On gay cakes

Hi All,

Silly old me for mentioning to someone I know that I support the Christians bakers , florists etc on both sides of the Atlantic on wanting to refuse services e.g. gay wedding or political slogans in support of or to gay/  straight couples.

The feedback  from my aghast opponents, I've tried to list below. You will note comments in brackets are why I think people hold these views. I cannot say for certain because with this conversations you cannot get passed the initial remarks. You're labelled as a bigoted traitor and that's the end of the matter.

1). It's bigoted [ how  dare they refuse service to someone for what they are. Would you agree to refuse service for blacks and Jews?]

2). It's discriminatory [see point 1. This is added separately to make you feel even more guilty]

3).  It's hypocritical [do  Christian cake makers ask or refuse people's  divorce status or whether  straight couple has had premarital sex. What about straight couples with children, but are going to get married after five years of cohabitation?]

4). How can you as a lesbian? [ not said but implied: and betray LGBTQ]

5). How can you as a Jew?[ less subtle , because Nazis boycotted Jewish businesses and destroyed them].

My response - if I'd have been permitted -  Would be along the following lines.

Before one can counter any of these things , it may be worth stating why I would support Christians to refuse" gay cakes". 

The reason is that I believe philosophically  in free markets with limited regulation and therefore punishment limited to "pragmatic" matters,  which are  so obvious to any one with a brain. For example regulations or punishment for cake makers if they use poisonous or gone off ingredients to make the cake, their standards of hygiene and food storage etc. 

It is  not , however, the job or role of the state to police and therefore discriminate who can and cannot be a seller or purchaser of a cake or product.  This neatly answers all of the objections people come up with or at least the five above.

In a free market it should be acceptable for businesses and also customers to not be forced to buy or sell to each other. Whether this is bigoted or discrimination is irrelevant,  but let's assume it is bigotry and discrimination. So what? It is up to the two parties involved in a service as to whether or not they wish to participate with each other. 

Likewise in the land of free markets there will be or there will be founded businesses which are ready and willing to provide this service, because there is now a market opening for such stuff. If I was refused services for being gay or Jewish I would simply look to someone who would provide that service. If there wasn't one, I'd simply set one up myself. In fact it's good Christians don't want to service gays , because this gives a budding entrepreneur an immediate pool of customers who can't go elsewhere. 

In respect of point 3 , this is irreverent to the discussion because it is up to the business to decide whom they wish to serve. Yes they are hypocritical here, almost no doubt about that and no doubt they'd not refuse or query a previously  divorced couple or ask about premarital sex.  But let that rest on their conscience and let them wriggle out of such moral , as aside to business questions.

Points 4 and 5  are a repetition of the same argument. But to answer it on the personal (as it is a personal attack)  is to note that being a Jew who is a lesbian is what I am. It doesn't mean that I as an individual intellectual person has to sign up to a group think that's dictated top down by a tiny group of self appointed activists. There's no elections by the gay community for these activists. Even if there were, I see it as my obligation to act as her majesty's loyal opposition.  The wider  LGBTQ idea is a ridiculous alphabet soup and a topic for another day, but suffice to say I don't agree with that idea anyways.  But above all I will NOT be used as cannon fodder to leftist battering ram for self appointed social justice warriors to impose their agendas on me and other people. In fact I'd rather get on quietly with my life and with my partner Sarah, than wage social justice warrior jihad against non gays.

There is one final and serious point about this comparison with Nazis  etc.  As I said I philosophically believe in free markets with minimal government interference.  The freer the market, the freer society is.  But with the Nazi boycott, the pogroms of Russia, the Spanish inquisition, how Iraq boycotted Jewish businesses 1941-1950  &  the apartheid / segregation toward blacks in south Africa / deep south .... pause for breath, became policy, was enforced and implemented not by private individuals, but by the aegis and authoritarian hand of state power. Thus precisely because I'm Jewish and lesbian, do I want to curtail the power of government . You never know when powers granted to a government to do xyz becomes a way of doing  the unintended abc (e.g. various local councils using anti terror laws to deal with bin collection issues).

Discuss.

Tu BiShva: Cool!

Hi All,

We're getting in a festive mood as today is   Tu BiShvat, "New year of the trees" : Rosh Hashanah La'Ilanot  in Judaism. 

Traditionally we eat fruit and us Sephardi ( this is done more in the Sephardim community and some mystical Ashkenazi communities) have a special meal with a Seder ("order") where we go through liturgy which explains why we observe this time and have food and wine with symbolic and spiritual meaning .

Here are some points for reflection:

"May all the sparks scattered by our hands, or by the hands of our ancestors, or by the sin of the first human against the fruit of the tree, be returned and included in the majestic might of the Tree of Life."

Jewish liturgy/ Seder

"When you come to the land and you plant any tree, you shall treat its fruit as forbidden; for three years it will be forbidden and not eaten. In the fourth year, all of its fruit shall be sanctified to praise the L-RD. In the fifth year, you may eat its fruit." -Leviticus 19:23-25

"For the L-RD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, springing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey" Deuteronomy 8:7-8

“man is a tree of the field” Deuteronomy 20:19

"And you, mountains of Israel, you shall give forth your branches and you shall bear your fruit for my people Israel, for they shall soon come."

Ezekiel 36:8

"There are four new years... the first of Shevat is the new year for trees according to the ruling of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel, however, places it on the fifteenth of that month". - Talmud, Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1

Equal pay at the BBC

A classic example of your leftist lack of grasp of reality is the Guardian's current headline regarding the BBC pay row. I won't dwell on the Guardian's virtue signalling, as there's more to this than the media like to admit.

 For those not in the know , last year the BBC - 

Ok . If you  don't know what the BBC is , well it is the British broadcasting corporation , a  state funded, but not state controlled,  media conglomerate. The costs of this company are met  from a de facto tax or license fee  and profits from its "corporate " arm , e.g. selling Dr Who merchandise and selling their shows worldwide . If you want to have any t.v. or radio in the UK ,   you need to pay this "fee" , even if you NEVER watch the BBC channels or radio services. If you don't pay this fee, you get criminal, rather than civil punishment ( i.e. go to goal) . Oh and it's got a very soft left  liberal bias in its outlook and is unhinged when it comes to Israel. 

- released details of the newsreaders  and presenters who earn over -£150,000. (Circa $190,000) . And it was a fairly long list. But what got media attention was the gap between the amount the BBC paid male staff and female staff. So male presenter A got £400,000, but female presenter B got a 'mere' £330,000. It's like saying Mr Gates earns a trillion, but Mrs Gates 3/4 of a trillion. When you reach a level , a plateau , enough for comfort and some, does the equivalent to them odd 'loose change' matter?

The result is a big backlash by those  middle-class women at the BBC , demanding pay rises to match the men , accusations of institutional sexism etc. Or the usual. The BBC response is that they're trying to cap pay at £320,000 maximum and cut the male staff's pay to the level of the women. Thus feminist outrage is utterly backfiring , even if the BBC agree to fund the current crop of women for increases and back pay.

As a side comment-

The cutting of male salaries to be equal of female salaries is a working example of  socialism in a nutshell. You don't, or rather can't,  make people equal by giving everyone a million. So socialism  cuts (via taxation)  the ones earning the million , so everyone gets a rough average. 

But the key thing for me was :  why did no-one comment on the enormous  amounts these staff get? . Several hundred thousand pounds is more than a doctor of medicine earns and puts anyone in the highest income tax bracket of 45%.   Why do these privileged BBC bods think they're entitled to more from  a taxpayer funded machine? . And why do the women moan when they're earning several times the actual average wage and have a good set of earnings compared to other women?  Aren't they earning enough? What about the sisters earning the minimum wage and paying for their female betters  via the license fee tax ?

It couldn't be that this is middle-class feminist ideology ?

Funny old world.

Loony left time

It's loony left time in which I pick an example of how the left has gone mad .

Today's loony left is about a self appointed group of social justice warriors who haven't taken kindly to a cafe in North London called Blighty. In short this is a world war two themed cafe , which inevitably leans heavily on the iconic British Prime Minister and great British hero Winston Churchill. This group of activist lefties  don't like this because it's all too racist and promoting colonialism, all of which Churchill was a personification.

Yessssss . It's  typical of loony left types.  Reality and rational discussion overridden by virtue signalling and ungrateful disparaging of one of the great men of history.

Let's forget if it wasn't for Churchill and his leadership of  the British people in absolute defiance against the odds and against an evil tyranny , the world would shrouded in the darkest evil of Nazism. These people wouldn't be allowed to demonstrate, go to university or do anything. They'd be no Jews. Millions of other peoples would be living as slaves.

Thanks to Churchill, both my own and Hannah's family found a refuge here in Britain.  They fought and contributed to this country and we were taught obligations as well as living in a free society where we could be Jews and not have a Gestapo coming to kill us, where we could fulfil our potential under this precious freedom and  celebrate and not trash this great country.

Pence and Haley for 2020?

If Trump decides not to attempt another term ,  what better combination of Mike Pence and Nikki Haley for the Republican ticket in 2020? 

Will Brexit actually happen?

Hi All,

One thing about the current media age is the massive flow of constantly changing information and headlines. We often can't see the wood through the trees and rarely give ourselves time to take a step back. I found this video on YouTube. It is interesting because to my mind this is exactly how the EU - and indeed government remainers- are doing. It's interesting because of course the FT was a remain paper. This was also published shortly after the vote. At the time it could have been interpreted as a remain dream or hope. In retrospect it seems like a startling piece of analysis. I want Brexit to happen, that is real "hard"  brexit.

But my gut says that it won't happen. The conservatives have messed this up and I'm being to think it is by deliberate design , rather than just poor management or leadership. A fudge like the one described below will happen. Another vote will be called.... etc. What is unknown is how the other half of the country reacts to this and if the arch remainers think that will be the end of the matter, they will sadly be mistaken.

The can of worms that an overturning of the first referendum will unleash is not good. A democratic  country can survive economic downturns, which was the "worst case" scenario (I believed and still do it was scaremongering of the highest order and remainers say the Brexit side lied!) .  But a democratic country cannot survive when the very fundamental of democracy i.e. how people vote , their wants and concerns, is not only ignored but overruled. 

But , anyway I recommend watching the two minutes below and give me your thoughts as ever.

The problem isn't with Hammond or Boris

The recent brexit negotiations have been a shambles. Added to this has been cabinet ministers straying away from government policy and speaking their minds publicly.  They can of course do so because at the heart of the Brexit negotiations there is no government policy. It is being done on the hoof, which results in round one a clear victory for the EU.

To explain what I mean let's take a step back at look at the theory and practice of British government (as opposed to politics). In theory and practice the government is drawn from the majority party in the house of commons and lords. The apex of government is the Cabinet , a committee of the (in theory)  more powerful Privy Council. In practice it is the Cabinet, made up of the senior political Secretaries of state , that make the key decisions on the policy and direction of the British state. The Prime Minister is NOT a President and is officially Primus Inter Pares - first among equals- of the Cabinet. The Cabinet discusses policy in private and comes to a collegiate decision which binds all of them into publicly support for that or this policy . If a member of the Cabinet disagrees they can either suck it up or resign.

Are you with me so far?  

Good.

So the problem with our Brexit negotiations and strategy is that - as Chancellor  Hammond admitted- there's been no discussion on exactly what the Cabinet wants and no effort to thrash out a position . When the government claimed it didn't want to show its hand, lest the wicked foreigners get one up on us, it sounded sensible. The trouble was it was a vacuous as any other of  Prime Minister May's  statements and spin. Brexit means Brexit was a good holding statement , but no-one has the faintest idea of what this means.

 Ergo Foreign Secretary  Boris can call for a post brexit spending splash on the NHS and his opponent Chancellor Hammond can speak of being as close to the EU as possible , in an attempt to keep big businesses on side. But neither are speaking from an agreed Cabinet position because there isn't one. Instead Mrs May drifts from one crisis to the next and just gives out increasingly uncertainty and crass incompetence. Into this vacuum and without direction the civil service - not exactly known for vision and preferring the status quo - is taking over policy.  Hence a 2-3 year transition period , during which we'd have no say on new EU policy or regulations. So they can bind us to allow , say, Turkey into the EU or create a pan Euro army and we'd have no way of blocking it.

Do they , i.e. the conservative party, get rid of May?  Would it make a difference? It wouldn't at the moment , it would be the rearranging of the deck chairs of the titanic. At the least the  Cabinet, needs to do its job and  have a long discussion as to exactly what they want and the policy to peruse this aim. If that means hard or soft brexit or no brexit, at least we'd know where everyone stands.  But the country cannot afford this drift. It needs clarity and clear direction. Even if this upsets some and let's face it whoever is in charge of these negotiations would upset someone. In short choose your enemies. Choose your poison. Before the choice is given to you.

NEVER AGAIN

Ahenou Kol Beit Israel - אחינו כל בית ישראל

Acheinu kol beit yisrael, han'tunim b'tzara uvashivyah, haomdim bein bayam uvein bayabasha. Hamakom Y'racheim Aleihem v'yotziem mitzra lirvacha um'afaila l'orah umishiabud lig'ulah, hashta ba'agala uvizman kariv.V'nomar: Amen 

אַחֵינוּ כָּל בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל, הַנְּתוּנִים בְּצָרָה וּבַשִּׁבְיָה, הָעוֹמְדִים בֵּין בַּיָּם וּבֵין בַּיַּבָּשָׁה, הַמָּקוֹם יְרַחֵם עֲלֵיהֶם, וְיוֹצִיאֵם מִצָּרָה לִרְוָחָה, וּמֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹרָה, וּמִשִּׁעְבּוּד לִגְאֻלָּה, הַשְׁתָּא בַּעֲגָלָא וּבִזְמַן קָרִיב.

Translation:

As for our brothers,​ the whole house of Israel, who are given over to trouble or captivity​, whether they abide on the sea or on the dry land: 

May the All-prese​nt have mercy upon them, and bring them forth from trouble to enlargeme​nt, from darkness to light, and from subjectio​n to redemptio​n, now speedily and at a near time; and let us say, Amen. 

Friday open thread

Hi All,

Our traditional open Friday thread. Shabbat Shalom!

Here's a song via Sam:

Another reason why UK Jews...

Hi All,

....Are overwhelmingly not supporting the Labour party. In the last election some 85% voted conservative. A contrast to America where the majority of Jews vote democrat. Why is this the case?  

The answer is partly because UK Jewry is overwhelmingly centre - orthodox , whereas in the U.S, the reform, liberal and conservative movements make up the bulk of the population. 

But the other influencing factor is the state of the left or more accurately the Labour party,that  is now further to the left than the democrats in both economic, social policy and foreign policy.  Especially with Jeremy Corbyn and his praetorian guard in momentum. 

To whit there is a House debate on banning the political wing of Hamas in the UK (in America both political and military wings are banned).   Yet according to the Jewish chronicle :

Labour MPs have been advised not to push for Hezbollah to be banned in Britain because party leaders want to “encourage” the terrorist group “down an effective democratic path”.

The advice came ahead of a backbench debate on the issue on Thursday organised by Joan Ryan, a Labour MP and chair of the party's Friends of Israel group.

The briefing advises backbenchers: “There is a balance between making absolutely clear our abhorrence of using violence to achieve political ends and at the same time encouraging organisations down an effective democratic path:“Full proscription could be a move against dialogue and meaningful peace negotiations in the Middle East.”

Yet Hamas are NOT interested in peace and never have been. They wish to drive Jews from Israel from the river to the sea, the total destruction of Israel and the murder of her Jewish population.  If they had an opportunity they would turn Israel into a charnel house. The last war was caused by Hamas building tunnels into Israel , into which weapons were stockpiled , so they could launch themselves to kill civilians. At the same time they had also kidnapped and then  murdered several teenage boys, who were studying at the local religious seminary.  It is awash in antisemitic ideology and literature and in any case makes no distinction between its own military and political wings. It deals harshly with its own people, refuses to hold elections and is simply not an organisation you can negotiate with in good faith.

Why the far left support such an organisation is up to them to justify , but that's another nail in the coffin as to why I couldn't support the left and why I'm more in the conservative camp.

I'm a GNU?

Hi All,

Another cool song, which cheers me up during these winter months. I don't know why it cheers me up. It just does!

Time for a song

Hi All,

Time for a song ,which got me into science, well that and my paternal   uncle, who was a British/ Irish Anglo Catholic Anglican Protestant Zionist [ like Mike Pence with a  Yorkshire accent] - and my maternal grandparents -  devout Mesopotamian Jews-   who loved our Holy Torah and saw no contradiction in loving the God of the universe and engaging in HIS world and creation.

Well cool:

Cool Furlings

Hi all,

Weren't the "Furlings " -one of the four advanced civilisations-  the coolest aliens in Stargate SG1?

KARDASHEV Scale

Hi All,

This scale was first postulated by Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev  way back in the swinging sixties. He suggested three types of civilisations based on their capacity to harness energy and use it . Since then other astrophysicists have added up to four new levels (Kardashev stopped at 3 ,believing anything above was impossible).

The levels are :

0-  a civilisation that is capable of harnessing planetary energy , but not to its total extent. This is humanity right now and we are apparently 0.73  on the scale.

1 - A civilisation capable of harnessing the total energy output of their home  planet. At this level the civilisation could control their own weather, tectonic plates, volcanoes ,  the environment. This is apparently where we are likely to be in 100-200 years (I'd add providing we haven't blown ourselves up).  

2-  A solar civilisation capable of harnessing the total energy output of a star and furthermore live in  a  Dyson sphere. Note a Dyson sphere is nothing to do with the vacuum cleaner company,instead it is a mega spherical structure which  encompasses an entire solar system,including the star. This civilisation would live inside such a  sphere.

3- This is one up from three, wherein you have a galactic interstellar civilisation that could span an entire galaxy , using the energy  output of multiple stars, move planets around and basically treat the galaxy like a play ground.

4-  This would be a universal civilisation, capable of utilising and travelling through the entire universe , using whole galaxies as an energy source. 

5-  A civilisation that has outgrown its original universe and is capable of exploring & using the energy of   parallel dimensions and alternative realities of the multiverse (see string theory). 

6- almost a God like civilisation,which  exist out of space and time , can create universes and destroy them. You can see why Kardashev stopped at level 3....

But what do people think?

Friday open thread

Hi All,

Usual Friday open thread.

Shabbat Shalom!😃🔯

UCS

Hi All,

University College Snowflake, Connecticut, USA, planet Earth. Present day.

The social justice warriors were out in force at the University campus.  He had to be sacked.

'One has to say this is giving into mob rule my dear Dean of faculty'

' I understand Hank , but the faculty board has decided to terminate your stay here and you'll be recalled to the University of Cambridge with immediate effect'.

'Henry. But you know this is how Rome fell... Oh very well if that's what you American  chaps want, one will go. Although it was never quite clear to me how incorporating alternative gender, women's with white fascist privilege studies and physics, astronomy and astrophysics would work'.

' Well the first set you mentioned are real academic studies  that our students can understand. The second set. Well they're just too abstract and complex , too challenging for the average student. This could trigger anyone of them into a meltdown ;you know having ideas and concepts there aren't used to dealing with. Besides which they get their scientific knowledge from blogging atheist super stars who know more about the universe than you scientists'.

'Sounds bonkers'

'Welcome to University College , Snowflake'

Sh*t gate thoughts

Hi All,

First thought:

Would you go off and live in El Salvador , Haiti and sub Sahara Africa, Zimbabwe, Eritrea , Sudan , Somaliland etc?

If not , then according to liberals , you're a racist.....

Second thought:

These places are extremely poor and have corrosive corrupt government. In the most extreme cases life is hobbsonian i.e. nasty , brutish and short. It is therefore no surprise that people who can want to get to the west for a better life. But the thing is that liberals don't get that the answer is not massive immigration from one continent to the next ,  but to promote good governance and government. This doesn't necessarily mean a European style liberal democracy. It means providing the minimums that any nation state provides for its people. The difference between a failed state and a state. Africa for one is a continent rich in raw materials and a capable people :  to suggest otherwise is indeed racist . It can and should prosper in its own. But it needs to ditch the corrupt rulers and find leaders who govern for all citizens. Look at Zimbabwe or Rhodesia. One minute a thriving agricultural and industrial powerhouse. Thirty years of tyranny, hyper inflation and plutocracy and it's a disaster zone....

Canvey island : the promised land

Hi All,

This one is well worth watching on the I player if you didn't see it last week . It is a documentary about  ultra Orthodox Hasidic Jewish families moving from Stamford Hill in London to the unlikely place of Canvey island in Essex.  

Here is a clip  from YouTube:

Let it fail

Hi All,

First we bailed out the banks...

And now could we see us taxpayers bailing out a construction company come outsourcing conglomerate added to the list?  Because the said inept company owes a couple of billions to banks... 40,000 employees etc

 I'm sorry and I will doubtless make myself unpopular here,  but if they do bail them out then the capitalist system is dead. The conservative government- who incidentally didn't bail various high profile and now bankrupt  retailers - wouldn't give a shit about ANY of the small businesses I support and invest in. They'd be let go without a second thought. Hence the anti small business measures of spreadsheet Phil , the chancellor, re national insurance,  business rates and other regulations and taxes. Capitalist yes, but only for billion pound companies. The little guy, the entrepreneur , can go hang.

 If the bailout of Carillon happens- hot on the de facto bailouts of several train franchises-  then we're nothing but a corporatist system which favours big boys over the nipper and creative small opposition. If companies are too big to fail then capitalism has failed. We may as well just give Jeremy Corbyn the keys to government and let him nationalise whatever he wants. At least his anti capitalism is honest and open. Enough of the corporatism. 

Let it fail. There will be other companies willing and able to take over the company in administration and split it up into manageable parts.  Yes there's 40,000 jobs at risk. Yes there's a disastrous pension black hole.  But capitalism , the system we have, is based on the idea that businesses have to fail and then others can take up from the failure.

Shabbat Shalom!

Hi All,

Shabbat Shalom!😉😃🔯

The ring of fire

Hi All,

Multiple  supersonic nuclear tipped fired from the  Gaza strip, hit the gas rigs of the Leviathan Gas Field,  130 km west of Haifa, the latest depository of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean. It was meant to disrupt Israel energy supplies and cripple her economy.  

It did more than that:  the release of so much energy cracked the Mediterranean sea bed, whilst on the surface a vast column of superheated plasma travelled in all directions at twice the speed of sound until it hit land, people were scolded to dead with flesh slipping off their bones like a well boiled lamb shank. 

The sound of the explosion could be heard as far away as Dublin. Underneath the cracked seabed a  mega tsunami greater than the one which destroyed the Minoan civilisation formed. The whole region was hit will varying degrees of devastation .Israel, Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, Crete, Turkey ,Lebanon , Syria and of course Gaza took the full force. France ,Italy, Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar on the other side of Mediterranean also took lesser, if significant,  blows. Even in London windows were smashed.

While the shock of this event reverberated around the world, fundamentalist preachers lost no time in interpreting this event as a sign from Allah. The people of Gaza, most of whom were dead or dying,where in fact martyrs in paradise. Furthermore Allah had punished the apostate Arab regimes, the Zionist entity and its supporters. Now that the Zionist enemy was on its knees the time for holy armies to retake Al Quds and Palestine.

Not that this happened. The Martians , for whatever reason, decided to intervene.

'So what in the Sam hell did you do?' Asked the American ambassador to the UN.

The Martian , dressed in the traditional frock coat and top hat, smiled. 'Just what the UN had been suggesting for the past umpteen years: we've created a two state solution for Israel and Palestine. Quite literally'.

Seeing the confused look on her face he explained ' we  moved Israel out of harms way , but also copied the land you see. The Palestinians get what they've always wanted and so does Israel.  It's just that Israel, the original version, is now an island in the middle of the  Indian ocean. We are of course providing aid and supplies so they can rebuild'.

'They'll complain about this you know'

'Who?'

'The Palestinians, if they think theirs is a copy'.

' There is no pleasing some people'.

' Well hopefully it will bring peace to the region's

The Martian laughed. 'Somehow I doubt it, but I do wonder what the leftist at university are going to boycott now'.

' What  do you think'

'Cats. They should boycott cats'.

Empire abroad . Empire at home?

Hi All,

When I was writing this, I first thought of the following scene :

Now to be fair to Ronald  Reagn  he later became governor of California - a state bigger than some countries- and also had one other attempt at running for president during the primaries of 1976. So he did gain political experience from being a Hollywood actor to being  President of the United States. 

It is also true that while there have been plenty of rich patrician Presidents and Presidents born in log cabins , you can at least note that they came into politics with a solid idea of what they wanted to do and had a grasp of politics i.e. how to campaign, debate , speak etc. 

Today by contrast it feels that America or more specifically the republic's institutions are nothing but for an oligarchy at the top. This includes the Clintons and the Bushes , the Kennedy dynasty and maybe even the Trumps & Obamas should another member of either family choose to run.

 Britain might have a hereditary peerage , but the days of Prime Ministers coming from either Whig or Tory landed gentry are long gone. True the last hereditary peer to become prime minister was in 1963, but he was forced to abdicate his Earldom to do so. By contrast America is a Republic without an aristocratic hereditary principle , yet it seemingly has an informal oligarchy to   aristocracy.

Looking at the outside I would say to my American friends if you value your republican institutions as mandated by your constitution, then think again before you anoint another oligarch to be a democratic or republican candidate. If you do not and the system keeps producing candidates on both sides with familiar family names then your republic will wither and die. It will become another Rome. Incidentally I would include Oprah here, but that's the subject for another post.

In some ways America already is another Rome in so much as there is an official Republic at home and abroad an Empire, though like Romans, most Americans don't see it that way. However look at the vast array of military bases and commitment America has to umpteen allies around the planet. Not even the British Empire at its greatest extent had such commitments and indeed Britain often opted for compromise and peace , rather than war (for example the Venezuelan boundary dispute and America in 1898).

Look also at the  philosophy of neo conservatism, popular in both Democratic and Republican circles,  which has at its core the idea that by spreading American ideas throughout the globe (by force if necessary) especially democracy then the world will be a better place, coupled with a default hostility to Russia and China. This is no different to Rome's view of the external barbarians. And in any case the empire abroad, quickly became an Empire at home. 

Even more interesting was that the first Emperor of Rome, Augustus ,  insisted that Roman was still a Republic that he had restored and protected; he even kept the trappings of the republic, such as the Senate. We know differently and I hope we never see America become an Empire a broad and an Empire at home.

Sephardim as a model for Jewish unity?

Hi all,

Interesting discussion between my two favourite Ashkenazi and Sephardi Rabbis on Jewish unity :

Sir Humpf on EU

Hi All,

Lessons from the past (and for EU Liberal) on Britain and the EU:

Retro tv shows

Hi All,

As we await news of The Donald's latest tweets and May's cabinet reshuffle , here is a cool retro tv show intro for Relic Hunter, when life was much simpler , they should bring this one back!😃

Trigger warnings for failure?

A friend of mine or more accurately an associate on my course , said that they had recently been playing a couple of games online via various apps. She said that she felt "triggered" by the fact that sometimes she lost and words came up along the lines of "level failed. You did not reach the goal". She felt that there should be a law by which games come with "trigger warnings" about  failing  and explaining that it is actually ok to fail , that it isn't you whose at fault. 

My response was that , aside from being a ludicrous suggestion, success and failure were just part of normal existence and nothing to be triggered about;  also that part of good conduct is to be magnanimous in victory or defeat. 

She said I was being  harsh  & nasty. 

Was I?

George III tweets : I'm a stable genius

After the early release of an explosive new book "George : the man who lost America and his mind" , the King took to Twitter to update his 8 million followers. Declaring in one tweet that he was not mentally ill ,but in fact  "a stable genius " and in another a photo with him and the King of Prussia (in a reality a tree)  shaking hands .  

The King also tweeted to Napoleon that he had "a bigger navy than you".  Tories rallied round the King after the publication of the book and his apparent falling out with former Prime Minster Pitt the ever so young. The King lambasted the Whig mainstream media as "fake liberal news". 

In other news war with France seems inevitable....

Shabbat new year

Hi All,

Shabbat Shalom , the first of the secular New Year!

the Hirsel accords

Hi All,

In the 1950s , when Britain was rebuilding after the second world war , a giant zigguart was discovered underneath the city of Birmingham.  In one of the chambers of this monolith  was a portal, a space bridge to another universe, built by the natives of Mars as a way of escaping a war that they were losing.

After the first trepid explorers entered the portal they returned with visitors, the Martians themselves. In the Hirsel accords ( named after the  Scottish stately home of the Foreign Secretary of the time)  the Martians agreed to give humanity the usage of  space exploration technology. The zigguart was designed to build and  send probes throughout our galaxy, each carrying a device capable of instantaneous transportation from one point to another, a stargate .

In return humans agreed never to step foot into the Martian universe (unless asked) and to share any and all information on the planets and people encountered with the Martians . Oh and 'our' Mars would be recognised as sovereign Martian territory. The zigguart itself was transported- "beamed" - to Mars and the British stargate moved to the Falkland Islands....

The château neuf du vin de l'empereur

Hi All,

Having your own personal vineyards, winery, cellar and bottling plant was  one of the advantages of being the Emperor of the largest and most powerful civilisation in the universe. 

This wasn't on a planet either, but on a space ship, a million miles long , a further million wide and a million tall. If she -the ship herself is a living being, having been  germinated & grown in Jupiter's atmosphere [Martian ships can be conventionally constructed or be organic animal, vegetable and mineral varieties]  was placed through the sun , she would stick out at either end like a piece of Blackpool rock. 

She was designed and then grown by the entire staff and students at the Imperial University of Juipter, as a challenge given to them by the Emperor on a Royal visit.  There's also a beer equivalent and today the university is  , for staff, students and alumni granted beer and wine from the estate of these imperial ships . The château neuf du vin de l'empereur - the marketing and business studies students thought French would give her a "sexual"  appeal and in any case the outward appearance of the ship looked like some medieval castle- was quite a ship..

"As you can see Prime Minister Heidi Berkshire , this is one of the barrel cellars". There must have been millions of oak barrels stacked in the cellar, but these barrels were as big as any skyscraper." They've been there for a least a thousand years, slowly fermenting and making Martian red wine: the barrels are made from carbon dioxide and yeast wood,which leads to the fermentation of the wine , gives it distinct flavour and -".

Batset  cut off her sentence as she could tell  the human wasn't even listening. "Are my apologises , it must be difficult to take all of this in Prime Minister".

"It's too much , too much , a space ship that makes wine and a six foot  talking tiger wrapped in tin foil from Mars, with a Birmingham accent... it's , it's ... unbelievable!" 

" Well Scotsman Lord Hume took it in his stride as did Mrs Thatcher, Jim Callaghan loved it . Then the Russians are a good sport too ;   Yeltsin  and I used to drink like chimneys and smoke like fish as you say. Mind you Juncker gives even I a run for my money and I have three livers "  said Batest encouragingly . "And in any case I'm not a tiger  nor am I a wrapped in tin foil, I'm certainly NOT  Martian and my accent Birmingham? BIRMINGHAM? ! Black country if you don't mind: lot's of planets have a black country ".

"Then what..."

There was a crash, a boom and everything went dead..

Happy birthday Esther!

Hi All,

Brexit page

To stop people (or rather person)  from trolling every  thread with Brexit diatribes  , this is a dedicated  space for people to rant about it to hearts content, 24-7. 

Yorkshire Dr Who?

Hi All,

Some fans object to the new Who having a Yorkshire accent. Others don't like the" vagina and breasts". Others just don't like both. I understand that  The people's front of Judea or maybe The Judea's people's front  don't like the show full stop.

hmmmm .... Yorkshire plus a vagina and breasts?

There's nowt like such a combination !

In fact. Pretty cool and awesome I'd say. Anyways it will be like the tea advert (very British) where the plucky Yorkshire team sort out the invading aliens :

For everything there is a season

Our King  Shlomo [ Solomon] of blessed memory once said "To everything there is a season and a time for everything under heaven".  One thing I didn't understand as a Jew, but I do now, is why is it that we're just a very small section of humanity , yet God chose us to glorify him throughout the nations of this earth?  Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon , yet is known to billions of people, as are the Jewish scriptures , even though us Jews are tiny in terms of numbers. The Rambam explains this in his writings, but we need not dwell on that today.

For  this is a new year. At least the one which is universally recognised. 

There is a  time for everything. 

Reflection :

What is your time to do and not to do?