ANOTHER WEEKDAY PROTEST

The ability of the left to mobilise on workdays is famous.  Today is a little different as they've pencilled in their latest weekday exploits for 18:00 in the desperate hope that some actual working people will join them after their shifts.  The protest has been organised by the far left 'People's Assembly' and will take place outside Downing Street to protest against the incoming Prime Minister.  The great unwashed will hear from a plethora of speakers including little Owen Jones (who else?) and a number of Labour MPs (plus Caroline Lucas of the Greens, naturally).

McDonnell will be joined by his Labour colleagues Dickie Burgon, Ian Lavery, Laura Pidcock, Emma Dent-Coad, Dan Carden, Karen Lee, Laura Smith and Danielle Rowley.  No doubt they'll all be demanding a general election on the basis that Boris is 'unelected'.  As they continue to beat the drum of this shallow argument we will continue to point out the glaring hypocrisy of their argument.  Gordon Brown wasn't elected PM either.

McDonnell, in particular, is more than familiar with the 2007 Labour leadership 'election'.  Brown wasn't even elected by his own party, let alone the electorate.  He was crowned Prime Minister unopposed.  The only other challenger was none other than McDonnell himself, albeit he failed to garner enough nominations to get on the ballot.  Maybe next time John.

Despite the impressive line-up of MPs planning to address the riff-raff, the Facebook page for today's demo has so far only attracted a couple of hundred people, despite the best efforts of little Owen and his incessant tweeting.  No doubt things will pick up throughout the day and the media will gleefully report organisers' estimates of one million protesters (again).  OK, well maybe not this time.

LABOUR OF LOVE FOR LULA

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (a bit of a mouthful) is better known as 'Lula' and is adored by the left.  He was the 35th President of Brazil and served two terms before leaving office in 2010.  Last October the youth wing of UK Labour made him their honorary president.  Nothing wrong with that, you might think, except that Lula has been in prison since last April on multiple corruption charges totaling 12 years.

This week a number of senior Labour figures signed a letter labeling Lula a 'political prisoner' and calling for his release.  The letter suggests that the current President of Brazil - nationalist Jair Bolsonaro - is somehow responsible for Lula's incarceration.  However, Bolsonaro only took office this year, long after Lula's conviction and appeals were done and dusted.  The letter also suggests democracy is somehow under threat in Brazil, which at the time of writing appears to be working just fine, with one less corrupt Latin American politician involved in the process!

The signatures to the letter are as follows;

Diane Abbott MP (Labour)

Richard Burgon MP (Labour)
Daniel Carden MP (Labour)
Emma Dent Coad MP (Labour)
David Drew MP (Labour)
Karen Lee MP (Labour)
Grahame Morris MP (Labour)
Laura Pidcock MP (Labour)
Danielle Rowley MP (Labour)
Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP (Labour)
Laura Smith MP (Labour)
Baroness Jean Corston (Labour)
Baroness Llin Golding (Labour)
Neil Findlay MSP (Labour)
Tariq Ali, writer and political activist
John Pilger, journalist and film-maker
Frances O’Grady, General Secretary, TUC
Len McCluskey, General Secretary, Unite the Union
Dave Prentis General Secretary, UNISON
Tim Roache, General Secretary, GMB
Paddy Lillis, General Secretary, USDAW
Manuel Cortes, General Secretary, TSSA
Mick Whelan, General Secretary, ASLEF
Ronnie Draper, General Secretary, BFAWU
Chris Kitchen, General Secretary, NUM
Tony Burke & Christine Blower, Vice-Chairs, Brazil Solidarity Initiative
Rachel Garnham, Labour NEC & Labour Friends of Progressive Latin America

It's a disturbing indictment on Corbyn's Labour when it is seen to support the freedom of convicted criminals, as long as they are from the left.  Just another reason why the mere suggestion of a Corbyn government should send shivers down the spines of every right-thinking person in the land.

Asides from their politics, Lula has something else in common with Jeremy Corbyn.  They are both supporters of Julian Assange, along with a host of international left-wing politicians and luvvies, not forgetting the Russian government.  While Assange may have exposed some pretty sinister and nasty stuff over the years, take one look at the type of people sticking up for him and you'll soon come to the conclusion that he is no friend of ours.