Having now seen the coaliton agreement, I can say that I can broadly support this government and am convinced that it will be an improvement on the bunch of authoritarian war criminals who have been replaced.
Here are the parts of the agreement that to me constitute a radical change for the better in the political possibilities for our country:
Civil Liberties
Scrap the ID card scheme, the National Identity register, the next generation of biometric passports and the ContactPoint Database.
Outlaw the finger-printing of children at school without parental permission.
Extend the scope of the Freedom of Information Act to provide greater transparency.
Adopt the Scottish approach to stopping retention of innocent people’s DNA on the DNA database.
Defend trial by jury.
Restore rights to non-violent protest.
A review of libel laws to protect freedom of speech.
Safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation.
Further regulation of CCTV.
Ending of storage of internet and email records without good reason.
A new mechanism to prevent the proliferation of unnecessary new criminal offences.
End the detention of children for immigration purposes.
Add to that a fully elected House of Lords under PR, and fixed term parliaments, and this does represent real truly important change for the better.
The full coalition agreement is here.
Lifting the basic tax allowance towards £10,000 and restoring the state pension link to earnings are also major changes.
I’m reminded of part of a speech I heard almost a quarter of century ago by someone shedding crocidile tears for the victims of Tory Thatcherite policies; who stood by and let others fight the battles he and his cabal did not have the stomach to fight and whose mindset lives on today in the Sectarian Tribalist Tendancy who would rather be losers, who would rather sit sniping on the sidelines than give up its self-proclaimed right to claim exclusive ownership of the terms “left”; “progressive” and “radical” by letting anyone else not part of the “tribe” into the enclosure they have set up as the paternalistic vanguard of ordinary working people.
Those over about the age of 40-45 may recognise it. I’ve updated it to reflect what is, sadly, the situation as it stands:
“I’ll tell you what happens with authoritarian tribalists. You start with a far-fetched series of policies designed to placate the right wing media, the unelected money markets and neo-con interests.
And these are then pickled into a rigid micro-managerialist dogma, a code, and you go through the years sticking to that, misplaced, outdated, irrelevant to the real needs.
And you end in the grotesque spectacle of a Tory Government, a Tory Government, scuttling round Parliament and the Country committing themselves to scrapping ID cards and a National Identity register of its own people; outlawing the DNA fingerprinting of schoolchildren; stopping the retention of innocent peoples DNA; restoring the rights to non-violent protest; defending trial by jury; reviewing the libel laws to protect freedom of speech; ending the detention of children for immigration purposes; further regulating CCTV cameras; doing away with the proliferation of unnecessary new criminal offences; and restoring the state pension link to earnings.
Anti-civil rights policies and legislation all of which were introduced by a Labour Government, a Labour Government. I tell you – and you’ll listen – you can’t play politics with people’s civil rights and people’s pensions and people’s lives.”
It is the tribalist majority within the Labour Party – the old right wing authoritarians and their blairite fellow travellersat level who are the ones who have put us in this position.
They are spinning like a top and lying like troopers to deflect the blame for their own cowardice and ego’s onto others.
They have lost all credible claim to be progressive and of the “left”. Until they have cleared out the dead wood, got rid of their control freak mindset, and learned how to work with others of like mind they deserve to be sidelined.
They have a great deal to answer for in spurning the opportunity to stop the damage of a Tory Administration.
wendy
I saw that as well.
“As for the bad ideas under the cons – yes there where some.. but why did labour not repeal them ? Theyve had 13 years to do it, but they have supported it and encouraged it especially PFI’s.”
No disagreement with you there.
“By the way for people who want PR, this is the kind of power sharing deals that will hapen after every General Election.”
If the election had been under STV PR then even if people had voted as they did under first-past-the-post (which they wouldn’t have – far more would have voted Lib Dem or for smaller parties) then Labour and the Lib Dems would have had plenty of seats to form a coalition.
Duncan McFarlane at May 12, 2010 8:53 PM
So are you saying STV would have kept a bunch of war criminals and authoritarian control freaks in power for another 5 years? Perhaps we should keep that quiet.
Eccles – i agree. Blunkett , Reid and the rest of the Blairites were spitting blood at the idea of Labour not having to go into opposition immediately, because they were more concerned about getting their front bench status and salaries back by getting rid of Brown than they were about anything else.
Almost the entire parliamentary Labour party unfortunately cared more about keeping their own seats or factional in-fighting than they did about democracy. If they’d backed a referendum on PR a couple of years ago they could be in coalition with the Lib Dems now.
looks like clegg is pretty much tied in, and cameron is not one to play second fiddle .
with a fixed term and little chance of no confidence vote passing (55%), along with pro israel reagrdless of legitimate palestinian rights and obama already signalling the pro war stance of cameron – and ensured with hague et al in those prime jobs
looks like the nasty party is truly back.
Congratulations to Craig for backing a winner. It’s so nice to see the cobwebs of New Labour Blairite dictatorship being blasted away by a blast of political discussion and bargaining. It makes Mrs Thatcher’s statement that Socialism is dead, look more like reality. If the Blair legacy, tight control on civil liberties, highly illegal wars and back-handers from the beyond-corrupt bankers, was socialism, it has now truly breathed it’s last.
Desperate New Labourites keep talking about ‘the progressive Left’, but ‘aggressive’ is going to be the final legacy of these warmongerers and beyond the pale gravy-trainers like Hoon. Good riddance to them and fair play to the dynamic duo for creating the alternative. The best thing about New Labour is that is that they have left.
Personally I’m optimistic about this coalition, it was the only realistic and sensible solution. This election really was historic! I find that my cynicism has melted, maybe it’s wishful thinking and naivety but I genuinely feel excited. We have a whole new generation in charge after all those years with the Boomers running things. As the Independent predicted last week (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/jonathan-pontell-cleggs-rise-is-the-sound-of-generation-jones-clearing-its-throat-1961191.html) “the torch has been passed” from the Boomers to Generation Jones. Cameron, Clegg, and a big chunk of the new Cabinet and Parliament are all GenJonesers, I don’t think there could have been an alliance if Boomers were still running the parties and it will be interesting to see how this generational change affects things.
Posted by: at May 12, 2010 8:49 PM
i think this con dem coalition was already in the making prior to the election outcome (there were media reports of back-door informal talks prior to may 6th) .. on the basis of that it would be an hung parliament.
cross party arrangements have been pretty quick and cabinet positions already made .. and importantly despite what the libdems believe it is cameron and his cronies who will pull the strings ..
I now get on Craig Murray
About 2,120,000 results (0.17 seconds)
But Craig
Please Don’t Change You Website and Most of All Do Not Introduce Any Advertising
You Don’t Need It
Tony
So craig, your new bosses have whiped you in to obeying the party line have they?
What was that letter they sent to you?
“Don’t question” or was it “don’t disagree”?
My wife got a text message from her sister today.
“We’re going to have to endure 5 years of Cameron cos U voted Lib Dem!”
Hmm. Hard to argue with that.
Posted by: at May 12, 2010 9:24 PM
Craig like me doesn’t work for you any more.
For more information can I refer you to the original series of
The Prisoner
We RESIGNED
Tony
Actually The New Series on ITV is Surprising Good. It’s even in High Definition and also features the actor in my avatar…
Well I think its him
I forget his name but he too comes from Lancashire
“Can the new UK Government please release Gary McKinnon from the threat of being extradited and tortured in some US Gulag.”
I assume you’re joking Tony Opmoc.
Tony
I won’t take advertising, don’t worry. I expect the new government not to extradite Gary McKinnon.
I would really like to know, despite the fine words, what actual leverage do the LD’s have over the Tories if they disagree with policy decisions like Europe or the economy? All Craig has said the government ‘will fail’. Do the LD’s have to threaten to walk out every time the Tories fail to deliver, or more likely, implement things the LD’s don’t agree with?
My (natural) suspicion is that the Tories have the LD’s over a barrel. They have thrown them a few bones, in the name of expedience, in order to implement their core Tory beliefs. When the LDs disagree, the Tories will portray them as wrecking the government blah blah. I think the minimum the Lds should have obtained is Cable as chancellor. The deputy PM post is cosmetic. The other posts are minor. Notice the horrific Tory Tw*ts in the major offices of state: the execrable and piss poor Osborne, the loathsome Hague, and the pathetic May. That is why I have no confidence in this ‘coalition’. It appears to me the the LDs have been taken for suckers, who will have no real leverage over Cameron and co, despite the fine words. I think they would have been much stronger and principled as a separate party opposing a minority Tory government. Then they would have real leverage in the House, combining with the other parties when necessary. The Tories would have had to be much more compromising. The LDs have been co-opted to shut them up, and bind them into a government they will end up hating, patsies for a cruel, partisan government which will look after its own, its media supporters and international finance.
Do European liberal democrats and believers in PR/coalition government spend their time moaning about their coalitions as soon as they’re formed, or is it just because we’re inexperienced?
Ian M
In a slightly different context, it used to be called MAD, I believe.
Neither can afford to fail – it could for once provide decent cabinet and party debate. You never know the as yet unanticipated/unappreciated consequences: Question Time may be more interesting, the press for the most part will be toeing a different line.
Interesting times ahead.
Are you a neoconservative, Larry? Is that why you defend the US hard state at every available opportunity? Is that your job, Larry?
by “fail” perhaps I meant “fall out” – because of the fall out…
Craig,
You are my hero.
My son ran his own website from the age of 13, and kids were sending him money from all over the World…
Because he said – I can do this a lot faster…
And so he bought the server which kids from all over the world had paid for…
And I drove him with it into a Datacentre in The London Docklands where he configured it himself…
And he got it working…
The FASTEST BANDWIDTH in The World
I did say he should use Linux instead but from the age of 11 he was a certified and registered Microsoft Developer – and got all the New Releases of Their Operating Systems To Test For Free
And so it lasted for 4 days – and then was blasted to Shit…
So I drove him back into London to collect it
He installed Linux on it, and he only asked me One Thing
How do you Configure The Security Dad?
And so, there was Absolutely NO WAY he was going to let down his Friends From All Over The World who had sent him a few Dollars or whatever by Western Union or Whatever..
So I drove him back into London to the Data Centre….
And he got well over 1,000,000 hits
And No He Did Not Make Any Money From It
And No He Did Not Have ANY Advertising On His Website
Tony
Scousebilly
How is it MAD? The tories have the whip hand, they are not equally armed. If, for instance, Osborne produces as inept and dangerous budget as we expect, exactly what power does Cable have to alter it? These are the details I would like to know in order to be persuaded that the LDs have any power at all, other than as scapegoats and fall guys.
Ian M
The one breaks the coalition; it is broken for both. I think you could show some goodwill, especially considering the amount of power Lib-Dems have finally achieved after how long?
It’s like a new boss arrives at a business and, on day one, half the employees tell him, “your shit – this aint gonna work!”, and you think that’s going to optimise the way the business moves forward?
Wait and see. I’m reasonably optimistic that each will temper the other in mutually assured government.
I fail to understand the continual attacks on the Labour movement by Craig and many other posters on here.
The simple facts are that whilst the Liberals were the great reformers of the 19thC, Labour were the great reformers of the 20thC. Both were reforming against attacks by the Conservative Party.
Current and past Labour supporters well understand how the Labour party was hijacked by neocons and authoritarians under Blair and despise those who did that to the party. But the fact remains that 139 Labour MPs rebelled against Blair’s Iraq war whilst only 15 Conservative MPs did so.
So the natural heart of the Labour movement is still against these wars of aggression whilst the Conservative party is more naturally inclined to alliance with warmongering imperialism.
Those are the facts.
The Labour movement is not just Blair. It was also great reforming Home Secs like Roy Jenkins. It was Robin Cook too, and many others and progressive causes and initiatives too numerous to mention.
Currently Liam Fox is talking up an Iranian threat and Wilhelm Hague is planning to visit Hillary this week to ensure the UK is onboard for warmongering plans. Labour wouldn’t have gone this way under Brown and wasn’t going that way. Brown was much more old Labour than Blair, and I suspect that’s why media attacked him so.
The Labour party has only been half destroyed in its sad alliance with neocons. My fear is that the Lib Dems will be totally wiped out.
Terry
What have I against the Labour Party? 1 million dead Iraqis. I don’t think the new govt will start any wars. If wrong I will apologise.
Terry: I always loved Labour and supported it. It no longer exists. “New” Labour supplanted it, and it’s aims were pretty much 180 degrees from the original Labour party. Labour died with John Smith. It’s just taking a while for people – like yourself, perhaps – to understand that.
I still retain a soft spot for Brown, but he bankrolled the entire activity of “New” Labour. Things were still going in the wrong direction. He does not deserve to be in office because of his authoritarian, neo-con policies.
We probably need another party, or such a change that turned Labour into “New” Labour to happen again, but in the other direction. Any party with a mendacious filthy neo-con like Mandelson pulling the strings deserves nothing but but to be kicked out of office. Half of the “New” Labour movers and shakers still belong in the dock at The Hague.
Craig
You need to be a bit more discriminating.
You’re supporting a Conservative party in which only 15 Tory MPs voted against the Iraq slaughter.
You’re wildly attacking a Labour party in which 139 Labour MPs voted against that Iraq slaughter.
You’re also wildly attacking a Labour movement which at grassroots was the most vociferous campaigner against the Iraq slaughter.
I’m sorry, this point has probably been made, but I don’t understand. The Conservatives supported the attacks. Does that not make them equally warmongers, and equally morally culpable? Or more so, since they didn’t have Blair/being in government as an excuse?
As for whether any new govt would start any new wars: the country, I think, wouldn’t let them.
glenn
It may be that we need a new progressive alliance to emerge from the remnants of old Labour and other places, but Craig’s Conservative party is not it.
There are structural reasons for the decline of old Labour, and it was certainly hijacked by Blairite neocons, but still 139 Labour MPs voted against the Iraq war.
There’s plenty to build upon still within the Labour movement.
Terry: but with Miliband leading it? Are the party really that out of touch and regressive still?