Op-Ed: As a Labour Party supporter and member I have been trying to avoid the ongoing television coverage of the annual Conservative Party conference. As a blogger I really should tune in but hey I am retired. So as a political dabbler long-time voters who has watched elected Prime Ministers come and go I thought I would give unelected PM Theresa May's first conference as leader a miss. There is only so much my blood pressure can stand. But the odd unavoidable news clip does catch you out at times. When it and if it does note how half empty conference appears to be a lot of the time. There will be fringe events which could be divisive but of course the Tory Party that spins itself as some sort of champion of we the "ordinary people" has priced most people out of attending. The Conservative Party may claim to be everyone's first choice these days but that is just for carefully crafted expensive spin propped up by a drip feed from the mainstream media. And Wednesday at the Tory Party's love-fest Ms May addressed conference and shared her love of health minister Jeremy Hunt. Social media responded robustly. Here are just a few Twitter responses; What!!?? #TheresaMay heaps praise on NHS wrecker #JeremyHunt ….. sooner he resigns the better #ConservativePartyConference — Ray Mach (@raymach1) RT SkyNews: .Theresa_May gives credit to Jeremy Hunt, and says Labour does not have a "monopoly on compassion" https://t.co/bViSRjwsvM — Osmanlı Genci (@OsmanlGencii) All credibility lost when #TheresaMay praises #JeremyHunt #nhs — Myar Seitis (@Nowtsabother) Oh yes, Jeremy Hunt is really popular amongst health workers. Good awareness there #TheresaMay #CPC16 #ConservativePartyConference — Daniel Morgan (@Bogglemyminds) Can't believe TM had the nerve to stand there & give credit to Jeremy Hunt!!! Absolutely shocking!!! #CPC16 — Chelle Belle (@Shellybellylou) How can you praise the NHS and thank Jeremy Hunt at the same time? #CPC16 #TheresaMay — Fi Fi NiCks (@MissDeeN) good to know Theresa May just lost the doctor vote by praising Jeremy Hunt #CPC16 — Aster King (@thatasterking) What does she see in him? Often proved to be incompetent in his various ministerial roles Hunt appears to be the "Teflon-coated kid." In February 2016 as Hunt began to wage war against NHS junior Doctors we tool a look at what we called a "career of cock-ups." According to Wikipedia "Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt was born November 1, 1966, and is a British Conservative Party politician, who is the Secretary of State for Health and the Member of Parliament for South West Surrey. He was previously Culture Secretary (2010–12). As Health Secretary, he has been criticised for, amongst other things, his support of homeopathy, dangerous advice on meningitis, and imposing a controversial contract on junior doctors." I do not want to belittle any profession or job as all require certain skills but I would not Mr Hunt in charge of cleaning my dog's poo on the garden so how come the Tories think he is fit to oversee the running of or valued NHS?
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Deputy leader of the Labour Party Tom Watson has joined the party's dissenters publishing negative opinions in the previously Labour supporting publication the Guardian. It is an open secret that the Guardian is struggling to keep its head above water in these tough news times, with competition from the Internet and social media. Last week it was a previous Labour darling Owen Jones and Tuesday it is Tom Watson; his post is titled "Trotskyists 'twisting arms' of young Labour members to back Corbyn, Watson says." Watson has attracted an angry response on Twitter but also inadvertently become the butt of the joke as #TrotskyiteTwist trends along with Vines of various dancers doing the twist. But there is of course a more menacing side to all of this. Sharing such opinion pieces in widely read and supported publications hammers home a message whether it is true or false. Hard-left “Trotsky entryists” have been “twisting the arms” of young Labour members to shore up Jeremy Corbyn’s control of the party, the deputy leader Tom Watson has said. It is posted as news not an opinion piece.
More mind manipulation with the media the message? On Facebook's Labour Party Forum one of the male admins posted a link to the story with the following: "You're being led by Trots! Or so Tom Watson puts at least part of Corbyn's popularity down to. He also doesn't think you should have such a big say on who is party leader. Given that part of his mandate as Deputy Leader is social media engagement, I think it'd be a great idea to let him know why you did vote/intend to vote for Corbyn here (or why you didn't/intend not to, of course), and what you think of the state of the Labour Party as I know he posts on here occasionally (it goes without saying that normal forum rules apply to any comments; those that don't will be deleted) Sure enough Watson came out of the Facebook woodwork. He posted a link to another of his Guardian pieces saying "I have no doubt that David Robinson will not like the interview that lead to the Guardian headline but for clarity, it may be worth reading it in conjunction with the news report. Best to you all, even the people who don't agree with me." It made not an iota of difference to me. It lacks credibilty like Mr Watson. Links to both reports are posted at the end of this opinion piece. For what it's worth here is my opinion: I noticed Watson looking shame-faced, squirming a bit in his seat in the House of Commons and allowing Angela Eagle to step ino Corbyn's shoes when he was not in the Commons from day one. I often wondered why? To my mind a deputy leader is just that and should deputise when the leader is away. Retired these days I found myself watching PMQs as it happens, live on TV, from the House of Commons. And I often wondered why Watson even turned up? He was more supportive when Eagle stood in for Corbyn but he appeared quite unnecessary the rest of the time. As the fight for the Labour Party continues we supporters and members all virtually 'die' a little. Words said will not be easily forgotten or forgiven. Every ill-worded piece aimed at removing Corbyn may act as reverse psychology. I am not a Trot, I am not a Moron, I am not young, I am not easily led by arm twisters, I am not a Corbynista but I appear to be in each of those categories if you take note of some in the Labour Party. I wonder what I will be when it comes to local and General Elections? https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/a-show-of-no-confidence-in-tom-watson-mp-deputy-leader-labour http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/09/trotskyists-young-labour-members-jeremy-corbyn-tom-watson http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/09/tom-watson-interview-jeremy-corbyn-labour-rifts-hug-shout Opinion: Monday justice has thrown a spanner in the workings of the Labour Party as 5 party members have won a legal challenge enabling them to vote in the leadership election. That opens the door for many more They had been excluded when Labour's NEC, National Executive Committee, made retrospective changes limiting who could vote in the upcoming election. They were barred as a timeline of January 12, 2016, was set. It almost looked as if Labour had perhaps inadvertently taken money under false pretences. Arguments that becoming a party member is about more than voting and sometimes eligibility to vote is not instant were easily shot down in flames. The Labour Party website made many grandiose promises to those who might decide to sign up and voting was one. What happens next? Surely a new timeline must be set? The financial cost of all this will be devasting and then there is the PR cost. Some Labour MPs have illustrated all that can be and is wrong in British politics by going into overdrive to oust party Leader Jeremy Corbyn. Backbenchers heckled Corbyn in the House of Commons chanting resign and worse; they passed a non-binding vote of no confidence; they began plotting last year ahead of the leadership election; they resigned pinning their resignation letters on Twitter timelines for all the world to see; they showed no compassion or humanity. During all of this they failed to hold the Tories to account. Monday the latest smear tactic from the challengers, camp, Owen Smith, is attacking James Schneider of Momentum for his background and politics. They continue to plummet the depths making themselves and the party unelectable. There will be no easy way back from all of this; a clean break may be the only way forward. Monday thousands will be celebrating as they become eligible to vote but Labour's NEC are already planning an appeal. As BBC News reports "The court's decision could add as many as 126,592 people to the list of those eligible to vote in the contest, an expansion of about a third of the membership." What does the Owen Smith Camp have to fear from that decision? You may well ask. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37009871 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-leadership-contest-jeremy-corbyn-members-how-to-vote-rules-ruling-verdict-owen-smith-latest-a7178436.html https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/20/labour-25-fee-vote-jeremy-corbyn-undemocratic-legal-challenge [There will be an appeal but there is at least one petition - https://www.change.org/p/labour-party-don-t-appeal-the-court-decision - opposing this as members will in effect have to foot-the-bill] While Owen Smith and Tony Blair in the first images opt to share a camera shoot with wealthy Tories Mr Corbyn was caught on camera after getting chatting to a man begging on a train. They discussed homelessness. I wonder what Tony Blair chatted to Margaret Thatcher about?
Opinion: The Internet and social media is great but like everything in this life far from perfect.
The problem is most of us jump on posts assuming they are credible and accurate. Sometimes they are not. Well we all make mistakes. But sometimes the error is malevolent. This week an image of a football supporters rally in Liverpool was posted as an image from the Jeremy Corbyn rally held this week in Liverpool. It was quickly shared and shared again but it was not fit for purpose. Well as we have already said mistakes happen but was it started for all the wrong reasons in this case? Certainly opponents of Mr Corbyn who is on the leadership election campaign trail had a field day with accusations of fake. But Thurday and as the first husting bewteen Corbyn and Smith was hosted a fake You Gov post was doing the rounds. As more people will have seen the fake poll image than the confirmation that it was fake I guess mission accomplished for some. The only camp to win from the fake poll was Owen Smith's. So we will leave you to draw your own conclusions. At least Jeremy Corbyn is real! Op-ed: The United Kingdom Independence Party threw a spanner in the works of British politics attracting voters from the right and the left but surely with BRexit playing out UKIP is finished?
Some in the political class still believe the referendum result can be overturned which could be one reason UKIP still exists or perhaps it will opt for reinvention as another type of political party. UKIP has been a one-trick pony party for years with Nigel Farage MEP as party leader. It has one MP Douglas Carswell who defected from the Tory party. After the 2015 General Election Farage resigned but quickly changed his mind. However following the EU referendum majority vote for the UK to leave the EU he quit again but this time for real. UKIP are now in the throes of a leadership election and it is proving to be far from plain sailing. Wednesday BBC News reports "UKIP leadership hopeful Steven Woolfe has been ruled "ineligible" to stand in the contest to replace Nigel Farage - after he submitted his papers late." Woolfe claims he was 15 minutes late and that was due to technical issues with the website. But why leave it so late? The domino effect quickly kicked in Wednesday and three NEC members quickly quit in protest. "Announcing their resignations, Victoria Ayling, Raymond Finch and Michael McGough said in a joint statement that the party's governing body "is no longer fit for purpose" and called for a vote of no confidence in the NEC." But Woolfe was not the preferred candidate for others for many reasons. He is "northern lad of mixed race" who many in UKIP believe could attract voters in traditional Labour heartlands but never forget that UKIP is intrinsically another right wing political party. It has its roots in Conservative politics. At the last election Farage advised his supporters to vote Tory in constituencies where UKIP could not win. That stance was sold to the electorate on PM Cameron's promise of an EU in / out referendum. But expect the same at the next General Election. UKIP is a Tory Party of a different name and colour, gold and purple rather than Tory blue. As for Mr Woolfe he is a former legal adviser to hedge funds and has advocated scrapping the state pension in favour of a private system where every child gets £2,000 at birth. This week he admitted failing to declare a drink-driving conviction when he stood for a police and crime commissioner post. He claims he "forgot." But that is a beach of electoral law. UKIP hope for proportional representation rather than the UK's current first past the post system. If that was changed going by previous elections they could do very well. But in a post BRexit period can they and will they? http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/08/who-steven-woolfe-meet-northern-mixed-race-ukip-frontrunner http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukip-steven-woolfe-withholding-drink-drive-charge-nigel-farage-a7167001.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36962266 Currently pensioners in the UK "enjoy" a triple safety lock on their pensions thanks to the Tory Liberal Democrat coalition government.
Now one Baroness Altmann wants that scrapped as Sunday she says she previously urged former PM David Cameron to look at the triple-lock protection. Baroness Rosalind Miriam Altmann, CBE, joined the House of Lords May 19, 2015, where she is guaranteed at least £300 a day simply for showing up briefly. That is much more than the weekly state pension in the UK. According to the Independent "The triple-lock protection for state pensions should be abolished in order to save billions, the former minister responsible for the benefits has urged. Baroness Altmann, who left her post as pensions minister in Theresa May’s reshuffle, warned the cost of keeping the safeguard in place would be "enormous" after 2020." The Tory government pledge under David Cameron was to maintain the triple lock until at least 2020. On Sunday morning TV Altmann tried to spin her words as somehow a positive for pensioners in the UK. But her words ended up a mixture of spin, lies and drivel. If it is all about saving money the only possible outcome for pensioners has to be negative. Lucky Altmann born 1956 is not in the position of WASPI women in the UK; women who paid into the pensions system only to be told at the 11th hour they would have to work longer for a pension and in some case be excluded from the new flat rate pension. Divisive and discriminatory Tory Britain 2016 even has a two-tier pension system. "The full new State Pension is £155.65 per week. Your National Insurance record is used to calculate your new State Pension. You'll usually need 10 qualifying years to get any new State Pension. The amount you get can be higher or lower depending on your National Insurance record." But that new pension is not available for existing pensioners. The rest of us, existing pensioners, receive the old rate which is a maximum of £119.30 per week plus any additional pension earned. But for the record the so-called triple lock pensions promise has not improved the value of a pension. But it has stopped them being slashed by the Tory austerity axe. Pensioners on average receive £600 a month more or less; many receive much less and some rely on top-ups such as pension credits to make ends meet. Altmann's plans would hit poorer pensioners hardest and possibly end pension credit top-ups. But bear in mind average pensioners receive no top-ups. They simply receive the pension they paid into year after year as they worked the best years of their lives. The Tories may want to re brand pensions as welfare but they are not. They are paid for social security. But they realise older citizens tend to vote and often vote Tory Altmann was at pains Sunday to claim she still wanted to protect pensions but by a different method. But again we say if it is about saving money that cannot be true. Altmann has been involved in some worthwhile campaigns but wikipedia describes her business career as follows "A senior investment management role at Chase Manhattan, running the Bank's international equity department in London, was followed by directorships at Rothschild International Asset Management and NatWest. Her work included advising on strategy for UK pension funds and funds established under the US ERISA rules, and advice to central banks. A full-time job gave her insufficient time with her young family, so in 1993 she became an independent investment consultant with clients including 3i group, BT, HM Treasury, Standard Life, the BBC, Sky and Channel 4." Yes she will easily be able to relate to an average pensioner in the UK; we think not. Those in the Labour Party looking for real political change with Jeremy Corbyn note "In July 2004 Altmann was appointed by the Labour Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, to the Strategic Investment Board for a three-year term. The announcement cited Altmann's work on the Myners Report and her then current position as non-executive policy adviser to the Policy Unit at 10 Downing Street on investment, pensions, savings and annuity policies." So-called Charlie Falconer is a member of the Progress wing of the Labour Party and a Blairite. "Charles Falconer, the shadow justice secretary and former close associate of Tony Blair, was an incongruous fit with Corbyn. In September he upset Corbyn supporters by disagreeing with the Labour leader’s plan to strip the Bank of England of its independence. In January he publicly disagreed with the decision to sack the Europe minister, Pat McFadden." There goes that tangled web again. The one which means at times it is difficult to spot where the Tory Party ends and the Labour Party begins. Baroness Altmann:Parliamentary House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW Tel: 020 7219 5353 Email: altmannr@parliament.uk Department for Work and Pensions, Caxton House, 4th Floor, 6-12 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA Email: minister.pensions@dwp.gsi.gov.uk http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/26/labour-shadow-cabinet-resignations-jeremy-corbyn-who-has-gone http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/baroness-altmann/4533 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/pension-protection-triple-lock-abolish-pensions-minister-baroness-altmann-inflation-a7164706.html https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ros_Altmann It was a real family affair with young children, families, teenagers, individuals and older citizens. After Corbyn had finishing speaking I was close enough to get on the stage to try for a close up.One woman who had brought her 85-year-old mum got Jeremy to talk to the older lady and pose for a photo. This wise older citizen told Jeremy how angry she was when she witnessed the "bastards" (her words) behind him in the House of Commons attacking him. She said I know you do kinder politics but I say this for you. She was a sweet looking elder citizen but spoke for many of us. I managed to shake Jeremy's hand, wish him well and so did others as his team tried to prise him away for the journey to Leeds for a rally tonight. I was slightly sad for my neighbour that she had not been closer. If the crowd had not moved in she could have been seated near the other older lady. But the crowd dispersed a little and we decided to go for a cuppa. And there he was! As we retraced our steps across the top end of Queens Gardens Jeremy was being mobbed in rock star style by a large group of good looking young women. In never say die style I managed to push my neighbour through the crowd saying "retired teacher coming through" and bless them they helped her. There she was face to face with Corbyn, shaking his hand. She is one happy lady who tells me she will not sleep tonight. Using my old digital camera the images and footage I captured on the day will hopefully complete this story. Bear in mind they are as they come-not cropped, photo-shopped or tweaked but simply an accurate record of the event. Note: The Hull Daily Mail reports a crowd of 1500 but journos there on the day set it much higher http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/jeremy-corbyn-to-lead-1-500-strong-rally-in-queens-gardens-hull/story-29567764-detail/story.html [Footage will be added later]
If Corbyn wins the leadership election again what will happen next?
Will spoiled brats throw their toys out of the pram again and demand he goes? While they throw tantrums, pontificate and procrastinate THEY are doing the Labour Party untold damage and guaranteeing election defeat for years to come. Related Reading: http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/your-voice/david-prescott-on-why-he-spoke-and-voted-for-corbyn http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/eileen-kersey/corbyn-ballot-ruling-due-thursday-afternoon http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/robert-weller/mind-manipulation-with-the-media-the-message |
British political scene
The next General Election in the UK may not be scheduled any time soon but the British political landscape is changing. With that in mind this blog will concentrate on the political scene but with a left wing perspective. Opinion pieces and news will bring you the stories that the MSM prefer to ignore. Archives
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