Lansbury's Lido

Rummaging through the online version of Hansard looking at the questions asked by George Lansbury , like one does and I came across this little gem: ROYAL AIR FORCE (BOMBING ATTACKS). HC Deb 12 April 1923 vol 162 cc1300-1 1300 § 60. Mr. LANSBURY asked the Secretary of State for Air how many punitive expeditions have been undertaken by the Air Force during the year ending 28th March against tribesmen in India and Arabs and other nationals in Iraq and countries adjacent: how many casualties have been suffered by our airmen; how many persons of other nationalities have been killed or wounded; what damage has been inflicted on villages or towns; and will he state what bombs were used? § The SECRETARY of STATE for AIR (Lieut.-Colonel Sir Samuel Hoare) During the year ending 28th March last, bombing attacks were carried out in connection with the various military operations in Waziristan, but there were no independent punitive expeditions carried out by the Royal Air Force against...

I know Christmas is a while away yet but if my local supermarkets can have their Christmas goodies on sale in October then I can damn well post about Christmas. Actually the post isn't about Christmas, I'm just using it to emotionally blackmail you! A recent edition of the Morning Star had a report on the deaths of some civilians in Guinea . Not an issue worthy of a report or mention in the more high faluting dailies unless I missed it? Anyways, the government of Guinea, installed via a coup has been accused of killing civilians using equipment purchased under the pretext of it being used solely for 'border control'. They purchased the Armoured Personnel Carriers called Mambas from a company called Alvis OMC, owned by the world's favourite arms manufacturer BAE Systems It's one of the odd things about capitalism - the separation of profit from conscience and morality. How we can make money from things we would recoil in horror from were we to witness th...

Yes I know I'm a bit late to the party on this but what the hell! The appearance of Nick Griffin of the BNP on a recent edition of Question Time on the BBC has ruffled a few feathers in the political and activist landscape, particularly among those who subscribe to a concept known as 'No Platform'. No Platform is a political position that actively opposes allowing alleged fascists to express their views in public. It basically means that the propogation of fascist ideas and concepts shouldn't be allowed to be vocalised using publicly funded platforms or in areas where the left controls the platform, such as student unions, trade unions and also the media organisations such as the BBC. Leastways that's what I can pin this concept down to. So the BBC offering a platform to people like Nick Griffin goes against the principle of No Platform and will generate protests and action. Which is what happened at the BBC studios. The supporters of No Platform include s...

We see daily on the news and in the papers headlines such as "Industrial Suicide" and "Posties' Anger Over Temps". And I bet many, many people will be trotting out the usual recycled misinformation and blaming the posties. "Lucky to have a job", "Bunch of troublemakers", "Wreckers!". In our media we rarely see behind the scenes of industrial disputes and never venture further than the politicised media headlines before constructing who's to blame and how to put it right. Here's an excellent diary type item that goes behind the scenes of the dispute from the postie's point of view. Old people still write letters the old-fashioned way: by hand, with a biro, folding up the letter into an envelope, writing the address on the front before adding the stamp. Mostly they don’t have email, and while they often have a mobile phone – bought by the family ‘just in case’ – they usually have no idea how to send a text. So Peter Ma...

To my mind some of the most beautiful sounds ever have come from the Eastern Orthodox Church, particularly the Slavic regions. The soundtrack to the video below takes me to another place! And here's one of the most moving human creations ever!

Listening to one of my favourite Pink Floyd albums the other day, The Final Cut. Perhaps for me the best track is The Fletcher Memorial Home. It got me thinking about how many of the glorious leaders across the world since the Falklands Conflict would now be eligible for residency........... Anyways, enjoy the song.

A complete repost of an article from The Third Estate . Please repost the post from The Third Estate . Written by: Owen - October 12, 2009 Earlier this evening The Guardian was served with a gagging order forbidding it from reporting parliamentary business. To quote the article in the paper itself: Today’s published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found. The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented – for the first time in memory – from reporting parliament. Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret. The only fact the Guardian can report is that the case involves the London solicitors Carter-Ruck, who specialise in suing the me...

Image via Wikipedia Gary McKinnon has had his extradition appeal and finally run out of options within the justice system in the UK. Hopefully he'll be appealing through the European Court of Human Rights. The High Court, which turned down his extradition challenge, decided the case did not raise 'points of law of general public importance' - a prerequisite of being able to pursue a case at the higher level.  Quite how the imposition of a one-sided extradition treaty is not in the general public interest seems to have been lost on the UK legal system. Obviously would've upset the status quo. His mother has said: No other country in the world would so readily offer its citizens to the US as sacrificial lambs merely to safeguard a "special political relationship".  And she'd be right. Quite what it is about the UK's politicians and legal system that transforms them into Uncle Sam's lapdogs is beyond my ken. Mind you, now Obama's astonishi...

Given George Osborne's threat that "We're all this together" it gives me an excuse to embed a video from The Pirates. I still have this on a 12" single. Somewhere. Quite apt really given the Tory's and NL's planned piracy of the dignity of the poor and unemployed. As the lyrics go: Brothers can you hear me Are we getting taken for a ride We're all in it together

For a long time now I have a had a friend request on Facebook from Mary Honeyball. I assume it's the political one as it comes with a picture of her. I'm a bit bemused by the friend request since given her high levels of God knocking in the past I do have to wonder why she would be interested in a God-botherer like myself? Perhaps I should give in and add her as a friend. Perhaps she wants to convert me?

Those caring and sharing Tories are at last showing their caring side and have knocked up some proposals to deal with the issue of care for the elderly. BBC NEWS | Politics | Tories unveil care home guarantee Actually it's all bollocks. The nasty party are just throwing some schemes around to enable their parasitic friends, private capital to get more of their blood stained fingers into the pie that is the NHS, and also into the savings of the vulnerable. They are saying that you can have care in your old age if you cough up £8000 when you hit 65. This 8 grand is trousered by the insurance industry ( interesting how many MPs and ex-MPs grace the boards of insurance companies eh? ) So not only is private capital being given a backdoor into the NHS but you can only benefit if you have the money. And if you haven't got the money? Tough, FOAD as they say. Wasn't the NHS brought into existence to just deal with the injustices of a system where health care was availabl...