i think this is the perennial problem with left wing idealists. my parents were cnd/greepeace/quakers.

they were so excited when michael foot pipped Hattersley for the labour leadership. i said well thats the tories in for the next eight years - i was ten years out.

you can NEVER get these people to appreciate what a bad deal poor people get from the tories, and how vital to basic decency they don't get elected.

i see so clearly what you're saying Ake on this subject. the bottom of society is very bad for poor people in England.

i can remember reasoning with some trotskyists who were refusing to let james callaghan make a single campaign speech in 1979. they really didn't give a shit about the poor children in my classes in the inner ring of brum, and what would befall England if Thatcher got elected. not a fucking clue. it was all taking us towards the great revolution.

this present policy can only benefit one section of our society.

we are wasting our time - you reasoning with a paint by numbers liberalism that is just pandering to their guilty conscience for living in a rich country.

i got the the story legend of Una Bhan from an album by Joe Heaney. i sent it to to the local tourist office in Ireland they didn't seem much interested. the bass is a bit wanky on it - i get impatient - i lack that quietude of mind that produces masterpieces. i still think it s a good idea. they'll love me when i'm dead. possibly...