Frankie Boyle TV - Princeton University - Noam Chomsky - The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler TV - The Nazis: A Warning From History TV - Yes Minister TV - Yes Prime Minister TV - Stanley Fischer - William Shakespeare - Abraham Lincoln - Henry Clay - Misha Glenny - Spitting Image TV - David Icke - Storyville: One Child Nation TV - Yes, Minister TV -
The Tory manifesto had some incredibly unpopular policies: the most unpopular one obviously this idea that if you’re a pensioner, you get dementia – you might lose your house. That’s the most unpopular policy you can come up with for pensioners. For pensioners that’s like putting VAT on racism. And it amazes me – pensioners won’t just acquiesce into having a Conservative government they’ll actually go out and vote for it. These people will crawl along the pavement to go and vote themselves out of their own house! Frankie Boyle’s New World Order I, BBC 2017
Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. Princeton University study, cited Who Controls America?
The goal is to eliminate public meddling in policy formation. This has been largely achieved in the United States, where there is little in the way of political organizations, functioning unions, media independence of the corporate oligopoly, or other popular structures that might offer people means to gain information, clarify and develop their ideas, put them forth in the political arena, and work to realize them. As long as each individual is facing the television tube alone, formal freedom poses no threat to privilege. Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy
Fiscal policy constitutes a long-term shift of resources to the wealthy. The ‘staggering’ costs discussed by the federal auditors will be paid by the poor and the working class who have been left out of the consumption binge that economists now blame for the clouds on the horizon, just as the taxpayer is called upon to bail out speculators hoping to profit from deregulation of the Savings and Loans institutions, and probably, before too long, the banks that reaped enormous profits by lending to the wealthy classes and neo-Nazi military rulers who took over much of Latin America with US backing from the early 1960s. ibid.
The basic contours of domestic and foreign policy are determined by institutional structures of power and domination. Since these are stable over long periods, policies vary little, reflecting the perceived interests and shared understanding of those whose domestic privilege confers power. ibid.
[Adam] Smith held that the principle architects of global policy our merchants and manufacturers have sought to ensure their own interests are most peculiarly attended to however grievous the impacts on others. Noam Chomsky, Failed States audio
The war on drugs also had an important domestic component much like the war on crime: it served to frighten the domestic population into obedience as domestic policies were being implemented to benefit extreme wealth at the expense of the large majority. ibid.
The public is diametrically opposed to almost the entire thrust of policy and has been consistently. Noam Chomsky, lecture BMFA 18th February 1993
The public was in favour of social spending over military spending by a very large margin … The public was even in favour of higher taxes for social spending … It doesn’t make any difference; the public is not supposed to take part in politics, it’s not their job. ibid.
The US supports dictatorship and blocks democracy and development … George W Bush’s plaintive plea that they hate our freedoms, and they [NSC] concluded that no, they don’t hate our freedoms, they hate our policies and with good reason, the same reason they did in the 1950s. Noam Chomsky, Rickman Godlee lecture 2011, ‘Contours of Global Order’, Youtube 1.39.23
Social policy is geared to the transfer of wealth and power to those who already have it and deliberately so. Noam Chomsky, lecture 1996, ‘The Class War’, Youtube 52.41
Hitler did not approve of discussion nor of detailed policy. The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler I: Leading Millions Into the Abyss, BBC 2012
From the first, Hitler openly said he didn’t have detailed policies. The Nazis: A Warning from History: Chaos and Consent, BBC 1997
Government Policy has nothing to do with common sense. Yes, Minister: A Question of Loyalty s2e7, Sir Humphrey before Select Committee, BBC 1981
Yes, I do see there is a real dilemma here. In that while it has been government policy to regard policy as the responsibility of ministers, and administration as the responsibility of officials, the questions of administrative policy can cause confusion between the policy of administration and the administration of policy. ibid. Sir Humphrey to Select Committee
Well almost all government policy is wrong. Yes, Minister: The Whisky Priest s3e6, Sir Humphrey to Jim, with Bernard
Our policy is not to have a policy. Yes, Prime Minister: The Bishop’s Gambit s1e7, Jim to Sir Humphrey, with Bernard, BBC 1986
What will lift people out of poverty is not cancelling their debt but what policies their countries pursue. Stanley Fischer, IMF
That were some love but little policy. William Shakespeare, Richard II V i 84
But he has forced us to compel this offer,
And it proceeds from policy, not love. William Shakespeare, II Henry IV IV i 145-146, Mowbray
For policy sits above conscience. William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens III ii 88
I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day. Abraham Lincoln
In a scheme of policy which is devised for a nation, we should not limit our views to its operation during a single year, or even for a short term of years. We should look at its operation for a considerable time, and in war as well as in peace. Henry Clay
The debate between Washington and Ottawa and the future course of narcotics policy have enormous implications for the shadow global economy, for transnational organised crime, for international policing, and for domestic policy around the world. Misha Glenny, McMafia
Brown: At last we’ve got a policy. But we don’t know what it means …
Blair: It’s going backwards to go forwards to go back to a better Britain … Spitting Image s18e3, ITV 1996
They dictate a common policy, and at the heart of that is the constant and incessant centralization of power so the few have more and more power every passing week. David Icke, Oxford Union Debating Society 2008
1979: China launches its one-child policy. 1982: The one-child policy is written into China’s constitution. 2015: China ends its one-child policy. On the day China’s one-child policy ended, the Communist Party of China announced [that] the one-child policy has made the country more powerful, the people more prosperous, and the world more peaceful. Storyville: One Child Nation, BBC 2019
‘The one-child policy was very strict back then. I personally witnessed many homes demolished because families refused forced sterilisation. Their roof was ripped apart.’ ibid.
‘It was really fucked up. I couldn’t bear to watch.’ ibid. rural village official of enforced policy
‘I want to atone for my sins, for all the abortions and killings I did.’ ibid. village midwife
I’ve been asked to formulate and develop a national transport policy by the prime minister. Yes, Minister: The Bed of Nails s3e5, Jim to Sir Humphrey, with Bernard, BBC 1982