My excellent photographer guy has posted some shots from yesterday's Stop the War Gaza demo in London on his photo site. 

I'll post a selection of the photos and excerpts from short interviews I did with people who were demonstrating tonight or tomorrow. Highlights include a great ten minute interview yours truly did on Whitehall with the legendary theatre and opera director Jonathan Miller. I went through the whole thing without realising who he was. When he told me he was involved in opera, I asked if he was a singer.

He was very nice about it.

And very good on religion, which he described as 'mad'. A man after my own heart.

Anyway - will post it all soon.

And to wrap up the year - yet another tale of tossers who enjoy bullying... everyone:  

Yours truly ended 2008 with a blazing fight with power-crazed ticket inspector on a South London bus - a verbal brawl that was as enjoyable (I won, by miles) as it was instructive to anyone who doubts that even a little power is too much in some hands..

It went like this: a bunch of us South Londoners, strangers all, were sitting quietly on the bus, riding along, and talking, sleeping, or thinking about dopey Christmas, etc, when the doors sprang open and three ticket inspectors charged on - one at each of the bus' three doors.

You see an awful lot of these drongos on the South London buses these days - and boy, did these three fancy the job at hand. They were part of that arm of Transport for London that considers ticket inspection a martial art. They leap on the bus yelling 'tickets and passes! Tickets and passes!' and waving badges, and generally shoving themselves in your startled face. Occasionally, you get ticket inspectors with a sense of humour, or who are reasonably forgiving of old giffers who've dared to board a near-empty bus three minutes before their freedom passes become valid, etc, but not these twats. No fear.

They strode up and down the bus, demanding - rather than asking - to see people's travelcards, and ripping £20 from fare-dodgers like they were taking a Christmas commission. People weren't given the chance to explain why they hadn't swiped an Oyster, or bought a ticket, as they sometimes are - they were just told to cough up the £20.

And okay, sure - people should pay for bus rides, and those of us who do pay (my travelcard costs the best part of £100 a month) don't appreciate those who evade, but is it really necessary for ticket inspectors to act out their Wyatt Earp fantasies when they catch someone out? Do they have to loudly demand the fine then and there, insist that the transgressor shows ID, and make that person tell the whole bus where they live?

Such as it is: This is my contribution to the Liberal Conspiracy response to Chapter 8 of Hazel Blears' communities in control document: Ownership and control. 

Chapter 8 looks at how citizens can move beyond being consulted or holding officials to account, to how people can own and run services for themselves, either by serving on local boards and committees, or through social enterprises and cooperatives.

Well.

Don't want to start on an arsey note, of course, but -

The first question I want to ask Hazel Blears when Hazel blathers on about the joys of handing community assets to the community to operate is 'you mean the few assets that New Labour hasn't allowed to be sold yet, Haze?'

I mean really, people - this has not been the golden age of community, or community assets, exactly: swathes of housing stock moved to arms' length management organisations, schools closed and ownership of new city academies handed to private sponsors, lidos closed, nursery schools shut and nursery places cut, etc, with Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative councils all cheerful offenders.

Various Olympic programmes, meanwhile, slash and burn community projects like the Manor Gardens allotments, and look set to scrag Greenwich Park monumentally, etc. Hazel, somehow, sees a world where happy communities club together to profitably run 'community centres, street markets, swimming pools, playgrounds and tracts of land, as well as derelict facilities such as a disused school, shop or pub.' I, unfortunately, see a world where local and national's government greatest - if inadvertent - contribution to community unity in recent times has been the relentless promotion of deeply unpopular anti-community initiatives that inspire communities to unite against them.

Posted at LiberalConspiracy as well. 

Please note that posting will be light over the next fortnight or so as we descend into festive sloth.

Nice, even post by Cat on the realities of life as a social worker - a refreshing change from the hysterical crap about social work that we've all been exposed to in the past month or so.

Voices of sanity and reason leap out at me these days. I've decided to start linking to them before they evaporate.

Barnet locals are extremely unhappy at apparent council plans to outsource and privatise most of the services the council provides.

It's getting harder and harder for local government to sell the argument that the market knows best - that your schools, nurseries, housing, roads, etc, would be better provided by the likes of HBOS, anyone lately of the Lehman Brothers, or Tescos.

I'm a capitalist at heart, but even I doubt the market's genius these days. I don't think the private sector is inclined to deliver good public services at reasonable cost. I think it is inclined to tender loss leaders when bidding for public sector contracts, and then to recoup losses by cutting staff salaries and service corners when contracts are won.

I am a capitalist, but I don't think the private sector is capable of providing public services in a way that will simultaneously save tax pounds and shore up communities with the all-important health, education and housing services that keep those communities functional.

People in Barnet aren't convinced either. Hundreds turned up for at a protest about the proposed outsourcing several weeks ago, and an even bigger crowd showed on Wednesday outside a council meeting - on a freezing cold night, too.

I'll be writing more about the Barnet proposals as time goes on.

For now, here are some photos from the event.

Not sure how Santa got into the mix - thought he'd be more of a capitalist...?

Right - sure you've all heard about the legal trouble the great Dave Osler and Alex Hilton and John Gray are having with some once leftist-now rightist loon by name of Johanna Kaschke who takes issue with free speech.

If you haven't, below is a list of links - to Dave's post explaining his trouble and laying out his case, and to the many others who are behind him, Alex and John.

Lovin' this by Guido btw, much as it pains me to say it: 'Johanna Kaschke. Can I just say that Johanna Kaschke is definitely 'one cherry short of a Schwarzwalderkirschtorte'.

'Last year she claimed to be "a member of the GMB Union, the Respect Party, the Communist Party", this year she is a member of the Conservative Party. Blue clearly is the new red... Mockery is not actionable Kaschke, so don't bother sending a writ... '

Magnificent. Probably not worth sending a writ here either, Jo. Ain't much cash floating round this end, so we'll have to settle in wine gums or something.

Now - will big Jo be able to sue google for delivering the blogsearch results we've reported here? Could be great test case stuff:

Dave Osler - his original post and the response he got. 

Our great man at Shiraz Socialist - all the way bro and here's a bit more from him

Letters from a Tory (am kind of a new fan)

Iain Dale can't link directly to his post on Alex Hilton but if you scroll for long enough you'll find it.

Paul Staines - great post, man. LOL

Ministry of Truth (Unity has several posts now)

Matt Wardman

Socialist Unity

Rachel of North London - superb

Justin at Chicken Yoghurt

Marvellous stuff from septicisle

Why post this? - I feel that Dave Osler was making fair comment in his original post, and offered the right of reply.

Our blogging freedom relies on us being able to comment freely without the odd person here and there being able to terrify the rest with writs. Others have made filthy comments about me and my past across the web, and on the web those comments will stay. I demand the freedom to comment freely, and understand that others must have that right as well. One individual can't be allowed to terrify the rest in this way.

It's also important to note that the integrity of free-posting sites (I write for a couple of sites to which contributors and commentators upload directly, and read hundreds of others, written by people of all political hues) suffers a fatal blow in a climate of fear. One of the reasons that people choose to write regularly online is because they wish to pursue a freedom to discuss and debate that is in scare supply elsewhere. Anyone who challenges that should be challenged. It really is that simple.   

Am over at stroppyblog this morning.

Photo: Hammersmith and Fulham councillor Harry Phibbs at a protest meeting on cuts to voluntary sector funding. 

As regular visitors to this site will know, yours truly has been following the trail of service destruction left by the Hammersmith and Fulham Tories in that borough since they took the council in 2006.

What a scream it has been. Even as we speak, the H&F Tory circus is descending into farce, as staff and residents organise a protest this week about the service cuts they're having live with and the services they're having to pay more for.

Last week, the H&F Tories delivered the world of a press release (put out, with genius timing, as the Mumbai disaster took over the news) that rattled on about a three percent council tax cut for Hammersmith and Fulham tax residents. Alas, the press release failed to mention the part of the story that so infuriates locals: that the council now charges for services that used to be covered by council tax, and life is even more expensive than it was. The 50p a week the Tories 'tax cut' now 'saves' residents must be spent on increased parking, recycling, childcare, homecare and meals on wheels fees. 

Our friends over at hfconwatch - among others - estimate that the H&F Tories have increased charges on more than 500 services since they took office. If the Tories manage to close down one or other of the comprehensive schools they've been after, locals will doubtless have to stretch their returned 50p a week to cover private education and/or transport out of the borough for their children. What a deal.

The Tories would, of course, argue that shifting costs to services gives residents 'choice' about paying the council, because they can choose whether or not to use charged-for services (although they rarely mention the service charge increases without a prodding).

The problem with the choice argument, of course, is that few people have desirable choice in these matters unless they are millionnaires.