No to imperialist war! Join the 2015 International May Day Online Rally!
On Sunday, May 3, the International Committee of the Fourth International will hold an international online rally to mark May Day, the historic day of international working class solidarity.
May Day this year will be held amidst conditions of immense crisis. Much of the world is already engulfed in war. Without the intervention of the working class, these conflicts, ever more violent and bloody, will lead inexorably to a world war waged by nuclear-armed powers that would call into question the very future of human civilization.
In Eastern Europe, the fascist-led coup in Ukraine, orchestrated by the United States and the European powers in February of 2014, has been followed by a vast militarization of the entire region. NATO troops are engaged in highly provocative military exercises on Russia’s border, and hundreds of US armoured vehicles, tanks, helicopters and fighter planes have been deployed to bolster the right-wing, anti-Russian governments in the Baltic states.
In the Middle East and Central Asia, the United States has orchestrated one war after another, each ending in chaos and disaster. Last year, the Obama outfit initiated a new war in Iraq and Syria, which has been followed by a US-backed bombing campaign in Yemen, led by the reactionary regimes of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
At the same time, the US is expanding its “pivot to Asia,” constructing a network of military alliances and arms agreements aimed at encircling and containing China—and preparing the way for war. In Africa, Washington is backing Kenya against Somalia in the East, while organizing massive war games involving Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Tunisia in the West.
In the quarter-century since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the American ruling class has spearheaded an endless and escalating series of global conflicts. Proclaiming its “unipolar moment,” the US financial aristocracy has sought to counteract the protracted decline of American capitalism through violence and conquest. It has decreed as a matter of policy that, in its drive for world domination, no significant regional competitor will be tolerated.
Nearly fifteen years ago, the Bush administration launched the “war on terror,” seizing on the events of September 11 to invade Afghanistan, in the first of what President Bush called the “wars of the twenty-first century.” It is now clear that the “war on terror” was simply the banner under which the US ruling elite launched a global campaign to subordinate every part of the world to its interests.
While the United States is spearheading the carve-up of the world, the other major imperialist powers are seeking their own share of the spoils.
In Germany, the ruling class is moving to whitewash its crimes in the world wars of the twentieth century as it seeks, once again, to become the dominant power in Europe and beyond. In a similar vein, Japan is quickly casting off the constitutional restrictions against military aggression that were put into place after the Second World War. The anniversary of World War I was greeted by all the imperialist powers—including Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe—as an opportunity to rehabilitate their involvement in past wars in anticipation of future conquest.
The decision by the major European powers last month to reject direct appeals from the US to not join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank marked a decisive turning point in the crisis of American imperialism. German, British, French and Italian imperialism are all increasingly plotting an independent course.
Between them, the two world wars of the twentieth century annihilated close to 100 million people. As Marxists explained at the time, these wars arose out of the fundamental contradictions of the capitalist system—between an increasingly global economy and the outmoded nation-state system, and between socialised production and the private ownership of the means of production.
In the founding document of the Fourth International, written on the eve of World War II, Trotsky, co-leader with Lenin of the 1917 Russian Revolution, explained that world capitalism was leading mankind toward disaster. “Under the increasing tension of capitalist disintegration, imperialist antagonisms reach an impasse at the height of which separate clashes and bloody local disturbances… must inevitably coalesce into a conflagration of world dimensions. The bourgeoisie, of course, is aware of the mortal danger to its domination represented by a new world war. But that class is now immeasurably less capable of averting war than on the eve of 1914.”
Trotsky warned, “Without a socialist revolution, in the next historical period at that, a catastrophe threatens the whole culture of mankind.”
Seventy-five years later, the state of world capitalism fully confirms the analysis of the Marxist movement. The breakdown of the capitalist system that erupted in 2008 has vastly accelerated the predatory drive of the imperialist powers for the re-division of the globe, as well as their ferocious assault on the working class. In its attempt to maintain its rule, the corporate and financial elite resorts ever more directly to force and violence at home, casting aside the most basic democratic rights.
The international working class is the only social force capable of putting an end to this criminality and madness. It is not the reactionary nationalism and nuclear saber-rattling of the Putin regime in Russia, or the manoeuvres of the oligarchic ruling class in China, that can defeat imperialism, but the vast majority of humanity organized in revolutionary political struggle.
Despite the escalating dangers of a new global conflagration, however, there are no significant anti-war protests or demonstrations. Yet, just over a decade ago, millions of people around the world, including hundreds of thousands in the United States, took part in mass demonstrations against the impending invasion of Iraq. In the intervening period, there has not been any growth of pro-war sentiment in the working class. Rather, the middle class pseudo-left organizations, which organized the 2003 demonstrations on the basis of futile protests to the United Nations and other sections of the powers-that-be, have since fully integrated themselves into the imperialist set-up.
With the elevation of Syriza in Greece to the pinnacle of state power, these forces have become part of the very state mechanisms now being utilized to escalate the austerity offensive against the working class.
But the same fundamental contradictions that produce imperialist war create the objective conditions for socialist revolution. The international working class is an immense social force, more powerful today than a century ago. This social force must be organized, mobilised and provided with political leadership. The fight against imperialism must be connected to the struggle against social inequality, poverty, mass unemployment, police violence and dictatorship.
The turn must now be to the unification of the working class, across all national, ethnic and regional lines. In every country, the same basic question is posed: The independent political mobilisation of the working class on the basis of a revolutionary, socialist and internationalist program.
To lead this movement, a political leadership must be built. It is for this reason that the International Committee of the Fourth International has organized the 2015 International May Day Online Rally. Join us on May 3! Take part in the fight to mobilize the working class against imperialist war and the capitalist system!
For more information and to register for the Online May Day Rally, visit internationalmayday.org
The International Committee of the Fourth International
Parliament
The Den Of Thieves
Thursday 30 April 2015
Austerity Versus The People
The only predictable outcome of Britain’s May 7 general election is that it will mark a descent into political uncertainty and crisis the like of which we have never seen before. This follows five years of a Tory led coalition government which has presided over the sharpest decline in living standards the nation has ever seen since modern records began. Bourgeois democracy stinks.
Below, hot foot from Youtube is the recent Brand interview with Miliband where they do touch upon the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. I like the bit where Brand swigs directly from the vodka bottle.
Below, hot foot from Youtube is the recent Brand interview with Miliband where they do touch upon the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. I like the bit where Brand swigs directly from the vodka bottle.
Monday 27 April 2015
IL DUCEBAND
Ed Miliband spends most of his waking hours trying to reassure the ruling elite in Britain that should he become Prime Minister after May 7th he will do his level best to make Britain more influential in the world.
The influence he is talking about amounts to beefing up the military, picking fights with Russia and China and invading any country he is told to by America. Quite frankly you can't trust this man. He's a second Blair in the making.
Wouldn't it be a breath of fresh air if at least one of the party leaders tried to reassure the British people that after the election he or she would do their level best to restore the standard of living for ordinary folk after the nosedive it took following the banksters' crimes against humanity.
The influence he is talking about amounts to beefing up the military, picking fights with Russia and China and invading any country he is told to by America. Quite frankly you can't trust this man. He's a second Blair in the making.
Wouldn't it be a breath of fresh air if at least one of the party leaders tried to reassure the British people that after the election he or she would do their level best to restore the standard of living for ordinary folk after the nosedive it took following the banksters' crimes against humanity.
Hung Parliament - Hung Society
I make no apology for it but I reproduce below a complete article published today on the World Socialist Web Site. These are words to savour.
UK general election reveals crisis of capitalist rule
By Chris Marsden
27 April 2015
The campaign for Britain’s May 7 general election has brought into sharp relief the fragility and instability of the country’s political system. The crisis engulfing the UK—Europe’s second largest economy, the world’s third largest share market and a key political and military ally of US imperialism—has major implications for political developments worldwide.
With just 10 days to go, no one can even begin to predict the election’s outcome.
The ruling Conservatives are polling slightly ahead or on par with Labour, but without sufficient votes to form a government. The Liberal Democrats face electoral meltdown as punishment for their role as partners in the Tory-led coalition. Labour has been unable to benefit substantially from massive anti-Tory sentiment due to its own lurch further to the right, meaning it too must look to some form of coalition.
Business wants the Tories in office as a proven vehicle for continued austerity. However, it fears that, given Prime Minister David Cameron’s promise of a 2017 in/out referendum on European Union membership, the Tories’ possible reliance on the UK Independence Party will result in a drawn-out “Brexit.” This is now considered by many in Europe as a more fundamental threat to the stability of the continent than the worsening crisis in Greece.
At the same time, the possibility of Labour Party leader Ed Miliband having to rely on the support of the Scottish National Party (SNP), predicted to wipe out Labour in Scotland, raises the spectre of a renewed push for Scottish independence and the break-up of the UK.
No combination of parties in government is excluded, including a government of national unity involving the Tories and Labour. Leading academics have warned that a possible second election is “extremely likely” and assessed the chance of a new coalition lasting five years to be “miniscule.”
The common theme of political commentary is the likelihood of a descent into prolonged political uncertainty and crisis.
One prominent commentator, Anatole Kaletsky, writes, “In the years ahead, Britain will likely be Europe’s most politically unpredictable country.”
The Economist speaks of “the great fracturing,” worrying that “if the parliamentary system comes to be seen as both unfair and ineffectual, then it is in for a crisis of legitimacy.”
There are dire warnings of companies relocating and investors withdrawing money from the UK. The banking giant HSBC is considering moving its headquarters from London over fears of an exit from the EU. Investment firm Nutmeg has cut its holdings of blue chip British shares by two thirds, noting that US investors sold $58 billion of British shares prior to last September’s Scottish referendum and has since bought back only half of what was unloaded.
No bourgeois commentator can honestly address the underlying reasons for the crisis of rule now emerging in the UK.
As with the conservative New Democracy and social democratic PASOK in Greece, the Popular Party and Socialist Party in Spain, and the Gaullist Union for a Popular Movement and Socialist Party in France, the traditional mechanisms through which the bourgeoisie has governed have been eviscerated due to their imposition of savage austerity measures.
This is an election dominated by one issue above all others—the ever-widening social chasm between a thin layer of the super-rich and the broad mass of working people, who comprise the vast majority of the population.
This week, the Sunday Times noted that Britain’s super-rich are now more than twice as rich as they were in 2009. The wealthiest 1,000 people based in Britain are collectively worth £547 billion. There are now 117 sterling billionaires based in Britain, more per head of population than in any other country.
This obscene wealth is being gouged out of the working class.
The Tories are pledged to tens of billions of pounds in new cuts, including £12 billion in welfare. Labour has promised a “Budget Responsibility Lock” committing it to cut the deficit every year.
The SNP, Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) and Green Party pose as anti-austerity alternatives, seeking to exploit popular opposition to the Tories and Labour. However, none of these capitalist parties offers anything more than a somewhat slower pace in the implementation of austerity measures.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies found the SNP’s budgetary policies to be “essentially the same” as Labour’s. All of these parties have made clear that the votes they receive will be handed to Labour in a “progressive alliance”—in reality, an “austerity alliance”—should the Tories be unable to form a government.
The nationalist SNP and Plaid Cymru and their allies among the pseudo-left groups play the essential role of dividing the working class in the face of the common enemy and tying workers to one or another section of the bourgeoisie.
The public declarations of the major parties are worthless lies designed to conceal what is being planned. The calculations they make for public consumption are based on continued economic growth at a time when a fresh plunge into crisis for the British, European and world economy is inevitable.
Looming over the election is the turn to militarism and war.
There is a conspiracy of silence over this danger. Meanwhile, against a background of massive naval exercises off Scotland, air war games over South Wales involving 13,000 NATO troops, and the repeated scrambling of fighter jets and ships to escort Russian vessels out of UK waters, the Tories and Labour are competing to demonstrate which party will be the firmer ally of the United States in the escalating conflict with Russia and China.
The election campaign began with the despatch of British military advisors and trainers to Ukraine and Syria. Either country could become the flashpoint for a broader war.
The SNP and Plaid Cymru pose as opponents of the Trident nuclear submarine programme while making clear their loyalty to NATO. They and the Greens speak of developing Britain’s conventional armed forces.
The Socialist Equality Party is standing Katie Rhodes in Glasgow Central and David O’Sullivan in Holborn & St. Pancras in London. We advance an independent political perspective to mobilise the working class in the fight for a workers’ government pledged to socialist policies as part of the struggle for a United Socialist States of Europe and a world socialist federation.
Our election campaign has been conducted as an integral component of a worldwide political offensive to establish the International Committee of the Fourth International as the “international centre of revolutionary opposition to the resurgence of imperialist violence and militarism,” as called for in the ICFI statement of July 3 2014.
It is focused on building support for meetings in Glasgow and London and online attendance of the International May Day Rally on May 3, based on the slogans: “Down with capitalism and imperialism! Unite the working class internationally against war, dictatorship and poverty! For peace, for equality, for socialism!”
The SEP’s campaign will prove to be an important step in the development of a new revolutionary leadership in the UK and the building of the ICFI as the world party of socialist revolution.
UK general election reveals crisis of capitalist rule
By Chris Marsden
27 April 2015
The campaign for Britain’s May 7 general election has brought into sharp relief the fragility and instability of the country’s political system. The crisis engulfing the UK—Europe’s second largest economy, the world’s third largest share market and a key political and military ally of US imperialism—has major implications for political developments worldwide.
With just 10 days to go, no one can even begin to predict the election’s outcome.
The ruling Conservatives are polling slightly ahead or on par with Labour, but without sufficient votes to form a government. The Liberal Democrats face electoral meltdown as punishment for their role as partners in the Tory-led coalition. Labour has been unable to benefit substantially from massive anti-Tory sentiment due to its own lurch further to the right, meaning it too must look to some form of coalition.
Business wants the Tories in office as a proven vehicle for continued austerity. However, it fears that, given Prime Minister David Cameron’s promise of a 2017 in/out referendum on European Union membership, the Tories’ possible reliance on the UK Independence Party will result in a drawn-out “Brexit.” This is now considered by many in Europe as a more fundamental threat to the stability of the continent than the worsening crisis in Greece.
At the same time, the possibility of Labour Party leader Ed Miliband having to rely on the support of the Scottish National Party (SNP), predicted to wipe out Labour in Scotland, raises the spectre of a renewed push for Scottish independence and the break-up of the UK.
No combination of parties in government is excluded, including a government of national unity involving the Tories and Labour. Leading academics have warned that a possible second election is “extremely likely” and assessed the chance of a new coalition lasting five years to be “miniscule.”
The common theme of political commentary is the likelihood of a descent into prolonged political uncertainty and crisis.
One prominent commentator, Anatole Kaletsky, writes, “In the years ahead, Britain will likely be Europe’s most politically unpredictable country.”
The Economist speaks of “the great fracturing,” worrying that “if the parliamentary system comes to be seen as both unfair and ineffectual, then it is in for a crisis of legitimacy.”
There are dire warnings of companies relocating and investors withdrawing money from the UK. The banking giant HSBC is considering moving its headquarters from London over fears of an exit from the EU. Investment firm Nutmeg has cut its holdings of blue chip British shares by two thirds, noting that US investors sold $58 billion of British shares prior to last September’s Scottish referendum and has since bought back only half of what was unloaded.
No bourgeois commentator can honestly address the underlying reasons for the crisis of rule now emerging in the UK.
As with the conservative New Democracy and social democratic PASOK in Greece, the Popular Party and Socialist Party in Spain, and the Gaullist Union for a Popular Movement and Socialist Party in France, the traditional mechanisms through which the bourgeoisie has governed have been eviscerated due to their imposition of savage austerity measures.
This is an election dominated by one issue above all others—the ever-widening social chasm between a thin layer of the super-rich and the broad mass of working people, who comprise the vast majority of the population.
This week, the Sunday Times noted that Britain’s super-rich are now more than twice as rich as they were in 2009. The wealthiest 1,000 people based in Britain are collectively worth £547 billion. There are now 117 sterling billionaires based in Britain, more per head of population than in any other country.
This obscene wealth is being gouged out of the working class.
The Tories are pledged to tens of billions of pounds in new cuts, including £12 billion in welfare. Labour has promised a “Budget Responsibility Lock” committing it to cut the deficit every year.
The SNP, Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) and Green Party pose as anti-austerity alternatives, seeking to exploit popular opposition to the Tories and Labour. However, none of these capitalist parties offers anything more than a somewhat slower pace in the implementation of austerity measures.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies found the SNP’s budgetary policies to be “essentially the same” as Labour’s. All of these parties have made clear that the votes they receive will be handed to Labour in a “progressive alliance”—in reality, an “austerity alliance”—should the Tories be unable to form a government.
The nationalist SNP and Plaid Cymru and their allies among the pseudo-left groups play the essential role of dividing the working class in the face of the common enemy and tying workers to one or another section of the bourgeoisie.
The public declarations of the major parties are worthless lies designed to conceal what is being planned. The calculations they make for public consumption are based on continued economic growth at a time when a fresh plunge into crisis for the British, European and world economy is inevitable.
Looming over the election is the turn to militarism and war.
There is a conspiracy of silence over this danger. Meanwhile, against a background of massive naval exercises off Scotland, air war games over South Wales involving 13,000 NATO troops, and the repeated scrambling of fighter jets and ships to escort Russian vessels out of UK waters, the Tories and Labour are competing to demonstrate which party will be the firmer ally of the United States in the escalating conflict with Russia and China.
The election campaign began with the despatch of British military advisors and trainers to Ukraine and Syria. Either country could become the flashpoint for a broader war.
The SNP and Plaid Cymru pose as opponents of the Trident nuclear submarine programme while making clear their loyalty to NATO. They and the Greens speak of developing Britain’s conventional armed forces.
The Socialist Equality Party is standing Katie Rhodes in Glasgow Central and David O’Sullivan in Holborn & St. Pancras in London. We advance an independent political perspective to mobilise the working class in the fight for a workers’ government pledged to socialist policies as part of the struggle for a United Socialist States of Europe and a world socialist federation.
Our election campaign has been conducted as an integral component of a worldwide political offensive to establish the International Committee of the Fourth International as the “international centre of revolutionary opposition to the resurgence of imperialist violence and militarism,” as called for in the ICFI statement of July 3 2014.
It is focused on building support for meetings in Glasgow and London and online attendance of the International May Day Rally on May 3, based on the slogans: “Down with capitalism and imperialism! Unite the working class internationally against war, dictatorship and poverty! For peace, for equality, for socialism!”
The SEP’s campaign will prove to be an important step in the development of a new revolutionary leadership in the UK and the building of the ICFI as the world party of socialist revolution.
Sunday 26 April 2015
Off Her Rocker
I've always thought that Teresa May was off her rocker and my opinion of her has now been confirmed in spades. The hopelessly out of touch Home Secretary has just said that Britain will face its worst constitutional crisis since the abdication of Edward VIII, the Nazi leaning monarch who had the bad taste to marry an American.
May questioned whether English voters would accept the 'legitimacy' of a Labour Government backed by Scottish Nationalists. Well I for one would accept it since the Labour and SNP votes combined would probably total well over half the electorate, something the Tories and the Liberals could only ever dream about.
Remember for the last five years we have been ruled with an iron fist by an unrepresentative government determined to pursue an unpopular policy of war and austerity.
Good riddance to May and all her cronies.
Saturday 25 April 2015
Wednesday 15 April 2015
Tuesday 14 April 2015
A Change From Kissing Babies
Elections always bring out the weird and wonderful in people; from kissing babies, throwing eggs and punches to the quarantining of dogs as we saw on Sunday in Cheltenham. This current election is proving no exception.
Given the opportunity to put his money where his mouth is Nigel Farage has just turned down a challenge from a Polish war hero to fight a duel. Andrzej Zylinski, who is said to have saved 6,000 Jews by charging a Nazi-held town in 1939, lambasted Farage for his policy on immigrants saying the most ridiculous thing he had heard Farage claim was that it was migrants who caused traffic jams on the M40. And there's me thinking it was cars to blame.
I'm planning to write directly to Nigel to encourage him, in the interests of chivalry and national pride, to take up Mr.Zylinski's challenge.
Given the opportunity to put his money where his mouth is Nigel Farage has just turned down a challenge from a Polish war hero to fight a duel. Andrzej Zylinski, who is said to have saved 6,000 Jews by charging a Nazi-held town in 1939, lambasted Farage for his policy on immigrants saying the most ridiculous thing he had heard Farage claim was that it was migrants who caused traffic jams on the M40. And there's me thinking it was cars to blame.
I'm planning to write directly to Nigel to encourage him, in the interests of chivalry and national pride, to take up Mr.Zylinski's challenge.
Opium Of The Masses
It won't come as much of a surprise to most people, but Britain is one of the world's least religious countries according to a recent poll. Why should you expect otherwise in the land that gave birth to Charles Darwin?
Interestingly the poll revealed that religious beliefs flourish more amongst the poor and uneducated reminding us of Karl Marx's old adage about religion being the opium of the masses.
All in all I'd say the appetite for gods is well and truly on the wane worldwide.
Interestingly the poll revealed that religious beliefs flourish more amongst the poor and uneducated reminding us of Karl Marx's old adage about religion being the opium of the masses.
All in all I'd say the appetite for gods is well and truly on the wane worldwide.
Monday 13 April 2015
A Shaggy Dog Story
It seems that on Sunday last, David Cameron was addressing an audience of the faithful in a church hall in Cheltenham. He was approached afterwards outside the hall by a passer-by called Sarah Styler and her eight-month old puppy, a small fun-loving bundle of fur. Much to Mrs Styler's surprise she was banned from speaking to the Mr.Cameron because the dog was described as a security threat.
Tory aides scrambled urgently to take the Jack Russell and toy poodle cross-breed away from Mrs.Styler and escorted him across the road to be a “safe distance” from Cameron.
Someone then apparently shopped the Prime Minister to the RSPCA.
Revolutionary Fervour
The "Chant du Départ" (French for "Song of the Departure") is a revolutionary song written by Étienne Nicolas Méhul (music) and Marie-Joseph Chénier (words) in 1794. It was the official anthem of the First French Republic.
It is performed here by Mireille Mathieu and the Red Army Choir.
It is performed here by Mireille Mathieu and the Red Army Choir.
Men Of England
What better time to air again the following famous poem:-
A Song: “Men of England”
Men of England, wherefore plough
For the lords who lay ye low?
Wherefore weave with toil and care
The rich robes your tyrants wear?
Wherefore feed and clothe and save
From the cradle to the grave
Those ungrateful drones who would
Drain your sweat—nay, drink your blood?
Wherefore, Bees of England, forge
Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,
That these stingless drones may spoil
The forced produce of your toil?
Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,
Shelter, food, love’s gentle balm?
Or what is it ye buy so dear
With your pain and with your fear?
The seed ye sow, another reaps;
The wealth ye find, another keeps;
The robes ye weave, another wears;
The arms ye forge, another bears.
Sow seed—but let no tyrant reap:
Find wealth—let no imposter heap:
Weave robes—let not the idle wear:
Forge arms—in your defence to bear.
Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells—
In hall ye deck another dwells.
Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see
The steel ye tempered glance on ye.
With plough and spade and hoe and loom
Trace your grave and build your tomb
And weave your winding-sheet—till fair
England be your Sepulchre.
Men of England, wherefore plough
For the lords who lay ye low?
Wherefore weave with toil and care
The rich robes your tyrants wear?
Wherefore feed and clothe and save
From the cradle to the grave
Those ungrateful drones who would
Drain your sweat—nay, drink your blood?
Wherefore, Bees of England, forge
Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,
That these stingless drones may spoil
The forced produce of your toil?
Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,
Shelter, food, love’s gentle balm?
Or what is it ye buy so dear
With your pain and with your fear?
The seed ye sow, another reaps;
The wealth ye find, another keeps;
The robes ye weave, another wears;
The arms ye forge, another bears.
Sow seed—but let no tyrant reap:
Find wealth—let no imposter heap:
Weave robes—let not the idle wear:
Forge arms—in your defence to bear.
Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells—
In hall ye deck another dwells.
Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see
The steel ye tempered glance on ye.
With plough and spade and hoe and loom
Trace your grave and build your tomb
And weave your winding-sheet—till fair
England be your Sepulchre.
Sunday 12 April 2015
Terrific News!
The TV station RT has just published an article on it's website about a US Congressional think tank report which has apparently been seen by the Daily Mail newspaper and which says the US may need a "reassessment of the special relationship" with Britain.
However, you may remember that when David Cameron last visited the White House in January, he quoted President Barack Obama as saying that “the special relationship is stronger than it has ever been privately and in public."
Confusing signals here to say the least, though I tend to believe RT more than David Cameron. So much so I'm going to crack open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate the demise of the 'special relationship' despite the fact that the sun is nowhere near approaching the yardarm.
Bottoms up!
However, you may remember that when David Cameron last visited the White House in January, he quoted President Barack Obama as saying that “the special relationship is stronger than it has ever been privately and in public."
Confusing signals here to say the least, though I tend to believe RT more than David Cameron. So much so I'm going to crack open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate the demise of the 'special relationship' despite the fact that the sun is nowhere near approaching the yardarm.
Bottoms up!
Bed-Hopping
I'm unlucky enough to be living in an area which is represented by a UKIP member of parliament. Mind you, wherever you live you are going to be represented by someone or another who is probably very unsavoury, if not downright corrupt. But of course, that's the nature of politics today given that the House of Commons is a complete den of iniquity.
At the moment I'm being bombarded with a torrent of election guff which usually finds it's way straight into the dustbin. However, the latest piece of diatribe to come dropping through my letterbox did catch my eye for a moment before I consigned it to the aforementioned place reserved for rubbish.
It was from UKIP and two underlined statements on their pamphlet attracted my attention. The first read as follows:-
Support the economic recovery
I thought to myself when I read this that I must be inhabiting some sort of parallel universe since I've seen no evidence of economic recovery at all, but it was the second underlined statement which caused me the greatest consternation. It read:-
No deal with Ed Milliband. A vote for me is a vote to keep Miliband out.
Don't get me wrong, I don't blame anybody for not wanting to jump into bed with Ed, but implicit in this statement is an acknowledgment that turnout in the May election is going to be absolutely miniscule and that all the political parties will be forced to horse trade for power. Furthermore, UKIP is obviously not ruling out getting into bed with Cameron and perhaps even contemplating doing a threesome with Clegg included.
The mind boggles ! I wonder if it has also crossed their minds to consider a cross-border bed-hop with Nicola Sturgeon!
At the moment I'm being bombarded with a torrent of election guff which usually finds it's way straight into the dustbin. However, the latest piece of diatribe to come dropping through my letterbox did catch my eye for a moment before I consigned it to the aforementioned place reserved for rubbish.
It was from UKIP and two underlined statements on their pamphlet attracted my attention. The first read as follows:-
Support the economic recovery
I thought to myself when I read this that I must be inhabiting some sort of parallel universe since I've seen no evidence of economic recovery at all, but it was the second underlined statement which caused me the greatest consternation. It read:-
No deal with Ed Milliband. A vote for me is a vote to keep Miliband out.
Don't get me wrong, I don't blame anybody for not wanting to jump into bed with Ed, but implicit in this statement is an acknowledgment that turnout in the May election is going to be absolutely miniscule and that all the political parties will be forced to horse trade for power. Furthermore, UKIP is obviously not ruling out getting into bed with Cameron and perhaps even contemplating doing a threesome with Clegg included.
The mind boggles ! I wonder if it has also crossed their minds to consider a cross-border bed-hop with Nicola Sturgeon!
Saturday 11 April 2015
Friday 10 April 2015
The Times They Are A Changing
I read the following on an RT chat/comment forum.
The old Labour party is dead. Times have changed. The old union world has gone too. All political parties are now owned, bought and paid for by the defence industry, the banks and the corporations. We are run from Brussels as part of the federal European state nightmare, where 80% of the laws are made. Catch up with the times. If you want a mission, campaign to abolish MPs. They are obsolete.
Now there speaks someone after my own heart.
The old Labour party is dead. Times have changed. The old union world has gone too. All political parties are now owned, bought and paid for by the defence industry, the banks and the corporations. We are run from Brussels as part of the federal European state nightmare, where 80% of the laws are made. Catch up with the times. If you want a mission, campaign to abolish MPs. They are obsolete.
Now there speaks someone after my own heart.
Thursday 9 April 2015
It's Time For Real Change
Workers worldwide have to take the struggle for a decent life out of the hands of corrupt union bureaucracies and pseudo-left parties that for decades have suppressed workers’ struggles.
The Labour party in Britain, Syriza in Greece and the Socialist party in France still peddle the old lie about reforming the system from within, but people know to their cost that this is unobtainable.
Bourgeois democracy stinks and that stench has reeked down the centuries since the time of Oliver Cromwell.
It's time for real change.
The Labour party in Britain, Syriza in Greece and the Socialist party in France still peddle the old lie about reforming the system from within, but people know to their cost that this is unobtainable.
Bourgeois democracy stinks and that stench has reeked down the centuries since the time of Oliver Cromwell.
It's time for real change.
Monday 6 April 2015
The End Is Nigh
All the major political parties took part in the BBC's recent election debate but the participation of such numbers in an official televised debate is a first. It is a clear sign of the disintegration of the political set-up in Britain, under the weight of sharpening class tensions and divisions within the bourgeoisie itself.
According to opinion polls, Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party, won a sympathetic hearing from the tiny seven million TV audience, with one media poll placing her overall winner. One of the most searched for terms on the Internet was, “Can I vote for the SNP in England?”
Sturgeon’s appeal underscores the continued collapse of the Labour Party, which is widely reviled as no different than the Tories. It is committed to major spending cuts, differing only as to the speed with which they should be implemented.
Miliband’s efforts to try and present Labour as more in tune with working people, pledging to curtail zero-hour contracts and raise the minimum wage, have little traction.
According to opinion polls, Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party, won a sympathetic hearing from the tiny seven million TV audience, with one media poll placing her overall winner. One of the most searched for terms on the Internet was, “Can I vote for the SNP in England?”
Sturgeon’s appeal underscores the continued collapse of the Labour Party, which is widely reviled as no different than the Tories. It is committed to major spending cuts, differing only as to the speed with which they should be implemented.
Miliband’s efforts to try and present Labour as more in tune with working people, pledging to curtail zero-hour contracts and raise the minimum wage, have little traction.
Saturday 4 April 2015
Friday 3 April 2015
An Amazing Spectacle
So many liars gathered together under the one roof. An amazing spectacle!
That's my verdict on the BBC's election debate televised last night, which I never watched as I have far better things to do with two hours of my time.
The media types seem to be obsessed about who won the debate quoting a YouGov poll which interviewed just over a measly thousand people. How many actually watched the programme that's what I'd like to know. Probably only those looking for a cure for their insomnia I'd wager.
That's my verdict on the BBC's election debate televised last night, which I never watched as I have far better things to do with two hours of my time.
The media types seem to be obsessed about who won the debate quoting a YouGov poll which interviewed just over a measly thousand people. How many actually watched the programme that's what I'd like to know. Probably only those looking for a cure for their insomnia I'd wager.
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