Category: Politics

2019 General Election plea to vote for Labour under Jeremy Corbyn

This is a Facebook post from 22 Nov 2019 that I wrote for ‘real’ friends only at the time but I want to share with a wider audience now. I had expounded all my views widely and loudly on Twitter at the time, and continue to do so, but had not written a contiguous piece like this until old friends from different parts of my life – school, university, music, various jobs – who were now working in the City in the financial services sector, started openly questioning Labour Party policy and the Shadow Cabinet simply on the basis of already discredited allegations against Jeremy Corbyn. As an independent, I went in to bat for the only plausible option to get and keep Boris and his “kippered” Conservatives out of power at the time:

“I wrote a version of this on another friend’s timeline in response to questions about the current antisemitism scare in UK political parties and whether to vote Labour in this election, on general policy grounds or to stop Brexit:

Although I am an independent, I personally know many characters in Labour – activists, MPs, MEPs, peers, and LOTO – particularly all my Jewish friends in Jewish Voice for Labour, Socialist Jews, and other independent left wing Jewish groups like Jewdas, and they’re all supporting and out campaigning for Jeremy in particular and Labour in general around the country, or left wing candidates that support Palestinian human rights. Jeremy has in many ways been the staunchest and most steadfast antiracism campaigner on the planet, imbued with Jewish socialist ideals and a close friend of all the key Jewish left wing activists and thinkers in the UK and around the world for decades. The entire antisemitism debacle is purely a deeply political (not religious or cultural) attempt to dislodge Corbyn and change Labour Party policy (which strongly supports Palestinian social and human rights) by those of all religions and none who support the obtusely far right wing and brutal policies of the Israeli Government. In most ‘Brexit marginals’, the only way to push back from the far right precipice of Brexit, the current Conservative/Brexit/UKIP/BNP and other populist thug parties, and to end austerity which is decimating millions of lives, is to vote Labour wherever you can to ensure remaining through a now vital second referendum based on a safer Brexit divorce deal than the cataclysmic mess the Conservatives have devised that will verifiably cause the UK to implode. The Labour divorce deal would at least not completely undermine every ounce of UK sovereignty and would keep the UK Union together, so if Leave did win a second ref based on a Labour divorce deal, it would be a massive hit to the UK, but not the verifiable disaster of the Conservative deal.

LibDems are coming out with complete tosh about Labour, but that’s to pull in Conservative votes. They have to sound extremely negative about Labour to reassure Conservatives their ‘continued austerity’ votes are safe with Libdems. But the Libdems will have to work with Jeremy after the election and already look bloody stupid in having slagged him off and now having to capitulate, the kind of blatant, rather dense, two-faced politicking that got them hammered in 2015/17. Libdems’ obvious recent tactic was simply to mop up TIG/CHUK MPs and eliminate that threat by pandering to the pro-Israel far right agenda favoured by many former TIG/CHUK MPs that is completely contrary to Libdem policy that supports the rule of international law and a left wing agenda for human rights and social rights for all oppressed peoples, including all in occupied Palestine. Having the dire, deeply disloyal, unreliable careerist dweeb Ummuna as a spokesman is a very stupid error and does nothing to promote solid, dependable, ethical Liberal values, as it were.

There is much about the internal workings of the Labour Party that I really dislike such as the virulence of that sub-sect, Socialist Action, but Labour as a whole under Jeremy would be more beholden to and respectful of Parliament and the sovereignty of our democratic institutions rather than corrupted vested interests and the power of the Executive than any previous Govt for the last 30 years or more. This is what those that oppose him are desperate to gloss over and stop you recognising – their merry corruption, vested interests and nest feathering that Jeremy has actually campaigned against in Parliament because he supports our sovereign representative democracy.

So vote tactically in your area to Remain and scupper the grotesque, deeply sinister Brexit Conservative leadership, but particularly vote Labour under Jeremy wherever you can, to clean up our democratic institutions and reestablish a fully functioning and vital welfare state, human dignity, deliverable action against the global climate disaster and Remain through a second referendum.

And I realise for all my mates in the financial services sector that voting Labour under Jeremy feels a bit like teeth pulling, but basically you have to weigh up what is the bigger disaster, falling out of EU and continuing the abhorrent trend of attempting to starve large sections of the population, or paying tax to the state instead of insurance to private companies to ensure your families AND all other families have the quality and quantity of services like a strong NHS they desperately need and rely on? Think about it.”

Vote Remain at the EU Referendum on 23 June 2016

Vote Remain

My well-known criticism of EU economic and monetary policy and its treatment of Greece, Spain, Italy, and all the other countries struggling to recover from the economic crashes of the last decade, does not lead me to feel that the EU is wholly bad for the UK.

In fact, I see it as completely the opposite. If an already sovereign and entirely independent but deeply lazy and unenlightened UK Govt had bothered to be more involved in the EU; got throughly engaged in moderating EU policy towards Greece, recognising the knock-on effects on the UK; bothered to recognise the disasters of destroying the Middle East looming before it; and been effective in its humanitarian efforts to stop the destruction of Syria, then we would not be looking at this extraordinary set of incompetent circumstances precipitating us to destroy the nowadays precarious stability of Britain.

Today’s circumstances have been conjured out of thin air purely by our sovereign and entirely independent UK Govt, without any reference to the EU at all. The current batch of deeply incompetent Conservatives in power has freely allowed the loony English far right to create a case for the vast majority of the English electorate (Scottish, Irish and Welsh electorates are not so stupid) to feel it is worth risking trashing the UK economy and the lifestyle, environment and working rights that we all enjoy or rely on. The English, alone, appear determined to jetison the one institution that has mercifully become a partial brake on the worse excesses of the UK Govt’s country-crippling policies of recent years.

Our current Conservative Govt has been grossly arrogant and foolish in not pointing out its own policies alone have caused the problems that the English in particular suffer today (the cutting of services and daily living support). This cowardly ‘culpability’ vacuum has left the field completely open to an impressively slick, purely fascist, propaganda campaign that has hoodwinked the English like no other. The English have forgotten what fascism looks like and, in their anger at seeing their lifestyles and freedoms degraded, have fallen for a Leave campaign Goebbels would have been proud of.

The Leave campaign, however, is based on a long-standing minority desire to favour an English-only race and rid the country of anyone who is not white, heterosexual and able-bodied. Leave leaders ultimately want to get rid of job protections and financial support for the low waged or unwaged and force charity alone to pick up the pieces; curtail rights for women including removing abortion rights; destroy environmental protections; pull apart the welfare system including removing state support to the elderly that includes state pensions; end free medical treatment for all at the point of need; stop state support for those with disabilities; end rights for those of non-heterosexual persuasions; curtail education support across all strata of education and privatise the lot; ramp up energy prices by doing away green energy and pushing ahead with fracking; not fund the rebuilding of industry and instead privatise as much as possible. All this would lead to only the top few percentages of the population being able to afford to live reasonably in a shrunken state that will revert to Dark Ages’ levels of insecurity, belligerence, patronage and decay. Leave is based on removing funding for the Welsh, Irish and Scottish parliaments; breaking up the Union to leave each constituent country to fend for itself; and closing down migration from the Commonwealth or any countries with black/asian or non-English speaking populations. Do you think other countries will want to trade with what will become an expensive pariah state? Will NATO or even the US be bothered to bail a shrunken, isolated England out of its disasters? Leave is a mirage of free ocean bounty, veiling an arid desert of modern-day fascism that, ironically within living memory, we fought on all fronts to overcome in order to maintain a more diverse, prosperous, humane people.

Surely the odd external sign might make people suspicious of Leave? Only the UK’s most debilitating enemies and political factions, that pretend to be great allies but are largely belligerently xenophobic with huge economic and societal problems of their own, are in favour of the Leave campaign. Saner countries and centrist left or centrist right parties, that actually have the UK’s diverse people’s better interests at heart, want the UK to Remain.

On June 23rd, your choice is to Vote Fascist: Vote Leave and then watch amazed as your country implodes, run by ever more clueless and immoveable right wing imbeciles who will selfishly pull Britain to pieces and leave you with nation-wide poverty you never dreamed possible.

Or you can Vote Sane: Vote Remain then push hard for a British General Election to get rid of the rank incompetence of our current, Conservative Government that’s created this steaming, stinking pile of… mess, whilst also demanding your country engages more in Europe as a moderating influence at all levels.

Your choice, indeed. But don’t be in any doubt: being part of the EU is our only saving grace at the moment. #Vote Remain

Campaign gratitude and Whipps Cross

My euphoria at receiving 129 beautiful votes last Thursday remains unabated! Thank you so much! Click here to watch the Walthamstow constituency count being announced at about 6am on Friday 08 May. My thanks to Polling Station staff, the Returning Officer’s team, Electoral Services at the Council, and the Counters at Walthamstow Assembly Halls who all did an amazing job.

I didn’t celebrate with a drink in the end because after spending 9 hours at the count all I really wanted was breakfast, care of amazing musician friend, Zami. It was then home to sleep for about 24 hours on and off, before heading back out to counter the EDL (see other posts) and thank constituents for their support.

My heartfelt thanks to Andy for being my electoral agent, to Jo, El and those who joined me leafleting, and those who provided advice. I also want to thank my family and friends for offering unstinting love and encouragement.

I am especially grateful to all those who voted for me, but also to the hundreds who spoke to me at length around Walthamstow, and all those many people who listened to me enough to go and vote and exercise their democratic rights, even if it was not to vote for me. I also want to thank the many Walthamstow residents and single issue campaigners who got in touch online to discuss their views in various ways – by twitter, by email and on facebook.

And I am grateful for the willingness of party campaigners to talk about the issues and be encouraging about saving Whipps Cross Hospital, whatever their parties’ policies. I learned a huge amount from my fellow candidates and their agents, and I’d like to thank them so much for their strong debating, which I hope Walthamstow was proud of. The constituency was lucky to have eight candidates who put in so much effort and tried to overcome electoral communication difficulties with hard graft and good grace.

I really enjoyed the campaign and will treasure every last bit of conversation that the local community offered me about their lives and their concerns for Walthamstow.

Those conversations are continuing to motivate me now to lend my support to existing campaigns to save Whipps Cross and campaign for a nationalised NHS, free from PFI. To those ends, overnight during the count, I was lucky enough to have some fascinating cross-party conversations about saving our hospital and I intend to follow them up.

I realise our local MPs may well be distracted for a while by internal party politics, probably without much focus on saving Whipps Cross or the NHS. For example, Stella will be campaigning to be Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and IDS will be sorting out his continuing role in Cabinet, applying a further £12b in welfare cuts and £13b in government spending cuts.

The effort is more urgently needed than ever, however, to bring together Waltham Forest’s MPs, other MPs in neighbouring boroughs whose constituents also use Whipps, borough council members and community groups to focus their collective attention on the issue of rescuing Whipps from Barts before Barts senior management goes ahead with the land sale and other asset stripping of our vital health facility. IDS and John Cryer have already indicated they would be willing to accept new ideas on how to help Whipps.

Please let me know if you want to help me build this local cross-party initiative by using the ‘comment’ form on my website, or get in touch on twitter and facebook.

Thank you so much for your generosity of time and interest, and here’s to Walthamstow’s campaign to win back its fully nationalised hospital and healthcare services!

Time to decide: vote for Ellie MERTON in Walthamstow

If you are struggling to decide how to vote, then vote with your conscience and vote for someone without links to the parties you no longer trust. Vote for someone who will tackle the national issues that mean the most to you here in Walthamstow. Vote for someone who will fight your corner with you. Vote for me, your independent candidate, Ellie MERTON. Thank you! X

(Polls close at 10pm)

Ellie Merton, Walthamstow’s strong independent candidate to work cross-party as your MP

Ever since I declared I was a candidate for MP, I’m chuffed and grateful that party members from every single left-wing party, from the big mainstreams to the smaller minorities, have expressed support for my views and my values.

I’m humbled that so many have got in contact from around the country, knowing me from my human rights campaigning, music and charity fundraising volunteering, to give me advice and offer words of encouragement. But I entirely understand their need to stick with their tribe, energetically campaigning and voting for their parties’ candidates. None of them has been out on the campaign trail with me and all of them have remained loyal to their parties, which I really respect.

My non-alignment, a strong belief in inclusive, cross-party working on the issues that matter, has been my consistent strength for 25 years. My strong independence has been something I have employed in all my elected roles, from student welfare officer in 1992 to running the local Palestine human rights campaigning group between 2009 to 2014. It is even stronger now, despite being deafened by the cry for partisanship by the parties; I can still find individuals from all the parties who want to work together for the common good, not against each other. I have no worries about working cross-party in Parliament too.

My focus is on you, Walthamstow’s constituents: on helping to craft social structures, systems and services that will make lives for all residents better; that are creatively ingenious, sophisticated and efficient but, by being publicly funded, cheaper for everyone to use; that embody humanitarian values, diversity, equality and social cohesion.

I hope you will give me a chance to use my strength to be an independent MP in a hung parliament, to create a better future for Walthamstow through cross-party negotiations, getting the best deal for constituents at a national level.

Vote for Ellie Merton for Walthamstow on Thursday 07 May!

Polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm. Enjoy voting!

What I stand for

Here is what I stand for: some of the national policy changes that I think will benefit Walthamstow residents.

I believe in renationalising public services, from housing to environment and social care. I support renewable energy and oppose fracking.

I believe in renationalising Whipps Cross and extracting it from Barts Health Trust. I support the NHS Reinstatement Bill, standing to repeal HSCA and for an end to PFI, the Private Finance Initiative which treats the NHS like a bank and puts business debt servicing and profits before people. I oppose TTIP.

I believe in trade unions and their role in improving working conditions around the UK. And I believe in investing in start-ups, social enterprise and small business particularly in the arts and technology, to increase employment and pay into the Walthamstow economy.

I stand for diversity and social cohesion, particularly championing anti-racism and campaigning against religious prejudice, protesting against fascists like the EDL.

On schools I stand for giving our young people the best possible start in life by investing in both core subject teaching but also the arts and sports.

My focus for schools is music, and the positive impact learning music and participating in music has on cognitive and childhood development. We need far more state-funded music provision in schools and colleges. But that also goes for all the arts, and sports provision. It is the extra curricula activities that develop a child and young adult and give them the broadest options in life. Arts and sports activities sustain and develop adult well-being and social cohesion.

On education generally, I believe in renationlising our education system from top to bottom, and removing business profit from it – renationalising schools, scrapping the expensive student loans system, bringing back grants and eradicating top-up fees. I stand for radically increasing publicly funded scientific research and improving academic pay and conditions for qualified lecturers and post-docs, increasing opportunities for women in science.

I believe in supporting human and civil rights and particularly the rights of refugees. We need to de-criminalise the treatment of refugees in the UK and support the rights of overseas refugees to be able to return to their homes in safety. This means the UK holding countries to account for violations of international law and Geneva conventions against Palestinians, Tibetans, Kashmiris and Tamils. Israel, China, India and Sri Lanka persistently violate international law. They have created international refugee crises by military occupying, annexing or blockading another people’s lands and ethnically cleansing the indigenous inhabitants who ought to be allowed to live in peace and safety, with self determination. The UK, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has to address these human rights violations stretching back over decades.

Underpinning all of this, I believe in the rights of women and girls to live lives of equality and safety, with equal life chances and equal pay.

Photos copyright (c) Ellie Merton

Quirks of misrepresentation, and standing firm as an independent

I’m being misrepresented in a number of ways at the moment, but I know voters have the wit and intelligence to spot the distortions. Seemingly, in some parts of the constituency, Royal Mail has delivered my independent election leaflet inside a political party’s booklet.

As candidates, we got one free mailing through the Royal Mail. My 46,600 leaflets for Walthamstow constituency were duly delivered to a central sorting office but somehow, once they had gone into the Royal Mail system, my leaflet was collated inside someone else’s literature. However wrong that collating was, it has been happening to other candidates as well. The resultant misrepresentation is something election agents and candidates will be taking up with the Electoral Commission and Royal Mail after the election.

On the web, however, the funniest misrepresentation is on Google’s Election Widget. It links me to Al Murray’s fictional party being used to promote his current comedy tour! So, so wrong on so many levels, and various organisations are looking into how that has occurred.

In other misrepresentation news, I am flattered some candidates standing in Walthamstow now realise that my agenda from the outset of Health, Harmony and Human Rights suits the needs of our constituency.

But I am not suddenly going to join one party, or another. I am, and will remain, an independent.

My independence makes me stronger as an MP candidate for a hung parliament where every seat counts and I can work with MPs from different parties, but who share my core values, to get the best deal for Walthamstow.

My independence means a lot to constituents. They tell me they have no faith in any of the parties. They tell me they want someone whom they can hold directly accountable, not hiding behind party policy.

I am honoured to be your independent candidate for Walthamstow. #vote4ellie

Stopping racism entering Walthamstow

I am supporting the local ‘We Are Waltham Forest’ initiative to counter the EDL. The EDL are simply a bunch of fascist thugs, nothing more, and who want to parade their racism and divisiveness around Walthamstow. They are not welcome here.

As the independent PPC for Walthamstow, I have signed the following statement:

“The English Defence League has announced plans to march through Walthamstow on Saturday 9 May. The EDL is an extremely violent, fascist group that whips up hatred and intolerance. It particularly targets Muslim communities.

This violent, street-fighting group had originally planned the march through Woolwich in a sickeningly cynical attempt to exploit the death of Fusilier Lee Rigby who was murdered outside the army barracks in 2013.

However, Lee Rigby’s mother expressed her disgust at the EDL plans. In a statement she wrote, “I have never given any permission or agreed to any part of this demonstration, I have never believed in this nor would Lee.”

Instead of apologising to Lynn Rigby, the EDL now plans to target Waltham Forest, a move condemned by Walthamstow candidate, Stella Creasy, and faith leaders.

Waltham Forest has a proud history of standing up to fascism and celebrating our diverse and vibrant community. In 2012, over 4,000 local residents joined in protest against the EDL marching through the borough. The protest was attended by local MPs, faith communities, disability rights organisations, trade unions, school students and pensioners. It received widespread national support and contributed to the collapse of the EDL.

However, a climate of bigotry and hatred is on the rise – the scapegoating of migrants, attacks on the Muslim community and an increase in antisemitism. Political parties are using the general election to whip up this hatred further. The EDL is trying to use this situation to revive itself. We cannot allow this to happen.

Here in Waltham Forest we have shown that if you want to defeat fascism you cannot ignore it and hope that it will go away. Instead, you must challenge its politics of hate, expose the racist lies, and stand united against it.

So, on Saturday 9 May, we will again take to the streets in peaceful united protest to defend and celebrate our multicultural home. We urge everyone to join with us to send our message loud and strong: the fascist EDL is never welcome here.”

Workers and migrant rights in Walthamstow

The first hustings I participated in last week was arranged by Waltham Forest Trades Council (WFTC) and the Parish of Walthamstow. You can see how we candidates got on via the Occupy London webstream – http://occupylondon.org.uk/walthamstow-ge2015-hustings/

Before the hustings began, Dave Knight from WF Trades Council gave a moving dedication to Romanian worker, Marian Nemit, who died in a construction accident in Leyton recently (http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/wfnews/12909507.Picture_of_tragic_builder_released_as_reports_suggest_family_learned_of_death_on_social_media/).

I want to express my condolences to Marian’s family and friends in Romania and the UK.

There is a sizeable Romanian community in Walthamstow, many of whom I have spoken to during my campaigning. They are unable to vote in this particular election. They can vote in the local borough Council, London Assembly and EU elections, but not the Parliamentary elections. However, I have wanted to talk to them because the migrant worker population in Walthamstow is an important part of our local society and I want to spend time understanding their situation and needs. I want them to know, as well, I would care about their concerns as well as people voting for me.

My experience is that the local Romanian community, along with the Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Moravian and other East European populations here, are incredibly hard working and contribute to the vibrancy and economy of Walthamstow.

The reality is that migrant work is badly taken advantage of. East European and other migrants often get paid less than minimum wage, often on zero-hours contracts, endure appalling working conditions which defy any basic standards of health & safety, and face extraordinary levels of racial abuse. Frequently, they have to live in horrendous housing conditions and struggle to make ends meet, despite working all hours.

I have met some of the homeless migrants in the area; gentle, thoughtful, hard-working. They are too proud to take handouts or rely on benefits. They simply want to make a living for themselves, and contribute, away from the corruption and oppression of their home countries.

Waves of immigration going back over centuries have enriched the UK. We need migrants workers to succeed in their lives in the UK, to be able to contribute more to society, both economically and culturally.

Migrant workers must be paid the London Living wage when working and living here, and their work conditions should more than meet basic HSE and employment law requirements. Otherwise, all that happens is that UK domestic workers’ pay and conditions are undermined, stopping them from contributing to the economy and forcing them to become reliant on the state for assistance.

It benefits no one to mistreat or underpay migrants. If elected, I would make supporting our local migrant populations a key focus of my work, and building social cohesion across Walthamstow to develop understanding and acceptance of each other’s cultures within the area.

Today is Workers Memorial Day and I want to pay tribute to those who work tirelessly to improve working pay and conditions through trades unions and workers associations, particularly Waltham Forest Trades Council.

Proud to be standing as a woman

As a woman in 2015, it should seem usual to be standing as a candidate in a general election, but it isn’t. Sadly, the political world is still dominated by men. Nationally, only a quarter of candidates standing are women. Full gender equality is a way off yet.

I am proud to be one of four women standing for Walthamstow. As women, whether we like it or not, in seeking election we act as role models for the next generation of Walthamstow’s young women.

We do not have to agree politically. In fact, our different views are a bonus because our range of political beliefs and experience demonstrates that, nowadays, there is no set path to achievement. Having said that, however, we can agree to respect each other’s lives and career choices as women.

I respect all three other women candidates for the life choices you have made to date. You are great achievers in your family lives, careers and political aspirations. Walthamstow is lucky to have such a line up to choose from.

Hustings galore!

These are the hustings I am participating in:

Waltham Forest Trades Council & Church of England Parish of Walthamstow

Wednesday, 22 April, at 7pm

Walthamstow Girls School, Church Hill, Walthamstow, E17 9RZ

Waltham Forest Council of Mosques

Friday, 24 April, at 8.15pm (although most people say it’s 9pm)

WFIA, Ghousia Hall, 119-121 Grove Road, Walthamstow, E17 9BU

Waltham Forest Women’s Network (women-only audience)

Saturday, 25 April, at 4pm

Wood Street Library, Walthamstow, E17 4AA

38 Degrees ‘Walthamstow Question Time’

Wednesday, 29 April, at 7pm

Sir George Monoux College, 190 Chingford Road, Walthamstow, E17 5AA

Here are your eight Walthamstow candidates – the people you should expect to see at hustings. I’m number six on the ballot paper:

1 – Steven Cheung – Liberal Democrats

2 – Stella Creasy – Labour Party

3 – Michael Gold – Green Party

4 – Paul Hillman – UK Independence Party

5 – Jonty Leff – Workers Revolutionary Party

6 – Ellie Merton

7 – Molly Samuel-Leport – Conservative Party

8 – Nancy Taaffe – Trade Union and Socialist Coalition

See you there! If you cannot make any of the hustings, please do contact me and tell me your views direct, using the contact form on www.elliemerton.com or twitter or facebook!

Yesterday in the sun, and the chilly breeze!

Another cracking day of canvassing and learning.

First up a roadside chat in the sun outside a local mosque, talking about faith, no faith, politics and Islam. I am constantly impressed by the depth of humanity, understanding and caring I experience when talking to anyone in our local Muslim community. We’re lucky to have such diversity in our borough.

The highlight of the day had to be party time with local hero, Tommy Anderson, and the ladies and gentlemen of WF Social Club celebrating St George’s Day in fine style. I was just a bit excited to meet a pearly king and queen and learn how they get selected and the types of charity work they do. It is staggering the number of projects they support and the time and effort they put in. And I learned the origin of ‘flash harry’.

My plan had been just to pop in and say hello, but I was honoured to be firmly sat down at a table to have a hearty natter about life in Walthamstow during the war, how much the streets have now changed, housing difficulties, volunteering up at Whipps and social care provision locally. Francis (shown in the photo) and I had a top conversation about care allowances, how he’d worked for the same organisation since age 16, and his views on Whipps. A very special afternoon.

Then it was off to a meeting on health, which confirmed all my personal suspicions about the way Whipps is managed and taught me a huge amount about how social and health care try to integrate, or not.

General canvassing highlights included musicians, civil servants, lots of great women, my window cleaner on a bus the other side of town, a retired railway man who started his first job the same day as Bob Crowe, and a bit of late night Kebab Kampaigning.

Monday’s inspiration

Canvassing on Monday afternoon, more long discussions about policy. People do not lack for insight and understanding. They just don’t feel they can share it with party hacks. Long chat about economic probabilities, the chances of Russia going Baltic, and Tobin taxes for financial services’ reliant economies such as the UK.

The surprise pavement chat of the day was on animal rights and animal welfare. I am the first to admit animal rights is not an area I have looked into much. I’ve been too focused on human rights.

Where the two have crossed, however, is in horrific circumstances in Gaza. There, the farmer’s donkeys are shot early on by Apartheid occupation troops when mounting incursions into Gaza. There are also pictures from the 2009 incursions of decimated livestock strewn about. They were slaughtered by occupation forces as well.

Incidentally, DCI (Defense for Children International – Palestine) has just delivered a damning report on how young children were deliberately targeted to be killed by the Apartheid occupation attacks on Gaza in 2014.

Save the NHS, Save Whipps Cross

Barts dwarfs Whipps. That is exactly what patients experience all the time – central Trust PFI debts dwarfing their local health treatment. Super-level PFI contracting must be stopped and mega trusts split back into sustainable constituent hospitals within the NHS. I believe Whipps Cross Hospital should be extracted from the mega, centralised Barts Health Trust that is draining Whipps dry,…

Women’s Network hustings – 25 April at 4pm, Wood St Library

Missing from the flyer are me, Ellie Merton (non-aligned) and Jonty (Worker’s Power). See my hustings post below to understand why.

I’ll definitely be there on the panel! #vote4ellie