THE WORD 42

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Issue #42, Late August Edition

In retaliation to Palestinian air force

£1

Equality Democracy Truth Courage

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER

ISRAEL BOMBERS CONTINUE TO POUND GAZA

thewordmedia.org GOVERNMENT

BY ALGORITHM

I used to teach and set public exams in Government and Politics. I always asked questions about the accountability of government to the people. It was expected. It took me too long to realise that Blair and New Labour turned that concept on its head in PAGE 2 order to hold...

LETTER FROM BEIRUT

It’s my city. It’s Beirut. Yet on Tuesday August 4, 2020 it notoriously forced the world to halt its mad course by forging a madness of its own. On this late summer afternoon a terrible explosion the impact of which was heard and felt PAGE 6 as far away as...

THE DECEIT SYNDROME

Politicians, TV, papers SILENT!

I originally qualified as a doctor at Guy’s in London in 1979, and after a few terrifying hospital jobs - scary for me but probably more so for my patients - settled as a GP in the Kent village of Sutton Valence and stayed for over thirty years. I felt very privileged to be PAGE trusted to care...

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

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GOVERNMEN

BY ALGORITH

used to teach and set public exams in Government and Politics.

I always asked questions about the accountability of government to the people.

It was expected. It took me too long to realise that Blair

THE GCSE FIASCO IS ON ITS WAY I went to the pub. Very quiet. gradually one, two, three, four old men came in. All wanted to talk about the same thing.

Those exam results!!! I have a feeling that government is totally unaware of the extent of their cock up. Just wait for the GCSE results!!!

and New Labour turned that concept on its head in order to hold the people accountable to government.

We talk today about Government by Algorithm.

Years ago I felt it was somewhat tough to have been inspected over two years by HMI on behalf of Ofsted (only one F in Ofsted). Today Ofsted spend 20 minutes in the classroom and mostly make up their minds by looking at the school statistics; I thought two years was tough but I prefer it.

RECOVERED FROM THE A AND A/S LEVEL FIASCO? The results young people are getting now that are influenced by a schools record more than they are by the capacity of the candidates provide a picture of our future.

What in future shall decide who gets a life-saving operation? Imperfect humanity or perfect inhumanity?

We must hold, in this case, Williamson to account. For him and his boss, government is something you do TO people not something you do WITH them or even FOR them.

words like THICK. But I shall.

I am very angry. Williamson and his boss are both thick and with it uncaring. To see people assessed several times at A by professionals given Ds by amateurs is extremely angrifying.

As a professional educator I am not supposed to use

This is only partly about that algorithm. It is mostly about a thicko, uncaring government.

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ON THIS DAY

Jomo Kenyatta

17 August Events 2008 – American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic Games.

Deaths 1983 – Ira Gershwin, American songwriter (b. 1896) 18 August Events 1903 – German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his selfmade, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.

Deaths 1227 – Genghis Khan,(b.

Temüjin 1162 ), was the Great Khan and founder of the Mongol Empire, which later became the largest contiguous empire in history.

19 August Events 1934 – The German referendum of 1934 approves Hitler’s appointment as head of state with the title of Führer.

1944 – World War II:

Anthea Gibson

Liberation of Paris: Paris, France rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.

Deaths 1977 – Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (b. 1890) 2005 – Mo Mowlam, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1949) Holidays and Observances.

World Humanitarian Day 20th.August.

Events 1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace’s same theory.

1940 – World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes his famous speech containing the line

“Never was so much owed by so many to so few”.

21st.August.

Events 1968 – James Anderson, Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honour to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.

Deaths.

1940 – Leon Trotsky, Russian theorist and politician, founded the Red Army(b. 1879) 22nd.August.

Events 1485 – The Battle of Bosworth Field, the death of Richard III and the end of the House of Plantagenet.

1864 – Twelve nations sign

Michael Phelps

the First Geneva Convention.

1950 – Althea Gibson becomes the first black competitor in international tennis.

1972 – Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) is expelled by the IOC for its racist policies.

Deaths.

1922– Michael Collins, Irish rebel, counter-intelligence and military tactician, and politician; 2nd Irish Minister of Finance (b.

1890) 1978 – Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyan journalist and politician, 1st President of Kenya (b. 1894)

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BEST OF TH 4

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Late August Edition

7,000 High Street jobs to go ICONIC store, Marks & Spencer, is to cut 7,000 jobs over the next three months in a new round of redundancies as the retailer slashes costs. A month ago the company announced that 950 would go in store management, property and other head office posts. The latest job cuts, which are expected to affect women, will be made at its central London head office, in regional management and at its UK stores.

This adds to the high street job losses since the pandemic hit.

Shopworkers’ union Usdaw called on the government to support retailers, saying the latest M&S job cuts were a “bombshell for our high streets”.

Shop sales of clothing and homewares plummeted 48% in the past eight weeks. Other major retailers and high street dining chains, to cut jobs include Debenhams, John Lewis, Boots, WHSmith, Pizza Express and Zizzi.

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Useless Education Secretary refuses to quit GAVIN Williamson has said he is “absolutely determined” to continue as Education Secretary as he faces calls from the within the Tory party to quit over his handling of the exams grading farce. The minister told BBC Breakfast he was focused on delivering the grades after a U-turn over the system used to award this year’s A-Level and GCSE grades. Asked four times if he had offered the Prime Minister his resignation he declined to say. A YouGov poll found the overwhelming majority of the public think the

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Government has handled the exam crisis badly; 40% say Mr Williamson should resign, only 20% think he should stay.

Private health firms praised

by Tory minister TORY Health chief Matt Hancock heaped praise on private firms on Tuesday and called on them to “join us” as he announced a new health body, the National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP) to replace Public Health England came under intense scrutiny for its decision to shift away from mass coronavirus testing in March because of a lack of resources. He said the idea there is a “divide” between public and private sector “is for the birds”. Anti-privatisation group We Own said Mr Hancock’s comments “beggar belief”. The NIH will oversee pandemic work but obesity, addiction and other vital public health issues will be hived off to councils whose public health budgets have been slashed.

Ex-chancellor Sajid goes back to banking FORMER chancellor Sajid Javid has landed a new job with his old firm, Wall Street banking giant JP Morgan. Mr Javid, who dramatically quit as Chancellor this year, will take up the post as a member of the US bank’s advisory council for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the bank announced. Mr Javid, began his career at Chase Manhattan, which later became part of JP Morgan. He left the sector in 2009 to enter politics.

Coronavirus cases down to a trickle THE UK’s total coronavirus death toll has risen by 12 in the last 24 hours in the lowest Tuesday rise since lockdown began. More

than 1,000 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours.

A total 41,381 people have now tragically died of Covid-19 in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the community.

The number of new positive Covid-19 tests also rose on Tuesday, by 1,089 following 169,276 tests. The overall death toll has been officially reduced after a recent review took off more than 5,000 from the figure.

Wealth disparity starts at school PRIMARY school pupils of the richest parents spent 30% more time learning during the coronavirus lockdown than their peers from the poorest families, new research shows.

Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found there was “no gap” in the average amount of time spent learning between children from better and worse-off families before the coronavirus closures. The gap facing secondary school children remained unchanged.

Ex-prosecutor calls on Cummings for proof DOMINIC Cummings has been challenged by a former top prosecutor, Mike Schwarz, to provide evidence about his movements during the coronavirus lockdown. Mr Cummings admitted driving his wife and child from London to Durham despite having Covid-19 symptoms. Durham police said he “might” have broken lockdown rules. In his letter Mr Schwraz said witnesses reports indicate Mr Cummings returned to Durham a second time and he has called on Mr Cummings to “make available specific data in your possession and available from independent recording devices, capable of proving your account.”

More Tory jobs for the boys and gals TEST and trace chief failure, Baroness Dido Harding, a Tory peer with no medical experience and friend of David Cameron, has been appointed to

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run the new institute replacing Public Health England (PHE) which was ‘sacked’ on Tuesday

by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

When Baroness Harding was chief executive of TalkTalk it was fined £400,000 for “security failings” which led to 157,000 customers’ personal data, including bank details, being stolen.

Covid outbreak at ‘sacked for sick leave’ firm MORE than 70 workers have tested positive for coronavirus at a company where a boss threatened to sack anyone taking sick leave.

Bakkavor dessert factory in Nottinghamshire, supplies Tesco, M&S and Sainsbury’s.

A total of 701 workers out of 1,600 have been tested, 72 were positive and 33 staff have returned to work after selfisolating. Staff at the factory had previously complained that social distancing wasn’t being followed on site, and in some instances those returning from coronavirus hotspots weren’t being told to self-isolate. In April, operations manager Sean Madden was recorded telling staff at a Bakkavor factory in North London that they would top any redundancy list if they failed to turn up for work.

Migrant attacked as he lands A YOUNG migrant was

POLITICS AND EVENTS

attacked in broad daylight moments after landing from a small boat on a Kent beach.

The thug assaulted the 20-yearold man as he saw him land at Kingsdown, Kent. The victim was left injured and shaken but did not require hospital treatment. Dover and Deal Tory MP Natalie Elphicke said: “There’s no excuse for vigilante behaviour.”

Local lockdown catastrophe fears OLDHAM, Greater Manchester, is 48 hours away from potentially being ordered into a “catastrophic” and “premature” local lockdown, council leader Sean Fielding has warned. Ministers are expected to decide this week whether to order the closure of the town’s bars, restaurants and gyms as the town has the highest coronavirus infection rate in England despite restrictions on social visits imposed three weeks ago. Yet figures soon to be released show new cases are in decline Mr Fielding, said.

He added, being put into a Leicester-style lockdown would be disastrous for Oldham’s “struggling economy.”

Scottish First Minister told about Sturgeon earlier on NICOLA Sturgeon was warned about allegations

of misconduct against Alex Salmond five months earlier than previously thought, Scotland’s chief civil servant Leslie Evans, told a parliamentary inquiry investigating the Scottish government’s handling of a botched internal inquiry. The inquiry upheld two complaints of alleged misconduct against Mr Salmond who successfully sued the government for leaking the results to the media. Last year the government admitted the inquiry was unlawful and had the “appearance of bias”.

It paid Mr Salmond £512,000 to cover his legal expenses. Mr Salmond repeatedly denied any criminal misconduct, and this March he was cleared of 14 charges of sexual misconduct, including one of attempted rape.

Rough sleepers increased during lockdown REPORTS of people sleeping rough rose sharply during lockdown. This was despite claims by government that more than 90% of homeless people had been helped off the streets during the Coronavirus crisis with a £3.2 million rehousing scheme. But charities said a new group of people were made homeless as employment, services and facilities they relied on closed because of the pandemic.

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We need micro-funding to take this Project further

Apparently 50,000 members left the Labour Party this year, and a similar number joined. The same phenomenon occurred in 2015-2016 when Jeremy Corbyn became Party Leader; any such change brings a turnover in Party membership, therefore around fifty thousand people now have just under a fiver a month which no longer goes to the Labour Party.

To run such a unique media project as ours requires a certain amount of financial support at a time when we’ve not been able to print and distribute papers.

In short, we need some crowd funding as we did four years ago when we got our brave idea off the ground. What we have right now is a website, an app for phones, a weekly paper hopefully to be printed again soon as an actual paper, pdf copies sent to subscribers, a separate ‘Issuu’ platform where ‘virtual’ readers can read the current and some past editions on a phone, tablet, laptop, flicking over pages and zooming in and out, but most exciting of all, a totally new Social Media Platform, independent of the corporately owned media giants; it is controlled by its users and although quite small as we continue to build and test it, can become as large as you want it to be. Its defining feature is that it allows socialists to communicate with one another, free from the nonsense the other platforms allow from trolling; you will

never be thrown off for stating a socialist point of view.

Until the coming of a virus, we had premises with a radio station and I hope we can go back to that, but in the future when ‘The Establishment’ shuts down all electronic political communications everywhere (if you can imagine that it could and probably will happen) we might be the only people remaining on the Left or Right producing a high quality hard copy tabloid newspaper.

In order to do this it costs money. I ask you please to consider either making a donation, or to take out a subscription to our cause.

We also need new writers, sending in news and views. The perfect article is about as long as this one, 400 words set out in paragraphs. We have editors, but you could edit and check articles for us too! Just get in touch.

See our website for details; thank you.

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I ask you please to consider either making a donation or to take out a subscription to our cause

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

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DSDS

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LETTER FROM

t’s my city. It’s Beirut. Yet on Tuesday August 4, 2020 it notoriously forced the world to halt its mad course by forging a madness of its own. On this late summer afternoon a terrible explosion the impact of which was heard and felt as far away as Cyprus, more than 180 miles across the Mediterranean wrecked and wiped out a substantial part of the cityscape and the little history nestled in historical districts, traditional residences and old religious buildings.

I will not write about the causes of the explosion the ammonium nitrate and the chemical chain reaction it entails I shall leave it to the military experts nor will I venture into the economic repercussions this blast has caused as there are bound to be several articles on this

Known to have been rebuilt seven times during its 5,000-year history. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon on the Mediterranean coast.

Celebrated for its citizens’ generous hospitality.

matter nor will I delve into the political ramifications of the Lebanese intricate and twisted perspective and analysis nor finally the psychological and nationalist imprints on the population since these trails will be felt across generations for years and years to come.

I will however tell you about my city; the neighbourhoods and the common denizens who make the breathing element of this dying place. I will recount how I like thousands of my counterparts were made to witness this human tragedy unfold.

It’s an earthquake was my initial reaction. The building shook, the sofa swung and the chandelier danced to the sound of a macabre explosion.

A short lived heavy silence was followed by another louder and far more sinister blow. Dust, sand and little pieces of cement filled the house. I could hear the sound of broken glass shattering on the streets and screams and shouting from neighbours.

I rushed to my mother’s bedroom to find a petrified old woman trembling in bed. I calmed her and made my way to the entrance where I came face to face with electrical wires

dangling from what used to be a ceiling. I made my round in the house searching for any other damages. Luckily there was none and with the help of the concierge managed to cover the open ceiling-sky with makeshift panels and masking tapes.

Neighbours were checking and assisting each other, mobiles

buzzed with pouring check up calls and jammed messages.

I started removing the debris while breaking news were on all the local tv channels soon to be followed by live coverage. As the red mushroom shaped smoke began to lift so the atrocities began to clear and it slowly became obvious the extent of the devastation citywide.

The following day I went to check my friend’s apartment who is currently residing in France.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late August Edition

M BEIRUT

with destruction and rubbles to dominate an oppressed scenery.

The old woman filmed playing the piano among the wreckage of her house finding solace and comfort in Chopin and Beethoven. A nurse pictured gently holding triplets sheltering them from a ravaged nursery. A new born baby boy comforted in the arms of his bleeding father born twenty four minutes before the explosion welcomed into this world of chaos. The bleeding medical staff going beyond duty to heal The wounded.

I covered her broken window panels with a discarded banner from a damaged display of a shop in our building since it’s virtually impossible to come

across glass let alone a glass maker given the high demand on this commodity not to mention its exorbitant prices these days due to our dire economic crisis but as I mentioned earlier this

topic is beyond the scope of this piece.

Countless tales of despair and hope; faith and disbelief; curse and blessings competed

Sadly though there’s also the sorrow of a grieved mother asked to recognise the mutilated corpse of her dead son. The brother bidding farewell to his deceased sibling who ironically was meant to be the best man at his wedding this weekend.

The terrified panicked look of family and friends looking

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for news about their loved ones missing under the ruins in this death field like the fire fighters who oblivious to the dangerous nature of their doomed mission met their ill fated end.

The three year old girl unaware why she was snatched from the warmth of her family.

She departed a cynical and unjust world rendered unlivable by its corrupt officials.

Only in Lebanon does the temporary turn into permanent.

Constant a shifting perception and righteousness a point of view.

The last time Beirut was battered and levelled to the ground it defied the odds and rose from the ashes. Statistics seldom mislead.

Somewhere someone must be keeping a tally.

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Musk’s 5G Spy Satellite Megalomania W

hile billions were under home arrest in semi suffocation from airless apartments, ridiculous masks and insane social distancing, Mr Elon Musk, megalomaniac extraordinaire, had hired Cape Canaveral and was enjoying his own private launch pad parties in celebration of his ‘Space X’ company blasting hundreds of 5G satellites into the ionosphere fifty miles above the Earth.

Keeping us preoccupied with a phony virus which was supposed to kill millions and landed-up causing no more deaths than the normal winter flu, sure was a useful way of directing attention away from the earthly and upward deployment of the 5G microwave weapon. steered by 5G microwave beams with transmitters situated along every major road and street in the world.

only see the perfect algorithmic march of a super cyborg AI civilisation stretching out in front of them ad infinitum.

Musk’s great ‘vision of the future’ is to marry his Multi billionaire obscene wealth Elon Musk likes to the most to believe that advanced artificial smothering intelligence every last inch technologies If you pollute the of the planet for the ultimate Earth’s circuit with in a blanket of enslavement of billions of digital beamed toxic humanity.

He pulsations, you electromagnetic wears his vision will destroy pulsed ‘arrays’, just like obsessed all life is exactly what we Covid believers wear have all been praying their obscene masks. for.

Just like that other multi billionaire Bill Gates wears his Mr Musk claims to be the vaccination death wish. ‘inventor’ of the electric car – the forthcoming models of which Multi millionaires have a way just happen to need no drivers but of smiling as they explain their lots of electricity – 5G electricity dystopian visions of suffocated to be precise. Autonomous cars life on Earth. Their sad minds can

So when Mr Musk, adored guru of ardent technophiles, tells us how his twenty thousand satellites are going to spray our

Extinction

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planet with a perfect wall of 5G weaponised electromagnetic laser beams from satellites put into orbit in the delicate protective atmosphere of the ionosphere – we are supposed to fall on our knees and cry “Thank you, Mr Musk! We always believed a saviour would come

at this time and rescue us from what remains of our deeply upsetting urge to live.”

Elon Musk and fellow 5G satellite corporation owners and believers, have been ‘on the money’ almost from the day they were born. But once on the roller coaster of what constitutes ultimate ‘success’, their ambition - rather than being slated - simply wants more of the same. And when it gets that, it then wants an even more grandiose expression of its unquenchable desire for godliness.

Musk, and his technocronies, want absolute control of surveillance operations on planet Earth. Gates wants absolute control over population numbers. The two combine to produce a marriage from hell. ….

Continued next issue.

Julian Rose is an early pioneer of UK organic farming, writer, international activist, entrepreneur and teacher. His latest book ‘Overcoming the Robotic Mind – Why Humanity Must Come Through’ is particularly prescient reading for this time: see www.julianrose. info

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Back to Victorian values T

he Past could be your future. In the UK in 2018 there were 616,014 deaths, an increase of 1.5% from a figure of 607,172 in 2017.

In England and Wales in 2012 there were 499,331 registered deaths, compared to 484,367 the previous year. A rise of 3.1%

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area with the higher death rate was a poorer area.

Since 2011 the annual Death Rate has steadily been growing. Improvements to life expectancy have now slowed down, with Zero weeks for women and almost Zero weeks for men.

Figures

In 1841 a new born baby girl was not expected to reach her 43rd birthday and a new born baby boy was not expected to reach his 42nd birthday.

In the North In the UK in East in 2012 2018 there were they had 616,014 deaths, the highest an increase of 1.5% S t a n d a r d from a figure Mortality Rate of 607,172 (SMR) in England, in 2017 with mortality levels 12% above the national level, while in In the 1840’s a number London and the South East of children died in their first year they were the Lowest Mortality (approx 15%) Many children Levels at 7% below the national died young. level. The difference between the two areas was wealth. The Since the improvement

in public hygiene, childhood immunisations and the creation of the NHS there have been fewer deaths.

The main causes of death since the formation of the NHS have been Heart Disease and Cancer. The reason for this is

that people never use to live long enough to get to the age that these were common.

The death rate is now sadly increasing, the NHS is gradually being pulled apart and replaced with private health companies and now the NHS is part of Boris

In the North East in 2012 they had the highest Standard Mortality Rate (SMR) in England, with mortality levels 12% above the national level, while in London and the South East they were the Lowest Mortality Levels at 7% below the national level.

Johnsons Trade deals with the USA. If we lose what is left of our beloved NHS, then I fear the death rates will rise dramatically.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

ANGER!!! DON’T GET MAD GET EVEN

Writing / posting / tweeting about it is a way to begin. A fake twitter account called ‘Laura Kuenssberg! parody’ got a lot of people going this week; many thought it was really her, and suggested that she should have been taking this line from the very

beginning. Instead she smiles wetly and takes her fish from the keepers at the BBC. In contrast, ‘Another Angry Voice’ or AAV growls down the wires and cables from Yorkshire and tells it how it is. The English

Channel crossings of little boats containing lots of young men whose villages have been obliterated (ok generalisation) seems to have animated both Voices in the Twittersphere.

Lumbricus

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Over th Fence – Ben Ras

From our Relig

STARMER’S RECORD ON RACE

1. Starmer belittled BLM (black-lives-matter) as a “moment; he won’t support them because they also support the Palestinians who Starmer regards as a problem 2. Starmer is a Zionist supremacist; he supports all Israeli actions at home and abroad “without reservation” 3. Starmer condemned the toppling of statues of slavers

4. Starmer dismissed calls to defund the police or challenge them on race as “nonsense” 5. Starmer refused to prosecute police officers who publicly executed native Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes 6. Starmer claims to be

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a “human rights advocate” but unilaterally reversed a policy decision passed overwhelmingly at Conference to support self-determination in Kashmir in the face of Modi’s victimization of the Muslim community 7. Starmer oversaw the reprimand of Black women MP’s who attended a meeting with Jewish anti-racist members, while another black woman MP is facing verbal and physical threats for supporting BLM 8. Starmer put those who condoned Israeli apartheid in charge of Labour’s disciplinary procedures 9. Starmer was one of ten leadership candidates who declared allegiance to a racist, apartheid organisation, the Jewish Board of Directors (BOD) 10. Starmer has adopted a new definition of anti-Semitism for the party which makes it anti-Semitic to condemn apartheid policies waged against Palestinians and Arabs living in Israel.

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ext door to us live a Jewish couple, who have steadily become more and more critical of the Labour Party.

This week the husband confessed all. Basically he supports my criticisms of the weaponisation of antiSemitism within the Party.

“Why didn’t they insist on investigation into anti-Semitism in all major Parties?” he asked.

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“People inside Israel speak more freely about the treatment of Palestinians and Government policy than is allowed in the UK Labour Party. Israeli newspapers and TV present a variety of opinions; Israel is a land full of dissidence and plurality of views,” he said.

“Jewish conversation is one of argument and counterargument; there are dozens of different groups within the so-

People inside Israel speak more freely about the treatment of Palestinians and Government policy than is allowed in the UK Labour Party

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NO JUSTIFICATION FOR THE parsimonious state pension

he – shby

gious Correspondent

called Community who don’t agree with most / some / even everything that the Israeli Government does.

Some groups don’t even accept that there should even be a State of Israel.

These might be on the political Left, but one group (at least) on the political or religious Right believes that Israel should not have been set up before the coming of the Mashiach.” I knew this but was amazed to hear him say it.

Late August Edition

“Jews vote Labour,” he said.

“There is nowhere else to go.”

Jews vote Labour

“Corbyn’s main fault was that he had never prepared for the possibility that he would be the Leader of the Party, and had neither the advisers, nor the supporters within the machinery of the Party to carry out his magnificent plan.”

There is nowhere else to go

We both agreed that we were underwhelmed by the

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We agreed that we were underwhelmed by the New Labour Leader read that term however you like

New Labour Leader (read that term however you like) and that what is needed now is proper opposition to the Conservatives, who are the real enemy. If he were a member of the Party he’d be chucked out, I swear it.

The provision of a decent retirement pension system in the UK has been a bone of contention for many years.

But despite the efforts of high-profile campaigners, like former trade union leaders Jack Jones and Rodney Bickerstaffe, the situation has steadily worsened over the last forty years. This includes the 13 years that New Labour were in office under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

In the world’s fifth biggest economy, there is no justification for the parsimonious state pension, nor the increased pension age, which is due to rise to 67 by 2028 and then to 68 in the following decade.

That means that anyone born between 6 April 1970 and 5 April 1978 will not be able to retire until they are 67. Anyone born after 6 April 1978 will not be entitled to a state pension until they are 68.

Women have been the hardest hit by these changes.

Campaigners feel particularly aggrieved by the New Labour governments of Blair and Brown, who left the provisions of the Tories’ 1995 Pension Act in place. This was the statute that enacted the equalisation of the state pensions age (SPA) to 65 between April 2010 to 2020 for men and women.

But then in 2007, the New Labour government announced that the equalised state pension age would rise to 66 between 2024 and 2026.

Then the

Coalition Government legislated in 2011 to accelerate the timetable, starting in April 2016 when women’s SPA was 63. Their justification for this was that life expectancy had risen faster than expected.

However, the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, which calculates life expectancy on behalf of the UK pension industry, stated last year that life expectancy is falling, not rising.

Furthermore, the government’s actuaries department warned ministers back in 2005 that if they proceeded with the change, almost one million people who were alive then, would die before they got any basic state pension. Nevertheless, the New Labour administration ploughed on regardless.

New Labour’s 2004 Finance Act also increased the minimum age at which workers could draw their occupational pension from 50 to 55, which came into effect on 6 April 2010. Now the government has stated that the minimum age for occupational pensions will increase again to 57 in 2028.

The various petitions and legal actions against the attacks on our state and occupational pensions by successive governments has so far been unsuccessful, but we must keep up the pressure. Britain is a wealthy nation with its own sovereign currency, so the provision of dignity in retirement is not an unaffordable luxury, it should be a basic right for all citizens.

It simply requires political will to make it happen.

Continued on Page 23

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THE PATIENT’

THE ROAD GOES EV

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or me the past 150 days have been a blur; a telephone call from one of my children 200+ miles away informed me that this government is prepared to let vulnerable people die, which I already knew, we decided that I and their mum should self-isolate. The youngest moved out.

Apart from the worry we have for our children’s health, jobs, our inability to see them and our grandchild, missing our friends, going out to the theatre, the cinema, and the pub, there have been some bonuses to being under house arrest. We’ve begun

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to see it as a holiday at home; the garden has never looked lovelier; I have cooked 150 restaurantquality meals, and as I serve them up I announce what each is called, and its national origin. Not everyone has our luxuries, or illhealth.

I could write a section of this paper called “lock-down lunches,” or “shielders’ meals,” except that I’m far too busy. Food preparation and cooking take two hours each afternoon, and ingredients are sourced (fridge,

Travel restrictions and rules about meeting up with people from other households won’t work

freezer, cupboard, garden) days in advance.

Our children phone us up either daily or twice weekly when previously we got a text once a fortnight. Once a day a friend or relative calls for a scheduled

“long call,” which means an hour or two hours. My editor phones frequently, sometimes with good cause. We’ve been shopping online which does not ‘save time’ as others might imagine.

Looking forward, I see only more of the same. The official

graphs put out several times daily on the TV show the end of the first wave of Coronavirus cases and deaths and the beginning of a second bout. The behaviour of the general public has changed to mimic that of politicians and government advisers who seem

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

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THE

WORD

13

THINKING OUT LOUD ABOUT BELARUS

What do protests against the recent election mean?

’S EYE

VER ON »

shopping on-line does not ‘save time’ as others might imagine

to have taken little notice of their own advice; curves are rising again. Social distancing is being ignored, so cities and regions are being locked-down once more, with travel restrictions and rules about meeting up with people from other households; it won’t work.

partly full and children will not be expected to be present on every occasion. Distance learning and digitally assisted homework are things we will develop further.

University students will have to take even more responsibility for their own learning.

Shopping has been transformed; the most successful businesses over the last 22 weeks have traded mainly online. They will continue what they’ve been doing so well. But I miss bookshops and the town centre; I think both of these will continue to die as they were doing long before Coronavirus.

WE HAVE BEGUN TO SEE THIS PERIOD AS A HOLIDAY AT HOME

Schools will open sooner or later but classrooms will be only

Where’s Belarus going? What does it mean to Russia, the EU, NATO, or the world? Clearly today’ssituationisverydifferent from Ukraine in 2014. Neither the EU nor USA are interested in pushing it further. Between Covid, collapsing economies, US elections, and popular discontent, nobody wants to escalate the situation; that’s why the western press is less hysterical than during the Ukrainian crisis. News seems to be driven mostly by Poland and Lithuania, two countries standing to benefit most from a Belarus collapse. China wouldn’t mind muscling in, but it’s not ready for prime time on the western border of Russia, which, surprisingly, is as cool as the west.

geared to Russia which bought their products; it worked for both countries. Russia provided the market and provided some steady income for a country poor in resources. Lukashenko was expected to keep NATO away.

Protesting Belarusians want rid of the leader who actually created their hitherto functioning system. His collapse would be its too; the protesters, obsessed with their wounds and their anger, don’t see it.

There are many simplistic but worthless narratives about the unfolding situation. Russian liberals and European liberals see Bad Lukashenko and Bad Putin, and ever failing autocratic intrigues and oppression. Antiwesterners and myopic proRussians feel the same about Belarusian opposition and the West; both evil and wanting to use Belarus against Russia. Neolibs want to turn the country into Estonia/Lithuania, with a pro-western government welcoming EU shock therapy and NATO bases. What’s not to like; exploitation of the country plus a base for NATO! Poland and Lithuania are the most active in this crisis. The anti-westerners are clear too: let’s preserve the status quo.

Lukashenko has been a unique leader. He preserved many Soviet type institutions. Tiresome and inefficient they might be, they saved the country from the worst aspects of capitalism, whether unemployment, drugs, despair or anything else. Many Russians felt envious of this tidy, functioning country, with an economy

But imagine Lukashenko falling; the vacuum would be filled by neoliberal policies, succeeding in their particular crooked way. Belorusians might see Lithuania and want the same, and it’s up to

the country to choose its own path. If they want shock therapy, let them have it; I don’t see any other leader in Belarus capable of bringing Lukashenko’s policies into this century.

Should Belarus turn into a market or a supply of cheap labour/resources for the rest of Europe, Russia will still survive; they can turn poorer Russian regions in their west like Pskov or Smolensk into a new Belarus, with factories and agriculture producing what Belarus was producing. Russia doesn’t need Belarus except for sentimental reasons and to counter NATO’s possible presence.

Military concerns are different; how seriously Russian generals view the situation remains to be seen! Does it make a difference how close NATO gets to Moscow? Russia has offered military assistance to support Lukashenko or whoever guarantees resistance to NATO. Yet I suspect Russian military doctrine has changed. They will eventually have to learn to live without “buffer states,” around which Stalin’s policies turned.

Missiles can hit NATO capitals from Siberia as quickly as NATO missiles in Poland can hit Russia.

If Russians had sufficient deterrence they wouldn’t interfere with Belarus; painful as it appears, it isn’t Russia’s concern.

Unpleasant though another Estonia on its borders might be, it’s a minor nuisance. I suspect there are meetings going on between Putin and his military right now but they’re probably ready to wash their hands of Lukashenko’s Belarus.

14

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Late August Edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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BIZARRE

NEWS FROM THE INTERNET

Alien Grime

Rapper Post Malone says he has seen several UFOs. “I was probably 16,” he says of his first encounter with a UFO. “I was in upstate New York and it would just stay there.” Speaking on a podcast he said he has spotted strange objects in the sky in Utah and California more recently, adding: “I can’t tell you how many times.”

Covid-19 Crippens Meet After 50 Years

Two sisters who hadn’t seen each other for more than 50 years were reunited when one ended up as the other’s medication helper while she was recovering from coronavirus. Bev Boro, 53, from Nebraska recognised the name of Doris Crippen, 73, the sister she had been trying to locate for years. “I am the happiest person in the world,” added Crippen.

Ghost Morse Haunts Emmerdale?

The ghost of actor John Thaw haunts the set of the soap Emmerdale, according to a former co-star. Actor Reece Dinsdale said “There are definitely ghosts. It feels like another lifetime.” Thaw played Dinsdale’s father in the series Home To Roost.

Holy Land

A Christian evangelist has

claimed that tension on the Lebanese-Israeli border is proof that the world is coming to an end. After the Israeli military announced it had thwarted an “infiltration attempt” from Lebanon, Pastor Paul Begley said this was a sign of an impending apocalyptic battle “between God and Lucifer”. He didn’t specify which side God was on.

Musk To Plague Egypt

An Egyptian minister has invited Elon Musk to visit the country and see for himself that the pyramids were not built by aliens. After the colourful billionaire tweeted that it was “obv” that “aliens built the pyramids,” Rania A. Al Mashat said: “Mr Musk, we are waiting for you.”

Cock A Doodle

digging her way towards a prison to free her son, who is serving a life sentence for murder. The 51-year-old woman rented a house located near the jail in Zaporizhia. Working at night, she used shovels and pickaxes to dig towards the jail but was eventually caught and arrested.

Detectorpist

A metal detectorist made the discovery of his life behind his local pub. Luke Mahoney, who runs his own metal detector shop, Joan Allen Electrics in Lindsey, Suffolk, picked up £100,000 worth of silver civil war era coins in the field behind the Lindsey Rose pub. “That feeling of scraping the dirt away and seeing the coins is indescribable,” Mahoney said.

passenger’s wooden box found that it contained the bones of her dead husband. However, after customs officials, a doctor and prosecutors were consulted, the authorities concluded that no crime had been committed, according to local media.

Man Breaks Underwater Rubik’s Record

A 25-year-old teacher in India set a new Guinness World Record when he solved six Rubik’s cubes in 2min 17sec, while completely underwater.

Illayaram Sekar broke the record for most Rubik’s cubes solved underwater in a single breath, previously held by an American.

Hot Flush

Workers at service station between Horsham and Crawley have been threatened with toilet brush during what they described as a “slight misunderstanding” over social distancing in the bathrooms.

Inspector Darren Taylor said: “How the toilet brush became embroiled into it we really don’t know.” The toilet brush has now been returned to its cubicle, he added.

A man has admitted he had sex with chickens, while his wife filmed it. Rehan Baig, 37, entered guilty pleas at Bradford Crown Court to a total of 11 charges including three of performing an act of penetration on chickens. His wife Haleema Baig has admitted three charges of aiding and abetting “intercourse with an animal”.

Take This Man

Mamma Oooh Ooh Ohh

Til Death Do Us Part

Driver, 13, Hits Pedestrians And Blames Granny

A Ukrainian mother is facing jail after single-handedly

Police at a German airport searching a 74-year-old

A 13-year-old driver who crashed into five people on

A man intending to propose to his girlfriend set his flat on fire with hundreds of tealight candles. The Sheffield man lit them all before leaving to pick up his girlfriend, but when they returned the flat was on fire. A South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said no one was injured and “she still said yes”.

a Memphis street said his grandmother was giving him driving lessons at the time. “I didn’t want to, but I ain’t had no choice, so she told me to sit in her lap, and I did,” he said.

His grandmother, Ernestine Hollomon, faces a series of charges, including driving under the influence and child endangerment.

Chop Chop Body Of Christ

A Church of England vicar is using chopsticks to give bread to parishioners during Holy Communion to stick to social distancing rules. Reverend Eileen Harrop, the vicar of St Mary’s in Gainford and St Andrew’s in Winston, County Durham, said: “I thought, ‘Why can’t I use a long pair of chopsticks, real bread rather than wafers, and drop it into the communicants’ hands?’”

Google Two Timing

A man found that his wife was having an affair after seeing her in the act on Google Maps. An image on the web mapping service shows a row of benches on a path in Lima, the with the woman wearing a black top and white shirt and a man in a white jumper with his head laid in her lap.

After the husband confronted his wife about the image the couple divorced.

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Mad Madge Talks Across Oceans Of Time M

AGGIEThis week readers, His Satanic Majesty sent me up to the other place, that’s right Heaven/ Paradise/Nirvana in order to help purge my sole.

Well it wasn’t quite what I expected, no Pearly Gates, no Saint Peter, no God, in fact no hierarchy at all. Although I did see a man with white hair and a big beard preaching to a small group but that turned out to be Karl Marx. I did recognise one attendee, Tony Benn sitting at the back. ‘Sir Anthony Wedgwood-Benn, Viscount Stangate’ I said by way of introduction in order to provoke him.

He calmly tapped out his pipe and reminded me he changed the law in 1963 in order to resign the peerage, remain a commoner and thus stay an MP. He also reminded me that I had granted my own husband Dennis an Hereditary Baronetcy in 1990, the only one granted since 1964, which my wayward son Mark now holds despite being a convicted criminal.

He ended the conversation with the quote ‘It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where your head is at!’ then began to disappear

in a holy white cloud of Gold Block Original Flake smoke. Strange man.

The rest of Heaven was pretty much like a normal housing estate, except there was no dog mess or wheelie bins. Every house was pretty much the same size. The citizens were all contributing according to their abilities and everyone was provided for in their every need.

Sodding nauseating! I was glad to be cast back down to hell where greed is good, we all compete to gain Lord Lucifer’s favour and trickle down misery upon each other to encourage competition and generate profit. It worked for me in the eighties, it works for Boris now.

So back to your letters and Earthbound dilemmas....

Dear, very dead Maggie My parents came to this country as refugees so when I heard of all the poor unfortunates drowning in the channel I naturally put on my best slap and priti red dress to go and meet them.

My question is, would it be alright to get the navy to sink them?

Ms Patel MAGGIE- The whole refugee situation is the

perfect distraction from the failings of a Tory Government. When in doubt blame a foreigner and revert to nationalist rhetoric, it works every time. These days the ‘mainstream’ media will even do it for you as we are in the pocket of the same Oligarchs. As for using the Navy to ram home your Nationalism, sinking the Belgrano got me 2 more elections, so knock yourself out, the people who vote for you have no real empathy anyway.

Dear Margaret I worked so hard all year to pass my exams and cause the school I go to is in a tin shed, in a carpark in Glasgow I have been marked down from an a plus to a z minus. Is this fair?

Yours, James Krankie.

Well young Wee Jimmy what you have to realize is it’s not what you know, it’s where you learnt it. Now you have to realize quite how hierarchical society works in England. Firstly the Elites pay a lot of money to go to ‘Independent’ schools. For the ‘best’ 8 of these schools the pupils don’t even sit ‘A’ levels they get a bye into Oxford or Cambridge, especially if their fathers are Alumni or donors. Next

come all the upper middle classes and Nouveau Riche who get into Oxbridge if they are smart or Russell Group Universities if they’re a bit dim. Next come the lower middle classes who go to Grammar Schools and Russell Group Uni’s if they get all A’s or former Polytechnics and Tech College’s inexplicably renamed as Universities by Blair in the 90’s. Working class kids don’t go to University as the prospect of £40,000 of debt gives them the shits, unless they are geniuses, get A+++ grades and are still then looked down upon by all of the above.

That’s how it works in England, however seeing as you are Scottish your options are Professional Football or Alcoholism.

Oi, bitch Weren’t you the women who pinched me milk at school then made all my family redundant, then put up the mass murdering General Pinochet?

Arthur, from Barnsley MAGGIE-Well Arthur there’s no need to be impolite is there, how rude. What you have missed is the historical context of my actions all those years ago. I’m proud to be ‘Milk Snatcher Thatcher’

bringing back the traditional working class traditions of rickets and claiming t’social.

The legacy continues today with millions of kids turning up to school hungry, while mum goes to the food bank, surviving on charity and electing Tories because of Brexit. Modern peasantry just like the good old days of the 1860’s.

As for Pinochet, I always aspired to rounding up and ‘disappearing’ all the leftists, but all I had to do was wait for Tony Blair to do it for me.

Dear Margaret Any chance you can tell your friend down there to turn the thermostat down?

Alan from Manchester MAGGIE- You bloody northerners are never bloody happy are you. We Capitalists are exploiting the earth’s resources in order to trickle down profits to you types. The resulting climate improvement and rising sea level will turn Manchester into the Southend of the north, maybe even the Canvey Island of the north.

Isn’t that likely to increase the value of your repellent slum dwelling. You Mancunians are all mullet haircuts and walking with orangutan-like swagger anyway. Sod the lot of you.

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16

Late August Edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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ISRAEL ACTING LIKE NAZIS T

he Israeli Government say it is in retaliation for being attacked by devices from Gaza.

Apparently these are incendiary balloons! No deaths have been reported in Israel from these “attacks.”

Gaza is a small space of only around 7 miles wide and 32 miles in length with a population of nearly 2 million people. Half of them are children.

Territory

Gaza is a small space of only around 7 miles wide and 32 miles in length

Israel maintains direct external control over Gaza and indirect control over life within Gaza: it controls Gaza’s air and maritime space, and six of Gaza’s seven land crossings. It reserves the right to enter Gaza at will with its military and maintains a no-go buffer zone within the Gaza territory. Gaza is dependent on Israel for its water, electricity, telecommunications, and other utilities.

The only power plant in Gaza is scheduled to shut down due to the Israeli blockade, which has

»

ter the ghetto it was the extermination camps.

tion is a crime the rest will follow.

GAZA HAS A

cut fuel supplies, exacerbated the power crisis and left Gaza’s nearly two million residents with about four hours of electricity a day.

Gaza is dependent on Israel for its water, electricity, ETC. They are acting like the Nazi party of 1933.

Gaza can certainly be compared to the Warsaw ghetto in Nazi occupied Poland where up to 460,000 Jews were forced into an area of 1.3 square miles. Fences topped by barbed wire were put up to keep them in and those who tried to escape were shot on sight.

We all know what came next. Af-

The GovernGaza is rightly POPULATION OF ment of Israel IS called by its peoNEARLY 2 MILLION, acting like the ple the world’s HALF OF THEM ARE Nazi party. Not largest open the Nazi parprison. Israel, CHILDREN LEFT WITH ty of 1944…yet. the invaders of ABOUT FOUR HOURS They are acting Palestine, control OF ELECTRICITY like the Nazi pareverything. It has A DAY. ty of 1933. That was just cut off fuel to when the books started Gaza’s only power stato be burnt. When information.

THE

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WORD

17

you read the last edition

If

realm, of improving policing. The

you were presented with

College of Policing has been a signal

part of a powerful response

failure in terms of its 6 remit, particularly

to how the police could alter their

in regard to race equality, it has simply

approach to policing with the first of

come to reflect and replicate the racial

5 points in Charles Crichlow's

hierarchies that exist within policing.

manifesto

going

Moreover it represents a huge waste of

forward after the Black Lives Matter

for

policing

public money that could be put to better

protests. This ex-police officer's

use. The same applies to many of the

experience is from 30 years in the

institutions, which represent policing

job and as National Chair of the

from top to bottom.

Black Police Officers Assopciation.

Reparation His first was a plea for greater TRANSPARENCY from our police. His next 4 point plan follows: Accountability Each and every police officer is invested with extraordinary powers of discretion, to act in ways that no ordinary citizen can. Therefore much should be expected in terms of holding them to account for their actions.

In far too many cases, accountability is

T-a-s-e-r Model of Policing Part 2.

In order for any of this manifesto to be implemented, the current police force and justice system must come to reckoning with its past and therefore genuine reparative racial justice must be brought about.

Whole communities have been criminalised labelled and brought to ruin by institutional racism not just by hostile policing but by an entirely hostile

Act and yet they get to pick and choose

I propose the establishment of a

more professionalised footing, whilst

environment in terms of education,

who is deemed appropriate to scrutinise

completely independent body of highly

this is a welcome step it is not enough.

housing policy, health and generally

their work.

professional and competent scrutineers

I propose that the recruitment and

towards the presence of Black people in

non-existent or is severely hamstrung

in the field of equal justice with the

development of all police personnel

the United Kingdom who were brought

by aspects of the very Criminal Justice

The current system of inspection by the

necessary powers to ensure compliance.

should be taken completely out of the

here to work, build and be used as was

System that is intended to protect the

‘Her Majesty Inspector of Constabulary’

Their remit will include identifying

hands of the police force and placed in a

the case under Colonialism and

public. We have seen many examples of

is completely inadequate. I have seen at

disparity

police

framework of Education rather than

Enslavement. Indeed, the roots of some

rogue officers escaping justice or,

first hand how the police are able to very

compliance with equality duties and its

simply regimented training. A genuine

of the crimes,

moreover, being protected by the

easily ‘pull the wool over the eyes of

own equality strategies.

new ethos of Education for Public

which have plagued the Black

organisation. Conversely, good officers

HMIC’ - a toothless tiger. Police and

Service should be the goal where Police

community, particularly those of a

have all too often, been hurriedly forced

Crime Commissioners whose role is to

Education

Forces will become genuine Police

seriously violent nature (often framed as

out of policing in questionable

hold the Chief Constable to account on

From Training to Education, there is

Services. This should include every

so called ‘Black on Black’ violence) can

circumstances and Black officers have

behalf of the public have been

ample evidence to suggest that police

aspect of current training including and

be located in the legacy of a history of

disproportionately and inexplicably

fantastically ineffective in terms of racial

forces are not capable of recruiting,

particularly ‘Use Of Force’ training. This

violent oppression. These ‘chickens are

found to be in this category.

justice. Many of these PCC’s are

training and developing the workforce,

should not in anyway signal a pivot

now coming home to roost’ and all the

and

ensuring

hopelessly incapable of performing this

the public and the whole of the system

towards privatisation of any aspect of

tough talking about ‘rioters’ and ‘thugs’

I propose that the application of police

task not only due to competence but

required for equal justice to flourish.

current policing functions but rather to

will not drown out the voices of those

Professional

many are ideologically driven.

Policing has recently been placed on a

establish new ways within the public

who have a just cause and demand for

Standards

be

taken

completely out of the hands of the police service and that this is coupled with

a

completely

independent

mechanism for investigating police misconduct. This would mean the complete abolition of the Independent

reparatory justice.

ON THE FIDDLE AGAIN

In short, reparatory justice is the first and necessary step toward equal justice.

Any attempt to build a future upon the unquestioned foundations of the

Office of Police Conduct and the

Rumours are rife that a certain

connection to a man who left his

there has been a loyalty and

current broken system will prove to be

replacement with something, which is

Prime Minister from a certain

wife fighting cancer to cheat on

fidelity issue in the household of

an exercise in futility and we will be back

fit for purpose particularly in terms of

country near to Wales and

her with a much younger woman.

this unnamed mop haired ex

here again. The backlash to the current

racial justice. In addition there should be

Scotland has added to his ever

A High Court injunction has been

Eton politician who we are not

movement has already begun and the

a presumption that accountability is a

going collection of illegitimate

served on the servile main stream

allowed to name. Allegedly.

need for courageous leadership is

public

therefore

children whilst fiddling the

media to desist from publishing

palpable. Failure to take the necessary

appropriate

country out of having an NHS.

any names or details of the case.

steps will prove to be a concession

This

We at The Word understand that

towards those who benefit from the

concern

notwithstanding

confidentiality issues, questions of misconduct should be answered in public.

Scrutiny Hand in hand with a new Radical

is,

apparently

some

MUSIC NEWS Perry,

According

to

an

unnamed

advancement of white supremacy. We have seen and heard that the call of ‘white silence is violence’ thus, political cowardice is also violent and must be

Transparency so too must there be a

Violinist,

new era of Super Scrutiny. At present we

recently played a concert to an

source the event was tuneless

have an extraordinary state of affairs,

audience that included British

with too much emphasis on loud

This document was presented at 'In the

whereby police forces either have little

Prime minister, Alexander Boris

noise and very little rhythm.

Wake of Windrush’ Conference in June

or no scrutiny, of how they implement

de Pfeffel Johnson, in Uxbridge.

Allegedly.

and is now open for public debate.

the legal requirements of the Equality

Kathryn,

privilege of status quo and the

called out loudly.

Charles D. Crichlow

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

WORD

Late August 2020

19

Fleetwood Mac in between Fleetwood Mac

A truly Forgotten Band

O

ften

you

don’t

bank, founder Peter Green left for

album ‘Then Play On’ other than a

end to a great band member.

a

reasons still hard to understand.

bit of piano here and there.

Three major guitarists had left

journey is leading

This was a catastrophe; Peter was

other

irreplaceable, and the band had to

When the band

‘Then Play On’ without him.

was on tour in

know

where than

that

you’re on it: the two great wars of

the

20th

Century,

and had solo careers.

America,

Coronavirus in 2019, 2020,

Bass player John Mc Vie’s wife

Jeremy

beyond 2021, any road in the

Christine had been collaborating

disappeared.

UK with a ‘Diversion’ sign on it,

with the band since 1968, and

He’d

the

when Green left in 1970 she

that he didn’t

network. Forget your road

supplied

like being in the

Atlas; “The Map is Not the

keyboards and even the cover art

English

Motorway

Territory.” Being in a band is like that, Fleetwood Mac. Formed in 1967, with the world at their feet and

which

Peter Green left for reasons still hard to understand)

money running on little green legs to the

vocals,

to the album ‘Kiln House’

Peter

particularly for

backing

credits

decided

Danny

“Lonesome

Danny was sacked, a sad end to a great band member

Walker

Dave”

(ex-Savoy

Jeremy Jeremy decided that he didn’t like being in the band anymore and joined a religious order with which he is still involved

Brown) and Bob Weston,

both

singers and guitar

Bob Welch, its only guitar player.

He

then

became

the

sixth

players, came and

guitarist, singer, songwriter, and

went. An affair with a

legend to depart, leaving Mick

band member’s wife led to

Fleetwood, John McVie (who’d

a magazine, and joined a

Weston’s sacking and he went on

had alcohol problems of his own)

band, went out to buy

Danny

religious organisation with which

to perform and record with

and Christine McVie, who weren’t

Kirwan and Jeremy

he is still involved. Peter Green

English genius Murray Head on

prepared to continue as a piano

Spencer with the

trio.

was recalled to help out, soon

his poignant album “Say It Ain’t

songwriting

and

being ‘replaced’ by American Bob

So” in 1975. After the dismissal of

therefore

the

Welch to play rhythm guitar

the entire band by their manager,

Lindsay

Buckingham

was

musical leadership.

behind Danny Kirwan. He appears

and replacement with a load of

approached to play guitar, and it

Jeremy would not

on ‘Bare Trees’ doing much more

new members who’d never been

was apparent from the get-go that

feature on any new

than that. Ultimately Danny was

in Fleetwood Mac, the venture fell

he came with girlfriend Stevie

hadn’t

sacked due to his melancholy and

apart, coalescing in 1974 around

Nicks; that version is in no way a

contributed to the previous

drunkenness, which was a sad

albums,

and

forgotten band!

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Late August 2020

The Deceit Syndrome

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Decades of Dismantling

Last Saturday thousands of

Why I was driven to write a book about our NHS

I

Why NHS pay matters NHS health workers marched in cities all over the country because they are angry. These staff worked to keep the NHS running though the pandemic and many owe their lives to these staff including the Prime Minister himself.

NHS staff have suffered under the

originally qualified as

NHS cuts and privatisation agenda

a doctor at Guy’s in

and they are angry that recent

London in 1979, and

announcements on public sector

after

a

few

terrifying

pay excluded them. A recruitment

hospital jobs - scary for me

crisis has developed because staff

but probably more so for

are being slowly driven into

my patients - settled as a

poverty and they are not being

GP in the Kent village of

paid properly for the increasing

Sutton Valence and stayed

workloads and pressure they face.

for over thirty years. I felt

It is estimated that years of pay

very

privileged

trusted

to

to

care

sometimes

be

freezes and below inflation pay

for

rises have led to experienced NHS

five

workers losing up to 20% of their

generations of the same

pay so the demand for a significant

family

pay rise isn’t even a pay rise at all,

practising

real

family medicine.

it’s recouping some of what has been lost.

Throughout

that

time

I

fought a seemingly losing

The NHS is nothing without its

battle to help protect the

staff and we are losing the most

founding principles of the

experienced of them for good.

NHS

Other NHS workers are being

against

politicians,

ignorant

the

establishment,

medical

a

gullible

media and a bewildered

How they have left us unprepared

outsourced to private companies and cleaning and food provision has deteriorated as a result.

hen news broke

bankruptcy. Outsourcing of clinical

Government

of the day: council housing, utilities,

services was also introduced by

spending

ronavirus found

the railways, and non-clinical ser-

Blair/Brown. The coalition's 2012

hospitals fails to recognise that

in Wuhan, we

vices within the NHS. The presenta-

health and social care act marked a

skilled and experienced staff are

Save the NHS platform in

W

thodoxy. Privatisation was the order

about a novel co-

had no way of knowing how pro-

tion of a cabinet paper by Nicholas

departure from privatisation by

leaving the NHS. It takes years to

2015, but having been left

found its effects would be. We

Ridley

stealth to overt abolition of the NHS.

train and develop a qualified

speechless by some of those

knew, thanks to preparedness

health insurance caused near mu-

events, thought I would write

exercises, that we were not ad-

tiny. The decision to push ahead

Enter Covid19, the long-predicted

it all down instead and

equately equipped to tackle a

with privatisation, but by stealth,

viral pandemic which threatened

NHS Pay and conditions are

detonate a book on the

viral pandemic, and we knew our

was born. The introduction of the in-

survival, society and the ability of

linked to standards so this is a life

unsuspecting public. The

government had not sought to

ternal market and PFI into the NHS,

the NHS to cope. For several in-

or death issue. Hospital patients

result was my novel THE

improve that situation. Our NHS

normalising the private sector in

fluenza seasons, bed occupancy

count on experienced people to

DECEIT SYNDROME.

is in a severely, and deliberately

health care, would require consoli-

rates have breached safe levels. Out-

look after them when they are at

weakened state. This has been a

dation.

side this, waiting times and work-

their most vulnerable. Increasing

loads which would have once been

numbers of hospital staff are

public.

In desperation and anger I stood for Parliament on a

suggesting

compulsory

policy

billions

around on

new

nurse and we are losing them.

Despite all that, I feels my

concerted effort over decades

proudest achievements are

driven by the pernicious pro-

The business friendly New Labour

seen as a crisis were now common-

joining GMB Union because we

my

I

gramme of neoliberalism. The

Party were ideally placed to con-

place. The service due to bed cuts,

prioritise

desperately want not to have

principle of delivering health-

tinue this programme from 1997. PFI

staff cuts, and down skilling, was

campaigning around their pay

to get their future healthcare

care to all regardless of wealth

not only continued, but was ex-

bursting at the seams. The under-

and conditions. The NHS pay

from

has been rendered almost im-

panded. The establishment of foun-

mining phase of Chomsky’s model of

campaign that is springing up is

possible in a population ravaged

dation trusts and the unsustainable

privatisation has already been com-

integral to protecting quality and

by austerity.

providers act, enshrined business

pleted.

standards in our NHS and this is

daughters

an

whom

American-style

moneymaking system.

Dr Paul Hobday / Retired GP from Kent.

practices into the NHS, allowing

why

From Margaret Thatcher onwards,

trusts to behave as business entities

Dr Sarah Gangoli (Returning NHS

neoliberalism became the new or-

subject to competition and potential

Doctor, South London)

every

organising

serious

and

NHS

campaigners must get behind it.

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late August 2020

WORD

21

WOMEN WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE

Dame Sybil Phoenix nce again I must confess

O

early 1960's into providing foster care

1987 with the Medal of Service and

my ignorance of women

for unwanted children in Lewisham,

she was appointed by Princess Marga-

who make a difference.

and in 1977 she founded a youth

ret as Minister without Portfolio for

Sybil Theodora Phoenix nee

centre for teenagers, named Moon-

the country.

Marshall was one, until I found

shot. It became a community centre

her mentioned in a book by Ro-

for black people with dances, football

Here she worked on as Vice-Chair of

bert Winder, # who traces the

team, drop-in support for young

Lewisham Council for Community

trials and tribulations immigrants

mothers and socials for the elderly.

Relations, receiving the award of Hon-

have faced over centuries in Brit-

Despite this being burnt down by

orary Fellowship of the University of

ain, as well as their contributions

members of the National Front she

London in recognition.

to the country.

rwas awarded a MBE for her work as it

She was born in British Guiana, now

reopened as the Pagnell Street Centre

Other honours

with the Prince of Wales present.

included,

(Guyana) on June 21st 1927. Having

Freeman of

lost her mother when only 9, lived

She then worked with the Borough of

the Borough

with her grandfather until he passed

Lewisham on a supported housing

of Lewisham

away when Sybil was 12. Her aunt and

project for single homeless mothers.

uncle looked after her and on leaving

The project became known as the

school she acted as secretary to a local

Marsha Phoenix Memorial Trust in

minister and helped in the church

memory of her daughter who died in

youth club. She met and married Joe

a car accident.

Phoenix and they moved to England and married in 1956.

Other work involved her in Black History Month and as a local Methodist

Here she experienced racism from

preacher she was active in forming

the beginning, but it has been said of

links with other faiths. She set up anti-

her: 鉄ybil has a tremendous capacity

racism training for clergy and as Direc-

for loving in the face of hatred, rejec-

tor of the Methodist Leadership

tion and discrimination

Awareness Workshop she took the message to many other countries. Her

Her background pushed her in the

work was recognised by Guyana in

Hope and Good News

Germany

Wales

Many artists have been struggling

Wales’ future generations commis-

to sell their work during the lock-

sioner, Sophie Howe, this week

down. In a bid to boost struggling

proposed giving the country’s cre-

native mammal has been given

energy surge in Asia. GWEC said

creatives, the German government

atives a guaranteed income to help

After appearing seven years ago

the go-ahead to be reintroduced.

the resilience of renewables dur-

has announced it will increase this

them through the pandemic.

in

Devon,

“Our rivers and wetlands really

ing the coronavirus crisis was

year’s budget for art acquisitions

beavers has been given the legal

need beavers,” said Mark Elliott

making offshore wind more at-

from €500,000 (£451,000) to €3m

Howe said such a “safety net”

right to remain. A study revealed

of the Devon Wildlife Trust.

tractive to countries that have

(£2.71m).

could tie payments to a commit-

they had made a positive con-

“This is brilliant news.”

previously lagged behind in the

Devon England the

River

Otter,

tribution to the local environment.

sector.

Global Wind Council (GWEC).

ment to provide work for the pubAn independent commission will

lic good. “Think of that as ‘some-

purchase art for the federal collec-

thing for something’,” she told the

GWEC offered good news for

“Offshore wind is truly going glo-

tion from artists, galleries and fairs

BBC. “If you are getting money

Although hunted to extinction

the job market predicting that

bal, as governments around the

across Germany, the culture minis-

from the state to help sustain your

in the UK some 400 years ago

offshore wind energy could cre-

world recognise the role that the

try said.

income, what are you going to give

the animals are reappearing in

ate 900,000 jobs globally over

technology can play in kickstart-

some areas thanks to reintroduc-

the next decade.

ing post-Covid economic re-

In a statement, the culture min-

covery through large-scale in-

ister Monika Grütters said the in-

She added: “I know there are thou-

tion programmes. The origin of the River Otter population, how-

2019 was the best year on record

vestment,

and

creased budget would provide a

sands of creative professionals out

ever, remains a mystery.

for offshore wind and predicted

bringing economic development

“quick and effective impetus to re-

there who would be so keen to do

capacity would grow eightfold

to coastal communities,” said

vive art production in a difficult

that, and hundreds of public ser-

by 2030, powered by a clean

Ben Backwell, CEO at GWEC.

climate”.

vices who could benefit.”

This the first time an extinct

creating

jobs

back to the public good?”

THE

WORD

22

Late August 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

The Green Job Guarantee

An idea so radical it cannot be ignored T

o get out of the mess

the UK has the equivalent of

those people might need it; would

Pitching pay levels fairly would

that the Coronavirus

minimum wage, from my mate

you taper it off for the ‘just getting

destroy the illegal practice of paying

has left the UK in,

Norm to Rishi Sunak. Such a system

by’ and yet again for the ‘quite

workers £3-4 for working in a meat

comfortable?’

packing factory. It would allow

there has to be a plan

would be open to horrific abuse:

to reinvigorate our economy.

you might find your wages reduced

Other countries may adopt UBI

by exactly the amount of the UBI

The best option open to our

paid a further 16h as a parent. What

(and find it solves little) or fund

you receive; your boss might use his

government is a very old but good

could be greener or bring greater

a dole queue. Think about

or her UBI to keep a non-viable

one; it is also probably anti-

social return than rearing the

millions of citizens wasting

business afloat, or as the wealthy

inflationary.

Nation's kids?

their time attending interviews

do, either stash it away or give it to

with job centre staff, being

the children as a deposit on their

Any unemployed person would be

Full-time students over either 16 or

sanctioned on a whim, going

homes thus driving up house

"offered a job" and given an income

18 years old would be given either

home disillusioned and running

prices, adding to inflation..

by the Government; payment

the minimum or the Living

would be a Living Wage above

wage as a grant.

up personal debt. Most systems for

'dealing

with'

Opting out creates an

unemployment are in themselves not only costly but wasteful,

and

reduce

the

status

and

morale

of

claimants.

Universal

Basic

Income initially seemed like a good idea - a way of ensuring each person resident in

minimum wage; there might be a

payments;

These jobs could be anything

UBI seemed like employers to work hours contracts would disappear, (loosely) 'for the a good except for those Government' as the idea, they actually suit; Employer of Last but ... Resort. fruit would still get

UBI

considered socially useful, the

picked.

even

Zero hours contracts would disappear, except for workers they actually suit; fruit would still get picked

parents working 16h per week to be

more

expensive

higher rate for jobs requiring skills / experience. An annual skills audit

system as does means-

would be carried out by each applicant.

testing

multiplied by about million

At a stroke zero

proviso being that they didn't work

Would

the

whole

50

against the National Environmental

The practice of paying skilled

eventually

people

Action Plan. Jobs contributing to

people minimum wages because

Government? No more than they already do I guess.

puts far too much

the Action Plan would be advertised

there are no other jobs for them

money into the economy

and suitable candidates employed

would vanish overnight. People

when perhaps fewer than 20% of

by the Government or its agencies.

might even leave unscrupulous

work

country for

the

by Seymour Griffiths.

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late August 2020

WORD

23

TORIES – ‘THE’ PARTY OF MISTRUTHS IN 2019 The vast majority of Tory Face-Book-

media giant FaceBook in the first four

figures or parties. First Draft accessed

ten-week run of advertorials in Metro

investigation into the DWP ads.

Adverts just prior to the UK General

days of December 2019. It found 88%

the company’s Ad Library to assess

newspapers to ‘challenge the myths’

The move came after the Morning

Election 2019 were misleading,

of the Conservative’s Facebook

the damage caused by exempting

around

Star revealed that the Metro had not

independent journalist fact checking

campaigning

figures

political ads from fact-checking in the

controversial

found. Earlier that year, Amber Rudd

challenged by Full Fact, the UK’s

run up to the December-12th election.

programme.”

2019 print edition. On 5 November

of Work and Pensions, had authorised

leading fact-checking organisation.

The Trussell Trust also ran a counter-

2019, the Advertising Standards

In May 2019, the Metro Newspaper

campaign called “Universal Credit

Authority ruled that the campaign

By comparison, First Draft said that it

was condemned by the National

Uncovered”. In June 2019, the Daily

was misleading, branding the ads

could not find any misleading claims

Union of Journalists and the Public

Mirror reported that 80 UK charities

“exaggerated” and in some cases

pushed

the use of a quarter of a million pounds

of

public

money

for

advertorials in MSM.

the

government’s Universal

Credit

run the controversial ads in its 3 July

in ads run by Labour on Facebook

and Commercial Services Union after

had filed a complaint to the

“unsubstantiated”. The Advertising

The non-profit journalists group

over the same period. Full Fact plays

The Guardian showed evidence that

Advertising Standards Authority over

Standards Authority upheld three

called First Draft, which works on

an independent role in Facebook’s

Amber Rudd, Secretary of State for

“misleading Universal Credit adverts

complaint points whilst partially

debunking fake news, analysed every

Third

Checking

Work and Pensions, had authorised

in Metro”. In July 2019, the

upholding a fourth.

advert promoted by the UK’s three

programme, but this doesn’t currently

the use of at least “a quarter of a

Advertising Standards Authority

Ref-

main political parties on the social

cover ads or content from political

million pounds of public money for a

announced it was launching an

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro

Party

Fact

https://bit.ly/7Wrd001

,

No justification for the parsimonious state pension

Continued from page 11

women born in the 1950s and a

politicians is that demands like these

use the flexibility of a sovereign

The comprehensive destruction of

similar number born in the 1960s in

are unrealistic and unaffordable, but

currency to create a good society,

the Corbyn project inside the

When Jeremy Corbyn was elected as

every constituency in the country,

that is simply not true. The same

including the provision of a decent

Labour Party was a bitter blow, but

the Labour leader, we came close to

the potential to exert political

politicians never have any difficulty

pension. The only constraint is the

the underlying veracity of the

creating the political space to

influence on this issue is enormous.

in voting for wars, and as Tony Benn

availability of spare capacity in the

values

used to say: “If we can find money to

economy such as unemployed and

enthusiasm for the project remain.

implement such a radical change, but we

were

sabotaged

the

the

The Grey Swans campaign group is

kill people, we can find money to

under-employed workers. There is a

Which is why as socialists we need

Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP)

one of a number of organisations

help people.”

According to the

huge deficit in high quality public

to dust ourselves down and

and the party’s bureaucrats. That is

demanding pensions justice. The

National Audit Office almost a

services, action to address climate

continue to be the tribune of the

why we need to work towards

Grey Swans are calling for a state

£trillion was found to support the

change, decent infrastructure etc. But

people, raising expectations and

building an unstoppable grassroots

pension of £372 per week payable to

broken banking industry.

the only deficit that governments of

political consciousness. We must

movement and potentially a new

men and women from the age of 60.

every stripe are concerned about is the

continue to demand a good society

electoral

our

The Grey Swans call for a range of

The UK is a currency issuing nation so

fiscal deficit. Ironically, that is the only

where poverty is eliminated, and

representatives in parliament have

other changes including a lower SPA.

we are not constrained in the way

deficit that doesn’t matter, so long as it

everyone can live out their lives in

politicians and media commentators

isn’t exceeding the availability of real

dignity. After all, we have nothing

claim we are. With political will, we can

resources in the economy.

to lose but our chains!

vehicle,

by

underpinning

because

singularly failed to live up to expectations. With around 5,000

The stock response from national

24

THE

WORD

Late August 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

Capitalism #101 Robert Tressell’s Brigands are still with us

losses are borne by the public before businesses are returned to the wealthy at a later date when they will once again be able to generate a profit It is disappointing to discover that

alienates them from their labour,

attacks

tax-avoiding

and

Owen's spirited attacks on the

dishonesty of the capitalist system

successful

companies

previously

on

the

greed

and

greed and dishonesty of the

rouse his fellow men from their

been

capitalist system rouse his fellow

political quietism. A masterpiece of

requesting financial support from

men from their political quietism.

wit and political passion and one of

the government support. Irish

A masterpiece of wit and political

the most authentic novels of

house painter and signwriter

passion and one of the most

English working class life ever

Robert Noonan, writing in his spare

authentic

written.

time as Robert Tressell, penned the

working class life ever written.The

semi-autobiographical 1914 novel

Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

First they sell themselves council

'The

businessmen

have

Ragged

novels

of

English

Trousered

tells the story of a group of working

land

Philanthropists,' in which a group

men who are joined one day by

‘Mugsborough

of working class men are joined by

Frank

journeyman-

Supply and Installation Co. Ltd,’

journeyman / prophet Frank Owen

prophet with a vision of a just

but a combination of worn out and

who has a vision of a fairer and

society.

the

antiquated equipment renders

better society, rousing them from

'philanthropy' of the working class,

them unable to compete with the

their inertia by showing them the

who toil solely for the benefit of

local gas company, losing the

‘Great Money Trick’ played by a

their masters, and initiating them

brigands money.

group of these wealthy types he

into the secrets of the 'Great Money

refers to as brigands.The Ragged

Trick' which alienates them from

As they are also elected officials,

Trousered Philanthropists tells the

their

the

story of a group of working men

attacks

who are joined one day by Frank

dishonesty of the capitalist system

the

Owen, a journeyman-prophet with

rouse his fellow men from their

council ownership using public

wealthy at a later date when they

a vision of a just society. Indicting

political quietism. A masterpiece of

money; the brigands would then

will once again be able to generate

the 'philanthropy' of the working

wit and political passion and one of

be able to blame any failings of the

a profit.

class, who toil solely for the

Owen,

Indicting

labour, on

into the secrets of the 'Great Money Trick'

which

Owen's the

the

benefit of their masters, and initiating them

a

spirited

greed

most

and

authentic

novels of English

We don’t call them “Selfservatives” for nothing

working class life

on

which

brigands

to

build

Electric

Light

decide

to

pay

themselves out by voting to bring electric

company

under

company on the socialist policies of public ownership. Public

All that seems to have changed

money would then be pumped

in a century is that there have

ever written.The

into the failing business to

been

Ragged

improve

and

technological advancements.

Trousered

equipment, and once the

The wealthy still scheme to

the

plant

scientific

and

Philanthropists

company became viable, the

gain profit and pay little or no

tells the story of

brigands could sell the loss-

tax; we don’t call them and

a group of working

making company back to

their kind “Self-servatives” for

themselves.

nothing.

men who are joined one day by Frank Owen, a journeyman-prophet with a vision

If all this sounds familiar,

of a just society. Indicting the

consider the approach taken by

'philanthropy' of the working class,

the

to

mandatory reading in schools

who toil solely for the benefit of

coronavirus; to bail out billionaires

because it is as true today as it ever

their masters, and initiating them

and international companies using

was. No doubt it's on the standard

into the secrets of the 'Great Money

public

where

borne by

reading list at Rugby, Eton, Harrow,

Trick' which alienates them from

necessary nationalise businesses

the public purse, before the

and so on as a handbook rather

their

in the short term so that losses are

businesses are returned to the

than a piece of literature.

labour,

Owen's

spirited

Tory

government

money

and

The

Ragged

Philanthropists

Trousered ought

to

be

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

Just for fun 1 When were crisps first manufactured in the UK? 2 Who invented the modern plastic version of the toilet brush?

3 Who was the first circus clown 4 Name the seven dwarfs in snow white 5 Which 80s advert featured Mr Soft

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late August 2020

WORD

25

The Word

Answers 1 1 The first British potato crisps were manufactured by a man called Carter in 1913.

2 The modern plastic version was invented in 1932 by William C. Schopp of Huntington Park, California 3 The earliest of the true circus clowns was Joseph Grimaldi, who first appeared in England in 1805 4 Grumpy, Dopey, Doc, Happy, Bashful, Sneezy and Sleepy 5 Trebor Softmints Stormy Weather 1 What does a thermometer measure 2 Which Country experience the most Tornados yearly 3 What is the driest desert on Earth, the Sahara, the Kalahari or the Atacama?

4 True or false? You see lightning and hear thunder.

5 True or false? The most rain fall ever recorded in one year (Cherrapunji, India) is more than 30 meters.

Andrea Faulkner Answers

Answers

1 Temperature 2 USA 3 Atacama 4 True 5 False (25.4 meters)

1 The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 2 Between January 2015 and October 2015, there were 243,721 Syrian citizens who entered Germany to seek asylum 3 Nearly 1 in 100 people worldwide are now displaced from their homes 4 European Union countries plus Norway and Switzerland received a record 1.3 million refugees 5 Afghanistan

The life of a refugee

1 1 What UN convention relates to refugee status 2 To the nearest thousand how many Syrian refugees did Germany take in in 2015 3 How many people are said to be displaced worldwide 4 How many Syrian refugees did countries in the EU take in in 2015 5 Half of unaccompanied minors Pets seeking asylum in Europe are said to be from which country?

1 A popular household pet, can you name the smallest member of the cockatoo family?

2 Which dog breed is also known as the sausage dog?

3 Cats have five toes on each front paw, how many do they have on each back paw?

4 Gerbils were first introduced to the pet industry in 1964 from which Asian country?

5 True or false. More households in

the United Kingdom own cats than dogs?

Answers 1 Cockatiel 2 Dachshund 3 Four 4 Mongolia 5 False All about Wales 1 What creature is on the Welsh flag?

2 What is the name of the highest mountain in Wales?

3 How many castles are there in Wales – 378, 641 or 927?

4 Who is the Patron Saint of Wales?

5 Which actor from Port Talbot won an Oscar for his portrayal of serial killer Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs?

Answers 1 A red dragon 2 Snowdon or Yr Wyddfa in Welsh 3 641 4 Saint David 5 Anthony Hopkins

26

THE

WORD

Late August 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

Vegan recipes

Roasted Vegetable Couscous Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 45 mins Total Time: 55 mins Servings: 8

Cooking with Chris Williamson Ingredients 4 Large tomatoes 2 Courgettes 1 red pepper 1 red onion 4 cloves garlic 2 Tbsp olive oil 2 pinches salt and pepper 2 cups couscous 3 cups vegetable stock 1/4 bunch parsley

INSTRUCTIONS

couscous. Add the vegetable stock to a sauce pan, place a lid on top, and bring to a Preheat the oven to 200ยบC. Wash and chop boil over high heat. Once boiling, add the the tomatoes, courgette, bell pepper, and couscous, turn off the heat, and cover the red onion into 1 to 1.5-inch pieces. Peel four pot with the lid once again. Let the cloves of garlic but leave them whole. couscous sit, undisturbed, for ten minutes.

Then, fluff with a fork.

Toss the chopped vegetables and garlic with 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Spread them out After the vegetables are finished roasting, on a baking sheet so they are in a single collect the four garlic cloves, and chop layer. Sprinkle a couple pinches of salt and them well. They will be quite soft. Also pepper over the vegetables roughly chop the fresh parsley.

Place the vegetables in the oven and roast at for about 45 minutes, stirring twice throughout, until the vegetables are wilted and browned on the edges.

While the vegetables are roasting, cook the

Combine the couscous, roasted vegetables (including garlic), and parsley in a bowl, and stir to combine. Season with more salt and pepper if desired.

Serve warm or cold!

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late August 2020

SUDOKU MATH PUZZLES

WORD

27

THE

WORD

28

Late August 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

Wildlife Diary Image 1 I realised over the weekend that

with a piece of fat ball that he

we’d had very few rooks over the

eventually realises is a bit too much

last week or two, some days I’d seen

for him!.

none at all. We’re still getting jackdaws, pigeons, collared doves

I’d been hoping to get down to the

Image 1, thrushes, Images 2 & 3,

local nature reserve but not been

sparrows, the occasional blue tit,

able to make it yet, hopefully

the odd robin and, for the first time

sometime this week.

Image 2

Down at the beach in a post that most of us have seen.

Image 4

in over a year, last week we had a magpie. Of course, I didn’t have a

Image 6 is a long range shot of a

camera with me so no evidence to

pigeon on a TV aerial, he must have

show.

a wonderful view of the area from up there.

The broken beak jackdaw used to be a frequent visitor to our back

Occasionally, I do get out and I got

garden, but now only appears

this shot, Image 7, of a seagull down

occasionally at the front. Image 4.

at the beach, in a pose that most of us have seen, sitting on top of a

Image 5 shows a starling, struggling

post.

Of course, I didn’t have a camera with me!

Image 5 Image 3 Image 7

Image 6

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late August 2020

WORD

29

Loyalty at the Core Leeds director of football Victor Orta recently alluded to the above, saying “Don’t lose this core, this humbleness that has got us here.” Bielsa is known for

his unwavering loyalty to his players, and it’s rewarded him with the title of a Premier League manager. If it’s not broken, don’t try fix it.

What Leeds do in the transfer market is yet to be seen, but what is for sure is that the Premier League is in for a shock.

For 16 years The Whites have hurt away from the commercialisation of the top division, one of the last beacons of English Football

with its identity still intact, ready to unleash a BielsaBall revolution upon all whom stand in their path.

30

THE

WORD

Late August 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY GRAND PRIX

LEWIS HAMILTON EQUALS MICHAEL SCHUMACHER’S RECORD OF 155 PODIUMS

R

ed Bull’s strategical excellence allowed Max Verstappen to break Mercedes dominance to take the win at Silverstone. Lewis Hamilton finished second with teammate Valtteri Bottas completing the podium. With the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix completed; we look at the talking points of another thrilling weekend.

Verstappen Wins The Red Bull driver managed his tyres extremely well, where a strategical masterclass proved to be the key for the win. The Dutchman lasted the longest in the first stint with the hard tyres, he then leapfrogged Bottas instantly after exiting the pits into first and anticipated the Finn’s pit stop by coming in on the same lap. This allowed Verstappen to build a gap to the Mercedes and finish the race with 11 seconds to second place.

The win means Verstappen has now leapfrogged Bottas into second in the Drivers’ World Championship.

Mercedes Tyre Problems Hamilton and Bottas suffered yet again with their tyres. Last week, both Mercedes suffered punctures in the last laps but while both cars survived this

time, the damage in the tyres were visible throughout the race. From the off, Hamilton complained of blisters and a lack of traction whereas Bottas received warnings from his engineer about the rear and front left tyres. Both drivers finished in the podium, but it might have cost them and Mercedes a precious one-two finish.

The Red Bull driver managed his tyres extremely well, where a strategical masterclass proved to be the key for the win.

A strategical masterclass proved to be key for the win

THE

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late August 2020

WORD

31

GRAND PRIX ROUND UP

Hulkenberg’s

Return T

his race saw the presence

Having lost his seat in F1 for this

up and down weekend. Both

8th and 9th respectively. However,

yet again Sebastian Vettel failed to

of German driver Nico

season, Hulkenberg is now using

drivers

during

good strategy and driving meant

set the world alight.

were

strong

Hulkenberg, who has been

this opportunity to convince teams

qualifying, with Ricciardo having

Leclerc and Albon were able to

substituting Sergio Perez for Racing

to give him a chance for next year.

the 5th best time and Gasly just

cross the chequered flag in 4th and

The German driver was unable to

Point while the Mexican recovers

With performances like this, the

two places further down. However,

5th in that order. This is proof that

reach Q3 during the qualifiers and

from COVID-19. At Silverstone last

German will surely be receiving

the two drivers finished outside

a bad qualification can be reversed

the race was not much better

week, Hulkenberg qualified in 13th

some offers.

the points in the race and losing

during the race and vice-versa.

neither. He spun on lap one,

place but was unable to race due to

their personal battles to their

an engine failure. The 32-year-old

Ricciardo and Gasly mixed

put those troubles behind to

weekend

qualify in 3rd and went on to have

respective

teammates.

The

dropping to last place and despite Vettel struggles

a comeback, the 33-year-old

opposite can be said of Charles

finished

Leclerc and Alex Albon. The

This is becoming a

a solid race, crossing the chequered

Daniel Ricciardo in a Renault and

Ferrari and Red Bull drivers had a

recurring

flag in 7th, just behind Lance Stroll.

Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly had an

poor qualifying session, coming in

this season, but

theme

Hulkenberg is using this opportunity to convince teams to give him a chance for next year

points.

outside

the

Vettel

has

now

finished

outside the top 10 twice in five races and his highest result was 6th at the

Hungarian

Grand Prix. This is quickly

becoming

a

season to forget for the 4-time World Champion and it seems Vettel’s relationship with the Italian team is turning sour in the final year together.

Formula One returns in a weeks’

Vettel has now finished outside the top 10 twice in five races

time in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix, so teams will have little time to adjust the cars. Can Max Verstappen make it two in two at the Circuit de Catalunya or will Mercedes bounce back to assert their dominance?

By Paulo Pedro

Not United’s Season

h p m iu r t ls a iv r s e h c t a w Solskjær Ole Gunnar Solskjær, past and present favourite at Old Trafford, has had to watch not

only

his

team

knocked out by Sevilla in the semi-final stage of this season’s condensed Champions’

League

tournament, but past rivals Leeds United and present rivals Liverpool, raise

Championship

trophies of their own.

It has to be said that back

been obstacles to Manchester United

to make it count cost them a place in

The same can be said for Leeds

in the day both Leeds

in their desire to sweep all before

the final. They will need to buy a

United. A team which wins the

and Liverpool

them. Indeed, as Leeds United faded

good centre back or two, consolidate

Championship is not usually good

into obscurity, and before Liverpool

the goalkeeping position as they

enough to leap to the top of the

became

Juggernaut,

could lose two keepers in the

Premier League, unless you’re

Manchester United did just that,

summer sales, and sign a striker who

Leicester. I expect Leeds to buy

dominating at home and abroad.

can put the ball away every time he

well and finish higher than

gets the opportunity. They will need

Manchester United next season,

Now they must regroup and rebuild;

to look at the important central

and I expect Liverpool to finish

they had chance after chance

midfield positions, and left back. Why

higher that Manchester City, who

against Sevilla, yet goalkeeping

left back? Because another left back is

will get second place.

and defensive errors and a failure

always needed.

have

Jürgen’s