Infamy, Infamy The Bots Have Got It Infamy.

The title is a nod to one of the funniest lines from a Carry on film. Ever.

However this is not a post about revolutionary Roman senators stabbing Caesar in the back. Nothing so interesting. This about how all the gnashing of teeth I have gnashed, over right wing nonsense on YouTube, was largely my own fault. The YouTube Bots offered me the tripe and I just dived right in!

I did some investigating. I was concerned just how vitriolic I felt towards the nonsense that was on my feed. I was concerned I might never be able to deal, face to face, with these eejits if I met them in person. Nothing destroys a debate like one side screaming "ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK!" at the opening statement after all. 

So I Googled it (other search engines are available!)

On the whole it came up with the stuff I kind of expected 

Perceived threats to moral foundations, identity and group polarization, moral outrage as a protective emotion (quite interesting) and finally, the one that took me by surprise was naïve realism. I will come to this one last as I was unprepared for that response and found it most illuminating.

So the preceding causes I guess I understood as soon as I read about them. Yes I do think right wing politics is a threat to decent human society. Just look at all the pigeons coming home to roost from the Thatch years, long term unemployment, loss of industrial hinterland, lack of social housing, failure of privatised utilities. The list is quite big. 

The paradigm is that the Labour government of the 1970's is still used by Conservatives to prove how useless left wing policies are (winter of discontent) although the Conservative government of the early 70's had a decent bash at it too (3 day week) and yet living standards rose pretty sharply over the course of the 70's and we haven't been as financially equal society since then. 

Take you pick

Identity and group polarization - differing political views are seen as an attack on the group making it personal. The group polarization is all about them damned bots. Making me angry gets me engaged and I click more - dammit I hate when I surrender to my biology!

According to the protective emotion - Anger is considered a secondary emotion and I use anger as a way of providing urgency because I consider right wing politics a threat to our civilized society.

Naïve Realism was an eye opener though. Naturally I am the only objective arbitrator on here and anyone who disagrees is a right wing misogynistic facist. But it did ring true in many ways with me. I think it is natural to think you are the most down to earth, logical etc person in the world. I get cross though when people presented with the same information as me, formulate an opposite (incorrect obviously) and contrary viewpoint. Fascinating

This all lead me to a conclusion. And that is how important free speech and democracy are. Social media platforms are hailed by social media platform owners as the very essence of free speech (except their bots what they designed work by making you click on stuff that makes you angry because clicks mean money so they want to breed a world of pathogenic psychopaths that hammer on "like" buttons because it means cash to the owner.) 

My example is a game show I have seen on the telly called "Wisdom Of The Crowd". It is a horrible game show hosted by a comedian who has better skills than this requires. The basis is that there is a statistical theory that if you get enough people to guess any value the average of all those guesses is, by and large, more accurate than any individual response.

I would attribute this to a Democratic vote too. That we probably get stuff right overall more often. Which is why democracies trump autocracies the world over. We may see everything very differently but when you throw it all in the mix and slosh it about a bit we will probably come to the right conclusion. Eventually. 

Very irritating when I consider how much I dislike Brexit!

Immigration

 This is going to be a hard one today. This is one of the topics that right wing populists like Reform have used to get themselves noticed. It is also an argument that brings out a lot of "Feel" politics. By that I mean where people are using emotion to rule their decision making process. Anti immigration rhetoric is used as a smoke screen that deviates the public argument away from what actually needs to get attention. 

Education, Social Care, Health. The list is quite long. 

I find that right wing politicians use the anti immigration argument because it means that no one notices that they have no solution for the other things. Sometimes it is because they haven't thought of it or just don't think it needs public input. Therefore they use a subject like immigration to paper the cracks in their political narrative.

I hope to show that the UK is in need of Immigration. Our very existence might depend on it.

So lets start with a "WHY". 

Here is the official birth rates of the UK as a whole

This wikipedia site demonstrates how the population is changing in the UK. The issue is that, as you can see, the proportion of people living who are over 60 outnumber those that are under 16. This is the first time it has ever been thus in the UK.

The problem for the UK is that without some sort of change, the youngest third of the population will need to cover the cost of looking after the other two thirds of the population. This is quite a burden on your children for the future. 

Immigration is a tool that helps fill that "Demographic time bomb" where there are more people in need than those able to pay for it. Immigration fills that hole in the population that we cant provide for ourselves

This is a fact of Demographic Transition in the UK. 

It has been a thing for a while though. 

The Windrush Generation was not a concept by some bizarre left wing conspiracy group to piss off the incumbent nationals just for the hell of it. It provided a useful tool to plug the gaps in the UK society that we were unable to fill ourselves. We needed them more than they needed us.

As a footnote I feel for that generation. Did they really benefit? Poor climate, racial tensions, low pay. 

What are the driving mechanisms for the anti immigration brigade?

Unfortunately, I believe that a significant proportion is plain old racism. At best xenophobia. I have talked on my blog years ago, when anti immigration was rearing its ugly head, that it was an anti Polish thing effectively. They were the prominant cultural group. But they arrived they worked and had a better work ethic and all of a sudden we had plumbers. 

Anti Immigration largely flows out of fear. Fear of change and fear of different. 

I am not sure what Englishness/Britishness these people seek to preserve. The "virtues" that are commonly extolled are in their minds usually 

On a wider note I would question whether English culture was worthy of saving. When you consider what was done in the name the UK during the British Empire. One that is only seen as a loss in the UK only. The rest of the Empire was glad to be shot of us

Much like Putin in eastern Europe. His Russian narrative is that the old Iron Curtain is a natural part of the Russian Empire but it ignores the fact that these countries couldn't wait to shrug off the Soviet yolk. No one wants them back. 

It is largely the same where ever you go in the world that used to be red white and blue, couldn't get us out quick enough.

Like it or not this country needs immigration. Not just in high quality positions but just in general. Free movement of individuals whilst we were in the EU did largely account for this drop off in younger population.

The asylum seekers coming across by boat is another matter. My concern is totally for their safety and trying to cross the English channel in those flimsy inflatables is not a good way to travel. The rise of the boats has been almost totally down to Brexit. 

I am not going to find evidence to defend that claim. Go look it up for yourself if you don't believe me. Search for what years where boat crossings were at their peak. Or even when they started. 

The reason I won't provide evidence is that it has become increasingly clear to me as I struggle to ignore the right wing nonsense on my YouTube feed is that the great advantage of podcasting and YouTube and stuff is that you can say what you want. Don't bother to back it up. If you do want to back it up cherry-pick your evidence. 

The times I have noticed anyone with a differing opinion comes on they have to know their facts back to front as any chink in your argument is held up as prima facie evidence that your argument is a fallacy, never mind the host doesn't have to provide supporting evidence for their argument.

I do want to see the end of the boats in the channel but mostly because it is a ridiculously dangerous thing to do. You have to wonder how miserable their lives have been to this point that a rubber dingy in the busiest shipping lane in the world is a worthwhile endeavor

Why do I think this is a smoke screen? Well for a start asylum seekers make up a very small part of the population. The money spent on them pales into insignificance compared to the bill for the NHS, Ministry of Defence etc etc. We have bigger fish to fry at this moment. Cost of Living, inflation, energy security, diversification of our energy supply away from gas in particular, social care. I havent even mentioned Defence or direct healthcare there. These are the subjects that will directly affect out lives in short to medium term. We need policies to deal with THESE topics. Stopping the boats will make Zero difference to these factors. Do not allow yourselves to be diverted down a blind alley by thee scaremongers

Good Vs Bad

 

Good or bad? that is my question today. 

I was put in mind of this after the article what I wrote on a certain Mr Will Self (Author etc).

He is a deeper thinker than myself and what's more can put it into better words than me. In the article that I read and commented on he mentioned the Good vs Bad thing. His suggestion was, if I interpreted it correctly, that in modern life what is good and what is bad are justified purely on our immediate emotional response to an issue. His argument was that there are some immutable "Right" and "Wrongs". I am not sure in the article he goes into specifics.

I admit to having some sympathy with the view. Laws after all are created to perform this task. To hold us to account for behaviors that are considered detrimental to society as a whole but may not be considered as such by the perpetrator. 

So his argument does hold weight. I am sure Mr Self will be delighted that I agree! Good and Bad are enshrined in law no matter what we think of them. It may be convenient for a dog walker to walk away from their pets excrement without picking it up. That is Bad because the laws says so and defines a punishment. 

However, I am not sure this is what Mr Self had in mind. In the interview it appeared he was talking in much more general terms

Having thought about it some, I have come to this conclusion... It depends!

Right and wrong are enormous Venn diagrams that overlap completely and are concentric in that no matter what decision we end up taking whether you end up in the Right or Wrong circle is entirely dependent upon the observers opinion.

This is why we have laws. Right and wrong IS subjective. Society however has decided that some actions are not going to be put up with for the Greater Good. So in that group are murder and auto enrolled membership fees for instance. However tipping a waiter is down to personal choice, choice and size of tip can be viewed as good or bad. I think they are nice and extreme samples.

There are plenty of decisions we make about personal space and relations that have no absolute end point just our opinion.

As my Dad used to say about life - some decisions you just have to feel for the answer.

If you take a look at the natural world all animals are concerned with 2 things. Food and reproduction. Some animal species have developed ornate and complicated personal relationship strategies to cope with this so that the best use of the world's resources are used. 

Unfortunately, for a lapsed atheist like myself, I see this as the reason for religion. Worshipping deities is a sideshow. Religions of all hues provide a frame work for Humans to live together in close proximity. They are a subjective limit on the activities of people or a group of people, laying out a course of action that (I hope) is at a higher threshold than might otherwise have been the case 

So Mr Self is right AND wrong

Will Self - A object lesson in life values

 As an aged aspiring writer - churning out nonsense on Blogger from time to time, it has been very cathartic to read an interview with Will Self. 

Just reading the interview has made me question much of my out put and the reason I give myself for making this output. 

I have read only 2 of his books The Book of Dave and Dorian. They are not easy or light reads. Absorbing though. The Book of Dave registered more profoundly with me as I viewed it as a satire on organised religon. Give it a read and see if you agree. And then at least we could make an old man happy and get him read again as he thinks no one reads him. He may be correct.

I am often left in awe of his writing, well mostly the thought process behind it. What sort of mind do you need to have to think of these scenarios? Creating the content is relatively easy once you reach the conclusions about life I believe Mr Self has come to. But the Time, energy and deliberation processes that he needed to have to reach these conclusion blows my mind.

One of the great advantages to being as stupid as me is that I have no concept of how stupid I am. Literally, My stupidity is my whole universe. To be able to understand how stupid I am is impossible it is a barrier from which I cannot escape. Dont fret for me. You probably weren't. I am reasonably happy and, as I have suggested, no concept of understanding as to my limits. 

But reading and listening to Mr Self frightens me. Because He does remind me how limited I am. Just this interview has led me to question how I believe in "Good or Bad". Am I just reacting to what I like and don't rather than what is right and what is wrong? Right and Wrong - Good and Bad are not necessarily the same thing. Good and Bad are subjective decisions. Right and Wrong should be more objective. 

I felt for Mr Self in this interview though. It seemed he was, as the article says, raging at the dying of the light (Not just his, but life in general) and having no outlet. Frustration that no one else had noticed and no one else was listening. 

I had to laugh at arguing with AI though. Nothing brings you down to earth quicker than objective criticism from an impartial observer

Further on after Dawn

Well, there was something I forgot to mention in my last post, and that was the reason for the title. What I forgot to mention was that the train that I was trying not to miss at Clapham Junction was the last train of the day and,  therefore, should I miss it, I would indeed be travelling until dawn or, in fact, beyond.

And I can now reveal it was a close run thing!

There is a maxim in the armed forces that goes something like this: 

"No battle plan lasts more than 20 minutes after first contact with the enemy!"

The point is this, plan as much as you like, but you still have a situation that can play out in many different ways, and it is almost impossible to be certain which one of them will happen.

My train journey was nothing like that. Obviously, I am trying to make my tedious lifestyle seem more interesting to the casual observer than it really is. How is it working so far?

Where was I? Ah, yes, racing down to London on an LNER Azuma. I chose this particular timing because the train only stopped in York and then London. You would think that made it a quicker journey, but the vagaries of the network mean that the train was always getting caught behind slower moving traffic, etc. and this is reflected in the timetable. 

I am fond of the Azumas as they are built up here in the North East. They look pretty cool, too. The only problem with these is the seating. I have heard rumours that Hitachi (the train manufacturer) was somewhat taken aback by the Department for Transport's request. As the end customer, it was they who specified the seating density and therefore the seating design. I would not describe them as uncomfortable. They are, however, just a notch above that and a slight notch here or there, and they would indeed be unusable. Not quite as bad as the infamous Ironing Board trains of Thameslink, but close. The ride comes in for some stick to but, in my honest opinion, this comes down to the track as much as anything. People often compare these trains unfavourably with HST sets from the seventies. If my memory serves (not a given these days), these trains had far deeper cushions that absorbed an awful lot of the lumps and bumps. Todays Azuma seats are rock hard. I do love the at seat service though on LNER. 

My journey into London was as advertised and arrived into a humid Kings Cross as near as dammit on time. I often have trouble exiting Kings Cross with tickets printed before travel. Something seems to be awry with the as I can never get out of my platform at Kings Cross nor onto it. The former problem was negated this night as the ticket barriers were all open and we just wandered off. 

There is quite a stroll from Kings Cross Platforms to the Victoria Underground line. So much so that it feels like you might as well of walked all the way to Waterloo station than caught the underground. By the time you have walked back to the Underground barriers and headed down the deep escalator and along several small tunnels until you actually reach the Victoria Line platform, that is. It is only 1500 steps according to my step counterit just seems more.

Thus ended the easy part of my journey. Life was about to get a bit more complicated when I reached Vauxhall station. The online ticket seller had allowed a very generous hour and ten minutes for my trip across town to Clapham Junction. Just to be sure I was at Clapham before my last train passed through, I decided to hop onto the first train that was headed to Clapham from Vauxhall. I could arrive at Clapham in plenty of time to get around. It has a lot of platforms! Trains head off to Brighton, Portsmouth, Weymouth, and Windsor through this station. That is a healthy chunk of South East England covered from that station, so finding the right Platform was important.

I did indeed jump on the first train at Vauxhall heading towards Clapham Junction (Next stop). An announcement describing an apology for the late running of the service had me wondering whether this train was going to go anywhere or should I get off and await another? 

Just as the cogs in my brain were beginning to grind with all the different permutations that might be available to me, the train doors closed, and we set off. Clapham, here I come. Sure enough, I had done the right thing. I was at Clapham juntion and I discovered the correct platform for my onward journey and began to wait out the 20 minutes until my train was due.

It was from this point that the night may have turned ugly. It was apparent there was some kind of monumental hold up to all trains headed down the Woking to Weymouth section of the line. The train I had stepped onto was actually running half an hour late. What was happening in front of my very eyes was that delays were getting longer and increasing with every minute I watched. The announcement staff were caught in a horrible juxtaposition. They were desperately trying to advise delayed passengers that other services arriving at that moment would be a better bet than waiting for a delayed service. Unfortunately for the announcement staff, these trains were not arriving when they should have been or at the platform where they usually arrived. Chaos. I felt for them deeply, they were in a mire not of their making.

I was watching the screens and saw my train being delayed every minute. To the point, I wondered whether it might just be cancelled anyway, and I would be left in Clapham with no other train until 5:30 a.m. the next morning. 

So my choice seemed to be to sit tight and wait for my delayed service and hope it showed up. That might leave me stranded in Clapham for the night. About as attractive an idea as being trapped in Beirut for the night! In the end, I decided that progress was the name of the game. I would get on the next available train that arrived at my platform and was headed via Basingstoke. At least it was in the right county (Hampshire). And I may just make a connection to Portsmouth that came from Reading? A long shot but worth the punt. No matter how much my own distaste for Basinghole, sorry Basingstoke. It was a damn sight nicer than Clapham. It was conceivably within extended taxi range also. A stretch, but when allied to the cost of accommodation for one night, a taxi to finish the journey was possible

So I hopped on the next train headed to Basingstoke. It was full. So full. Sardines would have complained of the cramped conditions. That was bad enough, but the fellow traveller I was squeezed up next to was having a very personal call to an ex-girlfriend/ex-wife. I shared details (non sexual i might add) of his private life that were, in parts, fascinating, horrifying, and just quite laughable. In a nutshell, he was spending the weekend with his ex and his kids, and although he was cool with her dating other men, he ordered her not to bat so much as an eyelid at other men whilst in his company. His phone then ran out of power, and within moments, he was chatting up the women in the cubicle with us. They seemed to quite enjoy his attention. Wonders will never cease. They cannot have failed to have overheard everything I did and yet did not seem to be at all vexed that he was turning attention on them, having instructed another bretheren woman to forgo all such pleasures.

back to travel. I updated myself at regular intervals and noted that the train I originally wanted to catch had NOT been cancelled and had indeed set out from Waterloo station 30 minutes behind schedule, and I could have been on it. No worries, I was ahead, would reach Basinghole before it, and continue my journey as if nothing had happened.

The only concern was that the train was catching up, and I thought it would be just my luck that it would undertake me on a separate track and run through Basinghole before me.

I need not have concerned myself. 

The delays had all been caused by some damage to a track. It seems in all this dry weather, the clay around London shrinks, drops, and bends and takes track with it. Engineers had spotted potential problems and closed the line. After some sustained pleading, it seemed a line was reopened. But only one! All trains south of Woking had to go from dual running to single file and at reduced speed, so something of a bottleneck had been created. The upshot was I had an hour's wait on a pleasant, balmy evening at Basingstoke station. It was a better alternative to Clapham.

  

The rest of my journey was uncomplicated and routine, although an hour late.

As I took the 30-minute stroll to my destination from the station (too tight-fisted for a taxi!), I took time to ponder my quote from Robert Louis Stevenson, claiming that the travel itself was more important than the destination or reason for travel. 

Hmmm.... what do you think? 

Straight on until Dawn

 To travel in hope

AI image of "last man in"

Today I am taking a journey that I have taken many times. I am heading back to the south coast to see family. But I have spoken of Robert Louis Stevenson so many times (the man who figured the journey itself was the reason for travel not the destination), that I am going to put the quote to the test and see how I feel about it afterwards, when the dust has settled, so to speak.

Going to the coast from where I live is relatively simple: train to Kings Cross, tube to Waterloo station, train to the south coast. Seems simple? So, when I was booking my ticket this time around, I spotted a relatively cheap option. To leave later and arrive at the same time. How was this possible I hear you asking? Just me again? Well the only difference is a small detail. Don't go to Waterloo. Use London Transport connections and step onto the usual train, but at Clapham Junction. It just means staying on the tube a bit longer, getting a train from Vauxhall station, alight at Clapham Junction, and Bob's your living uncle. No biggy?

I will let you know. In my head, numerous things could happen. Of which I will not tell you now, as most of them exist only in my mind as opposed to actual possibilities. The change in detail was in itself interesting. I have not stepped on or off a train at Vauxhall since 1981

It was to mark the end of an incredible Ashes series. Known forever as Botham's Ashes. My father and I decided we would try to catch the first day of the sixth Test at the Oval. My dad said we should just show up and we would get in, as used to happen when my Father was the age I was at the time (15). Unfortunatley the first three days had completely sold out,t and there was no room at the inn.

We had arrived at the Oval from Barnes, near where my old Nan used to live, and alighted at Vauxhall station, which was the nearest mainline station. Having found the ground unenterable, we hunted around for a plan B. Which turned out to be a trip to Lord's. a little bit further North but in central London. It was Middlesex vs Yorkshire. Not a very enticing offering as Botteams's star players were all involved with England at the Oval. However, a trip to HQ is always worth the effort. The last time I went to Lords was for a Gillette Cup one-dayer in 1977, Middlesex vs my beloved Hampshire. The ground that day was also packed to the gunwales. Today,y there were three of us.

The game was settling into a typical English first-class game. Tepid. Yorkshire had posted 264. Middlesex were a little shy of that 244 when their last batsman walked to the crease. A West Indian gentleman who was a bowler and not considered a batsman. So much so that the diesel heavy Roller started up even before he took guard, so convinced were the groundsman that it would not be long before their services were required between innings

What we were actually treated to was Wayne Daniel crashing the Yorkshire bowling to all parts, including a stupendous six that he hooked, and I can still see the dust cloud that arose as the ball struck the stand some thirty feet up and well beyond the boundary. 

Needless to say,y the Heavy roller fell silent after 20 minutes. 

And only watched by 3 people! 

Ah memories. The destination can be important, I guess. I don't remember any of the journeys I undertook on this day. I will let you know how this one goes.

The Electorate Have Spoken!

 Reform? Whats in a name?

Broken councils?

We in the UK have just "enjoyed" a bunch of elections to see who runs our local councils. The people that (don't) fix our potholes, run our education, fire service, police and not to mention pay for all our social care. 

Labour have taken a pounding, closely followed by the Conservatives (but who cares about them?). This has sent Labour into a spin. I am of mixed opinion on this subject though. I think from a national point of view it should be sending shivers down the spines of the Labour party. Reform have advertised themselves as the party of change. They will sweep out the old and bring in a breath of fresh air and solve ALL our problems. 

There are plenty of good websites out there that will explain in better detail just how this view is not true but will also point out it is almost but not quite deviously untrue. The issue is the same as the Brexit party. Nigel Farage does all the talking - and he is quite good at it, but scratch a little deeper and you start to find an unsavoury element lives within.

The major problem for me is that Reform is a right wing organisation. Funded by seriously rich right wingers. So right wing that Maggie Thatch might even wince. I am not sure that all the people who voted for it are aware of its true colours. How many people voted for Reform as a kind of protest vote? I am hoping that most of the previous Labour supporters did this. 

As I said earlier I have mixed feelings. I am not a Reform supporter but I do like the fact that councillors who previously took us all for granted are now seeking new employment. I have lived under several councils, red and blue who have thought they were untouchable. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is good to see the electorate giving 2 fingers to the incumbent rulers.

In my opinion though the electorate will suffer the consequences. By and large Reform have not had a great time in charge of anything. Kent county council appears to be a case in point. Most other Reform run councils have had to cut services and raise council tax. the electorate may just have shot itself in the foot. 

What this does point to though is that we have just had 15 years of bad luck/management economically. From Credit crunch, Brexit and Covid.  It has been a long haul for the low to middle incomes. 2 steps forward and one step back for the last 15 years. One thing the Labour government should be concentrating on is a small short term hit for consumers. A short VAT holiday worked quite well for Labour in 2009. Raising the tax allowance would also gift people some more of their hard earned cash. Thanks to Trump - not just in Iran  - with just about everything he touches, inflation is going up. Giving it back to people will stimulate the economy. We don't earn enough to hoard it. We want more holiday, beer and food and cars. In no particular order.