Kick out the Tories

Following the awful  terrorist atrocity in Manchester last Monday, we must remain dedicated to unite people from divisions currently effecting our society. Lets not forget that because of security and intelligence cuts, the Tories have failed to protect us.
The general election campaign is now back in full swing and the latest polls suggest that Theresa May could be losing her lead. Theresa May called this general election in a cynical attempt to crush the opposition to her hard Brexit, we must continue to work together to stop the Tories getting a landslide and pushing through her destructive policies. If we don't we could be forced to live with the devastating  consequences for years to come.
Theresa May has shown herself to be a poor choice for Britain's future. She keeps inflicting on us her cruel policies for the few and not the many.This week she u-turned over her manifesto commitment, nicknamed the "dementia tax". Theresa May even had the audacity to pay Google Ads to try and stop people talking about it, but it  has only had the effect of encouraging absolutely everyone to talk about it,  huge swathes of people sharing the story on social media. Also over the course of her short premiership she has flip-flopped on at least nine policy pledges.  https://infacts.org/theresa-mays-top-9-flip-flops/.Does this sound like a strong and stable leader, I don't flipping think so. In addition she and the rest of the Tories are increasingly indulging in the politics of fear. We must continue in our efforts to stop her  in her tracks and making a mess of our country. Another tory win will destroy the NHS, continue to inflict damage on our public services, combined with there cruel welfare cuts, the likelihood of pushing  millions  of us further into poverty is a very real threat indeed.
Forget what the pollsters and bookies tell you, ignore the Tory medias campaign of distortion and falsification and bias, rags like the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, the Express and the Scum, that keep carry on pumping out the same disingeneous and divisive rubbish, with the BBC also guilty misleading people into parroting Tory narratives and soundbites.
We should not forget the Tory's  ruthless, toxic and unjust policies. Their constant assaults  on the N.H.S, the Royal Mail, people on welfare, the disadvantaged, the poor, which includes poorly paid workers, then we've got people using food banks, pensioners with slashed fuel allowances, the hated bedroom  tax, rising homelessness, dodgy benefit assessments. The list goes on and on,.
it is still possible to stop the Tories wreaking havoc on the nation and block the hard Brexit that could cripple the economy, the tories are beatable. Labour still have a clear chance of victory in this snap election. We have to keep pushing, otherwise May and co will just push  us back years, we need a fairer society, not one of ruin.
We can restore the NHS to health: cancel all debts to the PFI sharks; train more doctors, nurses and staff and raise their wages. Abolish the internal market and the Trusts. It is not to late to stop May’s “Back to the ’50s” reactionary grammar school nonsense and pledge the creation of a National Education Service from nursery to university to adult education. We need grants, not fees, for all. For a fully comprehensive system with no selection, an end to league tables and the semi-privatised status of free schools and academies. We can solve the housing crisis, with a huge housebuilding programme, encouraging Labour local authorities to build council houses at genuinely affordable rents. Regenerate areas that suffer from high unemployment and insecure, low paid jobs; draw up public investment plans and tool up workers with the skills to do the work. Time now to abandon their ideological conscious cruelty of austerity for good.
There is money out there to pay for it,  there are the rich with their vast piles of inherited wealth, the fat cats in the City with their eye-watering bonuses, we can have wealth redistribution through fair taxation, a clampdown on big corporations that continue to cheat on their taxes, big business could pay an additional  amount of money, through a hike in corporation tax, raising more money by reversing tory tax giveaways on levies including capital gains and inheritance tax. We could also see a  return off our nations utilities to public ownership. It is not a utopian vision that wants to see a reduction in financial inequalities in our society. These are challenges that we must take in order to create a fairer more equal society for the many not the few.
I have not voted for a while, having become distrustful of politicians in general, but have come to the conclusion, we have too much to lose, the current situation is very grave, so on 8th of June kick out the Tories, put Jeremy Corbyn in no 10 for a more humane, caring and workable direction for society. It's time to look forward to a future, that we can actually take pride in. Surely even if Labour can only deliver half of what they promise in their manifesto, that's still a million times better than what the Tories have to offer.
Finally will add that Stick it to the Tories have sent out thousands of stickers and badges over the last few weeks. Anti Tory Stickers are all over Britain! Let's have one last push to get even more out there on the streets! Time to take down these Tories . Make June the end of May.

Get your stickers here: http://stickittothetories.org.uk

Newtown Neurotics - Kick out the Tories

Relax with the Conservatives - Peter Cook

The BBC and their political editor  Laura Keunssbergu have been under  fire this week for blatant Pro Tory bias and propaganda. The BBC  are supposed to remain neutral and impartial  but the fact that they are doing this  during an actual election campaign  seems to be absolutely  incredible.  Ofcom has been inundated  with  complaints. Viewers contacted the watchdog about more than 60 BBC broadcasts in the last month – around twice the usual number. Around two thirds of the complaints were about ‘due impartiality’ and ‘bias’ on BBC News, and current affairs programmes like Newsnight and Question Time.
It seems we wont need to be hypnotised by the Tory's, the media is already doing this on there behalf. They are trying to fool the nation. Wake up, snap out of it, don't be fooled. The truth is the Government  is starving our NHS, a Government that has cut money from disabled people, with their conscious cruelty, despite their bluster, they simply do not care. Nor do they seem to want to shape a future that will benefit people socially and economically.

Don't let them continue to fail our country. Now more than ever we must defeat the Tory's ideological driven austerity, it is their heartless policies that we have to continue to be worried about. We have to stop them in their tracks, we have far to much to lose.
Meanwhile here's a timeless classic from the late great Peter Cook.

alistair hulet and jimmy gregory - the internationale

Following my previous  post another one : This one makes me think of the connections between the two ways of thinking that I am drawn to, the balance between being part of a greater whole, solidarity, oneness, and then the importance of diversity and individual freedom.
As its International Worker's Day here's  Alistair Hulet and Jimmy Gregory doing Alistair's  version of the 19th century left wing anthem  that came out of the Paris Commune : The Internationale." (French: "L'Internationale"). It has been one of the most recognizable and popular songs of the socialist movement since the late 19th century, when the Second International (now the Socialist International) adopted it as its official anthem. The title arises from the "First International", an alliance of socialist parties formed by Marx and Engels which held a congress in 1864. The author of the anthem's lyrics, Eugène Pottier, attended this congress.
The original French refrain of the song is C'est la lutte finale / Groupons-nous et demain / L'Internationale / Sera le genre humain. (English: "This is the final struggle / Let us group together and tomorrow / The Internationale / Will be the human race.") "The Internationale" has been translated into many languages. It is often sung with the left hand raised in a clenched fist salute and is sometimes followed (in English-speaking places) with a chant of "The workers united will never be defeated." "The Internationale" has been celebrated by socialists, communists, anarchists, democratic socialists, and some social democrats.
The original French words were written in June 1871 by Eugène Pottier (1816--1887, previously a member of the Paris Commune) and were originally intended to be sung to the tune of "La Marseillaise". Pierre De Geyter (1848--1932) set the poem to music in 1888. His melody was first publicly performed in July 1888 and became widely used soon after.
Today many will be singing  it on May Day,  honoured by labourers and the working class, promoted by the international labour movement, socialists, anarchists and communists alike . The celebration of Mayday as a working class holiday evolved from the struggle for the eight-hour day in the USA in the1880’s. In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions passed a resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886. The resolution called for a general strike to achieve the goal. With workers being forced to work ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a day, rank-and-file support for the eight-hour movement grew rapidly, despite the indifference and hostility of many union leaders. Revolutionaries believed in the struggle for an eight-hour day. A protest and rally was called in Chicago on the first of May 1886 after trade unionists had been hanged and imprisoned. Over one million American workers demonstrated for an eight hour day; despite being fired on by Chicago police, they succeeded in their demands
By 1890, the initial protest in Chicago had spread into an international protest for worker’s rights.
 Leaders of the Second International requested an international day of protest to be in held in May 1890. The UK demonstration took place and in Hyde Park, London alone – attracted 300,000 protesters. It was originally intended to be a one-off protest but it created a boom of trade unionism. It has since  helped advocate renewal, revival and of course that  powerful  trait known as solidarity, a time to organise around issues that are of vital importance today. This celebration is as relevant today as it was in 1890, a time to remember our triumphs and past struggles. Today more than ever we have to stand up to workers rights.  You only have to look at the Tories' approach to workers’ rights to see how our hard-won gains are at risk as they seek to remove  regulations that protect us.

' There are many complex reasons why people go to foodbanks ' - Theresa May

The BBC gets a lot of criticism, most of it deserved, but Andrew Marr did a brilliant job here this morning on his show  quizzing Theresa May about food banks, where she does not seem able to answer the question.

Andrew Marr: We have nurses going to foodbanks , that must be wrong?

Theresa May :  'There are many complex reasons why people go to foodbanks.'

Yes. Survival is complex and people simply do not have enough money for food.
No wonder she does not want to debate, she simply cannot defend her record or answer a single question properly. Her arrogance  is breathtaking, at least she did not have the tenacity to call them strong and stable fooldbanks. I find it incredible that anyone votes Tory; just what does it take for people to see the damage they are doing to this country!
When will the people of this country realise  the only people the Tories want to serve  are the richest among us .There another  simple reason people use foodbanks  - Capitalism. Another world is possible. We are now in a position were social workers make telephone calls to food banks to see if they have enough food left to give to their clients. The people they are helping are quite often the families who have had their benefits stopped for 12 weeks by the DWP. Vulnerable people who are already desperate. In a civilised society no one should need foodbanks. It's obscene..
Remember people's lives depend on nurses, midwives and junior doctors. Utterly disgusting to freeze their pay. Meanwhile, billionaire oligarchs run the MSM, and David Cameron has just bought a garden shed for £25,000. As a human being I could never vote Tory.

Figures show link between suicide and welfare re-assessments

The government has flagged dozens of deaths of people subjected to welfare reassessment as “possible suicides,” it  has admitted following a written parliamentary question from the Hull North Labour MP Diana Johnson two days ago that  revealed that the DWP carried out 15 internal reviews into suicides or alleged suicides of so-called DWP "clients" in 2012/13.

Fourteen reviews were carried out in each of the following two years, with 11 reviews in 2015/16.
This then fell to six last year.
These  figures will certainly reignite the debate on how DWP treats vulnerable benefit claimants.
"Families who've been left in the dark need to know everything the DWP knows about these cases," Ms Johnson said.
"Most importantly, we need a welfare system that supports, rather than victimises, the poorest and most vulnerable in our society."

Work and Pensions Minister Damian Hinds confirmed the government has carried out internal reviews relating to 60 deaths over the last five years. In his answer he said the internal reviews were carried out in relation to suicides or alleged suicides.He had previously told Labour MP Luciana Berger: "Suicide is a tragic and complex issue which we take extremely seriously.
"If information is received that a DWP client has attempted or completed suicide and it is alleged that DWP activity may have contributed to this, we carry out an internal review to establish whether anything should have been done differently.".
The Hull North MP said she was “appalled” that the figures had been unpublished until now.
“Ministers have repeatedly claimed there to be no link between suicide and welfare reassessment whenever figures have come to light,” she said.
“If there was no link, there wouldn’t have been 60 reviews of suicides in the past five years.
“Families who’ve been left in the dark need to know everything the DWP knows about these cases.”
Rethink Mental Illness charity head Samantha Nicklin said: “People with mental illness consistently find the welfare benefits system — the interview, the sanctions, the number of assessments — stressful and harmful to their health.
“Currently the system is fundamentally unsuited to supporting people living with mental illness.
“We hope that the next government will use this opportunity to conduct an overhaul of the system to ensure that people are not needlessly penalised and everyone can get the support they need.”
Last year campaigners led by the Disability News Service successfully appealed to a tribunal that these internal reviews should be made public.
Recommendations from these reviews showed that DWP staff repeatedly failed to follow strict guidelines on how to support benefit claimants who had expressed thoughts of self-harm or threatened to take their own lives, which were introduced in 2009.
Anita Bellows, from Disabled People Against Cuts, which was among the groups that launched the appeal, said it was not surprising there were further cases that DWP had needed to review.
She added: "DWP now admits that the peer review process lacked 'robust governance' and has decided to improve its processes.
"It is too late for these claimants who took their own lives and it might be still inadequate if DWP is not prepared to look beyond procedure compliance."
All this comes as new figures show private companies that run the assessments on behalf of the DWP are set to rake in more than £700m from their five-year contracts .Also in January, a National Audit Office report revealed that the Tories are spending more taxpayers’ money on assessing whether Britons are fit to work than they are saving in reductions to the state’s benefits bill. The study found that while assessments conducted for the government by private firms have skyrocketed in cost, providers are struggling to meet required performance standards.

Assessment for benefits has been for a long time  controversial  for the DWP, particularly the effects they can have on those with mental health issues. It also established, through dozens of in-depth interviews of people who had been through the tests, that "in the worst cases, the WCA experience led to thoughts of suicide" The work related assessments mean people get ill and fall into sanctions and rent arrears. It has led to some committing suicide –this is irrefutably the case.

Alice Kirby, a disability rights activist, says she was asked in her assessment for disability benefits why she had not killed herself.
She told the Press Association: "It's important we hold the department to account on this, especially when people's deaths are caused by, or linked to, benefit cuts and sanctions.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the number of reviews carried out does not represent the number of cases that should have been looked into."

If you are having suicidal thoughts, you can call Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 or visit their website www.samaritans.org.

The Doublespeak of the Conservative Party

In light of the forthcoming  election thought I'd mention the language of  what is  known as  “newspeak” also known as “doublespeak!” as demonstrated in George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 . As George himself said " Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.. " We will be hearing far more examples in the next month and a bit. Politicians will use language to deceive and manipulate, through concealment or misrepresentation of the truth, desperately and deliberately using euphemistic or ambiguous language as they have been doing ad infinitum.
At this point I will point out my  own personal bias, it has been well established that the Conservative party lies. In fact, it’s probably their second most identifiable characteristic after being nasty.These lies are not accidental , it is a deliberate exercise to try and keep in control. When they claim  to understand, this simply means they don't care at all, and when they talk about building a stronger Britain, it wont be for all of us, those less fortunate, it will for all their friends at the top of the pile. They have overseen a 11% or more increase in the wealth of the richest, while everyone else has seen their income stagnate at best - or in most cases sink. They have introduced vile, vicious policies attacking the poor; whether employed, jobless or sick/disabled - which have led to a vast increase in poverty, and homelessness, including a 2000% rise in foodbank use (from 48,000 to 1 million plus users.) They will continue to issue platitudes that  they say will be the benefit of us all while presiding over policies that have the opposite effect. We have to keep challenging their distorted narratives and their plain to hear " doublespeak."
You would  be an absolute  fool to accept any further  lies of  this government and  then choose to accept them. We cannot afford to allow them to continue with their tactics of public obfuscation and diversion.

Now is the time for diplomacy and restraint, not the time to be escalating the War in Syria.

Last Tuesday, images  of scores of Syrians whose bodies had been  ravaged by a chemical attack in the  Khan Shaykun area of Idlib, naturally horrified the world.Around 60 people were reported dead, many of whom were children and there were hundreds of further casualties. The use of weapons like this is obviously unacceptable to any right minded person. If  this was carried out by the Assad's  government, it would be an act of  brazen  impunity, coming during a major international meeting in Brussels where officials are debating whether the European Union and other countries will contribute billions of dollars for reconstructing Syria if it is presided over by a government run by Mr. Assad.
But while  fingers  pointed this way and that with who to blame for the use of chemical weapons, no one is absolutely certain, ( Both Syria and Russia vehemently deny that the Syrian military used chemical weapons, maintaining that the casualties were caused by gases released after an al-Qaeda-affiliated ammunitions depot was hit by conventional munitions in a government air raid. ) however this tragedy made people of  conscience respond with sadness and anger, yet with  little time for reflection or consultation with either Congress or the international community. the United States Government chose the way of war in response. Donald Trump  unilaterally ordered airstrikes on April 6, sending  59 Tomahawk cruise missiles into a Syrian government airbase which have reportedly killed nine civilians, including  four children to date. I agree with the President that " no child  of God should ever suffer such horror.” I disagree that the way to prevent  such horror is add more violence to violence and remember that only a couple of months ago he clearly demonstrated how much he cared about the plight of Syrian children when he attempted to introduce a totally unconstitutional ban on Syrian refugee children travelling to America, and now he's crying crocodile tears about their plight in order to justify lobbing even more bombs into Syria. He .had also ordered previously an airstrike on a mosque in Al-Jineh Syria March 16, killing 46 civilians.
The logic that  military strikes, like these,will deter and quell  the aggression taking place in Syria is a deeply flawed one. The situation in Syria is a deeply tragic one, a conflict which has been raging now for  six years, in what began as a citizen uprising in the spirit of the Arab Spring, and then  morphed into a complex proxy war involving foreign fighters, multiple regional powers, ISIS, Al Quada and Russia, which has resulted  in so much devastation, chaos and harm.According to United Nations reports, over 400,000 persons  have died due  to the conflict and millions have become displaced or fled Syria.Too many reports of horrors to mention. The U.S airstrikes though without any recourse to international law, without a proper investigation into what actually happened and in  violation  of the Chemical Weapons Convention,  according to the United Nations  simply adds fuel to the fire and any further unilateral action will only  escalate an already dire situation and inflame the terrible war that has already caused untold misery for the people of Syria country,threatening to widen the war even further.The long-term prospects for peace in Syria remain as grim as ever. While a ceasefire has technically been in place across Syria since the end of December between the moderate opposition and the government, both sides have continued to launch attacks, and a fifth round of peace talks in Geneva ended at an impasse at the end of last month.Tensions with Russia are already rising  as US says Assad must abide by deal not to use chemical weapons but fails to outline objectives Whatever happens next, now is the time for a level of diplomacy and to insist on a coordinated and global humanitarian  aid, food, shelter, medical care and assistance for refugees and displaced persons and search for avenues to end this conflict peacefully, rather than  rash decisions that could escalate this already tragic situation.
The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has also urged restraint to avoid any escalation of the situation in Syria, in the wake of the U.S. airstrikes, he: “I continue to follow the situation in Syria closely and with grave concern.“Mindful of the risk of escalation, I appeal for restraint to avoid any acts that could deepen the suffering of the Syrian people.“These events underscore my belief that there is no other way to solve the conflict than through a political solution”, Guterres said in a statement.The UN chief called on the parties to urgently renew their commitment to making progress in the Geneva intra-Syrian talks.“The Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security”, Mr. Feltman  he added. He also urged the 15-member body to unite and exercise that responsibility to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in Khan Shaykun.“Security Council resolution 2254 (2015) and the 2012 Geneva Communiqué remain the foundation of, and contain the core principles for, United Nations mediation efforts and ultimately a solution in this regard”, he said.
I do not support either Assad, Trump, Russia, or  ISIS, and  have been in unsettled by the amount of human rights abuses that have taken place across Syria, but I simply do not want to  hear of more death, bombs or destruction.The whole country is destroyed , there is no side to take, there is simply no winner. Civilians are paying the price in this deadly game of thrones. We must continue to show mercy on the people of Syria. We can't ignore there suffering  but we must also  concentrate on the world armourers and dealers who keep peddling and spreading their deadly trade, these profiteers of pain, misery, suffering, chaos and destruction,welcomed by all the leaders of the so called free world. Also the military industrial complex has to be fed with wars that never end , remember war is monstrous, its very nature is one of tragedy and suffering, oh  please , when will this perpetual madness cease.  

Bob Dylan - Masters of War - Lyrics

Article 50 - Not in my name

So Theresa May has now signed the official letter, article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which formally begins the process of leaving the European Union. For many milllions of people, this appears to be a colossal act of self harm. Ending decades of integration with our neighbours. May has also chosen the hardest and most divisive form of Brexit, choosing to take us out of the Single Market before she has even tried to negotiate.Membership of the Single Market was not on the ballot paper last June, yet without a mandate she has chosen to rip Britain, our businesses and our people out of the world’s biggest market. I was always a Euro sceptic,always thought that it was in need of reform, but thought we should stay, these were my own thoughts on the subject earlier :- https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/europe-should-we-stay-or-should-we-go.html
The following is from our unelected Tory Prime Minister. Who with her party have now taken us back 60 years.The following words if they don't scare you, well you need to look up what the Tories have done so far.
"This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back - Britain is leaving the European Union - we're going to make our own decisions and our own laws, we're going to take control of the things that matter most to us. And we're going to take this opportunity to build a stronger and fairer Britain that our children and grandchildren are proud to call home."
We  already live in a divided nation run by an incompetent government that is encouraging  the rich to become richer, and the poor to becoming poorer, while trying to kill our NHS and welfare state. Once out of Europe they will feel they have mandate to do anything they damn well like.I do not stand by a Brexit deal that will punish the most vulnerable in society even further, I do not stand by a Brexit deal that will put more people into poverty, I do not stand by a Brexit deal that will destroy our country, and take away our already basic human rights! It is simply a failure of epic tragic proportions and a sad day for Britain as we leap into the abyss and become a poorer, small-minded xenophobic place to live. Britain has  now officially stepped into the worst decision its ever made as Donald Tusk receives UK's article 50 letter.
A new European Parliament report though  shows that the UK can still change its mind on Brexit, so if Theresa May’s deal is not good enough, the people of the UK should have the chance to say so.We should remember too, that it was not a mere minority who declined to support this event that we are all supposed to be celebrating now, it was nearly half of the country, many of whom will today be experiencing an immense feeling of sadness. Brexit is simply not the will of the people. As May continues to refer to the 48% ( of which I was one) in her quotes about unity, we must resist. We must  say NO, Theresa. Not only do we not see or support your chaotic views, we don’t support this callous, needlessly extreme Brexit  one bit and we never will. Now more than ever we must stand with migrants and continue our fight to defend the freedom of movement for all .Brexit. Not in my name. Please sign the following petition and show Theresa that she is not speaking for you!

https://www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-article-50-not-in-my-name