Carve my name with pride

The local BNP were upset by my column in the Chron & Echo last week.In case you missed it I was rejoicing in the fact that they got smashed in the General Election and was was especially encouraging was the good people of Barking wiped them off their Council there.

Fascism has had roots in the deprived areas of East London over the years,but time and time again the sensible East Londoners quicky see through the fascists and give them the bums rush.

it would appear that my celebration of the rout of tghe latter day Mosleyites upset the tender flowers that are the local BNP and on their blog they described me as a 'thoroughly nasty piece of work'

All I can say is that it takes one to know one!

Bollards to NBC!

I've seen the fountain and its OK.Well it's hardly the sort of thing that takes the breath away,it is not exactly the Trevi Fountain, and indeed by gushing upwards instead of gently bubbling downwards its less a fountain-more a burst pipe.

But it's true to say that the children loved it, and it gave them pleasure,so in that sense it has a purpose.

But as an entrance to the medieval Market Square-frankly it sucks.

What is perhaps worse is the featureless clock on an aluminium pole-wonder how many passers by even noticed it? and worse still the bloody aluminium bollards that have appeared-in gay profusion near the fountain.

Why does this town have an obsession with ugly aluminium coloured bollards?They are everywhere-Gold Street and Marefair look much better these days-apart from the useless addition of what seem like dozens of the little silver coloured bo****ds.

Has someone on NBC got shares in the bollard factory or a relative with a big garden shed?

The other thing about the town scape is the absolute masses of street signs everywhere.

Sit on the portico with a coffee and count the street signs around-look at the top of Bridge street, there is one pointing down the street and two feet away another pointing up the street!

What has happened to planning?There is no sign of common sense in the signage in the town centre.

Lastly the plums.Other places have different sorts of revolutions, in Prague there was the velvet revolution, in the Ukraine there was the orange revolution and in Northampton-we manage to have the plum revolution!

The town has a long history of merry pranksters-the black painted footsteps from Bradlaugh's statue to the public toilet was a memorable jape(and should have been kept as a tourist attraction)

Today the standard has gone down if the best someone can come up with is a plum in the fountain!

Not even an aubergine.

The Lib-Dems have even stifled creative mischief-how boring can they get?

How many Milibands does it take to lead a Labour Party?

So instead of kicking the Con/Lib love in into oblivion the next few months of Labour Party activity is going to be a beauty contest between a range of former ministers as to who should lead the rump of the Parliamentary Labour Party!

According to the Independent on Sunday Ed Balls is 'consulting his election team',no doubt lining up his supporters and creating a war chest.

I am reminded of Nolan who galloped up to Lord Cardigan before the Charge of the Light Brigade and waving his hand wildly told Cardigan to charge.

"There are your enemies M'Lord!"

Frankly right now who cares who leads the Labour Party.In the next few days the most serious and vicious assault on the standards of working people in this country is going to be initiated by the most unprincipled bunch of chancers since MacDonald's 'government of national unity'in 1929

The PLP are going to engage in hostilities,that is certain,but not with the enemy.

They will be doing their best to destroy factions within their own party,and the government will be given a free run to cut jobs and services at a rate unknown in our lifetimes.

But then a party that has no ideology to rely on,and frankly has no purpose other than to ensure its parliamentarians can draw salaries and expenses has lost the plot.

The only Miliband we need at this time is sadly dead.Ralph Miliband understood clearly the class nature of this society and what should be done.

Pity his sons,for all their alleged brightness never really bothered to read their own father's analysis.

Crock of Shit politics

I am totally obliged to my Californian friends,Susan and Don,for their sound definition of modern British politics.

What we are living through is an absolute crock and I really don't know what is the worst aspect of the debacle.

Everyone is talking about 'change' and the 'new politics' and all that old guff,but it seems to me there is nothing new about changing 'long held principles' in the quest for naked power.

In order to get his arse in the ministerial limo Clegg it would seem all those cherished liberal policies were just so much tosh.

A few short days ago he and his colleagues were convinced that the Tory policy of beginning deep cuts in public spending immediately were damaging to recovery.

Yet Deputy Dawg Clegg will nod the cuts through without a thought to the damage they will do to the fabric of the country.

But then of course DDC will insist that it is all in the 'national interest'-I wonder how his poorer constituents in Sheffield will view the inevitable pain that his actions will cause?

But then again will he care? Will he care that the Tory policy of allowing any Tom,Dick or multi-millionaire can open a school at will?

Will he be at bothered that the Trident programme,that he argued rightly and passionately against will continue untroubled?

Will the privately educated Tory clone even stop to ponder his Party's traditional social democratic tradition as he cuddles up to that other public schoolboy.Truly the Jedward of British politics.

My Dad used to say 'what do you expect from a pig but a grunt!'and that about sums up the 'coalition'.

But I think on balance I'm more upset by the abdication of the New Labour Party.

In my youth there were numerous Trotskyite groups who peddled the line that if workers suffered enough they would turn to revolution out of desperation.

So New Labour have adopted the same philosophy,let the workers have a bit of the Tory/Lib-Dem lash and next time they will return in their droves to the New labour Party.

I never much liked Kinnock but at least his 'battered shield' view of the world was better than the cowardly line taken by this bunch.

it all smacks of the political class looking after themselves, and a sort of gentlemanly world view that its now someone else's turn!

The labour Party had a responsibility to try and look after their supporters,by whatever means possible.If that meant a minority government with the support of left leaning Lib-Dems, the SNP,Plaid,the Green and Sylvia Hermon-then so be it.

A rainbow coalition might have run into trouble, but it would have certainly been working in the interests of the nation that I believe needs to be looked after!

But it seems that to many in the PLP the most important issue is who will the next leader be!

What a crock we have before us.