Think You're Poor? Think You're Free?

Last night, I went to a Question Time event held at Canterbury Street Mosque. 

Unfortunately, I did not think through the cultural implications of this and wore the silliest, frilliest socks in my drawer. 

Vote TUSC!

You can always rely on the nation's press whip up racism and Islamophobia. In a world where oil is gold, it suits the interests of Western big business to demonise Muslims. 

I'd invite the beneficences of questionable broadcasting to go into a Mosque and meet people who are constantly marginalised by the world's media. 

I can imagine if white women were subject to the constant stream of hate-fuelled propaganda, I'd be pretty annoyed about it. 

Especially if that propaganda is used to justify illegal wars in search of undiscovered Weapons of Mass Destruction, resulting in the deaths of over half a million civilians. 

Proclamations of peace and love aside, the establishment parties have all at one stage or another used fear of Islam to stoke up division between working class communities. 

The only way you can combat Islamophobia is with solidarity. 

Last year, hanging on the coat-tails of UKIP, far right thugs from Britain First used the Rochester and Strood by election as a platform to spread racial hatred. I was on the front line of the protests to stop them marching down the High Street.

People from across communities and religions came out in a show of unity against the vicious lies of Britain First. We stood shoulder to shoulder and made sure that the Britain First thugs did not pass. 

There was a hilarious moment when Mark Hanson from UKIP confused Britain First with the British National Formulary medicines handbook. 

Solidarity is not just about turning out on one day. It's about having the policies that cut across race and religious lines. 

We all need jobs, homes and public services, yet we live in a world where power and wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny minority. 

Global capitalism breeds poverty, war and crisis. Western big business interests will never allow peace in the Middle East. TUSC poses socialist solutions, based on public, collective ownership and the co-operation of working people internationally. 

It's only far fetched if you don't believe in the power of ordinary working class people to change things. 

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Oh and PS. I asked Mark Hansen if he'd join me in condemning the assault on anti UKIP campaigners by members of the English Defence League. He got a bit flustered but then agreed. I asked him if Nigel Farage would do the same. He said can't speak for Nige, but I got him to say he'd ask. 

You've Got Mail

I hate opening post. Let's face it, unless it comes in a nice envelope, its never good news is it? 

Yesterday I got something from my union,  UNISON, so I opened it and was greeted by the face of Vince Maple of Medway Labour fame. 

I like Vince as much as the next person, really. But what I do have a problem with is the union contacting members, who have consciously chosen not to pay the Affiliated Political Fund to Labour, with an entirely vacuous message from a party who will, if elected, continue to cut the services UNISON members work so hard to provide.

It's barmy! 

After the African Peoples Policy Forum, a few Labour Councillors came up to me and were like 

If the Labour Party expel people who vote to defend the jobs and public services of working class people, then it is not our home anymore. 

Trade Union members have an opportunity to get behind a real political project which shares its values. TUSC may be in its early stages, but as the election date draws closer, the need for a working class alternative becomes clearer by the day.

What's the point in replacing Tory austerity with Labour austerity? You're re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic. 

We deserve better than some vague guff about "bad landlords" and "taking forward the principle of the Living Wage." 

Labour councillors who DO want to stand up to cuts and privatisation, you're in the wrong place. 

TUSC is the home for all those who reject the austerity agenda.  

Sandra and Sandy know.

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Blogging is Back!

After a bit of a hiatus on the blog front, I'm now on annual leave!

Three cheers for trade union negotiated terms and conditions! 

Between the day shifts and night shifts, its been a busy couple of weeks. Highlights include a Question Time for Bikers: 

They just want an integrated public transport policy! 

Throwing some shade at these Goons at an African Peoples of Medway forum.

Apparently, you can't put a value on the work of a nurse. Except they do, and its about a third of them. 

We went down a storm outside the Tory Club in Gillingham.

I was on the radio. Click on my face to listen, from 43:30. 

Most importantly, THE POSTERS ARRIVED!!!!!! 

Hit me up to get your hands on one of these bad boys. Stay tuned, from here on out, it's pure propaganda. 

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Bin There, Done That.

Local readers will have undoubtedly heard about the Petition Against Bin-Raiders of Romanian Decent doing the rounds. PABRORD has got over 1000 signatures and made the front page of the Medway Messenger.

It's a shame we couldn't get similar coverage for the Petition to Stop Medway Council scrapping it's Welfare Fund, but whatevs. 

I was contacted by the writer of PABRORD, Sally-Ann, to ask if I'd support it. I'd long been thinking about this issues around it so it took a little while for me to decide what I thought and get back to her. Anyway, this is what I said, minus the GIFs.

Dear Sally,

Thanks for getting in touch, I saw the petition on this subject on the ME Postcode Facebook Group.

I share your frustrations around public health issues. I live in central Gillingham and find foxes often come over the Lines and rip open bin bags. It's not sanitary and believe the council should create new jobs, increasing the number of people employed to keep our streets clean.

ID theft is a serious crime. No-one should have to tolerate being abused in the street. I would hope the police would deal with cases of it accordingly, however, cuts in the service mean although crime statistics have gone down, that is probably due to under-reporting.

I am totally oppose to cuts in Police Services which leave working-class people vulnerable to being victims of crime.

I can't say I have ever encountered a hoard of Romanian bin raiders myself. Sometimes people go through the bins where I live off Canterbury Street, but when I have challenged them, they have definitely been English. By the same token, I only know 2 Romanians in Medway, both of whom are doctors. I'd be quite surprised if they were bin raiding after work.

Therefore, I think bin raiding has far more to do with poverty than it does nationality. Along with ensuring we have a criminal justice system which is able to effectively deal with offenders, I think we need a set of radical anti-poverty measures, for example:

-Reversing the cuts in Welfare- including Medway Council's plans to stop vouchers for people in crisis luch as Domestic Abuse victims.
-An increase in the minimum wage to £10/hour.
-A massive council house building and renovation scheme which would create job and provide homes.

What do you think?

Jacqui Berry
TUSC candidate for Gillingham and Rainham

It is obscenely annoying when people and animals tear up your bins. But what's Romania got to do with it?

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All Hail Agent Price

I used to go into work and have normal conversations about things like holidays and nice places to eat. Nowadays its all: 

Only really important people get a stethoscope. 

Everyone thinks it freakin' adorbs that he's my agent. But he is also the agent for all the Medway TUSC candidates. That's 3 parliamentary campaigns and 22 council candidates. At the grand old age of 26, he does all this around his full time job in the newly privatised Probation Services, which I understand is quite stressful. 

People are so cynical about politics and I get that. There's a lot of boohockey around and it's hard to tell what makes any of them any different. 

There's loads of reasons why we're different. We have a clear, consistent opposition to austerity policies for one thing. We'll refuse to implement cuts. We are ordinary, working class people, having a go.  

Agent Price. He only wants the world. 

 TUSC rejects the dispiriting diatribe of the establishment parties. We don't have to accept the propaganda of the super-rich. Join the TUSC bandwagon. 

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I Believe the Children Are Our Future...

Yesterday morning, I decided I needed to spend just a few hours being a normal person, so I met up with BFF Tan, got a Greggs and took the sprogs to the park.
 

It's a far cry from the sort of entertainment we used to make.

Unfortunately, all Tan wanted to talk about was the election. 

We have the best talks.

She's got a point. It might seem perfectly normal to the establishment that socialists are excluded from the political debate, but to your average mum in the park, its a bleedin outrage! What are they so scared of eh? 

Perhaps they don't want the only group which stands for free childcare, mass council housing and public ownership of the banks to have any air time? #jussayin

As it stands, Tan's pretty annoyed. She's a bona fide, rootin tootin Registered Nurse that's found it really tough to work because the cost of childcare is too high! 

Couldn't weald the Bluetooth Enabled Monopod AND keep me eyes open at the same time.

We want YOU to vote TUSC. Get this nurse back to work. Free childcare for all, because it benefits us all. 

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Ban This Filth!

Yesterday, Good Old Tone (TUSC candidate for Capstone and Lordswood) and I had a mad scramble around Princes Park, getting 10 nominations for lovely Jan. 

Princes Park says NO to austerity and YES to a socialist alternative. 

We were coming to the end of a pleasant afternoon, when the most ear-splitting sound caused a crippling headache. I had to stop. 

It was a Mosquito! Not the bug, the device. It gives off a high pitched howl, at high frequency. People put them in their gardens to ward off cats and foxes. 

However, they are also clearly audible to young people. My pal Gareth Bromall had a one-man fight against these mosquitos in Millford Haven, Wales. The council were using them to keep young people away from the Library. 

What a beard!

Why Libraries are supposed to be no-go zones for young-uns I'll never know. He fought long and hard against Mosquito Devices and eventually, just before Christmas, the council quietly caved in and committed to a ban. 

If Gareth can take on his council and win, imagine what 22 of us could do. On 7th May, if you know what's good for ya, Vote TUSC for MP, Vote TUSC for Council. 

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Chaos Theory

I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure what chaos theory is, but if the last 24 hours are anything to go by, it is my life. 

Disaster struck yesterday evening, when it emerged 2 of our valiant 22 socialist candidates for Medway council were ineligible to stand. Their registration to the electoral register hadn't come through in time! 


As the dream of giving every voter in Medway the chance to vote for councillors who will refuse to implement cuts started to slip away, two more superstars stepped up to the plate. 

Snaps for Jan Baker, retired nurse, teacher and singer.

Got her hair done and everything.

...and Riven Gray, generally crafty type and make-up artist extraordinaire. 

She doesn't normally look like this. 

Awesome!

So this morning, me, trooper Kim and big Ivor went round Steve's to pick up 135,800 leaflets to take over to Maidstone where they will be sent on to every doorstep in the Medway Towns! 

Go Kim, it's ya birthday! 

Calamity, the printers hadn't labelled them up to meet Royal Mail requirements! There are no pictures of this time. Grammin' didn't seem like the priority at the time.  

Ain't no-body got time for that!

It was touch and go for a while, but early this morning, in a Rainham car park, the 3 of us re-boxed, bundled and labelled 135,800 beautiful flyers. We got to Maidstone and donned the hi-viz. 

Kind of like this.

The posties were so nice. They made sure we had the right numbers of everything and didn't mind that we were in a bit of a tizz. They said that although they'd delivered tons of election flyers before, they'd never met any candidates before. 


That says it all. Career politicians who talk the talk but have never even dirtied their hands dropping off their own bleeding flyers. If you want representatives that pull together in a crisis, stare down adversity and stand up to austerity, the only choice is TUSC. 

Anyway, it's all been quiet high stakes stuff and I haven't eaten yet so I'm gonna have a sit down with a panini and an Earl Grey and chill the eff out! 

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Strood Whispers

Popped round to my parents to chill on the bank holiday.



As I came through the door, I noticed an ominous red envelope on the mat. Was it a helpful information leaflet from the British Heart Foundation? Was it an early birthday card for my Mum? 

No! It was Strood Local Voice. Because Strood Labour Believes an Alternative Way is Possible. Mum had a bit of a meltdown because she can't cope with anything completely inane.


They've got pledges. They're going to give Medway Hospital the support it deserves. I don't know how this tallies up with their continued commitment for a market within healthcare but whatevs, a pledge is a pledge. 



Some people, mostly of the mature variety, still get a bit misty eyed about the Labour Party, because it used to be not totally horrific. 

Being a TUSCie can be tough. Warmongering and privatisation aside, sometimes, when I'm really tired and I've been on nights, I wonder if life would be easier if we all buggered off, joined Labour and tried to get it to support socialist principles. 

Nights can really skew your thinking.

Then you realise, that's impossible. For some reason, when it comes to standing for labour anyone who stands against cuts doesn't even get a look-in. In fact, councillors who vote against cuts get expelled! Charming! 

If Labour form a government, it is still committed to the austerity agenda. They won't even reverse the cuts the Tories have made. Even Ed Balls says so himself. 

Direct Quote

If Labour won't reverse Tory cuts, will continue their own austerity program and block attempts by union members to have any influence over the party whatsoever, then what exactly is the point of them? To stand outside the hospital looking a bit miffed?

Girls, the cavalry have arrived! 

Just how dead does the Labour Party have to be before olde socialists give up the ghost? Come on guys, get with the program. 

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I am the Resurrection

It's Easter!

Personally, I am a Stone Roses fan and an atheist, but I reckon there probably was a dude a few thousand years ago called Jesus who gave the Romans a bit of a ballache and was subsequently crucified. 

It must've been quite threatening at the time. Young guys going around, teaching sharing and generally kicking off. 

I always remember the story about the time when Jesus went into a temple and gets so overcome with rage at the traders and bankers that he starts whacking them with a big stick and turning over their tables. Fair play. 

I really admire this righteous attitude. Say what you want about the role of organised religion throughout human history, but you have to hand it to people that have got the guts to stand up to corrupt, ruling elites. 

Easter is all about new beginnings, so it's really exciting to find so many new people who are fed up with the politics of lesser-evilism and are proudly and enthusiastically backing TUSC this election.

Do you wanna be in my gang?

As record numbers of working class fighters and young people pick up the TUSC banner, in the largest socialist General Election challenge in a generation, finally, there is a really choice on offer. 

Whichever parties form the next government in May, they will continue to implement the austerity agenda. The TUSC project is about so much more than votes. 

It's about building a movement which gives a political expression to the struggles to defend public services, challenges the racist propaganda used to divide us and promotes a socialist alternative to free market capitalism. 

Cynics, jump on the bandwagon, just leave your baggage behind. We have a world to win. 

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The Wrong Donuts!

Politics is all very confusing these days. Apparently, in the old days, it was pretty easy to spot your enemy. 

Simples

 Now it's much more complicated. There are so many more choices, yet at the same time, there are none. 

Luckily, there are tons of internet quizzes you can do to help you find out Which Party You're Most Like. Unfortunately, they, like the Leaders Debates are a massive sham! 

Voting is a big deal, just like finding out Which Country Star Should Be Your Drinking Buddy, Which Krispy-Kreme Donut Are You and Are You and Ryan Gosling Meant To Be Together. 

I got Blake Shelton, Glazed Crueller and Obviously.

The thing is, what if my Country Sensation Drinking Buddy Soul Mate wasn't listed as an option? 

What if the quizz makers didn't include the humble yet subsersive jam donut? 

What if the powers that be decided not to shatter my illusions with the option "Ryan Gosling doesn't even know you exist. You'll probably never meet and if you do, you'll find you have no real common ground for developing a mutually loving and successful relationship"?

I'm surrounding myself with the wrong people, stuffing my face with the wrong donuts and passing up chances of real happiness, holding out for the Gos. 

Despite being having the sixth largest challenge, TUSC isn't an option on any of these quizzes. 

Despite supporting 38 degrees campaigns against TTIP, Fracking and in Defence of the NHS, they haven't included us as an option to vote for in their handy quizzes.

Despite standing in more seats than the SNP and Plaid Cymru put together, we don't get invited to debate it out on the telly box.

Despite the Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru acting like some sort of Anti-Austerity Alliance, in reality Green, Labour and SNP councils are implementing cuts. 

It's almost like the establishment would rather people got all whimsical about the Greens or mouth-foamy over UKIP, without ever knowing that TUSC exists. 

What the dealio?

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Scumbag Council

Medway Council are on the verge of well and truly winning...at the Scumbag of the Year Awards. 

Scumbag Council

Word on the grapevine is that they are planning on doing away with the Welfare Vouchers which provide a safety net for vulnerable people in crisis. Like those greedy domestic violence victims that wrecked the economy...oh wait no.



These vouchers are the difference between being having a bed and sleeping on the floor. Between hiring an emergency removal van or carrying all your worldly possessions from one place to another. 

Some people trying to access support have already been told the fund has been withdrawn. 

In the olden days, before austerity, you used to be able to go and get a loan from the benefits office for this sort of thing. Nowadays, its at council's discretion to provide.

It's looking like after the elections on 7th May, Medway Council will try and quietly scrap Welfare Vouchers in a cruel attack on the most vulnerable.
So, to nip this in the bud, we TUSCies have started an online petition. You can, and should, sign it by clicking on the face of Barry Kemp, who is apparently the Worshipful Mayor of Medway. 

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10 Things I Do Not Have Time For

I haven't done a "10 Things" post for a while, partly because I haven't had the time. I've also got a lot of feelings at the moment, so 2 birds, 1 stone, 10 things I do not have time for. 

1) People who bash Ed Miliband for being weird. It's irrelevant. His crap politics on the other hand are a massive problem. 

More concerned with that vile, bilge-peddling Murdoch rag in his hand than his weird face.  

2) Spotify adds. All the pissing time. And worse, these vacuous gits from Tidal acting like they just established The Paris Commune. Do one. 

3) Cynics/Naysayers. Seriously, just cos you've given up on collective action as a means to bring about socialist change, don't try and bring me down too. Things are changing. Keep up or get up out the way.  

4) "British Values". What the effing jeff are "British Values"? If I quite like the dry sense of humour but I'm not so keen on all the imperial conquests, do I have to return to my ancestral lands? Or does all that guff really only apply to people with non white skin or funny surnames? Get Bent. 

5) Greens who get uppity when you criticise them. If you talk left but then vote for cuts, you need to be held to account. Fairs fair.

They do do that. 

 

6) Bigots. It's 2015. Literally don't care. 

7) Politicians acting like they have solutions for the NHS when they really don't. 

Don't trust him, he'll let it all be done by charity! 

8) Conspiracy theorists. It's not illuminati you dickheads, just capitalism.

9) Opportunists. For example Paul Clarke standing for Labour in Gillingham and Rainham. All for Academies before he got booted out last time, yet here he is, hanging out with these parents fighting the academisation of their school in Twydall. 

So refreshing to see politicians taking a principled stand.

10) People who think I'm unnecessarily angry. We live in a world of vacuous politicians, doing the bidding of big business and calling it a democracy. The question is not "why is she so angry?" but why aren't you? 

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