Philip Green’s behaviour epitomises capitalism

Sir (but not for much longer, apparently) Philip Green was the target of multi-party harangues in the House of Commons yesterday during a debate about whether he should retain his knighthood.  The consensus of those who spoke is that he should lose the title.

Of course, the issuing of knighthoods to successful business people has always been part of the mutual back-scratching between government and the corporate world.  It is a process wholly outside of reality.  So, why a parliamentary debate about one such honour bestowed on the former owner of a bog-standard chain of high street stores?

Of course, the pantomime is a nice distraction.  The current government likes distractions.  “Look at them over there!  Send your ire at them.  Don’t monitor our destruction of the country.”  However, the primary reason for MPs of all hues getting all flustered about Green is that they are desperate to manufacture an uncontested analysis that Green, and a few others, are the exception not the norm.  

The defenders of exploitative capitalism and of financial gangsters know there is growing awareness of the corrupt relationship between government and corporate parasites.  Therefore, isolating one or two such low-lifes – typically those who are too stupid to hide their exploitative practices – creates a theme whereby it is just a few vagabonds who are behaving badly, and that they will be dealt with via the law and/or removal of knighthoods.  The invented analysis is that some capitalists are being exploitative rather than the system itself being intrinsically and necessarily exploitative.  

The methodology used by filth like Philip Green and Mike Ashley, including side-stepping employment and health and safety law and theft of employee pension funds, etc. is the norm.  Lies, fraud, law-breaking and tax-dodging are the norm.  These are facets of capitalism in action, they are not isolated wrongdoing of a few outliers.

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Tories’ xenophobia: A deliberate distraction from their destruction of Britain

At the Tory conference in Birmingham this week a succession of senior cabinet ministers, including the prime minister, have focussed their speeches on undisguised encouragement of anti-foreigner sentiment.  The xenophobic core of each ministers’ words is the sole purpose of this year’s conference.  There is no nuance, no ambiguity and no exceptions.  Each minister has rammed home the Tory message that all immigrants – doctors, students, people fleeing war, etc – are an enemy and the cause of all ills and that the British people should hate them.

Obviously, this grotesque message, spouted relentlessly by the Tory speakers and supported voraciously by the right-wing press, is a simple distraction from the destruction of society caused by the Tory pillaging of Britain.  

A distraction is needed from the consequences of the purpose of the current government.  The Tory government exists to channel taxes into the offshore accounts of financial gangsters.  A key facet of this is the use of necessary public services as a means of enriching said crooks.  Prisons, schools, hospitals, police, benefit distribution, transport, childcare, care of the elderly, etc. are all being “privatised.”  That is, private “companies”, most of whom are registered offshore and many of whom are made-up cons, become the gleeful recipient of the money previously spent on these vital public services.  They have little or no requirement to continue to provide a viable service and they often “fail” financially – after having raked in millions of tax payers’ money – and then are “bailed out” by the tax payers.  

Clearly, the consequences of this scam are dramatic falls in the quality and availability of public services, and the decline in public services is not being offset by tax reductions because the aforesaid gangsters’ appetite for more free money is never satiated.  Britain’s society is being destroyed by the Tories.  This is not ideological; it is all about the money.  The crooks are happy to bleed the country dry.  

Distractions are needed to try to ensure the public fail to notice who the real enemy is and to provide a ready excuse for continuing decline in public services.  Demonisation of unemployed people or disabled people are popular options for the Tories and their media cohorts but by far the most demonstrably successful tactic of distraction for a right-wing government is to blame foreigners.  

Extolling nationalism and spurious patriotism and depicting foreigners as a lesser other have been common distraction techniques for as long as organised societies have existed.  However, it is not a technique that can always be used because sometimes the prevailing public opinion is opposed to such blatant xenophobia.  For a anti-foreign posture of a government to sit not too uncomfortably in public discourse there must be considerable groundwork done by others and any so-called or self-appointed opposition must be compliant.

Far-right con-artists UKIP have helped to promote anti-foreigner politics, particularly with respect to apportioning blame for financial problems faced by people.  Initially, the Tories did not always feel empowered enough to support openly all that UKIP were saying but the former grew ever more pleased with how UKIP’s stance gained support, particularly among people who might not normally be Tory supporters.  The Tory government hasn’t stolen UKIP’s policies or ideology; the change is that, now, the Tories feel less uncomfortable about admitting they always agreed with UKIP.  UKIP were the cold-callers, the Tories complete the deal.

The lack of opposition to the deluge of anti-foreigner rhetoric is a consequence of how any established opposition has been infested with dampeners determined to ensure real challenge does not occur.  Despite Jeremy Corbyn’s position as leader, the Labour Party remains overrun with Progress gimps and soulless careerists whose main objective is to stifle the party’s leftward tendency.  The BBC and the Guardian have disappeared into a middle-class hole and are more concerned about how some socialists are a bit rude and why doesn’t Mr. Corbyn ask them to behave.  The Tories take a slight risk with such a blatant display of ugly xenophobia but they know that now is as good a time as any to be able to get away with it.

Consequences

For as long as the marketing of the anti-foreigner stance is popular, the Tory government will feel able to continue to destroy the public services in Britain and to channel tax payers’ money into the hands of financial gangsters.  The consequences for anyone with a non-British accent or a “foreign” name or appearance could include difficulty accessing public services including schools and free NHS medical care, problems with job applications and access to housing, harassment from thugs working for various made-up border security companies and abuse – verbal or otherwise – from empowered racists.