Skip to content

steel city scribblings

  • about
  • life
    • arts
    • consumer
    • humour
    • science and reason
    • sport
  • media
  • politics
    • asia
    • covid-19
    • europe
    • general
    • latin america
    • middle east
    • russia
    • uk
    • usa
  • travel
    • britain
    • china
    • ethiopia
    • europe
    • guatemala
    • india
    • vietnam
  • steel city tunes
  • about
  • life
    • arts
    • consumer
    • humour
    • science and reason
    • sport
  • media
  • politics
    • asia
    • covid-19
    • europe
    • general
    • latin america
    • middle east
    • russia
    • uk
    • usa
  • travel
    • britain
    • china
    • ethiopia
    • europe
    • guatemala
    • india
    • vietnam
  • steel city tunes

Category Archives: general

Oxfam, WSWS and survival of the richest

17 Jan

Yesterday, January 16, Oxfam published its report, Survival of the Richest. It opens by telling us that: Tens of millions are facing hunger. Hundreds of millions more face impossible rises in the cost of basic goods or heating their homes. … Read More »

general 9 Comments

Caitlin is with Ghandi on Western values

3 Jan

Caitlin Johnstone is in fine form today with a piece that moves from Western values (echoing Ghandi’s take) through the Washington/Wall Street war on Russia in Ukraine and ultimately China, to the nature of the Western ruling classes. Starting with … Read More »

general 1 Comment

I’m no fan of Scottish Tories but …

21 Dec

The text and image below are taken from the website of a Health Centre in the USA. Similar can be found in the UK’s NHS literature and, I’ve no doubt, across the Western World at large. Yes, language does matter … Read More »

general, science and reason, women 8 Comments

Iran: we’re being played. Again.

20 Dec

Guardian, December 12, 2022 A wider definition of human rights obliges real-world assessments … to discriminate between greater and lesser abuse, to shun specious moral equivalence. Suppose every word our media say about Assad to be true: a huge stretch, … Read More »

asia, general, media 9 Comments

Conspiracism and the late David Griffin

9 Dec

In a Guardian piece yesterday, on a resurgent far right, Jonathan Freedland referred deridingly to “the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones”. I seldom agree with either man but do have an opinion on the way “conspiracy theorist” has become a stock … Read More »

general, science and reason 2 Comments

Dress code for a night at the Mariinsky

5 Dec

Screengrab from the Mariinsky website I’m an admirer of Gilbert Doctorow. Fluent in English and Russian, his profile tells us he is: … an independent political analyst based in Brussels. He chose this third career of ‘public intellectual’ after finishing … Read More »

general, russia Leave a comment

Objective journalism is an oxymoron

6 Nov

Caitlin Johnstone today: I feel like we haven’t been talking enough about the fact that US government agencies were just caught intimately collaborating with massive online platforms to censor content in the name of regulating the “cognitive infrastructure” of society. … Read More »

general, ukraine war, Uncategorized, usa Leave a comment

Magic Money Tree? Part One

18 Oct

What good am I then, to others and me, If I’ve had every chance and yet still fail to see? If my hands are tied, must I not wonder within, Who tied them and why, and where must I have … Read More »

economics and money, general 21 Comments

How sanctions on Russia boomeranged

11 Oct

Sometimes I feature pieces whose authors’ worldviews differ significantly from mine. Take the last post but one, in which Richard Murphy’s starting point is that all-mouth-and-no-trousers speech by the UK’s newly imposed but terminally ailing PM. From there he goes … Read More »

general, ukraine war 8 Comments

So Truss and Starmer want growth …

8 Oct

Guardian headline, October 5, 2022 There is some growth that is natural. Children grow. That’s good news. So do cancers. That’s not good. Any discussion on growth has to say what growth is desired. Richard Murphy, below * For a … Read More »

general, uk 4 Comments

Posts navigation

← 1 2 3 4 5 … 25 →

tune for the day

I saw The Messiah – in the Handelian not epiphanic sense – in Nottingham last night. My cue for the Hallelujah Chorus

last 350 posts (most recent first)

  • If I were going to commit a genocide …
  • Have NYT and Russia – with a little help from Hamas – torpedoed Bibi and put a 2 state solution in the fast lane?
  • Sheffield Hallam University – staff send open letter critical of its response to Gaza genocide
  • Currency swaps weaken dollar hegemony
  • Voodoo economics on Threadneedle St.
  • Norman Finkelstein on Hamas
  • Yes, it truly is the Empire of Chaos!
  • The USA has played a losing hand badly
  • The collapse of Israel and the USA
  • Why you should not condemn Hamas
  • Lowkey on Gaza
  • Another something for the weekend …
  • Xi meets Biden – an economist’s take
  • Two more on Gaza and Ukraine
  • Caitlin on Gaza; Korybko on Ukraine
  • “Can’t believe I have to protest genocide!”
  • Taking stock – Gaza and Ukraine
  • A long read on Ukraine
  • The mad dog and its master
  • Can MAD bring a modicum of sanity?
  • The disingenuity of The Economist
  • Why didn’t Israel & USA isolate Hamas?
  • As the lights go out in Gaza
  • The disingenuity of Jonathan Freedland
  • A way forward for Palestine? Part 1
  • “Floating pointlessness” – warships in the Med; cluelessness in Washington
  • Gaza: how our governments launder lies
  • Gaza genocide – Sheffield protests!
  • Gaza to deepen Europe’s energy woes
  • Gaza, Ukraine, Taiwan – only connect!
  • “Gaza should be wiped clean with bombs”
  • Media coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza
  • “Why would Israel do this?”
  • My Israeli friends – this is why …
  • The public grief of Howard Jacobson
  • Our media are systemically corrupt, but not always blatantly
  • Gaza genocide: US as culpable as Israel
  • Al-Aqsa Mosque .. Israel’s all-seeing blindness .. criminalising Palestine’s defenders .. a (media) lens on propaganda .. meet the Bidens ..
  • Hamas attacks: eight new reads
  • Hamas attacks: another 9/11?
  • Palestine – lest we forget
  • Hamas attacks: top ten takeaways
  • Hamas unprovoked? Gimme a break!
  • 10 stupid things we’re asked to believe
  • So what did happen on 9/11?
  • Is there a way out of the dark?
  • What an utter Hunt!
  • Three takes on the denial of reality
  • Niger. With friends like Uncle Sam …
  • The parable of the sower
  • A year of lying about Nord Stream
  • Ukraine: a tale of two narratives
  • Is this how it all ends?
  • Three weekend reads on amnesia
  • The trial by media of Russell Brand
  • Media Lens on Climate Collapse – The Grim Silence Of Our Leaders
  • Damned by their own words
  • Catherine Bennett, Ben & Jerry – and the Moral Ratings Agency
  • Two short reads: Mary Mellor on ‘wellth’; Caitlin Johnstone on advertorial ‘journalism’
  • A course in Media Studies – Lesson #93
  • Zelensky’s patron arrested. Why now?
  • Scholz: “why isn’t Putin complaining about EU sanctions?”
  • Broken: the implicit contract between the rulers and the ruled. Part 2 of 2
  • Tell me again what ‘provoked’ means
  • More on who killed Prigozhyn
  • Who killed Prigozhin?
  • New York Times and Wall Street Journal come (sort of) clean on Ukraine’s unfolding nightmare
  • 30 signs of Chronic Thought Disorder
  • The global tyrant
  • The night the cops tried to break Thelonius Monk
  • UK – Starmer’s cowardice is the least of it
  • Is the rouble in trouble?
  • No censorship please: we’re Westerners
  • An American in the cradle of the civil war
  • Yves Smith on Ukraine’s unfolding defeat
  • Down to the last Ukrainian …
  • Wizwoz on the Niger coup
  • Yes, the West is losing its war on Russia!
  • Russia’s banking system and the West’s
  • Eritrea’s leader pays homage to Russia’s
  • A canary sings: make peace, you fools!
  • Calling Russia’s invasion “unprovoked” is proof of media corruption on matters vital to power
  • Sinéad O’Connor: artist and heroine
  • What the Oppenheimer film ignores
  • Steel city house gets new keyboard mat!
  • Broken: the implicit contract between the rulers and the ruled. Part 1 of 2.
  • Ruling class devilry and the Holy Bible
  • Ukraine: Latin America defies the West
  • Remembering Nordstream
  • The most effective propaganda is subtle
  • On Vilnius, and the NATO blame game
  • “Putin’s War” for Dummies
  • Now they done moved Ukraine to Iraq!
  • ‘Resilience’ – a sneaky neoliberal trope
  • A crisis created in Threadneedle Street
  • Yes, there is a magic money tree!
  • Excuse me – I just saw a golden eagle!
  • Is it stupid to believe media propaganda?
  • Two reads on media propaganda
  • British wildlife in May
  • Caitlin: “you can be happy and informed!”
  • Three perspectives on the UK today
  • Musings on an osprey
  • Richard Murphy on Keir Starmer
  • Cromarty at April’s end
  • The bluebells at Strelley
  • Alex Mercouris on the battle for Bakhmut
  • Empire of hypocrisy
  • USA: “jump!” Denmark: “how high?”
  • On Russia leaving the neoliberal West
  • Trivialising capitalism’s rape of nature
  • Ukraine and the talented Mr Berletic
  • The Emerging New World Economy
  • Ukraine leaks? Immolate the leaker!
  • War over Taiwan? A gorgeous stupidity!
  • Julian: US Democrats cry “enough!”
  • WW3? A matter of chips freedom!
  • Speaking of paedophiles …
  • His Creepiness the 14th
  • Debt forgiveness: a lesson in our time
  • Is Beijing paranoid?
  • Is Mr Putin paranoid?
  • The Greatest Journalist Of All Time
  • Indicting Donald
  • Three Sunday reads
  • What if journalists did their (putative) job?
  • Endless war, and media complicity
  • The whataboutery of Simon Tisdall
  • Mr President removes his watch
  • That ICC arrest warrant: an Indian view
  • The ICC: a kangaroo court, yes. A joke, no
  • ICC weaponised? Putinbot poppycock!
  • Speaking of self-serving credulity …
  • SVB/Credit Suisse: 3 pieces on the panic
  • “Because I’ve got a brain!”
  • Richard Murphy on Silicon Valley Bank
  • Sergey Lavrov speaks out on the WTO
  • More on the Iran-Saudi deal
  • They say the darkest hour …
  • Telling a Martian what hospitals do
  • China brokers Iran-Saudi rapprochement
  • Gary Lineker? Or H.M. Loyal Opposition?
  • Only connect …
  • A brief stroll from farming to WW3
  • Nordstrom: the comedy continues
  • The hazard of Oz revisited
  • China on “US Hegemony And Its Perils”
  • Richard Murphy on UK capital flight
  • All we are saying is give peace a chance!
  • A Ukrainian socialist speaks
  • Starmer and the victory of dark politics
  • Anti-war demo in London, February 25
  • On Worcestershire Beacon
  • Titanic in 3D
  • Are anti-war protests useless?
  • The etymology of ‘tad’
  • Reimburse the Bottlecap Balloon Brigade!
  • Did the crazies capture the USA? How?
  • Stop the War NOW!
  • The hazard of Oz: Canberra’s US nukes
  • Labour won’t save Britain’s public sector
  • Ukraine take 6 – Seymour Hersh
  • A rubber tramp in Cambridge
  • Ukraine take 5 – Gilbert Doctorow
  • Who pays for the US war machine?
  • A rubber tramp in Hartlepool
  • A rubber tramp in Redcar
  • I’m a fan of Sean Penn but …
  • Ukraine Take 4 – The Guardian
  • Carole and Aretha trans-slated!
  • More trans lunacy
  • Redress and the presumption of guilt
  • Ukraine Take 3 – Caitlin Johnstone
  • Oxfam, WSWS and survival of the richest
  • US and NATO send tanks to Ukraine
  • We are stardust …
  • Ukraine Take 2 – Stephen Gowans
  • Ukraine take 1 – Richard Murphy
  • Caitlin is with Ghandi on Western values
  • Mayflies – the Swiss option
  • Scramble for Africa – Version Two
  • Thank God Trump lost!
  • Film Review: Lady Chatterley’s Lover
  • Is Vladimir Putin too soft?
  • I’m no fan of Scottish Tories but …
  • Iran: we’re being played. Again.
  • Biden’s role in the US war in Ukraine
  • Conspiracism and the late David Griffin
  • Russian oil cap? No EU-turn in Brussels!
  • Dress code for a night at the Mariinsky
  • Jonathan Cook on a myopic Monbiot
  • Europe cannot win this economic war
  • Ukraine: Europe’s anger at Washington
  • Guardian to Julian: may I help you?
  • Ukraine – a wintry endgame?
  • Why does the West hate Putin?
  • Cheerleading for WW3
  • The staggering hypocrisy of Julian’s jailers
  • Ukraine: training the West’s far right
  • The lies that triggered WW3
  • UK responses to Hunt’s budget
  • Missile strikes on Poland: cui bono?
  • Ukraine: more dangerous Guardian drivel
  • Straight talking on Cop27
  • The propaganda blitz on Bucha
  • Shills for empire: a matter of intent?
  • Cook on Monbiot on Ukraine (again)
  • Objective journalism is an oxymoron
  • Ukraine and the official narrative
  • Austerity? Britain can’t afford that!
  • Ukraine and the Democrat ‘progressives’
  • Magic Money Tree? Part Two
  • Keir Starmer on “hate crime”
  • Magic Money Tree? Part One
  • Labour’s love of voodoo economics
  • Two ways Hunt can “balance the books”
  • Britain’s new chancellor of the Exchequer!
  • Zugzwang for TrussTweng?
  • With Ukraine ablaze, is Taiwan next?
  • How sanctions on Russia boomeranged
  • Caitlin on Ukraine opinion manufacture
  • So Truss and Starmer want growth …
  • Stellar! Mrs Assange v John Bolton
  • UK in turmoil: a Quaker speaks
  • It’s only a conspiracy theory if anti-USA
  • “The economic illiteracy is staggering”
  • Rupa Huq: Kwarteng “superficially” black
  • Shock therapy for Britain?
  • From Black Hole to Bucha
  • Footnotes: top tactics for top tacticians
  • Why read Michael Hudson? Part 3
  • Ukraine: what does Russia want?
  • Wear the fox hat!
  • Jacques Baud: a vital voice on Ukraine
  • Drinkable water please …
  • On the death of a Queen
  • Democracy is so not coming to the USA
  • Where have all the flowers gone?
  • The tragedy of Mikhail Gorbachev
  • When State & Capital conspire to censor
  • Persecuting Professor Hayward
  • Who killed Daria Dugina?
  • Attacks on Crimea up the nuclear ante
  • Down with Covid!
  • Why read Michael Hudson? Part 2
  • It ain’t half hot mum!
  • Pretending the US Empire doesn’t exist
  • Who wants a nuclear disaster in Ukraine?
  • Why read Michael Hudson? Part 1
  • Who fact-checks the fact-checkers?
  • There are no adults in the room
  • Dementia patient tries to start WW3
  • Three cheers for amazing Audrey White!
  • Dress code for an execution
  • US diplomacy as Greek Tragedy
  • Ukraine: Europe’s very own Bangladesh
  • Nancy playing with fire over Taiwan
  • Will the real Zelensky please stand up?
  • Caitlin on Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan
  • Covid in the age of crisis capitalism
  • Big pharma, and people with penises
  • Meanwhile back in Norfolk …
  • Meanwhile back in Taiwan …
  • Ukraine and the fall of the US Empire
  • What makes America so dangerous?
  • After Boris Johnson, what next?
  • Ukraine: graveyard of the US Empire?
  • Socialism or barbarism?
  • Two big errors about Russia
  • Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
  • Anyone (not Russian) for tennis?
  • Getting real about Ukraine
  • The invisibility of empire
  • Priti Patel and the power of lies
  • What price US nukes? $80k a minute!
  • The barbarism of dying empires
  • Understanding empire, from “i.e.” to “e.g.”
  • On war crimes in Ukraine
  • Who am I? (And why write?)
  • Who beat the drums for Dear Prudence?
  • On media manufactured monsters
  • Let’s give Ukraine’s fascists a makeover!
  • Rye v Hastings? Dickens v Tressell?
  • Meditation for the politico
  • A little more on the US war machine
  • “The wrong direction at maximum speed”
  • The USA: “no way out but war”
  • Power is at war with truth
  • On and on and on …
  • Why the times they are a-changing
  • “Left” Democrats vote to prolong war!
  • Ukraine: “the global south must act”
  • Starmer, Nato and the death of truth
  • As we hydroplane towards WW3 …
  • Is Team Biden the worst ever?
  • Tucker Carlson on ‘disinformation’
  • Oh my giddy AUMF!
  • “Zelensky good … Putin baad …”
  • Red-lines real … red lines reductive
  • What about those too tired to have sex?
  • We need to talk about pacificism
  • Ukraine and the death-logic of escalation
  • Ukraine in La La Land
  • Easter offerings
  • Caitlin’s love letter to draft dodgers
  • India in the dock for empire disobedience
  • Ursula weeps for Ukraine
  • Red Star Belgrade v Media Amnesia
  • Ukraine: “turning brains to soup”
  • Ukraine: a military assessment
  • Sakwa: “Paul Mason wrong on Ukraine”
  • Peace in Ukraine? Zelensky has zero say
  • Is Russia losing the information war?
  • The day John Pilger met the CIA Boss
  • Britain is a crime scene
  • The US wants this war to go on and on
  • No matter what the risks to us all …
  • Yes, we are being lied to. Massively.
  • Defending democracy in Ukraine?!?
  • Ukraine: the Far Left is almost right
  • Observations on the week so far …
  • Yesterday in and around Lathkill Dale
  • This ain’t Putin’s price hike
  • No, I’m not telling you what to think!
  • Dark Side of the Mood Music
  • Pentagon bioweapons in Ukraine
  • Carbon dating …
  • Ukraine: why bomb a hospital?
  • Ukraine on fire
  • Yes, Ukraine is in the grip of Nazis!
  • Sanctions: America’s Greek Tragedy
  • US Colonel McGregor: “Zelensky no hero”
  • The real purpose of sanctions on Russia?
  • Cook on Monbiot on Ukraine
  • Media double standards over Ukraine
  • Is this Russian propaganda?
  • A calmer panorama in the English Lakes
  • The most important question in the world
  • Ukraine through the eye of a UK diplomat
  • Ukraine: what does Mr Putin have to say?
  • Diana Johnstone on Russia bear baiting
  • Ukraine: the elephants in the room
  • Russia Today
  • Kiev shelled: Zelensky calls martial law
  • Media Lens on Guardian on Ukraine
  • Russia’s recognition of the LDNR
  • Vladimir Putin on what’s bothering Russia
  • “Why Russia wants Ukraine”
  • The royaling boil of Martin’s kettle
  • Useful Useless idiot 76423: Richard Engel
© 2023 steel city scribblings
Powered by WordPress / Theme by Design Lab