Is cat pornography allowed on this site ?
GeofCox
Posts
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Sheena Potatohead #cats #caturday #catlife -
The depoliticisation of politics.The depoliticisation of politics. Centrist media types that were ardent supporters of Macron have written a book trying to explain his failure - and it turns out it's all due to his psychology (https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2026/01/08/nero-at-the-elysee-a-story-of-hope-dashed-by-macron-s-presidency_6749230_5.html).
Americans too often see Trump's behaviour in terms of madness or dementia, and Brits see Starmer as weak, etc...
But isn't the real problem here the commentariat's fundamental misunderstanding of politics ? They see it in terms only of parties and personalities, rather than what it really is: the ideological expression of conflicting economic interests ?
Centrists like Macron and Starmer are always going to fail, not because there's anything wrong with them, but because there are no centrist policies - policies that do not imply radical change - that will actually work; Trump, like any authoritarian extreme enough, might succeed in dominating for a while - but in the end his oppression and scapegoating will prove to be unpopular, and rejected. They always are - and we're always still left with the question of what policies will actually work for most people ?
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Drawing together two themes from recent discussions in my timeline, its worth re-emphasising that:In 1975, 80% of government housing expenditure went on the construction of social housing; by 2000, 85% was instead going directly to landlords, via housing benefit.
Thatcherism = socialism for the rich.