Sorrye Olde England
I have written before on the sad decline of the UK in recent years. Sadly, I have more to report in that regard.
- Policing
Shabana Mahmoud is a name you may not know, but she is the Home Secretary in the current UK Liberal government. That makes her responsible for policing, in particular. Here is what The Independent has to say about her new grand plan for policing in the UK.
The number of police forces in England and Wales is about to be slashed under major[sic] a major overhaul of the system.
Under the proposed changes, the number of forces, currently standing at 43, will be significantly cut.
The remaining, larger forces will be tasked with focusing on serious and organised crime, alongside complex investigations such as homicides.
Yea, right. We in Canada have seen this movie before. Centralize some government function, and that will save money and make everything better.
What we know is that any money saved does not go into more teachers (hey, big-ass school districts) or health care workers (hey, LHSC), it goes into more bureaucrats to run things.
But that is merely the usual clueless thinking that all politicians spout. Here is a quote from Mahmoud on her personal vision for policing:
When I was in justice, my ultimate vision for that part of the criminal justice system was to achieve, by means of AI and technology, what Jeremy Bentham tried to do with his Panopticon. That is that the eyes of the state can be on you at all times. Similarly, in the world of policing, in particular, we’ve already been rolling out live facial recognition technology, but I think there’s big space here for being able to harness the power of AI and tech to get ahead of the criminals, frankly, which is what we’re trying to do.”
Nothing says good policing quite like ‘the eyes of the state can be on you at all times’. You go, Mahmoud.
- Political musicians
I have Sirius XM radio still in my car(s), and have had for years. When I first got it, my favourite stations were the two that played Geezer Rock – Classic Vinyl and Classic Rewind. You know, all the 60s and early 70s rock that I enjoyed when I was a teen. I hardly listen to those any more, in no small part because both of them have an abiding love for the music of Pink Floyd.
Imho, they were easily the most pretentious of all the rock bands of that era, and that is saying something, but those two Sirius stations insist on putting their music on frequent rotation. There were times when each of the two stations was playing a different Floyd track at the same time.
If you were a PF fan, you will know that one of its guiding geniuses was one Roger Waters, born in Surrey, England, who pretty much took over that band when original co-founder Syd Barrett left in 1968. PF are no longer touring, although I think Waters still does as a solo. He’s 82, and has been reborn in all his glorious pretentiousness as a ‘political activist’.
Well, Piers Morgan (remember him?) interviewed Mr. Waters, political activist and Brit, on X. You can catch it here. It’s largely about Waters’ views on Iran, and I suggest you listen for the bit where he says “We know the Iranians don’t want regime change’ and “The government sent the police out to protect those grocers.”
‘We don’ need no education’, indeed, Roger.
- Oh, my
Abortion is a contentious issue, this we all know. It seems to me that no matter what are your views on it, there is reason to be alarmed about the graph below:
What is going on? I have no earthly idea, but it is not something good, of that I am quite sure.
- And then – Canada
I cannot let my home and native land entirely off the hook here. When DJT was in maximum sabre-rattling mode over Greenland this week, the Globe and Mail ran a story with the headline:
Military models Canadian response to hypothetical American invasion
The first line of that story was
The Canadian Armed Forces have modelled a hypothetical U.S. military invasion of Canada and the country’s potential response, which includes tactics similar to those employed against Russia and later U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, two senior government officials say.
Yea, right. Sorry, senior government officials. As usual, you know little about the citizens you are supposed to be serving. I don’t know any Canadians, including yours truly, who would be willing or able to go into the woods and engage in a mujahadeen-like insurgency against invading US troops. Do you?
That same G&M story includes the following sentence: ‘The officials, as well as a number of experts, say it is unlikely the Trump administration would order an invasion of Canada.’
Well, thank goodness for that, eh?