Ninjutsu government
Ninjutsu (忍術?) sometimes used interchangeably with the term ninpō (忍法?) is the martial art, strategy, and tactics of unconventional warfare and guerrilla warfare as well as the art of espionage purportedly practiced by the shinobi (commonly known outside of Japan as ninja).[1]
I was reflecting on the perennial matter of who actually runs the country today. It seems very much to me that for all the protestations of “change” and “austerity” and “cut”, for all the faux outrage from the left and all the sanctimonious statements of “fixing the mess” from the right, actually nothing has changed other than the style of presentation from those notionally in charge.
I was struggling to find words to describe my frustration with people not being as annoyed with the new coalition government as they should be. The new government has U-turned on many flagship policies, has tried to implement things that even Gordon Brown couldn’t manage and is claiming things like it’s no longer detaining the children of asylum seekers (it still is) and proclaiming loudly that it is returning the Chagos islanders to their home (it still isn’t).
While trying to find the reason for this, it dawned on me that a useful analogy for the recent governments has been martial arts. Tony Blair’s style of government was like WWE wrestling, lots of flash, lots of soundbites, lots of showing off but very little actual martial artistry. However, it is very entertaining to watch, but once you realise there’s nothing under the flash exterior, the whole spectacle goes off very quickly indeed.
Gordon Brown was like a punch drunk, past-his-prime boxer, standing up at news conferences and making grandiose claims that everyone knew he’d never be able to deliver. Completely lacking finesse, he’d shout his impending achievements out like a drunken sailor, which got everybody’s back up and meant that we couldn’t wait to shut him up.
But the new government is considerably more dangerous. Nimble, evasive and not given to grandiose announcements, like a ninja, the first thing you know of the impending pain is when the blade enters your body from an unexpected angle. Like a ninja, there is no apparent enemy to strike back against. Rather than ministers pronouncing Stalinist plans boldly, announcements are slipped out, almost under the cover of darkness.
There is no focal point of attack. With no Stalinist leader determined to grab all the glory, ministers are not determined to make themselves stand out. Attempts to rain blows on the government are avoided, deflected or the target simply disappears. With no great fanfares, no great “initiatives”, there’s no real easy target to hit.
And like a real ninja, the offenders slip into the night, unseen, untouched and their victims lie there wondering what happened.
I think this may be one of the most dangerous governments this country has ever seen.
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1
October 5, 2010 at 08:19 -
Government of this country is as portrayed in the heyday of Kent Walton’s Saturday afternoon ITV wrestling………….
“You grunt, I’ll groan”
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2
October 5, 2010 at 08:48 -
3
October 5, 2010 at 09:11 -
All politicians are dangerous. When they achieve the real POWER of GOVERNMENT they are all, whatever their style, claimed ideology or policies, at their most dangerous. As in that most frightening of statements, “I’m from the Government and I’m here to help you.”
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4
October 5, 2010 at 09:36 -
Whilst I may disagree, I may also be wrong. And I am also able to change my minds, and to admire a good polemic!
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5
October 5, 2010 at 11:48 -
Parties have congealed into one mess. Like oils of a different nature and water. At first the elements are distinct, but as they are agitated the distinction becomes less clear, and ultimately ends up as an emulsion, only good for ‘whetting’ a blade.
At all times in living memory, and before, politics has been the tool of financiers, and when the pressure upon them increases, so does the pressure on the politicans to buckle and cow tow to their demands. There is a very dark side to government that is almost totally global. Once it achieves a ‘one-ness’, the long term penaties for many will be death. Not by the Ninja sword, but through famine, food and fuel poverty, injection, and injunction (Bertrand Russell 1952). We have the edge beginning to show with electricity tariffs being increased to ‘offset’ the inefficient Huhne windmills (they grind you down).
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6
October 5, 2010 at 14:01 -
“Parties have congealed into one mess. Like oils of a different nature and water. At first the elements are distinct, but as they are agitated the distinction becomes less clear, and ultimately ends up as an emulsion, only good for ‘whetting’ a blade.”
Derek, that is a very good analogy. If I may, I would like to extend it a bit:
The three parties have also congealed into one homogenous mess because they have become disconnected from their voters, activists and beliefs and have become stuck in a thick impenetrable “Westminster” Bubble. The forces of spin add to the churning effect and the hot air of lies, self justification and deceit keep the mixture on the boil.
We are left with a ruling class that is made up from the narrowest of gene-pools, Our Masters are identikit politico clones who went to the same schools, had the same parents, did the same PPE degrees, did the same short list of non-jobs, worked briefly for the same think tanks, go to the same social gatherings, get lobbied by the same think tanks and fake charities.
It gets worse, because these people are surrounded by a similarly narrow group of self-serving civil servants who cry foul and panic if they have to endure the same hours, pension rights, ability to be sacked as the private sector tax payers.
Joe Normals (and Josephine Normals) like us are never likely to encounter, engage or influence these people. They are now more similar to China’s last emperor, ruthlessly kept away from his people in the Forbidden City and surrounded by eunuchs.
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9
October 6, 2010 at 11:33 -
Ninjitsu? Nitjitsu more like.
These clowns lack some of the malicious marxism of ZaNu (the EU will take care of that for Cammy)but they are just as useless.
They sit there like the half-witted villagers at the beginning of “Conan the Barbarian” with no palisade or defence around the village and nobody on watch. Meanwhile Thulsa Doom and his crew (think The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse plus lots of hangers on) are riding down on them(and us).
Ninjitsu?. Gnatjitsu.
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