Last week, local authorities across Scotland unveiled their budgets for the next year. The councils put on a united front of horrific cuts for all. Hopefully comrades from across the country can update us on what their council’s budget will mean for them – let’s have a little look at Glasgow first of all.

Glasgow City Council are making cuts of over £58 million. Thousands of jobs will be lost, refuse collections will be halved, and many vital services will be cut – but instead of taking responsibility for their actions, Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson took the mature approach of bursting into tears and saying a big boy and done it and ran away.

BEST. DEMO. EVER.

Glasgow has often been the site of Scotland’s biggest protests – tens of thousands marched against the Iraq war in 2003, and more recently there has been a great deal of anti-capitalist direct action against tax dodgers, and huge student protests against the cuts. The student movement in Glasgow has been super busy over the past few weeks, what with occupying their own social centre, as well as protesting the course, jobs and services cuts at their own schools, colleges and universities. So, unfortunately, the student movement was unable to provide leadership in protesting against the Glasgow City Council budget cuts. Thankfully though, Defend Glasgow Services (an umbrella group which aims to aims to unite the city’s trade unions, public services workers and community/voluntary groups to defend services) had organised a protest in George Square, which we mobilised youth and student activists for.

On approaching George Square, we were bemused to see no sign of a demo – only a few semi-fascistic nationalists with an enormous banner calling for an end to London Rule – but eventually, we found the anti-cuts protesters, hiding between the City Chambers and the Cenotaph – so few in number as to be completely unseen from the rest of George Square.

There’s no denial though that the trade unionists were happy to see us and have a bit more young blood at their demo, greeting us with calls of Alright lads, how you doing? (despite a third of us being women).

The demo consisted of a few different speakers from within the trade union movement. One speaker spoke on how the cuts would disproportionately affect women, whilst an older man engaged us in conversation about what youse guys, you boys need to be doing . Another  speaker vocalised on how the trade unions would keep fighting the cuts. They received gentle applause. There was a muted rendition of they say cut back, we say fight back. cut cut cut back, fight fight fight back – and the crowd dispersed.

After so months of exciting activism, the contingent of SSY and allies couldn’t help but be disappointed. Our city, the city that is already lauded as an prime example of poverty and ill health in Europe, let alone the UK, is about to fucked over even further. And this is the best we can do to protest? A few dozen middle aged people applauding each other politely in George Square? What happened to Red Clydeside?

Back when trade unions were cool...

As young socialist activists, we have seen with our own eyes the level of fetishisation there is towards the trade union movement. The organised socialists who snub youth and student-organised protests and direct actions will put dozens of hours of work in leafletting trade unionists, attending their half-arsed rallies and conferences, and generally trying to woo trade union members, in the assumption that the trade unions ARE the working class and are therefore the only hope for socialism.

Since the Tories came into power last year, there has been an influx of young politically aware people joining the Labour Party. Why? Just because the Labour Party are now in the opposition doesn’t change their right wing, neo-liberal, capitalist agenda… what’s going on?

All the socialist Labour Party members I’ve spoken to about this have only been able to find one excuse which makes the slightest bit of sense – trade unions.

In order to build socialism, they want to build the power of the working class. So far so good. But because of the mistaken assumption that the trade unions and the working class are one and the same, and the symbiotic relationship between the Labour Party and the trade unions, they have concluded that not only is the Labour Party socialist, it is the only hope for socialism.

No.

In this day and age, let’s face it – trade union members are the privileged few. Most young people can only dream of having a job so stable that they have the opportunity to join a trade union. I have never been in a job where I’ve had the opportunity to join a union, nor have most of my peers. I knew someone who was in a long term temp job in a unionised workplace – when he asked the shop steward how he could join, he was turned away.

The working world has changed over recent years – temporary contracts, zero hour contracts and long trial periods with no rights (followed by dismissal cos you’re just “not right for the job”) are now the norm.

By pandering to trade unions and their members and bureaucrats, the organised left is wooing middle-class, middle-aged people with homes and cars – and ignoring the real oppressed working underclass. The call centre workers and burger flippers; the job seekers and young apprentices – the people who are really suffering, and the people who are really angry.

The revolution is going to come from below.

Check out this video by Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto --  it’s a beautiful, time-lapse map of the 2053 confirmed nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the very first test and concluding with Pakistan’s nuclear tests in May of 1998.

Move over Cleggy and Cameron, there’s a new leader living at Number 10 -- a rat!

Seen in the two news reports below, the cheeky rodent has been spotted running back and forth across the doorstep multiple times -- paying no heed to the journalists or police present, but getting on with the job of running the country.

We would like to be the first to congratulate Prime Minister Rat, and very much look forward to hearing his or her views on such important issues as food waste, as well as how the Government plan the rid Downing Street of the vermin that currently reside there.

Purple protesters.

There’ve been a few news articles recently about new tax laws in Romania, intended as lighthearted LOLs with headlines like Romanian witches to cast anti-government spell. Much of the news coverage has consisted of chuckling at the idea of witches protesting with curses and spells, and aren’t those silly old superstitious women even stupider than we thought, if they think they shouldn’t have to pay tax.

The new laws require self-employed workers and people who work cash-in-hand to pay tax for the first time, affecting many Romanians – including those who make a living off the traditions of witchcraft and fortune telling.

Of course, the Romanians are going to continue in their tradition of dramatic protest, with a call for witches to assemble on the southern plains and the banks of the Danube River to protest – there are even claims that they will threaten the government with concoctions of mandrake, cat excrement and dead dog.

Though these reports have been treated lightheartedly in the UK media, they are taken more seriously in Romania, where superstition is treated a great deal more seriously. In 2009, it was claimed that the loser of the presidential election was sabotaged with negative energy and strategic use of the colour purple, which is believed to ward off evil and grant superiority to whoever wears it. Indeed, the winner of the election, President Basescu and his aides have been known to wear purple on certain days in an attempt to harness its power.

But regardless of who is effected – be they witches, astrologers and fortune tellers, or embalmers, valets, driving instructors or workers in any of the other professions traditionally not listed in the Romanian labour code – the new laws are totally regressive and fucked up.

Taxation in Romania is based on a flat-rate income tax of 16%, and corporate tax is between 3 and 16%, depending on the size of the company – meaning that the people earning the least amount of money are taxed in the same bracket as the super rich and the big corporations.

Flat rate taxation has been widely adopted in Eastern European post-communist states desperate to attain the free-market capitalist dream as quickly as possible. The former Soviet countries have been cut up and sold off, and most workers’ rights and welfare have been sold off with them – whereas Western European countries like ourselves, who have never been subject to a so-called socialist regime, have had strong trade union movements to fight for our rights. To date, no Western European country has introduced a flat-rate income tax, instead having higher rates of tax on higher bands of income to finance improved social welfare measures.

Bratara Buzea

Payments to witches and other self-employed, cash-in-hand workers in Romania are typically very small, at around 10 leu (less than £2) per consultation. Why should poor women, often travellers, earning a few pounds a day have to give 16% of the pittance they earn to the government – who will then use it to prop up the capitalist system that provides nothing for its citizens most in need?

As one self-identified witch, Bratara Buzea, 63, (who was imprisoned in 1977 for witchcraft under Ceausescu’s regime – despite Ceausescu and his wife Elena having their own personal witch) said:

We do harm to those who harm us. They want to take the country out of this crisis using us? They should get us out of the crisis because they brought us into it.

Big Ben was burned to the ground last week by protesters angry about the coalition government’s plans to sell off all of England’s publicly owned woodland. Unfortunately, it was just a model – this time, at least.

The government proposes to sell all of the Forestry Commission owned land in England. That’s 650,000 acres of land, including 20,000 hectares of ancient woodland… nearly 20% of all of England’s wooded land.

At the time of writing this article, more than 129,000 people have signed a petition against the plans, and there have been rallies and protests across England – most notably at the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, where 3000 protesters pledged to defend the people’s trees, culminating in a Wickerman-esque effigy burning as a sign of their seriousness and how far they’re willing to take their defence campaign.

In May, David Cameron declared that he wanted to coalition to be the “greenest government ever”. Indeed, the Conservative party logo is a tree. And yet they’re more than happy to sell off one of England’s most vital assets to the highest bidder, to do with what they will. Who needs oxygen producing trees and diverse eco-systems when you can have retail parks and office suites?

Forestry is a devolved issue – meaning that the parliament in Westminster gets has no say over what happens to Scotland’s forests – which is why it is only the land that the Forestry Commission own in England which is to be sold at the moment.

But the Scottish Government are slightly behind Westminster’s schedule when it comes to announcing cuts, and there is a great deal of pressure on Holyrood to conform to the cuts agenda. Scottish Environment Minister Roseanne Cunningham made a statement a few months ago denying any plans to sell off Scotland’s forests, which is definitely a positive step in terms of defending our woodlands against any future attacks.

However, many would see forests and woodlands as an easy target for cuts compared to rowdy students and benefits claimants – which is why it’s more important than ever that the anti-cuts movement is vocal in opposition to all cuts.

Our forests are just as important an asset for the future as education and public services, and we need to prepared to stand up and say so.

Elton John and his partner David Furnish had their first child a few days ago -  baby Zachary was born to a surrogate mother on Christmas Day.

A new baby who is wanted, provided for and loved is always something to celebrate, and the congratulations from Elton’s celebrity and media pals have been flooding in. But those congratulations are nothing more than a piss in the ocean of criticism and revulsion that is being fired in the direction of the new fathers.

Well, I suppose there always ethical questions… is it right to create a new child through surrogacy, when so many already existing children are without a home or a family to love and provide for them? But plenty of heterosexual couples make babies via surrogacy or IVF, so there’s not much of a problem here. ..

And Elton John is a little old, at 63… but his partner is only 48. Men can naturally make babies well beyond either of these ages, and much older women in heterosexual relationships have babies with the help of science frequently, so no problems with that…

But… THEY’RE GAY. omg.

Daily Mail columnist Bel Mooney came out with the typical no-offense-but-I’m-about-to-say-something-really-offensive response…

I wince to think of baby ­Zachary Jackson Levon ­Furnish-John coming home from school in four years’ time and asking David or Elton: ‘But who is my mummy?’

Um. Ok. Why is the automatic assumption that gay-parenting is made up of secrets and lies? The “who is my mummy” question is pretty similar to the “where do babies come from” question. And if a child’s questions are answered factually and with love, then no problems will occur.

The problems experienced by children of gay parents are not experienced because their parents are gay – but because of the reactions of the people around them to the fact that they have two mothers or fathers.

Zachary Furnish-John is 5 days old, and the process of fucking him up has already begun. Not by his parents. But by homophobes and people overwhelmed by hate and fear.

People like the wonderful citizens of the internet who said things like this:

Sick, sick, sick,  this is ridiculous, soon the world will be taken over by gay’s

obsene

SICK

Absolute sickening the morals of the gutter from a person of proven depravity

I shudder to think how the child will be brought up! A child needs a father and motherly upbringing not by two men who are both homosexual (the word gay has been butchered from it’s original pleasant meaning).
How can a homosexual man be a woman? How is the child going to feel when he starts to grown and see other children with a mother and a father? Seems to me that some people are more interested in the rights of homosexual couples than the right of a child, male or female, to have a mother and father ( for those with a simplistic and selfish mindset, that  is, father = male and mother = female, they are quite easy to tell apart).
I thought it was interesting that they made sure the child was a male. Does make you wonder what the real motive is. I know the laws of the Ukraine and I also know how you can get around those laws – Gruivna ($$$$$)

I pity this poor child in his later life.   What will happen when they get him in bed with  them.   Will they take turns in bathing him?.   It does not matter what education he receives he will end up a very backward adult.   How sick these people are who support this kind of action?   Very sick I should say.

disgusting

P AEDOPHILES

Very, very, very Sick !!

paedo rock, hang the sick f—–s. no child should be allowed to be within a mile of these unhealthy parasitic low life ****’s

Freaks should not be allowed to have children living with them end of

Its an absolute outrage.  Shame on the person who sold them the child you are as disgraceful as those two

A disgrace. They just want something to play with in their disgusting old age, why else would they specify a boy, having failed to buy one in the Ukraine. They should keep themselves to themselves and interbreed, and discover the thing we all know, that it’s not natural. As always, too many do gooders in this world who only want to appease.

Anyone who agrees with what these two perverts have done is as sick, twisted and disgusting as they are!!!

just another, MUST HAVE accessory, for this pair of poofters.

Its just sick and un-natural, end of..

SICK SICK SICK      another trainee for the gay society

I thought there were laws to protect children from freaks and weirdos.

Sick and very very wrong, what is this world coming to?

Sickening indulgent self righteous faggots -they both suck! -o sooooory no pun intended

Utter disgust at reading this. Another pair of mincers getting headlines for all the wrong reasons.

What I would like to know is why is it alright with the establishment for two perverts to rear a child but for the same child to sit on Father Christmas’s, knee is forbidden and before all the do-gooders jump up and down remember the only reason homosexuality was legalised was because of all the MP;s, Judges and Councillors who getting NAMED and SHAMED.

Forgive my ignorance but has either of these perverts had any input in the baby making process as in filling the turkey baster?

All from the comments on this article. At least they removed the one saying “he won’t need to be breastfed – he’ll be prostate milked”…

The government have taken yet more measures to ConDem (geddit?!) the nation’s children to a life of poverty and misery.

Funding for Bookstart, which provides a free pack of books to every baby in the UK in order to “inspire, stimulate and create a love of reading that will give children a flying start in life”, is to be completely axed.

The organisation provides free books for children from the age of nine months until their first term of high school.

They began as a pilot project in 1992 but were awarded government funding in 2004 to become universal.  Despite having previously offered to take a 20% funding cut, Bookstart were recently  told they were to lose 100% of their £13m-a-year government grant, meaning the free books will end when the current contract does, in April.

Viv Bird, Chief Executive of Bookstart described being “astounded and appalled” on hearing the decision, saying:

“There was no dialogue. It was completely devastating.”

However, in the 10 days since the decision was announced, there have been messages of support and protest from a number of famous writers, including the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, who said:

Support for Bookstart is support for the dreams and imaginations and futures of British children. To withdraw that support is to behave like Scrooge at his worst. Here’s hoping the powers-that-be see the light in tiime, as he did.

Duffy’s sentiments were echoed by previous Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion:

The decision to scrap Bookstart is an act of gross cultural vandalism. For the last 20-odd years the scheme has successfully introduced an enormous number of young people to both the pleasure and the necessity of reading and has been of tremendous benefit in the drive towards literacy. Very well organised, and very well run by Booktrust, it has become a national institution, and the envy of the world.The savings made by its abolition will be negligible; the damage done will be immense.

Renowned author Ian McEwan joined the chorus of support for Bookstart, saying:

I’m appalled to hear that Bookstart is for the chop and I’m counting on Michael Gove to reconsider. This modestly funded, truly civilised scheme has brought to millions of kids benefits far beyond the calculations of politicians. Who knows what seeds have been planted in young minds? It’s by initiatives like this that we hope to measure ourselves as a mature and thoughtful society. A U-turn on this would be an honourable choice.

But it’s Philip Pullman who spoke about Bookstart most beautifully:

It’s like seeing someone smashing aside a butterfly with the back of their hand: wanton destruction. Sheer stupid vandalism, like smashing champagne bottles as a drunken undergraduate. It doesn’t matter: someone else will clear it up. Well, if you miss the first years of a child’s development, nothing can clear it up. It’s gone. It won’t happen. A whole generation will lose out.

Bookstart is one of the most imaginative and generous schemes ever conceived. To put a gift of books into the hands of newborn children and their parents is to help open the door into the great treasury of reading, which is the inheritance of every one of us, and the only road to improvement and development and intellectual delight in every field of life.

Without access to literature, how can we be surprised when literacy levels are so low? In a world where many children start high school barely able to read and a child’s horror and confusion at receiving books for Christmas becomes an internet meme, we need a government that will encourage and nurture children, not abolish their chances in life to save a few pennies.

...but trying to prevent this is "vile and sexist"?

James Williams, Conservative City Councillor in Portsmouth, has vowed that he will not undertake any work for his party until they repeal new anti-domestic violence measures.

The new orders – which were designed by the last Labour government, but are now being piloted in three areas of the UK – give senior police officers on-the-spot rights to remove men suspected of committing acts of domestic abuse from their homes for 48 hours. Courts can then extend that to two weeks.

Williams reckons that the scheme challenges freedom and is part of a feminist war on men, saying:

As an elected Conservative councillor, I am ashamed Theresa May [Equalities Minister] has chosen to adopt totalitarian methods in the ongoing war against men by the feminist movement.
I shall not take part in any election campaign for the Conservatives outside my own ward until this vile sexist legislation is removed.
This is a Stalinist policy and goes against everything I believe in as a Conservative.
I am in the party because I believe in freedom and fairness, and this policy is the opposite.
Domestic violence, both physical and emotional, is a very serious problem, but this policy gives police the power to act as judge and jury, kicking men out of their homes.
What if a woman alleges domestic abuse even if none has happened? It’s unfair that this policy will deprive men from seeing their children even if they’ve done nothing wrong.

We’ll be pretty pleased if he does stop doing work for the Tories, cos the less foot soldiers they have, the better.

Cath Elliot, feminist writer and blogger, has done some excellent digging on Williams – discovering that he has declared interest in several Fatherass4Justice style organisations, as well as presenting his own anti-woman radio show called ‘Mens Matters’, which is highly praised by “Men’s Rights Activists”, misogynists and anti-feminists across the internet. You can read more of Cath’s discoveries here.

Sounds like a prize arsehole, right? David Cameron has tried to modernise the Tories’ image over recent years – but they’re not going to convince us that they no longer hate women/gays/blacks when they continue to choose guys like Williams to represent them.

Romanian television engineer Adrian Sobaru today made an impressive stand against austerity measures in his country -- by leaping from a balcony into the main chamber of the Romanian parliament, where politicians were debating nearly 25ft below. His protest took place the day after the 21st anniversary of the revolution which overthrew faux-communist dictator Nicolae Ceausesc, and replaced him with a capitalist regime that wasn’t much better.

Sobaru’s tshirt said “You’ve pierced us. You’ve killed our children’s future.” and is reported to have been shouting “Freedom, Liberty, Justice!” as he fell.

It is believed that Sobaru’s actions were caused by the recent decision to cut off benefit payments to his disabled child.

Thankfully, apart from a few facial injuries, he was unharmed and survived to fight another day.