What did we say a couple of days back? Stating the obvious maybe, but the tories are spoiling for a fight with Unite to make cheap political capital with scare stories about unions holding the country to ransom and leaving people to die.
And they have fucked it up before it even got off the ground. If these people werent responsible for running our lives, it could be funny.

THEY DECLARED WAR - CLASS WAR - WE NEED TO FINISH IT - FOR GOOD! TAKE THE WAR BACK TO THE ENEMY - The REAL SDL.

Petrol crisis 'is our Thatcher moment', Tory MPs reportedly tell party members

Unite accuses ministers of 'spoiling for a fight' after memo from MPs emerges comparing situation with 1980s miners' strike

• Damien Pearse
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 31 March 2012 14.28 BST
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/31/petrol-crisis-thatcher-moment-tories

'In order to defeat the coming fuel drivers' strike, we want supplies of petrol stockpiled,' Tory MPs reportedly told party associations. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

Tory MPs have compared the panic over fuel supplies to the 1980s miners' strike and urged party members to "humiliate" the unions by stockpiling petrol, it has been reported.

In a private message from MPs to constituency associations, seen by the Daily Telegraph's Charles Moore, members were told: "This is our Thatcher moment."

The message reportedly continues: "In order to defeat the coming miners' strike, [Thatcher] stockpiled coal. When the strike came, she weathered it, and the Labour party, tarred by the strike, was humiliated. In order to defeat the coming fuel drivers' strike, we want supplies of petrol stockpiled. Then, if the strike comes, we will weather it, and Labour, in hock to the Unite union, will be blamed."

In his blog, Moore comments: "There is a key difference which ministers have not spotted. When Mrs Thatcher piled up the coal at power stations until the strike began in 1984, she was not inconveniencing the public.

"In 2012, the coalition is trying to press-gang the public, without saying so, into its political battles. All those people queuing on the forecourts were pawns in a government-organised blame-game."

He added: "No doubt many people reading this column are happy that Ed Miliband's and Ed Balls's dependence on a large trade union should be exposed, but very few, I suspect, appreciate being made into mugs. (And the political effect, of course, is the opposite of that intended: Unite now looks virtuous, and is much better placed to win its demands.)"

Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, said the government's "posturing" was scuppering chances for an end to the tanker drivers' dispute, which has caused motorists to queues at petrol pumps across the UK and stockpile fuel in order to pre-empt any strike that could lead to a fuel shortage. "We call on the government to come clean on its whole approach to this dispute," said McCluskey. "Is it acting as an honest broker, or is it spoiling for a fight in order to get itself out of the political hole its class-focussed economic mismanagement has put it in?

"Over the last few days its every move has been designed to whip up unnecessary tension at the expense of the public. Ministers knew all along that a strike could not possibly be less than seven days away even were it to be called - that is the law. Yet they panicked the nation all the way to the petrol pumps because they imagined it would boost them in the polls.

"The British people know that this posturing and positioning is poisoning the prospects for an early resolution to the dispute.

The government has been accused of mishandling of the crisis by Labour MPs, who called for the resignation of Cabinet Office ministerFrancis Maude. Maude has faced a barrage or criticism from fire experts since advising motorists earlier this week to store jerry cans of fuel in their garages.

Calls for his resignation came after a woman suffered serious burns while transferring petrol into a jerry can in her home.

The government has since changed its advice to motorists after Unite, the union representing 2,000 fuel tanker drivers, ruled out the threat of strikes over Easter. After days of urging motorists to fill up if their tanks dropped below two-thirds full, the Department for Energy and Climate Change said there was no need to queue on petrol forecourts.

"There is no urgency to top up your tank, a strike will not happen over Easter," it said.

But with Unite stressing it retained the right to call industrial action if talks, expected to start next week, break down, No 10 stressed the threat was not yet over.

"It remains vital we take the necessary steps to keep the country safe in case there is a strike," a spokesman said.

The move followed more panic-buying at garages across the country yesterday and the revelation that petrol sales increased by almost 172% on Thursday while sales of diesel were up by almost 77%.

David Cameron said his heart went out to the woman who was burnt, describing it as a "desperate" incident. Speaking at No 10 shortly after he chaired another meeting of the government's Cobra emergency contingencies committee, the prime minister welcomed Unite's decision and called on the union to engage constructively in talks expected to start next week at conciliation service Acas.

19th Century Newcastle - Photographs of a time long gone - and maybe to come again?

One of the few positive things you can say about the Mail Online is that they come up with some great photo features. Such as this one. Newcastle in the 19th Century, beautiful and evocative photographs of life in this working-class city. Really bring it to life. Notice most of the kids are barefoot, dressed in layers of rags that were once smart and made parents proud. The poverty is as bare as the feet of the kids.

This was a world ripe for socialist revolution, how could Marx not have come to his conclusions from such a time? How could anyone have not believed that the great day was just around the corner - one more push comrades. But they never got it, it never happened. Not even close.

And here we are, more than a hundred and more years on, and it looks further away than ever. It is the children of the third world who bear this burden now. Out of sight, out of mind, the liberal social-reformers didnt like the smell of the poor under their own noses - but then as now, what happens in the third world stays in the third world.

Meanwhile, those who would push our children back into this poverty so as to satisfy their own obscene greed have never been so powerful, so sure of their right and privilege, and the hands of the clock are being turned back.

Do you really want to go back to these "good old days"? Dave and Gideon and all their friends certainly do. - The REAL SDL
Pictures of times past: Forgotten photographs give a rare and fascinating insight into 19th Century city life in Britain 

By REBECCA SEALES

PUBLISHED: 16:23, 30 March 2012 | UPDATED: 17:10, 30 March 2012

A curious photo archivist from Newcastle stumbled on an amazing treasure trove of street photographs which capture the city's Victorian residents going about their daily lives.  

Aaron Guy, who works at Newcastle's Mining Institute, discovered the 300-image collection of early glass negatives after peering into a long-forgotten box.

He was moving some old furniture for the Society of Antiquaries when the innocuous container caught his eye.

Children gathered outside of the station hotel, Neville street watching a performance.

Women's work: Two Newcastle matrons pass the time over some knitting by the city's Quayside, while children loiter nearby

Mr Guy explained: 'The society were moving to a smaller building and were passing some of their belongings to other organisations.

'I was just being nosy really, peering into boxes, when I happened to spot that one contained some really old glass negatives. I thought they seemed interesting so we asked for permission to bring the plate boxes back to our office to have a proper look.'

Further inspection revealed a whole raft of lively, high-quality images of everyday street life, dating from at least 1880.

 

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The shots feature a ragtag collection of ordinary North Easterners, and were taken at locations such as meat markets, fairs, and tiny corner shops.

Experts believe at least a third of the pictures were created by the same photographer, and while many of them depict life in Newcastle, the cache also includes scenes from nearby Tynemouth and Lindisfarne.  

Scouting the wares: A young girl examines the window display of a city shop selling fresh veg, sunlight soap and sweets

Making their own fun: Children skip and play around a lamp post

Maritime legacy: Onlookers wait for the launch of a ship in Tyneside

While early photography was largely the preserve of the rich, this unknown photographer went out of his or her way to document the lives of the working classes.

The decision is all the more interesting because Newcastle was a thriving industrial centre by the 1880s, with no shortage of prominent people to photograph.

The city was also home to industrialist Joseph Swan, who in 1871 devised a method of producing dry photographic plates which removed the need for a dark room and made photography more commercially viable.

Up it goes! A doughty competitor tests his strength at the Temperance festival on the Town Moor, Newcastle

A little girl looses her hat, while men in bowlers listen to a speech at the Temperance Festival on the Town Moor, Newcastle

Starting young: A little girl selling cordial with meat sellers at either Paddy's Market or Bigg Market, Newcastle

Pondering the collection's origins, Mr Guy said: 'We know very little about where these negatives have come from.

'They were never catalogued and the society doesn't recall how or when it came by them.

'We aren't even completely sure whether they are one photographer's archive, or if they were produced by several individuals.

'Photography would have been a very expensive hobby at that time, but this person was shooting in a very contemporary way.

'Despite the cumbersome equipment he would have been using – a large plate camera, probably on a tripod – I would describe this as observational documentary, almost photojournalistic in style.

'The work doesn't look staged, but if it was then the photographer was doing things very differently from his contemporaries. This work feels less distant and more engaged than other series I have seen.

'It may have been someone with means, or a commercial photographer with quite a distinctive viewpoint, who decided that Joe Bloggs on the street was more interesting to photograph in his spare time than the high society of Newcastle.

'He was really quite ahead of his time in that respect.'

Earning a crust: A young peanut seller captured at work

Catching 40 winks: A man makes time for a nap in what was then the centre of Newcastle

The Society of Antiquaries is now carrying out research work in connection with the pictures, in the hope of figuring out where they were shot, and by whom.

It is also keen to trace another 15 boxes of plates which the Society sent elsewhere.

Mr Guy hopes the city of Newcastle will soon be able to share this insight into its history.

'I was really quite lucky to find this box,' he said. 'I don't know if someone forgot it or planned to pick it up later. The aim now is to date and catalogue the work, and then to put it out to other organisations in the city and hopefully get it seen, because it really belongs to the people of Newcastle.'

Having a chin-wag: Women chat outside caravans stationed at the city's Town Moor

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2122864/Pictures-times-past-Photographs-discovered-abandoned-box-fascinating-insight-19th-Century-city-life-Britain.html#ixzz1qf8UazgZ

George Galloway humbles Labour in Bradford

RESPECT Statement on George Galloway Election Victory - "The Bradford Spring"

Thursday, 29 March 2012

THE BRADFORD SPRING: A STUNNING ELECTION VICTORY FOR THE PEOPLE OF BRADFORD WEST

http://www.respectparty.org/2012/03/stunning-election-victory-for-people-of.html

This Thursday, 29th March, the people of Bradford West sent a clear message to the leaders of  Labour, the Liberals and the Tories: "You can no longer take our votes for granted."

George won 18,341 votes beating Labour by over 10,000 votes.

In a stunning by-election victory, won over less than three short weeks, Respect's George Galloway has shaken up the political 'establishment.'  Labour's is vote down, the Tory is vote down and the Lib-Dems are reduced to the fringe. Surely the austerity agenda of the Con-Dem Coalition or the 'austerity-lite' of New Labour fails utterly to address the concerns of everyday people.

The Respect Party intends to take George's victory further in the local elections in May - Bradford deserves Respect in the council as well as at Westminster.

You can help us by joining the Respect Party today.


George Galloway, Respect: 18,341 (55.9%)

Imran Hussain, Labour: 8,201 (25%)

Jackie Whiteley, Conservative: 2,746 (8.4%)

Jeanette Sunderland, Lib Dem: 1,505 (4.6%)

Other: 2,021 (6.2%)

Turnout: 50.8%

Majority: 10,140

TORIES "PASTY TAX" USED AS A DIVERSION TO HIDE LABOUR'S COMPLICITY IN THE PRIVATISATION OF THE ENGLISH NHS.

Friday, 30 March 2012THE NEWSLINE - EDITORIAL 30/03/2012
http://www.wrp.org.uk/news/7405
CAMERON-OSBORNE ARE NO JOKE!THE row over the Tories so-called ‘pasty tax’ has become a dangerous diversion in the hands of the Labour leadership who are intent on portraying Cameron and Osborne as a pair of upper class twits.

This row, over VAT on hot pies and pasties, has degenerated into a farce with Labour MPs demanding to know whether Osborne has ever visited a Greggs shop or Cameron ever eaten a pasty.

However, at the same time that Labour MPs were waving pasties at the Tories, the Health and Social Care bill, which opens up the NHS to complete privatisation, was passed into law.

When the announcement was made in parliament that this bill had received the royal assent, it was greeted with shouts of ‘shame’ from Labour MPs – in fact, the shame is on the Labour and trade union leaders who preached throughout the 14 months the bill took to become law that opposition to it had to be confined to parliament and the House of Lords.

The working class was assured that the bill could be defeated by a combination of dissident Lib/Dem MPs and peers. This led to the ‘fight’ against it being restricted by the TUC to protest demonstrations designed merely to put ‘pressure’ on the Tories and embarrass the Liberals into some form of rebellion.

It was because of this refusal to fight that the ‘upper class twits’ won. The Bill is law and very soon we will be involved in a life and death fight to stop hospitals being closed and the NHS privatised.

This government is no joke; what Cameron and Osborne are seeking to do is to re-run the Tory onslaught against the working class along the lines of Thatcher’s war against the unions in the 1980s.

Like Thatcher, Cameron is going all out to provoke a confrontation with the unions. This has emerged clearly with the stoking up of the proposed oil tanker strike and the preparations to use the army as strike-breakers in the event of a stoppage.

With the government’s emergency Cobra committee meeting to draw up strike-breaking plans and the cabinet minister, Francis Maude, attempting to panic people by urging them to stockpile petrol in their garages, Cameron hopes to provoke a strike and inflict a huge defeat on Unite.

Such a defeat is absolutely required if they are to begin to drive through all the cuts that the banks and bankrupt British capitalism are demanding.

The huge problem for them is that this is not the 1980s.

Then, Thatcher had the advantage of being able to prepare for four years to take on the miners; British capitalism was not bankrupt and she was able to utilise the entire wealth generated by North Sea oil in her war against the working class.

Crucially, she had the prior agreement of the leadership of the trade unions that they would do everything possible to hold back their members from joining the miners and bringing down the government.

Even with all these advantages it was a close-run thing – Thatcher could not defeat the NUM in 1985 and it was only through the treachery of the TUC leaders who actively betrayed the miners’ strike that she survived.

Today, Cameron has none of these advantages – North Sea oil has gone and British capitalism is weak and bankrupt and, unlike Thatcher who could pick off one union at a time, the crisis means that Cameron is faced with taking on every section of the working class simultaneously.

This situation has led to factions of the ruling class getting the jitters, and openly doubting whether Cameron can do the job, and even wondering whether the Labour leaders should be involved in forming a national government, led by Cameron, Miliband and Clegg.

With the natural rulers wobbling, the ruling class has never been weaker – all they have in their favour is the continued treachery of the trade union leaders.

The urgent and immediate task facing the working class today is not to treat the Tories as a joke but to smash them through the organisation of a general strike and replace them with a workers’ government. This is the way forward.

ends 

The "Arab Spring" is a Smokescreen to Wage War Against China and Russia and Re-Colonise Africa for the West

Louis Farrakhan of the Nation Of Islam tells the truth about the Arab Spring and how it is used as a cover by the US and its Brit hanger on's to recolonise the middle-east and Africa and wage war against Russia and China in their long war to claim the worlds resources.

George Galloway and RESPECT Destroy New Labour in Bradford West by-election

IN OUR OPINION IT IS CLEARLY FOR THE BEST THAT GEORGE STAYS SOUTH OF THE BORDER IN ENGLAND, WHERE HE ACTUALLY DOES SOME GOOD, INSTEAD OF BEING A STOOGE FOR BRITISH UNIONISM, NEW LABOUR AND THE BRIT-LEFT WRECKERS BACK HOME IN HOPEFULLY SOON-TO-B-INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND  - Real SDL.

George Galloway wins Bradford West by-election

Respect Party candidate George Galloway polled more than 18,000 votes
(SOURCE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17549388)

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Profile: George Galloway

Respect Party candidate George Galloway has taken the Bradford West parliamentary seat from Labour, winning the by-election by 10,100 votes.

Mr Galloway, expelled by Labour in 2003, said it was the "most sensational victory" in by-election history. He received 18,341 votes - a 56% share.

He said his victory represented a "total rejection" of the major parties.

At the 2010 General Election, Labour's Marsha Singh, who resigned on health grounds, won with a majority of 5,763 .

The party had held the West Yorkshire seat since 1974, except for a brief period in the 1980s when the sitting MP defected to the SDP.

Labour candidate Imran Hussein came second with 8,201 votes as the party's share of the vote was 20% down on its 2010 figure.

'Bradford spring'

Conservative candidate Jackie Whiteley was third, with 2,746 votes. Jeanette Sunderland, of the Liberal Democrats, secured 1,505 votes.

Mr Galloway, who co-founded the anti-war Respect Party after being expelled by Labour because of his opposition to the Iraq war, said the result represented the "Bradford Spring".

He said the "mammoth majority" and "mammoth vote" represented a "total rejection" of the three major parties in the British political system.

Mr Galloway urged his former party to turn away "decisively" from the course set by former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

It is Labour that have been wiped out tonight - it must be a huge humiliation for Ed Miliband and his team”

Kris HopkinsConservative MP

He said Labour "must stop imagining that working people and poor people have no option but to support them if they hate the Tory and Liberal Democrat coalition partners.

"They have to stop supporting illegal, bloody, costly foreign wars because one of the reasons why they were so decisively defeated this evening is that the public don't believe that they have atoned for their role in the invasion and occupation of other people's countries and the drowning of those countries in blood."

Mr Galloway urged his former colleagues to "stop taking their supporters for granted" and "unite the coalition" it once had.

The Respect politician was mobbed by supporters as he left the count.

Labour's candidate did not make a speech after the results were announced, but Labour MP Toby Perkins said the Bradford West result was "desperately disappointing".

He attributed Mr Galloway's success partly to his celebrity status from having appeared on TV reality show Celebrity Big Brother which he said had been "a very significant factor".

Mr Perkins said: "I think frankly there wasn't a lot the other parties could do about it. [Voters had] seen him on Big Brother.

"They wanted him on their streets and now they've got it, and let's hope that he lives up to the promise that he's made to them and actually delivers on the optimism that surrounds his campaign."

'Lone, loud voice'

A Liberal Democrat spokesman said the party was "clearly disappointed" with the result.

"While we were always expecting to fight for fourth in this election, it is quite astonishing for Labour to lose this seat and the Conservatives see such a drop," he said.

Kris Hopkins, the Conservative MP for nearby Keighley, said his party had not won Bradford West for 42 years, so "there were not high expectations".

"It is Labour that have been wiped out tonight. It must be a huge humiliation for Ed Miliband and his team," he added.

BBC Yorkshire political editor Len Tingle said there had effectively been two campaigns in the seat - one with the three main UK parties focused on the economy and jobs, and the other run by Mr Galloway which had his party's anti-war message at its forefront.

George Galloway (r) co-founded the Respect Party after being expelled by Labour in 2003

BBC political correspondent Chris Mason said there had been a feeling that Mr Galloway might split the left-wing vote, but he had not been expected to defeat Labour.

Our correspondent said the margin of the victory was "extraordinary", adding that it was not simply a matter of the Labour Party losing to Mr Galloway but "being thumped" by him and his party.

He predicted that, once in the House of Commons, Mr Galloway would be "a lone voice but a very loud one".

It is the second time Mr Galloway has upset the political odds - he pulled off one of the results of the 2005 General Election when he overturned a large Labour majority in London's Bethnal Green and Bow to become the Respect Party's first MP.

His win in Bradford West is a remarkable comeback after disappointing showings at the 2010 General Election and the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections.

The outcome was being closely watched by all the parties as a snapshot of voter opinion, following last week's Budget and ahead of council and mayoral elections next month.

The Conservatives came second in the constituency in 2010, on a 65% turnout, ahead of the Liberal Democrats in third. Respect was fifth in 2010.

Prior to Bradford West, there had been five by-elections in England and Scotland since the start of the current Parliament - Oldham and Saddleworth, Barnsley Central, Leicester South, Inverclyde and Feltham and Heston - with Labour retaining all five seats.

The full result (with vote share and change since 2010 in brackets):

George Galloway (Respect) 18,341 (55.89%, +52.83%)

Imran Hussain (Lab) 8,201 (24.99%, -20.36%)

Jackie Whiteley (C) 2,746 (8.37%, -22.78%)

Jeanette Sunderland (LD) 1,505 (4.59%, -7.08%)

Sonja McNally (UKIP) 1,085 (3.31%, +1.31%)

Dawud Islam (Green) 481 (1.47%, -0.85%)

Neil Craig (D Nats) 344 (1.05%)

Howling Laud Hope (Loony) 111 (0.34%)