More endorsements
Just another quick message to let you know that we've added more endorsements to the website.
I'd like to thank my colleagues Diane Abbott MP and Bob Wareing MP for their messages of support.
I was also delighted to read Kevin Maguire's kind words about the campaign in today's Mirror.
Once again, all of my thanks to everyone who has sent in messages in support of this grassroots campaign. Looking through the list of endorsements, it's clear that we're building a real movement right across the party, the labour movement, and the country. Because of this campaign, huge numbers of people have either joined or rejoined the party in the past few months.
If you want to endorse the campaign, drop us an email and we'll include your message on the website!
I'd like to thank my colleagues Diane Abbott MP and Bob Wareing MP for their messages of support.
I was also delighted to read Kevin Maguire's kind words about the campaign in today's Mirror.
Once again, all of my thanks to everyone who has sent in messages in support of this grassroots campaign. Looking through the list of endorsements, it's clear that we're building a real movement right across the party, the labour movement, and the country. Because of this campaign, huge numbers of people have either joined or rejoined the party in the past few months.
If you want to endorse the campaign, drop us an email and we'll include your message on the website!
posted by John at 8:20 PM
17 Comments:
I just look through these endorsements and compare them with Meacher's pathetic attempt (http://michaelmeacher.info/supporters.html) and I just think - how on god's earth can this insanely vain man justify his embarrassing little "campaign"?
Let's make sure we make everyone know - including everyone on the left of the PLP (well, the handful of MPs supposedly backing Meacher in any case - though anyone got any idea who they are?!?!) - what we think about this.
How's this for a slogan:
Stand Down Meacher!
I hear the only MPs backing Meacher are Alan Simpson and Kelvin Hopkins. Which if true is a big disappointment for two such respected socialists. They really should know better and be taking notice of grassroots support for John - there's none for Meacher.
Obviously, the press coverage in The Mirror is good but when it says John won't make the ballot if Meacher stands and that he has no chance of winning it is not as positive as it could be.
I wish, wish, wish that Woodley & Simpson would finally come out of the closet so to speak and get behind the campaign. That would really focus the minds of Labour MP's with nearly 50% of the leadership of unions in the electoral college endorsing John. The silence from those two has been deafening.
Surely those two aren't scared of Brown as well??? Are we not meant to be mature adults here and not naughty schoolchildren scared of the headmaster? Besides most figures of note in Art, Music as well as politics have rebelled against the establishment. Do it - it always gets you noticed and serves you well for the long term.
I spoke to Kevin Maguire about the campaign last Labour conference and he said he was interviewing John the following week but as far as I'm aware this is really the first article he's done on the campaign. As is said in another comment on the blog the article is all good and certainly well intentioned apart from his deference to a supposed Brown victory which seems to be the paper's official line although of course columnists are allowed to detract from this as Paul Routledge has done. Not sure how seriously to take his assumption that Brown will win -obviouslly I think John can beat him but I'd agree that Kevin M needs to be a bit more positive and stop falling for the Blairite spin that the left can never win. On the other hand though he can be congratulated for a good summary of John's ideas and the left's politics in this campaign; he obviously admires the drive of left wing politicians but thinks he is being a realist or pragmatist but sometimes in life you have to aim high not low, a lot of negativity is actualized by people thinking they are being realistic. He is I think very well intentioned and of course he is in a more difficult position politically as Associate Editor than other columnists so as I said we perhaps can't take his his opinion about Brown winning as gospel. In fact has anyone got the list of definites to nominate Brown?! Of course we can guess it but it would be interesting if we found that certain prominent Brown/Blairites weren't actually on it and had got cold feet.....we should challenge them to see it.I do think we have to stand up to them a bit even though we certainly don't want to sink to their level but we can be assertive without being aggressive. (Now I sound like I have swallowed the life coaching book..!)
I agree about TU leaders i.e. that it would be much better if they could come out with it and declare their support particlarly in the light of what Tony Woodley said at our conference rally which was supportive although cleverly worded of course.....However I think nothing will move until after the election results and the Northern Ireland Assembly is re-starting on 8th May which Blair will want to claim as a victory before he goes.
Actaully Ken Loach hit nail on head when he said John was " Labour's last chance?!" -that's about it really.
Would Diane Abbott consider standing as deputy although I know foreign affairs are her thing?
We should have a fantasy leftie cabinet on here although it would be without prize unlike the fantasy football ones!!
is there any issue worth it's salt that the Blairites aren't blocking debate/votes i.e. any progress at all on from domestic issues like pensions to foreign affairs e.g.Iraq!!!More and more like Thatcher every day as she dug her heels in over the poll tax etc...the Blairites are the ones who won't tolerate any dissent, not the left.
Another most unpleasant result of the general privatisation policies which are now hitting home in my area is racism: people are saying freely things like "I don't want my child to go to that school because it's full of Pakis" or in the case of my local main post office which is now under threat it was said in the Oxfam shop of all places by another customer that it the Asian people who mainly staff it are all really rude and sullen because they are Asian. Unfortunately some of the staff are sullen in there and not open to suggestions to improve access etc (I'm managing to draw them out but it's been hard) but I had much worse treatment from an elderly white Post office worker once back in London who gave me a lecture on how I "wouldn't get any more maternity benefit" as if I was trying to get some more money out of the state illegally when I knew my entitlement had run out and I didn't qualify anyway; she had obviously not been trained on contribution based benefits as mine were or she should have known this. Whether or not I qualified for more or not was not her business anyway as she was only there to pay the benefit not to decide who was entitled to it as that is for the social security departments to decide of course. But this sort of problem can be solved by some extra training and I had a word with the relevant people and filled in a comment form; it does not mean you need to privatise or Crapitacise the whole operation as the Blairites would! A local hospital receptionist near me was recently openly racist for all to hear and some of the town's elderly residents believe that there are "no go areas" in the town they grew up in in High Wycombeas they fear crime I suppose as they are frail - they get these ideas just from hearsay and the biased local press who have a columnist who is so bad that I actually complained of his racism. This has got to stop. The Blairites opened Pandora's box when they played the race card and we have to stop them.
Soemthing I learned from a teacher flatmate once was that small children are not racsist but they learn to be from adults. The Blairites must know perfectly well how their messages on immigration ad asylum are perceived when they filter down to the general public -any politics student let alone expert lecturer or teacher could tell them but still they keep on; it's them that are stupid (or more like willfully blind) here not the public! And now we are to have a points systemn as well; words fail me!
while trying to explain what a trade union is to my six year old I hit on the idea of trying to explain that every section in socirty has a group to protect their interests in the manner of Age Concern for the elderly, children's organisation, farmers and so on so why should the Blairites pick on trade unions as groups representing employers and ignore their opinions! Simply undemocratic Blair!
I heard Kitty Usher in the chamber today still harking back to his great achievments in 97 as she put a question; when are MPs like her going to realise things have changed now it is 2007! 1997 was not some sort of Holy Grail for as John has said and polical science study makes clear Labour's majority was in fact too big when we won then and the problems this has caused are obvious now and we would have won anyway as the Tories were so corrupt. This dosen't mean we have to ape them to survive surely teh opposite. Blair has said that politics is like a marriage: if so when it is in danger of ending you are supposed to go back to the beginnig to find answers a la in Mr and Mrs Smith the movie so we shouls examine the New Labour phenonmenon and MOVE ON from it; not forever wallow in it bur Blair is not the man to do it though he my soon (at last) see the writing on the wall.
Why won't John's manifesto be available on a free download as a pdf? I would have thought you'd want as many people to read it as possible and to charge £2.50 for it seems to be a little bit odd.
well,maybe it can help fund future campaigns. Just a thought......
I'm not sure £2.50 excludes anyone to be fair - not much more than a pint of beer or 10 fags.
Seems a fairly nominal fee for a 64 page book.
iF YOU HAD ANY PRIDE - YOU WOULD LEAVE A DECAYING AND CORRUPT PARTY THAT HAS LONG SINCE LOST THE TRUST OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, WALES AND NI.
www.dont-vote-labour.co.uk
www.veteransforscotland.org
Jwsalert,
Ridiculous...
It's shameless to comment on the price of a 64-page book set at £2.50. I've seen academic books almost as thin sold at £40-£60. I sincerely doubt John will make any kind of profit from this book and as has already been pointed out, for the cost of a pint of beer you're receiving probably a detailed and stimulating analysis of the future of socialism.
I (unfortunately!) think I have a copy of Blair's book in my loft. I know I got it free with something after he was elected and thought I'd better keep it in case I ever had to do an essay or something on New Labour one day. I'm sure you had to buy it when he was being elected and I'm sure it was more than a fiver but it's hard to remember for certain. I think £2.50 is not unreasonable for John's manifesto as it includes p and p and amounts less than £1.00 would be difficult to deal with administratively unless people were paying cash.
It would be a more ethical use of £2.50 than ten fags, sorry to all you smokers out there! (You can get organic and fairtrade beer....I've heard from a fellow delegate at conference last year that British American I think it is is apparently the most ethical tobacco if there is such a thing!)
What was Rhodri Morgan doing (on Newsnight tonight) when he dodged the question about Gordon Brown and went on about his ruby wedding anniversary without even attempting to link the two!??) He seemed really scared of saying anything at all about (politically)about the man who's supposedly going to replace Blair in a couple of weeks!
I did email Meacher and ask him to stand down; haven't heard anything back yet.
Some time ago I emailed one UNISON MP to nominate John; got an out of office reply.
Have printed draft letters from this website to do the rest a.s.a.p. (obviously ignoring the obvious Blairites on the list!)
The book should really be made available for free on this site. It would mean thatmany more people would read it. It would also be easier for people like me to distribute it to all of my friends, especially those who would never buy a book on politics.
While I understand that John will need to raise funds, surely getting his message out as far and wide as possible is more important? Putting his booklet online will help him do that.
Ed
Noticed this in the Guardian. Brown reckons he can pull 10 of your nominations back.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labourleadership/story/0,,2062309,00.html
I think that, if the article in the Guardian is accurate, it's a disgraceful affront to party and union members, (whatever wing of the party they may come from). All contenders have every right to try and persuade every member of the PLP to vote for them, but if Brown is trying and strong-arm them all into nominating him, that is just insulting to the other two-thirds of the electoral college, who want to play a part in this incredibly important phase in our history.
Ed, if it's not published until 1st May - how can it be up on the website? Maybe after 1st May it will be available free, but there's nothing wrong with selling a 60-odd page book for a minimnal fee!
I've ordered a copy, it's very simple and user-friendly, and I note on the LRC website there's an address to pre-order by post. See www.l-r-c.org.uk
Apparently Karen Jennings, one of the Unison 'Paid Ones', said she was supporting John in the leadership contest. This was said at an official fringe meeting at the recent Health Conference.
I was at a different meeting, so I didn't hear whether it was said as 'Unison' or in a personal capacity. Either way, to my knowledge, she hasn't said it publicly, which is a great pity.
Perhaps someone who was at the meeting can confirm what she said, & put it on this website please?
Z
Post a Comment
<< Home