Paper Tiger

The Tories announce their commitments on defence; they announce that they’ll build a new seaborne strategic nuclear deterrent; while failing to fund enough soldiers, weapons, war planes and surface warships to defend us against the next threat. The Tories have put us in the position where we have a Navy with aircraft carriers without planes FFS, and will rent the ‘planes from the French if we need them; and they’re not the enemy 😉  Today’s subs don’t deter Russia, ISIS nor the Argentine Government in the 1980’s. It’s possible of course that a ICBM in the hands of Fallon would deter someone, but probably not; he’s a joke.

trident-holyloch

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Proletariat

Where’s the class analysis in Game of Thrones? via the Guardian who don’t seem to have much of a clue to be honest, although their analysis of the rise and fall of Spain and the role of precious metals is an insight, and we should look to the role of the Iron Bank and the privatisation of the military, and although we now know where the finance for the arms and armour for Stanis’s army came from, I am not so sure of the people, nor of the manufacturing capability to make them. …

In the sticks

In East Hampshire, there’s a District Council election as well as the General Election and the dominant Tories are jolly busy, I have met my MP who knocked on my door, and have just received their council leaflet. I think the activism is one of my new neighbour’s, although they might be worried by losing the Police & Crime Commissioner elections three years ago. Their council candidate is a LibDem turncoat. …

England

Just seen the 1982 version of Ivanhoe again. Cinematically it’s aged, although there are no burgundy loons nor tank tops, and maybe I should consider that the extreme wealth in the higher echelons of English and European society might have allowed themselves to keep clean. Some of the stories about the western learning from the Islamic defenders of Outremer suggest that my expectations of Pythonesque medieval filth is more accurate.

When I first came across the story, it seemed to be all about the beginnings of the class war, with Robin Hood as the defender of the poor against the state and the acceptance of Richard II as the first class betrayal. This film version of the story however ties in various racisms, anti-saxon, anti-norman and anti-semitic and the misogyny of the coming ‘burn the witch’ cleansing, to some extent at the expense of the class contention.

Robin Hood is a bit ‘Men in tights’ and the Norman barons are a bit comedy baddies, but what do you expect from Gimili the Dwarf.

ivanhoe-1982

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