Get up, walk out the door and go and vote against New Labour.
NOW.
OK. you’re at work and you’re only a minion, so you can’t. Then on the way home.
Just do it.
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Go vote Jury Team!
Alan Wallace is a tremendous candidate and wouldn’t be whipped.
Read his blog thepartysover on blogspot
I was just leaving the house to go and vote, when this nice young man with a red rosette offered to hand-deliver a Postal Vote for me instead.
Personal service – how lovely!
Dungeekin
Yep, happily voting against New Liebour. I shall do it this evening and it will put a spring in my step.
:o) :o) :o)
Yes, sah!
Going right now
Consider it done.
Yes let’s all work for a Tory government. Can’t wait.
Thanks for the reminder. I forgot the vote was today.
Done.
@eddie – it is that kind of defeatism that has you asking for us all to vote for (Labour) war criminals and authoritarians in our droves. What awful, novel crime would the Labour party have to do in order for you to admit that trying for an alternative is a good idea?
The only alternative is Tory. Your choice. If you don’t vote Labour that is what you will get because no one else can form a government. Obviously I don’t agree with your first sentence which is tendentious and untrue. But I am relishing the prospect of reading threads here a year from now when a Tory government is doing all the things that tory governments do. Perhaps some of the saner among you will then be saying, “well perhaps the Labour government wasn’t so bad after all”. This governement and parliament is finished, I accept that.
Done. Green.
It is indeed my choice, and this evening I will be exercising real choice and voting neither Labour nor Tory. I don’t think it is true or fair to dismiss anyone who disagrees with the suggestion that Labour were not so bad after all as not “sane” – that is so blindly partisan it fails to see the wood for the trees.
Monbiot highlighted many inconsistencies to Hazel Blears in her self-sabotaging interview, and I think they reveal how Tory the Labour party has become. As we know the list is disastrous: Yes to environmentalism, but yes to runway expansion; yes to the HRA but yes to 1m+ dead in illegal wars; yes to US imperialism, and yes to Israeli bias on the Palestine question. Yes to higher rate of tax (more out of necessity than principle) but no to reducing inequality and social mobility overall. Yes to the politics of fear, and a resounding no to civil liberties. Yes to privatisation, no to index-linked state pensions etc etc.
What has the Labour party done that it can be proud of, do you think? Why do you think that the Lib Dems or the Greens would be unable to form a govt?
I just looked at the website of the British Embassy in Tokyo and there is nothing to tell me how to vote while resident abroad. I think that tells me something.
Jon:
“What has the Labour party done that it can be proud of, do you think?”
I’m no longer a Labour supporter and won’t be voting for them today but, to give credit where credit’s due, I think their efforts to bring about a political settlement in Northern Ireland were absolutely first-rate.
@MJ, I would agree. Whilst I won’t fault them on that, the success there does make a mockery of their “won’t talk to terrorists” policy that excuses their bias against the Palestinians.
And I wonder how much of the NI success was down to Mo Mowlam, rather than Blair. I can’t quite square the image of the latter, grinning like a maniac and absorbing the media limelight, with what he did to Iraq and Palestine. I thought it was a cheeky little joke from Charlotte Green she announced he was to be appointed as Middle East Peace Envoy.
@Craig
It might state the obvious, but could you put in your post:
> Get up, walk out the door and go
> and vote against both New Labour
> and the BNP.
Needless to say, New Labour are a bunch of criminals, but I would rather have them than vote for fascists.
For a start I don’t accept 1 million plus dead or “illegal wars” – sez who? If they are illegal why no prosecutions? Bluff and bluster on your part I think. Look at Iraq Body Count
As for, “What have the Romans ever done for us?” (which are you the Judean People’s Front or the People’s Front of Judea?)
1.Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s
2. Low mortgage rates
3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.35
4. Record police numbers in England, Scotland and Wales
5. Cut overall crime by 35 per cent
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools
7. Best-ever primary school results
8. Funding for every pupil in England to double by 2008
9. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries
10. 85,000 more nurses
11. 32,000 more doctors
12. Brought back matrons to hospital wards
13. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament
14. Devolved power to Welsh Assembly
15. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time
16. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice
17. Gift aid was worth £625 million to charities last year
18. Restored city-wide government to London
19. Record number of students in higher education
20. Child benefit up 25 per cent since 1997
21. Created Sure Start to help children from low income households
22. Introduced the Disability Rights Commission
23. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & extra £100 for over-80s
24. On course to exceed the Kyoto target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2010
25. Negotiated the historic Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland
26. Over 30,000 more teachers in England schools
27. All workers now have a right to 4 weeks’ paid holiday
28. A million pensioners lifted out of relative poverty
29. 800,000 children lifted out of relative poverty
30. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents
31. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships
32. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard
32. Free school milk for five, six and seven-year-olds in Wales
33. Banned fox hunting
34. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since the industrial revolution
35. Free TV licences for over-75s
36. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals
37. Waiting times for operations halved
38. Free local bus travel for over-60s
39. New Deal – helped over a million people into work
40. Over 1.5 million child trust funds have been started
41. Free eye test for over 60s
42. Brought peace to Northern Ireland
I could go on, but I know these things probably mean nothing to you as you don’t live in the real world. They mean a lot to a lot of people, not least the people of Northern Ireland.
I think you should be proud of all those things, if not, why not? As for the greens and lib dems don’t make me laugh. Clegg is a disaster. Have you actually seen him in the House? He is a laughing stock. The only lib dem with any credibility is vince cable.
Your blog is my home page,Mr Murray.However I did vote Labour.Proudly.
eddie: fair point. To be picky, not all can be exclusively attributed to Labour (inflation, mortgages) and some are dubious (despite funding increases and SATs results, standards of primary education are frighteningly poor).
My main point however is that almost everything Labour did that was good was done in its first term. Since 2001 it has been awful and has turned the UK into a police state.
MJ – thank you for your graciousness. But the UK a police state? Please. Don’t. Be. Silly. If you knew what a real police state was like you would not make such ludicrous claims. Have you ever read any history? Have you read 1984? The very fact that we are both writing this garbage proves beyond reasonable doubt that we do not live in a police state. Perhaps your personal circumstances are different to mine, but I think the UK now is a much better place to live than 20 or 30 years ago. I know there are lots of minor irritants, but the balance of progress has been positive.
I voted SNP by post last week. If in Wales I’d have voted Plaid and in England I’d have voted Green.
I had a good chuckle at some of the issues on eddie’s nuLabour crib sheet. My personal favourite from it has to be: “low mortgage rates”!
I’ve made some points on IBC vs. Lancet debate on two other threads, so won’t repeat that here. But I would add the obvious problem with the IBC figures: they only report what the media reports. That should put enough doubt in your mind about what they are measuring. Your “sez who” is disingenuous, as you already know that it was the Lancet that carried this piece (it was an item of discussion here some while back).
You have some good points in your list, but accompanying it with the suggestion that I don’t live in the real world cheapens the debate. I am tired of pointing out the regularly abusive nature of your posting, and would remind you that I have never been abusive towards you.
But the list requires a lot of faith to take it at face value. Some developing country debt has been struck off in theory, but in practise much has been withheld. Ask the Jubilee 2000 coalition about this, or Oxfam.
I’ve heard several mentions about children being lifted out of poverty, but against a backdrop of worsening inequality and social mobility, it doesn’t explain the full picture, does it? Labour’s boasting about being “seriously relaxed about people being filthy rich” goes some way to show that the favouring of the wealthy is a deliberate state of affairs.
I haven’t checked the employment figures but any positive performance is balanced out by the Brown’s liberalisation of financial instruments that has deepened our involvement in the global economic meltdown. This is costing thousands of jobs, and is presently set to cost many more.
However I do concede you have some good items on your list, and you should not be under the impression that everyone is saying that Labour have not done anything decent. The point I am making is that it is felt that the major failings – well pointed out on this blog and in the comments – more than outweigh the achievements. It is my view that Blair/Brown have presided over a genocide in Iraq that we could have stopped, and I am not sure there is any amount of increased employment in the UK that I think would balance that out.
You have not answered the point convincingly about a Lib Dem or a Green govt. Sure, the idea is mocked in the MSM – and I think there are several reasons for that – but that is not a good reason in itself to join in. Why do you think that the policies offered by the Lib Dems or the Greens would be so bad for Britain? Each would include some of the progressive ideals from your list, undoubtedly.
Concerning hospital waiting times, it so happens I have a cousin who is a surgeon who told me something interesting: to get the official waiting time in casualty wards down to 4 hours (‘or else’), they put patients in corridors, trimmed up with a few bits of furniture, so that they can count as ‘wards’. Real Soviet survival technique. Dame Stella Rimington, the ex-chief of MI5, was right when she warned in her autobiography that an obsession with targets, so beloved of New Labour, would usher in a culture of dishonesty.
I will vote this evening. Rest assured, it won’t be New Labour.
I’m sure Fred West planted a few flowers and Harold Shipman saved a few patients. That doesn’t change what they are and wouldn’t make me willing to vote for them if they were still alive.
I hope New Labour go the same way as Fred and Harold soon and leave room for something better to form in their place. If a few more years back under the Tory Party is the price we pay then so be it.
It’s not the voters’ fault; it’s New Labour’s.
Jon
I apologise if I have abused you, I get so much abuse here that I assume everyone is the same and probably lose track of who said what. Your points are reasonable. All I can say is that governments try their best and don’t always succeed. Every government is beholden to global forces to a large extent. On balance, I think Labour has done more good than bad. But they are now tired and past their sell by date.
Regarding greens and Libs, my comments were hyperbolic. I don’t think much of Clegg but Cable would probably make a great chancellor and some form of lib lab pact may be possible in the future. From my own knowledge of libs at a local level I distrust them. I think they try to be all things to all people and they lie and distort in their literature. The greens I know less about. I know a lot about climate change and I know we have to do something, but the problem for the greens is that everyone thinks that other people should do something, not me!
As for IBC/Lancet. The Lancet study is way out of kilter with all the studies that have been done, not just IBC. See wiki. Its estimates are ten times the figures in other studies, so any reasonable person would treat it with scepticism I feel.
Dear Craig
I went down my local polling station and cast my vote for the SNP.
I see it as a public duty to put New Labour on its collective arse.
If they held a gun to my head to threaten me I would tell them to go f**k themselves the human rights abusing bastards.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
IBC were not (originally) only counting deaths in the MSM, but only in *English language* MSM.
Plus, the Lancet study methodology had been used and accepted for various studies all over the world, and nobody criticised it or tried to debunk the figures — until the politically-charged study on Iraqi deaths.
PLUS, there is another indpendent study done by Opinion Research Business which estimated deaths at 1.2 million and counting, in September 2007. This study received little or no coverage in the Enlish language MSM.
You’ll find it on Wiki, Eddie.
Dear All
Eddie the Eagle has posted a list of success. Here are my thoughts.
1.Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s
Built on a debt bubble that has burst!
2. Low mortgage rates
Home repossessions up and mortgage availability restricted
3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.35
And that is what it is a minimum that traps people in poverty.
4. Record police numbers in England, Scotland and Wales
The SNP run Scotland not Labour.
5. Cut overall crime by 35 per cent
Dependent on how the stats are compiled.
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools
Schools are failing.
7. Best-ever primary school results
What are the stats for failure?
8. Funding for every pupil in England to double by 2008
So an expensive failure!
9. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries
And poverty levels in this country rocket.
10. 85,000 more nurses
How many have left or retired?
11. 32,000 more doctors
Again how many?
12. Brought back matrons to hospital wards
Carry on Film policy.
13. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament
And try to rig it to ensure a Labour majority.
14. Devolved power to Welsh Assembly
And try to rig it to ensure a Labour majority.
15. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time
Wow that will may a difference if they have a job!
16. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice
Health Care is free/
17. Gift aid was worth £625 million to charities last year
Why isn’t it reaching deprived areas?
18. Restored city-wide government to London
Didn’t they have local government before?
19. Record number of students in higher education
And no jobs at the end of it! The educated unemployed so they know they are fucked!
20. Child benefit up 25 per cent since 1997
And rent, council tax, food, gas and electricity up too.
21. Created Sure Start to help children from low income households
Such a success that record numbers of poor children failing and falling at University.
22. Introduced the Disability Rights Commission
And whether they will fight for you is subject to status.
23. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & extra £100 for over-80s
And nothing to the unemployed.
24. On course to exceed the Kyoto target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2010
Well, given that Labour fail everything I wouldn’t hold my breath.
25. Negotiated the historic Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland
I thought others were involved?
26. Over 30,000 more teachers in England schools
In Scotland Labour are closing schools and making teachers unemployed/
27. All workers now have a right to 4 weeks’ paid holiday
4 weeks of minimum wage, Monaco here we come!
28. A million pensioners lifted out of relative poverty
Relative to whom, those on JSA?
29. 800,000 children lifted out of relative poverty
But still claiming benefits?
30. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents
And nothing to single people.
31. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships.
Some campaigners for Scrapping Section 28 were done for being involved a paedophile ring, like James Rennie, Chief Executive of LGBT Scotland. In an online conversation with another accused, he even expressed a wish to see children with Down’s Syndrome or a learning disability sexually abused.
32. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard
Don’t you mean Councils and Housing Associations?
32. Free school milk for five, six and seven-year-olds in Wales
How many?
33. Banned fox hunting
Yes, poor people mention that all the time.
34. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since the industrial revolution
Wow, since the industrial revolution?
35. Free TV licences for over-75s
Fantastic!
36. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals
When?
37. Waiting times for operations halved
All operations?
38. Free local bus travel for over-60s
A day out with no money, wow!
39. New Deal – helped over a million people into work
Don’t you mean forced into dead end jobs on minimum wage?
40. Over 1.5 million child trust funds have been started
People could have opened a savings account if they wanted to for their kid.
41. Free eye test for over 60s
Fantastic!
42. Brought peace to Northern Ireland
Rubbish, the Tories started the talks under Major.
Please note 25 and 42; he takes credit for the same thing twice!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Don’t waste your time on eddie people. He isn’t here for intelligent discussion and isn’t just a misguided, uneducated soul. If he was i’d admire all your efforts though. I’m convinced, philosophically one can’t be sure I know, that he is a spook tithead. He just wants to cause disruption and promote the official version of our society. Our talk can’t go unchallenged. My logic is that they assume that undecided folk will always be reassured by the official narrative and not be converted. I have seen this so many times on so many forums and blogs, even chat rooms. There is a gang of these scrotes patrolling the internet. I know when people are just expressing their honest opinions. I know what random trolls are and he doesn’t fit the random troll M.O. in my view. He ‘strongly’ reminds me of ‘The Jessy’, I believe they are one and the same, and if you take time to look back and compare their posts you will see striking similarities on many levels. Just my opinion anyway.
Hi Eddie,
Oh lordy – another NuLab troll with bullet-point lists. You missed one, Eddie:
(n) Made trains run on time.