British Democracy is Dysfunctional 918

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A significant proportion of Labour MPs are actively seeking to cause their own party to do badly in forthcoming local elections, with the aim of damaging the leader of that party. To that end they have attacked Jeremy Corbyn relentlessly in a six week crescendo, in parliament and in the entirely neo-liberal owned corporate media, over the Skripal case, over Syria, and over crazy allegations of anti-semitism, again and again and again.

I recall reporting on an Uzbek Presidential election where the “opposition” candidate advised voters to vote for President Karimov. When you have senior Labour MPs including John Woodcock, Jess Phillips, John Mann, Luciana Berger, Mike Gapes, Wes Streeting and Ruth Smeeth carrying on a barrage of attacks on their own leader during a campaign, and openly supporting Government positions, British democracy has become completely dysfunctional. No amount of posing with leaflets in their constituencies will disguise what they are doing, and every Labour activist and trade unionist knows it.

British democracy cannot become functional again until Labour voters have a chance to vote for candidates of their party who are not supporters of the neo-liberal establishment. This can only happen by the removal as Labour candidates of a very large number of Labour MPs.

That it is “undemocratic” for party members to select their candidates freely at each election, and it is “democratic” for MP’s to have the guaranteed candidacy for forty years irrespective of their behaviour, is a nonsensical argument, but one to which the neo-liberal media fiercely clings as axiomatic. Meanwhile in the SNP, all MPs have to put themselves forward to party members equally with other candidates for selection at every election. This seems perfectly normal. Indeed every serious democratic system elects people for a fixed term. Labour members do not elect their constituency chairman for life, so why should they elect their parliamentary candidate for life? Why do we keep having general elections rather than voters elect the MP for life?

Election of parliamentary candidates for life is in fact a perfectly ludicrous proposition, but as it is currently vital to attempts to retain undisputed neo-liberal hegemony, anybody who dissents from the idea that candidacy is for life is reviled in the corporate and state media as anti-democratic, whereas the truth is of course the precise opposite.

The election of Jeremy Corbyn to the Labour leadership was a fundamental change in the UK. Previously the choice offered to electors in England and Wales was between two parties with barely distinguishable neo-liberal domestic policies, and barely distinguishable neo-conservative foreign policies. Jeremy Corbyn then erupted onto centre stage from the deepest backbenches, and suddenly democracy appeared to offer people an actual choice. Except that at the centre of power Jeremy did not in fact command his own party, as its MPs were largely from the carefully vetted Progress camp and deeply wedded to neo-conservative foreign policy, including a deep-seated devotion to the interests of the state of Israel as defined by the Israeli settlers and nationalist wing, and almost as strongly wedded to the economic shibboleths of neo-liberalism.

These Labour MPs were, in general, prepared grudgingly to go along with a slightly more social democratic economic policy, but drew the line absolutely at abandoning the neo-conservative foreign policy of their hero Tony Blair. So pro-USA policy, support for bombings and missiles as “liberal intervention” in a Middle Eastern policy firmly aligned to the interests of Israel and against the Palestinians, and support for nuclear weapons and the promotion of arms industry interests through a new cold war against Russia, are the grounds on which they stand the most firmly against their own party leadership – and members. Over these issues, these Labour MPs will support, including with voting in parliament, the Tories any day.

I have never voted Labour. I come from a philosophical viewpoint of the liberal individualist rather than of working class solidarity. Labour support for nuclear weapons and other WMD, in the blinkered interest of the members of the General Municipal and Boilermakers’ Union, is one reason that I could not vote Labour. The other is of course that in many cases, if you vote Labour you are very likely to be sending to parliament an individual who will vote with the Tories to escalate the arms race and conduct dangerous and destructive proxy wars in the Middle East.

There is an excellent article on Another Angry Voice which lists the only 18 MPs who were brave enough to vote against Theresa May’s 2014 Immigration Act, which enshrined dogwhistle racism and the hostile environment policy.

Diane Abbott (Labour)
Jeremy Corbyn (Labour)
Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru)
Mark Lazarowicz (Labour)
John Leech (Liberal Democrat)
Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru)
Caroline Lucas (Green)
Angus MacNeil (SNP)
Fiona Mactaggart (Labour)
John McDonnell (Labour)
Angus Robertson (SNP)
Dennis Skinner (Labour)
Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat)
David Ward (Liberal Democrat)
Mike Weir (SNP)
Eilidh Whiteford (SNP)
Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru)
Pete Wishart (SNP)

5 of the 6 SNP MPs stood against this racism (the sixth was absent) and the current leadership of the Labour Party stood alone against the Blairites and Tories in doing so. The Windrush shame should inspire Labour members to deselect every single one of the Red Tories who failed to vote against that Immigration Act. It is also a measure of the appalling shame of the Liberal Democrats, of whom only three of their sixty odd MPs opposed it, and who consigned themselves to the dustbin of history through Nick Clegg’s gross careerism and right wing principles.

There is more to say though. This vote is testament to the great deal in common which the SNP have with the current Labour leadership (who also personally consistently opposed Trident), as opposed to with the bulk of Labour MPs. Put another way, Corbyn, Abbot and McDonnell have more in common with the SNP than the Blairites. It is also a roll-call of those MPs who have most consistently stood against the appalling slow genocide of the Palestinians. It is astonishing how often that issue is a reliable touchstone of where people stand in modern British politics.

Corbyn’s supporters have slowly gained control of major institutions within the Labour Party. The essential next move is for compulsory re-selection of parliamentary candidates at every election and an organised purge of the Blairites. If the Labour Party does not take that step, I could not in conscience urge anyone to vote for it, even in England, but rather to look very carefully at the actual individual candidates standing and decide who deserves your support.

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918 thoughts on “British Democracy is Dysfunctional”

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  • adams

    I wish to see the back of both parties and I wish to have a vote that counts . Under FPTP voting my vote does not count where I live and is always wasted . We need a proportional system of voting so the millions like me can get representation in the House of Commons which is no longer fit for purpose under the present incumbents . Party lists exist now and would under PR so hustings and a right to recall should be available . There IS a better way of electing those who rule us ! The time has come for real change .

    • Peter N

      Yup! Right of recall is important for an improved voting system. Means that if the politician ain’t doing what the voters want then he/she is up for another election, and possible removal. Way to go. People first, not the politicians.

    • Emily

      Agree absolutely.
      Fair voting.
      We hear all the time that a vote for a minor party is a wasted vote.
      Nothing wastes votes more than the present system.
      The only votes that count are the votes for the winning candidate..
      Every other vote in the constituency is effectively binned.
      Totally ‘wasted’.
      Safe seats are nothing more than the banned rottenboroughs under a different name.
      If you vote in a rottenborough contrary to the dominant party – you are totally disenfranchised and never, whilst you live there, will you be able to get a representation in parliament.
      With PR every vote counts and every voter gets represented in the House.
      Most democracies use either pure PR or versions of it including 21 European states.
      We use it in Britain already for MEPs and a form in the three regional parliaments.
      We need to get rid of the present farce and fraud sold to us as democracy in our general elections and bring on fair voting and real democracy.

  • fwl

    British democracy may be dysfunctional, but thank goodness for the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I think of them as retired English* Confucian gentlemen:

    Craig Murray
    Lord West
    Major General Shaw, and
    Peter Ford

    Two former ambassadors and ex heads of the Navy and Special Forces. The Upper House should be compromised of such independently minded critics.

    * and / or Scottish
    Major

  • Sharp Ears

    The Democratic Party in the US is suing Russia, the Trump campaign and the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks for conspiring to disrupt the 2016 presidential election.

    ¿?¿?

    Trump-Russia ‘collusion’: Democrats file lawsuit – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43844253

    How can ‘Russia’ as an entity be sued? Similarly, ‘the Trump campaign’ and WikiLeaks.

  • GoAwayAndShutUp

    Not sure if somebody already posted this. One of the not so “bots” speaking…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=00eJTLJGlmQ

    The ambush (past tweets) didn’t work very well for SkyNews…

    Instead of taking the 4000% increase in public participation as the straw that broke the camel’s back, they are trying to peddle the “Russian hybrid war theory” further.

    • Sharp Ears

      I saw the pair of bullies. Alastair Bunkall and Sarah Hewson. A pair of stooges. I thought Ian held up very well.

    • SA

      Most incredible and I have to congratulateSky for showing this. He single handed lay demolished the British government’s lies and added the bit about Philip May. Brilliant.

      • Mochyn69

        I spent a significant amount of time with @AliBunkallSKY earlier today, setting up & agreeing some ground rules & conditions for this i/view.
        Length of i/view, Written statement, first question, Live on air (so no editing) etc.
        Alistair was prepared to spend time & effort on it. pic.twitter.com/2BZVPUG5q3

        Very interesting that ‘Ian’ says he spent a lot of time setting up the ground rules for the interview with Bunkall.

        Professional advice that’s very useful to anyone likely to be thrown up by the corporate media in front of the cameras for an interview.

        Note to Craig!

        >

    • GoAwayAndShutUp

      No. You’re a Russian bot even if you have never written a comment, unless you swallows MSM’s lies.

      • Tatyana

        I feel like Alice in Wonderland 🙂 It is a mem, a legend still alive in Russia – BBC is the voice of freedom, USSR dissidents listened to BBC hiddenly, you may be blamed an ‘enemy of the State’ if they catch you.
        Now, they shut RT broadcasting in Washington and Ofcom opens 7 investigations into ‘Kremlin-funded RT channel
        https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/apr/18/rt-ofcom-salisbury-poisoning-coverage
        Tyrant is reserved for Assad, dictator reserved for Putin, so which word Mrs. May thinks would be proper for herself? Messiah?

          • Tatyana

            Ophelia, it is strange. She is so assured that ‘highly likely’ = irrefutable proof of concrete and steel… I imagine, her early career perhaps was cleric.
            Anyway, she is not young woman and she has no kids, she may easily follow ideas like apres moi le deluge. How can a nation empower such a person with the privilege to begin war? Without approval from Parlament? The same with that Macron.
            I mean, Frau Merkel is elderly childless woman too (with all my respect just facts), but they refused to help with Syria strike.
            Aha, Germans are more reasonable people, their military defence Minister has 7 kids 🙂
            And I seem to invent a new conspiracy theory 🙂

          • Rhys Jaggar

            Tatyana

            Bors Johnson has four legitimate children plus one and maybe two conceved out of wedlck, but he is still an inveterate bomber…..

        • Gideon Blackmarsh

          She’s not the Messiah, she’s a very naughty girl. (Did you know she once ran through a wheat field?)

          I think Mass Liar is better description of May, but the Haystack of Lies (aka Boris Johnson) is fighting her for that title.

          • Ophelia Ball

            They have won, my friends!

            Abandon hope, all who write comments her, because although it’s now entirely acceptable for the British Foreign Sockpuppet to call Putin “H1tler”, or for Trump to call Assad “an Animal”, even Craig’s website quakes in its little booties if I try to make a joke about the leader of the L@bour Party, based on a satirical Mel Br00ks video – even though Mel Br00ks was ‘of a certain religion’….. far easier to censor it out, but, just in case typing in silly characters is enough to avoid the searchlights and confuse the guard dogs which patrol these messages, here’s the link again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu2NqfISm9k

            Let’s face it, satirical comedy has lost its edge over the past 40 years – with the possible exception of Private Eye: http://www.private-eye.co.uk/current-issue (and that sentence, made in a separate comment, was moderated out too).

            What has the World come to? Well, I think we know the answer to that question, don’t we children, but it’s depressing to see that Craig’s Little Elves have now bowed to the hat (a literary reference to William Tell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell#Legend and hence almost certain to get deleted on sight).

        • Den Lille Abe

          This true, that is how it was. I am as old as you, I remember. BBC then is not what it is today. Neither is Pravda. does it exist?
          The news we are fed today through MSM is worthless a spam of lies and deliberate contortions.
          It is paradoxical that the event of the Internet , the global information highway, has also spawned “disinformation”.
          Today I use more time correlating news than I did 35 years ago. WTF! We have gigabit speeds, to serve cat memes! pleaase, pleaaaaaaase!
          That’s reality. A pop DJ dies and thousands congregate in Stockholm, how many have congregated to protest the killings in Syria? None. Nada.
          The killing of people in Syria and Gaza is not hip.

    • SA

      It shows complete ignorance of whoever advised this government that Syrian Girl Partisan is a bot.. I have been following what she says and it is all corroborated by others. I have seen her debates. This attack on SGO is either meant for idiots who only watch the BBC or made by an ignorant person.

    • Rhys Jaggar

      Yes he does, but Kroenke is a majority shareholder who refuses to sell and Usmanov is not on the Board.

  • Thomas_Stockmann

    MORE INACCURACY AND SPECULATION FROM THE GUARDIAN

    According to Jonathan Freedland, the great divide in our times in not between left v right, but true v false: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/20/trump-us-syria-truth-tribal-robert-mueller-white-helmets-factse

    Freedland decries ‘tribal epistemology’, a ‘post-truth’ condition in which you decide on the truth or falsity of a statement depending on whether you deem the person making it to be ‘one of us or one of them.’ Unfortunately Freedland himself goes on to denounce Emily Thornberry for repeating what he alleges is a falsehood when he himself has failed to check his facts:

    “On yesterday’s Question Time, Emily Thornberry echoed the Russian claim that chemical weapons inspectors were being kept out of Douma by UN red tape and health and safety rules – when in fact it is Assad and Russia keeping them out: long enough, presumably, to ensure that by the time they’re granted access the crucial evidence will have been cleared away.”

    Freedland links this claim to a Politics Home article of April 20th:
    https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/news/94528/watch-emily-thornberry-denies-russians-are

    Now, even leaving aside the speculative assertion about clearing away evidence, and the contradictory fact that a CBS reporter claimed to have found the gas cylinder to blame without any apparent problem, Freedland himself is relying on an article which omits key facts about what the OPCW has said. Emily Thornberry was correct, as evidenced by the following statement put out by the OPCW itself on April 18th:
    https://www.opcw.org/news/article/media-alert-update-on-the-deployment-of-the-opcw-fact-finding-mission-to-douma-syria/

    In brief, a UN security team did a reconnaissance in advance of the inspectors and encountered first a large crowd, then small arms fire and the detonation of an explosive. The OPCW Director General has said he will only deploy the inspectors with the approval of the security team and with unhindered access. The Politics Home article omitted this information and relied heavily on a tweet by the UK delegation to the OPCW.

    It is interesting to note that the misleading Politics Home article was written by the former chief political correspondent of the Sun, Kevin Schofield. Perhaps the background of the claimant is of some relevance in assessing a truth claim after all.

    • bj

      “you decide on the truth or falsity of a statement depending on whether you deem the person making it to be ‘one of us or one of them.’ ”

      Which in turn begs the question “How does one decide if a person is ‘one of us or one of them'”? Might that have something to do with the deemed ‘truthfulness’ (whatever that is) of said person?

      We seem to be running in circles here.
      Freedland of course knows this. He was just essaying his own convictions, meanwhile sticking labels on the other’s.

      • Ophelia Ball

        I’ve lost track of what day it is – a bit like whether this Wednesday was a Green bin rubbish collection day, or a Black bin day –

        what with it being Friday night & all, is tonight another Assad Chemical Attack night, or is it our turn to bomb them again? It’s all so very confusing (or, as Mick Jagger so memorably put it – “I’m Jumping Jack Flash and the rest of the song is just Fake News I’m afraid”)

        • giyane

          Ophelia

          I agree they’re trying to grind us down with irrelevant trash

          I have removed the BBC from my daily intake in all its aspects. This is like cutting down a large conifer that is blotting out all your daylight.

          Ramadhan is coming in less than a month so next I’m going to assume that all rant-inducing information is false, and intended to make me rant. therefore not give them the satisfaction of getting wound up.

          The psychopath politicians are like madmen and women who talk to themselves in the street. they would be extremely astonished that anybody outside their own inner loop of consciousness could hear the voices in their heads. Let them stew in their own juice.

          • SA

            giyane
            I share your view regarding the BBC but still listen to radio 4 today in the morning. You have to have a rant at the radio, you have to know what is being said by these propagandists otherwise you will only have one point of view . There is no NHS dedicated tax but there is a BBC tax which we all have to pay. This tax helps to cause some in the BBC to have hugely inflated salaries and also for some with just merely inflated salaries who then complain of inequality. Both of course suffer from inflated egos proportional to thier salaries.
            This tax tells you that HMG is more interested in propaganda than in our health because whereas the BBC is self governed, the NHS is subject to constant interference by the sleazy politicians. One of them recently forgot to mention in his declarations of interest that he bought lots of houses at discount prices. Another one’s husband is apparently a hedge fund manager heavily invested in companies manufacturing killing equipment with vast interest in maintaining wars in the ME as they see thier stock rising.
            Anyway I digress. I complain to the BBC regularly about thier bias on reporting in Syria and thier answers, designed for uninformed people are really patronising.

          • Rhys Jaggar

            I hope you do not reside at 60N: fasting for Ramadan would be something of a challenge up there…definitely a religion founded much closer to the equator…..

      • Thomas_Stockmann

        Thanks. Unfortunately the Guardian closed its comments on the article just as I tried to post it there.

  • mike

    If shooting kids in the back isn’t “tribal epistemology” I don’t know what is.

    What is the truth of that? And whose truth is it?

      • SA

        But as we now know we can also have alternative facts. It isn’t only the Trump administration that believes in them but also people in the Guardian.

  • SaD

    I belivee that David Lammy also voted against the act, but his name is not amongst the list given above.

  • Charles

    It is now common to punish school children who; don’t wear the correct uniform, spout an unauthorised haircut or adorn themselves with racially offensive Crucifixes, by sending them home.

    So the Russians knew exactly what to expect if they conducted a military grade nerve agent attack against one of our most beloved Heritage Cities.

    What were they thinking about? I hope those allowed to stay think long and hard before trying anything like this again.

  • Charles

    So what is the correct advice?

    This stuff can be neutralised with baby wipes or needs intensive decontamination costing millions and taking months?

    It is 10 times more potent than another deadly nerve agent but only makes you poorly for a month?

    It could only possibly be made in Russia or any degree level Chemistry student can knock it up?

    It remains in a pure form for weeks even subject to rainy conditions or it degrades in hours?

    The people of Salisbury have a right to unequivocal advice, their economy has been destroyed not by the Russians (or whoever did it) (if it happened) but by British scaremongering and placating in equal measure.

    Whoever is responsible for the advice is guilty of doing bad things in public office.

    • SA

      Charles.
      I wonder why we have this controlled panic? Is it that they are really brewing up something big or that they are really that ignorant? Actually I think it is more likely that they are making it up as we go along thing. Remember the tanks sent to protect Heathrow?!

    • Jo Dominich

      Charles, I agree with you – all of it – but the Govt literally are above the law here and even the pathetic MPs in Parliament with the exception of Corbyn, failed to bring them to account. I can’t see any other options available and they (the Govt) know this – action in an international court or whatever. Given the MSM malicious and vicious campaigns against Corbyn, I fear this bunch of idiots will be voted in again and again unless the British people get wise or education – or both.

  • Charles

    There was a major incident in Romsey Hampshire this week.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/17/caroline-nokes-mp-romsey-office-evacuated-suspicious-substance

    A suspicious package was delivered to the office of Mrs Caroline Nokes MP for Romsey. It was feared it might contain a deadly poison.

    Dozens of ambulances, police and fire crews raced to the scene, the Town Centre was cordoned off.

    The office of Mrs Nokes is in the Conservative Club. There were members drinking in the bars when the crisis unfolded.

    Those members were detained at the scene for 4 hours for fear that if they went into the community they could poison the entire county through cross contamination.

    16 miles away, a month or so earlier the Russians performed a Weapon of Mass Destruction Attack with real Military Grade WMD and everyone who came into contact with it were encouraged to go into their communities. Even the ones that turned up at hospital with concerns were told to piss off.

    • Sharp Ears

      She is a ‘ Cameron cutie’. Her Daddy is Roy Perry, Tory leader of Tory controlled Hampshire CC He lives with her and her family. I think he was an MEP or stood in an European parliament election. She is now the Immigration Minister.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Nokes
      Look at her expenses.

      Quite a past.
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/7824849/Cameron-cutie-MP-Caroline-Nokes-has-affair-with-younger-councillor.html

      No shame. No morals. No wonder she has advanced in the current so called ‘administration’.

      • giyane

        Sharp Ears

        Recently you mentioned Nick Timothy, Mrs May’s former advisor. Did her hubby take a financial hedge/bet on her turning out to be a nasty , racist cow? Sorry to digress, yes, Maybe he re-appeared just now because of May’s squirming over her slave-owner policy to UK citizens. That policy was deliberately racist because she had been advised by Timothy that racism is popular in the UK. I honestly believe May hasn’t got a working brain-cell in her head, so Timothy has been summoned to justify why he advised her to be racist as Home Secretary and later to be racist in her interpretation of Brexit.

        Either way the information that polls are feeding government is that people are fed up with immigrants. but of course this kind of research only gets a response from racists. people who like immigrants are not going to waste their time on political questionaires. when a different advisor has told her that most people are not racist in the UK, that kicking out black people was criminal , and Hard Brexit is also criminal, she has turned her tortoise head, one foot in the grave, back to the racist advisor, Timothy for help.

        So long as she still keeps repeating that she wants to make a more caring society in a kind of feminine , caring way, she is useful to the Nasty Party. She can just about manage a patriotic tiff of outrage when she has been told that Russia has poisoned innocent kids. but none of these things shown any sign of intellectual brain connection. How does Putin play chess with an opponent with no brain?

    • kathy

      Meanwhile, the Russian Ambassador to the UK is saying that the British themselves probably injected the Skripals with novochok from Porton Down.

    • Yeah, Right

      According to the Telegraph those persons of interest are “believed” to have returned to Russia.

      But “believed” = “I could be wrong about that”, unless the English language has changed radically since I was at school.

      So there is at least the possibility that they are still in the UK. Stranger things have happened.

      So why no manhunt? Why no release of their passport photos? Why no “have you seen this man?” notices in public places in Salisbury and beyond? Why no grainy ccd video of those suspects scuttling aroung Skripal’s neighbourhood?

      This is the most bizarre manhunt of all time, bar none.

      Indeed, it is exactly how you would expect a govt to behave if it knew who dunnit – because they done did dunnit themselves.

  • Charles

    I’m sensing inconsistencies. Which means;

    They don’t have a clue and shouldn’t be in the job or

    They are lying.

  • Charles

    If you want a cover up to turn into an utter shambles put a Chief Constable in charge.

    The reason; CC’s and aspiring grades only get to that position by following orders. They are incapable of thinking for themselves. Their whole psychometric profile guarantees when they are asked by a Minister to do something illegal, they will jump at it. But they will cover their arses with the ranks

    They must do everything by the letter, they crave political status, have malignant egos and never ever considered the concept of initiative.

    They are tools. Blunt tools.

    But in all official cover ups something always goes wrong. the last person capable of putting it right is the person responsible for allowing it to happen in the first place.

    And so it was in the Dr David Kelly saga, the tools at “Gold Command” set the shambles in motion before the body was found. In Salisbury they sent the Air Ambulance in the wrong direction until it was convenient to the script to head for Salisbury.

    Queen’s Medal a shoe in.

  • Tony_0pmoc

    Over the last few weeks, I have never read such a load of bollocks in my life – including this

    “Police identify key suspects in nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/20/police-identify-key-suspects-nerve-agent-attack-sergei-skripal/

    On the way into Central London tonight, saw an extremely funny cartoon featuring Theresa May in some free rag.

    I then started to think, are Theresa May, Boris Johnson & their Boy Gavin, being completely totally obviously useless on purpose? How can anyone, the slightest bit interested, take this crap seriously? It’s as if everyone knows they are making it up, or they simply couldn’t give a sh1t.

    Central London, was actually really nice. We went to The Southbank to see Peter Hammill, and there were quite a lot of English people there – mostly about the same age as me…but that was only at the gig. The Southbank was Rammed. Hardly anyone had ever seen it so busy.

    I got the distinct impression that most English people (and I am including – The Windrush (but had never heard of them before last week), only go into Central London for their 9 to 5, and then can’t wait to get the hell out of the place. I must admit, I’ve not been there much for about 10 years – well maybe once or twice.

    I heard all languages and dialects under the sun, and found it quite invigorating. The vast majority were European. Didn’t hear an American accent all night, and it was easy to tell the difference, between The English Girls, and the rest. The English Grls are now like The Americans and the Australians (well apart from my wife – she is slim and beautiful). I’m trying to be subtle.

    The old age bus / train and tube pass was great. It’s about the only decent thing Boris Johnson has done in his life.

    Are we really supposed to take these buffoons seriously?

    They are ‘avin a laugh aren’t they?

    Are they doing it on purpose, or are they taking instructions from Donald Trump?

    It could all be a massive conspiracy, to drive the neocons even more insane.

    If no one believes you or trusts you, you no longer have any power. You just get laughed at, and ignored.

    Tony

    • kathy

      Its’ no laughing matter as all the people damaged horribly by them can corroborate like the disabled and the victims of Grenfell towers and now the Caribbean migrants. Its’ ok for you to laugh now but you won’t find it so funny when you are affected by their evil.

      • Tony_0pmoc

        kathy,

        We are all affected by their evil, but such evil has a very long history of self destruction. If it didn’t we would all still be under the control of the Vikings / Romans / Hitler / British / Americans.

        I believe in local democracy and communities. The ethnic/religious/political/colour is almost completely irrelevant. friends are friends if you are bothered about what colour they are or what nonsense they believe in then you are not living in the real world. I have encountered extremely little racial prejudice in my life, and I come from Oldham, where it was so smoky, even the red robins together with the owls – were the same colour – of coal soot.

        Stop reading the newspapers, stop watching TV, and stop doing Facebook and Twitter.

        Get out and meet real people with a smile. Wherever you go in the world, in my experience it has been reciprocated. One of my greatest pleasures in my life, has been communicating with people who understand hardly any English, whilst I understand hardly any of the languages they understand. O.K. I’m a bit of a child, and so is my wife.

        People are much the same all over the world. You get good and evil everywhere, but the vast majority of people are good, and just want to make friends.

        Tony

    • Clark

      Tony, I think Peter Hammill is brilliant. I saw him once at Leeds Irish Centre. Just him and a guitarist. It was spellbinding; one of those gigs where everyone seems to be breathing as quietly as possible so they don’t miss the slightest nuance.

      No I think the politicians really are as stupid as they seem these days. I think a number of things have led to this. There’s the political-media bubble, where the ‘news’ media rehash the official government line as if it was gospel, and then the politicians read it in the papers so they think it must be true. Who is there to contradict them, anyway? They never talk to ordinary people, because their PR people choreograph everything to avoid any embarrassing questions.

      But whether you’re pro or anti EU, the Brexit débâcle really dumbed down politics. Cameron said ‘OK, we’ll have a referendum’, but it was a PR stunt really. His team assumed the result would be Remain, so they didn’t make any plans for if the vote was Leave – except he said he’d resign, which amounted to just taking his hands off the wheel while driving. So of course someone else had to grab the wheel, but they hadn’t passed their test and they didn’t have a plan either. So now they’re just guessing and trying to bluff their way through. So you get nonsense like “I know, let’s blame Russia” when really it’s Cambridge Analytica.

    • Mark

      Tony the old age Freedom pass in London dates back to 1973 and was actually introduced by the now long abolished Greater London Council long before Boris Johnson came on the political scene. The only thing that buffoon has done was to introduce the seriously flawed Heatherwick Routemaster bus the design being given to his favourite crony architect. The travelling public in London are now living with the consequences.

    • Jo Dominich

      Hi Tony, the Oyster Card was in fact introduced by none other then Ken Livingstone when he was head of the GLC (I think it was still that then) or my memory might not be so good.

  • GoAwayAndShutUp

    White Helmets funding: How much neutral and impartial they can be given that they are ALWAYS the sole provider of “proofs” US/UK need for bombing Syria?

    2018: State Department
    “…we recognize and appreciate, are very grateful for all the WORK that the White Helmets continuous to do… …ON BEHALF of the US Gov and the coalition forces…” “…peoples (i.e. White Helmets) bills are still being paid…”. Grateful, INDEED.

    https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/987297513974747136/video/1

    2016: BoJo
    “…I’m proud to say we are giving them I think £32M as part of a wider £65M package…”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mWdvgCOqs

    Not that the White Helmets don’t mention it in its own site but this fact is never disclosed by the Freedlands of the world (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/20/trump-us-syria-truth-tribal-robert-mueller-white-helmets-factse). In any case, Heather Nauert and BoJo said they found them directly, not through any other organization (Mayday Rescue and Chemonics).

    “Who funds the Syria Civil Defence?

    Syria Civil Defence receives funding (through Mayday Rescue and Chemonics) from the governments of the UK, Holland, Denmark, Germany,Canada,New Zealand, and the USA. This funding goes towards the training, equipment and support we need to achieve our mission. Our donors are partners in our efforts to build Syria Civil Defence into the most effective life-saving organisation we can be, and do not control the mission of the organisation, our advocacy messages or our internal leadership structure.”

    http://www.syriacivildefense.org/our-partners

    “What is the Syria Civil Defence?

    We are a NEUTRAL and IMPARTIAL organisation. We do not to pledge allegiance to any political party or group. We serve all the people of Syria – we are from the people and we for the people.”

    http://www.syriacivildefense.org/about-us

  • Billy Bostickson

    Not sure again where to post this update about the Skripal mystery, but somewhere is better than nowhere 😉

    Two stories From my friend, Lev Speransky at mk.ru wish we had some investigative reporters like him in the UK media):

    1. Poisoning of the Skripals: there was an abandoned car and a “secret apartment” of Julia

    http://www.mk.ru/politics/2018/04/18/otravlenie-skripaley-nashlis-broshennaya-mashina-i-taynaya-kvartira-yulii.html

    The article reveals more details of the mother-in-law’s background and where Tatyana Vasilyevna is from. Stepan’s grandfather on the mother – the hero of the Great Patriotic War Vasilii Iosifovich Piraev (born in 1919), awarded the Order of the Patriotic War II degree. Another grandfather on the father’s side, the Red Army man Stepan Fedorovich Vikeev (born in 1917) had the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree.

    Stepan’s father comes from the Abkhazian village of Leckhop. As explained to us by the local precinct, the Vikeyevs left Abkhazia before the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict of 1992-1993, there were no relatives there.

    It becomes clear why Tatyana Vasilievna treated her future daughter-in-law with some coolness – with such heroic ancestors, Julia’s father would always remain for her first and foremost a traitor.

    Photograph of boyfriedn, Stepan Vikeev, still on the run:

    http://www.mk.ru/upload/entities/2018/04/18/articlesImages/image/56/9d/49/bc/62312eda8f24bb86e75e2692aec2e6ce.jpg

    the Russian investigative authorities opened a criminal case. And Vikeev is the last one whom Skripal used to communicate with before leaving for London. There are two options: either Stepan was interrogated and recommended to keep quiet by the FSB (Julia can not contact him either), or he is hiding not only from journalists, but also from law enforcement. And this already raises questions.

    • Robyn

      I tried the second link and got the following:

      Your connection is not private
      Attackers might be trying to steal your information from http://www.mk.ru (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards). Learn more
      NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID

      The first link was OK.

      • Clark

        You get that sometimes with links that go direct to an image, as opposed to a link to the article of which the image is a part. It means that encryption couldn’t be set up due to a configuration issue. It doesn’t really matter unless you’re going to enter a password or something, which you’re not if you’re just viewing an image. Practically, it means that a third party could see that you viewed that image, but your ISP can see that anyway unless you’re using TOR or a VPN or something.

        Worry about that message if you get it when you’re making a transaction or logging into an account of yours. Otherwise, you can use “Advanced” and add a temporary security exception.

  • Billy Bostickson

    Second Story

    2. Yulia Skripal in the hospital had a fit of hysteria

    Sergei Skripal’s daughter tried to get through to her boyfriend, and he did not pick up

    hospital staff told reporters that on April 5, Julia suffered a severe hysterics. When the doctors found that the telephone conversation was not dangerous for the patient’s health, she was allowed to call relatives. Having received the handset, the girl first dialed the number of her boyfriend – Stepan Vikeev , but the man stubbornly ignored the challenges. This was a blow for Julia, and she gave up her nerves.

    When the hysteria ended, Skripal in frustrated feelings and contacted her cousin – Victoria, who recorded their conversation in 1 minute 47 seconds and betrayed his publicity in the media.

    Must admit I was a bit worried by one line in the Google translation:

    “In the room, foreign journalists were able to penetrate Julia”

    No wonder she wants the media to leave her alone!

    http://www.mk.ru/politics/2018/04/12/u-yulii-skripal-v-bolnice-sluchilas-isterika.html

    • John Goss

      “In the room, foreign journalists were able to penetrate Julia”

      “В палату к Юлии всё-таки смогли проникнуть иностранные журналисты.”

      A proper translation would be something like: “Foreign journalists were unable to get into Yulia’s room.”

      Indeed. No journalists, no MPs, no social services, nobody has been able to interview Yulia, foreign or UK. She will no doubt be getting visits from individuals purporting to be reporters, social services and so on but these will just be more spooks. She was already throwing a tantrum back then but things must be a whole lot worse for her now being held incommunicado by UK intelligence. She must be under tremendous psychological stress

      I feel so sorry for her because I have looked at her Russian VK account and seen there an ordinary young woman with a penchant for dark humour, a cat lover, dog-lover, indeed an animal lover, and if we are to believe our media all her pets are dead or have been put down. My fear for her is that she has got caught up in this psy-op and may never be allowed back into society. Somewhere there will be a psychiatric camp, built on the basis of that in “The Prisoner” from which she can never escape. Our media will continue telling us she is enjoying life with a new identity in the US (or wherever they decide to say she is living) while all the time she will be drugged to the eyeballs with the latest Frankensteinian untested drugs to keep her 1) calm 2) compliant 3) out of contact with the real world. My worst fear is that she is already dead.

      It is disgusting behaviour from our spooks (who it is expected from) our government and our media. It can only backfire. It is quite clear to my mind who is behind the alleged ‘nerve-agent’ poisoning. To be perfectly frank with you every time I turn on the BBC or Sky I hear Alf Garnett shouting back at the bleeding thing. I never though my country would sink this low and behave like the Yanks. But I have a message for them, our media, the reason RT viewing figures are growing is because their news is credible. Perhaps if our broadcasters tried being credible they could win some viewers back.

      • John Goss

        “В палату к Юлии всё-таки смогли проникнуть иностранные журналисты.”

        “Foreign journalists were able to get into Yulia’s room.”

        Sorry. Don’t know why I wrote unable and then expanded on it.

        • John Goss

          I did not know that anybody had got past the guards. it is unlikely to happen again. I believe what the report says about medical staff at Salisbury having had to sign non-disclosures about the state of the Skripals’ health. A whistle-blower will eventually emerge.

          • Barden Gridge

            There was this story on April 11:
            https://news.sky.com/story/nerve-agent-attack-russian-tv-crew-kicked-out-of-salisbury-hospital-after-appalling-stunt-11326162
            That was the Wednesday after the Monday when Yulia was allegedly released/discharged from hospital.

            “According to the video, security arrived after about 15 minutes and stopped filming – forcing the crew to escape with a “technical copy” of the video.
            Wiltshire Police told Sky News they were called by security staff at the hospital shortly after 5am and officers spoke with two men, who they believed to be news reporters, in the reception area.
            “They were asked to leave the hospital and did so,” a spokesperson said. “No arrests were made.”

            Sergei is presumably the one we’re invited to imagine is most at risk from evil agents of the Russian state, but there was no serious security presence there.

            That hospital must be buzzing with rumours about what really happened, but the media are just not interested.
            I imagine the staff have been reminded about patient confidentiality, but you’d think something would have leaked.

          • John Goss

            Thanks Barden Gridge. My understanding is with it being a hospital so close to Porton Down staff there are instructed to sign security non-disclosure agreements.

  • Paul Barbara

    How much better is the voting system in Venezuela! They will be going to the polls May 20th, and the howls of ‘fraud’ and ‘dictator’ can be heard already. Even the Corbett Report put out a hit-piece on Venezuela, calling it a dictatorship. It’s the only time I have profoundly disagreed with Corbett.
    ‘Presidential elections will be held in Venezuela on 20 May, at the same time as elections for municipal and regional legislative councils. VSC has produced a detailed Q&A document answering a number of questions raised about the election and in order to provide an overview of Venezuela’s democracy and electoral system, rebutting some key misconceptions and media misrepresentations.
    You can read the Q&A here: http://www.venezuelasolidarity.co.uk/venezuelas-2018-presidential-elections-q-a/
    You can download this document as a PDF here: http://www.venezuelasolidarity.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/FINAL-Elections-Q-A.pdf
    Please also share it on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/VenSolidarity/posts/1870774666268561
    and Twitter here: https://twitter.com/VenSolidarity/status/986976311355768832 to spread the word.’

    They have electronic voting machines, but they are virtually fraud-proof due to a fingerprint check (on the machine), then a paper confirmation, which is checked by the voter to make sure it is correct, then posted in the ballot box.
    So there is a paper trail (unlike in the US, where fraud is not only possible, but integral to the system).
    In Venezuela ecetronic results are then checked against the paper ballots.
    So when the MSM howls about a rigged election in May, you will be able to correct them in the ‘comments’.

    • Alex Westlake

      It won’t be a fair election while Henrique Capriles and Leopoldo López are banned from standing

    • Jo Dominich

      Paul, it’s interesting but isn’t Venezuela also the third larges oil producing country in the world or am I wrong?

  • Paul Barbara

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/fstwc/?multi_permalinks=1792388940784574%2C1792276367462498%2C1792030010820467%2C1791988670824601&notif_id=1524231870459461&notif_t=group_activity&ref=notif
    “We’re back! Landed at Heathrow just before lunchtime today. Our trip has been amazing! Profoundly moving and uplifting. It was surreal to be in Damascus during the air strikes. And last night, we could hear the loud booms from ISIS fighting the Syrian Army six miles away, one of their last positions around the city.
    It’s difficult to convey the absolute love and esteem the Syrian people have for their army, which is made up of, as Mike says, the sons, daughters, fathers, brothers and sisters of Syrian families. The Syrian Army IS the Syrian people! And so the very idea they would be ‘killing their own people is utterly absurd! Last night we had dinner with friends who live in Damascus and they’d invited a young Syrian Army soldier friend to join us. He is only 22. It saddened me that he’s spent his young life having to fight. And fight off an existential threat to his country. But Syrians know what awaits them if they lose.
    The people in Damascus are overjoyed they can now walk the streets in safety due to the SAA victory in East Ghouta. What country in the world would tolerate an armed oppositon on its own soil? None.
    As someone who has opposed militarism all my life and who has shivered at the sight of soldiers in uniform because of what it represents, it is strange not to have this feeling in Syria. Soldiers are everywhere and no-one is afraid of them! They are, as I said, their brothers, sisters, fathers and daughters. Think of solders on leave during WW2 and you’ll get a sense of the feeling there.
    The UN Charter sanctions a nation acting in self-defence, which is exactly what the SAA is doing. And in my lifetime no British soldier has been engaged in that……’

    I quoted a large chunk of the Facebook report, as it is so graphic and enlightening.
    Frome Stop the War is a truly great organisation, unlike the National HQ.

    • Mochyn69

      Thanks for that Paul, truly enlightening.

      For what it’s worth, confirms very much what I’ve been told by the only Syrian citizen I know personally, a highly educated, globalised professional who loves his family, his country and his lawfully elected president.

      Just saying.

      >

  • SA

    The tripartite aggression was not only an attack on Syria and Russia but also against the OPCW and UN.
    If these nations suspected an attack they should have reported it to the OPCW to investigate. This is especially so since they claim not only that they have evidence of CW facilities, but also thier coordinates. This is also a slap in the face of the OPCW who have declared these facilities free of CW. The SG should address this with the OPCW who should sanction this action. The action of the tripartite aggressors could only be justified if there was an imminent danger of a CW attack against them and not as punishment.

  • Radar O’Reilly

    Could the absurd Skripals legend ‘that they were poisoned by a type of Russian sausage known as Khalbasa/Novachuk’ have been invented – not just for everyone to forget about the democratic UK negotiations on EU-exit, which were going so well; kick Engerland out of the football-fest in Köningsberg; etc
    But perhaps mainly organized by the varied squirrelly SOE’s to allow old Brenda to meet an old yank? (Without the protests that the redoubtable brits have until-now been planning)

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5640101/Donald-Trump-finally-come-Britain-July-stay-Queen-Balmoral.html

    In other fake-russian-troll news a US congressman listened to a dysfunctional briefing on the other deadly nerve gas attack, and he seems convinced that that didn’t happen either! He tweeted what a bunch of cack it all is.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/987132178642493441

  • Sharp Ears

    In spite of a vicious review by Aaronovitch of Miles Goslett’s new book about the unnatural death of Dr David Kelly, repeated on Twitter by Kamm**, the book has sold very well and is being reprinted.

    An Inconvenient Death: How the Establishment Covered Up the David Kelly Affair Hardcover – 5 Apr 2018 –
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inconvenient-Death-Establishment-Covered-Affair/dp/1788543092

    **. Aaronovitch and Kamm ( and Rent a Tool) ALL supported BLiar and his lies for war on Iraq. Nick Cohen also. Interesting that!

    • Robyn

      Thanks, Sharp Ears. I’ve put a Hold on the book at my local library which has it on order.

    • Charles

      The review can be found on the Times website, you can gain access to it by registering for free

      https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/review-an-inconvenient-death-how-the-establishment-covered-up-the-david-kelly-affair-by-miles-goslett-a-conspiracists-dodgy-dossier-mc2wh65lq

      Aaronovitch manages something not often seen in a review, he reviews the wrong book. He concentrates his review on Norman Baker’s work The Strange Death of David Kelly.

      When he bothers to cast his gaze onto Goslett’s work he makes stuff up, factually incorrect and deliberately misleading. Why? Who knows, who cares?

      “Goslett works on the same erroneous “it was physically impossible” basis and branches out from there. He has the same need to undermine the inconvenient testimony of Kelly’s wife that her husband was extremely depressed before he died”

      Except she didn’t say that, what she said at the Hutton inquiry, in response to a question, was;

      Q. How did he seem?

      A. Tired, subdued, but not depressed. I have no idea. He had never seemed depressed in all of this, but he was very tired and very subdued.

      So Aaronovitch not only manages to twist the words, he states an example of Mrs Kelly’s concern for her husband and produces something that is completely opposite to the truth.

      And then

      “But what is Goslett’s new evidence? There are essentially four pieces of new material in the book. One concerns the day, a week before the death, that the Kellys fled to Cornwall to escape the media. Mrs Kelly said it was the evening of July 10, cribbage players in Dr Kelly’s local pub said he was with them until late. What is the significance of this discrepancy? Goslett doesn’t say, except to condemn Hutton for not having paid it attention.”

      Well if the reviewer had paid attention he would have learned that the day in question was the 9th not the 10th. Mrs Kelly told the Hutton inquiry that when they heard Dr Kelly’s name had been put into the public they were advised by government officers to flee their home immediately to avoid the media clamour.

      Mrs Kelly goes into great detail of their flight to Cornwall, breaking the journey in Weston Super Mare and continuing the following day deeper into the West Country.

      Except that didn’t happen either. Dr Kelly was playing crib that evening with his mates in the local pub. Aaronovitch ridicules Goslett for raising of the question of why Mrs Kelly deceived the Hutton inquiry but offered no answer.

      The answer is simple but damning to the entirety of Mrs Kelly’s Hutton evidence. She misled the inquiry for what she presumably thought were good reasons. Not her own initiative but on advice from her government minders again presumably to avoid putting David Kelly in a “Safe House” on the night of the 9th. But what else did Mrs Kelly not tell the truth about?

      Aaronovitch fails to expand his point.

      Goslett is mocked for bringing up the instance of Kelly’s dental records going missing but Aaronovitch leaves out that the Assistant Cheif Constable lied in the witness stand at the Hutton inquiry regarding fingerprints later found on the dental records.

      Then it was a back to Norman Baker, Sandy Hook and 7/7. Something that only Aaronovitch could achieve.

  • SA

    ‘Botgate’ shows clearly how HMG propaganda machine, which used to be the best in the world, is now third rate. Is this possibly the effect of the cuts?

    • Sean Lamb

      I guess if I was in their shoes I wouldn’t take the risk, but I wish Russia would call their bluff and send the suspects back to Britain. They would have all the rights of the discovery process then.

      Still, that didn’t work out too well for the Libyan Al-Megrehi.

      • Bayard

        No, but they could say “tell us who they are and we’ll arrest them for attempted murder of two of our citizens” to the British security services.

    • Sean Lamb

      The other (dangerous) fantasy I had was that Russia could invite detectives over to interview the suspects. Then dose them with BZ (or some other knock-out chemical) and accuse Britain of staging a false flag attack on Russian soil.

      Then call in the OPCW, demand Britain be locked out of the analysis process and provide the OPCW with blood samples with identical A-234 spiked in. In the meantime they release statements from the detectives saying they are absolutely fine, that they are shocked the British government should try to poison them, that they refuse all contact with the UK embassy and they have decided to make new lives in Russia.

      It would great comedy but perhaps an unwise course of action for Russia

    • Paul Barbara

      @ Radar O’Reilly April 21, 2018 at 07:22
      Sure they can allow comments on Windrush – it’s been all over the MSM, and is common knowledge.
      I would guess all the MSM hammer the government line. But putting out alternative versions of Skripals or Douma or the ‘Whiter than White Helmets’ – das ist verboten.

      • Ultraviolet

        I’m reminded of the Chomsky quote: “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum….”

        Clearly, for whatever reason, criticism of the Government’s treatment of Windrush children is within the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but dissenting views on Salisbury and Douma are not. Perhaps it was felt that after Salisbury and Douma, a safety valve was needed, and this is it.

  • Sean Lamb

    A Russian opposition paper has published the MS data of the compound allegedly used to kill Russian banker Ivan Kiveldi

    https://twitter.com/AhasheniIgor/status/987563922642358275

    It is, of course, identical to A-243. It has a nice Russian stamp on it but I would point out I would be surprised if an MS system of that sophistication was available back in 1995 anywhere, let alone in Russia (something for the technologists to check out) and the data print-out itself has almost certainly been sourced from an exiled Russian mafia lawyer – ie very easy for British intelligence to use to launder falsified documentation through.

    The symptoms Kiveldi suffered were massively different from a nerve agent. The poison was alleged smeared on the telephone mouth piece – if you breath in vapour from a nerve agent paste you will almost immediately go into respiratory arrest. You won’t happily go to bed and report to hospital next day with massive kidney failure. If you want to see what nerve-agent poisoned people look like, the White Helmets have published plenty of photos online – search for them and ask yourself do any of these look like their kidneys are the first avenue of enquiry? Other documentation from the Kiveldi, far more likely genuine, shows they were also investigating heavy metal poisoning. Again, no-one is going to look at someone suffering from respiratory arrest and say: “You know what? Its a bit of a long shot, but I wonder what their cadmium levels are like.”

    If the documentation really is authentic all it will prove is the Russian prosecutors probably winked at faking some evidence into locking up someone they genuinely – rightly or not – thought guilty, ie framing the guilty

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