[imposs1904]

Just posted a new page on the Socialist Standard Past and Present blog.

2026 is the 15th anniversary of the Socialist Standard’s excellent Proper Gander TV review column, and that’s a good enough excuse to put together a dedicated page to it where all the columns are listed in chronological order. (Where I could, I’ve provided a brief description of each column.)

Mike Foster was kind enough to provide an introduction to the page.

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2026/07/new-blog-page-proper-gander.html

[imposs1904]

If you send me your email address here, I will forward it on to you.

imposs1916@gmail.com

[imposs1904]

‘Thomas More’ wrote:

“BJ, I am finding Jack Common’s books hard to obtain.

I do like Alan Sillitoe. “Uncle Ernest” is my favourite of his short stories.”

I have a copy of Common’s ‘Kiddar’s Luck’ as an epub if you want me to email it to you.

ETA:
I just noticed that Libcom has a small selection of his articles and a biographical sketch of him and his connection to Orwell:

https://libcom.org/article/jack-common-selected-articles

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 1 day ago by imposs1904.

[imposs1904]

I’ve not updated this thread for the longest time, so a little update about the blog:

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2026/06/blog-update.html

As mentioned in the post linked to I have been trying to post more material on social media – using our extensive back catalogue – so if anyone can suggest articles or reviews which are particularly worthy for inclusion, I would appreciate it.

[imposs1904]

Wow.

This sort of stuff usually only happens with newly elected Reform councillors. I wonder if the electorate will ‘punish’ them for putting them through the election circus again so soon after the last one?

• This reply was modified 2 months ago by imposs1904.

[imposs1904]

Did Michael Chessum get elected for the Greens?

[imposs1904]

Looking at the three results, you have to wonder if ‘Shake It Up’ actually cost the Greens a couple of seats.

Any idea why ‘Shake It Up’ polled so well? . . . in relative terms, I mean.

[imposs1904]

I’ve probably posted this one before on the thread. If I have, you can enjoy it again:

• This reply was modified 4 months ago by imposs1904.

[imposs1904]

Just stumbled across this new song and new artist (new to me at least).

Good tune and excellent lyrics . . . which I’m sure will remind you of a very famous poem from the 1930s:

Edited to add. Here’s the lyrics:

Someone’s always first to go
That’s what they do
They start out with the media and the news
They target all the people with different views
And if you’re not the next in line
You will be soon

Cause everybody pays the price
And you will too
Whether you’re the radical
Or the fool
You might laugh when they come for me
But when they do
No one will be left to care
When it’s you

And you might not be next
But your day is gonna come
You don’t have to guess
It’s as good as done

Whether it’s the immigrants or the Jews
There’s always an enemy for them to choose
It starts off with the socialists
And the schools
Until one day the enemy starts to look like you

And then you cry for help
But no one’s there
Cause there’s nobody with a spine left
For you to scare
And when they come for you
You better pray
That when you go to lick the boot, they don’t put it in your face

You might not be next
But your day is gonna come
You don’t have to guess
It’s as good as done
Now everybody else is gone
There’s no one else for you to blame
When there’s nobody left
You’re next
You’re next
You’re next

No spine
No soul
No shame
No reason
Didn’t need em
Didn’t know it
Didn’t see it
Don’t believe it
Didn’t matter when it happened cause it wasn’t to me
I’ll live dumb and die as a casualty

You might not be next
But your day is coming soon
You don’t have to guess
It’s as good as done

Now everybody else is gone
There’s no one else for you to blame
There’s nobody left
You’re Next

You’re Next
You’re Next
You’re Next

• This reply was modified 4 months, 2 weeks ago by imposs1904.

[imposs1904]

Is that the same John O’Neill who was in the Lancaster Branch of the SPGB in the 1970s?

[imposs1904]

An excellent period for the Standard.

Well worth Forum members checking it out.

[imposs1904]

If anyone wants to see what films have been reviewed in the Standard down the years, they should click on the following link:

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/p/film-reviews.html

[imposs1904]

A short post to mention that the pages for the regular, longstanding Socialist Standard columns have been updated on the blog. The pages provide easy access to all the individual columns in chronological order:

Cooking the Books column:
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/p/cooking-books.html

Material World column:
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/p/material-world-column.html

Pathfinders column:
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/p/pathfinders-column.html

[imposs1904]

Nuts that this was only an album track on The Gift.

[imposs1904]

Moo,

Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll make a note of it.

In other news, a bit later than usual, the list of the 21 most popular articles on the blog in 2025:

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2026/01/january-february-i-dont-understand.html

Please click away.

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