Johnson’s hurry will cause more needless deaths – made worse by his communications blunder
On 11 May, the SKWAWKBOX warned that Boris Johnson’s reckless haste to force millions back to work while infection rates were still high would lead to thousands of pointless, needless deaths – and that this entirely avoidable disaster would be made worse by his blunder in not making clear, on a Sunday night, that he wanted people back to work the following Wednesday, not the very next morning.
Public transport and employers had no time to prepare – the government’s inadequate safety recommendations were not even issued until the Monday afternoon – and huge numbers made their way to work.
Johnson’s wilful endangerment of the British people was inevitably going to drive a new surge in infections – and lead to senselessly lost lives.
Tragically, that prediction is now starting to come true. First a hospital in the south-west had to close its doors even to emergencies, after a sharp increase in cases of the virus. Then Bristol reported a surge – and now London has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus hospital admissions:
That steepling climb began at the beginning of this week – exactly coinciding with the typical incubation period of coronavirus infections transmitted the morning after Johnson’s recklessness – with a gentler rise last week reflecting the shorter incubation period seen in some cases.
The new rate is the highest in around six weeks:
The rise in hospitalisations has also included a rise in ICU admissions:
A less steep, but still significant uptick has been seen in the wider south-east and elsewhere.
The SKWAWKBOX said at the time that Johnson’s actions, which were clearly going to lead to new and avoidable deaths, amounted to murder. That verdict has not changed. And on Monday, the Tories are driving our children back to school as they drove working people back into the workplace.
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Skwawkie, to be fair, every sane person in the UK warned that a premature braking of the lockdown would lead to a jump in infections and deaths. Of course, there are very few sane members of the Tory Party – led by greed, avarice and sociopathy.
A foul man, who likes to think of himself as Churchill, but doesn’t, of course, believe it. He believes in very little in fact. Other than Dominic Cummings. He believes in Dominic Cummings, the person who keeps him functioning and in power, the ideas man for a man with no ideas. Yes. He believes in Cummings. Lots of people dying? Yes, he believes that too of course. But then, they were all going to die anyway…at some point. It doesn’t really matter, and if a bit of pally stupid burbling causes a few more to shuffle off that bit sooner, fair enough. Boris Johnson is a cunt. A narcissistic sociopath. Doesn’t everyone know that?
Johnson could never match Churcill for drunkenness and dillussion,but like Churchill is responsible for thousands of lives sacrificed on the alter of mindless political ideology and the elites entitlement of born to rule .Johnson and his regime are a blast from the past and a nightmare of our own making in allowing a chance for Socialism to slip away.
Er, it was hardly of ‘our own making’, and it DIDN’T just somehow ‘slip away’. It was stolen from us by the Establishment and the corporate MSM and the semi-corporate BBC and the Blairites and the JLM and the BoD et al with their incessant Smear Campaign of lies and false accusations and faux outrage and demonisation and vilification, and ESPECIALLY since the 2017 GE when Jeremy came so close to winning, after which they TREBLED down on their smearing.
There’s probably nothing more that illustrates their power and their effectiveness than the poll conducted for the authors of Bad News For Labour, in which respondents believed, on average, that 34% of LP members had been reported for anti-semitism.
THAT is the reality, but perhaps you’d like to elaborate as to why you say it was ‘of our own making’.
A very English Pol-Pot. Mass cull being the similarity.
My daughter who lives in a suburb of london has just been diagnosed, she is on maternity leave with a young baby, her hubby has worked from home
Other than walk round the block with baby they haven’t been out and have maintained social distancing,……am sure many in her town returned to work under bojo’s instructions
I’m in north of England, maybe I should do a cummings to be there for her and her baby???????
@helsbells My heart goes to you, I cannot even imagine how you must feel.
Thanks maria, I cant describe it
Fortunately her lovely husband is working from home, so is caring for her,and they don’t live in a monstrous tower block xxx
Wishing u & your daughter well helsbell2020. So difficult when so far away from loved ones. All best wishes.
Cummings insists on staying front & center of govt for six months. A scam to force “public to move on. ” as johnson was told to repeat. Without pressure Cummings will still be driving. They r planning to spin it as ” Finish getting Brexit done. ” As ever, they master politics in the real world. 60 thousand die here, yet sadly it does not focus some enough. The mist of other issues are too attractive. Tend roses everywhere else but not our own. Tories take election wins time after time, so bomb everywhere time after time.
Not a vicious circle.
A vicious line.
Time after
time . . .
Thanku signpost
I was out as usual clapping for nhs and shouted boo for boris, and my elderly working class neighbours on a council estate in Tyneside, just put their heads down….
In a way, the world−view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird
GEORGE ORWELL 1984
helsbells2022, I can attest to the fact that grains of corn will pass through the bodies of blokes undigested too – it’s not just birds …
Best to you and yours 🙂
Held bells 2022 So sorry to hear about your daughter and baby,its an impossible situation to be in t because You care..and this government Couldnt care less.My experience from and my family was that they recovered quickly including the grandchildren,whilst me being older made more of a drama of it thinking at first we had dengue again.but a doctor diagnosed Covid 19,probably contracted on my travels through Bejing,paris,London and Manchester for the Friday 13th disaster in England.We wish you and your family well.from here in Cambodia.
Thankyou Joseph, we’re lucky, she has a supportive husband working from home and lives in a house with a garden, and just about enough money to cope. I feel for those alone, or caring for a vulnerable loved one, or living in an abusive relationship, those who are broke, living in multistorey flats, bedsits, on the streets,
Love to you and yours too
(My mam is in a home locked down for months now with dementia 😥 – she thought I WAS HER MAM before lockdown, think I will be lost to her completely post covid, her home refused to take In covid patients and all are well thus far) I feel your paIn xx
Looking at the graphs, it seems there is no figures for the breakdown in age, eg the overwhelming cases of hospitalizations are in the over 60s for corona , there is no breakdown in whether the unfortunate people have primary conditions such as cancer, strokes, Parkinson’s, emphysema, heart problems, dementia which have affected not only people but young people as I have personally witnessed. Are there any current bar charts or line graphs which show this.
Correction: ….which affected not only old people but young people…..
BBC ‘Question Time’ “Needless Deaths”……….there was an interesting insight into the logic behind “Protecting the NHS” & “Clearing the Decks” ready for the “Expected Influx” of Covid 19 cases. Deputy 1st Minister of Scotland, John Swinney, agreed that all gov’ts have to make difficult decisions as almost one thousand Scottish OAPs patients were ‘transferred out out of NHS hospitals, into Care Homes, without testing. They had no idea if they had the virus or not. An NHS spokeswoman suggested that the picture is complicated as almost half of Care Homes in Scotland have no Covid 19 deaths. That indicates that half Care Homes are infected.
It may have something to do with my age, but for all of my 71 years, I believed that the function of NHS was to protect & serve the interests of ‘people’ & not the other way round…….a perverse logic? It would not have required an Einstein to predict the consequences of their actions, especially when the consequences were being viewed in images of deaths in Care Homes from other countries “ahead of the curve”. None so blind as those who will not see?
Empty Nightingale Hospitals, but Covid 19 rampant in Care Homes & among the old & vulnerable living in their own homes; an opportunity for culling of the herd too good to miss…………informed by science, could there be any reason why Covid 19 is rampant in the North West…..an inconsequential football match perhaps or just another unfortunate coincidence?
On 3rd May, I wrote to my Labour MP requesting that he questions Nick Hancock about the number of patients removed from NHS hospital beds & ‘transferred’ into Care Homes, without testing. I have received no reply. The number remains a mystery, but deaths in Care Homes are not..
It’s also noticeable that there seems to be few widely publicised linear or bar graphs illustrating the median age of the unfortunate victims who die: with the Corona virus, from the Corona virus or only from the Corona virus. For example, the median age of the fatalities listed in about 9 countries ranging from Austria to Japan is between 82-84 which means half the fatalities fall either side of the median age. In another graph from Northern Italy it illustrated the breakdown in fatalities amongst the health staff in terms of age, previous conditions and again if they died from them, with the Corona virus or solely from it. The MSM, the State Broadcaster and it appears many social media sites either do not have access to the data or are not publishing it ! Lastly, they are failing to mention that there is widespread controversy amongst the independent medical researchers and institutions not dependent on B&MGF or GlaxoSmithKline, Welcome foundation or contracts to supply equipment for Corona virus that the tests are not proving conclusively the presence of SARS 2.
You can find a lot of the graphical information of the Oxford CEBM site. The main graphs are updated daily – and are an instant condemnation of SB’s peculiar determination to spread unreason and the infection of Panicdemic.
The comparative scaling of the y-axis for each age-group is a telling illustration of the falsity of the notion that this is a universally deadly virus. It isn’t.
In terms of overall mortality in the winter-spring period (up to latest confirmed figures, this is season actually has the *8th* highest level of percentage deaths (in ratio to total population) since 1993/4. High – but not exceptional.
… and ‘following the science’ (actually the evidence) shows that there is no sustainable case that extreme lock-ups have made much, if any, difference, despite extravagant claims to the contrary.
Name and shame your mp x
“Our government seems determined to plough ahead with relaxing the lockdown with a track-and-trace system barely launched and beset by problems. This is dangerous, and workers are right to resist it,” – People’s Press, Morning Star Editorial:
Telling teachers if they handle someone with covid to carry on and not isolate, I would be quoting employment rights act section 44
Thank you hellsbells. Teachers need to know this and hopefully their wonderful trade unions are informing them well.
Oh my God, the 2nd wave comes early! Only this incompetent band of number 10 tossers could have achieved such a rubbish result!
Try a Freedom Of Information request, answer will not be quick, directed to the NHS and /or Matt Hancock.
Allan Howard, like the rest of the majority of the ‘Corbynite Left , a little bit of self criticism by yourself is appropriate. Joseph okeefe is quite correct , in that whilst the Labour Right sabotaged the Corbyn Left surge from day one, and used the Peoples Vote campaign to split the left in the Party , and the mass media smeared Jeremy every day, it was the overwhelming majority of the Party’s Corbynite ‘Left’ (in reality mostly just naïve middle class Left Liberals, NOT socialists in any meaningful way) who also , alongside the Labour Right, fully supported the disastrous Remain and 2nd Referendum policy of 2019 that lost us the bulk of our old heartland Leaver seats in 2019. And that same Corbynista middle class ‘Left’ who constantly trumpeted the (completely non-socialist, fifth form moralism) desire for unlimited ‘freedom of movement’, ie unlimited labour supply, which , whatever Left Liberals like to believe, has destroyed the bargaining power of large sections of the unskilled and semi-skilled working class in our old heartlands . And of course those old Left fakers, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell, were in the highly visible lead in the lead up to the 2019 Election defeat in making it quite clear to our Leaver heartland voters that Labour had no intention of respecting our 2017 Manifesto promise to ‘respect the Referendum Result’ ! So , yes, quite rightly allocate blame to the capitalist mass media, and the treacherous Labour Right – but it was the supposed ‘Corbynite Left’ who put the final nail in our electoral coffin with the daft Left Liberal politics which destroyed our election chances. Own it matey, or, like the majority of the ‘Left’ today you will continue to be part of the problem of Labour’s crap neoliberal politics, not part of the socialist policy solution. A solution no longer possible within the now permanently recaptured for the neoliberal Right, Tory-lite, Labour Party
Many of your points are correct, however, the destruction of organised Labour began long before The “ Corbynites” were born or old enough to vote. It originated in the US in the sixties with the elites concerned there was “ to much democracy “ and set out about to reverse the gain that the lower and middle class had achieved since the end of WW2. The development of Neo Liberalism was first theorised in its modern form worked In Chicago by Friedman and his fellow economists which was introduced by coup against the socialist government of Allende in Chile in 1974. Moreover, this coincided with the 400% increase of oil, which was, according to some writers instigated by Kissinger and the elites he represented, carried out by OPEC. This course led to inflation to be running at one state over 25% in the U.K. which I remember very well. To put that into perspective, if your wage was £400 a month ( a very good wage admittedly) it now had the buying power of £300. Naturally, union members were in uproar and demanded wage increases to match which the bosses, aristocracy, banks, elites had made sure they didn’t lose out. Friction developed and strikes by organised Labour were the result. Now, the right wing propaganda owned MSM and the State Broadcaster working to a degree in tandem kicked in. Who can forget the Satchi & Satchi slogans Labour isn’t working . Not forgetting of course, some of the right wing unions supported this notion. Plus of course the constant gripe from the better off complaining about paying 33 1/3 % rate of income tax. So the other slogan of “ let the people decide what to do with their money” and “ profits is a dirty word “. The die was cast, the scene set and as we all know Thatcher and the long night of the destruction of both organised Labour and the social security system had begun. But it’s important to point out that the Labour Party has never been a total socialist party in government. There has been a constant struggle between the socialists and the right wing many of whom were working class. There is nothing new in this struggle it has been going on for over 70 years or more but those that jumped ship didn’t find any success with the fringe socialist parties.
jpenny, matey, I don’t have to ‘own’ anything, and as you yourself described it, it was but ONE nail in the coffin. And how is it possible for you to say that Joseph Okeefe is ‘quite correct’ in saying such and such and such, when he didn’t say anything of the sort. Talk about distortion! Do you work for the Sun. or perhaps the Telegraph?
And I see down the page – in a Reply to Brianbotou – you finish by saying the following:
‘The point is, can Labour ever now, with today’s class forces, be a vehicle for socialist advance ? The disastrous failure of the timid passivity and political weaknesses of ‘Corbynism’ should prove the answer is a resounding ‘NO’.’
And what timid passivity iis/was that, and what political weaknesses are you referring to? Oh, I know, the sh*t that Joseph along with his chum signpost and one or two others have been spouting on here practically every day for the past eight or nine months, what with repetition being a subtle form of brain-washing.
EVERYTHING goes through the corporate MSM (and the BBC) in terms of reaching the general public at large, and if THEY had been so inclined, they could have presented the position on Brexit that was finally adopted in a positive light. But they did the opposite. Yes, of course Brexit was a factor for many people in the North who would normally vote Labour, but so was all the ‘spy’ garbage AND being disrespectful to the Queen etc, and then there were the paras shooting at an image of Jeremy, and I have no doubt that THAT wasn’t just an idea that some paras came up with!
Funny, isn’t it, how his ‘timid passivity and political weaknesses’ WEREN’T a factor in 2017!
Hmm…….
RH, thanks for that. If you look on Globalresearch website, you will find a lot of information which reinforces the points you have made. Plus there is a very good article today which critically examines the validity of the tests of Sars 2 and concluded that the testing for it leaves a lot to be desired. Well worth reading.
While I was researching the accuracy of swab tests after my daughter’s experience, I came across this on false negative swab tests. https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1808
The infographic is particularly easy to understand and interesting.
The soldier at the test centre gave mY daughter the swab test to do herself, not being well her mind wasn’t that sharp and she didn’t ask the soldier til afterwards how long she should have done it. He told her after the event, 10-15 seconds. She had only done it for around 5, he said not to worry its uncomfortable so prob most ppl don’t manage the right length of time. Sure some would try to if this info was reinforced.
Mind in honesty it was in the leaflet which she reread later, but not being well and panicked, hadn’t taken it in, sure lots in same position…
I cannot disagree with the overwhelming majority of what you have written, brianbotou – but unfortunately nothing you have written addresses any of the substantive points I made in my post about the nowadays thoroughly non socialist Left Liberal middle class ‘Left’ ! Indeed, as you say, the Labour Party has never been a socialist party – although it used to be the political arm of a mass membership trades union movement , of up to 13 millions in the 1970’s , and working class socialists were active in its ranks in large numbers, unlike today. Even WITH a mass trades union movement , and a much more politically educated socialist membership than today, Ralph Miliband’s excellent book , Parliamentary Socialism’ demolished the vacuous aspirations of the Labour Party’s always timid, posturing, ‘Left’, to eventually turn the Party into a vehicle for socialist advance , way back in the 1960’s ! And, as I said, then, in the 1960’s and 1970’s, even in the 1980’s there was still a substantial cohort of genuine socialists on the Left in the Party – who actually understood the need for comprehensive state-led economic planning as an alternative to the power of the capitalist market (see the 1980’s Bennite ‘Alternative Economic Strategy’ and the ‘Lucas Plan’) . Not so today, with the totally middle class, identity politics obsessed ,uncritically EU-loving, joke of a pseudo Left which composes most of the Labour Party’s supposed ‘radical Left Corbynite’ forces. !
Sorry to be harsh brianbotou, but you really must actually address the core points in a post if you intend to ‘reply’ to it, comrade. Because I do, as I say, actually agree with much of your, historical outline, post in itself ! The point is, can Labour ever now, with today’s class forces, be a vehicle for socialist advance ? The disastrous failure of the timid passivity and political weaknesses of ‘Corbynism’ should prove the answer is a resounding ‘NO’.
It’s always important to put the present position in a historical context. However, to right off the achievement of what the very short time Corbyn was leader is not, I afraid, being balanced.
Let’s not forget, after almost 2 decades of a Neo light Tory party structure, plus of course all the damage Kinnock and his cabal did, the party was in incremental terminal decline. Except for a cosmetic makeover from Milibands son which had unexpected consequences as we all know. The party had lost about 5,000,000 votes, 143 seats, Scotland and many former rock solid Labour seats were turned into marginals.
Under a revival of its socialist roots, it reversed the trajectory of destruction increasing the votes from 8.5,000,000 under the last NL government and the loss of 90 seats to an almost 13,000,000 and winning 30 seats the first time Labour had gained seats in 2 decades. Its almost important to emphasize that 54 marginal seats out of the 55seats Labour lost had in 2019 all increased substantially under Corbyn in the 2017 GE.
Yes, the knives were out, an unprecedented Tsunami of propaganda was unleashed to attack Corbyn and propaganda does work as Chomsky said ” you have to admire the persuasive powers of MSM to convince people that a man who has fought racism for over 40 years is now a racist”. Moreover, the hard right still had its control on the levers of power and were fully embedded after over 20 years of hard right control. Yes, McDonnell made many mistakes as did the others with the mantra of ” unity at all costs”, the fear of the right breaking away ie the gang of 4, still lingered . Not the other way around I might note.
However, we are where we are but the notion that the party is now a middle class party devoid of socialists belies what is happening. Yes, many new members are middle class but many aren’t.
Moreover, there are over 300,000 affiliated trade union members in all branches of not only public services but also I industry. I know it’s only about 10% of GDP. Nevertheless, many members are through and through working class. I was in the trade unions so I met some of them. In addition, my partners brother in law is a high ranking union official and still works at his job who would be thoroughly insulted if I called him middle class. Yes, its anecdotal but in my and other people’s experience their members are by and large working class and many would define themselves as socialists. However, I suppose it would depend on how you define socialists because the SWP, WSP look upon the people from the Morning Star as nothing but Stalinists.
To come back to the main point, there has been no successful fringe socialist party in the UK since after WW2. For example, David Nellist’s party, which are very good at representing their constituents and fighting for them and do well in poor inner city areas of which I know of, fare very poorly in the GE. If the left breakaway from the democratic socialist Labour, it will move right over to the right with only a cigarette papers difference between it and the Tories, just like it was under Blair. Starmer and his minority within the party are just that a minority who are not powerful to impose full blown capitalistic policies at the moment. They still have to take into consideration the views of the left.
Socialism will not be won overnight, and there is no modern precedent of a left wing splinter grouping being successful. Fight the good fight our day will come !!!.
brianbotou, before Corbyn, was there a modern precedent of an avowedly left wing leader winning back leadership of a right wing party in the doldrums, having all the successes you outline in your third paragraph and having 10.000 young people singing his praises at Glastonbury?
With a bit of support in Southside and the PLP we could have wiped the Tories out for ever.
The point being – bugger precedent, a new party isn’t doomed to fail if you have the right people.
I’d remind you there was no precedent for some of the biggest companies on the planet that started from nothing – Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Nike, HP, Microsoft, Starbucks, IKEA…
Why would anyone even think of using ‘no precedent’ to argue that there’s no point trying something new – that the old ways are the only ways that can possibly work – in this, the 21st century ffs?
Neil Clark. “How COVID-19 Became Britain’s Newest Religion”.
https://sputniknews.com/columnists/202005291079454699-how-covid-19-became-britains-newest-religion/
It’s amazing how hysteria can grip normally rational intelligent people. Arthur Miller wrote a play describing how this hysteria fuelled by unscrupulous people in power can manipulate people to believe almost anything. The Crucible should be shown repeatedly to the “ true believers “ !
Yes, but then again, fear of death/survival, for obvious reasons, is by far the strongest instinct, and not just in homo sapiens of course. It’s an integral part of our make-up, and can be exploited by unscrupulous people around the world, as it often is. As I pointed out in a recent post (in a thread about Cummings), 1.35 million people are killed on the roads every year, and millions more permanently crippled and/or brain-damaged or maimed, but we hear little about it in the media. In the UK the number of road fatalities each year (as it has been for about ten years now) is equivalent to a passenger plane (with two hundred on board) crashing every six weeks in the UK, and if that started happening in reality, just about EVERYONE would soon stop flying.
Yes, people are being emotionally manipulated (I doubt BJ even had the virus!), but the ‘threat’ is very real.
What hysteria? I’ve seen none except from CV deniers like RH, terrified of falling investment values, endlessly repeating the same whiney Icke-like drivel that “there are no excess deaths and all you lazy plebs should just get back to work.”
And now, apparently, yourself.
Calling a response that’s been universally approved by every government and every intergovernmental organisation on the planet “hysteria” must take a quite extraordinary degree of nut-jobism.
David – your knicker-wetting mindset of fear, induced by Cummings and Co. is precisely what brianbotou is correctly highlighting. The gullibility is quite amazing.
I simply highlight the actual data and the alternative analysis that Beebelievers shut their eyes to.
Such as – – there have been *seven* worse seasons of winter-spring mortality since 1993. Such as – children in schools have an incredibly low risk from this virus. Such as – for the vast majority of the younger, healthy population – this is a mild virus of minimal risk.
Suddenly the knicker-wetters on the ‘left’ have been converted to a narrative constructed by governments and establishment runners and riders that is increasingly falling apart!
What radicalism! What concern for ‘the people’ – as thousands die from the withholding of normal medical services and impoverishment is recommended as a medicine!
“I’m a Corbyn supporter … and I hate Starmer. But I love this Tory lock-up! Ask questions? That’s rebellion!”
Neil Clark again.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/490033-covid-19-nhs-founding-principles/
Privatising the NHS in the US style model has long been enacted covertly in the neo-liberal era… why do so few on the so called ‘left’ not wonder if Covid could be used to finish the job? I know most that comment on here have nothing but tired derogatory insults for those such as me who are trying to see the bigger picture but if someone as reasonable and balanced as Clark cannot get you thinking outside the ‘Covid is going to kill us all’ box then I know what to say anymore.
‘don’t’ know what to say… I continue to despair.
Thank you Maria. Excellent, thoughtful article. I love Neil Clark!
ArticleS!
David Mc Niven, the notion that 100,000 people singing for Jeremy Corbyn will not translate into the rust belts of the Midlands, the former bastion of Labour in Scotland, the valleys in Wales or the other former rock solid seats of Labour which gave Bojo his GE victory.
They lost faith with Labour, primarily because of the betrayal of Kinnock, Cunningham, Whitey, Straw, Mandelson, Milburn, Blair and a whole host of middle ranking officials both in the party but also in the trade union movement, some of whom told me personally they were former Trotskyists, who believed there was no alternative but embrace the “ new reality “ of capitalism.
These people destroyed the credibility of the Labour Party and it is a painful process to regain their trust. Political power is about the people having trust in the individuals who run the party. The democratic socialist Labour Party was beginning to regain that trust, as I have pointed out to jpenny, until the external enemies plus their right wing brethren in the party gained the upper hand ( for the moment, as Wilson said a week is a long time in politics and 4 years is an eternity) but momentarily slid back, yet, still won about 10.3,000,000 votes as opposed to 8.5,000,0000 in 2010 under the last NL Government losing 90 seats.
These Commercial companies use their enormous financial backing to achieve their monopolies, many of whom ran with losses for years plus of course the research was carried originally via the government ie the intranet) so you are not equating apples with oranges to put it simply.
Successful socialist parties have yet to gain prominence in the U.K.. In the meantime, the left who are the backbone of the democratic socialist Labour Party have to fight to regain control and learn to fight against the right wing vested interests of Labour First, Progress, “ the moderates, centrists “ and Blairites.
Rome was built in a day neither will a true socialist democratic party plus society. The forces arranged against it are very powerful but not omnipotent. Our day will come. Fight the good fight!!!
Edit Rome was not built in a day….
There was nothing precedented or predictable about a backbencher becoming leader in a single bound, with zero front bench experience, and then putting the absolute shits up the established order.
Corbyn winning the leadership, virtually by popular acclaim, was a near-revolutionary act by the membership – not by any means conclusive proof that the people were ready for radical change, but there was that feeling in the air.
Lockdown and CV might be expected to cause fear of the unknown and a yearning for the familiar in the electorate that I don’t think was a factor in 2015, and post-referendum divisions are still present if these comments pages are anything to go by.
Fear and division may push the country to the right but it may not even be apparent until CV is over – assuming that at some point CV will be over.
I see no reason to imagine the establishment will behave any differently toward the next left wing candidate with popular support than it behaved toward Corbyn.
Democracy itself might even be at risk from CV – if Tory incompetence causes it to peak repeatedly they might take even more powers, suspend parliament, censor the media and force people into work ‘to save civilisation’ – if they’re not lynched first.
It’s a mistake to pretend in today’s circumstances that old truths still hold good.
Anything might happen.
A new left wing party that the establishment doesn’t take seriously – or even a well-organised grass roots movement with the declared ambition to write the manifesto of a new, true socialist party to be launched ‘when possible’ – might be just the kind of talking shop that could find and grow the good, honest, articulate, hopefully charismatic young socialists the left desperately needs, and build support for a new party ‘under the radar’.
The likelihood of such people joining Starmer’s Labour seems remote to me and momentum is pretty much Lansman-tainted.
Again, just to remind you there is not a single successful socialist party in the U.K. The nearest its had was the Labour Party of 50s, 60s and 70s. Young socialists join socialist parties all the time I see them in my home city canvassing for socialist worker or one of the Trotskyist parties, however, they make no indentation in the status quo. People did join the Labour because of JC but because of the socialist policies ( however mild ) that was being offered. As long as there are sufficient left wing numbers of members in the party, which gravitate around maintaining socialist policies, Starmer and his right wing cabal cannot steam roll right wing policy through ( they are still by a long way in the minority, despite what some of the posters on SB would have you believe). Our day will come but not if you think by jumping ship you can start a new party even under the present conditions!!
David McNiven, ” what hysteria ” evidently, you don’t look at the MSM, the State Broadcaster etc constantly pumping out the message of the ” pandenic” ( the definition was changed by the WHO in 2009 ) infecting and killing people in ever increasing numbers and support the deadliness of it the wheel out the ” experts” to reinforce the message.
Many of these ” experts” have either direct, indirect or former links to the B&MGF, GlaxoSmithKline, the Welcome Trust etc or are involved in products connected with Sars 2. To put simply vested interests.
Look at how many people are reacting, frightened to leave their self imposed prisons, frightened that they might die from it. Yet, the fatalities are overwhelming in old people, the median age recorded by 9 countries is between 82-84 which means that 50% of the deaths are either side of that figure.
In addition, the graphs, figures charts pumped out by the organs of truth frequently don’t differentiate age, previous serious medical conditions and whether they died with Sars2, without it or solely from it.
There is also plenty of evidence from NHS doctors that they are being forced to register the deaths from it when they have no concrete tests to prove they did.
Besides of course the whole validity of the tests for Corona -19, are disputed by independent well respected professors, doctors and research institutes not dependent on big pharmaceutical corporations for donations. The actual fatalitie rate as measures by a number of regions within different countries is averaging about 0.2% a mammoth difference from the original estimates from Professor Ferguson’s Imperial research group, who have a track record of getting their estimates for previous epidemics widely wrong.
If you look back at the events prior to the invasion of Iraq, you can see similarities WMD, dodgy dossiers, 45 minutes to doom and all of the organs of truth working in unison to pump out the message be afraid, be very afraid.
Has anyone found the WMD yet which has cost and continues to cost the lives of millions of Iraqis?
I’m afraid, brianbotou, that your analogy with ‘The Crucible’ is all too apt.
The Johnson government has been incredibly successful in cowing a large section of the supposed ‘left’ with the whip of fear. The underlying beliefs (akin to religion) are immune to evidence as opposition is muted to a background whine about the details of policy whilst the major facts are ignored.
No wonder the establishment wipe the floor with this sort of opposition.
If it was only the UK government – and not every other government, NGO and intergovernmental organisation on the planet – that accepted CV as a serious enough threat to justify extreme action I might be more inclined to give your claims some credence.
You fail the test every conspiracy theorist does – nobody actually involved in this worldwide conspiracy has ratted out the conspirators.
You fail to explain how or what those behind the conspiracy – the already-rich and powerful – expect to gain.
Opportunities to buy up everything at bargain-basement prices only apply to a tiny minority of the super-rich – the rest of them lose massively – why are they not using their huge media access to blow the gaff?
Or are they as dumb as you say we are and got rich anyway despite that?
Is there a bigger plan to kill us all and for the few to live in domes?
What kind of fucking idiots are you to imagine we wouldn’t rip them to pieces?
Fear be fucked, you timorous pussies.
“You fail to explain how or what those behind the conspiracy – the already-rich and powerful – expect to gain”.
Why, more riches and more power, of course! You must remember we’re not dealing with rational human beings with rational human aims here. These sick monsters want total control of the whole planet AND it’s population.
“Is there a bigger plan to kill us all and for the few to live in domes?
Could be.
What kind of fucking idiots are you to imagine we wouldn’t rip them to pieces?”
“We” wouldn’t know what was going on till it was way too late. You might have noticed, in this country in particular, we’re very docile, very gullible, very prone to touching the cap. On top of that we have our brainwashing media. Rip them to pieces? Can you REALLY see that happening? We’d need a mass awakening of the sort that sparked the Brixton/Toxteth/Bristol St Paul’s riots nearly 40 years ago. Most Brits are still fast asleep, living the dream, even as it crumbles around them.
”On top of that we have our brainwashing media.”
That most are only now starting to offer the appearance they’re not entirely convinced by government propaganda, but only because their respective audiences/circulations are in freefall.
The tabloids are now practically begging us to buy their shite to prevent them going under. And to paraphrase Frankie Boyle: ‘There’s never been a better reason NOT to buy them’.
Agreed about the lackadaiscal compliance bordering on casual indifference of the Great British public, though. Got to say, me being ‘disappointed’ with them just doesn’t cut it.
The tabloids are now practically begging us to buy their shite to prevent them going under. And to paraphrase Frankie Boyle: ‘There’s never been a better reason NOT to buy them’.
The only exception being the Morning Star, of course!
If you recall, the definition of a “ pandemic “ was altered in 2009, despite the protestations of many independent medical researchers, experts and institutions not directly or indirectly receiving funding from the B&MGF or the giant pharmaceutical corporations such as GlaxoSmithKline, Welcome Trust etc.
You may also recall that these corporations and foundations made billions of US dollars for vaccines for a mass infractions from “ pandemic “ Sars 1 which by a very a very, very wide margin didn’t materialise. These estimates for the original total came from the now disgraced Professor Ferguson plus Imperial who have received hundreds of millions of dollars from the B&MGF and whose estimates were taken up by the WHO which receive enormous sums of money from the B&MGF. The governments of many countries in the world took their cue from this organisation after all many of them contribute to it but except for the US, the B&MGF are the 2nd largest donor.
Now, when someone uses the term “ conspiracy theorist” it displays a number of things, first they have no idea where by whom and for what purpose it first gained widespread public awareness. For example, it was used to explain away how a single man, using a single hunting rifle, from a fixed stationary position could shoot a moving target hitting him at 90% to his position multiple times and hit the man sitting next to at 180% to the first bullet entry. It was explained away by using the magic bullet theory defying the laws of known physics. When this didn’t wash, the next option was “ conspiracy theory” and has been applied numerous times when the official narrative does stand up to scrutiny. Moreover, when this term is used, it indicates that there is no validity to their arguments.
In addition, the notion that the oligarchs don’t gain from this actually does not stand up to scrutiny. For example, in the 2008 financial crash who gained who lost. Well, it certainly wasn’t the banks, the financial institutions or the very very rich aristocracy who either own or completely own some of these institutions. How, many went to jail for the massive financial frauds that happened, apart from a few in Iceland, answer none. Who is continuing to pay for these frauds, answer the majority of the public.
Furthermore, what you, evidently, don’t seem to grasp is that many of the oligarchs and aristocracy look upon as the numbers of people in the world as the greatest threat to it. For example, Bill Gates as publicity stated his goal is to reduce the population of the world. In fact his father was a very senior member of the eugenics movement in the US. The Rockefeller’s funded to a large degree this movement and continue to fund research along these lines.
Lastly, how many people fell in step with the WMD bullshit pumped out on a daily basis by the MSM, the State Broadcaster and the overwhelming majority of MPs voted on its basis to invade Iraq. How many swallowed the Campbell dodgy dossier, 45 minutes to doom with cooked up evidence to support it or surrounding Heathrow airport with armoured personal carriers expecting an attack at any moment. This is but one example, there are others “ Reds under the bed” etc any little ditty to persuade people black is white and white is black. When people are frightened, many don’t think rationally. The propagandists know this very well.
When you use puerile terms such as “ living under the dome”, it displays a total vacuous comprehension of what has happened and is happening. Read more and research more instead of regurgitate cliches design to thwart critical analysis.
500-plus words and you still didn’t have space to explain how every government on the planet was persuaded by the conspirator-in-chief to set aside their petty(?) differences and join the coronavirus conspiracy to kill half the population.
CV-19 is a bit weak if half of us are meant to die – and is half really enough to save the planet?
Of course they’ll have to follow CV-19 up with another virus to stop us breeding or we’ll just start shucking out sprogs again – OMG do you think Zika might have been a failed trial run?
Who is the conspirator-in-chief by the way? Trunt’s way too stupid so it must be Xi, right?
Of course! That’s where it started!
I’ve been such a fool! I’m so ashamed. 🙁
One little thing – how come they didn’t delegate the military-industrial complex to kill us in a war this time like before, so they could test their fancy new weapons? You know they love wars and they don’t like to let it all rust away un-banged.
Good comment, seriously. You’re a hoot.