Just a brief note on Ed Miliband . . .

I will now acknowledge that I voted for Ed as my first choice as Labour leader although I felt and still do that all of the candidates were far more capable than either Cameron or Clegg.

Back in our last period of vicious Right wing government I was very much of the opinion that political change created cultural change and that most of the changes in our society that I perceive as being both necessary and desirable would, in the first instance at least, be initiated via Parliament.
 Experience has not supported this view point. Although this does sometimes happen, far more frequently it is cultural change that creates political change. For this reason much of my own advocacy for change is extra-parliamentary   in nature. Nonetheless Government remains centrally important  as does the idea of the enabling state (Neil Kinnock's term, compare and contrast with the vacuous platitude "Small State" which Orange Tories so frequently parrot as some kind of rationale for their actions.)

Nonetheless there is a minimal programme which I would expect any political party to adhere to in order to be considered worthy of my support. Simply this
: (1) To maintain and where possible improve pay and conditions for ordinary working people.
  (2) To support and where necessary defend the maximum possible levels of personal (including sexual) freedoms.
  (3) To provide a consistent, unequivocal and unambiguous opposition to Fascism in all forms.

I have complete trust in Ed Miliband on all counts. I also trust the Labour Party and , amongst major parties, the Labour Party alone on all counts .

Pointing The Finger At Clegg

This is a supplemental entry to the one I did on Friday (See Below) The invaluable Disability Now has done an excellent piece on the Liberal Democrats duplicitous position on Disability Living Allowance. Link
Think about that. Then think about how far Clegg has moved his party to the Right. Another Link
Now bear in mind that we have an ongoing smear campaign against Disabled claimants across the Right wing press that looks very much as though it is being orchestrated. Take into account that Clegg is part of a government that sees fit to employ the deeply unpleasant Andy Coulson as its official Director of Communications.Yet another link As I have stated before there has been a four fold increase in hate crimes against Disabled people while this has been ongoing. People have been driven to suicide by the way Clegg's "Simple Test" wrecks lives. All LibDem members have been compelled to choose whether their loyalty is to their party or their principles. A full third of party members have gone for option B and left the party altogether since the forming of the coalition. We have now reached the point when any of those who have gone for option A (or are pretending that they don't have to make that choice) but still purport to be in any way of the Left will quite simply not be believed.

Thoughts On Becoming A Folk Devil

A little background to the terminology to begin with Folk Devil (Apologies to those who have  reservations about the reliability of Wikipedia but their overview is as good as any and better than most in this instance)

I myself (and many, many others) have recently  acquired this hideous status courtesy of our rabidly Right Wing Government.
So what did I do to become an enemy of the state?

Did I get so overexcited at the prospect of becoming Deputy Prime Minister that I entered a coalition without acquiring power of veto over bad policy formulation by my coalition partners? No. That was somebody else.

Was I appointed as an advisor on public sector economic efficiency despite having evaded £1.2 Billion of taxes? Not me either.

Did I encourage journalists to illegally hack mobile phones whilst serving as a Newspaper editor? Don't be silly.

Did I fall in love with a disabled woman, marry her, give up my career to be her carer, live on a pittance for most of the Major years, get a significant increase to my still very low income under the last Labour government then see myself & my wife and people like us demonised by this government as part of its policy of slashing services at all costs whilst turning a blind eye to bloated salaries & blatant tax evasion amongst its cronies? Guilty as charged. I know, I'm evil. Aren't I?
Actually, I don't think I am. People like me save the country far more than we cost. We are told that people on disability benefits are shiftless scroungers, that disabled people get prostitutes at the taxpayers expense, that Disability Living Allowance is a form of unemployment benefit. (It's not, the clue's in the name)

So why we are being subjected to this abuse? Why has there been a four fold increase in hate crimes against disabled people since this government came to power? Two little completely harmless sounding words: "Small State". That the state should be made smaller, not for some practical function but as a point of principle.
Even when (as is the case here) the state is too small to meet its minimum obligations, you reduce it further on principle. A shopping list contains more thought than went into this idea .


Some would say that this is the logical entailment of a coalition of Tories (Who help the wealthy and no one else) and the LibDems (Who favour sloganeering over analysis in policy formulation & expediency over principle in the business of government) I would not dispute that but it doesn't make the consequences any easier to live with. We're not hypothetical abstracts we are real people living real lives in the real world. Please remember that. As for me, if we ever meet please forget what you have been encouraged to think. If you do, who knows, you might even like me.

This is what false consciousness really looks like.

The Socialist Workers Party (Which contains no Socialists, no workers & nobody who knows how to party) Have now taken it upon themselves to rewrite history in order to make Hitler look like the innocent victim of circumstance. Don't believe me?  Judge for yourself: http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=22209
To be sure ultra Authoritarianism is the common denominator between Leninists & Fascists but it is seldom as explicit as it is made here.
Never the most realistic people in the world, I thought the SWP had finally lost what little of the plot they had when they started denouncing Atheism as "Racism" but this goes even further.

I now expect them to come out as Holocaust Deniers in the very near future. They've been travelling in that direction for decades.

Choosing A Leader . . .

Next Wednesday ballot papers will be distributed for the Labour Party Leadership election.
I have not said who I intend to vote for much less told anybody else how they should vote and I shall not do so here as I dislike the "Go Thou And Do Likewise" aspect of such exercises. I am neither qualified nor entitled to tell you what to think.

However I shall say this;
* If you have chosen to vote for David Miliband then you have chosen wisely because you have chosen a candidate who recognises that Labour must be a mass, democratic party.

* If you have chosen to vote for Ed Miliband then you have chosen wisely because you have chosen a candidate who recognises the need to reinvigorate our participation in the democratic process as a nation.

* If you have chosen Ed Balls then you have chosen wisely because you have chosen you have chosen a candidate who has led the fight against unfair VAT rises.

* If you have chosen Andy Burnham then you have chosen wisely because you have chosen a candidate who connects with ordinary members.

*If you have chosen Diane Abbott then you have chosen wisely because you have chosen the most experienced Parliamentarian standing.

I want to see the strongest possible Labour Party. A Labour party that represents the Left of the possible.

I am impressed by the positive atmosphere within which the campaign has taken place.

A point to ponder: Whoever emerges as Leader of the Labour Party and hence Leader of the Opposition will face, across the floor of the Commons, a Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister who became leaders of their respective parties by stabbing their respective predecessors in the back.
Our way is better.

Can someone please explain this?

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-its-good-to-talk-2060179.html

A reasonable sounding opinion piece on the current situation existing between Trade Unions and Government.
That is as it ought to be. It is a serious matter which requires information that can be reflected upon, discussed & debated.
The problem lies with the following quote:
"This Government has an electoral mandate for cuts of significant degree."
Did I miss a memo? My understanding was that we had a General Election which nobody won in any meaningful sense of the term and that the Coalition was put together after a series of off the record, behind closed doors deal brokering between the Blue & Orange Tories.
So when, by whom and on what criteria was it decided that they have any kind of mandate as a consequence?
Or is the title "The Independent" intended to be ironic?

Why I DON'T hate Liberal Democrats.

I have been asked more than once of late why I hate Liberal Democrats. That's a perfectly legitimate question to which I shall give an honest answer right here & right now. I don't. It's as simple as that.

My maternal Grandfather was a staunch Liberal, my own brother was a member of the LibDems until very recently. In the public eye, I would cite Ian Hislop and, especially, Stephen Fry as Liberal Democrat supporters whom I respect and admire.
Once you make the equation "All x are bastards" you either have to make a lengthy list of exceptions or turn your back on people you care about. So let's not play that stupid and dangerous game.

To be sure I, like most people in this country, AM angry at them but anger doesn't equal hatred.
I am not advocating blood in the streets or storming the Winter Palace.

I am thinking of two people I know who are being subjected to a particularly hideous injustice. The support of our Government has been actively sought in respect of this matter. It has not been forthcoming.
I am a heterosexual male who is disgusted by David Cameron and (especially) Nick Clegg. Irrespective of which fact, if I could secure justice for those people by fellating either or both of them  in Parliament Square tomorrow morning, I would do it.
I abhor corruption in public life but if by signing over the bulk of my earnings for the rest of my life to Liberal Democratic party funds, I could get their vicious campaign of defamation against Disabled People who are in receipt of welfare benefits called off I would do it.
If I  could get Clegg to recognise the contradiction in his advocacy of a "Small State" and the contempt which his party shows to the millions of carers in this country (The sort of people upon whom such initiatives are wholly dependent) by sending him a dozen red roses, I would do it.

As for issuing the Kalashnikovs, well, shocking as it may seem, I don't actually have any. Even if I did, I would only be thinking in those terms once all other alternatives, possibilities and choices had been unequivocally closed. And even then I'd be looking for reasons to say "No".

I remember Paul O'Grady once talking about his aunt in an interview. She was the inspiration for Lily Savage and seems to have been a formidable woman. She served as part of a civilian Anti-Aircraft gun crew during the war. Defending her home, her country and her loved ones from attack night after night after night.
In spite of this he said of her; "She didn't actually hate the Germans, she just wanted to get a good night's sleep."
Substitute "LibDems" for "Germans" and that's exactly how I feel right now.

People are more important than ideology. Can we accept that? Please?