Category: Politics

William Wragg has betrayed his party, his colleagues, his country and his family. His punishment for this betrayal is to be feted as “brave’ for owning up about his grave error of judgement, compounded by involving at least 16 colleagues. Why has he not been banished from Westminster, his party and called out as fool by the press?

The obvious answer is that he is privy to too many secrets about senior colleagues or maybe in the moral sewer of the Conservative Party his misbehaviour is seen as the norm and “there for the grace of God” go I. The press are certainly not exploiting the situation as they should.

Instead the propaganda magazine of the right is after Angela Rayner big time. Having failed to stir up hatred by disclosing her purchase of a former council house (a Thatcherite policy) they are now claiming that she avoided about £1000 in tax in doing so by misrepresenting where she lived. How the paper has obtained supposed evidence is perhaps the most important aspect of the story – if illegally it should be liable for huge damages. Of course Angela Rayner should be held to account for misdeeds of the past, if true, but surely the misdeeds should be of a certain magnitude – not trivial. Public servants and MP’s particularly should be subject to the highest level of behaviour to set an example to our children. Which brings me back to Willie Wanger Wragg; What is an MP doing sending dickpics? Why was he not sacked? Are the police investigating and breach of security by him? Why has he not resigned and put himself in for treatment?

Sunak tells us we are all doing well, as rents that have risen by an average of 30% in last couple of years and are due to continue rising. Rents should never exceed equivalent mortgage repayments. If that causes a drop in house prices tat would be good (with maybe some support for those left with negative equity. Certainly something needs to be done to fix a broken housing marketplace.

Have recent atrocities by Israel allowed discussion of the existence of it as a bona fide state to occur, without screams of racism shouting the discussion down. It may be that the premise for the establishment of the state of Israel was built not on logic or reasonable analysis, but on horror and sympathy. Other religeons have not had states created for them – indeed the west is fighting to prevent the establishment of ISIS (maybe a silly example – so what about a Sikh state?).

So should Israel exist as a state? It could be argued that its establishment has destablised the whole region?

Also why are arguments that state, that the atrocity initiated by Hamas last year, needs to be considered in the context of the treatment of Palestinians over the past 50 years, dismissed as irrelevant or even racist. Deprived of land, their water poisoned, their olive groves burnt, the Palestinians have a very real grievance. Ignored by the international community for, like forever, it was no surprise that their outburst of violence was severe. The governments of the west ralied round immediately and stated that the state of Israel had a right to defend itself, and are thus complicit in the violence and near genocide wreaked on Gaza and innocent women and children (and many males). There were, and are, no santions against the illegal occupation by the IDF and settlers on the West Bank.

What are the arguments for the existance of Israel per se?

Israel has been very successful in polarising opinions and countering the arguments that are pro-Palestine. With the majority of Western democracies ignoring Israeli attrocities in the West Bank it has manipulated their support skillfully so far. The attack by Hamas has been used to justify the obliteration of Palestinians in Gaza. Killing civilians was portrayed as unfortunate and inevitable collateral damage, rather than the callous genocide which the evidence points to as being nearer the truth.

Time has come to osterise Isreal diplomatically. This is essential if Western democracies are to continue with a pluralistic society. Anti-semitism must continue to be outlawed, but needs to be distinguished from anti-Israel. Israel to needs to develop a multi-ethnic society where all religeons and ethnic groups are respected and represented. Israel was created out of the horrors of the holocaust and must not become a mirror image of its parentage. A violent and cruel upbringing does not have to be followed by similar misdeeds.

So the Daily Shite headlines Angela Rayner for possibly avoiding a small amount of tax whilst they award a knighthood to a tory donor who gave them £5 million. Oh they do not like Angela – a working class lass with a difficult childhood who never graced a private school or had priveldge thrust upon her. Hopefully this latest culture war episode will backfire. They are getting desperate with videos of a NY subway station being used to highlight crime in London!

They have had 14 years and have nothing to celebrate! Their only recourse is to attack the opposition.

I am fairly certain I am no longer a racist – that sounds bad! I am 70 so was bought up in a white town in Essex. I watched “till death us do part” and thought it funny (although I was not an Alf Garnet fan, the Liverpudlian was my preference), I watched the “Black and white Minstrel Show’ without questioning its basis. I have never been overtly racist, but will admit to being slightly shocked when talking to a black Nigerian Professor and realising just how much cleverer than me, he was! By racist I think I mean the little things. Tamsin had a friend called Leon who was black and an ace skier – I asked him where he was from – my interest was the geography and not meant to be racist, although I realise it was (well Tamsin pointed this out to me rather bluntly! I think I have totally banished even the hidden covert racism now. Is anti-semitism racism?

I hate what the government of Israel is doing, and with that the actions of many Jews. I have been to Israel and found the people friendly. So I am not anti-Jewish – maybe some of the people I meet are Jewish? I do wonder about why the Jews have been persecuted throughout history though! I put them/that in the same category as persecution of catholics and protestants in this country in the 1600’s. Basically I suppose I think all religeon is rather peculiar and I would not die for it anymore than I would my football team. I do think that Israel is out of order in Gaza and understand why the Palestinians resorted to the massacre. I would like to believe in a single party state rather like that which hopefully Ulster is moving towards.

So i am lacking a term to describe myself. Is there a word to describe someone who is anti-bigotry? Is it WOKE? By definition people like me will not take to violence in our cause so are we always destined to be dominated by the bullies like Trump, Orlan, Putin, Farage, Johnson, etc.?

It seems that much of the racism and bigotry in this cpuntry is associated with priveledge and perceived entitlement. The likes of Sunak and Rees-Mogg believe that they are better than the rest of us – yuck!

I hope I am not racist?

The government of the UK has this week provided absolute proof that it is racist to the core.

This government is unbelievably still trying to find a lower level in their cess pit. Accepting £10 million from a racist who called for a sitting MP to be shot. Government ministers refuse to condemn. A government minister says she would have punched an OFSTED Inspector. And our press remains silent or rather concentrates on a meaningless photo by the royals. This country is truly fucked!

Racism is wrong. OK I am 70 and grew up with racism as the norm with ‘Till death us do part” and “The black and white minstrel show” and thought that society had moved on. However Anderson, Braverman and the Conservative Party seem to want to regress and encoursge the racist bigots who still lurk in the sewers of our society. James O’Brien had a phone in regarding Islamaphobia and yet some tory councillor had to phone in and complain that it was not about anti-semitism and accuse a Labour MP of making anti-semitic without offering any evidence. Both anti-semitism and islamaphobia are evil and should not be tolerated.

There still seems to be the problem between being anti-Israel and anti-semitism. Why is there a blurring of these definitions? Is a criticism of Saudi Arabia or Hamas anti-islam? Why will the government not use the term Islamaphobia to describe Andersons comments and why are they not kicking Braverman out of the party?

England is basically conservative with a small c as elections over the past century have shown. There has not been a swing to the left, only a swing away from corruption and incompetence. The shite papers ownwed by fascists are trying to drag society to the right. The Express this morning was supporting Anderson on its front page whilst the Torygraph and Mail churn out a daily recipe of hatred and bile. However, if the polls are to be believed, the vote at the next election will place the emphasis down the centre again.

Labour will need to sort the economy and the corruption out before it can implement much needed reforms of our public institutions like councils, education and the NHS – but it will not have much time to do this.

The ministers of this government seem to be under instructions to keep their mouths shut and stay away from the office, and definitely do not work from home! There have been fewer examples of gross incompetence recently but this maybe because Sunak has been plotting the biggest travesty of all. WHY are British forces joining the USA in attacks in the Middle East? Is it due to pressure from his mates in the oil industry who apparemtly are concerned about the reduction in their gigantuan profits? No doubt Starmerr will meekly follow in appeasing the capitalists? Where are NATO in this? Maybe the situaltion is too febril for them? My take on the situation is as follows.

The Houthi rebels of Yemen appear to have taken advantage of a paucity of understanding by the west to gain dominence in Yemen despite the attempts by Saudi Arabia backed by the west to overthrow their rule. By choosing to ignore the war crimes perpetuated by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank the west have increased support for the Shia groups supported by Iran. Israels annexation of Gaza and the West Bank have drawn uncomfortable parallels with the colonial record of the UK and its replacement (capitalist USA). The UK government has tried to disassociate the actions of the Houthi with those taking place in Gaza whilst showing minimal empathy with Palestinians. Whilst the EU has also been broadly supportive of Israel (no doubt due to the historical aspects of guilt regarding the holocaust) they have not joined in with the American led attacks on Yemen.

So what is the motive for the UK stance and involvement? Recent reports of the lack of capability of the British armed forces would normally play to the TorybGammons, but with little financial heft available it maybe that Sunak is playing the long game politically. It is apparent that despite Starmers lack of popularity with the public he seems odds on to win a landslide at the General Election. This being so it would seem prudent from a Conservative viewpoint to sabotage the economy to ensure that Labour cannot improve the situation thus creating a vacuum for the right wing in the near future. Is this a conspiracy theory? It would seem to have much evidence to back it up!

So Sunak creates a “war situation” with British interests directly attacked by Iran backed rebels in the Middle East, Russia and China show support for these groups thus enforcing a massive increase in military spending. Labour can only extricate itself by appearing to appease terrorism. The economy is a;ready shattered by Brexit although Badenoch continues to extol success stories like the export of honey to Saudi Arabia (unverified) and pet food sales to India (unfathomable!).

Public services are at breaking point across every sector and plans for future investment by Labour will have to be put on hold due to deteriorating finances. Will Labour be brave enough to introduce press reforms immediately they gain office? It seems unlikely as they seem to be courting big business and capitalism wholeheartedly. My belief is not that we need to grow the economy – but that we need to nurture a sustainable economy and redistribute wealth equably.

I am very disappointed at the stance taken by Keir Starmer on many issues. Primarily I feel nausea at the lack of a firm line against Israels genocidal ambitions in Gaza and the West Bank.

Regarding the £28billion green investment I am hopeful that the public pressure to maintain this investment will prevail early in te next Parliament. Here the Labour Party need to set out clearly the long term benefits. It is interesting to see what the Labour Party in Wales are recommending regarding the unfair council tax. As taxes go it would seem to offer the least possibility for evasion. No readjustments have been made since its introduction in England. Some obvious bits – 5 categories is too low, I think Wales are recommending 12 which seems about right. They should do away with the single person discount. There are many reforms necessary for Local Councils, including a salary cap!

However the Labour Party disappoint me I will support them in the sole intention of getting rid of the shitwhow we have at the present. The Tories seemto be intent on leaving the country in the worst possible situation. Any incoming Labour administration will have a myriad of problems and obstacles to over come. Every aspect of government should be overhauled within 12 months.