NEU fights Child Poverty

 

The NEU and its predecessor unions have a record of fighting on the issue of child poverty. No Conservative government will eradicate poverty because their power and privileges depend on it. However as we have seen with the Marcus Rashford campaign, they can have their hand forced.

The NEU website has the following demands

The Government must act on 5 pressing issues to give children trapped in poverty the access to the education they need

1. Expand the Free School Meal (FSM) scheme to include every child (up to the age of 16) from a household in receipt of Universal Credit, or equivalent benefits.
2. Eradicate holiday hunger by extending FSM provision of at least £15 per child per week during all school holidays.
3. Reform all school uniform policies to ensure uniform options are affordable for families in the local community.
4. Provide free household internet access for children and young people in households on Universal Credit.
5. Establish a new, dedicated technology budget for all schools to combat the digital divide.
   

https://www.facebook.com/socialistreviews

New Year Dishonours

 The New Year Honours list is conclusive proof the prime minister still thinks there is a British Empire. Will you tell him or shall I? 

I have more respect for Benjamin Zephaniah who dismissed with contempt the suggestion he should join the British Empire.

 

Socialist Reviews

Keir Starmer silent on Israeli atrocity

 

The Israeli government's constant search for peace in the Middle East has led them to commit another atrocity. 

Israeli airstrikes and artillery attacks damaged a paediatric hospital, a centre for disability services and several homes in the besieged Gaza Strip early Saturday morning. These brutal attacks on civilians (including children) are justified by the Zionists as "retaliation" for Hamas attacks.

The story is here

Sir Keir Starmer has been silent about this.

Zionists have accused Socialists of supporting Hamas Naturally they don't need any evidence. The Socialist Party has never said anything a sane person could take for support for Hamas. 

A series of tit for tat killings going back several decades have not brought about peace in the middle east. Every single one of them could be described as "retaliation" and what good has this "retaliation" done?

A Socialist solution to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East will require a sustained political struggle. It is obvious to everybody that bombing civilians just isn't helping. 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Derek-McMillan/e/B009FUXHWY 

 

 

There is no such thing as a "whites only church"

The consequences of Trump will outlive his presidency.

For example, the City Council in the tiny Swift County town of Murdock voted 3 to 1 to allow a controversial religious group that worships ancient Norse gods to use a former church as a regional gathering place. 

It is described in the media as a "whites only church". There is no such thing but the disgusting capitulation of the officials to a racist group is a sign of the continuing poison of Trump and the racist ideology of the alt right and other Trump-supporting scum.

I wouldn't personally worship Norse gods but there is no indication that such worship needs to be for whites only. It is racism pure and simple.

The "Black Lives Matter" demonstrations around the world are a fair indication that the racists will not have it all their own way.

120,000 people opposed the decision in Murdock. This issue is not over. The racists will never win.

You can add your name to the petition here

Unite

 

Computer Doublespeak

 Computers make mistakes

That is one thing computers very rarely do. The progammers might make an error. Politicians who introduce IT systems without much thought may very well make mistakes. To blame it all on the computers is doublespeak.

Technical errors

Translated into English this means "we do not know what went wrong." Politicians blame "technical errors" when either they have sought to conceal the truth or they do not understand the IT systems they have installed.

A "technical error" is to blame for many of the errors in track and trace and the simple pack of lies which underestimates the level of the Corona Virus.

The Christmas relaxation of precautions is not based on any thought. The politicians just sucked it out of their thumbs. And if it all goes "tits up" it will of course be a "technical error".

#worthingflash

 Worthing Flash has stories every week and is currently seeking stories for 2021. 

Stories should be between 85 and 1000 words. The range of subjects and genres is open.

Since the Christmas message the number of visitors to the blog has gone up to 28,000.

Which is nice.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Lord Patten and Hong Kong

 The pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong have shown great courage and tenacity in standing up to the Stalinist regime in China. And how did the Today programme on the BBC celebrate this? They paraded Lord Patten, former Tory Party Chairman and the last governor of Hong Kong.

How can a member of the privileged House of Lords talk about democracy with a straight face?

Nobody in Hong Kong had any say in who the governor of this colony would be. Nobody elects the House of Lords. He didn't believe in democracy then, so why the change of heart?

Is it because the calls for democracy are not directed at the vestiges of the British Empire but at the Chinese regime? Is the Baron Patten of Barnes playing a dirty political game or is he really on the side of the pro-democracy campaigners? You decide.

 

Socialist Reviews

Covidiots

 The greatest rate of increase in Covid cases is in the secondary school age range according to the government. This is the very same government which has sworn to keep schools open come Hell or high water. This is the same government which has ignored the advice of the National Education Union to provide serious support for anti-covid precautions in schools. 

And meanwhile this is the government which is allowing a free-for-all at Christmas and making their scientific advisers nervous because that is a recipe for a new spike in infections in the new year.

The Welsh government has finally agreed to close schools, more than a little too late.

Vaccination queue-jumping

 So the Queen is getting the vaccine 'pour encourager les autres.' I thought at first it was just another bit of Windsor family queue-jumping.

I am sure every covid patient would rather have her Majesty at their bedside than a qualified nurse. 

 

 A group of actors in the best advertisement for republicanism ever.

 

Postscript

I subsequently found out that the taxpayer is to make sure the Queen is one of the few people to make a killing out of the virus. 

The story is in "The National" as well as the Daily Mail 

 

Coats for Refugees

 At a time when a vocal minority of football supporters are booing their own team for supporting Black Lives Matter, this is a practical way to oppose racism.

Anti-racists are collecting coats in Southampton for refugees - a basic requirement in this weather.

You don't have to go to Southampton, in fact I would not recommend it under Covid restrictions, there is a giving page

https://care4calais.enthuse.com/coats4calais#!/

 

 

It'll all end in tiers

 

Lockdown ends next week and we'll return to the tier system.

Not sure what that means for schools? A quick summary: 

 

Tier 1: schools open, no safety measures from govt

Tier 2: schools open, no safety measures from govt

Tier 3: schools open, no safety measures from govt

Got that?
 

Click here

Josh Asker at Socialism 2020

Josh Asker spoke at a virtual meeting of 115 people at Socialism 2020:

For the capitalist class it is an advantage to have two parties supporting capitalism. That is why Margaret Thatcher thought her greatest achievement was to transform not just one party but two.

Labour was effectively two parties under Corbyn. The possibility of turning Labour into a mass working class party has been pushed back.

And yet there are mass campaigns like the Black Lives Matter and campaigns by the trade unions so the conditions for a mass working class party exist.

Workers find their aspirations are no longer represented in Labour. All the Labour opposition has been saying to the government is "we agree with what you are doing but you did it too late."
Political representation for workers at the ballot box is necessary.

In fact Johnson has spent more than Corbyn proposed to spend. Yet Corbyn's spending plans were derided as a "magic money tree" at the time.

We need to have a conference to bring together the working class movements to create a council and parliamentary challenge.

Labour conference can no longer determine policy. Labour became a completely capitalist party under Blair. In the late 19th Century the working class movement had a capitalist party - the Liberal Party - which purported to represent them.

It will not be a straightforward fight any more than the genesis of the Labour Party itself was.

For a start trade unions should not be giving money to MPs and councillors who vote for cuts. The whole issue of affiliation to a capitalist party is being raised in the trade unions. Union money should be used to promote union policies.

A major demand will be that the working class should not be made to pay for the Covid-19 crisis.

 

Anti Racism

 If Sir Keir is interested in fighting racism why isn't he leading a political campaign against anti-semitism and Zionism?

A political campaign is not the same as bureaucratic expulsions.

If he insists Zionism is not racism he should be locked up for crimes against the English language.

Car Parking Charges

 

I don't often (or indeed ever) agree with Piers Morgan but in the Metro he slammed a similar scheme in London. The article is here

The disgrace is that NHS staff are being charged for parking at all. There are plenty of reasons why Matt Hancock should be ashamed of himself and his inability to do anything about this would be yet another.

Of course Sir Keir is too busy pursuing a vendetta against Jeremy Corbyn to do anything.

 

Socialist Reviews

Corbyn deprived of the whip

 We need a new party of the working class. The Parliamentary Labour Party are out of touch with the rank and file and out of touch with reality.

 

 

Who do the self-styled Board of Deputies of British Jews actually represent?

 Marie van der Zil appeared on the Today program with the curious accusation that a committee of the Labour Party was "political" whereas the self-appointed Board of Deputies of British Jews is not at all political with its support for Israel. And I'm the Queen of Sheba.

Whom does the BoD represent?

In a response to the BoD’s recent demands that the Labour leadership candidates must agree to sign up to their 10 ‘pledges’, Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) have responded by advising the candidates that the BoD have no right to claim to speak for the British “Jewish Community”, especially given that Charedi Jews (approx  20% of the British Jewish population) do not recognise their authority. They also point out that they can’t claim to represent the 50% of all British Jews who happen to be secular either.

 

The full article is well-worth reading.

https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/expose-who-are-the-board-of-deputies-of-british-jews/

It is all a pretext to attack Jeremy Corbyn and Marie van der Zil attacks all Socialists when she attacks him.

Obviously there are some Jews the so-called Board of Deputies does not represent.

Socialist Reviews 

Failed Vision by Andrée Roby

(No spoilers!)
This is a gripping story. It is an unusual tale concerning a psychic detective who works with the police. It also explores the dangers of social media and the limitations of using IP addresses to identify people who use Facebook (other platforms are available) to groom young victims.

There is also an imaginative look inside the mind of a killer. This can not have been easy to write. The characters are well-drawn and the story makes compulsive reading.

The writer also contributes short fiction to the blog #worthingflash which is well worth reading.

Very good stuff.

Trumped up charges

Barr, the US attorney-general has authorised investigation of unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud by Trump. He will also investigate Trump’s allegation that there are fairies at the bottom of his garden. 

 

 

Bye Trump

 People will celebrate the downfall of Trump and that is quite reasonable. They should also subject Joe Biden to the closest scrutiny. There was no working-class candidate in this duel of millionaires.

Whatever Trump has or has not done, he will go down in history for throwing his toys out of the pram. He will need that expensive team of lawyers now or his next job could be in prison. 

The wheel of fortune has turned against Trump but can all he has done be undone in four years? An independent intervention by the working class would make all the difference. 

Socialists do not give up.

Socialist Reviews

Dulce et Decorum Est

Remembrance Sunday

"Dulce et Decorum Est pro Patria Mori" was a phrase they taught public school boys. "It is sweet and fitting to die for your country." or better yet get your servants to go off and die on your behalf obviously.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge. 

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. 

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . 

.
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. 

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Wilfred Owen
8 October 1917 - March, 1918
--

http://derekmcmillan.com/

Fiction Books

Total fiction books = 12

The latest is "Brevity"

 I enjoy selling this on eBay because it is a bit more personal than selling on Amazon.  Amazon treat their employees appallingly. Moreover all the money for "Brev" comes to me so that's a plus.

Darkness in Durrington

5

 
 My fiction books are as follows:
 
 The Mirror of Eternity Series
 
  The Mirror of Eternity
 
  Salt Wars 
 
  The Miranda Revolution
 
  Defending the Sangreal
 
  Domain of Dreams
 

 

 

 

Space Dog Alfred Series

Space Dog Alfred

Planet of the Dogs

Durrington Detective Agency series

Durrington Detective Agency

Death in Durrington

And a collection of short stories

Pot Pourri

 
 

Fiendish

 I am always open to suggestions for fiendish murder plots. This is strictly for fiction purposes. Or so I tell people.

 

 Brev

The poppy – symbol of peace or war?

Those who survived the Great War, greeted the 11th of November as the end of the insanity and the beginning of peace. They would have been mystified to see generals and royals using it as an opportunity to celebrate war over a hundred years later.

Since the end of the Second World War, there has not been a single day of peace. In my lifetime there has been one imperial war of conquest after another.

The red poppy is an ambiguous symbol. On the one hand it represents remembering those who fell in war and the money is used to support those soldiers who suffered as a result of war. 

On the other hand it is used by generals and the royal family to glorify war. If anyone dares to criticise this disgusting militarism they are immediately accused of disrespecting the fallen and being too mean to help the military victims of warfare. This has been characterised as "Poppy Fascism".

The Anzac monument in Sydney is "for all the victims of war", friend or foe, military or civilian. Since the second world war and the advent of mass civilian bombing, wars have seen a massive increase in civilian casualties. We are just "collateral damage" as far as the Pentagon is concerned. 

Socialist internationalism is the only basis on which militarism can be opposed. The people of Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan are some of the poorest people in the world. What with the ruthless bombing campaigns of American Imperialism and the disgusting brutality of the Taliban and ISIL their sufferings have been made worse. 

"Blessed are the warmakers" is the creed of Boris Johnson. It is unacceptable and his hypocritical respect for "the fallen" is nothing but an old Etonian fabrication.

Day of the Dead (Also All Souls Day)

 

I have "lost" three of my sisters and two nieces. Today is a day to remember all the dead before we join them. Día de Muertos is not a sad occasion. It is a time to celebrate their lives and to remember that love never dies.

Masks are not obligatory.

Mistaken Bravado

 The government was adamant that there would be no lockdown and ridiculed Sir Keir Starmer when he suggested one. The government has now changed its tune, not for the first or last time.

The government is now adamant that schools and colleges are to remain open come hell or high water. This is mistaken bravado.

Office for National Statistics figures estimate that 1% of primary pupils and 2% of secondary pupils have the virus and that these levels have increased dramatically since wider opening in September.

Lives could be lost to save the face of the government. It is too high a price. 

I've written to my MP. So can you. It is best to use your own words because MPs filter anything which appears to be from a lobbying group.

Interview with the author

 I was doing a spring clean of dropbox and came across this. I am not currently reading "Strangers and Brothers" but the rest is accurate.

1. What did you like reading as a child?

I really enjoyed Science Fiction and Arthurian stories.

However in truth I read everything on my old dad's bookshelf. So there was also

The Call of the Wild

Rubiyat of Omar Khyamm

alongside

Practical Mechanics

The Communist Manifesto

and Newsom Encyclopedia

The old man (45) died when I was seven and I felt closer to him when I was reading.

2. Who is your favourite author and why?

Jack London wrote such a variety of stories and he had such a wonderful vocabulary - the vocabulary of the self-taught. He reacted to people and ideas with undiminished wonder that he made them fresh on the page for me to read.

3. What are your recollections of English lessons at school?

On Friday afternoons Mr Owen got us all to sit quietly while he read The Hobbit to us. It gave me the idea that being a teacher was a wonderful job.

4. You can take one book onto a desert island with you – which one do you take and why?

I could cheat and say The Bible but Desert Island disks usually excludes that. For the possible length of my stay it would have to be The Lord of the Rings with all the appendices. Perhaps I will get to read them all

5. What are you reading at the moment?

Strangers and Brothers by CP Snow. The whole series is like a myth of the English middle classes in the twentieth century. He was a scientist and a politician and the books span both those worlds in addition to the legal profession. The story of George Passant "a child of his time" as he is called is an introduction to the attempt of the provincial middle class to break out of their backwater isolation into the mainstream of British society. It is a story told with humour and compassion.

 6. Which book do you wish you had written and why?

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It has given so much pleasure to so many people. One day I want to do that!

Brevity on Facebook

 Brevity now has a page on Facebook

Click here

 

"Brevity" is our best-selling audiobook. Actually, it is our only audiobook but its success has been a pleasant surprise. People may not have CD players in the home but many cars and many laptops have CD players.

Not many writers have a printing press in the shed but producing an audiobook only takes a computer, a decent mike and a program such as "Audacity" which is free and open-source.

There are professional readers available for hire but I chose to read myself because I am very cheap :)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/…/audio-books-cd-flash-…/164361970913

"Brevity" on Audacity

 

Free resources for teachers - over 10000 downloads

 

 https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/helpline2  

 

Free resources. The TES calls me "h" but there is no "Line of Duty" connection. Yet.

In fact TES advise people to use pseudonyms because some Senior Management can react adversely to staff having opinions.

My pseudonym was "Helpline". In 2012 I was running a helpline for stressed teachers which was supported by West Sussex Teachers' Association. It was the best piece of union work I ever did. Another answer to the age-old question "What have the unions ever done for us?" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl1gdAheKDQ

 

 

Mysterious Facebook

Mysteriously Facebook keeps deleting this picture. That is not the same as proving that it isn't completely true.

I am not that interested in which Tories are sleeping with which other Tories. It is what they are doing to the majority of the population of this country which ought to concern us.

Tories originated the anti-semitism smear against Jeremy Corbyn. It was calculated to alienate people who would normally support the left. In the perverse world of Dom and chums it was a clever move. Immoral of course and dishonest but so so clever.

Jeremy Corbyn continues his lifelong commitment to anti-racism.
 

WTF

 

Robert Peston has nabbed the best possible title for a book on the present political situation. The book is full of facts, figures and argument to support his case for an essentially class-collaborationist approach to labour relations.

One thing which does shine out from his analysis is how much better off the workers in Sweden have been because of the widespread trade union membership. It is a good answer to the question, “What have the unions ever done for us?” Saved our bacon would be the short answer.

Fury at Donald Trump is one of the defining characteristics of this era. People with whom I have little or no political agreement will nevertheless concede that he is “a bit of an embarrassment” or “the devil incarnate” depending on the degree of their antipathy.

Peston sees the vote against the EU as a revolt of the lowest paid and least regarded members of the electorate and he has chapter and verse to back up this analysis.

There are two issues with this book.

Firstly the tired assertion that the EU has brought peace is a Eurocentic one. On a world scale there has not been one day of peace since the end of the second world war.

Secondly it never was the function of capitalism to provide rising living standards and social mobility. There is an irreconcilable conflict of interest between the one percent and the ninety nine percent and many of the facts in this book bear this out. Rises in living standards and social mobility are the result of trade union power and the political intervention of the working class.

It is an excellent book written in a lively and engaging style. You will have to excuse Socialists for drawing different conclusions from the political editor of ITV News.

Wear Red Day

 

Five ways to stand together against racism on Wear Red Day 16 October.

1. Wear red and share to #WRD2020
2. Film keepie uppies: post to #keepupchallenge
3. Wear red in your education/workplace.
4. Wear red from home on a virtual call.
5. Donate

I may not be much good at (2) but the rest are ok 😀

Amazon Reviews

Amazon Reviews 

Click here to read more 

Apparently, Amazon does not differentiate between book and other reviews, so you will find a review of my shoes here too!

Anti-Capitalist books

 The Tories are on a hiding to nothing trying to ban anti-capitalist ideas from schools. It is impossible to ban ideas. The only result will be to make anti-capitalism more interesting and attractive.

Shakespeare frequently asserted that love is more important than money and if that isn't anti-capitalism I don't know what is. And don't get me started on that Jesus fella - it's as hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God as it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle indeed!

The Conservatives should concentrate on convincing the poor, the unemployed and those who need medical help that the rich are more important than they are.

Good luck with that.

Five Stories from 101 words

 Here are five stories from the 101 word website.

Guess how many words in each?

Click here

 

 

 

"Not Donald Trump" is not enough

The childish display of pique in the debate between Trump and Biden showed up the nature of Donald Trump for anybody who was prepared to see it. His dismissal of Covid-19 has now met the irony of the president getting the virus himself.

The Daily Star is a paper I don't read but they collected a number of Trumpisms for their front page.

However, the Biden campaign"strategy" of being the candidate who is "Not Donald Trump" can never be enough. Voters need to see a difference between the candidates. It is unfortunate that Bernie Sanders did not want to split the anti-Trump vote because if he stood against the two capitalist candidates he would provide a rallying point for those who reject the Donald and all his works.

Meanwhile Sir Keir Starmer who has been calm under questioning from the BBC appears to have a strategy of being the candidate who is "Not Boris Johnson". The electorate deserve a genuine anti-capitalist alternative so I welcome the fact that the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition will be offering such an alternative.

Banning Anti-Capitalist books in schools

 

The government aims to ban "anti-capitalist" books from schools. Is this different in principle to burning books which they disagree with?

Can we expect to see "Animal Farm", "Hard Times" and "Grapes of Wrath" thrown on the bonfire?

Will the Tories dress up for the occasion?

 

 

Sonnet 91 is blatantly anti-capitalist:

SONNET 91

Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,
Some in their wealth, some in their body's force,
Some in their garments, though new-fangled ill;
Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse;
And every humour hath his adjunct pleasure,
Wherein it finds a joy above the rest:
But these particulars are not my measure;
All these I better in one general best.
Thy love is better than high birth to me,
Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' cost,
Of more delight than hawks or horses be;
And having thee, of all men's pride I boast:
   Wretched in this alone, that thou may'st take
   All this away, and me most wretched make. 

 

So Shakespeare could find himself upon the bonfire if Dominic Cummings gets his way. 

 

Brevity

 

Trump Tax and the Monarchy

 

The New York Times leads on the story of a president whose businesses show continual losses which justify the non-payment of tax.

It is a little odd that Trump claimed when debating Hilary Clinton that his tax dodging just showed that he was "smarter".

"Smarter" than the millions of tax-paying Americans? Much the same claim could be made by a car thief. "I steal cars because I'm smarter than the people who don't. They only criticise me because they are jealous."

Many Trump supporters applauded. They pay tax (many of them) but they are quite happy with a president who thinks they are dumb to do so.

I hope nobody in the UK feels smug about this. The Queen paid no tax for 40 years (1952 to 1992) and then gracefully agreed to do so. As if she were doing us a favour.

No wonder she's smiling. Does she take us for fools too?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Derek-McMillan/e/B009FUXHWY