Someone asked me this week about what I’d do if I were Prime Minister. Their question stemmed from a conversation they started with me about the state of the nation. They weren’t happy. This post develops on some things I ranted on to this guy about.
“Don’t get me started about immigration “ they said, “yeah” I said, “don’t get me started about it either“, then off they went about how it’s all the immigrants fault, taking the jobs, houses etc. Then I got started about how, no it wasn’t the immigrants fault, it was the systems fault, and how if stories about a government plan to encourage mass immigration were true, it was because they knew full well that the future generation of workers, just wouldn’t be up to doing the jobs that needed doing. They were a something for nothing generation, with no incentive to work for a meagre minimum wage, and why was/is the minimum wage so low anyway? Was it because there was also a generation of get rich quick bosses who continued to prosper under New Labour Thatcherism economic policies, that kept prices high and wages low. Then you had the cult of consumer credit; buy now pay later…well we’re paying the price now for these cunts. I hope it was worth it for ‘em with their flash cars high tech gadgetry and the rest of the shit that they didn’t need. An Economic clampdown is what’s needed on the production (not that Britain produces much anymore) import and export of things like luxury cars, new gadgetry that’s supposed to improve lives, but which just ends up enslaving us.
Call me a Marxist/Commie mutha fucker if you like, but the way I see it is that so long as money is the driving force of a social system then there will never be a fair and just society, just individuals seeking instant gratification, like they seek an overpriced cup of coffee to keep them going during another shopping trip. The Costa coffee shops that pollute our High Streets, are called Costa, cos a cup of coffee costs a fortune. I was thinking of opening a series of shops that only sold tea based drinks and call the chain Tossers, because that’s what these people are with their fucking European coffee shop culture that invaded our towns during the 90‘s, just like McDonalds did in the 80’s ahh! The great smell of globalisation…..It makes me fucking sick!
Immigration can enrich the culture of a nation were would British football teams be without it. Well they might be able to charge a reasonable price to get in at the turnstiles, one the working man can afford. Just like The World Cup Immigration is a global concern. There’s plenty of room in the world, it’s just a matter of dispersal. Economic migrants go where the money goes, so if all those models of capitalism that baulk at the thought of paying more tax fucked off with their entrepreneurial enterprises to some of the worlds ‘developing’ countries and helped develop their capitalist economies, then that’s maybe were the workers would go. It’s a shame that capitalism seems to be a system that countries have to go through in their development, before some sort of Socialist/ Marxist/Anarchistic society can evolve. From out of the ashes… We need Localised economies, networks of producers and providers of necessary goods and services, working with each other, not against each other. A balance between the Local the National and the International, not a competition.
Education. Children should go to schools that are local to them, taught by teachers who live in the area. Cuts down the need for commuting and reliance on that symbol of freedom; The Car. But no, under capitalism and Labours obsession with bureaucracy our education system is based on competition, were league tables define the quality of education our kids get, and the amount of financial support the state gives to a school. The state? That omnipresent force that maintains the capitalist/power relations in a country. Why else were banks bailed out and financial support given to the car industry. It’s the same with the National Health Service, were life depends on where you live.
Law and Order. There’s lots of laws, but very little order. Punishments are often punitive compared to the crime, the guilty go free and the innocent are locked up behind closed doors, scared to walk the streets, if you believe all that’s written and broadcast about it in the media.
Benefits. Tighten up the system. If capitalism wasn’t king, then money wouldn’t be as important to people as it is, if there was no surplus in production, then there’d be less consumption, if people were satisfied with what they had, then they’d settle for less rather than strive for more. In the interim towards achieving this state of mind, wages should be increased, benefits lowered and an incentive to work established. Off set wages with cheaper housing, health care etc.
Public Transport. Governments talk about New high speed rail links. Is quicker better? How about the existing networks improve their reliability and quality of service? Do we really need to scar the landscape with more veins of mobility, just like road widening schemes that just make more space to get filled up by more cars, another railway line to run late.
Some of these ideas to idealistic and simplistic? Maybe, but at least it would be change and not continuance. Here’s a couple of final thoughts. The so called social breakdown we are seeing is nothing new, there have always been problems with crime, unemployment etc it’s historical. Britain’s never had any real social revolution, other than the Civil War, and some say that wasn’t a revolution as such. So Vote No! to their system, by not voting. Bring on a hung parliament and let the fun begin, but lessons of the past mustn’t be ignored. Workers so conditioned and used to instant gratification need to wait, once the elections over with and if there is no majority party, then industrial action should stop, until then go for it. The Postal Workers have got what they wanted, let the British Airways cabin crew bring down the company, that’ll be a few less planes polluting the atmosphere. In a hung parliament
Power would be shared, which leaves little vacuums of power were with organisation these could be filed with ideas that may not have got taken on board by a party with a majority mandate. Whatever happens I think/feel that there may be a rough ride ahead for some people. We need to stand united, because divided we are ruled.
If we were living in a natural world, then any job losses downward social mobility would be seen as pruning or coppicing the vegetation, which would grow back eventually over the years, but if it were a tree, the branches would not grow exactly the same way as they had been before, as the environment it was growing in would have changed, we need to establish an environment were Capitalism is no longer the base of our social structure, so when growth starts to happen again it will be different. Hopefully
people would have become less motivated by money and power and developed a more collective approach to thinking rather than the individualistic thinking that has prevailed for the last 30 years, and that’s what we need to be thinking about; what British society will be like 30 years from now, or rather what sort of a world do we want our children/grandchildren living in? One where perhaps people have a real say and the state has been devolved by the people themselves who have realised what’s important and what’s not. Anyway enough ranting, that’s me finished……
“Don’t get me started about immigration “ they said, “yeah” I said, “don’t get me started about it either“, then off they went about how it’s all the immigrants fault, taking the jobs, houses etc. Then I got started about how, no it wasn’t the immigrants fault, it was the systems fault, and how if stories about a government plan to encourage mass immigration were true, it was because they knew full well that the future generation of workers, just wouldn’t be up to doing the jobs that needed doing. They were a something for nothing generation, with no incentive to work for a meagre minimum wage, and why was/is the minimum wage so low anyway? Was it because there was also a generation of get rich quick bosses who continued to prosper under New Labour Thatcherism economic policies, that kept prices high and wages low. Then you had the cult of consumer credit; buy now pay later…well we’re paying the price now for these cunts. I hope it was worth it for ‘em with their flash cars high tech gadgetry and the rest of the shit that they didn’t need. An Economic clampdown is what’s needed on the production (not that Britain produces much anymore) import and export of things like luxury cars, new gadgetry that’s supposed to improve lives, but which just ends up enslaving us.
Call me a Marxist/Commie mutha fucker if you like, but the way I see it is that so long as money is the driving force of a social system then there will never be a fair and just society, just individuals seeking instant gratification, like they seek an overpriced cup of coffee to keep them going during another shopping trip. The Costa coffee shops that pollute our High Streets, are called Costa, cos a cup of coffee costs a fortune. I was thinking of opening a series of shops that only sold tea based drinks and call the chain Tossers, because that’s what these people are with their fucking European coffee shop culture that invaded our towns during the 90‘s, just like McDonalds did in the 80’s ahh! The great smell of globalisation…..It makes me fucking sick!
Immigration can enrich the culture of a nation were would British football teams be without it. Well they might be able to charge a reasonable price to get in at the turnstiles, one the working man can afford. Just like The World Cup Immigration is a global concern. There’s plenty of room in the world, it’s just a matter of dispersal. Economic migrants go where the money goes, so if all those models of capitalism that baulk at the thought of paying more tax fucked off with their entrepreneurial enterprises to some of the worlds ‘developing’ countries and helped develop their capitalist economies, then that’s maybe were the workers would go. It’s a shame that capitalism seems to be a system that countries have to go through in their development, before some sort of Socialist/ Marxist/Anarchistic society can evolve. From out of the ashes… We need Localised economies, networks of producers and providers of necessary goods and services, working with each other, not against each other. A balance between the Local the National and the International, not a competition.
Education. Children should go to schools that are local to them, taught by teachers who live in the area. Cuts down the need for commuting and reliance on that symbol of freedom; The Car. But no, under capitalism and Labours obsession with bureaucracy our education system is based on competition, were league tables define the quality of education our kids get, and the amount of financial support the state gives to a school. The state? That omnipresent force that maintains the capitalist/power relations in a country. Why else were banks bailed out and financial support given to the car industry. It’s the same with the National Health Service, were life depends on where you live.
Law and Order. There’s lots of laws, but very little order. Punishments are often punitive compared to the crime, the guilty go free and the innocent are locked up behind closed doors, scared to walk the streets, if you believe all that’s written and broadcast about it in the media.
Benefits. Tighten up the system. If capitalism wasn’t king, then money wouldn’t be as important to people as it is, if there was no surplus in production, then there’d be less consumption, if people were satisfied with what they had, then they’d settle for less rather than strive for more. In the interim towards achieving this state of mind, wages should be increased, benefits lowered and an incentive to work established. Off set wages with cheaper housing, health care etc.
Public Transport. Governments talk about New high speed rail links. Is quicker better? How about the existing networks improve their reliability and quality of service? Do we really need to scar the landscape with more veins of mobility, just like road widening schemes that just make more space to get filled up by more cars, another railway line to run late.
Some of these ideas to idealistic and simplistic? Maybe, but at least it would be change and not continuance. Here’s a couple of final thoughts. The so called social breakdown we are seeing is nothing new, there have always been problems with crime, unemployment etc it’s historical. Britain’s never had any real social revolution, other than the Civil War, and some say that wasn’t a revolution as such. So Vote No! to their system, by not voting. Bring on a hung parliament and let the fun begin, but lessons of the past mustn’t be ignored. Workers so conditioned and used to instant gratification need to wait, once the elections over with and if there is no majority party, then industrial action should stop, until then go for it. The Postal Workers have got what they wanted, let the British Airways cabin crew bring down the company, that’ll be a few less planes polluting the atmosphere. In a hung parliament
Power would be shared, which leaves little vacuums of power were with organisation these could be filed with ideas that may not have got taken on board by a party with a majority mandate. Whatever happens I think/feel that there may be a rough ride ahead for some people. We need to stand united, because divided we are ruled.
If we were living in a natural world, then any job losses downward social mobility would be seen as pruning or coppicing the vegetation, which would grow back eventually over the years, but if it were a tree, the branches would not grow exactly the same way as they had been before, as the environment it was growing in would have changed, we need to establish an environment were Capitalism is no longer the base of our social structure, so when growth starts to happen again it will be different. Hopefully
people would have become less motivated by money and power and developed a more collective approach to thinking rather than the individualistic thinking that has prevailed for the last 30 years, and that’s what we need to be thinking about; what British society will be like 30 years from now, or rather what sort of a world do we want our children/grandchildren living in? One where perhaps people have a real say and the state has been devolved by the people themselves who have realised what’s important and what’s not. Anyway enough ranting, that’s me finished……
4 comments:
Fuckin' 'ell Nuzz that's like all my thoughts put down in one amazing long rant. I only wish I could articulate half as well as you do. Sadly I have the intellect of a dead fly. What I do understand is the greed of man and that it's always being catered to in this modern society with a thousand and one things we just do not need. Costa fuckin' cofee indeed. God bless ya mate K.O.K.O.
Yes an excelllent read Nuzz and so so true. The football bit hit a chord with me - I was having a row with some numpty at Chelsea who was complaining about all the foriegners in our team recently as it happens. He said he'd love it to be like the old days with all home grown English players bla bla bla. I reminded him that last time we had all home grown English players we were struggling near foot of the old division 2!
"Marxist\Commie muthafucka" .....
You'd still get my vote Nuzz
You say it right, and you say it well.
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