The Jam Jam

having an opinion! Specifically the Welfare Bill. With 4 million claimants there obviously needs to be some action? The working age population is 37.5 million. So nearly 10% are claiming sickness benefits? As benfits are by no means generous it says something is wrong with the economic structure of wages and the economy. the unemployed ratio is 4.6%. 75.1% of people in the UK aged 16 to 64 are currently in employment. 

So 20% of the population 16-64 are not employed. Of these There are obviously students in that number, 4.7% in higher education, but it beggars belief that 10% of the population is too sick to work! Let me do the figures again. 75.1% in work; 4.6% unemployed but looking for work; 4.7% students; 10% on sick which leaves about 6% choosing not to work or claim benefits (although most will be parents getting child benefit. We are also told that there is a labour shortage in the UK and thus have to have inward migration.

So my conclusion is that many, millions of people do not think that coping with their medical problems is enough to justify the poor pay offered? The right wing also seem to be paranoid about working from home! Maybe more employers could offer flexi-time? If the minimum wage was hiked up – how many more would be employed? Should there be a maximum wage, based on the minimum in a business? This would prevent price inflation, but ensure that companies can remain solvent and profitable?

It would seem that something needs to be done, and just cutting, already low benefits is too simplistic and not a sufficient policy to cure the problem.

Whilst revelling in statistics …… 1 in 32 children are born via UVF treatment? Basically one in every class. Here I am radical or obnoxious depending on your opinion. Would adoption be a better solution – about 50% of the child abuse uses (blamed solely and wrongly on Pakistani men) are related to girls and boys in care. Just sayin’ – I am ignorant of this issue!

Continuing with stats. BR rose in the UK last year. up 0.6%. There is a geographical difference across the UK. West Midlands had highest increase 3.4%; and London up 1.8%. There was also a 14% increase in births to/by ??? men over 60! Women aged 35-40 experienced the largest rise whilst women aged under 20 decreased by 4.6%. The other stat that I hope will not be abused is that 39.5% of births had at least one parent born outside the UK. This is absolutely positive but will add fuel to the hyperbole of the right wing. At this point I woulld like to say that I am not patriotic or nationalist – 2 terms that deserve to be condemned to the wastes of ? Glastonbury?

Not an unusual state for me to be in. The Chief rabbi has said that the anti-jewish comments at Glastonbury were a national shame. From what I have seen the chants were about the IDF, not Jews. I do not consider myself anti-semitic, but if wishing for the death of the IDF as a fightighting force, then I guess I am! The Chief Rabbi needs to be careful – equating the IDF with Jews will agravate the growth of anti-semetism in the wider society. The narrative that Israel is protecting its borders has long passed – members of the Israeli cabinet have called for genocide and the death of all male Palestinians.

I wonder how many Germans actually hated or even felt any animosity to the jews? The public is easily swayed and develop a herd mentality. We have seen it with Brexit and now with Reform. Nationalism takes a putrid form when mobilised – it becomes racist and homophobic, anti-semetic and misogynist. It does not follow logic or factual realities – just the instinct of the bully and the lowest common denominator. The comments of Eavis was correct in condemning hate speech but also emphasising the love, peace and goodwill aspects of the festival. The BBC will continue to be castigated by all sides. Unfortunately it has lost any moral superiority with the blatent political appointment leaders during the Johnson era and later.

I am reminded of Edmund Burkes quote The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Is what the IDF are doing to Palestinians in Gaza and on the West Bank EVIL? Can there even be doubt on this? And yet not only Netanyahu and Trump are supporting their blatent discrimination, but members of our government to, upto and including Keir Starmer.

So the right wing are getting het up up about a chant. I may agree that it was out of order but demanding a prison sentence is ridiculous. Comparing the case of Connoly who was calling for migrant hotels to be torched and a chant at a pop festival “kill the IDF’. Absolutely no one at Glastonbury was going to enact the chant. I do worry that Starmer is a zionist! He condemns the chant and the use of a Palestinian flag by Kneecap. The atrocities in Gaza go largely undocumented as no journalists are allowed in the territory. And the IDF is now occupying parts of the West Bank.

I suppose I should condemn any hate speech, but when the press and politicians appear to be supporting genocide …….. there is a need for radical discussion? Would those outraged be fuming and red faced gammons if the chant had been to kill Putin or even pro-Ukraine? So maybe and only maybe, it was inappropriate, it certainly does not warrant a police investigation. We live in a country of free speech – tempered by restrictions of slander and hate speech.

The law – Hate speech is broadly defined as language that attacks or demeans a person or group based on attributes like race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.While there isn’t a universal legal definition under international human rights law, it’s generally understood as speech that incites violence, hatred, or discrimination. Laws against hate speech vary by country, but often involve restrictions on speech that is threatening, abusive, or intended to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.  So the law is a little ambiguous – whether the chant iniated violence (hardly), hatred (the hatred was already there) and discrimination ( it was not anti-Jewish just IDF?).

The BBC is being castigated for not pulling the set by the rapper. Everyone seems to be having a go! I agree with Wes Streeting – “Israel should get its own house in order”. and “it was a giant publicity stunt”. But there were a lot of performers who promotedd Free Palestine. Shoud the BBC be castigated as promoted by the shit papers and Starmer! I know his wife is Jewish but she is not Israeli! But 55,000 dead and counting.?

Israel continues to slaughter Palestinians. The latest from ministers in the Knesset calls for the slaughter of all adult males in Gaza (and the West Bank).

So Jeff Bezon is coughing up over £40 million for his wedding. Firstly how anyone is that obscenely rich is a travesty of the economic systematic rip off of the workers. Secondly – how can anyone with a brain and a concious be so immune to human suffering and poverty, that they are willing to splurge millions on a graphic and gaudy show of wealth? At least Bill Gates invested some of his wealth usefully.

The world has become very selfish. Was it Covid or is it social media? Both develop(ed) introverted behaviour. The media is mainly anti-woke, i.e. against anything that shows empathy and understanding for others. Definitely a case for increasing the tax on the rich. Basically Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos took a gamble and it paid off. That is fine but there should be a limit to personal wealth!

Selfishness used to be the perogative of the young – too insular to realise the effect on others. But it seems that the rich have a monopoly on it! One of the papers criticised Starmer for using a helicopter recently – will they be castigating Bezos or extolling the costumes of the rich and famous. PS. what the fuck do people buy him as a wedding present? There are only so many Caribbean Islands he could visit? I like the corner of Glastonbury where Led by Donkeys and others have built a mock space craft with a caption of” send them to Mars – we party on Earth”. The images shown of people queing included Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Trump and Netanyahu. however if an alien species discovered them on Mars and thought they represented life on earth – we would be totally fucked!

The Sun leads with a story that asylum seekers are given a free room and food, and a job as a food delivery riders. Quite what the logic of the numbskulls is here I am perplexed! Free food and lodgings is a British tradition for those held in custody – should all prisoners be forced to pay for it? Especially when the law expressly states that asylum workers cannot work. So by wording the article the way it did, the Sun has pkaced the blame on the migrants rather than the firms (largely American) that employ them –if the stories are in anyway correct. Free identity cards would solve the problem of illegal employment. Regarding hotels and food – the system must speed up to process claims and either repatriate or get them employed legally!

Reform are suggesting a deal for rich foreigners to avoid tax – pay £250 grand and the tax man will ignore them? And yet people still vote for the C**t. The Times has started wailing at the the number of millionaires who are leaving the UK. Yes 10000 left, but
The wealthiest 1% of households had wealth of at least £3,121,500. The wealthiest 10% of households had wealth of £1,200,500 or more, while the least wealthy 10% had £16,500 or less. For the wealthiest 10% of households, net property wealth (38%) and private pension wealth (36%) made up most of their wealth. So 282000 households have wealth of £3 million +. and 10000 have fucked off. There are questions here! How many of those who have left came here because of money laundering or other financial tax breaks? Why is a million£ not enough for a brilliant lifestyle? How many actually left due to changes in the tax regieme which forced them to pay their share to society and infrastructure.

I realise these wankers contribute via the taxes their workers pay on their substandard wages, and the VAT they pay on luxury items, but be honest “do we need/want money grabbing arseholes like these in our country”.. Not only will their departure free up some very large houses, but also possibly areas of the countryside.

Every morning I go to local shop and sort the papers – only a task really on a Saturday – but I get a cup of tea and a chat, and usually a short quiz game. But sad at the ignorance of Mail, Sun and Express readers I have decided to print and insert the following in these papers. I will add the url for this web site so it is not anonymous!

The regieme change in Iraq resulted in an estimated 122,000 civilian deaths. Israel and. the USA do not respect civilian life, nor international law. It is also clear that the Trump attack was not based on firm evidence, just as Sadam Hussain did not have weapons of mass destruction. There is also no evidence that the bombs were successful in destroying the nuclear complexs hit.

Interesting phone in where a scientist said that tthe centrefuges needed to enrich uranium would cost £500 each! So Iran can build new processing facilities relatively easily. So all Trump will have done is to increase the likelyhood of Iran creating a nuclear bomb; and crucially by withdrawing from the nuclear deal with Iran and now bombing it, will have increased the possibility of a bamb being used.

I need to reiterate that Iran’s government is not a nice democratic one according to the model I have been indoctrinated (correctly I believe!) with. But there are many that also would not pass my test (including our own at times). But destroy the Republican Guard and ISIS and other fanatics will quickly fill the vacuum – as happened in Libya, Iraq, and possibly Syria.

Iran does not need to fire huge number of missiles – just threaten boats going through the Gulf – which is a very long way!

The Arabian Gulf (also known as the Persian Gulf) is approximately 615 miles (990 kilometers) long. It stretches from the Shatt al-Arab in the northwest to the Strait of Hormuz in the southeast. Its width varies, ranging from 210 miles (340 km) to 35 miles (55 km) at the Strait of Hormuz.  Oil prices are also going through the roof. Iran could relatively easily cut off 20% of the worlds oil supply, or at least make it difficult. Oil has gone up $10 a barrel today.

Who would line up with Iran? Perhaps more pertinently is who will stand against them? This will pan out over the next few weeks.