Citizen Journalism: The Future of the Media? (Jason Cridland)
Check out Hot - Chrome for photographs, videos... (thanks to Mark Evans)
Jack Brindelli and Friends Reviewing 'The Iron Lady'
A Response to Alan Johnson
"Poem for 2012" by Steve Wallis
A new year's resolution
For a socialist revolution
There's panic in the eurozone
... Hear the people groan
Hear the politicians moan
They'll soon be overthrown
End hatred and war
And oppression of
the poor
Don't be fatalistic
Be bold but realistic
We can all affect
society
And help put an end to misery
See the politicians cower
When faced with Counterpower
As big business plans turn sour
They'l be toppled from their tower
Demonstrate with banners unfurled
Until we all rule the world
No rich or poor any more
'Cos my new year's
resolution
Is to help a socialist revolution
Inspired by the excellent book
"Counterpower: Making Change Happen" by
Tim Gee, and my songs "Panic In The
Eurozone", "The World I Planned"
and "Do They Know It's G8 Time?"
(see http://soundcloud.com/stephen-wallis
A Note of Appreciation from The Rich
Let's be honest: you'll never win the lottery.
On the other hand, the chances are pretty good that you'll slave away at some miserable
job the rest of your life. That's because you were in all likelihood born into
the wrong social class. Let's face it — you're a member of the working caste.
Sorry!
As a result, you don't have the education, upbringing,
connections, manners, appearance, and good taste to ever become one of us. In
fact, you'd probably need a book the size of the yellow pages to list all the
unfair advantages we have over you. That's why we're so relieved to know that
you still continue to believe all those silly fairy tales about "justice" and
"equal opportunity".
Of course, in a hierarchical social
system like ours, there's never been much room at the top to begin with.
Besides, it's already occupied by us — and we like it up here so much that we
intend to keep it that way. But at least there's usually someone lower in the
social hierarchy you can feel superior to and kick in the teeth once in a while.
Even a lowly dishwasher can easily find some poor slob further down in the
pecking order to sneer and spit at. So be thankful for migrant workers,
prostitutes, and homeless street people.
Always remember that if
everyone like you were economically secure and socially privileged like us,
there would be no one left to fill all those boring, dangerous, low-paid jobs in
our economy. And no one to fight our wars for us, or blindly follow orders in
our totalitarian corporate institutions. And certainly no one to meekly go to
their grave without having lived a full and creative life. So please, keep up
the good work!
You also probably don't have the same greedy,
compulsive drive to possess wealth, power, and prestige that we have. And even
though you may sincerely want to change the way you live, you're also afraid of
the very change you desire, thus keeping you and others like you in a nervous
state of limbo. So you go through life mechanically playing your assigned social
role, terrified what others would think should you ever dare to "break out of
the mold."
Naturally, we try to play you off against each other
whenever it suits our purposes: high-waged workers against low-waged, unionized
against non-unionized, Black against White, male against female, American
workers against Japanese against Mexican against.... We continually push your
wages down by invoking "foreign competition," "the law of supply and demand,"
"national security," or "the bloated federal deficit." We throw you on the
unemployed scrap heap if you step out of line or jeopardize our profits. And to
give you an occasional break from the monotony of our daily economic blackmail,
we allow you to participate in our stage-managed electoral shell games, better
known to you ordinary folks as "elections." Happily, you haven't a clue as to
what's really happening — instead, you blame "Aliens," "Tree-hugging
Environmentalists," "Niggers," "Jews," Welfare Queens," and countless others for
your troubled situation.
We're also very pleased that many of you
still embrace the "work ethic," even though most jobs in our economy degrade the
environment, undermine your physical and emotional health, and basically suck
your one and only life right out of you. We obviously don't know much about
work, but we're sure glad you do!
Of course, life could be different.
Society could be intelligently organized to meet the real needs of the general
population. You and others like you could collectively fight to free yourselves
from our domination. But you don't know that. In fact, you can't even imagine
that another way of life is possible. And that's probably the greatest, most
significant achievement of our system — robbing you of your imagination, your
creativity, your ability to think and act for yourself.
So we'd truly
like to thank you from the bottom of our heartless hearts. Your loyal sacrifice
makes possible our corrupt luxury; your work makes our system work. Thanks so
much for "knowing your place" — without even knowing it!
Posted by Jon Marsden
The Libyan Hoodwink by Alexander Craven
Make him think he's been rehabilitated and is now one of
the guys. Send Tony over to schmooze him. After a couple of years suggest
Gadaffi invests Libya's money with you. Once you have $200 billion get his mates
to overthrow him. Support his mates "the rebels" by bombing the crap out of the
country thus helping the military industrial corporates. Help "the rebels" to
organise a central bank and give them $1.5 billion or so to keep them sweet.
This on the basis they organise a fire-sale of Libyan assets including oil and
water to western corporates. Keep the other $198.5 billion or so. Plus a fringe
benefit is eliminating another non-dollar denominated oil trading threat. Clever
stuff. - Alexander Craven
the guys. Send Tony over to schmooze him. After a couple of years suggest
Gadaffi invests Libya's money with you. Once you have $200 billion get his mates
to overthrow him. Support his mates "the rebels" by bombing the crap out of the
country thus helping the military industrial corporates. Help "the rebels" to
organise a central bank and give them $1.5 billion or so to keep them sweet.
This on the basis they organise a fire-sale of Libyan assets including oil and
water to western corporates. Keep the other $198.5 billion or so. Plus a fringe
benefit is eliminating another non-dollar denominated oil trading threat. Clever
stuff. - Alexander Craven
Rebellious Media Conference 2011 Review
The Institute of Education on the Saturday and the Friends
Meeting House on the Sunday via Euston underground. Every ticket sold. Keynote
speaker Noam Chomsky. Networking and information exchanges with many like minded
people. Stewards wearing T shirts with a huge attendee demand but no supply.
Numerous workshops and discussion opportunities. Why doesn’t every community
offer this? Now there is an idea!
rebellious_media_conference_review.pdf | |
File Size: | 259 kb |
File Type: |
EU Inspired False Economic Growth by Gordon Pye
Many of those who actively promote the " Corporate Nazi " ideology's apparent guru
Milton Freidman allegedly wrote something like that the one and only one social
responsibility of any business is to use its resources and engage in activities
designed to increase profits. ( Just so long as it stays within the
theoretical moral rules, that is to say it uses free competition and avoids any
potenti...al deception or fraud ? )
The only problem with the above is that large corporations have consistently lobbied government ( particularly in the UK ) to change or ignore any rules. The rot probably first
set in after Dennis Healey took out the IMF loan in the mid 1970s. Ever since
pure science and engineering has been increasingly infiltrated by corporate
politics and been misrepresented in order to produce the most profitable outcome
from research in order to generate false economic growth on the stock
market.
My personal business ideology was formed as I was brought up in
a village corner shop which made its own ice cream. Also before leaving school
I worked part time at a local small haulage contractor, despite being one of the
top performing students on the technical side I dropped out of tech in the final
year when they tried to indoctrinate me with corporate business theory, but
stayed long enough to get the general idea.
My first real exposure to the corporate world was whilst working as a HGV driver delivering metal
pressings to Ford plants in the mid 1980s. I was on friendly terms with the
owner of said engineering business who would openly admit that he would make far
more money if he had his capital investment in a building society. His main
problem was getting paid on time by Ford, they owed him for several months work
but he couldn't take any action to get paid as they would have instantly
cancelled his contract. He had to buy all the steel from Ford at their price (
they could probably justify this on quality control grounds ) but when one
really bad quality batch of Ford Cargo cab back panels went rusty as soon as
they were pressed, he had to pay to try to clean them up. Said engineering
company arranged all their transport but then Ford demanded that they use Ford's
own corporate haulage sub contractor at extra expense and inconvenience. We
lost the haulage job but it was said about a couple of years later that Ford
had sent in a team of managers to run said engineering works which then soon
went into administration. Although we technically lost our jobs due to Ford
transport policy our union ( T&G ) did nothing to help us even though our
replacements were in foreign built vehicles and consistently breaking the
drivers hours regulations.
In between hauling metal pressings we did muti drop chemicals throughout the UK. You could tell how a company treated its workforce by the way they dealt with you as far as getting quickly unloaded. It
was always a pleasure to visit ICI sites, but that was in the days before most
of the company was sold off and then virtually asset stripped for instant
profit. Large companies like ICI always managed to retain their share price
whilst providing decent working conditions and terms for their workforce, at
least until the 1987 stock market crash. I can't remember whether the following
is in strict chronological order, but I was informed first hand that when
Guinness took over Distillers ( in a dodgy deal ) the rent of small arable
farmers in west Lancashire was doubled overnight, a pattern which was to become
all too familiar in the 1990s.
On the politics side, it would appear that Thatcher would not play their false economic growth to plug the black hole
in the stock market game and so they tricked her into introducing the Poll Tax
after which she was compelled to resign. Just as soon as Major got elected in
his own right the false economic growth regulations were trotted out regularly.
As far as personal experience was concerned we were hit by new sheeting
regulations at the quarries, Tilcon must have known it was in the pipeline as
they had sold the majority of their road haulage sector to Fewston, a company
set up by the banks and profit based on sub letting haulage work to smaller
haulage contractors. Tilcon had always bought several new British built Foden
eight-wheelers every year but Fewston switched to Swedish Scania, the haulage
rates never went up to cover the costs of sheeting, many experienced drivers
left due to the health implications ( including myself with back problems ).
The net result was the Sowerby Bridge Disaster in which several people lost
their lives after a Fewston wagon ran away down the steep hill, given the
evidence almost certainly caused by an inexperienced incompetent ex-police (
just recently passed HGV test driver ) " pumping " the air brakes after they "
faded " on the long hill down into Halifax. Of course Tilcon escaped any
vicarious liability at the time but the ministry of transport came in and got
the haulage rates increased, after which Tilcon was subsequently taken over.
All to prevent a bit of harmless dust getting onto the ten bob fat cat yuppies
who had moved into the Dales new BMW's.
Then came Traffic Calming, and it is not a simple coincidence that Hyndburn ( the first local authority to
introduce widespread traffic calming ) was one of the first local authorities
forced to sell its corporation bus fleet. One first rate coachbuilder I knew
left ( Stagecoach ) Ribble Blackburn depot to become top man at Hyndburn
Transport, only to leave after a couple of weeks later because the urgent repair
workload ( due to running over traffic calmed streets ) was impossible to keep
up with, he was such a good man that Ribble instantly gave him his old job back.
Corporate Stagecoach picked up Hyndburn Transport on the cheap in a bent deal
arranged with the bent Labour leader of the council who pushed the traffic
calming in the first place, the first class engineering depot (on a prime site)
was asset striped and sold. Other corporation transport operations have
fallen to the corporates since due to being unable to even break even, and not
being able to access new investment for more modern vehicles.
Another false economic growth investment scam was " disabled access to public transport ",
the corporates were all for it after sorting a bent deal with the minister in
charge who's son was employed in a top management position by one of them. Just
for the extra interest payments alone it would have been possible to provide a
24/7 dial up free taxi service to anywhere in the UK for anybody claiming DLA.
Perhaps this prime example of politically correct lunacy is the main reason why
its far cheaper per mile to run your car than use public transport because the
fares are so high now in many areas. We have now reached a point where local
authorities are forced to subsidise the majority of bus services using the
council tax, the corporate bus operators taking the angle that if they can't
turn a fat profit they wont run the service. Thatcher's bus privatisation plan
has been amply proven an abject failure, short of total re-nationalisation the
way forward now is efficient regulation with the bus operators turned into
virtual road haulage contractors to the local council, who would collect all the
fares and organise all the timetables.
Both the above false economic growth generating scams come via the EU but more recently motor industry funded
alleged charities have been set up to demand legislation on the grounds of "road safety ", but their impact has been nothing compared to the influence of
environmental NGO's on government policy. Perhaps their first major victory was
when Ken Clarke introduced the Road Fuel Tax Escalator, of course big business
said nothing perhaps because they were prepared to run with anything which could
prevent the top rate of income tax being increased and the resultant drop in
funds to their "stock market parasites ", ( hedge funds and the like ). It
didn't have any real impact at first but Labour was favourite to win the 1997
election and if there was a working brain between them they must have realised
the RFTE made particularly northern manufacturing industry uncompetitive.
However, Brown just carried on with it and by 1998 I can recall that hundreds of
once well secure jobs for life " household name " manufacturing jobs were being
lost every week. This continued until the Farmers For Action fuel protests and
ending of the RTFE in 2000, but by this time the " stock market parasites " had
got it into their DNA that asset stripping British industry was far more
profitable in the short term than actually trying to run it efficiently. By
this time global big business had organised itself into a virtual Corporate
Multinational Cartel ( CMC ) which prevented any real competition in an alleged
" free market ", with direct services to the public contracted out to franchise
holders in many cases. I suspect that the general public have no idea what the
vast majority of FTSE listed companies actually do anymore, and therefore it is
impossible for members of the public to take any direct " consumer action "
against them by withholding their trade. Take the toxic waste dumping in Africa
more recently, it is impossible to decipher which major company was actually
responsible, almost everyone in the chain escapes vicarious liability with the
investment in the " shell company " which probably goes bust to pay the fines
being insured by credit default swaps etc. The sting in the tail is that if it
was not for alleged environmental groups bleating about non existent toxic
pollution from waste incinerators with the latest technology we could have
created well paid sustainable jobs in the UK.
That neatly brings us onto the next eco scam, household / industrial waste incineration or lack of it as
far as the UK is concerned. Eco groups have bleated so loud over the last 20
years about toxic emission that most brain dead politicians ( at least where
engineering or science is concerned ) have done everything they can to appease
them. Many councils are now contracted to mega expensive " waste treatment
plants ", which probably cause anyone local far more noxious smell than any
incinerator could ever do. The most logical way to dispose of waste is to
incinerate and generate electricity, in rural areas where the potential smell is
well away from residential areas but also to allow the construction of
glasshouses in order to use any waste heat in order to grow the exotic fruit and
vegetables currently imported by environmentally damaging air freight. Of
course the UK is not allowed to do this because it hits the CMC in two areas,
the energy sector ( electricity from incineration could reduce market prices )
and the airlines which indirectly hits the oil section of the cartel.
Environmentalists have made a big noise about disposable carrier bags and other
alleged excess packaging but if they were burnt to generate electricity we could
reduce demand on other fuels. The UK has 300 years supply of good quality coal
in the ground yet the environmentalists say we should not use it because there
would appear to be doubts about the practicality of the most expensive option
for capture of CO2. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel plants can be significantly
reduced growing Chlorella, a fast growing Chinese pond slime which itself can be
used as fuel, yet no UK research as I believe Shell hold the rights and they
would prefer investment in gas ?
Despite all the environmentalist's rhetoric about standing up against big business it would appear that most of the
policy they promote is in actual fact increasing the influence of the CMC over
the UK economy, oil companies want an alleged low carbon economy in order to
force up the market price of gas. Similarly the alleged environmentalists
pushed for the introduction of traffic calming in towns which probably increases
road transport pollution emissions by at least 10% on a national basis. The
main question is how have the alleged environmentalists managed to get Carbon
Dioxide classed as a pollutant in the first instance, the man made global
warming theory is based on dubious science to say the least, but like most
science I expect that research is skewed to reflect the interest of the CMC.
Meanwhile its likely that implementing the Climate Change Act will result in the
mass asset stripping of UK manufacturing industry on a scale not seen since the
RFTE before 2000, it doesn't help that foreign aid money is allegedly being used
to buy up mothballed UK machine tools on the cheap for export via third world
countries.
Meanwhile UK citizen stakeholders are being sold short by the
politicians for the benefit of the " stock market parasites " and false economic
growth which continually increases the " financial apartheid " between rich and
poor. Within the next 10 years the energy industry will fall to the same fate
as Railtrack after the Hatfield crash in 2000, wind farms are a pointless waste
of scarce investment. Evidence from Denmark and Germany shows that they have
not closed a single fossil fuel plant, in fact Germany has had to open new
fossil fuel plants to prevent power cuts. ( probably not helped by the fact
that Germany also backs up Denmark ) The main thrust of the wind farm scam is
probably designed to inflate the world price of copper, its probable that you
need far more copper per unit of energy produced in wind farms rather than
fossil or nuclear power plants. Copper related mining shares appear to have
been the main driver of the current recovery in the FTSE index, I suspect that
all the hedge funds are in there borrowing up to the hilt to speculate in mining
shares and thus denying scarce investment to real productive UK companies.
The UK faces the real possibility of regular power cuts which could
precipitate total anarchy in our larger towns and cities, the situation is not
helped by the fact that if anyone dare open a new power station or gas storage
facility the alleged environmentalists are round there quick sharp with a fleet
of corporate lawyers demanding a public enquiry. It would appear that the
primary focus of mainstream alleged environmental groups has nothing to do with
protecting the overall ecology of our planet ( export pollution to China and
India ) and everything to do with inflating the cost of living in the UK, false
economic growth which can be expressed as an increasing number on stock market
indices. The UK can simply not afford to continue on the same false economic
growth policy of the politicians always opting for the most inefficient and
expensive option of achieving anything vital for the continued success and
relative prosperity ( and now that its been left to go on for so long perhaps
the survival ? ) of our nation and its citizens.
'Better education' by Richard Drax (Tory MP for South Dorset)
I was lucky enough to be in the Chamber yesterday when Education Secretary Michael Gove made his excellent statement on the education White Paper. At last, a government is targeting the areas which have for so long needed reform. Higher academic standards, discipline, giving heads more control, protecting teachers from malicious complaints, reviewing teacher training and encouraging more competitive sport. I listening with incredulity to the Andy Burnham, the Opposition spokesman, as he attacked our plans as elitist. He was aghast that children from poorer backgrounds would be made to study the more academic subjects like the three sciences, maths, history and foreign languages. But this attitude is exactly what has betrayed thousands of youngsters over the generations. Why can't children from less well off areas do as well academically as those from better off areas? If we are to give every child in this country a chance, we must raise the bar on education to meet world standards, not just our own rather warped ones. This revolution in the classroom is not before time and I welcome it warmly. Posted on 25 November 2010 by Richard Drax
I was lucky enough to be in the Chamber yesterday when Education Secretary Michael Gove made his excellent statement on the education White Paper. At last, a government is targeting the areas which have for so long needed reform. Higher academic standards, discipline, giving heads more control, protecting teachers from malicious complaints, reviewing teacher training and encouraging more competitive sport. I listening with incredulity to the Andy Burnham, the Opposition spokesman, as he attacked our plans as elitist. He was aghast that children from poorer backgrounds would be made to study the more academic subjects like the three sciences, maths, history and foreign languages. But this attitude is exactly what has betrayed thousands of youngsters over the generations. Why can't children from less well off areas do as well academically as those from better off areas? If we are to give every child in this country a chance, we must raise the bar on education to meet world standards, not just our own rather warped ones. This revolution in the classroom is not before time and I welcome it warmly. Posted on 25 November 2010 by Richard Drax
A Reply to Richard Drax by Jason Cridland
The first point that should be made relates to the lack of substance both in terms of process but more especially in terms of outcomes. I have absolutely no doubt that the British education system is and always has been designed by plutocrats for plutocrats. Meritocracy is an illusion that only the most insincere or analytically illiterate would contend was part of our reality. It requires a level playing field every time a child starts their education to enable hard work to be rewarded. If inequality exists in any way then it is flawed and irredeemable. Once a system built upon the values of inequality corresponds with educational provision that seeks to reinforce this inequality then the claim that it is elitist is inescapable. Mr Drax's arguements are Functionalist in that every one has their place and should accept it. He makes no reference to the social class divisions in our society or the sexism or the racism or the dispicable way that homosexuals have been treated by previous Conservative administrations. Apparently all the woes of the education system are to with Labour ignoring the needs of poorer students. To say this is dishonest is dependent upon whether the person who says it is purposefully denying what actually happened. I suspect Mr Drax's understanding of history is the victim of both his upbringing and his dogma. The cure for this is an open mind so it may take time.
Discipline is a fascinating phenomena. What does this mean? The return to corporal punishment aka legitimated state violence. A smack on the backside or a clip across the head. How? The cane or the hand? Why? Because public schoolboys experienced it as a norm and believe that hitting is a good thing if it is used to control. I guarrantee that those parents who support any such idea in the state sector would soon metamophosise their opinion when a stranger starts whacking their child. Mr Drax - children do not respect adults who beat them. They merely fear and loathe them. If this is your 'big society' - it is built on sand.
Giving school heads more control means that schools can be well and truly knackered and then the head walks away, usually into retirement or a consultancy. It is happening now all over the country so a mistaken belief that it is about to dramatically improve is misguided. Governing bodies rarely listen to parents and many are too ignorant or friendly with the head to understand how to hold them accountable. Throw in the lack of resources and the socio economic backgrounds of the pupils and the success or lack of it, within the school and by the head is usually determined long before they have even considered applying for the post.
Protecting teachers from malicious complaint and reviewing teacher training - well the devil will be in the detail no doubt. However, if teachers are given carte blanche to hit children I can understand the children feeling somewhat malicious. I did when my teachers satisfied their urges by randomly assaulting me. Teacher training that promotes yet more testing and competition - well it will attract a certain type of person and the caring and empathetic will rarely be amongst them.
That brings me on to the issue of increasing competitive sports. 'Learning to lose. It's what happens in the real world' is usually how it's sold. How inspiring! You think it's crap now but just wait until you get a job; a mortgage and a family - you haven't seen anything yet. Yep - I'm inspired. 10 people enter a race and 9 lose and that is a good thing. But hey get used to it! Aarrgh!
Finally - why can't children from less well off areas do as well as the better off areas? How long have you got Mr Drax? In studying social and political theory for the last 20 years I have found absolutely nothing in Conservative ideology or policy that has sought to make this a reality.
So Mr Drax explain with detail and evidence how your support for the Gove 'revolution' will actually bring it about. No more meaningless rhetoric. No more ignorant bliss. Try and picture us as educated and informed and stop believing that you can say anything just becuase you have a 7,000 majority. You make yourself look foolish.
The first point that should be made relates to the lack of substance both in terms of process but more especially in terms of outcomes. I have absolutely no doubt that the British education system is and always has been designed by plutocrats for plutocrats. Meritocracy is an illusion that only the most insincere or analytically illiterate would contend was part of our reality. It requires a level playing field every time a child starts their education to enable hard work to be rewarded. If inequality exists in any way then it is flawed and irredeemable. Once a system built upon the values of inequality corresponds with educational provision that seeks to reinforce this inequality then the claim that it is elitist is inescapable. Mr Drax's arguements are Functionalist in that every one has their place and should accept it. He makes no reference to the social class divisions in our society or the sexism or the racism or the dispicable way that homosexuals have been treated by previous Conservative administrations. Apparently all the woes of the education system are to with Labour ignoring the needs of poorer students. To say this is dishonest is dependent upon whether the person who says it is purposefully denying what actually happened. I suspect Mr Drax's understanding of history is the victim of both his upbringing and his dogma. The cure for this is an open mind so it may take time.
Discipline is a fascinating phenomena. What does this mean? The return to corporal punishment aka legitimated state violence. A smack on the backside or a clip across the head. How? The cane or the hand? Why? Because public schoolboys experienced it as a norm and believe that hitting is a good thing if it is used to control. I guarrantee that those parents who support any such idea in the state sector would soon metamophosise their opinion when a stranger starts whacking their child. Mr Drax - children do not respect adults who beat them. They merely fear and loathe them. If this is your 'big society' - it is built on sand.
Giving school heads more control means that schools can be well and truly knackered and then the head walks away, usually into retirement or a consultancy. It is happening now all over the country so a mistaken belief that it is about to dramatically improve is misguided. Governing bodies rarely listen to parents and many are too ignorant or friendly with the head to understand how to hold them accountable. Throw in the lack of resources and the socio economic backgrounds of the pupils and the success or lack of it, within the school and by the head is usually determined long before they have even considered applying for the post.
Protecting teachers from malicious complaint and reviewing teacher training - well the devil will be in the detail no doubt. However, if teachers are given carte blanche to hit children I can understand the children feeling somewhat malicious. I did when my teachers satisfied their urges by randomly assaulting me. Teacher training that promotes yet more testing and competition - well it will attract a certain type of person and the caring and empathetic will rarely be amongst them.
That brings me on to the issue of increasing competitive sports. 'Learning to lose. It's what happens in the real world' is usually how it's sold. How inspiring! You think it's crap now but just wait until you get a job; a mortgage and a family - you haven't seen anything yet. Yep - I'm inspired. 10 people enter a race and 9 lose and that is a good thing. But hey get used to it! Aarrgh!
Finally - why can't children from less well off areas do as well as the better off areas? How long have you got Mr Drax? In studying social and political theory for the last 20 years I have found absolutely nothing in Conservative ideology or policy that has sought to make this a reality.
So Mr Drax explain with detail and evidence how your support for the Gove 'revolution' will actually bring it about. No more meaningless rhetoric. No more ignorant bliss. Try and picture us as educated and informed and stop believing that you can say anything just becuase you have a 7,000 majority. You make yourself look foolish.
Richard Drax on Sexuality in Education
Richard Drax and many Tories are politicising the curriculum by seeking to alienate and disempower minority groups like only they know how. Their ignorance and prejudice feeds off ignorance and prejudice and thus both are reinforced by the other. The helix continues from one generation to the next. Throughout, young people, amongst others, are punished for the bigotry and anti intellectualism of their 'masters'. And why are they so obsessed with anti racist maths and pro gay science. Surely they realise the Enlightenment and the Renaissance has happened. Don't they?
'Tory MP says schools are imposing ‘questionable sexual standards’ on pupils' Click to Read.
Johann Hari: Why is it wrong to protect gay children?
Tolpuddle Festival 2010 by Jason Cridland
Sunday Review
It comes around like the weekend and seemingly almost as quick. A day spent in the company of people who are able to suspend the desire to spend their way to happiness on pointless materialistic pleasures. Stalls selling the symbols of radicalism are about as much we can hope for. At least purchasing defiance continues to be en vogue. Trade Unions and other pressure groups who can claim to have identified what a soul actually looks like are situated to the left and right. People who are not out to rip you off engage in conversations with their customers as though they are human – knowing that they will probably never see them again. T-shirts with satirical statements; childlike humour and the more than occasional Che hang from rails with bags made in Columbia with not even a hint of irony. Freebies of course are particularly attractive to the children and these ranged from clothing to key ring torches. The free drinks, on this glorious day though, were the biggest delight.
The march of the Unions through the village reflected the political anxieties of the times. It was at least twice the length of any in the last 10 years (when I started attending). Colliery bands; socialists and communists; people who fear for their jobs and their futures who probably voted New Labour or Lib Dem; students; pensioners… An ensemble of those who want the kind of change that the Establishment is not offering walked that mile from the top to the bottom and back again.
Then there was the numerous rabble rousing speeches including Ben Bradshaw and Bob Crow. None though could hold a candle to the annual star of the show – Tony Benn. Nobody does poignancy like Tony Benn. He is able to sum up a generation; a decade; a year and a moment in a few sentences and it all makes sense. It made me briefly reflect on the current incumbents of Parliament and lament ‘what a waste’. Who is there to follow in his footsteps? I will not be the first or last to ask this question.
Finally, the music. I only got the chance to see ‘The Bad Shepherds’ with Adrian Edmondson on vocals and electric banjo. Punk songs with an essence of folk. Marvellous!! From ‘Anarchy in the U.K’ to ‘Once in a Lifetime’ the crowd danced.
And then Billy Bragg. This year he was playing a solo stint with my highlight, a new song ‘Last Flight to Abu Dhabi’ – a dig at the greedy bankers who having screwed the country are jetting off with their ill gotten gains. He got some stick for his tactical voting agenda which having gone pear shaped with the election of New Labour went turnip shaped with this coalition. He overcame the jibes with good humour. Appropriate really as it summed up the people, weather, in fact the whole day.
It comes around like the weekend and seemingly almost as quick. A day spent in the company of people who are able to suspend the desire to spend their way to happiness on pointless materialistic pleasures. Stalls selling the symbols of radicalism are about as much we can hope for. At least purchasing defiance continues to be en vogue. Trade Unions and other pressure groups who can claim to have identified what a soul actually looks like are situated to the left and right. People who are not out to rip you off engage in conversations with their customers as though they are human – knowing that they will probably never see them again. T-shirts with satirical statements; childlike humour and the more than occasional Che hang from rails with bags made in Columbia with not even a hint of irony. Freebies of course are particularly attractive to the children and these ranged from clothing to key ring torches. The free drinks, on this glorious day though, were the biggest delight.
The march of the Unions through the village reflected the political anxieties of the times. It was at least twice the length of any in the last 10 years (when I started attending). Colliery bands; socialists and communists; people who fear for their jobs and their futures who probably voted New Labour or Lib Dem; students; pensioners… An ensemble of those who want the kind of change that the Establishment is not offering walked that mile from the top to the bottom and back again.
Then there was the numerous rabble rousing speeches including Ben Bradshaw and Bob Crow. None though could hold a candle to the annual star of the show – Tony Benn. Nobody does poignancy like Tony Benn. He is able to sum up a generation; a decade; a year and a moment in a few sentences and it all makes sense. It made me briefly reflect on the current incumbents of Parliament and lament ‘what a waste’. Who is there to follow in his footsteps? I will not be the first or last to ask this question.
Finally, the music. I only got the chance to see ‘The Bad Shepherds’ with Adrian Edmondson on vocals and electric banjo. Punk songs with an essence of folk. Marvellous!! From ‘Anarchy in the U.K’ to ‘Once in a Lifetime’ the crowd danced.
And then Billy Bragg. This year he was playing a solo stint with my highlight, a new song ‘Last Flight to Abu Dhabi’ – a dig at the greedy bankers who having screwed the country are jetting off with their ill gotten gains. He got some stick for his tactical voting agenda which having gone pear shaped with the election of New Labour went turnip shaped with this coalition. He overcame the jibes with good humour. Appropriate really as it summed up the people, weather, in fact the whole day.