A conversation with J: Me: I’ve taken the lead on a campaign to negotiate with the Council to keep our local Park House open and in community use. J: That’s so good, to be involved in some form of activism. Me: Activism today is different to the past. There was a time that the activist …
Category archives: politics
public humiliation & stocks but missing the point perhaps
The examination of Mr Buckles, head of G4S, by a House of Commons committee is currently being broadcast. Such processes are tantamount to public humiliation, being put in the stocks, virtually of course. When someone was, say, accused of stealing, they were held in the stocks to keep them in place, exposed to ridicule and …
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terror
Is a terrorist just someone who uses terror? It would seem so as the three men accused of plotting to attack the EDL are being held on terrorism charges. The IRA were criminalised by the British, not given political status but considered as common criminals. Now it seems that even common criminals are being called …
’68 is a lovely name for a baby
A standard account of the events of ’68 in France might focus around the release of potential; there was no classic revolution but the emergence of a culture of self realisation, one with important ethical and political impact. These same events were criticised at the time and since as self-indulgent and a threat to social …
tolerating fascists
The daughter of a friend, 13 years old, was talking to me about history at the weekend. She has been studying the inter-war years and the rise of German fascism. She told me that she had made herself unpopular in an discussion with her friends afterwards because (she said something like) she had not found …
working class, yes i said it, working class
I heard an interview with Len McCluskey, the General Secretary of Unite. Asked about why he wouldn’t accept the current plans concerning pension reform bearing in mind the financial pressures everyone was experiencing he spoke about how the pension funds that provided for the pensions of the Unite members were in good financial health. He …
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