Samba – A French film with Omar Sy

Last week we went to see the very funny film Samba a French comedy but being French there is often a deeper meaning than just that. And so it was with this film. Omar plays a character who is from Senegal and who has lived in France for ten years. It shows the dark side of immigration, the lowly paid jobs and the risks run by desperate people. The film will make you laugh so go and see it but look at the other agenda and this isn’t funny. This is something that affects Europe and the US, Australia and even places like Argentina. Our burgeoning global human population especially in the mid latitudes is either moving to the north or to the south as they see the relative wealth of those regions. We don’t have a plan but we really need one. Go see the film and think about what is happening in both your country and in the world.

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Bernie Sanders – A Refreshing American Politician

I always thought that our UK politicians were quite awful and the system fairly undemocratic but then seeing the US it always seemed to be one step more into being a system of who buys whom. Then I saw articles on Bernie Sanders and I thought wow, what a breath of fresh air. Not sure if he will get very far but I’m hoping and I hope that a lot of Americans will see the sense to help him move further on.

UK Election 2015 – Let’s ask them nicely to change

For years now we have been told by politicians from the major parties that the trickle down economy is the only way forward and all that has happened is that a large part of the population has no work, relies on food banks or has insecure employment through zero hour contracts and the like. Meanwhile the rich get richer and the wealth divide greater and all the time the same line gets rolled out that this is the only way otherwise big business will get eaten by the bogey man and then we will really be in trouble. And like a childrens’ story this is simply not the truth. So let’s make sure that the next lot of governing politicians govern for all those people who are suffering the indignity of being poor and stop pandering to the wishes of big business and the one percent.

UK Election 2015 – time for a major change

With the UK general election almost upon us isn’t time that we had some radical changes? Here are some to think about:

1. Empty properties in London and other major cities, if they are not being lived in by the owners for more than a month per year then the local councils have the right to rent them out at affordable rents to people. This would stop the one percent using our cities and homes as investment vehicles.

2. Corporations, all corporations in retail, food, clothing and entertainment to be limited. Let’s put individuality, small owners, family businesses back into the running of our cities.

3. Commercial property owners of retail space, cap and reduce the rent they can charge allowing non corporate businesses to start and flourish.

I’m sure that there are a few more that we can think of to divide up the wealth in a fairer way.

Let’s break the chains that bind us the ninety nine percent.

THE POORER YOU ARE, THE LESS LIKELY YOU ARE TO VOTE -Think about this UK and US

This is an interesting report produced by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on how poor people are less likely to vote in an election. It is a report about the UK but applies to the US or any other demmocracy. I think I heard on the news the other day that Hillary Clinton will raise a billion US dollars for her campaign and I wondered how much of that would be spent on trying to persuade the poorest 20% of American citizens to vote, the ones that own only 0.3% of US wealth. If you truly believe in a real democracy and not a sham read this. http://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/2015/04/vote?utm_content=bufferb3ab8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Teachers warn of ‘Victorian’ poverty among pupils

I have just read an article entitled this on the BBC website. I live in what is supposed to be one of the most advanced countries in the world and every day I hear smug members of the political class telling me how good it is and how good it is going to be. When you see this sort of article you know that it is all lies, complete misinformation. A time for political change perhaps.

Election UK – what chance democracy

If everybody in the UK had a duty to vote in national elections and there was a box on the ballot paper that said none of the above I’m fairly certain as to what “party” would win the election on May the 7th. And of course our dear leader saying that he wouldn’t stand for a third term, well why would he when so many fat cat pay checks await in corporate land, the same organisations that he helped while being PM. I mean how can he possibly on a politician’s salary. And he is hardly likely to become one of the people and stack shelves in a supermarket or drive a taxi is he?

We don’t have a choice. The majority of the tiny turnout on May the 7th will vote Tory or Labour and we really don’t have a choice as both of them will spend £50 billion of our hard earned UK pounds on the HS2 without even asking us. That’s just so democratic isn’t it?

In Switzerland there would have been a vote but not here as we can’t afford it but somehow we can afford £50 billion. Probably the real reason is that if Britain had a democracy then most of our players and that is what they are wouldn’t be in the job anyway.

Oh well back to the hypocrisy rather than a democracy.

Zero Hour Contracts – the shame of modern day economic slavery

Just as in previous centuries the wealthy were the cause of physical slavery so they are now the cause of economic slavery. On the pretense of competition and the necessity of these contracts some 700,000 workers are being exploited often by large multinational corporations who are also involved in serial tax avoidance. And where are our politicians to protect our workers from such abusive practices? On the other side of the fence of us the 99%. Just waiting for their handout from the same corporations that are exploiting the 99%. In the UK over the last decades their isn’t a single party and probably very few politicians who have done anything about reducing the wealth gap. And we can’t expect the next government of any party to be any different. What we need is the box on the ballot paper that says none of the above and for everyone to have to vote. If a large part of the population voted that the current holders of democracy were all rubbish then maybe we would have a chance to do something about it.

Christmas Eve – so spare a thought at least for other human beings

So here we are gearing up for another Christmas Eve. So let’s spare a thought for all those humans who will still sleep rough tonight and all those caught up in wars and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Let’s not forget about all those who don’t have access to clean water or to proper toilets and sewage systems. The many that lack adequate housing, heating, lighting, education and medical services. And those that don’t have enough or proper food to eat. If you read blogs you are unlikely to be one of them, if you have bought presents made in a number of countries you have probably bought something made by one of them. So think long and hard about the 25th of December, even if you aren’t a Christian, it is still a religious day not a day of capitalism. We must demand fair wages for those who make our goods. GLOBAL MINIMUM WAGE and GLOBAL SAFE WORKING PRACTICES NOW.

Writing to the papers – have your say part 1

Today I was incensed to write to my local paper again over the ever increasing rail fares that ordinary workers have to pay to get to the great metropolis. The fares go up each year and this year is no different. The most pathetic utterance of our local Tory MP is that they are not going up as much as before. GREAT. And he probably doesn’t pay for the increase anyway, we pay for him as well. What a joke our democracy is. The Labour and Conservative parties blame each other for their collective failures and meanwhile the people can’t even be bothered to vote. Still, we know where the increased fares are going to end up, in the grubby little hands of tricky Dickie and the two capitalist Christians. I’m tired of paying for tricky Dickie’s island in the sun and what happened to the “meek shall inherit the Earth”, certainly not with these two Christian billionaires running the transport systems. If they have any conscience they would realise that Jesus would have kicked them out of the congregation a long time ago. At least we have a little bit of media freedom. USE IT or LOSE IT.