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

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%.

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.

Hiding Behind The War

The Camden New Journal and its stablemate the Islington Tribune are two of the best local papers in London.

A shame then to see the 24th April issue of the New Journal lapse into the sort of auto-leftism that does 'the left' no good at all. Check out columnist John Gulliver discussing Kurdish Iraq:

"There are at least two "honour killings" each day in the region; a hospital reported that over the past few years it has seen several thousand women burned to death in 'suicides'; in British controlled Basra scores of women have been killed this year for not veiling - all sure signs of a society brutalised by the war".

Gulliver based his comments on the views of a New Zealand medic, Dr Sandra Phelps. The conclusion appears to be that violence against women in Iraq is out of control under 'our occupation'.

I am sure Iraqi has been utterly brutalised by the UK/US invasion. But much of the violence Gulliver and Phelps discuss is not in reaction to the occupation, or even in reaction to the new 'Iraqi' government. It is instead the result of long repressed Islamist forces being given free reign.

I fail to see how it is Britain's faults if women are murdered in Basra for not wearing the veil - the people to blame for such dastardly crimes are the people who commit them - Iraqis (or foreign Jihadi's) acting in the name of a particularly vile strand of Islam.

We are in danger of sleepwalking into a sort of reverse Basil Fawlty here - where instead of "don't mention the war", we constantly talk about the Iraq war, and assign faults to it that are simply not accurate.

John Gulliver should know better.

Facebook - I Must Not Be Using It Right.........

"Facebook is a door to lust and young women and men are spending more on their mobile phones and the Internet than they are spending on food".

Saudi preacher Ali al-Maliki, in an interview with the al-Arabiya website.

The Triumph of Terminal 5

The British Airports Authority have decreed that all users for domestic flights of the new fifth terminal at Heathrow will have to be fingerprinted.

I have no idea how a Spanish owned private company can make such demands, but it seems they can, and of course new Labour goes along with them. Saturdays Telegraph Travel had an excellent article by Nigel Rumfitt pointing out yet another step towards the database state. And as we know, with governments databases are about as secure as an old garden shed with a faulty lock.

To quote Rumfitt:

"Would any recent terrorist outrage have been prevented by ID cards or fingerprint records? If it would, why bring in vital security measures by the back door and confine them to domestic flights?"

Never Forget

"Young and old alike must learn about the Holocaust as warning against the dangers of racism. There is no difference in colour or religion. If I had survived to betray the dead it would have been better not to survive. We must not forget. Please do not forget."

Holocaust survivor Leon Greenman, who died this week.

At Last - A Supporter of Rowan Williams!

Just when it was thought that the Archbishop of Canterbury's only supporter in the world was Mrs Archbishop of Canterbury, Ray Davies of Caerphilly steps forward:

"Dr Rowan Williams will go down in history as one of the most progressive religious leaders that the church has ever produced. His standing among black and white, young and old, Christian and Muslim, has never been higher, and I am proud that he is a product of Wales".

Letters, The New Worker 15 February 2008.

Military Priorities

"More than 1100 soldiers have been dismissed from the British Army since January 2006 for using Class A drugs.
Not one soldier has ever been kicked out in 30 years for killing an Irish civilian".

Fifth Column, An Phoblacht/Republican News, 22 November 2007.

The Political Quote Of The Year

“There are some people who want to jump on any rumour that gets out to damage Respect. They would be better advised to check the facts with me. Our Respect group remains united and ready to join the fight against the Tories and New Labour in the Greater London Authority elections.”

Tower Hamlets Cllr Ahmed Hussain, quoted in a Respect press release on 14th February. A few hours later Cllr Hussain, who was also a member of the Socialist Workers Party, defected to the Conservative Party.