With Labour on the estate
This is the second in a series of interviews (first one’s here) with people in West Lancashire who rely on public services.
The people in this article live on the rundown New Church Farm estate in Skelmersdale, just outside of Liverpool. Two – Neil Furey and Barry Nolan – are also local Labour councillors.
Excerpt:
“The broken gate we’re peering through leads to a backyard that is littered with torn rubbish bags, old takeout boxes, rotting food and chicken bones, abandoned toys, broken pipes, smashed concrete, and several hundred empty and crushed Fosters’ cans.
‘This is private landlords,’ Furey says. ‘They rent the places out to Polish and Portuguese immigrants (who work as pickers and packers on the farms around Skem).’
Nolan says that the estate was based on a Cornwall fishing village concept – a maze of small streets, hidden doorways and houses fronting walkways, with cars being parked away from homes. Unfortunately, he says, ‘the main thing that the design built into the estate was crime.’
The BNP knows enough to tap into this: this very morning, a local newspaper is running a story by a BNP member who claims Skelmersdale estate designs prove that weird (read foreign) architectural concepts baffle locals and lead to distress and isolation.”
The Truth about Immigration – Economic Migration
Note: Having split the asylum article in two, this is longest single article in the series and pretty data heavy to boot. Its also not one that can be easily split without compromising the argument, so for ease of reading and comfort I’ve provided a full PDF version for download – Economic Migration.pdf -it probably has loads of typos.
Other than asylum, the most contentious issue within the entire immigration debate over the last 10-12 years has been that of economic migration.
With the annual number of asylum applications received by the UK having fallen dramatically, from a peak of 84,000 in 2002 to less than 24,000 in 2006 and 2007, the lowest such figure since 1993, the tabloids have needed a new source for their favourite ‘swamped by foreigners’ stories and since the expansion of the EU into Eastern Europe, that source has been provided by migrant workers.
As ever, the truth is much more complicated than the tabloids would have us believe and contains some fairly stark lessons about the true state of the British economy, lessons that politicians on all sides of the House of Commons seem unwilling to acknowledge openly.
In July, this year, the Daily Mail ran what is, for both the tabloids and mid-market newspaper titles, a fairly typical story about economic migration:
British jobs for foreign workers: Experts reveal 70% of new jobs taken by migrants
More than seven out of ten jobs created under the Labour Government have been taken by foreign-born workers, experts revealed last night.
The percentage of new jobs taken by those born overseas is the highest of any of the major economies analysed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The article carries on to make the specific claim that an OECD analysis of British labour market trends since 1997 had shown that of an increase of ‘around 2 million’ jobs since 1997, ‘almost 1.5 million of this was accounted for by persons born abroad’ before adding that this amounted to ‘71% of the total’. This is a classic example of the press altering reality to fit a pre-packaged agenda. The report, itself, was published on the day after the OECD released its 2009 ‘International Migration Outlook’ report with this press release:
Keep doors open to migrant workers to meet long-term labour needs, says OECD
30/06/2009 – The economic crisis is likely to cause the first major fall in the number of migrants coming to work in OECD countries since the 1980s, according to a new OECD report. This is already happening, for example, in Ireland, Spain and the UK, which were among the countries first hit by the downturn…
In the United Kingdom and Ireland migration from the new EU member countries has declined by more than half.
Climate change splits Australian Liberal Party
The right-wing Australian Liberal Party, kicked out of power in 2007, has just elected their fourth leader in two years.
Last week, six frontbenchers quit their posts in protest against the Liberal Leader’s support for the Labor government’s proposals for emissions trading to help tackle climate change. They then voted out their leader and, by 42 votes to 41, replaced him with a climate change sceptic who is one of their most right-wing MPs.
A Liberal activist warned conservatives in Britain: “Climate change fundamentalism has wrecked our conservative coalition. Be careful it doesn’t wreck yours.”
It’s always entertaining to watch formerly dominant right-wing political parties get taken over by their wingnuts, whether in Australia or in the USA. There is speculation that the Labor government may call an election to take advantage of these divisions and secure a mandate for their environmental policies.
And I guess it will embolden our very own climate change sceptics in the Tory grassroots to redouble their efforts to kill the idea of ‘Vote Blue, go Green’.
After Dubai
Sovereign default is basically the posh name for what happens when a country says it can no longer meet repayments for the 545% APR doorstep loan it took out from Provident Financial.
But here’s the good bit; in these cases, the friendly neighbourhood bloodsuckers can’t exactly send round the bailiffs to take away the telly and the stereo. So what do they do? Hold a whipround for the victim instead, and write off large chunks of what is outstanding.
Would that Britain’s poor were treated the same way as Mexico in 1982, Russia in 1998 or Argentina in 2002. The real surprise is that states don’t try it on more often than they do.
Why Frank Field MP is talking nonsense
Via Paul, I see that Frank Field has written some utter bilge. He says:
It simply isn't possible to increase the money supply by 300% and for there not to be a megadose of hyperinflation built into the system.
This is plain wrong. I assume he’s talking here about the Bank of England’s balance sheet. Its overall liabilities/assets have quadrupled since the summer of 2008.
Now, things are complicated here by a change in the data in 2006. But there is a precedent. The Bank of England’s balance sheet also exploded in 1998-99. There was no subsequent hyper-inflation.
continue reading… »
Women advised: stay sober to avoid rape
Thinking of getting merry this Christmas? Think again, if you’re a girl. According to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), women who don’t want to be raped have a responsibility not to get drunk.
A new campaign, launched on Monday, aims to deter “potential victims” from drinking too much – implying once again that women are to blame for rape. Dave Whatton, ACPO lead on rape, explained that “A large proportion of reported rape cases feature alcohol as a factor. Ultimately we want to prevent rape from occurring in the first place, by arming potential victims with key advice on how to keep themselves safe.”
The campaign, which also contains advice aimed at potential rapists, encourages women to “let your hair down, not your guard down”. News associations across the country, including Reuters, Associated Newspapers and the BBC, have predictably honed in on the message that women have a responsibility to protect themselves from rape by staying sober. This may be news to potential rapists, but most women do not need to be told how to protect themselves from rape.
continue reading… »
David Cameron’s placebo politics
contribution by Andrew R
With the emergency budget safely pencilled in for after the election, there’s clearly no need for the Tories to discuss economic policy any more. Moving down the list of key priorities, the next giant to slay is, naturally enough, Health and Safety legislation. Cameron’s speech comes as a timely reminder of how tired we all are of a government that’s obsessed with cheap, populist initiatives rather than addressing the big issues facing Britain today.
And they don’t come much bigger than this: bureaucracy is killing the village fete. I’m going to repeat that so the full horror can sink in: bureaucracy is killing the village fete.
Or in other words, the people in charge of organising village fetes are such gullible, lazy, pigshit-thick inbreds that not only do they believe they’ll have to fill in reams of forms to get a tombola permit, but they are so scared by the prospect of reading, understanding and completing said mythical forms that, like the selfish bastards they are, they’d rather see the whole village go without the much-anticipated, long-remembered once-a-year thrill of winning a bottle of Tizer at a coconut shy than crease their illiterate brows in thought, or sweat over a row of tick-boxes.
continue reading… »
‘Why I parted ways with the Right’
Charles Johnson’s Little Green Footballs still remains one of the heavyweight conservative blogs in America. But by yesterday he had had enough.
He wrote a post titled ‘Why I Parted Ways With The Right’ – with his explanations as:
1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)
2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)
3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)
4. Support for anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.)
5. Support for homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.)
6. Support for anti-government lunacy (see: tea parties, militias, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc.)
7. Support for conspiracy theories and hate speech (see: Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Birthers, creationists, climate deniers, etc.)
8. A right-wing blogosphere that is almost universally dominated by raging hate speech (see: Hot Air, Free Republic, Ace of Spades, etc.)
9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide.
10. Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source)
And much, much more. The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff.
I won’t be going over the cliff with them.
Difficult to disagree with that really.
Cameron apologies for getting his facts wrong
Last week at Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron attacked the government over allegations that Preventing Violent Extremism money was being used to fund two schools with links to Islamist group Hizb-tu-Tahrir. The Spectator hailed his performance as ‘inspired’ and ‘a clear win’.
Only problem was that he and his chum Comedy Michael Gove hadn’t been quite as clever as they had thought. As the BBC reported yesterday:
“Conservative leader David Cameron has apologised to MPs for getting his facts wrong over two schools with alleged links to Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
At prime ministers’ questions last week, he said the schools had received funds from a government Pathfinder fund aimed at combating violent extremism.
But it later emerged the money had come from a different government fund.
Mr Cameron admitted the error but said he stood by his point about the inappropriate use of taxpayers’ money.
He has now apologised to the Commons for the inaccurate statement.”
You can watch the apology here
Even Dan Hannan opposes the ban on minarets
Is it still committing heresy to link favourably to right wing Tory MEP Daniel Hannan? Ah well, I was never going to be invited to the Cool Kids’ table anyway:
The decision by Swiss voters to outlaw the construction of minarets strikes me as regrettable on three grounds.
First, it is at odds with that other guiding Swiss principle, localism: issues of this kind ought surely to be settled town by town, or at least canton by canton, not by a national ban.
Second, it is disproportionate. There may be arguments against the erection of a particular minaret by a particular mosque – but to drag a constitutional amendment into the field of planning law is using a pneumatic drill to crack a nut.
Third, it suggests that Western democracies have a problem, not with jihadi fruitcakes, but with Muslims per se – which is, of course, precisely the argument of the jihadi fruitcakes.
Hannan’s last point is surely the most important. Whilst there may have been a few Swiss voters who voted for the ban solely out of aesthetic antipathy, I suspect they were somewhat outnumbered by people who voted because they are suspicious, wary or even scared of their Muslim countrymen.
If a number of amateur bloggers can speculate that fear of Muslims led to this vote, you can be pretty sure that Swiss Muslims have gotten the message, too. And therein lies the problem; othering often leads to more marginalisation, segregation, exclusion, distrust and bitterness than existed before. Those are pretty ripe conditions for political and religious extremism to fester, and so the proponents of the ban are actually succeeding in compounding a problem they supposedly wish to reduce. So they’re either dishonest or deeply daft.
I’m not going to claim that there’s some silver bullet for achieving greater social & cultural integration, and I’m not going to pass myself off as any kind of expert about extinguishing militant theism. But I do know that neither of those aims are going to be achieved by winning small-minded & petty restrictions on what religious buildings look like.
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