{"id":321820,"date":"2026-01-19T08:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T08:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=321820"},"modified":"2026-01-21T08:56:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T08:56:54","slug":"this-week-in-the-new-normal-112","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=321820","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the New Normal #112"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Off-Guardian \u2013 Jan 18, 2026<\/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<h3><strong>1. \u2026wait, we\u2019re going to the moon?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>NASA announced they\u2019re sending people back to the moon\u2026next month. Artemis II is going to loop-the-loop around the moon and then comeback. They\u2019re calling it the furthest people have ever been from Earth (but I think Apollo 13 is supposed to have done the same).<\/p>\n<p>After that they plan on actually landing people on the moon next year sometime, using their special \u201cmega rocket\u201d:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The NASA mega-rocket set to carry four astronauts on a 10-day test trip around the moon begins its painstaking crawl towards the launch pad<\/p>\n<p>Follow live on Sky News \uf53d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rzdXv5xAbM\">https:\/\/t.co\/rzdXv5xAbM<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1nEMlhq5kr\">pic.twitter.com\/1nEMlhq5kr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sky News (@SkyNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SkyNews\/status\/2012502815248113866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The whole thing is kicking off Space Race II: Electric Boogaloo, with China, Russia and even India planning their own moon missions by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>The only question is \u201chow fake is all this going to be?\u201d and the answer is \u201cvery\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Fake videos, fake photos, fake heroes and fake villains. Even if they <em>could<\/em> go to the moon, it\u2019s easier to just not and say they did.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Speaking of space\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Speaking of space, did you know that the Bank of England has been told to game-plan for a financial crisis caused by the American government admitting aliens are real?<\/p>\n<p>Yes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/home-news\/aliens-financial-crisis-bank-england-helen-mccaw-b2902690.html\">seriously<\/a>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wpa-warning wpa-image-missing-alt aligncenter size-full wp-image-321821\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/boe-aliens-crisis-800x274-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"274\" data-warning=\"Missing alt text\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/boe-aliens-crisis-800x274-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/boe-aliens-crisis-800x274-1-480x164.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 800px, 100vw\" \/><\/div>\n<p>I can\u2019t believe we really have to talk about this, but<em> if the US government says they\u2019ve met extraterrestrial lifeforms, they are probably lying.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The financial crisis angle is hilarious though, it smacks of Jasper Carrott <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gcXM6tfe9YM\">reading Protect and Survive<\/a>: <em>\u201ca large-scale nuclear attack on this country would completely disrupt the banking system\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But combine the New Space Race, the so-called moon missions and the alien preparations, and they have a chance to do something so <em>funny<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Fire politicians for \u201clying\u201d?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The devolved Welsh parliament is considering legislation that would make it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c7v07je1119o\">illegal for sitting politicians to knowingly make \u201cfalse or misleading statements\u201d<\/a>, on pain of forced resignation.<\/p>\n<p>Which, I guess, sounds OK in theory, but in practical terms is actually insane.<\/p>\n<p>Mainly because it relies on the idea that Parliament is aware of and can enforce certain objective truth at all times. Which it obviously isn\u2019t and can\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>In real terms, such rules would be used to enforce agenda-driven consensus by scaring low-rung or inexperienced officials into just nodding along with the majority.<\/p>\n<p>After all, we all know what they mean by \u201cfalse or misleading statements\u201d, it would be climate change denial or \u201cconspiracy theories\u201d and the like.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>BONUS: Hypocrites of the week<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Always a crowded field, but the good people of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee \u2013 who have an <em>excellent<\/em> record in this category \u2013 excelled themselves this week. After Venezuelan \u201copposition leader\u201d Mar\u00eda Corina Machado <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cx2w94wp4p1o\">handed her Peace Prize over to Donald Trump,<\/a> they tweeted\u2026<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Statement from the Nobel Foundation<\/p>\n<p>One of the core missions of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration. The Foundation upholds Alfred Nobel\u2019s will and its stipulations. It states that the prizes shall be awarded to those who\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WIadOBLtpD\">pic.twitter.com\/WIadOBLtpD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NobelPrize\/status\/2012826296875667648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cConferred the greatest benefit to mankind\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>How exactly did Mar\u00eda Corina Machado \u201cconfer the greatest benefit to mankind\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Or Al Gore?<\/p>\n<p>Or Barack Obama?<\/p>\n<p>Or Henry frickin\u2019 Kissinger?<\/p>\n<p>Awfulness.<\/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.cnbc.com\/2026\/01\/18\/uk-australia-style-under-16s-social-media-ban.html\">the race to be the next country to ban social media<\/a> or how AI is scaring people into <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2026\/01\/18\/business\/crafting-soars-ai-analog-wellness\">\u201canalog lifestyles\u201d<\/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\/2026\/01\/18\/this-week-in-the-new-normal-112\/\">Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Charting the progress of autocracy and economic and social restructuring around the world<\/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-321820","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\/321820","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=321820"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321823,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321820\/revisions\/321823"}],"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=321820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=321820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=321820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}