Link - There is an alternative, and it’s Labour

Here is the article I did for Somerset Labour concerning the party conference and the new policies this week.

For the press, it's fine to support UKIP's principles, but not UKIP. How telling.

Any follower of the British press will notice how anti-UKIP they have become recently. There are some exceptions, such as the Daily Express, largely down to Patrick O'Flynn's influence as chief political commentator. However, the rest of the press has been attacking Farage and his party as out-of-touch, sexist, racist, whatever.
      Ah, well that's fine isn't it? I hear you cry. About time the Mail et al adopted some more progressive stances. Indeed, if this had been the right-wing press discovering a liberal bent it would be very welcome. But it's not. It's a hypocritical about-turn which is frankly sickening to see.
      I'm no UKIP supporter, although I do believe we should withdraw from the EU, but the fact is the Right of  the British press has spent the best part of this century attacking 'lefty liberals', immigrants, the poor, 'soft justice' and practically any disadvantaged group they can find. They have created the perfect atmosphere for UKIP to flourish, with the British public being persuaded that we have a rising tide of threatening immigration being exacerbated by a liberal elite. Is it any wonder the anti-establishment, anti-immigration, anti-government spending UKIP have been able to thrive?
    But here's the thing, the press were fine with this while UKIP were a joke, they continued to spread their poison as they did not believe they could ever become a contender. However, as soon as UKIP have begun to threaten their precious Tory party they've been quick on the attack. And the reason? Plain and simple, Fleet Street wants to protect their financial interests and their sway on politics, and there is no one better way to do this than by keeping the Conservative party in power. Even though they added to UKIP's rise and write in support of its principles, they want to destroy it as it threatens their power and privilege. Sickening.

Well done Miliband, you are forgiven.

Apologies from myself to Mr Miliband are in order following the developments of the Labour conference this year. I criticised Miliband for failing to strike a different note from the Tories and being too centrist, but today I feel he has begun to forge a separate platform from the coalition with a distinctively left-wing edge. Admittedly, he did not go as far as some of us may have liked - renationalised the utilities, for example - but the policy announcements on housing, halting NHS privatisation and nationalising the railways are very welcome. It is worth noting that these announcements sound almost spirit of '45-esque, when the Labour government promised to embark on a large-scale housebuilding programme, create the health service and nationalise key industries. If it was good enough to lead a battered nation from a crippling World War, it's enough to lead a battered nation from crippling austerity measures. In keeping with this early pioneer spirit, I feel this image should sum up Labour's approach to 2015.

A UKIP gain, a Labour gain, a Tory loss and a Lib Dem loss. Oh, and a Tory hold.

A drubbing for the coalition parties and a boost for the opposition and the anti-establishment UKIP in tonight's by-elections. Labour gained Oxford North from the Lib Dems by a very narrow margin, the Tories lost Seasalter in Canterbury to UKIP and Labour held Coseley East with UKIP beating the Tories into third place. The only thing the coalition can be happy with is the Tories holding Four Marks and Medstead on East Hampshire.

So I've joined the Fabian Society ... and the Social Liberal Forum

Having left the Labour party in August, I have made another foray into the world of politics by becoming a member of the well-established centre-left Fabian society and the Social Liberal Forum, a left-wing pressure group within the Lib Dems. I am not a full member of either of these, as you need to be a Labour party member or Liberal Democrat member respectively, but I have followed these groups closely of late and feel they both have promise and great ideas to communicate. I just hope I get a membership card for both.

A disappointing vote, but top marks to Vince Cable.

Well, sadly, the Liberal Democrats did not approve the (oustanding) Social Liberal Forum's economic motion, and with that it is hard to see how the LD's will possibly be able to present themselves as an alternative from the Tories.

However, a little refreshment did come from the ever-fresh Vince Cable, who launched a scathing attack on the 'hated' Tories, with my favourite lines being:

'The Conservatives’ spiritual home is the United States. They’ve become the Tea Party Tories; they want to throw overboard any tax or regulation that gets in the way of their blinkered, small-state ideology ...
Deep down they believe there is no alternative to unhindered self-interest.'

Fantastic stuff from Vince. One cannot help but wish that Miliband and the Labour front bench would say something similar. When the official 'centre-left' opposition is being rhetorically outgunned from the Left by a man sitting opposite Cameron and Osborne in the cabinet chamber, you've got to ask yourself some serious questions about the effectiveness of the Labour party.

The Liberal Democrats are fast becoming irrelevant. Why doesn't Clegg realise?

This week sees the 2013 Liberal Democrat conference. To their credit, the Lib Dems still use their conferences as a way of creating and ratifying party policy, unlike the Tories and the Labour party, whose conferences are stage-managed to tedium. The conference has so far seen Clegg promising no tax on earnings up to the minimum wage and David Laws calling on schools to ease pressure on parents by ending the practice of using a single uniform supplier. These are both welcome ideas, but they do not detract from the fact that, under the current Orange Book leadership of economic liberals, the Lib Dems are fast-becoming irrelevant.

It was very refreshing to see Vince Cable backing Labour's idea of raising the minimum wage, once again showing himself as the 'moral centre of this coalition', to use Peter Oborne's phrase. However, what was more of note was that this motion has not been brought up by Clegg or any of the other leading Lib Dems. What happened to the Lib Dems being a left-wing alternative to New Labour?  Gone is the commitment to social justice and progressivism, replaced instead by 'pragmatism'. Sure, Nick Clegg devotes some time to spouting empty soundbites about the Lib Dems being the only party to keep society 'fair' as well as have a strong economy, but the truth is the Liberal Democrats in their current incarnation cannot be relied on for either of these promises. Clegg, Laws et al are all firmly on the Right of the party, putting their faith in the market and deregulation.

If an outsider were to look at the policies and actions of the coalition without knowing who was in power, they would never assume it was a liberal-conservative coalition. We have seen the raising of tuition fees by £6000 a year, a freeze of public sector pay and out-of-work benefits, a reduction in the top rate of tax, large-scale spending cuts, privatisations and an erosion of worker's rights. This is not the liberal party of Keynes and Beveridge. This is not the liberal party that secured the place of trade unions in society and formulated the beginnings of the welfare state. This is not the liberal party that viewed social justice as being harmonious with the liberty of the individual. This is an economically liberal, centre-right party that is fast becoming a clone of Cameron's liberal tribe of Conservatives. If the party's Left are not able to score a victory at the conference, the Liberal Democrats will be viewed as such, and the voters will see no point in voting for them at all. The legacy of the Liberal party is a great one which all Britons should be proud of. Clegg and co. must not let it be lost in the annals of time.

Last night's local by-elections

There were a lot of local council by-elections yesterday - a very high number of 10. The majority of these were nothing extraordinary, but we did see a growth in support for UKIP at the expense of the Tories and one UKIP gain in Lincolnshire and a Green gain in Devon.

Results:

Fenside Ward, Boston BC. UKIP gain from Eng Dem 
UKIP 162 (39.4%, +39.4), Con 87 (21.2%, +21.2), LD 87 (21.2%, +10.6), Lab 75 (18.2%, -6.9)

Yewdale Ward, Carlisle BC. Lab hold
Lab 716 (48.7%, -10.5), Con 453 (30.8%, -4.6), UKIP 257 (17.5%, +17.5), LD 31 (2.1%, -0.7), Green 14 (1%, -1.7)

Loughborough Ashby Ward, Charnwood DC. Lab hold. Lab 375 (71.8%, +9.6), UKIP 118 (22.6%, +22.6), Con 29 (5.6%, -32.2)

Wadebridge East Division, Cornwall UA. LD gain from Ind. LD 408 (31.8%, +6.9), Ind 399 (31.1%, +5.9), Con 217 (16.9%, +5.6), UKIP 202 (15.7%, +0.1), Lab 58 (4.5%, -7.6)

Torrington Ward, Torridge DC. Green gain from LD. Green 292 (35.3%, +35.3), UKIP 181 (21.9%, +14.4), Ind 160 (19.3%, -9.4), Ind 106 (12.8%, +12.8), Con 88 (10.6%, -18.7)

Ely East Ward, East Cambridgeshire DC. Con hold. Con 418 (37.5%, -4.5) LD 322 (28.9%, -8.2) UKIP 145 (13%, +13) Lab 138 (12.4%, -8.6) Ind 93 (8.3%, +8.3)

Bardwell Ward, St Edmundsbury BC. Con hold. Con 419 (78.5%, +1.7), Lab 65 (12.2%, +12.2), UKIP 50 (9.4%, -13.8)

Hambleden Valley Ward, Wycombe DC. Con hold. Con 379 (70.3%, -9.8), UKIP 97 (18%, +18), Lab 63 (11.7%, +11.7)

Ravensthorpe Ward, Daventry BC. Con hold. Con 285 (46.5%, -15.3), UKIP 212 (34.6%, +34.6), Lab 93 (15.2%, +15.2), LD 23 (3.8%, -14.4)

Middleton Cheney Division, Northamptonshire CC. Con hold. Con 1081 (52.8%, +10), UKIP 604 (29.5%, -5.9), Lab 221 (10.8%, -2.3), LD 141 (6.9%, -1.9)


So all-in-all a fairly normal night, with the Greens who'll be the happiest, but some smiles on the faces of UKIP supporters too, who will be pleased to see a turnaround in their decreasing vote shares of the past few months. Lib Dems will also be pleased with a gain but Labour will be seriously worrying about their dismal vote shares in wards where they are not incumbents.

A humanity sadly lacking today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_1HamH1PSg&list=TLG6lZlct1VLc

Today was a sad day as we learnt of the death of David Frost, perhaps most famed for his interviewing of Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal. I'm no Republican, and I'd have disagreed with Nixon on many issues, but his work on civil rights and foreign relations cannot be glossed over.
        However, what I would like to focus on is the emotion and depth of the interview in the above link. It is incredible to see such a candid and frank interview with a politician, and, personally, I do not doubt Nixon's sincerity about his quest for peace. Even Noam Chomsky referred to Nixon as the 'last liberal president', and such emotion, straight-talking and intelligence would not be found in our politics today with the three parties rushing to the centre whilst spouting soundbites written by their PR specialists. Left or Right, it cannot be denied that the lack of  politicians as human as Nixon is something sorely missed in today's world.