Wednesday, 17 June 2015
'Paul Bookland' by Domo
Domo's work always pushes the boundaries of creative expression and forces us to reconsider what we think we know. His most famous piece, 'Paul Bookland', is a perfect example: why is it, we wonder, that the artist can announce Paul's fate with such confidence? There are not enough resources available to help people off drugs: Paul Bookland is a smack head for life. The War On Drugs has failed: drugs are cheaper, purer and more available than ever: Paul Bookland is a smack head for life. Or perhaps it's more than that? What if Paul has inherited a strong genetic predisposition towards addiction? Paul Bookland is a smack head for life; free will is an illusion; all of us, in our own ways, are smack heads for life.
Meet Your Overlords: The Conservative Cabinet
David Cameron, Prime Minister
Since he came to power in 2010 the UK has seen the longest sustained decline in wages since records began, while the 1000 richest families have more than doubled their wealth.
Cameron's family has a long history in the financial sector.
George Osborne, First Secretary of State & Chancellor of the Exchequer
During his time as chancellor, the government borrowed more money in 5 years than the previous Labour government did in the 13 preceding years, increasing the national debt from 54% of GDP in 2010 to 82% at present (£1.56 trillion: £1,960,000,000,000), losing the UK's triple A credit rating in the process (the first time it has been downgraded since the 1970s). He has also failed to eliminate the deficit in the timescale he promised: it's only been cut by about a third. When pressed about his economic failures, Osborne chants 'We've got a balanced plan! We've got a balanced plan!', hoping that everyone will forget that he's making it up as he goes along.
Theresa May, Home Secretary
Theresa wants to ban all psychoactive substances by default while also cutting police funding, making it a great time to get involved in organised crime. Her proposed Counter-Extremism legislation will prevent people from posting content on the internet or speaking in public, if the government has 'reasonable belief' that the individual might become a criminal in the future. (The Coalition passed legislation banning non-profit organisations, such as the Trussell food bank charity, from criticising the government's actions.) She is not a fan of human rights: she wants to get rid of both the Human Rights Act and the European Convention of Human Rights. If we left the latter, we would join Belarus (the last dictatorship in Europe) as the only European countries not part of the convention. Even Russia is a member. She seems to be motivated by extreme moral puritanism and authoritarianism more than anything else.
Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary
Philip thinks the UK's relationship with the EU is fixable. He also thinks that legalising same-sex marriage has damaged the reputation of the Conservative party.
Iain Duncan Smith, Work and Pensions Secretary
Iain has led a reign of terror against the disabled people of Britain, stripping them of the benefits they need to live. His actions have broken UN human rights convention and British laws. To deal with the latter, he rushed through some emergency legislation which retroactively made his unlawful actions legal. He ignored the former.
("I will make it legal," said Iain Duncan Sidious:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz20lu2AM2k)
Michael Fallon, Defence Secretary
He thinks foreign aid should count as part of the defence budget, because foreign aid helps to stabilise regions and prevent future wars which Britain might have to take part in. This is an attempt at economic sleight of hand: the cabinet wants to cut the defence budget, but NATO requires the government to spend at least 2% of the budget on defence.
Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary
Jeremy has no experience of working in the health sector. In 2008 he co-authored a book which called for the NHS to be abolished. Last year legislation was introduced which gave him to the power to shut down any hospital he wanted, giving only 40 days notice. Before the Conservatives came into power, public satisfaction with the NHS was at an all-time high. Now it's on the decline.
The Coalition cut £20 billion from the NHS budget. Large chunks of the NHS have been privatised and sold to Tory party donors.
No doubt that as Jeremy continues his work and the government comes under fire, psychopathic Cameron with summon the corpse of his dead son to help him feign love for the NHS.
Jeremy also thinks that homeopathy works.
Chris Grayling, Leader of the House of Commons
Chris has been promoted from Justice Secretary: he was the first Justice Secretary in British history to have no legal qualifications whatsoever.
Michael Gove, Justice Secretary
Michael was once Education Secretary, but the teachers hated him. Now he is the second Justice Secretary in British history to have no legal qualifications whatsoever.
Nicky Morgan, Education Secretary & Minister for Equality
She voted against legalising same-sex marriage. After the law passed, she decided that she was actually in favour of it.
Baroness Tina Stowell of Beeston, Leader of the House of Lords
Tina comes from Beeston, Nottingham. She is responsible for the House of Lords, our government's unelected second chamber.
It turns out that the cabinet is a lot bigger than I thought when I started this post. I think I've covered the main ones above. The others are:
Sajid Javid: Business, Innovation and Skills Secretary
Amber Rudd: Energy and Climate Change Secretary
John Whittingdale: Culture, Media and Sport Secretary
Liz Truss: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary
Justine Greening: International Development Secretary
Patrick McLoughlin: Transport Secretary
Greg Clark: Communities and Local Government Secretary
Theresa Villiers: Northern Ireland Secretary
Stephen Crabb: Wales Secretary
David Mundell: Scotland Secretary
Greg Hands: Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Mark Harper: Chief Whip
Anna Soubry: Minister for Small Business
Priti Patel: Minister for Employment
Robert Halfon: Minister Without Portfolio
Matthew Hancock: Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Jeremy Wright: Attorney General
Boris Johnson: Mayor of London
Lord Feldman of Elstree: Conservative Party Chairman
Oliver Letwin: Overall responsibility for the Cabinet
They are our rulers for the next five years (unless there's a cabinet reshuffle). Given how inappropriate, under-qualified and incompetent many of the Cabinet members have shown themselves to be, I sometimes wonder why anyone would vote Conservative. But then I remember that if I hadn't gone out of my way to look into it then I may also have been taken in by the relentless propaganda machine.
We'll never know what the Cabinet would have looked like if the election had ended differently: maybe they would have been just as underqualified and incompetent, but their hearts might have been slightly closer to the right place.
Hebrew Bible: Genesis Super Summary
1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and the seas and the stars and the Moon and the animals and a man. God saw his creation, and it was very good. God placed the man in a garden called Eden, and made for him a companion, a 'woman'.
The man and the woman were happy in Eden, free from shame and guilt. In the centre of the garden were two trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil. The man and the woman had only one rule to follow in the garden: the fruit from the latter tree was forbidden.
The serpent was the craftiest beast in God's creation; it told the woman that the fruit would make her more like God, because God has knowledge of good and evil. She took of its fruit ate, and gave some to the man, who also ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They covered their loins with fig leaves.
Then God found the man and the woman, ashamed of their nakedness.
God cursed the serpent, forcing it to lie on its belly forever.
God cursed the woman, forcing pain on childbirth.
God cursed the man, forcing him to till the ground for food.
And then God banished the man and the woman from the Garden of Eden, fearing that they might eat of the Tree of Life and live forever.
The man's name was Adam; the woman's, Eve. They bore two daughters and two sons. The sons names were Cain and Abel.
Cain farmed vegetables; Abel farmed sheep. They both made offerings of their produce to God, but God had little regard for Cain's vegetables.
Cain became jealous of his brother, so killed him.
God cursed Cain. No longer would vegetables grow for him. Cain wandered away from the first family.
Adam and Eve had another son, Seth.
2
1,500 years later...
Humans multiplied, and wickedness multiplied with them. And God saw their wickedness and regretting creating them. But amongst all the evil God saw one righteous family: the family of Noah.
God told Noah that life was to be blotted out, but his family shall survive. He instructed Noah to build an ark, and to take onto the ark a pair of every unclean animal, and seven pairs of all clean animals.
Once all of Noah's preparations were complete, the fountains of deep burst and windows of heaven opened. The water rose to cover all of the mountains. All the men, women and children; all the animals of the land and the birds of the sky were blotted out. He killed them all with the waters of the flood. Only Noah and his ark remained.
They lived in the Ark for one year before was dry again. After the ark is emptied, Noah built an altar to God, and burnt a piece of each clean animal. God smelled the burning flesh and it was a pleasing aroma. God promised Noah that he would never again kill every living thing using a flood. He placed a rainbow in the sky as a reminder of this promise.
3
50 years later...
Some of Noah's descendants decided to build a city in the land of Shinar, and in that city there would be a tower reaching all the way to heaven. God saw their work and worried; he saw that the people had only one language, and if they continued this way nothing would be impossible for them.
So God confused their language. The Tower of Babel was never completed, and the people spread across the earth.
4
300 years later...
God told a man named Abram to leave his home, the city of Nahor, and travel to a far away land: Canaan. Abraham followed God's command, and travelled to Canaan with his wife, Sarai.
Once there, Abraham is told by God to cut off his foreskin, and the foreskin of male in his household; in return, God will give the land of Canaan to Abraham's offspring. God gave Abraham a son, Isaac.
One day, God told Abraham to kill Isaac on the top of a mountain. Abraham was ready to do it, but an angel appeared as the knife was near Isaac's throat, and the boy's life was saved. God was only testing Abraham's devotion.
5
Isaac married a woman called Rebekah. She gave birth to twin sons: Esau and Jacob. After they had grown up, Jacob used trickery to obtain his brother's birthright and his father's blessing. Then Jacob fled to Haran, fearing his brother's revenge.
Jacob spent many years in Haran, working for Laban, his mother's brother. He married both of Laban's daughters. One day he decided to return home.
On the way home, Jacob spent a night a Jabbok river having a wrestling match with God. Jacob won, but dislocated his hip. God blessed Jacob and told him to change his name to 'Israel'.
When Israel returned home, Esau greeted him warmly.
Israel had twelve sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph and Benjamin.
6
Joseph was Israel's favourite son, but this made his brothers jealous. They faked his death and sold him into slavery.
But God was with Joseph, and assisted him in all he did. Joseph was successful in Egypt, and became the Pharaoh's prime minister. He foresaw a seven plentiful years followed by seven years of famine. He advised the Pharaoh to save one-fifth of the land's produce for the famine.
When the famine came, all the people of Egypt bought grain from the Pharaoh's supply until they had no money left. Then they traded all of their livestock for grain. Then they traded all their land for grain. Thus Joseph impoverished the Egyptians, and made them servants of the Pharaoh.
Joseph's brothers travelled to Egypt; the famine had hit Canaan too. They did not recognise Joseph, and he pretended not to know them. After several encounters, Joseph could not keep up the ruse; he burst into tears and told his brothers who he was. He told them not to be afraid; he had forgiven them their evil. God had taken their evil and used it for good.
He told them to bring the entire family to Egypt. The Pharaoh gave them the best land in Egypt.
On his deathbed, Israel blesses his twelve sons, the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and the seas and the stars and the Moon and the animals and a man. God saw his creation, and it was very good. God placed the man in a garden called Eden, and made for him a companion, a 'woman'.
The man and the woman were happy in Eden, free from shame and guilt. In the centre of the garden were two trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil. The man and the woman had only one rule to follow in the garden: the fruit from the latter tree was forbidden.
The serpent was the craftiest beast in God's creation; it told the woman that the fruit would make her more like God, because God has knowledge of good and evil. She took of its fruit ate, and gave some to the man, who also ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They covered their loins with fig leaves.
Then God found the man and the woman, ashamed of their nakedness.
God cursed the serpent, forcing it to lie on its belly forever.
God cursed the woman, forcing pain on childbirth.
God cursed the man, forcing him to till the ground for food.
And then God banished the man and the woman from the Garden of Eden, fearing that they might eat of the Tree of Life and live forever.
The man's name was Adam; the woman's, Eve. They bore two daughters and two sons. The sons names were Cain and Abel.
Cain farmed vegetables; Abel farmed sheep. They both made offerings of their produce to God, but God had little regard for Cain's vegetables.
Cain became jealous of his brother, so killed him.
God cursed Cain. No longer would vegetables grow for him. Cain wandered away from the first family.
Adam and Eve had another son, Seth.
2
1,500 years later...
Humans multiplied, and wickedness multiplied with them. And God saw their wickedness and regretting creating them. But amongst all the evil God saw one righteous family: the family of Noah.
God told Noah that life was to be blotted out, but his family shall survive. He instructed Noah to build an ark, and to take onto the ark a pair of every unclean animal, and seven pairs of all clean animals.
Once all of Noah's preparations were complete, the fountains of deep burst and windows of heaven opened. The water rose to cover all of the mountains. All the men, women and children; all the animals of the land and the birds of the sky were blotted out. He killed them all with the waters of the flood. Only Noah and his ark remained.
They lived in the Ark for one year before was dry again. After the ark is emptied, Noah built an altar to God, and burnt a piece of each clean animal. God smelled the burning flesh and it was a pleasing aroma. God promised Noah that he would never again kill every living thing using a flood. He placed a rainbow in the sky as a reminder of this promise.
3
50 years later...
Some of Noah's descendants decided to build a city in the land of Shinar, and in that city there would be a tower reaching all the way to heaven. God saw their work and worried; he saw that the people had only one language, and if they continued this way nothing would be impossible for them.
So God confused their language. The Tower of Babel was never completed, and the people spread across the earth.
4
300 years later...
God told a man named Abram to leave his home, the city of Nahor, and travel to a far away land: Canaan. Abraham followed God's command, and travelled to Canaan with his wife, Sarai.
Once there, Abraham is told by God to cut off his foreskin, and the foreskin of male in his household; in return, God will give the land of Canaan to Abraham's offspring. God gave Abraham a son, Isaac.
One day, God told Abraham to kill Isaac on the top of a mountain. Abraham was ready to do it, but an angel appeared as the knife was near Isaac's throat, and the boy's life was saved. God was only testing Abraham's devotion.
5
Isaac married a woman called Rebekah. She gave birth to twin sons: Esau and Jacob. After they had grown up, Jacob used trickery to obtain his brother's birthright and his father's blessing. Then Jacob fled to Haran, fearing his brother's revenge.
Jacob spent many years in Haran, working for Laban, his mother's brother. He married both of Laban's daughters. One day he decided to return home.
On the way home, Jacob spent a night a Jabbok river having a wrestling match with God. Jacob won, but dislocated his hip. God blessed Jacob and told him to change his name to 'Israel'.
When Israel returned home, Esau greeted him warmly.
Israel had twelve sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph and Benjamin.
6
Joseph was Israel's favourite son, but this made his brothers jealous. They faked his death and sold him into slavery.
But God was with Joseph, and assisted him in all he did. Joseph was successful in Egypt, and became the Pharaoh's prime minister. He foresaw a seven plentiful years followed by seven years of famine. He advised the Pharaoh to save one-fifth of the land's produce for the famine.
When the famine came, all the people of Egypt bought grain from the Pharaoh's supply until they had no money left. Then they traded all of their livestock for grain. Then they traded all their land for grain. Thus Joseph impoverished the Egyptians, and made them servants of the Pharaoh.
Joseph's brothers travelled to Egypt; the famine had hit Canaan too. They did not recognise Joseph, and he pretended not to know them. After several encounters, Joseph could not keep up the ruse; he burst into tears and told his brothers who he was. He told them not to be afraid; he had forgiven them their evil. God had taken their evil and used it for good.
He told them to bring the entire family to Egypt. The Pharaoh gave them the best land in Egypt.
On his deathbed, Israel blesses his twelve sons, the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel.
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