When the lead "news" item in the Daily Mail is on the adventures of a polyeurathane snowman, the state broadcaster is eating its words over false accusations about a senior Tory politician, and the lead in other newspapers is the resignation of General David Petraeus over an extramarital affair, it is unsurprising that real news struggles for a hearing.

This is actually quite dangerous, as a healthy democracy requires an alert, interested and active population. But since we don't have a democracy anyway – or anything even approaching one – the failure of the news media any longer to perform a useful function is not so terribly important. As a branch of the entertainment industry, it has little relevance to how we are governed.

That Mr Cameron too has allowed himself to be absorbed into the entertainment industry, occupying a breakfast sofa the morning after he had been talking with Merkel and should have been dealing with serious things – also tells you that national politics no longer has the gravitas that it once had.

View full article here

On a similar note, the Deputy Mayor of Florence has taken time out to write to a British newspaper defending the use of a mascot for a cycling championship

http://www.telegraph.co....fect-cycling-mascot.html

We can never be a serious country until we have a properly educated population, and not just an educated elite.

The mass of the population has to have an understanding of what the leadership is doing, and that understanding can only come from the ability to critically think. The vast majority of the population is not educated but trained to accept without criticism whatever the state puts before them.

We have to break up the state education system which is there to do the training, and replace it with independent schools free from state control.

"Direct action by concerned citizens"
Open letter (this is the English version) to Merkel from concerned citizens in Portugal ahead of her visit to the country on 12 November.

"However, in this country where we live, your name was never on any ballot. We did not elect you. As such, we do not recognize you the right to represent us and even less the right to make political decisions on our behalf."

Interesting. "Mac"and "O' " indicate insular name origins for us and, in the US, I have gathered that the "-ian" suffix usually signifies Armenian roots. I learnt this when I had the misfortune to work with an unpleasant person of that ilk. This person also claimed that "The Armenians taught the Jews how" --- which is why Armenians tend to be wealthy. Whether this has anything to do with KK's exposure, or whether the DM is just ringing the changes on its belief that it supplies what its readership craves ... who knows. I do, however, see the media presenting themselves as a symptom of our moral corruption.

I don't quite see how the quote from Zinn relates to the post but just to point out that Howard Zinn was an advocate of (non-violent) direct ACTION not direct democracy.

Just saying . . .

Keep trying. We're listening.

demos plus kratos ... people power ... that is democracy. Too often, elections are just empty rituals ... demos without the kratos.

.......writes Feuerbach.

Readers of this blog will know that I am ashamedly politically naïve & thus have little to say that would impress.
However, I live in a so-called Club Med country....Portugal to whit (which has, of course, no Med coastline but that is by the bye.)
I've read the open letter to Angie & would guess that its provenance is well left of center although it does reflect much public sentiment....most apparent in the large towns & City conurbations and there's no doubt that conditions are tough there & getting tougher. It is there & in the Alentejo (it often seems to start there) that 'direct action by concerned citizens' will set the ball rolling, hopefully,as often before, without any physical unpleasantness.

I live in the far-flung 'sticks' of the far North where there has always been a tradition of self-sufficiency and, as far as I can see, Life goes on quietly as usual & we are unaffected with the travails of the cities.
Everywhere, including the traditionally neglected North, has benefited enormously in infrastructure terms from EU largesse which was of course expected by the politicos firm belief in the free lunch.....they never learn.

So it's pay-back time.

One thing is very clear: The Common Currency is the worst possible tragedy to befall all those countries with small economies, especially in the atmosphere of globalisation & industrial outsourcing. If you cannot control your own currency & budget you are damned as any small householder will tell you.
That GB gets out of the EU is an imperative.........but for Club Med, getting rid of the Euro & reverting to their own currencies is a matter of life & death. Let them then devalue & capitalise on what assets they have.
Someone will get hurt because they always do........but they will not be the tens of thousands of EU bureaucrats with gold-plated pensions & 5 star restaurants.
A start would be to fire (ex?) Maoist Barrosso & return him to Lisbon where I'm sure he'll wave his magic hammer & sickle to devastating effect.

Edited by user 11 November 2012 00:57:02(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I think you should have a "Richard's quotes" section and this should be listed. I can think of at least one other quote that should be included.