labour leadership via blogging

some interesting comments i thought (in reverse order):

my oxbridge comment was because Julian said "She will have a natural constituency alien to the four white middle-aged Oxbridge males". i was only pointing out that all 5 candidates are oxbridge, not that there is anything wrong with that.

i certainly am politically incorrect, i almost wear it as a badge of honour. i also believe in positive discrimination because if i as a white middle-class educated young man get to the same level as someone from a harder background they have achieved more than me.

Yvette Cooper was my first choice as leader, in part because she is a woman. only in part. after that, Alan Johnson because he's worked his way up and has good experience. After that I at the very least wanted Harman to run because i really believe in her equality agenda.
I personally want Ed Balls to win because i like his style i.e. he's a nasty hard noised bastard. but i don't think that is what the public want in a political leader, so i'm back Ed Miliband as i'm very impressed by the people who are backing him


in reply to:
Oh bearded one!
Sometimes reading your contributions one feels that whatever happens you cannot be pleased, however perhaps you feel the same about me! Poor Diane – how awful to be thought ‘a bad advert for positive discrimination’! That little statement by you ticks about every politically incorrect box going. You will have seen that I am against positive discrimination of any sort believing in the ‘best person for the job’ principle and imo Diane Abbott is just that. She would not have been my first choice for the Labour leadership contest, that would have gone to John McDonnell [I supported him against Gordon Brown last time around and have sadly just put away again my John4Leader t-shirt!] but once John stepped down yesterday Diane Abbott became my natural next choice. Not for any of the ‘positive discrimination’ reasons but because I mostly like her political views [as Julian says she and I were both anti the Iraq war - I was one of those who took part in all the marches] The issue of her sending her son to public school? I can understand her comment that she was only being questioned because she is a woman as it is true that it is largely the case that women MPs of whatever political shade are questioned a lot more about childcare and things like their schooling etc than male MPs. The question of whether or not the child should be at a private school is a different issue upon which I don’t feel I should comment.
Lastly why the comment about Diane Abbott being Oxbridge educated? Is it forbidden for left wing socialists to graduate from Oxbridge? No-one told me I would have to give up my left-wing credentials when I graduated on that October day in Cambridge! In fact I think that the education I got confirmed those credentials and the work I have done since then has taken me further forward! Diane Abbott comes from an ordinary family where to go to university in the late 1960s/early 1970s was an achievement, let alone Oxbridge. Do you really want to be represented in this day and age by men and women who are disadvantaged educationally amongst their peers?


in reply to:
i think she’s a bad advert for positive discrimination i’m afraid.
in the first debate on monday, all the candidates made reasoned and sensible contributions when talking about the private provision of public services. her response was to rant that ‘privatisation is wrong’. when asked yesterday about her sending her son to a private school, she objected that she was only being targeted for being a woman.
And she’s also Oxbridge educated.

in reply to:
I am delighted that Diane Abbott has made onto the ballot for the Labour Party leadership. She will liven up what was threatening to be a one-dimensional contest.

This is not to say that the other four are not great talents – they are. But there was a common theme running through the other contenders.

Diane’s inclusion ticks a number of boxes: she is of the left, she is female, she is black, a backbencher, and she represents a southern constituency.

This is not a sop to tokenism; it is an enabler to widening the debate. Diane’s inclusion will mean that the left of the party will have a voice. This means that issues like Iraq will be debated with a voice who opposed the war from the start (and this is not a dig a late converts). It will widen the debate so that women’s and minorities’ issues will have a voice from within that camp.

Diane is not as polished performer as her male opponents, but I find her occasional skittishness endearing, and it makes her look more human too. She looks like the outsider at the moment; this is not necessarily a bad place to be.

What her inclusion will do is make the other four work that bit harder and no bad thing. She will have a natural constituency alien to the four white middle-aged Oxbridge males. To win this election they will have a foretaste of what will be required in 2015.

I really haven’t made up my mind who to vote for, although as the election is being conducted using a version of AV I can claim that I will vote for all of them. I know that what is needed is a winner, someone capable of ridding us of the Con-Dem coalition.

cricket and blog

One of the reasons I'd like to get more people to read my blog is that i'd like a good discussion.
On cricket, i think the amount of cricket played has contributed to the lack of real quality bowlers around at the minute.

On music, i'm listening to Opeth at the moment. They're one of those bands i've always felt that i should get into, but i don't like the death growly bits.

On tv, i'm making an effort to get into Battlestar Gallactica through my Love Film account.

On politics, I think we (Labour) are stuffed and that's a bad thing for the country. I'm getting a bit tired of the petty name-calling that goes on around politics but i'm getting less angry and more accepting of the crappier sides of politics because they're just part of how people are. 'Of the people' remember.
I'm not sure how much competence really comes into it because of the civil service, though there are examples of where this counts e.g. financial crisis.
Would a more consensual approach work better? Or would be become mired in time wasting and grid lock like America?
I know i still stand for Labour and my own brand of (bearded) socialism, so i haven't lost heart just yet

Tories attack FT

I've mentioned many times that the FT has been very critical of the Tories in the past. It seems i'm not the only one who noticed.

Dan Hannan, Iain Dale, Guido Fawkes, Iain Martin (paid by Murdoch, who'da thunk it?) and Tim Montgomery have all come out against the FT for daring to support Labour.
Guido (mr impartial, the one who doesn't support any political group, that's the one) says:
"As the FT’s circulation shrinks further perhaps it will decide not to support the Labour Party for a fifth general election in a row. Yes, the Pink ‘Un even backed Neil Kinnock to the huge annoyance of the readership."
And he's on about "Two refugees from the Labourgraph". The Labourgraph eh?

Now i've noticed the FT aren't keen on the Tories. Maybe there's a conspiracy going on. Maybe they just don't rate the Tories very highly?
Given what I think of the media (corrupt, back-stratchers, cronies) the last can't be right.
But what if it was....

Caption Competition

Technically, Guido abuse. But he deserves it. Oh yes, he deserves it. Nasty man.

I'm not really into this so much, but this is a beauty:




Nasty, brutish, and fat

favourites:
"“This Alien’s gonna burst out of my stomach – OK my two stomachs – any minute now. Please help me.”"
"I haz wet my pants. Stop lookingz."
"Government denies that Miliband “not ageing well”"
"The last photograph taken by cameraman James Smith before he was killed by a high-velocity shirt button."
"“Paul ‘Guido’ Staines is the No. 1 Gok Wan impersonator” according to right-wing bloggers."
“I’m so excited to be on telly that I just let a little bit of wee out. I don’t think anyone can tell as long as I keep my hands where they are.”
"ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!" - may explain his influence.

Bloggers and the truth

"“Pills” blogger admits he doesn’t know the facts"

Very interesting this:
Channel 4 have interviewed the man who wrote the original blog starting the allegations about Brown’s health. “I still have no more proof than anyone else,” the blogger tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy.

In a new media world where rumours and news spread like wildfire through the internet it can pay to be cautious."

Bankers' pay

Right-ists are out in force (links to follow) to defend the rights of the well-paid to keep all their money without nasty state interference.
What I haven't yet seen is the lefties' case.
So i'll come up with one when I have time.
Not that anyone will read it, but that's another issue.
Help appreciated on that one.
ta.

Oh, and Southend won tonight. Woot

free-thinking politicans

Very interesting piece including some excellent quotes such as

"the leaden repetition of the official line is perhaps even more important than the expenses scandal in explaining the low standing of MPs"

"What Westminster calls a gaffe, most voters call frankness. When a free spirit asks what the consensus deems wild questions, millions of people may listen and test their thinking. Parliament needs its republicans, its hardcore anti-EU campaigners, its squeeze-the-rich enthusiasts. If everyone is a member of the soggy centrist consensus, serious thinking becomes flabby and the point of parliamentary politics declines."

"Once, Labour seemed in danger of falling apart. Then it learned discipline. But it learned silence and discretion too. Just now, it sounds like the silence of the graveyard"



too right. There is a very delicate balance to be struck between discipline and blandness. Too often parties' centres are obsessed with discipline, but the lack of real debate goes deeper than that, with a lot of people in the party thinking that Labour is now too much run from the top of the centre. This may be partly the result of our two last leaders, but i think it's deeper. Perhaps it's the result of desperation and panic, i haven't been in the party long enough to know. I believe Labour now is the good old Labour party that everyone has known and (in my case now) love(d).

will we see things like blogging open up the political debate so that random politicians/MPs can speak freely? I hope so.
Does this mean they'll have anything to say? I hope that greater freedom allows more to find their voices. Julian Ware-Lane is a top example. I hope he get's elected and keeps his blog going.
I declare an interest here because he's been very kind about my blog.
I don't follow Tom Watson enough to speak on his, but i do think he's a top bloke (not only coz he bought me beer)

Bloggers

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting Tom Watson MP over a few beers. Top bloke.

Also met Guido. Not top bloke

Words from the Blogosphere

The blogosphere is an interesting place. Due to my work I have to keep my blog anonymous, which is a shame. And these are cautionary words for anyone writing overt or covert blogs.

The George Galloway Vs Chatham House piece shows some potentially very interesting and important statistics. According to Georgous George, the poll was free and fair and all should abide by it's ruling. According to Chatham House, in some places turnout was over 100% (no Gordon Brown jokes please). In other places, the numbers are dubious at best, like all SWP supporters suddenly voting Tory in huge droves.

Also, I've now heard Mark Steele do the same Galloway joke four times. FOUR TIMES! Get a new joke, you SWP, erm, joke?

Comments on expenses

Paul Halsall, you beauty!

Finally someone talking some sense about the expenses thing:
"I agree some MPs - from all parties - seem to have acted like pigs at the trough. But the total amount concerned is just under £16 million per year for ALL the MPs together. This is a really small amount in context. About the cost of a a military helicopter perhaps?

Meanwhile the Daily Telegraph is owned by those weird brothers who live in a fake castle off the coast of Sark and have every interest in seeing our elected representatives reduced in power.

The alternative to the House of Commons and Parliament is not freedom, but exclusive control by the very rich and very powerful - think of somewhere like Dubai, where thousands of workers live in block-houses while the rich live in palaces. "