Would You Adam And Eve It?

by Les May

THOSE of us who had the benefit of a ‘Good Sunday School Education’ are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve.  You remember the one, Adam picks fruit from the forbidden tree, God gets grumpy and banishes the pair of them from the Garden of Eden.

Christians interpret this as ‘mankind’s fall from grace’; I interpret as, ‘when you are in the deep doo-doo look around for someone else to blame’; Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the Serpent.  No one said, ‘you’ve got me bang to rights Gov, I done it’. And that’s the story of mankind in a nutshell!

The latest example of this is Michael Gove blaming China for failing to curb the spread of the SARS-Cov-19 virus which causes the disease Covid19.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-michael-gove-china-wuhan-covid-19-pandemic-a9432496.html

So do Gove’s comments stand up to close scrutiny or are they best interpreted as an attempt to deflect from the fact that his government was unprepared for any kind of health crisis?

This is what the World Health Organisation (WHO) had to say in it’s first Situation Report published on 21 January 2020:

On 31 December 2019, the WHO China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (unknown cause) detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. From 31 December 2019 through 3 January 2020, a total of 44 case of patients with pneumonia of unknown etiology were reported to WHO by the national authorities in China. During this reported period, the causal agent was not identified.

On 11 and 12 January 2020, WHO received further detailed information from the National Health Commission China that the outbreak is associated with exposures in one seafood market in Wuhan City.

The Chinese authorities identified a new type of coronavirus, which was isolated on 7 January 2020.

On 12 January 2020, China shared the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus for countries to use in developing specific diagnostic kits.

From 3 January Thailand and South Korea introduces screening measures for travellers from parts of China. On 9 March The Independent was reporting that travellers from Italy entering the UK from Italy faced “zero checks” for coronavirus at the airport.  At this time 16 million people, a quarter of the population were under ‘lockdown’, there were more than 7000 cases and the death toll was 366.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/coronavirus-italy-flight-uk-quarantine-gatwick-heathrow-airport-a9387072.html

As I pointed out in my article of 15 March the story from the government is that they are going to do something ‘when they get round to it’.

http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.com/2020/03/we-have-cunning-plan.html

Gove is trying to fool us into thinking that he can shift the blame for the shambolic situation with regard to personal protective equipment for NHS workers, the lack of testing for infection, the lack of critical care beds and shortage of ventilators, away from the government.  We all know that China initially suppressed news of the seriousness of the disease inside the country, but as we see above cases were reported to the WHO from 31 December 2019 onwards.

It beggars belief that Public Health England and the Chief Medical Officer were not monitoring the Situation Reports from the WHO and passing on to government ministers advice as to how this infection could spread in the UK. The inaction after the first of these on 21 January is down to political decisions taken by this government. 

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Johnson And The Guinea Pigs

by Les May

EARLIER this afternoon I watched the Minister for Care, Helen Whately, trying to give a reassuring message that the government had an effective strategy for dealing with the SARS-02 virus which when it infects humans causes the disease now known as Covid19.  What she did not explain is why the UK is following a strategy which differs from that being followed in Spain and Ireland, recommended as good practice by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and vigorously pursued by China.  That it works is evidenced by the massive decline in new cases in China in recent days and the fact that the it is now advising Italy about the measures to be taken to defeat the outbreak.

Following WHO guidance other countries affected by the disease are pursuing a policy of ‘contain the disease and eliminate the virus’.  That’s not easy and it is expensive.  As well as hospitalising and treating those who are suffering from the disease you have to find the people they have been in contact with and isolate them until they either show signs of the disease or you can be sure that the incubation period is over.

Boris Johnson and his government prefer the cheapskate option of letting the virus infect at least 60% of the us so that the survivors will no longer be at risk from infection and so transmission of the virus will come to an end and it will disappear. It has the grandiose title of ‘herd immunity’ which makes it sound a medically respectable strategy.

A more honest appraisal of it is that Johnson and his government are proposing to use the UK population as guinea pigs and are quite prepared to see a lot of people die as ‘collateral damage’. This is a purely political decision. If it really is ‘science based’ as is claimed then that evidence needs to be placed in the public domain so that it can be independently evaluated by people who are less close to government than Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Valance and Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty. These two seem happy to provide cover for the political decisions being made by Johnson.

As I pointed out in an earlier article if 60% of a UK population of 60 million people become infected with the virus causing the disease Covid19 that is 36 million people. The mortality rate for those infected is 1%, that translates to 360,000 deaths. Not everyone infected with the virus will show symptoms, but as the mortality rate for those who do show symptoms is about 4% we can estimate that the total number of people who will be infected and show symptoms, will be about 9 million people. Of these 80% will recover without hospitalisation, 15% will require oxygen and 5% will require to be artificially ventilated. In other words 1.8 million of those 36 million it is assumed will be infected, will need hospitalisation.

If we assume that the virus is with us for 18 weeks of the summer and the infection curve is fairly flat that means there will be a requirement for space for a 100,000 patients of which 75,000 will need oxygen and 25,000 will need to be artificially ventilated EACH WEEK. If the infection curve is not flat and is sharply peaked these figures will be much higher for a short time.

I have based these figures on the information provided by the WHO and UK government assumptions about the proportion of the population who need to be infected to produce ‘herd immunity’. If you don’t like the message don’t shoot the messenger.

If you are sceptical about whether the NHS will be able to cope with 100,000 high maintenance patients a week for much of the summer you are not alone.

When the weekly death toll starts to move into four figures Tory MPs will get jittery: when granny and grandad die gasping for breath, Johnson’s ‘Red Wall’ will be rubble.

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Scottish Nationalists call for Asylum for Asia Bibi

SCOTTISH National party MPs, according to The Guardian today, have written to Theresa May calling on the UK to grant asylum to Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi and her family, who have been in hiding in their home country since her acquittal on blasphemy charges last month.

A letter from SNP frontbencher Carol Monaghan, co-signed by the party’s other 34 Westminster MPs, warns that Bibi lives in extreme danger in Pakistan where “violent mobs are calling for her execution”.

Monaghan and her colleagues 'commend Canada, Spain and France for their offers of asylum, and note that Germany and Italy have reportedly held talks with Pakistan on the issue'.

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Jamie Oliver Accused of 'Cultural Appropriation'

by Brian Bamford

JAMIE Oliver has been today accused of cultural appropriation for describing a new product as  'punchy jerk rice'..

A decision to label the microwavable rice 'jerk' has been criticised, because the product doesn't contain many of the ingredients traditionally used in a Jamaican jerk marinade.

'I'm just wondering do you know what Jamaican jerk actually is?', Labour MP Dawn Butler asked the celebrity chef.

Jamie claimed he used the name 'punchy jerk rice'..to show where he drew his culinary inspiration from. 

Jerk seasoning is usually used on chicken or fish.  The dish is often barbecued, and Jerk Rice is not an item for barbecuing.  The spice mix contains allspice and Scotch bonnet peppers - neither of which are on the ingredients list for Jamie's jerk rice product.

In October 2016, Jamie Oliver offended some Spaniards when he posted a link to a unorthodox paella recipe on his Twitter account which included chorizo: 

'Good Spanish food doesn’t get much better than paella,' the innocuous-seeming tweet read. 'My version combines chicken thighs & chorizo.' 

Furious replies came thick and fast:  'Come to Valencia to try the real paella and stop making ‘rice with whatever’, wrote Spanish journalist Vicent Marco.  'Your dish is everything but paella.'.  Other critics were less restrained.  'Your paella is an abomination,' wrote one.   'An insult not only to our gastronomy but to our culture,' said another.

When I lived in the fishing village of Denia, Alicante, in the days of General Franco, we used to go to Senora Lola's villa on the coast and after Salvador had dived to catch some sea urchins we would build a fire for the paella pan, which we would then eat a portion direct from the pan; as it was divided up equally.  When in 1919, Gerald Brenan, fresh from England where he was a member of the Bloomsbury Group,shared a meal of this kind with some local peasants he says he was immediately won over to the Spanish way of life.  Besides the sea urchin mussels and chicken, which was then cheaper than rabbit, we would include some of the chicken.giblets such as the heart.

Anna MacMiadhachain in her book 'Spanish Regional Cookery' wrote:
'The ingredients for a paella are fairly elastic and may include all kinds of seafood, including squid, prawns, lobster, mussels, clams, snail and pieces of white fish.  Chicken, rabbit and pork are the meats used,,, The methods of preparation differ too...'

Meanwhile, Francis Bissell in 'The REAL MEAT Cookbook' writes that 'According to Tinuca Lasala, a Spanish cookery teacher .... an authentic paella is not a multi-coloured mixture of fish, shellfish, chicken and sausage, decorated with stripes of pimento to look like the Spanish flag.  It is a rather plain dish, with a main ingredient of rabbit or chicken, to which in season might be added a handful of snails.'

Both the Spaniards in 2016, and the Jamaicans now, seem to be questioning the claims to authenticity of the brands now being promoted by Jamie Oliver.  Scotch bonnet chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped and 2 tsp ground allspice, seem to be the vital ingredients Jerk to go with chicken or fish.

In response to Jamie's concoction David Llewellyn wrote online: "On what planet can "garlic, ginger and jalapenos" be described as "Jerk"?

Although I must confess to using chorizo and tinned artichokes in my paella I haven't witnessed it used in dishes in Spain.  As for Jerk, my Jamaican relatives have made it for me, but I don't care for fierce Scotch bonnet chillies, and generally prefer jalapeño.

Cultural appropriation is defined as 'the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, of one people or society by members of a typically more dominant people or society'.

Probably the most important ingredient in paella, I don't know about Jerk, but I suspect it is the variety of rice used that is vital.   Francis Bissell suggests Valencia or Arborio rice to get an authenticity paella, but I often use Carnaroli.  Alas, Carnaroli is a medium-grained rice grown in the Pavia, Novara and Vercelli provinces of northern Italy.

I don't know what the Senora Lola would have said.

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Antonio Gramsci at Wakefield History Group

Comrades


Antonio Gramsci was born on Sardinia to parents of Albanian origin.
When he was seven his father was imprisoned for embezzlement.  This placed great financial strain on the family and Gramsci had to take part time work until 1904 when his father was finally released.
Gramsci then completed High School and won a scholarship to the University of Turin where he studied linguistics and literature.   However illness and poverty again mean he was unable to complete his studies.
In 1914 he started writing for socialist papers as a means of supporting himself.  Indeed he would combine journalism and political activism for the next ten years, focusing in particular on organising factory workers in the industrial heartland of Turin.
Gramsci had joined the PSI (the Italian socialists) in 1913.  Then in 1919 he helped found the weekly 'L'Ordine Nuovo'.  The paper was seen by Lenin as being close to Bolshevism and in 1921 the editorial group -including Gramsci- formed the core of the new PCI (Italian Communist Party).
Gramsci was elected to Parliament as representative for the Veneto region in 1924.  Vehemently anti-Mussolini, he was arrested by the Fascist Government in 1926 under the Emergency Powers Act (and despite apparent parliamentary immunity!).
The prosecutor at his trial said it was imperative to 'stop Gramsci's brain from functioning'.  Despite this whilst in prison Gramsci wrote 3000 pages of notes that contributed greatly to the development of Marxist thought.
Gramsci died in prison half way through his 20 year sentence.  He was only 46.


*Wakefield Socialist History group are holding an event, "THE POLITICS OF ANTONIO GRAMCI", at the Red Shed, Vicarage Street, Wakefield WF1 on Saturday 3 December, 1-4pm.  If you would like to speak at the event please get in touch.


Fraternally
Alan Stewart
Convenor, Wakefield Socialist History Group

Chris Draper's Answer to 'What did the EU do for Manchester?'

WONDERFUL!

Let's have more examples of how governments are really good for us on this allegedly anarchist website!

Or perhaps readers might instead consider a few facts, for example this list illustrating how the EU helps corporations transfer production to where the workers come cheapest!

Cadbury moved factory to Poland 2011 with EU grant.  Ford Transit moved to Turkey 2013 with EU grant.  Jaguar Land Rover has recently agreed to build a new plant in Slovakia with

EU grant, owned by Tata, the same company who have trashed our steel works and emptied the workers pension funds. Peugeot closed its Ryton (was Rootes Group) plant and moved production to

Slovakia with EU grant.

British Army's new Ajax fighting vehicles to be built in SPAIN using SWEDISH steel at the request of the EU to support jobs in Spain with EU grant, rather than Wales.

Dyson gone to Malaysia, with an EU loan.  Crown Closures, Bournemouth (Was METAL BOX), gone to Poland with EU grant, once employed 1,200.  M&S manufacturing gone to Far East with EU loan.  Hornby models gone. In fact all toys and models now gone from UK along with

the patents all with with EU grants.

Gillette gone to eastern Europe with EU grant.  Texas Instruments Greenock gone to Germany with EU grant.  Indesit at Bodelwyddan Wales gone with EU grant.  Sekisui Alveo said production at its Merthyr Tydfil Industrial Park foam  plant will relocate production to Roermond in the Netherlands, with EU funding.

Hoover Merthyr factory moved out of UK to Czech Republic and the Far East by Italian company Candy with EU backing.  ICI integration into Holland’s AkzoNobel with EU bank loan and within days of the merger, several factories in the UK, were closed, eliminating 3,500 jobs Boots sold to Italians Stefano Pessina who have based their HQ in Switzerland to avoid tax to the tune of £80 million a year, using an EU loan for the purchase.

JDS Uniphase run by two Dutch men, bought up companies in the UK with £20 million in EU 'regeneration' grants, created a pollution nightmare and just closed it all down leaving 1,200 out of work and an environmental clean-up paid for by the UK tax-payer. They also raided the pension fund and drained it dry.

UK airports are owned by a Spanish company.  Scottish Power is owned by a Spanish company.

Most London buses are run by Spanish and German companies.  The Hinkley Point C nuclear power station to be built by French company EDF, part owned by the French government, using cheap Chinese steel that has catastrophically failed in other nuclear installations. Now EDF say the

costs will be double or more and it will be very late even if it does come online. 

Swindon was once our producer of rail locomotives and rolling stock. Not any more, it's Bombardier in Derby and due to their losses in the aviation market, that could see the end of the British railways manufacturing altogether even though Bombardier had EU grants to keep Derby going which

they diverted to their loss-making aviation side in Canada.  39% of British invention patents have been passed to foreign companies, many of them in the EU The Mini cars that Cameron stood in front of as an example of British engineering, are built by BMW mostly in Holland and Austria. His campaign bus was made in Germany even though we have Plaxton, Optare, Bluebird, Dennis etc., in the UK. The bicycle for the Greens was made in the far east, not by Raleigh UK but then they are probably going to move to the Netherlands too as they have said recently.

The EU was designed and exists to coordinate STATE legal power to compel with the predatory power of corporations to exploit. The varied court-jesters (Union Bosses, Labour Politicians, Green Apologists etc) who take money from the EU and see a good career in toadying are predicatbly lining up to sing the praises of their erstwhile masters.  I would expect anarchists to look beneath such exhortations and examine the underlying power relationships. The EU is fundamentally designed to oil the wheels of globalisation, why on earth do you think it is so keen to covertly tie up TTIP?

Of course there is a window dressing of concern for the environment, workers rights etc but if you were mugged and your assailant handed you back a tanner for a cup of tea would you be grateful?

Don't vote for any politicians ever and for anarchy's sake don't endorse the EURO SUPER STATE but DO VOTE "LEAVE"!

London Review of Books on Europe

SEEN from the besieged parliaments of Athens and Madrid, from the shuttered shops and boarded-up homes in Lisbon and Dublin, the single currency has turned into a monetary choke-lead, forcing a swathe of economies – more than half the Eurozone’s population – into perpetual recession. The Greek economy has shrunk by a fifth, wages have fallen by 50 per cent and two-thirds of the young are out of work. In Spain, it is now commonplace for three generations to survive on a single salary or a grandparent’s pension; unemployment is running at 26 per cent, wages go unpaid and the rate for casual labour is down to €2 an hour. Italy has been in recession for the past two years, after a decade of economic stagnation, and 42 per cent of the young are without a job. In Portugal, tens of thousands of small family businesses, the backbone of the economy, have shut down; more than half of those out of work are not entitled to unemployment benefits. As in Ireland, the twentysomethings are looking for work abroad, a return to the patterns of emigration that helped lock their countries into conservatism and underdevelopment for so long. Why has the crisis taken such a severe form in Europe?

 

To read the full article, go to:

 

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n16/susan-watkins/vanity-and-venality?utm_source=LRB+online+email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20160329+online

'Labour Start' & the murder of Giulio Regeni

UPROAR has resulted following the torture and murder in Egypt of the 28-year-old doctoral student at Cambridge University, Giulio Regeni, who disappeared in Cairo on the 25th, January 2016, and whose half-naked, battered body was found in a ditch on February 3rd, hours after Italian officials appealed to President Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt directly for help in locating the student.
Italy's interior minister, Angelino Alfano, has said Mr. Regeni's body bore evidence of 'inhuman, animal-like unacceptable violence' - exactly the kind of torture the security forces regularly inflict on Egyptians.  Though Egypt's authorities have denied their security forces were involved, the Italian press has not swallowed this and a headline in La Republica on Monday (8th, Feb. 2016) read:  'Giulio Regeni was tortured because they thought ha was a spy.'
Mr Regeni's dissertation research focused on trade unions, a tricky topic in Egypt, his friends say he was careful in how he carried out his investigations.
Last Friday the International New York Times ran an editorial which read:
'Under Mr. Sissi's government thousands of Egyptians have been imprisoned.  Torture and enforced disappearance are commonplace.  Academics, human rights activists and journalists have been singled out.  Mr. Regeni's murder is sure to put a deep chill on academic freedom in Egypt.'
It is good that bodies like 'Labour Start' are monitoring these events.