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Issue #45, Early October Edition

League results

£1

Equality Democracy Truth Courage

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GOD HELP US!!!

VICE-PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE AND JOE BIDEN PRAY FOR TRUMP

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Turn to page 19 for the Rumble in the US political jungle LOCKED DOWN IN LIVERPOOL

PRITI EVIL

Manchester C-19 Booze Ban Plan

Bring back transportation

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WORSE THAN THIRD REICH?

PUTIN’S REVENGE

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MANCHESTER MAYOR CALLS FOR BAN ON LATE NIGHT BOOZE SALES

LIVERPOOL LOCKED DOWN 1340 NEW CASES IN LIVERPOOL

AS CORONAVIRUS CASES ROCKET P

eople are advised against mixing with anyone outside their own household except in public outdoor spaces, from visiting care homes unless in exceptional circumstances, attending sporting events as a spectator and all but essential travel. Schools will remain open.

Liverpool is the latest city to be placed under local lockdown measures. Measures imposed in the north east of England several days ago will be extended to Liverpool, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough

No changes have been made to any of the other areas under local lockdown, except in Bolton, where more stringent rules have been brought into line with the rest of Greater Manchester where Mayor Andy Burnham has called for a ban on the sale drink in shops after 9pm. The nationwide 10pm curfew on the hospitality industry will remain in place, despite calls for it to be reviewed which Mr Burnham supported. Health Hancock

secretary Matt said the number

of cases in Liverpool had hit 268 per 100,000, (making an approximate total of 1340 cases) prompting ministers to take action.

Police reports of supermarkets being “absolutely packed out to the rafters and lots of people gathering after 10pm

Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth called for more targeted financial support to be offered to places hit hard financially by lockdown measures, including Liverpool. “This is a region which is hugely reliant on hospitality and leisure, and we know that these

tracing in local lockdown areas was being carried out. Mr Hancock said “We have backward contact tracing in these areas. One of the reasons that we know, sadly, that the highest area of likelihood of picking up a case of coronavirus outside your own household is in social settings is because of backward contact tracing.”

Andy Burnham, Labour Mayor THIS IS A of Manchester, for the 9pm REGION WHICH sales IS HUGELY RELIANT alcohol ban after large ON HOSPITALITY groups of people were AND LEISURE photographed singing, dancing and partying in the streets after pub closing restrictions extract heavy social time in Birmingham, Liverpool and economic tolls,” he said. and York. “Existing inequalities, which themselves have a health impact and allow the virus to thrive, will be exacerbated.” Mr Ashworth also asked whether backward contract

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Burnham said he had received police reports of supermarkets being “absolutely packed out to the rafters and lots of people gathering after 10pm”.

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MILLIONS FACED WITH POVERTY AND DESTITUTION

TORY’S SNEAKY BENEFIT T CUT he 16 million people claiming Universal Credit, and the further 5 million predicted to be joining them next year, face a £20 a week stealth cut in benefits.

Man of the money tree miracles, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, admired even by Unite leader Len McCluskey, said nothing about cutting benefits when he recently issued his latest Covid-19 support package.

by 150 sharp-eyed charities - but not the Labour Party - and they have written to him warning that if it is not renewed 700,000 adults and 300,000 children will be thrown into poverty or destitution as the economy nosedives and millions are thrown on the scrap heap. Jeremy Corbyn has already Tweeted “That these callous Tory cuts must be stopped.”

The cost of keeping the £20-a-week uplift would be £9bn a year, the charities say. This would come after years of cuts and freezes that have pushed the main rate of unemployment benefit to its lowest level since 1990. Even with the £20-a-week uplift the average benefit income of a family with children is £2,900 a year less than in 2011.

£20

A WEEK CUT IS ON THE CARDS

None the less the cut is on its way unless Rishi performs a U-turn because in his recent Winter Economy he made no mention of continuing the £20 a week UC credit boost he introduced this April to run for one year.

His sleight of hand was spotted

Signatories to the letter include the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Trussell Trust, Save the Children, Barnardo’s, Child

If it was thought necessary at the start of the pandemic it is difficult to see how its end can now be justified

Poverty Action Group, Shelter, Oxfam GB, Salvation Army, the bishops of Durham and Portsmouth and 100 charities within the Disability Benefits Consortium. Ken Butler, Disability Right’s Welfare Rights and Policy Adviser said: “Given that the £20 week uplift was thought necessary at the start of the pandemic it is difficult to see how its end can now be justified given all forecasts are for unemployment to rise.”

Overall, 14.4 million people in the UK were living in poverty in 2018-19, of In her response to which 4.5 million were Rishi’s latest package children. About 4.5 Anneliese Dodds for million people – 7% of Labour, said it failed the population – were Britain’s workers in in deep poverty, and 7.1 seven ways – but never million people (11%) once mentioned how ADULTS AND were in persistent it fatally failed those 300,000 poverty, meaning they CHILDREN WILL already without a job had lived below the and on the poverty line. BE THROWN breadline for at least INTO POVERTY two of the last three OR DESTITUTION The government says years. it is taking another look at extending the UC boost.

70,000

‘The more complaints we got, the better’ – Spitting Image is back One of the first images is Donald Trump’s “ass-hole”, in effect a separate character, represented by a stretched sphincter resembling a penis dipped in faeces. Prince Harry, unemployed in Los Angeles, tries to earn a buck by dressing as a Nazi. Dominic Cummings is an alien who wants to eat baby Wilfred Johnson as a snack, but even then Boris Johnson, a jibbering half-wit, dare not sack him. BritBox is a joint venture between ITV and the BBC, so new director general Tim Davie, seeking to reduce Downing Street’s hostility towards the

corporation, will have to hope that Cummings and Johnson mainly take offence at the commercial network.

The current political situation in the UK and the US has the feel of an extreme caricature of the Thatcher-Reagan era in which Spitting Image first flourished. So furious is the current news cycle that the first episode was re-edited to incorporate the Trumps’ coronavirus results. It looks as if the show will cannily use Trump and Johnson tweets – able to be layered on the screen at the last minute – to keep as topical as possible.

The show’s tactic of focusing on a prominent characteristic of a person – physical, vocal, reputational – and viciously exaggerating it runs the risk now of accusations of bigotry or shaming.

ITV has admitting to censoring the addition of carrot leaves to the red-head of singer Ed Sheeran in case of causing upset; but, in the earlier version, Sheeran’s puppet would likely have been completely carrot, with a sidedish of tone-deafness. The cultural stop-it cops will be especially alert to representations of race and class. And here the series does show

Gove, whose rubber cheeks are as swollen and rough as nappyrashed buttocks.

some caution. Interestingly, the Priti Patel puppet is given no words ending in G, thus avoiding her distinctive way of talkin’. Patel is depicted as a dominatrix, bringing to orgasm with her rightwing opinions a Michael

That sketch is at least as offensive as the Thatcher-era sketches. The range of targets is also impressively broad, with New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, mocked for being too perfect a politician in a tremendous Mary Poppins spoof. Teeth, it seems, are the body-part still regarded as a safe target, with Ardern’s choppers especially whoppers. The first show lets HRH Prince Andrew off with a bit of silly slapstick, but there are, blessedly, nine more weeks of this to come.

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SOCIALISTS WAY FORWARD WITHIN THE LABOUR PARTY

IF STARMER DOES NOT CHANGE CHANGE STARMER!

he invasive checks for Universal Credit applications have been stopped because benefits’ staff are overwhelmed with claims.

GRAHAM DURHAM BIO Graham D is a former Labour councillor who fought Thatchers cuts and was part of the first union action against her privatisation . A lifelong anti-racist and a Unite branch secretary he was standing as a socialist candidate for the Labour NEC in February when he was ‘administratively suspended ‘ for describing the Chief Rabbi as a Tory . Graham posts daily in the 5.38 ( am) club

As I write, the official number of people to have lost jobs is 695,000, of which 156,000 were made redundant. Thousands more young people cannot find work. Tax expert Professor Richard Murphy told Alex Salmond on his Friday TV politic’s programme that he expects to see around five million unemployed by next year.

E v e r y working class family, and many others, will eithr be affected already or will fear of

For most working-class voters, loyalty to Labour is entirely logical and will not be broken. losing their livelihood. A tsunami of evictions is on its way. Widespread poverty is stalking the country.

and campaigns by the TUC and big unions?

Yet where is the anger, the outrage, from Labour Party leaders? The demands

As Covid cases rise again, Starmer demands a return to school despite the danger of spreading the deadly infection. Again, working class communities and frontline workers are hardest hit and are literally dying because of Tory incompetence.

MILLION UNEMPLOYED PREDICTED FOR 2021

Starmer offers nothing but ‘support’ for the Tories. Union leader Len McCluskey heaps praise on Chancellor Sunak.

Calls to abandon the Labour Party are naïve. History is littered with failed attempts.

Calls to abandon the Labour Party are naïve

The political battles inside the Labour Party are simply an extension of the class struggle. Socialists in the party must build a new democratic left, open voting for left NEC candidates, not manipulation by self-appointed groups. Part of this must be the rejection of the witch-hunt under the pretence that the party is anti-semitic. Racism will not be tolerated but we will not accept right-wing use of anti-racism to cynically expel socialists. The Labour Party should rally around clear demands: no evictions, extend the furlough indefinitely for all workers, nationalise companies that threaten redundancies, invest heavily in the NHS, put human life before profit and take urgent climate action.

Where is the anger, the outrage, from Labour Party leaders?

Only when Starmer advocates socialist solutions can support be offered. In the meantime, we must argue the need for policy change in policy and, if Starmer persists in failing, a change of leader. The years of betrayal by Unison leaders can be ended by electing Paul Holmes as General Secretary. In Unite, a replacement for McCluskey and the failure to fight by the United Left faction can be achieved. This sea-change in big union leadership would dramatically strengthen our position in the Labour Party. Urgent and big tasks indeed we owe it to our class to achieve them. By Graham Durham

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PLANS TO TRANSPORT ASYLUM SEEKERS TO THE FOUR CORNERS Spitting Image returned to our screens yesterday with this scary Patel puppet

PRITI EVIL

riti Patel’s new low in human compassion is a scheme to forcibly transport asylum seekers who survive a channel crossing to far off islands.

The leaked plan has brought an outcry from charities who slammed it as “morally bankrupt”. Thought to be the brainchild of Rasputin-style advisor Dominic Cummings, the scheme is to ship off men, women and children up to 9,300 miles away to tropical Papua New Guinea where cannibalism, though illegal, is still occasionally practised. Other favourite dumping grounds are the Ascension Islands and St Helena, 4,000 and 5000 miles away in the

middle of the south Atlantic, Moldova, north of Turkey and Morroco, in north west Africa.

A source close to the Home Office said that the prime minister’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, had become “obsessed with the Channel crossings” in the weeks before documents on the implications of the idea were produced in mid-September.

A documents leaked to the Guardian suggests the government has for weeks been working on “detailed plans” that include cost estimates of building asylum detention camps on these far flung places. Patel was born in London to a Ugandan-Indian family. She was

educated at Keele University and the University of Essex. Inspired to get involved in politics by Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, she was initially involved with the Referendum Party before switching allegiance to the Conservatives.

“He’s annoyed that it’s always in the press and he thinks it goes down really badly with the red wall voters, which it does,” the source said. “He wants to deal with it. And he thinks these quite extreme ways would be totally fine with red wall voters, which it probably is.”

Blue blobs show Priti Patel asylum seekers’ dumps

She worked for the publicrelations consultancy firm Weber Shandwick for several years, as part of which she lobbied for the tobacco and alcohol industries. Intending to switch to a political career, she unsuccessfully contested Nottingham North at the 2005 general election. After David Cameron became Conservative leader, he recommended Patel for the party’s “A-List” of prospective candidates. She was first elected MP for Witham, a new seat in Essex, at the 2010 general election, before being re-elected in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Under Cameron’s government, Patel was appointed Minister of State for Employment and served as vice-chair of the Conservative Friends of Israel. She attracted attention for her socially conservative stances.

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‘Plonker’ Rodney’s son dies at 19 The son of Only Fools and Horses star Nicholas Lyndhurst, Archie, has died after a short, undisclosed, illness.

Archie played Ollie Coulton in the CBBC comedy show So Awkward, a sitcom about a group of friends in secondary school, from its first series in 2015, reports the BBC. He began his acting career at the Sylvia Young Theatre School at the age of 10, and in 2013 his father, who appeared alongside his son in a 2019 episode of the programme, said that his son had inherited the “acting gene”. Putin accused of poisoning In his first interview Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has accused President Vladimir Putin of being behind his poisoning with Novichok. “I assert that Putin is behind this act, I don’t see any other explanation,” he alleged in an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel, which has published extracts on its website. Mr Navalny collapsed last month while on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow after a campaign trip to support opposition candidates in local elections. Russian doctors who first treated him said their tests did not find any toxic substances.

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Un-olé row over Madrid lockdown A row has erupted after the Spanish government announced that the entire capital city of Madrid is to be put under a partial lockdown as it steps up measures to fight the coronavirus.

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Madrid’s regional government reacted furiously to the new restrictions that affect mobility and gatherings,

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setting the scene for a political battle which could be dragged into the courts.

“The situation in Madrid is complex and worrying,” Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa told reporters, saying that of 11,016 new cases diagnosed in Spain over the past 24 hours, nearly 44% were in the Madrid region. Brexit’s bitter end The EU will negotiate with the UK “until the bitter end,” the head of the EU parliament David Sassoli has said. The talks have been in turmoil since London introduced new legislation that would breach the withdrawal agreement. The lawmaker also said he felt “sad” about London’s move to undermine the Brexit agreement, insisting it should honor the earlier deals. “Britain has to respect previous deals or we won’t make any progress,” Sassoli said, during a press conference on Thursday. “The EU will negotiate with Britain until the bitter end.” The already-turbulent Brexit saga took a new twist early in September, when

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the UK government unveiled its new Internal Market Bill – admitting the legislation could violate international law in what it said was a “limited” fashion. The legislation caused uproar both in Britain, Europe and America.

Infected MP felt better so took the train An SNP MP has apologised for travelling to London despite experiencing Covid symptoms - and travelling home after getting a positive result. Margaret Ferrier, the MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, said there was “no excuse for my actions”. She said she took a test on Saturday - but travelled to Westminster on Monday because she was feeling “much better”. Ms Ferrier received a positive test result that day, and still took the train back to Scotland. She said in a statement that she deeply regretted her actions and had notified the police. The SNP has not removed the whip from Ms Ferrier, and is waiting for

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The ministry of truth says schools in england must not criticise capitalism

the police to investigate. The leadership spoke to her made clear she had “let herself down”. Even an effective coronavirus vaccine will not return life to normal, a group of leading scientists has warned. A vaccine is often seen as the holy grail that will end the pandemic. But a report from researchers brought together by the Royal Society, said we needed to be “realistic” about what a vaccine could achieve and when. They said restrictions may need to be “gradually relaxed” as it could take up to a year to roll the vaccine out. More than 200 vaccines are being developed by scientists around the world in a process that is taking place at unprecedented speed. “A vaccine offers great hope for potentially ending the pandemic, but we do know that the history of vaccine development is littered with lots of failures,” said Dr Fiona Culley, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London.

Officially it is known as the Department For Education, although for some years professional educators may have seen it as the Department Against Education. It was 1978 when the Report on Political Literacy was published. As a member of the Working Party producing that report I felt optimistic that I would soon be living in a politic\ally literate country: a country in which many of us would participate in the inclusive discussion of and consensual arrival at public values. Who became Prime Minister the following year? Even so Government and Politics was a popular subject in schools. And then we got the National Curriculum. Remember Kenneth Baker? I was present when he was asked why government and politics was excluded. Thinking on his feet he said it would be a ‘theme’. It soon faded. Ofsted were not interested. Today we have as Schools Minister Nick Gibb. He has a lot of years under his belt in that job. He first came to my notice when not only did he seek to exclude feminism from the A-Level Politics syllabus but also drew up a list of great political thinkers. Only one was a woman. No it was not Thatcher. I am happy to have played a small part in the campaign that forced him to change his mind. The Chief Examiner told me that this was not the limit of his attempts to influence

how politics was taught and examined. His general attitude to education might be summed up by a leaked report that suggested he had told officials at the Education Department that he “would rather have a physics graduate from Oxbridge without a PGCE teaching in a school than a physics graduate from one of the rubbish universities with a PGCE». In other words qualified professionals do not seem to impress him. And «rubbish universities»? He also believes that English should be taught by means of synthetic phonics. As a representative of the UK Literacy Association asked, ‘If English is a phonetic language why doesn’t Gove rhyme with Love?’ Gibb was also the brain (?) behind the famous A-Level Algorithm. Nearly had to resign over that. So now criticism of capitalism is forbidden in England. My mate Mandy from Greece where sociology is now banned (not allowed to know how you are controlled) suggested getting round this by teaching empathy. Then I thought of teaching The Sermon On The Mount. Jesus a capitalist? Get out of that one Gibb. I try to be light-hearted but this is deadly serious stuff. George Orwell wrote ‘1984’ just after WWII. In libraries it is classified as ‘fiction’. But is it? Workers Of The World Unite. You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Brains.

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Unforgotten Band

CROSBY STILLS AND NASH

K you haven’t forgotten this band but I’ll wager you’ve forgotten how good they were. Also, I bet you know people who always add ‘and Young’ to the band name. Neil Young was called up for Live gigs because Stephen Stills couldn’t be both a guitarist and piano player at the same time so he needed a musical double. There was actually an album nominally by CSNY called Déjà Vu on which there are a number of tracks on which Young doesn’t play. So for me, and after that until 1988 for them, it’s CSN, what friend and legend Joni Mitchell (friend of both Nash and Neil Young) referred to as the sound of Boys in Love with one another.

Joni wasn’t suggesting anything carnal, she says, but when you hear that blend of voices again, and consider the beautiful writing, I’m sure you’ll feel that lurve for yourself. We know they came from

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different bands, that Englishman Graham Nash left top pop British harmony band The Hollies so that he could record Marrakesh Express, which he had to join CSN in order to do. The singing is excellent though the organ less so. Othe magic contributions from Nash include Teach Your Children Well and Our House, both of which can reduce a listener to tears. And there were many more. David Crosby wrote the fabulous Guinnevere, which I swear makes me think of every

beautiful woman I’ve ever met, and Shadow Captain, which I cannot describe other than as breathtaking. He contributed a good thirty percent to the project. But the star of the show is the guy I once massively underrated, possibly deliberately because I wrongly believed my girlfriend fancied him, the incomparable Stephen Stills. His famous love was Judy Collins, whose compilation album So Early In the Spring we wore out listening to. Stills wrote Suite: Judy Blue Eyes to her, a play on the word

Sweet and about the impending break-up of their complicated (Tuesdays and Saturdays) relationship. He excelled himself with Southern Cross; I feel I’m seeing it for the first time as well as hearing it. I was never really a lyrics man, more of a guitar solo lover. As I matured, songs like those of CSN became more meaningful, and for that alone this band deserves a second airing in this column. Next time perhaps. By Seymour Griffiths

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LEBANON’S VERY EXISTENCE IS NOW IN THE BALANCE

SHOCK WAVES STILL ROCK SOCIETY

AFTER THE BERUIT EXPLOSION

he devastating blast that blew the Lebanese capital, Beirut, to pieces generated a multitude of lethal repercussions across Lebanese society each creating a seismic effects of their own. One repercussion could be seen on a local TV channel which harked back to an event that took place in the same square more than a hundred years ago when Turkish General Jamal Pacha (the Bloodthirsty) hanged 17 Lebanese nationalists in the town square now called Martyrs Square. This year Lebanese citizens, furious at their leaders’ corruption and nepotism, setup a dozen gibbets hanging

mannequins representing leading politicians. calling for accountability after more than 30 years of negligence and dishonesty.

History doesn’t necessarily move forward. Sometimes it does go backward

The difference between fake and real can be easily camouflaged and demarcation lines blurred yet the truth remains lurking in the background. Turkish novelist Elif Shafak once said “history doesn’t necessarily move forward. Sometimes it does go backward.” This illustrates how history has played itself here. The Middle East is constantly boiling with

are still unable to create a real country, a true state.”

events which at times erupt, spilling and ravaging the region and where the people are the eternal victims.

Generation after generation is wasted hoping for HANGED a peaceful MARTYRS ECHOED ending while it gets is IN BERUIT TOWN aall chance to SQUARE catch its breath before plunging once again into the next struggle.. In Lebanon’s case history comes alive in the most perplexing manner. It reincarnates a schizophrenic

patient one moment in the role of a caring mother, the next a vengeance filled murderer. Bemused and baffled, history stands on the threshold of this illfated and doomed country. Lebanon is a puzzle-country of 17 religious denominations. This rich diversity offers an equally splendid human mosaic as well as a treacherous challenge to hold it all together. Prior to the Phoenicians the land was made up of city states. Unfortunately a condition pretty much persisting. An academic historian friend advised me “if you go way back you will realize that we were city states and we

Even when Lebanon gained its independence in 1943 the country was never able to develop a national sense of belonging and foreign powers claimed the upper hand. After the devastating explosion petitions and opinion polls circulated on social platforms calling for a French mandate come back. When president Macron visited a group of Lebanese citizens nostalgically implored him to “reclaim” their country and restore the umbilical cord with “our caring mother” France! The tiny country is meant to celebrate its centenary this month yet the country may well dissolve like a drop of ink in a sea words. By Mariam Labban

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THE PATIENT’S

WHAT IS FOOD?

atient.I is stocking up, not hoarding.

We must act, despite restrictions In light of the ridiculous sixpeople rule that effectively outlaws protest, while our own government continues to dismantle our national health service as we know it, we all need to step up our opposition, and be more creative in doing so. There will be those who will ignore the new guidelines and arrange marches and protests anyway. I can totally understand where they are coming from. However, for those who are nervous about consequences of rulebreaking there are plenty of other options. What is vital is that we DO NOT halt our efforts. After all, the authorities do not stop their destructive plans do they? Pressuring your MP and Councillors is always worthwhile. You can also write to newspapers’ letters

pages, or call in to radio shows. Share information on social media - for example, invite followers to watch the documentary ‘The Great NHS Heist’ (free on YouTube). Arrange a small visual stunt to make your point (with six people or less), take photos or film it, and share that. It is essential that we reach beyond our usual circles, as all will be affected. It is often the case that we know more about these issues than the media or our local politicians do. The government and NHS England are using this pandemic to re-structure our health service to better benefit private interests, and we all need to act NOW to make sure our NHS is there for all of us and future generations. Colin Crilly / SW London NHS campaigner

have been visited by people stocking up “before the hoarders start.” It’s a third world problem for those (ironically many from the real Third World) being fed by foodbanks.

Lockdown has begun again in my part of the country, and toilet rolls are missing from the on-line supermarket app; I consider carefully what I need to OK, for a fortnight, purchase for the week ahead. following an appeal by a local church, I’ve driven a A first-world problem for bag of food to that church me, it is a second or third hall and left it in their world problem for people adjacent yard. who live half a mile away; a second world problem for This does not make me those who make meals for a a good person; the people family when supermarkets running the food bank are

A first-world problem for me, it is almost a second or third world problem for people who live only half a mile away from me

the good people. It merely gives me a new focus. How much food can I get for a tenner? How much can I add without impoverishing myself? The answer to both is, “Quite a lot.” so.

Can I sustain this? I hope

For reasons associated with perishability, all donations are packets and tins. The food bank bakes freshly made loaves. Local greengrocers donate the day before distribution. Other businesses give cash. Food for me is fresh fruit and veg, pasta, rice, bread that I can freeze, and tins I

Dentistry is marginalising NH Finding an NHS dentist in Tiverton has proved to be both a kick in the teeth and the purse. Over the last decade local NHS services have been notably decimated by creeping privatisation, most obviously in my once reliable local dental service. Of the three dental surgeries in my locality, providing care for a population of 19,544 (2011

Census), none will provide dental check-up appointments on request. The waiting time for an initial NHS dental consultation is at least 6 months long with a payment banding system for treatment as confusing as it is costly. In November 2019, I contacted the dental practice where I thought I was registered, only to be informed that I am no

longer a patient and they are not accepting new patients for the foreseeable future. Unless I required emergency treatment, I was advised to wait indefinitely as an NHS patient or find a private practice to have a checkup and any follow up treatment. To put it into perspective, a Band 1 private dental check-up costs up to £65 compared with the NHS flat rate of £22.50. All

local

dental

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EYE Under cover of Covid-19 can store for a few weeks. which I don’t know I’ll I eat only plant based food be able to get once Kent because my hormone- becomes a lorry park early related cancer loves foods next year. Pharmaceutical containing animal companies are always hormones, so no on the look-out for eggs or dairy, plants they can and no meat, extract drugs Disagree with particularly from (I went me if you like. chicken. to University Send me the Disagree with with kids scientific papers. me if you who had I’m working on like. Send me the same the scientific philosophy.) advice from The papers. I’m Science, not working on you. advice from The B r i t i s h Science, not you. ancients knew about Sorry. herbs and ancients abroad knew about spices. When my I’ve also begun buying British-Asian friend tells me small quantities of the to avoid this one, or use that Ayurvedic herbs and spices one, he prefaces his advice

HS patients surgeries now offer a range of private dental treatments with price lists and online bookings available to non NHS patients. Therefore, it seems dental treatment for NHS patients are severely compromised whereas the favouring of a privatised dental service has created an opportunity for dentists to operate as a lucrative corporate enterprise. Nas Tarot / Campaigner from Tiverton, Devon

I’ve begun buying small quantities of the Ayurvedic herbs and spices which I don’t know I’ll be able to get once Kent becomes a lorry park early next year

with centuries-old wisdom. So my cupboards are blessedly pretty full; before the hoarding starts, I try to tell myself.

In June 2020, United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust achieved their objective of closing Grantham Hospital A&E, replacing it with an Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC). The word “temporary” is being used - until March 2021 in the first instance.

As well as closing the A&E, most other departments are now closed, and seemingly overnight some trailers bearing the NHS logo appeared in the car park of a local poultry processing factory!!! These are to be used for outpatient appointments, and the site has been signposted as a Health Clinic! A building on the site is being converted, also for NHS use. The main hospital buildings (apart from the UTC) are being used as a “green” covid-free site for minor surgical procedures and cancer treatments. Security guards are being used to make sure that people do not enter the wrong part of the building, also trying to deter people from walking into the UTC, as an appointment via 111 is the preferred method for keeping attendances down. The hospital buildings have not been properly maintained for many years so the townspeople are worried that

they will be demolished to make way for housebuilding - in fact, a prominent local councillor stated last year that the hospital site is in a good position for more housing. This councillor also claims to be campaigning for the return of A&E at the current hospital site!! Patients are being told to be grateful that services are available locally and that they don’t have to travel miles for appointments (but many do). However, campaigners feel that this may be the end of the road for Grantham Hospital, and that the new housing is imminent. Nicky Griffiths / Lincolnshire NHS campaigner

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FEARS THE FRACTURED COUNTRY FACES GENOCIDAL VIOLENCE

NIGERIA AT 60 IS A FAILED STATE DEVASTATED BY CORRUPTION

hy would take a whole book not a brief article. The blame currently lies with the Head of State and the Federal Government and the army and security services.

This Thursday marked Nigeria's 60th birthday as an independent country. Yet with a population of more than 200 million and incredible natural resources it is a failed state

However the source of its troubles go back to the British creating a new country out of a land with several hundred tribes and languages by drawing a line on a map.

An even more frightening development is the increasing number of Isis fighters and other terrorists coming through Nigeria’s porous northern border. I understand this has being encouraged by Turkey over recent times. There is now friction with Egypt, which many terrorists travel through.

After the horrors of the Biafran Civil War the country had a period of military rule, which stabilised the country and then moved to a democratically elected government. However the corruption now in Government and almost all walks of life has left a divided nation.

There has also been a violent crackdown by the state on largely peaceful protests by Biafran separatists seeking their ‘Right to self-determination’ under Article 20 of the African Charter. However the current President, Muhammadu Buhari (a Fulani), has allowed Fulani cattle herders to take their animals across huge swathes of farm land. Any resistance by locals has resulted in countless killings by the heavily armed herdsmen. The Federal Government takes no action, many would say it is using the Fulanis as an armed militia to subdue Christian communities in the Middle Belt and now deep into more Southern states.

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Whilst millions live in abject poverty, vast wealth lies in the Also one could view hands of a few. Throw SHIA MUSLIMS Buhari’s poor record of into the mix religious MASSACRED eliminating the threat differences which BY TROOPS of Boko Haram #2 in have resulted in more Christians being killed in the the country is a ploy for greater country than the whole of the Islamification of the country. Middle East over the last decade. They now have control of parts of There was even a massacre of northern Nigeria and claim it to more than 350 Shia Muslims be part of the Islamic Caliphate. in the northern city of Zaria Over 100 of the mainly Christian in December 2015 by Federal Chibok schoolgirls abducted in 2014 have not been returned to troops. #1

Nigeria is now engaged in an economic row with Ghana with wrong on both sides

their families despite Buhari’s pledge on gaining power.

Most of the top posts both in Government and the army are held by Hausas or Fulanis. Although there are other ethnic groups represented in Government many do not raise these concerns, either through fear or bribery. However protests from Muslim and Christian religious leaders, often say the same thing, that poverty and corruption are the twin evils in the country. One Muslim respected voice of reason

Boko Haram

which passes through Benin, a breach of ECOWAS rules (Economic Community of West African States)

was silenced recently, namely I have spent three years writing the former Emir of Kano Sanusi to my MP, then Shadow Foreign who was dethroned in March Secretary and now the current this year. Little wonder when one, to get our Government to he articulated such views as the exert some political pressure following: He called for an end on the Nigerian state to unite to child marriage, women the country rather than empowerment, let it become another building more Rwanda but worse. While most schools instead of mosques, and The House of of its population infrastructural Lords debated live in abject development. the issue of poverty, vast Sanusi also violence in wealth lies in the called for Nigeria two years population ago warning hands of planning, and said of impending a few that polygamy is genocide. More increasing poverty in recently 20 of the House the region. of Lords have sent a plea to. The country is now engaged in an economic row with Ghana with wrong on both sides. Ghana has been clamping down on largely Igbo traders they claim are not all acting lawfully and Nigeria has closed Western highway linking the countries

Baroness Scotland, Secretary General to the Commonwealth highlighting concerns over escalating violence in Nigeria. The letter quotes highly respected former Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Danjuma, who says the armed forces are ‘not neutral..... they collude in the ethnic cleansing.... by Fulani herdsmen’. I call on all Nigerians in diaspora to speak out. Altering the slogan of the Black Lives Movement, ‘White Silence is Violence’ to ‘Nigerians’ Silence Equals Violence’.

Sharia Law at the extreme in Northern Nigeria Reports came out recently of obscenely harsh penalties for blasphemy in Kano State, Nigeria. In August 22 year old musician, Olufemi Hakeem Gbabjabiamila was sentenced to death for words in a song put on Whats Ap. To support Amnesty International’s appeal google Amnesty Urgent Actions and scroll down to Olufemi. More recently a 13 year old boy sentenced to 10 years prison, also

for blasphemy. The director of the Auschwitz Memorial in Poland, Dr Piotr Cywinski has offered to serve part of the sentence along with 119 other volunteers which would cover the prison term. He asked Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to pardon the boy. UNICEF representative in Kano stated that “this is a violation of the African Charter of the Rights And Welfare of a Child. A violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

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ON THIS DAY

OPERATION HURRICANE, BRITAIN’S FIRST ATOMIC TEST

1st. October. Events 1946 – Nazi leaders are sentenced at Nuremberg trials. 1960 – Nigeria gains independence from the United Kingdom. Deaths. 2007 - Alfred Oerter, Jr. (b.September 19, 1936) was an American athlete and a fourtime Olympic Champion in the discus throw. He was the first athlete to win a gold medal in the same event in four consecutive Olympic Games. Holidays and Observances. International Day of Older Persons 2nd. October.

Events 1925 – John Logie Baird performs the first test of a working television system. Deaths. 1985 – Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925) Holidays and Observances. International Day of NonViolence is observed on this day, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. 3rd. October. Events 1952 – The United Kingdom successfully tests a nuclear weapon to become the world’s third nuclear power. 1981 – The hunger strike by Provisional Irish Republican Army and Irish National

Liberation Army prisoners at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland ends after seven months and ten deaths. 1990 – German reunification: The German Democratic Republic ceases to exist and its territory becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany. East German citizens became part of the European Community, which later became the European Union . Now celebrated as German Unity Day. Deaths. 1896 – William Morris, English poet (b. 1834). He was also a textile designer, novelist, translator, and socialist activist. 1967 – Malcolm Sargent, English organist, composer, and conductor (b. 1895) 2005 – Ronnie Barker, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1929) 4th. October. Events 1535 – The first complete English-language Bible is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale. 1895 – The first U.S. Open

Men’s Golf Championship is played at the Newport Country Club, Rhode Island. 2006 – Wikileaks is launched by Julian Assange. Deaths. 1669 – Rembrandt, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1606) 1890 – Catherine Booth, English theologian and saint, cofounded The Salvation Army (b. 1829) 1970 - Janis Lyn Joplin (b.January 19, 1943) was an American rock singer and songwriter. She was one of the biggest female rock stars of her era. 2010 – Norman Wisdom, English actor, comedian, and singer-songwriter (b. 1915) 5th. October. Events 1789 – French Revolution: Women of Paris march to Versailles in the March on Versailles to confront Louis XVI of France about his refusal to promulgate the decrees on the abolition of feudalism, demand bread, and have the King and his court moved to Paris.

1936 – The Jarrow March sets off for London. 1986 – Israeli secret nuclear weapons are revealed. The British newspaper The Sunday Times runs Mordechai Vanunu’s story on its front page under the headline: “Revealed — the secrets of Israel’s nuclear arsenal”. Holidays and Observances. World Teachers’ Day 6th. October. Deaths. 1536 – William Tyndale, English Protestant Bible translator (b. c. 1494) 1892 – Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English poet (b. 1809) 1989 – Bette Davis, American actress (b. 1908) 7th. October. Events 1959 – U.S.S.R. probe Luna 3 transmits the first ever photographs of the far side of the Moon. Deaths. 1849 – Edgar Allan Poe, American short story witer, poet, and critic (b. 1809) 1959 – Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor (b. 1921)

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BIZARRE NEWS Snap That A woman has fallen out of a moving car on the M25 while filming a Snapchat video. Surrey Police say the woman was leaning out of the car window when she fell into a “live lane” between junction six and the Clacket Lane services at 1.30am on Saturday. Although she was not badly hurt, officers said she was lucky not to be “seriously injured or killed”. Police Find Gun In Backside. A man has pleaded guilty to weapons charges after police in the town of Golden Meadow, Louisiana, discovered he had stashed a loaded pistol in his buttocks. Justin Savoie, 24, was sentenced to a five-year suspended prison sentence during a District Court appearance. He received three years probation and an order to serve 90 days in jail. ‘Karen’ Set For Halloween This Halloween you can dress up as a “Karen”. An Etsy seller is offering Karen masks, perfect for any reveller who wants to demand to speak to Halloween’s manager. “Karen” has become the name commonly given to an unreasonably demanding woman considered to be privileged or entitled, or someone who is forever demanding to speak to the manager in stores. The Walk Of Life Sets of 120,000-year-old human footprints have been discovered in Saudi Arabia. Researchers believe that the set of seven human footprints, found around an ancient dry lake in the northern region of Tabuk, belong to at least two people. They also think they belong to modern humans, rather than Neanderthals, who aren’t known to have been in the region at the time. Old TV An engineer

has

solved

the mystery of why an entire Welsh village lost its broadband signal at 7am every day for 18 months: an elderly resident’s old TV set. Michael Jones said he detected “a large burst of electrical interference” at 7am in Aberhosan and traced it to an elderly local’s old television set. Mail Me A park in Thailand has found a novel way of discouraging litter. If you’re caught dropping rubbish, workers in the Khao Yai National Park near Bangkok will pack it up into a box and post it to your home address. The mailed litter will arrive complete with note telling the offender: “You forgot these things at Khao Yai National Park.” Oral Hygiene A toothbrush has been removed from a man’s stomach after he swallowed it while brushing his teeth. The 39-yearold man in India was rushed to hospital following the accidental swallowing. A 30-minute surgery session was needed to remove the bloodied 19cm toothbrush, however, doctors say the man had an “uneventful recovery”.

Flaming Manure In Suffolk Firefighters from three Suffolk towns spent three hours extinguishing the flames from a blaze that was started by a 22-ton pile of chicken manure. Crews from Leiston, Eye and Stowmarket responded to a property near Mendlesham, where the foul-smelling fowl droppings erupted in flames. Chemicals in poultry manure can spontaneously combust when a heap becomes too large to allow heat to escape.

Tricky Dicky Nutty Hoarder A man in Illinois has kept a sandwich that the then-vice President Richard Nixon half ate in September 1960. Steve Jenne, then a teen, grabbed the sandwich when Nixon visited his hometown. “I looked around and thought, ‘If no one else was going to take it, I am going to take it’”, he said. Jenne has since written a book about the sandwich and

Mmmmm Jellyfish And Chips Jellyfish could replace old favourites the menu at fish and chip shops, according to academics from the University of Queensland in Australia. The researchers investigated fishing records across the world, and found that cod and other traditional options could be “critically endangered”. They added: “Jellyfish could replace fish and chips on a new sustainable takeaway menu to help keep threatened species off the plate.”

been interviewed about it on The Tonight Show.

Be Your Own Trolly Dolly Bruce! An Australian airline is giving aviation fans the chance to own a fully stocked bar cart. Qantas said the 1,000 carts, which were removed from 747s before they were flown to California for their retirement, are stocked with the sort of

goodies sold in the air, including champagne, Australian wines, Tim Tam cookies, pyjamas and Qantas First Class Sheridan throw pillows. Prime Real Estate Three railroad workers have been suspended after they transformed a storage room under New York’s Grand Central Terminal into an unauthorised “man cave” with a television, refrigerator, microwave and futon couch. A Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman said that while “many a New Yorker has fantasized about kicking back with a cold beer in a prime piece of Manhattan real estate… few would have the chutzpah to commandeer a secret room beneath Grand Central Terminal”. Pot Plant Brain Mush A gardener has died as a result of an infection caught from his pot plant which turned his brain into liquid. The 82-year-old man felt weak for two weeks before he was admitted to hospital as the deadly bug took over his brain. Medics say it was caused by free-living amoebas that are commonly found in soil. Previously, a man in Ireland almost died from a flesh-eating bug he caught from a cut on his big toe. Aliens might live in lakes on the moon Experts say alien life might be present in lakes on Mars and the moon and humans should start drilling to find it. Astrophysists at Harvard and the Florida Institute of Technology say the Moon and Mars “lack an atmosphere that would allow liquid water to exist on their surfaces, but the warmer and pressurised regions under the surface could allow the chemistry of life in liquid water”. Singles Best A study has found there are many advantages to being single. Singletons are more likely

to regularly stay in touch with, provide help to, and receive help from parents, siblings, neighbours and friends than those who are married, according to the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. A tourist in Thailand faces up to two years in prison after posting negative reviews of a hotel on Tripadvisor. The Sea View Resort claims that Wesley Barnes, an American who was visiting the Southeast Asian country, wrote a string of damning reviews. The hotel has responded with legal action, a serious move as there are sentences of up to two years imprisonment for those convicted of “defamation by publication”.

Dirty Polly A group of parrots have been removed from a UK wildlife park after they started swearing at customers. The five African grey parrots, adopted by Lincolnshire Wildlife Park last month, taught each other a string of obscenities that amused staff, but caused an issue when they began hurling obscenities at guests. Greggs Bottie A sausage roll lover has missed Greggs bakery so much during the Covid-19 pandemic she has got the chain’s logo tattooed on her bottom. Caitlin Jones, 20, from Paisley, Scotland, said: “I’m obsessed with Greggs and I’ve always loved their sausage rolls. I decided when the tattoo parlours re-opened that I was going to get something to share my love for them.”

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‘MAGGIE’S ASTRIDE, THE NIGHT FOR TO RIDE; THE DEVIL AND SHE TOGETHER’

Hello from Hell readers. Being an ethereal, demonic being has its hidden benefits sometimes, I especially like tormenting the living in the form of dreams and nightmares. This week I’ve been plaguing the night-time imaginings of Boris Johnson, but as in life he is in a perpetual state of denial. He just keeps shouting “The Power Of Christ Compels You!!” as if it’s some kind of magic catchphrase. Even when I rotate my head and spew green vomit he just stands there shouting “Stay Alert, Control The Virus, Save Lives”. I suppose he developed some kind of coping strategy for nocturnal torment while boarding at Eton, with all the Tank top wearing, predatory, ‘Uranian Fiddlers’. Let’s hope so...........Now to turn to this weeks letters letters...... Dearest Devil Woman Being from immigrant stock myself I know how difficult it is for new arrivals to fit in so

your advice on how to deal with boat people is badly needed. Should we send them to a deserted island to starve to death or simply machine gun them as they come ashore? Yours, P Patel Well there are two ways to treat poor immigrants; One is to exploit them financially, paying them way below the market rate for their labour, whilst housing them in Stalinist style Gulags, this is especially popular in the Orchards of Kent; Another method is to demonise them, that way the Proles you are screwing over will hate them and not you, this is what dear Uncle Adolf did. So there you have it, between Stalinist Soviet policy and Nazi Holocaust, the world is your oyster. And remember if you are wealthy you are a Multi-cultural Émigré who enriches society, if you are poor you are literally begging to be exploited. Dear Maggie I was waiting at the bus stop

and asked the man next to me when the next bus was due. I have now been suspended from the Labour party for antiSemitism. What did I do wrong? Sincerely, J Corbyn Oh my days! I can’t believe a rancid Trot such as you would ever ask my advice, especially on the topic of racism. Outrageous, but I’ve checked the small print of my diabolical contract and I do, in fact have to answer your concerns in the Marxist rag ‘The Word’. F.F.S. as the kids say........Not Happy. So here we go. I saw that you remained in the party as a Hard-left Trot in the Labour Party in Kinnocks time, all the way through the marvellous Tony Blair and Gordon Brown years and in the Ed Miliband era. At no point in all that time did anyone accuse you of antiSemitism. Only two years into your leadership did it suddenly become an ‘issue’. As the darling forensic Steer Klear Starmer is now supporting the Tories you may as well accept

you are being purged for your Socialism. Oh and make sure you only have dinner with 5 other people in future you colossal, vegetarianist, rabblerousing Pleb. Sod you. Sod you very much.

give sound bites. Just say some pre-prepared stock phrases and it’s job done. I would have thought the prospect of rude, ignorant fat men shouting was very familiar ground in your neck of the woods.

Madame Mags I was having a little chat about politics with some friends when a really rude fat man with funny hair started to shout at me. He kept interrupting and was really horrible. I tried to tell him that I was a vulnerable adult but he would not stop. Now I have been told that it was filmed and will be used on a television reality show. Yours, J Biden O.M.F.G...Another bleating Libtard Snowflake expecting the World to give them an easy ride. Well suck it up sunshine. Now these TV confrontations just polarise supporters who were either for you or against you in the first place. Everyone else doesn’t bother to watch and will just trust the media to

Dear Maggie When the first infection took us King Richard told us that “peasants you shall remain.” So we stopped revolting and obeyed lockdown. Is it safe to come out yet? W Tyler Christ on a Stick, yet another uppity Pleb bitching on about the ruling class. What sort of name is Wat,, What???? Plagues are inevitably imported from the filthy heathens abroad and are an act of a vengeful God. Simply prey for salvation. As King Richard says “Stayeth Thee Alert, Controleth The Pestilence, Stay Thee Alive Until Your 40’s”. Failing all that blame some band of immigrants and chuck a few down a medieval well or something.

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PUTIN’S AVANGARD MISSILE

ussia’s new Avangard hypersonic armed glider would take about 25 seconds to get from Birmingham to London-that’s about 20,000 miles an hour.

The western world has admitted that there are currently no defences against it. What makes it different from standard ICBM’s (Inter-continental Ballistic Missile) which drop down under gravity from nearspace, is that the Avangard is manoeuvrable. Avangard is launched by a missile which releases the glider in space.

Tearing up Nuclear Treaties The manoeuvrability of the Avangard makes it an unstoppable missile and it has effectively outdated all modern missile systems. It was developed by Russia when the US ramped up the cold war and withdrew from the 2002 antiballistic missile treaty.

In response Russia began working hard on entirely new strategic weapons, such as the Avangard, Peresvet Laser system, Kinnzhal hypersonic air missile, Poseidon unmanned underwater nuclear missile, Burevestnik nuclear-powered

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missile with unlimited range, and others such as the Zircon hypersonic naval missile.

The problem of Ionisation The designers of the Avangard missile were faced with a major problem – how to make the missile manoeuvrable at temperatures of thousands of degrees from air friction. The problem is that at that temperature the air molecules break up into electrically charged particles – they become ionised, and the electrical field they generate stops transmissions from directional satellites and impedes observation of incoming anti-missiles and terrestrial obstacles such as mountains. Well, they ain’t telling us how they solved it. The Avangard hypersonic glide-vehicle was demonstrated

to the US inspection group in accordance with the new START treaty procedures on November 24–26, 2019. On 27 December 2019, the first missile regiment armed with the Avangard HGV officially entered combat duty. Vladimir Putin has stated that

he expects the system to be challenged within a few years, but that they, the Russians, are already working on potential solutions. As Russian missile research is state-controlled they are able to outmatch the financial efficiency of the US’s own private-backed missile industry.

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HOPE AND GOOD NEWS Diversity in Booker prize shortlist Good news this week from the world of book publishing, as the shortlist for this year’s prestigious Booker prize was announced. The list was, according to last year’s co-winner Bernadine Evaristo, “groundbreaking” and hailed as the most diverse Booker shortlist to date. The six authors shortlisted – Diane Cook, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Avni Doshi, Maaza Mengiste, Douglas Stuart and Brandon Taylor – include four women, and four writers of colour. Denmark: Reducing the Waste of Surplus Food Every day huge amounts of food are thrown away by supermarkets offload produce that has passed its best-before date. Restaurants, cafés and

bakeries dispose of uneaten meals and food for similar reasons. Now an app called Too Good to Go is reducing this waste. Devised in Copenhagen, the app offers users in 14 European countries access to unsold, safe-to-eat produce from participating suppliers. The food is heavily discounted at about a third of the regular price. Launched in 2016, Too Good To Go has now been downloaded by 22 million people in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Italy, Poland, Portugal and the U.K. Users can see which outlets in their neighbourhood have surplus food available that day, which they can then pick up at closing time.

The app helps households on restricted budgets, providing an estimated 100,000 meals a day, and also plays a part in mitigating climate change. Food waste contributes to eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. [Source: CNET, The Grocer] Portugal: Portugal Teaches World How to Deal With Drugs Portugal has successfully reduced overdose deaths by more than 90% since 1999 as a result of a radical shift in its drugs policy. The country had a serious addiction problem in the 1990s, but then decided to decriminalize all drugs. Rather than being arrested and possibly jailed, those caught with no more than a ten-day supply instead

received a warning, small fine or were told to report to an official about treatment. Under Portugal’s drugs czar João Goulão, needle exchange programs and easy referral to treatment were stepped up. “The policy is to treat each individual differently,” says Goulão. “People are considered as a sick person and they must access treatment with the same dignity as people who suffer from other diseases.” The figures are startling. In 1999, Portugal had 369 overdose deaths; in 2016 there were just 30. New HIV cases from infected needles dropped from 907 in 2000 to 18 in 2017. [Source: Statista, The Guardian] Europe and Coal Austria and Sweden have

become the latest European countries to ditch coal-based energy; they join Belgium, which was first to go coal-free in 2016. Portugal will also wave goodbye to coal next year, two years ahead of schedule. Other European nations are striding towards a fossil-free future. The U.K. hit a milestone during the COVID-19 lockdown by going two months without coal-based power for the first time since it kickstarted the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Along with France, Slovakia, Ireland and Italy, the U.K. expects to eliminate coal within five years. The Netherlands, Finland, Hungary and Denmark are all planning to end coal-fired power by 2030. [Source: Fast Company, Bloomberg, The Independent

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NOT SO MUCH A PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE AS A BRAWL

‘Sleepy Joe and the Clown’, toe to toe, no insult barred

66% VOTED BIDEN THE WINNER

uesday’s debate between US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, exVice President Joe Biden, descended into chaos so acrimonious it generated global headlines.

member of Fox News’s reporting team, not the channel’s more infamous hard-right opinion line-up, and he surprised many viewers by questioning the candidates about climate change, a topic ignored in every debate since 2008.

Trump’s continual interruptions of Biden dominated the 90 minute debate, led Biden to tell the president to “Shut up,” in a sequence of brutal exchanges including claims by Trump that Biden planned to introduce “radical socialism” and Biden declaring Trump a racist and a “clown.”

However, his inability to stop Trump’s continual interruptions of Biden, or indeed, Wallace himself, has come under severe criticism by Democrats and Republicans. His decision not to correct inaccuracies made by both candidates has been panned.

MINUTES OF CONTINUAL INTERRUPTIONS BY TRUMP

The moderator, Chris Wallace, normally appears as a

Trump’s call to the Proud Boys - a right-wing extremist militia group - to “stand by,”

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and lukewarm condemnation of white supremacists caused outrage even within his own party. Concerns over Biden’s mental acuity and possible senility circulated after his performances during the Democratic primaries, leading Trump to nickname him ‘Sleepy Joe.’ Although he seemed to struggle answering Wallace’s initial questions, he responded vigorously to Trump’s barrage of attacks. Many young viewers saw the debate as demoralising and proof of the decrepitude of American politics. Young progressives especially condemned Biden’s attacks on the Green New Deal, a progressive environmental platform seeking to dramatically reduce US carbon emissions and introduce universal health care, and his disavowal of Bernie Sanders and the “radical left,” including antifa - anti-fascist activists deemed by Trump and Republicans as terrorists.

Trump also sought to cast doubt over the validity of the election results and the voting system, refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power under all circumstances assuming he loses.

Trump’s lukewarm condemnation of white supremacists caused outrage even within his own party

Two-thirds of viewers judged Biden victorious, according to immediate post-debate polls. However, although viewers and pundits saw Trump’s debating style as bullying and vulgar, his campaign has reckoned that it might appeal to many working-class and rural Americans in swing states.

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JACKIE WALKER

t’s the Labour party conference of 2018. The Jewish led, left wing group, Jewish Voice for Labour,have organised a showing of the film WitchHunt.

The film, which traces the development of the McCarthyite witch hunt of the left of the Labour party with a focus on my case, was made, produced and promoted by a mostly Jewish team with support from a number of well-known Jewish activists such as Noam Chomsky and Moshe Machover. Though the film had been made on a shoe string budget, it had already been seen by tens of thousands. The high profile nature of my case, and the level of public interest (support and hate) generated by the controversy, the inaccurate reports, the rabid outbursts of a small group of media promoted, anti-Corbyn MPs, ensured the show was an easy sell-out. I had decided to miss

conference that year. Given the level of threat against me, including from high profile Labour members such as the (then) precociously promoted Director of the Jewish Labour Movement Ella Rose, fresh from a post working at the Israeli embassy, the bomb threat which closed the meeting, was not altogether a surprise.

of national interest. Not one Labour spokesperson made a comment. It was as if a decision had been made to maintain a silence on a story which would contradict the preferred narrative – that all Jews believed the Labour Party was riven with antisemitism and that threats of violence were almost exclusively from the Left.

What was striking was although news editors were contacted, not one national newspaper, TV or radio station, decided the story was

It’s February 2019. Chris Williamson, the independently minded left wing MP, had already ruffled feathers of so called moderates in Westminster by his support for Corbyn and calls for greater Party democracy, books a room for, yes you guessed it, the film WitchHunt to be shown in a room in Westminster.

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He was immediately disciplined and the film was not shown. The response of

the Socialist Group of MPs, the people who might have been expected to act in solidarity? Not like lions, not even like lambs – there was silence. Fast forward to the actions of XR this week, closing off the day’s transport deliveries of the right wing, gutter, Murdoch-dominated press. The response? Kier Starmer joined with the Tories saying, ‘The free press is the cornerstone of

democracy and we must do all we can to protect it. Denying people the chance to read what they choose is wrong”. It appears that for Sir Kier, as for the rest of the Establishment, a free media should be defended, but only when it promotes the agenda of the few. If you want to watch WitchHunt go to witchhuntfilm. org

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WOMEN WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE EVELYN DOVE

velyn was born in London on 11 January 1902 , the daughter of Francis Dove, a barrister from Sierra Leone, and his British wife, Augusta. Evelyn studied singing, piano, and elocution at the Royal Academy of Music. Despite her powerful contralto voice, Dove struggled to break into the classical music scene as a woman of mixed race, ibut the worlds of jazz and cabaret were more welcoming.

A pioneer and a trailblazer, Evelyn Dove left a mark in the arts industry. She was the first black female singer on BBC Radio and the first black British female singer to work in America, a quarter of a century before Shirley Bassey. In a career lasting five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s, Evelyn Dove embraced the worlds of jazz, musical

theatre and cabaret. Refusing to be constrained by her race or middle-class West African and English backgrounds, she thrilled audiences around the world wherever she performed and scandalized her family by appearing on stage semi-naked. Her mesmerising movie star looks and grace captivated those in her presence, yet her extraordinary career was one of many highs and lows. In the early 1920s the all-Black jazz revues that were popular in America were being recreated in Europe. She became a member of the Southern Syncopated Orchestra (SSO). This group was

made up of British West Indian and West African musicians and played a key role in making black music popular in Britain. The orchestra was successful enough to be invited to perform at Buckingham Palace. Soon after, she went to Russia, playing in Leningrad and Moscow, where the audience included Joseph Stalin. After replacing Josephine Baker as the star attraction in a revue at the Casino de Paris, Dove travelled to New York in 1936 to appear in cabaret at the famous nightclub, Connie’s Inn. This rivalled the Cotton Club as a showcase for top Black talent in America.

In 1937 she performed in the Harbour Bar, Bombay. The review of her opening night appeared in the Evening News of India saying ‘She is an artist of international reputation, one of the leading personalities of Europe’s entertainment world. She is described as the closest rival of the great Josephine Baker herself. Evelyn didn’t get just the big hand. She got an ovation, a roaring welcome.’ Dove’s greatest professional success was her work with the BBC. From 1939 to 1949 she took part in broadcasts of many popular music and variety programs, including Rhapsody in Black (1940) with Elisabeth Welch. She also made over fifty broadcasts with the Trinidadian folk-singer Edric Connor in Serenade in Sepia (1945 - 1947). This series was so popular with listeners that the BBC produced a television version, with Dove and Connor, at the studios at Alexandra Palace.

Leaving the BBC to work in cabaret in India, Paris, and Spain, Dove found it difficult to find employment when she returned to London. Despite her experience and talent. In 1951 she was the understudy for Muriel Smith in the role of Bloody Mary in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, South Pacific, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Then, in 1955, short of money and desperate for work, Dove applied for a job as a Post Office telephone operator, asking the BBC for a reference. In 1956 the BBC cast her as Eartha Kitt’s mother in a television drama called Mrs. Patterson. More television work followed and she returned to the West End musical stage as one of the stars of Langston Hughes’s Simply Heavenly.In 1972 Dove was admitted to a nursing home in Epsom, Surrey, dying of pneumonia in 1987.

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THE ‘BIG PICTURE’ NEED TO UNDERST Chinese SMART cities

Just do as you’re told – the State always knows best!

Our collective ignorance and apathy is allowing the impossible to happen! A future is building that even Adolph Hitler couldn’t imagine!

Is the vision of Boris Johnson worse than the third Reich?

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ere’s the situation we all find ourselves in. The world is currently being ‘locked down’ by criminal megalomaniacs and psychopaths. A pandemic, or more accurately a completely fake ‘plandemic’, has been deliberately unleashed to ensure that the global economy is utterly trashed… and this, regrettably, is just the beginning as the human race now hurtles down the road towards outright fascism! In the UK, what we are all witnessing is the massive power grab of our essential and ancient freedoms by the State. Our own government, along with the so-called opposition, are both carrying out the demands of the corporate megalomaniacs and psychopaths who

Are you ready for the Great Reset?

meet annually at Davos in Switzerland under their broad title of the World Economic Forum. Unknown to nearly all of us, they are preparing for their global ‘Great Reset’. These ‘deep state’ globalists have hoodwinked and paralysed the world into a state of complete fear. Using their controlled mainstream and social media, they are now unleashing their utterly bogus ‘Green New Deal’ which, in turn, is an integral part of their all-encompassing, but very little known, UN Agenda 2030. By using a completely fake green and bad science narrative, humanity has been wholly deceived and is now heading blindly towards the grim future of a technocracy – an authoritarian society where invasive and controlling technologies are used by the 1% to keep the rest of us ‘locked down’. And you only have to look

at the actions of the police in Trafalgar Square to see this global fascist agenda in action. When the deep state-funded and completely contrived ‘change’ movements of Extinction Rebellion (CO2 is actually the Gas of Life!) and Black Lives Matter (ALL lives matter!) ignore ‘social distancing’ and create chaos on the streets, the police are ordered to adopt a benign and broadly supportive and friendly demeanour. But when ordinary people peacefully turn up to question the official Covid-19 narrative, the ‘political’ police move in with their batons, coshing and pushing people over to restore ‘social distancing’. If this had happened in Tiananmen

An Orwellian future for all of us is almost here…

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WE ALL TAND

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A sad day for democracy! My name is Michelle Young. I was at the rally in Trafalgar Square on the 26th of September with some friends of mine who were speaking from the platform. Everything was peaceful and good humoured as you would expect from people dedicated to exposing the truth about what’s really happening to all of us. Dr Heiko Shõning (who heads up more than 500 doctors in Germany started to give his speech - when suddenly columns of baton-wielding riot police advanced through the completely peaceful crowd in an attempt to encircle the speakers’ platform whilst at the same time seizing the sound equipment thus bringing to an immediate end the good doctor’s speech. I have never witnessed anything so barbaric before as innocent men, women and

children were being pushed and violently shoved aside by these police thugs…and that is the only word I can use to do justice to what I witnessed. The days of ‘Dixon of Dock Green’ and having wise coppers embedded in a local community to keep the peace would appear to be long gone. These were just programmed thugs in uniform who were enjoying their ‘work’ using their batons on completely peaceful people – some of whom attempted to sit down to peacefully show their resistance to this open act of tyranny. I also saw one man with blood on his face having been coshed. Now, I have no actual evidence of this, but my guess is that the orders for this violent intrusion upon a completely peaceful gathering of people must have come from the top at New Scotland Yard. And the terrible irony is that the organisers of the demonstration had started

the day’s proceedings by asking the crowd to silently pay their respects to the murdered police sergeant – something they did willingly with great dignity. Later in the day, I learnt that the good doctor Schoning was arrested when he attempted to continue his speech at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, the nation’s cornerstone of free speech. He was kept in custody for over twenty-four hours – his ‘crime’ being to attempt to tell people the real truth about this ‘virus’. Our nation is now experiencing a complete lock-down of our ancient rights and freedoms. We are meant to be living in a free democracy. Please, all of you reading this, we must now peacefully stand up against this onrush of fascism. We must openly refuse to have our hardwon liberties and freedoms taken away from us. We are the 99%! We are the people!

TRAFALGAR SQUARE & SPEAKERS’ CORNER—26TH SEPTEMBER 2020

Save Our Rights UK Protest Eight of us from the West Sussex Freedom Community arrived in Trafalgar Square as event organiser Vincent Dunmall (with tongue in cheek) exhorted the assembled crowd to ‘observe social distancing’. Gareth Icke spoke next , followed an impassioned speech from the tireless Simone Marshall of Earth United and Event 202. We also heard from indefatigable freedom warrior Piers Corbyn. Square, our politicians would have been outraged! Ironically, of course, it is the new and modern cities in Communist China that are actually the blueprint for our future. These are the cities where the appallingly harmful and invasive new technology of 5G (the internet of things) is being rolled out so that the State can monitor in detail every one of its citizens, whether out on the streets, in the workplace or in the home. If you think ‘contact tracing’ is bad, you’ve seen nothing yet! Over the next ten years, our lives will be changed beyond all recognition as Agenda 2030 gets underway. People will be relocated into these Orwellian SMART ‘sustainable’ cities/ living zones. You will see a

completely cashless society where the criminal banks totally control your money digitally. You will see traditional farming practices and family-run farms go to the wall with the ‘wilding’ of large tracts of productive land. And, if you are a rebellious and awkward ‘free spirit’ who values your own sovereignty above all else, you will not be allowed to travel nor receive any form of proper sustenance and financial support from the State - all courtesy of a rolledout social crediting system similar to the one used in China today.

Sandi Adams gave us her detailed insights into UN Agenda 21 / 2030. David Icke offered profound insights into the fundamental nature of human existence and experience. Some kind of commotion had been building to the right of the speakers’ area in front of the National Gallery—it seemed to involve large numbers of police but we couldn’t see exactly what was going on. German doctor Heiko Schöning spoke for but a short while before his microphone went dead—I learned later that the police had swooped in and seized the PA equipment.

We have all been warned – if, however, you still believe that this is all just one big ‘conspiracy theory’, have a look at the evidence here. By Justin Walker

The event organisers gesticulated for us to sit down, which most of us did, followed by further gestures to stand up again then once more to sit down. When it became clear

that the event had been shut down, many protestors left the Square and made their way by various routes to Hyde Park. Police were in their hundreds everywhere, with dozens of personnel carriers hurtling around with sirens blaring. Our own squad of protestors distributed COVID-19 leaflets on our way to Speakers’ Corner, arriving in time to hear Dr Heiko Schöning speaking but as we listened, we noticed a large number of police assembling not far away. It wasn’t long before a phalanx of them interposed itself to form an impenetrable corridor from the stage to the road, through which Dr Schöning was taken away, under arrest and in handcuffs (as I subsequently learned), to an uproar of “LET THEM SPEAK” and “SHAME ON YOU!”

I told a police officer that protestors were outraged that the police had violated our fundamental human rights to freedom of assembly and free speech by arresting a speaker at Speakers’ Corner—an area expressly set aside by Act of Parliament for that very purpose! He clearly didn’t understand the enormity of their acts, which he saw solely as “shutting down an organised event that had violated COVID-19 restrictions”. So, I told him that he and his colleagues would be faced with hard choices as the unfolding totalitarian dictatorship required them to take ever harsher actions against law abiding citizens standing against tyranny. Yes, the police will indeed have to choose their side. By Adrian Price

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MARRIAGES OF CONVENIENCE OR INCONVENIENCE?

he 1975 Family Provision Act and 1984 Inheritance Act were brought in to protect families from losing their entitlement upon the death of a family member, say someone with a terminal illness or not able to make a decision to have their wishes protected. Even though they may made a valid will leaving the estate to their children, dogs, cats and so forth. However many families have found out a loophole that is being exploited. Solicitors know this as well as the law bar who wrote the law. Funny isn’t it that that these legal people charge excessive fees to represent you in a court of law and in what seems a swindle offer an appeal process. However it would seem that you never win, and cannot win as it is seen as going against their mates. Unless you have sufficient funds then it might be sorted and both sides win. A person may draw up a will paying a fee to a solicitor. However I have found out that this will can be rendered worthless if someone like my late father falls for the scam of passports for cash. He found a wife through a third party and was paid £6,000 to have a quick marriage, even though she had no right to stay or a British passport. After a period of time she could have sought the right to remain but initially she should have been returned to her own country until she received this right from the Home Office.

The marriage was not consummated, but she lived as his wife long enough to get a National Insurance number and a job. As soon as my father fell ill she left him, but on learning of his death she claimed the inheritance as under British law she entitlement to his estate under the 1985 Act. Once this happens the status of the original will is worthless, not worth the paper it is written on. Solicitors know this but the flaws in the Act have not been

addressed and it seems a licence for ‘printing money’ for the legal profession. The he abolition of legal aid in 2013 meant that those in society who were least well off would find they did not have the means to contest a will. The Act disproportionally affected the working class! These scams are widespread and number 30,000 a year. They are often quite sophisticated bringing in people from across Europe, Africa and the Caribbean in particular. Targetting people

with few funds the scam becomes attractive, but once the new partner gets citizenship they are able to claim legal rights as a common spouse and there is little the victim can do. The Government and legal profession have allowed this practice to continue and have not closed this loophole. On behalf of my family I have contacted local Councillors, MPs and the Home Office but they all bat you away. It is

common knowledge around family courts that it is futile bringing cases to court as you are not going to win if you contest the case. Evidence will not be looked at event if you present tangible facts. You become another statistic and lawyers keep printing money as each will be deemed worthless, like the one before. We, the public, do not know this as there are no safeguards in place. By Michael Wellington.

THE WORD Eyewitness To The Agony Journalist John Pilger has spent the last three weeks watching Julian Assange’s extradition trial at London’s Old Bailey. He spoke with Arena Online’s editor, Timothy Erik Ström: Q: Having watched Julian Assange’s trial firsthand, can you describe the prevailing atmosphere in the court? The prevailing atmosphere has been shocking. I say that without hesitation; I have sat in many courts and seldom known such a corruption of due process; this is due re-

venge. Putting aside the ritual associated with ‘British justice’, at times it has been evocative of a Stalinist show trial. One difference is that in the show tri-

‘Wurst’ in Germany, what would it be? 17. From which language did we acquire musical terms such as ‘a cappella’, ‘crescendo’ and ‘arpeggio’? 18. From which language did we acquire musical terms such as ‘a cappella’, ‘crescendo’ and ‘arpeggio’? 19. What does RSVP at the end of a letter stand for? 20. What does ‘adios’ mean? Name The “sound like” Words 21. DNA in casual wear 22. Kismet at the local fund-raiser 23. Something in a comput-

als, the defendant stood in the court proper. In the Assange trial, the defendant was caged behind thick glass, and had to crawl on his knees to a slit in the glass, overseen by his guard, to make contact with his lawyers. His message, whispered barely audibly through face masks, was then passed by post-it the length of the court to where his barristers were arguing the case against his extradition to an American hellhole. For the full story : https://arena.org.au/eyewitness-to-the-agony-of-julian-assange/

er to get your teeth in to 24. Would you need to rotate to play this part 25. Modes of transport that fly over the Serengeti

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Answers

9. Published by the paper what is the book on democracy called 10. How much is the printed version of the paper to buy Words: meanings and origins 11 What word originated as the nickname for an English insane asylum? 12. What is the meaning of the Latin word veto? 13. What do we call a phrase that combines two contradictory words 14. What is the origin of the expression “on the Q.T.”? 15. What is the origin of the word Thursday? 16. If you were eating a

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In the past it was sometimes called thunderday. 16. A sausage 17. Latin 18. A type of ice cream 19. Répondez s’il vous plaît 20. Goodbye in Spanish 21. GENES/JEANS 22. FATE/FETE 23. BYTE/BITE 24. ROLL/ROLE 25. PLANES/PLAINS

Celebrating “The Word”; 5 years of The Word Newspaper Questions 1. When was the word first put into print 2. How was the name of the paper chosen 3. Who said “fear no more the heat of the sun.”as quoted on The Word website 4. Who writes The Words vegan cooking page 5. What is The Wrold newspapers website address 6. What is The Word newspaper social media site called 7. What was the headline of the first printed edition 8. Who is the editor of The Word

POLITICS AND EVENTS

1. July 2016 2. By an extensive debate and vote 3. William Shakespeare 4. Chris Williamson 5. http://thewordmedia.org/ 6. CAZKI 7. CHILCOT ENQUIRY: Blair Weapon of mass destruction 8. Alan Davies 9. Essays of Hope 10. £1 11. Bedlam 12. I forbid 13. Oxymoron 14. The word quiet--from which it takes the first and last letters. 15. the day of Thor, the god of thunder in Norse mythology.

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Failing Grayling: Not so failing in the money stakes ‘No Ships’ Failing Grayling To Be Paid £100K A Year To Advise Ports Company. Former cabinet minister Chris Grayling - who once gave a multimillion-pound contract to a ferry firm with no ships - has landed a new £275 per hour role with a major ports company. According to updated parliamentary records, the Conservative MP will earn £100,000 per year as a “strategic adviser” to Hutchison Ports Europe.

A new entry in the register of MPs’ interests states that Mr Grayling expects to do about seven hours of work per week in the role Failing still winning Grayling. #FailingGrayling

for

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Vegan recipes

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Cooking with Chris Williamson

APPLE AND DATE CRUMBLE WITH CASHEW NUT CREAM Potato Pie

Here’s a delicious vegan sweet dish that offers some healthy comfort food as we come to terms with the new Covid restrictions and dark nights.

Ingredients

50g cooking 4 apples 175g dates 2 tablespoons water 225g plain wholemeal flour 2 tsps baking powder 75g vegan margarine 75g unrefined cane sugar

Method

Peel, core and slice the apples. Cop the dates. Cook together in the water until the apples are light and fluffy. Place the mixture in an ovenproof dish. Make the crumble mix by sifting the flour with the baking powder and rub in the margarine. When that is done, fork in the unrefined sugar. Then top the apple and date mixture with the crumble mix.

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes at 180c or gas mark 4. Cashew Nut Cream Ingredients

125g cashew nuts 150ml water 1 tsp unrefined sugar 1 tbsp lemon juice Vanilla essence to taste Simply put everything into a blender jug and liquidise. If you want a thinner cream, simply add more water. This dish really is a great combination. Enjoy!

SALMON AND BROCCOLI BAKE PREPARATION

INGREDIENTS

4 fillets Salmon Head of Broccoli 4 Potatoes Onion, Garlic, Salt and Pepper to taste 300ml Double Cream Cheddar Cheese to taste

Place the salmon in a dish, add sliced onion, crushed garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Cut the broccoli into small florets and arrange them around the salmon. Slice the potatoes really thin and layer them over the salmon and broccoli. Pour the cream over the top of the potatoes. Slice cheese and Place on top. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 mins. Serves 4 : Oven 180° Gas mark 4

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COVID IMMIGRANT T

mainstream journalism is the peak of lies.

he 2020 Coronavirus pandemic has allowed me to cash in on my immigrant privilege, including escaping this damp island to lie around in a sunnier country with fewer Covid victims, and far less crap food. Or so I thought. At the time of my visit over two months ago, Romania only had about 3,000 Covid deaths – contrasting sharply with the 45,000 and more that the UK had . Nonetheless, Romanian authorities took the whole thing rather seriously. Even as masks were not compulsory in Britain, you would be routinely harassed to wear one everywhere in Romania. Arrivals from certain countries would be put in two weeks’ quarantine, with police checking on them every day of the fourteen. Paranoid authorities At one point, my mother, who worked in an old people’s home, contracted the virus. Retirement homes are recognised globally as infection hot-spots, probably because the virus attacks the respiratory organs of old people with depressed immune systems far more. Working there exhausted her, weakening her immunity, but luckily she only had a benign form of the virus. Authorities questioned her, learning she had shared a household with me since I arrived from the UK three weeks prior. Next thing I know, local news reports that that specific infection spot was “due to a visitor from the UK bringing the virus.” Utterly flabbergasted by

the barefaced lie, I asked to talk to the administrator, who was well aware that I was perfectly virus-free. It made no sense anyway; if I had brought the infection from abroad, how could my mother only contract it three weeks after, and how would that explain other retirement homes nationally with high numbers of victims, but where I had not set foot? On the subject of fake news,

octors getting their D priorities wrong Mom’s colleagues also had very benign cases of Covid. Yet a fire engine came round the village and collected these women to carry them to a hospital in a different town some 50 km away, initially for just 48 hours. Despite only having a mild cough and a slight temperature, they were kept in hospital for two weeks. Despite their wish to be at home, in their own gardens, in the sun, they were told they would be kept under observation, while radio and TV pumped out scare stories of hospitals full of patients dying of horrible complications. “We have to make difficult, life-ordeath choices, we’re running out of hospital beds,” doctors said,

CARRY ON POLICING A fishy narrative for sure, but the sting is lessened by the hilarity of a daily police patrol by our house. One day, the car stopped discreetly by the gate at 12pm, my mother lounging in the yard with cocktail in hand and sun hat on head. — Madame, we have you down as two people at this address… where is the other?! — Ah my daughter, just taking a shower. — Really…? Shower, AT THIS TIME? asks Inspector Clouseau, with satisfaction that he must have stumbled upon a criminal web of diabolical intrigue here, one that wouldn’t bypass his vigilance. Nor his moustache. [PIC: Clouseau master of Covid detective work.jpg] — Yes, officer, shower, responds mother incredulously. I hear the whole exchange from the bathroom, so I jump out in nought but a hand towel wrapped around my torso. — Yes officer? I am here. Clouseau makes a gargling noise poorly-disguised as coherent speech but eventually his mate elbows him back into eloquence, and they muster a shy, Have a nice day, ladies. And that sums up the authoritarian if puzzling law enforcement in Covid-stricken Romania. Have a nice Covid winter, chaps.

weeping on TV. Perhaps, then, they should have asked those doctors keeping those nearly-healthy ladies with a mild cough to liberate the hospital beds for more severe cases, no? By Mara Leverkuhn

I JUMP OUT IN NOUGHT BUT A HAND TOWEL WRAPPED AROUND MY TORSO

I FARTACUS – THE WRONG KIND OF JEW For I am the wrong kind of Jew In fact I’m not really a Jew – just Jew*ish* I know enough to myself into trouble My hair grows long in front of my ears I read the Kabbalah and I argue the Torah I don’t eat pork, bloody Norah I’m marginalised by the Labour Party Their imposed ‘pledges’ merely made me farty I could discuss any topic more freely in Jerusalem Than I can on Facebook, or in and among the right kind of Jews dem For I’m the wrong kind of Jew How about you I bet you are too… I can never find the right kind with my beautiful mind while we hide behind The lies and the spies, ’cos that’s the way that freedom dies, Or the theft of land, the underhand, the sleight of hand, the back handers, The iron bands, bombs in the desert sands I stand with the poor, the under arrest, the dispossessed For I am the wrong kind of non-Jew too How about yew You can come too We’re going to the zoo You knew it was true Please don’t sue For I am Fartacus – the Wrong Kind of Jew… I stand among the shit Owning it / doing my bit /taking the hit /the fuse is lit The fuse, the news, the views, the solidarity with Jews The taking of abuse, paying my dues, musing about losing They refuse to let me choose To be one of the Jews that speaks and is heard Because I don’t follow any herd… Perhaps I have Herd Immunity I say this with impunity There is disunity in the Community Certainly there’s lunacy In the House of Cummings… By Ben Rashby

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TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY IMMINENT

NEW DEALS ALREADY HAPPENING IN A HURRY

Monday the 5th of October is deadline day for football’s current transfer window, and the Premier League, as usual, is a hive of activity, as clubs finalise their squads for the first half of the season. Manchester City respond decisively and lavishly

Manchester City, responding perhaps a mite hurriedly to a shocking performance at home against Leicester City on the 27th of September – a match lost 5-2 with the Foxes’ evergreen star man Jamie Vardy scoring a hat-trick – have signed 23 year old Portuguese defender Ruben Dias for a hefty £62 million fee from Benfica. After buying fellow defender Nathan Ake from Bournemouth, for an excessivesounding £41 million during the brief

There seems to be a slight element of panic in Pep Guardiola’s spending

close season, there seems to be a slight element of panic in Pep Guardiola’s spending, as he tries to close the gap on champions Liverpool, who are already six points ahead of City, albeit having played a game more.

an England international and a former Everton player, could make his Villa debut against Liverpool, of all teams, on Sunday 4th of October.

Wolverhampton Wanderers may have sold forward Diogo Jota to Shrewd move by Villa Liverpool in the ‘happened-out-ofAston Villa meanwhile, nowhere’ deal of the window, who have started the but they reinforced their season impressively defensive options at DESPITE THE on the field with wins the same time by DEADLINE BEING from both their purchasing promising first two games, reserve centre-back, LONG-PAST, THIS have done some Ki-Jana Hoever, a WEEK, UNITED impressive business Dutch youngster, who OFFERED £82.5 off the field too. They has moved the other have secured the way for £10 million. MILLION loan-signing of 26 year FOR SANCHO old Chelsea midfielder Manchester Ross Barkley for the whole United stagnating of the 2020-21 season. Barkley, Manchester United continue

to show almost blind obsession in their pursuit of star England attacker, Jadon Sancho, who is currently on the books at Borussia Dortmund. Borussia have made clear they do not wish to sell him, and would not even consider any bids for him below 100 million euros. They even put a deadline for any such bid to reach them before the 10th August, after which, they consider the entire matter to be closed. Despite the deadline being long-past, this week, United offered 91 million euros for Sancho. Dortmund rejected the bid without so much as a blink of hesitation. United’s fans, unhappy with the scrappy form of their team at the start of the season and the shortage of real transfer activity over the close season,

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Uk Top League football results Week ending Friday 3nd October Saturday 26th September PREMIER LEAGUE Brighton & Hove Albion 2-3 Manchester United Crystal Palace

1-2

West Bromwich Albion

3-3 Chelsea

Burnley

0-1 Southampton

SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP Hamilton Academical 1-1 2-0

St. Johnstone

St. Mirren

0-1

Kilmarnock

0-1

Leeds United

Tottenham Hotspur

1-1

Newcastle United

Manchester City

2-5

Leicester City

West Ham United

4-0

W. Wanderers

SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP Motherwell 1-5 3-0

Hibernian

Ross County

0-3

Aberdeen

Liverpool

3-1

Friday 2nd October SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP Aberdeen 2-1

are getting restless about the whole matter, and want United either to offer the full 100 STILL HIGHLYmillion, or just drop Liverpool dealings EFFECTIVE WELSH the matter and look not yet over? STAR, GARETH BALE, for someone else. Meanwhile, But with the transfer Liverpool, after HAS RETURNED window about to their sudden flurry TO TOTTENHAM close, there is little of transfer activity in HOTSPUR time to look or conduct mid-to-late September, talks with any possible may not be done yet. They selling club. Rumour has it are being heavily-linked with that Sancho may have finally put winger Ismaila Sarr at Watford, in a transfer request with Borussia, defender Kalidou Koulibaly at Napoli, which would boost United’s chances, defender Ozan Kabak at Schalke, and, but the clock is ticking. Meantime, most high-profile of all, superstar United are being linked with a possible centre-forward Kylian Mbappe at Paris loan move for Ousmane Dembélé from St. Germain. At present, however, Barcelona; oddly enough, Dembélé is despite the deafening loudness of himself a former Borussia player. these rumours, there is little firm

Rangers

Celtic

Monday 28th September PREMIER LEAGUE Fulham 0-3

Dundee United

Livingston Sunday 27th September PREMIER LEAGUE Sheffield United

Good business for Spurs and Leeds Ageing but still highly-effective Welsh star, Gareth Bale, has returned to Tottenham Hotspur on-loan from Real Madrid, after months of Real attempting to offload him entirely. As for Leeds United, they have bolstered their defence with the signing of Spanish veteran Diego Llorente from Real Sociedad for £18 million, and are close also to signing French midfielder Michael Cuisance from European Champions Bayern Munich, as they look to cement their new Premier League status. AGEING BUT

Everton

Aston Villa Arsenal

St. Mirren

Dundee United

1-2

Livingston

Hibernian

3-2

Hamilton Academical

Monday 28th September PREMIER LEAGUE Chelsea 4-0

Rhian Crystal Palace Brewster Everton 4-2 Brighton & Hove Albion Possibly Leeds United 1-1 Manchester City leaving Newcastle United 3-1 Burnley Anfield THE FA WOMEN’S SUPER LEAGUE

evidence of any Aston Villa Women of these moves proceeding prior to the January window at the very earliest. The move for Kabak in particular looks dead for now, as he has received a lengthy ban for spitting at an opponent in a Bundesliga match.

Possibly leaving Anfield before the window closes is young striker Rhian Brewster, who is in talks with Sheffield United about a move rumoured to be somewhere in the region of £20 million. By Martin Odoni

0-6

Everton Women

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LEAGUE’S WINTER DRAWS FASCINATING FIXTURES

THE CHAMPIONS

2020-21 GROUP STAGE DRAW D

efending European Champions, Bayern Munich, face a difficult start to their defence of their crown. In Group A of the round-of-32, the German powerhouse team were drawn against a very useful Atletico Madrid team from Spain, Red Bull Salzburg, the precocious Austrian champions who showed real promise in last year’s competition, and a gruelling journey to Moscow to face Lokomotiv. As for the Premier League, it is represented in the Champions League this year by Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea.

this has to be seen as a ‘clash-ofthe-titans’ double-showdown. It certainly overshadows games against the other teams in the group, high-scoring Italians Atalanta, and Champions League debutants Midtylland, from Denmark. Manchester City Manchester City, in Group C, have been drawn against no outstanding opponents, but no pushover opponents either. Porto, Olympiakos and Olympique Marseille will all be dangerous, especially in their home matches, but City should ultimately have the measure of all of them. The fixtures against Marseille will probably be the highlight.

Liverpool

Liverpool ARE IN GROUP D, Liverpool Manchester WHERE THE are in Group HIGHLIGHT IS TWO United D, where the Manchester MOUTH-WATERING United face the highlight is two MATCHES AGAINST underachieving mouth-watering matches against giant of the AJAX Ajax Amsterdam. modern European The exciting young game, Paris St. Ajax team were seconds Germain, which looks an from playing Liverpool in the ominous challenge. RB Leipzig final in the summer of 2019, of Germany perhaps belong in before a very late Tottenham the ‘awkward’ bracket rather goal won the semi-final. Ajax than ‘terrifying’, but they will be and Liverpool have history in the no mugs. Istanbul Basaksehir old European Champions’ Cup, are another debutant club in too, most decidedly in Ajax’s the Champions League, and an favour; in December 1966, a unknown quantity, but United young Johan Cruyff led them to a should be confident of taking stunning 5-1 win over the Reds in most or all of the points from Amsterdam. Both clubs have had two games against them. The spells dominating Europe, and so matches between United and

back in the 1970s – including a finish as Champions’ Cup runners-up in 1977. Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine is not as glamorous a name as the others, but it is a club that has fielded a number of fine teams in the Champions League over the last fifteen years or so.

Paris should be the highlight here, but it is a low-pedigree group with only one club – United themselves – who has ever been European Champions. Chelsea Chelsea are in Group E, with one major opponent – Seville - and two relative minnows a n d debutant sides – Krasnodar of Russia, and Stade de Rennais f r o m France. If they

can just get their goalkeeping problems sorted out, Chelsea should fancy their chances of at least second place in the group. Choosing the Group Of Death The battle to be the ‘Group of Death’ is between Group B and Group G. Group B has historically huge names, in the shape of all-time most frequent Champions, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, one of the dominant sides of the 1960s, and Borussia Mönchengladbach, which was one of West Germany’s pre-eminent clubs in the European game

Group G meanwhile has Juventus facing off against Barcelona, meaning Europe finally gets the Champions League showdown it has long awaited between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the two best players in the world for most of the last twelve years. Georgian giants Dynamo Kiev is a club with a very respectable European history of its own, as is Ferencváros, probably Hungary’s most famous club, who are returning to Europe’s biggest competition for the first time in over 20 years. The return of Brugge And finally, Group F features Zenit St. Petersburg, Borussia Dortmund, Lazio, and Club Brugge. Bruges had quite a powerful side in the late-1970s, appearing in two European Finals, but look the weakest team in their group now. Borussia should be very confident of qualifying for the knock-out stages, with Zenit and Lazio, two relatively ordinary sides in Champions League terms, fighting for the second spot. By Martin Odoni

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SAINZ AND STROLL RETIRED ON LAP ONE, IN SEPARATE ACCIDENTS The BWT Racing Point machine

RUSSIA GP REVIEW

altteri Bottas benefitted from Lewis Hamilton’s penalty to win the Russian Grand Prix, winning his second race of the season.

Valtteri Bottas wins his second race of the season after Lewis Hamilton’s 10-second penalty. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium at Sochi

The Finnish driver jumped into second after the start, before taking the lead when Hamilton went into the pit stop to see out a 10-second penalty. Max Verstappen finished comfortably in second, with Hamilton in third, staging a come-back.

same for the remainder of the season.

Here are the talking points; Silencing Critics Valtteri Bottas has been under pressure all season for failing to compete effectively with teammate Hamilton, and sometimes being bested by the Red Bull of Verstappen. However, in Russia, the Finn answered his critics in style. Bottas looked in danger of finishing behind Hamilton again, until the Briton was penalised, whereupon Bottas made the most of it. He created a solid gap to Verstappen, and controlled the race well. Some of the pressure has been lifted from his shoulders, but Mercedes will want more of the

The 30-year-old... performed defiantly and creditably to finish the race in a respectable fourth position

Solid Perez Before this weekend, Sergio Perez claimed members of Racing Point were “hiding information” from him, after the Mexican was confirmed as an Aston Martin driver for next year.

leaving Perez without upgrades. All this pointed towards an underwhelming weekend for the 30-year-old, but he performed defiantly and creditably to finish the race in a respectable fourth position. This gave his team vital Constructors’ Championship points, after Stroll’s crash on the first lap.

To add to this, the team installed new components only onto Lance Stroll’s car,

Home Race At the Sochi Autodrom, Daniil Kvyat was performing in front of

Gasly’s 45. However, at his home circuit, the 26-year-old put in a tidy performance to finish in eighth - ahead of Gasly. One race will not be enough to secure a place for next year, however. A little consistency will go a long way for Kvyat.

his fans. The Russian is another driver under pressure, with his seat in F1 in danger. Unfortunate Kvyat has Sainz failed to A f t e r replicate the high of the form of second place teammate in Monza, Pierre Gasly Carlos Sainz Bottas victorious at Alpha Tauri, has followed it up winning just 14 with two dreadful points compared to races. In Mugello, the Spaniard was an unfortunate casualty in a four-car pile-up, but in Russia, Sainz misjudged his track entry on turn three and slammed his tyre on the wall. The two crashes have dropped Sainz to 11th in the drivers’ standings, while allowing Racing Point and Renault to catch-up to McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship. Sainz will be looking to add more points at the Nurburgring circuit to help his and his team’s cause. The teams will now have two weeks to tweak the cars in time for the Eifel GP in Germany. Hamilton will be looking to bounce back while Bottas will want to grab another win. Whatever the outcome, there will surely be more action. By Paulo Pedro

MATCHES REPLACED BY A EIGHT-TEAM TOURNAMENT

RUGBY UNION

INTERNATIONALS Here though, is the schedule, including broadcasting details: Round 1 Ireland vs Wales, 7pm on 13 November – Channel 4 Italy vs Scotland, 12.45pm on 14 November – Amazon England vs Georgia, 3pm on 14 November – Amazon

he new Autumn Nations Cup will feature the Six Nations teams, plus Georgia and Fiji. The tournament has been devised in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has prevented the major Southern Hemisphere teams from touring the North in the autumn fixtures.

France vs Fiji, TBC on 15 November – Amazon The tournament format will consist of two pools of four teams; Group A will include England, Ireland, Wales and Georgia; Group B will include France, Scotland, Italy and Fiji. Following three rounds of pool matches, each team from Group A will meet a corresponding team from Group B, based on their pool ranking, during finals weekend.

So far so good; except, ‘Uncle’ Jeff Bezos has snaffled the TV rights for Amazon Prime. So for rugby fans there is yet another platform to shell out money to. A TV viewer in the UK, planning to watch all Britain’s major international and club fixtures live over the next three months will need access to BBC, ITV, Channel 4, BT, Sky, Premier Sports and Amazon. Isn’t competition marvellous...?

Round 2 Italy vs Fiji, 12.45pm on 21 November – Amazon ngland vs Ireland, 3pm on 21 November – Channel 4 E and Amazon Wales vs Georgia, 5.15pm on 21 November – Amazon Scotland vs France, 3pm on 22 November – Amazon Round 3 Scotland vs Fiji, 1.45pm on 28 November – Amazon Wales vs England, 4pm on 28 November – Amazon France vs Italy, 8pm on 28 November – Amazon Ireland vs Georgia, 2pm on 29 November – Channel 4 Finals Weekend Georgia vs TBD, 12pm on 5 December – Amazon Ireland vs TBD, 2.15pm on 5 December – Amazon Wales vs TBD, 4.45pm on 5 December – Amazon England vs TBD, 2pm on 6 December – Amazon