The Barnsby Blog

IMPORTANT UPDATE - GAZA NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION.
The time and assembly point for the HANDS OFF GAZA national
demonstration on Saturday organised by the STOP THE WAR Coalition have been
changed. The protest will now assemble at Embankment, London WC2 at 12-30pm
. Nearest Tube Embankment or Charing Cross under the slogans of: HANDS OFF
GAZA; STOP THE BOMBING; FREE PALESTINE.. Coaches will be going from Walsall
and Wolverhampton no doubt, so contact either Martin Lynch for Walsall or
Andy Goodall for Wolverhampton, both of whose names are in the local
telephone directories.

GEORGE GALLOWAY DISAPPOINTS ME.
I say this because George is a man I greatly admire for his
originality and drive. Yet he has a letter in Monday’s Guardian which dodges
the paramount issue for all of us, namely how to get Gordon Brown and his
New Labour cohorts under lock and key after which ‘terrorism’ would almost
completely disappears since it is Bush, Blair and Brown who are the three
most important terrorists in the world.
George has a letter in yesterday’s Guardian which ignores this basic
premiss but which otherwise is of considerable value. It stresses that the
credit crunch and the collapse of the British economy has left a space for a
non-Labour party left to develop . George goes on to say that we in Respect
have established an electoral base in East London, parts of Birmingham and
in some other parts of the country. We have also seen the welcome election
of Dai Davies in south Wales, but the electoral system continues to pose a
barrier to the electoral advance of the parliamentary left outside
Parliament. And we have not been without our own self -inflicted problems.
However we are optimistic that we can make serious progress in 2009 coming
together with others to establish more electorally credible policies to
challenge the neo-liberal promises which have brought such economic
devastation to Britain In this regard, and among other initiatives Ken
Liivingstone has called an important Conference to rally progressive forces
in London on January 24. I hope such initiatives will take matters forward.
Yes George, these are important points but where is the roaring lion
who won an East End seat for Respect, and bearded the lions of the American
Congress when George W.Bush was in total control and made them look stupid
for supporting wars which were racist and unwinnable. The roaring lion has
become a timid pussycat (and I don’t mean the one he impersonated when he
did one of his most daring acts in the TV programme Big Brother). Worst of
all to me is the fact that George doesn’t even recognise me as a kindred
spirit and no matter how many BLOGS I send him, continues to act like other
Labour social-democratic MPs and fails to answer me.
Fortunately there are new lions willing to roar, and not necessarily
from the Labour Party. I take from today’s letter page in the Guardian
Caroline Lucas of the Green Party slating Brown for his complicity in
supporting the Israelis against the Palestinians; Michael Meadowcroft from
Leeds who says bluntly that Israel doesn’t want a settlement with the
Palestinians because it would prevent them occupying the whole of the West
Bank. Then there is John Berger, another old favourite of mine who says it
is established by the Israelis that one Israeli life is equal to 100
Palestinians and that the longest occupation of foreign territories in
twentieth century European history is viscerally racist . That the Jewish
people should accept this, that the world should concur, that the
Palestinians should submit; this is one of history’s ironic jokes. But
there’s no laughter anywhere. What we can do, however is to refute it more
and more vocally.
My own thoughts are the contrast between the followers of the Christ
child born in a manger in Bethlehem and thus naturally coloured (brown) and
the chalky whiteness of the Israeli leaders who claim to speak in Christ’s
name. This is further evidence of American imperialism whereby an important
proportion of immigrants to the promised land have been white Americans who
now control the country and who treat their brown brothers as inferior
citizens in their own land.
Much more to my liking is such people as Lib-Dem leaders Menzies
Campbell, Nick Clegg and Vince Sale who opposed the war in Iraq from the
beginning and even Tories such as Kenneth Clarke who also opposed the war
from the beginning and now looks set to be not only a minister in the next
Tory government as David Cameron persists in committing hari-kari by not
only supporting the war in Iraq which once he opposed it, but refuses to
answer my pleas that he must oppose it.
It seems, therefore, that Tory rank and file are getting anxious and
there is speculation that victory at the next election will evade them
unless changes are made now. So bring back Ken Clarke they say as
speculation of a reshuffle grows. And so there is a picture of Ken smiling
benignly, and raising a fedora hat. Ken thinks that being an opposition
spokesman would be tedious but it would be fun to be a minister in a Tory
government especially PRIME minister as this becomes increasingly likely as
the crunch unfolds.
So there it is George Galloway. But I would be very sorry to lose you
as No1. innovator and suggest that there is one sure way of regaining your
position and that would be to attend the George Barnsby World Wide 90th
Birthday Party at the Wolves FC on Thursday 29 January 2009 from 7pm Sir
John Hayward Suite, and mix with Socialists from throughout the world who
have never betrayed their principles and are about to have their efforts
rewarded by a modern world federation of Socialist states. So do come
George, you will be most welcome.
And for this we say we will:

FIGHT UNTIL OUR LAST BREATH.

THE HORROR OF GAZA CONTINUES.
The newspaper pictures paint the picture of unremitting slaughter.
Officials in Gaza say nearly 300 killed and 600 injured. Calls for
investigation after seven students at a United Nations college die. And the
Israeli leaders call for the complete defeat of Hamas. Ehud Olmet presides
over the killing, but an election is due in February and it is expected that
Binyamin Netanyahu the Likud leader and former prime minister will win on a
policy of toppling Hamas, expanding settlements on the West Bank and
maintain Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights. Meanwhile Tzipi Livnie
elected leader of Olmert’s Kadima party in the autumn since when support for
the party has plummeted. She is currently foreign minister and considered
less hawkish than many in Israeli politics. But Mahmoud Abas leader of
Fatah, rivals to Hamas and Ismail Haniyeh the public face of Hamas in Gaza
has kept a low profile since being dismissed as prime minister after Hamas’s
bloody take over of Gaza in July 2007. And Khaled Meshaal Hammas’s
political leader lives in exile in the Syrian capital of Damascus calls for
a renewed campaign of suicide bombers against Israeli targets. And the only
people who can legitimately interfere are the United Nations and Barak
Osama. But will they?

A TALE OF THE BARNSBY 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY,
A footballing man has three footballing sons. Each of them in turn were
taken on by Wolves FC and everyone of them in turn refused to clean the
football boots of the senior footballers and so each of them in turn were
very properly dismissed. But the father, shortly after the death of his wife
married again, and none of the sons have ever forgiven him for this and they
don’t even communicate with their father who does not know where they live.
So suppose I invite the three sons, through this BLOG and suppose they read
it or heard about it from some one else and they came to the party and were
united with their father if not his wife, wouldn’t that be splendid and, of
course, that is what the BLOG is all about.

BURGLARS BEWARE ON PARTY NIGHT.
It is hoped that there will be almost a mass exodus from 119 Henwood
Rd. where Joe Davies to 149 where Geoff Sidbottom lives and on to 155
where Laurence Patton resides and all will be coming to the party with their
good ladies. Now since I have advertised the event on my BLOG it is
necessary that I take precautions to see that we are not robbed while we are
enjoying ourselves. I would suggest at a minimum a policeman on foot who
might very well take his post up in my house and then also a police control
car which with its flashing blue lights should warn off intruders. So I have
made preliminary arrangements and found out that Sandra Hollingshead of
Tettenhall Police Station is the lady to contact, but she is away for the
next few days.
I find it easier to pursue this matter as we at the far end of Henwood
Road have for some time talked of forming a Crime Watch for our part of
Henwood Rd. and this will be an ideal time to put our good intentions into
practice.
So, just as we are telling all our friends in the world of the time and
place of the Party, we are also warning the criminal classes that there will
be no easy pickings on that memorable night for them.

BITS AND PIECES IN WOLVERHAMPTON.
Reports of ‘utter bedlam’ as 750 people queued to get into Next who
opened its doors at 5am to allow in hundreds of people some of whom had been
queuing since midnight in sub-arctic temperature of -1 degree centigrade.
In some places queuers dragged down huge piles of shelving, took what they
wanted and chucked the rest away.
Closures begin at Woolworths. 800 branches are closing today including
Dudley, Walsall, Wednesbury Stourbridge, Kidderminster and Rugeley. The
Wolverhampton branch will close on January 5th unless a last minute buyer
appears. Some hope!
Warm Welcome for a Cold Hunt. Hundreds of hunt supporters braved the
winter weather to support the traditional Boxing Day Albrighton Hunt which
started from the stately home of Hagley Hall without any hint of Hunt
Protesters who have created trouble ever since the Bill banning hunting with
dogs was made illegal four years ago. Thus emboldened hunt supporters
claimed that 300,000 supporters turned up at their traditional hunts
nationwide. This, they claim shows a groundswell of support for the
abolition of the act , as Lord Cobham beamed down happily from the balcony
of his stately home, Hagley Hall.

THE BATTLE FOR BEATTIES
Beatties has been the flagship Store in Wolverhampton for decades. In
recent years its ownership changed from the previous family one to the
House of Fraser and the store has continued to deteriorate ever since. But
now Fraser’s has been taken over by an Icelandic firm, which is now being
nationalised by the Icelandic government. As an item in the Express and
Star points out there are only 300,000 people in tiny Iceland, so its rather
like being taken over by a town like Cardiff. A rum affair. But even this
may not be enough to save Beatties, such is the turmoil presided over by
Gordon Brown who could with the new US president Obama, see the slump off if
only they would end the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Africa. So
we end the day with our new slogan:

FIGHTING UNTIL OUR
LAST BREATH.

WHILE GAZA BURNS.
Who can look at the pictures today without feelings of horror,
disgust and
shame. Horror for the people of Gaza, disgust that human beings can inflict
such devastation and shame that the man behind such brutalities is Gordon
Brown who has supported and financed the war in Iraq from 2003.
Fortunately the forces of resistance are not far away. An email from
the West Midlands Palestine Solidarity Campaign takes up the challenge.
Today (Monday) there will be vigil in the Birmingham City centre calling
for an end to Israel’s attacks on Gaza called by the Midlands Palestine
Community Association and West Midlands PSC which all progressive people are
asked to attend.. Their press release says that even by the standards of
Israeli oppression of Gaza and the West Bank their conduct is horrific. The
indiscriminate slaughter with the determination for more to follow has led
even the most passive of European governments to protest at Israel for this
action. But unfortunately it is only protest and the EU and USA speak out
only when obliged to by public pressure. Otherwise Israel is allowed a free
hand to ignore the long list of UN resolutions in support of Palestine’s
rights under international law. Points which have been made include (i) the
attacks have more to do with the Israeli election campaign than with
security (ii) Israel is committing atrocities which it knows would be
agreed to by the Bush government before Obama takes over (iii) if any other
country used jet fighters to strafe the most crowded refugee camp in the
world there would be calls for UN/EU troops to be sent in. It will have
been noted when Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister was shown on TV news
bulletins stating that an Israel attack on Gaza was imminent , there,
standing smilingly and supportive by his side was our Foreign Secretary,
David Miliband.
The text of the WMPCA press release contains the following.
Palestinians in the UK are shocked and horrified at the unfolding events in
the Gaza Strip where Israel has launched tens of missiles on Gaza resulting
in the death of 140 people and hundreds of injuries. This follows a
prolonged and immoral siege which has lasted for months and which has denied
Palestinians food, pure water, electricity and medical supplies.
We are concerned for the safety and well being of relatives and
friends who are again suffering under the collective punishment meted out by
Israel that continues to operate beyond the law and in defiance of accepted
human rights conventions. The MPCA condemns Israel’s actions and calls on
the British government to do the same .
Kamel Hawwash, chair of MPCA, says that the cruelty of Israel knows
no bounds and the fact that the attacks were timed to coincide with the
ending of the school day in Gaza shows that the intention was to inflict as
much terror, death and destruction as possible. He goes on to stress that
Israel’s attacks cannot break the will of the Palestinian people to be free
and Israel must negotiate withdrawal from all the occupied territories
including East Jerusalem and the dismantlement of the illegal settlements.
MPCA ask us to support the their activities which we willingly do and
strengthen the Movement in the West Midlands.

MARIKA SHERWOOD’S NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS..
Marika, gentle but militant leader of the Black and Asian Studies
Association, is author of the biography of Claudia Jones who was exiled from
the US in the McCarthy period and sent to England with which she had no
connections but as a US Communist started the famous Notting Hill Carnival.
Marika is also author of After Abolition - Britain and the Slave Trade
since 1807. Marika and I have been friends for many years from the time she
recognised me as a kindred spirit and ever since she has sent me notes of
encouragement, of which her New Year greetings is an example which will
give me a motto for today and other days. She writes; ‘Dearest George and
Esme. I wish I could be with you to celebrate your 90th. Birthday (I am a
babe in comparison - only 71) and how many years of struggle, but I shall be
in New York and Washington catching up with some postponed research. I hope
you have a wonderful gathering of friends and reporters. I wish you more
years of activism. And then a nice coloured greeting which reads I wish you
a Healthy and productive 2009 and Peace for all of us. Given the state of
the world we have to keep fighting until our last breath. Yes, Marika:

FIGHTING UNTIL OUR LAST
BREATH.

—– Original Message —–
From: “George Barnsby”
To: “Barnsby Daily Blog”
Cc:
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2008 2:36 AM
Subject: GEORGE BARNSBY BLOG NO.668 FRIDAY 28YJ DECEMBER 2008
www.gbpeoplelibrary.co.uk

> PREPARATIONS FOR MY 90TH. BIRTHDAY PARTY.
> Preparations gather apace. After Nasir Khan and Rudi Achtelstetter, We
> have today had an acceptance from Lance Dunkley which is most important to
> me. Lance represents the African-Caribbean community in Britain, more than
> perhaps any one else. We have been friends for many, many years and he
> tells me that Ricky Stennett who wrote the famous book Buckra Massa
> Pickney hopes to be back in England for the New Year so he also will be
> able to come.
> I know Ricky from the early days of the Wolverhampton Race Equality
> Council where he was a Race Equality Officer in Wolverhampton, although he
> resided in Coventry and commuted to Wolverhampton daily. When the WREC
> was closed down, foolishly by Sir Trevor Phillips, Ricky found himself
> without a job and he and his activist wife went back to Jamaica where
> they became active in an island dominated by reactionary white
> Today I spent quite a time, emailing the Cuban, Venezuelan, Bolivian
> etc Communist Parties who I hope will either send a message or a
> representative to my Birthday Party and will do the same for the Indian
> and Chinese Parties to morrow.
> But I’m beginning to think that it is not only for 29 Jan 09 that I
> shall want to bring people together. For instance, there are the three
> leaders of the Builders Strike in the 1970s that I would like to bring
> together. Pete Carter I am in contact with and I hope he’ll be at the
> Party. Mike Shilvock I am also in contact with, but he has already
> explained that it is the tenth anniversary of his wedding, so Nina and he
> will be swanning themselves in some Caribbean island and so will not be
> able to attend. The third is now a famous actor. So famous that he was on
> the Tele on Xmas Day. His name is Ricky Tomlinson famous for his
> portrayal of Jim Royle of the Royle Family. The three of them almost
> invented Flying Pickets. He wrote a book called simply ‘Ricky’ which told
> the story of the Strike and also of one of the most disgraceful example of
> legal chicanery in history. In 1971 he was jailed on Conspiracy charges
> and became known as one of the Shrewsbury Two, the other being his great
> friend Des Warren . The failure of the two to co-operate with the prison
> authorities meant that they suffered long periods of solitary confinement
> and suffered ill-treatment akin to torture. When the came out of prison
> they continued to be thought of as ‘enemies of the people’ in those
> Thatcher times and were black listed by the building industry. He then
> became a stand-up comedian in pubs and clubs of his native Liverpool
> until, at the age of forty, he was chosen by Roland Joffe to star in the
> controversial TV drama United Kingdom. His book is a personal political
> one where he invites us to embrace working class politics. It is time that
> we got the three together to discuss the lessons of the Strikes as well as
> their being interviewed individually.
> I have tried to contact Ricky through his publishers Time Warner,
> but have so far had no reply from a letter they passed on to him. I shall
> ring the publishers tomorrow, and if I get no joy from them, I’ll contact
> the BBC.
> Our interest in the Builders’ Strikes in Wolverhampton were either
> personal or solidarity actions through our Trades Councils or the
> Communist Party and that I, as secretary of Wolverhampton CP have records
> of those strikes which will left on my disease to the Central Library
> Archives in Wolverhampton.
>
> LOCAL NEWS.
> Work on expanding the capacity of Wolves FC in preparation for
> promotion to the Premiership and contemplation of a rather longer stay
> than the last were due to start almost immediately. Hard Luck. Steve
> Morgan the owner of the Club reckons that it will be two seasons before
> extensions can be carried out and before that the best could happen and
> Wolves with their present 7 point lead could be back in the Premiership,
> but then with the same worst of luck as the last time find themselves back
> in the Championship. And, of course, a much worse fate might have
> befallen the teams which are foreign owned and such giants as Chelsea and
> Man.United could have been bankrupted no longer in existence. This
> possibility is highlighted today by the news that Centro, the region’s
> main transport system will have to be subsidised by the general public to
> the tune of an extra six millions over the next two years, and, of course
> all the grand products of our ‘regeneration’ bodies are holding fire and
> the great man Richard Carr in charge of all this doesn’t care a monkeys,
> since he has disappeared and gone on holiday.
> The slump is everywhere, and Gardenland the largest local outfit where
> Esme used to buy her plants and flowers and we could both have a decent
> lunch is now closing down.
> In thinking that the worse should befall the Wolves and they had to
> cancel my 90th Birthday Party, Lance Dunkley suggests that if that
> happened we might go to the Wolverhampton Race Course restaurant which he
> highly commends, although I fear they would suffer the same problems as
> Wolves.
> And this will remain the situation until Gordon Brown at present the
> greatest war monger in the world decides to end the wars in Iraq,
> Afghanistan and elsewhere when he could find himself with enough money to
> finance our Welfare State instead of privatising it. For these reasons:
>
> THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> .

PREPARATIONS FOR MY 90TH. BIRTHDAY PARTY.
Preparations gather apace. After Nasir Khan and Rudi Achtelstetter, We
have today had an acceptance from Lance Dunkley which is most important to
me. Lance represents the African-Caribbean community in Britain, more than
perhaps any one else. We have been friends for many, many years and he tells
me that Ricky Stennett who wrote the famous book Buckra Massa Pickney hopes
to be back in England for the New Year so he also will be able to come.
I know Ricky from the early days of the Wolverhampton Race Equality
Council where he was a Race Equality Officer in Wolverhampton, although he
resided in Coventry and commuted to Wolverhampton daily. When the WREC was
closed down, foolishly by Sir Trevor Phillips, Ricky found himself without
a job and he and his activist wife went back to Jamaica where they became
active in an island dominated by reactionary white officials
Today I spent quite a time, emailing the Cuban, Venezuelan, Bolivian
etc Communist Parties who I hope will either send a message or a
representative to my Birthday Party and will do the same for the Indian and
Chinese Parties to morrow.
But I’m beginning to think that it is not only for 29 Jan 09 that I
shall want to bring people together. For instance, there are the three
leaders of the Builders Strike in the 1970s that I would like to bring
together. Pete Carter I am in contact with and I hope he’ll be at the Party.
Mike Shilvock I am also in contact with, but he has already explained that
it is the tenth anniversary of his wedding, so Nina and he will be swanning
themselves in some Caribbean island and so will not be able to attend. The
third is now a famous actor. So famous that he was on the Tele on Xmas Day.
His name is Ricky Tomlinson famous for his portrayal of Jim Royle of the
Royle Family. The three of them almost invented Flying Pickets. He wrote a
book called simply ‘Ricky’ which told the story of the Strike and also of
one of the most disgraceful examples of legal chicanery in history. In 1971
he was jailed on Conspiracy charges and became known as one of the
Shrewsbury Two, the other being his great friend Des Warren. A foreword to his book
tells us that Ricky was born in 1926 into a society divided and stratified
by skin colour, race, class and culture which he has devoted his life to
overcoming Both Ricky and Lance do me the honour of regarding me as being
one of the few white people who understand the politics of race. I look
forward to working with Ricky again.
Reverting to the other Ricky, Tomlinson, he wrote a book called simply Ricky explaining how he and Des Warren becam the victims of one of the most infamous legal scandals in Britain by being arrested for Conspiracy together with his great friend Des Warren. They became known as the Shrewsbury Two The failure of the two to
co-operate with the prison authorities meant that they suffered long periods
of solitary confinement and suffered ill-treatment akin to torture. When
the came out of prison they continued to be thought of as ‘enemies of the
people’ in those Thatcher times and were black listed by the building
industry. He then became a stand-up comedian in pubs and clubs of his native
Liverpool until, at the age of forty, he was chosen by Roland Joffe to
star in the controversial TV drama United Kingdom. His book is a personal
political one where he invites us to embrace working class politics. It is
time that we got the three together to discuss the lessons of the Strikes as
well as their being interviewed individually.
I have tried to contact Ricky through his publishers Time Warner, but
have so far had no reply from a letter they passed on to him. I shall ring
the publishers tomorrow, and if I get no joy from them, I’ll contact the
BBC.
Our interest in the Builders’ Strikes in Wolverhampton were either
personal or solidarity actions through our Trades Councils or the Communist
Party and that I, as secretary of Wolverhampton CP have records of those
strikes which will left on my decease to the Central Library Archives in
Wolverhampton.

LOCAL NEWS.
Work on expanding the capacity of Wolves FC in preparation for
promotion to the Premiership and contemplation of a rather longer stay than
the last were due to start immediately. Hard Luck. Steve Morgan the owner of the Club
reckons that because of the Slump it will be two seasons before extensions can be carried out and before that the best could happen and Wolves with their present 7 point lead
could be back in the Premiership. But then with the same worst of luck as
the last time they could find themselves back in the Championship. And, of course, much
worse might have befallen the teams which are foreign owned such as Chelsea and Man.United who could have been bankrupted and no longer be in existence. This
possibility is highlighted today by the news that Centro, the region’s main
transport system will have to be subsidised by the general public to the
tune of an extra six millions over the next two years, and, of course all
the grand products of our ‘regeneration’ bodies are holding fire and the
great man, Richard Carr, in charge of all this doesn’t care a monkeys, since
he has disappeared and gone on holiday.
The slump is everywhere, and Gardenland the largest local garden centre where
Esme used to buy her plants and flowers and we could both have a decent
lunch is now closing down.
In thinking that the worse should befall the Wolves and they had to
cancel my 90th Birthday Party, Lance Dunkley suggests that if that happened
we might go to the Wolverhampton Race Course restaurant which he highly
commends, although I fear they would suffer the same problems as Wolves.
And this will remain the situation until Gordon Brown at present the
greatest war monger in the world decides to end the wars in Iraq,
Afghanistan and elsewhere when he could find himself with enough money to
finance our Welfare State instead of privatising it. For these reasons:

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES.

.

RUDI ACHTELSTETTER MY COMRADE IN WAR AND PEACE.
At a time when the GB BLOG is claiming to be the foremost and most
influential Communist website in the world, our arrangement that Rudi and I
should phone each other on Xmas day was a great success. We fought on
different sides in the Second World War, but Rudi was opposed to the
Hitlerite war, as was I on the allied side. Rudi’s greatest achievement was
that when living in the German Democratic Republic after the war, he found
no need to spy for the Stasi and he never joined the Unity (Einheit) party
in the GDR. He was a German teacher of English in schools and one of the
tutors who I first met at the Summer Course for Teachers of English at the
Internationaler Summerkurs Padagogische Hochschule in Potsdam, East Germany.
After the course I remained friendly with Rudi and I wrote to him on
Britain material which he could use in his classes, while his writing to me
was both
a personal friendship and a means of improving his own English.
It was not long before we began writing about the First World War and
Weimar. I was particularly interested in the Christmas Truce of 1914 when
German soldiers fraternised with English Troops and played football in
No-Man’s-Land.
Researching the period I learned that this was the first time
that troops had defied the so-called divine right of militarists and
politicians to send ‘their’ troops to fight fellow working men, and it had
been a long time before the military regained control, only to be
faced with the possibility of further revolts after the triumph of the
Bolsheviks in 1917 when the war ended with revolutions in many parts of the
world.
I also learned from Rudi that this episode was not as well known
among Germans as it was in England. Since then I have agitated that the
Fraternisation be repeated every Xmas in press and television, especially as
mutinies are still possible in
Iraq and Afghanistan and that our whole modern peace movement is aimed at
abolishing nuclear weapons and preventing the destruction of the world by
the
Bush’s, Blair’s and Brown’s of this world. It is the outstanding issue for
all of us.
So when I spoke to Rudi on Xmas Day I was delighted
to find that Rudi is prepared to come to my 90th. Birthday Party. His only
problem is that his wife Hanni is not very well and cannot accompany him,
but I should be as pleased and proud to meet Rudi at my party as I will to
greet my comrade Nasir Khan on January 29th. next year. And, of course I
hope by then we shall be able to greet Communists from throughout the world
including representatives of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Evo Mores as well
as greetings from Chinese and Indian Communists. Such are my high hopes
for
my 90th Birthday Party at the Wolves Football Ground.

XMAS IN WOLVERHAMPTON.
Not even Xmas can stem the flow of bad news for those who want to see
crocks of gold at the end of rainbows . Latest news on one of the prime
sites, the W’ton Low Level Station project is that it will be moth balled in
February if no buyer is found. Security guards are being employed after
officials said that it might be trashed by vandals within hours.
Plans for the appointment of a director of the Midland Metro on
?100,000 a year are on hold. He was to have worked with all four Black
Country boroughs alongside Wolverhampton’ s chief executive Richard Carr.
Councillor Paddy Bradley, the Conservative’s regeneration boss has
uncharacteristically stated that there is big money available for these
project and they are desperate to tap into it. Would that this was true. One
man not bothered at this time is Richard Carr who is off for his Xmas break
and nobody can find him.
There is some good news however. The removal of the City archives from
Snow Hill to its new home in the former Molineux House is proceeding apace
and the transfer will be completed by February. thanks to a ?3 million grant
from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Its new home is attractive, spacious and
will be a new landmark in the town. It will be a personal triumph for the
archivist.
Meanwhile the Xmas break is liable to be a prolonged one from which
very many people will return, not to work, but to the dole. Our sympathies
are with them and, as we assure them that:

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES.

—– Original Message —–
From: “George Barnsby”
To: “George Barnsby”
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2008 3:21 PM
Subject: GEORGE BARNSBY BLOG NO. 666 BOXING DAY DECEMBER 26 2008
www.gbpeopleslibrary.co.uk

>A MOST SATISFACTORY XMAS.
> Xmas Day and Xmas Dinner with my elder son Robert and his wife Cal.
> Bob
> is one of two persons I have a particular affection for. Rob, handsome as
> a
> Greek God and Phyl, partner to Geoff Sidbotham of Henwood who has, in her
> prime, had the curves and good looks of Marilyn Munro and is still, as I
> saw
> her on Xmas Eve attired for a night out very attractive.
> Robert, of course, was assaulted by a burglar when in London taking
> presents to the family this week and I was anxious to see for myself
> whether
> his good looks had been impaired. I found they were not but he had a nasty
> gash in his head, which he referred to in a Xmas card to Cal his wife by
> writing that he was still her loving husband, but now had only eight lives
> left! We had a delightful day at Robert’s where other guests were Cal’s
> mother and her husband Dave. Olive, like me, has been a ballroom dancing
> fan
> since before World War II and I was pleased to listen to her reminiscences
> of
> dancing in Wolverhampton which I only came to in 1954 and it gave me the
> opportunity to relate my tales of my early dancing days. Olive, like me,
> was
> first taught to dance by her mother and she went on from there. But I
> found
> to my chagrin that the dancing taught me by my Mum was entirely out of
> date,
> so that when I returned from a pre-war holiday at a holiday camp I found
> myself with ?1 to spare, which I invested in a course of dancing lessons
> at
> the well known Farr’s Academy in King’s Road Chelsea where I met Clifford
> Hall with whom I became very friendly and at a later date offered to
> become
> his secretary in return for further dancing lessons. This he agreed to and
> thus started a giddy round of his taking me to Brighton at week ends and
> later to dance tournaments at Blackpool where Cliff and his partner had
> booked separate room for propriety’s sake, but when the got there slept
> together, leaving a spare room for me to which I also could have invited a
> girl friend, except that I was a shy young lad who slept on his own.
> Olive was interested in the fact that at that time I acquired a Silver
> Medal of the dancing academies of the times and have the certificate
> showing
> my marks for each dance and this led me to wonder what had become of the
> medal itself. Eventually assumed that it must have been destroyed when my
> Mum was bombed out in the London blitz while I who had been called up in
> October 1939 was safe in the orchards of Sussex and Kent and Sidney, my
> brother who had volunteered as a territorial was in France in the days of
> the phoney war where nothing much was happening. By this time Cliff Hall
> had
> transferred from Farr’s to another studio, still in King’s Road, but the
> other side of the road. In these still pre-war days the girl who lived
> upstairs at my address in Ingelow Battersea used to come every Sunday into
> my bedroom with a nice cup of tea and then we would walk along the length
> of
> Queen’s Road, because trams didn’t run on Sundays, across Chelsea Bridge
> and on to King’s Road where I had a key and we danced for a couple of
> hours
> all alone at the school. What bliss! and then walked home again. What it
> is
> to be young and healthy!.
> During and after the war this story takes a turn which connects it to
> Chelsea Football Club. Cliff was older than me and so had not been called
> up, but did fire duty on the roof of Fulham Power Station where one night
> he
> fell to his death. This affected me more than I can express, and when I
> was
> demobbed in 1946 I made a point of visiting the site of the dance school
> which had a distinctive ornate entrance of indescribable architectural
> type
> into a court yard. Later I asked my two sons to visit the building but
> they found it had been replaced by a large multi-storey building but
> their trip had been worth while since it had demonstrated to them why
> King’s Road was on of the ‘classiest’ streets in Britain.
> Many years later, again. Chelsea FC are considering re-locating to a
> site
> near Battersea Power Station and building a new stadium with a retractable
> roof which I have for several years advocated Arsenal should do and I have
> a promise from Ken Friar, the present managing director to provide me
> with an estimate
> Here’s to a more restful Boxing Day.
>

THE MOST EFFECTIVE BLOG IN THE WORLD.
The Guardian is running a campaign to find the Websites with the most
hits. These number many millions for the Daily and Sunday national
newspapers, but we are more concerned to find the most effective BLOG and we
are putting this BLOG forward as a candidate for this honour.
For instance ever since George W.Bush and his Neo-Cons declared this
to be the New American Century the Barnsby BLOG has argued that George
W.Bush and his cronies are the real terrorists and if Bush and Co. were
arrested and tried for crimes against humanity, that ‘terrorism’ would
virtually disappear as it is a reaction to Bush, Blair and now Gordon Brown
is the greatest terrorist in the world. This was particularly true after
9/11 when Bush had a passive and frightened Congress pass the Patriot Act
which effectively removed free speech for the American people.
An equally criminal act was the local one whereby racists and bigots
closed Bilston Community College which was the first multicultural College
in Britain with one third of its staff from ethnic minorities, a figure
nowhere else exceeded either before or since. Its principal was Keith
Wymer, the most outstanding educationalist of his era providing further
education to everyone who asked for it irrespective of whether they had
educational qualifications or not. This was in a period of mass unemployment
in Bilston as under Margaret Thatcher the steel industry was closed down on
which Bilston workers depended. Fortunately the Friends of Bilston Community
College refused to accept closure and continued to protest under the
Freedom of Information Act and a two year long enquiry by the Police found
that Bilston had committed nothing illegal, but on the grounds of expense
insist that documents arriving at that conclusion must be bought by the
complainants. This might involve almost unlimited expenditure which the
Friends are in no position to face, and so the position remains to this day,
closed but ready to resume its position as the present Wolverhampton City
College must have been set up illegally.
Alternatively, Keith Wymer could have become the Wolverhampton Chief
Education Officer, as recommended by the Wolverhampton Race Equality Council
which would have made Wolverhampton a leading centre of education.. But
instead of that the Education Committee chose what they thought was a safe
pair of hands in the very nice person of Roy Lockwood a man I very much
liked. Today, however Lockwood supports the New Labour educational programme
which consists of privatising all our social services including education
which is to be handed over to private organisers of Educational Academies.
This is opposed by all educational professional and teaching bodies who
support the traditional Comprehensive School programme whereby so-called
failing schools are given additional finance and other assistance instead of
the perverse programme of cutting expenditure and handing them over to
private moneyed organisations which run the risk of bankrupting our schools
and seeing them sold off and closed as has happened to the banks.

THE GEORGE BARNSBY 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY.
This is now taking on new dimensions and will be the first test of the
BLOG being considered the most important in the world. The story of my son,
Robert, taking the family presents to London and being attacked by a burglar
has raised considerable sympathy. I spoke last night to my sister-in-law,
Margaret, asking what her reaction was to the burglary. She said her first
reaction was relief that Robert was sleeping down stairs, because otherwise
he would have come upstairs and assaulted her. This is a perfectly
reasonable attitude to take and she wants to forget all about it. She does,
however, have a sympathetic police woman who will report to her regularly on
the progress made in catching the burglar and to whom she can refer for tea
and sympathy if she thinks fit.
There has been sympathy for both Margaret and Robert, but this tends
to distract from the problems of my younger son, William, who, in a sense,
was responsible for the course that events took, and he has, so far, had no
sympathy. Billy had an operation on his knee and although it has been
successful, he was not up to spending four hours in the confines of a car
and so Robert went alone. I asked Robert what he thought might have
happened if Billy had been with him as the two invariably take the presents
to London together. Rob said that he thought that if William had been with
him sleeping in the same room they would have overpowered the intruder, he
having turned on the light for an instant, presumably to get his bearings,
Robert found that he was black but without any trace of a foreign accent
which suggested that he was a Londoner, but he was not a large man, and Rob
thought that between them they could have overpowered him.
The other hero of the evening was Darryl Collins, younger son of
Margaret, who volunteered to take home a wounded and car-less Robert. This
must have taken at least 5 to 7 hours. Thanks Darryl. But it was a horrible
night for all concerned.
Robert is my correspondent on Greece and part of the work of the
week-end was to discuss with my brother Sidney why the quite lengthy piece
he had written on the riots in Greece was transferred to my BLOG but not to
his computer. This is important to me as I have hitherto thought that
everything on my computer also appeared on every one else’s computer, but
this apparently is not the case. I still need my two computer wizards,
Martin George and Andy Goodall to sort this matter out.

NASIR KHAN.
Amid all the kefuffle Ian Peddie a Wolverhampton man born and bred who
will happen to be still in England on the night of the party should be able
to come and Nasir Khan who is a Kashmiri born activist domiciled in Oslo and
who is my expert on Asia in general, but in particular the conflict between
India and Pakistan whose roots lie in the fact that both want to control
Kashmir.
Nasir tells me that he has booked a flight to London for my party. He
is particularly solicitous of Robert saying that it is a matter for relief
that his injuries are not serious and as the son of a close comrade (me!)
he has felt much concerned. Nasir is also looking forward to coming the
Wolverhampton and seeing my library. He will be very welcome indeed.
But his email comes at a time when the scope of the Birthday Party on
January 29th 2009 is taking on the world feature by incorporating the
anniversary of the execution of Charles I on the day following my birthday.
We now want to receive greetings or even visits from the Socialist world of
Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Evo Mores etc. as well as India, China and other
parts where Socialism is thriving such as Cyprus.
So the BLOG can be used in the future to discuss the latest
developments. I believe, for instance that my wife Esme might have a good
idea in thinking that we might well discuss the Marxist importance of
Charles I before the actual day dawns and there might not be the need to
extend the time to 1am as I was envisaging. The BLOG can also be used for
people to acknowledge that they will attend which will be useful and other
business, including the progress towards the arrests of Bush, Blair and
Brown.

A MERRY XMAS.
It is now Xmas day as it is past midnight. I wish all my friends a
Merry Xmas and Prosperous and Peaceful New Year. As to my foes who include
all those who support the wars in Iraq and elsewhere I hope they share the
torture and misery they inflict on others. As for those who won’t reply to
me I just say come on - it won’t hurt you.
We have our Xmas dinner at Bob and Cal’s. I shall take a break on
this most important day to Believers, but not unimportant to us Atheists
who can wine, dine and make merry as well as any Christian. Hope to be back
in action on Boxing Day if I haven’t over-indulged too much!! GEORGE

SYMPATHY FOR MY SON ROBERT.
I was able today to talk to Robert and ask exactly what happened when
the burglar had fled. He said he immediately went upstairs, rang the police
on 999 and woke Margaret, our sister-in-law . She contacted her own son,
Darryl who was then good enough to take Rob back home and then return to
London, a round trip which must have taken 4 to 6 hours in all.
This evening I rang Margaret who was still most distressed. Her first
thought was the selfish one that had not Robert been downstairs the burglar
would have come upstairs and assaulted her and it is understandable that
this thought preys on her mind and she wishes to forget the whole incident.
This may depend on whether the burglar is found and arrested and Margaret
says she has a sympathetic London police woman who will ring her
occasionally or who she can consult at any time to be informed of the
progress of the police investigation. A most unfortunate incident for all
concerned.

NASIR KHAN IS COMING TO MY 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY.
Nasir has already booked his passage from Oslo to Wolverhampton for the
great day. But he also is concerned with the attack on Robert, saying that
it is a matter of relief for him to know that his injuries are not serious
as he is the son of his close comrade, George.

HOW MANY PEOPLE READ THE BLOG?
Robert’s wish to know how many people read the Daily Blog is shared by
many of us and Martin George, my web master, has come up with some
interesting figures. He says that so far in December the number of different
visitors was 2,631. The top 20 visitors looked at over 100 pages on the
website during the month. Martin then asks us to look for ourselves and
quote two websites, http://gbpeopleslibrary.co.uk/webaliser/index.html and
http://gbpeopleslibrary.co.uk/webaliser/usage_200812.html Martin then gives
an explanation of the figures on
http://www.panix.com.web/faq/logs/webaliser_interp.html Unfortunately I
have not been able to get results from these three sites, but I am sure
others better acquainted with computer technology will be more successful
and even I when I give it another whorl will be successful. Thanks Martin.

THE EXECUTION OF CHARLES I.
My reply to Nasir will also be affected by the fact that we have decided
to try to extend the celebrations to the early hours of the next day,
30th.January, which is the day in 1649 when Charles I was executed. For us
radicals this date is the most important in British history for it marks the
time when England shocked the feudal Catholic world and became the first
capitalist power and we, the first working class in the world. The film the
Devil’s Whore explains that every other important power celebrates their
revolutionary origins. So the American’s celebrate their defeat of the
British;
the French celebrate their victory over the French aristocracy and
European reaction , Russian progressives still celebrate the Bolshevik
revolution which resulted in the Socialist Sixth of the World, yet the
British do not celebrate 30th January which was the greatest revolution of
all and on the shoulders of which the revolutions of these other countries
stand. We shall remedy this on 30 Jan 2008 and since Christopher Hill who
did most to make Britain aware of its revolutionary past is dead, I have
taken the liberty of inviting Kevin Morgan to celebrate the occasion and I
am sure there will be historians from Wolverhampton University, newly
crowned as one of the most important research universities in the world, to
also speak at the celebration.

ISSUES OUT STANDING.
One is the issue of Sir Trevor Phillips being a suitable leader of
ethnic minority people in view of the fact that he thought the war in Iraq
was, ‘outside his remit’ when he was chair of the Race Equality Council and
his continued refusal to say whether he supports or opposes the war now
that he his chair of the New Labour set up Commission for Equality and Human
Rights. His refusal to reply means that the most important aspect of our
civil rights is removed and is akin to the case of Gordon Brown not replying
to charges of waging a racist and unwinnable war against the Iraqi and
Afghan people. These are not the only issues outstanding, but must suffice
for now as:

THE STRUGGLE
CONTINUES.

JAZZ CHEERS ME UP.
Gordon Fryer is a good friend I met at Jazz Club 90 at The Harp ,
Albrighton. He was a fine saxophonist, but injured his hand which refuses
to heal and so his playing days are virtually over. He is also an
accomplished historian of his native town Wednesfield A long time ago he
gave me his web address which included www.radiojazz.co.uk which I have
never used before, but I thought I would try as Xmas approaches. It gives a
couple of hours of splendid jazz which I will certainly use again.

MY 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY AT WOLVES FC.
This is scheduled to begin at 7pm on January 29th. and probably end
before midnight when both Esme and I will be thoroughly exhausted. But
history is catching up with us.January 30th is the date of perhaps the most
important event in our British history. It is the date when Oliver Cromwell
having signed the death warrant of King Charles I who was duly led out on to
the balcony of the still existing Banqueting Hall in Whitehall to be
decapitated in 1649 and a Commonwealth introduced to the horror of the
feudal Catholic powers throughout the world and England became the first
capitalist country in the world and we the first working class in the world.
I would dearly like to celebrate this second anniversary (the first
being my birthday), if we are able to extend our stay by only one minute
after midnight and if we could expand it by one hour we might even get some
distinguished historian to talk on the importance of the Commonwealth
period.

ROBERT BARNSBY AND THE BURGLARS.
My son Robert will be closely associated with the Birthday Party, but
is independently involved as my correspondent on Greece. I mentioned the
fact that Robert took Xmas gifts to our family in London and was assaulted
by a burglar beating him around the head. Talking to Robert today he said it
could have been worse, a real gun or a knife, but that he has recovered .
Robert is, as I explained yesterday, is my correspondent on Greece and said
he would be able to report any great development in that country, although
even anarchists seem to celebrate Xmas these days.
This brought us to the point of how many people switched on to the BLOG
and how many therefore knew of his misfortunes. The family have always been
opposed to my recording personal matters on the BLOG such as the state of my
finances. But I disagree and say that if I am to maintain my integrity
nothing should be secret. So there it is, my personal finances on the BLOG
for all to see, although in these days of the crunch, I have less now than I
did.
Rob also objected to me discussing particulars of my 90th Anniversary
Party on the BLOG, thinking that many hundreds of opponents might turn up on
the night and wreck the evening. So he asked me if there was any way of
knowing how many people read the BLOG and I said there was, but I had not
pressed Martin George, my computer expert, to reveal the figure, although
since material on the party has now been revealed it might be as well to
publish the number of hits on the site for the next few days. I personally
believe the number is small and particularly so for
commentisfree@’guardianco.uk and haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk But now that I am
linking my 90th Birthday on the 29th Jan to the executor of Charles I the
next day this again will be opened for debate on all issues from the time of
the party to who provides the music (if any) to the number to be catered
for, since the essential of the do is that people can stay the whole
evening, or pop in for an hour or so. But it would help if people who intend
to come let us know. Many thanks.

THE ISSUES AT STAKE
I have been going through my file of Rob Marris my MP who has always
been attentive to my views and has been voted by MPs as ‘Back Bencher of the
Year 2008′. The most important issue remains the arrest of Gordon Brown the
now No.1. War Criminal for Crimes against Humanity, especially as he is also
a Nuclear Maniac willing to risk the existence of mankind for wars in Iraq,
Afghanistan and elsewhere which are racist and unwinnable.
The issue of Jean Charles Menezes is also high on my list as no one has
yet answered my query of why the police didn’t shoot to wound rather to
kill. This matter is with Scotland Yard and the new black Attorney-General
Baroness Scotland , but neither has yet issued even a receipt let alone an
answer.
Bilston has caught the Wolverhampton disease of believing the fairy tale
that there are untold millions available to ‘regenerate’ the town.
Unfortunately most of it seems to depend on knocking down important parts of
the town in order to obtain monies from unnamed authorities. With the
present financial situation as it is, this is like buying a pig in a poke
and the local councillors who are cooing over the idea should be aware that
Gordon Brown and his Cabinet have no money to finance such plans and they
are now trying to screw money out of local authorities and not the other way
round. This will always be the case unless Brown and Co. end the racist and
unwinnable wars they are waging, but this becomes less and less likely with
every day that passes. For these reasons:

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES