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Europe in 1945 was devastated. A cataclysmic economic crash was followed ten years later by a destructive war. Millions had had been killed in action or in ethnic cleansings. Cities were ruined. Pattern of trade and credit were shattered. The Soviet Union, led by sociopathic dictator Josef Stalin, was gobbling up the countries of Eastern Europe. There seemed little to stop them spreading the rule of totalitarian communism to the west.

Into the chaos stepped US Secretary of State George C Marshall. Ably assisted by British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin (you won’t have heard of him: being Labour and a Trades Unionist, he has been written out of history) a Plan of colossal size, imagination and, let’s say it, generosity was instituted in 1948. It cost $15 billion; that’s an eye watering $3 249 billion in todays money. But it saved Europe, and as Keynes might have said, it saved the world. Cities were rebuilt, trade restarted and prosperity began to rise. The ambitions of Russian Dictators were thwarted-well, for a couple of generations anyway.

There are strong parallels between 1945 and now. Following the crash 0f 2007-08 the economies of the world are in a febrile state. Poverty and inequality are rising. Healthy international trade is failing. Economies are only kept alive by ad hoc, panicky government interventions. Yet the tasks we could achieve are both immense and possible. If accomplished they could lead to a world as broad and sunny as the postwar decades, when everyone (at least in western countries) was enjoying some of the fruits of prosperity and freedom.

It is in this light that we take very seriously the call for a new Green Marshall Plan. We quote from Larry Elliott of the Guardian. But you should find this covered in most world media today Here are the key extracts:

The …. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will next week publish a report….. on behalf of an advisory panel including the chief economist of the Bank of England, Andy Haldane; Robert Skidelsky, the biographer of Keynes; and Mariana Mazzucato, a professor at University College London…….

The report will call for policymaking to be based around four objectives: environmental sustainability; rising wellbeing (rather than simply higher incomes); lower levels of inequality; and more resilient economies.

The [aim} is to harness the best of the market – its ability to adapt and innovate – with the power of the state in order to bring about economic transformation 

Some of our more elderly, nervous readers are becoming anxious about the activities of the more, ah, how to put this?-enthusiastic– members of the green movement. All we can say is that the adoption of the OECD plan would cut the ground from under any number of muddy, well-intentioned feet.

read://https_www.history.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Ftopics%2Fworld-war-ii%2Fmarshall-plan-1

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/sep/13/covid-19-drives-leaders-to-make-unprecedented-interventions-but-what-next

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jul/02/uk-should-prioritise-green-projects-to-kickstart-economy-says-imf

#greennewdeal #greenmarshallplan #oecd #larryelliott #covid19 #economics

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The collapse of reason and the trend to people just shouting at each other, either in the street or on the internet, is a trend we have returned to several times at LSS. (Apocalypse-now And Discommunication LSS 13 9 2020). Why do rational arguments not prevail? Why do facts bounce off people like shells off a well- armoured tank?

Now Mr Peter Seymour of Hertfordshire may have stumbled on an important piece of the jigsaw. Reading though a journal called The Hill, via the excellent Apple News, he came across an article by one Neil Baron. Ostensibly about Mr Trump, as you would expect from a journal whose remit is to cover the comings and goings in the Congress of the United States. Riffing yet again on the deep entrenched positions of Mr Trump’s supporters and opponents, the authors suddenly strikes gold. Psychological gold. Read this:

Other Americans and people throughout the world ask, why do these people stick with Trump? Behavioral science suggests some answers. Social psychologists note that the longer and more fiercely we need to defend our decisions, the more difficult it is to admit we’re wrong. 

and:

According to the cognitive dissonance theory, a conflict between what we do and what we believe creates anxiety we need to alleviate. The conflict between the rampant criticism of Trump and his supporters’ tenacious defense of him has created that anxiety. So they alleviate it by shunning information inconsistent with their support and embracing consistent but false rhetoric such as the “deep state,” “fake news,” the pandemic “hoax” and the QAnon conspiracy.

Neuroscientists using brain imaging found that the reasoning areas of the brain shut down when confronted with information inconsistent with one’s beliefs and that the brain’s emotion circuits light up when supporting information is introduced.

Here at last may be the deep explanation of discommunication, where both reason and facts fail. It’s wired inside us, like the hardware in a badly designed computer. And sinister people know how to trade on it. The task before the intelligent, rational, above all empirical readers of LSS is to find ways to fix the problem. We welcome suggestions.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/516140-why-trumps-approval-numbers-may-be-soft

#discommunication #thehill #neilbaron #cognitivedissonance #reason #emotion

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For anyone who still tries to deny the reality of man-made climate change, and its devastating consequences, the terrible fires sweeping the West Coast of the United States should be the final proof they need to abandon their beliefs.

Today El Pais (Signs of Apocalypse)* lists half a million people evacuated, 15 dead and dozens of missing. The temperature in Death Valley last year reached an all time world record high of 54.4 degrees C. Meanwhile previously stable climate cycles have started to fluctuate wildly and dangerously.

It’s not as if El Pais is a woolly green polenta-and sandals journal of way-out environmental activists. It’s a sober reflective essentially centrist outfit whose overwhelming mission is to lower the temperature, at least in politics. Shame they can’t do it in Oregon. Tonight Sir David Attenborough considers the wider aspects of the problem on BBC*

Which is another case in point. That most anodyne of institutions is now the subject of vituperative outpourings of hate and bile, with its defenders beginning to occupy equally entrenched positions. Same for Black Lives Matter. Extinction Rebellion. Brexit. Why the collapse of reasoned discourse, and the advance of discommunication, where people just yell at each other, learning nothing, teaching nothing? We believe that our most empirical communicant, Mr Peter Seymour of Hertfordshire and a magazine called The Hill may have stumbled on the beginnings of an answer.

https://elpais.com/opinion/2020-09-12/senales-apocalipticas.html (some will need a translator app)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54118769

#climatechange #globalwarming #sirdavidattenborough #californiafires #oregon #discommunication

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As we write these lines, the covid-19 infection rate is starting to shoot up fast in the UK again, very fast indeed gentle reader. We are not epidemiologists, or microbiologists or virologists, or rappers, so we’ll stop the lyrics there. But only a fool would deny that that the return to close associations of people in pubs, shops, railway stations and a myriad of other locations has been behind this. But we have studied a little history, and there’s one system, still on the edge of living memory, that might help a lot.

In January 1940 the then Conservative Government introduced rationing in the UK, starting with bacon, butter and sugar. Subsequent governments went on to extend it to other foods, and many other goods, during the conflict. In fact it was so successful that the last goods did not come “off ration” until 1953! The key lesson for our time is how they made it work. When you got your ration card (and everyone did, from the King down all the way down to the workers) you were allocated one shop, with whom you registered. That was where you went for your ration. And the Government made sure that the shop had enough in stock to supply your needs.

Imagine how much easier Track and Trace would be now if everyone only went to one shop. These days it would be much easier as large supermarkets now supply nearly everything under one roof. Rationing need only apply to second order but essential things like food and clothes. Really vital national supplies like beer, wine and gin (to name but a few) could stay “off coupon”. Eventually, as a vaccine(or vaccines) arrive, the system could be slowly lifted, as it was after the Second World War.

We feel that a scheme could prove exceptionally popular among our friends who voted for Brexit, as they often cite the glories of the war years as proof of their cause. The advances in health and equality which were brought about by wartime rationing are indisputable. If there are to be shortages of some goods after Brexit (and we think the jury’s still out on this one), then what better way to see the nation safely through? From every point of view, it has to be worth a try.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationing_in_the_United_Kingdom#:~:text=Rationing%20was%20introduced%20temporarily%20by%20the%20British%20government,fruit%20and%20about%2070%25%20of%20cereals%20and%20fats.

#rationing #covid-19 #coronavirus #brexit #trackand trace

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In these days of massive climate change, species extinction and pollution, we should all be recycling more, throwing less away, and making more of what we have. We at LSS are no strangers to this spirit. Our aim tonight is to show you how to make use of leftovers that nobody wants to make some delicious cocktails. Get some vitamin C. And save the planet

Orange

Look at the half used carton of orange juice lying forlorn in your fridge. Going to chuck it? Or how about making a delicious Harvey Wallbanger? 6 ice cubes. 1 measure vodka. 0.5 measures galliano. 3 measures of orange juice. Yes we know you should normally use the juice of real oranges- but this is an emergency!

Lime juice

Got an old bottle of lime juice you were using in the hot weather, but is now burning space on a the shelf? Burn it up with Lime Gin Fizz . 5 ice cubes 2 measures white gin 1 measure lime cordial sparkling mineral water to top up. Watch the ice melt and think of the glaciers in the alps, where you won’t be going skiing any longer.

Prosecco

Remember when you bought a mini prosecco in Sainsbury’s, because it seemed a good idea in 2017? Since when it has lain unused among the onions and old courgettes at the bottom of the fridge? Send it to heaven with a Blue Prosecco. Just pop the wine into a flute glass, add half a measure of blue curacao and a cherry to decorate!

There, you’ve done your bit. Now kick off your shoes, sit back and relax, it’s Friday night.

The ideas for this week are based on The Ultimate Cocktail Book, Hamlyn, 2002

#recycling #globalwarming #cocktails

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“When the facts change I change my mind” remarked JM Keynes. He was an economist, but his words presciently introduce the whole basis of the scientific method. Two examples of this working beautifully come both from today’s Guardian.

In the first example the discovery of a humble little fish fossil, called Minjinia turgensis, which is about 410 million years old, upends all our theories about how vertebrates evolved.* Every schoolchild was taught: first came little creatures like lancelets, then simple fish called placoderms with skeletons made of soft cartilage. Sharks, rays and the rock salmon beloved of the British fish and chip shop kept this design. Later on other fishes (think cod, haddock or trout) evolved a skeleton of bone. Now it seems Minjinia too had a skeleton of bone, implying that this came first, and our cartiliginous friends lost theirs later on the way. Another way in which a new discovery upsets the apple cart.

Talking of apple carts, are we missing something in the hunt for life on other worlds? Is our thinking too constrained? Is life always based on water? Does it have to follow the laws of Darwinian Natural Selection? Stuart Bartlett and James Wong of the University of Washington propose a broader definition of something called lyfe, which may help us spread the net further. According to them , lyfe:

1 Draws energy sources from the environment 2 Grows exponentially 3 regulates itself 4 learns and remembers things about its environment

Experts and scholars have been drawing up lists of things for centuries but if this helps even a little, we think it’s worth pursuing. Remember: nothing is so well hidden as things which are hiding in plain sight.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/sep/05/are-aliens-hiding-in-plain-sight

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/07/fossil-upends-theory-of-how-shark-skeletons-evolved-say-scientists

#astrobiology #life #bonyfish #evolution #vertebrates

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Earlier this year an Italian family sold their car, bought a boat and set sail from Termini Imerese in Sicily towards the island of Lampedusa. They were believers in a flat earth, and according to their beliefs, that was where the end of the world was located. They landed on the island of Ustica, were quarantined due to coronavirus, and tried to escape twice. In the end they gave up and went home to Venice. You can read the full story by Sirena Bergman in the Independent below.*

All of us need our beliefs. They give us emotional comfort, a filter to organise the endless flow of data smashing into us, and above all a sense of who we are. If you lived in a society plagued with as many injustices and blatant inequalities as the UK, it is natural for some to believe in something better. That a truly democratic Labour party will seize power, overthrow all evildoers from the Soft Left all the way out to Murdoch and UKIP, and Make Things Better for The Working Classes. It has been the dream of the Left of the party, and its allies since at least 1917.

The story of how such dreams collide with reality is told in Left Out by Gabriel Pogrand and Patrick Maguire. In one flickering moment in June 2017, it seemed that Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters stood at the Doors of 10 Downing Street. They had denied Teresa May a majority. The mood of the country, especially the young, seemed to be with them. It was Corbyn who seemed Prime Ministerial after the Grenfell fire, not May. Who still remembers the crowds singing “Oh Jeremy Corbyn!” How did they get from Glastonbury to catastrophe?

Well, you should read for yourselves. The cast of characters is long and lurid: Karie Murphy, Seamus Milne, Andrew Murray, Len McCluskey, John McDonnell, and many others whose names do not begin with M. The story of their wars, feuds, hatreds and bust ups could apply to any group of humans. But it sits oddly with a of group of idealists whose avowed aim was unity and common purpose for all . Together they achieved some remarkably clumsy errors-Skripal, antisemitism, party appointments, and alienating close supporters like John Lansman, to name but a few. At the end, lifelong buddies Corbyn and McDonnell were blanking each other in corridors.

McDonnell comes across as the most intelligent, at least able to moderate his public persona and compromise with outside allies for the sake of the Project. The overall picture the authors give of Corbyn is rather pitiful: a decent, well meaning man “his real interest was activism, not politics.” At the end of the 2019 campaign he seemed to be tired and disillusioned, obsessed with details like the diesel engine in his campaign bus and fighting his staff to see his own appointments for the week ahead.

And the working class? Whatever their faults, and however much influenced by the media, they could see through this crowd at once. They voted in droves for Johnson and the Tories. The Labour Party was destroyed, almost certainly forever. The UK will leave the EU forever. The educated, the young and the progressive must think in terms of generations , not decades, before they can even hope to have influence again in England. Oh, Jeremy Corbyn!

https://www.indy100.com/article/flat-earthers-ferry-lampedusa-italy-boat-trip-9707056

PLeft Out The inside story of Labour Under Corbyn Gabriel Pogrand and Patrick Maguire Vintage 2020

we thank Mr Peter Seymour of Hertfordshire for the Lampedusa story

#jeremycorbyn #leftout #labourparty #newlabour #2019election #left #ukpolitics

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We at LSS have always had a weakness for the Enlightenment. You know, that period of history starting with Spinoza and moving through Locke and Hume right up until Voltaire and co. When the defining features of our modern world were laid down. Observation would discover evidence, and reason would then organise that evidence into action. The resultant leaps in science and technology have transformed the lives of millions ever since. And for a long time, societies which held true to those principles in their political institutions were the most successful in the world.

The deep existential tragedy of our times is that reason no longer works. There are millions who no longer consider demonstrable fact as sufficient cause to change their beliefs. Who cannot reason from belief to consequence. We must find out why, or die.

Writing in the Atlantic, Peter Wehner* Why Trump supporters Can’t admit who he really is uses supporters of the Orange Forty fifth President of the United States as his case study; the Atlantic is an American magazine after all. But the conclusions are universal. We are glad that someone is tackling this issue. We are proud that he cites the work of Amy Chua, an author whom we have often recommended in these blogs. He offers this insight from Jonathan Rauch

“Motivation conditions cognition” Very few Trump supporters I know are able to offer an honest appraisal of the man. To do so creates too much cognitive dissidence.

People in terror no longer think rationally; other areas of the brain take over, and the result is a maelstrom of frenzy, emotion and despair.

Wehner knows this unreason is not confined to the political right, describing the base depths that Clinton supporters abjected themselves to in order to maintain their man in the White House. And no one has been a better critic of the Left’s Stalinist imposition of norms in academe and the media than Nick Cohen of the Observer.* But as Cohen correctly observes “moral equivalence is not practical equivalence. He states “all extremists threaten us-but it’s the radical right we should fear now”. He is correct. They have most of the money. They have most of the media. Above all they have the Golden Myth, that once the Chosen People lived in a Land of Lost Content. The Left by contrast are a rabble of academics, activists and misfits whose mutual hatreds and nervous excitements makes them incapable of mounting any serious organisation. Until the centre can find a critical mass of people and resources, the future may be very bleak indeed.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/predicate-fear/616009/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/05/all-extremists-threaten-us-but-its-the-radical-right-we–should-fear-now

#donaldtrump #theatlentic #amychua #politicaltribes #nickcohen

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We at LSS have always believed certain things, but sometimes the evidence convinces us that we are wrong. You never know who is going to save your life, so a diverse range of people and beliefs is probably a good thing, like a diverse ecosystem in nature.

So it is with relief that we note that two of the organisations who we believe to have made big mistakes in the past are now changing their minds, in the light of new evidence. Older readers will recall how the Daily Mail were advocates of Andrew Wakefield and his anti-vaccination campaign. We’ve always had a sneaking regard for outsiders with new ideas, but we never thought that the evidence supported Wakefield’s claims. Today in the Mail, Brian Deer gives not only a history of his struggles with Wakefield and his supporters, but also psychological insights into their mindsets. Today we face an avalanche of anti-vaccination messages, mostly around COVID 19. Here’s how they can be countered.*

Rupert Murdoch and the various components of his empire have had their fair share of criticism for harbouring climate change denial. However, there is evidence that things may be changing in the inner councils of Murdochia. Today , the Sun gives space to Sir David Attenborough* and one of his thoughtful, well written pieces on the perils that face us. You may decry, hate or ignore the Sun. But it has a genius to get inside the mindset of Cs Ds and Es, particularly the males ,in a way that all the well meaning Guardian writers in the world cannot. If you want to change anything, it might be better to get them onside, that’s all we can say.

Before anyone pops up to say that Murdoch and the Mail have been got at by the illuminati jewish world conspiracy, or whatever it’s called today, we say this. Murdoch and the Mail are about the two most powerful organisations we have in the UK. No one, and we we mean no one, has the power to intimidate them. So, if you want to argue with us at LSS, at least treat us like adults.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8699497/The-double-agent-brought-anti-vaccine-fanatics.html

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12587629/sir-david-attenborough-humanity-at-crossroads-climate-crisis/

#rupertmurdoch #thesun #climatechange #sirdavidattenborough #vaccine #antivaccine #briandeer #andrewwakefield

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Firstly a big thank you again to all who follow LSS on our multitudinous platforms or directly. A pleasure to deal with civilised minds. Certainly makes a change. An especial thanks to Mrs Margaret Foster of Dorset, who has brought to our attention a marvellously erudite work called Gin Tonica. Forty recipes for Spanish-style gin and tonic cocktails, written by David T Smith and inimitably photographed by Alex Luck.(Ryland Peters and Small 2017) Despite the title, it’s written in English. So without further ado, here are three recipes which you might like to try.

The Autumnal

Very seasonal, as the nights start to draw in, and the yellowed leaves drift softly to the ground.

50ml Darnley’s view spiced Gin 150ml Double Dutch Cranberry Tonic Water fresh cranberries, thin slivers fresh ginger root, rosemary sprigs to garnish at least six big ice cubes

Jensen’s Bermondsey Old Tom

Smith’s revival of a popular nineteenth century brand, as part of the current Gin craze, which we strongly adhere to.

50ml Jensen’s Old Tom Gin 120ml Bermondsey Tonic water six ice cubes rosemary sprig for garnish

James Bond

The famous literary hero drank this in the 1958 book Dr No

50ml Gordons Yellow label 25ml lime juice 150 ml Schweppes Tonic. Serous ice cubes and garnish/float with lime slices

Meanwhile for us poor people……………………. Iceland had a marvellous offer on their special brand gin and tonics at £1.00 a can. We’re going to add a little lemon and lime and ice-and get back to you. Nowhere on the tin does it say you can’t add an extra slug of Gordons!

#ginandtonic #cocktails #fridaynight