I have added two new blogs to the daily roundup:
Firstly I have added Edland, a Conservative blog which provides an excellent insight in the Tory side of politics. (Thanks to James at Miscellany Symposium for the tip)
Secondly I have added Anders Hanson, a Lib Dem blogger who has featured on the Poliblogs before but now makes it on to the full daily roundup. Anders offers an intellectual insight in the world of Lib Dem politics.
Thursday, 13 September 2007
The Poliblogs 13th September 2007
Gordon Stops The Political Week
Under Tony Blair Labour dramatically changed the way
The next opinion polls
It's shouldn't be too long before we get some more opinion polls. They will measure the impact of recent events. My prediction is that Brown's lead will widen a little. The narrowing we saw in the most recent polls followed David Cameron's successful August fightback. At that time we'd dominated the political stage in the same way a party does during the week of its Party Conference.
Is this the end for the Lib Dems?
Over the past year they have been guilty of political stupidity of epic proportions. The new 'stupid party' is heading for oblivion.
Exclusive: Boris, if successful, plans to crown Lurline Champagnie as Deputy Mayor
The formidable Lurline Champagnie is set to become Boris Johnson's Deputy if he, as expected, wins the primary. This is a very smart move indeed. It would kill off Labour's disgraceful suggestion that he is a racist (Boris is many things, but a racist he is not). Lurline, famous for turning up at a Conservative conference under Margaret Thatcher's premiership and declaring, 'I'm black! British! Conservative! And proud of all three!'
Too late to call, not that he ever intended to…
I remember blogging that Brown had no intention of calling an election this year. He allowed the speculation to continue anyway, thereby turning the heat up on the Conservatives. Instead of calling Brown’s bluff, the Conservative leadership panicked. Policies were spun out one after the other in what was widely interpreted as a shift back to comfort zone issues.
Tory green tax ideas; Barmy
Saw these today, blimey what a mixture of ill-thought out and regressive ideas these are.
Fresh thinking
It's not often we see a political contender making a strong case for or against anything. It's too controversial, too divisive you see. That is why it is so refreshing to see and hear someone with vision, principle and the intelligence to apply those things to politics.
Are imperial measurements really common sense?
There’s been much triumphant talk about a victory for common sense over the EU’s decision to allow the
Apart from
The LibDems spoilt their summer of silence with a brief period of media activity when Gordon Brown replied to a letter written by Sir Ming demanding the withdrawl of troops from
Why Ming is quackers about the EU referendum
Why am I mentioning all this on a blog post about the EU referendum? Well, because those classic Bugs-Daffy-Fudd cartoons remind me a lot of the level of debate surrounding the EU. Elmer is the voter, Bugs is the Eurosceptics and Daffy is the Europhiles. Depressingly, Bugs always gets the better of Daffy. Daffy meanwhile never seems to realise he’s onto a loser playing Bugs’ game and never changes tac (except for when he tries to be clever and ends up being hoist on his own petard). All too often, the debate degenerates into the equivalent of “Rabbit season! Duck season! Rabbit season! Duck season!” At no point does Daffy sit Elmer (who is a vegetarian for God’s sake!) down and attempt to reason with him. No wonder the voter often ends up losing his rag and gunning for both sides of the debate.
Aux Armes Citoyens
I have had a number of comments relating to my post on the letter to the Prefect of the South West which have lead me to conclude that there is now the need for a Libertarian Party in England, I say England because Wales and Scotland have a different political culture which is more collectivist, and fair play to them they have one the argument over Home Rule. They have their Assemblies and Parliaments.
Hung hang-up
If Gordon Brown's constitutional reforms ignore the potential for a hung parliament at the next election, he is burying his head in the sand.
Banking on self interest
One of the key dividing lines between the left and the right used to be, when we had such things, the idea that people act in their own interests. The right assumed that perhaps they could be persuaded to group those interests for family or even town / village, but you shouldn't push your luck. The left saw this as cynical and believed in a more optimistic view of human nature (remember 1997 - things can only get better?)
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
The Poliblogs 12th September 2007
Taxing questions
Hands up those of you who voted for devolution ten years ago today? Hands down. Now, hands up those of you who also voted for the devolved Parliament to have limited tax powers? Hands down. Finally, hands up those of you who think those limited tax powers will ever be used?
Wanless Shocker
I've just spent a couple of hours sitting in Surrey's global warming sunshine clicking my way through Sir Derek Wanless's new NHS report. The media reaction hardly does it justice- it's a real shocker.
Continental shifts
Referendum pressure mounts for Gordon Brown (EU Treaty)
Will today see the Unions at the TUC conference give Gordon Brown another indication of their discontent? esterday they voted to take "co-ordinated industrial action" against the government over its below-inflation pay rise. ark Serwotka, leader of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCU), said: "When Gordon Brown slams the door in our face, we have to say we aren't accepting it. Unity is strength."
Will the TUC end up being good or bad for Gordon?
After the lukewarm speech and a strike vote, will the unions call for a referendum?
When Tony Blair was Prime Minister, it usually seemed as though his speech to the TUC was just something that had to be “got through”, and especially post-Iraq, it never looked like an occasion that Blair or the unions found either enjoyable or useful.
TUC annual conference - public sector workers should receive a below inflation pay increase?
Today at the TUC (Trade Union Congress) public sector workers are to decide whether they should start down the road to coordinated industrial action. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has put forward a motion saying it "deplores" the "pay limit" set by the government and recommends that unions "discuss coordinated industrial action".
TUC Raises Threat of Winter in
HARD-pressed public sector workers have threatened to spend the winter at their apartments in Santa Ponsa unless the government improves its offer on pay and conditions.
I pay my taxes!
Another of our favorite refrains is 'I pay my taxes' and 'give me my money back and I'll spend it on health care as I see fit'. Lt's just work out what that adds up to. Health Care spending in the
LibDems come top in "green audit"
It is not surprising really. The Tories have emitted quite a lot of hot air on green issues (shoe chauffeurs, Husky photo-ops etc) but it is very difficult to find a commitment amongst their verbiage. Labour seem to have presided over a reduction in "green taxation".
Boris Johnson Interview Transcript
The following transcript is published under Creative Commons Attribution. The text to accompany any republished, quoted or altered works must include “an interview on internet TV station
The Sun Attacks Brown
Today the country`s most influential Political Paper tuned on Brown like a rabid dog. I was amazed at the vitriol being unleashed upon him when I thought he had gone to great lengths to woo the non lefty Press. I have typed sections the hope of reaching a smaller but perfectly formed audience. This is part of what Jon Gaunt had to say. (BTW Dizzy, despite his flattering portrait, actually looks a lot like Jon Gaunt)
An urgent news item from The Scotsman:
Chancellor Alistair Darling has brought a cat back to
Fibbing Lib Dems And Their Bar Charts
We all know about the Lib Dems and their bar charts. They're about as accurate as a five-year-olds attempt at long division. But with the one on a leaflet and a letter delivered to my house today is technically correct. but misleading - but the commentary is a complete lie.
Say what you think
I have to say, I agree with Boris when he said the following, in an interview yesterday: “I reserve the right to make gaffes, I really do. I think it is a key thing in politics that people should be able to say what they think and to get themselves into slight trouble from time to time.”
EU hasn’t given up on metric
The media have finally caught up with the news that our masters in Federal Europe have, at least for the time being, given up on forced metrication in
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
Mike Rouse @ The Wardman Wire
Matt Wardman has also invited Mike Rouse to do a weekly column at the Wardman Wire. He will covering all things new media and technological (with regard to politics). Mike will be posting every Friday, so take a look if you get a chance. Mike is a technician at 18DS and from what I have read, he seems to know his stuff! Read more about what he will be doing on the Wardman Wire here.
I have added his blog to my weekly roundup - you can read his blog here.
I have added his blog to my weekly roundup - you can read his blog here.
Two pints of lager and packet of crisps please!
The EU has dropped plans for forcing the
Politics Decoded: Political Fads & Supermarket Trolleys
A few hours ago I posted the first of my weekly columns over at the Wardman Wire. Here it is:The Latest Political Fad
What is Gordon playing at? He has pitched his large tent up and is now inviting everyone along to the party. First he took on a few Lib Dems, now he is courting Tories.
Patrick Mercer – he who was ridiculed by the Labour party a few months back over an alleged racist slur and was sacked by Cameron as a result – is now an advisor to Brown (a slight hint of hypocrisy, maybe?). Along with him go John Bercow and super rich party donor Swede Johan Eliasch.
The idea is that we are moving away from Punch and Judy politics not just talking about it. Brown is creating a new type of politics where it is the best minds that matter, not partisan politics. It all sounds very attractive, but how long will it be before this all comes back to bite him?
There is a clear game plan from Brown and it is not just about moving politics on to the next stage. It is about making Cameron look stupid. So far it has had a minimum impact – but an impact all the same. This is gimmicky and a stunt. Mercer and Bercow will find out sooner or later that they may have been invited in to the tent, but they haven’t got back stage passes. They are a long way from the inner circle and Brown is notorious for making his decisions with his tight circle of confidantes and everyone else is just there to look like they are involved.
A cynical move by Mr Brown?
The move has certainly ruffled Sir Malcolm Rifkind’s feathers, describing the move as “deeply cynical.” It is deeply cynical but it is also deeply clever… but only clever if Brown calls an election before everyone figures him out. The electorate will see through it eventually when the defectors return back to the Tory party out of frustration that they are actually not needed after all. The Parliamentary Labour Party is going to have enough of it when the point scoring no longer matters and they are no longer getting the jobs they had an eye on. After all, there is always the accusation that Labour clearly does not have the talent if they have to poach off their ideological rivals and that won’t please a talented Labour backbencher.
Is consensus good for politics?
As for Brown saying this is good for politics, I disagree. A staunch Labour supporter would be a bit miffed if they voted for Labour and then got a few right wingers join the government – after all, we vote for a party, right, not for a cross house consensus? In the long term this is only going to benefit the Tories – even if poor Cameron’s party are persisting on making him look a bit stupid right now. It can not stay like this; politics depends on a difference of opinions not on consensus. If they all agree, what is the point of politicians and opposition parties? No one will know this better than Gordon Brown though. That is the point – he is scoring the points early, putting the Tories out of the game to make way for an election before 2009. It doesn’t matter after that – he has his full term and rides off in to the sunset. Rather like Cool Britannia in the Blair days, all he has to do is keep people convinced for a year or two then the next fad will come along. He’s a smart cookie that Gordon Brown – all he has to keep the wool over our eyes until election time…
Trolley Found Far From its Shop
So much for the silly season. It’s all been about floods, knifings and shootings, missing Madeleine McCann, Iraq and cheap political point scoring. It feels like there is no respite from the bad news these days. So imagine my delight yesterday when I came across this story in the local Walthamstow press whilst looking in to local political issues in the area. Unfortunately, it is from a couple of years ago now.
With just under a month to go before parliament starts sitting again, let’s make up for lost time and let me hear about your local rag’s most ridiculous stories.
The Poliblogs 11th September 2007
My Two Cents...on a welcome move by David Cameron
David Cameron has had a shaky few weeks since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister. Brown’s honeymoon may, however, be coming to an end. The unions are in a boisterous mood, the economy will soon be impacted by the crisis confronting the City and Brown is under pressure from his own party and the unions to give us all a say on the draft EU treaty.
Hague responds to Petraeus report
Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague has obviously hired Sir Humphrey Appleby to be his new speechwriter. Here's is civil service-speak response to General Petraeus' report to the US Congress on the progress of President Bush's surge strategy:
Rhetoric and reality
Gordon Brown's speech to the TUC pressed every labour movement button, but the unions want action not just words.
Capital incompetents
I won't be voting in the Tory hustings - but here are the questions that any candidate for mayor should answer
The choice for
The announcement of the LibDem shortlist to be their candidate for Mayor of London has made very little news - even in
Brian Paddick for mayor?
I can’t help but feel sorry for the other two people going for the Lib Dem nomination for Mayor of London, as Brian Paddick is always going to be the star attraction and I’d be astonished if he doesn’t get selected.
Samuel Coates: The first Mayoral hustings
Last night was the first and most central hustings for the Conservative nomination. Chaired by former London Assembly leader Bob Neill MP, the candidates each started with a five minute speech:
Does John Bercow stand a candle in hell's chance of standing again for the Conservatives?
I wouldn't bet on it. Conservative Home today reports speculation over the deselection of Bercow and Patrick Mercer, his fellow Tory Brown adviser. That follows a Daily Mail article talking about "Grassroots fury" at the two.
Why calling for
Madeline Bunting purports to be thinking the unthinkable in her Guardian column this week, calling for the
Ability And Application Are The Classroom Divides
Class, race, and gender are not the real classroom divides. Ability and application are. This may be reflected along gender, race, and class lines, because they don't exist because of them. They are a symptom, not a cause. Instead of trying to focus on one group, however defined, it would be far better to encourage all school children to work harder, and to encourage their parents to encourage them as well.
Following on from the BMA’s 25 year campaign to ban boxing and their more recent attack on mixed martial arts Dr Hans Wringing-Nanyer, spokesman for the Dull as Ditchwater subcommittee has announced the organisation’s opposition to ballet dancing. Citing a little known study published in the British Journal of Radiology in 2004 he voiced his concerns for the nations little girls and effeminate boys.
Boris Interview Now Available for Download
The programme lasts thirty minutes. In it, Boris...
*Declared “I do want to be the greenest mayor this country has had. I want to lead the way on this. I want to give people reasons to be green and I want to encourage all that.”
*Asserted that “I reserve the right to make gaffes, I really do. I think it is a key thing in politics that people should be able to say what they think and to, er, get themselves into slight trouble from time to time.”
*Vowed he would have a go if he saw a crime being committed…
Monday, 10 September 2007
Politics Decoded
Following my guest posting over at the Wardman Wire a couple of weeks ago, Matt has invited me to do a regular Tuesday column on his site. Tomorrow will be my first in the regular series. I aim to post between 11am and 12pm every week, so keep an eye out for it.
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