Top NEN contributor Tony celebrates 99th birthday
WWII veteran and long-time NEN supporter Tony Delahoy is 99 today.
Community stalwart Tony has shared his views by contributing letters to this community newspaper for more than fifty years.
We’ve witnessed so many changes over that period, put one thing that’s never changed is Tony’s unswerving commitment to the causes he holds most dear: social justice, public ownership and the National Health Service.
As our favourite Silverknowes socialist enters his 100th year, we publish below a selection of ten letters on Tony’s favourite themes; one for each decade of his long life.
Happy Birthday, Tony: long may you continue to fight the good fight. Hasta la victoria siempre!
MY TEARS
My tears are for all children, women and men who are suffering extreme poverty and starvation.
My tears are for all animals, birds and wildlife.
My tears are because of all the cruelty and the destruction of trees and natural habitat.
But my tears are not tears of despair, they are tears of knowing how different things could be.
We have allowed a relatively few powerful financial organisations to control and exploit – with unbelievable callousness – people, animals and the natural environment for their private profit.
These same people created the biggest financial mess ever seen worldwide and are now passing it on to everyone.
This “system” must be changed.
Wealth created by the work of people must be used for the benefit of all people; we would then be able to deal with all these terrible problems.
July 2012
THE AIR WE BREATHE
Financial organisations are operating heavily in ore mining, oil extraction, shale drilling, coal mining and – worst of all – they are active in the destruction of the world’s forests.
The rapid destruction has now reached 70% of our forests. Behind these ghastly figures stand the faceless multinational financial organisations.
The felling of the world’s trees reduces the ability of the forests to produce the oxygen that we humans need to breathe. The rate of oxygen decrease is destructive to humans, animals and sea stocks.
We have the knowledge of this terrible destruction being carried out by these exploiters. The oxygen cannot be replaced because the forest has been chopped down – it has gone!
We know who is doing this and they know who they are – causing catastrophe!
Our government – all governments – must immediately stop this destruction of the rain forests, the soil erosion and the terrifying population displacement.
November 2021
EU’VE BEEN DUPED
The UK-wide confusion caused by the referendum resulted in an approximately 50-50 split. It is now obvious that many things told by the ‘Leave’ side were untrue and misleading.
It is always easy to blame others for misfortunes; the Leave side did this quite successfully in parts of the UK. It shows once again the power of publicity in shaping minds and attitudes.
It was not the EU that imposed tremendous cuts of all kinds on working people over the last six years, it was the Conservative Party government, in which most of the leaders of the ‘Leave’ campaign served and supported.
These same people have led 50% of the population to think the EU is to blame: and what is more, they have created a situation where further cuts on working people will be made.
At this most serious moment when the Labour movement must unite in resisting the imposition of further cuts and proposing an alternative programme of social progress, opponents of such a position have chosen to split the PArty by their actions of resignation. Why? This action can can only benefit the very people whey should be opposing: the Conservative government.
As the recent referendum has shown, Divide and Rule is a long-tried Tory policy and it is still working for them.
July 2016
THE TORIES’ COMING ATTACK
For most people the recent years have been very hard. It has also showed a determination in volunteering for so many organisations, particularly the NHS.
As a whole, the foresight shown in establishing the NHS in 1948 has kept us in it’s care since that time.
This public service must be protected at all times from those who voted against it’s formation in 1948: namely, the Conservatives.
The reason this letter is headed ‘The Tories’ Coming Attack‘ is that the Conservatives are now moving to reorganise the NHS and care sector, letting private bodies have control over the running of the organisation in a major step towards a Private Health Service.
This must NOT be allowed to happen!
October 2021
SOMETHING BETTER CHANGE
For too long the working population has been told that decision-making on investment is the province of the wealthy and very well off, and it is they who create the nation’s wealth. The arrogance and stupidity of such a claim shows the value they place on the working population’s contribution to that wealth.
Listed below are a few respective contributions:
Investors: It takes minimum effort and little time of one day to move money around through financial markets seeking a higher rate of profit.
Workers: If employed full-time, spend the best part of one whole day working and getting to and from work.
Investors: Their investment is usually short-term, then switching to maximise profit.
Workers: Their investment is life-long commitment to work.
Investors: Having the power of decision-making to hire and fire and even closing down places of work, showing no responsibility for workers or country.
Workers: Have lifetime commitment to home and provision for the family in all respects.
Investors: Employ tax lawyers to seek ways of reducing amounts due; alternatively hide their money in offshore tax havens avoiding tax altogether.
Workers: Income tax is taken from their wage packets, VAT on products and services.
Further, the political representatives of the wealthy have continued to starve local councils of funds to maintain community life, forcing savage cuts to all services. They now have the audacity to tell local councils to sell public assets of all kinds, buildings and land. This is where investors will step in to make a killing out of the people who created and paid for their public services, buildings and land, maintenance of parks, gardens, sports areas and open spaces.
Can all this be justified? The answer can only be NO, the way things are done must change, because if not there will be no end to the endless cycle of unemployment, hardship and unhappiness.
December 2015
NORMANDY AND THE LESSONS LEARNED
So many important anniversaries occur in 2014, being recalled with differing emotions. As a Normandy veteran I hope the following words will contribute to a peaceful world …
To remember and celebrate is not to glorify militarism but to show the united will of people for a peaceful world.
It is so important that the events of the 1930s and 1940s are told to each generation so they can avoid the mistakes made during that period: the mistake of tolerating discrimination, the mistake of letting vested interests ignore the aspiration of Fascism to expand their domination over all, leading to World War.
It was the ordinary people of all lands who finally defeated evil: it is the ordinary people of all lands, armed with the knowledge of the past, that will safeguard our futures.
July 2014
AUSTERITY: NEVER AGAIN!
When the banks crashed through mismanagement and greed most were bailed out by the government, using public money to do so.
People were told that everyone was ‘in it together’.
But as we know from thise years, the government embarked onn what they called Austerity, in whih wages were frozen for years; prices were rising; major cuts were made in services of all kinds;unemployment and zero hours contracts grew.
The years of tremendous sacrifices made by the people in their lives have now been forgotten by employers and government alike.
In fact there is an indication that both of these are preparing the repeat of austerity, more severe than the last – and that will last much longer.
The people must not allow this to happen again!
The investors and financial institutions are intent to make everyone pay and once again decimate the lives of all people.
May 2021
PUBLIC SERVICES MORE VITAL THAN EVER
The National Health Service has always been valued as a people’s organisation. This value has always been appreciated – but never more so than today.
This lesson on the importance of people’s services shows the way our society must be run. If the NHS is vital, so are gas, electricity and water. As are the railways, buses and trams. Make them public services, too – serving the people.
The value of the NHS to the people is immense: a publicly funded service, available ever day.
Also ever day, 30 million people travel to and from their places of work using rail, bus and tram.
Work, in order to live, is a necessity. These transport industries must also become part of a fully funded, publically owned service with the NHS. It can be arranged and organised as a public service.
The NHS has been our lifeline. People have always guarded the principle of a service of the people.
How right that is!
May 2020
WINNERS AND LOSERS OF THE GLOBAL RACE
The repeated use of certain words and phrases, for example ‘let me be clear’, ‘openness and transparency’, ‘hub’, ‘flat-lining’ are very irritating; and ‘we must win the global race’, often repeated by David Cameron and most Tory politicians, is both annoying and dangerous.
Dangerous; when the state of the world needs nations to work together to solve problems of food production, fuel and energy supplies, diseases, protection of the world’s forests and climate change.
Dangerous; because ‘winning the global race’ means there are losers, creating disastrous unemployment, poverty and health problems.
There are many examples of companies engaged in the ‘global race’, making vast profits in one country, closing industries in others, showing little concern for people’s’ lives and wellbeing. The ‘global race’ does not exclude the working people of the UK from this exploitation.
July 2013
SAVING OUR PUBLIC SERVICES
Local authorities are elected to operate a wide variety of services in their areas, services that keep the community functioning. The trend now is to cut back on what is thought not to be necessary, to offload some to private contractors or to get the community itself to be the provider.
The provision of services that enhance the community are as necessary as the basic ones: for example parks and gardens should have keepers to look after them, schools should have resident caretakers to do the same.
The policy of a continual cuts in services can only lead to more divided and run-down areas, where once again it will be te poorest who suffer the most. This divisive policy has been in fashion nationally since the time of Thatcher; now it has spread to local policies too.
One of the worst aspects of this is the breaking down of communities into individuals: exactly what Thatcher wanted when she said ‘there is no such thing as society’.
If more and more services are run by private companies – whose aim is to make a profit from doing so. It is a dangerous policy for the provision of permanent services – and for those who are unable to pay for them.
There has to be a change from the policy of cut after cut; it is not in the short or long term interest of the community to keep doing so. It is better to promote and work for public services than to give in!
November 2015