REPUBLICAN RATCHETING

Well, things have come to a pretty pass on the other side of the pond.

Ms. O'Donnell certainly hasn't done Glenn Beck's purist Republican cause any good by revealing that, despite her "Christian" moral values which Tea Party Patriots applaud so much (despite President Palin's being proud of giving birth to children born to die for America and the Great, Almighty, and, of course, American God, who will bring the Yanks victory) she dabbled in witchcraft in her youth. Perhaps, like King Saul before her, Sarah Palin will consult the modern version of the Witch of Endor before embarking on her smear campaign against President Obama. But she dosen't have to tell lies: Pox News are excellent at doing that job for her.

The fact remains that Thatcher/Reagan made one big mistake in the 1980s. They thought that, by getting rid of the Soviet bloc and replacing it with globalisation, the Anglo-American conglomerate of capitalists would be able to take the lion's share of the pie. After all, they could organise things so that Japan could keep an eye on China/North Korea on South Korea's behalf, that right-wing racists like Sarkozy could control minorities in France and bankers could ensure capitalism in the rest of Europe and that Jack/Diane's limousine could be kept in gasoline by means of the Arab states being kept in line by their client state, Israel. But they reckoned without God. He's got plenty of irons in the fire, and He's no respecter of persons, which accounts for 9/11 and everything that followed. If you will attempt to starve the poor, they'll eventually turn to terrorism.

And it's all very well for people to complain that Muslims "don't fit in". Why should they? When we, the British, have spent 200 years exploiting what is now Pakistan, and turning a blind eye while skinhead scum in the BNP attack "Pakis", why should we be surprised when people answer legalised terrorism with the real thing?