Ken Livingstone, who has developed a healthy respect for Ed Miliband, told the BBC Today programme earlier this week that his only criticism of the Labour leader was that he paid too much credence to “discredited Blairites”. There are a number of reasons as to why Labour did well in London, yet Ken Livingstone lost, [...]
Posts under ‘Politics’
Police Federation protests against cuts
May 10th, 2012 by Andy Newman.Thousands of off-duty police officers from all over England and Wales will march in London today The Police Federation of England and Wales has organised the protest to highlight concerns about the consequences of 20 percent cuts for public safety and the disproportionate attack on policing by the government. A sea of 16,000 black caps [...]
As thousands strike, Blairite pension-slasher helps himself to the loot
May 10th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.As unions representing 400,000 workers are forced to take strike action in defence of their pensions, it emerges that John Hutton, the former New Labour minister who helped the Tory-led coalition attack their pensions, is to be paid £1,000 per day to chair the new “mutualised” pensions company that will run the civil service pension [...]
David Cameron: not Tory enough?
May 10th, 2012 by David Osler.What David Cameron has achieved in just two years in office should be getting the free market right more excited than Ken Livingstone’s doctor. Instead, substantial sections of his own party are subjecting him to sustained assault for the alleged insufficiency of his attachment to their dogma. So crazed are his assailants that they seemingly accord [...]
Politics in wonderland: not too many enthralled
May 9th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.You couldn’t invent it. There’s really only one issue in Britain today that ultimately matters: how to get growth. All the political parties recognise that, indeed proclaim it, but none of them put forward the policies that will actually deliver it. The Queen’s Speech is an irrelevance, with a whopping big black hole in the [...]
Osborne sticking to austerity: will the last one out turn off the light?
May 9th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.News that Merkel may well be about to exercise one of her skidding U-turns on growth doesn’t seem to have filtered through to our George. Even if he’s the last one in Europe, including dominatrix Merkel herself, to have accepted that austerity isn’t working and slumps require spending on jobs and growth, he’s not going [...]
Hollande’s message for Labour: focus on jobs, growth and an end to austerity
May 7th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.There are several important implications in Hollande’s convincing victory over bling-bling Sarkozy. It’s not just the first Socialist presidential win for 31 years, even more significantly it clearly marks a turning point in European politics, though a lot still depends on how forcefully and skilfully this wedge against the dominant Right is used. But the [...]
Blair endorsed Sarkozy in campaign video
May 7th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Even for those of us who regard Tony Blair as essentially a Tory in our ranks, it may come as a surprise to see that he actually endorsed Nicolas Sarkozy in a campaign video. Blair’s contribution starts 1:18 into the film. Bookmarks Hide Sites
Of directly elected mayors, democracy and the large gap in between
May 6th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.The people have spoken but will the commentariat listen? Every large city that was asked whether it wanted a directly mayor this week rejected the idea bar one. Birmingham, Bradford, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Wakefield, all said no by majorities between 6% and 30%. The people of Liverpool, quite disgracefully, weren’t consulted. The [...]
A tribute to Ken
May 5th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Enoch Powell (who thanks to a recent revelation and in part to Ken may now be described as a onetime member of the LGBT community) said “all political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure“. Ken’s career may have ended in defeat yesterday, but it was no [...]
