Daily Archives: July 16, 2016

A Blogger’s Holiday

July 16, 2016 By in Business Administration, People, Politics 1 Comment

 

It’s time for me to shut up shop and stop blogging for the summer. I’ll still be active on Twitter, so you can find me there.

But for a few open questions for the summer, here are some thoughts:

  1. Will Boris Johnson confound his critics and be the last Brexit minister to stumble?
  2. After the Brexit ministers fail to secure the promised prizes will Brexit be kicked into the long grass?
  3. Will Jeremy Corbyn challenge to ‘red tories’ to go off and form their own party?
  4. How will the latest terrorist incident impact the French national election?
  5. Could we envision American police tactics in Europe, especially France?
  6. How will the failed military coup in Turkey impact the fight against terrorism?
  7. Will Europe’s deal on Syrian refugees survive the fallout from the failed military coup in Turkey?
  8. Is the S&P 500 about to peak?
  9. What will Theresa May actually chalk up as a success in her first ninety days, her honeymoon period?
  10.  How do we stop the mainstream media peddling ‘porkies’, like those that supported Brexit?
  11. Will the Brexit referendum hinder the growth of right-wing populism?
  12. Can the EU bureaucracy ever clean up effectively their shabby image?

Opinion – Black Lives Matter is a global cause – The Washington Post – John Gelmini

July 16, 2016 By in Defense Policy, Democracy, People, Politics, US Election Leave a comment

Like Dr Alf, I worry too because sometimes the actions of pressure groups like this act to make a bad situation worse.

Police forces have trigger happy people in them and closet racists just like all segments of society, but not to the extent that we have to throw our sense of proportion and rationality out of the window. Most policemen do not go around shooting black people nor any other people as a matter of course because if they did you would have a civil war with dead bodies everywhere and undertakers overwhelmed.

All extremist groupings whether they are “Black Power” movements, the Klu Klux Klan, Neo Nazi survivalists or “White Supremacists” must be allowed to exist within the boundaries of free speech but not in a way which causes alarm, despondency or civil unrest.

The “silent majority”(practically everyone else) needs to remain calm, go about its business and make it clear that they want laws upheld and people to go about their business and lives in a harmonious and tranquil fashion. Rogue policemen who shoot first and ask questions later need to be dismissed and charged and troublemakers and firebrands need to be removed from circulation with swift and firm action irrespective of who they are.

America and the UK are both very unequal countries in terms of income, job opportunities and longevity. Much of that is down to rewards for failure and the yawning gap between incomes at the top and those at the bottom.

These are issues which must be addressed and dinosaur attitudes have to be corrected by training in the case of policemen and by hard-hitting commercials in the case of the public.

People have to see some real progress being made in these areas, not levelling down but more shareholder activism to stop people giving themselves super “fat cat” pay awards for doing nothing and more balance–“Anything goes “, “Because I can” and “i’m worth it” are symptomatic of a malaise which has created a polarised society worthy of the excesses of Ancient Rome.

John Gelmini