Prevent This

I’ve got the key to the door, never been 42 before. But among the birthday cards today was also the following:

Dear Mr. Lindsay,

As the holder of a politically protected position within Durham County Council that makes it impossible for me to identify myself, it gives me great pleasure to inform you that the Council has finally referred you under the Prevent Strategy. Your extremist views on Brexit, economics, NATO, Trident, antisemitism, Julian Assange, abortion rights, transgender rights, the right to die, so-called “fathers’ rights”, Russia, China, Syria, Iran, Yemen, sexual offences, drugs, immigration, climate change, and a wide range of other issues have no place in our County. You are a professional misogynist, transphobe, antisemite, religious fundamentalist, ally of dictators and climate change denier who bases himself on the Left for recruitment purposes as a well-known radicaliser of young men and teenage boys. Some of us have been fighting for this referral for a very long time. The relevant authorities will be in touch. David Lindsay MP? David Lindsay in HMP, more like.

Now, I have had all sorts of funny stuff over the last two and a half years. But this one might be worth keeping an eye on. Bring it on, say I. My election literature is already going to say “Banned From Twitter”.

Another hung Parliament is coming, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. A new party is now in the process of registration. After nearly 30 years of suggestion, speculation, and even a sort of preparation, I will stand for Parliament here at North West Durham. The crowdfunding page is here, and buy the book here. Please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.

It Pays To Advertise?

Bang on its 400-word limit, this was sent to The Northern Echo’s Consett and Stanley Advertiser, which is not shy of publishing contentious letters for the benefit of every household, free through the door. But as we await the full fanzine treatment for Trigger as soon as the General Election is called (and for Kevan Jones, but he is not my concern), this has not been printed:

I am the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for North West Durham. My Campaign Patrons are Councillor Alex Watson OBE, who led Derwentside District Council for many years, and Davey Ayre, a legendary local trade unionist. I was born in 1977, and I have lived in North West Durham since 1982. I was an elected member of Lanchester Parish Council from 1999 to 2013, a governor of Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School from 1999 to 2007, and a governor of Saint Bede’s from 2000 to 2008. I am one of Derwentside’s elected public governors of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. I was elected unopposed. I first appeared on television in defence of Shotley Bridge Hospital in 1997.

There is going to be another hung Parliament. The price of my support for any Government would be the necessary support for a number of projects in each of the former District Wards equal to the former number of District Councillors, together with justice for the 472 Teaching Assistants whose pay Durham County Council had cut by 23 per cent, together with not less than the level of hospital provision in Consett in July 2019, and together with the implementation of the plan for the rail service that had been advanced by The Northern Echo in June 2018.

The Conservative candidate won 34.5 per cent in 2017. Labour holds fewer than half of the County Council seats in North West Durham. The Liberal Democrats cut the Labour majority in half in 2010. An Independent kept his deposit both in 2005 and in 2010. Therefore, I would appoint an Independent, a Labourite, a Conservative and a Liberal Democrat in each of the County Wards, ideally including at least one person in each of the former District Wards, to work with me and with local people. I would also appoint a Political Advisor from within each of the Independent, Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat blocs.

There is nothing left-wing about Laura Pidcock. She is not a supporter of Brexit, Modern Monetary Theory, the Universal Basic Income, Julian Assange, Chris Williamson, the County Durham Teaching Assistants, the revival of the British coal and steel industries, or putting Tony Blair on trial for Iraq. Nor is she an opponent of Trident, NATO, Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, gender self-identification, or the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism. I am all of those things. I can be contacted on davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.

Oh, well. The crowdfunding page is here, and buy the book here.

Echo Chamber?

This has not made it into The Northern Echo, but here it is:

Dear Sir,

Laura Pidcock is unsuitable to be the Member of Parliament for North West Durham. The Conservative candidate won 34.5 per cent in 2017. Labour holds fewer than half of the County Council seats. The Liberal Democrats cut the Labour majority in half in 2010. An Independent kept his deposit both in 2005 and in 2010.

There is nothing meaningfully left-wing about Ms Pidcock. She is not a supporter of Brexit, Modern Monetary Theory, the Universal Basic Income, Julian Assange, Chris Williamson, the County Durham Teaching Assistants, the revival of the British coal and steel industries, or putting Tony Blair on trial for Iraq. Nor is she an opponent of Trident, NATO, Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, gender self-identification, or the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism.

I am all of those things, while at the same time I would appoint an Independent, a Labourite, a Conservative and a Liberal Democrat in each of the County Wards, ideally including at least one person in each of the former District Wards, to work with me and with local people. I would also appoint a Political Advisor from within each of the Independent, Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat blocs. I can be contacted on davidaslindsay@hotmail.com.

Yours faithfully,

David Lindsay

Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for North West Durham

The crowdfunding page is here, and buy the book here. Very many thanks.

Dedication

A number of people have asked to quite how many people my very short new book was dedicated. Well, you would find out if you bought it. But here is in fact the dedication:

This book is dedicated to my Campaign Patrons, Alex Watson and Davey Ayre; to my stalwart constituency supporters, Norman Bolton and Michael Parker; to my newfound comrades, Nathan Allonby and Toby Kelsey; to the Honourable Gentlemen, Kelvin Hopkins and Chris Williamson; to the County Durham Teaching Assistants; to The Word and OffGuardian; to their Editors and thus mine, Alan Davies and Kit Knightly; to the fearless Paul Embery and Eddie Dempsey; to the ever-stimulating Giles Fraser and Piers Corbyn; and to those who joined me in the Basket of Deplorables by signing the following letter, which was sent to several newspapers, and which was published in the Morning Star’s weekend edition of 12th and 13th November 2016:

The American Democratic Party has been defeated in the person of the most economically neoliberal and internationally neoconservative nominee imaginable. From the victory of Donald Trump, to the Durham Teaching Assistants’ dispute, the lesson needs to be learned. The workers are not the easily ignored and routinely betrayed base, with the liberal bourgeoisie as the swing voters to whom tribute must be paid. The reality is the other way round. The EU referendum ought already to have placed that beyond doubt.

There is a need to move, as a matter of the utmost urgency, away from the excessive focus on identity issues, and towards the recognition that those existed only within the overarching and undergirding context of the struggle against economic inequality and in favour of international peace, including cooperation with Russia, not a new Cold War.

It is worth noting that working-class white areas that voted for Barack Obama did not vote for Hillary Clinton, that African-American turnout went down while the Republican share of that vote did not, and that Trump took 30 per cent of the Hispanic vote. Black Lives Matter meant remembering Libya, while Latino Lives Matter meant remembering Honduras.

The defeat of the Clintons by a purported opponent of neoliberal economic policy and of neoconservative foreign policy, although time will tell, has secured the position of Jeremy Corbyn, who is undoubtedly such an opponent. It is also a challenge to Theresa May, to make good her rhetoric about One Nation, about a country that works for everyone, and about being a voice for working people.

David Lindsay, George Galloway, Neil Clark, Ronán Dodds, James Draper, John Mooney, Mietek Padowicz, Aren Pym, Adam Young

Ecce quam bonum et quam jucundum habitare fratres in unum.