Europe is riddled with political and social cancers that need cutting out before they become out of control

DISCALIMER: Apologies for this post being s few days late. I did have an original post in mind for Wednesday, however I decided to scrap it because I did not think it was of good quality and since then I have been monumentally busy.

I appreciate that this is probably the boldest headline I have done so far on my blog. However, it is a statement that I every passing day I spend living on this continent that I start to think is more and more true.

Image Courtesy of Wiki Media commons

We have the swashbuckling, ciggie loving Nigel Farage in one corner who enjoys long pints down the pub after a hard day’s work shouting at the European parliament. Other hobbies the leader of the UK Independence party can put on his political dating advert. This includes slagging of those in the media when more questionable aspects of the party are being held to account. This reached fever pitch recently after the Channel 4 mockumentary “UKIP: The first hundred days” was broadcast. The show which used a combination of archive footage and scripted scenes drew over 1000 complaints from viewers for being “propaganda” rather than the only complaint that should be levelled on it which is it was “a bit rubbish”. Of course if he is still looking for things to do Farage can rely on his favourite past time of saying his party isn’t racist but then sacking members of it for being…well…racist.

Then in the other corner we have Angela Merkel who has been relishing in her current role as de facto leader of the European Union, Why? Because her country are the ones with the money. Therefore, if the EU is all about money (which at the minute it is) then that suits Mrs Merkel just fine because she is the one that has it. What effect has this had on the EU? It’s why Junker is in power at the EU now because any challenge regardless of ideology is swept aside because no small EU nation wants to take on the might of Germany. It’s also why countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal are still in financial instability. Because whilst there was some support for an end to austerity from the A8 countries that couldn’t shift the might of the economic powerhouse that has more MEPs than any other country. Germany consistently and vocally insisted that these countries continued austerity measures despite debts rising because of them. A decision that looks like it has set the EU back years. A decision so grave that it even unites me and Mr. Farage (this does not happen often believe me). Merkel is also the one who has been representing the EU during the ongoing conflict in the Ukraine. Resulting in ceasefire continued carnage and whilst this isn’t exactly her fault the fact that some parties were so easily duped by Putin makes you wonder how some of our heads of state ever reached the pinnacle of their countries’ political systems. Merkal has been the head of German politics for a decade now and is knocking on the door of Maggie Thatcher as the longest serving female leader in Europe. Yet Thatcher knew that the clock was ticking and opinion polls tumbled for the Baroness throughout her 3rd term causing her to resign. Merkal still for the minute has the benefit of public support yet in a similar way to Thatcher in parts of the UK. Merkel’s premiership of Germany and in a sense the EU will cause polarising views depending on where you live.

And then we have us in-between; the ones effected most by the policies of our national government and the EU parliament. These effects have been political extremism seen throughout the EU. From the blight of EDL protests in the UK to the rise of parties such as the French National Front and Golden Dawn in Greece. Causing the rather non-issue of immigration before the economic crash to become such a political black hole that you cannot talk about it being a net gain without being called a communist or it being a net loss without being called a racist. The lack of sensible discussion about immigration in the 00’s has caused extremism from this topic to spread to all forms of politics and now extremism that was once extreme is now dangerously becoming the ideological battlegrounds throughout the EU and is now causing these extremes to enter the fabrics of society. We’ve seen this as recently as this week when a disgusting minority of Chelsea FC supporters who were GUESTS in Paris denied a French citizen right to use public transport. Football hasn’t had an easy relationship with society at times via violence and racism but would this honestly happen ten even 20 years ago? When the world had cash in its wallet and food on its table? Or has the cancer of political extremism that has weaved itself into the European Parliament now rewoven itself into the beautiful game? The EU has done many great things, however not dealing properly with the credit crunch and not educating its citizens about migration has been a catastrophic failure that could have put the union beyond repair.

So where does that leave us then? Well I’m very much in two minds about the EU at the minute. I’ve always been a keen fan of it yet the issues I mentioned before have made me feel rather disillusioned with its internal functions. I feel disillusioned that extremist parties have been able to enter the parliament in large numbers so easily and this has only brought the European Parliament to a standstill and no one representing the mainstream EU parties seems to mind. I feel disillusioned at the EU’s economic standing in the world since the EU for all its economic flaws would be the largest economy in the world if it was merged into one large economy. However, I feel that no politician in the EU has this attitude and constant bickering over who gives Greece it’s recovery money or who saves Ireland from economic extinction back in the day doesn’t sound like a union that has a bigger economy than the most famous union in the world. And now I also feel disillusioned at the EU’s ability to govern and educate its own people mainly thanks to the party extremism and economic mismanagement that has left people poor, angry and uneducated about key affairs.

However, I do rather like the idea of the nations of Europe being united but I believe it’s time for us to hit the reset button. The EU in its current state cannot work. It serves the needs of the larger economies too much and cripples people who have had the misfortune of being born in a smaller economic nation in Europe. We need a rethink about how social and economic policies are created and conducted in the EU parliament in order to curb political extremism that has fuelled the fire of anger amongst citizens of the old world and with uncle Vlad still not playing ball we need to rethink our current union before a much more dangerous one rears its ugly head from Europe’s past.

Feminism: A male perspective

DISCLAIMER: Before I start this blog I do need to make one shocking admission. I am and always have been male in sex. Naturally this means I have no direct experience in being female in sex, and whilst this may eliminate some of the validity of the arguments I put before you today it should not eliminate my perspective. Anyway, lets crack on.

The topic of gender equality and feminism is always one that is hotly debated in some way shape or form. However, I feel as though some of the past week’s events have caused some feminist arguments to fall into disrepute thanks to the actions of a small minority. Minorities painting a bad image of majorities is of course not a new thing. From football hooligans to far-right extremists there is always that small collection of arseholes that ruin the majorities sensible ideals.

Firstly there was the rather bizarre story that came up in my Facebook feed from UNILAD (that bastion of modern gender equality I know). The story goes that feminist blogger Lena posted on her site that she had her future son aborted at 4 months because it was male; arguing that she “didn’t want to bring another monster into the world”. Whilst this story could be a hoax the very idea that someone could contemplate such a difficult moral decision based on their babies sex astonishes me. Then what I find even more astonishing is the defence by the author of even contemplating such actions.

Allow me to uplift some of the quotes from this: “after learning my fetus was male was something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy”; “I beg most of you, for your own good, take a look at yourself and decide right now if you want to spend the rest of your life angry on the internet, or if you want to fight for a woman’s right to do what she wants with her body.” Allow me also to put a link to her full post (http://injusticestories.com/lana-responds-to-the-criticism-about-her-abortion/) were Lana also states that she found the decision making process rather “liberating”.

Now wrap your eyeballs around these quotes from everyone’s favourite nutty dictator Robert Mugabe: “The only man you can trust is a dead white man.”; “Only God, who appointed me, will remove me not the MDC, not the British. Only God will remove me!”. Personally I do not believe that there’s much of a difference between the quotes of Lana and a person who once described himself as “the Hitler of his time”. Mugabe of course has had a bit of trouble recently in managing the highly difficult concept of a step. However, when Mugabe wanted to totally ban the image from every corner of the world the world responded by using it so much I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get it as wall paper; proving its truth. Yet when someone equally as insane comes out and uses some mad justification of it some of us start claiming its falsehood even though we cannot absolutely say for sure whether this is actually true or not.

Fortunately most rational people came out and condemned this and I applaud that, however you do get the odd person who is now totally denying that this transpired and that it is all being reported wrong. My response to this is yes you can argue that the events transpired but you cannot argue that this wasn’t published and it’s toxic message wasn’t convey to and corrupted the mind of a single person. Hoax or not this kind of thing doesn’t exactly do much good for the rational and sensible members of the gender equality community.

Next up is the rather baffling tale of the labour campaign buses that are trying to get more women involved in politics; a very noble cause and one I approve. However, some people pointed out that these buses are pink and because of this some instantly labelled the concept “patronising”.

Lots to admire about Labour women's campaign that's reaching out to "missing" 9.1m women who didn't vote in 2010. But why is the bus pink???

— Sophy Ridge (@SophyRidgeSky) February 11, 2015

As if there wasn't enough sexual stereotyping in #UK politics #labour are using a pink bus to promote their #womantowoman campaign!

— Mark Bowman (@Mark_A_Bowman) February 10, 2015

'Are you thinking of getting a blue van?' Angry man heckles Harriet Harman over #pinkbus http://t.co/ZNddEzkiEx pic.twitter.com/A06dy7XQqJ

— The Independent (@Independent) February 11, 2015

The “blue bus” idea particularly astonishes me since if you go back in time pink was actually a male colour ; but I digress. Are we actually that fussed about the colour of a bus that we cannot see the message that is hidden (even though it should be in plain sight) behind it? Can I no longer eat Prawn cocktail crisps because it’s in a pink packet and should be forced to only eat cheese and onion because it comes in a male colour? NO of course not.

A minority have forgotten this but feminism was (not so long ago) about standing for something meaningful like giving women the vote, the criminalisation of marital rape and getting equal pay for men and women. These things are objective rights that should be given to all regardless of gender and I don’t think anyone could make a logically sound argument that these campaigns have given universal good for us all. What feminism doesn’t stand for is that slashing of subjective perspectives. Yes the colour pink is associated with girls rather than boys now thanks to the Barbie doll (another great example of sending women a “positive” message) but that doesn’t mean that this is enshrined in objectivity and to convey the idea that it is and that patronising would be going against one of the key pillars of gender equality; the freedom to express oneself in a way different to the perceived norm.

The final topic in what is already a behemoth of a blog post is 50 shades of gray. Oh yes the film that started as a book that started as a fanfic for the twilight saga. However, my problems do not lie with the release of the film itself or it’s “kinky” contents. Rather it has been some of the commentary on it with this YouTube by The Telegraphs Claire Cohen video sparking my curiosity.

Claire Cohen is actually a journalist I have a lot of time for and thought her commentary on the recent decision by The Sun to drop not drop page three was excellent as this Sky News debate shows.

Pleasure meeting @NicolaMcLean at @SkyNewsTonight http://t.co/GfmJvGvVKg

— Claire Cohen (@clairecohen1) January 20, 2015

However, there does seem to be a have your cake and eat it argument going on. You see it’s ok saying that page three is reducing women to their looks rather than their achievements which I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with (until I see a naked guy on page four). However, when only a couple of weeks later your publically arguing that women should see 50 shades on the grounds that it might be arousing for them I can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable.

I cannot argue that there is a difference in censorship since anyone can pick up a copy of The Sun and she a naked women, however not everyone can go into the cinema and see the film in question. Yet if you’re going to watch a publicly displayed film in a public environment for the purposes of arousal then I actually do not see a difference between that and a person picking up a newspaper for the purposes of arousal; the medium may be different but the purpose is the same.

So to wrap up my absolute marathon of a blog post; has feminism done an objective good for society? Without question. Are all the battles in terms of gender equality won? No. But is feminism in as good of a health as it was 20 or even 10 years ago? I honestly cannot say yes to that. Feminism used to mean fighting for woman to have a point and purpose in society; now I feel it’s for mere point scoring and until it’s loudest, most myreing minorities learn what it truly was to be a feminist merely a century ago I do not believe the social movement will escape its current dogma that a minority still hold deer to.

Greek election 2015 reaction: The ballot heard around the world

The Greek election was always going to be interesting but it’s outcome has resulted in one of the most radical left-wing parties to every be democratically elected.

Is Syriza A brave new party for a brave new world? (Image courtesy of wikimedia commons)

Before the 2008 financial crash that brought the world to its economic knees Syriza was a middling party with a seat count in the teens. However, two things have acted to bring this party from relative obscurity to almost complete control of the Hellenic government.

First the crisis in the Euro that saw Greece forced to undertake massive austerity measures to not default on its debt and stay in the Euro. These were at the order of the bigger Eurozone economies with Germany being particularly adamant that Greece must “tighten its belt”. Unfortunately for PASOK the ruling party at the time the austerity measures were about as popular with the electorate as a 20 foot Margaret Thatcher statue at a TUC conference. Resulting in the Greek people having no confidence in PASOK. The absolute low point for the party was a Skai tv poll taken in October 2011 stating that only 5% of the public believed that PASOK was the best party to be in government. The 2012 elections were predictably a total disaster for PASOK who lost over 100 seats and were bumped to 3rd by Syriza. However, PASOK managed to stay in power after losing even more seats in the second election of 2012 thanks to being the minor partners in a coalition government with New Democracy and the Democratic Left. Yet the cuts remained; and weren’t working. Despite massively cutting government spending the three party coalition oversaw government debt to GDP rise to its highest level in Greek history at 174.9%.

Meanwhile, Syriza had grown to be just eight seats short of being the largest party. Under the leadership of Alexis Tsipras the party had grown by 58 seats in three short years. In 2013 Syriza became the most popular party according to opinion polls and didn’t look back. The message was clear from the people; “we do not want austerity!”. This message became louder as youth unemployment hit the 50% mark. When Greeks went to the polls last week it soon became clear that Syriza were either going to be the largest party. However, Whether they would be a majority government or senior partners in a coalition was yet to be seen. In the end Syriza came just two seats short of the first Greek majority since 2007 and bringing some stability to Greek politics in the process. However, it has seen an unlikely alliance emerge as a coalition was struck with the Independent Greek party. This coalition may seem strange at first; an awkward marriage between Nigel Farage and John Prescott. But what this coalition means is that the Greek parliament is going to go no hold bared against its European counterparts and the IMF in order to end the austerity that has crippled the Greek economy.

Embed from Getty Images

Secondly much credit should go to Alexis Tsipras. When he was sworn in today he became the youngest prime minister in Europe. The man has humble beginnings as a engineering student at The University of Athens. It was here that he became active in politics when he joined the left-wing movement whilst also serving on the Universities senate. In 2006 he stood for Syriza for the first time gaining 10.51% of the popular vote for Athens; two years later he was leader of his party; six years later he is leader of his country. He is rather unique for a politician. There isn’t a tie nor is there gray hairs; he chooses a motorbike over a limo, he has a strong admiration of Che Gurvara and creates a feeling that for the first time in a post credit crunch world the Greek people have a prime minister who genuinely connects with their electorate.

What effects this has on the European Union won’t be seen until months or years from now. But this election victory could be the first signs of a shift in political thinking in Europe towards the left that will potentially change the way the EU operates. We’ve had our own little taste of this with the “Green surge” which although wasn’t much of a surge rather a bump it does show that the desire for conventional centre-right parties is decreasing. Indeed it was not just Syriza that saw a swing in their favour during this election. All left wing parties experienced some form of swing in their favour with the exception of PASOK and the Democratic Left.

Karl Marx theorised that capitalism would lead eventually to socialism which would lead to communism as the final stage of human political development. Maybe this is the first steps on a long road towards this?