“It is poverty that robs children of life chances be they health, education, unsafe communities, food insecurity and poor housing.” Schools have now been closed for the vast majority of children since 20th March. They won’t be re opening until August at the earliest. Coronavirus has dominated the headlines from a health point of view […]
International
Acknowledging the Big Picture
Sounds odd to state something so obvious, yet I feel there are some out there in the world who may need reminding. Racism is lightyears more horrific than vandalism in every way imaginable. Smashed goods do not compare to the level of misery and pain inflicted upon those oppressed by a society built to favour […]
Black Lives Matter
writes: Today (Sunday 7/6/2020) will see Black Lives matter demonstrations in Scotland. I have tried to convince Back Lives Matter activists to move away from doing physical protests and to go online. Although they all have listened and have taken on board what we’ve said – one of the events did move online – the […]
Coronavirus has killed the last chance for a Sanders Presidency
On April 9th, following months of wrangling and political machinations, the campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S President ended when Senator Bernie Sanders made the surprising decision to drop out of the race. The decision came after the Supreme Court refused to suspend physical voting in the Wisconsin primary elections due to the Covid-19 […]
The Tories, Jingoism and The NHS
“Over the next three years, we must look at that NHS and what is left of our welfare state , and ensure it comes out of this nightmare stronger.” I loathe the propaganda around WW2. It really should be a subject of study. When did it start? I remember the 50th Anniversary. It was at […]
Victory for Hypocrisy
Remembered as youthful and active. Dismissed by a brutally dishonest and cynical Tory regime as collateral damage. This is a short piece to recognise the sacrifice of a generation. It cannot be done without reference to the hypocrisy of a government, with the consent of media and state broadcasting, in its failure to recognise that […]
From Chernobyl to Covid-19
Browsing social media recently I came across one blogger who claimed that Covid-19 will be America’s Chernobyl. That seems a bit like hyperbole. Chernobyl, as history records, became a central part of Gorbachev’s Glasnost campaign which eventually led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union (helped of course by the industrial level of corruption among […]
Covid-19, Toilet Paper and American Hegemony
These days it feels like every app on my phone has some Covid-19 related content. One of them has a list of all the rich and famous who’ve fallen victim to the virus – movie stars, sports people, politicians. I’ve seen the related conversations on social media, where people debate who the most famous victim […]
Sacrificial Herd?
You hardly have to join many dots to understand that the policy of the British government was never not herd immunity. But the fact that it still is ‘targeted herd immunity’, despite and even including the lockdown measures, seems to be less understood. Rather than considering the lockdown as a complete u-turn from the British […]
Grounds for Divorce: The European Union After COVID 19
Indian novelist and activist Arundhati Roy penned an article in the Financial Times last week on the global effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Many writers have offered ideas on this topic, but Roy’s stood out as some of the most prescient speculation on the new groove of a post-COVID world: “Our minds are still racing […]