The left behaving badly

When the news broke about the alleged misconduct of a number of Tory MP's and Ministers the Corbynite left was wringing it's hands with glee until.....some accusations were laid at their doorstep.

Anyone would be forgiven for thinking sex scandals were the sole province of the right given that the left are supposedly the champions of women's rights, trouble is that couldn't be further from the truth. When I first started blogging some five years ago the big story on the left was about "comrade delta" a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party being accused of rape. The SWP split asunder under the weight of an attempted cover up by the SWP leadership, yet the latest issue of their rag Socialist Worker dares to lecture on how to stop sexual harassment.

We now know there was rampant abuse of SWP members over the years bt leading figures now deceased and there was an unhealthy culture inside their organisation. It wasn't the first time the British Trotskyist movement had seen such a scandal. The leader of the Workers Revolutionary Party, Gerry Healy was expelled for "abusing" the youth of the party.

The fact that sexual abuse takes place across the political spectrum should come as no surprise, but the left far more than the right is prone to conspiritorial theories about such matters.

The pro-Corbyn blog Sqwawkbox has published the denials from Kelvin Hopkins and Clive Lewis. Both men have allegations against them that remain unproven. That is both a fact and a basic tenet of justice in this country that someone is innocent until proven guilty. What is disturbing though are the comments these satements have attracted:

Posting under the name of Guanacaste Kid, one Corbynite:

This is another attack. Probably by the “Establishment”, maybe by the Blairite Faction and distantly possibly the work of Mossad (given the Israeli aim to stop JC at all costs).

Casual anti-Semitism at it's worst.

What was really disturbing though was the following comment from Allan Howard about Bex Bailey coming forward with her rape experience:

And the Bex Bailey story sounds totally implausible as well. Where did this “rape” supposedly take place? Did the person in question drag her into the bathroom or somewhere by the hair in front of everyone.

And if it really DID happen, which I doubt very much, then as a consequence of her NOT reporting it to the police (and only bringing it to the attention of LP officials two years later anyway), this purported rapist could well have raped again. And again and again. But THAT obviously didn’t for one moment cross her mind. And I do not believe for one millisecond that any LP official that, on being told by someone that they had been raped, would tell her to keep quiet about it. It totally beggars belief

If the Establishment can hijack the Labour Party, as they did with Blair & Co, you can be 150% sure that they can smash windows when it serves their purpose, and put big signs up saying Tories should be hanged with two dummies hanging underneath etc, etc, then they are of course capable of anything. Like justifying the military invasion of a soverign country and hundreds of thousands of people being killed – murdered in actual fact – and hundreds of thousands more being maimed and crippled, and all the pain and devastation caused to those who lost loved ones, etc, etc, and all based on a Big Nazi-type Lie.

See THEM for what they are!

No one has been named yet (to my knowledge) but because the author of this comment doesn't like Ms Bailey's politics he denigrates her just because she thinks differently. 

Even Emily Thornberry (and I'm no fan of hers) has come out stating she is disgusted with her party. None of the parties are unaffected. The Liberal Dems had their own scandals before the last election including the disgusting revelations about Cyril Smith.

There can be no cover-ups and that includes any misbehaviour on the so-called left. The Corbynistas have much to learn about basic humanity. There is no sign of this new kinder politics but then it was a myth from the start.

Dave Rich exposes the politics of Moshe Machover

The reinstatement of Moshe Machover to Labour Party membership (oddly referred to as "auto-exclusion" rather than suspension) has been lauded by not just the Labour Party Marxists, it self a front for the Communist Party of Great Britain (Weekly Worker) but also appallingly by Corbyn's office.



Machover along with his co-thinkers are responsible for the growth of left wing anti-Semitism which the Labour party supposedly condemned in a major resolution at their recent conference. A policy that is becoming a sham as Corbyn himself refused to attend a dinner to celebrate the Balfour declaration.

Corbyn also declined an invitation from the Labour Party's sister organisation in Israel to visit the Holocaust Museum. His genocidal Islamist friends in Hamas and Hezbollah would obviously not approve.



Dave Rich author of The Left's Jewish Problem posted this excellent briefing on the politics of Machover on Facebook. I have shared this here to help give it a wider audience:

Moshe Machover is not some random Israeli anti-Zionist: he was one of the leaders of the Israeli Socialist Organisation, better known as Matzpen, and as such played an important role in the formation of left wing anti-Zionism in Britain from the late 1960s. Here is an extract from my PhD thesis that deals briefly with the history of Matzpen and its influence on the British left (the random numbers in the text are for the references which will be in the comments):

Matzpen was formed in 1962 by a handful of Israeli Communist Party members. It was one of several Marxist parties and movements that emerged to the left of the national Communist Parties in various countries in the late 1950s and 1960s. Matzpen was influenced by Trotskyism but its members were not all Trotskyists, although one part of Matzpen did join the Fourth International after the organisation split in 1970.211 Akiva Orr, a leading figure in Matzpen, later explained that it only had two non-negotiable principles: anti-capitalism and anti-Zionism. Within those “boundaries”, members could follow whatever politics they chose.212 Initially Matzpen’s political programme focused on Israeli society, but under the influence of an Arab Israeli Trotskyist called Jabra Nicola they developed a New Left critique “that redefined the clash between Jewish settlers and indigenous Palestinians as colonial in nature and called for Israel to be “de-Zionized””. Nicola’s other contribution to Matzpen was the idea that the Palestine issue was part of a regional problem that can only be solved by “The Arab Revolution”.213

This analysis made its first appearance in a set of internal Matzpen theses in August 1966214 before being made public in a statement to an Arab student meeting in Paris the following May, three weeks before the Six Day War began. Israel, according to this statement, was “the outcome of the colonization of Palestine by the Zionist movement, at the expense of the Arab people and under the auspices of imperialism.” It remains “a grave obstacle for the struggle of these [Arab] masses against imperialism and for a socialist Arab unity.” The “de-Zionization” of Israel would entail an end to the Law of Return, full right of return for Palestinian refugees and a fundamental change in Israeli foreign policy. However, Matzpen argued, there is a “unique complication” in this case of colonization: because the Zionist settlers had sought to replace the indigenous population rather than to rule it, they had formed “a Hebrew nation with its own national characteristics”, complete with its own “capitalist class structure”. Consequently “a true solution of the Palestine problem necessitates the recognition of the right of the Hebrew nation to self-determination”, as a unit of a proposed Middle Eastern socialist federation that would serve the interests “of both Arab and Israeli masses”.215 The ideas set out in Matzpen’s May 1967 statement remain the core of its programme to this day.

Although small, Matzpen attracted hostile treatment from the Israeli authorities and media and several of its activists left Israel during the 1960s. In London they found a receptive audience for their views. A survey of Matzpen’s activities shows it to have been ubiquitous in the new Palestine solidarity movement that had formed in Britain. Free Palestine began publishing material from Matzpen – initially without its knowledge – in October 1968, and continued to do so thereafter.216 Black Dwarf first published material from Matzpen in 1969217 and did so frequently from that point on, as did the IMG publications Red Mole and Red Weekly.218 Activists from Matzpen, sometimes using the name Israeli Revolutionary Action Committee Abroad (ISRACA), often spoke at pro-Palestine meetings and demonstrations.219 An essay by Orr, Moshe Machover and Haim Hanegbi, called “The Class Nature of Israeli Society”, was published in New Left Review220 and then republished as a booklet by the IS’s publishing arm, Pluto Press. This was in turn advertised for sale in the IS’s Socialist Worker, the IMG’s Red Weekly and Free Palestine.221 Orr appeared in the Right of Return Open Door TV programme222 and his home “became a centre for radical political discussion and a meeting point for dissenters.”223

Matzpen is also described as an important influence by many pro-Palestinian activists of the time. Karmi describes herself as one of Orr’s “acolytes” and says that she cherished the political education she received from him in “ways of thinking...an analytical method” in interpreting events.224 Tariq Ali, then editor of Black Dwarf, regarded Matzpen as his “educators” on the subject of Israel and “automatically published” anything they gave him.225 Matzpen’s analysis of Zionism and its proposed solution of a regional Arab-Jewish socialist federation were well received by the IMG in particular.226 Matzpen developed a relationship with the DFLP, which it considered to be the Palestinian resistance movement closest to its position. Khalil Hindi, Matzpen’s DFLP contact in London, regarded Matzpen as “one of the great influences on the thinking of the Palestinian Left.”227 When a collection of Matzpen’s essays and documents was published in English in 1972, a review in the Journal of Palestine Studies described it as “one of the most important pieces of anti-Zionist literature for a western audience to have to read.”228 Free Palestine credited Matzpen (amongst others) when noting that “the harshest indictment of Zionism as a racist colonialist movement has come from the socialist Marxist Jews.”229
…
as a rough generalisation, one contribution of Marxist Jewish anti-Zionists to New Left anti-Zionism was to ideologise its discourse; this was, naturally, from a Marxist or Trotskyist position; and it had the greatest influence, unsurprisingly, on their fellow Marxists.

Goodbye Penny For The Guy, Hello Halloween

When I was a child this time of year was for making a guy for the bonfire and peddling it through the streets trying to get a "penny" for your efforts. Pennies went a lot further in those days than they do now. Of course that's gone the way of the Dodo. Nowadays whilst we still have fireworks night, kids are more interested in the American phenomenon Halloween.

And an international event Halloween has become indeed. Here's a wonderful music video from Japan. Spot the pop star......

Comedy Interlude: At the art gallery

Time for a quick break from politics with two of the greatest comics of all time.

Peter Cook & Dudley Moore. Enjoy.

Radical Librarian Censorship Collective

The attack on university freedom of debate & discussion continues unabated as one US institution hires "Safe Space Monitors" (or Thought Police in plain English) to ensure no students are exposed to any speech, book or object that may offend.

Meanwhile in the UK The Sunday Times (no link £) reports that:

Universities are considering the insertion of warnings into books and even taking some off the shelves altogether to protect students from "dangerous" and "wrong" arguments.

Just who is define "dangerous" and/or "wrong" exactly. Currently some books under threat include The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail which provided the basis for the fictional Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Books by Nigel Lawson and feminist Andrea Dworkin are also in the wrong ideas category.  No fan of the latter two but banning their writings?

Of course there are books that disturb and lie. David Irving is mentioned. Complete nazi shite but any intelligent student should be able to be exposed to his nonsense and realise the man is a fraud. No mention of banning Mein Kampf or the Koran both of which promote very dangerous and deadly ideas, the latter calling for death to apostates, homosexuals and seeks the subjugation of women under men. Oh and justifies slavery amongst other things.

For the record I don't think either of these tomes should be banned. Ideas just go underground and fester in an environment whereby they gain traction through martyrdom.

There is a group behind this censorship who laughingly call themselves the Radical Librarian Collective a self appointed group of censorious morons who don't believe libraries are neutral but:

....maintains the status quo of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.

Even putting aside the fact Karl Marx spent much of his life in the British Library writing Capital and his other revolutionary texts such a proposition is nonsense. Libraries go to great lengths to be inclusive of ethnic minority literature these days as the demographic of the nation has changed. Of course public spending cuts have damaged library provision but the one's I know do their damned best to serve their local communities.

And anyway besides who went went and made these jerks our guardian angels? This was the basis for a "radical chat" in April:

1. What kind of diversity initiatives do you have at your library? Are they effective? How can you tell?
2. In what ways do you see whiteness at work in your library?
3. Do you perform whiteness at work? Do you expect others to? How?
4. What can we do to dismantle whiteness in our profession?
4.5. What role can white people play in helping to dismantle whiteness?
5. How can we mentor/help others to navigate the whiteness in our profession?

Sounds a bit racist to me....

All I see is yet another offensive by intolerant activists to tell us what we can and cannot read.

Say No to Censorship. 

Momentums Misogynist MP

Photo: By Chris McAndrew

One of Jeremy Corbyn's acolytes has got himself into the spotlight with some rather unsavoury on-line posts and comments from his younger days. Involving homophobia and a desire for an orgy with some girl band has put him and the Labour Party into some disrepute we are told. Now he was rather younger when these comments were made and he has admitted to going on a "bit of a journey" over the years.

Trouble is more is coming to light.

A more recent accusation has been made about his behaviour outside a night club which is currently under investigation but more worryingly Guido Fawkes reports:

Writing about a football match against Spain, O’Mara wrote: “Let’s beat the Dagos”. Then, speaking to a Danish user, he wrote: “I might be a ‘ginge’ but at least I don’t practice bestiality like all you Danes! Up yours with Brass nobs on, pig shagger!”.

Rather charming fellow it seems.

Trouble is his propensity for bigotry has not gone away. It seems he has journeyed to join in the far-left's obsession with the world's only Jewish state:

Labour Against Anti-Semitism issued the following statement:

While it is bewildering that Jared O’Mara was even allowed to become a prospective parliamentary candidate by the Labour Party, it is unsurprising that along with his misogynist and homophobic views Mr O’Mara is also a ‘far-left Israel obsessive’.

So far, 50% of O’Mara’s parliamentary questions have been on topics relating to Israel and Palestine. We wish Mr O’Mara had spent more time in the House representing the issues of his constituents, rather than obsessing over Israel.

The Jewish Chronicle also discovered a photo of Mr O’Mara posing with representatives from the Palestinian Return Centre who, according to the Jewish Chronicle, ‘said they had briefed the MP “about the plight of the Palestinian people”.

While Mr O’Mara has apologised and resigned from the women and equalities committee, his views and actions are still deeply concerning. Labour Against Antisemitism are very concerned about the vetting process Mr O’Mara went through before selection. Whether his views were unknown beforehand, or they were known but were ignored, the appropriate action has not been taken.

There has to be absolute zero tolerance from the Labour Party. In this case, whatever measures were in place have failed. We, as a party, must do far better in future.

Censorship: A Word!

The growth of what has been referred to as the "snowflake" brigade in both American & British Universities over the last few years has caused much derision and frankly laughter as these foolish people close their ears and minds to ideas which differ from their own. Trouble is they are quite capable within the student movement of stopping others who might wish to listen and learn the wide variety of views that exist on a multiplicity of subjects.

The censorship movement has arrived and they call it "no platforming".

As someone who was a student activist way back in the seventies I remember all to well the original "No Platform" movement. It was specifically aimed at the rise of the National Front (and similar organisations) as their electoral support grew to over 100,000 votes in London alone if I recall correctly. They also had their thugs on the streets. Preventing the rise of theis outright Nazi organisation was a priority for many of us.

Black & white we fought together to keep the fascists off the streets.

That was then.

Now the new student movement sees fascism and oppression in every corner. They ban the like of Germaine Greer for daring to have the view that Transgender women are not biologically women even though she supports their rights not to be discriminated against. Maryam Namazie an Iranian exile and ex-Muslim is attacked for "Islamophobia" because she dares to criticise the backwards theology Islam represents, let alone the fact she is an atheist.

These are points of view and frankly both women are from the left. Ms Namazie is actually a member of one of the Iranian Communist Parties. Hardly the sort of people you'd think would be a threat to students. Yet both have hate campaigns run against them by Trans activists and Islamists in conjunction with the new student left.

These censorious students have created so-called "safe spaces" where ideas other than their sanctioned ones are banned.

Last week The Times reported that:

Jo Johnson the universities minister, said that any (university) that failed to protect freedom of speech could be fined, suspended or deregistered  by the new Office for Students (OfS). 

Free speech is under attack. And the supposed "left" is either responsible or complicit in these attacks on our basic rights.

Everything and anything that dares to go against the new hegemony is some kind of phobia. Islamophobia is now being replaced as the main complaint be "Transphobia". Criticism dare not raise it's head. Womens' organizations have belatedly learned that their gender is being pushed aside aside as even the term "pregnant women" is now under threat. britain seeks to replace the term with "pregnant people".

Reason is being cast aside in a general dumbing down of intellectual intercourse in favour of knowledge and truth being imposed by the activist clique. Can't even call it "Big Brother" for fear of being guilty of some kind of "ism".

But after all as some right on middle class activist told me on a supposedly moderate Labour forum I'm just a white hetrosexual male. So no right to an opinion on anything.

Therein lies the problem.

Unless you agree with the current line of thought you are the oppressor.........

One word: Bollocks.

A World of Nightmares

Having taken a week to recover from reaching the age of 60 I decided to take a break from political blogging but also needed time to think. There's so much wrong with the political scene at the moment. Corbyn & Momentum are in the process of taking over the Labour Party and even Tom Watson the Deputy leader seems to have capitulated to the new order. The party machine is their current target.

Meanwhile the rise of anti-Semitism continues unabated inside the Labour Party. Over 4,000 individuals have been reported for racism. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are more anti-Semites in Labour than there are on the far right. A frightening thought.

Meanwhile the Kurds are in trouble from Arab,Turkish & Iranian imperialism. The independence referendum has not achieved what this brave people had hoped for.

In Pakistan Blasphemy laws continue to kill innocents from every quarter as three Ahmadi Muslims are sentenced to death for tearing down posters calling for death to..... You get the idea. These were "religious" posters. Pakistan has been given a seat on the Human Rights Council along with the equally oppressive Saudi's.

While Mugabe becomes a World Health Organisation "goodwill ambassador".....

(Stop laughing at the back.)

The world of politics is a nightmare.

Time to fight back. Our time will come.  Keeping quiet is not an option.

Hatemongers at the heart of Labour

The Labour Party recently passed a resolution condemning anti-Semitism. Much was made of the overwhelming support it got from all sections of the party, though there was opposition and Len McCluskey remained in denial having "never seen it" and immediately affiliating to the so-called "Jewish Vioce for Labour" group which included a Holocaust Deniers amongst it's speakers at a conference fringe meeting.

Nothing to see there then Len....

The amount of outright anti-Semitism (or racism as it should really be called)  that appears on line is frightening and it's not just from Islamist Hate Preachers or Neo- Nazi's. It's on Labour Party forums. One called The Labour Party Forum is one of the largest Corbyn supporting networks which along with the similarly named Labour Party Forum have had posts removed by Facebook administrators after protests and complaints by both Jews and other Labour Party members.

Both groups were found to be hosting material that "breached Facebooks Community Standards". Such action has been a long time coming and these forums along with their administrators should be investigated and held accountable to the Labour Party. It won't because Labour has been hijacked by the far-left along with the wild eyed newbies who see Corbyn as a "messiah".

The far left has shown how easily anti-Zionism turns into anti-Semitism and why both should be treated with contempt.

Meanwhile not all is well within the far-left camp. The admins of the Nye Bevan Facebook Page have resigned issuing the following statement which makes interesting reading.

This is the single most disappointing thing I have ever had to write for this page or this movement. For now at least, it will also be the last. Ive never turned a blind eye to bullies, and I refuse to start now simply because the perpetrators claim to be "on the Left."

When the purge happened last summer, we helped the membership of the Labour party deal with the problem, by drafting and disseminating a data protection request email with the Labour legal team's email address, as well as Iain McNichol's. As a data holder, the Labour Party compliance unit was legally obliged to deal with these requests before carrying out an internal purge of its members. We also helped counteract the £25 poll tax by setting up a hardship fund to help comrades pay their food/phone/electric/heating bills.

In recent times it has been made abundantly clear to us that we are no longer welcome "on the Left" it would seem - this notion is being pushed in all of your names according to a certain faction on the left who seem to think that Jaqueline Walker and her coterie of acolytes should be allowed to bully and dog pile anyone guilty of wrongthink online, as well as her ally, 'we support jeremy corbyn' group admin James Craigie, who made a man convicted of sexually assaulting a woman an admin on the largest pro Corbyn facebook forum online and has yet to acknowledge what an horrendous mistake that was.

Together these admins and their friends are banning our posts from groups whilst allowing David Icke content in as punishment for our "treachery". We ve been accused of working for Mossad (no jokes), despite the fact we were one of the first to defend the wider membership from the weaponised and unjustified accusations of antisemitism they were facing.

As our page founder and former editor I felt duty bound to call these behaviour patterns out, and ever since have received daily harassment and abuse from this very toxic faction who claim to represent the whole left. Unsolicited threatening correspondence at 2:30 in the morning, threats to make false statements to the police on the basis of edited screenshots, veiled threats to my person and more.

So it is with great sadness that as of tomorrow we, the entire original team, will be stepping down from leading the editorial content on this page in protest against these people, to highlight how dangerous, damaging and toxic they are. We ve worked very hard for this movement for two years and frankly, we.dont deserve this treatment, nor will we tolerate it or turn a blind eye.

We refuse to be associated with these people and their choices and we reject their claim to speak for us as left wingers - people who as far as we can see did absolutely nothing to stop the purge, and seem interested only in shameless self promotion, bullying of dissenting Labour Party members and lying, smearing and blocking their way across the internet. These people are a cancer to Labour's electoral chances.

To replace us we've invited lots of editors from across the spectrum of the Left who will from now on use this page to promote their own content - but it's no longer tenable for us to keep going under present circumstances. One of our founders and editors suffered a nervous breakdown after the unsolicited attention they received whilst working on this project. It's a price that is far too high, it is a price forced on us by the James Craigies and Jaqueline Walkers of this movement.

The hate at the centre of Labour is growing. Even the traditional Labour left are getting attacked. Corbyn and his supporters have changed the party beyond recognition. The only task will be to keep him and cronies out of power until Labour is restored as a democratic socialist party or, though just as unlikely for the moment is a new political party. The conditions for neither currently exist, but those interested in social democracy must remain prepared to grasp the moment when it comes.

Court of Appeal finds that Gender Segregation can amount to unlawful Sex Discrimination

Press release from: Southall Black Sisters

In a landmark judgment handed down today, the Court of Appeal found that ‘separate but equal’ treatment on the basis of gender at a school can amount to unlawful sex discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 (EqA).

The Court (Etherton MR and Beatson and Gloster LJJ) had been asked to consider gender segregation at the Al-Hijrah school, a voluntary aided Muslim co-ed school in which boys and girls are completely segregated from the age of 9.

The Court found that the school’s policy of strict segregation was discriminatory since it had an adverse impact on the quality and effectiveness of the education given by the school to both the girls and boy pupils respectively, and could not be justified under one of the exceptions set out in the Equality Act.

Moreover, Gloster LJ went further and accepted the submissions of SBS and Inspire that the effect of gender segregation, in the specific context of this Muslim school, was not gender neutral but informed by particular precepts and practices of certain Muslim communities.

Drawing extensively upon the ‘Casey Review’, which was referenced in SBS and Inspire’s submissions, Gloster LJ concluded that the school’s policy was particularly detrimental for girls in that it reinforced the different spaces – private and public – that men and women must occupy, and their respective stereotyped roles which accord them differential and unequal status.

This is an important judgment with far reaching consequences for the rights of minority women and girls to equality and the freedom to participate in public life as citizens.

Pragna Patel of SBS said: “We very much welcome the judgment and its recognition that gender segregation can be unlawful and discriminatory, especially in contexts where the practice is tied to the rise of religious fundamentalist and conservative norms. For over three decades, we have seen how regressive religious forces have targeted schools and universities as a means by which to control and police female sexuality in minority communities. The imposition of gender segregation, dress codes and sharia laws are just some means by which gender inequality is legitimised and promoted despite the serious and harmful consequences. This judgment is a vital step forward in our effort to persuade the courts and state bodies to take account of the reality of the misogyny and gender stereotyping that is promoted in our schools and universities in the name of religious and cultural freedom. We are delighted that the court has seen through this and upheld the equality principle.

Sara Khan of Inspire said: “I am pleased the Court of Appeal has recognised that in the context of co-ed schools which apply gender segregation throughout the school day, separate is not equal. Inspire have long argued that the practice of gender segregation is discriminatory and is a violation of the Equality Act. Over the years, religious fundamentalists in our country have aggressively sought to normalise the practice of gender segregation in our schools and institutions; and unfortunately we have witnessed a growing accommodation to it in particular by local authorities. This landmark ruling can now act as a bulwark against this. The Court of Appeal’s judgment makes clear that the policy of gender segregation as practiced by Al-Hijrah and other co-ed schools across our country is unlawful and has no place in our multicultural and multi-faith society. I hope this serves as a reminder that equality and the rights of women and girls especially from minority communities must not be sacrificed in the name of culture or religion.”

Comedy Interlude: Tim Allen - Precious Snowflake

This show was allegedly cancelled as a result of these anti-snowflake skits. Who knows. It's funny and the line "Good evening ladies and gentlemen and all those sitting on the fence" will remain with me always.

Enjoy.

JVL Don't Represent Jewish Labour Members: Unite and Other Unions Must Not Legitimise Them

Statement from Labour Against Anti-Semitism

Jewish Voice for Labour launched at the 2017 Labour Conference claiming to be an alternative voice in the Labour movement for Jewish socialists. They received media coverage and Len McCluskey, the General Secretary of Unite, attended their launch event. They are now presenting themselves as a rival to other more established and more representative bodies of Jewish Labour membership.

However, the unfortunate reality is that they are led by suspended and expelled Labour members who have defined themselves as antisemitic over many years. Figures like Jackie Walker, Tony Greenstein and Mike Cushman have attempted to cloak their antisemitism as anti-Zionism, but they are betrayed by their actions, their activities and their words.

Over the years they have endorsed racist policies such as BDS and now refuse to accept the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which Jeremy Corbyn himself adopted in full on behalf of the Labour Party in December 2016. While they do contain Jewish members, these represent a fringe minority of Jewish opinion and it is inaccurate to portray them as representative or reflective of the majority of Labour’s Jewish membership. Their views are certainly not representative.

Antisemitism is a clear and present threat to the Labour Party's moral, ethical and political integrity. An organisation that prides itself on its antiracist history must hold itself to a higher standard than it is currently doing. The mistakes of the past - the Chakrabarti Report, the failure to expel Ken Livingstone, etc - must be learned from and their lessons built upon.

The acceptance of the Jewish Labour Movement rule change by 96% of delegates at Labour Conference 2017 was a vital step in challenging Labour antisemitism and emphasises the desire of the Labour Party membership to act on racism in our movement. To take this necessary action further, more work at both a local and national level is required for progress is to be made. Groups like Jewish Voice for Labour, that seek to overturn the national decision-making body and ignore the majority view of Jewish and non-Jewish members, are obstacles to that progress.

It is therefore unacceptable that Jewish Voice for Labour be given any kind of endorsement from a significant part of our movement such as Unite, for to do so would be to legitimise racial hatred and bigotry within the Labour movement. We urge Unite and any other any union considering funding or supporting this organisation in any way to seriously reconsider doing so.

Anne Marie Waters splits from UKIP

Following the recent internal leadership election the runner up Anne Marie Waters has announced the foundation of a new political party. In a You Tube message to her supporter she attacks new party leader Henry Bolton and Nigel Farage for running to the media falsely accusing her of being a "racist" and a Nazi".

Breibart News continues:

She also hit out at new UKIP leader Henry Bolton, remarking his desire to sit down and discuss Islamism with the Muslim community is “capitulation”.

Calling for excitement and honesty in British politics, Waters said: “I will keep fighting so that British children can feel proud of themselves again… so that the working class can have a voice again. You can be certain of one thing — I am not going away, and I will still be fighting Islam and the enormous threat it poses.

Photo: CC by SA

Anne Marie Waters originated out of the secular movement and was once involved in not just the One Law for All campaign but sought adoption as a Labour candidate until driven out by the left who accused her of Islamophobia.

(see Anne Marie Waters resigns from Labour).

The new party will attempt to compete with both UKIP and Labour.

No sex please we're British?

Photo: By Janice Y Ahn

The drive for gender neutrality seems to be creeping into every aspect of our lives at the moment. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has proposed that the question of sex (that's male or female not frequency) will become a voluntary question when the next Census is run in 2021.

Given the whole idea of a census is to find out about the country in order to develop social policy this idea seems mad in itself. Feminists like Germaine Greer fear it is an attack on the notion of a biological female sex and she has a point. 

Men may change their bodies but biologically they are not women and many women, rightly or wrongly see the Trans-movement as an invasion of their space. Identity politics seems to have caught hold of so many of our policy makers.

That people should be free to choose how they live is a notion the majority of people would concur with. However there remains the question of how far society should go to accommodate the needs of any minority let alone the ever growing varieties of gender identification and rejection.

Biologically there remain two sexes. The majority of people will fit in such definitions. Gender is a separate question I keep being told and am open to argument but sometimes such movements go too far. Removing the question of "Sex" as a compulsory question will distort statistics at a time when they are needed. 

Germany has seen an influx of immigration that is very much male dominated to the point where it is likely to cause problems for the future regardless of any cultural or religious differences. There are to put it bluntly now too many men in Germany.

It's not clear where the driving force is for this so-called "diversity" agenda is coming from. It's certainly not from the ordinary voter.

Meanwhile one of the transgender charities has been banned by the High Court from any contact with a family where the mother had forced her seven year old son to live as a girl, The Sunday Times reported:

Mr Justice Hayden removed the seven year old boy from his mother after finding she had caused him "significant emotional harm" and had pressed him into a gender identification that had far more to do with his mother's needs and little if anything, to do with his own.

The boy is now living with his father and has apparently quite happily "asserted" his masculinity.

The transgender group Mermaids had "insisted" that the boy had wanted to be a girl. Obviously not.

How many other children are being abused in this way? Because abuse it is. 

The time has come to sit back and look at the effect  that these activists are having on not just children but the vulnerable.  

Call on Unite union leader to apologise for dismissing antisemitism in Labour Party

 

Unite trade union leader Len McCluskey appeared to dismiss cases of anti-semitism in the Labour Party last week when he gave an interview saying he had “never been at a meeting where there was any antisemitic language or any attacks on the Jewish nation; they would have had short shrift at any meeting that I was at,” and when asked why people would make these allegations, he said: “Because they wanted to bring Corbyn down, it’s as simple as that.”

Please take part in our email campaign to him asking him to issue a public apology and recognise that victims’ complaints need to be investigated not dismissed:

www.webelieveinisrael.org.uk/campaign/

'Islam Ensnares Every Moment' by Yasmine Mohammed

This moving short film exposes the struggle faced by those seeking to find a way to freedom in the Islamic world.

A letter from the Jewish Labour Movement

I did not stand to be Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement to deal with instances of antisemitism in the Labour Party week in, week out. I stood for Chair to revive an almost century old affiliate of Labour, with all the rights and responsibilities that come with that. I took on this role to build a space for the fantastic cadre of young Jewish Labour activists who see the Party as their only political home. Just a few weeks into my three year term, a spate of antisemitic remarks from local CLP officers around the country was followed by events at Oxford University, and finally Ken Livingstone came out of retirement to ensure that antisemitism would continue to dominate the agenda. You know the story that comes after this, it's been well documented across eighteen months of national media coverage that has caused great harm to our Party.

It was at that time that we concluded that the Labour Party's Rule Book was not fit for purpose. Actions against the Party and its election candidates were treated more harshly than hate against each other. All this in the Party of equality and social justice. This week, with your support, JLM changed that. It took a long time, steering rule changes through dozens of local CLPs, the NEC Equalities Sub-Committee, unanimously at Labour's NEC, and eventually passing it with 96% at Party Conference, the supreme decision making body within the Labour Party. I am proud of that achievement.

A lot has been written about Labour Party Conference this week. It is clear that Labour still has a serious problem with antisemitism. From calls at fringe meetings for JLM's expulsion from the Labour Party, to antisemitic tropes being repeated on Conference floor, to the most senior of Labour figures denying antisemitism again and again (yes Ken, Ken and Len, we are talking about you), JLM still has a lot of work to do in ridding the Labour Party of one of the world's oldest hatreds. We will not stop until that work is done.

I'd like to share the other side of Labour Party Conference. The Jewish Labour Movement receiving the Del Singh Award in recognition of our tireless campaigning over the past year, be that against antisemitism in the Labour Party, or for fantastic Labour candidates across the country. The delegates from all sections of the Party who stayed up late into the night writing speeches in favour of our rule change, two of which can be read here. Our two fringes, packed out with people who care about the things we care about, including those who came to hear Lord Dubs speak about the refugee crisis. The women of the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Programme who attended our training session in solidarity after hearing Ella Rose's story of the abuse she has faced within the Party. Welcoming a phenomenal young, female Israel MK at Labour Friends of Israel's Annual Reception. Stav Shaffir is seen as a role model to many of our younger members. And possibly most importantly, the Labour Students who helped JLM's young activist team flyer from 8am to ensure that our rule change passed. They are the future of our Party, and it's in safe hands.

JLM will be taking firm action against the antisemitism we saw this week. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, the rule change has to be firmly implemented and we will be monitoring this closely.

My call to you is this: Stay with us, stand with us, and help us to do what needs to be done. If you are not a member of JLM, join. We are only as strong as our membership base. If you are a member, consider donating, or asking a friend or family member to join. We have been heartened by the nearly 100 new members who have joined this week. Thank you.

JLM's door is always open, and our resolve is as strong as ever. As Jewish people around the world commence Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement this evening, they will recite the famous, ancient Kol Nidre prayer. Like all of the Yom Kippur liturgy, and despite its haunting melody, the theme is one of optimism and hope. The message of Yom Kippur is one of repentance, rectification, re-education, and return. I will be reflecting on how that very message also has resonance within our Party and our politics.

I wish you all an easy fast, Gmar Chatima Tova, and may we all be inscribed in the Book of Life for a happy and healthy year.

In solidarity,

Jeremy Newmark

National Chair
Jewish Labour Movement.

Labour is neither mainstream or electable

The continuing degeneration of the Labour Party and its current leadership have been at the centre of much attention during its recent conference with Jeremy Corbyn proclaiming that the Labour Party was "now the mainstream". Nothing could be further from the truth.

The party has been at the centre of a number of accusations about the behaviour of it's left-wing activist base who it would seem have created not just an atmosphere of misogyny as seen in the vile abuse thrown at moderate female MP's but came to the fore with quite credible threats of violence against BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg.

Then there's anti-Semitism.

Over the years such anti-Jewish racism has been very much the preserve of a few die-hard Nazi's but with the rise of "palestinianism" on the left,  the ideology of anti-Zionism has morphed into a quite aggressive form of anti-Zionism. Most Jews support the state of Israel therefore are all Zionists and in the comrades world view Jewish nationalism is "racist" making all Jews fair game.

For years Corbyn, McDonell have added support for Hamas and Hezbollah to the IRA and other lists of "struggles" to bring down world imperialism or Western democracy as most people call it. The fate of the Jews is of indifference to them despite the genocidal views of the Arab/Islamic terrorists the left support. After there are many more millions to of Arabs and Muslims that can be won to the cause.

It's hardly surprising to find that in this environment that the left has completely toxic view that have only been wallpapered over in the great amendment debate carried out by the united pary. Already Corbyn's fixer has thrown his unions weight behind the vile Jackie walker and Tony Greenstein's group. That ASLEF has joined McCluskey in supporting a group that allowed Holocaust denier to speak at their rally is a disgrace.

Do members of Unite or ASLEF have any say in any of this? We should be told.

As the Muslim minority in Burma flees massacres are any of the comrades to be found protesting? No. No Jews. No interest. Burma is not central to the fall of West. The Rohingya can be abandoned like so many others that have no place in the plans of the communist hordes.

They are not the only ones abandoned. Add to the list Tibetans and the Kurds. Forget the plight of women, gays and secularists in Muslim countries. Just defend Iran against imperialism. That's the line the left takes.

Meanwhile Corbyn has been turned into a cult figure. A messiah with chants of "oh Jeremy Corbyn" wisping across the conference floor from the ideologically blind and insane.

With an economic policy that even Corbyn thinks would cause a run on the pound a Labour government would lead to bankruptcy in a way even Hugo Chavez could not achieve. Our allies would be abandoned and the security of this country put at risk.

Never has a major party been such a danger to the country.

National Socialist ambitions did not end with the Sudetenland. Corbyn raises his piece of paper. It's not worth the paper it's written on whilst Walker, Greenstein McCluskey and others stalk the parties meetings. They are not the fringe. They are Labour tomorrow.

The moderates cannot control them.

Labour First: Tuesday Bulletin to Party Conference

As conference comes to an end. here's our final daily bulletin. The rule change clamping down on anti-semitism was thankfully passed with only 7% of CLPs voting against, but we lost heavily on the reduction in the leadership nomination threshold.

FOR UNITY – but it needs an end to hubris and bullying

We had hoped that the unanimity at last week's NEC heralded a unified, but pluralistic, Conference and a continuation of the spirit of united campaigning that characterised Labour during the General Election.

Whilst platform speeches have thankfully reflected that unity and there have been impressive policy contributions by several frontbenchers, in some other respects this Conference has left a sour taste that has ruined the happy memories and comradeship created during the election.

The culpability for this rests with Momentum and other smaller Hard Left factions. Their attitude both internally and in terms of the external political challenges facing Labour has smacked of incredible, almost laughable, hubris.

Silly references by Len McCluskey and others to having "won" the General Election make us look like a party of the delusional and don't reflect the horrific reality that we have lost a third General Election in a row and the Tories and DUP are imposing deeply reactionary policies. It doesn't take much subtlety or nuance to celebrate our unexpected advance AND ask the serious questions about why we lost and what needs to change for us to win.

Control-freakery that blocked a vote on Brexit when it is the most important issue facing the UK will have alienated many of the young voters who gave so much support to Labour in June.

Bullying of anyone who dissented from the Momentum line, from heckling to intimidation within delegations, to trying to block a speech by Sadiq Khan, is the antithesis of socialism.

Whilst the result of the antisemitism rule change was reassuring, Conference cheering rants against the Jewish Labour Movement, antisemitic tropes about Jewish control of media, and insinuations that antisemitism hasn't been a real problem in Labour was grotesque.

Obsessional boring procedural motions derailing conference and stopping it being the showcase for Labour's leaders and policies it should be have been self-destructive.

Sadly Conference showed the sectarian Hard Left have learned no lessons from the way their antics in the 1980s kept Thatcher in power and led directly to privatisation, cuts and attacks on union rights.

We have a moral responsibility to fight for a Labour Party that is not controlled by these factionalists, whose obsessions are so distant from the values and concerns of the ordinary people who need a Labour Government so badly.

They may be very much in the ascendancy now, but their hubristic behaviour this week contains the seeds of their own nemesis.

My Conference

First time youth delegate James Cleverley (Wrexham CLP) is only 17 but became a Conference hero by speaking against the rule change lowering the nomination threshold to 10% and against the attempt to stop Sadiq Khan speaking.

He says:

“Yesterday, I stood up for what I believed in and spoke against the rule change to cut the threshold for PLP nominations from 15% to 10%.

In response, Momentum members booed, heckled, and jeered to try and drown out the points I was trying to make.

As a first time delegate, I’ve found it deeply disheartening to have my opinion drowned out in this way.

However, getting heckled by the Hard Left has just proved to me that what I say is worth listening to.

We moderates need to continue to speak out against their undemocratic and bullying tactics which seek to silence the sensible voices in the party. Whether I’m cheered or booed I will continue to stand up for what I believe in, and I hope you will too.”

Time to build locally

Moderates need to be just as organised as Momentum in local CLPs if we are going to get better results at Conference 2018 than this year!

We need strong local structures so we can organise to stop deselections of hard-working MPs and councillors, win elections for delegates and CLP officers, develop and put forward policy ideas, show solidarity with like-minded members and campaign together for Labour to win elections at every level.

Can you help organise a local Labour First group in your area?

Contact Matt Pound, Labour First National Organiser, on matt@labourfirst.orgfor advice, speakers, and support in setting up a group, or to link up with an existing group near you.

Dan Jeffery, Labour First organiser in Southampton says:

“It’s really important for Moderates to have a dedicated space to discuss issues that the local party feels unable to talk about.

“Labour First has provided a model for our group to flourish. I hope other CLPs will follow suit.”

Labour First: Monday Bulletin to Party Conference

Momentum stitch-up means no Brexit vote

Momentum has denied members the chance to vote on Labour’s position on Brexit.

They instructed their delegates in the Priority Ballot to vote for debates on four worthy topics which had less urgency to them, in order to ensure Brexit did not get on the agenda.

There is therefore no opportunity for Conference to let Jeremy Corbyn know how members feel about the vital questions of UK membership of the currency union and single market, or freedom of movement.

This is an unprincipled and anti-democratic stitch-up designed purely to prevent the real differences of opinion within Momentum between old-fashioned anti-European Bennites and Stalinists and idealistic younger internationalists from being expressed.

It’s just bizarre – conference won’t be able to vote on the biggest political issue facing the UK because it might harm the narrow factional interests of Momentum.

Momentum claims it wants to empower members and create a culture of open debate.

In fact new delegates are being manipulated by old-fashioned fixers who are trying to ensure conference only debates bland, “safe” subjects and that difficult policy decisions are handed down from on high rather than decided democratically by elected delegates.

Attempt to silence Sadiq seen off 

Momentum factionalists are just looking for ridiculous fights over anything. They thrive on conflict so they are trying to provoke division and infighting on conference.

It’s obvious that Conference should hear from the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan when he is one of our most senior BAME politicians, the most senior Muslim politician in Europe, has the largest personal mandate of any Labour politician ever, and is a great example of Labour in power

But stooges from hard-line Momentum CLPs jumped up one after another to move reference back on the CAC report to try to block him from speaking.

Luckily this was heavily defeated or it would have made the party a complete laughing stock.

Oppose further reference back motions on the CAC report at start of the day – these are Momentum trying to get a procedural advantage or just pick unnecessary fights.

Stop the bullying – it’s not socialist, it’s not Labour

Amid many decent idealists who have been politically energised by Jeremy Corbyn – “John Lennonists” who want a better world but are arguably a bit naive about the nature of the British electorate and how fast we can persuade voters to change society, there are unfortunately a minority of extremely cynical Leninists. Leninists don’t care what voters think because they are happy to impose political change through violent revolution. They fetishise the violence of the Russian revolution and the authoritarianism of contemporary regimes like Cuba or Venezuela, a country whose economy offers a model of socialism where everyone is so impoverished that shops are empty of basic foodstuffs and even toilet paper, and where opposition politicians from our sister democratic socialist parties are arrested by secret police goons and democracy protesters are shot in the streets. This kind of tradition is not part of the democratic socialism that Labour stands for and for these people – some Stalinist, some Trotskyist – to infiltrate Labour is pure cynicism – they just wanted to recruit people into their micro-sects and push Labour to adopt policies that are unachievable without a revolution – “transitional demands”.

Because they are not democrats, and they feel no comradely feelings towards democratic socialists, these people treat fellow Labour members with contempt. They subject anyone who disagrees with them online to a barrage of disgusting, personalised abuse to try to drive them out of political activity. They threaten MPs and councillors with deselection if they do not toe the line and think for themselves. They booed and heckled when a young first time delegate tried to defend Sadiq Khan’s right to speak at conference yesterday. They organised a picket line to try to sack Iain McNicol as General Secretary – a grotesque display in a party founded by trade unionists of trying to undermine a member of party staff who cannot answer back, in fact a highly effective member of staff who just organised a very successful General Election campaign. Conference showed real members hold Iain in great affecrtion with a tumultuous standing ovation for his General Election report.

They are bullies. And bullies have to be stood up to.

Bullying and intimidation are the antithesis of socialist values and comradely behaviour and everything Labour stands for.

Labour First will call out their behaviour nationally and we urge people locally to set up Labour First groups in their CLPs to provide a place where members can express solidarity with each other, work to maintain Labour’s ethos as a pluralistic party, and stand up to bullying and deselection threats. We urge decent, idealistic people in Momentum who believe in a pluralistic, democratic Labour Party to get the internal culture of their movement cleaned up and have zero tolerance of bullying and indeed of infiltration by entryist Leninists who do not share Labour’s values.

Truth no longer matters

Germany in the thirties....our universities today?

Hardly a day goes by without at least one article about gender-activists appearing in the press. Last weekend the violence at Speakers Corner was the main story which divided even the left. Some of the coverage, particularly on Twitter got out of hand with some idiot trying to claim one of the activists was carrying a gun. Don't believe that for one minute.

However the violence perpetrated by one activist was real enough and it is no wonder that women activists are now more determined than ever to defend their spaces from men, trans or not. I notice the involvement of Linda Bellos who I hadn't heard of for years since haer disastrous tenure in Lambeth. 

Meanwhile at the upper end of the social scale Sally-Anne Huang Headmistress of the private South London girls school tells us a girl should not be called a girl using "they" instead of "she" to protect the feelings of transgender students. 

I saw a video on facebook of a "gender-fluid" couple showing how they brought up their child (biologically a boy) putting him in a dress, painting his nails (and toenails) treating him like a toy rather than a child.

This is all going a wee bit too far methinks which brings me to the latest atrocity committed by our "centres of learning or Universities as they used to be called. The Times reported that:

A researcher has been refused permission to to study cases of people who have surgery to reverse gender reassignment by a university that said it risked generating  controversy on social media.

The proposal was rejected with an explanation noting  that it was a potentially "politically incorrect" and could lead to material being posted on line that "may be detrimental to the reputation of the university".

In other words the bullying bile of a handful of activists is more important than researching the facts. Fear of transgressions against political trends now trumps finding or speaking the truth.

Such bullying is everywhere these days and it's time that not just universities but all of us started standing up against it.

Everything is open to criticism whether it be the views of transgender activists and those who seem to revolve their politics around their genitals or followers of backwards misogynistic religions.

The truth is out there...... not that the left or intersectionalists care.

Tintin: an "asexual tomboy"?

Despite the recent controversy over the casting of a woman as Doctor Who, a fictional character that is an alien not English as most people seem to think of him, now her most have got used to the idea and look forward to the new series. Still sad about Missy's death though.

However in a world where gender has become fluid at every juncture according to the new wave leftists and intersectionalist brigades it comes as no surprise that Vincent Cespedes a 44 year old philosopher has done some research and come to the astounding conclusion that

"For his creator, Tintin was always a girl. An androgenous and probably asexual redhead with blue eyes"

"Herge would be hooting with laughter that 40 years after his death...the whole world still believes that his "tomboy" is well and truly a boy"

 

Surprised that Cespedes didn't assert that Tintin was gay after all he was as Charles Brenner points out in The Times:

Only eight of the 350 characters in the albums are identifiable as women. Tintin's non-virile appearance, his gentle manner and the fact he lives with a histute sailor, Captain Haddock.

It seems that the question of Tintin's sexuality has been under scrutiny for some time.

But not by his fans. Like most people I grew up reading Tintin, watching the (dubbed) cartoon at tea-time. Such thoughts never crossed our minds. More to the point Herge was a devoted right-wing Catholic full of the prejudices of the time as Tintin in the Congo shows. Unlikely such thoughts crossed his mind either.

Just"utter bullshit" as one fan put it on Facebook.

When will these academics stop?

Can we wait much longer for Labour to regain it's senses?

The Times carried a lengthy interview with Caroline Flint one of the mainstream Labour MP's that are trying to find a place in the nightmare party that Corbyn has created. It was bad enough for her being abused constantly on social media since the rise of the Corbynista's but she also faced heckling from other Labour MP's as she joined Dennis Skinner in voting against the party whip over Europe.

This comes at a time when "moderates" as The Times puts it faces possible deselection by the growing numbers of Momentum activists inside constituency party's across the country. Momentum is the new and much more successful version of the old Militant Tendency who remain firmly outside in the cold and somewhat lost despite their rather pathetic attempts to get back in the Labour Party.

Ms Flint suggests that Jeremy Corbyn has "exceeded all expectations" and sees "no reason why he won't be leader at the next general election. However she added that the Corbyn base was "overwhelmingly middle class" and that the more traditional working class voters will feel "alienated".Currently Labour are just ahead in the polls, if indeed these polls can be trusted at all anymore....

Labour as a political party is changing from a "broad based church" to a more ideologically driven machine with many of it's new members being messianic and somewhat manic in their support for the "Dear Leader" Jeremy Corbyn, a flawed and weak man with no experience or idea of governance, economics and openly friendly with terrorists (such as the IRA & Hamas) and dictatorships (Iran, Cuba, Venezuela).

Meanwhile the Labour Party continues to have a problem with anti-Semitism which is also causing ruptures within Momentum itself. Their founder Jon Lansman is under siege from even more unsavoury elements such as the victim-hood seeker, Jackie Walker who continues her pernicious campaign against the Jewish Labour Movement with this sponsored post on Facebook from the Labour Party Marxists (a front for the tiny Communist Party of Great Britain):

Asking - why, amongst all the activity of Momentum around motions, is there SILENCE about the moves by the Jewish Labour Movement to change rules on disciplinary procedures...

"Why is Momentum not saying anything on these truly atrocious motions? Unfortunately, Jon Lansman – who since his coup of January 2017 rules Momentum’s national office like an absolute monarch – has been a willing accomplice in the witch-hunt by the right in the party, in the mistaken belief that by not ‘attacking’ them, they might eventually rally behind Jeremy Corbyn.

Also, Lansman, rather ironically, is politically rather close to the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty when it comes to their definition of Anti-Zionism: basically anybody who criticises the actions of the state of Israel. Lansman famously threw Jackie Walker to the wolves when he had her removed as vice-chair of Momentum and then drew up a constitution which bars from Momentum membership all those thrown out of the Labour Party – for example, for the ‘crime’ of having been or being a member of another political group (like the AWL or Left Unity)."

 And Walker wonders why she (and others) face accusations of anti-Semitism.

Despite the Walkers. Lansman and the thousands of unpleasant abusive and particularly misogynistic Corbynistas in the Labour Party there do remain some decent folk like Caroline Flint. However they are very much the minority and many are adapting to the new regime whilst others keep their heads down hoping it will all blow over.

For me and many others the party has been over for a while. I for one cannot support Corbyn or his movement. They represent the worst the left has to offer. There will come a time when the remaining mainstream members will need to make a choice. There can be no appeasement with Corbyn or Momentum.

Can we really just wait to the next election? I think not.

Trans Activists Violently Attack Women at Speakers Corner, London

Children and the gender definition war

Photo: http://www.aardman.com/

Last week The Metro, a free paper in London along with a couple of other outlets ran a story about one school in Lewes, Sussex banning all the girls from wearing skirts in order to have a "gender neutral" uniform. Apparently they have around half a dozen kids who are allegedly "transgender".

Now the idea of protecting these children from the abuse and ridicule that other kids indulge in as a matter of course is a good idea but this was "ridiculous" according to one parent who spoke to the paper.

They have a point.

Children are well, just that children. They have time to grow and and develop "naturally" and will make up their minds about a whole range of issues by the time they leave school and then become like the rest of us constantly changing and adapting to the modern world. For some it will be more difficult than others.

Isn't it always?

The ages of the pupils were not mentioned and the photo's show a couple of girls in trousers that indicate a secondary school but is this the way to protect minorities?

At the risk of getting condemned by the gender mafia I'd say the vast majority of boys and girls grow up quite adjusted to their natural biology. A majority of them will also be (shock, horror hetrosexual) but there will be a proportion of gays, lesbians and bi-sexuals. It's part of the "natural order" so to speak.

Then there is a small minority of people who seemingly have trouble in their allotted genders. That they should not be discriminated against is paramount and help should be available. But enforcing gender neutrality like this school is doing is more than ridiculous it is getting counterproductive.

According to The Sunday Times some Christian parents are suing their child's school,because a "boy" sometimes comes to classes in a dress confusing their son. A rather over the top reaction to something that should be resolved through constructive dialogue rather than legal action. In this case the parents themselves are claiming discrimination. Religious discrimination.

If one thing is clear classrooms should be safe, secular spaces where children can develop freely without an ideological war being imposed on the, Whether it's the gender issue or religion. We don't allow teachers to indoctrinate their pupils with politics, so why is religion allowed to raise it's divisive head?

As for this new found diversity fascism where will it all end? The Sunday Times reports of one GP being forbidden to run a sex change clinic for children. Apparently children can be prevented from developing puberty until later in life but besides the obvious inherent dangers can also leave them infertile.

Society must take a step back and reconsider what is happening with gender-identification. Not an easy question or one that will be resolved with ease. The activists will scream & shout but it's the children's welfare that must be put first.

Religion and politics don't mix

Photo: By Chris McAndrew 

Growing up in the seventies I was told there were two things one shouldn't talk about in the pub. Religion & politics. Everyone did though from time to time. In fact it's human nature to discuss both spiritual and political matters whether under the influence or not.

Back in those days the Church of England was referred to as the "Tory Party at prayer" doubt whether that would cross anybody's minds these days given the attitude of the church to government policies. In fact outside of Northern Ireland and perhaps bits of Scotland religion has played a very small role in politics. Only the rise of Islamist terrorism has been the exception to the rule.

Yet today two politicians are in trouble because of religion. Jacob Rees-Mogg and Jeremy Corbyn.

In an interview with Piers Morgan young Rees-Mogg gave his somewhat forthright and unpopular views on abortion and gay marriage. He opposes abortion in all circumstances, including rape which has caused a storm. Whilst I find his viewpoint abhorrent and personally will always fight for a womans right to choose, the furore does seem rather artificial.

The reason being that anyone interested in politics would already know that the Mogg has these views and holds them because of his very fundamentalist Catholic outlook. In fact he has the same views as the Pope.

Most Tory MP's do not agree with him either so it's a bit of a non-story over-all and when the summer is over will be forgotten until someone drags it up again. He's not alone in holding such views, but fortunately is very much in a minority.

Most of young Jacob's views are somewhat, what's the word? Reactionary. However he remains one of the few interesting politicians around even if it is for the wrong reasons.

Then there's Corbyn. Oh boy has he put his foot in it again. For some reason best known only to himself he took it upon himself to take part in Holy Communion something he apparently was not entitled to do. I'm surprised that comrade Corbyn was taking part in a religious festival at all or at least wasn't just respectfully sitting at the back.

According to the faithful he wasn't entitled to take communion and some Catholics have taken offence. Why he didn't take advice is anyone's guess but then it's just what we have all come to expect from old Steptoe.

All this happens at a time when a recent survey shows that those who are not religious are now in the majority in the UK. Good news for an atheist and secularist like me. However there's a long way to go and all these incidents just remind me of why the Church and the State must always be kept separate.

It's a strange old world

The first thing I saw on the telly this morning was a debate over the decision of John Lewis to market their children's clothes as "gender neutral". In other words a dress will now be marked "for girls and boys".

Right.....

Unsurprisingly a poll of viewers showed 85% opposed this move.

Then I purchased my copy of The Times whose headline declared:

US threat to attack Kim after bomb test.

It didn't quite send a shiver down my spine but was a worrying development. I recall my parents telling me that during the Cuban Missile Crisis they went to bed one night wondering if they would wake up in the morning.

One wag wrote to the paper helpfully reminding us that:

The distance between Pyongyang and Los Angeles is 5,934 miles, The distance from Pyongyang and London is 5,379 miles.

Food for thought? At least shut Boris up for five minutes!

But still at this time of crisis we can rely on the Royal Family for some good news. Kate is up the duff again. Another Prince for the realm!

Marvelous.

Musical Interlude: Aldious

It's been nigh on a week since I last blogged but fear not Howie's Corner will be resuming normal service in due course. I just needed a wee bit of a break and if you really miss me there's always Facebook which I still delve into nearly every day with a mixture of politics, comics and music plus cats when the mood takes me!

In the meantime just a short Musical Interlude with one of my favourite Japanese bands Aldious. A really talented bunch of women who produce music that we hardly hear British girl groups do these days. There's a lot of very good all-girl/women bands in Japan. Scandal (who introduced me to the genre), Band Maid, Gacharic Spin and Brats are all worth looking up.

So hit it ladies. It is Saturday night after all!

Labour's left turns to hate

The rise of Jeremy Corbyn and his followers was supposed to change politics for the better yet the evidence shows that completely the opposite has happened. It started with Corbyn's supporters joining the Labour Party and bringing some very bad habits with them. These were not the "rank & file" who delivered leaflets, held fund raisers and knocked on doors or even had their occasional say at the local ward meeting.

The Corbynistas were a new breed entirely.

The Labour "left" has always been there and since the party is a broad coalition co-existence was necessary in order for Labour to form a government. There were differences of opinion even open conflicts and every once in a while the far-left infiltrated Labour for their own purposes. The Militant Tendency is the most famous of these.

Today whilst the organised Trotskyists actually form a small if vocally significant minority within the Corbyn movement, the majority have come from the crowds that usually formed the backbones of demonstrations or on-line campaigning. These were people with ideals but no idea on how to implement political policy other than through shouting down their opponents.

Very quickly those of us that were mainstream members or supporters became "red Tories" or "Blue Labour". Blairite was an insult used to isolate and denigrate anyone who dared not to treat the new found Messiah with due reverence.

Jess Phillips reminded The Times yesterday of the huge amount of abuse she got from the (so-called) left. You know the ones that talk about women's rights, identity politics and the like. She received over 600 rape threats. Stop there and think about this. These tweets were not coming from deranged fascists. These were disciples of Corbyn. It makes one wonder what kind of world they will create.

Actually "kind" isn't in their vocabulary. Anyone not with them including the electorate is "Tory Scum or worse a "Zionist. The anti-imperialist agenda of using Israel as the stick with which to bring down the West with soon mutated into outright anti-Semitism. Some of the remarks made by these people don't even bother using the epithet "Zionist" and directly attacks Jews.

Even ethnic minority women are having trouble with these activists who see any criticism of Islam as "Islamophobic" and despite this medieval religion being misogynist, anti-gay and  trampling on basic human rights this modern "left" gives the hate preachers and their followers a get out of jail free card.

It matters not the fate of brown women under Islam according to these activists. Meanwhile half these people revolve their own lives around their genital-orientated politics creating a Heinz like 57 varieties to indulge themselves in.

Meanwhile young brown girls are mutilated but it's "OK" it's part of their culture it would seem. Neither can you even mention Muslim grooming gangs. They are "Asian" according to even the media too afraid to upset the religion that dare not be named..

Sickening.

Meanwhile some idiot newly elected to Parliament says she can't be friends with Tories. These people are in her view just evil. Ridiculous but not new. Even Bevan fell into that trap.

The world of Labour has turned upside down. It is no longer the party of working people. It's been hijacked by the spoilt brats of the Middle Classes more interested in ideological purity than justice.

The road to a new politics will be a long one. Old loyalties die hard and there are still despite thousands of resignations a large number of decent types within Labour. Waiting for times to change which may prove to be a bit like waiting for Godot.

Time for the law to catch up on cycling

Woman using mobile whilst cycling: Photo By Colin Rose

The bus I was travelling home on tonight nearly got into an accident after the driver let a cyclist turn right and a car suddenly came shooting out from nowhere. If it hadn't been for the brakes there would have been an accident and there was a possibility I would have been injured being close to the front. We have all known for years that there are bad drivers and there are plenty of laws to ensure our safety on the roads.

That is it seems unless it involves bikes.

The recent killing of a woman crossing the road by a very arrogant young man riding a bike without any brakes has appalled everyone. This particular individual showed no remorse and blamed the dead victim for the accident. The fact remains had his bike been fitted with brakes this young mother would still be alive today.

A motorist would have been thrown (quite rightly) to the wolves had they been driving without any brakes. So why not this cyclist who at most faces a maximum of just two years in prison? The exclusion of cyclists from appropriate punishment is an oversight that planners and politicians alike have not considered as cycling is encouraged as both environmentally friendly and healthy for users.

Pedestrians however remain unprotected from those cyclists that abuse the roads by ignoring red lights, pedestrian crossings and the like. They are not a "tiny minority" as the cycling lobby would have us believe. Every day I see cyclists breaking the highway code and putting not just pedestrians but drivers at risk.

When I went to Central London a couple of weeks back nearly every cyclist I saw ignored the red lights, one was lucky not to have got hit by a lorry but two girls crossing the road (at a pedestrian crossing where the bus had stopped were pushed out the way by a cyclist. Our driver sounded his horn not that the recalcitrant took any notice.

Efforts have been made to police cyclists but not enough it would seem. Riders not fit to be on the road seem to be proliferating every day. I've seen cyclists on their mobiles , feet on the handlebars, jumping on pavements to undertake buses and lorries.

The law needs to catch up with the growth of cycling. Yes it has benefits but far too many users are inconsiderate. Certainly those that put others at risk must be firmly dealt with.

Two years for killing someone when driving a bike without brakes is not enough. An "unusual accident but one that must be punished with the full weight of law. Just like the driver of any motor vehicle would be.

**The author has never ridden a bike, driven a car or any other vehicle and uses public transport.

When "diversity" becomes the oppressor

On the face of it the "diversity" agenda to recognise the rights of individuals might seem a good thing. Everyone should have the basic right to live their lives as they wish don't they? Of course individualism does have it's limits. As much as we all wish to do exactly that the majority of us recognise that others have rights and our rights cannot infringe on theirs.

We have laws to protect society from those who would seek to do us harm. We also have systems to enforce social responsibility to various extents. Within a democracy most of us can find a way of existing the way we wish without harming others.

Free thinking and expression is an essential part of this process. Such freedoms come with responsibilities even though the boundaries may sometimes be grey it can never be right to call for violence and murder against individuals and groups.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule. Pacifism is not an option in a dangerous world. Not all countries, cultures or ideologies are benign and peaceful. There will always be those who seek to oppress, control and kill. They must be opposed at every juncture.

Freedom and Human Rights are never easily won.

Sounds simple doesn't it.

Except it isn't.

There is a growing movement of activists for whom "diversity" means to dictate, to control and to oppress. These are those who pursue the self-indulgence of "safe spaces" (of which there will never be truly any) to avoid hearing any view , any opinion or idea with which they may not agree as it will oppress them and trigger..well.. some hurt to their egos.

When Tory MP David davis was overheard in a pub describing the Cameron/Clegg alliance as "the brokeback coalition" it raised many a wry smile across the land, though frankly it does become a bit much when you can't sit in the pub and have a private chat with your mates. Of course Davis is politician....

Enter the "diversity" brigade.

For years now both here and in America speakers have been banned free speech suppressed especially if it is from those of a more "conservative" vein. Now it has even hit former controversial activists like Germaine Greer demonised for having a view that trans-men are not real women. Not that they should be discriminated against or anything, Just a definition with which in purely biological terms a majority of people might concur.

Islam has become a protected theology despite the fact it is the most oppressive and cultish of all the Abrahamic religions. Don't mention women's rights even though "Sharia" only gives them half the weight of a man and as for gays. It's not a problem to hear speakers in our centres of learning call for homosexuals to be "thrown off mountains or murdered.

But hey let's have a go at Greer.

Oh and those pesky "Zio's" don't have rights. Anti-Semitism is at an all time high across the left.

Sad to say the mainstream right has become more colour blind than the masked lefties contemplating their 57 varieties of pretentious sexuality.  Exactly what is a "demi-sexual" or "allies". Don't bother responding below I'm past the stage of caring.

Teachers tell me that they have to be very careful what they say lest they get reported for being "politically incorrect" even outside school. Can't upset X or Y. It might oppress them poor souls. It's happening in your workplace now or very soon.

Dissidence is verboten. Diversity is here to rescue us from our own free thoughts.

Welcome to oblivion.

Jerry Lewis Remembered

One of the most loved American comedians from the sixties and star of many a film has passed away aged 91. Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1926, Jerry Lewis went on to be a star on both television and in film.

Amongst his best films were Visit to a Small Planet and The Nutty Professor. His collaboration with Dean Martin was legendary and he even got a DC comic book series!



Jerry Lewis may be gone but his comedy will live forever.

A Load Of Old Fanny

Published in 1748 and renowned at the time for outraging vicars and bishops across the land most people would consider Fanny Hill a rather tame tome by modern standards. It's not so long ago that Lady Chatterley's Lover and the publication Oz caused scandal in the green fields of old England. Mrs Whitehouse campaigned to the last to defend our living rooms from such smut lest we degenerate into sex-crazed godless minions of Satan.

Yet today hundreds of thousands of thousands of people have picked up copies of Fifty Shades of Grey and it's sequels without batting an eyelid. Sex on TV whilst always after the watershed is wee bit more explicit than even Mary Whitehouse imagined. For better or worse we the people of England have seemingly lost our stiff upper lip so to speak.

Not so in universities it seems  as the Royal Holloway (part of the University of London) has dropped old Fanny from it's curriculum lest it offend some students. Yes I kid you not. Just the latest in a long line of atrocities being carried out in our centres of learning as the politically correct- intersectionalist-easily offended-snowflake brigade undermine education.

Apparently theology classes about Jesus at Glasgow University come with trigger warnings about (wait for it) "graphic scenes of crucifixion". Really? Didn't they teach that in Sunday School. Nailed to a tree the fella was and then apparently rose from the dead. Very central to the Christian belief system I understand. Don't think any studies of their theology could avoid this subject.

Better not let these vulnerable students anywhere near the old testament which is full of begetting and smiting plus genocide. Heaven forbid they dare read the Koran. Might make the poor soul Islamophobic. Better give it a free pass. Not open for criticism. Saves any PC problems later. Only white religions can be criticised according to the new breed of Social Justice Warriors.

If you think thats bad imagine law students being excused lectures on rape or future forensic scientists being given warnings about lectures involving the subject of blood patterns and crime scenes. Could be dead bodies. Awful. Perhaps puppy farming might be for anyone feeling queasy at this point. They certainly aren't going to be able to help rape victims or find the murderers before someone else is killed.

In fact don't go to university at all. Nobody learns anything there anymore. It's just for spoiled self indulgent brats to act like the bullies they are.

If you ask me their parents should have just given them a clip round the ear and told their little poppets to get a life.

Tell leading retailers: Justice now for Cambodian garment workers

A Labourstart Campaign



The sudden closure of a garment factory has left 208 workers in Cambodia without jobs, salaries, or their legally owed compensation.

One year later these workers, mainly women, are still fighting for justice.

The factory – Chung Fai Knitwear – was making clothing for Marks & Spencer (UK), Nygård (Canada) and Bonmarché (UK).

The workers have been facing a long struggle.

They stood up for their rights by preventing the owners from selling the remaining assets from the factory, through physical occupation of the factory as well as legal measures

They have protested outside the Mark & Spencer office in Phnom Penh, outside the Ministry of Labour, and the court.

They wrote letters to the brands pleading for help and asked for meetings.

None of this helped.

Now the workers, supported by trade unions and labour rights' organisations, demand that the brands take responsibility and ensure that they get their legally due payment.

Please take a moment to support their struggle:

http://www.labourstart.org/go/chungfai