Films of the Year 2016

We are drawing closer to the end of 2016, one of the worst years in living memory: the year of Trumpian fascism, Europe-wide xenophobia and the deaths of so many inspirational figures in music and cinema.

In cinematic terms, however, this hasn't been a bad year for watching films and so, in keeping with the close of every year since 2003, it's time to review the ones I've seen over the last twelve months.

In 2016, I made it to the cinema on 96 occasions - up from 81 in 2015. Overwhelmingly, these visits were to my local Stratford Picturehouse and according to the stats on Letterboxd, this amounted to 177.8 hours of cinema.

As always, this does not include anything watched on DVD or BluRay and as in previous years, I've arbitrarily rated the films I've seen. You can find ratings for the last decade here. Since I started going to the cinema regularly and keeping track of the numbers, I now make this 743 visits since 2003.

I know. That's a lot.

Film of the year: Arrival

Worst film of 2016: The Legend of Tarzan

Great documentaries in 2016: 
The Eagle Huntress,
Life, Animated
Bobby Sands: 66 Days
Tickled
Notes on Blindness
Speed Sisters
The Fear of 13

Ratings:

★★★★★: Unmissable!
★★★★☆: Definitely worth seeing
★★★☆☆: Decent film
★★☆☆☆: Disappointing
★☆☆☆☆: Pants
☆☆☆☆☆: Why was this released?

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ★★★★☆
Life, Animated ★★★★☆
The Eagle Huntress ★★★★☆
The Birth of a Nation ★★☆☆☆
Snowden ★★★☆☆
Paterson ★★★☆☆
Sully ★★★☆☆
A United Kingdom ★★★★☆
Arrival ★★★★★ (and even better on second viewing)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ★★★☆☆
Arrival ★★★★★
Nocturnal Animals ★★★☆☆
The Accountant ★★★☆☆
In Pursuit of Silence ★★★☆☆
Doctor Strange ★★★☆☆
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back ★★★☆☆
Queen of Katwe ★★★★☆
American Honey ★★★★☆
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World ★★★☆☆
Swiss Army Man ★★☆☆☆
The Magnificent Seven ★★★☆☆
I, Daniel Blake ★★★★☆
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children ★★★☆☆
Deepwater Horizon ★★★☆☆
The Girl with All the Gifts ★★★★☆
Hunt for the Wilderpeople ★★★★☆
Hell or High Water ★★★★☆
Things to Come ★★★★☆
The Confession ★★★☆☆
Captain Fantastic ★★★★☆
Café Society ★★☆☆☆
Tickled ★★★★☆
Julieta ★★★☆☆
Wiener-Dog ★★★★☆
The Shallows ★★★☆☆
Bobby Sands: 66 Days ★★★★☆
Embrace of the Serpent ★★★★☆
Suicide Squad ★★☆☆☆
Maggie's Plan ★★★☆☆
Jason Bourne ★★★★☆
Couple in a Hole ★★★★☆
Star Trek Beyond ★★★★☆
The Legend of Tarzan ★☆☆☆☆
The Hard Stop ★★★☆☆
Notes on Blindness ★★★★☆
Elvis & Nixon ★★★☆☆
Independence Day: Resurgence ★★☆☆☆
Mile End ★★★☆☆
Adult Life Skills ★★★★☆
Tale of Tales ★★☆☆☆
The Keeping Room ★★★☆☆
Sing Street ★★★★☆
The Club ★★★☆☆
The Nice Guys ★★★☆☆
X-Men: Apocalypse ★★★☆☆
Money Monster ★★★☆☆
A Hologram for the King ★★★☆☆
Everybody Wants Some! ★★★☆☆
Mustang ★★★★☆
Son of Saul ★★★★☆
Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One ★☆☆☆☆
Demolition ★★★☆☆
Green Room ★★★★☆
Captain America: Civil War ★★★★☆
Jane Got a Gun ★★★☆☆
Miles Ahead ★★★☆☆
Eye in the Sky ★★★☆☆
The Absent One ★★★☆☆
Dheepan ★★★★☆
Midnight Special ★★★★☆
Speed Sisters ★★★★☆
Victoria ★★★☆☆
The Here After ★★★☆☆
10 Cloverfield Lane ★★★★☆
Disorder ★★★☆☆
High-Rise ★★☆☆☆
Allegiant ★★☆☆☆
Chronic ★★★☆☆
Hail, Caesar! ★★★★☆
Bone Tomahawk ★★★★☆
Triple 9 ★★★☆☆
The Survivalist ★★★★☆
Deadpool ★★★★☆
Trumbo ★★★★☆
The 33 ★★☆☆☆
Spotlight ★★★★☆
Creed ★★★☆☆
The Assassin ★★☆☆☆
The Revenant ★★★★☆
The Big Short ★★★★☆
Black Souls ★★★☆☆
Room ★★★★☆
The Hateful Eight ★★☆☆☆
Joy ★★★☆☆
The Fear of 13 ★★★★☆
In the Heart of the Sea ★★★☆☆

A Year in Film 2015

As 2015 draws to a close, I'm back for an increasingly rare update to this blog and, in keeping with the previous 12 years, to review the films I've seen over the last twelve months.

You can find more stats than you'll ever need and the occasional review  over at Letterboxd.

As always, I only count actual 81 trips I made to a cinema - not films on DVD or BluRay - and as usual I've arbitrarily rated the films I've seen. You can find ratings for the last decade here.

Ratings:
★★★★★: Unmissable!
★★★★☆: Definitely worth seeing
★★★☆☆: Decent film
★★☆☆☆: Disappointing
★☆☆☆☆: Pants
☆☆☆☆☆: Why was this released?

Star Wars: The Force Awakens ★★★☆☆
Sherpa ★★★★☆
Carol ★★★★☆
Bridge of Spies ★★★★☆
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 ★★★☆☆
Steve Jobs ★★★★☆
The Lady in the Van ★★★☆☆
The Lobster ★★☆☆☆
Listen to Me Marlon ★★★★☆
Spectre ★★★★☆
The Program ★★★☆☆
Suffragette ★★★★☆
Crimson Peak ★★★☆☆
The Walk ★★★☆☆
Sicario ★★★★☆
Red Army ★★★☆☆
The Martian ★★★★★
3½ Minutes, 10 Bullets ★★★☆☆
The Martian ★★★★★
Life ★★★☆☆
Cartel Land ★★★★☆
Everest ★★★☆☆
The Wolfpack ★★★☆☆
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials ★★☆☆☆
The Salt of the Earth ★★★★☆
Legend ★★★☆☆
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl ★★★★☆
Mistress America ★★★☆☆
Paper Towns ★★★☆☆
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ★★★★☆
Inside Out ★★★★★
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation ★★★★☆
Minions ★★★☆☆
Ant-Man ★★★★☆
Love & Mercy ★★★★☆
Slow West ★★★☆☆
Amy ★★★★☆
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief ★★★★☆
Jurassic World ★★☆☆☆
Mr. Holmes ★★★☆☆
The Dark Horse  ★★★☆☆
The Look of Silence ★★★★★
Timbuktu ★★★☆☆
The Connection ★★★★☆
San Andreas ★★☆☆☆
The New Girlfriend ★★☆☆☆
Tomorrowland ★★★☆☆
We Are Many ★★★★☆
Pitch Perfect 2 ★★★☆☆
Mad Max: Fury Road ★★★★★
The Beat Beneath My Feet ★★★★☆
The Falling ★★★☆☆
Avengers: Age of Ultron ★★★☆☆
A Little Chaos ★★★☆☆
The Salvation ★★★☆☆
John Wick ★★★★☆
Good Kill ★★★☆☆
Woman in Gold ★★★☆☆
While We're Young ★★☆☆☆
Blade Runner ★★★★★
Wild Tales ★★★★☆
Pride ★★★★★

Robot Overlords ★★☆☆☆
Insurgent ★★☆☆☆
Suite Française ★★★☆☆
A Brilliant Young Mind ★★★★☆
Still Alice ★★★★☆
Catch Me Daddy ★★★☆☆
Chappie ★★★☆☆
Blackhat ★★☆☆☆
Maidan ☆☆☆☆
Trash ★★★★☆
Kingsman: The Secret Service ★★★★☆
Ex Machina ★★★☆☆
Selma ★★★★☆
Wild ★★★☆☆
Foxcatcher ★★★☆☆
Whiplash ★★★☆☆
Exodus: Gods and Kings ★★☆☆☆
The Theory of Everything ★★★★☆
Unbroken ★★★☆☆

The Clapton Ultras v Strike!

This article appears in the current edition of Strike!

A football club where minorities not only feel welcome, but get involved, can never really be a bad thing, no matter how much gushing, middle-class wankery gets written about them. Wankery that they aren't responsible for, remember...

Comment on 'When Saturday Comes' message board

Before 2012 there were no Clapton Ultras: over the space of only three seasons, a group of left-wing anti-fascist football fans have, with their passion, noisy songs and a fondness for smoke flares in support of Clapton FC, a club in Forest Gate in east London, shaken up the staid, parochial county league that the team plays in.

In doing so, Clapton fans have also attracted increasing outside interest and often unwelcome attention. One senior left-wing union official tried unsuccessfully to use the terrace where the Ultras gather as a stage for some shameless personal grandstanding, whilst far-right groups have repeatedly complained to an indifferent London FA about the Ultras 'political' flags (something we are entirely guilty of). Last year, as numbers grew to over 200 and more and more people headed east to find out what all the fuss was about, the Ultras also started to face attempts to pin one label or another onto us. We have been described both as saviours of the left and condemned as an insufficiently hard-case anti-fascist 'firm'. Memorably, someone even called us 'metrosexual Palestine hipsters', an insult so brilliantly hilarious that it is destined soon to feature on a supporters' banner.

Why it's always seen as necessary to fit everything new into a preconceived and largely pointless category is a mystery to me. Still, none of it has come close to explaining the phenomenal rise of the Clapton Ultras or the upsurge of support – over 500 supporters at the end of last season - for a lowly non-league club long overshadowed by its rich and popular neighbour, West Ham United, who are based less than a mile away.

In reality, what is happening in Forest Gate is a reflection of a growing trend amongst an increasing number of football fans who are tired of paying £50 or more for a match ticket, or simply cannot afford to, just to watch a game with no atmosphere or spectacle. At Clapton FC, most fans also support a League side, but have adopted a local team, one with a long and rich history but forever at the fringes of football, because it means watching with friends for only £6, a beer in hand, without oppressive policing or officious stewards insisting everyone remains seated. For many, this is what has attracted them to switch to non-league football, or to return to the game after often years away from regular attendance at overpriced Premiership and League fixtures.

There is something else, however, that makes the Clapton Ultras noticeably different from other groups of football supporters: their absolute opposition to the often boorishly sexist, homophobic and right-wing sentiment and behaviour tolerated at many larger clubs. This has been coupled with the adoption of the best elements of a continental anti-fascist Ultras' culture that is strengthened by the presence of many Italian, Spanish and Polish fans.

What I love so much about attending a home game at the Old Spotted Dog Ground and standing with other Clapton Ultras is not just having a few cans of Tyskie and singing daft chants throughout, but the recognition that the people around me are socialists and anarchists, that at any moment the Italian partisans song 'Bella Ciao' may erupt from the Scaffold (the ramshackle stand made of scaffolding poles and corrugated iron where the Ultras congregate), or a banner might appear in support of anti-fascists in Greece or Germany. It's the fact that we produce all our own merchandise, just like Ultras in clubs across Europe, and that our stickers pop up randomly all over the country. It's knowing that someone might shout out a reminder that Maggie Thatcher is definitely still dead, but no-one is about to start calling the referee a 'poof' or claiming that opposing fans are 'gypos' or 'chavs'. Try that kind of shit at a Clapton game and you'll quickly find out what a crowd turning on you feels like!

This attitude extends to the club's place in its local neighbourhood, one of the poorest in London and the most ethnically diverse in the country. Acts of solidarity organised by the Clapton Ultras include distributing rights cards on the powers of immigration enforcement teams, organising food donations for a local project supporting asylum seekers with no access to public funds, raising cash for local group supporting victims of domestic violence and turning up in numbers to support campaigns around homelessness and evictions. At the end of the last season, on a truly magical day involving rainbow-coloured smoke flares, we helped launch an appeal that eventually succeeded in raising funds to keep open Newham's only LGBT youth group, which faced closure because of council cuts.

For many of us, this kind of community organising is just as important as the football: the Ultras bring together, in significant numbers, a group of like-minded activists with years of campaigning experience who can make a real impact locally. This extended to encouraging more local people so Clapton FC better reflects the community where it is based: just recently, we held a stall at the local Forest Gate Festival simply to remind local people that the club still exists and is far more welcoming and family-friendly than many might imagine. It's a real necessary because, perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of working class football fans remain white, straight and male. Constantly reaffirming our opposition to all forms of discrimination is slowly encouraging a greater level of diversity as the number of supporters increases, but not as fast as we would like.

Fundamentally, though, the Clapton Ultras remain just football fans, who happen to have created a safe, supportive space for others like themselves on the radical, largely unaligned left. It's somewhere to have a laugh, make new friends, temporarily forget what a massive cockwomble David Cameron is and still enjoy an outpouring of emotion at away game in a tiny village somewhere out in the wilds of Essex.

Disappointingly, we are not saviours of the left and definitely not a hard-case 'firm', no matter how much outside observers might want this to be true. As for 'metrosexual Palestine hipsters'? Well, as the fantastic film 'Pride' said, if someone calls you a name, you take that name and you own it. Look out for the banner in the coming season.

You can find the Clapton Ultras online at claptonultras.org, on Facebook at facebook.com/ClaptonUltras and on Twitter at @ClaptonUltras

The Clapton Ultras fanzine, Red Menace, is at redmenacefanzine.wordpress.com
The Clapton Ultras podcast, The Old Spotted Dogcast, is at theoldspotteddogcast.wordpress.com

Newham Labour nominates the 'Prevent' candidate for London Assembly selection battle

There were extraordinary scenes at East Ham Labour Party last Thursday evening, as a veritable chorus line of the usual party loyalists stepped up to support Newham councillor Unmesh Desai (right), Cabinet Member for Crime and Anti Social Behaviour. Desai desperately wants to become the Labour candidate to replace new Tower Hamlets Mayor, John Biggs, as the City and East constituency London Assembly member.

One of those who spoke at the meeting was the Dear Leader himself, Sir Robin Wales, who in an surprising intervention praised Desai as a community activist who had “founded Newham Monitoring Project” (not true, he was the group's first worker, but let's move on) and who fought against the British National Party in the south of the borough. This has been the message featuring strongly in Desai's campaign for local endorsement: in emails to Party members, he has promoted himself as an 'activist' with 'a solid track record of three decades of community campaigning'.

Strangely, there was no time to mention of how Desai, with Wales' support, was personally responsible for ruthlessly engineered the removal of council funding for Newham Monitoring Project (NMP) in the late 1990s, because he saw the group as an obstacle to his political ambitions. Nor did Wales mention his own unsuccessful attempts to pressure the National Lottery to try and stop NMP from receiving funding from it in 2000.

I have had cause to remark on Desai's staggering hypocrisy before. In 2011 I pointed out the irony of a man who was kicked out of the Socialist Workers Party over allegations of 'violent extremism' becoming the council's foremost cheerleader for 'Prevent', the government programme for tackling signs of alleged extremism -amongst young Muslims. If nothing else, Desai is living proof that the 'Prevent' strategy is based on a lie: there is no inevitability about an 'escalator of radicalisation' and youthful rebellion is never a guarantee of genuinely radical politics in later life. In Desai's case, quite the opposite.

One obvious question is this: why, after all these years, suddenly bring up NMP now? I suspect one answer is that the hardline, right-wing Blairite politics that dominates Labour in Newham has considerably less attraction and potential support among party members in the wider City and East constituency, which includes both the boiling cauldron that is Tower Hamlets and the London borough of Barking and Dagenham.  That may explain why Desai, who has held no job other than Newham councillor for years, is mythologising a colourful community activism that in reality he cynically abandoned decades ago.

Labour members outside of Newham should therefore have absolutely no illusions, whatever they hear otherwise. Desai is the most definitely the 'Prevent' nominee – the front man for a counter terrorism strategy that even a senior police officer has called a 'toxic brand' – in this candidates' selection.

If the kind of candidate you decide to choose is someone the security services would happily endorse, then don't say you weren't warned.

Newham Mayor Guilty of Breaching Members Code of Conduct

Public accountability proceeds, it seems, at its own solemn pace. Newham council's constitution says a standards committee investigation into the conduct of an elected member should take no longer than three months. However, six months has passed since a complaint was made against Mayor Sir Robin Wales, and only now has the committee published its groundbreaking decision - that the Mayor "breached the members' Code of Conduct by failing to treat a member of the public with respect".

Some background: in July 2014, a video [above] emerged on YouTube showing the Mayor losing control of his temper at the presence of Focus E15 Mothers campaigners at an event in Central Park in East Ham. He was so angry that the footage shows a member of council staff physically restraining him. In the week that followed, a formal complaint was made about the Mayor's behaviour, alleging that Wales had breached the Members' Code of Conduct by failing to observe the statutory principle of “always treating people with respect, including the organisations and public engaged with and those worked alongside”.

I'd met the young activists from the Focus E15 campaign for the first time only the previous weekend, when volunteering as a legal observer for a march they had organised though the borough. Appalled by the Mayor's behaviour, I gave them some advice soon after the video began to circulate about how to make a official complaint. Eventually I decided to submit a complaint myself and so, ever since, I've had a ring-side seat as the formal 'complainant' to the glacial process that has followed.

The complaint was about the conduct shown in the video, which was essentially the only evidence. However, after a meeting of Newham's Standards Advisory Committee on 31 July recommended a formal inquiry, an independent investigator was appointed. In August she interviewed me and some of of the campaigners who appear in the footage. The committee did not meet again until early October and then decided set up a Hearing Sub-Committee to consider the investigator's findings and determine whether a breach of the code of conduct had taken place. It met on 21 October and asked the investigator to rewrite her report with new recommendations. A meeting planned for December was cancelled and the Hearing Sub-Committee did not make its final decision until 15 January – but was unable to announce it because the council's constitution insists it was first checked off by its appointed 'Independent Person' (a requirement under the Localism Act 2011).

The procedure for investigating a complaint is clearly convoluted, slow and in need of reform. I have no idea either how an investigation within three months is even imaginable if evidence is more complex than a short video. I must stress, however, that the independent chair of the Standards Advisory Committee seemed just as frustrated by it as everyone else and was always as helpful as circumstances allowed. What probably hasn't helped was Wales' refusal to cooperate with the formal investigation – to this day, he has not even bothered to deny the accusation against him.

It is, nevertheless, hard to understand why there was a delay in early October to excise references to “the Mayor’s failure to deny the allegation upon which he chose not to comment at all”, when this rather embarrassing detail appears in minutes released this month. This decision was in all likelihood the work of some of the Mayor's slavishly loyal lieutenants on the committee, but as the discussions were held in secret, it is impossible to know for certain.

Even before the committee's decision was made, the question of what sanction it might recommend was always, of course, largely irrelevant. It was never likely they would adopt my tongue-in-cheek suggestion of 'anger management classes' and anyway, apart from a letter to Wales with advice on his conduct, which the Hearing Sub-Committee has asked the council's Monitor Officer to write, there are always few options available when a complaint involves an elected Mayor. His unwillingness to engage with or even acknowledge the investigation suggests any advice will disappear straight into the waste basket.

Nevertheless, what is significant is the decision itself: one of London's most powerful and imperious Labour politicians has received his first slap on the wrist in recent memory. For years, Wales has cultivated the idea that he is completely unassailable and therefore someone whose displeasure people should fear. It has worked too, I've seen it for myself both internally and amongst those who have to deal with the council. Even recently, I've been told by sympathetic insiders of threats that are a variant on “you'll never work in this town again”.

The trouble is, the notion of Sir Robin Wales' impregnability has been successfully undermined: amongst the many impressive achievements of the wonderful Focus E15 Mothers, this is perhaps the most unlikely, but it's true. It may only represent a first step, but I hope it encourages others in future who believe they have been poorly treated by the Mayor or those surrounding him to feel that it is finally worthwhile making a complaint that someone will listen to.

Maybe, too, if the Mayor ever decides to bang the table, shout down local people, issue threats or browbeat members of staff, he'll start to wonder whether his words have been secretly recorded, as evidence for a Standards Advisory Committee that has actually displayed some backbone.

The Investigation Report remains a (local) state secret, but you can see the Decision Notice here

A Year in Film 2014

As 2014 draws to a close, it is time once again, in keeping with the previous eleven years, to review the films I've seen over the last twelve months.

According to my summary on the brilliant Letterboxd website, I've seen 93 films over 173 hours (not counting the trailers). Apparently, the infamous Sodastream sales-rep Scarlett Johansson is the actor I've seen most often and, in all honesty, have been the most disappointed with - 'Lucy', 'Her' and 'Under The Skin' were all two star films in my view, whilst 'Chef' and 'The Winter Soldier' won't make it onto my top five of the year. What will are:

1. Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Interstellar
3. Boyhood
4. Pride
5. Dallas Buyers Club.

These aren't necessarily the best films - '12 Years a Slave' is extraordinary - but the ones I've enjoyed most and look forward most to watching again.

Anyway, here's the 2014 list in full: in keeping with previous years, I only count actual trips to a cinema - not films on DVD or BluRay - and as usual I've arbitrarily rated the films I've seen. You can find ratings for the last decade here.

Ratings:
★★★★★: Unmissable!
★★★★☆: Definitely worth seeing
★★★☆☆: Decent film
★★☆☆☆: Disappointing
★☆☆☆☆: Pants
☆☆☆☆☆: Why was this released?


Big Eyes ★★★☆☆:
Birdman ★★★★☆:
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ★★★☆☆
Black Sea ★★★☆☆
St. Vincent ★★★★☆
The Homesman ★★★☆☆
Kajaki ★★★☆☆
What We Do in the Shadows ★★★★☆
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 ★★★★☆
Mr. Turner ★★☆☆☆
The Imitation Game ★★★☆☆
Interstellar ★★★★★☆
Nightcrawler ★★★★☆
Fury ★★★☆☆
Citizenfour ★★★★☆
The Maze Runner ★★☆☆☆
'71 ★★★★☆
Still The Enemy Within ★★★★☆
Gone Girl ★★★★☆
Ida ★★★☆☆
Dracula Untold ★★☆☆☆
Tony Benn: Will and Testament ★★★★☆
Maps to the Stars ★★★★☆
Smart Ass ★★☆☆☆
A Walk Among the Tombstones ★★★☆☆
A Most Wanted Man ★★★★☆
Pride ★★★★★
The Keeper of Lost Causes ★★★☆☆
Finding Fela ★★★☆☆
Dinosaur 13 ★★★★☆
Night Moves ★★★★☆
The Congress ★★☆☆☆
Lucy ★★☆☆☆
Two Days, One Night ★★★★☆
Into the Storm ★★☆☆☆
God’s Pocket ★★★☆☆
Finding Vivian Maier ★★★★☆
Guardians of the Galaxy ★★★★☆
The Search For Simon ★★☆☆☆
Joe ★★★☆☆
Camille Claudel 1915 ★★☆☆☆
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ★★★★☆
Boyhood ★★★★★
Begin Again ★★★★☆
The Breakfast Club ★★★★★
Ilo Ilo ★★☆☆☆
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared ★★☆☆☆
Cold in July ★★★☆☆
Chef ★★★☆☆
The Fault in Our Stars ★★★★☆
The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet ★★★☆☆
12 Angry Men ★★★★★
Edge of Tomorrow ★★★★☆
Fruitvale Station ★★☆☆☆
X-Men: Days of Future Past ★★★☆☆
Jimmy’s Hall ★★★★☆
The Lunchbox ★★★☆☆
Blue Ruin ★★★★☆
Godzilla ★★★☆☆
Tom at the Farm ★★★★☆
Frank ★★★☆☆
Tracks ★★★★☆
Chronicle of a Disappearance ★★★☆☆
Locke ★★★★☆
A Matter of Life and Death ★★★★★
Calvary ★★★★★
The Past ★★★☆☆
The Raid 2 ★★★★★
20 Feet from Stardom ★★★★☆
Noah ★★★☆☆
Divergent ★★★☆☆
Captain America: The Winter Soldier ★★★☆☆
Starred Up ★★★★☆
The Double ★★★☆
Under the Skin ★★☆☆☆
The Zero Theorem ★★★☆☆
The Book Thief ★★★☆☆
Stranger by the Lake ★★☆☆☆
The Armstrong Lie ★★★★☆
Her ★★☆☆☆
Only Lovers Left Alive ★★★★☆
The Patience Stone ★★★★☆
The Monuments Men ★★☆☆☆
The Lego Movie ★★★★☆
RoboCop ★★☆☆☆
Dallas Buyers Club ★★★★★
August: Osage County ★★☆☆☆
The Missing Picture ★★★☆☆
The Wolf of Wall Street ★★★★☆
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit ★★★☆☆
American Hustle ★★★☆☆
12 Years a Slave ★★★★★

Newham, Sprung

The local elections In Newham are over and the result, once again, is No Overall Surprise: Sir Robin Wales is back as Mayor after 12 years in power and every councillor is still a Labour representative.

So much for the delusional optimism / monumental bullshit of this comment on my last post about local politics, from a supporter of the horrendously misnamed Newham Peoples Alliance (NPA):

Newham finally has a credible opposition..... The efforts of The Newham Peoples alliance have not gone to waste... Be prepared for a historic defeat to Robin wales.... The online Newham recorder poll alongside the NPA Mayoral poll are both indicative of the climax Of the newham spring

Regime change, my arse.

The NPA's political journey from endorsement by "left-wing" MP George Galloway to an alliance with the party of bankers, private equity managers and Old Etonians has been an object lesson in breathtaking political opportunism. The willingness of the Tories to at least tolerate vile homophobic messages and deliberate religious sectarianism by its new allies offers another lesson too, about what happens when you enter into what I shall mischievously call a "civil partnership" with reactionary communal interests in the borough.

But the situation facing the left alternative in Newham isn't really anything to take comfort from: the combined Mayoral vote for the Greens and the Socialist Party dominated TUSC was just 4763 (6% of votes cast) and nothing screams "there's no serious left alternative" like the latter's seventh place behind pretty much everyone, other than the mercifully deceased Christian Peoples Alliance.

I was one of those who, faced with a Green Party 'paper candidate' and a Trot group parachuting in with the hope of recruiting some new members, decided not to vote on Thursday. For this sin, someone on Facebook said in a private message that I was providing "succour to the racists in UKIP". In the circumstances, unfriending him was the very least I could do - a punch in the canister seems more appropriate - but it is systemic of a irritating fetishism about the electoral franchise that I find simply incomprehensible.

For leftwingers, voting is tactical and like all tactics, its value lies in bundling it together with other tactics into something resembling a strategy. Organising a national demonstration in central London, for example, in order to galvanise a growing movement or motivate supporters in advance an crucial date or decision, makes complete sense. On its own, it's just another stroll through town. The same applies to voting: if there's a growing momentum for radical change, either locally or nationally, then maybe it's a potentially useful tool. Of course all the other tactics, like building local support and engaging the wider public, take time: at least four years or, if UKIP's trajectory is any indicator, more than twenty. That's why it's tempting to skip these tactics, but on its own, voting turns out to be an ineffective waste of time and resources. No matter how they try to spin it, the Greens and the TUSC in Newham have demonstrated how having no strategy just shows up the chronic weakness of the left locally.

There is still hope. Others, like the new Left Unity party, do seem to understand that short cuts simply don't work. But in Newham, creating a progressive alternative in 2018 to the political bankruptcy of both Robin Wales' Labour and the kind of faith based opportunism that backed the Tories probably needs to start immediately.

I'm happy to leave this to others: I'm hoping to get out of Newham before Sir Robin Wales' next re-election in four years time, when I suspect the cohesiveness of the borough will have been finally destroyed by slum landlords, vicious cuts and more of the kind of nasty, reactionary communalism we have seen over the last few weeks.

Anyway, to borrow from a very old joke, "if you want to find your way there, you really wouldn't want to start from here".

Whatever Happened to the 'Newham Revolution'?

At a local event last week, I found myself making small talk with one of Newham Labour's candidates for councillor positions at this May's elections. I've never been very good at small talk, especially with someone I know only vaguely, which is why the conversation started with the inevitable:“so how are things?” The candidate, who I shan't name, explained how busy everyone was canvassing their wards. As this is Newham, where 60 out of 60 councillors are Labour, I jokingly said, “surely you don't have to worry? I mean, you guaranteed to win, right?”

“Well as Sir Robin says,” came the reply. “We're really fighting the election after next. The cuts that are coming are that bad.” Incredible.

Labour candidates in this borough effectively become councillors-elect as soon as they are selected: the lack of any credible opposition makes victory a certainty. They also know that between their election and May 2018, they are expected to provide unquestioning support to cuts of £41million in 2015/16 and another £53million in 2016/17 – and evidently Mayor Sir Robin Wales isn't terribly confident his own party nationally will reverse the cuts if it wins the General Election next year.

So is Newham Labour really worried that the devastating impact of cuts could trigger a change in local politics? Casting an eye over Labour's current opponents, it would represent less a shift and more a major seismic event. What's really noticeable is just how barren and marginal municipal activism has become in the borough, after years of control by a single party dominated by a powerful Mayor.

At one time Newham had the Respect Party, which was relaunched at the end of December 2012 by its divisive, opportunist leader, the MP George Galloway. It has since vanished without trace: Galloway's pledge to field a Mayoral and councillor candidates in 2014 has failed to emerge. He was back in February 2013 in support of the woefully misnamed Newham People's Alliance (NPA), essentially an attempt to organise a distinct Muslim voting block. “This is the beginning of the Newham revolution,” blustered Galloway. The following month, the NPA announced its intention to trigger a referendum on Newham's mayoral system. That failed to emerge too. It hasn't updated its website since August 2013.

Meanwhile, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (essentially the Socialist Party) became the latest in a long line of far-left groups to parachute in, launch themselves on the electorate six weeks before the election and hope for the best. Around the country, the TUSC has barely attracted more than 5% of the vote (you can look here for their own analysis if you're so minded). Even though I personally quite like their Mayoral candidate Lois Austin, who I'm working with on a campaign concerned with police surveillance of activists, the stubborn perseverance involved in repeating the same failed tactic over and over again frankly amazes me.

As for the Greens, Newham is one of the few London boroughs that has no local party. Its Mayoral candidate Jane Lithgow, who seems like a nice person and encouragingly describes herself as a Green Socialist, stood in the General Elections of 2005 and 2010 in West Ham but saw her vote drop to just 1.4% - coming in eighth place behind both UKIP and the National Front (quite an achievement in multicultural Newham). This May, she will count herself lucky not to lose her deposit.

What does this tell us? Perhaps that the opposition to cuts in Newham, if it emerges at all, will not happen through the ballot box but through dozens of small acts of resistance. I hope so. But it also suggests that Sir Robin's rhetoric about “fighting the election after next” is really about scaring some discipline into future councillors for when the cuts start to bite hard, as well as encouraging some of the more complacent candidates to turn up for door-knocking now there's an election approaching.

And given the calibre of most of them, it will probably work too. No wonder local politics is so depleted and dysfunctional.

Local Police Back Out of Radio Debate With Newham Monitoring Project

Yesterday I joined the Director of Newham Monitoring Project, Estelle du Boulay, on local community radio station NuSound Radio 92FM, which is based at Durning Hall in Forest Gate, to discuss policing in Newham. Originally we were supposed to debate the issue with the local Borough Commander, but unfortunately, after agreeing at first to participate, Newham police backed out completely from joining us on-air.

Some background: at the start of April, NuSound's "Community Hour" presenter Pete Day suggested to Chief Superintendent Tony Nash, Newham's new Borough Commander, that he come on and talk with NMP about policing in east London. Initially Nash accepted, but within a day, the local police seemed to start getting cold feet, offering instead his number 2, a Superintendent, and placing conditions that insisted discussions should focus just on policing in Newham. They also wanted a list of topics that would come up. We were happy to comply if it meant that an interesting debate might go ahead.

However, NuSound was then contacted again, this time by a Detective Chief Inspector, who said Newham police “didn't think it was a good idea” to appear on-air with us. It's a shame – but the offer remains open to the Borough Commander ever changes his mind.

Anyway, Estelle and I went on the show anyway - here's the recording of what we said:

Proudly Anti-Fascist - An Open Letter to Clapton FC's Chief Executive

Yesterday, Forest Gate based amateur football club Clapton FC posted a statement from its chief executive Vince McBean on its website saying that “over the last 48 hours” it had “received several emails from individuals stating their concerns about some of the supporters at Clapton” - notably, that Clapton's fans are left-wing, anti-fascist and that as a result, they might provoke “EDL style demos” at the club's home ground. McBean's response is completely appalling and so this is the letter I emailed to him this evening.

Dear Mr McBean

Today I saw the 'AntiFa' statement posted on Clapton's website and I was so appalled by it that I felt I had to write to you.

I am one of the new supporters who, as you mention, are joining the club all the time. I've lived in Newham, within walking distance of the Old Spotted Dog, for nearly 25 years but my first game was only a month ago. Like so many others, I found my way to the club through word-of-mouth, after pressure from an old friend who raved about the brilliant atmosphere created by the supporters. When I eventually made it to a match, it turned out that everything I'd been told – about how welcoming the fans are, about their principled stand against racism, homophobia and fascist extremism, about the wit and lack of bigotry in the chanting – turned out to be completely true. That's the reason why I now have a Clapton FC scarf hanging up the front door of my flat.

Your statement issued yesterday mentioned the club's “strong ethos... of not tolerating discrimination or racism of any kind”. It is an ethos I share: since 1992 I have been a management committee member of the Newham Monitoring Project, east London's oldest anti-racist organisation based just down the road from Clapton FC on Harold Road. Our work involves the kind of community-based advice and support for local people suffering racist hate crime that rarely receives enough publicity but it does mean that discrimination and racism are issues I feel extremely qualified to talk about.

And I can tell promise you this: when a bunch of far-right keyboard warriors start making unsubstantiated e-mail threats intended solely to provoke a reaction, the last thing you want to do is take them at their word and issue an apology over some non-existent 'offence' or inappropriate conduct you haven't even investigated.

Actually, that's not entirely correct – the last thing you want to do is to damage and debase your club's reputation by insulting, supposedly in the name of intolerance to “discrimination or racism of any kind,” your loyal and genuinely anti-racist supporters in an desperate attempt to try and appease some obnoxious right-wing extremists.

At the very least, your statement needs removing immediately and amending so that it makes clear that, as far as the club is aware, there is no basis for any of the malicious claims made in the emails you have received. However, I think you also owe an apology to Clapton FC's fans, old and new – the implication that there might actually be some foundation to these ludicrous allegations is an affront to all of us.

I look forward to the removal and amendment of the website statement as a matter of urgency.