Spontaneous Monotony

The English Skills secretary John Denham has claimed that voters are deserting Neo Labour in their droves (current poll rating is 23% - the worst EVER and 26% behind the Tories) because people are “confused about what [Labour] stand for”. In fact the problem voters have is that Labour doesn’t stand for ANYTHING any more - the Third Way has become an unprincipled stumble into whatever the spin doctors think will get Neo Labour good headlines in the Daily Mail. Most of the ‘big promises’ that people bought into in 1997 have vanished:

• “tackle the division and inequality in our society”. I think the 10p tax mess shows that Neo Labour doesn’t give a damn about poverty any more. If the Tories had suggested a slight tax cut for the moderately well off, financed by DOUBLING the tax rate paid by the poorest in society, there would have been uproar.
• “Real rights for citizens”. Yes, Labour passed the Human Rights Act which is a hugely important piece of legislation. Since 2001, however, it has set about trying to violate the human rights of people in this country in a systematic manner. 4 million CCTV cameras (which even the Labour-loving Metropolitan Police says don’t cut crime), police allowed to run amok shooting unarmed civilians, internment of people against whom there isn’t even enough evidence for a charge let alone a conviction. I could go on but I’m straining the limits of what you can legitimately put in one bullet point.
• “Ethical foreign policy”. Yeah - Iraq, Afghanistan, extraordinary rendition. They haven’t so much ripped up this promise as put it through an industrial-grade crosscut shredder.
• “We will not introduce ‘top-up’ fees and have legislated to prevent them”. We all know how that one ended. I’m just glad we now have a Scottish Parliament (one of the few Labour achievements they haven’t managed to undermine yet, though Gordon’s doing his best now that us North Britishers have voted for the Wrong Party) and that Neo Labour are no longer in charge of education in this country. Ask someone in 1945, or even in the days of John Smith, whether the Labour Party would ever stop believing in free education and they’d have thought you’d lost it.

Essentially Neo Labour has become a second Tory Party. Given the choice, people would opt for a party which is honest about its right-wing policies over one which lies and spins at every turn, trying to deceive the public. That’s why fewer than a quarter of people in the UK now identify themselves with the Labour Party, and why a mediocre Tory leader is looking more like winning the next UK election.

Still, I suppose there’s a bright side to this from a nationalist point of view: the SNP’s proposed independence referendum in 2010 would almost certainly be after the next UK election. Every time a Tory government is in power in London, support for independence in Scotland goes up, for fairly obvious reasons.

Well it seems that in my essay-writing exploits last night I failed to notice that the graduate endowment is gone (after the SNP drafted its death warrant in June). Ah well, gives me  an excuse to get the utterly fabulous February 29th in my blog. What’s more puzzling is that Neo Labour and the Tories (no surprises there) voted against, on the basis that it wouldn’t reduce student  poverty. I know that bending the truth (not to mention the expenses rules :p) is in vogue in Neo Labour, but I fail to see how they can claim that reducing the financial burden on every single student by over £2200 (about a fifth of the average total debt per student of £11,000) will not reduce student poverty. We should all be happy - once again we live in a country committed to the principle of free education, and (even better) we no longer live in a country run by Neo Labour con artists.

It seems that self-styled ‘anti-fascist’ protestors have delayed the exercise of the right to freedom of speech by forcing their way into a building, and threatening members of the audience.  Nick Griffin and David Irving hold contemptible, even illogical, views. Stopping them from speaking, however, is much closer to the definition of fascism than anything the BNP have done. The right to freedom of speech is one of the most fundamental principles of democracy - it is easy to support freedom of speech for those you agree with, but EVERYONE has the right to freedom of speech, including those who hold hugely unpopular views. I would greatly appreciate if those who are intent on trampling democratic rights would sod off to a country that is more in step with their view of freedom of speech - perhaps Pakistan, China, or Iran?

I’ve just read that John Reid is to be appointed as the next Chairman of Celtic - despite the controversy surrounding his political career. Celtic was founded to help immigrants and the working class. John Reid based his political career on patronising the working class, brutalising immigrants, and attacking human rights safeguards - in other words, his actions in government go against everything the club is supposed to stand for.

It is difficult to imagine someone less suitable for such an important post. Let’s just hope that he doesn’t stay as long as the excellent Brian Quinn - having Reid as Chairman for seven years would be a travesty.

Different people may have different opinions as to the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program - whether it is a peaceful, civilian power system as asserted by the Iranian regime, or a weapons programme as asserted by the American regime. Both sides present a compelling case, and the question of whom to trust often comes down to which side you dislike the least.

What I can’t understand though is the storm over Iran threatening to bomb Israel if the latter attacks Iran. What is so startling about that? Isn’t it a given that, if one country attacks another, the attacked country will fight back? Had Iran threatened to bomb Israel pre-emptively, that would be a cause for alarm. But for Iran to promise to do what every country in the world would do in the same situation? Sorry but I fail to see the threat.

External Links

• BBC News - Iran issues Israel attack warning