On “Royal Marine convicted of Afghan murder”

Here is a quote from the Guardian on the murder of the Afghan insurgent by the Royal Marine sergeant A convicted recently. The murderer’s words are a distortion of Shakespeare’s humanity and I suspect an example of the British bourgeoisie’s descent into cultural debauchery, mirrored in the marine’s reference to Hamlet. He must come from the middle class or higher to have that shameful distortion on his lips. The record has to be put straight on this reactionary besmirching of Shakespeare which is infiltrating into workers’ consciousness, if we want to raise the cultural level of the working class in order to build a socialist society. Shakespeare and all art has to be saved from this putrid elite and its armed bodies of men. Otherwise the Afghan crimes will grow like a cancer.

From the Guardian: ”...The pistol shot to the helpless man’s chest can be clearly heard—followed by the marine telling the man: “Shuffle off this mortal coil, you ****,” and instructing his fellow marines: “Obviously this doesn’t go anywhere, fellas … I’ve just broken the Geneva convention.”

MP
France
11 November 2013

On “Pseudo-left groups cover for a rout engineered by Britain’s unions”

Dear comrades,

Regarding post office privatization, to date I have not seen any comments as to why the Royal Mail was established in the first place.

With the introduction of postal deliveries this was initially all done by private companies. The state became increasingly concerned as it has no way of knowing the content of these exchanges. Hence Royal Mail and the penny national delivery was introduced. Interception and spying became the norm then.

With the growing dominance of electronic information the importance of paper mail has diminished to such an extent that the privatization is not just about the profit motive but state control. Edward Snowden’s revelations have highlighted just where the state perceives its most important source of knowledge to be. Whether mail is delivered at an affordable cost to all parts of the country is now no longer a necessary fig-leaf and is being dispensed with.

John U
11 November 2013