A Very British Coup!

When, in the early nineteen-eighties, I chanced upon a Radio 4 excerpt from Chris Mullin's book, 'A Very British Coup,' I immediately sought to avail myself of a copy. The Channel 4 adapted screenplay, featuring the now sorely missed Ray McAnally, was also well worth a watch.

Unlike many of his fellow MP, apparent-authors, Chris Mullin had an interesting perspective to pursue. The novel, and subsequent screenplay, was founded largely upon the premise of the existence of a hidden British 'elite,' that was ultimately easily capable of undermining due democratic process. The concept has been used any number of times, in order to fill Western cinemas, or high-street bookshop shelves. Entertainment or an interesting insight into 'Government potential?' Creative thinking or the fictionalised facts, hidden in plain sight? Either way things have 'moved on' at some pace; the planet that we now inhabit is an altogether different world!


Humility!

An actual military coup, like that funded by the 'Leaders' of the 'Free' World at the expense of a free Chile, might involve a great deal of bloodshed. It would necessarily attract more than casual global interest. Questions would inevitably be asked. People would notice!


Aspiration!

The lies used in order to 'cover up' or sanitise the event would likely colour the global views of both the recently-altered country and of those who supported the coup. In the case of the USA-Pinochet coup the proverbial excrement has stuck to the USA ever since, an unsightly cancer burrowing continually at the very face of Lady Liberty! Ultimately, Chile was just another victim of US foreign policy, albeit 'covertly' so.

The covert USA is perhaps now far, far too powerful to have learnt its lesson. If there's money involved then the covert US is likely to blunder in time and time again, dragging in not only the rest of the country but also, where 'necessary,' any playground lesser bullies like the UK. The pertinent question today is more likely to be something along the lines of, "Who is the covert USA actually beholden to?"

So imagine instead, a coup ranged secretly over several decades, hidden in plain global sight. What would it look like? Who would notice? Would there be casualties?


Stamina!

A coup, by necessity, could be a somewhat messy affair, the steps to 'success' might at any stage falter; yesterday's near goal may suddenly become next year's distant 'aspiration,' before the coup becomes a fait accompli any number of minor skirmishes might go either way. The art of stealth might be in almost constant employment. The steps to achievement would surely be many and varied, and any number of those more covert and cunning might never come to light. But there would need also need to be laid a few essential foundation stones, big bold rocks that we couldn't help but notice... or so you'd think?

Step One, the founding stone if you like, might be to control the Media, never easy where the concept of a 'Free' Press operates. Or is it? I would venture to suggest that this rather depends upon two factors: who is driving the coup, and what is the considered timescale? If the coup were to be driven by a financial elite and the timescale ongoing, say over three or more decades, why we might not even notice... One day, a generation down the line, we'd simply wake up in a society where our perceived 'freedoms' were considerably less than those of our parents, but we'd be none the wiser. We might, however, be inclined to worry for our children, having effectively sleep-walked them into this 'new dawn.' We'd perhaps pick up a copy of our daily newspaper, to view a somewhat 'smaller' world, largely as prescribed by the paper's more affluent advertisers.

The rich are free to own the press, the poor are free to be guided by it.

Step Two might be to control the 'Democratic' Hub. Again, not the easiest of things to do where a 'democracy' is in full flow. Should the elected MPs stray towards any form of anti-democratic rule we might 'choose' not to follow. Wait a further five years, and boy we can really tell them what's what, when we 'select' another pre-selected candidate who will surely listen far more carefully to his/her constituents than did the last one. If not, there's always the next election. Or, failing that...

A simple footnoted observation: both supposed sides of The House have recently shown where their actual priorities lie, that is entirely in the camp the of self-interested! Upon exposure, Mr Straw appeared the more 'repentant,' but long-term observers of Parliament will recognise this to have been entirely prefixed to, 'at having been caught with a mighty faceful of cookies!' Rifkind chose not to forgo such niceties, instead the man leapt straight from self-serving to incandescence, fury that the 'plebs' should deign to question his 'rights' to confiscate the entire jar.

"I'm worth every penny of five grand a day, and I'll fight, to my last dying breath, defending my 'right' to dictate your lowly wage."Very much a case of, 'My enemy's enemy is my friend,' as hands are once again joined across The Floor of The House. Of course, the bigger worry should have been, 'and to whom were you about to sell off yet further chucks of 'our democracy?' As it transpired it was 'nobody,' but it could well have been absolutely 'anybody.'

The poorest may require charity, the richest may be handsomely remunerated for promoting the works of this same charity.

Step Three might be to control education. If only there were some means by which an (let's just imagine for the sake of argument) actively-anti-democratic government were able to ensure that all of the schools were run by those covertly supportive of this non-specific coup. How could we do this, some sort of monetarist's control over each and every school? Why, we could even refer to the new system as  'free education.' We could employ the Orwellian concept of labelling the schools with a flowery title... something like 'an academy.' Who wouldn't want their children being taught in a real-life academy? It might take a bit of shoe-horning, we'd probably need some sort of army of automatons- but we could disguise this by referring to them as inspectors- who, with a hidden agenda, could usher all of our centres of 'learning' towards this 'brave Utopian dawn.' Simply outrageous, surely such a thing could never happen!

Imagine, a university science department entirely beholden to 'the sponsors.' Don't be daft! Whatever next?

The rich will be educated to rule, the poor will be educated for work.


Dignity!

Step Four might be to control The Judiciary. The Lord Chief Justice, currently Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, appointed by the Judicial Appointments Commission or the Supreme Court, would no doubt look most unfavourably upon the merest thought of such an outrage. And just to clarify, who exactly selects the er Judicial Appointments Commission or The Supreme Court?

Step Five might be to control The Premier, unless it can be 'safely' established that The Premier is inevitably to be drawn from the controlling forces. Thatcher was the lowly daughter of a greengrocer we are reminded, Blair was elected to the fore by the 'people's' party. Surely nothing could go wrong here. Hitler was an illegitimate would-be artist, a man of Bohemian bent, so fairly sound safeguards all round.

Step Six might be to control who can vote. Well, that's never going to happen in the democratic ol' UK. So, if only there were some sort of way that we could 'guide' the voters towards a predetermined 'desired' outcome. I don't know, perhaps ensure that the news outlets were in the hands of the controlling forces. Fortunately, in the fine ol' UK we have a 'Free' Press; Uncle Rupert freely acquired most of it care of large swathes of The Democratic Hub. Allow me to refer you back to Step One.

The rich will only participate if you reward them, the poor may require sanctions.

Step Seven might be to control The Military. The military, why that could almost be a law unto itself, without the appropriate safeguards. Fortunately we have The Chief of General Staff to ensure that nothing untoward happens. And exactly who is it that appoints The Chief of The General Staff? Should we be worried? Probably not, not unless the forces driving the coup are also driving The Military. Er! And we should all thank the Lord that these 'paragons of virtue' are there to 'serve,' in these times of grave uncertainties.

Who wouldn't be prepared to sacrifice one more tiny iota of personal freedom, in order to 'maintain' those 'far more important' 'greater freedoms?' I'm sure that we can rely upon 'our' MPs to ensure that the 'greater freedoms' are equally shared out amongst the populace.

Imagine a world where private security gradually usurps traditional policing; what could conceivably go wrong? Well, we might see demonstrations required to finance the policing of their own marches. It'd certainly make those 'work-shy' complainants think before they thought to question the 'authority' of their 'betters.' But we'd best hide the move behind an austerity program, just to be on the 'safe' side. Throw a few cheap uniforms on a part-time volunteer or two and the general public might not even notice

The rich may require protection, the rest may need to be controlled.


Ambition!

Too many bold-as brass steps and even the most gullible members of the public are likely to smell a rat. So, in reality, the merest concept of a covert coup is probably far too complex to work. I mean, can we really imagine an 'informed' populace 'allowing' this state of affairs to simply slide into being?

In a far from ideal world, the driving forces would probably need a Step Eight, just to be sure you should understand. It's all 'well' and 'good,' having nearly all of the wealth, but wealth in a consumerist society tends to operate rather like a liquid, ever-searching out its own pathways; dam it up for too long and the reservoir may well dry up entirely of its own volition. Far better if there were some way to regulate the flow, but how far to go? Imagine a gravity-defying world, whereby this liquid might appear to flow elsewhere whilst all the while being 'mysteriously' drawn back to the controlling core. In the Science Fiction scenario this is in the hands of the special effects department. Here, on planet Earth, it's a job for the banks, through their abilities to cause and drive recessions, hide tax-evasions, bankroll whole nations, or operate in entirely the reverse direction.  Step Eight, control the regulation of wealth!

'Working people 'must' invest in a pension!' we are lectured. Workplaces will be encouraged to automatically enrol workforces onto these government-led schemes. Iain Duncan Smith is the current Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. It all looks so, so very rosy! And if we could only find a way of channeling some of these copious funds... No, surely the people would never fall for it? Instant access! What could possibly go wrong? Step eight, absolutely control the regulation of wealth!

The rich will only work if we give them money, the poor will only work if we take it away.

In our far-fetched world of fictitious coups we might well have a convoluted scenario whereby steps two and five validate step eight. How would this appear to those herded up in step six, by those of step one? Why, we might have a (no names) bank hastening a recession, and then covertly assisting the beneficiaries of this recession with some sort of excessive retention of wealth. In the resulting turmoil, we might witness our democratically accountable MPs employing sections of the media to cast serious reservations upon the prospects of using tax-payers' monies to prosecute the perpetrators. Fantasy, pure fantasy!


Diligence!

In the real, and 'vastly different,' world we have former tax inspector, Richard Brooks, reliably informing us that, "The Government has been sitting on this for five years!" when asked to speculate if the current Coalition knew of HSBC's recent tax-evasion consultancies. Why would things change? "There's no threat of any culture change coming from the Government," he elaborated. And, whilst Stephen Keith Green, Baron Green of Hurstplerpoint, former Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc, ordained minister for The Church of England, upon retirement was quickly promoted to the post of Conservative Minister of State for Trade and Investment, I'm sure that there's absolutely nothing to worry about. These curious sort of coincidences are bound to happen from time to time in such a complex global monetary arena. A certain Sue Shelly was fired for drawing the issue of HSBC's tax 'arrangements' to the attention of the wider public- yet another global coincidence? Whatever will the 'free' press have to say about it all?

And, at the very, very top- way up in those ethereal towers- we could effectively disguise the very idea of a specific ruling elite, behind the in-fighting and back-stabbing of multi-national takeovers and the deafening noise of corporate greed. The media might even exploit this for the purposes of boosting sales- democratic critique disguised as public 'entertainment.' Imagine how very different it would all seem! Dish out a few small shareholdings amongst the minions and we could even pretend that we were playing along. Throw in a global religious concern, or a major recession and we've almost created an impenetrable smokescreen; that is if you subscribe to these 'crazy' conspiracy theories. Why, we could probably make it into a movie!

And where would we hide the casualties, the dead and the walking wounded?  Perhaps in a huge, almost impenetrable, and hugely-open-to-misinterpretation (ONS) database? Casualties might be those who could not immediately access appropriate health services, those who could not access adequate warmth, or shelter, those fighting some sort of expansionist war in a far corner of the globe, those 'let go' in the constant 'drive' for 'efficiency savings.' Why, if we simply went along with the coup, we could 'allow' the ruling elite to decide... who should cease to matter, who might be sustained a while longer, that the monetarists may tap in to one's paltry acquired wealth, all civilians caught up in any resources-based dispute?

It all depends upon what we might class, 'waking wounded.' Twenty-four thousand excess winter deaths will require a most carefully selected label. Apply the 'right' ones and 'we' might even 'hide' them in plain sight.