Media campaign launch to ‘expose’ the BNP
Journalists and media workers are coming together later this month to launch ‘Expose The BNP’, a campaign aimed at revealing the undemocratic and racist nature of the British National Party.
Backing the campaign, James Macintyre, political correspondent for the New Statesman, said:
The political and media consensus appears to be that the way to tackle the BNP is to meet it half way, by talking up tough anti-immigration measures and airing this racist party’s lies. This conventional wisdom must urgently be challenged.
The new campaign aims to investigate and challenge the BNP’s attempts to construct a respectable public image, and to support media workers who refuse to work on programmes or material that break the reporting guidelines laid down by media trade unions.
Peter Hain MP, who will also be speaking at the event, said:
It is vital that journalists take a robust approach to the BNP. It was an outrage that the BBC gave the fascist, racist BNP the credibility they craved by inviting Nick Griffin onto Question Time. In the event, it became a shameful circus that boosted the far right party, and short-term BBC ratings.
In the run up to the general election and beyond, EXPOSE will provide well-researched information and background briefings for reporters, news editors and others in our industry in order to challenge the BNP’s statements and spokespersons, and the racism and criminality at the heart of their organisation.
Launch Public Meeting
Tuesday February 23: 7pm
Amnesty International Human Rights Centre, EC2A 3EA
Speakers include:
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, columnist and broadcaster
Mehdi Hasan, senior editor (politics), New Statesman
Sunny Hundal, editor, Liberal Conspiracy
Peter Hain, secretary of state for Wales
Michelle Stanistreet, deputy general secretary, National Union of Journalists
Pat Styles, national official, Bectu, the media and entertainment union
Weyman Bennett, joint secretary, Unite Against Fascism
The myth of the New Labour carpetbagger
Recently, Labour Party members in Liverpool Wavertree chose Luciana Berger, a 28 year old Londoner who works as Director of Labour Friends of Israel, as their candidate for the next general election. This has led to criticisms that the Labour Party “parachutes” loyalists from London into safe seats.
Or as Neil put it, “the selection will only increase the sense that Labour regards the role of MP as some glorified graduate trainee programme, and sees constituencies as regional call centres, expected to dilligently enact the faxed dictats from central office…Perhaps the defeat of Ms Berger would send a symbolic – but important – message from Liverpool to London that the days of carpetbagging must end if Labour is to re-establish itself with what was once its heartlands.”
Now the specific example is poorly chosen – Liverpool Wavertree is a marginal constituency, the number one target of the Lib Dems in the area. But the wider point deserves a fact check – is it actually true that Labour’s traditional heartlands are suffering from the “rise of the carpetbaggers”?
continue reading… »
Update: Tory PPC resigns, then un-resigns
Last night one of the top Tory PPC’s – Joanne Cash – abruptly resigned from contesting her seat in Westminster North.
According to the Daily Mail she resigned after clashing with party chairman Eric Pickles.
Insiders say she quit following a showdown with Mr Pickles over the promotion of Amanda Sayers – chairman of Westminster North Conservatives – to the role of President last night.
Sources say the women apparently had an ongoing dispute and Joanne Cash objected strongly to her becoming president of the constituency she is fighting.
Speculation that she resigned due to a pregnancy was unfounded.
Paul Waugh has the details of what happened.
But there is also speculation that she was forced out by the Tory Taliban for becoming pregnant.
Last night the former political editor of the Observer Gaby Hinsliff remarked:
whaaat? @joanne_cash quit as PPC for westminster n (via @nextleft). really hope this is not because she’s pregnant.
Political Scrapbook notes:
This blow to David Cameron’s efforts to select more female candidates comes after Liz Truss, the Tories’ candidate in South West Norfolk, survived a concerted deselection attempt after she failed to inform the local party that she (shock! horror!) had an affair a mere four years previously
The Jack of Kent blog lamented that Joanne Cash was one of the few genuinely liberal Tories who ‘got’ libel reform.
ConservativeHome’s coverage of the resignation was extremely and unusually short.
Joanne Cash herself tweeted two hours ago:
Lots of rumours flying around distracting from … electing new govt! Go go go people!
…which has left a few scratching their heads.
Only 2 Tory MPs sign EDM accepting climate change
An Early Day Motion launched a few weeks ago to recognise climate change has only been signed so far by two Conservative Party MPs.
RECOGNISING CLIMATE CHANGE
That this House agrees that climate change is happening and is man-made; calls for hon. Members on all sides of the House to recognise this fact, which has the support of the overwhelming majority of the scientific community; and calls for cross-party support in tackling this problem that affects all of our constituents.
It was tabled in December.
But so far, Peter Bottomley and Tony Baldry remain the only Conservative MPs who seem to want to put their name to the EDM.
Has the left won the first round in spending cuts?
contribution by Adam Lent
Back when cuts mania was all the rage during the conference season of 2009, only the TUC, others on the left and serious commentators like Martin Wolf argued that cuts came with major economic consequences.
The TUC argued particularly strongly that to start measures to address the deficit when the economy was still fragile threatened a double dip recession.
These views were of course rejected by the small state right in the form of the Institute of Directors, the Taxpayers Alliance and the Conservative Party itself.
Now it seems a new consensus has emerged in line with the view that cutting while the economy is weak is a recipe for disaster. All three main parties now agree on this since the Conservatives announced over the weekend they would not take any significant deficit measures until 2011.
continue reading… »
Women, political blogging and the future of the left.
I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time these days sitting in sessions about New Media and politics in which men tell women why women don’t blog. The New Media debate at the Progressive London conference this month was exciting, and uplifting, and full of cutting-edge ideas about How to Use the Internet to Re-energise the British Left, and at the end of his speech, Andy Newman made a little, throwaway comment which made me feel as if all the air had been kicked out of my chest in one go.
“Not many women are really involved in blogging, because the blogosphere is quite pugnacious.”
continue reading… »
Event: Will biofuels avert climate change?
The NGO ActionAid is holding the Big Biofuels Debate, targeting the UK government’s failure to address two of humanity’s most pressing issues: climate change and hunger.
Despite global consensus that industrial biofuel production uses valuable food crops and increases carbon emissions, the Department for Transport is currently developing policy that will increase the amount of biofuel in our petrol and diesel.
This means that by 2020 UK consumers with no choice when they fill up but to increase carbon emissions and push 600 million extra people into hunger.
To highlight this ludicrous policy they’re bringing together influential scientists, academics, journalists and bloggers from both sides of the argument.
Panelists include:
• The Times’ Environment Editor, Ben Webster
• Director of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, Greg Archer
• Founder of the Bolivia Solidarity Campaign, Amancay Colque.
The debate is being held at the London Transport Museum from 6.30pm – 8.30pm on Tuesday 16th February and there’s a reception afterwards to give you the chance to meet and chat with speakers.
To attend, email: Jadis Tillery
More on Biofuels from ActionAid on this page
From a press release
LC Investigation: Dorries claimed £70K for PR company services in 2½ Years
A detailed examination of expenses claims submitted by Nadine Dorries, the Conservative MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, indicates that she submitted almost £70,000 in expenses claims for services provided by two public relations companies in the 2½ years from November 2006 to June 2009.
These claims include more £20,000 for services provided by a PR company, set-up by a former Tory spin doctor in 2004, relating to Dorries’ controversial anti-abortion campaign, which failed to secure a change in the law cutting the upper-time limit for abortions from 24 to 20 weeks.
Dorries has also claimed more than £30,000 for services provided by two other ‘research’ companies with close ties to the Conservative party since becoming an MP in 2005.
Dorries’ official MPs website has also been found to have cost the taxpayer almost £9,000 since 2005 despite it not having been updated at all in the last twelve months.
Responding to reports that his company, Media Intelligence Partners, had received more than £66,000 in payments claimed against MPs expenses, ex Tory spin doctor Nick Wood told the Telegraph that MPs would typically pay for research, and then received PR advice from his company free of charge.
There should be, at least, a full investigation into the use of these companies, on expenses, by Conservative MPs.
continue reading… »
Both Labour and Conservatives are failing on housing
I was shocked when I found that eight years of Ken as Mayor and ten years of the current government saw the housing waiting lists double and house prices spiral out of control.
But with Boris now in office and cuts to the budget threatening to wipe out the affordable housing programmes, this bleak story looks set to get even worse.
In my recent report, Coming home to roost, I showed how the policies of two Mayors of London have failed to deliver secure, safe, comfortable housing.
In London, social housing waiting lists have grown by 82% as the stock of homes actually decreased. Right to Buy continued unabated until very recently, with 85,000 homes off the stocks. In the same decade, we only managed to build around 55,000 new homes.
There are now over 330,000 households waiting to be allocated a place that suits their needs – that’s roughly 10% of all the households in the city.
continue reading… »
Six reasons why CCHQ wants to control Tweets
Conservative party HQ wants to control Tweets and blog posts by their candidates, we reported over the weekend.
Why could that be? Here are five six reasons why.
“I’ve been reading up on the impact of previous economic downturns on our health. Interestingly, on many counts, recession can be good for us. People tend to smoke less, drink less alcohol, eat less rich food and spend more time at home with their families.”
Andrew Lansley, The Blue Blog
“This is going to be the most unpopular blog I’ve ever written, but here goes. MPs should set their own salaries. They should be free – encouraged, even – to take on additional jobs. And the fuss about how much they can spend on their kitchens is silly and demeaning.”
Daniel Hannan MEP, Daily Telegraph blog
“People and governments have spent too much and borrowed to do so. Now the world’s markets are saying enough is enough. Living standards in both the public and private sector have to be brought down. The private sector has to sell more abroad and consume less at home. The government sector has to get closer to just spending what it can collect in taxes.”
John Redwood MP
“Why is it that some groups in society, notably homosexuals, seem to regard almost any reference to themselves as automatically pejorative? It suggests a terminal lack of self-respect and self-confidence, an over-developed sense of victim-hood, a mighty chip on the shoulder.”
Roger Helmer MEP
“Global warming is a politicians’ scam designed to centralise power and increase taxes”
Roger Helmer MEP
“I personally favour a system of social insurance with levels of care defined by government as used in whole or in part by many of our European neighbours.”
George Hollingbery (PPC for Meon Valley)
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» The real agenda behind Telegraph’s abortion investigation
» How Scotland Yard monitors prying bloggers and journalists
» When disabled people want to work – employers can hold the back
» Revealed: the reality behind Workfare and why it doesn’t work
» Job snob? No, I’ve got the T-shirt
» Why country-by-country reporting matters to our wellbeing
» If Unions want to become stronger, they need to modernise
» Why work “reforms” in Spain are a warning for workers across Europe
» Five things you need to know about the NHS bill
» Bigger. Fatter. Gypsier. More Racist.
» Laziness levels in Britain getting lazier, wails government
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