Election

One of the difficulties we have created by insisting that a debate between the 3 main leaders of the parties takes place on television is that floating voters will now decide who to vote for not based on policies but on image and how an individual performs on telly. This isn't good for democracy. The fact remains that Labour took decisive action to halt the nightmare (Greek style) that the British economy could face following the collapse of major banks. The road to recovery is a difficult one and it will not be safe to allow free market forces, as the Tories want us to do, to correct the problem, if that was to happen then Britain will be thrown into a major recession and will be following Greece down the path to ruin. There is now only one choice and the economy will be safer with Labour. Its not about how good Nick Clegg looks its about who can manage the crisis better!

Greece and the Euro

Is Federal Europe going to work?

It was in 1981 that the French President Ciscard insisted that Greece should join the EEC and he was right. France has been a loyal and traditional ally to Greece so Hellas became the 10th member of the EEC and was doing well until the decision to join the Euro in 2003 which was, in my opinion, the wrong time. Given that the country is now trapped within the Euro zone mechanism it means that the country cannot devalue its currency to see the storm so what the left was saying (and for once they were right) back in 2002 was right, the Greek economy was not ready for the Euro. But we are there and we are facing a major crisis. There are many who will say that the crisis proves that all the Euro philes were wrong but I take an entirely different view. European Federalism will only work if the USA model is followed and all member states in Europe agree that foreign policy and finances should be handled centrally. I know this is controversial but right now we are in the middle of a major mess which promises to bring down Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy and that is just the start! Either we get a real Federal system or we abandon the whole project.

World Workers Day

A triumph for internationalist every where in the world. This is one day celebrated all over the globe remembering the sacrifices and the constant struggles faced by workers wherever they are. One day that unites us all.

Recordar...

Remember...

Não se esqueça

PASOK calls IMF and EU in...

PM George Papandreou announcing the bad news on one of Greece's 1,200 islands...

PASOK (Socialist party) PM Papandreou describing the Greek economy as a sinking ship, formally requested an international bailout on Friday, an unprecedented step that will test the bonds of the European Union. In a nationally televised address, PM George Papandreou said two waves of austerity measures introduced by the government over the past few months had failed to convince the markets that Greece would be able to manage its debt crisis. In the meantime public sector unions have called for more general strikes. Public sector employees have already been hit with two pay cuts. Public sector pensions are the next target. Is this a waring for the rest of Europe? Is the Greek economy the first within the Eurozone to be hit and would Portugal, Spain and Ireland be following soon? The talk within the 300,000 strong Greek community in London is that Papandreou has inherited a major problem mismanaged by the previous Conservative (ND) government and much more needs to be done to deal with the historical issue of uncollected taxes. Greece has not got a PAYE system and the state instead relies on individuals submitting tax returns at the end of each year. It is estimated that more than 30% of all revenue is lost because of that.

Happy St Gerorge's day

Cyprus problem

Looks like the two sides in Cyprus take one step forward and two steps backwards. The Republic of Cyprus has been occupied by 40,000 Turkish troops since 1974 no country, apart from Turkey (the invading force) recognises the UDI declared in the north part. The Turkish Cypriot community have elections every 5 years and this weekend they voted for the hard line Leader Eroglu to replace the progressive Mr Talat. The new Turkish Cypriot leader has made it clear that he will promote the creation of two independent states something the UN and EU do not accept. All discussions previously were about a federal bizonal system but with one identity. It will be a shame if the new TC Leader insists of this regressive step. The President of the Republic, D Cristofias, is optimistic that talks will continue and that sense will prevail. Lets hope so!

Dutch day celebrations London version

Dutch day event in Trafalgar square. Attended this last year with my Dutch friends and it was fun. Worth a visit! Celebrates the Dutch Queens birthday so all the Dutchies will be there plus their friends...

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/clubs/dutch-live-music-and-djs-feature-857.html

Dealing with the recession in Greece...

PASOK government downtown Greece has found a way to deal with the recession and the problems inherited by the decision to go down Euro zone town...

http://www.lgr.co.uk/index2.php?option=com_seyret&no_html=1&task=embedpopup&vthumb=http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1YXbrvduOmQ/2.jpg&vcode=1YXbrvduOmQ&servertype=youtube&vidwindow=popup

Explore Greece this summer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ZeMwI2pL4&feature=player_embedded

World poverty day

http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-17850-f0.cfm

The big debate winners

There are of course a number of ways to see how the debate went on ITV last night. We were all expecting, as it is usually the case, for there to be an anti government response, it is a natural reaction.

On the other hand there was a sure loser from last nights debate and that was David Cameron who did not perform well enough to convince voters that he could make a Prime Minister. Nick Clegg did quite well on style and showed a tremendous level of confidence so I agree that his 'performance' was a good one but we are not in the theatre and this is about doing the job of running the country!

Gordon Brown showed, however, that he is in control of his set ideas and is the one in the driving seat. His understanding and grasp of the relationship between killing off investment and funding before we are out of the recession is why he must remain in control. It will be a very risky experiment to ditch Gordon for such an inexperienced amature as Cameron. There could be some form of a cooperation with the Lib Democrats but the strategy must be for Labour to win a total majority. Lets hope that Bolton stays Labour then!

The big debate and the petrol price war...

The three leaders of the main political parties will be meeting in Manchester later on tonight to debate issues relating to the economy and the way forward. Tory boy Cameron has been told to keep it low and pretend he is not posh or was born in Eaton whilst Gordon has been advised not to go on with long explanations. Nick Glegg could get his Spanish wife out as she is a vote winner but not sure he will.

I am not sure if the nation and specifically the floating voters will be influenced by what is said tonight, after all there is still 3 weeks to go and most people have short memories. The issues that will determine which way the floaters go (they are the ones what we have to win over) will be determined by whether the price of petrol before the election i.e. May 4th and 5th goes down or up. Yes I am being cynical here and saying that a minor thing like that could influence the rural floaters those who need their cars to drive every where. So my prediction is that this election will be decided by that factor and we all know which way the petrol companies want the voters to go?

Streatham Constituency

Chuka Umunna, working hard for Streatham constituency.

http://www.streathamlabour.org.uk/

Labour manifesto

The Labour party Manifesto, a better alternative than the others...

Steve Reed on Sunday

Excellent how Steve Reed, Leader of Lambeth Council, handled himself on the politics show on Sunday morning on BBC1 with the leaders of Liberal Sutton and Tory Barnet. There is no doubt that he was the best performer and did us all proud. He has the ability to deal with serious matters in a calm concise and competent way which makes his opponents look like children attending nursery. Excellent how he dealt with the question from the presenter re criticism from Cllr Ashley, he very calmly and correctly clarified that Cllr Lumbsden was not against the idea but instead was asking why it wasn't done before. Very Steve Reed style. Shame he wasn't selected to stand as an MP he clearly belongs in the House of Commons even though Lambeth is lucky to have him as its Leader.

Pledge against poverty by the TUC

http://www.tuc.org.uk/em_research/tuc-17824-f0.cfm

Steve Reed Lambeth Council

Leader of Lambeth Council, Steve Reed, is to lead the campaign to get the Labour group re elected. Steve and his team of Labour Councillors succeeded in 2006 and ensured that Lambeth Labour scored a national triumph.

http://www.stevereed.org.uk/

Kleintown...

It looks like some of the the predictions I made, or a version of these, in my last novel Kleintown are becoming true. Today Iberia (my favorite airline) has merged with British Airways...

The world in the year 2040 is very different from today with the Brazilian Federation and the United States of Europe replacing the USA and Russia as the two main super powers. Europe is in the brink of civil war between north and south and the European President, Maria Fernandez (Andalucian) is trying to preserve the union. The Spanish EU President attempts several tricks with the Governor of England (there are no Prime Ministers but Governors appointed by Europe) to reconcile the union. Point here is that Europe is completely changed, something that will, I hope, delight my English friends...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kleintown-Nico-Venetti/dp/0953785009

Gordon Brown to win

He is honest, straight forward and works hard. The other two are simply creations of PR spinning doctors who combine fantasy with drops of the occasional reality. Reality, in this instance, comes from having done the job. The other pretender, Cameron, looks as real with his image as I am Swedish. Gordon Brown had something to do with the current financial crisis but he took immediate action to ensure that the economy did not collapse like it did in Greece. He can be trusted and will be the best person to get the country out of the recession.

Vote for Labour

Great thing about not being where I was is that I am no longer restricted by law from telling people which way to vote. I was in a politically restricted job and therefore could not express a direct opinion. But that is no longer the case. I also don't have to dilute my interest or support for the Labour party.

The election will now be held on Thursday 6th of May and the campaigning will start right from today. There is no question as to who people who believe in the provision of efficient public services should be voting for. Labour is the only party that can deliver an effective programme. It will also be a major mistake for small little groupings to be opposing Labour MP's in marginals and it is a stupid joke to stand candidates in constituencies like Vauxhall where the established MP Kate Hoye will of course be winning. Just remember the introduction of the Minimum Wage law.

Good luck to Labour!

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/index.php/achievement/?source=homepage

Byzantine Easter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2kG70hrAXU&feature=related

Have a break...

Christos Anesti

Christos Anesti. Christians throughout the world celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. In the Orthodox world the day is marked by midnight mass which takes place later on tonight, so from Athens, to Moscow, Bucharest, Sofia, Belgrade, Nicosia the Ukraine and other countries families gather together to mark the event. Easter is without a doubt a more important day than Christmas to Orthodoxy. The Patriarch of Constantinople will be issuing his annual circular tomorrow which I am hoping will contain information about progress made to achieve unification with the Catholic church. The 'talks' have been going on since 1250 so about time the division stops. I find it astonishing as to why there is a split given that there is no theological disagreement between the Orthodox and Catholic church and as some Archbishop pointed out a few months ago the division took place (political reasons) in 1100 meaning that there was only one church before that? Anyway am not religious but the split is stupid!

In the meantime the main news in Hellas is dominated by a statement made by Theo Pangalos, Deputy PM, who has issued warnings to PASOK ministers warning them that they need to do better. Conservative party ND (New Democracy) have been critical about the way PM Papandreou has handled the financial crisis. They forget, of course, that they were in government 5 years before the economic time bomb blew up and that PASOK have only been in power for 3 months? Typical bloody Tories!

Old pictures

Computer centre strike in 1991...

Started this blog when I was Branch Secretary. The original intention was to post information re developments in employment law but I was distracted and moved on to other things and sometimes got involved with debates that were not constructive. I am now no longer in that position and will therefore be reducing the time I spend updating the blog but when I occasionally get on here I will NOT be publishing any anon comments like the one send last night from an anon ( who is known to some of us as TEHL meaning the Ego has landed) sad people like him have no courage to state who they are and are motivated by jealousy, no idea how someone like that can be involved with the TU movement. Anyway am sure he will be happy collecting stamps for the rest of his miserable life. In the mean time good luck to the rest of you!

Brad Pitt

Nick explaining strategy to Jon..

Was shocked to hear that Brad left Angellina Jollywally. In addition it was a bigger blow to hear that Brad wants me to move to Cricklewood. I couldn't understand why he chose Cricklewood as I don't do cheap so rung him to explain that despite the fact that I was 'moved' by the gesture I could not possibly move to Crickelwood and would consider it if it was Hollywood. It annoyed me when he got John Gray to call me in the middle of the night from a House of commons number trying to persuade me to drop my objections. More annoying when Jackie Lewis and Katrina Hoogendooben also got involved. Jackie was doing her nails somewhere in soholand and interrupted her busy schedule to ring me. So I made it clear that it was a no go area. Brad then rung to offer me the chance do do Broadway but you can imagine how angry I got when I found out that he meant Ealing bloody Broadway! I was so furious I got in touch with UL supremo Marsha Jane who spend hours explaining that she did not want to get involved because she was busy doing her hair and politely passed me on to Jon of the Rogers. Now he did the usual thing and explained in Latin why I had to be pragmatic. He more or less stated that it was a delegatus non pote delegare kind of a situation and it was not his culpa and that whilst we were all Pares inter pares some of us were more pares than others. Its all Greek to me to be honest! It all made sense when I saw him taking a recyclying box full of wine bottles outside his front door for collection with Chris Remington and Stuart Barber bringing out 2 other boxes and Linda screaming in the backround demanding a rule I investigation. So I gave in and will not be running off to meet Brad or doing any supervisions. I shall instead keep away from all this and stay gorgeous! I am sure Andrew of the many Berrys will be relived with this!