John Simkin
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Valerio Volpi has just sent me a copy of his new book, The Roots of Contemporary Imperialism. This is what he says about his book:
In my work, I maintain that the presence of men like George W. Bush and all that follows in terms of popular repression and business domination is not the result of an authoritarian regression of U.S. politics, supposedly begun under Reagan: it is, instead, the prosecution of a project that came to light during the age of the Founding Fathers, whose main concern was not people's freedom, but, rather, the devising of constitutional mechanisms intended to defend the properties, wealth and privileges of economic elites. Barack Obama's recent election as the nominee of one of the two wings of the single "business party," despite the rhetoric about "change" and "hope," followed exactly the same pattern.
Indeed, the U.S. Constitution is elitist in origin and nature, and does not include any clause providing for state intervention directed towards the removal or, at least, mitigation of social inequalities; nor does it acknowledge any social or economic rights (an Italian scholar, Maurizio Fioravanti, defines it as "guarantee-Constitution", as opposed to French Revolution "project-Constitutions", which instead envisaged the project of a more equal and just society). In addition to that, the U.S. Constitution is strictly centred on the protection of the status quo and dominant elites' power, and even on the empowerment of the state for the repression of the common citizen and for the domination over foreign nations.
Such phenomenon is made even more serious by the way leadership is determined, together with the presence of a presidential system, characterized by a rigid separation of powers, whose main purpose is not as much preserving the balance of power between the various branches of government, as hindering any radical changes in society; and the presence in Congress, also thanks to the electoral system, of two parties, basically factions of the same business party, whose mainly local dimension makes it more prone to patronage between politicians and powerful lobbies.
The present situation does not represent a betrayal of the Founding Fathers' thought and ideals, as many have argued: it is the logical conclusion of their totalitarian philosophy. Important innovations in the U.S. political system, such as universal franchise or minorities' civil rights, for instance, are the result, as argued by Robert Dahl, How democratic is the American Constitution?, 2nd ed., New Haven: Yale UP, 2003, 130, of "moral convictions, compassion, opportunism, fear for the consequences of disorder, dangers to property and the legitimacy of the regime arising from widening discontent, and even the real or imagined possibility of revolution".
Philanthropy on the one hand; fear of being swept away by the people or minorities on the other, have led to "concessions" by the ruling elite, which, however, have not undermined the tenets of their domination. Such innovations have certainly been important, but rather limited, if we consider that the American people in the XXI century are still denied free health care, a right acknowledged in all major democracies, though the right to bear arms is still considered a fundamental element of American freedom. It is necessary to change the U.S. Constitution thoroughly, and relegate the Founding Fathers to the attic of history, in order to create a new society.
This work specifically aims at linking the constitutional structure of the United States with the creation of the prerequisites for the rise of corporate supremacy, and how such supremacy has allowed big business to replace representative institutions ever since the birth of the republic, and shape US public policy in all fields, from environmental protection to foreign interventions, whichever the party in charge. That is proven by means of dozens of diachronic examples. This book is intended for all those interested in political philosophy, political science, history, constitutional law, international relations, from a radical and critical viewpoint, obviously.
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Have a look at this video. An amazing use of the internet. I wonder how many men looking at this video will claim to be the father.
I discovered over the weekend that this video was made by the Denmark Tourist Industry. It seems that they had the idea that this story would encourage young men to visit Denmark.
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In December 1936 Peter Kerrigan decided to help the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Kerrigan's first commander was Wilfred Macartney. According to Jason Gurney: "it soon became evident that he (Macartney) had very little idea of the duties of a Battalion Commander." Kerrigan added: "He was not terribly popular in the battalion but I think he was respected for his ability. He was a capable military officer. He had a rather arrogant style." The Political Commissar was Dave Springhill, a senior figure in the Communist Party of Great Britain. He did not impress the author of Crusade in Spain who described him as being "a well-intentioned man who was completely out of his depth in the position in which he found himself."
Kerrigan became commissar for English-speaking volunteers in the battalion. Jason Gurney was one of those men who was a member of the British Battalion. He later wrote about his impression of Kerrigan in Spain: "As I remember him in Madrigueeras, he was a tall, well-built man with a thick poll of tightly crinkled hair, as dour and ill-tempered as only a Scot can be, utterly devoid of any trace of humour and with a total acceptance of the Party line." John Jones had a more positive view of Kerrigan: "He was a very stern and severe but good commissar. He did things for everyone's good."
Wilfred Macartney was an unpopular commander. It was decided by the Communist Party of Great Britain that McCartney should be recalled to London and that he should be replaced by party member, Tom Wintringham. On 6th February, 1937, Kerrigan went to see McCartney. Kerrigan later recalled what happened during this meeting: "I visited him in his room before he went back to have a talk with him about the situation with the battalion and so on. It was the intention that he would come back. This was about mid-January but he had a big, heavy revolver and I had a rather small Belgian revolver, and he said: Look Peter, how about you giving me your revolver. I am going through France I don't want to lump this thing about. I said all right. He asked to show me how to operate it. I took the revolver in my hand but I can't say for sure whether or not I touched the safety catch, or whether it was off or not, or whether I touched the trigger, but suddenly there was a shot and I had hit him in the arm with a bullet from the small Belgian revolver. We rushed him to hospital, got him an anti-tetanus injection and he was patched up and off he went."
Charles Sewell Bloom, an intelligence officer at the International Brigade Headquarters, had a different opinion on the shooting: "We were going to the front and Wilfred McCartney didn't want to go back. He said he was going with the fellows to the front. Peter Kerrigan and the rest of us thought he shouldn't, and it so happens that he shot him in the arm to make him go back to hospital. That was the only way to get him back because we didn't want to give him a bad name."
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Wilfred Macartney is one of the most interesting people in history. Yet there is virtually nothing on him on the web. In 1916 Macartney inherited £70,000 (worth £2,526,000 in 2009). Despite this money he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain.
He was arrested on 16th November 1927. He was charged with offences under the Official Secrets Act (1911) and was held at Brixton Prison until his trial at the Old Bailey in January 1928. The main evidence against Macartney was provided by George Monckland. Macartney's defence team attempted to to discredit Monckland by claiming that his circle of friends were "mainly criminal types". It was also argued that Macartney was a part-time journalist looking for information for articles. Macartney also claimed that Monckland had offered to obtain evidence that the Zinoviev Letter had been forged by MI5.
Macartney was eventually convicted of various charges under the Official Secrets Act including "attempting to obtain information on the RAF" and "collecting information relating to the mechanized force of His Majesty's Army". He "received ten years, to be served concurrently with a further sentence of two years' hard labour."
After his release from prison decided to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. As he was one of the few volunteers who had military experience, he was appointed the first commander of the British Battalion. A few months later it was decided by the Communist Party of Great Britain that McCartney should be recalled to London and that he should be replaced by party member, Tom Wintringham. On 6th February, 1937, Peter Kerrigan went to see McCartney. Kerrigan later recalled what happened during this meeting: "I visited him in his room before he went back to have a talk with him about the situation with the battalion and so on. It was the intention that he would come back. This was about mid-January but he had a big, heavy revolver and I had a rather small Belgian revolver, and he said: Look Peter, how about you giving me your revolver. I am going through France I don't want to lump this thing about. I said all right. He asked to show me how to operate it. I took the revolver in my hand but I can't say for sure whether or not I touched the safety catch, or whether it was off or not, or whether I touched the trigger, but suddenly there was a shot and I had hit him in the arm with a bullet from the small Belgian revolver. We rushed him to hospital, got him an anti-tetanus injection and he was patched up and off he went."
Had the Communist Party discovered that Macartney was working for MI5 in order to undermine the Republicans in Spain? What we do know was that Macartney worked for MI5 in the Second World War. He worked with Eddie Chapman on an undercover operation against Adolf Hitler. This included sending back false information on the accuracy of the V-1 weapon. Chapman consistently reported to the Germans that the bombs were overshooting their central London target, when in fact they were undershooting.
After the war McCartney and Chapman wrote an account of this deception. The story was brought by a French newspaper, Etoile du Soir, which resulted in both men being convicted under the Official Secrets Act at Bow Street on 29th March, 1946.
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You deserved your win. However, you are a team that depends too much on Torres and Gerrard and fear you will have problems if they have injury problems. It also seems that Carragher is not the player he was and our youngster Zavon Hines caused him a few difficult moments.
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In the meantime perhaps you can answer why Simon Stevens who worked with Tony Blair to set up a national task force in order to get the NHS euthanasia program going in England, is working with the Obama administration to export the same kind of Liverpool Pathway Careplan into the United States?
But we don't have a NHS euthanasia program in the UK. Why do you keep on posting this nonsense?
Does your NHS deny people life saving or prolonging treatments due to cost, age or physical condition? If so you have a euthanasia progrom....
One of the problems of having a debate with you Craig is your lack of understanding of the English language. This is illustrated by your attempt to accuse the NHS of having an "euthanasia progrom". The Dorland Medical Dictionary provides this definition of the word:
euthanasia /eu·tha·na·sia/ (u″thah-na´zhah)
1. an easy or painless death.
2. mercy killing; the deliberate ending of life of a person suffering from an incurable disease.
Anybody in the UK, even the most unintelligent, would not accuse the NHS of having an "euthanasia progrom". I suppose some American might be fooled, if they do not know anything about our health system, but I can't imagine else buying such a ridiculous idea.
Tsk, Tsk John, cherry picking is a really childish ploy....and lets not forget the Liverpool Care Pathway....
It seems a good part of your country is "buying it" John.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/euthanasia
also : the act or practice of allowing a hopelessly sick or injured patient to die by taking less than complete medical measures to prolong life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia
Euthanasia by means
Euthanasia may be conducted passively, non-actively, and actively. Passive euthanasia entails the withholding of common treatments (such as antibiotics, chemotherapy in cancer, or surgery) or the distribution of a medication (such as morphine) to relieve pain, knowing that it may also result in death.
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/euthanasia
The act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment
1 also called mercy killing. the deliberate causing of the death of a person who is suffering from an incurable disease or condition. It may be active, such as by administration of a lethal drug, or passive, such as by withholding of treatment. Legal authorities, church leaders, philosophers, and commentators on ethics and morality usually distinguish passive euthanasia from active euthanasia.
the act of facilitating death in a terminally ill patient, whether by deliberate activity, such as the administration of drugs that hasten death (known as
active euthanasia), or passive, as in the withholding of life-extending treatment
And none of this is taking place under the NHS.
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There is little information on the web on the activities of Kenneth Sinclair Loutit. The main reason for this was that he refused to join the Communist Party of Great Britain. Unfortunately, it is communist historians who dominate the history of the International Brigades on the web.
In 1930 Loutit won a place at Trinity College, Cambridge. At university he joined the Cambridge Socialist Society where he met John Cornford. Loutit became concerned at the growth of fascism in Italy and Germany. He also became an active opponent of Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists. He later wrote: "there was an ever increasing consensus, uniting men and women of all ages and all backgrounds, in a simple refusal of complaisance toward fascist thinking... We were ready to do something about the world we lived in, rather than to accept whatever might happen next."
After completing his degree at University of Cambridge he began a medical degree at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. However, Sinclair Loutit decided to volunteer to help the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. According to Tom Buchanan, the author of Britain and the Spanish Civil War (1997), "he disregarded a threat of disinheritance from his father to volunteer." Loutit was appointed Administrator of the British Medical Aid Unit that had been set up by the Socialist Medical Association to help the victims of fascism.
In August 1936 he left for Spain with twenty other volunteers and a fully equipped mobile hospital. According to the woman who later became his second wife: "He found himself heading an autonomous municipal department employing several hundred staff in first-aid posts, a mobile medical unit, rescue parties with light engineering capacity, motorised stretcher parties and a mortuary." They eventually set up hospitals at Cuenca, Murcia and Albacete.
While in Spain he met the journalist Tom Wintringham. When asked what he was up to, Wintringham replied: "Look, the Party as you saw in Paris is the brain, heart and guts of the Popular Front and it's even more so in Spain. Unless the unit is right with the Party you'll be lost." According to Sinclair Loutit, Wintringham was already "formulating the concept of the International Brigades."
At this time Sinclair Loutit described himself as "a non-party, radical intellectual aged 23, frightened and disgusted by the inhumanity of the depression." Tom Wintringham, who was a leading member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, befriended the young doctor: "He (Wintringham) was helpful and kind in great things and small. To be with a warmly human Marxist who was also a cool soldier made it possible for me possible for me to find the beginning of the path and I count him one of the best friends I ever had."
After returning from the Spanish Civil War he completed his medical degree at St Bartholomew's Hospital. He married Thora Silverthorne and the couple lived at 12 Great Ormond Street. Sinclair Loutit was elected as a “unity front” councillor for Holborn. Unfortunately, the marriage was not a success and ended in divorce.
Kenneth Sinclair Loutit became a doctor in London and in 1938 helped establish Finsbury Health Centre. His second wife, Angela Sinclair Loutit, later recalled that it had been "founded on socialist principles that would later become the bedrock of the National Health Service. For the first time, doctors worked side by side with nurses, social workers, radiographers and physiotherapists."
On the outbreak of the Second World War Loutit was appointed Medical Officer in Paris to the Polish Relief Fund and Medical Officer for Civil Defence in Finsbury. He was on duty during the Blitz. On 10th May, 1940 he was involved in trying to extricate survivors from a collapsed block of flats in Stepney. He later told a journalist: "On May 10, the borough was hit so badly it was just a jungle of smoke and flames. I led my rescue team into the wreckage and the first few yards of tunnelling were always the worst; if the building was going to cave in on top of you, it would most likely be at the start. Each bomb that dropped, he said, was a form of Russian roulette in which the trigger is pulled by someone else."
Loutit was awarded a MBE for his work during the early stages of the war and it was suggested that he stood for the House of Commons. However, his second wife, Angela, persuaded him not to embark on a political career: "I wasn’t really into politics at the time, so I advised him to take another job offer with the World Health Organisation." He remained with the WHO for the rest of his working life.
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In the meantime perhaps you can answer why Simon Stevens who worked with Tony Blair to set up a national task force in order to get the NHS euthanasia program going in England, is working with the Obama administration to export the same kind of Liverpool Pathway Careplan into the United States?
But we don't have a NHS euthanasia program in the UK. Why do you keep on posting this nonsense?
Does your NHS deny people life saving or prolonging treatments due to cost, age or physical condition? If so you have a euthanasia progrom....
One of the problems of having a debate with you Craig is your lack of understanding of the English language. This is illustrated by your attempt to accuse the NHS of having an "euthanasia progrom". The Dorland Medical Dictionary provides this definition of the word:
euthanasia /eu·tha·na·sia/ (u″thah-na´zhah)
1. an easy or painless death.
2. mercy killing; the deliberate ending of life of a person suffering from an incurable disease.
Anybody in the UK, even the most unintelligent, would not accuse the NHS of having an "euthanasia progrom". I suppose some American might be fooled, if they do not know anything about our health system, but I can't imagine else buying such a ridiculous idea.
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I need a picture of Gene Wheaton, preferably one from the 1990s. Could someone please send it to me at
swexler2@hotmail.com
... this could be a screen capture, etc.
Thanks,
Stu
Gene Wheaton was filmed by William Law and Mark Sobel in the summer of 2005. Have you tried contacting them?
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I wrote on my West Ham blog on 2nd August, 2009:
"West Ham's pre-season games have been disappointing so far. The one bright spark is Zavon Hines. Although he only played the last ten minutes in the two games in China, he looked very lively and was impressed by the way he took his goal. (You need to see it in slow motion to realise just how good it was.)... The way Hines moves reminds me of Ian Wright. He seems a confident lad, a vital ingredient if you are going to be a top striker. It would not surprise me if Hines is our breakthrough player this season."
http://hammersnews.blogspot.com/
I was very impressed with the way he played yesterday. The reason he caused the Liverpool defence so many problems was his electric acceleration. One can understand why Jamie Carragher thought he had time to clear the ball in the 2nd minute that led to Hines hitting the post. As Stanley Matthews used to say, it is the speed that you have over the first 10 yards that really causes defenders problems. This is why he was fouled so much and Martin Skrtel should have been sent off for his last ditch foul on Hines as he raced through the middle.
Hines’s first touch is very good but he needs to improve his passing and tackling. However, he will not be truly effective until he plays in a 4-4-2 system. His talents will be wasted if has to stay on the wing defending his own full-back.
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Does anyone know whether the Irish Mafia that Kennedy had round him in the White House WERE actually Irish Mafia? Kenny O'Donnell, for example?
Or were they just clannish and a bit ruthless?
An important member of the Irish Mafia around Kennedy was Edward Grant Stockdale.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKstockdale.htm
He was rewarded by being appointed Ambassador to Ireland in March, 1961. However, he was also involved with the Mafia and Bobby Baker in the placing of vending machines in corporations with government contracts. He was forced to resign in July, 1962. He was replaced by another member of JFK's Irish Mafia, Matthew H. McCloskey. He was also part of the Bobby Baker set-up and he was forced to resign over the same issue.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmccloskey.htm
Stockdale died on 2nd December, 1963 when he fell (or was pushed) from his office on the thirteenth story of the Dupont Building in Miami. Stockdale did not leave a suicide note but his friend, George Smathers, claimed that he had become depressed as a result of the death of JFK. However, his daughter told me via email that she was convinced that Stockdale was murdered to keep him quiet about what he knew about the assassination and the Bobby Baker case.
Other members of the Kennedy's Irish Mafia included Dave Powers, Larry O'Brien and Kenneth O'Donnell.
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I am currently updating my Spanish Civil War page:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Spanish-Civil-War.htm
This includes a page on Marty Hourihan. Hourihan was a member of the American Communist Party when he decided to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. He joined the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and soon after arriving in Spain took part in the Battle of Jarama. Hourihan's commanding officer was Robert Merriman. When the battalion was ordered over the top they were backed by a pair of tanks from the Soviet Union. On the first day 20 men were killed and nearly 60 were wounded.
On 27th February 1937, Colonel Vladimir Copic, the Yugoslav commander of the Fifteenth Brigade, ordered Robert Merriman and his men to attack the Nationalist forces again at Jarama. As soon as he left the trenches Merriman was shot in the shoulder, cracking the bone in five places. Of the 263 men who went into action that day, only 150 survived. One soldier remarked afterwards: "The battalion was named after Abraham Lincoln because he, too, was assassinated." Edwin Rolfe survived but wrote: "When we were pulled out of the lines I felt very tired and lonely and guilty. Lonely because half of the battalion had been badly shot up. And guilty because I felt I didn't deserve to be alive now, with Arnold and Nick and Paul dead."
Hourihan was made the new commander of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion by a committee of the soldiers. In Comrades and Commissars: The Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War (2007) Cecil D. Eby claims that "Party hard-wires distrusted the new Lincoln commander, a political maverick so defiant of the Party line that at times he seemed not even to know what it was."
Jason Gurney, the brigade observer, was impressed by his new commanding officer. "Marty, in his role of Commander, inevitably lived a rather lonely life; he had to maintain absolute neutrality without any close friendships or favourites, but he was by nature a gregarious man and the friendship which we had formed for one another was very strong. He had a terrific sense of humour and, although he had little formal education, a very good mind and a superb sense of human sympathy. He never bore grudges or carried on feuds, he could be tough as hell in public, but there was much more of sorrow for human weakness than condemnation of wickedness in his outlook."
Marty Hourihan became completely disillusioned by the actions of the Political Commissioners in the Spanish Civil War. His close friend, Jason Gurney, became convinced that Steve Nelson was "responsible for the mysterious disappearances of a number of people from among our ranks and for the secret trials, for real or imagined offences, which caused so much fear and suspicion within the Battalion." Gurney later recalled: " The nobility of the cause for which I had come to Spain was clearly a fiction, and now the sudden and absolute conviction that life was an experience with no past and no future, merely ending in annihilation."
Hourihan shared Gurney's feelings about the behaviour of the Political Commissioners who were taking their orders direct from the Soviet Union. On 5th April 1937 Vladimir Copic told Hourihan to leave their trenches to attack the Nationalist forces at Jarma. Hourihan refused and Copic replied: "You're cowards! You don't perform your duties! You're not aggressive enough!" Hourihan later told Steve Nelson: "I'm not going to give any orders to the Battalion to climb out of the trench and get themselves slaughtered until there is some real support." Gurney commented that Nelson and Copic accepted this because he knew "the entire Battalion was sufficiently angry to mutiny, as it had done before."
On 6th July 1937, the Popular Front government launched a major offensive in an attempt to relieve the threat to Madrid. The main battle took place at Brunete. In the subsequent attack on the town Hourihan was hit in the leg by a sniper that resulted in his thigh bone being broken.
The medical board at Albacete ordered Hourihan to be repatriated as he was considered to be unfit for further military service. When he arrived back in the United States he resigned from the American Communist Party. As a result he was denounced by the Daily Worker as "an enemy of the working-class". Hourihan was also criticised for not having lost too many men during the attack on Nationalist forces on 27th February 1937. As the historian Cecil D. Eby pointed out, this was "proof for them that he had been more interested in saving lives (including his own) than in exterminating Fascists."
After the Second World War Hourihan obtained a teaching post in Greenlaw County. He also attended Huntingdon College, Alabama, graduating in 1959.
In 1967 Marty Hourihan was manager of a country club in Terra Haute, Indiana. The historian, Cecil D. Eby, who managed to find him later reported that: " Hourihan... made me promise never to divulge his whereabouts because he feared as a former Communist he would lose his job. To my surprise, he was not afraid of being denounced by the FBI but by the CP or VALB, as punishment for straying from the faith".
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The origins of female police officers comes from women's patrols in the First World War. It was decided to billet the soldiers in local towns and villages. Some people became concerned about the soldiers corrupting local girls. The Headmistresses' Association and the Federation of University Women suggested the formation of Woman's Patrols to stop local woman from becoming too friendly with the soldiers.
The War Office gave permission for these patrols to take place outside military camps. They were also very active in public parks and cinemas. After visiting 300 cinemas in three weeks, the Women's Patrol Committee recommended that lights were not dimmed between films.
Women's Patrols worked closely with the local police and the Women Police Volunteers. It is estimated that during the First World War over 2,000 patrols were established, including over 400 in London.
You can read some funny local newspaper reports on this here:
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I have done the same for the Montgomery Bus Boycott:
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I have updated my page on Martin Luther King to include YouTube videos:
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I wonder if the John Snow who signed the petition is the John Snow who presents Channel 4 TV news?
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I have had complaints from the police about my portrayal of the early days of the women's police force. They especially dislike my page on Mary S. Allen. The daughter of the manager of the Great Western Railway, she was born in Cardiff in 1878. She joined the Women's Political and Social Union (WSPU) after meeting Annie Kenney. In 1912 she became head of the Hastings branch of the WSPU. A militant suffragette, she was imprisoned three times, including once for throwing a brick through a Home Office window.
Like most members of the WSPU, Allen agreed to the decision to give full support to the British war effort during the First World War. In September 1914, Nina Boyle, a member of the WSPU founded the Women Police Volunteers. The following year Margaret Damer Dawson became Commandant and Allen became her Sub-Commandant.
The government had always opposed the idea of police women but with large numbers of policemen joining the British Army, it was considered a good idea to have women volunteers to help run the service. Another reason that Dawson's proposal was accepted was that her members were willing to work without pay. Allen later remarked in her book, The Pioneer Policewoman, that: "A sense of humour had kept me from any bitterness. I was quite as enthusiastically ready to work with and for the police as I had been prepared, if necessary, to enter into combat with them."
In February 1915 Dawson and Allen renamed her organisation, the Women's Police Service (WPS). At first the WPS concentrated its work in the London area. Wearing a dark-blue uniform, the WPS were assigned responsibilities such as looking after the welfare of refugees.
When the Armistice was signed, there were 357 members of the Women's Police Service. Margaret Damer Dawson and Allen, asked the Chief Commissioner, Sir Nevil Macready, to make them a permanent part of his force. He refused, saying that the women were "too educated" and would "irritate" male members of the force. Macready instead decided to recruit and train his own women. However, both Dawson and Allen were awarded the OBE for services to their country during wartime.
When ill-health forced Margaret Damer Dawson to retire in 1920, Allen became the new Commandant of the Women Police Service. In February, 1920, Mary Allen and four of her members were charged with "impersonating police officers". It was claimed that their uniforms were too similar to that of the one worn by the Metropolitan Women Police Patrols. After a four-day hearing Macready won his case and the WPS were forced to change its uniform and its name to the Women's Auxiliary Service.
In 1922 Allen spent time in Cologne where she trained German women for police work. During the 1926 General Strike she helped to keep the road transport services running. Like many former members of the WSPU, including Emily and Christabel Pankhurst, moved in the 1920s to the extreme right. Allen was a frequent visitor to Nazi Germany and after meeting Adolf Hitler in 1934 and became one of his most fervent admirers. Even when on official duties with the Women's Auxiliary Service she wore Nazi style jack-boots.
Allen was an active supporter of General Francisco Franco and his Nationalist Army during the Spanish Civil War. She was also Chief Women's Officer of the British Union of Fascists and a member of the the Right-Club. The historian, Julie V. Gottlieb, has argued: "Allen was a prominent supporter of Mosley's British Union, a movement she claimed she had joined due to her sympathy for its anti-war policy."
Her extreme right-wing views made her unpopular with some members of the Women's Auxiliary Service and she was forced to leave the movement with the approach of the Second World War. According to Helena Wojtczak: "Mary Allen became increasingly eccentric, and her apparent support for Hitler and Goering led to questions about whether she should be interned in 1940."
There are several good books on the relationship between feminism and the far right. This includes: Feminist Freikorps: British Voluntary Women Police, 1914-40 (R. M. Douglas), Feminine Fascism: Women in Britain's Fascist Movement (Julie V. Gottlieb) and Women, Gender and Fascism in Europe, 1919-45 (Kevin Passmore)
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In the meantime perhaps you can answer why Simon Stevens who worked with Tony Blair to set up a national task force in order to get the NHS euthanasia program going in England, is working with the Obama administration to export the same kind of Liverpool Pathway Careplan into the United States?
But we don't have a NHS euthanasia program in the UK. Why do you keep on posting this nonsense?
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What a great resource. Cigdem, are you involved in this project?
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There has been talk among experts and lawmakers of giving more power to a panel of government experts to decide—Britain has one, called the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (known by the somewhat ironic acronym NICE). But no one wants the horror stories of denied care and long waits that are said to plague state-run national health-care systems. (The criticism is unfair: patients wait longer to see primary-care physicians in the United States than in Britain.) After the summer of angry town halls, no politician is going to get anywhere near something that could be called a "death panel."
Did you actually read this quote? What do you think Newsweek means by the following: "But no one wants the horror stories of denied care and long waits that are said to plague state-run national health-care systems. (The criticism is unfair: patients wait longer to see primary-care physicians in the United States than in Britain.)"
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or indeed a 'Eurocommunist' conspiracy. Anything is possible when you cherry pick your evidence.
I don't believe in a 9/11 conspiracy. However, I do believe that governments conspire in order to mislead the population. For example, the governments of Britain, the USA and Israel, in an effort to persuade us that Iraq had WMD and posed a threat to the lives of people living in the UK. David Aaronovitch was very much part of this conspiracy. So also was Rupert Murdoch. Every one of his 179 newspapers argued in favour of the invasion. Interestingly, in an interview he gave at the time, the main reason for this policy was a belief that it would result in a fall in the oil price and an increase in stock-market shares.
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In his new book David Aaronovitch debunks the world's greatest conspiracy theories. Here he deconstructs those that followed 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings.
David Aaronovitch does indeed know a great deal about political conspiracies. He of course played a leading role in convincing the British public that the invasion of Iraq was a good thing. He has long been a spokesman for Israel's foreign policy. He is also a supporter of Rupert Murdoch's media interests. Since June 2005, he has written a regular column for The Times and regularly writes columns for the Jewish Chronicle.
Would that be the international jewish conspiracy then John?
No, but it might have something to do with an Israeli conspiracy. I hope you are not one of those people who believe any attack on the foreign policy of Israel is part of a anti-Jewish conspiracy.
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In his new book David Aaronovitch debunks the world's greatest conspiracy theories. Here he deconstructs those that followed 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings.
David Aaronovitch does indeed know a great deal about political conspiracies. He of course played a leading role in convincing the British public that the invasion of Iraq was a good thing. He has long been a spokesman for Israel's foreign policy. He is also a supporter of Rupert Murdoch's media interests. Since June 2005, he has written a regular column for The Times and regularly writes columns for the Jewish Chronicle.
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Jefferson Morley on Facebook:
"I have read the CIA's latest motion in my lawsuit. It is disappointing but revealing.The defiance of the spirit of Obama's executive order on FOIA is blatant and startling. But the CIA motion, in its defensiveness, indicates where some of ...the Agency's most sensitive JFK records are located. Thus the lawsuit, while it faces huge obstacles, is shedding new light on the JFK story. I'll be writing about this soon."
West Ham v Liverpool
in Football
Posted
Hines was fouled when clean through on goal. Skrtel’s rugby tackle denied a goalscoring opportunity but Marriner amazingly waved play on. If he gave a foul he would have had to sent Skrtel off.