The Soul

I now know that the soul does not exist, or at least it has zero power. The soul – the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal – cannot leave the body while the body functions, hence it has no autonomy or ‘power’. The soul, if it ever goes, goes when the body dies – when the brain ceases to function and the cells, deprived of oxygen, pack in.

Walking along in the countryside today I tested my theory. I looked at the clouds – very pretty, clean, white and fluffy and the sun was out – I said, “Right, I have had enough, let’s go,” meaning, I am the soul-part of this thing, let’s jump ship and fly off.

Nothing happened. So I trudged back home. And as I trudged back home I thought some more. Imagine you were being eaten by a lion or a shark, bits of you were being torn away and chomped up and every way you looked at the situation you were onto a loser – you were in great pain, if you were rescued you would be grossly disfigured or incapacitated, you would have crippling PTSD, you would, in effect, be a nut-job. Knowing that was your future would you willingly stick around? Well, you would have no choice because as long as you live and breathe your soul is inextricably tied to the wreck that is you. And God won’t help either …

When the lion pounced or the shark zoomed up out of the blue you could pray to God until the very last chomp, but He would not save you. You could watch your flesh disappear, hear your bones crack, feel the lion purr and lick the blood off your stump and you would scream God! but nothing would happen – until your brain stopped functioning and your cells, deprived of oxygen, packed it in.

I think everyone ‘feels’ the soul somewhere in their head; behind their eyes, above their palate, smack in the centre, well-protected and hard to release. It’s easy to think of the thing, therefore, as a sensory construct held together with intelligent glue – nothing more than a sentient hard drive. Which is a real pity because I really want to fly around and I’ve certainly had enough of paying my mortgage.

 

The Super Rich and Us

I have to write about this. Let me think … I saw the grotesques on TV. I must dawdle until my hatred distils into something cogent. Later.

FIFA

Surely FIFA is corrupt. I have written to them and told them that. I told them until they got rid of corruption I didn’t want England to participate in any future competitions organised by FIFA. There comes a time when you have to take a stand for what is right. That time came a while ago when Qatar was building its stadiums with what amounted to slave labour – do you hear that, Blatter, do you even know what it means? Of course Fifa did not reply. They might have done if I had passed them a sealed envelope containing free pizza vouchers, or a gift certificate with a percent reduction on quality handbags. The English FA is not much better. They chased Jack Warner (former Vice president of FIFA and President of CONCACAF – can you believe that?) around like he was the classroom hero and if they won his favour they could hang out with the cool guys and meet with the cool chicks. In doing that they lost my respect. It’s all so well documented here: http://www.playthegame.org/uploads/media/Andrew_Jennings_-_2018_England_in_the_iron_grip.pdf.

And so it goes on. Garcia resigns, FIFA discredits his report then says it will release it (edited?). Blatter holds a press conference saying that’s an end to the matter. UEFA president Michel Platini endorses that view and tucks into his foie gras, refusing to return a £16,000 watch given to him by the Brazilian Football Confederation despite the fact that the football’s governing body claimed the gift broke its code of ethics. Rotten, rotten, rotten; from its head to its golden-laced boots football is as rotten as a rich, fat belly clogged up with Swiss chocolate. I do so wish honest officials and politicians, of any calibre, would stand up to it, sacrifice their careers for the greater good. I would do it. Employ me for six months on 100K a year and I would blow the gaffe wide open – For the good of the game…

I recently heard a football journalist say on the radio that nothing can be done about the corruption, and as FIFA does good things for the development of the game in poor countries around the world we should all turn a blind eye. That’s like saying Basin City should carry on with murder, theft, prostitution, under-age sex, torture, illegal gambling, and any other vice you could mention because nothing can be done about it and it is self-policing under the benign brutality of Marv. Maybe Marv should take over the leadership of the FA. ‘I check the list. Rubber tubing, gas, saw, gloves, cuffs, razor wire, hatchet, Gladys, and my mitts.’ Go get ’em, Marv.

And Don’t Forget the Joker …

It’s the economy, stupid. A telling phrase. The economy is all powerful and you are stupid if you don’t know how it works. Well, I think there should be an alternative. Surely the world can’t continue to trade in the same way and chase never ending growth? You don’t have to be a socialist, communist or a member of the down-trodden to see this. It’s a game set up for the wealthy to cash in, to play tax evasion, to play bribe the man, to play insider trading, to play lobby the politician. No-one makes it big without being a shyster, the very fact the word exists testifies to that. You have to be a shyster because that’s who you are competing against. So we are ruled by shysters. Shysters determine the price of oil, the price of coffee, the price of water, energy, food, clothes and when they fail we bail them out, that is the small time shysters – us. Yes, we are all tainted but only a very few are ‘talented’ enough to rake in the chips every roll of the ball. The problem is no one, no matter how intelligent, has thought of a better system and I suppose that is because no-one could be trusted to police it. Shine the light of honesty in one area and in the darkness surrounding the beam rats will be carrying off anything that isn’t nailed down. From day to day I live in fear of bankruptcy. No matter how hard I work anxiety rules my life, and yet compared to the majority in this world I am doing quite well. There has to be another way, but I think it will only be achieved when we finally climb out of the jungle and jettison those nasty traits that saw us through our brutal genesis. I think the Ten Commandments tell us how we get to the Promised Land of shysterlessness. And I’m not even a Christian.

Immigration

Why can immigration not be discussed outside of racism? Why is the obvious always denounced as xenophobia? Of the four countries that make up the UK England is the most densely populated. England officially became the second most crowded major country in the EU in 2008. By 2011 the density of the population in England reached more than four times that of France. So what is the problem? Isn’t it obvious? Infrastructure is creaking: this includes housing, welfare, health, education, transport, access to legal aid,  law and order; the list is endless and even reaches into the murkier areas of waste – we are running out of places to dump.

And yet to raise these issues means that you are a racist. “But no, ” you say, “I am only talking in terms of numbers. I don’t care where people come from but there must be a cap …” Ah, but freedom to move in Europe means that caps must be placed elsewhere and that means, by default, you are racist.

It’s impossible. At a time when the middles classes in India are restricting themselves to two children per family, at a time when China continues its policy of one child per family, some people still believe the UK should accept migration as a necessary good until it can take no more.

What is the solution? Simple: conduct a study to find the maximum population the country can sustain and stick to that figure. All argument ends right there because compassion above that figure means desperation for all. Though not, perhaps, for the employers, who will never have had it so good. Imagine queues of the unclean, the disenfranchised, being shovelled into buses by gang-masters. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists  is on its way back courtesy of the Neo Liberal agenda to have access to and control over a large and exploitable workforce ‘protected’ by the minimum wage and increased by the two-faced desire to offer a new chance to the poor of the world whilst building behind their backs ever more warehouses to sweat them in.