Nick
@nick.4glengate.net
190 followers 470 following 760 posts
Food, beer, unsuccessful sports teams, even less successful political movements. Giving a shit since 1969, and paying the price for it in depression, anxiety and unhealthy coping mechanisms.
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Did he call them "antifa"?
#OtD 16 Oct 1918 the Immigration Act of 1918 (aka: Alien Anarchists Exclusion Act of 1918) was signed into US law by Pres Wilson. It expanded earlier powers to target anarchists and @IWW members, nearly 1000 of whom were later deported stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8829...
How far back does your data go? I remember surges in GP membership in the early 90s around the European election cycle.
I'm down with wanting to abolish "work" (i.e. capitalism) and in the meantime preferring to work for oneself rather than for a corporate giant. It's a privilege for sure, but it's an appealing one.
Just one of many reasons, sadly.
Not sure "saved" is the word I would pick to describe a pub turned into nine flats.
I remember reading that during the Spanish revolution, tipping was abolished in worker-controlled areas, in the pursuit of equality and respect for the jobs of hospitality workers. Second, does there need to be a second version of this for The Barmaid, or do you think it's covered?
Great work, great list, and a fascinating and powerful read. Thank you for researching and writing it. I have a couple of questions. Firstly, did you detect a difference in the portrayal and mythology of the waitress in the US (tip-based culture) compared to Europe (wages, not so much tipping)?
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We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.
Autocorrect thought I should be referencing you practicing your flapjacks, and I really, really, really wanted to leave that in.
I suppose you don't get a lot of hecklers at your shows, the content and delivery don't invite people to try to 'spar' with you like that. Nice therefore that he's popped along on your socials to give you a chance to practice your clapbacks. 10/10, no notes.
So much this. I thought the despair I felt at the genocide was unbearable, but honestly the despair I've felt watching centrists "give credit" to Trump for the ceasefire, and then immediately shift back into ignoring the reality of life (and death) for Palestinians has been worse. We are so fucked.
They're so morally bankrupt that they reduce a genocide *in which they have been complicit* to an electoral calculation. I hope they never get anywhere near power again.
Labour MPs reckon that if the ceasefire holds it will be harder for opponents to mobilize against them over the Israel-Palestine issue in the next election. There are concerns though about whether the fragile agreement will hold. More in London Playbook PM.
How do none of those get picked off?
The Guardian gets an A for its coverage of US politics maybe, but it is pernicious within its home market where it has happily been the voice of a right wing cabal in the Labour party, playing a deliberately anti-progressive role. C- at best.
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We will also hear a lot about Washington's "diplomatic achievement", a travesty of a framing. The US could have pulled the plug on Israel's genocide at any point over the past two years, and chose not to. The basis of a ceasefire has long been there, but Israel and its allies weren't interested.
This thread nails exactly how I was feeling reading posts about the ceasefire. The relief on the faces of dancing Palestinian children is understandable and a treasured thing, but it doesn't alter the reality of what has happened, the West's complicity, or the likely outcomes (which are bad, sorry).
Palestinians will feel understandable relief. The West should feel nothing but shame. Gaza has been obliterated. The territory rendered uninhabitable. Tens of thousands murdered in cold blood. The entire population subjected to starvation tactics. And now, colonial subjugation under Trump and Blair
This is the most wholesome end to the story I could possibly imagine. Amazing!
What we are saying is that mud-wrestling Tommy Robinson for the right to wrap yourself in a flag which has been a symbol of oppression in fully a quarter of the world is a very strange position for a socialist, someone who used to sing about internationalism.
This is a heartbreakingly bad take by Billy. We're not trying to"build solidarity with the working class" but within it. Anti-racists, immigrants and refugees are working class, not some 'outside' force. No-one is saying the St George flag is the same as a swastika.
Every time this happens the media repeat the lie that this "will help pubs". Sure. Extra staff, probably door security required, operators working even longer hours than usual. But customers with no extra money to spend. If they drink at midnight watching football they won't go out the next day.
Thanks for this. Great thread.
I don't like picking just one, and different genres require different skills, but Robb Johnson is the greatest left-wing song writer alive, possibly ever, and that seems important in these times.
It hit me hard at the time, because I was a huge fan. But he's a radio 4 "British institution" these days, and hardly ruffles feathers any more. I've moved on to other music and learned a lesson.

As the Redskins sang, "Take no heroes"
And to believe that, you have to completely misunderstand the history and class interests at work in this country.

"What do they know of England, who only England know?" Indeed.
I remember arguing with him at Tolpuddle about 20 years ago over things he'd said on stage about reclaiming the St George flag and he was so impervious to reason that it really upset me.

I think it's been a thread in his songs all along, sadly, that he's "proper English" and the racists aren't.