Lansbury's Lido

"Our real enemy is not the ones living in a distant land whose names or policies we don't understand. The real enemy is a system that wages war when it's profitable, the CEOs who lay us off our jobs when it's profitable, the Insurance Companies who deny us Health care when it's profitable, the Banks who take away our homes when it's profitable. Our enemies are not several hundred thousands away. They are right here in front of us." - Mike Prysner He's not wrong you know.

:(

Look what was done in the aftermath of the Second World War, when Britain was a 'bankrupt nation'. strands of Socialism and Christianity, hand in hand, creating the NHS and bringing so much to all. And now we are in a time of plenty when the concept of 'austerity' touted by the Tory, LibDem and unfortunately Labour spivs is being used to rip apart this unique institution. It seems we can only weep.

Says it all really.

*Madrid Austerity Demo 25-9-12* - Images by Guy Smallman Some great photos from Guy Smallman of the protests against Spain's austerity cuts.

The Enemy Within: Mi5, Maxwell and the Scargill Affair by Seumas Milne My rating: 5 of 5 stars Been meaning to read this book since it came out but never got round to it. I really, really wish I'd read it sooner though. It's a book that will change how you view the country that you dwell in, how your thoughts of the benevolence of the state crumble to dust. How a book that exposes such corruption and malpractice at the heart of government, the state and the establishment didn't create an impetus for massive changes is beyond me. Now even in 2012 we can see and know that such duplicity and subversion by the state continues unabated. This book has also brought to the front a lot of emotion in me - anger, despair, helplessness yet also a feeling that something has to change. A must read for anyone interested in freedom, politics, the working class and the role of trades unions. View all my reviews

Let's not forget Billy's request regarding The Sun.

Thought I'd expand upon a tweet I made upon learning Jeremy Hunt was to be the new Health Secretary. So let's have a look at some of Hunt's comments and thoughts on the NHS and medicine. Back in 2005 he co-authored a publication called 'Direct Democracy: An Agenda for a New Model Party'. In it Hunt came out with this telling quote: 1. “Our ambition should be to break down the barriers between private and public provision, in effect denationalising the provision of health care in Britain.” (Direct Democracy: An Agenda for a New Model Party, 2005, pg 78) Then in 2007 he gave us his views on homoeopathy and the NHS with a Parliamentary Early Day Motion: That this House welcomes the positive contribution made to the health of the nation by the NHS homeopathic hospitals; notes that some six million people use complementary treatments each year; believes that complementary medicine has the potential to offer clinically-effective and cost-effective solutions to...

I used to be in the Labour Party and somehow still reminisce through rose tinted glasses about how we were going to change the world. Mad romantic dreamer that I am. Step forward Ed Miliband to blow away the fog of remembrance to once again bring clear the reality of Her Majesty's Opposition - with a speech designed to placate the City and the financiers, you know, those organisations that elected him. (Note to self - western liberal democracy is not all it's cracked up to be.) Ed Miliband. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) So Comrade Ed has made a speech to the City in the City of London. Let's stop here and ask a question or two. Who voted you in Ed? Who are you meant to represent? Who do you answer to? I think in theory it's meant to be the electorate but somehow the world has been turned upside down and the electorate don't really matter that much. Why has Comrade Ed not made a speech in the crap housing estates that governments of all colours seem to forget ...

A cook sautees onions and peppers. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Well, it's been about 2 weeks since I gave up eating meat. It's really been no struggle or concern at all, and it shouldn't be - simply not eating meat is perhaps one of the easiest dietary changes you can make. It also helps with Mrs Lansbury's Lido being meat-free for a year or so now. With sharing the cooking I'm just so used to cooking without meat it's really quite simple. The most awkward thing is having two sons who eat meat, always having to think about how to provide for them. Often they'll have what we have, else I'll cook them something meat-based. Has going without meat led to any benefits healthwise? Not that I can see - I'm as unfit and lardy now as I was then although I have developed a certain smug glow realising that my decisions mean less cruelty for those doe-eyed animals that used to end up on my plate. And for the future who knows? I can certainly see mysel...

Aw, diddums, seems that secularists may be so offended by someone wearing, gasp... a cross, that top government lawyers have had to be brought in to offer them the full protection of the law. According to the Telegraph  Christians should 'leave their beliefs at home or get another job' The background of the situation is the four Christians taking a legal challenge across to the European courts to try to overturn what they see as discriminatory practices against them. There are a number of issues being looked at but the one that interests me the most is that of wearing a cross or crucifix and how that seems to inflammatory as to require government legal input. Every faith or distinction, religious or not has it's own fundamentalist or it's own Fred Phelps and it seems that the masses of the secularists and humanists have their very own in James Eadie QC. He is reported as saying: James Eadie QC, acting for the government, told the European court that the refusal...

You've probably seen the papers by now trumpeting how the government are going to make squatting a criminal offence http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367433/Squatting-crime-Police-able-turf-intruders.html However, I would suggest that the reasons for this new law are political, social and economic. Taken from the direct.gov website section on squatting: Link If you live in your home or are about to If you currently live in your home and come back to find squatters who won’t leave, this would make you a ‘displaced residential occupier’. You should call the police to report a crime. If you are planning to move into a property, but are not currently living there you may be considered a ‘protected intending occupier’. You can read Section 12A of the Criminal Law Act 1977 for definitions of protected intending occupiers, but if you are unsure, you should contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau. It is a crime (except in certain circumstances) for a person to tresp...

Hmm. Could be some truth in there! Pic courtesy of Jemmy at Swearing at the telly

The Daily Mail headline screams " Middle-class benefit cheat wife claimed to be single mum while husband earned £1,500 a week and son went to private school ". She screwed £11,500 out of the tax payers. David Laws did the tax payers over for £40,000 in MPs' expenses which he wasn't entitled to. She has found it difficult to get employment as she has been branded a scrounger. David Laws was suspended from Parliament but doesn't need to work with an estimated personal wealth of £1 to £2 million and a previous career as a parasitic investment banker. She now faces jail as she finds it difficult to repay the cash as she effectively can't get employment. David Laws is now being brought back into government by his chum Cameron. I know whose behaviour I would be thinking of as the worse of the two but it's a funny old world. If anyone might be thinking, I'm not picking on Laws personally, it's just that he makes an obvious target.

Nicked in full from Mick Hall's blog Organised Rage . Dunno where he got it from though! The sad thing is, some of our 'Christian' politicians could read this and thought that this was what the Bible said. A sample of what the Scriptures might look like if Jesus had actually been a Tory or Orange book Liberal Democrat. When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at his home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw this he grew angry, “Why did you wreck my roof? Do you have any idea how much that cost to install? Do you know how many tables and chairs I had to make in ...

...is sauce for, er, sorry, obviously doesn't apply to thieving career politicians.

Well a few days ago I gave up meat. A small step to another way of eating or an even smaller step along a journey? Who knows? So what do I mean when I say that I have become a vegetarian? It means that I have given up eating meat, that tasty stuff you fry, roast, grill, grind and process, the flesh of animals. I haven't given up animal products, I'm still eating butter, milk and wearing leather on my feet. Maybe that's for the future, maybe not. Do I still eat fish? Don't know, haven't crossed that bridge yet. The reason? Perhaps the first and most pressing is simply cruelty. There have been a number of news reports recently where cruelty has been exposed in piggeries and elsewhere. One of the most shocking for me was the case of Harling Farm in Norfolk exposed by the group Animal Equality . Like most people I read the story with horror, maybe watched some of the edited video footage and then went back to knocking up a bacon sandwich. But something brought ...

Just had to repost this from Stuff Fundies Like

Jesus Clears the Temple - Matthew 21 12 Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 13 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” 14 The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them. 15 The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the Temple shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David.” But the leaders were indignant. 16 They asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” “Yes,” Jesus replied. “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.’” 17 Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.

This should make you think! H/T Annarky's Blog Micah White's Thought Bubble: Junk Thought from ThoughtBubbler on Vimeo .

Sometimes you just happen upon things which have the potential to turn your world upside down or to make your eyes bulge. Well happened to me the other day as I was reading through a book called "The Soviets At Work" by a certain Nikolai Lenin. Yes, that's him who you likely know simply as Lenin. It was written by Lenin to highlight how the Russian Soviet was dealing with the issues of organisation. A difficult situation in Russia in 1917 as would be expected. What I find difficult is that I seem to detect a tone throughout the whole book where Lenin portrays the Bolsheviks as the true vanguard of the revolution. I can see how he might do this to take power away from other factions but to me it comes across as almost creating a new class of people - the career politicians and party layabouts. Take for example this extract: The revolution has just broken the oldest, the strongest and the heaviest chains to which the masses were compelled to submit. So it was yest...

RIP

Don't you just love old English nursery rhymes? Scratch the surface and you'll often find a truth. Here's one about The Commons: They hang the man and flog the woman that steal the goose from off the common, but let the greater villain loose that steals the common from the goose. The law demands that we atone when we take things we do not own, but leaves the lords and ladies fine Who take things that are yours and mine. They hang the man and flog the woman Who steals the goose from off the common And geese will still a common lack Till they go and steal it back. English Nursery Rhyme c. 1764 And here's a more modern form with David Rovics - The Commons

Announcement below copied from the IWW UK website. http://iww.org.uk/node/771 Anyone know what the hell is going on?? Bloody awful development if it is as true as it reads. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT regarding recent developments surrounding the IWW Cleaners' Branch Posted 17 Aug 2012 by astrenoir  It has become clear from statements put out by Alberto Durango and Chris Ford that they intend to create a break away organisation from the IWW. This is not only in breach of our constitutional rules and principles, not least the core Industrial Unionist principle of the One Big Union, but also places the workers who leave in a very vulnerable position as they will no longer be afforded the protection which members of the IWW benefit from. The IWW has committed much time and effort in supporting the cleaners in their struggles, with Fellow Workers from all branches becoming actively involved. The union as a whole has invested a great deal to ensure the success of their campaigns...

Nice cover by JayDee. H/T Annarky's Blog

I bet the Daily Mail couldn't believe their luck, being able to link Socialism and all those words with negative connotations! Mind you, they missed a trick with not linking these events with the Channel Tunnel.

Nothing comedic about this but when the wealthy and the elites dodge their just tax they really do make sure.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Yup, that's what the BBC News site says here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19174649 But Capitalism is a beast with a rapacious appetite. It has to be filled with profit or it becomes violent. Which means that once again the working class, the poor and the less able bodied will pay to feed the hunger of the wealthy. (Apologies to the shark)