Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

It's a pity that DC (no, not dreamcatcher) isn't a bit more selective, but then again it's not his money so that's ok.
2517

The Feral Children of the Upper Classes

I was reading A Gay Mentalist’s blog a little while ago, and a term he used to describe the middle classes struck me. He called them ‘feral’. It’s not a word that usually applied to the upper ranks of society. Usually it’s given to the underclass and their children, the type of people, leading bleak lives of deprivation and pointless moral squalor. The type of people with no jobs, and no self-respect, whose chief and often only activities seem to be drunkenness, drug dealing, violence and sexual promiscuity. The type of people who provide the raw fodder for Jeremy Kyle, as they slouch onto his show to present their sordid tales of domestic abuse and accuse each other of stealing each other’s partners.

It does, however, also perfectly describe the attitude of the middle classes, and particularly the hysterical ranting of the middle market tabloids and the vicious, punitive attitude of the Tory front bench. ‘Feral’ implies savage, wild, extremely aggressive, vicious and untameable. You apply it to animals, like feral dogs infected with rabies, and vicious creatures like wolverines and pole-cats. It’s applied to creatures that most definitely stand outside the safe, decent and civilised, like the notorious ‘rat boy’, who got into the news a few years ago. This was a small boy, who already had racked up a long list of offences despite his extreme youth. He got his name because he used to disappear down the various service pipes lying about his estate to escape from the police.

The Murderous, Middle Class Persecution of the Poor, Disabled and Unemployed

Yet ‘savage’, ‘vicious’ also describes the Tory attitude to bullying the weakest members of society – the unemployed, the disabled, asylum seekers, everyone, who got on to the Tories’ wretched little list of people they want to persecute. The violence isn’t necessarily physical. They haven’t quite descended to the level of the Nazi party just yet in sending stormtroopers in to beat and murder benefit claimants, but it’s there nevertheless. Think of all the people Mike, Johnny Void, Kittysjones, Stilloaks, Glynismillward, Tom Pride, the Angry Yorkshireman, Untyneweare and so many others have blogged about, dying in hunger and squalor due to benefit sanctions. It’s the result of a vicious, murderous attitude to those they deem below them every bit as vicious and unrestrained as the type of gang hatreds you can see acted out on street corners in the sink estates. Fuelling it is a palpable sense of threat and status anxiety – that the working class and the unemployed are somehow a threat to middle class society and its precarious norms – every bit as vehement as that of the local thug or bully, who declares that he just wants a bit of ‘respect’.

Eton and Public School Bullying

It also accurately describes the culture of bullying and violence that pervades private, and particularly elite, education. The bullying in public schools is notorious. A friend of mine, who came from such a background, told me that in the public schools you were bullied horrifically in your first year, only for this to stop and you to become a bully in your term in the second. And some of the bullying truly is horrific. Way back in the 1980s Private Eye reviewed yet another book on Eton, and said that the accounts of the bullying there were so extreme and revolting, that if they occurred in state education it would result in a public outrage and demands for the school closed down or placed in special measures. One example of the type of bullying that went on came from one old Etonian, who said there was one boy, who forced others to eat ice cream mixed with human excrement. The bully is not named. It was, however, stated that he was now a prominent lawyer. And some of the bullying was sexual. Given the sexual nature of some of the cruelty, it’s probably not surprising that the elite covered up the paedophile activities of their members for so long. Exposure to that kind of bullying at public school may well have inculcated a kind of indifference to it, in the same way it is argued that too much exposure to porn or extreme violence in the movies will habituate viewers to even more extreme and depraved acts in normal society.

Physical Attacks on the Poor by Public School Children

And the children of the rich are violent too. A friend of mine once told me that ‘Eton Rifles’ was about a gang fight in which a group of public school boys beat up a group of lower class lads. It also affects the security measures some local businesses adopt to protect their property and customers from assault from the rich and privately educated. A little while ago I went on a tour of East Anglia and the Fen Country with a group of friends. One of the hotels we stayed in, a magnificent inn dating back to the Middle Ages, had various measures up to stop people causing trouble. They weren’t particularly intrusive, and I can’t remember now what they were, only that they were there. They weren’t imposed to stop the usual drunks and thugs starting fights in the bar. They were actually aimed at protecting the premises, customers and staff from the pupils at the private school nearby. At the end of the school year, or the term, these children would leave school to start fights and smash up the shops in the time. Presumably they felt entitled to this as their parents were rich enough to pay the £40,000 a year school fees.

The Public School Gun-Nuts of Snapchat and Pistolero Violence in the Developing World

You can see some of that same attitude on the story I reblogged this week about Snapchat, the Facebook site for public schoolchildren. This featured them showing off their wealth and contempt for the rest of the society in the most offensive ways possible. Among them were using £20 and £50 notes as toilet paper, and waving around guns. These, they claimed, were to protect their estates from ‘the peasants’.

Let’s examine the double standards going on here. If a Black lad or someone from the White underclass put up a photograph of themselves waving a gun around, trying to be ‘gangsta’ or mouthing off about protecting his ‘manor’, there would be angry and excited columns in the Mail and other papers screaming about ‘gun crime’ Britain. And not without reason, either. Gun crime and gang shootings are a problem in many British cities. You could also compare it, and the attitude underpinning it, to the right-wing gun-nuts in America. They’re affluent, but not necessarily rich, and the image tends to be of rural red-necks announcing that the government will only be able to take their guns away from ‘their cold, dead hands’. They’re as much objects of ridicule and contempt as seen as a threat.

No such opprobrium seems to be applied to these children, probably because the upper classes have always had a fascination with guns and shooting. Orwell remarked that the aristocracy and middle classes were brought up for war and battle. Which makes them sound like Dr Who’s Sontarans: bred for war. The stereotype is of aristocratic families, who have supplied a long line of soldiers and generals since the founder first came over with William the Conqueror, and who list various antecedents who fought at Agincourt, conquered India under Clive, and then did their patriotic duty at various battles in the Napoleonic, First and Second World Wars. The Combined Cadet Force frequently formed part of their education, training them for further service and leadership in the armed forces.

Now there are certainly parts of the world where, if you’re rich, you most certainly do need armed protection. There’s some extremely grisly photos around the web of the White farmers, who were killed by armed robbers in South Africa. In other parts of the Developing World, it’s historically been the other way, and the poor have most definitely needed protection from people like the gun-crazed youngster on Snapchat. In many parts of the Developing World the rural poor were kept in serfdom by the masters of the estate, who hired guns to intimidate and kill anyone who stepped out of line. Way back when I was at school about thirty years ago, the BBC screened a series, Brazil, Brazil covering that country and its history. This covered that aspect of Brazilian society, the owners of massive estates in their haciendas, and the pistoleros, the gunmen they employed. They talked to the peasants, who’d been threatened and attacked by these men for asking for wage rises or otherwise daring to challenge the absolute domination of their lives by their masters. Now you can conclude from this that the rich kids now showing off their guns on Snapchat and ranting about protecting their property from peasants are just reacting to the real violence against the wealthy in many parts of the world. Or they’re simply rich brats, with a feudal sense of entitlement, who really do believe that the lower orders are peasants, who should be kept down with armed force, exactly like their public school friends in Latin America do with the peons on their plantations. Considering the way Priti Patel and the other authors of Britannia Unchained believed that Britain should follow the exploitative employment practices of developing nations like India, this is a real possibility.

In short, A Gay Mentalist is exactly right: there is a culture of vicious, feral violence amongst the middle classes. It’s shown in the horrendous bullying for which the public schools have been notorious since the publication of Tom Brown’s Schooldays. It’s shown in the violent contempt so many have for the lower orders. And its there in the need to humiliate, persecute and kill the working and lower middle classes, the unemployed and the disabled, as expressed in the system of benefit sanctions, and physical testing now being used to decimate the welfare state. It’s there to satisfy the sadistic cruelty of RTU, Fester McLie and latest upper middle class thugs now taking up residence and valuable office space in the DWP. And its present in the terrible sense of threat clearly felt by the Daily Mail, the Express and every right-wing newspaper, not excluding the Torygraph and the Times in their editorials and their need to drum up further hatred against the poor, marginalised and underprivileged.

rticle rank 23 Jul 2014Daily MailBy James Chapman, Jason Groves and Ian Drury

HAND BACK THE ROUBLES, DAVE
Clamour grows for Tory Party to return the huge donations it’s been given by oligarchs and Putin cronies

‘Sending out mixed messages’

DAVID Cameron was under pressure last night to return a £160,000 donation from the wife of a former member of Vladimir Putin’s government.

Lubov Chernukhin, who is married to billionaire businessman Vladimir Chernukhin, won a bid at a fundraising auction to play tennis with the Prime Minister.
Calling for the donation to be reversed, Labour said the Tories should ‘come clean’ over an estimated £1million in payments from Russian individuals and businesses.
Conservative Party sources indicated last night however that the party will keep the Chernukhins’ money.

In a further embarrassment for the Government, a report released by MPs today shows Britain was selling weapons to Russia only a few months ago.

And Paris last night accused Mr Cameron of hypocrisy for questioning a £1billion arms contract with Moscow. French president Francois Hollande has vowed not to ditch the deal and an aide yesterday said the Prime Minister should start by confronting London-based oligarchs linked to Mr Putin.
Last year the Russian leader mocked Mr Cameron over the influx of rich Russians. Britain was reported to have been dismissed as ‘a small island’ by his spokesman, who claimed nobody paid attention to it – except the ‘oligarchs who have bought Chelsea’.
In an angry statement to MPs on Monday,
this is a the Prime Minister said Mr Putin’s ‘cronies’ should be isolated because of their country’s involvement in the Flight MH17 atrocity. but Labour questioned the Prime Minister’s intention to go ahead with a doubles tennis match, auctioned off at a lavish Tory fundraising dinner at London’s Hurlingham Club earlier this month.
London Mayor boris Johnson also agreed to play, with the Tories’ election strategist Lynton Crosby acting as a ballboy.

The successful bidder was the wife of Vladimir Chernukhin, who is a former director of Russia’s national airline Aeroflot and a former chairman of the country’s state development bank.
He received Russia’s Order of Honour from Mr Putin a decade ago.
Labour’s Chris bryant, vice-chairman of Parliament’s all-party group on Russia, said: ‘The Prime Minister said quite categorically this week that we should be tackling Putin’s cronies.
‘What could be more of a crony than Putin’s former deputy finance minister?
‘Yet it appears that the Prime Minister is not only prepared to take his family’s money, but also play tennis with him – it is two-faced. david Cameron does not seem to realise that you cannot send these kind of mixed messages to Russia – they see it as a sign of weakness. He has to realise that he cannot have his caviar and eat it.’
Fellow Labour MP sheila gilmore said: ‘People will be surprised at the extent of Russian wealth bankrolling david Cameron’s re-election fund.

‘The Tories need to come clean about all their Russian links. There can be no impression of conflicts of interest or hypocrisy at such an important time.’
Former Tory treasurer Lord Ashcroft also questioned whether the Conservatives should still be accepting Russian money. in a message on Twitter he said: ‘should the Tory Party suspend taking donations from companies owned by Russians?’
Party sources indicated the tennis match is still scheduled to go ahead, though the Chernukhins could nominate someone else to play. One insider suggested that Mr Chernukhin had not been close to the Russian president for a decade, having been removed from his post. Mr Johnson’s office declined to comment.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘All donations to the Conservative Party are fully and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission and published on their website.’
The Conservatives, in common with Labour, refuse to release details of those who attend their fundraising events. but a leaked list from last year’s Tory summer ball revealed it was attended by a number of wealthy Russians.
Electoral Commission records suggest the Conservatives have received donations totalling more than £900,000 from individuals with links to Russia.
Mrs Chernukhin and her husband live in a £7.2million apartment overlooking Regent’s Park in central London, according to electoral roll records. The arms report from MPs found that ministers approved exports including components for anti-aircraft guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers and military helicopters shortly before a proRussian uprising in Ukraine.
The critical report from Parliament’s committee on arms export controls highlighted 285 arms contracts with Russia worth £131.5million.
in March, the then foreign secretary William Hague pledged to stop selling arms to Russia after it annexed Crimea.
but MPs on the committee on arms export controls said they were concerned that only a ‘small number’ of export licences had been suspended or revoked – just 34.
sir John stanley, the Tory chairman of the Commons committee, warned ministers to ‘apply significantly more cautious judgments’ when approving export licences to oppressive regimes including Russia.
The committee said the government had been ‘irresponsible’ to approve two export licences to syria for chemicals which could be used to make weapons in January 2012 – a year into the country’s civil war. syrian dictator bashar al-Assad was condemned last year for using poisons to attack opponents.
A government spokesman said: ‘in March the former foreign secretary announced the suspension of all export licences to the Russian armed forces for any equipment that could be used against Ukraine.
‘This report covers exports in 2013 before the suspension was in place. The majority of export licences that remain in place for Russia are for commercial use but we are keeping all licences under review.’

Conservative Party sources indicated last night however that the party will keep the Chernukhins’ money.

‘The Tories need to come clean about all their Russian links. There can be no impression of conflicts of interest or hypocrisy at such an important time.’
Former Tory treasurer Lord Ashcroft also questioned whether the Conservatives should still be accepting Russian money. in a message on Twitter he said: ‘should the Tory Party suspend taking donations from companies owned by Russians?’
Party sources indicated the tennis match is still scheduled to go ahead

BOB GELDORF DESTROYED IS FAMILY , ALL DOWN TO DRUGS WHAT A FAMILY I WOULD BE ASHAMED HE IS NOT

TANKER what about the Tories taking RUSKY donations.

gold the plane crash was a terrible thing to happen but blaming Russia is not correct answer . we must look at the big problem a round the world no wee is safe from terrorists or what you call these people .the USA sucks up to any one who will buy their goods fact .knowing their was a war going on what the hell were they doing flying over the country that is the question to be answered .putin is only loking after is country that is is job . pity THIS SCUM RUNNING THE UK ARE NOT LOOKING AFTER THE PEOPLE WHO MADE BRITTAIN WHAT I WAS ,NOW A CESSPIT OF A GOVERNMENT TO BUSY FILLING THEIR OWN POCKETS

More more more more.

gold till the powers of the world deal with QATAR who suppy weapons to terrorists
nothing will change flatten QATAR AND THE WORLD WOULD BE A BETER PLACE

THATS IT, ive come up with an idea for the ENGLAND CRICKET CAPTAINCY.........

BRING BACK PIETERSON AS THE TEST CAPTAIN AND INSIST HE ONLY PLAYS TEST MATCHES not 1 dayers or 20/20.

What a genious idea.

IN MY LIFE OF 67 YEARSTHIS IS THE WORST GOVERNMENT THIS COUNTRY AS SEEN
LIARS CROOKS .THEY ARE ONLY INTERESTED IN THEIR OWN LIVES . AND DO NOT GIVE A TOSS ABOUT THE UK . VOTE UKIP

NO BEG to bring back kp and let him decide what he wants to do.

TANKER yep and we might get the World Cup they paid for.

KP it is then and were not nuts TANKER.

Bullying occurrences in independent day and boarding schools is now so well publicised, and the kids so well up on what to do if it happens, that it has now virtually been completely stamped out.

Just Google 'bullying' and see what you get.

Kd Power (Anti) Bullying Skills

You will also find out, that most bullying these days is to do with the workplace rather than school.

Upper Class Public School Kids, Dressed Down At the Weekends Ready For Trouble At A Millwall Football Match.............A source commented these rich kids are so well up on the dirty tactis of bullying.

That looks like Ed Balls-up on the far right (he can't even get that correct), and that little chap at the back looking insignificant, is that Milli-pede, (no change there then)
Of course the person in the window has got their measure, it looks like Bo-Jo.
2517

Ex-UKIP MEP charged

"Westworld" to be re-created for a TV series.

Should be good, eh?

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/jul/23/westworld-hbo-anthony-hopkins-evan-rachel-wood-remake

Westworld, set in the near future, imagines a theme park that recreates the Wild West, complete with artificially intelligent cowboys that visitors can shoot and kill, as well as pliant robots who agree to sexual encounters. A malfunction spreads through the robots, causing them to turn violently against the park's human visitors – with a robot gunslinger played by Yul Brynner most lethal of all. Released in 1973, it was directed by Michael Crichton, and was an early adopter of CGI.

Now HBO is expanding the action into a long-form TV series, a "dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin", according to the Hollywood Reporter. Hopkins will play the "brilliant, taciturn and complicated creative director" of the park, while Wood will play an android farmer girl "who is about to discover that her entire idyllic existence is an elaborately constructed lie."

Softening the Electorate up imo.

Interest rates will rise but to a lower level than before, Mark Carney says
Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, says interest rates will rise but not to past levels


By Steven Swinford, Senior Political Correspondent1:40PM BST 23 Jul 2014

Interest rates will rise but at a more "gradual and limited" rate than in the past, the Governor of the Bank of England has said.
The increase to more “normal” levels will be welcomed by many savers who have faced record low rates for more than six years, but is likely to plunge many borrowers into financial difficulty.
Mr Carney said that the rise in interest rates is likely to be lower than in the past because of the "headwinds" still facing the economy.


Asked if the interest rate will be around 2.5 per cent, Mr Carney said it will be "less than normal".
He said that historically low interest rates pose a threat to the housing market, which has the potential to 'tip the economy' into recession as people reduce spending to meet their mortgage payments.
Speaking at the Commonwealth Games Business Conference in Glasgow, Mr Carney said: "As the economy normalises, the Bank Rate will need to rise in order to achieve the inflation target.
"The Monetary Policy Committee is supporting investment through clear guidance that it expects increases in the Bank Rate, once they begin, to be gradual and limited.
"This is in part because the headwinds facing the economy are likiely to take some time to die down. These headwinds include public balance sheet repair, a highly indebted private sector as well as the drag from a 12 per cent appreciation of sterling over the past year."
He said that the housing market poses a threat to "everyone from Land's End to John O'Groats, including those that do not own their homes.
He said: "History shows that British people do everything they can to pay their mortgages. That means cutting back deeply on expenditures when the unexpected happens. If a lot of people are highly indebted, that could tip the economy back into recession."
Mr Carney said that after the longest and deepest downturn since the Second World War, the UK was finally returning to full growth.