Category: Politics
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Keep and Eye on Cooper
Those of us who were chased out of the Labour Party so Starmer and Co would not be troubled by any vestiges of socialism or any variety of that “better, kinder politics” Corbyn offered have no illusions about the foul culture of Westminster. We see team Starmer, bank accounts sloshing with hedge-fund donors’ money, nevertheless…
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It’s hard
It’s hard to write about anything except Palestine now. The two topics on my agenda now are categorized as Palestine and everything else. And I’m beginning to feel that the deeply dysfunctional, worse than useless people that we have instead of politicians and journalists, nationally, regionally and locally, are quite happy that most of our…
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What journalists and reporters should be doing
On home affairs, every day, all the time, they should be asking politicians why they apply ‘austerity’, saying there is no money, when they want to take things away from people (the winter fuel allowance, for example) and then proudly announce vast sums to be spent on private, profiteering projects such as carbon capture (which…
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Bombs, poverty and toilets
At an academy school in the UK in the 21st century They have anti-bullying toilets – wide halls opening onto the main corridor with toilet cubicles down each side and rows of dirty sinks back-to-back in the centre. Originally, they were boys-side and girls-side – so that if you, for example, needed to rinse something…
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Outcry and Condemnation
Yesterday, at the Parliamentary Committee of the Council of Europe, Kristin Hrafnsson made an appeal that should have gone straight to the hearts of all the journalists in the UK, as well as any citizens who have managed to hang onto their moral compass, or any memory of the basic requirements of democracy and human…
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It feels as if nothing works because nothing works!
Well, not for us, anyway. Further to my habit of writing very strange book reviews… I started at the beginning with Fake Law, and industriously read the introduction. It’s a very odd introduction because it’s absolutely full of malicious, misleading rubbish which appears designed to foment Farage-style general rage against the EU in particular but…
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Sausages, pylons and prisons
Notes from afar on the post-socialist ‘Labour’ conference Actually, the bit about the sausages was the most effective of Starmer’s strategies I was surprised to hear there appeared to be at least three socialists left to attend conference – well, people with a scrap of conscience, anyway. One was assaulted and dragged from the hall,…
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There is absolutely no justification for supporting Israel
We were talking about language this afternoon, about how you can be led astray by accepting the wrong words for things, or by allowing yourself to be persuaded to reject words that others find uncomfortable hearing. The event was a talk by Ghada Karmi and I assure you, listening to a Palestinian whose family were…
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The old stories are the best
When a good author gets hold of a classic theme, like Antigone for example, and applies it to an important current topic like what happens to Muslim families when politicians are trading on hatred and fear, the result is likely to be a gripping read. That’s why although Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire is a story…
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What do you do when your country is complicit in such a crime? Here’s what…
First Gaza, now the West Bank. We’ve been out protesting for nearly a year, and the forces of the establishment are taking a toll on our activists — but here’s an idea that could change that: Any of us can, at any time get called up for jury service and right now, what you do…
Kay Green 