4 million unemployed if Tories win
The Sunday Times reported that one consequence of the Tory welfare plans is that if they win power, unemployment will rise to over 4 million.
Peter Hoskin at the Spectator welcomes this, because it will be achieved (at vast expense to the taxpayer) by moving people from sickness benefits to unemployment benefits which pay them less, and therefore requiring claimants to look for work.
He says, quite rightly, that this is “an ambitious plan, and far outstrips what has so far been achieved with ESA (which has seen IB claimant numbers drop by roughly 150,000 in about 10 months). Whether they’ll be able to achieve it is a different matter, of course.”
Hoskins concludes, “But, when it comes to Tory welfare policy, two words give me some hope: David Freud.”
continue reading… »
Labour keep up NHS attacks on Tories
The Labour Party continues to use the NHS as a line of attack on Conservatives after a week of bad press for the latter, thanks to Dan Hannan MEP.
Today health secretary Andy Burnham writes in the Guardian that there were “three substantial dividing lines” between Labour and the Tories.
The first concerns national targets and standards. Andrew Lansley says the Tories would scrap Labour’s three flagship waiting targets: 18 weeks, four-hour A&E and the two-week cancer target. This would be a backward step. Now that these targets have been achieved, Labour will turn them into enforceable rights for patients. They will be minimum standards below which performance should never be allowed to slip. Removal of these standards, as the Tories propose, would inevitably see a loss of public accountability and a return to postcode variation.
The second dividing line is on NHS pay. Andrew Lansley drops heavy hints that the Tories would reintroduce local pay bargaining. mistake. National pay structures bring a stability to the system in terms of recruitment and retention.
The third area concerns national accountability. The Tories have proposed handing over the day-to-day running of the NHS to an independent board. This would be a major change in NHS governance – a major gamble with a structure that broadly works and it is by no means clear that it would bring any improvement in performance.
For a party that has promised a “bonfire of the quangos”, turning Britain’s best-loved institution into the biggest quango in the world – responsible for a £100bn budget and 1.4 million staff – is an idea that has had dangerously little scrutiny to date.
Unsurprisingly Hannan’s response to criticisms of his appearance on Glenn Beck has been to say that his critics were wrong. What else did you expect?
Meanwhile the Press Association reports that former health minister Lord Darzi was touring the US media defending the NHS.
He and Tom Kibasi, an honorary lecturer at Imperial College London, wrote an article in the Washington Post setting out “facts” about the NHS for American readers. They said fear was playing a major role in how the NHS was being discussed in the US. “The myth-making ranges from the misleading to the mendacious to the downright ludicrous,” they said.
“Bizarre allegations of “death panels” denying care to the elderly, doctors unable to make medical decisions and “socialised medicine” fill newspapers, airwaves and the blogosphere. These are, without exception, categorically untrue.”
How Twitter challenges right-wing dominance online
If there was one important point to note about Hannan-gate last week, it was that right-wingers had little or no opportunity to re-shape or hit back at developments in the media. The row started off as a broad defense of the NHS (#welovetheNHS) and some broadcasters (notably Channel 4) went down the route of ignoring Dan Hannan MEP initially and focusing on attacks by the American right on the NHS.
But by Friday afternoon and the weekend he became the central focus and the Tories were very badly on the defensive. By this point the libertarians and Tories who had previously tried to ignore the growing noise gave in and started whining that people were ignoring the issues while only focusing on personality. This is typical from from bloggers who spend half their time rating MPs on their performance at PM’s Questions. But what did you expect? They start accusing others of being ‘Stalinist’ while saying they want a ‘sensible discussion’.
But a new precedent has been set and you’ll see right-wingers increasingly (and desperately) trying to change the narrative and pretend all this wasn’t a big deal.
continue reading… »
Is it ‘unpatriotic’ to diss the NHS?
There is a sentiment being twittered and retwittered about the place that the row over Dan Hannan’s self-publicizing anti-NHS comments on Fox News is a perfect storm for Labour, and that Andy Burnham’s intervention is a big plus.
Perhaps not for Guardian readers, who are a bunch of simpering, effete wet-noses obviously – but this will definitely chalk up some points with the solid English-as-the-White-Cliffs readers of the Daily Mail. Well on this one I’m joining the effete Guardian readers, because damned if I’m not unpatriotic too – and so should you be.
I don’t care whether the issue is Malkin attacking Dunkin Donuts, or Pelosi attacking immigration laws, or Hannan on the NHS or the Home Office declaring that protesting against British troops is considered unpatriotic and grounds for denying people citizenship.
Patriotism is a retarded sentiment which should be left to the fifteen year old kids in AOL and MSN chatrooms who type variations on a theme of “My country can beat your country!!!” as fast as they can, as though this justifies any action and can win any argument.
continue reading… »
Churnalism that helps the Tories
The Guardian’s headline yesterday was about Tory Shadow Chancellor George Osborne attacking City bonuses. This was based on an interview by John Harris. Now, I quite like John Harris – I think he’s a good writer and has a good feel politically for a lot of the audience that he’s writing for.
But I am certain that he knows less than I do (which is very little) about different models of financial regulation and how the Tory proposals for revamping the regulation of the financial sector would enable them to prevent banks from handing out big bonuses.
Harris is also a sucker for any argument about how even the Tories are defying stereotypes and making New Labour look timid and in the pockets of the rich.
The result was a front page headline which was very favourable to the Tories – mission accomplished for the Tory spin machine.
continue reading… »
Why we should take Hannan-ism seriously
Here are three reasons why Hannanism matters rather more than some of its slightly more moderate supporters will want to admit last weekend.
1. The big idea:
Hannan is both the most strident and the most feted contemporary British advocate of what has been the dominant idea in the Anglo-American right for the last thirty years. The idea is: “less state equals more freedom”.
There is still every reason to think that this remains the dominant ideological belief in the Conservative Party.
Listen carefully to debates on the right and objections to Hannanism are often matters of strategy and tactics. Many Conservatives disagree with the vehemence with which Hannan expresses his views. But these are usually differences of degree, rather than differences of directionality. Few want to go as far as Hannan in taking arguments to their logical conclusion.
So the content of Hannanism – less state, less tax, less regulation, less Europe – remains the content of most Conservative public advocacy.
continue reading… »
High Pay campaign launches today
100 leading progressive figures from across the centre-left, civil society and from all corners of the UK, have today called on the government to establish a High Pay Commission.
The statement co-ordinated by the influential political pressure-group Compass has support from Brendan Barber (General Secretary, TUC), Jon Cruddas (Labour MP for Dagenham) and Vince Cable (Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor).
They have joined 97 others who are today calling on the Government to establish a High Pay Commission to review top pay and look at measures to ensure excessive pay can’t damage the economy again.
Vince Cable MP Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor said:
I support the Compass campaign. There is no justification for massive pay and bonus awards in financial institutions, the most important of which are guaranteed or owned or have been rescued by the tax payer. Transparency and tax are important but a High Pay Commission looking at both equity and economic aspects is a welcome suggestion too.
Jon Cruddas MP said:
Our response to an era-defining economic crisis often appears timid, informed by the strange notion that we will soon return to normal. It will not and we have to adapt to radically different conditions. The Labour Party needs to reaffirm itself as the Party of the many, not the few. It can start by supporting this initiative for a High Pay Commission.
The campaign statement reads
The crisis we find ourselves in is one significantly caused by greed. The salaries of those at the top raced away while the median wage stagnated. Inequality grew, and an economic crisis ensued. The unjust rewards of a few hundred ‘masters of the universe’ exacerbated the risks we were all exposed to many times over. Banking and executive remuneration packages have reached excessive levels. We believe now is the time for government to take decisive action.
The facts speak loud and clear: an employee working a 40 hour week earning the minimum wage would have to work for around 226 years to receive the same remuneration as a FTSE 100 CEO does in just one year.
Remuneration and performance pay cycles are too short; rewards for failure are too great, to the detriment of the long term future of these companies and the wider economy. The government must now take decisive action on excessive pay at the top when it has had such a damaging and corrosive effect on the real economy and wider society.
In 1997 a ‘Low Pay Commission’ was set up to advise on the implementation of the Minimum Wage – a policy which has ensured greater fairness and economic stability. We need a ‘High Pay Commission’ to launch a wide-ranging review of pay at the top. It should consider proposals to restrict excessive remuneration such as maximum wage ratios and bonus taxation to provide the just society and sustainable economy we all want.
Furthermore, we also need the government to take the moral lead by setting reasonable pay structures within our public bodies, for public procurement contracts and last but not least – within our publicly owned banks.
We therefore urge the government to create a High Pay Commission to come up with concrete solutions and instigate the real change that will ensure a more sustainable, equal and secure economic future for all.
Signed:
Adrian Sinfield – Professor Emeritus in Social Policy, School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh
Alan Simpson, Labour MP
Alex Smith, Editor of Labourlist
Andrew Mackinlay, Labour MP
Andrew Simms, Policy Director, The New Economics Foundation
Andrew Stunell, Liberal Democrat MP
Ann Black
Anneliese Dodds, Labour PPC for Reading East
Bill Etherington, Labour MP
Billy Hayes, General Secretary, CWU
Brendan Barber, General Secretary, Trades Union Congress
Chris Mclaughlin, Editor of Tribune
Chuka Umunna, Labour PPC for Streatham
Clifford Singer, The Other Taxpayer’s Alliance
Cllr Dr Neeraj Patil MBBS,FRCS, Labour PPC for Surrey Heath
Cllr Jenny Jones, London Assembly Member, Green Party
Colin Burgon, Labour MP
Dai Davies, Independent MP
Dave Anderson, Labour MP
Dave Prentis, General Secretary, Unison
David Byrne, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Durham
David Drew, Labour MP
David Heyes, Labour MP
David Taylor, Labour MP
Davina Cooper, Professor of Law & Political Theory, Kent Law School, University of Kent
Doug Naysmith, Labour MP
Dr Brian Iddon, Labour MP
Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, Leader of the Green Party
Dr David Alderson, Senior Lecturer, English and American Studies
Dr Eryl Price-Davies, Principal Lecturer, Thames Valley University
Dr Ian Greer, Leeds University
Dr Jo Littler, Senior Lecturer, Media and Cultural Studies, School of Arts, Middlesex University
Dr Jon Cruddas MP
Dr Vince Cable MP, Deputy Leader & Shadow Chancellor for the Liberal Democrats
Duncan Green, Head of research, Oxfam
Duncan Weldon, Economist
Frank Cook, Labour MP
Frank Field, Labour MP
Gavin Hayes, General Secretary, Compass
George Irvin, University of London, SOAS
Gordon Prentice, Labour MP
Guy Palmer, The Poverty website
Helena Kennedy QC, Member of the House of Lords
Hilary Wainwright, Editor of Red Pepper Magazine
Howard Reed, Director, Landman Economics
Ian Stewart, Labour MP
Jane Wills, Queen Mary, University of London
Jeremy Dear, General Secretary of NUJ
Jim Dobbin, Labour MP
Jim Sheridan, Labour MP
Johann Hari, The Independent
John Austin, Labour MP
John Battle, Labour MP
John Cummings, Labour MP
John Harris, Guardian
John Leech, Liberal Democrat MP
Julian Petley, Professor of Screen Media and Journalism, Brunel University
Kelvin Hopkins, Labour MP
Kevin Maguire, Associate Editor, Daily Mirror
Lilian Greenwood, Labour PPC for Nottingham South
Linda Riordan, Labour MP
Lindsay Mackie, Writer
Lynne Jones, Labour MP
Margaret Moran, Labour MP
Mark Donne, Director of the Fair Pay Network
Mick Hancock, Liberal Democrat MP
Neal Lawson, Chair, Compass
Neil Gerrard, Labour MP
Nick Isles
Nicky Gavron, London Assembly Member, Labour Party
Noel Hatch, Chair, Compass Youth
Oona King, Campaigner
Paddy Tipping, Labour MP
Paul Flynn, Labour MP
Paul Holmes, Liberal Democrat MP
Paul Smith, Labour PPC Bristol
Peter Tatchell, Human Rights Campaigner
Polly Toynbee, the Guardian
Prem Sikka, Professor of Accounting, University of Essex
Priscilla Alderson, Professor of Childhood Studies, University of London
Professor Christine Cooper, University of Strathclyde
Professor Danny Dorling, University of Sheffield.
Professor Gregor Gall, Professor of Industrial Relations, University of Hertfordshire
Professor Martin Parker, University of Leicester School of Management
Professor Robert Hampson FEA, FRSA, Royal Holloway, University of London
Professor Ruth Lister CBE, FBA, Professor of Social Policy, Loughborough University
Professor Simon Lilley, University of Leicester School of Management
Richard Murphy, Tax Research LLP
Richard Scorer, Labour PPC for Hazel Grove
Richard Wilkinson, Director of the Equality Trust
Roger Levett
Ronnie Campbell, Labour MP
Sally Hunt, General Secretary of UCU
Sam Gurney, Labour PPC, Labour PPC for Kensington
Sam Tarry, Chair of Young Labour
Steve Davies, Senior Research Fellow, Cardiff University
Sunny Hundal, Editor of Liberal Conspiracy
Tom Copley, Chair, London Young Labour
Tom Flynn, Labour PPC for Southend West
Will Straw, Editor of Left Foot Forward
Webb’s mission to Burma
You’re not exactly spoilt for choice, but you’d be hard pressed to find a more interesting member of the U.S. Congress than Jim Webb. A decorated Vietnam veteran who still defends the decision to go to war; an outspoken opponent of the invasion of Iraq; a journalist & author; a former Secretary of the Navy; a former Republican and now the Senior Democratic Senator from the traditionally conservative state of Virginia.
But it’s not just Webb’s rich life story which makes him interesting; he’s also won admirers for the kinds of issues he works on. Whilst widely-regarded as conservative, Webb is one of the few politicians to speak out about the vast inequalities of wealth in the United States, even going so far as to speak of ‘class struggle‘. He’s also started trying to raise awareness about America’s broken prisons, and is proposing reforms to the criminal justice system and drug laws which might lead to fewer people rotting away in jails.
But it’s Webb’s mission to Burma which will stand as the most significant moment in the Senator’s short legislative career. As the highest ranking American to visit this vile dictatorship in 10 years, there’ll be much comment in the next few days over what might have been achieved, what could be achieved in the future and what this reveals about the Obama administration’s foreign policy.
Why Republicans are bashing the NHS
contribution by Josh Mostafa
Once people have had a taste of a proper public healthcare system, they won’t give it up. It’s a one-way street. In the UK, which is in general more closely aligned to the politics of the US (a neoliberal consensus on the centre right) than the mainstream of Europe, the NHS is the one public service on which the political classes dare not ravage with market fundamentalism.
Even the Tories have to pay lip service to the NHS, even going so far as to pose as its defenders from Labour’s cuts: ‘Mr. Brown’s short-sighted cuts and closures are damaging the NHS – we must stop them’. There may be grassroots mutterings, but a Tory manifesto that threatened the NHS would be an act of political suicide, and the top Tories know that.
The American Right are therefore correct – in strictly political terms of ideological self-interest, of course, not ethical ones – to oppose even the extremely timid steps being proposed by the Obama administration.
continue reading… »
Whining about the NHS
I wrote recently about the right wing debating tactic of whining that lefties were stifling freedom of speech on subjects such as immigration or the family.
This week, a very right wing Tory MEP called Daniel Hannan went on American telly to slag off and lie about the NHS, in order to try to help the Republican Party stop President Obama from improving America’s dysfunctional health care system. In response, the creator of Father Ted and quite a lot of other people, including the leaders of both the Labour and Tory parties, twittered about how they love the NHS, on the topic ‘#welovethenhs’.
Showing the independence of mind and diversity of opinion which conservatives pride themselves on, the response to ‘#welovethenhs’ from people who don’t support the way that the NHS is currently structured has been to, you’ve guessed it, start whining about how their opinions are being silenced: continue reading… »
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