BNP Fiasco

"Anti-fascist protesters broke into BBC Television centre ahead of British National Party leader Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time."

Today my friends is a sad day in British politics, and NOT because the BBC scheduled the BNP leader Nick Griffin to attend Question Time, but because of the actions of the 'anti-fascist' protesters. The actions of those people plays straight into the BNP's hands.

In using violence and force to protest against the BNP these people are in fact making themselves appear no better than the party they are opposing. Why are they trying to deny the BNP the chance to show themselves and their politics to a widespread audience on BBC? By allowing Nick Griffin to speak, there is the opportunity for him to highlight the pathetic, ridiculous, and racist views of the far-right party.

It is a golden opportunity for the people of Britain to fully understand the extreme and dangerous opinions of the BNP, why give them a chance to make the accusation of people attempting to silence them? The main way the BNP have been damaged is when they have been interviewed in detail. This is when their true colours are shown and they make themselves look laughably stupid.

I have read much about the protesters saying that people died in the Second World War to oppose fascism and its views. But these heroes also died for our freedoms, and one of the main freedoms we have as British citizens is freedom to thought and expression. By attempting to stop a man air his views (albeit disgusting views) they are guilty of doing exactly what the fascists our forefathers died to stop did sixty years ago.

Let this man speak. Let him dig his own grave.

A thought for now

I will blog more on Brian's lecture today once I have had a proper chance to reflect on it. But for now I feel obliged to write a little on one of the topics from the lecture.

Einstein's theory of relativity is not one I expected to be blogging on, yet after Brian mentioned it today I felt I should. Wise old Albert said that time is relative. Brian gave the example of young lovers holding hands and being with each for 30 minutes can feel like a a measly five minutes, whereas five seconds of your hand being on a hot stove can feel like 30 minutes! I definitely support Einstein's theory in regards to the relativity of time, and I'm sure the majority of married couples do too! The first three months with someone special can pass without relent in a week. Yet after a year with the same 'special' someone it can begin to feel like a century!

An interesting thought for now.

(And I'm not bitter at all!)

James Joyce's Odyessy

The first experience I had of James Joyce's groundbreaking novel Ulysses was during my ill-fated stay at Bath Spa University. I had signed up for a degree in 'Creative Writing' and it was on my way to one of those lectures that I overheard first year English students complaining about the fact Joyce's book was one of the texts they had to study. Comments like, "it doesn't make sense" reverberated around the walls of the holding pen outside the lecture room. Thus, my first impression of Joyce's work of imperative importance in modernist literature was a negative one.

However, after doing a little bit of research into the book I became fascinated of its contents. I discovered that the title and contents of the book paralleled Homer's Odyssey, an epic poem that I had great pleasure in reading during my college days.

After dipping into Ulysses I did have sympathy for those poor Bath Spa students (mainly because they are still at Bath Spa). It is a difficult text to get to grips with. It's premise is of Leopold Bloom passing through an ordinary day in Dublin. Joyce uses a stream of consciousness narrative technique which makes for highly descriptive reading, sometimes overwhelming the reader.

I haven't been able to read all of Ulysses so I can't comment on themes within the text or what the text promotes, but I can see from what I have read that Ulysses is a very progressive novel, a complete standout novel of its generation and highly deserving of its place in the modernist literary canon.

Year Two, Lecture One

So another year of higher education has begun, and for this blog it begins with the topic of socialism with particular attention paid to Karl Marx.

Chris lectured us on the works of German idealist philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and his theory of dialectical argument to convey how change occurs. Hegel developed the formula for change that went as such:

• Thesis
• Anthesis
• Synthesis

Chris showed us how this formula could be used to describe any sort of change. He gave the example of:

• Thesis - Home team
• Anthesis - Away team
• Synthesis - Football match

Interestingly enough he also showed us how Hegel's works anticipated atomic theory:

• Thesis - Electron
• Anthesis - Proton
• Synthesis - Matter

German socialist philosopher Karl Marx, best known for his Communist Manifesto, supported Hegel's ideas and adapted and incorporated them in his own works. He embraced Hegel's theory for change. Marx described the 'story of history' as such:

• Thesis - Ruling Class
• Anthesis - Slave Class/Working Class
• Synthesis - Revolution

Marx's vision of historical change came true most memorably in 1917 through the Russian Revolutions. The ruling class of Tsar Nicholas II was victim of an uprising from organised workers (Soviets) and this resulted in revolution. True to Marxist theory the workers had 'nothing to lose but their chains' and they claimed state control of Russia.

Looking at things with a modern day hat on, the British government were recently accused of adopting socialist policy during the nationalisation of banks during the credit-crunch bail outs. The government insisted this was a crucial step to ensure the stability of the country's economy, but critics were quick to throw out the comparison of 2009 Britain to Leninist Russia where all banks were immediately nationalised.

Generally Speaking

The front pages have been flooded with stories about MP's ludicrous expenses claims and the speaker has been forced out of parliament for the first time in 300 years. Welcome to UK democracy folks.

When I was first taught about politics and the political system I was told how an MP was representative of your local area, presented your ideas in the House of Commons, listened to your opinions and did what was best for you.

However, now that I have roamed this Earth for 20 years I have learned the real truth about MPs. Shady, slimey and sleazy.

These bungling fools have been spending the taxpayers money by claiming everything under the sun for their 'essential second home' in London:

• Bed sheets
  
• DVD players
• A massage chair
• A moat
• Mortgage interest payments

I'm not sure how constructing a moat helps represent the people of Sleaford and North Hykeham. In fact I highly suspect that the building of moats feature prominently in their political views and opinions.

The prime minister MUST call a general election immediately and allow the British people to hold these MPs to account. The Sun have (for a change) started a campaign which the leader of the opposition David Cameron has given his support to.

It is time for the people of Britian to have there say on this matter.

Catch Up 1

I realise I've fallen behind in terms of blogging on topics introduced in Chris Horrie's Tuesday lectures. Time to catch up...

So the lecture a couple of weeks ago concerned itself with the topic of political parties and the history of the party system in the UK. What started with the Torys and Whigs has resulted in well known parties such as:

• Conseratives


• Labour


• Liberal Democrats


• Green Party

There are also many other minor parties such as:

• Official Monster Raving Loony Party


• Revolutionary Communist Party of Great Britain


• Pensioners Party

And so on...

The political period I have been interested in since school is the Liberal welfare reforms between 1906-1914. This period essentially saw the birth of the modern 'welfare state' in the UK.

In short, the Liberals, under the chancellorship of David Lloyd George, issued a series of reforms to improve working and living conditions in the UK. They created the Children's Charter, introduced pensions for the elderly, set up Labour exchanges to help the unemployed find work, and created the National Insurance Act.

The reforms were paid for using Robin Hood tactics. Lloyd George named his Finance Bill 'the People's Budget' where he taxed the rich to benefit the poor, ill and working class.

Cartoon from Punch, 1908

Despite a number of limitations and problems with the reforms, I believe they really were a positively pioneering set of Acts aimed for the good of the country. A far cry from the greedy MPs claiming expenses for horse manure and swimming maintenance.

Mexico Sneezes and the Whole World Catches a Cold

The end is nigh, and it came from a pigsty.

So the dreaded 'swine flu' has spread to the sacred shores of Great Britain, cue the fear-mongers. We're all going to catch a cold, cough a few times and spend the day in bed. Spare a thought for the male population as we all know the men are going to be hit worse from this horrible outbreak.

I can't really take this 'pandemic' that serious at this moment in time. Its not the first time we've been told we're all doomed. Bird flu seems to have flown away and SARS, BSE and Foot-and-mouth never really got going.

In fact, I can't help but think about the timing of this 'crisis'. It couldn't have come at a better time for Gordon Brown and his withering Labour party. What better way to get the collapse of Labour off the front pages than to go into full crisis mode?

My thoughts were shared in yesterday's Sun. Columnist Fergus Shanahan wrote an article entitled 'Epidemic...or Porkies?' where he discussed the timing and over exaggeration of the whole disease.

One particular paragraph struck me as highly relevant:

"Swine flu may escalate here, but it is unlikely to kill as many as the
NHS bumps off on dirty wars."

Remember the awful 'good time to bury bad news' email in the wake of 9/11? Seems like this attitude is being adopted again.

I'm probably just scared about catching a cold...