As I write these words the beast from the east has rendered Norfolk’s weather somewhat more akin to Siberia’s. In the past few days the temperature here has been down to -10 at times and never breached zero. Costas coffee house is a warm haven but a struggle to get to. I managed to unexpectedly assume a horizontal position en route when I slipped on some ice cunningly disguised beneath a layer of pleasantly fluffy snow.
It feels good after four months of global gallivanting to get back to my local cafe again. Costas themselves had rather annoyingly cancelled all their newspapers save the Sun (not sure that particular publication falls under the category of newspaper) before I left, but after receiving a large volume of complaints and becoming aware that people were also voting with their feet, I happily discovered that the Telegraph, the “I” and the Daily Mail have all been reinstated. Happy days...
I read in the ‘I’ that Jeremy Corbyn has just given a speech wherein he reversed his position of four decades of steadfast opposition to the EU to embrace the notion of joining ‘a’ customs union. As ever, the speech in reality is so general as to be meaningless as far as anything practical is concerned, but it does denote the taking up of a position so antithetical to any position he has taken before that one wonders how such blatant hypocrisy can be countenanced even by his most gullible supporters (and there are quite a few of those!). It seems that the reasoning is that although it represents a 180 degree volte face it does have the one benefit of allowing the possibility of the government losing a vote on the customs union in Parliament. In short, it is as blatant a piece of political cynicism as one could imagine. The possibility of power, of an election being called and Jeremy winning it, means that as far as he is concerned it is fine to adopt a position that all his political life he has been firmly opposed to. Power corrupts, and the desire for power can corrupt completely.
In China, Xi Jingping it seems has decided that a mere 10 years in power may not be sufficient for him. After the disaster of the Mao years when the geriatric leader continued to control China long after he was capable of making sensible decisions. This occurred mainly due to a managed ‘cult of personality’ when his thoughts were made into a kind of gospel in the form of a little red book. His words were incritically read by millions of gullible young red guards (and, interestingly, by John McDonnell....Labour’s shadow chancellor). Mao's final ten years in particular, a period known as the cultural revolution, were so damaging that the very social fabric of China was undermined with many people murdered for even the slightest perceived criticism. Xi Jinping has likewise benefitted the Chinese nation with a volume of his ‘thoughts’ to be incorporated into Communist Party Doctrine and disseminated amongst the general public. Now, apparently, Xi feels that ten years of power may not be enough for him and wishes to remove the legal obstacle of a maximum of two five year terms that the Party put in place at the end of Mao’s reign. Power corrupts, and the desire for power can corrupt absolutely.
Nicolas Maduro, Socialist leader in Venezuela, has called elections to further extend both his riegn and the extent of his powers. After having problems winning the normal elections, despite some blatant rigging, he decided to restrict the influence of the elected National Assembly and instead create a new constituent body only part of which was to be elected. This effectively meant that even if he clearly lost an election he would remain in power thanks to the built in majority from the non-elected parts of the assembly. Neat, eh!? Recently, members of the constituent body voted to put leasers of the opposition on trial for treason. Power corrupts, and the desire for power can corrupt absolutely.
Another article tells of us of the activities of the leader of North Korea and his father,
It is a common trait of such folk on the left to seek control. It is often not just power that they want but absolute power, unchallenged and unlimited. With this comes the notion of ensuring that any contrary voice is controlled or silenced. It has been interesting to hear Corbyn’s responses lately when he talks about the press. He has been stung numerous times now by attacks in the press, mainly due to his connection with some very dubious characters in the past, spies, terrorists, antisemites, religious extremists, etc. The compromising nature of much of this information is somewhat inconvenient to a would be prime minister so the revelations have been a source of some irritation to poor Jeremy. His subsequent unspecified threat of “change is coming” sounded somewhat chilling. Asked to give details he would merely say that media bosses were “right to be worried” about the possibility of a Labour government. The threat was couched in language as chilling as the Beast from the East...
In China, the reaction on social media sites such as Wiebo to the notion of removing the two term limit on Xi Jinping was not particularly positive. As ever though with such left wing hierarchies, the authorities didn’t interpret this as a signal that perhaps they should reconsider but merely a sign that such criticism should be blocked, banned, rooted out or circumvented by all means available. Pooh bear, the oft used characterture for Xi Jinping found himself banned once again along with phrases such as ‘two terms’ or ‘extended rule’. Mysteriously, even the letter ‘N’ got banned for several hours!?
Maduro’s reaction in Venezuela to criticism is much of a muchness for a socialist/communist system. The group Human Rights Watch reports “the accumulation of power in the executive branch and the erosion of human rights guarantees have enabled the government to intimidate, censor, and prosecute its critics" and went on to say that that broadcasters may well be censored if they criticize the government.”
Socialism is often sold as the politics of compassion whereas, in reality (as the history shows) nothing could be further from the truth. What it craves is control and power, preferably of the unlimited variety. The common factor in all these cases is that not only do such people as Jeremy Corbyn, Xi Jinping, Nicolas Maduro or Kim Jung Un crave power but that they crave unlimited power. Not for them the unwarranted restrictions of terms, constitutions, elections or even press criticism, that is for wooly liberals and their like. They want it all...and they want it now.
Back in Costas I am finishing off my americano and girding my loins for the trudge back across the common. Hopefully this time I can at least remain vertical for the whole journey. Despite it being incredibly cold in the past few days, the snow lends this part of the World an intense beauty that is really quite unique in its own way. I have missed the place...
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