Never mind arresting the foot soldiers, what about arresting the Commander-in-Chief, Rupert Murdoch? On the 25th anniversary of him manufacturing the sacking of 6,000 printworkers at News International, he sacks 200 journalists. Leopards never change their spots - neither do capitalist scumbags.
All those who courted him should be ashamed of themselves. Anyone who is surprised at the phone-hacking should stop looking for fairies at the bottom of their garden and get into the real world. For the Tories to assault the workers of Britain over the last 30 years they needed the help of the 'dust thrown in people's eyes' by the media.
"It says here, the unions will never learn, it says here, the economy is on the upturn" (with thanks to Billy Bragg).
Watch the following video - I was at Garforth for its premiere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBh2oAvsSSc
Monday, 11 July 2011
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
NEC Election Results
Just a short note to genuinely thank everyone who campaigned for me in the NEC elections. My majority in 2007 was 1,100, in 2009 was 4,500, and in 2011 was 11,000. I realise, only too well, that this can only be achieved with the selfless support of many individuals. My thanks go to those who give of their time, effort and money for those ideas which I hope that I continously propound.
We cannot rest on our laurels but neither should we neglect to reflect on our successes. I have no doubt that the issue of pensions will dominate the next period. It is the job of all trade union leaders to ensure that the gains of the past are not lost. Thank you for your support - now let's get stuck in again.
Cheers, Paul.
We cannot rest on our laurels but neither should we neglect to reflect on our successes. I have no doubt that the issue of pensions will dominate the next period. It is the job of all trade union leaders to ensure that the gains of the past are not lost. Thank you for your support - now let's get stuck in again.
Cheers, Paul.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
The Posh Boys can't hack it!
-----Well, not one year gone since the General Election and the Posh boys show how shallow they are. They're really not up to it. What should they do next?
- Get rid of May Day?
- Ban strikes with turnouts of less than 50%?
- Play the race card?
- Be condescending to women?
- Invade Libya?
- Attack welfare benefits?
Oh the agenda is endless but, fortunately, they're brains aren't. And their Posh boy friends in the Liberal Party are just as bad. The reason Nick Clegg forgot that he was Deputy Prime Minister is because, in reality, he isn't! The title's just a sop to make him feel important.
This crew really are second rate. When the going gets tough, and it's going to be very soon, what will they do next? Without any doubt the Spanish economy is going to join Portugal, Ireland and Greece in crisis. And in any economic crisis those who really run this country, the bankers, will instruct Cameron, Clegg and Osborne etc to bail the rich out in Spain like they have in Ireland, Greece and Portugal.
There are 20% more millionaires in Britain today than there were 2 years ago. (An increase from 518,000 to 620,000). This means that one person in every hundred in Britain is a millionaire. Well they're not living on my street - are they living on yours?
The class struggle has never gone away - the rich's paid lackeys in the media just want to kid you that it has. Previous generations didn't hate the Tories because they had different opinions, they hated them because they go for the jugular when it's a choice between their wealth and your standard of living.
The period we are entering into is not going to be pleasant, but neither is it going to be boring. The Tories will be lucky to survive two years never mind five. What will the Liberals get out of the Co-alition, an electoral mauling and a resentment that will last years.
What is really going on in Britain? The re-introduction of rationing. Whether it's the obvious rationing of the NHS or Welfare Benefits - or the rationing of University places with fees of £9,000 per year, which are nothing to the 620,000 millionaires. They are just a method of reducing choices for ordinary working people. Remember the rich hate competition - they're the last people that believe in it. They believe in privilege, inheritance and protectionism. (Whether it's Eton, large estates or the Law Society).
If you believe in anything you've got to believe in democracy. The right of ordinary working people to elect representatives, in Parliament or in the trade unions, who share the same standard of living as them, who are honest and can be replaced at any time by those who elected them.
0·2% of the population went to Oxbridge. Yet it has produced 11 of the last 13 prime ministers (in the last 70 years), the leaders of all three major parties (Cameron, Clegg and Miliband) and all 5 candidates in the Labour Party leadership election (Diane Abbott, Ed Miliband, David Miliband, Andy Burnham and Ed Balls). Talk about a club!
Only a class-ridden, privileged society could allow that to happen. And it is that class that rules Britain. But the future is using the talent of all society. Don't let us be divided by race, religion, nationality, language, gender or sexuality.
Why? Because the workers united, will never be defeated!
(Just in case David Cameron/ Nick Clegg's Posh boys don't understand this - what unites working people are those very things that the rich hate. Unity, harmony, peace, progress, internationalism, solidarity and equality.)
Whatever your views of the last 12 months, no-one can fail to be inspired by the 26th March demonstration. It was the very battery-charging event that many activists needed. The workers will never go down - they have to fight to survive. That is the nature of society. For those of us fortunate enough to be in leadership positions, let's make sure that we are worthy of the trust we have been given. Let's not let those down who are facing the fiercest of attacks.
Cynicism is the rust which slows down the wheel of progress. Inspiration is the oxygen on which workers' hopes live and thrive.
Whilst the bankers don't understand the satisfaction that comes from advancement of all - workers do.
THE CAUSE OF LABOUR IS THE HOPE OF THE WORLD
Friday, 25 February 2011
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Can you smell 1979?
Well in 1979, a newly-elected Tory Government inundated us with propaganda about how young people, particularly young miners, had become disinterested and apolitical. Within two years the young miners responded with the miners' strike of 1981 and then the 1984 strike.
This time we are told that only older people are interested in politics and that half of voters under 25 didn't even vote in the last general election. They too are 'apolitical'.
Well young people (like everyone else) are interested in their own future. They've seen only too clearly whose interests Cameron and Clegg and their ilk represent.
The press deluge us with lies and propaganda. Gordon Brown has eliminated 'boom and bust', the Irish Government has promoted the boom of the 'Celtic Tiger'. Where are these prophecies now? In the dustbin with Magaret Thatcher's 'I will bring unity where there is disunity' of 1979.
The majority of young people at University and in Colleges are the sons and daughters of ordinary people, but they too are now being told that they have to pay for what the bankers have done.
All trade union branches should be inviting students to a branch meeting and trade union activists should visit University demonstrations and 'sit-ins'. We should show mutual support.
Now, more than ever, the "right of recall" should be at the top of our agenda.
If Phil Woolas can be removed from his MP's position by an unelected judge, why can't Nick Clegg be removed by the electorate he lied to? If Nick Clegg wants to remain in Parliament after the next election he will have to either join the Tory Party and get a safe Tory seat or go into the House of Lords. There will be no hiding place for him in his current seat. What started with the expenses scandal has moved onto MP's lying in their election pledges and onto students discussing the nature of democracy. It doesn't take long.
We who are socialists and trade unionists should be at the forefront of the democracy debate. At the centre of this debate should be the accountability of elected officials and how money is spent. Sons of the millionaire bankers, like Cameron and Clegg, won't want that debate but we need to ensure that the lights shine brightly on the skeletons in the cupboards of those who purport to represent us. The students have shown us what every ordinary persons' response should be to the lying politicians who represent the interests of the rich.
'It did not take me long, after arriving in England, to find out that people were paid in inverse proportion to their usefulness!' Oscar Wilde.
This time we are told that only older people are interested in politics and that half of voters under 25 didn't even vote in the last general election. They too are 'apolitical'.
Well young people (like everyone else) are interested in their own future. They've seen only too clearly whose interests Cameron and Clegg and their ilk represent.
The press deluge us with lies and propaganda. Gordon Brown has eliminated 'boom and bust', the Irish Government has promoted the boom of the 'Celtic Tiger'. Where are these prophecies now? In the dustbin with Magaret Thatcher's 'I will bring unity where there is disunity' of 1979.
The majority of young people at University and in Colleges are the sons and daughters of ordinary people, but they too are now being told that they have to pay for what the bankers have done.
All trade union branches should be inviting students to a branch meeting and trade union activists should visit University demonstrations and 'sit-ins'. We should show mutual support.
Now, more than ever, the "right of recall" should be at the top of our agenda.
If Phil Woolas can be removed from his MP's position by an unelected judge, why can't Nick Clegg be removed by the electorate he lied to? If Nick Clegg wants to remain in Parliament after the next election he will have to either join the Tory Party and get a safe Tory seat or go into the House of Lords. There will be no hiding place for him in his current seat. What started with the expenses scandal has moved onto MP's lying in their election pledges and onto students discussing the nature of democracy. It doesn't take long.
We who are socialists and trade unionists should be at the forefront of the democracy debate. At the centre of this debate should be the accountability of elected officials and how money is spent. Sons of the millionaire bankers, like Cameron and Clegg, won't want that debate but we need to ensure that the lights shine brightly on the skeletons in the cupboards of those who purport to represent us. The students have shown us what every ordinary persons' response should be to the lying politicians who represent the interests of the rich.
'It did not take me long, after arriving in England, to find out that people were paid in inverse proportion to their usefulness!' Oscar Wilde.
Monday, 8 November 2010
BBC Strike
The BBC strike over pensions provoked much interest. How interesting to see some of Britain's well-paid television millionaires, who earn this living from ordinary people, sticking 'two-fingers' up at the ordinary workers who help provide them with their wealth. Terry Wogan, Graham Norton, Chris Evans, Zoe Ball, Chris Moyles - 'the voices of the people'. Meanwhile 97% of NUJ (the National Union of Journalist)members adhered to the strike following a resounding Yes vote.Thousands of NUJ members supported their union, including the majority of top names on television - Jeremy Paxman, Kirsty Wark, Fiona Bruce, Huw Edwards, Alan Davis etc.
As the attacks on working people open up, the question of who is your friend, and who isn't, will come to the fore. Your friends are those who support you when you're under attack. Those who, like Terry Wogan, mouth platitudes about helping people, whilst adding to their own millions of pounds and crossing picket lines, seek to laugh at working people when they find themselves under attack. All workers need to understand the basic concept - never cross a picket line.
As the attacks on working people open up, the question of who is your friend, and who isn't, will come to the fore. Your friends are those who support you when you're under attack. Those who, like Terry Wogan, mouth platitudes about helping people, whilst adding to their own millions of pounds and crossing picket lines, seek to laugh at working people when they find themselves under attack. All workers need to understand the basic concept - never cross a picket line.
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