Real Holidays — The HIll Walker’s Dilemma
By Andy | December 30, 2009
I’m writing this on day two of my stay in Leblon, a chic little seaside suburb of Rio. There’s a real problem here, one that only you hillwalkers will appreciate.
We flew in from the UK having spent a week or so living in sub zero temperatures. Here the weather is warm (30 degrees or more) and exceptionally humid. The days are cloudy and seem to follow a common pattern. Heat builds up during the day, a torrential thunderstorm brews up during late afternoon and by the middle of the might has refreshed the air. Next morning the cycle repeats itself.
Day one saw us getting over our flights and acclimatising. Day two has seen us settle into the kind of routine that — for some — would be the ideal holiday. We woke early and breakfasted and read books. Then we strolled into town and had an espresso and some fresh juice at a juice bar. Then it was almost lunch. We ambled over to Mike Pitt’s Bar Jobi for a number of beers, tapas-type plates and a salad. Now the humidity has built we have returned to our apartment for a siesta. Next up we might stroll to a lake in a park, which is probably the most energetic thing we will do during our entire stay.
While this may be some people’s ideal of a holiday it is very different from what we usually do at this time of the year. By now we would be in Snowdonia. No doubt it would be cold with snow on the high hills and maybe even on the lower ones. It would have taken ages to have hammered in the tent pegs on the frozen ground of the Bryn Tryrch campsite. The owner would have greeted us with smiles and lots of comments about how we were bloody mad. We’d have spent the day slipping and sliding on hills. most probably having to stay on lower walks through woodland rather than hitting the heights. As evening drew in we would withdraw to the Bryn Trych hotel, to drink real ale and to sample some good, Welsh, pub food. Then it would have been back to the tent. The night would have been spent snug and warm in winter down bags. And in the morning we would wake to the sharp, cold air on our faces. Coffee would be brewed to warm us up and to give us the bravery to shed the sleeping bag and jump into our walking gear. Then it would — most probably — be a saunter down the road to the Pinnacle Café for breakfast.
What I’d give — now — for the cold, sharp, frosty air first thing in the morning!
Topics: Ramblings | 2 Comments »
Just Be Clear — This Government Has Done Some Great Things!
By Andy | December 17, 2009
As we get closer to the next election it is understandable that people start looking for legacies. Life may look distinctly uncomfortable at the moment for Labour supporters — but there’s no doubt that despite all of the disappointments there are some real achievements to very proud of. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Ramblings | 4 Comments »
Tonight: Time to Take Back Our Politics
By Andy | November 26, 2009
I shall be speaking at Sutton Coldfield tonight on Election Reform.
The meeting is organised by Sutton Coldfield Labour Party who have invited the Lib Dems to take part. Moreover, this is a public meeting and you don’t have to be a member of either party.
All are welcome!
Holly Trinity RC Church
69 Lichfield Road
Sutton Coldfield
Meeting starts at 8.00 pm
Topics: Constitutional Reform | No Comments »
In Place of Cuts
By Andy | November 24, 2009
Today sees the publication of one of the most important pieces of work by the centre left over recent years.
In Place of Cuts: Tax reform to build a fairer society was produced by George Irvin, Dave Byrne, Richard Murphy, Howard Reed and Sally Ruane and should mark an important milestone in the re-focussing of Labour’s programme. The report is published by Compass and the work that led to it has been supported by Unison. The authors are positive and upbeat:
‘In this report we show not merely that cuts in spending in the midst of a recession is a bad idea, but also that any ‘hole’ can more sensibly be financed through tax reform which makes the current system fairer’
This report relies on a major new model of the economy that has been created to rival that of the Institute of Fiscal Studies.
In Place of Cuts should be required reading for all those who consider themselves of the centre-left or for a more progressive society.
This is not an intellectual or academic project but practical politics. As the authors say in their conclusions:
“.. it is not just tax models and think tank reports we need but the establishment of a progressive consensus for change. The last 12 years of redistribution by stealth has seen some good work done on poverty and public service investment but has ended with a return to mass unemployment and the prospect of years of budget cuts. The Tories call it a broken society – but it won’t be fixed by slashing public spending.”
The immediate priority (, though,) is the case for tax reform. As the poor get poorer, the moral base for taxation levels to sustain civilised public services declines and the planet burns – something needs to change and urgently. The proposals outlined here would make a start at reversing these trends and setting Britain on a new course.
The Report and can be found here.
Polly Toynbee: Cool the cutting fisticuffs – take a long, hard look at tax
Topics: Economics, Finance, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Chilcot Kicks Off!
By Andy | November 24, 2009
The Chilcot enquiry kicks off at last amid worries that it will not be a serious piece of investigation but something of a white wash.
I wouldn’t want to comment on this so early on and want to take things at face value …
… but the room being used for the enquiry only has 6 seats for journalists. You’d have thought there would be more interest!
Topics: Westminster Village | 2 Comments »
Tory Complacency May Yet Come Back to Haunt Them
By Andy | November 20, 2009
I still don’t really know what to make of the Queen’s Speech. It has been described as being quite surreal and in many ways it was certainly bizarre. Why enshrine a legislative commitment to something when you’ve missed your own targets? And is the financial world so shaky that it needs government to commit itself to reducing the deficit through legislative commitment.
It was no surprise then that the Tories attacked the QS with what seemed like supreme confidence. The problem Brown has is that when he does something like this everyone is bemused, the opposition parties unite, the media is dumbfounded and — almost always — whatever advantage we were playing for gets lost in the surrounding noise.
However, there were things in here that were very important to many ordinary people. The extra commitment to youth unemployment was not only welcome but it was needed but on a more reflective note it might not be enough. The support for the elderly on their care costs is extraordinarily important and — I believe — will be seen to be so by not only those who it is aimed at but by their families who are either current carers or who are now planning for it.
It is sad that it has taken so long to deal with an issue such as the cost of elderly care but this move is significant in that it hails the first real challenge to the political orthodoxy over care that we have seen for many years.
Whether there is a new start or not I am not sure but I do think it is a sign of Labour beginning to renew and re-position itself — this will be important whether or not Labour win or loose the next election.
Even if Labour scrapes back with a tiny majority (in some ways the most painful scenario) it will need to go back to the drawing board.
The first-past-the-post election system means that political parties have to effectively become wide coalitions of interests, a big tent or a rainbow alliance if you like. Labour have lost this over the last twelve years. Whether we have a proportional electoral system or we keep first-past-the-post Labour will need to rebuild its coalition.
Coalition building will not be secured through simple campaigning. You can put as many leaflets through doors as you like but in many areas something more fundamental is needed. Across the country places that were Labour heartlands just a few years ago now have local parties that are so moribund that they do not have the means to renew themselves from within.
Labour’s re-positioning and policy reviews will be influenced, I believe, more by the thinking of groups like Compass and the Unions than by policy officers in Whitehall. Neal Lawson’s great achievement at Compass has been to realise that policies are what brings together alliances and not simply debates on party democracy. Some of the work no being undertaken by Compass, charitable trusts, unions and others will inevitably capture public interest and drive opinion forward. The momentum for the future will be with these folks and not with the few insiders ‘in the thick of it’.
How Labour respond to this stuff will be critical. The QS begins to point a way forward, of renewal based on fundamental principles.
Maybe it is the case that in Brown we haven’t got the leader we need to take advantage of even these small opportunities that we create. I don’t know about that. But in their complacency this week the Tories have revealed something very important about themselves.
Cameron is on a roll at the moment. He is right, it was weird to see no mention of Kelly in the QS. But Kelly will be dealt with over the short term. The public’s appreciation of new political policies will have a longer attention span.
Topics: Westminster Village | 2 Comments »
Cutting The Deficit is Only Half the Story
By Andy | November 18, 2009
There’s no doubt that morale in the Labour Party is low and clearly it seems to me, is lower the closer you get to Westminster.
A few weeks ago I was at a small seminar in a Westminster Department. Civil Servants were excited; we were to have a pep talk from a Minister. The Minister duly appeared, announced they were standing down at the next election and later — in response to a question — described the government as facing a precipice in May. Even a ‘huge mountain to climb’ would have had some positivity about it. It certainly felt like a case of “so long and thanks for all the fish …”
It’s no surprise then that the government is seeking to use the Queen’s speech to rally the troops as the starting bell for the election race is sounded. Most notable in this speech is the way in which we are using the tactic of embedding our aims in legislation.
I’m not sure about this. It seems to me that one of the reasons behind such a lack of trust in Labour is that, since 1997, we’ve missed so many of the key targets that we have set ourselves. But that aside who can argue about enshrining the battle for equality of the combating of poverty in legislation?
What worries me most is the desire to commit future governments to reduce the deficit through a legislative commitment. Don’t get me wrong the deficit is exceptionally high and will present a problem for any government. The problem is if this is seen as a charter for vicious spending cuts, with each party trying to be seen as more macho than the others.
Huge public spending cuts will effect everyone and not just those who are the most deserving in poverty terms. As Jonathan Freedland has rightly pointed out in the Guardian the Tories want us to work harder for longer in our lives. Do we want to do the same? More locally, in Birmingham, the Tory Lib Dem counci has decided that it cannot afford roses in the park’s flower beds. Their solution? To grass them all over. Yet cuts such as these — and those that are far more important in key services — are not a foregone conclusion.
All of this brings us back to tax. It’s not just an issue of banker’s bonuses, in times like this the more privileged and the higher paid should share a greater share of the burden. Looking at the tax of the top 10% is crucial. And there will be a place for new innovations in tax policy, such as a Toibin tax on financial transactions. It is nice to see the Prime Minister advocating this but will he brave enough to implement this in Britain?
A realistic and progressive view on taxation is also more socially responsible. While we are looking at difficult times we should be considering a High Pay Commission. At the Compass AGM this weekend we discussed local campaigns to get local councils to consider the wages and bonus culture of their major contractors. You can’t justify swinging cuts locally if key out source contractors continue to escalate their executive pay upwards.
I’ve no doubt that the coming years will be hard but while public service budgets will be under pressure there is no doubt that this can be moderated, to some large extent, by government.
The public does not always see things in terms of less tax and less responsibility. This week the Tories have published (almost predictably) a list of the highest council tax-rise councils since 1997. Strangely, their list top ten only includes two Labour councils. One of these is Hackney where the Labour Group and Mayor has had to deal with an extraordinarily bad financial legacy. Not only has Hackney turned around the council but it has stayed resolutely under Labour control. The people of Hackney can recognise the achievement of Labour locally and recognise that the council shares their key core values.
Over the next few weeks an imaginative new centre left project will use new mapping of the economy to show have changes in taxation of the top 10% can allow government to protect public spending and to cut the deficit. Trades Unions, public service providers and community groups will all be interested in this.
So, a commitment to cut the deficit is neither here nor there. If this is accompanied by macho race to see who can cut budgets faster and deeper there will only be one looser — Labour.
Topics: Economics, Westminster Village | No Comments »
General Election — No Gain in Going Short
By Andy | November 17, 2009
It seems a long time since I’ve written anything half decent here. Lack of inspiration has been the problem and the whole expenses saga has taken its toll. But now the Kelly Report has been produced the General Election campaigns have begun and it seems sensible to take up the reigns again.
So, first up — the date of the next General Election.
Topics: Westminster Village | 1 Comment »
Tonight: the Politics of Electoral Reform
By Andy | October 29, 2009
29th October
A bit late this but this evening I shall be speaking to Birmingham Fabians about the Politics of Election Reform. This will not be some session for geeky statos rather than a serious discussion about the issues involved in changing our voting system.
7.00 pm, Birmingham and Midland Institute, Margaret Street, Birmingham.
Anyone can come along — there is a collection to help meet room hire costs.
Topics: Ramblings | No Comments »
Remembering Redmond O’Neill
By Andy | October 29, 2009
On Friday morning the funeral takes place of Redmond O’Neill who was latterly Ken Livingstone’s Deputy Chief of Staff at the Office of the Mayor of London. Sadly I won’t be able to be at the funeral as I have fond memories of Redmond; I hope everyone there has a good day.
As an International Marxist and leading member of Socialist Action Redmond was not the most likely character for me to remember so fondly here. I worked closely with Redmond during the time that I was the Chair of Labour Reform, a centre left grouping campaigning for Party democracy that emerged during the late nineties. This was the period when members began to become truly alarmed at the state of internal democracy and began to think how joint initiatives and actions could move the balance of power within Labour back to the ordinary member.
While being firmly a man of the left Redmond was both practical and a pragmatist. He understood — and really understood — that there was real value in working together. These qualities marked him out as different and are probably why he was so reviled by members of the lunatic left. This new alliance began to develop real momentum and create some significant ideas which involved give and take, and change, across the breadth of its political spectrum. For example, it was largely due to Redmond that the left in the Labour Party seriously adopted the principles of OMOV (one member one vote for the first time). It was a pleasure to work with Redmond. He was razor sharp in his thought and analysis, meticulous in his organisation and yet fun to be around. I always enjoyed — and looked forward to — meetings with Redmond
This cycle of alliance building led to the creation of the Grassroot Alliance which was formed to put forward a centre-left slate for the new member sections of the NEC and the National Policy Forum. The Alliance endures to this day; it is only through the GA that ordinary members have been able to draw on the work of people like Anne Black who have solidly championed the rights of members. And it is only through the GA members of the NEC that ordinary Party members have had any clue as to what has been going on there.
After I stepped down as Chair of Labour Reform I only bumped into Redmond occasionally. I was always pleased to see him but — as Ken Livingstone has highlighted — Redmond was a very private person and it wasn’t always easy to get to know him outside of the political task of the day. It was good to see that through the office of the Mayor redmond was able to finally to get to use his talents to support governance as well as campaigning.
I suppose there will be a lot of analysis of Redmond’s political life this week, as there always is when someone of the left dies. Discussion will focus on obscure choices and the fine lines the distinguish policy and philosophy, many of which are completely beyond me. I prefer a more simple means of assessing the legacy of a political player. Through their actions did they leave the world a little better than they found it? I’m sure that Redmond did.
I shall miss Redmond and will make some time to remember him on Friday. And I’ll have a big smile on my face as he is buried in Highgate Cemetery.
Topics: People | 2 Comments »
