Can David Miliband succeed?
Just look where he is coming from as a loyal Blairite. New Labour junked everything that Labour hitherto stood for, social equality, civil liberties and international law, in order to profit from and ingratiate itself with big business and win ephemeral support from Middle England. Electoral success became the only raison d'etre for this compromised and unprincipled party.
Today the Labour Party has the backing only of its core voters who have nowhere else to turn. David Miliband has nothing in common with those people and their problems.
The great shame is that David didn't learn anything from his famous and much respected father. But there again if he had he wouldn't have risen to the top of New Labour.
18 May 2010
4 May 2010
British General Election 2010 (before the vote)
Writing in Guardian on 2 May 2010, the liberal commentator, Will Hutton, outlined the nightmare scenario of untrammelled Conservative Party power in Britain:
[Cameron will] refine the first-past-the-post voting system, reduce the number of constituencies by 10% but in so doing redraw their boundaries to be fairer to the Tories and disqualify Scottish and Welsh MPs from voting on English issues.
The state will become a Conservative fiefdom, with even local police forces directly run by Tory politicians in the name of "democratic accountability". The City of London will not be reformed. Wealth will become ever more concentrated in fewer hands. Scotland, Wales and many English regions will be devastated by swingeing public spending cuts – almost their sole economic prop for the last decade – and by ongoing de-industrialisation.
The management of an economy burdened by excessive private debt, fragile banks and a faltering economic recovery will be ideological. The prison population will grow even faster than under Labour as populist social repression intensifies.
[…] Britain will become a meaner, less generous and more unequal society despite David Cameron's declared intentions. This will be Murdoch's Britain, with the BBC to be cut back and Sky's influence extended.
I view Hutton’s scenario as realistic.
Resulting from the 6 May 2010 British General Election three outcomes are possible on the seemingly certain assumption that the Conservatives will win the most seats.
First, Cameron will achieve an overall majority, however small, and will start to implement the programme which Hutton describes above.
Second, Cameron falls short of his overall majority, but manages to form a minority administration (or less likely woos the Liberal Democrats into a coalition). In government he soft peddles and then dissolves parliament and calls a second election which would probably give him his overall majority – and the nightmare scenario starts.
Third, a non-Tory government, which by necessity would involve a coalition of Labour and the Liberal Democrats, can be formed; the key task of such a government would be to bring about proportional representation and fixed-term parliaments. This government would hardly do anything to challenge the vast levels of social inequality in Britain, but it would at least stop the Tories, as the single largest party in terms of the popular vote and seats in parliament, from being able to link up with capitalist power and complete Thatcher’s unfinished business.
My wish, of course, is for this third option; but I fear that Labour's hope of retaining its eternal role of one of the 'big two' at least for now in terms of seats if not in votes and Clegg's fear of splitting his own party by cuddling up to Labour would stymie such a government.
I am not optimistic.
[Cameron will] refine the first-past-the-post voting system, reduce the number of constituencies by 10% but in so doing redraw their boundaries to be fairer to the Tories and disqualify Scottish and Welsh MPs from voting on English issues.
The state will become a Conservative fiefdom, with even local police forces directly run by Tory politicians in the name of "democratic accountability". The City of London will not be reformed. Wealth will become ever more concentrated in fewer hands. Scotland, Wales and many English regions will be devastated by swingeing public spending cuts – almost their sole economic prop for the last decade – and by ongoing de-industrialisation.
The management of an economy burdened by excessive private debt, fragile banks and a faltering economic recovery will be ideological. The prison population will grow even faster than under Labour as populist social repression intensifies.
[…] Britain will become a meaner, less generous and more unequal society despite David Cameron's declared intentions. This will be Murdoch's Britain, with the BBC to be cut back and Sky's influence extended.
I view Hutton’s scenario as realistic.
Resulting from the 6 May 2010 British General Election three outcomes are possible on the seemingly certain assumption that the Conservatives will win the most seats.
First, Cameron will achieve an overall majority, however small, and will start to implement the programme which Hutton describes above.
Second, Cameron falls short of his overall majority, but manages to form a minority administration (or less likely woos the Liberal Democrats into a coalition). In government he soft peddles and then dissolves parliament and calls a second election which would probably give him his overall majority – and the nightmare scenario starts.
Third, a non-Tory government, which by necessity would involve a coalition of Labour and the Liberal Democrats, can be formed; the key task of such a government would be to bring about proportional representation and fixed-term parliaments. This government would hardly do anything to challenge the vast levels of social inequality in Britain, but it would at least stop the Tories, as the single largest party in terms of the popular vote and seats in parliament, from being able to link up with capitalist power and complete Thatcher’s unfinished business.
My wish, of course, is for this third option; but I fear that Labour's hope of retaining its eternal role of one of the 'big two' at least for now in terms of seats if not in votes and Clegg's fear of splitting his own party by cuddling up to Labour would stymie such a government.
I am not optimistic.
Hate Speech
I do not like hate speech which by definition insults individuals or groups of persons. Yet I do not think it should be punishable unless it actually puts a specific person in reasonable fear of suffering an attack to their person or property.
People have a right to security of their person and property, and to enjoy equal rights with everyone else. They do not, however, have a right not to be insulted; that is a matter of manners not law.
People have a right to security of their person and property, and to enjoy equal rights with everyone else. They do not, however, have a right not to be insulted; that is a matter of manners not law.
19 April 2010
Green Party turns left
That the Greens are linking environmentalism and progressive thinking on social issues is something to be welcomed. We need a party in Britain which stands to the left of the neo-liberal consensus.
I don't worry too much about Green conferences and manifestos including "elements of silliness" because it is exactly these excesses which will disappear in any any coalition administration containing Greens in the future.
I welcome the shift in Green thinking.
I don't worry too much about Green conferences and manifestos including "elements of silliness" because it is exactly these excesses which will disappear in any any coalition administration containing Greens in the future.
I welcome the shift in Green thinking.
18 April 2010
The Liberal Democrat Straitjacket
If the Tories and New Labour are today cheeks of the same arse, then the Lib Dems are the thing in the middle.
Clegg’s party is straitjacketed by its own support base. Across much of rural England and in the small towns of the south, the Lib Dems are a catch-all anti-Tory Party. In the cities they often function as substitute Tories against Labour. If Clegg were to make a clear policy announcement or signal a choice of coalition partner he would lose half his party.
The goal of progressive voters is to prevent a Tory overall majority. Therefore, in those seats currently not held by the Tories but winnable by them, people should vote for the candidate best placed to defeat the Tory. In all other seats they should vote for the most progressive serious candidate, usually Labour or Green.
Clegg’s party is straitjacketed by its own support base. Across much of rural England and in the small towns of the south, the Lib Dems are a catch-all anti-Tory Party. In the cities they often function as substitute Tories against Labour. If Clegg were to make a clear policy announcement or signal a choice of coalition partner he would lose half his party.
The goal of progressive voters is to prevent a Tory overall majority. Therefore, in those seats currently not held by the Tories but winnable by them, people should vote for the candidate best placed to defeat the Tory. In all other seats they should vote for the most progressive serious candidate, usually Labour or Green.
Slate Elections
Slate elections are anti-democratic nonsense. The leadership puts together a slate in which it has a majority and perhaps includes a couple of independent patsies. If that slate wins, the leadership retains total control of the organisation. If the it loses then a whole new leadership comes into office and the old leaders cry foul and split off to form a new group. A total waste of time.
9 April 2010
No to labour service for young people
In the early 2000s working class youth were supposed to be mopped up by flexible employment in the debt-driven service sector of the British economy. Today the economy has crashed and reactionaries are suggesting that young people be press ganged into unpaid labour.
So-called broken Britain has nothing to do with the young who are nothing but victims of circumstance. If anybody needed to be forced into unpaid labour to reimburse the community, it is the bankers and their ilk who caused this crisis, but this layer of profiteers and parasites are the backbone of the Tory Party.
Military conscription in the rest of Europe is a left-over of a Napoleonic order, and country by country is being abolished.
So-called broken Britain has nothing to do with the young who are nothing but victims of circumstance. If anybody needed to be forced into unpaid labour to reimburse the community, it is the bankers and their ilk who caused this crisis, but this layer of profiteers and parasites are the backbone of the Tory Party.
Military conscription in the rest of Europe is a left-over of a Napoleonic order, and country by country is being abolished.
22 March 2010
Multiculturalism
The trouble with the term multiculturalism is that it obscures rather than clarifies. Here are three very different meanings.
Multiculturalism, as a sociological description of society.
Multiculturalism, as something that is permitted; i.e. different cultural norms are permitted to co-exist within the framework of a universalistic liberal society.
Multiculturalism, as an objective of government policy; i.e. encouraging and/or compelling individuals to be governed by their ethnic group (e.g. religious schools).
The first of the above is a fact. The second is desirable. The third is a form of Apartheid.
Multiculturalism, as a sociological description of society.
Multiculturalism, as something that is permitted; i.e. different cultural norms are permitted to co-exist within the framework of a universalistic liberal society.
Multiculturalism, as an objective of government policy; i.e. encouraging and/or compelling individuals to be governed by their ethnic group (e.g. religious schools).
The first of the above is a fact. The second is desirable. The third is a form of Apartheid.
18 March 2010
Police infiltration of civic organisations
A large part of police undercover surveillance is utterly ludicrous.
I remember in the 1980s running an open seminar on the theme capitalism and crisis. A well dressed young man turned up, a complete blockhead, who showed an interest in obtaining copies of every handout I had. He seemed most keen to know when we were moving on from talk to action.
A few days later I received a fat envelope containing all my handouts neatly stapled together, with a note from the fellow saying he was no longer interested.
I remember in the 1980s running an open seminar on the theme capitalism and crisis. A well dressed young man turned up, a complete blockhead, who showed an interest in obtaining copies of every handout I had. He seemed most keen to know when we were moving on from talk to action.
A few days later I received a fat envelope containing all my handouts neatly stapled together, with a note from the fellow saying he was no longer interested.
9 March 2010
The Liberal Democrats are no answer
Yes, from a progressive perspective New Labour has been a disaster: Iraq, Britain at is most unequal since 1945 and the lights going out on personal and civil liberties. Yet I fail to see how the Liberal Democrats are a solution.
Clegg et al are locked into negativity. In much of Britain they are a surrogate anti-Tory party, while in some cities they are a catch-all anti-Labour Party. They can achieve nothing by themselves and any understanding with Cameron or Brown would split the party.
However hard it may be, if progressives want a party in Britain, they will have to build one themselves.
Clegg et al are locked into negativity. In much of Britain they are a surrogate anti-Tory party, while in some cities they are a catch-all anti-Labour Party. They can achieve nothing by themselves and any understanding with Cameron or Brown would split the party.
However hard it may be, if progressives want a party in Britain, they will have to build one themselves.
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