This is music for Halloween with Marilyn Manson

The things that go "bump in the night" are stirring preparing to wake for their annual feast of terror on the unwitting.

Witches brew and their familiars mewl.

So make sure you have your treats ready for the knock on the door or fear what tricks may haunt later tonight.

Meanwhile some music to get you in the mood! Take it away Marilyn

At last a General Election: The people yawn...

The news that there is finally to be a General Election may have excited the politicians and their followers and given the keyboard warriors something to rant about  other than Brexit but the world around us remains unimpressed. Who cares anymore.

Do politicians think of anyone except themselves and who do we vote for? Boris may be bad but the alternative Corbyn? A leftover from the 19th Century let alone the seventies. Then there Jo Swinson if anyone on the street remembers her name. Nigel Farage probably has a higher profile but he's just a bar propping politician.

Will the election solve anything anyway? The polls suggest a large lead for Boris but they did the same for poor old Theresa May who blew an opportunity to rid the nation of old Compo Corbyn through sheer incompetence.

Then there's the Nationalists snapping at everyone's ankles demanding this or that. Not just the Scots the DUP want their pot of gold for every vote. There's more than a few independents in Parliament including a small group around Change UK or whatever they call themselves this week (and I'm a paid up member).

Voting in this election is not going to be straightforward. Most people are sick of the "B" word. I certainly and when meeting up with a group of people I hadn't seen for years we all agreed at the start that , the unmentionable was to be exactly that.

Relief all round.

Sky even has a news channel sans news about Brexit so sick of it people are, yet so many of the political establishment will be making promises around Europe. In or out just get it done. We've had a vote. You lost let's just go. We've become the laughing stock of the world with our failure to deal with this crisis. So much for "Great Britain".

The "Mother of Parliaments" is broken.

I blame all of them. 

The General Election will now start in earnest as the parties strt vying for your vote. It's going to be more wide open than people think because old party loyalties have started to meltdown. The nation is divided and polarised more than anytime since the Civil War.

Unless a new Oliver Cromwell rises from the fray then the slogan must revolve around a very basic ABC.

Anybody But Corbyn.

Nuff said?!! 

Support the new LGB Alliance against Homophobia and Misogyny

The news that a large number of Gay, Lesbian & Bi-sexual activists and their supporters have broken from Stonewall (despite the latter's denials) to set up a new organisation that specifically campaigns on their major concerns of rights for those attracted to the same sex should be no surprise.

Over the last few years there has been a growth in the "gender" agenda, in particular demands by a very aggressive wave of of trans activists whose demands have detracted from the core purpose of Stonewall and in particular have attempted  to undermine not just women's sex based rights but in particular those of lesbians.

Sex and gender are different and it's not possible to actually change sex only "gender". The main dispute that I have been following and campaigning against (mainly on Facebook) is the question of "Self-ID" which women see as a direct threat to their sex based rights.

It's become impossible to have a sensible debate on this issue as the hard line trans activists and their supporters simply shout "bigot" or "transphobe at everyone who queries the practical consequences of this. The no-platforming of women's rights speakers by the new wave of so-called "woke" activists in universities has suppressed not just discussion but research and education itself.

These activists have become a threat not just to women and lesbians but to free speech.

In particular many are disturbed by the argument of the "cotton ceiling" in which trans "women" who retain (and have no plans to change) their male genitals claim lesbians who refuse to sleep with them are bigots. This is nothing but a sense of male entitlement and frankly quite a perverse attitude. No one has the right to demand anyone sleep with them.

It's called rape.

The foundation of the LGB Alliance has been met with fury by the bullies of the  modern trans-movement.  Biologically they remain males regardless of gender declaration.  There has been an attempt to prevent the new group from fund raising. They have been attacked as a hate group by the trans-fascists and their allies when they are nothing of the sort.

Women's Rights activists have new allies in the form of the LGB Alliance. They should be supported by all of us who seek reasoned debate about the issues of Women, Gay and Lesbian Rights.

LGB Alliance on Facebook: LGB-Alliance-UK

LGB Alliance on Twitter: AllianceLgb

Hawkwind - All Aboard The Skylark Out today!

Over 50 years Hawkwind have released 30 studio albums, had countless lineup changes and had problems with drugs yet here they are still going strong with their latest album All Aboard The Skylark.

This is a 2 CD package with a bonus acoustic disk of previously released material. The main album brings back memories of the seventies. Space Rock at it's best.

Top marks guys!

The usual tricks in PCS election deployed?

One of the candidates has issued a statement that reflects a problem that happened every year there was an election. The house press would feature all the candidates who were in situ and people you never heard from suddenly issued circulars to members and reps. During one general Secretary Election in particular the number of photos of Mark Serwotka appearing in the PCS View Magazine was so excessive it even embarrassed some of the man's supportrs.

Problem is control of a unions bureaucracy can so easily be manipulated and one sees it in a lot of organisations not just the PCS union. It's become part of the "game" so to speak but should it be? Shouldn't all communications during an election be anonymised or signed and issued by other officials. Serwotka does have an Assistant General Secretary.

Bev Laidlaw's statement: 

I won’t appear in every single PCS press release

One of the big changes that PCS needs to enact is an overhaul of its communications.

We need a communications strategy thatis more vibrant and flexible, making efficient use of all available technologies and media platforms. This includes everything from making our

leaflets and briefings stand out more to better use of things like textbroadcasts to social media content not being decided by committee.

We also need to give local branches more control of their own communications, allowing them to get out messages without needless bureaucratic hurdles or attempts to over-manage the content that in effect strip out the local flavour.

The most basic change that I will implement if elected is that I won’t insist on being front and centre of every single communication that the union puts out. Of course, I will comment and respond to the issues where necessary, but I will also be conscious of when to step aside and let others in our union take the spotlight. The members directly affected by an issue, the reps doing the work, the officials to whom credit is due on whatever issue we’re talking about.

I want to build a truly mass movement to change our union, and as part of that I want to be a General Secretary who realises that it’s not all about me.

Go to: bev4gs.com for more information.

Doctor Who: Interstital/Feast of Fear (Big Finish Audio)

The latest Doctor Who audio adventure from Big Finish arrived yesterday with a double feature of the Fith Doctor with Nyssa & Tegan in tow. The continued popularity of these monthly adventures is amazing as this is release number 257! I collected these in the years that there was no Doctor Who on TV until the one-off Paul McGann film was shown and flopped.

The audio adventures not only reprised the roles of Colin Baker, Peter Davison and Sylvester Mcoy but gave whole seasons to the Eighth Doctor and a life and presence of his own. There's all sorts of spin offs and there are now audio adventures featuring David Tennant and seemingly everyon'es favourite Tom Baker.

  

There's even companion chronicles featuring all sorts of actors that have appeared in Doctor Who since the sixties including Fraser Hines (Emmerdale) who plared Jamie alongside Wendy Padbury and the second Doctor my personal favourite Patrick Troughton.

Billie Piper has begun her own solo adventures on audio as has "Missy" the fun female incarnation of the Master. I understand John Simms is to make a comeback on TV but more on that next year I'm afraid.

 

Frankly if you miss Doctor Who or fancy a little light entertainment these audios are well worth buying. Usually these audios are one story 4 parters (except for the special series which have different formats) to reflect the TV show. This CD is different in that it has two seperate adventures. Interstitial where the Doctor finds a research centre using time as a weapon. The other is set in the Irsish famine and something evil is arriving in a carnival.

Go to: www.bigfinish.com

On my other blog: Doctor Who Magazine 40th Anniversary

Socialist Party underhanded tactics in PCS election

The election for the General Secretary of PCS has begun in earnest as untoward suggestions are made to the candidate from the Independent Left, Bev laidlaw.

In a statement released yesterday Bev writes:

I want to clarify something. I am not standing as a PCS General Secretary candidate to unseat anyone or gain control over our union. Several people have asked or implied that as there are now 3 candidates I should consider stepping aside so there is only 1 candidate opposing Mark Serwotka and that is the best way to get rid of him.

The reason I have stood is because that I and other IL members/supporters believe in the platform I am standing on and the principles I have had since becoming a member of PCS over 27 years ago.

Given the only other candidate other than the vainglorious one himself is the Socialist Party candidate Marion Lloyd it doesn't take any effort to guess where this proposal came from.  Hell hath no fury like scorned lovers or comrades in this case as the say!

Marion has more nominations than Bev due to residual SP activism in the union and her group Presidency but given the recent election of John Maloney as Assistant general Secretary and the decline of Serwotka's base (he got far less nominations than in previous years) the contest would seem more wide open than in the past. A lot of Serwotka and Marion's support will come from the same camp whilst others will be looking for an alternative.

A three way split makes Bev a reasonable bet, though still an outside chance. Perhaps members will go for a different leadership. If they bother to vote that is. So few do.

Meanwhile another bunch from what was Militant  known as Socialist Appeal and still buried deep in the Labour Party have interviewed Mark Serwotka though only the hardcore activists will bother their sycophancy which is more down to their sectarian desire to further isolate and humiliate their former partners in the Socialist Party.

PCS has declined in size and influence under Serwotka and the Socialist Party's joint disastrous leadership over the years. PCS became a tool for their political desires and agenda's. PCS ceased being a representative union and became by design an "activists led" union.

Both Serwotka and his former Socialist Party allies have failed their members. Their disagreement comes down to both simply wanting control over the largest of the civil service unions. Neither have ever had the members interests at heart.

Despite my substantial disagreements with Bev Laidlaw she would seem the better choice and is certainly a decent individual.

Bev Laidlaw's campaign can be found here: bev4gs.com

Scrublands: Thriller set in the Australian outback

Picked up at random (the way I usually buy books) Scrublands turned out to be an excellent read well worth the added label "Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month. I don't know when that was must have missed the paper that day but this tale of a reporter becoming involved in the town of Riversend and it's people was extraordinarily gripping.

A year ago the local Priest went berserk shooting five men with a rifle and with great accuracy until put down by the local cop. How has the town fared since then? Martin Scarsfield is sent by his paper to find out.

As he investigates this drought-ridden backwater the mystery deepens, more crime appears and a life is saved but there is so much else going in this tale of intrigue, rape and betrayal. Martin who had survived a three day ordeal locked in the boot of a car in Gaza until rescued could make or break his career in this small rundown town,

There is so much more to this shooting than meets the eye. And why is the ASIO here? A real page turner.

Labour drives away another Jewish MP

The news that Louise Ellman has quit the Labour Party comes as no surprise. There is very little room for Jews in the Labour Party these days. Anti-Semitism has become so ingrained amongst the so-called "left" of the party because of the influx of the "three-pounder" and their banal sloganeering and simplistic narrow minded outlook.

The activists who mix far right anti-Semitic memes and notions with the banal anti-imperialism that sees "Palestine" as the sole international issue and Jews, not really Zionists if they are honest as colonialists rather than having ethnically originated from Israel. Simple left-wing racism.

Labour is no longer a party for us. Nor is it a party for other ethnic groups.

Louise Ellman tweeted:

"I have made the truly agonising decision to leave the Labour Party after 55 years. I can no longer advocate voting Labour when it risks Corbyn becoming PM. I will continue to serve the people of Liverpool Riverside as I have had the honour to do since 1997."

PCS General Secretary: The three horse race begins...

After much speculation it is now clear that there will be two challengers to incumbent head honcho of the PCS union Mark Serwotka in the forthcoming General Secretary election. The Independent Left candidate Bev Laidlaw was known to have obtained at least the minimum 15 Branch nominations required to stand. The question mark hung over Marion Lloyd of the Socialist Party.

Marion has now announced that she has obtained 39 nominations far in excess of what some wags on the fringes of the union were predicting. However the kind of meetings where nominations are discussed are notoriously small and easily swayed or dominated by organised supporters of candidates where they exist. This process would have been similar in all the other nominating branches.

It shows there is still a base for the Socialist Party in PCS despite the departure of the bulk of it's well known and highly experienced members for the Socialist View camp in their recent series of splits. Marion may also pick up a good personal vote as despite her politics is a quite amiable individual.

One of her supporters claimed that she "offered something different" but this is where propaganda and reality part company. The major rupture between the Serwotka camp and the Socialist Party occurred over the formers desire to rid himself of his deputy Chris Baugh. Whilst Serwotka didn't get the replacement he backed (the Independent Left candidate John Moloney got elected) Baugh did lose his position.

Political differences had developed over the desire of Serwotka to orientate, even affiliate PCS to the Labour Party to support Corbyn whilst the Socialist Party opposed such a move due to their sectarian party building nature. Serwotka had previously backed the SP's Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC) which has disappeared even further into irrelevance.

 For most of the last two decades Serwotka and the Socialist Party had worked hand in hand on the direction of the union, the SP becoming ensconced in the overpaid PCS bureaucracy. Of course that twenty years has seen the decline of the union in both numbers and influence as it's activists substituted themselves for the members dumping that old fashioned democratic idea of PCS being a representative union.

One of the big promises the left candidates make is that they will only take "the average wage" rather than the huge salary PCS pays. Serowtka made a few donations a couple of decades ago but hasn't paid back a penny since then (check the accounts), Baugh never did.  Putting these loud mouthed lefties to shame is John Moloney who not only is "only taking the average wage (of an EO) for his troubles but is publishing the evidence to prove it.

Good for him. Money where his mouth is, more than can be said for Sir Mark Vodka and Chris Baugh who have never kept their word.

The members now face a three way battle for the leadership of their union. More of the same from Serwotka. More of the same but not really from Marion Lloyd and something actually different albeit still left-wing from Bev Laidlaw.

If members want to shake up their union then Bev would be their best choice. Neither Serwotka not Marion have anything to offer members except more of the last twenty years.

Go to: Bev4gs.com

The Sunday Review: Two Thrillers and Torchwood Returns

Thrillers are at the top of my reading list at the moment though these two books are also mysteries that I found quite gripping an entertaining. First up is The July Girls by Phoebe Locke  (Wildfire £16.99 Hardback) which is the authors second published novel. The story revolves around two sisters, their ever absent father and narrated by the younger sister. There's a serial killer and she thinks it's her dad.

Every July a girl dies. What does a young girl do and what are the consequences?

The disruption, emotion and mystery take the reader deep into the mind of a ten year old who during the stories development grows up and turns into quite a determined and wise young lady. However all around may not be as it seems . Who's blood was that anyway?

Next up is The Taking of Annie Thorn by C.J.Tudor (Penguin £8.99 Paperback) a grim tale of a teacher who returns to his home town to escape "The Fatman" to whom he owes a lot of money and takes a job at his old  school. Nothings as straightforward as it seems . Throw in the backstory of his sister going missing and coming back different and there's a mystery to be resolved. Especially since Joe Thorne has recived a text saying it's all happening again...

Joe is a loser, a prat as his new found friend Beth calls him but decent enough. Just shouldn't gamble especially when there's a psychotic little blond on your trail. Can he find the money and why is he getting the bejesus kicked out of him.  There is mystery afoot with twists that you will not see coming.

Finally there's the "return" of Torchwood on audio by Big Finish Productions, the one's who bring you Doctor Who on CD. Actually they've been doing Torchwood spin-offs for a while but one can't have everything so it was only I noticed when the latest release The Vigil starring Naoko Mori one of my favourite actresses who plays Toshiko Sato in the series.

Now Toshiko was killed off at the end of season one if I recall correctly so assuming she hasn't miraculously come back to life in previous audio episodes of Torchwood that's where I have assumed the story is set. Somebody will probably write in saying that blah, blah., but until I hear otherwise...

Tashiko has brought his body home to his mother, a strong woman who seems well informed about Torchwood. Her family has served the nation for centuries. Going back and forth in time we see Sebastian and Toshiko hunt for leeches. Alien ones that is.

A passable adventure but not one that inspires me to collect the others.  There's another one out next month but I'm not convinced. In the meantime there's plenty of Doctor Who audio to be collected including releases from the BBC. Watch this space!

Demonstrate against Turkish Attack on the Kurds!

Urgent call to action:

SUNDAY 13th October 

1pm BBC Portland Place (W1A 1AA) 

(near Oxford Circus tube) 

No to a Turkish invasion of Syria – solidarity with the Kurds!

Cross-Post from Eric Lee




Five years ago, the Kurdish enclave of Kobane in Northern Syria was besieged by Islamic State fighters, who then seemed to be on an unstoppable march through Iraq and Syria, with cities and towns falling swiftly under their control.

But in Kobane, their advance was stopped by Kurdish fighters. Those fighters, men and women alike, were exceptionally brave and determined to resist the Islamist onslaught. And they were not alone. They received help from the Obama administration, which had airdropped bundles of arms, ammunition and medical aid.

Today they are once again under threat, but this time it’s not IS they’re worried about. It’s President Obama’s successor in the White House, who has apparently given the green light to the Turkish government to invade Syria.

In 2014, support for the Kurdish enclave in northern Syria was strong among some sections of the labour movement and the Left.

I recall addressing a rally in Trafalgar Square, mostly attended by members of London’s Kurdish community. But among the speakers were human rights activist Peter Tatchell and a leading trade unionist from the RMT. I spoke about the international labour movement’s responsibility to defend the people of Kobane, which was under siege.

Today, the labour movement has once again taken the lead to speak out against the imminent threat of a Turkish invasion. The European Trade Union Confederation has issued a very strong statement. Its General Secretary, Luca Visentini, called on “European leaders to do everything within their power to stop a Turkish invasion of northern Syria”. He said that such an attack would be senseless, and would “send Syria back to square one”.

I hope those leaders are listening.

Free West Papua Campaign Update

An investigation by Facebook has revealed that the Indonesian Government spent over $300,000 on propaganda accounts, spreading misinformation across Facebook and Instagram about the ongoing genocide in West Papua. As a result of the investigation, 69 Facebook accounts, 42 Pages and 34 Instagram pages have been removed.

Although those behind the activity attempted to conceal their identities, the Facebook investigation found links to an Indonesia media firm called InsightID, based in the capital Jakarta. There can be little doubt that the source of the money to fund this propaganda network came from the Indonesian Government.



As well as Facebook, there has been a surge of Indonesian propaganda accounts on Twitter too. These formed the basis of an investigation by BBC investigator Benjamin Strick, and we now look forward to Twitter taking action against those responsible.

The Indonesian Government's fraudulent activity will only serve to increase the international media attention on what they are desperately trying to conceal in West Papua, where over 500,000 innocent people have lost their lives at the hands of the Indonesian military.

The voices of the West Papuan people will never be silenced. We have a right to self-determination under international law and are united in our struggle to be free from this illegal colonial rule.





If you're not already doing so, please be sure to follow daily updates from the campaign over on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

You can get more involved in campaigning by visiting our website, where you will find a number of actions listed - from joining a protest, to writing to your MP or just telling your friends about the struggle for freedom.

The cries for freedom in West Papua have never been louder. Thank you as always for your support and helping to amplify our voices to the international community. We will be free.

PCS: The comrades fallout continues

One of the major problems that has led to the decline of the largest civil service trade union PCS was the hijacking of it's apparatus by the far-left. They forced through a policy of changing the role of PCS from being a "Representative Union" (i.e. looking after what the members themselves want to being an "activist led union which meant PCS has for years operated on the basis of what the left wanted to achieve regardless of it's members wishes.

In many ways under the current General Secretary Mark Serwotka in conjunction with the Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers Party the far left substituted itself for the members and created a very vanguardist union. Variously Serwotka and his supporters took PCS to promoting Respect and George Galloway and when that failed after the fallout between the gorgeous one and the SWP the General Secretary then threw his weight behind the Socialist Party's ill-fated Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.

The TUSC was an abject failure and became irrelevant after the rise of Corbynism which coincided with a split between Serwotka and the Socialist Party (Militant) The squabbling between the two over the prime Assistant General Secretary Post saw both Serwotka's nominee and the SP candidate lose to a third left-wing  candidate a member of the Independent Left and Alliance for Workers Liberty.

Now the battles continue as Serotka seeks reelection facing opposition from the Socialist Party in the form of Marion Lloyd and Bev Laidlaw of the Independent Left. However a new dispute between the two allies has arisen over the question of backing the Labour Party without the consent of it's actual membership.

Considering that pushing the interests and affiliations of the far-left using the unions resources and funds is part of the course in PCS . Every tin-pot cause that comes along appears on the unions conference agenda that few members take notice of or participate in the decision making process. Under the Serwotka, the Socialist Party and those that left the the SP are all responsible along with others for this state of affairs yet despite surreptitiously using the union to back the TUSC and it's trade union equivalent the National Shop Stewards Movement (NSSN) the Socialist Party suddenly complain:

Last week's decision by the leadership of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union to recommend to members in England and Wales that they vote for all Labour candidates without qualification in a future general election could prove to be a damaging mistake, coming hard on the heels of further moves against Jeremy Corbyn by the right-wing Blairites at this week's Labour Party conference.

The move to uncritical support for Labour candidates was pushed by general secretary Mark Serwotka, on the grounds that there could be a general election before the end of the year....

Our union has always said that we are not politically neutral, because we fight austerity, we fight for jobs, for universal social security nets, for the tax loopholes exploited by the billionaires to be closed - and for well-paid jobs for our members, to implement this pro-worker agenda. But we are politically independent.

That independence has been cast away in favour of wholesale endorsement of Labour in England and Wales, which has been done without levying a single demand or a single condition on any of the hundreds of parliamentary candidates we will now potentially be supporting.

Total hypocrisy given their previous antics. All of the above is as because their TUSC  project will be finally finished off for the farce that it always was.

The Serwotka supporting left also somewhat hypocritically claim this is all down to sectarianism in a statement issued by Gordon Rowntree the Left Unity National organiser:

Contrary to claims by the SP the NEC did not decide a new political strategy nor pre-empt the current consultation but instead agreed on how to implement current policy and put in place arrangements to secure a UK wide Corbyn-led government, with due regard to differing political circumstances in the devolved areas - precisely as agreed by ADC. Had the NEC not met to decide on how ADC policy should be carried out then the PCS general election campaign would have been severely disadvantaged and under-prepared.

Note that the reference is to the ADC (Conference) which means delegates or activists made a decision on behalf of members without asking them. Few PCS members would be aware of these antics as the conference booklets are huge unreadable tomes for non-activists. Attendance at Mandating meetings is minute.

Members will of course vote for a variety of political parties from left to right. There may be some who will vote Labour but many will vote for the Tories, Liberals and the Brexit Party let alone the SNP in Scotland.

It's no wonder the union has declined in size regardless of cuts as members simply gave up on all this nonsense and most simply remain for an insurance policy should they need representation. PCS long ago gave up fighting for it's members to pursue a political agenda on behalf of it's far-left activists. 

New Release: In the Raw - Tarja

The latest album from the Queen of Rock Tarja got it's release yesterday. The former lead singer of the Finnish band Nightwish (still around and well worth checking out) continues her solo career with a truly inspiring set of songs on In the Raw. Only a couple are available on You Tube so you'll have to buy the album to hear them but it's worth the entry fee and comes with a booklet of photos and lyrics.

Rock music still rules!

New Doctor Who Trailer Mission Into the Unknown

Not exactly new in the sense that this is a remake of a long lost episode of Doctor Who Mission Into The Unknown which led into the famous 12 part story The Dalek Master Plan.

The BBC report:

The recreation has been championed by several Doctor Who luminaries including Nicholas Briggs, who provided the Dalek voices for the recreated episode, and stars like Peter Purves, who played 1960s companion Steven Taylor, and Edward de Souza, who played Marc Cory in the original episode, who have visited the new set to lend their support.

Mission to the Unknown will premiere on 9th October at 17:50 (UK) on the Doctor Who YouTube channel.