How Labour forced Tories to defend the ‘squeezed middle’
Its one of those unstated rules in politics: if you want to win over your opponent, make sure you’re the one framing the parameters of the debate. The Conservatives played that hand well pre-election by forcing Labour on the defensive over the deficit and national debt levels.
Labour’s subsequent attempt to triangulate (saying they would also push for ‘savage’ cuts) failed and their economic credibility splintered between people angry that nothing was being done about the banks, and those suddenly fearful about national debt levels.
This budget is perhaps the first sign that Labour is regaining the initiative again.
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Even Tories know Osborne’s tax changes won’t help lower paid
Osborne will use the increase tax threshold to claim that he has lowered personal tax bills, and is trying to take the poor out of tax.
That the claim is misleading was obvious as soon as this key budget pledge was pre-spun on 1st March – as the claim relies on ignoring the VAT rise.
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New #Yes2AV Postcards site launched
By Matt Wootton and Rupert Read
When the #No2AV campaign chose to lie last month about the costs of the coming referendum, Yes campaigners found there was no real arbiter of truth in British politics.
Sunny Hundal’s complaint was batted back and forth between Advertising Standards and the Electoral Commission. Yes to Fairer Vote’s campaign to petition the authorities fell on deaf ears.
But if we’ve learned anything from the art of reframing, it’s to take your opponent’s apparent strengths and turn them against him.
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Growth down, borrowing up: Osborne blames “Wrong kind of inflation”
Big news on the public finances in today’s FT. It would seem that the Chancellor’s Office has had their first look at the OBR forecasts and they don’t like what they see.
In an attempt to get their excuses in first, we have a front page story in the FT. A story which doesn’t seem to entirely stack up.
Ignore the ephemera about a ‘Learjet levy’ on private planes and the entirely expected news that the OBR is going to downgrade growth – the big news is that borrowing forecasts are being revised up.
Apparently this is because of the ‘wrong kind of inflation’. continue reading… »
Did Labour councils deliberately cut frontline services?
Guest post by George W. Potter
I’ve been holding up the example of Lib Dem run Sheffield council vs Labour run Manchester council recently as an example of how councils aren’t forced to cut public services – they choose to. I’ve been challenged on this comparison so this is an article where I’m going to compare as much as possible between the two councils to try and settle the issue once and for all. continue reading… »
International concern for Libya must be regarded with scepticism
contribution by David Wearing
Now that Britain is engaged in military action over Libya, a particular responsibility falls upon us to understand what is happening there, to make sense of it as best we can, and to use the political freedoms we enjoy to place appropriate pressures on the British government where necessary.
This is not a responsibility that we can begin to discharge with any degree of seriousness if we simply assume the states engaged in this action to be agents of liberation and humanitarianism. continue reading… »
What place for the Church in the Big Society?
contribution by James Townsend.
David Cameron would have us believe that the ‘Big Society’ was his idea, or at least that of Nat Wei. In truth, this is an idea that dates back at least two thousand years. At essence it is encapsulated in the simple, pithy phrase of Christ: “Love thy neighbour.”
The Church of England is ideally positioned to take a lead in the Big Society – it holds a unique claim to have a presence in every community across our nation. But our Church is also facing a crisis of identity, ripping itself apart over theological debates, while watching its congregation grow old and die. continue reading… »
Can the Lib Dems save the NHS?
Lib Dem conference recently passed a motion which urged substantial changes to the government’s plans for the NHS. I think it is fair to say that there are a relatively small number of people who think that this will lead to any substantial changes, given the record of the Lib Dems in government to date. But it seems to me that the chance of saving the NHS from the Tories is a massive political opportunity for the Lib Dems. continue reading… »
What are your private sector horror stories?
Bloated. Inefficient. Wasteful. Pampered. Manned by the lazy and incompetent; administered by shameless fat cats with salaries that make the Prime Minister look like a pauper. All-expenses paid trips to exotic locations. Non-jobs like ‘Executive Officer to Protect Endangered Snakes’.
This is Britain’s public sector, if the relentless campaign of bile directed against it by the Conservative Party and their allies in the right-wing media is to be believed. In a political campaign with few parallels in modern times for either genius or audacity, this axis has transformed one of the greatest private sector disasters in human history into a crisis of public spending. continue reading… »
Our international struggle
Internationalism is a word that we don?t often hear nowadays, at least not outside the parties of the far left.
But I think it’s about time we resurrected Internationalism – because it?s the only term that can describe what is going on all around the world today and over the past few months.
What happened in Tunisia has set off a chain-reaction that is spreading all over the world: not just the Arab world, but all over the planet. continue reading… »
Arguments against bombing Libya
The Arab Spring has given way to a cold snap: Tiananmen Square-style massacres of protesters in Yemen, the Saudi invasion of Bahrain and full-blown Western intervention in Libya.
Of course, it was never going to be easy. The Middle East is the most strategically important region on Earth, and also boasts the biggest concentration of brutal dictatorships: no coincidence, of course.
With United Nations approval, Western bombs are now raining down on Libya. I’m aware of all the arguments in favour of intervention. Even if you support this war, I think it’s important to at least be aware of some of the key arguments against. So, here they are. continue reading… »
Why the coalition’s take on localism is unsustainable
Contribution by Rick Muir
This government wears localism as a badge of pride: it says that the days of ministers dictating local service targets from Whitehall are over, and that it wants to move to a world where more power is exercised at the local level.
But the form of localism being pushed by the coalition is full of tensions and inconsistencies. For a start, while some powers are being pushed down, others are being sucked back up into government departments. In health, the Government has abolished Strategic Health Authorities – but much of what they were previously doing is now being done directly by the Department of Health. In education, the expansion of academy schools means that more and more local schools are being funded directly by Michael Gove rather than by local authorities.
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Huck-a-world: How Mike Huckabee remade his image, not his views
Guest post by Michael C. Tracey.
In 2008, the Republican Party came precariously close to nominating Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister, as its presidential nominee. After conservative evangelicals propelled the friendly preacher to victory in the Iowa caucus, opinion polls showed him leading the pack nationwide. continue reading… »
Libya: a moment of hope
After what feels like an age of indecision, yet is in fact less than a month, the UN resolution on Libya feels like a moment of hope. That hope is qualified, uncertain and unsure, of course, but real. continue reading… »
AV: What could it mean for women?
Contribution by Hayley Chamberlain
What has surprised me more than anything over the course of the campaign (yes, even more than NO2AV’s outlandish adverts) is the lack of discussion about how the alternative vote will affect under-represented groups in society. It is true that on its own, AV is not going to put more women into Parliament overnight, but there isn’t a system in the world that would. Much work will still need to be done to make Parliament a more welcoming place for women and men of all backgrounds and this cannot be achieved without the will of the parties.
However, recent experience in America shows that upgrading our system to AV can have a profound effect on the nature of election campaigns, helping to make politics more accessible to women and men from more diverse backgrounds. Oakland in California held its first mayoral election using AV (known there as Instant Runoff Voting) last November and the difference it made was striking. The favoured, establishment candidate Don Perata was beaten by Jean Quan, who became the first Asian American female mayor. If the election had been run using first past the post, Perata would have won comfortably even though most people in the city didn’t actually want him.
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A week excuse
Contribution by Danny Chivers
You really couldn’t make it up. March 21st – 27th has been designated as a “Week of Action” on climate change in the UK. The eco-warriors behind this rebellious project? Why, it’s those well-known champions of environmental justice: Tesco, EDF Energy, and the Royal Bank of Scotland. I honestly don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Tesco, whose entire business model is based on the mass transportation of goods halfway across the globe, and on driving a race-to-the-bottom in environmental and labour standards in farming worldwide. EDF, who operate two of the five biggest coal fired power stations in the UK. And RBS – RBS! – who are the UK’s leading investor in fossil fuel projects.
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Sensible, not soft: the right approach to sentencing
Contribution by Gemma Lousley
The first definitive guideline from the Sentencing Council, published on Wednesday and covering assault offences, is well-thought-out, clearly set out, and overall very sensible. However, it’s pretty quickly gained a reputation amongst the rightwing press as being ‘soft on crime’, and allowing violent offenders to get fines or community sentences instead of prison.
The guideline doesn’t propose that sentencers shouldn’t send serious violent offenders to prison: substantial custodial sentences are set out as the appropriate response for offences such as causing grievous bodily harm with intent. What it does propose is a proportionate approach, so that sentences accurately reflect the harm caused to victims, and culpability. As such, it says that for less serious offences where very minor or no injuries are caused, community sentences should be used.
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Govt plans council tax rises for poorest
It’s popcorn time for fans of joined up government as Eric Pickles and Iain Duncan Smith’s departments go to war over council tax benefit. Duncan Smith is attempting to simplify the benefits system, while Pickles is planning to let every local council set its own rules on who gets council tax benefit, thus making the system more complicated and increasing the risk that people are better off on benefits than working. As usual, if Pickles wins, the losers are likely to be people on low incomes. continue reading… »
What should progressive councils be doing now?
Contribution by Cllr Michael Desmond
There has been little room for philosophy during the recent mayhem of council cuts, budget reductions and staff lay-offs. The nearest thing has been Barnet Council’s unedifying dalliance with budget airline theory, the controversial “easyCouncil”, where only bare essentials are done and costs restrained, which saw planners on strike yesterday.
Some Tory flagship authorities have combined back-room roles to limit administrative costs, and Labour councils have juggled meagre settlements to limit and in some cases avoid, cuts to front-line services. Of course, this is by no means the first time local authorities have had to face the music; but we haven’t seen anything like the savage climate induced by Eric Pickles’ hatchet since the 1970s.
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EXCLUSIVE: Help stop ethnic cleansing in Sudan
As everyone knows, the general public can’t cope with the idea that more than one thing might be happening at once in Africa. Presumably that’s why mainstream media across the board decided not to report acts of genocide in Abyei, Sudan, last week while civil war raged across Libya. continue reading… »
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or RSS feed.
» Even Tories know Osborne’s tax changes won’t help lower paid
» New #Yes2AV Postcards site launched
» Growth down, borrowing up: Osborne blames “Wrong kind of inflation”
» Did Labour councils deliberately cut frontline services?
» International concern for Libya must be regarded with scepticism
» What place for the Church in the Big Society?
» Can the Lib Dems save the NHS?
» What are your private sector horror stories?
» Our international struggle
» Arguments against bombing Libya
» Why the coalition’s take on localism is unsustainable
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