The Monkees - Live: The Mike & Mickey Show!

The Monkees were one of the more memorable bands that came out of the Beatle influenced pop of the sixties. First appearing in the eponymous TV series of their own the foursome Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith.



The Monkees had a whole string of hits including Last Train to Clarksville their first single and number hit which is featured in this live performance from the two surviving band members.  There are a total of 25 tracks n this album which has much more of a country influence than many will expect as Mike Nesbit has had a successful solo career in the Country vein.

I only came across this by accident when doing a week of Monkees songs on my Facebook page and I'm glad I did as whilst not quite the band I remember from my childhood is great fun to listen to. If you want the original songs there's plenty of "greatest hits" compilations out there but this one comes recommended.



Official website: www.monkees.com

Combat Biplanes of World War II - Peter C. Smith

Combat Biplanes of World War II - Peter C. Smith (Pen & Sword Books Paperback* /£16.99


The Second World War was a conflict that not only spanned the whole globe, saw the death of untold millions and destruction on a scale unimaginable, it also saw the advancement of science and technology.

Both the Germans and the Allies started the war with huge amounts of antiquated military equipment including the old fashioned biplane yet by the end of the conflict there not just jets and even guided missiles there were also rockets and nuclear bombs. A huge advance in technical ability in such a short period of history.

Of course jets and rockets were being developed before the war even began but it is an indictment of the time that so many nations despite the development of the much more modern monoplane were still using planes that would have seemed not that much out of place in the previous conflict.



Sadly yet not without some merit it was the British RAF and Navy that operated the largest number of the these types of aircraft the most famous being the Gloster Gladiator and Friary Swordfish the latter used to knock the Italian Navy out of the war in a raid on Taranto.

There were many others particularly around the fringes of Empire and many older British types such as the Hawker Fury in service with foreign air forces.

Most famous of all are the three Gladiators, Faith, Hope and Charity that defended Malta. There was in fact a fourth but it was used for spare parts. The Gladiator also saw service in the Finnish Air-Force fighting for the axis until Finland changed sides.



The Italian Air-Force the Regia Aeronautica used biplanes such as the Fiat CR 32 & 42 which were popular with their pilots and did sometimes acquit themselves well when faced with more modern opposition. The Germans made use of the HenscheL Hs.123 a dive-bomber that saw service in several theatres which only ended as spare parts ran out towards the end of the war despite the pilots protests.



And yet it is the rickety old fashioned Polikarpov Po 2  or "Mule" used by the Russians that stands out not just in war use, most famously bt the Night Witches, female pilots harassing the Germans by night but to the incredulity of Nato experts remained in service throughout the Korean war (It was too slow to be shot down by jets!) and on duty until 1991.


photo: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 1

These are just some of the aircraft covered by this book which is published for the  aviation/military enthusiast and contains far-too much detail like a train spotters guide however fit is possible for the casual reader to skip these sections as war service and "foreign nation" uses are clearly headed. A fascinating look at a piece of aviation history.
__________

* This edition 2020, Hardback 2015.

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Viscerals

I recently started subscribing to the Rough Trade newsletter  on email which gives plenty of info about up and coming or at least "alternative bands, some good and some... well not to my taste. Amongst their offerings a while back was a piece and video for Newcastle based Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs which besides ranking amongst the oddest names I've seen for a band in a while. They also had a very good if disturbing video. Wallace and Gromit this is not.

The album arrived this morning along with an unexpected Ltd Edition freebie of a CD with live tracks from their past performances (Exclusive to Rough Trade Shops). I'm sitting here listening to the main album as I type and there is a hint of Hawkwind & Heavy Metal amongst their influences.

It's certainly heavy and I rather like it even though they will never have mainstream appeal their material is something different and well worth the price of entry.

Available from: www.roughtrade.com




Official Website: www.pigsx7.com

Socialist Worker Cult: A new split over bullying & sexism

Many readers will remember the huge divisions that erupted in the Socialist Workers Party over the "Comrade Delta" affair when one of their leading members Martin Smith was accused of rape and harassment by one of their 17 year old members who felt he had abused his position to abuse her. The SWP fell apart with members leaving in droves setting up new organisations, most short-lived or drifting away from activism completely.

What was left in the SWP were the hard-liners. The cultists who followed the leadership regardless. It was a much reduced organisation after the scandal exposed the degeneration of the party's internal regime.

Yet even amongst those who remained problems have persisted as this latest split in which a group of members in the North East have quit over bullying & harassment issues exasperated by the SWP National Secretary.

Given the group that has left includes long term hack Yunus Baksh the latest split is bound to effect what remains of the SWP elsewhere.

The group have issued the following statement. A link to full allegations is included.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

April 25th 2020

We, the undersigned, have resigned from our membership from the SWP. It saddens us deeply to have to take this action, but we feel that the Central committee and sections of Disputes committee have left us no other options in their failure to take seriously, or indeed even investigate, ongoing complaints of a bullying, misogynistic and sexist culture in the Newcastle branch; as well as their failure to investigate the conduct of Joint National Secretary Amy Leather, following a ‘special members meeting’ held in Newcastle on 11th March 2020, following which 6 formal complaints were submitted to the DC by comrades in the branch. These complaints included concerns around safeguarding, accessibility, bullying, harassment, slander and institutional racism.

All 6 complainants have been met with a point blank refusal on the part of DC to even investigate their complaints, which spurred the complainants to submit a ‘Open Letter to the CC and DC’ dated the 16th April, which was signed by 14 members of the Newcastle SWP branch, urging the DC to investigate these complaints. Despite the fact that a larger proportion of the active membership of the Tyneside branch signed this letter, than those who did not, we have still been met with a point-blank refusal to investigate our concerns.

Please click here to view the bundle of evidence provided by all 6 complainants.

These concerns originate back to August 2018 when a branch member MD was suspended for 6 months for abusive and aggressive conduct towards one of the female complainants RM. During his suspension, and following his return to party activity, RM continued to raise concerns about MD’s conduct toward her (and her 9 year old child on one occasion) and the fact she felt he had broken confidentiality and spread mistruths about the nature of his suspension, misleading others into believing that they had been in a relationship, and that she had received unfair treatment and animosity from some sections of the branch as a result. RM and YB had also raised concerns with the DC and the CC about the ‘toxic’ culture in the branch, and the conduct of members of the branch (including SH the branch secretary), which predated the meeting on 11th March.

On the 11th March, a ‘special members meeting’ was held, an hour prior to the meeting for International Women’s Day and facilitated by Amy Leather. It was clear from the branch group messenger prior to the meeting that AL and SH, the branch secretary, had given contradictory explanations as to the reason for this meeting and some comrades in the branch were more privy to the purpose of the meeting than others ( please see screenshots in Folder 3 from the bundle of evidence). When some members of the branch sought direct clarification as to the purpose of the meeting in the chat, and in direct messages to AL and SH, they were ignored. These included requests for clarification from FH, a female comrade who wished to discuss her accessibility needs, which went ignored and unaddressed.

The meeting itself was later described by all 6 complainants as a ‘kangaroo court’ in which AL gave untrue and a slanderous account of the suspension of YB in front of his partner RM ( who was given no prior warning as to the purpose of the meeting). This is despite the fact that AL and SH knew she was planning to attend, and that she normally attends meetings with her 9 year old daughter. She left the meeting in tears, as did another male comrade.

Indeed another comrade felt so concerned by the content of the meeting and the bullying conducted by AL, that they felt that they had a duty of care to record the meeting. We offered the recording to the DC as part of our complaints, and yet they refused to consider it as evidence.

We believe that Amy Leather’s conduct on the 11th March emboldened an already toxic culture of bullying, harassment, sexism and misogyny within the branch. This became apparent in the branch group messenger when 3 female comrades (RM, EN and C’OD) and later a male comrade (LA) left the group, citing bullying, sexism and misogyny as their rationale for leaving ( please see Folder 6 from the evidence bundle).

This then prompted JH, one of the male members of the branch whom RM had previously raised concerns about predating the meeting on the 11th March, to post in the group branch messenger:
“Women complaining about misogyny from men in the branch. Some would say fake news”.

These comments go unchallenged by both AL, the National secretary and SH the branch secretary.

JH then sent distressing, sexist and unsolicited private messages to C’OD and RM (Folder 6 ).

The DC’s response to receiving these screenshots was to “ask JH not to post on social media in relation to this” and to not contact either women again, despite RM stating at the time that she felt this was an inadequate response on the part of the DC. However, JH continued to attack both women in comments in the group messenger, even after the DC had told him to desist.

It took the DC nearly two weeks to suspend JH pending investigation, and when he was eventually removed from the group chat by Simon Hall, he was allowed to mislead members of the branch by posting that he was leaving the group as he was taking a break due to health reasons, when in fact he had been suspended. He continued to be invited to branch activity and meetings on Facebook, even after his suspension, which RM had to highlight with the DC and branch secretary.

Not only do we have major concerns with the DC’s failure to investigate our complaints; we also have concerns as evidenced in our email correspondence, that the DC failed to adhere to their own ‘Terms of Reference’, that sections of the DC were biased and clearly working under the direct instruction of the CC, that they allowed malicious and fictitious complaints to be made (which can be proven as such in the evidence bundle) to be made against SM, one of the complainants, whilst his and the complaints of the other 5 comrades were ignored.

More so, we feel that the actions and conduct of Laura Miles, Chair of the DC has been reprehensible. As you will see from the emails, she has at no point shown any concern or empathy for the welfare of the complainants. The female comrades particularly feel that they have been treated with contempt and utter dismissal, and that in fact, the complaints process with the DC in itself, has been an abusive process to those women.

We would urge anyone reading this, to follow the link and view all of the bundle of evidence that we have attached, including various email correspondence, complaints, screenshots and a tape recording of the meeting on 11th March.

We want to be clear that we hold the leadership of the SWP responsible for this current crisis in the Tyneside branch; the same leadership who presided over the mishandling of the Comrade Delta crisis back in 2013. A leadership that has never been held to account for their mistakes; and a leadership that has clearly learnt nothing from their handling of the Comrade Delta case.

We would therefore urge any non-party members, not to view this as a reflection of the majority of the rank and file membership of the SWP, but as a symptom of the rotten leadership of the organisation and sections of the DC, whom we believe have acted under the direct instruction of Amy Leather.

To those SWP members, we apologise that we have had to release this into the public domain. We hope that you will see from our evidence attached, that we exhausted every opportunity within the internal party procedures to have our voices heard and have our complaints investigated.

The final straw for us, was when CO’D, one of the female comrades who was a full subs paying member at the time of her complaint, wrote to the DC to enquire as to why she had received no response from the DC regarding her complaints of a toxic culture of misogyny, sexism and bullying in the branch ( as well as the unsolicited messages of a sexist and distressing nature from JH), informing Laura Miles that she had since been driven out of the branch by such behaviour and that she had ‘suspended’ her subs, but hoped to reinstate them once the complaints had been addressed by the DC, and was told by Laura Miles:

“Regarding the complaint you made, obviously the DC cannot action a complaint by someone who is not a party member and so it has been set aside and is not being actively pursued”. (Please see the document 5 in the evidence bundle).

We feel that this gives a free pass to those who would seek to abuse and harass women in the party, that as long as they do a good enough job that they drive the women to leave the organisation, then they won’t have to worry about an investigation into their conduct. It is an abusers’ charter, and we cannot remain part of an organisation that despite its protestations of having learned from the Comrade Delta debacle, fails to take seriously the oppression and harassment of women, fails to safeguard its female members and effectively colludes with abusers and covers up cases of abuse and harassment within the party.

We would urge rank and file SWP members to hold an investigation into this scandal and hold those in the leadership to account for what they have done to the party that we were once proud to be members of.

In solidarity,

Catherine O’ Donovan
FH
Rachel Meenan
Val P
AE
Adam Laurie
Liam Anderson
Mark Thompson
Conor Taylor
J Alice Brown
Simon Mulligan
Yunus Bakhsh

Nightwish: Human Nature - New Album

Nightwish, a symphonic metal group are one of Finland's top bands and along with Battle Beast have certainly influenced my musical tastes these days. Their seventh studio release Imaginaerum ranks as one of the finest albums of all time and certainly makes my top ten!

Human Nature, their latest release is a double CD with 9 tracks on the first (with the second, Noise featured below) with the second featuring one piece of music in eight movements. This piece uses the poetry and musings of Lord Byron and Carl Sagan.





Official Website: nightwish.com

Lenin and the left's "scorched earth" strategy in Labour

Today as many of the comrades marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov or Lenin as we know him the factional struggle inside the Labour Party continues as the left reacts to it's defeat and the eventual consigning of Corbynism to history. Another chapter in the failure of the far-left.

It's fitting that at a time the hardcore of Corbyn's supporters find themselves exposed as not just extremists but intolerant bullies, misogynists and racists that the various sects should be commemorating the man whose Coup d'etat led to the suppression of non-Bolshevist political parties, the gulags, mass starvation in the Ukraine and eventually to the mass murderers known to history as Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot amongst others.

The Bolsheviks never had majority support and used force to impose their will on government in society at a time when the ancient regime was disintegrating and the fledgling democratic forces were too weak to survive.

Over time the Marxist-Leninists have created myths around their supposed revolution and attributed blame for any failure on others. It's never their fault you see. Capitalists, revisionists and traitors forced their hand. They could have succeeded if only...

 

So we see today's comrades revelling in leaked reports seeing treachery everywhere. It was the right-wing that caused them to fail. The "Blairites" the Jews Zionists, the capitalist press or MSM as they call it. They were so close to power. Labour should have won under their guidance but as always the revolution was betrayed.

Even old Compo himself said the corona virus showed he was right all along for some strange reason as he returned to the back benches promising more of the same as he votes against his own party with impunity as is his want.

The comrades are even calling for a boycott of The Guardian who they accuse of campaigning to bring Corbyn down. There's tweets from the deranged editor of the The Canary a hate-filled website that backed the old codger and a formal campaign to stop people buying the paper.

There's me thinking it was a left-wing rag. Still I'm a Times reader but given the threat to print newspapers I would be more than disturbed to se a paper like The Guardian and it's Sunday sister The Observer go down. We need a broad press even if I dislike much of their output.

 

The left seek to find scapegoats for their failure and if the leaking of the internal report by the Labour Party causes huge financial damage as it probably will with legal action over breaches of the data protection act alone will cause what do they care?

It does not occur to them at all with their rumbustious navel gazing that it was they and Corbyn that lost them the elections. The Tories were failing and a normal mainstream party that existed before them would probably have romped home in 2017 and at least held on to power in 2019.

Problem was the comrades told everyone they disagreed with to "fuck off and join the Tories" and drove thousands of long term members and supporters away. Then they have the audacity to complain they lost. So many ex-supporters did indeed vote Conservative and even Liberal. Many also abstained from voting. In the second election Labour's "Red Wall" deserted them and voted Tory in droves.

Fact is the comrades can't see that they are Labour's worst enemy and turned people away when Labour could have won. The day Corbyn won was the day Labour lost. The battle for the heart and soul of the Labour Party continues despite the lock-down as the internet allows the comrades to argue in an empty room.

The far-left will never learn. Lenin is indeed dead and his ideas should die with him no matter what form they take today.  Marxism in all it's forms has failed. Marx, Lenin, Trotsky and all their disciples inspired by them have failed.

Time to move on. Labour must reclaim social democracy for the 21st Century.

Night of the Bayonets: The Texel Uprising and Hitler's Revenge April - May 1945 by Eric Lee

Night of the Bayonets: The Texel Uprising and Hitler's Revenge April - May 1945 by Eric Lee (Greenhill Books £19.99)

The Second World War was an epic struggle that involved almost the whole of humanity. Hitler and Hirohito's desires for Empire and hegemony caused conflict and death on a scale that is difficult to imagine. Millions died and not just on the battlefields. Civilians were killed in mass air-raids or in reprisals by occupying forces and there was of course the Holocaust which saw Six Million Jews murdered by the Nazi's.

Of course there were other Gypsies, homosexuals and the disabled were all put to death on the orders of Nazi fanatics. And then of course there were the prisoners on the Eastern Front.

More than any other theatre of war it was the war between Nazi Germany and Communist Russia which became the most brutal. There was no humanity by the leaders of either side, This was total war. Russians taken prisoner in the millions died in their millions at the hands of the Germans.

At the same time there were many in Russia who wanted free of Stalin and the Soviet Union. The Ukraine nationalists story is well known but there other nationalities seeking their independence who rather than waste away in German death camps volunteered to fight for Nazi's.

It is here that Georgia comes into view. A small European country which declared independence from Russia and attempted democracy under a Menshevik regime, the story of which can be found in Eric Lee's previous book The Experiment: Georgia's Forgotten Revolution, 1918-1921 (Zed Books/2017).

A large part of this fairly short book is devoted to the history of Georgia around the time of the First World War in which  there had been a strong connection between Imperial Germany and this small country. It's independence and subsequent absorption into the Soviet Empire is covered not forgetting that history's most well known Georgian was one oseb Besarionis dzе Djugashvili or Joseph Stalin.



One of the units the German's recruited was the Georgian Legion.  Like other nationalities they faced immediate execution if caught by the Russians. Stalin had ordered his troops to save their last bullet for themselves rather than surrender.

The main subject of this book is the fate of the Georgian Legion who ended the war the Dutch island of Texel which was a quiet backwater relatively peaceful and untouched as the allies had headed into Germany by-passing much of Holland to try and end the war quickly.


Shalva Loladze, leader of the Georgian rebellion


Then came the order that Georgian troops were to be deployed to fight the allies when everyone knew the war was not only lost but near it's end. To die for nothing on Hitler's orders led to the rebellion in which some 600 Georgians and over 800 Germans lost their lives along with numerous Dutch civilians.

Lee covers the involvement of the Dutch Resistance and the Communist Party which had disgraced itself during the Hitler-Soviet Pact and was seeking redemption. The Georgians also feared being returned to Russia where they could have been summarily shot by the Communists.

This rebellion is and remains controversial and has been used by the Russians for propaganda purposes during the cold war. The Georgians were seeking to save themselves one way or another but their betrayal of their erstwhile allies led to bitter fighting that continued after the war ended so angry were the Germans.

It has to be remembered that these Georgians were in German uniform and their Legion did not exactly have "clean hands" during the conflict. How one judges them is a difficult question. Starving and dying in captivity or life in German uniform?

Overall a fascinating piece of history. Recommended.

Hurricane and Champion: The Companion Papers to Valiant

Cross post from Howie's World of Comics

There may be no new comics as the shops remain shut but the post can still bring worthwhile reading. This is one of to volumes I purchased written by Steve Holland which give excellent guides to long out of print comics. There is a third which I will order and read in due course but for today I have just finished reading the guide to Hurricane and Champion.

As a child I was aware of both of these titles but only read Hurricane in the form of Annuals (I had the ones cover dated 1966 & 1968) whilst Champion was only known to me when it merged with Lion a comic I did occasionally read.

Of the two titles Hurricane ran the longest for 63 weekly issues between February 1964 and May 1965. The only character I really recall was Typhoon Tracy a troubleshooter in the vein of Captain Hurricane of the Valiant. Fists and strength.

 

There was much else as the author reminds us including Skid Solo (which I vaguely recall from the Tiger comic), The Juggernaut from Planet Z and When The Lights Went Out both of which appeal and will hopefully see a reprint from Rebellion who now own all this stuff.

Of course there were the inevitable humour strips like Dirk & Ed who remind me of a similar strip in Odham's Wham! comic which was around that time.

  

Hurricane despite being promoted as the "companion paper to Valiant" ended up being merged in the mostly sport orientated Tiger. The only period I had any interest in that comic as sport does not appeal to me.

 

The other and much shorter lived title covered in this short bu interesting volume is Champion. Never read a copy but it contained quite a lot of sci-fi comic strips a lot of which originated from Europe as apparently half the content was Belgian reprints. Some of these look interesting but not all could easily be reprinted as the Belgians would hold the copy-rights to their stories.

  

However there are only 15 issues to collect before it was subsumed by Lion the much better known comic published by Fleetway.

The guide finishes with and index of stories and annuals. Hurricane despite ending in 1965 continued to have annuals published up until 1974.

Highly Recommended.

Copies can be obtained from: bearalleybooks.blogspot.com

Lovebites - Golden Destination: New single/EP

Despite the lock-down it's still possible to get new releases via mail-order and I was pleased to finally get a copy of Lovebites new single/EP from JPU Records yesterday. The main track Golden Destination is taken from their album Electric Pentagram which I also added to my collection recently.

There are however two new tracks Spellbound & Puppet On Strings plus an orchestral version of Thunder Vengeance (the original version is also on their recent album). This makes for some 20 minutes of cracking metal music from the girls.

More info: jpurecords.com



Official website lovebites.jp

Aldious - Evoke New Album

One of my favourite Metal bands from Japan is Aldious and this is the third of their releases that I've picked up and the first to feature their new lead singer. The material consists of 14 tracks from 2010 to date re-recorded to feature R!N plus the one new song I Wish for You.

Plans had been made for a UK tour but like everything else at them moment has been put on hold.

Further information and updates can be obtained from: jpurecords.com



Official website: aldious.net

Attempt to hijack the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band foiled

Whilst all our attention is mostly on the current pandemic and subsequent lock-down one small story of interest to some may have passed by without notice.

It seems that a company Anglo Atlantic Media had claimed (and already lost)they owned the rights to the name of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. No idea who this company are but it seems that that the ageing members of the band (ranging from 76 to 89) they founded back in the sixties tried not just pinching the band (which they lost last year) but attempted to claim other "wrong-doings" including slander and Trademark Infringement.

These bogus claims were dismissed without merit by the Judge and were ordered to pay the bands costs which The Times quoted as being in the region of £60,000. Serves the shysters right!

Well done lads!

GMB: Labour Party staff union statement

This is text of the statement from the GMB London Region branch for staff at the Labour Party issued Wednesday 15th April 2020 in response to an internal Labour Party report leaked over the weekend of 11th April:

GMB Labour Party staff branch welcomes the statement from Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner, committing to commissioning an urgent independent investigation into the recent leaked internal report into the work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism.

The branch also welcomes and agrees with the 3 areas which the investigation will focus on, namely:

1) The background and circumstances in which the report was commissioned and the process involved.
2) The contents and wider culture and practices referred to in the report.
3) The circumstances in which the report was put into the public domain.

We believe the independence of this investigation is absolutely critical, and we thank the Leader and Deputy Leader for acting swiftly to commission it. We will also be requesting a meeting between GMB representatives and the leadership team at the earliest convenience to discuss the matter prior to the commencement of the investigation.

We would urge any internal investigation to support and complement this independent investigation rather than competing against it.

We are deeply concerned with the report, and the means by which it was commissioned, created, and made public. It is also disappointing that much of the report diverts from the scope of its declared intention, which was to look into the Labour Party’s response to antisemitism. It is also extremely worrying that the report contains transcripts of private conversations between staff on private accounts, using personal equipment.

We agree some of the selected comments attributed to senior staff are absolutely indefensible, it is worth noting that they are not being seen within context and some comments attributed are being flatly denied.

It is also unacceptable that staff members across all levels have had their private communication accessed and their names leaked publicly. The Labour Party would rightly not accept this level of surveillance and intrusion into private conversations of staff in any other workplace, and we believe it therefore should never countenance such practices in the party - let alone authorise them.

This is causing immense stress for those workers, as well as colleagues who are not named but now feel a deep sense of mistrust toward their employer, and the GMB is available to provide support for any of those staff members that require it.

The report has led to a number of people publicly questioning the commitment of Labour Party staff. As a branch, we condemn these suggestions in the strongest terms and would encourage elected representatives and senior figures within the party to behave with restraint when engaging on social media. We consider the mental and physical wellbeing of our members who have no right of reply to be of the utmost importance at this time.

Labour Party staff work extremely hard to deliver a functioning, campaign-ready organisation, and, particularly during elections, give way over and above what is expected of them to help Labour win. Staff regularly put their lives on hold to work for the party, sacrifice time with their families and friends, and push their mental and physical well being to the limit.

They do this work regardless of the politicians they are working directly with and for, and regardless of who leads the party at any given time, because they are dedicated to Labour winning elections and creating a fairer, more just society.

None of them would want to be embroiled in this internal argument during a time like this, when other very serious matters are occupying everyone’s thoughts – indeed, many of them will be working hard in their communities to help with the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

We await the authoritative outcomes of the independent investigation, and hope that people refrain from drawing their own conclusions until it is concluded, and also refrain from attacks, in public and in private, against staff members.

Labour Pains

Photo -CC:SA

The loss of the general election, the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn, and the defeat of the left in the NEC elections, together constitute a major setback. But we are not defeated.

Red Labour, Jewish Voice for Labour, Labour Representation Committee Statement

While the world is rightly focusing it's attention on dealing with and having to live with the Coronavirus pandemic the Labour Party has entered into yet another cycle of  internecine warfare led by Corbyn's former comrades.

Momentum was first up to put pressure on Sir Keir Starmer who became the new Labour leader during the lock-down, voting continuing despite attempts by rabid supporter of Corbyn the keep their Dear Leader in power despite his failures and firm rejection by the electorate.

As the lock-down started causing economic casualties press Kerry-Anne Mendoza of The Canary ,a vicious pro-Corbyn propaganda website gloated the demise of not just the Jewish Chronicle but also Jewish News showing the vile politics of the so-called anti-Zionists. Clearly despite her own origins she betrays her community along with likes of Gild Atzmon and the so-called Jewish Voice for Labour communist cheerleaders for Corbyn.

The far left have compounded the anti-Semitism problem by leaking the internal and quite flawed Labour Party investigation. It shows that those responsible for compiling it were seeking to exonerate Corbyn and themselves from accusations by trying to claim the crisis was all down to procedures and of course trying to deflect the problem by attacking "factionalism" by which they mean their oppnents.

Given the first attempt by Corbyn and his cronies to cover their supporters tracks was a complete white was overseen by  a fawning ally of his in the form of Shami Chakrabarti. The Baroness obtained her pieces of silver in the form of being elevated to the House of Lords as a Baroness which given Corbyn's long standing opposition to the Lords can only be seen as hypocrisy on his part.

As for the Baroness she is is now joined  by the current General Secretary Jenny Formby political concubine of Corbyn's paymaster Len McCluskey a hard line Marxist in charge of Unite one of Britain's largest and most abused unions.

The left seek to blame the Blairites (whatever that defunct term really means and of course the Jews themselves for the problem. In leaking the report the comrades have put many Jewish activists personal details on-line and of course breached the data protection act in doing so.

Labour Against Anti-Semitism  many of whose activists have been found their details on hard-right websites a result of the leak are threatening legal action and rightly so. It seems that the far-left are carrying out a scorched-earth policy as they find themselves in retreat.

Ever since the arrival of the hordes from the fringes of politics into the Labour Party along with pre-existing malcontents the left has pursued a campaign of hate using all forms of bullying and discrimination they have to hand. From the duplicitous and misnamed Jewish Voice of Labour through the "Labour Representation Committee, The Labour Party Marxists and Momentum amongst others the party became a by-word in intolerance.

The moderates who have backed Starmer must now realise that a broad church containing the likes of Corbyn and the others is no longer possible and seek to proscribe the various bodies that operate as parties within parties to promote Marxist style socialism. Momentum, Socialist Appeal the Labour Party Marxists and their members must now be purged if Labour is ever to regain the nations trust and be electable.

The left are going to fight an unpleasant rear action so there is a long way to go. When the lock-down is over the on-line infighting will inevitably spill into the constituencies.

Will the real Labour Party be reborn?
  

Labour First and Progress to form new Alliance

The election of Kier Starmer as leader of the Labour Party has opened new opportunities for moderates, social democrats and others to rebuild the organisation as a democratic and mainstream organisation. There is a long way to go as the real legacy of Corbynism was poisonous to the core encouraging intolerance, hate, misogyny and anti-Semitism.

Already the left are spitting venom as Momentum tries to retain influence. In particular the hard-left groups such as those around The Clarion, Socialist Appeal, Labour Against the Witch Hunt all made up of entrists with revolutionary Marxist credentials are preparing what they call a "fightback".

However many on the hard left (who were never real Labour Party supporters) have cut up their membership cards and are walking out. Something that should be encouraged if Labour is to be a party that can not just achieve political power and do things for those it was set up to represent but be a party that can also be trusted to act in the National Interest and not just the ideological aims of the activists who tried to take it over.

Labour First and Progress have begun the task of reclaiming the party. However there remains a very long way to go as the leadership election results showed. There is a need for unity but the party needs to be radically changed.

Those who entered the the party with ill intent like the far-left groups and individuals like Mark Serwotka, the PCS General Secretary simply to take over and purge must themselves face the consequences of their actions. Labour cannot survive with these hostile anti-democratic and Marxist forces inside.

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Labour First & Progress Statement

Labour has elected a new leader, Keir Starmer. He has our 100 per cent support. His election is a historic turning point in Labour’s fortunes: the opportunity, step by step, to bring about the radical changes necessary to rebuild the party as a credible and successful party of government.

In response to Keir’s call for unity, Progress and Labour First are today announcing the creation of Labour to Win, a new umbrella organisation that has as its aim to bring together the various groups within the Labour party that share our conviction that the party has now to change – and change radically if we are to regain our ability to win elections and attain power so we can build a fairer society.

The past four and a half years have been a miserable experience for many of us who have committed their lives to the advance of democratic socialism and social democracy. Many long-standing members and supporters fell away as they could no longer stomach the factionalism brought by the hard-left, the abusive – sometimes vicious – behaviour, antisemitism, and denigration of Labour’s past achievements that have poisoned the party and made it unelectable in the country.

In the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak, Labour must provide compelling and effective leadership, working across the breadth of the Labour movement, within our local communities and across the political divide. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Keir in our commitment to work with government – at all levels, of all political persuasions, and in all parts of the country – to beat this and protect our fellow citizens.

Despite the bleak context of a global public health emergency, there is fresh hope that Labour can play the role it is supposed to. We greet Keir’s election with a huge sense of relief that what has been a lost decade in our party’s history is coming to an end. We must now all focus on ensuring Labour is once again seen as a party of government.

We now need to help him seize the initiative and shape British politics for the decade ahead. We failed to renew ourselves sufficiently in opposition after 2010, allowing the coalition government to pursue increasingly extreme austerity policies untrammelled and unchecked. We cannot repeat this mistake in 2020. We are committed to working with everyone of good will – inside the party and beyond – who believes that a new future is possible for the party and, crucially, for the country.

Our aims are simple:

• To rally support within the party for its new leadership and support them in the mammoth effort now required to bring about fundamental change in the party’s culture and organisation so as to defeat this populist and nationalist Tory government at the next general election;

• To provide our supporters with the information, arguments and organisational support they need to win internal party debates;

• To create a forum for the debate and dissemination of new ideas and policies essential to demonstrate that the party has a new popular and winning policy platform to offer the country;

• To build networks for a new and diverse generation of activists, councillors and parliamentary candidates to gain experience and learn from each other;

• To provide a space in which old members, new members, rejoiners and those let down by Jeremy Corbyn can find support and encouragement.

Go to: www.labourfirst.org for further information

Zuzu - Skin And Bone EP Out Now!

The latest EP from the Liverpudlian artist known as Zuzu was released yesterday and thanks to courier arrived today so is now playing away as I write a quick over view. This Indy artist caught my attention by chance and I had picked up her excellent last single Beauty Queen which is still available as a 10" release.

The title song Cool To Me sets the tone for for the record which as a vinyl release does help set the artist firmly in the "Indy" scene that I was once into back in the eighties/early nineties and doesn't seem to have much of an impact these days. Zuzu is a refreshing change.

This 12" EP contains 6 songs some of which will be familiar to her fans including the featured track Skin and Bone (below) my personal favourite and addresses a difficult subject, domestic abuse. Women's Rights have always been one of the main issues that I have supported both on this blog and elsewhere on social media. Readers will find suitable websites for further reading on my recommended blog list.

Worth adding to your record collection.



More information:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thisiszuzu

Website: www.thisiszuzuofficial.com