clawsfour

Lies and damn lies

Of, course when you're a bit down in politics everyone wants to put the boot in on all sorts of issues.

Take this piece from the Times. Its only a small article but it is punching above its weight when it comes to the irritating misuse of facts. The article headlined "Cutbacks still leave Labour with £19m debt" goes on to compare the current state of indebtedness of the Conservative and Labour Party. The facts drawn from the article are these [comparative statistics shown in square brackets are from me].

Labour Party debts last year £24.5m
Labour Party debts now £19.0m
[reduction of 22 per cent]

Conservative Party debts last year £9.9m
Conservative Party debts now £7.75m
[reduction of 22 per cent]

Now unless I am missing some fundamental, both parties have reduced their debt by the same percentage and Labour by considerably more in real terms. And this is supposed to be a piece of factual reporting not an op-ed column. So the the words accompanying these minor titbits of information - available for all to see on the Electoral Commission web-sits - were the following:

The Labour Party still owes almost £19 million to creditors... the cash-strapped party finished last year with debts of £18.9 million... The party still owes £15 million to other businessmen... ...the party would have no spring conference next year in a cash-saving measure. Donations from wealthy businessmen have slowly dried up...

Whereas the single paragraph given over to the reporting of the Tory Party debt, begins as follows:

Meanwhile, David Cameron slashed the Conservatives’ debts.....

Such balanced reporting. Hey ho.

Leadership election

The election of a new Labour leader is well underway. In Scotland.

The resignation of Wendy Alexander means the Labour members of the Scottish Parliament will be electing a new leader at the beginning of September.

Labour's General Secretary in Scotland says, "this will be a very exciting time for the Scottish Labour Party, as the candidates showcase their ideas and talents."

Now there is something we wish for the Labour Party as a whole - ideas and talent. The maddening thing is that the Labour Party is awash with both (ok, it's also awash with patronising self-servers, but so are all parties) but fails to get its core message out in a coherent way. Any central narrative about fairness - which is the key dividing line - is being lost in the arms race of policy initiatives from Labour ministers trying to fill the void.

Bring back the pledge card is what I say. Half a dozen core values, expressed in language we can understand. Half a dozen core values that remind people why it's really worth voting Labour again. Everyone - and that includes Labour Party members and MPs and Government Ministers need clear reasons to vote Labour, not a confusion of policy initiatives.

We have redefined the political landscape of Britain in 10 years. But we haven't yet completely secured those changes.

Let's give every voter a pledge card and every voter at least one reason to vote Labour again.

25 Jul 2008

Tony Woodley, General Secretary of the Unite Union, has declared that saying, "Blairism is dead" is the route to electoral success.

If this is the thoughtful response of the so called left to last night's by-election shocker, then let's hope they don't win any positions at this weekend's National Policy Forum.

It is the absence of Blairism, not its imposition, which has characterised Brown's first year. And the results are self evident.

A wee message

Gordon Brown will still be Prime Minister when the by-election result in Glasgow East is declared in an hour or so's time.

People at the count are now predicting an SNP win by 1,000 or more. This will be a very serious set back but it was a campaign based solely on the SNP saying let's send a wee message to Gordon Brown. It looks clear that the message will be sent.

The main thing now will be how Labour responds.

If it is yet another series of policy announcements then the message won't have been understood. What is required is not yet more policy but current policy effectively delivered. On top of that a clear statement of Labour values - maybe by way of a little pledge card.

And someone needs to get a grip of the narrative coming from Labour. Where the hell is is Ali Campbell?

Alex Salmond must be furious at Mason gaffe

News from the Glasgow Campaign reveals that the SNP candidate has called on Margaret Curran to say she'll resign her position as an MSP

Responding to the calls from the SNP's candidate, Councillor Mason, Labour MP David Cairns said:

“Alex Salmond must be furious at Councillor Mason’s latest blunder. This is breathtaking hypocrisy from the nationalists. Will Councillor Mason be calling on Alex Salmond to resign his seat as the MSP for Gordon so he can provide a strong voice in Westminister for Banff and Buchan?

“Margaret is a phenomenally gutsy woman and will be a full-time fighter for the East End. She will be fighting full-time on the issues that really matter: crime, jobs and regeneration.”

A spokesperson from the Scottish Labour Party said:

“Margaret has already made her position very clear. She is taking nothing for granted because she respects the people of the East End. If she wins this by-election, she will become the MP for Glasgow East. She will continue for a period as the MSP for Glasgow Baillieston, which is entirely contained in Glasgow East. She will draw only one salary and, unlike the First Minister, will operate only one constituency office. She will decide when to relinquish her duties as the MSP when she has discussed it with the local party and the wider community.“

iPhone O2 site now sold out

Bugger

iPhone upgrade

The O2 upgrade site has been pretty much completely useless today.

Several attempts to upgrade to the new G3 iPhone has resulted in 'unable to process orders' message. These are now followed by 'Site not available."

I'll give it another try but am now expecting "Site has completely melted" message.

Glasgow East springboard to victory

With the speculation that Margaret Curran may now emerge as the Labour candidate for the Glasgow East by-election, the Labour Party may have found itself (by accident admittedly) in the best position to win this seat and go into the summer with a real opportunity to rebuild around values.

Margaret is a well respected Scottish politician and friends at the campaign tell me that the events of the last couple have days have boosted activism and response levels on the doorstep.

If Labour do win, as they should, following the humiliating experience for the Tories over the Haltenprice election then a period of calm should allow a re-energized Party to look forward to the conference season.

And that should be based on re-establishing Labour as the party with the values which reflect those of the majority in Britain. Labour came to power in 1997 with a vision to change Britain. Today we can see many of those changes irrevocably in place.

In 1997 the Tories were threatening to dismantle the NHS. Today no party can go into a general election without trying to demonstrate support for the NHS.

In 1997 the Tories were dismissive of child poverty as a real phenomenum in this country. Today no party can contest a general election without describing in detail their objectives in alleviating child poverty.

In 1997 the Tories said the minimum wage would lose thousands of jobs. Today no party can dismiss the rights of workers to a decent living wage.

We need to get away from detailed policy announcements and back to the big themes which will form the basis of the debate leading to the next election. Food and fuel poverty, climate change and international security.

Tories get lost

Sorry that should really say Tory gets lost - but hey ho!

On her web-site Conservative Candidate for Glasgow East Davena Rankin is captioned as "Davena is a well known local campaigner in Glasgow."

Unfortunately according to the leaflet she is delivering she appears to be campaigning in Cathcart.

Glasgow, yes. Just the wrong constituency. Oops.