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Issue #43, Early September Edition

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Equality Democracy Truth Courage ENEMIES OF THE STATES

Fuming hell! STOP PRESS: Tony Abbott, right, the former Australian PM and homophobe who relentlessly promoted burning coal and bought shares in coal mining while PM, has been appointed an envoy representing the UK in trade talks.

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COVID CASES ROCKET NOW ACROSS BRITAIN

Donald Trump presided over a raucous party convention last week highlighting what he described as his defense of America against alleged threats including China, anarchists, the coronavirus, and Trump’s chief opponent, Joe Biden, even as critics blasted PAGE 16 the Republicans...

No tears from hard hearted Tory

In a jaw-dropping interview on Sky TV, Therese Coffey, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was invited by Kay Burley four times to offer her personal response to the shocking death of a young mother who starved to death. PAGE 3 Neighbours were...

RISHI’S IS ON THE RISE

Bit by bit, Chancellor Rishi Sunak appears to have been adopting a Corbyn approach to the economy while Starmer opposes it hoping that by keeping the flame of Blair alive, he can step into Johnson’s shoes when the PM steps down to take all his paternity leave at once, leaving him PAGE 22 about five years

SUFFERING OF OUR LITTLE CHILDREN

PAGE 5

Outbreaks in Scotland weeks ago ignored!

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BIG WILLY GIVES MORE ADVICE

Are we being misled over the VIRUS? I

have no idea whether covid 19 is real or not. I suspect it is a bad flu that has been over hyped. Whether it was man made, had mutated, is being exaggerated or understated. I would, however, like to point out the following observations in the patterns of how our rulers mislead us. Weapons of mass destruction

were not found in Iraq despite the whole MSM telling us they were there. Corbyn’s Socialist experiment in the Labour party WAS crushed by the media in association with money poured in from the Government and friends of Israel. Julian Assange IS in prison for telling the truth. The USA IS the home of Capitalist savagery and their armed forces back this up with military bases in most countries in the world. This

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countries Tory Government ARE dismantling the welfare state.

Gavin Williamson has yet again changed the advice to schools. I imagine the new style assembly. “And the lesson today is to ignore government advice because it will change in five minutes. Let us just be sensible. Now we shall sing ‘Abide with me’”.

FAILING GRAYLING Has decided that serving on a committee with the word Intelligence in the title is not for him. He has resigned. He did not get the bosses’ job and refuses to serve as a foot-soldier. He is, however, adhering to distancing rules. He is keeping 200 IQs apart.

A FAMILY TRUMP Is providing a model of harmony for the nation. And I can’t tell the difference between Melania and, whatshername, Ivanka. As for Trump’s sister and niece. You can choose your friends but you are stuck with your family. None of all that seems to be having a significant impact upon how his base, what a word, thinks, is that the right word? And what was all that about Melania refusing to live in the Whitehouse until the bogs and the showers had been changed. Might it have been because Obama had used them?

ELECTROMAGNETISM Today in 1831 Michael Faraday demonstrated what now we call electromagnetism. When I was 18 I read a book about him. At school we were always encouraged to read beyond and around the subject and I still think that is a good idea. It is an idea assiduously followed by Our Great Leader. He never limits himself to simply doing the job he is supposed to do. Sometimes he does not do it at all.

I would also like to point out who this “pandemic” benefits: Big businesses like, Amazon, Microsoft, Google...and others that hold monopolies. These monopolies are being entrenched by Governments regulating on the virus.

Worst of all is this “pandemic” has given an excuse for a worldwide roll out of digitisation. Press one for frustration.” Did you say you could not complete the form because you have a cough?” Your choices are herded into data that they can handle not human interaction. This trend has been happening for a number of years. The virus is making it compulsory.

Who suffer under the virus rules: Small businesses with little room for distancing customers, any place where people can meet to exchange views and experiences such as small local pubs, football grounds, and political meetings. Starmer is the wooden puppet leader of a manipulative puppet party and history is at an end?

I do not know if this virus is real. I suspect it is as real as just about every war ever fought in history. Governments, the rich and their media slide us into these wars. They are the beneficiaries. The poor and vulnerable are ALWAYS the ones that suffer. Is this simply another of THEIR induced wars where there is no chance of saying no.

Now we are headed for a No-Deal Brexit. I have forgotten the odds against that quoted by de Piffle. The EU must think we are mad. We simply do not bother to negotiate. Why would we? It means reading stuff with big words in it. And it demands, an even harder task, writing stuff full of big words. No Tory should ever be asked to do that. KEEP IT SIMPLE. That is the Tory motto. Germany once had a satirical magazine called Simplicissimus. The name came from a novel written in reaction to the horrors of the Thirty Years War. This prompts me to think that one response to what is happening in far more than just the UK has to be satire. But we do seriously need to do other things to create change. We face ecological disaster and still vote for politicians that are unwilling and incapable of doing a decent job. They say you get the government you deserve. That is only true up to a point. We also get the government we have been conditioned to vote for. Satire can help to alter that conditioning. I just looked up the odds against a No-Deal quoted by de Piffle: a million to one.

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Early September 2020 Early September Edition

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173

Neighbours alerted by hunger cries of starving infant

No Tory tears for starved

to death mum I

n a jaw-dropping interview on Sky TV, Therese Coffey, Secretary of State for Work

Mercy Baguma starved to death

and Pensions was invited by Kay Burley four times to offer her personal response to the shocking death of a young mother who starved to death. Neighbours

were

only

alerted to the tragedy by the cries

hunger

from

the

seriously under-nourished child who was lying next to the mother's corpse. When invited to show some human feeling for the mother and rattled

Patel as the Tory most likely to be declared a heartless psychopath.

bureaucratic procedures the mother should have been advised to use to seek help.

The

work

and

pensions

secretary was asked about the death of the Ugandan asylum seeker

After several verbal prods from

mum, Mercy Baguma who was discovered by police in Govan,

the young mother must have been

Scotland, lying next to her starving

given the wrong advice, but it was

baby late last month.

not a matter for her department. about the horror death but she word of regret or sympathy for the

refused

agony and trauma the mother and

questions saying she

child went through.

would only talk about

take

pensions and climate change. She later told known as knuckle-dragging MP for

Sky News that she had never been approached

second only to Home Secretary Priti

on the subject.

any

Coffey being interviewed by Kay Burley

Cigar chomping champagne swilling Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Therese Coffey

Fellow pscho Home Secretary Priti Patel

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Co-op creates thousand new jobs The Co-op is to create 1,000 jobs as it opens 50 new stores, becoming the latest supermarket to expand during the coronavirus pandemic. The jobs will be spread across the new shops and another 15 stores that will be enlarged as part of a £130m investment, the company said. Another 12 franchised stores, run with Co-op branding but owned by others, are also planned for 2020. It is the Coop’s second hiring spree during 2020; it gave permanent jobs to 1,000 of 5,000 workers brought in to cope with an increased workload at the height of the UK’s lockdowns. The Co-op employs 55,000 workers across the UK, with 2,600 stores. Full steam ahead with HS2 high-speed rail line Construction is finally to start on the £106 billion HS2, the highspeed rail line between London and the West Midlands, expected to create 22,000 jobs. The contracts to build the first phase of the line, including viaducts, tunnels, and stations at Euston and Old Oak Common, were signed off by the Treasury during lockdown. The company HS2 Ltd said most work to date had been preparatory, including design, ground clearance and demolition.

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BRITISH SHORTS

Head: Children to pay the price of Coronavirus income losses Vulnerable children are facing a dangerous reduction in support as councils axe services in an attempt to fill a multibillionpound black hole left by the Covid crisis, Labour has warned. Town halls across England, have tabled emergency budgets involving cuts to spending on children and young people, sparking warnings that unless ministers add to the £3.7 billion in emergency coronavirus funding to councils, children will suffer. Soaring costs and slumping income will result in a £2 billion deficit for councils this year. Luton council, which is proposing to cut £3.2m from its children and families budget, said Covid-19 had had a “catastrophic impact” on its finances, with income from its airport company plummeting.

Preparations for Covid second wave The UK government is to trial routine weekly Covid testing as part of preparations to head off a possible winter second wave. Matt Hancock said the government was committing an extra £500m to scale up testing capacity and launch community pilots trialling the effectiveness of repeat testing in schools and colleges, as well as in the population as a whole.

Word hero of the month John Lynes, aged 92, from Hastings who was among 200 members of Extinction Rebellion (XR) arrested by police during a peaceful demonstration on Thursday in Parliament Square, London. Other demonstrations were held in Manchester and Cardiff. The action is part of 10 days of disruption aimed at

POLITICS AND EVENTS

backing the CEEB Bill which would see climate targets strengthened and the setting up of a citizen’s assembly. The night before a group of people were arrested in central London after

It will also ramp up the trials of a new test kit that it is claimed can provide results in 20 minutes. A community-wide trial in Salford, is soon to be launched, to assess the benefits of repeat population testing. The pilot will focus on retail, public services, transport and churches. Asylum seekers dumped abroad by Home Office Eleven Syrian asylum seekers have been abandoned outside the Madrid airport, Spain, where a Home Office charter flight left them. The men, ranging in age from 18 to 45, said they had been sitting in temperatures of 32 degrees since 10am on Thursday. The asylum seekers said many of them were taken from the UK without their identity documents. Sex monsters’ given life for double murders A convicted sex offender who killed two women and hid their bodies in a freezer has been given a life sentence with a minimum term of 38 years. Zahid Younis, 36, who was described as a “manipulative predator”, subjected both women to “very significant violence” in the days before he killed them. The body of Henriett Szucs, remained hidden in a small padlocked chest freezer

spray painting “lies lies lies” on the offices of influential lobbyists and think tanks said to be behind climate change denial. In a statement XR said politicians have “neglected their own inadequate targets” on climate change, pointing out that the government had declared a climate and environment emergency

for almost three years before it was found by police. Szucs, 34, vanished in August 2016 after having gone to live with Younis at his home in Canning Town, east London. The other victim, Mihrican Mustafa, 38, went missing in May 2018. Both bodies were found in Younis’s flat last year. New faster Covid tests trialled Ministers have set out plans to ramp up testing for coronavirus, as NHS leaders expressed deep concern about problems in the test-and-trace system. As new infections steadily rise, the government announced a new laboratory in Loughborough that can process 50,000 tests a day by the end of the year. It also revealed two new pilot projects for saliva tests as a part of a £500m investment in what it called the “next generation” of testing. Germans under pressure to cut Russian pipeline deal Angela Merkel is under growing domestic pressure to end her support for the joint German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline project over the confirmed poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The German Green party called on the chancellor to use the

more than one year ago. “If politicians won’t take this

nearly completed infrastructure project to press the Kremlin into answering allegations over what Merkel called the “silencing” of Navalny with a novichok nerve agent. Dictator claims poisoning claims are false The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has claimed that his security forces intercepted German calls showing that the Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny’s poisoning was faked. Lukashenko told the visiting Russian prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, in Minsk that the call between Berlin and Warsaw showed that the incident was a “falsification”. Third of hospitals increased parking charges One in three NHS hospitals in England have increased parking charges in the past year hurting patients and hit visitors in the pocket. Figures reveal some also scrapped lower rates for shorter stays, meaning anyone needing to leave the car for just 45 minutes must pay for a full three hours. Almost four out of 10 hospitals said they charged for disabled parking. England is the only part of the UK where hospitals routinely charge patients and visitors for parking.

crisis seriously then we must prevent them from causing more harm,” the group added.

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Early September 2020

POLITICS AND AND EVENTS POLITICS EVENTS

Early September Edition

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Johnson and Starmer ignored Covid outbreaks Scotland

Schools going down like 100 nine-pins (to Covid) S

After

Covid schools closed in the UK

chools have been shut down within hours of opening because of Covid-19

the

school

outbreaks. day

Thursday 11 schools had closed in England and one in Wales. Schools opened three weeks earlier in Scotland and Northern Ireland where 88 schools have been closed. English

schools

reluctantly

reopened in England this Tuesday after the government threatened worried parents that they would be fined if they held their children back. Boris Johnson and Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer agreed at Wednesday's

Prime

Minister's

Questions that schools are safe even though 53 schools had closed as 106 pupils and teachers were infected and 19,000 pupils placed in quarantine. Starmer has admitted that in

His

then

shadow

Education

mid-May he secretly promised

spokeswoman,

Johnson to back a return to school.

Bailey, was adamantly opposed.

Rebecca

She was later sacked.

LongTeaching unions spoke out

against the official advice and

Leader of the opposition, Sir

demanded a number of tests to

Keir Starmer, went further than the

ensure safety.

government

claiming

was

parents' duty to send Unions were forced send out checklists to

members

because

the

government had not taken on

the

responsibility of making

sure

schools are safe.

Starmer: Labour want and expect children to be back at school

The National Education

their

children

back.

Thursday he said: “Labour want

and

expect children to be

back

school.”

While the rule for

Union wanted the government to

parents is that they can only meet

plan for alternatives to full opening

other households in the garden and

– in the event of a second wave or

keep two metres apart, children

local lockdowns.

have been packed into classrooms.

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Forgotten Bands: Savoy Brown

EATED MEMBERS CARTIONS 28 INCARN BAND OF BLUES WN SAVOY BRO

British Blues an

went off to University in 1971 and one of my first actions was to buy a small record player, just that, and played borrowed records until I could go back to town and find a record shop.

When you look at a picture of Blues Band ‘Savoy Brown,’ your eye goes first to Chris Youlden, who was every bit the front man, and although not a founder member, dominated the period from 1967 to 1970.

Then I spotted Savoy Brown! ‘A Step Further.’

The second side of the vinyl LP - in those days you turned them over – contained the Savoy Brown Boogie. Everybody I told that I’d bought the album replied that they knew the Savoy Brown Boogie; some had heard it performed live. The band riffed on a single chord and improvised. Other tunes made their way into the Boogie, and the overall effect was fun.

I loved the album I’d bought as much as I’ve loved any since; it contained a couple of the most beautiful tracks I’d ever come across not on the radio, such as ‘Life’s One-Act Play,’ which it surely is, and ‘Made Up My Mind,’ which I did as soon as I heard it.

A better album is ‘Street Corner Talking’ which features a different set of musicians, but the ever present, lead guitarist, founder member, and brother of the band’s manager, Kim Simmonds, is there to blow everybody’s mind into a paper tissue. Savoy Brown has had at least 63 members in 28 different incarnations; some of these are

very important personages in the British rock scene. Indeed, if you were designing a ‘Rock

Family Tree’ or map of who’s been where, you’d have to put Savoy Brown right in the middle of the page; OK, three names: Bill Bruford; Miller Anderson; Stan Webb. Add to these Andy Pyle and Hubert Sumlin and we’re off on a trek through hundreds of other bands, remembered and forgotten. Ian Charles

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Beauty

I loved the album I’d bought as much as I’ve loved any since

nd Boogie Band »

Everybody knew the Savoy Brown Boogie; some had heard it performed live

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THE END of the Reign FOR THE Megalomaniacs

rthur Firstenberg explains in his most recent circular ‘Putting the Earth in a High Speed Computer’ “The threat to life comes from the fact that all these satellites are located in the ionosphere. The ionosphere is a source of high voltage that controls the global electric circuit, which in turn provides the energy of life.” He explains further “Every living thing is part of this circuit. It provides us with energy for life and information that organises our bodies. If you pollute this circuit with billions of digital pulsations, you will destroy all life.” Those who feel powerless to put an end to the reign of megalomaniacs who set out to destroy our common home with complete impunity, must now

cease to accept this as a reason to do nothing other than wallow in their own sense of tragedy. Man and nature are one. A tragedy in one is a tragedy in both.

There are initiatives we can and must take that will play their part in putting an end to this nightmare and they should start immediately by using the law courts in order to directly challenge the global purveyors of destruction. Further actions of an indirect nature can be equally valuable. In this particular case, abandoning your cell phone is the number one action to be undertaken by individuals honest enough to act on what they know to be necessary. Like everything else in the world of commerce, ceasing to buy-in to the offending product, destroys

the industry that produces it. A steady decline in the market for the latest cell phone will do more than anything else to prevent the domination of near space by weapons of mass radiation destruction. All aspects of modulated WiFi radiation emitted by the EM towers and smart grids asphyxiating human and planetary life today must, for the sake of the species, be put an end to without delay. If we are to come through this period of unprecedented topdown technophobic deception and manipulation, we will only

do so because we saw fit to challenge its manifestations face to face, at every opportunity possible. Giving-up one’s latest toxic toy must be first on the list of contributions to preventing the outright destruction of the great cyclical electrical circuit which supports all life on Earth.

As Arthur Fairstenberg states “There is no more important task on Earth right now – not climate change, not deforestation, not plastics in the ocean, and not stopping 5G on the ground. None of that will matter if Space X is allowed to go forward with Starlink.” Julian Rose

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MONEY BEGINS AS AN IOU FROM THE GOVERNMENT

IT SAYS SO ON THE BANKNOTES Q

uantitative Easing, however applied, should not cause runaway inflation; Modern Monetary Theorists told you that way back, and have been proved correct The Furlough, money for the poor, money injected at the lowest point of the economy, tends to be spent and returns to the treasury as taxes well within a 12 month period, hence there is no money flooding the economy; Modern Monetary Theory predicted that there would not be Not to inject money at a time when there are goods remaining unbought in shops and labour unpurchased leads to stagnation and an economic downturn; Modern Monetary Theory explains how and why this is. Modern Monetary Theory has correctly predicted that Quantitative Easing would not lead to an increase in bank lending Making money available

for ordinary people, raising wages so that people can work fewer hours and have time to spend their money is not the same as ‘printing money’ and releasing it indiscriminately into the economy; Modern Monetary Theory shows why this isn’t the same as giving everybody, rich and poor, a Universal Basic Income Allowing government money to go directly to those without enough doesn’t add net financial assets to the economy; Modern Monetary Theory explains how ‘new money’ given to the poor, through a job guarantee, or the raising of the Living Wage, returns to source as taxes within 12 months, or else becomes personal savings, contingency funds, pension provision or some other way of removing it from the economy Modern Monetary Theory says that when a Sovereign Nation’s Central Bank begins to reduce the size of its balance sheet, it does not result in financial collapse; it is dangerous for a

government to run a surplus, as that leads to financial crisis Many people still think that Modern Monetary Theory is some kind of ‘Left Wing Device;’ if this is so, then Rishi Sunak (the wealthiest of the UK’s MPs, married to a billionaire’s daughter) seems to be in on it. It’s not an agenda; rather an explanation of how macro-economies work, what it is that they do, why they do it, and what else is possible without breaking the piggy bank. Many on the Left refuse to consider MMT, meaning that the political Right can take any action they see fit while socialists and not-quite socialists worry about ‘paying back’ the ‘loan’ in increased taxation and cuts to services. Austerity is a con trick, which has nothing to do with the economy and much to do with a political agenda hell bent on eventually putting public services into private clutches. All Money is Government Debt; it says so on the banknotes.

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Relentless undermining of our health service For the last 30 years when the neo-liberal regime became embedded under Thatcher, we have seen the covert undermining of the NHS. The process accelerated under the Con-Dem coalition from 2010. The passing of the landmark Health and Social Care Act 2012 opened up NHS services to outsourcing. Since then across the country, CCGs have tendered for services and awarded tens of thousands of contracts to private providers. A London School of Economics analysis showed that during 2018/19, nearly 26% of the NHS budget flowed to private providers rather than the 7% normally cited. Additionally, using the pretext of ‘efficiency savings’, severe austerity was imposed on the NHS. In 2010, the ‘Nicholson Challenge’ aimed to save £20bn over 5 years. When this was achieved, in 2016, another target was set to save £22bn over five years, reducing the 4 percent increase in budget prior to 2010

to a trickle of 1 percent per year. As a result, tens of A & E units were closed and 17000 hospital beds were lost across the country. It was the nurses who also bore the brunt with their pay frozen over the decade. All this is possible because the main stream media endorse the private market agenda and have no inclination to hold the politicians to account. Campaigners defending the NHS have a long struggle ahead to build a mass movement which can stop privatisation.

Cuts put my life at risk The Tory ten year plan to freeze NHS spending in real terms and reduce it as a share of GDP by 2020 looks likely to come to fruition because of their incompetency addressing our COVID-related healthcare, and the wastage of millions reordering inadequate PPE for clinical staff. I’m an NHS patient, living with one life-threatening illness and several chronic illnesses. This epidemic has forced me to selfshield, and see my GP much less. I was reminded by her that she would need to dress up in order to protect me from potentially being infected. I have many friends, who are also getting less time with their clinicians. Dominic Cummings, chief adviser to the PM, famously drove his car for more than 10 miles to check whether he could see well enough. His

If needs millions of us to get on the streets making a noise

evens Simon Ssteen the has overring of our restructuare systems healthc country to in this ble the resem -based e insurancem of t sys the USA

For-profit US Simon Steve

PLEASE DONATE TO SUPPORT ‘THE GREAT NHS HEIST’ FILM https://www.gofundme.com/f/thegreatnhsheist Full film available here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thegreatnheist

comments about not worrying if a few “hundred old people” are sacrificed is still alive in the memories of many citizens, particularly the workers in care homes where funding from cash-starved local councils is no longer available, or reduced. My Asthma was so bad recently that my GP sent me to A&E. I pushed my way into triage, feeling terrible but knowing I would have been dead if I hadn’t. I will most certainly die well before ‘my time’ without the Health Service, and so will many others. It needs millions of us on the streets making noise, as well as letters to our own local MPs, petitioning, media-talking and article-scribing like this one to help save #OURNHS. Andria Mordaunt / North London activist

COVID19 pandemic has reminded us all how important healthcare is to society. The NHS has been deliberately undermined, repurposed and de-funded over decades. Overstretched and dangerous by design, it is not prepared to cope with the current challenge. Our film clearly sets out how the nation and the NHS has been betrayed by our politicians and the media that fail to challenge their deception. Please watch and share the film. It’s time we understand and fight back to save our NHS. Website: http://thegreatnhsheist.com (The NHS has been deliberately undermined, repurposed and defunded over decades)

In recent months, we’ve all become familiar with Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. I’m sure we all have our own views on his performance during the pandemic.

However, less has been heard of Simon Stevens (former Senior Health Policy Advisor to Tony Blair), who actually runs our NHS on a day-to-day basis. Since 2012, our own government has not been legally obliged to provide us with Universal healthcare. UnitedHealth Group is a massive American health insurance company, and Stevens used to be their Head of Global Expansion. In 2014 he was appointed CEO in charge of NHS England. He has overseen the restructuring of our healthcare systems in this country to resemble the insurance-based system of the US. His original Five Year Forward View did plenty of damage. He was knighted in this year’s New Year’s Honours list. Then came Covid-19. They say never waste a crisis, and Mr Stevens certainly hasn’t. In a recent interview he said of the coronavirus that it’s “driving a lot of changes that may turn out to be very desirable changes, so there will be a silver lining to this very difficult set of circumstances.”

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My twenty-fifth week of selfimposed lock-down began a few days ago; silly me? There are friends questioning me as to my continuing motives; surely it is now all over? Much as I respect Sir Julian Rose who wrote last week about “this phoney virus,” and suggested a mass government conspiracy, I must disagree with him about the nature of the virus but agree that the government is surely making the most of it in order to control us in a way no government has done in recent times, and to help their friends make money out of it.

A great first step to recovery would be to insist that UnitedHealth leaves our country

The pandemic has given him the opportunity to allow many private companies to make money from the NHS under the cover of helping out. The acceleration of telemedicine and the bailing out of private hospitals by buying up their bed capacity have been part of this. Now there are plans to restrict patients’ access to another 31 treatments/ procedures, to add to the 17 procedures restricted last year. It’s precisely because our health service has been underfunded, riddled with private interests, burdened with unnecessary layers of management, sold off, shrunk, and lost experienced staff who’ve been pressured out, that we now find ourselves struggling to cope. A great first step to recovery would be to insist that UnitedHealth leaves our country, and to shame Simon Stevens for the appalling disservice he’s done to our beloved NHS. Colin Crilly / South London NHS campaigner

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THE PATIENT’S EYE Day 170 and all is most uncertain me that it isn’t flu. It’s a virus, though, and far from phony. If it were seasonal flu it would still be a genuine virus, and deadly. I’ve been told to check death figures for previous influenzas and compare. Sure, some seasonal flu kills large numbers of people: the old, the sick, and sometimes the healthy.

The virus, much more than seasonal flu, not even seasonal flu, has killed fit and healthy people whom I know. It has left two young men of my very close acquaintance, one with permanent lung damage, and the other with an irregular heartbeat. Both had been recently given This quiteThis quite-genuine health checks genuine virus in order to take does not just virus leaves the out mortgage kill; it leaves previously healthy insurance, or the previously chronically on changing GP. h e a l t h y unwell Another good chronically friend coughed so unwell and is much that she broke expected to persist a rib. beyond the parameters of normal influenza. That I referred to CV19 as flu symptom after symptom is so often that she screamed at added to the list tells me that

SECRET

S group and ens must go!

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there are possibly / probably now a number of associated health conditions piggy backing on Covid 19. Pneumococcus always does and always will. What has been the biggest difference is that this time governments have been aware that like the asteroid coming on November 2nd we are or were overdue for a visitation from one of these potential pandemics. They didn’t prepare for saving lives, but they did prepare for letting it seed in our population, frightening everyone for a while and engineering a deliberate slump in the economy; Austerity may now follow. I agree with those who might disagree with me, that no government could be so

The government is controlling us in a way no government has done in recent times

inept; setting off a trail of deaths and then imposing draconian living conditions seems not inept but cold and calculating. All my cancer check-ups and treatments have been paused. I despair, almost. “And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead” ought to be Prime Minister Johnson and ‘Special Adviser’ Demonic Cummings’ motto, even if they’re not keen on the rock band of that name.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIKE THIS, BUT I WILL FEEL BETTER HAVING SAID IT

They Don’t Care When our government introduced austerity and over 100,000 people died within 6 weeks of being told they were fit for work; nobody cared. When the disabled had their benefit stopped leaving them nothing to live off, and 1,500 committed suicide; nobody cared. At this point nobody cared saying it could never happen in the UK. When our government was warned about the coronavirus they didn’t join Europe in ordering PPE and ventilators for our NHS, they didn’t care. Instead they took the approach that we don’t need Europe, we will do that ourselves and to let the virus run as it might get rid of the elderly, sick and disabled and the bed

blockers, as they thought it was only killing people with underlying health conditions, at this point. They didn’t care But when they realised the problem of Italy and Spain, that all of us could catch it, it was no longer about a group of people who didn’t matter to society but it was about all of us, and when the Government realised it could also be them, what did they do? They asked JCB and Dyson to build ventilators - both Tory party donors, yet Mercedes F1 and a university have designed and put into production within days much needed ventilators. They don’t care Due to us going our own way in Europe we are still waiting on virus screening due to the chemicals being unavailable, but Europe have the tests.

So even when the whole population is faced with not having the PPE and ventilators, is it right for Government to be awarding contracts to their own party donors, and not to the companies who can supply them. They don’t care When Royalty, the Prime Minister and the cabinet were tested, why were the nurses who died from Covid19 not tested to save their lives? They don’t care This has to be the biggest

tragedy the United Kingdom has seen since the first world war when Douglas Haig sent our troops to their death in the battle of the Somme; on the first day 21,393 were killed 35,493 were wounded Never have we been let down by the few for so many. When this is all over we must think differently: to have any confidence in our Government, we will have to think more about the many, not just the few, in future we must all care for the many.

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BLACK HOLE SUN

GRAVITATIONAL WAVE TELL TALE

hat’s more, it also marks the first definitive sighting of an medium sized black hole, one with a mass between 100 and 100,000 times the sun’s mass. That midsize black hole was formed when the two smaller black holes merged to form a larger one with about 142 solar masses. It significantly outweighs all black holes previously detected using gravitational waves; the tell tale ripples that wrinkle spacetime in the aftermath of extreme events.

The biggest. The farthest. The most energetic. A new detection of gravitational waves from two colliding black holes caused a bit of a stir with boffins this week

“This is the big guy we’ve been waiting for, for the longest time,” says Emanuele Berti, a physicist at Johns Hopkins University who was not involved with the research. One of the behemoth’s two progenitors was itself so massive that scientists are pondering how to explain its existence.

Kicking it up a notch On May 21, 2019, the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave observatories detected two merging black holes. The duo combined to create a new black hole much larger than those found in previous mergers. Here, coloured circles represent the relative sizes of black holes, with bluer colours representing bigger black holes.

Detected on May 21, 2019, the

gravitational waves originated from a source about 17 billion light-years from Earth, making this the most distant detection confirmed so far. It’s also the most energetic event yet seen, radiating about eight times the equivalent of the sun’s total energy, says astrophysicist Karan Jani of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. “I hope it deserves its own entry in the record book.” The new event dethrones the previous record-holder, a collision that occurred about 9 billion light-years away that radiated about five solar masses worth of energy, and created a black hole of 80 solar masses. Researchers with LIGO, or the Advanced Laser

Interferometer GravitationalWave Observatory, in the United States and Advanced Virgo in Italy reported the new detection on September 2 in two papers in Physical Review Letters and the Astrophysical Journal Letters. While scientists know of black holes with tens of solar masses and others with millions or billions of solar masses, the intermediate sized ones have remained elusive. Previous purported sightings of intermediate mass black holes have been questioned. But, for the new event, “there’s no doubt,” says astrophysicist Cole Miller of University of Maryland at College Park, who was not involved with the study. “This

demonstrates that there is now at least one intermediate mass black hole in the universe.” The black hole’s two parents were themselves heftier than any seen colliding before — at about 85 and 66 times the mass of the sun. That has scientists puzzling over how this smashup came to be.

Normally, physicists expect that the black holes involved in these mergers would each have formed in the collapse of a dying star. But in the new event, the larger of the pair is so big that it couldn’t have formed that way. The known processes that go on within a star’s core mean that stars that are the right mass to form such a big black hole would blow themselves apart completely, rather than leaving behind a corpse. Instead, it might be that one or both of the colliding black holes formed from an earlier round of black hole mergers, within a crowded cluster of stars and black holes (SN: 1/30/17). That would make for a family tree that began with black holes lightweight enough to form from collapsing stars. But there’s a problem with the multiple-merger explanation. Each time black

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FLORIAT BASH STREET The Cliff Jones Column

ES ON BLACK holes merge, that coalescence provides a kick to their velocity, which would normally launch the resulting black hole out of the cluster, preventing further mergers. However, mergers as massive as the new event seem to be very rare, given that LIGO and Virgo have detected only one. That means, Miller says, “my gosh, you’re allowed to invoke a tooth fairy,” a relatively unlikely process. Perhaps, he says, the kick might sometimes be small enough that the black holes could stay within their cluster and merge again.

astronomers to look for flashes of light in the sky that might have resulted from the collision. Some researchers had suggested that the waves might have been associated with a flare of light from the center of a distant galaxy (SN: 6/25/20). But that galaxy is significantly closer than the distance now pinpointed in the new papers, at about 8 billion light-years from Earth rather than 17 billion, making the explanation less plausible.

BLACK HOLE 100,000 TIMES THE MASS OF OUR SUN FOUND

The May 21 gravitational wave event had previously been publicly reported as an unconfirmed candidate, to allow

The longer LIGO and Virgo observe the heavens, the more the bounty of unusual events can be expected to grow, Miller says. “We are going to have a set of ‘gosh, didn’t expect that’ type of events, which are thrilling to think about and extremely informative about the universe.

Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory are nice tunes but the words? It is possible they may not be sung at the Last Night of the Proms. Our Great Leader is not pleased. I remember when the Liverpool Welsh Choral Union was asked to rehearse God Bless the Prince of Wales. Half of us sat with our arms folded and the other half sang unenthusiastically. The idea was abandoned. My preparation for the op was to begin composing in my head a nostalgic piece about the days of Theresa May and Mr. Speaker Bercow. War between the Executive and the Legislature. Over his career Bercow moved further and further leftward while the current Labour Speaker seems determined not to rock any boats. Theresa was, of course, referred to by John Crace as Maybot. Very one-dimensional. In political terms she was a recorded message.

I have often argued that we need a written constitution but not one written by any sort of Founding Fathers. The process should be as inclusive as possible and very young people should take part. But then I have too many ideas in my head and as I tell others, I must manage those ideas. That is what my great deputy used to tell me. I often remind her that she was my deputy because later she went on to become so powerful and important. Deservedly so. Great to work with. And now I am being managed by my former student who teaches me how to write and organise myself. Never be afraid to admit to students that they can teach you. It’s good for them and good for the teachers. de Piffle wants to ‘get a grip on education‘ apparently. I must look up that school report on him.Actually, he did not go to a school but to an Academic Theme Park. Eton was set up to teach the children of the poor by the way. With a eugenicist as

WORD

his boss there will be nothing down for Bash Street Comp. Update of Cliff’s Health And further thoughts on Anarcho-Fascism Hospital phoned to tell me I am Covid free. I am first one under the knife in the morning but will probably still have to stay one night. 17 degrees here but it feels freezing. Meanwhile, the real opposition to the government is expressing its displeasure. Having chosen a bunch of idiots who would not threaten him for the leadership most of Johnson’s opponents are in the Tory Party. The education fiasco in particular has fired them up and Williamson is in real danger. To sack him, however, would bring into question the wisdom of the person who appointed him. Johnson would not like that. Like Trump he does not enjoy criticism. He likes people that do him favours. The only way out for Johnson is if Williamson goes all old fashioned and resigns, taking the blame for bad management. But our Great Leader publicly endorsed the way Williamson managed things. Awkward! Perhaps we need a new political category for this government. How about ANARCHO-FASCISM?

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BIZARRE

NEWS FROM THE INTERNET No Rod Hull Here

New Jersey Police were called into action when an emu was seen running through the streets. Animal control officers caught the errant bird and took it to a shelter. “I’ve seen elephants running down the street. I’ve seen geese, I’ve seen just about everything,” said one officer. China Crisis

A man was saved by his amply proportioned stomach when it got wedged in a well and stopped him falling down the shaft. The 28-year-old Chinese man got trapped in his family’s well after breaking through wood that had been used to cover it in his hometown of Fuliudian Village in Henan Province. The fire service said he only survived because he was “too fat” to fall down. Ole, Mobility Scooter

A pensioner caused a severe traffic jam after driving his mobility scooter on a busy Spanish motorway. The 88-yearold was in the fast lane with no lights on, creating a large angry queue. Police were called and had to drive behind the Scooter with their lights on to escort him to the next exit Jordan’s Sole

A pair of trainers worn by basketball legend Michael Jordan in 1985 have sold for $615,000 (£460,000) at an online auction. The Nike Air Jordan 1 High sneakers were described as the “rarest of the rare” by Christies. Love Shack, Baby Love Shack

A man in Wiltshire who listed a treehouse on Airbnb as a joke has received its first booking. The

property, which he had built for his children, was described as “suitable for a romantic getaway or an adventure with the kids”. Speaking of his unexpected booking by a family, he said: “I’m doing home-made pizza and a fry up for them for Sunday breakfast.” Trump’s Douche Below Par

The US Department for Energy has brought forward changes the rules around showerheads in order to maintain the perfection of Donald Trump’s hair. Officials have published proposals that would allow more water to pass through showerheads, lifting a 1992 regulation restricting the flow to 2.5 gallons per minute. Last month Trump complained about the effects of low water pressure, saying: “My hair - I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect.” Get Spooked

A horror production company in Japan has opened a drive-in haunted house to keep itself afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. Customers bring their own cars and are treated to a simulation of being trapped inside a vehicle being attacked by zombies and ghosts, complete with fake blood. “We cannot remove every drop of blood. It will be clean enough to drive on the road,” warns the website. Puppy Eats Spondoolics

A mother couldn’t believe her bad luck when she discovered that her puppy had eaten her savings. Jocelyn Horne said she felt “absolutely gutted” when she realised that her miniature poodle, Peggy, had eaten the £100 she had put aside to save

for a rainy day. “I still don’t know whether to laugh or cry - I look at her and I think I bloody love you, but you’ve swallowed £100,” 2 Year Lego Snorting

A Lego brick has fallen out of a boy’s nose two years after it went missing. Seven-year-old Sameer Anwar from New Zealand lost the piece up his nose while playing in 2018. Doctors were unable to retrieve it but last weekend he sneezed and it was dislodged. “It was shock, y’know?” said his father. “And it had a bit of fungus on it.” Daughter’s Poo Cures Drunkenness

A man who kept feeling drunk even when he hadn’t had any alcohol was cured when his daughter’s faeces was transplanted into his intestine. The man was suffering from gut fermentation, which produces excessive fungal growth in the gut and then fuels ethanol production. The faecal microbiota transplantation has cured the problem. Stiffs Emerging In Kent

Human remains are appearing on an island just off the Kent coast where visitors have been banned for 200 years. Deadman’s Island was used as a burial ground for convicts who died aboard prison ships from Chatham bound for Australia. Rising sea levels and coastal erosion meant the wooden coffins, skulls and fragments of bones have now become visible on the surface. Website Rubbish

A curious website shows you what standard-issue wheely bins

look like in different areas of the UK. Designer Harry Trimble has been photographing bins across the country since 2016, with the aim of documenting the nations bins. “When you look at a bin,” he says, “you can see how a council thinks about itself.” Make Bleach Great Again

50 North Texans drank bleach this month, according to the North Texas Poison Center, blaming “misleading and inaccurate information circulating online about how to prevent the spread of Covid-19,”. In April, Donald Trump suggested the new coronavirus might be treated by injecting disinfectant into the body. Tiny Aliens

Microscopic aliens drift from planet to planet and could already be here on Earth, according to scientists. The experts claim that the extra-terrestrials journey across the vast expanseof space by grouping in “colonies” thinner than a sheet of paper. Hairy 80

A man in Vietnam has gone almost 80 years without getting a haircut. Nguyen Van Chien, 92, has five-metre long dreadlocks and says they are part of a divine calling. “I believe if I cut my hair I will die,” he told Reuters. “I dare not to change anything, not even combing it.” Dopey Dumbo.

Stressed-out elephants at a zoo in Poland are to be given medical marijuana as part of a trial. The three African elephants will be given liquid doses of cannabinoid CBD through their trunks. “Contrary to what some

would imagine, the elephants won’t be using cannabis pipes nor will they be getting huge barrels of it,” said the vet in charge of the project. Cursed Jesus Village

Archaeologists believe they have found a biblical village cursed to destruction by Jesus Christ. After years of controversy, Bethsaida - where Christ is said to have fed the multitude and helped a blind man see – is now believed to be in Et-Tell, a dig site in the Golan Heights. Tortoise Makes A Dash For It

A 150-pound runaway tortoise is back at home after 74 days on the loose. Solomon the tortoise escaped from his home in Ashland City, Tennessee, on June 8, but finally returned home last week when his owner got a call from a man who said he saw Solomon at a home construction site less than a mile from her house. Massive Hipster Grub

Giant avocado pears that weigh almost 2kg (4lbs) are hitting supermarket shelves. The huge fruits, known as Avozilla avocados, are nine times heavier than the average avocado. They will set you back £4 when they go on sale at 300 Tesco stores across the country Head case loses ears.

A man has spent more than £6,000 to have his ears removed so that his head looks like a skull. The 39-year-old from Finsterwalde, Germany, known as ‘Mr Skull Face’ on social media, says his new appearance has boosted his confidence - He now keeps his ear lobes in a jar.

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Mad Madge Talks Across Oceans Of Time Horror lurks and a place inside Where the evil of the night time lied Without a broom the witch would ride As souls lament she will decide… (Robert Herrick, 2020) Welcome to our agony column with the very dead Margaret Hilda Thatcher. MAGGIE: Currently my personal, bespoke Hell has been a bit of a saunter through my life as Prime Minister and some of the characters I used to associate with. Most notable was dear Ronnie Reagan, he always floated my boat and I spotted him off in the distance, magnificently astride a horse, with the sun glistening off his Brylcreemed quiff. As he drew up and climbed down I realised that screeching Harpy Nancy was riding pillion. Mind you the site of her falling over at that Republican Rally and dislodging her wig never fails to amuse even after all these years. Well Ronnie didn’t even speak he just waved and randomly pointed at non-existent people in a non-existent crowd as if appearance is more important than reality.

Imagine a President doing that these days. Anyway a crowd did eventually form, not of people but of nappy wearing Chimpanzees who surrounded Ronnie and proceeded to gang rape him, whilst Nancy sang ‘The Starspangled Banner’, saluting, with a nauseating permasmile. I’ll never understand Americans. So, on with your letters. Hola, Margaret I went for a kick around with some amigos last week but none of them took it seriously. They just did not want to play ball. Even afterwards, when we went to the beach, they let the Germans get the best spots. Next year I am thinking I should go somewhere without them as none of them seem good enough to play with. Lionel, from Barcelona. Maggie:- Well Lionel dear chap, new horizons might seem attractive but be careful what you wish for, you could end up stuck in Manchester, piss wet through in the middle of December, with a bunch of filthy Scousers kicking the crap out of you. No I’d stay

in Barcelona if I were you. Maybe have a short trip away to think about it, Mykonos is nice this time of year and Harry Maguire’s villa has just become available, just steer clear of the local fuzz, they get quite ‘Prisony’ Dear, Maggie, old girl A few years ago a friend of mine accidently forgot his children and left them in a pub. My problem is I don’t know if I have left any of mine because I can’t actually remember how many I have. I also have a problem with my girlfriend. She doesn’t understand that a chap needs a bit of freedom. I have been with her over 9 months and she is very controlling. She even got upset when I went to a concert and rogered the first violin player. Oh well, “Pulvis et umbra sumus.” Anonymous, from London. Maggie:- Don’t you go quoting Latin at me you pompous cock. I’m not fucking ‘Dust and Shadow’ I’m an ethereal presence, serving in eternal purgatory for a life-long campaign of financial de-regulation, privatisation of state assets, killing Argentinians

and class war against the vulnerable. What is it with you Boarding School types shagging around, are you overcompensating for some adolescent confusion with a blonde boy called Sebastian, who taught you ‘Ut Diligatis Sodomiticum’? If you must be led by your libido, at least learn a bit of subtlety and keep it all secret, as for your offspring, you only need fund a legitimate heir and a spare, then all the other bastards can bloody fend for themselves. Boys will be Boys’, it’s not as if personal morality has anything to do with your career is it? Dear Maggie I was getting into my car when lots of policeman came up behind me and shot me in the back. Is this allowed? Jacob, from Kenosha. Maggie:- Jacob, like I stated in my introduction, I am mystified by Americans. As the constitution of your country allows the bearing of arms, the best way to avoid getting shot is to have an Assault Rifle and membership of ‘Blue Lives Matter’. You could then stride around in the middle of an all out riot and have the

full support of the cops. Of course if you are black you would get shot for chewing a toothpick in a threatening left-wing way. Tough tit, it’s the American Dream. Hello My problem is that my Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather’s Uncle’s Brother Married a woman without even the intelligence and compassion of a carrot. The problem is one of the descendants of this unfortunate pairing is now a Government Minister in charge of education. Chris Williamson, from Derby. Maggie:Haha the Williamson clan is certainly a diverse bunch isn’t it. On one hand a lifelong anti-racist suspended by ‘New Labour’ witch hunters. On the other hand Gav the div, the total hatstand, who looks like the bastard son of Alan Partridge and his only friends are his menagerie of weird pets. Take heed and broaden the gene pool, otherwise your offspring could turn out like Gavin, the slack jawed halfwit. At least it’s only plebs state education he’s ballsing up.

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ENEMIES OF THE STATES?

onald Trump presided over a raucous party convention last week highlighting what he described as his defense of America against alleged threats including China, anarchists, the coronavirus, and Trump’s chief opponent, Joe Biden, even as critics blasted the Republican Party’s mostly virtual conference as an attempt to rewrite history and stoke hatred rather than address the country’s multiple crises. Currently, American unemployment remains above 10 percent, as opposed to totals

closer to 4 percent around the beginning of 2020. Although Trump pursued a strategy of re-opening the American economy more quickly than other developed countries, and has overseen the world’s worst coronavirus infection rate despite America spending more on health care than any other country, the convention portrayed his actions as a success.

police crackdowns on Black Lives Matter protests in major American cities, some of which have turned violent.

Convention speakers, including multiple members of Trump’s family, mostly avoided the coronavirus pandemic as a topic, instead repeatedly stressing economic growth during the president’s tenure and hailing

Trump attacked his opponent, Joe Biden, as an Establishment creature who in office promoted trade agreements such as NAFTA and the WTO that devastated US manufacturing and unions, a proponent of war overseas,

Democrat vice president candidate Kamala Harris with Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu

The Republicans declined to issue a lengthy election manifesto, providing a short list of core priorities including more tax cuts, bureaucracy reduction, cybersecurity investment, and increased support to police.

and a leading light behind the mass imprisonment of AfricanAmericans. At the same time, he also claimed Biden was supposedly under control of proponents of so-called “far-left fascism” which Trump described as “Marxist” and “socialist.” Biden has opposed socialism and even measures such as universal public health care; and is a supporter of the pro-corporate set of institutions described by proponents as the rules-based international order. Throughout the week, the Republicans alleged that Biden supports “cancel culture” and opposes free speech, though Biden has largely stayed out of the culture wars and is not regarded as a “woke” politician. Charges of ethics breaches marred the convention, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo giving his address from Israel via Zoom in a partisan address seen as politicizing the civil service. Americans looking to avoid choosing between Trump and Biden have multiple options, although none are seen as having even a remote possibility of winning the election.

Howie Hawkins is the presidential nominee of the Green Party, which has traditionally called to end US wars overseas and promote left-wing economic positions as well as local industries and agriculture. Hawkins has been criticized by many traditional Greens due to his backing of US-supported Syrian rebel groups and promotion of the theory that Trump was elected as part of a Russian conspiracy. Activists, as well as some outside the US such as George Galloway, have called on exprofessional wrestler and Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura to launch an official campaign. Ventura has been a staunch proponent of a peaceful foreign policy, free college, and reducing income inequality. However, he has yet to actively commit to running. Jo Jorgensen is running as the standard-bearer for America’s third-largest political party, the pro-business, anti-war Libertarians, whose candidate in 2016 received the largest number votes of any non-Democrat or Republican since 1996. Jorgenson, who strongly opposes lockdowns and mask laws, is currently polling much lower than the party did last election.

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Early September 2020

INFLUENTIAL GROUP COMES UNDER FIRE

Left call to give John McDonnell the boot

f the Labour Research Committee is serious in turning the Labour Right tide it needs to start by removing John McDonnell as its President, argues leading left voice, Tony Greenstein. On Saturday, the influential LRC holds its long delayed annual general meeting where Greenstein will call for the LRC executive's official statement on what brought about the Labour left's cataclysmic defeat, to be rejected and for McDonnell to be replaced. He argues in his blog that instead of acting as Corbyn’s Praetorian Guard and spearheading the Left’s advance, McDonnell scabbed on those who did fight. He didn’t merely appease the Right he went out of his way to please them. "Who can forget McDonnell interview with Alistair Campbell, and his support for Campbell’s reinstatement to the party, after he'd voted for the Lib Dems? "I don't recall McDonnell supporting the reinstatement of expelled members Jackie Walker, Marc Wadsworth, Chris Williamson or myself, to say nothing of the hundreds of other members who were victims of the vicious witch-hunt which drove some veteran members to their deaths.

He says that McDonnell's behaviour was unforgivable and his lurch to the Right has not stopped. Almost alone among commentators McDonnell stated 'Keir's got this exactly right' in giving Johnson a free pass on his government's deeply flawed, incompetent and ever-changing Covid-19 policies while saying nothing about the thousands of care home deaths, PPE and privatisation fails. When it came to the fake antisemitism?campaign McDonnell said Labour should take its advice from the Tory and Trump supporting Board of Deputies. When Margaret Hodge called Corbyn a 'fucking anti-Semite' McDonnell urged that she should not be disciplined. “No one was keener to haul up the white flag than McDonnell,” Tony writes. “At the very beginning of Corbyn's leadership McDonnell demonstrated the direction he was heading in when he apologised on BBC Question Time for his Republican past and for having said that the IRA were 'brave'.” Unless the Labour Left is capable of a serious analysis of what went wrong during Corbyn's leadership, and wake up to the fact “that the anti-semitism?campaign was a state-directed campaign of

Appeasing John Mann and Tom Watson was like appeasing a rabid dog. They needed putting down not stroking

destabilisation then they aren't a serious left,” he says. McDonnell was so determined that he and Corbyn should come to power through appeasing rather than fighting the Right that he ignored all the signs that the ruling class was determined this would not come to pass. "The LRC Executive's Statement (paragraph 12) Learning from mistakes of the past five years is pathetic.” Corbyn didn’t make the odd mistake, he embarked on a wholly mistaken strategy of appeasement of the Labour Right. Appeasing John Mann and Tom Watson was like appeasing a rabid dog. They needed putting down not stroking. "Over the past five years the Labour Right demonstrated it was happy to unite with the Tories and Zionists and even pay the price of losing the general election to defeat Corbyn. As the Leaked Labour Report made so clear Labour's 'Trot-hunting' paid staff were grief stricken at his 2017 success. "The ‘mistake’ according to the LRC

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Watch out!

“We shall conferencsee if LRC out to bee turns dog or noa lap t.”

PRITI PATEL HAULED UP FOR ILLEGALLY CAGING REFUGEE CHILDREN Priti Patel is illegally detaining child refugees Priti Patel appears to be “flagrantly” breaking the law by holding lone asylum seeking children who cross the Channel in “effective detention” instead of in care, a charity has said. Solicitors acting on behalf of Detention Action have written to the home secretary saying the charity has “significant difficulties identifying what lawful power that you have for holding the children at the Kent Intake Unit”.

Executive was Labour’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of anti-semitism. By making criticism of Israel equivalent to antisemitism there was no longer a need to find members who hated Jews – the normal definition it was enough to criticise Israel's racism and on-going, brutal occupation of Palestine. T h e LRC was w e l l

Priti Patel, Home Secretary The government began holding the vulnerable children at the Border Force facility last week after Kent County Council announced it had reached capacity and could not “safely accommodate any new arrivals” crossing the Channel. The Home Office has failed to reveal how many children are being housed at the facility, which is thought to have capacity for 58 people in a large room, alongside a smaller room for families.

placed to make a strategic intervention during this time. It chose to do nothing. It was capable of challenging Jon Lansman’s dictatorship of Momentum, the primary cause of Labour’s defeat, yet it kept quiet. What purpose does the LRC serve? This is why Tony will oppose adoption of the Executive statement and moving reference back on Saturday. “We shall see if conference turns out to be a lap dog or not.” This is an extract of Tony Greenstein's blog which can be read in full here. CLICK

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Early September 2020

The future of socialism

WORD

few months ago I

We’ve seen what happens

I recommended speaking to

knowledge. If she doesn’t know

community campaigns can share

gave a speech at a

when so-called parties of the Left

Pauline Town, who as the heart

the answer, she always knows

space and compare notes but

Zoom meeting in

abandon their core vote. Our

of the We Shall Overcome

someone who does; and you are

above all be there for people on

which the central

communities, our estates, go

community support network has

not another statistic like you are to

the breadline with nowhere else

question was: “Where Does

unrepresented. In the political

been feeding and helping house

the authorities, you are a person

to turn.

Socialism Go Next?”

vacuum that follows, in walk the

both the visible and invisible

with a name and a life story and

Far Right with their arm around

homeless for five and a half years.

you matter as much as anyone

Poverty is the next political

My argument was simple.

the shoulder and their easy

More than 300 people have a roof

else out there. Pauline’s success

flashpoint. If we fail to address

Forget party politics, Socialism

answers and scapegoats. We saw

over their head tonight thanks to

stems from the fact that she is

this and help alleviate it with

needs boots on the ground in our

this through the recessions of the

Pauline and the local bridges she

Working Class and does not judge.

Socialist principles and direct

communities right now. I wasn’t

early-90’s, we saw this through

has built; so much so that the

She

grassroots community action, in

talking leafleting for meetings

the post-crash Austerity Years,

government’s own statistics put

compassionate,

will walk the Far Right and

no-one attends, or a poster

and once Covid has passed, the

Tameside as the top borough in

understanding, and she is THERE.

Tinderbox UK will go up in the

campaign, or a town centre stall

coming economic calamity will

the country for reducing street

collecting email addresses; I

make both look like a lottery win.

homelessness in spite of its

Thankfully, at least one set of

out. We need to reconnect

relative poverty to the shiny

ears was listening and Hull

Socialism with the Working Class

high-profile

Trades

month

because without people it is just

launch their Unity Shop in the

words in a mouldy old book

Kurdish

wasn’t

talking

intellectual

socialism at all; I was active,

IT IS COMING. And for once

campaigns

dynamic, kinetic Socialism at the

we need to not be as reactionary

grassroots because if we aren’t

as we accuse the Right of being,

there......well, the consequences

we need to be ahead of history

are unthinkable.

and there in the heart of our

every

single

day

communities NOW.

compendium

adjacent Manchester. Pauline feeds up to 100 people and

frontline

patient,

she she

kind of flames none of us can put

Council

this

Centre

gathering dust in a forgotten

there, a place you can get food,

Community

corner of history. Act now before

advice

it is too late.

somewhere

and

assistance; the

various

Joe Solo

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Early September 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

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A Piers to Piers weekend

ast Saturday saw Trafalgar

that amount. It’s a bit like sending a

Square packed with 35,000

fixed penalty notice for landing a

people for a rally of people

Jumbo jet at Heathrow airport without

who think Governments are lying

permission. The same sort of penalty.”

to us over the Covid 19 virus. The

“On whose orders were you arrested?”

Word interviewed, Piers Corbyn

“I asked them and they just said the

the organiser of that rally.

orders came from on high.” “How did the Police treat you when

“Piers, when and how were you ar-

you were locked up?”

rested?”

“Very well. I don’t think the Police in

“They arrested me after the end of the

this country are ready for a Police state

rally when most people had gone and

just yet.”

then a different sort of Police who had

Your appearance on good morning

not been around earlier just turned up

Britain seemed like you were faced by

and grabbed me.”

a gang of school bullies?”

“Where you actually given a bit of

“It was. It was four against one but

paper telling you of the infamous

they still lost.”

£10,000 fine that they had changed

“Was there any discussion before-

the law to allow them to give you?”

hand?”

“They are going to send me a piece of

“No, what you saw was what you got.

paper with a fixed penalty notice for

Piers Morgan just launched into it.”

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early September 2020

WORD

WOMEN WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE

Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan

started to write about

father, Inayat Khan who was a

Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) as

Baker being her mothers maiden

but was recaptured and sent to

Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan

musician and Sufi teacher. After

Nora Inayat Khan on 19 Novem-

name. Soon after her arrival, the

Germany ‘for safe custody’. At

over two years ago but left

spending her early years in Lon-

ber 1940 and towards the end of

Gestapo made multiple arrests

Pforzheim Prison, ‘Nora Baker’

it as I had done articles on war

don, Noor lived with her family in

1941 she applied for a commission

and the undercover network she

was considered highly dangerous

time exploits of other women,

Paris for much of her life.

in Intelligence. In May 1942 she

was part of collapsed.

and kept in isolation with only

such as Nancy Wake in Second

was posted ‘for duties as a wire-

short periods out of chains. De-

World War and Flora Sandes

As a young girl, she was described

less operator’ and sent to Comp-

Noor chose to stay in France in

spite beatings, she refused to co-

in the First World War I.

as quiet, shy, sensitive, and

ton Bassett in Wiltshire, where

order to keep communications

operate.

dreamy. She studied child psy-

she was the first member of the

open with her French comrades.

However she has just been com-

chology at the Sorbonne and

WAAF to receive this extra train-

Having managed to get her radio

On 11 September 1944 she was

memorated by a blue plaque to re-

music at the Paris Conservatory.

ing. She was called to interview in

set from Le Mans to her Paris safe

sent with three other female

member her work and paying the

She began a career writing poetry

London on 10 November 1942 by

house, she was now the only

agents to the Dachau concentra-

ultimate

SOE

and children's stories, and became

the Special Operations Executive

transmitting agent in Paris. By

tion camp. Evidence given at the

(Special Operations Executive)

sacrifice

a regular contributor to children's

(SOE), the independent British Se-

keeping on the move and chang-

War Crimes trials and by surviving

operative in World War II. This is

magazines and French radio. In

cret Service set up by Churchill to

ing her appearance, she was able

prisoners revealed that Noor was

the first plaque in this country

1939, her book, Twenty Jataka

conduct subversive warfare. The

to evade the Germans for three-

singled out for a night of torture

celebrating the achievements of a

Tales, inspired by the Jataka tales

following year she received para-

and-a-half months while continu-

and then, like her comrades, was

Muslim woman. It has been

of Buddhist tradition, was pub-

military training at a number of

ing to transmit messages, via

shot in the head. She had revealed

placed

lished in London.

secret locations across Britain.

radio and the SOE air force, to

nothing to her captors, not even

Baker Street. The Germans had a

her real name, and her last word was said to have been ‘Liberté!’

at 4 Taviton Street in

Bloomsbury where she lived prior to leaving to work for SOE in France.

Despite their pacifist Sufi up-

On the night of 16 June 1943 Noor

full description of ‘Madeleine’ and

bringing, Noor and her family de-

was flown to France. Her task was

had pursued her since July.

cided to move back to England to

to make contact in Paris with

Inayat Khan the eldest of four

join the fight against fascism.

Henri Garry and to serve as his

She was preparing to return to

Guerre with Gold Star on 16 Janu-

children, was born on 1 January

They left France days before the

wireless operator in the Le Mans

England when, on 14 October, she

ary 1946 and, on 5 April 1949, the

1914 in Moscow

fall of Paris in June 1940 to return

area. Her codename was ‘Made-

was betrayed. She was captured

George Cross.

to England.

leine’ – the name of a character

by the Gestapo and taken to their

Talented, brave and beautiful she

from one of her own stories.

Paris headquarters at Avenue

packed a lot into her thirty years

Her other alias was Nora Baker,

Foch. Noor escaped at least twice

on this planet!

to an American mother, the poet Amina Begum and an Indian

Noor enlisted in the Women’s

She was awarded the Croix de

THE

WORD

Early September 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

Sunak Attempts to Leapfro

Conservative chancellor will rinse the wealthy B

it by bit, Chancellor Rishi

Young Rishi not only speaks with

As Johnson and his hapless

plain Keith Starkers, something he

members

Sunak appears to have

an accent just like Blair's, but by

Education Secretary are likely to

is already being called by his

disproportionate numbers

been adopting a Corbyn

removing Labour's clothes one by

“Turn Again Williamson” before or

handlers over in Israel?

for expressing views about

approach to the economy while

one, has shown himself to be in

shortly after the proposed return of

Starmer opposes it hoping that by

contention for the highest office.

school pupils to their manifestly

When a "100% Zionist" finds that

that

un-fully prepared classrooms, the

people disrespect him by getting his

encouraged in bars and cafés from Tel Aviv to Eilat,

keeping the flame of Blair alive, he

Israel and about Judaism are

actively

can step into Johnson's shoes

By stating that he intends to soak

Labour Leader will be left flapping

name

when the PM steps down to take

the wealthy, while Starmer says no,

like a flounder, still burbling, "No ifs,

ideological soul mate, Thatcher's

yet cannot be voiced openly

all his paternity leave at once,

please don't hurt people like me,

no buts, no equivocation - return all

mentor and another massively

within the UK Labour Party; this

leaving him about five years free

Sunak looks both more radical, and

pupils to full time education," in his

Zionist Sir Keir Joseph, then he may

is what could be called institutional

to appear on Have I Got News For

more vigorous than Labour, despite

'Starmzy' rapper mode – a poor

as well join the People's Movement

anti-Semitism.

You, while siring untold numbers

his being so slim that he has been

tribute to the real thing. Go

for the Wrong Kind of Jews. That

of sprogs on unsuspecting young

compared with three nine-year-old

Stormzy, go Marcus Rashford, go

the disrespect comes from the

Meanwhile Rishi Sunak tries to look

ladies in secret court injunction

boys

Black Lives Matter.

people he reverences most in the

like the People's Chancellor, better

protected trysts.

shoulders inside a Savile Row suit.

Land

sitting

each

other’s

muddled

Loves

with

leaves

his

him

than Old Labour's John McDonnell,

And another item of clothing drops

profoundly marginalised in all

who not only could not understand

off Labour’s emperor.

directions, mainly that of his bosses.

Modern Monetary Theory, but resisted any attempt to educate him

How long will it be before Sir Keir

His Party Machine continues to

on it by eminent professors who

Starmer becomes thought of as

discipline

did.

individual

Jewish

THE

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

g Sir Starmer

Early September 2020

WORD

Agony Aunt I

â€™m writing to you in response to your agony aunt column .

Madge gives some terrible advice , always spiteful and condescending, just like her. I would however like to see her answer to this query for me . I have a problem with men, Iâ€™m a woman by the way, men are almost all useless and I find it difficult to restrain myself from kicking them if I pass one in the street. Can she tell me how she would deal with that?

Letters To The Editor

e have started to notice a few of you

have

something to say about our articles and features. So here is our brand new email address for you to have your say. letters@thewordmedia.org Please use it and let us know what you think

THE

WORD

Late July 2020

On this day

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

JUSTICE CALL FOR MURDERED PROTEST LEADER Berta Caceres gun down in her home

September 10th. 1960 – At the Olympics in Rome, Abebe Bikila becomes the first sub-Saharan African to win a gold medal, winning the marathon in bare feet. Deaths 1676 – Gerrard Winstanley, English Protestant religious reformer, political philosopher, and activist (b. 1609). Leader of a Levellers group known as The Diggers. 1985 Jock Stein, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1922). First manager of a British Club, Celtic, to win the European Cup. Holidays and Observances. World Suicide Prevention Day. September 11th. 1973 – A coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet topples the democratically elected president Salvador Allende. 1997 – NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor reaches Mars. 1997 After a nationwide referendum, Scotland votes to establish a devolved parliament within the United Kingdom. 2001 - Attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon by Al Qaeda terrorists in 4 p[lanes results in loss of over 3,000 lives and the destruction of the former. Deaths 2014 – Donald Sinden, English actor (b. 1923) September 12th. 1851 – Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine. 1865 – Joseph Lister, British surgeon and scientist, performs 1st antiseptic surgery. 1914 – World War I: The United Kingdom declares war on Austria-Hungary; the countries of the British Empire follow suit. 1964 – South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country’s racist policies. Deaths 30 BC – Cleopatra, Egyptian queen (b. 69 BC)

ALL LIVES MATTER!

f we take a narrow definition of Black then we might miss injustices against indigenous peoples that have been going on for centuries.

Currently Rohingha people in Myanmar (Burma) and Uigher in China are suffering greatly. However Inuits in North America, aborigines in Australia and Amerindians in S. America have suffered great abuses in the past and still do today. I had started an article in the series ‘Women who made a Difference, on Berta Caceres, pictured, which I will publish

in the next edition. However I spotted an appeal in Amnesty Magazine’s autumn edition which I would like readers to support.

It reads: “Urge the President of Honduras to ensure the justice system tries and punishes those

responsible for the assassination of Berta Cáceres; and that the government implements comprehensive protection measures for Council of Popular and Indigenous Peoples of Honduras adapted to their needs and in consultation with them”.

Write to either or both addresses below President Juan Hernández Alvarado Casa Presidencial Bulevar Juan Pablo II Tegucigalpa Honduras E-mail: info¤presidencia.gob.hn Salutation: Dear President

Excellency Mr Ivan Romero-Martinez Embassy of Honduras 4th. Floor 136 Baker Street London W1U 6UD E-mail: hondurasuk¤lineone.net Salutation: Your Excellency

Berta was the leader and cofounder of COPINH. Her most recent campaign was against the construction of a huge hydroelectric project on the Guarlcarque River and Lenca ancestral lands. She was killed for her role in the campaign. She knew the danger from her adversaries and I quote from her: “Wherever the struggle is...there is one thing in common: the voracity of the transnational corporations and the ambition of these nonpersons who govern us who give away to business the richnesses that belong to everyone.” Piers Corbyn

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

80s Music Compilation 1 Which single gave Whitney Houston her first UK number one in 1985?

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early September 2020

WORD

The Word

2. Who is the lead singer of the band Frankie Goes to Hollywood? 3. Which singer-songwriter’s real name is Michael Barratt? 4. What was the best-selling single of the 1980s in the UK? 5. What year was Live Aid? 6. Madness had 15 top ten hits in the 80s but only one of them reached number one – what was it? 7. What type of dance did Men Without Hats take into the charts in three-month run on Broadway – in 1983? which play did he appear? 8. Which singer won the Eurovision 16. Who sang 1984 hit All Cried Out? Song Contest twice in the 80s – the only person ever to do so – and for 17. Which popular AC/DC album was which country? the first to feature new vocalist Brian Johnson? 9. What is Culture Club frontman Boy George’s real name? 18. Who sang the title track of 80s Bond film The Living Daylights? 10. Which U2 album gave the Irish band their first US No.1 album? 19. In which iconic music video do Queen parody Coronation Street? 11. Name the song: “It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you 20. Now associated with rick rolling, There’s nothing that a hundred men which 1987 Rick Astley song became or more could ever do” number one in 25 countries?

Andrea Faulkner Answers

13. Cloud Nine

1 Saving All My Love For You

14. Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe

2. Holly Johnson

15. The Elephant Man

3. Shakin’ Stevens

16. Alison Moyet

4. Do They Know It’s Christmas – Band Aid

17. Back in Black 18. A-ha

5. 1985 19. I Want to Break Free 6. House Of Fun 20. Never Gonna Give You Up 7. The Safety Dance 21. Don’t Stop Believin’ 8. Johnny Logan for Ireland 22. Robert de Niro 9. George O’Dowd 23. The Proclaimers

12. How many albums did Prince 21. Which 1981 Journey song failed 10. The Joshua Tree release in the 1980s (including those to crack the UK Top 40 on release, 11. Africa by Toto credited to Madhouse?) then reached number 6 in 2009? 13. Which 1987 album by George 22. Which famous actor was waiting Harrison, the last one record of his for Bananarama in 1984? released in his lifetime, was coproduced by ELO’s Jeff Lynne? 23. Which band was awaiting a Letter from America? 14. Name the two members of Pet Shop Boys, who formed after 24. Who went straight to number meeting in a shop in London in 1981? one in 1981 with Stand and Deliver? 15. After the release of his 1980 25. Who was Christmas Number One album Scary Monsters and Super in 1988 with Mistletoe and Wine? Creeps, David Bowie performed in a

12. 11

24. Adam and the A 25. Cliff Richard

THE

WORD

Early September 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

Vegan recipes

WHOLEMEAL BREAD

Cooking with Chris Williamson

QUICK CARROT AND POTATO SOUP Ingredients 1 Large red onion, peeled and chopped 1 Large potato, peeled and chopped 4 Large carrots, peeled and chopped 1 litre of water Sea salt Black pepper Chives and parsley, chopped.

Ingredients 450g strong stoneground wholemeal flour 1 level dessertspoon fine sea salt 2 level teaspoons (or a 7g packet) fast action dried yeast 350ml of hand-hot water

Method Soften the onion, potato and carrots with a small amount of water, then the one litre of water and simmer for 10 â€“ 12 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

METHOD Mix the flour, salt and yeast together Now put the dough into a 2lb baking thoroughly. tin and sprinkle the surface with a dusting of flour. Cover loosely with Add the water then mix together for clingfilm and leave to rise for around around five minutes to gradually to 30 minutes. It may rise more quickly form a dough. in a warm environment.

upside down, after you have removed it from the tin, for a further 5-6 minutes to crisp the base and sides.

Combine the couscous, roasted vegetables (including garlic), and Then place the dough on a floured Then place in the centre of a pre- parsley in a bowl, and stir to combine. surface and knead for two minutes heated oven at 200Â°C, gas mark 6 for Season with more salt and pepper if and form it into an oblong shape. 40 minutes. If you like it crusty desired. Serve warm or cold! bread, return the loaf to the oven

Add the salt and black pepper then liquidise. Finally, add the chives and parsley. It is genuinely delicious served with the warm, freshly made wholemeal bread.

THE

www.thewordmedia.org

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early September 2020

WORD

ALLSUDOKU THIS OVER A SONG? “There have been no moves or demands from the left, or from the semi-mythical 'Woke Crowd,' to get any traditional songs re-written for the Proms” The BBC is removing imperialist

carrier Nick Robinson and neo-

“Applaud British Imperialism and

lyrics from performances of Rule!

aristocrat

Kuenssberg,

slave-trading, without which,

Britannia and Land Of Hope &

among others, as their main

slavery would never have been

Glory

political reporters?)

abolished!”

Proms. What seems a minor

Online dog-whistler for this

No movement exists to induce

gesture has faced ear-splitting

knee-jerk jingoism is, yes, Nigel

personal guilt in the present-day

outrage from the sorts of chest-

Farage, MP for the constituency

British

bangers who never realise that

of Failed-To-Get-Elected-Seven-

international

this subject is not worth the

Times. He tweeted that the BBC

atrocities either then or now

powder-and-shot. Right wingers,

should be disbanded. Parricidal,

(British

more patriotic than mindful,

surely, given how often the BBC

quietly appalling). But see the

complained loudly on social

have

unmistakeable defensive reflex

media with bellyaches about

Question Time?

its

chest-banging

Laura

musical event, Last Night Of The

platformed

him

over

the

country's

atrocities

behaviour

–

remains

in many right-wing responders;

'political correctness', 'cultural

they decry other countries'

Marxism' and leftist 'hatred of

Objections to lyrics such as,

similar crimes, suggest British

the UK'. The usual tedious

“Rule!” and “wider still, and

slavers were not as bad as foreign

clichés of ultra-sensitive tough-

wider” (meaning the British

ones – debatable and hardly

types.

dominion stretching ever further

demonstrating

around the globe in the 18th-to-

slavers were “not bad enough” –

sad

that

British

storm-in-an-egg-cup.

19th centuries) are for their

and claim that, because Britain is

These same people largely seem

unashamed endorsement of self-

(wrongly) credited as “First

completely relaxed about the

enriching conquest, and actual

country to abolish slavery,”

new recession, and the chaotic

enslavement

Blighty is off the hook.

Government response to the

innocents.

countless

Covid-19 pandemic. A song gets

The first two arguments are just

colonialism when Britons are

What is wanted is not personal

that

distractions,

colonisers; Britain - proclaiming

guilt over the Empire. No one can

sole

preposterous; like saying, “I've

the collapse of Empire an act of

affect what happened before

conqueror. “Other countries were

stopped repeatedly hitting you

benevolence, when it was forced

their birth. But what is wanted

over

by the strain of endless wars, and

from

acknowledgement

them angry? Sadder still, the

Right

objection stems from a false

Britain

assumption; there have been no moves or demands from the

wingers was

counter not

the

worse!” Up steps

the

head

third

with

this

Andrew Neil “This to insist hypocri sy, the Crowd,' to get any that traditional songs British British re-written for the slaveEstablishment's Proms. The BBC trading multi-generational itself made this was a decision – hardly a bulwark absurd pastime, left-wing against, nauseates the organisation. (What er, the world.” left-wing organisation slave-trade.

sharpened brick. So, thank me

when

for generously stopping, while I

termination of hitting colonies

terrible past. More honesty. Less

tell everyone how heroic I am for

over their heads with sharpened

ignorance. Greater sensitivity.

not bricking your head anymore.”

bricks. Other countries find this

Most of all, recognition is wanted

self-congratulation, for merely

of the benefits modern Britain

British

ceasing

crimes,

inherited from slavery, the racial

multi-

thoroughly nauseating. It is

inequality it has left us, and the

generational absurd pastime,

nauseating.

scars the nation's ancestors left

nauseates the world. Britain –

ignoring how Britain enriched

morally opposed to colonialism

itself on enormous resources

when

stolen violently from other

would have Tory Party card-

colonisers; Britain - proud of

Truly; -

hypocrisy,

Establishment's

other

the

countries

are

peoples.

merely

commit It

the

dishonest,

mythical

This

was

British

left, or from the semi'Woke

the

on cultures worldwide. By Martin Odoni

that

THE

WORD

Early September 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

Wildlife D

THE

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Diary

POLITICS AND EVENTS

Early September 2020

WORD

THE

WORD

Early September 2020

POLITICS AND EVENTS

www.thewordmedia.org

LEEDS UNITED'S BANK HOLIDAY SPENDING SPREE

COCK ROBIN ARRIVES AT ELLAND ROAD M arco Bielsa, manager of Leeds United, has strengthened his squad ahead of their first Premier League season for a generation.

reliably.

The Football League Championship winners lost loan defender, Ben White, who has returned to parent club Brighton & Hove Albion. Bielsa has signed Brazil-born Spanish International Rodrigo Moreno from Valencia for €30m. An attacking midfielder who also plays wide, Rodrigo will boost an attack that, despite promotion from the second tier, struggles to convert chances

Both newcomers should start against Liverpool in the first match of the season, on 12th September.

The defensive hole left by White is to be filled by Bielsa's new 'Cock Robin' - Robin Koch from German club Freiberg – fee undisclosed.

The defence is still a little light so Bielsa has been looking for a loan, such as English / Congolese player Axel Tuanzebe, who has not had many starts for his present club, Manchester United. Tuanzebe is highly rated by many managers.

Bielsa has signed Brazilborn Spanish International Rodrigo Moreno from Valencia for €30m

Rumours suggest Leeds are also hunting for quality left-backs, if for no other reason than their scarcity Without European football to distract, and a tendency to crash out of the FA Cup early, Leeds will be able to focus on gaining a top half, or even top-half-of-the-tophalf, finish, Coronavirus intervention notwithstanding.

Shirt numbers available to Koch and Rodrigo: No.5: Worn last season by loanee Ben White, who is now back at Brighton and is unlikely to return. No.8: Nobody has worn the No.8 shirt for Leeds since midfielder Vurnon Anita in 2017/18. A number usually associated with a central midfielder, such as Luke Murphy and Rodolph Austin previously, but Billy Sharp did wear it during his time at Leeds.

The defensive hole left by White is to be filled by Bielsa's new 'Cock Robin' - Robin Koch from German club Freiberg – fee undisclosed.

THE

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POLITICS AND EVENTS

ewis Hamilton was in total

on the calendar and in Italy Hamilton

control in Belgium, leading

will look to continue to build upon the

from start to finish to extend

gap.

was the Briton’s 89th career win,

Solid Verstappen The Dutchman has been consistent this

his lead at the top to 47 points. This

year, being the only driver to fight Pointless Ferrari

taking him to within two victories of Schumacher’s

against the Mercedes. Apart from the first race of the season in Austria where

record.

This was a weekend to forget for both

Verstappen did not finish due to

Valtteri Bottas finished in second

the Ferrari drivers. After failing to make

mechanical problems, the 22-year-old

with Max Verstappen right behind.

it into Q3, the disappointment

has finished in the podium in all races,

With the Belgian Grand Prix now

continued for Sebastian Vettel and

being the only non-Mercedes driver to

finished, we look at the talking

Charles Leclerc with the two finishing

win at least one. Max has long been the

outside the points. This was a new low

standout young driver in the grid but

for the Italian team, having previously

mistakes and inconsistency have failed

won the previous two races in Spa. Next

him in years gone by but in 2020, the

driver

week in Monza, the Tifosi are playing at

Red Bull driver has shown a level of

continues to relentlessly

home and will be hoping for a better

maturity that can make him a World

performance.

Champion in the future, whether for

points of the weekend. Brilliant Hamilton The

Mercedes

pursue his seventh World Champion title and in Spa,

Hamilton

Red Bull or another team. Italy is the Superb Renault

dominated yet again,

next stop for the teams next week for one of the fastest races in the

leading from start to

The French team had a great result,

calendar. Monza is Ferrari’s home

finish.

seven

Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon

circuit but without supporters

rounds, Hamilton

crossing the chequered flag in fourth

the prancing horse will have

has won five,

and fifth, respectively. This was Renault’s

one less thing to carry them to

building a 47-

best result since they returned to

victory. Lewis Hamilton will be

point gap to

Formula 1 in 2016. The poor results from

looking to increase the gap to

Bottas in the

Ferrari, Racing Point and McLaren

Bottas while Verstappen will want

process.

means the spot for the third best team in

to push the two Mercedes cars to the

the constructors is wide open.

limit. By Paulo Pedro

WORD

Lewis Hamilton stretched his lead at the top

This was Renault’s best result since they returned to Formula 1 in 2016.

Michael

Early September 2020

Monza is next

This was a new low for the Italian team, having previously won the previous two races in Spa

£20 million gets Wilson If

manager Jürgen Klopp cannot sell the winger, he will feature in the Reds’

first team squad with Grujic. In the meantime Bayern midfield player Thiago Alcantara has paused his possible transfer to Manchester United in favour of a move to Liverpool. The smart money says he’s hoping that United will increase their offer and terms on the grounds that Liverpool may be interested in him, assuming they can sell some players.

L O O P LIVER T U O R A CLE e k a m Reds r e f s n a r t n o i s i c e d

After three seasons on loan, Liverpool FC have decided that 3 year old

Harry Wilson is for sale, or possibly not. They’ve decided to Love him or List him, but one thing is for sure, he’s not going to be loaned out. Together with Marko Grujic, Wilson can be sold to other clubs tabling realistic bids.