Pack of Lies

Findon Amateur Dramatic Society have produced a play about events in 1961 which is eerily topical since it deals with Russian spies.

The story concerns the Russian spy Gordon Lonsdale. Londsdale always insisted that his collaborators who went by the names Helen and Peter Kroger were innocent dupes. This does not explain why they had a short-wave radio and code books. Helen Kroger, real name Lona Cohen was a major in the KGB.

The story focuses on the Jackson family who were friends and neighbours of the Krogers for five years and never suspected their secret life. Barbara Jackson (played brilliantly by Sue Borroughs) is a close friend of Helen (played equally brilliantly by Lena Grinsted) and is forced to lie to her.

The MI5 officer (played by Simon Weston) gives Barbara too much information. It is probable that MI5 would have had a cover story to encourage the surveillance of the neighbours but in the play, the truth is revealed bit by bit.

Overall this is an excellent play and the Findon Dramatic Society do not look like Amateurs at all.

Mobile Phones in Schools

I worked for years at a school which banned mobile phones. Schools do not have to wait for the pusillanimous politicians to catch up. They can ban mobile phones and put the politicians to shame.

Personally, I think they should.

It would reduce the hours students spend on social media. It would put a stop to bullying by text (at least during school hours). It would enable pupils to concentrate and - God forbid - actually talk to each other!

Today on eBay

433 items sold means slightly more than 433 books because memory sticks can hold more than one book

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Death Agony of Capitalism

 "The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International is also known as "The Transitional Program". The purpose of an audio version is to make it accessible to a wider audience. It has been tested with Windows and Linux.

In exile from Stalin's Russia, Trotsky sought to create a worldwide socialist organisation. This founding statement explains why and explains the concept of a transitional program to take the movement forward.

Trotsky's supporters were hounded and murdered by Stalin's agents. Yet thousands of communists left Stalinist parties to rally behind Trotsky and his ideas.

Various organisations claim to continue the tradition on the Fourth International.

A good test would be to compare their program with the transitional program. Do they slavishly copy each detail whether appropriate or not; have they abandoned it altogether; or do they follow the method and the spirit of the Transitional Program adapted properly to the current century? The Committee for a Workers International I can be contacted at the website https://www.socialistworld.net/

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