February 27th

The burning of the Reichstag

Oh dear – it’s the Nazis again. Today in 1933 the Reichstag, the German parliament building, caught fire. Whoever was responsible, there was enough smoke for Hitler and Goering to eliminate Communist opposition. The German people were sufficiently spooked to give the Nazis all the slack they needed to pass the Enabling Act, which basically allowed Hitler to do whatever he liked in the interests of “national security”. His omnipotence stems from this event.

It really is heartbreaking, considering what the German people are capable of; their achievements in music and architecture and literature and engineering, that they should be so easily manipulated by uniforms, flags and oratory.

By way of contrast, today is also the anniversary of...

The foundation of the Labour Party

New Labour may have made a mess of running Britain in the last 11 years, with the biggest majority ever, but it must never be forgotten that the Labour Party, founded today in 1900, has been the single greatest force for the betterment of the lives of the working class. Almost every proposal by Labour to limit working hours, increase basic pay and improve working conditions, housing, social security and basic rights, has been opposed by the Conservatives.

Labour’s incredible post war achievement after dumping Churchill on his backside was building a welfare state. In 5 post-war years they had laid the foundations for a fair and equal society which was decades ahead of its time – the United States still hasn’t caught up with it. Welfare dependency has contributed a great deal to Britain’s problems over the last ten years (New Labour had a chance to fix that and blew it) but this anniversary has to be worth celebrating by anyone in Britain who went to school for free.