Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

Some musical  respite. "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan , originally released on the album  Bringing it all Back Home in March 1965.  Bob was a little ahead of the 'music video' trend when, on  this day May 8, 1965, he got the idea to make a short film of the song.He was filming what would become the documentary "Don't Look Back" when the idea hit him.
The short film that follows  features him standing in an alley next to London's Savoy Hotel , just accompanied by his friends Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth, flipping giant cue cards with the lyrics of the song on them.

The video, which many feel was one of the first "music videos," would become an iconic rock moment. The song sounded like nothing nobody had  heard before and  it utterly transformed Bob Dylan's career and the history of popular music along with it.
In 1963 Dylan had become one of  the leading figures in the folk revival, writing socially conscious anthems like "Blowin' in the Wind." As of his fourth album, Another Side of Bob Dylan, released in August 1964, he was becoming less interested in political material and more interested in songs with poetic, allusive imagery, but he was still playing them on an acoustic guitar or piano and his ever-present harmonica. In January 1965, however, Dylan went into the studio with a five-piece electric band -- two guitars, piano, bass, and drums . The first product of this effort was "Subterranean Homesick Blues," In four lengthy verses, with no real chorus (though the line "Look out, kid" appeared in the second part of every verse) and no mention of the title, Dylan delved into a free association of rhymes and catch phrases. This was Dylan’s first successful attempt to integrate the emotions of the Beat Generation which he had understood from Alan Ginsberg and others combining the thoughts of the moment with three minutes of everything that was happening in the world of the mid 1960s.
Like the Beat Generation poetry before it took a scatological approach to lyrics and rhyme, rejecting all that had gone before, linking the future to the past and back again, finding new models, new expressions, new ideas, even if no one knew what they meant.
The song contained depictions of a variety of characters including Johnny, "the man in the trench coat," "the man in the coon-skin cap in the big pen," Maggie, "girl by the whirlpool," and others, and, in the second parts of each verse, various pieces of cautionary advice for the kid, including everything from "Don't try No Doz" to "try to avoid the scandals." It wasn't a protest song in the way that some of Dylan's earlier songs had been, but the lyrics clearly expressed social discontent, with lines like "Twenty years of schoolin'/And they put you on the day shift." Dylan spat out the words in a staccato rhythm while the band rollicked along in a ramshackle manner.
The whole thing was oddly exhilarating, but "Subterranean Homesick Blues" was easily the strangest single Columbia Records had ever released. It was also a hit, at least a modest one, peaking just inside the Top 40, Dylan's first single to reach the charts. Rolling Stone magazine has it in the top 500 greatest songs of all time. A personal favourite of mine.
Here's Bob in London, 52 years ago today.

(As for those) in the basement
(Marijuana's) the medicine
(And those) on the pavement
(Burning down the false) government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It's something you did
(Jah) knows when
But you're doing' it again
You better duck down the alley way
Looking' for a new friend
The man in the coon-skin cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten

Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talking' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D.A.
Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try "No Doze"
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch (those) plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows

(You) get sick, (then) get well
Hang around an ink well
(Things fell), hard to tell
If anything is going' to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write Braille
Get jailed, jump bail
(Don't stop, you don't) fail
Look out kid
You're going to get hit
By users, cheaters
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Looking' for a new fool
Don't follow leaders
Watch the parking' meters

Ah get born, keep warm
(Girls come) learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her (to please me)
Don't steal, don't (shop) lift
Twenty years of schooling'
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
(You come out from the dark zone)
Light yourself a (fire torch)
Wear (your) sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't want to be a bum
(Get yourself a gun)
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handles

The History of Religion, From Magic Rocks to the Modern Day

Cartoonist Paul Kinsella takes us through the history of religion, one picture at a time:

Evolution is not a religion.

Evolution is a constantly observed, reviewed , and never disproved fact.

If this conflicts with your religious beliefs then I suggest you observe and review whatever it is you believe.

Evolution is backed by tangible evidence.

Your beliefs are not.

Does it really matter?

We are all designed to go.

Some of us  unfortunately never reach the " Growing up" stage.

Magic does indeed rock.

Better make the most of it.

By the way my imaginary friend is better than yours.

Footnote :-

The Irish blasphemy investigation into Stephen Fry continues a very dangerous trend of European countries using blasphemy laws to silence criticism of religion.
We cannot afford to let religious conservatives turn back the clock on decades of social progress.
Blasphemy laws make us all less free, and they suppress our ability to criticise unfair practices and to work for a fairer, more secular society where everyone is treated equally.

The questions you should be asking canvassers…

 

Local elections are over, revealing  clear  and damaging lines of division, but at least Prince Phillip has gone, and who knows if there really was a God up there by June we might see the end of May, either way as the general election  campaigning gets under way, the next four weeks we’ll be bombarded with slogans, leaflets and canvassers at every turn. But when someone turns up on your doorstep, what are you going to ask them? You might not actually feel inclined to open the door, let alone be that welcoming.

We could ignore, as those who seek to represent us come with  their deaf years, their strong handshakes and smiles, choreographed for years, enough to test anyone's patience. But if we choose to engage, we need to know our stuff – and make sure who ever is running our country they are committed to protecting our rights.Do not let them insult your intelligence  with vague and non committal type answers.Don't let  them fob you off. The way currently things seem to be going, I'm giving up hope, but it's out there, just needs to be awakened and spread.
Here are six things to ask every canvasser (as they seek to become your paid representative)  who comes to your door:

1. Will you protect the Human Rights Act?

The Human Rights Act is our law. It’s helped our troops, victims of crime, disabled people and minority groups including BAME and LGBT communities.

You can also ask party leaders to protect the Act by signing Mark Neary’s petition on Change.org.

2. Will you make sure we stay signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights?

The Convention is a beacon of hope across Europe and beyond.

It outlaws torture and slavery, upholds free speech and religion, protects life and liberty and promotes other basic rights. The Human Rights Act makes the Convention UK law – letting us defend those rights in our own courts.

3. What will you do to combat division and discrimination?

Successive governments have demonised migrants, enforcing policies which spread hate and build borders in our classrooms, hospitals and even our homes.A growing wave of hatred is directed against immigrants, fed by reporting in newspapers like the Daily Mail. Demonising immigrants has a real impact on people’s lives and feeds a small-minded politics which sees people from elsewhere as a threat.

With hate crime on the rise, now is the time to build bridges, not sow division.

4. Will you fight to protect our human rights as we leave the EU?

The next government must promise to safeguard our workers’ rights and equality protections – and not to use EU nationals as bargaining chips.

5. Will you commit to a targeted state surveillance system which protects our rights?

The Investigatory Powers Act is now law, letting the Government record and monitor everything we do online.

We need a surveillance system that targets suspects instead of swamping spies with too much data, putting our personal information at huge risk and disregarding our rights.

6.How can we trust you to ensure the NHS is legally protected in any trade deals we do with Trump’s USA?
We’ve been told that Brexit gives us the opportunity to negotiate dozens of new trade deals – including with Donald Trump’s US. But this could threaten our NHS, and access to healthcare around the world because trade deals often favour privatisation over public solutions to healthcare.

https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/

Artists organize to support striking Palestinian prisoners / Salt Water Challenge

The more than 1,500 hunger strikers include circus trainer and performer Mohamed Abusakha, who,  has been held without charge or trial for the past 16 months.https://artistsforpalestine.org.uk/2016/12/13/mohammad-abu-sakha-in-prison-for-making-children-happy/
Speaking from the West Bank, British writer and comedian Mark Thomas calls on artists to support the Palestinian prisoners: “I want my fellow artists and comedians, and all artists of every country, to show solidarity. If you’re politically engaged, you have to be aware of what is happening here and you have to support.”  (Full report Wafa Palestinian News Agency).
The New York based artist/activist initiative Decolonize This Place, that organizes around indigenous struggle, Black liberation, Free Palestine, workers and de-gentrification, launched a #Dignitystrike initiative. The Dignity Strike solidarity project, “Visibility Sustains the Struggle,” brings together artists, writers and other cultural workers to raise the profil of the strikrs, and expose the truth about the denial of their basic rights. See the report in art magazine Hyperallergic.
UK Artists: organise in support of Palestinian Hunger Strikers and let Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network know! For basic information about Palestinian political prisoners, read this briefing by War on Want.
The occupied territories of the West Bank, and Gaza especially, are often referred to as open-air prisons, but Israel’s own detention facilities are the most extreme examples of colonial subjugation. Information about the colonial and apartheid conditions in these prisons (where Palestinians are treated entirely differently from Israeli prisoners) is not widely accessible. And for good reason, because they involve violations of the basic rights of incarcerated persons, as they are recognized worldwide. Among the thirteen demands of the strikers are calls for improvements in conditions and an end to solitary confinement, heavy restrictions on family visits and administrative detention – prolonged imprisonment without charge.
 The Palestinian prisoners stand in the lineage of hunger strikers throughout history; Cesar Chavez, Alice Paul, Bhagat Singh, Bobby Sands ( who died on 5/5/81 http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/35-years-since-death-of-bobby-sands.html,) the Tiananmen students, and countless other, less famous, movement figures. Their strike for dignity and freedom calls on all of us--including cultural workers--to amplify their struggle in confronting the tyranny of jailers. Today, we begin the work of supporting them through art and action in all their forms.
Since 1967,  more than  800,000 Palestinians  has been detained  under Israeli military orders. This number  constitutes approximately 20 percent of the total Palestinian  population in the Occupied Palestinian  Territories. Virtually  every Palestinian family has been subjected to having on or more members incarcenated, subjecting the Palestinian people to the highest rates of incarcernation in the world.
Human  rights organisations such as Amnesty International https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/04/israel-must-end-unlawful-and-cruel-policies-towards-palestinian-prisoners/ have called  on Israel  to end 'unlawful and cruel' policies towards Palestinian prisoners. This includes the use  of torture during interrogation, solitary confinement, numerous cases of acute health issues, alongside the routine denial of visits.
On May 6th as the strikers enter the 20th day of the strike a day of solidarity with the prisoners,is taking place across the UK. Join us outside the Israeli Embassy in London as we stand up for the rights of the Prisoners in an act of solidarity.


http://decolonizethisplace.org/dignitystrike

Salt Water Challenge

Palestinians take on' Salt Water Challenge' to draw attention to plight of more than 1,500 prisoners on hunger strike.

A social media campaign highlighting the plight of more than 1,500 hunger striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has gone viral, with people from across the world posting videos of themselves on social media drinking salt water in solidarity.
Similar to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that went viral in 2014, the Salt Water Challenge sees supporters of the hunger striking prisoners drink a mixture of salt and water. The participants then challenge others to do the same.
Since April 17, Palestinian Prisoners' Day, many prisoners in Israeli jails have been on an indefinite hunger strike protesting prolonged imprisonment without charge, medical negligence, administrative detention and limited family visits among other charges.
The prisoners have refused to eat food until their demands are met and they are only consuming salt water as a means to steady their health.
The salt water campaign was launched with a video by Aarab Marwan Barghouti, the son of imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who is currently serving five life sentences over his role in the second Intifada against the Israeli occupation.

Barghouti has spent nearly two decades of his life in Israeli jails, and spent almost three years in solitary confinement. According to a 2013 interview, his tiny windowless cell denied him aeration or direct sunlight and was infested with cockroaches and rats.
"My father, along with 1,700 other political prisoners started the Hunger Strike for Freedom and Dignity in demand for human rights and humane living conditions in the prisons," Aarab Marwan Barghouti said in the video.
The clip then ends with Barghouti nominating 'Arab Idol' winner Mohammed Assaf and others to take part in the challenge.
Hundreds of Palestine supporters all over the world, including journalists, activists and students, even celebrities among others, have joined the trend and taken the challenge in order to bring attention to the striking prisoners. Many Palestinian, Arab and international celebrities and public figures have shown solidarity with the prisoners by taking the challenge.
British theatre director Joe Douglas and pro-Palestine English comedian and political satirist Mark Thomas accepted to be a part of the challenge during their visit to the city of Ramallah. Thomas argued that world activists, comedians and artists should join the fight against Israel’s illegal policies against Palestinian prisoners. He said it is important for the whole world to know about Palestinians, because Israel, an apartheid state as he described it, is yet to treat people like human beings.

UK Comic and cultural boycott supporter Mark Thomas takes Salt Water challenge for Palestinian Political prisoners.

Spearheaded by Marwan Barghouti, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Fatah Central Committee, as well as Karim Younis and Maher Younis, the oldest and longest serving detainees held since 1983, and Diaa al-Agha, held since before the signing of the 1993 Oslo accords, the strike has been joined by prisoners from all Palestinian political factions and, according to sources, will continue to attract more prisoners who are expected to join the strike.
The prisoners are demanding to be moved to prisons in the occupied territories as per the Fourth Geneva Convention, which would make it easier for their families to visit them, as well as lifting restrictions on family visits and better treatment at military checkpoints.
Other demands include: An improvement of access to medical care; increasing visit duration from 45 to 90 minutes; families of women prisoners meet without glass barriers to allow mothers to hold their children; an improvement in detention conditions including easing restrictions on the entry of books, clothing, food and other gifts from family members; restoring some educational facilities; and installing phones to enable prisoners to communicate with their families.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, since the start of Israel's occupation 50 years ago, more than 750,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned by Israeli forces.
About 6,500 Palestinians are currently in Israeli jails, 300 are children.
Palestinian leaders have denounced Israel's refusal to negotiate with the hunger strikers, warning of a "new Intifada" if any of them die.
Demonstrations have been held in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to support the prisoners, with Israeli forces firing tear-gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition at protesters.

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.

A Poem for Beltane

I have written previously about International Workers Day's origins, it's emergence from working class struggle,https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-origins-of-may-day-international.html  but today I look at it's pagan root's.
Beltane is a Fire Festival. The word 'Beltane' originates from the Celtic God 'Bel', meaning 'the bright one' and the Gaelic word 'teine' meaning fire. Together they make 'Bright Fire', or 'Goodly Fire' and traditionally bonfires were lit to honor the Sun and encourage the support of Bel and the Sun's light to nurture the emerging future harvest and protect the community. It is the transition from spring to summer. Beltane is a celebration of the potency of the earth and the forces of nature. This is the beginning of the most active part of the year and the beginning of summer. All of life is rising, birdsong fills the air and growth is everywhere.
Beltane is the last of three fertility festivals. The other two being Imbolc and Ostara. Beltane is the second main Celtic festival of the year (Its counter part being Samhain). They divide the year into it’s two primary seasons, Winter (Dark) and Summer (light). As Samhain honors death, Beltane honors life. In Pagan times, Beltane Fires were lit to encourage the sun’s warmth.,On Beltane Eve all fires were extinguished and then lit again on Beltane day. The fire celebrated the return of life and the fruitfulness of the Earth. It was believed that these fires could heal, protect and purify anyone who jumped over their flames. The ancient Celts marked the coming summer with feasts and rituals that honored fertility and the beginning of open pasturing, such as driving cattle between two bonfires,a custom that was believed to magically shield the animals from disease before they were led into summer pastures.

This is a day when the light half of the year is waxing and everything is growing and blooming. It is the last of the Spring Fertility festivals and a time to prepare for the warmer months ahead. The May Queen as well as the Roman Goddess Flora were ways to represent the Divine Feminine aspect of this day. Flora was regarded as one of most ancient goddesses of Roman religion. A goddess of  flowers, vegetation and fertility. The Divine Masculine emerges as The May King or “Jack in the Green.”
This tradition was celebrated throughout Europe  but the church and state did not take kindly to these celebrations, especially during times of popular rebellion. Mayday and the Maypole were outlawed in the 1600's. Yet the tradition still carried on in many rural areas and the trade societies still celebrated Mayday until the 18th Century. The Maypole the popular and familiar image of May Day and Beltane was a phallic pole, often made from birch, was inserted into the Earth representing the potency of the God. The ring of flowers at the top of the Maypole represents the fertile Goddess. Its many coloured ribbons and the ensuing weaving dance symbolise the spiral of Life and the union of the Goddess and God, the union between Earth and Sky, a marriage between the masculine and feminine aspects of life..This union has merrily been re-enacted by humans throughout the centuries. For this is the night of the Greenwood Marriage. It is about sexuality and sensuality, passion, vitality and joy. And about conception. A brilliant moment in the Wheel of the Year to bring ideas, hopes and dreams into action.,the rituals surrounding Beltane like dancing around May poles, courting rituals, honoring the blossoming of flowers and greening of trees, symbolize the energy of new growth and fertility evident in the natural world during this season. Beltane is also a time of  transition and purification, a time to reflect on where we are in the cycle of life, a liberating occasion  to rekindle what is inside as we celebrate the season's splendour. Happy May Day and Beltane to all. .

A Poem for Beltane

Caught between the twilight of spring and summer

Among apple blossom and bluebell's corridor,

We give a nod of respect to the old ways

Hail Beltane, time now to leap the fire,

Jumping flames,time to throw away inhibition

Passion  released as we dance round and round,

Feasting on colour ,in celebration of all shades of life

Emerging triumphant out of the depths of death and dreaming,

The goddess awakening, abundant, joyful, and benevolent

There is beauty in the world, so much power lies in the land,

Bringing joy to cancel out sorrow, to lift us with change

Sacred elements of air, fire, water, earth and spirit,

Let Beltane's warmth in and feel magic unfold

Forget the cares, that worries often bring,

May your songs soar into the night

Your dancing be full of life and strength,

Earth mother opening up to the fertility god

Queen of may and jack o'green laying on the grass,
Sap rising with the embrace of longing
With love in hearts, people bonding,
Petals unfurling releasing the scent of unity
Seeds are sown, rich and poor join in  revelry

All night fires will spiral, hilltops glimmer
Far above the stars shine and shimmer,
Towards the brightening horizon of dreams
Let the blessings of the season be to you and yours..

' 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.

80th anniversary of the horror that was Guernica

                                  Pablo Picasso's Guernica

April 26 marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Guernica in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. During the afternoon and early evening of Monday, April 26th, 1937,  the German and Italian fascist air forces destroyed the Spanish town of Guernica in a raid lasting three hours. The war crime was ordered by the Spanish nationalist military leadership and carried out by the Congor Legion of the German luftwaffe and the Italian Aviazone Legionairre. Designed to kill  or main as many civilians as possible, Operation Rugen was deliberately chosen for a Monday afternoon when the weekly town market would be at its most crowded. Guernica, in the Basque  country where revolutionary sentiment among workers was deep, was defenceless from the bombers, which could fly as low as 600 feet.The airplanes made repeated raids, refuelling and returning to drop more bombs. Waves of explosive, fragmentary, and incendiary devices were dumped in the town. In total, 31 tons of munitions were dropped between 4.30 in the afternoon and 7.30 in the evening. In the aftermath of the raid, survivors spoke of the air filled with the screams of those in their death throes and the hundreds injured. Civilians fleeing the carnage in the fields surrounding the town were strafed by fighter planes. Human and animal  body parts littered the market place and town center, such , such horror.Guernica was effectively wiped of the map. From a population of 5,000 some 1,700 residents were killed and a further 800 injured. Three quarters of the buildings were raised to the ground. Farms four miles away were flattened.
The destruction of Guernica was part of Franco's wider, brutal campaign against the existence of the Spanish Republic. This campaign led not just to widespread destruction of property, but thousands of civilian casualties too, as well as widespread displacement. Many sought refuge abroad, as many as 3,800 Basque children were evacuated to England and Wales for the duration of the war. The British Government at the time callously refused to be responsible for the children, but  throughout the summer children were dispersed to camps throughout Britain. Eight of these colonies were here in Wales. They were received with a mixture of hostility and kindness, but they had all managed to escape the grips of Franco's fascist Spain.
The significance of Guernica is that it was the first time that civilians were deliberately targeted in an air attack; it was the first time that a population centre was carpet bombed from the air; and it was one of the first times that a population was used as a target from the air by a foreign power  to test the effectiveness of its aircraft and the effectiveness of terror on the civilian population.Guernica changed the mode of war. Before then, civilians in cities and towns away from the front were by and large relatively safe. In wars before then air power was not capable of such bombing attacks. In World War I, by and large, troops slugged it out in trenches on the front and there was no air war.
Picasso immortalized the bombing of Guernica in his mural, a raw and anguished anti-war statement, a haunting piece of work that  still became a universal howl against the ravages of war. On a large canvas more than seven metres (23 feet) wide, he painted deformed figures of women and children writhing in a burning city.A broken sword in hand, a dismembered fighter lies with wide open eyes, an impassive bull, a wounded dove and an agonising horse nearby. Picasso did not agree with Franco´s regime and he was living in France for a long period of time until his death in 1973 when he was 91 years old. One of the most famous passages about his life is when he was interrogated by the Gestapo while the Nazi occupation  in Paris. When the officers saw the Guernica  they asked him “Did you paint that?” and he replied “No, you did”
Picasso's picture still resonates with tragedy, capturing the full terror and horror of this terrible moment in history.The Reina Sofía Museum, in Madrid is marking the anniversary with an exhibition. called ' Pity and terror in Picasso.' The show which opened on  4 April which will run for five months  will examine the making of the black-and-white mural, as well as its critical reception at the Paris Exposition in 1937 and display at the Whitechapel Gallery in London in 1939. That same year, Picasso transferred Guernica to the care of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. It toured the US throughout the 1940s and then headed for Brazil, travelling there from 1953 to 1956.
The exhibition will explore the painting’s role in Spain’s post-war reconstruction and as an international image of peace as well as its influence on contemporary artists. Guernica returned to MoMA in 1957 and remained there for 24 years. The painter gave the museum clear instructions — the canvas belonged to the Spanish people and would only be given back “when they have recovered the freedoms that were taken away from them.”
Finally in 1981, the painting arrived in Spain, which was transitioning to democracy after the death of Franco, and went on display at the Prado museum after democracy was restored to the country. In 1992, it was transferred to the Reina Sofía museum.
At the United Nations last year, French Ambassador Francois Delattre compared the destruction in the Syrian city of Aleppo to Guernica.“Aleppo is to Syria what Guernica was to the Spanish war, a human tragedy, a black hole destroying all we believe in,” he said.
It is important and timely to reflect on this tragic occasion  in this context given the emphasis on bombing in the past couple of weeks: the bombing of Syria “in retaliation” for the use of chemical weapons; the Mother of All Bombs being dropped in Afghanistan; and the threats by North Korea to pre-emptively use nuclear bombs. In these strange and worrying political times we are going through,  the anniversary of Guernica is still very poignant.  Guernica must be remembered , for our time, and for future generations, a terrifying rendition of the slaughter of  innocents. Lest we forget.

Guernica - Norman Rosten  (1/1/15 -7/3/95)

In Guernica the dead children
Were laid out in order upon the sidewalk,
In their white starched dresses,
In their pitiful white dresses.
On their foreheads and breasts
Are the little holes where death came in
As thunder, while they were playing
Their important summer games.
Do not weep for them, madre.
They are gone forever, the little ones,
Straight to heaven to the saints,
and God will fill the bullet-holes with candy.

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.