Martin for NEU Deputy General Secretary

 From this Week's "Socialist":

 

I am standing to be National Education Union (NEU) deputy general secretary because our union needs clear and determined leadership if we are going to withstand the serious challenges ahead of us. More than any other candidate, I have the experience, skills and campaigning record that can make us a stronger team.

Years of funding cuts, pressure from school inspectorates Ofsted and Estyn, and 'exam factory' conditions have already taken their toll. Now teachers and support staff face further attacks from a government hoping to make us pay for their failures.

Making a stand on safety has shown that we can succeed when we act decisively. I'll work to win more gains in future.

As deputy general secretary, I will work to build a union that has the confidence, strength and organisation to defend the pay, jobs, safety and working conditions of education staff and, in doing so, defend education as well.

Every candidate will propose changes that could improve our conditions, and pupils' learning conditions. But the key question is, how can they be won?

The NEU has not been slow to make demands. Our problem has been that they have too often been ignored by employers and ministers. Our 'five tests' for Covid safety were not met - putting our health and safety at risk. For years, we've complained about unreasonable workload, but it keeps getting worse and now we face a 'pay freeze' - are our demands for improved salaries going to be ignored too?

School safety

Throughout the pandemic I have consistently argued that to defend school safety we would need to use our collective strength. The New Year 'U-turn' showed what we could achieve. Now we need to make more gains.

I am standing to be a deputy general secretary who works to bring our union together - in our workplace groups, districts and branches, alongside the staff and other resources paid for by your subs - with a belief that we can, and must, succeed in winning our demands.

As a member of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) national executive from 2010-15 and then NEU London regional secretary from 2016-19, I have experience of working within the union at its highest levels.

I have been active within the NUT, and now the NEU, throughout my working life. I became a science teacher, and soon a local union officer, in London in the 1980s.

As Lewisham NUT Secretary for over 20 years, I doubled local membership and supported hundreds of colleagues. I have organised many successful campaigns, opposing cuts and academisation, defending pay and workload.

I am still a teacher and local NEU officer today, now in north west England, experiencing the pressures on members at first hand. I am regularly invited to put our case across to the press and media.

In short, my record shows that I can be a deputy general secretary that can be relied on to provide clear leadership.

What I stand for:

• A union that builds the workplace strength that ensures we are a force to be reckoned with. Launch union-wide training for NEU reps and officers on how to successfully win collectively
• Reverse the privatisation of education. Oppose academisation. Campaign for local authority supply pools. Return all schools to democratic local control, staffed under nationally agreed pay and conditions
• A union that supports NEU reps and officers to defend members, individually and collectively. Improve our strategies for organising, recruiting and training reps, and advising our caseworkers
• A union leading the battle against discrimination and inequality in schools and communities - end performance pay. Educate and organise against racism, sexism, disability discrimination and LGBT+ oppression
• Action to protect the health, safety and welfare of staff, and our communities, from Covid-19. Coordinate ballots for action short of strike action and strike action to win union demands
• A union that recruits and organises all education workers working in our schools and colleges. Win negotiating rights for support staff colleagues. Provide supply staff with the support they need
• No to a pay freeze, no to cuts - fund schools and colleges to fully meet needs. Bring the public sector unions together to defend members' incomes, conditions and jobs
• A genuinely democratic union - where members are 'listened to', not just 'talked at'. Build a vibrant inclusive union that values its staff but is led by its elected representatives, its national executive members, local officers and workplace reps
• End excessive workload - and end the high stakes testing that drives so much of it. Win a national contract that sets a limit on overall working hours, not just 'directed time'
• A deputy general secretary that stays in touch with the problems that members are facing. I will be listening to you. I will not accept more than a teacher's salary for carrying out my role

 

100,000 dead. Are the world-beating Tories to blame?

The first issue was the failure to provide PPE to front line workers. Ten years of Tory cuts meant the stockpiles of PPE were decimated. It was not possible that a health service which had been cut to shreds by the Tories could deal with the crisis. 

If the NHS collapsed under the weight of the pandemic, that is certainly something the Tories would have to be held to account over.

Perhaps one culprit is the government's lack of clarity and constant changing of the rules. A straightforward "Stay at Home" became "Stay Alert". Can you be arrested for not being alert? How do we know if we are being alert or not? 

"Eat out to help out" certainly helped out the virus.

The inequality to which the Tories are wedded has meant the rich have done well out of the pandemic while the poor have suffered. Racial minorities have suffered disproportionately. An Oxfam Report highlights this

Then there was the farce over opening schools for a single day then closing them again. Williamson was more intent on playing macho man than actually listening to what the education unions were saying.

As for Christmas, that was a bit of a pantomime. The yes/no/don't know relaxation of the rules can only have led to the rise in cases of Covid -19. Thanks again Uncle Boris.

I am glad that the current messaging is coming from Chief Medical Officer for England, Chris Whitty rather than witless politicians.But the Tories do need to be put on public trial for what they have done and failed to do.

 Socialist Reviews

Capitalism is a virus Socialism is a vaccine.

 It will not come as a surprise to Socialists that the rich have done very nicely out of the pandemic while the conditions of the poor have deteriorated. It is nice to have the facts confirmed by Oxfam.

The report "The Inequality Virus" states

"The coronavirus pandemic has the potential to lead to an increase in inequality in almost every country at once, the first time this has happened since records began. The virus has exposed, fed off and increased existing inequalities of wealth, gender and race. Over two million people have died, and hundreds of millions of people are being forced into poverty while many of the richest – individuals and corporations – are thriving. Billionaire fortunes returned to their pre-pandemic highs in just nine months, while recovery for the world’s poorest people could take over a decade."

The report contrasts the poverty experienced by many front-line workers combatting the pandemic with the way the rich avoided feeling the pinch. It highlights with facts and figures the unequal consequences for the rich and the poor.

The world's 10 richest men have seen their combined wealth increase by half a trillion dollars since the pandemic began — more than enough to pay for a COVID-19 vaccine for everyone and to ensure no-one is pushed into poverty by the pandemic.

Misogyny and racism are not separate issues of inequality, they are organically linked to the rule of capital.

https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/inequality-virus for the full text.

Capitalism is a virus. Socialism is a vaccine. 

 

 

 Socialist Reviews

Williamson for crying out loud!

 Williamson continues to make a complete fool of himself. He blunders from one disaster to the next.

The exam fiasco showed a bone-headed attitude towards the serious business of education. He really couldn't run a piss-up in a brewery.

The farce over keeping schools open for a day then closing them as the education unions have been telling him left him with egg on his face.

Speaking of eggs, the scandal of Tory cronies short changing parents over food parcels is only the latest. 

 

If the monkey won't resign perhaps we should consider the organ grinder?

Silenced - The Hidden Story of Disabled Britain

 Cerrie Burnell and her team have produced a landmark documentary on the subject of disability.

She herself faced horrific discrimination when she first became a CBeebes presenter and was confronted with the reality of prejudice against disabled people.

The documentary traces the development of prejudice from the Eugenics movement so beloved of Dominic Cummings and Adolf Hitler. The clear objective of segregation was to prevent "inferior humans" from breeding. 

This lived on beyond the Nazi era with special schools for special students, exclusion of disabled people from public transport and the organised patronising of disabled people by charities.

The movement against this led to access to mainstream education for a number of disabled students. One campaigner recalled pupils who had no disabilities chanting "we want to be with our friends." Unanswerable.

Access to public transport for people in wheelchairs is now the norm but that access is patchy at best and the poor provision is a denial of civil rights - actually no different from the Alabama bus company refusing a seat to Rosa Parks.

It is ludicrous and insulting that people with disabilities are expected to rely on charities - Chris Tarrant was shown making a self-righteous defence of his patronising attitude.

Disabled people have suffered disproportionately from cuts in public spending and from the impact of the pandemic. Attitudes need to change and this first class documentary will help.

The prejudice against people with disabilities is a first-class alibi for the Tories to justify refusing them basic civil rights and refusing to spend public money on improving facilities and improving access. It is also a means to 'divide and rule'

 

 Socialist Reviews

Fire and Rehire

 Fire and rehire is the latest bad practice being shared by employers. It is a cynical exploitation of the pandemic to worsen workers' conditions. What are the politicians doing about it?

Congratulations to the GMB for standing up against British Gas who are trying to make a bonfire of workers' basic rights.

Their video is here

Socialist Reviews  

A clue that the TUC need to get off their knees?

A clue that the TUC need to get off their knees? The union leaders often need a nudge from the rank and file members. NSSN are good nudgers.

 

 https://www.facebook.com/socialistreviews

I ask you, what have the unions ever done for us?

 

The Tories promote a 1970s "union bashing" mentality exemplified by the failiure of Williamson to listen to the teachers' unions over school safety.

The only people who benefit from union bashing are lousy employers like Amazon or McDonalds who want to keep their staff overworked and underpaid while the bosses are raking in the cash and paying peanuts in tax. 

There have been successful drives to tax Amazon in Seattle and to unionise McDonalds. Say not the struggle nought availeth.

https://www.facebook.com/socialistreviews

Trump supporter or satire?

 

This may be a Trump supporter. It may be satire. 

 

I had someone on the "i" newspaper page telling me the Trump rabble were all antifa activists in disguise and I am still not sure if they were taking the p*ss or not.

 

https://www.facebook.com/socialistreviews

Brev feedback

 These are the figures for Brev from eBay.

I am glad people found the postage cost "reasonable" since it is free to UK buyers.

Democrats dilemma

 

The Democrats are trying to make the strongest statement they can about the behaviour of the President. They cannot do nothing. To put Mike Pence on the spot shows what his rhetoric is worth. He cannot put his money where his mouth is. 

If it comes to impeachment and the Senate Republicans continue to support Trump's lawless behaviour it could do them no favours in any future elections. They can hardly pose as the party of "law and order" without being a laughing-stock

 

The next thing would be if the Democrats could come up with radically different policies from those pursued by the Republicans but they are too wedded to capitalism for that to be likely.

America needs a party of the working class. So do we!

https://www.facebook.com/socialistreviews

These are genuine comments about Trump by Republicans
 

Responses to the riot in Washington

 “Like all of you, I watched as a gang—organized, violent and mad they’d lost an election—laid siege to the United States Capitol,” Michelle Obama said about the chaos she observed on social media and TV like everyone else around the world who watched in horror. “They set up gallows. They proudly waved the traitorous flag of the Confederacy through the halls. They desecrated the center of American government. And once authorities finally gained control of the situation, these rioters and gang members were led out of the building not in handcuffs, but free to carry on with their days.”

Even the BBC managed the notice the contrast between the 'let them get on with it' attitude of the police towards a largely white-supremicist mob to their violent response to 'Black Lives Matter'. The Confederate Flag says 'black lives don't matter' loud and clear and the police respect that.

Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, in a speech broadcast on state television on Thursday. mocked the whole idea of democracy and pointed to the riots as an example of the sort of things which democracy leads to.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying  compared the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong with the anti-democracy riot in Washington. Specifically the Stalinist regime said the riot was a 'beautiful sight to see' echoing the words of Nancy Pelosi about the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement.

China does hold elections with the small difference that there is only one candidate in most cases.

Most people are horrified by the riots. For the dictatorships however they are a bit of a laugh.

The rioters were wrongly reported as anarchists when in fact they were a rag bag of racists and authoritarians with anti-semitic slogans prominent on their clothing. The details are here.

Trump could face the implementation of the 25th Amendment which allows for the removal of a president or impeachment if Mike Pence prefers not to take that route. Republicans are distancing themselves from Trump at the speed of light.

A Socialist perspective on these events is here.

It does not spare the Democrats from criticism for allowing matters to come to this pass. However, it does say:

"The Democrats now will have the Presidency and control of the House and the Senate, following the winning of both Senate seats in Georgia. Despite the capitalist character of the Democratic Party, the defeat of the Republicans in Georgia and the election of a black Senator from there, Raphael Warnock, is an indication of the changes taking place and the blacklash against the Republicans."

An independent party of the working class will not be an easy task either in the US or in the UK but it would be a robust response to the far right which is something the Democrats do not seem to be able to produce. 

 

 

Pay Rise for Heroes

#clapforheroes is a nice thought. #payriseforheroes is an even nicer one. People feel powerless in the face of the pandemic. Showing  support for the heroes of the pandemic demonstrates solidarity.

If Boris joins in, well that's the sort of thing that gives hypocrisy a bad name.

 

https://www.facebook.com/socialistreviews
 

The party of law and order

 Trump tweeted to his mob of insurrectionists in Washington, "Remember we are the party of law and order." They look like it!

The police reacted violently against Black Lives Matter protests and they have a track record of attacking black Americans without provocation.

When a group of predominantly white protestors held an anti-democracy protest in Washington, the boys in blue were incapable of stopping them.

So far Trump's antics have cost the Republicans Georgia. Now Republicans are praying that Trump will be boarding a midnight train out of their lives.

The public have seen the ugly and unacceptable face of the Republican Party so why on earth should anyone want to vote for them?

One reason is that the Repubicans have billions of dollars to conduct political campaigning.

Another is that the Democrats are seen as weak because of their failure to present a political alternative to the Republicans. They can be portrayed as a "metropolitan elite" remote from the concerns of working class Americans.

America could use a party of the working class. So could the UK.

Socialist Reviews

  https://www.facebook.com/socialistreviews

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.