Nutters in the corner

Paul Nutter, the UKIP leader was on the TV this afternoon announcing he was standing in the general election as candidate for Boston & Skegness. It remains a mystery how this man who lied about losing friends in the Hillsborough disaster remains involved in politics at all, let alone leader of a political party, no matter how increasingly irrelevant it is becoming.

Nuttall should be at home sitting in the corner with a dunces cap on.

Meanwhile things just get worse for Labour as their own staff declare they will go on strike if Corbyn fails to resign after a disastrous result. Good for them. All good trade unionists should stand with them.

The Labour Party was in part founded by the trade unions in order to gain political representation in order to make gains for their members. Thee party has until now always been a "broad church encompassing a variety of views.

That is until the rise of the Corbynistas and their "new politics".

Now intolerance of anyone who does not think like them is rampant.  Disagree and you get labelled as a "Red Tory" or "Blue Labour" let alone being classed as ... (shock, horror) a Blairite! These comrades can't even unite amongst themselves. The grassroots Momentum organisation has split and in-fighting continues. When you see Jon Lansman labelled as a Zionist, you just know the inmates have taken over the asylum.

Corbyn himself has been in the news, amusingly starting his speech with his back to the crowd and then dangerously announcing he'd never "push the button". Better have that white flag handy Steptoe old man along with translations of "we surrender" in Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Russian plus Farsi for good measure.

Of course the fool can't be trusted over our security. This in a week when our police and security services stop both a terrorist attack and another plot. Yet his idiot supporters want to abolish MI5 and disarm the police. Let alone get rid of our armed forces.

However a lot can happen between now and the general election it's going to go on and on and on.....

And before then there's the local elections, which have taken a back seat in the news and for the bulk of people like me where these are not taking place. Supposedly the results will give some indication of the way the general election is going. Maybe.

Unless the whole population decides to bugger the bookies and vote in Corbyn there will be a Conservative government after the election. It's just the size of the majority that remains in question.

Meanwhile the comrades have succeeded in doing what the establishment have always failed to to. Destroy the opposition and for that I will never forgive Corbyn's followers.

What happens to us all next will be down to you.

Join the Nutter in dunces corner.

Musical Interlude: Reunions

Every so often old music acts decide to reform and either perform a few concerts or release a record or two. Some are more welcomed than others. Bros had to cancel some of their shows due to lack of interest and S-Club just, well disappeared.

News that Bananarama are coming back led to jokes about their miming on the radio today. Used to quite like them though only saw them perform once during a Fun Boy Three gig in Hammersmith  many years ago.

However Steps have seemingly returned with a vengeance. No idea about where this will get in the "charts" (do they still have these?) as there is no Top of the Pops any more but its quite nice to hear a good old pop tune for a change instead of this pretentious shite they call music these days.

Yeah I know. I sound like my dad did in the seventies. I am now an old git. Victor Meldrew has nothing on me! 👿

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.....

Photo: By Gronchih

If there's one thing Jeremy Corbyn is weak on its defence. His association with the anti-West Stop the War Coalition, refusal to condemn IRA violence and his other nefarious associations make him unfit for government in most peoples eyes.

Today it emerged in The Times that his policy chief one Andrew Fisher had previously mooted that Labour should not just scrap Trident, but disarm the police and disband MI5. Can you imagine the problems that would arise from such tomfoolery?

Who would deal with terrorist attacks? Who would uncover their plots. Come to think of it who would be able to deal with armed robbery? A recipe for disaster if ever there was one.

This of course comes at the same time as those highly respected democrats of the Communist Party declare their support for Corbyn along with the old Militant Tendency as Dave Nellist praises Corbyn. Of course they are not (yet) in the Labour Party, but Lenin always urged the affiliation of the CPGB to Labour and had a view that "communists should support Labour like a rope supports a hanged man". Quite apt given the downwards direction of the party under Corbyn.

The only people who would gain from Corbyn's ascendancy to power would be Putin and the mad clerics of Iran (and elsewhere amongst his "friends" in the Middle East.

His policy "advisor" Fisher talks the talk about MP's earning the "average workers wage" whilst earning £56,000. Hardly a wage yer average worker can obtain, but then comrade Fisher has never had a proper job.

Yet Corbyn surrounds himself with Stalinists and Trotskyist dilettantes because he hasn't got a clue either. He doesn't understand the "working class" having been a protester and sheltered politician all his life.

Labour is in serious danger. Only tribal loyalism is keeping the vote as high as it is and the news that Tory support is growing in Wales must worry those who remain in the party hoping for a Corbyn free future. Scotland is lost and only the Tories seem to be rising (albeit modestly) north of the border. If Wales is lost Labour will have no future.

French far left refuse to oppose Le Pen

The polls for the first round of the French presidential election closed a few hours ago. The latest I have heard is that the two leading candidates are Len Pen on 24.13% and Macron at 22.4% with about half the votes in which seems to indicate a far-right/centre clash in two weeks time.

Of course this could change but for now the major concern should be the reaction of the two far-left candidates.

The Lutte Ouvriere (Workers Struggle) and Trotskyist candidate has tweeted she will "cast a blank ballot in the second round". So much for "solidarity against fascism.


Photo: By Source Fair use

So what about the main far-left candidate Melenchon? All evening he has been pressed to make a statement and has also declined to come out and recommend a vote for Macron against Le Pen.

The result will be a relief for the mainstream politicians in France who had been dreading a run-off between Len Pen's National Front and the maoist Melenchon. Both candidates wanted to withdraw from the EU. A further crisis in the European Union has been averted...for now.

However the actions of the far-left in France provide further evidence that they cannot be trusted. A lesson that should be taken on board in the forthcoming British general election if they are thinking of voting for Jeremy Corbyn or any of his supporters.

As Unite election ends PCS begins

The result of the General Secretary election itself was not a surprise. McCluskey won. What has come as a shock is the treatment of his main opponent Gerard Coyne who came close in an election that saw the participation of a mere 12.2% of Unite's members. McCluskey has in effect the support of just 5.5% of the membership.

Of course trade union elections (and other ballots) are notorious for their low turnouts which is why they have attracted the attention of those Tories who are particularly hostile to unions. With a general election on the horizon the added spectacle of the suspension of Coyne amidst counter accusations of bullying and intimidation undermines Corbyn's chief backer.

McCluskey called on the union to:

"pull together in the interests of our members and not least to work for Labour victory in the general election"

Hypocritical in the former and deluded on the latter.

More than that McCluskey has exposed once more the anti-democratic nature of the left. It's very difficult to mount opposition to McCluskey and his cronies. They describe any criticism as "inflammatory" or "against the unions policy".

Pure Stalinism.

Meanwhile a second set of elections started today in the PCS union. There are just two choices. The hard left and the more hard left. The PCS is currently run by Mark Serwotka in coalition with the Socialist Party (Militant), the SWP and some dupes in the so-called PCS Democrats.

Their opponents call themselves the Independent Left but are highly dominated by the AWL and attract the odd member of Socialist Resistance (he really is odd) and Workers Power plus other hardliners. Their presidential candidate Bev Laidlaw is a pleasant individual but with the totally wrong political outlook, though preferable to the incumbent Madame Janice Godrich by a long shot.

Both groupings praise the "first appearance of a Labour leader"(in the form of one Jeremy Corbyn) "at a PCS Conference".

Not really that much to choose between so don't expect any major changes.

One candidate for the Independent Left caught my attention, especially from a group that talks about "putting members first".  On their NEC slate there is one Oliur Rahman who was former Deputy Mayor of Tower Hamlets under Lutfur Rahman.

Overall a very boring election that will attract little attention outside the usual far-left crowd.

From Len McCluskey to Lenny the Lion

It's all happening today. The Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey has suspended his opponent in the elections as the final week of the ballot takes place. Trumped up charges of course. And I thought PCS was bad....

Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn's family are in the news. Deranged brother Piers, climate change denier described the BBC as "evil" for daring to broadcast criticism of the "Dear Leader". His ghastly son Seb is seeking a "safe" Labour seat (good luck with that one at the moment) as the Corbyn's plan to set up a hereditary dynasty of their own to keep Labour out of power forever.

Seven long weeks of this.

So from my very early childhood and for no particular reason whatsoever here is Lenny the Lion introducing Joe Brown and the Bruvvers. Grounded working lads the lot of them!

And so it begins....

One of the more amusing remarks I have seen since Theresa May announced the general election was the woman who stated "there's too much politics in this country" and was bored of the whole idea already.

Voter "fatigue" has been mentioned in a number of newspapers and discussion in the media as the battle royale begins. There's been a referendum on Europe (that workerd out well), a failed bid for Scottish independence some local elections (with more on the way) and a couple of leadership elections in the Labour Party all of which have dominated the media for well as long as I can recently think back.

And that's without following the US Presidential election and now the French one which could see a stand-off between the far-right Le-Pen and the Maoist Mélenchon. Never ends...

The thing is we are facing several weeks of election campaigning. There will be two sets of party political broadcasts. One for the council elections in May and then we get another set for the main show in June.

Most political broadcasts are dire, occasionally (and unintentionally) funny but let's face it pretty uninteresting and rarely able to persuade voters to change their minds. After all the outcome seems certain doesn't it?

Discussing this with work colleagues it seems everyone believes the Tories will win (and Corbyn is a useless fool) so it's really on a question how big May's majority is.

Only the Liberal Democrats could possibly throw a spanner in the Tories progress it would seem and none of my workmates mentioned voting for them though I have seen a couple on my Facebook push Farrons evangelists. Lots more have abandoned Labour, especially in the Jewish community which given recent controversies is hardly a surprise.

Labour loyalists, even the one who hate Corbyn still abound but cannot hide their despair about the outcome. The ones who vote Tory warn of being overconfident. Those who support Corbyn somehow delude themselves they will be victorious.

Diane Abbott certainly thought so when asked. Labour will win she mused but then when discussing the snap election thought May had only called the election because she knew the Tories could win. Confused? Ms Abbot (as usual) certainly is.

So listen out for that knock on your door, that leaflet drop, having your hand shaken in the street by someone wearing a rosette and return to your television sets. At least they're repeating The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Channel 61 (Freeview) at the moment. That's a welcome distraction.

A One Horse Race?

Photo: By Goki

Like most people I was caught by surprise by the announcement that there will be a general election on the 8th June but acted quickly to book the following day off work so I will be able to stay up most of the night and watch the result. 

Theresa May has obviously been carefully considering her options with both her party and herself riding high in the polls. There is no opposition to speak of and the Conservative vote is nigh on double that of Labour. One poll in The Times put Labour as low as just 23% today, and remember polls usually underestimate support for the Tories.

The Independent on-line newspaper even indicated the majority of Labour voters prefer May to Corbyn as Prime Minister which should worry the Labour Party considerably.

There will be some indications of the way things are going when the local elections take place next month but for obvious reasons the Gorton by-election has been cancelled. Only George Galloway's ego will damaged by that as he will (thankfully) disappear into total irrelevance in a general election as he has no Respect Party anymore. It's disbanded.

Whatever the reason May has decided to hold this election it's obvious she wishes to establish a majority government under her stewardship and get her own mandate.

Labour will lose quite a number of seats, that's inevitable. The party is divided and has been at war with itself for nigh on 18 months and is not seen as a viable alternative even amongst many of it's traditional supporters. Corbyn is a major part of the problem. Nobody in their right mind would want him as Prime Minister.

The Liberals may well revive to a small extent though how many extra seats they gain is far more difficult to tell as their strength is so diluted around the country. It doesn't help with Tim Fallon saying voting Liberal Democrat will help stop a Tory majority. People remember the coalition government mate.

UKIP are a spent force and are now led by a "Walter Mitty" character trusted by no one. The SNP will retain Scotland and ensure no Labour revival there.

There is no opposition. I wouldn't be surprised if we have a Thatcher style majority. Not something I'd want to see again but looks inevitable.

I live in a safe Tory seat so my own vote won't make much of a difference anyway. Even so I will vote but the question is who for? I don't want Corbyn or a left Labour Party either. Pity there wasn't something new, something more mainstream, but it's too late now we're stuck with what we've got.

I fear for the future.

A New "Age of Dictators".

The outcome of the Turkish referendum comes has no surprise given the uneven playing field that exists in the country. It's not just opposition journalists and newspapers but even members of parliament languish in gaol. Given that situation it's actually not a great result for Erdogan even with his obvious cheating in allowing unstamped ballots to be counted.

With such a small majority democracy finally disappears in the Turkish republic as Erdogan becomes the Islamic Reichsfuhrer he has always set out to be. Proof that democracy and Islam are totally incompatible. That's not being "Islamophobic" (though we should be worried about Islam which is not just a religion but a political system that tolerates no dissent) since the Saudi's have always said as much.



In Iran only "approved" candidates can stand in elections and once Hamas took over the Gaza strip a decade ago no elections have been held. Islamic politicians seem to think they should have power for life. That's why Sisi for all his faults had to act against the Muslim Brotherhood as Egypt was heading in the same direction.

Of course it's not just Islamists. There's dictatorships in Cuba, Rhodesia, Syria (despite it's civil war) and a threat of one in South Africa if President Zuma has his way.

Then there's North Korea. Not a country but a giant prison camp where the rulers, or the Dear leader acts out his delinquencies with any form of due process.

So much of the world is ruled with an "iron fist", some in the name of false gods and others by men (and women) who seek only power and wealth for themselves and their supporters. Political and religious theology has made history alive but at a time when mankind has the capacity to destroy itself, something we all hoped had died with the Cold War and the collapse of communism.



In Europe democracy remains strong but is under constant threat. Nationalism has raised it's ugly head above the "cricket test" we were once told proved our loyalties. In Britain UKIP has along with a section of the Tory party separated the country from the rest of Europe. In France two of the most popular candidates come from the extremes of politics. In Hungary fascism itself is bubbling away and Russia has destroyed whatever democratic pretense the regime ever had.

The democracies have become weak. Extremists festering in the wings are now at the forefront of diverse movements that threaten the survival of freedom.

In the face of this assault on our liberties appeasers appear from every quarter. Liberals bemoan "Islamophobia" students ban speakers with whom they might disagree disarming the next generation of any mettle, Labour has become the home of protesters, Trots and other assorted extremists who care not a jot about ordinary folk, just their own ideological requirements regardless of the consequences.

The political "centre ground" has seemingly collapsed. The "social contract" that acts a glue in society is being unravelled as self-interested groups both political and religious seek their "special privileges".

So many have expressed the fear we have entered a new "thirties" certainly democracy and reason remains under threat. Critics of Islam are murdered across the Muslim world and Christians persecuted more than ever before. Meanwhile democrats in Russia so many other countries remain suppressed, imprisoned or worse.

The time is coming when a stand will need to made against the encroachment on our freedoms. Liberty and life cannot be sold freely. Future generations will ask why we didn't stand up sooner.

From 1985: A Warning about Livingstone

Thanks to James Vaughn on Twitter for this one which shows not much has changed where Livingstone is concerned.

Stop the War Charlatans

It should come as no surprise that the mis-named Stop the war Coalition has come up with the most mealy mouthed and historically innacurate of statements following President Trumps destruction of an ISIS base in Afghanistan:

The news that the US has dropped its largest non nuclear bomb on caves in Afghanistan near the Pakistan border should terrify everyone.

Actually it doesn't and action to eradicate this bunch of Islamo-Nazi's should be welcomed.

Meanwhile I looked for their condemnation of Assad's chemical attack. Here is their statement on that:

Nothing.

ISIS, The Taliban and all those like them are a threat not just to the West but ordinary Muslims as well. However the far-left in groups like the StWC actually don't care about ordinary people their Marxism has morphed into far-right capitulation of dictatorships and Islamism as seen in their support for Putin and Hamas.

In Russia there are now not just laws against gays but concentration camps. Not seen since Castro's Cuba, another regime these people are apologists for. Hamas spend their international aid on war not improving the lives of Palestinians.

Stop the War say not a word. Take not an action. John Rees, Lyndsey German and their dwindling band of acolytes offer succour  to the oppressor not the oppressed.

Time for the Labour and Trade Union movement to stop funding these charlatans. Now!

Russia withdraws it's song...

The Easter Bank Holiday is upon us. In the news the USA has dropped the biggest non-nuclear bomb on ISIS in Afghanistan, Diane Abbott enters the world of fantasy by claiming Labour's support depends on Corbyn and Russia formally withdraws from the Eurovision song contest.

The European Broadcasting Union issued the following statement:

Following the official confirmation that Russian Eurovision entrant, Julia Samoylova, will not be permitted to travel to Kyiv to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, the EBU formally offered two alternative proposals to Channel One in a bid to find a solution that would enable Russia to continue their participation in this year’s event.

"These proposals were to either take part via satellite or to change their chosen artist to one who could legally travel to Ukraine for the duration of the Contest. Sadly both proposals have been rejected by Channel One and they have now announced they do not intend to broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. Unfortunately this means Russia will no longer be able to take part in this year’s competition. We very much wanted all 43 countries to be able to participate and did all we could to achieve this," the EBU states.

Frank Dieter Freiling, Chairman of the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group, the event’s steering committee, said: "We strongly condemn the Ukrainian authorities' decision to impose a travel ban on Julia Samoylova as we believe it thoroughly undermines the integrity and non-political nature of the Eurovision Song Contest and its mission to bring all nations together in friendly competition. However, preparations continue apace for the Eurovision Song Contest in the host city Kyiv. Our top priority remains to produce a spectacular Eurovision Song Contest with our Member UA:PBC in May."

A question of competence

Photo: By Fluous

It should come as no surprise to see a poll in The Independent today that:

Theresa May has opened up a 37 point gap over Jeremy Corbyn as more than half of British voters think she would make a better Prime Minister than her Labour rival, according to a new poll.

Analysis of the impact of Brexit by former Tory donor Lord Ashcroft found that 55 per cent of the poll of more than 10,000 UK adult respondents believe the current Prime Minister is the best choice for the role compared to 18 per cent who favour Mr Corbyn;,

In a further blow to the Labour leader, only 38 per cent of his party’s supporters would prefer him in Downing St, compared to 29 per cent who believe Ms May is more suited to the job. 33 per cent said they do not know.

This comes just before next month's council elections but more importantly at a time of growing international tension. 

The thought that this country and it's allies security would lay in the hands of not just an indecisive and incompetent man, but one whose sympathies are not naturally with the democratic West along with his pro Putin sidekick Seumas Milne and the pro-Assad Stop the War Coalition is truly frightening.

If there's one thing the so-called left in this country forget is that is that Labour's natural working class base tends to be very patriotic. Certainly not prepared to side with this country's enemies. 

The "left" lost it's way a long, long time ago with it's talk of support for the "degenerated workers states" (Russia/China), Third World dictatorships (which continues to this day) but also the adaptation to a pro-Islamic agenda. 

And lets not forget Corbyns support for the IRA who's violence he has NEVER condemned. Not a man of peace but an appeaser of dictators who would leave not just our country defenceless but would betray our allies in the face of aggression.

Corbyn's foreign policy would be the raising of a white flag.

Incompetent is not the only word that describes this odious creature and and his minions.

When Corbyn promised a "new politics" no one expected this to mean permanent Tory government.

Or appeasement.

The world is truly devolving

Photo: By Manfred Brueckels

With rising terrorism, the threat of continued conflict in the Middle East and the super-powers flexing their muscles at each other it's hard to imagine that this is a more modern civilised age. Despite all our advances in science, technology and learning the world has failed to become more tolerant, more peaceful. Quite the opposite.

Even in the supposedly refined Western nations democracy has been marred by the rise of old nationalisms and prejudices including the spectre of anti-Semitism awash throughout the left as well as the right.

Across the world Hate Preachers peddle their venom to the ignorant and easily led leading to the murder of those they define as infidels and unbelievers. Women, Jews,even other Muslims have much to fear from the rise of the Islamic death cult.

Then comes the news that once agian concentration camps have been opened for Gay men in Chechnya, part of the Russian Federation that Putin has taken in alliance with the Orthodox Church to not just revive Russian Nationalism but to seek out opponents, dissidents and deviants.

Pink News reports:

Russian newspapers and human rights groups report that more than 100 gay men have been detained “in connection with their non-traditional sexual orientation, or suspicion of such” as part of a purge. Several people were also reportedly feared dead following violent raids.

In a chilling response, a Chechen government spokesperson denied that there are any gay people to detain, insisting that “you can’t detain and harass someone who doesn’t exist in the republic”. The Kremlin denied any knowledge of a purge.

But reports have since emerged that the men arrested are being kept in horrific concentration camp prisons, where violent abuse and torture is common.

The foundations of intolerance have been well and truly laid.

The world is truly evolving backwards to a new dark age. Men and women of reason must stand up and be counted. Whether the enemy is a religious or political fanatic from the so-called left or right these new fascists for want of a better word need to be not just opposed but stopped.

Taking offence or taking the....

Photo: Myrabella 

I turned of Sky News yesterday afternoon after one of the participants started banging on about "microaggression" and"context" in relation to some unfortunate remark made by a football manager. Besides the fact that probably everyone has made an unfortunate or mistargeted remark at least once in their lives the "context" was a bit of banter that is quite common.

If any analysis was out of context it was this snowflake who even tried claiming that there are not that many female journalists. Besides the fact she was sitting in a group composed of three women and a man the irony was probably lost on her. There's lots of women in the news media.

Then this morning I woke up to the news that there had been a failed terrorist attack in Norway of all places and a viscous bombing of Coptic Christians in Egypt. And a model in Bangladesh is murdered for not wearing "Islamic dress"

That sort of puts my feelings in "context".

That causes me "offence", if that's even the right term. I'm angry that these deranged followers of a fake warlord from medieval times are inflicting their backward thinking on the rest of the world with their savagery.

None of today's victims had anything in common. They just were either different or in the case of the model chose to be different.

Forget "safe spaces", they do not exist anywhere except in the minds of those who read intersectionalist literature with one hand.

Time for these people to grow up.......if their universities let them.

Some of us don't think like you. Learn to live with it!

The real enemies of humanity

News broke this morning that the United States had launched a strike on the Syrian airbase responsible for the chemical attack on civilians in Khan Sheikhoun. Ordered by President Trump this was considering fears over his foreign policy a very considered response.

Of course the Russians got uppity about one of their client regimes getting punished and claims that there is "no evidence" for blaming the Syrian government just fell on deaf ears around the world. Hopefully Assad will think again before he uses these weapons again. The USA have certainly warned the Baathists regime that they are prepared to take further action.

Whilst some seemed concerned when the news broke some were concerned about possible conflict arising between Russia and the USA in the Middle east with the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations laughably attacking "US colonialism"/

Russia will huff and puff for a while but Trump has killed two birds with one stone so to speak. He has shown that he is not a pawn of Putin and is prepared to act against murderers in the Middle East.

Meanwhile in the UK the totally misnamed band of miscreants in the Stop the War Coalition are engaging in an emergency protest against the bombing.

I have just one question for these jerks. Why were you not protesting outside the Syrian Embassy when the chemical weapons were used?

The anti-imperialists of the left have shown their true colours. They not the Western democracies are the true enemies of humanity.  

On Momentum to Fascism

Photo: By World Economic Forum

The decision  by the Labour Party to suspend Ken Livingstone for a year rather than expel him has caused outrage across social media. Some Labour party members (and at least one Councillor) have resigned in protest and many others are seriously reconsidering their position. Others still hang on in hope that Labour can be reclaimed by the mainstream and the far left fascists defeated.

Livingstones supporters are equally outraged and have launched a petition for his reinstatement but their ill-tempered and frankly unacceptable opprobrium is summed up by this comment from Momentum Eastern:

It is disgraceful that Ken Livingstone has been suspended from the Labour Party for a year. The whole operation was conceived and manufactured by the Israeli state who actively finance and lobby inside the Labour Party.

This is an outcome manufactured in Tel Aviv, to stifle criticism of an Israeli state lurching headlong towards a new Apartheid.

The language of the worldwide Zionist conspiracy theorists usually peddled by Nazi's Tsarists and other assorted anti-Semites is now considered normal thinking on the so-called "far-left". Irrational, hateful and frankly racist, the Jewish state is singled by these types as part of their own adaptation to an anti-imperialist agenda that sees that country's destruction as essential to the collapse of worldwide capitalism.

No lie is too big, no propaganda left unturned, they associate the state founded by the survivors of the Holocaust with the criminal perpetrators. For fear of sounding like the deranged Livingstone himself Hitler would be proud.

The far-left have taken over the far-right's hate-on for the Jews. 

And Labour has fudged the issue.

Anti-Semitism and it's bastard child anti-Zionism have no place in the Labour and Trade Union movement. Their adherents and followers must be exposed for what they are. 

The new blackshirts. The new fascists.

Never Again must be the clarion call from all men and women of reason.

Armada to Armageddon

The thought that Britain and Spain could go to war over Gibraltar would have been thought sheer fantasy until Lord Howard opened his mouth. All of a sudden social media is full of absurd speculation and caustic comments. Even the Daily Telegraph had an article examining the military balance.

Lord Nosferatu really had put his foot in it the proverbial. No wonder Ann Widdecombe once remarked that he had "something of the night in him". Bizarre.

Of course there has been friction between the two countries like forever but other than a bit of blustering by the Spanish government when it needed a distraction from internal problems. A falg posted here, a fishing boat or naval vessel there. Just "cat and mouse"".

Even with Brexit the Spanish know they won't get their way and there is a little bit of a problem for them if Morocco starts kicking up a fuss about a couple of Spanish enclaves remaining in their country. I refer of course to the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Actually its a wee bit more than that as this map shows.

 

Meanwhile some macho chest beating may continue for a while but unless the people of Gibraltar change their minds the rock should and will remain solidly British.

On the other side side of the world a much more dangerous confrontation is heading for an ugly turn. President Trump wants China to "deal" with North Korea or "stand aside" while the USA does. Unlike the argument over a bit of real estate in the Mediterranean this one could go so horribly wrong.

The self professed Dear leader of the Peoples Republic is in charge of a country that is nothing more than a giant prison camp with nuclear armed guards. How exactly will Trump will "deal" with a man who will stop at nothing to retain his power including executing members of his own family with anti-aircraft guns which seems a bit of an overkill even for a maniac.

Not sure anyone wants to find out. least of all his immediate neighbours South Korea and Japan. Thing is theoretically a state of war still exists in the Korean peninsula . There was only an armistice.

If there's one country that will need to change it's own regime it will probably have to be North Korea. Even then Kim Jong-un could still press the button if he had nothing to lose.

The world really is a mad place and Trump isn't helping.

For the good of the country

The local elections for Scotland Wales and the English countryside are due to take place in May and all the commentators seem to agree on one thing. Labour is going to lose more seats. The Liberals are to make gains and even the Tories will be ahead of their starting point but Labour. Definitely down.

This situation is at first understandable given the pathetic performance of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party. Labour has never been so divided, especially at the top with both moderates and left-wingers leaving the Labour Party in droves.

Whilst the party is still very large in paper terms it's clear that this mainly on-line surge from the Corbyn election campaign doesn't have the mettle to stay or get involved so the mainstream live in hope that given more time the false messiah will finally fall on his sword.

Trouble is they will have a long wait..... or will they?

Corbyns organisation on the ground is in trouble. There are now two groups using "Momentum" as a moniker, the other prefixed with "Grassroots". Both have organised conferences which have turned out to be pitifully small. The Weekly Worker reports:

It really is astounding that the best an organisation with 22,000 members and a database of over 250,000 supporters should come up with is such a lame, apolitical and tiny gathering. Who would have thought 18 months ago that the incredible energy, enthusiasm and pure joy created by the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party would be so criminally wasted?

Momentum might claim that 600 people attended the event in a freezing former factory a mile from the nearest train station in Birmingham. But unless they counted people twice as they went in and then left again (for quite a few not a great deal of time passed between those two moments), they have clearly applied the creative counting method so beloved by sects like the Socialist Worker Party. No more than 350 people shivered in the graffiti-covered hall with its (literally) shitty toilet facilities.

And as for the "other" Momentum:

Mind you, the ‘opposition’ to Jon Lansman’s autocratic rule is not faring much better, I am afraid to say. The steering committee of Grassroots Momentum has so far not managed to meet and it looks like its first gathering will not happen before April 22 - a whopping six weeks after it was elected. And, although the SC continues to squabble over such weighty issues as how long its lunch break will be, a majority did manage to agree on one thing: not to make an organised intervention on March 25. There might have only been 350 people there, but clearly not all of them were loyal and unthinking Lansman supporters. They could and should have been engaged with, at the very least by handing out a leaflet, intervention from the floor and perhaps at a fringe meeting.

These summaries do not sound like a report of an organisation preparing for power of any sort. In fact the sessions which took place around the conference were all run by previously established protest groups:

A majority of the workshops were run by outside organisations, without being labelled as such. For example, Labour Party Marxists supporters attended workshops that were run by The World Transformed, Talk Socialism and even Hope Not Hate. They were clearly based on ‘training sessions’ that these organisations run on a relatively frequent basis - utterly devoid of any real politics, focusing only on ‘method’ and run by young, overly eager people who reminded me of Duracell bunnies.

In fact having seen the photos from the conference these "duracell bunnies" were about the only young people there. The vast majority of attendees look like and probably are the usual people who turn up on demonstrations to make themselves feel they are still "part of the struggle" when they are nothing of the sort.

In fact these aging old lefties, the small number of Trots and other assorted miscreants that formed the Corbynista movement are part of the problem and definitely not the solution.

The fact is the Tory government should be under intense pressure. From budget back downs over self-employed National Insurance to shenanigans  over Brexit its all been a bit of a mess. Trouble is the electorate seem happier with Theresa May making a few errors to the alternative that Corbyn represents which in most peoples eyes would be even worse. 

Since gaining ascendency in the Labour Party the so-called left around Corbyn has achieved precisely nothing. They can't even organise themselves after 18 months and have a tendency to blame everything that goes wrong on their opponents both inside and outside the Party itself.

And don't even mention those "pesky Zionists" manipulating behind the scenes. 

A survey showed that it was not just incompetence that put people off voting Labour. It was also the presence of anti-Semitism inside the party. Livingstone can revise history as much as he wants but he has succumbed to the Historical revisionism so present on the far right and now entrenched in the far-left.

This political pantomime still has some time to run. McCluskey faces re-election, Livingstone expulsion but the internal conflict is far from over. Whether a sustainable opposition aprty will arise out of the ashes is still not clear.

One thing is quite clear. There is no opposition to the Tories and the blame lies squarely on the far-left and Jeremy Corbyn.

For the good of the country. Please fuck off.