I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back

Sweet White Lies

It is a peculiarly English trait that it is sometimes preferable to tell a lie, even though the person who is being lied to knows they are being lied to, rather than to tell the truth.

For many years now, if I have been travelling between the East Anglian coast and London, I have stopped at a small cafe, The Halfway cafe, in the village of  Darsham. I even know the opening hours at cafe 7am until 3pm.

Parking up today at 2.26pm, I thought I would have more than enough time for a meal, and for the staff to kick me out well before 3pm. Entering the premises at 2.28pm, I immediately noticed the till had been taken away, and glimpsed a staff member putting away the days utensils.

"I'm afraid we are not serving anymore food today".

For some reason the word food was given added emphasis, as if they were still serving something else instead. But waht else could they be doing in a cafe?

Rather than admit they were finishing early - it now now 2.29pm, I was told - "we stopped serving at 2.30pm."

I would not actually have minded had the waitress told me the truth - they had decided to finish early, it was sunny day, and I would just have to do without. Instead it seems easier to tell lies - to say it is after 2.30pm when it is not, and to say that an advertised closing time of 3pm actually means 2.30pm - anything but the truth.

All bollocks, and all very, very English. 

"Why Right Is Beating Left"

There is little doubt that in many working class areas of Britain, the political alternative is now the far-right, not the left.

Where left wing candidates popped up in the May elections, they were by and large humiliated, whilst the BNP had a mixture of very good results, some not so good, and some disappointments. The National Front, long dormant as an electoral force (and able to put only 17 people on the streets for a recent march in Eltham) managed an astonishing 30,000 votes in the London elections.

The size of the disaster for the left has not been noticed, never mind digested. On Saturday I attended 1968 and All That a conference to mark 40 years on from the May 68 events in Europe. It was perhaps appropriate that the largest gathering of "the left" in Britain so far this year was concerned chiefly about events abroad, and entirely about events in the past!

Bringing in Eamonn McCann from Ireland as headline speaker may have seemed a good idea - he has certainly kissed the blarney stone. The problem is some of the Brit left's Islamophilia has clearly been exported to Ireland and swallowed wholesale - much of McCann's rabble rousing failed to rise above the level of "Victory to the Muslims".
The fact that if McCann - a lifelong Socialist and Atheist - lived in much of the Muslim world he would either be in prison or dead, was clearly beyond him. The reality that the opposition in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan (which McCann wishes to 'free') often appears to be even more reactionary than those in power was beyond his audience. A real shame.

The London borough where this event occurred, Camden, is multi-cultural, with low levels of overt racism, and a large left leaning middle class in areas such as Hampstead and Tuffnell Park. In this months London Assembly elections the boroughs of Camden and Barnet scored 2,778 first preference votes to the fascist candidate, Richard Barnbrook. Lindsey German of the "Left List" polled less than half that total - 1,251.
The left needs to wake up and smell the coffee, before it is too late. Rambling on about the Middle East is I'm afraid part of the problem, not part of the solution.

In the new issue of Black Flag I have got together with my on-line chum Kaf, and attempted to analyse exactly where and why the BNP has managed to take advantage of the disillusionment with not just contemporary Britain, but ideals such as socialism.

I would welcome feedback from readers - especially to this blog. "Why Right Is beating Left" is the lead article in Black Flag, which can be bought in Housmans and Freedom in London, or ordered from AK Press.

Boxing v Mixed Martial Arts

Last night saw an interesting clash for the armchair sports fan.

ITV had a night of boxing with two hours of domestic fights on ITV4, followed by Junior Witter's WBC Light-welterweight title fight against America's Tim Bradley. Over on Sky Sports 3 two hours of MMA was on offer, culminating in the Cage Rage GB Light-Heavyweight title fight between Ian Freeman and Paul Cahoon.

I chose the MMA. In part my decision was not taken on the nature of the sports themselves, but the fighters. Witter has the classic 'Sheffield Style" of most fighters from the Ingle stable - one you ever like to watch or you don't. And personally I don't - watching Witter, or for that matter compatriots like the former Cruiserweight Johnny Nelson, is like watching paint dry.

ITV's viewing figures will of course have trounced Sky's - boxing on terrestrial television is still a success story (unless like the BBC you choose to invest in Audley Harrison) but I suspect I was not alone in putting Cage Rage first, at least on this occasion.

Support The Jones Family - Sat 10 May 12 Noon - Stoke Newington Common

My day at the Love Music Hate Racism Carnival last month was not entirely wasted, as I was given a flyer advertising Saturday's "Don't Evict the Jones family" event in Stoke Newington.

Ricky Jones is the residential caretaker at Hackney's William Patten Primary School. Despite holding this post for 10 years, William Patten School and the Learning Trust have suddenly decided they don't need a residential caretaker at all - and will thus evict Ricky, his wife and 3 children.

Saturday's demonstration assembles at Stoke Newington Common, and will walk on to Clissold Park. E mails of protest can also be sent to the school itself - admin@williapatten.hackney.scho.uk

Good luck Ricky!

It Was Not Us - It Was All His Fault

I know it is cruel to mock the Socialist Workers Party, and I really should not do it as much as I actually do.

However (and that's a big however) I can't resist repeating this little cracker from the 21st April issue of London Student. It comes courtesy of walking stereotype Jennifer Jones, a 21 year old student at Goldsmiths College, who stood for the Left List in Lewisham and Greenwich.

"The Respect split was essentially George Galloway departing and taking a few councillors with him. I'm glad of the split in some ways as Galloway was always the negative aspect of Respect and the element people would criticise".

Jennifer - you really need to get out more if you think the only thing wrong with Respect was the gorgeous one - who it should be added, your party would have defended to the death just 12 months ago.

For the record, Miss Jones received 2045 votes, which was 1.39%.

The Falun Gong Debate Continues.......

Hello to readers from China visiting this blog, where it seems a lot of hits are coming from at the moment.

In January and March I reported that the Chinese cult Falun Gong has been rearing its ugly head in London. My comments have been reproduced on this Chinese website .

More importantly, the critical comments I made about both Falun Gong and the Chinese government have been reproduced, which is good to see.

Anyway, if you are reading this in Beijing, I hope all that smog clears in time for the Olympics!

There's No Fool Like A Group Of Old Fools

As Boris Johnson's victory over Ken Livingstone sinks in, we can no doubt expect great wailing and whining from those who saw Livingstone as some sort of North London version of Che Guevera.

Socialists can display a remarkable facility to self-delusion, something never better demonstrated than attitudes towards not-so Red Ken. It is hard to keep a straight face reading, with hindsight the editorial from the April 2008 Labour Briefing magazine:

"Socialists have expressed other concerns about Livingstone: a strike-breaking approach to the transport unions, support for the Metropolitan Police over the Menezes shooting, links to the Muslim cleric al-Qaradawi, his uncritical courting of the City - none of which should be minimised".

So far so good. Except for the fact that Labour Briefing then decided to ignore all of the above points, and call for an all-out push for Ken!

There was a time when the principles of trades union solidarity were sacrosanct not just throughout the working class, but on the left - any possibility of voting for Livingstone should have ended with his call on tube workers to scab during a dispute. Whilst it is no surprise Labour Briefing (and most of Livingstone's supporters) cannot see the dangerous waters his 'rainbow alliance' politics sailed into, 'red' Ken should have been seen for what he is many, many years ago.

Instead, so far have the likes of Labour Briefing fallen, they saw things in Livingstone that were never there. The only thing that really matters to Ken Livingstone is - Ken Livingstone.

Goodbye Ken - and good riddance.

The Politics Of Fear

"Most of all, she hated the fear she'd always felt, which had never let her live the life she wanted to live and held her paralysed and quaking beneath the bed even now, despite the self-loathing it provoked."

From p.221 of V For Vendetta, a novelisation by Steve Moore.

Con.....fidence

Watching Boris Johnson's first press conferences as London Mayor, I was struck by the value of his public school education.

It gives people like Johnson, and for that matter Tony Blair and David Cameron the most important thing of all - confidence.

All three appear in control because that is what they were brought up to be from the age of at least five - in control. And that means in control of people like you and me. That control also requires the support of people who did not go to Eton - the first words Johnson spoke after the results were announced were to thank the Metropolitan Police.

Many people watching would have wondered why this was necessary - they were not told that specialist police squads had earlier cleared the area around City Hall of Anarchists protesting about the pisspoor nature of the Mayoral candidates. There were three arrests.

This process - of toffs and lackeys - will continue until the end of time - unless we do something about it.

Sky Pilots Return To Old Trafford

At last I can reveal the truth behind Manchester United's win over Barcelona on Tuesday.

Obviously the efforts of Scholes, Ronaldo, Ferdinand, Van der Saar and co pale into insignificance when you have this bloke on your side!

The god-botherers were once a regular feature on Sir Matt Busby Way, certainly up to the early 90s, then they seemed to just leave Old Trafford alone. Perhaps in the Sky era we were no longer considered worth saving.

Now they are back. At this rate we will have the return of the people selling Newsline and the Morning Star!