Can the English working-class be pigeonholed by Marxist theory?

 

Marx & Engels

Marx and Engels frequently changed their opinion about the English working-class and its revolutionary potential.  Sometimes they viewed the English working-class as the best organised and most advanced in Europe. At other times, they were driven to despair by the English' workers, narrow-mindedness and sectarianism. They ridiculed their notions of national superiority and their bourgeois ideas and viewpoints.

Marx and Engel's called the Chartist leader, Ernest Jones, "Citizen, Hip, Hip, Hooray." The Irish-born, Chartist leader, Feargus O'Connor, was in favour of peasant proprietors, and wasn't a revolutionary. He was opposed to the Chartist movement building links with European socialists, and thought that in doing so, it would dilute the national character of the Chartist movement.

Other lefties and Marxists, have held similar mixed feelings about the English working-class.  The Trotskyist writer and journalist, Paul Mason, says that Marxism got it all wrong about the English working-class. In his book 'Post-Capitalism', he wrote: "200 years of experience shows it (the working-class), was preoccupied with 'living despite capitalism' and not overthrowing it."

Some years ago, Raphael Samuels, in the New Left Review, wrote: "A dozen vanguard ' parties and as many tendencies and groups, compete for the honour of leading a non-existent revolutionary working-class."

In my personal experience, I've never found the English working-class to be politically savvy, or much interested in politics at all. Many of them might vote Tory, but they have a healthy suspicion of all politicians and their motives. The English will tell you that they vote for the lesser of the two evils.

Yet, I do know from British history, that there have been times when the country seemed to be on the brink of a revolution because of working-class militancy. The strikes and social unrest in the years leading up to WWI are a good example. The year 1926, which saw a General Strike, is another good example. The reformist politicians and trade union leaders, pulled the plug on the 1926 strike fearing that it might lead to a social revolution. The French Communist, who led the CGT, did the same thing in France in 1968.

The Liberal Prime Minister, Lloyd George, always said that the parliamentary socialists were the best policemen for the Syndicalists, who advocated for workers control of the means of production and for a social revolution. Some English workers have always been more class conscious and politically clued up than others.

You can find evidence of early communist or socialist ideas being espoused throughout English history. It's found in the writings of people like Gerrard Winstanley, the 17th century 'Digger', from Wigan. The priest and Lollard, John Ball, who was executed for his part in the Peasants Revolt of 1381, said:

"Things cannot go well in England, nor ever will, until all goods are held in common, and until thee will be neither serfs nor gentlemen, and we shall be equal." It was John Ball who told us, "When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?"

U.S. Judge blocks Republican book ban in Arkansas.

 

Those on the political right in Britain, think that it's only those on the political left that are into cancel culture and banning books.

A federal judge in Arkansas, in the U.S., has just blocked a law that would have made it a crime for librarians and book sellers to give materials to children deemed "harmful or obscene." Republican Governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, signed Act 372 into law in March. The Act, makes "furnishing a harmful item to a minor", a Class A misdemeanour, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. U.S. District Judge, Timothy L. Brooks, issued a preliminary injunction siding with bookstores, libraries and patrons in the state, who argued that parts of the law were unconstitutional.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to free speech. In his injunction, Judge Brooks, referred to the wider implications of the Arkansas law, quoting the novel 'Fahrenheit 451' by the author Ray Bradbury. The novel depicts a dystopian American society where books are burnt by the authorities to control people's access to information and knowledge. The Judge citing Ray Bradbury, wrote: "There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.”

Arkansas, already has a law that makes it a crime to provide obscene materials to minors, but people working in schools, libraries and museums, were protected from prosecution. Opponents of the law, said that Act 372, removed that protection and that "harmful" was overly vague and placed libraries and booksellers, in an impossible position.

More dentists opting out of NHS.

 

It's a topsy-turvy world. Increasingly, fewer dentists in the UK, are prepared to take on NHS patients even though they're trained by the NHS. Yet, you can get a sex change operation on the NHS, at a cost of £19,236 per patient. The dentists say that they lose money if they treat NHS patients.

It seems ridiculous that the British taxpayer pays for the tuition fees and training of dentists, but yet in many cases, they can't get dental treatment on the NHS. Dental treatment was free at the point of use when the NHS was introduced in 1948, but in 1952, charges for patients were introduced.

I agree that government funding should cover the reasonable costs of dental treatment. It looks like the present system has been set up to fail. Yet, if dentists won't treat NHS patients, then I think it's about time, that they started to pay for their own training and not burden the taxpayer with having to pay for it. No treatment, No Bursary.

Unite bans members from screening film on Jeremy Corbyn.

 

Jeremy Corbyn and Asa Winstanley

The cat is now out of the bag. The trade union Unite, ordered their Bristol Community Union Branch, not to show the film 'Oh Jeremy Corbyn/The Big Lie', which purports to expose the use of false anti-semitism claims to bring down Jeremy Corbyn and the left in the Labour Party. 

Unite, also demanded that the branch cancel a discussion of the book "Weaponising Anti-,Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn", by Asa Winstanley, of the Electronic Intifada.

The blog called Skwawkbox, alleges that emails from Unites Assistant General Secretary, Gail Cartmail, show that she was acting on the instructions of the General Secretary of Unite, Sharon Graham. Skwawkbox, also claims that Unite were acting on a complaint that they had received from the pro-Israel pressure group called the 'Campaign Against Antisemitism'.

I've always believed that the charge of antisemitism within the Labour Party were both spurious and a ruse designed to bring down Jeremy Corbyn. Yet, Corbyn bought into it, and claimed that party members who denied that Labour had a problem with antisemitism, were part of the problem. He also looked the other way when his own comrades and supporters were thrown under a bus, after being falsely accused of being anti-Semites.

What puzzles me is why Unite donates millions of pounds to a political party that is led by a louse, like Sir Keir Starmer, who wouldn't be seen dead on a picket line, denies that Israel is an apartheid state, and who says he supports Zionism "without qualification."

Chancellor orders investigation into bank account closures.

 

There's some evidence that people have had bank accounts closed because they have expressed opinions that were deemed to be unacceptable or not in accord, with the values of a banking institution.

The former UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, is perhaps the most high-profile person to have had bank accounts closed. He had two accounts closed by Coutts, who initially said they had closed his accounts because Farage didn't meet their "wealth threshold." Coutts, is owned by NatWest, and the British government has a 38.6% shareholding in NatWest.   Farage submitted a "Subject Access Requests" and found that his accounts had been closed because of his personal and political opinions. The 40 pages of personal data that he received from Coutts, confirmed that he did meet their wealth threshold, but a bank employee wrote:

"It's clear to me that NF has - and projects - xenophobic, chauvinistic and racist views, even though this is done within the law, or framed with sufficient ambiguity to claim misquoting by his critics."

The Coutts report, referred to Farage's criticism of migrant boat arrivals, support for Brexit, and how he'd compared 'The Black Lives Matter' movement, to the Taliban. It also alludes to his support of Enoch Powell, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and his use of anti-Semitic tropes. The report referred Farage as a "disingenuous grifter.'  Coutts, concluded that there was a risk of reputational damage for the bank in having Farage as a customer.

The Farage affair has been a public relations disaster for both Coutts and NatWest. It has led to the resignation of both Dame Alison Rose, the CEO of NatWest and Peter Flavel, the CEO, of Coutts. The bank and the BBC had to apologise to Nigel Farage for misleading comments and he's now been offered his accounts back at Coutts. Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has now called on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCO) to conduct an investigation into bank account closures.

What concerns many people in this country, is the extent to which institutions like banks, are setting themselves up as the self-righteous arbiters of what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable in public discourse. Clearly, this as serious consequences for both free speech in Britain and for people being able to access financial services.

Many people have now come forward with their tales about how they had bank accounts closed and were in many instances, unable to access their money, in frozen bank accounts. These people didn't have the political clout of Nigel Farage or their own TV show, so nobody took the slightest bit of interest. Hopefully, measures will now be introduced to make the system more transparent and to give banking customers the right to notice, an explanation, and the right to challenge decisions by appeal.

Eileen Blair, airbrushed out of history.

 

Eileen Blair

I've always enjoyed reading George Orwell. The novels, essays, diaries and journalism, are all worth reading. Yet, he wrote very little about his own wife, Eileen Blair, whose maiden name was Eileen O'Shaughnessy.

Eileen, was born in 1905 and came from South Shields. She studied English at Oxford University, St. Hughes, where JRR Tolkien, was one of her tutors. Although Eileen, was with her husband, George Orwell, during most of the six months he spent in Spain fighting in the civil war, she's not mentioned by name in his novel 'Homage to Catalonia'. In Homage, Orwell mentions "my wife" 37 times but never once names her.

In a recent article, "Looking for Eileen: how George Orwell wrote his wife out of his story", the author Anna Funder, points out, that you'd never know from Orwell's book nor the biographers' accounts, that Eileen worked in the headquarters of the POUM, the Spanish Marxist organisation that Orwell was fighting with, while he was serving as an infantry man in the trenches on the Aragon front. Funder, says:

"The whole time that he was fighting, Eileen was working on print and radio propaganda for the party, provisioning the men, dealing with communications, arranging the transport of medical supplies from London, lending money of her own when the party leader had none, and dodging Stalinist spies in the office and in the hotel where she lived..."

After Orwell was shot through his throat, Eileen cared for him and saved his manuscript which she'd been typing, during a two-hour-long Stalinist raid on their room. While Eileen Blair is curiously absent from her husband's writings, Anna Funder, points out that Stalin could see her perfectly clearly. As both Eileen and Orwell fled Spain to avoid being arrested by Stalin's goons, for 'Espionage & High Treason', the arrest warrant was made out in the names of "Eric Blair and his wife, Eileen Blair...Their correspondence reveals that they are rabid Trotskyites."

Despite Eileen Blair's involvement in Orwell's life, work and politics, Anna Funder, says that after devouring six brilliant biographies on George Orwell, she barely knew who Eileen Blair was, adding, it was as if history had "relegated Eileen to the private realm where she lived - and has remained...but, how is a woman made to disappear?"

Her book, "Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life" is published on 17th August by Viking (£20). Eileen Blair died on 29 March 1945 during an operation in Newcastle upon Tyne to remove her uterus. She was thirty-nine.

The hanging of Ashton poisoner Mary Ann Britland.

 

Hangman - James Berry

 

The Yorkshire executioner, James Berry, (1852-1913), is known to have carried out the death sentence on the first woman to have been hanged at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, in August 1886.

Mary Ann Britland, had been sentenced to death for poisoning her husband, daughter, and her best friend and neighbour, called Mary Dixon. Mrs Britland lived on Turner Lane, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. It's believed that the motive for the murders, was that Mrs Britland was involved in a extra-marital affair with Thomas Dixon, the husband of Mary, and that her daughter Elizabeth, had suspected it. Thomas Dixon was arrested but later released because of a lack of evidence.

It was known that Mrs Britland was in the habit of buying poison to kill mice in the home which contained both strychnine and arsenic. An autopsy was carried out on Mary Dixon which found evidence of arsenic and strychnine in her body. Autopsies were also carried out on Thomas and Elizabeth Britland, which found evidence of arsenic in their bodies.

In his book called "My Experiences as an Executioner" published in 1892, James Berry refers to the hanging of Mary Ann Britland. Apparently, the terrified woman had to be dragged to the scaffold at Strangeways Prison kicking and screaming.  The hanging of Mrs Britland, seems to have haunted James Berry throughout his life. He had become an executioner in 1884. In his memoir, Berry said that he could still hear her screams in his head to this very day.

By all accounts, she died instantly. The previous year, 1885, hadn't gone well for the hangman from Heckmondwike, in the West Ridings of Yorkshire. In a botched hanging, Berry decapitated Robert Goodale, at Norwich Prison in November1885, and nearly decapitated, Moses Shrimpton, at Worcester prison, in May 1885.  In February 1885, Berry had failed to execute John Babbacombe Lee, at Exeter, after pulling the leaver on the trap door three times. Lee became known as "The Man They Couldn't Hang." His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. James Berry hung some 130 people between 1884-1891, and later campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty.

Press regulator rejects Hancock's complaint against the Daily Mirror.

 

Matt Hancock

It seems laughable now, but I do remember how the disgraced former Tory Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, told us in 2021, that the UK is not "remotely a corrupt country."

Yet, we also know from a text he sent to Dominic Cummings in 2020, that he called his health secretary, Matt Hancock, "totally fucking hopeless." and that Hancock had said publicly, that he wasn't embarrassed by the PM's remarks.

Now we know, that complaints that were made by Matt Hancock, about the Daily Mirror, have all been rejected by the press regulator IPSO. All the complaints were made under Clause 1 of the Editors' Code (accuracy). The Daily Mirror articles, included allegations that Hancock:

* "Presided over PPE contracts handed out to acquaintances of ministers and officials, including his ex-pub landlord" during the Covid-19 pandemic.

* "broke ministerial code by failing to declare he held shares in a family firm that won an NHS contract."

* was "a failed health secretary and cheating husband who broke the lockdown rules he wrote, doubled down on the lies he told, helped enrich his mates via the infamous VIP PPE lane, and couldn't resist monetizing the infamy he acquired as a result of his ineptitude at managing the pandemic.

Is Blair planning a return to government?

 

Tony (Tory) Blair

Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you." Sir Steer Calmers rehabilitation of Sir Tory Blair, gathers pace as they both share a stage at the Future of Britain event in London.

Tory-lite Starmer, is the first Labour leader to share a stage with Blair, since he left office to line his pockets, sixteen years ago. There had been calls for Blair to be put on trial for war crimes, after he took us into a phoney war against Iraq in 2003. Blair has recently been campaigning for greater private sector involvement in the NHS.

There have been reports in the press that Starmer is planning to give this much "derided carpetbagger" a peerage if Labour gets elected to office at the next general election. Some are even speculating that he will then offer Blair, a cabinet post in his government.

If Blair does join a Labour government, you can expect closer ties with the E.U., creeping privatisation of the NHS, a hard-line on welfare benefits and job seekers, and the return of Lord Levy. Blair has already told Sir Steer Calmer, that what he'll inherit from the Tories, is pretty grim. That could signal the end the triple-lock formula for increasing state pensions. Both are saying the party needs to take tough decisions.

Blair call for more private-sector involvement in the NHS.

 

When Margaret Thatcher, was once asked what her greatest legacy to the country was, she replied without hesitation, "Blair and New Labour." It was Blair who lied us into a war with Iraq to please U.S. military and economic interests, and it is Blair, who is the real architect of Brexit.

After leaving British politics, Blair spent most of his time filling his pockets with cash and acquiring multiple properties. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in 13 years of New Labour, 80% of new jobs in the UK, went to migrants from Eastern Europe. Many of these migrant workers came from the former Communist Eastern bloc countries like Poland, Hungry, and Slovenia, which became members of the E.U. in 2004. Although most E.U. member states placed limits on the number of migrants entering their countries, Britain under Tony Blair, opened the door to all of them.

Blair, a derided carpet beggar, is now campaigning for greater private sector involvement in the NHS. This is already Labour Policy and all successive British governments, have been privatising the NHS by stealth for years. In 1983, the Tories under Margaret Thatcher, introduced "competitive tendering" to outsource ancillary services such porters, kitchens, and cleaning, to private companies. This led to a rise in hospital-acquired infectious diseases and dirtier hospitals.

In 1991, the Tory Prime Minister, John Major, introduced the 'internal market' and the "Purchaser-Provider" split. This led to more NHS bureaucrats and increased NHS costs by 10%. John Major's government then introduced the "Private Finance Initiative" (PFI) an expensive way of borrowing money for new hospitals which locked the British taxpayer into long-term debt.

In 1997, Tony Blair and New Labour, funded 100 New Hospitals using PFI's at a cost of £12.7bn, with repayments reaching over £80 billion. When the debt is fully repaid, the public still won't own the hospitals. As the debt rose, NHS Trusts have been forced to sell assets and to shrink capacity leading to fewer hospital beds and lower nurse/patient ratios.

In 2000, New Labour, introduced private provision of medical services into the NHS for the first time. Many medical practices were contracted out to the private sector, at greater cost for the NHS. In 2003, New Labour introduced "Foundation Trusts", arms-length business entities independent of government control.

In 2012, the Conservative/LibDem coalition government, introduced the Health & Social Care Act (HSCA), which abolished the legal foundation of the NHS and removed the Secretary of State for Health's legal duty to provide healthcare for all. This responsibility has now been handed over to quangos, such as NHS England.

The doctor's union, the British Medical Association (BMA), argue that successive British governments have been presiding over a "managed decline" of the NHS for many years. There seems to be some truth in this. The so-called crisis in the NHS, which has led to staff shortages, longer waiting times for medical treatment and bed shortages, seems to have been largely engineered and manufactured during the last 13 years of the Tory government. They want to privatise the NHS, which was always the dream of Margaret Thatcher, who never used it.

More people are now paying for private medical treatment or fund raising to pay for it to obtain urgent medical treatment. As this increases, it's likely that we will lose the NHS by default and private medical care will become a reality for most of us.

Labour council uses scabs to break dustman's strike!

 

The trade union Unite, have just voted at their Rules Conference, to stay affiliated to the Labour Party. Unite members also voted in a recent ballot to retain the political levy.

The union is one of the biggest financial backers of the Labour Party. But what are the union getting for their bucks? Unite General Secretary, Sharon Graham, has told Tory-lite Sir Steer Calmer, there will be no blank cheques and that the Labour leader must deliver on "jobs, pay, and conditions."

Meanwhile, Labour-run Cumberland Council, are using the Tory government's anti-union laws to break a strike by council employed refuse workers. The Labour council are recruiting scab agency workers and paying them more money to break the strike. Other Labour councils have employed similar dirty tactics to break strikes.

Labour's shadow chancellor, Rachell Reeves, has also refused to commit to endorsing the recommendations of the pay review body on public sector pay. It seems mind boggling that any union should be paying money to a political party that kicks the workers in the teeth and endorses the use of Tory anti-union laws to break strikes.

Sharon Graham knows all about 'leverage', she ran Unites leverage campaign. Therefore, she needs to apply some leverage on Starmer and Labour. No results no money! The Tories certainly understand that. The wealthy spivs who back the Conservative Party, always get a good return on their money.

Pekka Kuusisto - the Finnish Nigel Kennedy

 

Pekka Kuusisto

Antonio Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons' might have been flogged to death, but it's still a great piece of music and the composer's music deserves respect. A couple of weeks ago, I saw it performed by the Finnish conductor and violinist, Pekka Kuusisto, at the BBC Proms. His arrangement of the Four Seasons, was interspersed with Finnish folk songs. I don't mind folk music, but there's a time and place for it.

Kuusisto, is a kind of Finnish Nigel Kennedy, who is also known for clowning about on the stage. John Drummond, the Controller of BBC Radio 3, once described Kennedy as "a Liberace for the nineties", and made fun of his "ludicrous" clothes and "self-invented accent."

Both Kennedy and Kuusisto, come from a family of professional musicians. I never cared much for Nigel Kennedy's 1989 recording of The Four Seasons' with the English Chamber Orchestra. For me it lacks subtlety and finesse. This recording might have sold over 2 million copies, but when listening to it, I always feel that Kennedy can't get through it quick enough.

Yet, Kennedy, the punk violinist, didn't butcher these four violin concertos in the way that Kuusisto did, on Sunday night. I didn't find this arrangement of a great work "refreshing", I just switched channels. The best recording I have ever heard of The Four Seasons', was by Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Meet Alexander Darwall - Britain's most loathed landowner.

 

Landowner - Alexander Darwall

Although half of Scotland is owned by just 500 people, The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, gives everyone in Scotland the right to roam over land and inland water. It also extends to wild camping.

A friend of mine told me recently that he'd enjoyed a brilliant summer holiday touring the Highlands of Scotland and the Outer Hebrides wild camping with his family. They would travel about in their van and find somewhere suitable to pitch their tents at the end of the day. He said there were lots of German tourists doing the same thing.

That would be illegal in England because the laws regarding private property, require a person to seek consent from the landowner. For many years, one of the few places in England where you could go wild camping, was Dartmoor. That is also now illegal, since a wealthy landowner and city hedge fund manager, called Alexander Darwall, who owns the 4,000 acre Blachford estate, took legal action to ban wild camping on his land on Dartmoor. The High Court Judge, Sir Julian Flaux, ruled that visitors did not have the right to camp overnight without the landowner’s consent, and that there is no local custom of camping which has the force of law. He dismissed arguments from the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA), who asserted that the public had the right of access to the commons on foot and on horseback for the purpose of open air recreation. The Judge said this didn't extend to the public having the right to camp or wild camp without the permission of a landowner. The court ruling became a cause celebre and has led to protests on Dartmoor and elsewhere, and demands for the right to roam and wild camp in England.

Darwall and his wife Dianna, are now regarded as the most loathed landowners in England. According to a local legend, when a wealthy businessman sought to make a profit by farming on Dartmoor, Old Crockern - the mythological protector of the moors - cursed the venture and drove the man away. It seems that many wild campers are determined to do that to Alexander Darwall.

There is no right to roam over 92% of the land of England and to do so, is considered trespass. In April 1932, hundreds of ramblers, both men and women, defied the law to walk over hills and moorland in the Peak District of Hayfield and Kinder Scout, which was owned by the Duke of Devonshire. The ramblers were often beaten up by the Dukes gamekeepers, wielding sticks. Some were arrested and later imprisoned. This mass trespass won ramblers roaming rights and led to the formation of the Peak District National Park in 1951.The legal case brought by Darwall, is likely to revive the spirit of Kinder Scout. 

One person who shouldn't have any difficulty wild camping on Dartmoor, is Prince William. As the Duke of Cornwall, a title he inherited on the death of the late Queen, he acquired ownership of one third of Dartmoor National Park after inheriting the £1bn Duchy of Cornwall estate. The private estate of the Duchy of Cornwall, was set up by the feudal monarch Edward III in 1337, to provide financial independence for his son and heir. The heir to the British throne, still benefits from this feudal arrangement to this day. On the vexatious issue of wild camping on Dartmoor, the Prince has hitherto remained silent.

Woman tells LBC of her despair with Shropshire health services.

 

Somebody needs to get a grip on GP services urgently. They're getting away with murder.

A young woman recently told LBC's Nick Ferrari, that she drove from her home in Shropshire to Fulham where she previously lived, to get medical treatment for her young child because healthcare services are so bad in Shropshire.

Her young child had severe tonsillitis and though she couldn't get an appointment with her GP, her practice told her not to take her child to hospital. Her next door neighbour’s, who are consultants, told her that her child needed antibiotics urgently. She rang her doctor in Fulham who offered her a GP appointment and drove for three hours to get there.

She told Nick Ferrari that healthcare is some much better in Kensington and Chelsea where her children were born.

Government minister goes to war with Micky Mouse.

 

Robert Jenrick

A Conservative government minister, has gone to war against Micky Mouse, and has been accused of "losing sight of humanity" after his intervention at refugee centre in Kent.

The Conservative immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, gave orders that mural cartoons of Micky Mouse and Baloo, from the Jungle Book, which were displayed in a children's asylum centre for lone children in Kent, should be removed as they were too welcoming and gave out the wrong message. Some of the children arriving in the UK are as young as nine.

The order was condemned as callous, cruel, and Dickensian. It is believed that staff at the reception centre for small boat arrivals in Kent, were appalled by the order and were opposed to removing the murals.

Home Office sources declined to comment on claims that staff had opposed Jenrick's instruction. Robert Jenrick, defended his actions and said the murals had been removed because they were not "age-appropriate."

Government Bill seeks to protect Israel from sanctions.

 

Numerous U.N. resolutions have declared that Israel's occupation of the West Bank in 1967, and the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, are illegal under international law.

Israel is a racist apartheid state which recognises Israel as only a nation state, of the Jewish people. Although Palestinian homes have been demolished in the occupied territories, land stolen, Palestinian resisters shot and killed, and illegal settlements built by Jewish settlers on Palestine lands, the British Tory government of Rishi Sunak, are now trying to stop public bodies from supporting sanctions against Israel and the 'Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions' (BDS) movement.

The 'Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, passed its second reading in the House of Commons on Monday. The bill seeks to prevent public bodies from making procurement and investment decisions "influenced by political or moral disapproval of foreign state conduct'. The bill seeks to shield Israel from economic sanctions being imposed on it for human rights abuses and violations of international law, and a system of apartheid being imposed on the Palestinian people. The bill's gagging clause, Clause 4, prevents a decision- maker from publishing a statement saying they intend to make such a decision or that they would intend to make such a decision, if the law was not stopping them.

Amnesty International have said that the bill is "clearly incompatible" with the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). In particular, they cite Articles 8 (privacy), and 10 (freedom of expression). The government say that only public bodies would be impacted by the bill and not individuals. Although British foreign policy recognises the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories, the government say the bill is necessary to prevent anti-Semitism and to prevent public bodies from pursuing their own foreign policy agenda. Critics say that the bill may be incompatible with international law.

Fourteen Israeli human rights organisations have written to the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and other senior cabinet members, calling on them to withdraw the legislation. They say that the bill would make it extremely difficult for the occupied Palestinian territories to be recognised and treated differently to Israel proper, and that nonviolent tactics of boycotts and sanctions, are legitimate acts. The Union of Jewish students said they opposed the bill as it violated civil rights, but reiterated their opposition to BDS. They said:

"Using legislation to clamp down on free speech and space for dissent, harms democracy. Making it illegal for public authorities not just to boycott Israel, but China or Myanmar, to name just a few examples, will not make Jews safer - we must remain committed to the values of democracies, free speech and human rights."

Critics of the bill, have warned that autocratic and despotic regimes throughout the world, will be rejoicing at Rishi Sunak's anti-boycott bill. Had it been in place years ago, it would have certainly have made sanctions against apartheid South Africa illegal, and the Jewish Anti-Nazi boycott of Germany, in the 1930s.

Labour's Lobbying Hypocrisy.

 

Jonathan Reynolds

The Shadow Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, who represents Stalybridge and Hyde, has a senior policy manager from HSBC working for him who is swanning around Westminster with a parliamentary pass and rubbing shoulders with Labour's Shadow cabinet.

Labour have vowed to "clean up Westminster" by banning former ministers from lobbying for five years. Despite this pledge, Labour have come under fire for giving global banks like HSBC and NatWest, direct access to Parliament.

The secondment isn't declared in Reynolds' register of interest because the HSBC employee's time, is a donation in kind to the party. Reynolds has previously given secondments to a NatWest employee and another from a lobbying firm.

Corbyn film banned at Glastonbury.

 

Jeremy Corbyn

The decision by the Glastonbury Festival to ban a film about the downfall of Jeremy Corbyn, is yet another blow to freedom of speech in Britain. After receiving a letter from Marie van der Zyl, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BDBJ), the Glastonbury Festival have cancelled the screening of the film 'Oh, Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie', which was due to be shown at the Pilton Palais cinema on Sunday 25th of June.

Marie van der Zyl, told festival organisers, Michael and Emily Eavis, that it would be "profoundly sinister", to have such a film platformed at the Glastonbury festival. The film which is narrated by the left-wing Jewish comedian Alexei Sayle, challenges the accusations of antisemitism made against the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The film which was produced by Platforms Films and which features contributions by the the film director Ken Loach and writer Jackie Walker, claims to "explore the dark and murky story of political deceit and outrageous anti-Semitic smears", which were used to topple Jeremy Corbyn who was replaced by former Trotskyist and Zionist, Sir Keir Starmer.

The BDBJ, who have recently been trying to cancel the former Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters, from performing his concerts, alleging antisemitism, tweeted: "We are pleased that in the wake of a letter we sent earlier today, @glastonbury have announced the cancellation of the screening of this film. Hateful conspiracy theories should have no place in our society." In her letter to the Eavis's, Marie van der Zyl, also referred to a review by Paul Mason, who has also called for the film to be banned by the Glastonbury festival. Mason, a left-wing writer and journalist, and former member of the Trotskyist Workers' Power group, is hoping to become a Labour MP at the next general election.

Critics and supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, have accused the festival organisers of censorship in banning the film. In 2017, Jeremy Corbyn appeared on the Pyramid stage at the Glastonbury festival where he addressed huge crowds. The festival founder, Michael Eavis, a Quaker, referred to Corbyn as the "hero of the hour."

In a statement, a Glastonbury representative, said: "Although we believe that the Pilton Palais booked this film in good faith, in the hope of providing political debate, it's become clear that it is not appropriate for us to screen it at the festival. Glastonbury is about unity, and we stand against all forms of discrimination."

The Glastonbury cinema team had previously been promoting the film and said on their website, that this, "might be a rare opportunity to watch the banned Corbyn documentary." The Big Lie' producer, Norman Thomas, said: "They don't want people to know the truth and they don't want films like this to be seen. And they know how to put the boot in."

Reflections on the life of the artist David Vaughan.

 

Artist - David Vaughan

I knew the artist, David Vaughan, in the early 1970s. He was all well-known figure around Ashton-under-Lyne. Most people who came into contact with him, found him very strange and rather intimidating. But some of us, were never quite convinced, how much of his odd behaviour was due to psychiatric problems, or was simply an affectation. Was he playing the mad artist? He did bear a resemblance to the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. He'd also been compared to the Spanish artist Goya because of his harrowing depictions of war and famine.

His famous daughter, Sadie Frost, has said that he was mad and suffered from manic depression and psychosis or possibly schizophrenia. People who knew him said his mental problems stemmed from when his drink was spiked with LSD, which he was given shortly after an accident when he fell and injured himself, sustaining a head injury. Given what happened to the rock legends Peter Green and Syd Barrett, this is very possible, and is called drug induced psychosis. However, Sadie Frost, said her parents raised her in an atmosphere of drugs and alcohol.

Most of what he told us about himself - which turned out to be largely true - we took with a pinch of salt. He had done commissions for the Beatles, Princess Margaret and the Kinks. I do remember one of David's artistic works, which impressed many of us. He painted a mural on a living room wall of a terraced house in Ashton. The picture he painted was the '21st Century Schizoid Man" from the 1969 debut album 'In the Court of the Crimson King' by the progressive rock band King Crimson.

Two brothers that I knew from Guide Bridge, in Ashton, had been at school with David Vaughan. They told me that he'd lived in Denton and had lived with his grandmother, who often threw water over him while he was in bed. How much of this is true, I can't say, but the brothers seemed to think that David's upbringing had a bearing on his later mental illness.

David Vaughan, died in December 2003, aged 58, while awaiting an operation for a liver transplant. At the time of his death, he had five sons and two daughters.Memories 

Coutts tells Nigel Farage you're not welcome.

 

Nigel Farage

The bankers to the rich, Coutts, have responded to Nigel Farage's assertion that they have closed his bank accounts for political reasons. Farage has said that he believes that he's been designated a 'Politically Exposed Person', and claims that the banks decision may have been influenced by his position on Brexit. He also believes that comments made by the Labour MP, Chris Bryant, alleging that he'd taken Russian money, may also be a significant factor in the bank’s decision to cancel his accounts.

Farage denies the allegation and says he's written to Bryant and Parliament about it. Coutts have told the BBC, that Farage's accounts were closed for "commercial" reasons as he didn't meet their wealth criteria of investing or borrowing £1m with the bank, or having £3m in savings. Coutts, which is owned by NatWest, say they have offered Farage a personal account with NatWest.

The BBC News Night program, reported on Tuesday evening, that other Coutts customers, had told the BBC that they didn't meet the bank's wealth criteria, but had not had their accounts closed by Coutts. Farage has claimed that he's been refused bank accounts with nine other lenders who have told him he's a P.E.P. He says that he was only offered a NatWest personal account when he went public, and that Coutts at "no point", had given him a minimum threshold. He says he needs a business account because he operates through a business and any income he earns, goes through his business. He says that the decision by the bank will "fundamentally affect my future career and whether I can even go on staying and living here in this country."

A Treasury spokesman told the BBC that it would be a "serious concern" if financial services were being denied to people exercising their right to lawful free speech. They said the law requires the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to conduct a review into how banks treat politically exposed persons and that a right balance had to be struck, between the right to free speech, and the banks right to manage commercial risk.