Dermot: Politics

Same Old Tories. But Labour MUST Take the Initiative

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:50:27 GMT

Whilst every vote cast for the Labour Party in the next Election should be a positive one, those who are of the opinion that being out of Office will do us good, and focus minds would do well to consider what a disaster a Tory Government would be for real people, the ones that we are meant to be “for”.

David Cameron has announced that regarding the spreading of wealth “redistribution has reached the end of the road”, and that money would only be shared around via “sharing the proceeds of growth and cuts in Public Expenditure”.

Have the mass media gone deaf? Or are the heavy political scribes just on holiday?

Cameron has been clever with this, as August is traditionally a slack time in politics.

Thus the Tory Leader can get his “dog whistle” statements to the hard-core head banger Conservative reactionary brigade out via the Mail and Telegraph without any real analysis from the mainstream media.

Having got this crowd on board he can then go on to be all Touchy Feely and a Man Who Understands Our Pain when the Conference season begins.

Cameron also proposes to give a £20 a week tax break to married couples.

Sounds great to the faux wannabe Middle Classes and Daily Mail land.

How will it be funded?

By abolishing the £30 a week hardship maintenance grant to Sixth Formers, which would hit just the demographic of kids that I taught, many who have gone on to train as teachers, doctors and other professions which previously been out of reach as they would have been expected to be out earning rather than go on to do A levels due to financial imperatives at home.

Same old Tories.

Labour MP’s have GOT to realise that it won’t be them that suffer if we lose the next election, take their fingers out and rally behind either Gordon Brown, or if there has to be a change the new person and make sure we get our message over.

We can’t just rely on portraying the Tories as the bogeymen.

It is lazy, will alienate the electorate and end in defeat.

South Ossetia. Some Balance Please. Where is Gordon Brown?

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:22:49 GMT

The British Press enjoy nothing better than absolutism and certainty when reporting about Johnny Foreigner.

Thus the Portuguese Police are rendered as being hopelessly incompetent in the McCann case when here we have the grotesque treatment of rape victims, the miscarriage of justice against Barry George and the British led bungled investigation into the death of Bob Woolmer.

Then there is the way that we must have goodies and baddies in any overseas conflict. Thus Croatia was always the victim during the 1990’s Balkans War, whilst Serbia always bore the brunt of negative press in the West.

Not for one minute however, am I going to act as an apologist for a nation that was inexorably mixed up in atrocities such as the massacre at Srebrenica, and the siege of Sarajevo but it has to be borne in mind that during the Nazi occupation of the region in the 1940’s many Croats were less than ambivalent towards their conquerors as repression of the Serb Slav ethnic community suited their aims, and indeed it was the Serbs who were in the vanguard of the feted Partisan resistance and it is to the credit of the Slav part of Yugoslavia that recriminations regarding this era were, at least in public largely absent until the collapse of the Communist regime and the cessation of various parts of this unusual union in the ‘Nineties.

So to the Ossetia War, which enters its third week with considerable loss of life.

To the British media this is an example of Russian brutish behaviour reminiscent of the Soviet era, and lets face it the Kremlin has form for this kind of things as exemplified in Chechnya via it’s hammer fisted interventions in the last decade and into this century, which we in the West shamefully connived in through turning a blind eye. But as in Bosnia Muslims were on the receiving end, and had no worthwhile resources so it didn’t matter.

Georgia has decided to cash in its chips with the USA gleaned via its enthusiastic participation in Iraq whilst Bush is still in office, by attempting to annex the autonomous Russian-speaking region of South Ossetia.

This move smacks of cynical opportunism as they probably reckoned that an Obama White House, committed to getting out of Iraq would view such an “ally” with suspicion and have played the We Are A Small Democratic Nation Standing Up To Tyranny card, but the expected US backing has failed to materialise, not even the prospect of a Security Council Resolution (token as it would be) has been offered. Bush, as expected has condemned but not acted. There is nothing it for him as his Presidency winds down, and another complex foreign policy foray is the last thing he wants on his lazy enough agenda, so a few weasel words and some film of planes with humanitarian aid will suffice.

In addition Georgia reckoned that Putin’s presence at the Olympics would prevent any serious retaliation as they banked on the former President turned Prime Minister would baulk at the prospect of bad publicity.

But when had that ever bothered Russia? In fact domestically it has done Putin a power of good with today’s Guardian carrying strong support and justification from none other than Nobel Peace Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev who casts the Georgians in the role of aggressor and Putin as protector of the South Ossetian community whom in 2006 voted in record numbers (96% on a 42,000 turnout) for the secessionist

Government to press for international recognition.

This vote to me however, sounds reminiscent of ‘Thirties Plebiscites, but whatever the arguments the Press should report without the obvious bias of recent times, and the UN should be more proactive in securing a ceasefire, to be followed by round table talks to thrash out a compromise as it is precisely these sorts of conflicts, marginal to all but the protagonists on a global scale, that could easily ratchet up the possibility of a return to Cold War posturing and the potential for nuclear disaster to occur.

One last point has been raised by this war. Where is Gordon Brown? We hear Prescott saying it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t smile (true), but surely this is a good opportunity for the PM to sound statesman like on an issue that most people at home know little about, and if you are being cynical it could show him as a World leader of some importance and act as a distraction from the intercine warfare within the Party and give Brown something to get stuck into which the Cabinet would have to support.

Labour Down But Not Out. We Can Still Win The General Election

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:44:34 GMT

As Parliament rises for the summer recess it’s hard not to feel a sense of sick inevitability regarding the next election, and whilst I am not in denial about how bad things really are, those who are already in the mindset of preparing for Opposition are jumping the gun in my opinion.

To say that the public are fed up with us is perhaps a more realistic viewpoint than to say that they are deeply angry, cross and sceptical about the Government being on their side, sentiments that were abroad during the dying days of the Major Government.

That’s not the case here at all, but we need to communicate much more effectively that Ministers do understand and care about the stresses and strains that afflict the electorate, and unfortunately Gordon Brown’s demeanour and way of going about things grate with the public, as evidenced by his idiotically ill thought out comment regarding food waste, uttered during the G8 Summit where naturally egg and chips ain’t going to be on the menu.

In some ways the Government is a victim of it’s own success having presided over record employment, steady growth, low inflation and interest rates allied to a record number of people in work. Factor in the massive successes in the NHS regarding waiting lists, record police numbers, falling crime and huge investments in our schools then any problems are going to be magnified in people’s minds.

The Tory years saw and ethos of cuts and low expectations from the electorate about what the Government could achieve for Society as a whole. We have changed that and are now rightly being held to account.

In any walk of life you can’t take all the glory and credit when things go well if you aren’t prepared to accept responsibility when events don’t go the way that they should do.

I was delighted by James Purnell’s radical initiative to reform welfare, and as a family reliant on benefits it’s good to see the Government doing something positive to encourage people back to work as I think the biggest positive thing in my life at the moment is a sense of purpose and pride that I get from voluntary work.

Purnell, and Alan Johnson at Health are driving reform and setting the agenda. They provide the template for other Ministers to follow.

Now comes the Big One. What are we going to do about Gordon?

I favour him staying in Office but with either Straw or Johnson in a beefed up Deputy PM role, and with Milburn, Clarke and Blunkett being brought back to the Cabinet table, not as a strategy of looking back but as a means to assure the public that there are people at the top with gravitas, experience and a sense of purpose to compare with the lightweight Tory alternative.

In two years time it will be a straight fight between Labour values and experience over the powder puff Tory offer of change. All the micro stories that buffet the Government week by week will be put aside and I really believe that if we make sure that we really look like we are listening and acting on people’s concerns, then we can still win a fourth term.

David Icke and the Haltemprice and Howden By Election

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:14:39 GMT

David Icke has thrown his hat into the ring for the Haltemprice and Howden by Election to be staged on July 10^th, and I for one will be supporting him.

It is important to have a credible spokesperson for the anti 42 days supporters, and Icke is a good debater who, given the chance could expose Davis’ pathetic arguments.

David Davis wants to make this about Civil Liberties. Fine, but I’m not going to take any notice of a bloke who actively supported 28 days without charge, was a Minister in a Government that tried to roll back trial by jury, is in hoc to Big Business and wants to allow all sorts of dodgy stuff like phone tap evidence to be admissible in Court which he admitted to on Question Time last week.

And that’s not including his homophobic voting record plus his enthusiasm for Capital Punishment.

Icke has a long record of standing up to the Establishment and exposing how Capitalism is incompatible with personal freedom

Mention David Icke to anyone over 30 odd and they will probably say “nutter”, and mention the classic Wogan Show where the former Coventry City keeper, and Grandstand anchor claimed to be the Son of the Godhead, tried to explain his unique view on the world, and encouraged everyone to wear turquoise shell suits.

Surprisingly enough he was relieved of his BBC job and after a tabloid mauling of epic (and quite vindictive) proportions, and was rarely seen or heard of again except for the odd “David Icke is Bonkers” story if it was a slow news day.

I viewed his antics as a rather pathetic cry for help from someone who was obviously a bit unhinged, but I thought his treatment at the hands of the Sun in particular was just disgusting, making a joke out of mental health issues for cheap laughs and to sell papers.

They did the same again when Frank Bruno was sectioned for his own and his family’s safety; “Bonkers Bruno” being the ever so sensitive banner for that day.

However, in 1998 or so Jon Ronson did a big feature piece on Icke for the Guardian following him on a speaking tour of Canada and doing extensive interviews with the guy and his rather oddball entourage.

What came across was far from the image of boggled eyed mentalist crank of tabloid fame, and instead we found Icke as a concerned and erudite commentator on World Affairs.

Yes, he has some pretty bizarre beliefs, but then again Dubya and Mr. Tony invaded Iraq because God told them to, and Blair said on Parkinson thta he would answer to God for his actions, rather than say, the electorate or the Labour Party.

Their belief in God has as much evidence behind it as David’s thoughts about the so called Illuminatae being descended from giant lizards when you bring it down to basics.

What interests me about Icke is his commentary on how Democracy is used as a cover for Global Capitalism’s control of the media and politics, we are kept in the dark over so many things, from the environment, medical progress through to basic Human Rights and the surveillance of the Orwellian 1984 society.

His website www.davidicke.com , provided you take it with a shovel of salt is lively and informative, especially the medical stuff which backs up my theories about the corrupt nature of the Pharmaceutical Industry, and the material on the environment is insightful.

David Icke explains how vested interests in the Capitalist World do everything to maintain the Status Quo, and that any “conspiracy” is based on ownership of Capital rather than religious/ethnic affiliation.

Icke recently developed his ideas about Big Brother one a Five documentary when he was moved on by the Police attempting to film veteran Peacenik Brian Haw in Parliament Square, and he did a very funny spoof as a political reporter talking to the studio.

“I have just been over there in Parliament, and I haven’t a bleedin’ clue what’s going on Huw, but this is what we’ve been told to tell everyone…”

It was a fair and balanced effort, which left me respecting Icke’s contributions to Political debate.

However, it is easy to sit there and slag the system off, calling for Revolution. Trouble is, as long as the Government gets the economy right, and is seeing to be looking after the Public Services well; most people don’t give a stuff.

There are plenty of us in the Party who have some similar views to David Icke, and constructive debate in an atmosphere of trying to move things on has to be the way forward.

That is why on this issue of Civil Liberties I will be voting and campaigning for David Icke in the by Election.

Haltemprice and Howden By Election. Anti Labour Press Bias

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:46:54 GMT

On Monday the Hull Daily Mail published a completely untrue story, which said that the local Labour Party in Haltemprice and Howden were keen to run a candidate against David Davis in the July 10^th By Election, but had been “over ruled” by the Leadership whom the Mail accused of being “gutless”.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

We never as a CLP or otherwise had the slightest intention of standing. Right from the first hour of the story breaking we had a ring around and informed the NEC, who agreed with us.

I rang the journalist and asked her where this rumour of our discontent came from. She said it was a “feeling”.

“Have you spoken to anyone from the CLP?”

“No, but I’m glad you rang as I can correct things tonight”.

Yesterdays Mail STILL repeated that we were divided on the issue, and still called us “gutless”.

What can you do when the press just plainly make stuff up, and refuse to give you the right of reply?

The Mail is the most read local paper in the country, proportional to the size of it’s population so their power is immense, and as they are an arm of the Northcliffe Group it’s obvious the Labour Party will never get a fair hearing so it feels like we are banging our heads against the wall.

Democracy and Freedom are what Davis is ranting on about (unless you are gay or lesbian, obviously), so how about press freedom as a starting point?

Haltemprice and Howden by Election. Buy David Davis a Pint!

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:24:20 GMT

After consultations within the CLP and a day spent fending off the Press, my gut reaction that we shouldn’t stand in the Haltemprice and Howden by election which will result from David Davis’ idiotic and vainglorious stunt, proved to be the consensus within the local party, and unless the Leadership impose someone Davis will just have to go and play nicely with some other Right Wing headbanger such as the lamentable Kelvin McKenzie.

What a waste of £80,000 of taxpayer’s money to stage an absolute non-event.

But Davis’ stunning act of self-indulgent folly may at least serve to remind people of just how potty some “mainstream” Tories really are.

Cheers David! If I see you in the Wheatsheaf I’ll gladly get the beers in, to repay the enormous favour you are doing for the Labour Party.

Haltemprice and Howden in the Spotlight. Why The Labour Party Should Not Run (Personal Opinion)

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:50:35 GMT

Any moral authority this Labour Government had left was washed down the plughole last night as Gordon Brown scrabbled around in the gutter to bribe and persuade a bunch of homophobic, misogynist racists to shore up the Government vote over the total shambolic fiasco that has become the 42 day detention without charge issue.

The DUP dutifully filed into the Government lobby, so delivering a pyhric victory that keeps Brown if Office, but not in Power.

But just as I thought things couldn’t get any worse, David Davis delivered the first bit of good news we’ve had in ages.

In a bonkers move he has quit his seat in our Constituency of Haltemprice and Howden in order to trigger a by election on the way that we have eroded civil liberties in this country.

Pots and black kettles spring to mind.

He claims to be in favour of the principles of Magna Carta but this didn't stop him voting for 28 days in 2006, plus he is favour of Capital Punishment, where if you are innocent you die, as a pose to being locked up. Strange.

I’m sure that those miners who were beaten and locked up during the Strike, when the Tory Government used the Police as an arm of the State would ringingly endorse Davis’ stance.

As would all of us who suffered harassment at the hand of the Security Services for the “crime” of being Irish.

I don’t remember Davis sticking up for his Irish constituents when the scandal of Operation Pre Empt was uncovered.

Where was Davis when Liberty and all the other pressure groups, plus the Labour Party were opposing the annual renewal of the “any Irishmen will do” Prevention of Terrorism Act in the ‘nineties?

Last night Parliament expressed it’s will. I don’t agree with it, but it did. That’s democracy, so all Davis is doing is taking his bat and ball home because he lost the vote.

How “democratic” is that?

The people can decide in the General Election, thus we should not in any way shape or form get involved in Davis’ pathetic stunts, and not run a candidate.

Whilst I profoundly disagree with the Government’s policy on Civil Liberties, elections are about the whole, and at the moment folks are rightly concerned about the soaring cost of living and economic uncertainty.

So a stupid circus about issues which, though important don’t really affect everyday life around here just proves that, as ever the Tories just don’t get it when it comes to what ordinary people think about or need on a day to day level. So out of touch it's almost unbelievable.

Labour Party Woes: The Game Is Up And We Know It.

Fri, 30 May 2008 09:31:46 GMT

My elation surrounding City’s amazing elevation to the Premiership, my fortieth birthday and a forthcoming appearance on BBC Radio Humberside’s Late Show (next Wednesday 4^th June at 10.35 pm http://www.bbc.co.uk/humber/

Click on listen live if you have an especially empty life and have nothing better to do next week) was brought down to earth with a clatter by yet another horribly depressing CLP GC Meeting.

We are at our absolute wits end in the Labour Party, and there is no getting away from the fact that we will lose the next Election and it’s a case of damage limitation.

Canvassing has been a monumentally soul destroying past time everywhere.

Brown is hated. Major was considered useless but a decent bloke promoted beyond his capabilities.

Not Gordon. The public loathe him and consider him to be out of touch and not to give a damn for the needs and fears of a worried nation.

They are right and we are wrong, and have been wrong ever since the dissembling smoke and mirrors Budget of 2007, which laid the foundations for our current malaise.

The Labour Party and Gordon Brown dumped on the poorest and most vulnerable form a great height, and no amount of back tracking or phoney compensation packages (what about single people under 25?) can cover up this disaster which results from arrogance, inertia and the sidelining of the best people from the Front Bench.

The only (slim) hope for me is for Gordon to stand aside for either Alan Johnson, assuming he wants the top job, Jack Straw or perhaps James Purnell with one of these other two as a fully tooled up Deputy Prime Minister, ready to take the fight back to the Tories with a team of Big Beasts comprising of Blunkett, Charles Clarke, and Alan Milburn with Senior roles for Frank Field (trusted by the general public as straight down the line) and, through gritted teeth, Jon Cruddas because, like it or not (and I don’t) he is well respected by the grass roots rank and file and would give the illusion that the Leadership do actually give a monkeys what we think.

Talking of which…. We ploughed through the Partnership In Power document with commendable application last night, and it’s a bloody good job that we have colleagues dedicated enough to unravel it for simpletons like yours truly, but there was the overwhelming feeling abroad that we were wasting our time, the Government doesn’t give a stuff and we will be out on our ear for a very long time come the Election.

It will make April 1992 look like a positive experience at this rate, and those of us of a certain age remember exactly what THAT felt like….

10 Pence Tax Band Abolition. The Reality Bites.

Mon, 12 May 2008 12:15:22 GMT

This is a true story. You can choose whether to believe me or not. You can choose to hear the grinding of axes. I don’t care.

The reason I am relating it is because a senior member of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee emailed me to inform me that the Prime Minister, in a (now seemingly routine fit) of rage banged the table and demanded; “You show me the pay slips! I WANT PAY SLIPS!!” when she tackled him about the losers in the 10p tax band fiasco.

Gordon, it seems and despite everything that has happened, is still in denial regarding the damage he has done to the most vulnerable in Society, the people we are meant to defend. What the Labour Party is “for”.

Brenda is an Office Manager at garden equipment wholesalers near Hull and she is a life long Labour voter but describes herself as fairly non-political. Interested in current affairs but not at all nerd like (what are you trying to say here Brenda?).

She manages twelve lads. “My lads” she calls them, as they are largely there because no one else will have them, or can cope with their literacy, numeric and in some cases related social problems such as dealing with work and each other.

“Rough diamonds” off the North Hull estates who wouldn’t understand why this month they are getting less money to take home.

Brenda gets them together to explain why, that it not because they aren’t working hard or that she or the “Big Boss” is cross with them. It’s down to the Government.

There is a bit of swearing and cursing, and Brenda thinks they get the reasons why until she spies Jimmy holding back at the end of the short meeting.

“What’s me Mam gonna say?” says this 19 year old “gentle giant” of a man, and the lip starts to quiver.

“You told me off the other day for smoking, and I when I told me Mam she said I had to do as you say….”

The penny drops with a shattering clatter. This boy is worried his Mam will think he has been badly behaved at work and has lost the money for that reason.

Brenda rings Jimmy’s Mother to reassure her that she, and everybody is pleased with Jimmy.

Get it now do you Gordon? How many Jimmy’s and Joanne’s are out there? How many have a Brenda to look out for them?

That’s the reality of your robbing of vulnerable frightened and bewildered young men like Jimmy, in order to cut tax for the Middle Classes. Well done.

Jacqui Smith Declares War on Kids

Sat, 10 May 2008 15:46:38 GMT

About fifteen years ago we went through an extremely silly phase in the media where seemingly every story had to involve a dangerous dog, preferably savaging someone.

Britain was in grave peril. Never mind the IRA or Saddam, the real enemy set to take over the nation had to be house trained, taken for a walk to release excess energy and not eat the furniture, then be persuaded not to lick it’s balls in public.

But enough about John Prescott.

The Justice System as it stands, has along with everyone else, decided to declare war on kids as exemplified by the Home Secretary’s incendiary speech last week as reported in the Guardian thus;

“Police should be harassing badly behaved youths by openly filming them and hounding them at home to make their lives as uncomfortable as possible,”

All fine and dandy. This stupid and crass intervention will go down a treat amongst the faux Middle Class wanabee Mail and Express readership, but all it really serves to do is further alienate and demonise a section of Society that doesn’t have the access or wherewithal to articulate a response in the media.

True story.

Alex (not his real name) is eighteen and drives a red Astra. He arrives off the A63 in Brough and is pulled over by two cop cars whose Officers inform Alex that he has been caught on CCTV doing a runner form a petrol station and driving erratically. Don’t bother arguing son, we’ve got the evidence. Just cough or we will impound your car right here and now. Oh, and by the way we bet this car is wrongly registered in your Mum’s name to scam the insurance, right?

It all comes out alright in the end as, of course the Old Bill can’t provide the tape.

If that happened to me now as a forty year old fairly confident guy, I’d have been bricking it, so how is a young fella meant to feel?

In addition it’s the sheer bloody mindedness of the Cops involved. Bullying a guy like that. A total disgrace and if an episode of Traffic Cops on BBC1 is typical (impounding a van for spurious reasons and laughing in the guy’s face) then the Police don’t need egging on by the likes of Jacqui Smith thank you very much.

I always thought Smith was a progressive type, and was delighted when Gordon gave her such a senior post, so my dismay was all the more pronounced when I read what she had said.

Just what happens to reasonable people when they get a whiff of power? The lamentable Harriet Harman is another case in point, showing total contempt for those affected by the dreaded 10p tax fiasco when on Question Time recently.

Back to our maligned Yoof.. As if it’s not enough that young ‘uns are forced to attend school full time at the age of four in order to get ready to secure their school’s best possible place in the league tables for public exams aged seven, then there is pressure from advertisers pushing junk food on the one hand, and then the State as Nanny deploring your eating habits and suggesting you must be the victim of abuse if your Mum doesn’t give you broccoli and salad for every meal.

Then for girls, the expectation that you must be obsessed with lads, make up and having an eating disorder all by the age of ten. Otherwise you must be a freak.

In 1985 less than 100,000 under 18’s came into contact with the Criminal Justice system, last year the figure was over 210,000. This despite falling crime rates year on year since 1995.

According the Observer overall Juvenile crime is down 22% over the last ten years, but the number of under 18’s receiving custodial sentences is up a whopping 90% over the same period.

Previous policy saw the vast majority of these youngsters receive a caution, in effect “You’ve made a mistake. Learn form it”.

Not now. Over 50% of youths coming into the system are prosecuted and receive a criminal record.

This means, and this is official, that the Justice System mow deals more, not less punitively with kids than with adults meaning that kids are expected to be better behaved than adults. Why?

Because, as with race issues, Daily Mail Land doesn’t want to understand kids with problems and as a result is frightened of them.

Kids reflect the society and environment that they are brought up in, so while The Daily Wail exaggerates the idea of out of control kids, the Government has to be seen to deal with it and forces the Police into action, often when it’s not needed, to assuage the demands of the Right Wing press.

And lets face it, kids are a soft target as their often petty misdemeanours are committed in public places and easy to process.

The perception is that young people are ever more out of control, but this, as is always the case with crime, is at odds with the reality.

I was a Senior Teacher at a school near Hull and stopping and searching of kids has become all too routine in our area, and my pupils were forever complaining about being stopped for no reason.

I’m not stupid and naïve enough to realise that this was always the case, but the type of kids who it was happening to made you think the pendulum is swinging the wrong way, especially when you have the daft policy that kids can’t walk along certain streets in groups of more than three, thus five members of our Orchestra got stopped and searched walking home from practice, the Police not being able to exercise common sense.

I was by no means a bad kid, but I was thinking about some of the stuff we did and comparing it to a report in the New Statesman which outlined some of the “crimes” for which youngsters had been prosecuted and by those standards we would have been hard core recidivist hooligans.

It was just silly teenage boy behaviour and nothing more.

+ Getting ammo from a blank firing pistol and detonating it on walls with a hammer to scare the bejaysus out of random North Hull residents. Until a certain person hit the bullet at the wrong angle thus ending up with a shrapnel wound that my Mum had to sort out at the Medical Centre where she was a nurse.

+ Making and detonating crude bombs on the Uni fields made from petrol and the contents of a Chemistry Set that we “acquired”. One such test resulted in quite a large blaze needing the attendance of a fire engine.

+ Hanging around Marist Social Club and tormenting elderly bingo players by bombing past on our bikes and banging on the windows, shouting obscenities.

+ Smoking.

+ Encouraging a less assertive boy to rob stuff from the corner shop for us.

+ Twagging and getting pissed on cider. One of us (not me) had a pang of drunken guilt, returned to lessons and puked before passing out in biology.

+ Tormenting the Security Staff at the Uni.

I’m not proud of some of the idiotic things we did and would have plenty to say if my son pulled such stunts, but we never got caught until an unfortunate incident at school which resulted in near exclusion. I paid the price, took the punishment from my parents and the school and moved on. Now we would have been prosecuted, no doubt about it.

All of us have grown up and never been in trouble with the Police or committed a criminal act.

Yes, there are kids out there who need to be dealt with, but a differentiation needs to be made about people trying the boundaries of acceptable behaviour, and out and out criminality, otherwise we are demonising a whole generation and turning them away from the mainstream.

A Bad Night For Labour At the Polls: Down But By No Means Out

Fri, 02 May 2008 11:23:30 GMT

24% is a worse performance than even John Major managed in 1995, the year that the zeitgeist moved in our favour and it became a done deal that the Tory years would come to an end.

That year Major polled 26% and everyone correctly predicted that he was a dead man walking for the remainder of that Parliament.

I am by no means in denial about just how bad things are for us, but there are crucial things in our favour which give the Labour Party hope that the disaster for the Nation of a Tory Government need not be a depressing inevitability.

Firstly there is no threat to Brown’s leadership. Major was in a constant fire fighting mode and even after he defeated Redwood in the 95 Leadership Election, he was struggling to assert his authority even to the extent that he had to appeal to his party not to “tie my hands” going in to the 1997 General Election.

We can’t change now, and no Labour Leader has ever been assassinated in the way Thatcher and IDS were. So the Tories have taught us at least one thing; once the Party gets the blood lust for Leadership victims it’s almost impossible to sate and feeling of permanent revolution is ever present.

Secondly Brown has a firm majority in Parliament, something Major never really had in his second Parliament, being forced into backstairs deals with the Irish parties and his own back benchers over the most Mickey mouse legislation meaning that he could never be bold.

Gordon must take the initiative and address the concerns of the voters on the cost of living, affordable housing and the economic slowdown reasserting to people that he is control and knows what he is doing. Additionally he should allow Cabinet Ministers to get on with their jobs and refer the media to them when commenting in detail on issues such as transport and planning.

And if he had any inkling of how the electorate are feeling, he should get Alan Johnson in front of the cameras as much as possible.

Finally, and most crucially this result puts the Tories firmly in the spotlight and means their paper thin so-called “policies” will be unpackaged by the media.

In 1995 the vote was actively Pro Labour and the voters were turning to us a real alternative, whereas in 2008 people are rightly angry with the Labour Party and are voting Tory to punish us rather than as a positive endorsement of Cameron.

Up to now just Not Being Gordon and being all shiny and new has been enough for Cameron but if he stands any chance of winning in the long term he is going to have to show his hand and that’s out opportunity to show how we are the Party for the many, and they are the Party of the privileged few.

10p Tax Abolition. The Mood in the Labour Party is Grim...

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:32:54 GMT

Twenty-four years and four different CLPs. I have never known such anger and resentment towards the leadership of the Labour Party as I observed at our CLP meeting on Wednesday evening.

Members were incandescent with rage about the sheer cruelty meted out by Gordon Brown to the weakest and most vulnerable sections of our Society affected the 10p Tax Band abolition.

Like most Party meetings, much of our time is usually taken up with logistical matters, finance and the such like, but Wednesday saw the rawest political discussion I can remember since the Miners Strike. Not even Iraq caused this much anger, as there were some positive reasons for the invasion, anti Fascism being the main one.

But not now, not with this basic issue which defines who we are, common values and decency, but above all what the Labour party is for.

Speaker after speaker denounced Gordon and the mood turned from anger to a bleak resignation that this was (and I loathe this term) “a defining moment” in Brown’s Premiership.

Some theories were muted.

+ The Treasury officials mis briefed the Ministerial team as to the effects of the measure. This would confirm my suspicions that Gordon isn’t that bothered about the minutiae of Government and is in fact, a bit lazy.

+ Ministers realised what these proposals would do but were too scared to challenge Gordon for fear of being shouted down.

+ Brown was fully aware of what this stuff meant but thought that it is more important to help the Middle Class voters as the poor will never vote Tory. And anyway it’s their own fault for not being “hard working families”.

All the scenarios are bad, some worse than others.

Backbenchers have been craven in their approach to the issue as we all knew about this a year ago, and yet most voted it through without a second thought. It was only when they felt their seats were in danger due to the public outcry that they questioned what was happening.

But when the so-called rebels woke up to the fact that if they did take a principled stand and there was a vote to amend things, which could result in a change at the top, or in extremis an Election, they all fell into line.

MP’s pensions, perks and what have you come way above the needs of the poor and needy so it seems.

The compensation package is an absolute joke. A complete disgrace and Frank Field should hang his head in shame for agreeing to it.

Here are some excerpts form today’s Gruniard;

“A report by the Social Market Foundation found that it would cost £4.5bn to "help all the groups in the chancellor's letter". This figure was estimated by Ian Mulheirn, the SMF's chief economist, who worked at the Treasury until recently.”

“A calculation by the Institute for Fiscal Studies said that only 2 million out of the 5.3 million families affected by the abolition of the 10p rate would be compensated by the chancellor's new package”

The package includes changes to the fuel package for over 65’s, and tinkering with the working tax credit system, neither which help us a single jot. And we won’t know the detail until the autumn by which time the Government will have got into another mess to eclipse this one.

The rebels bottled it, GB style when they realised voting down the abolition could affect them directly and this is the best example I can think of about turkeys not voting for Christmas.

We appointed a spokesperson and as a CLP we are putting in motion all means that we can to let the Prime Minister know just what this all means.

We await the Local Election results with a feeling of sick inevitability regarding the kicking the Labour party will deservedly take. Canvassing tomorrow in Hull should be a bundle of laughs.

What a bloody depressing and sorry mess this really is…

The Ten Pence Tax Band Abolition: The Labour Party's Poll Tax?

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:21:00 GMT

Gordon Brown at last moved to recognise the furore in the Party and more importantly in the Country over the shocking decision to abolish the 10p rate of tax, which Brown himself introduced to help the poorest in Society, by saying that “I get it” about why people feel so angry and betrayed.

The Poll Tax was Thatcher’s unashamed gambit to redistribute wealth from the poor to the better off which is classic Tory philosophy and an exposition of exactly what they stand for.

Unfortunately for her she failed to recognise that the British people as a whole didn’t share her twisted selfish view that, “there is no such thing as Society”, and she was booted out as soon as the Cabinet and MPs realised that this would lose them the next Election.

It proved that the Tories have a very low view of the average person in the Street and that they imagine that voters sole concern is how much dosh they can receive from whoever is in power. That’s their default setting. People are out for what they can get and screw everyone else.

The Poll Tax proved that if the British people perceive a blatant injustice, then they simply won’t put up with it. Period.

And this seems to be the zeitgeist regarding the abolition of the ten pence band.

It is what it is; taking money off the poor to pay for a tax cut to benefit the Middle Class.

There is no other way of describing the measure which sees the basic rate cut to 20p, raised thresholds for the 40p band and all paid for by taking a total of £700 million out of the pockets of the poorest.

What happened at the time Gordon and his team were drawing up the 2007 Budget?

Was it a case of bad advice from the Civil Service regarding how many people would be affected and by how much?

Was it a case of delaying it for a year in order that any gale of protest would blow itself out?

Or was it a case of, “Well these people will never vote Tory, if they vote at all, so bugger ‘em?”

Dawn Primarilo is saying it’s too late to change course. What she means is that we can act as guarantors for Northern Wreck and the other irresponsible lenders that Gordon encouraged to act in such a crazy way, but we can’t find the money to right this wrong.

The sad truth is that the country is skint, largely due to poor stewardship form Brown whilst he was at the Treasury.

He had the enormous good luck to inherit a stable and growing economy from Ken Clarke, further record growth and receipts from tax and whilst the Tories did this at the expense of the poor and had no interest in Social Justice, Brown went spending mad and we all cheered him to the rafters.

Clarke himself pointed out that such a splurge was unsustainable, and we booed him out of court, but it looks like he was right all along, and in his leadership bid he suggested that Public Spending be reigned in to 40% of GDP in order to prevent a massive deficit and to make sure we were in good shape when the next icy blast came along.

I don’t really understand economics, but it seems to me that Gordon winged it, and we went along with it because of the Social Justice benefits without realising what the consequences really were.

Brown’s luck ran out, and now he is making the poor carry the can.

I get the impression that he never takes advice and panics when it goes wrong by doing a runner from the Public eye, fine when you are Chancellor but not now.

Gordon is threatening the backbenchers by making it a confidence issue, a tactic that makes John Major seem positively statesman like. They will fall into place because turkeys don’t vote for Christmas and they know that not even the Tories could mess this up if there were to be an Election.

But this is a defining moment. We have lost our reputation for economic competency, and even worse we have shat on our own voters from a great height and sold the principles of the Party down the river.

The 10p Tax Band Comes back to Bite Gordon Brown

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:55:25 GMT

This is what I wrote a year ago in the wake of Gordon Brown's last Budget as Chancellor.
"I've always been a strong supporter of this Government (Iraq and Trident apart) but I'm so angry about what Gordon has done and I simply can't understand why a Labour Chancellor who has always seemed so sound on poverty issues has altered the tax system to take money directly from the pockets of the low paid and give it to people who are already much better off.

I would have skipped to work with a spring in my step two years ago on hearing the budget.
£36,500 PA teacher's income and a child. Whoopee.

Out of the 40% zone, increased child tax credit/benefit, reduced Income Tax on the bulk of my earnings. Magnifique.

I would have wondered about the 10p thing but not much as I imagined we, a Labour Government would look after the poorest and most vulnerable in Society. That‘s what we are “for“ after all....
Not now chronic long term illness means an income which, according to the Government’s own definitions places us below the Poverty Line, made up of pension, incapacity benefit, disability "living" allowance, carers allowance (which is deducted from IB) means this budget is a kick in the teeth.
This is proof that this Labour Government no longer give a damn about those at the bottom who can't help themselves through no fault of their own.
Thank you so much to the Party I have given 24 years to and have supported and justified through it all.
I fear that in five years time we will look back at this Budget as the one which destroyed the Labour Government because it is such a vast leap away from our core values, is dishonest, and plays Party one upmanship politics with people’s lives.
But above all this measure is just plain cruel."
Brown's Government is in crisis because he has no idea what he stands for, no radical plans for the future, has no respect for others and is riven with inertia having totally lost contact with the needs of the voters.
What now? I haven't a clue. But what I do know that I will still be attending Party meetings and being an activist because the alternative of a Tory Government is just plain unthinkable.
But how are we going to move forward if this is the sole motivation for being involved with the Labour Party?