Musical Interlude: Hammerfall

The weekend is here. Lets get the party started.

Great song and video from Swedish band Hammerfall.

Jackie Walker's apology is not accepted

The Vice-Chair of the Corbyn supporting Momentum organisation has been caught out again with her unsavoury views when it comes to Jews. Besides stating she couldn't find a definition of anti-Semitism she could work with and questioning the need for security in Jewish schools she also clearly tried to downgrade the Shoah, the Holocaust.

All this at a "training session" about anti-Semitism.

This comes on her ridiculous attempts to blame the Jews for the slave trade and at a time when Momentum are reeling from continued accusations about the presence of anti-Semitism in their ranks. The fact Walker claims to be "part Jewish" is irrelevant. Just look at Gilad Atzmon.

As recently reported on this blog Momentum tried to push the line that they were "fed up" with hearing about anti-Semitism and produced a crass video on the subject which backfired so badly it had to be taken down within hours of it's release.

The along comes Jackie walker and opens her foul mouth.

This is proving too much for even the left of Labour.

Even Momentum has had enough and the Guardian reports

The steering committee of Momentum is seeking to remove its vice-chair, Jackie Walker, after widespread criticism of comments she made about Holocaust Memorial Day.

The Guardian understands her removal from the post is likely to be confirmed when the committee meets on Monday. A spokesperson for the left-wing grassroots movement, which was set up to support Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour party, confirmed members wanted her to go.

“Members of Momentum’s steering committee are seeking to remove Jackie Walker as vice-chair of the committee,” said the spokesperson, who did not wish to be named.

One of the sponsoring unions has had enough:

Manuel Cortes, the general secretary of the TSSA union and a strong backer of Corbyn, called on Walker to resign from the Labour party immediately. “I am asking Jackie that, in the interests of unity, she resigns at once from our party and also as vice-chair of Momentum,” he said. “If she doesn’t, both the Labour party and Momentum need to act to get rid of her at once. Furthermore, TSSA will seriously reconsider our union’s support for Momentum if she is still in post by this time next week.”

Walker has tried to apologise but The Times reports (no link£):

Ms Walker apologised for causing offence, but said the video footage of her remarks, which was handed to the media, had been leaked unethically.."

In other words she only apologised because she got caught. Weasel words from Walker.

Not only should Walker resign from Momentum but from the Labour Party and leave politics altogether. She is not welcome in the Labour and Trade Union movement. Time for her to retire from public life.

Jewish Labour Movement Heckled at Labour Party Conference

On momentum to a new fascism?

"Nothing to look at here. Move along please", a tired old saying that seems to sum up the attitude of so many of the new intake of Labour Party supporters when it comes to anti-Semitism. A leaflet being distributed at conference calls for the expulsion of the Jewish Labour Movement (an affiliate of the Labour Party) as the "Zionists" were behind the attacks on the messiah Jeremy Corbyn and of course the JLM is a "representative of a foreign power".

You couldn't make this stuff up.

It doesn't stop there. Guido Fawkes reports:

An Israeli parliamentary correspondent saw his press pass revoked by Momentum just over an hour after it was approved. Jerry Lewis was granted accreditation to Momentum’s “The World Transformed” fringe event at the Labour Conference before they withdrew just 1 hour 22 minutes later when an email told him he had been approved by mistake.

Momentum’s Joe Todd apologised and claimed, despite previously allocating one, that they had “run out of press passes” for the event; described as Momentum’s four day festival of politics, art, music and culture. Does anyone really believe that?

Nope.

I wonder whether correspondents from Press TV and RTV are there. Hamas broadcasting perhaps, Who knows. No room at the Inn for Jews it seems.

This is the result of the alliance between the left and Islamism. Anti-Semitism is now mainstream thanks to this new Labour Party that has been created.

And what's worse they don't care. Anti-Semitism bores them apparently and the comrades produced a video to say so. It's no longer on line. I wonder why.

Questions to Momentum HQ ........

By Bundesarchiv

Murdered over a cartoon

Photo Source: The Clarion Project 

The BBC reports yet another murder of an atheist, this time in Jordan:

A Jordanian writer charged with offending Islam after allegedly sharing a satirical cartoon on his Facebook page has been killed.

Nahid Hattar was hit by three bullets outside the court in the capital Amman where he was standing trial.

Police have arrested the suspected shooter, Riad Abdullah. Jordanian media said he was local imam who had been upset by the cartoon.

But security sources told the Jordan Times he was a known extremist.

A witness told the Associate Press news agency that Mr Abdullah had a long beard and was wearing a long robe, common among conservative Muslims.

According to the translation provided by The Clarion Project the text reads:

In Green: In paradise…

Allah: “May your evening be joyous, Abu Saleh, do you need anything?”

Jihadist: “Yes Lord, bring me the glass of wine from other there and tell Jibril [the Angel Gabriel] to bring me some cashews. After that send me an eternal servant to clean the floor and take the empty plates with you.”

Jihadist continues: “Don’t forget to put a door on the tent so that you knock before you enter next time, your gloriousness.”

Whilst the Jordanian government has condemned the killing perhaps the authorities should reconsider their decision to prosecute Mr Hattar in the first place. Freedom of speech includes the right to express satire. 

Religion should have no special protection or do it's followers consider their faith so weak it cannot stand criticism.

Campaign for the separation of religion and the state everywhere! Abolish all blasphemy laws!

Labour: Day of the Dead

Photo: By Source.

I took a quick break from watching Young Frankenstein on Movie Mix to watch for as short a time as possible the inevitable outcome of the Labour leadership election. No surprises there. However the future is now bleak. Labour has destroyed itself, there is no other way to describe the outcome of this absurd farce.

Corbyn said he would do "everything" to help those who needed it. Except he won't because he and his blinkered supporters will never be elected to power. What's more he should never be Prime Minister. His policies are unworkable, his foreign policy beyond sanity.

The shrillness of his supporters on social media illustrate the worst the left has to offer. The messianic standing he attracts frightening. To see Corbynistas marching around the streets holding placards showing pictures of the man remind me of Stalinism. The dear or great leader so praised.

What happens next is the big question that the rational left within Labour have to consider. They will be purged, deselected or if an employee not considered politically suitable made redundant.  The mainstream cannot survive in such a toxic environment. That is the sad reality of the Labour Party today.

While the far-right rises across Europe along Islamism in the Muslim world and within our own countries, the far-left has risen in Britain. Extremism threatens us all.

Musical Interlude: Doors - Riders on the Storm

I've had a busy week so blogging has been sporadic both here and over at my other blog.  Simply put I have been a wee bit tired. However fear not despite everything that has gone wrong with the Labour Party, especially with the imminent re-election of the false Messiah Jeremy Steptoe, normal service (whatever that is) will soon return to Howie's Corner.

However as I go to retire for the night I thought I'd share one of my all time favourite pieces of music with you in the form of Riders on the Storm which I remember listening to as a schoolboy on my transistor radio late at night on Radio Luxembourg.

This extended version is the business. Enjoy!

All these worlds are yours except Europa.....

Arthur C Clarke is one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time who inspired the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and it's sequel 2010: Odyssey Two. The latter sees two spacecraft hurtling towards Jupiter where a second and much larger Monolith has been discovered in space.

We are not alone.

This story takes place as the Cold War "hots up" on Earth and threatens to become an all out conflict between East & West. Then something wonderful happens. Jupiter is transformed into a second Sun and a message is broadcast to humanity "

"All these worlds are yours except Europa, do not attempt to land there".

And as we see in the third book in the series 2061 any attempt to do so is destroyed. The reason? Life has developed out of Europa's oceans and is being protected.

All of this is course is fiction except one thing. We think there is an ocean on Europa kept fluid by a mixture of volcanic activity and Jupiters pull possibly rich in oxygen with the potential for life.

NASA has announced a Press Conference on Monday 26th September to make an announcement about "surprising activity on Europa". Don't expect to hear about aliens but the final proof of an ocean may have been discovered, maybe more:

Astronomers will present results from a unique Europa observing campaign that resulted in surprising evidence of activity that may be related to the presence of a subsurface ocean on Europa. Participants in the teleconference will be:

• Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
• William Sparks, astronomer with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore
• Britney Schmidt, assistant professor at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta
• Jennifer Wiseman, senior Hubble project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

Go to: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

Momentum, the AWL & The Beano

 

Last nights Dispatches was a bit of an anti-climax despite being argued and commented on wildly before it was even broadcast. Momentum itself went to the trouble of making a video featuring their members stating how "violated" they felt about being exposed.

Sigh, you couldn't make it. The cry-bullies don't like it when when they are "exposed".

In fact there wasn't much new in the programme and even their underhanded deceitfulness as espoused by Momentum-Fuhrer Jon Lansman didn't really shock or surprise. The fact is that Momentum is not a recreation of Militant per-se, it is or has become something similar in practice.

And more dangerous.

However there was an over-emphasis on the Alliance for Workers Liberty, a small group of perhaps 120 core members who are an "entryist" organisation since they are a "separate, distinct organisation with their own structures, publications and aims are perhaps the least of Labour's real problems. The AWL has always been half-in/half-out of the Labour Party despite it's proscription when it went under the name of Socialist Organiser, the name of the newspaper it published.

The AWL are a group I've always had mixed feelings about depending on who I have had contact with. In PCS they were a rather shouty mob in London with whom I was in constant conflict. Yet at the same time they held quite radically different views of the issues I care about. The right of Israel to exist and the need for a secular stand against Islamism.

The rest of the left capitulated to the arabist anti-Zionist project and Islamism a couple of decades or more ago.

Meanwhile I note the comrades of Momentum have set up a Kids Group that includes teaching the young'uns how to make placards. Show me a child before they are seven.... comes to mind.

Momentum Infants.

My message to them is simple. Sod the Communist Manifesto, demand the Beano!

Anyway here's some music from Cher just because I felt like posting it.

Commissars, Communists and Corbyn

The Jewish Labour Movement held a debate tonight featuring the two contenders for the leadership of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith. I missed the first half but caught up with the live-streaming on the internet broadcast by Jewish News.

One of the questions that was bound to come out was the question about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party but first the candidates were asked why they they thought support for the Labour Party has dropped from 70% in the nineties to just 7% today. Neither candidate provided a satisfactory answer but Corbyn as usual was in denial about the problem of rising anti-Semitism within the party itself.

In fact when directly answering the question that directly followed he tried claiming that some of this was from "before he was leader" which solicited jeers from the audience as might be expected. This while true, ignored the simple fact that since Corbyn took over there has been an exponential rise in anti-Semitism, People wanted to know why Ken Livingstone wasn't expelled. Corbyn's answer that it was currently being dealt with through "due process" did not impress. Nor did his denial over Jacqueline Walker. Both of who have crossed the Rubicon in my humble opinion.

Owen Smith did make Corbyn cringe, just a wee bit by pointing out that Corbyn did not want Livingstone suspended and anyway everyone knew he would be back.

The fact is Labour has become too toxic for Jews with even one Labour MP having to put up with thousands of abusive messages plus death threats.

Meanwhile further evidence of the growth of "Red Fascism" or Stalinism has come to light with the news that Momentum is to appoint a "Labour Engagement Officer" in every Constituency Labour Party to report back activities to their Central Committee, the shadow leadership inside Labour constructed to support and direct Corbyn.

Commissars come to mind. Watch what you say comrade, the party is listening. And the comrades wonder why they are compared to fascists at times.

Well there's their problem with Jews, their intolerance, the abuse and then theres the leadership cult.

Frightening.

Additionally the Corbynistas are not just planning purges of MPs but Labours staff as well. Those that either do not toe the line or don't fit in will be replaced. A euphemism for being made redundant. Not sure what union these people belong to but I hope they get proper representation, not that Momentum will care. To them the unions. like the Labour Party and the working class itself, they are just tools to be used on the road to "socialism" whatever that is supposed to actually be.

The way they venerate Corbyn he'll end up embalmed and preserved on display in Trafalgar Square which will probably be renamed by then...

Finally the Sunday Times reports that a leading trade unionist and member of the Communist Party is being touted by some to replace the current General Secretary of the Labour Party. Not beyond the realms of possibility as the new Stalinists or Blackshirts (makes no difference what you call them) rise to take control.

I just hope the MPs (or at least the majority of them) are ready to take the next step.

Corbyn will win on Thursday. It's already too late to save Labour. 

The time has come for a new centre/left party. We have no other choice. 

Recommended Viewing for Monday night!

There are a couple of "must watch" television programmes coming up on Monday night starting off at 7:30 with a new edition of Channel Four's investigative programme Dispatches. This is the result of a six month investigation into the activities of the extreme left "Momentum" group inside the Labour Party. It hasn't been aired yet and the comrades are "denying the allegations". If they have nothing to hide then they should have nothing to worry about...

This takes place at a time when the far-left is engaged in a vicious campaign to take over the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn. So far all they have succeeded in doing is destroying Labour's credibility as a viable opposition party. MP's have had bricks through the windows of the constituency offices, death threats and unbelievably anti-Semitic abuse.

The leader of the Left Unity Party (a group originally established to oppose Labour has seen it's membership "decamp" into Labour) Ken Loach has already launched a campaign to "complain about the BBC for alleged bias. Urging left wingers to send in "complaints" the Huffington Post reported:

The left-wing activist and film director said the BBC had the “pretence of objectivity” but was in fact a “propaganda” arm of the state. “The BBC is not some objective chronicler of our time – it is an arm of the state,” he said.

The irony of so many left-wingers using the Iranian Clerics Press TV and Putin's RTV to spread their own propaganda seems lost on comrade Loach. Nevertheless this should be an interesting programme.



Viewers may then wish to change channels at 8pm to watch the first episode launching a re-run of one of Irwin Allen's sci-fi programmes, Land of the Giants.

You'll probably need a break from reality after listening to the comrades on Channel 4. Here's the trailer to get you in the mood for an interesting Monday night on the old telly box.

Musical Interlude - Marc Bolan

A quick break from politics this Friday night with a number from Marc Bolan who passed away on this day in 1977.

A highly unique and talented musician taken from us in his prime. Still missed by his fans today.

Flying Saucer enthusiast goes to Labour Conference

 

Over the years there have been quite a number of half-crazed left wing groups like the Workers Revolutionary Party, the Spartacists and Counterfire, but none have been more a target for derision than the followers of Jean Posadas.

Born as Homero Rómulo Cristalli Frasnelli in Argentina, Posadas was certainly one of the more deranged individuals to come out out of the Trotskyist tradition. I have previously blogged about this group and thought once would be enough since they to all intent and purpose have ceased to exist any more. However one comrade, perhaps the sole remaining member in the UK has managed to find herself a delegate to the Labour Party Conference this year.

Let us remind ourselves of their two notorious political positions that alienated them from even the half-baked world of Trotskyism.

The first is that they urged the Soviet Union to launch a nuclear war to "wipe out capitalism". Their founding conference declared:

“Atomic war is inevitable. It will destroy half of humanity: it is going to destroy immense human riches. It is very possible. The atomic war is going to provoke a true inferno on Earth. But it will not impede Communism.”

Posadas himself declared that:

“Nuclear war [equals] revolutionary war. It will damage humanity but it will not – it cannot – destroy the level of consciousness reached by it… Humanity will pass quickly through a nuclear war into a new human society – Socialism.”

Needless to say neither the then Soviet Union or even Chinese Communists took any notice and being at the time a fairly noticeable group in Latin America managed to discredit Trotskyism considerably. Certainly won't get any support from old Jeremy Corbyn who wants to scrap Britain's nuclear defences, not nuke the City of London or the home Counties in the name of socialism.



However it is their other theory that makes them a laughing stock. UFO's (Flying Saucers come from workers planets apparently and their ability to mobilise the resources necessary would mean they have reached something like socialism. In fact Posadas called for an alliance with such beings and wrote:

We must call upon beings from other planets when they come to intervene, to collaborate with the inhabitants of the Earth to overcome misery. We must launch a call on them to use their resources to help us.

In his thesis, Flying Saucers published in 1968 Posadas muses:

Those who preside over this division of the world are capitalism and the bureaucracy of the Workers States. Our society is incapable of employing the possibilities that wait to be used within matter. Capitalism is aware of this inferiority, and so does the bureaucracy of the Workers States. But in the Workers States, researchers already exist for whom this is not a matter of inferiority or superiority; they reason that there may be galaxies, planetary systems or universes where matter is fully utilised, and where the mayhem of hunger and class struggle has ended. They know that ruling classes can be eliminated. And they know also that the system is superior where this has been done.

Or they could be warlike and resource hungry. Many scientists including  Hawking have considered that contact with any such advanced civilisation may not be good for mankind. Just look at what happened to the natives in the Americas...

Of course this remains speculation, but the point is if aliens exist (and there is yet no proof whatsoever) there is absolutely no logic in suggesting that any such human-centric notions have any relevance. They will be "alien" after all.

Whether the Labour Party's compliance unit picks up on this lone Trotskyist cosmonaut is of no real concern.It might be better to leave our Posadist entryist alone. They She seems to be no danger to anyone including herself and Posadists should be a protected species. They originated from a time when the Trots were far more fun than they are today. 

Re-education for Corbyn's Red Guards

The movement that was created to support Jeremy Corbyn has often been referred to as "Maomentum" and it seems for good reason to. The Guardian reports:

Jeremy Corbyn has promised a raft of new “organising academies” to train Labour activists for the next election, as his leadership rival Owen Smith accused him of being “delusional” about the party’s chances of beating the Conservatives in 2020.

The Labour leader set out plans on Tuesday for a new training camp for Labourmembers in every region of the UK in order to help turn many of the hundreds of thousands of new joiners into active community organisers.

Corbyn said the plan would put the party’s 500,000 members at the front of Labour’s strategy to win the next general election, claiming it “represents the single biggest commitment by any political party in British history to aid in the learning and training of its members”.

The thought of all these people, many of whom are politically naive or already bigoted to the extreme is a frightening prospect. The average Corbynista has a blinkered outlook and considers anyone not with him as a "Red Tory" or worse. In the seventies the language would have been different but the meaning the same when the Maoists would refer to opponents on the left as "capitalist running dogs" or "revisionists". The words may have changed but the meaning and intent remains the same.

A new "Red Guard" run by Maomentum".

The mission statement of Mao's Red Guards reads:

Chairman Mao has defined our future as an armed revolutionary youth organisation...So if Chairman Mao is our Red-Commander-in-Chief and we are his Red soldiers, who can stop us? First we will make China red from inside out and then we will help the working people of other countries make the world red...And then the whole universe.

Change Mao to Corbyn and China to Britain.....

The Corbynistas are unbearable on social media. Imagine them outside polling stations.

Union leaders not listening

The largest of the civil service unions PCS is to hold a rally on behalf of Jeremy Corbyn in Brighton tonight. Their long term anti-Labour Party General Secretary will be unable to attend but other comedians are billed to perform. This takes place during the annual TUC conference which brings the countries trade unions together to supposedly work out a strategy to better the lives of their members.

Speaking in Brighton, TUC General Secretary, Francis O' Grady said:

The watchword of our Campaign Plan is: “Building Back Stronger”. That’s what we must do. Building a union movement. In touch with the everyday lives of working people. Reflecting their concerns. Talking their language. Alongside them in their communities, in their workplaces, and yes, on digital too.

"Reflecting their concerns". In other words taking up those issues that really matter to ordinary members and their families. Trouble is that UNITE with it's "one man, one vote" policy being in the form of Len McCluskey  and PCS in the hands of the far-left outside the Labour Party it would seem that the leading unions are not asking what it's members want in the form of the next government.

Both UNITE (affiliated to the Labour Party) and PCS (not affiliated) are throwing their resources behind an individual who does not have the support of the vast bulk of Labour voters and that would include the majority, though not all of their members. Oh yes there are layers of TU Reps who see Corbyn as the new messiah, but there are also thousands, especially in the civil service who do not even vote Labour.

Even worse it seems the majority of the public seemingly prefer Theresa May to Corbyn by a large majority. The growth of the Labour "left" is simply bringing together the various left groupscules, professional and occasional demonstrators plus some extremely naive young and not so young together into one place. It's not going to be much use if nobody will vote for Corbyn and his dysfunctional party.

Worse some unions like the PCS haven't even asked their members whether they want to support Corbyn, let alone back a party they are not affiliated to. When I raised this recently with one of the few NEC members I am still in touch with her reply was simply (and I quote) "It was in the best interest of members". So that's that no say by the people the NEC supposedly represent.

This attitude from the activists of the not so new Corbynite type left is not new. In fact there's nowt new about the about the left at all. Socialism is always "top-down" and the individual is always secondary to the "class struggle" which is why the whole ideology is so damned authoritarian.

And always fails badly whether under Lenin and Stalin or Castro or Maduro.

The vast majority of trade union members join up because they want a better deal and protection from bad management practises. They don't become trade unionists to overthrow capitalism. Indeed many TU members vote Conservative, Liberal and UKIP amongst others. That is their democratic right.

The left however use the unions for their own benefit and this has been obvious in the PCS for years which is why so many people myself included left. I saw first hand the kind of abuse that people complain about from the Corbynistas inside the PCS union, especially on their Facebook page. When Corbyn's supporters came to the fore on social media their behaviour did not surprise me for one minute.

There are unions better led and more responsive to their members wishes such as Prospect, but these tend to be the smaller ones and don't get the recognition for their work that they deserve. The focus is usually on the big brigades led by the dogmatic and out of touch left. It's one of the reasons unions have declined, especially in the private sector.

Such a decline is not good for ordinary working people but the "Corbyn effect" is not new, it's been happening in the unions for years. Until members are able (and willing) to reclaim these necessary bodies for their own use the situation will not change. Labour is heading towards it's demise as the usual suspects and others blindly follow the Corbyn road to nowhere.

If Labour collapses who will the unions ally themselves with then? Members will not wish to support an unelectable cabal of malcontents around Momentum. 

The Labour and trade union movement is currently marching to oblivion. It will be a glorious defeat the comrades will be fantasising over for the next decade or more of Conservative government. They will attribute blame to everyone but themselves.

The left are the Tories best friends.

Corbyn is beyond the pale

Vidkun Quisling

Today is the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York and resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 people. It was a day that everyone will remember as planes full of men, women and children were flown into the buildings where thousands of people were working. Across social media people are both remembering the event and commemorating the dead.

That's what normal people do.

Then there's Jeremy Corbyn.

He tweeted:

Jeremy Corbyn MPVerified account‏@jeremycorbyn

My thoughts are with those whose lives were shattered on 9/11/2001 - and in the wars and terror unleashed across the globe in its aftermath

Unsuprisingly this has upset those that have seen it. No unequivocal condemnation and a complete disregard for the feelings of the victims families. But then this is a weaselly man who refused despite being asked no less than five times to condemn IRA violence and avoided doing so.

This comes at a time when the controversy over anti-Semitism in Labour continues to rear it's ugly head. The Israeli Labour Party leader has invited Corbyn to visit the Holocaust Museum in Israel. Apparently Corbo is going to be "too busy"  (probably meeting with his friends in Hamas and Press TV) to go and is sending the Labour Party General Secretary Ian McNichol instead.

One opportunity to prove he takes the concerns of Jewish community seriously and he flippantly throws it away.

Corbyn is soft on terrorism, even softer on defence. He won't even guarantee to help our NATO allies if attacked.

Not a man to be trusted with the defence of our nation and it's freedoms.

Weekend Variety Break

I'm taking a little break over the weekend so in lieu of the usual political stuff here's a quick series of comedy and music videos to hopefully entertain you and bring back memories.

First up Tommy Cooper, Eric Sykes and Dandy Nichols:



Next up a trio of comedy greats, Roy Castle, James Casey and Eli Woods in "The box".



Finally an often overlooked little number from Sandie Shaw:

Prince Buster - Remembered

One of the great Ska legends, Prince Buster has died at the age of 78. The Jamaica Observer reports:

Prince Buster was ailing for some time, after suffering a series of strokes.

From West Kingston, Prince Buster was a protégé of producer Clement 'Coxson' Dodd. In the late 1950s, he launched his Voice Of The People sound system and label, which released a number of his self-produced hits including Wash Wash, Blackhead Chineyman and Judge Dread.

Here's one of his best remembered tunes and one I've always liked!

Media Reform Coalition: The left's road to censorship

The Corbyn supporting "left" is organising one of it's "media bashing" events on Thursday 15th September to attack the way that they are presented in the media. The organisation describes itself as:

The Media Reform Coalition was set up in September 2011 to coordinate the most effective contribution by civil society groups, academics and media campaigners to debates over media regulation, ownership and democracy in the context of the phone hacking crisis and proposed communications legislation.

We work with partner groups and supporting individuals to produce research and to organise campaigning activities aimed at creating a media system that operates in the public interest.

Media Reform represents an independent coalition of groups and individuals committed to maximising the public interest in communications.

I came across this meeting as it was a "sponsored advert" on my Facebook wall. I took a quick look at the speakers list and left a comment underneath. Now given what they say they are about, that is having "democracy" in the media I was very surprised to see that not only had they removed my comment but I had been blocked from commenting further.

In other words they are not interested in open debate but the censor anyone's views that don't fit the narrow worldview they take. So what did I say that upset them so much? I can't remember the exact words but the gist was this:

I notice the speakers include Lindsey German whose partner John Rees, regularly appeared on Press TV, the Iranian government propaganda channel that has been banned in the UK for broadcasting as "news" the "confession", forced under torture by the fascist clerics that run the country. He is not alone. Jeremy Corbyn himself has been on Press TV and tells us his fees of £20,000 "isn't much money". Really? 

Of course this isn't really a meeting about press freedom, it's just a rally of old quite authoritarian and anti-Western democracy activists that back not just the Iranian Clerics but also Putin, Hamas and tell us we can't criticise Islam at all because it's "Islamophobic".

So much for "free speech". All they are about is promoting themselves and their hateful organisations such as Stop the War and Momentum. Only they have the "truth". 

Media Reform? 

 In their future society the TV will be watching you.

A replacement post

Earlier tonight I posted a blog which in retrospect I wasn't happy with, so I removed it. Sometimes when you are tired from a hard days work the mind gets fatigued and things don't quite turn out the way you intended. That's what happened today.

Nobodies perfect. Least of all me.

So as it gets late and the little grey cells need a rest here's some music from one of my all time favourite bands. Garbage,. Their sixth studio album is out now by the way.

An old fashioned sex scandal?

It's not that long ago that the media sent themselves into frenzy over an injunction that prevented them running a story about a "celebrity" involved in a "threesome" that the rest of the world (including Scotland) could access but not in England & Wales. When someone found out and told us in the works canteen there was a complete lack of interest amongst those present and was frankly a non story.

All involved were consenting adults and in this day and age it was not much of a big deal. Even the fact the participants were (cough) gay made no difference. No one was bothered.

Today the media is all over Keith Vaz MP after the Daily Mirror published an expose this morning in which a "party" is allegedly being arranged with a couple of male prostitutes including arranging the delivery of drugs. Vaz is "referring the matter" to his solicitors.

The problem for Vaz is that (a) he's a member of Parliament, (b) married, (c) a Muslim, community that is highly homophobic but most of all he sits on the Parliamentary Affairs Committee that is in the process of examining on such matters for future policy considerations.

Now as far as I am concerned this should be a matter for him and his wife of many years standing since they don't appear to be in an "open relationship". His religion and state role matter little. There are probably many MP's and certainly others in high positions who engage in such things.

I take a "liberal" and more pragmatic view on prostitution than the moralists of right or left who want to interest in peoples lives right down to to the minutiae of sex. What consenting adults do in private (and that includes the sale of sex) is between them and not a matter for the state or religion to legislate on.

The key word of course is "consent" in order to differentiate from trafficking a problem that does need tackling and stamping out.

Of course Keith Vaz has a "conflict of interests" on his role on that committee but then how many MP's local Councillors and officials do so on a regular basis.....

Time to move on. Nothing to see here.

What is the point of the Stop the War Coalition?

It's been a while since we've heard from the most thoroughly misnamed political organisation in the country, the "Stop the War Coalition" (StWC).  Readers may recall they were running into a wee bit of trouble over dodgy articles on their website plus their obvious hypocrisy and frankly unsavoury connections...Cage and the nice man "Jihadi John" anyone.

John Rees should be ashamed of himself. But he is too thick skinned as is his partner in political crime one Lyndsey German. There were early warning signs when German made her infamous speech about "shibboleths" when she joined up with Galloway to form the now thankfully deceased "Respect"

The comrades have been on the streets shouting about NATO aggression despite the obvious fact it's Putin's Russia invading the Ukraine and taking over Crimea. Attacking Western intervention in Syria whilst ignoring and even supporting the Assad despite the obvious crimes he committed against his own people. Supporting the Hamas terrorists in launching a war against Israel and then complaining when Israel defended itself. And don't mention ISIS....it's "Islamophobic" to attack genocidal Islamists, unless they're the Wests allies such as Saudi Arabia.

And don't forget their President was a certain senile old back bench MP by the name of Jeremy "£20,000 from the Iranian dictatorship is not a lot of money" Corbyn. Another friend and fan of Hamas, Putin who despite his opposition to anti-Semitism has created a movement in which anti-Jewish racism not always under the guise of anti-Zionism, has come very much to the fore.

Most of this should all be very obvious except to the blinkered hordes of anti-imperialists, Corbynistas and assorted Trots and Stalinists that inhabit the fringes of political reality.

The StWC are holding a fund raising bash in October to try and fill their declining coffers. A Tweet advertising their event was responded to with the comment " would this be stopping Putin's war on the Ukrainian people? Count me in!" Of course it isn't as the respondent knows full well in his jest.

Exactly what the point of maintaining the StWC is will be lost on most people. It's just a mechanism by which German & Rees try to maintain their presence politically as Counterfire the breakaway from the SWP that they run is too small to be noticed even within the quagmire that is the far-left.

The Z-list celebrities appearing at the gig would be better off donating their services to a more worthy cause. Stop the war is not what it says on the label and never has been. It doesn't seek to stop wars simply take sides against anyone no matter how oppressive as long as they are not part of the democratic West.

Time to close the dwindling "coalition" down.

For the weekend: Chumbawamba

Never a dull day with the antics of Jeremy Corbyn

Given that I have just come home with the weekend shopping and am preparing dinner whilst the girlfriend is down the pub with her mates as usual on a Friday night I was more than amused with Jeremy Corbyns latest parable.

And lo, ITV News:

Jeremy Corbyn has called on companies to end after-work drinks, claiming that "early evening socialisation" benefits men while discriminating against mothers.

The Labour leader made his comments at an early evening event which launched a document detailing how Mr Corbyn's flagship 10 pledges would advance gender equality for women, and tackle gendered violence and harassment.

Trouble is they go on to report:

Following the event, held at Unison's offices, a drinks party was held.

The man is a fool. 

Trouble is he is a dangerous fool. The Times reports that Jeremy Corbyn is unrepentant about his appearances on Press TV, the official channel of the Iranian Government. You know the one, the religious fascists who propagate misogyny, homophobia and practice torture, hang gays and execute children and think the Holocaust is suitable for a cartoon fest. 

Apparently he did this to "promote human rights" (*Jews, Women, Gays, Atheists, Baha'i's, Kurds need not apply).

Words fail me.....