I have just been watching the news where the Greek general election has been reported. The most eye catching part of that report was the length of the queues for the soup kitchen and the tragic story of a 77 year old pensioner who committed suicide by shooting himself outside the Greek parliament building. His daughter said he wrote in a suicide letter that he would rather die than live without being able to feed himself. This a terrible indictment on modern day capitalism and the savage way it is treating the continents (our own country included) poor and destitute.
How a man who managed to survive the tyranny of the Nazis during world war II, failed to survive the tyranny of the capitalists during the credit crunch and after of the 21st century, says it all about how life is for the working class of our once proud continent. I do hope every right wing pro capitalist politician across Europe and every banker across the world who truly caused this disgrace chokes on their breakfast this morning as they watch this story. Although somehow I seriously doubt it.
In our own land the poor are being penalised for the mistakes of a failed political system. People queuing up for free food, unable to feed their children. Given a choice of either to eat or to heat their homes during the winter SICK SICK SICK!
Sadly right now our politicians are doing nothing about it. The Tories you expect to squeeze the poor that they have always done, that they will always do. It's where Labour are going wrong that angers me. We have a Labour leader harping on about the squeezed middle well hold on Ed, yes the middle class are also suffering during this time of austerity but what about those in the financial bracket below them namely the poor? There are more of us, suffering in a much harsher way but once again to quote Orwell in 1984 " the proles don't count."
John Bercow the speaker of the house of commons was correct when talking about voter apathy during this weeks council elections. He said " the people think there is no difference between the parties." This is true, when I ask my workmates why they were not voting during the local elections they all gave the same answer, " they are all the same."
So here's my own little message for Ed and his fellow policy makers in the Labour party. " If you want to get back into power with a huge vote behind you try looking left rather than right. Go on, just try it !
You never know you may well find people giving you their vote, rather than going down the road you are currently set on. The British voting public are at present seeing you as pink Tories, Blair tried that and he is hated by the working class and yes it does go deeper, much deeper than just the Iraq war.
As a finishing note good luck to Monsieur Hollande and his Socialist party during todays French Presidential elections. Also here's hoping the left wing in Greece do well in their general election today. Surely we cannot put up with the disgrace of a 77 year old man killing himself due to the rich continuing to persecute both him and his class in that beautiful ancient country. What would Socrates have thought ???
Saturday 5 May 2012
Tuesday 20 March 2012
WHERE MODERN SOCIALISM IS GOING WRONG
The names Lenin, Trotsky and Guevara are all great Socialists of the past. The problem for Socialism of the 21st century is exactly that, they are great figureheads of the past. What I believe the left wing of today needs is a figurehead alive and with us today to stand behind. The modern working class is crying out for a leader, a face with fresh ideas, not long dead hero's.
Lenin will always be classified alongside the USSR, a failed revolution. Trotsky is put alongside terrorist groups from South America and Guevara has become a fictional romantic. I'm afraid none of these icon's mean anything to the working man worrying about how he is going to pay the next bill, or put food on his families table.
The working man of today needs a new "working class hero" to follow. The Tories still have Thatcher and the right wing bully boys of her cabinet as hero's to look up to. What does the left have? We do still have Tony Benn but he sadly is now too old to take the mantle of leader. So where do we look to move forwards.
Thatcher did a magnificent job of splitting the Socialists apart. Look at what we have today : The Labour left wing (an ever decreasing number of comrades), Socialist Labour, The Socialist Party, The Socialist Workers Party et al. What a mess!!! What the left wing of today is crying out for is a charismatic leader to join all these factions together into a united Socialist force before it is too late for the poor and destitute in this country. The Tories and their rich friends must be loving it as they sip their champagne and make more money from the backs of the working man. They know that while the left wing remains split into many different groupings they can never be a threat to them.
So what for Socialists today, what we need to do is find somebody with the passion of Benn and the charismatic likeability of Blair (forgive me I know he isn't the best example). Surely out there somewhere there is a man or woman that the left can unite behind.
I personally have my own favourites, Nellist has the passion but perhaps not the strength to unite. I feel we need to look at some of the bloggers and read their points of view. I have found 3 people who certainly have the strength in what they say. These 3 are Darrell Goodliffe, Dr Eoin Clarke and Pam Field. If a figurehead to stand behind could come from one of these I do not know, but what I do know is that in it's present form Socialism has no chance.
We already have the banner our glorious Red Flag we even have an anthem for crying out loud. We have an idea, now we need a person to stand behind and move us forward. So come on comrades there must be somebody out there. I have threw a couple of names into the pot but we must find somebody and fast before it's too late.
Lenin will always be classified alongside the USSR, a failed revolution. Trotsky is put alongside terrorist groups from South America and Guevara has become a fictional romantic. I'm afraid none of these icon's mean anything to the working man worrying about how he is going to pay the next bill, or put food on his families table.
The working man of today needs a new "working class hero" to follow. The Tories still have Thatcher and the right wing bully boys of her cabinet as hero's to look up to. What does the left have? We do still have Tony Benn but he sadly is now too old to take the mantle of leader. So where do we look to move forwards.
Thatcher did a magnificent job of splitting the Socialists apart. Look at what we have today : The Labour left wing (an ever decreasing number of comrades), Socialist Labour, The Socialist Party, The Socialist Workers Party et al. What a mess!!! What the left wing of today is crying out for is a charismatic leader to join all these factions together into a united Socialist force before it is too late for the poor and destitute in this country. The Tories and their rich friends must be loving it as they sip their champagne and make more money from the backs of the working man. They know that while the left wing remains split into many different groupings they can never be a threat to them.
So what for Socialists today, what we need to do is find somebody with the passion of Benn and the charismatic likeability of Blair (forgive me I know he isn't the best example). Surely out there somewhere there is a man or woman that the left can unite behind.
I personally have my own favourites, Nellist has the passion but perhaps not the strength to unite. I feel we need to look at some of the bloggers and read their points of view. I have found 3 people who certainly have the strength in what they say. These 3 are Darrell Goodliffe, Dr Eoin Clarke and Pam Field. If a figurehead to stand behind could come from one of these I do not know, but what I do know is that in it's present form Socialism has no chance.
We already have the banner our glorious Red Flag we even have an anthem for crying out loud. We have an idea, now we need a person to stand behind and move us forward. So come on comrades there must be somebody out there. I have threw a couple of names into the pot but we must find somebody and fast before it's too late.
Sunday 19 February 2012
NHS
This is a very personal concern about Cameron and his cohort Lansley and what they are doing to MY beloved NHS.
In my life not just myself but one of my daughters owe our lives to this magnificent institution and the wonderful people that work for it, literally. We see today this creation of the great Nye Bevin (called a Marxist troublemaker by the Tory press of his day) and the Atlee government of post war Britain, being symptomatically destroyed by first Thatcher then Blair and now Cameron.
When I was 10 years old I fell down with TB and Meningitis, my life let alone my mental state were both on the brink, the doctors told my parents they were unsure if I was going to end up severely mentally handicapped. Due to the magnificent care I received from the nurses and doctors of the time I managed to pull through, hence I am here today typing this blog. The disease left me an epileptic which is kept under control by tablets at present free, I wonder for how much longer under this bastard government.
I have had 3 daughters one of whom is a severe asthmatic, although at present we are unsure if it is not asthma but something a little more serious, we are waiting on tests to find out. The other 2 were identical twins, one of whom died just after her birth. The care we received that night from the midwives was second to none. Neither my wife or myself can thank them enough for the wonderful help they gave us that night. My third daughter had a rocky start to her life also at 5 days old and weighing just 2 lb she was rushed to Birmingham childrens hospital where she required emergency surgery for a perforated bowel. We were told she was very poorly and to expect the worse. The fantastic surgeon that operated on her that night saved her life. That is not to mention the excellent care she received in intensive care post op. She came back to Coventry Walsgrave hospital special care (she was born 10 weeks premature) With a colostomy bag the same size as she was. A couple of months later she was rushed back to Birmingham where she undergone a reversal to her prior operation, this due to her failing to gain weight. The same wonderful man operated on her and saved her life a second time. I don't want to go into too much detail but my youngest has had a very hard road to travel down since then, she has a lot of internal problems and has had up to now 6 operations with at least one more serious piece of surgery to come this year. This particular surgery will again be performed by the same surgeon that saved her life twice before , as you can imagine he is my hero. I cannot thank both him another wonderful doctor who has operated on her for subsequent health problems that have arisen since enough. I also cannot finish without a huge tankyou to all the nurses of the special care ward who helped keep both myself and my wife sane through those bleak times. Angels doesn't do these people justice they are much better than that.
My reason for telling this much abbreviated piece is NOT for you the readers sympathy. It is more for an idea of how much I owe to the NHS. Remember at present every piece of care (and heaven knows we have all needed it, including my wife but as she's in bed as I write this blog I won't put her tough life story on it) has cost me and my family not a penny. Also NO stinking money grabbing capitalist company has made a single penny from me and my families suffering.
Now I see the new legislation this EVIL Tory/ Lib Dem government are trying to bring in to destroy this great Socialist institution. As under Thatcher with the help afterwards of New-Labour, they are dismantling bit by bit everything owned by the people and selling it off to big business.
With all this in mind I beg of you on behalf of my 2 girls and all the other children that owe their lives to the NHS not to let these scum destroy it, by taking it off us and giving it lock stock and barrel to greedy businesses. If we do roll over we will live to regret it literally. We know what previous governments have done to prescriptions (which before Thatcher were basically free) how long will it be before we have to pay for hospital stays etc watch this space...
We the people have the power to stop these scum from destroying OUR NHS, we must stand firm for all our sakes before it's too late. Fight these Tories and please don't let them privatise the NHS.
In my life not just myself but one of my daughters owe our lives to this magnificent institution and the wonderful people that work for it, literally. We see today this creation of the great Nye Bevin (called a Marxist troublemaker by the Tory press of his day) and the Atlee government of post war Britain, being symptomatically destroyed by first Thatcher then Blair and now Cameron.
When I was 10 years old I fell down with TB and Meningitis, my life let alone my mental state were both on the brink, the doctors told my parents they were unsure if I was going to end up severely mentally handicapped. Due to the magnificent care I received from the nurses and doctors of the time I managed to pull through, hence I am here today typing this blog. The disease left me an epileptic which is kept under control by tablets at present free, I wonder for how much longer under this bastard government.
I have had 3 daughters one of whom is a severe asthmatic, although at present we are unsure if it is not asthma but something a little more serious, we are waiting on tests to find out. The other 2 were identical twins, one of whom died just after her birth. The care we received that night from the midwives was second to none. Neither my wife or myself can thank them enough for the wonderful help they gave us that night. My third daughter had a rocky start to her life also at 5 days old and weighing just 2 lb she was rushed to Birmingham childrens hospital where she required emergency surgery for a perforated bowel. We were told she was very poorly and to expect the worse. The fantastic surgeon that operated on her that night saved her life. That is not to mention the excellent care she received in intensive care post op. She came back to Coventry Walsgrave hospital special care (she was born 10 weeks premature) With a colostomy bag the same size as she was. A couple of months later she was rushed back to Birmingham where she undergone a reversal to her prior operation, this due to her failing to gain weight. The same wonderful man operated on her and saved her life a second time. I don't want to go into too much detail but my youngest has had a very hard road to travel down since then, she has a lot of internal problems and has had up to now 6 operations with at least one more serious piece of surgery to come this year. This particular surgery will again be performed by the same surgeon that saved her life twice before , as you can imagine he is my hero. I cannot thank both him another wonderful doctor who has operated on her for subsequent health problems that have arisen since enough. I also cannot finish without a huge tankyou to all the nurses of the special care ward who helped keep both myself and my wife sane through those bleak times. Angels doesn't do these people justice they are much better than that.
My reason for telling this much abbreviated piece is NOT for you the readers sympathy. It is more for an idea of how much I owe to the NHS. Remember at present every piece of care (and heaven knows we have all needed it, including my wife but as she's in bed as I write this blog I won't put her tough life story on it) has cost me and my family not a penny. Also NO stinking money grabbing capitalist company has made a single penny from me and my families suffering.
Now I see the new legislation this EVIL Tory/ Lib Dem government are trying to bring in to destroy this great Socialist institution. As under Thatcher with the help afterwards of New-Labour, they are dismantling bit by bit everything owned by the people and selling it off to big business.
With all this in mind I beg of you on behalf of my 2 girls and all the other children that owe their lives to the NHS not to let these scum destroy it, by taking it off us and giving it lock stock and barrel to greedy businesses. If we do roll over we will live to regret it literally. We know what previous governments have done to prescriptions (which before Thatcher were basically free) how long will it be before we have to pay for hospital stays etc watch this space...
We the people have the power to stop these scum from destroying OUR NHS, we must stand firm for all our sakes before it's too late. Fight these Tories and please don't let them privatise the NHS.
Thursday 9 February 2012
ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL TO HOUSING PROBLEM
Initially I was going to talk about a subject dear to my heart, the NHS. However after reading Darrell Goodliffe's excellent blog today, I have decided to leave you the reader with a chance to read his piece. http://momentsofc.wordpress.com/2012/0209/the-tina-government/ I heartily recommend you read this. Darrell is at present standing for a place on Labour's NEC, I do hope you give him your support. He is a good Socialist and the sort of person that we need in the Labour party hierarchy today, putting across a different point of view to the Blairite wing of the party.
Anyway back to todays idea, it is one I have been pondering over for the last couple of weeks and up to now I find it a much fairer example then the one we are living under at present.
As things stand right now we have home owners at the top, people struggling to pay their mortgages next, then council house tenants, finally those living in private accommodation. With many unscrupulous landlords leeching off them, making a fortune from sub-standard houses. This evil government has now further punished the latter by cutting the housing benefit they are entitled to. The reply, "well they should just move into a council house" does not wash anymore as there are insufficient amounts of council houses available. This courtesy of Thatchers right to buy idea. Without building more council houses for the future generations, which due to low wages are unable to get onto the infamous housing ladder.
So here is my modest solution to this problem, one which does away with the parasite landlords and in my opinion gives us a much more equal situation than we have at present. The councils should take full ownership of ALL properties, even those presently owned by their inhabitants. Every tenant will be entitled to live in the property they abide in until they die. At that point the house will be up for another person/family to move into.
Rent will be paid direct to the council, for arguments sake, £150 per month for flats, £250 for 2 bedroom houses, £350 for 3 bedroom, £450 for 4 bedroom and so on. Those struggling to pay their rent will still be entitled to housing benefit, although I fancy at those prices a lot more will be able to cope in comparison to the extortionate amounts the landlords and mortgage companies today charge.
In a town with say 500,000 homes in it, lets say there are 80,000 flats 120,000 2beds, 200,000 3 beds, 80,000 4 beds and 20,000 5 bed properties. take 10% off for those on housing benefit, the council would end every month with £143 million in its coffers. This huge amount of money would then be spent on maintaining those properties. The council would employ its own electricians, plumbers, builders etc to keep the housing in good condition.
The people will have more money in their pockets at the end of the month, the councils will have more money and there will be more apprenticeships and skilled men and women out there working. Rather than the disgraceful situation we have today with private capitalists and banks becoming more and more affluent as the majority of the working class get poorer. The only losers in this new system are the fat bankers and landlords in the private sector. Do any of the working class with houses falling apart around them, due to not enough money to repair them, or who have landlords who don't give a damn as long as they get their rent, care ?
So that's my simple alternative to the present world we live in, if you like what I have said or disagree strongly and would like to point out the failings in my argument, please feel free to comment. Thank you for taking the time to read todays entry, more coming soon.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Anyway back to todays idea, it is one I have been pondering over for the last couple of weeks and up to now I find it a much fairer example then the one we are living under at present.
As things stand right now we have home owners at the top, people struggling to pay their mortgages next, then council house tenants, finally those living in private accommodation. With many unscrupulous landlords leeching off them, making a fortune from sub-standard houses. This evil government has now further punished the latter by cutting the housing benefit they are entitled to. The reply, "well they should just move into a council house" does not wash anymore as there are insufficient amounts of council houses available. This courtesy of Thatchers right to buy idea. Without building more council houses for the future generations, which due to low wages are unable to get onto the infamous housing ladder.
So here is my modest solution to this problem, one which does away with the parasite landlords and in my opinion gives us a much more equal situation than we have at present. The councils should take full ownership of ALL properties, even those presently owned by their inhabitants. Every tenant will be entitled to live in the property they abide in until they die. At that point the house will be up for another person/family to move into.
Rent will be paid direct to the council, for arguments sake, £150 per month for flats, £250 for 2 bedroom houses, £350 for 3 bedroom, £450 for 4 bedroom and so on. Those struggling to pay their rent will still be entitled to housing benefit, although I fancy at those prices a lot more will be able to cope in comparison to the extortionate amounts the landlords and mortgage companies today charge.
In a town with say 500,000 homes in it, lets say there are 80,000 flats 120,000 2beds, 200,000 3 beds, 80,000 4 beds and 20,000 5 bed properties. take 10% off for those on housing benefit, the council would end every month with £143 million in its coffers. This huge amount of money would then be spent on maintaining those properties. The council would employ its own electricians, plumbers, builders etc to keep the housing in good condition.
The people will have more money in their pockets at the end of the month, the councils will have more money and there will be more apprenticeships and skilled men and women out there working. Rather than the disgraceful situation we have today with private capitalists and banks becoming more and more affluent as the majority of the working class get poorer. The only losers in this new system are the fat bankers and landlords in the private sector. Do any of the working class with houses falling apart around them, due to not enough money to repair them, or who have landlords who don't give a damn as long as they get their rent, care ?
So that's my simple alternative to the present world we live in, if you like what I have said or disagree strongly and would like to point out the failings in my argument, please feel free to comment. Thank you for taking the time to read todays entry, more coming soon.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Wednesday 8 February 2012
RISING FUEL BILLS
My apologies for the long gap in blogs, but hopefully all being well I can get started, fingers crossed!!
My first moan is about the fuel bills and what we can do about them. Since the Thatcher government privatised our country in the 80's our gas and electric bills have gone through the roof. Now just suppose the voters of this country weren't fooled by the lies spewed forth from the iron bitch and she was never voted into power. We never suffered liberalisation and we as a population still owned our gas, electric, trains, telecommunications etc. Now how much would our fuel bills be today? Granted they would obviously have to rise, but with no greedy shareholders demanding more from greedy capitalist companies, somehow I can't see how they would be as astronomically high as they are today. Who knows we may not have to give winter fuel allowance pay outs to our pensioners because the bills would be more affordable.
We have of course had a Labour government running the country since then, alas this government was run by the wrong Tony. Instead of Benn or a party member of the same ilk, it was Blair, Thatcher in a pink shirt with a big smile!! Instead of a man who concentrated on equality we had a lover of the bankers and the rich (how many Socialists of the past would have turned in their graves to see him running the party they loved). Henceforth our utilities remained owned not by the people but by the rich foreign companies.
However at present we live in the real world. A world of millionaire cabinet members and a Tory/ Lib Dem coalition government. So we can forget any hope of the poor being helped, at least until the next general election. For the modern Labour party all I can suggest is this, NATIONALISE!!! If we kick the money oriented companies out and own our utilities again perhaps then we can move forward towards a fairer society. One where the old and the poor don't go cold during the winter.
One further thing, eminent scientist Steven Hawkings once said that all we need to do is work out nuclear fusion and our heating and lighting problems would be over. We would have cheap and clean fuel for our homes. So the other little pointer for Ed and his cabinet is sink money into science and the rewards would be bigger than our wildest dreams. Just think no more fuel poverty and no more rich greedy evil companies ripping us off so they can make more. Just a thought...
My first moan is about the fuel bills and what we can do about them. Since the Thatcher government privatised our country in the 80's our gas and electric bills have gone through the roof. Now just suppose the voters of this country weren't fooled by the lies spewed forth from the iron bitch and she was never voted into power. We never suffered liberalisation and we as a population still owned our gas, electric, trains, telecommunications etc. Now how much would our fuel bills be today? Granted they would obviously have to rise, but with no greedy shareholders demanding more from greedy capitalist companies, somehow I can't see how they would be as astronomically high as they are today. Who knows we may not have to give winter fuel allowance pay outs to our pensioners because the bills would be more affordable.
We have of course had a Labour government running the country since then, alas this government was run by the wrong Tony. Instead of Benn or a party member of the same ilk, it was Blair, Thatcher in a pink shirt with a big smile!! Instead of a man who concentrated on equality we had a lover of the bankers and the rich (how many Socialists of the past would have turned in their graves to see him running the party they loved). Henceforth our utilities remained owned not by the people but by the rich foreign companies.
However at present we live in the real world. A world of millionaire cabinet members and a Tory/ Lib Dem coalition government. So we can forget any hope of the poor being helped, at least until the next general election. For the modern Labour party all I can suggest is this, NATIONALISE!!! If we kick the money oriented companies out and own our utilities again perhaps then we can move forward towards a fairer society. One where the old and the poor don't go cold during the winter.
One further thing, eminent scientist Steven Hawkings once said that all we need to do is work out nuclear fusion and our heating and lighting problems would be over. We would have cheap and clean fuel for our homes. So the other little pointer for Ed and his cabinet is sink money into science and the rewards would be bigger than our wildest dreams. Just think no more fuel poverty and no more rich greedy evil companies ripping us off so they can make more. Just a thought...
Saturday 16 July 2011
My first ever blog
Well here I am about to start my own Blog, I will generally talk about the politics of the day, although I will sometimes mention my own life (if anything grabs my attention). I am very outspoken and very left wing in my points of view, however sometimes I may take a sudden lurch to the right on certain subjects. I will also go on about Manchester united and Coventry RFC especially the latter of the two.
I hope you enjoy reading my personal opinion on the issues of the day, and feel free to leave a comment if you either agree, disagree or are totally disinterested in what I have to say.
I hope you enjoy reading my personal opinion on the issues of the day, and feel free to leave a comment if you either agree, disagree or are totally disinterested in what I have to say.
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