The left faces a predicament at election time
A guest post by Joshua Mostafa
Sunny Hundal’s analysis of the Guardian’s predicament (whom to support since Labour’s transmogrification into the worst of both worlds: sold out and voted out) suggests a bigger question. Leaving aside the editorial decision to give the Tories an easy ride, the hard choices that the Guardian faces are shared by all of us on the left.
The fact remains that Labour, for all the depredations of the New Labour clique, remains the only political party that is linked to the labour movement.
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Demos draws a line in the sand by embracing liberals
The think-tank Demos today publishes a new pamphlet titled ‘The Liberal Republic’ to cement its move from being of the centre-left under Catherine Fieschi to its new liberal axis under Richard Reeves. He is a biographer of John Stuart Mill.
As if to politically underscore that point, it also announces that Tory MPs George Osborne and David Willetts will join the board. Pah!
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Does lower CGT actually help economic growth?
In response to my recent article: Lions, led by donkeys, a comment from Luis Enrique politely raised some justifiable concerns:
I suppose the most substantive point I made / question I asked concerned your views about the linkages between the rate of capital gains tax, levels of investment, productivity and the real wage. Are you concerned about the consequences for investment?
It occurred to me that, not only do I admire Luis Enrique’s elegant footballing style (on the hopeful off-chance he’s the same one), but I also respect him as someone who rightly challenges smart-arses on a liberal blog. So I broke the habit of the last 12 years since I left university and carried out some relevant research.
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Geert Wilders’ great plan to save the west
I recently wrote about the Dutch MP Geert Wilders being slammed by the right-wing lobby group Anti-Defamation League, but forgot to put his comments in context. The Dutch MP made an acceptance speech for the Freedom Award he was given by the Florida Security Council in Miami.
And Geert Wilders certainly believes in ‘freedom’, because he advocates a ten point plan to Save Western Civilisation:
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The Next General Election
Unless Brown calls a snap election in the next month or so, we’ll have a General Election by June of next year whether we like it or not.
Personally, I couldn’t care less. Like the famous South Park episode, this election will offer the tempting choice between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.
Now I know the usual Labour commenters will hurl a volley of abuse at me. About how the Tories are so much evil’r – and of course, they are. But seriously, having been a Labour-leaning voter and blogger for many years, I have become to view this relationship as an abusive one. Labour kicked the stuffing out of me, and I just put up with it.
Top Stories and Blog Review – Wednesday 6th May
Nationwide
Why is Labour still seduced by Thatcher?
Lumley in fresh attack over Gurkha rights
UK recession ‘worst since 1930s’ says body
Brown: Mail plan may be your suicide note
International
Obama’s $63 billion global health initiative
U.S. tries again on N. Korea nuke talks
German court bans very long names
Joe Biden pushes Israel to halt settlements
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Lee Griffin
Chicken Yoghurt details the moral virtues of our immigration minister.
Mark Easton turns Influenza A in to a philosophical musing on infantalisation of our population
Samedifference highlights the situation asthmatic children can find themselves in at school.
Lib Dem Voice looks at the figures coming up to the June 7th elections.
Jonathan Freedland/CiF comments on the all around bankruptcy of Labour MPs, and downplays Brown as the cause of their woes.
And finally Charlotte Gore is one of many bloggers to point out the Brown camp’s faux pas on BBC News. Alternatively you can browse through previous Netcasts
Nurses don’t deserve the abuse they get
This is a guest article by Zarathustra
As a nurse, the Margaret Haywood affair was particularly saddening to me, not just because of the appalling standards of nursing care she exposed in her secret filming for Panorama, but also because of the way she was struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council for doing so.
But whether one agrees with her actions or not, anyone who works in nursing will tell you that what she filmed was not an isolated incident, and can be found elsewhere in hospitals all over the country. So why is nursing care failing so badly?
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Top Stories – Wednesday 6th May
Nationwide
Why is Labour still seduced by Thatcher?
Lumley in fresh attack over Gurkha rights
UK recession ‘worst since 1930s’ says body
Brown: Mail plan may be your suicide note
International
Obama’s $63 billion global health initiative
U.S. tries again on N. Korea nuke talks
German court bans very long names
Joe Biden pushes Israel to halt settlements
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / coming later
In post-Soviet Russia, President blogs you
Dear Gordon,
Look, it’s fairly simple. Social Media? You don’t get it. Your video on YouTube has been resoundingly ridiculed due to your terrible performance and complete lack of content. The person who did the production for it? Send them off to the Kremlin for some lessons, there’s a good chap.
Why? Have a look at this. Yes, that’s the President of Russia contributing to his regularly updated blog. I don’t speak Russian, but diplomat Nicholas Whyte, who does, describes it as “an impressive performance“, and even without understanding a word, he comes across as genuine and engaging.
Politicians can, if they put the effort in, use social media like blogs, twitter and YouTube effectively. But if they don’t put the effort in? It’s probably better not to bother than to do something badly.
But then Gordon Brown does everything badly.
Losses rise at The Times & Sunday Times
Rupert Murdoch’s flagship UK newspapers have been suffering in the credit crunch as profits shrank at The Sun and the News of the World and losses grew at The Times and Sunday Times, newly published annual accounts revealed today.
Times Newspapers, publisher of The Times and Sunday Times, reported that losses jumped 17% from £43.9 million to £51.3 million in the year to 29 June 2008 – before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and recession hit the advertising market.
News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun and the News of the World, announced profits fell to £55.1 million for the same period, down from £61.8 million a year earlier.
…
The Times is widely thought to lose money while its Sunday stablemate is believed to be profitable. The overall loss of £51.3 million was not as bad as two years earlier, when it ended up £81.8 million in the red as the daily paper moved from broadsheet to tabloid format.
… more at the Evening Standard
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