CoffeeHousers' Wall

Adam McNestrie

It is obvious now that Mugabe’s regime has been hollowed out so comprehensively by the opposition, the economic crisis and the violence that no one – in or out of power – believes anymore in the official narrative of a great man heroically resisting the attacks of the spiteful Colonialist West. And yet the state-sponsored media in Zimbabwe continues to recycle these seemingly gratuitous lies. Why?

In part because they are gratutious. What could be more terrifying than a public discourse which proceeds as before in a regime where no one has any faith in the words anymore? Orthodox public communication has been reduced to the enactment of a ritual of power in which those talking and those listening rehearse a sham discourse. In so doing, they attest in their utterances and action to the power of a regime that can force people to go through the motions of communicating, when in fact everything that is said is meaningless. There is a nightmare quality of absurdity to it, something bleakly cold and unreal.

Read more at my blog, Just who the hell are we? hosted by wordpress.com, at:
http://adammcnestrie.wordpress.com/

Rex Burr

I am puzzled by the reliance on ‘interest rates’ to regulate the economy. It appears to be a blunt weapon.
Rates are raised to damp down a ‘bubble’ yet I, and many like me, not wealthy but old and sensible, do not have a mortgage and have no borrowings. An increase in interest rates increases our spending power by giving us a bigger return on our savings so is counter to the desired result.
Increased interest rates have an adverse effect on the businesses we rely on to limit the growth of our balance of payments deficit.
Surely changes to the VAT rate would be more effective and could be accommodated by computerised systems

Chuck Unsworth

What I'd like to see against the Wall is the entire Government.

But maybe that's not quite what you meant.

PERSISTENT Perry

WHAT’S GOING ON? DO POSTS GET THROUGH? IS SPECCY OFF AIR? HAS ZANU COME TO UK? HERE’S ANOTHER ATTEMPTS . . .

So . . . today (25 June @ 1315) . . . with (B)ovine Boris emasculated, DD just an irrelevance (according to some), DC the political push-me-pull-you sales-rep of we-know-not-what who faces both ways at once, - who are we left with who will speak for us?

Who are we? - just common-as-muck people, the salt of the earth people, - unsophisticated, non-metro ruralists, who still remember a land of severe, but satisfying, get-on-and-do-it-yourself independently spirited and minded, yet kindly people, untainted by clever jumped-up little squirts who adore such jumped-up little squirts as Bliar et al.

And . . . a speedier pick up of Speccy CH link. Why so slow sometimes? Or is Speccy downloading lots of cookies like t’grouniad perhaps?

Pete Hoskin

Adam, Rex, Chuck: I've taken the liberty of reproducing your comments on the actual wall, here:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/792896/coffeehousers-wall-23-june-29-june.thtml

Perry: We've been having problems with the site. I think your Wall posts should show up eventually. If not, you could always try reposting, or sending them to me on phoskin @ spectator.co.uk and I'll put them up.