Surely one of the most atmospheric locations in London – the Crossbones graveyard for outcasts and prostitutes at Redcross Way in Southwark. See here:
July 2, 2009
ANARCHISTS CANDIDATES FOR GENERAL ELECTION???
I’ve been enthusing about various anti-election strategies of late – Vote Nobody, None of the Above etc etc – but you just know they’ll all be an inconsequential wash out in reality and I’ve long since realised that most people who cant be arsed to vote couldnt be arsed to save you from drowning either! Theres an interesting article in the latest FREEDOM about the anarchist holy principle of not voting and arguing for a vote. It’s always amused me that many anarchists say ‘By any means necessary’ – being apparently keen to wage havoc with a machine gun but not to vote! So let’s debate the unthinkable – standing candidates at the General Election. At present theres no prospect of any united slate of Leftists standing so there’s a complete vacuum for te BNP to fill without any contest for disaffected votes apart from the Greens. Theres a few isolated local campaigns for democratic primaries to select local candidates rather than celebrities – as in SALFORD and these should be supported. It’s also true that anarchists become a bit too serious and po-faced when talking about elections – my experience is that they can be a fucking good laugh. The short lived CLASS WAR ORGANISATION was thinking of putting up a candidate in the NEWBURY by-election in the 90’s.’But we dont know anyone there’ was the counter argument – so we had an outing to Newbury – beer soaked and mob handed . I knew what had to be done. Every town has it’s ne’er do wells pub full of dope smokers,ACAB knuckles and Free the Weed denims.. I described such a pub to the first geezer we met outside Newbury station ..’ah you want the XXXXXX XXXX he obliged and bythe end of the day it was our election HQ. Now i’m not suggesting this as a role model…..but lets havesome fun for fuck sake and stand a few canidates. For a suggestion as to a united platform I say stand as ‘Peoples Republic of XXXXX ON A PROMISE TO DECLARE INDEPENDENCE FROM WESTMINSTER and ban all bankers and politicians from the town/city…and run with whatever local issues fit the bill.Simple….who’ll be first to declare for a Passport to Pimlico?
July 2, 2009
G20 ‘UNTRAINED OFFICERS’ EXCUSES EXPOSED
I’m grateful to my learned friend BRISTLEKRS for this demolition of the Home Affairs Committee’s findings that ‘untrained officers’ was the problem at G20:
“….we may return to the issue of “specialist” officers such as the TSG and FIT at a later time.”
From an email received from the Home Affairs Committee after it was suggested that the ‘untrained & inexperienced’ excuse was rather thin considering:
1. Bronze Commander Chief Superintendent Alex Robertson was on Cornhill in contact with Gold Commander (Commander Bob Broadhurst) during the deadly assault on Ian Tomlinson at the Cornhill end of Royal Exchange Buildings.
2. Highly trained CoL Police dog handlers were using dogs as weapons against non-violent protesters (despite guidelines on their use) on Threadneedle Street and against Ian Tomlinson during the deadly assault.
3. The ’Activist experts’ of the FIT (at least 5, including PCs Alan Palfrey and Steve Discombe) were present at the deadly assault on Ian Tomlinson, yet did not intervene to prevent the assault (despite knowing IT was not a ’face’), and did not make a statement about being witnesses until AFTER the official line (heart attack, no contact with police) had been demolished.*
4. The public order specialists of the TSG were in the thick of it – the IT hitter was TSG, the Climate Camp was TSG, the ‘FIsher hitter’ was a TSG sergeant, etc; in fact once things got fruity, only the full time riot cops of the TSG (Level 1s) and the well-trained volunteer riot reservists (Level 2s) were on the frontline – yer standard untrained, really-rather-not-be-there cops-given-a-helmet-and-shield (Level 3s) were pulled back.
So it will be interesting to see if the HAC really does investigate the bullshit or not - and especially whether it intends to pursue the matter of command and doctrinal responsibility.
* Note also that the ‘Fisher hitter’ TSG sergeant, suspended whilst being investigated for 2 assaults including Nicola Fisher is ex-FIT, and had been on FIT duties on 1st April
July 1, 2009
G20 TOMLINSON COP WAS ‘IMPOSTER’
Incredibly it has emerged that a senior City of London cop investigating the Tomlinson G20 murder told the Tomlinson family that the cop captured on video atacking Tomlinson ‘ may have been a member of the public dressed in police uniform’ !!!!!!!!! – words fail me! Warming to his theme he told the family that the imposter may have stolen the Met police uniform from the back of a police van before initiating the attack. No doubt that if he’d been allowed to develop his fantasy further it would have emerged as a black bloc anarchist grabbing a police uniform to discredit the police! Bingo – with one bound they were free!
June 30, 2009
‘UP THE REVOLUTION’
The ITN news last night featured an interview with a taxi driver about what he thought about the squatters occupying the KEENES house in Brentford. He was all in favour, thought the MPs were disgusting and deserved their cumuppance and shouted ‘Up the revolution’ in support. Just shows what can be done with a bit of imagination and determination to link an action to MPs expenses……………such actions need to be replicated round the country – conratulations to the Brentford squatters! In the meantime David Cameron is predicting riots on the streets………….lets not disappoint!
June 29, 2009
GORDON BROWN DATED PRINCESS MARGARITA OF ROMANIA
He’s supposed to be the common man but I have just discovered that Gordon Brown dated Queen Victoria’s great great great granddaughterfor 5 years…………
By contrast, Princess Margarita, as a great-great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was 81st in line to the British throne and a goddaughter of Prince Philip
June 27, 2009
Expenses claims MPs house occupied!
A group of housing activists have entered and occupied the house of Anne and Alan Keene. Both Labour MPs they were known as “Mr and Mrs Expenses” two years before the MP spending scandal broke; Mrs Keen, a health minister recently admitted making an expense claim for private hospital treatment for a member of her staff. At the centre of their scandal was their double mortgage claim, where they illegally used Parliamentary expenses to pay interest on the mortgages of both their homes – one of which has now been occupied by outraged locals along with activists from all backgrounds and nationalities.
It was revealed several days ago that they faced having their Hounslow constituency home repossessed by the council after leaving it empty for over a year. The £385,000 three-bedroom terrace was being renovated whilst they stayed in their central home London near Parliament which they billed the public £137,679 for. After an alleged falling out with the builders the house was left empty, but at a local residents meeting a member of the public alerted activists to the location of the house, and 2 days ago it was occupied.
Speaking by phone one of the occupants explained why they had taken the building and what they wanted to happen.
“We want to get back something that has been taken from us in the expenses scandal. Everyone pays taxes, either directly or through VAT on their shopping – we’ve all been taken from. There are 10,000 people on the housing waiting list in Hounslow alone – and people like the Keens are spending our money on keeping houses empty.”
“Everyone who is needs housing should occupy empty buildings, but as Anne Keene voted in favour of the war in Iraq, displacing and killing millions of people, we demand she gets in touch with refugee centres to make reparations. In the meantime, the house will hopefully become a refugee centre and home to some of the people she made homeless through poverty and war.”
The group are asking for solidarity. Donations of food and water, bedding, hinges and screws are to be taken to:
38 Brook Rd South,
Brentford,
TW8 0NN
The group can be contacted on 07549160296
June 27, 2009
Where were you when Jacko died?
Hard at work knocking out t-shirts! ‘I was on the bus when Jacko died’ doesn’t seem such a runner. My comrade Jane Nicholl was walking passed JIMI HENDRIX house when he was carried out dead so has a ‘ I was outside his house when Hendrix died’ t-shirt – but sales of this one have been limited. Maybe ‘I was on the bus when Reg Varney died’ will prove a runner. And what a bummer for FARAH FAWCETT – dying the same day as Jacko – what rotten luck.
June 24, 2009
THE SELLING OF SIDNEY STREET
THE SELLING OF SIDNEY STREET
It’s a dispiriting fact that if you scan the indexes of history books of Britain in the 20th century all you’re likely to find under ‘anarchists’ is The Siege of Sidney Street. Otherwise our contribution is so piss poor as not to register even a scanty footnote. Indeed if you then turn to the imposing DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY – a who’s who of dead people who did something – you’ll find impressively knowledgeable entries – by Professor Bernard Porter – on everyone who had any association with the siege from George Gardstein onwards. The siege has even been commemorated on Churchill postage stamps issued not by Britain but incongruously by our South Atlantic colonies!
Last Sunday I was watching CASUALTY 2009 on the BBC when in to the hospital comes – blow me down guv with a feather - a Latvian anarchist on suspicion of a bomb attack. The erudite script has him being cross examined by a copper about ‘How often do you go to the Jubilee club’ with knowing asides about the ‘Tottenham robbery’. So what I’m saying comrades is this….’Sidney Street is now woven into our popular culture in the same way as Dan Leno’s music hall and Spring heeled Jack and kindly costermongers and Reggie and Ronnie and knees up Mother Brown.There’s photos still on the walls of The White Hart pub. Another pub prominently displayed a photo of Peter the Painter till it was demolished in the 60’s. There’s even a couple of blocks of flats in Sidney Street named PETER HOUSE and PAINTER HOUSE after the lovable rapscallion himself.
The 100th anniversary is coming up in January 2011 and we should take full advantage of it. Now I know m’learned friend PHIL RUFF will be publishing the definitive work on PETER THE PAINTER but he is far too principled a comrade to be merchandising associated tat and commercial tie-ins. ….which leaves the market open to us!
I want to see Whitechapel High Street awash with street traders flogging cheapo Sidney Street merchandise – tea towels, cigarette lighters, caps,Guevara style t-shirts with The Painter on, pants, socks, handbags, beer mats. Freedom Bookshop can act as the wholesaler – the Cash’n Carry Matalan – as eager traders crowd the door demanding ‘another gross of Gardstein kiddies duvet covers guv’ ‘any more of them Jacob Peters ironing board covers Mr. Andy Sir?’ Then there’s the week long festival ( haven’t I mentioned that yet) the Sealed Knot style re-enactments ( TWICE DAILY, Saturday matinee) the shoot out ( family tickets £22) the applause for the Peacock style parade of Georgeous George himself ( Gardstein that is) flaunting it with pisteleros in fat belts down the High Street.
It’s the only mark we’ve made in a 100 years comrades. Let’s not sell ourselves short
June 23, 2009
SPEAKER BERCOW IN BLOCKED LAVATORY HORROR!
The insufferably smug little tory twerp that is transformed into MR. SPEAKER BERCOW charged to his expenses over £1,000 for UNBLOCKING HIS LAVATORY at his designated London second home. Had the tiny twerp unleashed a blockbuster of a turd bigger than himself? No – indeed not – Dyno Rod Man HAD FLUSHED A SANITARY TOWEL down the lavatory discovered by the real Dyno-Rod man. Was this some strange hobby Bercow got up to alone in the evenings like asphyxiating himself with an orange as fellow tory expense fiddler Julie Kirkbride’s ex did? We are told that Mrs. Bercow seldom stays at the London flat – so are we looking at SANITARYGATE here? Why should we pay for Dyno-Rod Bercow’s flushing incompetence – doesn’t the speaker know you’re not supposed to flush sanitary towels down the bog? Or WAS HE DESTROYING THE EVIDENCE? I think we should be told.
