Although I build this website at the beginning of November, I have been struggling with health issues. I am now more able to focus on my own writing. Firstly let me thank those who have downloaded my app. It was quite an effort to make it and it is very pleasing to me that this is in production. I d like to thank those who have subscribed to my YouTube channel which is a great joy both to produce and share. Although, I have not launched the website yet as there is a few upgrades to come. I am planning to hold an event in January.
The idea of the website is little complex but I shall endeavour to explain . It started as a blog that I kept bits and pieces in. Some of them are still there at the bottom end or foot of the main page. Recently I had the idea of improving the website to the maximum I could make of it. So far I have published two of Freddy Anderson’s poems. Two of the most remembered. More are to follow. There is much to be done in that department and I will try not to let the memory of my father down. Also I have published here some of my best pieces which have been easy to access from other places such as Counterpunch.
I remember being at a class of Paul Cockshott way back. He was talking about the primary contradiction in the world. Capital/labour or imperialism/nationalism. It was an interesting enough discussion but it felt a little out of time even then. The fall of the USSR was not the end of history. That was triumphalist nonsense . What I witnessed was the whole saga of dumbing down. The marginalization of jargon. Language being depoliticized. This whole issue took off about the marginalization of working class accents but it’s worse than that. Rebellion and the language of rebellion was ostracized.
The referendum taught me that the prism of national freedom was too narrowly focused and that the struggle against austerity had to be emphatic. That one without the other was pointless. The closing down of building centred disabled services was quite a blow not only to me but to the political dignity of our country. It has made me a little less proud of our Scottish heritage and what I would like to see passed on to future generations.
I am not a bitter person I believe that would subtract from my persona and philosophy but I am still angry that austerity is still killing people throughout the world. It is an ideological attack on the poor by the banks and their lackey politicians. I support those who speak out against austerity but there has to be a line drawn in the sand when it comes to collusion with murder. STOP IT. No political party should agree to implement cuts but join with the major trade unions in their battle to defend lives and livelihoods.
The era we are living in is characterised by the demise of US imperialism and the rise of the BRICS alliance This growth of the idea of multipolarity is a direct counter balance to Nato. This is primary contradiction at play, it filters through to everything else. Imperialism has been core to finance capitalism ever since the growth of the banking sector. The idea of imperialist rivalry from Russia is muted by the fact that Russia has n’t a bank in the top 200.
It is China that has banks that are competitive and they are either owned by the State or regulated by the State. This makes them fundamentally different to the privately owned banks that fuel western
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imperialism. This list of hospitals gives us a little snapshot of that types of “austerity” found in China https://www.statista.com/statistics/279322/number-of-hospitals-in-china/
The cold war between the Western powers and their acolytes with every other country is being conducted with regular patterns that are beginning to break down as with Syria and Iran, members of the targeted “axis of evil”. This ostensibly isolationist breakdown has seen the rise of protectionism in the countries that championed the “free market” the most the US and the UK.
The shambles of Brexit . Voluntary leaving the largest market in the world will be felt on these islands for decades. I make no apology for covering this item in depth and particularly the Irish border which has dangerous implications for the Good Friday Agreement.
The impoverishment of the UK will be noticed and felt more outside London. I will give out the details of events that either protest austerity or discuss it or related items such as immigration.
Life is stressful. We have to wind down proportionately. I add constantly to my music, comedy and News playlists from YouTube. There is a button in the left hand corner of the YouTube that lists the items on each playlist. TAKE IT EASY BUT TAKE IT.
Smeddum's Hotpotch 