I wish I could believe that it was confined to America, but I think it's just "people". I always used to believe, naively, that millions followed Hitler and Mussolini and all the rest because populations were far less sophisticated back then, with very little access to information and very little opportunity to travel, and all that kind of stuff. You know - if only they could have seen the bigger picture, and so on.

Well, what a crock of sh1te that turned out to be. Today we have all the world's encyclopaedias in our pockets, we have 24-hour TV, and can travel more or less anywhere. And what do so many people do wirh it? Watch cat gifs and reality TV, post pictures of their breakfast, gamble online, read the Daily Mail and watch Fox News, holiday in places where they know they can still get a Big Mac and fries, and follow dangerous charlatans like Donald Trump.

It pains me to say it, but I think that the natural human condition is significantly right of centre politically, with the majority showing scant interest in gaining knowledge or improving themselves - unless that "improvement" is material, comes with little or no effort, and is at the expense of others.

Taken as a whole, we're still slaves to our ancient genes and are still living in a world every bit as Darwinian as that of the beasts of the jungle.

Here's a bang-up-to-date modern classic to add to the list, mervyn:

Americans Aren’t Drinking Corona Beer Due to Coronavirus Outbreak

In a recent survey conducted by 5W Public Relations that polled 737 American beer drinkers, a startling 38% said they would not, under any circumstances, drink the popular Mexican beer during the current viral outbreak. To be clear, there is no known (or logical) connection between the beverage and the novel coronavirus (other than its name), yet 16% of those surveyed said they weren’t so sure of that.

Here's a bang-up-to-date modern classic to add to the list, mervyn:

Americans Aren’t Drinking Corona Beer Due to Coronavirus Outbreak

In a recent survey conducted by 5W Public Relations that polled 737 American beer drinkers, a startling 38% said they would not, under any circumstances, drink the popular Mexican beer during the current viral outbreak. To be clear, there is no known (or logical) connection between the beverage and the novel coronavirus (other than its name), yet 16% of those surveyed said they weren’t so sure of that.

Isn't Corona Mexican beer?

Isn't Corona Mexican beer?

It is - so a real double whammy for that 38%, which is a remarkably close match to the hardcore Trump-worshipping, MAGA hat-wearing "low information voter" demographic. Funny, that, innit?

I love that "low information voter" euphemism. "Thick as pigsh1t, and pig-ignorant to boot, but we're not allowed to say that."

Taken as a whole, we're still slaves to our ancient genes and are still living in a world every bit as Darwinian as that of the beasts of the jungle.

Pedant alert!! (But with an optimistic message)

Darwinism gets a bad rap Micky and is widely misunderstood with regard to human behaviour– so I object to you associating it with the sort of D1ckheads that wear MAGA hats etc.

There’s a an excellent explanation in Richard Dawkins famous work ‘The selfish gene’ that explains (with mathematical game theory models) how and why altruism & mutual co-operation evolved in social species like ours. It is actually ‘selfish’ to be altruistic – we benefit as individuals to help others that we share our environment with. There is a definite long term pay-back so the best survival strategy is to be a ‘grudger’ – a term Dawkins coined to describe a behaviour where you trust others, even strangers, unless they then refuse to reciprocate in which case your co-operation with them then ceases. In any given population a variety of strategies can survive – there will be some continually selfish and some continually altruistic individuals but their numbers will be self-limiting because in the long term the ‘grudger’ is the most efficient behaviour and their numbers will dominate. So natural selection favours most of us to have an inherent sense of empathy and altruism – but with limits - and inevitably in a minority of individuals in any population will have more selfish tendencies. But they are a minority. Most people in most circumstances will help even complete strangers – I’ve always liked something Billy Connolly said about “a stranger is a friend I’ve just met – unless he then shows me he’s a b****d”. Classic grudger.

I meant it broadly (nature red in tooth and claw, life is nasty, brutish and short, and all that) but your point is well taken (he said, grudgingly). There do seem to be very few grudgers around these days, though.

I loathe to say it but Trump against Biden will see Trump get another term.

The Democrat's just haven't learned that they stick someone with dirt up against Trump and he will rake it up every opportunity. Real politicians for example seem afraid to mention his dalliance with porn stars and the so many things that makes him abhorrent. The thing is that Biden's son and his dealings with Burisma were not illegal, just highly improper and yet you know Trump will make this out to be the crime of the century.

There was even talk of Clinton trying again for god's sake!

Another 4 years of Trump's political brand just when we're reliant on having safe governance of the US in order to cut a good deal after Brexit.

I'm actually not so sure that Biden will be such an easy target now. The GOP will certainly try very hard, of course, but I think there'll be an effect similar to the one that's somehow served Trump so well: been there, done that. Everybody already knows now that Biden's son worked for Burisma and it doesn't seem to have done Biden much harm; and Trump, having been found out long before I would imagine that he wanted to use that so-called dirt, has well and truly shot his bolt - I hope.

I would also hope that the sudden enormous swing to Biden, and the huge turnouts in these recent primaries, bode well for a repetition of the 2018 midterm blue wave when the time comes, and a return to a semblance of sense in the voting public who see Biden as a solid Obama-esque moderate and somebody they can actually vote for - unlike the unloved Hillary. Much as I admire Sanders' and Warren's radical plans it's far too easy for the GOP smear mechanism to brand them as dangerous communists, and far too easy for nervous voters to suspect that they actually are.

I can't say that I particularly like Biden - too much the slick politician for my tastes - but after all the back and forth I do think he's the candidate with the best chance of beating the permatanned popinjay.

I just wish that Warren and Sanders would drop out now, to make things nice and clean and tidy. Warren might any time now, but Sanders won't - and why should he at this stage, really? I just think the writing is on the wall now, though, and I hope he isn't bloody-minded and doesn't cause ugliness when they should be concentrating their efforts on defeating the Great Satan.

I’ve been struggling over who to hope wins the Democratic race too. Politically Sanders ticks most of my views but I just can’t imagine anyone like him ever becoming American President. Maybe a dashing, charismatic, youngish tele-genic character (preferably with war hero credentials) could pull it off. But Sanders? Bizarrely he seems to mobilise the young vote which gives hope for the future and gives a lie to the idea that left wing opinion is just a wacky minority in the US - but I just can’t see the numbers working. Sure he will attract new support who perhaps currently don’t vote – but America is still a conservative country and there will be many older voters who dislike Trump but will see him as the lesser evil.

So reluctantly I’ve just been praying for any one of the others to break thru’ and capture the imagination. Sadly it hasn’t happened and Biden seems to be the default middle ground candidate. I say sadly because he isn’t exactly inspiring, he is part of the tired old-guard establishment and frankly he sometimes seems a bit ‘confused’ and incoherent. It’s worrying that Obama has been noticeably reticent to speak in support of him during the primaries. I also worry he will come a-cropper at some point in what will be an intense and exhausting campaign. Say what you like about Trump but he can fight with all the energy & gusto of a sewer rat and I just don’t see Biden being up to it. Let’s hope he has good people around him. At least Bloomberg’s attempt failed sol we will not have to witness two ageing, authoritarian billionaires with racist & borderline racist views trying to buy the White House. Be grateful for small mercies I suppose.

My thoughts exactly.

Biden is all a bit dull and safe and old-school establishment, for sure; but god knows that's exactly what America needs at this point in its history. Some kind of "socialist revolution" immediately following a Trump presidency could be just as disruptive in its own way (thanks to so many extreme negative reactions) as Trump's reign of chaos itself.

And Biden does seem to have one other major thing going for him, related to that "been there, done that" effect: he seems to be coated in almost as much Teflon as Trump himself.

Is the virus a turning point in the mind thought of American citizens. He has done so much to dismantle Obamacare and this virus could affect the rich and the poor with no boundaries. It could get the arguements back on to health care and the need for a national system over there

Is the virus a turning point in the mind thought of American citizens. He has done so much to dismantle Obamacare and this virus could affect the rich and the poor with no boundaries. It could get the arguements back on to health care and the need for a national system over there

Yes, this is one area where Trump's spin and lies will be flatly contradicted by personal experience as cases break out all across the country because almost nothing is being done to contain it, or even to acknowledge it as anything potentially serious. Imagine if a MAGA rally turned out to be a hotspot that spread the virus to thousands of people - lordy lordy!

This morning I've heard that the administration assured the nation that they'd have a million tests ready by the end of this week. How many are ready today? 75,000, or 7.5%. The thing is that they don't want to test millions, because they know it's going to look disastrous. When I say "they" I don't mean the CDC, of course; I mean Truimp and cronies.

I also saw a video today of a Wall Street trader* saying that "we should just give the virus to everybody in the world", then in a month's time it will all be over and the stock markets can get back to normal. Unbefrickinlievable.

*Updated to clarify: actually CNBC presenter Rick Santelli. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEU-Bk0gMi4

Is the virus a turning point in the mind thought of American citizens. He has done so much to dismantle Obamacare and this virus could affect the rich and the poor with no boundaries. It could get the arguements back on to health care and the need for a national system over there

Yes, this is one area where Trump's spin and lies will be flatly contradicted by personal experience as cases break out all across the country because almost nothing is being done to contain it, or even to acknowledge it as anything potentially serious. Imagine if a MAGA rally turned out to be a hotspot that spread the virus to thousands of people - lordy lordy!

This morning I've heard that the administration assured the nation that they'd have a million tests ready by the end of this week. How many are ready today? 75,000, or 7.5%. The thing is that they don't want to test millions, because they know it's going to look disastrous. When I say "they" I don't mean the CDC, of course; I mean Truimp and cronies.

I also saw a video today of a Wall Street trader* saying that "we should just give the virus to everybody in the world", then in a month's time it will all be over and the stock markets can get back to normal. Unbefrickinlievable.

*Updated to clarify: actually CNBC presenter Rick Santelli. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEU-Bk0gMi4

Yes well: money means more than your Grandmother's life?
They really would sell their own Grandma: 'As long as the global economy got back on track!'.

Making America Grandmaless Again!!


Didn't Trump say that anyone who had a mild illness should just go to work as normal?
But then, did he not then say that he had not said it??