Edinburgh Anarchists

"I look like a bit of a Gene Hunt. At least I think they said that."

There is now so little difference between political parties that even groups without a critique of electoral politics have difficulty in motivating people to vote. Once it gets to June, you will have an emergency budget forcing through massive cuts in public spending to pay for the attempt to save the bankrupt economic model of the last 20 years. The only argument has been as meaningful as whether this should happen on a Tuesday or a Thursday.

Reflecting this, maybe without realising it, Labour and the Tories are now making use of the same campaign graphics with slightly different slogans. We don’t have a choice of futures in this election, we have a choice of brands with the differences less clear than those between Pepsi & Coke.

Put that and the lame attempts at meme-formation together and the logic is clear: the next election will see old-fashioned things like manifestos go the same way as policies, and they will be replaced by LOLcats.

Always ahead of the curve, here’s our first draft.

LOLcat Manifesto first draft

Where's Bonnie & Clyde when you need them?

So RBS are sacking 2300 workers to pay for the bonuses of their bosses and the speculation division in the City of London.

This is making people angry, unsurprisingly. Us anarchists usually get stick for being extreme and violent. But who’s this discussing the return of the guillotine for bankers? Economists on the BBC, that’s who (via BoingBoing). Strange days.

With all the talk of “worst economy for a 100 years”, there is some cheer. Classic Depression-era songs like this one are now copyright expired, meaning you can do anything with them. Here’s Woody Guthrie singing “Pretty Boy Floyd”:

Well you say that I’m an outlaw, you say that I’m a thief
Here’s a Christmas dinner for the families on relief[...]
Now as through your life you travel and through your life you go – o
You will never see an outlaw drive a family from their home