The media and Labour leaders

When Harold Wilson was Labour leader the gutter press purported to believe that he was a dangerous radical and probably a Russian spy. They had no evidence for either assertion but that scarcely slowed them down.

Even the inoffensive Miliband was labelled “Red Ed” by the Sun. I think most Socialists considered that if that was what they thought of as “a red”, heaven help them if they ever come across a real Marxist.

This infamous tradition has been continued with Jeremy Corbyn being accused of being everything from a Trot to a Stalinist with a ludicrous accusation of anti-semitism resulting for his principled support for the Palestinian cause.

To watch the TV or read the papers you would imagine that there was no problem of racism in the Tory Party, UKIP or the DUP. Again the facts don’t impinge.

The latest piece of nonsense is the slandering of the left Labour group Momentum by Sajid Javid who referred to them as ‘neo-fascists’.Did he have any evidence for this? None was presented. He proved it by asserting it.

Do the Daily Mail really genuinely believe this to be true? Surely if they did they would follow their traditional attitude towards fascism and support Momentum. That would be a sight to see. “Hurrah for Momentum – the heirs of Oswald Mosley”.

I think voters might conclude that a Labour Party which does not earn the hatred of the gutter press is probably doing something wrong. The consistently ludicrous nature of the claims, the fact that the TV and the press produce nothing which could be called evidence, means that this hate campaign is doomed to failure.

Socialists fight for the many, not the few. The millionaire press will never support that objective.

Socialist Reviews 

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The Armed Man

The Sandgate Singers’ performance of ‘The Armed Man’ in Arundel Cathedral on 3rd March was a dramatic event to witness. The audience reacted to the opening in which the black-clad choir were marching on the spot for all the world like a tide of death. This was in tune with the opening theme, “The armed man must be feared.”

The work, by Karl Jenkins, is described as “a mass for peace” and it includes the traditional elements of the Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Benedictus. These are interspersed with movements which convey the futility and horror of war. Even the Sanctus, which praises the “Lord God of Hosts” has a distinctly martial air.

I think no less a place than a cathedral can do justice to this powerful work. It is unfortunate that one of the most distinctive pieces of the work – the Muslim call to prayer – was excluded by the powers that be. The words of the call to prayer, “God is great, prayer is better than sleep.” are not out of place in a Cathedral and now would be a good time to remind people that Muslims worship the same God.

The event was in aid of the “Love your hospital” charity. A pity a fraction of the billions squandered on war can’t be used for a better purpose. Carl Jenkins drew attention to the human cost of war and the voices of the choir became positively demonic in the sixth movement “Charge!” 

It was an evening the audience will not forget.

Far right threat

The i newspaper today says the police have warned that the far right threat is growing.

Anyone who has chatted with a member of the Metropolitan police can confirm there is definitely a lot of far-right extremism around!

I had the experience of drinking in a pub frequented by officers and most of my school pupils would have found the racism embarrassingly childish. 

David Walliams

David Walliams, the ‘know nothing’ host of the Presidents Club event for three years, has had his books pulled from shelves in bookshops. It is a bit surprising that The Pavilion Theatre thinks it appropriate to have a performance of his work on stage in April. Hasn’t news of this major scandal reached Worthing?

What have the unions ever done for us

 

Capitalism means war

A work of art represents the thousands who died while the generals treated them as "cannon fodder". The generals got medals and hypocritically commemorate the "glorious dead."

Those who survived the Great War, greeted the 11th of November as the end of the slaughter and the beginning of peace. They would have been mystified to see generals and royals using it as an opportunity to celebrate war almost 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".
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.

Ironically the Kurds who routed ISIL have been the victims of a vicious campaign waged by the Iraqi regime.

War is not "insanity". To the arms merchants, to the royals and generals, to the politicians it makes perfect sense. For the working class it is indistinguishable from psychosis. 

Derek McMillan

Review of Gunpowder

The Gunpowder trilogy on the BBC has drawn criticism for the violence and cruelty which it portrays. This is understandable. However, the tortures shown in such shocking detail were historically accurate. So was execution by hanging, drawing and quartering.

Any depiction of royalty which gives a romantic fairy-tale view of the splendour of the court and ignores the methods by which the autocratic rule was maintained is frankly dishonest.

The second episode in which Catesby (played by Kit Harrington) witnesses the burning of two "heretics" (actually Jews) in Spain is a fair indication that the methods of autocracy did not vary much between the regimes in Britain and Spain.

The persecution of Catholics in this country was clearly depicted as a means by which the aristocracy, and in particular Lord Robert Cecil (played by Mark Gatiss),  enriched themselves. Religion was used as a means of social control and as a pretext for torture and murder.

The interchange between  Fr Henry Garnet (played by Peter Mullan) and Cecil in the final episode is particularly telling. Cecil accused Fr Garnet of causing the gunpowder plot. Although he is not named by any conspirator and is depicted as opposing the plot, his preaching was enough to hang him. He responds by drawing attention to Cecil's role in causing the troubles. You cannot expect that people who are so persecuted will not respond in kind.

Anne Vaux (Liv Tyler) plays a strong female character in a period when patriarchy kept women firmly "in their place". I wouldn't dream of giving the plot away (no pun intended) but for most of those involved it was unlikely to end well.

Although gruesome, this is a very good series and well worth watching.

50 word story

At the border of Myanmar the police asked if I was a Muslim or a Bhuddist. Thinking fast, I claimed that I was an atheist. The police were having none of it. Pointing a gun at me the policeman said, "So are you a Muslim atheist or a Buddist atheist?"

http://derekmcmillan.com/

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Crawley Book Fair

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Bosses' Law

The two most significant movements in my lifetime were in fact illegal. The fight against the Poll Tax was illegal but it defeated the Poll Tax and brought down the hated Margaret Thatcher.

The massive illegal strike wave when a Conservative government imprisoned five dockers in 1972 ended in a humiliating defeat for the Conservatives.

Unite the union is not advocating murder or arson (whatever the Daily Mail may pretend!). However, unjust laws have to be opposed.

Moggy

I don't have a vote in the Tory leadership election but I think Jacob Rees-Mogg is the nineteenth century's answer to Momentum and he can put those working classes in their place. Also "Moggy Moggy Moggy Out Out Out" has a certain resonance to it.

Practice

Our practice nurse told me they used to practise taking blood samples from each other during training. How widespread is this? Do cops practise beating each other up? Do lawyers practise lying to other trainee lawyers? As for OFSTED bullies, let's not go there. 

Unskilled

MPs define "unskilled" as anyone earning less than £30,000. MPs earn a lot more than £30,000 and the job requires no specific skills whatsoever.

There is however, a "magic money tree" for MPs salaries and perks. Who can forget Adolf Duncan Smith and his £39 breakfast at our expense? The Mirror calculated that

"Iain Duncan Smith's breakfast cost 557 times the amount to be spent on kids' morning meals."

The crackdown on "unskilled" migrants is racism pure and simple. The BBC has been quick to find businesses which oppose the government's plans. That is not the same as saying that it is immoral and disgraceful.

Yet again Teresa May has taken the opportunity of a demonstration by nurses against low pay to show her contempt. Apparently nurses are to be dismissed as "this, that and the other." I can think of a few things nurses might say about May!

 

 

 

 

Steve Bannon

According to the BBC,  Steve Bannon has distanced himself from White Nationalist "clowns". Bannon however is regarded as a far-right influence in the Trump administration. Far from providing firm leadership, Trump has in fact faced one way, then another and then back to the start on Nazis.

His photograph with a portrait of Hitler has not helped.

There is a growing consensus in the Republican Party that Trump is out of control and something of a loose cannon. By distancing himself from White Nationalists, Bannon is distancing himself from Trump's statement. The administration is falling apart.

 

 

 

 

Top of the Lake

I just caught up with "Top of the Lake". It is hard to believe men have such dreadful attitudes to women. Having said which I would lay a bet that every piece of misogyny is a quote from somebody! The teenagers sitting around with their laptops and rating prostitutes seem a caricature but if it does anything to make people look at their own attitudes and behaviour it is no bad thing.

The title is clever, a girl of "Asian appearance" is called "China Girl" in a depersonalised way and the poster for the series uses "China Girl" to refer to the fragility of the detective, Robin Griffin played by Elizabeth Moss.

 

 

 

 

Trotsky and Blair

In the Moscow trials, the Stalinists accused Trotsky of being a fascist and working for the Nazis. The trials included evidence that Trotskyists had met at a hotel which had been demolished years before. The fundamental premise was invalidated when Stalin changed his policy and went into alliance with Hitler.

The latest accusation, attempting to link Trotsky, 77 years after his death, to the mass murdering war criminal Tony Blair is just as disgraceful.

Say what you like about Trotsky, he wasn't a lickspittle of American Imperialism.

Trump

Donald Trump is not always sure which country he is bombing. He famously confused Iraq with Syria. South Korea should be nervous about his threats to North Korea. 

For what died the sons of Roisin?

Dollfuss

I was a little surprised to see Dollfuss lauded in the pages of Magnificat. He was a dictator who killed his enemies. I don't know if he forgave them afterwards. 

His rivalry with Hitler was in the nature of a turf war between gangsters and not a matter of principle. This is how Bertold Brecht portrayed it in his play "The Resisible Rise of Arturo Ui."

Things can only get better

I understand that the writer wrote jokes for Tony Blair. I do hope he didn't write that one about weapons of mass destruction. It didn't go well.

Labour activists will recognise many of the situations in this book and I certainly enjoyed reading it. It would be possible to take exception to the tone of this book if it were not delivered with such a self-deprecatory air. It is written from the point of view of a Labour Party activist and it shows empathy. I cannot think of another book of which one could say that. For non-Labour readers, I have no idea what they will make of this book but they will certainly find it interesting and amusing. 

Sean O'Grady on Broken

After the Chichester Festival event yesterday, we came home to enjoy the final episode of "Broken". It was a first class piece of work and only someone given to petty carping could possibly find fault with it.

I turned to the "i" newspaper this morning to find that Sean O'Grady apparently hadn't liked it and smugly dismissed it as "ridiculous".

The breathtaking scene in which the gambling machines were smashed by the people who had most to lose was lost on O'Grady. So was the exceptional sermon on casting the money-changers out of the temple. O'Grady is the former economics editor of the Independent and clearly the anger against the casino society expressed by Father Michael (Sean Bean) went right over his head.

I take issue with O'Grady's arrogant dismissal of "Broken". I would submit that Jesus could have been tried for criminal damage for casting the money-changers out of the temple. He did get in quite a lot of trouble with the authorities as it was!

As for the ending which O'Grady called "ridiculous", I thought that it showed the people Father Michael had tried (and sometimes failed) to help queueing up to give him a bit of support when he needed it.

Chichester Festival Flash Fiction

Chichester Festival 4th July Three ladies

Labour result in Worthing West

Good result for Labour. Very poor showing for UKIP. Rejoice!

Chichester Festival 4th July

#Worthingflash

A feast of flash fiction and short stories from writers in Worthing.

4^th July

5.30 pm to 7.00 pm

The New Park Community and Arts Association

New Park Road

Chichester

PO19 7XY

Derek McMillan

Patricia Feinberg Stoner

Rosemary Noble

Admission £1 from

http://www.thenovium.org/boxoffice

Beccy Cooper on Education

The NUT does not support a political party so I remind you that other parties are available!

Question Time Special

I thought the most telling point in the Question Time special was made by a member of the audience, "Why is everyone here so keen on killing millions of people?" Jeremy Corbyn is pilloried by the right-wing press but I would prefer a PM who would think before pressing the button.

May wouldn't think twice. BoJo wouldn't think once!

On the cap on social care costs, May preferred to keep it vague and make jokes about a "magic money tree." There is one of course, it is used for MP's expenses.

There is a cash tree you see!


And again she repeated the downright lie "we are spending more on education" when per pupil they are not spending more on education and that is why cuts are inevitable if this shower are re-elected.


It was good of May to stand in for Rudd but is she as good as the original?

Tories smug and complacent over school funding

At the Skeptics' debate in St Paul's community centre on 24th May, Sir Peter Bottomley won the prize for most complacent politician.

Dr Becky Cooper for Labour opposed the cuts to school funding and proposed better funding for all schools. It was unacceptable that heads could not afford to fund schools. There was plenty of money for the grammar school project. She advertised the Save our Schools campaign

Hazel Thorpe for the Lib Dems also opposed the cuts although the audience would remember that the Liberal Democrats were the lickspittles of the Tory Party in the coalition.

Leslie Graves for the Greens (actually the Worthing East candidate) emphasised the impact of the cuts on children with special needs. She opposed Academies whether Labour or Tory academies.

Even Mark Withers for UKIP opposed the present cuts but he did not have any facts at his disposal and he made no friends with his support for grammar schools.

Bottomley thought the funding formula should be looked at but saw the issue as one of fair funding for Sussex at the expense of other areas such as London.

If the Tories get their throats cut at this election (metaphorically of course) it will be this smug complacency which is to blame.

Author page activated

Amazon tell me that "amazon.com/author/derekmcmillan should be live shortly (30 min or less)"

It has a bibliography and a biography and of course that photo!

The old less-friendly URL works https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B009FUXHWY

Cheap hanging?

Writing in 'the i' newspaper this morning, a  Mr Readman makes a case for hanging because it is nice and cheap. There is also the advantage that the criminal justice system can bury its mistakes. 

Advances in detection are welcome but they are no guarantee against false confessions or planted evidence. 

If the case of Ian Brady (cited by Mr Readman) caused this country to go back to the dark ages, Brady might regard that as a suitable epitaph. 

http://derekmcmillan.com/

Save the date!

Conservative Complacency

The leaflet from Councillor Atkins distributed in Durrington shows astonishing complacency. Anyone who has to travel on West Sussex roads will not accept that they are in fine form and I hope they take advantage of Councillor Atkins' request to report a pothole. It would be easier to report those roads which do not have potholes.

And isn't it a little disingenuous for Atkins to support the "empty plate cafe" when food banks are a consequence of Tory cuts?

Socialists and the Early Church

The seeds of the Catholic Church were planted in Palestine. They managed to grow despite ferocious persecution and even gained the respect of their persecutors.

Acts2:42-47 gives a description of the early Christian community which could be fairly described as socialist. All goods were held in common and property was sold to help the poor. Selfishness was not allowed. Although they were subject to persecution they still saw themselves as a part of the community and were daily attracting more followers from that community (Acts2:47). In the nature of things, prior to the evangelism of St Paul, the first Christians mainly came from the Jewish tradition.

While the early Church was able to recruit from the community, the rich and powerful regarded them as a threat. Jesus advised his apostles that it was as hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom as it was for a camel to pass the eye of a needle. (Mark 10:25). He emphasised that those who would be great must act as humble servants (Mark 10:43-45). This was a concept rightly feared by those in power – it meant turning the world upside-down.

Moreover, He did not just put these dangerous ideas in words. An example of this is the narrative which appears in all four Gospels ( Mark 11:15–19, Matthew 21:12–17, Luke 19:45–48, John 2:13–16). Jesus casts out the profiteers from the temple which he refers to as “My father's house” (John 2:16). The Chief Priests wanted to kill him but thought him too popular (Luke 19:48). 

We live in a world in which Christians are still persecuted for their beliefs – for example by ISIL in Iraq. Nevertheless for the most part to be a follower of Christ in a civilised country does not carry the same high probability of martyrdom as it did for the early Church.

There was initially a continued failure to understand Christ on the part of the apostles. They did not see beyond “restoring the Kingdom of Israel” as the goal of Christians. Jesus, on the contrary, told them they would have to take the message to “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). By definition, that would involve turning to the Gentiles as well as the Jews.

Acts 1:26 refers to a practice of the early Church which seems very strange to 21st century Christians. There were two nominees to take the place of Judas. Peter did not assert his authority to give a casting vote but the apostles drew lots and the lot fell to Mathias. It was stressed that both nominees had a long history with the apostles (Acts 1:21).

Peter does assert his authority on the day of Pentecost. He appeals first to the devout Jews by quoting David's revelation concerning the Messiah. (Acts 2:25-28) and he addresses them as 'fellow Israelites' (Acts 2:29). However, he is already talking of the wider mission of the Church when he talks about spreading the Good News around the world.(Acts 2: 39)
Moreover, the next incident recorded was Peter's healing of a lame beggar (Acts 3: 1-10). At this stage, Peter is beginning to look very like the rock on which the Church will be built rather than the vacillating doubter portrayed in Luke 22:54-62. Under Peter's leadership, it is likely that the Church was more self-confident than before. After all, 3000 people had been baptised and he had demonstrated his power to heal the sick.

Peter's appeal to the witnesses is couched in terms of Old Testament prophecy (Acts 3: 24-26) which would appeal to an audience of devout Jews. Although Peter holds them collectively responsible for the Crucifixion, their sins can be washed away through Christ.

The name of Ananias was to become a byword for dishonesty. The story of Ananias and his wife Sapphira is a fair indication of the attitude of the Church towards selfishness. When questioned by Peter both of them lied (Acts 5:1-11) and both of them died. They had a free choice as to whether to give the price of the land which they had sold to the Church (Acts 5:4) but their attempt to have it both ways by lying about the price was construed as lying to the Holy Spirit, lying to God.

The same point was made in a backhanded way by the Pharisee called Gamaliel who asserted that if the Church was indeed a man-made institution then it would crumble of its own accord but that if the Sanhedrin opposed the Church and Jesus Christ was the son of God then the Sanhedrin would be in conflict with God. (Acts 5:34-39)

The appointment of the seven men of good reputation to oversee the welfare of widows in the Church was an indication of the increasing emphasis on integrating the Hellenists and Hebrews (Acts 6:1-6).

The martyrdom of  St Stephen would have been both a shock and an inspiration to the Church. His accusers from the Synagogue of Freedmen were bearing false witness in  violation of the Law despite claiming to adhere to it. Stephen's martyrdom would have brought home to every member of the Church how great was the danger they faced. Their opponents were capable of abandoning their own Law in order to strike blows against the Church.  On the other hand, St Stephen's faith and courage in adversity and the way he forgave his enemies (Acts 7:60) would have been a shining example to them. 

The subsequent persecution of Christians by Saul proved to be counterproductive. (Acts 8:4) The Christian community was scattered but wherever they went they spread the Good News. Evil is unavailing. A bad deed such as the persecution of Christians could lead to a good consequence, the spreading of the Gospel.

Christians have often been mocked for blessing those who persecuted them (Luke 6:18). Foremost among the mockers was Nietzsche (Genealogy of Morals, p17). However, the sacrifice of the first martyr, Saint Stephen, and the subsequent persecution of the Christians suggests that those who persecuted the Christians were a blessing in disguise. Indeed the witness of the martyrs strengthened the Church rather than weakening it.

Joseph A Fitzmyer (Contemporary Catholic Theology p165-167) pointed out that Saul probably had the name Paul from birth. He is more often referred to by his Gentile name, Paul, after he began his mission to the Gentiles but he was “set aside” from birth for the mission he eventually undertook. (Gal 1.15).

Over a period of time, Gentiles joining the Church were no longer expected to comply with the strictures of Judaism. The dietary rules were relaxed on the basis that a Christian could not call unclean that which God had made clean (Acts 10:15); Gentiles did not need to be circumcised (the sign of the old covenant) (Acts 10:45). The 613 Laws listed by the scribes (http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Articles/Taryag/taryag.html) were simplified to the two commandments given by Jesus (Luke 10:27).

On this basis, St Paul was able to take the good news to the Gentiles. The gospels do not have a surprise ending. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ were the foundations on which they were built. The early Church believed the second coming of the Lord was imminent. By the time St Luke came to write the Acts of the Apostles this was clearly not the case. Nevertheless, the death on the cross and the resurrection of the Messiah and the Holy Spirit's constant presence and guidance enabled the early church to grow and to become a catholic Church.

Frank Field attacks pensioners

Frank Field, chair of the Commons Work and Pensions committee has called for the "triple lock" on pensions to be abolished. Under this scheme the government solemnly promised to raise pensions by the same rate as average earnings, the Consumer Price Index or 2.5 percent.

With breathtaking mendacity, Field argued that this would mean raising the pension age to 70.5 by 2060. It would mean no such thing and Field knows this very well.

It would only mean that if there were to be no increase in expenditure on pensions. This would be a measure to save money. Scrapping Trident would save money. but Field is careful not to suggest that. An end to the prestige Grammar School program would save money, indeed stopping MP's expenses would also be a measure to save money and Hell would freeze over before Field would suggest that!
What a disgrace.

Unite Community Video

Domain of Dreams and Carmarthen

Readers may remember that Space Dog Alfred invaded Carmarthen. Now Domain of Dreams has done the same thing! It has been purchased by Carmarthen libraries. I think books are expensive and libraries are very important for people who want to read them. Tories close libraries because they fear ideas.

It is a book of short stories. Read one a night and you will have better dreams!

Chichester Festival update

I had to arrange a venue and ticket price by the end of this month in order to participate in the Chichester Festival and June and July. The venue is

The studio

New Park Community & Arts Association

New Park Road

Chichester

PO19 7XY

It can seat 40 and the cost is £15 an hour.

On that basis a ticket price of £1 will easily cover our costs

The time is 5.30 pm to 7 pm

The date is 4 July.

Chichester Festival

Phil Hewitt (group arts editor for Sussex Newspapers which includes the Worthing Herald) has asked me to speak at the Chichester Festival. At the moment I am seeking to round up a posse - possibly a panel - of Worthing writers to come along and read some of their work. This can be either an extract from a book or a short story.

If you are interested, please email me on derekmcmillan1951@gmail.com

I am proposing to talk about flash fiction and read the audience an example. Depending on the time I might also talk about self-publishing, the way such diverse writers as Stephen King and Virginia Woolf started out on their careers.

 

Author Central updated biography

I write the kind of stories I enjoy reading, whether they are detective, adventure, science fiction, fantasy or alternative history. Most recently I completed a new #mirrorofeternity book, "Domain of Dreams" which is a collection of short stories. It has something for everybody.

I write about 500 words a day and my wife (who is also my editor) discusses the work with me. This is the part I love most. Writing can be a solitary activity but it need not be.

My favourite type of story is the short story. Mark Twain once apologised for the length of a letter to a friend by saying "I didn't have time to write a short one." I have written short stories for Alfiedog.com  and http://www.everydayfiction.com/ as well as "Page and Spine". It is the devil's own job to get short stories published and these sites are a godsend if you will excuse the mixed metaphor :) I like editors who don't just give an "accepted" or "rejected" but tell the writer exactly why they liked or disliked the story. This is really useful.



#mirrorofeternity

Ed Balls Speaking Out for Capitalism

Ed Balls has a conversational style of writing which makes this book easy to read. However his view that there is nothing wrong with capitalism will not make him any friends in the Labour movement.

He elicits sympathy for his battle against his stammer. His view that anyone who disagrees with him is a Communist will probably elicit less sympathy. He criticises the Oxford Labour Club for discussing whether to have a hammer and sickle on its banner and complains they rejected his openly pro-capitalist stance.

The book seems to be more significant for its omissions than for its content. It gives some interesting and amusing anecdotes from the point of view of one of Gordon Brown's henchmen but glosses over the role of New Labour in turning the Labour Party from a party promoting peace and public ownership into a party promoting war and privatisation.

The Blairites wanted Labour and Tories to be as different as "left Twix" and "right Twix"..

He talks of his and Brown's "distress" and " "disquiet" over Iraq. He fails to explain why they did damn all to publicly oppose Blair's blood lust and subservience to George W Bush.

In his Education role he developed a useful skill. Every teacher organisation in the country was opposed to SATs and Academies. Balls managed to metaphorically stick chewing gum in his ears every time they spoke to him.

He coined the phrase "Every child matters" except the children of Iraq and Afghanistan who were bombed from a great height. Clearly they did not matter. 
 
Balls' sycophantic grovelling to the royal family is disgusting. He talks about the privilege of meeting the queen (the richest tax dodger in the land). He also expresses his (probably unique) view that Prince Charles' ventures into politics were of any use whatsoever.
 

Stick to the dancing, Balls. As Craig Revel Horwood might say, "New Labour was a disaster, dahling."

#socialist reviews

Click here

Rail Safety

I remain to be convinced that driver-only trains are as safe as those where there is a guard. There are many case histories of people who have been helped by rail guards. I think Southern Rail have handled the dispute very badly and getting passengers to contact the rail unions to criticise their actions was scraping the bottom of the barrel. This is particularly so because RMT report that most passengers who contacted them supported the idea of guards on trains.
What they are not telling passengers is that the increased risk to passengers of DOO has even been recognised by the Rail Safety Standards Board (RSSB) which is funded by GTR and other Train Operating Companies. RSSB have said
“DOO does not create additional undesired events but may increase the likelihood of an event occurring or increase the severity of its consequence." That is not a ringing endorsement of Driver Only Operation. Yet that is what Southern Rail is incorrectly telling passengers.

 

Remembrance

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.

 
 

Maggie May and Grammar Schools

May presides over the most divided Tory Party imaginable. There is one thing, however, which the Tory backwoodsmen will always welcome and that is the return to Grammar Schools.

Just as the drive to turn every school into an academy was not evidence of sufficient thought, the Grammar School policy could have been jotted down on the back of a cigarette packet.

The Tories may pursue this expensive and flawed policy to the death but it is also possible they will have a brand new policy in time for the local election in May of next year. Education is seriously underfunded but the hundreds of millions needed for this policy were magically produced by the government.

May wants to survive as long as Margaret Thatcher as Tory leader. To listen to her you might be excused for feeling Thatcher has risen from the grave. Her desire to emulate the most hated Prime Minister in history is extraordinary but it is symptomatic of the crisis in the Tory Party at the present time.

Although popular with the Back bench yahoos in Parliament, there is serious concern over the Grammar School policy in the shires. It has been described as similar to someone trying to write a novel when they have not mastered the alphabet. 

 

The flu jab

If you go to your GP's surgery you may be told you are not eligible for the flu jab. However the NHS choices website says the following:
Flu vaccination is available every year on the NHS to help protect adults and children at risk of flu and its complications.

Flu can be unpleasant, but if you are otherwise healthy it will usually clear up on its own within a week.

However, flu can be more severe in certain people, such as:

    anyone aged 65 and over
    pregnant women
    children and adults with an underlying health condition (particularly long-term heart or respiratory disease)
    children and adults with weakened immune systems

Anyone in these risk groups is more likely to develop potentially serious complications of flu, such as pneumonia (a lung infection), so it's recommended that they have a flu vaccine every year to protect them.

The injected flu vaccine is offered free on the NHS annually to:

    adults over the age of 18 at risk of flu (including everyone aged 65 and over)
    pregnant women
    children aged six months to two years at risk of flu.

So if you are told "computer says no", in many cases you will find "computer says yes".

They stopped me voting for Jeremy. Now I need you to vote for both of us.

I got this email today and I would like to share it with you:

My name is Christine. I am a fitness instructor and single mum who'd always voted Labour and been passionate about fighting injustice but never joined the party until June.

I did so because Jeremy Corbyn's vision for the future of our country is what I want for my life and for my daughter's future. I trust him because he sticks with his principles and values.

It said on the website I could vote in the leadership election so the decision to exclude me from voting just seemed unfair and undemocratic. I could not stand by and let that happen to tens of thousands of new members like me, so I went to the High Court, and won.

The NEC appealing against the High Court decision was hugely disrespectful to members, risking members' money to block those who could not afford to pay another £25 from voting. Now I don't have a vote. So please use your vote to restore democracy to this party. Only a vote for Jeremy Corbyn will achieve that.

Leadsom up the garden path

“I envisage there being absolutely no regulation whatsoever – no minimum wage, no maternity or paternity rights, no unfair dismissal rights, no pension rights – for the smallest companies that are trying to get off the ground, in order to give them a chance,” Andrea Leadsom.

It is rare to find a Tory quite so explicit about their attitude to workers' rights. Workers' rights are not a gift from benevolent employers or the EU. Workers' rights came about because workers fought for them. If the unions are not prepared to fight then the nightmare vision of Leadsom would become a reality.

If the TUC gets off its knees it will be a different story.

http://www.derekmcmillan.com

Tory dilemma

Johnson would have a job assembling a majority government: a job Labour could make impossible. However Cameron would have the same problem post Brexit. 

Final Cover for Classroom Teacher Manual 2016

Home grown terrorists

"Home grown terrorists"? Whatever next? 'Common or Garden Terrorists'? 'Lesser-spotted terrorists'?

If someone becomes a terrorist thanks to Tony Blair's imperial ambitions in Iraq, does that not make them a 'home-grown' terrorist. If not, why not?

And now Zac Goldsmith's spiritual father Donald Trump has weighed into the row over Sadiq Khan, calling him 'ignorant' and 'nasty'.

Labelling all Muslims as terrorists or, in Goldsmith's term, "friends of terrorists" could be called ignorant. It is certainly nasty!

Do you need 167000 pounds?

"When in that House M. P.’s divide,

If they’ve a brain and cerebellum, too,

They’ve got to leave that brain outside,

And vote just as their leaders tell ’em to."

(Gilbert and Sullivan)

The Tories are beyond a joke though.

When will the TUC get off its knees?

http://derekmcmillan.com

Last Stand of the Levellers

There is an event to commemorate the last stand of the Levellers.

The details are here

More details nearer the date.