In
2010 Defend the Whittington Coalition (DWC) was set up to stop the
closure of the Accident and Emergency, Intensive Care, Maternity and
Paediatric departments at the Whittington Hospital, North London. The
closures were stopped. Success
In
2013 the DWC campaigned to stop the sell-off of half the hospital,
including maternity services. The sell-off was stopped. Success.
More
recently Whittington Hospital was told by the government to sell
off land and buildings. The Whittington Board offered Ryhurst, a
subsidiary of Grenfell ‘refurbishment’ contractors, Rydon, the contract to
manage this project. Following another DWC campaign the hospital
withdrew the offer. Success.
BUT
… Rydon is now suing the hospital for breach of contract. If
succesful this will result in the hospital having to pay a fine, from
our health monies, to this company. The fight continues - support the
Defend Whittington Campaign at Royal Courts of Justice on 9 December.
Throughout
these campaigns local MP, Jeremy Corbyn, has played an active and
vital role.
On
Friday 29 Nov 2019, and in the middle of his busy election campaign,
he arrived outside the hospital as part of his continued support.
Jeremy Corbyn with Ben Gelblum of The London Economic
If
you live in North London join with the DWC and defend this hospital.
Wherever you live join local campaigns in defence of your hospital
and oppose cuts and privatisation of our National Health Service. And
for your future health vote Labour on 12 December.
The
DWC banner was made by the indomitable Alice Kilroy, who despite serious illness, was there to support her
local hospital.
On
my way to the hospital for the rally
a
woman passed by and asked if I was a Labour party member. When I said
'yes' she proceeded to rant about the 'Jews' 'sabotaging' Labour's
election chances. I attempted to explain the distinction
between 'Judaism' and 'Zionism' Not easily done on a cold November
morning when she was heading for her hospital appointment.
When I got
home I read that the Israeli President had joined the UK Chief Rabbi
in attacking Jeremy in the name of the UK Jewish 'community'. This is
where Zionism takes us. In attempting to stop a socialist government
which would recognise Palestine, Zionists increase anti-semitism. The
Israeli state is everything to
them
so I doubt they worry about that. I do as do Labour-voting
Jews. One of these is Shirley Franklin, Chair of DWC and, like Alice Kilroy and Jeremy Corbyn, an indomitable fighter for the NHS. I am proud to stand alongside them in this struggle.
JC with Shirley Franklin, Chair of DWC and Paul Mackney, ex-Gen Sec of NATFHE, today UCU
The
Chief Rabbi says Jeremy Corbyn ‘is not fit for high office’, but
Boris Johnson is. A Tory says I am a Tory and it’s news?
Arthur
Miller’s play, The
Crucible,
takes
place in 1692 during the Salem witch trials. The play tells the story
of a group of young hysterical
women
who falsely accuse other villagers of witchcraft. The
play
was written as an allegory during
the
McCarthy years
and the House of Un-American Activities trials
in
the 1950s.
To be accused of being a member of the Communist Party then
ensured
that
jobs,
reputations
and,
for some, their
lives, were
lost.
It
mattered little whether the accusations
were
true or not. It
mattered even less that membership of the CP at that time was
evidence of radical
political
consciousness and not criminal inclination.
In
the UK today the accusation of anti-semitism
is being used against
those
who are
not
anti-semitic.
Most
of those
accused have
spent
their lives fighting anti-semitism and racism.
Heading
the list of
the “guilty” is
Jeremy Corbyn,
many
Jews and anti-racists. It
is surprising
that
the
self-imposed
media
inquisition
has
not yet used
the words,
paraphrased
from
the McCarthy hearings,
“Are you now, or have you ever been, anti-semitic?”
Our
Salem trials
are
an attempt
to
prevent
Jeremy Corbyn from becoming Prime Minister and to
cow
the rest of us into silence about Boris Johnson’s
racism and the real anti-semitism that has always been at the heart
of the British
political
Establishment.
On
26 November
2019
the
Daily
Mail
declared that Jeremy Corbyn ‘dodged apologising over Labour’s
ant-semitism crisis.’ That is their
version of, ‘Are you now or have you ever been….’ This statement is rich coming
from a newspaper which, under ownership of
the same family that
owned it eighty years ago, supported Hitler and Mussolini. Corbyn
has not apologised because
he has nothing to apologise
for.
My
anti-fascism was born when I discovered photos of Bergen-Belsen
concentration camp inmates in my
father’s
desk. He was
one of the
first Allied medics to
enter
the camp when
it was
liberated.
It
haunted him for the rest of his life, as
it also
haunted me. Seeing
those walking skeletons was my
political awakening which later
led
me
to be beaten up by Nazi thugs from the British Movement when
selling Peace
News.
Corbyn has a similar history—his mother fought
alongside other Socialists
and Jews at the 1936
Battle
of Cable Street.
It
is an insult to
anti-fascists
to bring false
accusations into
this election. As
Arthur Miller wrote in The
Crucible,
“now
the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and
common vengeance writes the law!”
We
have to take away the
keys
from those children.
The following are articles I have written about anti-semitism and a short video of Miriam Margolyes speaking truth about Israel
My father in RAMC uniform at the time he went to Bergen-Belsen
“In
the twenty odd years I have known Jeremy Corbyn he has
been consistently reliable, with great integrity, patience and an
unassuming manner. He has neither the bombast of a Churchill, nor the
slickness of a Blair. But are those the qualities we want in a leader
today? Amid all the excitement of policy exchanges, his presentation
of a leader for the twenty-first century as someone who is able to
listen was possibly the most important point. Add to that Jeremy's
capacity to feel the pain of others and to share in the joy of their
amelioration and you have a much better model of leadership - one
which befits a modern premier much more than the one we have
experienced up to now.” Paul Mackney
“The
game you are supposed to play in British politics is feathering your
nest by feathering the nests of others. Those who refuse are
denounced in the billionaire press as unfit for government. … I
know the Labour party is imperfect, but what I see is a group of
people seeking to solve our massive problems – environmental,
political, economic, medical and social – rather than appeasing
press barons and queueing at the notorious revolving door between
politics and money-making." George Monbiot
I
am writing this on the day Jeremy Corbyn launched the Labour Party
manifesto for the December 2019 election. It is very personal for
which no apologies. Some of you know me well enough to know what I
think politically. Skip to the song. Some of you know me and don’t
like what I think and say. Skip to the song. Some of you don’t know
me and will quickly skip to the song. Some of you will read this blog
and be conviced by my arguments. Enjoy the song.
“Trusting
Johnson with the National Heath service, is like letting a python
loose with your pet hamster”
former
Tory PM John Major
This
has now become the most important election of my lifetime. I was
alive when the
1945
Atlee government introduced the NHS, but was too busy soiling my nappy
to have been conscious of that one.
Until
recently I have never been a member of any parliamentary political
party. I agreed with Ralph Milliband that Labour was an
anti-socialist party and remember attending a trade union
demonstration in the 70s and agreeing with the speaker opposing a
march to parliament on the grounds of not wanting to disturb the
dead. But today I am one of the half a million, mostly new, members
of the Labour Party because the Corbyn leadership has returned the
party to its socialist roots. To quote Milliband, “In
all countries, there are people, in numbers large or small, who are
moved by the vision of a new social order in which democracy,
egalitarianism and cooperation - the essential values of socialism -
would be the prevailing principle of social organization. It is in
the growth in their numbers and in the success of their struggles
that lies the best hope for humankind.”
“This
election is beween one guy who doesn’t give a fuck if you died and
another who is trying to make sure you don’t die and some people
think this is a hard decision”
Anon
I
am happy to join those who believe that the struggle for a new social order is taking place in this election and that the NHS is taking centre stage
in that.
I
have now had a few years of close relationship with our health
service. I am alive because it is there and well aware of how much I
have cost it. If I was living in the USA that cost would now be in
excess of £250,000. Here it is free. At least for now. I am also
well aware of the importance of its personnel. Who they are, where
they come from and the skills that have kept me alive. My brain
surgeon (subdural haematoma) was Nigerian, my heart surgeon was
Egyptian, my Stroke consultant Glaswegian. Today I count one of my nurses, a Filipino, as a personal
friend. This is the public health service I have benefited from and
which Jeremy Corbyn defends and argues for.
“It’s
not just Boris Johnson’s lying. It’s that the media let him get
away with it” Peter Oborne, former chief political
correspondent, The Daily Telegraph
I
appeal to all those still reading this blog to join me and vote for a
Corbyn-led Labour government. Your vote on 12 December is as
important today as it was to the voters 74 years ago. Indeed your
very lives may depend on the result.
"The
one statistic that really hits home is that you’ve got four million
children living in poverty in the UK and three out of every four of
those have got a working parent … The scale of it is extraordinary
and the fact is, people are working and still can’t survive ....
Boris Johnson is a lout and a bully.”
Ken Loach
I
am writing this the day after it was reported in The
Guardian that The
NHS s running short of dozens of lifesaving medicines including
treatments for cancer, heart conditions and epilepsy. As someone who
has had
to take heart condition drugs my response to that news is tell me why
I should not vote Labour?
Recently
Michael Rosen wrote this; “I have a dream
that one day I and others will walk hand in hand to the polling
station and be able to vote in an election that is about the NHS,
education, benefits, wages, climate change … “
On
12 December Michael’s
dream becomes reality. We must all make sure that that
reality does not leave us living in a
nightmare.
It’s
Time for Real Change: 2019 Labour Party manifesto
Jeremy
Corbyn introducing the 2019 Labour manifesto: “This is a
manifesto of hope. A manifesto that will bring real change. A
manifesto full of popular policies that the political establishment
has blocked for a generation.
Over
the next three weeks, the most powerful people in Britain and their
supporters are going to tell you that everything in this manifesto is
impossible. That it’s too much for you. Because they don’t want
real change. Why would they? The system is working just fine for
them. It’s rigged in their favour.
But
it’s not working for you. If your wages never seem to go up and
your bills never seem to go down, if your public services only seem
to get worse, despite the heroic efforts of those who work in them,
then it’s not working for you … The US president who led his
country out of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt,
had to take on the rich and powerful in America to do it. That’s
why he said: “They are unanimous in their hate for me, and I
welcome their hatred.” He knew that when you’re serious about
real change, those who profit from a rigged system, who squirrel away
the wealth created by millions of people, won’t give up without a
fight … So I accept the implacable opposition and hostility of the
rich and powerful is inevitable ...I accept the opposition of the
billionaires because we will make those at the top pay their fair
share of tax to help fund world class public services for you. That’s
real change .. I accept the hostility of the bad bosses paying
poverty pay because we will give Britain a pay rise, starting with a
real living wage of at least £10 an hour, including for young
workers. That’s real change ...I accept the implacable opposition
of the dodgy landlords because we’ll build build a million homes,
empower tenants and control rents. That’s real change ...I accept
the hostility of the big polluters because we will make sure they pay
their fair share of the costs of their destruction, create huge
numbers of climate jobs and build the healthy, green economy of the
future. That’s real change … I accept the fierce opposition of
the giant healthcare corporations because we will stop them sucking
out profits from our NHS. That’s real change … I accept the
hostility of the privatised utilities companies because we will stop
their great rip off by bringing rail, mail, water and energy into
public ownership and running them for the people.
I accept the implacable opposition of the private Internet providers
because we’re going to give you the very fastest full fibre
broadband for free. That’s real change.”
This
is a summary of the Manifesto on
the NHS;
The
National Health Service is one of Labour’s proudest achievements …
A
decade of Tory health cuts and privatisations has pushed it
to
the brink. Our hospitals are crumbling, equipment is outdated, IT
systems are inadequate and community facilities are neglected. There
are 100,000 staff vacancies in NHS England, including a shortage of
43,000 nurses. There are 15,000 fewer hospital beds … Priority
is to end NHS privatisation … stabilise our overstretched A&E
departments … improve stroke, heart disease and cancer survival
rates by providing earlier diagnosis and improved screening rates …
introduce
a
moratorium on bed cuts. … bring subsidiary companies back in-house
… protect
the
rights of EU workers, other migrants and refugees … With
less
than one in four A&E departments having
the facilities to deal with people experiencing a mental health
crisis invest £2 billion to modernise hospital facilities and end
the use of inappropriate, out-of-area placements …. improve access
to psychological therapies … ensure provision of 24/7 crisis
services … place
the NHS at the forefront of the development of genomics and cell
therapies so that patients can benefit from new treatments for cancer
and dementia … establish a generic drug company with
secure access to generic versions and
abolish prescription charges.
My blogs and articles on the NHS
Other blogs / articles on the election
As promised no politics without music so here is
