The Dictatorship of the Etonariat

[ahinton]

....i think there is going to be instability beyond that which can be forseen....and it will not necessarily be seen on the streets and Media....it will be quietly happening in the homes of the unemployed and mental health facilities, food banks....it will be sad and grey and dreadfully dreadfully boring....it has all been played out like a parlour game .....

I'd struggle to disagree with most of that...

[Pulcinella]

I'd struggle to disagree with most of that...

Me too, apart, perhaps, from changing 'boring' to 'tragic'.

[LMcD]

....i think there is going to be instability beyond that which can be forseen....and it will not necessarily be seen on the streets and Media....it will be quietly happening in the homes of the unemployed and mental health facilities, food banks....it will be sad and grey and dreadfully dreadfully boring....it has all been played out like a parlour game .....

I WISH I could convince myself that you're wrong, but I strongly suspect that you will be proved right. Perhaps 'they' are hoping that the decline will be so slow and steady that 'we' won't notice as we queue for fresh vegetables and watch our loved ones suffer and die prematurely through lack of care.
It may be just a coincidence - or a sign of things to come - that this morning I found in a charity shop a book by Hunter Davies called 'The Co-Op's Got Bananas!. (NO comments about banana republics please).

[eighthobstruction]

Me too, apart, perhaps, from changing 'boring' to 'tragic'.

....yep, 'tragic' more apt....

[Conchis]

I see my earlier post, responding to Vodkadilc has been removed by the house Gauleiter.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I see my earlier post, responding to Vodkadilc has been removed by the house Gauleiter.

???? If you mean your #251, it's still there and AFAIK, always has been. (Hint: try turning the page. Back.)

[Cockney Sparrow]

I see my earlier post, responding to Vodkadildo has been removed by the house Gauleiter.

Are you sure - I don't hang on your every word/post (sorry) but I think one respose from you is still there upthread.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_Clinic

[cloughie]

???? If you mean your #251, it's still there and AFAIK, always has been. (Hint: try turning the page. Back.)

#237 still there also, but such posts deserve removal.

[Serial_Apologist]

....i think there is going to be instability beyond that which can be forseen....and it will not necessarily be seen on the streets and Media....it will be quietly happening in the homes of the unemployed and mental health facilities, food banks....it will be sad and grey and dreadfully dreadfully boring....it has all been played out like a parlour game .....

This is why the representive parliamentary politics, placing a cross on a ballot paper every few years, has always been inadequate, and why the disempowered should be drawn into radical political activity, the way some of us were back in the 1970s. It is while they are engaged that the habitually excluded can offer otherwise unrecognised and under-utilised skills and abilities or see them encouraged and developed. The future will be less wasteful and more acknowledging of everyone's right to be included by having something to offer that present-day throwaway values may not accommodate.

[eighthobstruction]

This is why the representive parliamentary politics, placing a cross on a ballot paper every few years, has always been inadequate, and why the disempowered should be drawn into radical political activity, the way some of us were back in the 1970s. It is while they are engaged that the habitually excluded can offer otherwise unrecognised and under-utilised skills and abilities or have them encouraged and developed.

....yes + WEA

[eighthobstruction]

....it is amazing that some MPs are still calling the 29thMarch TMay Deal as worthy of consideration....get with it I say SNAP SNAP....

[Serial_Apologist]

....yes + WEA

The top-down, vote-us-in and then leave-it-all-to-us model of socialism inherited from Fabianism has been terribly detrimental to the reputation of the left. And probably part-responsible for the popularity of the idea of share ownership Thatcher introduced as a subtle divisive means of tying worker loyalty to the employer.

[Serial_Apologist]

....it is amazing that some MPs are still calling the 29thMarch TMay Deal as worthy of consideration....get with it I say SNAP SNAP....

It may be what BoJo gets away with in the end, dressed up to appear different.

[teamsaint]

It may be what BoJo gets away with in the end, dressed up to appear different.

This does seem to be the path of least resistance.

Perhaps the election will happen, and a progressive government with a real programme of reform will be elected.
Stranger things have happened.

[Richard Barrett]

I see my earlier post, responding to Vodkadildo has been removed by the house Gauleiter.

If you actually want this discussion to be able to continue, I suggest you give this sort of talk a rest.

S_A: yes, for a political system to be called democratic it has to involve more participation, which means it has to be clear that participation is meaningful and not just sterile drudgery, and people need to be empowered by being well-informed and possessed of the time and energy to become engaged. (I would hope that this kind of idea is what's behind something like Momentum.) Reducing the voting age to 16 would also help.