The Week in Politics
• David Cameron’s mask finally slipped this week with a deluge of stories – no doubt to the delight of Thatcher and the blue rinse – indicating the nasty party were well and truly back: un-green, mean and ready for inaction. The week began with a vitriolic attack on the prime minister – no actual policies, you understand, just sneers and insults. He even had to bus in a crowd of young Conservatives to make him look good. Can’t let those common people in, far too dangerous, unlikely to clap on cue.
And the subjust of his speech? Reform, new politics, change etc. etc… The reality? As Left Foot Forward revealed on Monday, last year his MPs voted against proposals to reform parliamentary privilege, and on Wednesday, Cameron’s MEPs voted against proposals to crack down on tax dodgers and tax havens. Now why, you might ask, would he do a thing like that? I wonder…
He also gave a particularly illiberal interview to the Express. The face may have been airbrushed changed but it’s the same old Tories. All in all, you might even describe Cameron as a “roadblock to political reform”.
• The “Robin Hood” tax campaign went live on Wednesday. A financial transactions tax, of the order of 0.05 per cent – 50p for every £1,000 spent – it could be implemented nationally, at European level or, ideally, globally. No other single measure would raise so much money or do so little harm.
Many of David Cameron’s Conservatives, however, described it as “hopelessly naive” and a “fairytale”, leading Tory bloggers seemingly enraged at the prospect of providing, in the time it takes to read this word, 9,000 children in Africa with a pencil and an exercise book. David Taylor’s excellent article earlier today exposes them and rebuts their myths.
• The week’s other main story was the vote in the Commons for a referendum on electoral reform, opposed, you guessed it, by the Conservatives, Diane Abbott and the DUP.
The defeat prompted a quite extraordinary video performance from Eric Pickles, who claimed that, in England, “under AV, despite the Conservatives polling more votes, Labour would have more MPs in Parliament” – failing to mention that, under first-past-the-post, despite the Conservatives polling more votes, Labour got 286 MPs in England while the Conservatives got 194.
The referendum bill, however, might be held up and voted down by the Lords. That’s David Cameron’s unelected, hereditary peers in the Lords. How might one best describe such a person, what was that phrase of his? Oh yes, a “roadblock to political reform”.
Progressive of the week
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who announced plans to create 57,000 jobs by investing £400 million upgrading disused shipyards to enable the production of off-shore wind turbines. The proposals, said Clegg, would enable firms to manufacture off-shore wind turbines in the UK, instead of seeing them built abroad due to out-of-date facilities. In an exclusive interview, he told Left Foot Forward:
“We need to remove the blockages – lack of space, access to facilities and transport to off-shore sites. Refurbishing seven of the ports will be a shot in the arm to increasing industry and manufacturing that will benefits regions like the North East.”
Regressive of the week
Leader of the hardline Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) party, Jim Allister, who sought to turn back the clock 40 years on last night’s Question Time, describing the policing and justice agreement as “appaling” and “one of the worst deals”.
Much like Nick Griffin last October, he attracted next to no support among the audience, and was ripped to shreds by his fellow panelists, particularly the DUP’s Sammy Wilson and Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly, who told Allister:
“I have a huge mandate i belong to a party which has a huge mandate, you do not… Now here’s the thing: we all have to live here.
“I have a mandate, it’s a very strong mandate. People pick me. I don’t try and pick the people who represent Unionism, so don’t try and pick the people who represent Republicans and nationalists. I am there as of right as is every other elected representative…
“All that you are frankly is a political dinosaur.”
Evidence of the week
The “Fair Society, Healthy Lives” report, out yesterday, which said the Government’s plan to raise the retirement age “could be stopped dead in its tracks” as three-quarters of people will be “too ill to work” into their late sixties, with “everyone except those at the top” affected.
The report, by University College London’s Sir Michael Marmot, also said that, despite life expectancy for the worst-off improving by 2.9 years in the last decade, “up to 2.5 million years of life are being lost each year in England as a result of poor people dying prematurely”.
Conor Pope’s Blog The Week
This week Conor explains the Joanne Cash in/out/in/out shake-it-all-about affair and the intricacies of electoral reform, before going #Labourdoorstep-ping:
What’s trending on Twitter
According to our friends at Tweetminster, this week’s top political stories and trends are:
1) The Robin Hood tax – more people added the RHT twibbon (over 800) than party twibbons;
2) George Osbone’s Facebook Q&A;
3) The racist Daily Mail cartoon – Liberal Conspiracy’s post was the most shared link around this story;
4) Joanne Cash resigning and then being reinstated;
5) The debate around the “death tax“; and
6) Tory MP Andrew MacKay’s signing for Burson-Marsteller’s lobbying arm.
Tweetminster today published a report asking “Which is the most talked about party on Twitter?” – looking at the past nine working days, during which time there have been slightly more tweets about the Conservatives than Labour, with the overall volume falling sharply upon recess.
There was a tidal wave of condemnation for the Daily Mail’s racist cartoon yesterday. Here’s a selection of the best:
@jasoncharlton: #MailFail Why is anyone surprised at this neo nazi arsewipe publishing this cartoon.It s always been a sewer of homophobic, racist dross.
@eloquar: @johnuren1980 I really ought to stop being surprised at just how low the Daily Mail can sink #MailFail
@chodhound: The Daily Mail really is the least popular paper on the internet and because of this cartoon: http://bit.ly/bHrDEc #MailFail
@stop_jump: Today, The Daily Mail once more demonstrated why I read The Guadian #MailFail
@BevaniteEllie: Have the Mail pulled their disgusting cartoon yet? Comparing immigrants to animals-classy journalism. Ugh. #MailFail
@campbellclaret: RT @tim_nicholls: RT @BevaniteEllie: right everyone, let’s show the Mail the power of Twitter, and decency. Let’s get #MailFail trending
@tomjamesscott: Daily Mail.Obnoxious rag-publishes homophobic,racist,pro-death penalty articles.Smears, half-truths & lies.Gutter press.I hate it. #MailFail
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23 Responses to “Look Left – The Week in Fast Forward”
Liz McShane
Apologies for typos but am using my iphone. I didn’t mean to put a ? After process in my last para.
Rory
Yes, sorry, I forgot the PUP have moved on and are a ‘progressive’ party. I was also very heartened by the news this weekend that the BNP now are allowing non-whites to be members. Maybe he’s not so bad after all, that Nick Griffin.
Fony Blair
“The “Robin Hood” tax campaign went live on Wednesday. A financial transactions tax, of the order of 0.05 per cent – 50p for every £1,000 spent – it could be implemented nationally, at European level or, ideally, globally. No other single measure would raise so much money or do so little harm.”
Hard to know where to start with this. If it’s not implemented globally where do you think transactions will occur? Errrr they will be done in location where the tax is not incurred especially as they are just computer transactions. So the lefties would love the idea of having a tax and feel really smug about getting one over on the banks…..and see corporation tax plummet.
It really is child liek student politics.
Go back to your constituencies and prepare for opposition…
Liz McShane
Rory – I detest the BNP and I am shocked that you have a simplistic view of he situation/recent political developments pre & post GFA ie a post-sectarian NI.
I think you are confusing the PUP with the UDA who well known to have and still do have some links to far right racist groups eg BNP & Combat 18. I can tell you that the vast majority of people in NI have moved on, accept but not do not condone certain people’s past activities – however distasteful these may be to each side. People do not want to go back to the ‘bad old days’ that someone like Jim Allister & his TUV party are advocating.
So I can only deduce that your comments are disingenuous.
Liz McShane
Rory
ps.. Just so you know where the PUP is positioned as a party in terms of Left/Right etc… I think it still is, or at least was the only party in he UK to still have a Clause 4 (aka what the Labour Party used to have) in their constitution and it was the first NI party to produce its election literature in Chinese, Urdu etc. so to compare them to The BNP is ridiculous as well as completely incorrect.
I suggest you should watch QT on iplayer (if you haven’t seen it already). It will give you a good measure of current views of the people – not one person in the audience (which was a broad mix of people and social class) did not speak out in Jim Allister’s defence. who just looks to the past as opposed to the vast majority of public opinion which is looking to build a better future for NI.