The Political Thread

[Frank]

I'm absolutely certain there's a solution to this situation which sees you staying in your own home and the council receiving the cash they need to balance their own books, but that resolution will not be arrived at by two men shouting at each other through a letterbox. Please let a family member or trusted friend contact Citizens Advice on your behalf and find someone who will take the time to understand your own concerns and act as an intermediary with your local authority.

All the best, neebs.

[JayzusB.Christ]

When I was on the medication my mind was truly open - but not in a good way. Thoughts and ideas and suggestions and orders, often contradictory, would drift in and out of my head effortlessly and with very littlte, if any, critical analysis. Everything was neutral and nothing mattered. My world was flat.

Hmmm.  Now, me, I've had a very different experience with medication.  I've had about 4 serious episodes of depression through my 39 years on the earth, and found them absolutely crippling; both physically and mentally.  For me, it's the depression that stops me thinking logically - it fills my mind with unrealistically negative and pessimistic thoughts, to the point of blocking out any creativity or insight. 

With medication, along with techniques like meditation and general mindfulness, i find I have a much clearer outlook, and my ambition, enthusiasm and creativity come to the forefront. .  There's also the freedom of having much more control over my thoughts - while I can't exactly choose what to think, I can at least recognise which mental activities are useful and which are just repetitive nonsense.

It's not that i no longer see the problems with the world - it's just that I no longer let them overwhelm me, and also have the energy to make a positive contribution myself, or at least try.  When I was depressed, I no longer saw the point of doing anything positive.

That said, I wouldn't have traded my episodes of depression for 39 years of constant dumb happiness.  Meditation and counselling have led me to see the core of my ego and to stop taking it seriously. 

None of which is to negate or belittle any of YOUR experiences, Sharky.  Different people operate in different ways.  If medication dulls your mental faculties, then you're probably better off without it (but I would recommend mediTation, to you and to everyone reading this). What you're doing now would definitely not be MY way of doing things, but as I said before you have my utmost respect and I hope you win; whatever a victory entails to you.

[The Legendary Shark]

Yeah, depression is arguably the hardest one to deal with - once that soul-deep inertia sets in it can be a pig to get going again. I have my own coping strategies which I have learned along the way - meditation and paying attention to as much within and around me as possible (which I imagine is something similar to your "mindfulness") do help immensely, as does the simple act of concentrating on my breathing for a moment, which s a great way to centre yourself in times of stress.

When I was researching for writing Jikan, I came across an old Samurai method of centering yourself based upon a Buddhist idea concerning the nature of time. Each man's life, the teaching goes, is a succession of moments - one heaped upon another heaped upon another like autumn leaves on the forest floor. No man can ever make sense of such a confusion of scattered and unique moments, to even try, especially in testing times, can lead only to confusion, doubt and weakness. All you have to do is understand this One Single Moment - the last mo.ent is gone forever and the next will never arrive. To understand this One Single Moment is to master all moments. A samurai who understands this, the lesson concluded, has the strength of two. I have found that keeping this lesson at the forefront of my mind has been very helpful to me.

As to what I would consider to be a victory, well, there are several options open to me. The most complete victory I can imagine involves an experimental partnership with the Council. As the financial attack on this country continues, more and more people - people who have 'played the game' in good faith - will find themselves facing eviction through no fault of their own. Not wishing to sound arrogant but these people, believers in the system, will not understand what is going on or recognise the options open to them. There will be ructions, recriminations and all 'round bad vibes. The problem is that by the time the Council and their tenants realise that constantly rising rents and charges so that poorer tenants are constantly evicted so that richer ones can take their place for as long as they can afford it isn't going to work, it'll be too late. A complete and utter victory for me, then, would be to use me as a test case to figure out how to deal with this kind of thing n the future in a way that's fair to both parties.

A bare minimum victory would be to keep my home by caving in fully. Surrender; the worst form of victory there is.

For now I just have to hold my nerve and stick to my guns and hope that wiser heads than Mombotherer prevail. I really do believe that there is the opportunity, however slim, for something really useful to be born, or at least conceived* here. I think I have to try. I know I do.

I know that some of you have suggested it but I've never wanted media publicity for this struggle precisely because I didn't want it turned into an Us and Them story, which is part of the media's effect (fostering divisions). Mr Mombotherer's actions have opened the door to victory for me and if I want a shot at total victory then I need to walk through it alone, without a mob at my back or theirs. I don't know if that makes any sense or not. This is the only place on the entire interweb where I post about this, simply because most of you have no political reasons to be here; you're not conspiracy theorists or Freemen, not the kind of mob who would be all over this like slavering wolves with axes to grind - just ordinary folk. Also, I think it would be easier to spot agents provocateur here. Mr Mombotherer also wouldn't have to be an internet genius to track this thread down and read it as a guest, which gives me the opportunity to communicate unofficially with him should the need arise. If I was feeling especially devious I could plant disinformation here to lead him into a trap. If I'm more devious than he believes, I may have already done this...


*No, I don't mean feck the council. Tsk, your filthy minds...

[JayzusB.Christ]

When I was researching for writing Jikan, I came across an old Samurai method of centering yourself based upon a Buddhist idea concerning the nature of time. Each man's life, the teaching goes, is a succession of moments - one heaped upon another heaped upon another like autumn leaves on the forest floor. No man can ever make sense of such a confusion of scattered and unique moments, to even try, especially in testing times, can lead only to confusion, doubt and weakness. All you have to do is understand this One Single Moment - the last mo.ent is gone forever and the next will never arrive. To understand this One Single Moment is to master all moments. A samurai who understands this, the lesson concluded, has the strength of two. I have found that keeping this lesson at the forefront of my mind has been very helpful to me.

I like that analogy; it's very much in keeping with what Eckhart Tolle teaches.  I've read him fairly extensively and like his stuff a lot.  I've also been training in Bujinkan for about 8 years, which is a martial art derived from the traditions of both ninja and samurai; and it's very nice to know that this idea of living in the present fits in with the samurai tradition too.

[The Legendary Shark]

Iranian warships reportedly sailing towards U.S. maritime borders. Reuters. Setting the stage for St. Obama's Missile Crisis Triumph or just the usual geopolitical tomfoolery?

[ZenArcade]

Barak' s disappointed a lot of people, what the hell did they expect from a guy who came out of the Chicago party machine! He was bought and paid for like the res  of them from day one.

[The Legendary Shark]

He didn't disappoint me. I suspected he'd be a puppet from Day One. Remember all the broo-ha-ha over how his birth certificate was allegedly a fake and his real name was Barry Sotoro? Was that ever resolved? Not that I care, to be honest. By a man's works shall ye judge him, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Obama has been judged a political puppet. A Pluppet?

Hey, I made a new word!


A joke I read:

Someone's thrown a brick through the window of 10 Downing Street and an MP is tasked with getting it fixed, so the MP calls in three builders for an estimate.

The first builder measures up with a laser-beam scanning ruler, inputs all the data into his laptop, searches the web for up to date prices and prints out an estimate for £900.

The second builder measures up with an old fashioned steel ruler, jots some sketches and figures down in an old notebook, does some calculations in his head and then writes his estimate on the back of an envelope; £700.

The third builder just leans close to the MP and whispers "£2,700" into his ear.

The MP is taken aback. "What? But, you didn't even measure anything! How on Earth did you arrive at that estimate?!"

"Easy," whispers the third builder. "A grand for me, a grand for you and we pay the second guy to do it."


And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how government contracts work.

[TordelBack]

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how government contracts work.

I will be trotting this one out all week, a superb and accurate summation. 

[ZenArcade]

Cracking joke. Well observed.

[JayzusB.Christ]

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how government contracts work.

I will be trotting this one out all week, a superb and accurate summation.

The new system of taxing Irish water springs to mind.

[The Legendary Shark]

Water can be Irish? Does that mean raindrops need passports? Hell of a revenue stream if they can figure out how to get passport fees out of the clouds...

[Richmond Clements]

Water can be Irish? Does that mean raindrops need passports? Hell of a revenue stream if they can figure out how to get passport fees out of the clouds...

Of course the system of pipes that gets the water from the hills to your kitchen grows organically.

[ZenArcade]

Jeepers Richmond does it, happy days. I thought the costs would have be incorporated into the plethora of taxes we already pay to these administrations. Instead the costs of maintaining the already extensive infrastructure (with the obviously necessary) repair and replacement mandates the setting up of another QUANGO with the usual shower of political appointees and sh**e hawks all geared up to yet again bend Joe and Josephine public over the proverbial kitchen table. Yepee! 

[Theblazeuk]

As far as Barack Obama goes, he's a big improvement. The American government is set up in a way that stifles any real attempt at 'change' even more effectively than the old rich men and public school boys over here could even dream of.

Anyone remember the previous bloke they had? So Barack didn't create a utopia on Earth singlehandedly. At least he's not George Bush. Or David Cameron for that matter.

And all that fuss over his birth certificate was the most pathetic, racist thing I ever saw conducted in public affairs.

[TordelBack]

I thought the costs would have be incorporated into the plethora of taxes we already pay to these administrations. Instead the costs of maintaining the already extensive infrastructure (with the obviously necessary) repair and replacement mandates the setting up of another QUANGO with the usual shower of political appointees and sh**e hawks all geared up to yet again bend Joe and Josephine public over the proverbial kitchen table. Yepee! 

I've decided that I'd be a lot happier if our masters would give up with the fancy names for indirect regressive taxes and just divided them up by letter. Instead of Pay-Related Social Insurance, Universal Social Charge, Health Levy, Insurance Levy, VAT, Property Tax, Household Charge, Road Tax,Waste Charges, Water Charges, Broadcasting Charge,  etc., you could just have Tax A: 12%; Tax B: 7%; Tax C: etc.

Think of the bullshit, deceit and disappointment it would cut out:  Minister claims he needs more money, so Tax M (5%) is rolled out.  No need for justifications, social in-fighting, explanations of where the money went or whether it is fair or not. Much better than pretending it is being spent on childcare provision or dialysis machines or pothole repair (only to find later on that it's been handed out to super-rich gamblers), it's just Tax M (5%).  See which taxes apply to you, tot up the percentages and pay.

Of course it would make it harder to pretend we have a low-tax economy, which is only true if you are (a). rich and/or (b). a multinational corporation.