The perils of blogging...

http://www.grayee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/london-unison-regional-council-agm-2015.html?m=1

In the eight and a half years in which I have been interrupting your blameless surfing of the internet with my meanderings I have sometimes been made aware of the perils of blogging.

I have been warned off saying what I think by the leadership of my own trade union (and - less frequently - by other members of the same trade union).

I don't think though that I have ever been quite as gratuitously rude about fellow UNISON activists as was the unfortunate author of the link above.

Mind you, I was never a Liberal Democrat who joined the Labour Party in order to express support for the Iraq war. (Go back to the link above and ask it's author what he has to say about that).

Perhaps if I had such a confusing political heritage I could have found some way to describe John Burgess, Secretary of our highly regarded Barnet branch (and candidate for Regional Convenor) as both "ultra-left" and "evil."

On the other hand, having a - more or less - functioning brain, I doubt I could ever find a way to such a childish description of a fine and respected trade union activist.

‎Were I a Regional Finance Convenor - and UNISON NEC member - who owed my position entirely to the support of paid officials of our trade union I suppose that - as much as I would expect the continuation of such inappropriate patronage - I might try not to make my subordination so obvious.

But then not everyone has any decency.

And the author of the blog post to which I link above has none at all.

To be clear.

This blog post has (in one way or another) referred to two UNISON Branch Secretaries called "John" (with an "h").

Of the two there is one deserving of respect.

John Burgess is an exemplary trade union activist whose vigorous campaigning in recent years has led our movement.

The other one?

He isn't even worth naming.

‎

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the EE network.