All posts by diana Stone

About diana Stone

Diana Stone is a performing composer and musician playing Piano Violin & Guitar. She currently plays with Orchard and The Sonic Boomers. Previously with Rock/Roots band Elephant Shelf and also the Delta Ladies who mixed roots acoustic music and electronica until the death of Vicky Martin who formed the band which was active for 17 years. Diana composes in a variety of styles from pop to rock to Jazz and and classical music. Diana is also expert in multi-media recording and music production.

Friedrich Engels in his book The Condition of the Working Class in England

“When society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death… its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual; disguised, malicious murder, murder against which none can defend himself, which does not seem what it is, because no man sees the murderer, because the death of the victim seems a natural one, since the offence is more one of omission than of commission. But murder it remains.”

Minister of cognitive dissonance

Musings

The new Tory Minister of cognitive dissonance perhaps? Make no mistake about what’s really going on.

The Austerity agenda has never been about balancing the books. Much more about attempting to deliberately create a ready pool of cheap labour for the benefit primarily of the top 20%. Hence the proliferation of zero hours contracts.

Guess what that’s not a contract it’s self-employment. There is nothing wrong with self-employment if it is actually by choice, but for many people it’s Hobsons choice.
Add to this how difficult it is to get any sort of employment once past 50 let alone 60. There is no even playing field of opportunity. Many people are likely to find themselves having to register as unemployed with all that that entails. It is also the case that many people may not be able to work in the same way that they did when younger for all sorts of reasons.
How did we get here? I am very clear as to how that’s happened….