Feeling better? Thought so.

After many discussions between the EDL leadership we have decided on 06/02/10 to cancel our planned Demo in Bolton city centre. This decision was not take lightly, We outlayed £200.00+ on advertising for this demo, But we have taken this decision due to the fact there is a Religious Hindu festival on the same day at the same time at the same place to our planned demo. Due to the respect we have to the peace loving Hindu community we felt there was only one decision at the end of the day. We strongly believe the UAF were planning on attacking the Hindu festival whilst dressed in EDL official merchandise in a desperate attempt to falsely accuse us of being racist. The action we have taken only strengthens our cause that we are against Militant Islam only and not all “foreigners” like the Left like you to believe.
We will come to Bolton very soon and there is not one street in the UK we will not go.
We shall never ever surrender our values or culture.

EDL Leadership team.
Posted by John Sheridan edl admin at 5:42 pm

Oh, and as the person who sent this commented: for people who call themselves the English Defence League, their English is appalling!

1. Parliamentary constituency Coventry North East
Candidate Dave Nellist
Former Labour MP, 1983-92. Socialist Party Councillor for 12 years.
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Bob Ainsworth, defence secretary.
Results 2005 Lab majority – 14,222

2. Parliamentary constituency Colne Valley
Candidate Councillor Jackie Grunsell, GP
A Socialist Party member. Also standing for re-election in the Kirklees council ward of Crosland Moor and Netherton in the parliamentary seat of Colne Valley, having won the seat in 2006 for Save Huddersfield NHS.
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate MP Kali Mountford is standing down. The PPC is Debbie Abrahams, who is involved in a private health care organisation called ‘Hope Citadel’.
Results 2005 Lab majority – 1,551

3. Parliamentary constituency Hull West and Hessle
Candidate Keith Gibson
A Socialist Party member. GMB member for 35 years, became the leader of the Lindsey Oil Refinery workers’ unofficial strike committee last year. No2EU candidate.
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Alan Johnson, Home Secretary.
Results 2005 Lab majority – 9,450

4. Parliamentary constituency Huddersfield
Candidate Paul Cooney
The UNISON health branch secretary for the local hospitals. He was previously in the Labour Party, then the Greens and has stood for them in the past locally.
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Barry Sheerman.
Results 2005 Lab majority – 8,351

5. Parliamentary constituency Brighton Kemptown
Candidate Dave Hill
Former Labour Group leader, East Sussex council and Labour PPC
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Desmond Turner, standing down. Labour’s PPC is Simon Burgess, former leader of council, who lead the (unsuccessful) campaign to privatise Brighton’s council housing.
Results 2005 Lab majority – 2,737

6. Parliamentary constituency Portsmouth North
Candidate Mick Tosh
Portsmouth RMT and former RMT executive member
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Sarah McCarthy-Fry MP: Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.
Results 2005 Lab majority – 1,139

7. Parliamentary constituency Carlisle
Candidate John Metcalfe
ASLEF member, former Labour mayor and No2EU candidate
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Eric Martlew, standing down. Labour’s PPC is Michael Boaden
Results 2005 Lab majority – 5,695

8. Parliamentary constituency Lewisham Deptford
Candidate Councillor Ian Page
A Socialist Party member. A Socialist Party Councillor for 15 years in the area.
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Joan Ruddock MP: Minister of State for Energy
Results 2005 Lab majority – 11,811

9. Parliamentary constituency Swansea West
Candidate Rob Williams
A Socialist Party member. Unite convenor at Linemar.
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Alan Williams is standing down. Labour’s PPC is ex-Croydon council leader Geraint Davies.
Results 2005 Lab majority – 4,269

10. Parliamentary constituency Walthamstow
Candidate Nancy Taaffe
A Socialist Party member. Waltham Forest Unison branch officer
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Neil Gerrard MP is standing down. Labour’s PPC is Stella Creasy
Results 2005 Lab majority – 7,993

11. Parliamentary constituency Greenwich and Woolwich
Candidate Onay Kasab
A Socialist Party member. Branch secretary of Greenwich Unison (3,500 members).
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Nick Raynsford
Results 2005 Lab majority – 10,146

12. Parliamentary constituency Gateshead
Candidate Elaine Brunskill
A Socialist Party member. Unison member. Regional agent for No2EU.
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate David Clelland. Supported privatisation of the Tyneside Metro.
Results 2005 Lab majority – 10,390

13. Parliamentary constituency Wythenshawe and Sale East
Candidate Lynn Worthington
A Socialist Party member. Unite member. Secured 12% of the vote in local election in 2008, finishing ahead of the Lib-Dems and Greens. Candidate for No2EU.
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Paul Goggins. Junior minister for Northern Ireland
Results 2005 Lab majority – 10,827

14. Parliamentary constituency Bootle
Candidate Pete Glover
A Socialist Party member. NUT member. Secured 900 votes in local elections in 2004.
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Joe Benton
Results 2005 Lab majority – 16,357

15. Parliamentary constituency Leicester West
Candidate Steve Score.
A Socialist Party member. Has previously stood in Leicester West and as a local election candidate in Braunstone ward..
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Former government minister, Patricia Hewitt, is standing down. Labour’s PPC is Liz Kendall who was special adviser to Hewitt.
Results 2005 Lab majority – 9,070

16. Parliamentary constituency Southampton Itchen
Candidate Tim Cutter
A Socialist Party member. Hampshire council UNISON branch committee
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate John Denham: Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
Results 2005 Lab majority – 9,302

17. Parliamentary constituency Bristol South
Candidate Tom Baldwin
A Socialist Party member, 26 years old. Unite member.
Sitting MP/New Labour candidate Dawn Primarolo, Minister for Children
Results 2005 Lab majority – 11,142

18. Parliamentary constituency Cardiff Central
Candidate Ross Saunders
A Socialist Party member. UNISON member.
Sitting MP Jenny Willott, Liberal Democrat
Results 2005 Lib Dem majority – 5,593

Plus the following seats proposed by the Socialist Workers Party:
1. Gorton – Manchester
2. Hackney South – London
3. Tottenham – London
4. Preston – Preston
5. Burngreave – Sheffield
6. Cambridge City – Cambridge

Edit: TUSC does have a website, but given that this humble blog ranks higher when you search in Google, I’d say they need to put a bit more effort into promoting it (and their candidates).

“When the idea of an Equality Law was first mooted, many left-wing Christians in particular believed that it was only aimed at the British National Party and at overtly patriotic individuals and ideas.

Now they are beginning to realise how wrong they were, and how they should have remembered and updated the words of Pastor Niemuller: “First they came for the Nationalists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Nationalist. Then they came for the patriots, and I did not speak out, because I was not a patriot, And so on until then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me”.

Yes, you read that correctly. Nick “Adolf went a bit too far” Griffin, who first read, admired and scribbled notes in the margins of Mein Kampf at the age of thirteen, has actually inverted one of the most famous warnings of the dangers of fascism into a defence of him and his fellow fascists cranks.

Griffin is not the first to deliberately miss the point of the original poem. Laura Ingraham, a conservative protesting the Senate Healthcare Bill in the US, actually came up with this version at a rally:

“First they came for the rich. And I did not speak out because I was not rich. Then they came for the property owners, and I did not speak out because I did not own property. Then they came for the right to bear arms, and I did not speak out because I was not armed. Then they came for me and denied me my medical care, and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Improved health care provision and fascism, yeah they’re the same.

500 Sunni candidates have been banned from standing in Iraq’s upcoming election. So much for an invasion to “give Iraq democracy… [leave] its citizens free to worship in the way they wish” (Tony Blair, 2003).

• In Iran, steel workers have formed a workers’ council.

• Cherie Booth QC has let a Muslim who broke another man’s jaw in a fight walk free from court without reparations, citing as her reason the fact that he is “a religious man”.  Is this some sort of repentance for her husband’s complicity in the murder of hundreds of thousands of other Muslims, or is harbouring delusions really the new get out jail free card?

• Speaking of delusions, a Christian charity called Faith Comes By Hearing is fundraising to send audio bibles to Haiti. Not food or water. Not medics or medical supplies. MP3 recordings of Bible snippets read aloud in Haitian Creole. That’s exactly what the people of Haiti need.

• 2000 photographers protested against the police’s use of terrorism laws to prevent photography in public places

This week is even better. Homelessness – or at least looking like you sleep on the streets – is now fashionable. Vivienne Westwood, a designer who can charge thousands of pounds for a dress, produced a catwalk collection in Milan that emulated the scruffy appearance of the homeless. Male models pushed shopping trolleys, crawled out of cardboard boxes and had silver sprayed into their hair to make them look cold. Don’t even get me started on the fake blood.

Incidentally, Vivienne Westwood didn’t draw on a great deal of personal experience when she created her street chic designs. Westwood is quoted as saying: “The nearest I have come to it [homelessness] is going home and finding I don’t have my door key.” So not that near at all then?

Amongst the consumers who have everything, the appearance of having nothing may soon be de rigeur. It’s not limited to Vivienne Westwood anyway. The boots above cost $1974 (a staggering £1219) from brand Augusta. Seriously.

What the hell’s next? Catwalk models in Guantanamo-style boiler suits? Ooops, too late.

There will definitely be a left coalition at the next general election. It’s going to be called the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and these are the provisional policies:

Provisional Programme for General Election Coalition

The working class and peoples of Britain face a ruling class offensive which will intensify over the coming period.

It is an offensive against public services, incomes, living standards and trade union rights in order to boost monopoly profit. Not content with receiving the biggest bail-out in the history of British capitalism, big business aims to make workers and their families pay to serve the interests, first and foremost, of the City of London’s financial institutions.

It is also an offensive which will be stepped up regardless of which party wins the forthcoming General Election. The likelihood is that a Tory government will make earlier and deeper cuts in public spending than a New Labour one. A Labour government may also be more vulnerable to trade union pressure not to outlaw industrial action in ‘essential’ services.

But both main parties intend to prolong the imperialist occupation of Afghanistan and to maintain the expansion of nuclear power and a new generation of British nuclear weapons.

Therefore this coalition is contesting the General Election to show that there is a clear left-wing alternative to policies of public sector cuts, privatisation, militarism and environmental degradation.

We recognise that there will be Labour and non-Labour candidates who agree with our policies, who share our socialist aspirations and who will be supported by left and labour movement organisations participating in our coalition.

We also recognise that there are different strategic views about the way forward for the left in Britain, whether the Labour Party can be reclaimed by the labour movement, or whether a new workers’ party needs to be established.

But our coalition is united on the need for mass resistance to the ruling class offensive, and for an alternative programme of left-wing policies to help inspire and direct such resistance. These are the policies which we therefore propose to put before the people:

PUBLIC OWNERSHIP, NOT PRIVATISED PROFIT

Stop all privatisation, including “PFI” & “PPP” – privatisation just rakes off our money into their pockets, for worse services.

Bring public services and utilities back into public ownership under democratic control.

NO CUTS – QUALITY PUBLIC SERVICES

Take rail back into public ownership and build integrated, low-pollution public transport.

Quality, free National Health Service under democratic public ownership and control.

Stop council house sell-offs and build eco-friendly, affordable public housing.

Good, free education for all under democratic local control, plus student grants not fees.

Keep Royal Mail as a publicly owned service, not a privatised cash cow.

STOP GLOBAL WARMING

Deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions – otherwise climate change, caused by capitalism, will destroy us.

Invest in publicly owned and controlled renewable energy – not nuclear or dirty fossil fuel.

JOBS, NOT HANDOUTS TO BANKERS & BILLIONAIRES

Bring banks and finance into true public ownership and democratic control, instead of huge handouts to the very capitalists who caused the crisis.

Tax the rich. Progressive tax on rich corporations and individuals, with a crackdown on tax avoidance.

Massive investment in environmental projects, for jobs and survival.

EMPLOYMENT & TRADE UNION RIGHTS

Repeal Thatcher’s and the EU’s anti-trade union laws.

A minimum wage, for all, set at half average adult male earnings.

Invest to create and protect jobs, especially for young people.

Solidarity with workers taking action to defend jobs, conditions, pensions, public services and trade unions.

PROTECT OUR ENVIRONMENT

Recognise that we depend on our environment for survival.

Move to sustainable, low-pollution industry & farming – stop the pollution that is destroying our environment.

Recognise that many of our planet’s resources are limited and that capitalism fritters them away for profit.

Produce for need, not profit, and design goods for reuse and recycling.

DECENT PENSIONS & BENEFITS

Restore the pre-Thatcher real value of pensions and link them to the higher of wages & earnings.

Protect entitlement to benefits and their value; end child poverty.

DEMOCRACY, DIVERSITY & JUSTICE

Welcome diversity and oppose racism, fascism and discrimination.

Ensure women have genuinely equal rights and pay.

Defend our liberties and make police and security democratically accountable.

For a democratic socialist society run in the interests of people not millionaires. For bringing into democratic public ownership the major companies and banks that dominate the economy, so that production and services can be planned to meet the needs of all and to protect the environment.

SOLIDARITY NOT WAR

Bring home all British troops from Afghanistan immediately – no more wars for resources.

No more spending on a new generation of nuclear weapons, huge aircraft carriers or irrelevant eurofighters – convert arms spending to socially useful products and services.

An independent foreign policy, based on international solidarity – no more US poodle, no moves to a capitalist, militarist United States of Europe, no Lisbon Treaty.

This week, however, a certain Kevin McCloud would undoubtedly be a finalist in any stupidity contest. The smug advert for his upcoming show Kevin McCloud: Slumming It has been showing on TV all week, with Kevin’s beaming facing espousing the virtues of slumming it (literally). 

In a companion piece in The Telegraph, the Grand Designs host argues that the government should "look to the Mumbai slums" for housing inspiration. You might be forgiven for thinking that disease-ridden imoverished slums are exactly what Britain does not need, but McCloud has a different take: "If I have one message for developers and the Government, it’s to focus less on eco-housing and green buildings – because, frankly, we know how to do that. Let’s start focusing on the social stuff, on how we can make people happier."

You know what won’t make people happier, Mr McCloud? 1 toilet for every 1400 people. No hospitals or public sanitation programmes. Typhoid, maleria and cholera.

McCloud also brings women’s oppression into his praise of the slums: "Because women don’t have huge kitchens, they rinse their pots in the street. That has to be the most civilised, sociable way of doing the washing-up – outside in the sun, chatting to your neighbours." Women engaging in arduous domestic labour in the streets; what a pretty picture indeed!

McCloud’s big thing is sharing possessions. He believes that those living in slums have an "elastic attitude to what is theirs", but apparently forgets that this might arise from having next to nothing. All this does seem a bit rich – excuse the pun! - coming from a guy with a posh 16th-century house in Somerset, complete with £75,000 biomass boiler.

McCloud isn’t the first person to get excited about the slums. A couple of years ago, a spokesperson for Greenpeace argued that "in the UK we could do worse than looking to the recycling endeavour of slum-dwellers in places like Dharavi for inspiration… There is a lot to learn from the developing world, where a scavenger mentality, grass roots recycling and sheer necessity can lead to imaginative leaps in redeploying waste.” No mention of the fact that many of the recyclers are child labourers, or indeed of the small problem that none of these workers have rights enshrined in law, of course.

Poverty is not something that people choose and it’s certainly not a state of being that should ever be elevated to an aspiration.

Robinson caused a stir with her anti-homosexuality views in 2008, when she recommended psychiatric therapy for LGB people and likened homosexuals to paedophiles and murderers. To justify has bigotry, she argued: “It wasn’t Iris Robinson who determined that homosexuality was an abomination, it was The Allmighty. This is the Scriptures and it is a strange world indeed where somebody on the one hand talks about equality, but won’t allow Christians to have the equality, the right to speak, the right to express their views.”

Do you know what else is condemned by the scriptures, Iris? Adultery and suicide. Perhaps you’ll keep your nasty mouth shut next time you remember how much God hates gay people?