The only way for a divided party to win an election is if the other main contender for government is even more divided. Banking on that would clearly be the strategy of an idiot. Given that, the events of Tuesday 10th January are a cause for concern. We all know that the media is ever […]
What is the National Policy Forum Doing? The Case of Education
Dec 27th, 2016 by David Pavett.The National Policy Forum (NPF) is the body where Labour Party Policy is developed (or so the LP Rulebook tells us). It presents reports to Labour’s Annual Conference each year and these are supposed to be the basis for Labour’s next election manifesto. The first thing to be said is that, if the talk within […]
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Free movement: Labour’s great non-debate
Dec 16th, 2016 by David Pavett.Nothing illustrates better the ideological and policy differences at all levels of the Labour Party than the contradictory opinions being offered on the issue of free movement. The Shadow Home Secretary (Diane Abbott) says free movement is essential. She has even said “Ending free movement has become a synonym for anti-immigrant racism”. The Shadow Brexit […]
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Whatever happened to Trident?
Nov 18th, 2016 by David Pavett.Among the reasons for concern that Labour has still not broken with its tradition of forming policy out of sight of party members, and with scant concern for their views, is the handling of policy on Trident. Our ‘independent nuclear deterrent’ became something of an iconic issue for the left and a subject where the left […]
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The “right to free movement”
Nov 10th, 2016 by David Pavett.There have been recent signs of a change of tone in the Labour leadership on the question of freedom of movement. Some have opposed any sort of controls but in recent months John McDonnell has spoken of “managed migration” and Keir Starmer has said that when it comes to freedom of movement within the single […]
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We’re all socialists now. But what does it mean?
Oct 17th, 2016 by David Pavett.After a year of left leadership the word “socialist” is in vogue again. Not so long ago even the word “equality” had become suspect. Few now would be “intensely relaxed” about people getting “filthy rich so long as they pay their taxes” (Peter Mandelson, 1998). Nearly everyone agrees that massive inequality reveals a deep social fault […]
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Elections – a right-wing fairy tale
Sep 16th, 2016 by David Pavett.The lowest form of political exchange is one in which arguments are raised to knock down views allegedly held by a political adversary even though there is no evidence the he/she has ever held such views. This tactic can gain traction with constant repetition through various media (“repeat a lie a thousand times …”). It […]
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How Labour should be reacting to abuse on social media
Sep 14th, 2016 by David Pavett.Accusations of abusive behaviour by the Corbyn-supporting left began from the moment Corbyn was elected leader. The Labour Party all of a sudden became, according to frequent media reports, a seething cauldron of racism, specifically anti-Semitism. It was also heavily involved, according to reports, in regular threats of violence, homophobia, and sexism. It didn’t matter […]
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Do MPs have a “greater mandate”?
Aug 17th, 2016 by David Pavett.Constitutional specialist Vernon Bogdanor wrote recently in the New Statesman The Labour Party is composed of three main elements – the Parliamentary Labour Party, the trade unions and the members. But the PLP is the most important, given that it represents the nine million people who voted Labour in 2015, and any future Labour government […]
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On Paul Mason’s ‘Labour’s way ahead’
Aug 9th, 2016 by David Pavett.In his recent response on Owen Jones’ article ‘Questions all Jeremy Corbyn supporters need to answer‘, James Elliott, while critical of Jones’ approach, took his questions seriously and undertook to address them. He also referred to an essay by Paul Mason (Labour: the way ahead) which is discussed briefly in the notes below. Much ground […]
