This is what false consciousness really looks like.

The Socialist Workers Party (Which contains no Socialists, no workers & nobody who knows how to party) Have now taken it upon themselves to rewrite history in order to make Hitler look like the innocent victim of circumstance. Don't believe me?  Judge for yourself: http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=22209
To be sure ultra Authoritarianism is the common denominator between Leninists & Fascists but it is seldom as explicit as it is made here.
Never the most realistic people in the world, I thought the SWP had finally lost what little of the plot they had when they started denouncing Atheism as "Racism" but this goes even further.

I now expect them to come out as Holocaust Deniers in the very near future. They've been travelling in that direction for decades.

Choosing A Leader . . .

Next Wednesday ballot papers will be distributed for the Labour Party Leadership election.
I have not said who I intend to vote for much less told anybody else how they should vote and I shall not do so here as I dislike the "Go Thou And Do Likewise" aspect of such exercises. I am neither qualified nor entitled to tell you what to think.

However I shall say this;
* If you have chosen to vote for David Miliband then you have chosen wisely because you have chosen a candidate who recognises that Labour must be a mass, democratic party.

* If you have chosen to vote for Ed Miliband then you have chosen wisely because you have chosen a candidate who recognises the need to reinvigorate our participation in the democratic process as a nation.

* If you have chosen Ed Balls then you have chosen wisely because you have chosen you have chosen a candidate who has led the fight against unfair VAT rises.

* If you have chosen Andy Burnham then you have chosen wisely because you have chosen a candidate who connects with ordinary members.

*If you have chosen Diane Abbott then you have chosen wisely because you have chosen the most experienced Parliamentarian standing.

I want to see the strongest possible Labour Party. A Labour party that represents the Left of the possible.

I am impressed by the positive atmosphere within which the campaign has taken place.

A point to ponder: Whoever emerges as Leader of the Labour Party and hence Leader of the Opposition will face, across the floor of the Commons, a Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister who became leaders of their respective parties by stabbing their respective predecessors in the back.
Our way is better.

Can someone please explain this?

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-its-good-to-talk-2060179.html

A reasonable sounding opinion piece on the current situation existing between Trade Unions and Government.
That is as it ought to be. It is a serious matter which requires information that can be reflected upon, discussed & debated.
The problem lies with the following quote:
"This Government has an electoral mandate for cuts of significant degree."
Did I miss a memo? My understanding was that we had a General Election which nobody won in any meaningful sense of the term and that the Coalition was put together after a series of off the record, behind closed doors deal brokering between the Blue & Orange Tories.
So when, by whom and on what criteria was it decided that they have any kind of mandate as a consequence?
Or is the title "The Independent" intended to be ironic?

Why I DON'T hate Liberal Democrats.

I have been asked more than once of late why I hate Liberal Democrats. That's a perfectly legitimate question to which I shall give an honest answer right here & right now. I don't. It's as simple as that.

My maternal Grandfather was a staunch Liberal, my own brother was a member of the LibDems until very recently. In the public eye, I would cite Ian Hislop and, especially, Stephen Fry as Liberal Democrat supporters whom I respect and admire.
Once you make the equation "All x are bastards" you either have to make a lengthy list of exceptions or turn your back on people you care about. So let's not play that stupid and dangerous game.

To be sure I, like most people in this country, AM angry at them but anger doesn't equal hatred.
I am not advocating blood in the streets or storming the Winter Palace.

I am thinking of two people I know who are being subjected to a particularly hideous injustice. The support of our Government has been actively sought in respect of this matter. It has not been forthcoming.
I am a heterosexual male who is disgusted by David Cameron and (especially) Nick Clegg. Irrespective of which fact, if I could secure justice for those people by fellating either or both of them  in Parliament Square tomorrow morning, I would do it.
I abhor corruption in public life but if by signing over the bulk of my earnings for the rest of my life to Liberal Democratic party funds, I could get their vicious campaign of defamation against Disabled People who are in receipt of welfare benefits called off I would do it.
If I  could get Clegg to recognise the contradiction in his advocacy of a "Small State" and the contempt which his party shows to the millions of carers in this country (The sort of people upon whom such initiatives are wholly dependent) by sending him a dozen red roses, I would do it.

As for issuing the Kalashnikovs, well, shocking as it may seem, I don't actually have any. Even if I did, I would only be thinking in those terms once all other alternatives, possibilities and choices had been unequivocally closed. And even then I'd be looking for reasons to say "No".

I remember Paul O'Grady once talking about his aunt in an interview. She was the inspiration for Lily Savage and seems to have been a formidable woman. She served as part of a civilian Anti-Aircraft gun crew during the war. Defending her home, her country and her loved ones from attack night after night after night.
In spite of this he said of her; "She didn't actually hate the Germans, she just wanted to get a good night's sleep."
Substitute "LibDems" for "Germans" and that's exactly how I feel right now.

People are more important than ideology. Can we accept that? Please?