A Musical Oddity: Marc Bolan, Elton John & Ringo Starr together!

It's been a long week and I had fully intended to publish a blog tonight but I'm just plain knackered. Full service will be resumed tomorrow.

In place of politics tonight comes this little oddity I came across on that You Tube place. Marc Bolan, Elton John & Ringo Starr performing Children of the Revolution.

Terrific it is to. I hope you enjoy.

Momentum attacks trade unionists

The decision of GMB union members to back Owen Smith for Labour leader has really upset Momentum and their fellow Corbynistas. They'll be out protesting against the result in Brighton tonight.

Apparently they thin the ballot was biased because it mentioned the words "electable" and Prime Minister.

Sigh. The Irony......



The turnout was low, very low in comparison to the number of members that are in the GMB but then most trade union ballots are low but at least the GMB actually asked it's members. Predictably Momentum supporters blame the "Trident effect" as so many GMB members would lose their jobs if Trident were scrapped. How dare GMB members defend their livelihoods.

Perhaps the other unions should actually ask their members. Unite who also have members whose jobs depend on Trident might not want Corbyn.

Meanwhile the PCS union which is not affiliated to the Labour Party not only imposed support for Corbyn on it's members without asking is rumoured to be pushing or helping the old Militant Tendency (now called the Socialist Party) to get re-admitted to Labour via the machinations of it's vainglorious General Secretary Mark Serwotka.

The Socialist Party have a bad track record. They bankrupted Liverpool Council in the eighties and have wrecked the PCS union cutting jobs and services despite telling the government not to do so with their "anti-austerity" programme.

Serwotka and his Militant cronies also imposed a worse pensions deal on their own staff than the government did on it's own members.

These Momentum & Militant types just use whatever they control for ideological reasons. They do not care about jobs or pensions only their own interests.

Trade union members are under threat by the far-left. Corbyn and his followers are a threat to our jobs and futures.

Murder in the name of the "one prophet" is never acceptable

The maniac who murdered shopkeeper Asad Shah for having different religious beliefs was sent to prison for life today. In the Courtroom Tanveer Ahmed received cheers from a group of around twenty supporters as if his barbaric actions were justified in the name of their so-called "prophet". Ahmed himself was totally unrepentant with his Lawyer releasing a statement in which claimed:

"If I had not done this others would have and there would be more killings and violence in the world."

Only because there are other bigots like Ahmed inside the Muslim community who think they have the right to kill those with whom they disagree. They say they are offended by the views of the Ahmadi sect.

The only real offence of course is the murder and persecution carried out by the Islamist bigots themselves.  

Ahmed will have to serve a minimum of 27 years. Personally I think unless he repents his views life should mean life as a deterrent against such individuals who set themselves up above the law and think they can act as executioner. 

The trouble is that there are many other like him, The Muslim Times reported back in April:

Leaflets calling for followers of the Ahmadi Muslim sect to be executed as apostates (those who have abolished their religion) have been distributed in several locations in London. They are undersigned by a branch of the anti-Ahmadiyya Khatme Nubuwwat group in Stockwell Green, South London.

In an interview with IBTimes UK, Khatme Nubuwwat Academy spokesman Akber Choudhry denied any connections with the Stockwell Green branch of the group, and disputed allegations of connections between the groups. The Stockwell Green group has also denied distributing the leaflets, despite them being found on mosque premises.

“I dispute the assertion there are shared trustees,” he said, also denying claims that the leaflets broke the law.

“There is nothing illegal in that leaflet. It is a theological position that should not be discussed in public but at the end it says one should not take the law into one’s own hands. We don’t share that view in the leaflet.”

The leaflets advocate Ahmadis who fail to repent be given “the punishment of a Murtad, which is capital punishment.” It later states: “Individuals cannot and should not administer this punishment.”

The question that needs to be put to all who follow Islam is why they think it is acceptable to even consider death for those who differ from themselves. What are they afraid of? Is their faith so weak it does not stand up to scrutiny? As an atheist I would argue there is no god or gods and all theology is false. Man created god in his image and countless priests, imams and other charlatans have used blind faith to control the masses this way.

Islam is a particularly backward theology/religion. The misuse of blasphemy by it's practitioners is well known in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran where it is a tool for suppressing minorities and maintain the rule of patriarchal maniacs. It's also used for brutal personal revenge and mob rule.

Of particular concern was the final remarks of Akber Choudary as reported by The Muslim Times were these chilling words:

“The leaflet, though we are not related to Stockwell, expresses a theological position, however it is in bad taste and should not have been distributed to the public. It is an expression of a theological position and the laws of the state must be abided by.”

In other words kept in private and used when the law allows it. Like Pakistan where it is illegal to describe Ahmadi's as Muslims.

Until the barbaric bigotry at the heart of Islam is reformed and rooted out by it's adherents a watch must be made on the intolerant extremists who would carry out such acts.

The Muslim community must be at the forefront of a campaign to end the violence propagated by so many in it's name.

ISIS is only one manifestation of the hate manifested in the name of their prophet. There are many others.

Time to wake up to the modern world and embrace freedom of thought, equality for all, tolerance of those with different lifestyles an orientations. Trouble for the fundamentalists is that may threaten the existence of their religious supremacism and that's why they promote violence to frighten others.

They are afraid.

Followers of Islam have nothing to lose except their chains.

The chains of false religion.

DWP: A quiet rebellion against the Pay Deal

The civil trade unions recently balloted their members in the DWP over the new "Employee Deal" or Pay Offer to give it it's real name. The problem for members was that in order to get a pay rise they will have to agree to changing their working patterns to "fit in" with the introduction of the new Universal Credit benefit as it is rolled out across the country.

The "deal" is in effect a form of blackmail. Members will have to agree to earlier/later starts, one evening per week plus one Saturday in four. Each individual will agree this patter for a set period with their manager in advance. If they decide to "opt-out" (which has to be done by the end of the month or staff will have been assumed to accept the new conditions) then they become entitled to the higher pay rise.

If members "opted out" the pay award is derisory to say the least. Just 0.25% for this year and the immediate future.

Unsurprisingly a lot of members have reluctantly agreed to accept the new deal and were balloted by Prospect, PCS and the FDA which resulted in an unusually high turn out.

The story does not end there.

It was reported at the recent Prospect DWP Executive meeting that something like 12,000 people have opted out. This figure may not seem high in comparison to the number of staff in the DWP, but it appears these are disproportionately front-line staff. It's believed that the entire Benefit Centre in Sheffield has chosen the opt-out route.

This will obviously cause problems. members do not like being "blackmailed" and resent working evenings and weekends. Of course the situation differs across the department. In my own office I know of only one person that has chosen to opt out, but in offices where large numbers have done so the new operations will be effected detrimentally.

Morale in the DWP, particularly on the front-line in Job Centres and Benefit Centres is at an all time low. Less staff, increased workload including having to take on new benefit knowledge of ESA & Income Support, let alone preparation for Universal Credit has taken it's toll.

There will be problems ahead.

Join Prospect:  https://www.prospect.org.uk/

Ecuador: Government threatens to shut down teachers' union

Cross Post from LabourStart



The teachers' union UNE of Ecuador (Unión Nacional de Educadores) is facing the threat of being shut down as the Ministry of Education has initiated proceedings for the union's legal dissolution.

According to UNE, the Ecuadorean government is seeking to dissolve the union in retaliation for the public statements made at the ILO Conference and the UN Human Rights Committee this year explaining, in detail and with evidence, how the government is systematically violating freedom of association.

The government justifies the dissolution by the implementation of a specific regulation, Decree 16, which concerns the registration of non-profit organisations. However the Ministry of Labour had assured the ILO earlier this year that Decree 16 does not apply to trade unions. 

Education International and UNE call on you to urge the Minister of Education of Ecuador, Mr Augusto Espinosa Andrade, to halt the legal proceedings against the teachers' union and to respect the fundamental rights of the education employees and their organisations.

Send a message: www.labourstartcampaigns

Is it time to end the Olympic Games?

Sport is an important part of a large number of peoples lives. From school to grave thousands upon thousands choose a football team which becomes an almost religious icon around which lives are organised, clothes worn, flags waved. Of course there are numerous other sports across the world all of which have their participants and followers and international competition is the norm. Well except for American football which only they seem to play...

But then what would I know. Sport isn't and never has been an interest of mine. No interest. Bored me to tears at school and I've never changed in that attitude. I've plenty of other interests to keep me occupied, but I do recognise that sport brings many people including my girlfriend pleasure as she shouts for her team as I try to compose tonight's blog. Sigh.

However Sport has a political side, a tribal side and I don't just mean groups of supporters abusing each other. Sport can be very divisive. Hate of the other team seems to raise it's ugly head from time to time. In one serious football riot in 1969 actually led to a 100 day war between El Salvador and Guatemala in 1969.

But the Olympics, a world-wide event is supposed to bring people together as we all admire the efforts of the sportsmen and women taking part.

Except there's been a little problem. Doping. The taking of performance enhancing drugs. In the case of Russia seemingly compulsory for the bulk of it's athletes.

Not very "sporting" is it chaps?

Rather brings performances and medal winning into disrepute and to be fair the Russians have probably not been the only one's at it. They simply got caught out big time.

Can anyone trust the contest that has become the Olympics?

That alone is not the reason that I wonder about the worthiness of the Olympics. There are other, more pressing reasons, one's that are political and are particularly noticeable in Brazil, the hosts of the 2016 games.

A country mired in poverty, where crime is endemic in and around the slums of the cities, where notices have been placed in hotel lobbies telling athletes not to go out running "after dark" as it's "bloody dangerous".

So much money has been spent of these games that could have gone on building better housing, improving sanitation, medical care and economic development. Instead for just a few weeks Billions of dollars have been spent on facilities which will no doubt fall into disuse shortly after the games end. As indeed they have everywhere else that the Olympics have been held.

Instead of competing to hold the Olympics and wasting so much money why not build one permanent set of facilities in one place? The site would be bleeding obvious, Greece home of the original games and each participating country could contribute a proportional amount to it's construction and upkeep.

The current Olympics are wasteful. Time to rethink it's future.

Is social media making politics more toxic?

Political discourse has always has always had it's cruel side and looking at political cartoons over the ages shows how nasty this can be. However for the vast majority of people politics has been confined to the dimly lit corners of the pub after a few sherbets. Yes of course there were mobs rampaging over this and that, but for the most part ordinary folk did little except vote in recent times until the advent of the internet.

Much of the political debate that I read in my younger days was the sectarian texts published in various left-wing newspapers about how their rivals were anything from ultra-left through revisionism or were right-wing sellouts. And there was that word that stuck in my young mind "Pabloite, much used by the followers of Gerry Healy and the acolytes of Pierre Lambert though access to the latter was limited by my continuing inability (and indolence) towards learning another language, French in this case.

The point is that other than public schoolboy exchanges in the House of Commons or on TV programmes such as Question Time, access to political debate was somewhat limited. That's why the far left always needed it's papers to sell to the working classes. And of course to enforce their own groups particular line.

The days of Workers Press, Socialist Challenge and the News Line are long gone. Now it's all on line and instant.

The difference between publishing in print and on-line is indeed down to instant gratification for the "writer". Little time to think, just react no matter how hurtful and unconsidered the comment. Of course one still has to be weary of "libel" laws, which are much mis-used by the like of George Galloway and others, particularly the lawyers out to make a buck.

But most people don't resort to the law they just argue bitterly, get angry, upset and most of all entrenched. The nuances of the exchange of ideas are lost in the moment. Minds are blinked and frankly everyone, myself included is guilty of this at one time or another.

The debate over the future of the Labour Party is a clear example of how the use of social media has got out of hand. Insults, bullying, threatening, toxic just about sums it all up.

Social media has it's uses and it is actually possible to be on different sides without being rude or aggressive as I discovered after making contact with an old school friend on Facebook who happened to support Corbyn.

But other experiences in places like the PCS members forum and The Labour Party Forum, neither of which I am in any more was so different. There are those who think it's their right to shout you down when they don't agree.

Can politics become decent again....if it ever was?

Somehow looking at Twitter there seems little hope.