{"id":280599,"date":"2024-01-24T08:52:13","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T08:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=280599"},"modified":"2024-01-26T08:57:18","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T08:57:18","slug":"this-week-in-the-new-normal-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=280599","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the New Normal #81"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Off-Guardian \u2013 Jan 22, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Our successor to <em>This Week in the Guardian<\/em>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/category\/this-week-in-the-new-normal\/\">This Week in the New Normal<\/a><\/em> is our weekly chart of the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026see if you can spot the \u201csecret theme\u201d of this edition.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>1. Storms \u201cbatter\u201d the UK<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Yesterday, Storm Isha tore across the UK knocking over bins and making gates rattle all over the south coast. Now, Storm Jocelyn is hot on Isha\u2019s heels. More rain and wind are expected.<\/p>\n<p>One unfortunate pensioner was reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/weather\/storm-isha-uk-weather-news-today-schools-travel-b2482537.html\">killed by a falling tree<\/a>, but the very fact that\u2019s headline page news shows a) how much they want people to be afraid, and b) how little there is to be afraid of.<\/p>\n<p>Is this just normal inclement weather? Absolutely not, it\u2019s \u201cdifferent\u201d, according to Sky News\u2026<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;This storm is different&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>Sky&#39;s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mollie_Malone1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Mollie_Malone1<\/a> reports from Brighton, where there are &#39;danger to life&#39; signs displayed on the beach, warning people not to go near the sea.<\/p>\n<p>Live weather updates: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vK1wnvpmVK\">https:\/\/t.co\/vK1wnvpmVK<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/570UQmZ3sY\">pic.twitter.com\/570UQmZ3sY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sky News (@SkyNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SkyNews\/status\/1749117017699848646?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Different how? Doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, not so long ago neither \u201cIsha\u201d nor \u201cJocelyn\u201d would have existed it would just have been \u201cstormy\u201d, since the UK<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-67135325\"> only started naming storms<\/a> a few years ago <em>\u201cto improve public awareness\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Propaganda tip: \u201cImprove public awareness\u201d usually means \u201cscare people\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On an unrelated note, at the recently concluded Davos summit, no fewer than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/events\/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2024\/programme\/\">36 different presentations<\/a> were at least related to climate change and around 50 \u201cagenda articles\u201d on climate change have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/agenda\/climate-change\">published this year alone<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>2. \u201cThe Obesity Crisis\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Did you know that obesity is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/global-health\/science-and-disease\/obesity-crisis-threatens-global-financial-stability\/\">bad for the global economy<\/a>? That it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/health\/obesitys-terrifying-impact-your-likelihood-31892173\">can give you cancer<\/a>? That it might collapse the NHS?<\/p>\n<p>We should probably have <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240121155021\/https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/junk-food-tax-can-stop-irelands-obesity-crisis-hitting-critical-mass-7d6g9gc9z\">special taxes in place on certain foods to prevent it, right?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>And also here\u2019s some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12970935\/Ozempic-America-billion-marketing-obesity-Oscars.html\">Big Pharma slop<\/a>. They tested it this time, honest.<\/p>\n<p>On an unrelated note, \u201ctackling the obesity epidemic\u201d was the subject of a panel at Davos last week.<\/p>\n<p>There will be a longer form article on this published during the week.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>3. Argentine President Tells Davos to Shove it?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Newly elected President of Argentina Javier Milei divided opinion with his speech at Davos this week:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Pfcd0gWNIog?si=43xGHJqShobfYSEb\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n&#8212;<\/div>\n<p>The Guardian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/live\/2024\/jan\/17\/davos-day-two-rachel-reeves-ceos-blinken-guterres-macron-milei-ukraine-iran-business-live\">called it \u201cjarring\u201d<\/a>, the World Socialist Website called it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2024\/01\/20\/tzvb-j20.html\">a \u201cfascist rant\u201d<\/a> and Politico ranked him 1st in their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/davos-world-economic-forum-javier-milei-mohammed-bin-salman-jared-kushner\/\">\u201cdirty dozen of Davos\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While the Spectator claimed he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spectator.co.uk\/article\/javier-milei-is-a-breath-of-fresh-air\/\">\u201cdismantled the Davos groupthink\u201d<\/a> and the Telegraph that he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2024\/01\/18\/javier-milei-has-exposed-davos-left-wing-rot\/\">\u201cexposed Davos\u2019 Left-wing rot\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He has also been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/elon-musk-javier-milei-world-economic-forum-speech-davos-2024-1?r=US&amp;IR=T\">praised by Elon Musk<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/01\/17\/economy\/milei-argentina-speech-world-economic-forum\/index.html\">the head of the IMF<\/a>. All of which makes his apparent hero-worship from some alt quarters quite confusing. After all\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To speak at Davos, you have to be invited. They almost certainly vet all the speeches too.<\/li>\n<li>Milei has been involved with the WEF for years.<\/li>\n<li>Since when did we start trusting elections anyway?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I mean, a loud-mouthed non-politician with a \u201ctelling it how it is\u201d schtick and crazy hair? Haven\u2019t we done that one before?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not sold. At all.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and he <a href=\"https:\/\/en.mercopress.com\/2021\/11\/23\/argentine-bolsonaro-not-quite-so-after-taking-second-dose-of-covid-19-vax\">got the vaccine<\/a> don\u2019t forget.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>BONUS: Unaccountable mystery of the week<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>According to the Daily Mail, the UK is currently suffering its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12989765\/nhs-worst-heart-care-crisis-highest-level-decade.html\">\u2018worst heart care crisis in living memory\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>While Sky News <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/heart-disease-warning-as-early-deaths-at-highest-rate-in-more-than-a-decade-13053805?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter\">reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><strong>Heart disease warning as early deaths at highest rate in more than a decade<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2026anybody have any idea what could be causing that?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>It\u2019s not all bad\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Damon Imani was accidentally invited to Davos, and made the most of the opportunity\u2026<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: New WEF participant does the unthinkable at 2024 Davos Meeting. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2ZCKvG734y\">pic.twitter.com\/2ZCKvG734y<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Damon Imani (@damonimani) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/damonimani\/status\/1747388354587463766?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*<\/p>\n<p>All told a pretty hectic week for the new normal crowd, and we didn\u2019t even mention <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/health\/article-12969105\/chinese-scientists-lab-coronavirus-kill-rate-mice.html#:~:text=8.9k%20shares-,Chinese%20scientists%20'create'%20a%20mutant%20coronavirus%20strain%20that%20attacks%20the,it%20spills%20over \">China\u2019s super uber totally deadly completely real new virus<\/a> or the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/surprise-increase-in-inflation-to-4-latest-figures-show-13049607\">\u201csurprising\u201d increase in inflation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of change in the air, a lot of agendas in the works, if you see a headline, article, post or interview you think is a sign of the times, post it in the comments, <a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/submissions\/\">email us<\/a> or share it on social media and we will add it to the next edition.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>Support Off-Guardian:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/offguardian\">Ko-fi<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.subscribestar.com\/offguardian\">Subscribestar<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=CKFB3MH8CGB9U\">Paypal<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/2024\/01\/22\/this-week-in-the-new-normal-81\/\">Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Off-Guardian charts the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world.  See if you can spot the \u201csecret theme\u201d of this edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":280317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Commentary","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=280599"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280602,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280599\/revisions\/280602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/280317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=280599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=280599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=280599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}