Human Rights "in context"

The government denies any abolition of human rights. They will just give them a context. The Government's "context" for human rights is that of the old National Front, "put Britain first". The NF had many admirers of Adolf Hitler who, you may remember, had his own context for human rights too. The disgusting xenophobia of UKIP is pushing the Tories to the right. They did not need much pushing.

"Britain First" is a neo-Nazi group which campaigns against the human rights act, against mosques and against migrants. Interesting bedfellows, Mr Cameron.

The rich have all the rights they want or need. Under Gove, the concept of "universal human rights" will get a kicking. And anyone who literally gets a kicking from British forces overseas will lose the right to have their day in court.

For Cameron, human rights are a nuisance. They are an example of the EU interfering in the right of the Conservatives to do whatever they want. For many people that is the only use the EU has: once in a while it stays the hand of the Conservatives. Now the Bullingdon bullies can give you a good old fashioned clip round the ear without anyone interfering.

There is an article in The Independent about this.

Many people have speculated that the Tories' desire to get rid of human rights shows exactly how inhuman this government is going to be.

The Daily Mirror is suggesting a number of ways to oppose the Tories. The most extraordinary is the suggestion that you "join a political party" and their list of parties included UKIP and the DUP for crying out loud! It does not include TUSC.

Other suggestions include joining a trade union which is more sensible than any other. We need strong unions whichever shower is in power.



Don't mourn, organise

Racism is the first refuge of a scoundrel.

On 6 April a change was made in the renewal of Discretionary Leave to Remain. Until 5th April all applicants for renewal had to fill a form with about 15 pages in it, most of the pages were in fact redundant if the person had committed no offences over the 2½ or 3 years since they had been granted DLR. There was no fee - only the postage cost.

The change means that applicants have to fill in a 32-page form and also have to pay £649 per individual, including dependant infants, plus a further £600 per person for a brand new "Immigration Health Surcharge". There is also charge of £40 per person for their "Biometric Residence Permit", unless they have one already. But most people don't have one because it was introduced more recently than 3 years ago.

This means that a family of three, for example will be paying £4,000. Where are they supposed to find that kind of money? MPs sit on massive expense accounts. Migrants do not.

 

The biometric Residence Permit identifies the person as a "migrant". It is the equivalent of the Yellow Star which Jews had to wear in Nazi Germany.

The Labour Traitors are remarkably quiet on this issue.

Your parliamentary candidates might be completely useless. The Labour Traitors are remarkably quiet on this issue.

If so I sympathise. You could however write to them so they cannot claim “none of my constituents is concerned about this issue”

 #tmr
#TUSC
 

http://derekmcmillan.com

World Book Night

The event at Worthing Library was packed out. The speaker was Juliet West. She is the author of Before the Fall. A former journalist, she was inspired to write the novel by an old story which was brought to light when she was working for the Daily Mail. The story was about a love triangle in the First World War and the fact that the information came in Coroners' records will tell you the tale is not a laugh a minute.

For me the most interesting exchange was the final question from the audience, "How do you know something you have written is good?"

Juliet West's response was to say that if the writing is flowing really well it will probably need extensive re-writing. She went on to say that she has come to enjoy rewriting because "at least then you have something to work on."

http://derekmcmillan.com/

Robin Hood Tax and Peter Bottomley

Personally I favour expropriating the 1% but as requested by 38 degrees, I have sent the following letter about the modest proposal for a "Robin Hood" tax..


I'm a constituent in the parliamentary seat that you are contesting, I would like to know your views on the Financial Transactions Tax (FTT), popularly known as the Robin Hood Tax. My reason for asking this question is that I will be asking all your opponents the same question and I will vote, and encourage others to vote, on the basis of the answer I receive. If the answer I receive is nothing or yet another complaint about 38 degrees, I will draw my own conclusions.

Currently, on the European mainland, 11 countries including France, Germany, Italy and Spain are about to introduce an FTT. The revenue will not go to Brussels but to their own Exchequers and, if all assets discussed are included, it has the potential to raise in the region of £30 billion a year.

That money could be used to pay back the cost of bailing out the financial sector and the on-going problems the global financial crisis caused, as well as ensuring that international commitments to combat global poverty and climate change are met.

The financial sector can certainly afford this tax - which would be charged at a fraction of 1% on finance firms rather than individuals – in the same way that it has borne tens of billions in fines due to a host of misdemeanours from product mis-selling to rigging currency rates. Moreover, an FTT would improve the financial system by tackling short-termism and reducing destabilising activities such as High Frequency Trading.

It is often forgotten that the UK currently has an FTT - the 0.5% Stamp Duty on share transactions, which successfully raises £3bn a year. I think the UK should extend our existing FTT to other financial transactions, joining other European countries, to regulate and tax the financial sector more. 

Every day, we hear that there will be more and more cuts. Surely it is high time the sector behind the financial crisis bears a greater burden of the costs of sorting it out.

I look forward to hearing your views.

*Please email ppc@robinhoodtax.org.uk for more information or if you'd like to declare your position on the Robin Hood Tax, which will then be published on the Robin Hood Tax campaign's website: robinhoodtax.org.uk

The nuclear option

Will a Labour nuclear war be "nicer" than a Tory nuclear war?

#TUSC

UKIP split over education and NHS privatisation

Rank and file UKippers have signed the NUT Stand up for Education
petition supporting "a qualified teacher in every classroom." They want
to go back to the old days when they were educated by qualified teachers
and believe their children definitely deserve the same. They usually
then go onto a rant about migrants but that seems to be a tic with Ukippers.

Tim (nasty but dim) Cross - UKIP's rising star in Worthing West -
categorically supported private education, free schools, unqualified
teachers - the whole Tory mess. So long as there were no migrants
involved of course.

ON NHS privatisation however he opposed privatisation. He wanted the NHS
"the way it used to be." He was silent on how that was supposed to work
without half of the nurses and a quarter of the doctors who are - let's
whisper it - migrants.

#TUSC

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http://derekmcmillan.com

Candidates debate

Well done Worthing "Skeptics in the Pub" for organising the candidates'
debate in West Worthing on 13th April. This was a great evening even
though one member of the audience, thanking the chairman, said that it
had convinced him not to vote for any of them.
(My report is not unbiased - beware of unbiased reports, they are seldom
what they seem!)
The questions from the audience were wide-ranging and the candidates had
time to answer all of them. That would make for a long report so I will
jump to the final question (it happened to be mine!)
"What use is Trident? Is there nothing else we could be spending public
money on?"

Sir Peter Bottomly clearly thought the issue was far too complicated for
us (dare I say "plebs"?) to understand but he went on to say that he
wanted a nuclear deterrent but it had to be "transparent". So far so honest.

Tim Cross of UKIP was disappointing on this question because he clearly
had not given it any thought. He just repeated the mantra that we needed
to spend billions on Trident "to defend ourselves." How we defend
ourselves against home-grown suicide bombers with Trident was beyond his
ken.

Ms Thorpe (now there is a Liberal name from the past!) fumbled over
whether a like-for-like Trident replacement was a good idea but opted
for a bargain basement nuclear deterrent. That does sound a little unsafe.

David Aherne had at least done his homework. He pointed out that use of
Trident would break the UN Charter and the 1996 ruling of the
International Court of Justice - both of which Britain is signed up to.
He was against it - it is not very green to have a nuclear war.

We got two for the price of one from Jimmy Deen. He admitted Miliband's
love for Trident is one of the romances of the decade but he himself was
opposed to it.

Two audience comments,

"It makes no sense for Hazel Thorpe to say how important education is
when her party famously supported tuition fees."

"Tim (Cross) is nasty but dim. To blame everything on immigrants makes
him look foolish."

I could also mention that Bottomley does come across as smug; David
Aherne isn't going to set the world on fire (that wouldn't be very
environmentally friendly anyhow) and if you vote for the nice Labour
Candidate will it be enough to stop the nasty consequences?
Nobody who voted for that nice young Tony Blair thought they were voting
for the Iraq war!
And I repeat my thanks to Worthing Skeptics in the Pub - a good time was
had by all.

If I had the chance I would vote Socialist! There are no Trade Unionist
and Socialist Coalition candidates in Worthing West. Not this time.


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http://derekmcmillan.com

Champagne for Conservatives, porridge for pensioners! Believe in better #TUSC #socialistreviews

Clarkson and friend want you to vote Tory

No need for anti-racism?

According to the Institute for Race Relations, a body Nigel Farage could do without, "More than 500 black and ethnic minority individuals have died in suspicious circumstances while in state detention over the past 24 years, but not a single official has been successfully prosecuted." I wonder how Ukippers feel about this.

The i talks about "UKIP in meltdown." Is it not rather that the more extreme racist views are heard from UKIP the more such ideas gain in credibility. The media-fuelled hysteria over immigration allows politicians of all parties to make racist statements. The media seldom interview migrants. Migrants are only seen as shadowy figures and linked to terrorism, unemployment, NHS waiting lists - you name it. The migrant is the new scapegoat for all the ills of capitalism.

And the real villains of the piece? Only TUSC seem to be talking about the one percent who hog all the wealth and will use any dirty trick to make sure they keep hold of it!

All the politicians are receiving dirty money from hedge funds, even indirectly the dictatorship in Kazakstan who keep Blair in clover. Only TUSC relies on money from ordinary people. And today they need it more than ever.

http://derekmcmillan.com/

Hysteria against migrants

BBC South East have produced an exposé of people trafficking. In the run up to the election we can expect more and more coverage about migrants. The BBC like to appear respectable and not racist but the choice of the issue of immigration rather than the issue of racism gives the impression that the first is a problem but the second is not worthy of TV coverage.

The link is here

What was missing was any compassion for the migrants. They were not seen as human beings. There were plenty of interviews but the BBC refused to talk to any of the migrants. Their stories were likely to be more interesting than this hysterical exposé.

What was their crime? Going to Italy. You would think Ukippers everywhere would cheer about migrants leaving the country but no.

The gutter press will be full of anti-migrant stories of course. If you expected any better from the BBC you will have been disappointed.

How to contact The Guardian

Well first you have to want to contact The Guardian and it is not for everybody. However they have a very useful page with detailed information as follows
Click here

Pursuing this theme, I found The Times have a similar page
Click here
Under most circumstances you are better off stapling a hedgehog to your face than contacting a Murdoch newspaper!

The Independent is a bit more complicated but anyone who works there can usually be contacted by initial.surname@independent.co.uk

Quirky Take on the Election

The Pet Dog Democratic Party Manifesto

Click here to try before you buy


The 2015 general election seems to have been going on since 2010. If you want an antidote to the boring platitudes from boring platitudinarians then look no further. This book has parts which are laugh-out-loud funny. It starts with an interesting alternative to shaking hands based on the behaviour of dogs and it gets funnier.

In addition there is a sustained and persistent political satire. You will notice I avoided the adjective "dogged". It is a gentle satire but none the less effective for that.

I would not dream of suggesting Rosemary J Kind is barking  (after all she publishes my short stories). I will just say that it is a good thing Alfie Dog has a level head on his shoulders.

Buy this book.

Trainers on the ground?

Private Eye derided Cameron's posturing over the Ukraine. No boots on the ground just trainers.

Napoleon, then Hitler, now Cameron wants to take on Russia. History repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce.

Napoleon Cameron has not got a cat in Hell's chance of winning against Russia. NATO is playing a stupid and dangerous game but it is not the politicians' lives on the line. They will send better people than themselves out to die.

And who said it was the white man's burden to go out and sort out a complex civil war in which an ethnic minority Russian community feel under threat and Moscow sees its chance to defend its borders against NATO incursions? It was probably Kipling. It might have been Michael Gove. This ludicrous sabre-rattling ahead of an election should fool nobody. A Government in deep trouble at home tries to divert attention by baiting the Russian bear.

The Western powers are playing a very dangerous game. It is one thing to attack a country they know very well did not have weapons of mass destruction. I don't think the Russian ICBMs are a convenient fiction. They are real enough.

And when pensioners and the unemployed have to make hard decisions because of lack of money, we suddenly have billions to squander on this dangerous nonsense? Have we?

Six Book Challenge

The Six Book Challenge involves reading six books in six months. You can do this.

The website has all sorts of possibilities to swap information about books so I recommend you give it a try. If you are a teacher, your pupils can take part too.

http://derekmcmillan.com

Where does an honest man get 100000 pounds from?

Blair's 100000 bribe to the Labour Party disposes of the lie that Miliband has broken with the crimes of the Blair years. If they had a shred of dignity they would tell Blair to take his blood money and stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

More simply it could be used to help widows and orphans in Iraq. Blair lied. People died.

Blair is currently the paid lackey of the regime in Kazakhstan. Now a handful of the millions of dollars which he receives for helping this regime are in the hands of Labour candidates. They should hang their heads in shame.

#socialistreviews

Police squander our money attacking peace campaigner

John Catt is a political campaigner against war. He is 90 years old. The cops have squandered a fortune pursuing him through the courts for their right to keep surveillance records on someone who has committed no crime. The Supreme Court has ruled that the police are well within their rights to use anti-terror legislation against a political opponent with no link to terrorism.

This is the final nail in the coffin of the pretense that anti-terror laws are not used against the government't domestic opponents who are pursuing peaceful lawful protest.

The main purpose of the anti-terror legislation is to terrorise anyone who criticises the government's international policy which could charitably be described as brute force and ignorance.

Long live John Catt. Don't let the bastards grind you down.

No place to call home

No Place to call home is reviewed in the Independent here

The programme shows how the policies of the government (the 'hard decisions' Ian Duncan Smith and his millionaire colleagues have had to make) have affected the lives of the poor. The program itself, which I watched by accident, is harrowing in parts and heartening in others.

It is harrowing when it shows how the council can wash their hands of a family because they are intentionally homeless. How many politicians with their fat expenses have had to live a winter without heating because their landlord cannot be bothered to fix the boiler? Would they choose to leave that house and make themselves 'intentionally homeless'?

It is heartening in showing how the families manage to survive in these appalling circumstances. In the end they are superior to the politicians who think of themselves as their betters.

Iain Duncan Smith should be nailed to a chair and forced to watch this programme. It is evidence of why the politicians would like to ditch the BBC in favour of Rupert Murdoch. TV is already mainly celebrity bullshit and repeats. They would prefer it to be 100 percent.

And none of the political class could care less about this. Well "don't care" was made to care. You can vote against this canaille. You can vote for socialist and anti-cuts candidates.

...

Click here to try before your buy

Who will defend the NHS

Michael Sheen defends the NHS and calls the Labour Traitors to account.
An excellent speech. "For God's sake believe in something." MPs are too busy with their expense accounts to care.

 Vote for anti-privatisation candidates. Vote TUSC

.

Save the NHS Stop TTIP

TTIP could be a death sentence for the NHS

*Public Meeting* 

*St Paul’s Chapel Road Worthing* 

*Thursday 19th March 7pm* 

*Speakers: * 
Guy Taylor – Global Justice 

Tom Lines – UNITE Brighton Stalls and videos 

The Lime Café will be open Question and answer time Please come along and support this event and please publicise it among your friends, family and colleagues. There is a facebook page: 
Worthing against TTIP 

#socialistreviews