We do not have a parliamentary system which can hold a government with an absolute majority to account, even when that government only gained 37% of the vote. This is a salutary video for all of us, but particularly my fellow SNP members who think that being on House of Commons committees will make a big difference. Watch it from 16.32.30 where Paul Flynn starts to explore the links between Liam Fox, Adam Werritty and Matthew Gould. As he threatens to uncover hidden truths, he is shouted down by Tory MP Robert Halfon and forbidden from speaking by Tory committee chair Bernard Jenkin.
The Tories will be even worse in this parliament.
Halfon has today been promoted to Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party and given a seat in the Cabinet. He is a really nasty piece of work whose political career has been sponsored and financed by a very sinister figure named Poju Zabludowicz, who works closely with Mossad. It is appalling that Zabludowicz should be able to place his puppet into the centre of government, and shows yet again that money can buy power at Westminster, every time.
It is amusing that Cameron has been forced to put David Mundell into the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Scotland. Also interesting that in the present state of opinion Cameron was not able to put in a colonial governor from the Lords or an English constituency. But whatever else may be said in Mundell’s favour, nobody has ever described him as highly intelligent, I suspect not even his mum. So it will be interesting to see how he manages his extraordinarily sensitive brief.
Labour equally had no choice but Ian Murray – which means as a shadow cabinet member he will have to stop pretending he is opposed to Trident. As anti-Trident rhetoric was the thing that saved Murray (plus disgraceful media attacks on his SNP opponent), by forcing him to become pro-Trident Scottish Labour will make a strong bid to have no MPs at all.
Good piece from Molly Scott Cato in the New Statesman on Lynton Crosby’s tactics:
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/05/greens-blame-tory-majority-labours-willingness-accept-narrative-its-opponents
There was little or no debate on actual policy in the six weeks of the campaign. Did anyone mention Cameron’s 2011 war on Libya? Support for the fascists in Kiev? Syria? Palestine? Iraq? Chilcot is forgotten. The sexual abuse of children by those in high places?
No. It never happened….. It was all about the economy, personal ‘aspiration’ etc
PS In medical terms, aspiration means ingestion of solids or liquids into the lungs causing pneumonia, choking and/or death.
Très dangereux. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonary_aspiration
Thanks Mark. A very acquisitive individual indeed. Why are some born with this drive for wealth and power and others having no interest at all in material possessions?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poju_Zabludowicz See BICOM
Perhaps he bought the Picasso in NY yesterday!
He has also benefited greatly from the development of settlements in Occupied Palestine.
There are photos of him and his wife in the gallery here. Philanthropists. Indeed.
http://www.thejc.com/galleries/the-guest-list/london-diners-rustle-%C2%A337m-ujia-projects?img=16
What I find rather depressing, thouhg not surprising, is the attitude in most of our media that Cameron achieved a great and triumphant victory, this is hardly accurate. The Tories simply swallowed the Liberals whole. It was the right rearranging the on the deck of the Titanic, and full steam ahead!
The media’s role seems to be to exaggerate the scale of Cameron’s victory and cover it wiht a thick layer of hyperbole, or something even worse.
The electoral system was specifically designed to facilitate these kind of ‘triumph’ and exaggerate the Tory vote, create a mandate almost out of thin air, which is a funny kind of democracy. Unrepresentative democracy perhaps? Or is that going too far?
One of the unfortunate things about this tawdry result is that the foreign media are also selling this false idea that Cameron triumphed and the people in England support austerity, so the dreary ripples spread. Funnily one of my wife’s students, who is rather conservative, was on holiday if Wales and having a jolly time down the pub. He assumed that his chums loved Margaret Thatcher as much as he did, having been given the impression that Thatcher was immensely popular, having won so many elections by ‘landslides’, he was shocked when his Welsh friends expressed a level of disdain and hatred for Thatcher and her policies. Poor lad.
Traditionalists know what they are voting for, they would not have been swayed by Brand in any way shape or form.
While I’m on record as thinking Brand is an asshat, it isn’t always true that traditionalists know what they are voting for: those who voted for Blair the first time thought they were voting for socialism and got global capitalism.
I do hope this week’s trend for ‘aspiration’ (all parties, union reps, newspapers) includes those who *aspire* to a roof over their heads, a living wage, security of employment and even a positive return on their small savings. You know, the traditionally unfixable stuff.
Also homeless and living in the rubble with no sanitation and little power.
Hope is scarce in Gaza — but we haven’t lost it
Jamal Khoudary The Electronic Intifada 10 April 2015 http://electronicintifada.net/content/hope-scarce-gaza-we-havent-lost-it/14417
Luke @ 5.24pm yesterday:
Yeah, but it also works the other way. There is enough in common between the SNP and Greens’ policies that many Scottish Greens will have been happy to vote tactically for the SNP in order to keep out Tory/Labour/LD, thereby helping the SNP to achieve their landslide.
Moreover, although you and I might be delighted to see the absence of Tories in Scotland (and for that matter also in England), if they do exist, then they should have fair representation overall.
Some support for that Blair statement @0814:
http://www.timrusso.org/tag/tony-blair/
Just look at what Blair’s ballot stuffing “reforms” left behind in the medieval City of London, a rogue state standing atop a mountain of systemic offshore financial risk, utterly uncommented upon by anyone in the Labour Party’s London collection of powerless elected officials, even as they select another candidate for London Mayor in 2016 who is just as silent on the matter, and who upon election will remain without jurisdiction over the Square Mile. I had never realized the role I played rigging that particular game in 2000 until I studied it this semester 15 years later as a student at Cleveland State. No zeal quite like that of the recently converted.
After Labour’s 2015 defeat, a campaign in which no Labour candidate would dare be seen in their presence, we now hear from Blair, Alan Johnson, Peter Mandelson, John Prescott, who, incredibly, argued after the election that Ed Miliband should have campaigned on the banking bailout. This predictable parade of Blairite lords and ladies, at this point indistinguishable from Mitt Romney, lectures us that Labour needs to stay “aspirational”, as if one can aspire to anything in a rigged game. Lord Mandelson is even pimping to be the new leader Chuka Umunna, a City of London “employment” lawyer (read: outsourcing and union busting) straight out of the City’s offshore petri dish. It’s become comical.
…and…
The days when a Labour staffer could fool a Trot into missing a key policy vote at conference by offering them tea are well over. The blinders are off, voters know to their bones the game is rigged, quite aware of who rigged it, and to those voters, Labour in 2015 stands for nothing other than access to power. No matter how many vapidly facile “pledges” get carved into an Ed Stone, when a party loses trust this badly, voters do not wish to hear how aspirationally sincere a party’s rigged noncredible leadership claims to be.
Russo (who acknowledges on his blog the offence his detractors will inevitably bring up) was UK Labour Party Visits Coordinator for Tony Blair’s first and second elections as prime minister. He may well know what he is talking about.
The Tories are not vicious but your rhetoric is increasingly so. This is odd given that, superficially, it might look as though you are likely to see an independent Scotland. And yet all is not that it seems. Who would put money on the chances of an independent Scotland sitting on the Bank of England? Very few. Just the mention of Scottish MPs influencing the Labour Party was seen as sufficient for comment. So what will the SNP do with the currency and how will it sell it to their electorate? We are now in ‘Neverendum’ territory.
Most people would probably see Independence as inevitable. But oil is not what it was. Scottish business is not yet ready to take up the slack. The Barnett formula is still wanted. How will the SNP sell an Independent poverty? It will play for time. But, having accepted the high probability of Scottish independence, why should English politicians go along with it? Why should they put up with a troublesome group of Scottish MPS causing problems at Westminster? And if the UK decides to stay in Europe – as I think they will – why should England agree to vote Scotland into the EU?
Scotland is facing no oil (financially speaking), no Barnett formula and no EU. Depending upon how England reacts it might not even be able to use English roads or even trade with or be recognised by the rUK if Scotland reneges on UK debt. In addition, some eurosceptics might think it a fine experiment to see how Scotland fares out of the EU. If they do well England might join them – if not, England might stay in the EU. Try paying Scottish pensions with that lot! Try selling that in a second referendum.
“Vicious”? Cameron and his second half seem quite nice to me. 🙂
Why is Halfon a “nasty piece of work”? He may be a Jew who supports Israel, but I expect Jews to do that. Treating Palestinians unjustly or badly is certainly worthy of protest, but that is a different matter. Again, Poju Zabludowicz seems to be an active philanthropist as well as peace-maker who organised secret talks between Peres and Abbas. Craig, you’re not a “non-activist convert” to Islam, by any chance?
Ian Murray apparently had his office vandalised by pro-independence activists. I’m sure you disapprove of such criminal damage, which SNP members would never stoop to. 🙂
@craig “whatever else may be said in Mundell’s favour, nobody has ever described him as highly intelligent, I suspect not even his mum.” I can think of several pieces of evidence indicating his being of above-average ability
1. He got a place as a law student, which is a competitive subject.
2. He joined the SDP.
3. He attained a responsible legal position with BT.
4. He got elected as an MP.
5. He has attained high political office and become a privy councillor
I predict that he may do well as the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he gets on well with Nicola Sturgeon. Let’s wait and see.
Craig’s favourite scribbler NOT says
Labour should forget ‘Blairism’ and reclaim Blair’s early radicalism
The party must not confuse the magic of their former leader at its peak with his later zealotry for privatisation, war in Iraq and multimillionairedom
Polly Toynbee
Tuesday 12 May 2015 06.00 BST
Toynbee Link
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/12/labour-forget-blairism-radicalism-blair
HoC resumes May 18th. A whole lot of swearing will go on.
After the 2015 General Election
Monday 18 May 2015 – New Parliament summoned
Parliament returns on the date set by proclamation.
The Father of the House presides over the re-election of/election of a new Speaker of the House of Commons.
Royal Commission confirms the election of the Speaker of the Commons.
MPs start swearing the Oath of Allegiance or making an Affirmation in the Commons, starting with the Speaker, followed by the Father of the House, the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet.
Swearing in continues for two or three further days.
Then
Wednesday 27 May 2015 – State Opening and the Queen’s Speech
The Queen’s Speech is delivered at the State Opening of the new Parliament.
Labour’s perpetuation of the City of London Corporation, as a virtual state, answerable to no-one but financiers with low ethical standards, is detailed here. Russo’s a bit more specific than Brand, for instance. A must-read:
http://www.timrusso.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CityOfLondonVersusBrettonWoods.pdf
He cites this:
In 1917, Peter Mandelson’s grandfather Herbert Morrison, a rising star in
Labour ranks, put the party’s antipathy plainly. “Is it not time London faced up to
the pretentious buffoonery of the City of London Corporation and wipe it off the
municipal map?” he asked. “The City is now a square mile of entrenched
reaction, the home of the devilry of modern finance.” Clement Attlee took up the
baton in 1937. “Over and over again we have seen that there is in this country
another power than that which has its seat at Westminster,” he said. “Those who
control money can pursue a policy at home and abroad contrary to that which has
been decided by the people.
from this:
http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/02/london-corporation-city
Also well worth a look.
Cameron and his second half seem quite nice to me
Christ. Just Christ. I have a New York bridge going cheap, Abe.
It’s really their vicious backers that are the problem. Cameron is dim-witted stooge, doing a bit of bullying here and there as befits his background, but essentially a bullshitter. He is vain enough to believe he really did win the election, when it was the Tory press and their big money backers, with possibly a little help from the shadows, that won it.
The mainstream media must be defeated as the first stage to taking back our nations. Never give a penny to any newspaper or TV company is my advice.
@Ba’al Zevul “.. I have a New York bridge going cheap, Abe.” Disregarding the oath, I think real estate in outer space might be a better bargain – no hassle in court 🙂
I suspect that Cameron has been underestimated by a number of people. But someone who does that may make decisions not based on reality, and look where that got the opposition.
Nice Mr Cameron and nice Mr Blair.
Skewered.
and again, with the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEYIO2aDTJQ
The people of Scotland became acutely aware of Tory poverty creation under Thatcher. With the result the Tories were kicked out of Scotland at the Westminster level.
The Scottish Referendum gave the people of Scotland an “overdose” of bulling, scare tactics, threats, and downright abuse by all the Labour politicians, especially the Scottish ones, Brown,Darling,Reid et al. With the result they sacked them, and rightly so.
Now we need to get rid of the newspapers who fuelled that abuse. To give your money to those who abused you is madness. Is it not?. Then there is that other mind bender the BBC. What is to be done there? Don’t watch it for a start. However, they have you by the short and curlies. There is no way you can watch anything else legally, that is not also an integral part of the mind bending culture. Now I am not sure of any form of information.
The head shrinks will be busy trying to mend the damage to all those massive egos that were dented last week.
Losing your job is a hellish knock to everyone’s self esteem. Being publicly rejected must be a sore one, even for those who have so much brass in their necks, a blow torch would not mark it.
Half of the people of Scotland woke up to the “pup” that all the Westminster politicians have been selling them for centuries. Very well done to you, you are wonderful.
Now people of England, it is your turn to wake up and demand your Human Rights. After all, it is your money that pays for everything in England. Grab it while you can, or, you will get a financial kicking.
Maybe it is not sore enough yet?
Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourselves. You are as good as everyone who governs you.
Oh yes you are!.
‘Aspiration’:
Individual aspiration or collective aspiration. Strip away the embroidery and this simple statement describes the contours of a struggle not only for the soul of the Labour Party but the country as a whole.
(‘Lock Up Your Principles – Here Come the Blairites’)
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/john-wight/labour-leader-election_b_7250574.html
‘Aspiration’
Do the politicians who are queuing up to lead the Labour Party really believe that traditional Labour voters in Scotland turned en masse to the SNP because they wanted to shop in John Lewis and Waitrose? Do they think that Ukip came second in 120 seats, many of them in Labour’s traditional heartlands, because Labour wasn’t ‘aspirational’ enough?
It is true that Labour won three elections under Blair, but it is also worth remembering that the membership of the Labour Party dropped by more than half between 1997 and 2010, and only began to pick up again when Blair was gone. All this took place despite – or perhaps because of – its fervent embrace of militarism and its starry-eyed glorification of ‘entrepreneurs and wealth creators.’
http://infernalmachine.co.uk/
And do read the rest…
Spinners seek to set the agenda, and to do so have to be swift from the blocks. Mandelson is … well Mandelson, and nobody is surprised at what he says. It was interesting, though, that the Nu Lab types were so swift of the mark, old corrupt Tony himself even weighed in, alongside Mandy and Chukkles, and various other knob-ends. Looks like a concerted strategy, to me. They undermined Ed from the beginning, and commenced the kicking immediately, which tells us all we need to know about these people. At best, scoundrels. At worst, well how far down the rabbit hole do we want to go?
I vaguely feel sorry for Ed. I said from the beginning he’d never be PM, but I also thought he’d get the axe before the election. So I was only half-right, and suspect Ed is made of stern stuff to last as long as he did. But he never stood a chance, with the poisonous mix of Con, Murdoch, and Blair-ite scoundrels shafting him at every turn. Which all leads me to think that the Labour Party left faction have to split. Time to leave, there’s nothing left for them anymore. Wonder if they have the courage?
Ba’al Zevul.
Some very informative links to-day, as usual. Keep it going, it is much appreciated.
I wish I knew where all these gems are hiding.
@Hieroglyph “he never stood a chance, with .. Blair-ite scoundrels shafting him at every turn.”
I don’t remember seeing much public criticism of Ed during the election campaign. The Blairites may well have guessed that he would come to grief, but they respected his being democratically elected as leader and let him get on with it. Now they are in a good position to say ‘We told you lefties so.’
“Scotland is facing no oil (financially speaking), no Barnett formula and no EU. Depending upon how England reacts it might not even be able to use English roads or even trade with or be recognised by the rUK if Scotland reneges on UK debt. In addition, some eurosceptics might think it a fine experiment to see how Scotland fares out of the EU. If they do well England might join them – if not, England might stay in the EU. Try paying Scottish pensions with that lot! Try selling that in a second referendum.”
Leslie, that proportion of defence expenditure to prop up the maintenance of Trident (and any potential successor) could be used for social benefits. There is a big threat to the square mile, the World Bank and IMF. Greece has voted for anti-austerity (by which I suggest a Keynesian approach might be adopted). Unfortunately the bankers ran off with the money and left it in such a cesspit of debt that Syriza came swimming into power on a tidal wave.
Some comments about Syriza, Podemos and other left anti-austerity parties have been dismissive, presumably by those with an interest in propping up the bankers, neocons and status quo. And God does it need crutches! However, a challenge to the World Bank has emerged recently. It is called BRICS. Those who had written off Syriza and Greece because of the debt Syriza inherited had better think twice. BRICS has just lobbied Greece to become the sixth member of BRICS (an offer which is being considered). The timing could not be better. Scotland can also consider seeking financial partnerships outside the square mile. And after independence it would not be up to England whether Scotland is part of Europe.
http://sputniknews.com/business/20150511/1022006611.html
Yeah, Blair’s Lady Bountiful donation to candidates was a 100% positive votewinner. Abe, are you a mate of Mandelson’s? Can you tell us what the objective of the Labour Party is, these days? Other than just getting into power? I mean, the Blairite logic is clear: we have to follow the Tories (at a respectable distance, but not an electorally dangerous one) as they move ever further right, watch them using our shift as an excuse for redefining the centre, shift again and, hello, here’s feudalism.
There is a big threat to the square mile
No there isn’t. The Square Mile has blagged more privileges for itself, continuously, since Norman times. It amuses me to see the unionist parties bleating about the perils of an independent Scotland while turning a blind eye to the excesses of the City’s independent financial state-within-the state.
With the current condition of manufacturing and productive industry in the country, everyone has to go with the ability of the City to create money out of nothing. The deal is, the City is permitted to do what it likes, and the City graciously permits some money to leak out into the wider economy. Until this is addressed, the City is under no threat whatever.
Baal Zevul: I’ve never met potentates of any sort, including Mandelson (I did see my MP in a meeting once from a distance, but didn’t say hello).
The Labour Party these days seems to be split between Old New Labour (Blairites eg Milliband the elder) and New New Labour (more left wing, eg Milliband the younger). Unfortunately the latter, even though they represent a younger generation, didn’t make a case to the electorate as effectively as the Blairites might have done. The result we know.
Robert, John, Ba’al, Hieroglyph, Rene, Tom, and Mary
Thanks you guys.. reminds me of what this blog used to be like before it got infected with vermin