I know politics is exciting. If you pick a team you can watch Goodies and Baddies fight it out in a sort of manufactured soap opera. Here a virtue signalling and "I can't believe he said/did that" style reality TV drama plays out which is fun to watch and vote on every few years.

It has very little to do with the real world and even less to do with true power. It's one of the reasons I don't vote. The things people vote in and out seem to bare little relevance to the things I would very much like a vote on. Those things are not up for discussion.

To me it feels more like we're herded like cattle with barks of "go left" and "go right". Attack dogs from either side nip or bite stragglers.

"Hey guys, I think I agree with border controls but I'm also in favour of a welfare state so -"

"Bark! Bark! Racist, UKIPPER! Bark!"

"Um, I don't like the Queen but I also think the Conservatives are good because -"

"Bark! Bark! Communist! Bark!"

Happens on all sides.

This old conspiracy theory meme makes the point well. Substitute any controversial idea with 9/11 to understand.

The Mr Smith effect is a constant in politics. You might think you're eco-friendly but Mr Smith is suddenly in your kitchen criticising your bin choices. You thought you were politically correct but now Mr Smith is criticising your book collection. He's even reading this..

As long as people are successfully menaced like this the "overton window" of "acceptable discussion" remains.

This though is only one part of how the soap opera appears to be administered and enforced. A soap opera which has made me feel very cynical.

Like I say, I don't vote.

It was tragi-comic to watch this reality play out with Corbyn. I didn't support him personally but I knew there was no chance our system would let that through. No chance. The attack dogs came out in force, Mr Smith appearing all over the place.

To be clear; I write things like this not because I know how the world works but instead because these are things which puzzle me, thoughts I cannot conclude.

I assumed Jeremy Corbyn would lose because he didn't support The Monarchy. To me they seem very powerful, unlike MPs.

Jeremy Corbyn lost the election, during that period a lot of people got the chance to see how politics can work. They thought they'd get the chance to dust off theories about statehood and social justice but instead spent time defending one reputation while defaming another.

Bill Gates, RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD, decided to meet international child trafficker and rapist Jeffery Epstien because, "people .. were saying, 'hey, if you want to raise money for global health and get more philanthropy, he knows a lot of rich people'". https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/10/bill-gates-met-with-jeffrey-epstein-to-connect-with-rich-people.html

Ok. The richest man in the world met a known child trafficker. He met him because he, the richest man in the world, needs money.

In the past the left wing saw it as their job to criticise rich people. I don't remember this story being a big part of the political news landscape.

I seem to remember reading articles about fascism and a bloke on YouTube (Sargon of Akkad) and "hate speech". People throwing milkshakes. But this amazing line from Bill Gates, basically saying he was short of a bob or two, didn't feature as a big deal in the soap opera.

Now, I've ranted and raved against the idiotic faction of "the left wing" who think censorship is a good thing. The campaign to stamp out "hate speech" - enthusiastically supported by HM Gov - seems to have run in direct tandem with; The Savile story (2012)

(lone nut by the way, no serious accomplices?); The Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry (2015 - allegations of a cover up concerning high profile MPs and Gov figures); revelations regarding Her Majesty's immediate family, close personal friendships with both Savile and Jeffery Epstien.

As the stories came closer to the Gov they seemed more anxious about "hate speech". Her Majesty's broadcaster continued to campaign for more to be done about "fake news" as questions in the international media grew.

Big tech stepped in and banned high profile dissident users.

Various Mr Smiths popped up, some of them were even directly funded by politicians. Twitter users have watched for years as the likes of @hopenothate and @StopFundingHate - built up the so called "cancel culture" we see now.

Meanwhile big serious questions started emerging.

But these questions were not addressed by the soap opera. They seem quite removed, as if in a parallel universe.

No one asked about the Inquiry on #bbcqt - for example.

Those MPs and journalists who really got stuck in are, for now, footnotes in history. The show went on...

This brings me to the Prince Andrew incident. It gets even more interesting. True parapolitics stuff. He was also mates with the international criminal Jeffery Epstien, who sold children to people. Andrew visited him AFTER he'd been convicted running a pedophile ring!

So, not a good PR day for anyone, right? Well, that depends on your point of view. Depends what you think "reputation" means.

His response was: I don't sweat.

Meaning, according to some, in PR terms he's saying "f--- off, come get me, I've got my own army".

The battle for free speech was lost. Fact checkers and algorithms scan your published thoughts looking for information that might be valuable, as do the police. This includes "hate crime", you're not only censored directly you're also providing evidence.

Few criticised this.

It was around the same time in 2019 that the UK's legal system 'cleared up' any confusion around the idea there was or ever has been a pedophile ring running in Parliament, the main issue there of course is that this would leave your honorable members open to blackmail.

Don't worry, there's no truth in it. They looked into it. Just like the war in Iraq and the bailing out of the banks, it's no big deal.

If it were true there'd be crimes stored from the past held over them for future use. That's not how politics works... right? #cancelculture

I've always found the idea that most of the people you see in the media are prisoners of their fame quite compelling. The system which made their reputation in the first place can ruin it overnight if necessary. There is no public figure not ruled like this. Well, almost none.

Apart, it seems, from Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, President Donald Trump and President Bill Clinton. Oh and Prince Charles who was best mates with Savile. Savile, who was Knighted. So this means the intelligence services must have checked him out. Open secret at The BBC. Knighted.

And remember - non of this is conspiracy stuff nowadays. When you used to listen to me on the radio it was. This stuff is all published and out there. Mainstream.

Like I say, I write about things I cannot understand...

Prince Andrew Don't Sweat #EpsteinDidntKillHimself