Oh well... let’s have a nice cup of tea (UNISON NEC results 2021)

This morning I found out that I had not been re-elected as a UNISON NEC member for Community.

Which was a blow but I offer sincere congratulations to my opponent Kevin Jackson on his election. 

Kevin is a former long serving Chair of our Community Service Group Executive and someone who I have worked with closely in the past and is experienced, sensible and pragmatic. 

I lost by 251 votes on a 5.1% turnout out of 84,487 eligible voters but such is life. 

11 years ago in a similar Community election we had at that time a 9.1% turnout (still very poor)

I am used to fighting elections in our Labour Movement family. Most I win but some I lose. If you cannot accept losing any election then don't stand in the first case. 

My fantastic Community running mate, Denise Thomas, also lost but rest assured we are going nowhere and look forward to remaining active and a possible (very probable) rematch in 2023. 

My condolences to the many superb candidates who were not elected on this occasion and I would suggest that people do not totally accept the rather OTT (in my view) analysis of the results expressed in some of the more excitable sections of social media. 

In the meanwhile check out my mentor George Orwell, on how to make the perfect nice cup of tea http://www.booksatoz.com/witsend/tea/orwell.htm

Socialism and Patriotism in a time of crisis

Recently the Labour Leader, Keir Starmer has faced some criticism following a leaked report recommending that the Party focuses on "flag and patriotism" to win back voters.

The former chair of the Fabians, Paul Richards has written a topical article (Socialism and Patriotism in a time of crisis" on the 80th anniversary of the war time pamphlet by George Orwell called "The Lion and the Unicorn - Socialism and the English Genius".

The famous opener of the pamphlet by Orwell is “As I write, highly civilised human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.”

While some of Orwell's work is dated and a product of his time, there is some telling points on Socialism and Patriotism

Richards quotes "Fyvel wrote that it ‘caught a patriotic English Socialist moment’. Through this frame, love of country could be commandeered in the service of progressive social change, something which Major Attlee and his ministers well understood after July 1945.

His publisher Fred Warburg said that Orwell’s jargon-free patriotic socialism made many recruits to the Labour party. By disentangling patriotism, a love for one’s country, from nationalism, a hatred for other people’s countries, Orwell showed how it can be a progressive force, and avoid the dead end of xenophobia".

While I don't wholly agree with everything I recommend a read of this article (and "The Lion and the Unicorn" and all of Orwell's works)

TUC Congress 2018: Tuesday Day 3

Still catching up on posts about last week's TUC Congress. After a "late night" on the Monday following the UNISON TUC delegation social (and aftermath) I was in Congress for the 9.30am start on the Tuesday but a little slow on "twitter" for some reason.  

I was really pleased at Congress for the support for "Show Racism the Red Card’s Wear Red Day, which this year will be on 19 October.

Lunchtime, I went to the "digital transformation for unions" fringe where Chair, Jenny Andrews, of Unions21 made it clear that we have to learn from Darwin survival of the fittest theory and as a movement either "adapt or die" to digital change (I sort of agree but not totally). 

Alison Charlton from UNISON digital team spoke about the quote that when digital transformation is done right, it is like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly but when it is done wrong, all you get is a really fast caterpillar.  She also made a really important practical point that don't just ask what people want from digital - but instead ask what is the problem & what do they want to achieve?  Her role as a professional is to provide the digital solution.

Ali Melanie from the NUS said the next big human rights issue will be on our data rights. People are still trying to grapple with the concept of "Ethical digital". He answered my question to the panel on how to deal with all the digital "babble" out there by saying we need to try and compartmentalise the information that unions send out to make it relevant. 

When an assistant general secretary from a more "traditional" union (who many years ago I was on an WEA Employment rights course with him) asked how he can digitalise union circulars sent out to members? Ali asked in apparent all seriousness "what is a circular?". 

I was interviewed by Dr Jeong-Hee Lee, a researcher from the Korean Labor Institute about collective bargaining in Local Government! We also discussed the UK Labour manifesto on this topic. She interviewed me a few years ago when she was researching her PHD. I was given a lovely gift for taking part in the survey. A traditional Korean image on a USB stick (see bottom right on college).

Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell MP, received a standing ovation after announcing to Congress on how he will be able to pay for nationalisation & public services. He has found the Tory Government Magic Money Tree in the Cayman Islands. He will dig it up and bring it back to UK to be planted!

In the evening I went to the "People's Museum" for the Daily Mirror fringe on the fantastic "Wigan Pier Project". It tracks where the author George Orwell went in the 1930s when he was researching his famous book "The Road to Wigan Pier". George wrote about the hunger and poverty he found at this time, while the project has followed in his exact footsteps and compare his findings with the dreadful child poverty, homelessness and unemployment in modern day Tory Britain. 

The Ideal London Pub "The Moon Under Water"

Off message but there was a marvellous report this morning on the Radio 4 "Today" programme about 9 February being the anniversary of the article "The Moon Under Water" written by George Orwell in 1946 on his "Ideal Pub".

They got different members of the public to read out the article on what makes the perfect London Pub.

A certain pub chain (owned ironically by a hard right political nutcase) has taken up the theme and a number his pubs use the same fictional name given by this famous left wing and anti fascist writer.

"Orwell stipulated ten key points[3] that his perfect pub in the London area should have (his criteria for country pubs being different, but unspecified):

The architecture and fittings must be uncompromisingly Victorian.

Games, such as darts, are only played in the public bar "so that in the other bars you can walk about without the worry of flying darts".

The pub is quiet enough to talk, with the house possessing neither a radio nor a piano.

The barmaids know the customers by name and take an interest in everyone.

It sells tobacco and cigarettes, aspirins and stamps, and "is obliging about letting you use the telephone".

"[...] there is a snack counter where you can get liver-sausage sandwiches, mussels (a speciality of the house), cheese, pickles and [...] large biscuits with caraway seeds [...]."

"Upstairs, six days a week, you can get a good, solid lunch—for example, a cut off the joint, two vegetables and boiled jam roll—for about three shillings."

"[...] a creamy sort of draught stout [...], and it goes better in a pewter pot."
 
"They are particular about their drinking vessels at "The Moon Under Water" and never, for example, make the mistake of serving a pint of beer in a handleless glass. Apart from glass and pewter mugs, they have some of those pleasant strawberry-pink china ones. [...] but in my opinion beer tastes better out of china."

"[...] You go through a narrow passage leading out of the saloon, and find yourself in a fairly large garden [...] Many as are the virtues of the Moon Under Water I think that the garden is its best feature, because it allows whole families to go there instead of Mum having to stay at home and mind the baby while Dad goes out alone."

Orwell admitted that "to be fair", he did know of a few pubs that almost came up to his ideal, including one that had eight of the mentioned qualities.

The essay finishes as follows:

And if anyone knows of a pub that has draught stout, open fires, cheap meals, a garden, motherly barmaids and no radio, I should be glad to hear of it, even though its name were something as prosaic as the Red Lion or the Railway Arms.

Oh well, never mind... let’s have a nice cup of tea

Coming home from work last night I found out by letter from the ERS that I had lost the election to be the London rep to the new UNISON "Community" Service Group.

Congratulations to my former branch secretary (Housing Association) Mary Powell, who was clearly elected for the General seat with 327 votes, also to Charlie Hore (Voluntary Organisations branch) who got 285 while I came third (aka last!) with 265.

Which, while recognising a defeat is a defeat, it is not that bad and something to learn and build upon in the future.

Turnout was as usual pretty poor at 9.1% (9,704 eligible voters) but considering this is the first such "Community" election and most regions either had no nominations for seats or only one candidate at least we had a contest.

I have had a good run of success in elections recently so I will take the rough with the smooth and as usual in these circumstances it is best to just have a nice cup of tea made strictly in accordance to the instructions of Mr Blair.

PS Just think – John McDonnell and I will from now on think of June 9 and actually have something in common.

See: it is true that every cloud has a silver lining :)

Big Brother Monitors Placa De George Orwell

Life imitating art? Hat tip Harry's Place

"Notes on Nationalism" George Orwell

There is a Facebook group that I am a “Fan” of called George Orwell. The group yesterday posted a link to his essay “Notes On Nationalism” which I don’t think I have ever read but found fasinating and would recommend. These are the first 3 paragraphs.

“Somewhere or other Byron makes use of the French word longeur, and remarks in passing that though in England we happen not to have the word, we have the thing in considerable profusion. In the same way, there is a habit of mind which is now so widespread that it affects our thinking on nearly every subject, but which has not yet been given a name. As the nearest existing equivalent I have chosen the word ‘nationalism’, but it will be seen in a moment that I am not using it in quite the ordinary sense, if only because the emotion I am speaking about does not always attach itself to what is called a nation — that is, a single race or a geographical area. It can attach itself to a church or a class, or it may work in a merely negative sense, against something or other and without the need for any positive object of loyalty.

By ‘nationalism’ I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled ‘good’ or ‘bad’(1). But secondly — and this is much more important — I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognising no other duty than that of advancing its interests. Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. Both words are normally used in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged, but one must draw a distinction between them, since two different and even opposing ideas are involved. By ‘patriotism’ I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality.

So long as it is applied merely to the more notorious and identifiable nationalist movements in Germany, Japan, and other countries, all this is obvious enough. Confronted with a phenomenon like Nazism, which we can observe from the outside, nearly all of us would say much the same things about it. But here I must repeat what I said above, that I am only using the word ‘nationalism’ for lack of a better. Nationalism, in the extended sense in which I am using the word, includes such movements and tendencies as Communism, political Catholicism, Zionism, Antisemitism, Trotskyism and Pacifism. It does not necessarily mean loyalty to a government or a country, still less to one's own country, and it is not even strictly necessary that the units in which it deals should actually exist. To name a few obvious examples, Jewry, Islam, Christendom, the Proletariat and the White Race are all of them objects of passionate nationalistic feeling: but their existence can be seriously questioned, and there is no definition of any one of them that would be universally accepted.”

Centre stage at the Llandudno Plalladium.

Off message - but last week a family visit to North Wales meant spending the day and night in the picture post card perfect "Queen of the Welsh Resorts" Llandudno. This kicked off with a lovely walk along the pier and then enjoying a cup of tea while taking in the views of the purpose built Victorian promenade and the limestone "Great Orme" headland. Glorious warm sunshine helped - of course it never rains much in North Wales.

There was predominately English accents about - Liverpool, Manchester and West Midlands - whose families may have holidayed in Llanddudno for generations.

That night we went for a meal and a few sherbets and ended up inside the recently restored Edwardian built "Llanduno Palladium". Alas, not restored as a musical hall any more but now a pub run by the ubiquitous Wetherspoon chain. The restoration does seem to have been done well and to a high standard. I sat on a table on what would have been the site of the theatre stage drinking beer in front of the stalls which in previous times the ancestors of those on the Pier would have been sitting enjoying live music and theatre.

The Palladium was quiet that night. Just people chatting and occasional pearls of laughter. It is also ironic that Wetherspoon is one of the few pub chains that doesn't usually have any bands, juke boxes or any background music playing.

BTW - The chain also apparently claims that many of its features "such as quiet bars and reasonably-priced lunches, are influenced by George Orwell's essay The Moon Under Water, in which Orwell described his concept of the perfect pub. Several Wetherspoons-owned pubs bear the name "The Moon Under Water".

Homage to Catalonia

I had a break from blogging the other week while enjoying sunshine (and rain) in Andalucía, Southern Spain. Okay, we actually stayed in the concrete seafront “British” colony that is Benalmadena Costa. Which wasn’t that great, but it was a good central base for getting around the province.

The rain did give me a chance to reread one of my all time favourite books, “Homage to Catalonia” by George Orwell. (Or by his real name Eric Blair – these Blair’s get about).

Orwell had volunteered to fight the Franco fascist rebellion against the socialist republican government in the Spanish civil War (1936-1939). He served on the front line for several months with a Catalonia militia which supported the revolutionary minded POUM movement.

It is a compelling story by an Eton educated former Burmese colonial policeman who travelled thousands of miles to voluntary take up arms, serve in often appalling conditions and risk his life for what he personally believed in not what his country wanted him to fight for.

The book works for me on a number of levels. It is a gripping account of the misery and squalor of 115 days of trench warfare (guess where George picked up his “Orwellian” hatred of rats). The description of an assault against an enemy strong point and the subsequent hand to hand combat is compelling.

He uniquely describes the role that lice have played in European combat over the ages. Countless generations of solders in famous battles have not only had to fight the enemy before them but at the same time the lice that were attacking their genitals! This is something most history books somehow fail to mention.

The book is also a political thriller. Despite risking his life for the Spanish republic and being shot in the neck by a fascist sniper “The whole experience of being hit by a bullet is very interesting and I think it is worth describing in detail”. George was identified as a political enemy by the republican government and narrowly avoided arrest or even execution due to his association with the POUM. He had to go in hiding while still recovering from his wounds before he was able to escape out of the country.

It is also a first hand political history of an important period. In very simplistic terms the POUM were repressed by its own government because it was thought as being in favour of promoting "revolution" in Spain as the only means of defeating the fascists. While the mostly communist government believed that the defeat of the fascists was the overwhelming priority and this needed a poplar front rather than a revolution. As well as disciplined and well trained regular armies rather than "egalitarian" workers militias.

Would Cuba have survived as long as it has without its well trained and disciplined regular armed forces?

Orwell of course does not come out of things without being open to criticism. He describes some of his British compatriots serving with him as being “rift raff”? Which in the book he annoyingly does not explain or elaborate. This runs the risk of him being portrayed as a Eton snob?

I also wonder about his apparent “support” for workers “revolution”? Of course since the POUM and the Anarchists were suppressed by the government (mostly Communist), who then went on to eventually lose the War, it is tempting to think that perhaps a “revolution” might have enabled the republic to defeat the fascists. Personally, I think that the republican government was only able to survive as long as it did since it had a lot of mainstream support. From the majority of Spaniards who were neither communists nor revolutionaries.

I find it quite revealing that Orwell casually mentioned that he only saw a couple of un-vandalised churches while he was in Spain. Many churches were vandalised, destroyed or even used as toilets. While I can understand that many republicans were anti-clerical and that the Catholic Church in Spain had largely been an oppressive institution. I find it difficult to understand how sensitive, intelligent, educated people such as Orwell could not realise the fatal damage being done to their cause by such pointless and counter productive destruction of sacred Church property and by the fairly widespread indiscriminate murder of clergy? The fascists were able to gain widespread support due to this stupidity.

By co-incidence the only mention of southern Spain in the book was rather rude comments about the fall of Malaga to the fascists and about the fighting qualities of Andalucía republican militia. While ironically the only significant reference I saw to the civil war during my stay was during a visit to the impressive town of Ronda. Where during the war, republicans apparently threw hundreds of supposedly Franco supporters to their deaths from the top of the gorge that divides the town. Looking down that gorge it must have been a horrible death. Things don’t change; Hamas threw members of Fatah off the top of tower blocks last year when they took over Gaza.

Despite everything going to pieces, George did have optimism for the future even it this was based on somewhat usual circumstances. While he was on the run from the Communist republican secret police, they raided his wife’s hotel bedroom late at night. They searched the room from top to bottom and took away all his letters and war souvenirs however, because they were Spanish men, they were unable to ask his wife to get out of her bed and search the bed or even underneath it. Since he could have had many subversive documents or even arms under her bed, he felt that this was a sign that whatever happened Spain would not become a proper fascist state like Germany.

Finally, I enjoyed George's typically British sardonic comments on being constantly congratulated as being very “lucky” after surviving being shot in the neck by the sniper. He thought that it would have been luckier not to have been hit at all!