Your reality is as valid as anyone elses.

I made the comment that I make my observations on this blog according to my opinion of reality and I was asked to explain this. It appears to many people that reality is a given, that there can only be one reality, and this is a very common misconception because people reason that surely there cannot be more than one reality? However, reality is actually a relative term. What do I mean by that?

Your reality is conditioned by your environment. Each individual is a social being whose character and consciousness is the result of their socialisation. That is the great error of modern day free market neoliberalism, that people can be seen as individuals in their own right. As Marx tells us quite correctly, the atomised individual of free market theory is an impossibility. Each of our personal individualities is determined within our social environment. As a result, what appear as reality to you will be the result of you environment, where you live, the lessons you've learned from your parents, your school, you family and your peers. As a result, reality will appear to you as an ideological construct according to many social factors. Reality for a Catholic will be different from a Protestant or a Muslim. The reality of someone who lives in Glasgow will be quite different to someone who lives in London etc. The reality of a millionaire is a very different reality from someone who lives on benefits.

It is the same with communities. We all need electricity, gas, our refuse needs collecting and we need access to shopping facilities etc. However, the installation of gas and electricity, the problems of refuse collection are, in reality, markedly different in London where you can have upwards of 10,000 people per square mile, to that in Ross and Cromarty where you have 4 per square mile. There are not many supermarkets north of Perth. That is why a proper democratic system requires genuine representation both in personnel and in the community. It is absurd to have a system where 80% of political control lies in London and 80% of that control lies with white middle aged privately educated males.

To the people who govern us, reality only exists within the elitist circles that they spend their lives in. In addition, they genuinely believe that if your reality is not the same as theirs then it should be. It is painfully obvious that London does not even attempt to understand Scotland except from the perspective of what they perceive as reality. However, the same is true with respect to Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester etc. In reality, London has no real concern for them any more than they have concern for the Scots. How often have you heard someone who has returned from a visit to an area of the country that is quite distant from where they live remark that it was like being in another country? That is because it is like being in another country. The reality of life in Devon and Cornwall is markedly different from that in Glasgow or Dundee.

That is another compelling reason for Scotland to gain control of their own affairs, because the people who represent us neither share our reality nor even try to represent what the Scots perceive as reality. I don't care if Jim Murphy and Douglas Alexander are born and bred in Scotland because they quite genuinely make no attempt to represent us, they only represent what their masters in London tell them to represent. What they persistently do is attempt to persuade us that our reality should be perceived in Westminster's terms. The Tories are even worse.

There is no right or wrong reality and you're reality is as important as anyone elses. What you need is a political and economic system that not only respects your reality, but attempts to represent it in a meaningful way. But most importantly, we need a system that ensures that all realities are respected and protected. However, if your reality is negative and oppressive then it must be challenged and alternatives made available. You must have an environment where you are able to control, shape and alter your reality. That is real democracy, that is real politics. I will continue this theme later as this post is getting rather long and I suspect many people may not read this far.

Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat

Labour are the authors of their own misfortune

Hubris, if you want to know how the Labour Party has reached the state it is in Scotland just look to the Greeks. It is Labour's overweening arrogance that has brought them to their present sorry state and it is to be welcomed. Labour are a disgrace and nowhere more graphically so than in Scotland where they went round team handed telling pensioners that they would lose their pensions if Scotland voted Yes and telling immigrants they would be deported. As I have continually told you, all Westminster personnel are pathological liars, it is all they have as they are devoid of self-respect, dignity or decency, and Labour are the most guilty as they have sold their soul for power and wealth. To call a Tory vermin is to demean genuine vermin. A Tory is not as good as that. However, they have the distinction of at least knowing what they are, Labour on the other hand pose as some kind of decent and honourable group who we should be able to trust, when in fact they have actually sunk lower than the Tories since Mad Tony took office.

You see Britain's problems all stem from its devotion to neoliberal free market economics and its political bedfellow, the neoliberal elitist and centralised political model that is so deeply embedded in Westminster. Karl Marx was correct when he told us that the political and social superstructure was a reflection of the economic infrastructure and as long as political parties are wedded to neoliberal economics then the political model will remain corrupt and elitist because that model is necessary for the success of the economic model. Labour have already committed to sustaining and entrenching the neoliberal economic model before the election has even happened and therefore, as I said yesterday can expect no support from anyone with even a scintilla of intelligence. Thus, there is no Westminster party even willing to offer any form of meaningful change to the austerity driven economic programme or the elitist and inequality driven political structure. For any hope for the majority of the people the Westminster model must be broken. As there is no possibility of that happening on a UK level (because the English electorate is largely supportive of the dominant economic and political model) then the only alternative is for Scotland to get as much independence as possible, govern as much as they can on their own terms and demonstrate that there is a real and workable alternative to the Westminster model. There is no possibility of that happening under any form of Labour government. The only hope for Labour is that it gets hammered in Scotland, divorces itself from London and reforms as a genuine Scottish Party.

Now I must admit that even if that happened I would never vote Labour again. I would never trust a Labour politician again. As I have repeatedly told you I am not a nationalist and my support for the SNP is strategic as the only hope of escaping the poisonous clutches of Westminster. However, if that happens then there will be other parties that may well offer me what I seek from a democratic party offering genuine social justice. On the other hand, the SNP may well deliver a genuine democratic solution that will hold my support. There are alternatives. You have been warned

Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat

I'll have another go!

I know that I said yesterday that I may not post again, but the peculiar thing is that I have had the highest number of views in one day for a long while. I am not sure if that is because people are happy to see the back of me, or whether I was wrong to stop. No-one has commented so, buoyed up by this sudden surge in interest (which I accept may well be negative) I will continue for a little while (because I am taking an optimistic view) at least in the hope that some people have an interest in my opinion of reality.

I hope I have shown over the life of this blog that I take politics seriously and approach the study of politics from the viewpoint of attempting to analyse politcs and political life from its fundamentals, that is, what is politics, and what is its roles and functions? For example, what is the proper role and function of an elected politician? What should the limit of their power be, and what should happen if they abuse that power and the office we elect them to? If there is one thing I have learned in my life it is that politicians actually know very little about politics. To the modern politician politics is all about winning elections and once they have gained office being able to do what they like. I suspect that the vast majority of political office holders in this country think that John Stuart Mill and David Hume are jockeys who ride horses called Plato and Aristotle.

Now, it is not necessary for political office holders to be familiar with the works of the aforementioned thinkers, but if you achieve a position in government you should at least have a passing knowledge of what it is you are supposed to be doing and what your proper functions are. That is why I have tried to remind you that politicians are no different from the rest of us and have no special rights and privileges. It takes no knowledge or skill to be an elected politician it only requires garnering one more vote than your closest opponent. It is this peculiarity that makes the modern British politician such a consumate and shameless liar. The modern British Westminster politician doesn't actually know their job or what they are doing. As a result, they are in thrall to vested interests who tell them what to do and they then spend their entire career trying to justify the unjustifiable.

The result of this is that politicians must be held to account at all times and must be answerable for their decisions. Politics is a job and if you make a mess of your job you get dismissed. In my job I make sure that I know what my job description is and seek to master my roles and responsibilities. It is the job of Parliament to monitor the government and to hold it to account. The Westminster Parliament is therefore a miserable failure and should be dismissed. Westminster demonstrates that its inhabitants don't even begin to understand their job.

With that in mind I will attempt to hold our politicians to proper scrutiny and analysis. I trust you will stay with me and will in turn hold me to account.

Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat

I suspect this is goodbye

I have not posted for a while because I am sure no-one is interested in what I have to say. In addition, I suspect that my posts are too long for most people to be bothered reading. I am uninterested in the mainstream social media because I have no interest in posting short messages that beg more questions than they answer. I fear that the British public have lost the ability to read or to concentrate on any matter beyond a few sentences. That is a shame. The English language is a lost art and reading now appears to be a chore rather than a pleasure.

What I suspect is that people like me are a dying breed. I am indeed out of touch. I have no interest in celebrities, I do not watch soap operas and I actually enjoy reading. Should anyone still have an interest in anything I have to say, please respond and inform me and I will continue. If not, I thank all who have read me over the years, and hope that I have at least given you something to think about.

Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat

What a wonderful place we are to be better together!

Well there you have it, officially and unchallenged, the top 1% of the worlds population now own half of all the world's wealth. It was the main story on tonight's Channel Four news. I trust people will start taking a bit more notice of what I am writing now as I would like to remind you that I have been warning you about this since I started this blog.

There is no intelligent response necessary to such a revelation as it is self-explanatory. It is disgustingly obscene. We are dominated by an deeply flawed economic ideology, a deeply flawed economic system that has been erected as a result, and by an appalling political class that is in thrall to that ideology. Labour have again announced that if they win the election this year they are going to retain the Tories spending plans. As a result, it will not matter one jot whether you get a Labour or a Tory government because whatever you get will be identical to the other lot and the dominant economic model will once again get the blessing of the Westminster criminals. Despite the appalling state of the economy with over 1million people now dependent on foodbanks, this ideology has not failed, it has delivered exactly as it was designed to do, to transfer wealth from the poorest in society to the richest. It is the British people's misfortune that they consistently buy into the Westminster narrative that they are governing for the nation, they are not, and, since 1979, never have. They are governing for those whom Thatcher referred to as 'our' people. If ever a practical joke was successfully practiced on a gullible public it was the notion that we are Better Together.

I know from experience of talking to many people that they find it very difficult to believe that making the majority poorer in order to make the minority richer is official Westminster policy. I say Westminster because it is the policy of all major parties in Westminster, including UKIP, but with the exception of the SNP and the Greens. It is quite deliberate, as is the decision to denigrate and demonise the most disadvantaged in society, it is the scapegoat mentality. The British consistently buy into the dominant narrative that their misfortune is the result of benefit scroungers, immigrants, public spending and all the other garbage that spews out of the Sun, the Express and the Mail.

The inequalities we see, not only in the UK, but globally, are profoundly unjust, and, as Adam Smith tells us, 'the prevalence of injustice must utterly destroy society.' This is an economic model that, not only would Smith fail to recognise, but would utterly condemn. As I keep telling you, there is not, nor can be, a free market. The pursuit of a free market is the pursuit of an illusion. Again I remind you, Adam Smith never uses the term free market. Our dominant economic model is a lie and a fraud, and that is why it is so attractive to the liars and fraudsters that inhabit Westminster.

There can be no respite for this country until this economic model is challenged, exposed for the lie it is, and ditched. In tandem with that the political class that supports this model must also be exposed as liars, challenged and ditched. I can see no light ahead except to urge people to vote against the Westminster parties at every opportunity. It is to be hoped that the Scots will cleanse our politics by once again making Scotland a Tory free zone this May, but with the bonus of making it a Lib/Dem free zone as well. In addition, no intelligent person could reasonably vote Labour, but in Scotland I know that is too much to ask. It is to be hoped however that they lose as many seats as possible. We may not have won the referendum, but surely those who voted No must now be deeply regretting it. We can only hope. You have been warned.

Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat

In May you'll have the chance to vote for your slavery

I have been  writing about how Westminster is determined to destroy whatever freedoms we currently enjoy, and I have repeatedly warned you that one of the ends of this process is the goal of reducing working people to chattels and slaves. I trust you have seen the Tories announcement that they intend legislating to make it almost impossible for workers in the public sector to take industrial action. Should this prove successful it will be extended to encompass all working people who belong to trades unions thereby ending the possibility of working people to deploy the only weapon they possess for their protection against managers and employers who will be in a position to do whatever they want with no redress. The British worker will be effectively reduced to a condition of slavery, totally reliant on whatever their employer is willing to give them.

Many people have taken issue with me over the years because I have persistently maintained this line, but they are increasingly quiet now that it is becoming obvious. British people cannot bring themselves to admit that we live in a country that will do such things and get angry with people like me who suggest that the British are capable of acting like barbarians. But the truth is that the British are not only capable but have a track record of slavery, barbarism and naked greed. The civilising influences on British life have been the establishment of the rights and responsibilities that our governments have been so keen to attack since Thatcher came to power. Our civility has resided in law, on limiting power, on restraining government, employers and selfish interests, and it is all of those forms of restraints that Thatcher and her successors have determined to remove. They have diluted the laws of protection and enhanced the laws of bullying, harassment and worker intimidation. They have removed the restraints on greed, on the power of Westminster, the police, employers and the security services. Protecting yourself, your job, your rights is now increasingly likened to terrorism.

Look at the health service. Every time the government is challenged on health matters it immediately seeks refuge in scapegoats. It is an elderly population, it is immigrants, it is the obese, it is health tourism etc. Nothing is ever their fault. It is never the fault of their policies, of the many privatisations, of the Private Finance Initiatives, of the interminable cuts, of the destruction of nursing and midwifery etc. Blame others, and in the process of blaming make sure you stir in a nice blend of persecution designed to get the general population to vent their hatred on some innocent group or other. This is not unique to the Tories, Labour are just as culpable. This is what you voted for in September. Within the next ten years you will have no NHS, no unions, no job security, you will be out of Europe and Britain will resemble one big police state with cameras watching your every move and the government reading all your emails and texts. Well done Better Together You have been warned

Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat

You have given Westminster the freedom to destroy yours

In its hatred of the state and of any form of collectivism, the Westminster elite, but in particular the Tories, are constantly reminding us of our right to be free to dispose of our own resources as we see fit. This is one of their arguments against increased personal taxation which they view as a cardinal sin against freedom. It is also the basis of their love of 'the free market' an ideal that is simply a concept with no basis in reality. There is no such thing, nor can there ever be such a thing, as 'the free market'.

This brings me to the object of this post. We are constantly fed the notion that the defining characteristic of a democratic society is freedom. That is wrong. The defining characteristic of a liberal democracy is limited government, indeed the limitation of any and every form of power. There can be no unlimited concentration of power in a civilised and democratic country. Freedom is a form of power and is therefore subject to necessary limitation. Freedom is a paradox and what I mean by that is that no-one must ever be allowed the freedom to destroy other's freedoms. This is what British governments have been doing since Thatcher walked into Downing Street. Under the guise of promoting economic freedom she and her successors have systematically stripped away freedoms that took years of gradual and patient construction. Under the guise of economic freedom they have constructed a society that allows for the systematic transfer of unlimited wealth from the poorest and weakest sectors of society into the pockets of the strongest. In order to achieve this they had to destroy many of our traditional freedoms and rights, particularly employment rights.

That is why, before there can be any form of meaningful reform in Britain, before we can even begin to redress the appalling inequalities, the scandal of foodbanks, the demonization of the disabled and people on benefits, we must reform the voting system. It is our top priority. That is because it is the first-past-the-post voting system that entrenches the power and privilege of the party system, the engine that the British elite utilise as their access to loot the national treasury at their leisure.

Freedom is a right, it is to be cherished, protected and defended. But there are no absolutes in human society, and freedom is no different. No-one can have absolute freedom, that is the fantasy of tyrants. How would women feel if men gained absolute freedom? How would blacks feel if white people gained absolute freedom? August Comte told us that 'the only absolute is that everything is relative' and that is a very wise observation. Freedom must be relative, as with power. Over 2000 years ago the Sophist Thrasymachus told us that 'justice is the interests of the strongest'. Nothing much has changed since eh?

I can see no meaningful hope for improvement in the UK as all the major political parties and the bulk of the electorate are still in thrall to a failed and unworkable economic system. They still believe the Thatcher lie that there is no alternative. The only glimmer of hope is in the reaction to the Westminster betrayal of the No vote in the referendum and the fact that the Scottish people are at last slowly coming to see that our leading politicians are actually as useless as I have been telling you they are. You make a serious error in believing that these people are intelligent. I said at the time that a No vote was a colossal act of self harm, but it may yet redeem itself. We shall see.

Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat