#5 – We still have a Private Sector
Hurray for evil Capitalists doing things for profit. It may be a shrinking part of the economy, but it still manages to pay for itself and the entire public sector. Try not to think too hard about what could be done with all that money if that wasn’t the case – you’ll only upset yourself
#4 – The Internet is still Free
Sure, as an unregulated, untaxed system allowing full and uncontrolled access to pretty much anything and everything – the ultimate in lassez faire frameworks for communications and trade – it’s hard to believe, really, that it’s being tolerated at all. For now, however, it’s still Free. Just.
#3 – Labour are nearly gone
Back with you! Back to the wilderness to have a good, hard long think about the evils of populism, the stupidity of authoritarianism and the value of civil liberties you evil, lying twats.
#2 – The Battle in the UK, 2009, is not Communists Versus Fascists
Seriously with a choice like that I hope I do get dragged off and shot. Hard to believe it’s not actually that long ago when this was reality for some in Europe. Gah. Away with the lot of ye!
#1 – The Leader of the UK Fascist Movement is a Bug-Eyed Loser
Hitler was shouty and charismatic, able to inspire and motivate people into actually going off and killing, which is why he’s history’s number one villian. Griffin, on the other hand, odious turd that he is, continues to give the impression of a McDonald’s Duty Manager or a used car salesman. Nationalism and Socialism, probably my two least favourite ideologies, munged together and represented by this guy? I’m sorry, I just can’t bring myself to be scared.
Constantly Furious said...
28 May 09 at 7:54 pm
I wish to register my disagreement:
#5 – We still have a Private Sector
We do? Then why won’t it give me a job, fer crissakes? I’ve been sitting at home for months. And without NHS experience, I can’t work for the NHS, apparently.
#4 – The Internet is still Free
Nah, not at 25 bloody quids a month to BT it isn’t. Not posting from work I hope?
#3 – Labour are nearly gone
They may be nearly gone, but we now face a Yellow-Pages-style party aftermath that’ll take us years to clean up. There’s shit on the ceiling for god’s sake. How did it get there?
#2 – The Battle in the UK, 2009, is not Communists Versus Fascists
Yup, that’s ok.
#1 – The Leader of the UK Fascist Movement is a Bug-Eyed Loser
That’s good too.
Julian H said...
28 May 09 at 8:11 pm
Constantly Furious:
5) We don’t have a broad private sector in some areas, true; but overall, we do. I empathise with your position, though.
4) “Free” is not the same as “a free good”. Careful, you’ll come over like a socialist in a minute.
3) I very much doubt it will be cleaned up. But I think the sentiment of this point was less “We’ll all be much better off and skipping hand in hand through rainbow-kissed fields” and more “It’ll be funny watching them lose. Cathartic, like.”
Stu said...
28 May 09 at 8:35 pm
CF: The Internet is free as in speech, as they say, not free as in beer. That’s what Charlotte meant.
ayld said...
28 May 09 at 8:57 pm
Very dubiously free if Labour are allowed to have their way with it before the next election! I know they’re too incompetent with technology for that to be a problem, but still, it’s teetering, particularly with all the surveillance extensions.
Tristan said...
28 May 09 at 9:39 pm
#5: Not sure we do. We have a sector not directly controlled by the state, but almost all the official sector rests upon state intervention of one sort or another.
If we widen it to include those who do not seek state intervention then we have a broader category (say Tesco doesn’t seek state intervention* – it still rests upon state subsidy in transport to externalise the costs of transporting all those goods).
#4. Really? I suppose it is free to a degree, but I’d hesitate to call it free. Publish something and you run the risk of being sued for libel in the UK no matter where you are. That’s not free.
Many ISPs are willing to submit to state interference in their operations too, cooperating with even foreign powers to seize servers.
There’s also other filtering such as that by the IWF and low level surveillance on the way.
#3. For the moment.
#2. Its a choice between fascist and fascist. At least if you go by the economic definition (broadly) of privatising profits and socialising risk. We don’t have the fascist iconography, the nationalism may be latent but is not explicit so we’re not at what most people think of as fascist (and nowhere near Nazism)
#1. All of them are.
My, I’m pessimistic tonight aren’t I?
* Not sure if it does or not…
Matthew Huntbach said...
28 May 09 at 9:40 pm
4) – yes, Julian is right. Wasn’t the internet originally developed by the US Department of Defence i.e. funded by taxpayers, and isn’t the infrastructure of it still dependent on taxpayers’ money?
P.S. isn’t it funny that we always had the technology to do emails – they could have been done on the old telephone system. It was the development of decent text editor software and graphical display that got them going.
Nick said...
28 May 09 at 11:41 pm
“#5: Not sure we do. We have a sector not directly controlled by the state, but almost all the official sector rests upon state intervention of one sort or another.
If we widen it to include those who do not seek state intervention then we have a broader category (say Tesco doesn’t seek state intervention* – it still rests upon state subsidy in transport to externalise the costs of transporting all those goods).”
Indeed. It is a good thing weed isn’t state sanctioned, or else it would be much harder to get hold of than it is now (given a somewhat higher price due to additional risks of production and transportation). Anyway, I am sure Tesco would build the roads itself if the government couldn’t be bothered. Whole towns could be built where railway tracks were laid, back when public transport was in the private sector.
Tristan said...
29 May 09 at 12:09 pm
Weed would be cheaper if it was unregulated. If it was regulated but permitted (and taxed) its availability would be about the same or better (the black market would provide for those who the state says can’t get it if they want it), I’m not sure of the effect on price.
Mass transport has always been government backed. Railways needed an act of parliament to be built, I’m pretty sure the land for them was often acquired through force (historically or at the time of building).
Roads for the modern mass transport system were again built by the state.
Tesco’s business model probably wouldn’t be viable in a free(d) market, it is too dependent upon subsidy of history and transport subsidy.
Then again, its possible that given a free(d) market we’d have long distance mass transit in a different way – the innovation which has been stifled by the state could have been amazing, at this point its a guessing game.
Roger Thornhill said...
29 May 09 at 4:13 pm
5 – The private sector. Re getting work for the NHS – this is one of the reasons why it is a monstrous state of affairs to have such a gargantuan monopoly with its pimply arse sat on our collective faces. If the hospitals were independent of any SHA/PCT, their recruiting policies would vary and you would have a higher chance of finding a niche. Right now if and only if you conform, you get a wide choice – note the strong but implicit force upon people, i.e. coercion, to conform and toe the line.
4 – for now but not for very much longer if we keep having authoritarians voted in.
3 – Labour will split before it goes. Then we will have 2 heads of the hydra. One will be toothless and spend its time trying to queer the LibDem’s pitch by being Social Democratic (i.e. Lib Dem in all but the wrong name). The other one will be a bunfight for various flavours of that bankrupt ideology called Socialism.
2 – It is a choice that sounds like a classic scene from Laurel and Hardy.
Ollie: “Fascist, Fascist, Fascist…and what will YOU vote, Stanley?”
Stan: “Fascist”
Ollie: “Errr (harrumph!) pardon us, just a moment…”
Finlayson: “Doh!”
1 – Two words: “Hail Spode”
TJ said...
30 May 09 at 12:09 am
Try not to think too hard about what could be done with all that money if that wasn’t the case
Well it has to be spent on things like providing healthcare, welfare provision, education, or regulation.
There’s a lot of waste t’b'sure, but then there’s a lot of waste in joint-stock corporations as well.
An elected, democratic, and representative government will fail if it allows state inefficiency to grow too large, just as surely as the CEOs of inefficient corporations will be voted out by their shareholders if they fail to show improvement (which is by way of saying that the amount of inefficiency and waste people put up with is staggering, and not just in the public sector, GM’s corporate jets anyone?)
The North Briton said...
30 May 09 at 11:18 am
Hopey changey will probably sort the internet one for you:
http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/the-case-for-taxing-e-mail/
Roger Thornhill said...
30 May 09 at 5:10 pm
TJ,
I have to wait for EVERYONE, or at least a majority to get myself away from the forced payment of inefficient State entities. Even then, we might just exchange one lot for another.
No, the public sector waste is very hard to get away from, whereas private waste is easy and almost instant (unless the State is in there forcing it on us, q.v. Capita).
This is why the State must be far far smaller and all non-natural monopoles (and health and education are NOT natural) be outside the State hands.