I used to be a proud, fully paid up, member of the Labour Party many, many, many moons ago. I even supported the smartened up New Labour of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown who eschewed the regulation corduroy trousers, pipe and no time for grooming look of the Left. Looking like the working classes was getting Labour nowhere, all those Labour had lifted into the middle classes had no time for activists, they wanted their leaders to be like the Tories for a snapshot, but a little less cruel. It was a time to cosy up to the bosses, be more like them.
It worked for a while, in fact Blair and his descendants think it was a success and is working still. Basically the ideology is give the bosses everything they want and they will stop treating their employees like shit. Bosses and workers, standing together, friends. If peace is what you want, in the sense of workers not complaining, then yeah, it works, full appeasement usually does, but the rights of those workers have been decimated. There are now zero hours contracts, firing and rehiring and a subjugated workforce with few, if any rights to protect pay and jobs. See P&O Ferries. Brexit helps too, no more pesky European Courts to point out Britain's human rights abuses.
Sadly, Keir Starmer is of the same ilk as Blair, he wants to be everyone's friend and he is happy to stab workers in the back. Starmer wants whatever unholy alliance Blair made with elite to continue. Maybe, like Peter Mandelson, he hopes one day to drink champagne on an Oligarch's yacht, or have a play day with Jeffrey Epstein.
History repeats itself over and over again. Tyrants know that if they impoverish their subjects, create mass unemployment, all the advantages lie in the hands of the employers, they can pick and choose and the workers will fight each other. Cute, bumbling, laddish, Boris has broken the back of the working classes, He has taken the power of the many and given it back to the few. How the fuck did that happen? Historians will ask centuries from now.
My heart was broken when Jeremy Corbyn did not win the 2019 General Election, it felt like the last chance, in my lifetime, of seeing a progressive socialist government that would invest in people, the NHS, infrastructure, education, science, the arts, the caring professions. Imagine all those billions salted away by the greedy being invested in this country?
Now I am politically homeless. I simply cannot, cannot, vote for a party that has Keir Starmer, Wes Streeting and Jess Phillips. Jess Phillips makes me hate the fact that I ever described myself as a feminist. Feminism these days seems to be all about being a victim and of all soul destroying afflictions, victim mentality is about the worst. Telling a woman she is a victim, will, err, keep her victim. Surely, feminism is about empowerment? The truth is no-one needs to remain in an intolerable situation. The choices we make in our lives are OUR choices. We have no control over the behaviour of another person, none whatsoever, our control lies in how we respond to that behaviour. That is the limit of our control. I hate to say it, but quite often abused women believe they can tame the beast, take control, I blame Disney, but they can't. It is only when they accept they can't, that they can move on. Helpers should be telling them how powerful they are, not how pathetic they are.
Jess Phillips et all can blame men, make them the bad guys for every word or gesture they deem offensive, but hating men is rarely the answer. I grew up in a non PC age, I worked in London as a 'temp' a different office every week. Every office had every category of perv and groper, we 'gals about town' would swap notes and giggle about them. No-one was traumatised. In fact work was fun, I can't imagine how joyless offices must be these days, I certainly didn't turn up for my love of typing. And before anyone calls me a wanton strumpet, purrlease, like most women my age, I can turn any man to an apologetic wuss with a raised eyebrow and one word 'Seriously?'
But back to the present day, I am obsessed with the war in the Ukraine and terrified at how much it could escalate. Yesterday our cars were covered with red sand from the Sahara, you see what I am saying. Just how crazy is Putin? He held a rally for himself, emulating Trump, but as we have seen large rallies are not an indication of overall public opinion. Trump had big rallies and lost.
From everything I have read and seen, I think Putin has lost. Not just because his large convoy of tanks is stuck in a quagmire, but because the soldiers on the ground in Ukraine are not committed to him and this war. Many it seems, are abandoning their vehicles and going door to door begging for food. Putin was badly advised. He did not foresee how hard the Ukrainian people would fight. How can he subdue a nation that refuses to be subdued? At the same time he must subdue his own Russian people who, it would appear, are openly rebelling. Today, Russian Cosmonauts appeared in public wearing Ukrainian colours. Putin's victory celebration of annexing Crimea, was a show of strength, a commitment to his war (not a war in Russia) remains strong. Putin is not known for putting on victory rallies, so I would say he is in big trouble.
So those are my thoughts for this week, 19th March 2022, hopefully, I will do this regularly. My kindest wishes to those who still look in, hope life is treating you well. Who knew we would survive a pandemic only to face who knows what. I am currently mentally preparing an 'end of world' pack. It would contain lots of mind altering drugs (obviously), a nice Chablis, blinis with caviar (only had them once and they were mindblowing, or that may have been the shots of vodka that accompanied them). Desserts, Oooh that is a toughie, I think a slice of Black Forest Gateau, but I do love panna cotta. Strange how my end of world scenario goes straight to food and mind altering substances rather than a ball of string and a deadly weapon, but there you go. Take care.
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