How can we still push electoral reform?
Over the weekend I was invited to observe the campaign group Power2010′s “Deliberative Democracy” event in London.
Chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy, it was billed as drawing upon the work of Stanford Professor James Fishkin to pioneer methods in which ordinary people might “set priorities for electoral reform, MPs expenses and political scandals.”
My usual cynicism about these sorts of things was initially over-ridden by how impressed I was with the democratic process at the Power2010 weekend.
There was something actually inspiring about watching ordinary people debate on equal terms, get enthused about their political system and work in a sense of reforming solidarity.
But the more I reflect, the more my usual scepticism returns. Because it seems highly unlikely that Power2010 can bring about the reforms (whatever they turn out to be) it champions.
(Channel 4 report at the end)
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Did public opinion change after ‘climategate’?
contribution by Climate Sock
Following the UEA email hack, it’s become part of the media narrative that opinion is turning against man-made global warming.
It’s usually worth checking any such media claim about changes in public opinion that have supposedly occurred following a series of news stories, particularly ‘dramatic revelations’.
Even when people are aware of these stories, they are often not interested, or may be disinclined to believe them and change their opinion.
Testing the impact of the UEA story is tricky, because there are currently no public polling firms that have regular polls with consistently phrased questions about climate change. But data from two polls, one taken in early November, the other in early December, do suggest that the UEA story has had no measurable impact on belief in man-made global warming.
Satisfyingly, both polls were commissioned by newspapers that tried to use them as evidence of growing public doubt in man-made global warming.
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Telegraph & Mail caught on snow ‘elf & safety’
This weekend both the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Telegraph reported that ‘health and safety’ experts had warned people that clearing snow from paths outside their homes could get them sued.
….the professional body that represents health-and-safety experts has warned businesses not to grit public paths. In its guidance to members, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health warns that if people assume an area is clear and then slip and injure themselves, they could take legal action claiming damages.
The Sunday Telegraph stated:
Heavy snow, low temperatures and a lack of gritting mean pavements throughout the country are too slippery to walk on safely. Hospitals have been struggling to cope with rising numbers of patients who have broken bones after falling on icy paths.
Yet the professional body that represents health and safety experts has issued a warning to businesses not to grit public paths – despite the fact that Britain is in the grip of its coldest winter for nearly half a century.
But the body in question – ISOH – issued a press release yesterday stating that it had been misrepresented in the media and called the reports ‘irresponsible’.
… the IOSH position is to encourage businesses to be a good employer and neighbour by gritting beyond property boundaries and to make sure that the task is carried out thoroughly.
This comment was ignored by The Sunday Telegraph and the wording from the Croner article used instead and attributed to IOSH. This was done without the knowledge of the IOSH Media team, with no follow up check being made.
The Croner article quote, which they say the Sunday Telegraph used instead, was a contribution to the ‘Just Ask’ column of SHP magazine, in February of last year. They added this was not the IOSH position on gritting public areas.
IOSH communications director Ruth Doyle said she was dismayed by the Telegraph’s approach:
To lift this wording from an outside contribution to SHP magazine, published nearly a year ago, and pass it off as ‘IOSH guidance’ is completely irresponsible.
“The IOSH position is most definitely to encourage people to be good employers and neighbours by gritting icy areas and to emphasise that health and safety wants to help protect life and limb, not endanger it.
In other words, right-wing newspapers ignored the correct guidelines regarding public path clearing just to have a pop at ‘elf and safety’ experts.
You couldn’t make it up.
[via Mark Pack at LibdemVoice]
Rod Liddle’s views on rich Russian oligarchs revisited
Liberal Conspiracy has been forwarded a link by a reader that may create tension between the newly touted editor of the Independent, and the man who may employ him: Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev.
Yesterday the Guardian’s Roy Greenslade reported that the Indy’s editor-in-chief Simon Kelner was behind the decision to push forward Rod Liddle’s name.
In a book review published in the Sunday Times in July 2009, Rod Liddle wrote:
There’s bling, you see, and then there’s blingski — which is a different, more elevated beast altogether. If you enjoy revelling in the outrageous vulgarity, tastelessness and ruthlessness of people who are rich beyond all imagining, then this is the book for you.
It is a magnificently emetic account of the lifestyles of the Russki oligarchs who, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, have made their homes in London to take advantage of our generous tax laws, imperviousness to extradition proceedings and profusion of sushi restaurants. It is not quite, as the subtitle suggests, the “inside” story of the oligarchs — but it is about as close as the authors dare to get.
[emphasis mine] Rod Liddle goes on to say later:
The book ends on a predictably darker note, with a trail of dead and extensive legal action. The oligarchs (now, how can I put this without incurring a writ?) may not always have acquired their fortunes in what we, here, would describe as a totally transparent manner. It is alleged that Putin’s government has pursued its enemies abroad with a certain ruthlessness, and when the oligarchs did not bend to his will and stop interfering in politics they — with the exception of the canny Abramovich — have felt his wrath.
In his Wikipedia entry, Alexander Lebedev is referred to as one of Russia’s oligarchs.
We wonder if Rod Liddle has since then changed his mind on the issue.
What exactly is Labour’s election narrative?
Possibly the worst news to come out of the failed H&H coup, for Labourites, is that Gordon Brown has been forced to expand his team of ‘election campaign chiefs’. Sure, Brown is in a weak position, but any political team should never let a range of people decide election strategy or messaging.
At this point New Labour needs one strategy and one clear message. Then it needs ministers to repeat that message endlessly in the context of their policy announcements. The political anoraks can find the policy detail if they want; for the 10-second attention span of BBC News @ 6 viewers – the message has to be coherent and repetitive (so it be internalised). That’s the way it is.
The problem with these extra chiefs is that not only will they send out mixed messages, but it gives the media an opportunity to run the narrative that senior ministers are in-fighting over the election message. They’ve been doing this for a while anyway.
I’ve said this repeatedly and I’ll say it again – there’s only one viable election strategy and that is the class war strategy. Labour should ignore the right-wing press and the Guardianistas, the polls bear me out.
The most worrying finding for the Tories is that Mr Cameron is seen to be on the side of the rich over ordinary people, by 50 to 42 per cent. By contrast, Mr Brown is seen as 64 per cent for ordinary people and 26 per cent for the rich.
Europe urged to accept more Gitmo prisoners
On the eighth anniversary of the first transfers to Guantánamo, leading human rights organisations yesterday urged more European countries to accept detainees held at the US detention centre at Guantánamo who cannot be returned to their countries of origin for fear of torture or other human rights violations.
Countries like Germany, Finland, Sweden and Luxembourg are being asked to do more to aid the transfer of roughly 50 such men who remain trapped after years of unlawful detention.
Amnesty International US Campaigner Sharon Critoph said:
Although several countries have already led the way, it is disappointing that only a few European governments have stepped forward to help those in need of protection.
Amongst those governments which have failed to assist are those previously most vocal in calling for Guantánamo to be closed.
The call coincides with fresh efforts to secure the release of two Guantánamo prisoners with links to the UK – Shaker Aamer (41), a Saudi Arabian national formerly resident in the UK, and Ahmed Belbacha (40), an Algerian, formerly living in Britain. There are fears that both men would be at risk of human rights abuses if forcibly returned to Algeria.
Amnesty, Reprieve and the CCR are stressing that 50 men remain detained for the sole reason that they have no safe place to go.
They have been essentially abandoned at Guantánamo. The plight of these men poses one of the most significant obstacles to the closure of the detention centre.
Meanwhile, a number of European countries offered a safe haven to such detainees, in line with the stated aims of the EU-US joint agreement on the closure of Guantánamo. These include France, Ireland, Portugal, Hungary and Belgium.
There are 198 prisoners still held in Guantánamo. Since mid-June 2009 only seven former Guantánamo detainees have been returned to Europe as free men.
A further ten have been sent to Palau and Bermuda, and two have been transferred to Italy for possible trial. Approximately 50 more still urgently need protection.
From a press release
Belief We Can Change Into
With politics, as with relationships, there are certain times when you wish they’d just lie to you a little harder.
This week, for instance, with the election months away and the Tory campaign bursting onto billboards across the country in all its terrible definitely-unairbrushed glory, it’d be nice if someone in government was making some sort of noise to persuade the people of Britain that they really do have a choice in their political leadership.
Amidst all the filibustering, the clumsy cloak-and-dagger backstairs plotting over a last-minute replacement for Gordon Brown, if it’s too much to ask that we actually be granted a degree of democratic self-determination, then it’d be nice if they were to at least pretend they have anything other than contempt for ordinary voters.
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Poll – Afghans very upbeat about future
Most Afghans are increasingly optimistic about the state of their country, a poll commissioned by the BBC, ABC News and Germany’s ARD shows.
Of more than 1,500 Afghans questioned, 70% said they believed Afghanistan was going in the right direction – a big jump from 40% a year ago.
Of those questioned, 68% now back the presence of US troops in Afghanistan, compared with 63% a year ago. For Nato troops, including UK forces, support has risen from 59% to 62%.
The survey was conducted in all of the country’s 34 provinces in December 2009. In 2009 only 51% of those surveyed had expected improvement and 13% thought conditions would deteriorate.
Tories warn: ‘premature sexualisation’ not OK
David Cameron warned advertisers, magazines and broadcasters today that they faced tough action from a Conservative government to protect children from sexual and violent images.
The Tory leader, who has a five-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son, protested that young children were subjected to “premature sexualisation” and “arbitrary violence” in the media.
He has previously condemned the sale of padded bras and sexy knickers aimed at under-10s in the high street. Today he went further, warning that Tory ministers would be prepared to ban raunchy and violent images likely to be seen by youngsters.
Retailers could also be told to take inappropriate products off their shelves.
Mr Cameron said: “It’s high time the children’s market and advertisers show much more restraint in the way they operate.”
Watch: Iris Robinson tribute video (spoof)
via Stroppyblog
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