Great Expectations on the BBC

Great Expectations on the BBC

This is not a faithful reproduction of Dickens' classic. It is a wickedly unfaithful version, a parody or re-imagining. The characters are all in the novel but many of the events are quite different. It does, however, reflect aspects of Victorian society which Dickens only hinted at.

Pip (Fionn Whitehead) has the ambition to become a gentleman. Jaggers (Ashley Thomas) teaches him that becoming a gentleman involves fine clothes, a sense of entitlement and the ability to rob and swindle other gentlemen.

No wonder the fascist Daily Mail denounced it as a "woke adaptation".

The enigmatic Miss Havisham completes Pip's education as a gentleman by introducing him to a prostitute and to opium. Prostitution was something Dickens' readers did not want to know about. Opium was not illegal and indeed the British Empire fought against China when the Chinese government refused to allow opium imports.

The cast is multicultural, another reason for the Daily Mail's fury. This is a bit rich considering that in the past the role of black characters like Othello were repeatedly played by white actors. It is more like justice.

Magwitch (Johnny Harris) sums things up in the final episode. "Gentlemen can do whatever suits them. They built an empire on it."

In a very clever moment, Biddy (Laurie Ogden) declares that she is a Chartist. The Chartists respect women and she won't have time to slave in Pip's kitchen!

The fraught relationship with Estella (Shalom Brune-Franklin) is resolved as Dickens originally intended. Pip opts not to marry Estella. In this version, he actually marries the Chartist Biddy.

This BBC adaptation is well worth a watch. Being hated by the Daily Mail is always a badge of honour.

Derek McMillan

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.

 

Solidarity Forever

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p3-R2wAwECisvb6ioRDldIHIN8RFs06T/view?usp=sharing 

 

I hope you enjoy this story. It is from "Brevity" which is an audiobook.

Click here

 

 

You can get "Brevity" here

 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164312947817

Jingoistic Claptrap

The BBC has raised the issue of jingoistic claptrap on the last night of the proms. Nigel Farage and Laurence Fox have been quick to put their 2p in. That is a predictable response. Music is mainly for enjoyment but the lyrics of "Rule Britannia" and "Land of Hope and Glory" are calculated to insult other nations and races. 

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel but for some right-wingers, it is the first, second and third as well.

"Land of Hope and Glory" was originally entitled "Pomp and Circumstance" which is a better title altogether. Boris Johnson has stepped into the row because it is a nice diversion from the government of chaos over which he presides. And you couldn't ask for a more pompous champion in the circumstances.

The Marseillaise is probably alone among national anthems in not insulting all other nations in order to boost jingoism.

Laurence Fox is standing up for privileged white males. Britons never will be slaves but other people can be as far as he is concerned.

How many privileged white males have died in police custody? How many have been stopped and searched without justification? How many have been passed over for jobs?

Still, for Laurence Fox and Nigel Farage, Black Lives don't matter as much as their own lives apparently.

Since this was written the BBC has denied any intention of chopping the jingoistic claptrap so the balance of the universe is restored.

The Empire Strikes Back.

 

My Amazon Page

Bristol Labour Council disrespect for Black Lives Matter

Email lordmayor@bristol.gov.uk to protest. Also mayor@bristol.gov.uk

Bristol Council is overwhelmingly Labour. You wouldn't know it from their abiding respect for slaver Colston whose statue they refused to remove. You wouldn't know it from the disrespect shown to Jen Reid. It didn't take them long to remove the statue of the black lives matter protestor.

That email again lordmayor@bristol.gov.uk  or mayor@bristol.gov.uk

"Black Lives Matter" is a simple statement of fact.

A disproportionate number of black people die in police custody.

The number of people from minority ethnic communities who are subject to stop and search is something which ought to be investigated.

The worst examples of public photographed violence come from America. This does not mean that things are not happening behind closed doors.

Nobody ought to die in police custody and nobody ought to be subjected to stop and search without due cause. To suggest otherwise would be disingenuous mendacity.

Enid Blyton

The most egregious example of racism in Enid Blyton's work is The Little Black Doll. It is about a black doll hated by its owner and all the other dolls. The doll runs away from the house and the rain washes its face to a pink colour. After this, the other toys and owner welcome the doll back.

Teachers were accused of being "politically correct" for objecting to this. Apologists said that it was "of its time". Do not swallow this jollop. I was born in 1951 and there were black and white anti-racists in those far-off days too!.

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Anti-racism

Rishi Sunak’s menu – old wine in new bottles

I received this article by Ken Ferguson which is from "Scottish Socialist Voice" Chancellor Sunak’s mini-budget uses smart spin about cheap meals for diners—at a time when tens of thousands rely on food banks—to dress up what is largely reheated soup and repackaged spending. The much hyped kick start scheme revisits ideas from the ’80s such as YTS and will pay a wage not half that of the already inadequate “living wage” and runs the risk of simply massaging jobless figures. The £2billion cost of it simply moves money which would otherwise be allocated to Universal Credit. It’s likely impact will be to create short term exploitative jobs on poor pay. While any investment aimed at the climate is welcome, Sunak’s £3billion is fraction of what is urgently needed to develop a real jobs- and climate crisis-response. This should include tooling up both Scottish and UK industry to develop build and install the equipment from wind turbines to eco-friendly buses and trains which can both create long term, skilled, well paid jobs and respond to the climate emergency. Perhaps his most glaring omission was the total failure to lift a finger on the rented housing crisis rather confining himself to tinkering with stamp duty in England and Northern Ireland. A Martian looking at our housing crisis would conclude that the answer would be to build thousands of council homes both to meet the crisis level demand for them and create thousands of jobs and apprenticeships As Roz Foyer, General Secretary of the STUC stated: “We have lobbied hard for a large-scale capital investment, a Job Guarantee programme and for the extension of the furlough scheme. The Chancellor’s response lacks ambition and fails to guarantee decent work. “Rishi Sunak talks about the ‘nobility of work’, what we need to see is a focus on the nobility and value of quality, decent and fair work. Less bonuses for bosses, more adequate wages, good terms and conditions and collective bargaining for workers.” Cliff edge We are on the cliff edge of a major economic and jobs crisis coping with the continuing fall out of the Covid pandemic which is far from over and should be the reason to drive towards a different normal rather than a scrabble to prop up the poverty pay insecure work pre-virus model. Millions of people have stood in solidarity with our essential NHS, Care, delivery, shop and other workers—many on poverty pay—who were hailed as heroes and applauded week after week but who go unremarked as far as a pay rise by the Chancellor. And of course probably the biggest revelation to us all in the crisis was the fact that far from there not being a “magic money tree” there is no barrier to finding billions to meet aspects of the crisis the only obstacle is the political will to do so. That’s why the Voice and the SSP are putting a range of policy options on the table which recognises that change was essential before the virus and is even more essential now. At the heart of such change must be meeting the needs of Scotland’s people—in particular our working class majority and the needs of the planet we all live on. As the struggle against the virus continues debate is joined about the future and the Scottish Socialist Party firmly asserts that a return to the pre-lockdown world cannot be the answer. Change to a different normal is essential both for the people of Scotland, particularly the working class majority, and the future survival of our increasingly imperilled planet. These policies offers early steps towards a Socialist Green New Deal as part of a Just Transition to a new Scotland which rebuilds productive capacity and creates skilled well paid jobs in working class communities currently deserted by footloose globalised business. Winning such a change will involve taking on some of the most wealthy and powerful elites and their political backers and the purpose of the programme we set out here is to arm the widest possible range of forces to achieve that change.

8 IMMEDIATE ACTION POINTS A minimum wage of £12-an-hour to combat poverty and boost purchasing power A four day working week without loss of pay. End insecure work. Immediate action to de-carbonise Scotland and create 150,00 jobs as part of a Just Transition to a green economy putting people before profit Scrap anti union laws to ensure fairness at work and the fullest possible workers involvement in the urgent change needed Build 100,000 publicly owned homes for rent to tackle the housing crisis and create jobs. Retrofit existing homes to 1st century standards Public ownership of Scotland’s energy resources including wind, wave, hydro, gas and oil. Create jobs combat fuel poverty A National Care Service free at the point of use, publicly owned and staffed by trained, skilled, well-paid staff Public ownership of railways and buses to combat social exclusion and open way to free public transport

Read articles, Voice Extra bulletins and subscribe at socialistvoice.scot!

Non Fiction Books

My friend Google thinks that "essays on works of art or literature" should be included in the category of non-fiction books. So this is the list of my seven non-fiction books

Classroom Teacher Manual

Death Agony of Capitalism

Letters to Lara

Socialist Reviews

The Concept of Evil

The Role of the Hero 

Xavier's Cook Book 

The i newspaper and journalism

I wrote to the I newspaper questioning Keir Starmer's decision to sack Rebecca Long Bailey. The letter was not published but nor was any other letter criticising Sir Keir. Instead there were two letters slating Rebecca Long Bailey and repeating the smear of anti-semitism.

I will of course write to the i again, where would they be without me?

"I do not wish to tell you how to do your job but surely a journalist would:

a) find out whether the American police were trained by Israeli Defence Forces

b) find out what the training included

c) investigate whether the IDF have a spotless record in treatment of unarmed Palestinian women and children.

d) stop publishing letters accusing Rebecca Long-Bailey of anti-semitism when Ed Miliband and Keir Starmer have both said she is not anti-semitic.

All the best...

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now defined journalism as "telling a story someone does not want told." Not all journalists have such high standards.

My page on Amazon

Tax Amazon page

My books are published by Amazon but that does not mean I don't want them to pay tax or even be expropriated for that matter.

John Major from the Nasty Party

On the Today programme on Radio Four this morning they gave free rein to John Major to talk about life after the pandemic.

The government's measures to accommodate rough sleepers to prevent the spread of infection came in for particular praise.

He also talked at length about those wonderful and underpaid people in care homes and our marvellous NHS.

What the former Prime Minister could not explain was why the rough sleepers had to sleep out throughout his time in office, why the wonderful people in care homes and the NHS remained underpaid under his policies.

It seems hypocrisy just comes with the territory for Tories.

Incidentally, how long will support for homeless people continue beyond the pandemic? 
The government are a bit quiet on that issue.

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

Sir Keir and the Israeli Defence Force

Sir Keir's sacking of Rebecca Long Bailey blows out of the water any pretentions to unite the Labour Party.

The left were saying that he wanted to ditch any radical policies to make Labour more acceptable to fleet street and to do so he would sack anybody with links to Jeremy Corbyn. The left were saying that he was too subservient to the interests of the Israeli state. Why did he have to go and prove them right?

The American Police learn all their dirty tricks from the Israeli defence forces. According to an Amnesty report:

"Baltimore law enforcement officials, along with hundreds of others from Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington state as well as the DC Capitol police have all traveled to Israel for training. Thousands of others have received training from Israeli officials here in the U.S."

The full text is here

The Israeli Defence Force has its own way of dealing with unarmed Palestinians and these are the methods they are passing on to the American police. Perhaps Rebecca Long-Bailey has a point. Perhaps Sir Keir should not be so quick to defend them.

Beyond the barricade, is there a world you want to see?

This is a first-class film. We were surprised to come out of the cinema and find out it had been three hours since we went in. The momentum of the film never stops and there are some fantastic performances by Hugh Jackman as the convict, Jean Valjean, Anne Hathaway as the sacked factory worker, Fantine and Russell Crowe as police officer, Javert, . The comic talents of Helena Bonham Carter and Sasha Baron-Cohen provide a counterpoint to the serious side of the story.

“Les Miserables” (powerful words inadequately translated as “the poor”) are the focus of the original story. It is not a narrative Hollywood was likely to like. Tom Hooper concentrates on the romance at the expense of the social message. Nevertheless, they have not succeeded in emasculating the story.

The story, based on a two-volume 19th Century novel by Victor Hugo is not miserable at all because it contains within it a message of hope that things can be changed.

It is worth comparing the revolutionaries in Les Miserables with those other revolutionaries in a 19th Century novel – the bloodstained monsters depicted in Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.” Although the revolution of 1830 was defeated, Victor Hugo sees the revolutionaries as human beings and evokes sympathy for the cause for which they are fighting.

To say it is a revolutionary film would be pushing it. It is a film about revolution and about the appalling injustices of society but the message is about individual salvation through love.

The central character, Jean Valjean, is imprisoned for five years for stealing a loaf of bread, then another 14 for trying to escape (not an exaggeration of the penal code of the period). On release he is condemned to carry a yellow passport – an ID card which is as effective as a brand. Even outside the prison, he is not free.

A priest  seeks to redeem him with an act of kindness and (without retelling the whole story) the narrative rests on the consequences of that act of kindness.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the original story is the casting of a policeman, a perfectly respectable upholder of the law with no sympathy for the poor, as a villain. We are accustomed to seeing “crooked cops” but Javert isn’t crooked; he is as straight as he can be according to his lights. He simply enforces an unjust law because it is not his place to change it.

The most powerful scenes involve the street fighting in Paris during the 1830 revolution and the idealism of students and young people who are depicted as simply and selflessly fighting for the poor of their own city.

“Do you hear the people sing?

Singing a song of angry men?

It is the music of a people

Who will not be slaves again!

When the beating of your heart

Echoes the beating of the drums

There is a life about to start

When tomorrow comes!”

Without the music the words give you some idea of the emotions stirred by the powerful song. I am aware that people talk cynically about “not a dry eye in the house” but it really is an accurate description of how people in the audience respond to this.

In the final scene the selflessness is rewarded when, with Les Miserables, they ascend to heaven. Dickens, for all his compassion, would have had them going to the other place!

The same songs are repeated with a different emphasis at different times in the film but the message of what happens when society offers no future to the poorest members of the community could not be clearer. We really will all be in it together!

“At the end of the day there's another day dawning

And the sun in the morning is waiting to rise

Like the waves crash on the sand

Like a storm that'll break any second

There's a hunger in the land

There's a reckoning still to be reckoned and

There's gonna be hell to pay

At the end of the day!” 

Why you should be a trade unionist by Len McCLusky

Len McClusky's book “Why you should be a trade unionist” is a lively and accessible account of the role trade unionism has played in the past and the hope which workers' organisations provide for the future.

It answers in detail the question, “What have the unions done for us?” In particular, he praises those in the so-called “gig economy” who have organised and fought against some of the most vicious employers in the country and won significant victories.

It deals with some issues which are not usually thought of as trade union concerns. For example the Grenfell fire which he squarely blames on austerity cuts. “Union members were involved from the outset, supporting residents in the immediate humanitarian response. In those painful days after the tragedy we provided a vital link to the wider community, offering legal advice and representation to many residents, in what will be a long road to justice. Grenfell members have also received legal support from their unions in relation to housing, welfare and employment issues arising as a direct result of the fire – injustices that the mainstream media rarely notice.”

On “Unite Community” (of which I am a member) he writes, “This has become a fundamental part of our union’s political response to the Tories’ aggressive agenda of cuts. It has helped to ensure that we are at the forefront of political, industrial and community opposition to austerity. We invited not only the unemployed through our doors but all those not in paid work, including students, pensioners, disabled people, volunteers and carers. This is undoubtedly without precedent in British trade unionism and it adds another dimension to the union’s strength, because giving people not in work the opportunity to find their own voice assists us industrially.”

Whether it is dealing with anti-union bosses like Ryan Air or the climate emergency, this is a text book for anyone interested in the future of society. I enjoyed reading it. It educated an old leftie like me and it can do the same for you.

A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.

Disraeli once said, "A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy." The Trial of Christine Keeler on BBC1 would seem to bear out that analysis.

I will avoid spoilers but all the main events are in the public domain already. The politicians, press and police all come out of this disgracefully tarnished.

On the one hand, Profumo (played by Ben Miles) lost his job in the government. On the other of course, he remained a millionaire who did a bit of charity work on the side to salve his conscience. He received a CBE in 1975. You will be astonished to learn that Christine Keeler did not receive any such honour.

Christine Keeler (played by Sophie Cookson) and Mandy Rice-Davies (played by Ellie Bamber) both got jail time. Christine Keeler was accused of perjury. Yet the series suggests that the police pressurised both of them to give fake evidence against Stephen Ward. If that isn't perjury what is?
The casual racism of the Met Police is a feature of the series. If only things had changed!


The press routinely referred to them (without evidence) as "prostitutes". Prostitution was not a criminal offence. They were vilified in the media and the Conservative Party have never forgiven them. The scandal contributed to the loss of the 1964 election by the Tories.

Stephen Ward (played by James Norton) found the ruling class closing ranks against him. The extraordinary waste of police manpower in "gathering evidence" against him caused his patients to seek help elsewhere. He was driven to suicide and for many people, his blood is on Conservative Party hands.

All of the performances are superb and bring this bit of history to life. But is it history or is the Conservative Government an organised hypocrisy to this day?

Derek McMillan's Author Page on Amazon

In Defence of Trotskyism review

I received this book as a Christmas gift. As a teacher of children and adults, I am well aware that the people who are hardest to teach are those who think they know everything already. I learned a lot from reading this book and I have been a Socialist for a good fifty years. Trotsky's classic "Death Agony of Capitalism" was a major part of my education fifty years ago. "In Defence of Trotskyism" is about reasserting the working-class basis of Socialism. For Socialists, the key to the future is the role of the working class. This is often expressed through the trade union movement. My own union, UNITE is cited in the book as an example of how the working class can transform a bureaucratic body into one which actively campaigns for workers' rights, advances the cause of Socialism and provides hope for the future.

The book refers to "Mandelism" which is a term I remember from the past. It simply means the seeking of a short cut to Socialism which bypasses the working class and is therefore doomed to failure.

The struggles of the next period will test all organisations which claim the mantle of Trotskyism and some will be found wanting. The CWI (Committee for a Workers' International) has been refounded on fundamental principles which will stand it in good stead.

I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to anybody. 

Derek McMillan's Author Page on Amazon

No One is Too Small to Make a Difference

Greta Thunberg's 2019 publication "No One is Too Small to Make a Difference" sets out her views on climate change and the reason why she sparked off a massive student protest all over the world.

It contains some ideas which Socialists will find sympathetic. In one speech, for example, to the UN Climate Change Conference, she said, "We are about to sacrifice our civilisation for the opportunity of a very small number of people to continue to make enormous amounts of money, we are about to sacrifice the biosphere so that rich people in countries like mine can live in luxury. But it is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of the few."

The Chapter about addressing the Houses of Parliament in April shows her rising frustration. It is entitled "Can You Hear Me?" and repeatedly makes plain that the existing political order is incapable of listening to the demands of the youth because it would mean tearing up their most hallowed beliefs, free enterprise, the profit motive and the divine right of the Corporations to wreck the environment to make a fast buck.

If you are looking for a worked-out detailed Socialist analysis of how capitalism drives climate change this is not the book for you. If you want an insight into the passion which drives the hundreds of thousands of people who are seeking to fight for a future then it is.

No one is too small to make a difference.

Reviews written for the Socialist and Socialism Today #socialistreviews 

Labour and Anti-Semitism

The gutter press and the BBC compete to see how often they can put "Labour" and "Anti-Semitism" in the same sentence.

They don't need facts or figures. So far they have produced neither. They just repeat their version of events ad nauseam.

It is not journalism. It is time some journalists sought to get to the truth behind the smears and innuendo.

Reviews written for the Socialist and Socialism Today

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