Anti Semitism Tory ploy

Chief Rabbi and Boris Johnson associate Ephraim Mirvis knows perfectly well that criticism of Israeli policy does not constitute antisemitism. If it did half the population of Israel would be anti-semitic.

The fact that it is not true will not stop him, however. The Conservative Party has a non-exclusive relationship with the truth.

He does not believe that the majority of working-class people will be better off with a Conservative Government.

Ditto.

He attacks Labour and urges the Jewish population to vote for a party that deals in lies and has done nothing but attack the living standards and services of the poor.

According to Wikipedia "Ephraim Mirvis (born 1956) is an Orthodox rabbi who serves as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. Traditionally the Chief Rabbi serves as the head of all British Jews as the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. However, some Orthodox communities (either affiliated to the Federation of Synagogues or to the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, or non-affiliated communities) do not consider the Chief Rabbi to represent their communities."

The BBC has remained very silent about this. 

There are reporters for the BBC who simply peddle the Israeli official line. There are others who take a more skeptical (or dare I say it professional) approach. This has never been trumpeted as the "anti-semitism crisis at the BBC".

Derek McMillan author page

I go to Poundland to save money!

Normally I expect to save money by going to Poundland and usually that's what I do. However that was not what happened yesterday.

This is the letter which I sent to Poundland:

I used your Worthing store yesterday at about 1.30 and I used the cash machine. The machine registered an error and said the money would not be dispensed. However, my bank account was debited by £100. The West Sussex police have been contacted. The bank has filed a complaint.

One disturbing factor was that the staff mentioned "That is the third time that has happened." Something should have been done before the third event!

 DO NOT USE THE CASH MACHINE IN WORTHING POUNDLAND

Derek McMillan author page

Escaped Ink

Derek McMillan author page

Pensions in Europe

What are pensions elsewhere in Europe?
Fullfact has a long article about the complexity of this issue but in the end, they admit "the proportion of pensioners’ earnings from publicly provided benefits is the smallest in the UK, at just 43%. In France, Germany and Spain, it’s closer to 70%."
https://fullfact.org/europe/pensioners-eu-uk/ 

Derek McMillan author page

Green Party reply on school cuts

I have written to all candidates about cuts. I personally oppose the Green Party’s unprincipled deal with the LibDems but this is the reply:

Good morning,

Thank you so much for your email about this very important issue. I have signed the pledge. 

As an educator myself, I am appalled by the cuts to education brought in by years of Tory government. Teachers, administrators and staff have been valiant and hard-working in this context, and they deserve better for the essential service they are providing to our society. 

The Green Party rejects market driven models of education that see its role only in terms of international economic competitiveness and preparation for work. We want to develop an education system that will nurture a desire to learn throughout life. Education should be at the heart of communities and for communities, and should promote equality, inclusivity, social and emotional well-being and responsibility and be democratically accountable to them. Education is a right and an entitlement and should be free at the point of delivery to people of all ages.  

If I have the privilege of becoming your MP, I will work with others to integrate grammar schools, academies and free schools into the comprehensive system, ending the charitable status for schools in the private sector. This will free up significant funds to ensure that quality education is available to all. We will also abolish Ofsted, primary school SATs and league tables in order to ease the overemphasis on attainment that is detrimental to both pupil and school-wide wellbeing at all levels. Class sizes will be reduced to 20 at both primary and secondary level, and we will work to reduce total secondary school places to 700, to enhance a sense of community.

The Green Party has a long history of standing up for students and educators, and I am honoured to be able to fight for children, schools and teachers in Worthing West.

With best wishes,

Jo Paul

Parliamentary Candidate Worthing West
https://www.facebook.com/JoPaulWestWorthing
https://worthing.greenparty.org.uk/worthing.html   

Derek McMillan author page

Snap Election - Snap Hustings

I received this from Worthing Skeptics -

By popular demand, we have organized a Hustings for you!

It's at Field Place Barn on Thursday 28th November at 19:30 for 20:00. 

I have invited all the candidates and will update you as they reply. 

In the meantime please put this in your diary.

Sadly, we have to ask you for £2 attendance fee at the door to cover the cost of hiring the venue.

Kind regards,

John

Can you write a story in 101 words?

Here are a few examples Click here

The website https://101words.org/ takes stories of - go on guess how many words! This is great for adults or students who lack the confidence to write anything longer.

You can also send your story to worthingflash@gmail.com where the parameters are 85 to 1000 words so you will be well within them.

9000 people have visited https://worthingflash.blogspot.com so far and you can make it 9001, so come along.

101 is also the non-emergency number for the police in the UK so should be easy to remember. One caveat is that Libre Office, Open Office and Google Docs have different ways of counting words. Ludicrous but true


I use Open Office under Windows. I have just completed a document and got a word count of 50255.I then opened the same document in Libre Office under Knoppix and got a word count of 49078. Out of curiosity I opened it in Google Docs and got a word count of 48979.

For 101words.org I usually count by hand to make sure!.

Lord Farage?

What price has Farage demanded from Boris for his craven capitulation?

It is possible that the Brexit Party would not have been able to contend every seat in the election so let their anti-Labour venom dictate their policy. However, they will pay a price for their grovelling to the Conservative Government. Anyone who thought a vote for the Brexit Party was a protest against the Tories will have to think again

The DUP got a billion for their support for the Government. Is that the kind of price the Brexit Party wanted to receive.

Of course, Farage has denied that he wants a peerage. That is what he is saying this week. Next week he may have changed his tune yet again. He is quite a changeable chap.

Or is it simply the Nasty Party getting a boost from the Even Nastier Party? At the end of the day, isn't Farage just another Tory Bastard?

Ambiguity and Armistice Day

After the first world war a weary population greeted the end of the war and celebrated peace. Armistice day became a day for commemoration of those who had died in that senseless slaughter. The Flanders poppy was a symbol of that. Millions still commemorate the fallen in that way.

Armistice day for them is not a chance to glorify war but to remember the fallen and celebrate peace. The ANZAC memorial in Sydney is dedicated to “all the victims of war”.

The politicians, monarchs and generals who send better people than themselves off to die have a different view. For them, remembrance is a celebration of war and hypocrisy. Millions of pounds each year are taken from the public and handed over to the millionaire arms merchants. The politicians who do this wear their poppies with Satanic pride.
 

Nobody is allowed to appear on TV without wearing a poppy. John Snow dubbed this attitude “poppy fascism”. News readers who have been forbidden to wear badges for World Aids Day are dragooned into wearing what is seen as a symbol glorifying war.

Harry Leslie Smith, a World War Two RAF veteran, has not worn a poppy since 2013 because he believes "the spirit of my generation has been hijacked" by latter-day politicians to "sell dubious wars" in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Some have responded by wearing a white "Peace" poppy instead.

Socialists take no issue with those who genuinely want to commemorate the fallen or celebrate the end of a war. Those who use remembrance to score cheap political points while doing nothing to put an end to war are beneath contempt. 

Boris and the NHS

The Daily Mirror revealed back in September that "Boris Johnson's '40 new hospitals' is actually just six and they're not all new."

In all likelihood he wants them all named after him.
The Boris Johnson Sexual Health Hospital
The Boris Johnson Rectal Hospital
The Boris Johnson Home for Incurables

and so on

All the proposed new money for the NHS is just a promise. And how much is a promise from Boris worth? Also, the proposed new spending on Schools, NHS and other public services do not compensate for the cuts the Tories have introduced. They take with one hand and (pretend that they might one day) give with the other!

Here is how the Lewis Bonfire Celebrations celebrated Johnson

  It looks as though the election will be between Prorogue and Anti Rogue 

Corbyn can win with socialist policies!

 

 

Derek McMillan author page

Alun Cairns MP - typical Tory

Alun Cairns is a Tory. He denied knowing a Tory Welsh assembly candidate had made claims about a woman's sexual history in a rape trial in April 2018, causing the case to collapse. The BBC has found that he had an email about it a year ago.
The fact that he engages in such activities comes as no surprise. He is a disgrace but as I said in the first place, he is a Tory. What do you expect?

He loves Boris Johnson though.

Corbyn can win with socialist policies!

 

 

Derek McMillan author page

Not so clever

James Cleverly, Conservative Chairman, had a tough time on the Today Programme on Radio Four.

First, he had to defend Jacob Rees-Mogg for his casual insult to the victims of Grenfell Tower. Cleverly said it was OK because Rees-Mogg had apologised.

Next, he had to defend Francesca O’Brien, Tory candidate for Gower, who said that people on the reality TV show Benefits Street needed to be "put down". He brought out the somewhat tired Rees-Mogg defence that she had apologised.

Finally, he had to defend a fake video which the Tories used to attack Labour. On that there was no apology and he finally managed to get in his key phrase "Get Brexit Done". He said that the real video was also available as well as the fake one.

Not a good day for him. It was a good day for Boris Johnson who managed to get his ludicrous comparison of Jeremy Corbyn with Stalin published in a nice impartial article in the Daily Telegraph written by one Boris Johnson.

Corbyn can win with socialist policies!

 

 

Derek McMillan author page

unprincipled alliance

What principles do Plaid, the Greens and LibDems have? Their unprincipled alliance says it all. 

Plaid and the Greens support a vicious capitalist party which kept the Tories in power, betrayed everyone who voted for them and licked David Cameron's backside to keep in power.

Derek McMillan author page