Friday 28 February 2020

It's Friday in Oran...an interlude with Sisyphus



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..

Thursday 27 February 2020

The praxis of meaning on a Thursday bus ride.



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....


Wednesday 26 February 2020

Mercy me I am becoming Bill Brand or shall we call it " My friends in Ystradgynlais"

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...



Tuesday 25 February 2020

From the Cefn Saeson by election onwards to the Senedd elections of 2021.



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...

Monday 24 February 2020

We all live in "Oran" now........



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..

Friday 21 February 2020

Disability, the trains to Treblinka and economic activity.

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...

Thursday 20 February 2020

The Glanrhyd bus stop in the rain in February.. musings and reflections



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

Wednesday 19 February 2020

"Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows"..

...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.."

The Old Revolution
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
Source: LyricFind


Tuesday 18 February 2020

I am a Socialist......


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.

At a Dwp tribunal in Swansea a day in the life of Martyn J Shrewsnury

  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

Monday 17 February 2020

The Rage the viscious circle of Islamist and Far Right extremism by Julia Ebner

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




Everybody knows........




Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows


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..


Everybody Knows

Leonard Cohen


Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two

Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows

And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past

Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows


And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows


Friday 14 February 2020

Thanks for the Dance...Leonard Cohen



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

Leonard Cohen



She said she was a maiden
That wasn't what I heard
For the sake of conversation
I took her at her word
The lights went out behind us
The fireflies undressed
The broken sidewalk ended
I touched her sleeping breasts
They opened to me urgently
Like lilies from the dead
Behind a fine embroidery
Her nipples rose like bread

Then I took off my necktie
And she took off her dress
My belt and pistol set aside
We tore away the rest


The night of Santiago
And I was passing through
So I took her to the river
As any man would do

Her thighs they slipped away from me
Like schools of startled fish

Though I've forgotten half my life
I still remember this
Now, as a man I won't repeat
The things she said aloud
Except for this, my lips are sealed forever

And for now
And soon there's sand in every kiss
And soon the dawn is ready
And soon the night surrenders
To a daffodil machete
I gave her something pretty
And I waited till she laughed
I wasn't born a gypsy
To make a woman sad

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

Thursday 13 February 2020

Far right demo at the BBC in Cardiff . a damp squib.....



 The latest news from the people at Far Right Watch Wales on  antics of Dave of torfaen and his mates....

https://www.facebook.com/FRWWales/?__xts__[0]=68.ARC6QUbhL4l1ZLQiYN6CvC36dY0rRBRR547rUrJK-y8QG226i7T1rkfS-2tB89607T8bO5zHVZCNudsWkFMdmVbCluuKM1JP9Q06HjFXAg5h2C6A1A4grSHczMKILvTaIsdGcGfmFMCpKR4bhgR_YmvTMA2C0c6HDcZyyEA_UzIaNWbvtc6lEsRwinVz7jNvWGbkMJEKhmCuikqtm615WRhodeuNA0GscaBDF4uLuzos0_OdVGF6Sk-hwu5d6OmtC1HCkRAmdgK2YxeGA7JSnLbNhO_EifeGIMO2TJGrZO6JizTq0Sg6vL53g_pLQN975MxkmUBleIpzS-O3EwI9WFM&__tn__=k*F&tn-str=k*F

"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/