When do you get an American democrat up in arms? When the interests of the middle class are seen as threatened.
In most of Europe, there is some of this going on, but most of the social welfare apparatus is designed to promote, or be an expression of, cross-class solidarity, and most political movements from social democrats leftward take very seriously the fact that this is the lynchpin of not just their own political power, but also the common and cohesive good. In the US, this is not at all the case, neither for the country at large nor for the Demoratic party in particular. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
Uk excepted of course, though in my shorthand, England really isn't part of Europe.
I was reading a piece that criticized Scots nationalism as a cancer of state intervention on the virtous capitalism of the British isles. I really question whether Scotland isn't more of Europe than Britain in this. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
That's the image I have. Pity more Scots don't share that sentiment. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
The SNP is on track to be the larget group in the Scottish parliament, and SNP leader Alex Salmonds has promised to hold a referendum on Scottish independence if elected.
London's response is uncertain. The election will come but two days after the 300 anniversary of the Act of Union.
While for the UK of nearly 60 millions North Sea oil is roughly equivalent to consumption, for an independent Scotland of 5 million North Sea oil is a significant source of export earnings. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Bah, North Sea Oil and Gas has peaked. England guzzled it all and now Scotland gets the post-peak tail end of it.
If the British government knew those oil fields were in Scottish water, yet still assigned contracts and sent the profits to London doesn't that suggest that the Scot might be owed something.
I think that that McCrone report confirms Scottish paranoia that the English are out to take their land and money, and in the coming elections I think that the SNP stands a very strong chance of winning a majority in the Scottish Parliament.
And if they win, Salmond will call for an indepenedence referendum. And I think that this serves to confirm that the negative comments of the American consul in Edinburgh resulted from the fear that a SNP led government might try to nationalize the oil fields or at the least review contracts.
Salmond has been making trips to Norway, and as we know Statoil is a state owned company.
This should be fun. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Seems to me I recall something of a claim Denmark still has on either the Orkneys, the Shetlands, or both, a claim they have tried to settle even as recently as around '14-'18 or so.
Wonder what sort of spanner that'd put in the works. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
Rockall is a small rocky islet in the North Atlantic, in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the United Kingdom. It is probably better known as one of the Sea Areas named in the Shipping Forecast broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The United Kingdom's title to Rockall is accepted by its neighbours. In 1997, the UK abandoned any claim to an extended EEZ around and beyond it. The remaining issue is that the status of the continental shelf rights of surrounding ocean floor is disputed with the United Kingdom by the Republic of Ireland, Denmark (for the Faroe Islands), and Iceland. These are the exclusive rights to exploit any resources on or under the ocean floor (oil, natural gas, etc.) and should not be confused with the EEZ, as continental shelf rights do not carry any privileges with regard to fisheries.
The actual money was never paid so the heir foreclosed.
...England really isn't part of Europe.
That's the way it looks today, eh? But historically indefensible, and a tragedy - mutually weakening - both for the UK real-left (or what's left of it) and the European real-left (ditto). Our sensibilities, aspirations and history are so close, so intertwined -and at a level far deeper than Blair's current Thatcher-derived imperial protraction poodlism, "they" (UK) are part and parcel of - and need - "us" as much as "we" need - and are part and parcel of - "them".
For example, going back to before the Blairites' despicable bags-and-baggage takeover of the Labour Party complete with its ideals, history and traditions - the great Jarrow March, anyone?
Now compare with Italy's still-iconic painting of the advance of the "Fourth Estate" by Pelizza da Volpedo (1901) - we imagined it, they did it!
.. and at this point, who can possibly deny we all belong to the same ... historical flow/ideal entity/cultural-historical-civilizational whatsit???
....
(Re Jarrow and how the heck an Italian can feel so strongly about "their" great March: I lived for a while in the UK's North-East, have great memories and still have close friends there in the "former" mining district.... so have deep enough ties for great respect and deep sentiment) "Ignoring moralities is always undesirable, but doing so systematically is really worrisome." Mohammed Khatami
Seriously, I think that in terms of the three classes, American politics is built upon a coalition of the middle and upper classes, while Europe has the middle in coalition with the working class.
Remember too that American democracy proceded American industrialization. In countries where that is true the party system often breaks on cleavages other than class. Which has been the case with the US. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
