TUC conference: what is trade unionism for?
I don’t know if Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson are particularly up on Søren Kierkegaard. But as the annual Trades Union Congress conference kicks off in Liverpool today, I reckon many union leaders could do worse than dust off their copies of Fear and Trembling.
The labour movement today is clearly facing what the Danish founder of existentialism would recognise as an existential crisis, a process said to occur when someone undergoes a deep questioning of the very foundations of his or her existence.
Now, I’m not sure if organisations as opposed to individuals can be so afflicted. But Britain’s trade union leaders really do need to ponder an obvious conundrum; what is the point of what they are doing? What, in short, is trade unionism for?
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BNP ‘hijacking’ Welsh nationalist hero
Wales News reports today:
The British National Party has been accused of hijacking the legend of Owain Glyndwr by printing T-shirts bearing the image of the historic Welsh figure.
Clothing depicting the last native Prince of Wales are on sale through the BNP’s merchandising website Excalibur, accompanied by the slogan, “British By Birth, Welsh by the Grace of God” across the front.
…
Glyndwr, who led the historic uprising against the English rule of Wales, was proclaimed the last native Prince of Wales on September 16, 1400.
In response, Rumbold at Pickled Politics writes:
Given that Owain Glyndr was opposed to English rule in Wales, will the BNP now support Welsh independence? The BNP’s use of the Welsh prince as a hero makes about as much sense as the BNP praising Nehru.
It is unclear what the BNP’s take on history is. At times it appears to be a very English nationalism, at other times the focus is on ’shared’ British or European heritage. Some BNPers are very Christian, others worship Norse gods. I don’t think they have a unified view of history beyond the notion that non-whites are foreigners. They struggle to reconcile a British nationalism based on racial purity with the fact that most Britons are of immigrant stock in some shape or form.
Will the BBC come clean over G20 cover-up?
In April this year the G20 protests were marked by the death of Ian Tomlinson and some notoriously bad coverage in the national media. But while even papers like the London Evening Standard have tried to make amends, the BBC steadfastly seems to believe its shambolic coverage was entirely fair.
After a misleading feature on kettling for the BBC website, Guy Aitchison from Our Kingdom and Stuart White from Next Left decided to jointly complain to the BBC in an open letter in May.
They made points covering these areas:
- Partial and incomplete reporting of events amounting to misinformation
- Grossly inaccurate statements about police tactics
- Poor follow up to the story of heavy-handed policing
- Lack of investigative impetus
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Brown loses the women’s vote
They were Tony Blair’s not-so-secret weapon in his landslide victory in 1997. But now women voters appear to be turning their backs on Labour under his successor Gordon Brown.
Until 1997, Labour had traditionally suffered from a “gender gap” in which the Conservative Party did better among women voters. Experts calculate that if women had not been given the vote, there would have been more or less a continuous period of Labour government since 1945. If only women had voted at the last election in 2005, Labour’s majority would have been about 90, rather than the 66 it won. If only men had voted, it would be a precarious 23.
Now the Labour-affiliated Fabian Society is warning that the party could be hit by a new “gender gap” at the next election because women seem to prefer the Tories’ approach to public services. It is accusing the Government of a “political failure” in explaining its multi-billion pound investment in public services and persuading voters, particularly women, that it still cares about people.
Polling for the Fabians by YouGov found that women believe the Tories care the most about the quality of services, while men think Labour cares most. Women are twice as likely as men to say they do not know who cares most.
Is Cameron really trusted on public services?
The News of the World reported yesterday that 26% of the public trusted the Conservatives most to “provide the best quality public services”, compared to 23% for Labour.
Inevitably that meant David Cameron was pictured with a well-positioned halo.
This week the new Left Foot Forward blog exposed how right wing cuts would devastate vital services and cost jobs.
But the media is not interested in examining policy, only politicians with halos.
Policy Exchange Director Neil O’Brien was quoted as saying:
These figures suggest the government has completely lost the faith of the public when it comes to the effective delivery of public services.
Really?
This New Labour government is an average of 14% behind the Tories in opinion polls. Given they are only 3% behind on public services is hardly a ringing endorsement for Cameron.
How journalists were fooled by anti-terrorism ‘expert’
contribution by Richard Bartholomew
Following his confession last month, BBC Radio 5 Live’s Donal MacIntyre programme tonight interviewed Glen Jenvey about how he hoaxed the Sun in January into publishing a bogus story about a Muslim plot to attack British Jews.
Jenvey’s antics came to light because of Tim Ireland’s investigations at Bloggerheads. Bloggerheads does get a brief credit, but unfortunately there is nothing about how Tim uncovered the truth or about the campaign of abuse and harrassment he suffered in the months that followed. However, Jenvey has told me in an email that he wants people to know that he is also sorry for that.
Tom Mangold’s report for Donal MacIntyre comes in the wake of an article published at Spinwatch about Jenvey and some of his associates.
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Osborne’s immediate plan of 30% cuts
There is a potentially important revelation in Peter Oborne’s Daily Mail column today, which is mostly an entertainingly argued dismissal of the ‘push-me, pull-you ‘oxymoron’ of ‘progressive conservatism’, as a Blairesque ‘all things to all people’ project.
Oborne worries that about the mixed messages, but is confident that plans are being drawn up for the spending axe to fall more sharply
On the one hand Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has sent out the solid ‘conservative’ message to the City that he will enforce huge public spending cuts. Simultaneously, however, Cameron and other members of the Shadow Cabinet are keen to put out a more ‘progressive’ message …
The truth is that Osborne will be forced to implement swingeing cuts after the election. Indeed, I can reveal he has ordered the Treasury’s permanent secretary, Nick Macpherson, to find savings of nearly 30 per cent in departmental budgets which would come into effect immediately if the Tories gain power.
Oborne welcomes this approach but wants the Tories to come clean ahead of the election.
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On clean cars, Spain leads the way
The Guardian reported this week that disused phone boxes are being earmarked as “recharging points” for electric cars in some of Spain’s biggest cities.
I decided to find out more about it and, by the look of it, it really appears the Spaniards are going to lead the way.
In a stark contrast with the tiptoing around paraded by other governments worldwide, next month Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero will unveil the Pacto por la Energía, so far the biggest electric vehicle production stimulus programme.
According to the Spanish Government, if all of the country’s cars were electric, oil bills would see savings of up to €11m a year and the country’s oil dependency down twenty per cent.
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The rising tide of xenophobia on our streets
Yesterday two groups were planning a demonstration in Harrow, London: Stop Islamisation of Europe and the English Defence League. Their aim was clearly to incite some trouble given they had deliberately chosen the newly open Harrow mosque as the venue on the aniversary of 9/11.
Up to 1,500 people were expected according to some but in the end about 20 showed up. The counter-demonstration by United Against Fascism on the other hand was massively boosted by text messages circulating among Muslims calling on them to defend the mosque.
But with the ‘enemy’ failing to materialise, inevitably some elements of the counter-demonstration ended up throwing things at the police. To be sure, there were many people from the mosque trying to keep the crowd calm and telling them to go home.
But I think yesterday’s event was pyrrhic victory.
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New Labour factionalism raises its head again
One of the strangest political trends of the year has been the Blairites, who dominated British politics for many years, carrying out massive unprovoked attacks on their own reputations and doing their best to annoy and alienate people in the Labour Party.
This is in preparation for their total marginalisation and defeat by Neal Lawson and chums in an internal faction fight after the election. I find this for the most part entertaining, but also somewhat baffling.
Over the summer, most of their leaders resigned from government, so it is left to the second string to keep up the fight for the true cause.
This week, Phil ‘not the singer’ Collins, Tony Blair’s former speechwriter and chair of Demos, has a smug article in the Spectator slagging off the trade unions.
I understand that there is probably some personal benefit in slagging off Labour’s main funders for the benefit of a right-wing audience, but surely this sort of behaviour only hurts the faction which Collins supports?
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