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Peter Oborne Again

January 26, 2012 | Author: LesAbbey

That Man Again

Yes I know he is an extremely conservative man working for an extremely conservative newspaper but at times I just can’t help agreeing with him. I have nothing in common with him, yet his sense of disgust at our some of our new political class endears him to me. Below I’m going to paste a couple of paragraphs from his latest column which can be found here. I am purposely posting sections that attack both our main parties.

The rot started at the top. Much changed under the Blair government where, incredibly, it became normal for the prime minister’s official spokesman to lie on the record. Tony Blair himself repeatedly deceived Parliament, often on vital issues involving peace and war. Meanwhile, he exploited his position as prime minister to obtain favours such as free holidays, discounted goods and other inducements, a pattern which has continued after leaving office.

This amorality spread to MPs. The 2005-10 parliament was probably the most corrupt since the 18th century – its members lied, cheated and sometimes falsified documents in order to obtain expenses fraudulently. The problem was so widespread that when David Cameron came to form his government, he felt that he had no choice but to include some of the most notorious expenses abusers (in a very unpleasant irony, one of them, Francis Maude, is at the Cabinet Office, where he is in part responsible for issues of integrity) inside his own Cabinet.

Can Ed Miliband learn from Obama

January 25, 2012 | Author: LesAbbey

Comes out fighting

The Obama presidency has looked in trouble for more than a year. The Republicans have blocked any attempt he makes to get some growth back into the economy and his recent actions and attitude have been that of a beaten man.

He was getting blasted with much the same conservative rhetoric as Ed Miliband has been getting from the Tories and their supporters in the press. Yet unlike Miliband, who with Balls decided to play along with the Tory storyline, Obama came out fighting yesterday in his State of the Union address. He even managed to sound more Labour than the two Eds ever have in recent memory. I hope all those spin doctors, SPADs and bag carriers were paying attention.

There are some points that Obama made that we should copy. Like why is the richest section of our society so under-taxed. If ‘we are all in this together’ then surely everyone has to pay their fair share. Instead we see the fat cats getting fatter and the lower half on the income scale getting decidedly poorer. Obama thinks he can win an election on this issue. Labour would not be unwise to follow his lead.

Equal justice under the law

January 20, 2012 | Author: LesAbbey

James Murdoch

Equal justice under the law, that’s what’s engraved on the US Supreme Court Building in Washington. I’m sure it means just as much to Brits as Americans, but it will be tested over the next couple of years.

Yesterday at the High Court in London News International (NI) settled a bunch of civil cases brought by those who have had either their phones or emails hacked by Murdoch’s journalists. Here’s a link to the Independent’s report. Although it will cost NI a pretty penny, when compared to the money that Murdoch’s empire generates especially in TV, it will hardly make a dent. Read more »

The spin doctors are at work

January 18, 2012 | Author: LesAbbey

Playing the spin doctor's game?

I am posting a comment I made on David Osler’s blog earlier today. It’s about the recent statements made both both Ed Miliband and Ed Balls followed by the response of some union leaders. To me the Labour leadership is making a serious mistake and it has the smell of their press Svengali Tom Baldwin about it. This guy must be the most unsuccessful spin doctor since we have employed them in British politics. Time is well past when he should go. We would be better off with no one doing this job. Read more »

Scotland the free

January 10, 2012 | Author: Alexhilton

I’m confused. The Government says that a Scottish independence referendum in 2013 is binding but in 2014 it will be illegitimate. I suspect this is an example of politicians making stuff up as it suits them rather than there being any profound democratic or constitutional principle at stake, and Labour has no business supporting the Government on such tosh.

A short defence of @hackneyabbott

January 5, 2012 | Author: Alexhilton

Maybe Diane was a little thoughtless.

However, racism doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it exists in application to dynamics of power. Anyone who spends 50 years as a black woman is going to have experienced a constant stream of active, passive, institutional and even well-meaning racism in that time as well as a whole load of misogyny.

PCC backs Daily Mail over racist riot coverage

January 4, 2012 | Author: Alexhilton

In October I made my first ever complaint to the Press Complaints Commission over a xenophobic piece in the Daily Mail blaming foreigners for the summer riots. I have just had the response from the PCC, which has backed the Daily Mail in saying the code was not breached.

The ruling is below but my initial thoughts are that the code of conduct is worthless. I don’t know who the fellow complainants Upchurch and Bennett are but good on you!

This is not Cameron and Murdoch

January 3, 2012 | Author: LesAbbey

It should be stressed that Alexander Armstrong is not playing David Cameron and Michael Kitchen is not playing Rupert Murdoch. Have to say I did enjoy watching Hacks.

Where have all the workers gone…

December 30, 2011 | Author: LesAbbey

Maybe not the most enthusiastic support from Glasman but encouraging for those of us who have been pointing out the lack of working class backgrounds in the PLP and our parliamentary candidates for a number years.

I was pleasantly surprised to find myself agreeing with what John Reid was saying on Andrew Neil’s This Week program. Today the Guardian run a piece on Glasman’s contribution and also another by Tory guru David Skelton who feels that the Tories also suffer from a lack of working class MPs. Myself I would suggest that the Tories are just showing their real face. Read more »

Hug a Hoodie No More

December 25, 2011 | Author: LesAbbey

Not Political?

I wonder where history will place the 2011 summer riots. Very high in the list of this year’s events in Britain I suspect. Will many historians go along with the British politicians’ claims of them not being political? They shouldn’t as we probably learned more about the attitudes of our political class than from anything else that happened in the year. For fun let’s start with Cameron.

“Hug a hoodie!” OK I know he didn’t say it. It was what a newspaper, the News of the World with an editor called Andy Coulson in fact, decided he was trying to say. Then again he didn’t go out of his way to say that wasn’t what he meant. It was all part of his making the Tories nice not nasty. Real ‘heir to Blair’ stuff.