parafox
Sunday, September 27, 2026
Linux Moving Forward Without A Quality Protocol
Saturday, September 26, 2026
RAVANA Tribes in Ceylon
RAVANA Tribes in Ceylon
Chola destruction of Anuradhapura
Animal Mutilation
Crop Circles
She has investigated and documented the complex crop formation phenomenon in England, U.S. and Canada.
Alien Abductions and Government Coverups.
Her work includes exploring testimonies of human abduction and speculating that the U.S. government may be involved with alien beings in a coverup.
Documentary Production:
Howe has produced documentaries and is known for the Earthfiles website, where she shares findings and interviews with individuals with evidence and experience related to these phenomena.
Awards and Recognition:
She was honored with the Lucius Farish Foundation Award for her contributions to UFO research and productions in 2013.
Books
Earthfiles
Visit the Earthfiles.com website to access her ongoing investigations, interviews and podcasts.
Documentaries
Her work is featured in the History channel's series Ancient Aliens, with an episode dedicated to her career titled "The Linda Moulton Howe Files".
Catholic Invasion in Ceylon History
Alien Civilizations-Dark Matter and the Dark Energy
Alien (Galactic) Civilizations
Russian Scientist Nikolai Kardasheve in 1964 theorized 3 types of civilizations.
- AI has been egged up a bit. Frankly, we haven’t cracked it. knowledge & language base is one thing but AI it isn’t, still 10 years away, minimum.
- Quantum computing. yes there is emerging hardware, but the software required to run it is mind boggling, 10 years away, minimum.
- Inter
stellar transport. Not even close, 2 orders of scientific discovery
away, 50 years away at least. If we aren’t careful by the time we’ve
cracked it, this planet will be so surrounded by old junk satellites we
won’t be able to leave this old rock!By Nigel Calder and John NewellThe Lifespan of Advanced CivilizationsA very short lifespan for advanced civilizations may be a realistic probability because as our own case shows, technology mushrooms very rapidly and is accompanied by many dangerous effects such as;1. Overpopulation2. Depletion of natural resources3. Pollution and worse of all4. Rapid escalation of nuclear stockpiles which can easily reach the level where they are capable of wiping out the whole population of a planet.By the same token, if we were to find significant number of other advanced civilizations in our galaxy it would mean that some at least had been able to overcome the dangers that are now looming over our own civilizations.If they have reached this advanced stage, it would mean that they have been able discard all of their animistic (BARBARISM) attributes such as materialism, selfishness, territoriality, dominance over others and killing instincts which in a technological civilizations are likely to lead to self destruction.They would have been able to to mature into higher levels of cosmic intelligence characterized by spirituality, altruism, respect of others, adherence to peace and love for each other.Joining such a galactic society would indeed be a colossal step forward in the intellectual and ethical evolution of our civilization.This might also be the reason why we have not yet heard from any such advanced civilizations as may exist.There must be a galactic rule that says that before a new civilization is invited to join the galactic society it must show that it is able to overcome the major crisis that probably befall all new technological civilizations.Since we are still in the midst of this evolutionary problem, there may be advanced civilizations waiting to see how we do before inviting us to join the galactic society of advanced civilizations.
Order of the Universe and the World Systems
This is my analysis of the Universe and the World Systems in a theoretical sense.
It
is enormously large but its fundamentals can be understood, if we
disregard the current themes and dogmatic expressions which are
controlled by the religions that exists today.
I will make reference to Buddhist cosmology below to complete the discussions.
I have discussed them, not in detail, in some of my books, for the New Science to emerge from the ashes.
Even
Einstein was reprimanded by the Church, discussing them except the
Material World according to, a Big Bang, which suits the Church.
Creating material form from nothing without an antecedent.
Something from nothing is bete noire or anathema to me.
I
have avoided discussing them except asking the pertinent question, “Who
created the God”, in my childhood, knowing very well nobody would
answer the question posed.
My in born talent was ability for vivid imagination, and nobody has inspired me in my childhood.
I
could figure out mathematics and physics with ease but I did not know
my fellow students we struggling with simple arithmetic. I thought the
guys were equally capable till lately my friends in retirement, alerted
to that fallacy of my estimates.
I fitted with the lot, not asking
probing questions (I was thrown out of the class several times, asking
questions, the teachers could not answer and which made them "red hot")
in my childhood, just to save me from labeled as insane.
This is what the Church does if, the dogma is challenged, he/she excommunicated in broad day light (covertly, if not overtly).
The preamble is necessary, before I summarize my current concepts which are subjected to challenge with alternatives.
1. The current world order and the past world order is/was in a state of flux.
It has always being.
2. Matter is small (less than 5%) and the Dark Matter and Dark Energy is huge.
3. There is an interchange of dark matter to matter and vice versa. This is where the state of flux works in tandem.
4. The relative stability is an illusion, since the conversion is very very slow, which a modern camera cannot catch.
In that sense I am against, a big change or a big bang.
5. A camera image now taken is an old incident million light years in count.
We cannot capture the present in any sense.
This is where vivid imagination is essential to figure out the past, the present and the future in a scientific sense.
So my choice of biological science instead of physics was a fortunate coincidence.
We did not have satellite images then.
I viewed few satellite images and made my rough sketch of the universe and the concepts, below.
6. We ignored the Dark Matter.
7. We had theories for Matter only.
8. Expansion of the universe was ignored.
9. Dark Matter and the Dark Energy cause the expansion, just as well, lest there is a Big Crunch (opposite of Big Bang)
10. Even in some galaxies now viewed from images there is dark matter inside.
That is my crunch point.
11. Dark matter is eating up the matter albeit slowly (a conversion point) in the midst of matter.
12.
The dark matter is converted (convergent point) to matter in the
periphery of the galaxies, most likely, giving a semblance of stability,
in a state of flux situation.
13. The matter can be swallowed by a Dark Hole in a matter of seconds.
14. What prevents this is the expansion, geared by dark energy.
15. What we know is little, what we do not is enormous.
So I have put the essence of New Science in 15 points albeit one or two misconceptions or inaccuracies which are subjected to alternative views.
In Buddhist cosmology, there is nothing on matter or dark matter.
It is all about Mental Culture that can permeate matter and space by Mental Energy and Concepts.
Aliens and Buddhist Cosmology
The intention here is to discuss the relevance of Buddhist Cosmology to alien visitation to this planet.
According to Buddhist cosmology there is only, one human species only limited to this solar system and nowhere else.
Because of the vastness of the universe, I figured out there could be many humanoids in the universe but I am disappointed by this finding in Buddhist Cosmology.
It means there is only one planet in the entire universe which looks like ours and support humans and lower animal species.
The
corollary is, if we destroy this planet with a nuclear bomb which is
highly likely in the current context, the life form we describe as human
will go into extinction along with the rest of the animal species.
Because of the Van Allen belt we cannot escape even to the moon let alone mars to colonize in such an eventuality.
The alien visitation followed after the nuclear testing 70 years ago.
Their purpose was to warn us of the impending danger.
They were benevolent species.
Then of course, there could have been not so benevolent but explorer type who would have come here.
There intention is to explore and exploit.
If
this is the only planet of this nature it the experimental laboratory
to rejuvenate the lost capabilities and genetic mismatches.
The
possibility of cloning and hybrids are real possibility in the name of
Tall Whites and Men in Black suits (possibly a hybrid).
These guys of the second category operate at night.
They may not have sex differentiation (already lost but the generations kept by cloning).
So let me now describe in general terms, the six civilizations above our zero generation.
1.We humans are Zero Civilization.
Animals are below zero.
2. Number one above us come as First (1st ) Generation Civilization.
Their capabilities are higher than us but their mental capacities are not high as compared to level 6 Civilizations.
They probably have developed devices to travel in space (spaceships etc).
They may be sending human like artificial robots to this planet with highly advanced computer technology probably atomic level.
They
are suspicious of our war mentality and do not trust us and they may
choose war not negotiation when their interests are hindered or
challenged.
They are neither benevolent nor aggressive but detest provocations.
They probably have mind reading telepathic capabilities.
3. The Second Level Generation may have visited us but do not like human and first generation interaction and simply avoid both.
Sort of neutral entity.
4. The Third Level Civilizations are much superior and non interventional type and their course of action is limited on earth.
5.
The Fourth Level Civilizations and above are only benevolent and they
may have planted proxies here or working with humans to improve quality
of life here.
So we have to worry mostly the First Generation Civilization who may get establish here and make it their stop gap laboratory.
So to interact with higher level civilizations, what we need is not technology but mental culture with people who can attain Jhana level absorption to interact with them.
So meditation can be used theoretically to fill the mental communication gap.
A summary of Buddhist cosmology is given below.
Planes of Existences
There are 31 planes of existence.
They are four states of Unhappiness (Duggati)
1. Niraya
2. Tiracchana Yoni (animal Kingdom)
3. Peta yoni
4. Asura Yoni
Four happy states (Sugati)
1. Manusa
2. Six Devalokas
3. 16 Rupalokas
4. 4 Arupalokas
The Thirty-one Planes of Existence
Scattered
throughout the suttas are references to as many as thirty-one distinct
"planes" or "realms" of existence into which beings can be reborn during
their long wandering through samsara.
These range from the
extraordinarily grim and painful hell realms all the way up to the most
exquisitely refined and blissful heaven realms.
Existence in every realm is temporary; in Buddhist cosmology there is no eternal heaven or hell.
Beings are born into a particular realm according to their past kamma.
When
they pass away, they take rebirth once again elsewhere according to the
quality of their kamma: wholesome actions bring about a favorable
rebirth, while unwholesome actions lead to an unfavorable one and so
the wearisome cycle continues.
The realms of existence are
customarily divided into three distinct "worlds" (loka), listed here in
descending order of refinement:
The Immaterial World (arupa-loka).
Consists of four realms that are accessible to those who pass away while meditating in the formless Jhanas.
The Fine-Material World (rupa-loka).
Consists
of sixteen realms whose inhabitants (the devas) experience extremely
refined degrees of mental pleasure. These realms are accessible to those
who have attained at least some level of Jhana and who have thereby
managed to (temporarily) suppress hatred and ill-will. They are said to
possess extremely refined bodies of pure light. The highest of these
realms, the Pure Abodes, are accessible only to those who have attained
to "non-returning," the third stage of Awakening. The Fine-Material
World and the Immaterial World together constitute the "heavens"
(sagga).
The Sensuous World (kama-loka).
Consists of eleven
realms in which experience — both pleasurable and not — is dominated by
the five senses. Seven of these realms are favorable destinations, and
include our own human realm as well as several realms occupied by devas.
The lowest realms are the four "bad" destinations, which include the animal and hell realms.
Lost Continent of Lemuria
Heckel
Helena Blavatsky
Mythical homeland of 7 races of Humanity.
Continental Drift
Sircorn
Supercontinents
Pangaea 300 million years ago.
Antarctica is the remnant of lost continent.
Gondwana 500 million years ago.
The hypothesis was proposed as an explanation for the presence of lemur fossils on Madagascar and the Indian subcontinent but not in continental Africa or the Middle East.
Occultist and founder of theosophy Helena Blavatsky, during the latter part of the 19th century, placed Lemuria in the system of her mystical religious doctrine, claiming that this continent was the homeland of the human ancestors, whom she called Lemurians.
Theories about Lemuria became untenable when, in the 1960s, the scientific community accepted Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift, presented in 1912, but the idea lived on in the popular imagination, especially in relation to the Theosophist tradition.
Lemuria was hypothesized as a land bridge, now sunken, which would account for certain discontinuities in biogeography.
British Deception of Our History
British Deception
I wrote a book called "Alien SAGA" some time ago.
Evolution of my Perception and Interpretation of Alien Visitation
Evolution of my Perception and Interpretation of Alien Visitation
Yes, I got the information in bit and pieces.
Mother of All Talks
The Decline of Labour Principles
Not in order of preference or priorities.
Mind you I was a Labour sympathizer, then.
Not any longer.
He was personally persecuted by Mrs.Thather whom I disliked very much.
He disappeared from the scene with the money and came back to fight legal battles both within and outside the Labour Party.
He lives in recluse now rarely appearing in public.
ILO and my Personal Opinion
He started as a Council Member of Greater London and became the Mayor of London when that institution was formed.
3. Tony Benn was a labour activist and an excellent orator who imparted some religious favour to his convictions.
4. In this category Neil Kinnock was almost a total failure and lost 4 times to conservatives and remained as an opposition leader to the liking of the conservatives.
5. Tony Blair who remained as a PM for 10 years tried to modernize the party and his "look like conservative party" ruined the Labour Party to its core.
6. Jerome Corbyn who inherited this legacy could not reform it to the current needs of the middle class and shifted towards the left and immigrants instead of the British Base.
Less I talk of current Mayor of London, Khan is better for British Labour enthusiasts.
7. Keir Starmer was said to be the ideal choice who became the worst choice for the labour party.
He was smart.
He was intelligent.
He is not eloquent now (unlike the oratory of the past) without any tangible results.
He has the first hand experience in prosecuting and exposing (no need to prosecute and an average intelligent British citizen would do that for him when the time is right), the current wheeler dealer goons around the Conservative Party.
My wishful thinking never materialized.
Why waste energy but activate the young grass root level enthusiasts.
He has to extract the intent, purpose and how the corruption insinuate even at health institutions dealing with Coronavirus.
Be patient but the onslaught should be targeted and the conservative are corrupt to the core by nature unlike real labour activists.
I do not like the word socialists.
People are not equal but different at all levels but bringing them together with a common bond (everybody, young and old deserve dignity) is what an astute politician should do.
He should shun the paedophiliacs and sexually disoriented guys hiding behind the political garbs.
One caveat here in this country (CEYLON) people appoint the most corrupt to the highest office and the parliament and they scratch their backs within 24 hours of declaration of the poll count.
There are lot of Asians including Ceylonese who have come to UK with their trademarks of "absolute corruption is the only way forward".
That will be the path (absolute corruption) for UK, if Conservatives remain any longer.
Do not take this as a wishful political thinking but a common sense approach to any human endeavour including mitigating the pandemic and it's effect on an average guy.
They have no money in their hands and living on "hand to mouth existence'.
I saw this in 1970s in Ceylon and history repeats itself with only a little difference, democracy is shutdown totally and a dictatorship has come to stay with the blessing of corrupt Sangha, for 5 years at least.
He is not answerable even to the Almighty.
People are STUPID after all, all the time!
Thursday, September 24, 2026
Monkey Story and Vijay Arrival
Monkey Story and Vijay Arrival
Before Vijaya arrived in Ceylon, monkeys could talk in Ceylon. They lost it after Buddhagosha and Mhanama joined words together and introduced joined letters which the monkeys could not pronounce.
Ranava clan had to flee to safe places until Modi came in to power in India.
Rabid Monkey Story
Dream seven was a short one and bit bizarre.
It was a very short one and I woke up with some anger before I could finish viewing it with normal calm and satirical intents associated with my dreams.
It was in a small cubicle with two way entrance. I saw a little brat who showed a mirror to a money. The monkey took the mirror in his hand and bashed over the toddler’s head with glass pieces all over the place and it vanished through the side entry.
Before I could summon my senses and get ready to analyze the evolving situation, another monkey came in through the same door with something in its hand.
It was like a club.
It bashed on the head of the toddler again. The child fell down.
I woke up with a broomstick in my hand.
I hate children being ill treated, even in my dreams.
Well it was a dream and I put the broomstick where it should be and tried to memorize the story before I could forget.
I go into trance state like getting a fat salary or winning a lottery.
So there you are, I could remember it to send an email to Maha Brahma.
He responded quickly.
He pulled an armchair laid himself for a long interpretation.
I told it was very short one and what was the long of it.
He said good that you woke up.
You would have ended up with a heart attack in your dream.
Me, getting a heart attack in dream state?
No Way.
Second part was violent and it was all out war like LTTE and Armed Forces.
You mean to say LTTE won.
No stupid.
Then International Community who backed the terror won.
No stupid.
I was fully confused.
Don't you realize this is a futuristic dream.
I asked him,
What was the time scale?
In evolutionary term it is short.
Significant in human years.
In about 100 years.
Who are they?
Have you seen the Planet of Apes.
Yes.
Then, it is somewhat similar.
There were series of nuclear accidents not related to war but equipment malfunction like in Japan.
It was spread by a mutation of the Israel virus (StuckNet) that hit Iran nuclear facility. It went around the entire world in a matter of two weeks and catastrophic destruction ensued.
Millions and millions of people and animals died and the whole world was stinking with chemicals and dead bodies of animals and humans.
Almost all dog population except a few wild dogs vanished.
For sometime there appeared no life on earth except few plants.
Then there were two mutant species one humanoid and one ape, amongst many others.
Humanoid were short and was of toddler size.
The apes were slightly bigger and taller and were dominating the world.
They pushed the humanoids to barren lands or islands where monkeys could not reach.
There were no tree cover except tiny farm lands.
Why are they small?
Food in short supply and that is the way the genes have been designed to last critical periods of evolution on Earth.
Big do not survive but midgets do.
Or I see.
I saw a paper on Palaeontology with the evidence to suggest that when a catastrophe of this nature occurs, the surviving animals fill the niche as it were,
It is the norm.
That is a stupid idea know?
Maha Brahma was not impressed with that theory.
I asked why?
This is not a natural catastrophe but artificial and man made.
It affected the entire biodiversity including plants and it does not leave ground for a niche or any opportunity for the rest.
See what happened.
The entire dog population vanished.
What remained really went wild.
They went backwards in evolution and not forward like the humanoids with short stature.
Elephants were decimated like the dinosaurs.
You mean to say end of human intelligence.
I suppose so.
Then he had a very sorry and worried look.
I asked why?
Did the effect filtered to the heaven?
No.
Then?
If this happens who is going to dream for me?
Even animals and humanoids do dream know?
I said.
That is besides the point.
Their dreams are not futuristic like yours.
Give me a break.
Are you going to extend my agonizing stay on earth?
Would you?
I may have to do that till the sun shines.
Please don't.
I will consider a proposal to the President in his dream state for you to have a say and increase your salary.
Would you?
I will try the dream method first.
If it fails I will try the Dr. White's Oil method.
à¶šෝà¶šà¶§à¶් à¶ෛලය à¶±ොà·„ොà¶් Dr. White's Oil.
During colonial era mediine was rare.
It was an imported linement or oil used for all aches and pain and contained cinchona base. Much later, à·ƒිද්à¶°ාà¶½ේà¶´ à·€ේදමහà¶්à¶à¶ºා made his own brand.
In Ceylon Formulary of the old, we had about 8 to 10 pastes and oinments. I had a list of them which I used give to the pharmacy and make Ready Made Stuff before they started coming in tubes.
During à¶´්à¶»ීà¶ි කසනා epidemic or scabies these formulations were popular.
This was common in the University in our first year. We protested and during a long weekend all the beds and bed linen were destroyed and a laundryman/men was/ wete designated for Halls of Residences.
Benzyle Benzoate was the standard treatment.
Thank you Sir.
Then he vanished.
George Galloway=Mother Of All Talks
The Decline of Labour Principles
Not in order of preference or priorities.
Mind you I was a Labour sympathizer, then.
Not any longer.
He was personally persecuted by Mrs.Thather whom I disliked very much.
He disappeared from the scene with the money and came back to fight legal battles both within and outside the Labour Party.
He lives in recluse now rarely appearing in public.
2. Ken Livingstone was a labour union leader who became the Mayor of London.
He started as a Council Member of Greater London and became the Mayor of London when that institution was formed.
3. Tony Benn was a labour activist and an excellent orator who imparted some religious favour to his convictions.
4. In this category Neil Kinnock was almost a total failure and lost 4 times to conservatives and remained as an amiable opposition leader to the liking of the conservatives.
5. Tony Blair who remained as a PM for 10 years tried to modernize the party and his "look like conservative party" has ruined it to the core.
6. Jerome Corbyn who inherited this legacy could not reform it to the current needs of the middle class and shifted towards the left and immigrants instead of the British Base.
Less I talk of current Mayor of London, Khan is better for British Labour enthusiasts. He is hanging on doing nothing of substance but he would be ousted by a real Labour guy (like what Ken Livingstone did decades ago).
7. Keir Starmer is the ideal choice for the labour party to come out of the wood and lead a possible victory within a short time.
He was smart.
He was intelligent.
He is not eloquent now (unlike the oratory of the past without tangible actions).
He has the first hand experience in prosecution and should expose (no need to prosecute and an average intelligent British citizen would do that for him when the time is right) the current wheeler dealer goons around the Conservative Party.
In fact, Conservative party members are already doing that for him.
Why waste energy but activate the young grass root level enthusiasts.
He has to extract the intent, purpose and how the corruption insinuate even at health institutions dealing with Coronavirus.
Be patient but onslaught should be targeted and the conservative are corrupt to the core by nature unlike real labour activists.
I do not like the word socialists.
People are not equal but different at all levels but bringing them together with a common bond (every life young or old deserves dignity) is what an astute politician should do.
He should shun the paedophiliacs and sexually disoriented guys hiding behind the political garbs.
One caveat here in this country (CEYLON) people appoint the most corrupt to the highest office and the parliament and they scratch their backs within 24 of declaration of the poll count.
There are lot of Asians including Ceylonese who have come to UK with their trademarks of "absolute corruption is the only way forward".
That will be the path (absolute corruption) for UK, if Conservatives remain any longer.
Do not take this as a wishful political thinking but a common sense approach to any human endeavour including mitigating the pandemic and it's effect on an average guy.
They have no money in their hands and living on "hand to mouth existence'.
I saw this in 1970s in Ceylon and history repeats itself with only a little difference, democracy is shutdown totally and a dictatorship has come to stay with the blessing of corrupt Sangha, for 5 years at least.
He is not answerable even to the Almighty.
People are STUPID after all, all the time!
Tony Benn on the Legacy of Slavery
The Legacy of Tony Benn
Tony Benn was one of my favourite Labour MPs when I was working in UK.
Please do not confuse with Tony Blair (Once a UK PM) who ruined the Labour Party. Tony Blair lied to the parliament with the aid of president Bush and instrumental in destroying Iraq (biological weapons and weapons of mass destruction campaign-origin of "FAKED NEWS").
Reproduction
Tony Benn on the Legacy of Slavery
- By
- Tony Benn
Now the other thing that interests me very much is the role of religion in all this, and I know the question ‘am I my brother’s keeper?’ has been raised. On the Internet, from which, I get a lot of very useful information, I got the other day a summary of what all the religions of the world say. Judaism says ‘what is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow men’, that is the entire law, all the rest is commentary. Then Christianity, ‘all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do even so to them.’ For Mohammad it was ‘no one of you is a believer until he desires to his brother what he desires for himself’. And the same with Brahmans, the same with Buddhists, the same with the Confucians, and that’s also what’s on every trade union banner, ‘an injury to one is an injury to all’.
So you can see it all coming together as a recognition that you cannot build a society on other than on a moral basis. And that I find very interesting because nowadays, you see, religion is being used as a way of dividing us, you only have to look at what’s said now about Islam and the use of God. Bush said God told him to go to Iraq, I didn’t know God worked in the White House, but apparently he did. Then they say Moses went up Mount Siani and got Palestine allocated to the Jews, I didn’t know God was an estate agent. But the way in which you use religion to justify your power is a tremendously important question.
If you now look at it in a cultural sense, all the religions apart from people who control them, all the religions are part of our culture. I was brought up as a Christian and when I go to church I like the churches, I like seeing bishops in funny outfits. I sing hymns like ‘onward Christian soldiers marching as to war with the cross of Jesus going on before’.
Now if anyone sang ‘onward Muslim soldiers going as to war with Mohammad’s banner going,’ they’d all be locked up at once by John Reid. So you have to recognise that there is, in every religion, a culture. There’s nothing whatsoever in the culture of religion to divide one from another. The people I’m nervous of are the people who use religion to get control of us, and that is the difference.
I mentioned that I was bought up as a Christian, my mother taught me that the story in the Bible was the story of the conflict between the kings who had power and the prophets who preached righteousness, and she taught me to support the prophets against the kings. It’s got me into a lot of trouble in my life but it explained so much. Because it’s one thing to be told love your neighbours as yourself. It’s another thing to be told by a bishop, ‘if you don’t do what I tell you, you will rot in hell’ […]
When I look back is in every period of history, two flames have always been burning in the human heart, the flame of anger against injustice and the flame of hope that you can build a better world and those two flames are really material by which we make progress. To understand that is very important, because if you don’t have some aspiration then you find yourself in a position, which I think about most of the time now – and that is how the human race is going to cope with its problems.
We live in a very remarkable period, quite unlike any other in history, when the human race has the capacity to destroy itself, and you can kill one man with a spear, a few more with a bayonet, one or two with a machine gun or a plane, but with chemical, nuclear and biological weapons it is possible to destroy the human race, that has never, ever been true before.
But it’s also the first generation in history which has the technology and the know-how and the money to solve the problems of the human race. And that’s where you really come right into the contemporary political scene, because a fraction of the cost of the war now would see that everyone in Africa with AIDs would have free drugs. A fraction of the cost of the war would see everyone in America has a health service, would protect New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. That is the choice.
So the question then you have to ask yourself is, well how do you change the situation? Because there are only three interesting questions in politics, what’s going on? Which is not always easy to find out. Why is it going on? Which is harder to find out. The third question is, what are you going to do about it? And if you look at the way in which it all developed, it developed really with the greatest revolution of all, far more revolutionary than the French or Russian or American revolution, it was the revolution of democracy and reason.
I mention it is because throughout the 19th century a huge change in power occurred, in the olden days all the power was in the hands of the rich. If you were rich you didn’t need a school, you hired tutors, you didn’t have a mortgage from a local authority for your castle because you owned it, you didn’t have to bother about anything else, if you were ill you hired a doctor, when you were old you were okay, you were never unemployed because you never did any work anyway, and that was the basis of society. What happened during the 19th century explains everything, I think, including the national independence movements.
When people had the vote power was transferred from the people with money to the people who didn’t have money. In 1837, when the Birmingham Corporation became law the people of Birmingham, or some of them anyway, had the vote, how did they use the vote? They used to the vote to buy with their vote what they couldn’t afford personally: municipal hospitals, municipal schools, municipal fire brigade, municipal museums, municipal art gallery and what democracy did was to transfer power from the market place to the polling station, from the wallet to the ballot.
What then happened was the whole prospect changed, that’s how the welfare state came about, of course, in the end, the idea of a National Health Service, the idea of state education, the idea, even, of a fire brigade. In the olden days there was no fire brigade, you insured your own house with an insurance company. So if your neighbour’s house burned down they didn’t bother to put that out because he wasn’t insured and that would obviously threaten your house and this idea of welfare, which is looked down upon in mockery, is on the basis that actually the interest of all of us are in common.
If you meet a diseased person your health is threatened, if you work with an uneducated person your work is threatened and so the recognition of the common interests we have in survival and prosperity was a product of democracy, and nobody really likes democracy very much, nobody in power likes democracy very much. I mean, Hitler didn’t like it, Stalin didn’t like it, the Pope doesn’t allow the clergy to elect the Pope, it’s all done by shares of cardinals whom he appoints. I can’t say I find all that much enthusiasm for democracy even in a capitalist society of where the market is everything, because the thing about having a market society is that you don’t have citizens, you only have consumers. Now to be a consumer you have to have some money, I mean homeless people in the streets of London need homes more than anybody else but as they can’t afford them they’re not consumers, and the language used to belittle collective activity is very noticeable.
Now when I look again at the future I think of what’s called ‘cultural diversity.’ When I was born it was terribly boring – they were all white, they had fish and chips, they watched cricket, a little bit of ballroom dancing. Now we’ve got such a fantastic cultural diversity in Britain. Two of my granddaughters are at a primary school in London with 77 nationalities in the school and a refugee centre in the school, so when I go and talk at the school it’s like addressing a meeting of the General Assembly [of the United Nations]. My granddaughters have got Russian friends, American friends, Malaysian friends, West Indian, for them that’s normal, that is the world we live in. It’s complete generational change because I think younger people understand it, very often much better than older people who were brought up in a different tradition.
That’s really what we have to try and, which is why I think the Internet is very valuable because you get access to things which you wouldn’t necessarily find described in The Sun or The Mail. The information you get allows you to reach a judgment of your own which is independent and probably puts you in the category of the prophets against the king. So I warn you don’t use the Internet too loosely or you’ll be in trouble yourself.
I mentioned the trade unions and apartheid. I spoke in Trafalgar Square in 1964 in support of a very well known terrorist and I got denounced in the tabloids. I didn’t meet him for a bit, next time I met him he had a Nobel Peace Prize and was President of South Africa. Well, look at the suffragettes who were locked up for just wanting votes for women.
The way I think progress occurs, you see, is this: to begin with is you’ve got a sensible idea like abolishing slavery or votes for women or trade unions or ending apartheid, and they ignore you. Then if you go on you’re stark staring bonkers, I’ve had a touch of that myself, then if you go on after that you’re dangerous. Then there’s a pause and then you can’t find anyone at the top who doesn’t claim to have thought of it in the first place – and that is how progress is made.
It’s made by movements, by people who understand the world, who feel a sense of commonality with other people and say, ‘why don’t we get together and do it ourselves?’ In order for that to succeed you need to have encouragement and I think encouragement is the most important quality in political leadership, because they do try, all the time, to put you down […]
I went to the Labour conference 18 months ago and the Prime Minister made a speech which I listened to and I got up to go to the loo and I collapsed. I was taken to the Brighton hospital and given a pacemaker. I had a letter from the Prime Minister saying ‘hope my speech didn’t cause it’ and I was too polite to reply.
The interesting thing was this, when I left I discovered that was the worst hospital in Britain under the league tables. Well what if you’re the nurse or a sister or a doctor or porter, what do you make of it if you’re told you work in the worst hospital in Britain?
People want encouragement and that’s what they don’t always want to give you, but if we encourage each other, my God there’s nothing you cannot do. And so that’s how the slave trade really ended, people got together and saw the truth and realised that we’re brothers and sisters and we made an advance.
But one final warning, every generation has to do it for themselves again, there is no railway station called justice that if you catch the right train you get there, every generation has to fight for their rights because rights are taken away. They concede what they have to, and then when the pressure is off, they try and recapture the territory they’ve lost.
So it’s an ongoing struggle. I’m 82 now, and it’s wonderful, if I’d known what fun it was to be 80 I’d have done it years ago, because you have a bit of experience and you don’t want anything. And when I speak, as I do tonight to you, I say you can relax, I am not asking you to vote for me and there’s a great sigh of relief and people saying, “well, if he doesn’t want anything we may as well listen to him.”
So that is really the function of the old, I think it’s to encourage people and to understand. So thank you for asking me here […]