If two people make the same choice... who chooses who gets what?

One of the philosophical problems about 'giving people choice' is that it is not really as simple as it sounds. The freedom for parents to 'choose' to send their children to the school of their choice was a nonsense, because the places at the 'best' schools would be oversubscribed and you didn't get that choice. If one hospital can carry out so many hip operations quicker than the others, can everyone choose to go there. No... because they would not have the capacity. So, when this man talks about choice, he really means leaving these things to the law of the jungle.

It's a record

Tomorrow I am taking part in a world record attempt. Sarah Marshall (the woman with the red sweater at the back of the walking bus photo on my masthead), is organising a world record attempt for the number of children participating in a walking bus, and afterwards we all get a certificate to validate our attempt. Go for it kids!

Agenda for change

Although the Labour vote in the West Midlands Council elections seem to have held up reasonably well, the situation nationally is looking grim. Something must be done. If The Big Intervention only gives us Jack Straw as Leader, it will not be worth the effort. It has got to be about Labour members re-claiming the Party from the social democrat careerists who have stolen its heart. Blair has maintained an iron grip on Labour by winning elections. That grip will loosen pretty quickly as we start to see the trend reverse. To paraphrase The Godfather, "Nothing personal Tone, it's just business." There's an interesting database at Dumpblair.

So... it's all OUR fault again..

I know we didn't support the illegal invasion of Iraq, nor the broken manifesto pledge on tuition fees, nor the massive increase in the PFI'ing of the NHS, nor the wholesale privatisation of local authority housing... but as usual, when it all goes tits-up, if the Oily Howard wins the next General Election, its all our bloody fault again!

Da Do Ron Ron

Thanks to Tim at Bloggerheads for this brilliant 'tribute' to the late Ronnie, who's bloody funeral took up hours of live friggin' television in this country. Would the US TV stations do the same thing for Thatcher? We wait in eager anticipation of an answer to that question.

And it's still 'Councillor' Bob Piper

Yes, about an hour ago the Abbey Ward result in Sandwell was announced, and it finished:

Dr. Ann Jaron (Labour) 2007
Steve Eling (Labour) 1941
Bob Piper (Labour) 1850
Roger Prior (Lib-Dem) 840
Ewart Johnson (Tory) 801
Roger Hickman (Tory) 793
William Shipman (Tory) 706

A fantastic result for us... and for Sandwell overall (although the fascist BNP still have one seat) but although Labour lost three seats we still have a 53 Labour seats and a good overall majority on the Council.

The candidates take the plaudits, but I would like to thank Liz, Pam, Cait, Andy, Lesley, Sian, Richard, Sita, Jim, James, Clare, David, Patrick, Alan, Hazel, Adrian, Carolyn, Damien, Annie, Phil, Carol, John, Letty, Joyce, Ceri...and the 1,849 people who voted for me.

Hasta La Vista

Tomorrow I'm attending the Public Inquiry into this dreadful bloody casino in my Ward. After that... it's 100% attention to getting out the Labour vote on Thursday, so I don't expect to blog again much before the result is announced on Friday afternoon. I'll be back in full flow then, whatever the result, although the blog name might have to change to Citizen Bob!

Selective memory

The media are gushing in their tributes to Ronnie. Surprisingly little reference, however, to this, and this, and this.

since John Wayne was no longer available, so they settled for Ronald Reagan

Like BykerSink, I can find no sense of loss for the passing of Ronnie Reagan. Byker's tribute via Gil Scott Heron seems entirely appropriate.

Who or what is Al Qaeda

Thanks to the consistently brilliant Pete for this superb piece.

Don't abstain, but don't let in the Tories either

I've had another half an hour 'phone call from a friend this morning who says she is still voting Green in Birmingham, even though that sort of voting will probably hand the City Council over to the Tories. It reminds me that in 1979 various Trot groups urged people not to vote Labour because, "Thatcher would attack the unions and it would lead to a mass uprising by the working class." Bloody good strategy that turned out to be!

You'll find God in the church of your choice

The Guardian reports that His Holiness gave Dubya a 'tongue-lashing'. Is that sort of thing allowed these days in the Catholic Church?

Ingrid has been screaming literally blue murder about the tragedy unfolding in Sudan for weeks on Me and Ophelia, and at last some of the lazy-arsed editors in the media have started to move the story up the agenda. If you haven't done so already, go to Ingrid's site and read her Sudan posts (we differ quite a lot on most other things) and you'll find the best coverage and links on there. Help spread the word... put a link on your site to Me and Ophelia. Let's face it, it beats Belle De bloody Jour!

Are they by any chance related?

I know the Tory candidate in the London Mayoral elections has a dodgy background with transport companies, but do the Renault, Saab and Seat dealers in Co. Meath, Ireland, in this list have any connection with their man?

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Now how much confidence would this US Treasury Secretary fill you with?

Plonker!

I've just watched the biggest 2004 registered 4x4 super jeep roar past me on the M6 with a giant poster in the rear window screaming out 'Fuel Protest NOW' - Say no to fuel duty. What a complete tosser!

Its dirty work... but someone's got to do it.

I don't know how Austin Mitchell or Tom Watson feel about it, but I find it somewhat disconcerting to find out that Margaret Thatcher's underwear has got my name on it.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark

So, why Labour? In view of the number of people, on this site and on the doorstep, who have challenged me to say why they should vote Labour next week, I thought I would use this post to justify why I am in the Labour Party and why I think people should vote Labour rather than Lib-Dem, Green or Respect.
For people of my age, and those a damn site older, the disillusionment people are currently feeling with the Blair Government is nothing new. Ralph Milliband, father of the New Labour Project’s Edward and David, wrote the classic book called Parliamentary Socialism in 1961 which explained why Labour would never deliver socialism (and the joke goes that his sons are proving his father’s words).
Inspired by Milliband I resigned my Labour Party membership in 1968 over Harold Wilson’s tacit support for LBJ in Vietnam and Callaghan’s Commonwealth Immigration Act introduced to stop East African Asian’s fleeing persecution from seeking asylum in Britain.
In spite of my pithy letter to Wilson, he never resigned, the bombing didn’t stop, and Callaghan was so wounded he went on to become Prime Minister. A few years later, after I had decided they had suffered enough, I rejoined the Party. However, substitute Blair and Blunkett for Wilson’s craven support for a US President and Callaghan’s hard line on asylum, and you will probably appreciate why I do not share the same degree of disillusionment as those who thought Blair was going to introduce a bright new dawn.
After I left Labour I toyed with some of the other leftist groups, but I usually found that whilst they were strong on rhetoric, they were weak in practice. They wanted democracy in South Africa, but imposed a Leninist control freakery over their own members. They argued for women’s sections in the trade unions, but didn’t have a women’s section themselves “because we are socialists and don’t need those.” Not being one to kow-tow, I didn’t hang around.
So, why Labour? Whatever the merits of the Greens, and I think there are many, they haven’t got any links with the trade union movement, and in any event they won’t get power, and I suspect if they did most of them would be terrified and leave. So, in reality, not voting Labour means you either throw people to the Tories, or the Liberals. Given that you probably still wouldn’t be here if it was the Tories, I’ll discount that option.
The Liberals want to be all things to all people. More extreme than the Tories in the Shires, and more radical than Labour in inner city Birmingham, where currently they are running a ‘Save our Post Offices’ campaign… without ever telling the electorate that their official party policy is not to save them but privatise them. Its anything for votes. But where they are in power, they privatise with the best of them. Kinnock in his famous anti-militant speech said you can have all of the principles in the world, but without power they count for nothing. For the Liberals, its reversed, you can give them all the power in the world, but they have no principles.
So, why Labour? As Tony Benn says there are socialists in the Labour Party, just as there are some Christians in the Church. We are the only political party with a mass link to the working class through the trade union movement, and like the unions, we have our share of careerists, arselickers, and reactionaries. But we also have some bloody good members…socialists, councillors and even MPs (believe it or not), who do not subscribe to the ‘what’s in it for me’ philosophy that the media try to brand all politicians with… and far too many people out there believe.

End of whinge

Welcome to UKIP.... you're welcome to UKIP

In a move which will have rocked the foundations of our society, Charles Henry John Benedict Crofton Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot (that's one person, not our Euro 2004 squad) has announced he will be throwing his weight behind UKIP in the European elections. Charlie was elected to Parliament on a 100% turnout by Henry VI in 1442 at a time the name Talbot sent fear into the hearts of Frenchmen everywhere. Now over 550 years later, he's at it again. Charlie has announced he will be ditching the Tories for UKIP (never trust a man with the same name twice I say, just look at Eric Djemba Djemba, Jay Jay Ockocha). Within hours Charlie has been flushed down the Tories 'memory hole'.

"I can think of no more unprincipled stand than to say the war is unjust but we support it anyway"

Charlie Kennedy, in his more sober (sorry, somber) moods, likes to take the plaudits for being the only major party against the War in Iraq. but as this article in the Independent points out, this was just the usual Lib-Dem fudge. Less backbone than a jellyfish!

New links

I've added two new links to the sidebar. Maggie Thatcher's Underpants deserves inclusion for such a fantastic name, but it's also a good read. Also Paul, at Is this A Good Idea? has been added. He lives in Sandwell and despite his Glory hunting tendencies and his revolutionary abstentionism, its a good site!

And you thought we had problems with Kilroy-Silk

Czech porn star Dolly Buster - née Katerina Bochnickova - has been campaigning in a low-cut blouse as a milkmaid who does not want her country to be "milked" by Brussels.

So, who's the big threat?

Thanks to the good Doctor for referring me to Daniel Brett who poses the question What is a greater threat: Jihadism or Islamaphobia, and then answers it pretty damn good!

It's all about oil

Thanks to Tom Watson MP for the reference to his namesake which dishes the dirt on the Haliburton/Dirty Dick smoking gun.

Cheesy Cheney

It's all over now, baby blue

So, after months of speculation, Chelsea Football Club has sacked Claudio Ranieri. What a contrast between the dignity of Ranieri (never disputed a referee's decision, never moaned about 'bad luck, always had a smile for the cameras, win or lose) with the despicable crawling creeps Kenyon and Abramovich who employed him. All the best Claudio, you should have been Sports Personality of the Year... if it hadn't been for this one serious bloody error!

Of war and peace the truth just twists

Pilger on Morgan, The Mirror and subtle media censorship.

Residents in Abbey Ward were out this morning protesting about plans by Blue Chip Casinos to turn a pub near their homes into an all-night casino.

And this is the monstrosity they want to turn it into!

Everything passes, everything changes

At a time when a lot of good friends are telling me they won't vote Labour because 'they're the same as the Tories' it is with great sadness from 4Glengate I learnt of the death of Jim Marshall, MP for Leicester South. If you want to know why I'm sad, and punch a hole in that daft theory, check out Jim's voting record.

"I ain't Sofisticated"

I blagged this off Pete, who got it off Plep. A time consuming and wonderful history of Punk at Punk '77. It's sites like this that get you the sack!

Don't miss this

Tonight at 9.pm Channel 4 will show a drama reconstruction of the Omagh bombing by the Real IRA which claimed the lives of 28 people and injured over 220 others. The worst terror attack of the conflict in Ireland. It happened under the current Government. Under Tony Blair's watch. For five and a half years the relatives of the victims of Omagh have been requesting a meeting with the Prime Minister. Although he has "felt the hand of history on his shoulder", and his government have introduced a Terrorism Act (which does not outlaw the Real IRA), it would appear that our PM has been too busy pursuing The War Against Terrorism (T.W.A.T.) to donate any of his precious time to meet with these families.

Another badge kisser moves on

Glory Hunter

Who's fooling who

Tony Blair and his partner in the coalition of the willing seem to be at odds about who will control military operations after the 'transfer of sovereignty' takes place in Iraq. Will Blair now, having been reminded by Colin Powell about what he should have said,have a change of heart? As that old fixer Jim Callaghan used to say when he was reminded Party Conference had voted on contradictory motions, "If you can't ride two horses, get out of the bloody circus".

The new Juve

BykerSink, who is always worth a read anyway, is also contributing to a site supporting the development of a team in Peru, on the banks of the Amazon, in a city called Iquitos. In Iquitos there is a small parish called Bellavista which has a local under-21 football team called Bellavista Juventud. There is a North-East connection and the good people up there have set up a supporters club, and you can follow the events at The Bellavista Social Club. It also appears that wee Nobby Solano is also lending his support, so that's another good reason for backing them.

Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean

Now I'm no great art expert, but I know what like, and I love this picture by Edward Hopper. Anyone who follows US crime novels from a line through Dashiel Hammett, Phillip Marlowe etc. will surely identify with the guy at the bar on his own. And who are the other two punters?


Hopper's first exhibition in this country for 20 years is due to open at Tate Modern on Thursday.

Anti-Casino Demo

On Saturday local residents in my Ward are preparing to demonstrate against the obnoxious Blue Chip Casinos' plan to open a round-the-clock gambling house from a pub right next door to their homes. Pictures will follow next week.

Where's Tom gone?

Suddenly, with no warning, Tom Watson MP seems to have vanished from the blogosphere. In some of his final postings before he vanished Tom was talking about Fathers 4 Justice somehow attacking his site. Has Tom been kidnapped by blog terrorists?
Questions must be asked in the House!

Zapatistas

BykerSink last week posted a reference to Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Co-incidentally, this morning I have received an e-mail from the folks at Philosophy Football who do a neat Zapatista t-shirt in their 'dissenters' section, and the proceeds of the sale have raised $700 to assist the Zapatista's. The e-mail carried a message of thanks from the Zapatistas:


"Thanks ever so much for this donation. This really is tremendous and will help
support much of the work that we are doing now to get satellite internet and
wireless connections into the caracoles. Three of the five now have internet
and one has a wireless network setup that Indymedia, Promedios and Comppa have
helped to set up. This will also be hugley helpful for upcoming forums for
which we have been asked to help coordinate an alternative media space and a
communications table.
Thanks again and a huge hug of solidarity to all of you there,
Best,
Timo and all of here at the Chiapas Indymedia Center."

So, you not only get a cool t-shirt, you're giving the money to someone a damn sight more constructive than Nike!

Shock - Tory tells truth about public spending cuts!

Conservative Shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin has let the cat out of the bag about Tory plans to cut public expenditure. In spite of continual denials of Labour's accusations that the Tories would slash public expenditue, Letwin revealed they would cut £23bn a year in their first term and a further £135bn if they won a second term of office. All we need Oliver to own up about now is which areas of education, health, policing, the armed forces etc he would axe. Don't just say "bureaucracy" Ollie, we had 18 years for you to sort that out.

Another one bites the dust...

Yet another Conservative sees the error of his ways. This time it is the Party's only elected Muslim who has quit the Party claiming a "number of his fellow politicians and senior party figures are racist!"

'scuse me while I kiss the sky

We went to see Birmingham's very own Steve Ajao last night. Terrific. Steve plays superb guitar a la Jimi Hendrix. In the little back room of the Church Inn, volume cranked up to maximum, Batham's bitter flowing freely. Great, great fun.

You cover up the truth with lies.

As someone who opposed the invasion of Iraq, I deeply regret the fact that this might mean being associated in some way with the political chameleon that is the Liberal Democrats. As I posted on Thursday, in spite of saying they would not use the war in their local election materials, that has been revealed as yet another Lib Dem lie. Tom Watson refers you to Lib Dem Watch which reproduces their gutter leaflet.

Let's have more like Harry

I sympathise with Mr Harry Sas of Clevedon. One of the first things I raised when I was elected was that a chap with a little sweeping machine came down the road every week, about 7.00am in the morning, when all the cars were parked in the street. He swept the white line in the middle of the road, did a quick about turn, and swept the white line again going the other way. An exercise in total futility because the gutters were still as clogged up with litter and leaves as they were before he came, and the white line was wearing thin.

I wish we had more people as keen as Mr Sas though. The councillor with responsibility for the environment reckons he's got 33 people picking the litter up, and 33,000 dropping it!

Liberal Democrat Principles. A contradiction in terms

When the Liberal Democrats launched their election campaign for the local council elections, they pledged they were going to concentrate on local issues. "War is an issue, but it is not an issue for local elections" said their spokesperson, probably aware that Charlie Kennedy was hovering about whether or not to back a call to send more troops to Iraq.
As ever though, you can rely on the Liberals to show their firm principles...are a load of opportunist crap.

Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)

I've had an e-mail from Gina who berates me (and my comments people) for not including anything by the legend that is Otis Redding in my sad songs. Very true Gina. Otis could have his own competition, 'A change is gonna come' 'Try a little tenderness' and my very own heartwrenching favourite 'I've been loving you too long'. Sublime.

Exhaust-ed

My car exhaust fell off as I was leaving home this morning. I've had to wait hours for the repair people to order a new 'back box' as they term it for the mechanically illiterate. So instead of sitting in a sweating conference room arguing with curmudgeonly management, I've been lounging in the garden, reading the new Pelecanos novel with the Test Match on in the kitchen. I would thank the Lord above (of any religion you like) if it wasn't for the fact that they have just 'phoned me to OK the £250 bill for the new exhaust (and to replace a ropy tyre). I'll repeat the old John Cooper Clarke adage... tyres are knackered, knackers are tired!

Sharon back on the White House lawn

As Steve Bell sees it.

Tenants say NO to housing sell-off

Congratulations to the council house tenants in Kingston Upon Thames who are the latest group to have voted to remain with the local authority and resist the threats/bribes to transfer their council houses to a so-called social housing company. Well done to the local Branch of UNISON which campaigned with tenants against the privatisation plans. In Walsall in the West Midlands the Council succeeded in 'persuading' tenants to vote for stock transfer of the Council's homes. 'Jobs are Safe' boasted the Council's Tory Leader when he was desperate for a 'yes' vote, regrettably backed by the New Labour housing spokesperson. Within weeks of the ballot result this was revealed as a cruel hoax and the newly formed Housing Association said it was aiming to cut up to 50% of the 1,000 housing staff who transferred from the Council.

Ask them!

David Aaronovitch, once a left-wing radical, now in favour of War in Iraq and student top-up fees, wonders in his latest Guardian column "Why do they hate Blair so much?" Perhaps instead of quaffing wine in Kensington he would like to plod the streets of Bearwood with me and ask "them" himself. It may not, of course, be unrelated to the war in Iraq and student top-up fees!

Welcome back

One of my mates and election canvassers, Jim, has just come out of hospital after a couple of weeks treatment and has blogged entertainingly about his 'time inside'. He's up and about now so the warm beer sessions after canvassing can be resumed.

Its my party and I'll cry if I want to

BBC Radio 4 is running a poll to discover the nation's favourite sad song. Having just left Villa Park where we were pipped for Europe by Newcastle, I thought I was in the right mood to put forward some of my own suggestions.

Judy Collins - In my Life
Maria Callas - La Mamma Morta
Leonard Cohen - Alexandra Leaving
Joni Mitchell - The Last Time I Saw Richard
Phil Ochs - When I'm Gone

I'm sure I could think of some more... late entry..( Tom Waits... Tom Traubert's Blues ?)

The riot squad are restless, they need someplace to go

It was obviously a very quiet day for crime in Hokkaido, Japan.

Honest man quits Tories

A leading Tory has quit the Party in Redditch claiming he didn't fit in because he is "an honest bloke."

Chelsea, Chelsea

Someone was whingeing over at Tom Watson's site because I had described David Mellor as a " fat slug". I wasn't sure whether they objected because it was sizeist, which it was and I unreservedly apologise, or because I referred to him as a slug. Again, I accept that I should apologise... after all, this could be deeply offensive to your common (or) garden slug. Anyway, some people do find the things revolting. (Slugs, I mean, but I suppose the same thing applies to Mellor).  

They'll stone you when you're walkin' down the street...

Nearly two weeks into the election campaign, nearly 2,000 house visited between us, and, as John Cooper Clarke used to say, "tyres are knackered, knackers are tired". The campaign isn't as bad as I thought it would be. There's quite a bit of anti-war, anti-Blair feeling, but people seem to be making the distinction between what Labour in Sandwell is, rather than Labour in Government. All three seats are up in my Ward because of boundary changes, and the Liberals are putting up a single candidate to try to benefit from the anti-war vote, and I can't say I blame them. Hopefully though we've done a not bad job over the last few years and they'll come out on the day. I suspect the voters are lining up a shock for the Euro candidates as a way of sending a message to Blair. Will he listen? Don't suppose so, he hasn't done so far!

Subtle?

Given the Thai Government's record on human rights (I know, glass houses and stones etc) I do think this headline lacked a bit of tact.

Now that's what I call ironing!

Over at Supermum, Christine is of the opinion, with some justification I would guess, that the reason women are disinclined to stroke the male ego (or anything else on offer) is because they are too tired after working all day and ironing all night. Now I must confess... I hate ironing, and I also get vertigo standing on a chair to change a lightbulb. So I don't think I'll try this!

Thanks Neil

I am indebted to Neil of German For Beginners for his patience and effort in helping me to re-design the masthead. Neil did it with a click of his fingers, whereas I have been peeing about half of the day 'experimenting' and usually getting it wrong.

Wanted, graduate, must be sensitive soul , apply within

I blagged this courtesy of Supermum. Presumably the existing postholders have been made redundant and a major recruitment exercise is underway. As one of the comments added, knowledge of digital photography a distinct advantage.

I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

There are some things that people of a certain age will identify with. This post (courtesy of Normblog) is definitely one of them.

We'll raise a glass...

Off to the Civic reception to celebrate The Baggies promotion. They're not my team but I'm pleased they're being promoted, and its good for Sandwell. Geography isn't my specialist subject and I know its woeful but given a map I could only make a stab at pinpointing the whereabouts of Chorley, Kirklees, Wokingham or Redcar. They don't have a football league club, you see. I can, however, precisely locate Preston (North End), Crewe (Alexandra), Blackburn (Rovers) Hartlepool (United) and Dagenham (& Redbridge). Having said that, when I put this post through the spell checker it suggested I should 'change Sandwell to Sandal'.

I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin'

Please read UK Today and follow the link to Me and Orphelia... and spread the word.

I'm backing Claudio

Whilst I have no particular interest in the affairs of Chelsea Football Club and its manager, and if multi-millionaires fall-out, why should I care, when I hear on the radio that the fat slug Mellor thinks Ranieri should be sacked, I'm definitely in Claudio's corner.

It was 23 years ago, today.

At a time when the Tories are wetting themselves in an orgy of nostalgia for their matriarch, spare a moment or two to remember one of those who paid the ultimate price for resisting her.

Modern Times

It is said we live in modern times,
In the civilised year of 'seventy nine,
But when I look around, all I see,
Is modern torture, pain, and hypocrisy.

In modern times little children die,
They starve to death, but who dares ask why?
And little girls without attire,
Run screaming, napalmed, through the night afire.

And while fat dictators sit upon their thrones,
Young children bury their parents' bones,
And secret police in the dead of night,
Electrocute the naked woman out of sight.

In the gutter lies the black man, dead,
And where the oil flows blackest, the street runs red,
And there was He who was born and came to be,
But lived and died without liberty.

As the bureaucrats, speculators and presidents alike,
Pin on their dirty, stinking, happy smiles tonight,
The lonely prisoner will cry out from within this tomb,
And tomorrow's wretch will leave its mother's womb!

And you could also sign this petition.

Here we go, here we go, here we go...

...Or as my daughter used to say when they started that chant, "Why are they singing about earwigs?" The local election campaign starts moving into full swing today (you can tell by the weather - its peeing down in Sandwell). Due to boundary changes the whole council is up for re-election, and as I am the newest Labour councillor in the Ward, and alphabetically the last of the three, my seat is the most vulnerable. So, from June 11th onwards I might have more time to do this blog... but the title may have to change. Optimistic? Moi?

Never mind 25 years ago... remember 1997

Whilst all the Tories are out waving their union jacks and remembering the day that wicked old crone won the general election of 1979, we also need to commemorate the day we threw the buggers out! OK, so Blair hasn't fulfilled the expectations of many of us who lived through the dark 'grabbit' years of Thatcherism, but I only have to look at my own small corner of the world to appreciate the difference. Two of my local primary schools have new classrooms (one is replacing 'temporary' huts which have been there for a dozen years), and we now talk about giving every child computer access at home instead of worrying about whether we have to make cleaners or caterers redundant. We have more police patrols, including new cycle squads, the main shopping street is swept every morning, constituents praise the hospitals and we are having new street lights fitted. I know, I know, I know, people will say what about the war in Iraq. But the Tories would still have done that as well as spent another seven years squeezing the worst off in society.

I hear what people like BykerSink say when they say they won't be voting for Labour because of the damage Blair has done to Iraq... but think of the damage a Howard Government would do to the working class in Britain. So I will raise a glass to seven years of a Labour Government... now its time - in immortal words of Adam and the Ants - to Stand AND Deliver!

Nice and sleazy does it

I see Tone managed to give a Peerage to businessman Paul Drayton who had donated £100,000 to the Labour Party in 2001. Not to be outdone the Tories showed they intend to maintain their sleazy tradition, Michael Howard nominated five new Peers, four of whom were major Tory Party donors. Irvine Laidlaw has coughed up about £1.5million to the Party, and Sir Stanley Kalms (the boss of Dixons - who two days earlier announced plans to close 106 shops and sack god knows how many workers) has given the Party £600,000. Lord Steinberg and Greville Howard make up the numbers, and they must have been lucky to be included because they had only bunged about £100,000 each. If people are allowed to buy a Peerage for this sort of paltrey amount it really will lower the standards in the House, don't you think?

Bury the rag deep in your face, now is the time for your tears

"The atrocities in Iraqi prisoners are to be the subject of an official inquiry" and so they should be. But spare a thought for the relatives of Zahid Mubarek from Walthamstow. In March 2000, Zahid, who was a 19-year old first time offender, was beaten to death with a chair leg by his cell mate Robert Stewart, a known racist and psychopath, on the day before Zahid was due to be released. Stewart signed over 200 letters from prison with a swastika, had a Ku Klux Klan sign in his cell and had written to say he would kill Zahid.

It is difficult to comprehend the level of terror Zahid must have felt in the weeks running up to his death, and the failures by the prison service are all too obvious. But not, apparently, to the Home Secretary who refused the family's request for a Public Inquiry. Four years later, after the Home Office fought the family tooth and nail all the way to the Law Lords, the Home Office this week finally conceded that they would hold a Public Inquiry.
"Zahid Mubarek died because of a combination of Robert Stewart's racism and failures of the Prison Service - had Zahid been white, he would not have died" - Commission For Racial Equality

This is a disgrace every bit as disturbing as Guantanamo and Iraq.

Get those knees up

Dr. John Reed says it is important we all take some gentle exercise every day to keep us fit. Just like his mate does!

It's OK... you can go now

Immediately prior to the Home Secretary's major announcement of his government's plans to introduce ID cards, Greater Manchester Police were involved in dawn raids to round up 'terror suspects' and 'had foiled a terror plot to blow up Manchester' according to news reports. A week later, the fuss about ID cards returned to the back burner and we find these dangerous terrorists have all been released and presumably their 'weapons of mass destruction' have proved as elusive as all those others.

(Goose) Stepping Down

Oh dear... Desmond has started a trend! The deputy leader of Bradford council has resigned after making a Nazi-style salute and saying "Sieg Heil" at a public meeting.
Labour councillor Lynne Joyce, who was born in Germany, said Simon Cooke, a Conservative, made the gesture as she finished a speech on Tuesday.

Mr Cooke said he had decided to step down for the good of the party but would remain a councillor.

"I regret my actions and apologise for any embarrassment it caused," he said.

Just the occasional execution then?

Afghan officials says the execution for murder of a former military commander does not mean a policy of capital punishment has been reintroduced. It reads pretty much like it has to me!

Positioning

Last week there was the story that certain 'influential' Cabinet members were unhappy about Blair making policy 'on the hoof' in respect of a European Constitution referendum. At the weekend the newspapers carried stories that there was a clear split in the Cabinet over the issue if ID cards and that Jack Straw was leading the revolt. This is followed by a letter criticising the Blair leadership over Iraq and Palestine from former mandarins in the Foreign Office.

Is it possible that Ministers are positioning themselves for the post-Blair world in a way that means Gordon Brown will not automatically get his own way?

A pain in the ass

A sixteen-stone US clerk to the court is suing New York City for $5million as a consequence of a most unfortunate accident.

Who are you! Who are you!

Towards the end of an interesting piece about Weblogging in The Register, Nico MacDonald rightly points out that: "The ‘blogerati’ rightly present Weblogging as opening up writing and communication to the masses. However, this populist and laudable attack on the mass communication sector disguises an elitist tendency at the centre of the blogosphere. This tendency is most obvious in the habit of using first names only (or even nicknames) when referring to fellow Webloggers. For a movement that aspires to (and has achieved some) intellectual leadership, this is inappropriate."

Which got me thinking... we 'talk' to so many strangers, and not many of them actually tell you who they are. But do we really want to know? Personally, I'm happy following the saga of Andre's love torn angst for Stone without being told his real name is Geoff and he works in a bank (it's not... I made that up), I wallow in the trials and tribulations of a Supermum, and I follow BykerSink and his progress towards his VSO like others follow Eastenders or Corrie. Why, on a blogging level I even get on Ok with the Bluenose... and I know we would fall out in no time if we knew each other better. I don't need to meet my favourite bloggers, we don't have that sort of relationship. Let's keep some mystery. Leave well alone, I say.

Say "Non" to Le Pen

The BNP has invited Jean Marie Le Pen, the leader of the French fascist party Front National to speak at a meeting in Birmingham, Britain's most multicultural city, on Sunday. Unite Against Fascism have called a rally on Sunday afternoon at 3pm in Victoria Square Birmingham to protest against Le Pen and the BNP. The West Midlands TUC and West Midlands UNISON are supporting the rally. The last time Le Pen came to Britain he was driven out by mass protests as the Edinburgh venue cancelled his meeting. this was headline news in france and strengthened the fight against fascism there.

It is perhaps no surprise that he is now fundraising for the BNP. Their leader, (in the)Nick Griffin, denied the existence of the holocaust against the Jews - and that is something which Le Pen has consistently sought to trivialise.

Anyone wanting more info can contact Birmingham Unite Against Fascism on 0783 724 4518

On your bike

I know I've mentioned this site before, but it was when I was first started posting and I don't think many people will have seen it. Has your MP responded? Why hasn't that nice Mr Tom Watson sent a photo in... surely his yoof credentials are sufficient to provide a picture or two?

A marriage made in heaven

So, Tony Martin, hero of the masses (or at least those who vote in Radio 4 polls for legislation to allow him to shoot on sight) is urging people to vote for the BNP. Don't they just deserve each other?

The European democracy tests

The excellent BykerSink, as so often, hits the button spot on about the confusion most people feel over the subject of the European Union, the Euro and the proposed referendum on the European Constitution. Whilst certain sections of the media portray the European debate as a xenophobic, little Englander, anti-johnny foreigner argument, people may rationalise that because they are opposed to that mentality they must therefore adopt a pro stance towards these issues.

I certainly have no problems with closer links with other European nations, or the much wider world community come to that. But I do have serious reservations about extending the powers of the EU unless that is accompanied by a democratisation of the EU and its institutions. A couple of years ago someone wrote a rather good article in The Guardian saying something along the lines of "never mind the 5 economic tests for the Euro, what about the five democratic tests for the EU." If I can recall, they were:

The European Parliament should have full democratic powers to introduce legislation. It is the EU's only directly elected body and should be the body which initiates legislation.

The Commission's President should be elected by the parliament. It is a powerful position and should be democratically accountable.

The parliament should appoint the head of the European Central Bank instead of being appointed by "common accord" by the governments of the member states.

The ECB should be transparent in its dealings. It meets in secret and doesn't publish minutes or the voting record of its meetings.

The ECB should work within terms defined by the parliament. Currently the ECB determines its own targets for inflation, and that directs its monetary policy. There is no democratic input, therefore, into one of the major economic factors in the EU.

Given this increased democratisation we would at least be able to determine via a referendum whether we wanted to cede some of our parliament's sovereignty (always supposing, of course, that you think government runs things anyway) to other democratic institutions. Without that democracy, my vote will be no, even if I have to share that vote with some of the most objectionable people possible.

Part of the union

There is an excellent post over at 4glengate showing how the media misrepresent trade unions. Is The Times article just sloppy journalism? Or more likely I suspect, another example of the Murdoch press trying to drive the wedge between the unions and the party, whilst stirring something in their readerships dusty brains about 'winters of discontent'.

You know you're a brummie...

Actually, although like me you may have lived in neighbouring Sandwell for 25 years, they still refer to you as 'the brummie'. Anyway, I've filched this explanation of what it means to be a brummie from the brummie blogs site.

The smoking ban

I forgot to mention the smoking ban in public places, including pubs, in the Republic of Ireland. It really does work. I was a bit sceptical when I first heard about it and thought most pubs would just ignore it. Wrong. In every pub we visited, and believe me there were a few, I didn't see a single smoker light up. They politely left the pub and stood outside and continued the craic out there, which meant the bar staff and the rest of us didn't have to share their smoke, and when you got home your clothes didn't smell like an ashtray. Any chance of Dr John Reid having the bottle to push for the same thing here.

Dingle Bells

I'm back! After spending 6 fantastic days in Dingle on the west coast of Ireland. If you're lucky enough to get good weather in Co. Kerry (and we were) it really is a stunning part of the world. Looking out from Slea Head to The Blaskets it feels like you're standing at the end of the earth. Exhilarating! Basically, I suppose I'm really a city person and I don't feel uncomfortable surrounded by the noise and bustle of a city. But a week spent in a place like Dingle, with a soundtrack of Shane MacGowan and the new Christy 6 cd box set in the car, a couple of good books and a regular flow of Guinness, which is allegedly good for you, and a text message from Reg about how we hammered Chelsea... does life get better than this, I don't think so. Roll on June 10th, the batteries are charged and we're ready for them.

See the dolphin!

Dingle has got its very own dolphin just outside the harbour and yesterday we went out in a small boat and it came right up to the side of the boat. In spite of my reluctant cool... I was squealing just like the kids. Great fun. Now we're off to consume some of Fungi's fellow sea creatures at one of the beautiful seafood restaurants.

Signing off...

I won't be posting for the next week because Mrs P and me are off to Dingle to enjoy the Kerry countryside, sup some blackstuff and generally wind down.

We wuz robbed!

Obviously no Russian linesman available

And many a gamble has been lost and won....

"A tax on the stupid" is how a friend of mine describes the national lottery. Whilst I would not entirely subscribe to her rather harsh judgement, I do fear the consequences of the government's new Bill to deregulate the gambling laws, and not just because it will lead to an increase in gambling addiction.

It isn't only the Mega Las Vegas style casinos in run down holiday resorts that bother me either. They will be the tip of the iceberg as people are enticed into the wonderful world of slot machines by the machine in their local chippy, through to the ones in pubs that now give you change from £5, £10, and £20 notes to avoid you having to keep troubling the bar staff to convert your wages into pound coins.

My Ward is described in the Planning guidance as a tight-knit community of Victorian terraced houses, with very little scope for increased car parking. A recent proposal by the loathsome Blue Chip Casinos to convert a local pub into an all-night gamblig casino was, quite rightly thrown out by Planning Committee. They rejected it on the grounds that it will cause a nusance to residents with the noise of punters coming and going, as well as the problems of traffic and parking. To make matters worse they have a ludicrous proposal to convert the pub exterior to a replica of an ocean going liner (the nearest sea is nearly 100 miles away). The residents are quite rightly convinced it will blight the area and lead to increased crime and a downward spiral of house prices.

Blue Chip have now appealed to the national Planning Inspectorate and some planning inspector wallah from Bristol will come to Smethwick to decide the future of the community before buggering off back to Bristol. The feeling in the area is very much the same as that over 'phone masts. The politicians have taken the Casino owners cash (I am told donations to the Labour Party from Casino owners make interesting reading, as well as MP's connections to various betting lobby groups) and this is the payback.

Personally, I feel sick for these people. There will be a public inquiry at which they will be able to put their view, but we are ordinary working-class folk who will be faced with Barristers employed by Blue Chip, and I fear for the result. Perhaps Mr Barry de Lacey, the owner of Blue Chip, would welcome his 'low-end of the market' casino in his own back garden, but I suspect his back garden is so large he wouldn't even notice.

So I was particularly impressed with John O'Farrell's lampoon of the new gambling laws in today's Guardian.

"Look how much we stand to win!" says Tony Blair, adding up the revenue from the new casinos and jobs in the leisure industry.

But like any hardened gambler, he's forgetting about how much it will cost him: hundreds of thousands of people getting into debt, losing their homes, unable to support their families. More people turning to crime to pay for their habit.

There are an estimated 300,000 so-called problem gamblers in this country (which is twice as many as I bet my kids there would be). But it won't be the casinos paying for all the social costs of more addicts. Maybe the all-party committee should explain everything it has learned to the prime minister, and he might think twice about the morality of it all.

"So, guys, how do these big bookmakers maintain such enormous profit margins?"

"Well, it's simple really, PM. They take loads of money off millions of poor people, but keep them passive by occasionally giving small amounts back."

"Hang on a minute," says the prime minister. "I thought that was what the Treasury did."

Incredible

The entry page to Michael Moore's website contains this mosaic comprised of photographs of all those US soldiers who have died in the Iraq War.

He's done it again

Two days... two great blogs. Check out Slave to the 11c and the terrific Exorcist by bunnies. Keep it up Jim.

If the war is over, who is winning the peace?

Nearly 12 months ago President George W. Bush said "major combat operations are over. He added, "When Iraqi civilians look into the faces of American troops "they see strength and kindness and goodwill". Steve Bell sees it differently.

Traffic calming

I picked up on this reference about possibly the country's smallest 30mph zone courtesy of balders. In my Ward (Bearwood) where virtually everyone wants something to keep the traffic speed down, we have got one speed bump. It is in a cul-de-sac no more than 50 yards long, and there is only room for one car to go down the road at a time. Crazy!

Very Clever Trevor

I got this really clever little music mapping site courtesy of Jim who's new Blog looks as if it will be promising.

Terror alert

One of the theme's in Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine concerns the way US citizens are kept perpetually in fear of some unknown bogey-man. As in George Orwell's 1984 it is important to keep people frightened in order to justify 'the state' spending all that money on police, security forces and defence to look after you. A number of Bloggers today make the same point as balders in expressing cynicism about the timing of our latest terrorist scare.

Whose culture is it anyway?

I am English, male, white and middle-aged. I was bought up on Disney and John Wayne, before progressing to Pulp Fiction via The Godfather. On the radio we had Motown, Elvis and Otis and I was devoted to Dylan. I struggled with Shakespeare, but I devoured the Jack’s (Kerouac and London), and to this day I love crime fiction that comes out of a Los Angeles that will always belong to Chandler’s Marlowe. Ok, so I hate MacDonald’s and don’t do Starbuck’s, but when people start talking multiculturalism, perhaps we should take a step or two backwards and ask exactly whose culture are we talking about here? Today I still like Bob Dylan, but I also listen to reggae, and Youssou N’Dour, and Touareg singers from the Sahara. I eat Balti curries ‘invented’ in Birmingham’s curry quarter and the only new places of religious worship near where I live are Temples or Gudwara’s. Yet suddenly people like Trevor Phillips and those who want to interpret his words start twittering on about the problems of multiculturalism and its concept... and out of the swamp comes Tebbit with his ‘cricket test’. Good job old Enoch has gone, his rivers of blood would start flowing again.

Dueling banjos

Thanks to Tim for this. Brilliant!

Adolf has a bad hair day

He would have been 115 years old this month but it's been a pretty bad day all round for Adolf Hitler. Firstly it would appear that 10% of the nation's adults thought he was a fictional character, and then the citizens of one Austrian Town turn round and do the dirty on him by stripping him of honorary citizenship.

Learning... or earning

Academics and Vice-Chancellors in English universities are concerned that allowing more working-class students into their world of dreaming spires (or concrete and glass boxes which is more typical of the English universities) will dilute their academic worth and they are blaming the government for what they call clumsy 'social engineering'. It must, of course, be made clear that all this has nothing at all to do with their desire to attract the best brains from the public schools and the best families with the biggest wallets.

Cheers

Having experienced a particularly bad hangover last weekend after Mick and Suzanna's wedding, I've decided to go back to the pub before the footie today, and serve a writ on the landlord. That'll teach him not to get me drunk!

Trimble - The media's favourite loyalist thug

For the media Ian Paisley is beyond the pale - excuse the reference - but David Trimble is the media's favourite loyalist. Not for him the trademark loyalist tattoos and strident flagwaving. But when you listen to this despicable little man closely, if you poke with a stick beneath his stone, you reveal inside a slimy creature every bit as nasty as the mob. His disgusting attack on Rosemary Nelson and Pat Finucane in the House of Commons on Friday is just the latest example of a man appealing to the most base instincts of extremist loyalism before Paisley steals all of his support.

Dubya in blogosphere

Nice site, George.

We're not racist...honestly

Just to follow up on the Michael Howard PMQ's issue. It would appear it is now perfectly easy to spout racist claptrap and get it dressed up in language that will mean you do not get classified as some sort of dodgy Kilroy. Take the repugnant BNP. If you go to their website (wash your hands on the way out) you will see they rarely use the words 'race' or 'black'. All they need to do to stir up the neanderthals is use the words 'asylum seeker' or 'illegal immigrant'. It paints the picture for them and allows them to spout their hatred. Similarly, if you follow the links on Cuthberton's Conservative Commentary, then nestled there amongst the usual Melanie Phillips' and The Bruges Group in the 'great sites' for you to visit you come across Migration Watch UK whose views are best described as like the BNP without the boots. Perversley, Migration Watch UK seems to be Chaired by a former British Ambassador in the Middle East for nearly 20 years, where I suppose he was an 'economic migrant' really.