It's our turn now....

Once again the shame of the British Army is writ large. This time the front page of The News of the World heralds further examples of behaviour that should be unacceptable in any vision of a civilised society.
But, it’s okay… They are just a few bad apples among a bunch of superbly disciplined young men doing a “fantastic” job in the new Iraqi democracy.
So why does the bullshit detector hit ten as soon as such sentiments are expressed? Could it be a history that quite simply says otherwise?
The history of the British Army is not – as we are so often told – one of fantastic fair play and good sport. Indeed it has a positive catalogue of previous form when it comes to behaviour so barbaric as to be comparable to any other army in the world.
If you need proof of this (and you may because you ain’t gonna read about it in the mainstream press) then check out our African adventures of the 1960’s and read about eyes being poked out, ritualised starvation and general mutilation…
But, that’s in the past and I am prepared to accept that we have moved on… except that the evidence seems to point in an altogether different direction.
I ask you to consider only one thing. If we have a certain amount of evidence of abuse and general misbehaviour among our troops from video and photographic releases then how many examples go unrecorded?
One would have to assume that the majority of such events pass without the handycam being a feature or that most tapes and photos remain in the hands of the original people involved.
It is hardly unreasonable to conclude that the few bad apples argument is as transparent as the lies that led to Iraq in the first place.

It seems to be the current question of choice in British politics. The mantra of all parties as they seek to gain their own advantage and drag a few more reluctant and recalcitrant citizens down to the polling booth.
The politicos answers may vary but they all seem to rest upon the same quirky foundations – There’s nothing at all wrong with the politics or the options available, it’s all about the fact that it’s not easy enough to vote. So they shout the odds about postal voting (already proved as a fraudster’s paradise), text voting (WHAT!!!!!), weekend voting (not too bad an idea, perhaps) or handing it all over to Tesco.
But what if they’re all wrong?
Look at it this way (if you will). Would you take advice on finance from a guy sleeping in a cardboard box outside Marks and Spencer?
That is precisely what politicians want us to do. They all (and I repeat, ALL) represent the bankruptcy of the guy in the doorway.
Take the briefest of glances around you and try telling yourself that this is the world as you would wish it to be. If it is, then congratulations you are probably the CEO of Asda (or similar). If it is not, then you are probably one of the rest of us.
These people and their politics have, quite simply, failed. And, yet, they continue to ask us for our commitment to them while they offer their commitment to business. This is a completely and ridiculously unbalanced use and abuse of power and yet it is the norm across much of the western world.
Take the most cursory of glances across the Atlantic and you will see the future writ large. A corporate government run for and by financial vested interests. A system entirely corrupted by lobbying firms with barely the most casual glance at the needs, hopes, dreams and fears of the voter. Government by the rich for the rich. So disastrous is this system that it will (and may have already) cost us the earth. The rapacious dreams of big business have become a corporate nightmare for everyone else. Your children have already suffered the total theft of their future… and the corporations and governments responsible never even asked for your permission. As a generation we have abdicated responsibility in return for the ancient Roman vision of bread and circuses and it’s our children who will pick up the pieces and try desperately to rebuild that which we have broken.
We should all be ashamed of our complicity in this but the politicians claiming to represent us while only ever truly representing the businesses with the deepest pockets should be on a one way ticket to hell. Their responsibility in this is total.
In a world featuring any sort of justice most politicians would be chased from office immediately and thrown to the wolves… and yet the reason we vote in ever decreasing numbers is supposedly because it’s not easy enough! BOLLOCKS.
We don’t vote because we are no longer represented (if we ever were). I have a confession to make here – I have always voted… although the prospect of me putting a cross in a box again diminishes by the day.
If you want my vote all you have to do is represent me. That means that the vote of a member of the general population has to count as much as the vote of the aforementioned CEO. That it doesn’t is a scandal beyond description.
Many times we hear the cry of foul about benefit scroungers etc etc etc etc etc…. What about the failure of business to pay tax? What about businesses making profits in the realms of the obscene laying off staff? Are they not adding to the burden of the rest of us? What about businesses paying the minimum wage and forcing staff to take up benefits to make up the shortfall? In such a circumstance the burden of the state is greatly increased in order that a handful of shareholders can make ever greater gains. So, if I claim a benefit I can be considered, at best, suspicious and at worst a fraudster while business can suck the benefits system dry in pursuit of profit while avoiding tax on the money they make. Just take a look at good old Rupert and his empire. I’ll let you guess what the tax take from News International in this country is….. (A clue – try somewhere near zero).
You see, if you are like me – and you probably are – then you can’t hide your cash in an offshore tax haven and then bend the Prime Ministers ear whenever you fancy in order to make sure that your prejudices become national policy.
Sorry people, but the reason we don’t vote is surprisingly simple. Our world has been raped by the failed policies of generations of politicians and now, it seems, people have finally got the idea… Once the big old alsation has taken a lump out of your arse, it’s best to not provide it with another opportunity.