People of Makerfield

Here I am again, being political, I watched Question Time last night... And I have to say I wasn't impressed with very many of the members of that panel.

The standout moments being the childish faces the Green Candidate pulled when members of the Green Party were quoted back to them.

The Liberal Democrat candidate and Reform candidates coming across as very nervous, or certainly not as confident as the others on the bench.

And then the Labour and Conservative candidates.... Often trying to bounce off one another as if they were jovial colleagues "We've had conversations at length".  To use a very English turn of phrase, they all piss in the same pot.

Really, people of Makerfield, you have an opportunity here to avoid voting for the current "mainstream" parties, those parties whom have hog tied and destroyed our democracy, spent our money and left this country a husk of itself in just a quarter of a century the decline in this country is unfathomable.

You Makerfield, you have the opportunity to simply null and void this party political shenanigans in the Labour party.

You Makerfield, have the opportunity to agree with many of the voices in that audience and indeed the candidates, that politics needs a root & branch reset.

That means simply not voting for the parties whom have proven themselves full of self-serving, lying, traitors.

I'm not telling you who to vote for.  I am however suggesting whom not to vote for.

Scottish Independence - A Sad Rant

Scotland, Scotland, Scotland... I don't know how to really express how I feel about even talking about the Independence Vote... I... I really can't believe its being even considered by a single Scot, not only do I feel its just a strange topic of conversation, but Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, it just is, its something lived with something that just is...

Now, I know there are many Scots with a beef about things like, regional autonomy, like they think they've got a hard deal... I've heard things like the closing of Scottish Industry being a major factor in the numbers of unemployed in Scotland, and that being all "London's" fault.

But, the companies which closed were pretty much private companies, just like the companies in Sheffield, Birmingham, Southampton, Bristol and elsewhere throughout the UK.

Industry has reduced, closed and moved, that's a fact of the whole British Isles, not specific to Scotland, yet I hear Scots bemoaning their being specially put down...

The likes of Billy Connelly, whom makes me laugh, but when he appears waxing lyrical about the ship yards on the Clyde and then declaring his support for an Independent Scotland, he's linking the two, the closed industry with the Union, where as the two have no real connection.

And Connelly himself, he has no vote, he lives overseas; in Australia mainly I believe, but he's been wheeled out twice... Notably getting air time during the Glasgow Games opening.

Other Scots who live outside of Scotland also don't get a vote, many of whom as I've spoken to a few, would vote NO to an independent Scotland.  And they'd vote no for similar reasons as I feel, that we're stronger together, safer together, that we're more than a United Kingdom, we're a united people.

And my deep personal suspicion is that Alex Salmond is pushing this agenda because he really seems to want to get himself noticed, to get himself into the History books.  There are no real long term benefits to Scotland leaving the Union, there is only long term costs and burden to her people.

I can't speak for everyone, but this is very much like a family fued and one member is about to storm out... The difference is, instead of a dinner going cold, or a few snide remarks next Christmas, this is going to end up costing BILLIONS.

People, companies, livlihoods and services are going to be ruined.

I personally as a UK Tax payer don't want to support a struggling independent Scotland, and the figured given for the Independent lobby don't stack up.

With all the firms already saying they would relocate if the country left the Union, its going to leave much of Western Scotland barren of employment.  Glasgow is going to suffer most I believe.

Aberdeen would see a marginal increase in lucrative Oil money as everyone cashes out for the next 20 years, but come 2034 I strongly believe there will be massive defecits, services would start to crumble and I have to say there may even be an exodus of the able and qualified to English and Welsh locations, followed as the quaffers run sterile to a gaping problem in Scottish communities.

Alex Salmond if not buried by then would be a very old man, he'll be happily tucked up in his adult nappy with a glass of Scotch each night and happy his mark was made.

The people of Scotland will be bereft however, and I have to admit as an Englishman I feel snubbed and insulted that there is this faction of Scottish society whom want to be an independent nation without any thought of who they are where they come from.

Many of the kids of my generation will have had grandparents who fought in the second world war, indeed my own grandfather was in Scotland serving when Rudolf Hess landed there.  My grandfather was the segergant whom guarded him; and was the only guard Hess thanked before he was transferred south.

These links to history, this structure of who Scotland, who WE are is simply being ignored by the "Yes" campaign.

I've hard people in the Yes camp making reference to Bannock Burn... something which would make any Scot's blood swell... But no-one has mentioned the proud traditions since...

The Scottish Highlanders at Waterloo... The Black Watch leading the crossing of the Rhine in 1944... The Scots who fought across Europe to free the people of the tyranny of the Nazi jack boot...

That recent history is being ignored...

Or how about the many Scots who faught, as well as those who died, in World War 1?... Should their legacy be ignored?

It seems one camp thinks "Yes"... And that's got to be thought about seriously as derailed...

Other topics I've seen are the Nuclear Sub's... An Independent Scotland campaign has declared they don't want the base, nor the Subs... I'm pretty sure that Scottish tax payers like that deal, billions spent and they "don't want them"... With a wild acting Russia still flying just off sure of Scotland too...

But hey ho, they don't want the subs... They're playing on Nuclear "fears" to get votes... Not thinking about the communities supported by the sub base, the thousands of jobs in Scotland which depend on those subs being there... Oh no, they just want to be seen as "PC" and get rid of Nuclear!...

What about services which are nationally funded?... I've mentioned the need for RAF cover, Russia does try to overfly Scotland regularly.

How about the Royal Navy's other bases?... How about the Army itself... Does an Independent Scotland want to be a neutral state, like Ireland or Switzerland?... If so, how will it sit with Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France and the remains of the UK in having an unalighed state suddenly appear in the vulnerable Nato North West... The flank through which Cold War Submarine operations so dominated planning and which may come to dominate again, but now without Scottish bases or SOSUS listening stations?

None of this is being thought about, the thinking I've seen from the Yes campaign has been almost a kin to a drunken argument in a bar!  "Bannock Burn, aye Jim laddy the bassads, Independence!"

The "No" campaign, well they've been attacked in the street by numpties with eggs, great way to stop someone speaking to you I must admit...

I have friends who are Scottish, I have friends who are English married to Scots... So far I've not met anyone who has fully furned the "yes" campaign with a vote, nor have I heard how beyond the immediate short term Scotland could support itself!

Simply put, Scotland is part of this Union of the Great Kingdoms on the British Isles, talking of her anything other makes me very sad.

----

Addendum : 10/Sept/2014

I reckon I'm onto something, i reckoned Scotland would be wrecked by economic disaster (if independent) by 2034... Turns out 2035 the Oil runs out... Lovely... Can't wait to see the results of that one...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29149106

Power to the People...

I'd like to subtitle this post: "How can Developers collect, acknowledge and respect the wishes of their player base?"

Here in the UK it's Election time, I'm sure that unlike when this happens else where and we get flooded with information about it, no-one outside of the UK actually gives two hoots about who's going to be running this backwater of a nation before we finally replace Hawaii as the last state to join the union.

But it got me thinking, when might on-line games start to include, or be directed, by the political, social and hopefully interesting, wants and wishes of their player base?

CCP, the venerable creators of Eve-Online have included a player orientated elected representative body, the Interstellar Council, the members of which were once just lowly players, but whom were elected to office via the wishes of the player base at large. This, as it did here in the UK with the MP's expenses, ended up in some turmoil with allegations, and I believe admissions, of corruption by those elected to the Council.

The concept which failed with the corruption of those elected was in part sound, the idea of letting players appoint a representative and they be the player's conduit through to the developers is a good idea, but you never can tell the true motivations of such a person. History has proven that they are more likely to look out for their own interests than those of the populous at large.

But, someone had to take a step in the direction of MMO development to include political views, and all kudos to CCP for their attempts.

I feel though that whenever a candidate ran on a basis of a manifesto, they had defined that manifesto, they have set out their own agenda, much as politicians do throughout the democratic world. I don't think this model would, or could, work within an on-line game situation. The population focus is so narrow [just including one game world] but with so many varying ideas no one manifesto could include everyone's wishes, or even encompass the gist of very many opinions.

Instead I'd like to see the process turned on it's head, to see a manifesto put together by the player base and then a developer try to find the person to live up to those goals. Literally 'what the players want from a conduit to contact the developers' turned into a job specification and then that role filled by the right person. [Such a situation would only require a good communicator, not a good politician (oxymoron alert level 1)].

The CCP election was far too biased with in-game politics itself, much as the universe within the Eve Server is divided by the large alliances. It always was, and is, very politically orientated to meet the ends of the in game alliances and cartels, rather than the player-base at large.

So, you may ask, what do I suggest? Well, first of all, I do not suggest any MMO publisher out there hold elections to find the right person, they're never going to find them by letting some of the drongo's I've played in MMO's with vote for anyone... I know I sound like a dictator here, but hear me out... I'd have the publishers/controllers/masters of these games hold polls, or focus groups, to try and wheedle out of their player base what they, the players, want to talk to the developers about... be it, content, or balance, or graphics... or just the where the game they play might be going. To condense this down into a specification for a role, a job.

That is the key, a person to meet this very specific specification, to act as a communicator, to filter out the crack pots and give the developers a clear set of questions, or requirements that the player base have for their game and their get honest open feed back, or changes made, by the developers & publishers.

Unfortunately I think that this is a political system with very little back bone. I mean, what can a player do to invoke change in the game they play? The only leverage they have it to stop playing and cancel their subscription, or to stop buying their cash shop items. And unfortunately there's very little chance of anyone stopping playing their favourite game just to make a stand.

The only thing that could happen to a developer or publisher, if they chose to ignore the wishes of their player base in such a situation is negative press. The question is, would a developer like CCP, or Activision-Blizzard, or EA give a damn about some bad press?

So, I ask, would any publisher today be brave enough to acknowledge the existence of the player base, to recognise that they're not all just little dollar signs with a pulse. And for the developers of games to grant the player base something a kin to political rights about the game they play?

We the people would all stand up for our rights in real-life, why do we currently let our on-line experiences be dictated to us?

This is my first post from my newly set up Linux Box.