Scottish Nationalism is still Nationalism : Why is the left silent on this bit of Xenophobia?

 Hi All,

For the better part of six years anyone who agreed with brexit was deemed by the left to be a 'xenophobe' and exit from the EU akin to the kinds of catastrophes written in disaster movies.  The left at very turn throughout it's history has emphasised inter-nationalism, rather than what they see as crude and vulgar nationalism of nation-states (even something as mild as waving a flag around). Yet we are now facing in the next year the very real possibility of another Scottish Independence referendum and 'Scotxit' from the UK.  Yet we never hear or read of the same condemnation used towards Scottish Nationalists as 'xenophobic' from the mainstream left. In fact Scottish Nationalism seems to have been given a pass, on the following grounds :

1) It's civic and not religious or racial nationalism, so that's ok.

2) The majority of Scottish Nationalists are left wing, so that's ok.

3) We need the Scottish Nationalists to get power, so that's ok we need a 'progressive coalition' to put Labour into power. 

Dealing with these in turn: 

1) There's another country continually panned by the left that has a form of civic nationalism and it's called the USA: from flag waving patriotism to the swearing the pledge of allegiance every morning at school or treating the US constitution as akin to a holy book, these are all parts of American civic nationalism. Yet the left distains America and sees it as a racist country and the constitution as a racist conservative document, written by slaveholders. In any case, whenever you begin to debate with Scottish Nationalists you see that there is zero civic nationalism in their creed and worldview and it increasingly becomes hostile along  ethnic grounds, especially if you are English. Treated even worse- treated as traitors- are those Scots who are Unionists (i.e. at least half the population)  and those Scots who lived outside of Scotland and are also in favour of the Union. 

2) The Scottish Nationalists as left wing is somewhat of a misnomer. They are Nationalists first, but what better way to be popular than have a set of policies that require government spending on the Nordic model (which while a related topic is why the 'Sovereign Wealth Fund' akin to Norway would never actually have been built up, because they'd have spent it all) ? Just because you are into leftist welfarism and state intervention doesn't mean you are 'left wing': for example, Spanish and Italian Nationalists /Fascists  Franco and Mussolini operated from the right, but used the power of the state in economic and social policy. Zionism has many different aspects to it, but its roots  lie the ideal of an independent  Jewish State , i.e. Jewish nationalism, but also what kind of Jewish state it was going to be, i.e. a left wing social democratic and not a theocratic  one. Indeed from the beginning of the Jewish state to the 1980s, the politics was dominated by the centre left and the Israeli Labour Party, with most industry nationalised. Yet the left today cannot stand Zionism and use it as an insult.

3) The problem with this argument is that it forgets the point above : Scottish Nationalists are Nationalists and don't actually care about putting a Labour government into power, except to give themselves independence, in which case the whole thing is self -defeating, because as soon as that happens, Labour looses its majority and credibility with English voters. 

Shabbat Shalom!

 Hi All,

Shabbat Shalom and an open thread. My apologises for not writing anything at all this week. It's been busy, although I have written stuff, it's become a mosaic jungle, so haven't had the courage to post it as I don't think it's any good. 

But regardless of that, keep in touch as always. 

Shabbat Shalom!

 Hi All, 

Hopefully the weather will pick up for next weeks opening of the pubs. Until then. 

Shabbat Shalom!

'This one's looks like it's been written by an Indian'

Hi All,

I'm not one for long eulogies, but RIP HRH, Philip Duke of Edinburgh 

&  in his own words :

1. "Ghastly." Prince Philip's opinion of Beijing, during a 1986 tour of China.

2. "Ghastly." Prince Philip's opinion of Stoke-on-Trent, as offered to the city's Labour MP Joan Walley at Buckingham Palace in 1997.

3. "Deaf? If you're near there, no wonder you are deaf." Said to a group of deaf children standing near a Caribbean steel drum band in 2000.

4. "If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes." To 21-year-old British student Simon Kerby during a visit to China in 1986

5."I would like to go to Russia very much – although the bastards murdered half my family." In 1967, asked if he would like to visit the Soviet Union.

6."And what exotic part of the world do you come from?" Asked in 1999 of Tory politician Lord Taylor of Warwick, whose parents are Jamaican. He replied: "Birmingham."

7. "Do you still throw spears at each other?" Prince Philip shocks Aboriginal leader William Brin at the Aboriginal Cultural Park in Queensland, 2002.

8."Ah, so this is feminist corner then." Joining a group of female Labour MPs, who were wearing name badges reading "Ms", at a Buckingham Palace drinks party in 2000.

9."It looks as though it was put in by an Indian." The Prince's verdict of a fuse box during a tour of a Scottish factory in August 1999. He later clarified his comment: "I meant to say cowboys. "I just got my cowboys and Indians mixed up."

10."Get me a beer. I don't care what kind it is, just get me a beer!" On being offered the finest Italian wines by PM Giuliano Amato at a dinner in Rome in 2000.

The antiques and fine art of earth

 Hi All, 

In 1962, humanity fought its last great world war in which millions died. In such a war people forgot that not only life and potential life was lost, but also a lot of history: the books, manuscripts, artwork and other such spectacles that one might find in a library or museum.  

Or so people thought: In fact both NATO , Warsaw Pact and neutral  countries hid 99% of their national treasures , via launching them into space. The first evidence of this was in 2015, when a treasure trove of a thousand artefacts from the Hermitage Museum had been found in an old Soviet Rocket in the orbit of Uranus. Then came the legal case : who owned those priceless pieces of Earth history? The answer was in  a High Court case called State of Orthodox Russia Vs Only Interested in  making a  quick Buck  : whoever discovered them, rather than the initial state which put them into orbit in the first place. The rationale being that the States obviously didn't care about owning it, if they were prepared to risk them being obliterated in space. 

The result of this case was that treasure hunters, if they discovered such artwork etc, were allowed to auction it off for a profit which inevitably went to private wealthy individuals . In response, in 2026, the Earth Parliament passed the bipartisan  Farage- Bariner  'Antique, Artwork and Earth Heritage Salvation  restoration it's not for the rich' Act over Presidential veto, which stipulated than any further discoveries where to be sold at public auction within the Earth Sphere of influence , but mandated the newly created post of National Heritage Secretary to purchase such artwork et al, that was to be deemed 'important cultural artistic and antique heritage' at a price of 3 times the final bid and that the Earth Central Bank would provide an 'unlimited credit line' for such purchases. 

Of course what was definable  as national heritage was somewhat subjective : does Tracey Emin's  'my bed'  of 1998- launched into a 'time capsule' in 1999 and eventually discovered around Worf 359 in 2030-  bought by the NH Secretary at the time for £23 billion, under pressure from the Feminist bloc of Parliament, stand up equally as a piece of Earth heritage  as Sandro Botteicelli's 'Birth of Venus'- which the same Secretary allowed - because it was seen as 'sexist porn' by the same Feminist lobby - it to be sold to the Martian Museum for £400 billion ?

The Indulgers and the Divine Bank of Merit

 Hi All, 

The Financial Services Industry likes to have its hands in the most lucrative of honey pots- Endowments (universities, religious organisations, charities), Sovereign Wealth Funds (national or state mega funds, often obtained via natural resources), Pension Funds (be it government or corporate) , High Net Worthers (The middle rich) and finally Family Offices (the wealth of the extreme rich).  They were always on the look out for the next honey pot and in the religion of The Indulgers and their  Divine Bank of Merit, they'd found it. 

The Bank of Merit is the Galaxy's largest organised religion, cutting across thousands of species and cultures. Like most religions it has holy books, teachings and religious - quasi historical figures and interestingly a pantheistic set of gods and other divine to mythical creatures. It is their teaching on the after life that greatly interests Earth's financial services.  In essence the Bank of Merit is the heavenly savings account of all the good things- merit- that people do in life. When people die, so this religion teaches, you are first judged for your various sins and punished accordingly, but as with the secular world, some sins carry the equivalent of the death penalty of your soul . After this phase of punishment,  you are 'spiritually washed' for heaven and then enter the afterlife : it is your individual merits- what good you've done , how devout you've been and  the confessions you've made-  that have been credited to you at the Bank of Merit which determine how long this will take and your exact material status in heaven, believer or not. 

 Not to worry, for the representatives of the god's of the universe, The Indulgers of Merit, decreed that the divine had given to them permission to set up the Treasury of Merit, which has an unlimited credit facility from the Bank of Merit (which can in theory print as many merits as it wants and transmits these to the Treasury via the ability of the Indulgers authority to 'bind and loosen' Merits in the temporal world) and if you deposited cash or other goods to the Treasury, you'd be credited with Merits. 

This system has evolved over the past 3,300 years to the point that the Merits have become an tradeable  asset and forms an important Liquidity pool, given the religion's reach across the universe.  Some nations use these Merits as currency reserves or Merchants for trading collateral & others as part of a FOREX punt.  The Treasury of Merit still gives you Merits if you deposit cash or goods to them, in human terms they cost £100 each,  but these are often then sold on into what's called the secondary market - i.e. Stock Exchanges, where they are traded like any other asset and depending on demand can trade at a discount (i.e. under £100) or at a premium (i.e. over £100) . 

So to the Financial Services Industry of Earth, this was another lucrative, liquid and broad market in which to profit in so many ways . Firstly the religious institution itself, which if it were a company would be wealthiest in the universe - the  enormous fees from being their interstellar Accountant, Lawyer,  Deposit Banker, Insurance Underwriter, Insurance Broker, Investment Banker, Pension Fund Manager, Asset Manager, Consultancy Manager, Media and Marketing etc , etc!  Then there's there devout themselves  who could be sold Insurance, Investment Funds and even loans to increase their 'Merit Leverage' . Then there's the non-devout, who use these Merits in FOREX, Trade and speculation, which is red meat to a hedge fund or investment banker.  To The Indulgers, they saw Earth's Sphere of influence as a lucrative market in which to save souls and even more importantly the fact Earth controlled the pathway to 2 other galaxies, full of  even more trillions that could be converted. So in mutual deal, both sides agreed that the Indulgers would be free to go about their business and even Evangelise and in return the Indulgers agreed to 'open up' to Earth's financial services industry.