Tag: SNP

Five more years guys, five more years

by rev0107, posted in Newell News International
screen shot of exit polls

Exit polls… Not as close an election as we were lead to believe? One downside to living in the future, is having to be up during your sleeping hours whilst Tory triumphalism pours through my social media feeds (though the sight of the SNP across from them will make interesting viewing). Labour must now focus on life in opposition, which is ironic because they have been anything but opposite in many of the key policy areas.

There will be people who will scream at me about the disabled and the poor, the people we should have voted Labour for, as they have suffered the worst as victims of bedroom tax, but the harsh reality is that we must share responsibility for their suffering with our failure to act. Far too many of us have let the ConDem government get away with their actions this last parliament. Bedroom tax is poll tax by other means but this time we did nothing to stop it. At one time the public stood up to this and let the establishment know exactly how they felt about progressive taxes on vulnerable members of society, today, we have accepted the lies and propaganda of reality TV to demonise these people as a whole.

Now Ed, it is said, must resign as the casualties from this open goal election start to reveal themselves.

This election has been fought on fear. Fear of foreigners, the EU, fear of an economic downturn (not that it was the previous governments fault) fear of the unknown of alternative parties and it is fear that has won. The Tories look likely to almost secure enough seats for a majority, amazing considering the level of suffering experienced by the vast majority of this country for the last five years.

Some are blaming the SNP after they surged to victory in Scotland, others will blame Russell Brand for first saying not to vote and then just hours before the polls opened a, endorsing Labour but Labour have only themselves to blame for tonight’s results. They must blame themselves for not being opposite enough and not giving us something that people could rally behind. Now it falls on us, as it always did, to offer the resistance needed against these tyrannical ideologies and protection for the most vulnerable in our society.

Of all the things said by political commentators in recent weeks, the truest, most relevant thing is this; democracy is not a day out at the polling booth every five years but a daily act of vigilance and a commitment to hold accountable and challenge those people who took seats in Westminster.

Without your consent, they govern nothing. You can still influence the outcome, you just have to be daring enough to do so.

Advertisement

They all must go

by rev0107, posted in Newell News International

There’s an election coming up, 40 odd days to go until the general election in the UK. Leaders debates. Lies and skullduggery. What do we do?

We start by ignoring the business letter signed by 100 con artists.

It would be utter hypocrisy for me to say who you should vote for when my preference would be for mass withdrawal from the game, however, many of you are going to vote. If you do vote please think about what has happened to firefighters, teachers, doctors, nurses, police, look at the state of the streets and remember who was in office during this period. 

The purpose of austerity was to reduce the deficit, George Osborne has failed and it is now bigger than ever.

  

In the words of Mervyn King, the former Governor of the Bank of England, the recession was not the publics fault and no government could have stopped it happening, but the current bunch have made us all pay in sweat, tears and in some tragic cases in blood, Linda Woottton being one such casualty.

We face the harshest cuts to public services, built and paid for by us, our parents and our grandparents over the last 70 years, with what’s left being sold off to privateers at a snip of their true value. 

Know that what happens next will define the lives of generations to come in the UK, so as you head to the polling booth in May, remember who was responsible for slashing those services, cutting the support networks of disabled people and ex-forces personnel and many others and make sure your pen stays clear of those people and anyone likened to them.

Remember that the public service workers serve you 24/7, the people responsible for this ideological austerity serve only themselves and the likes of those 100 business ‘leaders’.

#neverforget #GE2015 #theyallmustgo 

The Artist Taxi Driver – firefighters vs the government  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmtZO5xPhyE

Leaders debate heckler interview https://www.youtube.com/embed/6_6w1RSesdw

Scotland decides, rise.

by rev0107, posted in Newell News International

After centuries of struggle the Scottish get a shot at independence and the right to self-determination, but will they seize it?

The campaign for independence versus better together has heated up in the past two weeks, as Westminster suddenly realised that the vote was too close to call and the leaders of the three main parties have been on the charm offensive. However, the sight of them only serves to highlight the failings of successive Westminster governments for us all.

For Labour this trip north comes somewhere between 4 and 17 years too late after the New Labour project, lead by war criminal Tony Blair, ushered in more Tory-lite policies and values and Ed Milliband has presided over one of the least effective opposition campaigns in recent memory. For his teams pounding the streets to constantly repeat: ‘You don’t want 5 more years of the Conservatives’ really underlines the lack of dynamism or variation in the major policies of our mainstream political parties. The Conservatives would seem to have much to gain from a Scottish breakaway, not least because they have only 1 MP in Scotland and the loss of 40 odd Labour MPs would surely put pay to Labour ever holding a majority in parliament. Nick Clegg we can only assume  was there as chief fluffer.

Every one and their dog have had their say on the vote for independence, from Bob Geldof and David Beckham writing a letter (who knew!?) to Eliza Doolittle and Frankie Boyle, though if entertainment value was the deciding factor on the yes/no vote, then Frankie Boyle would win hands down and Scotland would have their freedom. The scare-mongering campaign of the better together camp has been nothing short of shameful, from asking how they will protect themselves without the might of her Majesty’s armed forces to Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England (BoE) threatening Scotland with having to have billions in reserve to break away from England and not being able to rely on our central bank (lucky them). Without getting into a looonnnng blog about the monetary system and how it is created, it should suffice to say that Carney obviously has not heard about fractional reserve banking, or if he has, does not want to discuss it publicly at this point. If these views, expressed by Carney and the fear mongers in the NO camp are their true belief’s then Scotland and it’s people could do worse than to tell the BoE, Queen, David Cameron, George Osborne or whomever is the next chancellor that they can take their debt with them and launch their own debt free currency, free from banking tyranny, with a nationalised energy industry free from privatisation.

This move would come at a price and the very real threat of a future invasion by the American government under the guise of ‘New Democracy’ as a liberation force for the Scots. At this point the threat of ‘how will you protect yourselves?’ may come to bear but otherwise, without the current association of the imperialist armies that are rampaging through the Middle East on a resource grab, they might in fact find that they are safer with out us.

For the English, it seems like the biggest concern has been about what the flag will look like, what will our name be and a host of other trivial concerns. What amazes me is the very people who want a referendum on being ‘in or out’ of Europe would see that Scotland either did not have a vote or that now they do, to vote no. Self determination is the right of all people, Scotland’s fate should be no different. The only question will be whether they will be daring enough to go all the way, with a debt free currency, ditch the debt and follow the ways of Iceland after the recession. Do not get me wrong, I do not entirely trust Salmond to deliver the world that Scotland dreams but the people can demand it by keeping up the pressure following a  yes vote.

Do not be undone by fear, create your own reality and live the lives you have always dreamed – free.

Rise-Indy-Ref