What has 44 Legs and Hates Austerity?

What has 44 legs and hates austerity? 


Is it 11 right-on puppies? Is it 5-and-a-half really angry spiders? 

All they want is your love and a socialist world where all dogs are equal. 

No, it's TUSC Medway Local Election candidates of course! 

Austerity blows. And whichever party gets in in May, they've all signed up to it anyway! 


So, we are having a special public meeting. Its on Tuesday 31st March, at the St George Hotel in Chatham at 19:30. 

We can't promise any Olly Murs tribute act but we can guarantee an inspirational couple of hours. I think there's a bar as well. See you there. Invite yer pals.

Click on Olly's face for the Facebook Event. 

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Reality Check

Real-life friends will know, I've been quite stressed out lately. 

"Jac's Work Face" Credit Sally Jones.

I've got that weird eye-twitch thing going on, I'm riding the crimson wave and my hair is NOT clean. This election business is starting to feel like a bit of a mad idea. 

All great ideas probably seemed a bit of a big ask when they were first floated. 

This is the first time Trade Unions have sponsored a widespread General Election challenge against Labour , ever! 

In Medway, of our 22 local election candidates, only 2 have stood in any election of any kind before, ever! 

When we were growing up, we weren't trained in this sort of thing in school. 

The establishment, with private education at elite institutions, teach their kids that when they grow up, they'll be running the show and equip them with the inflated sense of self confidence required. 

We learnt Microsoft PowerPoint. 

This is all quite out of our humble, Gogglebox-watching, penny-counting, working-class comfort zone.

And ins't that really the point? That actually, the lockdown the wealthy have on politics keeps working class people disengaged and disenfranchised. 

That's a scandal! 

TUSCies, keep ya heads up. We are on the right side of history. 

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Nursing Counts

Over the last few weeks I have been inundated with e-mails from potential constituents about all kinds of good causes. Ending child deaths, planting more trees, getting rid of the dreaded TTIP. 

It's heavy going, because while most candidates probably have some intern going through and responding, I have a fulltime job on the frontline of the NHS and even Agent Price has a real job too. 

Agent Price on his birthday.

So I was really chuffed to see the RCN have started lobbying candidates because frankly, if politicians had any idea what it is actually like being a nurse, health care assistant or allied health professional, well, we probably wouldn't have endured a 5 year pay freeze for starters. 

Slimeballs from various parties will try and cosy up to the nursing lobby because nurses means votes and votes means prizes. Unfortunately, in reality, they're all apologists for varying degrees of cuts and privatisation that have absolutely no idea the lengths we go to to keep our patients safe. 

We work weekends. We work bank holidays. We work through the night. We work on Christmas. We miss special occasions. 

Sometimes we forget not to talk about faeces in polite company. Sometimes we cry. Sometime when we go to sleep we can still hear the sounds of call-bells and alarms. Sometimes we get abused. 

We keep people alive. We give people dignity. We teach. No-one ever became a nurse for the money, but for a third of the pay of one lazy-arse back-bencher you start to think, maybe we don't have effective advocates.

That's why I'm standing. 

We can't rely on politicians with their corporate interests and privileged lifestyles to have any idea what we need to provide a decent service without totally losing our minds. They probably wouldn't even understand why this meme is funny. 

There's always one. 

We deserve £30k starting pay. We deserve double time for unsocial hours. We need a regulator that is democratically run by us, not an outside body which charges us ever increasing fees for the pleasure. 

We need more staff, more beds and more time. 

We need a system which doesn't pit hospital against hospital, practice against practice. We need  one NHS not hundreds of competing trusts and providers . We need a social care system that publicly owned, run and accountable. 

No-one ever became a nurse for the money. Politicians on the other hand, not so much. If I get elected, I'll take what I would otherwise be making as a Band 5. I'll also keep up my registration because I am proud to be a nurse and because that will make me better placed to fight for our profession, our patients and our service. 

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First Time for Everything

This is the first time I've blogged twice in one day. It's also the first time blogging from my phone so who knows how this will look!

More importantly, it's the first time everyone in Medway can vote for a socialist representatives! 

We TUSCies have been beavering away and now have candidates signed up and chomping at the bit to contest every single ward in The Towns. 

This is truly groundbreaking for us and everyone involved deserves massive snaps.

Everything about standing in elections is weird. One weird thing is each candidate has to get 10 nominations from registered voters in the ward they are standing in. There are 22 wards in Medway which adds up to 220 nominators. 

That's a lot of nominators. If you'd like to be a nominator, don't be shy.

You can hit us up on our Facebook Page Medway TUSC, tweet us @medwayTUSC or if you're really old skool, email northkenttusc@gmail.com 

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Young Guns and Old Cynics

Something really exciting is happening around TUSC. Of course I would say that, I love it, but the facts speak for themselves. 

In Medway, a third of our local council candidates are under 30. 

Let me take a #selfie

The rest of 'em aren't too shabby either. 

As a generation, we could be forgiven for being pretty cynical about things. Growing up in the Blair years was enough to out you off the Labour Party for life. Then the whole "I agree with Nick" experience was a harsh lesson that politicians lie. 

It's true, everyone hates politicians. Us included. That's why we are standing. Cynics of all ages say once you get elected, you join the establishment. There's a lot of truth in that. 

I can't think of anything worse that becoming the man. I hate the man. The man needs it sticking to him.



An easy way round being politically bought off is don't take the money. That's why I won't take more than the average salary I'd be otherwise making as a nurse. Cynics roll their eyes at this but actually it's really important for keepin' it real. 


I was chatting about the election to one of my colleagues yesterday at lunch. He was like: 

Stock Photo: Male Nurse. Don't actually work with this guy. Wouldn't trust him in a cardiac arrest.

First of all, that the best argument for world socialism I've ever heard. 

Secondly, that's precisely why we'd probably have to nationalise the banks. 

Third, something has changed. A few years ago, that argument was more common than people with "Juicy" on their bum. Nowadays, it's almost vintage. 

Socialism. It'll never work. 

The tide is definitely turning. In the wake of the economic crisis, more and more people are drawing the conclusion that the free market is about the worst way to deliver goods and services. Capitalism is a big fail. 




It's only natural that a lot of people internalise the world's problems. The TUSC project is about laying down a marker. Ordinary, working class people have the power to change things.

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Upstarts pt 1

In the first of a series of posts introducing the upstarts standing for Medway Council under the TUSC banner, I give you arty type Naomi Sayers, chatting from the studios at Sun Pier House. Heads up - she's angry. 

Blue Skies Over Sun Pier. 

When I ask Naomi why she's standing for River Ward in the local elections, she says: 

"To quote Iron Man 2 "If you can make God bleed, the people will cease to believe in him." Bare with me, I have a point." 

Right.... 

"I'm standing to send a message to the Oxbridge drones, who think they're untouchable. The message is simple. We refuse to accept their corrupt, self serving agendas." 

Fair play. 

"Democracy only works if we all take part. Currently, the lack of political representation for workers, young people, the sick and the unemployed has created a democratic deficit. I'm standing so you don't have to wasted your vote on parties who are all singing from the same hymn sheet.  There is an alternative. 

"I don't literally want to make anyone bleed, but if we can make them sweat in their Saville Row suits, then half the battle is already won."

Naomi Sayers - River Ward Upstart

She's got some grand plans. 

"As a councillor, I would build environmentally sustainable homes and renovate old ones to meet the needs of people and the planet. This can only be done of the basis of public ownership because profit seekers are only interested in doing the bare minimum.

"Council housing is the only way to deliver carbon neutral homes that people can actually afford." 

Baggins' Were Clearly Minted 

"We don't need luxury flats bought up by buy-to-let cowboys. I stand for revitalising the area, without pricing out the community that make it.

"We need integrated, publicly owned and run transport systems. Personally, I'm a great lover of trams!"

If It's Good Enough For Amsterdam

"I'm also really against councillors passing cuts on to local people. If elected, TUSC councillors would refuse to implement cuts and demand increased grants from central government, to meet the social needs of the people of Medway.

"At the end of the day, this crisis is the bankers crisis and they've already had more than enough out of the rest of us.


"I'm a great believer in think global act local. We can take ownership of services, of our communities, of our own lives. We don't have to accept the nihilism bred by the free market."

Just Saying. 

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A Procession of 500-Year-Old Bones vs Babies.

In an age of austerity, there few very few things I could give less whoops about than the re-burial of Richard III. Literally do not care. 

Don't Care

Meanwhile, despite agreeing that babies can and should be vaccinated against meningitis, the government are still to provide them on the NHS. 

GlaxoSmithKline (big pharmaceutical company- probably evil) are involved in a dispute with the NHS about how much they will sell the NHS the vaccine for. 




It's not that the vaccine isn't ready. It's not that the vaccine isn't safe. In fact the babies of the wealthy can be vaccinated, a grand a pop in the private sector.


This brings me out in a fit of effing and jeffing. 


First of all, vaccines are a public health requirement. They are socially necessary to eradicate disease. They should be free and publicly provided. It shouldn't be down to parents to make a cost based decision about whether or not to vaccinate their children.

Secondly, there's something incredibly sinister in the fact that there are some children who will get meningitis simply because there parents cannot afford to pay. About a tenth of those babies will die. A third will have life changing injuries. 

If the vaccine is good enough for the babies of the wealthy, it's good enough for everyone. 

Thirdly, who the flinging feck are GSK to dictate the price of a child's life? Private companies exist to make a profit- they cannot be trusted with health, well being, life and death. 

Kick out the privateers and nationalise the pharmaceutical companies. We can't afford not to. 


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Vote! Or else

Not really got time to blog today so just a quick one.

If you're not registered to vote, you can do it here. Just click on these ghoulish UKIPpers.

Voting is a hard won right. Don't waste on another shade of austerity, yeah? 

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Obligatory St Patrick's Day Blog

It's St Patrick's Day- and literally everyone is acting like this. 

Look out your window, right now. 

It's true, we all love St Patrick's Day. Everyone loves Irish people. What's not not like? They're friendly, they know how to have a good time and most importantly, they're currently sticking 2 fingers up to the European Union's austerity measures. 



The Irish banks failed in a big way. In fact, they had to be bailed out to the tune of €85 billion- which is about 61 billion quid or $90 bn- either way, thats a lot. After that, the EU wanted working class people in Ireland to all chip in to pay for the banks. 

Sounds familiar doesn't it? 

They introduced a housing tax, a flat rate for every homeowner regardless of income. They've started charging people for the luxury that is water. They've even jailed people for protesting. 





On the bright side, people are fighting back. 100,000 people marched on the Dáil (which is Irish for parliament) in Dublin. That 20% of Dublin! 

Across Ireland, people demonstrated in their thousands. They've set up a group called the Anti-Austerity Alliance. They're fighting back against cuts and privatisation and they're winning. In its short little life, the AAA has already returned  3 TDs (MPs) and 14 local councillors. 




So later on, raise a glass to the 99% and to the AAA, for showing us what is possible! 

"The great only appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise" Jim Larkin

One For All The Momma's Out There

Yesterday was Mothers' Day. My entire news feed was full of pictures of people's Mums, which was great! 

Personally, I love my Mum. Last year, she fought to save her local library and demonstrated against the Israeli siege on Gaza.  

This year, she's standing for TUSC to be a councillor in Strood North! What an inspiration! 

I'm so proud of her. It got me to thinking about history and why it even matters. 

4 generations of subversive women. I'm the smallest one. 

My parents met when they were both members of the Labour Party and read a newspaper called Militant. 

Nice Barnet. 

Supporters of the Militant did some pretty amazing things. When unemployment was over 3 million, they refused to implement cuts to local services. 

You know it's in the past cos it's in black and white.

They built council houses. Thousands of them, creating jobs and providing homes. 

They went on to defeat the Poll Tax - which was horrible - and triggered the downfall of Margaret Thatcher. 

Yay! 

This was in 1990. I remember this because my parents refused to pay in protest. There were always bailiffs coming round. My mum used to use it to get me to tidy my room. "Anything left on the floor, the bailiffs will have." she'd say. 

Militant supporting MPs only took the wages of the workers they represented, not the full £67,000 they get today. 

Young Dave Nellist. 

Dave is still going- standing for TUSC in Coventry and hilarious on Twitter @davenellist. 

Eventually, the Labour Party decided it didn't really want all that much to do with committed socialists who fought for principals and weren't for sale, so they expelled them and then this happened. 

Never did find them weapons of mass destruction. Curious. 

The traditions of the Militant are the traditions I'm proud to stand in. Fighting tooth and nail for jobs, for public services, for working class people.  

TUSC is in its early phases. We are laying down our own history. Be a part of it by clicking on my awesome bouquet.  

10 Reasons to Vote TUSC on 7th May

You may have noticed there's a general election coming up. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is standing in over 100 seats. We're also standing in 1000 local council seats on the same day. Here's 10 excellent reasons to vote TUSC on 7th May.

1) When George Osborne boast of recovery, it's a joyless one for us. 




2) All of the other parties are agreed, when push comes to shove, it should be working class people who pay for the bankers' crisis. 




3) Labour, who previously rolled out an internal market in health care, introduced tuition fees and signed up to "cuts worse than Thatcher" before being booted out offer no solutions. 




4) Even the Greens, who talk the talk, when tested have implemented the same austerity agenda. 



5) TUSC stands for public ownership. You can't control what you don't own. 



6) The minimum wage condemns 2.5 million workers into poverty. We want it raised to £10/hr, now. 



7) We stand for free childcare and a massive council house building program. 



8) Our candidates aren't career politicians. We are nurses, teachers and firefighters. We are working class people, standing for working class people. 



9) A vote for a different shade of big business backed austerity is a wasted vote. 

10) This is the largest socialist challenge Britain has seen in a generation. It's history, being made. Be a part of it! 

Swings and Roundabouts.

Lately, I've been noticing all kinds of divide and rule propaganda. 

There's the usual kinds; muslim vs non muslim, women vs non women, the poorest of the poor vs the slightly less hard-up. 

But there has also been a new war, supposedly, between the young and the old. 


It is true that young people have seen the value of their wages plummet the most since 2009, 12.5%, while pensioners are told to cheer up as they're real-terms incomes have only fallen by 3.7%.

While young'uns have the spectre of chronic low pay, job insecurity and crippling graduate debt; the olds face a continuation of the inadequate state pension, a crisis in social care funding and constantly being blamed for everything.   



It's swings and roundabouts really. 

The real stinger for a lot of young people is the housing problem. Mortgages are hard to come by these days. What passes for affordable in the rental market is dubious at best and you practically have to eat your own arm to get a snip at any social housing. 
To be fair, the baby boomers (aka old folks) are an easy target. They were born into the NHS, they left school, went into secure, lifelong employment- usually unionised workplaces with rights and what-not. They all got housing and when Right to Buy came in, well, they took advantage. 




But it's a total red herring. 

They're trying to screw us all over! Which generation has it worse is just a side-show to the main event, the piecemeal destruction of the welfare state! 

There's a massive economic crisis. Even though we're allegedly experiencing some sort of recovery, the prospects for sustainable growth are not all that to put it politely. 

For capitalists, their money making options are limited. They can try and drive down wages. This works, to a point. Then they find workers can't buy as much stuff, which means they're not selling as much stuff, so they have to lend people bucket loads of money to keep buying the stuff and then complain when people can't pay it back.  



Another option is war. Wars are great for capitalists because there's always a bounty to be had. And the clean up job is usually a pretty lucrative exercise. It's become less popular in recent years, since it became clear humans now had the capacity to completely annihilate ourselves. But, when needs must, I suppose.





I suppose you could completely revolutionise technology with loads of new inventions. I suppose shaving an entire millimeter off the iPad Air IS comparable with the invention of trains...




Bingo! Sell off the family silver...and then charge people to use it! 

And so no-one realises, use all the levers of power, the news outlets, to get young people moaning about how old people don't know they're born and old people complaining about anti-social behavior and hey presto, you've privatised the NHS. 




It's a dastardly plan alright. Anyway, the jig is up. TIme for a united struggle between young and old, against cuts, privatisation and austerity. Time for a political voice for working class people, that will call bullshit on this sort of thing. Time for a vote for TUSC. 

If you fight, you might lose

...But if you don't, you will always lose. 

These were the words of the last Bob Crow, who died unexpectedly a year ago today. 


Back when I was a wee student nurse, I met Bob Crow. I was involved in our local anti-cuts group, who met at the Rail, Maritime and Transport union office. Unbeknown to me, we were double booked with the RMT branch Annual General Meeting. 

I was running late and in uniform when I burst into the room, packed full of burly RMT members listening to Bob Crow in full flow about the McNulty report. 



You can imagine the response I got. 




Bob went ballistic at these (handful of) blokes. He went off on this tirade about how they should be honoured to be joined by their sister from the nurse's union. He then invited me to address the meeting about the attacks on the NHS. 

What a ledge! 

A lot of media criticises union leaders as being dinosaurs, but Bob Crow was only interested in progress. Progressing his members' interests, progressing the fight for a socialist transformation of society. 

His record speaks for itself. 

Imagine what sort of money we'd be on if there were nurses' leaders prepared to fight like Crow. 

TUSC council candidate for Twydall ward and RMT stalwart, Ivor Riddell gets a bit dewy-eyed when Bob's mentioned. 

It's Riddell, not Riddle. 

Now, I'm slightly more optimistic about the idea of ending exploitation than Crow was, but it shows  you the colour of his metal. He had supreme confidence in the potential and power of organised workers.

He recognised, well ahead of any other union leader in Britain, there was no political voice for working class people. He was a founder of TUSC. 

A year on, we take up the TUSC banner in the memory of Bob Crow. Standing in over 100 parliamentary seats and 1000 council seats, the greatest service we can do to the legacy of such a great man is fight on, for genuine party of working people. 

With Friends Like These...

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your computer, up crops Tony Blair with his blood money.



He wants to help get rid of the Tories (cos he's a nice guy like that) by giving a grand to each of Labour's 106 target seats. 106,000 big ones is a lot of money. 

Having said that, for someone who's gone to great lengths to ensure no-one really knows how much they're really worth, it's safe to say he can probably afford it. 

It's probably all legit, of course... it's not like he's a potential war criminal, who's made a killing advising investment bankers and various dodgy regimes and  human rights abusers, is it?




Why would you even take that sort of money? As it stands, only 2 of the 106 target Labour candidates have said no ta to the donation. 

Chatham and Ayelsford is the only Medway seat on Labour's target list. So I tweeted their candidate, Tristan Osborne. 

So far no response. Come on Tris, be the change!