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Issue #36, Jun 13th 2020.

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THE PEOPLE’S PAPER

JUSTICE FOR SLAVER AT LAST

HIS WATERY GRAVE

thewordmedia.org DON’T DESPAIR – RESIST!

That this is still happening, even after the outrageous shenanigans of fifth columnists inside the party’s bureaucracy were exposed in a damning leaked report, speaks volumes about Sir Keir Starmer’s priorities. The Parliamentary Labour Party’s...

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STARMER’S SPOOKY PALS

He has also called on him to explain his membership of the intelligence-linked Trilateral Commission, his role in the Julian Assange case and his links with the anti-Corbyn PAGE 2 Times...

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Do Black Lives Matter?

Discrimination of people from whatever social/ethnic group must be discouraged. Debate on Brexit unduly focussed on immigration, which sadly encouraged some with little knowledge of the benefits over centuries of immigration, to justify their xenophobia against East Europeans, PAGE 8 people from...

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November 2018.

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST MATT KENNARD HAS CALLED ON SIR KE RELATIONSHIP WITH MI5, US INTELLIGENCE AND JUSTICE DEPARTM Matt Kennard

PINOCCHIO’S S

He has also called on him to explain his membership of the intelligence-linked Trilateral Commission, his role in the Julian Assange case and his links with the anti-Corbyn Times newspaper.

One lunch partner, Sean Oneill, was lead reporter in a 2016 story which claimed Jeremy Corbyn as leader was both paranoid and incompetent. Four months after the story appeared Sir Keir resigned from Corbyn’s shadow cabinet citing the “need for a much louder voice on the critical issues” and airing your “reservations” about Corbyn’s leadership.

Under Sir Keir’s Sweden for queleadership, the CPS’s handling Maurizi spent yestioning was marred by irreg of Assange’s earlier propose ularities. Italian d extradition to finally admitted ars trying to get hold of inform in v e st ig a ti v e journalist Stefan destroying key e ation on the CPS mails relating to ’s h a n d li n g of the case. It ia the case, when Sir Keir was dire ctor. Finally, t Times nehere is Sir Keir’s has met wspaper which close relations What did you discuss with US Attorney to Labou several of its ed begain in 2011 hip with the r in gene since wh itors and General Eric Holder when you met him e ral and J j n o u h r e n a l ist eremy Co on November 9, 2011 in Washington DC? rbyn in ps hostile Analysis of Sir Keir’s business expenses at the Crown Prosearticular. cution Service (CPS) shows in November 2012, he flew first-class to Washington DC for an “official meeting”. With whom

and for how long is not mentioned. In September 2013, the Matt month before he left the CPS, Sir Keir once again flew to Wash a of Jus s furthe hington DC for a “conference.” Once again Sir Keir provides no details. publis tice officia r discove her Ju ls in N red tha lian A o ssang vember 2t Sir Keir m e who 011 – e , even a timet US Attorn e today when , is in Sir Key General E prison ir was ric Ho The T l h f i a g r n h i l d a t ing ex ling thder and US co-op teral C tradit e case Depa includeration beommissio i rtmen o o n f t W o n e t , w t s i k h a s e i e US. n world Leaks t e e of bignior US nan Japan, Worganizati on busin tional e ess. S secur stern Euro set up in ir Keir ity est 19 p is the ablish e and Nor 73, to “fo st only s ment f th Am erving igures erica”,er closer British and p today Sir Jon MP to eople f a t be a m rom th h a Sir Kei n Evan embe e r, and r. Sir Keis left MI5 a week r anno af unced he water his drink s leavi s ng the with CPS. The Trilateral Commission is a secretive organization, as is Sir Keir’s membership whi ch he has never revealed.

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EIR STARMER TO COME CLEAN ABOUT HIS About us and our team MENT AND OH SO PALLY WITH THE TIMES

SPOOKY PALS achi, , r a K n i arreste,dunder torture n e e b ed had d for a week . Mohamed m a h o rrogateed MI5 officer terrogation inyam M e t B n t i n d e n d r in am 2a esi British rn in April 200lvement of a ne CIA for furthrepresent. Pakista e active invo orocco by th e MI5 office with then taken to M with the sam was th torture, again under

Matt’s f o y n a r to answeublic five areas of d e l i a f r a r has so fecided to make pnt to talk about. i e K r i S s A he has dppears not to wa s e i r i u q n i ir Keir a interest S n years inUS payout. e v e s g n i ter spendnd given a secret f a d e s a e l finally re without charge a s a w d e Moham amo Bay prison Guantan wedish h S e h t d e eir advisndon even thougff. K r i S r e d rking un w Assange in Loembassy stand-o o w r e y w A CPS la ies not to interviehe long-running authorit ld have ended t this wou rprising itish u s s a w e prosecutonstrated that Br hamed o t t o n n ecisio o the CIA dem rmation on Mo d s ’ r i e K Sir legrams rts fed the US infoured in Morocco. e t 5 I M s a ing tort ce office intelligen was allegedly be when he f he role oer t g n i n r e med convcice, meant a widhis a h o M r ade by Ml intelligence ser 2010 decision. Tritish m s n o i t a Alleg tain’s externa after Sir Keir’s ainee about B MI6, Bri ation continued s by another det e, Afghanistan. investig new allegation t Bagram air bas included ent in torture a involvem tion, Sir Keoirrture. a ig t s e v in f t o 30 months r MI6 for their role in r e ft a , 2 1 0 o In January 2ainst prosecuting MI5 decided ag

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War is never glory

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T O RY E X C L U S I V E

Our Quisling Political Class SEE PAGE 12

BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS KILLERS”

THE NEWSPAPER FROM THE LEFT WING

e are being herded into pens by the rich and powerful. The careerists in the CLP’s are having a field day being “safe, virtue signalling, left.” The genuine anger of injustice is being led through a maze of Black lives matter, extinction rebellion and clapping for the NHS. All very worthy dead ends. The leader of the Labour party is Sir Keir Starmer QC...let that sink in...Sir... A man who is a member of a secretive anti left organisation for the rich and famous. A man who stabbed Jeremy Corbyn in the back to deliberately help lose Labour the last general election. A man so wooden he could never

turn into a “real boy.” He is also probably an agent of Mi5. This is the “respected, forensic” leader of the opposition. Where is the resistance, and not just to covid 19? Meanwhile Chris Williamson becomes unwelcome in the Labour party because he showed solidarity with suspended comrades. Jackie Walker was thrown out for having more charisma than Jon Lansman - though that was not what it said on the charge sheet. Ken livingstone was forced to leave for telling a most horrendous truth. We are in a repeat of the eighties. A bad film with a poor ending. It’s time we tell the powers that be a million times no.

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Jun 13. 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Two-faced Boris John

a e e r g a r e m r a t S d n a Boris

he establishment has reacted hysterically to the long called for removal of a 5 tonne symbol of Britain’s shameful past as the world’s greatest trader in human lives. A statue of Bristol’s most prominent slaver, Edward Col-

ston, was unceremoniously pulled down by some of the thousands of anti-racist protesters out on Bristol’s streets. They then rolled hated statue along the road to the city harbour and pushed it into the River Avon to a huge cheers and the hope it is never sees daylight again.

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This fairly innocuous political act, which did not hurt or harm a single person, more than could ever be said of Colston himself who in the 18th century was involved in the forced transportation of around 80,000 black slaves, men, women and children. But this political act brought down the wrath of the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson who dubbed

the political activism “thuggery” even though it created far less damage or disturbance than he and his posh pals did in their youth at university where they took great pleasure in wrecking restaurants for the sheer fun of it. His Home Secretary, Priti Patel, dutifully echoed her master’s comments, warning that those who had committed the political vandalism would be

prosecuted, if the police can lay hands on them. Streets protests have been held in Bristol and London over the killing in the US of a black man, George Floyd, under the knee of a white police officer in his neck which prevented him from breathing. Anti-racist in the US and UK believe this is just the latest ex-

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Jun 13. 2020

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BLOWING A WHISTLE ON BLAIR’S WAR Keira Knightly plays whistle blower Katherine Gun

Katherine Gun

nson

again Slaver Colston

Involved in the transportation of 80,000 black slaves ample of how immigrants in general and black people in particular are discriminated against, badly treated and even killed by the white societies and police. While the outcry by the Tory government and right wing press was as expected the new right of centre Labour Party led by Sir Keir Starmer joined in the disapproval and admonition. Sir Keir, a former Director of Public Prosecutions said it as “completely wrong to tear down the statue.” Of course, when American and British troops illegally invaded Iraq and pulled down the statute of Saddam Hussein, the UK Labour government and US President of the day cheered, as do many now.

n apparently little known political film that is worth any socialist’s attention is Official Secrets about the incredible bravery of GCHQ whistleblower Katherine Gun. Played by Keira Knightley, she received rave reviews for her performance. Katherine, only 27, worked as a translator for the spooks’ manor and as part of her job she was sent a memo from an American NSA boss asking the Brits to help them find dirt on key people at the UN so they could blackmail or bribe them into supporting a joint American/British attack on Iraq which looked likely to fail. The year was 2003 and over a million were on the streets protesting but Blair was busy listening to God telling him to go to war. Already angered by Tony Blair’s smarmy lies about Iraq she was outraged by this underhanded attempt to fix the international forum to get Bush and Blair’s war. She leaked the memo. Rejected by the Mirror as a fake, it went to a Sunday Observer journalist played by Matt Smith of Dr Who fame. The Observer’s editor (now with the Mail) and political

editor (who had a hand in the Dodgy Dossier and is now in charge of BBC News) fully backed Blair’s call to war and came up with one excuse after another why the story should not be published. Only after it was proved to be reliable was it splashed on the front page. Before it had a chance to take off our TV screens were filled with pictures of Baghdad being bombed to bits before the troops moved in. Bush and Blair had decided they did not need UN approval after all. Back at GCHQ, after a little wobble of fear, Katherine owned up to breaking the Official Secrets Act. Her determined defence barrister (played by Ralph Finnes) working on behalf of Liberty, what the formerly the National cost. Kamal _Ahmed now Council for Civil heads BBC News Liberties, is shown to have It’s an more guts than Baroness Shami important and Chakrabarti, then in charge of thrilling story. As Katherine Liberty, who appears ready to said: “What do you do when you reach any deal on offer. see something that is simply wrong?” Expect your blood to boil now that we know there were If you cannot remember no WMDs, no threat just a faked how it all ended that’s another Dodgy Dossier so Bush and Blair good reason to get this on DVD could grab the oil no matter for around £8 from the usual

Observer Editor at the time (now with the Daily Mail) Roger Alton

sources. Also watch 15 Years Later about the making of the film and Katherine’s thoughts today. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=CWtIu7mbnbM

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Jun 13. 2020

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THE TIME BY MY DIALECTICAL WRISTWATCH IS…

ell, what is it? Yes, I know we are in the second stage when things are supposed to be a bit on the chaotic side but what lies ahead? Are we close yet to the sunny upland meadows of synthesis? Oh, you think the real word should be ‘synthetic’ do you? Well, I can’t argue. My heart quickened when Corbyn offered the possibility of a fairer and more equal world but the reality was that the racists were out to get him for his antiracism and the greedy for his opposition to greed. Still, the Labour Party is in safe hands, the hands of a knight and a QC to boot. Did you know that barristers are not supposed to get paid? At the back of their gowns is a pocket where the people in whose interests they work may, supposedly without the barrister noticing, place an honorarium. That is posh Latin for a bit of financial encouragement that they can, strictly speaking, say that they knew nothing about. Remind me, when did Starmer tell us about where he got the money for his campaign to become leader? Am I right that it was after the campaign finished? Today, it seems, we are confronted by lots of short term problems. That means that we have to keep an eye on our long term hopes/ wishes/aims/purposes. But they can be vague, uncertain and confusing. Very seldom do the slogans accompanying election manifestos capture and summarise considerable thought. Usually what they capture and summarise are a set of ignorant prejudices. What struck me about the manifestos of Corbyn was not so much that they awoke the spirit of 1945 but how similar they were to that of the Liberal

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DON’T DESPAIR

I have always felt a little sorry for Ramsay MacDonald. He won’t, however, be the last revolutionary to have his socialist talons drawn. Does Starmer have any socialist talons?

Party in 1929. Maynard Keynes and Lloyd George were strong influences on that manifesto. At that time the country was recovering from the fiasco of Churchill’s 1925 budget. Osborne did not invent austerity; then Wall Street got involved. The Liberals offered reconstruction. It was rejected. Corbyn too offered reconstruction; again rejection. What happened to the Labour Party in the early thirties? I have always felt a little sorry for Ramsay MacDonald. He won’t, however, be the last revolutionary to have his socialist talons drawn. Does, I wonder, Starmer have any socialist talons? Blair certainly didn’t. My dialectical wristwatch? It’s going backwards; I must give it a knock.

My heart quickened when Corbyn offered the possibility of a fairer and more equal world but the reality was that the racists were out to get him for his antiracism and the greedy for his opposition to greed.

The destruction of the Corbyn project inside the Labour Party has left many people feeling a sense of hopelessness and foreboding about the future. This has only been exacerbated by the ongoing purge of antiZionist socialists being waged by Labour’s bureaucracy

hat this is still happening, even after the outrageous shenanigans of fifth columnists inside the party’s bureaucracy were exposed in a damning leaked report, speaks volumes about Sir Keir Starmer’s priorities. The Parliamentary Labour Party’s consistent dereliction of duty to defend working class communities has proved beyond any shadow of doubt

that Labour’s parliamentary representatives are not fit for purpose. But this is no time to despair. The coronavirus crisis has shone a light on the deficiencies of neoliberalism and the damage this economic ideology has wreaked across the UK. The fact that Britain’s political establishment has embraced this corrosive economic system is a damning indictment of all the nation’s major political parties.

Aims l A new kind of participatory democracy that prioritises the accountability of elected representatives to the public not boardrooms, puts people before profit and communities above corporations. l An ambitious green new deal to tackle the biggest challenge facing humanity, the consequences of which will be felt first and hardest by the poorest communities here and around the world. l Nullify the power of the military-industrial complex by ending imperialist wars, halting arms sales to repressive regimes and reducing the influence of the weapons industry by embracing defence diversification. l Restructure the economy to share the nation’s wealth, utilise the flexibility of the UK’s sovereign currency to provide the resources needed to create a good society and reverse all privatisations of public services and utilities. l Define economic success based on improving outcomes for people, which should include progress towards poverty elimination, improving public health and enhancing the quality of life for all citizens.

Objectives l Establish local action groups throughout the country to mobilise communities to campaign for political change and the creation of self-help projects to fill the gaps left by central and local government cuts.

The failure of representative democracy requires us to build capacity in communities and raise political consciousness ourselves. We can do that by building an extra-parliamentary social movement to harness and mobilise the latent public support for socialism. That is why the Festival of Resistance is being established to unite local community and progressive campaign groups across the country to generate an unstoppable momentum for change. We have adopted the following aims and objectives for the first 18 months after the resistance movement is formally launched.

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R – RESIST!

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Rally community activists to organise street protests to: l Demand local authorities use the powers available to them to end the cuts by shifting the burden onto the wealthiest shoulders in every borough l Insist on a renaissance in new council housing to tackle the housing crisis now that the cap has been removed from councils’ housing revenue accounts l Resist any further austerity measures by central government following the Covid-19 emergency

Work with communities and trade unions to: l Establish workers’ cooperatives to start building a transfer of wealth and industrial power from the bottom up l Update the Lucas Plan on defence diversification l Raise awareness on the impact of imperialism to start developing international solidarity with other progressive and liberation movements around the world l Provide support local people to establish community arts, radio and culture projects around the country by arranging community arts and media conferences to train volunteers and creating online resources. l Organising community events aimed at demystifying economics to empower people to challenge the establishment narrative that there is no alternative.

Jun 13. 2020

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Satire and comedy

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Do Black Lives

iscrimination of people from whatever social/ethnic group must be discouraged. Debate on Brexit unduly focussed on immigration, which sadly encouraged some with little knowledge of the benefits over centuries of immigration, to justify their xenophobia against East Europeans, people from BAME heritage and others. Now we are faced with the apparent disproportionate infection and deaths in the BAME community and the renewed focus on discrimination by police forces in the US, and to a degree this country, against people of colour. If we agree that discrimination is wrong, then it becomes far worse when it is institutionalised. However, I want to focus on why people from African and

Caribbean heritage need all our support. My views on how we got to impasse were reinforced when I listened to a black health care assistant on ITV news. She was sacked for complaining about poor quality of PPE and leaving work to get her own. On her return to her shift she was fired. Interviewer Emily Morgan asked her what her mother, a nurse, would have done in the same situation. The lady said her mother would have been more compliant and accepted the situation without complaining. This anecdote sums up the problem faced by the black people here and particularly in the US. Centuries of abuse have taught many to be compliant in order to firstly survive and then get educated, certainly if they wish to progress in society. Why else would a

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If we agree that discrimination is wrong, then it becomes far worse when it is institutionalised

some black people, including a lawyer on Channel 4 News, be so vociferous in defending Trump’s handling of the protests over the killing of George Floyd?

in particular, with more at the top of those fields and in the boardroom. I will make my observations first before quoting from two leading black voices.

As the song goes: ‘The times they are a changing’. Large - scale protests in the US and across the world have been swelled by people of diverse ethnicity with one placard I like saying ‘White silence = violence’. EU’s Fundamental Rights Group stated that EU countries ‘ must try to eradicate discrimination, harassment and violence against black people’. They also admitted that ‘racial harassment, violence and discriminatory ethnic profiling are commonplace in Europe’.

Now married to a Nigerian I have spent a lot of time contacting my previous MP about the worsening situation there with regard to sectarian violence in Nigeria. Try as I could I found little real desire to speak out by African friends and found some dismissive of it as a problem. I found a lot of Africans are happy to talk politics but do not wish to get actively involved. Which is why I was saddened that one Nigerian, Deyika Nzeribe, was so involved he put up to challenge Andy Burnham for the Mayor of Greater Manchester, but tragically passed away shortly before the elections were held.

Violence rarely succeeds in reversing discrimination, it often leads to greater violence. What can be the way forward? Black representation needs to increase in police and politics

So I would like to echo the plea that Lord Simon Woolley made at a Black History

Month event at Manchester Cathedral last year. # He brought a few young people forward at the end of his presentation and urged them to work with their community and if possible get involved in politics.

Next a few comments which I found from Charles Critchlow, formerly National Chair of BAPA (Black and Asian Police Association). Speaking from 30 years experience in the police he says “Black Representation matters greatly, but Black police leaders are of little use in the struggle for racial justice as long as they are selected, nurtured and developed exclusively within a system that maintains white supremacy”. He adds: “Racism is so hardwired within the British system and psyche that it’s often impossible to penetrate”. Therefore “this is why we need to develop our leadership as much as possible, independent of this poisonous system”. Other groups have suffered from discrimination but have have found the ability to organise and get

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

s Matter? more involved in the political landscape and have been more vocal. Although it is understandable that people from different backgrounds band together, this can lead, and has led, to those with the weakest voice losing out. In many cultures a black person is placed at the bottom of the pile. Accounts of Nigerians’ treatment in China and Chinese exploitation of Africa shows contempt for black people. With regard to the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, a ritual to promote the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood by showing everyone equal in the eyes of Allah, there seems a hierarchy. I am told by black Muslims it is Arabs first, SE Asian second and black Muslims bottom. In S. Africa, even after apartheid it is whites followed by Asians, with most blacks at the bottom. Even in the English language black has a surfeit of bad connotations, eg. black looks, blacklisted,

black sheep of the family, black market, blackmail etc.

to chip away at decades of indifference to their plight. Three things need to happen: I will finish on a stronger family positive note. I units, better see many young education and black voices more political coming out involvement. to seek an Education YEARS EXPERIENCE end to racism is now more IN THE POLICE improve valued but well-being there is, AND I KNOW BLACK and standing as Charles REPS MATTER of the black Critchlow GREATLY community. A says, a need local group here for black leaders in Greater Manchester, to come forward CAHN (Caribbean and who can ‘maintain a firm African Health Network), has connectedness with the raised awareness of medical hopes and aspirations of problems more prevalent in our people and be in the their communities, such as vanguard of true black diabetes, lupus, sickle cell empowerment, this is the etc. They have also raised challenge for us in the 21 st. the profile of the black century’. I hope we can use community through helping the evil of police brutality in in events like Black History the killing of George Floyd Month, remembering the can be a catalyst for real Windrush generation as well change in reducing racism in as their health seminars. ALL its forms.

I hope that the black voices will be more strident

Black police leaders are of little use in the struggle for racial justice as long as they are selected

# Lord Simon Woolley is a political and equalities activist. He is the founder and CEO of Operation Black Vote and the Chair of the Prime Minister’s Race Disparity Unit.

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Brexit trade deal talks between the EU and UK

rexit trade deal talks between the EU and UK will resume this week.

l It is the last full round of talks before a crunch meeting where both sides will take stock of progress. l The UK is refusing to consider extending the Brexit transition period despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. l Theresa May's former Europe adviser predicted a "bust-up" between the negotiating teams this week. l Growing numbers in the EU believe the UK may not even want a trade deal with the EU. l However, Boris Johnson is not expected to abandon talks as he has threatened. l Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The EU fears that the UK government is deliberately stalling on Brexit trade deal negotiations, and may secretly be aiming to exit European trade arrangements without first agreeing a new deal. The UK is due to exit Europe's trade and customs arrangements at the end of 2020, despite growing pressure from business groups and opposition political parties to extend the Brexit transition period.

However, Boris Johnson's government insists the country will leave, regardless of whether a new trade deal is negotiated. The hardline stance, in which few concessions are being offered to the EU, has led some in Brussels to wonder whether the UK government even wants to sign a new trade deal before 2021. "The chasm is both broad and deep," an EU source close to negotiations told Business Insider. "Increasing numbers here [in Brussels] wonder if the British Government wants a deal at all." This chasm was illustrated recently by a novel exchange of letters between the UK's chief negotiator, David Frost, and his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier. Frost, chosen by Johnson to lead the UK side, said the UK was "perplexed" by the EU's approach, which he recently branded "ideological," and that the trade deal Brussels was offering was unfair. h t t p s : / / w w w . businessinsider.com/ Adam Payne

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nvestigative journalist Matt Kennard has called on Sir Keir Starmer to come clean about his relationship with MI5. He has also called on him to explain his role in the Julian Assange case, his membership of the intelligencelinked Trilateral Commission and his links with Rupert Murdoch’s Times newspaper. Matt had been looking into his time as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for England and Wales. He asked him some questions but received no reply. Since then he wants everyone to know the five crucial questions he believes Sir Starmer needs to answer. 1. Why did you meet the head of MI5, the domestic security service, for informal social drinks in April 2013, the year after you decided not to prosecute MI5 for its role in torture? 2. When and why did you join the Trilateral Commission and what does your membership of this intelligencel i n k e d n e t w o r k entail? 3. What did you discuss with then US Attorney General Eric Holder when you met him on 9 November 2011 in Washington DC, at a time you were handling the Julian Assange case as the public prosecutor?

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4. What role did you play in the Crown Prosecution Service’s irregular handling of the Julian Assange case during your period as DPP?

5. Why did you develop such a close relationship with the Times newspaper while you were the Director of Public P and does this relationship still exist? 1. Why did you meet with MI5 chief for social drinks the year after you decided not to prosecute MI5 for its role in torture? As Britain痴 Director of Public Prosecutions from November 2008 to October 2013 you had the ultimate decision on which criminal cases should be prosecuted. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is intended to be independent of the police and government, including the security services. In 2010 and again in 2012, you made the controversial decision not to charge an MI5 officer for his role in torture. The following year, your register of hospitality while head of the CPS included an entry from 16 April, 2013, noting 電rinks・ with Sir Jonathan Evans, who was then Director-General of MI5. The value of the hospitality you received is listed as 砥nknown・ and MI5 is not mentioned, indicating that this was a social meeting. Formal meetings for the DDP are registered by the CPS separately under 杜eetings with external organizations,・ which would include MI5. Such social drinks appear to be unusual for the DPP. I analysed the three years of hospitality records for the period after you stood down from the CPS. They clearly show your successor as DPP received such no hospitality from a sitting intelligence chief — or any formal meetings with them. In that year痴 register, your meeting with Evans was the only hospitality you received which you left blank in the section that asks whether it was accepted or not. It is not known if your hospitality drinks were covered by MI5 or Evans personally. Evans has not responded to questions I posed about this meeting. In November 2010, you concluded as the DPP that there was 妬nsufficient evidence・ to prosecute an MI5 officer, known as Witness B, for his role in the torture of British resident Binyam Mohamed.

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Jonathan Evans then released a statement declaring: 的 am delighted that after a thorough police investigation the CPS has concluded that Witness B has no case to answer in respect of his interviewing of Mr Binyam Mohammed.箱 He added: 的 regret that he has had to endure this long and difficult process.”

Mohamed had been arrested in Karachi, Pakistan in April 2002 and interrogated for a week allegedly using various torture techniques. Mohamed said that as well as being interrogated by his American captors, Witness B had also taken part. It was later revealed that MI5 knew he was being mistreated before an officer was sent to Karachi to question him. Mohamed was then transported to Morocco by the CIA and again interrogated by Witness B, despite MI5 claiming it did not know his whereabouts in the north African country. Mohamed eventually spent seven years at Guantanamo Bay, the detention facility run by the US on the island of Cuba, before being released without charge and receiving a secret payout from the US. Your decision not to prosecute was surprising: it was reported, for example, that MI5 telegrams to the CIA demonstrated that British intelligence officers fed the US information on Mohamed when he was allegedly being tortured in Morocco. Evans・ relief was understandable. The CPS・ role also involved attempting to trace responsibility for Witness B痴 actions further up MI5痴 chain of command. It is likely that Evans, who joined MI5 in 1980, played a role in the Mohamed case as it unfolded. In September 2001 Evans had become director of international counter terrorism at MI5 and was in this position when Mohamed was snatched, tortured and rendered by the CIA, with MI5 involvement. It is not known if Evans would have been criminally liable if the prosecution had gone ahead, but he later had to defend MI5 from accusations of a cover-up in the Mohamed case after Lord Neuberger, then President of the Court of Appeal, said there was a 田 ulture of suppression・ in the agency.

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Allegations made by Mohamed concerning the role of MI6, Britain痴 external intelligence service, meant a 努ider investigation・ continued after your 2010 decision. This included new allegations by another detainee about British involvement in torture at Bagram air base in Afghanistan.

In January 2012, however ・ after 30 months of investigation ・ you decided against prosecuting anyone from MI5 or MI6 for their role in torture. You said at the time that there was evidence showing that MI5 “provided information to the US authorities about Mohamed and supplied questions for the US authorities to put to Mr Mohamed while he was being detained.” But you also concluded that there was “insufficient evidence to prove to the standard required in a criminal court” that any spies provided information when they “knew or ought to have known that there was a real or serious risk that Mr Mohamed would be exposed to ill-treatment amounting to torture.” Evans left MI5 a week following his drinks with you. The day after Evans left the service, you announced you would also leave the CPS. You went on to become a Labour MP at the 2015 general election, while Evans is now Baron Evans of Weardale after prime minister David Cameron made him a life peer in 2014. 2. When and why did you join the Trilateral Commission? You are a member of the Trilateral Commission, an organization which was set up in 1973 by American billionaire David Rockefeller, who was then chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Bank. Its stated aim was to be a 電iscussion group” to “foster closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America”. Today, its membership rolls include senior figures from the US national security establishment such as former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former US director of national intelligence, John Negroponte. Other members are John M. Deutch, former head of the CIA and Jami Miscik, a former deputy head. Declassified documents reveal that Rockefeller had close ties to the CIA. Many titans of the American business world such as Andrew Liveris, former chief executive of Dow Chemical Company, are also members.

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The Trilateral Commission also includes several high-profile British figures such as Lord Kerr, a former ambassador to the US, who sits on its executive committee. Another prominent member is Vivienne Cox, who is on the board of BG Group, the oil and gas multinational, and who previously served on the board of Britain’s Department for International Development. The former head of MI5, Stella Rimington, previously sat on the board of BG Group. Brian Gilvary, chief financial officer at BP, and Sir John Kingman, chairman of Legal & General, are also members.

｣6,807.59 on a first-class plane ticket to Washington DC for an “official meeting” but the register does not indicate how long you spent in Washington or who this meeting was with.

According to the Trilateral Commission痴 membership list from last year, you are the only serving British member of parliament who belongs to the commission. The same list, however, notes four 吐ormer members・ who are now in 菟ublic service・, one of whom is also British: the Conservative MP, Rory Stewart, who a security source told the Daily Telegraph was an MI6 officer before he moved into politics.

I have also obtained US government files revealing that you were also in Washington DC on November 9 2011 when you met with US Attorney General Eric Holder and five other officials from the US Department of Justice. Also present was Gary Balch, UK Liaison Prosecutor to the United States.

The Trilateral Commission clearly has access to the highest level of the British intelligence establishment. At a Commission meeting in London in 2017, Eliza Manningham-Buller ・ Sir Jonathan Evans・ predecessor as head of MI5 裏 chaired a discussion on 田 yber security” with Sir David Omand, former director of GCHQ, the UK’s surveillance agency. In 2018, Sir John Scarlett, former head of MI6, spoke at the Trilateral Commission’s plenary meeting in Singapore. The Trilateral Commission is a secretive organization whose meetings are strictly off-the-record. I have been unable to find any public mentions you have made of your membership of it. 3. What did you discuss with US Attorney General Eric Holder when you met him on November 9, 2011 in Washington DC? Analysis of your available business expenses at the Crown Prosecution Service in the 22 months January 2012 to when left in October 2013, you undertook five international work two of which were to US. In November you spent

(CPS) f r o m y o u shows trips, t h e 2012,

In September 2013, the month before you left the CPS, you spent ｣4,085.15 on another first class flight to Washington DC for a “conference.” For three nights in the US capital you expensed £1,050.73 for accommodation and food. I could find no evidence of what this conference was or who you met with on this trip.

At this time the CPS which you headed was handling the complex legal case surrounding WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. The year previous to your meeting, Holder had stated that he had given the go-ahead for a number of unspecified actions as part of a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks. “I personally authorized a number of things last week and that’s an indication of the seriousness with which we take this matter and the highest level of involvement at the Department of Justice,” he said. Three weeks after your meeting with Holder, the attorney general met with the then British home secretary, Theresa May, alongside three other DOJ personnel, two of whom had been in the meeting with you.

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THE PATIENTS EYE

Surviving on the superm

e couldn’t get supermarket delivery slots no matter how late we were willing

to stay up. We’d eaten all the food left by our youngest when he’d hurriedly moved out to give us space, and there is only so much you can do with onions, potatoes and carrots. Bombay potatoes are delicious, but my wife’s smile, when I served it up for the fifth successive evening meal, was nothing like the delight with which she greeted our first Tesco delivery. “Three weeks to the next one,” I told her. “Look,” she replied. “Stir-fry, salads, toilet roll!”

The next day three things happened. I received texts from both our sons telling me they’d booked delivery slots for us and a message from a neighbour saying Morrison’s were doing a special service of 47 basic items for those sheltering (Call 0345 611 6111, option 5.) I went on line and got a delivery slot – on the same day that our sons had booked for us, all three weeks away. Some cancellations

were needed. In the meantime, we decided to try Morrison’s. A nice lad with a Northern voice guided us through what the supermarket imagines old people eat: fruit and salad ingredients, up to three of each. Baking apples? Three please. Bread? Again three please. Then he moved on to tins: chopped tomatoes (excellent,) to-

Bombay potatoes are delicious, but my wife’s smile, when I served it up for the fifth successive evening meal, was nothing like the delight with which she greeted our first Tesco delivery.

mato soup (contains dairy but my wife eats it) and then ‘cupboard’ items. In a solicitous voice he asked: “Custard Creams?” I politely declined. Toilet rolls and kitchen roll were not rationed, so I took three packs of each. Though we were not badly off for either I wanted to get ahead before the hoarders nabbed them all. After the 47 basics had been offered, I was asked if there might be anything else they could get for me. I asked for postage stamps, and red onions. Evidently I could make up to 10 extra choices, but best of all, the delivery arrived the very next day! Morrison’s sell baking apples

Within days I got two things: a letter with a long number on it, and a box of groceries, free of charge, from Rishi Sunak!

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Morrison’s were doing a special service of 47 basic items for those sheltering

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An immigrant’s view Sometimes the international situation is so tense and apocalyptic it’s time to break out one of the most visceral songs of desperation as the soundtrack: Eminem’s Kim, and play it loudly so my neighbours can hear and call the cops. Imagine (or listen to) this song, and hear me out. I am gestating. Now I’m older, looking back I spent a great chunk of my adulthood and my historical disposable income on controlling health problems. Some of which were caused by neglect and incompetence of the “free healthcare” I had access to here. Every time UK NHS doctors fucked me up, I had to fly to Romania for private healthcare and to piece myself up. Should it be so hard to get proper healthcare in the 2000s? Should it be that your life revolves around it and docdraped in state-of-the art miltors make you worse? Who do I itary equipment when they talk to about this? Because the push us back in our little box? country’s main socialist party When they shoot at us, for becares more about micro-aggresing scared animals who want to sions and pronouns. live? Ah, to have the good health When does it become that allows me to worry enough? Yeah George Floyd’s about nano traces of murder is a reason to anti-Semitism in take to the streets. random peoPeople murdered ple’s Tweets! through underLike those funding of the more well-off NHS also. That “ brocialists” fucking human right, more than do. Because 60,000 peoat no time more they’re not ple are dead obvious than during because of this real-world sufa pandemic fering. Well, they G o v e r n m e n t ’s have their micro-agmismanagement of gressions. I unfortunatecoronavirus, is anothly have my macro-pain. er pretty fucking good reason. Why don’t we make another And there are probably a milprotest about health care and lion other reasons. join Black Lives Matter and YelLet’s strike and take to the low Vests? streets. Now! No rioting. No viThat healthcare should be olence. Just numbers. a fucking human right is nevAs the last shrieking notes er more obvious than during a of Eminems’s song play out, I pandemic. am hoping we all get angry and Why can’t we have good exit the cage. Exit cage left. health care, when the cops are By Mara Leverkuhn

The country’s main socialist party cares more about micro aggressions and pronouns

Healthcare should be a

market lottery in packs of six unlike Tesco who used to sell them loose but now seem not to sell them at all. Eighteen whoppers sat proudly on out kitchen table defying me: “We are the many; you are the few.” Divide and conquer, I thought. The family next door took six and we squirrelled away our dozen in cupboards and boxes. Apple crumble is fabulous even for the seventh evening in

a row. We had plenty of flour for the crumble, but ran out of vegan custard. Thus we found that three weekly Tesco slots, and a Morrison’s basic delivery in between did us well. But then ‘they’ had to go and complicate matters, didn’t they? I received a letter from somebody, perhaps the council, perhaps the NHS. I must change my

A nice lad with a Northern voice guided us through what supermarkets imagine old people eat … in a solicitous voice he asked me, “Custard Creams?” which I politely declined.

registration from ‘I can get my own shopping,’ to ‘I am unable to get my own shopping’, which is true. I’m in the hands of the supermarkets. If everyone began to use their services I could starve. Within days I received a letter with a long number on it, and a free box of groceries - from Chancellor Rishi Sunak! This was an even simpler survival kit for the housebound, but I would not mock. It contained one of those oven-bake tinned pies and one toilet roll - a huge, industrial-sized one. I gave the pie away. It broke their tin opener. To be continued….

Why don’t we make another protest about health care and join Black Lives Matter and Yellow Vests?

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HAVING A BLAST IN VEGAS Starting in 1951, the US Department of Energy began testing nuclear bombs just 65 miles from the city of Las Vegas. At night, the glow of the bombs lit up the sky, and mushroom clouds could be spotted rising over the horizon during the day. Atomic tourism drew people from all over to see these devices of ultimate destruction. Mushroom clouds showed up on billboards, in hairstyles, and even costumes. There was literal pageantry as Las Vegas named the official “Miss Atomic Bomb”. Casinos jumped at the chance to use their roofs for exclusive atomic cocktail parties, and tourism officials posted guides on the best places to watch the bombs. Detonations were even announced in advance to ensure nobody missed them. Tests continued in the Nevada Desert until 1963, when the US signed a ban on above-ground testing. Despite the ban, over 900 bombs were tested outside the city between 1951 and 1992. Ironically, all this spectacle and fascination was embedded in the midst of crippling worry over nuclear doomsday. During the same time, children were being told to hide under their desks in preparation for a nuclear attack. Schools even issued dog tags to children so they could be identified in case of an accident at the testing facility. While the Vegas economy exploded with the bombs, so did concerns about dangerous radiation exposure. Soldiers viewing nuclear bombs showed significantly higher risks of cancer and a high chance of deformity in offspring, but military officials at the time said that residents of Las Vegas could just shower if they were exposed. GOOD S**T MAN! Scientists have reported getting so high on the nitrous oxide emitted by penguin poo that it actually made them ill. The levels of nitrous oxide, more commonly known as laughing gas, given off by the colony’s faeces was about 100 times higher than in a fertilised field. Professor Bo Elberling, from the University of Copenhagen, said the “truly intense” amount of nitrous oxide exhumed was enough to send someone “completely cuckoo”. The gas comes from the nitrogen in the penguins’ diet. “It is truly intense - not least because nitrous oxide is 300 times more polluting than CO2,” he explained. “After nosing about in guano (the term given

Bizarre News to the excrement of seabirds and bats) for several hours, one goes completely cuckoo. One begins to feel ill and get a headache.” He added: “The small nitrous oxide cylinders that you see lying in and floating around are no match for this heavy dose, which results from a combination of nitrous oxide with hydrogen sulphide and other gases.” Nitrous oxide canisters are often sold legitimately for producing whipped cream, but they are also taken recreationally through a balloon - with users often littering the small canisters behind. The nitrogen in the nitrous oxide exhumed by penguin poo comes from the seabird’s diet of fish and krill, which themselves eat on phytoplankton in the ocean. OOOOH MATRON nurse in Russia has been given a telling off for ‘non-compliance with the requirements of medical clothing’. The unnamed nurse, who is in her 20s, was pictured on a coronavirus ward for male patients in Tula, 120 miles south of Moscow, and the picture was spotted online by her bosses. She was called in for a meeting where she said that she was too hot wearing her normal uniform underneath the see-through plastic PPE she had been given. She also said that she didn’t realise how transparent the PPE was. The regional health

ministry said that ‘a disciplinary sanction was applied to the nurse of the infectious diseases department who violated (uniform) requirements’. patient said that there was no objection to her attire but there had been ‘some embarrassment’. Responding to local newspaper reports, readers said that she had shown she had a sense of humour while another woman said she had raised the patients’ moods. The exact nature of her reprimand is unknown. STREWTH YA PERV Two men snuck into a bedroom with machetes after being hired to carry out a stranger’s sexual fantasy of being tied up in his underwear and stroked with a broom, only to discover they had got the wrong address. The pair from Sydney, Australia, made their apologies and left the startled victim’s bedside as soon as they realised their mistake. One of the men, Terrence Leroy, has now been acquitted of entering the home in July 2019 intending to intimidate while armed with an offensive weapon, after the New South Wales district court accepted his explanation. Conceding “the facts of the case are unusual”, judge Sean Grant set out his reasons for the not guilty verdict, saying the evidence did not suggest the men’s actions were intentional. “They carried the machetes

either as a prop or something to use in that fantasy,” he said. “The fantasy was unscripted and there was discretion as to how it would be carried out.” According to court documents, a man living in western NSW, near Griffith, “wanted a broom handle to be rubbed around his underwear”. He was willing to pay $5,000 if it was ‘really good’,” court documents said.

“Are you sure you are not Kevin as we were told to come to [this address] and pick up Kevin.” Eventually accepting their error, the duo then left, with one saying “sorry mate” and shaking the resident’s hand, while the other said “bye”. The resident then called police.

Police said the intended client had “history and proclivity for engaging the services of people”. He had made arrangements with a man on Facebook for people to engage in the role play, and sent his address - before he later updated it after moving house more than 30 miles away. But the resident of the home where the men mistakenly turned up to told police that when he noticed a light on in his lounge at around 6.15am, he assumed it was a friend who visits daily to make coffee.

The intended client called the men soon after to check on their whereabouts, at which point they realised their error. The two men and their driver eventually arrived at the correct address, where the would-be customer spotted one had a “great big knife” in his trousers. The customer told him not to bring the weapon inside, and he left it in the car. Court documents say all three men then entered the correct property. The client began cooking bacon, eggs and noodles after being asked to do so by Leroy, who then “fell asleep on the couch”.

He said he called out: “B***** off, it’s too early.” After hearing a voice asking “is your name Kevin?”, the man said he turned his light on to see two men he did not recognise standing next to his bed, both holding machetes.A conversation then ensued, in which the pair repeatedly sought to establish whether he was “Kevin”, each time being told “no” in response. At one point, one of them asked:

Police arrived at the property around an hour later, and arrested Leroy and the other man who had appeared in the incorrect bedroom. The judge said it had not proved that Leroy’s intention had been to intimidate. Leroy’s lawyer said: “It was a commercial agreement to tie up and stroke a seminaked man in his underpants with a broom. Entry was not with intent to intimidate.”

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Mad Madge Talks Across Oceans Of Time

Dear Maggie My Father is abusing me. Two weeks ago he made me go on a car journey of hundreds of miles but would not stop to let me go to the toilet. He then said he would test his eyesight by driving another 60 miles. He is a very bad driver even when he can see. What I want to know is can I put myself up for adoption? Also, I need to know is my dad bad or just mad? Cummings minor, aged 4 and one quarter.

dare challenge his authority, given that he is essentially running the country, which gives him the God given right to do whatever he wants. As for his sanity watch out for some key indicators such as using the ‘Royal We’ instead of ‘I’ or wearing his pants on his head. As for adoption, I wouldn’t worry, it’s only a couple more years and you will be packed off with all the other little Psychopath’s to Boarding School and will barely speak to your parents ever again.

Well young Cummings, what you have to consider here is the moral dilemma your poor Father was undergoing when he ventured forth in his 5 litre Range Rover, full to the brim with petrol. Firstly would he get caught? And if he did get caught, who the hell would

Dear Margaret I booked a holiday in a violent third world country but am not sure about going as there are riots happening. Do you think it will be safe? By the way I am black Jackie from Kent Well Jackie, we all need a

holiday don’t we, the travel, the interesting food and the culture. Of course in some countries human rights aren’t what we are used to and it’s important to check with the Foreign Office before travelling to make sure it’s safe. Obviously steer clear of the USA, Disneyland isn’t the only Mickey Mouse run institution over there and with your complexion you will end up with a rubber bullet as you Anarchistically queue at MacDonalds. Dear agony aunt I was very lonely. I never had any children of my own so one day I carved a wooden figure of a boy. I was so happy pretending that he was real. Then some really bad men stole him and took him to England. I know he is not a real boy but I so much want to find him but don’t know

where to look. Can you help me please? Geppetto from Italy. Bongiorno Geppetto, I’m familiar with your situation as back in the eighties my own dear son Mark went missing with a dishy french blonde in the middle of the Paris-Dakkar Rally. It was a worrying time for me and Dennis, but on the bright side I got plenty of coverage in the press showing my ‘human’ side, dabbing away imaginary tears etc. Back to your son, if he hasn’t ended up as fire wood, he’s probably joined the Circus, like John Majors dad, or been eaten by a Whale. Dear Maggie A while back I got invited to a party. It was nice for a while. We sang lots of songs

and played some splendid games. Then some of the other children started being mean to me. They kept wanting my sweets. Every time I gave them some they wanted more till there were none left. Even my big brother thought I should have fought back. Now the parties over, it’s time to call it a day. Should I start my own party and only invite people I like? Chris - Derby It sounds like the people who originally held the party in the first place were not to choosy as to who was invited and it’s original purpose became lost. This can happen. If I were you, I would round up all the cool kids, grab the Cider and party on elsewhere, leave the gatecrashers to an empty house, the mysanthropic Bastards.

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SIGNS OF REVOLUTION WON’T BE OF THE SOCIALIST VARIETY

ACROSS THE POND T

he murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police served as yet another wakeup call for a nation that has historically struggled with recognizing structural violence against people of colour. The ensuing protests and riots represent a renewed effort to sensitise Americans to the reality of pervasive racism in their country. Recent events follow a familiar cycle: 1. Racial profiling and police brutality persist, largely unabated, until public anger reaches a critical mass and boils over into protest and violence after a catalyst event – in this case, the murder of George Floyd; 2. Media coverage is heavily sensationalised, marginalising the

protesters who are non-violent, emphasising looting and riots, and thereby obscuring the reasons for the protests; 3. National guard and police forces are mobilised to suppress the protests, further inflaming tensions and exacerbating the violence through the heavy-handed tactics of the police; 4. Millions of Americans nod in recognition of the travesty of racism and police brutality, while millions of others – including many whites – lament the destruction of property, while downplaying the loss of black lives to police violence; 5. Despite sensational media coverage, the basic point that millions of people of colour are mad as hell about police brutality and

society's racism manages to seep through, with it becoming increasingly difficult for most Americans to deny that race relations in the US are at crisis; 6. Reforms ensue, geared toward increased pressure on police forces to improve transparency, to rely more heavily on community policing, and to further sensitise Americans to the problem of structural racism. And the cycle repeats. Covid-19, however, appears to have exacerbated public anxieties beyond a level seen in previous rounds of Black Lives Matter protests. Communities under pressure, particularly poor people of colour who are worst hit by Covid-19, have reached a break-

ing point, and are rebelling against the status quo of record economic inequality, racial oppression, rising unemployment, and a near-complete non-response from the federal government to the worst public health crisis in a century. Within the context of these intensified protests, many self-identified radicals I have talked to believe we are witnessing the beginnings of a political and economic revolution, in light of

the violent protests that have now taken over dozens of cities in the US. But we should be wary of romantic celebrations of revolution. Americans are nowhere near developing the radical working-class consciousness that’s needed for a socialist revolution.

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COVID SLAYER

r.K.K. Shailaja , Kerala’s Health Minister, becomes “Covid Slayer” of repute. Her masterminding of a strict anti-pandemic strategy was very successful. The site of communist Cuban doctors saving lives in in NATO countries is one thing then when the news of a’ coronavirus-slayer ‘ in Communist Kerala appeared , it was a veritable nightmare for supporters of neoliberalism. Shailaja, the Health Minister of Kerala, was interviewed on 1st of June about her success in masterminding a strategy, which if copied, could have saved thousands of lives throughout the world. She talked on the rates of fatality in Kerala where , if it suffered at the rate of UK , then out of Kerala’s 35 million people 30,000 fatality figure should exist.

“At the end of may we had identified 512 infections . Because of our preparedness only 3 of them died. In April and may we declared lockdown. It was easy stem the influx of travellers and also we operated a strict policy of isolating and quarantining and treatment of those that had recently entered Kerala.We flattened the pandemic curve. For international airports were closed down.” She was asked how important tracing was because in the UK we decided to not do it. “yes we tested all symptomatic people and we screened and tested people at the actual airports and train stations. We tested everybody. Symptomatic cases were quarantined in hospital and a symptomatic cases were

strictly prohibited in hands or secure premises. The local selfgovernment officials, police and health workers put those houses surveillance to ensure quarantine. We had a very good app and created good awareness among people. The people-friendly communist public health system paid for the costs of quarantine.

We have had a communist dictatorship since 1957. Our government has a very decentralised system. Did decentralised wards population took responsibility very well for our states strategy . The ethos of our decentralized system allows very good management of such big projects , the social manners of our society lead to every

individual wanting to help in getting success.” She was asked about PPE. “We are producing and protective wear. in January it was scares but now through purchasing and manufacture we have sufficient. We are able to supply N95 masks to all personnel in our hospitals aswell.”

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Selection of investments

4S is a British security company that helps Israel run prisons where. Palestinian political prisoners are held without trial and subjected to torture and illtreatment. G4S is also involved in providing equipment and services to Israeli military checkpoints, illegal settlements and to military and police buildings. The international Stop G4S Campaign has cost the company contracts worth millions of dollars and compelled the Bill Gates Foundation to sell its shares in G4S. In response to international pressure, G4S has announced that it may sell its Israeli operations. US Company Caterpillar supplies the Israeli military with D9 bulldozers which are weaponised and used to demolish Palestinian homes, schools, villages and civilian infrastructure, including sewage and water pipes in order to make way for the everexpanding illegal Israeli Jewishonly settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Caterpillar also provides equipment used to reinforce Israels separation wall alongside the West Bank as well as the barrier in Gaza, and for the construction of illegal settlements and settlement infrastructure on stolen Palestinian land. In addition, these bulldozers have been

involved in constructing Israels checkpoints in the occupied Palestinian territories. These constitute war crimes under international law. Caterpillar machines were involved in the recent preparations for demolition in Khan Al-Ahmar village and of many other Palestinian villages. Serco Australia Defence will provide maintenance and technical support for Rafaelproduced Typhoon and MiniTyphoon remote weapon stations and the Toplite electro-optical surveillance, observation, and targeting system Booking.com is a travel metasearch engine for lodging reservations. It is owned and operated by and is the primary

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revenue source of United Statesbased Booking Holdings and is headquartered in Amsterdam. It was included in the UN list of businesses active in illegal Israeli settlements based on stolen Palestinian land. In June 2019, Microsoft made a massive multi-million dollar investment in AnyVision, an Israeli facial recognition company led by former Mossad and Israeli Defense Forces staff even though Microsoft had just committed to follow six ethical principles to guide their Artificial Intelligence work. AnyVision痴 main security product, Better Tomorrow, uses facial biometrics to identify specific people within large crowds. This technology has been integrated into Israels illegal military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank. AnyVision has another, more secretive project, to use a network of cameras deployed deep inside the West Bank to surveil the Palestinian population subject to a military occupation. This project won the company an award in 2018 from the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Forgotte

t’s short for Frances, honest, the female form of Frank. I’m sure this was not in the minds of producer Richard Perry and the record buying public in 1969 when the band signed to Reprise Records. Richard seems to have had a thing about girls, but that’s true for lot of us, surely. Richard signed The Pointer Sisters, another all-girl singing group, to his Planet Records label in 1978. They will feature in another instalment of Forgotten Bands.

Fanny was the real deal, from the very beginning, when nobody knew the band could sing, play, or make records. What mattered was that they were all girls. They were also stunning to look at. You have to remember that male bands had been picked up in America that couldn’t play; the Monkees in 1965 were just actors in a TV show about a band. These were a talented group of female musicians; all four could sing too, so when you hear them perform, you understand why The Bangles credit them

Fanny was the real deal, from the very beginning, when nobody knew the band could sing, play, or make records. What mattered was that they were all girls

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en Bands – Fanny with being if not an influence old Marvin Gaye song written then certainly role models. June by among others, Smokey Millington formed the band Robinson; <Motown Alert with with her sister Jean, transferred flashing light> but these young from bass to guitar, and enlisted women played Hard Rock. Alice de Buhr, and Nickey Barclay. They never Nickey begins conformed to some very unthe girl-group Motown piano norm, dressed and June differently from Millington one another, ear scorches the They refused to win and actually track with slide g guitar. played. She sings girl-group match Watch ‘Ain’t lead vocal and outfits or try to That Peculiar’ on the other three look alluring YouTube. There’s a belt out the oohs lot of messing about and aahs. I bet you with gear (proper rock band play it again as soon as it stuff) for around a minute and a finishes, missing out the initial half, and then all four musicians minute or so while someone come in tapping and shaking a looks for a guitar cable. Slick this variety of instruments. It’s an is/isn’t.

Make a stand

The girls are impossibly young, between 18 and 21 years old, yet have the confidence of other female Americans of the same age, such as the unbelievably good Melanie Safka (Candles in the Rain.) It must have been the Time of Year, or maybe the Time of Woman, to completely misquote Joni Mitchell. You might be watching Canned Heat, or The Faces. The Millington sisters are described as American-Filipina. They moved to the USA aged 12 and 13. Insistent that they were musicians who happened to be women rather than women who might attempt to play musical instruments, they refused to wear girl-group matching outfits

I bet you play the video again as soon as it finishes, missing out the initial minute or so while someone looks for a guitar cable

or try to look alluring. Watch the video and tell me whether they succeeded! They weren’t always taken seriously. At least one promoter showed reluctance to let them headline at venues, in case the group split up when members got married and had children

(during the gig?) though the group have stressed this was not personal but merely business; I think it was chauvinism. Diana Ross didn’t have that trouble, I guess. Not always anyhow.

During tours, female fans would ask the group how to form a band. In one of my roles as a youth worker/coach I found that many girl bands came along to watch the boys. Tensions arose, and I wondered whether stereotypes (the chick singer, the curio girl drummer, the girl band plus non- boyfriend ‘helping out’ on lead guitar) were not merely male arrogance but the way many bands evolve. But in the past, forgotten by many, were Fanny. Go watch.

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Jun 13. 2020

hen former Liberian President Ellen J o h n s o n Sirleaf dedicated the Chief Suah Koko Centre for Rural Women’s Empowerment in 2014 to provide micro-finance credits for rural women, it was the first time female chief Madam Suakoko was being properly recognised. A remarkable woman who has the town of Suakoko named after her. Suakoko’s father died while she was a child and was raised by her mother. A member of the popular Sande School, a traditional institution for young girls and women in Liberia, Suakoko would grow up to have a tremendous influence over her people. Suakoko, traveling with others, asked elders of the Nyalinsue area for a piece of land to cultivate a cassava and plantain farm in order to feed her followers. The elders granted her request and in subsequent years, her followers also made their own farms. Eventually, these farms developed into a village in what would become known as Suakoko-Ta, meaning Suakoko Town. Suah Koko, is believed to be the first woman Liberian tribal chief who lived between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She contributed immensely to the making of the Liberian nation. At a time when women in the society were kept as mothers and housekeepers, Suakoko lived above such cultural norms, ruling a chiefdom in northern Liberia, including land within modern-day Bong County, which was governed from her residence at Suakoko, a town named after her. A brave warrior who became the first woman paramount chief in the Central Province, which includes Bong County. Suakoko

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Madam Suah

he ho w f ie ch e al m fe d ne w no re e Th

was a symbol of national peace as Liberia’s Daily Observer said “it was she who persuaded her tribesmen and women in the region to become part of the Republic of Liberia. This paved the way for other interior peoples to join the republic.”

choice between collaborating with the central government in the capital city of Monrovia, or a long protracted war against it.

Having excellent diplomatic skills, she eventually entered negotiations to provide her land to the Liberian However before government. Her land granting accession provided strategic of the territory access to other she ruled over regions of the to the Americohinterland, and L i b e r i a n she supported Who became government, the central Liberia’s symbol she fought government of national many battles to advance its peace against the Liberia territorial and Frontier Force, political gains, by which was made up providing logistics, of a number of tribes, Bassa intelligence and hospitality. and Kpelle opposed to the creation of a new state. Persuading her people not to fight the Liberian During the period of government, the diplomatic ties annexation by the Liberian state Suakoko established with the (1900–1920), she “faced a difficult government did not only end the various hinterland tribal wars but also “opened up the northwestern and northeastern parts of Liberia”.

Warrior Chief

Later becoming the only female indigenous ruler in the country, Suakoko, between 1926 and 1927, supplied porters to the Harvard Medical African Expedition, an eight-man venture sent by Harvard University, conducting a medical and biological survey of Liberia. It is recorded that without her permission and generosity, the Harvard expedition could not

have traveled further to areas like Gbanga and beyond. Having entered Suakoko, expedition leader Dr. Richard Strong wrote: “This town is presided over by Suah Coco, a woman, and it bears her name, she being the chief of it, dinner.” He records how she helped provide food and poterage for the expedition.* In 1929 when she was appointed a paramount chief, Suakoko, who had knowledge of medicinal plants and oral traditions, had to rule through her grandson as she was almost blind. Before her death in the 1930s, she remained a strong ally of the government in the interior, according to reports, and contributed to the setting up of some institutions of national importance, including the Central Agricultural Research Institute, the Phebe Hospital which trains nurses, and the Cuttington University College, all located in Suakoko. The Liberian government and church missions subsequently expanded education opportunities to central Liberia and the descendants of Suakoko granted more than one thousand acres to Cuttington University which hosts the Chief Suah Koko Centre for Rural Women’s Empowerment. * Richard Pearson Strong Diary: September 1, 1926 Part II)

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h Koko

elped build Liberia

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Jun 13. 2020

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WORD

George Floyd poem Black people are so tired. We can’t breathe with a knee on our neck (#GeorgeFloyd). We can’t go jogging (#AmaudArbery). We can’t relax in the comfort of our own homes (#BothemSean and #AtatianaJefferson). We can’t ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride). We can’t have a cellphone (#StephonClark). We can’t leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards). We can’t play loud music (#JordanDavis). We can’t sell CD’s (#AltonSterling). We can’t sleep (#AiyanaJones) We can’t walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown). We can’t play cops and robbers (#TamirRice). We can’t go to church (#Charleston9). We can’t walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin). We can’t hold a hair brush while leaving our own bachelor party (#SeanBell). We can’t party on New Years (#OscarGrant). We can’t get a normal traffic ticket (#SandraBland). We can’t lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile). We can’t break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones). We can’t shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford) . We can’t have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher). We can’t read a book in our own car (#KeithScott). We can’t be a 10yr old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover). We can’t decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese). We can’t ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans). We can’t cash our check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood). We can’t take out our wallet (#AmadouDiallo). We can’t run (#WalterScott). We can’t breathe (#EricGarner). We can’t live (#FreddieGray). We’re tired. Tired of making hashtags. Tired of trying to convince you that our #BlackLivesMatter too. Tired of dying. Tired. Tired. Tired. So very tired.

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Jun 13. 2020

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NEWS RELEASE June 4 2020 George Floyd, Black leadership and unity in the global struggle for justice Grassroots Black Left (GBL) give our solidarity to the people fighting for justice in America and internationally, including in Britain, after the police slaughter of unarmed Black man George Floyd. The callous murder has rightly sent shock waves of revulsion around the world and is a wake-up call to politicians that there must be root and branch change to tackle racism in the police, the justice system and society as a whole. Had a sharp-eyed citizen journalist not filmed the public lynching, it would probably have been covered up and police officer Derek Chauvin, who suffocated George Floyd with the full weight of his knee, would have got away with murder. This has been the case in most other instances of police brutality against Black people. GBL give our deepest condolences to George Floyd’s family and applaud #BlackLivesMatter for organising huge protests in America and Britain, the latter of which our activists have attended. It is vital Black people lead our own struggle, of course, supported by genuine white anti-racist allies and it is inspiring that has happened. It is time for the labour movement to rise to the challenge and visibly lend their support to the protests. We note the militancy, energy and stamina of the young people who are at the heart of all of the mass demonstrations and salute them. Those politicians who have focused more in their opportunistic “law and order” media comments about violence on the demonstrations, rather than the legitimate expressions of grievance, should be reminded that property and businesses can be rebuilt. But a person murdered by the police cannot be brought back to life. The struggle is against a racist justice system that profits from the mass imprisonment of Black people and the arming of police and other security forces. Instead of showing moral leadership, President Donald Trump has acted as a fascist dictator, calling in the military to attack peaceful protestors and threatening even more violence against the American people in a cynical attempt to whip up his bigoted white supremacist support base. We condemn his actions in the strongest possible terms.

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Last Geo “It’s my face man I didn’t do nothing serious man please please please I can’t breathe please man please somebody please man I can’t breathe I can’t breathe please (inaudible) man can’t breathe, my face just get up I can’t breathe please (inaudible) I can’t breathe sh*t I will I can’t move mama mama I can’t my knee my nuts I’m through I’m through I’m claustrophobic my stomach hurt my neck hurts everything hurts some water or something please please I can’t breathe officer don’t kill me they gon’ kill me man come on man I cannot breathe I cannot breathe they gon’ kill me they gon’ kill me I can’t breathe I can’t breathe please sir please please please I can’t breathe Then his eyes shut and the pleas stop. George Floyd was pronounced dead shortly after.

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t words of orge Floyd These are the last words of George Floyd, a 46-year-old man who died as a US police officer pinned him down, kneeling on his neck for seven minutes, until he suffocated

Jun 13. 2020

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Hope and Good News

Zambia: The President has pardoned a gay couple sentenced to 15 years in prison last November under colonialera sodomy laws. The two men in their 30’s were among nearly 3,000 inmates pardoned by President Edgar Lungu.

Senegal: Activist Guy Marius Sagna released on bail after three months in a high security prison for taking part in a peaceful protest about rising electricity prices. #1

B a h r a i n : Hajer Mansoor released after serving three years on ‘absurd’ t e r r o r i s m charges following what Amnesty called a sham trial. #1 UK: There has been over 600 groups, some with over 9,000 volunteers who have pledged to do shopping, fill prescriptions, provide childcare for health care workers and chat to those experiencing loneliness. #2 Pakistan: A newly formed Labour Relief Campaign has gathered rations for laid off factory workers. They say their campaign is not charity but ‘social solidarity to those whose labour makes our society run’.#2

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Jun 13. 2020

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UNITY NEWS

’ve been roundly told off by a number of people for asking the question ‘Where’s Starmer?’, which I asked in consequence of his apparent lack of any kind of public response to the Cummmings press conference.

Three things to say about that: 1) Kier Starmer is now the Leader of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition. He became so on the understanding that he would accept his constitutional

responsibility to question and if necessary criticise government policy and any actions the government or its representatives undertakes in the course of applying that policy. If he wasn’t there after Cummings’ press-conference to question what Cummings said as the leader of the LibDems managed to be, then he damn well ought to have been. 2) If the Labour Party is to stand any chance of getting the

WORD

Tories out, it will need a leader who will stand up, loudly and clearly, against the government whenever this government or anybody in it steps out of line.

Starmer is not being paid just to be clever at PMQs. He’s also there to represent an alternative view of the government to the public so that he may persuade the public which still supports Johnson that he is a realistic alternative as Prime Minister. If the public doesn’t see or hear him, how can we possibly be persuaded of that? A few tweets and some articles behind a paywall aren’t going to cut it. 3) I am told we must back Starmer because to do otherwise is to be disloyal to the

Labour Party and so damage its prospects of winning power.

Apart from making the obvious comment about the degree of loyalty the last leader got from those whom he was elected to lead, there’s another point. Loyalty has to be earned. Starmer, like any other politician operating in a democracy has to be held to account by the people who have granted him his responsibilities. As opposition leader, he no longer answers to himself, he answers to the whole country. At this crucial, maybe even historic, time, he should be leading the public protest against the government, instead of standing back and watching.

He himself is making it hard for people to think of the Labour Party as an alternative to the Tories for the simple reason that he is failing to present it as one. Maybe tomorrow or the day after, Starmer will stand up in public and give this government the kind of treatment this government so richly deserves. But until that happens, Labour Party supporters have the right to question him as to what he is actually doing and what his intentions are. That’s not being disloyal to the Party. That’s wishing that the Party had the kind of strong leadership it ought to have when the government of the day has never been more fragile; and right now it’s just not happening. Richard Snell

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POLITICS AND EVENTS POLITICS AND EVENTS

Jun 13. 2020 June 13. 2020

THE THE

WORD WORD

25 25

The ongoing purge of anti-Zionist socialists being waged by Labour’s bureaucracy

CORBYN'S PROBLEMS BEGAN WHEN APPEASED THE RIGHT Open Letter to Jeremy Corbyn

orbyn’s failures began

despairing of mass support, use

with

violence as a substitute. ISIS being

interview

with Krishna Guru-

a classic example.

Murphy on 13 July

2015. When pressed as to why he

Hamas was created by Israel to

used the term ‘friends’ in

counter

relation

nationalism.

Hezbollah

and

secular

Palestinian

Hamas, Corbyn blustered and got angry but refused to confront the question.

Hezbollah came out of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon when more than

The answer he should have given was that neither organisation

20,000

Lebanese

were

murdered by Israel's bombing of population centres.

were terrorists. If ever the word ‘terrorist’ had They are conservative Islamist groups but they come from the

any meaning then it is as a description of Israel.

people who they work among and represent.

Corbyn knew this but couldn’t say it because it contradicts the

Terrorists are people who,

western narrative about terrorism

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WORD

June 13. 2020

Preparation time: 20 minutes Ingredients

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Salmon Skewer Salad

Salmon Skewers, (these are ready made from Aldi, but

Salmon skewers, cut into thick

4. Cut the cucumber, tomatoes,

if you want to make your own)

strips and attach onto Bamboo stick.

avocado olives and Pakora bites

200g of Salmon

Cover with minced ginger, fresh

anyway you like and add them to

Bamboo sticks

chilli and chilli flakes and drizzle a

the bed of rocket and lettuce.

Soy sauce

few drops of soy sauce over the top.

Chilli

Cover over with foil or a lid and cook

5. When the Salmon is piping hot all

Ginger

in the oven at 200c for 20 mins.

through, let it stand for 2 mins to

Olive Oil

cool slightly before adding it to the

Lettuce

2. Put the eggs to boil for 7-8

Rocket

minutes so you can use the time to

Sweet Baked Pakora bites (Aldi)

prepare the salad.

Boiled Eggs

salad. 6.

When the eggs have boiled,

drain, add cold water and let them

Stuffed Halkadiki Olives

3. Wash lettuce and

Cucumber

rocket and lay as the

Tomatoes

salad bed, drizzling

Avocado

a small amount of

7. When the Salmon and

olive

egg are ready, add to the

Method:

oil

stand for a few minutes before adding to the salad,

over

them both and a

salad and voila! A quick,

generous sprinkling 1. If you are preparing your own

easy and healthy dinner or

of salt.

tea

Tzatziki Preparation time:

Method:

5 minutes

1. Dice cucumber, chop Coriander and Parsley very fine.

Ingredients 2. Mince a small piece of garlic Cucumber

finely

Fresh Coriander Fresh Parsley

3. Add salt into all chopped

Greek Yoghurt

vegetables and herbs and mixed

Salt

together evenly.

Garlic

Serve with warm pitta, kebab or add to a mini-meze

Easy Veggie Pasta Preparation time: 20 Minutes

Method:

Ingredients

when the onions have softened

1. Add the pasta to boiling water 200g of Penne Pasta (or any pasta)

and boil the pasta for 10 minutes

Olive oil

4. When all the veg is

soft,

add

Spinach

2. Whilst the pasta is boiling, dice

spinach

3 large tomatoes

the onion and fry

and mix until they

300g of Mushroom

leaves

wilt

1 large onionGreen Pesto

3. Cut the mushrooms and

Tomato and Mascarpone Paste

tomatoes and add them

5. Drain the pasta and add to the pan of frying vegetables 6. Add a tablespoon of green pesto and tomato and Mascarpone paste. 7. Enjoy hot or cold.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Vegan recipes

eat and two veg had

been

the

staple diet in my Mam and Dad’s

home before I went vegan back in 1976.

Italian food seemed incredibly exotic. The only pasta I’d ever heard of, but never tasted, was spaghetti. In fact, it wasn’t until former Derbyshire council leader, David Bookbinder, asked me to join a political civic exchange in 1988, that I was fully exposed to the delights of Italian cuisine.

June 13. 2020

WORD

Cooking with Chris Williamson

PEASANT PASTA

Back then I had only been abroad once, a holiday to Majorca six years before.

INGREDIENTS

Travelling to Italy, I wasn’t sure I would be able to find much to eat – I could not have been more wrong! The trip was a revelation. I experienced a taste sensation every day and Italian food has been high on my favourite meals ever since.

350g/12oz dried fusilli pasta 8 tbsp olive oil 400g/14oz tinned butter beans, drained 2 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly 1 tsp freshly chopped rosemary Jar of artichokes in oil Sea salt and black pepper to taste

I came across this Linda McCartney recipe more than 20 years ago. It is now a firm favourite. It is really tasty and has the

PREPARATION

added advantage of being incredibly quick and easy to make. It should serve four people, depending on how big their appetites are!

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Fry the butter beans, garlic and rosemary for about 5-minutes, stirring occasionally until the beans are lightly browned. Add the artichokes and heat through then season to taste. Toss the mixture into the hot, drained pasta and serve. Served with warm, crusty ciabatta bread, you won't be disappointed. I promise.

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WORD

June 13. 2020

Music 1 Who is only the only music artist to win the Nobel prize for literature? 2 Which singer is the only one to do 2 theme tunes for James Bond movies? 3 What was Stormzys song in “Blinded by Your Grace” in recognition of? 4 Who wrote and sang the song Saffiyah Smiles? 5 Artist with the most number 1 hit singles in the UK charts?

Answers 1 Bob Dylan 2 Shirley Bassey 3 The Grenfell tower victims 4 Billy Bragg 5 Elvis Presley Fun Facts 1 Stephen Engel who writes for the US show “The Big Bang Theory” would say what when he played a prank on someone? (hint the character Sheldon off the show says this) 2 Which Welshman is Mount Everest is named after? 3 Which animal is the only animal that cannot jump? 4 What is Scotland’s national animal? 5 In which American State is the London Bridge situated?

Answers 1 Bazinga 2 Sir George Everest (Nepalese call it Sagarmatha and In Tibet it is known as Chomolungma) 3 Elephant 4 Unicorn 5 Arizona Sport 1 What year did the first international game of rugby played and between which two countries? 2 The first football in Western Europe to restart since the coronavirus outbreak was in which country? 3 What name was the Cuban boxer Eligio Sardiñas Montalvo better known as? 4 What 1959 Liverpool football

manager was famous for being a socialist? 5 Which former world snooker champion recorded a cover of David Cassidy’s I Am A Clown in 1996?

Answers 1 The first international game took place in 1881 between Wales and England. 2 Faroe Islands 3 Kid Chocolate 4 Bill Shankly 5 Peter Ebdon International Women of Politics 1 Sinan Marin, Finland’s female prime minister’s coalition government has how many female party leaders 2 How old is Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand Prime minister 3 Which famous African woman led the women’s arm of the African National Congress 4 who is the world’s first openly gay head of government 5 which former conservative MP and now an MEP for the Brexit party once said science may 'produce an answer' to being gay?

Answers 1 All five party leaders are women 2 39 3 Winnie Mandela 4 Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir Iceland prime minister 2009-2013 5 Ann Widdecombe Nobel Peace Prize 1 Which organisation has won the most Nobel peace Prizes 2 Which three Nobel Peace Prize Laureates were under arrest at the time of their Nobel Peace Prize awards 3 What year was the first Nobel Prizes awarded 4 how many Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded since the first one to be awarded 5 Name the person who in his last will and testament in 1895 gave the largest share of his fortune to the a series of

Answers 1 The International Committee of the

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Red Cross, awarded the Prize three times for its humanitarian work 2 Carl von Ossietzky, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Liu Xiaobo. 3 1901. The Peace Prize for that year was shared between the Frenchman Frédéric Passy and the Swiss Jean Henry Dunant. 4 100 5 Alfred Nobel described in his will, one part was to be dedicated to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.

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The Word

PUZZLE

THE

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CrossWord Across

5. An informal meeting of local party members to discuss candidates and choose delegates to the party's convention. 7. Short for "photo opportunity," an event staged specifically for news cameras to help a politician appear on the evening news or in morning papers. 8. Vote: The undecided, usually independent, portion of the electorate that can "swing" the outcome of an election one way or the other. 12. The party member who makes sure that all other members are present for crucial votes and that they vote in accordance with the party line. The term originated in British fox hunting, where the "whipper-in" was responsible for keeping the hounds from straying. 13. Mending: What politicians do when they visit their electoral districts to explain an unpopular action. The term originated in 1879, when Ohio Senator John Sherman made a trip home that most people considered a political visit. Sherman insisted, however, that he was home "only to repair my fences." 14. A group seeking to influence an elected official, or the act of doing so. The term originated in the 17th century, when people waiting to speak with legislators at the English House of Commons waited in a large atrium outside the legislators' hall, called the lobby. 16. Balloon: An idea a politician suggests in order to observe the reaction. If public reaction is favorable, the politician takes credit for it; if not, the idea dies quickly. 18. The power of a popular candidate to gather support for other candidates in his or her party. Winning candidates are said to have coattails when they drag candidates for lower office along with them to victory. 19. The practice of smearing people with baseless accusations. Refers to the tactics of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who in the 1950s destroyed the careers of many

POLITICS AND EVENTS

prominent Americans by branding them Communists. 21. and Balances: The system of dividing power among the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) to prevent any one from having too much power. Each branch has some authority to check the power of the others, thereby maintaining a balance among the three. 22. (noun) An organized effort to win an election. (verb) To strive for elected office. 24. When a political party chooses its official candidate for a particular office. 27. The candidate chosen by a political party to run for a particular office. 28. Liberal. The labeling system originated from the seating pattern of the French National Assembly, which put liberals on the left, moderates in the middle, and conservatives on the right. 30. The reorganization of voting districts by the party in power to insure more votes for their candidates. The term originated in 1811, when Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts signed a bill that changed districts to favor the Democrats. The shape of one new district supposedly resembled a salamander, provoking a Boston newspaper editor to say, "Salamander? Call it a Gerrymander!" 32. A political analyst, commentator, or columnist who usually works for a newspaper or magazine, or in broadcasting. Derived from a Hindi phrase meaning "learned one." 33. An attempt by a Senator or group of Senators to obstruct the passage of a bill, favored by the majority, by talking continuously. Because there is no rule in the Senate over how long a member can speak, a Senator can prevent a bill from coming up for a vote by talking endlessly. Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina set the record in 1957 by speaking for more than 24 hours without stopping. 34. A state election in which party members vote for a candidate from within their party. The vote determines how many of that state's delegates each candidate gets. 35. Candidates for various offices running

SUDOKU

as a team; or a group of delegates running on behalf of one candidate. 38. Politics: Politics controlled by a tightlyrun organization that stresses discipline and rewards its supporters. Machines are usually found in large cities and are frequently accused of corruption. 40. A leader whose impassioned rhetoric appeals to greed, fear, and hatred, and who often spreads lies. Former U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy (see McCarthyism) is often cited as a classic demagogue. Down 1. A current officeholder. 2. Burner: Where an issue is placed when it must be dealt with immediately. 3. Barrel: Wasteful and unnecessary projects that politicians secure for their local districts, usually to gain favor with local voters. The term dates from the days when salted pork was occasionally handed out to slaves from large barrels. An observer once wrote that the mad rush of politicians to get their district's share of treasury funds looked like slaves rushing to the pork barrel.

June 13. 2020

4. An integrated system of ideas about politics, values, and culture. Those who espouse an ideology are sometimes criticized as rigid and narrow-minded. 6. To campaign in person on a local level. 7. The positions that a party adopts, and stands on, at the beginning of an election campaign. 8. A politician's attempt to shape the way the public looks at an issue or event, much the way a tennis player uses spin to direct the ball. Political advisers who spin are known as "spin doctors." 9. Grand Old Party, nickname of the Republican Party. 10. Suicide: A vote or action that is likely to be so unpopular with voters as to cause a politician's probable loss in the next election. 11. Tape: Government paperwork and procedures that are slow and difficult. Stems from an 18th-century British practice of binding official papers with a reddish twine. 15. Majority: The mass of Americans whose opinions are not loud and public, but who together have enormous power.

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Popularized by President Richard Nixon, who claimed that Vietnam War protesters comprised a minority, while a "silent majority" supported the war. 17. Duck: An officeholder whose term has expired or cannot be continued, who thus has lessened power. 18. A national meeting of a political party, where delegates formally elect a party's nominee. 20. A militant conservative; opposite of "radical," which means ultraliberal. 23. A representative to a party's national convention chosen by local voters to vote for a particular candidate. Each state is assigned a certain number of delegates based on its population. 25. A survey used to gauge public opinion concerning issues or to forecast an election. 26. Room: The sort of place where behindthe-scenes political wheeling and dealing, often devious, occurs. Refers to the penchant of many political operatives for smoking cigars. 29. Expedition: An investigation with no defined purpose, often by one party seeking damaging information about another. Such inquiries are likened to fishing because they pull up whatever they happen to catch. 31. A journalist who seeks out the scandalous activities of public officials. Derived from the Man with the Muck Rake, a character in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, who could never look up, only down. 36. Horse: A long-shot candidate. 37. Chicken Circuit: The endless series of public dinners and luncheons politicians must attend to raise funds and make speeches. The food often includes chicken, which is cooked hours earlier and then reheated, giving it a rubbery texture. 39. the Beltway: The area inside the Capital Beltway, a highway that encircles Washington, D.C. An issue described as "inside the Beltway" is believed to be of concern only to the people who work in and with the federal government and of little interest to the nation at large. 41. Roots: Political activity that originates locally, or arises from ground level.

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WORD

June 13. 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Back to basics W

ILL England win the FIFA

World

anytime

So, enough of me. I cannot see

of the ball from the goalkeeper to,

Cup

England having major success in the

say, a centre-half or a full-back, with

soon?

near future under Gareth Southgate

a midfield player picking the ball up

- he of the worst penalty-kick in the

from one of the two before playing

world - unless we get back to basics.

it back again is not basic. And yes, I

I think not. That is, not unless there is to be

a radical change in policy about the way the English team plays.

I was reminded during my research

for

the

book

understand

why

this

increasingly done in football, but it

about

seems that we do not always have

coaching methods and just how

the players capable of carrying out this procedure.

I was a freelance journalist for

simple and ultimately how effective

36 years up until my retirement in

they were. Under the guidance of

2019, covering football at all levels. I

the genial Jack Eckersall, the man

We went the Spanish and Italian

started out as the Oldham Evening

behind Oldham Soccer Coaching

way several years ago - well, we tried

Chronicle’s

football

Association in the 70s through to

to play it that way - without success.

1981-82

correspondent

amateur

the 90s, many young players went

And we are still doing it for God’s

season up until the newspaper’s

the

professional

sake. I firmly believe, without being

demise in 2017. Between those

footballers. They were taught basic

a football Luddite, that the England

dates, I worked for BBC Radio

skills. A quote from another coach,

team should play to its strengths,

Manchester for nigh on 20 years,

Jack Halliwell, who took training

that is using a big centre-forward as

covering live matches at Oldham

sessions for the first women’s team

a target man and dedicated wingers.

Athletic and Rochdale. I also

in Oldham, went like this: “Coaching

The World Cup could be ours with

submitted match reports for a

is coaching whoever you are

such a basic system. Other nations

national newspaper for over a

coaching to. It is all about the basics.”

would not know what had hit them.

become

decade. I feel qualified enough to air my views on the local and national football scene.

Wimbledon were an example to us I think that the English FA have

all when they won the FA Cup all

had a lot to do with the way the

those years back. They were

English game is played and it seems

criticised for the constant use of

At the moment, I am writing a

to me that the manager these days

playing the long ball. Yes, they could

book about amateur football in

has to tow the line. There is much

be a mean-mannered outfit back

Oldham over those past 36 years.

mention about “playing through

then, but they played to their

My research has reminded me of

compartments.” This throwing out

strengths and achieved success.

how uncomplicated the game was.

Oh, and by the way, I do hope I’m wrong. Here’s hoping! John Gilder

ABRAMOVICH AND CHE

Other rumours which also seem to make sense are Bundesliga sensation Kai Havertz, and Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana

Shock U-Turn se Timo We join Lamp at Chelse

THE

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

June 13. 2020

WORD

ELSEA TRIGGER WERNER’S £53 MILLION RELEASE CLAUSE

ees rner pard ea

He’s already contributed 31 goals for RB Leipzig this season, along with an incredible 13 assists

By Craig Watson

have now triggered his release

and with the

big financial decisions to make in

clause, and reportedly agreed

current

the coming months, and a host of

terms with the young German

climate being

big-name players may well be up

striker.

as it is, it makes

for auction. Don’t be surprised if

complete sense to

Chelsea announce a few more

do so.

marquee signings before the

imo

Werner

had

looked set to join Jurgen

Klopp

Liverpool last week.

It seems like Chelsea are

Incredibly though, Chelsea

getting their business done early,

Plenty of clubs will have some

window is shut.

Is He Worth the Money? Werner is without doubt one of the best young talents in world football. He averaged 20 goals a season from 2016 to 2019 and he’s already contributed 31 goals for RB Leipzig this season, along with an incredible 13 assists. That’s more than anyone else in the current Chelsea team. Werner is an incredibly versatile player too. He’s comfortable playing off the left, as a creative number 10 or through the middle as an out-and-out striker. He’s only 24 years of age, which means he’ll only get better and he could be turned over for a profit towards the end of his contract. He’s also an incredibly hard worker, which fits the style that Frank Lampard seems to be trying to implement at Chelsea.

What Does this Mean for Tammy Abraham? It’s understandable that fans of Tammy Abraham might be slightly concerned by the signing, especially since he’s coming off the back of two fantastic seasons for Villa and Chelsea respectively, and really coming into his own as a Premier League striker. However, as discussed above, Werner is very competent playing out on the left, with three goals from six appearances there this season. He’s also just as comfortable as a number 10, and with Lampard having purchased Hakim Ziyech from Ajax in January, it seems likely that he will set up in a 4-2-3-1, with Abraham leading the line.

Who Else Could Chelsea Buy? It’s a very exciting time to be a Chelsea fan right now, especially when you consider that Hakim Ziyech is yet to arrive at the club, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek is set to return from injury. If rumours are to be believed though, things could get even more interesting in the very near future. A deal to sign Leicester’s in-form full back Ben Chilwell looks to be a dead-cert. Other rumours which also seem to also make sense are Bundesliga sensation Kai Havertz, and Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana. Both of whom would seriously bolster their title ambitions. It seems like Chelsea are getting their business done early, and with the current climate being as it is, it makes complete sense to do so. Plenty of clubs will have some big financial decisions to make in the coming months, and a host of big-name players may well be up for auction. Don’t be surprised if Chelsea announce a few more marquee signings before the window is shut.

THE

WORD

June 13. 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

CODY GARBRANDT RETURNS IN STYLE - SEAN O’MALLEY PROVES THE HYPE IS REAL

FC 250 took place in

Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night.

Showcasing a host of intriguing matchups and rising stars, including the likes of Cody Garbrandt,

Amanda

Nunes,

Sean O’Malley and Aljamain Sterling. The event took place behind closed doors without any fans in attendance, once again creating an eerie atmosphere, where the voice of coaches and fighters alike could be heard throughout the fights. The main card lived up to expectations though, with two stunning

one-punch,

walk-off

knockouts, a submission inside 100 seconds and a dominant display from an untouchable champion. Sean O’Malley vs Eddie Wineland Sean O’Malley continued his relentless charge up the UFC’s bantamweight division, with a brutal first round KO of former WEC champ Eddie Wineland. O’Malley proved once again that the hype around him is real, somehow displaying a good variety of skills in the 1:54 that he was in

UFC 250 – Amanda Nunes Dominates Felicia Spencer to retain Featherweight Title

Nunes landed 124 significant strikes versus just 42, as well as completing 6/7 takedown attempts compared with 0/7 from Spencer

the cage. The KO came shortly after a trademark spinning kick which

Crucially, Garbrandt managed to

42, as well as completing 6/7

Sterling flew out of the blocks

landed straight to the body.

avoid being taken down, although

takedown attempts compared

and immediately closed the door on

saying after the fight “that was too

O’Malley

then

his

Assuncao did have some success

with 0/7 from Spencer.

Cory’s

close for comfort.”

opponent

down,

walked throwing

stand

game.

victory,

with a couple of looping overhand

mesmerising fake uppercut and

rights. However, at 4:59 of the 2nd

So much credit has to be given

secure the body triangle and

Magny controlled the pace of

fake left combination, which ended

round, Garbrandt threw quite

to Spencer, for refusing to back

eventually lock in a rear naked

the fight, though Martin had him

with a brutal straight right, landing

possibly the punch of his career.

down in the face of certain defeat,

choke to end the fight. After the

wobbled in the second round

flush on the jaw and switching the

Backed up against the cage, he

but this result begs a huge

victory, he virtually demanded a

following a huge right hand.

lights out in Wineland country.

ducked under a right hand from

question, who the hell is next for

title shot, against the winner of the

Magny maintained his composure

Assuncao, as he came back up, he

Amanda Nunes? She’s completely

interim fight between Jose Aldo and

though and pushed on into third

Raphael Assuncao vs

used his momentum to catapult a

cleaned out two divisions, and

Petr Yan, something which Dana

with increasing urgency. His

Cody Garbrandt

wild right hook which landed flush

there isn’t a single name left in

White agreed simply has to happen.

intensity and cardio eventually

to the chin, ended the fight in an

either, who can legitimately claim

instant.

to be even close to her level!

After back to back defeats following

the

loss

his

proceeded to take Cory’s back,

bantamweight title, Cody Garbrandt finally returned, attempting to prove that he still has what it takes

Amanda Nunes vs Felicia Spencer

Aljamain Sterling vs Cory Sandhagen

won out, as he backed Martin up Seriously, watch this space,

against the cage, throwing and

because Aljamain Sterling may

landing a number of impressive

well be wearing the bantamweight

combinations to seal the victory

belt before 2020 is over.

on the judge’s scorecard.

to mix it with the best. He faced off

Its official, Amanda Nunes is

against veteran Raphael Assuncao,

the baddest woman on the planet.

statement on Saturday, with

Neil Magny vs

a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt with

She completely outclassed Felicia

a dominating first round

Anthony Rocco

successful event for the UFC. You

an iron chin.

Spencer in every conceivable way,

submission victory over

Martin

can get your next fill on June 14th,

claiming

the highly respected Cory

comprehensive

Aljamain Sterling made a huge

The first round was extremely

unanimous decision to retain the

Sandhagen, a man who

close, with both guys trading kicks

featherweight title. Nunes landed

was 5-0 in the UFC heading

in the centre of the octagon.

124 significant strikes versus just

into the fight.

Neil

Magny

had his work cut

was

definitely

another

when Fight Night travels to the APEX Arena in Saskatoon.

out on the way to another unanimous decision

By Craig Watson