Saturday, 15 March 2014

Benn There, Done That

quote [ Tony Benn ? the lodestar for the Labour left for decades, orator, campaigner, diarist and grandfather ? has died aged 88 after a long illness ]

'In the course of my life I have developed five little democratic questions. If one meets a powerful person--Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates--ask them five questions: ?What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?? If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.'

Conscientious (if somewhat mistaken) politician and a thoroughly interesting diarist. He renounced his title so that he could remain in politics. Yet, despite all he did, he considered his political career a failure.

In the Psychiatrist's Chair - BBC4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImLTIpqBLDkA
[SFW] [politics] [+4 Informative]
[by lalanda@4:38pmGMT]

Comments

lalanda said @ 4:52pm GMT on 15th Mar [Score:2 Underrated]
"I was born about a quarter of a mile from where we are sitting now and I was here in London during the Blitz. And every night I went down into the shelter. 500 people killed, my brother was killed, my friends were killed. And when the Charter of the UN was read to me, I was a pilot coming home in a troop ship: ‘We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind.’ That was the pledge my generation gave to the younger generation and you tore it up. And it’s a war crime that’s been committed in Iraq, because there is no moral difference between a stealth bomber and a suicide bomber. Both kill innocent people for political reasons."
cb361 said @ 2:14am GMT on 15th Mar
Listened to a few minutes of a radio drama about Scottish independence today. Shocked to find out that if Scotland secedes from the UK, I won't technically be "British" any more, because the Island of Great Britain won't be a single nation. I'll have to be "English" instead. Fuck that. So I'm now against Scottish independence, because who wants to suddenly be English? I'll have to grow a beer belly and sing "'ere we go, 'ere we go, ere we go."
arrowhen said @ 8:57am GMT on 15th Mar [Score:2]
I'm of vaguely Irish ancestry, so fook all you fookin' fooks.
Bruceski said @ 3:11am GMT on 15th Mar
I thought the English were the skinny no-nonsense people and the British were the round cheerful warm-beer-drinkers? I'll cede the distinction to the Brit, but I picked that idea up from my English father and grandparents.
arrowhen said @ 9:22am GMT on 15th Mar
But... but... I see admirable qualities in both of those stereotypes!

Also, I'd totally go gay for Stephen Fry, have an utterly tragic crush on Sue Perkins, and want to be best friends with every main character on Misfits.

How does one become a citizen of TV England?
Bruceski said @ 10:41am GMT on 15th Mar [Score:1 Underrated]
I think everyone has a tragic crush on Sue Perkins.
lalanda said @ 4:39pm GMT on 15th Mar [Score:1 Insightful]
Tragic in that she's a fucking annoying ubiquitous one-note joke?
arrowhen said @ 5:40pm GMT on 15th Mar [Score:1 Insightful]
You're a terrible human being.
Dumbledorito said @ 6:20pm GMT on 15th Mar
She's not my favorite on Q.I., but she's a lot better than many of the other guests they've had on. Besides, Stephen likes her or she wouldn't be allowed on the panel, or so I understand.

I miss Linda Smith. She was awesome on the News Quiz.
arrowhen said @ 6:50pm GMT on 15th Mar
I liked her is that Supersizers show.
ComposerNate said @ 4:58pm GMT on 19th Mar
Her inclusion seems more charity, filling a female quota.
moriati said @ 8:51am GMT on 15th Mar
I say old chap, do try to keep a stiff upper lip.
cb361 said @ 8:26pm GMT on 15th Mar
Remember after Diana? We don't do the lip thing any more.
moriati said @ 8:55am GMT on 15th Mar
Without wearing my political leanings on my sleeve I will say that he was a sort of politician we need more of. Something beyond the sort of party drone that seems so sadly to be the norm these days.
lalanda said @ 4:52pm GMT on 15th Mar
“We are not just here to manage capitalism but to change society and to define its finer values.”
HoZay said @ 6:52pm GMT on 15th Mar
I'd like to hear this repeated in the US congress.
lalanda said @ 4:53pm GMT on 15th Mar
“A faith is something you die for, a doctrine is something you kill for. There is all the difference in the world.”

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