THE WORD EDITION 49

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Issue #49, Early November Edition

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Equality Democracy Truth Courage

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER

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Lo w do ck

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CORBYN DOWN

SENILE AND THE CLOWN

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Early November Edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

The end of the right to oppose

In a turbulent week for the party that used to be the interest group for the working class unfairness was the only winner.

The Labour party ended as it had started – with a Keir, except the modern day version is actually called, Sir Keir Rodney Starmer KCB QC MP. Starmer is portrayed by the main stream media as a “human rights lawyer” strange then that the previous leader of the party of the underdog has been denied an opinion. Corbyn was suspended for stating the following “The scale of anti-Semitism within Labour had been dramatically overstated by opponents.”

A Labour spokesman said Mr Corbyn was being suspended “for a failure to retract” his words.”

So there you have it, an opinion and a failure to not change that opinion, is now unacceptable within the Labour party.

The old poem from the Nazi era in Germany just screams off the page “first they came for the Socialists…”

How long will it be before the friends of the apartheid regime in Israel scream out for prosecutions for having an opinion? Anyone who has been on this planet for a few decades will notice the change in how we are taught to think about the events in WW2.

When I was growing up the newsreels were of the British liberated camp of Belsen. To tell people they were inordinately thin you might say “you look like something out of Belsen.” Then came the arbitrarily coined word “holocaust” to describe the evil as something different to the rest of human history. Then came the laws forbidding questioning this history in any way. In Germany and Austria and several other countries you can be jailed for making a contrary comment.

Then, as Israel swallowed Palestine in a disposed and dead, antisemitism was the cage that stopped people questioning.

Suddenly, inexplicably and overnight we were drip-fed that the party who had marched in defence of the oppressed at

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the battle of Cable Street was riddled with racists. The entire apparatus of the British state was rolled into battle against critique of Israeli land grabs.

Let’s look at the direct line of history of this colonial killing.

Arguably the worst case of genocide on this earth was perpetrated by the invaders of America. According to business insider “Prior to Columbus’ arrival in the Americas in 1492, the area boasted thriving”.

A century later, that had dropped to 6 million.” How’s that for a holocaust?

The Europeans massacred millions of the indigenous populations in colonies throughout the world but no country was as egregious as the USA. Every treaty they made with the “red Indians” they broke.

The indigenous population ended living on reservations. If that sound familiar look at the Gaza strip.

Palestine has disappeared in the same way as the USA stole their country. In fiscal year 2019, the US provided $3.8 billion in foreign military aid to Israel.

They also benefit from about $8 billion of loan guarantees. Israel IS simply another colony of the USA. The unsinkable aircraft carrier sits next the oil in the Middle East. Socialism will not be allowed to get in its way.

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Starme accepts report finding

UNION LEADERS IN PRIVATE P

then ignores

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ccording to former party chair, Ian Lavery, some MPs have said if Starmer continues on his right wing direction they will consider standing as Independent Labour.

As John McDonnell called for calm following Corbyn’s suspension on Thursday, former party chair Ian Lavery said some MPs fear the move was a “war cry”.

Lavery said that many of Corbyn’s supporters, including MPs, fear the suspension is the beginning of a significant change in direction under Starmer.

On Friday evening senior figures were engaged in informal talks in to allow Jeremy Corbyn to

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return to the Parliamentary Party and Labour Party.

Unite the Union officials have been involved in the discussions, which were expected to continue over the weekend.

Many on the left of the party, including general secretaries of affiliated trade unions and Socialist Campaign Group MPs, remain furious with the decision.

But as they talked remaining left wing party members acted by swamping party HQ with their resignations.

Left news source Skwawkbox reported that such was the flood of resignations that other departments were being asked to loan staff to help deal with the work.

If Starmer continues on his right wing direction they will consider standing as Independent Labour

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PRIVATE TALKS WITH LEADER’S OFFICE OVER CORBYN’S SUSPENSION

Last man standing: Ian Lavery (right) backing Coryn

gs

From Shadow s STARM ER

REFUSE OUT EXS TO RULE PELLING CORBYN

them Left Labour MPs who support Jeremy Corbyn are reported to have discussed resigning from the party and sitting as independents as they suspect leader Keir Starmer plans to “purge” the left now that Corbyn has been suspended from the party and had the Parliamentary Whip removed Despite all the talk of calm and civil war Starmer has refused to rule out expelling Corbyn.

Lavery said on Friday: “I have heard people suggest that if this is going to a continued change in political direction then perhaps they might not stay the full term as a Labour party representative.

Perhaps they [MPs] might be convinced to become independent Labour.

and things aren’t resolved and continue in the same direction, then they would have to check their conscience to see whether they could stay as Labour MPs until the end of this parliament.

There is a possibility of people moving to becoming independent.”

Ian Lavery

7%

FALL IN PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR KEIR STARMER

“I have heard MPs saying that if this is a purge of the left

Any such move would be a “disaster,” Lavery said and called on senior figures including Starmer to reach out before it is too late.

“The only way we will win an election is by staying a united

party. If people perceive this to be an all-out attack on the left of the movement – and if that is borne out by other decisions by the leader – there will be issues that will come to the fore that will result in massive problems.

At an online Momentum

overreaction. My advice is with a bit of explanation with what was meant in statements we can save ourselves a lot of grief.”

Diane Abbott managed to trot out two cliches: she was “shocked and saddened” and that “divided parties do not win.”

Leader of Unite, the party’s main source of funds, Len McCluskey met with Starmer on Friday evening to warn him the party was headed for civil war. He later toned down his comments to call for discussions.

12%

A snap poll of public opinion of their trust in the party taken after after Corbyn’s suspension showed a 7 point fall in support.

rally in support of Jeremy Corbyn on Friday John McDonnell clearly thought the crisis FALL IN just needed a liberal Seven other unions LABOUR dose of oil. “We are have called for Corbyn SUPPORT stumbling into one hell to be fully reinstated, of a row, over what? The use of but unsurprisingly these did not language, misrepresentation and include Unison or the GMB.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

THE 103RD ANNIVERSARY OF THE BALFOUR DECLARATION

THE BALFOUR DECLARATION Balfour Declaration Protest Monday 2nd November 2020 at Ferranti Technology Oldham. The 103rd Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration On the 2nd November 1917, then British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a declaration, only 67 words long that supported the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.

Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and to this day Israel has never declared its borders. Occupations and treaties make Israel’s current borders.

Millions more Palestinians live in refugee camps, unable to return It was one nation to their homes they were violently solemnly promising evicted from. Millions of a second nation Palestinians live under the country of a a brutal military The Balfour third...... And it occupation Treaty also stated was land Britain in the West that “nothing shall had no rights Bank and the be done which may over, legal or Jordan Valley, prejudice the civil and religious rights otherwise. surrounded of existing by the evernon-Jewish expanding illegal communities The Balfour settlements in Palestine”.

Treaty also stated and the threat of that “nothing shall annexation.

There be done which may are 65 Israeli laws that prejudice the civil and religious discriminate against Palestinians rights of existing non-Jewish living in Israel. communities in Palestine”. The events of the Nakba, the 1948 Israel is an apartheid state. expulsion by the proto-Israelis of The definition of apartheid is over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs “inhuman acts committed for from their homes, show just how the purpose of establishing and seriously this was taken. maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any It has been over 103 years since other racial group of persons and the Balfour Declaration, 72 Years systematically oppressing them”. since the Nakba, 53 years since the Occupation of the West Bank, East We will be protesting outside

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Israel is an apartheid state. The definition of apartheid is “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them”

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THE MASSACRE OF THE IN

THE V

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he war was officially, according to the USA, between the North (Communist) and South (Capitalist) Vietnam.

The North was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies, while the South was supported by the United States, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia and other anti-Communist countries.

Elbit Ferranti, a factory belonging to the biggest private Israeli arms company. Elbit Systems have sold their weapons as “battlefield proven”, which means they have been used in the occupied West Bank or besieged Gaza Strip.

We demand the British Government to #stoparmingisrael.

Elbit out of Oldham End the Arms Trade with Israel *3pm – 4.30pm start* Cairo House, Greenacres Road, Oldham OL4 4JA Government Covid Guidance https://www.gov.uk/guid.../local-covid-alert-level-very-high Organised by Oldham Peace and Justice Group.

This is part of a day of national protests around the country organised by Palestine Action.

Vietnam was largely made up of peasants, poor people who just wanted to be able to live a normal life, but this was made difficult because various countries kept trying to take it over, including France, China, Japan and Australia.

On the 2nd and 4th of August 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin, an American ship reported being attacked by three North Vietnamese Navy Torpedo boats who attacked them with torpedoes and machine guns.

Both these incidents turned out to be a complete lie to justify a war against Vietnam.

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They claimed the North Vietnamese people were communists and they were worried that communism would spread to further people. (This was another person’s country, but still they wanted to force their capitalist views on it)

The original American report blamed North Vietnam for both incidents, but the Pentagon Papers, the memoirs of Robert McNamara, and NSA publications from 2005, proved that the US government lied to justify a war against Vietnam.

From 1963 to 1973 the Americans from the air dropped 388,000 tons of NAPALM on the Vietnamese people; they dropped Napalm bombs on them, which were far more destructive than flamethrowers that were originally used. The Napalm mixture is a jelly like substance, that when ignited, sticks to almost anything and burns at temperatures of between 816 degrees celsius and 1,200 degrees celsius. Just imagine this naplam landing on you and not being able to remove it. The pain is

The napalm mixture creates a jelly like substance, that when ignited, sticks to almost anything and burns at temperatures of between 816°C and 1,200°C

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VIETNAM WAR The Vietnam War, also known as the ‘Second Indochina War’ or the ‘American War’ or in Vietnam as the ‘Resistance War Against America’, started on the 1st of November 1955.

Until the fall of Saigon on the 30th April 1975.

A WEEK IN HISTORY - NOVEMBER 1st of November 1955 – The Vietnam War begins.

2nd November 1917 British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour proclaims support of Jewish People setting up home in Palestine. ‘The Balfour Declaration’ 1936 The British Broadcasting Television launches. The first regular high definition service 1956 – Suez Crisis: Israel occupies the Gaza Strip.

1959 The first section of the M1 British motorway is opened .

3rd of November 1979 Greensboro Massacre. A group of Klansmen and Neo-Nazis kill Five and wound Seven members of the Communist Workers Party in Greensboro, North Carolina USA at a ‘Death to the Klan’rally 4th of November 1839 – Newport Rising: The last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain.

1847 – Sir James Young Simpson, a Scottish physician, discovers the anaesthetic properties of chloroform.

unbearable and nearly everyone died from it.

The Americans also dropped a toxic chemical herbicide called Agent Orange. Agent Orange is fifty times more concentrated than normal agricultural herbicides; it destroys everything, devastatingly effecting agriculture, people and animals.

People for many generations were born with health defects as a result. This was later deemed as a violation of the Geneva Contract.

The Americans intention was to deprive the people of clean food and water so they would be forced to move to areas more heavily controlled by the Americans.

Copied from the BBC bitesize website In August 1964 the destroyer USS Maddox, an American naval vessel, was attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin, just off the coast of North Vietnam, by North Vietnamese torpedo boats.

This provoked President Johnson into retaliating with military attacks in North Vietnam.

The use of Napalm and Agent Orange cleared the forests of everything, destroying all vegetation. They wanted to be able to see the Vietnamese people hiding in the forests.

According to GCSE online revision tool BBC Bitesize, the lies told by the Americans about their ship being attacked, which was PROVED to be a lie, is being told to students as the truth. Got to https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ guides/z9xcwmn/revision/2 So does this mean that this is what they are being told in the classroom... they are being told lies to make the capitalists look good? Or is the BBC giving false information to students meaning they will get that question wrong if they go by it?

Either way, history is being changed to suit the capitalist elite.

5th of Novemeber 1605 The last man to enter the House of Commons with honest intentions. Guy Fawkes.

1768 – Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the purpose of which is to adjust the boundary line between Indian lands and white settlements set forth in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 in the Thirteen Colonies.

6th of November 2012 – Barack Obama is reelected President of the United States 7th of November 1775 – John Murray, the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, starts the first mass emancipation of slaves in North America by issuing Lord Dunmore’s Offer of Emancipation, which offers freedom to slaves who abandoned their colonial masters to fight with Murray and the British.

1893 – Women’s suffrage: Women in the U.S. state of Colorado are granted the right to vote, the second state to do so.

1990 – Mary Robinson becomes the first woman to be elected President of the Republic of Ireland.

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BEST OF THE WEB EARTHQUAKE Four people were killed and 120 injured in Turkey when a powerful earthquake struck the country’s western coast and parts of Greece, the Turkish health minister said.

“Unfortunately, four of our citizens lost their lives in the earthquake” that destroyed buildings in Turkey’s coastal resort city of Izmir, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted.

Two teenagers were also killed on the Greek island of Samos when the wall of a building collapsed after a

powerful quake hit the Aegean region, firefighters said.

USA ELECTION Donald Trump promised to bring industries like steel and coal back to Pennsylvania and the so-called “rust belt” vote, which used to be solidly Democrat, flipped and went for Mr Trump back in 2016.

It helped him to win the state of Pennsylvania, and the White House, by the tiniest of margins, but now he is under pressure in the polls here and nationally.

Joe Biden was born in working class Scranton, Pennsylvania and is seen by many in this state as one of their own.

On the campaign trail he regularly contrasts his blue-collar, IrishCatholic roots with Donald Trump’s billionaire lifestyle, pushing an election

message of “Scranton versus Park Avenue”.

“All that President Trump could see from Park Avenue is Wall Street. All he thinks about is the stock market,” he regularly tells supporters.

VAMPIRE BATS People are being encouraged to use social distancing to help slow the spread of Covid-19, and a recent study suggests humans are not the only species to do so.

The study found that wild vampire bats socially distance when they are sick.

Scientists had previously seen this behaviour in lab conditions, but wanted to find out if it occurred in the wild.

The researchers captured 31 adult female vampire bats from a hollow tree in Lamanai, Belize. The team injected half the bats with lipopolysaccharide, an immune-challenging substance, to make them sick while the other half received saline injections.

The researchers then glued proximity sensors to the bats and released them back into their tree.

The team tracked changes over time in the associations among the 16 sick bats and 15 control bats.

The researchers found that the animals that were ill spent less time near others,

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associated with fewer group mates and were less socially connected to those that were healthy.

The study, published in Behavioural Ecology, found that in the six hours after injection, a sick bat associated on average with four fewer associates than a bat that had been injected with saline.

On average a control bat had a 49% chance of associating with each control bat, but only a 35% chance of associating with a sick bat.

They also found that these differences declined after the first six hours and when the bats were sleeping or foraging outside.

The study’s lead author, Simon Ripperger, from the department of ecology, evolution, and organismal biology, at the Ohio State University, said: “The sensors gave us an amazing new window into how the social behaviour of these bats changed from hour to hour and even minute to minute during the course of the day and night, even while they are hidden in the darkness of a hollow tree.

UK HELPS TORTURE IN NIGERIA The United Kingdom has acknowledged it provided training and equipment to a now-disbanded Nigerian law enforcement unit whose alleged abuses have sparked large protests in the African nation.

The minister for Africa, James Duddridge, admitted that officers in Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) received instruction from UK officials between 2016-2020.

An “End SARS” protest movement began in Nigeria in early October amid accusations of widespread police brutality. The unit has been accused of torture and extrajudicial killings by human rights groups. SARS was disbanded in mid-October but protesters continue to demand law enforcement reforms.

SARS officers had enrolled in a UK program “designed to improve human rights, training on public finance, and community policing workshops,” Duddridge explained in a letter to Labour MP Kate Osamor. He also disclosed the UK had gifted radio equipment to Nigeria police which was then used by SARS forces.

SUNAK SPREADS THE VIRUS Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ scheme was behind a spike in Covid-19 cases in the UK that contributed to the second wave of the virus, according to a new study by the University of Warwick.

In an attempt to boost the UK economy after the country’s first national lockdown, the British government created a discount scheme, through which diners would receive a 50 percent discount, up to the value of £10 per head, on meals purchased between Mondays and Wednesdays throughout the month of August.

While the discounts did encourage more people to attend restaurants, with more than 100 million meals getting eaten through the scheme, it failed to secure the desired boost to economic growth. UK GDP slowed in August, only rising by 2.1 percent. Instead, it appears to have boosted the spread of the virus, with eight percent to 17 percent of newly detected infection clusters being linked to the scheme, according to a recent study.

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THE PARTY’S OVER TIME TO WIND UP THE MASQUERADE

IT’S TIME TO CALL IT A DAY

They’ve burst our red balloon and taken the Moon away.

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T WHOSE HEAD WAS THE STARMALITE RIFLE POINTED? IF YOU ARE ANTI RACIST, ANTI LAND THEFT, ANTI GENOCIDE, ANTI APARTHEID AND GENERALLY IN FAVOUR OF HONEST HISTORY, IT WAS AT YOURS.

Inhuman rights now outweigh human rights. New Likud has come out. Do you like Palestinian olive oil? Out of the party you must go. Remind us that the word Semitic refers to a family of languages, not a race (unless you agree with Hitler) and that the only people with a good chance of being identified as the descendants of a Jewish ‘race’ are the Palestinians, many of whom became Christians under the Romans and Muslims under the Arabs and you will be vilified. A

religion is not a race. Are we now expected to follow Hitler in his misuse of the word Semitic?

All of us, should we wish to dodge the Starmalite bullet, must subscribe to Zionism. There are many definitions of Zionism but we might recall that for so many Jews it is regarded as anti-Jewish.

Starmer does not accept that. He is in love with an inhuman fantasy.

Question that fantasy and out you must go. He is a Moral Flat Earther, an Historical Flat Earther,

Santa to Bring a Vaccine for Good little Boys and Girls Apparently there is a good chance of a vaccine by Christmas.

If you are good Father Christmas will bring it down the chimney.

It is an extra special vaccine designed to make us immune against hopeless politicians. I believe that finding a sufficient number of hopeless politicians on which to experiment offered no challenge at all.

The intention is to extend the experiment to SPADS ARMY. Dare we hope to be immune to Dominic Cummings?

Meanwhile, the number of pubs and restaurants barring Tory MPs because, while benefitting from taxpayer subsidy when they eat, they voted against free school dinners is increasing. It is as if these MPs live in an unreal world with a force field keeping out reality.

If you were an old fashioned pre Thatcher Tory who had fought in WWI or WWII alongside people, real people, who knew what it was like to have low pay and even the dole the attitude was different. Thatcher gave such people the label WETS. All, all is dry today. Truly they are THE NASTY PARTY.

a Human Rights Flat Earther, a pretend socialist.

What must, what shall, we do? Stay and fight? Each other? A counter revolution?

Blair’s socialism was never more than - a favourite word of today - FAKE. Labour indeed, If not dead quite yet, has the letters DNR printed at the foot of the bed. Little chance, I think, of resuscitation.

Whatever form your socialist activism takes I suggest keep it going. Small, medium or large, even intermittent, socialist values are needed more than ever.

Starmer is not, if he ever was, committed to socialist values in any form or to any degree. He is a fully paid up member of the Netanyahu supporters group.

A KEIR BEGAN IT; A KEIR ENDS IT. Rust in Pieces

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HANDS OFF BEDFORD HOSPITAL

Join the Campaign

Lack of accessible homes affects NHS’s ability to discharge disabled patients

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isabled people need and depend on our NHS more than those without a disability. Consequently they are more adversely affected

by NHS cuts, underfunding and privatisation. Lack of Disabled Accessible Housing impacts further on both the NHS and Disabled people, as NHS staff struggle to discharge patients to inaccessible accommodation.

What’s causing the problem and is there a solution?

Alex Taylor’s article for the BBC (Visit www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree) highlighted a pet peeve: the lack of, and the inadequacy of disabled access and inclusion in the built environment, especially housing and new builds.

Prior to the Disability Rights Movement’s success in bringing

about the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, there was no consideration of disabled people’s needs: disabled people, young and old, were relegated to institutions and forgotten about.

It is unforgiveable that Government policies allow for only a tiny number of ‘disabled accessible’ homes in new developments, meaning disabled people’s neighbours can visit them, but not vice versa. Worse still, when someone becomes disabled, with ‘ordinary’ homes inaccessible and only a limited number of homes built to be accessible, innumerable newly disabled people are left holding up NHS beds, or become prisoners in their homes, or are moved out of their area, away from their support networks.

This unacceptable limitation and inequality of access successfully

maintains the divisions used to deny disabled people their basic human rights while ostensibly meeting minimum requirements.

That able bodied people approve developments which include just a few disabled accessible flats and houses, without any consultation with disabled people as to what actually comprises disabled access, simply adds to the intolerable injustice and inequality and housing problems.

Access to housing, independence, equality and social inclusion is a matter of rights not charity. Whether one is disabled or non-disabled, we can all fight for equality: for all homes to be fully accessible for all.

Mary-Ellen / West London campaigner

Inspired by Critical Mass, the campaign to raise awareness for the need for safe active transport infrastructure, which sees monthly mass cycle rides around towns and cities all over the world, we have decided to start our ‘Fightback for the NHS’ campaign.

Every 3rd Saturday at 11am, we have a ‘speaker’s corner’ in Bedford (currently via Zoom!) where we invite healthcare professionals, union members, patients and campaigners, to talk about their experience with the NHS. From the history of working in a well-funded facility in previous administrations to the threadbare provision of today.

From local campaigns, like the one which saved our walk-in centre to national ones, like the fight for 15%. We aim to inform the public about what is going on out of sight.

NHS England and in turn, the CCGs, are so good at couching cuts and downgrades in reassuring terms, which make changes seem sensible and logical, we have to cut through the bull at the grassroots level. Social media isn’t working, we are too often portrayed as anti-Tory idealogues or conspiracy theorists; we need trusted people giving first-hand accounts to make a difference.

Like the Critical Mass campaign, we are hoping that the Fightback for the NHS event will catch fire and spread to every town and city in the country.

Support it with leaflets, banners and stalls.

If you want to find out more about the campaign, please email hands.bedford@gmail.com to be added to our mailing list.

Jenny Feneley / Bedford NHS campaigner

Action needed to stop NHS land sale The consultation into Lambeth Mental Health Hospital’s move closed on 31st May, and approval for the new developments to transform inpatient facilities for Lambeth patients and move them to the Maudsley Hospital site (Camberwell) into new purpose-designed wards was given on 16 July, after considering feedback from a 12-week NHS public consultation.

All this is still at proposal stage and the site hasn’t been sold yet, but it has been decided to move services to the South London and

Maudsley site following the first proposal.

The consultation unearthed a number of negatives to the proposed move. The travel time would be increased. Travelling busier routes could affect those with physical disabilities. There would also be an increased travel cost. The Black and Asian community in particular also mentioned it would disconnect them from their families.

There were some positives raised: having access to other mental health services on the

same site. Improved quality of environment and better designed spaces for physically disabled people and those with sensory issues. An increased in privacy and dignity through new ward layouts and shared spaces for religious and transgender communities.

Staffing levels and the number of beds should remain consistent in the change, so this does not represent a clear cut in resources. Instead it poses new challenges to the South London community. The public were not given the option of refitting the

hospital in the consultation.

The South London and Maudsley is currently conducting

a consultation into building homes on the old hospital site.

Sarah Morgan / London Journalist

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GIBBERING WRECK HOPES TO ZAP THE LITTLE DEVIL

PATIENT.I

ANOTHER DATE WITH THE BIG MACHINE T

he results of my CT scan came back and I waited for my 12.30pm phone call. Some time after 3 o’clock, by which time I was a gibbering wreck, the Oncologist rang.

The nodule at the bottom of the lower lobe of my right lung has grown but not by much since my last scan in November 2019. It was still on its own, no nasty little friends, and I asked if there was a

plan to maybe needle biopsy it to make sure it really was a secondary from my original (prostate) cancer.

“It is,” she said. “It will be; the drugs we gave you rinsed you out and this little blighter grew on the site of one of its ancestors.”

“OK,” I replied. “It’s not grown much then….”

“No, you’re doing something right.”

“Well I exercise when I can, and I’m now eating totally Vegan, in order to eliminate all animal protein and in particular hormones, from my diet.”

“Me too,” she said. Most of the doctors involved with cancer at the hospital I attend have given up eggs and dairy, and most meat and fish too. What do they know that the rest of us don’t?

Not for them chlorine-washed turkey this Christmas, smelling

of Trumps and costing Pence.

“So I keep taking the tablets and having injections?”

“Yes,” she said. “There are plans to provision them from our erstwhile European partners.”

Then she dropped a nuclear bomb on me.

“I’m going to talk to my colleagues, in particular Dr

G, about giving you a highly targeted course of radiotherapy on that nodule; let’s see if we can’t zap the little devil to Kingdom Come.”

“Never mind seeing if we can’t,” I thought. “Let’s see if we can!”

You can be sure I shall tell you all about it; it’s probably going to be a Springtime thing.

Patient.I

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KUNG FLU AND OTHER FAIRY TALES

BRITISH PRESS REPORTING OF COVID-19 AND THE FIVE PS TO SPREAD PANIC

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he British press reporting of COVID-19 validates Stanley Cohen’s concept of Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1974) which has six stages: exaggeration, distortion, prediction, symbolisation, reaction, and warnings.

These stages are clearly visible in the British broadsheets and tabloids reporting of COVID-19 as the press rushes to publish stories that carry either distorted facts and figures or exaggeration of events.

Cohen’s theory states that the media is never alone to spread panic; it is, in fact, the teamwork of five major groups in a society

that we know as five “P’s” namely: press, politicians, police, pressure groups and public bodies. These groups function together and “unite behind a moral panic” as it gains momentum.

An in-depth review of the British Press coverage of COVID-19 also demonstrates a close functioning of these groups as they remain dominant in the reporting because most soundbites, views, statements, briefings and live speeches transform news originating from politicians, police, and pressure groups.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, sections of the

British press has had a “bad guy” in mind, probably because Trump branded Covid-19 as a “Chinese Virus” and “Kung flu”.

Now see how British politicians, police, public bodies and pressure groups influence press reporting of Covid-19. As soon as the “Black Lives Matter” protests spread across Britain, a new “folk devil” appeared in the press - a protestor, responsible for the spread of the virus.

The British press coverage of Priti Patel’s views about “Black Lives Matter” reinforces Cohen’s belief of stigmatising certain groups in society as “outsiders” and “bad guys”. Patel uses distasteful language to describe the protestors as “hooligans”, “thugs and criminals”, “illegal”, “sickening conduct”, “patently racist”

A few politicians, health officials, police officers and members of far-right groups issued statements that blamed “Black Live Matter” protestors and British Muslims for the outbreak of the

Almost all newspapers have published scores of stories loaded with predictions, reactions, and warnings. Even so-called quality papers like The Guardian have made predictions like: “UK coronavirus

Black Life The Black Lives Matter movement spread to Australia, but was translated into complaints and marches concerning deaths in custody of Aboriginal people.

In the 1980s, there was so much concern about the number of Aboriginal people dying in custody that a Royal Commission was called. When this finally reported in 1991, the report concluded that, whilst there was no difference in numbers dying in custody between Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal people, it was actually higher as so many more Aboriginal people are jailed than non-Aboriginal people.

The Aboriginal population is 3.3% of the total for Australia, but

they make up 28% of the prison population today.

Since the publication of the report, a further 437 Aboriginal people have died in custody and not all the recommendations of the report to try to prevent death in custody have been implemented.

virus and overlooked government social distancing measures.

The anger of Aboriginal people has been raised, not only by these facts, but also the recent use of CCTV footage at inquests.

One very disturbing piece of film concerns a Aboriginal woman in Victoria. She was taken off a train by police (after complaints by station staff, which specifically mentioned that the woman was Aboriginal (as if this should make a difference!)) as she was asleep and smelt of alcohol. At the police station, she was in a prison cell to “sleep it off”. No attempt was made to contact family. The lady

Dr. Irfan Raja is a BritishPakistani academic, analyst, and activist based in the U.K., Leeds. He is Ph.D. holder at the University of Huddersfield. His research interests include Media and ethnic minorities, British Muslims, terrorism, interfaith and social media. Raja’s latest article titled: “Reporting the Muslim Women Veil” has published in “The International Encyclopaedia of Gender, Media and Communication”. He is a regular contributor to several international newspapers including the Middle East Monitor and Daily Sabah, Twitter, LeedsUni7. crisis to last until spring 2021 and could see 7.9m hospitalised”.

In other articles The Guardian reported that “A generation had died: Italian province struggles to bury its coronavirus dead” and “Temporary mortuary being built at Birmingham airport” that will keep up to 12,000 bodies.

This is how the press creates a panic by using phrases like “A generation has died.”

Really is it true Italy has lost a whole generation in the past weeks because of coronavirus? Where is the evidence?

To be continued…

Dr Irfan Raja

woke up and walked about the cell several times. She fell and hit her head several times. No one checked on her. Family were informed in the morning, came and picked her up.

The desk sergeant suggested they take her to hospital to be checked out as she had had “a knock on the noggin”. She died later that day from bleeding on the brain. Police denied that they would have acted differently if the woman had been white, but many people believed otherwise. The police were criticised for not checking regularly and for not calling for medical attention. No criminal charges were laid.

We have all seen the memes about black being only skin colour (for example skeletons are identical, blood donations are identical.)

What about DNA?

Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of anger about this and numerous other similar incidents showing the racist attitudes of many police officers.

So, actually, the only pure Homo Sapiens are those who did not migrate out of Africa in prehistory, the sub-Saharan Africans.

With black skin. For the sake of your health, do not argue this point with white supremacists.

Susan Oz

So BLM takes on a whole different slant here.

Well, I, in common with all other Europeans, have Neanderthal genes in my genome. After Homo Sapiens got to Europe, there was interbreeding, so white Homo Saps all have the memory of that in our genes. Similarly, all Asians carry some Denisovan DNA from interbreeding millennia ago with the forerunners to Homo Sapiens in Asia.

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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ROCKETS DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS

THE UK FAILS VICTIMS

T

he British are passing through challenging times, some still coping with ‘social distancing’ others struggle to compromise self-isolation and many face complications of lockdown.

For Britain, domestic violence has posed a serious threat on top of coronavirus. A report in the Guardian 23rd February 2020 disclosed that a domestic abuse incident is reported every minute in England and Wales.

It is sad to see graphic images of British women in national

newspapers. Why is it happening now? Anyone with an iota of humanity could not dare to think of being thus gratuitous, especially when everyone is fighting against a communal threat of Covid-19.

How can someone be so indecent? Is it really appropriate of a civilized person? Forlornly, as the Covid-19 pandemic crisis is sweeping across the globe, Britain is facing yet another distasteful challenge, domestic abuse.

Still, it is sad that at the height of Covid-19 crisis, domestic violence against women accelerated with

a rocket speed across Britain. A horrible terrain of statistics of domestic violence appeared in The Observer editorial recently, “The National Domestic Abuse helpline has seen a 25% increase in calls, and the Metropolitan police have reported a 24% increase in charges and cautions for domestic abuse”.

The editorial raised an important issue: “The enforced social isolation of a lockdown is a particularly terrifying prospect for victims of domestic abuse and their offspring. The lockdown has aided and abetted abusers in their

Utopia or Dystopia - The world has always been like this Then a world-wide plague gave dictatorial governments greater license than ever before to manipulate and control populations that were and are in close communication with each other through social media platforms owned and controlled by the same people who wish to oppress us.

Oligarchic and elite-led legislature, judiciary, and state government What has changed is that we are more aware of it and how things might have been different.

We got close to the beginning of a real transformation in 2017 and nearly won a General Election with a Socialist leadership and membership, but ‘nearly’ means that we didn’t. The Establishment would never allow a Socialist government of the UK and perhaps anywhere else, for its antithesis, Capitalism, underpins and is underpinned by so called Liberal Democracy, which is not as wonderful as it sounds.

Democracy does not need any other term to qualify it, and Liberalism does not mean freedom, or liberty, or equality, or fairness.

The fact that we almost won in 2017 might have felt like a victory to many of us, but when we were defeated, it wasn’t by the not-fit-for-purpose government of Theresa May, but by the collusion of the people at the heart of our own

Democratic Socialist party. They wanted a socialist government no more than did the Conservatives.

It might have and probably would have caused the beginning of the end of the System which had spawned Labour, Liberal, and Conservative careerist politicians from the very beginning.

By the time 2019 came along, all conditions were changed, we were sabotaged by our own side again, but our various opponents were better organised and coordinated (explain again.)

Liberal Democracy is not all it’s cracked up to be. Socialist Democracy or Democratic Socialism are different ways of saying that we need government by the many, for the many, and not by people representing what they think we need.

In short, we need a radical reset if the system. We need to accept that we are where we are, but we need to know where it is we need to be, and what it would look like, before we can make any progress at all towards getting there.

Moreover, the journey there may be an infinite one, for to arrive might be to create dystopia as easily as utopia.

To be continued

mission to terrorize”.

In a series of feature articles, opinion pieces, comments and editorials British liberal broadsheet The Guardian newspaper unveiled alarming data that stem from reputable studies and surveys showing an upward surge in domestic violence against women.

Professor Nicole Westmarland said: “As lockdown begins to release, many will try to seek help to leave abusive partners, so we are now seeing a much larger increase in calls for help

as leaving becomes a possibility again. We must remember though that the process of leaving is the most dangerous time in terms of serious violence or even death”.

Scores accounts of brutal abuse happen every day. Why do we continue to put up with domestic violence?

It is fair to raise this question because the British government has been using violence against women as a pretext of wars and embargos against other nations.

So why is Britain reluctant to safeguard its women at home?

Starmer’s persecution of Julian Assange Emails show that as head of the Crown Prosecution Service Starmer was closely involved in the extradition of journalist Julian Assange at every stage.

He even warned the Swedish authorities who wanted to drop a possible charge against Assange ‘Don’t you dare get cold feet’.

He flouted legal precedents by advising Swedish lawyers not to question Assange in Britain: a decision that sealed his fate before a US show trial- Assange isn’t even a US citizen. Assange is being denied full access to his lawyers and is strip searched every day

before going to court. The Judge gave his lawyers no time to prepare for new charges made last week. Assange has made out a will and has had absolution from a Catholic Priest, presumably in preparation for a possible suicide.

JJ

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FORGOTTEN BANDS - WHEN OPERA BECOMES FUSION

A disappearing form of music

THE ROCK OPERA

O

pera – people singing when they should be talking

Rap – people talking when they should be singing Jazz – where a load of musicians get up on stage and simultaneously play a different tune Musicals – plays where the drama is spoiled from time to time when somebody says a line and someone else replies, and next thing they’re all singing about it. Worst of all, people in suits and big dresses start to swarm all over the stage doing irrelevant dances and nidnodding their heads. Think ‘The Shake n Vac Lady.’ She’d have been perfect in a musical.

So was ‘Tommy’ by the Who an opera? Well it got performed, but nobody said a seemingly ordinary line in tuneless fashion.

That happens in any opera. ‘SF Sorrow’ by the Pretty Things?

Really that was just a themed album, like ‘The Wall’ by Pink Floyd, or ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ which looking back inspired so many other bands and musicians, but really wasn’t as good as Rubber Soul, Revolver, even the White Album.

And Rap! Is it poetry? (yes) Is

it music? (yes) Is it good? (often not really) Are there some great rappers? Indeed there are, and I don’t want to make any more enemies that I already have by singling anyone out, but I do like Stormzy, Eminem, and the Jewish guy Matisyahu, who is no relation to the Prime Minister of Israel. Can I get thrown out of the Labour Party for saying that? (probably) The point about all of these forms is that they represent something called fusion, which is where a group of singers, musicians, producers or composers steal material or style from one genre and transmit it to a different one. Think of Alison Krauss and her various bands, Union Station or Shenandoah, or the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Surely we’re talking Bluegrass here, but what about Baby Now That I’ve Found You, originally by the Foundations, or When You Say Nothing at All which is straight Country? Alison makes everything her own.

Do you know the difference between Country and Western?

There’s a line in one of the Blues Brothers films where a fan says he likes “both kind of music: Country and Western.” It sounded like a joke but really it’s not.

Another time perhaps…

Seymour Griffiths

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DONALD TRUMP ‘I

had some beautiful pictures taken in which I had a big smile on my face.

I looked happy, I looked content, I looked like a very nice person, which in theory I am.’

‘The beauty of me is that I’m very rich.’

(On the Duchess of Cambridge) ‘Who wouldn’t take Kate’s picture and make lots of money if she does the nude sunbathing thing. Come on, Kate!’

‘I think I am actually humble. I think I’m much more humble than you would understand.’

‘I’m intelligent. Some people would say I’m very, very, very intelligent.”

“I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke.’

‘Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest – and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure, it’s not your fault.’

‘Being nice to Rocket Man hasn’t worked in 25 years, why would it work now? Clinton failed,

Election As early voting in the US comes to a close ahead of November 3rd’s elections, America’s choice is, to many, dismal. In both the mainstream American media, the choice is poised as stark, and most Americans see the country as divided to the point that armed poll watchers and violent groups are expected to show up on election day.

Yet Joe Biden and Donald Trump, have pursued remarkably similar policies. Neither candidate opposes the dominance of corporate conglomerates in American society, nor overseas wars, nor America’s private health-care system.

Nonetheless, there are crucial differences between Biden, seen as a “restoration” candidate supported

by Establishment pro-globalization elites, and Trump, ideologically a fascist nonetheless distrusted by

dumb quotes Bush failed, and Obama failed. I won’t fail.’ (Kim Jong-un came to power in 2011).

‘My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars.’

‘While Bette Midler is an extremely unattractive woman, I refuse to say that because I always insist on being politically correct.’

(On exporting goods to China) ‘Listen, you m-----f------, we’re going to tax you 25 per cent!’

(To Cher) ‘I don’t wear a ‘rug’— it’s mine. And I promise not to talk about your massive plastic surgeries that didn’t work.’

‘I think Viagra is wonderful if you need it, if you have medical issues, if you’ve had surgery. I’ve just never needed it. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind if there were an anti-Viagra, something with the opposite effect. I’m not bragging.

I’m just lucky. I don’t need it. I’ve

many in the media and beyond.

always said, “If you need Viagra, you’re probably with the wrong girl.”’

(On Puerto Rico) ‘This is an island surrounded by water, big water, ocean water.’

‘People love me. And you know what? I’ve been very successful.

Everybody loves me.’

‘My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.’

‘I think the only difference between me and other candidates is that I’m more honest and my women are more beautiful.’

‘All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me consciously or unconsciously.

That’s to be expected.’

‘I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.’

‘A person who is very flat-

Trump has decried cancel culture against the right wing as “far-left fascism,” but has in office prosecuted Julian Assange and has dubbed anarchist and “radical left” activists as terrorists. Biden described Assange himself as a “high-tech terrorist,” but unlike Trump supports social media censorship of allegedly hateful speech and supposed Russian interference.

impose austerity. Trump is likely to prioritize a trade deal with the UK, potentially opening Britain’s NHS and food sectors to American multinational corporations. Biden might revive TTIP with the EU instead, and is a diehard supporter of NATO. Trump may end the U.S.’s role in the WTO, an antienvironment, anti-worker institution, and thereby ideally bring about its demise, but not because he is concerned about worker’s rights but because his tariffs violate market orthodoxy.

The Economy

War

Biden’s economic messaging is mixed. Radio ads in key swing states have promoted a populist, proworker narrative and his platform calls for stronger domestic manufacturing. However, a top Biden economic advisor let the cat out of the bag close to the Democratic convention, telling the Wall Street Journal that Biden would

Both candidates are likely to take a hard line with China. Biden in particular promises an aggressive stance against Russia, vowing to “punish” the country due to alleged election interference. Trump’s team, including Eliot Abrams and Rudi Giuliani, are diehard anti-Iran zealots and strongly support war against Tehran, a move rejected by

Free Expression

chested is very hard to be a 10.’

‘You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass.’

‘Number one, I have great respect for women. I was the one that really broke the glass ceiling on behalf of women, more than anybody in the construction industry. My relationship, I think, is going to end up being very good with women.’

‘Just arrived in Scotland. Place is going wild over the vote. They took their country back, just like we will take America back. No games!’ (the day after the Brexit vote) ‘It’s freezing and snowing in New York – we need global warming!’

‘The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.’

‘By the way, I have great respect for China. I have many Chinese friends. They live in my buildings all over the place.’

‘I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.’

‘I do know what to do and I would know how to bring Isil to the table or, beyond that, defeat Isil very quickly. And I’m not gonna tell you what it is.’

‘An “extremely credible source” has called my office and told me that Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a fraud.’

‘And did you notice that baby was crying through half of the speech and I didn’t get angry? Not once. Did you notice that? That baby was driving me crazy. I didn’t get angry once because I didn’t want to insult the parents for not taking the kid out of the room!’

“Something very important, and indeed society-changing, may come out of the Ebola epidemic that will be a very good thing: NO SHAKING HANDS!’ ‘The worst thing a man can do is go bald. Never let yourself go bald.’

Biden. Trump is a strong ally of Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu personally, although Biden has not called to end the internationally condemned decision by Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Both condemn the BDS movement.

government bureaucrats support Biden alongside many in the CIA and FBI, although notorious militarists including Erik Prince, CEO of the privatized army Blackwater that committed massacres during the Iraq War, are pro-Trump.

Corporate and Institutional Backing

Domestic Issues

Biden has received complete institutional support among cultural, educational, and media institutions, including Silicon Valley, which has intervened repeatedly to censor anti-Biden content and leaked documents from New York Post and socialist anti-DNC websites alike and has been the top choice of Wall Street donors. Trump has relied on small-dollar donations but is backed by the oil and gas industry, most weapons companies, and extreme-right wing groupuscules such as the Proud Boys alongside police and military. The so-called “deep state” appears divided, US

This is the point Biden and Trump really diverge- Trump is antiabortion, against the Black Lives Matter movement, accepts America’s current gun laws as appropriate, and has regularly deployed Islamophobic and antiimmigrant language, acting to restrict international students. He supports herd immunity, compared by some activists to eugenics, as a response to the coronavirus. Biden, by contrast, demands Americans wear masks outside at all times, even alone at home, supports a woman’s right to choose, calls to ban citizens from owning military weapons, and supports BLM.

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METHANE THREAT AS FROZEN NORTH MELTS

Buildings sink into frozen solid ground as it thaws

V

ast quantities of methane gas, safely locked away in the Arctic seas for centuries, is leaking into the atmosphere at an alarming rate.

Record-breaking high temperatures in the Arctic Circle and Siberia have led to buildings, roads and railway lines simply sinking into the ground as the permafrost melts. More seriously above ground oil pipelines are shifting as the ground thaws, increasing the likelihood of pollution.

Widespread forest fires have released huge quantities of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2). In just one month more CO2 was emitted by forest fires in Siberia than the entire annual output of Switzerland.

The warming also triggered infestations of Siberian silk moths which stripped trees of their leaves making them extra vulnerable to fire.

The ice, normally seen now in the Laptev Sea, off north Siberia, is unusually late. Without its calming effect the normal layers of colder and warmer, saltier and fresher waters that make up the Arctic seas, are mixing allowing

Recordbreaking high temperatures in the Arctic Circle and Siberia

THE VIEW FROM KENT IS HEART STOPPING

For anybody with a scrap of compassion or humanity, the tragedy that’s unfolded outside Dunkirk is heart stopping.

Until now, the sea and the frozen land off northern Siberia had safely stored the methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more destructive than Carbon Dioxide.

Permafrost, frozen ground which never thaws, is melting.

Sea ice is also late to form: both are signs that the frozen north is warming with potentially devastating repercussions.

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To see the photographs in the media of the beautiful Kurdish family and to think of the terrifying journey that they decided to make with the devastating consequences is unutterably sad.

80 TIMES MORE DESTRUCTIVE THAN CARBON DIOXIDE

warm waters to surface. In the past 13 years 40 per cent of sea ice in the area has disappeared.

The sea ice is part of an environmental system providing nutrient rich sea ice to microorganisms that feed phytoplankton – which absorb significant quantities of CO2. Late ice is thinner so it is expected to melt before it reaches the phytoplankton.

The late sea ice is an alarm bell. White ice reflects heat - open, darker seawater warms. The same goes for the frozen landscape. It is a worrying feedback loop.

It is simply the saddest preventable human tragedy that we can perhaps imagine.

Let's imagine ourselves in the shoes of this family. To visualise the reality of their home life in Kurdistan. To think about the complex reasons behind their decision and the conversations that must have taken place to enable them to take such a monumental step. This is not to mention their life savings of £21,600 that went into the pockets of those who willingly profiteer from the vile trade in human desperation.

It is only by trying to step into the shoes of this family that we can really access the social, economic, emotional and other human drivers that prompted them to take on their epic but last journey.

Any person looking at the photographs will see a happy looking family who may just as easily have been preparing to travel to a wedding or depart on holiday or set off to visit relatives.

We see an ordinary family sharing mutual hopes for the future. Here in the UK we can only guess at the fear and worry that propelled them on this fateful journey.

Many people will say “but why did they come? Why did they choose the UK? Why didn’t they claim asylum in the first country they came too or another along the way?” These are reasonable questions asked many times and they deserve answers. We need to be able to have open conversations and, in my experience, a lot of people really don’t stop to think through what drives families and individuals to do this, and to find out the facts.

The truth is that the UK doesn’t take as many migrants as most people think or are led to believe.

For many, the single biggest draw to the UK is simply that English is already their second language. Add to this that the Kurdish community are established in some parts of the UK, with businesses and networks in place.

Any Kurdish family coming into the UK could perhaps more easily plug into an existing network.

The decision to leave your homeland and resettle is a decision that most of us will never ever have to countenance. Never. So, if you put yourself in their shoes, you’re making the biggest and most scary decision of your life, you would think to yourself “Let’s aim to go to a country where we can speak the language, where we can meet with our friends, and perhaps even relatives”.

As a Kent County Councillor I have challenged the recent decision to stop taking unaccompanied asylum seeking children who make this perilous journey to our shores, often arriving alone and extremely vulnerable.

The council's latest policy of leaving these often traumatised young people with the border force is archaic and incompatible with human rights law. Children's rights are human rights.

It is sadly inevitable that a number of people will display racial hostility. Even in the reality of this tragedy. A knee-jerk reaction to rightwing dog-whistle populism. Those people say we are full. We need to look after our own first, and that "these" people want something for nothing. Even the tragic loss of human life fails to move them.

I say stand in their shoes, stand with this family. We need our Government to take urgent action to put a safe and dignified asylum process in place without delay. No more deaths. No more bodies.

By Cllr Karen Constantine.

Ramsgate

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THE AGONY AUNT FROM HADES MADDER THAN A DOG WITH RABIES

Dear Margaret I was cycling through London the other day when a posh bloke in a Chelsea tractor signalled left but turned right and knocked me off my bike. I was thrown under the bus. Have I got a case for legal action?

JB Corbyn from London Corbyn you slag, I’ve told you before! Stop writing to me with your beardy, yoghurt knitting, tree-hugging, Leftist, hippy concerns. I’m in eternal torment you bloody Marxist. How unsurprised I am to hear you were cycling around the capital, saving us all from pollution and congestion, but have you considered how economically inactive you and your £100 Halfords bike are? At least the Range Rover driver has paid VAT, Road Tax, Fuel Tax and the Congestion Charge into the economy. Of course if he was an M.P. he would claim it all back in expenses paid by the taxpayer.

Next time throw yourself under a truck.

Dear Maggie I’m bigly confident about the election, the confidentest ever President in any election.

So very, very bigly confiderent.

But how do I make sure the deep state / socialists / Antifa don’t win by getting more votes than me?

Donny Trumpski, New York Well Donald, what you have

to realise is that democratic elections don’t really work, they never really have. In the 80’s I was heading to a certain defeat then I manufactured a wave of nationalism having a war with the Argentinians over the oil drilling rights of a few rocks. Worked a treat. As for those scum voting against you, they are such Libtards they will be easily intimidated say, for example, by your gun toting militia followers ‘keeping vigil’ outside polling stations. They will vote by mail, which you have already disparaged, and you just happen to have a spate of Post Office fires. Failing that make sure the highest court in the land support you 2 to 1 and launch a legal challenge to this ‘democracy’ bullshit.

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Dear Margaret Why are politicians so greedy and useless?

Marcus from Manchester Marcus, what you have to realise is how special you have to be to be a career politician.

Ordinary people, even Millionaire sportspersons in their prime, just can’t be admitted into politics despite their intelligence or moral ethics. In order to progress your career in the House Of Commons you are expected to tow the party line and vote as guided by unelected ‘Advisors’ like Domenic Cummings, Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson. It’s that combination of superficial feistiness and spineless moral collapse that ordinary folk just can’t cope with.

That and working for people you were interfered with by at boarding school, really does erode your soul sufficiently to by an M.P. And there’s expenses.

Dear Agony Aunt I have been really confused since the clocks went back. Can I infect people after 9pm, 10pm or 11pm in pubs? I would also like to know if people are safe from me if they have food with their beer?

Yours, Covid from everywhere.

Well, I’m a massive fan of your work, right from the early stages wiping out those Bat and Pangolin munching folk in Wuhan, right the way across the world. One thing I think is really special is how selective you have been, picking on ethnic minorities, the weak and elderly.

One criticism though you appear to be far more widespread in Right-wing controlled countries and less so in Socialist countries.

It’s almost like you are attacking the most vulnerable victims of Capitalism and not those deluded fuckers who believe in a welfare state. But all in all great work, I’m a big fan.

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Fake Nose The conspiracy theory that body doubles are used to stand in for Melania Trump has re-ignited after a photo was released of her boarding the presidential helicopter on the South Lawn of the White House. “Is this really Melania?” wrote one Twitter user. “Nose, jawline, and smile aren’t the same as the real one.”

Another added: “Okay... I am not a conspiracy nut, but I have checked and she does not show her gums when she smiles, and the corners of her mouth turn up not down.”

Holey Moley A German man has set a Guinness World Record for most body modifications after making 516 changes, including tattoos, piercings and subdermal implants. Rolf Buchholz said he was never interested in body modification until he got his first tattoo at age 40. Buchholz, who previously set the world record for most piercings when they were officially counted at 453, says he will make more changes.

Green Dawg An Italian farmer was surprised when one of his eight dogs gave birth to a green-furred puppy. The little dog was the odd one out in a five-strong litter born all with white fur, the same colour as their mixedbreed mother. The farmer has named the exceptional mutt Pistachio.

Macaroon? Raccoon!

Two racoons have broken into a bank in Redwood City, California.

The two furry thieves didn’t take cash, but almond biscuits. They were spotted red-pawed by a customer using the cashpoint at Peninsula Bank, early one morning. “They were in the break room eating a tin of almond cookies,” said an American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals spokesperson.

Honey Buzz A man has achieved a Guinness World Record after his body was covered in more than 100 pounds of living bees. Ruan Liangming had several buckets filled with bees dumped over his head in Yichun City, Jiangxi Province, to get the insects to settle on his body. In total, Liangming’s compliment of bees weighed 140 pounds, 6.95 ounces.

Dozer Drunk A 26-year-old man has been accused of stealing a bulldozer

from a Florida construction site, driving it into a neighborhood and knocking down campaign signs for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, according to authorities and homeowners.

The man took the bulldozer in Haines City on Saturday and repeatedly destroyed Biden signs in full view of people who live in the neighborhood, witnesses said.

James Blight was charged with grand theft auto and trespassing, according to the Haines City Police Department. PolicePolice said Blight claimed he was too drunk at the time to remember what happened.

Grave Concerns The obituary for a Minneapolisarea woman who died at age 93 included one specific request for her mourners: Do not vote for Donald Trump!!!

A pair of obituaries published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press included details of how she wanted to be cremated and then honored with an Oct. 16 church service under COVID-19 protocols. And she preferred that her friends and family not patronize a florist.

“In lieu of flowers, Georgia preferred that you do not vote for Trump,” her Oct. 11 obituary read.

The request made the rounds on social media, attracting admiration from some and condemnation from others, the Pioneer Press reported. On Facebook, a grandchild, Amber Westman, joined in on one of the conversations and said her grandmother was “fierce everyday and remains so through her legacy!”

Spooky Whopper Being cooped up at home due to the pandemic paid handsomely for a Minnesota horticulture teacher who used the extra time to constantly water and feed a

massive pumpkin that recently won this year’s Half Moon Bay pumpkin contest in California.

Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota, spent a lot of his free time in the pumpkin patch in his backyard, watering his plants up to 10 times a day and feeding and fertilizing them at least twice each day.Gienger, 40, then drove his gargantuan gourd for 35 hours to see his hard work pay off at the 47th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, where his winner came in at 2,350 pounds (1,066 kilograms).

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Hope and Good News C

HILE - With more than three-quarters of the votes counted in Sunday’s referendum, 78.12 per cent of voters had opted for a new constitution drafted by citizens The vote came a year to the day after more than one million people thronged Santiago amid a wave of social unrest that left 30 people dead and thousands wounded. The size and strength of discontent made President Pinera agree to initiate the process leading to this referendum to create a new constitution.

The current constitution dates back to the one foisted on the country by the disgraced dictator Pinochet in 1980.

Although poverty levels have dropped in the last 20 years as Chile as Chile became the richest country in South America on a per capita basis.

Yet it remained one of the world's most unequal nations and many Chileans want to see the country's wealth distributed more equally.

Protesters’ demands included reforms to the country’s privatised education, health, and pensions sectors.

Cristina Cifuentes, a political analyst, stated: “If you’re born in the least affluent areas of the city, you don’t have access to a good health system, you don’t have good education, you don’t have transport. And you can’t even dream of having a better life. It affects all aspects of life in Chile and that’s why it was so

important for Chileans to change the constitution,” As with many S. American countries indigenous peoples have suffered most.

So foremost is the recognition of Chile’s Mapuche Indigenous population, powers of collective bargaining, water and land rights and privatised systems providing healthcare, education and pensions.

Political and social groups have a two-month window to nominate candidates to form the constitutional assembly. In April, the public will elect 155 members, with equal numbers of men and women — significantly, the world’s first constitution to achieve gender parity. They will

draft the charter over nine months, with the option of a three-month extension.

The centre-right leader Pinera whose popularity ratings plummeted to record lows during the unrest spoke to those who wanted to keep the present constitution credited with making Chile one of Latin America’s economic success stories. He said “Until now, the constitution has divided us.

From today, we must all work together so that the new constitution is the great framework of unity, stability and future.”

Adding “Any new draft must incorporate the legacy of past generations, the will of present generations and the hopes of generations to come,” he said.

BERLINA startup company has developed a new electric delivery vehicle that can carry a carload of goods in a bicycle-sized package.

The vehicle is emissionfree, with fast-charging with limited battery expenditure.

It can park on pavements removing the need to look for parking in dense urban areas and can use bike lanes

THE

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early November Edition

WORD

19

Women who made a Difference B

etsi Cadwaladr worked as a nurse in the Crimean War alongside Florence Nightingale although their different social backgrounds were a source of constant disagreement.

Her name today is remembered in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, the largest health organisation in Wales.

In 2016, she was named as one of the 50 greatest Welsh men and women of all time.

She was born in 1789 at Llanycil, near Bala, north Wales, one of 16 children to Methodist preacher Dafydd Cadwaladr. Her mother died when she was only five years old.

Very soon after this she was given a copy of the Bible as a present from Thomas Charles (a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist clergyman, something which Betsi appreciated greatly, and which she then felt gave her some purpose to life.

Her early work was as a maid in Plas yn Dre, where she learned housework, to speak English, and to play the triple harp. She was not happy there though, and aged 14 she escaped through a bedroom window using tied sheets and left Bala. She subsequently entered domestic service in Liverpool. At some point in her life she changed her surname to Davis because it was easy to pronounce, though some sources state that she was actually born as Elizabeth Davis. She returned to Wales, but subsequently fled to London to avoid marriage, living with her sister. Here in London she

first enjoyed the theatre, which became a great interest to her.

Working as a maid and assistant, she had the opportunity to travel widely around the world, which gave her a taste for travel. She was in France at the time of the Battle of Waterloo and she visited the battlefield where she was moved by the plight of the injured.

In 1820, aged 31, she returned to Bala but found life dull. So she became a maid to a ship's captain and travelled for years, visiting South America, Africa and Australia. At times she performed Shakespeare on board ship, and met William Carey, the missionary, and Bishop Heber, the hymn-writer. During the course of her time on board ship she became involved in the care of the sick, and delivered babies. Despite her stubbornness and independence, Cadwaladr herself claimed that in her travels she was proposed to by over 20 men!

On returning to Britain, having read of the plight of British soldiers in the Battle of the Alma (1854) who were dying of typhoid and wound infections, she decided to train as a nurse at Guy's, a London hospital.

After her training, aged 65 she joined the military nursing service with the intention of working in the Crimea, despite the attempts of her sister Bridget to dissuade her.

Florence Nightingale (who came from a privileged background) did not want the Welsh working-class Cadwaladr to go, saying that if Betsi went to the Crimea, it would be

against her will, and that Betsi would have to be made over to another superintendent. Betsi responded, "Do you think I am a dog or an animal to make me over? I have a will of my own." Nightingale's bigotry stemmed from a report which suggested the Welsh lacked basic education and morality.

Betsi was subsequently posted to a hospital in Scutari Turkey, a hospital being run by Florence Nightingale.

She worked there for some months, but there were frequent clashes between the two coming from very different social backgrounds and a generation apart in age (31 years).

Nightingale was a stickler for rules and bureaucracy, some of which she set up. Betsi often side-stepped regulations to react more intuitively to the ever-changing needs of the injured soldiers.

Nightingale later acknowledged Cadwaladr's work and the progress that she made against the unhygienic conditions However the two fell out to such a degree that Cadwaladr moved by choice from the hospital, nearer to the front-line at Balaclava. Here, apart from her nursing work, she again gained notoriety for her fight with red tape to ensure that necessary supplies got through. She also took charge of the kitchens. When Nightingale visited Balaclava and on seeing the changes brought about by Cadwaladr's methods, gave her the credit she was due.

Conditions in the Crimea eventually took their toll on her health, returning to Britain in 1855, a

Lessons Learnt Again What our mediaevil ancestors took for granted

A

new term now exists amongst our farmers. It is ‘Regenerative farming’.

This type of farming has been around for a several years, but now as a loss of EU subsidies is almost certain, it is the new buzzword in farming circles.

What is ‘Regenerative Farming’?

It is primarily an attempt by farmers to reduce the costs of cultivation but keep the same yields.

This is achieved by improving the soils by a variety of methods, minimum ground disturbance, direct drilling, continuous cover,

Sound familiar as a farming method?

It certainly does. Cast your mind back to your school years and remember your history lessons on the enclosure and the open field system and commons of peasant farming and how the farming ‘progressives’ (who just happened to be the people who would benefit

She died in 1860, five years after her return, and was buried in a

from the theft of the commons), deemed it ‘wasteful, outdated and uneconomic’.

And the methods the peasants (our ancestors) were using? That’s right, minimum ground disturbance, direct drilling, continuous cover, diversity in crop rotation and the use of livestock as a natural fertiliser.

We really have progressed, haven’t we?

The Revolting Peasants

pauper's grave in Abney Park Cemetery in north London.

From a difficult beginning she led a full and varied life and deserved recognition for her achievements later in life.

This Week’s Comment from....

Jay S

diversity in rotation crops and use of livestock as a natural fertiliser.

This will enable the farmer to reduce his inputs (diesel, chemicals, and fertiliser) and still be able to achieve comparable yields.

year before the war ended, suffering from cholera and dysentery. Living in London with her sister, she wrote her autobiography.

o the entirely predictable results of the EHRC inquiry are in, reinforcing the wholly bogus notion of the Labour Party being 'soft' on antisemitism.

to be a problem in the world, it should not be privileged over other - and in this country much sharper - forms of racism, particularly Islamophobia and anti-immigrant rhetoric.

And it should never be used, as it has to stifle solidarity with the Palestinian struggle and to attack the left.

For the record, I have never experienced antisemitism faceto-face in the Labour Party or in the labour movement, and while there are noisy individuals on social media who peddle antiJewish conspiracy theories they are keyboard warriors who seem to have little or no connection with the living movement.

My heart goes out to all those comrades who have stayed in the Labour Party to continue the fight. In the meantime, I am happy to identify as an ANTIZIONIST JEW, and to express my unequivocal support for Jeremy Corbyn, for JVL (Jewish Voice for Labour), and for BDS campaign.

While antisemitism continues

Jay L Blackwood

THE

WORD

20

Early November Edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

thewordmedia.org

Honours list idiots

C

lement Attlee – Companion of Honour 1945, Order of Merit 1951, Earl 1955, Knight of the Order of the Garter 1956, – When the iconic Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee offered an Earldom to R H Tawney, the historian declined, expressing surprise “that Labour still valued such baubles” yet, pathetically, Attlee considered his bauble collection his career validation, boasting in a 1956 letter to his son; ‘Few thought he was ever a starter – There were many who thought themselves smarter – But he ended PM CH and OM An Earl and a Knight of the Garter.’

Vanessa Redgrave Commander of the Order of the British Empire – Acclaimed actor, from 1971 key member of the Troskyist Workers Revolutionary Party until expelled in the late 1980s, has

–

been a constant critic of British State policy from treatment of asylum seekers to ‘the war on terror’. Curiously, this erstwhile revolutionary having accepted a CBE, declined being ennobled as a ‘Dame’ in 1999 although, ‘I’m not agains’t the royal family, they do many good things’ but because she objected to being nominated by Tony Blair.

Claire Fox – Peerage – Broadcaster and political panellist Fox joined the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1980 and for more than two decades was a key RCP activist, organiser and copublisher of “Living Marxism”.

She continued to work with former RCP associates after the Party, in the 2000s, morphed into ‘The Institute for Ideas’. Having called for abolition of the Lords and in 2015 tweeted congratulations

to the Liberal Democrats for not taking up Peerages, in 2020 Claire Fox accepted the title ‘Baroness’ and membership of the House of Lords.

John Prescott – Peerage – Trade union official and Labour Minister who played the role of pantomime ‘working class hero’. In 2009 he boasted to the BBC, ‘I’ve always felt very proud of Wales and being Welsh…

I was born in Wales, went to school in Wales and my mother was Welsh. I’m Welsh. It’s my place of birth, my country’ despite leaving Wales in 1942, aged four! Having previously described members of the House of Lords as ‘The vermin in ermine’ in 2010 he was delighted to join them as ‘Baron Prescott of KingstonUpon-Hull” insisting, “I need a peerage to save the planet!’)

Shami Chakrabarti – Commander of the Order of the

British Empire, Peerage – The daughter of Bengali parents, a human-rights lawyer with a long and honourable record of opposing the State’s excessive use of antit e r r o r legislation, its control orders and attempted imposition of identity cards. Committed to social equality, against privilege and the expansion of grammar schools she sent her own son to Dulwich College (annual fees £18,000) and in 2007 accepted a CBE followed in 2016 by a peerage when Baroness Chakrabarti joined the House of Lords.

Neil Kinnock – Peerage – after working for just three years as a WEA tutor in 1970 Kinnock began his long career as a professional, nominally left-wing, politician. On 19th November 1977 he wrote in Tribune, ‘The House of Lords must go. Not to be replaced, not to be reformed in some life-after-death patronage paradise, just closed down, abolished, finished’ In 2005 Kinnock accepted a peerage, becoming a ‘Baron’ and entered the House of Lords, where in 2009 he was joined by his equally ‘leftwing’ wife, who similarly accepted a Peerage and the title, Baroness!

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TV and radio Schedules Community Voice Every Tuesday 13:00-15:00 on sound radio wales https://www.soundradio.wales/ Also live on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/search/ top/?q=sound%20radio%20wales Paul Toal and I present a radio show that celebrates our diverse communities. We give a platform to individuals and groups who are active in their communities and have a positive effect on their community.

From activists who campaign to change policy to improve the lives of those living in their community to leaders providing much needed support and advice in times of trouble. Tune in every Tuesday.

Andrea Faulkner Sound Radio Wales

The Joe Solo Show Every Monday from 22:00-23:00 is broadcast on www. radioscarborough.co.uk The Joe Solo Show is broadcast on http://coastandcountyradio.co.uk/

Live at 13:00 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday The UK Column story began with local residents in Devonport, the historic Royal Navy dockyard area of the city of Plymouth in South West England.

The website is https://www.ukcolumn.org/ UK column broadcast a live television news show The UK Column News is streamed, and is available on demand soon afterwards.

You can get us on DAB in North Yorkshire. Each show is available to stream on Mixcloud soon after.

Monthly radio show with host Andy Bungay and Colin Crilly, discussing things campaigning, social, and political.

To listen, please click on this link http://www.mixcloud.com/.../ the-colin-crilly-takeover.../

Sputnik Orbiting the World Saturdays at 9:30 Looking behind the stories which made the news, as well as unearthing the ones that didn’t.

Expect debate and discussion between George Galloway and authoritative, influential, but most importantly, informed guests. https://www.rt.com/shows/sputnik/

Mark Windows LIVE Every Sunday 21.30 Sign up for the chat room and contribute your ideas and information. https://windowsontheworld.net/liveshows/

Resistance-tv Live on a Wednesday and Thursday https://resistfest.co.uk/category/ resistance-tv/ From the group led by ex MP, Chris Williamson. Debates from a leftwing perspective.

NHS social media broadcaster By doctors for patients. We educate, entertain & inform via content designed to promote discussion. http://www.watmed-media.com/

Al Jazeera https://www.aljazeera.com/watch_now/epgschedule.html SWP TV https://www.youtube.com/user/swpTvUk

RICHIE ALLEN Mon – Thurs 17:00-19:00 Sun 11:00 Listen to the stream live!

The stream is live 24/7 and live shows can be heard: https://richieallen.co.uk

TyskySour

By NovaraMedia. The presenter, Michael Walker, is more often than not joined by his sidekick Aaron Bastani and Ash Sarkar, who famously humiliated Piers Morgan on his GMB TV show by pointing out what a political ignoramus he really is. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=JD7Ol0gz11k

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21

HEAD:’JAMES BOND’ FINALLY DIES AGED 90 I decid to be an aed and it tur ctor n to be oneed out my moreof intelligen t moves

Sean Connery dies peacefully in his sleep

T

he widely acknowledged very best James Bond, Sean Connery, has died at the age of 90, while at his home in the Bahamas.

with the show South Pacific and tried his hand at a few bit parts. When the show moved to Scotland he was in the chorus.

His son Jason said his father died peacefully in his sleep on Saturday with many of his family beside him having been unwell for some time.

The cause of death has not been given.

That was also the time he was spotted in a football match and offered a £25 a week – twice what he was a week getting - contract with to play for Manchester United but Man Utd turned it down.

Earlier this year he was photographed in public using a walking stick and he had a full time carer in his New York home.

Born in a rough part of Edinburgh in 1930 the young Thomas Sean Connery left school at 14 and took a job as a milkman. He then joined the Royal Navy only to be discharged aged only 17 on medical grounds suffering with a stomach ulcer.

He began body building at 18 and by 1953 went to London to compete in the Mr Universe competition. While there he took a job as a scene shifter

Ian Fleming was inter e erudite, asting, n a snob - d a real sno b

very interesting, erudite, and a snob – a real snob."

Connery played Bond seven times out of his life’s work of 50 films, The Man who would be King and the Untouchables are generally thought to be among his offer best.

£25

"I realized that a top-class footballer could be over the hill by the age of 30 and I was already 23," Connery said.

"I decided to be an actor and it turned out to be one of my more intelligent moves."

Connery was picked for the part as 007 even though the author of the books, Ian Fleming wanted debonair actor Cary Grant for the part. But he was too expensive and producer Chubby Brocolli’s wife Barbara said she thought unknown Connery was just right. Brocolli now admits Connery had been crucial to the franchise’s success.

Connery said: "I know Ian Fleming was not happy with me as the choice. What was it he called me, or told somebody? That I was an overdeveloped stunt man. He never said it to me," Connery added. "When I did eventually meet him he was

Fame and worldwide popularity did not sit well with the rather private Connery who made it clear he disliked the press attention.

He was offered the opportunity to play Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings franchise, but turned it down. "I never understood it. I read the book.

I read the script. I saw the movie. I still don't understand it."

Instead, Connery starred in the 2003 adaptation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a film which was supposed to launch a franchise, but it flopped and Connery effectively retired.

Connery married actress Diane Cilento in 1962. They had his only child, Jason,.

After they divorced in 1973 he married French-Moroccan painter Micheline Roquebrune who survives him.

22

THE

WORD

Early November Edition

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Homelessness Is Not e c i o h C e l y t s e f i L aA man sleeping rough

is comforted by Richard Speed of ECHO

I

t is 8.15 on a raw Saturday night in February, the coldest month of the year.

It’s wet. It’s windy. It’s cold.

Very cold. Bone numbingly cold.

The location is under the Riby Square flyover in Grimsby and the wind blowing through the bare concrete, graffiti-daubed columns, is coming in down the Humber from the north east, off the North Sea. Straight from the Arctic.

The man has turned up late.

Almost too late. He is wearing a short, light coat, hopelessly inadequate for the weather. He has no hat and he has no gloves.

He’s hungry. He’s thirsty. He’s cold.

Bone numbingly cold. Dangerously cold.

This is his first visit to the East Coast Homeless Outreach street kitchen and he almost missed it.

Some people do that on purpose.

Some people hate gatherings of more than a few people. Some people feel intimidated. And street kitchens can be intimidating, sometimes hostile places, to guests and volunteers alike.

He politely asks for a cup of tea and if possible, some food. He says he’s not eaten properly for maybe two days. He eats a small bowl of stew and when offered another serving, refuses politely. Says he’s full. This is not an uncommon statement for homeless people to make as the stomach will shrink as a response to lack of food.

Slightly emboldened, the man asks, have we a coat he could have?

He is given a thick coat, hat, gloves, socks, another pair of trousers to put on for extra

He’d bee homeless n fo a few we r e ks having lo st his flat . and all he possessed wa his rucksa s in ck warmth and a brand new sleeping bag.

He manages at last to tell us his story.

He said ECHO had saved his life. Temporarily.

He says thank you so much.

There is a slight pause….and he breaks down, sobbing uncontrollably.

He’d been homeless for a few weeks having lost his flat and all he possessed was in his rucksack. He didn’t think he could survive many more nights out and had only learnt of ECHO’s Saturday night kitchen a few days before. He thought he was going to die on the streets.

East Coast Homeless Outreach.

This is the point at which the picture was taken.

‘He tho he was go ught ing on the str to die eets’ ‘street kit chens can be intimida sometime ting, places, to s hostile gu volunteers ests and alike’.

THE

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23

The Truth Is Not Acceptable

To Labour

L

abour deputy leader Angela Rayner has said that Jeremy Corbyn’s comment on Thursday about the very low incidence of antisemitism in the party is ‘unacceptable’ even though it’s true.

Speaking during a TV interview, Rayner seemed to acknowledge the accuracy of Corbyn’s statement – but considered it unacceptable to say it: The idea that it’s unacceptable to say something true because some would find it offensive is an interesting interpretation of the EHRC report’s clear statement that the right to express opinions about the level of antisemitism in the party is legally protected because free speech is not forbidden because it might offend. Still, her statement was a step up from Keir Starmer’s triple misquotes of Corbyn’s comments on Friday.

Within hours of the publication of the EHRC report this week, Rayner was one of several MPs and dozens of others targeted in a 72page complaint by the controversial group Campaign

https://skwawkbox.org/2020/ 10/31/video-rayner-admits-whatcorbyn-said-was-true-but-it-wasunacceptable/

I blame Covid-19 and the joke government of Boris Johnson…

for David Graeber’s death

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M

any people asked me what the reason for David’s death was. The Venetian hospital stated in autopsy results that the cause of death is massive internal bleeding caused by pancreatitis necrosis.

My conspiracy theory, which has no medical justification, is that it is associated with Covid.

David died pancreatitis

of

necrotic

and internal bleeding, but why suddenly the healthy, totally neverdrinking-alcohol David would develop this disease. Why would it be so sudden and quick? Why did such strange symptoms accompany it? Why did it start right after we thought we had Covid?

I watched the news for the first time in weeks recently and found out that a million people have died from Covid worldwide, and it’s assumed that the second wave will cost another million lives....

For the full story visit

https://dorseteye.com/i-blamecovid-19-and-the-jokegovernment-of-boris-johnson-fordavid-graebers-death/?amp=1

Early November Edition

Questions

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Spooktacular

for what character to appear?

11. According to superstition, if

1.

In

which

country

did

you stare into a mirror at

The Word

Halloween originate

midnight on Halloween, what

2. Which Catholic Church holiday

will you see?

is Halloween linked to?

12. from which regions in the

3. What was the name of

world do pumpkins originate?

Dracula’s sidekick?

13. Who wrote the novel

4. From which words did

Frankenstein?

‘bonfire’ originate?

14. Transylvania is a region in

5. What does the name Dracula

which country?

what particular ability?

mean?

15. Halloween has its origins in

21. Who directed The Nightmare

6. What was Dracula’s real

which ancient Celtic festival?

before Christmas?

name?

16. Which actor played Dr Frank-

22. Which vampire said, “Don’t

7. Who was the first actor to play

n-Furter in the Rocky Horror

be afraid. Im going to give you

Wolf Man?

Picture Show?

the choice I never had.”

8. Which phobia means you

17. Is a pumpkin a fruit or a

23. How many people were

have

vegetable?

hanged during the Salem Witch

Halloween?

18. What is the significance of

Trials?

9. Out of which vegetable were

seeing a spider on Halloween?

24. Who is said to haunt the

Jack

19. Which country celebrates the

White House Rose Garden?

made?

day of the dead starting at

25. Pumpkins can be orange,

10. Every Halloween, Charlie

midnight on October 31st?

white, green or what other

Brown helps his friend Linus wait

20. According to superstition, a

colour?

an

intense

O’Lanterns

fear

of

originally

thewordmedia.org

person born on Halloween has

16. Tim Curry 17. Fruit 18. It is thought to be the spirit of a loved one watching over the person who finds the spider.

19. Mexico 20. The ability to see and talk to spirits 21. Henry Selick 22. Lestat (Interview with the Vampire) 23. 19 24. First Lady Dolly Madison 25. Blue

WORD

Andrea Faulkner

Answers 1. Ireland 2. All Saints (Hallows) Day 3. Renfield 4. Bone and Fire 5. Son of the devil.

6. Vlad the Impaler.

7. Lon Chaney 8. Samhainophobia 9. Turnips 10. The Great Pumpkin 11. Your future husband or wife 12. Central America 13. Mary Shelley 14. Romania 15. Samhain

THE

24

THE

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early November Edition

WORD

25

Vegan recipes

Butter Bean Stew

After last week’s rather involved recipe, I thought I would recommend a much easier vegan dish for readers to try out this time. Butter bean stew is an ideal meal for a cold dark night and is very filling too ts n ie d e r g In 2 tbsp olive oil 1 large onion 3 garlic cloves 3 leeks 1 chilli pepper opped 2 400g tins ch es to toma s tin butter bean g 0 0 14 ns ea b i n li nel 1 400g tin can t leaf fresh Handful of fla parsley Salt and pepper

Cooking with Chris Williamson Method Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic cloves Peel and slice the leeks into bite-sized chunks Deseed and finely chop the chilli pepper Drain and rinse the butter beans and cannellini beans Finely chop the parsley Now heat the oil in a large frying pan.

Add the onions, garlic and chilli and fry for a few minutes until softened.

Now add the leaks and cook for another four minutes.

Then add the two tins of tomatoes and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the butter beans and cannellini beans and simmer for another five or six minutes.

Stir in the chopped parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

The Word

promote the happiness of his

hare.

fellow creatures to the utmost of

8. Some of us will fight and

'Clever clogs' do not need to

his power.

fight again to save the party we

look at the possible names

4. I don't hold with equality in

love. We will fight and fight

quotes.

below which can be matched to

all things, just equality before

again to bring back sanity and

A. Thomas Jefferson

the quotes!

the law, nothing more.

honesty and dignity, so that our

B. Nikita Khrushchev

1. A nation that destroys its soils

5. Bombs do not choose. They

party, with its great past, may

C. Neil Kinnock

destroys itself. Forests are the

will hit everything.

regain

D. Harold MacMillan

lungs of our land, purifying the

6. Loyalty is a fine quality, but in

greatness.

E. Thaddeus Stevens (Radical

air and giving fresh strength to

excess it fills political graveyards.

9. The care of human life and

Republican)

our people.

7. The first requirement in

happiness,

F. William Wilberforce

2. A man who trusts nobody is

politics is not intellect or

destruction, is the first and only

G. Hugh Gaitskill

apt to be the kind of man

stamina, but patience. Politics is

object of good government.

H. Voltaire

nobody trusts.

a very long run game and the

10. Judge a man by his question

I. John Major

3. It is the duty of every man to

tortoise will usually beat the

rather than by his answers.

J. Franklyn D Roosevelt

Questions

its

glory

and

and

not

its

their

Match these names with the

Andrea Faulkner Answers 1. J 2. D 3. F 4. E 5. B 6. C 7. I 8. G 9. A 10. H

Test your political knowledge

26

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Early November Edition

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SUDOKU

MATH PUZZLES

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Early November Edition

Once you corner a mouse, it squeals Only - in this instance it seems to be that the mouse has the bellowing roar of a lion

H

ear that harrowing, most haunting sound coming from the Labour Left!

On Thursday 29th of October, after a 37 year long run as the MP for Islington North, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was suspended by his party. It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth and an aching heart, wondering what could have been for any socialist.

How can the Labour Party solve one problem of division and then behave in a way that creates an even larger divide?

During Corbyn's leadership a record high total membership was achieved, and there was a wellneeded influx of young minds, who had been stirred and politically awoken, into the party

ranks, purely because they had seen a glimmer of hope, and a potential for widespread equality.

The man who brought them in, all of his political life had battled against racism and injustice for, well, anyone. If someone needed a voice, Corbyn would lend them his, with courage and conviction.

With a following of 500,000 eager members, it was a brutal blow suffering the biggest defeat for decades in the 2019 General Election. Those on the left knew the cause wasn't the man himself.

They knew his kindly intentions were just to offer the simplest of prizes to the longest of sufferers - a better life. After all, if you inspire people and offer them a life that isn't perpetually arduous, you might end up with a proactive,

stable nation of willing people.

The left know and recognise that Jeremy Corbyn should not have been suspended from his party, they know he should be reinstated with immediate effect.

And why? Because the hysteria about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, from start to finish, was largely an orchestrated smear campaign.

Now the issue of antiSemitism, rightly, should not be brushed under the carpet and forgotten. But nor should the phenomenon be exaggerated, nor the term be banded about so indiscriminately, to tarnish the work of a good man. That same man made every effort to tackle complaints of anti-Semitism, but

WORD

27

“the hyst eria about anti-Sem the Labou itism in rP start to fi arty, from nish, w largely an as orchestra ted sm campaign ear ”

got all the blame for problems passed to him by his predecessors.

Racism is an extremely sensitive subject at the best of times. Those guilty of racism deserve condemnation. But those guilty of using such an emotive term as a weapon, as a means of political convenience, should, in my humble opinion, be kept as far away from politics as is humanly possible.

The roar from the left will grow.

It will chill the spines of those sat right or centre on the spectrum, and its momentum will not falter until the current leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, is finally compelled to do the right thing. For now, it appears he

himself is simply using the spotlight for political convenience. While he remains on record speaking out on anti-Semitism, as a member of Corbyn's shadow cabinet, Starmer also insisted that this was a 'collective accountability issue'. If that is so, then, Sir Keir, one must treat it collectively - holding the whole party responsible - rather than trying to offload all the blame to the feet of a man who has already been target of more scrutiny, smears and bluster than any MP we are ever likely to see again.

By Erin Wilson

Why are the Tories now picking on the parents of hungry kids, you ask? Because it's their turn D isgust is due at the way the Government is treating children of the poorest families, but not shock. Some declare shock at Tories refusing even modest support for poor children, by cancelling free school meals, as they would have in the summer until Marcus Rashford shamed them into a climbdown.

Others express real shock at Tories trying to push the blame for hungry children onto parents, many of whom are financially destitution due to long years of Austerity, and economic damage inflicted by Coronavirus on wide sectors of the economy.

Clearer-minded people express shock at neither though. They give the Government a withering look for predictable malice. Anyone could have foreseen this at some point, after ten years of toxic Austerity.

The Tories just cannot accept blame

The main reason is the one that has angered decent people for a decade; the Tories cannot admit any bad news is their fault. It actually says something terrible about a ten-year Government, if nothing is their fault; it implies an impotent administration, effective on no pressing matter. Why vote for a party, tempting to ask, that keeps shrinking Government and therefore making themselves thoroughly puny? (Or at least, that is their cover story.)

But let us expose Tory fingerpointing for what it is; Conservatives must offload blame at all times. No other approach affords their blundering Governments any stability. Of course, one group in society cannot take all blame forever, because after long spells of crushing persecution, it becomes implausible that they remain harmful. So another vulnerable group will emerge in

short order for society to take frustrations out on, when the chance presents itself. In this case, lashing out at poor families became a justabout-plausible option, ironically, because free school meals were provided in the summer. As a result, now enough gullible, economicallyilliterate people – the types who lazily imagine that 'economics' means 'budgeting' - think that the modest expense is 'damaging' the economy and 'draining money.'

Tories keep saying they have to get the public finances in order to save the economy.

What is left to cut, bar food for hungry kids?

As a country, we are already pared to the bone, but we are economically weaker than ever. The real harm to Britain is policies showering copious wealth onto people who already have plenty.

Tories insist that the rich are Britain's 'bread-makers,' so the more we give

them, the better we all shall be. Given the ludicrous proportion of wealth in rich hands now, compared with in the 1960's, the United Kingdom should logically be better off than ever. But still the rich face no punishment for hoarding power and wealth and doing none of the good they promised us. No, in Britain, people resent perceived 'sloth' among paupers. They care nothing about undoubted greed and dishonesty in the rich.

Blaming the poor is not a new phenomenon, heaven knows. But for some while, Muslims were the scapegoat for British ills. Then the European Union. Then asylum seekers. Again the poor are the target.

Given the economic anguish ahead for Britain, within a year, single mothers may be back in the firing line.

Hitting those who cannot hit back Conservatives' preferred scape-

goats are always people who cannot fight back, and so draw the public's ire – and fire – with no way of clearing their names. Were the UK a wise nation, its people would never be fooled, and Conservative Governments would be historical relics.

Sadly, the UK is not wise, so its public keep voting for people who despise them, mean them harm, and manipulate them.

By Martin Odoni

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Portugal hosts its first Formula 1 Grand Prix in 24 years Lewis Hamilton wins the Portuguese Grand Prix to break Michael Schumacher’s record

P

ortugal saw the return of Formula 1 since 1996 and the crowd witnessed history, with Lewis Hamilton breaking Michael Schumacher’s record of the most victories, with his 92nd win. Despite lagging behind teammate, Valtteri Bottas, the whole weekend, the Briton found extra pace in the race to take the record home.

exceeding track limits three times, and the second a warning for causing a collision with Lando Norris. The incident forced Stroll to pit early and complete the 10second penalty, leaving him lagging behind in last place. The 21-year-old ended up retiring halfway through, crowning what was a disappointing Grand Prix.

Next weekend, Italy will host another Grand Prix, this time in Imola for a second circuit debut in a row. Hamilton will be looking to increase the gap to Bottas while Ferrari will want to continue progressing.

By Paulo Pedro

Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen completed the podium Bottas finished second, with Max Verstappen crossing the chequered flag in third. With another round gone, here are the talking points from the Algarve circuit.

Record Breaking It was inevitable due to his dominance in the past few years, but Hamilton has finally overtaken Schumacher with the most wins in Formula 1. Earlier this year, the Mercedes driver had taken the record for most pole positions from the German as well, so this new record is the culmination of Hamilton’s legacy in the sport. Entering the history books is undoubtedly a proud moment, but for the 35-year-old this was another step towards a fourth consecutive title, and towards yet another Schumacher record; 7 world championships.

Albon’s Ultimatum The Red Bull driver came into the Portuguese Grand Prix under intense scrutiny, after failing to replicate Verstappen’s form.

Reports suggested that Albon had been given two races to save his Red Bull career. However, the British-born Thai driver failed his first test, finishing outside the points, and lapped by his teammate. In Imola next weekend, the 24-year-old will have his final chance to prove to Christian Horner he deserves a seat for the 2021 campaign.

Ferrari’s Improvement The Italian team have so far deceived, failing to provide Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc with competitive cars. But in the Algarve, Leclerc finished a solid fourth while Vettel, despite

coming 10th, spent most of his time unsucessfully fighting with the Renaults and McLarens.

These results are still unacceptable for the legendary team but considering the difficulties of this year, this weekend was a step forward. The last five races will provide a clearer view of what is to come from Ferrari.

Stroll’s Nightmare

It was a weekend to forget for Lance Stroll. It began with a crash on Verstappen during the second practice session. He then received two 5-second p e n a l t i e s during the race, one f o r

Hamilton has

finally overtaken Schumach e the most r with wins in Formula 1

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Obituary

R.I.P. Nobby Stiles N

orbert 'Nobby' Peter Stiles MBE, World Cup winner with England in 1966 and European Champions' Cup winner with Manchester United in 1968, has died at the age of 78.

Stiles was one of the characters of the English game in the 1960s. Not perhaps as much of a star as some of his team-mates at both club and International level, he was nonetheless a frequent fan favourite.

Unfairly maligned as a dirty player by European media, mainly due to a notorious foul he committed on France's Jacques Simon during the

1966 World Cup, Stiles was undoubtedly a powerful tackler and expert positional player. He impressed in the 'anchor-man' midfield role ahead of the England back four throughout the competition. He represented his country 28 times.

Small of stature, slight of build, and devoid of front teeth, Stiles was also so short-sighted that he could hardly see an inch ahead of his nose without the aid of thick spectacles or contact lenses. He seemed absolutely the wrong size, shape and condition to play football, and yet he was one of a rare elite of players who became both World Champions at International level and European Champions at club level.

Stiles famously danced a merry jig

as he carried the Jules Rimet trophy around Wembley, after the 4-2 win over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final. Less than two years later, he was back at Wembley with Manchester United for the club's first ever European Cup final, against a powerful Benfica side. Interestingly, Stiles had to man-mark the great Portuguese star, Eusebio, whom he had also marked in the World Cup semi-final two years earlier. Also echoing two years earlier, the final was only decided after extra time, with United winning 4-1 to become the first English winners of Europe's most prestigious club trophy. Stiles also won two Football League Championships with United.

Middlesbrough. He also had a spell late in his career at Preston North End, a club he also managed after retiring.

Stiles grew old with the United team of the 1960s, and after 395 appearances, was sold on to

After seven years of fighting these illnesses, Nobby Stiles died on the 30th October, 2020.

Stiles was married to Kay Giles, the sister of his United team-mate, Johnny Giles. They had a son, John, who also played professional football, for Shamrock Rovers and Leeds United, in the 1980s.

In November 2013, Stiles was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Three years later, it was found that he had also developed advanced dementia.

Sadly, this meant he was much too ill to attend a 50th anniversary celebration dinner of England's World Cup win.

In memoriam O ne of the finest and most celebrated former players of the 15-man code, John James Williams, has died at the age of 72.

A flying winger for Bridgend, and then for Llanelli, during perhaps the greatest era of Welsh Rugby, the 1970s, Williams represented his country on 30 occasions between 1973 and 1979. During his Wales career, he scored a healthy haul of 12 tries, all in the old Five Nations Championship. He was nicknamed 'JJ' to help distinguish him from the other great 'John Williams' in the Welsh squad, JPR Williams.

JJ Williams also played for the

British (& Irish) Lions, playing four tests in South Africa in 1974, and a further three in New Zealand in 1977.

In the 1974 tour in particular, Williams was a major star, scoring two tries in each of the second and third tests, and his exceptional pace and lithe movements earned him the affectionate nickname, The Welsh Whippet. He further scored a crucial try in the 1977 tour to win the second test and claim a draw in the series against the All Blacks. Williams was the second-highest try scorer in the history of the Lions.

This was all happening at a time when Rugby Union was still very much an amateur sport, and when International matches were so few in

the calendar year that it was quite exceptional for any but the very best players to be capped more than 20 times. But then Williams was definitely among the very best.

Between 1975 and 1979, he supplied the crucial finishing power in a Wales team that won four Five Nations Championships in just five years.

His final appearance was particularly keenly remembered by Welsh fans, as he scored the decisive try in a match against England to secure the 1979 title.

Before turning to Rugby, Williams had also showed great aptitude as an athlete. He represented Wales in the 1970 Commonwealth Games as a sprinter, and in the same year

Goodb to one yoef Welsh Rugby's greatest names

represented G r e a t Britain in the World Student Games in Turin. Three of his children would go on to represent their country in athletics too, including his son Rhys, who became a European champion in hurdling.

something of an outspoken commentator and pundit on the game. He frequently ruffled feathers with some of his remarks, but then one cannot help but feel that many of his 'victims' probably deserved their feathers ruffled.

After retiring, Williams became

By Martin Odoni

JJ Williams died on 29th October 2020.

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Rashford treble has Leip An absolu tely textbook away performa nce in-Europe from Chelsea

Clean sweep for EPL in Champio S

ubstitute Marcus Rashford was the star of the second round of group matches in the Champions League.

He came off the bench on the hour mark to strike a rapid hattrick, and kill off RB Leipzig.

United's European form has stood in almost total contrast to their sluggishness domestically, and the 5-0 pummelling of the team from Saxony has put the Red Devils in total control of Group H. Oddly, United were still only one up entering t h e last

20 minutes, thanks to a 21st minute goal by Mason Greenwood - his first in the UCL. But once Rashford added the second on 74 minutes – with help from VAR correctly overruling an initial offside decision - the floodgates came crashing down. Rashford himself scored the third just four minutes later with a real screamer, then Anthony Martial added the fourth three minutes from the end via the "obligatory United penalty." Deep in added time, Rashford completed an 18minute hat-trick with a comparative tap-in.

bobble over the goal-line. Chelsea would have led earlier, had Timo Werner not struck the post with a penalty. But they got the second from another penalty, a dubious handball award, on 76 minutes, with Werner making no mistake this time. Again, the floodgates crashed open, and just three minutes later, Hakim Ziyech struck his first Chelsea goal with a fine shot on the turn, and emerging American star Christian Pulisic put the fourth away in stoppage time.

In Group E, Chelsea also had a happy evening, as they rebounded from their home bore draw with Sevilla to sweep aside FK Krasnodar 4-0 in Russia. It was an absolutely

Manchester City's indifferent win over Porto was followed up by a hugely impressive victory in France over Olympique Marseille, which has them sitting pretty at the top of Group C. The 3-0 scoreline, engineered by the almosttiresomely consistent brilliance of Kevin De Bruyne, scarcely did justice to City's dominance, as an early goal from Ferran Torres seemed to drain all the courage from the Marseille players. Both teams struck the post with longrange efforts, but in truth, Marseille rarely built anything of note, as City's classy defending

textbook away-performance-inEurope from Chelsea, with plenty of possession play to take the sting out of the opposition, some tight, disciplined defending, and impressively ruthless finishing, especially in the closing stages.

Just like United, Chelsea were still only a goal up entering the last 20 minutes – and that was a fluke; on 37 minutes, Callum Hudson-Odoi scuffed a shot that the Russian goalkeeper, Matvey Safonov, made an embarrassing hash of trying to stop, letting it

marshalled the French attack expertly, while City's masterful passing game starved them of possession for long spells. Late goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling finally put Marseille out of their misery.

In Group D, a somewhatmakeshift Liverpool eleven made heavy weather of beating lowly FC Midtjylland at Anfield. Having failed to hit the target even once in the first half, it took the Reds until near the hour mark to break through, the goal coming from Diogo Jota, who has started his Liverpool career in useful form.

They had several late scares at the back, as the Danes showed an impressive boldness going forward, before a late penalty for a trip on Mohammed Salah, as he burst into the penalty area, put the match to bed. 2-0 was unimpressive, but given Liverpool started with only half their first team on the field, winning was everything. Of concern was an injury to Fabinho, who has been filling in at centreback for long-term absentee Virgil Van Dijk. He had to be

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pzig in trouble

ons League round two substituted after 30 minutes with what looked serious hamstring damage. A later scan found it to be only a grade 1 tear, meaning he should return after the upcoming International break.

The pick of the other matches should have been the long-awaited Champions League showdown between megastars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in Turin, as Juventus played Barcelona.

However, Ronaldo was unavailable as he was self-isolating due to testing positive for Covid-19.

Without him, Juventus looked utterly toothless, and managed not a single shot on target across the 90 minutes. Barcelona, putting aside all the endless turmoil behind the

scenes at the club – the President and entire club board had resigned just a day earlier - and a painful 3-1 defeat by arch-enemies Real Madrid at the weekend, produced a professional display, seeing off Juve comfortably by a 2-0 scoreline. They got an early goal by Ousmane Dembele, and a stoppage time penalty from Messi sealed the three points. For all the club's problems, Barcelona are looking healthy in the UCL, with six points from two matches. Juventus, meanwhile, look depressingly ordinary when Ronaldo is out.

Full results as follows; Group A L.Moscow 1-2 B.Munich Atletico Madrid 3-2 R. Salzburg

Group B S.Donetsk 0-0 Inter Milan Borussia M. 2-2 Real Madrid Group C FC Porto 2-0 Olympiakos O.Marseille 0-3 Man. City Group D Liverpool 2-0 FC Midtjylland Atalanta 2-2 Ajax Amsterdam Group E FC Krasnodr 0-4 Chelsea Sevilla 1-0 Rennes Group F B. Dortmund 2-0 Zenit Club Brugge 1-1 Lazio Group G Ferencvaros TC 2-2 D. Kyiv Juventus 0-2 Barcelona Group H Basaksehir 0-2 PSG Man. United 5-0 Leipzig

SUN 01 NOV THE WOMEN'S

FA CUP – FINAL Manchester City outplayed Everton but failed to take their chances.

The game was on a knife edge right to the end until Stanway scored with the last

kick of the game to win the cup for City.

Everton Women 1 Manchester City Women 3 Gauvin (60'minutes) AET HT 0-1 FT 1-1

Mewis (40'minutes), Stanway (111'minutes), Beckie (120'+2minutes) Christiansen (60'minutes) Assists Greenwood (40'minutes), Park (111'minutes), Stanway (120'+2minutes)

FOOTBALL RE SU LTS

Premier League

Sunday 25th October Southampton Wolverhampton Arsenal Monday 26th October Brighton & Hove Burnley Friday 30th October Wolverhampton Saturday 31st October Sheffield United Burnley Liverpool

2-0 1-1 0-1

Everton Newcastle United Leicester City

1-1 0-1

West Bromwich Albion Tottenham Hotspur

2-0

Crystal Palace

0-1 0-3 2-1

Manchester City Chelsea West Ham United

SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP: Aberdeen Rangers Dundee United Livingston

3-3 2-0 2-1 0-2

Celtic Livingston Ross County Motherwell

EUROPA LEAGUE: Arsenal Rangers AEK Athens Lille Royal Antwerp

3-0 1-0 1-2 2-2 1-0

Dundalk Lech Poznan Leicester City Celtic Tottenham Hotspur

Exeter E

uropean Rugby Union, it seems, has an undisputed new ‘powerhouse’ at club

level.

Exeter Chiefs, who were not even in the top tier of the English game in the late-2000’s, reached a new highest point in their long history over the course of successive weekends. As we have seen, they won a nailbiting Champions Cup Final in midOctober by just four points over Racing 92, to become European Champions for the very first time.

Then, just seven days later, on the 24th of October, they won only their second National crown, as they beat Wasps by 19-13 in the Gallagher Premiership Final at Twickenham, securing the club’s first ‘double’ of becoming English and European Champions in the same season.

Clouds with a silverware lining Exeter are only the fourth

English team to accomplish that double. But, if the European Final was a real shoot-out, the Premiership Final was more attritional. Played in abysmal Middlesex weather in a locked-out stadium, it was a small miracle players were able to hold on to the slippery ball or keep their feet.

An early penalty kicked by Jimmy Gopperth gave Wasps the lead, but it did not last long. Henry Slade gathered the ball wide-right 20 metres out, and w e a v e d through heavy traffic to reach the line, and with the try converted by Joe Simmonds, the Chiefs led 7-3.

To their credit, Wasps did not allow any ‘sinking feelings’ to

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‘CHIEFS OF ALL THEY SURVEY’

get on top of them, and replied in kind on the half-hour. Dan Robson tidied up the ball from the bottom of a ruck about 25 metres out, and slipped the pass inside to Jacob Umaga, who burst through three Exeter defenders to score under the posts for a 10-7 advantage.

Chiefs’ self-assurance bordering on arrogance But the Chiefs again responded with a characteristic assuredness that almost bordered on arrogance, as they dominated the remainder of the half, and registered t w o

penalty goals from Simmonds to lead 13-10 at the interval.

If the first half was gruelling, the second was an out-and-out armwrestle, with try-scoring chances few-and-far-between. The rain was falling so thickly it almost looked like a cloud of fog, and the poor visibility and slippery surface were clearly taking a sad toll on the players. Ultimately, Exeter’s fitness proved superior as they withstood the best, and the worst, that Wasps could throw at them. Wasps did draw level close to the hour with another Gopperth penalty, but again, Exeter needed only a few minutes to reply, with Simmonds again splitting the sticks for a 16-13 lead.

Le coup de grace From there, the Chiefs dominated the percentage game, keeping Wasps pinned back inside their own 22 for most of the remaining time. A late surge by the Exeter forwards forced the Wasps pack to infringe almost directly under their own crossbar, and Simmonds again kicked the goal in the dying seconds, to end the Final, and the Covid-disrupted season, with more silverware to take back to the West Country.

The two most prized trophies in European Rugby Union belong to Exeter, who have undoubtedly been the best, most consistent team in the 15man code for over five years; worthy, worthy Champions of both country and continent, they truly are the Chiefs of Rugby.