tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350214232024-03-13T02:07:20.643+00:00Goodnight LondonFrom the heart of the crapitalGoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.comBlogger266125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-62946603617142725782022-03-15T15:53:00.013+00:002022-04-07T21:01:37.997+00:00The Horseshoe Strikes Back<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDK-Gid_RyY1YocYKC-LRjJpjP4vPVq5iTp4rfyjz2rbcPGYGu_q9e_ddM3VeaU5hwbUsqL-XoJo-t0KxGHMiFk2kwzxKO40JQx_birdb0YyTE8XJbFdGWJS4eN4t6H3hKHcNsfP53C1_zPjtldO3Op-LbBl6eDJtA3oOw4OaGE3mxjTxeF4E=s4608" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="4608" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDK-Gid_RyY1YocYKC-LRjJpjP4vPVq5iTp4rfyjz2rbcPGYGu_q9e_ddM3VeaU5hwbUsqL-XoJo-t0KxGHMiFk2kwzxKO40JQx_birdb0YyTE8XJbFdGWJS4eN4t6H3hKHcNsfP53C1_zPjtldO3Op-LbBl6eDJtA3oOw4OaGE3mxjTxeF4E=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>Photos of Kyiv taken by myself</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s strange to think that the Kyiv I visited once in 2018, a peaceful, friendly city, with bars, cobbled back alleys, leafy courtyards, and busy grand streets, where people got on with their everyday lives, is now under attack from Russia. I took the free tour of the city, where they explained that the profusion of EU flags was due to their desire for Ukraine to join the EU. I wandered the city's ancient streets, stopping to take photos such as the one above of monuments, and visiting, spellbound, its huge cathedrals and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyiv_Pechersk_Lavra" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">underground caves</a><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span></p><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhicMeGeAj0dSR_YGNj3v5DgGrtGhzRgdP0hs7P8cmSd7wH51NQOgIjvUJdAvhoRF6XSLmEkM3lOAwlaBLga-84Xe85KH-h1tUWyEZtlXn6UwDnrR0H_J_WHKHyfcyiWzOq6pBXElgLtWP8MM_VoXavm4PkgAPrN6NoJ7v7M50a-ZF2V9X41sY=s3648" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhicMeGeAj0dSR_YGNj3v5DgGrtGhzRgdP0hs7P8cmSd7wH51NQOgIjvUJdAvhoRF6XSLmEkM3lOAwlaBLga-84Xe85KH-h1tUWyEZtlXn6UwDnrR0H_J_WHKHyfcyiWzOq6pBXElgLtWP8MM_VoXavm4PkgAPrN6NoJ7v7M50a-ZF2V9X41sY=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>Kyiv Pechersk Lavra</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Among the saddest things about watching this beautiful city be shelled, one of the most unedifying aspects of watching the news the last few weeks has been observing several commentators on both the far-left and the far-right falling over themselves to repeat Kremlin propaganda. <br /><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPOtgBBifcpidnxVG_tJnCzpjfe6LN3WPUshRXpf2i3TTY6tulX1PPqrIKRHeiMou1Fuj4erqHYIQvG3idwBizjQVidPTBD27SMgYZeICthDQxxdLmxh_y9fRHSQgASAhspY6r7QkZ979XfSsOOVro2uQdESzjvxE4wIZD7IFeq-H2M7tAmWQ=s4608" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="4608" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPOtgBBifcpidnxVG_tJnCzpjfe6LN3WPUshRXpf2i3TTY6tulX1PPqrIKRHeiMou1Fuj4erqHYIQvG3idwBizjQVidPTBD27SMgYZeICthDQxxdLmxh_y9fRHSQgASAhspY6r7QkZ979XfSsOOVro2uQdESzjvxE4wIZD7IFeq-H2M7tAmWQ=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />The fact that these statements appear almost indistinguishable from each other has only confirmed what has been already apparent after the Brexit referendum: that the far-left and far-right meet each other, conforming to the 'Horseshoe theory'. It’s one that was explored in Nick Cohen’s </span><i style="font-family: arial;">You Can’t Read This Book</i><span style="font-family: arial;">, in which he focused on "the murky world where the far-left meets the far-right". </span><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgG4VeYJzMlfxk304xVE7dXMvt4CoxN6KbF2vABqgpqdJixXZ6GwQ3AdARQyBF6s4EOd3yscacVF5IxJ_hVM4WACHA29feJeWsPtdYUlpbjnNu_LZ9BSMxUaCiL9JtBHMHYebDMdOqe2fdMQbH1HNIX5wQfZmudUlNKgtIWdYG1v5ILb5folks=s1734" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1107" data-original-width="1734" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgG4VeYJzMlfxk304xVE7dXMvt4CoxN6KbF2vABqgpqdJixXZ6GwQ3AdARQyBF6s4EOd3yscacVF5IxJ_hVM4WACHA29feJeWsPtdYUlpbjnNu_LZ9BSMxUaCiL9JtBHMHYebDMdOqe2fdMQbH1HNIX5wQfZmudUlNKgtIWdYG1v5ILb5folks=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>Horseshoe theory of politics (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10350949" target="_blank">source</a>)<br /></i></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Shortly after the Russian invasion of mainland Ukraine, Stop The War (STW) released a </span><a href="https://www.stopwar.org.uk/article/stop-the-war-statement-on-ukraine-24-02-22/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">one-sided statement</a><span style="font-family: arial;">, with not a single reference to Putin initiating the war of his own volition (though in fairness Tweets since then have called for 'Russian troops out of Ukraine'). Beyond a perfunctory call for the conflict to end with an "immediate ceasefire" and "diplomatic negotiations to end the crisis", the statement then put the invasion squarely at the foot of "failed policies, including the expansion of NATO and US hegemony at the expense of other countries as well as major wars of aggression by the USA, Britain and other NATO powers which have undermined international law and the United Nations". It’s as if Putin had no role to play whatsoever. That was also reflected in an online rally called by STW around the same time called ‘No to War – No To NATO’, with no third clause stating ‘No To Putin’:</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgG7L0vJDVhSthVLXJ5lytIoKLXPRxj-Cpx0aW-yFIkYOJ9Wt3SpDeSVK8gd7ilKCbKeBBQXo9FZn4z_DFOkqXLHRlMmJBT-rGgPB1CAPjvtQ5x0pXsq1s0OjU-9AXHp-kt5fnzCuyOlZBNTdgGOF6x8unMDpDnF71xY8RAJCWYyoDgIpSOfaM=s921" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Stop The War Tweet - No To War, No to NATO" border="0" data-original-height="921" data-original-width="863" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgG7L0vJDVhSthVLXJ5lytIoKLXPRxj-Cpx0aW-yFIkYOJ9Wt3SpDeSVK8gd7ilKCbKeBBQXo9FZn4z_DFOkqXLHRlMmJBT-rGgPB1CAPjvtQ5x0pXsq1s0OjU-9AXHp-kt5fnzCuyOlZBNTdgGOF6x8unMDpDnF71xY8RAJCWYyoDgIpSOfaM=w300-h320" title="Stop The War Tweet - No To War, No to NATO" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><p></p><p><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">It was also reflected in Tweets by STW’s Fiona Edwards, including the one above, who advertised the event with the claim that “the aggressive eastward expansion of NATO, threatening Russia’s security, is the cause of the current crisis in Ukraine”. In another Tweet (<i>below</i>), she claimed that "as the war-mongers in Washington and London escalate their war-mongering against Russia, remember that the first casualty in war is the truth. The truth is that the current crisis in Ukraine is caused by the eastward expansion of NATO. NATO is the aggressor, not Russia". The same sentiments have been on display in <a href="https://twitter.com/SocialistAct/status/1499022575736918017?s=20&t=6j2LUjy11hAOhqHiS4AYqg" target="_blank">Socialist Action's Tweets</a> and websites like <i><a href="https://www.counterfire.org/articles/opinion/22980-no-war-in-ukraine-stop-nato-s-warmongering" target="_blank">Counterfire</a></i>. Once again, Putin was absolved of crime, as if he had no agency when ordering the invasion.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCeLbMIlXF6AZxmIKnK0jO-ik_XaumfLJTihzfAPYlI-qUN1iBC586dCVkWG7LZj2viOVpDDW-pCXOX-BDoRqGz83fLSkqZawJKYDu3M9i7mmaOYIN20cG4mQgg6-5jrxvbHh7XRtHFmz3ISDsLrwmCm1lRUv87YR0Vi--ttcWjPfCfa49S60=s1920" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Stop The War Tweet - NATO expansion" border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCeLbMIlXF6AZxmIKnK0jO-ik_XaumfLJTihzfAPYlI-qUN1iBC586dCVkWG7LZj2viOVpDDW-pCXOX-BDoRqGz83fLSkqZawJKYDu3M9i7mmaOYIN20cG4mQgg6-5jrxvbHh7XRtHFmz3ISDsLrwmCm1lRUv87YR0Vi--ttcWjPfCfa49S60=w225-h400" title="Stop The War Tweet - NATO expansion" width="225" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Even worse, <a href="https://www.stopwar.org.uk/article/ten-myths-about-the-ukraine-crisis/?link_id=8&can_id=9e8f911191674a30220b33d9e8ec77d1&source=email-why-britain-needs-a-radical-reset-of-its-foreign-policy-4&email_referrer=email_1432236&email_subject=no-war-in-ukraine-stop-nato-expansion&fbclid=IwAR3l3JM_m0u3vyTcoAULMWWdV00JKb0EFNw_9uryiULKRxFIpUR3TtgantQ" target="_blank">a STW analysis by Andrew Murray</a> from 31st January, prior to the invasion of mainland Ukraine, repeated another baseless claim that has also been smugly parroted by the far left and far right: that Ukraine is 'fascist', 'Nazi', and even run by 'drug addicts'. This line essentially recycled what the Kremlin has asserted in order to justify their invasion of Ukraine, including the claim that Ukraine is "ethnically cleansing Russians" and "banning the Russian language" (having been to Ukraine, I can report that the latter isn’t true – Ukrainian and Russian are spoken alongside each other). While grudgingly conceding that Ukraine has a right to self-determination, albeit with borders that are not "sensible" - as if every international border is "sensible" - it claims that "since the 2014 coup by nationalists, which overthrew Ukraine’s elected President, it has taken a number of undemocratic steps…pro-Russian politicians have been arrested or harassed…Russian has been banned from the public sphere…alone in Europe, Ukraine celebrates Nazi collaborators and pogrom-mongers, like the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Bandera" target="_blank">Bandera movement</a>…its supporters – overt fascists – are also embedded in Ukrainian state apparatus". This well-worn assertion has been explored well in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/vladimir-putin-ukraine-attack-antisemitism-denazify?fbclid=IwAR3ES5z51uvroZeqiaRKh4cNGrQ_oWpn6yw7vOsToVKCN-xhxNqPDNgFQZU" target="_blank">this <i>Guardian</i> article</a>, which points out that Ukraine has a Jewish president, whose own family died in the Holocaust, and explores why so many are making this claim about Ukraine’s Government, which includes unpleasant Jewish tropes, and the concomitant implication that Ukraine must be 'saved' by 'true Christian believers'. It's also been debunked in <a href="https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2021/12/29/putins-little-helpers-undermine-solidarity/" target="_blank">this excellent article</a> on <i>People and Nature</i>'s website.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Claiming that Ukraine’s Government is essentially 'fascist' also wilfully ignores what really happened in 2014. Ukraine’s Government at that point, led by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yanukovych" target="_blank">Viktor Yanukovych</a>, was due to start negotiations with the EU over closer ties, with a long-term view to possible membership (though this would’ve most likely taken decades). Panicking at this prospect, the Kremlin threatened to cut off Ukraine’s gas, forcing Ukraine’s Government to cancel talks with the EU, and in the process forcing Ukraine against its wishes to be part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Economic_Union">Eurasian Economic Union</a> (EAEU) sphere, a geopolitical rival to the EU headed by Russia. Unhappy at this, ordinary members of Ukrainian society protested in Maidan Nezalezhnosti square in Kyiv. The protests expressed the wishes of the majority of the population in believing that Ukraine should not be another Belarus, subservient and compliant to the Russian Government, with a dictator similar to Lukashenko in charge. Instead, Ukrainians simply wished for their country to embrace a European social democracy model, similar to the Baltic states, or even Finland, all of whom are successful, happy, democratic, and prosperous, rather than remaining tied to Moscow’s authoritarian orbit. For this, they earned the scorn not just of Russia’s Government, but also of both the far left and the far right. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><span>John Wojcik in <i>Morning Star</i>, for example, <a href="https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/us-and-nato-play-fire-their-latest-anti-russia-campaign" target="_blank">backed up the same claims as Murray in this article</a>, opining not just the same tropes about "the persecution the fascist Ukrainian government was visiting on ethnic Russians everywhere in Ukraine", including banning the Russian language, but also claiming that Ukraine "put well-known fascists in charge of the country’s police and military as a reward for fascist support of the coup", and practices "extreme Ukrainian nationalism" (apparently Russian nationalism is allowed, but Ukrainian nationalism isn’t). Wojcik’s angry assertions included mention of "Western capitalist interests" in Ukraine, scalding the fact that an ex-Soviet state has chosen freely to associate itself with successful European democracies rather than follow the Kremlin’s orders, and inferring that Ukraine’s population has been somehow 'brainwashed' by the West. </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">This assertion that Ukraine has been a
US-backed fascist/Nazi aberration since 2014, rather than a popular uprising by
ordinary Ukrainians, has also been pushed by George Galloway <a href="https://twitter.com/georgegalloway/status/1503533920226353153" target="_blank">via
this Tweet</a> and others, with links to the website of the Communist Party of The Russian Federation<span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: -0.0666667px;">, </span>which expands on these conspiracy beliefs, including </span><a href="https://cprf.ru/2022/03/what-is-happening-in-and-around-ukraine/" target="_blank"><span style="line-height: 115%;">claiming
that</span></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"> "The nature of the current Ukrainian state is an
alliance of big capital and the state bureaucracy, relying on criminal and
fascist elements under the full political and financial control of the United
States...after 2014 Nazi ideology is being implanted in Ukraine". </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In doing so, Wojcik and Galloway are freely making the same claims as the Kremlin: that Ukraine is not allowed to choose its own future as a free, democratic state, as the Baltics have, and that instead Ukrainians should instead take what they’re given. The fact that the majority of Ukrainians have chosen to see their country as free, democratic, and prosperous, as the Baltics and Poland are, and Ukraine has been edging closer to this, has meant that they deserve punishment for such erroneous desires. Ukraine’s "crime" has been to choose its own friends. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This belief that Ukraine must be "punished" for wanting to choose their own way, rather than being poor, conflict-driven, and allied to Russia, is symptomatic of an element of the far left in Britain that has always rued the decline of the Soviet Union (SU) and the Warsaw Pact, and embodied in figures such as Jeremy Corbyn’s former Communications chief, and former <i>Guardian</i> journalist, Seamus Milne, who likewise wrote <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/03/nato-peace-threat-ukraine-military-conflict" target="_blank">this article</a> about NATO in 2014. Something of this can also be seen in STW’s video <a href="https://twitter.com/STWuk/status/1494753529852006414?s=20&t=6j2LUjy11hAOhqHiS4AYqg" target="_blank">here</a> of NATO expansion, in which Germany is perpetually held up as divided even now between East and West, as if in STW’s minds reunification never really quite happened. This echoes Putin’s recent, rambling speech, where he questioned Ukraine’s very right to exist as a sovereign ex-Soviet state – and by implication, all the other ex-Soviet states too. In his own mind, the SU’s fall was an aberration that never really happened, with the ex-Soviet states set to re-join Russia in only a matter of time in a new, revitalised Soviet Union and EAEU; indeed, this belief, and long-term goal of Putin, partly drove Russia’s invasions of Georgia and now Ukraine. This expansionist nature of Putin’s administration, completely rejected by the majority of the populations in those ex-Soviet countries now in the EU, has not been mentioned by STW; instead, the only expansionism and imperialism in their minds are that of NATO. And to justify his invasion of Ukraine, just like the far left, Putin has evoked the idea that Ukraine must be nobly rescued and "denazified" from "fascist Nazi drug addicts" in Ukraine’s Government, who have steered Ukraine away from the path of true Slavic purity. At no point have any of those mentioned ever brought up Russia’s own problems with fascism, including the ultranationalist and neo-fascist <a href="https://twitter.com/TobyVenables/status/1497916322469928960">Aleksandr Dugin</a>, active within the Kremlin, and author of the geopolitical tract <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics" target="_blank">Foundations of Geopolitics</a></i> in 1997, which didn’t just predict Brexit, but also the annexing of Ukraine, and Georgia before that, by Russia.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBISKvZ6uxsR-C1lBK2HSKa7DQnzhCl_X_xiXaRGLvvTaL_QKtQNsHpEejL9ky9l-wWvmyOeqkAh8wWQ6cy3uexx0HDXnB28hFYoOeEsN44BRFUb9Rw6IHh434lRtB48tFZJgGwlKYgWoYG60dEgN_kmr6oTRtbiU4X6ZtDdcGgAHyLyb-fZw=s368" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Foundations of Geopolitics - book by Aleksandr Dugin" border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="271" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBISKvZ6uxsR-C1lBK2HSKa7DQnzhCl_X_xiXaRGLvvTaL_QKtQNsHpEejL9ky9l-wWvmyOeqkAh8wWQ6cy3uexx0HDXnB28hFYoOeEsN44BRFUb9Rw6IHh434lRtB48tFZJgGwlKYgWoYG60dEgN_kmr6oTRtbiU4X6ZtDdcGgAHyLyb-fZw=w295-h400" title="Foundations of Geopolitics" width="295" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>Foundations of Geopolitics</i> by Aleksandr Dugin (<a href="http://www.4pt.su/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/main/articles/osnovygeopolitiki_0.jpg?itok=teYK2N-O" target="_blank">source</a>)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">It's not just the far left who have made these claims. Many Brexiteers, such as Nigel Farage, who has </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/31/farage-i-admire-putin" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">made no secret of his admiration for Putin</a><span style="font-family: arial;">, also concurred with the far left, deliberately conflating the EU and NATO when </span><a href="https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1493509238714478592?s=20&t=6j2LUjy11hAOhqHiS4AYqg" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">claiming</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1496832757518974978?s=20&t=6j2LUjy11hAOhqHiS4AYqg" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">that the war</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> is "a consequence of EU and NATO expansion, which came to a head in 2014. It makes no sense to poke the Russian bear with a stick". Aaron Banks, likewise, chose to conflate the two (<i>below</i>), as well as claiming that “the EU chose to meddle in Ukraine” and “started this mess”, and compared Crimea to the Isle of Wight (his Twitter now appears to be suspended).</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLYMtigIjF6E0JBZp5Xf_LZyqOV3qpfv34VoDwSjih55aAyleYaYvZoJiJpdriIuPlNzprxcat0ElEVK8sQKIALHzvv9AiiJ_q6DXVZi-yXWnpsrtfaQCHLKOjKpSmREGsJQW4599UIARnveS-sQmf0YexJ2OojafuK3AlbqrlHWKg4SZ-Sk4=s758" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Arron Banks - Tweet on EU/NATO" border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="758" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLYMtigIjF6E0JBZp5Xf_LZyqOV3qpfv34VoDwSjih55aAyleYaYvZoJiJpdriIuPlNzprxcat0ElEVK8sQKIALHzvv9AiiJ_q6DXVZi-yXWnpsrtfaQCHLKOjKpSmREGsJQW4599UIARnveS-sQmf0YexJ2OojafuK3AlbqrlHWKg4SZ-Sk4=w400-h200" title="Arron Banks - Tweet on EU/NATO" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><p>Daniel Hannan, meanwhile, has praised Putin’s ability to “show the West to be dithering, divided, and drippy” (<i>below</i>). </p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4a5fbYaQ1AuPUmb6fxvxnv-EEuJZ-4y-vAfawqUx-xe2HcwGs1VqYXE6Po9SQUYKEAvtPrcg53k0-PYPQlE26O-qce1TaPKtWR5kW1n26_ymljsqjEzPe6CCjB3awTp_4mAS9Kxh7hrSCG7o4D4RS59pnEHbPDxM2McBRybDIrBqd3AoL6YA=s1658" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Daniel Hannan - Article on Vladimir Putin" border="0" data-original-height="1658" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4a5fbYaQ1AuPUmb6fxvxnv-EEuJZ-4y-vAfawqUx-xe2HcwGs1VqYXE6Po9SQUYKEAvtPrcg53k0-PYPQlE26O-qce1TaPKtWR5kW1n26_ymljsqjEzPe6CCjB3awTp_4mAS9Kxh7hrSCG7o4D4RS59pnEHbPDxM2McBRybDIrBqd3AoL6YA=w260-h400" title="Daniel Hannan - Article on Vladimir Putin" width="260" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><p><br />And it’s a sentiment shared across the pond, where the American right has been spellbound by Russia and Putin, seeing it as the <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/leaders-charlottesvilles-alt-right-protest-all-have-ties-russian-fascist-651384" target="_blank">"defender" of white values</a>, with an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/time-to-confront-trump-putin-network" target="_blank">already-established nexus</a> that links Russia to Trump's election in 2016, thus turning on its head the original belief by the American right in the perennial Communist enemy. Once again, Ukraine’s "crime" has been to choose its own friends.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s not hard to see why the far-left and the far-right alike are loathe to see Ukraine break away from Moscow’s orbit. It means Ukraine cultivating closer ties to the EU and a united Europe of social democracies, which is anathema to Putin and Farage alike. This, in turn, would reflect badly in an existential sense Russia’s own dysfunctional internal politics, with Ukraine showing – after the example of the Baltics – another way for ex-Soviet states. So, Ukraine had to be punished, in order to 'bring them into line' with Russia, and so be an example to other ex-Soviet states of what happens if you decide to embrace European democracy. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s in the interest of both Putin and Farage, in other words, to see Ukraine perennially poor and conflict-driven. Farage and other Brexiteers such as Steve Baker have made no secret that they wish to see the EU broken up and disunited – the very same beliefs that Putin has. This is a belief shared by others in British media and politics, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/01/29/eurosceptic-mission-will-not-eu-withers-away/" target="_blank">such as Allister Heath of <i>The Telegraph</i></a>, who has deliberately pushed anti-EU rhetoric on behalf of vested interests such as right-wing think-tanks at 55 Tufton Street (something that <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.com/2020/03/why-current-crisis-strengthens-case-for.html" target="_blank">I’ve covered already in greater detail elsewhere</a>). That includes a number of wealthy Russian oligarchs, together with members of the American right alike. You can see these links in the graphic below (download and Zoom in if you're having problems seeing the text).</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKxL6-ES7mxk6SvDJjRwiCpa0vxWpdAD1qd5c3FlG9DYvtCWvqCLGfyJJKXCcgWbquIa64jHAeWjspIqY-HsAuWDkYVpIkpLgceAxtrfB1lZcxj0LbcmaY4tEoGpee3vFNLT44rpBqqjWe4U_xzMM_JGERZo9KNfhr1WAoVFNjzZreQsHgfWg=s2048" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Graphic of right-wing strands" border="0" data-original-height="1712" data-original-width="2048" height="536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKxL6-ES7mxk6SvDJjRwiCpa0vxWpdAD1qd5c3FlG9DYvtCWvqCLGfyJJKXCcgWbquIa64jHAeWjspIqY-HsAuWDkYVpIkpLgceAxtrfB1lZcxj0LbcmaY4tEoGpee3vFNLT44rpBqqjWe4U_xzMM_JGERZo9KNfhr1WAoVFNjzZreQsHgfWg=w640-h536" title="Graphic of right-wing strands" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>If you designed this graphic, please contact me to credit me</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">By promoting disharmony in Europe, the Brexiteers have found themselves on the same side as the Kremlin, questioning the very existential nature of the EU. The very sovereignty that the Brexiteers on both the far left and far right trumpeted as reason for the UK to leave the EU (in reality, the UK always was sovereign while in the EU) has been conspicuously absent when applied to Ukraine, with the Brexiteers claiming that Ukraine has no right to join the EU and NATO. While the Lexiteers believed that the EU was evil in 'siding' with NATO and Western Europe (despite the fact that a number of EU member-states are not members of NATO); for having 'neoliberal' elements (despite the fact that the UK was always the most neo-liberal member-state prior to leaving); for facilitating Freedom of Movement of EU citizens (a ‘neoliberal’ plot designed to stop the bargaining power of ordinary workers, apparently, even though this hasn’t happened in Germany, a full member); and with some opening up of markets; the far-right disliked the EU – and still do – for its social protection, solidarity between nations, and workers’ rights, all of which are anathema for them. The goal of Brexit for the far-right has always been deregulation, the rolling back of the welfare state, reduced workers’ rights, the snapping up of assets on the cheap among the economic and political chaos wrought by Brexit, and the total privatisation of the NHS as a public body – a kind of <a href="https://alastaircampbell.org/2020/12/the-brexit-revolutionaries-have-barely-begun-britain-needs-to-wake-up-fast/" target="_blank">disaster capitalism, similar to Russia after the collapse of the SU</a> (‘The Shock Doctrine’, as Naomi Klein dubbed it). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Meanwhile, <i>Spiked</i> magazine seized on their infatuation with Putin and hatred of the EU to dispense with <a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/02/24/how-our-weak-elites-emboldened-putin/" target="_blank">this article</a> blaming identity politics for the war – and by proxy, blaming Western culture and the EU. At this point, it’s worth remembering who Spiked are. They have their roots in the hard-left Trotskyite Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), whose member <a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2019/04/24/fox-breaks-cover-from-revolutionary-communist-to-farages-right-hand-woman/" target="_blank">Claire Fox</a> now sits as an unelected Baroness in the House of Lords, thus going against everything that the RCP was meant to stand for in their belief in overhauling capitalism. The RCP went bankrupt after their magazine, <i>Living Marxism</i>, was sued by ITV for claiming erroneously that the news channel had fabricated evidence of Serb atrocities against Bosnian Muslims. Fox founded the Institute of Ideas; <i>Spiked</i> emerged from the ashes of this. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Once again, many on the far-left and the far-right found common cause in their opposition to the EU, which, as mentioned earlier, they deliberately conflated with their concomitant dislike for the other piece in this jigsaw, NATO – this despite the fact that NATO and the EU are two markedly different organisations. It is the fear that Ukraine could eventually join NATO, not just the EU, which has stirred the far-left and the far-right, with examples of this article already given. While it is true that NATO was involved in Afghanistan and Libya (though not in the Iraq War, as STW have claimed) - and there is a strong argument that it shouldn’t have been, given that its chief purpose is as a defence pact rather than aggressor - the uncomfortable truth is also that if NATO didn’t exist in eastern Europe, the likes of the Baltics and even Poland could be facing the same prospect as Ukraine is facing now, given that the Kremlin has an expansionist madman in charge. This is especially the case in Latvia, whose population is 40% Russian. Russia has frequently used the pretext of Russian minorities to annex ex-Soviet territory, including not just Crimea and South Ossetia in Georgia, but also the breakaway province of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria" target="_blank">Transnistria</a> in Moldova; indeed, that country, also - like Ukraine - not in the EU or NATO, could be next in the firing line.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">While it’s easy to be judgemental about NATO here in the UK, the reality is that for those living in Poland, Slovakia, the Baltic states, and a number of other countries, the fear of a possible invasion from a Russia that under Putin has never quite accepted their independence and consolidation in the EU 'family', is a very real, and not theoretical, possibility. It’s NATO that has protected these states from such an event happening. This reality has been hard for both the far left and far right to accept. Whether NATO could’ve been done away with while Putin was in charge is a moot point. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When George Monbiot called out this collusion between the far-left and far-right <a href="https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot/status/1497511988322258948?s=20&t=7zhrPkkTR_jDXyYQtxjbkw" target="_blank">on Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/russian-propaganda-anti-imperialist-left-vladimir-putin" target="_blank">and then in <i>The Guardian</i></a>, he received a pile-on in the replies, with many claiming that he was creating a straw man that doesn’t exist. But Monbiot was right. Just as with Brexit, elements of the far-right have been indistinguishable, conforming to the horseshoe effect. In denouncing NATO and the West while only briefly disowning Putin’s actions, they’ve joined Russia in condemning Ukraine’s belief that their rightful future is in the European fold of prosperous and peaceful social democracies. The far left and the far left have to ask themselves: why should Ukraine not be allowed the right to choose their own destiny and go down this path? </span></p>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-35095943321579406422021-09-22T10:36:00.005+00:002021-09-23T21:04:15.667+00:00Friends of The Earth Hackney & Tower Hamlets / Great Big Green Week event<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHhqpC5nv-QANDQ_PXIcRJonz3FwjP0BDXHRU2ESfgbgCBt1ZMTT9By172IH8Q0weR3F_SfpS5A-3jy4m8F-4IqGzKCZ09-CLufeYbWjqVzcnebRwbjbFNfsqkuSZptmZJihIDsQ/s1080/FOTEBigGreenWeek%25281%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Big Green Week / FOTE Hackney & Tower Hamlets event 25th September 2021" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHhqpC5nv-QANDQ_PXIcRJonz3FwjP0BDXHRU2ESfgbgCBt1ZMTT9By172IH8Q0weR3F_SfpS5A-3jy4m8F-4IqGzKCZ09-CLufeYbWjqVzcnebRwbjbFNfsqkuSZptmZJihIDsQ/w400-h400/FOTEBigGreenWeek%25281%2529.png" title="The Big Green Week / FOTE Hackney & Tower Hamlets event 25th September 2021" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>Some more posts will be forthcoming after I return from </span><a href="https://www.theworldtransformed.org" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">The World Transformed</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> festival in Brighton, running parallel to the Labour conference, but before then, as my part of my volunteering for Friends of the Earth Hackney & Tower Hamlets, I will be helping with the running of the following events, all taking place on Saturday 25th September 2021, as part of the umbrella festival </span><a href="https://greatbiggreenweek.com/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Great Big Green Week</a><span style="font-family: arial;">, a nationwide celebration of climate action and nature, in the run-up to COP26 in Glasgow.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The events will take place in Poplar, Mile End, and Bow, east London. (All venues are linked by a direct bus).</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpr_ut7tShBcj5cVgpzlxklYe2XbXrTATnL2o5TuJmD4zxp6J11z3yf-hcNHokhVfX5hS7ZY25i2U9Q2i_xpaGLIOUKUIe6x86e0vPguWSu5c6MPRxij48mOTQ9svu-cTMHHQjw/s1080/FOTEBigGreenWeek%25282%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="FOTE Hackney & Tower Hamlets litter pick, Great Big Green Week" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpr_ut7tShBcj5cVgpzlxklYe2XbXrTATnL2o5TuJmD4zxp6J11z3yf-hcNHokhVfX5hS7ZY25i2U9Q2i_xpaGLIOUKUIe6x86e0vPguWSu5c6MPRxij48mOTQ9svu-cTMHHQjw/w400-h400/FOTEBigGreenWeek%25282%2529.png" title="FOTE Hackney & Tower Hamlets litter pick, Great Big Green Week" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><u>Event 1</u></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">MORNING: Litter pick with SunnyJar</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Join <a href="https://www.sunnyjarecohub.com/" target="_blank">SunnyJar EcoHub</a> and us for a Litter Pick at and around Chrisp Street Market to support their <a href="https://www.sunnyjarecohub.com/plastic-free-poplar" target="_blank">Plastic Free Poplar</a> campaign. You only need to bring your enthusiasm. And at the end, we'll have hot chocolate for you. Yes, really - hot chocolate.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Time: 10:30am - 12:30pm</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Venue: Chrisp Street Community Cycles, E14 6BT [<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chrisp+Street+Community+Cycle+Centre/@51.5113704,-0.0163517,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x48760350a0c6055f:0xcd6a68e8388355b7!8m2!3d51.5113704!4d-0.014163" target="_blank">map</a>]</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">All welcome, the event is entirely out and about (standing and walking).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Outdoors, all-weather, dress appropriately.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2zJGmzr7RmzqLTjkACAi_E7MSFUTCDNx469UpFHiwsuJEFp9Jw5T7FGA5Jf14_u6PCmfxPym6VnZXx89oOOm9dAG-tRHvP4keASeORzk4wOpjCG8a8yy4zdtgxh3JMCBD4wwSVA/s1080/FOTEBigGreenWeek%25283%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="FOTE Hackney & Tower Hamlets urban wellbeing event, Great Big Green Week" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2zJGmzr7RmzqLTjkACAi_E7MSFUTCDNx469UpFHiwsuJEFp9Jw5T7FGA5Jf14_u6PCmfxPym6VnZXx89oOOm9dAG-tRHvP4keASeORzk4wOpjCG8a8yy4zdtgxh3JMCBD4wwSVA/w400-h400/FOTEBigGreenWeek%25283%2529.png" title="FOTE Hackney & Tower Hamlets urban wellbeing event, Great Big Green Week" width="400" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><b style="font-family: arial;"><br /></b></div><div><b style="font-family: arial;"><u>Event 2</u></b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">AFTERNOON: Experience an Urban Wellbeing Space</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Join us at Mile End Community Garden for an activity-filled afternoon for all ages! There will be workshops in bunting making and mending clothes, portrait photos, garden tours and tips, games for the kids, a cafe with hot drinks and cakes, and a chance to sow your own seeds to take home.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Time: 1:00pm - 4.00pm</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Venue: Mile End Community Garden, Clinton Road, E3 4QU [<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mile+End+Community+Garden/@51.5260253,-0.038186,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m10!1m3!11m2!2sa79E9vkRGb2K1xK_y6YMcr7r-x2K_w!3e3!3m5!1s0x48761d54cc785c6d:0x1f59e4f6ee1c9799!8m2!3d51.5260253!4d-0.0359973!15sCgEqkgEQY29tbXVuaXR5X2dhcmRlbg" target="_blank">map</a>] (20 min on bus D6 from Chrisp Street Market)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">All welcome. The garden is fairly accessible but has a mulched path. We'll provide any support needed - please get in touch!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Event outdoors, with covered areas.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxHSDNXMihHtPSq74dGlGEnG58YHzyA57U1NF1tVPXyYKE7LGYzHIiKcYH3NGW1_QiyvTkJSukP9kcO10y71uzIj5NWqQ9ki9xm8sSzz9tBGBsZzyD7L7hTlU6wbFEl-RaUQXUDw/s1080/FOTEBigGreenWeek%25284%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="FOTE Hackney & Tower Hamlets sustainability debate, Great Big Green Week" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxHSDNXMihHtPSq74dGlGEnG58YHzyA57U1NF1tVPXyYKE7LGYzHIiKcYH3NGW1_QiyvTkJSukP9kcO10y71uzIj5NWqQ9ki9xm8sSzz9tBGBsZzyD7L7hTlU6wbFEl-RaUQXUDw/w400-h400/FOTEBigGreenWeek%25284%2529.png" title="FOTE Hackney & Tower Hamlets sustainability debate, Great Big Green Week" width="400" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><u>Event 3</u></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">AFTERNOON: Debate & Community</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Join us for an interactive panel discussion on concrete climate action around food & waste with Councillor Asma Islam (Cabinet Member for Environment), Richenda from <a href="https://growingcommunities.org/" target="_blank">Growing Communities</a>, Ruby from <a href="https://www.getloosefoods.com/" target="_blank">Get Loose</a>, and Andrea from <a href="https://www.manabiosystems.com/" target="_blank">Mana Biosystems</a> at Root/25 not-for-profit café - supported by <a href="https://www.ourpledge.co.uk/" target="_blank">OurPledge</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Time: 4:30pm - 6:30pm</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Venue: <a href="https://www.littleplaces.london/place/root-25" target="_blank">Root/25 Cafe</a>, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">116B Bow Rd, Bow, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">E3 3AA [<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Root25/@51.528062,-0.0213217,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m10!1m3!11m2!2sa79E9vkRGb2K1xK_y6YMcr7r-x2K_w!3e3!3m5!1s0x48761d217a02af1f:0xe184c3da0c5f12fc!8m2!3d51.528058!4d-0.0191315!15sCgEqWgMiASqSAQtjb2ZmZWVfc2hvcA" target="_blank">map</a>] (15 min on bus 425 from Mile End Station)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Capacity limited to 35 - please book a ticket to reserve your spot.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">All welcome, but there is a short flight of stairs.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Please get in touch for any support.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Event indoors.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">We hope to see you there!</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">For all three events, tickets are free (donations appreciated), booking is essential. Tickets can be purchased <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/great-big-green-week-tickets-170311830269" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Join us. </span></div></div>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-35385542534120513452021-03-16T20:24:00.006+00:002021-03-27T16:14:14.267+00:00The UK needs Proportional Representation after Coronavirus - along with a wider shake-up of the Establishment<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhslyTbi6OAWYJYlyk9jiwZFnSYU6aUtHz0XIItbFiYO6B9hjBnreu0LytoiXYAoEIspgZKfBxzxgiZQeRniRjcU_xqhzhcwLxWBVrEy077hk_nvxae1AUf7k5IJb6TwNpX5-SBuQ/s1024/PR_AroundTheWorld.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Map showing countries who use versions of Proportional Representation" border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="1024" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhslyTbi6OAWYJYlyk9jiwZFnSYU6aUtHz0XIItbFiYO6B9hjBnreu0LytoiXYAoEIspgZKfBxzxgiZQeRniRjcU_xqhzhcwLxWBVrEy077hk_nvxae1AUf7k5IJb6TwNpX5-SBuQ/w640-h324/PR_AroundTheWorld.png" title="Countries around the world using PR" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">Map showing countries around the world that use proportional voting systems (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Proportional_voting_systems.svg" target="_blank">source</a>)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve been thinking about what needs to be done to make the UK a more modern place in these strange times, as we face the end of the latest lockdown. And our antiquated electoral system is one of them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The obsessive, all-pervasive nature with which the UK has focused on its inglorious and messy exit from the European Union in the last four-and-a-half years, and the chaos caused by the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic at the end of 2019, plunging not just the UK but the global economy into recession, has meant that another pressing matter has been left on the drawing board: reform of the UK’s voting system. This is despite the fact that the very same voting system arguably contributed to Brexit happening in the first place.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The UK’s insistence on clinging to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-past-the-post_voting" target="_blank">first-past-the-post</a> (FPTP) remains at odds with many of its European neighbours. The UK’s antagonism with the EU, culminating in Brexit, may in part be down to the fact that the UK’s voting system favours a 'winner-takes-all' approach, with parties in Parliament facing each other in adversity. This can be contrasted with the EU’s tradition of consensus, as reflected in the fact that many EU member-states favour versions of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representation" target="_blank">Proportional Representation</a> (PR). Furthermore, the European Parliament also uses PR, in which MEPs work together as blocs according to different political spectrums. Indeed, it could be argued that if the UK had adopted a voting system other than FPTP, it is possible that the UK could have ended up with a very different scenario to the one it faces now. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In essence, in FPTP, voters indicate on a ballot the candidate of their choice, and the candidate who receives the most votes then wins. This simplified view of the electoral process has been baldly labelled as “bad for voters, bad for government and bad for democracy” by the <a href="https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk" target="_blank">Electoral Reform Society</a> (ERS), which has long campaigned for change. It has ensured that a compressed two-party system is embedded in the political system – a principle known as 'Duverger’s Law', after the sociologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Duverger" target="_blank">Maurice Duverger</a> - with little chance for other parties to make their mark. The exception is if a coalition is formed, such as the previous one between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats after 2010’s general election (GE), but coalitions in the UK still remain relatively rare compared to those in countries that use PR. FPTP is still used in the USA, with its deeply flawed electoral college system, as well as many countries in the Commonwealth - but by no means all: Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa have all changed from FPTP to a PR voting method. At the same time, within the UK itself, PR has been used to some extent in the devolved Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly with the Additional Member System (AMS), which mixes PR with FPTP.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The legacy of FPTP in the UK is that in GEs, many voters in ‘safe seats’ have simply given up voting for any party other than Labour or Conservative, given that under FPTP their votes would essentially be worthless. Those who have voted for anyone but the main two parties have found their vote effectively ‘wasted’, leading to voter apathy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In contrast, many other EU member-states employ PR, an arguably much more representative electoral system, in which more than one candidate is elected in a constituency/voting area. How these member-states implement PR varies, whether using the party-list method, single transferable vote, or mixed-member method. Overall, though, this has ensured a more precise representation of voter intentions, with the line-up in Governments accurately reflecting the result of elections (especially using the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Hondt_method" target="_blank">D’Hondt method</a>) in terms of allocating seats. This can be compared to the 2005 UK GE, where the Labour Party was victorious, despite winning as little as 35% of votes. Likewise, in 2019’s GE, only 44% voted Conservative, yet they gained an 80-seat majority - and, with it, 100% of the power.<br /><br /></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1dWZgEGs-mlzuBXA9k7xXmis8xclKycTC8L4zGOIW9b9gOg7ez-FmerCgjXvECMx3JW3I2KgS1NPszg51Ew6Zw3vc-pAxDW6p87YUjtfhv0YbGrZY4t_ulX8NJ0UsyVLMPb7Rg/s1500/PR_UK_2019Election.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Make Votes Matter visual" border="0" data-original-height="633" data-original-width="1500" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1dWZgEGs-mlzuBXA9k7xXmis8xclKycTC8L4zGOIW9b9gOg7ez-FmerCgjXvECMx3JW3I2KgS1NPszg51Ew6Zw3vc-pAxDW6p87YUjtfhv0YbGrZY4t_ulX8NJ0UsyVLMPb7Rg/w640-h270/PR_UK_2019Election.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;"><br />Graphic by Make Votes Matter (<a href="https://www.makevotesmatter.org.uk/first-past-the-post" target="_blank">source</a>)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><span style="font-family: arial;">PR has meant a greater choice for voters that can match their beliefs more strongly, which in turn has encouraged turn-out for elections. Not only does this mean less 'wasted votes', but it also means that candidates have to campaign in all districts, rather than just the 'swing seats'.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In the UK, the Brexit campaign, while stretching far back with many roots, was truly set rolling when the Conservatives pledged to hold a referendum in their manifesto for the 2015 GE. The Tories would go on to win that election despite only 36.9% of votes cast. Along the way, the Liberal Democrats, who under PR could have stated the case for their party as presenting a genuine alternative that embraces Europe, found themselves out cold. In contrast, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who the Tories relied on as part of a coalition after the 2017 general election, were effectively given a green light to hold the Government to ransom, despite commanding only a minority of votes in Northern Ireland, and hardly any in Great Britain itself. While the majority of Northern Ireland’s voters expressed their desire to remain in the EU, the DUP insisted that the region remains entirely the opposite, opposing any divergence of Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK – except when it came to same-sex marriage and abortion, of course. Ironically, due to the DUP’s Brexit vote, with Northern Ireland staying in the EU’s customs zone and the UK facing a de facto internal border between NI and GB, Northern Ireland is now set to diverge ever more from the U.K. and be drawn ever further into the EU’s orbit, thus hastening the reunification of the island of Ireland – although the UK may attempt to stop this with its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/10/brexit-eu-poised-to-take-legal-action-against-uk-over-northern-ireland" target="_blank">current shenanigans</a> over the Northern Irish Protocol.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Opponents of PR have long held that it would ensure a presence in parliament of right-wing groups such as UKIP. However, the experience of a number of other EU member-states has shown that the views of more extremist wings can often be neutered. In the general election that took place in the Netherlands in 2017, all major parties refused to form a coalition with Geert Wilders’ right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV - <i>Partij Voor de Vrijheid</i> in Dutch), which meant that the PVV was effectively denied any chance in participating in Government policy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The UK did have a referendum on changing the electoral system in 2011. This was to replace the present FPTP system with the ‘<a href="https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/alternative-vote/" target="_blank">Alternative Vote</a>’ (AV) method, rather than PR. Under AV, voters rank candidates in order of preference. The ballots for the eliminated losing candidates are then redistributed until one candidate is a top remaining choice of voters. If two candidates are left with equal ranking, an 'instant runoff' allows head-to-head comparison – hence the use of the term 'Instant-Runoff voting' as an alternative name for AV. The referendum to change to AV was rejected by 67.9% of voters. Noticeably, the areas that voted 'Yes' above 50% to changing to AV were Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh Central, Glasgow Kelvin, and six voting areas in London – the same places that voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU referendum. Since then, the 2011 referendum has been barely mentioned.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Prior to this, there were attempts to introduce PR into the UK parliament during the early 1900s. In the 1970s, FPTP produced weak majority governments in the UK while part of a coalition – ironically, the very situation that detractors of PR have claimed is its major flaw. In more recent times, the Liberal Democrats have advocated for PR.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">If the Conservatives had gone into the 2015 election under a PR system of Government, they could have found their commitment to holding a referendum on the UK’s EU membership under sustained scrutiny. Members of Labour, the Greens, and the Liberal Democrats could have stared down the Eurosceptic backbenchers. In addition, the likes of the Greens, virtually shut out of Government under FPTP, could have exerted pressure under PR to guide in liberally progressive policies. Instead, the UK had found itself stuck in a never-ending two-party system that sees no sign of opening up – a gift for the Conservatives, in particular, who have no desire to change the system (Labour’s view remains more ambiguous), but a curse for other parties, whose only chance of making a change is via a coalition with the two main parties. The fact that FPTP benefits the Tories and Labour so well has ensured that a change to PR remains an unlikely prospect; it would mean politicians from either party having to deal with MPs of real mettle, such as the Greens' Caroline Lucas. Yet it is not impossible that Labour may try to agitate for electoral change.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">But how would PR work in practice? As an experiment, I’ve tried to imagine what the UK system would look like under a PR party-list system. It’s a mind-bogglingly complicated task. The aforementioned Electoral Reform Society point out that "rather than electing one person per area, in Party List [i.e. Proportional Representation] systems each area is bigger and elects a group of MPs that closely reflect the way the area voted. At the moment, we have 650 constituencies, each electing 1 Member of Parliament (MP); under a Party List system we might have 26 constituencies, each electing 25 MPs".</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Theoretically, the number of these constituencies under PR - which I’m going to call ‘voting super-areas’ (VSA), as awful as that sounds, to distinguish them from current constituencies - doesn’t have to be 26. A mathematical calculation will tell you that 50 VSA under PR with 13 MPs makes 650; however, the number of MPs – i.e. seats - in each of these VSA could fluctuate from 10 to 13, divided proportionally with the top three or four main parties, based on the population density of each VSA, making the total number of MPs in the country total 650. Each of those constituencies would be a coalition of MPs, based on voter figures. The Boundary Commission, the body that is responsible for balancing the UK’s constituencies sizes under our current FPTP system, would have a huge task.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Nonetheless, there are already precedents that we can go by. The most obvious is the fact that while the UK was a member of the EU, it took part in elections to European Parliaments under PR. Going by the results of the 2019 European Parliament election – the last that the UK was involved with – you can see that the UK was split into just 12 super-regions (technically 13 if you include Gibraltar, which was included but has its own Parliament as a British Overseas Territory):</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphzwp0PpLH3PEJkeNIjmhIghAbGQ1RbjxkQmNs01Km6N3l_kIhjHG0lLEQVF1i3-UaB7DUazv86Qdw8DTaXW4Ke_tzdObmXutDVQpmgVK00HmGzJusKr8yVkUT35pgmv_Sfho-A/s937/PR_UK_EuropeanParliamentElections.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="937" data-original-width="512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphzwp0PpLH3PEJkeNIjmhIghAbGQ1RbjxkQmNs01Km6N3l_kIhjHG0lLEQVF1i3-UaB7DUazv86Qdw8DTaXW4Ke_tzdObmXutDVQpmgVK00HmGzJusKr8yVkUT35pgmv_Sfho-A/w350-h640/PR_UK_EuropeanParliamentElections.png" width="350" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">British super-regions for European Parliament elections (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UK_European_Parliament_constituency.svg" target="_blank">source</a>)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Taking the example of London, as you can see, the city was counted as one overall super-region, for which the Brexit Party, the Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Greens al all won seats, sending MEPs to the Parliament in Brussels - all of which then joined their own pan-European bloc of like-minded fellow MEPs (the current iterations of which can be viewed <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/about-parliament/en/organisation-and-rules/organisation/political-groups" target="_blank">here</a>).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The UK’s referendum on the EU in 2016, meanwhile, split England, Wales, and Scotland into ‘Voting Areas’ based on Councils, each comprising a number of constituencies (Northern Ireland kept to its normal constituency boundaries). Wales had around 22 of these voting areas, while Scotland had 32 (blue areas in image voted overall to leave; yellow to remain). Due to its much larger size, England had vastly more voting areas. <br /><br /></span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMmM9Fsv1a8uL-VbVDpEmy3ymaIRrImb0mPxYCw4IDNPeJZBYa6veWleaPZXUfgz5XNs2_iSNHV34QE6ofKO-mcm3vJ3ucz_B0P9lisKNrQeOVJh2gIl1dElnbnxz0zgFp80dUxQ/s758/PR_UK_EUReferendum.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMmM9Fsv1a8uL-VbVDpEmy3ymaIRrImb0mPxYCw4IDNPeJZBYa6veWleaPZXUfgz5XNs2_iSNHV34QE6ofKO-mcm3vJ3ucz_B0P9lisKNrQeOVJh2gIl1dElnbnxz0zgFp80dUxQ/w432-h640/PR_UK_EUReferendum.png" width="432" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: #f1f5fc; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">Map of the United Kingdom showing the voting areas for the European Union membership referendum, 2016 (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_Kingdom_EU_referendum_2016_area_results_2-tone.svg" target="_blank">source</a>)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The method used for the EU referendum still produced more voting areas than would be possible under PR. At the other end of the spectrum, the method used for the European Parliament elections in 2019 had an extreme version of super-regions/VSA – only 12 (13 including Gibraltar, as mentioned). However, the point nonetheless remains that the methods used in both the European Parliament elections and the EU Referendum redrew the voting maps of the UK accordingly, which proved that it can be done.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Let’s go back to what the UK under PR would look like. In London, the sheer amount of people per capita would require there to be several VSA. A good way to divide up these areas would be to have an equal amount of boroughs – 4 </span><span style="font-family: arial;">–</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> in each (except for the City of London (CoL), which would be its own VSA due to its unusual status as a separate entity to the rest of London as a whole). This is illustrated in the image below, which I have modified using Photoshop to divide a map of London’s boroughs into these VSA. Each VSA could then have three MPs for each borough, leading to 12 MPs in each constituency area. There are actually echoes of this in the fact that prior to 1999, London was represented during European Parliament elections as a number of single-member constituencies: London South West, London North West, London South East, London North, London Central, London West, London East, London South Inner, and London North East. Where the CoL was included in those VSA, and how it operated accordingly, is unclear.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHE-Kzd88HgTbeBx7a8aCb0uVcr_nnEl-941pDa1u0pZTrooWGg5caZyqyRfOQHtzPDr6MpimA7Ru2pmio7YwoKSgz_0tpLdV5tCkWbRiiUgrToj9chyhtMlDXMK_Aig6wdkdyw/s1639/PR_london-boroughs-map.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Image of London split into VSA under PR" border="0" data-original-height="1267" data-original-width="1639" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHE-Kzd88HgTbeBx7a8aCb0uVcr_nnEl-941pDa1u0pZTrooWGg5caZyqyRfOQHtzPDr6MpimA7Ru2pmio7YwoKSgz_0tpLdV5tCkWbRiiUgrToj9chyhtMlDXMK_Aig6wdkdyw/w640-h494/PR_london-boroughs-map.jpg" title="How London could look under PR" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">How London could look under PR, divided into VSA (original map of London boroughs taken from LondonMap360° - <a href="https://londonmap360.com/london-boroughs-map" target="_blank">source</a>)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />The permutations of this could apply not just in London, but in the UK’s other most populated cities – Birmingham, Glasgow, and Manchester most prominently, all of which have their own systems of boroughs or administrative areas. Yorkshire as a whole, meanwhile, contains nearly as many people as the whole of Scotland, so would require more than one VSA. Meanwhile, much less densely populated areas, such as Northumberland or Argyll & Bute, would require only one VSA. This system would lead to a fairer and, yes, more <i>proportional</i> system, in which people would be motivated to vote.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It wouldn’t be perfect, of course. To give an example, Hackney, where I’m from, would see three MPs elected as part of an Inner North Central VSA, as mentioned. Those three MPs might be one each from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the Conservatives (though the latter only command a small amount of support in the borough); or those three might be one each from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the Greens. How the Conservatives would work with MPs from other parties in practice in VSAs would await to be seen – there may be a process of <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/horse-trading" target="_blank">horse-trading</a> - but the aforementioned coalition between the Tories and the Lib Dems after 2010’s GE illustrated that it is possible, not to mention the also afore-mentioned previous history of cross-party London MEPs being elected to European Parliaments under PR during the period that the UK was a member-state of the EU. That could still leave candidate MPs from other parties not represented – and therefore other, smaller parties could <i>still</i> find themselves side-lined under PR. Nonetheless, they would be side-lined <i>less</i> than under FPTP, in which only one party is represented in a constituency. A PR system would be particularly beneficial to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens, who would have a bigger representation in VSA.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whYFjkCZHI8" target="_blank">This video</a> from Australia, describing their system under PR, is a good explainer. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">As you can see, six candidates are whittled down to three via the votes being reallocated using a Single Transferrable Vote (STV) system. Despite this clear enough explanation, the transition from FPTP to PR still remains a mind-boggling complicated process. You can see this when comparing Australia’s neighbour New Zealand, a beacon of sanity at the moment in the world (not having Rupert Murdoch in charge of much of its media probably helps). <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JamSJ_yguqc" target="_blank">New Zealand also uses PR, but with a mixed-member system (MMP)</a>, which does retain elements of FPTP; the comparison with the UK system, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au_94POF87k" target="_blank">and how New Zealand’s PR MMR system would apply</a>, is complicated.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So too is the different versions or PR that can be applied. Wikipedia lists <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representation#PR_electoral_systems" target="_blank">some sixteen different versions of PR</a>, including models such as ‘Bi-proportional Appointment’, which applies mathematical modelling to election results to achieve proportionality. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Whether a UK system under PR should adopt Party-List, STV, or MMR methods remains a moot point. Fundamentally, though, they would still be more democratic than the current system, even while some of these use FPTP as part of their system. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In any case, lots of people in the UK want our election system changed, as part of a wider shake-up that should include a re-evaluation of the House of Lords as an entirely unelected body characterised by cronyism. <a href="https://www.labourforanewdemocracy.org.uk" target="_blank">Labour For a New Democracy</a> is one of them. A coalition of pro-PR groups such as the afore-mentioned ERS, <a href="https://www.makevotesmatter.org.uk" target="_blank">Make Votes Matter</a>, and <a href="https://www.labourcampaignforelectoralreform.org.uk" target="_blank">Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform</a>, Labour For A New Democracy (they’re serious people who don’t appear to do acronyms) plan to take the case to Labour’s conference in September, backed by 188 Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) around the country. The fact that so many CLPs back PR makes the campaign an increasingly prominent issue, even if it hasn’t been backed to the same extent by the Trade Unions.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">PR may not be a panacea for all the UK’s troubles, which have only been amplified by Brexit and the pandemic. But adopting it would lead to a revitalised political system based that would alleviate the worst aspects of cronyism and factionalism. PR shows another way. New Zealand achieved it in 1996, albeit by keeping elements of FPTP, as mentioned, via MMR. It must happen if we are to truly call ourselves a modern European democracy in the 21st century – whether in the EU or not.</span></p>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0London, UK51.5073509 -0.127758323.197117063821153 -35.284008299999996 79.817584736178844 35.028491700000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-75186452854496492802021-03-16T19:14:00.006+00:002021-03-17T21:16:12.225+00:00Apocalypse Bunker Discs podcast episode<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDS-CePP2TmHDz__2pUnRxTUCIZr28d7nV5yO3CF8j83pupjA6dli4gFZ0cbOGw6ZvndLVWibV0zuqIWk73erEAO9mkq-HJYFhpfNpkBqJ_-dcxv0DLs-nlZFdAASp902-h09ITA/s160/ABDs_logo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDS-CePP2TmHDz__2pUnRxTUCIZr28d7nV5yO3CF8j83pupjA6dli4gFZ0cbOGw6ZvndLVWibV0zuqIWk73erEAO9mkq-HJYFhpfNpkBqJ_-dcxv0DLs-nlZFdAASp902-h09ITA/s0/ABDs_logo.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><p>You can listen to an interview with me on the brilliant <a href="http://oliverturtle.co.uk/apocalypsebunkerdiscs" target="_blank">Apocalypse Bunker Discs</a> podcast series, hosted by man-about-town Oliver Turtle. Operating on a similar model to 'Desert Island Discs', it involves the interviewee selecting eight tracks that they’d take to a post-apocalyptic underground bunker, and talking about their significance, as well as weaving in related songs (denoted in the episode chapters below with a plus sign) along the way around the main selection. There’s also a choice of one film and one book.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">All the episodes are interesting in their own right, and worth a listen, with some truly bizarre, fantastical, and esoteric choices. And Taylor Swift, for some reason.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zb3VuZGNsb3VkLmNvbS91c2Vycy9zb3VuZGNsb3VkOnVzZXJzOjYyMDc4Njk0Ni9zb3VuZHMucnNz/episode/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvOTk3NzI0NzM0?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiQx6jXwbXvAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg" target="_blank">Listen here</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Episode Chapters:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">00 Theme Music: Beneath The Comatose Lagoon (00m 00s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">01 Introducing...Dominic Simpson, Node of the Leftfield Scene (00m 54s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">02 Steeleye Span - 'All Around My Hat' (02m 18s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">03 + Broadcast & The Focus Group - 'Seancing' (07m 38s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">04 The Art of Noise - 'Close (To The Edit)' (08m 23s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">05 Velvet Underground - 'All Tomorrow’s Parties' (14m 08s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">06 + Nico & Serge Gainsbourg - 'Striptease' (18m 20s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">07 + Cornelius Cardew - 'Treatise' (22m 55s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">08 Codeine - 'Cave In' (25m 30s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">09 Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Storm' (29m 35s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">10 + Glen Branca - 'Lesson No. 1' (36m 04s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">11 Land of Kush - 'Iceland Spar' (37m 40s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">12 V/VM - 'Lady in Red (Dancing With Meat)' (41m 47s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">13 + V/VM - 'True' (45m 22s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">14 + Oneohtrix Point Never - 'There’s Nobody Here' (46m 33s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">15 Terry Riley - 'In C' (48m 16s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">16 Dream Maps - '100 Bars in C-Minor / UVB-76' (54m 47s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">17 + Deodato - 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' (01h 02m 18s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">18 Arthur C Clarke - Reads From <i>2001: A Space Oddysey</i> (01h 04m 23s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">19 + Bill Boyd and His Cowboy Ramblers - 'Blue Danube Waltz' (01h 06m 40s)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">20 Centerprise - A Hackney Autobiography (01h 07m 36s)</span></p>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0London, UK51.5073509 -0.127758323.197117063821153 -35.284008299999996 79.817584736178844 35.028491700000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-52986348530542784392020-03-28T15:24:00.000+00:002020-03-28T22:35:44.379+00:00Why the current crisis strengthens the case for a Green New Deal and a more sustainable society – especially after last year’s General Election<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioM90rOT1ViqaQGvzHJnAUHxJulGBi5U83WW_0MVNOKKutxJx88K6w1D9LCnIK3lHQT3x_9mu_LsXdYl9Vi45GmWSnYhr8-8xAbx3y_6uhrrOUWdqfhWufPWGGrHShzytK-Hei8Q/s1600/coronavirus_image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioM90rOT1ViqaQGvzHJnAUHxJulGBi5U83WW_0MVNOKKutxJx88K6w1D9LCnIK3lHQT3x_9mu_LsXdYl9Vi45GmWSnYhr8-8xAbx3y_6uhrrOUWdqfhWufPWGGrHShzytK-Hei8Q/s640/coronavirus_image.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo: Syaibatul Hamdi [<a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/world-emergency-coronavirus-mask-4952390/" target="_blank">link</a>]</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s a strange feeling at the moment, being stuck in lockdown during the coronavirus. I’ve been meaning to write about what has happened in the last sixth months for a while now, but this seems like a timely period to so. The streets of London feel eerily empty, particularly at night, with the shots of Central London I’ve seen from a friend resembling something out of <i>28 Days Later</i> (ubiquitously soundtracked by Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s suitably apocalyptic ‘East Hastings’).</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eCdRFMp8Xwo" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As the world heads inexorably towards recession, with no end in sight for lockdown in many countries, the fragile nature of the global economy has become more and more exposed. The Great Recession (the term often used for the 2007-9 Financial Crisis) exposed neo-liberalism’s failures, but was supposedly rectified pretty quickly: in the UK, the tax payers rescued the banks, so that financial speculators could carry on as before. Ordinary people weren’t asked if we wanted to bail out the failing banks, of course; the Government knew that it had no choice, because the banks were too big to fail, and so went ahead regardless. Despite huge job losses, people went back to work, and then socialised. We were all told to feel better that things were back to normal, despite the fact that we knew that the financial crash had led to the near collapse of the financial system as we knew it. Few lessons were learnt in terms of any meaningful financial regulation that could prevent another financial crash from happening again – but that would’ve meant the Government challenging a deregulated financial sector that has become the main driver of the nation’s economy. Meanwhile, hedge fund speculators made money from the economic chaos and austerity, as they always do – including Jacob Rees-Mogg’s father, as I’ve pointed out <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-uk-was-set-tobe-officially-leaving.html" target="_blank">in a previous post</a> – and the economy carried on being based around assets such as an overheated housing market. So while plenty of people got laid off, rents, especially in London, didn’t go down.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Things feel very different now, though. The Great Recession was able to recover because things beyond the essentials were open. Beyond the Bank of England’s quantitative easing and the buying of essential goods, people were able to pump money into the economy from <i>doing stuff</i> rather than being housebound, whether entertainment or shopping or a thousand other social activities. In contrast, no amount of liquidity can stopgap the fact that this time people are physically not allowed out to their place of work (admittedly electronic communication has mitigated this somewhat). Once again, the ordinary taxpayer in the UK will be the one to pay to bailout large companies, including <a href="https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2020/03/15/branson-is-now-literally-milking-coronavirus-for-all-its-worth/" target="_blank">Richard Branson’s Virgin</a>, without being asked if we want to, while small businesses are likely to be the ones really feeling the heat, <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-11/chancellor-rishi-sunak-delivers-budget-amid-coronavirus-covid-19-pressure-and-focuses-on-flooding-spending-potholes/" target="_blank">despite Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s best intentions</a> – and, of course, if some of them go to the wall, they will be rich pickings once again for the hedge funds and various disaster capitalists who take advantage of economic chaos. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The failings of the capitalist system when faced with the Coronavirus couldn’t have come at a worse time for the UK, because of another big shock to the system: Brexit. Yet it’s been fascinating to watch the tabloid’s handling of both. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’ve <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-uk-was-set-tobe-officially-leaving.html" target="_blank">already discussed</a> how the tabloids and much of the mainstream media has been deliberately relentless in their anti-EU propaganda, for a <a href="http://www.progressivepulse.org/brexit/fascism-as-a-methodology-rather-than-an-ideology" target="_blank">variety of reasons</a>. That was ever more obvious in the run-up to the snap General Election (GE) in December 2019, but added to that was another element: that the mainstream media, hand-in-hand with the Government, were clearly terrified of the prospect of Corbyn in No.10. Corbyn didn’t play the media game that the Eton-educated Boris Johnson, who was famously part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullingdon_Club" target="_blank">Bullingdon Club</a>, knew so consummately. The newspapers didn’t have privileged access to him in the way that they did with other politicians. His radical manifesto of change included defunding private schools, from which many top-tier politicians come from, together with threats to stop corporate tax breaks, stamp out wage inequality, put energy and water in public ownership, and challenge the dominance of overseas tax avoidance. It was the latter ambition, especially, that put him in perpetual opposition to the City and a global economic system entrenched in money made in tax havens, as <i>Financial Times</i> journalist Nicholas Shaxon’s engrossing book <i><a href="http://treasureislands.org/" target="_blank">Treasure Islands</a></i> reveals – not to mention the tax-avoiding owners of the tabloids. Not only were Corbyn’s plans anathema to Tory values and right-wing ideology; it also represented a threat to the interests of the system generally. Together with a serious radical socialist program, it was obvious that the establishment and the wealthy elite had to do whatever it took to demonise Corbyn as much as they could – and the way to do that was through the bulk of the mainstream media.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So despite Corbyn coming from <a href="https://www.redpepper.org.uk/radical-roots-corbyn-and-the-tradition-of-english-radicalism/?fbclid=IwAR0cE6zs91OVT6wViQbrUEYhANK0sWaNrTRkbr703ezmj9aUi7IUkDEcBtg" target="_blank">a long tradition of English radicalism</a> going back to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levellers" target="_blank">Levellers</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers" target="_blank">Diggers</a>, the tabloids neutered the threat of a Corbyn administration in power by appealing to the lowest common denominator instinct of the British public: by casting him as a heretic, a ‘traitor’ who ‘despises this great country’, a ‘danger’ to ‘our way of life’, ‘unpatriotic’, ‘Jezbollah’, and ‘an IRA sympathiser’ (<a href="https://www.huckmag.com/perspectives/opinion-perspectives/jeremy-corbyn-no-ira-sympathiser/" target="_blank">the truth is more complex</a>). He was depicted deliberately as somehow ‘anti-British’, a 'collaborator' with 'the enemy' (for the tabloids to exist, there always is 'an enemy' to conveniently rail against).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO5nJzbmKVpG1GqP6483OPK1uwn2TOmfbHgHGxDrcR4clm0pOTZecC4WeNXuJzKrSULDPcATu19yM5tL0siGWOZ-sQN9oerngrjmScHR9pJofEMTci69a5PTS4GJeGMi65nso5Ow/s1600/Levellers_declaration_and_standard.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1445" data-original-width="1199" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO5nJzbmKVpG1GqP6483OPK1uwn2TOmfbHgHGxDrcR4clm0pOTZecC4WeNXuJzKrSULDPcATu19yM5tL0siGWOZ-sQN9oerngrjmScHR9pJofEMTci69a5PTS4GJeGMi65nso5Ow/s400/Levellers_declaration_and_standard.gif" width="331" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Declaration by the Diggers, depicting themselves as "true Levellers", in 1649; public domain</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Deliberately targeting the older population of the country, it was impressed upon us that it was he </span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7782897/amp/FTSE-boss-warns-hidden-threat-Jeremy-Corbyns-desire-seize-control-key-industries.html" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">who would lead ‘Labour’s £11,000 hit to your pension’</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">. Meanwhile, the Brexit Party, in virtual alliance with the Government, focused on issues such as World War II and fishing, which they knew had a certain flashpoint in the psyche of some Brits, seizing disingenuously on war clichés and grievances in the fisheries industry when, again, in the case of the latter </span><a href="https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2019/03/07/fishing-brexit-uk-fleetwood/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">the truth remains much more complex</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">, rather than simply being boiled down to slogans such as ‘Our Waters, Our Fish’ – not to mention the fact that Nigel Farage, as a member of the European Parliament Fisheries Committee, only attended </span><a href="https://descrier.co.uk/politics/brexit-nigel-farage-turned-one-42-eu-fisheries-committee-meetings/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">one out of 42 meetings</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the same time as this, we now know that the Tory Government <a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2019/11/09/russian-influence-in-britain-what-johnson-doesnt-want-you-to-know/" target="_blank">had secret connections with the Russian Government</a>, at the very same time that the media was vilifying Corbyn as a ‘Communist spy’. And it wasn’t just the Government: <a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2019/02/18/explosive-uk-parliamentary-report-exposes-the-molten-core-of-the-trump-brexit-russia-scandal/" target="_blank">the links between Farage and the Brexit Party and the Russian Government are well-known too</a> – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/08/revealed-leaveeu-campaign-met-russian-officials-as-many-as-11-times" target="_blank">and involve large amounts of money</a>. Time and time again, there have been proven connections between all of them, with Farage and The Brexit Party <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/russian-election-nigel-farage-brexit-party-eu-vote-elections-a9150571.html?__twitter_impression=true" target="_blank">voting against</a> EU resolutions to stop Russian election meddling – while lecturing the rest of the country on patriotism. The vilification not only ensured another five years of the Tories in power, then, but also served as a convenient distraction that covered up <a href="https://twitter.com/libdemfightbac/status/1226574512982052869" target="_blank">links</a> between No.10, Farage/The Brexit Party, Vote Leave (run by Matthew Elliott), and the Kremlin, and shadowy free market figures in the US such as Steve Bannon. And it also served as a convenient distraction to the various, mind-bendingly vast <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy" target="_blank">Byzantine strands</a> that orbit around pro-Brexit activity in <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/55-tufton-street" target="_blank">55 Tufton Street</a> in London, from the Taxpayer’s Alliance, Leave.EU, numerous right-wing think tanks, various climate change deniers, to obscure Canadian web analytical companies and involvement with the US and Russian Governments. Just some of these strands are explored in the image below:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuO5AUpa-bpYt5_ExSFl4sUY6MlxfaSILLpMXwh1aGByRmH2jNUs-rELKF2totBVlIgP9eYMQ8ih7pOlYI7MEf4DueEkIpE5bn8xH-ABSIcQF00AGnVUSufFTIHJsHtTZg8oV30w/s1600/fiftyfivetuftonstreet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1024" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuO5AUpa-bpYt5_ExSFl4sUY6MlxfaSILLpMXwh1aGByRmH2jNUs-rELKF2totBVlIgP9eYMQ8ih7pOlYI7MEf4DueEkIpE5bn8xH-ABSIcQF00AGnVUSufFTIHJsHtTZg8oV30w/s640/fiftyfivetuftonstreet.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Graphic creator: unknown. If this is your work, please get in touch and I will credit you</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The Sun</i> has had form on this, of course. They castigated the previous Labour leader, Ed Milliband, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2435751/Red-Eds-pledge-bring-socialism-homage-Marxist-father-Ralph-Miliband-says-GEOFFREY-LEVY.html" target="_blank">depicting his deceased father</a> as “The man who hated Britain – what did Milliband Snr. really believe in? The answer should disturb everyone who loves this country”. Desperately searching for any way to smear Milliband Jr., they picked <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/may/06/sun-ed-miliband-labour-mail-telegraph-election" target="_blank">a random photo of him eating food</a>. For those who can remember further back, they meted out <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/may/06/sun-ed-miliband-neil-kinnock-murdoch-labour" target="_blank">similar ‘punishment’</a> to Neil Kinnock in 1992. This insidious thought process and faux appeal to patriotism has reappeared and again in the newspaper, and last December’s GE, with Corbyn the victim, was no different. As ever, appearance rather than the underlying reality was all. Yet the disturbing thing was that this time it wasn’t just confined to the tabloids. <i>The Telegraph</i> was just as bad, sycophantically demanding that “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/10/20/time-critics-saw-boris-churchillian-figure/" target="_blank">It’s time critics saw Boris for the Churchillian figure he is</a>”. But less predictably, it also featured more subtly in the BBC’s coverage. When Johnson bumbled his way shambolically through a Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall in 2019, including laying the wreath upside down, the BBC used footage instead of Johnson laying the wreath in a much smarter demeanour in 2016, then later dubiously claimed that it was an ‘error’. During that same Remembrance Sunday back in 2016, two newspapers claimed that Corbyn “broke into a dance” on the way to the Cenotaph, <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/no-jeremy-corbyn-wasnt-dancing-9252300" target="_blank">which we now know was a lie</a>. Another ‘error’ by the BBC, meanwhile, was when the BBC edited out the incredulous laughter from the audience on Question Time in reaction to Johnson being asked a question about how important it is for people in power to tell the truth. Then, a day before the GE, Laura Kuenssberg reported that the postal votes were already “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/dec/11/bbc-denies-political-editors-postal-vote-comments-broke-law" target="_blank">looking pretty grim for Labour in a lot of parts of the country</a>”. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The insidious culminated effect on this was a character assassination that slowly chipped away at the public’s belief that Corbyn and Labour were sufficiently ‘patriotic’ and could offer a credible alternative path, while Johnson appeared unassailably the leader, his flaws airbrushed out. And the BBC, at least ostensibly, appeared to be complicit in this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Labour themselves didn’t help, either. Shambolic infighting and factionalism, perennial technological problems at a crucial time, and an inept handling of the anti-Semitism crisis all contributed to a disastrous election campaign. As leader of this, Corbyn remained a flawed character. Nonetheless, he was <a href="https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2019/11/15/boris-johnsons-special-advisor-publicly-thanks-the-media-for-uniting-against-jeremy-corbyn/" target="_blank">always unfairly destined to lose</a>, despite determined campaigning by Labour volunteers in torrential, rain-soaked December weather. The establishment ‘won’, with the line sold that Johnson ‘will get Brexit done’, pushed by disingenuous journalists who knew few well that this is only the beginning of negotiations between the UK and the EU, in which the EU will have the upper hand due to its size and clout – something that they simply cannot concede, because then the whole premise of their anti-EU scapegoating, in which the UK has the upper hand, falls like a pack of dominos. Instead, the tabloids have pulled the wool over the public’s eyes, and continue to do so, including condoning the increasingly deranged, quasi-Stalinist behaviour by the unelected Dominic Cummings even as <a href="https://twitter.com/StuartBudd1/status/1226039555389886466" target="_blank">he has turned against them</a> – along with the independence of the judiciary; The Confederation of British Industry (CBI); civil servants; Cabinet members <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sajid_Javid#Resignation_as_Chancellor" target="_blank">who wouldn’t agree with his demands</a> to have their advisers fired and replaced by individuals hand-picked by 10 Downing Street; and anyone else who he perceives to be standing in his way – while still castigating “unelected Brussels elites”. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In case you’re wondering, these aren’t just my opinions. They’re also of <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/british-journalists-have-become-part-of-johnsons-fake-news-machine/" target="_blank">a senior journalist</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s striking to see now, as the coronavirus takes hold, that the mainstream media still cannot bring themselves to offer anything critical, bringing to mind the GE. This is because they are still pushing the lie, foisted upon them by their tax-dodging owners, that only the Conservative party can be trusted with the economy. So instead the line has been pushed that only Johnson can get us out of this, with <i>The Telegraph</i> claiming that “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/19/far-requiring-delay-coronavirus-strengthens-hand-post-brexit/" target="_blank">Far from requiring delay, coronavirus strengthens our hand in post-Brexit talks</a>”, while the fact that the UK could have joined the EU procurement scheme to secure ventilators and other coronavirus equipment to treat people affected by the virus, <a href="https://twitter.com/martinmckee/status/1242489908104658944" target="_blank">but chose not to</a> - because the word Europe has become so toxic in the Conservative party - has been wilfully brushed aside. Indeed, the mainstream media have wilfully ignored just how dangerously reliant the UK could be on the EU if things get tough over medicine during the pandemic, particularly if an intransigent USA President intervenes. In a move that brings to mind Naomi Klein’s <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine" target="_blank">The Shock Doctrine</a></i>, which focuses on ‘disaster capitalism’, the chaos taking place over the coronavirus could pave the way for the Tory Government to push through one its cherished aims, thwarted only because of repeated public opprobrium – to move towards an American-style healthcare system, away from a National Health Service (NHS) that the Conservatives opposed right from its forming in 1948 under a Labour administration. Pharmaceutical companies, some of whom could view the coronavirus pandemic as a unique business opportunity, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/03/13/big-pharma-drug-pricing-coronavirus-profits/" target="_blank">know this well</a>. This is touched on heavily in the podcast below by Global Justice Now (produced just before the coronavirus, so there’s no mention of it, but still chillingly relevant):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/771791755&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If there’s one conclusion that the last six months have taught us, it’s that the mainstream media for the most part cannot be trusted. With notable exceptions for some of the coverage by <i>The Guardian</i> (including particularly <a href="https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla" target="_blank">Carol Cadwalladr</a>’s investigative work), <i>Financial Times</i> and the <i>Mirror</i>, the mainstream media savaged Corbyn while offering Johnson the easiest of rides, including still conveniently burying the withheld Government’s report on what exactly was going on between the British and Russian Governments. Going back to <i>The Sun</i>, in a classic case of audience manipulation, the newspaper has now put up logos saying 'I Lov</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e The NHS’, and encouraged its readers to applaud NHS staff during the pandemic crisis, while conveniently</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> failing to mention that they themselves advocated sacking junior doctors on pay strike in 2016, who were angered at the Tories’ continual underfunding of the NHS:</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">If you took this photo, please let me know and I'll credit you</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It also ignores the fact that the Tory party, who <i>The Sun</i> have consistently supported, have been consistently opposed to the NHS, as mentioned already, for a number of reasons (chief among them that the NHS is not a profit-making body). It’s no secret that many Tory politicians have advocated moving towards an American-style healthcare system. This is common for a paper which has consistently gaslighted its public, including classing dissenters over the Iraq war in the early 2000s as ‘traitors’ (despite the fact that the war took place under a Labour leadership) – now conveniently forgotten as public opinion has retrospectively shifted to against the invasion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s clear that society cannot go on after this crisis in the way that it could after The Great Recession just over ten years ago. Going ‘back to normal’ won’t paper over the cracks that have been exposed in our <i>laissez-faire</i> financial system, nor the increasing strain that climate change and dwindling peak oil reserves will place on the system. Despite what the naysayers have pronounced, there is an alternative. The coronavirus is just the start when taking into account the impacts that will take place as a result of climate change (more on this in a <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.com/2019/04/last-thursday-i-delivered-speech-to-my.html" target="_blank">previous blog post</a>) over the next ten years. Instead, this opportunity should be seized to embrace a new way of thinking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First, a major boycott campaign against the tabloids needs to be taken, in which the disinformation and smoke and mirrors pedalled within the publications are highlighted. Instead, people should be pointed to independent sources such as Open Democracy, Byline Times, Full Fact, The London Economic and Novara Media. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Secondly, when the UK emerges from this crisis, the economy needs to be boldly and fundamentally re-orientated, so that power is taken away from deregulated finance and an alternative to the current financial system is prioritised. We need to embrace structural change via the Green New Deal (GND) – an ambitious new financial and political architecture that prioritises investments in decarbonisation techniques; a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Transition" target="_blank">just transition</a> for workers away from dependence on carbon and addiction to fossil fuels, as well as other greenhouse gas emitters; and attempts to embrace <a href="https://www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2018/10/27/degrowth-a-call-for-radical-abundance" target="_blank">degrowth</a>. All of these are huge fields in themselves, but the latter includes the notion that we should aim for a ‘steady-state’ economy, with a generally stable, moderately fluctuating population and per capita consumption.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There have been a number of versions of the GND in several countries; in this blog post, I’m going to focus on the UK one. In terms of day-to practice, the GND advocates alternative energy moves to prioritise the retrofitting of every building as much as possible, so as to cut back emissions and improve efficiency; for the UK’s electricity grid to be sourced from renewable energy, including wind, solar, hydro and geothermal electricity; and for a general move to energy efficiency.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ann Pettifor’s book, <i><a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/3102-the-case-for-the-green-new-deal" target="_blank">The Case for The Green New Deal</a></i>, offers some good suggestions on how this would work. As one of the original members of the <a href="https://greennewdealgroup.org/" target="_blank">Green New Deal UK Group</a>, and Director of the organisation Policy Research in Macroeconomics (PRIME), she points out that “mobile agents [i.e. on behalf of private market forces] have very little interest in supporting states that need to wean economies away from dependence on fossil fuels and from the all-powerful corporations that dig up, distribute and make money from those fuels”. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It doesn’t have to be this way. Instead, Pettifor calls for the establishment of an international reserve currency, objectively independent of the sovereign power of any single, imperial state, as Keynes proposed at the 1944 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_Conference" target="_blank">Bretton Woods conference</a>. Keynes was defeated, largely because of US opposition. The US Government insisted that their dollar be established as the world’s reserve currency instead – and got their wish. So it has been ever since, to the point where this status quo – where the US enjoys an inherent international advantage due to the dollar being the world’s default reserve currency, with the Federal Reserve acting as a global lender of last resort - was strengthened, rather than weakened, by the 2008 crisis. More, not less, power flowed into Wall Street as a result of that crisis, because of the money made through insurance as a result of the US making trillions of dollars available to European and Asian banks who were reeling from the crisis. Combined with this, the EU faced its own structural problems within the Eurozone. Pettifor points out what would have happened if the money the US lent, on favourable terms, was an independent reserve currency instead: “The ‘insurance’ is valuable at times of crisis, but it could just as easily have been provided by an independent, international central bank working with, and answerable to, all nations, not just the most powerful”. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The result of this dominance of the US dollar has been that poor countries, unable to pay for essentials such as oil and gas in their own currencies, have been forced to use the dollar, making them subordinate to it. Meanwhile, deregulation in the latter part of the 20th century of the international financial system, particularly in the US and the UK, has meant that, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/29/city-of-london-desperate-gamble-china-vulnerable-economy" target="_blank">in the words of Alan Greenspan</a>, the world is once again governed by markets.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In addition to the above, Pettifor advocates the establishment of an international ‘clearing union’ for the settlement of credit and debts between nations, so that the burden of transformation is shared equitably. She advocates central bank intervention to manage cross-border capital flows, so that tax evasion can be combatted, with demands that offshore capital be brought back onshore. And she recommends that for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_tax" target="_blank">carbon taxes</a> to be effective, they need to be targeted at the biggest emitters. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This also chimes with the work of another member of the Green New Deal UK Group member, Andrew Simms, a research associate with the Centre for Global Political Economy at the University of Sussex and Fellow at the New Economics Foundation (nef – the acronym is always in lower-case, for some reason). Simms points out in his book <i>Cancel The Apocalypse</i> that “much more could be done to tackle the £100 billion-plus lost to the public purse in tax that has been avoided, evaded or simply not paid. A general tax-avoidance provision targeting the abuse of tax allowances could raise £10 billion a year if only half successful.” Simms also advocates green bonds, incentives on green savings, and a global Financial Transactions Tax that “applied at a rate of 0.05 per cent could raise more than £400 billion a year, several times the global aid budget. It could underpin a Green New Deal in the Global South, playing a significant role in enabling the majority world to adapt to climate change as well as ‘breaking the carbon chains of fossil fuel dependence’”. The EU had actually proposed a Financial Transactions Tax of its own (EU FTT), but faced opposition from the City (in fairness, some other member-states <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_financial_transaction_tax#Opposing_countries" target="_blank">opposed the tax too</a>). Simm’s backing of such a tax follows on from his work on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_debt" target="_blank">ecological debt</a>, which looks at the accumulated debt that wealthier countries owe from the plunder of much poorer countries, including resource exploitation. An example among many of this is the mining of cobalt, <a href="https://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/what-you-should-know-about-cobalt-your-smartphone.html" target="_blank">the chemical element that features in your smartphone</a>, in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, located in central Africa. Other examples of ecological debt include the degradation of natural habitats, and occupation of environmental space for waste discharge. In all these case, developing countries have taken the brunt. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More broadly, the GND in the UK has a set of principles, similar to its cousin in the US proposed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that need to be abided by in order for it to succeed. These include the aforementioned steady-state economy principle, which in itself includes nine ecological boundaries, and the notion of a ‘<a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/plimsoll-line.html" target="_blank">Plimsoll line</a>’ that is both economic and ecological in the way that it caps the economy at a sustainable level, much of which I’ve <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.com/2019/04/last-thursday-i-delivered-speech-to-my.html" target="_blank">covered at least to some extent in this blog post</a>. That ‘Plimsoll line’ has already been demarcated by scientists, in line with cuts that rich countries have to make in terms of temperature rises. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo of Plimsoll line on boat by Markus Brinkmann (<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brinkmann/509192200/" target="_blank">link</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The nine ecological boundaries outlined are:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ozone depletion</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Biodiversity loss and extinctions</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chemical pollution and the release of novel entities</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Climate change</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ocean acidification</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Freshwater consumption and the global hydrological cycle</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Land system change</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nitrogen and phosphorus flows to the biosphere and oceans</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Atmospheric aerosol loading.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The other principles include limited needs, n</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ot limitless wants; self-sufficiency; a mixed-market economy; a labour-intensive economy; a revised Universal Basic Income (UBI); monetary and fiscal coordination for a steady-state economy; abandon delusions of infinite expansion; GDP, ‘growth’ and the ecosystem. The last three include the issues of steady-state economies and degrowth once again. All of these principles are huge sub-sections in themselves that could have whole books devoted to them, and indeed have, by writers as disparate as George Monbiot and Jason Hickel. The subjects covered within these principles include the distressing spectacle of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder" target="_blank">Colony Collapse Disorder</a> - in which communities of bees are failing to pollinate as normal, due to a combination of factors including pesticides, with terrifying knock-on effects (</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a vast amount of the food we buy relies on honey-bee pollination, from coffee to butter)</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, as covered in the video below – to the intricacies of trade, farming, rewilding, the geopolitical of food production, global job market regulation, melting ice sheets, ethical issues over macro- and microeconomic policy, agricultural initiatives, and attitudes to recycling. The list goes on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GqA42M4RtxE" width="560"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On top of all that, though, the GND UK is revolutionary in another way. Tying in with the work mentioned above on degrowth, it dares to suggest that ‘national happiness’ is not necessarily tied to ever-increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In fact, more neoliberal societies and excessive materialism have if anything made us more neurotic, anxious, atomised and unhappy, and have exacerbated this through inequality, which in turn has led to social problems – the London Riots in 2011 being a prime example. While the question of what constitutes subjective life satisfaction is a deeply complicated one with a lot of variables – that intangible <i>something</i> that makes some people happy and some people not - various attempts at an ‘Index of Wellbeing’ have been made, including by the World Health Organisation, the UN’s Human Development Index and the Happy Planet Index. The work of Simms, too, does offer some clues, including with nef’s Centre for Well Being. This has included co-authoring a report called <i>The Great Transition</i>, which looked at the impacts on GDP in the UK of what would happen if the UK adopted the methods of the GND, leading to a national reduction in carbon emissions. He, along with colleagues, found that while growth would decrease somewhat, slightly reducing national incomes, egalitarianism would increase, leading to a corresponding drop in social costs that would make up for the drop in national income from a smaller GDP.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No country on the planet is perfect, but the Scandinavian/Nordic nations (along with certain other countries in Northern Europe and elsewhere, such as Japan and New Zealand) have grasped at least to some degree the value of a more equal society, particularly in terms of fostering an overall happiness, as Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett have focused on in <i><a href="https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/the-spirit-level" target="_blank">The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone</a></i>. “When income differences are bigger”, they point out, “social distances are bigger and social stratification more important”. Their conclusions are undeniable: sharing more equally leads to an overall better standard of well-being for everyone. This inevitably means moving away from an economic model in which “the high levels of inequality in our societies reflect the concentrations of power in our economic institutions”.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A new, fairer system could be ours if we want it – and when a country becomes more equal, it raises the well-being of everyone. However, for the GND to work in the UK, as Pettifor points out, it needs to have the public’s confidence, and that of financial backers who can finance the decarbonisation. The opposition from private interests, including particularly tax havens, and those who stash their money away in them, would be huge, particularly with initiatives (if they ever were to take place) such as the aforementioned Financial Transaction Tax – and the opposition would almost certainly include the aforementioned network of think-tanks and other organisations that revolve around 55 Tufton Street. The City, too, would raise objections, due to the fact that, as Simms puts it, “the commercial companies that trade in fossil fuels tend to be concentrated in a small handful of stock exchanges, and the City of London is a major one”. Never underestimate, too, the effects of NMBYism in the UK. For those who don’t know what that means, it stands for ‘Not In My Back Garden’, and is tied up with a certain kind of <i>Daily Mail</i> reader (you can Google the rest).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And yet, at just 17, Greta Thunberg has shown that protesting against the current system can capture the world’s imagination and be successful, as have the (admittedly flawed) activities of Extinction Rebellion. So, too, can progressive initiatives such as London’s <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge" target="_blank">Congestion Charge</a> (and its newer cousin, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_Low_Emission_Zone" target="_blank">Ultra Low Emission Zone</a> (ULEZ)), which faced opprobrium from many quarters at the time, yet has eventually become the new norm here in the capital. Similarly, Simms points to the bold steps that other cities - for example Freiburg in Germany, Ghent in Belgium, and Portland in the USA - have taken, so that polluting cars have been sidelined in favour of initiatives such as the increasing presence of public transport and cycling. The Plimsoll Line, mentioned earlier, is yet another example. The public mentality can change, if initiatives are done properly. It can be done. In addition, the ordinary taxpayer holds more sway over global financial markets than they think. As Pettifor puts it: “We must grasp that power. Only then can we begin to demand ‘terms and conditions’ for taxpayer-backed subsidies and guarantees – and use that power to regulate and subordinate the globalised financial sector to the interests of society as a whole”. Here’s Pettifor talking some more about how the GND in the UK can be financed, followed by a video by nef on their own approach to its funding, including borrowing, taxing the wealthiest, and the phasing out of subsidies for fossil fuels: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3YXqLFlI9qE" width="560"></iframe></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x_Pz_Cuoi1g" width="560"></iframe></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, in the UK, the GND is unlikely to work as long as the tabloids and right-wing organisations have such a vice-like grip on the public’s imagination. Which goes back to my first point about what needs to happen when we re-emerge from the pandemic, whenever that is: the tabloids cannot be allowed to go on normal, in which any kind of positive progress in society is obstructed with lies and untruths, and get away with it. New, robust laws need to be put into place to hold them to account and counter their disinformation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Finally, in case you’re wondering if a lot of this stuff sounds eerily familiar – that’s because it is. Much of it is in the present manifestos of the Labour Party and the Greens, the only two parties that people should seriously consider voting in the next GE for the sake of our future. Yes, that’s the manifestos that the tabloids told you were ‘unaffordable’ – and yet now the Tories are unavoidably forced to pump millions and millions of pounds into the economy because of the coronavirus pandemic, in order to shore up the economy in a crisis, recalling what followed the crash ten years ago. This illustrates that the money always has been there – it’s simply the willpower that’s been lacking. An alternative to the status quo is possible – if only we are prepared to put our minds to it. </span><br />
<div>
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GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-4046972898662016862020-01-14T14:12:00.000+00:002020-01-14T14:16:08.271+00:00<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm promoting this on Friday, at a fantastic Edwardian theatre in King's Cross, once home to a certain Karl Marx. First act on at 8pm. There are still tickets available <a href="https://www.wegottickets.com/event/482536" target="_blank">here</a>. Map of venue below.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwh0OTNcb9FdQ59iqkfUrC8dvY3p00N139U1eJ4AHqKr-5AsOqEGrLZbriHleBgoim1KHxCNAmOAxF8NvChFX24UDn62eFeRgEiZ_reEMFRSUnrMD0ZnJETLrRbOJSzk7ye55UJw/s1600/PBNightWRJan2020_Flyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="667" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwh0OTNcb9FdQ59iqkfUrC8dvY3p00N139U1eJ4AHqKr-5AsOqEGrLZbriHleBgoim1KHxCNAmOAxF8NvChFX24UDn62eFeRgEiZ_reEMFRSUnrMD0ZnJETLrRbOJSzk7ye55UJw/s640/PBNightWRJan2020_Flyer.jpg" width="332" /></a></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="450" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m14!1m8!1m3!1d4964.278907181969!2d-0.11957500000000001!3d51.529002!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x0%3A0xd82fde59b059ab9f!2sThe%20Water%20Rats!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1579011257938!5m2!1sen!2sus" style="border: 0;" width="600"></iframe><br />
<br />GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0328 Grays Inn Rd, London WC1X 8BZ, UK51.5290022 -0.1195748000000094231.1226282 -41.428168800000009 71.935376200000007 41.18901919999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-24979765012008481032019-11-22T22:15:00.000+00:002019-11-25T22:47:05.658+00:00Legacy In The Dust at The Jago in Dalston<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIJrthDMeAqkEDhhteRtmgSl78NfnLfE4Hq01nCbItrzPluh3Y7U7mZmwD5Y7WxINNK-acZQq0JzGi9o-QCLfYOrBWhNTlCehQk2Zdpk-Vfg0DicDTERGLe5fNql9EMfUvFlgDnw/s1600/LegacyInTheDustScreeningFlyer%25283%2529.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="580" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIJrthDMeAqkEDhhteRtmgSl78NfnLfE4Hq01nCbItrzPluh3Y7U7mZmwD5Y7WxINNK-acZQq0JzGi9o-QCLfYOrBWhNTlCehQk2Zdpk-Vfg0DicDTERGLe5fNql9EMfUvFlgDnw/s640/LegacyInTheDustScreeningFlyer%25283%2529.gif" width="489" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the 1970s and 1980s, The Four Aces nightclub in Dalston was so famous in the capital that it was dubbed 'the London equivalent of the New York Apollo'. It mixed up reggae, soul, punk, and Motown in a way that was unique to its time. It then morphed into legendary rave club Labyrinth in the early 90s (I remember it!), with live sets by the likes of The Prodigy, before succumbing to gentrification in the area and closing its doors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In honour of the memory of this Hackney institution, there will be a screening of the documentary <i>Legacy In The Dust: The Four Aces Story</i> on Tuesday 26th November, 7pm, which charts the nightclub's fortunes - one that reflected the borough's mixed culture, in which white and black came together on the dancefloor despite simmering racial tension and on the streets and rising unemployment levels in the jobs market. Limited edition screen prints supporting the film's long-awaited release will be on sale. The screening will take place at <a href="https://www.thejagodalston.com/" target="_blank">The Jago</a> (FKA Passing Clouds).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'll be involved with a Q&A taking place after the screening with director Winstan Whitter and Jago owner Kwame. There will also be DJs and encouragements to register to vote (given that Tuesday is the deadline to do so before December's general election - more on that in this blog coming soon). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tickets £5 from <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/legacy-in-the-dust-the-story-of-the-four-aces-nightclub-tickets-81486378953" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A trailer for the documentary can be viewed <a href="https://vimeo.com/173275613" target="_blank">here</a> on Vimeo.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can also listen a Spotify playlist that I've compiled of much of the songs that were played at The Four Aces and then Labyrinth below:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/7mztqTtS3ILgf7THOf3kHp" width="300"></iframe></span><br />
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GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0440 Kingsland Rd, Dalston, London E8 4AA, UK51.5423141 -0.0755862999999408226.0202796 -41.38418029999994 77.0643486 41.233007700000059tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-89347696171733831542019-04-10T12:01:00.000+00:002019-07-12T10:53:10.873+00:00Speech on an environmental Plimsoll line<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9FRwvxRT6C8lcHruGFdL7J9sGk3wZZQCVWfASwlPBW43ZETyFSV0D-wnxpn1rlmjEo6W5pmnsnSCbvzgFzrB1O1K8S3gh9aLjbV8USYs8oBt48P8gPjPVhUyafsdqoyaSASt19A/s1600/nasaimage_earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9FRwvxRT6C8lcHruGFdL7J9sGk3wZZQCVWfASwlPBW43ZETyFSV0D-wnxpn1rlmjEo6W5pmnsnSCbvzgFzrB1O1K8S3gh9aLjbV8USYs8oBt48P8gPjPVhUyafsdqoyaSASt19A/s400/nasaimage_earth.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last Thursday (4th April), I delivered a speech to my local Labour Party ward on climate change, along with two other colleagues. My colleagues focused on, variously, the work of groups such as <a href="https://www.sera.org.uk/" target="_blank">SERA</a> (Socialist Environment and Resources Association - the arm of the Labour party that focuses on the environment); <a href="https://extinctionrebellion.org.uk/" target="_blank">Extinction Rebellion</a> (the grassroots organisation that recently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/01/semi-naked-climate-protesters-disrupt-brexit-debate" target="_blank">protested nearly naked in Parliament</a> - EDIT UPDATE: and have also been ubiquitous over the last month for their worldwide protests against climate change); Red Green Labour; and what local Councils in London have been doing. Meanwhile, my portion of the speech - we each had ten minutes - focused on the general background of climate change. That meant covering what has happened in the Arctic; how a steady-state economic model could help combat climate change; and what needs to be done next. My speech has been adapted below, in Courier font. The speech was accompanied by some visuals, which are also included below.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To accompany the speech, we also designed some leaflets to help with what is a dauntingly complex topic. The leaflets included resources and tips on what groups to follow - particularly if Hackney-based - and a relevant reading list. Those leaflets can be viewed at the bottom of this blog post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I'd like to start this speech by mentioning the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterline" target="_blank">Plimsoll line</a>. In 1872, a campaign took place to introduce a load line – a mark on the side of boats that would indicate, if level with the water, that the ship's maximum safe-loading capacity had been reached. Its inventor, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Plimsoll" target="_blank">Samuel Plimsoll</a>, initially received opprobrium from big businesses, the media, and politicians, despite the fact that it saved countless lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">A parallel can be drawn towards an overloaded ship bound for its watery grave, and the Earth as an increasingly overburdened planet facing an unstable equilibrium, with climate change analogous to a heavy sea. We have pushed the planets' carrying capacity too far, and are likely to see catastrophe. Like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus" target="_blank">Icarus ignoring his father's advice and flying too close to the Sun</a>, we have become so carried away with economic growth and hubris that we have ignored the warnings from environmental experts. It's not hard to see, then, that we need an environmental Plimsoll line that needs to be set fast. In fact, we pretty much <i>are</i> in a sinking ship already, and need to move straight to last ditch emergency measures – things are that bad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">However, it's <i>also</i> not hard to draw a parallel between the complaints that were made against the Plimsoll line by big businesses in the 1870s, and the complaints made by international Governments – most recently Trump when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_withdrawal_from_the_Paris_Agreement" target="_blank">rejecting the Paris accords</a> – and big businesses today when attempts are made to induce legally compliant or binding environmentally-sound regulations. The same argument is employed again: that obligating Governments and businesses to cut their carbon footprint in order to stop climate change could lead to a curtailing of endless economic growth and rising consumption.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Meanwhile, in the UK, all of the focus on Brexit in the last two years has meant that this compelling of global Governments and businesses to sign up to environmental charters to impede the effects of climate change has effectively been side-lined.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUJ6aUeoud5pTnGaWry9A3dLm-Wf_MY2PmEFHNpdwaxWpy00-QbPxttTwKy0CyRs-1DaYflCM7Jg6TFdITsV6tFrYPeJnQDZcxffJX8Iibj31qcpXl2TVWCVR4grT8Esofr8HOEg/s1600/ccspeech_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="530" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUJ6aUeoud5pTnGaWry9A3dLm-Wf_MY2PmEFHNpdwaxWpy00-QbPxttTwKy0CyRs-1DaYflCM7Jg6TFdITsV6tFrYPeJnQDZcxffJX8Iibj31qcpXl2TVWCVR4grT8Esofr8HOEg/s400/ccspeech_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<i><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">Above: A
nearly-empty House of Commons discussing a climate change motion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It's important to clarify a few things here. First of all, climate is not the same as weather. The climate is generated by four components: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">* The atmosphere;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">* The hydrosphere, i.e. the Earth's water;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">* The cryosphere – the Earth's ice sheets and glaciers;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">* The biosphere – the planet's plants and animals.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Every one of these four components has been significantly altered by human activity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Our emissions of <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">CO</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">₂</span> have sign</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">ificantly modified the atmosphere, to the point where we are already past the safe level (considered to be considerably lower than 350ppm (parts per million)). Instead, current levels are about 410ppm and rising steadily.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Our enormous water use has significantly modified the hydrosphere. That water use is not just used for drinking – it's also used for producing all kinds of consumer goods (including bottled water). Meanwhile, climate change has led to rising sea levels. We are already over 1°C (degrees centigrade) of warming compared to pre-industrial levels. At 1.5°C, 80% of the coral reefs are expected to die, and 2°C warming should see around 100% of coral reefs die – especially alarming given that they are the rainforests of the sea and are considered essential to life in the oceans. In addition, rising sea temperatures force the plankton to move, affecting the feeding habits and places of a whole range of fish. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Rising atmospheric and sea-surface temperatures have significantly modified the cryosphere. In the Arctic alone, four tipping points look set to be crossed within a few years:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">(1) Loss of the Arctic's sea ice's ability to act as a buffer to absorb incoming ocean heat;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">(2) Loss of Arctic's sea ice's ability to reflect sunlight back into space;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">(3) The destabilisation of seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">(4) Permafrost melt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The Arctic and Greenland ice sheets have begun to shrink, losing around 475 billion tons of mass per year into the sea. Arctic coastlines are retreating by 14 metres per year. The ice just off the north coast of Greenland broke up last year in the summer. Ice is becoming so thin that the ice could break up and lead to a dark ocean. The current trajectory is so bad that the Arctic may be ice-free within half a decade, and permanently ice-free all year round a decade after that. The consequences would be a huge release of the methane deposits that lie under the ice, the permafrost in Siberia, and the bottom of the sea. If the Arctic melts, these will be released, 'turbo charging' global warming, with methane's global warming effect between twenty to one hundred times greater than </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">CO</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">₂</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ4fDZ-mJfkP-H_Vgv4H7txujdHvaDKahsPCOO4371gSC6N-PBpoNA4e8QVodWBdoC40yE8zqOkYJL3VTCmvaX0GqXdRqnLVFZt9I7gztXnuBgzkQFY8uHbDhbvZwnZVpFXriDYQ/s1600/ccspeech_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ4fDZ-mJfkP-H_Vgv4H7txujdHvaDKahsPCOO4371gSC6N-PBpoNA4e8QVodWBdoC40yE8zqOkYJL3VTCmvaX0GqXdRqnLVFZt9I7gztXnuBgzkQFY8uHbDhbvZwnZVpFXriDYQ/s640/ccspeech_4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Above: graph showing decline in ice in the
Arctic from the 1970s, as well as projection for the next five years. Source:
PIOMAS, Polar Science Center, University of Washington, USA (</span></i><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/arctischepinguin/home/piomas" target="_blank"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">link</span></i></a></span><i><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">).</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0hhZoa6wnGdVEPuqiT6RiD7SjaiFhG9eWtU0F4enfpLcjWliqzIdXu1lzZ8ToYs3PSxM2iAzuc3jWGorSIhlID5EOkb1w1Y3D0ApwIfetSxkNSYqYFjhl9JpkSdcHF6ZPIEKUg/s1600/IMG_0802.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1050" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0hhZoa6wnGdVEPuqiT6RiD7SjaiFhG9eWtU0F4enfpLcjWliqzIdXu1lzZ8ToYs3PSxM2iAzuc3jWGorSIhlID5EOkb1w1Y3D0ApwIfetSxkNSYqYFjhl9JpkSdcHF6ZPIEKUg/s640/IMG_0802.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Above: declining Arctic Sea Ice in the last seven years. National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado Boulder (<a href="https://nsidc.org/" target="_blank">link</a>).</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Meanwhile, increasing use of land, and the accompanying pollution, has led to the biosphere being significantly modified. Deforestation has severely impacted the forests' ability to act as a carbon sink.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The chances of the Earth staying below the 2°C limit as set in the Paris Agreement – itself a kind of Plimsoll line - remains less and less likely, particularly now that, as mentioned, the US under Trump has pulled out of the Accords. Instead, projections show that we are on course for three degrees of warming. This would be catastrophic, in that it could lead to runaway climate change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We are already seeing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/01/australia-extreme-heat-sign-of-things-to-come-scientists-warn-climate" target="_blank">unusual weather in Australia</a>, which has endured huge heatwaves; and in the Northern US states and Canada, which have seen <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a14517105/why-the-eastern-us-is-so-cold-right-now/" target="_blank">abnormally cold weather</a> even by their standards.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It would also lead to knock-on effects for everyone in this room. London would not be spared the effects of climate change. We have already seen unusually hot weather in the last few weeks, in contrast to this time last year. In 2010, for the videojournalism module of my journalism post-graduate course, I completed a three-minute documentary on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Barrier" target="_blank">Thames Barrier</a>, looking at its future, in which I interviewed a member of the Environment Agency for the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thames-estuary-2100-te2100" target="_blank">Thames Estuary 2100 Program</a>. She made it clear that rising sea levels due to climate change will mean that an entirely new Thames Barrier will need to be built soon enough. The river Thames is rising significantly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Now I'm going to shift to talk about the economy and Labour. Politicians favour economic growth at all costs. What the constant obsession with GDP fails to take into account is that growth in GDP will almost certainly lead to corresponding growths in resource depletion. We need to confront the taboo that economic growth is the only importance in the well-being of a nation, and acknowledge that a steady-state economy – also known as '<a href="https://www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2018/10/27/degrowth-a-call-for-radical-abundance" target="_blank">degrowth</a>' or 'a circular economy' - is desirable for combating climate change. As many studies have shown – particularly <i><a href="https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/the-spirit-level" target="_blank">The Spirit Level</a></i> by Richard G. Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, and <i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/28/cancel-apocalypse-andrew-simms-review" target="_blank">Cancel The Apocalypse</a></i> by Andrew Simms - economic growth does not automatically contribute to individual happiness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">What have Labour specifically done to tackle climate change? The local context of Hackney will be tackled in a bit, but before then it's worth mentioning that Labour have scrambled to find their own version of the Green New Deal resolution that US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/12/21/18144138/green-new-deal-alexandria-ocasio-cortez" target="_blank">helped draft</a> as part of a massive green economic stimulus across the pond, backed by Democrat presidential candidates. Ocasio-Cortez's plans have aimed to eliminate the vast majority of US greenhouse gas pollution over ten years – though this may already be too late a deadline, given the advancing feedback rates of climate change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In the UK Clive Lewis, the Shadow Treasury Minister for sustainable economics, convened a meeting in the last month at which the broad framework for a British Green New Deal has been drawn up, backed by Caroline Lucas and economist Ann Pettifor, both of whom were part of <a href="https://www.greennewdealgroup.org/" target="_blank">The Green New Deal Group</a> ten years ago that proposed such a thing. In addition, the shadow secretary for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Rebecca Long-Bailey, has launched a year-long "unprecedented call for evidence" that can guide Labour's "green jobs revolution". At the same time, such moves could face resistance from the Unions, who fear losing jobs and growth, as with their vote on a third runway at Heathrow – which takes us back to the steady-state economy conundrum. And in breaking news, Labour has in recent days now <a href="https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3073346/labour-declares-climate-emergency" target="_blank">declared</a> a climate and environmental emergency.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">More generally, the stark truth facing us is that we need to move to a 100% emergency footing to deal with this direct existential threat. We need to change the economy at a level at least equal to that seen in World War II.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There are two mainstream views which are both catastrophically bad. The first is that there is widespread ignorance of this direct existential threat. The second is that most of the rest of society knows that the situation is extremely bad, but assumes that we will somehow muddle through in a typically British way and put up a few flood defences.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Former NASA scientist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen" target="_blank">James Hansen</a>, who alerted the world to global warming in 1988, instead tells us in his book <i>Storms of My Grandchildren</i> that the Earth is out of energy balance and that if we don't stop the warming and return it to energy balance, it will keep on heating up until the effect that happened on Venus is replicated here and the seas will boil off into space. At that point, all life on Earth would subsequently become impossible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Even if this nightmare scenario doesn't materialise, we are looking at mass crop failures due to extreme weather and also loss of insect life like bees just a few years down the line, which would lead to mass starvation – including in Europe and the rest of the developed world.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhes0GGmnsYaS2PsnYHrlaIQ71t8D7eyc7aTaMXQZVA9ZqtfUvpo6oJra9vxQMnmKGrIKUyeufud2uBeyMp9x649wylIBoyY9pH3cRaVjdd8T6VuGKedMaFTQWbOjFKxXBS2RZ7zQ/s1600/ccspeech_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhes0GGmnsYaS2PsnYHrlaIQ71t8D7eyc7aTaMXQZVA9ZqtfUvpo6oJra9vxQMnmKGrIKUyeufud2uBeyMp9x649wylIBoyY9pH3cRaVjdd8T6VuGKedMaFTQWbOjFKxXBS2RZ7zQ/s400/ccspeech_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So what can be done at this point? We need to initiate action immediately to start the three pronged approach outlined by climate system scientist <a href="https://paulbeckwith.net/" target="_blank">Paul Beckwith</a> (<i>pictured above</i>):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">* Step 1: General Public, Policy Makers, Governments, Military, Scientists and Citizens must "get-with-the-program" and recognise our Climate Change EMERGENCY;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">* Step 2: Governments around the planet MUST declare a Global Climate Change Emergency;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">* Step 3: Deploy a "Three-Legged-Approach" to have a decent chance to survive the wrenching changes caused by climate change:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">o Leg 1: Slash fossil-fuel emissions;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">o Leg 2: Deploy Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technology to lower atmosphere concentrations to less than 350ppm;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">o Leg 3: Deploy Solar Radiation Management (SRM) technology to cool the Arctic. Methods can be achieved by things such as marine cloud brightening, as pioneered by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Salter" target="_blank">Stephen Salter</a>, Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Edinburgh, with his specially designed ship (<i>below</i>). Solutions that are deemed to be 'geo-engineering' are very controversial, but this is a completely clean example that uses zero fossil fuels, utilises only sea water and would cost a paltry $100million per year. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNxBmIPQyrSgJ4SpBwoNU5LdCHMrlEzMGFyaLBJ70-hkioOc62pizNMoL-nLRAfGMq3NZtl1ClLTUSA_uNBswX0tNMYPKcWr-VlR7HOVcLLcybZszR0gQaXbo37aHIXNXrGI5l2w/s1600/ccspeech_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1600" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNxBmIPQyrSgJ4SpBwoNU5LdCHMrlEzMGFyaLBJ70-hkioOc62pizNMoL-nLRAfGMq3NZtl1ClLTUSA_uNBswX0tNMYPKcWr-VlR7HOVcLLcybZszR0gQaXbo37aHIXNXrGI5l2w/s640/ccspeech_3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Above: artist visualisation of a Flettner rotor ship / spray vessel, pioneered by Stephen Salter, Professor of Engineering Design at University of Edinburgh.</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Here's Salter in a speech discussing marine cloud brightening:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ktcWQ2vLoTI" width="480"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Meanwhile, we need to move fast. The clock is ticking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Thank you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Finally, in case the above isn't enough, I leave you with this, from someone just sixteen years old:</span><br />
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<br />GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-20346280088597743662019-03-29T13:01:00.000+00:002019-07-12T14:37:25.266+00:00The EU Referendum (Part 4)<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The UK was set to
be officially leaving the EU today. It’s a strange feeling that’s hard to put into words. It’s been delayed, of course.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How the UK got to
this situation in the first place is a moot point. Its roots can be traced back
to the end of World War II, yet were channelled by the tabloid press in earnest
during the last thirty years, who successfully ushered in the notion that
somehow the European Community has been an invading, hostile force, in which
the UK has constantly seen its sovereignty undermined – rather than the
reality, which is that the UK helped shape EU laws as a large member-state,
rather than have laws imposed on it. This quite deliberate campaign has been <a href="https://blogs.ec.europa.eu/ECintheUK/euromyths-a-z-index/" target="_blank">relentless in its stream of anti-EU propaganda</a>, propagated by tabloid owners based in tax havens. The image propagated by the tabloids of
plucky 'us', the underdog dictated to by 'them', is something that writer
Fintan O’Toole picked up on with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/16/brexit-paranoid-fantasy-fintan-otoole" target="_blank">this article</a>, which locates Brexit as a result
of the English psych about World War II. It can’t be a coincidence that many of
the British films that have been in the cinemas in the last few years have been
about WWII, from Gary Oldman playing Winston Churchill to <i>Dunkirk</i> to, well, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/apr/22/guernsey-literary-and-potato-peel-pie-society-review-whimsy" target="_blank">this</a>. While cinema
in other European countries has addressed head-on all kinds of contemporary, a
good deal of British films have retreated to nostalgia about Britain’s finest
hour, standing alone against an invading Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Something was
continually repeated during the referendum was the mantra “taking back control
of money, borders and laws” – despite the fact that the UK never really lost
control of all three. The UK never entered in the Eurozone, and thus uses its
own sovereign currency; while a member of the EU, the UK has had a
theoretically permanent opt-out from using the Euro. The vast majority of laws
have always been made in Westminster, as the Government’s own white paper
confirmed. The UK may have not been able to make its own individual trade laws,
but as part of the EU it has had sufficient clout when spearheading trade deals
together with the other member states to take on the USA and China. Meanwhile,
the UK’s exemption from the Schengen zone has meant that even UK citizens have
to show their passport when returning from other EU member states. The only UK
border that can be said to be ‘open’ in any meaningful sense is the one with
the Republic of Ireland – a situation that the UK agreed to, and which involves
a complicated confluence of factors, including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Travel_Area" target="_blank">Common Travel Area</a> agreement
between the two countries; the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday_Agreement" target="_blank">Good Friday Agreement</a>; and the fact that both
countries have been in the EU up until now, thus guaranteeing the same
standards for everything from goods to livestock rules. The inconvenient problem of the border was circumnavigated by the leading Brexiters by simply ignoring it. Instead, the pro-leave leaflet that I received through the post at the time of the referendum obsessed over Turkey (along with a number of other Eastern European countries) joining the EU, despite the fact that discussions over Turkey joining the EU have effectively <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Turkey_to_the_European_Union" target="_blank">come to an end</a>: </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJCqbyL-P_0hT6aWS3Cc7yOFD-RGpq-yxOoD9uwmWoqF5CLC_Uehu3AzvRwiltRVHk7yYuZmRs8NaNCKVAZCgtYQXZImK_f5YkVcgTR4ny7cWR_y5aY_aCtsJx5bSbl3Mz1M4Rlw/s1600/leave-campaign-flyer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="510" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJCqbyL-P_0hT6aWS3Cc7yOFD-RGpq-yxOoD9uwmWoqF5CLC_Uehu3AzvRwiltRVHk7yYuZmRs8NaNCKVAZCgtYQXZImK_f5YkVcgTR4ny7cWR_y5aY_aCtsJx5bSbl3Mz1M4Rlw/s400/leave-campaign-flyer.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not only did the tabloids <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/622958/Turkey-75-million-people-EU-migration-Ahmet-Davutoglu-Angela-Merkel" target="_blank">manage to exploit the unfounded fear of Turkey joining the EU</a>, but the leaflet above also heavily implied that the EU's borders would shortly be facing war-torn Iraq and Syria, instilling the idea that it would be easy for jihadists from those countries to walk into EU territory.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the same time as this, what has become
more and more obvious during the political chaos that has engulfed Britain in
the last two years is that many of the right-wing thinktanks, institutes and
pressure groups that have emerged from the shadows into the public eye, such as
the European Research Group (ERG) and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA),
have used the spectre of no-deal Brexit, or 'Hard Brexit' in which the UK
severs all ties, precisely for reasons of self-interest. Sometime in the 2000s,
Conservative MP’s Jacob Rees-Mogg’s father, Lord William Rees-Mogg, wrote a
book called <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sovereign-Individual-James-Dale-Davidson/dp/0684832720/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CZ1IZKTMMKOM&keywords=the+sovereign+individual&qid=1553860789&s=gateway&sprefix=The+Soverign%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Sovereign Individual</a></i>, which detailed how one can exploit
economic chaos and civil unrest for personal benefit by shorting the pound (or
dollar, or yen, or whatever the local currency is). That’s precisely what many
people did in the resulting economic downturn that happened, on both sides of
the Atlantic (as captured in the film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Short_(film)" target="_blank"><i>The Big Short</i></a>).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Groups such as
the ERG remain shadowy, murky entities. They have been frequently accused of
breaking parliamentary rules in their use of public funds in promoting a
partisan view of politics rather than objective research. The ERG in particular
has openly plotted to oust Theresa May in the last few months.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As it turns out,
they are just one of many groups which all advocate similar plans. All believe
strongly in strengthening ties between UK and the US while distancing the UK
from the rest of Europe – an ethos that was central to The Atlantic Bridge, a
group that was set up in 1997 by current UK secretary for independent trade,
Liam Fox, who has close links to the Trump administration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The rise of these
groups, and with it the popularity of politicians such as Rees-Mogg, has
alarming implications for the National Health Service (NHS). They advocate free market economic views,
including a rolling back on workplace regulations, food labelling laws, and
environmental protections, with Rees-Mogg commenting on the latter: "If it’s
good enough for India, it’s good enough for here". This systematic culling of
most state intervention would include a deregulated economy in which tax havens
would thrive. These groups advocate getting rid of 'red tape' and 'bureaucracy'.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The UK will be in
a situation in which it will be at the mercy of other countries in trying to
strike trade deals. Brexit, and especially a no-deal Brexit, is likely to lead
to a situation in which there will be increasing financial pressure on the NHS,
exacerbated by the falling value of the pound. As a UK In A Changing Europe
<a href="https://ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Brexit-and-the-NHS-.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> puts it, "There are likely to be further pressures on public-service
funding more broadly from a hit to economic growth caused by Brexit. This will
mean tough choices for the Government. It could decide to increase healthcare
funding, but this will have to come from raising taxes, borrowing or diverting
funds from other priorities".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These "tough
choices" could lead to cuts to NHS spending and staff wages. Another right-wing
pressure group, The Taxpayers Alliance, <a href="https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/taxpayers_alliance_publish_the_spending_plan" target="_blank">advocate</a> an insurance-based health
system involving increased charges for services. Those charges would fall on
ordinary citizens. It could also lead to NHS Trusts being maligned and left to
fail. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Indeed, the US could demand, as part of a free trade deal, a stake in an NHS
already reeling from a fall of around 96% in recruitment of nurses from other
EU countries. The result could be a situation in which American healthcare
companies could make money off sick and vulnerable patients. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Such a deal could
mean that the NHS could take on the form of American-style healthcare, where
large sums are paid for surgery and caps on pharmaceutical prescription prices
are dismantled. The result could be that many patients could be left in debt to
the tune of thousands of pounds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This opening up
of the NHS to foreign competition could theoretically also lead to investment
protection measures such as Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS), in which
transnational corporations could claim compensation from the NHS if they
believe that their investments have been harmed by the breaching of treaties. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This wasn’t the
vision that some Brexiters had in mind. Instead, Vote Leave promised the public
shorter waiting times and £350 million per week. This vision was summed up
during the EU referendum campaign with videos such as 'Which NHS will you vote
for?', which unambiguously depicts the NHS as better off post-Brexit:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LtlGN8wVnis/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LtlGN8wVnis?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yet it was a
member of Vote Leave, the MEP Daniel Hannan, who would go on to found the
Institute for Free Trade (IFT), who are now advocating <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/ideal-us-uk-free-trade-agreement-free-traders-perspective" target="_blank">a new trade deal</a> in
conjunction with the Cato Institute – a libertarian right-wing organisation
based in the US that advocates Ayn Rand-style politics, in which Government
intervention is significantly rolled back. The IFT/Cato Institute advocate the
removal of tariffs, and EU regulations – and the opening up the NHS to foreign
competition. The Cato Institute has hosted lectures by the likes of Leave.EU
founder Aaron Banks, who has made no secret of his desire to see the NHS fully
privatised.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As the IFT/Cato
Institute’s <a href="https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/ideal-us-uk-free-trade-agreement-executive-summary-update.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> puts it: “Health services are an area where both sides would
benefit from openness to foreign competition…The United Kingdom should push as
hard as possible for the United States to allow U.K. goods and services
providers to have access to U.S. procurement markets, and open its procurement
to U.S. companies, as well…the United States and United Kingdom – traditionally
two of the world’s leading supporters of free trade – may be able to craft a
free trade agreement that reshapes the model by pushing it in the direction of
more trade liberalization and less governance”.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The IFT are not
the only right-leaning think tank obsessed with dismantling the NHS. The IEA is
another. Its news editor, Kate Andrews, a prominent lobbyist for private
healthcare companies, <a href="https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/07/is-70-years-of-the-nhs-really-something-to-celebrate/" target="_blank">opined in an article in <i>The Spectator</i></a> that “reform of the
NHS is long overdue, and no amount of balloons or birthday cake can district
from this obvious truth”; she also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZXB14-soSg" target="_blank">appeared on <i>Newsnight</i></a> to ram the message
home. The IEA’s paper, '<a href="https://iea.org.uk/publications/universal-healthcare-without-the-nhs/" target="_blank">Universal Healthcare Without The NHS</a>', claims that "the
evidence on the quasi-market reforms [of the NHS] is overwhelmingly positive,
even if it could never be strong enough to convince the die-hard critics".<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These right-wing
groups advocate a hard Brexit because the resulting chaos – similar to what
Naomi Klein describes in <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine" target="_blank">The Shock Doctrine</a></i> – would provide a perfect
opportunity for them to seize natural assets and short the pound. This is what <i>The
Sovereign Individual</i> presciently predicted ten years ago, and which was borne
out in the financial crash taking place at the time the book was published. As Andrew Simms has pointed out in <i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/28/cancel-apocalypse-andrew-simms-review" target="_blank">Cancel The Apocalypse</a></i>, "This kind of economic shock therapy has been employed for decades, ranging from Pinochet's coup in Chile in 1973 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Asian Financial crisis in 1997 and Hurricane Mitch in 1998...it also seems to have been used in response to the massive financial market failure of 2007-8 in Europe and and the United States".<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s for this
reason that they have financial interests in seeing the NHS privatised. As a
member of a pressure group called <a href="https://keepournhspublic.com/" target="_blank">Keep Our NHS Public</a>, it’s become obvious that
the NHS is one of the big prizes that the Brexiters have their sight on.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As mentioned above, a parallel can be
drawn with what happened in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union,
in which wealthy oligarchs became rich at the expense of both the ordinary
public and public services. It’s not hyperbole to suggest that this is what
could happen to the UK once we finally do leave the EU.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-5040594941843244592019-02-19T22:59:00.001+00:002019-07-14T19:10:01.273+00:00What does Spotify playlists mean for the future of music?<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/goodnightlondon/playlist/5F7hEh0z9XOZZsgUX2OnCb" width="300"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some more posts will be coming soon (promise!), but in the meantime, I’ve been compiling a Spotify playlist of my favourite songs throughout…well, my whole life, actually. The playlist stretches through my whole life back to childhood.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It occurred to me while compiling the playlist that it’s the first time one has ever been able to do such a thing online on such a scale. Prior to the 21st century, the only way to compile a public playlist of your favourite tracks was to compile it on cassette tape, which I often did, adorned with lavishly detailed cover art, and with a strict 60 or 90-minute limit* - the literal end of the tape reel. Or you had the power to release your mix as a commercial release, often as a continuous mix, only really limited to established musicians and DJs. That meant doing the mix in real-time on a pair of decks. The modern online equivalent to this has been sites such as Mixcloud or NTS Radio.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At some point at the start of the millennium, the ordinary person on the street had the power to burn a playlist to CD-R, by which time iTunes/the iPod was in ascendant – along with YouTube and more illicit ways of acquiring music such as illegal downloading. But it’s with online streaming platforms such as Spotify – and with others such as Pandora too – that you can publicly compile a playlist of your favourite tunes for the first time that everyone can access to stream – including on their mobile phones. Furthermore, those playlists are dynamic, in that you can add and subtract tracks at will - my own playlist clocks in at a puny thirty-one hours and fifty-eight minutes at the time of writing this, but will be longer soon enough...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Coming from the pre-Internet generation that grew up with tapes and CDs, when musicians could actually make serious money from such things, the growth of platforms such as Spotify makes me think of David Byrne’s maxim that one day “music itself is going to become like running water or electricity”. The ease of accessing music now is extraordinary for those, such as me, who had to sit and listen to John Peel show all evening in the 90s in order to access exciting underground music, and then head to the record shop (or get the CDs/tapes that often came free on the front cover of music magazines).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The effect on the music industry of this has been that for most musicians not in the top echelons of the industry, the live sphere has become where the profit is really to be made. Even record shops have cottoned on to this, with Rough Trade astute enough to often combine their CD/vinyl sales with a ticket to see the band play live in their stores.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Could it be that a process that began with iTunes and Amazon offering the user the option to be able to buy individual tracks on an album as well as the album as a whole, rather than forcing the user to buy albums as a whole, and which ended up with Spotify playlists, has led to the demise of listening to albums in full? After all, in a strangely roundabout way, this is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/27101804" target="_blank">actually how listening to music started, with the phonograph and early gramophones only able to play individual songs due to their limitations</a> (though I might be wrong on this!).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, not quite. Record shops have been doing a healthy trade in vinyl. Why this has happened is down to a number of reasons, ranging from nostalgia (the same thing that brought us <a href="https://recordstoreday.com/" target="_blank">Record Store Day</a> and – oh yes – <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassette_Store_Day" target="_blank">Cassette Store Day</a>); the justifiable issue of sound quality; to the inescapable allure of a tangible object in your hands rather than a music file. All of those things are emotionally resonant, difficult to replicate and unlikely to go away, especially when there are people like me who remember the old days when you pretty much had to buy an album, or a single, or an EP. And if you loved a song in the middle of an album, even if you didn’t think so much of some of the other songs on that album, you were still duty bound to buy the album if that song wasn’t released as a single or EP (or, alternatively, you could tape it from the copy in the library, as I often did, or wait for radio to play it).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The differences in royalties for a musician between a download of an individual track and a stream of an individual track are likely to be <i>the</i> key issue in the next few years and beyond. Leaving aside whether you think purely streaming sites such as Spotify pay their artists enough for a single stream – something that remains <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/03/how-much-musicians-make-spotify-itunes-youtube" target="_blank">difficult to ascertain</a> – the fact is that streaming is likely to be the future of music until whatever bizarre idea comes along to replace it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the meantime, there is always hope with sites such as <a href="http://www.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Bandcamp</a>, my favourite streaming platform on the Internet, which combines listening to music with a brilliant aesthetic visual sense that makes up for the lack of a tangible object. The beauty of handmade CD-Rs and vinyl releases, with artistically interesting packing, have been preserved on Bandcamp far more than other online music sites, not to mention a genuinely independent commitment to their musicians (you can also pay to download the music, as well as subscribe, such as with the <a href="https://aeolian.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">brilliant music that Richard Skelton has been producing under various aliases</a>). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh, and in a shameless act of promotion, I should add that <a href="https://dreammaps1.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">my own music is up on Bandcamp too</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">*Yes, there were 120-minute tapes too, but the sound quality apparently wasn’t as good, so I never bothered with them. If you did, please leave your thoughts in the comments.</span><br />
<br />GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-89314028937291193972018-10-31T22:44:00.000+00:002018-10-31T22:44:26.845+00:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOIGgnKxUsJBX7LS-aUaNiDZn5X4BgOYPOqzJ9nVMLU43dcbgVVhpf-Vf-9qlq5rDP03u0JuKEcielub-ujFQ8iRfroOlEcOh2e6L295Z6VGhKf7umITBRlLq_MzzNoj9tPuMQBw/s1600/Portraits-from-A-Hackney-Autobiography-invite-for-web-638x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="638" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOIGgnKxUsJBX7LS-aUaNiDZn5X4BgOYPOqzJ9nVMLU43dcbgVVhpf-Vf-9qlq5rDP03u0JuKEcielub-ujFQ8iRfroOlEcOh2e6L295Z6VGhKf7umITBRlLq_MzzNoj9tPuMQBw/s400/Portraits-from-A-Hackney-Autobiography-invite-for-web-638x1024.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've mentioned in <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.com/2017/04/i-mentioned-in-previous-extensive-blog.html" target="_blank">previous</a> <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.com/2016/11/i-mentioned-while-ago-in-previous-blog.html" target="_blank">blog</a> <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.com/2015/08/for-last-few-months-i-have-been.html" target="_blank">posts</a> that I was involved in a project from 2014-17 called A Hackney Autobiography. This Arts Council-funded endeavour, in conjunction with not-for-profit organisation <a href="https://on-the-record.org.uk/" target="_blank">On The Record</a>, looked into the history of Centerprise, a community centre that existed in the borough, and was at its peak in the 70s and 80s. Centerprise housed a bookshop, café, crèche, youth arts and learning space, local publishing project, meeting place for many radical groups and left-wing newspapers such as the now-defunct </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hackney People’s Press</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, housing advice centre (which my father was involved with), and more. In 2012, it finally closed doors after a long battle with Hackney Council.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Based at <a href="http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/" target="_blank">Bishopsgate Institute</a>, which contains a huge archive of material, myself and other volunteers began the huge task of digitalising, archiving, and mapping Centerprise’s archive, while many other volunteers on the project interviewed key people who were involved in Centerprise in the 70s and 80s. Along the way, we explored the history of Hackney during that time, from the riots on Sandringham Road to lost communities and the strained relations between police in Stoke Newington and the local Afro-Caribbean community. The fruits of all this work were a <a href="http://www.ahackneyautobiography.org.uk/" target="_blank">website</a>, <a href="https://www.ahackneyautobiography.org.uk/our-book.html" target="_blank">book</a> – <i>The Lime Green Mystery: An Oral History of the Centerprise Co-operative</i> – and an <a href="https://www.ahackneyautobiography.org.uk/tours-and-sketches.html" target="_blank">app</a>, which offers GPS located auto-tours of Hackney. Get on the 55 bus from Shoreditch to Clapton with the app on your headphones and you’ll find yourself transported back to the day when the area was full of factories, with stories narrated by the ordinary people who worked in those factories and lived nearby. I’ve used the app and it works!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-hxRJuwiJP6jP5TnywXuBOLRSx6y9AgQQYm3ol36tDCQUf7u052gPYseRZTRJSJtts42iqHOhnGFCu2luXlyiJsFjGjSlK2W2RxiMg219F-dLbYjy-3R1rroUEUJWapUDzxFNA/s1600/Centerprise-in-the-1990s-photograph-courtesy-of-Bernadette-Haplin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="893" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-hxRJuwiJP6jP5TnywXuBOLRSx6y9AgQQYm3ol36tDCQUf7u052gPYseRZTRJSJtts42iqHOhnGFCu2luXlyiJsFjGjSlK2W2RxiMg219F-dLbYjy-3R1rroUEUJWapUDzxFNA/s400/Centerprise-in-the-1990s-photograph-courtesy-of-Bernadette-Haplin.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Centerprise in the 1990s - photograph courtesy of Bernadette Haplin</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Starting from this Saturday (3rd November), the Hackney Wick arts centre </span><a href="http://www.stourspace.co.uk/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Stour Space</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> will be hosting a <a href="http://www.stourspace.co.uk/portfolio/a-hackney-autobiography/" target="_blank">free retrospective exhibition</a> of A Hackney Autobiography, which includes photography of many of those who were involved in Centerprise during its heyday. There will be an opening event on Saturday from 3-6pm, after which the exhibition will run daily from 9pm-5am until 21st November.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Stour Space is located near Hackney Wick station; click <a href="http://www.stourspace.co.uk/visit/" target="_blank">here</a> to see how to get to the venue. I've also included a map below.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="450" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m14!1m8!1m3!1d4963.070559409014!2d-0.021002!3d51.540083!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x0%3A0x6b574ae44ec9e13a!2sStour+Space!5e0!3m2!1sen!2suk!4v1541024750321" style="border: 0;" width="600"></iframe>
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GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com07 Roach Rd, London E3 2PA, UK51.5400827 -0.02100169999994250231.1336877 -41.329595699999942 71.9464777 41.287592300000057tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-17765296658187497792018-09-12T18:52:00.000+00:002018-09-12T18:56:53.593+00:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv86sbHEkXgmruXRgi0Ey9jMeIaDqqm50sssySG98POEiLqcwVuWFZMCdCFbJ3WD4m2SCJEZ7nZ-IMEHMineXzQHqEP6VDgvWd0P-sDamCH-_5LZv3VOa3sMuPtrLDwu44SGry3w/s1600/PBNightWR15Sept2018flyer%2528hq%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="580" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv86sbHEkXgmruXRgi0Ey9jMeIaDqqm50sssySG98POEiLqcwVuWFZMCdCFbJ3WD4m2SCJEZ7nZ-IMEHMineXzQHqEP6VDgvWd0P-sDamCH-_5LZv3VOa3sMuPtrLDwu44SGry3w/s640/PBNightWR15Sept2018flyer%2528hq%2529.jpg" width="490" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPutDgSrd5ITbsy7-R0YJXdgxqFPYOOs_AN7VObDxPJ7WkM-Pw8HmEtdarqbZz2stJQnUe70a1kQ9_IkAqbrj8Vx4gHpAyWzqzI6Uk3kCUKKQy_bw4ks0QfnwwKP26C4fBM5oK8A/s1600/PBNightWR15Sept2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I started promoting gigs in conjunction with the music website <a href="http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/" target="_blank">Pennyblackmusic</a> around ten years ago (a list of all the previous gigs can be viewed <a href="http://www.dominicsimpson.co.uk/graphicdesign.html" target="_blank">here</a>), taking over from another promoter who'd hosted a number of PB nights at the now sadly defunct Spitz venue. After taking over the reins, we found our home at a whole number of London venues, from the Brixton Windmill, the Half Moon Herne Hill, Brixton Jamm, and The Lexington, to The Sebright Arms and The Macbeth. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Along with the way, I've promoted a ton of bands, including the Willard Grant Conspiracy (RIP Robert Fisher), The Band of Holy Joy, Madam, The Monroe Transfer, The Doomed Bird of Conspiracy...and countless others. There's been huge amounts of fun, stressful soundchecks galore, sold out gigs, entire mini-orchestras onstage causing soundmen to lose their mind, singers shooting up heroin in the toilet, musicians walking off stage and out of the venue, never to play with the band they're in again...and lots of drinking. More on that in a forthcoming post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the meantime, this Saturday will be the last Pennyblackmusic night for the foreseeable future, coinciding with twenty years of the website. The gig takes place at the legendary <a href="http://www.thewaterratsvenue.london/" target="_blank">Water Rats</a> venue in King's Cross, and tickets can be bought <a href="http://www.wegottickets.com/event/435924" target="_blank">here</a>.</span>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0328 Grays Inn Rd, Kings Cross, London WC1X 8BZ, UK51.529023 -0.1195294999999987326.006988500000002 -41.4281235 77.0510575 41.1890645tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-80877932280661275362018-07-13T12:11:00.001+00:002019-07-12T14:39:30.422+00:00Chernobyl<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxGPxE70nhiFclpFFFOe92AvdtoOa6N9cSBRWJt9BjuiehK-GOEXo35QgUm8vzGMLzaU_3PU104vE8JpiTB3HRUcXYgymmN8HgCkINwH78OD7qQ3sepwzifNWo2dmNaJTrUwmmA/s1600/PripyatMonumentSign.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxGPxE70nhiFclpFFFOe92AvdtoOa6N9cSBRWJt9BjuiehK-GOEXo35QgUm8vzGMLzaU_3PU104vE8JpiTB3HRUcXYgymmN8HgCkINwH78OD7qQ3sepwzifNWo2dmNaJTrUwmmA/s320/PripyatMonumentSign.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pripyat city monument</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This blog mostly focuses on London, my home city, but occasionally it strays beyond the UK capital’s borders. So it was that I recently had a tour of Chernobyl - the site of the infamous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster" target="_blank">catastrophic nuclear accident</a> in April 1986 which horrified the world. The Chernobyl Power Plant disaster took place in what is now Ukraine, near the border with Belarus. Part of the Soviet Union as the Ukranian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukraine would go on to declare independence after the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union" target="_blank">collapse</a> of the Soviet Union roughly five years later. It's thought that the Chernobyl disaster was a major factor in the USSR's eventual collapse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Arriving at 5am at Kiev Airport on a plane full of Liverpool FC fans, due to their team playing Real Madrid in the Champions League final in the Ukranian capital that weekend, I faced a baffled woman at passport control when I proclaimed that I wasn’t here to see the football, as she assumed, but rather to visit Chernobyl. Battling lack of sleep and the difficulties of adjusting to the Cyrillic alphabet, my cab drove through Kiev suburbs filled with monumental green apartment blocks towards our apartment (just six pounds a night each). The next morning, apprehensive to say the least, myself and friends arrived at the site after a two-hour van drive from Kiev, arranged from the officially approved tour company – the only way that the vast area comprising <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_Exclusion_Zone" target="_blank">Chernobyl Exclusion Zone</a> (also known as ‘The Zone’, or ‘The Zone of Alienation’) can be visited. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After waiting for a while at a foreboding checkpoint in the sweltering heat, we were finally let in, only to carry on driving through long, nearly deserted roads surrounded by woodland. The whole atmosphere felt slightly creepy, as if from a horror film, exacerbated by the knowledge that much of the woodlands had been renamed ‘<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Forest" target="_blank">The Red Forest</a>’ after the disaster, due to the fact that the pine trees had withered and died from the radiation, displaying a ginger-brown colour as they did so. Many of those dead trees were bulldozed and buried in “waste graveyards”, making way for a more healthy set of pines. Yet the silence around us as we wound through the forest was ominous nonetheless. We finally wound up at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl" target="_blank">Chernobyl town</a>, from which the nuclear power plant took its title (the name comes from the Ukranian for a wormwood insect).</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Chernobyl town monument</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once a thriving city of 14,000 residents, the town was evacuated thirty hours after the disaster; it now has around 690 hardy people, with many houses around the inhabitants’ abodes lying empty. One of the most poignant episodes in this initial tour of the zone was a group of signs dug into the ground, one after the other, retreating into the distance, listing the names of villages - on both sides of the border between Ukraine and Belarus – that had to be evacuated (<i>below</i>).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgso8uGCfn7HNqCr4yz9VLSKclA0ZDCg8wveJmYEdLGLMxnlbZ0cVjEUyTMSFWzQ5Hy9UTuBDzX28Gvd3w7RaVyIqY5LLceNbjC7pxAjwe-r095c_m7EUuvtYkztIYiAHr5NzTYUA/s1600/20180526_130913.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgso8uGCfn7HNqCr4yz9VLSKclA0ZDCg8wveJmYEdLGLMxnlbZ0cVjEUyTMSFWzQ5Hy9UTuBDzX28Gvd3w7RaVyIqY5LLceNbjC7pxAjwe-r095c_m7EUuvtYkztIYiAHr5NzTYUA/s640/20180526_130913.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This sombre scene was coupled with the monument below to the firemen who lost their lives battling the explosion, and a statue of the Angel of Death, a striking symbol personifying death that felt poignant given events (<i>both below</i>).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUhDYaDTs_esdPmHEVi-tWRxY0lCIJGB8FTgzVi2i9SimvyBRmOKq6naxXrN82pXh3Xujv3g77X8H5M29GYDAeK1uDPcsh0AKeL2Db8UDFqrcH4Cw0WZurHllOTgPqE8S1-Dk0A/s1600/20180526_131042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUhDYaDTs_esdPmHEVi-tWRxY0lCIJGB8FTgzVi2i9SimvyBRmOKq6naxXrN82pXh3Xujv3g77X8H5M29GYDAeK1uDPcsh0AKeL2Db8UDFqrcH4Cw0WZurHllOTgPqE8S1-Dk0A/s320/20180526_131042.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There was also a museum installation dedicated to the disaster, and a statue of Lenin (<i>below</i>) – the only one left in Ukraine, according to the tour guide’s faltering English. All other monuments to the man in the country have been taken down post-independence.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8psQHr4Ukd6imzObAAhro_NjEwbuwKGNN3sOQhGxToopIcgzGWp1h7yhUxc7CfthS9VB7kWSVlWq82z7rMTFqKg6-BOxpzA9U0XcPViORZ786RZn9DFHDGtV0m4pfBmo3npQk4w/s1600/20180526_125415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8psQHr4Ukd6imzObAAhro_NjEwbuwKGNN3sOQhGxToopIcgzGWp1h7yhUxc7CfthS9VB7kWSVlWq82z7rMTFqKg6-BOxpzA9U0XcPViORZ786RZn9DFHDGtV0m4pfBmo3npQk4w/s320/20180526_125415.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Chernobyl hotel, meanwhile, felt like something from a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_le_Carr%C3%A9" target="_blank">John Le Carré</a> novel set beyond the iron curtain. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With its army barracks-style wooden build and soup served in the dining room by unsmiling babushkas, it felt like an authentic Soviet experience twenty-five years on from the collapse of the Union.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv8l6xQH1zkqBLo3fFqj0AeFUpCW67EKfPxFFAyfj1DzT56YNadcySWajA62_oSOP1-mcIzyMfuzHLizE_wQzlp1PUjGo8sevIk3QeNLcUFsapA3hJMz-rrBjG6Ac3pVzpMm4DNA/s1600/20180526_140721.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv8l6xQH1zkqBLo3fFqj0AeFUpCW67EKfPxFFAyfj1DzT56YNadcySWajA62_oSOP1-mcIzyMfuzHLizE_wQzlp1PUjGo8sevIk3QeNLcUFsapA3hJMz-rrBjG6Ac3pVzpMm4DNA/s400/20180526_140721.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Chernobyl hotel</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie0tj5TJ_04xf5UUZs1yl4lb1BTpD5m-wzdFxgFL3splLEy3n_ZB4iGP4YavJk2wsjNiFDoo_WhunTNK-ZT2rilAwbHYgzoWAARQf5bHFCw_32V2mOAhOrLUGMN4HVOO76kU35LQ/s1600/20180526_134317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie0tj5TJ_04xf5UUZs1yl4lb1BTpD5m-wzdFxgFL3splLEy3n_ZB4iGP4YavJk2wsjNiFDoo_WhunTNK-ZT2rilAwbHYgzoWAARQf5bHFCw_32V2mOAhOrLUGMN4HVOO76kU35LQ/s320/20180526_134317.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Soup in the hotel. No butter for the bread</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Meanwhile, in front of the hotel – the only place we were allowed to go without a tour guide presence – we were attacked not by radiation, but rather by huge amount of gnats, who buzzed around our sweaty heads in the heat, and later managed to take bites out of me while asleep in bed (despite my hotel room having windows that couldn’t be opened in order to stop them coming in, with the only air coming through an adjacent mosquito net). Yet it was the bizarre merchandise that really struck me, with everything from the slightly bad taste glow-in-the-dark fridge magnets to t-shirts (“I’ve been to…CHORNOBYL”); to whole gas suits available to buy; to radioactive ice cream; and an incongruously smiling lady below (<i>below</i>).</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The merch stall, Chernobyl-style</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Chernobyl ice cream...with radioactive sign</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The nearby convenience stores were similarly strange. I couldn’t help but think of Tarkovsky’s <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker_(1979_film)" target="_blank">Stalker</a></i> when entering ‘Roadside Picnic’ a convenience store, bar and grill near the Hotel (<i>below</i>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The film was based on a book also called </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Roadside Picnic</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, with the film’s own restricted ‘exclusion zone’ including a room in which supposedly one’s wishes and desires could be realised. That mystical masterpiece was released around seven years before the Chernobyl accident, yet it’s difficult not to make comparisons. Both the Zone in the film, and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, are restricted areas with their own ‘protocol’, where normal rules mostly do not apply. The Zone’s dangers in the film are invisible, just as the radiation is in Chernobyl. It’s rumoured, too, that Tarkosvky’s tragic eventual death may have been due to poison from the chemical plant that was near where they were shooting <i>Stalker</i>. Things got even weirder when I saw a sticker in the hotel advertising a computer game, called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.T.A.L.K.E.R." target="_blank">S.T.A.L.K.E.R.</a>, in which the protagonist runs around the abandoned city of Pripyat (more of which below) and other parts of the Exclusion Zone, battling various creatures. Several iterations of this computer game exist, with subtitles such as ‘Call of Pripyat’ and ‘Shadow of ‘Chernobyl’. As it turns out, 'Stalkers' was apparently later used as a nickname for the scientists and engineers who explored the interior of Chernobyl’s ‘sarcophagus’ that continues to enclosed the actual reactor after its construction following the accident (<i>pictured below</i>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is disaster tourism – and I felt conflicted. Was my very presence there distasteful and disrespectful, given the catastrophic effect that the explosion caused for people and animals in the area? Or was my money going to noble causes that helped survivors of the disaster? I wasn’t really sure, and remain ambivalent even now. Should sites that once witnessed disaster remain closed to the public, or should the public be allowed to bear witness years later? The slightly naff horror film <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_Diaries" target="_blank">Chernobyl Diaries</a></i>, in which a bunch of gormless American tourists get stuck in Pripyat, and encounter various zombie people, received angry responses from various <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_Children_International" target="_blank">charitable organisations</a> dedicated to helping survivors of the disaster.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Leaving aside these ethical concerns, what was undisputed is how fascinating the tour turned out to be. It included visits to Orthodox Churches inside the Zone (<i>below</i>) – proof that religion never really left the former Soviet Union countries despite the USSR’s atheistic pretence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Furthermore, we also conducted a tour of a gigantic former listening station (<i>below</i>), from which they would diligently watch out for signals from the West in case ‘they’ planned to invade. Stretching high up on many levels, I made it only as far as the first one due to worries about falling down the vertical concrete ladders that connected each ‘floor’; our two-day tour partners, four Polish men, included one hardy soul who climbed all the way to the top. We watched rather awkwardly from near a radioactive sign, indicating radioactive rubbish that had been buried underneath the ground (<i>below</i>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There was also the second reactor, which was abandoned after the disaster. An enterprising artist had been in here, with their own version of Banksy, as a stray dog walked around (<i>below</i>). Many of the dogs residing in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone have had a hard life, with radiation in their fur and exposure to the brutal cold in the long Ukranian winter.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The unbuilt reactor</i></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6E_GSKLiqUBn5NeyBmH1wsxKrxtXoKEj5FtaLitGDZcJ0Wq9TO6cicc63CgInmBlrwn4UqLGd6p0qqc9GcWliKcev_eZLr7LeCc52fPI8bEgITSJJdofb5ryGlkRZ9e71B9ZOA/s1600/20180527_095719.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6E_GSKLiqUBn5NeyBmH1wsxKrxtXoKEj5FtaLitGDZcJ0Wq9TO6cicc63CgInmBlrwn4UqLGd6p0qqc9GcWliKcev_eZLr7LeCc52fPI8bEgITSJJdofb5ryGlkRZ9e71B9ZOA/s320/20180527_095719.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then there was the field full of rotting machinery, where our Geiger counter started bleeping at alarming rates, indicating that radiation still hung around here, an unseen threat even despite all these years, yet one too negligible to make any serious differences to those visiting. The Geiger counter went crazy too when exploring an abandoned Kindergarten, where baby dolls had simply been left behind by those who had fled (<i>below</i>). </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-lLjCvtbIC_Xq8XN5JSAUeQt76-JkbQlJfoSK_YN9lmUN5AyWenAfex9H0TdDbSn_MtezheMinUei6YPBU3WM8ffGb8AdCaLYApqYuj3fz4gsH5B36al9mTJP1YIbLl1yo1Fqfg/s1600/20180527_091404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-lLjCvtbIC_Xq8XN5JSAUeQt76-JkbQlJfoSK_YN9lmUN5AyWenAfex9H0TdDbSn_MtezheMinUei6YPBU3WM8ffGb8AdCaLYApqYuj3fz4gsH5B36al9mTJP1YIbLl1yo1Fqfg/s400/20180527_091404.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then there was the tour of the ‘ghost city’ of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pripyat" target="_blank">Pripyat</a>, built in the 1970s largely to serve the Power Plant. The entire city’s population of 50,000 was evacuated after the disaster, leading to a deeply eerie feeling when climbing up the abandoned tower blocks. Nature had taken hold all around, with once thriving streets now overgrown with trees.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjre_N900_b6sJjcWp5yh0GxsQ6kXvwvKoSFEERb4qWNvkHeVrBMUPSm002rvv6RuH4MffxULYbMzgp0PCWKnhfOfiyeKnPYEZ7YaANjjiUWlYKaw24vt5lt6G6kj9BgOoNCxqIXQ/s1600/IMG_2084.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjre_N900_b6sJjcWp5yh0GxsQ6kXvwvKoSFEERb4qWNvkHeVrBMUPSm002rvv6RuH4MffxULYbMzgp0PCWKnhfOfiyeKnPYEZ7YaANjjiUWlYKaw24vt5lt6G6kj9BgOoNCxqIXQ/s640/IMG_2084.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>View of Pripyat city centre from top of building, with the reactor enclosed by the 'sarcophagus' clearly visible</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As we approached the centre of Pripyat, we suddenly witnessed many other tourists on ‘rival’ tours, gaping at the huge former administrative buildings and abandoned playground rides. One building had been some kind of arts centre, with an artists’ studio followed by a large theatre auditorium. Another was an abandoned supermarket, the signs for produce still left hanging from the roof, rotting away. There were factories and warehouses that we went into, all full of decaying machinery.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKZeMLJr7ufsaREC4IoNBJ9wK4bgf7VB_mPlvtxAIrXHjKc288Safa9LdIFZpKwobVuqnna6IhjtrRaB_k3dDIrAOv3Ll3dKPSrrhU99hjijVILK1mN00JnBW8rTXxDTiG3vZBQ/s1600/IMG_2213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKZeMLJr7ufsaREC4IoNBJ9wK4bgf7VB_mPlvtxAIrXHjKc288Safa9LdIFZpKwobVuqnna6IhjtrRaB_k3dDIrAOv3Ll3dKPSrrhU99hjijVILK1mN00JnBW8rTXxDTiG3vZBQ/s320/IMG_2213.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Abandoned Ferris wheel in Pripyat city centre</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieevnS1c2eVpTAGEEOj2E_OPmWInIo-ENZPpYWqbdbNaf13al5QPJc92qRnRAz_xvq9cAmD0qzt3JIUbTsdPNw813CUJ9PLuym8AveejYD5E057J_jvdnB8WQ9fFWgtuo3zuwFQw/s1600/IMG_2215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieevnS1c2eVpTAGEEOj2E_OPmWInIo-ENZPpYWqbdbNaf13al5QPJc92qRnRAz_xvq9cAmD0qzt3JIUbTsdPNw813CUJ9PLuym8AveejYD5E057J_jvdnB8WQ9fFWgtuo3zuwFQw/s320/IMG_2215.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Abandoned bumper cars</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4nTWj28IWBHrG-PCQV40DczTGzzZ2IHQ7APP2fL9QvFO1RRfLrCxRReoYYBEXFzpYIqjw-LnRZd2GsgVxY9E4aJnivFmYiBOobEAQmFUkuYYArDa-b7PgOmaHMRI0KB_1ypO5Jg/s1600/IMG_2208.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4nTWj28IWBHrG-PCQV40DczTGzzZ2IHQ7APP2fL9QvFO1RRfLrCxRReoYYBEXFzpYIqjw-LnRZd2GsgVxY9E4aJnivFmYiBOobEAQmFUkuYYArDa-b7PgOmaHMRI0KB_1ypO5Jg/s320/IMG_2208.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Artists' studio, with theatre in next room</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrsNY40KfUFwQEEGdXrnd8NiFcNhEjW9rdcIE_OMrd3b0fZLiK1dz3udc2fhyHV4okpLSIMYb3WmwZb38_6P2WBbKU8uWsBaVwQCcwU8BXiRXf0HEfMrXibL2Dp0vhtnDljIaMw/s1600/IMG_2210.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrsNY40KfUFwQEEGdXrnd8NiFcNhEjW9rdcIE_OMrd3b0fZLiK1dz3udc2fhyHV4okpLSIMYb3WmwZb38_6P2WBbKU8uWsBaVwQCcwU8BXiRXf0HEfMrXibL2Dp0vhtnDljIaMw/s320/IMG_2210.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The roof of the theatre, with stage pulleys</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlss3OYmUz5loh-5DfJ0yAvgr_81eNt0UMvRzLO_3BXQ2pUp9xPgION3bxNv-X3-mxWNzzHtlw_bRaDKDCB71ssI5YEJdWAqD7eo_ykoBKufv-9xhAdnpkA5_8VroH2vcGvVtoQ/s1600/IMG_2196.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlss3OYmUz5loh-5DfJ0yAvgr_81eNt0UMvRzLO_3BXQ2pUp9xPgION3bxNv-X3-mxWNzzHtlw_bRaDKDCB71ssI5YEJdWAqD7eo_ykoBKufv-9xhAdnpkA5_8VroH2vcGvVtoQ/s320/IMG_2196.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Abandoned building in central Pripyat</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6BbZ1Eb37n_EZnuTfU7V7KHFy7wr5nqLJ5_DIk-mTyT288wUziMLVCl75BOXOyNbsWtVxnPvz3gyE4vdjoijqazGYfcu8jeWPCQ8vopRO4sMcPYRWnO5F_GgS1DmXEZventeKvw/s1600/IMG_2207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6BbZ1Eb37n_EZnuTfU7V7KHFy7wr5nqLJ5_DIk-mTyT288wUziMLVCl75BOXOyNbsWtVxnPvz3gyE4vdjoijqazGYfcu8jeWPCQ8vopRO4sMcPYRWnO5F_GgS1DmXEZventeKvw/s320/IMG_2207.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Abandoned supermarket</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One building we went into ad a room that looked like some kind of indoctrination classroom, addressing the Cold War rivalries of the day with a slant on the superiority of the Soviet Union (<i>below</i>).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-wDKcFeuEUsNPpWHJJPuc4W5pV2iTAz0RNYZT3wJOMSJDFqUiaKnaAgn8RXlTJ3vzi5KHyQL9sRX0osksUWITDWcQf9YUweWdetOU9kX2GwtRwi52TUuGAyKgDBEjudfC70Qmg/s1600/IMG_2043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-wDKcFeuEUsNPpWHJJPuc4W5pV2iTAz0RNYZT3wJOMSJDFqUiaKnaAgn8RXlTJ3vzi5KHyQL9sRX0osksUWITDWcQf9YUweWdetOU9kX2GwtRwi52TUuGAyKgDBEjudfC70Qmg/s640/IMG_2043.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In another, a part of the roof had caved in (<i>below</i>).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfboqEwMARAq0e2dMNG3manV5zuUZy7QEO8fwpa-U7aWrYc_v7Cc8Q7ld5DdURR7eGcFIwIDrtaHWxHKcVzEbJKEwZIHsvzXJZLmz6CCRtxKyIm4HZAa9n-Q7vRBCnPFmon6L0w/s1600/IMG_2135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfboqEwMARAq0e2dMNG3manV5zuUZy7QEO8fwpa-U7aWrYc_v7Cc8Q7ld5DdURR7eGcFIwIDrtaHWxHKcVzEbJKEwZIHsvzXJZLmz6CCRtxKyIm4HZAa9n-Q7vRBCnPFmon6L0w/s320/IMG_2135.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was easy to imagine that life had existed here once, with happy families going about their day and people in full employment. Yet now it felt like the end of the world. Or a devastated city in a war zone: with windows smashed in and buildings decaying and peeling, it felt like we could be in Mogadishu or Aleppo, yet without the snipers.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtID43H6T7fBY35yubAZlG_QKnhxf7HNVoOMCb9-o9K87nTVJgw5wEqDHwem-50ruCewRY84Nb_X1hUyHwAsSZx8JAIDnBb08kATX5OE_2iWb9ck5wjTpzO9ExsaLD1QSIdNrXgw/s1600/IMG_2094.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtID43H6T7fBY35yubAZlG_QKnhxf7HNVoOMCb9-o9K87nTVJgw5wEqDHwem-50ruCewRY84Nb_X1hUyHwAsSZx8JAIDnBb08kATX5OE_2iWb9ck5wjTpzO9ExsaLD1QSIdNrXgw/s320/IMG_2094.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And then we toured the abandoned residential buildings (<i>above</i>). We went into so many of them that we lost count and my head began to hurt. One had disconcertingly crumbling stairs, with the wall having completely fallen away, leading to a sheer open drop next to me as I nervously descended to the top of building. Another had the disturbing vision of a dead dog, decaying on the floor, on the top level, with the windows – shorn of any glass – displaying a panoramic view of the area (<i>both below</i>).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAkZCyJZsAPavBAH4sRTaPGoDE8D3FcobNTzxJdnuXdxNSidzRyCgnGotPSxnmzzs1TUk3lG-QYMF7ifD8g2Y72b9f73fWkCpZdjDQRUja6BJvZf75GZpeZh7T-jE0gSlDhMAPXw/s1600/IMG_2077.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAkZCyJZsAPavBAH4sRTaPGoDE8D3FcobNTzxJdnuXdxNSidzRyCgnGotPSxnmzzs1TUk3lG-QYMF7ifD8g2Y72b9f73fWkCpZdjDQRUja6BJvZf75GZpeZh7T-jE0gSlDhMAPXw/s320/IMG_2077.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGb6MRdRlYVwZsZbEo-M6pR_qDvOALPSLm1j3xGKDpg8eY1phXbcKAYLastwz1m9eLUnv2zWhbCX9TeMJVbR-WHDXIJm6sFFlYa4g9Jpw3_03FoV-Uw0c-6RSHg8mU07yuHIpFsw/s1600/IMG_2078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGb6MRdRlYVwZsZbEo-M6pR_qDvOALPSLm1j3xGKDpg8eY1phXbcKAYLastwz1m9eLUnv2zWhbCX9TeMJVbR-WHDXIJm6sFFlYa4g9Jpw3_03FoV-Uw0c-6RSHg8mU07yuHIpFsw/s640/IMG_2078.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In all the tower blocks, there was apartment after apartment full of crumbling furniture and items, including a typewriter and 80s computer manuals. Wiring in the wall had been pulled out, while pianos lay covered in dust.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkaUeZR3emUOsw8pSPi3p8SxsWGE5p6CKQKHm4Wj6NAw_a2uBeE8kFf2uaCkmOo19aG31JPjhw4srG9vrqnB9NLVB9ah93AsWZNIuqA5cZxSaxLaqNxCw5UgKW-fem19-w342vdw/s1600/IMG_2173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkaUeZR3emUOsw8pSPi3p8SxsWGE5p6CKQKHm4Wj6NAw_a2uBeE8kFf2uaCkmOo19aG31JPjhw4srG9vrqnB9NLVB9ah93AsWZNIuqA5cZxSaxLaqNxCw5UgKW-fem19-w342vdw/s320/IMG_2173.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>80s typewriter in abandoned apartment</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjID7ZRmXxBCDaR668nUpKM_6RJzWBE5LbGHjP1N6AWKGyW7d7LbhsVVXq3dAbxI5yzypdYQqzkQGAZ-6Y1QPujDflP5Q6c-oVX0VPZWGPYGsabxnbwwZXEdP8mRYPfUlrmm54BmQ/s1600/IMG_2174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjID7ZRmXxBCDaR668nUpKM_6RJzWBE5LbGHjP1N6AWKGyW7d7LbhsVVXq3dAbxI5yzypdYQqzkQGAZ-6Y1QPujDflP5Q6c-oVX0VPZWGPYGsabxnbwwZXEdP8mRYPfUlrmm54BmQ/s320/IMG_2174.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>80s Ukranian computer magazines</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRaKzkPkuF-AwVUrZQ1DAYfeUgEvhxG9bZ-SUauXlzbAvfyWkgFV5zJOFC-WjHdR8G7W4zcnfUFgqZlnDUeTGC1wbGPuwwUPF1Pn7BfGcWdt1w6jj05cK8YtsBAchlp526cFoSXA/s1600/IMG_2145.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRaKzkPkuF-AwVUrZQ1DAYfeUgEvhxG9bZ-SUauXlzbAvfyWkgFV5zJOFC-WjHdR8G7W4zcnfUFgqZlnDUeTGC1wbGPuwwUPF1Pn7BfGcWdt1w6jj05cK8YtsBAchlp526cFoSXA/s320/IMG_2145.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wiring on wall in apartment</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjASJ4OehyphenhyphenDOqfuqj_0hOuuAuw08HiF2QHie0-ek8p6pPM9QlVW6rOPvTkF0JDXx4Kxc_qT8RjBfSY8P3_4i47Ez1jfcDOCdUCFktRrdEKaSGUaHKFU4C5reDe-5p49x_gHVJJkOw/s1600/IMG_2113.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjASJ4OehyphenhyphenDOqfuqj_0hOuuAuw08HiF2QHie0-ek8p6pPM9QlVW6rOPvTkF0JDXx4Kxc_qT8RjBfSY8P3_4i47Ez1jfcDOCdUCFktRrdEKaSGUaHKFU4C5reDe-5p49x_gHVJJkOw/s320/IMG_2113.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Baby doll on piano in apartment</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was the visits to these residential towers that really brought home the tragic enormity of what had happened: people were forced to leave at such short notice that all they could take with them was a suitcase. All other personal possessions had to be simply left behind. A population had been uprooted, the deracinated people of the city forced to move due to an invisible encroaching enemy. It was this that stuck with me the most as we returned, stunned, to the normality of the hustle and bustle of Kiev, the big city at the heart of Ukraine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>All photos taken by GoodnightLondon.</i></span>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-26972322219346850252018-02-07T20:53:00.001+00:002018-02-07T20:53:28.381+00:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFE0YzY_dqL9yjydiim-vnLsTv-sI0cIRXhKZKqy3na8D6CuXZRaqoDBIprseFfloRV5F0HrsTsE2rJoR0ZdNHbf0tSRMQBoqnCUONoGzL2wtRPklULf-O44z_RBx_FUWVh28mQQ/s1600/DrayersWalk1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFE0YzY_dqL9yjydiim-vnLsTv-sI0cIRXhKZKqy3na8D6CuXZRaqoDBIprseFfloRV5F0HrsTsE2rJoR0ZdNHbf0tSRMQBoqnCUONoGzL2wtRPklULf-O44z_RBx_FUWVh28mQQ/s320/DrayersWalk1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeWViFQUtSTX9PqbnweyAWu0t7PrsMRSZ40Rt2eXhBRul0F5k0kLxlgcdwyvjSWUXYYbS1kCEj6rjryw85nO1g24SsiUZq6RcYkHF2xcK2J5qzf6UllYvW_g3dSn_YXJr3vhjImg/s1600/DrayersWalk2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeWViFQUtSTX9PqbnweyAWu0t7PrsMRSZ40Rt2eXhBRul0F5k0kLxlgcdwyvjSWUXYYbS1kCEj6rjryw85nO1g24SsiUZq6RcYkHF2xcK2J5qzf6UllYvW_g3dSn_YXJr3vhjImg/s320/DrayersWalk2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Anna Minton’s book from 2012, <i><a href="https://bookmarksbookshop.co.uk/view/31321/Ground+Control%253A+Fear+and+happiness+in+the+twenty-first-century+city" target="_blank">Ground Control</a></i>, she touches on how not just London but the UK as a whole has become full of spaces that look public but are in fact private. These privatised public spaces are often in land that historically has seen ancient rights of way, yet have become owned by a developer who can set their own rules. This is something that Britain has sleepwalked into. Just as we have endured <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatisation_of_British_Rail" target="_blank">privatisation of our national trains</a>, we have also seen the rise of land privatisation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Guardian</i>’s investigation in 2017 revealed that public access to 'pseudo-public spaces' ('Pops' for short) remains at the discretion of the private companies. Details about their identity can often be opaque. This effectively means that land that should remain public is at the whim of landowners, who are often corporations – precisely why <i>The Guardian</i> and Greenspace Information for Greater London CIC (GiGL)’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jul/24/revealed-pseudo-public-space-pops-london-investigation-map" target="_blank">map of pseudo-public spaces</a> in London is so important.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take Dray Walk, off Brick Lane (<i>pictured above</i>), where the 1001 Club and Rough Trade East record shop are. It’s a trendy stretch, with tourists milling around and food stalls. I was once told late at night that I couldn’t walk through there, as a shortcut to Liverpool Street Station. When I asked why, the security guard pointed out that I had a beard and rucksack, and that I therefore theoretically could be a suicide bomber. He then pointed out the ‘Private Property sign’. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the same time as London faces a housing crisis – touched on in my blog post below this one – among those public places that we can access are often private places in which corporations can do as they please. This has led to that most basic exercise of democracy – the right to protest in public squares – being denied, as when the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_movement" target="_blank">Occupy movement</a>’s rally at Paternoster Square, next to the London Stock Exchange, was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15322134" target="_blank">disrupted</a> by the police on the grounds that they were trespassing on private land. Furthermore, when the public are normally allowed to access pseudo-public spaces, there is often an effort to dissuade people congregating, such as the lack of places to sit. In addition, as Frontier Psychiatrist <a href="http://frontierpsychiatrist.co.uk/ground-control-by-anna-minton/" target="_blank">puts it</a>, "certain behaviours and people [e.g., the ‘right’ kind] are encouraged whilst others are seen as undesirable and excluded". I wasn't allowed into Dray Walk that one time by that security guard. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yet others were allowed in – just not me, because I didn’t look like the ‘right’ kind of person in the mind of the security guard, who had discretion over who could be allowed into an ostensibly public space.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This continued erosion of our civil liberties by corporations on land that should remain common for all is a foreboding vision of where London could end up. It’s not hard to envisage a dystopian future in which more and more ‘public’ land is allowed to be public only at the whim of large corporations, and with numerous, often unfair regulations. Greater transparency is required on these spaces, as with <a href="https://apops.mas.org/find-a-pops/" target="_blank">other</a> <a href="http://www.pops.city/#map" target="_blank">cities</a>. It shouldn’t be forgotten that common land for all should be a basic right, not a privilege.</span><br />
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GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-3914945745110832302017-10-19T10:00:00.002+00:002017-10-19T10:00:51.006+00:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUS2rjdCnEGtLCVdblrwHmgMnNEh5LxfUvyR9KyYac0iKpiYAN7i5YyElbX-Q1ztrRuchVm2kM7Qq-Tw86TQ4zNDZ3_MazbUNnDGnYY9jHM_FJKmg5fcRducRUtPXpInYlpi1poQ/s1600/octopiumlandlordicuss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="880" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUS2rjdCnEGtLCVdblrwHmgMnNEh5LxfUvyR9KyYac0iKpiYAN7i5YyElbX-Q1ztrRuchVm2kM7Qq-Tw86TQ4zNDZ3_MazbUNnDGnYY9jHM_FJKmg5fcRducRUtPXpInYlpi1poQ/s400/octopiumlandlordicuss.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1925 map by WB Northrop satirising landlords in London. Photograph: Cornell University/PJ Mode Collection of Persuasive Cartology</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s been fourteen months since I last commented on the EU referendum. Since that point, an enormous amount has happened, culminating in the stand-off between the UK Government and the EU that we see at the moment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Along the way, we’ve seen all kinds of political fireworks, from the debacle of the snap General Election, in which the Conservatives had to go into a coalition with the Democratic Unionist Party to shore up their Government after failing to win a majority, to the <i>Daily Mail</i> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemies_of_the_People" target="_blank">resorting to blatant homophobia</a> in its ‘Enemies of the People’ front cover.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />What has also been distressingly noticeable, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/17/hate-soars-in-england-and-wales" target="_blank">as <i>The Guardian</i> has confirmed</a>, is the rise in the hate crimes that has spiked as a result of the referendum. To claim, as some have done below the line (BTW) in other <i>Guardian</i> articles, that the rise is due to a number of factors rather than the Brexit result, is disingenuous, as <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-racism-uk-post-referendum-racism-hate-crime-eu-referendum-racism-unleashed-poland-racist-a7160786.html" target="_blank">this <i>Independent</i> article</a> confirms.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />What has also been noticeable since the referendum is a tendency to blame EU migrants for the UK’s housing crisis, and the soaring costs in living - particularly in the capital, but also in certain other parts of the country too. This is far too a simplistic view, and ignores how our housing system works.<br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/04/theresa-may-wont-fix-housing-disaster-rent-controls" target="_blank">this comment piece for <i>The Guardian</i></a> points out, in 1981 most people could either afford to buy property outright – at hardly a fraction of what property costs now, even accounting for inflation – or they had access to Council housing. Margaret Thatcher’s policy of selling off Council housing at this time greatly reduced the housing stock, a policy that was exacerbated, to some extent, under Labour. As it turns out, much as that Council housing was often of shoddy make, as Adam Curtis’s first documentary exposed:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ch5VorymiL4" width="560"></iframe></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is a kind of passing of the buck in that film which is illustrative of where we are now. Instead of admitting that a lot of the problems that the UK finds itself in are of its own doing, the right-wing media have instead put the blame on others. This ignores the fact that the Government has been hugely ineffective in building new housing. This is because of a combination of factors: those controlling a good deal of housing in this country have very little interest in seeing new housing built. Another <i>Guardian</i> article, this time on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/sep/07/how-the-aristocracy-preserved-their-power" target="_blank">the aristocracy</a>, is striking for noting just how much property is concentrated into few hands. As the article states:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“One legal provision unique to England and Wales has been of particular importance to these aristocratic landlords: over the centuries they built many millions of houses, mansion blocks and flats, which they sold on a leasehold rather than freehold basis. This meant that purchasers are not buying the property outright, but merely a time-limited interest on it.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Much of the aristocracy and the property-owning classes – by the latter, I mean those who own a whole number of properties, not just one - are aligned with the Tories. It’s in the interests of the ruling class to not see further housing built, because it would devalue the portfolio of the property owning classes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The situation has been exacerbated by a ruthless Not In My Back Yard (NIMBYism) and the lack of thorough regulation of the private sector, which was deregulated in 1989. Unlike many other parts of Europe, the Tories have steadfastly refused to introduce a rent cap, instead leaving it to the free market. The predictable consequences of this are that landlords have been able to get away with murder, condemning the younger generations to have no choice but pay punitively high rents. Add to that the fact that the Tories have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2017/oct/06/councils-homes-theresa-may-public-land-sales" target="_blank">sold off public land</a>, and the result has been a perfect storm in the housing sector.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />At a time when there is a homeless crisis in London, much property in the capital continues to lay empty – and much beyond. Near where I grew up, an area called Woodberry Down - traditionally a rough and run-down area, but with a thriving community – has been transformed into shiny tower blocks that overlook the reservoirs at <a href="http://www.woodberrywetlands.org.uk/" target="_blank">Woodberry Wetlands</a>, which I had the fortune to visit nearby. Much of those flats lie empty, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/18/-sp-truth-about-gentrification-how-woodberry-down-became-woodberry-park" target="_blank">many</a> bought by rich Singaporean businessmen as part of a property portfolio.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />There are other examples. From a friends’ flat in Stoke Newington, on the second floor, I can see a huge expanse of grass. That expanse, she tells me, never has anyone in it. It lies empty while kids play football in the tiny yard of concrete next to it. It should be free land, yet is owned by someone who forbids the public from trespassing on it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Then there is the mansion on City Road, near where I work, that has been lying empty for as long as I can remember. It had been a squat since 1995 – I know, as I went to a squat party there once – before being boarded up. There is now no-one in there, and it continues to lie derelict. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The 21st century has seen property being used as a commodity rather than a place to live, in a way that it never quite was before. This is not the fault of the EU. The fact that entire streets in London have been exposed as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/25/its-like-a-ghost-town-lights-go-out-as-foreign-owners-desert-london-homes" target="_blank">full of empty properties</a> because they have been used as part of portfolios by the rich from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Singapore, is a fault entirely of the UK Government. The greatest trick Tory politicians who voted Leave pulled off is convincing the electorate that our housing crisis is due to people from other EU countries living here. Yet leaving the UK will not solve our housing crisis. Only rent caps, and putative taxes on those who leave property empty for a substantial amount of time (or, better still, forcefully taking back the property) can introduce some kind of sanity into a dysfunctional system – something that Corbyn had included in Labour’s manifesto during the General Election. For that, he was savaged by the right-wing press, which only showed their genuine fright at his chances of being elected. At the next GE, it could genuinely happen.</span>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-24432024330078298472017-04-05T23:13:00.001+00:002017-04-05T23:16:22.007+00:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Mxlc9wmexWR-9zqYQO7Z1LMqSRzEmKLJK-E6qyJsj7IU7KnvngZv60s_eIrtDKbOO4Yxtmx9QZLc_ahYXlBqPab4UOcSQtc9vyyKFRkcmuTWS7-Uxe9FWgJCih78Q74pf7wE0g/s1600/Centerprise_LaunchInvite_02-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Mxlc9wmexWR-9zqYQO7Z1LMqSRzEmKLJK-E6qyJsj7IU7KnvngZv60s_eIrtDKbOO4Yxtmx9QZLc_ahYXlBqPab4UOcSQtc9vyyKFRkcmuTWS7-Uxe9FWgJCih78Q74pf7wE0g/s400/Centerprise_LaunchInvite_02-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I mentioned <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/for-last-few-months-i-have-been.html" target="_blank">in a previous extensive blog post</a> some volunteering that I've been involved in, in conjunction with an organisation called <a href="http://on-the-record.org.uk/" target="_blank">On The Record</a>, a not-for-profit organisation looking into oral and visual history in London – especially that of ordinary people and the working-class whose accounts of life may have been marginalised. <br /><br />The project that I have been working on, <a href="https://a-hackney-autobiography.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">A Hackney Autobiography</a>, has been a deeply personal dimension for myself, given that I grew up in the borough. Even more specifically, though, the project has focused on Centerprise – an organisation that my father was involved with in the 70s and 80s. A community centre that housed a bookshop, a cafe, a youth arts and performance space, a publishing project, and a housing/welfare advice service (the latter of which my father was involved with), Centerprise was unique in a pre-gentrification Hackney, where adult illiteracy was still relatively high and the borough remained one of the most deprived in the country.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The project involved unearthing an enormous archive, most of it at Bishopsgate Institute, to do with Centerprise: from the books released as part of the publishing project (which I then converted into digital), to the audio interviews that other volunteers conducted with those who were involved with Centerprise at the time (including with my father), to researching vast back catalogues of the Hackney People's Press, a left-wing newspaper based at Centerprise.<br /><br />Last November, there was the first launch party for the project, at Hackney Museum, as I mentioned in <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/i-mentioned-while-ago-in-previous-blog.html" target="_blank">this other blog post</a>.<br /><br />Now it's the turn of a second launch party, this time to celebrate the culmination of the volunteering into a book, <i>The Lime Green Mystery: An Oral History of the Centerprise Co-operative</i>. Accompanying the book will be an app and a website, both of which will be announced at the end of April.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Details on the flyer above (click o<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">n it for a<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">n e<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nlargened</span> image)</span></span>, and here:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">A Hackney Autobiography: Launch Event</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Sunday 7th May 2017</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">5-7pm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Sutton House, 2 & 4 Homerton High Street, London, E9 6JQ (<a href="https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5484853,-0.0526126,17z?hl=en" target="_blank">map</a>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">There are limited places, so booking is advised: email info@on-the-record.org.uk</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Just before the party, there will be a unique chance to preview one of the audiowalks featured on the apps as part of a group. To book a place on the Inside Out Homerton audiowalk, please contact On The Record by Friday 21st April. Later bookings will be accepted if places remain available.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Event organised with <a href="http://pagesofhackney.co.uk/" target="_blank">Pages of Hackney</a>.</span></span>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com22 & 4 Homerton High St, London E9 6JQ, UK51.548482 -0.05042389999994156826.0264475 -41.359017899999941 77.0705165 41.258170100000058tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-36783046032077664042017-02-16T21:51:00.000+00:002017-02-16T21:51:02.687+00:00<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some music from my album features on a short documentary by a friend of mine, Naveed Nasir, which can be viewed below.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The documentary follows his partner teaching workshops in making signet rings at Milton Keynes Arts Centre.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/203681692" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://vimeo.com/203681692">Mark Making</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/naveedybaby">Naveed Nasir</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There will be an exhibition at Milton Keynes Arts Centre on Saturday 18th February 2017, from 1-3pm, entrance free, exploring the themes touched on in the documentary.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">More information <a href="http://www.miltonkeynesartscentre.org/common-ground-izzy-parker/" target="_blank">here</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">From the venue website:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><strong><em>Mark Making</em></strong> celebrates
Milton Keynes’ young people and the City’s legacy in an exhibition
representing time and identity through a series of workshops in
collaboration with students of Stephenson Academy, connecting past and
present, providing a platform for the new wave of inventors, architects
and designers to have a voice and share with the City what it means to
them to be a young person living in Milton Keynes. Mark Making acts as
the fourth and final instalment of <strong>Common Ground</strong>; 12months of collaborations between artists Yinka Ilori, Ibiye Camp, Tom Dale, Izzy Parker, Groundwork and our communities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The exhibition will visually represent
the time passed in the form of an immersive installation created from
thousands of hung multiples. Artist Izzy Parker will showcase her
participant’s identities, her father’s and her own identity in one
setting; representing a generation of identities in one exhibition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Parker asks students to explore their
own identities by teaching them how to design and make their own signet
rings and she will explore her own identity by creating a new body of
work that is homage to the recent passing of her father.</span></div>
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</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The exhibition will provide a platform
to encapsulate different perceptions of identity. Her own, her father’s
and the students. The show will feature an immersive hanging
installation by Izzy Parker, the students finished signet rings and a
short documentary of the project created by filmmaker Naveed Nasir.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Set in Milton Keynes Arts Centre’s 17<sup>th</sup> century
barn gallery, this event offers an opportunity for Milton Keynes
residents to come together to share food and celebrate the achievements
of the City’s young people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><strong>An Introduction </strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">2017 will herald the 50th anniversary of
Milton Keynes and much has changed since this ‘new town’ was officially
inaugurated in 1967 with a simple brief to become a ‘city in scale’.
Artist Izzy Parker will be marking this special occasion by exploring
the theme of identity and asking participants from the Stephenson
Academy to design and make their own signet ring.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Signet rings have been used since the
1400s as identification marks. They were first used to mark documents by
way of an official seal being imprinted into hot wax or soft clay. They
were also used to mark doorways and even seal tombs. Used on a global
scale by men and women of great standing; each ring as individual as the
person wearing it, it often hosted a bespoke family crest or symbol.
The rings were considered such an official mark of identification, that
to prevent fraudulent acts being committed they were often destroyed
when their wearer died.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Izzy Parker has chosen to work with
pupils from the Stephenson Academy to ask them to consider how and what
factors represent their own identity. Be it their own personal history,
clothing, friends, family or even their favourite musician. The ‘making’
element of the project will offer a calm, focussed and contemplative
activity for them to engage with. Providing the head space to consider
what and who they relate to as young adults.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><strong>It is important we find our own clan; where we feel we belong
alongside peers we respect so we can contextualise where we fit into
society and our community. </strong></span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><strong><em>Izzy Parker, Artist</em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Parker’s own exploration of identity has been heightened by the
recent passing of her father in December 2015. Interested by how signet
rings were destroyed after the wearer died, somewhat eradicating the
identity of the individual, Parker will investigate how we often try to
hold on to the identity of a person after their death. She will consider
our perception of memories and how they can change over the course of
time.</span><br />
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</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Secondary to the signet ring workshops
Parker will run some set building classes where students will assist in
the build and installation of the set for the exhibition. By the end of
the project they will have learnt a broad range of goldsmithing, set
building and practical skills.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-51846261832084328052016-12-20T22:08:00.000+00:002017-04-05T23:21:50.432+00:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43wcR2YDcqevRET00Adrpak0fL9wQ71CB8TJ_uxhStuIX-K1gfuWhWjIfy7W7bOk2qM-DOYk-R1IdfYYZlUw1wSkpfxaQ5CTDge9GYeFzrzyszsd8lgqbkqe4J4kkMYSU6VPJPg/s1600/People_Power_Flyer_Hackney_Museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43wcR2YDcqevRET00Adrpak0fL9wQ71CB8TJ_uxhStuIX-K1gfuWhWjIfy7W7bOk2qM-DOYk-R1IdfYYZlUw1wSkpfxaQ5CTDge9GYeFzrzyszsd8lgqbkqe4J4kkMYSU6VPJPg/s640/People_Power_Flyer_Hackney_Museum.jpg" width="448" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More missives from me will be coming soon after the festive period, but for now I thought I should mention that following on from the post below about the launch party for <i>A Hackney Autobiography: Remembering Centerprise at the Hackney Museum with On The Record</i>, there is a temporary exhibition at the Museum that leads on from the launch party and contains plenty of the work that myself and <a href="http://www.on-the-record.org.uk/" target="_blank">On The Record</a> have been involved with for the last two years (again, see the post below and <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/for-last-few-months-i-have-been.html" target="_blank">this post</a> on the project).<br /><br />The exhibition is entitled <i>People Power: Black British Arts & Activism in Hackney 1960s-2000s</i>, and contains much of the work that Centerprise was involved with, along with related accounts of life in the borough between these periods. Entrance is free and the exhibition runs until the 21st January 2017. General details of the Museum’s address and opening hours can be viewed <a href="http://www.hackney.gov.uk/museum" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from GoodnightLondon to all. </span>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com2Reading Ln, London E8 1GQ, UK51.5444781 -0.05609739999999874351.5432436 -0.058618899999998746 51.5457126 -0.05357589999999874tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-28561885954091988902016-11-09T01:46:00.001+00:002017-04-05T23:22:54.580+00:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuUt-SaCdbpBxSSCMmFEfE8zKfuc0fP_sdv8Z1gykav9o-T1GzZa3yVclQk-WfWJYXwiZzHNlh3qVekzXNGp7KDsQaFGWNHT9YxSgvl165wCJHNGCtMOhfakXQkX8z3qFkMcCuxg/s1600/1_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuUt-SaCdbpBxSSCMmFEfE8zKfuc0fP_sdv8Z1gykav9o-T1GzZa3yVclQk-WfWJYXwiZzHNlh3qVekzXNGp7KDsQaFGWNHT9YxSgvl165wCJHNGCtMOhfakXQkX8z3qFkMcCuxg/s400/1_cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I mentioned a while ago in a previous blog post that I have been <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/for-last-few-months-i-have-been.html" target="_blank">involved in a project looking into the history of Centerprise</a>. Centerprise was a cafe, bookshop, youth arts space, publishing project, and housing advice service (the last of which my father was involved with).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The project has taken place over the last two years or so, with people volunteering in their spare time. A huge amount of material has been drawn from Bishopsgate Institute's <a href="http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/Library/Archives-Online" target="_blank">vast archive</a> among other source (covered in my previous blog post linked to above). This work archiving, mapping, interviewing, scanning and digitally converting will culminate in a launch party on Saturday 26th November, from 11:00-16:00, at the Hackney Museum, Ground Floor, Learning & Technology Centre,1 Reading Lane, Hackney, E8 1GQ [<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/51%C2%B032'41.0%22N+0%C2%B003'21.8%22W/@51.5447117,-0.0566139,19z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d51.5447117!4d-0.0560667?hl=en-GB" target="_blank">map</a>], where a website, book and mobile phone app will be launched. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Entrance is free but people interested need to register first at <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-hackney-autobiography-remembering-centerprise-with-on-the-record-tickets-27090403125" target="_blank">this</a> Eventbrite page. There are still some tickets left. If the tickets sell out, it may still be possible to turn up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The order of the day will be:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- 11am – 11.30 Welcome to the day, including words from Margaret Gosley (co-founder) on how Centerprise began. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- 11.30-12.00 Tours of the People Power exhibition by curator, Niti Acharya</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- 11:45 – 12:45 Panel Discussion 1 - Centerprise and education, past and present </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- 12:45 pm- 13:45 Light lunch available in learning room</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tours of the People Power exhibition by curator, Niti Acharya </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- 13:45 – 14:45 Panel Discussion 2 – The legacy of Centerprise </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- 14:45 – 15:30 Open mic: performances and readings from Centerprise and beyond</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- 15.30 - 16.00 Plenary discussion: have the final word on A Hackney Autobiography</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There will also be coffee and snacks available.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Details of the app, website and book will be put up here subsequently.</span>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com1Reading Ln, London E8 1GQ, UK51.5444781 -0.05609739999999874351.5432436 -0.058618899999998746 51.5457126 -0.05357589999999874tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-82115064010306244492016-09-26T21:13:00.000+00:002016-09-26T21:13:11.046+00:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Apologies for the short notice, but I will be both promoting and playing live at this...I'm on at 8:15pm under the name Dream Maps. My album can be listened to <a href="https://dreammaps1.bandcamp.com/releases" target="_blank">here</a> on Bandcamp.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tickets are £6 at <a href="http://www.wegottickets.com/event/368261" target="_blank">WeGotTickets</a>. It's going to be a hell of a night!</span><br />
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GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-89010667993169445482016-08-15T20:50:00.000+00:002016-08-17T23:56:29.915+00:00The EU Referendum (Part 3)<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ViC6SrrTwzvei8FYeW6hcmlOkyR_kaGQuW-x_xc3kYz3Rkv1sDr8_cWXbwUkcUyIJPaAUbXneICoEdbAlLcprDPHGfB0WgGpVV8UQD7Q-DyrUmT6az9w8B7ciMyHVAN56btdFQ/s1600/EUflag%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ViC6SrrTwzvei8FYeW6hcmlOkyR_kaGQuW-x_xc3kYz3Rkv1sDr8_cWXbwUkcUyIJPaAUbXneICoEdbAlLcprDPHGfB0WgGpVV8UQD7Q-DyrUmT6az9w8B7ciMyHVAN56btdFQ/s320/EUflag%25283%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />It’s been nearly two months since the EU Referendum, and I’m still trying to get my head around what has happened. Fifty-two percent of the voting public chose to vote to leave the EU again forty-eight who voted (like me) to remain. As a result, we have been left with an extraordinary and difficult situation, with a nation divided like never before. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The first thing to note is that what was supposed to happen in the event of a leave vote was that the day after the referendum, David Cameron was supposed to formally trigger <a href="http://www.lisbon-treaty.org/wcm/the-lisbon-treaty/treaty-on-european-union-and-comments/title-6-final-provisions/137-article-50.html" target="_blank">Article 50</a> – the EU legislation that formally confirms a member-state leaving the EU. What was supposed to happen subsequently is that said country then would have two years to subsequently complete the exit – a ‘Brexit’, in Britain’s case (the country could spend longer than two years, depending on a vote from other EU countries). What happened, of course, is that Cameron could not bring himself to trigger Article 50, instead passing on the poisoned chalice to his successors in a cynical move designed deliberately to get one over his rival Boris Jonson. In the chaos that followed, Johnson and Michael Gove could not bring themselves to trigger Article 50 either, despite being the main cheerleaders for the Leave campaign. To put it bluntly, none of them had the balls to actually go ahead and do it.<br />We now know that the baton for triggering Article 50 has been passed to Theresa May, the new Prime Minister. She, too, cannot bring herself to trigger Article 50, on the grounds that she has to wait first for ‘trade deals to be formalised’. The problem is that trade deals can take years and years, during which there is never likely to be a ‘perfect’ time to trigger Article 50. By refusing to actually go ahead and trigger it, the UK has been placed in a dreadful limbo status, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jul/12/uk-scientists-dropped-from-eu-projects-because-of-post-brexit-funding-fears" target="_blank">affecting areas such as science research</a>, which rely on cross-EU collaboration and funding, irrevocably. In turn, UK science graduates will now find out that their chances of work will be cut off considerably – <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/13/philip-hammond-treasury-to-guarantee-post-brexit-funding-for-eu-backed-projects" target="_blank">despite Philip Hammond’s assurances to the contrary</a>. This limbo state is massively irresponsible for the UK economy, and a perfect illustration of why the referendum should never have taken place in the first place. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />If Article 50 does ever get triggered, the UK would essentially face t<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">wo</span> options. The first option facing the UK post-referendum would be to join the Single Market as a member of the European Free Trade Association (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Free_Trade_Association" target="_blank">EFTA</a>), the regional free trade area that comprises non-EU member states Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The UK left EFTA in 1973 in order to join the European Economic Community (EEC), the forerunner to the EU. Post-referendum, however, there is an argument for it to rejoin EFTA. What unite <a href="http://www.efta.int/" target="_blank">the four EFTA countries</a> with most EU member-states are two things:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />- they are all part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area" target="_blank">Schengen Area</a>, guaranteeing freedom of movement – with the exception of the UK (which is still an EU member state for now) and the Republic of Ireland, which share their own Common Travel Area (CTA); and the exception of Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus, who have a legal obligation to eventually join Schengen;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />- they are all part of the European Economic Area (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area" target="_blank">EEA</a>) – in essence, the Single Market - with the exception of Switzerland; the EEA also includes all EU member-states (except Croatia, the newest EU member-state, which is a provisional EEA member).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Joining the Single Market would require the UK to accept freedom of movement – one of the four pillars of the Single Market – and join the Schengen zone, something which the UK has never done, having previously gained an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area#EU_member_states_with_opt-outs" target="_blank">opt-out, as mentioned above, along with Ireland</a>. It would mean, too, that many of the xenophobic promises that the Leave campaign paraded – that EU immigration to the UK would be cut dramatically – and which Leave voters chose to believe, would be dashed. In addition, Norway <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/09/norway-may-block-uk-return-to-european-free-trade-association" target="_blank">could veto</a> the UK’s return to membership of EFTA, fearing its loss of influence in the organisation with such a large member joining among small nations (Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein between them in total have a population of 13 million compared to the UK’s 65 million). Theoretically, the UK could be a member of EFTA but not the EEA, which is the position that Switzerland, a former signatory to the EEA, who then left, is in; but this would be hugely complicated, and would mean that the UK <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">would still </span>not be part of the Single Market via the EEA.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The second option for the UK is to not sign up to either EFTA or be part of the EEA. This would mean that the UK really would be on its own in Europe. If this happened, the UK would have to revert to <a href="https://www.wto.org/" target="_blank">WTO rules</a> regarding trading, which could be a hugely bumpy grounding. Free trade agreements (FTA) are hugely complicated, drawn-out procedures; to give one example, the EU-South Korea FTA takes up a mammoth 1432 pages. Similarly, the controversial EU-Canada CETA deal has taken at least seven years and is still subject to negotiations. What would happen to the interim is a moot question: the UK would essentially be starting from the beginning again, in contrast to Canada, who could rely on NAFTA (their FTA with the USA and Mexico) financially while CETA was being negotiated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Problem is, since Thatcher’s reign, the UK economy has shifted from one based on manufacturing to a services industry – particularly financial, with the country’s economy bound up with the deregulated City. The UK’s economy has become inexorably tied-up with deregulated finance and a housing bubble, rather than keeping a strong manufacturing base, as in Germany. If the UK leaves the single market, which it would do so if it formally left not just the EU but also the EEA, and didn’t join EFTA, the lack of access to the Single Market would hit the City, with many financial firms choosing to relocate to Dublin, Paris and Frankfurt – all cities within EU member-states. The UK could respond to this by becoming essentially a version of Switzerland or Singapore, becoming a nation-wide tax haven, but is really what we want? The bottom line is that, unlike Norway, or Commonwealth countries such as Canada and Australia, the UK does not have vast amounts of natural resources to exploit any more, having squandered the proceeds from North Sea oil on tax breaks for the rich. For this reason, membership of the Single Market is paramount for the UK’s economic future whether we like it or not. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The reality is that the EU holds the cards here. It exports much more to the UK than the UK exports to the EU, and as a bloc of 27 nations has vastly more clout than the UK on its own. The UK has to accept that remaining in the EU is always going to be the best option for our economy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The response to Leave voters to this is that Brexit is all about ‘sovereignty’. What they are missing is that in the twenty-first century, most countries are too bound up in international treaties to fully be called ‘sovereign’. Even if the UK leaves the EU, it will still be bound up in supranational treaties from NATO, the UK, the IMF, the WTO, and a host of others – all of which make some rules for which the UK government has to obey in order to thrive in the modern world. The alternative is to be North Korea.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Instead, while we were part of the EU – and which are still a member of, for now – we had an extraordinarily good deal, with opt-outs on the rebate, the Euro, and the Schengen zone (which I've <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/theres-about-three-weeks-to-go-until.html" target="_blank">spoke about already</a>). This has meant that the UK has essentially afforded a special status. Yet that has still not been enough for the <i>Daily Mail</i>, <i>The Express</i> and <i>The Sun</i>, who have spent the last forty years promoting a clichéd, anti-European agenda (spearheaded by Boris Johnson, among others), all in the name of ‘sovereignty’, which the UK never lost, and a sense of superiority. This anachronistic viewpoint has missed the endless benefits that the EU has provided, from pumping money into deprived areas (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/27/wales-referendum-remain-leave-vote-uk-eu-membership?INTCMP=sfl" target="_blank">some of which</a> then voted Leave, paradoxically), to regulation on clean beaches, to the opportunity for British citizens to live and work in twenty-eight member-states – the latter of which may never be known by future generations of Brits. Instead, we can look forward to insular Britain, which could be even smaller in Scotland leaves – not to mention Brexit complicating the peace process with Ireland, the UK’s one land border, a process that could even theoretically lead to Northern Ireland rejoining the Republic (except for Ulster). The irony is that this break-up could be triggered by the same Leave voters who wave the Union Jack, a symbol of a Union which could be no more because of Brexit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Instead, the only answer is to abandon Brexit, and look to Europe, the continent that we are geographically tied to despite being an island. The UK’s future is in Europe, and as such, the triggering of Article 50 should be rightly recognised as madness.</span>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-26276223551400383452016-06-20T14:42:00.001+00:002016-06-20T14:42:58.479+00:00The EU Referendum (Part 2)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It feels strange knowing that in just a few days, I could end up losing my EU citizenship. It’s something that’s difficult to really conceive of, yet it could be reality by Friday. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Of course, in the event of a Brexit vote, it’s unlikely that we would “lose” our EU citizenship straight away as the result of the referendum is announced. Things don’t really work like that. Instead, we would have a torturous two years of negotiations or so before we finally have EU citizenship rescinded. UK passports would be replaced with new ones, <i>sans</i> the wording ‘European Union’ (which would cost huge amounts of money in itself), and the bit inside the passport where it says ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland passport’ in all the EU’s official languages (there’s <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/languages/policy/linguistic-diversity/official-languages-eu_en.htm" target="_blank">a lot of them</a>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The UK and the EU would then go to loggerheads as to how the UK would be able to access the Single Market. The EU would almost certainly demand in return that the UK join the Schengen area, guaranteeing freedom of movement across most of the continent, which – <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/theres-about-three-weeks-to-go-until.html" target="_blank">as I’ve pointed out previously</a> – includes non-EU countries Iceland, Norway, and (for now) Switzerland (the latter of whom are at continual loggerheads with the EU over immigration). The UK would be unwilling to join the Schengen zone, fearing a backlash from its own population, and particularly from Leave voters, many of whom (but not all) voted for a Brexit precisely to put a cap on immigration numbers – or simply to stop immigration to the UK altogether. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />In this scenario, it’s not unrealistic to see the UK completely isolating itself from the rest of Europe, and in so doing, cutting itself off from its main export market. The result would almost certainly be recession, at least in the short-term. Leave supporters like to point out that the EU and Europe are too different things, and that people conflate an alliance of nations with a continent. Yet we really <i>would</i> be isolating ourselves from Europe here. <br />Then there would be the thorny question of what would happen to the many citizens from other EU countries resident in the UK, who have not took British citizenship, and for those UK citizens living in other EU nations. Would EU citizens be allowed to stay if they have been here for a specified number of years? Would they need ‘points’ according to their job history? And would the EU nations respond in kind to UK residents living in their country if the UK decided to 'expel' EU citizens?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Leave don’t have any idea about these questions. Much of the answers to the above would have to be negotiated. No-one knows what the outcomes would be. That’s the problem with Brexit. I don’t know. You don’t know. No-one knows. It’s a huge step in the dark. Vote for that if you have no worries about the future and have made your millions. But for those, like me, with not much money and a desire for a stable jobs market in which to proceed, it is not worth the risk. The EU may not be perfect, but Brexit would be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/20/brexit-fake-revolt-eu-working-class-culture-hijacked-help-elite" target="_blank">no friend</a> to the working-class, struggling to improve their lives. Instead, Brexit would usher in a bonfire of working time regulations, along with privatisation of the NHS - ironically, one of the subjects that the Leave campaign have claimed would be in peril if we stay in the EU. They're wrong.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Vote Remain, in other words. In terms of stability and prosperity, you know it makes sense.</span>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-48091837871433142732016-05-31T23:22:00.000+00:002016-06-20T14:44:32.208+00:00The EU Referendum (Part 1)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There’s about three weeks to go until a referendum in the UK on whether the country wants to stay in the European Union. I’ve been meaning to write a post about it for a while, but have been on holiday (in mainland Europe, fittingly) and preoccupied with other issues up until now. I’ve <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/among-all-recriminations-over-plight-of.html" target="_blank">already written a blog post in the past</a> on why I think we should stay in the EU, and I still believe that now, in light of the referendum.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The charge that Eurosceptics lay at the EU’s feet is that is overly bureaucratic and unaccountable. While this is not entirely untrue – for example, the unnecessarily costly expense of <a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/european_parliament_traveling_circus/24557376.html" target="_blank">moving regularly</a> from Brussels to Strasbourg - it’s worth pointing out that many problems with democracy also plague the UK political system. The House of Lords (HoL), the upper chamber of Parliament, remains unaccountable, with around <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/whos-in-the-house-of-lords/" target="_blank">790 sitting lords</a>. This includes twenty-six bishops and 92 hereditary peers, the latter of whom have inherited their position from the family line (hereditary peerage once extended to everyone in the HoL, but was curtailed under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords_Act_1999" target="_blank">House of Lords Act 1999</a>). The vast majority of those peers are men; incredibly, in this day and age, the vast majority of these peerages can only be inherited by men (there are women in the HoL, but they are outnumbered by men). The remaining members of the HoL are life peers, who are also not elected by the public, but rather are appointed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Along with the anachronistic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurality_voting_system#General_elections_in_the_United_Kingdom" target="_blank">First-Past-The-Post</a> voting system (FPTP) still operating in general elections, but not in devolved Scotland, this makes me a lot annoyed than the machinations of the EU referendum. The reply from those whom advocate the UK leaving the EU is that the House of Lords cannot be compared to the EU due to the fact that the HoL does not make laws, but rather only scrutinises them. The purpose of the HoLs in general is to analyse bills. To which the response should be that there should be no problem in changing the layout of the HoL, then. Yet the prospect of having a referendum on this is never seriously entertained.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Leaving the UK could result in the disintegration of the UK. If a Brexit occurs, pro-EU forces in Scotland could find their demand for another referendum on Scotland remaining in the UK taking on a new momentum. It’s not too far-fetched to suggest that one of the reasons (along with the uncertainty of the currency question in the event of independence) that Scotland voted to stay in the UK in the referendum in 2014 was because of the fear of an independent Scotland being ‘outside’ the EU – i.e., a non-member state - and having to reapply as a new member. If Brexit happened, and Scotland subsequently declared independence before then joining the EU as a new member-state, the result could be a physical land border between Scotland and the rest of the UK via the border between Scotland and England. It would also mean a physical border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, sealing off two communities who currently share a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Travel_Area" target="_blank">Common Travel Area</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The EU, while far from perfect, has attempted to stop EU members from trading with the appalling Saudi regime, and has attempted to cap bankers’ bonuses following the financial crash. Both have been resisted by the UK, and it’s difficult to see how a UK outside the EU would be any different in its dealings.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />EU legislation has led to cleaner beaches, cleaner air (though it may not feel like it in London), tangible workers rights, and a whole host of positive environment policies, including restrictions on landfill dumping. It has funded projects the length and breadth of the UK via grants, improving infrastructure and pouring money into neglected areas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Eurosceptics have often cited, and continue to cite, the likes of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland - three European countries not in the EU - as examples to follow. These economies are all prosperous, and have some of the best standards of living in the world, but they are not necessarily examples to the UK due to their differences in many ways. All have small populations. All are high-tax economies (hence the high cost of things when visiting those countries). However, on top of their high taxes funding the state, Norway also manages a huge sovereign oil wealth fund, one that has been carefully built up over the years, in contrast to the UK, which has frittered away all the profits from its own oil in the North Sea on tax breaks for the rich. Switzerland, with a population of around 8 million, has an economy mostly based around slightly murky banking laws. Iceland, meanwhile, has a tiny population and an economy orientated towards fishing and geothermal energy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />All are worth admiring in their own way. But they remain different to the UK. Furthermore, in order to access the Single Market, they have to remain members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area" target="_blank">Schengen Area</a>, despite not being members of the EU. This would not be a model for the UK post-Brexit, with Eurosceptics making clear that they are opposed to freedom of movement from Europe, and of the UK joining the Schengen Area.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Instead, a post-Brexit UK would find itself isolated in negotiations with the EU. These negotiations would be intense and torturous, unravelling <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/31/what-happens-next-if-britain-votes-to-leave-the-eu?INTCMP=sfl" target="_blank">80,000 pages of EU agreements</a> and decades of legislation. Both sides would be fighting their own corner, with the EU in a tense state, having seen a large member vote to leave, while at the same time concerned that a Brexit might encourage <i>pour les autres</i> in the remaining EU to have their own referendums. There is no guarantee that it would be willing to give any ground in striking a deal with the UK. In contrast, the UK currently has the best of both worlds inside the EU: it has managed to remain inside the Single Market while at the same time gaining opt-outs on joining the Euro, the Schengen Area, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_rebate" target="_blank">rebate</a>. The latter opt-out is seldom mentioned by Eurosceptics, when mentioning how much money the UK ‘puts in’ to the EU, while failing to account for how much ‘comes back’ to the UK.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Eurosceptics also mention that a vote to Remain is somehow a ‘vote for neo-liberalism’, ‘for the Tories’, or for ‘big business’. These arguments belie the fact that many on the Brexit side are just as likely to favour big corporations, cutting red tape, and the rolling back of employment rights. Two members <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/05/11/priti-patel-wants-to-bring-back-the-death-penalty_n_7255322.html" target="_blank">want the death penalty</a> returned to the UK. It is not hyperbolic to suggest that, outside the EU, they would be perfectly placed to try and enact such regressive laws if they thought they had license to. Boris Johnson has been assiduous in helping foreign money pile into property in London, in turn pricing out local communities, while cynically joining the Brexit campaign as part of a scheming bid to become the next Prime Minister. He remains a Tory at heart, of course, just as the Conservatives are divided over the referendum; hence the spectacle of the party falling apart before our own eyes at the moment. Therefore, in no way can it be said that voting to Remain is somehow giving a ‘thumbs-up’ or ‘tactical approval’ to the Conservatives. Instead, you could argue that voting Remain allies the voter with the other main parties – Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and the SNP in Scotland – who all back the UK staying in the EU.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Then there is the claim that voting to remain in the EU is ‘a vote for TTIP’ or for Turkey becoming an EU member state. The former, which for those who don’t know stands for <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/what-is-ttip-and-six-reasons-why-the-answer-should-scare-you-9779688.html" target="_blank">Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership</a>, remains a difficult trade agreement to summarise; one way of summing it up is that it would be negative for local businesses in Europe. What’s important is that it has been contested all over Europe, with demonstrations having taken place against it all over Germany. Such is the ill-feeling towards TTIP throughout populations in the EU that it would be extremely difficult for it to take effect in EU legislation without protest at large. EU officials would be wary of seeing yet more antagonisms on the streets of EU nations after already explosive demonstrations by the public in austerity-strapped Southern European nations. A watered-down version of TTIP could appear, but it would still be contested. Meanwhile, the latter point has been one seized on by the Leave campaigners, ignoring the fact that the prospect of Turkey joining the EU remains far into the future, if at all. There are thousands of pages of legislation that would have to be negotiated, and which Turkey would have to accede to, before Turkey makes any steps towards joining, in a process that would lead beyond 2020, and which would have to be ratified by all member states. That includes Greece and Cyprus, both member states, who are likely to veto Turkey’s EU membership over their continual dispute with the country over divided Cyprus. It’s likely too that many EU countries would be concerned at the EU’s borders extending to the borders of Iraq and Syria, and could also weld a veto accordingly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />There are some good reasons to consider Brexit. The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/31/salt-in-their-veins-and-fire-in-their-bellies-fishermen-battling-for-brexit" target="_blank">impact of EU common fisheries policy</a> on communities, for example (a key reason why Iceland has chosen not to join). Old left-wing leaders such as Tony Benn feared the EU for its facelessness, just as he disliked the unelected upper chamber of Parliament. But in my view these are still outnumbered by remaining what is still the largest trading federation in the world, even despite the Eurozone crisis in southern Europe – one that has (mostly) managed to unite a Europe that was once split by the iron curtain. By pooling sovereignty as a result of being a member of the EU, the UK has not lost the majority of its independence; indeed, the UK has it better than many other EU nations via the opt-outs mentioned above. It is thus in a unique position – and one that would be a tragedy to discard.</span>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-76338382893917311082016-03-03T23:22:00.000+00:002016-03-03T23:22:30.383+00:00<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Apologies for lack of posts lately; more will be coming soon. In the meantime, here are some details on two concerts that I am promoting in conjunction with <a href="http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/" target="_blank">Pennyblackmusic</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Both are at <a href="http://www.sebrightarms.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Sebright Arms</a> in east London (it is definitely Sebright rather than Seabright - I checked; furthermore, Googling the name appears to bring up <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebright_chicken" target="_blank">this</a>). The Sebright Arm's address is 31-35 Coate Street, London, E2 9AG (<a href="https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Sebright+Arms/@51.5319705,-0.0652872,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x48761cc3bfe3c54b:0xe52c1e4dfdd19a24?hl=en" target="_blank">map</a>). GoodnightLondon will be at both.</span><br />
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<u><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Saturday 12 March 2016</span></b></u><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cult 60s legend headlines, responsible for the great 'lost' album 'The Nightmare of JB Stanislas'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In support, electro/acoustic duo Raf and O, and newcomers Partisan Waves.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">£7 from <a href="http://www.wegottickets.com/event/344686" target="_blank">here</a>, £8 on door; link has a more detailed synopsis of acts</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8pm</span><br />
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<u><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Friday 15th April 2016</span></b></u><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A Stereogram Recordings Night</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />Pennyblackmusic and GoodnightLondon are bringing the influential Edinburgh-based label
<a href="http://www.stereogramrecordings.co.uk/" target="_blank">Stereogram Recordings</a> to London and three of its best acts - The Band of
Holy Joy, The Cathode Ray and Roy Moller - on one stage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">£8 from <a href="http://www.wegottickets.com/event/344765" target="_blank">here</a>, £9 on door; link has a more detailed synopsis of acts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8pm</span>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0Coate St, London E2 9AG, UK51.5320226 -0.06311619999996764851.5314051 -0.064376699999967646 51.532640099999995 -0.06185569999996765tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35021423.post-65173972269998675052015-11-19T00:17:00.001+00:002015-11-19T00:17:37.872+00:00<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9bnLxOflwrw" width="560"></iframe></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So this writer has just returned to cold, foggy and rainy London from an extended break in warm California, hence the delay in getting anything up here (some pictures from that visit will be up soon). I noticed while I was away that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/27/shoreditch-cereal-cafe-targeted-by-anti-gentrification-protesters" target="_blank">a certain incident that took place at the Cereal Killer Cafe</a> on Brick Lane, a place near me that's become a symbol of gentrification (on which I've written about already <a href="http://goodnightlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/apologies-again-for-delay-in-writing-on.html" target="_blank">here</a>). Advertised on Facebook as the 'third Fuck Parade', The <a href="http://www.cerealkillercafe.co.uk/" target="_blank">Cafe</a> was targeted by hundreds of anti-gentrification protesters, who set off a smoke bomb and threw furniture inside the doorway.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the face of it, a small, independent cafe selling overpriced cereal seems a strange target in protests against gentrification. The Facebook page for the protests ranted: <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"</span>Our communities are being ripped apart – by Russian oligarchs, Saudi sheiks, Israeli scumbag property developers, Texan oil-money twats and our own home-grown Eton toffs. Local authorities are coining it in, in a short-sighted race for cash by ‘regenerating’ social housing.<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There's no doubt that property speculation in London - which often involves rich oligarchs and businessmen buying property in London as an investment, and then leaving said property empty, or <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nearly</span> empty, in order to make profits – is a serious contributor to the housing bubble in London, and by extension the housing crisis, exacerbating social inequality and driving those on a modest income out of London (and it's not just London that is facing a housing crisis, either). Near where I grew up in Stamford Hill, the Woodberry Down Estate, a giant council estate overlooking the East and West Reservoirs, <a href="http://www.berkeleygroup.co.uk/new-homes/london/finsbury-park/woodberry-down" target="_blank">is now undergoing a vast transformation</a>, leading to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/18/-sp-truth-about-gentrification-how-woodberry-down-became-woodberry-park" target="_blank">million-pound luxury apartments</a>. A number have been bought by wealthy Singaporean investors, with no guarantee that they'll actually live in the apartments.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is capitalism taken to its extreme, <a href="http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/woodberry_down_families_fear_being_made_homeless_as_estate_is_bulldozed_1_4000175" target="_blank">leaving communities behind in its wake</a>. By contrast, to then obsess over a bunch of trendy independent cafes and shops in east London – even if one does serve overpriced cereal – seems perverse (though in fairness the protesters did target an estate agents down the road). The independent cafes and cycle bars that have been sneered at have become part of a cliched image of trendy parts of London, full of the usual predictable babble about 'hipsters' – handlebar moustaches, beards, tattoos, craft beer, etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These places might annoy some, but in fact are not what should be the real target of people's ire. The real target of the protestors' anger should be those high-street retailers who have managed to avoid paying full corporation tax. That means the likes of Starbucks and <a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/264877-caffee-nero-tax-avoidance/" target="_blank">Cafe Nero</a>, along with a number of online giants, from Amazon, Ebay, and Google, who have done the same (disclaimer: I actually use Ebay, despite knowing that it is a tax avoider). Yet there seems to be little physical protest outside both these groups of companies, both 'physical' and online. In contrast, the majority of 'hipsters' are probably not tax-avoiders, and it's unlikely that the majority own multiple properties (admittedly I am just speculating here, but I'm guessing that I'm probably right). In addition, in fairness, some high-street multinationals do pay full corporation tax (<a href="http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/" target="_blank">Ethical Consumers</a> has a list of how much each high-street chain pays).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Going back to the protesters, it seems bizarre that the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">y </span>did not assemble around the various branches of those high-street retailers, given their ubiquity in east London. You can barely go down a street in London without viewing a Pret, Starbucks, or Cafe Nero. Small, independent business in East London often charge slightly more because of having to pay over the odds for rent in an increasingly pricey area; because they have to pay full tax rather than resort to the kind of 'creative accounting' that large multi-nationals can employ; and because they have to pay their staff despite not having the same profits of high-street chains.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What really needs to be addressed in the long-run is a global problem of Governments (of which the British Government is one of the worst offenders) being unable to address tax havens, which multi-national companies then exploit as a loophole. The issue of global tax avoidance is a hugely complicated area, and a legal minefield, but one that will not go away when discussing local issues of community and gentrification. The situations in which Amazon can pay very little corporation tax, while the local bookshop down the road from you has closed, remain related. Meanwhile, if Amazon did pay tax at the same rate as Lush, a high-street cosmetics chain that does pay full corporation tax, that would lead to a revenue of something like £100m a year which the Treasury, and thus British Government, could spend on social services – including, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/dec/07/shop-ensure-your-cash-isnt-tax-haven" target="_blank">as this article points out</a>, five secondary schools. That's just one of several Internet giants, who between them generate colossal amounts of revenue from tax avoidance that could instead be spent on social services and infrastructure.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Seen in this light, the Cereal Killer Cafe is but a drop in the ocean. But due to its visibility, it has become an obvious, if misguided, target.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In addition, the British Government specifically needs to address the fact that it has brazenly allowed the aforementioned property speculation, turning a blind eye to foreign investors leaving property empty at a time when there is a housing crisis in the city. The only realistic solution – proposed by Islington Council a while ago, to their credit - is to levy huge charges on any property that it left longer than around six months. This has to be done, and should be a policy that Labour under Corbyn will promise for their next General Election manifesto. That includes one building not far from me, next to Wesley's Chapel and Leysian Mission and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunhill_Fields" target="_blank">Bunhill Fields</a> on City Road, which has been lying empty for
around twenty years. It was squatted for a while (I even went to a squat party there once), but has now been lying there empty for years. Nothing seems to be done about this house, which could be converted to affordable local flats. It's just one of many buildings that are lying empty while rents rise to unaffordable levels, ripping apart communities and leading to ever more people being priced out of the capital.
</span>GoodnightLondonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07298801003548723764noreply@blogger.com0