THE WORD EDITION 37 by The word

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Issue #37, Late June Edition

£1

Equality Democracy Truth Courage

Missed the coach

UP TO OUR NECKS? Brexit has already caused massive harm despite the fact that 63% of the electorate did not vote for it. People who said yes to the slogan GET BREXIT DONE were like parents who, watching their children playing with matches, urged them to set fire to themselves. Everyone knew that Johnson was an incompetent with a nasty streak. His difference from Trump is mostly that he has some understanding of semi-colons and remembers his Latin lessons. Everyone knew what he was like and what a shameful disaster he was as Foreign Secretary and yet there he is... PAGE 2

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FOOTBALL RESULTS HAVE JUST COME IN D E R O SC

No fans allowed for season kick off

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Kicked out of the ground

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BREAKING NEWS!

World War II singer Dame Vera Lynn, known as the Forces’ Sweetheart, died today (Thursday) at the grand old age of 103 surround by her close relatives. The singer, who toured the war’s hot spots throughout the fighting to raise moral with hit songs such as We’ll Meet Again.

USA still on wrong side of race tracks

One White man’s view of today appalling race relations in the the US. Two years spent within the States, mostly in Arkansas, included three months in upstate New York near the Canadian border. I visited many other American states PAGE 10 and cities...

NEW! Down and dirty chess

Over The Board (OTB) games have come to a halt at local and national level and it is an open question if and when they will restart. While this seems an impossible problem for contact sports, chess players can turn to the internet with ease. World Champion, PAGE 25 Magnus Carlsen...

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WE ARE HEADIN

NO WE ARE NOT — WE

feel that is very much the state of affairs today. Brexit has already caused massive harm despite the fact that 63% of the electorate did not vote for it. People who said yes to the slogan GET BREXIT DONE were like parents who, watching their children playing with matches, urged them to set fire to themselves. Everyone knew that Johnson was an incompetent with a nasty streak. His difference from

This was a phrase often heard from education colleagues as a skint Liverpool tried to cope with pressure from government during the nineteen eighties Trump is mostly that he has some understanding of semicolons and remembers his Latin lessons. Everyone knew what he was like and what a shameful disaster he was as Foreign Secretary and yet there he is sitting on a big majority of MPs.

Our constitution is also manipulable by those that know where to place the fulcrum, how long the lever should be and how much pressure it needs

No doubt he likes that. What, however, he does not like is Parliament itself. Neither did Charles I. With Cummings at his side and the Moggy as socalled Leader of the House he does his best to rule as a despot. Parliament asks too many questions. The Virus has revealed to the entire world that he is not and never shall be any good at the job. And yet he was elected. The

blame must be shared by those democracy, caused the election that encouraged him to of Trump because strike those matches. they invented We tell ourselves the Electoral that Americans College. The US are really, really Constitution VOTES SWUNG stupid. They is a game to IT FOR TRUMP! elected Trump be played by didn’t they? the powerful THE UK NEEDS A Well no, they and rich. Our PROPORTIONAL did not. They constitution is VOTING elected Clinton. It also manipulable SYSTEM was the aristocratic by those that know authors of the US where to place the Constitution who, in fear of fulcrum, how long the

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ABOVE TITLE 2 COLUMS UP TO 45 CHARACTERS

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E ARE ALREADY IN ONE! lever should be and how much pressure it needs. Cummings and his mates were good at this during the referendum and he and they were, once again, displaying their skills during the general election. We need a Corbyn with the gloves off. Starmer only gets in the ring hoping to win on points. He is better at reading a document than Johnson (who isn’t?) and

We need a Corbyn with the gloves off. Starmer only gets in the ring hoping to win on points

you but leaving things as they are ought not to be an option.

tries to catch him out. That will not knock him out of the ring. Worse, right now Starmer has declared war on those members of his own party that stand up for justice and humanity. Too often we speculate about Life After Covid. It’s now that we need to be thinking

about. The UK needs a different, proportional, voting system. It needs votes for 16-year-olds; there are plenty of teenagers with better social values than our cabinet. We need a written constitution, arrived at as inclusively as possible. OK, that is only me throwing my own constitutional shopping list at

If we do nothing will the gap between rich and poor narrow? If we do nothing will health improve for those without wealth and power? A world with socialist values is about far more than free beer for all the workers it is about respect. Not the respect for our betters, but respect for

What Johnson does not like is Parliament itself - neither did Charles I.

both others and for ourselves. By the way, did you know that crime goes down when equality increases?

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Guardian eaths from coronavirus in the UK have now officially topped 42,000, but the true figure is thought to be more than 53,000. At the start of this week the official for people who had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive, totalled 42,153, a rise of 184 from the day before. This figures does not include all Covid deaths which is thought to have passed 53,000. The Department of Health and Social Care also said in the 24-hours up to 9am on Wednesday, 140,359 tests were posted or carried out, with 1,115 proving positive. A total of299,251 cases have been confirmed positive.

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Opposition parties have condemned Boris Johnson £ decision to spend nearly £1 million repainting the RAF plane used by ministers in union jack colours. The BBC has invited its news staff to apply for voluntary redundancy in a bid to find £125m in savings this year amid the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier the BBC suspended plans to cut 450 jobs in BBC News because of the demands of covering the pandemic but the cuts will still take place but at a later date. For decades the world has ignored the truth that pandemics such as coronavirus are the result of humanity’s destruction of nature, according to leaders at the United Nations, World Health Organisation and World Wildlife Fund International. The illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade as well as the devastation of forests and other wild places were still the driving forces behind the increasing number of diseases leaping from wildlife to humans. They are calling for a green and healthy recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular by reforming destructive farming and unsustainable diets. The British are going for a no-deal Brexit after all, Germany has privately warned the EU and urged it to draw up contingency plans for Brexit “no deal 2.0”. A secret internal document calls on member states not to

What the g IS SAYING

accept British plans for a swift summer trade and security deal “at any price”. Though current negotiations appear positive, important sticking points remain to be sorted out and time is running out now that Boris Johnson ruled out any extension to the transition period . While the UK claims a deal can be reached over the summer, the German government believes in September, negotiations will heat up and has called on the EU 27 to stand fast against Britain and make it clear there will be no agreement at any price. EU officials believe the real deadline for a deal will be October 31st.

A senior Downing Street spokesman refused three times on Wednesday to say if Boris Johnson has had contact with Richard Desmond, former owner of the Daily Express and Daily Star newspapers, who is at the centre of a controversy over a disputed planning application. Housing secretary Robert Jenrick had earlier admitted that his decision to overturn a local council and planning inspector’s decision to halt a 1,500-property development of a former print works on the Isle of Dogs East London had been unlawful in what Labour has branded a “cash for favours” row.

Independent Boris Johnson’s official Jaguar car was hit in the back near Parliament when it stopped suddenly to avoid a protester who ran into the road. A following security vehicle failed to stop in time and drove into it. Mr Johnson was in the car but neither he nor anyone else was injured. Police arrested the protester, a man, who had been demonstrating about Turkish action against Kurdish rebels.

The free school meal vouchers scheme is in trouble even after Boris Johnson’s U-turn. Lidl and the Co-op, stores favoured by poorer families, cannot accept the vouchers. Many independent stores have also been left out. The Co-op accused Gavin Williamson, the education secretary for this blunder.

Incompetent Health Secretary Matt Hancock called hero ManU player Marcus Rashford Daniel during a Sky TV interview. It was letter from Marcus who forced Boris Johnson’s U-turn on free school meals for 1.3 million poor and hungry children. Hancock later blamed his son for the confusion because he was a Harry Potter fan, a character played by Daniel

Radcliffe (not Rashford!) The Government had planned to end free meals during the summer holidays but under public and social media pressure has agreed to continue them. The Premier League season finally resumed on last night, after its Coronavirus lock down, when Aston Villa clashed with Sheffield United.

Britain’s record run of not burning coal to generate electricity has come to an end after more than two-months, the longest fossil fuel-free period since the industrial revolution . The total coal-free period lasted just a few hours under 68 days on Tuesday night when the Drax power station in north Yorkshire fired-up a coal unit for maintenance. The new coalfree period began as businesses, plants and schools closed during the coronavirus lockdown. Demand for electricity plunged 20 per cent. Renewable energy

sources made up nearly 36 per cent of power, gas around 33 per cent, and nuclear 21 per cent. The previous coal-free record was little more than 18 days. Daily Mirror Popular school girl Fabiana Zoppelli has become one of the country’s youngest people to have died of coronavirus. The 11-year-old from Oldham, Greater Manchester, fell seriously unwell despite having few symptoms of the killer virus. She was treated at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Liverpool, before dying on Sunday. Fabiana had an extremely rare genetic disorder FloatingHarbor syndrome which affects speech development and bone growth. Student nurses hired to work on the Covid-19 frontline are furious after being told their contracts are being cut short leaving them facing financial trouble after July 31. Student

Post-Brexit passport Brexiteers, who said they so longed to see a return to Britain’s traditional blue passport are said to be furious that it is not so much blue as black and a pretty scrappy document at that, according to the Daily Express. The new ‘blue’, post-Brexit passport began to be issued back in March in a phased introduction. The document is returning to its traditional colour for the first time in almost 30 years. The colour is not the only change, in a first for the British passport, the back cover will also carry its own symbolic design – the floral emblems of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales embossed.

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Late June Edition

the prosecution will not proceed with this count. Robinson will be sentenced at a later date.

gutter press THIS WEEK nurse placements, are usually unpaid, but were paid this year because of the pandemic. Health chiefs insisted the paid arrangements were always going to end but the students had expected that to happen at the end of summer. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was wrong to suggest student nurses and midwives are being redundant. Different NHS trusts offered students different arrangements when they were first called up urgently to the frontline in March. Sun Sir Keir Starmer today refused three times to say if it £ safe for kids to go back to school. In a fiery Prime Minister’s Questions, Boris Johnson tried to turn it into an Oppostion Leader Questions when he demanded Sir Keir answer after Sir Keir had challenged him about child poverty. The Prime Minister said one of the best ways of protecting youngsters from Coronavirus was to encourage kids who can go back to school to go back now £ ecause their schools are safe. Sir Keir refused to agree or disagree. Mr Johnson retaliated by saying: £ he unions won’t let him say the truth, a great ox has stood on his tongue. It came as union bosses warned schools may stay closed beyond September when public schools are expected to reopen.

The demonstrator rescued patrols. The two sides battled during violent protests in London with sticks, stones and their bare by a Black Lives Matter hero is a hands, with some troops being retired British Trasport detective. killed after being thrown into a Injured Millwall fan Bryn nearby ravine. China and India Male, 55, was carried out from have a longstanding agreement Saturday’s melee by martial arts that no guns should be taken expert Patrick Hutchinson. Mr near the border, so no shots Male was among several were fired.Both sides have hundred far rightblamed the other for demonstrators the confrontation, who travelled to which is the latest central London escalation in on Saturday the mounting property will now with the aim border row. require a £15,000 of defending deposit... and delete statues from a in a £5,000 with A r As e former anti-racists. n a l Nationwide Mr Hutchinson footballer has said he had heard confessed to having nothing from Mr Male, sex with a 14-year-old who it was claimed, wanted girl and sharing indecent to thank him. images of a child on Snapchat. Tyrell Robinson, 22, pleaded India threatened revenge guilty to the sex offence before on China over the deaths of 20 Bradford Crown Court on soldiers. Fears are raging of all-out Wednesday, and was warned conflict between the two nuclear- he could face jail time. The armed nations after the troops former Bradford City footballer were slain in brutal hand-to-hand admitted engaging in sexual fighting at the long-disputed activity with a child, making an border. In a chilling warning to indecent image of a child and China, India’s prime minister distributing an indecent image Narendra Modi said those who of a child. Robinson, from South were killed in the confrontation Ockendon, Essex, admitted simply will not be allowed to engaging in sexual activity have died in vain. He cryptically with the teenager. He also threatened a “befitting reply” to entered a guilty plea to making the actions of the Chinese troops. and distributing an indecent The soldiers reportedly engaged image of a child. He denied a in bloody fist fights on a mountain further charge of distributing an ridge in the Himalayas after indecent photograph of a child in coming across each other during December 2017. the court heard

£100,000

BBC News Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been spotted slapping a colleague on the back in the House of Commons, despite social distancing measures in place to curb the spread of coronavirus. Mr Hancock’s moment of apparent forgetfulness happened as he arrived to Prime Minister’s Questions. He and other ministers have repeatedly urged the importance of people keeping two metres away from one another. Mr Hancock said he was “so sorry for a human mistake on my part”. In a clip which quickly garnered thousands of views after it was posted on Twitter, the health secretary can be seen putting his arm across a colleague’s shoulder as he enters the Commons. The UK’s biggest building society has tripled the deposit it will ask for from first-time buyers. The Nationwide will lower its ceiling for mortgage lending to new customers in response to the coronavirus crisis. It said the change, from Thursday, was due to “these unprecedented times and an uncertain mortgage market”. The move is expected to hit first-time buyers worst because they often have smaller amounts saved to get on the property ladder. Nationwide has reduced the proportion of a home’s value that is willing to lend from 95% to 85%. So for a £100,000 property it is looking for a £15,000 deposit rather than a £5,000. Teachers’ unions have denied suggestions by Conservative MPs they have been “actively obstructive” over the reopening of schools in England. Union leaders said it was important for children to return to school as quickly as possible when safe to do so. Tory MPs accused them of running a political campaign to keep schools closed. Education Select Committee Tory MP and member Jonathan Gullis, who is a former teacher and a former NASUWT union representative,

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said he was “absolutely outraged at the sheer damage the unions have done to the teaching profession”. But Patrick Roach, the general secretary of the NASUWT, rejected this, saying their five conditions were conditions the government needed to demonstrate for the safe reopening of schools. Footballer Marcus Rashford says he wants to do more to help those in need after winning a battle to have a free school meal voucher scheme extended. His campaign prompted a government U-turn that will see parents claim vouchers for about 1.3 million children in England during the summer holidays. He told BBC Breakfast there are “more steps that need to be taken”. Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the England star’s “contribution to the debate around poverty”. The Manchester United forward said he was “grateful that the prime minister did change his decision” and that, in a phone call, Mr Johnson had thanked him “for using what I’ve built in a positive manner”. A government minister has said the NHS coronavirus contact-tracing app is “not a priority” and he was not sure it would be out by winter. The app, which has been trialled on the Isle of Wight, was initially expected to launch nationally weeks ago. Lord Bethell, the Minister for Innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care, said he was unable to give a date for its launch while claiming the trial “has gone very well indeed”. Health services will come under “huge pressure” to work through backlogs of missed smear tests during the Covid-19 lockdown, a charity has warned. Around 600,000 tests would have been carried out in the UK in April and May had services been operating normally, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust says - but many were cancelled or delayed in addition to a backlog of 1.5 million appointments missed annually. Fears of catching Covid-19 have also put some women off booking tests.

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DSDS

here is only one solution for this insane mess that goes under the name of ‘democracy’ today, and that is to return to human scale largely self-governing communities. This was the great cry that went up in 1381 as the farmer revolutionary Wat Tyler jumped up on to a hay cart to denounce the despotic power mongering of the barons operating under the mantle of King Richard II. It was the pronouncement that sparked the ‘peasants revolt’. Wat and his loyal army of peasants struck a highly resonant chord amongst the down-trodden countryside community of that time. Communities forced to pay poverty inducing tithes to the despotic barons while struggling to feed their families on the meagre acreage accorded to them. If that sounds familiar, it’s hardly surprising. Just substitute ‘government’ for barons and ‘taxation’ for tithes and one immediately sees how the top down grip over working people has failed to change over the past six hundred or so years. Keeping that fact in mind, now add the more recent historical advent of big banking, big pharma, monopolised media, global surveillance systems, the military industrial complex and the political/corporate centralisation of power – and you will have in front of you the main new tools of oppression we are faced with today.

The People We need to ditch government and become “self-governing” so as to run our own lives on our own terms and at our own discretion The tools may be different but the repression is the same. What is missing is the revolt. Now when you stop to really consider this situation, we are ready for such a revolt. We are done with fake democracy

centuries of hard fought gains in justice and dignity now hang by a perilous thread

and undisguised top-down exploitation. The fact that it is tolerated is more a reflection of a lethargic and lack-lustre state of mind, than the fact that to be a slave is a tolerable condition. It isn’t and will never be. There is an earthy, honest element within the family of man, that has not given-in to the seduction of ‘convenience’

and the shallow narcissistic materialism on display today. There is an element capable of recognising that, thanks to the increasingly despotic powers of central control, centuries of hard fought gains in justice and dignity now hang by a perilous thread. Some inspired counterforce needs to rise-up to reinstate

them. A Wat Tyler; a people’s revolt; the revival of truth over the lie.

England is a country with a reputation for standing-up for the rights of the individual. For freedom. So where are these qualities hiding today? In 2020, with this country half way out of the vampiric clutches of the European Union and half way through a grim story of government imposed home imprisonment, insane ‘social distancing, mad masks and the

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Wat Tyler

Will Rise promise of a completely useless CV-19 testing programme – what are the prospects for the future of the good people of this notorious island? How can the citizens of 21st century Britain break free? Wat Tyler is our clue “England should be a nation of self governing communities” declared Tyler as the answer to the relentless top down repression exerted by the arrogant barons. The peasants revolt, fought with pitchforks, machetes

and whatever other weapons There is unfinished business could be fashioned out of to be addressed here. Too farmyard tools, took on many times the tyrannical their oppressors and forces of Westminster gave them a good have pretended to hiding, until the negotiate a better farmer’s hero deal for the was publicly electorate they the year the knifed in the are supposed common man back in front to represent. of the crowd at Too many came close Smithfield in times they to real London, while have deceived freedom meeting in open and betrayed their air debate with King constituents. Too Richard II, to negotiate many times they have the future of the farming sold-out to the forces of greed, community he had so bravely power and arrogance. Too many led out of slavery. times.

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We have now arrived at the point of no return. The madmen and women of Westminster are mocking their electorate with complete disdain. Disdain for the basic needs and rights of all citizens. They are marionettes of the swingeing banking moguls corporate giants and multi billionaire families who between them dictate the agenda for the greater part of the world. The man on the street and in the field is simply a pawn in a calculated, preplanned attempt to enslave humanity. It’s past time to follow Wat’s proclamation. It’s time to breakout of the centralised control system once and for all and to re-establish ourselves in human

scale communities, with human scale technologies and human scale farming practices. We need to ditch government and become “self governing” so as to run our own lives on our own terms and at our own discretion. Destiny beckons. The people will rise! Julian Rose is an early pioneer of UK organic farming, writer and entrepreneur. He is owner of The Hardwick Estate and President of The International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside. Julian Rose

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THE TOWER OF W

THE UGLY FACE OF CAPITALISM EXPOSING THE CRIMINAL CENTR

It even has a nuclear bunker to make sure those ‘nice’ bankers survive along with the cockroaches

Hope—A History of the World in Our Time’ by Professor Carroll Quigley that was published in 1966. He was a professor of history at Georgetown University Based in Basel in Switzerland, and was the mentor of President this private, secretive and Bill Clinton. He was also someone completely unaccountable who was completely accepted global organisation controls and trusted by the leading over 95% of the world’s financial ‘insiders’ and money…and you’ve was allowed the probably never rare privilege of heard of it! And attending some that’s just how of their secretive the bankers like m e e t i n g s The Bank that it! behind closed runs the world doors. However, and you’ve Nicknamed his eventual never heard the ‘Tower exposure of their of it! of Basel’, this shadowy intrigues virtually unknown meant that his central banking reputation suffered and institution completely controls his work became very difficult sixty-two of the world’s central to publish. banks including the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve and I would strongly urge you the European Central Bank. to read these two paragraphs very carefully indeed…and then And the arrogance of the BIS think about how we are all being knows virtually no boundaries – deceived by our politicians and it has even given itself diplomatic opinion-formers when it comes immunity to ensure that no to the perceived wisdom that we serious investigations can ever must have a privately-controlled take place into the running of central banking system. this criminal organisation and how they oversee the fraudulent So, there we have it…those creation of money completely well-known banking dynasties out of thin air as debt. DO actually run the world! ow many of you have ever heard of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)?

SECRET

Please allow me to now give you two vital paragraphs from a book entitled ‘Tragedy and

Justin Walker

www.newchartistmovement.org. uk

The BIS has even given itself diplomatic immunity to ensure that no serious investigations can ever take place into the running of this criminal organisation...

Professor Carroll Quigley

The Professor wrote: “The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements, arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks which were themselves private corporations. The growth of financial capitalism made possible a centralization of world economic control and use of this power for the direct benefit of financiers and the indirect injury of all other economic groups.”

Then, a little further on, he wrote: “It must not be felt that these heads of the world’s chief central banks were themselves substantive powers in world finance. They were not. Rather, they were the technicians and agents of the dominant investment bankers of their own countries, who had raised them up and were perfectly capable of throwing them down. The substantive financial powers of the world were in the hands of these investment bankers (also called ‘international’ or ‘merchants’ bankers) who renamed largely behind the scenes in their own unincorporated banks. These formed a system of international cooperation and national dominance which was more private, more powerful, and more secret than that of their agents in the central banks...”

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WHAT?

RAL BANKERS – PART ONE

Late June Edition

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A “Threefold Approach” TO REMAKE SOCIETY Unelected House of Lords

he British government is threefold, made up of Parliament, the House of Lords and the Monarchy. A completely new “Threefold Approach” proposes to radically reconfigure these three “pillars”. Nowadays, the ‘market state’ is turning our public services into businesses, requiring ubiquitous surveillance to secure compliance and is destroying the planet for corporate growth. The banks have put future generations in debt for the rest of their lives; this has created widening inequality. The media, owned by just five billionaires, and a few Big Tech giants will soon have a monopoly on all digital information. Are we sleepwalking into oligarchy? There is certainly an urgent need for new ideas to help solve this problem. The time has come to consider a clean sweep “Threefold Approach”. The goal of the “Threefold Approach” is that independence in the three spheres arise in such a way that can provide mutual balance. This works when neither of these three realms dominates the others.

As John Maynard Keynes once noted: “Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all”. The past century has seen swings between the market state, where unregulated and socially irresponsible capitalism and economic interests are allowed to dominate politics and culture. Alternatively, state socialism has meant political agendas dominating culture and economic life. With the rise of the toxic far-right, riding on the back of the Covid-19 ‘pandemic,’ we are seeing a third type of governance emerge: technocracy. This is when a cultural impulse; (scientism) dominates economy and politics. “We must follow the science” unquestioningly; and this is continually restated by a ‘captured’ media. No one in the world currently knows how to solve the challenge of making sure that AI goals are aligned with human values and goals. Monopolies and financial dominance has to be replaced altogether if meaningful societal change is to happen. A renewed ‘Lower House’ could accommodate new

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‘The Tower of Basel’

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cooperative forms of capitalism, (or stakeholder capitalism). An ‘Upper House’ could administer law and human rights. Independent ‘Royal’commissions could oversee cultural impulses, such as science, education, arts, religion, and media. Increased autonomy for the three spheres would not eliminate their mutual influence, but would cause that influence to be exerted in a more healthy and legitimate manner, because the increased separation would prevent any one of the three spheres from dominating the others. Also on a “micro” local level, ethical banking, agricultural innovation and communal land ownership and usage could rebalance society through a co-operative commonwealth economy with a rights-based state and a flourishing civil society shaping a dynamic threefold society based on mutuality, equality and freedom – for people and planet. l building a sustainable local economy, vibrant culture and community l transforming capitalism for public good and for individual enterprise l securing permanently affordable homes for all through community land trusts l enabling social inclusion and individual initiative through the Citizen’s Income l freeing education from bureaucracy and children from commercialism. by Marcus Blackett

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The voice of a white British IMMIGRANT to the USA

wo years spent within the States, mostly in Arkansas, included three months in upstate New York near the Canadian border. I visited many other American states and cities; I truly believe I have seen more of the whole country than most Americans ever do. I was generally accepted by the American people with open arms, many treated me being British as a kind of sexual deity or curious oddity. I occasionally received xenophobic remarks, sometimes being told to return home, but was never a victim of outright racism. Nevertheless my first experience in America was of

My experience of racism within the USA is something I want to share, writes Liam Stephen racism. On entering the country at St Louis a black man in front of me at customs was subjected to stop and search, questioned avidly on his motives, asked to provide further evidence he was British and made to verify his details with the British Embassy. It was my first taste of what America was going to be like; the reality of the nation. The same man sat next to me on my next flight, a well-educated solicitor living in London originally from Kenya. He said he had similar problems every time he entered the USA.

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That night as I and my ex sat in an IHOP pancake shop in Conway City, Arkansas at 2am we were served promptly and with incredible service. The interracial couple behind us were treated rudely. I remarked servants alike, through cities, creating arbitrary MONTHS I WAS about this to a normal piece lines of segregation between LOOKING AT A my partner; of American whites and blacks? I assure you LOT MORE BLACK she being an language used these exist in all large cities. A PEOPLE SUBJECTED unashamedly. track line will divide white and Arkansan native TO VIOLENCE shrugged it off as black communities; often with normality though I often grew dramatic differences in property conceded it was up believing that values, access to government disgusting. stories about segregation services and facilities. Even and ’hoods were mostly untrue. schooling and hospitals were Two ‘acceptable’ racist Surely white people lived often much poorer on the side of behaviours in 24 hours; over there? Surely divisions were the tracks. the next 18 months I saw a lot not marked by railway tracks One thing that shocked me more black people subjected I was generally accepted by the to violence in supermarkets, searches without cause by police American people with open arms, and security. I saw police violence many treated me being British as a against them. The N word was used by citizens and civil kind of sexual deity or curious oddity

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DON’T MAKE BABIES pay for the pandemic!

During unprecedented times, let us not forget that in this sick system, the elite always makes money out of terrible times, even in this pandemic! This isn’t about breastfeeding, as that is an entire different topic, this is about exploiting mothers and young children with the price of milk…it’s like the market is lapping up the nostalgia of ‘Thatcher, Thatcher the milk Snatcher!’ …It still stinks of sour neoliberal economic policy and it does stink! Mothers and children should be supported during all times, especially in the times of worldwide health pandemics. Like most capitalist companies, Aptamil (baby’s formula powder) has jumped on the bandwagon of exploiting Mothers and Babies in this turbulent economic time. Let us also remember that things like these always affect the poor more too and this creates such

was seeing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on a black neighbourhood, and Jersey’s similar hurricane on a white one. Jersey has rebuilt, but areas devastated by Katrina three times as long ago are still destroyed, families are displaced and homeless and the remains of what once stood is strewn across city streets. Many American people may

not see the daily racism and American society. their country delivers Segregation still to minorities and exists right from I saw a lot People of Colour. housing, through more black people It has become healthcare, to subjected to violence so normal that schooling. Jobs in supermarkets, they no longer are harder to searches without believe in its access resulting cause by police and existence. in rampant security. I saw poverty and police violence Systematic crime in poorer against them racism bleeds communities into social policy, known unlovingly as “hoods.” Police violence is prevalent. The KKK is alive and well in courts and politics. Religion is dominated by racist ideology, and government facilities are racist.

The KKK is alive and well in courts and politics. Religion is dominated by racist ideology, government facilities are racist

Racist ideology and behaviour is so normalised people no longer even notice it, yet after years of ignoring it they’re finally shocked by violence, now action makes America listen The USA is disgustingly racist; everyone who benefits has contributed to that. #BlackLivesMatter

a disadvantage and inequality to these tiny babies starting out. Before the pandemic, Aptamil was priced at £10.85, this was for one box and probably would last a baby for one week. After the initial supermarket sweep of emptying shelves and creating further supply and demand issues, Aptamil has disgracefully increased its price in all supermarkets to £11.30£11.50. This may not seem like a massive jump to the affluent people in the population but raising the milk by 65p is criminal – we should not be making babies pay for the pandemic. Aptamil, be ashamed of yourselves. (Just for the readers, I do breastfed, but my baby had a little problem putting on weight at the beginning and the midwife told me to introduce him to formula as well and he still likes to drink it).

NEWS BITS

Beijing’s education commission has ordered the closure of the capital’s schools again following a new outbreak of the coronavirus in the city of 21 million people. The commission said on its WeChat social media account that all schools would resume online teaching from tomorrow and universities should also suspend the return of students. Residents have been urged to stop “non-essential” travel out of the Chinese capital, and outright banned people living in “medium or high risk” areas from leaving. “Anyone leaving Beijing must

have a negative reading on a nucleic acid test taken within seven days (prior to departure),” Chen Bei, deputy secretary general of Beijing’s municipal government, told a press conference. It comes after a Beijing city official warned that the Covid-19 situation there was “extremely severe”. A huge trace-and-test programme was sparked after 27 new infections were reported there from a cluster. North Korea to resume wargames in demilitarized border area after BLOWING UP intra-Korean liaison office

THE

WORD

late June edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

THE PATIENTS EYE

Priorities

n Day 52 of my own

“Don’t cancel with us,” she

the doors of people I know and not

after

personal lock-down,

warned. “You could cancel on-line,

stopping in public open spaces to

neglected. So suddenly I had more

while Cummings was

but

your

empty my toddler, mainly because

deliveries than I needed, and I’ve

still thinking about

government

and

I don’t personally have one, though

let Morrison’s slide a bit.

testing his eyesight by driving

consequently the priority slots? I

I have a cat, who is also full of poo.

around the North of England with

don’t know that love. If you give

a toddler full of poo strapped into

the box back to the driver, he’ll see

got another box;

the back of his car, I received my

to it you don’t get any more, but

ye gods.

first box of wondrous goods from

what he’ll write on his little billy-

the

do, and who gets that, I have no

government,

via

supermarket I’d never heard of.

might

you

lose

number,

Three days later I

Friday

idea. Give what you don’t need to

was

neighbours.”

obviously

I phoned them to say thanks and to

‘my day’ for

let them know I now had ‘priority’

In this way I became a locked

a box and

slots from any number of local

down man who drives out in the

the

supermarkets, who were getting in

early evening when it is quiet,

delivery

touch to ask me what I needed.

leaving bags of non-vegan fayre at

been to keep us going

earlier had

weeks

having

been

started looking for paint that needed to be watched drying. With my new status as a vulnerable person with a ‘number’

66 MILLION PEOPLE AHEAD OF ME

I’d previously logged into

I could get on the Morrison’s site

Morrison’s website and

within minutes, and Tesco began

been put into a 20

show me ‘priority slots’ costing

minute queue; there

nothing, and delivering within

were 66 million

days. I’m afraid I took advantage,

people ahead of

and I’ve begun cooking twelve

me.

went

item vegan brunches which put us

down to “it is now

to sleep for the day so we’ve started

This

your turn,” and as I’d

having them as an evening meal.

begun shopping the queue began again. An

The government box is the

hour or so of this and I’d

most exciting part of my week,

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

late June edition

WORD

An immigrant’s view TRANS WOMAN FROM TRANSYLVANIA

e live in particularly funny times. Hard times, no doubt. But

funny. One way to know if you’re dealing with a clown is to ask

By Mara Leverkuhn

the question: “Do you think

They’ll make that into a vagina for

trans women are women?”. If

you. No, you’ll never be able to use

the

it and it will slowly putrefy in your

resounding yes and pulls out a

respondent

says

body but if you say anything but

lighter to set you on fire on the

“trans women are women” off to

pyre for even asking the very

the gallows you go. Not having

obvious question—then yes. You

100% masculine or feminine traits

are dealing with a clown. Enjoy

is called a personality, not a

the entertainment. Although

gender—but questioning gender a

not the immolation.

very dangerous idea in our times and I like to live.

People who say trans women are women are at the same level of

What is a woman? They like to

material delusion as flat-earthers.

say: "You have never experienced

They’re good to have around, they

being a woman so you wouldn’t

add a little spice to life ... until they

know.” Odd. I've never experienced

get you fired, no-platformed,

being a chair… but I do know what

cancelled

physically

a chair is. I’d like to see these trans

abused. Or in some cases, if you

and/or

ideologists use a spoon to eat their

happen to be a heterosexual

soup if they cannot name the

woman, maybe even raped by a 6

spoon when they ask for one at the

ft dude with a “girl dick”. And of

counter because.. they’ve never

course in such a case the correct

been a spoon.

reaction is to sit there and say “stunning and brave”, otherwise

But I like to go with the times

you’re a transphobe. To reject the

so.. I identify as a male on Mondays

advances of a big hairy male once

to enjoy male privilege but as

he has uttered the magic words “I

female on Tuesdays because I

am a womyn” is to commit the

enjoy doors being open for me.

greatest contemporary sin, that of .. dur dur… transphobia.

If we can all identify as the sex we want, why can't I self identify as

If you are a girl but like cars and buttoned

shirts,

then

you

a male to cash in some of that legendary white male privilege?

absolutely must eviscerate your though. I never know what will be

emptied; I’d had maybe three

torpedo shaped bottles through

vagina and chop some inches of

Or, maybe I can identify as a trans

in it, and some of it necessitates

dozen bottles of Corona Lager

the opening, with a few empty

skin of your arms to fashion into a

woman? Then, regardless of the

since the crisis began. There

Schwartz spices and supermarket

penis. If you’re a man with a sweet

absence of talent, I can be invited on

own

cheaper)

voice and long hair he likes to play

TV shows and podcasts to tell my

had

following; mainly the ingredients

with while flirting, .. tough luck, old

inspiring genital story. I think I can

offered the World

of Bombay Potatoes without the

chap.

you.

say “me me me” very girlie-like in a

potato, or 'the Bombay.’ Then I got

Disallowed, such perversion as not

microphone. Maybe they’ll even

being a caricature of masculinity.

allow me in women’s spaces.

going

out

the

surreptitiously deliver supplies. Soon needed

I to

consider getting petrol for the car. Unlike

car

Dominic

was a vicious rumour

Day 52

of my own personal lockdown…

Cummings who has only a vague memory of

that

Corona

Health Organisation

precision. Our bag of bottles needed to be

(much

back in the car and planned my

route to a petrol station that I knew

money to rename

would operate ‘Pay at the Pump’

the virus ‘Bud Lite

but be pretty much as isolated as

truckload

Virus’ but had been

where I was now.

refused.

refuelling, I know exactly what I did; I’d planned it with military

brands

Would I get there and back I set off in our Micra at dusk.

safely?

The bottle bank was deserted and I was able to fire the beautiful

To be continued...

Penectomy

for

THE

WORD

late June edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

RECIPE FOR TOAD VOMIT

response to [the] impending demise

LOZENGES

of human civilisation,” Dr Chi said.

side from the three laws

He added that “if aliens really

of motion, Sir Isaac

wanted to colonise the Earth they

Newton was, apparently,

should have started many centuries

dabbling in plague treatment

earlier”.

research during his time. An

Dr Chi said this week he was

unconventional idea, to say the

“looking for more evidence” to

least, Newton expressed his

support

theory in treating the black death

HuffPost UK “the majority of

using toad-vomit lozenges.

reactions” to his claims “are like ‘yes,

ROUND UP

Detailed instructions were written on how to create this toad-vomit treatment: a process that involves suspending a dead toad by its hind legs in a chimney, collecting its vomit, and mixing the powdered remains of the toad with its hurled

you

his

are

theory

right,

and

told

have

also

experienced abduction by aliens, I can tell you more in detail if you wish’ or ‘what you said may be true’”. “Occasionally people ask ‘do you have evidence for your claim

BIZARRE TRUTHS, ACCORDING TO THE INTERNET:

that aliens are abducting humans?’ My

answer

usually

[that]

contents. And in Newton’s opinion,

he was able to confirm the location

product of beer brewing. And with

Chi, an academic at Oxford’s

abductions are reported from

this recipe for success was truly the

and the discovery. Fenn also said

brewers

Oriental Institute, claimed. Dr Chi

everywhere, UK, US, Germany,

best around.

that the discoverer—a man from

production

openly believes there is a “strong

France, Japan, Korea, etc, with

“back East”—wishes to remain

restaurants were forced to close in

correlation”

significant commonalities between

anonymous.

March, it's now in short supply.

abductions and changes to Earth’s

COVID-19

climate, the Oxford Student, a

KARMA LAMA CHAMELEON

ew Album from the Dalai

slowing

after

has

stalling

pubs

affected

and

our

Lama. On the spiritual

STOOL PIGEON,

purchasing habits in curious ways,

leader’s 85th birthday, July

HA-CHA-CHA-CHA

between

alien

AUSSIE QUITS AFTER

campus newspaper, reported.

with some products experiencing a

In a lecture given to a conference

pigeon is currently being

sudden surge in popularity. Shelves

in 2012, Dr Chi said “it is not only

held in India on charges of

were emptied of toilet paper,

scientists and theologians but also

spying. Police say the

antibacterial wipes and dried pasta

non-human species who appear to

pigeon had a ring on one of its legs,

back in Margch - with supplies of

be greatly concerned about the

a unique mix of mantras and

inscribed with a code yet to be

flour and yeast running low as

survivability of the human species”.

teachings by the Dalai Lama

deciphered. On the other hand, a

Britons

himself. Set to music, each teaching

Pakistani man, who lives 2.5 miles

lockdown.

“cultivates an understanding of love

from the Indian border, is insisting

and empathy for ourselves and all

that code is simply his phone

beings,” says the Dalai Lama’s official

number, as he flew his pigeon to

website.

celebrate Eid al-Fitr. Now, he is

6, 2020, his album called Inner World will drop. The anticipated release will include

urging the Indian Prime Minister to THE HUNT IS OVER

return his pet pigeon.

one

lucky

baking

KT TUNSTALL BUG EATER

YEASTY FILTH RUNS OUT

A more recent attempt by the

SERIAL JOBBIES

man accused of serially pooing in public has quit his job after a photographer

caught him relieving himself on a suburban Brisbane street. The man, named

Andrew

Douglas

professor to have the subject

Macintosh, was dubbed the “poo

discussed

prestigious

jogger” after a story in Australia’s

club

Courier-Mail which pictured the

university’s

the

debate

was

T Tunstall believes western

rejected last year, the Oxford

former

countries should add more

Student said. Dr Young-hae Chi, an

defecating in public. Macintosh was

insects to their menus - to

academic at Oxford’s Oriental

photographed holding toilet paper

Institute:

outside the Logan Road block on

help save the planet. The LA-based

fter more than 10 years of searching,

embraced

them,” Dr Chi added in an email.

manager

supposedly

Fife rocker said in an Instagram live

Dr Chi, who is from South Korea,

May 11, and has been charged with

discussion about her travels: "When

told the newspaper that aliens “are

one count of public nuisance. It is

armite fans are in a sticky

we were in Mexico City, our street

just next to us [but] we can’t see

alleged that Macintosh, 64, fouled

situation as yeast extract

team leader Alice ordered us

them”. He said: “If they are far, they

on the private footpath of an

shortage hits supplies.

guacamole and it was covered in

shouldn’t be concerned about us. I

apartment

With beer brewers halting or

grasshoppers. But with the global

don’t think they are from far away,

Greenslopes, Brisbane, home 30

memoir after burying this $1 million

slowing production because of the

situation and the ecology and

they are just next to us, we can’t see

times over the last year.

treasure, which included a poem of

coronavirus, the crucial Marmite

environment suffering, I think it

them.

clues to where the chest was buried.

ingredient is in short supply. The

would be very helpful if us, in more

“We can use an analogy of fish

The writings soon became a

economic

the

tame western countries, started to

which can think and perceive things

movements proved to be his

bestseller, and people all over the

coronavirus has spread to the

think a little bit more about insects

only in the way they can and

undoing, with a resident setting up

world came to the area to search for

controversial breakfast staple, with

for protein. They are really high in

humans also perceive only in the

cameras to catch him in the act.

the fortune. Some doubted its

Marmite's

manufacturer

protein and are much lower impact

way we can, so our perception of the

With his reputation seemingly in

existence, and at least five people

announcing it can no longer

on the planet, and there's a huge

world is limited by our organs.”

the toilet, Macintosh has since

gave their lives searching for it.

produce large jars of the brown,

supply."

treasure hunter has finally

uncovered Forrest Fenn’s chest of jewels and riches buried out in the Rocky Mountains. Fenn published a

After all these years, the lucky

sticky

fallout

paste.

from

That's

because

hunter contacted Fenn with a photo

Marmite is made from yeast extract

SHAG AN ALIEN SAYS

of his newfound riches as proof, and

- a crucial ingredient that's a by-

OXFORD DON

xtraterrestrials are breeding with

human

his

regularity

Macintosh’s

In his 2012 address, Dr Chi said:

stepped down from his job at as a

“Perhaps human civilisation is

quality care manager at Aveo, a

coming to an end” and that

company that runs retirement

extraterrestrials can sense

villages.

this. The professor said he

superspecies

agreed with theories that

which could one day save the planet

“aliens are intent on

from climate change, according to

producing hybrids”. “It

an Oxford University professor.

may be more or less

Alien-human hybrids could already

assumed

be walking among us, Dr Young-hae

hybrid project is a

near

According to local reports, the

produce

beings

block

that

the

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

late June edition

WORD

Madge Thatcher Satan’s Own Agony Aunt

I wish to complain about the

consider 'Syphoning The Python'

Now then Liz, I understand the

I have just heard that 64% of

I tried to make love to my

lack of public toilets in central

outdoors, on a memorial such as

irony here as Richard Coeur Dr

medical staff who died from Covid

missus standing 2 metres apart

London. After 10 pints of Stella

Marx's grave as an enormous

Lion, being a French man who

19 are from a BAME background.

but it’s simply not long enough. Is

and a few whiskies where was I

chuckle. Of course the high and

made the peasantry undergo

Does that mean there are other

there anything I can do?

meant to pee? I am very upset that

mighty tend to get off with a small

austerity through taxation to pay

underlying factors or will they all

people fink I disrespected the old

fine, but if, as I strongly suspect, you

for

just get killed off?

bill as I gave em a well proper Nazi

are working class you will probably

Essentially

salute as well like. Richard Head from Essex

Crusades

East. want

Matt Hand–cock

get a short prison sentence. Maybe

successive governments have been

from London

you should have just had a Waz in

doing for the last 30 years.

the middle of a fistfight, because for So 'Dick' it sounds like you had a proper day out in our beloved capital.

least

you

from Luton

the that

isn’t

some reason nobody got arrested for that.

found

Well Stephen I think you should continue 'Self Medicating' but try

Well Matty darling I would Plagues were imported in those

Tommy Robinson

expect

someone

with

something less stimulating than

your

your usual Columbian Marching

days. Nothing really changes Does

background to be able to 'interpret’

Powder, that makes you all

it? As for your heritage you aren’t

statistics such as these in any

fractious and illogical. Maybe

directly

number of ways.

Ketamine. Certainly try Marijuana

somewhere 'Socially Distanced' to

I am disgusted that someone

'Wet Your Lettuce', that should

of the peasantry tried to do harm

Plantagenet royalty as you are

work in your favour. You could

to one’s ancestors statue. Richard

Prussian from the house of

Obviously steer clear of the

huff Lighter Fluid. Anything really,

claim to be a simple member of a

was a wonderful man. He killed

Hanover. Most of the Statues of

obvious link that BAME people are

just to take the edge off the deep

football supporters group and not

lots of Moslems and taxed lots of

Aristocracy are of foreigners, or

more likely to be living in poverty,

seated hatred. Learn to love

a Fascist. Of course well connected

the lower classes. He was in

riff-raff who made their fortunes

in crowded housing and working in

yourself first and things will

Fascists have been 'Draining The

England for nearly 6 months of his

out of exploitation or slavery or

low paid, low protected workplaces.

improve with your wife naturally.

Lizard' in public for years, mostly

reign and even bothered to learn a

being war criminals. Ironic that

That wouldn’t look good at all

Of course you could just get

on sleeping tramps. I’m sure you

few words of English. So why are

they should be celebrated by

would it, when most of the world is

coked up, have a wank and blame

are aware of those scamps in the

the beastly prols picking on him?

working class filth like Tommy

crying 'Black Lives Matter' it might

everything on Muslims same as

Robinson isn’t it.

seem that they don’t.

normal.

Bullingdon

Club,

they

would

Liz from London

linked

Froggie

or even Nitrous Oxide Cannisters or

THE

WORD

late June edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

ACROSS THE POND

From Emmett Till to George Floyd by DAN WAKEFIELD

everal years ago a man

was trying to destroy the social

called

and

order of the South and “widen the

apologized for taking

gap between the white and the

colored people of the United

me time,

but

explained he had to speak

States.”

with me since he was writing about the Emmett Till murder

No group needed to be

trial and “you are the only one

named, since the local rumor was

who was there who is still

that the whole Till affair was a

alive.”

plot of the NAACP. I was not surprised when Trump blamed

I am still here, and I now see

Antifa for the protests, but my

headlines comparing the murder

favorite response was the United

of George Floyd in Minneapolis to

States Senator Tina Smith from

that of Emmett Till in Mississippi

Minnesota

in 1955.

“anarchists” were behind the

suggesting

that

rioting. Have Emma Goldman Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-

and

Alexander

Berkman

old black boy from Chicago who

returned to haunt the streets of

had gone to the Mississippi Delta

America?

to visit his grandfather, accused of the crime of whistling at a white

The defense attorney in the

woman, was found at the bottom

Till case told the jurors in his

of the Tallahatchie River with a

summation that he had faith that

seventy-pound cotton gin fan

“every last Anglo Saxon one of

tied around his neck with barbed

you men in this jury has the

wire.

courage to set these men free.” For many years I thought that the

George Floyd, a 46 year-old

term, “Anglo-sSxon” would never

man rumored to have passed a

be used again as a rallying cry in

counterfeit twenty-dollar bill at a

American politics – until Trump

convenience store was found

came along.

beneath the knee of a policeman

Film review he seventies were a great

particularly so with Soylent Green

stacks and the incessant virus of car

decade for science fiction

which

proliferation,

films. Charlton Heston

dystopia of big corporation abuse

deforestation. This is perfectly

starred in 3 notable sci-fi

and

complimented with the musical

films (and a cameo reprise in

environmental catastrophy through

soundtrack

Beneath the Planet of the Apes).

industrial vandalism of the planet.

instrumental

depicted massive

alarming

poverty

and

gridlock

country

music

and

jazz

gradually

who stared unblinking at a

What we are now being made

Heston's politics had been liberal

This is all alarmingly illustrated in

segueing into a manic jam. Montage

photographic lens as he pressed

to finally face is the fact that

throughout the sixties but gradually

the film's opening montage, a

will also be used later in the film

the life out of a man’s neck.

slavery is our national legacy,

and monotonously became John

marvelous set piece in its own right

during a key sequence where

embedded in our way of life. In

Waynesque. Interesting then that

with

Edward G Robinson undertakes an

when

my report on the Till trial sixty-

his sci-fi tritype apocalypse films

narrative from the bucolic and

incredibly

worldwide attention was brought

five years ago in The Nation I

were intensely pessimistic scenarios

leisurely pace of development until

ceremony (Robinson was terminally

to the crime – the journalists from

wrote that the Delta town of

and

the frenetic domination of chimney

ill in real life and died just a few days

around the country who crowded

Sumner, Mississippi, where the

the

Mississippi

trial was held, was “based on

courthouse, and the protestors

cotton and the proposition that a

who filled the streets of cities

whole race of men was created to

throughout the U.S. and the

pick it.”

both

stifling

cases,

world last week – “outside agitators”

were

blamed.

It is not just the South and it is

Mississippi, the defense attorney

no longer cotton; the American

suggested the ring found on

dream is based on the nightmare

Emmett Till’s body that identified

him was planted there by the

pandemic provides a rough map

agents of some sinister group that

of who is free.

racial

suppression.

The

critical

capitalism,

its

potted

acclerationist

moving

euthenesia

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

late June edition

WORD

Soylent Green (1973) after filming). Is this then a left wing

this candid and instrumentally

be these dystopian possibilities

film? The film's trailer is explicit in

callous approach sits uneasily with

would

referencing Malthus to explain the

the supposed compassion and

government

film's central dilemma concerning

charity of the Christian Church,

encouraging the unsustainable. I

the dangers of overpopulation. And

Malthus bring a man of the cloth

guess Soylent Green's politics can be

if Malthus is critical of classical

after all. Malthusian ideas would

interpreted any number of ways. It

liberalism, he was certainly no

become part of the social Darwinian

certainly doesn't take a favourable

leftist. I suppose we'd have to

worldview and satirised of course by

view of humanity. As Sol wryly

classify him as a heterodox alt right

Dickens in the character of Scrooge

observes in the following dialogue:

type in modern parlance, given his

who deploys Malthusian arguments

Sol Roth: There was a world once,

pessimistic prognosis. His remedies

in self defence. Modern Malthusian

you punk. Detective Thorn: Yes, so

were to actually double down on

politicians of recent years have

you keep telling me. Sol Roth: I was

laissez-faire

state

included Peter Lilley and Iain

there. I can prove it. Detective

interventionism would artificially

Duncan Smith, but have also

Thorn: I know, I know. When you

corrupt the natural cleansing forces

attracted

Labour

were young, people were better. Sol

of nature in culling the excess

politicians like Frank Field, Caroline

Roth: Aw, nuts. People were always

population and then allowing for

Flint and Rachel Reeves. I suppose

rotten. But the world was beautiful.

self adjusting properties. Of course

their take on Soylent Green would

ANDREW WALLACE

any

some

New

down

part

profligacy

to in

THE

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late June edition

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THE

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

WORD

June 13. 2020

Forgotten Bands

Tempest T

wo guitar players or

other, often a better one, out of the

one? To be blunt, you

line-up; I’ve seen it happen. A good

eponymously titled album

could fill a band with

way round the whole thing is to have

in 1973, then Living In

guitar

and

a vocalist who plays keyboards and

Fear in 1974. Holdsworth

many have tried to do this, notably

doubles with the guitar, following

had quit the band as he

Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Gifted,

the bass lines when the guitar player

didn’t want to do the two

and Black.

attains temporary deity in order to

guitar thing, and Halsall,

players,

bought

their

Bands with one guitarist generally have two on recordings, but bands with two guitar players tend to implode when one edges the other, often a better one, out of the line-up.

Jimi Himself or perhaps Lightning Rod aka Jalal Mansur Nuriddin aka Lawrence Padilla, who played with Hendrix.

take a solo. Bands like The Beatles

himself an amazing player

Collaborations of ‘superstars’ all of

had three guitarists, Paul McCartney

and singer, carried on with Jon

them guesting on one another’s

being a guitarist on bass, up to the

Hiseman on drums and Mark Clarke

shows often feature half a dozen

end of 1966 and from 1967 Billy

on bass and occasional keyboards.

me at

electric guitarists, of whom two are

Campbell very uncomfortable on

Tempest #2 was very much a Halsall

Eric Clapton, a promising sort who

bass, playing anything he could get

project; it has to be if you sing and

there for about eight months. Three

tracks on the album, Holdsworth is

discovered that he was no longer god

his hands on. Watch “Paul” before

play guitar. It also contains a lot of

previous ‘favourite’ albums (I’ll tell

the gaffer, but the writing is shared

and had never been the moment

and after New Year 1967 and you’ll

‘Beatles inspired’ material, and

you about them when you’re older)

between him and Hiseman, though

somebody, possibly Chas Chandler ex-

see what I mean.

clearly Ollie (a shortening of his

went straight back to Geoff, the

Clarke gets some credits, as does

surname) was a massive fan of the

music student in the room next door

Clem

animals, persuaded him to allow the

who

The opening track to Tempest’s

was with

first album employs reverse-reverb

the time, but once it

on Williams’ voice before the band

went on to my turntable, it stayed

crashes in. All through the eight

Clempson

Beyond

young and upcoming Jimi Hendrix to

Admirers of the Beatle brand were

Fab Four/ Five/ Six. He will feature

in halls of residence, who’d lent me

Tomorrow, which features that man

play a couple of songs with the band

#2 of Jon Hiseman’s Band Tempest,

soon in another instalment of

them.

again, Holdsworth, on violin.

while Eric was having a fag break.

after Ollie Halsall had replaced both

Forgotten Bands. To understand the quality of the

I think I might have played that

guitarist

singer/ keyboardist Paul Williams (exJuicy Lucy) and Allan Holdsworth,

So Tempest, the #1 album, is one

band, you have to give the whole

album so many hundreds of time

generally have two on recordings,

who if not god was definitely a serious

of the most amazing I’ve ever

album a listen, and ‘get past’ the

just for the elegiac guitar solos, my

but bands with two guitar players

contender for one of the more

listened to. I cannot remember why

quirkiness of Paul Williams, who

favourite being on Strangeher (sic)

tend to implode when one edges the

important angels, Metatron perhaps.

I bought it, how I knew about it, or

doesn’t so much sing as drawl like

Watch this space.

Bands

with

one

THE

WORD

late June edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

PEOPLE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE

ust off the vast expanse

in Lincoln Square, hatless, tousled

divided, over the same issues that

old firebrands lamented - had

hair flying and brow furrowed.

had divided America: cotton, slavery

become merely a "bread and butter"

and freedom.

issue, not a utopia. Wages had risen,

Albert

Square

Manchester is a smaller square named after an

American president.

He is there because he wrote a letter to the people of Manchester. Well not the whole people.

Unnoticed, for the most part, by

calm had settled in. Privilege has shuddered at what might happen to old Europe if [America's]

post-pub revellers and shoppers,

One hundred and fifty years ago

Abe himself towers above the scene

the people of Manchester were

grand

experiment

But now, with the conflict in America, disaster struck.

should succeedJohn Bright, 19th Century Liberal MP

Lancashire's main source of cotton was the Confederate states:

By the time the American Civil

1.1bn lb a year were being shipped

the autumn

War started, in 1861, Lancashire was

into Liverpool, up various canals and

of 1862-1863, just as

the "workshop of the world". Its

railways, to be processed in the small

in the United States Lincoln was

440,000 cotton workers, spinning

coal and cotton towns of the region.

issuing

and weaving in 2,400 factories, were

When the Union side imposed a

Proclamation, turning the American

as vital to the world economy as the

naval blockade on the South, the

conflict into a full-blown fight with

Chinese region of Guangdong is

main source of cotton dried up.

slavery, the town of Stalybridge had

today.

Some factories were able to switch

just five out of 39 cotton mills

to lower grade cotton from Egypt or

working, 7,000 unemployed and

Asia, but many closed: the classic

750 empty houses.

They had had a turbulent past: slaughtered

mass

financial squeeze took place on

demonstration of Peterloo in 1819,

the

businesses already leveraged to the

on general strike as recently as 1842,

hilt to take advantage of a boom.

seized with Chartist discontent in the revolutionary year of 1848.

closed

and

trade

unions

had

emerged for which socialism - as the

Maybe one day we will get a movie worthy of men like John

were

mothballed. Workers - despite

Cotton

Emancipation

Bright and Ernest Jones. Mills

But they were calming down.

the

enthusiastic

charity

In 2007 Paul Mason told the

efforts

story of the rise and fall of the cotton

mobilised by local bigwigs - went

industry which shaped Lancashire

without food and heating, or were

in the Radio Four series Spinning

evicted.

Yarns.

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

late June edition

New normal

WORD

same time deterring people going to hospitals and surgeries (as care rationing increases). Seeing a familiar face, who knows you and your

There is much talk of a "new

American companies are very

history will become a thing of the

normal", and a "new way of life" in

much here, and pulling the strings,

past. Continuing to keep us all in fear

healthcare, going forward & living

and it shows. Our government do not

will help them get away with it. We

alongside Covid-19.

run the NHS any more, Simon

must refuse to go along with it.

Stevens does. United Health, his After weeks of applauding the

former employer, have been busy re-

So, "normal" in future, must

dedication of our NHS workforce,

purposing the structure of our health

mean a Nationalised NHS. Publicly

much of the public are outraged at

system for many years, and it is

funded, publicly provided, free to all

the time and lives lost due to the

telling that GPs have been removed

according to their need, not their

Government's and NHS England's

from helping tackle the current crisis.

ability to pay. It IS affordable, it is the

choosing to set up contracts with private providers and distribution for

most cost effective system. Like the Their aim is to break the

testing, and then of course PPE. The

traditional

credibility of those overseeing this

patients

relationships

country's health needs are in tatters.

appointments are encouraged, at the

and

doctors.

with

Black Lives Matter movement, we must act now.

On-line Colin Crilly

NHS bosses taking advantage of crisis Save Southend NHS campaign has learnt from separate

currently caring for only three COVID-

care (acute specialities) to Basildon’s ‘super-hospital’ via the back door.

senior

19 patients but also for a further 9

hospital sources that staff at Southend

other NON-COVID patients. This

ITU have been told there is to be a loss

demonstrates the absolute need for

As we already know, despite

of a significant number of critical care

our hospital to keep the current

fighting to keep the acute stroke unit

beds at our hospital (has currently 14

number of critical care beds, and that

at Southend, that too is being moved

beds across two units).

bed reductions would be extremely

to Basildon. The STP plans to make

dangerous.

Basildon the ‘super hospital’ were

The Mid and South Essex (MSE)

shelved in 2017 following mass public

Hospital group say that as of early July,

Staff will be required to work in

pressure, and by numerous senior

these critical care beds will be

the Basildon COVID-19 ITU on

clinicians who spoke out about the

dramatically reduced, and staff will

rotation. This has been done thus far

likely loss of life.

have to work at Basildon on rotation

without any formal staff consultation

to man a new ‘super-COVID’ ITU

process. Staff tell us that for many

(housed

years

portacabins),

there

been

senior

beyond the call of duty during the

discussions

about

COVID-19 crisis, but now shamefully,

preparation for a second wave. These

reducing Southend’s ITU capacity, and

their own NHS boses are using the

plans were made without staff input

most worryingly that this is a

cover of this crisis to sneak through

and only now have they been asked to

precursor to the MSE group reviving

these unpopular and unsafe changes.

give their opinion on the plans.

the Sustainability and Transformation

accommodating up to 26 patients in

management

have

All NHS staff have gone above and

Partnership’s (STP) plans to move Southend ITU and HDU units are

blue light A&E, renal and respiratory

Tim Sneller / Save Southend NHS campaign Chair

Unpopular controversial plans being pushed through the

reach in terms of Dorset CCG's own

try to save Poole A&E and Maternity

We've been fighting for 4 years to

Competition and Markets Authority

also

'safe' travel times of 30-45 minutes in

and Dorset NHS beds. In terms of the

about the merger of Poole and

maternity emergency, acute stroke or

legal route we've been to the High Court

Bournemouth Hospital Trusts, which

major trauma.

and the Court of Appeal. In terms of the

enables the closure of emergency

local authority route, we got Dorset

Trauma

County Council to send the plans back

Paediatric care at Poole.

A&E,

objected

Maternity

and

to the Sec of State for review in Nov 2018, after a year of lobbying. This January, 15 months later, we

The South West Ambulance Trust published a Report in August 2017 stating longer travel times that

The plans will move emergency

the plans will create will result in

care further away from hundreds of

hundreds more avoidable deaths,

thousands of Dorset residents - for

and in more lives lived in disability.

Hancock

example, any mum giving birth

However the danger these plans pose

greenlighting the plans, although the

under 32 weeks will have to get to

for Dorset residents has been ignored

independent panel who carried out

Bournemouth Hospital, located in

by every process that we have gone

the review for him did state that "A&E

the far east of the County, through

through.

Local" - a 16 hour per day full A&E at

chronic traffic congestion (third most

Poole, closed overnight - was a viable

congested location in UK). For tens of

alternative option to the loss of

thousands of residents the plans

ordinator

emergency care from Poole.

move emergency hospital care out of

Residents Group

found

that

Matt

Cllr Debby Monkhouse, Co Defend

Dorset

NHS

THE

WORD

late June edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

Statues of a racist past coming down at last

he statue of slave owner

there will need to be consultations

Robert Milligan has gone

over planning regulations.

at last.

"We've taken time to reflect on

actions of libraries like the Royal

our role in this and recognise that

Holloway, look more akin to book

what

we must do more to combat

binning.

actually means, or what is likely to

The governors said the decision

systemic racism and support the

The statue of Empire builder and

had been reached "after a thoughtful

Black and Minority Ethnic (BME)

mass murderer Cecil Rhodes will

period of debate and reflection" -

community.

also be taken down at long last after

and in "full awareness of the impact

a fight lasting decades

these decisions are likely to have in Britain and around the world".

The governors of the Oxford

While it is not altogether clear 'decolonizing'

literature

be censored, or how objective it is There is of course, nothing new

likely to be, it looks like Kipling is

in British libraries eliminating

destined for the dustbin, and other

reading

was

famous English writers such as

material

that

With this in mind, we've created

considered not conducive to the

Dickens, Thackeray, Waugh and

a reading list of resources to help

tastes, of what is nowadays, dubbed

Orwell, might also be in serious

you to understand the struggle

by some, the 'woke' left who object

peril of being thrown down the

LastÂ Friday, the Royal Holloway

againstÂ racism...Going forward we

to reading material that is not in

memory hole.

Wednesday to remove the statue of

University of London Library,

will be sharing details on the steps

line with socially liberal causes,

the colonialist.

announced that it would be taking

we are taking to decolonize and

such as feminism.

measures

diversify our collections, make our

University

college

voted

Campaigners have called for the

'decolonize'

its

collection of books.

statue to be taken down - saying it was a symbol of imperialism and racism. The removal is not expected to be immediate - as the college says

The library said that in an effort

services more inclusive and tackle

At a time when statues are being toppled and thrown into the

During the 1960's and 1970's, many

the time for lasting change."

authorities, discreetly destroyed

considered offensive to the trendy-

thousands of books that were

left, are also being purged of their

considered 'sexist', 'imperialist',

content, so as to not offend left sensibilities and the so-called 'BME

to combat 'structural racism' in

looney-left

British society, it would be removing

While book burning was a

certain titles from its collection. In a

craze in Nazi Germany and was

'colonialist',

statement, the library said:

often led by student activists, the

racist.'

London

drink, many movies and television

racism and discrimination. Now is

'homophobic

and

programmes

Community'.

that

are

now

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

late June edition

WORD

Farage gets the sack t was announced on 11 June

Farage’s departure follows a

that Farage would be leaving

backlash over his comments

LBC (Nigel Farage Leading

about. Black Lives Matter. After

Britain's Conversation) with

protests erupted in the UK over

immediate effect.

the death of George Floyd in America, Farage claimed a “new

In a statement, the broadcaster

form of the Taliban was born in

said: “Nigel Farage’s contract with

the UK” and described Black Lives

LBC is up very shortly and,

Matter as “a far-left Marxist

following discussions with him,

organisation that wants to abolish

Nigel is stepping down from LBC

the

with immediate effect.

capitalism”.

police

and

dismantle

Hope and Good News Iran: A 80-year-old dual national, Kamal Foroughi has been reunited with his family in the UK after being arrested in 2011, held in solitary confinement, denied access to a lawyer and then sentenced for 'espionage' in an unfair trial. Although allowed out of prison in 2018 to be looked after by friends he has at last returned to the UK after waiting for his Iranian passport to be renewed before being legally able to travel.

Los Angeles: The passage in 1970 in the US of the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce it is why air quality in the US is better than Europe. This mobilised government pressure has pressured polluters to take action, which it is reckoned has saved millions of lives.

Chad:

Brazil:

However Los Angeles, still with the country's highest level of ozone

A victory for indigenous and

pollution has taken additional action showing a 60% decrease in pollution

environmentalists

over the last three decades. They have also reduced the amount of two other

Federal Court has halted the plan

pollutants, particle matter and nitrogen dioxide which has seen a decrease in

for the largest open-pit coal mine

Human rights lawyer Jean Bosco Manga praised the decision, saying: “The

children's asthma of 20% in 13 years.

in Latin America. The legal action

logic of killing a man to punish him for having taken the life of another is

has

absurd”.

Extra measures such as better pollution controls on trucks, plug - in

stopped

the

Brazil's

Good news! On 20th May Chad abolished the death penalty for terrorist

Copelmi

acts which was the final exception after it had abolished the death penalty for all other crimes in 2016.

power for freight ships to turn off engines in port and restricted use of dry-

corporation from opening their

With this decision Chad becomes the 22nd African state to abolish the

cleaning chemicals and many more actions.

planned Guaiba mine. As a result

death penalty for all crimes and 80% of the member states of the African

an estimated 166 million tonnes of

Union have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

coal will remain unburned!

20 June 2020

DANGER: Trump puts these improvements at risk by ripping up pollution rules and weakening the EPA!

New Internationalist June 2020.

Amnesty

THE

WORD

late June edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

UNITY NEWS

By Sean Buckley

he popularity of the Black Lives Matter cause has steadily risen since its reappearance on the streets of Minneapolis in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and a seemingly endless numbers of public figures have voiced their support. Cultural figures such as actors and musicians have been vocal advocates for the cause, while politicians remain more split, as they often are, which is possibly reflective of the deeper divide seen more broadly in public discourse, particularly on social media.

www.thewordmedia.org

delivered the highest coronavirus death tolls in the world. The reason we have sunk to this horrific honour, however, is because the government was wilfully slow to react to the incoming crisis and made a decision, consciously or not, to sacrifice marginalised and vulnerable communities in a decidedly failed attempt to lessen the economic impact of Covid-19. The ONS report concerning ethnicity and coronavirus indicates that ethnic minority households are at a significantly increased risk. Black individuals alone are around 1.9 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than white ones. BAME communities are more likely to live in overcrowded households; around 15% of Black and around a third of Bangladeshi households are considered overcrowded, compared to 2% of white households. BAME people are also less likely to be employed in a profession that can be done from home, and are overrepresented in frontline areas like transport and care work.

There are two specific arguments reiterated en masse as criticisms of protests occurring in the UK and abroad. Firstly, that the protests should be condemned as social distancing regulations have been broken during This economically biased, ideological decision brought to light the the protests. Secondly, the argument commonly repeated by many easy devaluation of human life under our current system. Indeed, it is politicians and mainstream news outlets is that isolated acts of looting, because of the current health crisis that the protests against racial violence and destruction of property (public or private) also justify prejudice are so important, and why they resonated globally in the way condemnation of the entire movement. they have. The issue of social distancing not being respected is definitely a Equally condemned throughout these events is the destruction of serious one, especially here in the property and looting: something that is arguably a valid form of protest UK and over in the US when the subject of the protest is a system which explicitly values where government property over human life. Philosopher Guy Debord presents an incompetence excellent case for this. has Looting is a natural response to the unnatural and inhuman society of commodity abundance. It instantly undermines the commodity as such, and it also exposes what the commodity ultimately implies: the army, the police and the other specialised detachments of the state’s monopoly of armed violence. What is a policeman? He is the active servant of the commodity, the man in complete submission to the commodity, whose job it is to ensure that a given product of human labor remains a commodity, with the magical property of having to be paid for, instead of becoming a mere refrigerator or rifle — a passive, inanimate object, subject to anyone who comes along to make use of it. In rejecting the humiliation of being subject to police, black people are at the same time rejecting the humiliation of being subject to commodities.

www.thewordmedia.co.uk

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late June Edition

THE

WORD

TOO CLEVER BY HALF

Chess has been hit just as badly by the Corona virus as football, rugby and cricket

by an IBM main frame computer called Deep Blue which was the size of two wardrobes.

While this seems an impossible problem for contact sports, chess players can turn to the internet with ease.

Today anyone can buy a super strong app for their smart phone for next to nothing. Chess engine Komodo 13, can be added to an Android phone for £4.99 and Shredder for £6.49 Others are even cheaper. If you cheat and use any of these apps in a game there are no prizes for guessing who will win.

ver The Board (OTB) games have come to a halt at local and national level and it is an open question if and when they will restart.

World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, is sponsoring a series of rapid play tournaments (15 This problem minutes for first erupted on to each player) the chess scene that can can be in 2006 in an seen live on OTB match Smart phone Chess24 Clubs for the world chess engines in are setting championship your pocket for up their own when the a few quid tournaments on Bulgarian super web sites such as Grandmaster LiChess Veselin Topalov questioned why his Russian Many, if not most, club opponent, Vladimir Kramnik, players have mixed feelings was going to the lavatory up to about internet chess and prefer 50 times a game. face to face games where they enjoy a chat and a drink and see The implication was he was what their opponents are up cheating by using his smart to. Internet chess has a major phone to check his position. problem – cheating. Kramnik’s explanation was that though only 31 years old he It all started after 1997 when suffered from chronic arthritis the then World Champion, that made him walk around a lot Garry Kasparov, was defeated and urinate even more.

Your own Deep Blue

The affair Toiletgate.

was

called

The Russian Grandmaster forfeited a game because he was so upset by the accusation against him. The match resumed after one or two modification to the rules (about toilet breaks) and finally the challenger Kramnik narrowly won the match. Strict rules to guard against cheating are now enforced at all OTB tournaments and matches. In effect there is a ban on smart phones. Still, some OTB tournament players win games by evading the rules. When they are caught they are banned. Obviously, when games are played over the internet it is more difficult to detect cheats. I play rapid (30 minute) chess on Chess.com and have twice been awarded extra points because the sleuths in charge have spotted cheating by my opponents who were also banned. Unless you are a computer wizard or your opponent has a suspicious winning streak how can the ordinary player spot the cheaters? Share your ideas with me on The Word. http:// thewordmedia.org/

Ciuksyte, Dagne (2217) - Paehtz, Elisabeth (2358) �B06�? (7), 2nd May 2001 Dagne’s commentary: “I was very proud with my 24. Ng6! move as it didn’t come easily. And I thought my play was strong till... I had to find a way to defend against my opponent’s only and last idea 35... a5, a4, a3, Rxa3, Qxc3 keeping an eye on my weak spot on g3. I lost the thread and started running around aimlessly and lost. I was so upset after this loss thinking how unfair chess can be sometimes. After the tournament I’d decided to get this combination starting with 24. Ng6! Published in Sahovski informator 85. At least some revenge! 1...g6 2.d4 Bg/ 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 e6 5.Bg5 Ne/ 6.Qd2 h6 7.Be3 Nd/ 8.Nc3 a6 9.a4 b6 10.0-0 g9 11.h4 g4 12.Nh2 Nf6 13.Bd3 h5 14.93 Bb/ 15.f3 gxf3 16.Rxf3 d5 17.e5 Ne4 18.Qe1 Nf5 19.Bf2 Nxf2 20.Qxf2 Nh6 21.Ne2 Qe/ 22.Nf4 Ng4 23.Nxg4 hxg4 24.Ng6! Qd/7/ �24... fxg6� 25.Bxg6+ Kd8 26.Rf/ Qb4 27.c3 With the idea 28. Rxg/ 25.Rf4! Rg8 25...Rh6 26. Rf1 fxg6 27. Rf8+! White has a decisive advantage. 26.Rf1! fxg6 27.Bxg6+ Kd8 28.Rf7 Qxa4 29.Rxg/ �29.Bh�!? 29...Rxg/ 30.Qf8+ Kd/ 31.Qxg/+ Kc6 32.c3 Qb3 33.Qf6?! �33.Rf2+-� 33...Bc8 34.Be8+ Kb/ 35.Rf2 a5 36.Qg6 Qd1+ 3/7.Kg2 a4 38.Qc2 Qe1 39.Qe2 Qb1 40.Qc2 Qe1 41.Rf1 Qe3 42.Ra1 Qf3+ 43.Kh2 c6 44.Qg2 Qf8 45.Bg6 Bd? 46.Bc2 c5 47.Qf1 Qh6e 48.Qf4 Qg/ 49.Qf6 Qxf6 50.exf6 Rf8 51.Rf1 b5 52.dxc5 Be8 53.Bd1 Bh5 54.Rf4 Kc6 55.Bxg4 e5 56.Rb4 Be& 5/.f7 Bxf/ 58.Be2 Rb8 59.g4 Kxc5 60.95 d4 61.h5 Bxh5 62.Bxh5 Rh8 63.Kg3 Rxh5 64.Kg4 Rh1 65.Kf5 dxc3 66.bxc3 a3 67.g6 a2 68.g/ Rg1 0-1

Heartache Hotel This is a tough game from the 10th round of the second European Individual Women’s Chess Championship held in Warsaw, Poland, in 2001. Both players were young and talented and went on to become full International Masters and a women Grand Masters. Dagne Ciuksyte played for the Lithuanian Women’s team and later for England in olympiads. Her opponent played for the German team. What is exceptional about the game is that Dagne, who now lives in Suffolk, 19 years later, still grieves this loss. As she says: “I played well, made an inspired sacrifice, had a won game - and lost!” How many of us have bitter memories of a similar fate? But that’s chess! Play through the game and tell me where you believe Dagne let her opponent grab victory from the jaws of defeat?

THE

WORD

late June edition

Ingredients Chicken Natural yoghurt

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

Chicken curry

Tikka seasoning Cumin Tumeric Medium curry Garlic paste Ginger paste Fresh Coriander Cumin seeds

When all the vegetables have softened and the onions and soaked up the spices, add the chicken and the marinade and simmer for 1 hour, add the cumin seeds half way through cooking

Method:

Marinade the chicken a few hours

Dice and fry your onions slowly in

before you cook in Tikka seasoning,

additional spices of Tikka and

Ensure

garlic paste, ginger paste, medium

medium curry powder.

thoroughly before serving.

Add any additional vegetables to

Serve with which grain you prefer:

the pan after the onions

Rice, Quinoa, cous, cous or even on

chicken

cooked

curry powder, cumin and Tumeric

have softened

its on.

Tomatoes Onion (Any additional vegetables

Sprinkle some fresh corinder to serve.

you like) Rice

Using a meat substitute or lentils/veg is also a good alternative :)

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Vegan recipes

WORD

late June edition

Cooking with Chris Williamson

CARROT BOLOGNESE

Here is another really easy and

inexpensive

vegan

recipe to make. It’s one I devised about 20 years ago and it’s one I turn to when I’m short of time.

INGREDIENTS

increasing

the

proportion of ingredients I’ve used it on a number of

1 large red onion 2 garlic cloves, crushed 2 carrots, grated 1 yellow pepper (red or green peppers are just as good) 2 celery sticks 5 ounces red lentils (150 grams) 14-ounce tin of chopped tomatoes 3 tbsp of sun-dried tomato puree 16 fl oz veg stock (450 1 tbsp fresh marjoram or 2 tsp of dry marjoram

occasions to feed hungry activists after a long day on the campaign trail. People

2. Add lentils, tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, veg stock and marjoram. Season to taste

increasingly

looking for alternatives to meat and dairy products, because of the inherent cruelty

and

hugely

damaging environmental impact of the livestock industry. This recipe is easy to make and will encourage people that home cooking doesn’t have to complicated or laborious.

PREPARATION 1. Gently fry the onion, garlic, carrots, pepper and celery in olive oil for five minutes until soft.

are

Can also be served with spaghetti or penne pasta. Either combination is delicious. If served with pasta, soy sauce adds a tasty seasoning.

3. Bring to the boil, then partly cover with lid and simmer for 20 minutes until thick and soft

GARLIC POTATOES

4. Serve with garlic potatoes (see below) and peas

2. Fry them for a few minutes before adding two crushed garlic cloves and sesame seeds

1. Peel, slice and parboil new potatoes

THE

WORD

late June edition

Black History 1 In America in 1955 who refused to move to the back of the bus and give up her seat to a white person?

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

The Word

2 When did apartheid end in South Africa 3 What is said to be the biggest government bail out prior to the banks bail out in 2009? 4 When is Black History month 5 Which famous black poet wrote a collection of poems called “The Dread Affair”

Answers 1 Rosa Parks 2 A new constitution, which enfranchised blacks and other racial groups, took effect in 1994, and elections that year led to a coalition government with a non-white majority, marking the official end of the apartheid system. 3 The compensation of Britain’s thousands of slave owners was the largest bailout in British history until the bailout of the banks in 2009. 4 October in the UK and February in America 5 Benjamin Zephaniah Food and Drink 1 What vegetable is the French equivalent of “sweetheart” 2 What is the recipe for the “Davy Jones Locker” cocktail 3 Ackee and saltfish is a traditional dish of which country

Andrea Faulkner 5 Where does the drink Gin 3 Tay Tay is the nickname of 3 For what movie did Steven originate from which American pop artist Spielberg win his first Oscar for Best Director? Answers 4 What is Bob Dylan’s real name 4 "After all, tomorrow is 1 Cabbage or Chou in French another day!" was the last line 2 Gold rum, Fernet Branca, 5 Which TV series does Bruce in which Oscar-winning Best Grapefruit Juice, Cinnamon Springsteen’s E street band Picture? Bark Syrup and Lime Juice guitarist Steven Van Zandt star 3 Jamaica in 5 Which two Ken Loach film 4 Scouse originates from a won the Palme d'Or prize Norwegian recipe which was Answers award at Cannes Film Festival. brought to Liverpool. A 'pan of scouse' became a common 1 Justin Bieber with12 million Answers meal in working class followers Liverpool. 2 25 by Adele sold 5,706,000 1 2000 5 Although monks in the 11th in the first week 2 Frasier century used juniper berries to 3 Taylor Swift 3 Schindler’s List flavour distilled spirits. Gin 4 Robert Allen Zimmerman 4 Gone With The Wind was developed based on the 5 Lily hammer 5 I Daniel Blake & The wind earlier drink Jenever, which is that shakes the barley the traditional juniperFilm and TV awards flavoured national spirit of Newspaper Editors Belgium and the Netherlands 1 When was the National Television Awards’ Most 1 Who was the editor of The Music awards Popular Entertainment/TV News of the World newspaper Presenter category won by when it got shut down after the 1 Which music artist has the someone other than Ant and most twitter followers Dec?

4 The stew scouse is known to 2 Which album holds the 2 Which American comedy be a popular dish in Liverpool record for most copies sold in series has won a record 37 but where does it originate from its first week Emmy Awards?

“hacking” scandal in 2011 2 In 1935 who was the editor of the communist newspaper The Daily Worker 3 Which political party was the owner of the Daily Mirror newspaper, Robert Maxwell, an MP and member of 4 Name the editor of The Word 5 Louis Martine Chauffer, the editor of the French newspaper was arrested by who and what was her arrested for

Answers 1 Colin Myler 2 Idris Cox 3 Labour 4 Alan Davies 5 He was arrested by the Gestapo for being a member of the French Resistance in WW2

THE

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

late June edition

WORD

THE

WORD

late June edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

SCIENCE PAGE Once again, physicists have

Tower of Pisa in the 16th century.

confirmed one of Albert Einstein's

And suggestions of the idea appear

core ideas about gravity — this

in the work of the 12th-century

time with the help of a neutron star

philosopher

flashing across space.

Baghdādī. This concept eventually

Abu'l-Barakāt al-

made its way into Isaac Newton's The new work makes

model of physics, and then

an old idea even more

Einstein's

theory

certain: that heavy and

relativity

as the gravitational

light objects fall at the

same

rate.

"strong (SEP).

equivalence This

new

general principle"

experiment

Einstein wasn't

demonstrates the truth of the SEP,

the first person to

using a falling neutron star, with

realize this; there are

more precision than ever.

contested accounts of Galileo

Galilei

The SEP has appeared to be

the

true for a long time. You might

principle by dropping

have seen this video of Apollo

demonstrating weights

off

the

astronauts dropping a feather and a hammer in the vacuum of the moon, showing that they fall at the same rate in lunar gravity.

THE

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

WORD

late June edition

EFL CHAIRMAN RICK PARRY WARNED THAT THE 71 CLUBS IN HIS COMPETITION WERE FACING A COLLECTIVE £200M CASH HOLE BY THE END OF SEPTEMBER

Leyton Orient fans have also donated over £40,000 on the club’s GoFundMe page, a cash injection which could be vital in propping them up in the coming months

Football League clubs facing

huge financial difficulties League and Champion

Last week, clubs in both League

The first and most obvious issue

One and League Two level, probably

fans have also donated over

ship football in the

One and League Two voted almost

is that all remaining games have

do rely on a paycheque every month

£40,000 on the club’s GoFundMe

coming days will be a

unilaterally to end the current

been cancelled. This is particularly

- and could not absorb missing one,

page, a cash injection which could be

sight for sore eyes. As fans, it will

season, using a points-per-game

damaging for lower league clubs, the

two, three or four paycheques.”

vital in propping them up in the

be fantastic to see that our clubs

method

final

vast majority of whom rely heavily

have made it through unscathed,

standings. Promotion and relegation

on ticket sales as a primary source of

and that players and managers

will remain and be dictated by a

income.

alike are fit and healthy.

clubs final standing, and those in

he return of Premier

For clubs in the lower tiers however, the situation remains

The Situation Right Now

determine

horizon.

"Players, especially at League

charitable causes. Leyton Orient

coming months, but again, this may The third issue being discussed here, and there are hundreds to

not be a viable option for fans of every club.

choose from, is the matter of

play-off positions will be given the

On top of this, we have no idea

refunds. Fans up and down the

Another idea was put forward by

chance to play such games and

when next season might get

country have pre-paid hundreds of

Charlie Methven, co-chairman of

potentially gain promotion.

underway, and no guarantee that

pounds for season tickets to see

Sunderland football club, who

fans can even return when it does.

their club play throughout the

suggested that the government

This just serves to create even more

season, and, whether clubs like it or

might begin a scheme where funds

financial uncertainty.

not, they are due a refund. A good

are exchanged for a minority

number of fans have contacted

shareholding

pretty dyer, and there doesn’t seem to be any real solution on the

Huge Financial Obstacles

The decision to end the season prematurely seems to have been the correct one, since the financial implications

"Lower-league

clubs

49%.

are

their club already to say they are

However, with the masses of money

vulnerable because they are so

happy for their payment to remain,

already being shelled out by the

would

potentially

reliant upon ticket income and

to help the financial stability of

government for the country wide

crippling for some clubs. However,

many Championship clubs are

their club, but for a lot of working-

furlough scheme, such a possibility

there are still huge issues being

vulnerable due to the severe

class fans this won’t be finically

seems to be a stretch.

faced.

overstretching of expenditure,"

viable.

been

logistical

challenges posed by a full restart have

and

As fans, we may well need to The second issue concerns

On top of this, we have no idea when next season might get underway, and no guarantee that fans can even return when it does

Is there a Solution?

hope that other top tier footballers

player contracts. Over 1400 players

There have been a few examples

decided to follow Harry Kane’s lead,

in the lower league have contracts

of good will running throughout the

or perhaps that top tier clubs will see

which run out this summer. Given

league which could see small clubs

the value of protecting the football

that clubs now have no income from

gain the financial security needed to

league as a whole. Be that via

ticket sales, it’s unclear how these

ride out this period of insecurity. One

making donations to lower league

contracts will be renewed and where

example came from Harry Kane,

clubs, or simply loaning out younger

this money will come from. This

who decided to sponsor the shirts of

players and offering to pay 100% of

could leave thousands of players,

Leyton Orient, the club who gave

their salary.

many of whom live paycheque to

him his senior debut. He also offered

paycheque without work.

the advertising space to local

By Craig Watson.

THE

WORD

late June edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

THE DIGITALISATION OF ALL OUR LIVES IS TAKING PLACE WITHOUT ANY PROTEST

Football without a crowd

ootball, the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

In 1989 the easily preventable

of a ticket shot up. It was no longer

national sport, has

events at Hillsborough in the

a working class game. The main

returned to empty

Liverpool

Nottingham

beneficiary of this was the Empire

Now we have no fans allowed.

mingle and exchange their views

stadia in an effort to

Forest FA cup semi-final gave the

of Rupert Murdoch, the owner of

Lower division clubs are going out

away from the manipulations of

make us all digital-only beings.

Thatcher Government an excuse to

Sky sports and the Sun newspaper.

of existence at a pace. Along with

main-stream media.

This is not a random act.

bring in all-seater grounds. The

Murdoch used his influence to lie

this the attack is mounted on pubs,

price

versus

about the Liverpool fans.

clubs,

political

meetings

and

anywhere that ordinary people can

These things are no coincidence.

Premier league returns Aston Villa 0 Sheffield United 0 Manchester City 3 Arsenal 0

rsenal's David Luiz was sent off in a performance riddled with mistakes as Manchester City secured a comfortable victory behind closed doors on the first night of the Premier League's return. The operator of the Premier League's goalline technology system has apologised after an error denied Sheffield United a goal in their 0-0 draw at Aston Villa.