March for the Alternative

Late last night and sat resting our plates watching the BBC news channel. The scenes on a loop playing out before us didn’t look like the march we went on: leery lads egging on the Met , black clad anarchists filming the police, the TV cameras and themselves, in the background there were smouldering rubbish bins. The March I and 500,000 other people where on was a gentle stroll down the Victoria Embankment waving a host of banners, dancing to samba bands, lots of whistles, cheers and the odd chant of “Lansley is a Tosser”.


It took 4 plus hours to walk to the Ritz via Whitehall chatting with friends and new friends, eating cake and very very little rioting. The violence e was understandably if annoyingly the main news item but had very little to do with the main march. “King mob” has been a part of British politics for centuries in fact it’s none appearance is more surprisingly than whenever it raises its angry masked faces. Are me and the other marchers tarred with the same brush as the rioters? In my opinion no but in many the mines people’s yes sadly. Many of the people who’d dismiss the March would have dismissed it anyway regardless of whether it had kicked off or not. I hope the rest will see through the shock horror of rolling news and newspaper headlines and decide for their selves whether what we were Marching is of value.

So why did you march?
Well basically because the Tories and their placid help mates the Lib-Dems are determined to destroy fundamental parts of our civilisation. Their main goal is to reinstall their century’s long policy of “communism for the rich and capitalism for the poor”. Cameron for all his soft soap wants to get rid of most of local and national services apart from a bare minimum to cover his modesty and get back to doing what the Tory part was founded for maintaining and preserving the wealth and power of the super rich. Be in no doubt that the Tories a grim cabal of old moneys and slimy new in the form of Tories main backers the hedge fund managers and their clients have your best interests at heart.

Cameron and Osborne et al don’t give a stuff for the NHS, for state schools, libraries, local council staff etc for all their weasel words they don’t have much interest in most British industry either. The cuts that Tories have imposed will start to hurt very soon, real people will put on the dole, and real services will be lost FOREVER. All this while the Tories impose wasteful, pointless and politically driven reforms of the NHS and Education. These reforms are designed to destroy FOREVER local democracy and accountability and entrench Tory rule while enriching multinational and Tory funding healthcare and public service providers.

I marched because the progressive socialist trade union non conformist movements in the UK have been the only movement that have cared and stood for my community. Who stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves, who have striven for most of the rights and freedoms we enjoy. If these cuts and cultural vandalism is allowed to stand Britain will be horribly more divided, diminished and darker place.

I am a One in Ten

Odd week all round really, in a world full of numbers they start to blur after a while. To misquote Stalin one man's firing is a tragedy the laying off of 500,000 plus in a couple of  days is a statistic. Today I've seen more chatter about the latest deluded ego maniac being "fired" on Apprentice than the laying off sorry decimation of public sector staff (in a rare occasion the classical roman meaning is both emotionally and factually correct).
Of course 33 miners being plucked from the  ground is heart warming and life affirming but the almost daily death of a sapper in Afghanistan goes unnoticed. Almost as unnoticed as the Tories & lib dems finally wiping out the Welfare state.

 Of course public sector workers outside the playmobile lego minifigure jobs of policeman, nurses and teachers are all pointless worthless skivers, malingererswho spend theirs days counting the "solid gold" pensions and severance packages. Barely better than in fact than welfare scroungers with their free 8 bedroom houses fillled with their jam faced feral kids named after fashion labels. Nobody values public sectors workers no one needs or cares about admin officers who organise the rotas for bin men, dog wardens,  surveyors for roads signs, council tax clerks, planners, museum curators, tax collectors, social services managers, parkies, town centres managers, ....

Oh of course then there's the poor and the peopls who's jobs depend on the public sector.
Anyway I've off to work for Alan Sugar making cup cakes.

Oh just shut up!

The Daily Express has found a new way of  being vile with a  headline today about how we'll be awash with "Ethnics" any day now. Which as well as geing vile is nonsensical as we all know. It reminds me of my late granny who in a her declining years remarked to my dad that she had a"native doctor now". My Dad to tease he replied "oh you mean he's from Hull!" which bemused Gran as she clearly meant he was from India or similar. My Gran was a product her of time and maybe could be excused having not thought through her views (even though her husband was at least half german) national newspapers however that print such vile nonsense should be shamed to their graves

a glass darkly : the day after

a glass darkly
Originally uploaded by bltphoto

well woke up to a weird world today, took these pics yesterday and they oddly sum how things seem today

Election day and all that.

Been and voted got hundreds of goes what with the local election and having to choose a mayor and that, sort of makes it even more worthwhile and fun. Had to queue which is a good thing.People seemed excited chatting and joking.

Not for nothing on my way to vote in SE8 I did pass our new park, new health centre and then got on our new trainline so the current lot have been something for us regardless of what you hear.

Was thinking that being blase about voting is quite shallow when you consdier that my Grandmothers were born into a world where they coudln't vote and this was only a short time after all blokes finally got the vote. So voting is new cool thing really.
Oh and as someone earlier pointed out;
There should be sticker on the side of all ballot boxes

"this machine kills Fascist!"

NOBonus4RBS update: FEB 1st

Here's the film of BB's speech yesterday

I'm a Photographer not terrorist

Hat
Originally uploaded by bltphoto

Here's some snaps from the mass snap in trafalgar square it was really quite jolly and friendly. Although with so many snappers none of us were used to having our picture taken!!
here's some more pics
here's the campaign site!

NO Bonus 4 RBS Campaign: time to act up.

Fairness for All
As often before Billy Bragg has stood up and said something pithy but incisive. Outraged by the excessive state funded bonuses banks such as RBS are handing out he's decided not to pay his tax bill.

The failure of banks such as RBS and the subsequent tax funded bail out mean in the next 2-5 years massive cuts to all Government services (regardless of what colour the government is next summer) . Billy has suggested a campaign to limit these bonuses (sadly the law prevents us from paying no bonuses) to £25,000 (more than the average salary in the UK). Now you may like me be unable to withhold your taxes easily but you can still complain and show that BB and other refuseniks aren't alone and that this is a widespread grievance and injustice.

You can join the face book group (I know these things are two  a penny but it does mean a bit more than who get's to number one).

There's a letter you can down oad to send to the Chancellor, you may need to edit like I have with mine.

You should also write to your MP make it clear that how they act now will affect where your cross goes in a few months time.

Why I am supporting this campaign.
Personally I think this boils to fairness in the end  and also hard market economics. Fairness because the effects of the recession aren't being shared evenly, poor areas and people are being hit harder than the people who caused the recession in the first place.

Hard economics because all my adult life we have had the free market thrust at us but we see with the banks that we have Communism for the rich and Capitalism for the poor. For years we have been told by bankers etc that the big risks they take should be matched with big rewards ,the rarely mentioned the reverse of this that they would presumably take a big fall if they messed up this isn't the case. The other fundamental madness is that if you are investing other people's money you  aren't risking  anything if you mess up you're not skint and if the country bails you out you don't even lose your bonus/job.

So have a read of the information if you not a member of facebook down load the letter and send it off ( physically ideally as this makes more impact) please repost anything you wish from here, tell your friends talk about it in the pub etc.

WE HAVE BEEN TOO PATIENT AND ACQUIESCENT ON THIS SO FAR IF IT MAKES YOU ANGRY IN ANYWAY HAVE YOUR SAY BUT DO IT TODAY.

Down Load here Billy's letter

Link to face book group

Today's news: Good and evil

It's good every now again to see the vile , stupid and evil slapped down even for a few seconds. (thanks to the Urban woo for this one)



If you're not an empty hollow, shallow, vain fuckwit I suspect you've already done this but have  a look at this film from Oxfam and make a gift aid donation so the govt. chips in too.

King Smooth: Cameron botox selecta'

Smoothie Camus
Originally uploaded by bltphoto

Sorry another meme from the house of BLTP. This time not Ikea/lp mash ups but summat more insidious the normalisation of such bland vacuous entity as David Cameron.

New Labour has failed most of us especially those who founded the Labour party but The Tories have always only ever looked after a very small elite group in this country (it's not news it's what they've always done) their trick has always been to co-opt other groups who feel they will benefit (although they seldom do) from the crumbs from the table.

I'm not sure who you should vote for the Lib Dems probably but certainly not Cameron and his Eton chums (yeah yeah class doesn't mean anything any more well why do people send their kids to Eton if it doesn't?)
There's a blank version at my flickrspace if you feel inspired.

Anyway the less band airbrushing we have the politics the better.
This lot thought it up  http://www.mydavidcameron.com/

Global Editorial :please read this

If you've not done already you should take the time to read this Global editorial. Climate change global warming call it what you will is serious problem perhaps the most serious, but the changes we all need to make need not be as terrible as people make out and unless we make a start they are only going to get worse.

Global Editorial
Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency.

Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last year's inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world's response has been feeble and half-hearted .Read it in full here

Define Naive.....

Lord Myners reported in the Guardian  with respect to persuading the bankers to change their ways:  Actually on second thoughts it's just depressing. The full article by Dan Roberts

"I am disappointed at the extent to which we are meeting opposition to change from those who have been rewarded so generously in the past"

Trafalgar Square Vigil

Vigil for Victims of Hate Crimes 
Trafalgar Square 30th Oct 2009.
More pictures here
Here's my views from the other day.

And some Johnny C because the version last night was lost into the night air.






 Johnny Cash - Danny Boy

More questions than answers

Troubling times
Not sure what to make of the whole Question Time thing, it had far too much of X-factor hype about it for my liking. I'm all for challenging and defeating racist bullies but the "hoo ha" sidesteps many of the real issues that are leading to the BNP's rise. Oh and not many of the BNP's supporters watch QT.

In fact the fight against intolerance is a dual strand (at least) firstly the ongoing fight against deep seated prejudice that still sees people kicked to death in our towns for being perceived as different in some way. Be they a Goth couple on their way home from the pub, Gay men out celebrating or a black lad in the "wrong" place. This and all the humdrum prejudice of those we meet day to day (which can be hard to confront when it comes from people  that in other ways we like or even respect).

Then there's the support for BNP some of it from racists and bigots but other support is from the benighted and confused; the "what about me" vote.  A weird mixture of people's natural parochialism, small town isolation and misdirected socio/economic grievances. When governments have been doling help to all sorts of vested interest (the banks,the hedge funds,those in high tax bands) this group  has looked around and thinks they've lost their place in the queue and their bitterness can lead them to BNP.  Of course there are people in this situation who don't turn to fascists but who give of themselves to others in their communities in all sorts of ways and maybe it's these people our senior politician should be working with instead of hanging out with billionaires on their yachts all summer.

The problems we face are serious but not insurmountable we do  live in a more tolerant country, for instance my friends who teach tell of openly gay schools kids who even though it's not completely problem free feel able to come out at school. This would have been unthinkable when I went to school.

It's not all perfect and we take steps backward as well as forward all the time. We all just have to find the little ways to make a difference, like I say no massive answers from me but if you hear of ways to help let me know.
La Lucha Continua!

Only the guilty have anything to hide

joan ruddock or is it?
Originally uploaded by bltphoto

Have you had look at how little they have published and in a really cumbersome format too?
Funny how the party that wants to bring ID cards suddenly gets coy about information.

The Dail show on the Thieving MP's nonsense

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Scamalot
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

The Shame

Joker Badge circa 1990
Originally uploaded by bltphoto

Sad sad day....

The sad sight just now on Newsnight of seeing the Chief Exec of McDonalds being able to take the moral high ground and lecture our MP's in morality. Followed by the worst display of blame passing and truth dodgying I've seen in a a long time!

Fill your boots

MP's expenses:
I've just been looking at the list of expenses from the parliament website. One striking inclusion (partly as he's the second entry) is that Gerry Adams claims the working away from home allowance. Fine you might think what with lots of cold water between his constituency and Westminster apart from the fact he's never taken up his seat; "they work for us shows "no appearance at Westminster.

My MP Joan Ruddock can't claim an allowance as Deptford is only 25 mins (you know the average distance everyone else lives from work) from Parliament although handily her (ex)husband who she lives with (it seems) is an MP for Aberdeen so their home in South London gets paid for that way. The sort of arrangement that if it involved diddling the housing benefit would have everyone up in arms.

Another minor point is the cost government computing £1,200 each year to lease 5 computers and 2 printers so 5 grand to lease some pc's for four years. Central government computing being so hapless that if you asked them to get someone round to look at your hard drive, you'd get back from work to find both Steve Job and Bill Gates in your fronts room and after eye watering bill your hard drive would still make that clicking noise and not boot up all the time.

None of this would matter so much if the same MP's from all sides had not got us involved in needless wars, not kept an eye on the banks, produced sustainable transport and Housing policies, wasted millions on make us less free by introducing ID cards, and wasted billions on PFI schemes. Presumably the likes of Hazel Blears was to busy moving house all the time to run the country morally and ethically.

NO to Gemini Project :Spacia don't Clamp our dreams

NO to Gemini Project :Spacia don't Clamp our dreams
Originally uploaded by bltphoto

A petition: We the undersigned believe that something got mislaid when some benighted, befuddled and possibly soulless fool took it upon themselves to rename the dug up and abused triangle urban grassland on the edge of Deptford the “Gemini project”.

Only to further trample on our dreams that little bit more when they filled this once green space with the ill-gotten gains of those magpies of the tar macadam: the clampers.

It can’t be just us that thinks that the original "Gemini project” even in all its cold war phallocentric (let's not mention Dr Von Braun) madness was a symbol of hope for humankind.The Gemini project showed Us at our best when we are striving, thinking, feeling, doing, creating, solving, seeking, looking and most all breaking free from this vale of tears and reaching out to touch the face if not of god of something a bit more thrilling and life enhancing than a car pound for errant Nissan Micras that just happened to clip a double yellow line.

We here by demand that the name “Gemini project” is changed immediately, what to we don’t care that much. Maybe to whatever Tom Cruise’s character was called in “Days of Thunder” anything really. Don’t get smart though “Sputnik” and “Mir” are out of bounds too, well anything to do with space really, what about “the flattened buddleia field project”.

The Blame Game

Accountability Friday:

NO sorry miss posh big buttons (Kirstie Alsopp) it was you the Daily Mail, andTony Blair: who ruined housing in Britain

Chelsea & Leeds: it was you who ruined football.

Green & Black: it was you who ruined chocolate.

Moustachioed former military man Mr Pringles: it was you who ruined crisps

Nazi Lego: it was you who ruined toys

Made up corporate nonsense Hagen Daz it was you who ruined ice cream.

Imperial Airship Scheme (specifically the R101): it was you who ruined Airship development in the UK.

Dear god make it stop they’ve made a new series and they can’t even get an actor to do a London accent and they are now doing best of clips shows showing how terrible it is reminiscing about the characters as if they are A good and B real! Make it stop please make it stop the actors are all 40 now pretending to be 19, farting just isn’t that funny, they cancelled “Pulling” for this?: 2 pints of lager and a packet of crisps*: You not only ruined TV, you despoiled large areas of the north west, devalued Greggs the bakers and caused blindness and dandruff in parts of equatorial guinea yet to charted. You are also on after Family Guy so I sometimes can’t turn over in time and see 3 horrifying seconds of your under written over played faintly patronising crud I hope you all eat dodgy shellfish or get a hotel room with nylon sheets when you’ve not cut your toe nails or get one of the faulty sky boxes that break all the time or end up at dinner sat next the one off “loose women” who use to be married to Chris Evans and she’s whingeing about paint finishes and child care and you want to pick you teeth but you can’t and so you secretly try to dislodge the lump of corn but you just start to drool even more and so you have to sit there listening to her go on about vintage paint and organic chicken nuggets but the corn is widening the gap in your teeth and you want to stretch your legs but you kicked that horsey women across the way last time you did it and she scowled at you so your legs are starting to cramp and now it’s light switch surrounds and playdates and your legs ache and your glass is empty and the corn is still there and the horsey women just moved the wine out reach and last time you asked she gave you another look as if to say haven’t you had enough but at least at least you’re not watching Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps eating Thai green curry flavoured wholemeal Pringles.....

*Also can I ask what sort order is two pints of lager who goes to pub and shares 1 packet of crisps it wasn’t that funny in the song?