Bijou Drains
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Additionally the German Empire established universal male suffrage in 1871. So all German soldiers in WW1 had the vote, whereas all British soldiers did not. The proportion of British soldiers who had the vote would probably have been far less than the 66% quoted by Adam, as the proportion of soldiers who were heads of households would have been much smaller due to their relative youth. So much for “fighting for the cause of freedom”
An oft overlooked song lyric which most Socialists would support is “Walls come tumbling down” by the Style Council (although Weller was a Labourite at the time)
“You don’t have to take this crap
You don’t have to sit back and relax
(You can actually try changing it)I know we’ve always been taught to rely
Upon those in authority
But you never know until you try
How things just might be
(If we came together so strongly, yeah)Are you gonna try to make this work
Or spend your days down in the dirt
You see things can change
Yes an’ walls come tumbling down(Governments crack and systems fall
‘Cause unity is powerful)
Lights go out
Walls come tumbling downYes, they do
(Yes, they do)
Yes, they do
(Yes, they do)The competition is a color TV
We’re on still pause with the video machine
(That keep you slaves to the H.P., yeah)Until the unity is threatened by
Those who have and who have not
Those who are with and those who are without
And dangle jobs like a donkey’s carrot
(Until you don’t know where you are)Are you gonna get to realize
The class war’s real, not mythologized
And like Jericho
Yes, the walls came tumbling down(Governments crack and systems fall)
(‘Cause unity is powerful)
Lights go out
Walls come tumbling(Down) You’ll be too weak to fight it
(Down) [?]
(Down) Oh, will you deny it?Are you gonna be threatened by
The public enemies number ten
Those who play the power game
They take the profits, you take the blame
(When they tell you there’s no rise in pay)Are you gonna try to make this work
Or spend your days down in the dirt
You see things can change
Walls come tumbling down(Governments crack and systems fall)
(‘Cause unity is powerful)
Lights go out
Walls come tumbling down”I’ve put a comment on RT, it might increase/inform the debate, if cdes wanted to either comment and/or join and uptick it, it would help keeping the contribution at the top of the mesage board, you never know someone might do a little further research about the party?
“This is not the Washington Post!”
My mistake, too many father’s day beers were taken. Sill impressive though, considering the Examiner is seen as highly conservative in outlook.
I am always surprised when people expect their musicians to be prophetic, politically insightful or worthy of very hard scrutiny. Generally they are none of those things, they are musicians. They make songs and play instruments.
It’s a bit like when Question Time invite comedians onto their show, most of the time they are full of the same kind of shite that the politicians are, although they might be able to produce it in a slightly more amusing way. It doesn’t mean that I can’t find some of the stuff some comics funny.
In the same way I have low expectations for musicians when it comes to political insight, once in a while one of them does come up with some profound political stuff (won’t get folled again by The Who, or If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next by The Manics, for example), but most of the time the political stuff they produce is horse shit.
I do think it’s a bit harsh to say Bob Dylan has done nowt worthwhile since ’79 though, Infidels had it’s moments, Oh Mercy was another good album, Good as I Been to You was ok and did include a version of “Arthur McBride” (not as good as the version I remember being sung one night after conference though) and I really liked Rough and Rowdy ways.
Ironically in the early years of the Labour Party they were in favour of proportional representation, something that the Liberals strongly opposed. By the time Labour took over as the country’s main opposition party they started to oppose it and th eLiberals began advocating it. Shown how much real political principle either party has.
From school days, I think it works as follows:
Labour – Tweedledum – Adjective
Liberal – Tweedledummer – Comparitive
Tory – Tweedledummest – SuperlativeIf you look at historic elections it shows a massive drop by Labour, I suspect there has been a massive amount of tactical voting, this might be the sign of things to come, i.e. Labour and Tory voters combining as an anti-Tory block.
According to the BBC Andrew Lloyd Webber is determined to defy an extention of lockdown and open his theatres on 21st June, even if he faces arrest.
I do hope they extend the lockdown. Having that talentless, scrotum faced, reactionary fuckwit, locked up would at least be some compensation for having endured the pandemic.
Whilst on the Chinese side a new “charm offensive” is being encouraged.
Surely as Socialists we should be engaging in our fellow workers (whether they are in uniform or not) about the need to recognise their class interests. Ousting some members will not achieve that. Unions should be pressuring the Police unions to change, rather than kicking them out.
Looks like the wise man has been heard for once
“What is a club in any case? Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it. It’s not the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes. It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.”
Bobby Robson, Newcastle
