Category Archives: Politics & Random Musings

More American Aggression: The War Against the Turkish Lira

Why is the war raging against the Turkish lira?

More accurately what is going on can be described as a battle against the Turkish lira as part of a war to protect the position of the U.S. dollar.

With a huge proportion of external debt denominated in dollars; some $300 billion in private as opposed to government debt amounting to about 50% of Turkish GDP, Turkey is an easy target. That the U.S. has a political beef with Turkey is merely a bonus.

Remembering that, for the United States, maintaining the position of the dollar as a reserve currency is key to the survival of the country, this war is very important.… Click here to continue reading this article

Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, Donald Trump and Meghan Markle.

Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, Donald Trump and Meghan Markle and not three obvious names you might think are likely to come together in one article.

What about I throw some Brexit in?

In an internet forum discussion (ostensibly on Donald Trump but frequently on other things) recently, a bloke said this to me:

Read up on Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi and his views: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_von_Coudenhove-Kalergi#Views_on_race_and_religion

Well, I’d never heard of Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi. But from the link I found an interesting quote:

“The man of the future will be of mixed race. Today’s races and classes will gradually disappear owing to the vanishing of space, time, and prejudice.

… Click here to continue reading this article

Is War Between the USA and North Korea Likely?

The media is foaming at the mouth at the prospect of a war between North Korea and the USA.

Is a nuclear war likely between North Korea and the USA? Are Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un likely to go to war?

We say no.

It’s all theatre. Or at least, it’s all theatre now North Korea’s powerful neighbour China have clarified their position thus:

China’s state-run Global Times said: “If the US and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so.”

… Click here to continue reading this article

Teddy Boys and the Rock’n’Roll Revival

During a period of about ten years between the tail end of the 1960s and that of the 1970s, youth culture had been hit by a wave of nostalgia.

From the Beatles with their faux Victorian bandleader costumes on the cover of the Sgt Pepper LP, to the 1930s stylings of groups like Fox and Sailor, to the fifties pastichery and revival, which can be seen in rock groups as diverse as Roxy Music and Mud.

The revival of interest in the 1950s was particularly interesting, as not only was it the only one that revived a period of youth culture, but it also ushered in a (mostly brief) revival in the careers of many fifties stars.… Click here to continue reading this article

Essay: Domestic Nostalgia

Nostalgia in the home is far from being a modern phenomenon.

In fact, it has been an integral part of consumer culture since the late 18th century.

One only has to look at some of Wedgwood’s original products, such as their reproduction Portland vase. This was sold as an exact replica of the real thing, and contemporary advertising claimed that Wedgwood had rediscovered the ancient techniques that went into making it.

This was a fallacy however, as it was actually manufactured using a technique that Wedgwood had discovered himself. The early period of the industrial revolution coincided with the first stirrings of major interest in antiquities, which would go some way to explaining Wedgwood’s choice of design.… Click here to continue reading this article

Ocean Hotel, Saltdean, Brighton

Along with the Lido to the south, the Ocean Hotel (sometimes known as the Grand Ocean Hotel) is another fine example of thirties seaside architecture in the south coast village of Saltdean.

Indeed, it was constructed by the developers responsible for the Lido and much of the actual village, the saltdean Estate Company, formed by speculator Charles Neville in 1924.

The Ocean Hotel was acquired by Butlins and opened its doors for business in May of 1953 after an extensive refurbishment. Six months of hard work had gone into restoring the near-derelict building to its former glory.… Click here to continue reading this article

Embassy Court, Brighton

Embassy Court is one of the most striking buildings on the seafront at Brighton and Hove, although the reasons for this have differed over the years.

When built in 1935, the building contrasted sharply with the more sedate and ornamental architecture of King’s Road; but by the 1990s, the structure drew comment because of its terribly run down nature.

The building made the local press after chunks of render and windows fell from the building onto the street below, and it appeared until recently that it may suffer the same ignominious fate met by the West Pier sat opposite it, which finally succumbed to the elements (and arsonists) in early 2004.… Click here to continue reading this article

De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea

The De La Warr Pavilion was erected between 1934 and 1935 in the otherwise sleepy seaside town of Bexhill-on-Sea, following a competition held by the mayor, Earl De La Warr. He sought a design for a new leisure complex for the town, and this was to be the winning entry.

The design was by Eric Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff, both celebrated designers of the modern movement. It was truly a stunning design, with a welded steel frame and cantilevered staircases, and even today it is considered to be one of the most significant modern movement building in the United Kingdom.… Click here to continue reading this article

Bishopstone Railway Station, Seaford

Nowadays, Bishopstone railway station is almost forgotten, an unstaffed halt and the last stop on the Lewes – Seaford railway line. The whole site has an air of neglect about it; it is easy to forget that it was part of a plan to bring the railway network of south east England firmly into the 20th century.

Before 1923, the railway lines of Great Britain were owned by numerous different companies, a situation that was to change that year with the grouping of the companies. Four new companies were formed, the one responsible for lines in the south of England being the Southern Railway.… Click here to continue reading this article

Granada Cinema in Hove, East Sussex. Photos.

Granada cinema in Hove, East Sussex

Welcome to the page dedicated to the now disused former Granada cinema in Hove, East Sussex, to the west of Brighton. This art deco Cinema was opened in the 1930s as a Granada Theatre, and showed films up until 1974, when it was acquired by Ladbrokes and re-opened as a bingo hall.

The old cinema was thus granted a new lease of life, and stayed open as a bingo club, latterly run by the Gala Group, until it was closed in the summer of 2003.… Click here to continue reading this article

UK Petition: Lift EU/US sanctions on Russia to increase trade now the UK is leaving the EU

As we all know, the UK has chosen to exit the EU.

We call this bid for freedom BREXIT.

This means once again we can become an independent country making our own decisions.

The UK has sanctions on Russia.

Russia has reciprocal trade sanctions on the UK.

This means much trade is blocked between Russia and the UK.

Why? 

Because the warmongering USA has the EU as its bitch. The US says “jump” and the EU says “how high?”

The US has almost no trade with Russia. So it doesn’t hurt the US.… Click here to continue reading this article

Observations from an American who lives in Russia when he visited America again.

I have just returned from my annual sojourn to America recently; Texas and California to be exact.

This might have been the first time I had ever been to Texas and not see someone wearing a cowboy hat. Amazing, since I spent 10 days there (14 days in Cali). Equally amazing was not seeing any police, or very, very few in both places.

Nobody shot at me either. Always welcomed.

Nothing really has changed much, but it being an election year, one could sense a palatable shift in the mood of the country; interesting to witness I must say.… Click here to continue reading this article

A new Swiss humanitarian convoy for the city of Donetsk

This article first appeared in French on the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation website.

On 22 May 2016, two humanitarian convoys Confederation carrying chemicals for treating water and medical supplies left for Ukraine in the conflict zone.

Part of the convoy with medical equipment and medicine was awarded to the Kurakhove hospital this morning.

The products have been transported by road but also, for the first time by rail .

Sunday morning, a train ferrying chemicals for water treatment left Switzerland to Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine.

The cargo is for waterworks of Donbass, which supply the population with drinking water on both sides of the line of contact.… Click here to continue reading this article

The New USA -v- Russia Cold War. Seeing the Wood Through the Trees.

I’m not sure why anyone falls for the dishonest media spin from either side.

The current “cold war” situation owes more to an engineered conflict that is agreeable to both sides (EU/US and Russia) to distract the peasants from the domestic economic turmoil.

Creating political theatre and ‘threats’ allows governments to run loose economic policy and pour money into defence without taking a beating on the markets.

The ISIS/AQ threat is better persecuted by special forces. To be able to dump billions into new defence projects and soak up blue collared workers into a standing military you need a credible threat.… Click here to continue reading this article

BBC pressure leads Paxman to bin article criticising EU

This article first appeared in the Sunday Times. 

BBC pressure leads Paxman to bin article criticising EU

It is not easy to muzzle a journalistic pitbull, but Jeremy Paxman has withdrawn an article critical of the European Union from a forthcoming issue of Radio Times after coming under pressure from the BBC.

The article was commissioned by the magazine to coincide with Paxman in Brussels, a BBC1 documentary about the EU presented by Paxman and due for transmission on May 19.

Typically pugnacious, Paxman expressed doubts about the EU, its bureaucracy and, in particular, the loss of Britain’s sovereignty.… Click here to continue reading this article

So, What’s The Story Behind Donald Trump’s ‘Surprise’?

So, What’s The Story Behind Trump’s ‘Surprise’?

I have been thinking about this Trump thing and how it has been that some folks have simply not been able to understand what was going on in front of their faces.

I don’t just mean the ordinary voters, but pundits, analysts and other politicians.

Here, I will make an aside and not that it is quite likely that many, perhaps most of these groups were fully aware of what was happening but their assigned task was to convince the main in the street that Trump was not as significant as he has been and will be.… Click here to continue reading this article

Musing on the EU, the UK and Syrian “Refugees”.

I totally understand the situation faced by the innocent in Syria and its appalling.

Some of the footage caught on camera is truly heartbreaking and something positive needs to been done by the world community to stop the suffering.

That said, opening the back door to the EU and illegally allowing millions of unregulated economic migrants along with some refugees flood in, is simply scandalous.

It’s not the answer and for all the bleeding heart liberals out there demonising anyone who opposes this tidal wave of illegal immigration, they need to see the fruits of their ridiculous tree hugging ideology.… Click here to continue reading this article

Shock News: Western Media Suddenly Decides Russia is the Good Guy.

When a propaganda channel like Fox News begins to make positive noises about Russia, we must wonder why the narrative has changed so fast and who is pulling the strings.

We all know about Fox News, often referred to as Faux News, the comedic American ‘news’ channel that pedals agenda-driven, Republican-leaning, bite size propaganda chunks to the unthinking, gun-toting masses over the pond.

Quite often, Russia Insider reports on their hysterical output; among which has been “He (Putin) has been repeatedly invading foreign countries…” and “If we don’t interfere in Ukraine he (Putin) will go after Lithuania, Estonia, he is out of control now”.… Click here to continue reading this article

Turkey Exposed as More than Terrorist Accomplices by Shooting the Russian Jet Down.

This article first appeared on RT.

Turkey has shown its hand by destroying the Russian warplane over Syria and followed through on its previous threats to Russia. We must now regard Turkey as a hostile state that supports terrorism.

As has been widely reported, on the 24th November, Turkey – an EU aspirant NATO member – shot down a Russian warplane on legitimate Syrian duties. As a result, one pilot is dead and the other was rescued by Russian Special Forces. Another soldier was killed during the rescue operation and Russia lost a rescue helicopter in the process.… Click here to continue reading this article

War Returns to Ukraine

This article first appeared on Russia Insider. 

Whilst all eyes are on Syria there has been a steady deterioration of the situation in Ukraine.

In violation of the ceasefire shelling of the territories of the two people’s republics has resumed, and the OSCE has confirmed that the Ukrainian military has moved heavy weapons back to the contact line.

The Ukrainians meanwhile have extended their ban of commercial flights to and from Russia by banning also transit flights.

Ukraine has placed Crimea under food blockade. To the intense embarrassment of its Western backers (see this editorial in the Financial Times, headlined “Kiev should act to end the blockade of Crimea”) it has enlarged this to an energy blockade.… Click here to continue reading this article