Is Keir Hardie turning in one grave as Jim Murphy digs another?

keir hardie 's graveLast weekend, the Scotsman quoted unnamed Labour sources as confirming that Scottish Labour was effectively abandoning most Labour-held seats in Scotland by deciding to name just twelve seats it was trying to “rescue” from the SNP onslaught.

The last time Labour did as badly as this in Scotland was 1931 when it won only 7 seats (though it still had 32.6% of the vote, better than is likely on Thursday). That disaster could be put down to an earlier Scottish Labour leader, Ramsay MacDonald. It would be churlish to blame Jim Murphy alone for what will happen on Thursday, but whether or not it is his intention, it is New Labour that is being buried in Scotland by abandoning the former industrial heartlands that gave birth to British social democracy. Continue reading

Weasel words from Douglas Alexander on recognising Palestine

xbrh_RecognisepalestinepicThe good news is that shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, says at LabourList that “Labour’s consistent support for the principle of recognising Palestinian statehood, as part of continuing steps to achieve a comprehensive negotiated two state solution, is why we will be voting to support the principle of Palestinian statehood when the House of Commons debates the issue on Monday.” The bad news is that he won’t actually implement that principle until he’s good and ready:

The motion before the House on Monday does not commit Labour to immediate recognition of Palestine, or mandate the UK government to immediately bilaterally recognise the State of Palestine, but it does reaffirm Labour’s support for the principle of recognising Palestinian ‎statehood. ‎The timing and the mechanism by which Palestinian recognition takes place will continue to be matter decided by an incoming Labour Government.

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Time to stand with the Palestinian people

The recent outbreak of violence in Gaza is the most significant attack on the Palestinian territory since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09. Airstrikes have already killed at least 14 including an 11 month old baby. Numerous other casualties have been inflicted on Palestinian civilians, with an estimated 250 maimed or wounded, despite Israeli assurances these bombings are “surgical” and “targeted”.

Reports across the media claim that, before his extra-judicial assassination by an IDF airstrike, Ahmed Jabari, Hamas’ military leader, was considering a permanent truce. Israel’s act of pre-emptive aggression now appears to have ended any chance of a peace deal in the immediate future and has only served to escalate violence and inflict more suffering onto innocent civilians.

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Does anyone seriously believe swallowing Tory austerity measures makes Labour credible?

There seems to be a plague going round the Shadow Cabinet, which is quite catching, the symptoms of which appear to be seriously muddled economic and political thinking. After several comrades went down with this malady over the New Year period, the bug appears to have re-surfaced again, to judge by yesterday’s remarks from the foreign affairs spokesman as reported by Guardian political journalists who seem intent on transmitting the disease. Continue reading