I’ve always had issues with invading Afghanistan. Yeah, I hated the Taliban as much as the next person (and yeah, I knew about them before 2001), but I couldn’t see the sense in a ground-war in a country so completely conditioned for decentralised guerrilla combat.

The plan, if it was to be violent (let’s face it, military retaliation was exactly what 9/11 was intended to provoke), should have been intelligence-gathering, air-strikes and hardware support for anti-Taliban forces. Not that I’m a military expert of course.

The one thing democratic governments can’t suffer is an endless war of attrition in a faraway land. Any conflict in Afghanistan, that involved regular infantry on the ground, was always going to be one.

Now it seems, the British public are starting to turn against continued intervention in Afghanistan.

The thing is, I’m not sure how I should feel about it all. We’ve encouraged the Afghani people to get involved in democracy. We’ve empowered women to risk their lives to take a stake in the process. We promised these people a better future. Are we to now cash in our chips and leave them to it?

Whether you agreed with the war or not, it was conducted in our name. We voted in our leaders, we share the collective responsibility for their actions.

So what now? Do we continue to support the deeply flawed and fragile Afghani project, or do we pull our troops out? I’ve not got the answer, if that’s why you’re here.

What bothers me though, is that we’re not taking a shared responsibility. We’re not risking our lives by going to school, or having to take a different route to the office every day. We’re not all, like many hundreds of Military families, dreading the phone call that tells them that a loved one has been killed in a hostile land thousands of miles away. What contribution is the majority making?

I’m sorry, but a rich nation sending soldiers into battle without adequate hardware is unforgivable. Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, insists that the war is “winnable”. Is it? Is it really?

We have no strategy to win. There is no half-arsed strategy to win a war where the enemy dissolves into the landscape, able to pick and choose its fights. So how much blood do we spill before the inevitable humiliating withdrawal?

We have two choices. We can leave now, and send our troops back to their families alive. Or we put the many more thousands of boots on the ground it will take to lock-down the violence. And we give them the helicopters, body-armor, and weapons needed to do the job.

A war cannot be won on the cheap. We are selling-out our troops, and we should demand every politician in the land answers for that.

And guess what?

We put him there. The progressives. Or so-called progressives, anyway.

The New Labour project, that brave centre-left experiment to bring Clintonian Third-Way politics to a post-Thatcherite Britain, is over.

Yeah, Slippery Dave promises us pragmatic politics without “isms”, but we know that’s a crock to triangulate the Tories for the maximum haul of MPs at the next general election. Cameron will use his majority to remind us what a bunch of twat-necks the Tories are, and always have been.

I’m not a socialist. I’m a centre-left liberal. I believe in robust markets and social liberalism. Labour’s failure is not its adoption of Ordoliberalism, but its failure to deliver it.

The State has spent millions on management consultants, yet it has been proven incompetent at improving systems and controlling costs — two pillars of good management.

Look at the colossal clusterfuck that is tax-credits. Hard working families have found themselves repaying thousands back, because the system is convoluted, over-complicated and utterly mismanaged. Brown’s gargantuan tax-system is an operational catastrophe that has ultimately failed the working poor.

Then there is Labour’s abject failure to communicate to the working classes. New Labour’s kowtowing to the Murdoch press and its rabid commitment to spinning a narrative to the bloated middle classes, have ensured it no longer speaks directly to the poor and disenfranchised. Whenever a section of society is ignored and marginalised, the predatory fascist right move in to fill the vacuum. I predicted this years ago, as did many writers and commentators.

The final nail was the expenses scandal, which was a plague on all their houses. But it was Labour, with its huge majorities, which could have reformed the system — had they not been abusing it like alcoholics at a free-bar.

Our politics is broken, but the Labour Party is shattered. It’s on life-support and few people actually want to see it pull-through. If we forget tribalism for a second, wouldn’t the progressive cause actually be helped by the quick suffocation of The Labour Party?

We need to reclaim the conversation from the far-right. We need to address, both rhetorically and practically, the concerns of the working poor.

Progressive politics must have a carnival of ideas. We need to experiment with proven policies that have been successful across Europe and the world, and we must remain focussed on efficiency and delivery. These are lean times, but it doesn’t mean we can’t work towards better times.

Labour will lose the next general election, but it lost a commitment to progressive politics a long time ago.

See also… A contrarian but insightful response by Mr. Dillow at tygerland

If like me you first read about her in The New York Times, you may also know that — from the comments posted there by liberal readers — the left aren’t particularly taken with her. The grassroots left, whose activism had propelled the young Chicagoan outsider to the presidency, were hoping for a nominee who would be guaranteed to further their cause (not to mention piss off the GOP).

Sotomayor isn’t an activist judge. She’s a champion of judicial process. To the polarised partisan her judgements might appear ambiguous (and so could be “shaped” to fit any desired narrative), but this is because they’re nuanced. A judge shouldn’t seek to push an agenda.

This doesn’t mean Sotomayor won’t be a liberal judge. No one is completely objective (even if, invariably, prejudiced myopia is a conservative trait). But it may mean that she will be a floating vote on close judgements. And surely, this is what we should really expect from Obama. He’s never claimed to be an activist liberal, he has always championed merit, fairness and common-sense.

To me Sotomayor is the perfect Obama choice. She has risen from humble origins to the brink of the highest court in The United States. She is smart — she graduated second in her Princeton class, and was an editor of the school’s law review. And Sotomayor appears to put reason and pragmatism ahead of culture-war politics.

Of course just because Sotomayor isn’t a rabid baby-eating liberal, it doesn’t mean that the Republicans will accept her with fair-minded acquiescence. In reality, the GOP is probably livid that they don’t have an activist judge they can easily paint as a “jackbooted feminazi”.

The Republican Party is in complete disarray. Rovian conservatism is built on the politicisation of religion. The GOP needs a Supreme Court fight to energise and unite its base — not to mention invigorate its fund-raising efforts.

The right thing for the Republicans to do would be to take the high-ground and embrace the new political atmosphere. Obama could have nominated a much more threatening judge (or Democrat politician) to the SCOTUS. He didn’t. But to a desperate GOP a fight’s a fight, and boy do they want a fight.

Sunny adds:

Personally, I couldn’t care less. Like the famous South Park episode, this election will offer the tempting choice between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.

Now I know the usual Labour commenters will hurl a volley of abuse at me. About how the Tories are so much evil’r – and of course, they are. But seriously, having been a Labour-leaning voter and blogger for many years, I have become to view this relationship as an abusive one. Labour kicked the stuffing out of me, and I just put up with it.

Well, I’m over Labour. I’ve tasted life without having to explain away its horrible illiberal policies and its appalling management of our country, and I like it.

I’m free. Single. And looking for a political fling.

The 50p top-rate of tax was the political equivalent of Labour hiring a light aeroplane and flying a banner declaring that it still loves me. Too little, too late.

Anyway, I never wanted Labour to scald the rich, only to piss away the money down a Whitehall toilet. I wanted it to govern with some savvy, with an eye on making the country a progressive one, with skills and infrastructure that would be the envy of the world.

What we got was a flurry of increasingly authoritarian bills, an army of management consultants, and an economy built on rabid consumption and cheap foreign debt. Simplistic, I know. But remember, a former lover is a bitter, vicious little shit.

So what do I do? Who do I vote for?

I’m the deputy editor of the country’s leading liberal/left blog. I’m in a – sort of – privileged position. People read my guff whether they like it or not (okay, invariably they don’t, but still…). So who do I support?

Of course I wouldn’t vote Conservative. Cameron’s a tool, isn’t he? Even many Tories think he’s an empty-suit and a bit of a toad. Also, his party seems to consist of hateful, narcissistic, bedroom-bound bloggers – in other words, about as sexy as a bootie-call from your grandma.

The Lib Dems? Maybe. I just don’t trust that Clegg dude. I wanted him to win, but he’s been so cowardly. I like my politicians with gumption. C’mon Nick, dissolve my knickers with a ballsy position on weed or something. I need to be wooed, and you’re a bit, well, wet.

Finally, we have the Greens. They’re nothing if not brave. They certainly want to mix it up. Radicalism is sexy and they’re big on hemp. My only problem is my penchant for cheap mini-breaks on the continent. Do I really want to give up my alcohol-fueled jaunts across Eastern Europe, for a bunch of windmill-loving hippies? Probably not.

Do you know what I want?

I want smart politics from dedicated, capable and resourceful people. I want a hint of radicalism – a party that’s prepared to upset the rightwing press and blow the lid off that stuffy morgue called Westminster.

I want a party that doesn’t accept the status quo of establishment bullshit, which means being a Briton is like living in a casino where the house always wins.

I want brave, intelligent progressive politicians who aren’t obsessed with the permanent campaign.

I want what I can’t have.

But I have to pass comment on this week’s copy of OK! Magazine.

THIS week in our special tribute issue we’ve got world exclusive words from Jade Goody and unseen pictures as the brave star clings to life…

Is today’s celebrity culture so sickeningly turbo-charged, that we have “tribute issues” before people have even had the chance to die?

Hell in a handcart people, hell in a handcart.

(hat-tip Akela)

Huge fall revealed in UK car production

Nationwide
Blears tells cabinet ‘get a grip’
Tests blamed for blighting children’s lives
The march of the atheist movement
Pupils told to think like a suicide bomber
Homeowners will get £500m in mortgage aid

International
U.S. Tries a Trillion-Dollar Key for Locked Lending
Obama’s drive-by diplomacy
Signs of US protectionism worrying
Saab seeks bankruptcy protection in battle for survival
Christopher Hitchens duffed up in Beirut

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sarah Ismail

Angela Saini: On journalism’s stars of the future. Friday Fun 1.

Blood and Treasure: Domestic violence with a difference.

Indigo Jo: Reviews last Monday’s Panorama.

MediaWatchWatch: Jacqui Smith is at it again.

Natalie Bennett: Has been getting to grips with France.

New Statesman: Observations on e-books. Friday Fun 2.

Stumbling and Mumbling: Has gone mathematical.

Bank bail-out ‘could send national debt soaring by £1.5 trillion’ (link)

Okay, upon reading the article it’s clear that the “soaring” has much to do with the ONS (the Office for National Statistics) reclassifying banks, that have been “recapitalised” with public funds, as public institutions (i.e. taking on the bank’s liabilities*). Therefore, we learn, that debt may exceed 150% of national income.

This is frightening.

What bothers me though, is that people – politicians and the media mainly – view this recession as something that needs treating. When in fact, rather than being the disease, the financial crisis is the cure.

The recession is a market correction of a hugely over-inflated housing market (it will correct, and home values will/may return to a more realistic level of appreciation). The recession is a reaction to borrowing on a massive and wholly unsustainable scale. The recession is the global economy snapping back, as rampant growth surpassed the finite resources we have available.

We should stop thinking of the recession as something we can spend our way out of, and just swallow our medicine. Governments, rather than trying to perpetuate a bankrupt economic status quo (see the reduction in V.A.T.), should be using funds to provide basic safety nets for those who fall through the cracks.

We should stop lying to ourselves. We need to be honest. We can’t afford to continue spending money we don’t have. Continuous growth is an illusion. Markets will fluctuate. That’s the way it is.

We spent more than we had. We borrowed beyond our means. And now we have to suck it up.

Sorry. But we need to grow up. And our politicians need to stop bullshitting, and tell us what we don’t want to hear.

The recession is the cure. Now let’s stop making matters worse, and deal with it.

*Assets, other than short-term bonds and cash-at-hand, are not included. This will give an inaccurate interpretation of the *real* balance sheet. In fairness, it’s hard to calculate assets when the value of property, and the ability of lenders to service borrowing, are so uncertain. Accountants should always side with caution – indeed, specific rules state as much.

I think you have to also give some credit to David Miliband, for his sheer bloody cheek. He’s spent the last 5+ years toeing the party line over Iraq and the wider war on terror, only to abandon the policy the moment a more sane administration begins measuring the drapes in the Oval Office.

It’s a shame that Labour had to shed so many supporters, commentators and activists in the process.

I mean, was it all really worth it?

Was watching Mr. Blair accept his medal from W, really worth all the blood and treasure? I think probably not.

Indeed this paragraph really got my goat ::

The more we lump terrorist groups together and draw the battle lines as a simple binary struggle between moderates and extremists, or good and evil, the more we play into the hands of those seeking to unify groups with little in common. Terrorist groups need to be tackled at root, interdicting flows of weapons and finance, exposing the shallowness of their claims, channelling their followers into democratic politics.

I’m sorry, but isn’t this just what the intelligent people have been saying ever since 9/11? Isn’t this the same line the New Labour cabinet has been rejecting week-in week-out on Question Time?

Does this mean that they’re going to stop grandstanding on terrorism to push through illiberal policies and that they’re about to abort ridiculous projects such as ID cards? Or is Miliband just, as Alisdair Cameron has suggested, merely positioning himself cleverly with a leadership bid in mind?

Or maybe Brown is behind this: is the PM, ever the pathetic weakling, adjusting British foreign policy to continue its conjoined (yet always subservient) relationship with Washington? Something Tim Almond has wisely referred to as “a shocking bit of 51st statism”. No change there then.

Maybe, just maybe, New Labour could have shown a bit of courage and stood up to Bush back when Tony left the stage. As Iain Martin points out in the Telegraph, Miliband’s timing is evidence of colossal cowardliness.

I’ll leave you with Miliband’s most hypocritical paragraph, just to see if you manage to finish it without grinding your teeth into powdery white enamel dust ::

We must respond to terrorism by championing the rule of law, not subordinating it, for it is the cornerstone of the democratic society. We must uphold our commitments to human rights and civil liberties at home and abroad. That is surely the lesson of Guantánamo and it is why we welcome President-elect Obama’s commitment to close it.

Amen (at last).

See also:
Hagley Road to Ladywood – Claude takes both Milipede and James to task.
Orangepan – Miliband moderates his tone

Update: As Leon, suggests, Justin has an excellent piece too.

Republican Mel Martinez has indicated that he will not seek a second term as one of the Senators from Florida, opening the door for the popular former governor to return to high-profile politics.

Unlike his idiot brother, Jeb is actually a very capable statesman. He left the governorship with stellar approval ratings and is considered something of a political “rockstar” among GOP ranks. 2012 may be too soon, but who would bet against another Bush ticket in the Presidential campaign of 2016? Not me, that’s for sure.

One of the key demographic swings of the recent election was the Latino embrace of the Democrats (traditionally a strong GOP voting block). As Spanish-speaking Americans continue to increase their number, both parties will double their efforts to capture their imagination. Jeb Bush is very well regarded among Latinos and this should increase his appeal to GOP party mandarins.

Jeb was always most gifted of the Bush progeny, but the question remains as to whether his moron of a brother has ruined the family brand permanently?

One to watch.

Progressive London is a cross-party coalition that will feature leading figures from the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Greens, Trade Unions, and leading figures from the capital’s community.

On January 24th 2009, Progressive London will hold a conference to flesh out its plans for London’s future. Key issues include the financial crisis, and the city’s prominence in the financial world. Livingston, in an 8-point plan, has outlined what he thinks London should do to “meet the recession”.

Transport is expected to be one of the main areas of contention, with Livingstone using the coalition launch to attack Boris Johnson on public transport fares:

‘The international financial crisis means that to sustain London as the best city in the world and protect living standards we need more public investment in areas like transport, good housing and improving the environment while, for example, holding down fares and promoting the city’s international openness and multicultural dynamism.

‘This whole approach is challenged by the London Mayor undermining London’s prosperity and pursuing policies like cutting transport investment and pushing up fares for ordinary Londoners while letting Chelsea tractors clog the roads and poison the city’s air.

Among the speakers at the convention will be the MP for Dagenham John Cruddas, who as Dave Hill explains, “is thought by many as the man who could win back some of the mostly white, outer London voters who opted for Boris.”

It’s unclear as to the involvement, if any, of official party leaderships in the coalition.

(hat-tip, with kisses, to Leon)

Brown bounce fuelled by fears of recession

Elsewhere…
Mandelson: banks meltdown could save post office network
Now banks raise credit card costs
Tories ‘plan to cut business tax’
Pakistanis Mired in Brutal Battle to Oust Taliban

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Aaron Heath

Mark Pack/LDV – Were the record turnouts just media hype?

Andy Worthington – Andy updates us on the strange case of Guantánamo detainee Binyam Mohamed, and his quest for justice.

Tim Worstall – On the 11th-hour of the 11th-day, Tim rues the erosion of our liberties.

Mr. Eugenides – The angry little tot brings us this week’s Britblog review: The Audacity of Hazel Edition.

Bloggerheads – Iain Dale wades into the justice system. Comedy ensues.

Index on Censorship – David Davis MP writes on how further curtailment of media freedom, in respect to matters of ‘national security’, would be a mistake.

Millennium Dome, Elephant – The Fluffy take on Ros, Lemit, and the “other one”.

Paying their respects :: Earthpal, Mike Power, Jennie, James Higham… if I’ve missed you, let me know in the comments.

Trevor Phillips: Labour ‘racism’
would block British Obama

Elsewhere
Tesco boss put pressure on Bank to cut rate
Palin: I’m not a diva
School collapse in Haiti
UK criminals ‘behind £500m Ireland cocaine haul’
Japanese Stores Take Convenience To a New Level

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Aaron Heath

Alix Mortimer – Possibly the most impressive blog post in the history of everything. Alix should be placed in shrinkwrap so that she’s never spoiled by this horrid, horrid world.

Paul Linford – In a week of elections, Paul opines on the contrast between the victors.

Liberal England – A National DNA database? Yeah, the Tories would be so much better on issues of civil liberty. Not.

Back Towards The Locus – BenSix argues that the activists that helped Obama win his presidency, now need to hold him to his promises.

The Daily (Maybe) – Yeah, he’s black – but he means so, so much more. Jim as ever, is right on the money.

Obsolete – Characteristically insightful analysis of the the Glenrothes by-election. Also, beware the rise of Poppy fascism.

HuffPo – Palin lashes out at the “jerks”.

Hat-tips to Justin and Jennie, who unknowingly helped put together today’s review.

Congratulations, and thank you America!

This morning the two-halves of America’s political world will be reflecting on the events of last night.

Democrats and Obama supporters will be celebrating a victorious new era of power and influence. Activists who worked hard to deliver America its historic first black president, can finally sleep. Looking forward Democrats have the unenviable job of rebuilding a damaged and wary nation.

Obama will now turn to building a cabinet to deliver on his promise of change – where the Clintons feature, who knows?

On the losing side, Republicans will be assessing a tattered party that has been thoroughly rejected by the American people. Many will blame John McCain, but the rot goes so much deeper than that.

The many scandals of the Republican congress have not been ignored. The Bush’s administrations many crimes and inadequacies have finally been punished (a bit). Americans have said enough to the myopic militarism of the Neocons, and they have said no more to the toxic culture war that has divided a nation.

If you ask me… it was the economy, stupid. But what were the major dynamics of this election? What now for the GOP and, of course, Sarah “Hockey Mom” Palin? And how does this election affect race-relations in America?

Good morning to a hopeful new post-Bush America, but will it really be all that different?

UPDATE: Justin, always the cynic, has got his bitter disillusionment in early.

On the historic night of the 2008 US Presidential Elections we Live Blogged the results.

It was a great night, and thanks to all the bloggers and readers who were involved.

Below is the live feed where we debated the unfolding events – archived.

Don’t forget, tonight from 9pm, we’ll be Live Blogging the US election (pssst! Look, over there on the right of our page).

We don’t expect much to happen before midnight, but you can still join us for some drunken conjecture.

Hopefully in the wee hours we’ll have something substantial to natter about. Either way it’s the place to be.*

Getting Prepared

*Unless you have tickets to some swish election party with an open bar and Ferrero Rocher. If so, you can bugger off. Whatever. Like we care?

This time the target is one of their own, BBC presenter and Thatcher-lovin’ columnist Jeremy Clarkson, who has upset viewers with a controversial remark about truckers.

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has prompted more than 500 people to complain to the BBC about a joke he made on Sunday’s motoring show.

Clarkson, 48, was taking part in a lorry-driving task, when he joked about lorry drivers killing sex workers.

“Change gear, change gear, check mirror, murder a prostitute, change gear, change gear, murder. That’s a lot of effort in a day,” he said.

The BBC said the joke had made “ridiculous an unfair urban myth”.

Lorry driver Steve Wright was jailed in February for killing five prostitutes in Ipswich.

I suppose Jez should be considered collateral damage?

Thanks to Leon for the link.

Election Live Blog

The Live blog has moved here, for archiving.

News Stories

A Sea Change for Politics as We Know It

Final Thoughts…
Thriller in Wasilla: Town abuzz over election
Polls Show Obama With Clear Advantage
Obama’s grandmother dies of cancer
US elections: time for America to decide
America is jittery as election’s outcome draws near
The Boss gives Obama a boost

Remember, LC will be live blogging tonight. Watch this space…

Election Netcast Special / by Aaron Heath

The Plain Dealer Blog – Ohio’s largest newspaper, The Plain Dealer, takes a snapshot of blogger opinion in this important swing state.

Arianna Huffington – Whoever is victorious tonight, it’s the Internet that is the big winner.

Oliver Willis – Easily the best web video of the election. Super Obama!!!

Kos – It’s prediction time at Daily Kos. Obama FTW. I’m cautious about Florida and Ohio, but feel two or three red states may fall.

Freemania – Tom calls the election. He believes Obama will win and explains his reasoning.

Rachel North – Explaining why Obama must win. Excellent post.

Andy Worthington – War crimes: what the candidates don’t talk about. Important.

Resources ::

The final polls at RCP

Election twitter feed

BBC coverage

Some of us in the United States would truly like to apologize for the actions of our politicians and to remind the world that many of us are actually sane, educated and moral people. Please remember that many of us are not simply Ugly Americans, just temporarily trapped here. ~ David McLarty, Rockwood, Tennessee, USA

Things are really getting this nasty.

Mr. McLarty, we stand with you.

Michelle Malkin, the conservative blogger who has made a career out of bitching about illegal aliens, went on the attack, demanding answers from the Obama campaign.

Rush Limbaugh, who must have messed himself in the excitement, couldn’t wait to aim his barbs at Obama and public housing – which he helpfully refers to as “slums”.

And over at Townhall ratbag blogger Hugh Hewitt is wondering why it took so long to discover this skeleton, yet Sarah Palin’s brother-in-law scandal was unearthed within days? Maybe, Hugh, because Palin was already under investigation when appointed as McCain’s running mate? Doh!

And then on my travels I visit the rightwing libertarian blog Political Byline, only to find a dose of glorious reason ::

Obama says that he did not know, and you know, I’m inclined to believe the guy. You just cannot keep track of everything your damn family does.

Hell, I have a cousin who’s a career criminal, am I responsible for his actions? Hell no!

It just seems to me, that the Conservative Blogosphere has been on the hunt to; dare I say the word?; Lynch Barack Obama for having the gall, the outright audacity, the very nerve; to run for President of The United States of America. For, dare I say it?; venturing into White Man’s territory.

Well said. But I say let the wingnut muppets have their fun…

They’ve had to justify one of the worst presidential tickets in living memory, with a candidate bouncing from one embarrassing gaffe to the next. The least we can do is let them have a pop at a little old black woman.

Rescued bank to pay millions in bonuses

And more…
Specter of Deflation Lurks as Global Demand Drops
McCain scraps town hall format as crowds becomes vicious.
Miliband flies to Goma as rebels advance
Surge in recruitment as support for troops rises

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Aaron Heath

Stroppyblog – Janine makes the case for sacking Ross and Brand. On the grounds that they’re both crap.

Pickled Politics – Sunny reports on the ground war telephone operations of both parties.

Chicken Yogurt – Justin vents at a world where Tony Blair earns £12m a year and poor Lesley Douglas has to walk. Interesting debate in the comments.

Left of Centrist – McCain loses it as voters in Red States court Obama [video/humour].

Crooked Timber – The banking crisis pales in significance to the gargantuan environmental catastrophe that looms large over our tortured planet.

Earthpal – It’s the first day of the hunt. Don’t worry, the hunting ban is a meaningless law that’s not enforced. Tally-ho!

The Daily (Maybe) – And to finish things off, we have a review of the new Bond movie. Hurrah!

The awesome Jennie is up tomorrow, and I’ll be back for a special election review on Tuesday. Bye. *waves*.

Next Tuesday millions of Americans will go to the polls to decide the forty-forth President of the United States.

Here at Liberal Conspiracy we understand the importance of these elections to America and the rest of the world.

So on Tuesday night, and going forward into the early hours of Wednesday, we’ll be Live Blogging the results as they come in.

Our bloggers, including Sunny who is on the ground with the Obama campaign, will also be discussing the hottest breaking stories and providing our own take on events.

We hope you’ll join us in what we hope will be a great night for progressive politics.

Last night on Newsnight the target of the “joke”, actor Andrew Sachs, said that the matter was pretty much over as the two presenters had apologised. Subsequently Brand has resigned and Ross has been suspended for 3-months by the BBC.

Don’t you just love it? The BBC, as always, has been forced to pull down its trousers and bend over, while the collective tabloid media buggers it silly with its enormous cock of hypocrisy. And yet again our shower of a government has piled in (as did Slippery Dave, but that’s hardly a surprise considering what a predictable populist shitbag he is).

So none of our illustrious leaders thought it wise to caution some measure of restraint in all the hype and chaos? Brown and/or Cameron, both of which were happy to jump on the bandwagon for a few choice quotes, could have risen above the fray and argued for a modicum of common-sense. That, remember, is what leaders are supposed to do.

Brand and Ross are both polemicist comics who push against the line of decency. Occasionally, especially when they’re together – egging each other on and getting carried away, they’ll step over the line.

What they did to Andrew Sachs was out of order. They were offensive while making no cultural or political point. This is where programmes such a South Park differ, they use deeply offensive jokes for real political and social commentary. Ross and Brand were just being twats.

Both Ross and Brand should have been reprimanded and were right to apologise, but the media witch-hunt and the subsequent resignations and suspensions, are nothing more than capitulation as the usual rightwing rags have a pop at the tax-funded BBC (an opportunity they never miss).

In what must be the most baffling example of hypocrisy, Georgina Baillie (Sach’s granddaughter who was at the centre of the scandal) has milked the story for all it’s worth, pleading outrage (after her grandfather had indicated his wish to put the issue to bed) and then discussing her “romps” with Brand with – you guessed it – The Sun.

The whole thing is a crock, and a waste of everyone’s time. It’s shocking that Lesley Douglas has been hounded out of her job because Brand and Ross lost the plot. It’s about time the BBC stood up for itself in the face of ridiculous faux outrage from the rightwing press. If they don’t the jackals will never stop.

Jim Della Croce, Wurzelbacher’s PR spokesperson (yeah, seriously), has claimed ::

“He is a dynamic speaker and an everyman who has become an overnight celebrity…”

Substitute “everyman” for “Republican plant”, and “overnight celebrity” for “compulsive liar”, and he’s just about right.

Following a widely reported series of events that have also landed Peter Mandleson in hot water, the Shadow Chancellor has been fighting for his political life after it was said that he had attempted to solicit a £50,000 donation from billionaire Oleg Deripaska.

Now it seems Osborne will survive. Shame.

Sorry, but is it me or is there something fundamentally smarmy about Osborne? Seriously, I really can’t stand the guy. I don’t want to come across all class-warrior and all that (I’m really not the type), but there is something about him that really gets under my skin. Have you seen the Bullingdon photos?

He reminds me of those people at school who always hung around the big kids and caused trouble.

A paragraph in last week’s Guardian suggests the smug self-importance isn’t just an unfortunate appearance ::

One Osborne tactic which has irritated colleagues is his tendency to send out text messages to junior frontbenchers, often late in the evening, with mildly critical remarks. When the hapless MPs reply they receive no response because Osborne has switched off his phone. The following day he will joke that he meant no harm and that he was sending group texts.

Nice.

Of course truth is that, had Osborne continued to deny the allegations, his old friend Nat Rothschild had enough evidence to “finish” him. It’s pretty clear that Mr. Osborne has been naughty, but the establishment is protecting its own as usual.

Poll: Brown bounces back

Elsewhere…
Cost of crash: $2,800,000,000,000
Extremists to be barred from UK
Skinheads ‘planned to kill Obama’
Republican Ted Stevens guilty

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Aaron Heath

Unspeak – The always-excellent Steven Poole is distracted by the EU’s reluctance to release Peter Mandelson’s diary. The EU is claiming that the diary isn’t a “document”, even though the EU’s own definition would suggest that it is. *sighs*

Jock’s Place – Reportage from the Libertarian Alliance Conference. Parts One and Two.

Obsolete – The US has bombed targets inside Syria, killing 7 civilians. But why?

The Daily (Maybe) – The collapse of the Republican Party is making Jim so very happy.

Dave’s Part – Mr. Osler agrees with me in that there are limits to what we can expect from an Obama presidency.

Liberal England – Iain Dale is dead wrong if he thinks the Tories need another David Evans.

Pickled Politics – Sunny reports from the trenches. Now with added Pics!