The gilded age and the days of liminality..

The gilded age and the days of liminality.. These are the days without name between Christmas and the New Year; the days at the end of a decade and the start of another, between Brexit perceived and never done, these are the days when life is suspended and the problems go on. These are the days when crisis comes and clashes with the discourse of the family unit and of the family fireseide. These are the days for the peak of domestic violence ruled by alcohol and anger. This is the time when the refugee, the homeless and the lost do not fit. Behind the walls and the fireside another reality exists . This is the day I return in this period of liminality for one day to tend, sooth, inform and facilitate. This is a strange day for me in the therapy day between world's, and years.

I too exist in this liminality of past and futures to be. The bus is quiet and my mind turns to the figures and ghosts of imagined years and decades to be, that have been and still might be. It's dark and unreal I glance at houses as I pass no lights can be seen as those within sleep, hide or deny this time of year. The Christmas lights occasionally shine for a Christmas gone and a New Year to be.
As it begins to dawn on many that while they voted Tory the expect the workers rights given by Labour and the EU.i have to force down the schadenfreude within myself to stay silent. As Johnconia prepares to be birthed out of the relic of the British state the bus heads towards Pontardawe and on to Swansea. Perhaps the unpleasant dreams will not arise into reality and my cynicism be dashed .Perhaps these thoughts are the product of liminality where I am still unformed and unsure. Perhaps they are a defence against possibilities and fears, perhaps I show off and reveal my own defence or cleverness. These days of liminality between the decades and holidays ask much of us. As Brexit claims to be done we find it undoing so many things. As Johnson claims a new golden age I sense instead a new gilded age born and slouching towards 2020. I reflect on Johnson's boast of Etonian schoolboy Greek and am reminded of the Iliad where Homer stares " Hateful to be, as the gates of Hades is the man who states one thing and keeps another secret hidden in his heart. This is the gilded age of a toxic racist Britain set in a polluted sea, fed by chlorinated chicken and on the path to a Singapore like state on the edge of Europe. This is xenophobia writ large, as the sheep bare their throats to Trump's crocodiles and the corporate wolves of the boardrooms. It is not that Brexit is done or that we have our country back instead others have taken control and ii is millions of the vulnerable and outcast that are done for. Welcome to the nightmares and ghosts moving through the liminal days at the end of 2019..

A full English Fascism at Christmas.....

Thoughts on rhe Eve of Christmas Eve...A very British frothy form of post modern fascism is growing in the darkness of these Christmas holidays. As people call on a vox pop for EU citizens to be sent home and the words of economic nationalism transmitted through the words of Bannon; watered by Johnson,spread by Tory propaganda now flowing through the words of Farage's ordinary decent people. As we get our country back and Brexit is done, the media and the bitter old men if the 80s project Militant upon Momentum reveal the gammon nature of their being. The reality is that that fascism arises when the centrists are most in denial . Fascism arises when neoliberalusm is unleashed and late capitalism just brutal. As the first two chapters of Marx's Capital most eloquently describes the nature of Tory austerity and policy, whilst large sections of the white, male working class succumb to it's charms.

On a Facebook messenger conversation I see the words of an SWP activist quote a scene from the Life of Brian as the means of arguing with a trans activists, who then in his gammon like approach, tell us all that he knowa more about Trotsky then anyone else I am reminded of a Jesuit quoting Christ or St Paul .Social conservatism is not only a product of the right but clearly some sections of the Lexit Left; obviously transmitted by a osmosis like from their allies in the Brexit Party long ago in the Summer of 2016.

There is a closing of our minds as we stagger towards the end of January. As Labour seeks renewal and the corporate lobby ranks of the Tory Party stretch out upon the seats of Parluament we witness the death of the Fib Dems . They are now one seat less than they achieved in 1945 and have turned back to the economic liberalism of their 19th century forebears. As they prepare to elect another another Quisling like former Minister as leader from the coalition years their irrelevance grows. Scotland nears session and Northern Ireland a border poll in Wales the Welsh Labour administration moves to defend its administration as 130 members of Plaid follow McEvoy into obscurity from Cardiff West Wales stands as the last bastion of the Labour Party. In my own CLP in Brecon and Radnor Labour membership booms as we move on into a new electoral cycle, the election of a new Labour leader and back to the cycle of meetings.

In the USA we approach a longer cycle of primaries culminating in November. As I glance from the X6 it seems darker and the bus emptier. For many Christmas has started but for others it's just another day. In the days to come out of space and time, between years and without names we all shiver as we consider both the year to come and the promises and hopes to be dashed. The simple solutions to complex problems, the scapegoating to come both so many. And as the gammon finding the Johnson victory so unsatisfying and meagre turn their anger to new targets and types we realise that only a renewed left can offer a long term solution. Slavoy Zizek talks of the need to experience the true chaos of the right before the Left can triumph. Perls talked of the paradox of change and Weber of unintended consequences. As the good Hegelian that I am reflects upon the days to come I sharpen my resistance and move on to the next struggle. The events of now are necessary for a new tomorrow. It's time for a break from the blog till 2020 and like the the ancient pagan I will feast and drink as the Sun passes it's nadir and Spring comes again. Yet only the Left can triumph as the centre dies and the right celebrate Mat you all have a good Yule and the Brexit you deserve...here is the new flag for the English Nationalists out there.. ...and here the words of Orwell...

Selective vision.......

The far right flows into the Tory Party as Britain First and Tommy Robinson join the Tory Party and the Prevent organisation report over 1300 cases from the far right We hear nothing from the Jewish Chronicle or Ephraim Mervis. The Archbishop of Canterbury is silent and Ruth Smeath and Margaret Hodge raise not a whisper. You would think that the heirs to the Fascism of the 1930s would raise concern and fear. As Melanie Phillips suggests that accusations of Islamophobia are largely an invention and often a means to disguise anti semeticism. The Jewish Chronicle and the Labour Jewish movement reveal quite clearly that it was never about anti semeticism but instead anti socialism it was about defending the status quo and stopping a pro Palestinian leader coming to power.

I am of Jewish origin my ancestors were from Spain and fled the persecution of Ferdinand and Isabella. I know the long tradition of Jews contributing to learning and to psycholigy and social science . I celebrate the contributions of Marx, Freud and Trotsky. Yet all are loathed by the Right and their books were burned by the Nazis. As Fascism rises again many from the Jewish Chronicle many turn away and do not see or smell Weimar and the routes to the gas ovens. As a man of Jewish origin I see the towers of Aushwitz and the logic of genocide begin to be assembled once more. These are grim days and the ovens begin to be lit again . The benefit claimeemr, the Roma, the Kurds, the other and the political activist are demonised and labels as a cancer or a disease. As the Jewish Chronicle buries it's head in a classic act of Fredian denial and projection. What will take for them to read the Daily Mail if the 1930s and the first decade if the twentieth century. The burning to as and the gas ovens are about to return in metaphor, metonymy and in a post modern design. Wake up and smell the air my friends..it was never Corbyn it is those you promoted and defended lighting the embers and collecting the kindling...

 I head for my monthly therapy appointment to Penclawdd. It seems a long time since I was there last. As I travel on the 116 it pours with rain. Are these tears for the world to come? On the news I hear the words of a Rhondda miner explaining that he voted Tory. I hear of two men living in bed sit and on zero hour contracts saying the same. As Nye Bevan once commented that the purpose of Tory policy is to persuade poverty to vote for wealth. I think of Gramsci, Bordeau talking of soft power and habitus. I realise that a whole generation has been educated to obey and know their place. Education has been used to create a docile workforce rather than to think criticall thinking. Knowledge has been broken up into disjointed, non joined up parcels. The notion of real collective thinking and solidarity has been broken into individual units of isolation and society denied. Fear walks the land as the white wotking class is isolated, made piecemeal as Jess Phillips becomes the lap dog of Rupert Murdoch. When Johnson fails, the stench of Weimar will cover the land. A mighty reckoning beckons us all and as this happens the critical thinker is mocked and knowledge devalued. This is 1984 and damage continues to reverberate around us all. The demons have escaped from the abyss and cover the land...

Jac o' the Tories and Dic o" the North.

.So the blogger Jac o' the North seems to have voted Conservative last week. He savages Plaid, Labour and established 18 months ago a far right Indigeanous Welsh Party Ein Gwlad.. he claims to support an independent Wales yet allegedly voted for an English Right Wing Nationalists party that made no mention of Wales in the Queens Speech. He has praised Victor Oban, placed a Steve Bannon on his blog and championed the cause of the Confederate flag in South Carolina. Yet he claims to support Wales and seems to have played a supporting role in an unleashed attack upon the Welsh and a return to the 80s. He endangers devolution and the Welsh economy . He really is an old bigot of a particular Gammon hue. He is misogynistic, homophobic and a Welsh Tory Quisling. He should hang his head in shame...and reflect upon his true nature...you just a 'dic o" the North'. Jac and your legacy is toxic .. isn't it Royston Jones? Gwyn Alf talked of a naked people under an acid rain and you have poured that acid Royston.. does someone, somewhere have a lever of pe

I am the old Pagan nearing the Winter Solstice.

  I am the old Pagan nearing the Winter Solstice. I muse and reflect upon the cycles to come as I rebound from the despair of last week.i think of social wars to come and of a new electoral cycle. There will be a Labour leadership election and three sets of elections this year. There is much to do and many meetings to attend as the year 2020 nears I reflect upon my age and think of a Spring that I will never see. Yet I firmly see myself involved in the continuing struggle as my generation nears its late Autumn. When I lost a faith and found a faith I saw what must be done and that there are no excuses. I am part of the cycle of birth, life and death and the words and activity I carry with me are the meaning and purpose of my existence.

 I am not Sissyphus but am instead Fabius waging resistance to prejudice and ignorance, xenophobia and am preserving, enhancing and adding to the cause of Siocialism. In each generation no defeat is final and no victory total As the Sun nears nadir we know that Spring is near and that the days will lengthen. As a President with a thin skin and a large ego is impeached and the respective rustbelts of this country and of the USA bare their collective throats to the wolves of late capitalism: we shiver as full grown Ur Fascism in its Post Modern full bloom grows out of the dead ground. I am the old Pagan on the X6 bus heading southwards to Swansea as the light grows. I think of those days to come and I am intrigued, anxious and concerned. I wonder as I glance around Europe i wonder if a vote for Macron in 2017 is a vote for LePen in a future election If Brexit will be a shibboleth for the far right as the EDL and Britain First begin entryism into the Tory Party. As the Crone whispers to me on the dark side of the Moon, whilst her words talk of a dark renewal and strange monsters . Yet she also reminds me that I am a Hegelian and reminds me of the black swans landing, of false consciousness and of the return of the repressed.. She reminds me of unexpected events, and of Max Weber's unforseen consequences. I wonder about outliers and of indeterminacy I am smiling by the time the bus reaches Pontardawe...No Pasaran you Tory bastards..we approach a low dishonest decade ...in the desert of our hearts new healing begins.. .the resistance starts...

Wednesday Political musing and thoughts upon the Labour Party

 The bitterness of losing Labour Mps breaks out as they project everything on to Jeremy Corbyn. They don't see how they project or displace many of their own actions upon him. Yet mysteriously they don't see their role in gradually damaging him in their ceaseless attacks about alleged anti semeticism. Yet the decline in the north began long ago, fed by Blairism and before. The words of Nye Bevan and the critique of centrism list in a pseudo trickle of neo liberalism. Corbyn inherited this deadly legacy and did not create it.
The Parliamentary Labour Party and our elected Councillors are representatives that come from the membership are are accountable to it. They should never forget that they are the servants and not the masters if ordinary party members. No one should have a job for life and each should be respected and re-selected prior to every election. Tony Benn long ago said that the role of a Socialist is that of an educator . The issue is to leed and not except a sacred axiom that the prejudices and outlook grown in late capitalism is biblical text. The centrists have long argued that they must reflect the created xenophobia transmitted to the mythical monolithic white working class as if the colour of the skin distinguished it from a working class made up of other ethnicities. In many cases the centrists are angry because the Labour Party has slipped away from them.
Blairism gave us a party of 200,000 members as opposed to a party of 500,000 through Corbyn. Since last Thursday 20,000 extra people have joined the party. We are not going to go back to Blairism.

The north will be taken back by community campaigning, the restoration of trust and the localisation of power. The old right wing CLPs of the North need reform and the involvement of the communities they come from. Socialism must be local, relevant and reflective of the people of the area. The parachuting in of Blairite centrists and the trickling doen of finance from the cities must be stopped. Empowerment comes from real devolution, power and money given to the smaller towns and rural areas . Socialism must be green, devolved and local. It must reflect the varied nature and diversity of both party and population. In Wales and Scotland there must be independent Labour Parties that reflect the nation's of the British Isles. The Labour Party must recognise where it came from and how it arose out of the areas and from the people of all ethnicities and identities that make up the British Isles. The Left must campaign, empower, educate and involve millions of our citizens. The centre of the Labour cannot simply expect to replace the Tory masters of the leave areas with themselves as masters. They fed the change and they must own their actions just as we on the left are reflecting and owning our part in the events of election day. I suspect that the answer lays in a female leadership and a northern base. It is indeed interesting that the Murdoch press is already championing the candidature of Jess Phillips and Lisa Nandy. With them it champions the socially conservative views of Blue Labour where the docile working class are taught to touch their caps while simultaneously staying in strict binary discrete categories of ethnicity, sexuality and identity. As we look at you Jess as you laugh with your friend Jacob Rees Mogg we see that he knows that you know and want us all to know our place as to be docile workers just educated to work and not be critical thinkers. It's quite clear Jess what you are after ....and it's not going to happen it's our party and not yours. ...got it?

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce

“Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.” Carl Gustav Jun

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.  Karl Marx

As ambitious as Lucifer in an ill fitting suir and as cold as a Lizard... 

 

 

From Jeremy Corbyn`s children

Last night hurt, today hurts a bit more, tomorrow it will hurt even more.
Jeremy has dedicated each day of his political life for the less fortunate amongst us. Unwaveringly, he has fought and campaigned for people who suffer and people in hardship.
Being honest, humble and good natured in the poisonous world of politics has meant that he has endured the most despicable attacks filled with hatred for the duration of his 36 years in public life.
In his 31 years as an MP preceding his leadership he supported each campaign for peace and justice wherever it was in the world and however difficult or unpopular at the time. As Labour leader he continued to do so. He also produced the most wonderful manifesto this country has ever seen. He took on an entire establishment.

This meant that the attacks from all sides intensified and became even more poisonous while he was leader. We’ve never known a politician to be smeared and vilified so much.
His unbelievably broad shoulders and incredibly thick skin endured all of this so that we could all live in the hope of a world free of racism or hunger. The man led with strength difficult to quantify.
Not only have his messages been inspirational but he has delivered them with honestly, humility, dignity and above all, love. The polar opposite of how his opponents delivered theirs. As we are so used to seeing, the politics of division and the message of hatred prevailed.
To say we are proud is a vast understatement. To assume that the ideologies he stands for are now outdated is so wrong. In the coming years we will see that they are more important than ever.
Thank you to every person who saw his vision and supported it and supported him. From the three proudest sons on the planet, please continue the fight.

Reflections Thursday`s election......

All you have to do is decide what you do with the times you are given the dice is rolled and tbe UK staggers towards the end of the British state. In Northern Ireland the Unionist majority is gone; in Scotland the demand for independence grows as the SNP win 48 out of 56, as I glance at a map of

Wales it ressembles in its blue incursions a map of the middle ages of the Marcher lords invasion of Wales. As the Jewish Labour movement reveals it's subtext that it never was about anti semeticism but about anti socialism and Jeremy Corbyn in particular.. As the Witch Finders desperately search to cast Momentum as Militant and the little robins of mid wales with their red breasts and conservative souls rip into the mass membership, as an old bitter former leader of the Labour rages and seeks to live through his ersatz son the present leader with dignity and gravitas prepares to stand down. Never have I seen so clear an illustration of the problems and curses that fathers pass on to their sons and in these two leaders we see the extremities both negative and positive. As Labour moves to a new generation of leaders we see the emergence of blue Labour in all its socially conservative crassness take on the heirs of Corbyn.

As Plaid views the years ahead it reflects upon the problem that in so many seats English Tories who failed to appear at the counts easily out polled them. They begin to reflect upon the coming Welsh elections of 2021. In that election Plaid must decide whether it is socialist or not. As Plaid reflects on the social conservatism they have stayed silent on they realise that it's silence has fed the conservative social values beloved of Neil McEvoy and Jac o" the Alt Right. As Welsh Labour reflects upon its insolation in the South, both Plaid and Welsh Labour must now ask what each has in common and how each can replenish and renew it's socialism.. Each must recognise that Wales risks being the last colony of Johnsonia as it was the first colony of the Anglo Norman state. It asks each party how Ecosocialism can rescue Wales and it's people. As the political centre lays dead killed by the economic crisis of 2008 we can see no revival of its aims the clear problem though is that it's adherents like Freud's ghosts do not know they are dead. The monsters of this time of change walk the land and yet no healing is possible and as reality bites and reality sinks in the danger of a unique English Crypto Fascism lurks in the shadows . As Johnson prepares to change the constituency boundaries in Wales the left must seriously reflect upon further devolution and independence. As Brexit bites and the Blairites understand little of the new circumstances back to Blair is neither possible nor will the mass membership of the Labour Party allow it. As we realise that , so in the mass membership will draw from itself a representative Parliamentary Labour Party. In Wales and Scotland the party must renew itself and reflect it's membership. A new generation will renew the Labour Party and in Wales and Scotland Labour must reflect it's appreciation of and its origins amongst the nation's that make up the country that once was the United Kingdom. ,it's over now and Boris Johnson is it's last Prime Minister..and as Jo Swindleson and the Fib Dems die in the ditch we await a new political reality..

“I don't like Corbyn. Give me one good reason why I should vote for Labour!”

“I don't like Corbyn. Give me one good reason why I should vote for Labour!”
2010-2019, in case you missed it...
1,000 sure start centres closed.
780 libraries closed.
700 football pitches closed.
Food bank use up 2,400%.
Homelessness up 1,000%.
Rough sleeping up 1,200%
Bedroom tax caused mass evictions.
Evictions are running at record highs.
35% of U.K. kids live in poverty.
Student fees up 300%.
Student debt has risen 150%.
Eradication of EMA (education maintenance allowance).
National debt has risen from £850billion to £2.25trillion.
Emergency Brexit stimulus from BoE in June 2016 of £175b.
Brexit related fall in national revenue £500b.
GDP fallen to -0.1%.
GBP fallen by circa 15% versus EUR and USD.
Manufacturing in recession.
Construction in recession.
Services close to recession.
25-30% cuts to all govt departments.
25-30% cuts to all councils, mainly centred on Labour councils.
Half of councils facing effective bankruptcy.
185k extra deaths attached to the political ideology of austerity.
25,000 less police.
20,000 less prison officers.
10,000 less border officials.
10,000 less firefighters.
10,000 less medical professionals.
25,000 less bed spaces for mental illness.
OECD calculate 3 million hidden unemployed, rate is really 13%.
Creation of 1.3m jobs, mainly temporary, self employed, gig economy and ZHC.
Only 30k full time work positions created.
Close on 50% of workers are self employed, ZHC, or part time precariat.
80% of the 5.3 million self employed live below the poverty line.
35% of self employed only earn £100 a month.
25% cuts for our disabled community.
80% cuts to Mobility allowance.
Closing Remploy.
40% of working households have practically no savings.
70% of households have less than 10k savings.
60% of households can only survive 2 months without a wage.
Household debt reaches new peak, despite emergency base rates.
Increase of 50% in hate crimes.
Increase of knife crime by 150% to 22,000 per year.
Increase in teenage suicide by 70%.
Suicide up 12% in the year 2018.
Self harm among young women up 70%.
Life expectancy down 3 years.
NHS satisfaction level at lowest recorded rate.
Council home building down 90%.
200k social homes lost since 2010.
Zero starter homes built, despite Tory flagship programme.
Council home building down 90%.
200k social homes lost since 2010.
One million families on council home waiting list.
100,000 increase on the council home waiting list since 2010.
36,000 teachers have left teaching.
You don't have to like him! He's not coming for tea! He's not moving next door! I don't like Strawberry creams but I still buy Quality Street!

The choices we make show who we are ..vote Labour tomorrow

On the last day...Even the You Gov poll owned by the Tories shows Labour closing in. Labour are within 5% or less in 50 marginala As I write Labour activists are pouring out into these seats. As the Tories begin to fear and as Dominic Raab drowns in sweat. As IDS faces defeat and even MRP shows that the Tories face deep risks and defeat. A Tory inner memo reveals that they have seriously underestimated Corbyn. Estimates of tactical votes suggests up to 20% will do so. The improvement in Labour vote seems to reflect this. As the activists head for their coaches, as the crowds around Corbyn grows as hope rises we near the opening of the polls in less than 24 hours. It's all to play for as we enter the last day. 

Yet the nature of the Conservative shadow is shown the selfish, minnow if it's soul leaks out . As I receive pictures of vast Tory cars parked across two or more disabled parking spots. As a little boy lays on coats and a metaphor or metonymy for the attitude of our rulers to the disabled. On a bus ride yesterday a woman tells me off for using my magnifier light. I tell her I am partially sighted yet no empathy or understanding crosses her narcissistic face. She is a symbol for the age, the attitude and the emotion. I tell her she should be careful in calling out the hidden disabled and call her out in front of the whole bus . This happened yesterday on the 8 10am, X6 from Ystradgynlais The woman got on at Pontardaweat about 7.50 she should reflect on her behavipur and her attitude. I wonder who she is voting for? Anyway let's recognise that today there is everything to fight for...we stand on the edge of change...the choices we make reveal who we are..when five families own as much as the bottom 30% and a minibus of billionaires own as much as 50% of the world's population...

36 hours away........

It's less than  36 hours till polls open. The working class voters of the North glimpse what lays behind the facade if the Tory Party. The four year old boy laying on coats in an Accident and Emergency unit says it all. The crowds grow around Corbyn and coaches are booked for key marginal as activists are strategically and tactically concentrated . As Dominic Raab sweats profusely and Matt Hancock flees and as IDS panics the tension rises. I hear Robert Buckland a product of St Michael's private school in Llanelli use all his conditioning and dampening of empathy to dismiss reality and with it compassion. Denial, projection and displacement are the alchemical tools that create the Tory personality disorder.

The narcissism of Jo Swinson blooms to full intensity. And as the BBC and other agents of the superstructure turn to defend the status quo. As fake stories are tweeted by Laura K we find her lack of ability to check sources make her into a conduit of Trumpian methods. Within Plaid, the SNP and the Green Party a paradigm of post austerity thinking lay the foundations for a Labour led government. As Angela Rather takes down Jo Swinson exposing her blandness and record. As the Lib Dems set up a plan for permanent austerity and in defence of property inequality we see what lurks behind the mask of the head girl of the St Big Pharma Academy. As she accepts £100,000 from corporate coffers.. her allegiance and loyalty are revealed. In Brecon and Radnor we get leaflets from the High Priest of Blairism and neoliberalusm begging us to vote Lib Dem and it is backed up by a technocratic statitiscian of the pollsters The blandness repulsed me and is a thin veneer for the yellow Toryism that is within. I note as I glance around social media through alternative profiles of the far right that have gone to ground or hidden for disruption or intimidation. As they prepare to form a new approach based on an agregation and pretends we see what challenges the Labour government will face. It's time now to defend and promote our hope and policies..

The Moon grows to fullness and we prepare as the issue of the NHS becomes centre stage as a small child on coats reveals the true soul of the Bullingdon bully. It's time now....

Three days from polling

Three days from polling ..My loathing for Jo Swinson grows even more. It's as if like a narcotic locked in denial she cannot handle what the Lib Dems have done She cannot handle or recognise her actions. Locked in denial, with funding from big pharma she rauls at socialism and Jeremy Corbyn. In the end she plays down the abused,, and in the end comes down on the side of the abused in the end the Fib Dems and their head prefect misses the point entirely as she looks without and runs from her own actions. She projects all of her self loathing onto to Labour and Jeremy Corbyn.. and her soul becomes like that of Dorian Grey. She does not hear what people say about her and her actions she would prefer Boris to Corbyn. She always has and always will . We know what side she is on and what she will do. Her pasts actions provide a guide to her future ones...

It seems very dark this morning as we aporoach 2020. I have never seen such difference between what the polls say and what I have found on the door steps as the crowds around Corbyn grow As the full moon approaches and sections of the working class appear to be about to cut their own throats ...is it that I have slipped into an alternative 2019 where other things are happening? It's as if there are no clear indicators to confirm or deny my observations. Perhaps the enlightenment never really happened and that all measurement is wrong. It's as if induction and deduction has never been. If logic falls in a forest does anyone hear it or understand it? As the great storm that woke us last night falls away it's as if nature warns us of great I'll or great hope. In less than 72 hours the polls will be open...let us see what happens and I still don't know what will happen or what facts can be read...are the runes wrong or misaligned? I don't know... I suspect something very odd is about to happen and I don't think anybody can see what is about to manifest...Perhaps we stand on the edge of the destruction if the British state? Perhaps Hegel or Slavoj Zizek will have much to say...is this the Matrix and who is Neo? The answers are unclear and the results opaque ...I cannot see the road of analysis to tell me? Who will be the victims upon the,altar we shall see...I am not sure where Survation has found these Tories.. I must be living in an alternative universe...Where is my daemon?

In memory of Keith John Shrewsbury died December 6th 1983.

The years have run like rabbits Dad since you stepped through the veil. It's been 36 years and a generation has come and gone and as my generation begins to pass I reflect that I was 25 when we said farewell and I will be 62 in April. The binary certainties have passed too in those nearly 40 years Stalin, St Paul and the Berlin Wall have gone with all their certainties and binaries. The Fascists are back Dad these time in a post modern form. Did you despair Dad as you grew up through the 30s? AS you grew up in Uxbridge and saw and heard the V1s and the V2s as they dropped out of the sky Now, Dad it's the Bullingdon bullytgat lurks over Uxbridge. The "strong" men are back, Dad as pathetic as they were in your day. They are not called Mussolini or Franco now they are called Trump, Erdogan and Oban

Our ancestors Dad fleeing from Ferdinand and Isabella find the anti semitic accusations made perverse by Ephraim Mervis become a means to beat the left and a man with long anti racist record as they pervert the accusation to defend privilege. Once anti semeticism was used to describe those those who disliked Jews now it becomes a mechanism aimed at those who oppose Zionism and the policies of Nethanyanu. What would your gentle liberalism say Dad of these days?
You have given me so much Dad; a love of books, a respect for knowledge and a loathing of racism and ignorance. You travelled widely and opened yourself to all the variety of people and places. You walked many of the places now torn apart by war and destruction. What did you think as you sttod there in Sicily looking out across the African sea to North Africa and eastwards to Greece? I have stood where you stood but I wish so much I could have shared my thoughts with you. Thirty six long years Dad and you never saw your grandson Morgan..yet I sware I smelt your cigarettes the day he was born. I lost a faith but gained a faith and it's thanks to you.. When the old gods came for you that night long ago they made clear your rejection as mine of St Augustine and St Paul. I tell many of your near death experience some months before your passing when in a dream you met the gods of Greece in a hunting lodge deep in the Valley of Pan You gave me the appreciation of Julian the Apostate and like him I turned away from the grey world of the pale Galilean invented by Paul. There is a richer vibrant world you showed me Dad. I am eternally grateful. I only wish that you would have walked with me a little longer through the highways and byways of veil of the material world and that you had met Morgan Rhys.

I know Dad you would have laughed like me at the Turkey that is Nigel Farage. You stood up for diversity and difference and hated intolerance . It's time now Dad for me to go back to the world now. I often feel close on this day Its as if I stand on a liminal entrance between the grey world and the Summsrlands . I have an election to help win. You would have liked Corbyn. He like you loves Wilde and like you mentions his great work De Profundus

One day the door will open between the world's and I will not go back and we will laugh and talk of all of these things. Love you Dad .
Martyn

Bramble and Bracken discuss epistemology, ontology and metaphysics

It was a cold sunny day as Bramble and Bracken played in the garden. Bramble looked through the hedge as Bracken dug up stones and the bulbs that Hayley had planted. Bramble looked kindly at Bracken and asked him the question ..."who are you Bracken?" 'Well' replied Bracken, "I am a dog"
Bramble smiled kindly at him ..' You see Braken you have not noticed that my tail is bushy and has two colours and looks magnificent as I walk. The other thing is that yours is just one colour and yours is just not bushy enough."

Bracken looked hurt and his little eyes looked sad. He said, " That's not nice Bramble you have burt me"
Bramble looked thoughtful and replied, "i am sorry Bracken you see I am sure who I am and l often forget that I am much older than you and more secure. You have what Martyn cal" s Ontological insecurity" Bracken looked back and said to Bramble quickly; " But I am getting bigger than you everyday. I know that"

Bramble replied " That might be the case but of course I am quicker and more ninja like than you.. I mean, Bracken you are clumsy and are always falling off things."
There was an awkward silence as the dogs looked at one another. Bramble continued " Let me explain about what I know. Martyn calls it epistemology. It's all about what I know and I am afraid you don't. I have been to Cornwall twice, the Isle of Wight and Pembtokshirse. I have lived in Penrhos and in Glanrhyd and I was born in Pontyberem. I have travelled thousands of miles in the car. You only have lived in one place and the furthest you have travelled was Port Talbot and then you threw up on Martyn's trousers. I just know more.*

Bracken asked Bramble a question . "Why do dog's smell each other bottoms?" Bracken continued " Baxter the Beagle told me that long ago all the dogs in the world once went to a party. They hung up their bottoms in the hall and suddenly found out that a fire had broken out. They fled grabbing the nearest bottom. Ever since then they have been looking for their correct bottom"
Bramble laughed " "Baxter was telling you a myth. It an attempt to explain why things are as they are. It's called metaphysics. We all create meaning in our own terms. Martyn explained it to me . Dogs are the measure of all things even humans."

Bracken looked worried "But Bramble is there anything that is true?" Bramble smiled kindly and looked at Bracken..." "No Bracken everything is interpretation there is no absolute truth I am reading Nietzche and Heidegger I suggest you start with Plato as a start"

Bracken was so confused and fell asleep He dreamnt that he stole Btamble's favourite toy and felt much better. As he awoke he thought " Perhaps I should read Jung to understand Bramble." He glanced over at Bramble who was fast asleep snorting loudly and on his back. Bracken had a plan....he would ask Tilly who came for therapy with Martyn he would know.. .to be continued..

Swven days to go.....

One week to go. One week, there is fear and anxiety running through the establishment. You can hear it, you smell it, you taste it, you see it. Deep in my stomach I move from elation to depression. As the moon grows to fullness there is no chance of getting Brexit done and the taps will not flow milk and honey. And yet something feels very different, something odd is about to happen. As Trump flounces home we stand on the edge of the best of times and of the worst of times. It will be decided soon..the only real threat Corbyn is of that to privilege. Wake up and smell the coffee.

 My dire Wolves report to me that an awful lot of people from Labour are looking very happy as the postal votes comes in. Perhaps this explains the nervousness of the Tories..
 You have till 5pm tomorrow to register for a proxy vote This applies if you just can't get there to vote on December 12th. Please follow the lin

https://www.gov.uk/voting-in-the-uk?fbclid=IwAR3Ho7r2SCPX0OoQ9daC95bzPUyE2GRUpFAitiT3ir1Dz5vW7VoKUGNyhpo

On animals and rights

 

"Other animals, which, on account of their interests having been neglected by the insensibility of the ancient jurists, stand degraded into the class of things. ... The day has been, I grieve it to say in many places it is not yet past, in which the greater part of the species, under the denomination of slaves, have been treated ... upon the same footing as ... animals are still. The day may come, when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of tyranny. The French have already discovered that the blackness of skin is no reason why a human being should be abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor. It may come one day to be recognized, that the number of legs, the villosity of the skin, or the termination of the os sacrum, are reasons equally insufficient for abandoning a sensitive being to the same fate. What else is it that should trace the insuperable line? Is it the faculty of reason, or perhaps, the faculty for discourse?...the question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? Why should the law refuse its protection to any sensitive being?... The time will come when humanity will extend its mantle over everything which breathes... "
Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832)
Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation


I suppose that we should ask the question what are animals for? For close on 8,000 years since we have domesticated them we have been troubled on what they are for?  Are they for our entertainment, are they here to feed us or are they here to be part of an interconnection with us for a fragile biosphere to be maintained.  It is no accident that we domesticated animals, created slavery and and subjugated women at the same historical point.  Would we ask slave owners to determine the difference between slave rights and slave welfare?  Would we ask sexists to determine the rights and welfare of women?  I think not.  It's not been long since animals were said by the church to lack souls, in the 16th century many preachers denied that women had souls and in the deep south of the USA 150 years ago many said that slaves were not human. The truth is that we humans are animals be it a very complex one. We are the only species that makes war, organises the slaughter industry into a rational business manner. You may know that in the 1930s the Nazi visited the American Slaughter industry and designed the concentration camps after the manner of the slaughter house.

However if we can use animals in entertainment we deny them anything more than being here for us, to be used to feed us, to entertain us, to be a commodity to be exploited and nothing more. It's not long ago that we had freak shows, that we had gladitorial combat. Around the year 1400 the people of Sumatra, found what they considered to be a white ape washed up on the beach.  It was obvious to them it was just an animal.They put it in a cage and tied it to a post and they found after it had died strange marks scratched on that post. It was clear that they were meaningless.


Some 200 years later the post was examined the scratches turned out to be ancient Greek letters and words in Latin....the white Ape was a well educated European. He had been made to dance and jump to entertain his owners....they did not know what they had in the cage. We are only just beginning to understand the complexity of "animal emotions" of their sophistication.  So I wont be fooled by the Tonna tame tiger show. I don't eat meat, the idea of it sickens me, I abhor hunting, when we say " they are only animals" at best we mock a sophisticated non human person....at worst we open the doors to the gas chambers. Our language is littered with the use of animals as terms of abuse.  David Cameron denigrated the refugees at Calais as a swarm.  So going to see a few tame tigers in a show is like visiting a large mansion in the Confederate South in the 1840s...there are the comic houseslaves, brought up well, fed well all therir needs met and outside in the estate there are the slaves brutally treated, mere "beasts" of burden, no more than the product of their labour, to be sold and used..their humanity and rights denied. The King James 1 Bible translated the Hebrew to read that humans were "masters" of nature, the original Hebrew should have read steward and stewards do not use that role to entertain.......

The Tory Government has outdone itself when it comes to neglecting animal rights this week – by effectively declaring that all animals (apart from humans, of course) have no emotions or feelings, including the ability to feel pain. While debating the Brexit bill, MPs voted not to transfer into UK law the parts of EU legislation which recognise animals have sentience, and can feel pain and emotions.

Remember all that campaigning against the badger cull and May’s attempt to bring back fox-hunting?  It was probably all a waste. As the Government begins to shape the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, it has taken a vote to scrap EU legislation that sees non-human animals as sentient beings. Once we leave the EU in 2019, it’s not only badgers and foxes that will be threatened by this change in law, but all animals that aren’t pets. So basically all animals that it will be profitable to exploit.

This vote comes in contrast to extensive scientific evidence that shows that other animals do have feelings and emotions, some even stronger than ours.

But politicians clearly think that they know better about animal brains than the majority of scientists on the planet. This complete lack of logic leads me to believe that many of our MPs probably have less intelligence than a jellyfish. But unfortunately I don’t have any stake in Parliament to vote through my personal opinions, unlike those MPs.

Realistically though, who would be surprised by this new vote? Despite Michael Gove’s calls to improve animal welfare standards post-Brexit, we all know the Government, and in fact most of the UK public, doesn’t really care about animals unless they’re cute and fluffy.

This is how we have ended up in a society where a cat being thrown in a bin sparks national outrage, but the majority of the population will complain about this while eating a burger from the local fast food chain which has probably come from a chicken that suffered abuse its whole life.


“Animal welfare” in the Government’s (and indeed the public’s) eyes is riddled with double standards. At the moment, 80 per cent of the UK’s animal welfare legislation comes from the EU – if we’re voting out the fact that animals are sentient, why would we even bother with the rest of it? If the Government doesn’t believe that animals can even feel pain, surely none of their rights will be protected at all.

When we leave the EU, pets will be protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. But where does this leave wild animals, those in labs, and those in other forms of captivity? Just a small example of this is cosmetics testing. Under EU law it is illegal to test on animals for cosmetics like body wash and nail varnish. But this could easily be scrapped just like the recognition of animals as sentient beings has been.

We are looking at a very grim future for animals, where hunting is reintroduced, labs are free to test on animals with as much cruelty as they wish (and no pain relief) and farms are less and less regulated.

Eight days out from December 12th..

Eight days out from December 12th...As Trump is mocked and the election enters the last 8 days. How will Trump respond to the mocking? There are two long days for him to snap .two very long days and as his crassness grows and blooms the days tick down to December 12th The risks grow, the information about long term Tory plans leaks out into the world. What long term deradicalisation programme can be used to rid us of their plans? What actions can be taken to make them aware of the victims of their market ethos? What does it take to make them aware of the humanity and suffering of the 120,000 victims of austerity? 

The deradicalisation programme we need is a Labour government. It's humanity and it's alternative views and policies will give them time to discover the angels of their better nature. It's time to free them from the austere fundamentalist nature of the market and of their belief in the depravity of human nature. It would free them from the narrow vision of the micro economic and provide an alternative perspective from the macro view. As the deradicalisation scheme moves on its time to explain to them the existence of society and of the collective nature and interdependence of us all. Will Raab, Pattel and others cooperate and look 8nto their souls? We know that IDS stands on the edge of defeat We know that the political hegemony is changing and a new age begins. In that age as we stand at the liminal doorway beyond which monsters of the fundamentalist market prowl and growl. The days come down to the election will the monsters be deradicalised? Will they understand their shadow and their id? The only solution is a Socialist Labour government.Trump cannot run from Corbyn forever , the laughter will not stop and the contempt for those who have supported and promoted austerity which is far more deadly and has killed far more than any terrorism...the monsters are circling the NHS...its time for Labour..

Nine days and a world to win

There are nine long days to Ragnarok as listen to Raab on Radio 4 unclear if Johnson will meet Trump for a bilateral meeting, there will be no joint press conferences or visit to Downing Street ..In a pamphlet Raab calls for privatisation of two thirds of hospitals and the use of private companies in the NHS. The Tories are panicing as their vote appears to have maximised and Trump is here for three long days. Do you really think that he won't tweet a crass comment or that his corporate crocodiles have not read Raab's words. As the slime fused deadly words flow from Raab's maw people awaken from the trance of Brexit as the hard right of the Tory Party risk the loss of Raab and IDS. In areas throughout the country Labour are closing in, as Trumps fingers twitch on the keys of Twitter and crassness is everywhere we enter the last nine days. As the rude beast like Godzilla tramps through the streets of London, Rees-Mogg is hidden out of sight and social media bursts ever more powerfully and dramatically as the vote of the under 34s are galvanised and empowered. As the Lib Dems drift down to 13% and Labour climb to 35% we enter at least a hung parliament. As the DUP prpare for loses. We have nine days to build a reforming government as great as or greater than 1945 As we hear of poverty and of children telling their story of its effects we see the wealth and distance of a cabinet of millionaires eating fine food in grand rooms insulated from pain, exclusion and isolation. We have nine long days of activity on the streets, on the doors and upon social media, in conversations at bus stops, on trains and with everyone we meet. Nine days to expose the Tories, to awaken, explain and discover concerns and fears, to peer through the miasma and veil of the illusion of a false Brexit. It's time to do everything you can nine days for a world to win.....

The slouching beast comes for the NHS

Monday political musings.. its the coldest yet. The frost is sharp as the Moon grows to full we enter the last ten days if the campaign As the right plays up the threat of terrorism without recognising the crisis in the justice system and rehabilitation. The two young people killed on Friday sttod against everything that the Tories represent and are. As I listen on Radio 4 to the out of touch privately educated Robert Buckland in his narrowness and bigotry. Anyone who knows the nature of the system and understands knows that the austerity cuts of the Tories and the Lib Dems are a general cause of its ineffectiveness the chickens are coming home to roost and it's not about lo get assessment . It's about having an adequate system to assess and analyse risk. Longer sentences have been the simplistic answer of the right for years upon years. 

Yesterday while canvassing in Glanrhyd I came across a voter who was debating voting Tory for Brexit and Labour for the NHS . She didn't want to discuss the matter because she felt no one was telling the truth I reflected as I walked away on the words of Hannah Arendt that no one in the 1930s hnew what to believe or could distinguish truth from lies. This time has come again. And as NATO meets in London Trumps vultures approach us ready to lie and deny their desire for our public services. If Boris Johnson wins the claws will come out and teeth ravenous and bloody will feed on the carcass of the UK.

Which impulse will win ..the illusion of a false Brexit that never was and never can be or the institution of the NHS, 70 years of age well proved and demonstrated in value. Which one will sway the electorates heart as the Moon reaches full? Who will fill the psychological emptiness within Johnson or Trump? Will it be the institutions that preserve us and heel us or will it be the illusion spun by the pied piper of hatred Nigel Farage. Farage is the servant of Trumps corporate crocodiles .It is those like Farage who are filling the swamp and not draining it The chill in the air comes from the breath of those who are as cold as a Lizard and who are as ambitious as Lucifer. The stakes are heightened as the polls tighten I say to those who wont vote Labour because of Corbyn that they might as well burn their house down because they don't like Christmas.

In Germany the SPD begin a Corbyn like process of socialist renewal. The choice is simple to millions of people.. it's either Socialism or Barbarism. The choice is simple .. Who will win whose heart will be broken? Whose dreams shattered? And will we get the Christmas we deserve? It's up to you....Trump and Farage as his "John The Baptist" brings with him a slouching corporate beast shuffling it's way to slaughter and dismember our NHS...and take us all to the slaughter house.. it's time to choose.