Tag Archives: tribute

Keir Starmer’s Hillsborough homage highlights his own hypocrisy

Keir Starmer: the compressed lips suggest that when this image was taken, he had said something he wished he had not. Is that how he feels about having written for The Sun, in a direct insult to victims of the Hillsborough disaster and the people of Liverpool generally.

Labour leader Keir Starmer tried to pay homage to those who died, on the 34th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster – but succeeded only in highlighting his own hypocrisy.

Critics of the hard-right-wing Labour leader have spoken up to remind us that Starmer has written articles in The Sun – the (right-wing) news-rag that falsely accused Liverpool fans at the Hillsborough stadium on April 15, 1989.

The Hillsborough Disaster was a fatal human crush at an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, hosted at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough Stadium on April 15, 1989.

The police service attempted to hide the fact that its failures caused 96 deaths and 766 injuries – the worst disaster in UK sporting history – by trying to blame it on the fans who were injured and died, saying those people caused the tragedy by being drunk and misbehaving.

West Midlands was the force appointed to investigate the disaster, but has since been accused of malpractices and failures that have been subject to a long-running investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Not only that, though: the prime minister of the day, the Conservative Margaret Thatcher, refused to release information that made the police look bad.

And The Sun, a newspaper published by Rupert Murdoch’s News International, published a story headlined The Truth that was nothing but a pack of lies, supporting the fantasy created by the police.

This Site published the facts more than a decade ago.

Starmer himself spoke up about the hurt caused to the people of Liverpool by The Sun when he was campaigning for election as Labour leader in 2020. He said he would not be giving interviews to the paper during his campaign.

Sadly, as soon as he had been elected, that promise ended and he has written for The Sun since, an act that people in Liverpool consider a bitter insult:

Starmer seems to be trying to play on both sides of the Hillsborough argument – claiming to sympathise with the families of the dead and survivors of the disaster while writing for the rag that lied about them.

But memories are long in Liverpool.

Let us hope he finds that out in the local elections next month – and in the general election next year if he stubbornly refuses to learn his lesson.

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Out of touch Tory Dominic Raab can’t get Paul O’Grady’s name right

UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab showed he was so out-of-touch he couldn’t even get late comedian Paul O’Grady’s name right – while paying tribute to him during Prime Minister’s Questions.

He compounded the offence by adding an unnecessary attack on ‘woke’ comedy:

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Boris Johnson is gone: let’s laugh at him with Jonathan Pie [VIDEO; EXTREME LANGUAGE]

Gobsmacked: if Boris Johnson saw the video tribute to him by Jonathan Pie, was this his reaction?

This tribute is well-deserved.

Perhaps you’d like to add a tribute of your own? Feel free to put your opinion in the ‘Comment’ column – but please, be a little more moderate in your language than the charming Mr Pie.

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

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Tributes pour in for left-wing social media activist Maureen Fitzsimmons

This Writer is one of many who will be mourning the loss of a genuine asset to UK politics today.

Like many, I never met Maureen Fitzsimmons in real life; I only communicated with her on the social media, where her comments were a breath of fresh air amid the murk and miasma of Tory neoliberals and New New Labour backstabbers.

Her tweets enliven many Vox Political articles and much of my Twitter feed.

Tributes have been pouring into Twitter – and if you’re not following any of the accounts below, you should; they all support the kind of sensible politics that Maureen advocated.

Here’s a selection:

Sickening hypocrisy: Johnson’s tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore

The late Captain Sir Tom Moore: a better man than Boris Johnson.

I didn’t take part in the national hysteria over Captain Tom Moore’s NHS fundraising, extraordinary though it was.

The health service had been put in an impossible position by the Conservative government of the day, and it seemed to me that this act of criminal negligence (it has cost more than 100,000 lives so far, no matter how you fiddle the numbers) was being compounded by unusual cruelty in forcing a 99-year-old man to do laps of his garden in order to make up the shortfall.

And what has been done with the £33 million that he raised, by the way? Does anybody know?

The event as a whole seemed to be nothing but a distraction from the abominable mess that Boris Johnson and his forerunners had created.

It strikes me as a tragic irony that Captain Sir Tom Moore should now have passed away having contracted the disease against which he had raised so much money to protect people.

And then Boris Johnson, the incompetent poser whose deliberate inaction put this centenarian ex-serviceman to so much more trouble for his country, had the nerve to record a video paying tribute to him.

If the prime monkey had admitted that it was due to his own failures that Captain Sir Tom had been put to so much trouble; if he had agreed that his government had been forced to rely on a solitary member of the social group most threatened by the pandemic because of his short-sighted selfishness, then he might have vindicated himself, if only slightly.

But he didn’t. He tried to use a great man’s death for his own gain.

That isn’t a tribute.

It’s an insult.

Source: Captain Sir Tom Moore: ‘National inspiration’ dies with Covid-19 – BBC News

Tributes after Jeremy Hardy – possibly the UK’s funniest political commentator – dies of cancer

Celebrated: Jeremy Hardy.

This is a bitter blow.

I never knew Jeremy Hardy personally. He performed here in Mid Wales several times (if I recall correctly) but I never got to see him due to my own poverty. I had other priorities and I think he would have sympathised with my choices.

Instead, I had to make do with enjoying his many appearances on radio shows including I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue and The News Quiz, in which we were privileged to hear a man with an incisive mind cut through the propaganda of right-wing politics and neoliberalism with biting wit.

You can tell the quality of the man by the roll call of famous names that have come out to give tribute. Here are just a few, in no particular order. Some have tweeted clips of the late Mr Hardy’s legendary wit. Enjoy: – and feel free to leave your own tribute in the ‘comment’ box below:

The following message is particularly touching for those of us who were devotees of The News Quiz when it’s previous – legendary – mainstay, the late Alan Coren, was making it unmissable every week:

Here’s my own little tribute:

… and this is an example of how that might sound:

Of course it wouldn’t be a proper tribute without highlighting the fact that Mr Hardy spoke truth to power.

Here he is laying out the truth about Jeremy Corbyn – and exposing the lie about “Taking back control”:

And here he is speaking up for the National Health Service:

Oh, and one serious note that certain followers of This Site need to take to heart:

One thing I hope won’t happen – and we see it a lot with political comedy – is that Jeremy Hardy’s insight will be laid to rest with him.

People die and life moves on, yes – but the issues he discussed are still with us. Just look at some of the examples above: the Middle East is still a bloodbath, privatisation is still a blot on our services and utilities, Brexit is an ongoing farce and Jeremy Corbyn is still regularly accused of racism and terrorism by people of bad faith. Jeremy Hardy’s words put the opposing ideology in its proper context and I think those words should remain available as an antidote for when people on the other side try to present their nonsense to us.

Jeremy Hardy might have passed but his words should live on – because they are funny and true and they nourish us in hard times.

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Dennis Skinner’s tribute to Tony Benn

http://youtu.be/uuh8vk3-x60

Many people have remarked on Dennis Skinner’s speech during the tributes to Tony Benn in the House of Commons yesterday – the strength of feeling, respect and simple pleasure at having known the great left-wing politician, diarist and thinker, who passed away last week.

I managed to get a small tribute broadcast on Radio Bristol’s breakfast show that morning, but that effort pales into insignificance beside this.

For all I know, neither Skinner nor Tony Benn may be your cup of tea, but I would still urge you to watch the clip, as it demonstrates that even in modern politics there are still people of integrity.

Follow me on Twitter: @MidWalesMike

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Death of a great man marred by the hypocrisy of a weasel

Hypocrite: We can't prove Cameron was behind the 'Hang Mandela' campaign of the 1980s, but we do know he opposed Mandela's politics and supported apartheid in South Africa. He did not think Mandela was a "great light" or a "hero" - he's just saying what he thinks you want to hear.

Hypocrite: We can’t prove Cameron was behind the ‘Hang Mandela’ campaign of the 1980s, but we do know he opposed Mandela’s politics and supported apartheid in South Africa. He did not think Mandela was a “great light” or a “hero” – he’s just saying what he thinks you want to hear.

I hope everyone in the UK is as saddened by the death of Nelson Mandela as they are disgusted by David Cameron’s two-faced tribute.

According to Wikipedia, Mr Mandela rose to prominence in the ANC’s 1952 Defiance Campaign. Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and, with the ANC leadership, was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961 in association with the South African Communist Party, leading a sabotage campaign against the apartheid government. In 1962 he was arrested, convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the government, and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial.

Mandela served 27 years in prison, initially on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. An international campaign lobbied for his release, which was granted in 1990 amid escalating civil strife.

After his release, he served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation.

While he was in prison, David Cameron was involved in some extremely shady anti-Mandela activities.

According to a statement that was put out across the social media in the summer, “When he [Mr Mandela] does die, and David Cameron jumps on the Mandela bandwagon, remember that in 1985 he was a top member of the Federation of Conservative Students, which produced the “Hang Mandela” posters.

“In 1989, Cameron worked in the Tory Policy Unit at Central Office and went on an anti-sanctions fact-finding mission to South Africa with a pro-apartheid lobby firm sponsored by PW Botha. Remember this when he tells the world he was inspired by Mandela.”

Cameron’s membership of the Federation of Conservative Students is questionable, as is his participation in the “Hang Mandela” campaign. His participation in the fact-finding mission is well-documented, though.

As for his party – well, let’s look at the words of Conservative talisman Margaret Thatcher: “The ANC is a typical terrorist organisation.” Tories revere the Blue Baroness; if that was her opinion, no doubt it belonged to many of them as well.

If you still need to be convinced, see the following:

“Nelson Mandela should be shot.” – Tory MP Teddy Taylor

“This hero worship is very much misplaced.”- Tory MP John Carlisle

“How much longer will the Prime Minister allow herself to be kicked in the face by this black terrorist?” – Tory MP Terry Dicks

(All the above are taken from Tom Pride’s article on the subject earlier this year)

Conservatives hated Mandela; Cameron was a Conservative then and is Conservative leader now.

When you see him saying things like, “A great light has gone out in the world. Nelson Mandela was a hero of our time,” remember that.

What a two-faced, hypocritical slug.

 

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How Labour turned the tables on the Tory Thatcher tribute

In fact she'll get a military funeral, which is just as expensive and unwanted by the majority of Britons. What this image makes clear is just how badly wrong the current UK government's priorities have become.

In fact she’ll get a military funeral, which is just as expensive and unwanted by the majority of Britons. What this image makes clear is just how badly wrong the current UK government’s priorities have become.

Can anyone imagine the kind of row we would have seen this week if Labour had blocked the recall of Parliament to pay tribute to Margaret Thatcher?

It was well within Ed Miliband’s rights to put the mockers on it. Recalling Parliament is a move that has previously been reserved only for national emergencies, and past precedent states that tributes should have come when Parliament returned – as normal – next Monday. That was also the understanding of the Parliamentary officials charged with planning for the former Prime Minister’s death.

Did David Cameron really believe that the demise of his beloved ex-leader was a national emergency? Of course not. This was merely a chance to scrounge some more money off the taxpayer.

He turned the Blue Baroness into a cash cow.

According to the Daily Mirror, every MP returning to Westminster to take part in the debate could claim expenses totalling £3,750 each.

So, if all 650 MPs turned up, the cost to you and me would have been £2,437,500 – for a debate that could have happened next week, at no extra cost.

Was it a bribe, to get more Members to turn up? If so, it didn’t work very well. Sure, the government benches were packed with Tories, climbing over themselves to orate on how great Nanny was – but the Opposition benches were conspicuously empty. It seems 150 Labour MPs had better things to do.

We should all be grateful for that – it took the bill down to £1,875,000.

Should Labour have opposed the recall? The speaker, John Bercow, was reportedly – let’s say – less than enthusiastic about the matter, especially the way it was conducted: The request came in a telephone call from a mid-ranking 10 Downing Street staff member, rather than in writing, according to The Guardian. The Speaker had to remind the Prime Minister that he must follow protocol and it was only then that Cameron formalised his request in writing.

(Cameron seems to have a problem with following the rules. The first time he got up in Parliament as the Prime Minister, he appeared to forget that he must address his comments to the Speaker and put many of them directly to some of the Members opposite – until a few sharp comments from Mr Bercow put him back in his place.)

Bercow then sought a reaction from the Opposition, and it seems the decision not to oppose it was political, in order not to cause a row in which they were bound to be vilified for failing to show due respect.

Given the facts that street parties broke out in several major British cities on the day she died, while ‘Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead’ appeared at number 10 in the midweek charts, it seems unlikely that any Parliamentary party needs to lower itself in that way. The British people have spoken.

So Mr Miliband trotted out a speech about how the Blue Baroness was a woman of strong convictions who held to her ideals (even if he didn’t agree with them) or some such.

Then he sat down and listened, for hours, to the other speeches, including this from Glenda Jackson:

“We were told that everything I had been taught to regard as a vice – and I still regard them as vices – under Thatcherism, was in fact a virtue. Greed, selfishness, no care for the weaker… they were the way forward. We have heard much, and will continue to hear over the next week, of the barriers that were broken down by Thatcherism, the Establishment that was destroyed. What we actually saw – the word that has been circling around with stars around it, is that she created an ‘aspirational’ society. It ‘aspired’ for ‘things’… One of the former Prime Ministers, who himself had been elevated to the House of Lords, spoke about selling off the family silver, and people knowing under those years the price of everything and the value of nothing. What concerns me is that I am beginning to see possibly the re-emergence of that total traducing of what I regard as being the basic, spiritual nature of this country, where we do care about society, where we do believe in communities, where we do not leave people to walk by on the other side.”

And this, from David Anderson:

“She came to power promising to bring harmony where there was discord. In the mining communities up and down the country, she brought the opposite. She believed we were no longer any use to the nation because we were deemed to be uneconomic… because we insisted on running safe coal mines in this country. One of the great disgraces of this country today is we import over 50 million tonnes of coal a year from countries where men are killed, literally in the thousands, and we closed our industry that was the safest, the most technologically-advanced, in the world.

“The other area where the so-called economic justification falls down was the failure of Margaret Thatcher and her government to take into account the social cost… where no alternative employment was put forward for those people who were losing their jobs – and particularly for their children. The village where I lived had seen coal mining for almost two centuries. In a matter of months after closure, we were gripped by a wave of petty crime, burglary, car crime – mostly related to drugs. We have never recovered from it.

“We’ve seen the reaction of people whose frustration is heartfelt because they’ve lost their sense of place in society; they’ve been made to feel worthless; they’ve been cast aside like a pair of worn-out pit boots. They’ve seen their community fall apart. They’ve seen their children’s opportunities disappear. And they’ve not been listened to.

“Mrs Thatcher’s lack of empathy, her intransigence, her failure to see the other side, her refusal to even look at the other side, has left them bitter, and resentful, and hitting out in a way that is uncharacteristic of the miners in our community. Her accusation that the “enemy within” was in the mining areas of this country still rankles people. I wasn’t the “enemy within”… All we wanted was the right to work. We didn’t just want it for ourselves; we wanted it for our kids, and that was taken away.”

David Cameron wanted to pay his MPs huge amounts of money to come back and spend seven and a half hours – and remember, Winston Churchill only got 45 minutes after his death – singing the praises of the Blue Baroness – to the high heavens. He got what he wanted, and it is fair to say his Party members enjoyed telling their little stories.

But the contributions of Labour members like Glenda Jackson and David Anderson are the ones that will be remembered.