Tag Archive: Socialism


JEREMY CORBYN – A VICTORY FOR THE VALUES OF DECENCY

Filed under: Good causes, Politics — Leave a comment
September 12, 2015

corbynmaniaA friend of mine recently dismissed Jeremy Corbyn as being not just as a man in his 60s but also as a man of the 60s.

The implication being that he speaks for an era that has passed and therefore advocates policies that are out of date.

If this were remotely true, I doubt he would have engaged and inspired so many in his remarkable path towards becoming leader of the Labour Party (From “Jez-he-can” to “Jez-he-did!”).

It is significant that he has been able to win over not only voters of his own generation (he was born in 1949) but has also managed to mobilize otherwise disillusioned youths who have not previously had a Socialist option to vote for (born under Thatcher – raised under Blair). Continue reading →

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THE BOOK I READ : KIPPS

Filed under: Books, Fiction, Politics — Leave a comment
July 17, 2014

The third in a series of 13 book reviews I wrote in my pre-blogging years.

 KIPPS – The Story of a Simple Soul by H.G. Wells (1905)

kippsThe excellence of this novel is not sustained to the end. Book III (Kippses) comes as quite a disappointment with its excursion into the domestic problems of the newlyweds (Anne & Kipps). Other events like the birth of their son are merely sketched in as the story drifts towards an anti-climatic conclusion.

Books I and II are, however, quite wonderful. Firstly, the plight of Kipps as he is forced into a dead-end job and sent out into the world in a state of complete innocence are superbly described.

Wells’ touches of irony are almost always effective, for example he describes the pitifully short amount of leisure time Kipps has at the end of the day as follows: “the rest of the day was entirely at his disposal for reading, recreation and the improvement of his mind”.

The confused dreams of Kipps are very believable. He, for instance, longs to be more learned but knows nothing about books, It is another irony that at the end of the novel he acquires a bookshop.

If confusion without money is bad enough, confusion with a windfall of £1200 a year proves to be just as bad. One feels for Kipps as he struggles to learn the “manners and rules of good society” and is taken advantage of by the so-called respectable classes. Continue reading →

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PROGRESS DEPENDS ON MINORITIES

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June 15, 2012

“Progress comes through the gradual

effect of a minority in converting

opinion and altering custom” –

Bertrand Russell from the

essay/lecture ‘Pitfalls In Socialism’.

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TEPID WHITE HEAT

Filed under: Gender, Music, Politics, Television — Leave a comment
April 14, 2012

WHITE HEAT – written by Paula Milne, directed by John Alexander (BBC Two)

The White Heat seven – the way they were.

White Heat reached a lukewarm finale this week.  What began promisingly eventually fizzled out  to a largely predictable and heavily stage-managed conclusion.

In the six part drama we followed the fortunes of seven characters over a heady 25 year period.

This group first meet as students in a shared house in North London. Each part is set in a different year, beginning in 1965 and ending in 1990.

A present day perspective is established from the outset with the now ageing group gathering at the home of one of the seven who has been found dead at his or her home.

The identity of the deceased is not revealed until the final episode and the contents of a locked safe is not opened until right at the end – this plot device  kept me watching to find out who had snuffed it and what his or her secret was; I’m not entirely sure I’d have made it to the finish otherwise. Continue reading →

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CAPITALISM : A LAME STORY

Filed under: Movies, Politics — 2 Comments
March 17, 2010

If I were a capitalist, I wouldn’t be unduly concerned about Michael Moore’s new piece of investigative journalism – ‘Capitalism – A Love Story’.

Moore is such a populist that he cannot resist lumping serious points with jokey sequences –  a practice that seriously undermines the thrust of his arguments here. Continue reading →

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