Red Rum: The horse who saved the Grand National

 

 My piece on Grand National history from today's Daily Express.

IT’S watched and bet on by millions but the world’s most famous steeplechase was once in danger of disappearing – until a certain Red Rum came along..

 
It is estimated that 79 per cent of the adult population of Britain will have some form of financial interest in the outcome of tomorrow’s Grand National, with well over £150million being wagered.
A maximum crowd of 72,500 will be in attendance at Aintree, while millions more will be watching the world’s most famous steeplechase on television. It is no exaggeration to say that the Grand National is the one sporting event in Britain that stops the country.
So popular is the race today it is hard to believe that about 45 years ago its very future was in doubt. In the late 1960s and early 1970s people were talking mournfully about how the “Last National” could not be far off.

You can read the whole article here.

Radovan Karadzic deserves punishment - but what about the Neocons?

My latest piece for RT.com OpEdge

The conviction of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic shows that no one is above the law, says the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein.
Karadzic was just sentenced to forty years in jail for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
"No matter how powerful they are, no matter how untouchable they imagine themselves to be, no matter what continent they inhabit, the perpetrators of such crimes must know that they will not escape justice," Al-Hussein said.
But is that really true?

You can read the whole piece here:

Google this! Hillary Clinton and the Syrian regime-change conspiracy

My new piece for RT.com on the HRC emails.

If you’d have said a year ago that the US State Department, Google, and Al Jazeera had been collaborating in pursuance of regime change in Syria, chances are you’d have been casually dismissed as a ‘crank’ and a ‘conspiracy theorist’.
Syria was a people’s uprising against a wicked genocidal Russian-backed dictator and the West had nothing to do with the bloodshed which engulfed the country. If you thought otherwise then you were considered an 'Assad apologist'.
However, thanks to Wikileaks, the Freedom of Information Act, and Hillary Rodham Clinton’s use of a private, non-secure email server, we can see what was really going on behind the curtain.

You can read the whole article here.

RT Sputnik interview with George Galloway on Internet Trolling/Stalking

I was on board the Sputnik with George Galloway and Gayatri on Saturday, talking about my experiences of being stalked and trolled- and agenda driven wikipedia editing. The interview starts at around 12 minutes. Before that there is a good discussion on Turkey.

I'm Confused, can anyone help me? Part 6

Guess what, dear reader.  I'm confused, can anyone help me? Part 6. From RT.com OpEdge.

There are some strange happenings in the world of late and I'm confused. Very confused. Can anyone help me?
The first thing I’m confused about is the claim made this week by Supreme Allied NATO Commander General Strangelove, sorry, Breedlove, that Putin (along with Assad) are deliberately 'weaponizing’ the migration/refugee crisis to ‘overwhelm European structures and break European resolve'.
According to Breedlove, Russia and the Syrian government are deliberately bombing people in Syria to get them to leave the country and cause major problems for Europe. How absolutely deplorable! What utter swines they must be! 
But hang on a minute.
I could have sworn that there was quite a significant refugee crisis before Russian intervention in Syria began last autumn and before the Syrian government launched new offensives.

You can read the whole piece here.

The Murder of Olof Palme: Why we must never forget the Swedish socialist.

My latest piece for RT.Com OpEdge

Thirty years ago today, Swedish PM Olof Palme, one of the true giants of post-war European democratic socialism, was shot dead in Stockholm. The assassination shocked the world. Today, theories still abound as to who was behind his killing.
Palme’s death was a major blow to progressive, left-wing politics, coming as it did during a decade when the left was retreating in the face of neoliberal onslaught. You could argue that the European left has never really recovered from the loss of Palme – and that post-war western European socialism itself was murdered on that cold February night in Stockholm.

You can read the whole article here.

Welcome return of The Good Old Days...

My Daily Express piece on the return of a much-loved television favourite....

Dramatist John Osborne wrote in the 1950s: “The music hall is dying and with it a significant part of England. Some of the heart of England has gone, something that once belonged to everyone…” But now music hall is back.
The Good Old Days, British television’s longest-running variety show, broadcast from 1953 to 1983, is being re-shown on Fridays on BBC Four. 
What a pleasure it has been to watch once again great speciality acts of the past: trick cyclists, comedy drunks, ventriloquists, knife throwers. The Good Old Days aimed to recreate the golden age of music hall. 
The programme came from the ornate Leeds City Varieties Theatre, a Grade II-listed music hall built in 1865. The audience all wore Edwardian-era clothes....


You can read the whole article here.   Above, you can watch a really excellent edition of The Good Old Days, from 1976.
If you enjoy that, here is a petition to the BBC asking them to reshow all existing episodes. It's got 600 signatures at the moment- let's try and get it up to 1,000!