Ed needs to grow some!

LesAbbey on September 27, 2011 — 9 Comments

Ed needs to grow some

What a shame! This conference could have been the time for the present generation of Labour leaders to set out their stall and highlight the differences between themselves and the government. They could have knocked on the head the charge that they are ‘Tory light’ and that the real opposition is Clegg’s Liberals inside the coalition. Instead they rolled over to those old Blairites, inside and outside the PLP, and Blue Labour and attempted to show how mature they are by promising to be as hard in economics as the Tories.

I still don’t think they get it. That’s both the Eds, Yvette Cooper and so on. The public have a mistrust of politicians in general and MPs in particular that is beyond anything in living memory. The old guard of New Labour, both inside and outside parliament, are toxic. They are vote losers. Include the likes of Jacqui Smith, Jack Straw, Mandelson, Campbell, and most of all Tony Blair in that toxicity. Hanging over the party’s head is what will start to appear in the press from Blair’s attempt to enrich himself. Two more ex-ministers have swinging axes that could fall at any time. David Milliband has history in Britain’s collusion with the US inspired torture of suspects and Tessa Jowell has her partner’s involvement in Berlusconi’s bribery and law-breaking due in court at anytime.

So Ed, stop listening to these people! Yes, you and your generation of bag carriers and policy wonks are partly responsible for building up and supporting Blair and Brown and the rest, but now they no longer hold power. Blair is even advising Cameron by phone on a regular basis. The public has already rejected these old people, policies and ideas. That was what happened in the last election.

Before you are so quick to toss aside Chuka Umunna’s ideas on mutualising the government owned banks, ask yourself if the public may quite like the idea. Maybe people would like a return of the old fashioned building societies before they were turned into fodder for the banks. Maybe they would quite like to see the tax system being used in social engineering, they certainly don’t seem to mind the 50p rate for richest. It wouldn’t take a lot to use other taxes like corporate and value added to encourage even more mutualization and workplace fairness.

And it’s that last word ‘fairness’ that really does matter. We do want to see equality improve. We do have a problem with the filthy rich. We really don’t mind if Michael Caine lives out the rest of his life in Monaco. Come Ed live up to your name. Show us you have them.

 

 

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  • Anonymous

    Well if you look at New Labour the idea was to defeat the Tories by labour becoming a part socialist with a very small S and a Tory party with a very big C.

    The idea was to get away from the Unions and the working class and to get the better quality voter, sadly they were talking about the swing voters who do tend to vote Tory.

    But after Major of course the Country needed to get back to real politics and no more sleaze sadly, Labour could not get away from it, it comes with the territory when you have a leader like Blair , Blair was in power to meet people fill his address book make his name in history and then make his fortune which full credit he has done.

    It’s sad but we are hearing to day New Labour is alive as Ms Flint idea on council housing will be put forward lucky they are not in power and social housing is devolved to Wales and Scotland, but council houses will be given to people who are in work, laugh yee not, they say teachers nurses and Police men, I can see this lot living by me in a council house .

    There is nothing at all in labour for the so called working class, but Labour has to learn a lesson the lesson is Blair has gone and the Tories are back.

    So what going to happen to the people who lose a job now will they be told if they lose a home then look mate no job no council house …

    New labour is alive and well with a Leader in Miliband who has no idea’s of his own.

    • swatantra

      If you have a good history of working then its likely you will keep your house and get help in getting back into work and into a house. Its the people with the right attitude or ‘ the deserving poor’ who should be our number one priority. Unfortunately our resources are focused on the ‘underseving poor’ and a lot of the money is simply wasted on them. Its a difficult one. I think I’m with Ed on this, and Caroline Flint and the squeezed middle as well.

      • Anonymous

        It does not work like that does it, and of course you can be eighteen come back from Iraq go through Labours Medical for disability and get turned down go onto JSA and be on it for a few years, the record you will carry is not one of disability, but one of work less.

        Undeserving poor like that, this week in my area for the first time in years we have found our our real unemployment figures released by the council, 29.8% and it’s been this high for six years, according to Labour it was 3% but we knew that was wrong, so whom are the undeserving poor, the people from Poland now claiming benefit or the immigrants searching for a home they cannot afford, or the bloke who has his legs blown off.

        Words like undeserving poor I would like to people who leave university and then work for an MP and get a seat seat. remind you of anyone.

        Wales has just rejected this and stated Housing is devolved in Wales and it will carry on with the points system.

        But I have never in my life heard a socialist state undeserving poor.

        Of course Thatcher built 395,000 social council houses and Labour built 1000 in 13 years that’s the problem not who is poor or who should have one.

        Germany last year built 1 million social housing.

        • swatantra

          We should be using terms like affordable housing, not stigmaisin a whole group of people because of the class they are in and ushin them into ‘social housing’ brings to mind those back to back tenaments in the milltowns and industrial areas with an outside loo.
          There should also be a close local area connection before anyone gets a council house anyway. Most Poles would end up in Private accomodation anyway and very few asylum seekers get into council housing.
          I think it was a Labour Govt that brought in the concept of ‘need’ to huse people, and thats why eg like Thamesmead and other such council estates went down the pan and became hellholes infested with crimes gangs and drugs. The decent residents simply moved out and you ended up with a sink estate.
          There has to be a realisation on the Left that decent honest hardwoking people deserve a better chance in life.
          If you can prove that you are ‘deserving’ then everyone who can deserves a better chance.

          • Anonymous

            I built many of the council houses around the country and they are actually built to a high standard they private homes, the checks by council Clark of works made sure the houses were done, while the private houses had one check at the end, we made money building private houses it was rare to make much money on the council estate.

            But it’s that new labour term again undeserving poor, OK what do you do with the undeserving poor, that’s why in the UK so many people want to come here not for the benefits, because we treat people for whom they are not the money they bring.

            I’d rather see twenty Indian or Pakistani poor get into the UK then a rich bloke.

            That’s the difference I’m a socialist.

            We saw the way people treated the disabled born without arms legs the thalidomide , for ages they could not even get benefit, until people found out about the cover us these children born with horrendous disabilities spent most of their lives believing their mothers had done something, for ages these were your undeserving poor.

            I have nothing but contempt for people who talk about undeserving, they are families and if the husband does not work, you would treat the whole family as what lower caste.

          • swatantra

            Thats not what we mean by the ‘undeserving poor’. We mean those that are capable of working, but won’t, even whenthee is a job and a job is offered them, we mean those that prefer to live off benefits and abuse the system and are poor role models for their children. We mean those that claim to be ‘socialist’ but really aren’t and in fact are closet Tories.

          • Anonymous

            Then why not say the lazy, because according to my last visit to labour the undeserving poor was stated to be the sick the disabled or have you forgotten Miliband speech.

            I knocked on the door and this disabled man came, it was obviously he was able to work, ah forgive me but has the new leader xray vision which detects cancer . he then countered that by saying the neighbour stated to me that he did not want to work all hours to pay for other peoples benefits, of course you have to first of all believe that Miliband knocks on peoples doors which is very unlikely, so I suspect a new speech writer may be needed.

            In politics words are the difference between an election win and an election defeat, ask the expert of cock ups Brown

          • swatantra

            In poitics you rarely get the thanks you deserve. No doubt in future years Brown will be seen as having been the only one to rise to the challenge of an imploding financial collapse.
            Brown was the Nixon of British politics, ungainly, unloved and undervalued.

          • Anonymous

            Stop taking the piss mate, I’m to clever to fall for that.