4 April 2024
Diary of a Corbynista
Larry for PM
by Don Urquhart
11 March 2024
Listening to the Oscar winners this morning I was astonished at how many of the movies I had seen. Oppenheimer won 7 awards with Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Junior shoo-ins. I am a sucker for films about famous people. I loved the early series of The Crown for that reason. Poor Things also had some great performances in addition to Oscar winner Emma Stone. The Zone of Interest won the best international feature film award. I had started to watch it knowing nothing at all about it. A German family is enjoying an idyllic existence in their country home. Soon it is apparent that the Dad Rudolf is an army officer working in the adjacent factory. He receives orders to transfer to Oranienburg which causes his wife Helga to throw a wobbly. This is their home, everything they have hoped for and worked for. The factory next door is Auschwitz and Rudolf has been the talented manager achieving optimum throughput.
13 March 2024
Frank Hester is the CEO of The Phoenix Partnership, a software firm whose main client is the NHS. 5 years ago at a private meeting he made insulting remarks about Diane Abbott and these have now come to light. Many have described his comments as misogynist and racist. Tory big guns have sought to minimise the offences. Personally I was more concerned that Hester said Ms Abbott should be shot and she has rightly alerted the Metropolitan Police. Hester is the biggest ever contributor to Tory Party funds. To my mind the most worrying aspect of the affair is the poor quality of the people who own our Government.
14 March 2024
At the drop of a hat politicians will reference the “anti-Semitism of Corbyn’s Labour Party”. Sunak was at it again in yesterday’s PMQ’s.
A couple of years ago I asked a Jewish friend, what evidence he had that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party was anti-Semitic. He told me to read The Jewish Chronicle.
The threat of a Corbyn government spawned a coalition comprising;
The Conservative Government and media;
The US Administration;
Right wing Labour MPs;
Opponents of a two-state solution in The Middle East.
These people could not countenance a British government committed to one or other of:
Strong public services and the elimination of poverty;
Avoiding war;
Recognition of a Palestinian state.
Their strategy was to create an image of institutional anti-Semitism in the Labour Party linked to Corbyn’s leadership. With the full weight of the media behind them they achieved this and succeeded in adding 5 years to the UK’s age of austerity.
But in truth it was a scam.
15 March 2024
When the BBC quotes casualty figures in Gaza they use the formula “According to the Hamas-run health authority”. I guess this guides viewers and listeners to treat the figures as unreliable. In this spirit can I look forward to the BBC adopting the formula “According to the Conservative Party run government” when reporting the statements of Sunak and co?
20 March 2024
The Eurovision Song Contest finals are due to take place in Malmo 7-11 May. There is a strong chance that there will be demonstrations and boycotts if Israel takes part.
Here’s the Guardian headline:
Israel should have a voice at Eurovision, says president amid row over lyrics.
Isaac Herzog said ‘haters try to drive us off every stage’ as lyrics to October Rain scrutinised by organisers.
For Israel’s President, anyone who disagrees with him about Gaza is a “hater”.
22 March 2024
Schoolteachers earn every penny. They have to deal with some tricky situations, like the one at a London school on Wednesday. At lunchtime there was much panic and the word was that someone was roaming the school gardens with a knife. It transpired that a number of 12 year olds had taken their lunch outside and there was cutlery involved. This was against school rules so the girls were interviewed. They identified as therians. Here’s a brief definition according to Mr. Google:
What is a therian? “Therian” is short for “therianthrope”. It means a person who identifies integrally as a nonhuman being, such as a wolf, polar bear, or even earthworm.
As therians the pupils felt uncomfortable eating like humans so took their food outside to be consumed on the grass and in the bushes.
Many calls to parents but I don’t know what they had to say.
27 March 2024
The Israelis pulled out of ceasefire talks in Qatar. They are upset that the USA abstained in a UN Security Council vote on a ceasefire. Meanwhile British politicians have a new mantra:
The bombing of civilians would stop if only Hamas would release the hostages.
I don’t know whether Paddy Power is offering odds on this issue but were they to do so I think favourite would be:
Hostages being released results in Gaza being flattened within 24 hours.
2 April 2024
The economic policies of the two major parties are similar. The Conservatives are reduced to sniffing around for anything that might buy them a few votes. Labour tells us they have a broad and robust strategy but scratch the surface and it comes down to nicking a few bob off those sending their kids to private schools.
Greater minds than Corbynista’s have dissected every manifestation of crumbling infrastructure and public services and one would have hoped the Labour Party would offer something better than the regular gibbering you get on the media. I wish it was unexpected but Starmer’s just hoping to appear more competent than Sunak. For my money Larry the cat would knock spots off both of them.
