Three questions for a Monday morning.
First another privatisation too far. Through the "Public Services not Private Profit" campaign we have been pretty well on the ball when it comes to monitoring Government privatisation plans but I have to admit I missed the latest example of the New Labour privatisation obsession. Brown is now selling off HM Coastguard service for £5billion.
This includes the coastal helicopter search and rescue operations sold on a 20 to 30 year contract. The service is directly linked to police, fire and ambulance services as well as the volunteer Royal National Lifeboat Institution. So the question is when will these other elements also be put up for sale?
A service as vital as the Coastguards is in the public sector to ensure democratic control of the standards and security of the service, especially as it is so integrally linked to such other critical emergency services.
So the question is who in their right mind would take risks with such an important, life saving service?
Well, only New Labour with every Cabinet Minister supporting the Brownite privatisation obsession.
Second, Why over the last two weeks have we witnessed the attempt to start a roll of a bandwagon, particularly in the Murdoch press and media empire but also amongst what's left in the Blairite faction of the Guardian?
The bandwagon started with reports of David Miliband mildly distancing hmself from the Chancellor and trying to rehabilitate Ton y Blair. It was followed by his article in Murdoch's Times calling for "Bold not Old Labour" and again containing a covert denigration of Brown along a "yesterday's man" theme. Then we have witnessed a succession of Frank Field but more importantly Guardian Blairistas like Martin Kettle, pleading with Miliband to stand for leader.
It is fairly obvious that Blair's people are flying the kite of Miliband as a potential "anyone but Gordon" candidate but Murdoch's support for Miliband is more interesting. Clearly the old eminence grise is unsure whether Brown or Cameron will win the next election and is keeping his options open with a slight preference for Brown as someone he has done business with for the last decade. There have been no problems or threats to his empire from the Chancellor during this period allowing him to avoid paying a bit of tax every now and again.
However Murdoch is covering his back against all eventualities. So he is promoting Miliband as a safe pair of hands in case Brown stumbles and there are calls for change within the Labour Party. Failing that he looks on Miliband as a long term investment for grooming into office. Having witnessed Miliband and every other current cabinet minister vote for every policy demanded of them by Murdoch it is hardly surprising that he sees this as a sound investment.
Third question, does anyone think the Government's response to the wave of gun deaths in South London of proposing an increase in sentences will have any effect?
I will publish a more detailed policy piece on this issues later but what I can't fathom is why the Government has largely ignored the comprehensive research of experts like Richard Wilkinson, Danny Dorling Rob Reiner and the various specialist bodies such as the Crime and Society Foundation and Smart Justice.
This now overwhelming body of evidence which I find irrefutable demonstrates that the more unequal a society the greater the level of crime, anti social behaviour and social harm.
Wilkinson draws a useful chart in his book "The Impact of Inequality on Health" explaining how greater income inequality lead to greater social distances between income groups, more dominance and subordination with increased status competition and a shift to aggressive anti social values where rivalry centres for some around respect and disrespect.
The response is a programme of redistribution of wealth which in itself also enables the intensive investment in programmes to tackle education failure, provide more constructive activities for young peoples, support families and improve parenting, provide more mental health, drug and alcohol treatment in the community, and extensive rehabiltation support for young offenders both in detention and in the community.
The Thatcher years started this process of community degeneration by allowing the free market to let rip. Ten years of New Labour largely continuing the free market philosophy is ensuring the replication of the US social model. Change is needed but none of the New Labour advocates who have presided over the policies of the last ten years are offering anything different.
11 Comments:
get Miliband 2 debate with you and ask him what he will do with all the nuclear\waste if he's so green
bad typing as holding baby!
So Gordon sells off the family silver, stepping into in Thatchers shoes! Seems he doesn't think in the long term then, does he? Then we will start to see true risk accounting in place - how much does it cost to rescue this person? Too much? oh well never mind...
Gun control. We have to make sure we stop growing new gang members because soon it may be too much to handle. Education is important - Teachers and parents must regain their respect. Lets pay a decent wage to our educators. Family life must be less of an economic struggle where the child comes second to the mortgage.
Milliband? Another post-teen. It scares me that people with such little experience are thought of as potential leaders of this country.
There is clearly an attempt by the media to big up Milliband. It would be a joke if newspapers weren't so influential.The media black-out on this campaign is shameful but was to be expected. Blair and Brown have friends in very high places.
More privatisation? Whatever faith I had in Gordon Brown dissipates by the day.It's now clear a Brown Government will be no better than Blair.And possibly worse.
"Team Labour" as one deputy leadership contender calls it, seems hellbent on following a right-of-centre agenda.This will lose us the next election
The stance on gun crime is yet another indicator of that.More punitive measures won't help one iota.
It is all extremely disheartening. But we on the left need to stay in the Party and keep fighting our corner and,hopefully, recruiting new members. Could I also put in an appeal for more socialists to get their names on the Parliamentary Panel. Some good left MPs are standing down at the next election and we need to replace them.
remember the programme when Michael Portillo was a "single mum" for a week? Miliband should be made to do somethinglike this and it should be made into a documnetary so we could see what he's like when he's actually got more to deal with than just writing out banal policy ideas while sipping tea or whatever they do these days! Ok he's got some responsibilities as a Minister but he hasn't got any ideas of his own and he dosen't hve financial or family pressures as far as I know; correct me if I'm wrong.
The whole country should have a vote for anyone except Murdoch's candidate campaign!
you can vote for the UK's greenest politician at observer.co.uk/ethical awards
I haven't looked at it yet but could we all vote for John on it as he would be the greenest and most ethical PM we'd ever had.
The Daily Politics is running a poll to elect the viewer's best postwar PM; at the moment Thaatcher is beating Clem Atlee so log on to www.bbc.co.uk/dailypolitics I think it is to put that right!
I think Labour is going to get slaughtered in the Scot and Welsh elections in May let alone the locals (I'm a paper candidate but that's all as there's really no point where I live despite the fact that the Tories have run down social services and the MP must be the only one in Britain who dosen't want people to cut down car use as he says they should have the choice and right to be motorists! (Paul Goodman, Tory High Wycombe).
Union members remember to lobby your union-sponsored MPs to nominate John at least so we can have a contest whichever way they vote at the very least. Otherwise we will have to do a Ukranian style picket of Downing Street or soemthing till they see sense! I think UNISON my union are hoping to send a model letter round that people can use for speed if someone gets time to draft it; don't know about other unions. Lists of the relevant MPS should be on the union's own websites which can all be found via www.tuc.org.uk if you don't know the address. Also remember to appy to the LAbour party NOW for visitor and delegate forms for THIS YEAR's conference.
CPLD AGM and anti-war demo on Sat aren't they -would be useful events activists of course
you really couldn't make it up, this is truly bizzare and is a privatisation too far, what about conflicts of interests, etc, We really are the neo-liberal state bar none, even the US coastguard has never been privatised. Brown is no better than Blair or Thatcher.
as john says, what next the army?
oh thats already happened with sandline and executive outcomes!
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