'Hug A Hogger' Day

Hug A Hogger

The main issue with the Tory government is that they just love to breed and foster 'hate'.

It doesn't matter 'who hates who' because there is profit in hate. They even create the environment where they encourage the hatred of themselves, why? because it makes it easier for them to hate you. It's much easier to persecute someone you hate, than someone you love. 

But as socialists we shouldn't hate those who hate us, no, we should learn to pity them, to show them a little love and to show them that they can be rehabilitated into decent society.

That's why today I am promoting 'Hug A Hogger', day.

Hoggers are people who have never understood or experienced true love, fairness and equality. Its a scandal that so many of the children of hoggers, were voluntarily rejected and discarded by their parents as infants and dragged up, in the cold and isolated, socially toxic environment of private education. Learning that the only true friend, that they will ever have, who will stick by them, through thick and thin, is money. Where they learn the art that sacrificing one 'real' friend to gain all of their paper friends is natural, normal and then they tragically call it 'success'. 

In a decent society, this is known as the socially unacceptable art of 'backstabbing'. The result is the creation of a morally void, socially defective and emotionally barren individual, incapable of independent thought. The closest thing we have to this type of education that we as humanists might recognise, is 'brainwashing'. 

There are a few, who despite their disadvantaged start in life, have successfully discovered the strength to climb out of the sewers of capitalism and neoliberalism to lead decent, honourable and productive lives. Who have resisted the lure of a fast billion or two from working outside of the boundaries of society (I deeply respect these individuals for having the courage to free themselves of their wayward upbringing, to gift themselves a better life and more importantly, to learn from them, how they achieved it).

Sadly, for the many hoggers who made it into decent society, there are countless more who succumbed. The old expression 'there is no honesty, fairness and equality in hogging' is as true today as it has always been. 

There are three main types of 'hogger'. There are the 'Fallonettes' the 'Bransonistas' and the May'shters, however, recently a deeply disturbing new strain, the 'Ruddenophobe' has been discovered, although this strain is causing the re-emergence of a disease we had previously thought dormant. On a happier note, I am happy to announce though, that the problem we had with the Crabbs last year, has been cleared up.

We know that hogging is contagious and has been permeating through decent society for decades. There are cases where decent people, from all walks of actual societal life, have been thinking themselves as hoggers and defending the May'shters. However, we don't believe that this condition is terminal or irreversible and can be cured. The infected are easily recognisable. They are usually intelligent people, but they possess a very limited vision of an alternative future. They have been made to mistakenly believe that the future of wealth, prosperity and success of the country is in their hands. That to create wealth they must believe in the hoggers vicious circle of increasing productivity for the lowest wages while paying no tax. This leads to the creation of more businesses where they can increase productivity, for the lowest wages while paying no tax. As they are intelligent they can be turned but they need a bloody good explanation as to why?

So friends, it is up to us to stop this neoliberal merry-go-round. To show the hoggers that instead of creating poverty to make profit, we can create wealth to create profit. An entirely new and better and more desireable roundabout.

So if you know a hogger, and im sure we all do, let them know we love them, we can forgive them and that there is always a place in decent society reserved for them if they desire it. 

So hug a hogger today.

I will leave you with a short prayer inspirted by St. Francis of Assisi

Where there is discord,

May we bring fairness and equality.

Where there is error,

May we bring socialism.

Where there is doubt,

May we bring security.

And where there is despair,

May we bring decent jobs.

It starts today.

Disclaimer: Hugging is not a literal term, many hoggers do not have the capacity to understand or interrpret a hug and they could break. Hugging a hogger could come in the form of a cup of Earl Grey or a beluga canapé if you feeling adventurous. So be careful.

Karaoke Politics

Karaoke Politics
Its funny how the mind works, I was reading a great speech given by a young labour member with a bright future called Shakira earlier. I have to say that I was honoured to be present when her maiden speech was originally delivered. Her thoughts and words reinforced to me, how important our young people are, how neglected they have been by successive governments and how much their futures could be improved under a labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn and only Jeremy Corbyn. Because under a tory government, there is no chance of university fees being abolished and the tories will continue to deprive young people of a decent education, whilst keeping the prospect of owning their own homes, out of reach for far too many. And under any other labour leader, there is always a risk that these dreams may never be realised.

So, it got me thinking 'how do we get young people involved?'

I drove passed Newcastle College and as always, there were hundreds of students outside who could directly benefit from Jeremy Corbyns policies, so how could we reach them?
I thought we could do leaflet drops, in-house presentations or even mini political lunchtime rallies (weather permitting), jam sandwiches and Jeremy Corbyn so to speak.

It was about this time that an unrequested random thought decided to pop into my head. As a fifty something Jeremy Corbyn supporter, I have been likened to a college student who has the same reverence over Jeremy Corbyn that a teenager has over any culturally popular band.

Now this accusation may not be far from the truth.

Young people like their pop stars.

I like Jeremy Corbyn.

Young people have belief and connection with their bands lyrics.

I have belief and connection with Jeremy Corbyns policies.

So yes, it may be true, I may have a reverence for Jeremy Corbyn but I may also be able to explain it.

So why is it that some bands are more popular than others? They all use the same notes and largely the same lyrics. What makes some songs good whilst others are outstanding? Its down to construction.

This is what Jeremy Corbyn has done with his politics, I hear people say that its just the same old notes, but the difference is how he has put them together. The music in politics is policy. You create wealth and homes and it is music to your ears, however if you vote for war in Iraq or cutting welfare payments at the same time, then you’ve thrown in a couple of bum notes or you sing out of tune, it makes you wince a bit. Its not right. But Jeremy Corbyn has created a symphony of policy, you cant help but listen to its beauty, there are no bum notes and no offensive lyrics or flat tones, everything beautifully harmonised.
But, there are others performing the same music and the same lyrics so why is Jeremy Corbyns composition the most popular and why is he revered over people singing the same song?
Simply put, it is because Jeremy Corbyns symphony ‘is’ the original, he is the one who spent decades working on the composition, perfecting the lyrics and disposing of the bum notes to produce the perfect political composition, it is his masterpiece. It cant be tweaked or improved as any attempts to do so only result in a carbon copy from which the depth of feeling, originality and creativity used to create it are missing.
So this is why I support Jeremy Corbyn, because I’d rather have the original version than the karaoke.

Why Hasn't Owen Smith Conceded Defeat?

With such dire support from the membership, why hasn't Owen Smith and the 172 members of the PLP conceded defeat. Why is it that they continue to stigmatise those members of the labour party who have given their support to Jeremy Corbyn? Surely they understand that these actions are only creating more division within the party and making Mr Corbyn all the stronger. What could they possibly have to gain?

What seems crystal clear to me, is that following all of the accusations of entryism and the Trotsky, Nazi name calling the Owen camp is creating the conditions whereby reunification of the Labour Party is impossible. How can a Corbynite work alongside a colleague who considers them a Nazi Stormtrooper? Why is the Owen Camp still campaigning for support to the membership?

The answer, is that they arent talking to the membership, they are talking to the electorate, why? because they are preparing the ground to split the Labour Party.

The electorate by and large are generally not active members. They will get their information from the press which we know has shown extreme bias against the Corbyn camp. From this they will form their opinions. Corbyn has very little press and has effectively been silenced from the main stream media. Someone said to me the other day "Corbyn, he only comes out for leadership elections".

So we have two things happening here:

1. Membership increasing in unprescedented numbers showing the depth of public support for Jeremy Corbyn.

2. The PLP trying to frighten the electorate into believing that our beloved Labour party is being infiltrated by Nazis.

One possible outcome of this, is whilst support for Jeremy Corbyn grows, support from the wider electorate diminishes. The Labour party splits as is the plan and the splinter group hope to gain the support of the wider electorate. Project 'Trotsky, Nazi, Communist' fear continues in earnest. The Owen camp have accused the Corbyn supporters of living in a 'bubble' which we are not. But their campaign is certainly attempting to seal us into one.

The Death of Neo Liberalism

Have you ever wondered why there is so much negativity and hatred towards the left these days? The thing that has struck me so powerfully is the unprecedented level that the vitriol has reached. Why?

For too long the labour party has been edging ever closer to the right, which has kept capitalism as an economic plan, thriving. But the problem with capitalism is that it is an insatiable beast which will ultimately run out of the 'assets' on which it needs to feed. The last great store of wealth in the UK are the assets owned by the tax payer. Under the Conservatives neo-liberal economy, many of the assets we owned, the utility companies, railways and royal mail have already succumbed and we now bear witness to the 'fire sale' of the most profitable sections of oir last publicly funded assets. The police service, the NHS suffering increased costs to run and a degraded service to the public because sections of them are disappearing fast into private sector ownership. All of which provides woefull value for the tax payer. Social housing is an excellent example of dreadful value for the tax payer, we are now in the ridiculous position where it would be cheaper to buy the unemployed a home, than to rent one for them. Instead of the tax payer building an asset portfolio of hundreds of thousands of good quality homes, our taxes are wasted on private landlords, with no prospect of a return on the taxes we pay. This is what neo-liberalism is, it believes that all assets should be owned privately, not by governments. They achieve this by getting business friendly politicians into power. Once there, they can then start stripping the people of their assets until the tax payer has has nothing left. Most people know this as privatisation.

The new threat from the left for once, isn't just rhetoric, there lies behind it a very real plan. Jeremy Corbyn will create the structure for it, but it is ordinary people like you and me, who will benefit from it by building the infrastructure. Capitalism has effectively strangled creativity and entrepeneurialism, it has made it very hard for new innovations to be realised. Jeremy Corbyns policies will set this creativity free to impact on our lives in a million different ways. Technologies will be created to challenge and surpass existing industry, where decent pay and working conditions will become a standard. What will be created is truly 'trickle up' economics. It could even prove to be a 'tsunami up' economy. An economy that provides wealth for everyone, not driven and reliant on markets or shareholders. An economy of inherent strength, that has no need to slash thousands of jobs because of a dip in profit. And the thing that is petrifying the neo liberal conservatives the most is, that we now know how to do it.

It was John McDonald who inspired these thoughts, who in response to the Queens speech said:

"Labour rejects the failed and cruel austerity programme adopted by this government. Instead, working in partnership with businesses, entrepreneurs and workers, Labour would create an entrepreneurial state to support innovation, create wealth and drive growth. And we would share the proceeds of that growth fairly.

By investing in our economy Labour would lay the foundations of a new society that is radically fairer, more equal and more democratic. An alternative based upon a prosperous economy which is economically sound, environmentally sustainable and where that prosperity is shared by all"

I do not know if I'm using the right terminology, but I've called this 'Social Capitalism', maybe its just socialism. Where business is a tool used for the betterment of everyone, not for the enrichment of individuals. Within this society there would be no room for tax avoiders,  their existance wouldn't be tolerated. Reclaiming taxes would be much less of a problem than it is today, because a corporations survival would depend on it. It's not opposed to people building personal wealth, so there is a place for true, honest capitalism, which takes people with it, instead of leaving them behind. Corbyns policies are inclusive enough to appeal to many on the right, however, the days of the tax payer funded money tree will be consigned to history.

If this is Corbyns plan, then it is not surprising that there is so much opposition to him, so much desperate need to rid government of him because Corbyns vision is the only solution to reversing inequality and provide a fair economy for the benefit of everyone. There is so much creativity, innovation and entrepeneurialism just waiting to burst through that would be prevented from doing so, under our traditional parties. This is a vision that can does not depend on EU membership of, but all the more important to realise now that we are 'out'.

To allow the right to win now would be to deny the British people the opportunity to enjoy a country of social and economic justice.

I think therefore, going back to my opening paragraph, the manifestation of hatred and vitriol against the left can only be explained as the manifestation of fear, and judging by its levels, it must be rife within the neo-liberal community. A fear not only that neo-liberalism is in its death throws, but that there is something very real emerging, to seal its fate. The dream, that generations of people have been fighting for in social and economic justice is within touching distance and for the first time, we will no longer have to settle for scraps from the masters table. This time it's different, it feels real, this time its not rhetoric, this time we really do know how to achieve it. This is why, the bile that has been spewed by the main stream media about Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters has achieved nothing except for the opposite it was intended to. This time we have the vision, we have the talent, we have the support and most importantly, we have the leadership to guide us there.