Forest Gate Vigil for Jo Cox

Picture collage is from the vigil held yesterday morning (I was out of London this weekend) in Forest Gate for Jo Cox MP, who was murdered by an apparently mentally disturbed but committed Nazi and Fascist. 

It was organised by West Ham Labour Women's Forum and our local MP, Lyn Brown, was the main speaker. 

It was I understand a very moving and emotional meeting.

I did not know Jo at all and while I am outraged at her horrible death I also note how many people were equally shocked and disturbed at her killing. 

At the Forest Gate North Labour Party candidate selection meeting on Thursday which I chaired, I was genuinely surprised how many members beforehand came up to me to insist that we had a minute's silence to honour her. 

Since then I have spoken to other friends and family members and I was struck by how they understood the connection with the massacre in Orlando a few days beforehand and the disgusting campaign by some Brixit right wing media and campaigners to demonise anyone who supports remaining in the European Union. See the vile collection of Daily Express front pages in the collage. 

Did they encourage Mr. "Death to Traitors"? If so they have innocent blood on their hands. 

Hat tip photos Seyi, Rok and Veronica

Filipino Nurses Protest outside the "racist" Daily Mail

Over 250 Filipino NHS nurses protested today outside the Headquarters of the right wing tabloid newspaper, The Daily Mail. They were demanding an apology from the Mail for racially stereotyping all Filipino nurses as potential "murderers", following the conviction of Philippine born Victorino Chua.

It is pretty clear that Victorino Chua is a duplicitous psychopath. However, so was the serial child killer nurse, Beverley Allitt and the mass murderer, Doctor Harold Shipman. I don't recall any calls at the time they were convicted to ban all english born medical professionals. If there is fraud in any medical recruitment this needs to be dealt with but don't tar everyone with the same brush.

Filipino nurses due to their caring and medical skills are in great demand all over the world. In the UK we are short of 20,000 nurses. UNISON estimates by directly employing Filipino nurses saves the NHS £300 million per year in agency nursing fees.

I suspect that nearly all of us have been treated (gratefully) at a hospital by a Filipino nurse at one time or another. I know I have. To slur all of them with the actions of one is simply a disgrace and if the Daily Mail had any real journalistic values - it should apologise.

UPDATE:
This is the statement handed in to the Daily Mail yesterday by protesters.

"Solidarity gathering supporting UK Filipino Health Workers

Following the recent conviction and sentencing of Nurse Victoriano Chua for murdering 2 patients and poisoning 18 others, the Daily Mail published several references to him being Filipino.

We believed that the nationality of the perpetrator of these wicked crimes should be irrelevant. We would accept a reference to Chua being of Filipino ethnicity within the body of the story, however the Daily Mail refereed to Chua as a ' Filipino serial killer' in the title of the news article is uncalled for.

The other headline story which is causing offence and indeed difficulties for Filipino nurses is 'Why are the NHS still hiring Filipino nurses?'

We believe that one person’s mistake doesn’t reflect everyone.

We consider the article by Daily Mail questioning the credibility of Filipino Nurses, including all working Filipinos in the UK, malicious and degrading. Filipino nurses have undergone four years of tedious study, community and clinical based experiences and need to pass a gruelling board examination before they can be called Registered Nurse.

What happened was a tragedy and safety measures have to be implemented to stop it from happening again however, scaremongering and targeting a specific group of people is not helping.

The Daily Mail should be shamed of its biased, partial reporting that is inciting racial hatred which we believe is a crime in the United Kingdom.

These are the reasons for our protest, we demand an apology and for the Daily Mail to highlight the outstanding contribution Filipino health care workers make to the United Kingdom.

Finally, on behalf of the organising committee, in one with the overwhelming majority of Filipinos throughout the United Kingdom and indeed the world, we would like to say how truly sorry we are about the shocking crimes committed by Chua and we send our deepest condolences and prayers to the families of the victims.

Organisers

Malcolm Conlan

Araial Ilustre

Ric Patriarca

Tara Tiyagarajan

Vannz Bio

Glenda Salazar Taylor

Phoebe Dimacali

Rommel C. Abellar

SIGNED

Saturday 30th May 2015"

Is the Daily Mail "Sorry" it backed the Nazi?

Superb cartoon in Guardian by Steve Bell. A response to the deliberate Tory smear attacks on Harriet Harman.Hat tip Ravi.

Check out this : -
(Daily Mail owner) Lord Rothermere was a friend of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, and directed the Mail's editorial stance towards them in the early 1930s.^[34][35] Rothermere's 1933 leader "Youth Triumphant" praised the new Nazi regime's accomplishments, and was subsequently used as propaganda by them.^[36] In it, Rothermere predicted that "The minor misdeeds of individual Nazis would be submerged by the immense benefits the new regime is already bestowing upon Germany". Journalist John Simpson, in a book on journalism, suggested that Rothermere was referring to the violence against Jews and Communists rather than the detention of political prisoners.^[37]
Rothermere and the Mail were also editorially sympathetic to Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists.^[38] Rothermere wrote an article entitled "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" in January 1934, praising Mosley for his "sound, commonsense, Conservative doctrine",^[39] and pointing out that: "Young men may join the British Union of Fascists by writing to the Headquarters, King's Road, Chelsea, London, S.W."^[40]

What did you do to fight the Nazi?

Meet with Hitler or man a destroyer during the Normandy Landings?

"Ed Miliband attacks Daily Mail for smearing his father"

Ed responds to the disgusting story about his late father by the "Daily Hate". I wonder how many of these so called "journalists" have ever risked their lives fighting for this country?

(Guardian) "Labour leader Ed Miliband was engaged in a bitter personal and political battle with the Daily Mail last night, accusing it of smearing his father by asserting he was unpatriotic even though he had fought in the second world war for Britain against the Nazis.

Following discussions, the Mail's editor Paul Dacre agreed to publish a very personal right of reply by Miliband, rebutting claims in a piece published on Saturday asserting Miliband's father, Ralph, was a Jewish Marxist who hated Britain and its establishment.

The row has echoes of Miliband's decision to take on Rupert Murdoch's News International over phone hacking.

Ed Miliband's father was a Jewish refugee who fled to Britain ahead of the second world war and then fought for the Britain. The original Mail article said Ralph Miliband had no love of Britain and, indeed, hated the country.

In his piece published by the Mail on Tuesday, Miliband asserted: "It was June 1944 and the Allies were landing in Normandy. A 20-year-old man, who had arrived in Britain as a refugee just four years earlier, was part of that fight. He was my father. Fighting the Nazis and fighting for his adopted country.

"On Saturday, the Daily Mail chose to publish an article about him under the banner headline 'The Man Who Hated Britain.' It's part of our job description as politicians to be criticised and attacked by newspapers, including the Daily Mail. It comes with the territory. The British people have great wisdom to sort the fair from the unfair. And I have other ways of answering back.

"But my Dad is a different matter. He died in 1994. I loved him and he loved Britain. And there is no credible argument in the article or evidence from his life which can remotely justify the lurid headline and its accompanying claim that it would 'disturb everyone who loves this country'."

After defending his father and his patriotism, he concluded that the Daily Mail article was of a different order to the normal criticism politicians faced. "I know they say 'you can't libel the dead' but you can smear them," the Labour leader wrote.

"Fierce debate about politics does not justify character assassination of my father, questioning the patriotism of a man who risked his life for our country in the second world war or publishing a picture of his gravestone with a tasteless pun about him being a 'grave socialist'.

"The Daily Mail sometimes claims it stands for the best of British values of decency. But something has really gone wrong when it attacks the family of a politician – any politician – in this way. It would be true of an attack on the father of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, or mine.

"There was a time when politicians stayed silent if this kind of thing happened, in the hope that it wouldn't happen again. And fear that if they spoke out, it would make things worse. I will not do that. The stakes are too high for our country for politics to be conducted in this way. We owe it to Britain to have a debate which reflects the values of how we want the country run."

Although the Mail published Miliband's piece, it repeated its original claim and ran an editorial refusing to apologise over what it called an "evil legacy".

The Labour leader's office responded to the Mail editorial saying: "Ed Miliband wrote his right to reply article because he wanted to state clearly that his father loved Britain.

"He wanted the Daily Mail to treat his late father's reputation fairly. Rather than acknowledge it has smeared his father, the newspaper has repeated its original claim. This simply diminishes the Daily Mail further.

"It will be for people to judge whether this newspaper's treatment of a war veteran, Jewish refugee from the Nazis and distinguished academic reflects the values and decency we should all expect in our political debate."

The row comes at a sensitive time as the privy council decides this month whether to accept a royal charter proposed by leading newspaper groups or by the three main political parties". (Picture of Royal Navy on route to Normandy for D Day 1944)

If you are a home owner then you must of course be a vile mass murderer!

Hat tip to Red Brick for a brilliant post on the nasty, ignorant and bigoted coverage by the Daily Hates over the conviction of Mick Philpot for the manslaughter of his 6 children.

Now don't get me wrong Philpot and his accomplices are completely evil scum bags who need to be locked up for life but just because he and his family were on welfare does not mean that everyone who claims benefits are somehow potential mass murderers?

Dr Harold Shipman was a respectable GP, higher rate taxpayer and homeowner.

His housing tenure and source of income had nothing to do with his intent to mass murder 218 patients.

Daily Mail "Clarifications & corrections" Best Post?

It was actually December 2011, but is one of my favourites. Hat tip Rupa.

(Apologies to Uncle Sam).

Health and Safety Christmas Myths

Check out the list of Christmas "myths" (or rather complete porkies and distortions) about health and safety. This "Top 10" list was  compiled by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). 

The same old (dare I say) chestnuts are here - such as children being banned from having snowball fights and carol singers being classified as a health and safety risk.  This is indeed a load of old nonsense but this has nothing to do with safety regulations.  Some organisations just use 'elf n' safety as an excuse. While many Tory politicians and their media just make things up about safety issues in order to make cheap political points.

If trivialising health and safety wasn't such a serious issue you would be amused by the attempt of the Daily Telegraph who covered the story here as some sort of attack on "health and safety killjoys" yet completely missing the point that the problem is not the safety regulations but myth making and grossly inaccurate reporting by...(amongst many others)... The Daily Telegraph.  See their coverage here of Brownies being banned from carol singing. Never mind the rubbish put out by its political stable mate the Daily Mail. 

Finally check out this piece of common sense written last year by IOSH Chair, Rob Strange. 

Daily Mail "clarifications & corrections"

So, so true...The Daily Mail is completely and utterly vile and hateful.  (double click on scan to bring up detail). Hat tip thingy Rupa.

SERTUC Regional Council motion: Response to Government Economic Policies

This is a picture of me addressing the recent SERTUC (South East Regional TUC) Council meeting.

(Yes, I must remember to stick my head up from my speech notes when speaking).

Motion 1 was about the "Response to Government Economic Policies". It was quite a good motion which I spoke in favour of but I felt that it needed to be emphasised what November 30 should really be about.

"President, Council....Winning the Ballot with a big majority and a big turnout then making strike action on November 30th a success, is indeed the 1st important counter attack against this Government's policies.

But as a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme for 20 years and currently facing a bleak pension future. If we win the ballot then the strike action on November 30 is first and foremost an industrial issue. It is an industrial dispute around the fundamental threat to a basic term and condition for all workers. The right to a safe and secure future in retirement.

And we must continue to remind the public that this is a last resort industrial dispute brought about by the abject failure by this Government to negotiate.

The focus on November 30 should be the picket line. Winning the dispute with effective pickets on every single town hall and public building. Leafleting the public, talking to them about our cause, supporting hospital workers at their lunch time protests, then maximising turnout at rallies and lobbies.

Also as someone who now works for a private organisation that does not offer its new employees a safe and secure defined benefit pension. As part of this fight back we must never forget the 2/3 of employers in the private sector that do not pay a penny towards the pensions of their staff nor the horrific figure that 50% of all private sector workers have no pension provision whatsoever.

However, despite the impression given by the Daily Hates and the Tax Evaders Alliance, don’t forget that as well as the 6 million in public service pension schemes that there are still 2.4 million private sector workers who are still accruing service in private defined benefit schemes. They know if the public service defined benefit schemes collapse - so will theirs.

Council, the message to all workers, public and private sector, must be quite clear, that on 30 November we will be striking to defend safe and secure pensions for all".

The Daily (Hate) Mail Song

What a Great video! Hat tip Stroppyblog.

Cameron tells porkies about ‘elf n safety

I was listening today to the completely moronic Daily Hate editorial rubbish that Tory leader David Cameron was putting out today. This was about how we try to protect workers, consumers and young children in this country from unnecessary death and disability.

See the TUC response and Luke exposing further Tory hypocrisy. Finally check out the Daily Mirror video of Cameron breaking basic road safety rules. Obviously he thinks that our pragmatic, common sense laws and regulations should not apply to Old Etonions - only all of us who are not millionaires.

"Why Councils must ban the Daily Mail"

The (other) Taxpayer Alliance have posted here on the absolute outrage of Peterborough Council staff looking up the Daily Hate (sic Mail) from Council computers. The said Daily Mail (sic Hate) was the seventh most popular web site visited by staff. Facebook was 10th.

Why is Council taxpayer’s money being wasted allowing staff to access this Daily Hypocrite?

Surely we must ban this Daily Bile up and down the country to stop this complete shocking waste of scarce public funds.

Counselling and therapy for staff found to have been looking at the site must be offered immediately.

(Guest Post by Disgusted from Forest Gate)

Myths, Lies and Hate about Immigration and Public Housing

Racist lies put out by the BNP and their “Daily Hate” cheerleaders are pretty much exposed by research from the National Housing Federations (aka the “Fed” in Housing Association circles).

The BNP have somewhat successfully peddled the myths that homes are being given to immigrants ahead of “local families”. Which those of us who actually work in providing front line housing services have always known to be rubbish. The Fed reveals that in 2008/09 only 4.6% of lettings went to non-UK citizens.

This builds on other published research by the Local Government Association and the Equality and Human Rights Commission that only 2% of people who live in public housing were born outside the UK and that most new migrants end up in the “bottom end of private housing”.

This will give me some information to use when out canvassing and you come across people who genuinely believe that the only reason why they or their children cannot be rehoused is due to "immigrants". Sometimes they are even black Brits who have swallowed the racist’s line in frustration at their own personal overcrowding housing misery.

Now, I support in principal the idea that there should be a greater priority in local authority waiting lists for “local people”. But until we start building sufficient new homes for rent for those in the greatest of need as well as for general needs it is all simply moonshine.

What we need is political will and action - a mass national housing programme - this is as evidence based and joined up thinking as you can get it.

“Construction Deaths on a Par with Armed Forces”

While the latest news is that Prince Harry (correctly in my view) has been removed from Afghanistan following the disclosure that he was there with his military unit, I was reminded of certain comments. Guess who said: -

“In the six years to 2004, there were 504 construction-related deaths, and 522 in the Armed forces over the same period. It’s pretty staggering – do people really think when they go into construction that they’re going into an industry that has nearly a high fatality as the Armed services”.

This person was the guest speaker at this years Institute of Safety & Health (IOSH) annual Dinner. He then went on to say about the IOSH

"There is an unbelievable and totally unfair negative image of your profession in the UK. The prevention of work-related injuries and deaths is too important not to fight it”.

The Daily Hate and the “health & safety are the new Taliban” brigade will no doubt be seething about this impossible leftie for saying such a thing.

Well, believe it or not the speaker was Tory shadow work and pensions minister, Andrew Selous.
Whether he means it or not is another thing of course.

In just less than two months it is “Workers Memorial Day” 28 April 2008. I’ll post further about this important event.

Health and Safety “Ban” Christmas Decorations

Bah Humbug! Actually the Health & Safety Executive website “Myth of the Month” feature quite rightly lampoons the Daily Hate et al for pretending that companies are “banned” from putting up Crimbo decorations in office because of “Health & Safety”.

Some firms are too lazy or "Scrooge" like to pay for decorations and will just any old excuse to get out of it.

They point out that decorations are actually put up in HSE buildings without any fuss or bother. All they expect employers to do is sensible practical things such as provide a “suitable step ladder to put up decorations rather than expecting staff to balance on wheelie chairs”.

Makes sense to me.

Film Rate your Blog

Hat trick to Canadian Labour blogger Wernerpatels for the link to a Mingle2 Website which claims to assess the “film rating of your blog”. You just type in the URL of your blog, face book or web site and they will “rate it”. They came out with a “parental guidance” rating for this blog.

Apparently, since the word “gun” comes up once and “murder” twice, in my previous posts. Which I assume refers to these on gun and knife crime. Not sure that this earns a PG rating? The Sun and the Daily Mirror is supposed to have a reading age of 9 or less (I think)? God knows what they and the Daily Hate would get under this assessment!

UPDATE: in fact I have just used it to rate the Daily Hate and it came back as "Restricted"! Wish that everyone who bought it had to still get the permission of their parents. Especially pensioners. Do wonders for its circulation.