What does it mean to be anti-establishment — What is the establishment? The establishment is that which is established (surprise, surprise). It generally refers to established authorities such as organised religion, judicial systems, monarchy, government institutions etc. Those who find comfort in established institutions are generally considered conservative. Those who see such institutions as inflexible and proscriptive would see themselves as progressive…

Observations from the Manchester anti-Tory protest — 25 of us set off on a coach journey from Lancaster to Manchester to protest the Tory Party conference held in that city. The march and rally was organised by The People’s Assembly though our group was marching under the Stand Up To Racism banner.

And this isn’t about me — An Israeli spectator sport I have no relatives who are Palestinian. I have no Arab or Muslim relatives. My connection to Palestine is only incidental because I once supported Israel until I saw what Israel was doing to the people it occupied — until I could see how I’d been lied to. In 2014…

The connection is critical — The wholesale slaughter of Palestinians, the flattening of buildings with civilians in them, the targeting of medical personnel and ambulances in Gaza — all are war crimes, all are without excuse and all are reprehensible. Yet there is still a wider discussion to be had. Let’s have a ceasefire first…

The myth, not the man — I haven’t written this to attack Russell Brand as a person, to question his motives or weigh in on the accusations he is defending. I’m not taking a neutral stance either. …

Where is the hope in this hopeless world? — X marks the spot If anything symbolises my current feeling of hopelessness its the demise of the little blue bird that got caught in the cross hairs that have now replaced it as the Twitter logo. Its not that I really care about Twitter but I do visit regularly. That an egotistic blowhard could…

A poem — I know I have to beat this thing I know, I know I know it’s stealing all my ch’i Indecision’s killing me I can’t be where I’m meant to be I know I know it’s not just me this hurts I know, I know I know it’s blocking every pore Lock and bolting…

Covid and the left A shot in the foot Jimmy Dore, some time ago, featured Dr John Campbell on his show with revelations about Covid death numbers. Through a Freedom of Information request (FOI) Campbell believed he had discovered that deaths directly attributed to Covid were around one tenth that of recorded Covid related deaths…

The coup in Niger — I must declare that I’m not an authority on this subject and this isn’t meant to be a primer on neo-colonialism or world trade. However I do believe its good to keep the true story of Europe in Africa alive as we observe an embryonic multi-polar world. I’ve entitled this…