Random Thoughts

Young & Old United: YOU Movement UK

Young & Old United: YOU Movement UK

gittoplo

With Labour party about to reacquaint itself permanently with abyss – should be a great watch – and GG’s Workers Party still fighting the won Brexit battle, I think the time is right for a new movement that will change the face of Britain and, hopefully, act as a catalyst to start a wider global change. I like George and considered joining his new venture but there are several issues and they need to be addressed for they are not stand-alone. First, the name – it’s a little 1920s. That time has passed. Momentum, for example, has a nice and positive ring to it. Workers Party sounds too revolutionary and socialist and may put off a lot of people who might subconsciously agree with socialist policies but have a bad association that comes with the actual name. That brings us to the second point, a new party cannot be overtly confined to one ideology: communists, liberals, socialists, conservatives etc. That time has also passed. It should have socialist policies – for this is what we need right now – but we shouldn’t politicise it. It will be tough but it has to happen. It must have the best of all worlds. Finally, Workers Party makes another mistake but attaching itself to Brexit. I am a committed Brexiteer but that battle has been fought and won. We need to move on. Their heart is in the right place but it requires some serious PR surgery. Even George – a legend in many ways – needs to stop fronting the vanguard. Grey cardinal yes, but he fought too many battles and got too many scars and too much baggage as a result. Sorry mate.

With all this in mind, I want to start a new movement called Young & Old United: YOU Movement – subject to better suggestions. First, the plan is to win in UK and help nurture YOU movements in other countries. In Europe to begin with, then US and then the rest. Aim: loosely unified global political system focused on peace, cooperation and sustainability. Each country would be a little bit different (people are different) but I expect education system (preparation of humans for life) to be very similar. This is its political manifesto – a work in progress – for the XXI century:

NB: If you are reading this, approve and would like to participate then please get in touch on twitter. 

Economy:

  • Main sectors: Services (Finance, Accounting, Law), Sustainable Energy (one of two core industries: self-sufficiency), Sustainable Agriculture (another core industry: self-sufficiency in basic foods: grains and meat), Media (comparative advantage: cinema, theater, music) that ties up with strong Tourism sector. Finally, Technology (aim: world capital of VC and entrepreneurship).
  • Bottom line here: in a time of great crisis, there must be home produced food and electricity to feed and power our country in case all supply chains fail.
  • Full exit from carbon and non-progressive sectors: chemical, automotive, oil & gas
  • Green Industrial Strategy
  • Universal Basic Income
  • Gradual Wealth Taxation to bring some sense of fairness and balance to Project UK
  • Grand Ambition: Britain to become The Brain Center of the world. The new Rome. The new Babylon.

Foreign Policy:

  • Neutrality (time to go the Swiss way, save money on nukes, have UK removed as a potential nuclear target and be the first great power to retire)
  • Soft power champion (diplomacy, arts, education, innovation)
  • Leave NATO and campaign for its dismantlement: ++with RUS & China (great powers)
  • Act as bridge between US and Europe; Europe and Asia through its cultural diversity

Education:

  • Complete overhaul of subjects studied
  • Abolition of private schools and introduction of free universal education
  • Focus on: Practical maths, English (mind), English Literature (mind), History (purpose), Languages (, PE (health+teamwork)
  • Introduce cinema and music education: so people know who Antonioni/Bach are. Something the overwhelming majority won’t get at home. The Foundation knowledge. Not lectures but actual film viewing and listen to music for 20-30 minutes straight. Shape the mind, make it more cultural from an early age.
  • Altruism & Empathy. Teach students empathy from Year One: Towards animals (through local animal shelter visits, voluntary in-school  and other activities) and fellow human beings (team-work, selflessness – in combination with PE classes). Community spirit nurtured from day one. Future criminals and psychopaths are formed in schools – cut it at its root.
  • Reduced burden on teachers: no homework of any kind and increased pay. We must attract best minds here. Make the profession truly privileged. For teachers, in essence, will become second parents.
  • A standard UK graduate: Mathematically literate, knows native language well (both written and spoken), knows history of its country and its interactions with the world, fit/flexible/strong (higher productivity, less burden on NHS, increased happiness), fluent in one additional language (Chinese, Indian, Arabic, Spanish – to cover all continents), cultural (at ease with pillars of global culture) and, most importantly, empathetic/altruistic – (from young age, love for animals, environment and fellow humans will be drilled into students). All other countries will strive to copy our system. We will create the new norm.
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England: World Cup 2018 Post Mortem

gittoplo

Brave young lions crash out. Faith restored in England football team. Performed better than expected. Proud of you lads.

Yes yes, we are all proud but I am sorry, but this does not fully wash with me. I was sad, angry and disappointed. This was a missed opportunity. We choked. We should have won. England were the better team on paper. Had more support on the ground and were fresher with Croatia having had to go through another extra time and penalty shoot out against Russia. We looked the part, having bossed the first half. That was the reality. England were the favourites with all the bookies and we carried the favourites tag with aplomb until things started to go wrong.

Hard to blame players as they can only play as well as their skill and stamina allows them. Blame, unfortunately, has to lay with Gareth. He made big mistakes both with his starting line-up and his subsequent in-game subs. Young, 33 year old, tasked with bombing up the field and getting back to defend? After a long gruelling season and 5 games at the WC it was time to give him some long deserved rest. Rose is a better player and a natural left footer, his appearance energised England. He should have started. Gareth should have been more ambitious and daring. Too easy and safe to stick with the same starting 11. If ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Not this time. Croatia’s strength lies in midfield. Was it wise to line up Henderson, who is not a natural defensive midfielder? Probably not but we didn’t have much choice.  Lingard, who is not a starter for Man Utd and not a natural central midfielder? Dele Ali, a young player who also doesn’t play in central midfield, clearly wasn’t fully fit the whole tournament and who was anonymous during the whole game? Against the mighty Barcarealesque midriff? No and no. We needed more steel. As soon as the lads tired, the momentum switched. It was lost in midfield. England players resorted to kicking the ball out. The equaliser sucked all courage and confidence out of them. Fine, players react the way they do and we cannot control that. We are not there on the battlefield. So, it is the manager’s job to see the emerging worrying pattern and address the root of the problem. The game was dying for Loftus-Cheek not Rashford, who had another disappointing cameo. His powerful frame, slalom runs, silky passes and through-balls, his ability to hold up the ball and draw fouls were all badly needed from 60th minute onward as Croatian momentum was building. Kane clearly didn’t look fit and was probably nursing an injury but still he should have finished the Croats off in the first half. That double miss would haunt him for the rest of his life. Apart from that, there was not much in it. Croatia are clearly a good side and played without fear abetted by English indecision. Qatar 2022 seems far away and let’s be honest, it would have been much sweeter to win it in Russia.

Special mention goes to the Turkish ref: Cuneyt Cakır. I have been watching him officiate for years and years. As always, he left a very negative mark on the game. Not only has he failed to deal with Croatian foals and aggression but he also failed to penalise their fouls. England should have had more free kicks. One of the worst moments that I will never forget is when his colleague failed to award England a corner when the ball had clearly crossed the line. The linesman was 2 metres away from the incident, staring at it clearly going over the line. Then he proceeded to dismissively shake his head at incensed England players demanding a corner. This was bias. Clear and disgusting. It shouldn’t have mattered given our quality but it was there and it affected the game. Cüneyt Çakır – remove ey and you get the sense of him as a person. I always thought that, from the very first game I have seen with him donkey years ago to yesterday’s carnage. I smashed my sofa in fury when I saw he is to referee the game. It was almost destiny. I harbour very dark thoughts when I look at his face. His face. Just look at it. Cunt.

P.S. Where was Theresa May? Macron was there to support France in the semi-finals. He was there to see them win and they did. Jeremy should have went as well. Missed opportunity for the Labour leader.