Poetry – Floundering in the Wake

Posted on by Opher

Floundering in the Wake

We flounder in their wake from this austerity

Inflicted by politicians on you and them and me –

Except for all the bankers immune to the disease

Still necking back the champagne and living lives of ease.

We’re all in this together – except the one percent!

They’re a law unto themselves for which we all lament.

One day we will rise up and depose them from their thrones –

The greedy and the selfish who can’t hear people’s moans.

They are the ones who cause this misery

Grabbing all the wealth from her, and you and me!

In the midst of this madness with the destruction of our schools

The politicians party and treat us all like fools.

They’re still necking back their champagne and driving in their cars

Selling subprime mortgages from here to there to Mars.

They do not give a damn if the people cannot pay

As long as they have their fat bonuses to keep their blues at bay.

They have their private services to provide an ample buffer

And when it all goes tits up they know it’s not them who’ll suffer!

Opher 16.9.2018

It irks me that the politicians decided who should pay for the crash they created – not them who deregulated and gave the bankers freedom to go mad, not the bankers who created the crash with their greed, not the top 1% who benefitted from the bonanza, but us – the innocent ordinary people. We are the ones to pay. Our pay is slashed and frozen, our pensions are reduced, our public services are decimated with cuts – because the country cannot afford it. But we can afford the fat bonuses for the wealthy, tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations; we can afford big wage increases in the boardrooms and we still do not address the massive tax evasion schemes, or to force the huge megacompanies like Amazon to pay their fair share.

There is one rule for the rich and quite another for us, so the inequality gap opens into a yawning chasm and is filled with lies. Meanwhile, hidden behind the shroud of Brexit, the country falls apart, public services decay, people go hungry, law and order breaks down. But safe behind their gated communities, with their private healthcare and education, the elite are immune.

Key Workers shat on again!!

Posted on by Opher

Mealy-mouthed hypocrites!! They spout nice words and clap but don’t give a shit! They should try living on £21,000!!

They let them work in dangerous front line conditions.

They let them safe their life and then turn round and laugh in their faces.

All the key workers are now seeing their pay frozen once again. After a decade of pointless Tory austerity the key workers are being shat on again.

I bet the bankers, who sat on the side-lines and made a killing, are going to be getting their multimillion pound bonuses!!!

The Decline of the Public Services under the Tories.

Posted on by Opher

Tory policy is simple – they attempt to keep wages and public costs down to a minimum and give tax breaks to the rich. It has been that way ever since the party was created by the rich and wealthy. They are called Conservatives because they wish to maintain the status quo where the poor are kept poor and the rich maximise their profits.

That is why they were called the Nasty Party. They rob from the poor to give to the rich.

They have used the financial crisis as an excuse to follow a hardline policy of austerity. Under the guise of ‘We’re all in this together’ they froze public servants pay, cut services causing widespread job losses, set up a minimum wage ‘gig’ economy, slashed benefits for the disabled and poor and reduced corporation tax and income tax for the rich. While those at the bottom struggle to survive those at the top have doubled their already substantial incomes.

Fairness? No callous lying stupidity. We are still, in the face of all evidence, being told that they represent the working people. Liars.

Having now had seven years of this terrible policy, with no end in sight for the deficit, we are now in a situation where our public services are crumbling:

Crime is rising steeply, with violent crime steepest of all.

Prisons are rioting.

The NHS is missing every target going and struggling to cope.

Welfare is in crisis with huge increases in rough sleepers and food banks, suicides and despair.

Schools are in crisis with teachers leaving in droves, a curriculum that is stifling, and an endless stream of gimmicks designed to hide the reality.

How much more of this senseless, uncaring callousness can we take?

Let’s get Corbyn in and sort the mess out!

Education and Health Service now falling apart!!

Posted on by Opher

Starved of cash with seven years of pay cuts causing staff shortages, the National Health Service, Education and Police are beginning to fall apart.

The entire staff of one school resigned together.

The number of unqualified teachers has risen by 60%. Do we really want every untrained Tom Dick and Harry teaching our kids? They are surely worth more than that.

As the rich take their kids to private school and buy their health care the public sector is being hung out to rot by the Tories. They are robbing the poor and public servants to give tax cuts to the rich and big corporations. It stinks.

Crime rates are rising steeply for the first time.

The Tories are creating a crisis.

We are the fifth biggest economy in the world. Where is the money going?

We know where the money is going, don’t we? We only have to look at George Osborne’s income to see that. They are feathering their own nests at the expense of the poor, sick, vulnerable and our children.

How much longer are we going to put up with it?

So what’s wrong with socialism?

Posted on by Opher

Socialism is a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership and democratic control of the means of production;[

It is a system that is opposed to the rampant greed of capitalism. This mantra of profit before all else, greed and to hell with everything, is what is creating inequality, environmental destruction, overpopulation and fuelling war. There’s a better way.

I like democracy and having a say in what is going on.

Socialism is based on the idea of equality.

It is associated with environmentalism, feminism and liberalism.

They are all things I am in agreement with.

I’ve been listening with interest to the arguments put forward at the Labour Conference and good ones they are too.

An end to austerity and the vicious attacks on the poor, disabled and public servants.

I want an educational system for everyone – not selection and a series of grammar schools for the wealthy while the rest get the slops.

The nationalisation of the Post Office. How on Earth does it make sense to have thousands of cars and vans running around the countryside delivering amazon parcels instead of one streamlined, joined up service? It’s a bunch of poorly paid people being exploited for profit. We have a national system that is efficient and streamlined it’s called the Post Office.

The Nationalisation of the Railways. I’m sick of hiked up prices for travel. A piecemeal set of companies all in it to cream off wealth for a bunch of rich owners. I want an efficient, joined up, safe, cheap service, development and a service that provides comfort and speed. It needs to be under public ownership.

The end of Trident. Trident is a hugely expensive red herring. It can never be used and is minuscule compared with the USA and Russia (and probably China too)  It’s only reason is to give Britain a place at the top table. Well I could do without a place at the top table. The money could be spent on anti-terrorism, schools, hospitals and housing.

I want the greedy bankers and capitalists to pay more. I want a country with more equality and less greed.

I want the environment being respected and conserved. I don’t want fracking destroying our countryside and polluting the water.

I could go on. I can’t find much I disagree with.

I’m a socialist, a paid up Labour man. I believe in equality. I want capitalism curbed.

I want the Labour Party to unite and get behind the leader and get their message across. It’s time we started showing up the Tories for the bunch of greedy capitalists they are.

There is a better way – it’s the Labour way. I’m a SOCIALIST through and through.

 

Britain today – the reality – the inequality – the lies and deceit.

Posted on by Opher

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What has happened in Britain over the last five years is shrouded in the fog of lies, obfuscations, misrepresentations and secrecy.

The Tories have supported the wealthy and business and villainised the public sector and poor. They have been able to do this because the media is owned by the wealthy and the trade union movement is totally ineffective.

Under the mantra of ‘we’re all in this together’ and ‘austerity’ the poor have been scapegoated while the bankers who created the problem are unscathed.

In way of illustration:

Public sector pay freezes, cuts, worsening conditions and pension cuts – the top 1000 wealthiest receive 30% pay rises.

Tax cuts for the wealthiest – clampdown on benefits for the poorest in society.

reduction of corporation tax to 24% (gives to businesses) – increase of VAT to 20% (hits workers)

Loss of working skilled jobs in manufacturing (cars, mining, ship-building, fishing) – increase of low pay, temporary, zero hours, shelf-stacking and service industry.

Increase of unpaid internships in politics and media ensuring that only the rich can have access. – Increase in low paid mickey-mouse apprenticeships where young people are exploited stacking shelves for a fraction of the pay.

Hue and cry over the terrible £1 Billion benefit fraud – hardly a sound about the £70 Billion tax evasion

Creeping privatising with outsourcing in the NHS (money to the boys) – hugely wasteful top down reorganisations of education, health, police that cost huge money, create chaos and demoralise staff so they cannot oppose

Austerity has resulted in people getting paid less so that the tax income for the government has gone down – result the National debt has almost doubled in just 5 years – from £.76 Billion to £1.36 Billion.

The divide between the rich and poor has never been greater. The media blame the poor for being lazy, feckless scroungers while the rich are creaming off the top like never before and laughing all the way to their private yachts and pent-house suites.

I would suggest that it is time to put an end to the selfishness and greed that is responsible for this inequality. For all people to contribute equally to this society. To address housing and poverty, fund the Schools, NHS, Police, Councils, Social Services and other Public Services properly so that ordinary people are properly catered for. To encourage manufacturing so that our young working class have proper jobs which pay well and they can take pride in and aspire to.

I want to live in a fair society where there is not this level of inequality. Where all people are valued and have pride in what they do and their country. Where everyone has a future.

This means that the wealthy should contribute much more.

I want to see a Labour Party that is proud of its Trade Union affiliations and stands up for the rights of working people.

I want to see a Green World and would suggest that this is the technology and industry that could be the future of the country. We need to invest in Green Technology and become world leaders.

We need to get our workforce involved in infrastructure projects that require skills, are well paid, create a more efficient economy for the future and create more well paid jobs that bring in more taxes and pay off our debt that is presently increasing by £2 Billion each and every week.

I want my grandchildren properly educated, healthy, safe on the streets, with plenty of amenities to use, and having a future to look forward to with a career that has worth.

 

Austerity doesn’t work – no debt paid off – huge inequality!!

Posted on by Opher

austerity-isnt-working-steve-bell Osborne-stone-Routledge-cartoon

Austerity and the unfairness of how it works.

The rich get richer and the poor get squashed. Public services get smashed and the rich use their private services to gain even more advantage.

Austerity favours the establishment.

Too many people on the poverty line requiring food banks, on zero hours contracts and being used as cheap labour by the rich.

When people get paid so little the taxes go down and the national debt gets even bigger.

The unfairness of tax cuts for the rich while the poor suffer pay cuts.

Too many bankers bonuses, rich-cats pay rises while the Public Sector is annihilated due to pure Tory dogma.

What sort of divided society are we creating? It stinks!!

When people are abused so much, when inequality reaches a peak, they spontaneously rise up and smash the system. We nearly saw it with the riots of a few years back. We’re storing trouble for the future.

The Tories and the bankers run a pretty shady business of looking after their rich buddies and toffs. Austerity was a great excuse.

AUSTERITY DOES NOT WORK!!!

Public Service cuts are hitting at the poor. The rich are immune. They have their private services!

Posted on by Opher

public services

Austerity is the excuse for a colossal assault on public services. It is nothing but political dogma!

We’re all in it together? A joke!

The Tories have seized the opportunity to decimate public services. Our schools, hospitals and services have been subjected to political reorganisation that is nothing other than political interference and control.

The Tories hate Public Services with a vengeance and resent every penny spent on them. But where would business be without roads? Schools, A health Service? Police? Fire services? Bins emptied? Bodies buried?……….

The business sector depends on the Public Services. The wealth of the country comes out of our combined endeavours. For every soldier in the front-line there is a munitions worker, logistician, supplier of uniform, weapons and food. Thus it is with business. You cannot create wealth without a good support system.

Public Servants enable the wealth producers to function!

This attack on Teachers, Nurses, Firemen, Police and the rest is politically driven. It has little to do with austerity!

Read what a highly successful ex-Secondary Headteacher has to say. I’m the only one making sense!

Bullingdon Boys to Bully Public Servants – £70 Billion planned Cuts – Decimation – Tax Cuts for the rich?

Posted on by Opher

 

Here they are! The Bullingdon boys – Osborne, Cameron and Johnson and co. The toffs who do not care about ordinary people are planning an unprecedented £70 Billion set of cuts on the Public Services.

The rich do not need public services. They send their kids to public schools, have private health care and live in their gated communities.

Business needs public services though. The wealth of the country depends on an educated workforce, good roads, transport systems and infrastructure, the policing of crime, a healthy workforce, the rubbish taken away and bodies buried. They need saving when there are fires and emergency care when they are in an accident or mugged.

This is nothing more than the application of nasty Tory dogma. There are other ways of doing this. These cuts are draconian!!

See what a real ex-Headteacher thinks. This very readable book tells how it is in education. You don’t have to be a teacher to love it.

Austerity!!! Aren’t we all sick of the way austerity is being used as an excuse to promote Tory dogma!

Posted on by Opher

We have been told we’re all in it together – yet we still see the politicians, bankers and bosses getting tax cuts and bonuses while working people have salary cuts, freezes and worsening conditions.

We see public services decimated, schools and health services castigated. We see women’s refuges, libraries and support services shut.

We see the smoke and mirrors deployed to obfuscate the issues. We see the media (owned and run by Tories) deployed to use double-speak. It’s very Orwellian. Immigration is highlighted as the cause of the problem in the usual right-wing rhetoric.

Yet even with everyone being hammered in this way the government is borrowing more than ever and there is another series of cuts on the cards. Seemingly we ordinary people are not suffering enough! We are not doing our bit! While the rich become more and more bloated creating an obscene London based housing bubble.

I’m sick of it. They treat us with disdain as if we are morons.