Hoon questioned

Good that Geoff (sour grapes) Hoon was ordered to face a constituency panel on Friday and questioned about the reasons behind his failed plot against the Prime Minster. Nothing of course will come from this semi investigation but those who have the interest of the party at heart should be warned not to rock the boat right now. Getting a Conservative government elected in May will help no one and these plots simply expose the vanity of those opportunists who put self interest before the interests of the country! I hope that Gordon Brown eventually deals with Hoon and Hewitt (not to mention the other pretender..) and puts them in their place.

Jean Charles de Menezes

I am grateful to Jon Rogers who dedicated yesterdays entry on his blog to the memory of Jean Charles an Innocent bi standard who was shot dead by the police. The memorial outside Stockwell tube station will serve as a reminder and will also be a tribute to his memory. Still in shock as to why and how the police commander who gave the order was given a knighthood? There is very little I can say to that other than a realisation that there is very little justice in this world.

http://harpymarx.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/5620/

Gordon Brown and conspiracies

Snow all around us.....

Happy to see that Gordon Brown has managed to fight off a silly attempt to remove him and it was genuinely a stupid effort from politicians who should know better. Nothing annoys me more than having members of a team who should adhere to principles of collective responsibility go out of their way and betray loyalties. There is of course a time when a leadership challenge could be appropriate but no one in their right mind could argue that a few months before an election this was the right time. These conspirators should be dealt with in the near future or at least they should never be allowed to be anywhere near government again. Of course, and unfortunately, this will not happen and the pretender to the Labour throne will find a way to reward them once he gets in. But hey that's the world of politics a dirty disloyal treacherous world. Leave Gordon Brown alone to win another election I say and let him do a John Major and prove everyone wrong!

In the meantime there is snow all around us again and of course major problems getting to work as it has never snowed in England and we are therefore not used to this...

Gordon Browns leadership

There are two theories running around right now within Labour party circles as to whether Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt's proposal to have a leadership election right now is instigated by 'others' who may wish to use those two to promote an opportunity for themselves or indeed they are both genuine in trying to resolve the leadership question once and for all. My money is on the first. In other words some media seeking Labour politician is using the two ex's to see how far his lack goes. As far as I am concerned this is not the right time for a challenge and Gordon Brown is, right now, the only leader the country would trust. Any new pretenders will damage the party and the country's chances of overcoming the economic crisis. I would start an inquisition after the election if I was Gordon and rid the party of such self serving opportunists!

Neighbours

I had the misfortune to get in at 5.45 last night and switched the telly on somehow managed to go on to channel 5 where neighbours is shown so watched it for a total of 15 minutes. The impression I would make (if I was naive and came from the planet zanussi) is that almost everyone living in Australia or Melbourne at least is blond, Anglo Saxon, and has blue eyes and yes not many overweight people in neighbours either. The reason this idiotic programme irritates me is because it is without a doubt trying to sell an image that they think will appeal to those who don't agree with the theory of integration and diversity. They are getting away with it because the soap and its racist undertones is presented very carefully. But if what they portray is completely inaccurate then shouldn't that be challenged? And shouldn't the reason why they are presenting this 'Utopian' (in their own minds) life be examined and exposed? And most of all why is channel 5 paying for such garbage to be shown? The reality is that Australia is a successful country because of its healthy mix of new people and the split between Anglo Saxon and 'others' is an even one. This must be represented in this trashy programme if it is to be real.

Back to reality...

Most of us are returning back to work today after the Xmas break. I had a good time with family and very close friends and that to me is the essence of Xmas and the holidayperiod. New Years Eve was a great night out with my circle of friends and my partners mates. We had a good time but it took me the whole of the New Years day to recover.

Going back to work with a busy schedule and a number of major problems that need to be resolved. I think the employer will go ahead and delete the number of secondments that Unison has and this will obviously provoke a fight. The current 4.5 full time secondments we have is just about enough to enable us to deal with the work that the employer dishes out. It always amazes me that the employer who has a team of more than 110 HR staff (includes employee relations and payroll) thinks that we are over staffed with just 4.5 of us not all as experienced. This is unfair and not right. And it is no good the employer saying that in the outer Hebrides and the isle of Bollonie they only have one because the difference in volume and complexity is vastly different. So we will fight this move and we shall win.

There are also a lot of appeals to resolve and the AGM to get right which is on the 14th of January. We always have well attended AGM's and I am hoping the 2010 one will be as successful as the others. Our priority must be to recruit more members and I think the time is right to drive that new initiative.

Happy New Year! 2010

Happy New Year!