Cassetteboy vs Boris Johnson

 

The wonderful return of Cassetteboy.It's the mash up the general election has been crying out for.
 To the tune of MC Hammer’s ‘U Can’t Touch This’, the remix uses cuts of the PM’s various speeches to warn voters: ‘You can’t trust me.’ accusing him of telling lies  on everything in the Tory manifesto from Brexit to the NHS.
Lyrics include:"I say the Tory party is the party of prosperity / but not for the 130,000 people killed by our austerity / Nor for disabled people robbed of money and their dignity / or the millions of children our policies have left in child poverty." “My Brexit is so hard/ Makes you say ‘Oh my word, what about my job security, sick pay and the economy?’/ These are the things you need to discuss/ When I say ‘Brexit won’t hurt you much’/ Remember the lies on the side of a bus/ I’m a guy you can’t trust.”
The video clip also highlights Johnson’s history of being sacked for lying, including from The Times for fabricating a quote in an article, and as shadow arts minister for allegedly lying about an extra-marital affair, accusing him of telling lies on everything in the Tory manifesto – from Brexit to the NHS. Please Vote No to Johnson and the rest of his friends , we simply cant trust any of them.
But who can we trust? I'd personally say, Listen to the teachers, Listen to the economists,
Listen to the firefighters, Listen to the foodbank volunteers, Listen to the patients, Listen to the students, Listen to the carers,Listen to the hardest hit.Listen  to the  voices that can deliver real change. Please  pass this message on, ignore the Tory propoganda.and lies

Medical Doctors Protest Failure of UK Home Secretary to Act on Mr Julian Assange

On 22 November, over 60 doctors from around the world  signed an open letter to the British home secretary Priti Patel (and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott) warning of their fears that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — who is being held in Belmarsh maximum-security prison where he is being unjustly and cruelly incarcenated, as he fights plans to extradite him to the US to face espionage charges that carry a 175-year prison sentence — may die in British custody, and urging her to allow him to have “urgent expert medical assessment of both his physical and psychological state of health”, and that, if any medical treatment is required, for it to be “administered in a properly equipped and expertly staffed university teaching hospital.” 

 The doctors fear that if action is not taken immediately, that Assange could die in prison. Still, many people are demanding an explanation to why Assange is in Belmarsh prison at all. Persecuting him is persecuting truth and justice for all of us.

I’m pleased to note that the letter was picked up on by a number of significant mainstream media outlets  including the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian. and was shared widely across social media. If you haven’t read the whole letter, I hope you will find it useful, and will share it if you do.

Despite worldwide media coverage of their open letter, more than 80 medical doctors have received no response from the UK government. The doctors are now calling on the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice to intervene.

“We reiterate our grave concern that Mr Assange could die of deliberate medical negligence in a British prison and demand an urgent response from the UK Government”, the doctors write.
Their second open letter has been sent to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice the Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC.

“In our open letter, we urged the UK Government to change course immediately and transfer Mr Assange from Belmarsh Prison to a university teaching hospital for appropriate expert medical assessment and care. So far, we have received no substantive reply from the UK Government, nor has receipt of our letter been acknowledged."

 It concludes:

 “In our opinion the UK government’s conduct in this matter is irresponsible, incompatible with medical ethics and unworthy of a democratic society bound by the rule of law. We reiterate our grave concern that Mr Assange could die of deliberate medical negligence in a British prison and demand an urgent response from the UK government.”
 
 Julian Assange is one of the world’s most prominent political prisoners. The UK government must end his persecution. through Wikileaks, he has done the world a great service in documenting American war crimes, its spying on allies and other dirty secrets of the world's most powerful regimes, organisations and corporations. This has not endeared him to the American deep state.

Assange's persecution, the persecution of a publisher for publishing information that was truthful and clearly in the interest of the public - and which has been republished in major newspapers around the world - is a danger to freedom of the press everywhere, especially as the USA is asserting a right to arrest and try a non-American who neither is nor was then on American soil.

He had been granted asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. But following a change of government in Ecuador, he was handed over to the British authorities last April for extradition to the USA. The sentence is already clear: if not the death penalty then life in a supermax prison and ill treatment like Chelsea Manning.

Julian Assange is not charged with any crime or misdemeanor in Britain  and has fully served his sentence for his single offense: jumping bail to avoid extradition to the United States via Sweden.

He was not and is not charged with any crime in Sweden. The sole charges against him originate in the United States, on purely political grounds, aimed at punishing Julian Assange for publication of accurate information provided by informed sources. This is a regular practice of all mainstream media , which now shamefully fail to speak out in defense of Mr Assange, even when they published exactly the same information that he did.

It is quite clear that in the current treatment of Jilian Assange, the United Kingdom is debasing itself as a mere instrument of political repression exercised by the United Statesv

 Assange was visited in May by Nils Melzer, who denounced his treatment as a form of “psychological torture” and again demanded an immediate end to Assange’s imprisonment. Prompting the decision by the doctors to take a public stand, Melzer issued a further statement on November 1, 2019 in which he warned: “Unless the UK urgently changes course and alleviates his inhumane situation, Mr Assange’s continued exposure to arbitrariness and abuse may soon end up costing his life.”

In their latest letter, the doctors concisely state: “The UK government’s refusal to take the required measures to protect Mr Assange’s rights, health and dignity appears to be reckless at best and deliberate at worst and, in both cases, unlawfully and unnecessarily exposes Mr Assange to potentially irreversible medical risks….

“When the UK, as a Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council, repeatedly ignores not only the serious warnings of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, but also its unequivocal investigative and remedial obligations under international and human rights law, the credibility of the UK’s commitment to human rights and the rule of law is fatally undermined.”

 Doctors who signed the open letter  also made statements that were included in a press release sent out with their latest letter.

Dr Richard House, Chartered Psychologist, former psychotherapist and senior university lecturer (UK) said : “The disgraceful treatment of Julian Assange should become a General Election issue, and the current government and Home Secretary held robustly to account for what appears to be deliberately inflicted suffering.”

Dr Victoria Abdelnur MD, Specialist in Integrative Trauma Therapy (Germany and Argentina)added : “The global medical community is watching, we know he needs urgent proper health care, and if he does not receive it soon, it will be crystal clear we are governed by criminals. The popular backlash will have astronomic proportions.”
 
 The very extradition of Julian Assange to the United States would at the same time mean the final death of freedom of the press in the West.

The latest letter can be accessed in full here and shared.

Follow Doctors for Assange on Twitter

https://twitter.com/Doctors4Assange


Don't extradite Assange


Sign this petition

Tory Politician - A definition

Tory Politician; a definition :-

The Tory Politician  is native to Britain and is easily distinguishable by its snake like appearance and smug grin. 

A member of a British Political Party  founded in 1689.

Politically Conservative. A hector, a bully. 

Parasitic, noxious. objectionable, harmful and difficult to control.,

Known for its cruel ideology, callousness and vicious nature. Self serving and elitist. Intent on destroying the N.H.S and the Welfare State

A single Tory Politician is capable of destroying 300,000  people  in 90 seconds.

The Tory Politician always hunts in a pack and while  2 or 3 distract their prey, the rest attack quickly without mercy.

The Tory Politician preys on any person with an income of less than £150,000 per annum and gains most pleasure from attacking the elderly, the sick and the poor.

Tory Politician will vote to slash benefits  to poverty levels for the sick and disabled claimants while with staggering hypocrisy act as patrons or trustees for charities that claim to support them.

Tory Politician; you can insult them , blame them criticise  them , smirk and snigger, and they will continue to treat you with contempt.

Whilst  most of us consider animal cruelty wrong , fox hunting is the Tory Politicians  cruel  sport  of choice.  

Tory politicians sit with a majority in the House of Commons, even though most people did not actually vote for them. 

The Tory Politician  is an extreme danger to the economy and the growth of Britain and should be eradicated as  quickly and painfully as possible. Treat them with all the contempt they 
deserve.

Finally as the late Aneurin Bevan once said  ' That is why no amount of cajolery,  and no attempts at ethical or social seduction can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.' 

Unsilent Reverence ( For Reuben Woolley, Poet, R.I.P )

on the edge of time
where angels and butterflies dance
abstract notions kiss horizons
carried on waves of thought
gathering up the bitterest moments
remember our dead who have flown away
though tired and restless
somehow find our way home
build new worlds out of dreams
visualise change as we dry our tears
tenderly find senses of wonder
the thirsty taste of beauty
among the rain spears and the icy winds
reach for for the currents of another tide
a thousand warm waves on a golden shore
the smouldering flame of life distinguished
deep inside the thicket of memories
with our clutches, try and make sense of it all
the night sings as waves crash and fall
beneath the crusted halo of the moon
and the open sky, the furious shoreline
a poets breathe  lives within.us all
while there is war and so much cruelty
we collectively will not remain silent .

Madness - Bullingdon Boys

The legendary British ska group Madness have returned with their first new music since 2016. As was always the case back in their heyday talking about cultural and social issues at the time, they were  not afraid to get political, and  now have placed Boris Johnson and his Eton cohorts firmly in the firing line with their new song Bullingdon Boys which is marked by a decidedly anti-Tory Rhetoric.
The snap release is a “barbed swipe at the charlatans, rotters and chancers at the top of the tree who have done their best to take the shine off 2019,” according to a press release. Inspired  and puzzled over the fact of how was it possible that in Great Britain with 24,000 Schools 19 of the 54 Prime Ministers all came from Eton... How Remarkable! Apparently a famous statistician from Bern in Switzerland crunched the numbers.. He concluded that the chances of 19 Prime Ministers coming from one and the same class were very close to.... ZERO! "More f*cking chance of being hit by lightning in a nuclear bunker" he said. And yet here we are with 19 (of 54) Prime Ministers coming from Eton. Not even to mention other cabinet ministers. David Cameron for example had 13 classmates in his front bench team! The Bern professor said he had difficulty collating this phenomena within the definition of 'fair play'19 of the 54 UK Prime Ministers have come from Eton.
The cover of the single also mocks the Bullingdon Club and Prime Minister Johnson, featuring the infamous image of the group posing languidly on college steps in Oxford, that summed up privilege and disconnect between society's haves and have nots. Dressed in tailcoated finery, members of Oxford University's exclusive male-only dining club, posed for a picture that became so notorious the copyright owner withdrew permission for it to be republished. Madness however have made changes to the photo adding devil horns and  putting the image of a pig's face over that of Johnson, they've also included the tagline: “Don’t get bullied by the Bully Boys.”
The  exclusive invitation only club that is the Bullingdon Club was founded  in 1780 as a hunting and cricket club,and has been running amok for over two hundred years holding a reputation and a history of excess, sexism, bullying and  elitism, known for the appalling, drunken, destructive and self indulgent tendencies of its members, with rumors they would trash restaurants then casually drop checks covering the damage.David Cameron, George Osborne, Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson all of whom were members. In an attempt to stymie the reputational damage, the  Oxford University Conservative Association  listed the Bullingdon Club as a proscribed organization at the end of last year.. The hangover remains, however, with  the Conservative  party as a whole still  being seen by many as being riven with privilege and ostentatious wealth.
The  music video from Madness which accompanies the new song, that you can see below,  features scenes from Clockwork Orange, the Batman TV series and The Riot Club. It's a great timely song, share it and its message, it's Madness , well  voting  for the  Conservatives in the upcoming General Election is.
Madness unlike the Conservatives are still a star attraction and return to London's Roundhouse in December, performing three shows of past, present and future material. They also headline the inaugural  York Festival  next summer.

Its not a pretty sight
The lads are out tonight
They long to give there all
With backs against the wall

The games one upmanship
Be sure they’ll let it rip
We’ll have to have a go
In our comedy horror show

Its not a pantomime
In life one needs to climb
Things can only get much better
Bitter Better Butter Mutter

We are the bully boys
Move late at night don’t make much noise
Up the stairs from the den 
Followed by our Batmen

We's are the chosen few
And we’s are coming thru
And we know’s just what to do
It's Robbin’ to the rescue

The Eton Boys are undefiled
The Bullingdon Boys, running wild
And England slides into the mist
No hope they’ll cease nor desist

We are the chancers brigade
and we’ll have you flogged and flayed
Sadly no room left at the top
Move along back to your sweatshops

Well we's are the chosen few
And we’s are coming thru
And we know’s just what to do
It's Robbin’ to the rescue

Well We worked our fingers to the bone
It's not as if we was alone
There’s people needing to be paid
And there’s booty boys to be made
            ......    All hands on deck


The Eton Boys are undefiled
The Bullingdon Boys, running wild
And England slides into the mist 
No hope they’ll cease nor desist

They're making England Great Again
But make way for the bagmen
When everything’s been sold and bought
We'll soon be off the life support.

Silent Deities

Every silent god, hears and sees nothing
A drifting emptiness that cannot connect,
Darkly malingering in idleness and deep abyss
Many though still hear their voices calling,
In times of despair, keep on seeking
Open their hearts, give prayers of thanks,
But humanity's prison delivers no light
Hate keeps spreading, walls built to divide,
Blood keeps spilling on streets of torment
Yearning cries screaming to cease,
Invoking daily horror, in places of  captivity
The agony of existence embedded deep,
Across the globe  innocent people hurt
Living in fear, deprived of freedom,
Heartbreak keeps delivering  tears,
Like spears from the thunder-clouds,
People frightened by the news
With  resilience muster up some strength,
While the clap of doom keeps on releasing
Our silent gods carry on sleeping,
On the brink of death and vulnerability
In painful days undawned, give thanks,
As dead leaves blow in in the wind
With our breaths, we whisper amen.

Loose Change of Defiance

Where are we?
In my mind I still see stars,
New worlds, rippling beyond current stone
Towards another possibility,

Here lies, some food for thought
Released  from the fabric of conscience,
While Government breath drags us down
Leaving many with scornful mindsets.

Emerging out of emptiness.
Restless purpose beyond control
Drifting in winter chill,
No longer fearless, unlocked.

Tomorrow's twilight nourishing minds.
Endless drumbeats, echoing masses enraged,
As Grenfell 's tears continue to fall
A hungry quest embraces unity.

Tom with Spina Bifida, incontinent, homeless
Condition precluding a sheltered abode,
Where's the hope left in this bloody land
Time to get off our knees and make a stand.

Let our voices knot together, find some loose change
Untamed, uncorrected, undivided, undiluted.
Beyond the lies of politicians, bankrupt ideas.
Heads held high, people defiant and rising.

With playfulness and imagination
We can rearrange their schemes,
One day soon, fallacies will fall
The present system that fails to satisfy.

Ebbing and flowing, tides of united breath
Inhaling the delicious opium of dreams,
Unafraid to release our truth
Haunting those hiding above.
,
The mighty spirit of resistance
Rejecting those that seek to control us,
Nurturing the changes
Sustaining our empowerment.

Be Like Alan Moore

I know a  lots of my friends and comrades don't like voting,  and have valid reasons not to, but this election I believe is different,  and we have to get those bloody thieving bastard Tories out now. 66-year-old  counter culture legend Alan Moore  who is considered to be one of the most prominent anarchists in Britain, has decided to cast his ballot on 12 December for the first time in nearly 40 years for the Labour Party, The comic book writer, novelist, screenwriter, actor, broadcaster, publisher, songwriter, magician, singer and activist,who is known for his meditations on totalitarianism in the graphic novels Watchmen and Batman. V for Vendetta depicted a Britain in the grip of a fascist dictatorship that treated ordinary people as a commodity to be exploited and subjected people from ethnic and social minorities, the sick and disabled to medical experimentation that most commonly resulted in their deaths.Some may see terrifying similarities with the current Conservative government in such a situation. 
Moore has previously come out in support of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, but has consistently declined to vote in elections because he believes in "direct political action." However, the upcoming General Election has forced him to change his position. He explained why in ,a Twitter statement posted by his daughter Leah Moore.
“Here’s something you don’t see every day, an internet-averse anarchist announcing on social media that he’ll be voting Labour in the December elections. But these are unprecedented times. I’ve voted only once in my life, more than 40 years ago, being convinced that leaders are mostly of benefit to no one save themselves. That said, some leaders are so unbelievably malevolent and catastrophic that they must be strenuously opposed by any means available."
He acknowledged that his vote “...is principally against the Tories rather than for Labour”, but described Corbyn’s manifesto as “the most encouraging set of proposals that I’ve ever seen from any major British party. Though these are immensely complicated times and we are all uncertain as to which course we should take, I’d say the one that steers us furthest from the glaringly apparent iceberg is the safest bet…" 
Moore concluded by imploring his fans to vote, as well. "If my work has meant anything to you over the years, if the way that modern life is going makes you fear for all the things you value, then please get out there on polling day and make your voice heard with a vote against this heartless trampling of everybody's safety, dignity and dreams. A world we love is counting on us. If we’d prefer a future that we can call home, then we must stop supporting – even passively – this ravenous, insatiable Conservative agenda before it devours us with our kids as a dessert.”
Yes, it’s a radical political decision not to vote. but times are literally crazy. The situation is dire. In the U.K. we're on the precipice of something truly disasterous and if you have to compromise principles to try to avoid falling of the cliff, then you should do it. If an old anarchist like Alan Moore can see the danger in not voting to keep Boris Johnson and his clique of hard-right ghouls out of power, what excuse has anyone else got? We have so much to lose if the Tories get in again, so put away your aversion please, be like Alan Moore, for the many not the few we can make a difference. 
The deadline for registering to vote in the general election is tomorrow, Tuesday 26 November at 5pm.  If you haven’t yet registered please please make sure you do. It takes just five minutes. 

Go to https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Ancient Refuge

Gors Fawr, Mynachlog-ddu , Wales

Throughout human history
Woman and man has sought,
Places to harbour sadness
To offer comfort and protection,
Solid alters of ingrained sanctuary
Magic power rich in potency,
Rooted energies to help heal world
In the cycle of transcending seasons,
Casting mystery, delivering focus
On sacred paths of consciousness,
Our temples releasing surrender
Forever in our reach,
Under every setting sun
Forces of good,
Resonating, vibrating
With necessary power,
Windows of time
Releasing yearnings of our being,
Confidence and sustenance
To all that set their minds free,
Before hatred was planted
And man delivered shame,
Divisions  became bathed
Between light and darkness.

Men of Gwent - President of Wales

Woke up this morning to find  the second release from Jon Langford's the Men of Gwent had arrived through my letter box,  and very good it is too. Four years on from their warmly received debut, “The Legend of LL”the new one  is called the President of Wales  and it's a looking like a serious contender for my annual end of year musical  highlights.
Born in Wales, now resident in Chicago, Langford has had a long and illustrious musical journey with the likes of The Mekons, https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-mekons-deserted_22.html Three Johns and the Waco Brothers.  A true living legend with such a prolific output  summarizing Jon Langford’s contributions to punk rock and all of its permutations, as well as his career-long obsession with American roots music, is liable to overwhelm anyone. Langford has grit in his voice and melody in his soul. A punk-rock pioneer, a troubadour for our times,, a singer-songwriter who writes with the authority of having lived a life rather than imagined it, who was once dubbed by one critic as “the spiritual brother-in-arms of Dylan Thomas  and Johnny Cash”
The new album continues with themes around the bands home city of Newport and across Wales, in what could be described as psycho-geography, tapping into the veins of our unknown  rich history. Album opener  "Grave Alexandra" documents the 1909 Docks Disaster that killed 46 workers.

Men of Gwent - Grave Alexander

 
"Bulmore Lido" covers the closure of an open air swimming pool in Caerleon where Jon Langford "nearly  drowned" and "Home of the Vote"  outlines the recent new developments in the city centre while referring back to the legacy of the Chartists. The song "London to Llanelli Line" records a chance meeting with the late Deke Leonard of the band Man, The sadly departed local crooner has a song where he is mentioned alongside the legendary Alan Vega (singer of the American Band Suicide). The album includes a wonderful cover of Joe Strummer’s ‘X-Ray Style’ which more than honours the memory of one of Newport’s most prestigious former residents.Elsewhere Joe  is found digging  graves in "Bassaleg Road Earthquake" while the title track "President of Wales" gives Jon the opportunity to let the world know"he can never go home"...
All in all fine quality stuff, awash with fine musicianship, I strongly recommend, Jon Langford delivers the goods once again, sadly his  Men of Gwent are yet to receive the recognition they truly deserve,  hope this changes soon, get their new record  here :- Country Mile Records