It's been a tense week - and not just for the England fans whose World Cup hopes were dashed by the might of Brazil last Friday morning. For later that day in the High Court of London the Judge ruled that in the case of who is the rightful elected General Secretary of the PCS there should be equality as to the costs of the forthcoming legal action. Either the union funds neither side or it funds both. The latter is inevitable, as was the Judge's decision, which naturally ensures that our learned friends don't starve. And it was no surprise except to a few of the dimmer Moderati who had hoped in ignorance that SERWOTKA and GODRICH would fall at the first post.

There's a gloomy stoicism amongst the Moderati these days. None of the voting-fodder knows what's going on unless they have web access and they're forced to rely on the reports and rumours coming from the SERWOTKA camp for news of the titanic struggle being fought in their name.

The abortive June NEC was a disaster for the Mods. You didn't need to be an Einstein to realise that the Mods and their IR allies cannot command the two-thirds majority needed to overturn a presidential ruling. And GODRICH, armed with her own legal advice, did rule on procedure - widely reported elsewhere - stopping the GREAT SCOT'S sweeping "reforms" in their tracks and forcing the Mods to walk out, tails between their legs, bringing the meeting to an abrupt close as it was then inquorate. Their final word was left to McGOWAN, an incoherent Bible-puncher who cannot even string two sentences together without making an ass of himself.

BARRY was clearly trying his luck this week, revealing his hand without any guarantee of winning. All his proposals reeked of the cynicism and graft usually associated with the late President Marcos of the Philippines - who you may remember even counted the seal population in the last rigged election in his own country. Soon after he was booted out and his unlamented wife retired to the States moaning about the loss of her vast collection of shoes. The Marcos' could console themselves with the two Jumbo jets stuffed full of loot they flew out as they fled plus a few juicy Swiss bank accounts, so they had nothing to lose in the end. Neither has the GREAT SCOT.

If Barry wins he stays on. If he loses, that is the court upholds his golden handshake retirement, he keeps the money. Whatever happens in court BARRY will keep his next two years pay and his bumper pension which will keep him going in his villa in Malaga until he pegs out.

Not so for the rest of the Moderati with the possible exception of Boyle and McCann, clearly earmarked for the new DGS for Scotland job and the other senior full-time post Barry wanted. Now they're being held up to ridicule and abuse by every faction which hates them - LUNITY, ME FIRST and the shadowy full-time officers group that calls itself "PCS Friends".

Their one consolation is that even if BARRY loses the Mods will still hold a simple majority on the NEC. If the GREAT SCOT goes they could respond by sacking SERWOTKA though all this would lead to is a general secretary election which MAREK would be favourite to win - especially as the only realistic Moderati candidate against him would be BARRY yet again - if he is even eligible to stand given his age. They could try to steamroller the BARRY appointments to entrench the Jockocracy but they know how immensely unpopular such a move would have on their future election chances.

They've held on to all but one of the IR Me Firsters. PRIESTLEY has returned from his hols but has gone along with EUERS & WILDE in continuing to back the Mods. Why remains a puzzle. What hopes the MAD MONK may have had for the Presidency must have been dashed by the news that PAULINE ABRAHAM has supplanted CURRIE as "Leader" of the Moderate Group on the NEC. He must know that the only immediate threat to the ring-fenced IR Section comes from the Mods themselves who are the only faction who can actually change the status of IR.

LORD UNDY once again has risen from the grave to take a lead in the Barry must go campaign and no doubt he will be trying to woo PRIESTLEY and the others away from what more than he see as a sinking ship. It's significant to note that the entire Me First IR NEC group have issued a PILATE-like statement justifying EUERS role at the May NEC but at the same time swearing to uphold whatever the COURT decides.

MAREK is easily winning the information war despite the incompetence of the official left channels. LUNITY supporters are using the rank-and-file websites to get their statements out and organising members meetings across the country to rally support for SERWOTKA. The official Mod website hasn't been updated since February and Webmaster BUNTER is sitting on his hands at the moment for reasons we can all guess. All BARRY'S been able to do is float some silly stories in THE SUN like "Union boss hit by hate campaign" - not greatly read amongst the movers and shakers in PCS - and complain to the cops about the PCS INDEPENDENT website's message board which carried an anonymous posting which revealed RAMSBLADDER'S private number plus his mobile. The paranoiac Barry should have remembered that he himself supplied the damning details by way of a Press Release

What happens in court is another matter. It's fifty-fifty and as said before it will be interesting to see the final ruling given the implications it may have for so many other cases in the future. There is a caveat - the case is scheduled for the last week of the legal term - if the 4 days is insufficient time for m'Learned friends, the whole lot could be put back till late September. And then we really will be living in interesting times.

But whatever happens, the question of a democratic rulebook must come up when the Brighton conference resolutions are put to referenda. Much of this would never have happened if PCS had a democratic rule-book and not the monstrous travesty foisted on us by the Mods and Undymen when the merger was cooked up. Now the call for change is coming - and its not just from the Lunity camp.

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