Posts by Rich Lock
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Hard News: Thatcher, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
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I’d also respectfully suggest Greenwald has the dick privilege to not see the pretty rancid and intensely gendered shit that got thrown at Thatcher. And still does at any “aggressive” ANGRY un-woman in politics – from Gillard through Hillary Clinton to Angela Merkel.
Yes, it does. But Thatcher as an individual was: unlikeable, sneering, condescending and (word used advisedly) patronising. Personal opinion, of course.
I think her unlikeability as an individual got rather conflated with the fact she was a woman: she wasn't disliked as a woman per se (well, not as much as has been suggested). Which doesn't make it right, and yes, she got a lot more intense shit thrown at her because of her gender. But I think not as much as you think - anyone with that sort of voice, with that sort of tone, would have got a lot of shit (I admit I'm struggling to think of a male equivalent - being lectured by a sarcastic hooray henry, maybe?)
Blair, for example, takes a lot of personal flak for his mockney man-of-the-people faux-chumminess, and his 'who-me?-how-could-you-possibly-think-that-I'm-truly-hurt-to-my-core' reaction to any criticism, as another example.
I've thought about your 'miss manners' point, and I disagree. While there may not be bucketfuls of explicit examples of 'don't you dare speak ill of the dead', Louise Mensch aside (a person who considers liggers at that evenings envelope opening to be publicity-shy retiring wallflowers, and who makes it her life mission never to be caught short of an opinion), the gushing flood of tributes and saccharine opinionating that has dominated the news has much the same effect - it crowds out any debate that might be critical or more nuanced. I also think that this serves to fuel some of the more virulent celebrations. If you can't see your PoV even being acknowledged, you're going to shout it louder and nastier.
This line from the Russell Brand article more or less sums up my feelings now the dust has settled: "one mate of mine, a proper leftie, in his heyday all Red Wedge and right-on punch-ups, was melancholy. "I thought I'd be overjoyed, but really it's just … another one bites the dust …". I would not be entirely surprised if Iain Banks is revising his intentions now that money has to meet mouth.
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Hard News: Thatcher, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
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12-15 years ago, when I had friends living there, and spent many a night out in that area (ah The Fridge, ye'll never be forgot!), Brixton was still pretty rough. However, a lot of (white) younger professional childless couples, living on 'normal' salaries (not bankers) moved there because it was affordable, and they put up with the bars on their windows and the not-so-occasional mugging.
Although it shouldn't have come as a surprise to me, I visited a little while ago, and it's gone all gentrified in the last ten years. Who would have thought that a whole bunch of typical middle-class businesses would have followed the money? And who would have thought that a whole demographic who were of the system and knew how to play the system might have done just that as they grew up, had children, and started shaping their environment to their own advantage?
I felt rather sad to have to walk around without constantly watching my back.
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Hard News: Thatcher, in reply to Ross Mason,
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But she might rust.
Ashes to ashes...
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Hard News: Thatcher, in reply to Matthew Poole,
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If I were Roger I’d be planning to be cremated, with my ashes scattered on Sir Rob Jones’ farm. That would deny the bastards the chance to dance on my grave.
Won't work for Thatcher, though. The Lady's not for burning.
Ba-doom, tish! Eyethangyewlaydeezangennlemen.
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I have never again experienced the bleak, pervasive sense of alienation she fostered in government.
Best not come over to the UK for a while, then. It's getting pretty bad here and will get worse before it gets better.
Some people seem to have forgotten what a basket case the UK was then. I am sure it could have been done better but it had to be done
Now that I know a bit more about domestic history than I did in my teens and 20's, I can very grudgingly accept that there is a small nugget of truth in this argument. I remember being in primary school and coming home to a blacked-out house because the electricity workers were on strike, and walking past 20-foot high piles of rat-infested rubbish in the local park because the bin men were on strike.
For my parents generation and older, it must've been pretty worrying. But 30 years on, we're still feeling the effects. Since we're talking about Iain Banks, one of his characters has a rant about it, in (I think) Complicity. The only line I can remember goes something like: 'trimming the fat in the name of efficiency, but you slashed so far to the bone that the marrow started leaking out'.
Glenn Greenwald sums it up best for me: if you're a public figure like a politician, then you're open for criticism when you're alive, and when you're dead. To declare otherwise is usually an attempt to further an agenda and often rankly hypocritical. I don't recall anyone buttoning their lips 'out of respect' when Hugo Chavez died, and I really doubt that they will when Castro kicks it.
So, anyway, I've been away for a while. What's been happening round here? Anything to drink? Coffee? Whiskey?
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Hard News: Getting to the bottom of…,
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Anyone interested in knowing a bit more about the shocking conditions in the US meat processing industry should read
fast food nation' (if you haven't already).Also, 'methland', which notes the close links between the amphetamine trade in the US, and the meatpacking industry. Basically, the only way to make a living wage and get through the shifts that workers are asked to do...is to take speed. Given the piss-poor conditions, the industry is dominated by illegal immigrants, upper management actively conniving to keep this the case (they're far cheaper than legals, cos they don't have rights, see?).
Not surprisingly, large numbers turn to dealing, initially to supplement their income, and then move on to dealing full time. If the choice is between working legally in a place where at intervals you have to pour boiling water over your steel boots to stop your feet freezing, or dealing? Not so much of a choice, really.
The networks of factories and their workforces provide a ready-made market and supply network. Not incidentally, the by-products of illegal meth manufacture are often dumped in the nearest rivers, and are slowly poisoning water supplies in the US.
A couple of people have mentioned industrial revolution-type population shifts from country to city. Probably worth considering as well immigrant conditions in New Yorks garment district around the turn of last century, and conditions in Chicago's meat-packing plants around the same time. We'll probably see the same sort of shifts to better conditions in China over time as the middle class expands, but it does rather beg the question of whose shoulders they will be standing on to get their cheap goods.
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Hard News: Finally, the Teapot Tape?, in reply to BenWilson,
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Hey, that’s a d-vice device.
So, cock-up rather than conspiracy?
<coat>
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Hard News: The Mega Conspiracy, in reply to Sacha,
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I knew gypsies caused cancer..
Well, according to Stephen King...
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Hard News: The Mega Conspiracy, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
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‘ownership’ is becoming more of an intangible and ephemeral thing, it seems…
A lot of people would be rather surprised by what exactly it is they own, and what is is the record label has chosen to merely lend to them (with certain strict terms and conditions), when they buy a music CD….
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Hard News: The Mega Conspiracy, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
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I don’t know whether the Daily Mail is any good
Well, that depends on your world view. How do you feel about single mothers, those on benefits, immigrants, gypsies, asylum seekers, gays and socialists? Would you like your world to be divided neatly into two groups: things that cause cancer, and things that don’t? How do you feel about women that try to ‘have it all’: a family and a career? Exactly how much damage do you think they are doing to their children?