Something of an impassioned debate has been taking place re; the future of the student movement. Despite seeming new and exciting its my view that this debate has run pretty much along firmly established lines. One side, throws the baby out with the bath water and declares everything that has gone before is rubbish. The […]
Republicanism – its about democracy…
Jan 3rd, 2011 by Darrell Goodliffe.I was highly amused to read of the ‘threat’ posed by those dastardly union ‘barons’ to the Royal Wedding; it was correctly pointed out to me on Twitter when I tweeted my support that, given the fact that this event has already been deemed worthy of a Bank Holiday, this ‘threat’ is something of a hollow one. […]
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The Coalition goes nuclear….
Dec 23rd, 2010 by Darrell Goodliffe.Vince Cable certainly got more than he bargained for when he spoke to two Daily Telegraph reporters posing as constituents. He, now infamously, said he had a ‘nuclear option’ which involved walking out of the government and ‘bringing it down’. The first thing that struck me about this story was that even if the Daily Telegraph […]
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Labour councils should be setting social budgets……
Dec 15th, 2010 by Darrell Goodliffe.A couple of weeks ago, I managed to cause quite a Twitterstorm by suggesting that Labour councils should not, in fact, be implementing this governments cutbacks. The usual arguments were thrown about; it was ‘unrealistic‘ and ‘irresponsible‘. Amazingly, I didn’t even mention the words ‘illegal‘ and ‘budget‘ but it was still assumed a priori that’s […]
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All to play for in the AV campaign…..
Dec 11th, 2010 by Darrell Goodliffe.Depending on which opinion poll you happen to believe either the No or Yes to AV campaigns are in the lead at the moment. Although criticisms of the YouGov poll (which gave the No campaign the lead) about the nature of the question, which probably did bias Labour supporters against AV, are probably valid that […]
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Labour can be a home for this new movement….
Dec 6th, 2010 by Darrell Goodliffe.We can say with about 95% confidence that the government will win the vote to abolish the cap on tuition fees on Thursday. The Liberal Democrats will split three ways with some supporting, some abstaining and some opposing. However, those Lib Dems who oppose will be few in number and possibly even totally offset by […]
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Reflections on “Red” Len’s victory
Nov 24th, 2010 by Darrell Goodliffe.It is an interesting aside that ‘Red Scares’ seem to entering the media discourse with increasing frequency. Contrast, for example, the creation of ‘Red’ Ed Miliband with even the mainstream media dismissal of the infamous ‘Demon Eyes’ campaign against Tony Blair. Something has changed; and that something is the fact that the age-old capitalist problem, […]
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We need a united conference of the Labour Left….
Nov 18th, 2010 by Darrell Goodliffe.Events at Millbank should make us realise the shortcomings of the Labour Party. Currently it is failing in its duty as an opposition to present a clear alternative to the government. It’s failing on the economy to move beyond soundbites and is hamstrung by its swallowing whole of the ‘debt crisis’ moral panic. It’s failing […]
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The ‘No to AV’ campaign needs to engage with Labour voters and fast….
Oct 27th, 2010 by Darrell Goodliffe.In May, alongside the local and (in Scotland and Wales at least) national elections, there is the small matter of a referendum to change our voting system to consider. We know that the first electoral test for the Coalition will motivate Labour voters to turn-out and Labour activists to ensure a high turnout. Turnout will […]
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How should the left deal with corruption?
Oct 17th, 2010 by Darrell Goodliffe.I noticed this quote on Guido Fawkes blog regarding the Dennis MacShane saga: “The Labour leaning blogosphere’s credibility really suffers at times like this from being reluctant to criticise allies.” I don’t know which blogs Guido reads but, speaking for myself, I have never been shy of criticising ‘allies’ and being honest I don’t think […]
