Beyond the Pale with The Slog

I first got to know The Slog, real name John Ward, during the Global Debt Crisis. He and I were both furious with what was happening and more especially with the lies we were being fed whose purpose, it seemed clear to both of us, was to explain nothing and cover up everything. His blog and mine often overlapped. We knew of each other and often found ourselves outraged at the same things.

Since this year looks like it is going to be pivotal in determining the tenor and temper of both European and American politics - and therefore the mainstream Guardians of the official narrative will be out in full force - I thought it fair that a few unauthorised voices get heard.

All during the debt crisis the BBC force fed us the opinions of Stephanie Flanders. She was presented as the voice of reason whose pronouncements, nattily marketed as ‘Stephanomics”, were not to be questioned. In 2013 she left the BBC and joined J.P. Morgan Asset Management as their chief market strategist for Britain and Europe.

Today it is Laura Kuenssberg et al who try to enforce what political and economic opinions are allowed and what are not. Personally I think the rise and rise of the idea that there is a politically or economically ‘correct’ Narrative that right-thinking people need to defend is poisonous and insulting.

I think it is essential, in a democracy, to hear dissenting voices and voices from beyond the pale of polite discourse. Being a grown up I feel myself quite able to hear all sorts of opinions and ideas without running the risk of being somehow brainwashed by them. I don’t need anyone to protect me from bad ideas.

So Ian and I thought it would be good to ask John to join us and chat about a few political things.