Has arrogance set the scene for the break-up of the UK?

An arrogant, ill-starred gamble for partisan advantage, the Conservatives have destroyed the very thing they supposedly stand for.

Britannia in rough seas.

The decline in respect for British institutions by the Conservatives has also been on full display.

First, not least was David Cameron’s willingness to risk the union’s survival.

Twice- 1st in the Scottish Independence referendum, and then, probably fatally, in the EU membership referendum(Brexit).

The Scottish National Party (SNP) leader and first minister of Scotland, have already signalled that in all likelihood they will call another referendum.

 2nd-The leaders of Sinn Fein, meanwhile, are calling for a referendum on Irish unification. In time, we will now quite probably witness the break-up of the UK .

In less time than many probably anticipate, the angry citizens who voted Leave EU in the hope of a change in circumstances will realise they have been sold a dodgy bill of goods in order to transfer power from one bunch of born to rule toffs to another.

Then you'll ask why you remain in low-wage jobs, why your children still can’t get on the housing ladder, why life remains insecure. And now you have no Europe to blame.

You'll inevitably look closer to home for their scapegoats. When that happens, Theresa May the new leader and prime minister will in the new year find that the ties that bind you all have stretched painfully thin.

The blind and total faith in trickle down economics and the market has led to people becoming consumer units, nothing more.

The result has been that the people will vote for whatever looks a little different eg. Brexit and Trump in America. Is this really the change that people are looking for, I doubt it.

Good ship UK, I wish you and all who sail in her, good luck and a safe trip, you sail into uncharted waters.
"May the force be with you".

If your lost Remember your always welcome in Australia.

Prediction for 20I7

My thanks to the Weekly Times

QUEENSLAND calls a very early election and One Nation wins.

It immediately decides to “ Quexit”, building a great big wall on the borders and kicking out all the retired “Mexicans” living on the Gold Coast.

Pauline vows to bring jobs back by building a Big Thing in every Queensland town, starting with the Big Pauline at Ipswich.

Meanwhile, Ms Hanson calls on the Nats to give up on the Libs and merge to create a coalition called the One Nats Straya Oi Oi Oi Party with Barnaby Joyce as her deputy.

“It’d be the perfect marriage,” Pauline said. When asked his view Barnaby said, “I’d rather marry Johnny Depp.”

To all you despondent Small “L”liberals, Labour centrists, social justice warriors and everyone out there.

 Depressed by Donald Trump, Corey Bernadi and scared of the alt-right, here is my festive message: get off the ground, you wusses. Put down your gingerbread lattes, and put up your dukes.

Let us consult the wisdom of Sean Connery’s Malone in The Untouchables, and adapt it to our times. You want to get the alt-right?

Here’s how you get them. They pull a knife, you pull a gun. They send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way.

Before we proceed, and to avoid litigation, let me emphasise that I am speaking metaphorically. If you were by any chance planning to mark Boxing Day by going after a member of the far right with a spear, please don’t.

Its against the law, it will only complicate matters. It is also likely to give you indigestion after all those turkey sandwiches.

Still, in every other respect, it really is time to stop sobbing and toughen up for 2017.

No growth, no repair. Wow! What a clever government?

Edited version of Greg Jericho's article.

The Coalition has neither supported growth nor repaired the budget. When Labor “blew the budget deficit” to above 4% of GDP during the financial crisis, they could gain comfort in the knowledge that their policy choices meant Australia avoided recession and the unemployment rate peaked at 5.9%.

There were significant benefits from that particular budget deficit blowout. It should be noted that it was after these budget measures were taken that, in 2011, Australia achieved the coveted triple-A rating, with a stable outlook, from all three major ratings agencies.

Now, as 2016 draws to a close, GDP growth is stalling, the unemployment rate is stuck nearer 6% than 5%, underemployment is near record highs and wages growth has fallen to a record low.

These are the core reasons for the likely credit rating downgrade. Had fiscal policy been used to support growth ie. Infrastructure investment, the ratings agencies would have seen this as pro-growth strategy for the long term.
Had the budget been repaired, albeit it at the cost of growth, the rating agencies would have rewarded that strategy.

What innovative fiscal strategy have we seen, no innovation, no lateral thinking just the same old same old. Bleed the lowest hanging fruit, the unemployed, disabled and less fortunate.

And this will encourage growth. Come on pull the other one! Ideology must take a back seat, its time for logic.

Australia follows "The origin of trickle down economics" not good enough.

Based on an article by Rob Burgess

Growth from nowhere

Turnbull and Morrison's plan is pure pie-in-the sky. While it’s cutting back public spending, the private sector is expected to jump in and pick up the slack. No! This week’s figures show this is not happening. Employment growth was revised down again from 1.75 per cent to 1.25 per cent, which is below even the population growth rate of 1.4 per cent.

The government’s optimism is based on ‘Laffer curve’ economics, which says that if you cut taxes, the economy will grow so much that the government will reap even greater volumes of revenue.

That’s why the Turnbull government plans to give $50 billion in tax cuts to businesses over a decade – a plan that has a snowflake’s chance in hell of working in the current global and domestic economic environment.

Debt and deficit revisited

Finally there's a restating of the old ‘debt and deficit’ mantra with a touch of fear thrown in.

Federal net debt is approaching 19 per cent of GDP, which is very low by world standards.

With such a long string of budgets, and budget updates, showing downward revisions in GDP growth, jobs growth, inflation and so on, the government should be using debt wisely to breath some life into the economy.

Much as we may not love the guy, President-elect Donald Trump has promised a borrow-and-spend fiscal expansion.

That should, in theory, go hand in hand with more tax reform. But important debates around the GST or negative gearing reform have been shut down by the Turnbull government. Why? Its ideology driven, it has nothing to do with economics.

So borrow. It is a must. Time to reboot

The economic orthodoxies still being pushed by Morrison make even less sense in light of the promised infrastructure stimulus plans of President-elect Donald Trump.

On present settings, Mr Morrison will most likely face a worse economic and fiscal outlook in next May’s budget. The plan for ‘jobs and growth’ and a surplus of 2021/22 will look increasingly flimsy.

And this unpopular government will be left trying to explain why it can’t stimulate the economy, when voters of all stripes here and abroad start to put their jobs and household budgets ahead of promises of so called trickle-down prosperity.

Women make up 50 per cent of Fire and Rescue NSW graduating class for first time - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Women make up 50 per cent of Fire and Rescue NSW graduating class for first time - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

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A few tips to relieve the stress of hosting a Christmes lunch

Christmas:- Less Stress and No mess is the name of the game.

My thanks to Denise Cullen's article.

If you're hosting Christmas lunch this year, don't run yourself ragged by tackling a year's worth of cleaning and gardening in one fell swoop.

Invite your guests to regular working bees leading up to the big day or, better still, make their Christmas Day attendance contingent on their participation in said program. (As in, no work equals no lunch. No exceptions.)

It sounds harsh, but this hard-arse position might help wind down your guest list. Hey presto! Less cooking!(The aim, no cooking)


Remaining guests should be encouraged to bring a plate or two. A table groaning under the weight of multiple contributions might distract from the fact that you haven't cooked anything yourself.

Washing up, not a problem, no ones allowed to leave until they've washed everything they've eaten off.

Don't forget to farewell everyone by saying "Let's do it all again next year".

Report time for the kids and..........................a Report, Yes mum and dad are assessed over the year.

Just a few more hurdles and then we can all relax

The end of the school year is in sight. Just a few more hurdles and then we can all relax; Christmas cards, candy canes and of course, end of year reports. But while most parents welcome an assessment of their kids' performance, they do not expect their own input to be evaluated.

But a school in the UK is changing that. As well as assessing their students, they are dishing out grades to mums and dads. Parents that are really involved in their kid's education are rewarded with an A, and parents that haven't done their bit get a measly D. It may as well be a slap in the face.

The school, Greasley Beauvale Primary in Nottinghamshire use criteria such as whether mums and dads have attended school events like plays and parent teacher evenings to decide on the grade

.

Political correctness gone mad?

Edited by SWT Read. My thanks to Annabelle Crabb

Political correctness is – it's now universally accepted in this country, or by anyone with a brain at least – out of control.

It's getting so you can't say anything to anyone, in case you "trigger" them or offend them. Even if what you're saying is true! That's the worst part. It's almost like there are some words and concepts that just drive some people into a blind fit of rage or offence, and render them completely incapable of engaging in a calm and rational discussion.
Guess who's ranting.

Have there been a large number of bodies that have recommended an emissions intensity scheme? Yep sure have.

Is that essentially a baseline and credit scheme? Yep.

Will we look at that? Not on your nelly, because after less than a day of hollering, the Prime Minister himself climbed into his bullet-proof vehicle and drove out on to the battle field, determinedly flattening any suggestion the review would look at an "emissions intensity scheme" and reversing over it a few times for good measure, like a chook farmer eliminating a snake.

Frydenberg's crime? Mentioning an "emissions intensity scheme" at all, which as everyone knows is pretty much the same as an emissions trading scheme, which as everyone knows is pretty much the same as a carbon tax, which as everyone knows is pretty much the same as just openly shooting pensioners for no reason.

Joyce's NSW electorate gets $120m CEFC loan

Windfarm in Barnaby Joyce's NSW electorate gets $120m CEFC loan

Clean Energy Finance Corporation loan comes three months after minister slammed SA’s over-reliance on wind power
The new Sapphire windfarm will become the largest in NSW, powering 110,000 average homes and abating 600,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year. Photograph: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has made a multi-million dollar loan for a new windfarm in Barnaby Joyce’s electorate.(surprise,surprise more pork barrelling) 

It comes three months after Joyce slammed the South Australian government’s over-reliance on wind power, and linked SA’s damaging September blackout on the state’s lack of coal-fired baseload power

Gillian Triggs is still holding on, and her reward is continuing torment | Mark Dreyfus | Opinion | The Guardian

The inability to handle criticism is always a sign of utmost weakness. That is as true for government as it is for people.

It’s why the hatred this government shows for independent statutory officers who question its authority should be especially troubling.

There have been several unedifying examples that have emerged over the past year alone. Just recall president of the Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs, former solicitor general Justin Gleeson, and former head of the department of agriculture Paul Grimes.

Today, Gillian Triggs will be called back to appear in front of coalition senators – the government having decided that seven-and-a-half hours of grilling at the last estimates hearing in October was insufficient. Who knows how long she will be subjected to belligerent questioning during today’s hearing.


Gillian Triggs to go as human rights chief, Turnbull confirms

Let’s not pretend here.

Triggs is not being recalled so that further facts of any matter can be established. It is simply another step in the coalition’s campaign, led by senators Ian MacDonald and Barry O’Sullivan, to harm her because they do not like what she stands for.
Gillian Triggs is still holding on, and her reward is continuing torment | Mark Dreyfus | Opinion | The Guardian:




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Real journalism versus non-journalism.

Excerpt from an article by Denis Muller

Real journalism involves collecting and verifying facts before publishing them. It involves adherence to legal and ethical standards concerning due process at law, avoidance of wrongful harm, and respect for public taste.

It involves the unfashionable function of gatekeeping – call it editing.

It involves shining a light in dark places to reveal things that people in power want concealed. That is how we know, for instance, about sexual abuse of children by clergy, and about bad behaviour by the insurance arm of the Commonwealth Bank.

Journalism like this involves accumulating evidence to a standard of proof commensurate with the gravity of the wrongdoing. It is a complex exercise demanding skill and experience.

Yes, professional journalism has many flaws and neither the practitioners nor the media industry they work for are as accountable as they should be for the way they use their power. But there is some accountability, including some serious legal consequences.

Moreover, they operate in the open, with no cloak of anonymity to hide behind.

This is the kind of journalism that serves the public interest.

It follows that it is in the public interest that professional journalism and the media industry respond effectively to the current challenge to their institutional legitimacy. Basically, that means doing journalism to high ethical standards and putting the need to be right ahead of the need to be first.

This is not about elite journalism versus alternative journalism. It is about real journalism versus non-journalism.

"Alas real journalist are becoming an endangered species!