"What can you do for my son?"
I went to a meeting - well I couldn't last a whole
election without at least one! - for all the
candidates in Brighton. The Tories contemptuously
refused to turn up. The Labour guy looked embarrassed, and so he should be. Actually he also looked a bit past his sell-by, not because he was old but he just seemed politically exhausted apologising and justifying all the time rather than offering any hope.
The Socialist candidate Phil Clarke was excellent
(well it was him I went to see really) and the poor
libdem seemed very nice but tied herself in knots (no
not literally though that would have been fun). There
was also a Green Party candidate who seemed very nice
in a vague sort of way.
The meeting came alive when a woman got up to ask them what they could do for her son. His name is Omar
Deghayes and he has been held in the American torture
camp at Guantanamo Bay for three years and with
incredible bravery got his story - which is a horror
story of torture and sodomy by our allies- out to the
British press. I don't want to imagine how the guards
will treat him now. .
Well the libdem lady was impassioned but confused,
admitting she had done nothing about this but saying
she would like to, Phil Clarke has been involved in
the campaign to publicise Omar's case in Brighton and
he spoke with passion about it. And the Labour guy,
I'm afraid "useless" is the politest thing I can say
about his performance.
And that is the end of this party political broadcast.
http://socialistteachers.org.uk
Posted by derekmcmillan
at 7:31 AM BST