A fine friday night and observation of the knives

[smokingboot]

So an old old friend was back in town. He's an Australian and we hung out together a lot in the 90s before he returned to his homeland, confused by a relationship he had ended because it wasn't right for him...So greatly hurt was she that many found it hard to withhold judgement. Here he was, desperate for a lover, and here she was, intelligent, beautiful, giving...and yet he didn't feel it. It was almost as though, mingled with our friendship was a slight exasperation, exacerbated by the lady's heartbreak. In the end, she fell in love again and he went through a long period of introspection. He has had a partner now for many years, and I got to meet her for the first time last night; of course she was warm, lovely, friendly,and we had a great evening. They fly back to Oz today.  My friend is bigger, as perhaps we all are, and decades happier.  He has found a woman he loves very much, they've sustained their relationship for a long time, and they've just bought a house on an wildly overgrown hill outside of the city. She confessed to me shyly that she is looking forward to cautiously imprinting her own ideas on the place, he is just delighted at the space, the views, the nearby communal vegetable garden and the nature reserve.  His life is good, and he shines.

Just goes to show that time can improve everything.  One current exception to that is London;  Years on and he was dismayed by the homelessness and the litter, the underlying sense of what to him seemed like desperation.

Certainly the city seems harsher than usual. Beyond, it's hard to gauge. How does the country feel?

Calls for Cameron to leave, and one does wonder what folk are hoping to gain. Who do they think will replace him? Theresa May? Boris Johnson? They dream if they think these are better options.  I have no love of DC, but the guy hasn't done anything illegal. He made a small investment a decade ago in a legal fund, he cashed in said investment before taking office. If we deplore such practices as being dishonest and a detriment to society, hypocritical in the face of all this austerity,  if we think that such avoidance of tax is inherently wrong, then the law allowing it should be changed.

Pillorying Cameron personally may be a sign of popular anger, a bloodletting of anti-Conservative sentiment ( he certainly did not help with his attempts in 2013 to shield off-shore bodies from EU attempts at transparency) but there is no victory in toppling him if his replacement is more right wing than he is.

It seems there is some hope the Conservative party will tear itself apart between the EU referendum and a leadership fight, but the truth is that the weakening of Cameron also weakens the pro-EU campaign - at a time when 100,000 people have signed a petition trying to stop the government from issuing pro-EU leaflets, saying it is a waste of money.  What fools actually want to know less about the referendum, and want to ensure that others know less too?  Then as if by magic, it suddenly emerges that Samantha Cameron is using a fashion consultant at the taxpayer's expense. The rights and wrongs of this speak for themselves - we do not employ Samantha Cameron, so she can pay for her own consultant - but the true tell lies in the timing of this revelation.

Somebody wants Cameron gone, shot off the pot, as discredited as possible as soon as possible. People seem so excited at the hope of hitting a big blue coconut right out of the shy, they aren't considering why and what follows. In fact,I begin to suspect people don't think at all. Here is an unedited and unabridged FB comment from an ex-work associate of mine: Good day to you all . i see PM Cameron , has cut to the bone our Royal Navy , to such a point , there are now no Falklands warships on patrol , as just now tensions are running high between the UK &Argentina , the islanders have a right as British citizens , which again proves a point its time to vote no on the E.U vote , get out and create a country again called Great Brittan its time to change and its now,

Follow that line of reasoning if you can.

Comments

[abject-reptile.livejournal.com]

I'm having a hard enough time following the punctuation.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

since, the eu came, brittan cant aford spelling, and punchuation.

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get you. I have no fondness for that particular man at all, and I think I read somewhere that he didn't declare the shares to the register of interests, which I think is more of an issue than owning them, along with trying to pretend he didn't.

And I am very cynical about the timing of all this too. As I am with anything in the mainstream press, or at any point where I feel manipulated...

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

To my understanding, no MP is required to declare interests totalling less than £70,000. Re the mainstream press, it is truly becoming a joke, an endless script of manipulation. Perhaps it always was and I never realised it.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

The guidelines say that MPs should consider declaring sums of this amount, because transparancy, rather than they must.

But he's climbed on the moral high horse of 'tax avoidance is immoral' too often recently for him not to be fair game over this.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, after all.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

It is something of a knot; so austerity is Cameron's method and we are all in it together, to which end there are cuts across the board, and Osborne tries to limit illegal tax evasion. So cuts at one end, clamps at the other, and where it hurts most we all know. Cameron has benefited from legal tax avoidance in the past...so his bugbear comes down to the question; is all non-tax payment immoral? Because if it is, his glass house begs for a rock through the roof. If it is not, the argument is rather more tenuous.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

For me, it's the off shore nature that makes it bad. I tax avoid with an ISA, as many people do. But that's in a UK bank and fully under the eye of UK tax authorities should they choose to investigate.

It's certain that not all off shore investment opportunities are dodgy or are done to avoid tax in the country of residence. But enough of them are that the class of investments is tainted with the slight whiff of impropriety. And given government guidelines on what we should expect from our public servants, even proximity to that smell should be avoided.

My rocks started descending to his glass roof when he said "it's a private matter" as his first reaction. No. It isn't. Not when you're setting out your stall as a moral crusader on this issue.

Heh. To quote a certain Mr Snowden

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/717063116828360704


So here's a question; do you want him to resign? And if so, who would you have take his place?

[jfs.livejournal.com]

I don't want him to resign. I want his party out of government. :-) the more news like this is held in the publics faces, the more they're reminded how toxic the Tories are.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I don't think guilt by association will be enough. You mentioned the taint of impropriety around offshore bodies, but similar taint can get extended across the board. It has certainly been used to tarnish Corbyn re Hamas, Iranian TV etc. Some people may look at these recent revelations and think 'Bloody Tories, get them out!' But the people who voted DC's mob in last time may well just think that he has lost his way and become the wrong kind of Tory - that they need someone more representative of their own brand of Conservatism. As we know, the downfall of Cameron does not necessitate the downfall of the party. I do wonder if this has escaped some commentators.

Of course, the people may feel that toxicity, and just rise up and say 'Enough!' This might be the final straw...But I don't think so. Not yet.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

To your Falklands point - here is some real conspiracy stuff for your friend.

1981 - the Nott Review suggested taking the last Navy ship from the South Atlantic, prompting the Argentinian Junta to step up its plan of invading as the British obviously wouldn't fight it. The decisive and warlike response from Thatcher to the invasion sweeps her to electoral victory from a very weak position in the polls initially.

2015 - the last Naval frigate leaves south Atlantic water and isn't replaced ....

I wonder if Cameron thinks a war on British soil is better for his image than Iraq and Afghanistan?

Thank you!

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I may well park this on my colleague's consciousness if he brings the subject up again, just to entertain myself you understand.

Cameron must be hardened to the destruction of his image by now, what with the poppy faking and the pig encounter. Must say though, I think he has been very lucky with his referendums. Third time's the charm they tell us - though he'll need more than luck now that his own have decided to shiv him up.

BTW,I have my fingers crossed for some great news for you very soon :-)

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I think you are entirely correct. There is Toryism deep in the English soul, damn them. :-)