It's Saturday night and my beloved is away with eledest daughter who is competing in the British Swimming Championships in Manchester. As a result I've been doing what any self respecting half Australian, half Irish drunkard does in such a situation. I've been sitting in a state of melancholy.
My thoughts turned to my visit to Minsk in the USSR in 1987. I asked some student friends who were studying English to take me to a "real workingmens bar". They said "We can take you to the beer bar, but it's a bit rough". I said "Great". I cannot possibly describe it.It was like a large cattle shed. There was no ladies loo, the gents had only a urinal that was a sheet of corrigated iron draining into a bit of guttering (imagine the worst bogs at a football ground in the 1970's times ten). The only option was beer. There was only one brand on sale and only one size of glass. The bar was full of people who looked like extras from a low budget horror film. Apart from the 5 or 6 students with me, everyone else was aged 40 or above. It was packed but strangely quiet. People went their to drink cheap beer and forget their problems. There was a bit of a stir. One elderly Russian guy called me a fascist when he heard I was British. I retorted that the British were fighting Nazi's when they had the Molotov - Von Ribbentrop pact and so he had no right to say such a thing. My student friends were worried that it would turn nasty, but the guy laughed and said "That was the Government. All Governments are corrupt" and was fine after that.
As the beers went down, suddenly the atmosphere changed. A group of young black men appeared in the bar. Sadly that was the moment I found that socialist paradises contain as many racists as anywhere else. My Russian student friends became rather upset. They started telling the drunken, working class oldsters that they were letting Russia down with their racist behaviour. I was intrigued by the new group and engaged them in conversation. It transpired that they were Cuban students at the same college as my friends. They spoke good English and were friendly. I was intrigued about Cuba and also intrigued about their view of the USSR. I wa fairly shocked by their responses. Every question I asked was met with a stock response from the "How to be a good Cuban Communist" guidebook. I probed deeper. I said "Look, in the UK, even people who love Margaret Thatcher (then Prime Minister), criticise her, surely there must be something about President Castro you don't like". They replied "No, we love everything about him. To us he is like superman. The reason British people criticise Thatcher is because she is no good".
I was quite upset. Whilst I could understand them not wishing to run down their president, they were intelligent young men, they'd had a few beers and so I'd expected a slightly less stilted conversation. A couple of days later, I was discussing this with my Russian friends (who were always pretty open about their own opinion of the Government). I explained that I was saddened that the Cubans had been so uptight. One of my friends replied "You have never lived in a dicatatorship. You don't understand". I didn't have a clue what he meant. He explained "Imagine you are a Cuban Student in the USSR. You go with your friends into a beer bar, to get away from prying eyes. All of a sudden a person who claims they are British starts talking to you, buying you drinks and asking you to run down your President. That is a great way to get shot!". I replied that surely they could see I was genuinely British. My friends replied "Do you think Agent provocateurs go around telling everyone what they are".
I was thinking of this and I suddenly realised that these poor sad, terrified Cubans reminded me of our Tory backbench councillors in Barnet. There are easily enough of them to get Hillan out. Eighteen of them voted for Mark Shooter in the Council Election. Only 8 need to vote with the opposition for the Tories to lose their majority. All 18 know Hillan is a disaster. If they had said "Get rid of her, get a competent person to replace her, or we'll bring her down in the full council chamber" en mass, she'd have gone and they wouldn't have suffered all of the embarrassments since last June. Sadly, like our Cuban students, they are too scared to even think about it. Whilst the Cubans feared a bullet in the head, the worst that will happen to our Tories if they did what I said is, erm, um, erm, they'd get a new leader who wasn't incompetent. Why don't they realise that they can only be whipped if less than 8 of them act together.
I've asked what the worst consequences of defying a whip are :-
Loss of lucrative Committee Chairmanships
A telling off from John Marshall (chief Whip)
Deselection at the next election
Given that none of this would happen if Hillan went, it's clearly a load of old cobblers. How do I know? Brian Coleman did the same thing to former Leader Brian Salenger and he wasn't deselected. In fact he was promoted (which is why he lead the palace coup). I feel sorry for our local Tories when the sun comes out. They must see their own shadow and get scared to death.
My thoughts turned to my visit to Minsk in the USSR in 1987. I asked some student friends who were studying English to take me to a "real workingmens bar". They said "We can take you to the beer bar, but it's a bit rough". I said "Great". I cannot possibly describe it.It was like a large cattle shed. There was no ladies loo, the gents had only a urinal that was a sheet of corrigated iron draining into a bit of guttering (imagine the worst bogs at a football ground in the 1970's times ten). The only option was beer. There was only one brand on sale and only one size of glass. The bar was full of people who looked like extras from a low budget horror film. Apart from the 5 or 6 students with me, everyone else was aged 40 or above. It was packed but strangely quiet. People went their to drink cheap beer and forget their problems. There was a bit of a stir. One elderly Russian guy called me a fascist when he heard I was British. I retorted that the British were fighting Nazi's when they had the Molotov - Von Ribbentrop pact and so he had no right to say such a thing. My student friends were worried that it would turn nasty, but the guy laughed and said "That was the Government. All Governments are corrupt" and was fine after that.
As the beers went down, suddenly the atmosphere changed. A group of young black men appeared in the bar. Sadly that was the moment I found that socialist paradises contain as many racists as anywhere else. My Russian student friends became rather upset. They started telling the drunken, working class oldsters that they were letting Russia down with their racist behaviour. I was intrigued by the new group and engaged them in conversation. It transpired that they were Cuban students at the same college as my friends. They spoke good English and were friendly. I was intrigued about Cuba and also intrigued about their view of the USSR. I wa fairly shocked by their responses. Every question I asked was met with a stock response from the "How to be a good Cuban Communist" guidebook. I probed deeper. I said "Look, in the UK, even people who love Margaret Thatcher (then Prime Minister), criticise her, surely there must be something about President Castro you don't like". They replied "No, we love everything about him. To us he is like superman. The reason British people criticise Thatcher is because she is no good".
I was quite upset. Whilst I could understand them not wishing to run down their president, they were intelligent young men, they'd had a few beers and so I'd expected a slightly less stilted conversation. A couple of days later, I was discussing this with my Russian friends (who were always pretty open about their own opinion of the Government). I explained that I was saddened that the Cubans had been so uptight. One of my friends replied "You have never lived in a dicatatorship. You don't understand". I didn't have a clue what he meant. He explained "Imagine you are a Cuban Student in the USSR. You go with your friends into a beer bar, to get away from prying eyes. All of a sudden a person who claims they are British starts talking to you, buying you drinks and asking you to run down your President. That is a great way to get shot!". I replied that surely they could see I was genuinely British. My friends replied "Do you think Agent provocateurs go around telling everyone what they are".
I was thinking of this and I suddenly realised that these poor sad, terrified Cubans reminded me of our Tory backbench councillors in Barnet. There are easily enough of them to get Hillan out. Eighteen of them voted for Mark Shooter in the Council Election. Only 8 need to vote with the opposition for the Tories to lose their majority. All 18 know Hillan is a disaster. If they had said "Get rid of her, get a competent person to replace her, or we'll bring her down in the full council chamber" en mass, she'd have gone and they wouldn't have suffered all of the embarrassments since last June. Sadly, like our Cuban students, they are too scared to even think about it. Whilst the Cubans feared a bullet in the head, the worst that will happen to our Tories if they did what I said is, erm, um, erm, they'd get a new leader who wasn't incompetent. Why don't they realise that they can only be whipped if less than 8 of them act together.
I've asked what the worst consequences of defying a whip are :-
Loss of lucrative Committee Chairmanships
A telling off from John Marshall (chief Whip)
Deselection at the next election
Given that none of this would happen if Hillan went, it's clearly a load of old cobblers. How do I know? Brian Coleman did the same thing to former Leader Brian Salenger and he wasn't deselected. In fact he was promoted (which is why he lead the palace coup). I feel sorry for our local Tories when the sun comes out. They must see their own shadow and get scared to death.
2 comments:
Rog,
With the majority of these so called councillors,it is not about them caring for their wards,as they dont give a "toss" about them.What they are really scared of is loosing their little bit of local presteige,and their meagre allowance,you will find that is why they are scared of their own shadows.Pathetic and very sad really !!.
I'm sorry you sat in a state of melancholy, Rog, but it gave you inspiration for a very interesting point: the only difference, though, between the Cuban situation and the majority of spineless Tories here in Barnet is that the people of Cuba, in those days anyway, had no escape from the system. Here in Barnet, of course, they have every freedom to speak out. The real difficulty is the limitations imposed by their own selfishness and cowardice.
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