"Night Anti-Hate Marchers faced down the thugs"

 

I do not normally post on Daily Mail front pages but as a UNISON colleague of mine has said regarding this uniquely progressive article by it..."Wow". 

Hat tip Captain Swing

"Equity vultures prey on the elderly"

I am definitely not a Daily Mail reader but hats off to this article on the investors who take profits at the expense of care homes residents.  Pension funds and other asset owners take note. If you do "invest" in this sector, what are you doing to make sure you are are not preying on our most vulnerable? 

Hat tip UNISON Jamie Brown

"If she drowns she's a refugee, if she floats she's an economic migrant".

This is the "Katie Hopkins" immigration test that the Tories are thinking of introducing to appease The Sun and Daily Mail readers.

Hat tip Becky Tye.

Daily Mail Free Zone

"Spotted On a Train to Norwich" Hat tip The Poke. 

I take the train to Norwich for work on quite a regular basis and look forward to sitting in this coach.

Hopefully it is a Sun free zone as well? 

:)

"Filipino nurses call for apology"

See my previous post here and this report was in the UNISON national efocus newsletter today.

"Demanding an apology

Filipino nurses - including many UNISON members - protested outside the offices of the Daily Mail at the weekend to demand an apology over its Why are the NHS still hiring Filipino nurses? article in the wake of the Victoriano Chua murder conviction.

He was convicted of murdering two patients and poisoning 18 others, and the demonstration sent "deepest condolences and prayers to the families of the victims."

But the 250-strong crowd was equally clear that the action of one criminal should not be used to target everyone who happens to share the same nationality.

Filipino nurses are highly trained and their employment helps the UK overcome a shortage of 20,000 nurses.

UNSION estimates that the NHS saves £300m a year in agency nursing fees by directly employing Filipino nurses.

The union's London nursing officer, Michael Walker, said: "We condemn poor care wherever it is to be found, regardless of the ethnic origins of the nurse concerned, and we support the highest standards of monitoring and validation of skills.

"Evil people don't just exist amongst people of a different country to our own.

"Nurse Beverley Allitt and Dr Harold Shipman proved that evil people are to be found among all groups and all professions."

And he added: "Filipino nurses have a great reputation among their colleagues for their quality of care and dedication, and to demonise all Filipino nurses for the actions of one evil man is unfair and unacceptable.

"We would urge the Daily Mail to print an article addressing the important role overseas nurses play in the UK over the decades play in UK in both the NHS and private nursing home sector."

UNISON in healthcare

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"

Today is ‘Let’s remember the Daily Mail supported Hitler’ day!

"It has been announced that December 28th is from now on to be the day when we should all remember that just prior to the Second World War, English newspaper the Daily Mail was actively supporting the Nazi dictator Hitler.....

The decision to have a special day to remind people that behind the Mail’s paper-thin facade of middle class respectability lurks a creepingly foul fascist cesspit has been in the pipeline for a while, but finally came to fruition following the paper’s story today about the Queen’s correspondence with former nutter and cannibal Idi Amin.

The Daily Mail sees fit to be critical of Queen Elizabeth’s official communications with Amin in the seventies, seemingly oblivious to the fact that a mere 40 years before they were themselves sucking at the bitter Aryan teat of the man who sent millions to the gas chambers.

In case anyone has forgotten, the Mail’s owner Lord Rothermere published a famous editorial titled “Hurrah for the Blackshirts” in the early thirties, and in 1934 flew to Germany to offer Hitler his support. Incredibly, this sort of thing is hardly ever mentioned in the Daily Mail these days.

Based on the breathtaking hypocrisy of the Daily Mail in just about everything it does, it seems appropriate to choose a special day when the paper’s previous support for fascism can be remembered, commented upon and widely used to annoy current readers.

It is expected that this day will henceforth be a festival of national celebration of tolerance, understanding and ridicule of shit journalism. Schoolchildren are to be encouraged to produce their own spoof newspapers attacking immigrants, gays and cancer, and there will be bunting.

In conclusion, please join with us, readers, in celebrating December 28th as “International the Daily Mail supported Hitler” day!"

the poorest pay 47% of their income in tax (the richest pay 34%)

Check out post at TUC Touchstone: "Saving Our Safety Net Fact of the Week: the poorest pay 47% of their income in tax (the richest pay 34%).

Why should the poorest pay the most and don't let the Daily Mail continue to confuse income tax with all taxes and National insurance.

Note: taxes as a proportion of gross incomes

"Six myths about how the unions are ruining Britain"

"Don't believe everything you read about the trade unions – particularly if it's in the Daily Mail" Top article by Guardian columnist Ellie Mae O'Hagan.

I particularly like the myth "The unions do nothing for ordinary people" and her response "Actually this one's true. Except for paid holidays, the eight-hour day, paid sick leave, bringing an end to child labour, fighting for equal pay, better health and safety regulation, fighting workplace discrimination, the unions have done absolutely nothing".

Can you be a Socialist and a Patriot?

Hat tip to Ipswich Labour Councillor and former soldier Alasdair Ross, for his post on Lord West, who is a former Labour government minister and 1st Sea Lord (Head of Royal Navy).

Lord West confirmed to Alasdair at a "Labour Friends of the Forces" reception that he had told the Daily Telegraph his views of Tory minister Michael Gove, who suggested that you cannot be a Socialist and a Patriot by promising to teach him in a boxing ring - that you can.

Gove's ill judged comments remind me of the Daily Mail's foul attacks on the Patriotism of Labour Leader Ed Miliband by attacking his father Ralph Miliband, as a man "who hated Britain".

As the poster above reminds us, Ed's father was risking his life for Britain in the Royal Navy during the D Day landings, while a few years before, the owner of the Daily Mail was praising Hitler and the fascist Blackshirts.

Of course you can be a socialist and be a patriot who wants to defend your country against militarist or Nazi aggression. However, being proud of your country doesn't mean you think it is perfect and  that you don't want to change it for the better.

I would also add that in my view, if you are a socialist (as I define), you just have to be also an internationalist. 

My final comment is that during Easter 1982 I was a 19 year old officer cadet in the territorial army and went on a familiarisation course with 29 Commando Regiment in Plymouth. During the course we visited the naval base and went on a tour of one of the ships based there called HMS Ardent. It was an interesting break from very arduous exercises and its crew were very friendly and welcoming.

A few short weeks later during the Battle for the Falklands, HMS Ardent was struck by 17 bombs in less than 22 minutes and was sunk, killing 22 (10%) of its crew. Its captain was the last man to leave the ship. His name was Alan West, who later became Lord West. A man who has actually some life experience to back his views, unlike Mr Gove, that you can indeed, be a socialist and a patriot.

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]

Labour Today in West Ham

Picture collage is from last Saturday's Labour doorstep in West Ham ward.

The "gang of three" on the left are West Hammers John Whitworth, Ron Manley and yours truly.

One proud resident had the West Ham Football Club motif on their wall (top right).

As well as door knocking we were delivering the latest newsletter "Labour Today". 

There was a debate with residents whether the emergency locksmith number illegally stick on everyone's letter plate in this street and elsewhere (bottom right) was a failed locksmith business venture or a "sophisticated new scam" (see Daily Mail) by burglar's to identify vulnerable properties.

I have phoned the number but it has been constantly engaged. 

I have been told that placing the stickers on doors is probably criminal damage but there is no evidence that this was part of any wider criminal conspiracy.  Surely this not mean that the Daily Mail was telling porkies? 

Truth, Lies and Migrants: Jan 1 2014

First post from 2014. From today according to the Daily Mail et al the UK is about to be overrun with migrants from Romania and Bulgaria. 

Least we forget about the estimated 1 million Brits in Spain! Hat tip SWTUC. 

Daily Mail caught out lying again & turning into your Dad

When I was growing up my father banned newspapers from our house. He said that they were all biased and we should get our news from the BBC TV at 9pm. He knew that the BBC (bless it) was not perfect but he was satisfied that they meant well and usually got their reporting right most of the time.

I disagreed and use to love reading newspapers. As a teenager I worked in a Newsagents and in the school holidays would try and read every paper in stock. I found it fascinating how different papers would report the same story. Over the years I have become more and more disenchanted with newspapers and have now pretty much stopped buying them.

The latest example of lies and smears published in the Daily Mail last week about Gordon Brown MP just beggars belief (see rare retraction above). You would have thought with the current phone hacking criminal trial and unease about the proposed press regulation charter they would have been just a little big careful about what they publish?

The broadsheets are better but not that much better.  Leaving aside the Sunday Times which I don't believe anything it says anymore. They all seem to be aimed at wealthy middle class elites who obsess over super expensive cars, Waitrose cooking ingredients and exotic holidays in the Seychelles. I exaggerate slightly to make my point and I do on occasions read something interesting and well written but I usually get bored reading them and end up throwing most of it away unread.

Provocative and opinionated stuff you can nowadays get very easily on the Internet. 

I will still read the local press and specialist weeklies but I find myself in yet another way, turning into a slightly updated version of my old Dad. I have decided not to buy daily or Sunday papers and rely on the BBC for my main news.  Now of course largely via their website and PC, tablet, laptop and smartphone.

#Lab13 While Labour was resuming its historic mission to save Capitalism - from itself

I have now had over a week to reflect (and recover) on the highs and lows from the Labour Conference 2013 (and also to enjoy the faux outrage of the Tories and some big businesses).

The high of the conference was I think the re-balance of British Labour politics however so slightly to "the left".

What Ed Miliband is proposing is a small but still significant shift away from a view that capitalism always "knows best" towards a more hard headed, pragmatic and interventionist stance.

But nothing has really happened to scare the horses. Do not forget that most Tories believe in an active role for the state. With only their most reactionary swivel eyed loons calling for the privatisation of the Royal family or the Brigade of Guards (mind you there were few of these in Manchester last week).

It is a question of balance. The evidence of the financial crisis of 2007 is surely that left to itself, capitalism will destroy itself (and us with it). 

There was also some excellent fringes and debates on the conference floor. It was great to meet up with people from all over the UK and talk "politics".

While on the downside I experienced yet another MP having a strop because I didn't know he was a MP and had innocently asked what he was doing at conference? At a late night reception a certain journalist refused to speak to me because he claimed that I had misquoted him in a post. He then did a very poor Jimmy Cagney impersonation before flouting off.

I also witnessed some incredible rudeness by extremely self important individuals whose size of their ego's made me wonder how on earth they managed to walk through doorways?

Yet such incidents were very much in the minority and the vast majority of Party members, delegates and visitors behaved impeccably and were a joy to be with. My MP Lyn Brown was asked by a delegate at the London reception where she was from and she replied "Oh, I'm from West Ham CLP".

I think this conference is a game changer that has enhanced the standing of Ed Miliband.  Probably the greatest inverted compliment is that the only reason the Daily Mail launched its recent disgusting attack on his dead father is because they see Ed as a future Labour Prime Minister.

Roll on 2015.

(picture of the traditional singing of "The Red Flag" at  close of conference)

What did you do to fight the Nazi?

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

The Man who loved Fascism

The vile and disgusting Daily Mail. Never forget its "Hurrah for the Blackshirts". We need proper regulation of these filth and trash comics!

"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)

Should I Read the Daily Mail?

Check out this important new website "Should I Read the Daily Mail?"

"An in-depth analysis of whether or not you should read one of the UK's best selling daily papers".

All you need to know about should read the Daily Mail or not. 

Click here now!

Hat tip Gary Williams Facebook (& once again sorry to my Uncle Sam who loves his Daily Mail and complains I keep picking on it. Yes folks, many working class people do like the Daily Mail and this is something we have to get our heads around).

PIRC Corporate Governance & Responsible Investment Journalism Awards 2013

On Wednesday evening I went to the PIRC awards at the Design Museum on the south bank of London.

The winning journalists were Tom Bergin from Reuters (2nd left) who won the Corporate Governance Award for stories on tax dodging by Google. 

While Rob Davies (3rd from left) from the Daily Mail won the SRI award for his work on polluting mining giant Glencore (now who would think there was good in the Daily Mail?).

I suppose that I should ask PIRC MD, Alan MacDougall (on right of photo) why there isn't an award for CG or RI Blogging?  Or is this a contradiction in terms? :)  Must ask Tom P (who was poorly last week and missed the event).