It’s an interesting time to be in the UK, where the Mother of All Parliaments, the House of Commons, has been roiled by infighting and discouraging economic news.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer ignited a firestorm of protest last week: see Chancellor Alistair Darling warns slump could be the worst for 60 years, precipitating a slump in the Pound Sterling and a furious debate over whether he acted irresponsibly or not. In many ways the entire thing -including debating whether government ministers ought to be blunt or Pollyanna-like in their official statements, the reliability or unreliability of official statistics, the question of whether the chief executive should take the fall to prevent the decimation of the party- sounds eerily familiar and because of that, oddly comforting.
The Brits are working through issues not very different from our own and it seems to be there isn’t all that much of a difference between the way British and Filipino politicians are trying to do damage control: orare ignoring public opinion altogether while politicizing previously relatively partisan-free civil service institutions.
The Times in a recent editorial (which came at the heels of the paper’s report that a sacking was in the offing), The twilight of Sir Ian Blair, looked at the controversial head of Scotland Yard and took him to task in all-too-familiar (for Filipinos) terms:
His responses are by now well practised. He believes that near-constant pressure to quit is an occupational hazard to be shrugged off if not actually ignored. And he believes mutinous disloyalty from senior colleagues is an inevitable result of radical reforms of which he is fiercely proud.
The trouble for Sir Ian is that his reforms have not made him indispensable. Nor can he be sanguine any longer about the calls for him to go. His support from the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Home Office has crumbled: his contract will not be renewed in 2010. This makes him a lame duck not only in the view of his many critics, but in fact. If his record were spectacular, this newspaper would back his bid to stay in office until the 2012 Olympics and beyond. Unfortunately, it is not.
What sets the British media apart from our own is the deeper sense of memory, whether institutional, national, and personal, that the media, the politicians, and commentators have. For example, Libby Purves in Why did Alistair Darling choose 1948? points out a fascinating detail, concerning 1948 as a watershed year for Britain despite postwar austerity:
The disreputable anomaly of plural voting was abolished – previously university graduates could vote in two places, and business owners had an extra vote at their place of work.
The odd thing of course being that there are frustrated middle and upper class Filipinos who continue to think plural voting might be a good thing.
The business and finance media, too, write clearly and informatively, something hardly ever seen at home. The Business Editor of The Times pens an analysis: This slowdown has a long way to go yet — so just look forward to the sales. And there are short, but richly informative reports that contextualize the economic news. An article Is the party over for pubs? points out British pubs are closing at the rate of four per day and also ties in the various economic trends (crashing property prices, increasing food and labor costs, etc.) into the uncertain future of a British institution.
In Britain 2028: we need ten new cities, please, Camilla Cavendish looks at the immigration policies of the UK, something that ought to be of interest to Filipinos living and working here.
Just today, Gordon Brown to increase Holyrood’s tax powers focuses on the great Labour project of restoring the Scottish Parliament and increasing its powers over taxation and budgeting: again, this ia a debate erupting in Britain which should be interesting to proponents of Federalism.
Update: Only Blair could save Labour now provides an insight into how more “mature” democracies factor surveys into the political situation, and how past and present leaders can add and detract from their party’s future prospects.
A great pleasure is reading the obituaries published in the British papers. See K.K. Birla: industrial tycoon and philanthropist.
Since mlq3 is in U.K., this is an auspicious time to revisit London-based George Soros’ support for Barack Obama.
From the conspiratorial theorist Lyndon La Rouche, who wants to establish a new international political and economic order:
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/10779
This guy LaRouce thinks Soros is part of the Illuminati, that ultra-secret organization controlling international finance, and hence global power. It was said that John Rockefeller was a member.
Federalism scares the English. If that happens then England will have its own Parliament.
“Guest-worker-program” visas make sense. A country allows in a worker with skills that host-country can use (e.g. accounting or Info-technology); the overseas-foreign-worker is paid normal salaries but the guest-worker remains a foreigner — for example, can not vote or can not reside in government-subsized housing.
No different as what happens in the Philippines, that is, Jordanian-, Malaysian, Japanese or Americans do do not have the same privileges as Filipinos like buying farmland or getting access to NFA-government-subsidized rice or access to low-cost health clinics.
—————-
Question: Is it true that in Singapore, a foreign worker gets deported when that foreign worker gets pregnant?
UPn, i was also surprised by the claim of that Times Online article. If true, that would be strange since Singapore’s objective is to increase their population from 4 to 6 million so they can sustain the pace of their economy.
LaRouche is a nut case who served time for credit card fraud. Knowledgeable people don’t listen to him.
As for federalism and the UK, there are a couple of things to remember:
1) UK local governments have significantly more independence from the national government, for instance when it comes to education and taxes, and have had so for generations.
2) In the UK, there are multiple legal systems, i.e. English and Scottish, going back centuries. And yes, that means during the time that they were the strongest country on Earth. There are even different bank notes in Scotland and England, again going back centuries.
3) The UK is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller then the Philippines, by about 30 million people. Take the UK, add Malaysia, and you have the Philippines
4) The vast majority, probably 95+%, live on one main island and can drive to London in a single day, most in far less time, this in a country where most families own a car.
5) The vast majority, 95+%, speak the same language at home — English.
Nearly all the countries the size of the Philippines are federal — India, Mexico, the US, Germany, Pakistan, Brazil, Nigeria. Most of the others, those that are not federal and are the size of the Philippines, are not free; think China.
India is not “the size of the Philippines”. India has more than 1 Billion people while we have 90 million which is approximately the size of one of its Federal states (Maharashtra).
Japan and Indonesia are examples of democratic countries that have bigger populations than the Philippines but are not federations.
“Most of the others, those that are not federal and are the size of the Philippines, are not free; think China.”
????????????????????????
Plural voting? The Comelec can’t even properly count single voting.
Federalists are like men who leave their wives because they cannot deal with personal issues.
More Financial Troubles:
ARTS:
Behind the Grandeur, Turmoil at the British Museum; Financial Troubles, Staff Cuts and Low Morale Plague a Top Tourist Attraction :
“But beneath its familiar exterior, the museum, Britain’s most visited tourist attraction, is in turmoil. Even after several years of steep cuts, its budget deficit, growing steadily, is projected to reach almost $8 million in the next 18 months.”
Banking:
MARKETS SHAKEN AS A BRITISH BANK TAKES A BIG LOSS:
The bank, Barings P.L.C., the oldest investment firm in Britain and one of the most illustrious, was left with no choice but to seek bankruptcy protection after a frantic rescue effort by the Bank of England, the nation’s central bank, came up short.
The extraordinary and fast-breaking series of events was set off when Barings discovered late on Thursday that a trader in its Singapore office had made and lost, to the tune of at least $750 million, an unauthorized financial gamble on the direction of Japanese stock prices. Barings, which was founded in 1767, helped finance the Louisiana Purchase and served as an investment adviser to Queen Elizabeth II, was in ruins by late Sunday, its legacy a meltdown that unnerved investors worldwide.
source: New York Times:
Immigration: Number of new British citizens under Labour hits 1.2m mark..
Nationalities with the largest number of citizens were Indian with 14,490, Philippine 10,840, South African 8,150, Afghan 10,555 and Pakistani 8,140.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3972627.ece
with all the financial troubles…the ripple effect will be felt by many countries…
Leytenian,
I got the feeling you came up with Barings, after googling Soros.
Your article was way back in 1995.
MARKETS SHAKEN AS A BRITISH BANK TAKES A BIG LOSS
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON,
Published: February 27, 1995
KG: you just pointed to a detail that is important but sometimes missed — the elapsed years between today and a report being published or regurgitated in the web. For example, in the previous blogthread on Pinas economy, the Alba-report is based on 3-year-old or older data. Many economic events have happened since then (e.g. the huge spike in grain prices or even MOA-Ad / JBE or Michael Phelps overtaking the spitz swimming records) so one has to consider the possibility that the Alba study is 30%-or-more obsolete.
UP n, I’m currently a little drunk and dog tired so I’m taking this opportun to ask you what UP n student means?
kg,
sorry… hahaha. lol just tired from work.
ito mas bago…
LONDON  The British government announced on Sunday that it would bring Northern Rock, the struggling mortgage lender, under its control. It was the first nationalization of a bank in more than a decade and a huge blow for the administration of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/business/worldbusiness/18northern.html
Thanks for that UPN.
To Leytenian,
You already received so much insults from various parties,and from all directions. I hope I was not adding insult to injury,but please do not assume that no one checks on your links.
You lectured us on being brainwashed,yet you think you can get away with what you are posting.
To the commenter about the size of the philippines vis-a-vis other countries.
I know that was just a typo, or typing something but thinking of something else.
Since most if not all of the countries you mentioned are larger in size than the Philippines,would you want to clarify and expound on what you are trying to say?
well thanks kg for checking the link..
the point is financial troubles and lack of regulations from the past has gone too far. managers, ceo’s, president, regulators and of course wall street have missed it too.
this time… it is worst to the extent that taxpayers are on the hook in addition to increasing unemployment. There are billions more to come….
since we are in london: london banks are falling down.
“Local polls in the US. In the United States, incidentally, it is the local or statewide polls, and not the nationwide polls, that matter. Based on statewide polls, as of last Thursday, http://www.slate.com counted 180 electoral college votes as safely Democrat, 70 as leaning Democrat, 84 as tossups, 113 as leaning Republican, and 78 as safely Republican. It only takes 270 electoral college votes to win, so as of now Barack Obama has a big lead.” Mahar Mangahas
In elections it is still local that defines issues. The Republicans used fear of 9/11 which was so very local.
This time it is about pocket book (gas prices), foreclosures and keeping the 9/11 narrative going.
The U.S. system is really a hybrid version of a parliamentary system. Under the two party system your party must win statewide and the largest number of states with electoral votes actually gets you the prize. Not the largest number of voters nationally.
The less industrialized states are the resource and agricultural based states that feed into the richer states.
Hence you have the so called culture wars. Washington, New York are the symbols of the enemy. The so called eastern elite. It is so familiar with the noise coming out of Cebu and Mindanao.
Look at the dispute in Belgium between the Flemish and French. All based on the division of labor. In Italy the prosperous North is divided culturally from the mostly agrarian South.
In the Phils it is the local warlord or landlord. So what is new. Nation states are creaking along and slowly crumbling from within and with the rapid advances in communication and technology. Let us see what form will emerge.
On Crisis Management, you gotta give it to his administration:
“AFTER SC RULING ON NERI
Palace: Time for Senate to close NBN probe” – Inquirer
Where are they now?
1. Jun Lozada – no more tears
2. Joey de Venecia – his father paid for the mistakes of the son.
3. Romulo Neri – got to keep his mouth shut and now, dip his fingers on the SSS pie.
4. Benjamin Abalos – SSS chair, may 200 borjers ka sa akin.
Only in the Philippines.
polls are indicators of the mood of the electorate, but they are no accurate. kerry’s 2004 exit polls showed that he was winning the election only to lose to lose to G. Bush. The democrats must learn from their past mistakes. my advice, dig in and work hard. 🙂
Democrats in Trouble:
The speeches, and the very fact of the Palin designation, repudiated Washington and focused on how McCain is an agent of change – this ticket is populist, reformist, anti-establishment, grass-roots and anti-corruption.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_dick_morris/democrats_in_trouble
Palin is more popular than Obama:
The Palin pick has also improved perceptions of John McCain. A week ago, just before he introduced his running mate, just 42% of Republicans had a Very Favorable opinion of their party’s nominee. That figure jumped to 54% by this Friday morning. Among unaffiliated voters, favorable opinions of McCain have increased by eleven percentage points in a weekâ€â€from 54% before the Palin announcement to 65% today.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/palin_power_fresh_face_now_more_popular_than_obama_mccain
leytenian: do you not get a distinct impression that McCain has a lot of the DubyaBush streak in him, not only because both are jet fighter pilots but they share similar weaknesses (e.g. C+ in public speaking) and A-to-A-plus in having friends in very high places? Also their attitude towards Europe and the United Nations.
Let us see—- Cognition deficit
U.S. Congress since the year 1980 (28) years except for 2 years has been under the Republicans. The White House except for 8 years under Clinton has been under the Republican for 20 years
Clinton ran more as a center right Republican than a Democrat.
LBJ was the last of the New Deal Democrat Presidents.
So for most of the last 28 years the Republican have been the one in charge in Washington…
But McCain says that Washington is broken…. Who broke it?????????
The same guys that are saying that they are the best guys to fix it….
Tanga talaga ang mga Kano…
Obama will not drill:
But as polls show Americans favor more drilling by a large majority, Obama has softened his stand in recent weeks, saying he would agree to some more prospecting as part of a bid to pass a sweeping energy plan.
“For years, my administration has been calling on Congress to expand domestic oil production,” Bush said. “Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal. And now Americans are paying at the pump.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25674571/
He also needs to address the concern of Muslim and Arab-Americans. The fact that two Muslim women wearing head scarves were prohibited from standing behind Obama at a Detroit rally made national news, but it was hardly the first and it almost certainly won’t be the last. Last December, Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim American ever elected to Congress, volunteered to speak on Obama’s behalf at a mosque in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was told not to. The hope that he would decisively improve relations with the world’s Muslims is the least realistic.
More significantly, how would more mainstream Muslims respond to him, would they be angry at what they would consider his apostasy? That reaction is a real possibility, one that could undermine his initiatives toward the Muslim world.
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5286
Obama may not want to be counted as a Muslim but Muslims are eager to count him as one of their own.
Obama is too complicated. How can he address the issue of World Peace.
Master Yoda,
The Illuminati, sounds very Dan Brown .(Angel’s and Demons)
Robert Ludlum has his own version called the Matarese.
(The Matarese Circle and The Matarese Countdown)
I hope they stay in the fiction section of the book shelves.
@UP n
“both are jet fighter pilots but they…”
In fairness to McCain who will all love for getting a VP who once wanted to fire a librarian because she wanted to censor books… Isn’t Dubya’s ‘fighter pilot’ in doubt? Parang taken from GMA’s book of ‘ramdam na ramdam’ yan – pawang exaggeration.
So hindi sila magka-level ni McCain in this regard.
nash; a detail along with “…both are jet fighter pilots” is that the both of them believed in that gamble called the surge —- sending more US troops into Baghdad to quell the violence. And so far, so good. With “.the Awakening” and Iraqi troops picking up the load that really should be 100% theirs and US troops dying, that attacks inside Iraq by Al Qaeida in Iraq have dropped sharply — Washington Post reports 28 incidents and 125 civilian deaths reported in the first six months of this year, compared with 300 bombings and more than 1,500 deaths in 2007.
Malacanang increased to P10-million-per the reward money for Kato and Bravo. I think GMA should surge more troops into Mindanao. I wish that the Philippine treasury had more resources to send both soldiers and civic-action-groups into Mindanao. The MILF-held-territory needs better law-and-order (catch those bandits) along with government programs for drinking water, roads, better schools….. and jobs, jobs, jobs.
“Malacanang increased to P10-million-per the reward money for Kato and Bravo. ”
The bountry system worked in the case of the Abu Sayyaf Group, when relatives snitched on or gave away the most wanted. The U.S. government even provided the biggest awards.
Well, the MILF could just as well sacrifice the two rogue commanders. Twenty million could buy a lot of guns and ammunitions.
hrvds wrote:
“So for most of the last 28 years the Republican have been the one in charge in Washington… “.
hrvds wrote:
“So for most of the last 28 years the Republican have been the one in charge in Washington… “.
hrvds wrote:
“So for most of the last 28 years the Republican have been the one in charge in Washington… “.
manolo, what is happening with our site. it kept submitting my post even though i am not done with it yet. please delete the two previous posts.
hvrds wrote:
So for most of the last 28 years the Republican have been the one in charge in Washington…
democrats are dying to capture washington and were pinning their hope on their best star in the galaxy, obama, but for 28 years the democrats had been marginalized in washington is proof enough of the powerhouse and the caliber of the republicans.
now my favorite political pundit, hvrds would consider the elections of the republicans by the electorate as the tyranny of the minority because they were elected by the electoral colleges though they lost the popular votes.
how i wish he can present that argument to obama who lost to hillary by popular votes in the primaries but won the electoral delegates….
so the tyranny of the minority argument is applicable only to the republicans but not against the democrats.
since the electoral colleges were invented in the political landscape of the U.S., no one claims that this set-up is very undemocratic until someone could have become president had not the electoral college set-up had worked on their disadvantage. 🙂
jcc: Practically always the US presidency was to a white male who won both the popular and the electoral votes. Only three times was it not the case — Dubya-vs-Gore was the last.
up n student,
we could be expecting the fourth, Mccain vs. Obama. 🙂
Is jcc the new bencard?
just asking.
Fannie and Freddie: A troubled entity.
who between Obama and McCain can properly restructure these two government-supported agencies?
both candidates seemingly ill-prepared in general on economic issues–may not be able to see the whole picture until they get into office.
Wall Street cares because the fates of Fannie and Freddie could have a big impact on the credit markets.
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/09/05/obama-mccain-fannie-and-freddie-a-troubled-love-story/
McCain is right on target . He has the guts. He is firm . Not sure If Obama is experience enough or strong enough to work around white people in the white house… lol
nash,
i don’t know bencard. just new in this blog, maybe 2 months. but i would like to be my own man and not mimicking other people’s view or punditry. 🙂
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the only two Fortune 500 companies that are not required to inform the public about any financial difficulties that they may be having. In the event that there was some sort of financial collapse within either of these companies, U.S. taxpayers could be held responsible for hundreds of billions of dollars in outstanding debts.
McCain versus Obama on Fannie and Freddie:
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0806/gallery.election_issues/7.html
Obama has been attacked by Gulliani, former New York mayor that Mr. Obama has not endorsed nor even been able to influence major policies in congress.. Guilliani said… ” Nada”
with credit crunching? do you think the people will agree to pay more taxes as a political campaign?
democrats are known to cut healthcare budget. what will happen to OF workers in the US with income decreasing and taxes increasing? how would it affect OF remittances to Philippines?
The Republican Party seem to be in implosion-mode, and a few of the stalwarts have begun to exhibit some sense of shame about their own party.
Exhibit 1: The word “Republican” was nowhere to be seen on any of the banners at the Republican National convention in Minneapolis.
Exhibit 2: Mccain, who, speaking before Republicans : We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption. We lost their trust . . . .
and the hockey mom stuff reminds me of the following.
“Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps.”
** attributed to some dude named Ren Hicks
“Not sure If Obama is experience enough or strong enough to work around white people in the white house… lol”
In defense of Obama, he went to Harvard and was president of Harvard Law Review. You CANNOT get any MORE conservative white than that.
And what is this ‘experience-experience’ eklat? Both are running for their FIRST terms as Prez. They both have no experience at that level.
cheers!
Pero McCain pa rin!
McCain, her godfather, is 72. Sarah Palin, US President.
Another Gloria will reign for six long years from 2010, unless we decentralize.
To federalists: Isn’t it bad enough that we have a dozen useless Senators and some 200 ass kissers in Congress?
the advantage then of federalism is that those dozen useless senators and 200 ass kissers in congress will all go home to rule their provinces as fiefdoms….progress…
Tax Joven,
I saw your letter to the inuirer about autonomy,since one of the titles of this blogpost is devolution, allow me to paste your letter:
Local autonomy can do the job for federalism
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 02:01pm (Mla time) 09/05/2008
Federalism does not guarantee local autonomy. A State could be more pervasive and domineering than Imperial Manila.
Fiscal federalism is not just for federal forms of government. It also applies to unitary systems.
It is not true that amendments to the 1991 LGC require a cha-cha. The present charter does not set a limit to how far Congress can go with local autonomy.
Federalism will not spur economic development. LGUs are the proper venue for it. States will only provide more red tape.
Federalism will not solve the Mindanao problem. It will only aggravate it. Ancestral domain is not about politics or religion. It’s about the economy, stupid!
Federalism is expensive. The estimate given by the Primer is a handiwork of an engineer who wants his clientele to renovate a house. Wait till the bills come in!
It will take years before a State can be operational. Here’s what the primer says: “the type of federalism suited for the Philippines can be determined only through discussion, consultation and debate among our people. The Philippines can develop its own unique model of federalism based on the various models that have been adopted by other countries.”
Federalism complicates a simple solution to our problems: decentralization.
Tax Joven [email protected]
Seoul, South Korea
“democrats are known to cut healthcare budget. what will happen to OF workers in the US with income decreasing and taxes increasing? how would it affect OF remittances to Philippines?”
Leytenian, what the hell is wrong with you? It’s the republicans that cut health care budgets.
“how i wish he can present that argument to obama who lost to hillary by popular votes in the primaries but won the electoral delegates….”
“so the tyranny of the minority argument is applicable only to the republicans but not against the democrats.”
Sharp succinct lie. The Michigan and Florida primaries did not follow the rules laid down by the DNC. Therefore they did not count. Knowing that Obama did not bother to campaign in those states. So saying that Hilary won the popular vote is pure speculation.
Let us see
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=184108
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086&title=Sarah-Palin-Gender-Card
“since the electoral colleges were invented in the political landscape of the U.S., no one claims that this set-up is very undemocratic until someone could have become president had not the electoral college set-up had worked on their disadvantage. :)”
Dwelling on issues where the proponent is totally clueless and oblivious would be a waste of time. It would be uncharitable. The other side is so very obviously unarmed.
Politics in the U.S.during election time is about fun and games. That is why comedians and satirists become so precious.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes_main.html?hpid=opinionsbox1 Click on this and click on all the cartoons. It is really funny…..