We still need a coherent foreign policy
David Miliband’s sudden recalibration of British foreign policy has been widely – and rightly – interpreted as a make-over to match the more refined tastes of the Obama administration. By abandoning the brutish, unloved ‘war on terror’ and embracing complexity, pragmatism and an acceptance that our enemies can’t be thwarted by force alone, Miliband’s Guardian piece bore a striking resemblance to the language of ’smart power’ that Hillary Clinton promised in her appearance before the Senate.
However, the question of whether or not this is ‘change you can believe in’ is up for debate. James Hooper declares himself “reassured”, but Claude at Hagley Road catches a whiff of opportunism. Aaron just wants to know: what the hell took you so long?
There are some good points in each of these posts, but what I think’s been missed about Miliband’s rather blatant fawning is that he seems to think that by mirroring the rhetoric of the incoming administration, Britain will be the same kind of sidekick to President Obama as Tony Blair was to President Bush. In my view, that seems unlikely.
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Top Stories and Blog Review – 16th Jan
Nationwide
UK Muslims urge end to anti-Semitism
Tory blueprint for green economy
MPs’ expenses exempted from FOI
Opponents vow to fight plan for third runway
International
Hamas after the Gaza war
Outrage as Israel bombs UN
Ireland nationalises Anglo Irish Bank
Somber Bush says farewell to the nation
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sarah Ismail
Blairwatch: Who’s really to blame for Afghanistan?
Blood and Treasure: A list of donors to Obama’s inauguration ceremony. Friday Fun.
Hagley Road to Ladywood: Claude disagrees with our James Hooper.
Nosemonkey’s EUTopia: Publishes some results of the 2008 Weblog Awards.
Rahila Gupta/New Humanist: Vulnerable women need protection provided by the government, not by God.
I have started a new debate over at Same Difference, thanks to our Unity and Letters From a Tory. Is dyslexia a DisAbility? I think it is, but your views are always welcome.
Sunny/CIF: Hamas are not heroes.
Victoria Brignell/New Statesman: Three columns from Victoria this month, asking: Who is the most dangerous DisAbled person in history?
…an finally, in under the wire, Jennie recommends you visit Himmelgarten Café, where Mr Quist takes the logical approach to religious hysteria about sex.
How can we build a coalition on progressive issues?
One of the big challenges for progressives is how we connect up campaigning on different issues to build effective coalitions for change. This is central to the mission of Liberal Conspiracy, recognizing that there are too few spaces where progressives from different perspectives come together to forge strategies for change.
The recession now brings this into sharp focus. There may be an opportunity to challenge the dominance of deregulation, to question inequality at the very top, and remake the public case for the role of the state.
Another instinct will be ‘charity begins at home’: the enormous effects on the developing world of rising food and energy prices have been a very minor theme of political and media discussion given a financial crisis and economic recession. This is the crucial year for a post-Kyoto climate change deal – by Copenhagen this December. Will the deal we need be credit crunched?
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Libdems want white phosphorous inquiry
Commenting on news reports that the headquarters of the UN aid agency in Gaza has been hit by white phosphorous fired by Israeli forces, Libdem Shadow Foreign Secretary Edward Davey called for the government to demand an explanation.
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Well done John McDonnell
At least there’s a few MPs still left in Labour willing to get angry.
A Labour MP has been suspended from the House of Commons for five days after angry exchanges over the decision to approve a new Heathrow runway. John McDonnell was sanctioned after he picked up the mace, the ornamental club which represents the royal authority of Parliament, in a breach of protocol.
See the video here, and his explanation here. The economic case against Heathrow expansion was made well by Simon Jenkins recently, let alone the environmental case.
Miliband: the re-invention
While I can’t be quite as optimistic as James has been below, I do appreciate the contrarian and positive take he has offered on David Miliband’s latest Op-Ed in The Guardian.
I think you have to also give some credit to David Miliband, for his sheer bloody cheek. He’s spent the last 5+ years toeing the party line over Iraq and the wider war on terror, only to abandon the policy the moment a more sane administration begins measuring the drapes in the Oval Office.
Giving a voice to Libdem grassroots
For nearly two and half years, Liberal Democrat Voice has aimed to represent grass-roots and discuss party issues online. In this interview, the site’s contributing editor Mark Pack, also the Libdem Head of Innovations, discusses what LDV’s point is and whether criticism of online campaigning is justified.
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Top Stories and Blog Review – 15th Jan
Nationwide
Whitehall departments to share personal data
Snub to Osborne as Hague named Tory ‘deputy’
Broadband for all to be funded by the industry
Big Brother database a ‘terrifying’ assault on freedoms
Mayor to lead legal fight on Heathrow expansion
International
Privatisation ‘raised death rate’
Guantanamo agents ‘used torture’
War on Hamas saps Palestinian leaders
Hopes of ceasefire as Hamas replies to truce plan
Chávez reopens oil bids to west as prices plunge
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Lee Griffin
Diary of a Palestinian Mother, Fares Akram and RafahToday are all blogs worth reading to get some insight in to the effect of the Israeli slaughter happening in Gaza.
Himmelgarten Cafe explains the way forward for tackling youth crime and “feral” behaviour.
Rodney McAree thinks, rightly, that people shouldn’t be so readily jumping on Baroness Vadera.
Chris Doidge thinks business has Labour over a barrel.
Obsolete just can’t understand what drives Labour to be such shits.
Five Public Opinions dissects Madeline Buntings recent railing against the athiest bus. (hattip: Max Dunbar)
Newer Labour on not getting your knickers in a twist.
Freemania lets us know of SCIENTIST ACTION FIGURES! Just for fun, you know…
Miliband hits the foreign policy spot
My suspicion that David Miliband was clearly a cut above the rest dates back to his implicit rejection of New Labour, invoking instead social democrats and radical liberals. These being easily my two favourite leftist traditions that got my mouth watering and his stance on the latest Israeli atrocities have been about as good as could be expected from a mainstream politician.
Today, though, he seals the deal by renouncing the ‘War on Terror’. Overdue?
Quite probably, but better five days before the Texas thugs departs the Oval Office than any time after. But it was his rather striking argument that cemented my affection.
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Former KGB Lebedev to buy Evening Standard
The billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev is to buy London’s Evening Standard tomorrow, in a dramatic move that would see him become the first Russian oligarch to own a major British newspaper, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal.
Lebedev is poised to buy a controlling stake in the ailing title, following a year of secret negotiations with Lord Rothermere, its owner and the chairman of the Daily Mail & General Trust.
Under the terms of the deal Lebedev will purchase 76% of the newspaper, with the Associated Newspapers group retaining 24%. His son Evgeny, who lives in London, is due to sign the deal with Daily Mail & General Trust tomorrow. The agreement will make Lebedev the paper’s controversial new proprietor.
A source close to DMGT admitted: “The deal is still very much alive.” DMGT failed to comment.
The purchase will be an astonishing moment in British press history – the first time a former member of a foreign intelligence service has owned a British title.
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