$1.1 trillion

It is a lot of money, I'll give them that. But I can't help but think that the G20 leaders are adopting the strategy of the bigger they make the number, the easier it will be to impress and/or confuse people.

The rational response is to ask where this money is coming from. Although the more sage readers of this blog will know the answer to that; at some point and in some way, all the money spent by our politicians comes from us. Me and thee. So, we're going to spend 1.1 trillion dollars on nebulous schemes devised by amateurish politicians to save the world from a perfectly natural downturn in the economy. Fucking magic.

On some levels, I suppose it is inevitable - our leaders are so disconnected from the real world in their G20 bubble; a place where $1.1 trillion can be spent without consequences. They remind me of a bunch of kids with the world's biggest lego set. They are playing with their buildings and their bricks and their people. The problem is we aren't actually lego. We are real people. And the leaders involved in the G20 are gambling $1.1 trillion of our money on a stimulus package that flies in the face of economics, history and common sense.

Jesus fucking Christ, I hope against hope that this works. Because it is far too fucking expensive to fail.

Those crazy G20 leaders.

Having banged on about the G20 protestors for the best part of a week, this morning I thought I would turn my attention to those politicians who have provoked such mindless violence. But I couldn't find the words... and I still can't.

Fortunately, I found this photo on the BBC:

Remember, that is either the picture of a group of serious political leaders finding a solution to grim economic times, or a bunch of titwits hamming it up for the camera. I just can't work out which.

Violent Protest

So. The protests ended (assuming that the nihilists aren't dumb enough to come back for another go today) with the worst case scenario. Someone died.

Lord alone knows what the cause of death was, but given the ugly scenes of violence yesterday, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out what that will turn out to be. But what really gets to me, what I really struggle with, is this:

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said officers arrived on the scene to help and had to move the casualty away for urgent treatment after bottles were thrown at them by protesters.

And the same from a lefty rag, The Guardian:

"The officers took the decision to move him as during this time a number of missiles – believed to be bottles – were being thrown at them", said a police statement. The ambulance service took the man to hospital where he died.

The police come to the aid of a dying man, and are pelted with bottles. The protestors may well have assaulted police officers as they tried to save the life of one of their own.

Maybe those who pelted the police helping this man weren't typical of those protesting as a whole; maybe there were (as a lot of reports are suggesting) small groups within an otherwise peaceful protest that subverted it all and turned the whole thing towards violence. But fuck it, I don't care. What I am reading this morning is that the police tried to help a dying man, and were pelted with bottles for their trouble. Fucking outrageous. It just goes to show how hate filled, nihilistic and unthinking (some of) these protestors are.

There is so much wrong with our society today, so much to scream, shout and complain about and so much to fight against. But seriously, if anyone fucking thinks that fighting police officers, trashing RBS branches and pelting those who are helping a dying man with bottles is they way to change our country then they are truly moronic.