Klepturition 6 - by Richard... Saturday, June 18, 2011

Klepturition 6 - by Richard... Saturday, June 18, 2011

It is possible that I might have made an observation of this nature before, but in my view no one is worth this sort of money, especially someone on the payroll of a public utility.

One has to say that, should one happen upon this man about to be ripped apart by an riotous crowd and it was within one's power to save him, the distinct likelihood is that inaction would rule the day.

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A nosedive of morale - by Richard...

Cameron's drive to reduce the size of the Armed Forces, even to the extent that he is forcing Service chiefs to call for redundancies, is undoubtedly marking the final stages in the decline of the UK as a political power. It would be a fool, however, who did not expect this to have a knock-on effect within the Services, so the news from Thomas Harding that morale is at "rock bottom" comes as absolutely no surprise.

He tells us that this, together with concerns that the Army is in a "permanent state of decline" has led to twice as many people applying for redundancy as expected. They include several future battalion leaders and two officers singled out as potential generals. Six brigadiers have volunteered for redundancy and 48 majors, with an average of 16 years experience each, have asked to go.

The important thing here though is that we are not just talking about the over-paid and over-privileged officer corps throwing a hissy fit. The Army is expected to lose a substantial number of senior NCOs, and has also been inundated with applications from corporals, sergeants and staff sergeants.

This we picked up independently, a little time ago, when we learned that the trigger for departure was a tour in Afghanistan. Once they had experience the shambles, hardship and danger of that theatre – with no obvious reason why they should – few are willing to repeat it. Now, so desperately short of junior NCOs are some units that soldiers only a few months out of training are being promoted.

Whatever the MoD and government propaganda might proclaim, we are fully aware that the official accounts are biased and incomplete, on top of which the Army is haunted by its institutional memory of failure in Iraq.

Cynicism has thus become a dominant sentiment and there is a massive sense of the futility of the Afghan operation, Furthermore, the failure of the Army to come to terms with its experience in that theatre has carried over into Afghanistan.

We are thus seeing an institution which has lost faith in itself, the result being dangerous haemorrhage, ending up with the ranks populated by children, as the older, more seasoned troops leave, commanded by a higher proportion of the inexperienced, the incompetent and disillusioned.

Military historians will undoubtedly be able to tell us things have been worse – and the inter-war period when disarmament was the vogue, must have been pretty dispiriting. Nevertheless, when the Army chiefs asks for 25 colonels to volunteer for redundancy and receives 52 applications, it must be agreed that the situation is dire.

One wonders, though, whether in the short to medium term the situation it recoverable, and whether indeed there is any serious political will to make any improvements. One cannot help but feel that the people masquerading as our leaders are content with the way things are developing, and will be most happy when our Army looks like the picture above.

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Revolution on hold? - by Richard...

In the first three months of this year 15,450 families were evicted from their homes in Spain over failure to meet mortgage repayments – 36 percent more than the same period of 2010. But there should have been one more family, except that action was blocked by a "flash demonstration" - an intriguing idea and a tactic which outflanks the police. It must surely keep them on edge.

But it is also obvious that the traditional demonstration is alive and kicking in Spain, with reports this week of about 2,000 demonstrators clashing with police outside the regional parliament in Barcelona. There were 36 injuries claimed.

Some politicians could only reach Catalonia's parliament using police helicopters. Scuffles broke out when police pushed back protesters so other lawmakers arriving on foot could get in. The politicians were heckled and at least two were sprayed with paint.

But what is particularly interesting is how in Australia, demonstrations are being planned against the CO2 tax, as opposed to Canada, where they seem to be having hockey riots.

By and large, it seems, the wrong people are demonstrating about the wrong things, even in New York where "tens of thousands" of New York City public employees, teachers, private sector workers and students joined protests against "impending budget cuts, mass layoffs and rising unemployment".

Exactly the same dynamic is being seen in Hungary, where thousands of Hungarians, some dressed as clowns, protested this week against government moves to roll back early retirement benefits for the armed forces, police and firefighters and abolish the system of negotiating with unions.

Nothing of this, though, has a revolutionary feel about it. Mostly, we are seeing self-interested public sector groups attempting to protect their own privileges and income. Only the demonstrations in Australia really stand out – seeking to block a new tax rather than maintaining existing government spending, although the Saudi women drivers embody more than a hint of rebellion, where getting a traffic ticket becomes a revolutionary act.

If you want real rebellion, though, go to Syria - were the costs are high, as Syrian troops shoot dead 16 protesters. Since the protests erupted in mid-March, President Bashar Assad has unleashed the military to crush street demonstrations. Human rights activists say more than 1,400 Syrians have been killed and 10,000 detained.

Developed western countries, though, seem to have lost the art of truly political protest, the people seemingly more interested in their own well-being than any specific points of principle. Unrest, therefore, is unfocused, predictable and lacking widespread popular appeal. If there is revolution in the making, it is not yet apparent in the streets. As yet, it appears to be on hold.

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Shades of 40 - by Richard... Friday, June 17, 2011

One of the first events of the Battle of Britain in July 1940 was the bombing of Falmouth Harbour, where two Ju-88s sunk the British tanker Tascalusa and set on fire the 6,000-ton Greek steamer SSMarie Chandris.

In what must feel uncannily like déjà vu, the Failygraph is now reporting explosions in Falmouth Docks (pictured above) as around 40 firefighters tackle a large fire, thought to involve acetylene cylinders.

Back in 1940, during the first fire of Falmouth, another British tanker, the British Chancellor was hit and badly damaged. The Dutch salvage tug Zwarte Zee was damaged by splinters from the blast and later sank. The wharf caught fire and dozens of men had to be rescued by launches and tugs. It was a desperate, frantic endeavour which saved them.

Interesting it is that the second fire of Falmouth should get prompt attention from the Fourth Estate, as the first was kept out of the newspapers by the censor. But, when it comes to existential threats, self-censorship rules the waves. Fires may make good headlines but this one will not threaten Falmouth's existence.

What will finally do what Hitler's Luftwaffe failed to do is the EU's Habitat Directive. As Booker reported in December 2004, and again in January 2005, local deposits of the dead remains of maerl, or calcified seaweed, are present in the harbour, and they are now blocking much needed dock extensions.

Like the 40s episode, this ongoing sage has made the local press, but is being largely ignored by the London media. Fires and other easy issues, the London-centric MSM can handle.

The stuff like how the EU is closing down the industry of our nation is a little more difficult. Until recently, it did not get a look in, although a few months ago The Mail thought the Falmouth story would make a good "quickie" and ran a fairly decent story. Since then, nothing – even though the fight goes on.

Perhaps if, all those years ago the Luftwaffe had done a better job, we wouldn't now need the newspapers to report on the second attempt to close down the docks (and the rest of our industry). But since they seem not much better at reporting the news now than they were 70 years ago – if for very different reasons – when the docks are finally closed down by the EU, we may never get to know.

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