From each according to their ability?

The wealthy in the UK are throwing all manner of hissy fits at the very idea of paying their fair share to help pull our collective fat out of the fire. They are once again threatening to leave the country in droves unless we all pucker up. Perhaps a concerted drive is needed to finally establish a clear distinction between the concepts of 'earn', 'receive' and 'deserve'. These people are deeply confused.



From each according to their ability. To each according to their need.

As the emissions of rich nations continue to rise, the push for carbon capture picks up steam in a last ditch attempt to create tools to save the likes of orchards, fish and humans from the consequences of habitual greed.

The spying game continues...

Still nothing to fear....

Another repost (plain lazy, me) to celebrate the Guardian's uncovering of what everybody already knew - that the police keep information about anybody and everybody who pops their head up to exercise their democratic rights. They maintain an extensive database of personal details. Its all terribly selective and contains only absolutely everything they can get on absolutely everybody. Far be it from me to suggest that they do this in an effort to intimidate the citizenry into accepting whatever comes their way.

We've - got - a - file - on - YOU!

Conditionality

The expected punch lime was unfortunately a victim of structural adjustment.

This was sparked off by watching this video (which I must admit I abandoned half way when the flying saucers appeared) and reading this interview with Uncle Noam.

Summer of Rage

Whilst the US goes to Washington to protest Dirty Coal, senior UK police officers set up a self fulfilling prophecy by predicting mass outbreaks of middle class wickedness in reaction to recession/depression etc.

Levelling the Land

Monbiot has waxed historical with this

Somewhat sluggish this week, me.

Never Mind the Bullocks (yet again)

I'm re-upping these because the old link doesn't seem to work with some browsers.



And I suppose this would be as good a time as any to link to George Monbiots article on the nuclear option, which links to a lot of information we probably need to be aware of.

Glaxo, baby

GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty seeks to rebrand the Pharma giant with a raft of humanising proposals

Throbgoblins International let out a round of applause, a gasp of disbelief and a burp of rather tart cynicism.

Democracy in Action (again)

As you know, we at Throbgoblins International are deeply immersed in the waters of irony, so, to celebrate the season of peace and goodwill, we bring you....


With elections coming up and Israeli politicians scrambling for their share of the power that super-favoured-nation-status brings, it's again time to roll out the tanks and the bombers and the half-arsed excuses. What, exactly, are ordinary Palestinians supposed to do?

Here in the UK we're running around like headless chickens in gibbering, elbow-wielding desperation, lest a bargain pass us by, and producing more waste than ever in the process. We're not going to let a little thing like economic collapse or environmental breakdown keep us from the sales. We're a bulldog breed - thick, but tenacious.

Here's an old one from last January - a repost and a repeat in the ongoing cycle of repost and repeat.

A jury of one peer

First I must apologise for the lack of any discernable humour in today's cartoon. In the early stages I had high hopes for it, but sometimes one's most promising pets dissappoint one. I may have miscast Ms Ebola Congleton as today's lead. Frank would have had more fun. Never mind. The arrow may have missed its target, but the point and the barb remain.

The attorney General - the duly appointed, cabinet-ranking, partisan politician Baroness Scotland - is making plans to withdraw the protection of legal precedent from climate protestors who break the law in their stirling efforts to avert catastrophe. Suggestions that this is motivated by the Government's need to pretend it's all hunky-dory untill after the election are, of course, cynical in the extreme. Nothing to do with Heathrow and Gatwick and Kingsnorth etc etc. No ambitions were engaged in the making of these decisions.

Meanwhile... Ugmug's methane jaccuzi goes into overdrive.

Human Wrongs

It has been noted that, for a humanitarian, Frank is something of a misanthrope. He would claim that he is merely a perfectionist. I'll leave that with you.
To Celebrate 60 glorious years of Universal Human Rights. Frank has opted for a deep green snobbery tinged with irony. Not everyone can pull this off. It helps if one is a fictional character - otherwise it might look a tad crass

The cost of too many folk consuming too much stuff is felt in more places more of the time, as Climate Change bangs on more people's doors and hunger follows it inside.

If you live in Manchester, I heartily recommend the Unicorn grocery in Chorlton for the beginnings of a solution to all this madness

Nothing to fear

The government sneaks through extra measures to allow random apparatchicks to rifle through your sock drawer and pass choice nuggets on at their own discretion. They also backed away from the promised reversal of the laughable ban on protest within earshot of parliament

There is a fair wind and some good shit.

Punishing Success

Having made such a fabulous fist of husbanding both the human and natural environments, our ruling elites have earned the privilege of picking up the tab.
They may threaten to leave the country if their wealth falls below "filthy", but fuck 'em. Where are they going to go?
Not that we plebs are innocent in any of this. Beyond the odd spot of (necessary) marching and the occassional lethargic vote we have largely confined our activism to pleading for bigger TVs and more beer.

I'm not a bunny-hugger by nature, but I'm against the convenient destruction of rabbits by farmers. Rabbits are only here in the UK because the Normans brought them here as a farmable resource. Shoot them and eat them, but don't destroy them. Throbgoblins International humbly suggests the establishment of secure "shoot your own" free-living warrens for the further Fernley-Whittingtall-isation of the nation.
How about bows and arrows for that extra element of chance?

Don't forget BUY NOTHING DAY - November 29th

Barbarous apes revisited

This is a straight re-post because the song remains the same (it just gets louder).
The Guardian has a bunch of stuff on it

Meanwhile Humans dredge the bottom of the aquatic food chain to make absolutely sure that we've hoovered up the last morsel of everything edible anywhere and for ever. We're nothing if not thorough.

Dead man's chest

"War-torn" is such a compact description, isn't it. It leaves out the economics and the politics and the machinations of great powers, and concentrates on the trauma in the here and now, as though it had sprung fully formed upon an innocent world.
So we watch the seizing of an oil tanker by desperate men from a failed state - whose climate and conditions get crueller by the year - and we imagine that it is not a portent of things to come, but an abberation in an otherwise purposeful, perfectable world. We choose not to look down the path from whence this monster came.

One of many links from today's extensive coverage, and another one not so well covered, and another BIG ONE - not for the feint hearted

Monsieur McCudgeon is sporting this year's must-have look - pirate chic. I think it suits him

Secret Gardens and Magic Beans

All very hush-hush, don't you know.
There is an open admission that the need for GM crops is (allegedly) so pressing because of the inevitable diversion of millions of tons of foodstuffs to biofuels. We will continue to be fat lazy fucks who drive to the gargantumart to eat shite on a stick, so there can be no other alternative but to mess with what's left of our biodiversity and then place it entirely in the hands of the highest bidder.

The ongoing bollocks that is the nuclear industry just gets more and more priceless. Not only does the industry massively underestimate the amount of safe storage facilities required - based on a basic muisunderstanding of their core business - but they screw a series of blank cheques out of the government and an exemption from public scrutiny via the freedom of information act. So we will be obliged to pay up when they fuck up, without the satisfaction of knowing when or where or how they fucked up, or how much it cost.

This Searaser looks good though

Lawful Excuse

Climate change protest upheld as lawful in court and campaigners aquitted. Well done to all concerned. Good work. Let's hope the precedent sticks, and no one gets silly.