Kate and the dodgy photo...Brits still love her

Kate-Gate and the dodgy photo lays bare Britain’s social divide - but everyone still loves her

The Brits are a funny lot. They love moaning and ranting about their lot in life, not least the way the government runs the country, the cost of living and the degradation of the national health service. 

Yet they still have a deep and abiding love affair with the Royal Family. 

I still fail to fully understand the mindset of the land of my birth which continues to revere a family of misfits as much as it does. (fully disclosure - I have not lived or worked in the UK since I left nearly 30-years ago)

The recent stupidity of Buckingham Palace to publish a clearly photoshopped photo of Kate & Kids, which the world’s four main picture agencies quickly withdrew, was staggeringly inept given they have a small army of public relations people cleaning up after them on a 24/7 basis.

What were they thinking and just how asleep at the wheel was the Royal Families’ massive and tax funded public relations team when it was published? I wonder how many heads rolled over this? Particularly when you read about past UK heads of state, not that long ago who chopped off head with abandon, like Elisabeth I and Henry the Eighth.  

To put it in context, British taxpayers fork out around GBP 90 million a year from their hard-earned wages for this ‘service’ and be ruled over by a bunch of people who can’t even publish a family photo without screwing it up. 

At the same time as Kate is getting world class treatment, the National Health Service for ordinary people in the UK is on its knees and struggling to keep up with demand. Believe me, the public health service here in Taiwan is substantially better than in the UK.   

Is it arrogance or stupidity, or a bit of both? From my own centre-left standpoint, I’d say it’s a bit of both as in no way can you describe the United Kingdom as a classless society. In fact, if you Google  <is britain a classless society?> the top hit is  Wikipedia saying “The social structure of the United Kingdom has historically been highly influenced by the concept of social class, which continues to affect British society today.”

So there you have it. While no self-respecting journalist would ever use Wikipedia as a solid source, it makes the point that for all its boasts of equality, diversity and fairness, Britain is still a country in the grip of a deferential class structure where the upper echelons continue to rule the roost. The mystifying thing is, Mr Ordinary and Family seem to love them for it. 

I guess it is clear by now that I’m no fan of the Royal Family, or having King Charles sign off on any law the democratically elected parliament decides to make on behalf of the voting public. Nevertheless, this unelected, born into the job - I’m struggling for the right word here but let’s go with guffin - actually gets to sign off on any law the people of Britain are forced to abide by. 

If this all sounds stupid, it is.

Why let a family of privileged upper-class twerps who have never done a day’s work in their lives sign off on your laws you have to abide by?  

Consider the alternatives, like a President as head of state.

Now things get serious as a presidency can breed dictators. Putin a bit further west and further west Trump who is an embryo dictator if every I saw one,  should the American public be dumb enough to elect him again. To put this in context a Google search of <dictators> returns with Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and Tojo. Four guys who did their level best to destroy the planet and in doing so, killed hundreds of millions of people. 

Talk of dictators may sound extreme eighty years on from World War II as the carnage of that drops out of living memory as our surviving war heros succumb to peaceful old age and death. But we are currently living in a world where similar madmen could soon be influencing our lives.

The lunacy of the right-wing in the UK and Europe with its anti-foreigner, anti-immigration agenda, to the outright unbalanced Trump supporters who apparently trust a proven corrupt criminal to run the most powerful country on the planet beggars belief. I’m still amazed I still meet supposedly intelligent Taiwanese people who think Trump would defend Taiwan. Of course he would not and would roll over to Xi if it suited him.  

A reminder from Fox News -  Speaking to US Fox News, Trump described Xi as an exceptionally intelligent individual who governs China’s population of 1.4 billion people with “iron” authority.

“Think of President Xi. Central casting, brilliant guy. You know, when I say he’s brilliant, everyone says, ‘Oh that’s terrible',” said Trump. “Well, he runs 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. Smart, brilliant, everything perfect. There’s nobody in Hollywood like this guy.”

During his four years in the White House, Trump was also known for praising such leaders as Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while largely reserving scorn for the US’ traditional allies such as the French and Canadian leaders. 

This is why I get so depressed when I hear Taiwanese supporting this fraud on the simplistic assumption he would stand up to Xi over Taiwan simply because he called China out on trade. 

Without going into the gory details of past Presidential dictators, or current ones - a full list here - https://planetrulers.com/current-dictators/

It is clear no political system is perfect as presidents go bad, just as often as other heads of state have gone bad over history. 

For Taiwan, a President the people were smart enough to elect who come from a poor background and is the son of a coal miner puts the country in good hands for the time being. I was worried for a while when other candidates with clear dictator-like tendencies were in the running but the bulk of fair minded and sensible people chose the right individual. 

Which gets us back to the dimwits who make up the Royal Family in the United Kingdom.

I’d much prefer a jug-eared upper class twerp who barely knows what he’s doing signing off on laws set by an elected government than a known dictator, like the one next door.

Tinkerty tonk...

Morally bankrupt - the nastiness within Taiwan politics laid bare

"Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same but you leave them all over everything you do." Elvis Presley.

Politics has always been a dirty game, but at least there are shreds of decency, a certain level of moral standards, and red lines that most intelligent and mentally functional politicians and commentators won’t step over.

If you can’t carry your argument without resorting to the moral gutter, you are unfit to be a politician, let alone a mere social-media slave commentator only really interested in clicks and views.   

That said, the latest furore over Wang Zhi-an’s comments on The Night Show about Chen Jun-han Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) had taken the bar even lower to the disgust of any right thinking people. 

It is the equivalent of throwing paint over someone on a train to get a reaction and clicks and views. YouTube is full of this kind of childish stupidity which reduces us all to the level unfit to compare to our planet's animals.     

Wang’s assertion Chen was only rolled out by the DPP to win the sympathy vote is as naive as it is ridiculous and to add the insult of a fit person mimicking someone with involuntary muscle spasms in front of a television audience demonstrates a mind devoid of decency and an individual who is morally bankrupt.     

I guess to Wang, Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest theoretical physicists of our generation deserves similar ridicule, or wheelchair bound US 26th President Teddy Roosevelt despite his Nobel Prize and other achievements. Hawking had late onset Motor Neurone Disease and Roosevelt late onset Poliomyelitis. But Wang seems fine to ridicule such people despite him being only an upstart with a tiny internet voice. 

The comparison is indeed, stark. 

If ridiculing those stricken with disease gives some kind of perverse pleasure and makes you happy then I hope you sleep soundly at night, but please don't act surprised when those with higher morals decry you and point out that you are a disgusting human being not to be taken seriously.

Those outraged by Wang’s antics are more in tune with Western thinking. Talk that The Night Show is ‘American style’ as wide of the mark as it is possible to be. Subtile and humorous satire it certainly is not and making fun of someone’s physical disability would be roundly attacked by all in places like the US and the UK. 

Please make no mistake, if Wang says this is how it is in the west he is lying and just doesn’t understand despite having lived there. The young man is either a dimwit, or, more likely, simply being outrageous for attention. Personally, I think it is a bit of both.      

Wang’s behaviour is simply to gain attention and clicks and views just as internet pranksters are forced to do. It’s pathetic and sad they simply don’t have the intellect to gain an audience via good argument.  

But more depressing is the fact that quite a few, and young people at that, are saying there was nothing wrong with what he said and did. 

I can just about understand that someone desperate for clicks and views can stoop so low to gain notoriety as they aren’t smart enough to do it any other way. But for others to support such exploits is a sad statement on how society is, and indicates the erosion of morals in the people around you on this island.

Taiwan cannot allow this kind of disgusting behaviour to pass unnoticed and I’m glad it has become headline news. The TPP supporters posting messages saying all this OK are misguided, and will rightly be proved wrong by the majority voice of right minded people.

They are also showing themselves up for what they really are. Unfeeling, unsympathetic, ignorant hangers on to what is - to all intents and purposes - a cult. Their comments show them for what they are. Slavish drones unable to think or analyse things for themselves. It’s sad. 

Wang is Chinese. So his behaviour is no real surprise as his brain has been thoroughly washed. China’s young have no faith and no respect for others built into their psyche from birth. I lived in India for six years before living in China for four years and the major difference between the two is the lack of faith in China. Indians grow up to respect other people, from my observations Chinese children grow up thinking they are Princes and Princesses and behave accordingly.

Wang is a classic example of such an offspring. Zero humility, massive ego.  

The mainlander Wang is such a child. He is a clicks and views kid, devoid of critical thinking skills and is only seeking notoriety. He is insignificant and after this, we will never hear from him again despite his swaggering about getting a Japanese or US passport. 

The worrying thing is people here are supporting his views and I’m concerned that others are being influenced by this evil and click-based fool. They are clearly not smart enough to know they are being played. 

I would encourage all those who waded in on social media to reflect how they would feel if their brother, sister, mother, father, uncle, auntie, grandad or grandma were similarly disabled? How would they feel if someone went on national television and made fun of them and everyone laughed along?

A final word about the unprofessionalism of the presenters. Guys, listen to what you guests say and don’t just laugh along with them like unthinking robots. Run your interviews, take control, and most importantly, listen to what people say and do. Clapping like a bunch of seals seeking fish at feeding time is a poor look and you really need to learn your trade. 

This is the vile side of politics and creeping degradation of decency is a slippery slope. Shrug off making fun of disabled people today, tomorrow you may see the wholesale hatred of other sections of society. 

This is a worrying reminder of how common decency can fall out of society under the direction of politicians seeking more influence and power. Read the history books and it’s easy to find out what happens... if this happens.  

A slippery slope, the thin end of the wedge, call it what you will…please God, Taiwan does not go down this route. 

Tinkerty Tonk...

 

BFF - Taiwan 💕 United States

So here we all are with an election result which, as most headlines around the world put it - was a rebuff to China - and by any relevant measure was a convincing demonstration the vast bulk of the Taiwanese people want to avoid getting any closer to China they already are. 

It is clear, even to this foreigner, that the KMT and TPP are China friendly, while the DPP policy is one of guarded engagement, the status-quo and, while not wanting to mention the dreaded ‘I’ word, a country at ease with itself with its democracy of elected rulers and officials, its own laws, its own economy, army, police force, economy, education and health system. 

All institutions that would surely bleed away under Chinese rule as we are currently witnessing with Hong Kong. Not to mention the total loss of freedom-of-speech. 

The DPP loss of overall control of the legislature does carry some dangers if both the KMT and TPP move to attempt to get closer to China against the DDP’s and the new President's basic policies.

But after the unedifying farce of their pre-election attempts to share the Presidency, it would appear there is little likelihood either of them will be able to hone their negotiating skills enough to ever agree on anything of much importance. 

The ex-Taipei mayor’s almost cartoonish glum face splashed across front-pages when the talks collapsed, aptly demonstrated that his ego is way more important to him than policy making. One can only hope their embarrassing squabbles will continue and any madness about getting closer to China will fade as they chest-bump each other like Saturday night drunks in a seedy bar. 

The leader of the KMT and his pleasant but vacant grin didn’t seem to know quite what was happening throughout the entire process and clearly had former KMT President Ma’s hand stuck up his back like a ventriloquist's dummy. 

While the loss of the majority is certainly an issue for the DPP and is certainly a barrier to policy-making, many countries are in the same boat in terms of legislative majorities and get on with things perfectly well, although at a generally slower rate.

The outlying wings of any political party can step in at any time to scupper government initiatives, even if parliamentary votes are whipped. Evidence of this is unfolding before our very eyes with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak completely failing to control his party as the right-wing rebels over an immigration bill. And that is with a large majority without the need to work with a third party. Note the Conservative initial 80-seat majority has been hacked back by by-elections after scandals and resignations.  

So it’s not the end of the world, and I would be quietly confident that if the KMT and TPP band together to try and do something mad like cutting back on defence spending - as we all know some in their ranks would like to do - there would be rebels in their ranks who would defy the whip. That, together with an accompanying public outcry would likely prevent anything stupid happening with regards to China. 

I’m still struggling to come to terms with the fact that one KMT legislator tried to sabotage the launch of Taiwan’s first Hai Kun Class submarine by leaking information about it. In many countries that would be classed as an act of treason.

So madness and stupidity aside, the importance of William Lai’s win, lies more with Taiwan’s diplomatic standing in the world and mainly its continued good relationship with the United States. Of the three candidates he is clearly the best choice to get out there and argue Taiwan’s case around the world and glad-hand its allies.  

The US reaction to his victory was an almost immediate trip by a high-level delegation of former top officials who arrived the following day, and just as immediately testing China’s reaction to the election result. Try to persuade me this was a coincidence or that the trip had not been planned months ago in the event of a Lai victory. 

To this end, Lai’s new job puts him at the forefront of keeping the US on-side and building the diplomatic relationship with its key long-time ally. As Chinese jets overfly Taiwan on a daily basis, their warships test the waters around and thousands of missiles are aimed at you and I, what could be more important than the one country which would step in and help if China goes as crazy as Russia’s President Putin did with Ukraine. 

All that said, it can be hard to like America. It can be brash, crass and selfishly capitalist. It can be self-centred, inward-looking, wilfully difficult and, at times, downright idiotic. 

On top of its existing flawed genetics, the world is currently looking on with amazement at the legal shenanigans surrounding the former president and the apparent madness of some of its political figures whose lies and behaviour, not to put too fine a point on it, is also criminal.

In 1939, soon to be British Prime Minister Winston Churchill described Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" during a radio address on the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It was a metaphorical shrug of the shoulders of puzzlement about a country’s behaviour and actions.

The United States is the same. It is so full of contradictions and currently so volatile politically that it is hard to understand, muchless predict, its behaviour. That said, recent events should, in themselves, be enough to lend weight to the argument that the Good Ole U S of A should be seen as Taiwan’s main hope of salvation. 

There have been two recent announcements which seem to have passed Taiwan media editorial meetings un-noticed. No surprise there, I guess. 

The first was just before Christmas when the US announced it was, as the CNN headline put it “US Air Force to reclaim Pacific airfield that launched atomic bombings as it looks to counter China.” 

This is a significant move and has not had the publicity in Taiwan it deserved. The Pacific airfield they are looking to Air Force is looking to reclaim is on Tinian which is part of the North Mariana Islands which is around 200 kilometres north-east of Guam and 2,760 south-east of where I’m currently sitting by the Tamsui River.   

It is a place out of memory but nevertheless highly significant historically. Those of you with Google Earth can see what it looks like now but in its heyday it was deemed to be the busiest airport in the world - well, there was a war on. Tinian served as the forward operating base in the Pacific and from where it made relentless attacks on the Philippines, Okinawa, and mainland Japan. It was reported the ground literally shook as planes took off every minute of every day. 

It is also notable as the place where America’s B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay and three days later Bockscar took off from to drop the Little Boy (17 Kilotons) and Fat Man (21 Kilotons) nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A Kiloton is a unit of explosive power equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT. This attack ended World War II so Tinian has a significant place in history. 

While its runways are now overgrown with the relentless jungle, the US Air Force plans to spend millions making the airbase operational again. It is worth noting that Taiwan lies around the same distance from Tinian as Japan does so is most certainly within its operational parameters. It is the perfect place for the US to step in and protect Taiwan from the air.

Also, just before Christmas U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law a record-breaking US$886 billion defence policy package which included measures to counter Chinese military activity in the Indo-Pacific region and assist Taiwanese forces.

Globally, China has the second biggest defence spending below the US but it is around a third of the size at around $300 billion. Their military machine is also likely to be far less sophisticated than the US, just as Russia’s military machine proved to be far less effective than a lot of people thought before Ukraine. Remember the predictions after the Ukraine invasion that it would all be over in a week and here we are nearly two years later?

The likely poor state of China’s military seems to be borne out by Xi’s recent purge of corrupt generals following shortfalls in the quality of army equipment including missiles. Bloomberg has a good story about this under the headline - US Intelligence Shows Flawed China Missiles Led Xi to Purge Army - if you want to look it up.    

Meanwhile Japan, historically constrained by its pacifist constitution adopted after surrendering in WWII, is now embarking on a record military expansion and on the same day approved a 16 percent increase in military spending for 2024 to US$56 billion. So Taiwan’s allies are moving in the right direction in any potential defence of the island.

Taiwan is anyway a difficult country to invade from the sea because of its largely rocky coastline, supply lines would be long and difficult to maintain and the only real alternatives are parachute troops or bombing, both extremely risky strategies militarily and diplomatically. 

Add to that the fact that the world would likely react extremely negatively and impose strong sanctions on China in the event of an armed invasion, just as they did on Russia with Ukraine. With the South China Sea dispute an invasion would trigger a wave of unrest across Asia and only serve to isolate China even further and engender a pretty much global wave of hatred towards it. 

I see the likelihood of a military invasion by China as extremely remote.

The one person who might actually scupper any defence of Taiwan by the US could be a man who has proven himself to be an untrustworthy liar and false friend, Donald Trump. The Washington Post says it tracked Trump's false or misleading claims at 30,573 over 4 years. He faces four criminal indictments, two on state charges and two on federal charges. These indictments amount to a total of 91 felony charges.

It’s ironic this is the very man some Taiwanese I meet think he will somehow become the saviour of Taiwan if he regains the presidency. This thinking is fundamentally flawed and seems to be only based on the simplistic notion that because Trump stood up to China more publicly and more aggressively than previous administrations he will obviously pull out all the stops over Taiwan. 

These people could not be more wrong. The current US administration is being tough on China by spending vast sums beefing up the US Pacific military presence and committing to maintaining peace in the Pacific.

Trump also loves Xi and admires him hugely. He described Xi as an exceptionally intelligent individual who governs China’s population with “iron” authority. “Think of President Xi. Central casting, brilliant guy. You know, when I say he’s brilliant, everyone says, ‘Oh that’s terrible',” said Trump. “Well, he runs 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. Smart, brilliant, everything perfect. There’s nobody in Hollywood like this guy.” 

These are the rantings of, I’m sorry to say, an unstable and untrustworthy man and Trump has proved he is happy to push his old friends, allies, lawyers and employees under a bus if it suits him. I would argue he is probably more likely to come down on the side of Xi in a Taiwan invasion scenario, rather than a different president who most likely continues on the current path of putting in place expensive initiatives to keep China at bay in the Pacific.

As president, this man would again be Commander-in-Chief of the military. It really doesn’t bear thinking about if the chips were down with Xi, who he appears to love so much, quite what this unbalanced individual would do. 

If you live in Taiwan you really need to hope Trump is not successful in his current bid to regain the White House. He is way more likely to pull the US away from the Pacific and Taiwan as part of his America First policy. Anyone who thinks the opposite is deluding themselves, or at least gambling on the fact that Trump really has the intellectual capacity to deal with an invasion in a way that would result in anything other than making himself look good.     

Winnie the Pooh once said “A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside." 

The United States is Taiwan’s pot of honey. I hope we don’t lose the last drop.  

Tinkerty Tonk...      

五漢廢言後的群組對話流出

 

Recriminations - That post press conference Whatsapp group chat in full

 

Presentation - Zhang Men Brewery - Kaohsiung November 18, 2023

 

3000 rounds? Yeah, like in the bar afterwards

There’s an old saying amongst copy editors as to whether something in a piece they are editing passes the ‘smell test’. It usually applies to something that sounds exaggerated or morally wrong. Basically, does it look wrong, or fake.

So when our Coconut Cop tried to emphasise what a heroic and lionhearted president he would make, he regaled his audience with a tale of when he faced down three dangerous criminals in an encounter which saw 3000 shots fired. Three Thousand? That doesn’t pass the smell test. 

After some light searching I discovered that what is known as the North Hollywood Shootout is broadly agreed to be the biggest shootout in American history. Two heavily armed bank robbers wearing body armour faced off 64 armed LAPD police officers resulting in the robbers' deaths plus injuries to 12 officers and eight civilians.

It was such a big event they even made a movie about it, although I guess that is no real surprise as it did happen in Hollywood. (44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out. This is the best quality version I could find on YouTube and it’s really not bad.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PUAd8MvqEY

The point is, it is estimated that 2000 shots were fired during the incident which is why our wannabe president’s claim of 3000 at his incident doesn’t pass the smell test, it being 50 percent higher.

I guess you could conclude he was leading a group of dangerously trigger-happy officers whose aim was so appallingly bad that it required emptying all that ammo at their three offenders. Who, nevertheless must have ended up with more holes than Swiss Cheese simply by the law of averages.

I searched for this incident, without success. Maybe it’s worth making a quick movie to bolster his fearless image ahead of January’s vote.

Tinkerty Tonk...