It's Friday in Oran...an interlude with Sisyphus.. The crisis of
globalisation begins as the economic slow down takes effect. An
unforeseen event shows exactly the effects of the black swan landing in
the backyard of Europe. As climate change bites and Heathrow expansion
is turned down we see a coming collision between conventional economic
growrh and the need to limit emissions. As we flirt with descriptions
of pandemic our: 'mature' democracy staggers towards panic . The
streets are quieter and brooding with a sense of anxiety. As we look
around we experience the continuation of culture wars as the western
mind undergoes rapid an ever becoming revolution of identity.
Perhaps the greatest irony yet will be that the authoritarian state
capitalists of China will be far more effective in resisting the corona
virus. Would it not be odd if the myth of self and individualism was
the Trojan horse that slew capitalism. Within 20 years of the claim of
the victory of liberal capitalism we near an end to it's domination. It
was not peak oil that was it's assasin it was corona.
The
structures of globalisation, it's facilities exposed unconscious beyond
comprehension are revealed as the fears of Ricardo, Malthus, Adam Smith
and Marx become prophetic. The hints in the texts and the footnotes of
the chroniclers of political economy move from the implicit to the
explicit. As I said on Monday we all live in Oran now and the
challenge to all is whether we are a resistor, collaborator or
other.....this is the age of Camus as absurdity points out the flaws in
the stassi capitalists of Johnson's government on Brexit Island....who
will be Tarrou or Dr Rieux or indeed Rambert? Perhaps Sisyphus will
have the last laugh as the corona virus stalks the market? Events, dear
boy , events ...the road ahead cannot be seen....cannot be felt as the
stock market staggers back to 2008 and all the logic of neo liberalism
revealed once more as false...on Radio 4 the PM programme discuss with
subtle seeding how we can cope in the age of pandemic...with
restriction, limitation and a tinge of panic..
The praxis of meaning on a Thursday bus ride.. It's nearly March as
a rain soaked and lashed Ystradgynlais staggers towards Spring. It's
light now as I reach the bus stop in the mornings now. As the days
lengthen and the cycles of existence weave and dance through events to
come with numerous unseen consequences and echoes. Yet still there is
still nothing new under the Sun. Freud, Nietzche, Marx and Hegel all
knew this yet each in their own way gave a new lens and perspective upon the praxis of history.
There is tragedy followed by farce as the good old defence mechanism
are dusted down and brought out and as the dialectical process of thesis
and antithesis runs on into the death of God and on even to beyond
good and evil. All things that were solid melt intro air as history
moves on. As the bus travels towards Godre÷graig through out the world
millions of lives acting upon one another at both micro and macro levels
in numerous ways. I stare from the Bus window and think about the
clashing aims, ideas and purposes. I think of the vast unconscious
uncomprehending nature of world economics under late capitalism.
As the Red Wall Tory MPs fail to comprehend that an expansion of
Heathrow will continue to destroy their local economies ... it is
revealed that London and the South East has grown nine times as fast the
areas of the North. I hear Airport Adonis champion the cause of
Heathrow as I wonder when our Prime Minister will lay down in front if
the bulldozers.
As centrist and right wing Labour "big beasts"
dream of shadow cabinet glory I reflect on all of the possibilities and
events to come. I reflect that we now reach a point where prediction
becomes nearly merely a reflection of our own prejudices and blind
spots. There is nothing new under the sun...or perhaps we are just
locked in Baudrillard"s hyper reality....
Tbe
Ystradgynlais Labour AGM is over.... Mercy me I am becoming Bill Brand
or shall we call it " My friends in Ystradgynlais". The greatest irony
of my political persona is that finally at the age of nearly 62 I become
my adolescent hero Bill Brand. The Ystradgynlais Labour AGM is over
and a new committee elected. Trish oncemors is chairperson and I once
more am the Secretary. Roger Maidment becomes Treasurer and Josh Morgan the Youth Officer. We have Lisa Phillips as Vice Chair and Monique Craine in a Job share with Roger Rees as Political Education Officer. Welcome to Vaughan our new Social Media Officer and Stephen Gray
as Campaign Committee member . It was one of the largest meetings I
have seen here . I say I feel like Bill brand as a voice on the Left as I
hear the plaintiff cry "We are a broad church" which effectively means I
accept the status quo but want to make it slightly less nasty. It also
implies that the broadeness is effectively used without the word
socialism and implies that our there somewhere are a secret group
plotting the revolution of which I am a representative. There is also an
inability to distinguish Momentum from Militant and forgets that 18
months ago the branch met bimonthly with an average attendance of 8 .The
episode of Bill Brand below carries echoes of what I have seen,
experienced and enjoyed. The Labour Party in all its glory and shadow is
a wonderful political education that attracts, at times repels yet
creates a fascination with the human psyche in all its glory and all of
its Id. Within it all the Freudian defence mechanisms can be seen and
experienced . I wouldn't miss it for the world and within it I often
glimpse my own frailties, strengths and perceptions. At long last I have
become Bill Brand....Venceremos comrades ...enjoy the first episode of
the series...
From
the Cefn Saeson by election onwards to the Senedd elections of
2021...There begins a long cycle now of the electoral processes within
the Labour Party, through its branches, Brecon and Radnor CLP, the party
leadership and onto a certain Town Council by election on Thursday in
the Cimla area of Neath. You may be surprised to consider the relevance
of this Thursday"s by election to the future of the Labour Party in
general yet it may be that it is merely an omen for the shape of things
to come if Labour moves to the right. The Cefn Saeson by election pits
the Green Party in a contest with Labour. This may well become a pattern
under a Starmer or Nandy led Centrist or right wing Labour Party. As
the Left within Labour battle for the party's future we may yet find
that any centrist nudge may find Labour losing up to one million of it's
December votes to the Green Party and other smaller parties. The
defection of Sonia Klein
to Plaid may well be another warning to those calling for centrism. As
the clarion calls of Tony Blair call for an arrangement between Labour
and the Liberal Democrats we see the trajectory of the Labour right and
centre.
After the European elections and General Election of
December we saw a remain alliance between Plaid the Greens and the
Liberal Democrats..Labour must steer clear of such a development. The
sight of Greens in alliance with austerity supporting Liberal Democrats
was the ultimate in a lack of principle and ambition. Yet it will not
prevent social democracy losing millions of young people switched on
to politics by Jeremy Corbyn to the Greens and others.
For Plaid
too must realise and understand that devolution for Wales only became
possible because of the conversion of Labour to it's cause. It took
Labour a long time to exorcise the ghosts of George Thomas and yet the
ultimate irony may be yet to come where in the end Welsh independence
becomes possible because of the conversion of Welsh Labour to it's
cause. It would be a strange irony and a Weberian unforseen consequence
of some surprise.
For myself I see no possibility of a mass party
of ecosocialism outside of Labour. I see the present leadership
election within Labour as a Hegelian moment of struggle that will be
fought in leadership and General Elections to come. It may be that the
left will triumph on April 4th or it may come in 10 years or more. Of
course climate change and other unforseen events may well demolish the
seemingly monolithic Tory dominance giving the Left power very quickly.
The Senedd election of 2021 will reveal much in Wales of political
trends. The Tory victory in December makes it impossible for Plaid to
ally within Wales with the Tories . Had Labour won in December Plaid
could well have surged in future elections . There is a Welsh political
axiom that suggest a Plaid only does well when Labour is in power at
Westminster. At best Labour will win the elections for the Senedd in
2021 or otherwise come to a similar arrangement of the one Wales
government of 15 years ago with Plaid. The sheer ignorance of Lisa Nandy
over Catalonia and Scottish self determinism offers some attraction to
certain elements within Welsh Labour yet offers us nothing more than a
narrow cup de sac haunted by the ghost of George Thomas. The British
state is cracking apart and the Labour Party must understand just what
is happening.
The Cefn Saeson by election may be a warning to the
devotees of a centrist Welsh Labour future particularly with the
history of by elections in recent years in Neath Port Talbot.
As for myself it's odd how my victory in the delegate election for
Disability Labour has an echo of both karma and schadenfreude that
perhaps only Neil Wagstaff and Lisa Phillips would understand over
certain events after the Uplands by election of 2014 in another party
and universe. We move on tonight to the AGM of Ystradgynlais Labour
Party and then in March to Brecon and Radnor CLPs AGM in March. The
battle with the right and centre moves onto other times and other places
for the soul of the Labour Party...the only way that eco socialism can
be made manifest is through a socialist Labour Party...
We all live in "Oran" now as the pandemic comes... The borders begin
to close as the plague comes. We see the borders shut between Austria
and Italy. But where is it carried and how? Is it carried in our heads
and hearts, or at the biochemical or microbial level? The cruise ships
carrying right-wing gammon traverse the world as a pandemic nears. Has
the world become Camus' Oran? I wonder then where a new theodicy will
come from ? A woman raves on Question Time with bare-faced racism, unaware that her vile emotion lacks any basis in facts.
The plague is a metaphor and a metonymy for our times. It's closing the
borders for us and it forms a fog in the channel. Europe is closing off
to both the UK and to its respective states. The boring and bland voice
of Keir Starmer sounds in my ears from Radio 4 as Lisa Nandy celebrates
the uninformed reactionary attitudes as virtues to be listened to and
celebrated. The plague kills our critical thinking and makes us believe
that opinion without facts is valid. Ignorance carried in the blood
becomes a source of confidence in the psyche. The defence of right-wing
nut jobs with swivel eyes become a model to be aimed for. Hate speech
becomes free speech as white straight men cannot see racism, homophobia
and sexism as real and defend it as banter. The minds close as the
bacillus spreads in multiple ways. Farage, Trump, and others are the
epidemiological agents that spray us with it...
Those of who live
in this worldwide Oran must choose how we resist. There will be many
who collaborate with the plague, and there will be those who are carried
off by it and those who resist and turn back. The choice is yours, and
be it coronavirus or conservatism the vulnerable are always its victims.
Will you collaborate, or resist? The choice is yours..
Disability,
the trains to Treblinka and economic activity.. so we learn now that
work makes us free and that there are eight million economically
"inactive" people within the country. I watch on television an interview
with the 50 somethings in cafe in Stratford upon Avon , they think
that requiring the economically inactive to wipe bums and pick fruit as
wonderful Yet they do not ask why during the day they are at the cafe
and not being economically active. Like those 83% who believe that if
you go to live in another country you must learn the language yet never
apply this to the expats who are of course not economic migrants. When
an eugenicist has been an advisor to number 10 and believes that women
should submit to men you have a discourse that leads us to an
instrumentalist view of humanity. Economic activity is measured by
Pritti Pattel as simply working and ignores the spending in living that
we all do whether we work or not. It is not work that makes us free it
is the money we spend... And after this discourse will come an
attitude to the disabled . When Tories argue that the disabled should
be paid less and the DWP creates a taxonomy that denies psychological
definitions and confuses the meaning of cognitive possinluties with
actual ones. It won't be long before the eyes of the patriots turn onto
the clearly perceived disabled and then begin a witchuni upon the hidden
disabled. "Economic inactivity" opens the doors to 'work makes free'
and in the simplistic approach of the naive Tory's sinister outlook
threatens us all. The far right and the alt right fear disability, the rights of women; the trans person and those who do not look, work or
spend like them. I have been told in letters from the DWP that
it is not my job to comment on fitness to work.. I have seen a Doctor at
a DWP Tribunal shout at a client, telling her to speak up because he
has left his hearing aid at home. I have seen a client in a DWP
interview so terrified that he dug his nails so deeply I to his hand
that he bled u noticed by the health care professional I have seen the
disabled bullied in public and experienced it myself in December when my
magnifier bothered a bus traveller on the X6. All of these were not
done by fascists yet each action feeds the fascist within and without.
It empowers the fascist groups and those who practice and promote
emotional fascism. If you can create a system that would have prevented
your own parents coming here then you at best lack insight and empathy
and at worst a hidden psychopathy and narcissism. If you can bully a
high ranking civil servant that leads to their collapse...then you must
ask what could you do to the other, the disabled and the different? This must be the time we resist the fascist within and without. We must
understand our shadow, our id and our prejudices.. we must resist
those who would deny the expert and fail to understand the nature of
power..We must promote critical thinking and deny the simplistic
emotional explanation. We must concentrate on ideas and defend the
vulnerable and ourselves in and when we experience our own
vulnerabilities. We are all broken, disabled and at risk at
times...let's resist and fight back against those locked in denial,
projection and displacement. It's insight, critical thought and
empathy Pritti Pattel that makes us free and not work for fucks
sake...just tell me of the billionaires whose wealth makes them inactive
.....if you can be slain in a sleepy shiska bar by the far right, then
we open the doors to the gas chambers.. and catch the trains to
Trblinka....no paseran...
The Glanrhyd bus stop in the rain in February.. musings and reflections..as news of a far right attack comes from Germany. We hear
that the attacker posted a video and had a hunting licence and attacked
two Kurdish bars frequented by guest workers. We hear that the German
state took away resources from observing the far right to observation of
Isis terrorism. Like the UK the far right flexes and stretches it's
muscles and few see the symbiotic relationship between the far right
and Isis. Each has a similar world view, each share one another's
social media tweeting and retweeting one another's efforts and each
left behind in a globalised world.
My mind turns to the nature of Februay and I reflect the on the tide of
misery, illness and mortality around me. I am Sissyphus pushing the
stone of my will and optimism up the hill each day and each morning it
has rolled down to the bottom so I begin the process again each day The
same inanities echo around social media each day on Port Talbot
arseholes and dispair the same unthinking prejudice babbled on ....
As Pritti Patel brings in a points-based immigration system we discover
that her own parents would not have been granted entrance to the UK
what us it about newsagents and the Tory Party? Is it the prejudice of
the tabloids entering into their souls by osmosis? Is it the grubiness
of selling cigarettes and booze to under age kids in the 70s? Is it
the crassness of the top shelf ? Or the inflated prices charged to poor
and desperate people?
This is February as three storms have
merged into days of rain and wind that never seem to end. I glance up
around the bus there are six of us as we move through Trebanos and
onwards towards Pontaradawe ...where are we going what are our stories? I
dreamt last night of a train journey Freud would have speculated on
mortality perhaps this bus is a metaphor for the train. Sissyphus
within all of us heading on the X6 to pick up our individual rocks?
On Radio 4 I hear of the floods in Wales and throughout the country.
The reality of climate change comes down to us all. Yet denial is
everywhere...
But the days are lengthening and the light grows
daily. In the USA Sanders goes on the attack and lays into the racist
Israeli Government and the theocracy of Saudi Arabia. As Bloomberg
stutters and staggers awkwardly into the Presidential election. The
potential for change is there and the small acorns and bulbs of hope
burst with energy. Spring is coming steadily as we all Sissyphus like
battle through existence . There is only one God and his name is death
and all we can say to him is not today. There are many Goddesses with
multiple views and perspectives and the rocks we push up the hill can
become tools of change and weapons of resistance ....but dare we rebel
that us the question.
Meanwhile the ex Pats in Spain rail
against migrants and call for the economically inactive with the UK to
pick fruit and wipe a
...it's very quiet the
cafes, the shops and the businesses. Yes it's half term, but as I write
I notice that the bus I am on is emptier than usual. It's almost as if
the paradise of Brexit and the government of Boris Johnson exists in a
way that is yet to be perceived or understood. I feel as if the pages of
Hannah Arendts book on totalitarianism and fascism is being acted out.
As Kier Starmer bores the Labour into submission with
a stream of visionless words and Lisa Nandy has conversations with
socially conservative ex Labour voters who are concerned with "anti
western" policies and hung up on immigration and the threat of diversity
. Yet in the conversation she has she never states what values she has
or indeed those she supports. Her history is constantly revised,
adapted and reinterpreted .Anti Semetism as Corbyns sin is woven into
her narrative tapestry and coloured by ambition as great as Lucifers and
as cold as a Lizard she weeps tears for the blue Labour values that she
so sadly mourns.
The Left
wrestles with the false binary choice between the electable centrism
option and the purity and relevance of Socialism. Late capitalism is
here and we cannot go back to Blair. 2008 destroyed for ever that world
has gone for ever. Neoliberalism has been replaced by benefit
capitalism in which large corporations and banks are the recipients .
The system has gone and only it's shell remains. The superstructure of
the state persuades many that we can go back yet automation, climate
change and the change of commodities and their opportunity costs slips
by their awareness.
The Left must keep its nerve and battle on.
Whatever happens on April 4th is yet another state in a Hegelian
process. Blair led Labour to the arms of Bush and war where so would the
centrist pragmatists lead us now? Which right wing populist would
serve that role? There is no way other than to campaign, educate and
empower. Socialism is the only way now. Rosa Luxembourg long ago said
the choice was either Socialism or Barbarism. Never has the first three
chapters of volume of Das Kapital been more relevant, prophetic and
valid. The centre is dead but does not yet know it, the right off Labour
has no relevance or value to post industrial society. All that is solid
is melting into air and all that was holy is now profane. Socialism
calls to us as a faith to those who have lost a faith..keep your nerve
...the dialectic runs on as thesis and antithesis battles it out. Free
movement becomes essential as the crisis of late capitalism
nears.....it will come in an event, moment or episode that is yet
unforseen, unknown and shocking...:to all my architects let me be
traitor to those I cannot obey.."
I finally broke into the prison, I found my place in the chain. Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows, All the brave young men They're waiting now to see a signal Which some killer will be lighting for pay. Into this furnace I ask you now to venture, You whom I cannot betray.
I fought in the old revolution On the side of the ghost and the King. Of course I was very young And I thought that we were winning; I can't pretend I still feel very much like singing As they carry the bodies away. Into this furnace I ask you now to venture
Lately you've started to stutter As though you had nothing to say. To all of my architects let me be traitor. Now let me say I myself gave the order To sleep and to search…
Yes, you who are broken by power, You who are absent all day, You who are kings for the sake of your children's story, The hand of your beggar is burdened down with money, The hand of your lover is clay. Into this furnace I ask you now to venture
I
am a 1970s socialist because of 2010s 'liberals" austerity and policies of privatisation . I am a 1970s socialist
because of New Labour and it's tinkering with capiralism They adjusted
income but did nothing about the distribution of wealth. They promoted
Public Finance Iniatives and fought a hideous war killing millions. I
have always been a socialist from the 1970s because it was the only
analysis that made sense and offered an alternative. I am a 1970s
socialist because it was a criticism of the austerity and semi
monetarism of the Callaghan years. I hold it up as a badge of honour
because I want to solve the problem of those who work but do not own and
those who own but do not work. I want people to own the place they work
at and that they are the first responsibility of the business and not
the shareholders. I am a 1970s socialist because the health service and
education system is a service and not a business. I am a 1970s socialist
because I support an education system that is about critical thinking
and not about serving our corporate master. I am a 1970s socialist
becaus I believe that we must sweep away the Public Schools, the House
of Lords and the whole Honours system. I am a 1970s socialist because I
want a written constitution and a citizens income. I am a 1970s
socialist because I support the right of numerous ethnic, sexual and
gender identities. I am a 1970s socialist because of your austerity Jo
Swinson because while you are a woman you are not a sister. Your friends
will call me misogynist because I criticise you. Yet you were the
misogynist supporting welfare cuts, privatisation and the bedroom tax.
It was your policies Jo Swinson that through austerity killed 120,000
people. That's misogyny Jo, robbing families of mothers, suppressing
income and slashing services. I am a 1970s socialist because I have sat
with the victims of your policies Jo Swinson in DWP offices and
tribunals . And you have the fucking nerve to dismiss those like me on
an equivalence scale with the old Etonians bully boys of the
Bullingdon?.
I am a 1970s socialist because I don't believe that
my attitude to Brexit is a litmus test of everything that matters. I am a
1970s socialist because I don't excuse homophobes and bigots because of
ambition and of being remainers.
I am a 1970s
socialist because I don't believe that someone like yourself who is a
parody of the head prefect of a private school from a novel of the 1920s
or 1930s. I am a 1970s socialist because I believe in self determinism
of the people's of these islands. I do not look the other way Jo because
I deny the Scottish people a second referendum but want to deny the
reality of the UK European referendum of 2016.
I
am a feminist and a peace maker and a supporter of the identity of all
enabled to discover who they are and to be able set out on a journey of
self discovery I am a 1970s socialist because I don't believe that
moderation is a virtue and is rather a statistical average of unthinking
and prejudice. There are no moderate positions when confronting fascism
and racism, poverty and injustice. I am a 1970s socialist because of
the Blairs, Swinsons and moderates that I meet.
Since
2008 the economic system gas been cracking and breaking . We have had
years of Corporate Welfare with pay outs for the rest, we have bailed
out the bankers and the plutocrats. I am a 1970s socialist because we
can't go back to the way things were prior to 2008. The tragedy is that
Jo and her friends don't even realise what has happened or indeed have
the tools to analyse it. You don't even realise that your actions are
what caused Brexit and the rejection of neoliberalism. So I raise the
Red Banner and stand below it.. That's why I am a 1970s socialist...
And
you Jo are simply a means by which the ruling class can keep on ruling.
You are the means by which the structure of the existing system would
be preserved. You are Jo with your party hooked into grandiosity and
narcissism and you are completely unaware of reality.
I have a very rewarding career, in addition to being a Psychotherapist I
represrnt people at benefit Tribunals. I love my job and I win about
90% of the cases. I am disanled myself and partially sighted. I have a
whire stick and have a deep understanding of both mental health issues
and persobality disotder. Some ten to twelve years ago i went through a
dramatic personal crisis in my life. Those who often dismiss me as a
trouble maler use the events of tjhis time to apply ad hominen methods.
So today I am going yo share with you a typical case from last year. I
think its easy to dismiss all nebefit claimants as lazy and idle. I
might have once but now I have experience of the reality ofbreadline
Britain. I will call this blog post `Doctor Bashton`s Tale; The Grand
Inquisitor and other tales of the Benefit Tribuna` the names have been
vhanged and other facts obscutred.
If
you turn into the Fabian Way and head past Sainsbury's as you
approach Swansea you will notice on your right Swansea Civil Justice
Centre. I have been representing people there in benefit appeals for
well over ten years. A few weeks ago I was representing a particular
client there let's call her Eunice. Eunice is in remission after
reaching stage 3c or 4 bowel cancer. Back in 2016 the DWP had taken
away her DLA when it became PIPS. Eunice is incontinent in all ways.
She is anxious depressed and prone to severe psychological issues.
She can't cope with authority fears that they are out to get her and
needs constant support. I have been working with her since she had
her first diagnosis.
As
we walked into her second appeal I felt a gnawing anxiety as I glance
at the Tribunal Member and recognise all the members if the panel. I
have seen the Doctor and the Judge before.. Let's call them Dr
Bashron and Judge Yardarm. The third member I recognise from my own
appeal . That appeal ruled that I was too eloquent to gain a Pips
award for my visual impairment and they once asked another client who
had dyed her hair. I guess she felt that those who suffer from
depression and a bipolar diagnosis somehow can't dye their hair
without it having a psychological significance.
I
glance at Dr Bashton as he questions Eunice. The good Doctor thinks
he is a prosecuting attorney from a 50s film. He interrogates Eunice
his voice rising all the time. He tells her to speak up. Her voice
drops and she becomes paler and more afraid. Her voice goes quieter
and he shouts at her to speak up as he rants at her claiming that he
is deaf.
Within me a voice begins to rise up. And I want to
shout out GET A FUCKING HEARING aid..My poker face breaks and he
turns to me telling me to show him respect. My voice hidden within
says *I will when you show behaviour worthy of it" and I think
of the Hippocratic Oath that Doctors swear. The words are to do no
harm. AND YET THAT IS ALL HE DOES.
Inquisitor Bashton
continues to interrogate and my client begins to cry. Dr Bashton
rants once more at me and as I glance at the DWP representative he
looks worried and we suggest an adjournment. During the adjournment
they agree with me a set of descriptors that they will accept for
Eunice.
When
we return we tell Judge Yardarm of our recommendations. S he snaps at
us that it's not our job to do that and that she won't accept it.
It's not your role she says and glares at the alliance of the
Psychotherapist and the DWP official. We are less than worms her
cold eyes tell us. We go for an adjournment and as we leave as the
clerk records the final words of the appeal I tell them in a calm
voice that have damaged my client and ask them what psychological
training they have. Eunice is distraught.. Bashton and Yardarm
have put back my work with her by nearly a year. They have wrecked
Eunice. A few days later I get a letter saying that this particular
trio have ruled themselves out of all future appeals dealing with
Eunice.
A few days later on still I run into Dr Bashton while
walking around the supermarket. He looks at me and remembers. I
look through him in contempt and walk away. If you have ever had an
appeal at the Swansea Civic Justice Centre and been treated by Doctor
Bashton in this way you have my compassion and sympathy..
What
does it take for the Bashtons of this world to gain empathy,
understanding and a hearing aid.? I saw in the eyes of Yardarm and
Bashton a contempt for the appellant and with it the assumption that
as they had had it tough then so should all others. They were the
inquisitors of the sick and ill and would root out the shirkers and
the lazy.
Be
afraid very afraid if you run into these pair of Grand Inquisitors of
course any similarity to anyone living or dead is entirely
coincidental. You might think that but I could not possibly comment.
By the way Eunice went on to win the third appeal..I like happy
endings
If
you turn into the Fabian Way and head past Sainsbury's as you
approach Swansea you will notice on your right Swansea Civil Justice
Centre. I have been representing people there in benefit appeals for
well over ten years. A few weeks ago I was representing a particular
client there let's call her Eunice. Eunice is in remission after
reaching stage 3c or 4 bowel cancer. Back in 2016 the DWP had taken
away her DLA when it became PIPS. Eunice is incontinent in all ways.
She is anxious depressed and prone to severe psychological issues.
She can't cope with authority fears that they are out to get her and
needs constant support. I have been working with her since she had
her first diagnosis.
As
we walked into her second appeal I felt a gnawing anxiety as I glance
at the Tribunal Member and recognise all the members if the panel. I
have seen the Doctor and the Judge before.. Let's call them Dr
Bashron and Judge Yardarm. The third member I recognise from my own
appeal . That appeal ruled that I was too eloquent to gain a Pips
award for my visual impairment and they once asked another client who
had dyed her hair. I guess she felt that those who suffer from
depression and a bipolar diagnosis somehow can't dye their hair
without it having a psychological significance.
I
glance at Dr Bashton as he questions Eunice. The good Doctor thinks
he is a prosecuting attorney from a 50s film. He interrogates Eunice
his voice rising all the time. He tells her to speak up. Her voice
drops and she becomes paler and more afraid. Her voice goes quieter
and he shouts at her to speak up as he rants at her claiming that he
is deaf.
Within me a voice begins to rise up. And I want to
shout out GET A FUCKING HEARING aid..My poker face breaks and he
turns to me telling me to show him respect. My voice hidden within
says *I will when you show behaviour worthy of it" and I think
of the Hippocratic Oath that Doctors swear. The words are to do no
harm. AND YET THAT IS ALL HE DOES.
Inquisitor Bashton
continues to interrogate and my client begins to cry. Dr Bashton
rants once more at me and as I glance at the DWP representative he
looks worried and we suggest an adjournment. During the adjournment
they agree with me a set of descriptors that they will accept for
Eunice.
When
we return we tell Judge Yardarm of our recommendations. S he snaps at
us that it's not our job to do that and that she won't accept it.
It's not your role she says and glares at the alliance of the
Psychotherapist and the DWP official. We are less than worms her
cold eyes tell us. We go for an adjournment and as we leave as the
clerk records the final words of the appeal I tell them in a calm
voice that have damaged my client and ask them what psychological
training they have. Eunice is distraught.. Bashton and Yardarm
have put back my work with her by nearly a year. They have wrecked
Eunice. A few days later I get a letter saying that this particular
trio have ruled themselves out of all future appeals dealing with
Eunice.
A few days later on still I run into Dr Bashton while
walking around the supermarket. He looks at me and remembers. I
look through him in contempt and walk away. If you have ever had an
appeal at the Swansea Civic Justice Centre and been treated by Doctor
Bashton in this way you have my compassion and sympathy..
What
does it take for the Bashtons of this world to gain empathy,
understanding and a hearing aid.? I saw in the eyes of Yardarm and
Bashton a contempt for the appellant and with it the assumption that
as they had had it tough then so should all others. They were the
inquisitors of the sick and ill and would root out the shirkers and
the lazy.Be
afraid very afraid if you run into these pair of Grand Inquisitors of
course any similarity to anyone living or dead is entirely
coincidental. You might think that but I could not possibly comment.
By the way Eunice went on to win the third appeal..I like happy
endings
The early twenty-first century has been defined by a rise in Islamist
radicalisation and a concurrent rise in far right extremism. This book
explores the interaction between the 'new' far right and Islamist
extremists and considers the consequences for the global terror threat.
Julia Ebner argues that far right and Islamist extremist narratives '"
'The West is at war with Islam' and 'Muslims are at war with the West' -
complement each other perfectly, making the two extremes rhetorical
allies and building a spiralling torrent of hatred - 'The Rage'. By
looking at extremist movements both online and offline, she shows how
far right and Islamist extremists have succeeded in penetrating each
other's echo chambers as a result of their mutually useful messages.
Based on first-hand interviews, this book introduces readers to the
world of reciprocal radicalisation and the hotbeds of extremism that
have developed '" with potentially disastrous consequences - in the UK,
Europe and the US.
`Julia Ebner
shows how Islamist and right-wing extremism are two sides of the same
coin. Her analysis is compelling, insightful, and highly readable.' -
Peter R. Neumann, author of Radicalized, 'The Rage reads like a novel
but unfortunately its story is non-fiction: Islamist hotheads and
those on the far-right polarise our societies and the moderates in the
middle lose ground to populists who play politics with extremism.' -
Alex P. Schmid, Editor-in-Chief Perspectives on Terrorism, 'This book
brings alive the causes and consequences of far-right extremism and
Islamist radicalism in our midst. These two forms of rising bigotry
threaten to tear our societies apart -- Ebner exposes them both and
powerfully calls on us to defend liberal tolerance. The Rage is an
excellent master course for those seeking to understand the growth of
fanaticism.' - Ed Husain, author of The Islamist, `Julia Ebner has
written a fine book, approaching the vexing topic of `reciprocal
radicalisation' with admirable ethnographic empathy. Crisply written,
The Rage journeys through the leading and often intertwined forms of
extremism today: jihadi Islamists and the far-right. The mirroring of
these violent narratives is striking, and is revealed here through both
eye-opening vignettes and wide-ranging empirical data. Without doubt,
The Rage is the most important contribution to this burgeoning subject
to date, and surely will be of use to scholars, policy-makers and the
wider public alike.' - Matthew Feldman, Professor of Contemporary
History, Teesside University, `An original and highly informative book
on one of the core security issues of our time. The Rage demonstrates
powerfully how apparently opposite strands of extremism feed so readily
off each other and, in doing so, it illuminates the extent of the
problems facing us. Essential reading.' - Paul Rogers, Emeritus
Professor of Peace Studies, Bradford University and author of Irregular
War, `An excellent debut: informed, well-researched and thoughtful.
Ebner traces the increasingly important interdependency of far-right and
Islamist movements, and offers humane, smart ways through the impasse.'
- Jamie Bartlett, author of Radicals, `Julia Ebner draws on the very
latest evidence to deliver important new analysis of two seemingly
opposing forms of extremism and their mutually reinforcing worldviews.
The perpetrators of most terrorist and violent extremist acts committed
in recent years have followed some form of radicalisation process;
Ebner's book makes an important contribution to our understanding of the
circumstances in which such radicalisation can take place.' - Rob
Wainwright, Director of Europol, `There couldn't be a more appropriately
timed book than The Rage by Julia Ebner. With an up close personal view
of two sides of the extremist coin, Ebner lays out the nearly identical
narratives between the extreme right wing and Islamists who align with
Al Qaida and ISIS. Locked at the hip, these two groups are in a
perpetual battle to destroy anyone who gets in the way of their
ideology. Both groups use remarkably similar techniques to radicalize
recruits preying up a need for identity, belonging, and purpose. The
personal narrative breathes life into the voices of those who believe
they are on a just cause even as that cause ends in terror for others.
The Rage is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the
interconnected nature of extremism.' - Chris Sampson, co-Author of
Hacking ISIS
Everyone
knows that the plague is ciming....and so as the virus from the far
East detracts and spreads fear. I hear anecdotal stories of a fall in
demand for Chinese food and abuse from people shouted and screamed at
those deemed to look Chinese. The reality is that more die from
pneumonia that the present death rate from the corona virus. A moral
panic i s created and the fog obscures the reality of political events
and motivations here of the Johnson government. As a Tory
advisor flirts with eugenics and racism we see what lurks beneath. As
Dominic Cummings concentrates power in a decreasing number of hands and
we find austerity booming again, while the north and the left behind
glimpse reality. As Lisa Nandy stands up for corporations and criticises
the right to strike we know that the deal is rotten and every body
knows...and on Radio 4 I hear Alistair Campbell accuse Dominic Cummings
of being a bully and of having an obsession with power and on Port
Talbot delusion and arseholes Adam Makowski who promotes conspiracy
theories of Rothchillds proportions tells me that I am full of
hatred...oh well..
Thanks
for the Dance...Leonard Cohen's last or posthumous album stands so
powerfully for so much in my life. I first discovered Cohen as an 18
year old in the Summer of 1976 and this last album touches me as much at
the advanced age of nearly 62. In 1976 I was 'meeting Christ and
reading Marx" and now in 2020 I ask the "young messiah what happens to
the heart?". Cohen has always run about 24 years ahead of me. He was
born in 1934 and myself in 1958. Long ago in that summer of
1976 the words of the first album burst into my mind and my psyche as a
whole. I have known my own Marrianne and Suzanne and I have run through
the crises and dramas of my life mediated by Cohen's lyrics. Through
bankruptcy and break up and high drama through shame and elation and
through the lens of his albums I have measured out the years and tears
of so much of my life. There have been many "Nights of Santiago" in
those years surprisingly from the last few years and particularly
since 2010. Though I must point out since meeting my partner in that
year I have realised just what " our steps will always rhyme" means.
The challenge of fatherhood and it's complexities too are so powerfully
dealt with .
I have long
asked what happens to the heart? . I have been through the horrors of
modern politics and the age of Trump and fake news. I know now that "
the angels have a fiddle, the Devil's got a harp, every soul is like a
minnow, every mind is like a shark" Cohen sings of the vastness,
baseless and basenesss nature of post modern fascism and populism. His
song "Puppets" sums up Brexit, Trump, Farage and others so perfectly.
While ":in the prison of the gifted I was friendly with the guards" .
Yet Cohen always brings me back to my own shadow and actions and forces
me to confront my personas and false selves. I am at times as corrupt
and shallow as the rest "I was selling Holy Trinkets, I was dressing
kinda sharp, I had a pussy in the Kitchen and a panther in the yard"
Thanks for the dance Leonard you are further down the road than I, your
last album touches me far more deeply than your first. Perhaps this is
because of time, maturity and insight .
I may have forgotten
half my life but I always remember this.. your album is a great one, a
worthy farewell and a path to understanding . Thanks to Andrew Evans for
introducing me to Cohen and to John Wallen and others with whom I have
discussed his words endlessly . Sorry to those I may have bored with
my ravings and ceaseless quotings of his words. Yet I too have I
introduced many to his brutal and insightful wisdom. "here's to the few
who don't mind what you do, and the fewer who don't even care m" Thanks
for the Dance Leonard i hope to dance with the ruffian on the stairs
through the mortality of the portal of existence one day.. you are
further down the road Leonard I long to meet you. After all I could only
believe in a goddess/god who could dance..
Happens to the Heart
I was always working steady But I never called it art I got my shit together Meeting Christ reading Marx Sure it failed my little fire But it's bright the dying spark Go tell the young messiah What happens to the heart
There's a mist of summer kisses Where I tried to double-park The rivalry was vicious And the women were in charge It was nothing, it was business But it left an ugly mark So I've come here to revisit What happens to the heart
I was selling holy trinkets I was dressing kind of sharp Had a pussy in the kitchen And a panther in the yard In the prison of the gifted I was friendly with the guard So I never had to witness What happens to the heart
I should have seen it coming
You could say I wrote the chart
Just to look at her was trouble
It was trouble from the start
Sure we played a stunning couple
But I never liked the part
It ain't pretty, it ain't subtle
What happens to the heart
Now the angel's got a fiddle
And the devil's got a harp
Every soul is like a minnow
Every mind is like a shark
I've opened every window
But the house, the house is dark
Just say Uncle, then it's simple
What happens to the heart
I was always working steady
But I never called it art
The slaves were there already
The singers chained and charred
Now the arc of justice bending
And the injured soon to march
I lost my job defending
What happens to the heart
I studied with this beggar
He was filthy he was scarred
By the claws of many women
He had failed to disregard
No fable here no lesson
No singing meadowlark
Just a filthy beggar blessing
What happens to the heart
I was always working steady
But I never called it art
I could lift, but nothing heavy
Almost lost my union card
I was handy with a rifle My father's .303
We fought for something final
Not the right to disagree
Sure it failed my little fire But it's bright the dying spark Go tell the young messiah What happens to the heart
The night of Santiago
And I was passing through
I took her to the river
As any man would do
The night of Santiago
And I was passing through
I took her to the river
As any man would do
I didn't fall in love of course
It's never up to you
But she was walking back and forth
And I was passing through
When I took her to the river
In her virginal apparel
When I took her to the river
On that night of Santiago
And yes she lied about it all
Her children and her husband
You were born to judge the world
Forgive me but I wasn't
The night of Santiago
And I was passing through
I took her to the river
As any man would do
The night of Santiago
And I was passing through
I took her to the river
As any man would do
The night of Santiago
And I was passing through
So I took her to the river
As any man would do
The night of Santiago
And I was passing through
So I took her to the river
As any man would do
Leonard Cohen Lyrics
"Puppets"
German puppets burned the Jews
Jewish puppets did not choose
Puppet vultures eat the dead
Puppet corpses they are fed
Puppet winds and puppet waves
Puppet sailors in their graves
Puppet flower, puppet stem
Puppet time dismantles them
Puppet me and puppet you
Puppet German
Puppet Jew
Puppet Presidents command
Puppet troops to burn the land
Puppet fire, puppet flames
Feed on all the puppet names
Puppet lovers in their bliss
Turn away from all of this
Puppet reader shakes his head
Takes his puppet wife to bed
Puppet me and puppet you
Puppet German, puppet Jew
Puppet Presidents command
Puppet troops to burn the land
Puppet fire, puppet flames
Feed on all the puppet names
Puppet night comes down to play
The after act to puppet day
"It
didnt escape our attention that a certain Tracy Blackwell was in
Cardiff earlier this week. For those who might not know too much about
Tracy Blackwell her son was killed in a drink drive incident two years
ago. Now of course for this to happen to anyone is terrible but rather
than accept her son was the victim of a mindless drunk driver - who was
convicted and received a hefty jail sentence - Tracey Blackwell was
convinced by the likes of Tommy Robinson that he was murdered in a
'jihadist terror' incident which 'the establishment covered up'
(important to stress the individual convicted had no connection
whatsoever with Islam). And since then she's worked closely with the
likes of Robinson, the convicted 'yellow vest' thug James Goddard and
others on the British far right.
Certainly no one could ever
accuse the sun newspaper of writing 'left wing propaganda' so it's very
striking they published the following damning aticle article about Tracy
Blackwell last year https://www.thesun.co.uk/…/how-britains-far-right…/Certainly
No question the British far right have exploited Tracy Blackwell's
grief - but she's allowed herself to become a willing dupe of british
neo fascists and racists. So much so she even includes the crosstika -
the international symbol of the Alt Right - on her twitter account (see
photo). And in the tweet we've featured it's revealing Tracy Blackwell
makes an appalling attack on Doreen Lawrence - mother of Steven who was
brutally murdered in a racist attack.
Thankfully the 'demo'
outside the BBC Wales centre in Cardiff that she was invited to attend
by far right activists in south wales Paul Candlin and Dave Simpson was
an utter flop, with only a handful of the usual south wales based far
right suspects and their cronies in attendance (see photo). South Wales
DFLA activist Paul Candlin and the Torfaen based convicted thug Dave
Simpson organised the event in conjunction with midlands based DFLA
organiser Kyle Breecher. We wrote about Breecher and his links with far
right activists in south wales in a post last year https://www.facebook.com/FRWWales/posts/562482454266706
Laughably even in the face of a mountain of evidence documenting
members members far right links and convictions for racist violence DFLA
foot soldiers like Breecher still try and maintain they are not far
right or racist https://resistinghate.org/dflacriminalmembers/
The other 'keynote' speaker at the far right flop in Cardiff was Tim
Scott - Scott is another far right activist to have emerged in recent
years from the same far right sewer as the likes of James Goddard. Tim
Scott was involved in a disastrous attempt to launch a Pegida movement
in the uk https://www.independent.co.uk/…/uk-pegida-leader-tim-scott-…
Scott is is now involved in the recently launched Oswald Moseley-esque 'British Union' party. https://thebup.uk/
Another speaker was Phillip Watkins (see photo) - one look at Watkins'
facebook timeline shows what a far right racist bigot he is https://www.facebook.com/phillip.watkins.5?
Demo organiser - Bridgend's Paul Candlin - now styles himself on facebook as 'Paul Hunter Candlin' https://www.facebook.com/dwain.masters?
- tho its evident from the pic he posted on his page after the cardiff
demo, and its direct reference to the role played by the far right in
the demo, that he's given up trying to deny his far right beliefs (see
photo). Not that he had much choice after we published damning reports
like this showing his dfla and far right links https://www.facebook.com/…/following-repor…/598395147342103/
Now of course everybody wants to protect children from abuse but let's
be clear here - the british far right have no genuine interest in
protecting children from abuse or helping adults who were abused as
children. Their growing and alarming involvement in vigilante groups and
online paedophile hunters is motivated purely by a desperate effort to
recruit and to push their bigoted far right agenda.
We reported
how British neo fascists attempts to ape france's yellow vest movement
in the uk fooled nobody and was a dismal failure https://www.facebook.com/…/in-a-follow-up-…/545043836010568/
And they are now trying to hijack public concerns about child
protection in the same way they tried to hijack the problem of
homelessness in the uk to make false and racist attacks on migrants and
asylum seekers. And we covered their scurrilous atempts to do this in
Wales in this post last year https://www.facebook.com/FRWWales/posts/561228861058732
Thus the DFLA's Kyle breecher operates the so called 'Against Abuse and Corruption' facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/460055981542644/permalink/472326773648898/
and he is currently cordinating with other far right activists across
the UK to establish so called 'Alpha Teams' - like the one in south
wales operated by Paul Candlin (see photo). They've even adopted the
DFLA's slogan 'TWAS' - Together We Are Stronger https://www.opendemocracy.net/…/dfla-nother-new-uk-far-rig…/
Readers should check out these other earlier posts on far right
activities in Wales - it's noticeable how the same names keep cropping
up time and time again : https://www.facebook.com/…/following-repor…/598395147342103/ https://www.facebook.com/…/update-on-the-c…/562482454266706/
