The Barnsby Blog

JEREMY PAXMAN AND THE CONTESTANTS FOR THE LABOUR PARTY DEPUTY LEADERSHIP.
Jeremy Paxman chaired a debate last night on Newsnight with the
hopefuls for the LP deputy leaders. Each of the six opened with a speech
setting out why they desired the post and I was just thinking it was just
the usual slush and spin of not mentioning the war in Iraq when an
extraordinary event occurred. Paxman asked them all what their attitude to
the war in Iraq was. Five out of the six blathered on about helping Iraqis
to bring democracy to their country and only Jon Cruddas said he had opposed
the war from the beginning. But Paxman was not satisfied with these answers
and asked them if they had known then what they know now would they have
supported the war. On this question some of them answered No including Peter
Hains, Harriet Harman and Hilary Benn, but there’s not much merit in that
especially as there was news the same day of the kidnapping of five Britons
in a Baghdad ambush. Obviously the only practical and humane solution is to
bring the troops home NOW.
So I sent an email to Paxman congratulating him on his attitude to the
war and reminding him that I had 33 times in the past accused him of not
challenging Blair on the war in Iraq and he had never to date acknowledged
my accusations or replied to me. The same was true of the other four Lords
of the Fifth Estate, Andrew Marr, Jon Snow, Kirsty Wark and Martha Kearney.
But Andrew Marr was on the third instalment of his book ‘On Modern
England’ in which he is chronicling the end of the rule of the Edwardian
aristocrats of which Harold McMillan was the last example. Marr notes that
the Suez War and the Iraq War were the two monumental errors which changed
history for ever. So why did he never reply to my complaints?
Then there is Jon Snow the most natural radical of the five on the most
radical Channel who once asked for listeners to write to him, but when I did
I got no reply from him.
All of the five have got themselves into an impossible impasse and I will
continue to badger them until they learn that even when a person of working
class origins, such as myself, contacts them we are entitled to a reply.

KEN PURCHASE.
We have contacted Ken asking him why he a progressive left-wing MP who
has the eternal honour of being among those Labour MPs in 2003 who voted
against the war in Iraq explains his voting for the exemption of MPs from
the Freedom of Information Act when he surely has no dubious financial
dealings to conceal. We have suggested to him that a letter to the Express
and Star would be the most appropriate place for his explanation.

PERCY STALLARD, GREG SILVESTER AND THE ROLL OF HONOUR AT ALDERSLEY STADIUM.
The question of whether Percy Stallard was qualified to be on the Roll
of Honour for the City was taken a step forward today when we faxed Jane
Potter, the lady in charge of such matters, to ask why Percy should not
figure, along with his equally distinguished cyclist friend, Hugh Porter, on
the roll of Honour at Aldersley Stadium.
We asked at the same time for the citation of Greg Silvester, the
disabled athlete with Downes Syndrome, who should be known to everybody in
the Wolverhampton sports fraternity, but is known to very few. This will
come from the Roll of Honour which is a lavish book in a glass case and is
open at a page which gives the name of a sports person and his/her
achievements a page of which is turned every day.

BEACON CENTRE FOR THE BLIND.
We are happy to support Beacon View the Newsletter of the Beacon
Centre. This is a totally independent charity offering services to visually
impaired people in the Black Country. The current centre is due for
demolition to be replaced by a massive new centre. Demolition begins in
July, building begins in September and if all goes to plan the new flats,
day centre, offices etc will be complete in January 2009. At a time when
facilities for the old and disabled, including those with impaired vision,
are under attack, this large development at Beacon deserves support.

THE CENSORING OF THE BARNSBY BLOG.
Some one stopped the Daily Blog 135 of 17 May with the statement,
‘Violated the Racial Discrimination and Quarantine entire Message’. Not only
is the message nonsensical, but this Censoring of the Blog is a flagrant
interference with the right of free speech. Blue Yonder deny that they had
anything to do with it, so the protest must be widened to Ofcom and Human
Rights organisations. We have begun by eliciting the aid of the National
Union of Journalists and the media watchdogs Media Lens and Editorial
Intelligence. We will see what happens.

A MILESTONE FOR GB BOOKS AND PAPERS.
With the placing of my 95pp book A HISTORY OF WOLVERHAMPTON, BILSTON
AND DISTRICT TRADES UNION COUNCIL 1865-1990 on the Web to be downloaded
gratis courtesy of the GEORGE BARNSBY LIBRARY AND FREE COMMUNIST BOOKSHOP, a
new stage has been reached in recording my life and work. Only three of my
major books are not yet available on the Net and these I would hope to live
to see as IT technology improves.
In addition my Daily Blog is approaching its 150th edition and that
together with the previous Quarterly Blog which we fortunately picked almost
from the day that BLOGS were invented and previous work largely connected
with Bilston Community College are memoirs of all the traumas suffered by
Communists from the 1939 dictum of Stalin that the 2nd World War was an
imperialist one to the present day when we are suffering the last rites of
Bush and Blair and their illegal and racist wars in Iraq and elsewhere.
Of the future, I have said, whether it be of many years or I drop dead
tomorrow, I hope to die, as I have tried to live, a Communist.

KEN PURCHASE A RAPSCALLION, SURELY NOT?
We have sent Ken a message asking why he, a left-wing MP and one of
the immortals who opposed the war in Iraq from its beginnings in 2003
should vote for MPs to be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. Surely
Ken has nothing to hide. We have suggested that the best vehicle for such an
explanation would be a letter to the Express and Star. We hope he will write
it.

WOLVERHAMPTON SCHOOLS GCSE AND A LEVEL RESULTS FOR 2006
We are at last able to discuss examination results for our schools
after the Department for Education had made it illegal to discuss them until
they had had their say. In fact, the results are no different from those
published in the Express and Star on January 11th 2007 so we will be able
to analyse the results in a few days. Until then here is a rough summary of
the situation. The results take the form of a League Table which, as
everyone knows, is simply the beginning of all wisdom. Of the 20 state
funded secondary schools examined we can say that for GCSE results the
Girls’ High School is one of the best schools in Britain with 99% of its
pupils obtaining 5 or more GCSE’s A to C grades including English and maths.
Next comes St.Peter’s followed by St.Edmund’s with Highfields and Smestow
and Heath Park high on the list. Down in the doldrums are Moseley Park at
17, The King’s C of E School at 18, Deansfield at 19, and Pendeford at 20

A level result are slightly different with the Girls’ High at the top
of the list and Smestow and Highfields doing well. At the bottom comes
Parkfields. followed by Moreton and Deansfield.
Those bottom of the list could be changed if most money were given to
the lowest schools and the least to those at the top. But we know that the
Blairite policy is the reverse and perverse one of giving to those that have
while reducing finance to those who need it most.
There is perhaps some light at the end of the tunnel as the new
Minister for Education, Alan Johnson, makes strange noises about reversing
this position and Gordon Brown supporting him. But we know that New Labour
promises are like pie crusts, and we will believe them when it happens.
In the meantime we await the new Race Equality Unit in Wolverhampton,
Race Equality Partnership Wolverhampton getting down to business and
producing the documents we feel necessary to assess the situation in
Wolverhampton. These include the annual budget of schools and the sources of
their finance, the ethnic breakdown of both pupils and teachers, how much
was spent on supply teachers, as indicating the turnover of teachers at the
school and what is being done to prevent racism at the school. These and
other matters are discussed in my document, The State of Education in
Wolverhampton which is on my BLOG.

REPERCUSSIONS FROM JAZZ AT THE HARP AND ALDERSLEY’S HALL OF FAME
The morning has been spent writing to all those mentioned in
yesterday’s BLOG who do not have email addresses or whose email addresses I
do not know. A reminder that the Web is still a minority activity. As it is
Bank Holiday Monday no replies can be expected until tomorrow.
In the meantime it must be said that in view of the confusion existing
among New Labourites, Old Labourites, Greens, the divided Tories, Brownites
and others. it is vital that we have our own statistics and not general
statistics which might have no relevance to Wolverhampton in order to assess
where we stand. That means our new Race Equality Unit, Race Equality
Partnership Wolverhampton, must be galvanised at once at once to provide
these figures. Also the Wolverhampton Inter-faith Group should be aroused
from it slumbers and begin to defend our local Muslim community.

RUDI ACHTELSTTETTER.
I was most pleased this morning to have a phone call from my German
friend who apparently has not been receiving the material I have been
sending him, notably a review of a book by Giles MacDonogh claiming that
three million Germans were killed after the end of World War 2. I
particularly wanted to have his views as a non-Communist Party person who
has lived since 1946 in what became the German Democratic Republic and shows
no signs of leaving his home in Leipzig despite the fact that it is becoming
a depopulated zone as the result of the ‘normal’ capitalist development not
only of the less well endowed economy of East Germany, but also of other
East European countries such as Hungary, Rumania and Poland.
His account of his recent activities throws some light on the
comparative merits of our own health service and that of Germany’s . He says
that he and his wife, Hanni, have recently been to a spa in East Germany to
seek a cure for their various ailments which they found most satisfactory.
They also visited a spa in Poland which was most excellent with delicious
food. Compare this with facilities for our own old people where we have
never been well off for such facilities and even the spas that did exist
have been allowed to almost disappear. I refer particularly to Bath and
Droitwich, which could still be saved.
What pleased me most, however, was that Rudi feels as I do, that in
our very old age the most important relationship of our lives should be
between us, two soldiers of the 2nd World War who served on opposing sides,
but never stopped believing in the brotherhood of working men.

THE THIRD PAUL FOOT AWARD FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM.
On this matter we have a tale to tell which has previously been told
on the BLOG but deserves repeating here. One day, several years ago I
received a communication from Paul Foot asking me If I was the Communist who
was thrown out of the Wolverhampton Grammar School by Enoch Powell’s neo-
fascist-like stewards at a general election meeting in 1970 when I was the
election agent for Peter Carter the Communist candidate? Or was I perhaps
his son! I wrote back to Paul confirming that I was indeed that person and
he wrote back saying that our views on racism are so alike that we should
never again be parted. But after that I never heard from Paul again despite
frequent attempts to contact him. In fact Paul always had Trotskyist
tendencies. When Private Eye and the Guardian began to jointly sponsor the
Paul Foot Awards I was pleased because I thought Paul’s persistence in
pursing his objectives was entirely admirable. But I was none to happy
either with his conduct towards me nor with the two sponsors, one of whom,
the Guardian had told that none of my letters would ever be printed in
Education Guardian because I was the spokesperson for the Friends of Bilston
College. This had been followed by a letter from the editor, Alan Rusbridger
to whom I appealed against the conduct of his editor of GE and received a
reply to the effect that if ever he needed to consult his editor he would
not seek my assistance. And with regard to Private Eye, neither Ian Hislop
nor Richard Ingrams displayed the qualities for which they are said to be
renowned i.e satire, and the ability to spot a worthy cause, for both of
them failed to support Bilston Community College, the first multicultural
college in Britain, in spite of being told that racists and bigots were
about who were behind the closure of the college.
However, we decided to enter Bilston Community College for the first
Paul Foot Award. True to form, we heard nothing from the sponsors and to
this day, none of them show any interest in righting what was once simply an
injustice but which has since become a matter of Human Rights.

THE END OF THE DAY.
I have today sent out a Blog regarding a new state of affairs arising
from my 95 page History of Wolverhampton Trades Union Council being put on
the Web. With this I shall deal with more fully tomorrow. But already I have
had a reply from Comrade Nasir Khan resident in Norway praising my fidelity
to the cause of Communism and asking that I complete the other two thirds of
my autobiography.
Also I have received a letter from Jenny Simpson of BBC Current
Affairs who is about to start a TV programme on Immigration asking me if I
would contact her. This I will do in the morning.

JAZZ AT THE HARP.
It’s always great to be taken to the Harp, today by No.1 son, Robert
Owen. The band was quite exceptional, James Evans incredible String Four and
also a splendid young trumpet talent.
As is my wont, I got talking to both old friends and new acquaintances,
Gordon Fryer for one. Gordon has had his saxophone career interrupted by an
injury to his hand, but this is improved of late and he is playing again
occasionally. Gordon has used my Website occasionally and picked me up on an
error that I made on the question of the Battle of Tettenhall in 910AD. This
was a decisive battle which stopped the Viking invaders and it might even
have taken place in my backyard where Saxons swooped down on the invaders
who took to their boats moored in the Smestow Brook and then scarpered with
their loot down to the Severn and thence back to Scandinavia. A likely tale
I hear you say! And so it is. But the battle was real enough although
experts are divided as to whether it took place at Tettenhall or nearby
Wednesfield. The sharp eyed Gordon discovered that when writing of the
battle I made the unforgivable historical error of writing not Wednesfield,
but Wednesbury. Much chastened , I have put the error right and was able to
inform Gordon that my website had been duly altered.
Then there was a meeting with a new friend, Brian Arnold, into whose
not entirely unwilling ears I poured the story of the Furthest East Rhythm
Club in the world. How this Club which had 50 or so members and operated for
18 months in a combat zone on the Burma front in 1943-4 was a unique
cultural achievement. Its existence was interrupted by the Japanese
offensive that was aimed to conquer India and bring the war to an end.
Instead, British forces, to the surprise not only of the Japanese, but also
us British were ordered to stand firm and we were supplied by air in an
airlift organised by Lord Mountbatten which lasted for three months
surrounded by Japanese forces. The siege ended with the allied advance into
Burma and South East Asia and ended after the US A-bombs had been dropped
and the Japanese surrendered.
Now this Rhythm Club, organised by two Royal Air Force lads who were
the only ones who could transport the essential gramophone, had a complete
record of all it sessions written up in detail and in a very humorous way.
So when we all got back to England we tried to get jazz groups or disc
jockeys to replicate the record sessions we had held. But without success
and nothing happened for about 50 years. Then there came the 50th
anniversary of the ending of the war and Harry Johnson and myself found
ourselves the only two toothless veterans from the original members and we
again set about getting our sessions replicated. By this time the Rhythm
Club records were preserved in the National Jazz Archives at Loughton
Library in Essex. By now public sentiments were fixed on our gallant forces
who had saved us from fascism. The Librarian, David Latham, sent our letter
on to Digby Fairweather, who we had tried to interest in the Club originally
and who fifty years after was the Chair of the archives. We had no reply
from Digby nor from Humphrey Lyttleton and we feel rather aggrieved that
neither of these giants of the jazz world replied to our letters.
This, however, is not the end of the story. I was very surprised to
learn from his biography of Sir Jack Hayward by David Instone that Hayward
had been a glider pilot in Burma during the war and had probably used the
Imphal runway and perhaps he had even known of our Rhythm Club. Sir Jack
Haywards is a super-patriot, who will not even allow foreign cars on his
premises and has spent his vast fortune not only supporting Wolves FC and
ensuring that its new stadium was designed and built by British firms, but
also paid to bring back to its native port of Bristol the largest British
ship then built, the Great Britain, among his numberless philanthropic
projects.
Could we interest Sir Jack in backing our project to have the sessions
of our Rhythm Club repeated. In this case appealing not for his money but to
his patriotism in assisting this very English project? Only time will tell,
but a copy of this email will go to Sir Jack.
Brian asked me what my website address was. I said all he needed to do
was type in the words ‘George Barnsby’ . ‘What!’ he said, ‘I know you from
reading your letters is the Express & Star’. It is indeed a small world.
My cup of joy was then filled to overflowing by John Howells, the
organiser of Jazz Club 90, telling me that he will put on his jazz website
the item, ‘The Furthest East Rhythm Club in the World. Any one wishing to
know more about the club can visit www.gbpeopleslibrary.co.uk’

ALDERSLEY STADIUM - HALL OF FAME OR ROLL OF HONOUR
Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth I asked my son who had
taken me to the jazz whether he had a few more minutes to spare and take me
to Aldersley Stadium to help solve a current controversy in which I am
involved. He had, so we did. The controversy concerns whether there are two
separate categories of honour, the Hall of Fame and the Roll of Honour and
whether Percy Stallard, the champion, innovative , road racing cyclist
should be on one or the other; also to confirm that Greg Silvester, the
disabled artist with Downes Syndrome, who should be one of the best known
athletes in the City, because he held a number of world records and helped
carry the Olympic flag on one of its stages on the way to the Sydney games.
Greg’s name I confirmed is on the Roll of Honour.
We confirmed that Hall of Fame and Roll of Honour are one and the
same, yet the reason for excluding Percy Stallard was that ‘he was not
qualified’ to be on the Roll. These matters I must discuss with Miss Jane
Potter who is in charge of these honours matters. I have rung several times
without speaking to her and she has so far not rung me back as promised.
When I returned home I rang Frank Spittle, author of ‘Ring my Bell, an
Old Black Country Sport’, which is about rifle shooting. I asked him why his
name was not on the roll of honour but John Spittle, who I assumed to be his
brother, was. Frank then told me the modern sorry story of rifle shooting.
He made light of his own name not being on the board and explained that John
Spittle was his son, who unfortunately died in a disasterous fire in Ibetha, Spain when seven people lost their lives.  In their bid for the Games, Birmingham had included Rifle Shooting
which, had they been successful would have taken place on the Aldersley
range the only one in Britain then which could have been brought up to Olympic standards. The range was chosen by the visiting Russian shooting delegates, the only nomination of an Olympic sports venue ever obtained by Wolverhampton. Since
then the promised improvements to the Aldersley range have been reneged on
so that there are now only three rifle clubs and shooters where there use to be 27, mostly factory clubs.  Frank
Spittle has spent most of his life supporting and developing the sport he loves.
He deserves better than to end his days a disillusioned man.

MOVING THINGS FORWARD - THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN WOLVERHAMPTON.
The inadequacy of the latest DfES information on Ethnicity in
Wolverhampton Schools’ GCSE and A level results for 2006 commented on last
night, has been followed up by informing the Minister for Education, Alan
Johnson, and other ministers concerned, Hazel Blears, Ruth Kelly and
Patricia Hewitt of the inadequacy and misleading nature of their information
and requesting that they ask schools supply the following information: What
are your selection procedures; what is the ethnic profile of pupils and
staff; how many pupils receive free school dinners; what was your budget in
the last financial year; who provides the financial resources of the school;
to what extent do your syllabuses reflect the realities of a multicultural
society. And to answer these questions we suggest that each school appoint a
teacher responsible for multicultural history and a trade union
representative for ensuring that anti-racist is not tolerated anywhere
within the school. The Commission for Racial Equality was also informed of
these proposals.
Then there was the informing of the teaching trades unions, both
nationally and locally of our proposals which we have only partially done.
But then there are the local schools which have to be consulted. For
secondary schools there is the question of the racist Learning and Skills
Council which shares responsibility with local authorities for some pupils
in 6th Forms and overall responsibility for education at Colleges and
Universities. Most of our secondary schools are funded by the local
authority, but the position is different with our primary schools most of
which are controlled by church authorities (some responsible but others
distinctly dubious) who are under no obligation to disclose the sources of
any additional finance that comes their way, apart from the local council,
and this could well be used to subvert schools to fundamentalist religious
propaganda.
Then there are the various religious bodies such as the Inter-faith
Group important in defending ethnic minority religions such as Islam from
attack, but which does not seem to have a very public presence in
Wolverhampton. There is also the new race equality unit in Wolverhampton
which has not yet become fully operational.
From the above it can be seen that the state of education in
Wolverhampton is probably not as healthy as it should be, and it will need
the good will of everybody in Wolverhampton, particularly school governors,
ancillary staff in schools, and the children themselves to remove the
uncertainty that hovers over education in the City.

MOVING THINGS FORWARD - THE WOLVERHAMPTON PARTNERSHIP.
The Wolverhampton Partnership as described in its introductionary
literature is clearly one of the most important institutions in the City. It
works to bring together organisations from the public, private, voluntary
and community sections, as well as involving individual residents to promote
new ways of working, to improve the quality of public services and improve
the quality of life for the City’s residents and businesses. Having recently
become aware of this organisation I have made unsuccessful efforts to
contact it, but have finally succeeded and been apprised of its purposes. It
talks of Wolverhampton as a city of communities and neighbourhoods which
will respect and celebrate racial, cultural and religious differences and
live harmoniously together; no one will be seriously disadvantaged by where
they live. These are pious aspirations that no ’sensible’ person could
quarrel with. To achieve these Utopian aims it has set up a Strategic Board
and themed sub groups in a Community Empowerment Network which will act as a
voice and influence in shaping priorities for the City and local services. I
shall certainly join my Community Empowerment Group, but as a disabled
person I am unable to attend meetings and unless I can submit written
proposals I can have no influence on the organisation. Excuse my cynicism on
these matters but we have had ten years of such spin and its authors were
Tony Blair and New Labour. My eyes are firmly fixed on the poorest citizens
and ethnic minority people whose grievances and problems are not solved by
words however sweet but will need political action to resolve.

WHO IS CENSORING THE BARNS BY BOG?
It was the 17th May that the computer Administrator refused to accept
my BOG with the cryptic and nonsensical comment, ‘Violated the Racial
Discrimination and Quarantine’. We have reported that a possible explanation
was that it was sent to so many people that Blue Yonder thought it was Spam
and it was stopped. Not a plausible explanation. I receive emails with many
more addresses than the one I sent. It is true that I have not had any other
emails stopped, but why was the 17th May BOG stopped? In the absence of any
further explanations from Blue Yonder we will have to seek the assistance of
OUSTED, the communications Ombudsman and we shall also report the matter to
Goggle. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

THE GERMANS AFTER THE 2ND WORLD WAR.
My day continues to be dominated by thoughts of Giles MacDonogh’s book
‘After the Reich, from the liberation of Vienna to the Berlin Airlift’.
Did three million Germans die after the war? I have emailed Richard Holmes
the military historian and also History Today that published the revue about
the book. I’ve also asked Penguin to pass a letter on to Antony Beever who
wrote the books on Stalin grad and Berlin. We need a consensus on whether
the conclusions of MacDonogh are correct or whether he is somewhat
exaggerating.

FUTURE EVENTS.
Two organisations send programmes of future events. One is Izzy
Mohammed, Community Officer of CONNECTING HISTORIES. He reports three
Community Exhibitions One is Pat O’Neill’s story of his humble beginnings in
Ireland and the life he has forged in Birmingham. The second is Sarwan
Singh’s story of the life he left behind in Janandhar, India and his life in
England. The third is Community Montage Art the creative work produced by
some of the people participating in Connecting Histories programmes. Full
details of these and other activities on www.search.connecting
histories.org.uk
The other is a review of the contents of the New Statesman issue of 28
May. + Cover story - Gaza, the Jailed State. ‘The world cannot afford to
stand by while the Israeli army and Palestinian militias fight their
unwinnable and bloody war.’ + From a detailed list of contents I abstract
the following that took my eye. Observation on Manifestos - the EUSTON.
Comments on the recent document that some right-wing Blairites and
Non-Blairites cobbled together and noticed by this BLOG at the time. + The
Cinema as Moral Leveller; this from the NS Archives June 1914. George
Bernard Shaw was one of the founders of the NS and in its early years was a
regular contributor. Shaw argued that popularity of the recently arrived
cinema promised to create ‘a sense of common morality transcending class
divisions’. Ah, well Shaw was a great guy, but never a Marxist! + NEW
MEDIA AWARDS 2007. 31 May is the last day to enter for these awards. + Book
reviews and much else but with the chance to download all these items
consult, as I did, www.newstatesman.com

BLAIR TURNS UP IN THE BLACK COUNTRY AGAIN.
There’s no stopping the Express and Star’s chief reporter, Peter
Rhodes, when it comes to a chance to accost Tony Blair and remind him of
his illegal and racist war in Iraq. But first you must catch the monkey and
Blair is the pastmaster of spin and no questions on the war. Today Blair was
at the Corbett Hospital, Stourbridge. with a posse of press, radio and TV
reporters invited to the hospital by the government with the promise of
interviews with the Prime Minister. But the moment that a man from the BBC
said he would be raising a question about Penny Campbell (a London
journalist who died from alleged neglect in a London Hospital) Everything
seemed to go into slow motion, said Rhodes and continued, Tony Blair a past
master of the quick handshake and the even quicker question, suddenly began
taking his time asking a series of questions of NHS staff. They seemed to be
as bemused as the journalists that he seemed to be taking so long. Twenty
minutes later a Downing Street press officer appeared and announced they had
run out of time and Mr.Blair would not be taking any questions. Rhodes
continued that a few of us positioned ourselves in the corridor in the hope
of a fleeting word but one of the prime minister’s hefty aides told us in no
nonsense terms that you will not door-step him. ‘It would have been nice’
Rhodes goes on, ‘to ask the Prime Minister whether he considered his ten
years in power had been a great success. Did he have any regret? Could he
have done more for the NHS? But the spin doctors pounced, the PM was ushered
out of the hospital into his limo, to be whisked away for the next
handshakes on this increasingly pointless global tour before he finally
steps down’ . His legacy? Spin is his legacy.

WOLVERHAMPTON SCHOOLS EXAM RESULTS 2006 BY ETHNICITY.
Latest figures from the DfES on GCSE Results and Equivalent Post 16
Attainment suggests that the government is still not producing statistics
relevant to determining the attainment of ethnic minority children in
Wolverhampton. Their latest botched job gives statistics only in terms of
the percentage difference between the achievements of ethnic minority
children in relation to the performance of the ethnic group in England as a
whole. So, for instance the percentage of black children in Wolverhampton
gaining 5 or more GCSEs including English and maths is -7.4% short of the
achievement of the total black group in England which is itself only 21544
out of the 593786 pupils in England eligible to sit for GCSEs in 2006. Not
only is the black group so small that it is not statistically significant,
but these statistics tell us nothing of what is happening in Wolverhampton
schools. This information can only be obtained from the heads of
Wolverhampton Secondary schools. But they won’t give unless it is asked for
and it was this sort of information that the Wolverhampton Race Equality
Council used to provide before it was closed by Sir Trevor Phillips of the
CRE and is the sort of information that the new organisation Race Equality
Partnership Wolverhampton (REPW) ought to be providing but is not at the
moment.
But if it wasn’t possible to spread light on the black situation in
Wolverhampton where it is nationally known that African-Caribbean children
start school virtually equal to whites and from then fall far behind, what
about the situation of mixed race children where it is thought that they
hold their own with whites, or Indian pupils generally thought to be ahead
of white pupils at all stages, or Asian pupils the least developed of all
ethnic groups. Well our figures show that only Indians are in Wolverhampton
schools in sufficient numbers to provide accurate statistical data, but our
present figures show Mixed Pupils in Wolverhampton minus 19.3% of the Asian
group and Black pupils only minus 7.4% of the national Black group.
With regard to A level results 2006 our new DfES material tell us only
of post 16 attainments, shows no ethnicity breakdown and tells only that
All pupils in Wolverhampton schools are minus 128.1% of all pupils, Mixed
race are minus 177.5% of their group, Asians are minus 144.9% below, and
black are only minus 108.9%
But then, only 949 Wolverhampton pupils are said to have taken A-levels
compared with the 143040 total of all Pupils in England. The DfeS figures
are not only incomplete but probably misleading and for Wolverhampton 2006
GCSE and A level results we must turn to my State of Education in
Wolverhampton now on my website which discusses not only exam results but
also gives a table of Secondary Schools with comments on each of them.
Comments and discussion by schools would be welcomed.

THE GERMANS AND THE LOSING OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
The serious intent of yesterday’s BLOG was to draw attention to the
book by Giles MacDonogh entitled, ‘After the Reich, from the Liberation of
Vienna to the Berlin Airlift’
which shows a new era of suffering for the German people in both East and
West Europe which resulted in about 3 million Germans dying after the war
ended in 1945. Today we have relayed this information to a number of
historians but have still to contact such people as Antony Beever, Richard
Holmes and Max Hastings.
This BLOG also discussed my personal feelings that the most significant
relationship of my life should be with my friend, Rudi Achtelstetter, both
of us veterans of World War 2 he on the German side and me on the British.

MICHAEL MOORE’S ‘SICKO’
The premiere of ‘SIcko’ at the Cannes Film Festival was an enormous
success. The Wall Street Journal reported that hardened reporters and
critics wept at the film which ignites a fire for free, universal health
care in the USA.
Private health care firms and the pharmaceutical industry are gearing
up to oppose free health care and Michael has been receiving whistle blower
letters from some of the employees of these companies which Michael urges
them to continue sending them.
Back in the US there are reports that the Bush administration is
gunning for Michael, not only for filming in Cuba, considered illegal with
the Bush embargo, but that 9/ll rescue workers he took with him to get the
medical treatment in Cuba that they cannot get in the US will also be
targeted.
We will continue to advertise the work of this great American patriot
and film maker but et Michael’s newsletter for yourselves at
michael@michaelmoore.com

CONNECTING HISTORIES.
This amalgamen of many history societies in the W.Midlands, of which I
am a member, in their latest newsletter highlight the work of Joseph Sturge
the Birmingham originator of the Complete Suffrage Union, a non-violent
organisation that played a significant role in the later stages of the
Chartist Movement. In 1838 to mark the ending of the Apprentice System in
the West Indies, Sturge led a march of school children from Birmingham Town
Hall to Heneage Street where he laid a foundation stone for the Negro
Emancipation Schools.

PETER RHODES OF THE EXPRESS AND STAR.
I was pleased to welcome back at his desk the Chief Reporter of the
only regional newspaper which opposes Blair’s illegal and racist war in
Iraq. He and I are old sparring partners and I wanted to take him up on a
number of issues outstanding before he left.
One was his reactionary support for Grammar Schools which puts him at
odds with David Cameron and other Tories. His belief that grammar schools
which he and his five brothers of petit-bourgeoise origins attended marked a
revolutionary stage in which lower middle class opinion was heard for the
first time. I countered this by suggesting that this 10-15% of the working
class was allowed to service huge developments in the commercial world as
long as they knew their place and went only to ‘new’ Universities, leaving
Oxbridge still as the preserve of the ruling class. I pointed out that only
with Comprehensive schools was a ladder created which working class children
could climb and even begin to attack that highest citadel of learning. I was
assisted by the Programme of Reform of Education in Wolverhampton which I
wrote in 1963 and which has recently come to light and been placed on my
BLOG for all to see.
A second issue on which Peter Rhodes takes a reactionary line is that
of Immigrants. Here the issue is complicated by the fact that EU citizens
are allowed to come here, but the Common Agricultural Policy is having the
same effect as the restrictive policies of the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund. This creates a situation where standards of
living are falling precipitously and people feel that their countries are
being bought up by foreigners.
A last issue on which I differ from Peter Rhodes is the question of
Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. Here Peter tends to support the
view that Druscilla Cotterill, who is the only possible candidate for the
woman Powell claimed had lived to see her street transformed from all white
until she was the only white in the street. The issue here is that Powell
either refused to name her because he gallantly wished to protect her from
abuse or that he used her name to make up an untrue story which suited his
racist purposes. Lance Dunkley and I believe that Powell was a liar and made
up the story.
This issue has lately been complicated by the claim by a Collene Moore
that certain Irish and Black people living in Brighton Place had written to
Enoch Powell requesting his help in preventing further mass immigration
which would ‘lower the tone’ of the neighbourhood. Again, Lance Dunkley and
I do not think this happened whereas Peter Rhodes has talked to Colleene
Moore and sees no reason to doubt her story.

OTHER UNDEALT WITH BUSINESS
We have now had correspondence from the Wolverhampton Partnership
giving details of their purpose in life which I am interested in joining.
Also information from the W’ton Education Department which I hope will give
an accurate picture of the development of the poorest children in the City
and also the progress of ethnic minority pupils, but there has been no time
as yet to analyse them. It will be done in the next few days, I hope. I have
even forgotten the project of the So-called Walsall Anarchist Bomb Plot of
the 1890s where an engineering researcher has suggested that the bombs, said
to be for use not in Britain but in Russia were technically ‘not fir for
purpose’. This we also hope to pursue in the next few days.

THE LOSERS OF THE 2ND WORLD WAR
Once in a while there comes a book which changes the face of history.
Such a book , it seems, is one by Giles MacDonogh entitled ‘After the Reich,
from the Liberation of Vienna to the Berlin Airlift’. Most of the accounts
of the invasion and occupation of Germany and Austria after 1945 paint a
broadly peaceful picture of the transition from dictatorship to democracy in
the Allied-occupied countries of the west. This book gives a shockingly
different version of events showing a new era of suffering for the Germans,
and to a lesser extent, Austrians. The ruined and defenceless Reich was
systematically raped and robbed and a large proportion of its survivors,
military and civilian were either slaughtered in cold blood or left to die
of disease, cold, malnutrition or sheer starvation. This is the verdict of
the reviewer of this book, Nigel Jones, in this month’s edition of History
Today.
Nor has much been said of the vengeance wreaked by the Czechs on their
Sudetan German population where ethnic cleansing was practised and it is
estimated that 240,000 Sudetans died. Similar scenes occurred all over
central and eastern Europe as long rooted German communities were uprooted.
Or French atrocities occurred in revenge for German crimes at Lidice and
Oradour. MacDonogh estimates that three million Germans died after 1945, a
million soldiers, largely in Soviet camps, and two million civilians,
victims of disease, hunger, cold, suicide or deliberate killings.
Whether these figures are strictly accurate is not the point. Clearly
some great catastrophe occurred that needs in investigation. So I have sent
a copy of the review to my good friend Rudi Achtelstetter my German
ex-Serviceman comrade who I have been in contact ever since I attended the
Summer Course for German Teachers of English at the Internationaler
Padagogische Hochscule at Potsdam in 1969. Rudi has never been a member of
the Communist party, avoided being in the Hitler Youth in the 1930s and has
ever since been an anti-war figure. During the GDR years of Walter Ulbricht
and Erich Honicker he never found it necessary to join the Stasi or spy on
his own friends, but always recognised that the GDR had to be set up after
the German Federal Republic was formed in an attempt to destroy the GDR.
Rudi has recently sent me a message saying, ‘Frankly speaking, my Hanni (his
wife) and I voted for Schroder because he was brave enough to decline Bush’s
demand to send German soldiers to Iraq’
I will see how Rudi responds, but as we both get older I feel that my
primary relationship should be with Rudi the two of us on opposite sides in
the 2nd World War, the greatest man made catastrophe of the 20th.century and
perhaps of all centuries.

THE FIVE RAPSCALLIONS OF THE PRESS.
I had the pleasure of watching on TV the broadcast of Andrew Marr’s
splendid new work a History of Modern Britain. I wrote congratulating him
on this work, but asking if in producing this work he had forgotten to reply
to my 32nd attempt to get him to reply to my charges that he and the other
four newscasters, Jeremy Paxman, Jon Snow, Kirsty Wark and Martha Kearney
had disgraced their profession by not challenging Blair on his illegal and
racist war in Iraq. This is therefore my 33rd attempt. They will not escape
my clutches and the sooner they reply to me the better for them.

MY DISAPPROVAL OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
My weekly VOICE informs me that Dr.Rowan Williams has sent his
congratulations to Tony Blair as he announces that he will be standing down.
I have hitherto had considerable respect for the Archbishop who has opposed
the war in Iraq from he beginning and also recognised that so-called
terrorists such as Osama bin Laden have their own moral principles. It is
hypocritical for the Archbishop to congratulate Blair while the carnage of
Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and elsewhere continues.

WEDNESFIELD HIGH SCHOOL
We watched the Cutting Edge programme on Wednesfield High School on
Swearing in schools almost with bated breath despite the horrible nature of
the f… word constantly repeated by boys and girls alike. We sent
congratulations to the Head on his courage in tackling such a problem and
the decision to try to eradicate swearing using such methods as detention
and even expulsion to do so. We asked him to reply if any further
developments took place. His reply is most interesting. Peter Coates has
much improved the school in recent years as an Engineering school and I
suggested that titles such as Sports Colleges, Maths and Engineering etc.
was a invitation to ignore the catchment area of the school and recruit for
the whole City. Also that this might prejudice the chances of poorer
children and those from an ethnic minority background. Mr.Coates states that
the school does not select in any way and that ethnic minority children are
specifically promoted by BPAP and have a co-ordinator for this. I now have
additional material from the W’ton Research and Assessment Manager which I
hope will allow me to supplement the inadequate information we have at the
moment on ethnicity and other matters so that we can have an adequate
picture of the state of education in Wolverhampton instead of the present
uncertainty as to whether black children and their parents would have to
resort to riots to have their legitimate claims to equality implemented. Mr.
Coates by using the national press and being willing to discuss his school
with me is different from that of most headmasters of secondary schools in
the City who appear reluctant to discuss their problems openly as if they
are obliged ‘work the system’ to obtain sufficient resources to run their
schools.

JOE DAVIES
I am beginning to think that Joe Davies holds the key to anything that
is written about Wolverhampton. He and his wife Margaret have just returned
from a three day visit to one of the prestigious Shows in Anglesey where
they have been admiring panoramic views of the whole range of mountains of
Wales as well as exhibiting his fair organ The Lady Wulfruna.
Chatting as one does about my latest BLOGS I mentioned my friend Frank
Spittle, author of the book Ring My Bell an Old Black Country Sport and
currently engaged in trying to rescue the old sport of rifle shooting from
those who would like to see it disappear and thus end any chance of Britain
competing in international competitions in the future and Wolverhampton’s
chances of staging such competitions. Not only did Joe know Frank well, but
he also knows his brother, Jack, who spends all his time making models of
commercial vehicles and who is, according to Joe, the most accomplished
miniature modeller in Britain. So patriotic is Jack that he has been known
to refuse a blank cheque rather than risk his models going abroad.
Joe Davies was also at the Tettenhall Rotary Club where Carl Chinn
spoke, and Bill Wain a neighbour of mine and member of the club told us
that only Carl and Joe could hold their members spellbound for more than one
hour, all others being limited to 30 minutes.
I had sent Carl a message who I also know from years ago when we were
both studying at Birmingham University on the question of the sale of our
top football teams to Americans and other foreigners, including Aston
Villa, which Carl supports, suggesting the he who spearheaded a campaign to
save the Rover car plant from closure would surely want to see that our
football teams remained locally controlled and British. Back came his reply
promptly on his way to the Rotary meeting saying that he and his father had
long fought for fans to have a seat on the Villa board which would advocate
continued British control of our clubs, although he stated that Randy Lerner
had at least listened to fans which the previous owner, Doug Ellis, had
refused to do.
Patriotism is the motif too on the question of Wolverhampton sports
people which, again Joe Davies is much interested in. We are currently
pursuing the question of whether there is a difference between the Roll of
Honour at Aldersley Stadium which contains the name of Wolverhampton’s world
class disabled athlete with Downes Syndrome, Greg Silvester, and the Hall
of Fame which includes Billy Wright and Rachael Heyhoe Flint, who Joe knows
well and I know slightly as the go-between for that greatest of English
patriots, Sir Jack Hayward. Here the question has been raised this week that
our star cyclist Percy Stallard, the pioneer of cycle road racing in Britain
should also be with his better known cyclist friend Hugh Porter in the Hall
of Fame.
These matters have been made more piquant by Sir Jack selling Wolves
for £10 to multi-millionaire builder Steve Morgan. But this is a matter I
tentatively approached in Monday’s BLOG and I there is nothing more that I
can sensibly add at this stage.

ATTEMPTS TO CENSOR THE BARNSBY BLOG.
The refusal of the Administrator to accept my BLOG 135 of 17 May with
the comment ‘Violated the Racial Discrimination and Quarantine entire
message has been investigated further today and a possible explanation
given that it was sent to so many people that it was thought it was spam and
stopped. Not a very good explanation, but at least a less sinister
explanation than the accusation of racism. Enquiries continue however and we
will see what emerges.

DOCUMENTS BEGIN TO FLOW
Since Monday we have had a series of documents arrive which we shall
begin to analyse tomorrow. One is a RESPECT members’ Bulletin setting out
national and regional campaigns against Blairism from the moment that he
stands down and Gordon Brown takes over.
The second is information from Wolverhampton Partnership on our wish to
consider membership.
The third is further details on ethnicity in education in Wolverhampton
which we consider vital to determining the state of education in the City
instead of having only national statistics which may have no relevance to
Wolverhampton.

SIR JACK SELLS WOLVES FOR £10
No doubt of the story of today. Wolves sold to millionaire builder
Steve Morgan in return for guarantee of £30m investment in the club. Jez
Moxey (chief executive) and Mick McCarthy (manager) to be retained; present
youth development policy to be continued, no mad spending spree, but money
for occasional expensive signing, and to cap it all Sir Jack Hayward will
become Life President.
Sounds to good to be true and probably is. For instance why was the
Graeme Souness offer of £20m equally British money rejected? How long will
the new owner be prepared to stay with Wolves if success is slow to come?
What has happened to the plan to keep Wolves a local team? And is a
Liverpool born man and supporter who first tried to buy into Liverpool FC a
suitable man to buy Wolves? Perhaps we should give just two cheers for the
scheme as outlined and hope that things turn out for the best.

NO MONDAY BLUES
The day started interestingly enough with a surprise visit from my
friendly printers GLOVERS. They have managed to put on the Web my book, ‘ A
History of Wolverhampton, Bilston and District Trades Union Council
1865-1990 published in 1994. This is the largest work of mine (95 pages) to
be put on the Web for anyone to down load gratis. This means that apart from
the three larger books, Social Conditions in the Black Country 1800-1900
(1980), Birmingham Working People (1989) and the blockbuster heavyweight
Socialism in Birmingham and the Black Country 1850 to 1939 (1998) all my
main works are on the Web. Whether future technology will allow the
affordable transfer of these to the Web, I do not know. My writings since
then much of them in the form of BLOGS are there. Future writings will also
be on the Web and present DAILY BLOGS now numbering nearly 150 will
constitute a substantial amount of writing on general history, local
history, Communist Party national and regional history and race relations
will all appear on the BLOG. Truly, the Free Communist Bookshop is alive
and well.

ATTEMPTS TO CENSOR THE BARNSBY BLOG
The apparent threats to censor the BLOG revealed yesterday could not be
allowed to rest. Today, in an attempt to circumvent the ban I sent a copy of
the same piece to commentisfree@guardian.co.uk which goes round the world.
It seems to have succeeded. We are now investigating why Blue Yonder should
be operating such a boycott and will wait until we hear from them before
setting out a general alarm

PERCY STALLARD, CYCLIST, AND THE WOLVERHAMPTON HALL OF FAME
An appeal has been launched today by his close friend, George
Griffiths, for Percy to be elevated to the Hall of Fame which celebrates
such legends as Billy Wright at the Aldersley Leisure Centre,
Wolverhampton.
Percy who died at the age of 92 introduced road racing in Britain. This
was contrary to the policy of the leading cyclists’ association of the time
so Percy set up the Wolverhampton Racing Club and then the British League of
Racing Cyclists. This made road racing a national sport.
Percy was a radical in politics and I used to take him a copy of the
Daily Worker each Saturday to his cycling shop in Broad Street,
Wolverhampton.

GREG SILVESTER
I would also request the same honour for Greg Silvester, disabled
sportsman with Downes Syndrome which he refuses to accept as a disability
and now trains both disabled and able-bodied sportsmen for a living. Greg
holds many world records for disabled sportsmen and once helped carry the
Olympic Flag on its was to Sidney. But to the shame of Wolverhampton people
he is little known.