Now updated with Campaign Launch Video below.
In December 1980 I stood alongside George Galloway in Caird Square as the flag of Palestine was hoisted above Dundee City Chambers to mark the twinning of Dundee with Nablus in the West Bank. I was 22 years old.
George had led the campaign for the twinning, against much opposition. In those days I worked alongside George to support the striking miners, in support of striking workers at Timex and NCR as Thatcherism ripped through the city, in the Anti-Nazi League and in other causes.
George and I never had the same politics. But we cooperated.
And now we are together working to do everything within our power to halt the sickening genocide of the Palestinian People in Gaza and indeed in the West Bank. Because that is the absolute priority at this moment.
Both major parties support arms sales to Israel, military cooperation with Israel, intelligence links to Israel and trade with Israel. We have to give people something else to vote for.
But I am happy to say I also firmly support the need to give an alternative to the Thatcherite economic policy offered by both Labour and Tory.
I heard Rachel Reeves launch Labour’s economic policy yesterday and the emphasis on fiscal rigidity, on tax cuts, on allowing untrammelled capital formation, bore no trace of social democratic, let alone socialist thinking.
The return to the homely analogies of state finances with family finances absolutely mirrored Thatcher and either wilfully embraced a fallacy or showed extraordinary ignorance.
Fundamental reform is needed as late-stage capitalism hurtles towards unsustainable wealth inequality and widespread lack of opportunity in a helot society. I am very pleased to align myself with the Workers Party on nationalisation of Rail, Water, Energy and all natural monopolies – which has always been my position. That is just a start.
Finally the Tory stance of Starmer, banging on about “Border security” and endorsing huge amounts of money pumped to the military-industrial complex, sickens me in supposedly coming from a left-wing party.
Starmer leads a Genocide Party and is as Tory as they come.
There isn’t a cigarette paper on domestic policy between Labour and Tory. But I am unapologetic in admitting that I would not be in Blackburn fighting this election were it not for Gaza.
Will a politician who is prepared to be complicit in thousands of children being slaughtered in Gaza, genuinely care about the education of your child as a poor person in the UK?
George and I still hold different views on many things, but the notion that you have to cancel anybody with whom you disagree on anything is a foolish one and can only lead to a general decline in intellectual rigour.
Here are George and I debating Scottish Independence. I hope it is an example of how two people can hold fundamentally opposed positions on an issue, and debate them openly without softening of the differences, yet with mutual respect.
Now we have to win this election in Blackburn and send a message against genocide, and provide me with a platform in the House of Commons where I can take forward my views as expressed for two decades on this blog.
This is the moment when I need help. Come here now and join the campaign on the streets of Blackburn. Come now from wherever you are. Give a few days or weeks to working against the genocide.
Accommodation here is strangely expensive; if you have a sleeping bag we can find floor space.
If you can help in any way please email [email protected]. Otherwise donations to the election fund are very essential!
Any individual donations over £50 in value will require to be declared to the Returning Officer together with your full name and address and you must be on the UK Electoral Register at the time the donation is made (we are required by law to verify this). No overseas donations over £50 can be accepted unless you are currently on the UK Electoral Register. No anonymous donations can be accepted above £50. Information about donations, including donor details may be published. Returning Officers make returns prepared by candidates available for inspection after elections. These include details of donations.
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Alternatively
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MURRAY CJ
Account number 3 2 1 5 0 9 6 2
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BIC NWBKGB2L
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Good luck with this Craig. Regardless of whether you are elected or not this is the only way people can make themselves heard to the Labour Party – by taking votes from them where they think they ‘deserve’ them..
Lets see support for thus campaign. Sadly my train will not arrive until after the start of the campaigns launch, but I will be availing myself from Monday onwards.
Our outrage alone is not enough, it has been expressed for weeks on end and by many. Now is the time to put our money and personal effort were our manifest explicit opposition is required.
We need to ask the sitting Labour MP why she has not called on Keir Starmer to change his genocidal support for inhumane Zionist atrocities?
Why she is ignorant of the UKs signatures under the International Genocide Act, why she is not speaking out for thousands of Palestinians that have been exterminated and treated like we would not dare to treat an animal.
kate Hollern’s time in Blackburn should end and a new alliance of left, green and Independent candidates nationally should get the chance to change the equation by asking questions and demanding actions from those grey parties in the HoC that have only shown criminal disdain for the laws they once upheld.
Lets do something practical to oppose this madness and lets get Craig and other Independents elected.
I hope that you mean what you expressed.
Looking forward to meeting you all.
Yes nevermind
I’ve never been to anything like this before – so I’m sure it will be an education
ps Do you think my attending this event might change my status from “useless eater” to “unlawful combatant” as regards “enhanced interrogation”, “extraordinary rendition” and the other delights the Security State offer to those who stray from their preferred path?
Addendum
I’m thirty miles away from Blackburn so I was going to get the bus but I looked at the timetable and the bus takes six hours! I hope very much I misread the timetable otherwise I live in 1920’s not 2020’s
I’ll get the train which only takes two hours
Lol “Amongst those dark satanic mills”
Postscriptum
Aiming for the 10.15 – 12.15 to BlackburnI I arrived at the Audley Centre at about 3.00 – just after Mr Murray’s speech finished Thanks to several train cancellations, I only arrived in Blackburn at around 2.30 but that is an hour quicker than the bus would have been. It’s only thirty miles lol!? – the twilight zone of low-class Brit travel. I saw a person filming it, who looked suspiciously like Joe Lauria from CN, so hopefully I can watch it shortly.
As I left a person spoke to me, just being friendly – we discovered he had grown up in the area where I’m from, and we spoke of the changes that have taken place there, agreeing that many of them were not good for the community who dwell there. He had attended the meeting and said he would have to think about what he had heard, in the particulars but was able to deliver a general image of his disquiet with politics, representation and society which in many ways I share with him
As I walked back to Blackburn Station, another person spoke to me. They said a very similar set of things, particularly focusing on the link between politics and the voters and the actual nature of this relationship. They had not been to the meeting.
Changing trains at Wigan I spoke to a guy who said a similar set of things as the other two people. All three were Lancashire as heck, salt of this earth.
Finally, though the trains were cancelled going there, the way home was as expected and every member of staff I spoke to during the day, except for one, gave me their full attention when asking questions they had heard so many times before and helped me through the day. The poor soul who was distracted, was standing in a long featureless underground undressed concrete corridor with a very low plastic barrier that blocked only a third of the corridor – it all seemed very impromptu and ad hoc. He seemed embarrassed to be there and though a warm day above, it was cool down there and he looked cold.
That’s what I think:
– normally people don’t think too much about their votes;
– that’s how good and bad leaders get into power;
– we all tend to give our votes for someone ‘most promising’;
– this attitude may lead to bad things.
As a foreign guest I don’t feel I can show any support for Mr Murray or Mr Galloway.
I just ask you please, think twice and thrice and any other quantity of times, before you decide about your vote.
Your vote might bring into power truly bad people, and those would use your vote as justification, as a mandate for murder. This makes you complicite.
Please do think twice!
A sour jibe in Yugoslavia about the moribund state of politics, after Tito died.
Was “after Tito comes Tito”.
In the UK “after Thatcher comes Thatcher” or perhaps more aptly “after Blair comes Blair”.
Of course the situation in each, is slow decay & political constipation within the “mainstream” politics of the country.
As ever more meager “leaders” take power and can’t do anything effective within or different from, the obviously rotting status quo.
“Border security”
Is that something to which you object?
Do you not recognise the fundamental right of freedom of association?
The UK is, admittedly, far too large to constitute a group who freely choose to associate with each other, but permitting free entry, to anyone who desires it, without reciprocated consent from those of us already living here, is making the problem worse, not better.
On the other hand, of course we should not be permitting our government to support/aid the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland.
Craig on Good Form at George Talk Show
https://youtu.be/on_zuTOqEqQ?t=1821
Galloway is held to a completely different standard because he stridently opposes neoliberalism and neoconservatism. If he supported the Thatcherite settlement, US hegemony and was an expenses cheat like all the others he would be honoured by MSM, especially with his rhetorical skills and standout persona. Indeed he would almost certainly have been a senior minister under Blair and Brown and already be in the House of Lords. If you were aligning with virtually any other figure in the House of Commons you would have far greater reason to justify it and question yourself. Just look at them.
I’ll just leave this here, U Watt:
Galloway is ‘Westminster’s costliest backbencher’ – The Guardian, 19 Jan 2006
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/jan/19/media.media1
(From the days before the Graun became the security services’ house journal.)
Was he having his moat cleaned?
Or should that be “Was he having his MOATS cleaned?”
Surely after the moat-cleaning revelation and sundry similars, it seems the only things not allowed on the expenses claim is stuff like Bolivian Marching Powder, slaves and high velocity side arms?
The sort of politician Mr Galloway is I would imagine that he would find lots of things that would incur expenses. I knew of him in Glasgow through contact with some small business people he had helped with some important stuff. They were pretty “ordinary folk”, I was surprised when they told me about it. I haven’t often heard of British Members of Parliament helping such lowly people. At the time Mr Galloway was doing that, my MP was asking a couple of questions a year in the House of Commons in support of Israel, being an important member of the Labour Friends of Israel and representing one of the most deprived constituencies in Britain
ps You were only joking when you alluded to how boring and repetitive your tasks in the lab were, is there no intellectual stimulation in it for you? As I write the rumble of high flying jets has been considerable tonight. So assuming we are still here in the morning enjoy the rest of the week.
Craig on Good Form at George G Talk Show
https://youtu.be/on_zuTOqEqQ?t=1821
Yes, spells it all out clear as a bell.
I will share this message with all my contacts. You have my vote. We must stop the Israeli genocide in Palestine. I will come to Blackburn and help for the final week. I will bring a sleeping bag.
Bar a very few politicians (Craig among them) I loathe them all equally and very deeply. With this election, as with most since 1979, it doesn’t matter who is elected; it may be Sunak, Starmer, or the third pig from the left – the outcome will be the same. The psychopaths who pull the strings are determined to have their war and I see my first duty as looking after my family as best I may. I am in my seventies now and never expected to have to protect myself against the government of my country; they are the real enemy and I am planning accordingly.
To my mind, Mr Murray isn’t a politician. Instead, he is that fine old-fashioned (and now nearly extinct) person: a civilised, educated gentleman who dives into the filthy pond of politics because he sees it as his duty.
More strength to his arm!
I did consider this matter carefully and nearly replaced the word ‘politician’ but I wanted my comment to be shorter rather longer! I take your point of course, but having entered the murky world of politics I fear that Mr. Murray does, sadly, find himself included in the nomenclature.
Very true, and I agree. Perhaps we could say that Mr Murray is not a *career* politician. He is entering the fray to do some good, not to enhance his own prosperity.
Quite so.
He will certainly stand out like a sore thumb at Westminster. People will look into his eyes, see the simple integrity and honesty there, and conclude that, “this man cannot possibly be a politician”. So I stand corrected.
It has been said by many if voting changed anything they would abolish it.
“But I am happy to say I also firmly support the need to give an alternative to the Thatcherite economic policy offered by both Labour and Tory.”
The exclusive contract that King William the 3rd granted to a group of wealthy men in 1694. The King and the Queen joined this group of men that called themselves the Governor and Company of the Bank of England .
The Royal Charter gave this group an excusive right to create out of thin air as much printed money as they wish. There has been some pretence that this is under government control but that is just a shell game.
You often here how the government must borrow so much money and what the interest rate is.
This is due to the excusive contract this group who call themselves the Bank of England. Can decide at what rate of interest they will charge when they issue this money that they create out of thin air. But also more importantly they can decide how much money will be in circulation. By making borrowing plus loans and investments easy they can create boom times as more money is put into circulation. Then when everyone is sufficiently in debt to the Bank. They can reduce the money in circulation by calling in loans increasing interest on outstanding loans and reducing investments creating times of bust. They can then buy up and effectively transfer the wealth of the work of everyone to themselves in a great reset. This boom and bust method can and has and will be been repeated many times.
Any hope of a meaningful economic policy is hopeless. The financial crash of 2008 caused by a massive increase in financial instruments like credit default swaps and other derivatives. Has been compounded by bailing out the banks and transferring the debt to the public. Rather than writing off all these financial instruments and protecting the pension funds and the like.
When Liz Truss was foolish enough to think as prime minister she had some power to end the austerity policies she little understood where the power lies. That square mile that is called The City of London soon reminded her that it is they who will decide what economic policy will be followed.
The only real solution is it end the exclusive contract that was corruptly entered into in 1694 and close the counting houses that are called stock exchanges like The City of London.
The Guardian today has a letters piece relating to Jeremy Corbyn.
https://archive.is/DjVSR
The first four are generally supportive of JC, but the last has this to say:
” Starmer will be delighted that Magic Grandpa has put his own interests above those of the Labour party, not for the first time, proving that the decision to eject him was always right. Corbyn is back in his happy place, protesting without responsibility. Starmer and Britain are better off without him.”
I suggest “putting his own interests above the labour party” (insert Great Britian/People of Great Britian/Scottish Independence/anything that fits) and “protesting without responsibility” will be two concepts deployed against JC, Craig, George Galloway and others widely and often. The first I would think is relatively easily countered but the second will be more difficult.
We have a duty to protest when those who claim to represent us propose illegal and immoral policies which plainly do not represent our fundamental beliefs. As for that letter – it demonstrates the weakness of democracy, which has been captured by those who are indeed self interested and committed to promoting their own prosperity. Voting for Labour used to mean voting for a better society for all: now it means supporting our “side” in a value-free power contest.
“Responsible” liberal elites will stop the genocide, any minute now. They are good people deep down.
Argh – the media in Germany pulled off the same shit with Oskar Lafontaine in Germany in 1998.
He was finance minister under his “frenemy”, chancellor Schröder, who had beaten Lafontaine´s honesty with sweet lime grin and lies.
Eventually Lafontaine realized he either had to step down or help destroy German society doing the opposite of what he had fought for his entire career. He quit. And for being decent and doing what probably no finance minister had done before him he was ostracized by the papers and insulted.
Everything he predicted turned out to be true of course. In the meantine he helped found the only two true left parties in the last twenty years and is still in the game, maybe even with a few aces left. While Schröder today is an outlaw.
Sooner or later enough people will see through shallow Starmer. But for that to happen you need true character and integrity as contrast. So people have a comparison.
With the suspension of Lloyd Russell Moyle in Brighton Kemptown, the workers Party of GB candidate has been given a huge chance to gain support from the very large student community who live in this constituency.
For those of us who will not have an independent candidate of the calibre of Mr Murray or Mr Galloway, the choice is dismal. As far as I can see, my only option is Reform. Of course, even if they could get a few MPs it’s “highly unlikely” that they could – or would – implement much of their manifesto.
One thing that concerns me is that even Reform are already calling for increased “defence” spending. That is a really terrible idea. If I had power in the UK, I would immediately arrange to get rid of all (thermo)nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons – bye-bye, Porton Down and Aldermaston – and make it clear to the world that the UK would henceforth be a decent, respectable citizen with no desire to bully or subvert other nations – although able to defend itself in the extremely unlikely events that anyone saw fit to attack us. Would we lose anything by disbanding MI6, too? We could save truly vast sums of money by giving up absurd pretensions to be “a great power”, and concentrating on our own problems. No more nuclear missiles or bombers, no more strategic missile submarines, and no more US bases or military personnel (including spooks).
That done, we should immediately start to mend our fences with the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, Iraqis, Afghans, Libyans, Syrians, Venezuelans, and all the others whom our governments have harmed in the past. The Chinese have the right idea: carry a big stick, talk softly, and trade in a friendly spirit with everyone.
Tom – when you say, “even Reform are already calling for increased “defence” spending”, why are you surprised? ‘Reform’ are the most reactionary, racist and billionaire-orientated group – too stupid and unpalatable even for most of the far-right.
Unless you’re a die-hard Mail reader that sucks up to non-dom billionaires, panders to every known form of bigotry, hates the environment and every ‘foreigner’ that ever lived, thinks ‘woke’ is a universally acknowledged term of contempt etc., I don’t understand why you would be interested in such a wretched collection of washed-up Tories.
I’m pretty sure you don’t align with deeply unpleasant simpletons like ’30p’ Lee Anderson, Farage and Ann Widdecombe.
Even if what you say is right, is there any better choice? I usually suggest abstention, but until a majority abstain it won’t accomplish anything. This time I feel an urgent need to cast a vote *against* the “Conservative”, “Labour”, and “Liberal Democrat” parties. (If the last-named even still exists). It would be nice if I could vote for someone who has a chance of winning.
There’s always the Greens if there’s no Worker’s Party candidate, or the local communist/ socialist workers rep. Of course, they don’t have the slightest chance of being the winners either, but at least it wouldn’t encourage a further pull to the right – which is what a vote for Reform would do.
If this election is anything like previous ones, Glenn, the Communist Party of Britain will probably put forward fewer than ten candidates – same goes for the Trotskyite Workers’ Revolutionary Party and Arthur Scargill’s Socialist Labour Party (if it’s still going). The TUSC might field a couple hundred if you’re lucky and they’ve got some cash from somewhere. In addition, Britain’s most prudently managed political party*, the Socialist Party of Great Britain, might venture a couple candidates too. Having said all this, it’s worth mentioning that, since the financial crisis of 2008, not a single person representing a party with the word ‘socialist’ in its name, has been elected to any local authority above parish level in England & Wales.
* Over £2.5 million in cash and assets and no debt, even though its members claim to hate money and want to see it all destroyed:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66607841
I presume that the Green Party enthusiastically endorses the government’s suicidal “Net Zero” nonsense. I see that they suggest fuel prices don’t matter, as if your house is well enough insulated you don’t need any fuel. (Seriously – look on their Web site).
And if their foreign policy resembles that of the German Green Party – the most vicious warmongers in Europe – that alone would rule them out for anyone who wants to go on living.
Tom: I’ve no idea what the German Greens are like, but I doubt if that has much, if any, bearing on green policies generally.
But since you were promoting ‘Reform uk’, you should note that their leaders are stupid/dishonest enough to dismiss a couple of hundred years of accumulated science, in their dismissal that climate change is a ‘hoax’. One can’t get much further from reality than that.
LA: I wasn’t thinking of any particular group, but we usually have some socialist candidate (who are generally lucky if they manage to retain their deposit).
It did actually bother me, back in the day when I was signed up with them, that the Socialist Worker’s Revolutionary Party seemed particularly keen on money, ‘subs’ were a major point of interest in the meetings, and failing to pony up what they considered to be a fair amount was quite frowned upon. Individual’s names and their contributions were read out, with murmurs appropriate to said contribution duly uttered as necessary.
One old comrade waxed on during the overly long financial section of the meeting about how much they had made from this or that rally, that we would make “a pile of cash” from some forthcoming event, before declaring that we needed to accumulate “enough money to defeat capitalism”. Even as a 17 year old, that struck me as being pretty stupid on a number of fronts.
Answer to Tom Welsh’s speculative assumption that the GPEW, not Scotland, would possibly support the hardcore Atlanticist type of shite Bear shit brock von der Germany, has been supporting in Ukraine or in Ghaza, the embarrassment she caused in China
I say read up on GPEW policies, they are NOT.
They were consistently asking for a cease fire and peace negotiations.
All smaller parties and Independents, incl. The Green Party of England and Wales should agree to some common 5/10 point plan of mutual intent, adopt and pool similar policies that helps citizens and those they represent and further a more representative focus on voters needs, services and communalities that are desirable and sustainable.
if one would have a person that speaks for such coalition to the public, on an issue/policy commonly debated and agreed, a post that is rotated every year, showing the trust and commitment that one is sharing, to the public, then that could be adopted as being on the first common agenda list.
Hope to see you during the campaign Tom, be good to talk and do some leafletting
Over the last couple decades, Glenn, if you exclude the Greens, most constituencies have not had a candidate to the left of Labour to vote for in general elections. The largest slate was sported by the TUSC in 2015 with 128 candidates. The TUSC have also never retained a deposit – Dave Nellist came closest, getting 3.9% of the vote in Coventry NW in 2015. I’ve just had a look at their website which states that they’re aiming to field over 98 candidates this time round so that they’re entitled to a party election broadcast. Makes sense that the Trotskyist WRP would be interested in trying to rinse their membership; unlike the CPGB, they weren’t getting millions from the Soviets.
Forgot to mention that the newly-minted Transform Party (formed from a merger of the Breakthrough Party, Left Unity & Liverpool Community Independents) in my previous comment, who are standing candidates in Bishop Auckland and Newton Aycliffe & Spennymoor – as well as the Social Justice Party who’ve got a candidate in Scarborough & Whitby. The left-leaning Northern Independence Party have probably given up the ghost – their Brighton-based founder has joined the Greens. I think someone had a comment on a previous blogpost linking to a website which listed leftist Independents who are standing in this election – I have to see if I can find it.
—
[ Mod: https://we-are-collective.org/candidates ]
Thanks, Mod – saved me a job.
If you would actually read my comment, Glenn, you will see that I did not “promote” Reform. What I wrote was, “As far as I can see, my only option is Reform”.
And by the way, I also believe – strongly – that the “anthropogenic climate change” hoax is utter nonsense. There is literally no scientific evidence to support it, and a great deal to cast doubt on it.
Tom: I do apologise for suggesting that you were ‘promoting’ the far-right “Reform uk” lot. Still, suggesting you were going to vote for them did lead me to that rash conclusion.
If you actually believe that human caused climate change is all bullshit, I invite you – indeed, challenge you – to test your convictions and actually do what nobody here has _ever_ had the courage to do before – Discuss it.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/forums/topic/climate-change-denialists-who-get-all-shy/
Now I really hope you’re not going to do a cowardly ‘Bayard’ on us, Tom, viz – keep making drive-by assertions and then running away. I know you’re better than that.
Glenn, I posted a fairly long reply to your latest about AGW. But it has not appeared. I suppose someone decided it was off topic or something.
Sorry about that. I’m not going to spend another hour rewriting it.
Tom: I am sorry to hear that.
Perhaps if the mods have still access to your reply, they might be so kind as to paste it into the forums on the climate change thread?
Tom Welsh, it was indeed off topic and was suspended for that reason. It has now been relocated to the relevant thread in the discussion forum.
The comment you submitted would still be visible to you (stamped with “Your comment is awaiting moderation”) if you had used the option to save your author details (i.e. “Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment”) when you posted it. You would then be able to copy the text and repost it in the correct place – as advised in the moderation notice appended to it, i.e.:
“[ Mod: Off topic. You’re welcome to state your case about AGW and outline your arguments, but not on a thread about Craig’s forthcoming general election campaign in Blackburn.
Kindly reserve tangents about climate change for the discussion forum. Choose one of the existing discussion topics from the index page or start one of your own. ]”
As you were responding to an invitation to outline your views in the discussion forum, that is where you should have posted your long reply (>700 words) about global warming. Instead you posted it as a comment under Craig’s article on his general election campaign, where it is clearly off topic.
But you don’t have to rewrite it: the entire comment has been moved to the discussion forum on your behalf.
The choice for a rational civilised voter is between an anti-war, public service supporting independent or a Spoilt Vote.
Anyone who advocates apathy and no vote or some stupid fascist wokism masquerading as green or even the far right, far left or loonies or the mainstream status quo is not serious about democracy.
A maximum registration shows people interested in politics. Work to make that happen.
A massive number of organised spoilt votes – clearly marked across the voting sheet with ‘NONE OF THE ABOVE’ cannot be counted as perhaps a mistake.
It would show that the ‘spoil voters’ are a significant number and that anyone wishing to stand in the future to represent them too could easily achieve wins. Politics must reflect the needs and demands of the majority of the People and not the other way around.
It’s the last chance saloon for the make-believe world of western democracies and their various subterfuges at controlling the voters.
According to the constituency data for ethnic groups website (https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/constituency-statistics-ethnicity/), Blackburn has the following makeup:
White 48.6%
Asian 46.7%
Mixed 1.8%
Other 1.8%
Black 1.1%
Since we live in “performative times”, I am hoping like hell that “Other” includes extraterrestrial races such as Klingons that humans have not yet (officially) made contact with but whose exclusion on this basis would be both presumptive and racist.
Over to you Ian.
John S (who’s Ian?) since he hasn’t replied, may I?
White and Black are not ‘ethnic’ groups.
Africans are thousands of ethnicities.
‘Asian’ is also dumb nonsense, as there are literally hundreds if not thousands of ethnicities in Asia.
That leaves ‘Mixed’ and ‘Other’ – which could be the only possible description of biological ethnicity.
Though ‘Other’ is a non-sequitur because it implies the other labels are ethnicities, which they are not.
For example is Eskimo or Innuit an ethnicity? How about Welsh or Bretton?
The classifications make no sense in the C21st; it’s a dumb eurocentric invention that is designed to keep it at the top of some supposed hierarchy and will be judged as an anachronism by C22nd – exactly as religion being a specific ethnic-defining vector.
You could try British, English, Lancastrian, or down to a locality!
If we wanted it to be scientific – DNA is your best hope for granularity.
That would easily prove that no two people except genetic twins are exactly the same!
It would also prove that a lot of inbreeding has produced ‘niche’ peoples from the same neighbourhoods – you know as in the traditional sense of certain local peoples being classed as ‘strong in arm, thick in head’.
In terms of vote forecasting, it is another matter: the high percentage of ‘Asians’ largely means people from certain parts of the subcontinent with a specific religious belief and strong communal bonds – which enable mass voting for certain candidates based on that community guidance.
I.e., as I said in a previous comment – should the community leaders so dictate, CM will get a shoo-in. There will be a certain percentage of the Asian/ non-Asian homogeneous community who will vote against their ‘tribal’ traditions. Which will have zero overall effect for CM’s vote totals.
I expect the government-backed dirty tricks squad will be out with direct personal attacks on CM through leaflets and social media… which will put some people off.
The Racist Immigration Card seems to be the magic bullet being deployed again, with the FartAge resurfacing like a zombie from the ground, again, but I doubt the British public will be swallowing that regurgitated vomit a 4th time in the row.
However, I never underestimate our abilities to be fools upon ourselves. With most people who ever try to think about politics choosing the Eric Morecambe joke of ‘Middle of the Road’ – which, as all drivers know, means you will always get into a crash.
Usually we are too blinded by the religion of football to pay attention to May elections and I thought the timing was off because of that, but then I realised the Euros are starting; I believe that is the final piece I was missing in the timing.
“Starmer leads a Genocide Party and is as Tory as they come.”
Yes, very true.
“I want to see the decision they make, I want to see what warrants they actually issue, what they don’t. I’m not going to get into hypotheticals – what ifs down the road.”
(Statement by Keir Starmer on Channel 4 News regarding the ICC case against Israel).
Recent statement by Starmer about the use of nuclear weapons (looks like a hypothetical to me):
He was then asked if he would push the nuclear button, to which he replied: “The nuclear deterrent is the ultimate threat and therefore, of course the deterrent only works if there is a preparedness to use it. Everybody understands that and I understand that.”
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24250431.keir-starmer-willing-press-nuclear-button-attack/
Ironically, of course, by the time the moment arrives to push the “nuclear button”, its only redeeming quality – deterrence – has evaporated.
It’s like screaming that, unless you get all the ice cream in the world (subsitute anything you might consider desirable), you will shoot yourself – and then carrying out your threat when everyone tells you to shut up and stop being childish.
Actually, since the only countries against which the UK might attempt to launch thermonuclear missiles would be Russia (and, very improbably, China), the situation might not arise. I bet they would get their retaliation in first.
Anyone know how far away the nearest Russian boomers are? (Although a single one could easily wipe out the UK).
Or how many British strategic missile submarines are being shadowed right now by Russian hunter-killer subs, or tracked by missiles?
The UK’s nuclear deterrence is literally controlled by the USA, it’s not independent. And, with the abysmal state of the UK’s ‘defence’ forces all it means is that the UK could not respond effectively and is therefore just a big fat easy target in the event of WW3. The country would be a whole lot safer, and richer, without nukes and could potentially survive MAD, but if we keep poking the bear then our destruction beckons.
I couldn’t agree more, Stevie. Now all we need is some candidates who will pledge to do that – and who can be trusted to keep their word.
Can someone please inform/remind Craig that there is about seventy five thousand pounds worth of cryptocurrency deposited in his donation addresses; which is apparently going unused and subject to exchange rate fluctuations (20% in a week is commonplace).
Is there a reason these funds can’t be deployed towards election expenses? That they sit idle for an unknown reason prevents me from donating more.
And you know how?
Isn’t crypto supposed to be anonymous, Anonymous ?
🤪
That money was for his legal defence, was it not? Not for electioneering.
Okay, but why haven’t the funds been drawn down?
If I send 4,999 GBP by Bitcoin it is going to sit unused with the other money; that’s my point.
Again I ask how do you know ?
It’s a sensible assumption as none of the other Bitcoin donations have been drawn down.
Now, does anyone have a way to contact Mr. Murray and get an official answer to this?
If Mr Murray were an elected Uniparty rep, you would get a form letter, acknowledging the receipt of your query and even then were there any substance to your aspersions, you would wait who knows how long for an actual response to your query and how many visits you might make to your MP’s surgery – running all the risks of being branded a “trouble causer” or a “domestic terrorist” if you’re behaviour doesn’t fit the template of powerless supplicant
He is in Blackburn at 2 O Clock this Sunday afternoon – so if you feel this matter is urgent, you could use the power of locomotion and ask him yourself. I wonder how many candidates one could say that about in the current election?
You have higher expectations for some over others it seems.
It’s a perfectly fair question. It is kept in reserve as a legal defence fund.
Thr High Court libel action by the now editor of the Jewish Chronicle cost over £130,000 even though it ended with a statement into the High Court that I am not an anti-semite.
My Contempt of Court cases have totaled over £260,000.
There have been several more minor lawfare skirmishes. But we may need to fight being closed down (or jailed) anytime at the drop of a hat.
Those who still believe voting will make any difference are missing a couple of key points.
1. The government are just the frontmen for the actual rulers who are not elected, and who operate via globalist outfits such as the WEF, IMF, WHO, World Bank, BIS etc. etc. ad infinitum ad nauseam.
2. Even if the elected government did decide policy, they’d have no chance of reversing the decline evident all around.
Leaving aside the important fact that, under the current (neoliberal) systems wealth is continually transfered from the workers to the owners of capital (‘wealth creators’ lol), that’s because the economy is dependent on energy, especially cheap energy.
Whenever an energy resource is exploited, some energy must be used to access that resource, eg diesel must be used to power mining machines, trucks etc. when coal mining. The amount of energy used accessing it is the Energy Cost of Energy (ECoE), the inverse of Energy Returned on Energy Invested (EROEI). When the ECoE increases, there is less surplus energy available for the economy.
Naturally, all the easy-to-access deposits of oil, coal and gas get used up first so, over time, deposits get ever harder to access and the ECoE slowly but inexorably creeps up, causing inflation by increasing the monetary value of stuff that depends on energy for its production (i.e. nearly everything). That’s what has happened and is happening – and there’s FA the PTB can do about it.
Here is good site to learn more about energy and the economy: Surplus Energy Economics
All the candidates/parties are promising more economic growth, which they can’t deliver. It’s doubtful they even understand the predicament, but if they did they could never admit it and hope to get elected.
The problem with spoiling your ballot is it’s included in voter turnout, so it still lends legitimacy to a process (ie, they can say ‘look – democracy’), which really has none.
James,
That is not a problem it is a feature – a warning light – the more deliberate spoilt votes in a campaign of ‘none of the above’ shines a bright spotlight on the problem you identify.
A none-of-the-above automatic choice should be presented in every vote – which would avoid the need for a deliberate spoilt vote – but we are not allowed that because it would show that controlled democracy wouldn’t it?
P.S. the only energy that matters to human success is the energy that the human body consumes and the largest energy in that is what the brain consumes, which is why humans brain size is an evolutionary success – giving rise to language, science, technology and culture.
Which is why we are being fed more crap food and most westernised people haven’t got any brains that work anymore.
DG, I’m kind of in two minds about spoiling my vote. I’m paranoid that they’d just count it for one of the main parties, idk.
Is human brain size an evolutionary success? Short term yes, humans have multiplied to 8 billion+, but at what cost to the rest of the planet and its other inhabitants? We depend on the environment for survival, yet it’s continually trashed and polluted in the name of profit or ‘progress’ (‘science’).
The only way 8B people can be fed is by using FF-derived fertilizers to force-grow crops. The whole system looks increasingly shaky.
Science is used by the psychopathic rulers to develop weapons and technological means of controlling/surveilling their enslaved populations – just look at the Israeli regime. First the Israelis use the disgusting ‘tech’ on the Palestinians, then it gets sold to the rest of the Western ‘democracies’ (DINOs). What a shitshow.
James.
I believe we can feed all the people. Currently food waste is huge, so our farming practices are very suspect. Also, the current trends are for huge centralised, profit driven, specialised farms, rather than smaller farms working to provide local needs. The current push to get farmers to grow bio fuels rather than food for people makes the problems worse.
Population studies show that as communities become economically richer then birthrates fall. We are seeing this throughout the west, including China and Russia. So, If we address the wealth inequalities then the population of the planet will stabilise and maybe even fall. Whether this will ever be possible in a capitalist driven world is doubtful. Best to tick the box maked ‘kill the rich’.
Re: ‘The only way 8B people can be fed is by using FF-derived fertilizers to force-grow crops.’
Marc Bonfils would beg to differ, James – or he would if he hadn’t been ‘Epsteined’ (allegedly):
https://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Permaculture/Bonfils_Winter_Wheat.pdf
To summarize: that’s 15 tonnes/hectare reproducible wheat yields (50% above the UK average), zero fertilizer, zero fungicides & zero pesticides.
Who wouldn’t like that? Well I can think of some people who wouldn’t.
LA, that’s interesting, however, not sure if it could be applied to all crops (not saying the guy wasn’t offed though.)
If you ‘spoil’ your vote in a way that makes it impossible for it to be assigned to any candidate and hundreds and thousands did the same , it would work.
Make two parallel lines diagonally across the voting sheet and write ‘NONE OF THEM ‘ between them.
Tell the exit vote counters your choice or set up a local site where people who spoilt their votes can log their spoilt vote for a further metric to compare with the official count.
There was an organisation set up to provide electoral reform to make it an official choice – haven’t heard about them recently, I wonder what happened to them.
Please don’t encourage apathy because a low turnout by actual voters makes it easier to hide ballot stuffing postal votes and makes fascism easier.
As for your short term worries inspired by Narrative Manufacturers to find ways of controlling humanity through neo religious cataclysmic scaremongering – Don’t Worry . Celebrate Life.
The more there is the better for the future.
There is an extremely large amount, unknown because it so much, of energy and elemental resources off our planet (never mind below the earths surface or solar energy just spreading off Into space) just floating around the solar system – that would sustain humanity of hundreds of billions over many tens of thousands of years.
That is the ONLY way humans and indeed all earthly life will ever survive in the long run – because it is only a matter of time that another cataclysmic comet smacks into us! Or we commit suicide by having eschatological crazies keeping control.
And all our worries will be over as we go the way of the dinosaurs!
I’m not worried, DG, I’m merely pointing out why no government will be able to reverse the increasingly obvious decline in the UK’s infrastructure and society.
All the energy in the solar system is not available to us. The economy (in fact, industrial civilization) is predicated on FF, mainly oil. And the ECoE is increasing, remorselessly. I don’t care, personally – to me, it’s amusing seeing all the politicians promising their looney tunes infinite economic growth.
There’s a good article explaining it here
Yes, humans, and all life, will survive in the long run – free of governments and industrial civilization.
James.
Re. “All the candidates/parties are promising more economic growth, which they can’t deliver.”
The fact is that all the candidates/parties promise many things during a GE that they have absolutely no intention of delivering, at all (40,000 nurses, 40 new hospitals !!!). They are all liars. Schoolboy debating tricks just to get into power, and then do as they please, and the masses fall for it every time.
IMO, the energy issue need not be a major problem; however, if we continue lemming like down the ‘green’ path then economic disaster is guaranteed. Since all parties are terrified of the billionaire funded green lobby then economic disaster is indeed guaranteed.
I live in the blue heartland, so have no intention of voting.
Stevie Boy, I tend to agree, which is why I probably won’t even cast a spolied vote.
I do think energy will be an increasing problem, but like you say, it will be made much worse by pursuing a crazy ‘green’ energy ‘transition’. So-called ‘renewables’ have dogshit energy density and are actually worse than FF environmentally, due to their requirement for thousands of tons of lithium, cobalt, copper etc. that has to be mined. And they contain toxic shit that can’t be recycled. How green!
Although this is a difficult watch, I still highly recommend it:
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/kill-zone-inside-gaza-dispatches
Although we all think we know only too well the devastation wreaked on Gaza and its inhabitants, this documentary, stitched together from footage shot in Gaza since October 7, brings an incredible clarity, an eye-witness testimony, to the events as they unfolded over the months since. The media, particularly the BBC, has bent over backwards to tell us stories about Israeli hostages and their families, while ignoring similar stories about Palestinian families. Here is the riposte, and it is devastating. Utterly heartbreaking, especially hearing the children’s stories, but also staggering to see the bravery, the soul, and the humanity of ordinary people caught in a rabid, genocidal massacre by people who are obviously heartless, incomprehensibly cruel, sadistic and staggeringly violent. What else can you say about those who deliberately set about such slaughter, then make mocking videos about it on TikTok?
It makes very clear the indifference to any norms of behaviour or so-called international ‘rules’ of warfare, eye-witness accounts of defenceless people directed to evacuate homes and hospitals, and then bombed. It should be compulsory to see some of this, because I think most people, whatever their biases, simply do not believe other human beings are capable of such spectacular, calculated violent murder on such a scale.
Even if you think you know about it, this is a very powerful document which will only fuel your determination to speak up and hold to account those responsible, as well as those who condone it with weak and feeble excuses. It is also, needless to say, very important evidence. Little wonder that Israel has barred the media from Gaza and killed journalists who have reported from there. I urge you to see it.
Galloway’s speaking style is rather tiring. I wonder if he talks like that in private.
I shouldn’t think so, any more than Demosthenes, Lincoln, or Churchill did. Mr Galloway is quite old-fashioned in that he orates – something most unfashionable nowadays, perhaps because it’s very hard to do well.
Yes, it has its place, but a more conversational tone would suit this sort of discussion better.
If I can give you my two penneth for your election campaign ?
You could make it a Rafah-rendum on the genocide in Gaza and galvanise the constituents so they know they do not have to endorse Rishi Starmer or Keir Sunak !
Good luck and best wishes.
You and Gorgeous George a formidable force; let’s hope you get elected. I know John Pilger was Australian but if he wasn’t and instead he was from the UK, what a trio the three of would have made if all three of you had gotten elected to the HoC. Sadly Pilger is now gone.
Meanwhile there’s no difference between Trump and Biden, the same can be said for Sunak and Starmer.
“Former US president Donald Trump has vowed to suppress ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstrations in American universities, saying that he will “throw out” students who attend the protests, if he was elected back to office.
Speaking to a small group of predominantly Jewish donors at an event, Trump said he will deport all pro-Palestinian student protesters to ensure that they “behave.”
“One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave,” Trump said.
Trump, 77, who is the presumptive Republican candidate, referred to the protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza as a “radical revolution” and assured donors that he would set the movement back 25 or 30 years with their support in defeating Joe Biden in the upcoming presidential election in November.
“If you get me re-elected, we’re going to set that movement back 25 or 30 years,” Trump replied, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the event.”
To stop the genocide in Gaza, more than anything the Americans have to be persuaded to stop giving the Israelis the bombs to do it. So the stop the genocide demonstrations need to be taking place outside the U.S. embassy. (Perhaps they already are).
Films like Israelism need to be shown in theatres who need to be persuaded not to censor them, and the books of Ilan Pappé and Miko Peled need to be made recommended to public libraries. Judaism and Zionism need to have the not equal to sign amplified between them.
MJ.
As far as I’m aware the US has already given the Zionist regime enough weapons to finish the job, nothing will deter the Zionists from completing their evil task in Gaza; only force will stop them. Zionist Jews in America have far too much clout in Washington, so no real weight will be brought to bear to stop the Zionist genocide.
ROS You are aware Correctly No Let up in the Arms to evil Israel Sickening
American senators threatening ICC prosecutors and judges if they continue to go down the path of issuing warrants for the Zionist war criminals Netanyahu and Gallant.
The US has form in this department.
“2019 efforts of former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to hold both the Taliban and the U.S. accountable for war crimes in Afghanistan. When Graham said “reason prevailed,” he really meant that U.S. thuggery prevailed because the Trump administration brazenly imposed sanctions against ICC officials, denying them visas to the U.S. and freezing their assets in U.S. banks.
President Joe Biden lifted the sanctions but did so with the tacit understanding that the court would not resume the probe of U.S. crimes in Afghanistan. The message from both Democratic and Republican presidents was clear: Do not dare hold the U.S. to the same standards you use for others.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/29/icc-takes-on-israel-us-congressional-mafia/
I think you’re wise to have George Galloway featuring as prominently as possible in your campaign. His recent win was a body blow to Labour. Name recognition and reputation are half the battle won. It’s why, if Biden were to suffer an untimely date with the Grim Reaper, the Democrats would in all probability, find a way to draft in Michelle Obama, qualified or not. It’s doubtless why the Bush and Clinton families have had such an enduring unmerited hold over US politics too.
Simple fact is, if everyone who feels strongly about Gaza and sending Starmer and Westminster a message, votes, you’ll bring it home. I think you’ve got a really good chance too. And that belief grows with how Starmer and Labour are handing candidate announcements; the shocking treatment of left-wing MP Diane Abbott, Lloyd Russell-Moyle and the talented and likable PPC, Faiza Shaheen, today. Faiza Shaheen and Lloyd R-M have no opportunity to challenge or argue their case, the timing is just plain obnoxious. The treatment of both would be viewed as shockingly shoddy outside politics.
It’s a complete stitch-up seemingly, with a pro-Zionism purity test being applied. Of course, self-proclaimed ‘Zionist ShitLord’, Luke Akehurst, has had no such barriers in becoming a PPC in a safe Labour seat, nor has Josh Simons, a man who joked about sending people smugglers to live on a barge in Scotland!
cont.
Luke Akehurst is being parachuted in as Labour’s candidate for North Durham. If that constituency isn’t on George’s radar, well, it probably should be. He’s a hugely controversial figure, even within the Labour party; remember, he’s the guy that Shai Masot spoke so highly of. He’s carved out quite a niche for himself with his nonstop shilling for Israel and policing antisemitism among what’s left of the party’s left, whom he seemingly detests and the feeling is mutual. Because that’s all he brings to politics.
Were Starmer not so lacking in discernment, he wouldn’t have had anything to do with this obsessive, fanatical Zionist and his agenda.
cont…
And another interesting fact, is that Akehurst himself, isn’t even Jewish. He’s attended events with Israeli govt ministers, in Israel, and is, or was, director of We Believe in Israel a spin-off from BICOM.
It’s almost as though every Labour candidate has been vetted by these pro-Israel zealots. People are digging out old tweets, those of announced Labour candidates, and there’s something they all seem to share in common; they’ve all gone heavy in the past, on condemning the mythical beast that was antisemitism within the party, supposedly under Corbyn. It’s a party that’s built on one lie, making itself part of another lie. An atrocious state of affairs, that a small country in the ME, Israel, has so much sway over the UK politics because of lies. In thrall to lies, a counterfeit Kingdom.
It’s not that Starmer is lacking in discernment (although that’s probably true) – he’s an obsessive, fanatical Zionist himself.
Apart from his purging of members supporitive of the Palestinians and his recent, disgraceful stance on Gaza etc,. it’s well known he has an ex-Mossad / Shin Bet spook as one of his advisers…
That’s why I’m disappointed so many people I know are still going to vote Labour (lesser of two evils blah blah etc.)
He also shares his bed with mossad.
James
I don’t think Starmer believes in anything tbh, he’s a political golem, who’s there just to fake proficiency. That’s why he always sits on the fence, letting problems multiply, making basic errors, errors that would’ve been inconceivable for Blair. You can almost see the burden of his habitual lying, weighing on everything Starmer does. He always looks defensive, in interviews, as if the truth could ambush him at any moment.
Starmer appears to be a very shallow, petty man, whose only concern is surviving. He’s no great historian of politics and he clearly knows nothing about the Labour party and traditions and, I’d wager, cares even less. He’s singularly the most uninspiring leader I’ve ever seen in frontline British politics. Seriously, he’s got none of the drive or passion of Kinnock, he’s even less impressive than the original ‘grey man’ himself, John Major. The guy is an empty shell – a golem- probably hollowed out by being a servant of power in his previous role? I wouldn’t be surprised at all, if the establishment didn’t talk him into doing this role; the aim being just to steer Labour back from the left, to at least the Blairite centre-right? A course correction if you will. But Starmer is going too far to the right.
I just wish everyone else could see what we here can so easily discern.
I assume if starmer loses his seat then he cannot be PM, if they win ?
There is always the House of Lords
Of course it don’t matter coz for the next “kitchen cabinet” he won’t be setting policy, merely making the tea for those who do
Goose, yes Starmer does seem very shallow and petty (and boring). The phrase ‘the banality of evil’ comes to mind…
As I watched, I thought of those carefree days when this was recorded. I watched it back then and can remember some of my thoughts as I watched. It was the first time I considered what the break up of Britain might mean.
Watching it again last night, the gravity of things, the sheer press of events, rushed in on me. There have been changes in my local environment, since the 7th October Many will be unknown to me of course, but the one I’m aware of persistently, is in the sky
I knew the soundscape of the sky well before the 7th, now I don’t recognise it all. The rumble of high flying planes goes on day and night – not to the degree it did from the7th and it to November but still radically different with loads moe flights. What these flights are I don’t know. A commentator here mentioned NATO exercises and after that I became more aware of such exercises. Nevertheless this in no way explains the massive uptick in this jet engine noise. I find it ominous and oppressive – then I think, at least they’re not dropping bombs
The odd thing is I have not met anybody who has noticed this change. So I’m barking mad or everyone else is too busy or preoccupied to notice
I had the same in Berlin, however when US troops and NATO equipment were moved to the East. They liked to do it during the night.
Being in Berlin one is used to helicopters by the army and police because of constant government officials travelling.
But that is during the day. These high flying transporters were crossing when the sun had set.
“These high flying transporters were crossing when the sun had set.”
There is a tinge of Nosferatu here for me AG, though possibly subjective.
Have you seen Herzog’s “Nosferatu”? Plague and contagion are central motifs and it is said fear is contagious. I remember reading a snippet regarding drone activity above a subject population, where psychological damage was being done by the drone presence using omnipresent engine alone – maybe something like endless loops of Metallica for Gitmo detainees. I have developed a deeper understanding of such an idea since the change in the sky’s soundscape.
p.s. Another interesting one was a Louis Jordan Dracula made by BBC in the seventies. Can’t remember the plot nuance but I remember some striking imagery, even after forty years.
…and of course we had one year ago the megalomaniac NATO airborne excercise in this part of the country interrupting even commercial flight routes…
p.s. One of the first NATO military WWIII excercises was “Carte Blanche” in 1955. The very same week that was taking place in the skies over the River Rhine German parliament in Bonn was discussing German remilitarisation with a new army, Bundeswehr.
So while the first SoD of the FRG, Franz-Josef Strauß was argueing in the main hall in favour of Bundeswehr, fighter bombers were flying low across parliament as a reporter then stated. Nice timing.
…to me as a non-native there is a remarkable resemblance in speech between Craig and this gentleman, Freddy Gray from SPECTATOR TV.
He is talking to John Mearsheimer about the usual stuff, but that was not the reason to post this. Howere here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slkn2-N3oR0
Good luck Craig. If I lived nearby I would definitely join you and George on Sunday.
Any chance of recruiting Diane Abbott to join the Worker’s Party and stand as a candidate? It could be a useful addition.