Op-ed: International Women’s Day is a worldwide event that has been observed since the early 1900s and is now recognised each year on March 8. Equality of the sexes is still a mixed bag and if you look at many countries is non-existent. This year's theme is Pledge For Parity and you can check it out and 'sign the pledge' by following this link. Until fairly recently this day had pretty much passed this writer by. That was for a range of reasons not least because she was busy getting on with life and all the trials and tribulations that can bring. Before you say 'ah that shows she is a downtrodden woman' think again. When I read a piece for Progress Online, one faction of the Labour party, and one for the Huff Post written by Jess Phillips MP, a response is needed. Why you may ask and I will explain. Ms Phillips has been busying herself writing damning pieces about the Labour party's chances of election success in 2020. She claims to use the negativity she hears campaigning on the doorstep to criticise the party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn. However MPs are part of the fight to win hearts, minds and votes and feeding the MSM a constant stream of negativity and me, me, me news is not productive or necessary. If Ms Phillips is not kept busy enough as a working MP perhaps she could write more supportive articles; so many within Labour who oppose Jeremy Corbyn cite his opposition to various PMs down the years and with more than a ring of the schoolyard claim 'he did it'. But Corbyn was always a man of principles and his record is not bad to say the least. Monday as MSM reports concentrated on a possible upcoming coup within the Labour Party Phillips petty weekend articles in the same MSM looked like an additional knife in his back to most of us. Mr Corbyn addressed the parliamentary Labour party, PLP, later Monday calling for dissident MPs to end the ‘back-biting and public attacks’. But Ms Phillips is tweeting Tuesday her International Women's Day article in the Huffington Post UK so surely she has taken note. Well actually no she has not. In one tweet Tuesday to promote the article she tweeted "For people who want to read about unity in the Labour Party here you go" which is yet more sniping. She ends the first paragraph of her report with the sentence "There is one thing I think that we women have that our brothers should envy and replicate - we have each other." But when I sent her a tweet after being appalled at her divisive articles appearing constantly online she promptly blocked me and I reciprocated. I had read her article and picked up on common ground between us and tweeted accordingly. She writes "My mom died when I was in my twenties. There is no one, nor will there ever be anyone, who inspires me as much." I tweeted I was not her sister but that I had lost my dad when I was 17 and Mum when I was aged 23 but I was blocked. She may decide to class me as a troll as I disagree with her and that is up to her. But if you read her tweets today as she blathers on about women and International Women’s Day bear in mind she is apparently a hypocrite. I choose not to share my personal childhood details other than to say it was tough at times living in a two-up two-down with no bathroom and an outside loo, playing on bombsites and with a Dad suffering unrecognised PTSD treat as a nut case but life was and is tough for many to this day. It was just as tough for my brother although the challenges were probably different. There is a time for being a professional and there is a time for chatting as friends and to my mind "My mates are wet-your-knickers hilarious" is an inappropriate line in a Labour MPS online writing. She has to decide if she is one of the gals or an MP just like a boss has to sometimes step away from former colleagues. And in her International Women’s Day post the snide remarks are there if you want to see them. "Yes we still don't have hardly any of the top jobs and get paid less" is her comment on the Labour Party and parliament. She has been an elected MP for less than one year. Two senior female MPs refused to work in Corbyn's cabinet. Unlike Phillips I do not see all women as great for politics. I use Maggie Thatcher as a shining example of what can go wrong. The same is true of male politicians. We are all after all members of the human race and people. Barbara Castle who features in Made In Dagenham, a movie about women working in the car industry and fighting for basic rights, was a very different kettle of fish. I could of course go on and on but hopefully the point is made. Now I am not sure about Phillips but this writer has some reports in the offing attacking the Tories and I need to get on with them. Courtesy of the Huff Post again: MPs will get a taste of their own medicine on Tuesday when a group of sixth form girls will take over the seats on the Commons women and equalities committee. Me I just wonder who the ones taking part are?
[I am still awaiting a reply to an email sent to Phillips earlier this week] [I did not vote for Mr Corbyn for party leader and like all campaigning for their chosen candidate opted to tweet all sorts ahead of the leadership election-now we have a leader my loyalty is a given]
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Op-Ed: A veteran Tory politician now a Lord in 'that other place' has said that if the UK EU referendum majority vote is to leave the union David Cameron must surely quit as the country's Prime Minister. The man telling Cameron he will have to go is Lord Tebbit. Cameron said ahead of the May 2015 General Election that he did not intend to be in office as Prime Minister come the next general election scheduled for 2020 but how and when he retires from that role is important. Like so many British PMs Cameron will probably want to go on his terms and at a time to suit; like so many other British PMs he may be denied both options. Saturday the Daily Mail reports civil war is breaking out in the Tory party and says "Former party chairmen Lord Tebbit and Liam Fox both suggested that the Prime Minister will be forced to step down if Britain votes to leave the EU. They spoke out amid growing Tory anger over Mr Cameron’s increasingly strident warnings about the dangers of Brexit. Writing in yesterday’s Daily Mail, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith accused No 10 of waging a campaign of ‘spin, smears and threats’ in a bid to bully voters into backing the Remain side in June’s referendum." But before those members of the electorate that hate David Cameron think yippee let's vote to leave and rain on Cameron's parade they must take a deep breath. Unless there are party sackings or resignations that affect the balance of power in the House of Commons there will not be a general election. Likely Tory successors to Cameron touted as Theresa May, Boris Johnson and George Osborne will be dusting down their CVs and working behind the scenes to shore up support ready to step into the PMs shoes. But it could be a rank outsider that replaces Cameron as party leader and PM. There is much more at stake than who will be the next Tory PM of the UK. The Daily Mail continues "No 10’s approach has enraged many Tories, who feel the Government machine is being deployed in an attempt to crush those bidding to take Britain out of the EU. In the past fortnight, the Government has published two ‘dodgy’ dossiers on the risks of leaving, big businesses and have been corralled into issuing statement of support for EU membership and French President Francois Hollande was persuaded to warn that Britain would face reprisals if it left. Lord Tebbit said it would now be ‘extraordinarily difficult’ for Mr Cameron to continue in office if Britain votes to leave." Tebbit is famous to British people of this writer's generation for being caught up in a Tory party bombing and for avidly encouraging the jobless of the UK to cycle more often. There was a direct bomb attack on the British Government at the Conservative party conference in Brighton in 1984. At least two people died and many others sustained serious injuries, including two senior Cabinet ministers. "The blast tore apart the Brighton Grand Hotel where members of the Cabinet have been staying for the Conservative party conference. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband Dennis narrowly escaped injury." Mr Tebbit, was shown on TV visibly in pain as he was being stretchered to safety; his wife suffered neck injuries which left her paralysed. Tebbit was also famous for telling the unemployed of the 80s to get on their bikes to find work which highlighted just how out of touch he was even then. He compared his father's quest for work during the depression to eighties Britain. Related reading: BCC suspends director general John Longworth over EU stance [Please bear in mind some of the report is sourced from the Daily Mail which is a right-wing supporting publication-it may or may not be neutral on Brexit also] Op-ed: The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) agreed that its delegates would not promote either side of the Britain is better in or out of the European Union campaigns leading to one man, John Longworth, who apparently broke those rules being suspended. The campaigns to persuade British voters to either opt to stay in the EU or leave have three months to run but already the knives are out. "John Longworth, the Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), backed a 'Brexit' from Brussels during a TV interview on Thursday. He said: "With the reforms that we have received so far, the UK would be better off taking a decision to leave the European Union." According to the Financial Times that vocal opinion led to his suspension from the BCC group for breaching its official stance of neutrality. If you vow to be neutral you must all sing from the same song sheet and after Longworth's suspension others better make sure they obey BCC guidelines. Checking out the BCC website for more information on Mr Longworth Sunday he was still listed as the group's Director General. His bio on that site begins "John Longworth was appointed Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce in September 2011. Over the course of his career, John has done business on every continent and has had Executive Board positions at Asda Group Ltd and Asda Financial Services Ltd and the Operating Board of Tesco Stores Ltd and the CWS Ltd." The bio continues with Longworth's busy and extensive business career and goes on to praise his talents. Those same talents may now be forgotten, at least in the short-term, as he is pushed aside for sharing his opinion. Monday after he resigned the link is broken and Mr Longworth has vanished from BCC website. The Express reports Saturday "Ukip MP Douglas Carswell [a former Tory MP who jumped ship and joined Ukip in 2015] reacted with fury to the reports [of Longworth's suspension] saying: "This is an outrageous decision. "It shows that we are not just dealing with Project Fear, the Establishment is also prepared to bully and intimidate people to try to silence them." He added: "I hope now that David Cameron will distance himself from this and make it clear that this sort of action is unacceptable"." Monday Mr Longworth is toast. John Longworth resigns as commerce boss over Brexit debate reports the Guardian. The Conservative party made an EU in or out referendum pledge part of their 2015 election manifesto in order to win back some supporters who had fled to Ukip. But Cameron was unable to unite the Tories on Britain's EU membership so instead has allowed the party a free run which is quickly morphing into various right-wing campaigns for BRexit or BRemain. As the Tory party struggles to hold it together enemies and allies are made but post-EU referendum how will these people be able to work as one and govern the country? Related reading: Lord Tebbit says Cameron will have to quit if UK leaves EU Op-Ed: With the devil as always in the detail who is eligible to vote in the upcoming UK EU in or out referendum is crucial. If you have registered to vote in the UK you will be eligible to vote in the EU referendum. You do not have to register again. But there are some voting restrictions in the EU referendum which will take place June 23, 2016. The government denied appeals to lower the age of voting for this referendum even though that happened in Scotland for that country's independence referendum. Scotland lowered the age just for referendum voting to 16 but the eligible age in the UK EU referendum is 18; whether that move was a good idea is debatable. As young people have in many ways more to win or lose on the result of the EU referendum. It is after all their future that is at stake. Overseas voters will be allowed a vote in the EU ref if they meet the following criteria: If you are a UK citizen living abroad, you can apply to be an overseas voter. If you have not registered to vote in this year’s elections, including the EU referendum, you still have time.
The cut-off date for registering to be able to vote in the UK EU referendum is Tuesday June 7, 2016. According to the Telegraph "Just over 4.5 million Britons live abroad, with approximately 1.3 million of them in Europe, according to the United Nations." They mainly live in France, Spain and Ireland although there will be pockets of expats in countries such as Portugal and Italy. There are claims that expats in the EU may be forced to return to the UK if the country votes to leave the European Union but that is not proved and condemned by some as scaremongering. Likewise Britain has various EU citizens living and in some cases working in the UK. But while eligible expat voters may be having their say on the future of British EU membership changes at home have resulted in thousands disappearing from electoral registers. "An estimated 800,000 people have dropped off the electoral register since the government introduced changes to the system, with students in university towns at highest risk of being disenfranchised, the Guardian has learned." It is worth checking online if you are registered to vote and the latest guidelines for ensuring that you are. You can do both if you follow this link. However the UK may also dish out a fine if you are asked to register to vote and do not, unless there are extenuating circumstances. Like so much in 2016 the goalposts are being shifted at record speed and keeping up is tricky. EU resident voters in the referendum can vote by post or appoint a proxy. Similar options are also available for UK residents. Election and Voting information at the Electoral Commission Register to vote at this link Op-Ed: One week ago we wrote "Nothing pretty about Priti Patel as she attacks ESA" but the saga of the proposed Tory cuts to ESA and other disability entitlements goes on. Last week it was a second debate of the proposed work and welfare bill after it had made its way from the Commons to the House of Lords but been sent back for further consideration. If the Tories hoped the Lords would simply rubber stamp legislation that will mean people with disabilities take yet another financial hit they were out of luck? MPs voted at the end of the debate and the ESA cut was approved by 306-279 votes. The bill tootled off to the Lords again where it was defeated Monday. The defiant action against the ESA cut was helped along by one member of the HoL, Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson. As the Daily Mirror reports "The eleven-time gold medallist begged peers to stop the “ideological” £30-a-week cut to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)" "Peers voted 289-219 to halt the move until Iain Duncan Smith reviews how it will affect claimants' mental health – which could delay it until 2020 costing the government £1billion." Ms Grey-Thompson is a cross bench member of the House of Lords who knows first-hand the challenges people with disabilities face along with the employment bias they have to fight. PM David Cameron and his DWP ministers Priti Patel and Iain Duncan Smith are left spitting feathers with Cameron looking at shoring up Tory Lords and Lady numbers in the House of Lords to win future votes. That will cost us all a great deal of money and again highlights these cuts are not about austerity but rather a long-term plan to fulfil an ideology and a vision of the UK in the years ahead. And while members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons shuffle proposed legislation back and forth vulnerable citizens living in the UK have the additional stress of not knowing if their income is about to be slashed. Find out how your MP voted in the last ESA cuts debate at the Daily Mirror Below - Watch Dame Tanni Grey-Thomspon's speech to the HoL. That bastion of British democracy the Houses of Parliament is becoming a huge joke and people around the country and the world must surely look on with a mixture of amusement and despair. Politics can be a rough old game but should it be a London comedy-house? One party that is leading the charge to turn the House of Commons into the main vaudeville stage are backbenchers and the worst offenders park their backsides on the Tory benches. But when a political party is led by the joker in the pack what can you expect? Last week at Wednesday's PMQs it was Tory party leader and PM David Cameron telling opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to "put on a proper suit, do up your tie, and sing the national anthem"; making himself look and sound totally ridiculous Cameron told Jeremy Corbyn that was what his mother would say to the Labour leader. Social media ran with a series of memes and stories and it was Cameron who ended up being the butt of the joke. Since Jeremy Corbyn became party leader on September 12, 2015, and voiced his hopes to bring a kinder and less personally abusive politics to the Commons the Tories have done their best to attack and undermine Mr Corbyn but surely by now they must realise it is only they that look the fools. Egged on by a seemingly semi-conscious speaker of the House of Commons the jibes continue and today it was the Labour party Shadow Chancellor who after speaking about banking controls was told to ‘Shut up your face’. If you are old enough that will remind of a one-hit wonder hit song by Joe Dolce called 'Shaddap You Face'. What it will tell you about the House of Commons is not clear. It tells this writer though that the place needs an official kindergarten section or sin bin where it can send MPs who misbehave, a House speaker that does their job and a fixed penalty fine, perhaps a dock in wages. The Houses of parliament are visited by tourists and VIPs with the daily business being aired on BBC parliament; you can only imagine what people outside of as well as across the UK make of it. Maybe when the Tories manage to rip the heart completely out of the BBC, a slow ongoing process right now, BBC parliament will be scrapped or replaced with a best of sound-bite type of show. Ahead of the disrespect shown to McDonnel he said to the house "‘This week the former governor of the bank of England has warned that bankers have not learnt lessons from 2008. ‘Will the chancellor now take responsibility for the domestic responsibilities within our own economy that have built up under his own watch? ‘Will he withdraw his proposals to water down the regulatory regime for senior bankers?’ And the best the Tories could respond with was ‘SHUT UP-A YA FACE.’ More at the Metro
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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
September 2018
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