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.