Saturday, 18 May 2024
Crime of Homelessness.
Friday, 1 March 2024
Memories!!
Wednesday, 6 December 2023
Memories.
One of my earliest memories from our new home top flat in a tenement in Avonspark Street, is from the early 40s, I remember looking out our "living room" window, which over looked the large estate called Barronhill, it was run as a poorshouse for men. I would watch as individuals in their conspicuous grey parish suit, yes we used to give the homeless men a suit, a rough course material not meant for comfort or style, but to last, and that was during WW2. as they walked aimlessly round the path which surrounded a large green, never in pairs, always individually. They moved slowly, never moved their arms, they just hung by their sides or in their pocket, the head was usually dropped forward. Perhaps trying to remember, or trying to forget. I felt it a very sad sight.
They closed the poorhouses but they didn't get rid of the poor. they abandoned them to charities. Charities are always a sign that society has failed. I would ask any of those hypocritical political ballerinas to state a year when we had no rough sleepers, no homelessness, no child poverty, no families blow the poverty line, and they would need to lie or admit there were no such years. I know that the Braveman faction of the fascist wing of the Tory party, refer to rough sleeping as a life choice, with their usual callous indifference to other people's suffering.
Image courtesy of Guardian.Here we are in 2023, and child poverty is rising, homelessness is rising, rough sleeping is rising, families living in poverty is rising. Anyone with a grain if rationalism, or even a shred of humanity, must come to the conclusion that the present system of economics has been an abysmal failure to see to the needs of the ordinary people.
Image courtesy of Digg.
Further proof of this disregard for the ordinary people, if it was needed, would be the so called "Autumn Statement", Where the political charlatans spoke of growing the economy to make us all well-off. So they plundered the public purse of billions of our tax payers money and handed it to big businesses, to "grow the economy". The only growth we will see is in shareholders bonuses, CEO bonuses and salaries and business profits, it may create a few more jobs. Of course luxury yacht makers and makers of large limousines will also do very well. That was a political choice, they could have chosen to put those billions of tax payers money into social service, NHS and education, in this insane economic illusion, that according to the right wing political ballerinas would have been creating a nanny state, much better it give our money to their cronies in big business, of course don't expect anything different from the so called Labour side of this con-trick. Why do we tolerate this continual shafting of the ordinary people by a small minority for the benefit of the very rich and powerful few. Perhaps we should remember that we the ordinary people create every nut and bolt, every piece of wealth on the planet, and we have the power to change this economic insanity to a fair and just system that see to the needs of all our people. But when? Rebel, resist, think anarchism.
Saturday, 29 July 2023
Homeless.
Monday, 24 July 2023
Shafted.
Our war budget for 2021/22 was £45.9 billion and our £800 million Prime Minister has stated we will "ramp up" "defence investment" (war preparation). Of course he doesn't mean with his money, but with yours. The war budget has in 2020 received a £24 billion "cash boost", again, your cash, and they want to feed it more of your money.
When do we wake up to the fact that we are day and daily being continually shafted by the rich and privileged parasite class. While in public they shed crocodile tears about our dire situation, and privately laugh at us as they sip their champagne doing deals of pillage and plunder.
Saturday, 19 November 2022
Homes.
THURSDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2022 FROM 18:00-20:00
'Sell and Be Damned' - Book Launch
John Smith House
Event by Jim MacKay and Anni Donaldson
John Smith House
Duration: 2 hr
Public · Anyone on or off FacebookJoin us to celebrate the publication of the new 2022 edition of ‘Sell and be damned – The Glasgow Merrylee Housing Scandal of 1951’ As Told By Ned Donaldson and Les Forster.
Originally published in 1992, the book then marked the 40th anniversary of the successful protest campaign aimed at ending Glasgow Corporation’s plan to sell newly built council houses in Merrylee. This new, expanded edition marks the 30th anniversary of its original publication and the 70th anniversary of the protest itself – an important chapter in Glasgow’s history of housing activism. Copies of the book will be on sale on the night (£5.00 cash only) - proceeds from sales will be donated to Living Rent.
Tuesday, 20 September 2022
Opposites.
Now that the over extravagant, way over the top extravaganza of a funeral is over, will the royals do what other families in this country do after a funeral, pay the bill? Or will that fall to Joe Mug, the tax payer. This whole extended period of mourning was a ostentatious show of pomp, power and privilege, a gross display of inherited plunder wealth. Yet millions turned up to fawn and weep in front of a class that don't give a monkeys about them. This entourage presides over a nation with millions living in poverty, children going hungry to school, elderly that can't heat their homes. This whole class of parasites wallows in obscene opulence and yet we have those who some how, hypnotised by the gloss and glitter show, believe they are part of that world. View some of the opulence HERE. This lavish circus, this Hollywood production of brutal British imperialism will have cost millions to perform, I doubt if the royals will pay a penny towards the performance. Millions spent in a couple of weeks, but no money for the poor, the elderly, the infirm. Another sickening aspect of this whole performance was that they were handing out blankets to those deadheads standing in the queue, when will we see such generosity to the homeless and the poor.
Saturday, 21 May 2022
Lies.
We are facing the worst crush on our standard of living in many a year, a throw back to Victorian times, with all the repercussions that this entails, drastic effects on the health and well being of our children and ourselves, increase in stress and anxiety, an increase in mental health problems also leading to an increase in poverty, destitution and homelessness. We live in one of the richest counties on the planet and our lives are controlled by a rich group of privileged parasites.
Image courtesy of World Socialist Web SiteWe have a Chancellor of the Exchequer who spouts that he understands the hardship the ordinary people are facing, he is lying, he doesn't, he can't possibly know how to juggle with decisions of whether to skip a meal to buy your kid a pair of shoes for the winter, making the decision of whether to turn the heating on or go cold so that you can put food on the table. He lives in a bubble that insulates him from the reality of the ordinary people. This man who states he understands our problems is a multi-millionaire, he and his wife have a personal fortune of around £730 million between them. Last year, his wife, daughter of a billionaire, received approximately £11 million in dividends from her 9% share in her fathers multi-billion pound company. How they can have the audacity to say, they understand our problems, when they don't even know anything about our lives and daily struggles. Two different worlds, one of opulence and excess the other of daily struggle to have a half decent life, with the ever present risk of not making it even to that level.
Why do we tolerate this subservience to this bunch of rich, selfish parasites? They need us to make their fortunes for them, we don't need them. We the ordinary people have made everything, distributed everything, but always do it to the dictate of the rich and powerful, all to the advantage of the rich and powerful, why?