The politics of beauty are constrained.
In a friendly meeting with fellow conspirators this evening, we discussed over coffee and snow-spattered mutterings the viability and ethics of our favourite Lib Dem and Labour MPs and PPCs. This is one of the many topics upon which I am both knowledgeable and possess an opinion, and although I was the youngest, least famous and most currently chest-infected person there, I felt that I had a right to be present, to listen and to be heard. I was amongst allies, or potential allies.
And then it all turned sour.
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Does ‘welfare reform’ work? No
In conversation with our star columnist Laurie Penny, James Purnell explained that when it came to welfare reform ”I think the question we need to ask is, ‘does it work?, isn’t it?”
One of the flagship measures of the welfare reform proposals, supported by the leadership of all three main parties, the media, numerous expert advisers and employment providers alike, is the use of the private and the voluntary sector to get what Purnell charmingly calls “the stock” back to work. During the debate on the Second Reading of the Welfare Reform Bill last week, only two MPs, Katy Clark and Dai Harvard, raised concerns about this. But, in the words of the Secretary of State, “does it work?”
By happy coincidence, the Financial Times answered this question last Friday:
“The latest figures show that where the independent sector has become involved with welfare-to-work programmes it is falling way short of delivering the promised jobs. What is more, the phenomenon was evident even before the recession started to bite.”
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Uneasy allies? Progressive dilemmas revisited
This moment of political flux offers opportunities to connect debates bubbling up at the level of ideas to more immediate political contexts. Both Phillip Blond’s Red Tory thesis in Prospect and my advocacy of a renewed Lib-Lab coalition politics of realignment in the New Statesman are political interventions motivated, in different ways, by the concern to do that.
Yet the difficulties in connecting ideas and politics are reflected in my scepticism about how far Red Toryism could influence David Cameron, and in what could be seen as a somewhat analogous sceptical challenge to me, particularly from LibDems including Richard Huzzey and James Graham who would both in principle be open to a liberal-left realignment yet who sought to ask of the barrier of the Labourist political culture “is it even possible to change?”.
Those are political questions and challenges – and we will find out how they are resolved. Yet, at the same time, these are also both arguments about political ideas – and how ideologies can rediscover traditions which have not been recently dominant – which might usefully be separated from the political cycle. David Marquand’s major new book Britain Since 1918, published last Autumn, offers an important starting point for debate, by illuminating the historic evolution – and potential future – of Britain’s ideological traditions on both right and left.
Protect your Data – time is ticking…
So, let’s keep this short and simple. Tomorrow and Thursday the Coroners and Justice Bill enters its committee stage where two days are set aside to take evidence from all relevant parties and whittle the bill down to something that is likely to be sailed through the third reading stage. Fat chance, then, that we can expect any significant changes or removal of the absolutely awful changes to the data protection act; this is why it is extremely important that you keep writing to your MP (it’s a simple online form, takes 5 minutes) and tell them that you oppose any introduction of sections 152-154 of the Coroners and Justice bill.
For those that haven’t been following this, sections 152-154 allow any government minister, to allow the sharing of any personal information to whoever they wish. They can sell our data to foreign companies and governments, they can allow our tax and medical records to be accessible to whoever wishes to see them, they can even theoretically stop the press from publishing information about an individual. How can they do this? Sections 152-154 allow not only any government minister to share data, but to rewrite any law that exists to facilitate what they want to do for the purposes of sharing that data.
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Digital Britain isn’t ambitious enough
The government’s report into “Digital Britain” – an 81 page pdf – was launched last week.
As an interim report, it would be unreasonable to expect it to have come to conclusions across the board – but time after time, rather than offering up suggestions or ranges of options for further consideration before decision, the report basically says, “we’ve thought about it, and decide someone needs to think about it some more”.
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Top Stories and Blog Review – 2nd February
Nationwide
Wildcat strikes over foreign workers to spread
Carol + David = new Tory strategy for maths fun
Unite defends ‘British Jobs for British Workers’
Labour seeks House of Lords reform
International
Iceland’s PM marks gay milestone
Hamas praises Iran’s help in Gaza ‘victory’
Deadly strike on S Lanka hospital
Tokyo cops to try smoking ban for interrogations
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Jennie Rigg
Happy Imbolc/Candlemas Everyone!
Stephen Tall on LDV tells you 25 things you never knew you wanted to know about the Lib Dems – including the leadership’s criminal tendencies!
Mark Pack (also on LDV) has found an extremely useful tool for anyone who is interested in developments in their local area.
Charlie Brooker has some neologisms for us all to learn. I like auntiepathy best, I think.
Costigan Quist has some tips for the government to avoid throwing £18 billion down the toilet again next year.
I discuss the top story mentioned above. Lots of interesting comments, too.
President Baroness Ros Scott had had tea and buns. Millennium WILL be jealous!
Eddie Mair has a big pile of snow pictures, but none of them are as cool as Web of Evil‘s first one.
MatGB details the true horrors of living with me (WARNING! Not for the faint-hearted).
And if that hasn’t put you off ever following a link ever again, Philobiblon has this week’s Britblog Roundup.
The government’s reaction to strikes has been terrible
In September 2005, hundreds of Asian women working for a British Airways supplier, Gate Gourmet, went on strike to protest that their employer was planning to fire them enmasse and bring in cheaper Eastern European labour. Before Gordon Brown had announced his slogan, here was British Jobs for British Workers in practice.
So I have a few quick points to make regarding this whole controversy as I’m trying to pull them together for a broader article.
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FactCheck UK/The Bullshit Awards 2009
There’s already a number of different projects under way, or in the works, to coincide with the upcoming Convention on Modern Liberty and I’m now going to add yet another new project to the list.
So, Monday 9th February is the launch date for FactCheck UK, a new blogger-driven project that aims to pull together some of the best talent from the British blogosphere and subject the veracity of Britain’s politicians and mainstream media to some much needed independent scrutiny.
I shouldn’t really have to explain the concept as you should all be familiar with the US FactCheck website and Channel 4′s own sporadic efforts. We’ll operating to more or the same principles but with a somewhat wider brief, one that takes into account the role of the media in spreading disinformation and bullshit. We’re also planning to be a bit less po-faced that our American counterparts and lace the site with a bit of humour to go along with the serious business of chasing the truth.
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Domestic violence: whose problem is it?
In a previous post, which suggested a few measures government could take to reduce domestic violence (or at the very least improve care for its victims), I mentioned the necessity for greater provision of refuges where women could seek shelter from their tormentors.
Conveniently, this survey by the Equality and Human Rights Commission details the extent of the current provision – or lack thereof – and produces some quite troubling figures.
The commission found that one in four local authorities in Britain has no specialised support services whatsoever, that a quarter of the rape crisis centres which do exist fear closure or cuts in funding, and that ethnic minority women – whose circumstances can be slightly different due to the intersection of culture, relgion and misogyny – are particularly poorly-served by current provision. In short, we’re just not doing enough to care for victims.
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Top Stories and Blog Review 1st February 2009
Here’s your bumper Sunday Edition!
National
Bank of England institutionally sexist shocker.
Bees disappear. We’re all screwed.
Children of Thalidomide still suffering.
Mandelson rides to the rescue of the P Off but skewers the unions.
Nurse told not to push religion on patients
Brown criticises wildcat oil strikes
Tesco to launch own-brand clothes website
International
Turnout 51% in Iraqui elections.
Catholic Church loves homophobes as well as Holocaust deniers.
111 Dead as petrol taker explodes in Kenya.
Putin faces mutiny in own government.
Gaza runs desperately short of food
Babies caught in Sri Lankan crossfire
My Sister’s Keeper: Lesbian’s Paradise
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Jennie Rigg
Tom Feilden fanboys David Attenborough in a celebration of the start of Darwin Season on the BBC. You can watch the programme Tom is talking about tonight at 9. There’s more on this in the Graun, too.
Mr Quist outlines the horns of the elected official’s dilemma – to do what’s objectively right, or to do what’s popular? (this is my main reason for being against an entirely elected House of Lords, btw)
Political Betting and UK Polling Report are predicting a Scottish election soon.
Stephen Tall continues the discussion about the meaning of the word “progressive” on LDV.
Robin Lustig wonders if it’s time to ban the bomb.
The Honourable Lady Mark is fanboying Nick Clegg.
The Daily Mash has yet another exclusive.
Septicisle has the usual links roundup, and Andrew Hickey has some more.
And if all that is just too depressing for you, Lucas Weatherby wants you to convert to Buddhism
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or RSS feed. You can also get them by email and through our Facebook group.
» The real agenda behind Telegraph’s abortion investigation
» How Scotland Yard monitors prying bloggers and journalists
» When disabled people want to work – employers can hold the back
» Revealed: the reality behind Workfare and why it doesn’t work
» Job snob? No, I’ve got the T-shirt
» Why country-by-country reporting matters to our wellbeing
» If Unions want to become stronger, they need to modernise
» Why work “reforms” in Spain are a warning for workers across Europe
» Five things you need to know about the NHS bill
» Bigger. Fatter. Gypsier. More Racist.
» Laziness levels in Britain getting lazier, wails government
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