LOR Aftermath

 

 Some more news regarding Lindsey Oil Refinery. Since the beginning of August there have been sporadic protests, the one in the photograph was held at the refinery, you may recognise it from photos of the wildcat strike. There was also a march down the seafront in Cleethorpes and a rally outside parliament. My stepdad attended the refinery protest, he said the turnout was low, but he was impressed with the calibre of the speakers. He didn't recognise any of them, those two facts mean they must've been UNITE bigwigs, none of the local reps are praised for their oratory. 

This hasn't moved the government, who are haemorrhaging support here. Officially, LOR is still open and running, though you'd be hard-pressed to tell. My friend who's an inspector has very little to inspect and has been polishing his CV and looking for other work. My cousin who is a firefighter at the refinery secured a job at the sister refinery Conoco only to be told that since LOR is still technically open they can't take any of the fire and safety staff on as LOR can't source any replacements. Which is very odd since LOR has already downsized and Conoco is next door and the two refineries already collaborate on safety and rescue operations. That's regulations for you! 

I have found out that regarding the full staff (not including contractors) will be made redundant in two waves, the first is rumoured to be in October, the second at the end of the year. I've also been told by several people that they're planning to do it via the two rooms method. Everyone gets called into one of two rooms, and then they find out if they've been let go or not. I hope that's just a rumour because that's brutally cold. 

There's also been an update on that training pledge. There is a commitment from the government to pay for retraining of redundant staff (contractors out of luck again) into new industries, renewables seems to be the one they're aiming for. This has been taken as insult on top of injury. It's not a bad choice all things considered, the renewable sector is a growing part of the local economy, travelling from Immingham to LOR you pass multiple warehouses, many of which are involved in recycling and batteries. Siemens is a big investor in the area as is Myenergy a company that makes batteries for electric cars and chargers. You may recognise Myenergy as it's the official sponsors of Grimsby Town Football Club replacing Young's Seafood, it expanded operations aggressively but had its own round of layoffs last year. 

Grimsby UNITE office, displaying photos from the rallies against LOR closure

 

While this is feeding into an anti-zero sentiment, the real issue is how's it been handle. Since the refinery is winding down and redundancies are coming, you might think it'd be a good idea to offer the retraining now, perhaps in stages, however it will only be available once you've been made redundant. The training will take months, if not a year, so the workers are faced with a choice to take any work they can find or go without for nearly a year and hope that a job will be available once it's completed. To make matters worse the training contract has not been given to the local industrial training providers it's been given to providers further afield, so transport will be an issue, and it's wasted an opportunity to invest in the local economy. The area has a well-developed apprenticeship and training system with multiple providers, covering engineering, manufacturing, electricians etc. And most importantly they have connections with the industrial employers including the renewables sector.

The response by the government seems tailor-made to piss off and alienate the entire population.  Every step they take or do not take indicates a gross ignorance of the region and a lack of interest. The only thing remotely approaching good news is that the people I know who work for LOR are "safe" relatively speaking. It's also been confirmed that there are buyers interested in the site, though who they are and what specifically they're interested in and willing to keep open and how many jobs they'll secure remain to be seen. A buyer might re-hire some experienced hands, but they may also decide to bring in their own employees. It's difficult to speculate, but LOR in its entirety probably won't disappear completely, but we won't know what will remain. 

The role of the Political Albatross

 

The UK has had an election, but you can find out about that everywhere else on the net. Instead of adding to the pile of discourse, I am once again ignoring SEO 101 by choosing to write about something only tangentially related to the battle for Number 10, the career politician as a phenomenon.

This has been a topic I've wanted to discuss for some time, but never found the right foothold. I still haven't, but thanks to someone else's hard work, I don't have to. A friend of mine showed me a website (https://www.corbyn41years.com/) made to support former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's bid to stay a Member of Parliament without the backing of his former party. I must stress that I do not know who made this website nor if they have any connection to said campaign, my friend saw it on social media and the interactive map function seems to be broken, it won't let me scroll down to where the authorship information usually is. I am assuming that it was made by a volunteer supporter, but I do not know for sure. Regardless, whoever made this site has my thanks, your list has created a clear foundation to work from. Or at least you would've done had it worked properly*, I'm finding this snapping back really annoying and time-consuming.

The map of Islington North has 26 stops on it. I'm not going to go through all of them, some of them are similar enough that that'd be redundant.

1. Number 5 on the list: "Jeremy's first ever constituency surgery was held at the old Red Rose Centre on Seven Sisters Road in 1983. In the 41 years since then, he has been re-elected X times and has done his utmost to serve constituents and help those in need".
2. Number 6: "In 2015, Jeremy secured the funding for the train line that means you can hop on at Upper Holloway and go to Gospel Oak, or all the way to Barking".
3. Number 7. "Unveiled a state [sic] of Philip Noel-Baker in the Peace Garden, Elthorne Park".
4. Number 8: "After turning a disused railway line into Gilliespie Park, we fought off efforts to close it".
5. Number 15: "Last year, Jeremy stopped plans to close down multiple railway ticket offices.
   
6. Number16: "Jeremy is proud to have joined workers on the picket line fighting to protect their pay and save our public services!"

I could go on, but these are enough to illustrate my concerns. This is a standard CV for a long time MP, especially Number 5, constituency surgeries are a requirement of the job, they're how constituents get in touch with their MPs and petition for help. Holding them is not an achievement for an incumbent. But moving on to the other points above, what this is doing is magnifying the importance of an individual in processes that involve many actors. For example Number 6, I know that Corbyn is a supporter of public transportation, so I don't doubt that he was in favour of keeping the line, but the London overground including Upper Holloway is run by Transport for London, which is part of the Greater London Authority, and MP even one from the governing party (which Corbyn wasn't) has no say on their decisions. The best he could do is support a community campaign.

The statue unveiling in Number 7 is nice but unless Corbyn funded its commission unveiling just means that he was invited to preform a ceremonial role. Number 8 reads like placeholder text, but I've chosen to include it, as I think it's letting slip the truth. The we in that description indicates that instead of "Jeremy" the Titan keeping the park open it was the work of many within the Islington community and which Corbyn played a role. 

Number 15 is what we call a lie. Corbyn did not stop the Tories proposed mass ticket office closures, no individual did, the credit for that should go to a massive nationwide effort involving the rail workers Unions, disability and elderly advocacy groups, large sections of the wider public and the pressure from many MPs including Corbyn, Labour and even a number of back bench Tories who saw the massive groundswell of support for the opposition and panicked. I honestly hope that the Corbyn campaign team had nothing to do with this website, because the gall of taking credit for initiatives like this is sickening.

Number 16, this is far more honest, Corbyn has attended a number of pickets to show his support. But again the praise should go to the picketers, surely?

This is the fundamental problem with career politicians, all of them, regardless of personality or political stances. Their very existence requires them to latch onto wider movements and activism. Their very presence obscures the reality that changes come from below. Hostility and apathy towards politicians is at an all-time high in the UK, but much of it misses the mark by focussing on the perception real or not (but mostly real) that "They" are just cynical creatures out for themselves, we see through Corbyn that even the sincere politicians suck away oxygen. Whoever made this website must be a local resident of Islington and genuinely have wished for Corbyn to keep his seat, but even they have been affected and given power and prominence to a man who at best aided initiatives whose driving forces were in the community and the work force. 

It's a form great man of history in the present day. Don't develop your own capabilities, trust in the chosen few to solve our problems. If we must take action then let us knock on doors at election time, donate to the fund for leaflets, spend our time making websites, all in the service of empowering someone else and given them access to a slither of power so that we trust that they will act on our behalf when the time comes. 

It's just sad.

*In the interest of fairness, my own old blog can creak and break when Google remember to update it.

The Party Trap

 

As a frequent lurker on lefty webspaces, I see variations of the same ten questions pop up time and time again. One of those questions concerns joining a political party. A recent example of this question I saw was by someone describing themselves as an Anarchist and wondering whether they should join the French Communist Party (PCF) youth wing as their friends were members. If you're familiar at all with the PCF, the answer a resounding no or "non", but I have seen this question asked over a dozen times with the positions and party's replaced with other options. I don't want to miss the forest for the trees. Leaving aside the shady history of the PCF for a moment, I think this points to a broader, general issue.

The purpose of any political party youth organisation is to encourage and shape young members and prepare them for service to the mother party. That doesn't necessarily mean that every action and interaction will be a propaganda lesson, but most of your time will be spent in service of that broader aim. Political parties come in different shapes, sizes, and even stripes, but that is the core which they all share, the party is the main if not only organisation capable of carrying out its stated mission, if the party members did not believe that they would not have founded it in the first place.

I think the question is an easy one to answer once you've established some basic facts and broke it down:

1. Question 1: Do you believe in the party's ideology and agree with its strategy and activity? Yes/No
2. If No, then do not join, it will be a dispiriting experience.
3. If Yes, then before you sign up check how this party treats its membership and long-term supporters, does it have a reputation for exploitation, bullying and harassment? Yes/No
4. If Yes, steer well clear, it isn't worth the sacrifice.
5. If No, check that if there are other groups offering what the party is offering in your area. Yes/No
6. If Yes, go back to question 3 for each potential competitor.
7. If No, final decision time.

That's all there is to it. Political party's regardless of ideology and peculiarities of strategy and structure will demand a lot of you, it's not to be taken lightly and joining one you disagree with from the beginning is a terrible idea. Some have this notion of effecting change from within, but that just shows how inexperienced they are with bureaucracy and factions. Entire groups numbering in the thousands have practised what's called entryism for the specific purpose of changing a party to agree with them, and it just doesn't work out well for them.   

One other point, if your friends are in a political party, but you are not on board with that party, then joining up is the last thing you should do. If your friends are really your friends they will respect your differences and if you join you're at risk of merging your social life with your political life, this will only make it harder to leave and often creates leverage for exploitation of you. 

I know this because it happened to me. I joined the Labour Party through its youth wing because there was no one else in my area and my friends were members. It was a waste of my time and emotional energy, I won't say everything was terrible, I had some pleasant experiences and met some people who are still dear to me, but I also wasted my time helping horrible people climb the ladder of political posts, was forced to waste valuable time socialising with people I couldn't stand and effectively found my ability to act in a way authentic to my views on humanity and the world. And since much of my social life revolved around the party, it made breaking with it a drawn out and messy process. The Labour Party is many things, but it isn't the Worker's Party of Korea, my opposition to it and final leaving did not lead to a public humiliation campaign or time in a rehabilitation centre, the pressures to remain quiet and compliant were purely psychological and social, and they were still a hard chain to break, and I know of people in that party and other groups who never manage to break free. This is also why I stress to checking if the party (or any group really) has a reputation for extra controlling and behaviour, because even in the "free democratic world" even tiny political groups are capable of shocking levels of abuse of their own memberships.

If there is a positive spin on that time is that the first-hand experience has left me completely immune to overtures by the competition, I had no interest in Corbynmania or the constellation of Trot/comms that float around seemingly only to sap the enthusiasm out of graduates and Trade Union reps. 

One further note, many of the replies to this question on the internet egg these people on, beware counsel from strangers (yes, that includes me). One thing to keep an eye out for is people saying "Just do it" in the name of praxis and left unity, or similar terms. Personally, I'm quite sceptical of these for their own sake, but in this particular case anyone using them is exposing themselves as liars and gobshites. I make an effort not to see people in the worst possible light and try to give the benefit of the doubt where possible, but in this case there simply is no alternative reading, these people are not your friends and are clueless about the realities of practical political action and its effects. 

These terms are simply irrelevant to this discussion when applied correctly, joining and supporting an organisation opposed to your views is literally the opposite of praxis, I know the word literally is overused but here it is apt. Praxis is theory through action, so if you are not onboard with the party's theory which includes its ideological position and strategy then by definition working for that party is the opposite of praxis. An actual example of praxis is Earth Liberation Front (ELF), ELF is broadly speaking an ecological defence group heavily committed to a strategy of direct action and disruption of the extractive industry. An ELF supporter is doing praxis when they "monkeywrench" a truck belonging to a logging company, or assist in that action, that same ELF supporter is not doing "ELF praxis" when they vote for the Green party in the local elections. We could have a discussion or argument about whether that's still a good or effective thing for the ELFer to do, but that is separate from praxis as a concept.

And there is no unity amongst the "Left" in this scenario. Left unity if it means anything more than empty air is when multiple different groups work together for a common goal, an example would be France in 1968 when multiple groups came together to support the waves of factory and student occupations, they were very different in their views (Situationists, Anarchists, New Left groups, autonomists, even dissident members of the PCF) and their participation differed but, in general they worked to support and promote the actions of the workers and students. When you join a political party, however, there is no collaboration, you are committing yourself to the party line and stating you are in agreement with it. If you are not in fact in agreement with it, then you will be convinced you are wrong or expelled. Another good example of this is the turmoil in France in 1968, the PCF leadership opposed the occupations and worked to end them, members of the PCF who disagreed with this either gave into party discipline or were kicked out.

What about all the alternatives, the revolutionary factory cells, internationalist networks, militant Unions, people's armies, direct action affinity circles etc. I'd say use the same criteria laid out above, if you don't agree do not join them, and also try not to merge your social and political life into a closed circle, overlap is fine, but total merging is a bad idea. I have been a member of the Industrial Workers of the World for some time now, we have our ups and downs but at this point It's still an organisation I can work with and is willing to work with me. Sometimes people have reached out to me asking if they should join, my responses always include recommending that they meet with an actual branch or contact someone in their industry or region first and get to know them and what the IWW model is really like before making that commitment. While this is a personal piece, it is not a "copy me" and support the groups I like instead of the groups I do not like.

And if after giving the matter some thought you do find that you agree with the PCF or Labour or any other organisation, then fair enough, I wish you well. Your time is precious, and you do matter, I know first-hand how frustrating and isolating it can be, but don't waste your time and energy working for others who are opposed to your values and view you as a resource to exhaust. You'll get your fill of that in the workplace. Be patient and persevere, resist shortcuts, keep learning and thinking, and you will find a way to make an impact. Your day will come.

1972: Dockworkers Strike

1972 was a big year for strikes and labour unrest in the UK. Famously the Miners strike of 1972, seen as a opening fight in the big conflict between the Miners and the government in 1974, which lead to the defeat of Ted Heath. But there was also a serious builders strike which involved a young Ricky Tomlinson who was one of the Shrewsbury 2, arrested for picketing. Residents of Kirkby held a massive rent strike in the same year.

And there was a nation wide strike of dockers. The strike was motivated by growing government interference in labour disputes with its new legislation on union activities, planned redundancies after the container revolution and other technological improvements meant employers felt confident they could pay fewer people to do more work, and the growing monopolisation of the shipping industry.

Cinema Action made a short documentary on the picket lines of the strike and its very interesting. Trade Unions in Britain have a reputation of being extremely conservative and sluggish, so it was surprising to see a strike organised mostly by the shop stewards that pushed the bureaucracy much further than they wanted to go. And we hear many striking dockers denounce capitalism, how capitalism uses technological progress purely to increase profits instead of as means to improve conditions and lives of everyone.

And several dockers outline how the attitudes of both Labour and Conservative governments to the industry and the dock workers isn't particularly different. Labour governments have also a pretty dark track record of handling disputes in that industry.

"We've got this tremendous struggle by the employing class, for the survival of their profits. And that means they're going to intensify the struggle against the working class in order to maintain their profits. Anybody that advocates going along with the law as a kind of a tactic and wait for a general election so that the next government can repeal it, is just ignoring history.

Because the law we've got today is just a reflection of all the governments we've ever had in the past, every government that we've ever had in Britain has been a government that has tried to anchor off the working class in one way or the other. It happens to be a Tory government this time, the last one was a Labour government who laid the blue print for it.

And unless we can return to the masses, to the workshop floor, that the workers themselves who are working there every day of the week, clocking on, clocking off. Getting a pittance for the work that they do for the employers. Unless we can get that in our own head, that we can fight this battle and win. Then we'll lose."




Link https://youtu.be/qQGnKf58fkg

Goodbye Mr G

This is probably been a long time coming, I'll try to keep this short. Back in the day me and my mates were pretty big fans of Galloway's radio show. Hell back when I started this blog a went so far as to create a tag for the Galloway related posts I would make. Given how I and Galloway have developed, I'm pleased the last time that tag was used (till now anyway) was in 2011.

Since Galloway is now mostly well known for his pretty awful antics I think it prudent to just briefly list some of the reason's people like myself used to find him quite appealing.

• His promising career in the Labour party and its affiliates came to an because he maintained public opposition to the Iraq war. His comments on the war got him expelled on charges of bringing the party into disrepute.
• In addition to a long career in parliament, George has been a very active charity organiser, being the General Secretary of War on Want which lead international aid efforts to Eritrea and Tigris during the civil war in Ethiopia. [1] And was a founder and promoter of the Viva Palestina convoys that took aid to Gaza in defiance of the Israeli blockade.
• Out of all the Left but not Labour political projects in the UK, and there are dozens, his vehicle RESPECT actually succeeded in getting an MP. Personally I was never really enamoured with RESPECT but this achievement was very appealing to many self described Socialists in the UK[2].

To sum up, his appeal broadly speaking lay in his reputation for saying the right things and getting things done. A mix of practical and principle if you will. I t didn't hurt that he has skill as a talker, and he got mainstream attention by appearing on Big Brother, but I never liked Big Brother so I missed his appearance until after I knew who he was.

I think looking back it was a combination of being starved of political points of view beyond the mainstream, so Blair/Brown Labour, the Tories and the Libdems, and that at the time we had just started to turn 18 so had started drinking, but didn't have much money so instead of going to a pub we just went to each others houses sharing cheap lager. Galloway's three hour weekend radio show served quite well, it introduced us to a bit more political news and gossip, and since it was a radio show we have it as background noise and pay attention to it when things started to happen.

Also I think it helped that most of the people who bothered to keep calling or texting the show to argue with him were basically terrible people. Far right types calling him a Muslim sympathiser, neoliberals calling in to defend privatisations and boardroom bonuses, Scottish nationalists annoyed that he wasn't bothered about independence, Orange Order types etc.

But overtime the skeletons in the cupboard started to get out and Galloway seems to be intent on wasting all that goodwill he built up over the years on more gaffs and revelations. I soon parted ways with Galloway, my response was to ignore the fellow as he political platforms continued to implode and he became increasingly reactionary. I'd just go about my day and feel second hand embarrassment whenever a particularly egregious event put Galloway back on my radar.

So why am I doing this now? Well partly for some closure, but mainly because I'm hoping by publicly supporting Farage the most successful far right populist at present Galloway will finally burnt his final bridges, that the small lefty undercurrent that he still taps into will give him up. If your familiar with Galloway, you'll no doubt be thinking of one of dozens of things he's said and done that should have done that already. But alas it takes a long time to build up a reputation and it takes along time to demolish it.

Now of course even in the early days, there were warning signs. His anti-war credibility was undermined by just how grovelling a lot of his comments towards Saddam Hussein were, particularly the footage of his visit to Iraq

https://youtu.be/LzWNXEtwHUc

And while looking up that visit I also found this video where Galloway endorsed Iraq's claims on Kuwait.

I think its worth mentioning that Galloway doesn't appear to reject or condemn war wholesale, but only particular wars. During his career he's supported the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, bizarrely lamenting the loss of a "strong and stable government" [3] A government that relied on the Soviet army while fighting a civil war and persecuting and plotting against it self is strong and stable apparently. And I do remember him getting into an argument with some callers over the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956.

Now I was aware of some of this at the time, and I didn't really agree, but I was still learning and honestly the conversation would usually move on. But, well it started adding up, I'm not actually sure where there was a breaking point for me. I just remember there being a time where Galloway was someone whose opinions I would listen to with respect, to an embarrassing joke, to a pretty awful person in general.

I do remember once he was very rude to a friend of mine, who called the show when the topic of the day was autism. But at the time we were all just baffled at how unprovoked his rudeness was, I'm pretty sure we laughed it off as an awkward moment. I suppose him working for Iran's Press TV didn't help. He'd spent years portraying himself as a principled outsider which kind of runs counter to working for the Islamic Republic of Iran's media arm. It definitely didn't help that in response to criticism of his gig and the Iranian governments actions he made ridiculous comments downplaying human rights abuses, executions of homosexuals and lauding the Republic as a model democracy.

But I'll give some credit here, I believe his weak comments on Iran's political system helped me develop my ideas and criticism of representative government. If you just look for a few seconds Iran does look like a democracy not much different from say Western Europe. They have elections, several parties compete, they do have different policy platforms and who gets to be President does have some impact on what happens. But then you look a little longer and you notice how many political parties are underground or in exile, how the religious authorities have seats in government and a veto over the President and parliament via the Guardian Council, which is chosen by the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Khamenei), who has the power to declare war and peace, the council chooses heads of the judiciary and other state institutions, including the head of Press TV.

Basically the façade quickly falls apart. But after coming to that conclusion I looked at other so called democratic states, and what do you know found that all of them keep a lot of the power in un elected institutions, the only functional difference is that unlike Iran the one(s) whom have legal access to those institutions (well most of them) get that access through elections, sometimes extremely indirectly.

So in a way despite Galloway's collapse I think he has taught me some lessons. Granted many of them were things not to say or do, but an education is to be valued.

Goodbye Mr G.

Edit:

Well it looks like we might not see the back of Gorgeous George after all

Looks like theirs still a political backwater for him to swim in.
_________________________________________________


1: I can remember hearing him recollect how he witnessed bombings by the Ethiopian air force, and another time when he talked about his time doing solidarity work in the anti-apartheid movement, which lead to at least on detainment and assault by an officer Mackenzie.

2: It might be worth mentioning though that it was RESPECT's electoral presence that introduced me to the name George Galloway. During European Elections in 2004 the RESPECT party competed, but due to a ballot error all the RESPECT lists, read as RESPECT George Galloway has received X number of votes. It sounded like a command, which is oddly fitting.

3: On the Pleasure of Hating Galloway by Chris Hitchens https://diamonddavewonfor.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/on-the-pleasure-of-hating-george-galloway/

The End of an Error?

Disclaimer, this one's going to be rather petty.

 

Yesterday I came across some unexpected news. Unexpected but easily believable, it seems a local councillor for the Labour party  Matthew Brown, has been caught passing on information to the Conservative party to attack his fellow party colleagues and candidates. The news was leaked on a local facebook discussion group (https://m.facebook.com/groups/NELDF/permalink/1504660396328796/) but soon snowballed from there. A friend of mine was the first one to notice this as it was being shared on twitter by socialist activists from Newcastle and other places. In response Matthew Brown has deleted his entire social media presence.

The incriminating messages:

I've been informed by several Labour members that Brown has been reported to the regional Labour party and that he's been withdrawn as a candidate. Unfortunately it shouldn't have gotten this far. I've known Matthew Brown for years, back when he was just Matthew Brown and had not yet gained his highly coveted Council seat and Cllr title. This is why I had no trouble believing it when he had been exposed yesterday. This isn't even the first time its been discovered that he tried to switch parties, earlier in the week the local Tories exposed the latest attempt to formerly ditch the party.

https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/grimsby-news/leading-labour-council-candidate-tried-1447034
 Party disloyalty is really the least of his incredibly poor behaviour for years he's openly harassed people betrayed their confidence and insulted them. He has a long history of talking to women in incredibly insulting tones. I remember one time when he entered the Town Hall in Grimsby the young woman on the reception desk -who was new- didn't recognise him. He proceeded to stand in front of the desk and talk down to her and accuse here of being an idiot and bad at her job for not recognising him a Councillor.

Put for years I've heard details of times he's made suggestive comments to female members. He has been reported for misconduct on these grounds on at least one occasion that I know of. And in the aftermath of the revelations some more screenshots have surfaced over other incidents.

I'm sorry to say but back when I was young Matthew Brown was part of my circle of friends, I don't know why because honestly I never liked him, his personality was very different from mine and the rest of my mates, which may explain why he burnt his bridges with us all soon after. Though to be honest he's behaviour and comments to us was very instructive as to his behaviour.

And speaking of behaviour there's something that should be addressed. if you read the comments where this story is being discussed you'll probably see some variations on `When is he going to release a statement about his disabilities?` So allow me to explain. Matthew Brown has dyslexia, yes that is it, he has dyslexia (that's why some of those messages have very poor spelling).

I also have dyslexia along with a few other issues, which is why this blog also has some weird spellings and word choices now and then. I personally despise the way Matthew Brown has exploited his learning difficulties, and yes exploitation is the key word. He doesn't just use it to cover himself when he misspeaks or screws up a speech, he uses to get excuse his worst behaviour. Including sexual harassment.

 He has also never extended the same courtesy to other people with disabilities or learning difficulties. On the contrary he's spent years bullying and harassing a fellow labour member and Council colleague for his social awkwardness even though that member is openly autistic. Like I said I'm dyslexic, and in no way has that ever lead me to believe its ok to behave in the way Matthew Brown does. His repeated bullying and disgraceful behaviour is the result of his own rotten personality and the protections that come with even a tiny shred of power and influence.

Matthew Brown is a stain on local politics and the local Labour party, however he has not acted alone, and its annoying me that some of the people crowing the loudest about how disgusting his behaviour is were openly supporting him and protecting him. Their have been many occasions where Matthew Brown both on the council and in the party has been challenged and reported, and yet every time he had supporters quashing it. I'm not kidding when I say the things I've covered are a small fraction of the things he's done over the years. Indeed sickeningly some of his worst behaviour has been reflected by other members. Harassment and bullying of other members and members of staff has been carried out by other party members and councillors too. Indeed there's a rumour going around that now Brown has finally been caught crossing the line in a way that can't be covered up any more that he might start dishing out the dirt on some of the other rotten politicians.

I am not even overstating how obvious much of it was. You don't even have to look for much of this, you become aware of his toxic behaviour simply by living in the area and knowing someone who has ran in to him at some point in time.

So good riddance Mr Brown.

If you've read this far here's a reward

Feeling the Bern?

With a 2:1 dislike to like ratio its clear the Real News audience doesn't like this video.Its not hard to see why, Social Democratic reformers seem to be in vogue again all over the world. Jeremy Corbyn has made waves with supporters and opponents falling over themselves to trot out absurd accusations and comments. And the reception SYRIZA in Greece received when it first formed a government in Leftist circles in Europe was so enthusiastic you'd think they'd formed the Athenian Soviet.

Hell I can remember people getting worked up over Francois Hollande's Presidential victory, (that seems so long ago now doesn't it.) The problem is that this all stems from a lack of understanding of how political systems work. Even in Presidential systems the individual personality isn't as important as its media coverage would suggest. The video makes some good points about the role of political party leaderships in determining the `candidate/leader`and I know from my own personal experience that much of what he says is accurate.

A few years ago I and some friends went to Liverpool for the Labour Party conference, it was a sham. If you've watched news coverage of a party conference (there really all the same once you look past the placards and colour schemes) you'll have seen enthusiastic applause, and a lot of people fighting over the chance to ask a question or make a suggestion to the leadership. I saw the delegates in the front rows jumping up and down, waving their arms and walking sticks, it was all very dramatic and it was all a farce. The conference staffers had already selected who would be picked and called out ahead of time. That was just a show to make it look open and fair. The side meetings as well weren't much better. They were generally interesting but nothing of importance went on, you just turned up to listen to a bunch of experts and media personalities give some speeches and lectures on a topic. They aren't even effective canvassers for support. All that decision making stuff was done behind closed doors and by networking.

There was an example of this in Britain not long ago. During the Labour party conference they were due to discuss Trident and Nuclear weapons in general, the party leader Jeremy Corbyn is against them but quite a few polls suggested a majority of the membership is for them. This meant that if there was a discussion then it was likely that the leader would be on the losing side, so the party heads panicked and killed the discussion.

But the real issue goes beyond parties, it involves the entire political and economic system. In Britain for the past few decades much of the discussion surrounding the Labour party has been about the infestation of the Blairites, a group of pro market, pro war, types who've helped shift Britain into a right wing political climate.

But here's the problem, even when we had left wing Labour governments they were also quite willing to chuck principal out the window in the name of the "national interest". Labour governments have actively opposed strikes (like the 1966 Seamen's strike), and gone to war (the war in Malaya in 1948 to keep control of a British colony. And of course the Korean War 1950, and Harold Wilson's government deployed the British Army in Northern Ireland in 1969), and generally did their utmost to maintain control of the Empire. Ramsay Macdonald's second Labour government 1929-35 once tried to get the Indian National Congress to accept limited autonomy in exchange for renouncing the desire for independence. In WWI Labour party politicians like their comrades in the German Social Democractic Party and the French Section of the Workers International (AKA The French Socialist Party) turned their collective backs on decades of hard work supporting each other and trying to prevent war, by joining National Unity Governments, taking positions in those governments and helping to slaughter millions of working men, all in the name of the national interest.

SYRIZA also went through this process, they were elected on an anti-austerity platform and opposition to the EU troika and ended up capitulating because it couldn't stomach any of the alternatives. Just like how European Social Democrats in the era of Empire had no alternative but to keep business as usual in the few times they rose to power and influence. They couldn't stop war and colonies because the system they lived and operated in depended upon them both. This is why the Imperial system had to wait until after WWII to collapse. Europe was devastated and exhausted and could no longer suppress the nationalist aspirations of its colonised peoples, and so had to make concessions and bit by bit let go, or risk losing everything. The European powers didn't like this which is why they tried to cling onto as much as they could salvage, hence Britain's conflict in Malaya, Frances war in Algeria, and Britain and Frances war on Egypt to maintain control of the Suez, or the Belgians intervention in the Congo. It didn't make much difference whether the party in control of Presidencies and parliaments were left wing or right wing.

Bernie even if he does get the nomination and does win the subsequent election(both big if's) will be no different, he'll talk a good game but will not alter the United States in any fundamental way. Maybe he'll expand welfare programs and strengthen environmental regulation, and maybe he'll resist the temptation to intervene in one regional conflict or another, but fundamentally it'll be the same.

RMT Joins up with North Korea

Regular readers will know that I'm a Wobbly so I'm not really too surprised when I hear of some bad news concerning the mainstream Trade Unions but this particular development is kind of hard to swallow. It seems the Rail and Maritime Transport union (RMT) arguably Britain's most militant mainstream trade union and one I personally quite admire has found some new rather dodgy friends.

From Workers Liberty

Why link with North Korean “unions”?

Author: 

Luke Taverner 

The Council of Executives of the RMT, at its June 2013 meeting, decided to affiliate to the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).
The WFTU traces its history back to the end of the Second World War, when an attempt was made to revive the old trade union international. Soon, opposition to the Marshall Plan by unions in the Stalinist bloc, and the anti-Communism of many Western unions, made the organisation untenable. Most big union centres outside the Stalinist world left, and set up what is now the ITUC.
The WFTU continued as an organisation of state labour fronts and unions historically linked to or led by their national Communist Parties (like the French CGT) around the world. Its biggest remaining affiliates include the Vietnamese General Confederation of Labour, the Cuban CTC, and the General Federation of Trade Unions in North Korea. These are not unions in any meaningful sense, but the state-run labour fronts of totalitarian regimes, often used to police and repress working-class self-organisation and dissent.

Recently the WFTU has experienced a slight revival, in part by placing itself to the left of the ITUC, which it criticises for being in favour of social partnership. The WFTU has rebranded itself as “class-based” and “democratic.” Some unions in South Africa have affiliated to it and are pushing COSATU to do so.

The RMT say they will “seek to facilitate a meeting between the ITF (International Transport Workers Federation) General Secretary Steve Cotton and the transport section of the WFTU.”
But the move may also be shaped by people in the RMT who have some sympathy for the sorts of regimes for which the WFTU provides cover.

Regardless of the motive, the sad fact is that the leadership of a militant industrial union in Britain seems to have no problem aligning themselves with an organisation which includes within it representatives of some of the most repressive, anti-worker regimes in the world.

Keir Hardie on the Royal Heir

 As I'm sure you're all aware to people with access to the best medical have succeeded in having a baby boy. Apparently this is considered not only national headline news but also a global story of importance too. This surprised me since evening in the third world childbirth while still dangerous no longer has so high a fatality rate and despite the ongoing scandals regarding NHS Trusts (A Trust being an NHS hospital that merged with a private company and gave up most of its administrative power)I just don't see what's so special about "Will and Kate's" successful procreation.

Ah put then I'm just a common Fenian son of immigrants from a country with the word "Republic" in it, so no wonder I feel no love for the institution of the Monarchy. But I don't really see why anyone would care, its a baby nothing more nothing less. It will grow up like the rest of us and become an adult, unless I missed the part where the reveal this boys a mutant superhero or part of an ancient prophesy who will bring balance to the force or something I don't see the big deal.

Fortunately for me there's a man out their who agrees with me, unfortunately he's been dead for a long while, Keir Hardie founder of the Independent Labour Party and a founder of the Labour Party when a number of Socialist organisations merged into it in 1900. Here's what he had to say about this nonsense regarding royal heirs.

“From his childhood onwards this boy will be surrounded by sycophants and flatterers by the score – [cries of “Oh!,oh!] – and will be taught to believe himself as of a superior creation [cries of “Oh,oh!]. A line will be drawn between him and the people whom he is to be called upon some day to reign over. …and the end of it all will be that the country will be called upon to pay the bill. [Cries of Divide!]”

Workers Memorial Day 2013

Today (28/04/2013) was Workers Memorial Day an important though sadly neglected event that gives us all a chance to remember those who were quite literally killed by their jobs. And highlight the importance of Health and Safety despite it being the favourite punchline to jokes.

The attendence was very good just a little below that which turns out for Remembrance Sunday. Sadly though that's probably due to the fact that since North East Lincolnshire is unlike rural Lincolnshire proper heavily industrialised, with Lindsey Oil Refinery and Connoco Phillips being just next door in Killingholme, and surrounded by many smaller chemical plants like Millennium Crystal. Thats in addition to having two very large and active dockyards very close to each other. Which means we have a high work related fatality rate. Though it does reinforce the importance of the day.

"Nobby" Styles UNITE Rep and main organiser of the Memorial

In attendence were the relatives of those whom lost their lives at work, most of the local Labour Party, a small number of Liberal Democrats, representatives from the local Unions (mostly UNITE and ASLEF) Thompson's solicitors and several companies. The service was facilitated by the Merchant Navy Association and Vickers one of our local Priests. It was religous but in a vague way and used the most worker friendly passages from the Bible.

Neil Castle Immingham Town Mayor (Labour)

North East Lincolnshire Mayor Mike Burton (Labour)

There were quite a few reefs laid by the Plaque, and the weather remained clear throughout. Over all despite still being neglected the service is growing in the region, Grimsby and Cleethorpes also have services and the number of companies agreeing to take part has increased. Also in attendence was local MP Martin Vickers (Conservative) he gave a luke warm speech and looked very uncomfortable when other reef layers criticised the cuts to the Health and Safety Executive, and the reforms  to Industrial Tribunals that make it harder to prosecute negligent employers, but he did show up so credit there. The fact he did attend and present a reef is an example of the growing acceptance and support of the day.

Scunthorpe a town in Northern Lincolnshire not too far away (they're are main footie rivals) held its first ever Memorial event this year which means the day is spreading nationally. Most of the credit for North East Lincolnshire's Memorial Day growth goes to Nobby Styles a UNITE rep who really worked hard to get everyone to lend their support. If you get local news you'll have seen him on the telly this past week promoting as much as possible.

North East Lincolnshire Public Sector Strikes

Sorry this was a bit late Cameras fixed now so here we go.













From FSRN


"Some two million workers in the UK went on strike today, closing down approximately 60 percent of the schools in England and most schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Organizers say it could be one of the largest nationwide shut downs since the 1926 general strike halted the UK. Zoe Sullivan was in London and files this report."

I took part in the Pickets and Demonstrations in Grimsby. It was quite an impressive showing for a small town on the edge of the sea. There were around a hundred people at the main demo outside town hall, and some UNISON friends told me there was about the same number at the local Hospital, and there were many smaller pickets and gatherings throughout the town and in neighbouring Cleethorpes. In addition to the local Trade Unionists (UNISON, UNITE, GMB, NAPO, FBU etc.) I saw members from the local Labour party and some of there sitting Councillors. I also believe I saw a couple of Socialist Party members, I say believe because the only one I recognise personally has a habit of changing parties and they didn't carry any identifiers.
















All in all I would say it was quite impressive and should hopefully put pressure on the ConDems to rethink there Pension "reforms", and build links between working peoples organisations to make further action easier should it be required.

Forget me Knot

Just got back from the Cleethorpes Memorial service for workers on International workers Memorial Day. Despite the melancholy nature of the event I think it went pretty well. The weather was good, nice and sunny with a cooling sea breeze, and there was a big turnout, with delegates and speakers from the local Labour group both Council and party, every Trade Union operating in our region (North East Lincolnshire, and North Lincolnshire there's a bit of an overlap) relatives of some of those killed in work related accidents in our area Unfortunately Northern Lincolnshire, is above the national average in this regard due to the towns Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Immingham and the surrounding villages are home to a large number of refineries and chemical plants, which contribute to the injuries and deaths from warehouse and factory accidents. There was even a delegation from the local Liberals ,well only two of them, but to there credit these two had supporting the event and the campaign for recognition before that, and kept the speech non-partisan so I have no objections to there attendance. Strangely though no local Tories turned up, maybe they collectively had a scheduling mishap, perhaps something had gone awry with the royal wedding preparations? or they didn't fancy having to answer for the ConDems "Easing business regulation" plans that will gut Health and Safety measures on our docks, airports and transport hubs? who can say if they won't.

Unfortunately since this was a memorial service it wasn't long before the content started to but dampen the mood. 151 killed in work related deaths in UK last year, and that figure does not include those killed while driving, or those whom have succumb from a work related injury or illness contracted several years prior. And an estimate of 2 million killed on the job globally. The speakers made a very good point, if every work related death received an eighth of the media attention that are service men receive when then sadly are killed in relation to there work (funny since the army used to a few years ago advertise the statistics that your more likely to be killed in a civilian occupation then as a front-line servicemen)then there would be a lot more pressure on government and employers to clean up there act.

If a country lost two million in a year due to war, there would be a lot of questions being asked to why, are the Generals incompetent? is the equipment or training inadequate? and what solutions are being offered to prevent next years 2 million casualties. But alas work related injury and deaths do not receive much attention, outside of the Morning Star. I couldn't even find details about today's service in the local paper I had to ring up a friend and double check the starting time.

Even big global disasters that are guaranteed to sell copies and get viewers usually ignore the human costs, like the Oil rig of the coast of the US, how much time was spent on the 11 workers killed in the explosion before the "mainstream" newsreaders started discussing things like stock hits and loss of confidence? not much. They didn't even bother covering the environmental impact in detail until heartbreaking pictures of oil covered animals started coming in. Nor did they show much interest in the loss of livelihoods suffered by the small fishermen and local business until people started getting angry and the issue of compensation numbering in the hundred millions started to turn a few heads.

In short we must as this memorial day implores us, remember the dead and continue to fight for the living.

Crocodile tears at the inquiry

bLIAR's (couldn't resist) return performance, as that is what the Chilcott Inquiry ultimately is a platform for Blair and co to stem criticism by repeating there talking points for a while and appearing suitably chastised and besieged, seems to have been no more than a damage control exercise after realising that saying he regretted nothing while his face was plastered with that famous cheeky little grin might of come off as a bit bloody and socio-pathic.

So this time we were treated to that rarity of nature a reptile crying, unfortunately since the scaly ones are used to showing genuine emotion that routine came across as particularly sloppy and cringing " I shouldn't have said that I don't have any regrets, as you know that sounded like I didn't care about the deaths, which was..wasn't my intention I y'know deeply deeply regret the deaths of are soldiers, are allies, the civilians "helping" us in Iraq and the Iraqi's who died" which may or may not be better then child like pride at death and destruction but it's still pretty horrible, though it was amusing to clearly hear the audience murmur "too late".

We also learned that the legal case to go topple a regime just becasue you don't like them might not have been air tight,what with you know national sovereignty being the fundamental Tenant of international relations ever since a little called the Treaty of Westphalia was signed to the end the thirty years war, where otver half the population of Europe was slaughtered by mercenary forces using axes and knives becasue nearly every kingdom "republic" and Duchy collectively said to hell with everyone else's claims I want more power and influence in the world hmm.... Why does that sound so familiar?

* picture source

Crosland Memorial lecture

This week I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend Grimsby's Anthony Crosland Memorial lecture. If live in or around Grimsby and don't know what the Memorial Lecture is then I don't really blame you as this the first we've had for about five or six years and the last speaker was Roy Hattersly.

The Crosland Memorial Lecture is unsurprisingly a lecture held in honour of Grimsby MP and former Foreign Secretary Anthony Crosland, and is organised by the local Labour party though attendance is open to anyone and free (they pay for it via donations), for those unfamiliar with the work of Corsland, highlights include taking Henry Kissenger to a Grimsby Town (Mariners) match instead of having a meeting with him, though to be fair to him he only held that position for a year 1976-77 and died shortly after spending quite a bit of his time in the position quite ill so there wasn't any fundamental policy breaks from his predecessors in Callaghan's and Wilson's governments.

He was however extremely active outside of the Foreign office, other posts included Secretary of state for education and science, President of the board for trade and Secretary of state for local government. In fact his most memorable quote comes from his time overseeing education "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to destroy every fucking grammar school in England. And Wales and Northern Ireland" Well said Tony well said. Outside of Cabinet entirely Crosland was also very influential his book the future of Socialism written published in 1956 caused quite a stir arguing for a mixed economy and a halt to nationalisation, in fact if Crosland were still a live today he'd probably be a Social Democrat, which is funny given that the man who replaced as Foreign Secretary was David "SDP" Owen.

The speaker this year was none other then Helen Clark former Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand and current head of the UN development Programme which puts here in the top 3 positions of power for that organisation. Now I don't wish Mr Hattersly any disrespect but theres a bit of a gap between the two, Former Deputy leader of the opposition, no one times 5, then former national leader and 20th most powerful women in the world.

Her Lecture concerned the issues of International development, the problems faced the problems yet to be faced such as climate change, and the solutions and there practical effects. When it came to the eradication of poverty and the Millennium development goals she mentioned that there doing well... so long as you include China, if you take China out of the analysis then the average falls short of the goals which is to cut absolute poverty by half, absolute poverty being those who live on a dollar and a half or less, however Ghana is also doing well in this area and many African states have seen a number of concrete improvements in infrastructure and services so its not all bad in that area, though relativistic poverty is a curse all over the globe and little is being done about that.

The questions section was a bit hit and miss one person raise the issue of population growth and what can be done about it, if you've heard about the "solutions" to over population you've probably been forced to suffer through some keyboard eugenicist ranting about sterilisation or some sort of death lottery. Helen's response was both more compassionate and made more sense, give women the choice in the matter. Simple really societies were sexual education is normal, where contraceptives are available and affordable and there's no impinging social factor against there use and coupled with decent health care to reduce death by pregnancy and the population levels stabilise and the growth rate goes down there by reducing the pressure on resources.

And its true the nuclear family model is the standard family model in the northern hemisphere and it wasn't always so, my Mother was one of eleven and myself am one of Five, hell in some nations its arguably worked to well with the population growth actually becoming a negative trend.

All in all a very good talk, it'll be interesting to see who they get next year (if any one).

Australia to hold snap elections

It seems Australia's about to have a fresh election in August after Current PM Julia Gillard (pictured) ousted predecessor Kevin Rudd.

I must confess I'm a bit out of touch with the political intrigues of the Prison Continent, which is a bit embarrassing given A the Labour (or Labor) party is in power and B I have a quite large number of relatives living over there.


Still I was able to find this artists impression of how the power struggle occurred, enjoy.

The Dust begins to settle

Well May 6th was interesting. Not really sure what happens now, guess its just wait and see for the back room boys to hammer out a deal. While I'm not happy Labour are in second place and parties like Respect failed to make headway, I can't be totally depressed as the Conservatives despite getting the most seats can only regard this as a failure. I mean considering what assets they had,they had 90% of the National press, (The Guardian, and the Independent back the Liberals) the Only papers that still backed Labour were the Mirror and the Morning Star, They also had Lord Ashcroft with a free hand to spend as much money as he wanted thanks to that bizarre Court ruling, and of course they were campaigning against a government that had been in power for over ten years. With that 2010 should have been Labours 1997 moment and been completely obliterated.

But well they weren't, in fact some particularly the Left Labour Mp's actually increased their share of the votes and most of the "big name" scalps that were taken were the rightwingers, the corrupt or the chronic back stabbers , so again a mixed bag.

Also while were on the subject of coalitions, 38 Degrees is currently running two campaigns that will be off interest to some of you. There currently trying to put pressure on Lib Dems to hold true to there commitments on electoral reform, and to halt cuts to the BBC a prospect that seems increasingly likely since Cameron made a Faustian deal with News International (though is their really any other kind with Murdoch?).

Still it looks like we'll have to wait and see, what develops in the coming weeks.

Labours election manifesto

Well here we are. I don't quite know what to say, I mean It certainly on the positive side which is good, Attack ads are not only cynical but can also camouflage the party that paid for the message. That 1979 Labour isn't working advert, the one set at an unemployment line well that was about Thatchers claim that her economic policies would actually REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT which I think we can all agree on was probably the biggest electoral failure of a post war (thats WW2) Prime Minister.

Anyway cheery atmosphere aside lets take a look at whats actually being said, First we have our "typical Brit family" which stupid names aside do do a good job at caricaturing the average British family if in a sugary sweet way (apart from that Jack son, seriously what was he supposed to be caricature of passionate Teenage activists? because at it certainly didn't look like it) and they've done a fairly good job in getting their priority's straight.

Note I'm only using the above video itself for this analysis.

1) A new Industrial Revolution,
Ok this is a very good one to run with, the Economy has clearly dominated the news and debate (political or otherwise) and emphasising the idea of a brand new a massive job creation scheme, especially one that uses "the latest digital and green technology" could resonate with both the working class the newly unemployed and the growing ecology movement.

2) National Care Service, and the NHS,

Again this a good if not surprising. The NHS is still very popular (as it should be) anyone remember when Cameron was desperately trying to make it the central platform of his "heir to Blair" movement he started when he first became leader in a desperate attempt to make himself seem "progressive".
Speaking of which here's an idea for you Dave if you really want to be taken seriously as a "progressive" then don't change your logo to a scribbled tree; change your party to one that doesn't have the words "Conservative" in the title.

Sorry back to the main point, both the NHS and the care for the elderly have been seen not -without merit- to have been neglected under Labours past three terms, so this could be a good sign that their finally getting it back together.

3)Tax credit and more time off for new parents,

Well I don't have much experience in the realm of parenting but as well as this being a nice and in my view the moral thing to do, it has been fairly consistently proven that the more contact a child has with both parents early on in life the more psychologically "healthy" they turn out to be. And more tax credits to relieve some of the financial strain of child rearing can't hurt.

4)"Stronger Communities" with an emphasis on Police expansion,

Although I do believe in strong communities the video only mentioned increased policing so thats what I'll work with.

I know I few people out there have reasons to dislike the police, especially if you've ever attended a march or rally, and so do I but for a-political reasons which I'm not getting into. But are society does need a police and the majority of the British public do have a favourable image of them, and what with the constant scaremongering going on in the press about "Broken Britain" emphasizing a strong police force makes good political sense if not idealistic.

5) Some sort of major Education Improvement drive,

It seems going by the vid it looks like theres going to be renewed emphasis on education and "parental authority", now are current education system is in a muddle, we have comprehensives, Public schools, Grammar schools, Religious schools, Academies etc. so reform here could go either way, though I strongly suggest the next policy initiatives listen to the Teaching Unions who have done an excellent job of outlining whats wrong with them now.

6) "Active Democracy"

Now this final one was the worst in my view of the lot. I can see why they made it that way, they didn't want to provide the Tories with ammunition or lose any of the single issue nutters by being seen to take a stand either way on any real issues. Unfortunately that makes Jack here look completely mental, and in effect patronises many of the young activists whom I assume Jacks aimed at attracting. Thats not a really good thing to do, as many activists take themselves very seriously.

So all in all I guess I kind of do like this one. Its quite to my personal tastes but compared to what the other tw... err one and half are pushing this is effectively ambrosia.