This Week in the Guardian #10
This week The Graun takes aim at rabid anti-vax death cults, “free speech without consequences”, and (surprise surprise) Russia. Thank God Sir Keir Starmer is here to save us all.
Every week (or, rather, most weeks, since the coronavirus torpedoed our schedule), we like to highlight three or four stories that go full-Guardian, but don’t require an entire article of refutation.
We encourage reader-participation here, so if you come across something you feel should be included in the next edition either post a link below, or send us an e-mail.
A coronavirus vaccine would be a triumph, but the worst human impulses threaten its success
Polly Toynbee’s minders have let her loose at the gin again, and she’s rattled off an incoherent mess of an article which is essentially an effort in curling all the people she doesn’t like into one ball and flushing it down the toilet.
She’s overjoyed that the government has already committed to buying 90 MILLION doses of a vaccine that might not work and hasn’t been safety tested, but is afraid some people won’t want to use the rushed vaccine to defend themselves against a virus they probably won’t get, and will likely do them almost zero harm should they get it.
No, in Polly’s (presumably unfocused and wobbly) world, these incredibly stupid right-wing, anti-vax, non-masking leave voters are suffering “brain failure” and will ruin it for everyone if we let them. For one thing, it’s known that vaccines only work if everyone takes them, so somehow these people who don’t vaccinate themselves are putting everyone else in danger.
Meanwhile the mask-wearing, safety-first Remain voters are going to save us all. If only everyone will listen to the Scientists (the right scientists obviously, not the wrong scientists).
What is the future of the UN in the age of impunity?
Patrick Wintour is asking the questions we’re all too afraid to ask. Like, “what if the UN changed so that China and Russia couldn’t hold back Western Imperialism?”
He doesn’t phrase it that way, of course, but when he rails against “the age of impunity” and the “debilitating veto”, he’s very much talking about everybody else, not lovely NATO. This is made more than apparent by the countries he singles out for criticism.
He has cross words for Assad and Putin predictably. Somehow Venezuela comes in for some flak too, despite not being at war with anyone for decades.
Israel, though, goes un-named. As does the war in Yemen, for which neither the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia nor their backers in the Pentagon receive any rebuke. Afghanistan is not mentioned, nor is the NATO bombing of Libya.
At one point he quotes David Miliband saying: “[We’re] living through the age of impunity”
He doesn’t mention that David could easily be talking about himself, having voted to invade Iraq, and then voted against any inquiry into that war. and never suffered any kind consequences for those crimes.
In fact, in an article about impunity for war crimes, he doesn’t use the word “Iraq” once.
Really, nothing more need be said.
Moscow-on-Thames: Soviet-born billionaires and their ties to UK’s political elite
In this article, Luke Harding lists rich Russians – or rich people who were born in ex-Soviet states – and rattles off how they are connected to the British government and/or the Russian government.
To be clear – he is not accusing any of these people of doing anything illegal whatsoever, at one point he goes out of his way to say so. Most of them have done nothing more than attend an event, or give money to a Tory fundraiser, or be photographed with a politician or something equally asinine.
Luke doesn’t even critique their politics – both sides are represented, anti-Putin and pro-Putin (or “Putin apologists” to use Luke’s totally non-partisan wording). No, they did nothing except be Russian.
Now, did a bunch of Russian billionaires make their money in unethical and borderline evil ways during the dark days of the 1990s? Absolutely yes. Is this true of most billionaires? Most assuredly. Is it nauseating to watch the global 1% support each other in keeping a boot on the neck of the working class? Incredibly so.
Does their ethnicity have any bearing on this? Of course not.
They aren’t RUSSIAN billionaires, they are Russian BILLIONAIRES. That’s the problem with this article, it focuses on the wrong word in the name of spreading Russophobic hysteria.
These people are very much billionaires first, and Russians second. For heaven’s sake, many of them have been “exiled” from Russia thanks to Putin’s radical political ideas, like insisting people pay tax and stop stealing their worker’s pensions. Several now have British citizenship.
If Luke were a journalist he might ask why billionaires prefer to keep their money in the notionally democratic law-abiding UK, and not the allegedly corrupt free-for-all that is Putin’s Russia.
But Luke is NOT a journalist, he’s an MI5-backed paranoid personality and an increasingly xenophobic one at that; because this article is straight-up racism.
Listing a bunch of men and women as somehow being potentially dangerous, whilst admitting they have committed no crimes and have nothing in common but their nationality, is the definition of racism.
If you don’t see it, it’s because in the West we’ve been inoculated against anti-Russian racism through constant exposure.
To see just how seedy this article is, simply re-write it in your head replacing each use of the word “Russian” or “Soviet-born”, with the word “Jewish” or “Israeli”.
Such as:
Following a week in which Israel and its links to the UK have been in the news, the Guardian has looked into the impact of Jewish-born men and women on recent UK public life.
Or:
Super-wealthy businessmen from Israel also control a dizzying array of UK assets spanning football clubs, oil and gas and multimillion-pound mansions. Their financial clout affords members of this select group considerable influence and access to Britain’s professional and ruling classes.
Yeah.
Not pretty, is it?
BONUS – The Magificent Rebrand of One Keir Starmer
This isn’t about this week, so much as a general shift in tone over the last few months. Media coverage of Labour has totally changed since Sir Keir Starmer replaced Jeremy Corbyn. Nowhere is this clearer than the pages of the Guardian, most especially in their coverage of the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Now, a cynic might see RLB’s removal as a contrived mess designed to further dilute the meaning of “antisemitism” and cast-out the last even slightly left-leaning frontbencher.
The Guardian, however, saw it as sign of how tough and assertive Starmer is and that Labour are finally moving in the right direction.
We’re also told Starmer is beating Johnson in the polls, that the Tories are “struggling to make Starmer look bad”, he’s the “grown up in the room” leading a “quiet revolution”.
Most improbably of all, we’re told Starmer is Competent, likeable and decisive. All of which, were it true, would not need to be said. Just as, if a virus is deadly, you don’t need to keep telling everyone how deadly it is; if someone is likeable…you don’t need headlines pointing it out.
Sir Keir Starmer is not now, and never has been previously, anybody’s idea of likeable or decisive. He has the voice of a bank manager, the face of a substitute teacher and the charisma of a not especially interesting cucumber. He is a nonentity. A suit full of bugger all. And it’s not a nice suit.
Assuming we’re still allowed to vote come the next scheduled election, I would expect Starmer to walk it – heralding a wave of nostalgia for Blair and regret for the “wasted Corbyn years”, but I don’t expect anything to change, not for the better at least.
* * *
All told, a busy week for The Guardian. And we didn’t even cover the totally organic feminist revolution looking to topple the President of Belarus, or how Facebook is going to control the world through “algorithmically amplified “free speech” with no consequences”.
Did we miss anything? Tell us about it in the comments below, and keep an eye out for articles that should go in the next issue.
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Excellent articles thank you and I love the demolition of Polly – a particularly mis-informed and convoluted character of the Remain culture.
You have my permission to use any of my weekly ‘Letters from Great Britain’ tracking the descent down the rabbit hole as our troubles compound:
https://www.theburningplatform.com/author/austrian-peter/
The Guardian has been contemplating in an editorial what China would do now about the UK and their anti-China measures. Pretty clueless the article, looked like a rabbit frightened by the headlights.
This is what they’ll do: Quietly shave off one slice after the other off UK business and cooperation. You won’t notice it until one day you wake up in the dark and the cold. None of your switches work any more. It will not be 10 years, like 5 years I guess.
De-dollarization, no new investment, no renewal of contracts, reduction of quantities. Have fun with your many children, Boris, preferably during the day when you do not need light. Shouldn’t the Guardian have developed an understanding what countermeasures China might implement?
Very good points.
Britain is now so wedded, especially post-Brexit, to the neoliberal, neocon USA, that it will be further ruined by it.
It’s now become merely a large aircraft carrier for the US military parked off the coast of Europe and within easy reach to be able to launch nuclear attacks on Minsk and Moscow…sacrificing this “Airstrip One” rather than their own population and soil as those countries retaliate.
The Guardian seems to have new countermeasures. I.e. not only censoring a comment but making the commenting connection very obviously dysfunctional.
I can understand that they need to be somewhat system conform to keep their license but they are becoming fact averse.
Defense Secretary Esper is hilarious. He does say ‘avoid peace in Europe’. His speech was probably written by the NYSE’s PR person.
London is the global centre of money laundering. London is to money laundering what Liberia and Panama are to merchant shipping.
Silly me, when Wintour started talking about “debilitating UN vetoes”, I thought he was referring to Powers and Haley and their ilk vetoing all criticism of Israel’s genocidal antics on 10,000 or more occasions. But apparently not.
Maybe Old Luke could do a piece on Jewish money, Jewish media, Jewish bankers, Jewish billionaires, Jewish spooks, Jewish blackmailers and Jewish sex traffickers, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. The Board of Deputies, the Shabbos in the Tory Friends of Israel and the Starmer Friends of Israel and the Liberal Friends of Israel and the SNP Friends of Israel wouldn’t like it, and he’d probably find himself selling the Big Issue instead of scribbling for the Guardian.
It’s interesting to see assorted stroppy Jock tubs of lard in the SNP joining the Washington Shabbos in shilling for “compensation” for “needy poor Jews” from Poland. Oh, dear. They must have gone through the hundreds of billions extorted from the goyim in America, Germany, Switzerland, France, and everywhere else on the planet. Shekels please, goyim.
The Obsessive Groan is moving into full ABT (anyone but Trump) mode as they did with Corbyn (ABC).
The systematic electoral fraud conducted via the DS IT Canadian conglomerate CGI which delivered UpPompeos gauntlet via postal vote fraud here in the U.K. is being prepped to do the same in the US to rid Trump.
They are already publishing stories on Trump refusing to accept these votes!
They can’t accuse him of anti semitism though, he covered that base.
If Netanyahoo and upPompeo can escalate their Lebanon flare up into full war he will be forced into a corner – but he may have a stronger hand they think.
The US public can easily be talked out of boots in the ground and body bags for Xmas, especially with the virus still abroad. Fauci will choke as he runs out roap as he has promised a vaccine by the end of the year! Trump won’t be backing it. He’ll instead get to campaign with his well known and loved phrase with the remaining swamp critters in his cabinet – ‘You’re Fired!’ along with the perp walk of Mueller, Comeu and co coupgaters of the swamp.
But the now international 5+1 eyed read Manchester Guardian will go down in flames as it persists with its own DS control.
Unfortunately the Guardian Of The Establishment won’t “go down in flames”. It’ll be bankrolled to continue to spew out its propoganda ad infinitum.
Ah yes, “off-guardian” already knows that any protests against pro-Russian figures must not be organic. Yeah, let’s just ignore the fact that the biggest opposition candidates were conveniently imprisoned on flimsy charges a few weeks ago. I’m sure that’s totally normal. And if the wife of one of these major candidates decides to run in her husband’s place instead? Must not be “totally organic”.
“off-guardian” is a fake news website that supports eternal Presidents. As long as they’re anti-Western, of course.
It’s very well established that CIA tactics are to de-stabilise the former Soviet states which remain friendly with Russia. It’s hardly surprising that they won’t try the same with White Russia (aka Belarus), and if my memory serves me well wasn’t Pompeo in Minsk a few months ago?
As for OffG, no it’s not fake, far from it, it simply presents an alternative view to the western mainstream media. There are quite a few articles and topics and comments I disagree with and I have a history of airing my views here, sometimes loudly and bluntly.
Nevertheless, I’ll fight tooth and nail for this site to be allowed to continue to publish in the name of free speech, freedom of political debate, and free thought. Those of a totalitarian mindset are welcome to piss off elsewhere if they can’t cope with freedom of speech or don’t like it here.
Eternal presidents? Like Nuttyyahoo? Or Bonesaw Bin Salman? The Khalifas? Please be specific.
Starmer is an anti Semite, Peake, in her short comment only talked of the Israeli and US states, this was a perfectly appropriate political comment, allowed as freedom of expression under the ECHR article 10. neither was it a conspiracy theory since these exchanges and training of each others police forces has been occurring for very many years, they are well known and the participants are proud of what they do, conspiracy it was not. Why is Starmer an anti Semite? Starmer conflates Israel with ‘Jews’ wherever they may live or whatever they may think, it is why the International Holocaust Remembrance Association at Article 11 say’s this…. “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel” Thus putting Jews everywhere in danger whenever Israel regularly breaks International Law. Of course Starmer is not the first to weaponize anti Semitism, the issue of mixing up criticism of ‘Israel’ and ‘Jews’ is done intentionally by supporters of Israel, The late Abba Eban an Israeli leader said “One of the chief tasks of any dialogue with the Gentile world is to prove that the distinction between anti-Semitism and Anti Zionism is not a distinction at all”. Noam Chomsky replied “that is a convenient stand, it cuts off a mere 100% of critical comment” Quoted by Menachem Weker ‘In defence of self hating Jews’ May 2007.
Back in the real world, hardly anyone knows what antisemitism is, and of those that do, most don’t give a flying fuck about it – me included. I’m sick of hearing about it. The man in the street, who might just vote Labour, is not in the slightest bit interested. Anyway, what the hell is all about in the Labour Party? I haven’t looked into it in depth, but I’m guessing it’s really about people who are critical of the State of Israel, which is not antisemitism. I think the Israeli Government, and especially that fat bastard who leads it, are war criminals. There. Does that make me an anti Semite?
Of course it does. Unless, of course, you have taken a knee and kissed Nuttyyahoo’s butt in the approved Cengressional manner.
I’d say that hardly anyone knows what antisemitism is because hardly anyone knows what semitism is. If we are talking about Judaism then it is defined by a racial type that no-one can spot and a religion that many of them don’t believe in and are even proud to say so.
The Guardian lime the rest of the media ignores the obvious when ‘discussing’ the arrest of Captain Bob Maxwell’s daughter and ascribing what she and Epstein did as rampant sexuality. The truth is both worked for Mossad in a giant blackmail scheme for Intel. It seems nobody is allowed to mention this but surely alternative media dares to do so?
With regard to the rebranding of Starmer like you say, it shouldn’t have to be done if it were true. However, all these opinion polls are worthless because The Guardian bankrolled the Tories into power and are now facing the consequences of its decision so, I think, it is a damage limitation exercise.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Starmer doesn’t have a single socialist bone in his body, not one. He hasn’t got a single Labour value at his core, not one. He’s in it for the power, that’s it. Not so different from Johnson. So far, he has made an utter mess of PMQs whereas Corbyn crucified both May and Johnson at PMQs due to being armed with the facts, analysis of same and a deep passion and commitment to justice, to share wealth, to investment in society for all.
Starmer, well this week, he’s pushing for Offcom to remove RT’s Licence. On what basis? However, not a peep from him about the truth, first shouted loudly by Corbyn, that our NHS is, in fact, going to be taken over by the USA as part of a trade deal that is probably the worst trade deal imaginable for any country. Not a peep from Stoogie. He isn’t a politician, he’s another rich boy in it for the power grab and increasing his financial resources. His decision to pay damages to the Panorama crew and John Ware is, as Corbyn said, a political decision not a legal one because that case is 100% winnable. By doing that, he has opened the floodgates (which I note the MSM are trying to blame Corbyn for). I see John Ware et al have said to Starmer they will drop the case if he removes the Whip from Corbyn. For what, Corbyn hasn’t actually done anything wrong has he? Extortion is what it’s called. I strongly suspect that Stoogie has the BoD yelling at him down the phone to remove the Whip. He has given himself a massive headache. Some of his MP supporters are also saying Corbyn shouldn’t take the money from the crowdfunder that was set up to help him with his legal costs. It’s reached almost £300,000. Well, I’ve donated. In fact, he has made a monumental error of judgement here because I don’t think JC will back down on this.
I think the Guardian’s support of Starmer and all this praise is precisely due to the fact that
that the public probably aren’t impressed with him, probably don’t even know his name hence, yet another propaganda campaign is needed to save him from anonymity, from the inescapable fact of how useless he is, how right wing he is, how this sorry excuse for a Knight is so inept and arrogant he thinks he’s President Starmer. When our NHS is destroyed and privately run by the USA, the people won’t vote for Starmer, no, they will wish Corbyn was back because he told the truth, he showed the document publicly and was severely abused by the MSM.
On the Patrick Wintour piece: like the League of Nations before it, the UN is limited in effectiveness. The West is moving towards war with a Sino-Russian alliance, very much in keeping with the pattern of history.
https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
Great link. I really enjoy reading that kind of material. Thanks.
Thanks I will read it. Working within a reductionist paradigm I found the basic assertion is valid within its limits.
Interest driven by a desire for power manifesting across all social aggregates.
It’s an eclipsed view for it can be reduced again at a lower level.
The pervue of biology where resource aquisition (or control in this case) ultimately determines survival of the individual and family unit, tribe, etc.
in spite of MediaLens’s current stance I can’t help but return to their destruction of Toynbee all those years ago:
https://www.medialens.org/2017/bowing-down-before-the-bbc-polly-toynbee-and-the-role-of-a-liberal-propagandist/
She’s not worthy of any mention
and, what’s wrong with cucumbers?
Cucumbers? They seditiously employ their crunchy deliciousness to fog the minds of the proletariat.
That’s what is wrong with cucumbers. Damn those green little bastards!
Blissfully, I have not read an MSM article for months now. I have not watched a TV news broadcast for 12+ years. I have been BBC licence tax free for some 15 years.
All I know of Starmer is where he is mentioned in other places on the web, or when he is mentioned on TV when I visit my mother (like most people, she has the TV on all day).
The fact he ‘bent the knee’ or whatever they call this racist BS says it all really.
I wish there existed a real left wing party (or even just a party that cares and is not self-serving). One which actually has the interest of ordinary decent folk at heart. Free of woke bullshit and anti-white straight male PC diatribe . And who understands the real definition of equality and has the balls to tell the entities throwing false anti semitism accusations around to go fuck themselves.
I think the word you’re looking for here is “human”. We are currently governed by the shells of formerly human representatives, with their insides scooped out and barely articulate artificial parts substituted.
Wish all you want. It doesn’t work unless you click your heals together Dorothy. Remember, there is no place like home.
Nonetheless, social distancing is best applied to your television. I can’t help but peak from time to time tho. Call it morbid curiousity.
Obviously, this is completely irrational–even if you accept the standard view of vaccination pushed by establishment science. If your vaccine works, then it works regardless of whether or not anyone else gets vaccinated.
But I was warning my friends from the start this was really the whole purpose behind the masking campaign: to condition us all to accept the eventual vaccines using the same (shoddy, though slightly less shoddy) reasoning they gave us for the masks. People who refuse vaccination will now be represented by the media as ‘psychopaths’ who wish to harm others and they will be shunned, unemployable.
the guardian is a vile paper for vile people
A vile paper for gullible middle class white lefty types maybe?
If you take a vaccine, you are protected.
If more than five percent do not take the vaccine, it will not work.
Is this some kind of magic? It certainly isn’t science. If a vaccine is effective, anyone who is vaccinated has immunity. If that is not the case, the vaccine is not effective, and it might as well be a placebo, which at least would have the benefit of being safe.
Exactly. The gaping hole in the argument for compulsory vaccines.
It is the primary argument wielded against those with legitimate concerns about low standards and unnecessary, harmful adjuvants used in the vaccine industry. And it makes absolutely no sense.
can you prove they are added as “adjuvants”? does the ‘infection’ require “adjuvants” so if we stop air pollution it will not infect people?
The literature I have read makes it quite clear that big money is involved in the addition of “adjuvants”. Some say they are necessary in order to “activate” the essential content of the vaccine. Others say they are not required at all. The scientific literature on this is not hard to come by, and there’s lots of it. One need only Google it and read it.
Hi, well the flu virus is only 30% effective and can, in some cases, cause more health problems. I’m not going to be vaccinated that’s for sure.
basically once the rate drops they do an “outbreak” since there is money to be made. the reason they want 100% adoption is so no comparison can be made with an uninjected group. they then construct the ‘science’ to acheive their goals.
I find it (not you) disingenuous discussion of the irrationality of the that statement. I do agree it is propagandized.
However it is ultimately a symantic argument around ambiguity and use in language previously.
Where I read that is was referring to preventing any outbreaks and spread of a disease, not your immunity.
Twice one also mentioned vaccinated folk also catching the disease given how often vaccines are ineffective or wear out over time.
So ultimately the argument isn’t irrational Steve… It’s the people using it that are. When they lack some other evil agenda of course. Maybe both…
the injections have no possible way of working since symptoms are caused by the right wingers dietary advice eg. keto. this is all set up so the very people opposed to the lockdowns are also opposed to mention of fruits and salads. the faux left meanwhile support the lockdowns due to their opposition to the right wing virus. the snare thus set up to tighten when escape is attempted. https://youtu.be/Cdq80ijbj-I
@OFFG, RE: ‘Every week (or, rather, most weeks, since the coronavirus torpedoed our schedule)’
Should that not read ‘since the continuing lockdown/Government psyop/plandemic torpedoed….’
Otherwise, since I avoid the Graun (and the BBC) like the plague, it’s good to be reminded why. Will these criminal apologies for journalists ever be called to account, I wonder.
The Starmer “phenomenon” really comes down to this:
“Boys and girls, we’re sorry for the break in transmission. A nasty crotchety old relic from the ancient days (possibly a Balrog) interrupted the flow of DEMOCRATIC process. But we’ve managed to subdue him, and we will not mention this episode again. We can now return to our regular show of truly responsible leaders fighting it out together in what will undoubtedly prove to be a continually exciting match of completely opposing views! Oh gosh! It’s all so exciting! Get your popcorn ready and pull up a chair!”
“He has the voice of a bank manager, the face of a substitute teacher and the charisma of a not especially interesting cucumber. He is a nonentity. A suit full of bugger all. And it’s not a nice suit.”
LMFAO
Steve bell-Keeves.
…
Hey – look at that Starmer pose! Confident businessman. Hands on hips. Smiling into the sun. Shiny urban commercial thoroughfare behind him (curiously empty though – that damned virus has spoiled the “get up and go” feel).
Now the article: Oh yes, let’s drag in Neil Kinnock – and why not? Another phony prole backstabber. His storm trooping success in dealing with those Bolshie militants was nevertheless not enough to make him “electable” i.e. sufficiently servile for the parasitical overlords.
And if the treatment of Kinnock doesn’t convince you of the true meaning of the word “electability”, then the reference to Blair should. His ditching of clause IV, i.e. abandonment of the last vestige of old (i.e. REAL) Labour, “showcased New Labour as a force on the political centre ground, one that would go on to win three successive general elections.” Got the picture?
Of course, the slimy top layer couldn’t present their latest puppet by saying what he truly is (i.e. a spineless cocksucker), so we have to get “the brilliant lawyer” but “not just a lawyer. He is ruthless too. He will act firmly. If you pick a fight with him you will lose.” He is indeed “the ruthless potential prime minister capable of inspiring fear as well as respect, and of challenging the Tories at the next election”.
Keir – You’re THE MAN!
George Mc. Since there is so much propaganda, censorship and fake news around (and very little truth except on sites like these) i guess another few lies won’t be noticed amongst the others. The thing is, Stoogie is just plain afraid of the MSM and BoD so they control him now, especially the BoD.
Maybe it’s just me but don’t you think KS even LOOKS scared? He looks as if he has piranhas nibbling on his gonads and he’s trying hard not to make it show!
Hi George, I have had the first genuine laugh for a long time! I should think those Piranhas haven’t got much to nibble on if his gonads are anything like the size of his brain!! I hope they are having a feast anyway!! I think the look is called gormless because that’s what he is, utterly gormless.
Yes and just think: THIS is the guy they’re selling as “the ruthless potential prime minister capable of inspiring fear as well as respect, and of challenging the Tories at the next election”????????????
I think the Guardian (the main proponent of this narrative) is suffering from a serious psychiatric delusion. So far, he has made a monumental mess of what is called Opposition, he has just made the most serious error of judgement, I haven’t seen anything ‘ruthless’ about him. As for inspiring fear, well, he’s a gormless nobody surrounded by fanboys who are rabid right wing cheats, liars, sexist and racist fascists really. Haven’t got a brain cell between them only an obsession with getting rid of the left in the party in which case, it isn’t the Labour Party is it?
I hope those piranhas are working overtime so that next time this sorry and pathetic excuse for what we called the Leader of the Opposition will be speaking in a high squeaky voice next time he spouts bullshit!!
And I know it’s written into the very title of this OffG piece – but I still can’t believe it’s The Guardian that is running this pathetc little puppet show report. I can still recall the days when that paper actually did have some oppositional clout – back in the mists of time. (Or did I dream it?) The worst thing is that in its current depressingly degraded incarnation, it is still regarded as “extreme left” by a multitude of tossers.
Hi George, last week Andrew Rawnsley wrote one of the worst pieces of journalism I have ever read. Basically, it said poor Stoogie Starmer, he not only had to fight the hard left in the party who were trying to dethrone his leadership (who and where are the hard left in the party?) but also, the poor man had to contend with the Tories trying to smear him too! It was rabidly anti-corbyn too (the Graun is still on that malicious hate campaign). Now, let’s see, Keir Starmer has the Tories and the alleged hard left in Labour to contend with Corbyn had the massed ranks of the MSM, broadcast news, the Integrity Initiative, the Israeli Government, MI5, MI6, the security services, the CIA and a host of other organisations against him. A bit David and Goliath I would say. However, Len McCluskey has given a comprehensive interview in The Observer today. It sounds to me that he is not too enthused by Stoogie.
It’s really stupid to accuse other billionaires in sins that only russians do. You have no idea what it’s like. I guess that you are either completely ignorant or got paid from Russia’s Today budget for this article.
So what do ‘only Russians do’ ??
Apparently, Russians are the only ones who criticize article at the Graun from the BTL comboxes. 😀
Two or three features make the Russian billionaire. One is history, particularly Wall St and the “Harvard Boys” who used Russian Jewish (near 100%) tycoons as a front in their attempt to seize Russia’s wealth. They did this at least twice, principally in 1917, financing the Bolsheviks and in 1991, financing Yeltsin.
Another feature shaping the billionaire oligarchs was Putin’s ultimatum that was a direct consequence of the Yeltsin-era asset grab. This was a warning not to use their seizure of the country’s wealth to seek political control, too. “Stay out of politics and you can keep your assets.” This was aimed at Berezovsky and Khodorkovsky in particular. The latter immediately ignored this warning and paired up with George Soros.
You don’t need to read Russia Today for the above. It’s all there in the NYT, WaPo and others.
Another feature is the nature of the Russian economy: a petrostate. These are distinctive, tend towards autarky and generally only hold together with a high degree of one-party or homogeneous rule: this is as true for Norway as it is for Saudi Arabia. Without a homogeneous population leading to consensus on the one hand, or, alternatively, a tendency to authoritarian control, their sheer wealth provokes political dissension and tears them apart: viz Venezuela. Yegor Gaidar wrote the book on this.
Yet another feature is related to petrostates: a lack of diversity in the economy and a much lesser mittelstand or SME sector. There is a small middle class to challenge the billionaires and this feeds into the political system, making it less democratic or responsive, especially in a very large country like Russia with the perception at state level of unlimited resources and the relative expendability of human resources. This always made Russia different to western countries but you can see the concentration of monopoly business has brought the West closer to the Russian system.
But you were about to talk about ‘sins’.
That was a very insightful comment on facts I rarely see mentioned.
What is this petrostate stuff?? Russia is the world’s primary exporter of grain, for instance. Not to mention producing the best defensive tech, (S500 prometheus etc). I could go on but it is obvious to those who dont have an agenda that the comparison to say, saudi barbaria, where as far as I know they produce absolutely nothing, is patently false.
Oh Polly Polly,
“…. a step closer to ending the Covid-19 horror…”
Does anyone believe this “horror” will be allowed to end?
“… in breath-holding hope.”
War propaganda type hyperbole. And we must watch out for “human bad behaviour” (Ooh you naughty children!) “but we should brace ourselves for nationalists everywhere to fight for their country first” (Nasty nationalists! And who else would refuse the vaccines?)
And I’m afraid that’s as far as I could get. I inadvertently clicked on a link and, on going back to Polly, it seems I no longer have access to the article. Probably just as well!
The question I have is what virus would that be? Are we not talking about the flu here? This scamdemic is what the horror is and the resultant propaganda, hysteria and censorship of the truth. Polly Toynbee, get off your horse and please lie in its manure for at least 10 hours.
These days, there are only 2 names I look for when I peruse the grauniad. The brilliant Steve Bell and John Crace. However Bell is leaving (jumped or pushed?) and Crace has been drinking the Russia Russia Russia kool-aid all this past week. I hope the rag’s decline is permanent and demise imminent.
Ah. Yes. Steve Bell. The guy who called me and all my family Nazis because we dare to support self-determination for our country.
Personally I hope Steve Bell encounters a real Nazi some day who shoves his food-stained beard up his backside with his head still attached to it.
what do you mean by ‘our country’? The zionist colonial enterprise determined to expel the indigenous population? That use the abuse that some jews suffered in Germany to abuse generations to follow who had nothing to do with the nazis? If that is what your family is, Bell was spot on. I am sick of zionist self-rightiouness
Hi John A, no time personally for John Crace. But love Steve Bell. I’d hate to think he was pushed after years of distinguished service. I strongly suspect it’s his own decision as The Guardian are clearly not interested in challenging the establishment and may be Steve Bell’s cartoons really hit home more so than their piss poor journalism actually!
Ye he has starmer spot on with his keeves stuff.
Zoe Williams on face masks during the week:
“There is no politics here; there is only the one person you might meet, who has to do their job, who would prefer you to wear a mask. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t wearing one. It doesn’t matter if there’s only one of him or her in your entire day, or what the science says, or whether you have read the metastudies. If one person on a till, who has to serve 150 people a day, would prefer you to be masked, that satisfies the basic demands of courtesy, and everything else is noise”.
Was Gaby Hinsliff using the brain cell that day?
I think Starmmer and the Labour Party are going to crash and burn without JC, just like the LibDems did after they got rid of Charles Kennedy. How many people voted Labour because of JC? I don’t believe the opinion poles.
Don’t forget KS as DPP telling the Swedes “don’t you dare get cold feet” about Julian Asange’s extradition;
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/07/star-a07.html
Jeremy Corbyn is being sued, here is his Go Fund Me for legal expenses
https://www.gofundme.com/f/47gyy-jeremy039s-legal-fund
Johny Conspiranoid, I’ve donated the fund is very very close now to £300,000. It’s clearly rattled the MSM, Ware et al and Labour MPs who support Starmer.
At the Garbian, new idioms appear by the day. Now it’s not a U turn for HM,s Government of occupation it’s “Hand Brake Turn”?? with restrictions on those Great British drunks [which the Graun so much deplores] returning from Spain.
And of course there’s Sir Kieves Handjob who is now the darling of the Skipton Girls Grammar School’s Student Union. Clearly some last vestiges of the Jimmy Saville fan club still promoting rural idiocy in those parts.
But I digress as the 77th Brigades resident stenographer Luke “Londongrad” Harding has been peddling his latest work of fiction published by Orbis. The publishing house of choice for the establishment’s pension funds.
Bonus – Coronavirus cases in Papua New Guinea double in days! ..Where [wait for it] apparently the pandemic has, so far, been largely suppressed in the archipelagic nation, with low infection rates and only one death – of an already seriously-ill patient – linked to Covid-19. Sound familiar? But don’t tell the sheeple…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/27/coronavirus-cases-in-papua-new-guinea-double-in-days
Jeff C has a load of fun with some stupid grinning prick who “survived” the dreaded new covidchok thing . . .
It’s happening all over the world. “Revered” Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan, his (actor) son, (actress) daughter-in-law and granddaughter have all recently checked into hospital with Covid symptoms. Grandad has been spouting about it in various publications. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/amitabh-bachchan-pens-important-post-on-alarming-effects-of-covid-
All of them? Life really is a tragicomic absurdist farce.
Brilliant intro to Jeff Censored!’s There Is No Such Thing As Crisis Actors…. this is the future. Soviet-style theatre of the absurd.
Crisis acting never happened with NBC’s Dr. Joseph Fair either, after he broadcast daily “from his Covid dying bed” — while repeatedly testing negative for coronavirus antibodies
Yes, and said Doctor has now had to admit the truth, that he never had it!
A stake needs to be driven through the black hearts of these two satanic whores . . .
https://www.targetliberty.com/2020/07/melinda-gates-give-black-people-covid.html
Galloway has completely lost it…
https://youtu.be/VStyEJ8AMRE?t=267
I don’t listen to him anymore, since he became an establishment boot licker.
He lost it months ago… poor guy.. he keeps shouting… I remember when he was cool. Maybe I was deluded?
All downhill since those Senate hearings in 2005. The hat became.a regular feature around the beginning of his public nervous breakdown. Perhaps he uses it to hide some new outgrowth on top of his head.
Hard to lose something one did not have. Begs the question, after Galloway goes Full Howard Beale and his ratings tank, will RT have him “waxed” on air?
Thanks for this! I needed a laugh in these dark times 🙂
I’m glad I called out “Sir” Keir when he was first “elected” as leader of the Labour party.
Let’s face it, he was groomed for the job. What was he, former DPP? He’s only been an MP for 5 years. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think he was responsible for the infamous “believe the victim” mantra that has seen (IMO) many innocent men jailed.
Establishment toady or establishment toad? Either way, he’s a pillock of the Establishment. (Or should that be “pillar”?)
I detest Russophobia, so I was dismayed by the report that Starmer was seeking to have RT banned. How can Labour be worse than the Tories? How can this be possible? Yet, herr it is. (Spelling mistake again deliberate).
Latest i herard on Starmer is he was knighted by Blair and let Savile off…
Big effort underway on Google to whitewash Starmer’s role in the Savile affair. One of the first links is to a snowjob by The Sun. That should tell you everything.
I’ll go further and suggest the promotion of Starmer as a future ‘tame’ PM is directly related to his role in covering up institutional pedophilia as Director of Public Prosecutions.
A safe pair of hands indeed.
Mr. Valentine broke that story on the 21st Century Wire, bless him…
The filth at the heart of the British establishment and politics was exposed ironically by Murdoch’s The News Of The World — before they shut it down taking its archive offline.
BTW contrast Starmer’s favourable coverage with his successor. Yet they both covered up the same longrunning scandals. I guess Starmer covered it up better.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3045318/amp/Lord-Janner-child-abuse-scandal-Theresa-turns-heat-DPP-botched-case.html
Interesting that Ms. May even said something about this… Lord J… the HET man.. the crimimals of education…
*criminals
His knighthood was nothing to do with Blair. He got it in 2014 when Cameron was prime minister.
Ok.. one less thing to blame him for, thanks.
so thats alright then. Suddenly I feel much better about sir keeves.
I believe he was knighted by Thatcher wasn’t he?
Churchill, I think.
No. It was definitely Nero.
A COUNTERBALANCE
US and its Western Imperialist allies always advance political agendas which ultimately lay the groundwork for future geopolitical strife. That’s certainly the case with Russia. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union it was Bill Clinton who allowed the implementation of Chubais’s policies along with the Harvard Institute for International Development that ultimately caused the corruption. This cabal controlled the U.S. economic aid program to Russia. This permitted Chubais and his gang to secure a fortune. The Harvard Institute for International Development’s program to privatize the Russian economy was funded with US tax dollars.
“The privatization drive that was supposed to reap the fruits of the free market instead helped to create a system of tycoon capitalism run for the benefit of a corrupt political oligarchy that has appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars of Western aid and plundered Russia’s wealth.” https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/harvard-boys-do-russia/
In other words, the actions taken by the US after Russia’s dissolution were directly responsible for the subsequent economic mess resulting in a destitute Russian population and a cabal of gangster oligarchs.
As a side note, it could be argued the Soviet Union was a counterbalance to US imperialism, inasmuch, as after its dissolution the US Empire’s militarism intensified. An intact powerful Soviet Union would inhibit another nuclear arms race……..
And that brings me to China, where the current acrimony is also directly related to past US economic policies: “The 1972 rapprochement paved the way for wholesale capitalist restoration in China and its transformation into the world’s largest cheap labour platform. The fear in Washington is not of Chinese communism, but of a burgeoning Chinese capitalism threatening the global ambitions and inter Empireests of US imperialism.”
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/07/25/lead-j25.html
So here again, Western neoliberal policies are directly linked to today’s antagonisms. Regrettably, from time immemorial the same warmongering mentality dominates every Empire.
Absolutely spot on.
In the 1980s it was often regarded as almost untouchable by right-wing commentators, which suggests it was doing something good. A change seemed to happen in the 1990s.
I forget if the Grauniad was doing it but the Daily Mirror (then owned by Robert Maxwell) did its best to present Kinnock as the new and improved Labour leader who saw off the left. The Tories trounced him twice, though the second time they were unsentimental enough to get rid of Thatcher first, who was now a liability.
The Guardian are cunts.
Sorry-not-sorry for my forthright language.
A little bit (genuinely) sorry for stating the bleedin’ obvious.
Sometimes you just have to say things as they are.. the vernacular doesn’t always provide immediate polite solutions.
Say what you mean.
I thought it was very considerate of the kind-hearted people at the Guardian to provide some comic relief during these surreal times with a quite spectacular candidate for the title of ”most self-parodic article ever published.” The severe mangling of the English language in the name of the ”correct” use of pronouns is something to behold.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jul/08/parent-raising-gender-free-child
Child abuse: There again, who am I to judge, I was always comfortable with my Dad having balls and doing man things. Lockdown has been a great success for those who aspire to a female-role-models-only world.
Behind this is a sinister agenda. These monsters want to destroy the family, togetherness, intimacy, the sense of belonging, individuality and the sense of self. They have to be wiped out if humanity is to build a better tomorrow.
Reg, unfortunately probably the truth.
Can anyone suggest a more worthwhile pastime for the sad wanker who has apparently made it his life’s purpose to downvote every comment on Off Guardian?
I feel that some form of compassionate intervention may yet save a life from the grip of utter futility.
Frank, are you so sad as to let it worry you?
(And no, it wasn’t me who pooped on your comment this time.)
And just to prove that to you, if you give me a nasty answer to this comment I will add a downvote to this comment. Okay?
Admin.
Just a little pretty-please request.
Can we get rid of the up and down vote feature?
No, keep it, if he has nothing better to do with his life then at least he gets to read some truth, even though he is a bit unreceptive and very judgemental at the moment. We should see this as a compliment, this person only has a certain number of days on this planet and has decided to forgo living a life and instead will spend his limited time doing something he dislikes which is to read OG and downvote everything in an ejaculation frenzy of disgust.
It’s cool. We’ve got our very own Mr Angry, a bit like having your very own gecko.
Do you think who/whatever it is reads the comments?
Do you care whether your gecko thinks “I have my very own human”? To answer your question: No idea, it is very strange behaviour, but the whole world is very strange and very disappointing at the moment.
The OG readers are some of the few watching this car crash happen and recognise it for what it is.
Quite so. UK Column reckons that at least one ‘very senior’ UK medic has completely changed his/her mind and now sees the ‘plandemic’ for what it is. If so, s/he needs to speak out fast – place your bets!
I wish you hadn’t said that. Now, just to be an ass, I have to downvote all your comments. What if I miss some? What then Frank?!! What then?
‘ The Guardian, however, saw it as sign of how tough and assertive Starmer is and that Labour are finally moving in the right direction.’
I had to read that twice… but isn’t it true that Labour is moving in the right (ie not left) direction with Starmer (not Corbyn)?
Willem, as usual, oodles of common sense.
Very good, albeit a thoroughly depressing summary of modern day ‘journalism’.
Particularly important to see The Guardian’s and Harding’s racism called out. It is racism and has to be said.
If there was any justice in this world, they’d all be locked up. One day Rodders.
I would call it xenophobia.
OK, I sufficiently like precision enough to ask. But dislike nitpicking enough to make me hesitate first in asking. But please make the distinction in the example I was talking of.
The Guardian (of neoliberalism).
Belarus had the temerity to resist pressure to lockdown (inducing economic catastrophe, poverty and mass suicide) and thus the Guardian is compelled to smear it.
The same Guardian that bleats about UK poverty, then works overtime to block any government that can remedy it.
I still remember when The Guardian called for the Iraq War. And now it disingenuously conflates the human instinct to breathe fresh air and maintain a healthy immune system, naturally, with selfishness and right wing ideology. Rania Khalek seems to have made this leap too.
As each day passes I feel less and less hopeful.
Lockdowns are evil; contrived to induce suffering in nations so that they submit to Gates’ endless Microsoft updates for humans.
lockdown
/ˈlɒkdaʊn/
noun NORTH AMERICAN
the confining of prisoners to their cells, typically in order to regain control during a riot.
“the lockdown has been in effect since October 1983”
a state of isolation or restricted access instituted as a security measure.
“the university is on lockdown and nobody has been able to leave”
The same newspaper actually cat litter tray filler who then apologize 10 years later for the reporting during the lies like they did with WMD Iraq
I wouldn’t put my cat off its toileting with such a rag.
Try it yourself. You’ll feel better. It’s the cat’s meow.
Belarus had the temerity to resist pressure to lockdown (inducing economic catastrophe, poverty and mass suicide) and thus the Guardian is compelled to smear it.
Belarus took nothing more than minimal safety precautions and yet the people never did start dropping like flies, as predicted by our idiot media. Because the numbers of infected and dead are merely a consequence of the testing, which we know is unreliable to begin with.
Yes. The whole point of lockdown is to make people suffer enough to take the vaccines and accept surveillance. Our rulers are happy for people to die as long as Gates/Pharma gets their way.
I thoroughly enjoyed this line – “Polly Toynbee’s minders have let her loose at the gin again.”
As for “reader participation”, you’re not going to get it from me. I will never subject myself to the ordeal of opening a Graun page.
I’m in the same boat as regards reading the rag!.. Just there, in the Toynbee article’s comments, a truly depressing showcase of rank stupidity is on display. I’ll pass on the rest, although there seems to be a dissident presence, nevertheless.
I,er,found it on a train and I wouldn’t normally read it ,but Morgoth’s “hate reading the guardian” pieces do make me laugh. The revolting leader film is very apropos, but not suitable for viewing after a heavy night on Newcastle brown.
Toynbee’s article on decling birth rates was even worse than the one cited. Boris Johnson and the Tories are to blame! Given that birth rates are collapsing in all Western-style countries their evil obviously knows no boundaries.
The Guardian yesterday briefly had an article on people who are childless next to one about someone who seemed to be saying they had sex eight times a day. The divorcing of sex from reproduction is one of the central tenets of BRAVE NEW WORLD. They also ran a piece on the wonders of artificial wombs not long ago. Still, these things are probably just a coincidence….
I agree implicitly with every observation made in this analysis of the three Guardian articles.
With regard to the first (future of the UN) you mention the absence of any allusion to Yemen. This has prompted me to comment that I have been disgusted by the current UNICEF advertisements, fronted by the usual virtue signalling celebrity, which is blaming Covid19 for the plight of ‘the children’ in Yemen. No mention of why they are in the situation they are in, other than to blame Covid19 for impeding supplies of food and medicines.
Review of ‘Moscow billionaires’ …spot on. I recall reading a couple of years ago that London and New York are the two international hubs for illicit financial dealings because the authorities there use the billionaire presence to their own advantage and ask no pertinent questions of the said billionaires.
Sir Keir Starmer – again, spot on. Supposedly a man of legal excellence. Yet this is the man who, on the basis of no reliable evidence whatsoever, was leading the call to bomb the sh*t out of Syria for ‘chemical weapons attacks’ when he appeared on BBC Question Time.
I’m in the US, and thus I am both repelled by monarchy, titles, and related honors and ignorant of how they are established.
Still, I’m appalled that Keir Starmer is a “Sir”. I may be naïve, but I would have thought that Sir Ringo Starr or Sir Paul McCartney would have blackballed Starmer.
a sir who suppose to represent the workers
Just think of the fun Charles Dickens, a master of satire and irony, would have with this circumstance. He was adept at creating characters like Starmer– who is also a work of fiction in his own way.
If Dickens were resurrected, he’d probably be distressed that he could pick up where he left off without missing a beat.
He’d have a field day. Grant Shapps, for example.
From Wikipedia:
Delicious that Shapps was in Spain when HMG mandated 14-day quarantine for people returning from there.
Knighthood is a reward for service to the Crown. That shows where Starmer’s loyalty lies. It is an appalling reflection on Labour that the party should select him.
Sir Jimmy Savile.
Nuff sed.
Hi JudyJ. Yes, those UNICEF adverts make my blood boil too. The way to end their suffering? Stop selling the Saudi’s arms. No-one will do that though. Just another point. I am sick to death of all these charities advertising for money and using Covid as the spur. They don’t deserve a penny. If anyone here has read the Medicins Frontiers report about British Charities conduct after the Boxing Day Tsunami it is damning, I mean damning. Using clear evidence, not one penny of the hundreds of millions of pounds those charities received was spent on rebuilding homes, communities, delivering essential services. MSF concluded they were only interested in getting publicity for themselves. So, nobody yet has answered the question as to where did all that money go?
Entitlement is a form of mental illness. Polly Toynbee is mentally ill.
The parallel between lockdown fanatics and Remainers is, unfortunately for them, a rather strong argument against their case – not necessarily FOR Brexit but it does undermine one’s respect for the Remainers. Stockholm syndrome is no basis for policy. As for supporting totalitarianism, that is where my reservations become concrete.
What if Russia and China dominated the UN? Given the globalist nature of the power elite — and the fact that the Rockefellers have been in China for 100 years — I doubt it would make as much difference as the Cold Warriors, bought and paid by the munitions contractors, insist.
The Russian billionaires ARE largely Jewish Russian Billionaires. Not necessarily a big difference but why force them into a closet with inverted racism? Russia, like Ukraine, is a country with an old Jewish population, many among the industrial, academic and political elite, only increasing in influence since Bolshevik times. Since we no longer have to play the Jackson-Vanik trade, why persist in an illusion that they live at the bottom of society?
The power elite? More appropriate terms would be “delusional psychopathic mobsters,” “war criminals, or just old fashioned “parasites”. ALL of them need to go.
why persist in an illusion that they live at the top of society?
Many Russian Jews left to Israel, and many of them were not rich.
Medieval Europe forbade Jews a number of professions, so pushed them in a few select job categories. Bible based discrimination, not Torah based.
Trust you to come up with the comedy, resident jester. 2 + 2 = 5, eh?
Why? Centuries of empirical evidence, statistics and common knowledge.
Who are you not allowed to criticise?
You can criticise God as much as you like, but woe betide anyone who utters a word against our Chosen Lords and Masters.
You can talk about Billionaires, or Russian Billionaires, just so long as you don’t mention the seven Jewish Russian Billionaires who stole 70% of Russia’s wealth before Putin spoiled the party. That is streng verboten. No wonder Khordokovsky and Browder and all the Shabbos they have in their pockets hate him so much.