Hands in the till
The Angela Rayner tax-dodging scandal reminded me of an incident when I was admitted to the Brighton Labour Party election candidates’ panel in 1988.
A right-wing Labour candidate called me aside for a pep talk. The first item on the agenda was how to ‘maximise’ my expenses. This is in the days before councillors received allowances and there wasn’t much money to be made anyway.
Some of Labour’s public representatives have had their hands in the till for ages. Any principled socialist wouldn’t buy anything that required tax advice in the first place. Another reason why we need a new workers’ party.
Clive Walder, Birmingham
Bob Vylan
Bob Vylan played at Burn It Down festival Torquay on 28 August, packing out The Foundry on a Thursday night. Bob Vylan achieved notoriety at Glastonbury where Bobbie the vocalist chanted “Death, Death to the IDF”.
Most of the audience were young and those I spoke to were all workers.
Palestine flags, resistance to racism and solidarity with trans people were theme of the set.
“Blah blah blah…That’s alright; but I want to fight!”, the lyrics to ‘Pretty Songs’ say.
How do we fight, and what are we fighting for?
The young people at the gig won’t have found many answers, and probably weren’t looking for them just then! But in their lives all of them and many others are looking for a way to fight back against capitalism.
Bob Vylan were supported by punk rapper Hyphen, who I spoke to in the merch tent before his set to ask if he would mention Torbay Trades Council’s protest against the genocide in Gaza, which we were holding the next morning. In fact during the gig, he gave me the mic and got me to announce it myself!
Sure enough, at 12 midday, a few young punk fans determined to push through the driving rain and their hangovers to stand with us by the Harbour, holding handmade placards. Devon Socialist Party members sold seven papers and made a couple of good contacts.
Duncan Moore, Torbay
