The Politics of Dancing

Funniest political moment of the year in the UK was the sight of right-wing backbench Tories flushing boundary changes down the toilet by sabotaging House of Lords reform. [1] Their response was priceless as the worm finally turned and Nick Clegg uttered ‘Non,’ De Gaulle style, to supporting the boundary changes as a tit for tat response for their wrecking his plans and mocking him in the Commons. “That,” you almost heard them shout aloud, “ wasn't in the script.” This move almost certainly will prevent them obtaining a majority at the next election and demonstrated if any further proof was required, that there are few creatures inhabiting the planet more stupid than a backbench Tory. But laughter of this kind at the expense of the Tories is usually short lived as they turn nasty when cornered. It is difficult to find humour in their attack on the basic living standards of those at the bottom of the economic rung, whether in or out of work. Leveson was the greatest show

I see that Piers Morgan is in trouble in the states for being rude about the second amendment.[1] The lightweight and incontinently flatulent Mr Morgan has upset many US citizens for calling for stricter gun laws. There is a silly assumption on this side of the Atlantic that because we share a common language with the US we also share a common culture. Nothing illustrates this fallacy better than the incomprehension in this country over the American obsession with the Second Amendment. On this matter American Culture is as opaque to us as the Japanese. The outpouring of superior, smug and self satisfied comment pouring out from the British media[2] in response the recent slaughter of children in a small American town has been as tedious as it has been predictable. ‘Oh those silly Americans with their love of guns, why can’t they be sensible like us?’ Such self confident cultural smugness, unheard of when discussing other cultures, especially the barbarities of religious practice[3],

Dickens understood that at heart Christmas is a secular festival, a midwinter feast adopted and adapted by Christianity. The Christian elements in A Christmas Carol are peripheral.  What he is really celebrating is a pagan pig out, mixed with great dollops of mawkish sentimentality. There are worse things in this world.   British culture has since the 17 th Century been a battleground between the puritan and cavalier. The Puritans won the civil war but the victory was short lived and it was cavalier culture that dominated the restoration. The puritan spirit had to wait for the 19 th century and the Industrial Revolution to once again dominate British culture, this time in the shape of the Protestant Work Ethic. Thrift, hard work and a suspicion of pleasure was extolled from pulpit and pamphlet, [1] virtue being its own reward, rest confined to the afterlife, hard work was the great virtue, laziness the great vice.   Scrooge now seems a caricature, but the views he held were co

An article last May in the Daily Telegraph established that ‘two thirds of the Cabinet — 18 out of 29 ministers — were millionaires. [1] The same article reported the entire net worth of the cabinet stood at £70 million pounds and that David Cameron’s own net worth was £3.8million, with liquid assets of £190,000.   Cameron’s wealth is somewhat comically described as ‘self made;’ this means that his parants left him a great deal of money which he increased by dealing in property. Buying and selling property is probably just about the least useful of social activities, property millionaires bear about as much relationship to the well being of the societies they inhabit as the fleas on a dogs back do to the welfare of a dog. George Osborne is stated to be worth 4.5 million   in property, which he inherited. He has inherited an additional stake in a family-owned fabric and wallpaper designer business. This is the same man who has introduced a three-year welfare squeeze, with real

Crossrail is Europe 's biggest transport project; as an infrastructure project it is bigger than the Olympics. The project is also at the centre of a major blacklisting operation, directed against workers involved in legitimate trade union activities and/or expressing health and safety concerns respecting the Crossrail site. The whole management of the project has been characterised by anti-union bias, which I for one believe is part of a much wider campaign to break the involvement of the trade union movement in the construction industry. Such blacklisting has a history as old as the trade union movement itself, however as recently as 2009 the Information Commissioner uncovered a shadowy organisation going under the name of The Consulting Association[CA] [1] supported by the construction industry. This organisation was run by an extremely unsavoury character by the name of Ian Kerr who has form in the business of blacklisting and defaming workers, having previously done the s

LABOUR councillors are blocking plans to honour campaigning journalist Christopher Hitchens with a statue, with one of them branding the late writer as a “pro-war Islamophobe”. http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2012/oct/labour-politician-threatens-quit-if-bust-%E2%80%98pro-war%E2%80%99-journalist-christopher-hitchens-goe An Open Letter to Councillor Awale Olad  I read your exchange of E-mails with the British Humanist Society in the Camden New Journal, I quote; “I don’t mean to speak ill of the dead but I would resign before I’d ever support the bust of a pro-war Islamophobe,” he wrote. Now I do not know how familiar you are with the work of Christopher Hitchens, but the remarks above suggest very little familiarity, indeed these remarks suggest ignorance of his writings. Christopher always used to say that as soon as the opponent in a debate slips into, as you obviously so easily do, the ad hominem, the argument is as good as won. Vulgar abuse and misrepresentati

Here is my list of top 9 [1] books of the Year, *not necessarily books published this year, but all read by me during the course of the last twelve months. 1.You Can’t Read This Book, Nick Cohen . In my opinion the most important book produced this year. Cohen presents an outstanding analysis of the state of freedom in the Internet age, which also happens to be the age of the fatwa. This is a very radical book in the real sense of the word and challenges much of the received wisdom about increased freedom. It is written in two parts, the first concerned with religion, the second with the world of work and finance and is particularly incisive on the roots of the banking crisis. 2.Arguably, Christopher Hitchens. A posthumous collection of some of the Hitch’s best essays. If you have never read any Hitch then you could do a lot worse than starting here. Christopher Hitchens writes with wit, erudition, bawdy humour and with a precision not seen since Orwell.

Last week saw Lord Leveson produce his much anticipated report on press regulation. I took much satisfaction in watching the Leveson hearings and must confess had a great deal of fun watching the dregs of the press and Murdoch sycophants dragged in front of a judge and be exposed for the thuggish hypocrites, perfidious liars, self serving morally bankrupt riff raff that they are; I didn't take to them much. As I say all good fun, but all good parties have to come to an end and we are left with what to do with a criminal inclined popular press. Leveson’s report has tried to tread a clever line between self regulation and statutory involvement. However unsurprisingly he does call for statute to provide an underpinning of press regulation. [1] Whilst this would not, as some rather hysterical commentators imply, turn this country into North Korea or Zimbabwe overnight, it would set a precedent for political oversight of the press and thus the slippery slope argument cannot be

  ‘FRANCO’S FRIENDS’ PETER DAY  * Biteback Publishing Ltd 2011 . In 1940 Arthur Koestler, who had just escaped from the advancing German army in France , produced a book about his experience of being detained by the French authorities; he called his book ‘Scum of the Earth.’  I recommend the book to anyone interested in twentieth century history, particularly anyone interested in what became of those who had fought so heroically for Republican Spain. Trotsky famously coined the phrase ‘dustbin of history,’ Koestler describes what it is like to live there. It is a painful read for anyone, like me, who has felt something of the nobility of the Spanish revolutionaries of 1936. Rothermere and Friend Mr Day has written about the British citizens who backed the other side in the Spanish struggle, who were overwhelmingly drawn from the British establishment. It is I think not unfair to describe them as being representative of the thinking of the elite who ruled Britain

I feel a mix of weary déjà vu and despair every time I hear politicians warn Israel of the consequences of ‘alienating world opinion.’ It should be clear to all now that Israel  doesn't give a toss about ‘world opinion.’ The only opinion it cares about is the opinion of the US administration, an administration that provides both the vital diplomatic clout and dollars to enable Israel to continue to flout UN resolutions and resist whatever pressure - painfully little as it happens- the rest of the world cares to exert. After Israel ‘withdrew’ from Gaza it sought to create an imprisoned and impoverished ghetto, [1] a slum beside the sea, quarantined from the rest of the world with the Israeli state as jailer. The world watched, the world did nothing; what protests were voiced was dismissed by the Israeli state with a shrug. Whenever the trapped citizens of Gaza sought to hit back they have been subjected to a prolonged and merciless bombardment. Now the people fighting b