Not A Smart Move By Insulate Britain

The 'Insulate Britain' protest is a worthwhile cause but wow are they going the wrong way about it by blocking busy roads during rush hour.
The tipping point was when motorists physically dragged them out of the way to allow an Ambulance through, that was when any semblance of public support went out the window.
Now into the 12th day of protests, the activists claim they will continue until the government commits to a national programme providing insulation for 29 million homes therefore reducing CO2 emissions which isn't going to be happening anytime soon unfortunately.
I'm all for the reasoning that it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease and without the protests going on, nobody would be talking about the CO2 emissions leaking from uninsulated homes, but once the public tunrs against you, then you may as well pack up your banners and go home because it would only be public support that would force the Government to do anything.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has already used the blocking of roads to set in motion further tightening of protests which may well be supported by those who are late for work or unable to travel freely and although it may well end this particular one, it will have far reaching consequences going forward.
The clock is ticking on the climate crisis, after years of feet dragging it may already be too late and future generations are in for a rough ride thanks to the ignorance and stupidity of previous generations, but this isnt the way to do it and the lasting memory will be the woman pleading with the unmoving protesters to let her through to visit her mum in hospital.
Got to be smarter than this to make your argument and take the public with you.

Mad As Hell And Not Gonna Take It

It probably hasn't skipped your attention that this weekend there were same very ticked off people around as protests and demonstrations against Governments rocked every corner of the globe.
In Lebanon, protesters set Beirut ablaze over price increases, Chileans set metro stations on fire following increases in public transport fares, and the streets of Ecuador saw flying rocks after the Government removed fuel subsidies.
There were also protests against the Liberian Government and in Guinea while Mexicans came out in force against corruption and drug violence, in England a million marched against the Government Brexit plans and masked rioters in Hong Kong ran riot for a twentieth consecutive weekend and following the jailing of Catalonian leaders, mass marches wound there way around Barcelona.
Dutch farmers shut down the country’s motorways after the government introduced new emissions regulations and in France thousands of firefighters joined the yellow vests to march for more funding and better working conditions.
The protesters have forced a Government back down in Lebanon, Chile, Ecuador and Hong Kong where the the measures that angered the public in the first place have been withdrawn but why does it seem that all the unrest has come at the same time?
It could be seeing protests on the television has sparked off others as the people rise up against policies they don't agree with or the citizens see corruption and inequality and decided they have had enough but whatever reason, we seem to be in peak protest season.

Milkshaking

There seems to be a new craze in town, throwing Milkshakes over right wing politicians as Nigel Farage found out as he slimed away to get his suit dry cleaned after he became the latest victim.
Not the most obvious weapon of resistance, the milkshake shower has recently seen far-right dingbat Tommy Robinson (twice), the Ukip candidate Carl Benjamin (four times) as well as Farage have their picture in the papers looking less than pleased that their clothing now smells of banana and strawberry.
While it may be true, as some of the victims have pointed out, that attacking people you disagree with in the name of tolerance is a bit off, who couldn't fail to have their heart lifted by the sight of extreme right wingers being doused in milkshake. 
It has go to such extremes that a branch of McDonald’s in Edinburgh was asked by the police not to sell milkshakes on Friday, when Farage was in town although the offending salted Caramel and banana shake was from Burger King so that wasn't very successful.
A very mild and tasty form of violence against the country’s most divisive politicians is afoot but a quick look at the ingredients and the 430 calories in a milkshake, they are lucky it is only being poured over them and they are not being made to drink it which would be much more harmful.

The Tricky Extinction Rebellion Second Protest

From an idea debated around a kitchen table to bringing Central London to a standstill for a week in a few short months is impressive by any measure but that is exactly what the climate change protest group 'Extinction Rebellion' have achieved.
Making the decision for more to be done by the British Government to tackle Climate Change after marches, demonstrations and petition singing was getting them nowhere, ER took a leaf from the styles of Gandhi and Martin Luther King and used the tactics of 'mass non-violent civil disobedience' by sitting in streets, chaining themselves to street furniture and gluing themselves to public transport.
As the ER group are made up of men, women and children, the authorities that to go in mob handed and cracking heads as they usually do would look terrible on a group of the elderly or mothers carrying children, so they have been gently carrying away the non-resisting protesters for arrest, 936 at the last count.
The protest has been a huge success and grabbed the media, public and Governments attention and most importantly put Climate Change on the agenda but ER should not carry it on too long because they may have the public support but that can be a fickle thing.
The hundreds of thousands estimated to have been affected by the disruption could soon turn against them if they are unable to get to work or school or hospital for a second week so ER need to quit while they are ahead.
The problem they now face is that after such a huge first success, how will they follow it up because they won't be able to jam up London again.
Short of a major climate catastrophe to drive home the point they have been making about the consequences of our actions, ER need to go back to the kitchen table and come up with another way of keeping the non-violent civil disobedience but find another way to push home their valuable agenda.

Feeling Unwelcome Yet Donny?

Within 24 hours of arriving in the UK, Donald Trump was moaning that he felt unwelcome but why on earth would he feel like that?
Surely he was aware that tens of thousands of people were gathering in London to mark his arrival and there was balloons and everything.
In fact so many people turned out that police had to stop many more from entering Trafalgar Square so why would the President of the United States feel so unwelcome at the home of one of the very few remaining allies he has?
Oh i remember, it was all that racist stuff and admitting to sexually assaulting women as well as being a lying blowhard, i knew there was something.
Apart from the big orange baby balloon flying overhead, there was some brilliant banners including many which rhymed 'Trump' with 'Dump' and a quite a few which went along with the theme of the balloon and went with 'big orange baby'.
The weird colour of his skin was a dominant area and i saw a few referring to 'Wotsits' and him being 'Tango'd' and some doubling it up with his teeny, tiny penis hands such as 'Tiny Orange Hands' and 'Can't build a wall, his hands too small' which i have seen before and another one borrowed from elsewhere but is still very clever 'super-callous-fragile-racist-sexist-nazi-potus'.
'Donald Duck Off' was amusing and 'We shall overcomb' with various pictures of the Shredded Wheat barnet he favours but although my all time favourite is still 'Impeach the Orange', the best of the British efforts so far has to be the charming 'Feck orf you tango bawlbag' which hilariously works on so many levels.
The next adventure in keeping the President away from protesters so Theresa May can work a deal to import America's flavoursome chlorinated chicken is him and his ridiculous wife being shuffled off to Scotland so it's over to you guys north of the border to take up the challenge of making the third fattest President in history feel even more unwelcome than he already does.

Hate To Say We Told You So

February 15 2003, I and a million of my pals marched through Central London protesting against the impending Iraq war.
It wasn't just in Britain that demonstrations were held but simultaneous protests were held around the world, tens of millions of us marching in every continent against the Blair/Bush plans for war.
Speaker after speaker in Hyde Park took to the stage to decry a war that would set off a spiral of conflict that would fuel further wars and conflict and bring the misery of terrorism to our shores for generations.
How frighteningly right they were as the havoc wreaked in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and now Syria opened a tinderbox that leads straight to the Blair and Bush door.
That they are free to go about their business today is a travesty but the truly sad thing is that if the chance come up again, and Iran is being manoeuvred into out sights, the British and Americans who have done so much to wreck the Middle East, would do the same again if the opportunity arose no matter how many of us marched against it.

Rotton Eggs And Tomatoes Ready For February

The sound of placards being stacked away was deafening after Donald Trump pulled out of a visit to the UK because the Prime Minister couldn't guarantee British people won't turn up and shout horrible things at him, but the American President has plans to turn up here in February so get daubing those insults again as they may yet be used.
The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is proving to be a headache because neither want him there but want to invite his predecessor Barack Obama and Buckingham Palace is currently in discussions with Downing Street with the most likely solution being neither is invited.
The Trump visit is probably going to be in February to open the new American Embassy on the banks of the Thames which is pencilled in for Monday 26th or Tuesday 27th but the Government are not confirming anything just yet but being a working day they hope to minimise the turnout of insult throwing Brits.
That said the date has leaked out and the Stop Trump Demonstration organisers have tweeted out: 'Put this date in your diaries. If Donald Trump attempts to sneak into the UK to open the US Embassy on 26/27th February 2018, he will be met by a million of us' which scuppers any plans to quietly sneak him him and back out again without us noticing.
I would guess plans are being made to drag his heavyweight carcass around with the least amount of contact with Brits, a landing at an out of the way, unannounced airport followed by a boat trip up the Thames to the Embassy would be my guess to limit access to demonstrators and foil the plan to wave angry worded placards at him and out of range of eggs and tomatoes.  
The problem we face now is what aspect of his flawed personality to make into a witty banner, too many choices but i don't think anyone is going to top the one above, that's just genius!! 

Catalonia Looking Isolated

I don't really understand the fashion for countries to break away from the larger group but Catalonia has been threatening to break away from Spain for some time now and things are balanced rather precariously as the Madrid Government plan to invoke Article 155 which removes the regions autonomy and enforce direct rule including taking control of the Catalonian police force and media.
The speaker of the Catalan Parliament has called it 'an authoritarian coup' and after Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau called for demonstrations, tens of thousands turned out in a protest.
Spanish law dictates that elections must be held within six months of Article 155 being triggered, but Prime Minister Mr Rajoy said it was imperative that the vote be held much sooner.
Three weeks ago, of the 43% of Catalans who took part, 90% voted in favour of independence although many anti-independence supporters boycotted the ballot, arguing it was not valid.
The Catalonian leaders then signed a declaration of independence, but immediately suspended it in order to allow for talks.
The concern is that after the violence and heavy handed approach from Spanish police during the recent vote, if the Spanish Government does enforce direct rule, the smouldering tinderbox will explode spectacularly and as many other nations are trying to thwart break up's in their own nations, Catalonian wishes will be violently and brutally suppressed as the EU and EU nations look the other way.

Not Following On From Hugo Chavez

Only the more ignorant and misinformed amongst us would say that Hugo Chavez was anything other than amazing for Venezuela and its people but things seemed to have taken a sharp turn for the worse in the South American nation since he died.
Under the guise of continuing the great mans work, President Nicolas Maduro has gone on a rampage of what looks like for all intents a drive towards dictatorship.
Following a controversial vote to give himself sweeping new powers, political rivals are believed to have been arrested and the military has been deployed to quash protests.
Despite international condemnation, Maduro is planing to plough on with his rewriting of the Constitution which will give him unlimited powers meanwhile the protests from all sectors including the Chavez supporters will continue and the violence looks likely to escalate.
Chavez may have been an impossible act to follow but Maduro seems to have made a magnificent pigs ear of the legacy left by Chavez and is said to be driving his country off a cliff, especially ironic when you consider his job before politics was driving a bus.

The Irish Women's Fight For Choice

Abortion shouldn't be a 'womans problem' but it very much is and Ireland has an almost total ban on abortions including in cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormalities which pushes thousands of women every year to travel abroad for terminations and others to risk taking abortion pills purchased over the internet.
On International Women's Day on Wednesday, women across Ireland have protested for a change in the law which is currently a 14-year prison sentence.
Women across Ireland today stopped work and wore black while demonstrating for the law to be repealed, a law which was lobbied for and gained in the early 1980s by the country's Catholic hierarchy.
More than 3,500 Irish women are estimated to travel abroad every year to terminate pregnancies, mostly coming to England while many more, estimated at three a day, take illegal abortion pills ordered online.
The law hasn't stopped abortions but just pushed them into British clinics and to bathrooms to take pills which are lawful elsewhere.
Abortion is a life changing decision and far too important for other people to decide, whether they be politicians, religious leaders or well meaning pro-life campaigners.
It should only be the decision of the people directly involved with the help of professional advice and then be left to make their own decisions and deal with the consequences if necessary but mostly it is far too important a decision to have someone else remotely make the choice for them and what they can and can't do with their bodies and lives because of their own beliefs.

No Pomp And Circumstance For You Donald

Poor Donald Trump, nobody likes you, everyone hates you, they're all out without you having fun as Green Day sang and that has been proven yet again by the decision to not only keep him away from Parliament when he is here, but also keep him out of England altogether.
The public said they didn't want him here, the police said his visit would be 'problematic' and even the Members of Parliament said they would boycott him if he tried to drag his ample frame into the Commons so the Prime Minister has done the decent thing and shoved him into another country.
As it is doubtful that he will realise what a massive bell-end he is before the visit and decide not to show up, the Prime Minister has began making plans which include a late summer or early autumn visit when Parliament isn't sitting in order to avoid a snub and keeping his out of London and Britain's major cities as much as possible to limit the president’s public exposure to demonstrations
against him.
The plan being discussed between the Prime Minister, police and Buckingham Palace is for him to visit the Queen in Balmoral in Scotland and encouraged to spend the bulk of his visit up there.
The first problem is Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmon, the leaders of the ruling Scottish National Party who have been the loudest critics of the President and would look to score political points by staging their own snubs and protests against him being in their country.
The second problem is Scotland are just as capable of throwing insults and eggs at him as England and it is a short hop up the M8 so there will be protests wherever shows his strangely coloured face. 
Notoriously thin skinned, it's going to be interesting how the Trump reacts to a state visit which is hardly disguised as letting him in by the tradesman's entrance and keeping him out of the way with none of the pomp and circumstance that all his predecessors and other World leaders have enjoyed.

You Say You Want A Revolution?

During everything else that has been happening recently,the Oxfam report on Global Poverty seemed to have slipped by unnoticed so the revelation that eight people own more wealth than the poorest half of humanity did not receive the shock that it should have.
The eight multi-billionaires named who own more wealth than 3.6 billion human beings in 2017, are Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega, Warren Buffet, Carlos Slim Helu, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, and Michael Bloomberg.
That eight men have bank accounts with such unimaginable wealth in them while there are others literally starving to death is obscene but it does show that Capitalism is working exactly how it was intended and the inequality is maintained by Global Governments guiding the money to the top but forgetting about the part where it trickles downwards afterwards.
In the same report Oxfam state 154,000 children die each week due to extreme poverty which is a disgusting and deplorable state of affairs but something that we have become accustomed and just seem to accept as 'the way things are'. 
History shows us that at some point, the masses rise up and overthrow the rich and powerful and 2017 is one hundred years since such an event happened in Russia when an economic crisis was one of the reasons Lenin and the Bolsheviks rode the wave of suffering and injustice of the masses ending with them overthrowing the decision makers.
The revolution of the Russian poor and downtrodden sparked not only a rebellion in their own nation but threatened to sweep across the Globe, especially as one of the other reasons the masses turned was because of WW1 which was being fought at the time and was little more than a scrap over the colonial carve of Africa in the interests of further wealth and power of the Europeans rulers.
The end result of the Bolshevik revolution was that it not only succeeded in overthrowing the existing order in their own country, but also succeeded in threatening to do likewise throughout Europe.
There have been rumblings of discontent for a while now and the rich and powerful should take heed that the Russian, French and Cuban Revolutions to name just three may be in the history books but the discontent and hardship that caused them remains festering today and with each passing year and with each report that highlights the obscene inequality amongst the top and the bottom, the more is the likelihood that another Lenin, Castro or Robespierre will emerge from the bubbling, disconsolate masses.

Warm UK Welcome Expected For Trump

In some ways you have to fill a bit sorry for Theresa May, British coffers are going to be emptying quickly in the next few years as we stupidly pull away from the European single market and we have a mug President in Donald Trump who is keen to do business with us so despite him being an obnoxious oaf, she had to hold her nose and go and say nice things to the racist and tap him up for some extra trade.
What she didn't need to do was invite the monster over here to our place but she did and he accepted and so at some point this year he will be bringing his tiny little hands and brain this side of the Atlantic. 
Already the arrangements are being made for the demonstration and campaigners are urging people to greet him with 'the biggest protest ever to show he isn't welcome here' when he shows his face and the organisation 'Stand Up To Racism' are coordinating things along with Stop the War, Muslim Association of Britain, People’s Assembly and CND with July 1st penciled in for his arrival.
Last year hundreds of thousands of Britons signed a petition calling for Mr Trump to be banned from coming to the UK triggering a debate in Parliament and a number of MPs in the room spoke in favour of the motion although it was decided that they couldn't actually ban a World Leader.
It was one of his predecessors who has the dubious title of being the recipient of the largest mid-week protest with 200,000 turning out to protest George W Bush who came here in 2003 to meet the Queen but as July 1st is a Saturday, and with six months to organise it, it is a safe bet that Trump will touch down to a less than warm welcome.
Of course, the way he is going he could be forcibly removed from Office before then and it won't matter anyway but we should still prepare just in case. 

Where You Want Us Boris?

The US-led coalition has struck mourners in the Iraqi city of Daquq killing dozens of civilians, including women and children.
Local media say that the mourning procession was mistaken for terrorists by the coalition aviation with local officials and medics saying that 15 civilians were killed and 50 more injured.
As civilians and civilian infrastructure such as hospitals and police stations as well as numerous wedding parties and funerals are being hit by the coalition warplanes, i am sure that Boris Johnson which soon tell us which foreign ministry to protest outside.

Everyone Together

Maybe it was the sunshine that bought them out but there were so many demonstrations in London today that they ended up being all merged into one.
The causes people decided to make banners and create chants against were Brexit, austerity, racism, Black Lives Matter, those demanding that the new PM hold an Election and the usual mix of people who just turn up to wave around a homemade cardboard sign with a witty slogan scrawled on it for the hell of it.
There was another group of some 70 demonstrators but the far right lunatic fringe that is the English Defence League were made to walk on their own in another part of town, far away from the people who were trying to make everyone's lives just that little bit better.

Turkish Military Coup

Seems you can't take your eyes off the news channels at the moment as tonight the Turkish military have seized control of the country in a coup.
Tanks and soldiers are on the streets and media outlets have been closed, social media restricted and the whereabouts of President Tayyip Erdogan is unknown although he has given an interview over his mobile phone from an undisclosed destination urging people to go out on the street to respond to the military uprising.  
A statement released from the military announced that they have acted: 'to reinstate constitutional
order, democracy, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and general security that was damaged'.
Erdogan has been slowly dragging Turkey towards an Islamic state and chipping away at secular and human rights including imprisoning journalists on trumped up charges so he isn't expected to gain much sympathy from the media.  
As well as not being that popular at home, there won't be much sympathy coming from the international community either although they will have to make the right noises about being concerned about events, they won't be that upset if Erdogan does end up being removed from power.
With all coups the success depends on who the military line up behind and as yet it is unknown if this is a coup by the full military or just part of the armed forces in which case we could find ourselves in a Syria situation with part of the military supporting the President facing off against those trying to depose him and reports of military jets overhead and explosions and gunfire being heard doesn't bode well.

Still Backing The Junior Doctors

If the Governments plan was to allow the junior doctors strikes to happen, therefore reducing accident and emergency cover and forcing the public to wait longer with the resulting anger at the striking doctors, they got it gloriously wrong if the amount of horn blasts the banner wielding doctors received when i strolled past today.     
Why else would the Government turn down the opportunity to cool things down with the trial of the controversial contracts making doctors work 7 days a week for less pay being offered as the British Medical Association suggested last week and stick to their guns of imposing them against the junior doctors will.
Both sides are hitting the media explaining why they have taken this course of action but i know out of a choice between believing a doctor and a politician, the doctor would win everytime.
The Government didn't help their cause by making it appear the strikes was about pay and weekend death rates, especially when it was discovered that the much quoted 'more deaths at weekends' was due to the Government stretching the weekend to include Thursday.  
The fact that the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, co-wrote a book about how to dismantle the NHS and introduce private practice in its place, all means that the junior doctors versus the Government only seems to have one winner and it isn't the ones who also fail to understand the plight of people using food banks or how impossible it is for disabled people to live on reduced benefits or how reducing housing benefit for anyone with a spare bedroom affects people.
The sooner the Conservatives slither away never to be seen again the better.

Farage Protest Backfires

Just let us recap on the wisdom of UKIP over recent times.
According to Nigel and his broad: 'Businesses should be allowed to refuse services to women and gay people', the recent UK storms floods are a result of allowing Gay Marriage, working mothers are worth less than men, women who don't clean behind the fridge are 'sluts', women wanting to breastfeed should find a corner out of the way and we should stop sending aid to bongo bongo land.
How ironic then that the demonstrators who turned up at the George & Dragon pub in fancy dress where he was eating his Sunday lunch were gays, women, breast feeding mums and immigrants.
The UKIP leader ranted at the 'scum' as he called them saying that they scared his children who he left in the pub to be picked up by a relative some time later.  
It must have been distressing for the kids, it's not their fault their dad such a mass of intolerance but a bit of an own goal certainly but Farage can't expect to be immune from protest while at the same time spending his days protesting about others.
Although the protesters were in fancy dress, singing songs and peacefully protesting, to do it while he is 'off duty' and enjoying a day out with his family can't be condoned.
Wait until he is peddling his UKIP nonsense and then he is fair game for whatever is thrown at him, to do this just gains him sympathy.

Watching The Hong Kong Protests

As the protesters of Hong Kong continue laying in the street as they fight for democracy in their part of China, it seems it is only a matter of time before the Chinese authorities make good on their threat of 'unimaginable consequences' and crack down hard.
If they give in to the protesters they know that even more will spring up elsewhere in the country but they also know that if they come down on the demonstrators as hard as they did on the Tiannaman Square protesters in 1989, it could have a negative impact on the economic fortunes of China and damage the improving reputation they have been working on ever since that picture of the man standing up to the line of tanks that circled the globe 25 years ago. 
I am expecting the Government to conclude that stopping further protests trumps the potential fall-out of cracking a few heads and clear the streets with force soon but there has been something about the protesters that have impressed me as much as their nerve in taking on the authoritative Chinese Government.
In protests almost everywhere around the World there is looting and riots with petrol bombs and paving slabs being thrown at lines of baton wielding police but in China, it's all so civilised.
There are volunteers handing out bottles of water, towels, umbrellas and face masks and carrying plastic bags to clear up any rubbish left behind by the demonstrators. Groups armed with buckets of soapy water are cleaning chalk graffiti off the road while others carry around ladders to help people climb over the central reservation of the motorway they are demonstrating on where even the barricades offer an apologetic 'Sorry: No Entry'.
That's how protests should be, polite and well mannered but then that was exactly how it was in 1989 and that had a very ugly ending so we can only hope those scenes won't be repeated but you do fear that they will and even more ashamedly, the world won't much care because China is too big and too important to their economies to risk rocking the financial boat by criticising them.

Aug 21 1940 - Russian Revolution Takes Another Twist

A post taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then on that day and ignoring hindsight or knowledge of how it ended.

Revolutions are hardly ever neat and clean and the Russian one a little over 20 years ago continues to serve up twists as turns as another of the key figures, Leon Trotsky, has been found dead, the victim of an ice pick to the head.
Second only to Vladimir Lenin in the early stages of Soviet communist rule, the former head of the Red Army's star waned dramatically on the death of Lenin when he lost the power struggle with Stalin over who was to become Lenin's successor and was exiled and sentenced to death for treason.
He found himself in Mexico where he continued to criticise Stalin and the direction that he was taking Communism in the Soviet Union.
Stalin, never one to take criticism lightly, ordered his death and the inevitable conclusion happened in Trotsky's Office after he had survived a previous gun attack on his family home.
Now that the two intellectuals of the Revolution, Lenin and Trotsky, have left the scene, the death bell has been sounded for the Lenin/Trotsky idea of 'Permanent Revolution' that would see Communism expanded to include other countries, the Stalinist 'Socialism in one country' idea now holds sway under the totalitarian stewardship of Uncle Jo and the revolution takes another lurch away from the very ideals that it was based upon.