Unified Terran Community

The second draft of ‘Penny Dreadful’ is now available for viewing.  You can find it in the ‘Stories’ section to the right or you can find it here.  As I mentioned below it’s now a longer read, so you might want to scroll down to the bottom of the page and use the ‘convert to .pdf’ button, might be a little less eyeball searing.  As always, comments are gratefully recieved.

unifiedterrancommunity@gmail.com

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Which was of course George Orwells’ name for the UK in his novel Nineteen Eighty Four.  As I watched the Iraq War Inquiry on the rolling news last night I began to ponder the first crime that the protagonist of Orwells’ novel, Winston, commited.  Not withstanding the multitude of ‘Thoughtcrimes’, his first real act of rebellion was to buy a diary and writing implements.  This allowed Winston to keep a record of the announcements made by the Party.  Almost immediately this allowed Winston to perceive the deception and misinformation that the Party fed the ‘proles.  Arguably this really just pushed Winston out of denial, since his job was to delete any reference in the archives to ‘nonpersons’, those who had angered the Party and subsequently disappeared.

With the level of deceit that has become customary for our leaders to employ, I started to wonder if maybe this is something that needs to be done now.  Sounds a little paranoid, right?  Consider the example of Peter Mandelson.  If I recall correctly, Comrade Mandelson was the MP for Hartlepool to begin with.  He was removed to avoid a corruption scandal, quietly fading into the background for a while.  Then he re appeared and not long afterwards was sent off to the EU parliament to avoid another scandal.  Everyone sort of forgot about him until the Supreme Leader, Comrade Brown summoned him back from Europe to try and save his failing Premiership.  Interestingly, Mandelson didn’t just come back.  There were always rumours about the Blairite/Brown split in New Labour and Mandelson was definitely one of Blairs.  And thus, we the taxpayer paid a ‘moving allowance’ of over £250,000 to smooth the transition between the EU parliament and the UK one.  That would seem to be somewhat in the nature of a bribe, but we’re not that cynical.  Are we?

Anyway, back he came.  But not as an MP.  There was nowhere for him to go as an MP and he has a … dubious, success rate as an MP.  Clearly then, the way forward was to award him a Peerage.  With this crude bit of political flim flammery, the Supreme Leader got his fixer and Comrade Lord Mandelson of the Sith was born.  This was the beginning of the Supreme Leaders unusual policy of having a Cabinet that was over 50% unelected officials.  Certainly members of the Upper House had appeared in the Cabinet before, but never in such numbers.  I think many people have an instinctive distrust of Dark Lord Mandelson and that is a Very Good Thing.  But few people seem to remember that even Tony Blair had to get rid of Mandelson because he was so corrupt.  Even fewer people remember the actual reason Mandelson was cast out in the first place.  I suspect that if more people remembered the truth about Comrade Lord Mandelson, Brown could never have brought him back.

They say we live in the Age of Information.  This is almost correct, we live in the Age of Disinformation.  Our government continually contradicts itself and is caught in blatant lies on an almost daily basis.  Yet nothing ever comes of it.  The Iraq War Inquiry is a perfect example.  It is widely accepted (I hope!) that Blairs government lied through their rotten teeth to involve us in the War for Oil.  Now we have an Inquiry into what went on.  On the surface, this is great - only last night I watched one of our top military officers gleefully lay the blame for our high casualty rate at the door of Whitehall.  But this was an illegal war.  The focus should not be on who mismanaged the occupation but on who caused it to occur.  Tony Blair is a war criminal.  He should be treated as such.  The comedian Frankie Boyle remarked that latterly Blairs focus was on his ‘legacy’ and that said legacy was assured.  He would be remembered as a mass murdering bastard.  I certainly hope so.

Well, ramble over.  Have a pleasant day and remember to check your TVs for hidden cameras.  Remember, Lord Mandelson of the Sith knows where you live…

unifiedterrancommunity@gmail.com

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The second draft of the short story ‘Penny Dreadful’ is done and is now available to newsletter subscribers.  For everyone else it’ll be up around 7pm (UK time) on the 10th of December.  This revision includes the prelude as well as parts 1 and 2.  So it’s just shy of 6,500 words which leads me to suggest that you use the ‘convert to pdf’ button found at the bottom of the story page to make it into a more eyeball friendly format.  Oh and feel free to use the ‘tell a friend’ button as well 

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This is an Unusual Book.  It is a compilation of the research material that Bremner, Bird and Fortune used as the basis of their satirical TV program.  The material is laid out in such a fashion as to form a narrative history of the antics of New Labour from their entry into Government in 1997 up to 2005.  As such, the book makes for some alarming reading!  ‘You are here’ exposes the hypocrisy and lies that have become an accepted part of New Labours character in all their festering glory.  This is the story of a warmongering megalomaniac and a nation of passive, easily manipulated cattle.  As I said, not easy reading by any means.

This book is the result of numerous off record conversations as well as the simple process of recording the promises of New Labour and then exposing the reality of those promises.  The book exemplifies the notion that we are a nation of people with very short memories who are very easily distracted.  Starting with New Labours landslide victory in 1997, ‘You are Here’ reminds us of the tremendous sense of optimism that gripped the country.  ‘Things can only get better’ was not only the soundtrack to the celebrations on the night, but practically a mission statement from the party who were going to save us all from the depredations of the Conservatives.  However, this was not simple politics as the past had seen them play out.  New Labour created a vast media machine, commanded by the ubiquitous Alastair Campbell, to transmit their message to everyone and anyone.  Blair surrounded himself with musicians and actors and the banner of ‘Cool Britannia’ was unfurled.  As we watched Liam and Noel Gallagher swagger into number 10 we thought to ourselves, hmm, that’s a little different.

Unfortunately, different is not the same as better as the rest of the book goes on to reveal.

The remainder of ‘You are Here’ is divided into four main topics.  Broadly, these deal with the build up to and aftermath of Gulf War II -  ‘This time it’s personal’; the unique approach that New Labour took to running our country; our foreign policy during the period covered by the book and of course the costs, financial and in terms of civil liberties, that we have paid under New Labours enlightened rule.  The book is rounded of by list of ‘little changes’ New Labour has made to the UK and a ten part suggested solution for global peace and harmony.  No.  Seriously. 

The next section I shall summarise revolves around the incredible piece of international breakdown that was the Iraq war, post September the 11th.  As a nation many (some?) of us were swept along in the tidal wave of propaganda that preceeded the war and sloshed about all the way through.  We knew our government was lying to us, simply because they kept contradicting themselves.  Thing is, to be a good liar, you need a good memory as well.  It would seem that all that time spent at our top universities not inhaling, had damaged the memories of our ruling caste.  But all of this is by the by.  There was going to be a war in Iraq, it was always going to be simply a case of finding a justification.  This subject has been covered in depth by an array of media outlets.  The result of this influx of information and rumour has been a level of obfuscation that New Labour could only have dreamt of.  ‘You are Here’ takes you by the hand and walks you through the menagerie of half truths and fictions in far more detail than I could convey here, consider this, however.  Those of you who were paying attention will recall a minor organisation called the UN.  You may also remember our Glorious Leader assuring us that we would only invade another sovreign nation under the auspices of a UN charter.  Wouldn’t be legal otherwise, you see.  You will also remember that the UN said ‘no invasion, Iraq are no threat’.  Still smiling that shit eating grin, Mr Blair proposed another resolution and as it began to fail, alluded to the notion that a resolution wasn’t really necessary - we would go ahead anyway, if the Americans indicated that was their preference.  There was mutterings about weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), we knew Iraq had them.  After all, we sold them to Iraq in the first place and lent him the money to pay for them.  Unfortunately, the inconsiderate Iraqis had deactivated the vast majority of them.  In accordance with UN directives.  The Coalition of the Willing, (USA, UK, Australia and if you choose to count them, like Mr Powell, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.) collectively shrugged their shoulders and invaded Iraq anyway.  Not withstanding the fact that the place is dripping in oil, as George W. Bush put it ‘He tried to kill my daddy…’   *shudder*

The following part of the book goes into detail about New Labours domestic policies and the results of said policies.  As an interesting side note, Routledges Economic Dictionary defined New Labours financial policy thus: “Blairism - see Thatcherism”.  New Labour began to create a ‘new’ way for the UK to conduct its business.  They resolved, under the Iron Chancellor (Comrade Brown, Supreme Leader in Waiting) that finance would be the major industry of the UK.  The City of London was given unprecedented freedoms to express their psychopathic urge to make money at all costs.  What little manufacturing industry that existed was slowly crushed.  Then came the rise of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).  This was not a New Labour Idea, the concept had arisen under the Conservative regime that had proceeded the rise of Blair and his cohorts.  However, under New Labour the PFIs positively ballooned.  The reason for this is disturbingly straightforward.  It’s all to do with accounting.  The PFIs are not recorded on the Governments economic balance sheet.  So, if for example you have a service haemoraging money, for example the rail network, that loss is not visible to a cursory examination of the government accounts.  It is this trickery which allowed New Labour to convince people they were handling our nations finances with skill and care.  There is much use of smoke and mirrors when dealing with New Labour.

Unfortunately, I’m running short of space here.  This is the only criticism I have of this book, it’s a nightmare to review because it covers so much material (354 pages, including index and references).  Some of the other topics covered include, but are not limited to, our involvement in Africa generally; Libya specifically; most of the countries whose name ends in ’stan’.  It also covers subject material such as our impact on the enviroment, the changes to our school, health and benefits systems.  And a big list of the various civil liberties that have been quietly removed since 1997.  Seriously, there is loads of good stuff here!  To wrap up then, some statistics from the section called ‘The Little Book of Britain’ (correct in 2005, things may have deteriorated since then..)

‘Over a third of the population earns less than £6 an hour’

‘Almost half the children in London live in poverty’

‘7 million adults are not literate enough to cope with modern life’

‘Over £6 billion is spent on alcohol every year’

‘Over 20% of the population is obese’

‘In 2002 on average one school playing field was sold off each week’

The importance of this book is that it shows the true face of our government.  I urge you to read it.

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Friday the 27th of November has thus far proved to be the darkest day of the year.  On this bleak day we gathered to pay our final respects to a close friend and loved one, Colin McNicholl or simply ‘Col’ (06/01/76 - 19/11/09).  I’m not sure if the phrase ‘good turnout’ is particularly apt for a funeral; so let us simply say that Col’s family and friends were there in abundance.  I can only imagine what his partner and family are going through, for myself I am utterly devastated.  The nature of Col’s death was such that it leaves doubts and questions, in a way that dying of a physical illness does not.  This adds to the tragedy, because there is nothing that could have been done to save him, only false impressions that a solution may have existed.

But enough of this kind of talk!  The ceremony on Friday was to celebrate Col’s life, not mourn his death and so this post will follow in that theme.  Col was a professional guitarist (among other things), one of my earliest memories of Col from school is his almost obsessive interest in music.  As you grow up, you generally meet several gifted musicians in your travels.  Col was the only one I ever met who had the genuine drive to make it as a pro.  Indeed, a couple of years ago, his band signed with an indie label in Glasgow and managed to pull off the impressive coup of supporting the Dead Kennedys at their only Scottish date.

Col was charming, funny and knew his own mind.  He was incredibly tolerant and non judgemental.  The varied group at his funeral was a testament to Col’s ability to form close friendships at great speed.  I am unaware of anyone who met Col and didn’t like him.  The concept of the social clique was completely foreign to Col and his friendships crossed all social boundaries.  Never was there a more genuine or loyal friend to be found.  Col’s interests were rich and varied.  As well as music (obviously) he was an enthusiastic fan of the non mainstream sci fi, such as the novels of Michael Marshall Smith and of course the timeless classic theat is Red Dwarf.  Politically, Col was very ‘Punk’ in his attitude.  It was Col who introduced me to the ‘Net film Loose Change, the first of several ‘conspiracy films’ we enjoyed; Zeitgeist 1 and 2 following swiftly afterwards.

The other interest that Col and I shared was a predeliction for rare herbs and proscribed chemicals.  The reason I mention this is to pass on a message from someone who was most likely Col’s oldest friend.  This friend is severely ill and could only attend the initial ceremony at the crematorium.  He was unable to attend the later gathering which was more celebratory.  Simply the message is this:

“I just wanted Colin to know that I still have that pipe he gave me over ten years ago and I still use it every day.”

I’m mentioning this here, because there was a ‘memories’ book at the after gathering and i forgot to put this in there.  I think it’s important and didn’t want it left unsaid.  Both the originator of the message and myself have known Col since primary school.  He has always been an important part of our lives and he will be well missed.

And never forgotten.  We love you man, rest in peace.

To finish up, here is a picture of Col, some links to his bands’ site (band are called Littlejohnrocket) and to a charity he approved of.  Please take the time to follow the links, there are free samples of Cols’ music (he was the lead guitarist).  The music really is very good…

LINKS

‘Youth Music’ Charity Site

LittleJohnRocket MySpace Site

LittlejohnRocket main Website

Note: It is certainly possible that the music sites will not be up forever, I don’t know what the band have planned, if anything - so have a listen while you still can  

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