The pogrom in North Belfast against foreigners - immigrants - burnt out of their houses and terrorised, was seemingly carried out by the black-clad hooded descendants of "Loyalists". Their forefathers burnt Catholics (poverty-stricken, just like them) out of their homes in 1969. In those days it was these Irish nationalist poor who were treated like foreigners - 2nd class citizens, in their own land...

    By the way, anyone who watches the news will know that this wave of anti-immigrant and anti- foreigner resentment - race hatred, even - is being witnessed right across the globe. And its root cause is increasing deprivation and poverty, "no future" which is pitting poor and "left behind" NEET youth - and their fathers - against the neighbour who may seem less poor, but who above all, looks different, is newly- arrived and "not one of us"...

    What's quite hard to understand, is why anyone might be fired-up by tweets on X from Elon Musk, a trillionaire, the world's richest man, or Farage - a property millionaire and utter opportunist - or even the pathetic born-again Christian and "white victim", Tommy Robinson... Maybe the answer is that it didn't need any of these rich thugs or poor, sad, Tommy to fuel anything.

    The anger of those who have nothing and thus have nothing to lose, is so close to the surface that it doesn't take much for it to break out. The real pity is that it's not directed against the cause of their poverty. But of course, overthrowing the class system that capitalism rests on - the system that has always doomed a whole layer of society to permanent deprivation and joblessness - this takes real effort. It requires organising a revolution... not a pogrom. And it requires the active participation of politically conscious workers, prepared to use their power not only to halt the economy, but to replace it with a socialist system - and then, to govern it.

    One more thing. Almost all these horrific stabbings (a long list from Southend, to Nottingham, to LNER, to Henry Nowak) involve a severely mentally ill - crazed and deluded - killer; no motive except madness inside their heads. Nobody says this. Several Labour politicians, to deflect any possible blame from themselves have referred to Monday night's killer as "the only one responsible" and "vile and disgusting".

    But the fact that more and more dangerously ill people like him are wandering the streets, is a terrible indictment on the NHS/social services which always struggled to provide adequate mental health services, but which today provide almost nothing at all. So no, governments and their neglect of social institutions bear responsibility. Moreover, psychosis is an area of scientific neglect: as a result, specialist understanding - and treatment - unforgivably, remain primitive!

    That's why, when we hear politicians talk about cutting welfare and buying bombs instead, we need to say no, this society needs much more welfare - and a total turn-around! Of course, it means making that revolution we're talking about. Because the heartless rule of greed and profit that places the brutal and perverted (if not clinically insane) Trump, Netanyahu - and lesser warmongers like Starmer et al - in positions of power over us all, actually puts the whole of humanity's lives at risk.

Thirteen years after privatisation, Royal Mail bosses have rid themselves of the Universal Service Obligation (USO) to deliver mail to all 32m addresses, 6 days a week. Instead, they're prioritising profit-making parcel delivery and have cut the workforce by 40,000.

    There was no fight against these latest USO cuts. Union officials organised a "consultative" ballot which, after years of leadership betrayal, had the lowest ever turnout - only 32.9% even voted. Seven out of nine voted against the agreement or did not vote at all. So the result, i.e., a 65.4% acceptance reflecting only 22% of the members' acquiescence - can only be considered inquorate and invalid.

    Being let down by union leaders isn't only a problem for postal workers. A blatant case is currently going down on London Underground, where train drivers' union leaders from ASLEF agreed a lengthening of night and weekend shifts, while RMT leaders (rightly!) refused. So now RMT drivers are left to strike on their own. That said, RMT leaders could have involved all their Underground members in this dispute - it affects them all - to strengthen the strike. But they have not.

    The union officials' excuse is that the law doesn't allow "solidarity" strikes. But the law doesn't stop them calling multiple strikes simultaneously, does it? This is nothing new, of course. During the strikes of 2022, the RMT, ASLEF, CWU, UNITE, RCN, NEU, UCU, etc., all called for one- or two-day strikes... separately! Union leaders have always been afraid of upsetting the status quo. That's why they're accepted by the political establishment as "leaders" in the first place! The lesson for the rest of us is that we'll have to organise our own fight back when and where needed. And there's no time like the present!