Always Be On Guard Against Those That Wish To Destroy.

    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

               THE SECOND COMING

    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    Surely some revelation is at hand;
    Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
    The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
    When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
    Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
    A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
    A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
    Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
    Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
    The darkness drops again but now I know
    That twenty centuries of stony sleep
    Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Paul O'Grady on the Coalition and the Dangers of Anne Widdecombe

 I have never liked drag acts and must admit that when Mr. O'Grady was Lily Savage I scarcely watched him. I have always had a problem with men dressing up as women but it is probably not politically correct for me to say that these days. However that arch conservative Ms. Widdecombe, although allegedly retired from politics, never loses any opportunity on television to push her extreme right wing views. Even on The One Show the other night she started off with a tirade against "Red Ed" (a contradiction in terms) and the dangers of socialism. For an early evening light hearted  chat show I thought this was out of order and I hope a representative from the Labour Party is given the right of reply on the programme to balance her extremist views.
 There is even a suggestion in the press that she may be, with others, about to found the British equivalent of the despicable American Tea party. She is now trying to ingratiate herself into the nation's hearts by appearing in Strictly Come Dancing. She doesn't dance but puts on an act, but unlike John sergeant, hasn't add the good grace to pull out and nor would I expect her to as she lives on the oxygen of publicity. However after a recent show in which O'Grady poured out his wrath on The Coalition and it's cuts (see below) he turned his wrath on her telling The Times, " I can't feel warmth for a woman who said that pregnant female prisoners should be shackled .. You don't kid me Miss Widdecombe".

BBC Newsreaders, Jack London and Scabs.

Image by Caro Wallis via Flickr

The recent strike by BBC newsreaders against losing their guaranteed pensions was as usual Marred (pun intended) by the deterioration in relationships between the 95% of the staff who were solidly behind the strike and those few that crawled in (as usual in the dead of night so that they did not have to cross the picket line) to do what they regarded as their duty.
 Now I have been in a few strikes in my time - in fact as a Union Man I have always supported the cause when the call has been made, though not without reflection on the issues involved. In a career of forty years this probably amounted to a maximum of about seven working days. As related in these pages before, only the loony fringe revel in strikes and most of the people who participate do it either because they are starving, about to be sacked or are trying to correct an injustice hoisted on them by their employer. It is the striker that takes all the risks of being sacked and losing employee benefits, ostracising themselves from friends and family as well as losing their wages and even a gong for services to their country (more of this later).
 No wonder then there is bitterness between the strikebreakers, or blacklegs as I prefer to call them, and those that are making a sacrifice to try and improve their terms of service. Incidentally I have never yet heard of a strikebreaker who has refused the benefits that come along should, and this happens only rarely, industrial action prove to be successful.
 However Fiona Bruce has gone up in my estimation, as I always regarded her as a typical middle class BBC employee who would think it unpatriotic and beneath her to strike. Top marks Fiona - I shall watch the Antiques Roadshow with renewed enthusiasm in the future. Of those that did crawl into work I am not surprised that most of the so called "City Experts" like Robert Peston, Evan Davis and Sarah Montague, none of whom predicted the banking crises, have stuck with their allies in The City.
 Andrew Marr has always crossed the picket line and his lightweight series of books on the History of Britain reflect his prejudices against the working class and his love of the establishment. He also  wrote a damning indictment of Harold Wilson in one of those tomes that the facts did not bear out and was short on any detail such as a good historian should provide (see the blog piece I wrote on Wilson somewhere below).
 Nick Robinson's love of all things Tory ensured he would be loyal to the management's cause and I agree with The Fat Man In the Bathtub's  views on the man who also is a very poor reporter and lucky to be in a job. Andrew Neil is a Thatcher sycophant and a previous Murdoch employee and acted true to form. Johnathan Dimbleby the official pal and biographer of  Prince Charlie,the Serial Adulterer, payed homage as well.  Also I must admit to never hearing of Chris Rogers or Emma Crosby but they also reneged on their colleagues.
 You will notice that I have not used the term, "scab" which I have always thought to be offensive and slightly over the top demotic language. It postdates "blackleg" and it's first use in this sense is allegedly attributed to Jack London a writer I much admire and who turned me into a socialist at a formative age when I read his description of the poverty that existed in London in, "People of the Abyss" when the British Empire was at it's zenith in the Victorian age. I say alleged because although the passage smacks of his fine descriptive writing it has never been truly attributed to his pen - it reads, " After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with which he made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles. When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and Angels weep in Heaven, and the Devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out...."
 And whilst I'm at it bollocks to Keith Richard and Mick Jagger who have made fortunes presenting themselves as rebels when they are as false as Jordan's tits and hobnob with the Tory elite and collected their gongs from HM. Which brings me neatly to the fact that in the Civil Service anyone who takes strike action is never awarded a medal and I suppose that those broadcasters will be in the same boat. Not to worry says I gongs are only given to fraudsters and lacky's.

Related articles

• BBC's top stars in bitter split over strike (telegraph.co.uk)

Apocolypse: The Second World War.

Image via Wikipedia

 There is little enough television around these days which makes absorbing and educational watching as well as providing a new perspective on past events. I have no hesitation therefore in recommending the new Channel 4 series, being shown on Saturday evenings, about The Second World War. not only are there, to me, new historical facts (more on this later) but with the introduction of computer graphics to enhance the shots and more importantly provide provide colour to the old footage then this groundbreaking series is not to be missed.
 For those of you who missed the first episode it is available here at Channel 4's download site and I urge you to watch it and, if possible, make the remaining episodes part of your regular Saturday night's viewing.
 As for those facts that I had never heard of whilst I knew that Edward the V11 was a Nazi sympathiser I did not know that Henry Ford had anti-semitic views and nor that John Kennedy's father was behind America not getting involved in the early days of the war although his son, John,  to his credit took the opposite view.
 The one issue that staggered me however was that Sweden supplied iron ore to Germany throughout the war, when I always thought that they were neutral.
 Stalin's deviousness and cruelty are well documented but the film showed in close up the look of deceit in his eyes when he expressed surprise and denial as General Sikorsky of Poland presented him with a list of the Polish Officers that Stalin had exterminated.
 This is the great thing about education which is to reveal hidden truths and remind us of things which have been conveniently dusted under the carpet. Just as the history books in Britain tell us about the triumphs of Nelson and the defeat of the Spanish Armada they do not tell us about the complete destruction of the British Fleet off of the coast of East Anglia during that same period.
 To those of you who live outside of the United Kingdom I understand how annoying it is to be unable to watch these programmes as is the same with BBC I-player. However keep reading as in a few days I might have good news for you. Testing, testing, testing as they say.

Another Side Of Edvard Munch.

Image via Wikipedia

 I was once lucky enough to see an exhibition of his works in Vienna (which incidentally in my humble opinion is the finest city in Europe) having been a fan of his for most of his adult life. Seeing a painting for real, compared with a copy or a picture on the screen, takes you into a different world where you can see the textures and the scale and of course the colours. I was amazed, but having seen one of his works in Washington in the art gallery, not surprised by his works of genius, and one of my lifetime wishes is to go to the Munch Museum in Oslo and see his works in his native Norway but my daughter has been there and has said that it is very, very expensive place to go.
 he is of course most famous for The Scream and I was amazed one night wandering around Camden to see the picture hanging up on a pub sign.
 Renowned for his Scandinavian angst he was a friend of Ibsen's and during his early life was greatly saddened by repeated family tragedy which is reflected in his work. Later in his life he moved away from these images of death, horror and rejection and set about producing landscapes and more natural works.I am now 66 and if it is any consolation, and not all is good, then you tend to lighten up and become less concerned about the problems of life and having to grind out a daily wage and you learn to enjoy as much as you can before you pop off or end up in some decrepit and sad state.
 His works are well known and countless books have been published about him so there is nothing I can add except my own brief and personal opinion. I found this video on YouTube which is well worth watching and shows much of his better known work.

Related articles

• Norway ... the most expensive country in the world - Oslo, Norway (travelpod.com)

Clash Of The Titans

Image via Wikipedia

Whilst the world continues to spin and mankind rushes towards the abyss a tribal ritual is occurring this weekend in England's forgotten city of Birmingham. Zulus will be daubing on their warpaint whilst an ambush is being prepared on the mean streets of Aston.
 The West Midlands Police together with the money grabbing thieves of the Premier League have conspired to rob the good citizens of Brum of their usual Sunday pint of mild followed by a roast dinner by arranging for Blues to play the Vile at some ungodly hour of the day. This master stroke is supposed to prevent hordes of fans from pouring out of the pubs for a bit of fisticuffs before the match whilst totally ignoring the wishes of the fans who pay the dosh to watch the match at a civilised hour..
Meanwhile the actual thuggery and maiming will be taking place on the pitch at Vill Park and overpaid cheats will be mugging the poor referee to gain some undeserved advantage and recovering from the effects of the high class brothel that they visited on Saturday night.. The contest will contain little or no artistry and will be unrecognisable from Pele's beautiful game.
With the whiff of blood in their nostrils the media will be there to dissect what will resemble a gladiatorial contest and pour over every tasty crunching tackle and hypocritically wag fingers and tell us how distasteful it all is. Villa are odds on favourites to win and I am not optimistic about our chances but I will, as I have been for fifty three years, be waiting there at the end of the road, not in expectation of anything arriving but because there is no success like failure and failure is no success at all[i], and taking part but not winning is the thing and all that crap. There is a faint possibility that  the chuffers will win something before I pop off but the current lot can't score goals or provide excitement and both the crowds and the atmosphere at St. Andrews these days reflect that.
 We did win the League Cup in some far off year in a two legged final against the Villa and I was fortunate enough to have seen both matches. I was also spoilt by years of watching an attacking team who played with three brilliant strikers in the Bob's Hatton and Latchford respectively added to the genius of Trevor Francis which was a potent mixture and  made for heady days. The ride has been bumpy and undulating ever since. In those days when we played Villa, or anyone else for that matter the crowds mingled, although there was usually an end where the home fans congregated but there was no aggravation.
 I'm not sure when rivalry turned into hatred but it was probably sometime in the 70's or 80's when football hooliganism and racism was at its peak. I remember being ashamed of being a Blues fan for the first time at West Brom where our fans chanted racist sounds and threw bananas at Cyril Regis. The irony is that now most of the top Premiership teams consist of black players who are the new now heroes but it must have been very difficult for those early black players who were constantly abused and spat at.
 Anyway most true Brummies support the Blues whilst The Villa, which was not even part of Birmingham at one stage,  draw lots of their their support from the leafier parts  Staffordshire and Worcestershire. We are so used to being the underdogs and being pleasantly delighted when we win a match, or score more than two goals, that I am not sure how we would handle success, even in the unlikely event that it should come our way. Anyway somewhere  in deepest Kernow one voice at least will be urging  "Come on you Blue Boys.

Related articles

• Gardner: Birmingham close to becoming second city's first team (independent.co.uk)

Notes [i] I first read this phrase in a book by Somerset Maughan but he probably nicked it from somewhere as did that well know plagiarist Bob Dylan who used it in one of his songs.

The Fight Against Facism.

Image by Wendy Tanner via Flickr

"Once more I had clambered up the hill with my comrades, taking cover wherever we could and firing at the enemy wherever he appeared. The bullets of the snipers whizzed over, grenades and shells were striking the ground, throwing up earth and dust and showering us with shrapnel. Suddenly my shoulder and right arm went numb. Blood gushed from my shoulder and I couldn't lift my rifle.I could do nothing but lie where I was. Near me a comrade had been killed and I could hear the cries of others,wounded and dying. I was taken with other wounded men down the line to an emergency field hospital. The place was like an abattoir."
                                                                                   Jack Jones - Union Man

 The legitimate government of Spain was being overthrown by fascists whilst the rest of the world including Britain stood by. Franco and his ally Hitler were taking control of Spain in what became known as The Spanish Civil War. Decent and very brave  men and women of the left and trade unionists from around the world were appalled and came together, at great sacrifice to themselves, to form  The Internationale Brigade to fight against the fascist forces. One of the anthems of the Internationale Brigade was "Viva La Quinta Brigada" and I purchased this cherished copy made by The Ian Campbell Folk Group and sang with enormous power and feeling by Lorna Campbell. Those of you much younger than myself will be pleased to hear that the family's proud tradition of singing has been maintained by Ali Campbell of UB40.





 At the end of the fifties and the beginning of the sixties in Britain there was a revival in the folk song movement. I was working for what the BBC calls, "The Secret Spy Station" (i.e. GCHQ) at the time and we had a green General Notice warning us of "communist penetration" of the folk clubs which were springing up all over the country. This of course was bollocks and I was an enthusiastic supporter and a regular attender at Cheltenham Folk Club. Folk or traditional music is the history of peoples lives: it recalls the the events that have occurred good or bad, the wonders seen, the tales passed down through generations, stories of love and hate, of work and journeys undertaken. Sometimes they are nationalistic and sometimes  used as a vehicle of protest. It is this latter capabilty that worried the authorities at GCHQ and in government because it also had the capacity to change the course of history as the Civil Rights anthem "We Shall Overcome" did in America. Here is a very different version of the the Spanish Civil War song where the chorus attack it in order to overthrow their demon.


 It is strange how history repeats itself and many years later, in 1984, Thatcher banned free trade unions at GCHQ and we were offered a £1000 bribe to leave our trade unions, or to be transferred to another department or be sacked. The freedom to belong to a free trade union had been fought for over centuries in this country by brave men and women like The Tolpuddle Martyrs and I thought that this was the beginning of fascism in this country and that I would be neglecting my duty to defend the freedoms of this country if I did not resist. The Trade Union movement rallied behind us magnificently with protests up and down the land and I together with some other colleagues fought the ban through the courts but inevitably lost when it reached The Lords.

We must always be on our guard for history always repeats itself but IT also demonstrates that grave injustices are, eventually, overcome. And so it was in this case when Robin Cook, in almost the first act of the newly elected Labour Government overturned the ban in 1997. Remember the words of Pastor Neimoller.

First they came for the Jews


and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists

and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist.



Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.



Then they came for me -

and by then there was no one left to speak out for me.



Pastor Martin Niemöller