For decades now US foreign policy has mostly been hideous, as we all know, but even by recent standards Trump is plumbing new depths: Venezuela targeted, Greenland in his sights. But now the monster is brutalising his own people too. The cold-blooded shooting of Renee Good — an unarmed, peaceful woman — by a masked ICE thug marked a new low as communities are invaded by fascist thugs. Solidarity with all the brave Americans making a stand: you are on the right side of history.

I saw a banner today which sums it up: “First they came for the immigrants and I spoke up because I read the rest of the fucking poem.” (Pastor Niemoeller https://hmd.org.uk/resource/first-they-came-by-pastor-martin-niemoller/ ’s poem of course)

RENEE 
A poet for Good
Who did what she could
Was shot in the face
To keep you in your place
Let your voices ring loud
Stand up strong, stand up proud
‘Gainst the voices of shame
And remember her name! 

And it’s time for Europe to ban X and Musk from our continent. X is utterly revolting anti-human vomit soup with dog shit croutons and a side order of maggots and “freedom of speech” has nothing to do with it.

Meanwhile Trump’s UK puppet, the overgrown school bully Farage, now has 34 of his former classmates testifying about his schoolboy racism but refuses to apologise for it and accuses them of lying. There is a simple reason for this. He knows Reform voters don’t care: they want a grown-up school bully as the leader of their party because many were either bullies themselves or part of the group of sad little nerds who had all had their pocket money stolen by the bully but still egged him on to relieve other kids of theirs.

They know Reform UK will make them poorer and its billionaire backers richer and destroy the NHS leaving them gasping for life on trollies in hospital corridors — but they don’t care because “immigrants” will be made even more vulnerable and miserable. And for them that is the only thing that counts. What a sad bunch they are. 

Far from being a “new party,” Reform is turning into a Tory recycling bin. The defections are like Brighton players signing for Chelsea: they know they’re going to an utterly dysfunctional shithole full of horrible egomaniacs set up with Russian money but, hey, who cares? The funniest quote I’ve heard about this comes from “unnamed sources” within Tory ranks which claim that they raise the collective IQ of both parties simultaneously. 

In my still happy and rewarding little world (I’m so lucky, I know) I did my first gig of the year at the lovely Prince Albert in Stroud last week and am writing this on my way to Brussels where I’m meeting up with my old band Contingent. Formed in Brussels 1979, still theoretically together, the last and by far the best band I played bass in before I started as Attila in 1980. 47 years. A bientot, camarades!

I’ll also be watching Belgian champions Union St. Gilloise.

All those years ago I watched them in the third division: I went because of their progressive fan culture and I wasn’t disappointed, even though there weren’t many fans and the football was awful. Now, thanks to a lot of help from Brighton chairman Tony Bloom, they’re top of the league and playing in Europe, they have a lot more fans and, I’m happy to say, the same progressive values. I’ll hopefully meet up with Unionistes Antifascistes and share a few pints of Belgium’s finest export — beer, and I don’t mean Stella! 

Lots of gigs coming up, with one highlight a five-day trip round my native Sussex with poetic comrades Janine Booth and Henry Normal next month launching a new anthology, Class Lines And Red Rhymes raising money for We Shall Overcome. More details soon.

Keep safe and stay WOKE!

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