Waaahhh!!! It is their fault...

It is easy to complain about politicians. Democracy is a great political system, althoug it necessary reflects more or less what the electors have in mind, that is not always very intelligent or completely true.
It is true that some of the things that people say before the elections are promises that never realize. In some cases, thank's God for that.
When real life starts again after the elections, there is need to pass from words to actions. If the words that people wanted to hear from the candidates are not good enough, they cannot pass into reality without changes. There are budget constraints (very annoying but unavoidable) and there is a (healthy) need for mediation with other people that thinks different from us.
And of course there are also dishonest or inept politicians. But I guess they are as frequent as they are in any other social group. A dishonest People produces dishonest politicians.

Generalizations are an essential part of human knowledge, and we use them all the time when we interact with reality. Our brain cannot really work without it.
Unfortunately they are not accurate and from the single person point of view they are called "prejudices" and are most annoying.
Most of the times we do not even bother to generalize ourselves. We get the generalizations prêt-à-porter from the mainstream culture of our society or our social group, and we prolong the life of incomprehensions that have their roots in a far away past.
Gender, nationality, race and social class prejudices have a huge impact on our life. Sometimes they are unbearable and outrageous. Sometimes they become self-fulfilling prophecies.

But... if we cannot think without them, it is naive to pretend to get rid of them as a whole. We have to destroy them one at the time, knowing that like a phoenix they regenerate every time.

My comment in the MOOC "Empire" of the University of Exeter

As I have written in prevoius comments, I am a bit surprised that this course is only talking about the old British Empire, the one that does not exist anymore. 
Talking about old colonies is easy, and it is easy to agree that what our ancestors have done last Century was wrong. I think that on this subject the course material and the comments of the students have been over-critical. 
The Empire had an important historical function and was an essential element in creating the world of today (that is not all bad), and British people could still be proud of it. 
Empires are an out of date form of international organizations and it is likely that the remnants of them will disappear sooner or later. I would have expected that this course would have been a place for discussion on the colonial issues that are still open. But I see that it has not been the case. 
There are a few hotspot where UK is involved in endless bitter discussions that are not really visible to the British public, but that are resented by other people: the Malvinas Islands (or Falklands, if you prefer), and Gibraltar. On these, the UK does not comply with several UN resolutions and British people do not even know.

The real British Empire, the important one and the one that has left a mark in all the peoples of the world, will not disappear. Not even when the UK will lose a few islands in the Southern Ocean, or a rock in the South of Spain. It is the heritage of human rights, liberal principles, English language and European culture that the British Empire has spread all over the world and that we all share and love.

Modern times

"... this just demonstrates how important it is that all countries do what they reasonably can to disrupt and degrade this death cult which has ushered in a new dark age over parts of the Middle East."

Tony Abbot, Prime Minister of Australia

Thank you Mr Prime Minister, I think you found the right words!

Another day of mourn with the people of Japan.