Toothache.

        Yea, I'm saying it again, Covid19 has been, and still is, the greatest opportunity in a generation for our corporate big boys and those hellbent on privatisation. While the corporate beast slashes away at working conditions and wages, and they gobble up billions of our taxpayers money as a wee helping hand from their friendly government, the privateer mob have been busy grabbing contracts from the NHS via a privatisation oriented government. Just one example, millions spent on crap test and trace contract jamborees, all handed to friends and buddies of the powers that be. If there is taxpayers money to be got rest assured the corporate world will be ahead of the queue with the NHS far down the line, even if it is their field of expertise.
          Not to be out done, your friendly neighbourhood dentist is in there with the grabbing fist. Needing some treatment for that tooth problem, want treated on the NHS, wait outside in the rain, but go private, please have a seat, the dentist will see you shortly. Of course there will be excuses, regulations, costs etc. but that doesn't help your toothache if you wish it to be treated on the NHS.

The following from The Herald:

 

      MORE dentists in Scotland are refusing to treat NHS patients than in England, dental leaders say, leaving many struggling to access even basic check-ups.
       An investigation by the Herald found there is wide variation across Scotland and some confusion over what treatments dentists can or are willing to provide if patients are not private due to the impact of coronavirus.
      Currently only emergency ‘aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) can be provided on the NHS, which for example involve the use of a drill, but there does not seem to be consensus on what treatments are permitted.
        More procedures are available privately because dentists are not governed by the same sanctions and dentists’ leaders say they are able to recoup the costs of enhanced PPE and other safeguards.

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To Be Free In Our City Wear A Mask!!

       Once again Glasgow leads the way, we are the champions of surveillance. Our streets, transport network, shopping malls, pubs, etc. are festooned with CCTV. Now our fair city is going one better, "facial recognition" cameras. The new system has been installed but has yet to be activated. It is being sold as a possible aid in finding a lost child, but has many other possibilities. It will profile the face of someone who is "loitering" in parks, lanes or where they should not be loitering?? What is loitering, perhaps some one standing in a park just watching the ducks or swans, sitting on a bench longer than the powers that be consider acceptable. Who gets to decide who is loitering, who is where they shouldn't be, who is looking suspicious? This adds another draconian tool to the already big brother  society. No mater what you do, where you go, who you meet in our city, you are logged. Have pint, draw some cash from your bank account, pick up some grocers and you will have been monitored. Now stand "too long" in the one spot and you will be deemed to be loitering and you will have your facial features logged for further investigation. 

      This goes under the name of democracy in this society, a little band of state employees will probably know more about your movements than friends and family, and they will sift this information for anything they deem "dubious". Is this the type of society we wish to inhabit? 

Following Extract from The Herald:

--------“Standard” uses, it says, would be to detect intrusion in identified areas “such as parks (nights), Glasgow landmarks (fountains), or areas identified by communities causing concerns (lanes, play areas).”

The technology will also be used to set up cameras so they alert officers if someone enters a specified area, and to identify individuals deemed to be loitering. CSG also stresses the use of the system in locating criminals, identifying vulnerable people and tracking and locating missing children. 
       But Ms King is unconvinced. “They may not call it facial recognition but it is certainly capable of recognising faces,” she said. She is also not persuaded by the fact the document stresses any use will be logged, and “at no point will the system be used to track or monitor individual not involved in any crime or ASB”. 
     “What defines anti-social behaviour and who decides?” she said.----- 

 Read the full article HERE:
Read more: Row over proposal by councillors to install CCTV in classrooms

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Out Of The Mouths Of Babes!!!

       "Out of the mouths of babes", I think the adult population should hang their heads in shame, at the state of the planet we are handing the next generation. The youth of the world are showing us how it should be done, From one concerned young girl in Sweden, we now have a world wide movement of youngsters taking to the streets against the insanity of our economic destructive system. The cause they are fighting for is one that none of us can escape, it is the survival of the human race. 

    We have to give these young people our unflinching support and take to the streets in solidarity with them. This is not a fun thing with a bunch of kids dodging school, these are intelligent concerned young people who are showing us the way. It is not just a local phenomenon, this is a world wide protest against the rule of our lives by the greedy corporate and financial juggernaut. A call for sanity and a stop to the rape and plunder of our planet just to feed a small cabal of rich and powerful people. What are we doing to our next generation when they can make statements like the one by the young Swedish girl who started this protest, Miss Thunberg,   "I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day." We are handing our youngsters a disintegrating planet and a future of fear. We can still do something about this poisoned legacy we are hand our children and grandchildren. We can join them on the streets across the globe, and take control of our and their future. Of course my own personal view is that the planet is not dying, but the planet is being murdered, and we know who by.

     Glasgow was no exception in this concern for the future, the young people of our city took to the streets on Friday and joined that world wide movement for sanity and a future. The banners that festoon the protest were loud proclamations of the truth that needs to be grasped, "Change the politics not the climate" and the truth that our "lords and Masters" view with blinkers on, "Stop denying our earth is dying", and a blatant truth that we should all grasp,  "If the world were a bank, it would have been saved." Who can deny any of these statements, from the mouths of our youth.

Some photos from Glasgow, thanks Keith.

      Two photos from Glasgow, courtesy of The Herald, (Colin Mearns Newsquest)

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The Earp Gang Hit Scotland.

      On the whole, crime in Scotland is falling, but the powers that be are intent on increasing the number of police carrying fire arms, there seems to be a contradiction in there somewhere. Not only are the number of armed police being increased, but we will see more of them on the street, attending no violent incidents. 

HUNDREDS of armed officers will be routinely deployed to incidents that do not involve firearms for the first time ever. In in a major shift in policy, police with weapons will now be allowed to attend non-violent incidents if they are nearer the scene than unarmed colleagues.
Police Scotland chiefs have revealed that 399 officers have now been approved to carry guns which is a rise of 124 and they will now be used more frequently in routine investigations.

      We should not be surprised at this trend, slowly, slowly, we will have a fully armed police force. The state will always want its first line of defence to be armed to the hilt. Batons and riot shields might be intimidating to some, but guns are even more so. That is the purpose of the police force, forget the catching the bag-snatcher, or the violent drunk, these are just by-products of the system. Its real purpose is to be the first line of defence against any threat to the established power. When silencing dissent, repressing protests and creating submission, guns speak louder that batons. So watch out for your local Wyatt Earp, strutting his/her stuff down you local high street.

      A couple of the Earp gang seen in the wild west town of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.

Time For Righteous Anger.

        It has always amazed me just how much suffering, poverty and deprivation our society will take before it explodes into righteous anger, and tears down the system responsible for all this unnecessary suffering. Our babbling brook of bullshit the mainstream media throws up everything for discussion, as long as it doesn't mean changing the system. Our political ballerinas, depending which colour of tie is in power, will utter platitudes, from "what needs to be done" to "what we are doing to remedy the situation". However, nothing changes, the suffering goes on, poverty's teeth still bites into our communities, and deprivation still push people to an early grave. In the UK we are fast reaching the level of poverty and deprivation of the 20's and 30's. After a few years of gains, from what were sometimes very bitter struggles, we are now sliding back to Dickensian style poverty. 

           Perhaps when our babbling brook of bullshit swings into full "consume for Christmas" mode we can reflect on the following. Recent figures show that in Glasgow  from May 2016 to March 2017, 39 homeless people died on its streets, in Edinburgh it was 18 homeless deaths for 2015/16.  

       Charities claim that estimates that 5000 people in Scotland sleep on the streets in the course of a year are likely to be "the tip of the iceberg" with a recent study by Heriott Watt University for Crisis predicting rough sleeping will double from 800 across Scotland on any one night – already a 10 percent rise for the first time in ten years – to 1500 by 2041.

      The Edinburgh winter shelter, run by Bethany Christian Trust, has already reached capacity on several nights since opening in October and will increase capacity from 49 sleeping mats to 75 on Monday. In Glasgow the winter shelter run by Glasgow City Mission at the Lodging House Mission day centre in the Gallowgate opened on Friday night.

Read the full article HERE:

      While our pampered political parasites squabble "Brexit" and spew about the illusion of how to make Britain great again, poverty takes a bite out of an ever larger section of our communities, with the resultant suffering and early deaths.

     Recent figures show that one fifth of the UK population is now living in poverty, and we are witnessing the worst decline in living standards for children and pensioners in several decades. 

        Nearly 400,000 more children and 300,000 more pensioners are now living in poverty than five years ago, during which time there have been continued increases in poverty across both age groups – prompting experts to warn that hard-fought progress towards tackling destitution is “in peril”. 

       The report, by the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), shows that a total of 14 million people in the UK currently live in poverty – more than one in five of the population. While poverty levels fell in the years to 2011-12, changes to welfare policy – especially since the 2015 Budget – have seen the numbers creep up again.

     UK to experience longest fall in living standards for over 60 years---

Read the full article HERE:

      This is capitalism, after centuries of of producing unmeasurable wealth, the majority of citizens still struggle to survive, while others suffer poverty and deprivation, with its attendant miseries, diseases and early deaths, and the few wallow in unimaginable opulence. How many more centuries are we going to tolerate this greed driven insanity, expecting it to somehow change and see to the needs of all our people. It isn't going to happen, capitalism cannot be reformed into a caring system, a history of centuries of exploitation should be proof enough. When will we see that explosion of the people enjoying the ecstasy of their righteous anger, and building that better world. We are producing ever more wealth and it is going somewhere, but not to the masses who produce all that wealth, where is it going, who is living off your sweat and tears? think about it, get angry.

Time For Righteous Anger.

We talk of justice, we ooze compassion

you and I. Our comfort sure

with a gracious smile a token give

those, SO deserving poor". 

Where is compassion when children lose

carefree innocent play,

where is justice when children meet

hunger along the way?

Children who, in this world of excess

create a newsreel scene

cradled in a starving mother's arms

expiring on your screen.

Forget the famine rationale

in a sickly syrup word,

mouthed by those crazy apes

until the truth is blurred.

Feel the anguish of the other

hear their pitiful cry

see hunger steal their future;

loudly cry out,   why?

The Rebirth Of Christian Fundamentalism.

         While the new face of the establishment in America spews out bile about fundamental Islam, that other disease that destroys thinking, Christian fundamentalism, is being cemented in that country by Emperor Trump. The power base of those dangerous, blinkered deluded people, who talk to their friend in the sky, god, are being handed the levers of power, and though an atheist, because of this, I am now beginning to conjure up visions of hell. This US victory by the god people has emboldened their equally dangerous, deluded feeble minded members over here. They now crawl out of the cracks in the altars of the established church, to spread their own brand of trammelled thinking. Because established power has, for centuries, used religion to bolster its control over the people, religion is handed special protections, powers and privileges by the establishment. We must not let this prevent us from taking, head on, the battle for freedom of thought, and the right to make our own decisions, without threat, coercion or consultations to some mythological story book. The moment someone comes to you and says that they were called by god to some action or other, you should remove them for any form of decision making, and gently guide them to a psychiatrist. 

        Here in Scotland this Christian fundamentalism psychological problem, is now planning a concerted attack on the right of a woman to make her own decision over her own body. They have found a messiah on earth, Emperor Trump, and they are on another crusade to banish all alternative thinking. They are extremely dangerous and they must be stopped, before the become dizzy and even more crazy with the power of their new found banner carrier, Emperor Trump and his Christian fundamentalist entourage. Scotland has had enough of the misery and bloodshed caused by the various Christian religious factions, that have done nothing but divide or cities for generations, don't let another form of this poison spread through our country.  

       The images here might be accurate but humorous, but there is nothing humorous about religion, it is enslaving, dangerous, and has a history of brutality and savagery.  

This from The Herald:

        CONTRAVERSIAL US-style anti-abortion protests will be staged at four of Scotland’s busiest hospitals in an escalation of the pickets first staged last year in Glasgow.
        Pro-life group Forty Days For Life will target the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow to Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Aberdeen Maternity Hospital and Ninewells Hospital, Dundee across three months as part of a worldwide campaign running during the Christian season of Lent.
         The group, founded in Texas in 2004, launched its first Scottish campaign last year, insists it will be conducting prayer vigils and would not harass women seeking abortions but has sparked allegations of intimidation being compared with practices outside many US clinics.

Read the full article HERE:

 

 Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Excessive Arrests, All Part of The Exploitative System.

      Scotland is a small country with a population of roughly 5 million, so in the scale of things, all our institutions should likewise show that smallness. For example our courts should be among the smallest in Europe, but surprise, surprise, Glasgow's Sheriff Court is the busiest in Europe. What a bunch of nasty criminals we must be!! It appears the oor wee Glesca court processes around 2,000 nasties a day. Are we really that criminal a bunch, or is the system simply trying to screw us to the deck with greater enthusiasm than the rest of Europe does with their citizens? 

    Not only is it the busiest court in Europe, but it seems to be the most degrading with foul conditions for those being held in its cages. Women seem to come of worst, according to the recent report by David Strang, HM chief inspector of prisons, who states, female prisoners kept in the holding cells at Europe’s busiest court are forced to endure “degrading and inhumane” conditions, ---"a lack of privacy for female inmates who must walk past unscreened male toilets that were “odorous and clearly visible from the hallway”. Corton Vale Women's Prison also comes in for some nasty criticism. 

    In this system of capitalism, conditions for those arrested are away down the priority list, if they will cut the benefits to the disabled, you can only guess what priority they give to those they deem to be the scourge of their lucrative little scam. You can forget that crap about innocent until proved guilty, arrested, you are treated like a second class citizen, your conditions are of no concern to the lords and masters, rulers of the system.

    No matter where you look, our conditions are on the way down, from over crowed prisons, excessive arrests, social services being trashed, benefits being cut, benfit sanctions, workfare slave labour, employment conditions dropping ever closer to third world conditions, public spaces disappearing into the domain of the corporate world, public assets being sold off to the financial Mafia at knock-down prices, and so it goes on. If you don't recognise this as class war, and we are losing, then you're not paying attention. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

An Ideology Of Pain.

 

       Jingle bells, jingle bells, have yourself a very merry Christmas, 'tis the season of good will, but what if your one of the nations disabled. The chances are you will be struggling, distraught, and looking at an empty table. This system which at present is being managed by a millionaire cabal from the Oxbridge sausage factory, who don't give a shit about people, is all about accountancy. Shifting wealth from the poorest and most vulnerable to the richest and most powerful. Today, the team of “Right Honourable Gentlemen” wielding the levers of power in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, are probably the most callous, vicious, self-centred and dangerous ever to stick their snouts in the political feeding trough. They will slash the living standards of all, including the poor, sick, elderly and disabled, with a gay abandon, and flourish of smug self-righteousness, portraying it as necessary reforms to balance the budget. While in the next breath, deciding to blast the Syrian people with destructive missiles at whopping £800,000 an bang. 

      Across the country people are bleeding from the claws of poverty, none more so than the disabled, all inflicted to help big business, all carried out to a strict ideology. In capitalist economics there is no place for compassion in the calculations.

This from The Herald: 

       Tibbitt, a single mother who has no other support from family or friends, applied for disability living allowance (DLA) on behalf of her son after she gave up working in an office in order to care for Jordan.

      She was awarded the benefit for one year, along with a carer’s allowance, but when her son recently turned 16 she was told she would have to apply for a new form of benefit for him, known as Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

       However, when Jordan feel ill she failed to complete the form in time for the DWP’s deadline due to the gravity of her son's illness. He had to be admitted to hospital for nearly a week and has been in and out for various appointments, including a bronchoscopy under general anaesthetic to examine his airways. He has also been diagnosed with an inflammation in his hip bone, which the doctors believe could be linked to the strong steroids he has to take, and has been given crutches to help him walk.

       Tibbitt received a letter from the DWP in late November saying her son's application for PIP had been rejected because the form had not been sent back in time. On same day she phoned the DWP to advise them of the circumstances why, sent the application form by recorded delivery and was told a decision would then be given in 10 days.

       But just days ago, letters arrived from the DWP advising the DLA and her carer’s allowance had been stopped. Tibbitt said she has been told there is no record of her previous conversation with the DWP and it will take up to nine weeks to consider the PIP application - leaving her all but destitute well into the New Year.

Read the full article HERE:

       I have no doubt this case is not unique, not the worst, but is replicated in varying degrees across the country. What makes this even more nauseating, is that it is inflicted by those with unimaginable wealth, those who don't know what it is to worry about a bill, to cut down on food to care for your child. Why do we tolerate this humiliating indignity from those who are lesser beings than ourselves. Why do we stand by and watch our sick, elderly and disabled being treated in such an inhuman manner, when we can well afford to see to everybody's needs? We create all the wealth on this planet, isn't it about time we decided how we will distribute that wealth? 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Ever More Piercing Eyes Of Big Brother.

    Anybody who thinks living under the heel of any state and its apparatus will not lead to an ever increasing invasion into their private life, is living an illusion. This march for ever more information of its citizens is essential for the state to keep control over those citizens. Big Brother is a son of the state, and it will continually feed that son. We here in the UK have seen an epidemic of CCTV, that has spread like some destructive virus, not by accident.

        As the technology behind CCTV rapidly develops, it becomes ever more intrusive, ever more clever at gathering details, from face recognition to demeanour analysis. This is all gathered, sifted, analysed and stored. Your every movement, that walk to the bookies, that crazy night out, who you meet and where. All details that can and will be, used to control.

      Police Scotland now confirms that it uses controversial face recognition software. So just remember when you next attend a peaceful and legitimate protest, march or whatever, your face is being scanned, compared and stored for future use. Under the prying eye of the state and its intrusive apparatus, "you are never alone". No need to take a selfie, just get access to the police database and you'll find thousands of images of your face from which to choose.

This from the Herald:

    Ms McInnes said the figures were "staggering" and showed Police Scotland was using "intrusive software" extensively. She added: "The photos of over 300,000 Scots are among 18 million included in the national database.

     "The combination of this database with the new facial recognition software has triggered concerns about the protection of our civil liberties. "It could be used to identify protestors at political events or football fans, stifling freedom of speech.

      "I also have real concerns that the privacy of innocent people could be compromised and they could be exposed to the risk of false identification."

Read the full article HERE:

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The Illusion Of Democracy.

And they call it democracy!!!

From The Herald:

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is planning to spend £4.2 billion on replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system before the UK parliament has given it the go-ahead, according to a report from the government's National Audit Office (NAO).

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New Nukes For The Clyde.

The Herald today:

    A £37 million deal has been struck by Westminster with the US government for a dozen huge new Trident missile launchers more than a year before the UK parliament decides if the nuclear weapons system should be renewed.

They call it democracy, what would you call it?

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ATOS KILLS - TIME TO KILL ATOS.

Tom Gordon
Scottish Political Editor Herald

        DEPUTY First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is being targeted by protesters who want the controversial "fit-for-work" benefits test company Atos dropped as a sponsor of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Around 15 demonstrators carrying "Atos Kills" posters invaded a constituency surgery in Sturgeon's Glasgow Southside seat on Friday to demand an end to the deal.
       The peaceful protest ended after police were called to the Larkfield Centre in Govanhill but there were no arrests. Sturgeon personally welcomed Atos as an official sponsor of Glasgow 2014 last year, calling the French IT giant's involvement "a significant step forward for the Games".
       The company will supply the software to accredit up to 70,000 athletes, volunteers and officials, and run the Glasgow 2014 website. Sturgeon is also the Scottish Government's leading voice on welfare issues – last week she announced an expert group to help devise a welfare system reflecting "Scottish values" and fairness under independence instead of the cuts being imposed by Westminster.
        Protesters say Atos could not be further from those Scottish values, given its central role in the UK government's welfare reforms. Atos Healthcare has a £110 million annual contract with the Department of Work and Pensions to run work capability assessments of the sick and disabled, and a £400m deal to assess mobility benefits. Critics say the tests are flawed, degrading and inefficient, with one in six passed as fit to work winning an appeal against the decision.
        The Atos sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics led to protests, and similar actions are now planned in Glasgow. The 2014 HQ was occupied last month, and protesters have threatened to disrupt the Scottish equivalent of the Olympic torch relay if Atos is still a sponsor.
        The SNP Government is funding about 80% of the £550m price tag for the Games. However, a video of Friday's protest shows Sturgeon denying any say over the sponsorship: "Obviously the benefits side of this is not a matter for the Scottish Government, it's a UK Government issue ... I will take on board what you said to the Commonwealth Games. Obviously, it's not my decision in terms of sponsors."

        Protester David Churchley, co-founder of the Black Triangle disability rights group, said Atos sponsorship was "absolutely scandalous and beyond belief" and that Sturgeon had tried to give protesters the brush off. He said: "They have learned nothing from the Olympics. They're just riding roughshod over disabled people and those who support us. But Friday will be just one of many stunts we will be mounting up to the Games."
      Sean Clerkin of Citizens United said: "The SNP Government is being hypocritical. They criticise the Tory-led Coalition for what they're doing to welfare, while welcoming Atos as sponsors of the Commonwealth Games. "Nicola Sturgeon is the person talking about a welfare system with
Scottish values. If she's going to live up to those values, she should ensure Atos is dropped as a sponsor."
         An Atos spokesman said: "While we fully respect people's right to peaceful protest and understand this is a highly emotive issue, Atos is proud to be an official supporter of the Glasgow 2014 organising committee." An SNP spokeswoman added: "We are opposed to the criteria and tests set by the UK Government that Atos deliver, and have made clear that they should reconsider this approach. "We are looking forward to a positive Commonwealth Games that will be a great opportunity to showcase Scotland to the world."

Info first obtained from CityStrolls:

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