Recent Articles

Alan Duncan MP evades expenses questions

Alan Duncan, the Conservative MP who is supposed to oversee the party’s policy on expenses, claimed £127,658 under the second home allowance and almost £5000 on gardening expenses.

Alan made his millions in the oil industry before he became an MP working for the decidedly unethical Vitol, a company that dealt with apartheid South Africa, did business with Serbian war criminals and was mixed up in the oil-for-food scandal.

Up until a few weeks ago Alan also held a position at Arawak Energy an exploration company owned by Vitol where he earned £35,000 for 20 days work a year.

The mischief-makers from Don’t Panic Magazine take a trip to Westminster and meet with Alan Duncan MP using a secret camera. There, they have drinks and talk about his second jobs and MPs expenses.

See what happens next…

How important is ‘civility’ in society?

Last week I looked at the Conservative crusade against the ‘broken society’, and pondered why that campaign had found resonance where John Major’s ‘back to basics’ had failed. Responding to that post, Joe Hallgarten linked to this report from the Young Foundation which explores whether a renaissance of civility could help us shrug off this societal gloom.

Earlier, I discussed the Rowntree Foundation’s publication on ‘social evils‘, which reported that the public believed the modern age had made us more selfish & individualistic, less honest & compassionate.

As with the report on social evils, defining what does and does not constitute ‘civility’ is difficult because we don’t all interpret each other’s behaviours in the same way. Likewise, there’s no research method available which could tell us whether we’re being more or less civil to each other; the only thing we can measure is whether people feel they experience civility, and even then you’re relying on the subjectivity of human experience. It’s simply impossible to measure this kind of thing objectively.
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How to write a good political leaflet

David Semple and Cath Arakelian are both critical of the quality of Labour’s leaflets in the Norwich North by-election. There is a link to some of the leaflets here.

Writing good leaflets is actually quite difficult, and I have seen many horrendous ones produced by the central party and local activists alike. So to kick off a discussion, here are some thoughts about what makes for a good leaflet:
continue reading… »

Website re-design

As you can tell, LC’s had a face-lift. To be sure, there are loads of things to be ironed out. But it’s a complicated setup so I really need to work on it live. You may be wondering why it’s so cluttered too.

That’s because I’m thinking a bit ahead. I’ll be focusing a lot more on news stories and linking to other blogs that are running interesting pieces of news.

I’ll also be adding sub-blogs to the site which will focus on specific topics (such as Westminster, activism etc). I needed to create space for that too. The site is expanding and will eventually feature lots more content, but all that needs to be rolled out gradually.

In the meantime, if you have any comments or spot any issues please let me know below or by email.

Vestas protestors keep fighting on

From politics.co.uk

Legal confusion handed a stay of execution to protestors at the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight, as debate rages about whether the government should step in.

The sit-in protest at Vestas’ soon-to-close factory in the Isle of Wight could have been forced to an end by a court order this morning.

But attempts by the factory’s management to secure an injunction at Newport county court ended in farce as the judge rejected their request.

More on this page…

Watch: Birther controversy carries on

The American media campaign group Media Matters has launched a website against Lou Dobbs.

Watch: Cameron wants TV debate with Brown

Watch: Controversy on TV over Obama’s “racism”

Tory lead increases to 18pts

The Conservatives have widened their lead to 18pts according to a new Comres Poll.

Out in the Independent tomorrow, it will be the largest ever difference between the Conservative Party and New Labour in decades.

According to UK Polling Report this is an inevitable outcome following the recent media coverage:

This is the first poll since the Norwich North by-election, and there’s a significant increase in Conservative support. This isn’t unusual, by-elections do often give the winning party a boost in national polls because of media coverage of them being “winners” – a “halo effect”.

The full details of the poll will be on the Indy website here.

Jewish leaders attack Tories

Jewish leaders across Europe have condemned Tory leader David Cameron for his alliances across Europe.

The story, running as an exclusive in this week’s New Statesman magazine, states that prominent leaders led by the Chief Rabbi of Poland are calling on Cameron to reconsider his party’s links.

According to a press release:

- In tomorrow’s New Statesman, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, tells James Macintyre: “It is clear that Mr Kaminski was a member of the NOP, a group that is openly far right and neo-Nazi. Anyone who would want to align himself with a person who was an active member of NOP and the Committee to Defend the Good Name of Jedwabne, which was established to deny historical facts of the massacre at Jedwabne, needs to understand with what and by whom he is being represented.”

- Also in Poland, Rafal Pankowski of ‘Never Again’, the anti-racist organisation, said: “Kaminski is a person with an extreme right background and to have him of all people as chairman of the group that legitimises far right tendancies across Europe – this is somewhat ironic for a leader like Cameron who opposed the BNP for example domestically to allow this person with a very clear far-right background to lead in Europe. I would call on David Cameron to sever links with Michal Kaminski.”

- In Paris, the European Jewish Congress says: “We remain extremely vigilant. We have communicated [our concerns about] this to the president of the EPP [Wilfried Martens] and the new elected parliament president [Jerzy Buzek, the former Polish prime minister].” Of politicians such as Kaminsky, the spokesperson said: “We know them to make racist comments even in Parliamentary gatherings. We are alarmed at the fact that they are given a venue to be outspoken.” And he called for British Jews to express their concerns to the Conservative party. “I would call on the British Jewish community to contact David Cameron over this.”

– And in London, Rabbi Barry Marcus of the Central Synagogue, tells Macintyre: “Any politician of any political party should have the moral courage to clearly distance themselves from those who espouse and promote anti Semitism, racism or any attitude that fosters intolerance.

More on the story on NewStatesman.com