HOW JEREMY CORBYN BROUGHT ME BACK TO LABOUR

I was curiously told on my last blog by an anonymous poster, that I hadn't voted Labour for as long as they had.  My response.

LOL, how do you know you have voted Labour for longer than moi? I remember campaigning for Neil Kinnock and I had a little dabble in Militant Tendency (they threw great parties). 
Tis true, at the tender age of 18, I was a conservative - for which I blame my convent indoctrination. But I was terribly naïve, I thought Margaret Thatcher was a feminist!  By the age of 21 I had strong socialist leanings, but I worked in a tory environment for tory bosses (lawyers).  Happily I was gorgeous and very charming, so many of those said bosses would take me out to lunch to change my opinions.  Whilst my heart lay with the picket lines, I also developed a penchant for fine dining at the Wig and Pen.  Of course, they didn't succeed and I even managed to 'turn' a few of them, one gave up the Law and went off to Indonesia to become a Buddhist Monk.  I still feel guilty about that.

So I have voted Labour since about the late 70's, early 80's, unless you are an Octogenarian I doubt you can beat me.  For the sake of truth (honesty and integrity), I confess I went right off Labour and politics generally after Tony Blair's betrayal. My usual head buried in the sand practice when anything stresses me.  It's a terrible coping mechanism, but one I am sure that will be familiar to sufferers of depression.

It is Jeremy Corbyn who has re-awakened my interest in politics.  Sounds cheesy, but he is kind of a Messiah, he is speaking the kind of words my disillusioned socialist soul has been waiting to hear for so many years.  Finally a Labour leader who will stand up for the masses, the employed and the unemployed. A leader who doesn't take account of the millions he could make for his mates, but who's sole objective is to make life better for the many, not the few.

The Tories are taking this nation back to the Victorian Age where there was a massive divide between the very rich and the very poor.  It is shameful that those very same conditions are prevalent now.  Any sane, logical person, knows that you cannot berate, beat or starve another person into submission.  History has shown, it never works.  The tories, for the past 9 years have berated (multiple TV shows about benefits scroungers), beaten (work capability assessments) and starved (sanctioned), the lower classes - basically, anyone who is not a tory btw.  Have they achieved what they wanted?  Well yes, zero hours contracts are the norm, and there are agencies all over the country filled with lists of manual/menial units (people) who can be forced to work for nothing for tory donors. The working classes have effectively been crushed.  Laws designed to protect people at work will be swept aside without the oversight of a European Court.  Longer hours, inhuman tasks, danger created by the demand for increased targets.  And here is the even better news, for employers, every employee knows how quickly they can be replaced if they don't follow orders.

At the turn of the last century, the aristocracy were suffering the effects of the industrial revolution, in that they 'couldn't get the staff'.  Their usual supply, the starving and desperate had options other than domestic servitude.  They could work in the factories, the offices, the schools that were springing up and any of the multiple new trades that were becoming available.  Parliament actually brought in a law at that time, stipulating that working class girls could only be educated enough to prepare them for domestic servitude.  I had a terrific book about, but it has been sadly mislaid.

Why do I throw in this snippet of information other than I love throwing in snippets information?  Because I think it demonstrates how a ruling party can manipulate the workforce (the units) in whatever way they like.  And they have.  This tory government has the working class on it's knees.  Those in work have no protection, those not in work are fodder for their show trials for those who think those without a wage, just don't suffer enough.  They have been merciless in their treatment of the unemployed, the sick and the disabled, if they win again, they will have a green light to take all that cruelty up a few more notches.

In your response to your argument that I should be campaigning for Labour rather than being fixated on Jeremy Corbyn.  As mentioned earlier, yes I do see and hear him as a voice coming out of the wilderness.  Oops, terrible English there, points to anyone who spots what I did wrong, lol.  He has always been against austerity because he has the intelligence to see how it benefits no-one but the super rich.   They are not affected by waiting lists, homelessness, or having that magic £400 available in case of emergency, but millions are.  Millions are just £400 away from destitution.  Crazy huh?  And I just checked, yep it is 2019.

I now it appears to be leitmotif throughout my political blogs, but if the post war Labour Government could build (from scratch), the NHS and the Welfare State, the education system, housing etc, etc, with literally nothing in the bank, imagine what a creative thinking new Labour Government could do now?  We are literally on the brink of a new Golden Age, one which immediately addresses poverty and homelessness (for shame tories!) and raises the expectations for every child in this country.  Imagine a government that invests in every town and every community.  A government that will tackle the problems of antisocial behaviour and crime at their very root.  The Nigel Farages in the Dog and Duck knocking back large gins, cannot and will not, accept that most crime starts with poverty.  Steal a loaf of bread because you are hungry and it's off to the colonies for you.  Destroy an entire eco system and we will give you a knighthood!

Imagine a post tory Britain relieved from the deliberate stress inflicted by a rabid, far right (and going further right) tory government.  Imagine your boss being told 'hey cut it out, you can't treat people like that'.  Imagine your local hospital (5 hour waits, even for kids), getting the money it needs for more staff and more facilities?  The tories believe that if they starve a service of cash, the need for that service will go away.  For example, let's stop looking after the elderly, that will teach them to get old!  Let's stop them reproducing kids, limit them to 4, that they have already done, probably because The Sun ran a series of articles on single mums with multiple kids.  Just one of many examples of how The Sun stirs up the hate.  Terrifying how much impact the views of Rupert Murdoch, or indeed whoever gives him the nod to target a minority, can have on public opinion.

But let's get back to the imagine scenario, imagine a Prime Minister and a government not in cahoots with foreign millionaires and oligarchs?  A government that cannot be bribed, extorted or pressured to put the needs of individuals above the needs of the many.  Yet another, may come in handy one day snippet, the super rich are never happy.  Yeah they have loads of mansions, but where do they go from there?  Gold toilets?  How much luxury is too much luxury?  Or, heaven forbid, when is it too much?  For greedy bastards, the answer to that question, is never.  That their greed causes others to suffer is irrelevant.

True happiness, as multiple sayings from the Dalai Lama will tell you, comes from serving and helping others.  The smile, the appreciation, the knowledge that you have done a good deed, is reward in itself.  I think most people discover this along the way. Praise a mean person when they have inadvertently done something kind, and see their face light up.  I always think people who are angry at people other than themselves, are deeply unhappy.  The accusations they throw out are projections of feelings they are battling within themselves.  But I wandered there.  Jeremy Corbyn has no need for gold toilets, multiple homes and self indulgent (golf) hobby.  He exudes hope, happiness and contentment.  He has an allotment.  He makes jam.  No castles to maintain no desire for personal enrichment.   That alone should win this election.