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THE

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Issue #64, Late May Edition 2021

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Equality Democracy Truth Courage

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER

Protests against Israel growing worldwide PAGE 13

thewordmedia.org

FRIDAY PRAYERS DISRUPTED SECOND WEEK RUNNING

Don’t you dare celebrate peace in our country, says Israel PM Israel violates ceasefire within hours by storming al-Aqsa AGAIN

PAGE 7

THE

WORD

Late May 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late May 2021

THE

WORD

WE HAVE A GREEDY AMORAL POLITICAL CLASS

HARTLEPOOL CLP

Propagate Corruption H

artlepool Constituen- but generally Blairite enough cy Labour Part to be yet another Right (CLP) in the Wing Labour MP. MENTAL news again. Mike Hill, the MP who Now it's HEALTH IS spent much of revealed that NOT A his time praising Kate Hollern CO N CERN FOR private compawas used to put HARTLEPOOL nies, and pushing pressure on a Tory the idea of a local MP to prevent him CLP economy based on assisting the suicidal supporting privately young lady, Miss A, owend business, was obvi- who is the complainant in the ously the type of person Sir sexual harassment case against Kier Starmer Mike Hill. The CLP has ensured wants as an silence, simply removed posts, MP. and indeed showed more concern for Hill's emotional We a k situation than for Miss A. enough to move Mental health is not a with the concern for Hartlepool CLP. w i n d My own clinical depression, on many not kept secret, has not issues, prevented exclusion and mistreatment. Indeed a more general concern was not present when a young female CLP member wanted to express concern for victims of abuse and not

Hartlepool Constituency Labour Part (CLP) in the news again

only was ths rejected, but she found herself excluded. The rot in Hartlepool CLP are still those who hold the posts which hold power. Not that the Tories get to claim higher ground. I helped Jade Smith her write her personal statement for university. It was full of hope that she could be someone in the Conservative Party who might encourage greater equality. She sent an open letter about her rape at the Conservative conference before walking off a cliff. No consequence to her attackers, any more than the consequences when another Conservatives Futures kid Elliot Johnson was abused then laid down in front of a train to end his life. The public have long since

Not that the Tories get to claim higher ground

excused politicians for being greedy selfish abusers, despite the positions they hold being

where duty and trust should be paramount. How many of our young people suffer whilst we elect people only interested in lining their pockets, depends upon whether the majorty of the population begins to care. By Robert Price

THE

WORD

Late May 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

FROM 23RD MAY

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

23rd May 1939- British parliament plans to make Palestine independent by 1949 1939Submarine USS Squalus sinks in the Gulf of Maine, drowning 26, 33 remaining crew rescued from a depth of 243 ft (74 m) by divers using newly developed heliox air systems (divers later awarded the Medal of Honour) 1969- BBC orders 13 episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus 1981- Peter Sutcliffe is convicted for the “Yorkshire Ripper” murders of 13 women

at the Old Bailey in London and sentenced to life sentences for each 24th May 1798- Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins 1844- Samuel Morse taps out “What hath God wrought” in the world’s first telegraph message 1930Amy Johnson becomes the 1st woman to fly solo from England to Australia 1988- Section 28 passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality. Repealed 2001/2004 2001- Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest. 25th May 1895- Oscar Wilde sentenced to 2 years imprisonment for gross indecency. 1914- British House of Commons passes the Irish Home Rule Bill 1936- The Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, begins 1943- Riot at Mobile, Alabama, shipyard over upgrading 12 black workers. 26th May 1637- Mystic Massacre: in 1st

battle of Pequot War in Connecticut about 500 Pequot Native Americans are killed by Colonial forces 1913Emily Duncan becomes Great Britain’s first woman magistrate. 2019- Ken Wyatt becomes Australia’s first Aboriginal minister in government as the minister for indigenous Australians. 27th May 1849- Opening of the Great Hall at Euston station in London. 1921- After 84 years of British control, Afghanistan achieves sovereignty. 1940- World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 97 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops. 1967Australians vote in favour of a constitutional

referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and count them in the national census. 1977- The Sex Pistols release “God Save the Queen”, sparking major controversy and leading to a ban on the song by the BBC. 2018- Oil workers for Brazilian state oil company Petrobrás join the truckers’ national strike. 28th May 1830- US President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, a key law leading to the forced removal of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes out of Georgia and surrounding states, setting the stage for the Cherokee Trail of Tears 1951- Radio programme “Crazy People” (later titled The

Goon Show) premieres on the BBC, created by Spike Milligan 1952- The women of Greece are given the right to vote. 1961- Amnesty International founded (Nobel Peace Prize 1977) 1964 Palestine National Congress forms the PLO in Jerusalem 2020 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani calls for new protections for women after the ‘honor killing’ of a 14-year old by her father 29th May 1851Sojourner Truth addresses 1st Black Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio 1886American chemist John Pemberton begins to advertise CocaCola ( originally intended as a substitute for morphine) 1954- British runner Diane L e a t h e r becomes first woman to run the mile in under 5 minutes; 4:59.6 at Alexander Sports Ground in Birmingham, England

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late May 2021

THE

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NATIVE AMERICANS FORCED REMOVAL FROM THEIR TRIBAL LAND

Trail of Tears AND DEATH

n the 30th of May 1830 American President, Andrew Jackson signs ‘the Indian Removal Act’ after which the Native Americans from the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole tribes were forced from their ancestral homes in Georgia and surrounding states. The act was not meant to force the Indians to leave, but to encourage them if they wanted to with offers of help to go to planned Indian territory. Some Indians took up the offer, but many did not. They did not want to leave their homes where they had lived and cultivated for generations. The white Americans were keen to get this land, they saw it as valuable and believed they had a right to it, that they deserved it. They did not really understand the Indians, they

were like an alien nation to them. There were large numbers of white settlers arriving who wanted to grow cotton, they wanted to make their fortune and did not care how this affected to people were still living there. They wanted the land and would go to almost any length to get it. They would steal livestock, burn, and loot property, commit mass murder and squat on other people’s land.

There were large numbers of white settlers arriving who wanted to grow cotton, they wanted to make their fortune and did not care how this affected to people were still living there

Many state governments joined in to remove the native Americans, bringing in new laws restricting their sovereignty and rights and encroaching on their land. In Worcester v Georgia (1832) the US Supreme Court objected to these practices and stated that native nations were sovereign nations “in which the laws of Georgia [and other states] can have no force” Despite this, it was ignored, and the terrible treatment continued. President Jackson was meant to have said “if no one intended to enforce the Supreme Court’s rulings (which he certainly did not), then the decisions would “[fall]…still born.”

The first Indian nation to into stockades at bayonet be expelled were the Choctaw point, while the white looted tribe who in 1831 were their homes. They were forced to leave on foot forced on a 1,200by threat of the US mile journey where THEY WERE army. They did more than 5,000 FORCED ON A not have any died on the way. food, supplies 1,200-MILE or any help from The Federal JOURNEY WHERE the government, MORE THAN 5,000 G o v e r n m e n t some were promised the DIED ON even bound in native Americans THE WAY chains and had to that their ‘new walk in rows of two. land’ would remain Thousands died on the unmolested forever, way. This became known as but as the line of the white “trail of tears and death”. settlement pushed westward, ‘Indian Country’ shrank and By 1838 after only 2000 of shrank until in 1907 the Indian the Cherokees had left, 7000 Country was completely thousand American soldiers gone, sucked up by Oklahoma were sent in to force them becoming a state.

THE

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Late May 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

BEST OF THE WEB Videos shot at the scene showed people vandalizing a car before rolling it down a steep street toward a vehicle on fire further down the hill, as others filmed and cheered.

UK’s flagship aircraft carrier in South China Prime Minister Boris Johnson has defended the Royal Navy’s deployment of aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to the South China Sea for its first operation, claiming the move shows the UK’s belief in international maritime laws. Late last month, it was announced that a carrier strike group, including the newly deployed flagship carrier, would travel to Asia via Europe, Africa and the Middle East on a 28-week-long course. Responding to Beijing’s criticism of Western nations for deploying their naval forces in the South China Sea, Johnson on Friday defended the plan, denying its impetus was an attempt to “antagonize anybody.” Wales police pledge to arrest those behind Swansea riot, during which cars were burned and police van sent in Police said they were

prepared to “robustly deal” with rioters, should they return for a second day of violence in Swansea. Officials branded the public disturbance “appalling” and “completely unacceptable”. The unexpected spree of violence in the Mayhill area of the coastal city erupted on Thursday evening at around 8:00pm. Officers brought the situation under control in the early hours of Friday morning. An estimated 200 people were involved in the riot, which left vehicles destroyed by fire and houses damaged.

With 200K households a year opting out of TV license, parliamentary report slams ‘complacent’ BBC bosses Around 200,000 UK households are opting out of TV license fees every year, according to a new parliamentary committee report which warns the BBC is becoming “complacent” as Brits flee from the broadcasting company in droves. In a report published on Friday, the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts warned the BBC is at a “critical juncture” having “lost its place as the media provider that young people spend most time with” due to the rise of ondemand streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The committee went on to reveal that around 200,000 households are opting out of the T V

license – which helps to fund the BBC – per year, or over 500 households a day. Despite the impending crisis, organisation bosses have become “complacent and unconcerned” by the exodus and the “declining time that people spend using its services,” Oxford school decides to ‘contextualise’ statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes instead of removing it Those who would have relics of Britain’s colonial past erased from public spaces have suffered a setback after the Oriel College decided to keep a statue of Cecil Rhodes, the oppressive ruler of Cape Colony, in its current place. Rhodes is a controversial historical figure in the UK, considering that his colonial policies were aimed at disenfranchising the local population and arguably laid the groundwork for the regime of apartheid in South Africa. Calls to have his statue removed from the Oxford school arose in 2015 and were invigorated last year amid the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in Britain.

The Governing Body of Oriel College said on Thursday that after weighing the “regulatory and financial challenges” that moving the statue would pose, it opted to keep it where it is. Attempting to place it elsewhere “could run into years with no certainty of outcome,” considering that it would require cooperation from several outside institutions, including the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government.

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late May 2021

THE

WORD

THE SILENCE OF THE UNITED NATIONS IS DEAFENING

WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH ANYMORE

oncrete actions and steps are required to stop the humiliation, persecution and occupation of the Palestinian people. Sadly the world allows the current situation to go on in the Middle East. A peaceful two state solution of Palestine and Israel with both states living safely without any threat of violence was always out of the question when the more powerful side clearly didn’t believe in it.

Either the world doesn’t want to help the Palestinian people or the United Nations is nothing but a talking shop…

It is so odd we can negotiate with North Korea, place sanctions on Myanmar, send forces to Ukraine, intervene in Syria, put pressure on China on its human rights over Uighur Muslims and democracy in Hong Kong but we can’t solve the issue facing the Palestinians and Israelis.

How can we have a situation where the Palestinian people are living under occupation for so many years with no end in sight of the occupation ending? How can we allow forced evictions of Palestinians from their land and properties and further erosion of Palestinian land to make way for yet more illegal settlements?

By Cliff Jones

There is more than muttering in the media suggesting that New Labour luminaries are making a comeback. And that includes Tony Blair. It disappoints, it appals me that well paid political commentators see politics as nothing more than the ability to manipulate people, to tell lies, to construct false narratives, in order to obtain power. What are the values of Blair? What have they ever been? Socialist? Pardon me while I throw up. I am writing this in the pub Cherie used to drink in with her father. Back then she was a socialist. I want Blair in prison. One day in there would do. So long as it was in Iraq.

nothing but a talking shop…

THE WORLD LETS THIS DRAG ON

Either the world doesn’t want to help the Palestinian people or the United Nations is

Mutterings and False Narratives

The UN sends Peace Keepers to Africa and many other places but apparently not to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian people, and the world lets this drag on.

Thank you Imran Hussain MP, for raising your voice in support of the oppressed occu-

Politics as nothing more than the ability to manipulate people

pied and persecuted people of Palestine. #FreePalestine #SavePalestine #EndTheOccupation #savesheikhjarrah

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Late May 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

IT’S YOURS…IF YOU CAN PAY FOR IT!

Dreaming of a whiter smile

hroughout the country the amalgamation of dentistry provided by the NHS, alongside private dental care provision throws up many challenges for people. By making the once accessible and simple to use service a band

A consumer-based approach has inevitably created a climate of competition between dentists

payment system, people are left bewildered by the many options available. Additionally, simply remaining registered with your dentist is no longer guaranteed.

If you miss regular dental check-ups, most practices will cancel your registration, forcing you to register on the NHS waiting list (current waiting times around 3 years). After trawling through a list of local NHS dental practices to book a checkup, some alarming facts have emerged, revealing the truth

about the ongoing privatisation. Surprisingly, owing to safeguards regarding Covid, there is now a £5 PPE charge for patients, for PPE used by the dentist during consultations. The patient is expected to make this payment along with their treatment plan charges.

charges now include a ‘Hybrid’ option, whereby NHS patients can opt to pay a premium for a fast-track appointment, as opposed to having to wait longer. This means a basic check-up will cost £32 instead of £23 (with reduced waiting time), but additional charges are applied for any further treatment required with no concessions for

SIMPLY REMAINING REGISTERED WITH YOUR DENTIST IS NO LONGER GUARANTEED

The

banded

treatment

Lincolnshire Trust defies court ruling United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust announced in June 2020 their almost immediate intention to close Grantham’s daytime A&E department and temporarily replace it with a 24-hour Urgent Treatment Centre, until at least the end of March 2021. This was to enable parts of the hospital to be used as a “Green” site during the Covid pandemic. Campaigners have long known that the Trust’s long-term plan was for a permanent UTC, instead of the A&E. A disabled campaigner brought a legal case against the Trust for failing to consult with the public and showing no consideration for people who badly need a local A&E. The case was

Some services were reinstated on 1st April 2021 but it was said that re-opening the parttime A&E department would take longer to organise and it would probably happen in June 2021.

heard early in March 2021; during the hearing it became apparent that the Trust had decided on this course of action several weeks previously, but only gave staff and the public a few days’ notice.

In anticipation of losing the case, in February the Trust announced that they were planning to restore the services at Grantham to pre-June 2020 levels.

The Trust had decided on its course of action several weeks previously

most working people. A person without dental insurance can face treatment bills of hundreds of pounds, or be forced to refuse treatment that they can’t afford. This consumer-based approach has inevitably created a climate of competition between dentists, with most practices encouraging patients to rate their experience on their websites, showing again, that privatised health care provision is a business venture, capitalising on the basic needs of ordinary people. By Nas Moghadam / Devon

Unit along with A&E; staff are arguing that they will be unable to operate the A&E department without the ACU being present. At the same time we hear that plans for a £3.8 million Critical Care Unit have been approved for Lincoln Hospital, along with other improvements to their. This leads campaigners to believe that the Trust do not, and never have had any intention of restoring services to Grantham Hospital.

THE TRUST HAD INDEED ACTED UNLAWFULLY

On 16th April 2021 the judge’s ruling was announced, that the Trust had indeed acted unlawfully. The CEO of ULHT apologised that the public hadn’t been consulted and said that they wouldn’t appeal the decision.

On 29th April campaigners heard that the Trust have refused to re-open the Acute Care

The fight goes on... By Nicky Griffiths / Is Anyone Listening? Lincolnshire!

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late May 2021

THE

WORD

EARLY DIAGNOSIS SAVES MONEY AS WELL AS LIVES

Accident and Emergency Catheterisation

y cancer was eventually diagnosed early in 2013, but not early enough. I’d been suffering since August and September from urgency to pee, difficulty in doing so, a very relaxed attitude from every general practitioner I saw. Casting my mind back to 2010 and 2011 I’d had visits to the doctors (never the same one) resulting in what my medical notes call “reassurance.” Eventually in January 2013 the Accident and Emergency Unit catheterised

me and sent me up to a ward.

Catheterisation is where a health assistant (used to be called auxiliary nurse) feeds a double tube up your urethra past your prostate gland (“could you just give a little cough, sir...”) and into your bladder. A little gel is meant to ease the passage, and to prevent the whole thing slipping back out, 10ml of clean water is injected into one of the two tubes to inflate a small balloon in your bladder. In my case the steaming pish came rushing out like a Niagaran torrent. 3.5 litres or six

» Not a Terrorist » “You did very well to hold all that in your bladder,” people kept telling me

News out of Palestine is not only coming in via mobile phones still with some battery but is difficult to check. Photos and posts on Facebook catalogue the enormity of the atrocities. It cannot all be fake news. Israel cuts off water and electricity to Gaza – this has been admitted by the BBC and Channel 4 News. 230 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli air strikes, including little Malak Al-Tanini and her par-

No cease fire will bring this child back

ents. The Palestinian ambassador to the UK divulged that members of his family in Gaza were sleeping seven to a bed so that if they’re killed they all go together.

ISRAEL CUTS OFF WATER AND ELECTRICITY TO GAZA

Sleeping seven to a bed so that if they’re killed they all go together.

Pictures show bombed out buildings, and people being pulled out of rubble, but the dead will not begin to receive justice until there is lasting peace, not merely a cease fire. Somebody needs to be made accountable for these killings of children and civilians. From Facebook

I lay there until morning musing over the realisation that this was the first night I’d spent in a hospital bed, and it hadn’t even begun till around 2am. Eventually I would have cost the NHS about half a million pounds, merely because my GP service was in their own words, “fairly relaxed about prostate cancer.”

pints of hot urine. “You did very well to hold all that in your bladder,” people kept telling me. I assured them I had had no part in the matter,

and was ushered up to a single room on what I shall refer to as Ward A, to protect the innocent.

MY GP WAS IN HER OWN WORDS, “FAIRLY RELAXED ABOUT PROSTATE CANCER.”

“Early Diagnosis Saves Money” as well as lives. By Patient.I

THE

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Late May 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

LABOUR INSIDERS PREDICT A CHALLENGE TO STARMER’S “LEADERSHIP” ANGELA RAYNER’S REMOVAL AS PARTY CHAIR WAS WIDELY BRIEFED TO THE MEDIA

RAYNER PINS HOPES ON “UNISON TYPES”

llies of Angela Rayner are looking to capitalise on last weekend’s events by ‘seeking support from Unison types’ for a challenge to Keir Starmer’s ‘leadership’ of the Labour party, according to Labour insiders. Rayner’s removal as party chair was widely briefed to the media in a bid to scapegoat her

and other front-bench women for Keir Starmer’s disastrous by-election and local elections and her small band of supporters hope to leverage any sympathy to power a challenge to Starmer’s position.

Under Labour’s rules, 20% of MPs would need to support a bid in order to force a challenge against an incumbent party leader. Rayner’s allies hope to

Rayner’s standing with the left of the party has been hit hard by her previous support for Starmer

persuade ‘Unison types’ – meaning right-wing to soft-left MPs whose primary union affiliation is with the right-dominated giant union – to back a Rayner bid. Those OF MPS currently ringing round WOULD NEED to rally and gauge support include former TO SUPPORT A Momentum boss Jon BID IN ORDER TO FORCE A Lansman, as well as a CHALLENGE handful of MPs.

20%

Jeremy Corbyn, as well as comments – outside the party’s rules – that she would personally suspend ‘thousands and thousands’ of members for upsetting those who insisted on voting on the reinstatement of Corbyn to the Labour ‘whip’.

Lansman, too, is dimly regarded by many left-wingers who blame him for losses in elections to Labour’s National Executive Committee, his actions in pressing for the disastrous 2019 referen-

AGAINST AN INCUMBENT PARTY LEADER

However, Rayner’s standing with the left of the party has been hit hard by her previous support for Starmer and his withdrawal of the whip from former party leader

dum u-turn – and indeed for his part in the dire Long-Bailey campaign that allowed Starmer to win the party leadership in the first place. One left-wing MP told Skwawkbox: “Angela burned her bridges with the left a long time ago, especially when she supported Keir withdrawing the whip from Jeremy and wanted to suspend thousands for wanting it restored. How could left-wingers still clinging to their Labour principles inside or outside Parliament consider backing her?” Read more on the Skwawkbox

Any other ‘Leader’ but Keir would be long gone Let us imagine that the leftwing MP Rebecca Long-Bailey had won the Labour leadership election last year, and then spent her first year hiding away and systematically abstaining from holding the Tory government to account, so that she could focus on waging an internal war against other factions in the Labour Party, including a cynical and ideological purge of her shadow cabinet, achieved by whipping them to either abstain over Tory legislation designed to allow undercover cops to rape women in the

activist groups they’re spying on, or resign in protest. Imagine she’d instructed local Labour Party groups prohibiting them from discussing or voting on certain subjects; banned them from holding no confidence votes in her leadership; and rigged internal party elections in favour of her factional allies. If she had ignored all the warnings that her nonopposition to the government and her unbelievably divisive factional agenda were driving

Labour supporters away in their hundreds of thousands, and then delivered a disastrous set of election results at her first significant electoral test, including the loss of a seat that had been Labour-held since 1964, through the imposition of an absurdly anti democratic shortlist of just one leadershipapproved no-hoper of a candidate, then how credible a leader would she appear? And in the aftermath of these dreadful results if she’d tried to pin the blame onto others; used her own mess as an excuse to

of applause to the election agent who masterminded the party’s humiliating collapse in the safe seat they just got annihilated in.

hand promotions to her factional allies within the party; derided traditional Labour voters by insisting that she is trying to appeal to people who don’t support Labour party values; and then demanded that everyone actually give a round

The reality of course is that Keir Starmer has done all of these things. Would RLB get the same unbelievably easy ride Starmer has been getting from the corporate media if she’d put on such an inept and divisive performance? From Facebook

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late May 2021

THE

WORD

THE 80s ARE FAMOUS FOR THE BEST AND THE WORST MUSIC

ON THE JUKEBOX TONITE!

ike the 1950s, the Eighties are possibly better remembered than they were experienced, and their music is no different in this.

Bon Jovi – Livin’ on a Prayer has a similarly striking chord progression in the hook line

Socially times were hard in different ways in both decades, for example if you were gay in the 50s, or if you had a family to feed in the 80s, life sometimes felt as though it was against you, but if you were young, the music seemed to be yours, even if a great deal of it turned out to be unmemorable. Jack has some corkers here for you though.

The Eurythmics (Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart) Sweet Dreams Are Made of This. I have to confess that I found Annie to be among the most beautiful creatures ever seen on Planet Earth

Honourable mentions: Men At Work – Down Under and Roxette – Listen to Your Heart. Both have the “1980s chord change.” I might have to do the 1980s again, or else the 1950s. By Jack in the Jukebox

Abba – The Winner Takes It All. I believe it is based on their disintegrating relationships

AC/DC Back in Black – look, just listen to this because writing about it would be like “dancing about architecture”

Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I’m playing this over and over at the moment, alternating it with Time After Time, which has a fabulous chord progression. The newly emerging Madonna was described on the Radio as a ‘Cyndi Lauper Sound-Alike!’ Phil Collins – Another Day in Paradise. I have no idea what his politics are but this song absolutely nails it for me

THE

WORD

Late May 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

BILLY BRAGG – BETWEEN THE WARS JUST AS RELEVANT TODAY, IF NOT MORE RELEVANT, AS IT WAS WHEN BRAGG FIRST PENNED IT

LEFT LEANINGS S

tephen William Bragg, known professionally as Billy Bragg, born 20th December 1957, an English singer-songwriter and Left-Wing activist, his songs play in a folk/punk style and generally concentrate on condemnation of the UK governments actions against such things as the miners strikes and many other perceived pro-capitalistic stances taken by predominantly Conservative governments throughout the years. Indeed, many of his songs are protest songs aimed at encouraging the youth to take on the activist mantle with the aim of continuing the on-going fight against corrupt governments the world over. ‘I came into this whole business by going to see Rock Against Racism Gigs with the Clash’ wrote Bragg in regards his influences. And Bragg still tours today, his influences and core LeftWing agenda remaining unchanged. About the song… Between the Wars was an EP comprising four tracks released in 1985,

“Between The Wars” - Lyrics I was a miner, I was a docker I was a railway man between the wars I raised a family in times of austerity With sweat at the foundry between the wars I paid the union and as times got harder I looked to the government to help the working man But they brought prosperity down at the armoury We’re arming for peace me boys, between the wars

the title track reaching Number 15 in the UK singles charts. Inspired by the Miners strikes of the 80s, Bragg penned the song to voice his concerns at how Thatcher’s Conservative government of the time were marching roughshod over workers’ rights, whilst still expecting that they made themselves available for defence of the realm following such conflicts as the Falklands War in 1982. It is in essence a protest song from the first perspective outlining the facts that workers gave their all, yet received little in return from the Tories when they themselves were in need, who

appeared as per usual to only want to throw money at war and destruction. The EP also contains the tracks ‘Which Side are You On’, ‘World Turned Upside Down’, and ‘It Says Here’, all following a similar protest vein. The title track though is a song that is probably just as relevant today, if not more relevant, as it was when Bragg first penned it, I’m sure you will agree. You can find it on YouTube in its entirety if you wish to give it a spin. By Adrian Angel

I kept the faith and I kept voting Not for the iron fist but for the helping hand For theirs is a land with a wall around it And mine is a faith in my fellow man Theirs is a land of hope and glory Mine is the green field and the factory floor Theirs are the skies all dark with bombers And mine is the peace we knew between the wars Call up the craftsmen, bring me the draughtsmen Build me a path from cradle to grave And I’ll give my consent to any government That does not deny a man a living wage Go find the young men never to fight again Bring up the banners from the days gone by Sweet moderation, heart of this nation Desert us not, we are between the wars Adrian Angel

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late May 2021

THE

WORD

THIS IS NOT ISRAEL ACTING IN SELF DEFENCE

Little Palestinian girl PULLED OUT OF RUBBLE

little girl was pulled alive from the rubble of her home in Gaza after a 7-hour rescue operation over the weekend. An Israeli air strike had killed her

mother and all four of her brothers and sisters. When 6-year-old Suzy got to hospital, she was reunited with her father Riyad Eshkuntana

He says he listened to his four deceased children calling on him to help them, until their calls ceased

who had been trapped under the rubble with her. He says he listened to his four deceased children calling on him to help them until their calls ceased. He could not move

under the weight of their apartment building. Riyad does not ask the international community to attack Israel.

shed. He says revenge will find the perpetrators in the afterlife. He simply asks for the international community to stand with Palestine and end this conflict once and for all, so he can raise his only remaining daughter in peace.

He does not ask for more blood-

By Riyad Eshkuntana on Facebook

BEREAVED PALESTINIAN DAD DOES NOT ASK THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO ATTACK ISRAEL

Palestine Round Up ROADS GOING TO GAZA HOSPITAL

blown up by Israeli bombardment

The American ally Israel has continued to attack Gaza and besieged Palestinian towns by air, land and sea using U.S.made warplanes and bombs. The death toll in Israel stands at 11 from rockets fired from Gaza. The death toll in Gaza is well over 200, including at least 70 children. Israel faces increasing criticism for targeting medical facilites in its attack, says Dr. Rasha, a Palestinian internal medicine physician working in Gaza who asked not to use her full name for safety reasons “I think this is targeted to increase the overwhelming of the already over-

Attacks on medical staff and facilities are a nightmare

Palestinian surgeon Dr Ayman Abu Al Auf was Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and section head at Shifa Hospital in Gaza, the most prominent Palestinian hospital. He was a close partner of Doctors Without Borders.

whelmed healthcare system,” she says. Air strikes have reportedly damaged at least 18 hospitals and clinics, according to the World Health Organization. The attacks on medical staff and facilities are a “nightmare,” says Dr. Rasha. From Facebook

Israeli military forces bombed him and his family to death last week including his mother, aunt and all of his children but one - his 16 year old son. Then they blew up the roads going to the hospital. It is beginning to look like genocide by any definition of the word.

It is beginning to look like genocide by any definition of the word

May the dead rest in peace. May the living find some peace.

ISRAEL MILITARIY FORCES BOMBED HIM AN HIS FAMILD Y tack

By #GazaUnderAt-

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Late May 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

SCIENCE PAGE T

ardigrades, those adorable, chubby water bears, are notoriously hardy — they may even survive an apocalypse that wipes out humanity. But can these hardy water bears survive being shot from a gun? New research has found that yes, these hardy critters can make it out alive, but they also have a breaking point. The new study was inspired by uncertainty about the fate of tardigrades that were aboard Israel’s Beresheet probe when it crash-landed on the moon in 2019, according to Science magazine. Had

Tardigrades can survive being shot out of a high-speed gun the tardigrades, also called “water bears,” survived and contaminated Earth’s lifeless companion? After all, these teensy creatures, about 0.04 inches (1 millimeter) long or less, are famous for their indestructible nature. These hardy beasts can withstand pressures up to six times that of the deepest part of the ocean, extreme amounts of radiation and even the vacuum of space. In the new study, a group of researchers at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom

decided to test if tardigrades could also survive high-speed impacts. To do this, they fed the tardigrades and then “tucked them into bed” — that is, they froze the creatures into a hibernation mode called the “tun state,” in which their metabolism decreased to 0.1% their normal rate, Science magazine reported. Then, the researchers fired the critters, at different speeds, out of a “two-stage light gas gun,” which shoots objects at higher speeds than a typical gun. They found that the tardigrades could survive impacts of nearly 3,000 feet per second (900 meters per second), which would result in about 1.14 gigapascals of pressure upon impact. However, the tardigrades perished at higher pressures and impact speeds. How does time work? When considering time, it’s easy to quickly get lost in the complexity of the topic. Time is all around us — it’s everpresent and is the basis of how we record life on Earth. It’s the constant that keeps the world, the solar system and even the universe ticking. Some 13.8 billion years ago,

the universe was born, and since then time has flown by to the present day, overseeing the creation of galaxies and the expansion of space. But when it comes to comparing time, it’s daunting to realize just how little of it we have actually experienced. Earth might be 4.5 billion years old, but modern humans have inhabited the planet for around 300,000 years — that’s just 0.002% the age of the universe. Feeling small and insignificant yet? It gets worse. We have experienced so little time on Earth that in astronomical terms we’re entirely negligible. In the 17th century, physicist Isaac Newton saw time as an arrow fired from a bow, traveling in a direct, straight line and never deviating from its path. To Newton, one second on Earth was the same length of time as that same second on Mars, Jupiter or in deep space. He believed

that absolute motion could not be detected, which meant that nothing in the universe had a constant speed, even light. By applying this theory, he was able to assume that if the speed of light could vary, then time must be constant. Time must tick from one second to the next, with no difference between the length of any two seconds. This is something that it’s easy to think is true. Every day has roughly 24 hours; you don’t have one day with 26 and one with 23 hours. However, in 1905, Albert Einstein asserted that the speed of light doesn’t vary, but rather it is a constant, traveling at roughly 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second). He postulated that time was more like a river, ebbing and flowing depending on the effects of gravity and space-time. Time would speed up and slow down around cosmological bodies with differing masses and velocities, and therefore one second on Earth was not the same length of time everywhere in the universe.

POLITICS AND EVENTS

From beyond the wall of lost spirits, loosed temporarily from the horrors of eternal torment. Aunt Maggie answers your letters

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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.

Dear Maggie I invited a homeless person to stay with me because I felt sorry for them. They then told me they wanted another room in my house. To cut a long story short they now say I have to sleep in a tent in my own garden. Every time I bang at the door to be let back in they hit me. Please help? Your Pal E Stine Well well, it’s almost like you have been made a second class citizen in your own home. Utterly unfair in every way. Who introduced these squatters to your property in the first place maybe they could have a word and maybe apply some pressure to these

Late May 2021

BOJO’S DIARY Saturday 8th May Well dear diary, today is a good day!!! All of my ex colleagues in Fleet Street are ripping into Squire Keith Stammerer for the Hartlepool election. I just had to turn up and do ‘thumbs ups’ and pose for selfies in front of a giant blimp of myself. Job done. All the Plebs forget all the austerity, the thousands of dead and the corruption, all because they think I would probably go for a beer with them down their locals if it was still open. Monday 10th May Bugger!!! They are now investigating the holiday in Mustique I took with the future ex Mrs Johnson III, before little baby Thingy turned up. Can’t a chap accept a favour of a simple villa holiday in a Billionaires playground and private island without having to do some basic admin over who picked up the bill. It was only £15,000, I mean who remembers such piffling amounts, it’s only 10% of an MP’s annual income. Would they have me go to bloody Butlins???? Tuesday 11th May Great Aunt Betty in her crown read out my speech in the House Of Muggles today, with loads of stuff I will probably, well possibly, well may, actually do before the next election. Or not. It’s not as if anyone is actually going to listen or remember any of it. I mean to say that Laura Kuensberg will gloss over it on the News at Ten whilst everyone is watching a repeat of QI, before turning over to Netflix. Wednesday 12th May Cripes the County Court have sent the bloody Bailiff around for some unpaid £500 bill or other. I shall have to sack one of the Serfs in the office now.

rogues. It’s often said that an English man’s home is his castle, maybe you should have beefed up your security a tad. Still no point crying over spilt milk in the land of milk and honey...

So Mr Shrimper what’s it like being sandwiched at the bottom between Scunthorpe and Grimsby. And I understand the recent announcement of your demise was only slightly premature. You are to be cast down to the first pit of despair of Vanarama League until you manage to shake off your obvious mediocrity.

Dear M Thatcher I run a pharmaceutical company and donate to the Conservative party. How much would Mars be Dear agony Aunt to buy; I have the How many times MAGGIE money? can a man turn his THATCHER, Maybe get head and pretend MORE AGONY yourself a that he just AUNT ANSWERS professional FROM THE LONG doesn’t see? Lobbyist like Yours truly, the DEAD DEVIL that lovely Owen Labour party Smith, who was so It seems to me that committed as a politician you need to take a good and “Labour ‘til I Die!!” he long look at yourself and what jacked it all in and went back you have to offer the nation. to Pfizer. Didn’t they do well with the Corona contract! Coming a distant second to that boiled bollock Johnson Dear Maggie really isn’t a good look, I think I may have caught especially as you are trying the Southend variant of Covid. so hard to be exactly like the I seem to be too tired to run, Tory Party only slightly less my coordination has gone and sleazy and cruel. Face it if you I am relegated to sitting down can’t hold Hartlepool you are all day. How do I get better? history. S. Shrimper

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

SATIRE AND HUMOUR

BIZARRE NEWS

One Small Prick A study has revealed that injecting a teaspoonful of blood plasma into your ‘old chap’ can enhance bedroom performance with an upgrade in erectile function. In the first trial of the blood jab therapy at Aristotle University in Greece, seven in ten men saw a major improvement in erectile function with the benefits lasting for at least six months. Before treatment, the volunteers had been impotent for an average of six years. During the experiment, blood samples were spun at high speed to separate the platelet-rich plasma which was then injected back into the participant’s private parts. Experts believe that it fuels the growth of blood vessels that

Weird stuff from the internet that you didn’t need to know boost supplies to the penis and, like Viagra, it raises levels of nitric oxide which helps the flow of blood. Two Kids YouTube Millionaires They earned more than £1.1 million from the site last year with their content, which includes playing with toys and making pancakes, amassing 7.9 billion views. One video, in which Alex, seven, and Gaby, six, sing songs in the has been watched more than 980 million times. The siblings, from Rossendale in Lancashire, also have 17.1 million subscribers on their channel ‘Gaby & Alex’. Figures from their company

account, Toys and Little Gaby Ltd, show “retained earnings” of £1,529,658 in April 2020, more than £1 million up on the previous year’s figures. YouTube gives part of its advertising revenue to those behind the most popular videos. Turk Locks Head In Cage Ibrahim Yucel took drastic action after realising that he had been puffing away at two packets of cigarettes per day for the past two decades. Yucel, from Turkey, decided it was time to quit after his father passed away from lung cancer and because he wants to see his family grow. He was reportedly inspired by motorbike riders wearing helmets and gave his family the key to the head guard

pitch were associated with unhealthy eating.” However, peoto make sure he resists tempta- ple who like melodic jazz are tion. more likely to tuck into healthy foods such as salads. The study Yucel’s previous attempts to at Aarhus University in Dengive up smoking had failed and mark, said: “Usually soft clashis wife decided to supsical music, meditation port his strange idea, music or simply nature WEIRD despite her initial sounds will do the STUFF FROM embarrassment .The trick.A”Any music THE INTERNET story emerged on or soundscape that THAT YOU Reddit. makes you mentally DIDN’T NEED and physically reTO KNOW Loud Music Makes laxed is a better choice You Fat than music that induces Heavy rock and hipthe opposite. hop have been identified by researchers as music genres that They said: “Unhealthy or make people less likely to have stressful music can diminish a healthy diet and lead to a 40 the cognitive resources that are per cent increase in cravings for necessary for making more rafattier, saltier and sugary snacks. tional and healthy food choices, : “Fast tempo, high volume, whereas ‘healthy’ music generstaccato articulation, disso- ates a more relaxed and clearer nance, distortion and lower mind.”

Mystic Mandy Horoscopes AQUARIUS January 20 - February 18 Uranus, your ruler, links with Mars today, so you won’t be lacking in energy and enterprise. You will, however, have to watch what you say both at home and on the work front. Not everyone will give a toss. Lucky dependency – Huffing glue in a bag

ARIES March 21 - April 19 Don’t hold back over the next 24 hours – act quickly and decisively and let the world know you demand to be taken seriously. People in positions of authority will be mightily impressed by your confidence and courage – and maybe sexually aroused! Lucky Birth Control – Rhythm PETER method MANDELSON

PISCES February 19 ’S March 20 ASTROLOGICAL If you are TAURUS SPIN DOCTORING not happy with April 20 - May 20 AT ITS FINEST. your current You may be YOUR STARS situation then able to get your reAPPARENTLY change it. Can venge on someone EXPLAINED. it really be that who let you down easy? Yes, it can, so in some way, but is it stop complaining like worth the effort? Probably baby and man/woman up! not. The more time you waste Avoid the medical profession. on getting even with them the

less time you’ll have to plot the overthrow of capitalism.

LEO July 23 - August 22 You were born with a dominant personality and although you try to be humble it doesn’t always work. Today’s cosmic picture indicates you again have plenty to brag about, you despicable Gobshite. Avoid Taramasalata. VIRGO August 23 - September 22 Mercury, your ruler, links nicely with Saturn today, so it’s quite likely others will look up to you and expect you to take the lead. You may prefer to stay in the shadows but on this occasion that won’t be possible. Start a new hobby.

LIBRA September 23 - October 22 Something that has been holding you back should be less of a drag as from today. Looking back a week or two from now you will realize it wasn’t anything of a physical nature that was keeping you pinned down, just your own doubts and fears. Don’t be such a Fanny. SCORPIO October 23 - November 21 Something you see or hear will get you thinking a bit more deeply about your life and the direction it appears to be moving in. The fact that you have grown tired of doing the same old things suggests you’re in need of a change. What a bore!

Avoid Short men. SAGITTARIUS November 22 - December 21 Focus on the good things today and ignore whatever fails to uplift and inspire you. Above all don’t let money worries hold you back from doing something you think could make your life more complete. The Bailiffs will be knocking. Avoid Wallpaper. CAPRICORN December 22 January 19 Because you can now see the bigger picture you recognize there is nothing you need to worry about – not a single thing. A powerful Mars-Uranus link will encourage you to take the kind of risks you usually prefer to avoid. Get you smarty pants. Avoid Fiscal Stimuli.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

SATIRE

Late May 2021

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Late May 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Hope and Good News

Netherlands: A retired Dutch couple have become the first inhabitants of the world’s first habitable 3D-printed property with load-bearing walls. Proponents of the technology say it could slash building costs, making properties more affordable, as well as reducing the amount of cement used in construction. Cement is responsible for an estimated 8 per of the world’s CO2 emissions. Prof Theo Salet from Eindhoven University of Technology said the home, one of five planned by the construction firm Saint-Gobain Weber Beamix, was a “major step” toward scaling up 3D printing technology. “Digitisation from design to implementation leads to sustainable and affordable homes, tailor-made to the wishes of the resident,” he added. British wind farms: Not unusually the bank holiday weekend was a washout for much of Britain. However the blustery weather helped the country’s wind farms set new records. The milestone was reached on Monday afternoon, when wind turbines generated a record 17.6GW of electricity; equivalent to 48.5 per cent of the grid’s total supply. The contribution from gas plants, by contrast, was just 21 per cent. France: Sweden’s ‘flight shame’ movement appears to have spread to France, who is also planning to outlaw short-haul air travel. A bill making its way through parliament proposes banning flights on domestic routes where trains can do the journey in under 2.5 hours. The legislation advanced in the national assembly over the weekend

as part of a broader debate on climate legislation. It still needs to go through the senate. The International Council of Clean Transportation said that the ban would likely only affect a small number of flights, equating to around three per cent of the country’s domestic aviation emissions. Nonetheless, proponents argue the law could set an example for other countries to follow and help accelerate innovation in sustainable aviation technology. Before the pandemic, aviation was one of the world’s fastestgrowing sources of emissions. Maryland: Jonathan Bauer is afraid of heights, but that didn’t stop him from leaping off a bridge some 25 to 40 feet to the water below to save a little girl’s life. On May 2, Bauer and his teenage daughter Ava when they got caught in a serious five-car pileup on the bridge over Maryland’s Assawoman Bay. The accident sent eight people to the hospital and left a pickup truck dangling precariously over the guardrail. After making sure Ava was okay, Bauer got out of his car to see if anyone needed help. He saw a toddler was floating in the bay. Scanning the water for nearby boats that might be able to help, Bauer found none close by. Bauer yelled to his daughter to pull over the first firefighter or paramedic she saw. Then he simply peeled off his shoes and jumped in, feet first. See more at https://tinyurl.com/vj4fy7rn

Book Review

Gerry O’Gorman

Bertolt Brecht - A Literary Life Stephen Parker (Bloomsbury Press)

arker’s book is an intensive study of Brecht’s life and prolific output as a writer, dramatist, poet, musician, and activist. It charts Brecht’s early years and progression from drama student and aspiring poet to successful playwright and director of scores of influential works including ‘Drums in the Night’, ‘Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny’ and ‘Mother Courage and her Children’. Parker scrutinises Marx’s profound impact on Brecht, including Brecht’s development of theoretical texts ‘Messing Kauf Dialogues’ and ‘Threepenny Lawsuit’, his Agitprop theatre, and overtly political work such as ‘Fear and Misery of the Third Reich’. The author examines Brecht’s key ideas and techniques including ‘epic theatre’ and ‘the

alienation (Verfremdungseffekt).

effect’

Besides political and artistic influences, Parker reveals the range of Brecht’s impact, from French cinema’s Jean Luc Goddard and German expressionism to UK playwrights John Osborne and Joan Littlewood. Whilst Parker provides numerous examples of Brecht’s innovative poetic form and serious themes, he also reveals Brecht’s dark, ironic humour. ‘I was poor, yet the women were around me like flies. But since I’ve had the rotting cavities In my mouth, they don’t think I'm a chap. Who can rip this meat up with a savage snap’ Parker also details how Brecht’s life and career were affected by the 1933 rise of Hitler and Nazism, Stalin’s show-trials, the Russo-USA ‘Cold War’ and McCarthyite ‘red scare’. ‘A Literary Life’ is a mammoth work of narrative, notes, poems, letters, scripts and interview

excerpts, bibliography, and index. Parker seems to cover everything from history, politics, and art, to ideas, personalities, and relationships, whilst skilfully keeping Brecht and his work, centre-stage. Rather than follow Parker’s chronology, risking ‘Brechtfatigue’, I dipped in and out of sections that stoked my interest including ‘Brecht in Love 1921’, ‘Solidarity with the Working Class 1931-33', and ‘Ever the Enemy Alien 1942-45' Brecht’s fragile health features permeates Parker’s text, before Parker concludes with details of Brecht’s last hours and final words, in August 1956. “Leave me in peace”. Parker’s book has been lauded world-wide. Despite its depth and challenging themes, I found it engrossing and very readable.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late May 2021

WORD

Women who made a Difference Satire and Humour - Poetry

Bad Poets Society This Be The Tory Way by Stanley De Pfeffel

ucinda Laura Franks (July 16, 1946 – May 5, 2021) was born in Chicago, but grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts in a Christian family. After High School she went to Vasser College, graduating in 1968 with a degree in English. Whilst at college she co-founded a chapter of Students for a Democratic Society. (See tinyurl.com/55wzs2m3) After college, disheartened by the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert

Kennedy she sailed to London to work for United Press International's (UPI) newsroom there. She was basically a 'coffee girl' for the reporters, who were nearly all men. However editors were impressed with the articles she wrote in her own time and assigned her to cover beauty contests and dog shows! Lucinda had ambitions beyond that and this self-described hippie went to Belfast to march with Northern Ireland's Catholic minority. She had placed herself in the middle of a major story as the marchers were attacked by clubwielding Protestants. Phoning a UPI editor she told him “Civil War has broken out here” adding “I've got the story”. He told her women were not allowed to cover war zones but she convinced him the story would be over by the time he got a man there. He later complimented her work saying “I don't think of you as a woman any more. You write like a man”. Over the next few years she covered the 'Troubles' before she took her next assignment, writing about the Weathermen, a young militant anti-war group, back in the United States. This earned her the Pulitzer Prize in reporting at 24, one of the youngest winners in its history and the first woman in that category. In 1973 she met her future husband, Robert

Lucinda Franks

Morgenthau for a story about corruption in the Nixon administration. They married in 1977 and remained together for 41 years until Morgenthau’s death in 2019.

While he became America’s best-known DA, battling mobsters, killers and crooked executives, she worked as a freelance journalist. Lucinda wrote four books, including My Father’s Secret War (2007), in which she investigated her father’s military service during the Second World War. She learned he had been a spy in US military intelligence and was haunted by memories of a concentration camp he had visited, shortly after it was liberated from the Nazis, and of killing an army friend after discovering he was a double agent. Her husband was nearly three decades older and “the stereotype of the bourgeoisie”, as she put it, she was an “undomesticated radical” who had once chained herself to a White House fence and poured pigs’ blood on draft documents to protest the Vietnam War. She went on to be a staff writer for The New York Times from 1974 to 1977 and for The New Yorker from 1992 to 2006, and she freelanced for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, New York magazine and other publications. One of her 'scoops' in the mid1990s she went behind the scenes at the O.J. Simpson murder trial for

People magazine and interviewed lawyers for both sides. She also wrote an article titled “The Intimate Hillary” for the inaugural issue of Talk magazine in 1999, in which Hillary Clinton discussed her “enormous pain, enormous anger” over President Bill Clinton’s infidelities. In a 2017 essay for The Times on the # Me Too movement she recalled sexual harassment by male reporters and their resentment after winning the Pulitzer prize. It gave her a feeling that she did not deserve it and was too embarrassed to tell people she had won it. Of her female contemporaries in journalism she said “We, the earliest female newswomen, were tough, ambitious, even cocky about our talent, but over the years, our self-confidence was often irreparably harmed.” She continued “Grateful to win a place in the hierarchy of power, we didn’t understand the ways that gender degradation still shaped our work lives.” She left behind two children and four stepchildren. A champion of religious and ethnic minorities and a seeker for peace. Her greatest legacy was her inspiration to other women to pursue their dreams and achieve equality. For more go to https://tinyurl.com/58aj6tfs

They f**k you up, your Mater and Pater. They may not mean to, but they do. They pack you off to Boarding School To be abused by a sixth former or two. But they were f**ked up in their turn By Paedos in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were stoned on Coke With their knobs in heads of Pigs and Goats. Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get your self elected P.M. And pack off your 6 or 7 kids yourself. . Painting by Lulu Lytle I have a lot of old paint. It's all in gallon cans. The colours do not match. That's out of my hands. Open a can of white paint. A thick skin's on the top. Break the skin and stir it, pick out all the glop. The next can is of red paint. The lid is stuck on tight. Finally it's open It took all my might. Why did I buy that brown paint? By now I do not care. I'll add it to the mix. Stop me if you dare. In this Downing Street flat As Carrie Symonds planned. I have handfuls of invoices, That add up to 58 Grand Masque of New Labour – by K Starmer Rise, like sloths after slumbers In Tory vanquishable numbers! Shake your lobbied funds like new pennys Which in back handers had fallen on you: Ye are few—sod the unwashed many!

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

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Internet Access

Great Digital Divide 1

.5 million homes in the UK still do not have internet access, a report by Ofcom has found. In its annual reportt of online and media habits in the UK, which this year spans all three lockdowns. Despite some well publicised tech giveaway schemes 20% of children did not always have access to a device for online learning while schools were closed. Ofcom said in total 6% of the homes had no internet access at all in April 2021. Those without access were most likely to be either people aged over 65, or households with low incomes or financial vulnerability. Among children, tablets were the most popular device for five to 15-year-olds in 2020, although 91% of 12 to 15-year-olds had their own smartphones. It was also found that 48% of three to four-year-old pre-schoolers had their own tablets. Half of 12 to 15-year-olds said they had had a negative experience online in the past year, with the most common being someone they didn't know trying to befriend them. Six out of 10 five to 15-year-olds said they made their own videos online and nearly half said they watched content on TikTok "The perception among

adults is that it's focused on younger people but adults have increasingly taken up TikTok as well." According to Ofcom, 21% of its adult social media users had TikTok profiles, although Facebook was the most popular overall with 83% of the adults in the study using the platform. Gaming also became increasingly popular during lockdown, with 62% of adults and 70% of five to 15-year-olds playing online games. "It is vital that more is done to address this digital divide and ensure all consumers are able to access broadband connectivity, particularly as new networks roll out across the UK," said Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which. Gordon Brown, whose Alliance for Full Employment has released its own report on the digital divide, called for a national digital plan from the government and Ofcom.

"We have a generation that has lost out for more than a year on the education that they need, and will lose out when it comes to workforce qualifications, job prospects, and t h e n income," he told the BBC.

"So we've got to heal this digital divide. And I think the government's got to act pretty quickly."

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late May 2021

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Police tell racially abused woman to “Grow up”

Being Black in Blackley

Manchester A

t a time when Racism is receiving attention after the conviction of PC Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd, Manchester Police have told a black woman in Blackley who was racially abused and assaulted by her white neighbours to grow up.

This happened when a neighbour poked her in the face calling her a black bitch who had come to the estate to replace another black bastard family who the neighbours had humiliated and forced out. This altercation took place when the lady asked her white neighbour to please move his car which had been parked too close to her driver’s side making it impossible for her to get into her car to drive to work.

worker had to call the police when the neighbour started abusing her accusing her of being a black bastard who had come to cause chaos in the square which is predominantly white.

Fearing for her life, the lady called the police, who on arrival, decided to talk to the perpetrator before talking to her. When they finally came to her, they accused her of wasting police time instead of parking her car at the Tesco and walking to her house rather than occupy the parking spaces which were used by the residents who had been living there long before she came in December last year. Asked what she understood the police officer to mean when he said to her “Grow up” the lady said “The police insinuated that I had to grow up and understand that I am black and therefore have less rights in the estate. Being physically and emotionally assaulted and racially abused is something I have to grow

dy the lais a who ine frontl er work call had toolice the p

The lady who is a frontline

Checkmate in 3 moves

up and accept for as long as I am black.”

A neighbo poked he ur in the fac r calling hee r a bl*ck b*tch

W h e n contacted, the officer concerned, PC Omara, insisted that the alleged perpetrators had given him their side of the story and he was convinced that there is nothing racist about what they did or said and if that case was to go to court there is no way the lady could win. “For as long as the police continue to be glaringly racist towards black people, I will always feel the knee on my neck,” said the lady. Meanwhile, Trevor McDonald’s documentary on what Britain has learnt from the death of George Floyd reveals that racism in endemic in the police force and it will be hard to eradicate until change happens at the very top.

Solutions

It’s Not A Diet It’s Flexitarianism! O kay it sort of is a diet, in the sense of food choices and paying attention in the Supermarket, but not in the sense of Calorie counting fascism with cast iron rules and compulsory self loathing at the weekly weigh in. I was once in Hospital at a dark point in my life and a young health therapist spent an hour explaining the intricacies of her latest Diet, to which my response was “I’ve got bigger sh*t to deal with!”

Everette Ndlovu We all have bigger sh*t to deal with. But we could all change things. Meat and Dairy production contributes massively to CO², Global Warming and water usage. Obesity is robbing us of health and longevity. Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough are never off the telly with depressing stats about Governments and their targets and the weight scales of pollution control. It’s enough to drive you mad with worry as you drink and eat for some form of comfort, right? Sod The Scales! At the start of the year I made a change to my

family’s eating patterns. A lot of people trying to sell books and ‘Fat clubs’ have coined the phrase Flexitarianism but in true Trevor style I did no research whatsoever and I formed a simple plan and I detail it below: Day 1: Eat only Vegan as protein. Day 2: Eat only Fish as protein. Day 3: Eat Meat (mostly Poultry) as protein. Repeat.........

That’s it! With the only other rules being portion sizes, which are for any plateful; one handful of Protein; two handfuls of Starch; as much veg as you can handle (must have some greens) Four months of this, guilt free living, and we have all had to literally tighten our belts a couple of holes. Our sleep is generally better and we have more energy. I couldn’t give less of a toss what I weigh and I haven’t dicked about to Joe Wicks on the telly. The Supermarket bills have gone up a bit as fresh fish is expensive but tinned or frozen is cheaper. And that’s it, healthier for me and the planet and “Sod the Scales”........ Karl J Trevor

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Late May 2021

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Crossword

World Capital Cities?

Answers

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Vaduz Vientiane Vilnius Windhoek Yaounde Astana Managua Tallinn Tashkent Yerevan Tegucigalpa Abu Dhabi Antananarivo Bangui Beirut • Belmopan

Nigeria Azerbaijan French Guiana Moldova Senegal Qatar Bermuda Rwanda Zambia Bahrain Belarus Trinidad and Tobago North Korea Mongolia Liechtenstein Laos Lithuania Namibia Cameroon Kazakhstan Nicaragua Estonia Uzbekistan Armenia Honduras United Arab Emirates Madagascar Central African Republic Lebanon Belize

• Abuja (Lagos was the capital from 1914 to 1991 • Baku • Cayenne • Chisinau • Dakar • Doha • Hamilton • Kigali • Lusaka • Manama • Minsk • Port of Spain • Pyongyang • Ulaanbaatar or Ulan Bator

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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Late May 2021

Vegan Cookery From Around The World SPANISH OMELETTE Ingredients 200g Grated Mozzarella flavour Vegan Cheese 6 tbsp olive oil 800 grams potato, ½ cm slices 1 red onion, sliced 140g chickpea flour 250g water 1 cup oat milk Salt to taste Black pepper to taste Basil leaves to garnish

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Tortilla de Patatas PREP TIME: minute s 15 mins COOKING TIME: m inutes 20 mins

Method Peel the potatoes and cut Place the skillet back on them in half lengthwise. medium heat with a dash Slice into ½ cm slices. of olive oil and pour over the chickpea mixture. Cook In a skillet, heat the olive for about five minutes, oil on high heat, add until the mixture is no potatoes, onion and salt longer runny. and fry for 10-15 minutes, until potatoes are soft and Place a plate over the golden. Set aside to cool. tortilla and turn it over, cooking for a further 3 In a large bowl add the minutes. flour, water, milk, salt and pepper and whisk until Garnish with basil leaves combined. Add in the and serve. You might want grated Vegan Mozzarella to add some freshly ground and stir. pepper to taste

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THE WORST MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT AS VOTED ON BY OUR READERS

THIS WEEKS TOP 5 PRITI PATEL

ALEXANDER BORIS JOHNSON Is he really as stupid as he seems or is it a ruse to cover up evil by clowning around? This is the man who left his wife when she was suffering from cancer and went to live with his mistress. Johnson was part of the Bullingdon club at Eton. That is the group that have photographed themselves having sex with dead pigs.

1 2

She was thrown out of Government for breaking the Ministerial code by Theresa May yet has bounced back like a rubber turd. Patel has made herself a fortune by having a close association with the Apartheid Israeli regime. The daughter of immigrants herself she takes great pleasure in showing how cruel she can be to the next wave of people wanting a better life.

KEIR STARMER Believe it or not this Knight of the realm is leader of the Labour party. Before he backstabbed his way into that job he was best known as the director of public prosecutions who refused to prosecute Jimmy Saville.

IAIN DUNCAN SMITH

Other mentions: Matt Hancock, Minister for incompetence. Jacob Rees Mogg, Minister for the 18th century. Teresa Coffey, Margaret Hodge, Wes Streeting…and many, many more. Best used vote was for all 650 of the bastards.

That is actually the name of an ex leader of the Tory party and not Chelsea’s worst midfield line up ever. His real name is even worse: Sir George Iain Duncan Smith. He has been Member of Parliament for Chingford and Woodford Green, since 1992. Smith’s particular nastiness is in persecuting poor people. Luckily, having little intelligence himself, he married into money.

ANTHONY CHARLES LYNTON BLAIR

Say what you like about him – and we do – this ex PM is in all our polls as the most evil at most things. This Socialist hating privately educated billionaire simply refuses to crawl back into his coffin. No longer is an MP but still hated.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

Late May 2021

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ALL OVER THE WORLD

PEOPLE PROTESTED AT THE ATROCITIES OF THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT

22nd May

ll over the Planet people protested against the destruction of Gaza by the Israeli military. In total At least 243 people, including more than 100 women and children, were killed in Gaza, according to its health ministry.

Protests

In Israel 12 people, including two children, were killed, its medical service says. The Israeli military says more than 4,300 rockets were fired towards its territory by militants and that it struck more than 1,000 militant targets in Gaza. This is an interesting use of the word “militant.” Israel has occupied most of Palestine since 1948. They conquered and annexed more in the war of 1967. Against m a n y U n i t e d Nations resolutions the so c a l l e d “s e t t l e r s ” h a v e s t o l e n more and more land yet when t h e Palestinians fight back it is they who are called “militants.”

oday, Saturday the 22nd of May 2021 saw people take to the streets again in support of Palestine. Here in Manchester, we saw thousands coming together with their flags, banners and placards showing their anger at what is happening in Gaza. Today’s rally started in Piccadilly gardens after which they marched to St Peters Square, with some stopping outside Marks & Spencer’s to protest at them for supporting Israel. The march was peaceful with no trouble.

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Modern Monetary Theory T

he idea of large amounts of wealth and debt has been around for at least 5,000 years (1). Money has only existed for about 2,800 years, and from its inception it was an invention of government (1). Though some authors have claimed that money is the metal worth of the coins (2), it has been well explained that money is whatever the government says it is (3) and historically there is evidence to show that money can be made out of any material (4) or simply created by record of its creation with the amounts created as if coins recorded but no coins created (5). It's a way of measuring debt or wealth (1).

Why the Government is Never Short of Money for its Mates

Taxation pays for nothing. Money is created first and put into the economy, and taxation is simply used to regulate the money in the economy (6). It is more important to simply create the money as needed than to pretend that tax payers support those who do not pay taxes (7). Though the references just given are from the U.S; system, our own system, through out wholly nationalised Bank of England (8), is relatively the same (9,10). Claims that there is no Magic Money Tree is simply a lie (and the lettering of that phrase, MMT, is chosen to simply mock Modern Monetary Theory which explains how governments create money.) As explained in a Radio 4 Money Box program of January 2018, in this exchange between presenter Michael Robinson and Professor Mariana Mazzucato at around the 25 minute mark (11). Mazzucato, "The Bank of England has been a very sane voice but they don't pull the levers. Government does and the fact that there wasn't a proper stimulus program creates huge dysfunctions in the economy." Robinson, "That's the whole issue here, the government says that there is no magic money tree. They haven't got the money to spend." Mazzucato, "Families can say that, because many families don't have the money to spend, and when they take out credit, they're going to have to eventually earn the income to pay back that credit. That is not the same thing for government. Governments unlike families can create money." In the accompanying article, Sarah John, Head of Sterling Markets for the Bank of England cannot have been more explicit. "That money is created by the central bank" she says.

"We create that money by the push of a button." (12) It is true that the government chooses a Gilt. Bond system to create money, but this is a choice of the government who decides what money is and how and when it is made (13). The choice of the bond system has only favoured the very wealthy (13). The concerns that another system would be inflationary are based in theory, and the only times hyper inflation has occurred have been when great shortages have occurred (14), and these have even been easily foreseeable when artificial shortage is manufactured (15). Inflation in and of itself should not be a great concern to those who might have their wages rise with the inflation, and is a greater concern the the super rich who are left unable to simply sit on their wealth (13) or hoard it in off-shore accounts, This is especially important to understand in terms of the modern discourse, The way the system is portrayed: People work & make money, they pay taxes on that money which support others, the rich pay most tax so they support those who pay little to none. This is wrong. The system is:

The government makes the base money we all need, rich & poor, to use in the economy and everyone relies on the government to do this. People who take the largest amount of money out of the economy are supposed to pay the highest proportion in tax to reduce the inequality which damages any society. Those who take and live on the least are actually doing so to enable the greed of the rich. The situation pretended by the main stream media and the Tax Payers Alliance etc pretends the unfortunate & disabled are a parasitic burden on the rich. The actual system is that the greedy rich who siphon the money supply are a parasitic burden on the rest of the population. By Robert Price (1) David Graeber's book, Debt the First 5,000 Years https://libcom.org/files/__Debt__The_F irst_5_000_Years.pdf

(2) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith https://www.ibiblio.org/ml/libri/s/Smith A_WealthNations_p.pdf

(3) Nicolas Barbon, A Discourse of Trade https://www.marxists.org/reference/sub ject/economics/barbon/trade.htm

(4) Coining it: How Pop-up Mints Paid

for the English Civil War https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/ history-and-civilisation/2017/12/coin ing-it-how-pop-mints-paid-englishcivil-war

economy-an-introduction.pdf (10) Money creation in the modern economy, Bank of England First Quarterly Bulletin of 2014

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/m useum/item.asp?item_id=6

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk// m e d i a / b o e / fi l e s / q u a r t e r l y bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-themodern-economy.pdf

(6) Then Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Beardley Ruml's, speech, "Taxes for Revenue are Obsolete."

(11) Shaking the Magic Money Trees, Money Box, BBC Radio 4, 8pm 29 January 2018

http://home.hiwaay.net/~becraft/RUML TAXES.html?fbclid=IwAR1rMA7YD7z kXrwiaE5IAXBAdw8vlr1sO7bCekzQn h3MxSrbiSkBUPTUc-w

https://player.fm/series/money-box1301226/shaking-the-magic-moneytrees?fbclid=IwAR1NGXb_e1fgmCynot v_9wm6Nu8RdW_nwzYljNTr3HEQBZ gmLjzePITmMTs

(5) Thirteenth century tally sticks

(7) Why Health Care Matters and the Current Debt Does Not, part of the Debt Crisis series fo articles by the St. Louis branch of the U.S. Federal Reserve https://www.stlouisfed.org/~/media/file s/pdfs/publications/pub_assets/pdf/re/2 011/d/debt_crisis.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3rr O_BQ-CGYWwlkkB1GsPbQbH5Sk ZoixBIOIJRIBZk94N_hX1OzXhh5TU

(8) The Bank of England Act 1946 which wholly nationalised the Bank of England https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/G eo6/9-10/27/contents?fbclid=IwAR0w0 3dhC9iNGhoWF5JfOJyUAS7WIfLfxrV Kf3NGb9ImSgIq50IQMuWFpEw

(9) Money in the modern economy:an introduction, Bank of England First Quarterly Bulletin of 2014 https://www.bankofengland.co.uk// m e d i a / b o e / fi l e s / q u a r t e r l y bulletin/2014/money-in-the-modern-

(12) How much use is a magic money tree anyway? by Michael Robinson https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business4 2 8 3 5 7 5 8 ? fb cl i d = Iw A R 0 n h 0 x Bv IzDEMOGpIsK66v_KFZpLojk4LF2GN MCoJp5g1ywIpChxVGxRs

(13) Thomas Piketty, Capital in the 21st Century h t t p s : / / d o w b o r. o r g / b l o g / w p content/uploads/2014/06/14ThomasPiketty.pdf

(14) Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe land seizures 'cost $12bn' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worldafrica-14385342?fbclid=IwAR1rVwKD HF7iz0_ZjjkDDqLhknmwLfWogFbkd AaeETaWh6mmffu4mkgwd4M

(15) John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/econ /ugcm/3ll3/keynes/pdf%26filename%3 Dpeace3.pdf

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STOP SKY SPORTS FROM THEIR INFERNAL FIDDLING WITH THE SCHEDULES

Make the Cup Final game the final game W

ow. What an enthralling final day of the football season lies in prospect this weekend. On Sunday we get to see who is Champions of the… oh no, hang on Manchester City have already won that, haven't they? Um… oh yes, we get to see who survives in the top flight and who gets relegated to the Championship… oh damn, no. That was sorted out weeks ago. Um… well we get to see which two of three teams will qualify for the Champions' League next season, right? And who qualifies for the Europa League, which hardly anyone wants to take part in, and who qualifies for the new Europa Conference competition, which absolutely no one wants to take part in? Yeah, enticing, right? It really is time football told Sky Sports to get its nose out of the scheduling for the season's close. For decades, the curtain came down on a football season with the

Cup Finals. European secondary competition finals would be midweek either side of the last day of the League programme. Then the FA Cup Final on the last Saturday, before the European Cup Final gave the season across the continent its glamorous send-off on the Wednesday following. It worked. Partly because, by definition, these Cup Finals were at their natural climax, and there was always something major to play for at their culmination. And admittedly we still have the European finals in their appropriate slots. But ever since Sky Sports got their talons into the English game, they have insisted for years and years that the last weekend of the Premier League must happen after the FA Cup Final. Now, that certainly can work, if, as luck would have it, the title is not decided going into the last

There rea isn't muclhly to look out for. weekend. See twoyears ago,w i t h Manchester City and Liverpool just a point apart in first and second position going into the last match. But in a season like this, when the title was effectively wrapped up a month ago, and all the relegation places sorted about a week later, there really isn't much to look out for. All we really get is to find out how excessively the teams that failed to get really near the title are going to be rewarded for "not failing quite as badly as the teams that finished outside the top four."

"Roll up! Roll up! Fancy an overhyped circus with a really stunning anti-climax?" Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the last day of the football season. By Martin Odoni

Who qual for the Eu ifies League, wropa hardly an hich wants to yone ta part in ke

What's at stake on the final day? » What are the prizes and what are the penalties as the EPL season ends?

ngland's most compressed domestic football season closes on Sunday with the final round of Premier League fixtures. It must be said, most issues of the league season have already been settled. The main issue still at stake is the allocation of places in European competition. The first

two of England's four (potentially five) Champions' League places have been secured by the two Manchester clubs. Chelsea, Liverpool and Leicester City are competing for the remaining two. Chelsea, on 67 points, face an awkward visit to Aston Villa on the final day. On 66 points, and fourth on goal difference, Liverpool are at home to Crystal Palace, whom they beat 7-0 in the reverse fixture

earlier in the season. So winning is a formality, right? They thought that in the 1990 FA Cup semi-final. And in fifth, but also on 66 points, Leicester need to win a home game against Tottenham Hotspur, for whom Harry Kane looks set to play his final match. If all three teams win, the Foxes would have to beat Spurs by at least four more goals than the margin by which Liverpool beat Crystal Palace, in order to get a Champions' League spot e.g. if Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 3-1, say, Leicester would have to beat Spurs by six clear goals. Whichever team finishes fifth will get a spot in the Europa League. If that proves to be Leicester, however, as they have already qualified for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup, the slot would pass to the sixth placed team, which would almost certainly be West Ham United. West Ham are four points behind Leicester and cannot overtake them, but are also three points ahead of seventh-placed Spurs, and

eighth-placed Everton. To secure Europa League football, therefore, the Hammers must simply avoid defeat in their home match against off-form Southampton. If they should lose, Spurs and Everton can still catch up with them. Spurs, with a goal difference of plus-21 are far likelier to accomplish that, as Everton's goal difference is only plus-4, and they would have to, somehow, go goal crazy on the road at the Champions; the Hammers' goal difference is plus-12. So if West Ham lost 1-0, say, Everton would need to beat Manchester City by at least seven goals. Even then, they would need Spurs to drop points in the game at Leicester in order to get into the Europa League. If Spurs and Everton win, and West Ham lose, all three teams would finish level on points, but Spurs would get

the Europa League spot, unless, again something absolutely ludicrous happens at Manchester City to create an 18-goal swing in Everton's favour. Finally, there is the small matter of the new “Europa Conference League,” for what it is worth. Whoever finishes seventh and eighth will qualify for that. Arsenal, one point behind Everton in ninth, and Leeds United, two points further back in tenth on 56, are potential candidates to sneak in to those spots if those above them falter. The real question both Arsenal and Leeds will be asking themselves is whether this lowly new competition, very approximately descended from the defunct Intertoto Cup, is worth the bother of qualification.

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SUPER GOAL AND VAR ADD UP TO THE MOST DRAMATIC FA CUP

LEICESTER CITY WIN FIRST L

eicester City won the FA Cup for the first time in their history, to supplement their extraordinary Premier League title success five years ago. It was their fifth appearance in the Final, and they won in as dramatic a style as could be imagined.

Never quite a classic Final, it was also never dull. But for long stretches there was minimal goalmouth action – not a single shot on target was registered in the first half. Chelsea had the better of the battle in midfield, but were toothless in the final third until the last few minutes. In the second half, Leicester City really stepped up a gear, with Youri Tielemans looking increasingly influential in midfield. The big moment came when he picked up the ball halfway inside the Chelsea half. He approached the penalty area, and realising that the opposing defenders were backing away, he let fly a scorching shot from a few yards outside the D. The shot surged past Kepa Arrizabalaga in the Chelsea goal into the top-right corner; a goal truly worthy of winning any Cup Final. Chelsea spent the next 15 minutes trying to fight back but largely played sideways in front of the Leicester defence. It was only as the game entered the last 15 minutes that Chelsea finally started making real inroads into the Foxes' penalty area.

Ben Chilwell, playing against his old team-mates, placed a good header to Kasper Schmeichel's right, but the big goalkeeper got a hand to it to turn it onto the post. With three minutes to go, Mason Mount hit a picture-perfect half-volley just inside the penalty area that rocketed towards goal. But again, Schmeichel proved equal to the task, diving to his left to divert the ball around the post. At that point, those watching must have thought that that was 'the moment' for Chelsea, but a minute later, they appeared to have equalised. Chilwell again sneaked into the area and got on the end of a high ball, taking it away from Schmeichel and bouncing it across the goal mouth. Caglar Soyuncu dived in to clear it but his connection ricocheted off teammate Wes Morgan into his own net. The thousands of Chelsea fans allowed into the stadium celebrated uproariously. The Chelsea players ran to the corner flag to hug and congratulate each other. And then, a side-on TV replay showed that Chilwell might just have been marginally off-side. VAR investigated. There was breathless tension around the stadium as the check continued. And then referee Michael Oliver did the notorious 'reversal' signal with his fingers, and the thousands of Leicester fans allowed in now celebrated even more wildly than they had celebrated Tielemans' goal.

It was a moment of breathtaking drama, with the contrast from before-and-after the VAR decision on its own making it a Cup Final worth watching.

From there, five minutes of injury time lasted about an hour for Leicester fans, and about 45 seconds for Chelsea fans. But when the final whistle went, the Foxes were FA Cup winners at long last. Chelsea have now lost two FA Cup Finals back-to-back, while Brendan Rodgers became only the second manager, after Alex Ferguson, to win both the Scottish Cup and the FA Cup. That is a wonderful moment of redemption for him, after years of accusation from some quarters that he lacks the qualities needed to manage in England. Remarkably the two teams meet again in the Premier League in midweek, in the struggle for Champions League places. By Martin Odoni

Main headline: Mid-week d M

anchester United have had an improved season in the Premier League this year. But they are perhaps a little flattered by reaching 70 points, as this week has evidenced. They had the misfortune that the Old Trafford game against Liverpool earlier in the month had to be postponed due to a fan protest getting out of hand. It was rescheduled for Thursday, just two days after the visit of Leicester City. United's coach, Ole Gunnar-Solskjaer, decided to fi e l d effectively a reserve team for t h e Leicester g a m e , hoping to have an adequately

rested first team available for the rivalry game against Liverpool. Ten changes from the weekend match against Aston Villa, the move backfired, and in the process handed the title to Manchester City quite limply. Leicester run rings round rookies On Tuesday, Leicester travelled to Old Trafford and were simply too good for an inexperienced United side. An early volleyed strike by Luke Thomas for his first Premier League goal gave the Foxes the lead, and although Mason Greenwood produced a lovely run and laser-like finish to equalise, Leicester r e a l l y stamped their authority on the second half. They were rewarded midway through the half with

a towering header from Caglar Soyuncu from a corner, powered past David De Gea. Leicester's deserved victory ended the title race, with Manchester City reclaiming the crown they surrendered to Liverpool last year. Liverpool firing formidably against firstteamers F o r United, a chance to put a fatal dent in Liverpool's hopes of getting back into the Champions League was clearly an enticing consolation prize. But on the Thursday, with their first XI, bar the injured Harry Maguire, restored to the side, United instead produced a strangely listless display that raised more questions than answers.

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

FINAL IN YEARS

FA CUP

Won in as dramatic a style as could be imagined ”

f cricket truly is “The Sunshine Sport,” then the second round of fixtures in the 2021 County Championship, heavily modified due to Covid19 lockdown, are being played in their most natural environment possible. Glorious early-spring sunshine washed over grounds all around the country, allowing some very fine, closely-fought cricket. Interestingly for a week of

It was a m of breath oment drama, w taking contrast ifth the before-an rom d-a the VAR fter decision

double-whammy for United Despite falling behind early on to an unlucky own goal by Nat Phillips, Liverpool proceeded to dominate, claiming a first win at Old Trafford for seven years.

long-awaited first goal against Manchester United with a closerange header from a Trent Alexander-Arnold free kick.

After having a penalty award reversed by VAR, Liverpool equalised on 34 minutes through a cute backheel from Diogo Jota, set up by a Phillips cross-shot. Then on half-time, Roberto Firmino got his

Think the proverbial bus; Firmino, having waited six years for his first goal against the “Old Enemy,” immediately after halftime made it 3-1. United made a repeated hash of trying to clear the ball from their penalty area, and Firmino turned in a rebound off of keeper Dean Henderson.

Two come along at once

The next twenty minutes saw maybe the worst football United have played since Firmino, having the turn of the year, with waited si ragged, aimless passes, x repeatedly giving the for his fir years s t g o ball away in their own a l against t he “Old defensive third. Enemy,” Liverpool could have immediately afte added at least three r halfmore goals, with Jota time mad particularly unlucky with e

it 3-1”

a shot hitting the post. Somehow, United got away with it, and Marcus Rashford scored a breakaway goal to revive the contest. Liverpool continued to control the game though, and again might have had a penalty when substitute Sadio Mane was rugby-tackled in the penalty area by Scott McTominay. Klopp breaks Old Trafford duck But Liverpool put the game to bed in injury time with a highspeed breakaway strike from Mohammed Salah, his thirtieth strike in all competitions this season. It is Jurgen Klopp's first ever win at Old Trafford. With a Europa League Final ahead, this midweek has given Solskjaer food-for-thought of an unenticing flavour. By Martin Odoni

Late May 2021

WORD

FOOTBALL RE SU LTS

Week ending 16th May 2021 Premier League Monday 10th May 2021 Fulham 0-2 Tuesday 11th May 2021 Manchester United 1-2 Southampton 3-1 Wednesday 12th May 2021 Chelsea 0-1 Sunday 9th May 2021 Wolverhampton 2-1 Aston Villa 1-3 West Ham United 0-1 Arsenal 3-1 Thursday 13th May 2021 Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester United 2-4 Friday 14th May 2021 Newcastle United 3-4 Saturday 15th May 2021 FA CUP FINAL: Chelsea 0-1 Burnley Southampton Brighton & Hove Albion Sunday 16th May 2021 Crystal Palace Tottenham Hotspur West Bromwich Albion Everton

Burnley Leicester City Crystal Palace Arsenal Brighton & Hove Albion Manchester United Everton West Bromwich Albion Everton Liverpool Manchester City

Leicester City

0-4 3-1 1-1

Leeds United Fulham West Ham United

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

Aston Villa Wolverhampton Liverpool Sheffield United

SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP: Dundee United Livingston Celtic Aberdeen Kilmarnock Ross County Hibernian Rangers Hamilton Academical Motherwell St. Mirren St. Johnstone

2-2 0-3 4-0 0-1 3-3 2-1 0-0 4-0 0-2 1-2 0-0 0-0

Motherwell Rangers St. Johnstone Hibernian St. Mirren Hamilton Celtic Aberdeen Kilmarnock Ross County Dundee United Livingston

SCOTTISH PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL Raith Rovers Dundee

0-3 0-1

Dundee Raith Rovers Dundee win

3-1 on aggregateCHAMPIONS' LEAGUE FINAL: WOMEN'S Chelsea

0-4

Barcelona

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Rescheduled Liverpool match went ahead, but not without more trouble Player smuggleds were Trafford o into Old na undecora pair of te coaches d

There were several arrests

More protests at Old Trafford showdown T

he postponed Manchester United V Liverpool match, which was abandoned from the Bank Holiday weekend due to a fan protest that turned violent, was finally played on Thursday 13th of May. Even though the match kicked off on time and so no interruptions throughout, it was still far from a peaceful occasion. The United fanbase, still determined to remove the Glazer family from their positions as club owners, were out in their hundreds to protest again throughout the day. There was another ugly stand-off with the police at barricades set up across the Old Trafford car park, with some minor scuffles breaking out, and flares being let off. There were several arrests, but crucially, no one was able to force their way into the stadium this time, so no Covid-19 bubbles were violated. Meanwhile, car drivers used their vehicles to blockade the route to the stadium from the Mancunian Way, to intercept the Liverpool coach and delay its arrival. While the coach was blocked off, a couple of the United fans let out the air in its tyres. In fact, this proved to be a pointless intervention, as it later became clear that the Liverpool team were not on the coach; it had been a decoy. The clubs had

anticipated some kind of trouble, and so used the fully decorated Liverpool coach to draw the protesters' attention, while the players were smuggled into Old

Trafford on a pair of undecorated coaches. The antipathy Manchester United fans have long felt towards

the Glazers, for buying the club in 2006 with a loan that was then put on the club itself, was re-ignited recently by the European Super League debacle. There is a real

feeling among the United fanbase that the Glazers have “used up their final life.” by Martin Odoni

All relegation spots from the EPL settled already

here is a very real danger that there will nothing much to play for on the final day of the Premier League season this year. Not only are the title and the first couple of Champions League places already settled, but all three relegation spots are sorted out. Whether it is Fulham or West Bromwich Albion who finish 18th is still to be decided, but what is inescapable is that neither of them will be playing Premier League football next season. There is a very real danger that there will nothing much to play for on the final day of the Premier League season this year. Not only are the title and the first couple of Champions League places already settled, but all three relegation spots are sorted out. Whether it is Fulham or West Bromwich Albion who finish 18th is still to be decided, but what is inescapable is that neither of them will be playing Premier League football next season.

Chris Wood, his fiftieth in the colours of Burnley. As has so often been the case for Fulham in so many defeats this season, they wanted nought for possession; they had over 56% of the ball in this game, but they huffed and puffed the second half, but never looked – or perhaps more importantly never felt – like they were about to get back into the contest.

West Brom, as we highlighted last week, finally fell on their sword with defeat at Arsenal. The next evening, Fulham fell prey to Burnley, who won in almost embarrassing comfort at Craven Cottage, securing their own safety in the process. This year's “relegation dogfight” thus never really happened. It is the first time in Premier League history that relegation has been completely

settled with three matches left. The match was a routinely 'professional' display from Burnley, always in control, generally playing within themselves to conserve energy, and marshalling their opponents as expertly as a shepherd marshals a flock of sheep. They secured the win with two first half goals, the first a sharp counterattack with a “pass-it-into-the-net” finish from Ashley Westwood. The second was a ruthless lash-in from

For Scott Parker, getting Fulham back into the top flight again becomes the next challenge, and it is also potentially a headache. His squad was never really good enough this season, even after bringing in a number of players on loan. And most of those loanees will be returning to their parent clubs during the summer. Difficult times ahead at the Cottage. By Martin Odoni

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Late May 2021

WORD

Party time for Rangers Rangers sweep aside Aberdeen to complete unbeaten season T here were scenes of celebration across west Glasgow on Saturday, as Rangers finally got to lift their first Scottish Premiership trophy in ten years. The party began with a cheerfully comfortable 4-0 win over Aberdeen at Ibrox Stadium, to see out the entire season program unbeaten – a mighty achievement in itself, matching Celtic's 2016-17 accomplishment under Brendan Rodgers. Rangers also went past 100 points, with what was their 32nd win of a 38-game programme.

Kemar Roofe was the star of the show with a brace of goals. There were huge crowds gathered in the streets outside the ground – defying Covid safety measures unfortunately – to mark the shifting of the pendulum of power in the Scottish game back to Rangers, after ten years of C e l t i c supremacy. This season has been a huge vindication for

Rangers coach, Steven Gerrard, and a redemption for a man who seven years ago, was left broken as a player by 'the slip' that cost Liverpool a title. His appointment by the Rangers board in 2018 was a big gamble, but it has paid the dividend the c l u b

wanted more than any other – their team are Scottish champions, and Gerrard is the Scottish Football Writers' Manager of the year, and that goes as a fine tribute during the 50th anniversary year of the Ibrox Disaster. By Martin Odoni

Alisson

dedicated th goal to hi e s father

A huge vindicatio for Range n coach, rs Steven Gerrard

Alisson scores in last minute drama L

iverpool produced a stodgy, edgy, uninspired performance at the Hawthorns in their pursuit of Champions' League football on Sunday night. The match against West Bromwich Albion looked set to peter out into a useless 1-1 draw, deep in injury time, but the game ended in as dramatic a fashion as the FA Cup Final had ended the previous evening. Liverpool, who had trailed early on to Hal Robsun-Kanu's first goal for four years, but then equalised through Mohammed Salah, were awarded a corner in the 'loose change' at the end of added time. Their Brazilian goalkeeper, Alisson Becker, ran forward to add to the available targets. Trent Alexander-Arnold sent in a fine cross, Alisson went up, and got an absolutely perfect header into the far corner of the net to win the critical three points.

Alisson's goal is the first winning goal scored by a keeper in the Premier League, and it means Liverpool, in fifth, are now just one point behind Chelsea, and just three shy of Leicester City, with the two Cup finalist teams meeting again at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. The win also takes Liverpool four points clear of Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, in sixth and seventh respectively, with just two matches left. After the game, a very emotional Alisson dedicated the goal to his father, Jose Agostinho Becker, who had tragically died in February. It is a moment of consolation for Alisson in what has been a very difficult three months for him and his family. By Martin Odoni

Manchester City glory days roll on T

hey may have been denied three-in-a-row thanks to Liverpool's intervention last year, but the Manchester City success story rumbles on regardless. They won their third championship in four years this week, and without having to kick a ball in anger. City's football may not have been as consistently overwhelming this season as in other title winning years. But at length it was still too potent for the rest of the Premier League, and they secured the top prize with three matches t o

United, h aving hammere d AS Rom a 6-2 at Old Trafford in the firs t leg, simply ha d way too big a mar gin for error

spare, when Manchester United, their distant-nearest challengers, fell at home to Leicester City on Tuesday night. They celebrated on Friday night with a 4-3 win at Newcastle United, with Ferran Torres scoring a beautifully taken hat-trick. In the process, City stretched their unbeaten away run in all competitions to 23 games, a new record for any club in the top four divisions of English football.

City clinch third title four year in s af Manchest ter United stu er mble again Chelsea

It is City's seventh championship. Five of them in the Premier League era have all been won in the last nine years. This also makes three Leagueand-League C u p doubles in just four seasons for City, and could be turned into a treble later this month, when they face

in the Champions League Final. That treble would match Liverpool's League, League Cup and European Cup success of 1984.