Maggie's End

Which side are you on?
http://www.billybragg.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=492

Nothing left

Socialism isn't dead it's just resting a bit, and I am convinced that one day it will make an impressive come back. After all, the basic principles are pretty sound. If you truly understand what socialism is about you can't fail to want to embrace it, unless you are a totally heartless and greedy bastard. There is a no more equitable system than a true socialist path. I believe in, what Billy Bragg once sang about “a socialism of the heart". That's not to say that my head doesn't have an influence. But if you are not a compassionate and caring individual who has a love for humankind you are not likely to become or even expound socialist ideas and principles.

Thatcher thought she presided over the eradication of the socialist left, perhaps she did, and perhaps that was no bad thing, but the ideals of socialism live on. I feel that the time has come, for those of us that have kept the faith, to remind people about how good it could be. Now I know that some souls will have been plugging away with the same message for years, but nothing is constant and many of the ideas of the left that seemed appropriate or fashionable in the twentieth century probably won't be applicable today. If lasting socialist inspired governments are to be established a new way of communicating is needed.

The current economic turmoil that the western world finds itself in along with the impending ecological doom that will surely turn the world upside down and offer a perfect base to start building a new socialist future.

Discuss

Stop Worrying

New Year's Day

Another great thing about living in Norwich is that it is so close to the coast. This made it easy for us to yesterday pootle down to Horsey in search of baby seals.

Although a grey day it wasn’t too unpleasant weather-wise. We lunched at the Nelson’s Head before heading off to the beach. From the pub I would suggest that it is a good mile/mile and a half walk to where you can view the seals. I hadn’t realised that Horsey was part of the Broads National Park, but apparently it is. The Park authority now rope off the beach on the sand dunes that are set back from water and beach itself so that the seals a relatively undisturbed. This is just as well as there were hordes of people there to witness this amazing event.

There seemed to be quite a mixture of seals at various stages of the reproductive process. Lying around on the beach were mating couples, pregnant females, pups suckling, inquisitive more advanced pups, and bulls swimming and diving in the sea.

Apparently once a pup has first malted they become quite inquisitive and have a tendency to come to have a look at these strange creatures that have in turn come to look at them. They clamber through the dunes in their own lovable and clumsy way coming very close to us humans, sniffing, snorting and passively growling as they do so. The pub below came right up to my feet. I’ve placed a short video on YouTube of this pup as it waddled towards me.

Dean Spanley

Dean Spanley is a delightful film. It is truly one of the best films I've seen in a long time. Last night we sat in Cinema City, transfixed and transported into this marvellous film. It was a most enjoyable evening.

You would imagine that a film based around the notion of re-incarnation would not be a barrel of laughs, but how wrong you would be. This joint New Zealand/British production has a weighty cast headed up by Peter O'Toole. You just can't go wrong with an actor of O'Toole's stature. The man has you entranced, metaphorically filling the whole screen with his presence. This giant can act just with his eyes. Add to that a great performance from the antipodean thespian Bryan Brown, someone who deserves greater international acclaim, and you have yourself a film not to be missed.

I suspect that this film is the sort that is not going to be widely accessible. That's to say that it will be a rare commodity in large cinema chains and smaller towns. That is a shame as it is infinitely better than any Hollywood offering, and at the same time could easily be appreciated by the masses.

Set in England, just after the Boer War, its two main themes are dogs and re-incarnation. I loathe dogs and dismiss re-incarnation as mumbo jumbo (or mumble jumble as Peter O'Toole says in the film), but despite that the film does not suffer one jot.

This is a thoroughly enchanting, very funny and touching film, which I commend you to watch given the opportunity.

It's snotty by train

I’ve been ill for two weekends in a row. I currently have a cold which broke out on Saturday morning, and the weekend before I had some flu-like bug that kept me in bed for a day and a half.

One of the joys of public transport is you get to travel with members of the general public and all their faults, their inconsiderate manners, their disgusting habits and their germs. I’m convinced I picked these two illnesses up travelling by train. Those over hot or freezing cold contraptions that claim to offer a transport service for the masses. With the extreme changes in temperature and the way you are often packed in it is no wonder that trains are a breeding ground for illness. And by way of an added bonus they transport these unwell people to so many places, spreading diseases far and wide.

I hate public transport, sniff!

Council Houses

I’m no economic expert, and I’m most aware that there are never easy answers to economic crises, but I am concerned that the government are being awfully quiet about something that I feel could make a bit difference.

I think that it is well accepted that the current woes have been brought about by personal debt, in the western world, being out of control. Fuelled by property prices and people’s desire to own, banks and other lending institutions have sort to make huge profits by making credit easier to access. Thus helping to maintain the upward movement of property prices a Catch 22 situation! That is until it all came crashing down around everybody’s ears.

Given that, in our present system, housing is the principle driver in economic growth, I would have thought that a house building programme was essential at this moment in time to stave off the worst of the effects of the recession. Also given the current shortage of mortgages and the reluctance of people to borrow we can in no way rely on private house building to make much of a contribution. There are, as far as I can see, three very good reasons (I’m sure there are many more actually) for increasing the number of houses built. These reasons are both moral and economic, and they are:

There is a housing shortage

It would keep building workers in employment and retain those skills in the system

New homes means that people by new things to go in them, thus upping consumer spending.

If the private sector can’t deliver on housing what would be so wrong with the government financing a major council house building programme?

They are throwing money at so many other things and they have stated that they intend to fund public projects, so building houses would have such a beneficial effect on the economy. Schools and hospitals are important and I wouldn’t want to give the impression that they should not be built at all, but I do think housing should be at the very top of the list. I also believe that we should not be spending money on building offices or new council chambers or any other so called 'prestige’ projects.

A return to having a decent council housing stock, as well as having economic benefits, would also have social ones. If you treat people well they will respond to that treatment. It won’t be a universal panacea. You can’t solve society’s ills with just one initiative, but it would be a good start. Society, broken by Thatcherite policies, will take a long time to heal. This could help with repairing the damage.

Council house upbringing