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Issue #53, Early February Edition 2021

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Equality Democracy Truth Courage

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER

Ricky and other Shrewsbury 24 appeal their 50 year old convictions in court this week PAGE 3

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COVID DEATHS

PAGE 4

EVEN WORSE THAN THE BLACK DEATH

MORE DEATHS THAN LONDON BLITZ

F... OFF!

IN WHICH CASE, THEN PLEASE

THAT’S MY BEST

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Early February 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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SUGAR BEET FARMERS GIVEN GO-AHEAD TO USE BANNED INSECTICIDE

Tories’ broken promise spells death for bees

nsects may be unloved but they do a crucial job of feeding birds and fish and pollinating plants but they are in decline. Without pollination we would face starvation. This year, the UK government broke its promise not to allow the use of neonicotinoids (neonics) a group of insecticides banned in the EU because of the catastrophic effects they had on insect life where up to 75 per cent of insects have disappeared.

Great Britain is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Our grandparents would have have seen far more flowers, birds, bees and butterflies After last year’s dramatic loss of the sugar beet crop, the government caved in to pressure from British Sugar to allow the use of a neonic called thiamethoxam.

icide doesn’t remain stuck to the seed and can spread. And when treated seed is sown, it spreads as a dust to other plants that do flower, poisoning bees. Worse, the neonic dissolves in rivers and ponds, poisoning those insects which are eaten by fish.

75%

It must not to be sprayed, or used to ‘drench’ fields just to be INSECTS applied to sugar beet Some of these HAVE seed through which it DISAPPEARED problems have been Neonics were used to target enters the complete recognised by farmers crop-destructive insects until it plant, making it poisonous to and agronomists (yield was discovered they were feeding insects such as Beet specialists). Their solution – kill also wiping out the Yellow Virus-carrying the wild flowers! bee population. aphids who spread the crippling virus Opponents also fear that GAVE Michael and damaged the this one-off permission may, INTO PRESSURE Gove, who at beet crop. like income tax, be here to stay. FROM BRITISH the time was Even if it doesn’t, this interim SUGAR TO ALLOW promoting a So what’s permission reduces incentives THE USE OF Green Brexit, wrong with an to come up with safer solutions. BANNED promised that insecticide that There are other ways of tackling the government is only used on Beet Yellows Virus. We could INSECTICIDE would not the seed whose live with lower sugar yields and change its mind plant is harvested pay farmers compensation for about banning neonics long before it flowers? their losses. after Brexit. He lied. Breeding of resistant beet Unfortunately the insect-

THE WORD NEWSPAPER NEEDS YOUR HELP THE We are a non-profit making cooperative but still have our outgoing costs such as design, website hosting and software. Please help us maintain this left wing tabloid by going to our website at www.thewordmedia.org and subscribing. By joining together let us all fight back against the rich and powerful.

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Gove promised the government would not change its mind about banning neonics after Brexit. He lied

is a long-term solution and has succeeded with other

plants, but it needs time and investment and that in turn depends on political, social and environmental will. Don’t let them get away with it!

LETTER TO STARMER With reference to the Holocaust Memorial Day reminding us what the right wing are capable of: prejudice, intolerance and savagery, I find your actions since becoming leader of our Party as something similar. I admit, not to the appalling level of Hitler’s gangsters’ butchery. Therefore, I perceive your actions as a sacrilegious affront to today’s Memorial. Let us consider your actions, aside from your inept criticism of the mismanagement and corruption of the Covid crisis by the most inept government in history (Johnson as the modern Nero), there has been your complicity in the witch hunt and purge of democratic socialists, the expulsion of and refusal to reinstate Mr Corbyn under the mendacious idea that he is antisemitic, your rewarding of staff and BBC commentator for indulging in such mendacity, the delay in the Forde inquiry, the appointment of a former member of the Israeli cyber-spy network (no doubt to spy on members who criticise you) who worked for the Israeli government illegally occupying parts of Palestine and creep-invading that country, a government which practices apartheid. Now it has come to my attention that you ignore members but listen to and have appointed the infamous Board of Deputies and Jewish Labour Movement the power of veto of aspects of our Party’s ‘independent’ advisory board on antisemitism. Your espousal of Zionism is either astonishingly shallow or devious. Zionism has no connection with Judaism. It is a rogue organisation manipulated by the secular government of Israel. Religious Jews despise Netanyahu and Likud realising that he is just a foot soldier for neo-liberalism.The reason BoD and JLM mounted an assault on Mr Corbyn and fellow democratic socialists was they developed a plan, to summarise, ‘for the many not the few’. You have referred to a ‘New Labour’, one of my comrades describe this is Likud on the Thames, the power of Murdoch. Mike Larcey South West Norfolk Constitutency Labour Party

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early February 2021

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EVIDENCE OF POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN 50 YEAR OLD TRIAL

SHREWSBURY 24 appeal court hearing

CTOR and former construction worker Ricky Tomlinson will appear in court this week to challenge the injustice visited on the Shrewsbury pickets almost 50 years ago. Mr Tomlinson, from Liverpool, is one of the Shrewsbury 24 workers who were unjustly convicted of offences relating to the 1972 strike on building sites nationwide. He is expected to attend the Court of Appeal in London on Wednesday alongside with other convicted workers.

The appeals are based on new evidence that statements were destroyed and legal arguments about a highly biased TV documentary, Red Under the Bed, which was screened by ITV during the trial.

of the convicted pickets have since died, but their appeals will also be heard.

Ricky was convicted of offences relating to the 1972 strike on building sites nationwide.

Ricky said: “It will have taken nearly 50 years for us to have our day in court and for the truth to come out. “People will be shocked to know the lengths the Establishment went to in order to punish the working class for trying to improve their working and health and safety conditions.

In 1973, Mr Tomlinson, along with Des Warren, was sentenced to prison for unlawful assembly, conspiracy to intimidate, and affray. Six

“We now have evidence of political interference during the trial that I think will concern the general public who believe in our justice system.”

Events in History 29th January 1980 the Rubik’s Cube makes its international debut at the Ideal Toy Corp in Earls Court, London 30th January 1948. Mahatma Gandhi assassinated. 1956. Martin Luther King Jr’s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery bus boycott 1959. Danish liner MS Hans Hedtoft, like the Titanic, was considered unsinkable, sinks killing all 95 people on board after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage. 1969. The Beatles play their last live performance on the roof of the Apple Records building, until stopped by the police. 31st January 1919. The Battle of George Square, Glasgow, Scotland.

Labour MP John McDonnell said: “This is an appalling

miscarriage of justice that must be addressed and the truth of this fit-up of trade unionists

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Early February 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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ORDINARY PEOPLE PAYING THE PRICE OF COVID GRAFT AND INC

HE CALLS THIS HIS VERY BEST

vidence of the UK’s higher overall death toll during the first wave of the pandemic relative to comparable countries is unequivocal. England had the highest excess allcause mortality rate among 23 European countries in the first five months of 2020 compared with 201519, followed by Spain and Scotland, with mortality being spread throughout the country in contrast to the more localised patterns in Europe. England also had the second (after Spain) highest peak of excess all-cause mortality and the slowest fall to normal levels—so the longest period of excess deaths. The contrasts with Norway, Finland, Denmark, Austria, and some eastern European countries, where no excess mortality was observed throughout 2020, are even sharper. Recent changes to the definition of a covid-19 death in England (from all deaths after a positive test to deaths within 28 days) have reduced the UK’s official covid-19 death toll by 16%. But the change doesn’t alter the UK’s poor ranking among European peers. Excess mortality rates based on death certification data are more reliable for national and international comparisons than the covid-19 “surveillance” data used for tracking the pandemic’s trajectory. Comparisons of excess mortality circumvent differences in how covid-19

Johnson quotes: 100,000 people have died from coronavirus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the nation on Tuesday (26) night that he had done his best to protect us from the pandemic. “Heaven help us,” many must have thought, if the last year of policy blunders is really the best we can expect from this government. Britain, one of the richest countries in the world, now has one of the highest COVID death rates on the planet. So we were left, instead, with a motley collection of politically connected private businesses who live off public money, while extracting as much value as they can for their rich financial investors. So, parents are unable to feed their children properly because private corporations pocket our taxes while providing scandalously inadequate meals to kids on the poverty line. And 22 billion pounds (about $30bn) was spent on a test-and-trace system which has been an unmitigated disaster – except for the corporations who made a fortune from it. As in ages past, Johnson has managed to keep a surprisingly large portion of the public on-side with rhetoric designed to kindle their patriotism – in March last year, he said Britain would “send coronavirus packing” within 12 weeks. From trying to have doses of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine labelled with the British flag to announcing a £100 billion (about $136.4bn) project to roll out the “best” testing programme in the world, later quietly dropped, Johnson’s bombast is designed to shore up support for throwing vast quantities of taxpayers’ money into some of the most irresponsible sections of the private sector. And, as with the empire of old, this is important, for how else do you retain your voter base while you preside over one of the worst coronavirus death rates in the world?

deaths are counted and also include deaths from the wider effects of the pandemic. So where are we now and how did we get here? The overall death rate for England from 1 January to 31 July 2020 was the highest since 2009 (less consistently true also of Wales). The year got off to a good start, with a mild influenza season and almost 5000 fewer deaths in England and Wales up to early March 2020 than the 2015-19 average. But in the ensuing five months, there were over 58 000

more deaths than the 201519 average, of which almost 52 000 (89%) were related to covid-19.1 Almost half (44%) of all excess deaths occurred in care homes. Total deaths returned to near normal levels some weeks ago, as they did in other European countries, after which they fell below normal. In the eight weeks to 7 August there were about 1700 (2%) fewer all cause deaths in England and Wales than the 2015-19 average. This welcome respite has

a darker side, however, as it suggests many of the earlier deaths had been premature, for which ONS analyses provide further corroboration. It’s unclear whether the increase in deaths in the fortnight to 21 August to above average levels is related to a heatwave or signals a longer term trend. The number of Covid-19 deaths in the UK has surpassed the combined death toll of the Great Plague, the Aids pandemic and every single terror attack and war since 1945.

The UK recorded a further 1,631 deaths from coronavirus on Tuesday, taking the official tally above 100,000. The actual number is expected to be much higher when all excess deaths since the pandemic began are taken into consideration. The estimated fatalities from the Great Plague of 166566, the Aids epidemic and every terror attack and war of the last 75 years that the UK has been

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COMPETENCE

involved in totals 99,500. The grim milestone is also more than twice as many people who died during the Blitz during the Second World War, and represents the highest death toll in Europe. Only the US, Brazil, India and Mexico have recorded more Covid-19 deaths than the UK, though all four countries have significantly higher populations. As recently as last week, the UK had the highest death rate in the world, according to figures compiled by University of Oxford-based research platform Our World in Data. Statistician David Spiegelhalter from the University of Cambridge noted that the official government figures only count deaths of people who tested positive in the last 28 days, and that data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) suggests the 100,000 figure was passed earlier this month. “The more accurate ONS data show that over 100,000 people in the UK had already died with Covid on their death certificate by 7 January, nearly three weeks ago,” Professor Spiegelhalter said. “This rose to 108,000 people by 15 January, and the total now will be nearly 120,000.” Link for both statistical pix https://w w w.worldometers. i n f o /c o r o n a v i r u s / ? u t m _ campaign=homeAdvegas1?

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early February 2021

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BLOODY SUNDAY

On Sunday the 30th of January 1972, about 15,000 people gathered in the Creggan area of Derry to take part in a civil rights march against internment. A new law had been introduced where the British Authorities could imprison people without trial. The government said this was the only way to obtain order. The march was planned to end at Guildhall in the city centre, but they were stopped by soldier’s barricades so they changed their route to go down Rossville Street to end at the Free Derry Corner in the Bogside where they were to have speeches about internment. Some paratroopers were spotted in a derelict three story building on Williams Street, stones were thrown at the windows by some of the crowd. The paratroopers opened fire. Civilians, John Johnston and Damien Donaghy who were standing on waste ground opposite were both wounded. John died from his wounds four months later. The paratroopers then proceeded through the barricades on foot and in armed

vehicles. Two people were knocked down by the vehicles. There were reports of excessive force by the paratroopers, including being clubbed with rifle butts, rubber bullets and death threats. A total of 26 unarmed civilians were shot and 13 died that day, another died four months later. People were shot without warning and mostly as they were running from the by the notoriously violent 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, The first victim to be killed was 17 year old Jackie Duddy, who had been running alongside the priest, Father Edward Daly. Father Daly was the priest photographed waving a bloodstained handkerchief to get the soldiers to stop shooting as he led the way for people carrying Jackie Duddy. Father Daly said of Jackie... “a young fella who was posing no threat to anybody being shot dead unjustifiably” It had been a peaceful march by unarmed civilians and yet within 30 minutes from the paratroopers opening fire, 13 Catholic civilians were dead.

Captain Sir Tom Moore has died with coronavirus. Not from it The 100-year-old, who raised almost £33m for NHS charities, was taken to Bedford Hospital. Announcing his death, his daughters, Hannah IngramMoore and Lucy Teixeira said the last year of their father’s life had been “nothing short of remarkable”. He tested positive for Covid-19 last week. His family said due to other medication he was receiving for pneumonia, he was unable to be vaccinated. Tom Moore died on the day the Government announced another 1,449 people died of corona virus in the UK. The death of Moore eclipsed any talk about the increasing death toll in all the MSM.

Moore’s claim to fame was raising money for charity to support the NHS. It needs to be said that charity would not be needed if successive Tory Governments had not constantly outsourced the NHS for their own financial gain. RIP, Tom Moore, you have been used.

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Early February 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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TORIES WANT ID CHECKS FOR THE RIGHT TO VOTE

Our right to vote is under attack

ajor changes to silence voters’ could be seen this year if the government carries out its threat to introduce mandatory voter ID – forcing all voters to produce identification at polling stations despite opposition from Age UK the Salvation Army, Stonewall and the Runnymede Trust.be The government claims these measures are urgently

Bodies have been set up, with various chums paid a king’s ransom for health mismanagement

needed to prevent electoral fraud, yet when it is called on the back up its claims of widespread fraud it has only produced a handful of cases, all of which were swiftly discovered at the time and dealt with. The truth is millions of ordinary citizens, especially the poor, have no acceptable ID such as a driving licence or a passport so the Tories’ plans risk making it harder or impossible for poor people to exercise their rights. The Electoral Reform Society will be shining a spotlight on these plans and calling for ministers to prioritise the real problems with our democracy – like Westminster’s warped voting system, and the

fact that nine million people are missing from the electoral roll. When it comes to rigging election results the government is less bothered about its trickery. Just before Christmas, the Prime Minister appointed 16 peers to the wholly unelected House of Lords. There are now over 800 Lords with seats for life making laws that effect us. This includes nearly 100 aristocrats able to sit there due to their birth and appointed clergy. There’s growing public pressure for an overhaul of the Lords. Even peers admit its reputation has been badly damaged by Prime Ministers selling seats to donors and

handing out seats to party placemen and women.

committee will look into this – and expect to see more debate as campaigners seek The pandemic saw to move power out of widespread criticism Westminster and TORIES’ how poorer areas bring it towards of England were PLAN TO MAKE local areas. punished with IT HARDER OR the harshest The ELR IMPOSSIBLE of Covid rules claims that while many Tory Labour is FOR POOR areas were free moving towards PEOPLE from controls and supporting a VOTE swimming in a sea fairer, proportional of support cash. voting system. The National Policy Forum Some of this stemmed Justice and Home Affairs from the ‘patchwork’ nature of commission is expected to devolution in England. Why come out with a full report on do some areas have strong the party’s constitution policies, local decision making powers, and campaigners are clear that and others very little? Why do proportional representation some areas lack mayors, and should be a part of the party’s who decides? A parliamentary vision for democracy.

THE TORY GOVERNMENT IS A VIRUS

Consider if you will our Government as a computer system. A malicious program (the Conservatives).

It has been allowed to enter the system by a foolish group of users who innocently clicked a link after believing the hype and promises that it would help the system run better, more smoothly than ever before. Now the damage it is causing is plain to see but this programme is now out of

control and running amok.

This malicious program though is not one of your common or garden virus types. This is a Worm, one of the most virulent and destructive programs out there. A Virus replicates and sends copies of itself to other systems, but a Worm gets into the primary system and changes files, rearranges policies, sets up links to itself, steals resources from critical areas and reassigns

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them to serve its own goals, and prioritises hostile services to create the most worst damage possible. Sound familiar? OK, so what do we do? If we run a search and destroy program to try and find and corral the invader, it protects itself by becoming resident in the main control program of the host system (Parliament in our case) and then sneakily reinstalls itself upon any attempt (Reboot) to try and get it out.

The only way that we can now regain control of the system is by rebooting it in safe mode (all extraneous policies and routines on hold, apart from the most necessary), and then deleting the registry back-up’s (current Parliamentary make

up) before running another scan in an attempt to repair the damage that the Worm has already caused. If we are successful, the malicious program will have been terminated in time and all references to its safeguard removed so as to prevent it from ever entering the system again. If we are unlucky, as is most often the case with this particular Worm, then it will already have done enough damage to maintain its hold on the system by way of organizing key elements of the command

hierarchy (the Police and Military), in order to stamp out the search and destroy program that is attempting to remove it. By now it will have also removed, attempted to remove, or re-written any file that seeks to protect the core of the host system (Human Rights Laws), to prevent the user (Us) from regaining any kind of control. The only thing that we can do at this point is reformat the entire system, and then install another, more stable and less hostile operating system (Government) and then try to protect ourselves from reinfection by NOT clicking any more suspicious links (Tory candidates boxes on ballot sheets) when they arrive before us for our consideration. Anyone up for a format and re-install? Adrian Angel

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early February 2021

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ARMY CLAIMS LANDSLIDE ELECTION VICTORY WAS RIGGED

Fallen ‘saint’ back

UNDER ARREST

ours after Myanmar’s (old name Burma) army arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party the army declared that it has taken control of the country and announced a state of emergency.

Phone and internet access to the capital Naypyitaw were lost on Monday morning, state-run MRTV television said it had been unable to broadcast, and soldiers were reportedly deployed outside City Hall in the main city of Yangon on Monday morning.

preparing to retake power. The army has alleged widespread irregularities in November’s election, which Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won in a landslide victory.

Under the previous military dictatorship Aung San Suu Kyi’ spent nearly 15 years in detention between 1989 and 2010. She was internationally hailed as a beacon of democracy and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

Military television later reported that the army had taken control of the country for one year, with power handed to commander-in-chief. It said it had detained senior government leaders in response to fraud during last year’s general election.

Her then ‘saintly’ global standing was severely damaged when she appeared before an international court of 17 judges and flatly denied her armed forces commit genocide against the country’s Muslim minority Rohingya tribe who fled to neighbouring Bangladesh and have refused to return even though they are now living in terrible conditions.

Over the past week, there has been mounting concern that the military, which ran Myanmar for some 50 years until 2011, was

It said last week that a coup could not be ruled out, prompting the United Nations and several foreign missions in

the country to express alarm. US President Joe Biden raised the threat of new sanctions, with the UK also condemning the coup.

The military later backtracked and said comments by its commander-in-chief, had been misunderstood. Over the weekend, however, armed police patrolled the housing where lawmakers were quarantining ahead of the opening of parliament, which was scheduled for Monday. Spokesman Myo Nyunt told Reutersthat Suu Kyi, UNITED President Win Myint and other leaders had NATIONS AND been “taken” early in SEVERAL FOREIGN the morning. “I want MISSIONS IN THE to tell our people not COUNTRY to respond rashly EXPRESS and I want them to act according to the law,” ALARM he said, adding he also expected to be detained. “We have to assume that the military is staging a coup,” a party spokesman said.

50 YEARS UNDER MILITARY RULE

LABOUR PARTY’S UNDER MISMANAGEMENT Was that Starmer’s new slogan? People support him for, it seems, two main reasons. First, he is not Boris. Well, that should be worth a vote or two. Second,

he has more of the Head Prefect about him than Corbyn had. Mess with him and you lose your prefect’s badge. The problem is that should

you speak out against, house theft, land theft, culture theft and life theft; against apartheid, genocide, torture, illegal imprisonment and the falsification of history; should you speak out against any of them your position in Starmer’s Labour Party will be, at best, tenuous. For Starmer everything comes second to supporting Zionism. Why? My own view is that he is not very bright. Being a lawyer, a QC and a knight are not evidence of a broad mind. For me, his mind is very narrow. I suspect him of being a follower of Hans Kelsen, inventor

of the Grundnorm. Briefly, this is a norm that enables us to make judgments upon various facts. For Starmer Zionism is his Grundnorm, his base. Let me attempt another explanation. If you believe that by being ‘good’ Father Christmas will come down the chimney to bring you presents then you have your starting point for interpreting ‘good’. Should you question the existence of Father Christmas then there shall be no presents for you. I cannot envisage Netanyahu as Father Christmas so I shall

receive no presents from Sir Keir. I think he is beginning to discover that for many members of the Labour Party socialism is a different kind of grundnorm. It allows, even encourages, freedom of speech. It also opposes inhumanity. And, even, guess what, promotes equality. Starmer, YOU GOT WRONG GRUNDNORM

THE

If you’re looking to be suspended from the Labour Party, I’m afraid war crimes don’t cut it; you have to tend to your allotment and campaign for extremely modest social democratic reforms instead.

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Early February 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Commonsense and Covid 19 O

ur politicians hide behind following the science to escape criticism when things change for the worse. How about some plain, old fashioned common-sense?

Testing: Far too late in being implemented and even over last few months has only been stepped up at air ports. A friend, early last year, had been working in Venezuela training young doctors in his specialism, orthopaedic surgery. Deciding he needed to return to the UK he had to travel through three airports to get home. In three poor Latin American countries he was tested in each one, even though one was a temperature check. Yet he strolled through the airport here with NO test whatsoever! Preparedness: Latest figures I could find showed the UK had less hospital beds per capita than most of Europe with only Sweden slightly worse. Significantly Sweden had far more doctors per capita whereas only Poland and Slovakia had less than us. We were low down on the list for critical care beds with just over half of those in Italy less than a quarter of those in Germany. As for our NHS the UK has by far and away the greatest number of private hospital beds in Europe.

Outside of Europe is is interesting to note that S. Korea has the second highest number of hospital beds in the world having been one of only a handful of countries to increase capacity in recent times. It is not surprising then that we have not coped well with this pandemic yet S. Korea has been one of the best to do so. Clarity and leadership: Many people have complained about the lack of clarity about lock down rules and lack of common sense in formulating them. So we have walkers targetted in the wilds of Derbyshire yet the PM’s adviser, Cummings, dashed off to Barnard Castle to he claims to have an eye test with impunity. Boris Johnson contracted the virus shortly after leaving a meeting with several other people less than two metres apart and not wearing masks. Having experienced the illness he has been more careful since. His father visited Greece “on essential business” to ensure a property he rents out was “Covid-proof”. Baloney! At the time Greece had banned flights from UK there which Joe Johnson got around by flying in from Bulgaria.

Our PM could do with a course in leadership from New Zealand’s leader, Jacinda Ardern. She brought unity after the horrendous attack on a mosque and carried the country with her in their lockdown. How? The people had respect and therefore trust in her. Injections: Like Trump our Government were quick to pat themselves on the back for a) developing a vaccine and b) in the UK for being one of the first to use it. We are all grateful to the world’s scientists for working collaboratively (not a word which can often apply to politicians) to create the vaccine. The Government’s job is how to deliver it and many have reservations about how it has been done. Although the expertise behind the Astra Zenica vaccines scientists at Oxford University the main production hub is at a vaccine factory in Belgium run by its partner Novasep. There have been recent problems there which might slow deliveries down across Europe. As I got an invite to have the injection (Pfizer) some time ago I felt guilty as I am only 76 and in good health but especially so when the PM warned it might be up

to twelve weeks to get the second dose. I thought the plan was to get as many over 80’s, people with underlying health conditions and key workers vaccinated first. Now a report from Israel has raised concerns that the effectiveness was only 52.4% between the first and second dose if spaced just 21 days apart. My concerns have been shared by Baroness Joan Bakewell who has threatened the Government with legal action over delays to the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Also Alejandro Cravioto, chairman of WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, said the two doses of the Pfizer jab should be administered within 21 to 28 days. Time for yet another U-turn Mat Hancock. Following the rules: Hot topic after guests fled from a Jewish school when police arrived. The organisers faced a £10,000 fine for breaking lockdown rules and five guests were issued with £200 fixed penalty notices, according to police, out of about 150 present. Whilst I am not usually in favour of more

offences resulting in prison, I am when the public’s health is put at risk. The organisers deserve a custodial sentence or at least community service and more fines should be handed out. In general people are obeying the rules but when shopping outlets say mask wearing is mandatory then make it so. People need to have more confidence in using forms of transport if we are to get more people into work safely. People are entitled to their opinions on the way the virus is tackled but our cherished freedom of speech does not mean antivaxxers can pedal false news and protest outside hospitals where NHS staff are putting their lives on the line. Take note Piers Corbyn and his acolytes! Their activities have resulted in a drop in trust of vaccination particularly in the BAME community who have been shown to be most at risk of the virus. We used to be admired as a nation for sticking to rules but not any more perhaps. Postscript: Since I wrote this the EU look like playing ‘hardball’ over distribution of Pfizer vaccine from European plants.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early February 2021

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The Patient’s Eye

t was inevitable that this super long single string of RNA would have an effect and potentially change our own Genome. The government was slow to realise that Covid19 would spread rapidly through Britain as elsewhere and do untold damage to the population.

Coronavirus, what did it ever do for us?

Result. The economy, such as it was, began to slow down; only 50% of us had been expected to shelter, and the PM’s chief adviser embarked on a pointless car journey culminating in a ridiculous jaunt to a local beauty spot. Immediately the outcry led many people to relax their own lock downs, allowing the virus to pick up speed and transmission. The deaths continued.

Chances to lock down early were missed, though not by me, and our children advised me to take matters into my own hands and self-shield. Friends refused to understand and respect my decision, and some relationships remain awkward. But Covid killed a lot of people whom the Government could happily miss from its Health and Benefit account, so that was an initial … Result. The population began to fear, and money was spent unwisely on projects wasting a £billion in total, most of it by

Tory chums and schoolmates who took the money and seemed to do nothing with it. Result.

The Vaccine We used to be admired as a nation for sticking to rules but not any more perhaps.

Injections: Like Trump our Government were quick to pat themselves on the back for a) developing a vaccine and b) in the UK for being one of the first to use it. We are all grateful to the world’s scientists for working collaboratively (not a word which can often apply to politicians) to create the vaccine. The Government’s job is how to deliver it and many have reservations about how it has been done. Although the expertise behind the Astra Zenica vaccine is scientists at Oxford University the main production hub is at a vaccine factory in Belgium run by its

many fellow human beings had died.

partner Novasep. There have been recent problems there which might slow deliveries down across Europe. As I got an invite to have the injection (Pfizer) some time ago I felt guilty as I am only 76 and in good health but especially so when the PM warned it might be up to twelve weeks to get the second dose. I thought the plan was to get as many over 80’s, people with underlying health conditions and key workers vaccinated first. Now a report from Israel has raised concerns that the effectiveness was only 52.4% between the first and second dose if spaced 21 days apart.

The fear spread and it was estimated that 90% of the UK was in hiding, watching TV on an evening to see what new rules had been made and how

My concerns have been shared by Baroness Joan Bakewell who has threatened the Government with legal action over delays to the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Also Alejandro Cravioto, chairman of WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), said the two doses of the Pfizer jab should be administered within 21 to 28 days.

Result. There was a disproportionate amount of mortality suffered by BAME communities, who work in public facing jobs. Rumour had it that they were socialising too much and a highly successful division was created between communities. Result. There continues to be division between parents

Time for yet another u-turn Matt Hancock. Following the rules: Hot topic after guests fled from a Jewish school when police arrived. The organisers faced a ｣10,000 fine for breaking lockdown rules and five guests were issued with ｣200 fixed penalty notices, according to police, out of about 150 present. Whilst I am not usually

around the opening and closing of schools and nurseries. Though it is clear that schools, workplaces, and pubs are high transmission areas, each of these have been opened and closed almost randomly. The virus picked up transmission rate again. Result. No fewer than three vaccines were approved for public use; at last we could beat the bug and get back to tackling my cancer and everybody’s long term health conditions. These will affect our mortality. Instead the Government chose to snatch defeat for the jaws of victory by messing about with the dosages and timings recommended by the developers and suppliers of the vaccine. There is more to come from Coronavirus, but its effects will save the Government money, which can then be thrown around making the rich richer. Result. Patient.I

in favour of more offences resulting in prison, I am when the public’s health is put at risk. The organisers deserve a custodial sentence or at least community service and more fines should be handed out. In general people are obeying the rules but when shopping outlets and say mask wearing is mandatory then make it so. People need to have more confidence in using forms of transport if we are to get more people into work safely. People are entitled to their opinions on the way the virus is tackled but our cherished freedom of speech does not mean anti-vaxxers can pedal false news and protest outside hospitals. Their activities have resulted in a drop in trust of vaccination particularly in the BAME community who have been shown to be most at risk of the virus.

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THE NHS NEEDS TO BE RENATIONALISED, NOT FURTHER SOLD OFF

hese are uncertain times, and many people are unsettled and worried about what’s happening. However, we cannot afford to be overwhelmed with fear and allow our so-called elected officials’ activities to go unscrutinised. The Coronavirus threat highlights just how fragile our economy is, and our way of life. It’s often said that you can judge a country by how it treats its poorest, ill and elderly. On an evening when the public were being encouraged to clap for the workers in the NHS, our own government are continuing to force through changes to our health service that will see more hospitals close or downgraded. They’ve also rushed through a controversial Coronavirus Bill with plenty of toxic content and threats to our civil liberties.. One of the reasons that they’re building a makeshift hospital at London’s EXcel Arena is because many hospitals have been taken from us along with half the hospital beds. Removing the nurses’ bursaries made it more difficult or financially impossible for those coming through the nurse training process. The Junior Doctors contract was forced on them which resulted in many of them leaving the profession. I say the NHS has been deliberately gutted leaving us all at greater risk. Before the Covid crisis, around 130,000 people

A MESSAGE ABOUT BETRAYAL under government control (it was removed in 2012).

were found to have died unnecessarily in this country since 2010 because of, cuts to the welfare state . The government oversaw these deaths directly caused by their policies. Where was the daily body count on the news then? I’m in South London, and right now the local Clinical Commissioning Groups and

hospital trusts are working to downgrade Epsom & St Helier Hospital sites, losing many beds in the process. This is at a time when we need more beds, more staff, more hospitals not fewer. So we need to INSIST that the NHS remains nationalised. Private hospitals must make their beds available NOW to the NHS during this virus crisis. The NHS must be put back

Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) have crippled hospitals with debt and must now be made null and void. Tthose who negotiated the deals should be put on trial for corruption. United Health (America’s biggest health insurance corporation) must be told to leave the UK, and it’s former head of Global Expansion, Simon Stevens (who now runs NHS England) should face public wrath for his behaviour. I am sympathetic to everyone now struggling with what is happening. Do not

forget how frustrated you feel now, and remember to direct that anger at the right people at the earliest opportunity. After all, some of those who are now portraying themselves as our protectors and saviours are actually those who knowingly played their part in dismantling our health system which directly led to many of the deaths that have and will continue to result. This virus could have been avoided if it were not for them. We cannot let them get away with this. Good luck to you all and I urge you to join us in the fight over these crucial issues. #NationaliseNHS

Food Banks: A look at the situation North and South of the Border I have been looking into food banks for weeks now and still don’t have figures that I can post. I am trying to see if there is a difference between Scotland and England in the number of food parcels per head of capita. The literature review showed that there is no widely accepted definition of ‘hunger’. In everyday language, the meaning of hunger refers to a bodily sensation arising from not eating: ‘A feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food, coupled with the desire to eat’. Similarly,

the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) defines hunger as ‘an uncomfortable or painful physical sensation caused by insufficient consumption of dietary energy’ There is no reference in these definitions to what has caused this ‘lack of food’ or

‘insufficient consumption’. The understanding of hunger among stakeholders was contested; some emphasised the physiological, while others felt a link to poverty was naturally implied. In contrast, there was an agreement among the stakeholders that hunger is not suitable as an analytical or measurement tool. In recent years, around 8-10% of households in the UK experienced food insecurity (as measured by HFSSM, see Chapter 2).8 Food insecurity recorded by the key survey

covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland, ‘Food and You’, increased from 8.1% in 2016 to 9.8% in 2018Stronger

emergency local welfare provision, driven by minimum standards – particularly in England.

England Prescription Fees Free Elderly Care Free Bus Pass Tuition Fees 9% Pay rise For Nurses 9% Pay rise for Teachers Free School Meals Free Child Care for 3-4 yr Old Scraping Bridge Tolls Best Performing NHS in UK

£8.80 £No 66 up to 30K No No No No No No

Scotland Free Yes 60 Free Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

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JEREMY CORBYN IGNORED PENSION PLIGHT OF WASPI WOMEN

THE GREAT Pensions theft A

s a 1950s’ born woman who began pension campaigning in 2013, I discovered that women’s pension age had risen from 60 to 65, then 66 for those turning 60 during 2014. In 2005, we had received an automatic pension forecast, not informing of pension age rise. When I began, I called myself Pension 60 Now now it’s Pension Credit 60! We helped collect more than 700,000 signatures for a petition, from all pension groups, for women’s pension age 60, given in by Backto60

Since 2007 if you were born in the 1980s you will not receive a state pension until you are 68 years old – 2048 at the earliest pension group which we sent to No10 Downing Street, several times between 2017 and 2019.

The BackTo60 pension group began their high court case alleging sexism and ageism was behind the women’s pension age rise in 2017, so I changed my pension group name to Grey Swans. The BackTo60’s claim for full restitution compensation has now reached the Supreme Court. WASPI began in 2015, as a

formal complaint to Department of Works and Pensions for lack of communication of women’s pension age rise. Their campaign never lowered the pension age, was carried out by Tory governments. WASPI, even today in 2021, are still awaiting a final decision to their complaint from the Parliamentary Ombudsman. In 2015 Jeremy Corbyn became Labour Leader and I asked him to spell out his pension policies regarding

reducing the pension age to 60 for men and women, which he backed when he was first elected as an MP in 1983 and which he repeated in parliament in 1993. I continued to plead with Jeremy Corbyn, handing him printouts beseeching pension age 60 men and women in his election manifestos, but to no avail. Right-wing Labour ensured that there was no meaningful pension policies. It is said Labour lost the 2017

election by around 3,000 votes in key marginal seats, when the 1950s women amount to are around 5,000 votes in most constituencies. From around three million 1960s women, votes could also have been gained, as they turned 60 after 2020, with pension age 67 from Labour’s 2007 pension act. The 1980s born now have to wait for their pension after they turn 68. Grey Swans’ pension group campaigns always welcomes activist members. For details of pension demands details go to www.anastasia-england.me.uk

History of Labour’s betrayal of pensioners since the 1950s till today State pension began age 70, in 1908, first payment 1909.

failed to tell us, raising women’s pension age was discussed by Tories.

offered to keep men and women remaining as ‘I Daniel Blakes’.

Labour’s Clement Attlee between 19451951 and Harold Wilson in 1960s and 1970s improved the state pension.

Blair and Brown’s Labour governments between 1997-2010 betrayed 1950s to 1980s born women, to ensure many do not live long enough to retire, by:

2017 and 2019 Labour offered no meaningful pension policies, ignoring Jeremy Corbyn’s pension policies, and lost 2017 election by around 3,000 votes in key seats, when 1950s ladies are around 5,000 in each voting area, and around 3m 1960s born ladies were about to turn 60 in 2020.

After that, all governments worked hard against the state pension, especially for women.

1983 right wing Labour threw out Labour leader Michael Foot, who had pledged a living state pension for men and women at age 60.

l leaving raised pension age at 65, l raising men and women’s pension age to 66, 67 and 68, after government actuaries 1m would die before retirement, l raising early works pension age from 50 to 55, l not uncoupling Pension Credit from pension ages, when UK pe ople begin falling out of work due to ill health by the millions from age 50, with little chance of a new job.

Labour’s leaders between 1992 - 1995

Miliband’s 2015 election manifesto

Labour’s Callaghan abolished the state second pension from 1978 onwards to 80 per cent of people, reducing new flat rate state pension today.

In UK, works pension age cannot rise above 50 for early access or manual jobs, and 60 for state / full works pensions, seen by pension age rise, resulting in women’s highest early death rate for half a century, aged in our 50s and 60s, since 2010/11. Grey Swans pension campaigns calling for pension ages of 50/60 and a living state pension. Welcome to join - email greyswans@anastasia-england.me.uk

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FORGOTTEN BANDS

THE SOFT MACHINE

ow Soft can you get?

The Nineteen Sixties threw up some of the most amazing music it is possible to imagine, and never has it been more of a thrill to be in a band than to go see a real pro band. I suppose a subset of that thrill would be to go on a tour of the USA with that amazing band. And so it was for Jimi Hendrix who not only got to tour his home country with the Soft Machine, but occasionally played bass for one or other of them. Named for, well who knows why, was it the book by William Burroughs that inspired them, or the state of DNA based lifeforms, which are in effect ‘soft’ machines? Would that include ants though? Wasps are pretty hard too. The band was formed by Robert Wyatt on drums and Kevin Ayers on bass guitar. Both were vocalists, and Kevin also

played guitar. Also in the band were Daevid Allen on guitar and Mike Ratledge on organ. This is in direct contrast to the Jimi Hendrix Experience where Jimi got the guitar all to himself and nobody did any singing. (Sorry Jimi, I loved those vocals.) Various photos of the band show three, four or even five members, but that’s kinda how bands and band members are. Unless you have one dominant personality (bully) in a band (I’m looking at you Robert Fripp) there are very often ‘musical differences,’ which can mean anything from “I want to play this way” through “We don’t use enough of my songs” (Beatles) to “OK which swine ate my shepherd’s pie?” (The Rolling Stones.) The band played an amazing fusion of rock and jazz, which means they rocked, they improvised (more of this another week) and some of their pieces were wonderfully long.

WORD

The Fuzz Box One question I am for ever being asked is which is the first foot switch or effects pedal a guitarist should start with. The answer is easy. It all depends on what kind of music you play! If your intention is to use your shiny new guitar and boxy little amp to support worship at Church, it will be different from the pedal you’d purchase if you were into Surfin’ Music USA. For me, though, I’d always buy a fuzz box.

The best period of the band (in this miserable hack’s arrogant opinion) came to an end when Wyatt left (musical differences) and did his own thing for a while. It is true to say that the various musicians went through a plethora of incarnations, while Robert went on to form Matching Mole (pardon my french) with a load of old Canterbury types. Wyatt’s replacement in Soft Machin was soon let go (musical differences, shepherd’s pies or whatever) and the band was really never again as settled as it had been before. A band called The Soft Machine evidently still exists; people have to carry on doing what they do, but as I say, for me, there was a time period

This is not the same as a ‘Wasp in an Empty Jar of Jam’ sound that some people find themselves making with their first ultra-cheap plastic box of little wires and batteries bought off the internet. What I’d want is something gnarly and guttural, a bit like the voice of Chris Rea (not the journalist but the guitar player) on Road to Hell. I first heard Fuzz on the Rolling Stones ‘Satisfaction.’ Simon and Garfunkel use Fuzz Bass on ‘Save the Life of My Child’ on the excellent album Bookends. Earlier this week I discovered the Dia de los Fuzzeos made by Volture in Portugal. It’s sound is like that of the disembowelment of a singing demon. The outer casing can be made to look like anything, but this pedal has a grinning skull; think of the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrated on the Bond film ‘Spectre; and it has light up eyes when the footswitch switch is clicked. These are meant to face the audience and terrify the Bejaysus out of them. Andre and his dear wife Patricia lovingly make these things and paint them up in all sorts of colours. I shall return to Volture another time, to see what else they do. But I wants a Dia de los Fuzzeos, I does. It will cost me around one hundred of your Great British Pounds plus shipping, taxes, bone marrow, and blood. I love it (have I said that already? Look them up on YouTube.

when they could do no wrong. I do not forget you!

Salut… (Which is not a meal with lettuce and tomatoes)

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FEARS THAT THE DEMOCRAT’S ‘CURES’ WILL BE WORSE THAN THE ILLNESS

he attacks on the US Capitol by a pro-Trump mob have left people throughout the world relieved that Trump has been replaced by Joe Biden, who, though quite possibly senile and certain to return to Obama faux-humanitarian neoliberal globalism, is at least a known and predictable quantity. Trump’s exit, though, does nothing to change the terrifying reality that millions of Americans are unmoored from reality. They still believe the fantasy claims of Trump and the right-wing media that he really won and that the Democrats represent a Satanic threat to their way of life.

Trump has gone but his madness persists

The response of the Democrats has been to consider measures that could end up hurting the left rather than addressing underlying issues. Ahead of and after the mob attack on the Capitol, thousands of Trump supporters online exhibited religious-like fervour that their leader was supported by God and Trump would continue as president.

that would get to the root of America’s problems with race and far-right politics. There have also been calls to pass new laws targeting “domestic terrorism,” a phrase used by Biden to describe the pro-Trump mob.

The Q conspiracy movement has promoted the idea that everything is part of a “plan” by Trump and his closest advisers, a notion that merges naturally with these evangelical beliefs.

In and of itself, impeachment does absolutely nothing to deprive Trump of the potential weapon he unleashed on the Capitol - a cult-like army of heavily-armed Americans who take his every word as the truth.

THE TERRIFYING REALITY IS THAT MILLIONS OF AMERICANS ARE UNMOORED FROM REALITY

Throughout America, small-town Facebook groups are flooded with claims that the Capitol mobs were really supporters of the hated anarchist antifa movement or Black Lives Matter, a baseless conspiracy theory echoed by Trump and some ultra-rightest congressmen.

from seeking office again.

The Democrats’ response to this has been to impeach Trump and set him up for a Senate trial that could see him barred

Some Democrats and liberal media personalities have spoken of a “truth and reconciliation” organization

There have also been increasing calls to cleanse social media of Trump supporters and run those viewed as complicit in the violence out of public life.

It was Twitter’s suspension of Trump’s account, alongside the co-ordinated account removals by other social media companies, that truly crippled

the ex-president’s ability to whip up violence..

demands that the US launch a domestic War On Terrorism.

After the election, many Republicans took to Parler, a social media site that did not remove conspiratorial content as now happens on Facebook and Twitter.

They note that such a measure could end up harming the left and American Muslims, traditionally the target of “antiterrorism” campaigns. Indeed, Twitter removed Red Scare’s account just days later. They are also concerned about renewed calls to give law enforcement backdoor access to encrypted messaging apps on the grounds that they could be used by extremists to plot future attacks.

After the Capitol riots, Amazon, Apple, and other tech giants moved quickly to remove the Parler site from the internet by removing it from the App Store and web hosting servers, although it returned the weekend ahead of Biden’s inauguration. Many on the left-such as Glenn Greenwald, Max Blumenthal, and Anna Khachiyan, co-host of the “Red Scare” podcast - have raised alarms about the co-ordination between tech companies and

It is still unclear if aspects of the riots had been coordinated in advance ,but the roots of American discontent, an oligarchic, unrepresentative, political and economic system run by a wealthy elite, cannot be understood through a lens that sees Trumpism as either America’s saviour or its Satan.

Widespread disillusion with our democray

The Democratic party took control of the White House, the House and the Senate but has more money in the bank then ever before. The ruling Democratic National Committee is secure for years. To ordinary North America voters, this means this vast continent is dominated and totally in the grip of just two all powerful, monied political parties. Just two, the Republican Good Old Party and the Democrats. Both are busy investing in party-building efforts. When you realize that as a voter and reflect on what that means to you it is demoralizing. When the earnings and the net worth of a politician in government, you begin to see a society of people intent on their own glorification, power and money.

Those politicians who were voted in to “represent the people” have no intention of giving the lower classes anything more than platitudes. Both the Democrats and Republicans end up dominating and oppressing the people it swears, under oath, to represent. I was born and raised in the UK and have lived in both countries for years and I seen a new peak in politicians dividing and conquering the classes to allow them to fight over the “spoils of war”. The pandemic has magnified their greed, corruption and indifference. The voter is now powerless under this archaic electoral system that has been hacked, regurgitated and spat out and is no longer trusted. I have no opportunity to vote for a fairer society.

The two-party system (in the UK and USA) has left no “wiggle” room for a third party to emerge to represent the working classes. Democracy working at its best? Not for the voter, only for the one “voted” into power. This leaves me so few options it is best to get off the grid and opt out of mainstream society. So many people are doing this. Building their own communities and trying hard to sustain a life that has meaning. Not the slaughter of humans that is being broadcast to us by the same governments who tell us that present-day consequences are the “fault of the people”. Blame and shame is rife. Vanessa Graham

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SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND BABY, SPIN RIGHT ROUND

WE’RE ALL JUST COGS IN A BIG CORPORATE MACHINE

o, Cogs? Let’s consider the analogy of a big machine. We’ll call this big machine, ‘Society’, but the Tories will probably refer to it by the name ‘One Nation’, a machine they claim will support and nurture, but that in reality is little more than a machine which they see as something designed to produce and continue a never ending stream of profit for one group of ‘Users’ at the very top. Themselves... Inside that machine there are Cogs and there are Shifters, and those Cogs and Shifters are us and those that manage us. The more efficient that the Cog is the smoother and

“Get back to Work you lazy workshy bastards!” they cry from their mansions. “It’s time to get the money rolling in again.” more profitable the machine will be, so it is obviously in the Tories interests to put the very best Cogs in the machine so as to ensure that it continues churning out the never-ending profit that they so desire and crave. “Work hard!” they say. “Be More Productive and Successful. Stand on the shoulders of those beneath you to become a better Cog” Question - How do they find the very best Cogs for their machine?

Answer - They use a system (Education) by which they can identify and nurture the shiniest Cogs before they arrive at an age whereby they can be inserted into the machine when an older worn out Cog is no longer doing its job efficiently, or perhaps has broken down completely. The Tories have no interest in broken or defective Cogs of course, so those Cogs are quietly dispatched through a system (Welfare) designed to just let them rust and eventually stop, or perhaps they will find some other mundane and

entertaining use for them such as Doorstops. Paperweights. Indeed anything that might make them productive or profitable in some way shape or form, if only to bring a smile to their overseer’s faces. There are always bright and shiny new cogs coming through the system after all, and they’ll replace the broken ones so that the machine can keep on providing for its idle, greedy operator, sitting there in the comfortable air-conditioned office manipulating its levers, while drinking fine wine and enjoying the very best that a life

of privilege and breeding can offer. Of course, the Cogs in the machine know nothing of this user so they just keep on turning, thinking that they are the very best at their job of keeping the machine running, while receiving an oiling (wage) now and then to ensure that they keep on turning. They are bright, shiny young cogs. They passed all the tests that were thrown at them and they never broke. One day though, they too will be old and worn out and in need of replacement by a younger, shinier, brighter cog. And so the cycle continues.... Adrian Angel

A daily insight into the former Daily Telegraph comedy vehicle Saturday16th Jan – Well that’s torn it. Carrie’s Mater has moved in to Number 10 to help out with the latest Sprog. I know it’s all wellintentioned, but a chap needs to be able to watch the Cricket on TV in his vest and pants after a hard day’s Leadership. Still we can’t afford a Nanny or Aupair on my pittance and I’m less likely to roger Carrie’s mum, probably. Sunday 17th Jan - Took little Thingy out for a simple family walk in the park: I say park but it was actually Buckingham Palace gardens; And I say family

walk, but 3 Range Rovers full of security came along, but not Carrie, she was back at the flat drinking Gin and sobbing. Still it made for some nice photos through the Paparazzi’s telephoto lenses. Monday 18th Jan – Spent the morning in Oxford, where the fantastic British vaccine is

bottled direct from the German manufacturer’s lorries. Rolled my sleeves right up and tucked my tie in my shirt, so I look like a worker, although I forgot to wear a facemask for the BBC interview. All gloom but just like Melpomene and Thalia during the Golden Age I chucked in a few jokes to lighten the mood.

Tuesday 19th Jan - Hardhitting article in the Times today, speculating on whether or not I have an afternoon nap. Pish. Depends whether or not I have a liquid lunch in the Members Bar. Matty Wanksock got pinged by Track and Trace, someone had to, so we get to Zoom him in his downstairs toilet for 10 days. Spent the afternoon in Narnia eating Turkish Delight. Wednesday 20th Jan Woke with a start, shaved with a butterknife, rolled into the House of Plebs for PMQs.

F***ed if I can remember a single question, never mind my answers. Went back to the flat and watched the US Presidential shindig on Telly. Is Melania on the singles scene now? Asking for a friend #boner. Thursday 21st Jan - Phoned Luigi in Sicily to see if he would help with Marcus Rashford. Friday 22nd Jan - Did a stock take on the kids. Apparently I have 17 and a half. Took the little street urchin that I bought as a pet for a walk. Not sure if the spikes on his collar should face in or out.

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Mad Madge Talks Across Oceans Of Time FROM BEYOND THE WALL OF LOST SPIRITS, LOOSED TEMPORARILY FROM THE HORRORS OF ETERNAL TORMENT, AUNTIE MAGGIE ANSWERS YOUR LETTERS. A VERY MAGGIE CHRISTMAS

reetings, Readers, from the pits of hell, where I am spending eternity writing in this leftist rag, oh how they love irony down here. Dear Margaret I have just been made redundant from my job. Should I try and find other employment or simply retire? D Trump Well Donald, don’t rush

into anything take some time out and maybe spend it with your wife and family. Florida is nice at this time of year and as an elderly person you will fit right in. Of course your impeachment trial will be in a couple of weeks, that will be a bit of a challenge for you, are you going to bother turning up or are just going to send that leaky haired Muppet Rudy Giuliano along to ramble nonsense instead.

Dear evil phantom I just want to congratulate you in the solidarity you and Boris have been showing us. Yours faithfully, Conquest, War, Famine and of course, Plague. Well it’s the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Not long now lads. Boris is doing a marvellous job with Covid, I’m really proud of him developing our own, British ‘Kent Variant of Corona and it’s now spreading all over the world. A marvellous example of British enterprise now we have our Sovereignty back. Dearest Margaret I have taken over the everyday running of the Labour party for, Keir. What do you want me to do now? Yours truly, Assaf Kaplan As I understand it, you are a bit of a Wizz on the computer, having done plenty of hacking and ‘cyberwarfare’ for the Israeli

Government. As you share an office with Sir Kier you could use all your experience of blackmail, surveillance and systematic discrimination against Palestinians to screw over the few remaining Socialists in the party. You get what you pay for and I’m sure Sir Keir’s donors and backers will be right behind you. Dear Margaret I ate a live child today. Do

you think anyone will think any less of me? Priti Patel Well then, you are by no means the first bloodsucker in the Conservative Party, Michael Howard was well known acolyte of Nosferatu. One little bit of advice dear Priti; When you are standing on your box in the television conference, stop dropping the ‘g’ at the end of words. It’s really ‘annoyin’.

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BIZARRE NEWS Hitler surprisingly woke.

A politician named after Adolf Hitler says he has no plans for world domination after winning in a local election in Nambia, south west Africa. Adolf Hitler Uunona, 54, was elected in the town of Ompundja with 85 per cent of the vote. “It was a perfectly normal name for me when I was a kid,” he told a German newspaper. “It wasn’t until I grew older, that I realised that this man had wanted to subjugate the whole world and killed millions of Jews.”

A round up of internet news you didn’t need to know......

Space slien schmuck

The former head of Israel’s space programme claims aliens have done a deal with Donald Trump for him to not talk about them while they carry out experiments on Earth. “They want to avoid mass hysteria,” he said. Professor Eshed also believes that aliens have a secret base on Mars where they meet US astronauts.

Russian marries old bag

A woman from Moscow has married a briefcase. Rain Gordon, who has always been interested in inanimate objects, calls her ‘husband’ Gideon. She first met Gideon back in 2015 in a hardware store. “I had no idea that we would end up together,” she said. “I admired how he looked, but I didn’t think anything more. But then I started liking Gideon for more than that. I slowly realised I was starting to fall in love.”

Spot the difference Milk bottle found 103 years on

A bottle containing letters and rare coins has been discovered more than a century after being hidden. The milk bottle, which was found buried under the floor in the Roslyn Grist Mill in New York, dates back to 1917. It contains a number of rare coins, and two letters, one written in English the other in Italian - which eventually made its way back to the author’s granddaughter.

Oh, hi, ohhh Ohio

The state authorities in Ohio are recommending that people in Ohio avoid travelling to Ohio. The official coronavirus guidance also recommends that those entering Ohio after travelling from Ohio selfquarantine in Ohio for 14 days. “Obviously, outside of The Matrix or a Christopher Nolan movie, this is physically impossible,” says a local news station.

Epstein still shagging... Apparently.

Tin-foil-hat theorists say that Jeffrey Epstein is still alive after reports of a sighting more than 18 months after the convicted sex offender’s body was found in his cell in August 2019 and his death was ruled “suicided by hanging”. However, he has since allegedly been spotted at his ranch in New Mexico. Sources told The New York Times he has plans to “seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women”. Space alien Jesus

A UFO expert has claimed that Jesus was an alien and the Star

of Bethlehem a spaceship. Richard Lawrence, author of 11 books about aliens, said of Christ: “I’d call him a great cosmic intelligence… an alien if you’d like.” Of the Star of Bethlehem, he said: “It had a pattern, it was an alien ship.”

A woman who was struggling to tell her twins apart has had one tattooed. One of the boys was born with a condition which requires him to be injected once a week, so the mother decided to get him tattooed so she could make sure the right baby was jabbed. She took the step after her partner’s mother accidentally injected the wrong baby.

An Italian man went for a 280mile walk to chill after a heated row with his wife. He was then fined for breaching coronavirus lockdown regulations. When the man, who walked about 40 miles a day, reached the beach resort of Fano on the Adriatic coast, police fined him €400 (£360). He told the press: “I’m fine, just a little tired.”

Police in Las Vegas have arrested a man who they said they found clinging to the wing of an Alaska Airlines jet on the tarmac. Online footage shows the man shimmying along the wing as passengers stare out the window. The airline said the plane had been preparing for take-off when the man approached it on the tarmac. Trolly Dollies are nappy now

Hare today gone tomorrow Husband fined after spat

Come fly me

A stuffed hare has been returned to an Indiana restaurant a week after it was stolen. Surveillance video spotted an unidentified customer at the 1933 Lounge picking up the stuffed hare, which is dressed in a fancy hat and carrying an old shotgun. After an online appeal for the hare’s return, someone dropped it off along with a note apologising for the “drunken mistake”.

Flight attendants in China have been advised to wear nappies to reduce their chances of catching Covid-19. The Civil Aviation Administration of China suggests that cabin crew “wear disposable diapers and avoid using the lavatories barring special circumstances to avoid infection risks”. Studies have found that toilets are among the dirtiest places in airplanes. Heated online debate

A man accidentally set himself on fire during an online meeting as he tried to light a candle. Councillor Tom Sleigh from London shared the footage on Twitter, saying: “Today didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped.” He said he had “badly” burnt his fingers but quickly recovered after plunging them into cold water.

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Early February 2021

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Early February 2021

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BOOKS REFER TO PALESTINIANS AS ISRAELI ARABS TO COVER UP T

Israeli propagan PASSED OFF INT occupied schoo

s well as being a good book it is also a necessary book as a British MP stood up in the House of Commons to attack the education of Palestinian schoolchildren for being “biased.” Clearly she had not read ^Palestine In Israeli School Books, Ideology And Propaganda In Education by Nurit Peled-Elhanen or any number of learned articles by serious Israeli academics. Nor had she read any of the masters dissertations in education written by my Israeli and Palestinian students, most of whom were schoolteachers. Capturing and recreating the narrative communicated to school children is important for governments all over the world but especially for those whose existence also depends upon the suppression of a narrative with greater historical authenticity. Samira Alayan’s book raises

As in Britain, particularly England, it is government that is the problem. While Thatcher was privatising services she was also nationalising the curriculum and sending traffic wardens into schools to ensure that it was delivered in the approved manner.

Reading their work I had the same feeling that I had in the UK and other countries, that the voice of the professionals is not what officialdom, in this case Palestinian and Israeli, wants to hear. It is, however, Israeli officialdom that has the upper hand.

In East Jerusalem they are called supervisors and, just like Ofsted, they squeeze the pleasure out of teaching.

Alayan illustrates her book with lots of pictures of censored school books, sometimes with whole pages blanked out and if a Palestinian school wishes for

many questions. It also provides deep knowledge on a subject I thought I knew something about. Politicians ought to read it before pontificating about Palestinian education.

in Jewish schools and it censors those in under-resourced Palestinian schools who are under constant pressure to adopt the official Israeli curriculum.

The government of Israel decides on the textbooks used

I found that to teach Palestinians and Jewish Israelis

Alayan releases the voices of professional educators, parents and former students. We learn about the tensions, anxieties, concerns and ambitions of a wide variety of educational stakeholders. We could do that anywhere but East Jerusalem

things. The government has vowed not to ‘negotiate to remove that ban [on chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef] in a trade deal’ - however they haven’t yet backed this up with legal protections. Together our pressure forced four major UK supermarket chains - Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Asda and the Coop - to ban chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef from their stores Costa Rica: I have been singing the praises of Costa Rica for some time. One of the

few countries not to have a standing army, an outstanding record on the environment and a growing tourist destination. However, glancing in a weekend supplement at holiday destinations, I found Costa Rica mentioned. While it mentioned the scenery, beaches and abundant wildlife the article said “..the best bit it is one of Latin America’s biggest Covid-19 success stories, thanks to the government’s swift containment of cases”. USA: After bad publicity for US police this year it is heart

Hope and Good News From 38 Degrees: The government has accepted changes that will make it harder to sign trade deals that harm our food and animal welfare standards. It’s a step in the right direction in protecting farmers and the quality of the food on our plates. Here’s a summary of what has changed: The newly formed Trade and Agriculture Commission - a group set up to advise the

in the same room was a great experience and it was lovely to see them swapping books and sharing experiences. They are not the problem.

presents unique problems that are both internal and external. Two of my Palestinian students, mother and daughter, wrote excellent dissertations on how changes to internal management structures could provide a better educational system.

Education In East Jerusalem, Occupation, Political Power And Struggle by Samira Alayan

government on how trade will affect our farmers and the food we eat - has been given legal status. This means its recommendations will hold more sway. The Commission will be required to produce a report to MPs on how any new trade deal will affect our food and animal welfare standards. This will arm MPs with more information to decide whether to debate or even block any trade deals that threaten these

Censored school books, sometimes with whole pages blanked out

warming to see this headline ‘Policeman buys family food instead of arresting them for shoplifting’. Officer Matt Lima was called to a food store in Somerset, Massachusetts, last month, to arrest a family suspected of shoplifting. Instead he bought them some food so they could have a decent Christmas dinner. He did serve them with a “no trespass” order, but did not press charges as all the items on the shopping receipt were for food. He then bought them gift cards worth £180 ($250) with

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

THE MILITARY OCCUPATION

nda TO ols

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WOMEN MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Amanda Gorman

more money it must adopt the Israeli curriculum and promote the official historical narrative.

it is full of well-researched detail. Samira Alayan carefully explains her methodology and provides pages of references. Israel really does not like That does not mean that the word Palestinian and, in her writing is over saturated order to emphasise otherness, with citations but it ought to it refers to Palestinians as convey a sense of the serious Israeli Arabs. This also belittles scholarship on which the claims that Palestinians book rests. Here I have are indigenous. Samira attempted to simply TEXTS Alayan deals with provide a flavour BELITTLE this issue and of the book. Open CLAIMS THAT mostly uses the almost any page at PALESTINIANS word Palestinian. random and there ARE will be so much of A feature of the interest, especially, INDIGENOUS stories told by the perhaps, those professional educators censored blank pages that she talked to is that they that shout so loudly. often prefer clear hierarchical management. As you might It is an expensive book but expect, this impinges on some I am sure that the House of gender issues. Must we assume Commons Library can afford it. that management is masculine Even then I can think of certain and to be managed is feminine? MPs that would read it with Does it mean that when a their eyes wide shut. woman becomes a manager she must adopt so-called masculine Cliff Jones attributes? “This is a good book and I like it” W.H. Auden Including the index the *Abe Books £33 best price book is 165 pages long and yet ^Blackwells £17.62 his own money so that the women and their two children would be able to buy food for their Christmas dinner at another shop of the same chain. Germany: For the first time in history, a combination of wind, solar, and other renewables overtook Germany’s coal, oil, and gas, for use as the country’s fuel source during 2020. The country was Western Europe’s largest consumer of fossil fuels, and the world’s fourth-largest economy. However with the pandemic, lower demand for electricity, mild weather, cheaper natural

Early February 2021

gas, and various economic and market factors led to greater green credentials for the country this year. Figures from ‘think tank’ Agora showed wind power alone supplied more of the nation’s energy than lignite brown coal, while mild weather and warmer months that were largely cloud-free saw solar contributing 40% of the nation’s baseline, a greater This has meant a 10% dip in the emissions of greenhouse gases compared to the previous year, leading to Agora claiming it to be “the end of coal.”

manda was born in Los Angeles in 1998 and raised by her mother, a teacher named Joan Wicks. Television was not a great influence in her young days as she described herself as a “weird child” who enjoyed reading and writing from an early age encouraged by her mother.

She has enjoyed a good education at a private school in Santa Monica before gaining a Milken Family Foundation college scholarship to study sociology at Harvard College. She graduated cum laude as a member of *Phi Beta Kappa. While at Harvard, Gorman became the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate in April 2017 She achieved all this despite having had a speech impediment when young and having speech therapy. Amanda also has an auditory processing disorder and is hypersensitive to sound. Like her twin sister she has been an activist from an early age, on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. She was inspired to become a youth delegate for the United Nations in 2013 after watching a speech by Pakistani Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. She published her first poetry book in 2015, The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough. In 2016, Gorman founded the non-profit organization One Pen One Page, a youth writing and leadership programme. She was prolific with her writing of prose and poetry becoming the first author to be featured on XQ

Most readers will know this young woman for her reading of her poem The hill we climb at the inauguration of US President Joe Biden. So who is she? Institute’s Book of the Month in 2017. Gorman became the first youth poet to open the literary season for the Library of Congress. Gorman wrote In This Place: An American Lyric for her September 2017 performance at the Library of Congress, which commemorated the inauguration of Tracy K. Smith as Poet Laureate of the United States. Let us hope this early fame will not go to her head but she has already been an inspiration to other young people to explore their talent for writing. Her own ambitions include the stated aim to run for President in 2036.

For the full poem see: https:// tinyurl.com/y6bafjep Amanda told The Washington Post book critic Ron Charles, “My hope is that my poem will represent a moment of unity for our country,” and that “with my words, I’ll be able to speak to a new chapter and era for our nation.” * Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest academic honour, often described as its most prestigious It aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, https://tinyurl.com/y6bafjep

The opening lines of the poem she read at Joe Biden’s inauguration read: When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? After January 6, 2021, Amanda amended her poem’s wording to address the storming of the US Capitol Building. She refers to herself with these lines: Where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one. She echoes Biden’s appeal for unity in the country with these powerful lines: And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. She finishes with words of hope: We will rebuild, reconcile and recover and every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, battered and beautiful When day comes we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid The new dawn blooms as we free it For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it If only we’re brave enough to be it.

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Early February 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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BEIRUT BLAST WRECKED THE CITY, THE ECONOMY AND HOPE

LEBANESE MAKE A RUSH FOR THE EXIT

isa and mmigration papers are the most trending words populating the heavy void in the Lebanese vocabulary spectrum. Whereas some countries are famous for exporting coffee, tea leaves or cocoa beans Lebanon is infamous for exporting its citizens.

escaping than where they land.

This tradition saw its roots steeped in history going as far back as 1860 during the Ottoman empire which saw a large segment of the population seek another future in distant countries reaching as far as the shores of Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.

There are more Lebanese living outside the country than in it which has already witnessed five migration waves and unfortunately we’re surfing wave number six. The count is still on.

Replicating their distant Phoenician ancestors, the Lebanese are seeking refuge away from their cursed country caring more about

186 THOUSAND MILES PER SECOND

THE FASTER YOU MOVE IN SPACE, THE SLOWER YOU MOVE IN TIME

The late 17th century marked the beginning of the Lebanese diaspora. The aim has always been to escape a cruel, filthy and ferocious dreams grinder land in the hope to forge a decent life somewhere else.

Ironically, there’s an effigy in honour of the “first” migrant near Beirut port. After the infamous August bloody blast it wouldn’t be surprising even if this statue decides to pack and leave.

An African proverb claims it takes a village to raise a child, I believe it’ll take an army of angels to bring Lebanon from the land of the dead. The elephant in the room is the policy and attitude host countries adopt vis à vis these failed states. What is needed to keep the wolf at bay is a whole-hearted investment in the human element by creating funds, sustainable projects, developing the infrastructure and setting effective plans to awaken a sleeping economy.

Unfortunately, such initiatives are few as more and more wolves arrive looking for easy pickings. These convulsive forces are changing and shaping the world in an act of wicked

measurement.

This is no fantastic tale or bedtime story. It is an overwhelming human tragedy. Mariam Labban

COUNTRIES ARE FAMOUS FOR EXPORTING COFFEE, TEA OR COCOA, LEBANON EXPORTS ITS CITIZENS

Time travel is possible Time on a spaceship orbiting the planet differs from time on Earth

We’re all doing it right now. Every single second we are travelling into our own future, literally moving through time, the same way you move through space. It may seem pedantic, but it’s a very important point. Movement through time is still movement, and you are reaching your own future whether you like it or not. And what’s even cooler is that you can skip forward in time if you feel like it, only you need to do a little bit of engineering first.

We know through the physics of Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity that you can trade motion through space for motion through time. If you’re standing perfectly still, you’re moving through the dimension of time at a particular speed (the speed of light, for those of you who are curious). As soon as you start moving through space, however, you slow the rate at which you are of moving through time. In other words, the faster you move in space, the slower you move in time.

This means that moving objects, like a clock on a rocket, run a little bit slower. One second for someone in a moving spaceship lasts a little bit longer than a second for someone staying still.

The trick is that in order for this to have any sort of noticeable impact, you have to travel at close to the speed of light at 186,000 miles a second, which is really difficult to do. To give some perspective, clocks onboard spaceships whizzing around our planet at tens of thousands of miles an hour vary by only a microsecond or so from clocks on Earth

Our fastest human spacecraft doesn’t even crack a tenth of one per cent of the speed of light. But if you could somehow spend a good amount of time hugging close to that ultimate speed limit in the universe, the slower your clock would run. You will travel through time into the future. For the time traveller nothing would feel different, but after say a couple of years’ time travel Earth would have progressed by thousands or even tens of thousands of years. So the future is yours, and you get to choose how quickly you reach it.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

You Attend BBC Question Time And Are Outnumbered By Gammons Move Back 4 Spaces

You Start a Left Wing Newspaper. Roll Again

Early February 2021

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Labour Conference Debate Socialist Policies. Roll 4,5 OR 6 To Win And Progress. Roll 1,2 Or 3 Go Back To START

1) You will need A Dice and some counters If you are into irony then use coins.

PMQ; Boris Forensically Avoids Answering Them. Move Back 2

2) Throw the dice, highest roll goes first. 3) Take it in turns to throw, move your

Trade Deal Agreed With US. Nation Malnourished AND Obese. Miss A Turn

Counter the relevant number of spaces. 4) Watch out for Tory Traps 5) First to land on Socialist Nirvana is declared a Working Class Hero and

Chancellor Cuts Corporation Tax. Move back to Start

Rupert Murdoch Falls Off The Back Of A Boat. Roll Again

BBC Director General Enforces Right Wing Bias. Go Back To Start

everyone wins....... You Attend a Save NHS Demo. Move 4 Spaces

Opinion Poll Shows A Marginal Improvement. Roll Again

On The Doorstep Most Folk Understand + Support Socialism. Move 2 Spaces

START

Domenic Cummings Puts Eugenics on National Curriculum Roll A 6 to restart

‘Moderates’ Start AntiSemitism Crisis.. Go Back To Start

BY ELECTION. Roll 4,5 OR 6 To Win And Progress. Roll 1,2 Or 3 Go Back To START

SNAP Election Called Go Back To Start

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Early February 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Vegan recipes

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Cooking with Chris Williamson

VEGAN MOROCCAN VEGETABLE SOUP

here’s nothing better than homemade soup and it’s usually quick and easy to prepare. I came across this recipe for Moroccan vegetable soup recently and it really is delicious. Ingredients l 2 tsp vegetable oil l 1 onion finely chopped l 3 celery sticks, finely chopped l 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped l 2 preserved lemons, flesh discarded and rind finely chopped l 2 red chilli peppers, deseeded and finely chopped l 1 tbsp tomato purée l 2 tsp ground cumin ground turmeric 1 tsp l ½ tsp ground cinnamon l 400g tin chopped tomatoes l 1 large potato (350g), cut into 2cm chunks l 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed l 80g spinach l A bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped l 1 ½ lemons juiced and ½ wedged to serve

Method STEP 1 Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan and add the onion, celery and a pinch of salt. Put on a lid and cook gently for 10 minutes,

stirring regularly. Add the garlic, preserved lemons and red chillies, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato purée and spices, and cook for a further 2 minutes before adding the chopped tomatoes, potato,

chickpeas and 1.25 litres of boiling water. STEP 2 Bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Tip in the

spinach, flat-leaf parsley and a little seasoning, and stir for 1 minute until wilted. Add the lemon juice, then spoon into bowls with lemon wedges for squeezing.

THE WORD Capital Quiz - American State Capitals? 31. Wisconsin 32. Alaska 33. Kansas 34. Maine 35. Maryland 36. Minnesota 37. South Carolina 38. North Dakota 39. New Jersey 40. South Dakota 41. Montana 42. New Hampshire 43. Nevada 44. Florida 45. West Virginia Answers: 31. Madison 32. Juneau 33. Topeka 34. Augusta 35. Annapolis 36. Saint Paul 37. Columbia 38. Bismark 39. Trenton 40. Pierre 41. Helena 42. Concord 43. Carson City 44. Tallahassee 45. Charleston

Answers: 52. Flying Fish Cove 53. Nuuk 54. Castries 55. Edinburgh of the Seven Seas 56. Road Town 57. St. Georgeâ€™s 58. NukuĘťalofa Answers: 46. Ljubljana 47. Zagreb 48. Sarajevo 49. Podgorica 50. Skopje 51. Belgrade

1. Nigeria 2. Azerbaijan 3. French Guiana 4. Moldova 5. Senegal 6. Qatar 7. Bermuda 8. Rwanda 9. Zambia 10. Bahrain 11. Belarus 12. Trinidad and Tobago 13. North Korea 14. Mongolia 15. Liechtenstein

16. Laos 17. Lithuania 18. Namibia 19. Cameroon 20. Kazakhstan 21. Nicaragua 22. Estonia 23. Uzbekistan 24. Armenia 25. Honduras 26. United Arab Emirates 27. Madagascar 28. Central African Republic 29. Lebanon 30. Belize

Early February 2021

Capitals Quiz Countries that once made up Yugoslavia? 46. Slovenia 47. Croatia 48. Bosnia and Herzegovina 49. Montenegro 50. Macedonia 51. Serbia Capitals Quiz A tricky selection! 52. Christmas Island 53. Greenland 54. St. Lucia 15. Vaduz 16. Vientiane 17. Vilnius 18. Windhoek 19. Yaounde 20. Astana 21. Managua 22. Tallinn 23. Tashkent 24. Yerevan 25. Tegucigalpa 26. Abu Dhabi 27. Antananarivo 28. Bangui 29. Beirut 30. Belmopan

Capitals Quiz - World Capital Cities?

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55. Tristan da Cunha 56. British Virgin Islands 57. Grenada 58. Tonga 59. Kosovo 60. St. Helena 61. Bhutan 62. Seychelles 63. Faroe Islands 64. South Sudan 65. Orkney 66. Shetland 67. Corsica 68. Jersey 69. Guernsey 70. Brunei

Answers: 1. Abuja (Lagos was the capital from 1914 to 1991) 2. Baku 3. Cayenne 4. Chisinau 5. Dakar 6. Doha 7. Hamilton 8. Kigali 9. Lusaka 10. Manama 11. Minsk 12. Port of Spain 13. Pyongyang 14. Ulaanbaatar or Ulan Bator

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59. Pristina 60. Jamestown 61. Thimphu 62. Victoria 63. Torshavn 64. Juba 65. Kirkwall 66. Lerwick 67. Ajaccio 68. St. Helier 69. St. Peter Port 70. Bandar Seri Begawan 71. Hanga Roa 72. Easter Island

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Early February 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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TONY GREENSTEIN BOOK REVIEW: OWEN JONES THIS LAND

Bordering on hysteria A liberal apologist for Israeli apartheid who helped bring down the Corbyn Project

he elephant in the room as far as Owen Jones is concerned is the support of the far-Right for Israel and Zionism. When White Supremacists, neo-Nazis and Q Anon crazies invaded Capitol Hill on January 6 the Israeli flag flew alongside the Confederate flag. The connections between Zionism, Israel and the far-Right are never mentioned by Jones. The anti-Semitic far-Right supports Zionism and the Israeli state for the same reasons they supported the apartheid state in South Africa - creating a white ethno-nationalist state is a racist’s dream. Israel is an Apartheid state as Israel’s main human rights group, B’tselem, belatedly admitted. The vast majority of Labour Party members believe the ‘anti-Semitism crisis’ was about undermining Corbyn and defending Israel. But for the Guardian’s licensed radical Labour had, for reasons unknown, been gripped by a spontaneous outbreak of antiSemitism. Jones simply ignores the way ‘anti-Semitism’ has been weaponised by Israel’s supporters. He tells us that anti-Semitism is ‘ingrained’ into European society as a result of 2,000 years of oppression: ‘Collective trauma is absolutely central to the Jewish experience’. Of course this trauma doesn’t apply to anti-Zionist Jews nor survivors of other genocides. The idea that Israeli generals are suffering from holocaust trauma is to defile the memory of the Jewish dead of the holocaust. This portrayal of Jews as perpetual victims is itself anti-Semitic. To suggest, as Jones does, that the holocaust is unique is racist. Why was the death of 17 million in the slave trade any less traumatic than the death of 6 million Jews in the holocaust? When Jackie Walker

explained in a private Facebook conversation why the holocaust should be seen in the context of slavery and her Jewish heritage, she was demonised and lied about, not least by him. It is a myth that Jews experienced 2,000 years of persecution. It is history written backwards. Jews lived for long periods as oppressors not the oppressed. Jones talks of Israel’s ‘original socialist principles’ and the kibbutzim as ‘the incubators of a new socialist society.’ [218] The kibbutzim were racially exclusive. No Arab could be a member. They were established on land from which the Arab peasants had been evicted. He describes the Zionist enterprise in Palestine as ‘fundamentally different’ from other projects of settler colonialism. Why? Because it was founded by ‘survivors of a genocide.’ [219] ye the first Zionist kibbutz was established over 30 years before the holocaust. The Pilgrim Fathers also fled religious persecution. The leaders of the London Underground Church were repeatedly imprisoned and in 1593 three were executed. Did that justify their massacres of Native Americans and later slavery?

Jones begins his account with a ‘mural’ erased in 2012 which Corbyn had defended as free speech. It depicted six bankers sitting on the backs of Black people. Two of the bankers were Jewish. Six years latr it was raised, out of the blue, by Luciana Berger MP. Jones never asks why the mural made an appearance six years later. Nor does he mention that Berger had been Director of Labour Friends of Israel. Nor does Jones mention The Lobby, an undercover documentary by Al Jazeera TV which showed the Israeli Embassy covertly involved in the anti-Semitism crisis. The Jewish Labour Movement, refounded in 2015 to spearhead the anti-Corbyn campaign, held bi-monthly meetings with Corbyn’s office yet refused to campaign for Labour in the 2019 General Election. Despite this Jones reserves his bile and vitriol for Jewish Voice for Labour as ‘an active barrier to dialogue with the wider Jewish community.’ [234] What Jones is saying is that the most radical and anti-racist Jews should be ignored to placate the racist majority.

It is as if when it came to Apartheid in South Africa Jones was to side with the White majority and attack the minority of Whites who opposed Apartheid as racists. According to Jones the fake ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign ‘caused genuine upset to a Jewish community whose history left them with every reason to fear bigotry directed at them.’ The Satanic Verses upset many Muslims. Would Jones have supported the threats against Salman Rushdie? The far-Right Campaign Against Anti-Semitism produced a survey claiming that over half Britain’s Jews felt the situation in Britain resembled the 1930s! Anshel Pfeffer, a mainstream Zionist columnist for Ha’aretz newspaper wrote: .... To compare today’s Britain, for all its faults, with the Jews’ situation in 1930s exhibits a disconnect from reality which borders on hysteria. A ‘disconnect from reality which borders on hysteria’ is probably the best description of Owen Jones’ book. Tony Greenstein Full review: https://azvsas. blogspot.com/2021/01/part2-review-of-owen-jones-thisland.html

Smile

Most of us will have heard these words by poet Jack Ellison: ‘Smile and the world smiles with you.’ In these chaotic times can I commend to you a poem by the comedian and writer, the late Spike Milligan entitled ‘Smiling is infectious’. Smiling is infectious’ you catch it like the flu, When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too. I passed around the corner and someone saw my grin, When he smiled I realised I’d passed it on to him. I thought about that smile, then I realised its worth. A single smile, just like mine could travel round the earth. So, if you feel a smile begin, don’t leave it undetected. Let’s start an epidemic quick, and get the world infected.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early February 2021

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BEST OF THE WEB WUHAN A team of investigators led by the World Health Organization has arrived at an animal health facility in China’s central city of Wuhan in the search for clues about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. The independent team has already visited key hospitals, the regional disease control centre and the city’s H u a n a n

seafood market, where the first cluster of infections was believed to have originated late in 2019. The trip was going “really well, excellent,” one of its members, Peter Daszak, president of the Eco Health Alliance, told Reuters, speaking just before entering the animal health centre. As the team left, Mr Daszak said it had held “very informative meetings”, but did not elaborate. ART FOR ARTS SAKE British police are searching for the vandal, or vandals, who painted a Covid-19 face mask on the figure of a mysterious giant carved into a hillside in southern England.

The Long Man of Wilmington, a 235fthigh chalk outline holding a white stick in each hand, is protected by law as an ancient monument. Its exact origins are disputed but many archaeologists date it to the Anglo-Saxon or medieval periods. V O T E TO KILL IN PORTUGAL Portugal’s parliament has passed a law allowing medically a s s i s t e d dying, putting the Catholicm a j o r i t y country on course to become the fourth in Europe to legalise euthanasia. Before coming into force the bill must first be signed into law by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a staunch Catholic and conservative who was re-elected only last weekend.

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WORD

However, the president who has yet to make public his position on the issue - could also either use his veto against the legislation, or refer it to the country’s constitutional court for further study. The bill was adopted in parliament by 136 votes to 78 with four abstentions - thanks largely to a majority of votes from the ruling Socialist Party which had allowed its MPs to vote freely. If the president did decide to veto, a second vote by lawmakers would override it. Politicians had approved proposals aimed at changing the law in February, setting up the vote despite a campaign by the Church for a national referendum on the issue. NO LONGER FRIENDS A defence white paper published on Tuesday by South Korea has downgraded its official description of neighbouring Japan, dropping the word ‘partner’ in a sign of deteriorating relations between the two nations.

The document also blamed Japan for the downgrade in ties by making “unilateral announcements that misrepresented facts” about issues including Tokyo’s claim to a pair of South Korean-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan, and an encounter between a Japanese surveillance plane and a South Korean destroyer in 2018. The papers are normally published every two years. 2019’s one said South Korea and Japan were “geographically and culturally close neighbours as well as partners cooperating for global peace and prosperity”. Now, the ministry’s latest version notes the two are “close neighbours that should cooperate not only for the two countries’ relationships but also for peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia and the world.” DEADLY DISEASE Breast cancer has overtaken lung cancer as the most widespread variant of the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) has

said. The latter remained in first place for around two decades.

The revelation was made by WHO officials during a UN briefing on Tuesday, coming ahead of World Cancer Day. The awareness day, aimed at encouragement and prevention of the disease, is marked annually on February 4. “For the first time, breast cancer now constitutes the most commonly occurring cancer globally,” a cancer specialist with the WHO, Andre Ilbawi, said as quoted by Reuters. Lung cancer remained the most common variant of the disease for the past two decades, Ilbawi stated, and now has fallen to second place. The third most commonly occurring variant around the world is colorectal cancer. The expert noted that obesity among women remains the most common risk factor which has greatly contributed to the rise in breast cancer numbers. Assorted variants of cancer are expected to become more common in the decades to come as the world’s population continues to grow and life expectancy increases. While in 2020 some 19.3 million cases were registered, the figure is expected to grow by a third to about 30 million in 2040.

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BOLD

Early February 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Building Our Local Democracy

‘Be the change you want in life.’ Gandhi. BOLD is a non politically aligned campaigning group in Greater Manchester encouraging the public to be more actively involved in local and national issues. Tel. 07794835959

E-mail: (Membership Secretary)

Definitions of democracy Cambridge - ‘the belief in freedom and equality between people, or a system of government based on this belief, in which power is either held by elected representatives or directly by the people themselves.’ Collins - 1. government by the people or their elected representatives. 2. a political or social unit governed ultimately by all its members. 3. the practice or spirit of social equality. 4. a social condition of classlessness and equality. 5. the common people, esp as a political force. 1. Encourage more people to exercise their democratic rights, in order to bring power and decision making closer to the people. 2. Promote more democratic accountability and transparency in national and local government, public and private bodies. 3. To remain politically neutral.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Book 88 Sudoku #1

1 5 6

Early February 2021

SUDOKU

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Intermediate Sudoku Puzzles by KrazyDad

Sudoku #2

7 3

THE

1 5 4 1 3

4 7 1 5 9 3 8 5

5 2 3

7 1 6

4 3

1 9 9 2 8 5 3 7 6 8 1

6 4

Please take note:

Sudoku #3

4 7

5 1

3 1 6

2 8

9 1

5 9 9 1

1 9

4 1

5 7

Sudoku #4

1 6 2 9 4 6 5

1 3

5 8 2 9

1 6 7 4 8 3

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Book 11 Early February 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Sudoku #5

3 5

8 6 9 7 9 6 8 1 4 7 5 6 Book 11 Intermediate Sudoku Puzzles by KrazyDad 1 3 7 8 THE 4 WORD Sudoku #5 Sudoku #6 4 3 9 2 3 5 2 8 9 2 4 called Triple 69. Here’s1 a puzzle 32 15 12 13 Diamonduzzle. The numbers SATISFACTION GUARANTEED: Manufactur 7 1 8 5 1 7 in the two sets of diamond 48 26 figures on top have a Sudoku #7 Su 6 9 7 7 1 4 relationship that determines 15 29 the number inside the small 8 9 9 6 8 1 6 3 diamond on the bottom. ? Here’s an example: 4 6 4 7 5 6 9 5 1 1 6 5 Answer: 459 1 3 7 8 7 together. 5 found in the 8 6 The numbers on top are added The number 4 3 6 smaller diamond on the bottom is one more than the sum of those 3 4 2 5 two numbers. 4 3 9 2 5 98 32 � 15 � 479 12 � 13 � 251 15 � 29 � 44 6 9 1 9 48check3 26 45 SATISFACTION GUARANTEED: Manufacturer's, upon receipt of the 7 1 Sudoku #7 Sudoku #8 Triple Diamonduzzles: Try these 3 8 8 9 7 1 4 a. HINT Multip lication 32 20 12 18 d and ivi sion 4 6 3 9 6 a r e n e 15 eded fo 26 r thi s pu zzle . 1 6 5 2 3 7 5 8 6 7 38 10 2 ? 8 3 4 2 5 b. 3 12 9 1 6 1 88 3 9 7 24 12 3 9 1 9 5 7 1 6 1 4 9 7 ? 3 8 4 7

PUZZLES

6/30/09 3:10:47 PM

Numbers and Operations

HINT M u l t i p lication divi sio and n a r e n eeded f or thi s pu zzle .

Try these Triple Diamonduzzles: 48

32 � 15 � 47

15 � 29 � 44

12 � 13 � 25

The numbers on top are added together. The number found in the smaller diamond on the bottom is one more than the sum of those two numbers. 45

Answer:

diamond on the bottom. Here’s an example:

Numbers and Operations 41

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

BEN DAVIES SIGNS FOR LIVERPOOL L

iverpool have completed the signing of Ben Davies from Preston North End on a longterm contract.

The 25-year-old centre-back has put pen to paper on a deal with the Reds on deadline day to tie up his transfer from the Championship club and bolster Jürgen Klopp’s defensive ranks. Davies told Liverpoolfc.com during his first interview at Anfield: “I’m obviously delighted to be here. “It’s a huge opportunity. Obviously it POS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

TEAM Man City Man Utd Liverpool Leicester West Ham Tottenham Chelsea Everton Aston Villa Arsenal Southampton Leeds Crystal Palace Wolves Newcastle Burnley Brighton Fulham West Brom Sheff Utd

P 20 21 21 21 21 20 21 19 19 21 20 20 21 21 21 20 21 20 21 21

W 13 12 11 12 10 9 9 10 10 9 8 9 7 6 6 6 4 2 2 2

D 5 5 7 3 5 6 6 3 2 4 5 2 5 5 4 4 9 8 6 2

came as a bit of a surprise when it first came but once you start to get your head around it, the opportunity that is in front of me is incredible. I’d be silly to not make the most of it and learn off the players [at the club].

“I’ve never actually been to Anfield and I haven’t had a look around yet. I had a quick look out and had a look at the pitch and it looks like carpet, which obviously you’d expect. “I haven’t actually walked out of the tunnel yet, so I’m looking forward to that. Just to be in this kind of atmosphere is brilliant.” L 2 4 3 6 6 5 6 6 7 8 7 9 9 10 11 10 8 10 13 17

F 37 37 43 37 31 34 35 29 34 26 27 35 25 21 21 13 23 17 17 12

A 13 27 24 25 27 21 23 24 21 20 25 36 36 30 34 26 29 29 50 34

Transfer deadline day All the latest transfer news from the January transfer window 22:55: Ainsley Maitland-Niles [Arsenal - West Brom] Loan 22:00: Ozan Kabak [Schalke - Liverpool] Loan 20:00: Ben Davies [Preston - Liverpool] £2m 18:50: Joe Willock [Arsenal - Newcastle] Loan 18:00: Okay Yokuslu [Celta Vigo - West Brom] Loan 16:00: Moises Caicedo [Independiente del Valle - Brighton] £4m 23:45: Diallang Jaiyesimi [Swindon - Charlton] Undisclosed 23:45: Patrick Roberts [Manchester City - Derby] Loan 23:30: Jacob Mellis [Gillingham - Southend] Undisclosed

GD 24 10 19 12 4 13 12 5 13 6 2 -1 -11 -9 -13 -13 -6 -12 -33 -22

PTS 44 41 40 39 35 33 33 33 32 31 29 29 26 23 22 22 21 14 12 8

Early February 2021

THE

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THE

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Early February 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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United and Arsenal EPL ROUND-UP CLEAR BLUE WATER

DROP POINTS

he Premier League is beginning to look less bunched now it looks a little like the old days for Pep and his Party Poopers. Just over half the season gone and there they sit in what many would call their rightful place, leading not so much the pack, as all their rivals, strung out like fairy lights at a wedding. One way to predict finishing positions is to look at Goal Difference. Manchester City have a better goal difference than any other club in the division, on account of scoring so many goals and winning so many games.

It sounds obvious, but only Brentford in the Championship have a goal difference (nearly) as good. Therefore I tip City for the Premiership crown and

The Manager-Go-Round continues at Chelsea Thomas Tuchel to Save Their Season - possibly. The latest manager to head up the club will be Thomas Tuchel, another import by owner Roman Abramovich. His history of looking oversea for a manager has been successful, but though Lampard wasn’t given much time to make an impact, it won’t be difficult for Tuchel to improve on his record. Tuchel’s coaching career has also been characterized by fractious relationships with his employers; he should fit in well at Chelsea.

Brentford for promotion to the EPL. Liverpool have it all to do, and past Champions Manchester United, Leicester, and Liverpool form a little group strung out behind them, and London pretenders Spurs and West Ham head a string of mainly London clubs, including past Champions Chelsea and Arsenal. Goal difference suggests that Tottenham will do well, as will Aston Villa. Arsenal and Chelsea need to shake off their

ineptitude, if they are to qualify for European competitions next season.

Rafael Benitez, whose Chelsea won the Europa Cup before he completed his contract.

Chelsea Ex-manager Frank Lampard holds the record for the lowest number of points per game in the time that Abramovich has owned the club, even fewer than Andre Villas-Boas and Hapless Guus Hiddink (who won the FA Cup.)

Chelsea’s other ten managers have all been sacked! The strategy of ‘you’re hired; you’re fired’ seems to have worked for Chelsea throughout Roman’s ownership. Whether new coach Thomas Tuchel can make a difference remains to be seen, but I think he will; this club has a habit of bringing ‘who?’ to the job and insisting that he isn’t kiddingk.

Pronounced correctly his name sounds pretty much like ‘Who’s Kiddingk’ but he survived twice under Abramovich as did serial winner

Stanley Acrimonious

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early February 2021

THE

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Mighty Minnows

very year the FA throws up ‘Cinderella’ stories and this year has been no exception.

was grateful to be treated to a splendid game between League 2 Cheltenham Town and Manchester City.

Marine FC who play in the eighth tier of English football finally succumbed to high flying Tottenham Hotspur. This was the greatest disparity in class in the third round of the FA Cup. They gave it their all before bowing out with their heads held high! We salute you as you epitomise what the FA Cup is about.

I could not take my eyes off the screen as there was so little to choose between the two sides until the last ten minutes before

Amazingly another nonleague side Chorley Town in the eight tier only went down 1-0 to Wolves 109 places above them. They only lost to a wonder goal from Vintinha, Wolves’ only shot on target! Chorley managed 5 ion target in contrast. As well as the glory both clubs earned over a quarter of a million pounds from their cup run which will compensate from lost revenue. One benefit to lockdown is the time and opportunity to watch games live and I

tiredness saw Cheltenham leak three goals.

Both teams were without some of their normal starting line up, which in the case of Cheltenham should have been more of a problem for them than City with their vast array

United lose ground at Arsenal The most enthralling thing about the game at Arsenal was the substitution of Scott McTominay who started the game only partly fit. Partway through the first half, he went over to the touchline and was given a small tablet, possibly Imodium, and resumed, but really he seemed not to have the stomach for the clash. He went off clutching his guts, and it is suspected that should manager Ole Gunnar Solksjaer keep the Big Job, the youngster (or as Gavin Williamson would call him the ‘Yunkstir’) won’t be part of any clear-out this season, having just signed a new contract at the club. I doubt if it were written on quilted paper, but the way he plays normally, he will surely be flushed with success in the future. Edinson Cavani missed what should have been the winner, but in the words of Tom Jones It’s Not Unusual. Cavani is not Cantona or Ibrahimovich. Hecky thump, he’s not even Teddy Sheringham. United’s future, and that of the UK, seems to be in the person of Marcus Rashford MBE, who should be given the Club Captaincy, the Centre Forward position, the ball at every opportunity, and an honorary doctorate from each of the Manchester universities. Instead he’ll probably get sold to PSG. You heard it first here.

of quality players to call on. However City seemed to miss the inspiration usually provided by inure Kevin de Bruyne. This was until the second half when young Phil Foden stepped up to the plate and started ‘pulling the strings’ and in desperation Guardiola took off two of the younger players and later Mendy freshen up the side. Before then Cheltenham shocked City by taking the lead in the 59th. minute.

hold his head up high but, pardon the pun, he can already do so standing 6 foot seven tall!

In contrast Cheltenham worked hard as a team and the final scoreline did not reflect their hard work. I am glad to write this review because the paper I saw this morning failed to recognise the effort put in by all the team.

As well as an unbelievable headed clearance off the line when he flung himself at a thunderbolt from Mendy. He made a number of great tackles and blocks as well as vocally urging his team on. The goal came from one of his huge throw ins which had Guardiola so worried he complained that one throw was about to be taken a few yards too far forward. This was much to the amusement of Ben who retreated to where Pep wanted it from.

It seems churlish to pick out individuals but special mention must be made to Alfie May who had made a nuisance of himself all game before darting in to score Cheltenham’s goal. Azaz was influential just behind May and I admired how Freestone kept Mahrez relatively quiet. The 19 year old stand in goalkeeper Joss Griffiths made some important saves. He can

I do not think the reporter in a paper I read watched the same game because he failed to give centre half Ben Tozer the highest score for Cheltenham. I had already given him the man of the match ahead of Phil Foden in my assessment before pundit Micah Richards stated he had earned that accolade.

I salute the whole Cheltenham team but cheque books of top clubs ought to be out for Ben Tozer

THE

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Early February 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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THE PREMIER LEAGUE

City beat Sheffield United TO GO TOP That premiership table is beginning to look a wee bit familiar

Gabriel Jesus (pronounced to rhyme with Grey Goose) gave Manchester City three very welcome points with a single goal against bottom club Sheffield, playing in flamingo pink. City now have a game in hand over all their rivals.