Call to boycott Total Politics blog awards
This originally appeared on ‘Though Cowards Flinch’, here and here
It has come to our attention that the magazine ‘Total Politics’ is planning to publish an interview with Nick Griffin, the racist leader of the British National Party.
Yesterday, we made an initial call to bloggers to consider a boycott of this year’s ‘Total Politics Blog Awards’, in the event that this magazine chooses to publish as planned an extended interview with Nick Griffin, the racist leader of the BNP.
The initial call was greeted favourably by some bloggers who saw it, and we are therefore seeking to extend the call. continue reading… »
Half of Americans think global warming ‘exaggerated’
“Gallup’s annual update on Americans’ attitudes toward the environment shows a public that over the last two years has become less worried about the threat of global warming, less convinced that its effects are already happening, and more likely to believe that scientists themselves are uncertain about its occurrence. In response to one key question, 48% of Americans now believe that the seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated, up from 41% in 2009 and 31% in 1997, when Gallup first asked the question.”
“A majority of Americans still agree that global warming is real, as 53% say the effects of the problem have already begun or will do so in a few years. That percentage is dwindling, however. The average American is now less convinced than at any time since 1997 that global warming’s effects have already begun or will begin shortly.
Meanwhile, 35% say that the effects of global warming either will never happen (19%) or will not happen in their lifetimes (16%).
The 19% figure is more than double the number who held this view in 1997.”
“In similar fashion, the percentage of Americans who believe that global warming is going to affect them or their way of life in their lifetimes has dropped to 32% from a 40% high point in 2008. Two-thirds of Americans say global warming will not affect them in their lifetimes.”
“In 2003, 61% of Americans said such increases were due to human activities — in line with advocates of the global warming issue — while 33% said they were due to natural changes in the environment. Now, a significantly diminished 50% say temperature increases are due to human activities, and 46% say they are not.”
“Roughly half of Americans now say that “most scientists believe that global warming is occurring,” down from 65% in recent years. The dominant opposing thesis, held by 36% of Americans, is that scientists are unsure about global warming. An additional 10% say most scientists believe global warming is not occurring.”
Clegg praises Thatcher, calls for more savage cuts
Fraser Nelson previews The Spectator’s interview with Nick Clegg, in which the LibDem leader has “put his heart into showing his hidden Tory side” according to the Speccy editor, who awards him a blue rose in noting his bid for a heir to Thatcher accolade.
It sounds as though it could be a major talking point at the LibDem spring conference in Birmingham this weekend, where it may not meet with universal acclaim among party members.
The LibDem leader is back in “savage cuts” territory, by arguing that the deficit should be dealt with only by spending cuts and no tax rises, which outflanks Cameron and Osborne on the right. (Nelson contrasts that with a Tory approach of 80% cuts to 20% tax rises ratio, and Labour 66% to 33%).
Age, he claims, has taught him the point of Maggie Thatcher. And, apparently, he now seems to see her as something of an inspiration, praising her for her victory over the trade unions.
Clegg may well be decisively outflanking the voters on their right too. continue reading… »
Calls for second fiscal stimulus to economy
A letter in the Guardian, co-ordinated by Colin Burgon MP, calls for a second fiscal stimulus to boost the economy:
The Conservative party’s calls for immediate cuts to the economy have been met by a growing chorus of criticism, warning that this risks sending the economy back into recession (Report, 8 March). The government was right to stimulate the economy with a variety of measures last year and so offset some of the worst effects of the recession. Yet, as some of the world’s leading economists have pointed out, the fragile nature of the recovery means that fiscal stimulus is still required. However, according to the IMF, Britain is one of only two G20 countries not currently planning any such fiscal stimulus in 2010.
A programme of government investment would not only stimulate the wider economy in the short term, but would increase long-term growth, thereby lowering the debt levels through a higher tax take. To this end, we encourage the chancellor to use the forthcoming budget to announce a second fiscal stimulus – especially in housing and transport, where investment has fallen most, and with a focus on developing a low-carbon economy – which would both help to secure economic recovery and create much needed jobs.
You can see the list of liberal-lefties who have signed it here.
How a Stupid Row About Facebook Distracts From Police Failure
When the Metropolitan Police shot the innocent Jean Charles de Menezes in the head, seven times, we didn’t get the truth. We got anonymous sources briefing the media that de Menezes had run away from police, that he’d leaped the barriers at Stockwell tube, that he’d been wearing a heavy coat thought to be concealing a suicide bomb. It was all spin – or as it used to be called, lies.
Luckily for the police it distracted the press for a long time – at least until an inquest was finally able to white-wash the case.
When a Met officer struck newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson with a baton and pushed him to the ground without provocation, we didn’t get the truth. After Tomlinson collapsed and died, the police briefed the media that Tomlinson was a rowdy protestor, that he suffered a heart attack, and that G20 protestors pelted an ambulance with bottles as it struggled to reach the dying man.
It was all lies – but almost all the MSM swallowed it, at least until The Guardian obtained damaging video evidence to the contrary.
So we know that the police lie when they mess up. By now, you’d hope the media would be alive to their tricks. Sadly not. continue reading… »
Demo to defend Welfare State
Since 1948, Britain has supported the idea that state pensions, health care, education and other public services are best provided by society as whole. But this idea is now under threat.
A coalition of campaigning groups, including the British Medical Association, trade unions and community groups, are organising a demonstration on 10th April in London at 12pm.
You can find out more here or sign the petition here :
We the undersigned believe the welfare state and public services are an essential part of any civilised society – pooling the risk across the population and providing support and services to us all. We therefore call on the next government to reject any further cuts and privatisation and instead protect and improve the welfare state and public services as the most effective way of tackling poverty and inequality in our society.
Hung parliament could sort out public finances
Given there is no sign at all that the Conservative’s disastrous 2010 campaign is likely to improve, this question of the economy’s performance with a minority government will continue.
A note from CitiGroup puts the case for the prosecution:
There is no consensus across the parties on fiscal policy, while Lib Dem voters disagree with the Conservatives on fiscal policy and prefer Labour’s policies on most other key political issues. Lib Dem voters would rather go into coalition with Labour than the Conservatives. We suspect that a hung parliament would only be able to implement and sustain major fiscal consolidation if boxed in by a market crisis. Gilts and sterling remain vulnerable.
The author acknowledges Nick Clegg’s recent vow ‘not to take any risk with UK plc’, and suspects that they LibDems will not cooperate unless given the Holy Grail of electoral reform in return. Which the Conservatives will never grant.
Clegg is getting annoyed:
“David Cameron and George Osborne are stoking up fears in the markets, actively trying to destabilise the pound and reduce the government’s ability to borrow. It’s like a protection racket: vote for us or our friends in the City will lay waste to your economy, your savings and your job.”
Too right. Chris Cook in the FT has a more nuanced summary of how things might pan out:
The threat of the LibDems pulling the plug on a government is overstated. The third party would, very quickly, be seen as co-culprits for the administration’s programme. So the LibDems would be stuck with them. If they then caused the fall of the government, they would be blamed for the chaos that follows … So the path of short-term naked self interest – the most powerful force in politics – would almost always be for the LibDems to back the administration.
The Lib Dems have the most to gain and the most to lose from the hung parliament situation. Their incentives are unambigiously in the direction of fiscal responsibility. No-ones goes around thinking “I can’t vote Lib Dem – they are too serious about the deficit”. A period where the LibDems hold the sensible middle of the debate: between diehard romantic deniers on the Labour benches, and blinkered trapped-in-the-1980s CutNowCutHarders on the other side, could gain them real credibility with a public worried about the difficult, um, balancing act that needs to be performed.
Theses on Progressive Conservatism
Republicanism, communitarianism, John Lewis, EasyCouncils, co-operatives, mutuals, the ethic of engagement, the reinvention of the firm, motivation and productivity in employee ownership and a market economy based on common ownership. Suggestive of the fact that from both the left and right a convergence will soon take place that seeks to undermine the legacy of Thatcher, or an effort from both the left and right to pretend to the electorate that they have their interests at heart? It is all rather indicative that what is fashionable in British politics today is the return to community – and the surpassing of current modes of government and market structure.
Progressive conservatism, a project by Demos and led by Max Wind-Cowie, rolls with this contingent, and like the Red tory Philip Blond, is avowedly anti-Thatcherite with regards to an embrace of greed and yuppie idolatry.
At a time when industrial plants are closing down, there are massive job losses, such as the current events in Middlesbrough with the Corus steel factory, with little that Labour can do about it – even if Peter Mandelson, First Secretary of State,Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, had acted a little sooner – and by disavowing Thatcher (whose image is synonymous with factory closures) a new generation of Tories seek to throw off their nasty party image. continue reading… »
Back to the 1970s with William Hague
Has somebody gone and invented time travel, and the story broke on a day when I was just too hungover to listen to the Today Programme? Or could it be that Peter Mandelson is secretly a Time Lord? They are supposed to look like human beings, after all.
I only ask because William Hague is set to give a speech today, arguing that a Labour victory at the general election will take Britain back to the 1970s.
This riff seems to play the same role in contemporary Tory discourse as the opening chords to Honky Tonk Women do at a Rolling Stones gig. Keef only has to launch into that famous look-no-hands duuuh … dum dum duuuh … dum dum bit on his open-tuned telecaster, and the joint goes wild. That’s because the audience knows what’s coming next.
So it is when Daily Telegraph editorial writers and the Federation of Small Businesses trot out their lame cover versions of one of Conservatism’s greatest hits. The dead unburied on Merseyside! Uncollected garbage in Leicester Square! Picket lines everywhere!
Tories slash funding for local charities
“We want to see a transformation in the role of community groups, social enterprises and the voluntary sector to help build a stronger society for all of us.
We would enhance the role played by charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises in tackling the problems facing our society.”
…and here’s what they actually do:
“Last week, the Westminster City Partnership ended ten years of partnership with the voluntary sector, by voting to relegate voluntary and community representatives to a powerless advisory role, with no voting rights.
Following the vote, voluntary sector representatives Drew Stevenson, Jackie Rosenberg and Bernard Collier walked out of the meeting.
After the meeting, Bernard Collier, Chief Executive of Voluntary Action Westminster said: “It’s hard to see the logic behind this decision, which ends ten years of partnership working with Westminster’s voluntary and community sector. It’s a u-turn in terms of local policy – and flies in the face of the policies of all three main political parties. We’re deeply unhappy with this decision.”
The decision comes shortly after the decision to cut £500,000 from the voluntary sector grants budget.”
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