Further to my letter to the TUC, the response to it and my own response to that, I just wanted to add a final thought from Denis MacShane MP, the former Minister of State at the Foreign Office, who you might imagine to be well-informed on such matters (in 2002, he had a long meeting… Continue reading One last word on Chávez (I promise)
Month: April 2011
Cameron: I’m loving your election campaign, Labour
In the Labour Party, we’re very excited about the Alternative Vote referendum. In Westminster, of course, it’s easily crowding out debate on the (not unimportant) Scotland, Wales, Northern Irish and English local elections. Ooh, the Yeses. The Noes. It’s all that analytical, wonkish, procedural stuff that we love to debate. We seem to have spent… Continue reading Cameron: I’m loving your election campaign, Labour
Chávez and the TUC – further correspondence
Further to my open letter to the TUC published here last Thursday, there was a response published on Easter Sunday at LabourList by Jennie Bremner, Chair of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (and Assistant General Secretary, I understand, of Unite: The Union). So as not to subject LabourList readers to “Venezuela overkill”, I have written my response… Continue reading Chávez and the TUC – further correspondence
An open letter to TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber
Dear Brendan, I am proud of much of the work that the union movement has done in the international sphere over the years, including its support of the anti-apartheid movement and supporting fledgling unions in new democracies. So I write, first of all, to applaud that work. I’m also writing to you to highlight something you… Continue reading An open letter to TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber
Two cheers for Ed and Yvette on the one-trick pony
Cameron does rabble-rousing speech to Tory Party faithful about immigration, pressing all the right buttons. Business as usual in the run-up to the locals. Ah, it must be nearly May, then? Or was it a little more clever than that? And are we, at last, learning to be clever back? Yes and yes. First, I… Continue reading Two cheers for Ed and Yvette on the one-trick pony
That high risk economic policy again: ours
Recess. Time for us all to reflect on where we’re at before the elections are upon us. And what will people be wanting to hear on the doorstep this month? That the cuts are awful, and that we’re with them. Right? Probably. The idea that we might be taking a risk with this line seems… Continue reading That high risk economic policy again: ours
Two views on nuclear power and the green lobby
Two independent views I’ve heard this week from people whose worldview couldn’t be more different. Firstly all power to green campaigner George Monbiot, whose astonishing revelations in the Guardian (thoroughly recommend the whole article) on the abuse of scientific argument by senior anti-nuclear campaigner Dr Helen Caldicott went against much of what he once believed, as… Continue reading Two views on nuclear power and the green lobby
School discipline: an open goal for the Tories?
The day before yesterday, I had an online discussion with a couple of comrades (Jonathan Todd and Tom Watson, if you must know) on the subject of Michael Gove’s proposals for blanket banning mobile phones in schools and the wider subject of school discipline. First of all, to be clear, I have always thought that… Continue reading School discipline: an open goal for the Tories?
Green stuff
Courtesy of Climate Progess and Bill Becker I realise that, having been engrossed with the goings-on in the Labour Party recently, I have not done anything on green stuff, despite being a budding eco-entrepreneur and generally interested person in this area. I have to confess that, politically, my problem is finding people who think climate… Continue reading Green stuff
Demo good, media bad?
There is surely no need to add to the articles Saturday’s demo dissecting the actions of UK Uncut and the black bloc, although it seems uncertain whether these groups were not, in the end, a sideshow to the principal lessons from it all. Perhaps trickier to explain was the laying of any remaining blame, as… Continue reading Demo good, media bad?