian-embassy ) are returned to him as soon as possible
3. Notwithstanding our country’s desire to maintain the most amicable relations with our friends in the United States, carefully and sympathetically considers appeals against his extradition

My reason for contacting you about this is that I feel that our country’s moral standing in the international world is in danger of being compromised in this case.

Yours sincerely
_________________________________

Julian Assange is being held in the maximum security Belmarsh Prison and appears to be in ill and declining health. Some people are concerned that he is not receiving adequate medical treatment, is being harmed by continuing long periods of solitary confinement and is allowed insufficient time to meet with his legal advisers and others.

Aside from protests, demonstrations and fund-raising, one way to show support is by writing letters - to your political representative, to the current Home Secretary Priti Patel, and to Julian himself (which MUST be done IN THE RIGHT WAY, as shown below).

Some links:

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/08/assange-must-not-also-die-in-jail/
https://steemit.com/wikileaks/@elizbethleavos/actions-for-assange-ideas-and-examples-of-how-to-help
https://writejulian.com/

Space: the superstore for energy and minerals?

Just connecting a few dots here, but there's an outside chance that doomsters could be confounded by technofixes involving space technologies.

A couple of years ago, The Sun newspaper reported on a planned NASA exploration of some of the asteroids sharing Jupiter's orbital path around the sun. One, "16 Psyche", appears to be the metallic core of a protoplanet and contains vast amounts of iron, nickel and precious metals:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2642475/nasa-to-explore-asteroid-16-psyche-which-is-so-valuable-it-could-crash-the-worlds-economy/

How could we extract these materials profitably and get them to where they are needed?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining

Could we bring an asteroid home?
http://kiss.caltech.edu/final_reports/Asteroid_final_report.pdf

And what about the potential out there for solar power generation?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-based_solar_power

If we are able to gather energy in space, how do we get it back to Earth? One suggestion is to beam it through the atmosphere down to ground-based receivers - but this involves energy loss on the way, and problems with ensuring that the beam is directed accurately and safely.

Here's a suggestion that occurs to me - probably kited already among the bright brains in those research units: space elevators (cables tied to the ground at one end, and to a geostationary satellite at the other.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
People are already experimenting with the idea on a smaller scale:
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/colossal-elevator-space-could-be-going-sooner-you-ever-imagined-ncna915421

- but instead of (or as well as) being a ladder for space vehicles to climb into orbit, couldn't they be high-tension power cables?

Brexit: Stay Out The Car

A scene haunts me, from the biopic "Pollock", and it keeps telling me about Brexit. The final moments are based on real events, with only minor changes (a strangers' house instead of a bar)...

By 1956 the abstract painter Jackson Pollock had passed the peak of his fame:

"The art critic Clement Greenberg—Pollock’s onetime champion—would later say that by this time “Jackson knew he’d lost the stuff” and was “never going to come back.” Pollock was drinking heavily and had fallen into an abyss of nonproductivity; he was in a “death trance,” according to another biographer friend, Jeffrey Potter." (1)

Pollock's lover Ruth Kligman returned to him from a stay in New York, bringing the receptionist (Edith Metzger) from the beauty parlour she frequented, because her friend Bette wouldn't come.

After dinner they drove out to a party.

"On his way to the car Jackson staggered and Edith asked Ruth if he was "all right? I mean, are you sure he can drive? He's been drinking all day." After reassuring words from Ruth they got in the car - all three in the front seat...

"We drove toward East Hampton. Jackson drove fine, then suddenly started driving very slowly, then slower and slower. Finally he came to a full stop in the fork of the road."

A policeman spoke to Pollock and let him continue.

Edith whispered to me, 'Ruth, he's drunk. Let's go home.'
'Take it easy. He knows what he's doing. Don't worry.'

... Again he started to fall asleep. He drove about twenty miles per hour, his great head falling, his eyes glassy, moaning incoherently. I wished to God I knew how to drive. 'Jackson, please let's go home'... We got him to stop. He turned around in front of [...] a roadhouse bar. [...]
Edith quickly got out of the car. 'I'm going to call for help or call a cab; I must do something.' She was panicked. She was right, but I called her back.

Jackson got furious. 'She can't go in there, get her back.' ...
'Edith, get back in the car. Come on! Don't go in there!'
'But Ruth, he's drunk. I don't want to drive with him. I'm afraid.'
'No, he's not, he's fine, I promise you, we're going home. Come on! Get in!'

[...] I finally coaxed Edith to get back in. We started on our way home. Jackson was fully awake, fully conscious. He was angry, annoyed at us, and began to speed.

Edith started screaming, 'Stop the car, let me out!' She was pleading with him. Again she screamed, 'Let me out, please stop the car! Ruth, do something. I'm scared!'

He put his foot all the way to the floor. He was speeding wildly.

'Jackson, slow down! Edith, stop making a fuss. He's fine. Take it easy. Please. Jackson, stop! Jackson don't do this.' I couldn't reach either of them.

Her arms were waving. She was trying to get out of the car.
He started to laugh hysterically.
One curve too fast. The second curve came too quickly. Her screaming. His insane laughter. His eyes lost. We swerved, skidded to the left out of control - the car lunged into the trees.
We crashed." 

The car had crashed into two small elm trees. All three were thrown from the car. Jackson and Edith were both dead. Ruth survived. (2)

- - - - - - -

Started so well... lost control... drunk, arrogant and overbearing... passenger's move to escape... stupid advice to stay in, from friend... going faster as the squeals get louder...

That's how it feels, to me.
_________________________________________________________________________________
(1) https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/09/jackson-pollock-ruth-kligman-love-triangle
(2) https://nowheretostay.blogspot.com/2011/12/ruth-kligman.html