Vege-ness Abounds

Please watch this video. Ahlam and her family fled terror in Algeria, only to be told they face being thrown out of the “sanctuary” in Glasgow, Scotland, they thought they had been offered by the British Government.

The boy and I are in a photo on the front page of the SSP website - http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/

Today I’m mostly eating vege-curry… (pardon me!)

People go about their business every day, eating, drinking, farting talking, walking, sleeping…  everything is normal.

Or is it?  Would you do the things you do if you weren’t compelled?  If you were redesigning society, would you have so much of the space around you taken up by concrete?  Would you have everyone jostling and pushing and slouching their way to work in areas were they have to push and jostle and slouch to get too?   Would you allow one person to “own” so much of the world that they will never see or use it all themselves when some people live in one room (or none)?

If you were redesigning the world, would you allow a system were the kind of food some people can just about afford is slowly killing them?  Would you allow some people to bore holes in the ground and bottle water to sell, while others have to conserve as they “are using too much water” flushing away their effluence?  Or drinking to survive?

Would you allow a system were the people who are having to be prioritised in a health system are the very ill (because the “cure” or treatment can be commoditised and sold) and not the education of those who can stay healthy?

Were education is said to be great because in middle class areas, children “do well” and it is said to be lacking in schools were most of the children come from families who struggle to survive?

Would you have borders?

Would you allow people to become poverty stricken, ill, drug addicts, alchoholics and failures because someone has decided that the jobs they had must go to somewhere were peoples labour is less valuable?

Would you allow people to die horrible deaths because someone somewhere else needs cheap petrol for their SUV?

How would you change the system?

 This week I have been mostly eatng pasta.

I’ve a sore hand.  How did I get it, I don’t hear you ask - well, I’ll tell you.

On Sunday, the family and I went for a walk around Milngavie Reservoir.  The boy brought his bike.

Anyway, the council are carrying out work there - building some sort of new filtration plant.  This means that some of the pathways are blocked with pipes etc and to carry through our walk in the direction we wanted to go, we had to walk up some grassy banks.  The boy found this difficult on his bike, so I told him to get off and I would show him how.  I took a good run up to the bank and hit it all guns blazing.  I heard a crack as the handlebars smashed down on my right hand.  After spitting out a chunk of the grassy bank, I said, “I’m ok!” and we carried on with our walk.

My hand gradually became sorer and sorer and we spent nearly three hours in casualty on Sunday evening. 

Next week I’m going to show him how to skateboard down a steep hill…

Spotted in Cardonald -  

http://tinyurl.com/ebe5f

I thought I would place this video here.  It is one I made for the SSP. 

Today I’ve been mostly eating… roasted vegetables in tortilla wraps.

I have been uploading videos of the SSP Unity, Integrity and Socialism rally last Saturday.  If some of you doubt the talent of the left - I would ask you to go to http://ssptelevision.blog.com and watch some of these speeches.  Eamonn Coyle and Joanne Kelly feature there.  They are both members of the Scottish Socialist Youth.  Joanne gives her speech on REAL equality.  She is definately someone who will be heard of morre and more over the next few years.  Eamonn is a very talented young man.  I have seen him perform with his guitar in front of crowds of socialists at conference.  This video shows him reciting some of his “Slam Poetry”.  These young people are definately worth listening to - they are our future.

Could I also recommend the other speakers?  Ritchie Venton, another ex-Northern Irishman living here in Glasgow, gives a brilliant speech on the future of socialism in Scotland - and he speaks about his past, which to me was very interesting as I know the places he is speaking about. 

Carolyn Leckie was one of the women targetted by Tommy as a scapegoat for his diabolical behaviour.  This speech is the first real chance in two years she has been able to give her side and version  of events.  A fantastic speech - and made under some pressure as there was someone in the audience who hasn’t quite grasped the sequence of events yet as he heckled her.  It’s funny that the guy didn’t heckle the men speakers…

And lastly, the video I made for the occasion - it is just entitled -

Unity, Integrity and Socialism; Unity, Integrity and Socialism Rally on Saturday 2nd September, 2006 in Glasgow. 

The “Talking Heads” bit in between the music is so positive and forward looking.  Thanks to all of those people I cornered with my video camera for their memories and hopes for the future of the SSP.  If you are “speeched out” - watch the start and the end for the music video style presentation.

Today I will be mostly eating…. cherry tomatoes and brie. 

For those of you who don’t know who I’m ranting about when I say the name “Tommy “Ice-cube” Sheridan”, this is his mum singing to him after he called a meeting to form his own wee party when he knew the game was up in the one he had been in before…  watch his face… it is priceless!

“To Dream the Impossible Dream” - ie. to win a case even though your lying through your teeth!

Sorry I haven’t been keeping this up to date.  I will be in a position to do that better over the next few weeks. 

Those of you who have come to this blog via my old one (a year off the booze) may want to know how the booze thing went.  Well, I crashed with ten days to go.  Why?  Well, unexpectedly and through telling lies and accusing others of telling lies and of being plotters, Tommy “soLIdARity” Sheridan won £200 000 from the gutter press - even though the gutter press had got it right about him (if he wants to sue me - go ahead).  It wasn’t because of his win perse that I had to sink a pint, no - it was because I knew that this would damage the Left in Scotland even more than he had already.

Well - that was until, after meeting other SSP comrades,I found that actually the SSP is made of sterner stuff.  Even though Liar liar pants on fire Tommy is getting a lot of publicity, I found that actually most principled SSP members were staying with the party and turning up the heat on the established parties.  Our standing in the polls rose another 4% after Tommy looked like he was going to split the party (he did split the party - he took a few hundred people with him, of whom I can only say, “You’ve been had!”).

The new “Solidarity” party has been set up by the Sheridan because he realised he could not win the convenorship of the party he was part of.  It made me think.  What if Charles Kennedy had have done the same thing?  His party could have been called, “The Drink”.  The Lib Dems would have been split between an alchoholic or a doddery old right wing man.  Thankfully, the SSP have a straight choice - fall in line behind a lying, abusive ”Leader” or remain part of an inclusive party.  Hmmmm…

 Anyway - I’m in a new school.  Nice school.  The class are wild!  My “McCrone” or non-contact time, is this afternoon, so I’m going home to lie down in a quiet room.

 Oh - and today I’ll be mostly eating cheese.  Could someone tell me what the f*** else do sandwich makers think vegetarians eat…?!

We burned brightly

People said our

Names with a giggle -

Did we really do all that?

We discovered the world

With a shout

Under trees

As rain dripped down our necks;

As snow fell

And we huddled at gable walls;

As stars made their way

Across the wide everness.

We sit in small rooms

And the dullness left over

Dims