UK politics

My latest thoughts on the coronavirus crisis, looking specifically at how it must change the way we operate forever – not only via the extinction of the cruise ship industry and the acceptance of a much-reduced airline industry, but also through a complete re-evaluation of capitalism and our own appetites. Some of this follows on from the demands of Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion, but the virus has, in an unprecedented manner, thrown almost everything we thought was certain into doubt, presenting unparalleled opportunities for a new future in which we put the needs of the people and the planet before profit.

As the UK economy grinds to a halt as a result of the coronavirus, I’m finding myself wondering how the almost complete collapse of the global economy can be seen as a proportionate response to a virus that has, to date, led to less than 8,900 deaths worldwide.

Some good news for a change, as a US judge orders the release from jail of whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who has been imprisoned for a year for refusing to cooperate with a Grand Jury investigation into WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. The judge, however, refused to waive the $256,000 that Manning was charged for refusing to cooperate with the investigation. I also draw parallels with the ongoing efforts in the UK to extradite Assange to the US to face espionage charges relating to WikiLeaks’ publication of the documents leaked by Manning.

A three-in-one article, launching the new song, ‘Affordable’, about the housing crisis, by The Four Fathers, plus a review of the campaign to save the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford, one year since the trees were all cut down by contractors working on behalf of Lewisham Council and Peabody – and some photos of protestors’ posters put up on the hoardings around the garden last week to mark the anniversary.

With one week to go until the start of the US extradition hearing for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, I urge the mainstream media to get more involved, drawing on a recent Guardian article by journalist and academic Roy Greenslade, in which he called on newspaper editors to speak out against the proposed extradition as an urgent and necessary defence of press freedom.

Marking 1,000 days since I began posting a photo a day on Facebook, on a page entitled, ‘The State of London’, drawing from what is now a nearly eight-year archive of photos taken on bike rides around London’s 120 postcodes, in which I record the latest upheavals and changes in the life of this great city, particularly involving the depredations of the housing development industry, the city’s shopfronts and neighbourhoods, its nature, via rivers, canals, trees, parks and hills, and its more ephemeral aspects as reflected in the changing weather and the seasons.

A link to – and my report about – my recent interview with Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek for their “Unauthorized Disclosure” podcast, in which we discussed Guantánamo and my recent US trip to call for its closure, and the proposed extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Here’s a link to, and description of my most recent radio interview – about Boris Johnson’s lamentable victory in the UK’s recent General Election, and also about Guantánamo – with Chris Cook on his Gorilla Radio show in Victoria, Canada. Chris has been interviewing me on and off for ten years, mostly about Guantánamo, but occasionally about other topics, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to talk about the dangerous state of British politics in the wake of Johnson’s victory.

My post-mortem on Thursday’s depressing General Election, which delivered a majority for the Tories under Boris Johnson, largely because of Johnson’s simplistic hammering home of a false promise to ‘Get Brexit Done’ at every opportunity. The slow and agonising reality of getting Brexit ‘done’ may, however – if there is any justice – eventually derail his shallow and deeply mendacious premiership.

My call to arms for tomorrow’s General Election, urging people to vote tactically to get the Tories out, and also calling for urgent reform of our profoundly unfair and unrepresentative first past the post voting system.