The music was very loud again last night and did not stop till 4. There is something about the way that sound echoes in our street, it is very loud indeed so it made for a very uncomfortable night, again. Anyway, I woke up at 7 so feel quite underslept, plus there is no milk or breakfast. So, Eid Mubarik, I guess.
One, a fairly whatever news item about the fallout from the Kashmir business:
This has resulted in a small number of incidents where members of minority groups, like Muslims, have been assaulted and even hanged for allegedly killing cows, a sacred animal in the Hindu faith, to more prevalent cases where domestic airline crews have been told to proclaim “Jai Hind,” (victory to India) when making announcements.
Seems weirdly minimising to me, not to mention omitting the attitude of the BJP government to these lynchings of Muslims.
Secondly, Andrew Rawnsley on the executive capture going on in the UK:
Putting this threat into circulation might be intended to convince MPs, especially dissident Tories, that it won’t get them anywhere if they try to prevent a no-deal Brexit by voting to collapse the Johnson government. It could also be part of the scheme to convince European leaders that they can’t rely on the British parliament being able to stop a no-deal Brexit, so they had better offer some concessions if they want to prevent a crash-out that will hurt them as well as Britain. Sham it could be, but it will be best to prepare for the possibility that Mr Johnson could try this one on and to remember that some threats start out as a bluff, only to end up becoming a reality.
Seems to me to miss the real danger that by putting this out there, and forcing reactions to it, it makes the unthinkable thinkable. And that is not something that can be reversed even if the Johnson regime’s threat to hold on to power for Brexit is a bluff.