tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-229746162024-03-07T06:01:29.556+00:00The Very Fluffy Diary of Millennium Dome, ElephantMillennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.comBlogger1603125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-90846601102462576702019-11-21T07:30:00.000+00:002019-11-21T07:30:03.126+00:00Day 6899: Now that the Turkeys have Voted for Christmas…Thursday:<br />
<br />
I don’t suppose anyone’s noticed, but there’s a General Election on.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Manifest</i></td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
So let’s put it on record that this is a VERY STUPID PLAN.<br />
<br />
A General Election is VERY HIGH RISK. <br />
<br />
If we get a Lib Dem government, we CAN stop Brexit. But that’s a REALLY big “if”.<br />
<br />
If Johnson wins a majority, he can have ANY BREXIT HE LIKES. Maybe his “deal”; maybe the self-styled Spartans of the ERG will blackmail him into No Deal. “Spartans” being an anagram of “AN SS PRAT”.<br />
<br />
We should have taken every extra day we could get to look at Johnson's "deal", unpick it, show it for what it is. We should have hung him out to dry in a Parliament that would not let him legislate, show him up as weak, powerless and posturing.<br />
<br />
Yet faced with 19 Labour MPs voting for the clown car’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill AND the sight of Jeremy Corbyn slipping into Number 10 for talks with the Government on how a timetable for debating the bill might be agreed… a last roll of dice seemed like the better option. <br />
<br />
Remember, every day that we are still in the European Union is another day of winning, is another day closer to proving Brexit is impossible, and ending this nightmare.<br />
<br />
So where do we stand:<br />
<br />
With the odious Nigel Farrago having finally been swallowed by his own betrayal narrative – accepting a one-sided deal with the Tories to stand down half his company (they’re not a Party) in exchange for bugger all – the Brexit Party (not a Party) are now a spent force, excepting that their subversion of the Tories is now complete.<br />
<br />
So in England, these are the THREE Parties and their strategies:<br />
(Wales and Scotland have nationalist parties as well, who have their own agenda, particularly Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Nasty Party, who are out for gaming ANY result to achieve a new independence referendum.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
CONSERVATORIES</h3>
<br />
The Tory strategy is to say only they can finish the mess they’ve made by getting us into the Brexit disaster. Yes, their pitch is they can make a COMPLETE MESS. And the evidence is that they CAN!<br />
<br />
It’s a horribly short-termist tactic – within weeks of the election it will be clear that “get it done” means “you’ve been had”, as the country progresses to merely the next round of endless argument and fear of another no deal – but the cynical wiring into the nation’s exhaustion with the debate and division that THEY THEMSELVES caused appear to be working.<br />
<br />
In a further divisive calculation, they’ve also decided that since most of the population believe politicians lie all the time, they might as well just lie. So thank you to all right-on comedians and commentators who’ve been fostering this for years and years by lazily telling us so over and over and sneering ‘They’re all the same’ (because that’s easier than actually explaining that most politicians try to tell the truth as they see it); congratulations, you’ve empowered a fascist takeover.<br />
<br />
So, so far, what we’ve heard from the Tories has all been about costs of Labour’s manifesto (made up); consequences of a coalition between Labour and SNP (made up); and next to nothing about their own plans.<br />
<br />
And it’s working. <br />
<br />
With a few honourable exceptions, the media is failing us catastrophically by merely parroting the Tory line, rather than challenging the government who are SUPPOSED TO BE IN POWER over what they are actually doing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
HARD LABOUR</h3>
<br />
The Labour party strategy is the same as it always is: claim that the NHS is being privatised. <br />
<br />
Oh yes, they’ve got a whole Scandi-style socialism smorgasbord of policies: nationalise everything so they can give away everything from free broadband to free tuition fees, and the price tag hardly matters because (a) the Tories are promising to spend money like it’s going out of fashion too (didn’t they used to want to “save the pound”?) so costings are largely fictional, but (b) they aren’t going to win anyway!<br />
<br />
Labour’s big weakness (after their Leader) is their incoherence on Brexit.<br />
<br />
We know that Labour would much rather Brexit was “done”… well not “done” as such (see above), but we all know too that Johnson and Jeremy can agree that passing the Withdrawal Agreement Bill means “done” because it suits their interests… And Labour want it “done” on a Tory watch, so that the Tories are to BLAME, and so that they can go back to campaigning in their comfort zone of “Vote For Us Or The Puppy Gets It” (where as usual “the puppy” means the NHS).<br />
<br />
What Labour are doing very well is attacking the Liberal Democrats.<br />
<br />
IF Labour’s real aim is to beat the Conservatories, then this is COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE. Most of the seats where Lib Dems are challenging, across the South-West, the south of Manchester and of course London, are seats that we can win (and have won!) but Labour cannot. To flip the Labour line, taking votes from the Lib Dems really does let the Tories in. <br />
<br />
And yet as in 2017 and 2015, Labour are working hard to convince those voters that to choose Liberal is to let in the Tories, even though the reverse is true.<br />
<br />
So why are Labour doing this. Firstly because it’s easier. Secondly, because it provokes US to attack them BACK, and that’s a look that works better for them then for us: “look! how shocking! the Lib Dems are attacking Labour! they must be Yellow Tories!” they do say. But thirdly because Labour actually PREFER a Tory government (with them in Opposition) which they can rail against in comfortable impotence. What truly terrifies them is a Liberal Democrat government that might actually change things for the better, suddenly revealing that the entire Labour movement has done NOTHING for decades.<br />
<br />
And it’s working.<br />
<br />
The “vote for us or you’re helping the Tories” message is playing on fear and shoring up the rather tattered remains of the alliance that voted for Corbyn in 2017, back before Labour decided that it could put up with antisemitism more than being anti-Brexit.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS</h3>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lib Dem Fight Back</i></td></tr>
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The Liberal Democrat plan in this Election – and any General Election that wasn’t 2015 – is to GET NOTICED. We have to offer HOPE and CHANGE. Change from the stale duopoly that just swaps one authoritarian power for another; hope that we can break out of the past to build a better future.<br />
<br />
That’s not going well.<br />
<br />
The Tory and Labour leaders have collaborated with ITV and BBC to lock Jo Swinson out of the debate to be Prime Minister. The “excuse” which they won’t say too loud is that “only Johnson or Corbyn can be Prime Minister”. They won’t say that too loud in case someone realises that that means there’s something WRONG with the election.<br />
<br />
The Labservative framing of the Election is pushing people into the old choice of “who do you fear more?” Vote Labour to stop the Tories getting in; Vote Tory to keep Corbyn out. Don’t vote Lib Dem or you’ll let the others in!<br />
<br />
We should be doing so much better than this.<br />
<br />
When we campaigned in the Euro Elections on our VALUES, we WON.<br />
<br />
It’s been a JOY to support Siobhan Benita’s campaign to be Mayor of London, because she’s been talking to people about our VALUES – and making speeches saying: “immigration is good” and “end the war on drugs”. Liberal solutions to crime, housing, clean air that liberal London needs.<br />
<br />
And I have been BEGGING to stand for Parliament on a Liberal Values ticket, to say we can be radical and different. We NEED Liberal Voices to be there, so that the case for Liberalism is made. LOUDLY and OFTEN. <br />
<br />
Instead we’ve positioned ourselves as safe and sensible. The moderate centrists rather than the extremist wingnuts of right and left. There are GOOD things in our manifesto. But also too much “don’t scare the horses”.<br />
<br />
Well Liberal Democrats SHOULD scare the horses. <br />
<br />
If the plan is to get noticed, then RADICAL GETS NOTICED. Soggy centrist mush does not.<br />
<br />
Look at the alternatives:<br />
<br />
Corbyn cannot make his mind up (or cannot ADMIT to making his mind up) on the biggest issue since the end of World War Part II. And cannot bring himself to clean house even in the face of overwhelming evidence of antisemitism riddling his Party.<br />
<br />
But somehow WE’RE the bad guys for not standing down for any pro-Europe Labour MPs who – no matter how pro-Europe – will still trot happily behind putting an antisemitic Lexiter into Downing Street.<br />
<br />
Johnson, by his own admission, should be looking out ditches to go lie in. His hope to bounce parliament and country into his “deal” without scrutiny has failed. <br />
<br />
But the message that he’s a failure has been allowed to slip away, by letting him have the pre-Christmas election he was gagging for, making him look again like the master of the agenda, rather than the servant of chaos.<br />
<br />
Why are we not cutting through against two appalling LOSERS?<br />
<br />
Because we are campaigning in GREY when we should be campaigning in GOLD.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
SO HOW DO WE GET TO LIB DEMS WINNING (from) HERE</h3>
<br />
We are letting the Tories get away with setting the agenda, THEIR agenda, defining Brexit as nearly done, rather than about to get a whole lot worse, and all the empty promises they can make from a dividend they will never deliver. We are letting Labour’s attacks pull us onto THEIR territory (you’re with us or you’re Tories). We’re NOT playing to our RADICAL strengths.<br />
<br />
So we need to be LEADING THE FIGHT against the Tories more.<br />
<br />
And we need to start LOVE BOMBING the Labour lot more.<br />
<br />
In her leadership campaign, and in her victory speech, Jo talked about building a LIBERAL MOVEMENT, drawing on people from all traditions, Liberal, Green, Tory AND Labour.<br />
<br />
We’ve gone all in to win over Tory remain voters – but at the risk of alienating the social democratic voters who we need too. <br />
<br />
Labour voters think Labour are the GOODIES (they’re wrong, but you can’t tell ‘em that – it’s an emotional thing). To win them over, we need to be showing we are GOOD too (and BETTER!). <br />
<br />
They GET the problem with Corbyn. Many of them SHARE it.<br />
<br />
But seeming to attack Jeremy more than Johnson risks that. Yes, we say “no deals with Johnson or Corbyn”, but they HEAR “no deal with mwah mwah mwah Corbyn”. Well actually they HEAR “we hate Magic Grandpa!”<br />
<br />
We have clear lines of attack on Labour: antisemitism, irresponsible spending, arrogant, out-of-touch leader and above all the dithering indecision over Brexit because Jeremy decided the EU was a bad thing when Tony Benn told him so in 1975 and he hasn’t changed his mind about a single thing since. <br />
<br />
But beyond “Stop Brexit” what are our clear attack lines on the Tories? We have a route map to Zero Carbon Britain; they would rather back fracking. We would build a better economy based on a new green deal; they scrapped it. We would tackle the root causes of crime; they just want to lock more people up. Why aren’t we saying these things more. And loudly. <br />
<br />
Sure, we should say Labour are WRONG: we think they have the wrong answers or no answers. <br />
<br />
And with Labour attacking us, we are RIGHT to point out their hypocrisy. <br />
<br />
They say austerity is a failed Tory ideology. Our plans to invest in education and health are BETTER than Labour’s.<br />
They say there is a climate crisis. Our plans to achieve Zero Carbon Britain are BETTER than Labour’s.<br />
They say crime is a blight on lives. Our plans to tackle knife crime, end the war on drugs, and work for and with young people are BETTER than Labour’s.<br />
<br />
But we still need to be beating the Tories over the head with their Brexitopocalypse MORE. <br />
<br />
Tories CHOSE the austerity, and kept it going way past the point it might have been working.<br />
<br />
Tories abandoned all the GOOD GREEN investments that Lib Dems began in the Coalition, throwing green businesses under the bus.<br />
<br />
Tories cut the police and knife crime got worse under Boris Johnson as Mayor of London. He HID from the riots and cannot face a crisis. <br />
<br />
And Brexit makes austerity worse, makes it harder to tackle the climate crisis working alone not with Europe, has triggered an eruption of hate attacks that have pushed fear of crime way up.<br />
<br />
With all of the defections – and in spite of the wonderful Luciana Berger and fantastic Chuka Umunna being ex-Labour (but Blairites so – to the Corbyn Cult – “Tories” anyway) – making us look more like a Tory Lifeboat for the soft liberal wing of the Conservatories, or worse the Continuity Cameron/Clegg Party, we need to be DISTINCTIVELY LIBERAL. Not “I’m Tory Plan B”.<br />
<br />
The Tories have RUINED this Country. Liberalism WOULD DO BETTER.<br />
Labour have LET the Tories RUIN this Country. Liberalism WOULD DO BETTER.<br />
<br />
I love Jo. And I think she IS distinctive. Her interview on ITV was positive and upbeat, especially after the slapstick debacle of Johnson and Jeremy going at each other, but not listening to anyone for an hour. But we need more.<br />
<br />
If we are going to Stop Brexit and Build a Better Future… we are going to need to Build a Better Liberal Democrats.<br />
<br />Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-14262369987633071752019-06-18T10:40:00.000+01:002019-06-18T10:40:09.721+01:00Day 6742: Constitutional OutrageMonday:<br />
<br />
<br />
No one should expect to just GET to be Prime Monster!<br />
<br />
Liberal Democrats should call for a Vote of Confidence in Parliament before ANYONE can be appointed Prime Minister, and we should demand that the Fixed Term Parliament Act be updated to make this explicit in law.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
Boris Johnson looks very likely to win the contest to become leader of the Conservatory Party, already framed as “the race to be Britain’s Next PM”. And, given that he keeps dodging any questions, he could win with remarkably little scrutiny from either his fellow MPs or the public.<br />
<br />
That’s an OUTRAGE!<br />
<br />
AND there’s the little question of whether he can “command the confidence of the House of Commons” as the saying goes. <br />
<br />
The rules governing how you get to become Prime Monster are written down in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-manual" target="_blank">the Cabinet Manual</a>, last updated at the start of the Coalition, by GOD (that is THE god, Mr Sir Gus O’Donnell, not the deity).<br />
<br />
That’s where it says, in big letters at the start of Chapter 2:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>“A government holds office by virtue of its ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, chosen by the electorate in a general election.”</b></blockquote>
<br />
It would be shockingly unconstitutional – but I think also HIGHLY PLAUSIBLE – for Bojo to park his clowncar in Downing Street, installed as PM on the say-so of Theresa Maybe Not with NO opportunity for Parliament to test that he CAN command a majority. <br />
<br />
Chapter 2 of the Manual gives us all the details of how a government is made. <br />
<br />
(First a mummy government and a daddy government who love each other very much… er, no.)<br />
<br />
So what happens when the Prime Monster changes?<br />
<br />
The Prime Monster is the Prime Monster until they choose to resign (s2.08).<br />
<br />
The Prime Monster MUST resign IF they lose a General Election and someone else has an overall majority (s2.11).<br />
<br />
The Prime Monster MUST resign (because of the Fixed Term Parliament Act) IF they lose a Vote of No Confidence and are unable to pass a Vote of Confidence within 14 days (or if someone else IS) (s.2.19).<br />
<br />
IF the administration has an overall majority, then the Party or Parties in government get to choose the new Prime Monster (s.2.18).<br />
<br />
But what about when there ISN’T an overall majority? Remembering that the Conservatories do NOT have a majority and the Conservatories and DUP are NOT a coalition. <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>2.20 Where a range of different administrations could be formed, discussions may take place between political parties on who should form the next government. In these circumstances the processes and considerations described in paragraphs 2.12–2.17 would apply.</b></blockquote>
<br />
s2.12 to s2.20 are the “what to do after an election results in a hung parliament” bit.<br />
<br />
Firstly, the incumbent government (TMPM) is entitled to wait until Parliament has met to see if it can command a majority (but is expected to resign if it’s clear that it won’t) (s.2.12)<br />
<br />
Eventually, the resigning Prime Monster has to go to Mrs the Queen and tell her who the next Prime Monster will be. (s2.13)<br />
<br />
[s.2.14 just says the Civil Service can help. S.2.15 says that’s what they did in 2010]<br />
<br />
S2.16 is IMPORTANT because it says that the government can ONLY operate on RESTRICTED POWERS for as long as there is doubt over whether it can command a majority.<br />
<br />
Finally s2.17 says what kinds of government can be formed: a minority government, winging it from vote to vote, like Hard Labour in the Winter of Discontent; a confidence and supply agreement, like we have now; a formal coalition.<br />
<br />
But EVEN acting together, the Conservatories and the DUP can only call on 322 votes (313 Conservatories less 1 deputy speaker plus 10 DUPes); on the other side there are at most 317 votes (with Mr Speaker, 2 Labour deputy speakers and 7 Sinn Fein MPs not voting). That is a “working majority” of 5. Pretty flimsy, and why TMPM kept losing.<br />
Worse, if the Conservatories were to lose 1 by-election to, say, the Liberal Democrats, that would be a majority of just 3. And if just 2 Conservatories were to vote against their own government, it would fall.<br />
<br />
Reader, two Conservatories HAVE said they would vote against their own government to stop Boris Johnson and prevent no deal.<br />
<br />
I think it’s pretty clear that things ARE in doubt whether ANY new Conservatory Prime Monster, and certainly Mr Johnson, could do the commanding of a majority.<br />
<br />
But who is going to tell Mrs the Queen? Let’s ask the Manual…<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>2.09 “In modern times the convention has been that the Sovereign should not be drawn into party politics, and if there is doubt it is the responsibility of those involved in the political process, and in particular the parties represented in Parliament, to seek to determine and communicate clearly to the Sovereign who is best placed to be able to command the confidence of the House of Commons.”<br /> </b><b>And that’s the big big problem because you and I both know that this government is going to say “there isn’t any doubt”. </b></blockquote>
<br />
This government or probably ANY government, but this one already has a track record of never doing anything by the rules unless someone loads up the Supreme Court and points it at their heads. <br />
<br />
Ask Ms Gina Miller. Ask Mr Sir Kier Stammerer. Ask Mr Sir Oily Letwin.<br />
<br />
This government tried to cut Parliament out of the Article 50 Process. This government had to be forced with “humble addresses” to deliver the reports that Davis David had promised them. This government tried to let us leave the EU by default until the backbenches seized control of the timetable.<br />
<br />
On EVERY occasion, this government has taken “TAKE BACK CONTROL” to mean “SEIZE POWER FOR US!”<br />
<br />
This government more than any other has shown repeatedly that you cannot trust it to let Parliament – the representatives of the people – have their proper say.<br />
<br />
So what makes you think they will stick to a convention that says “if there is doubt” they have to talk to Parliament?<br />
<br />
The Manual continues…<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>“As the Crown’s principal adviser this responsibility falls especially on the incumbent Prime Minister, who at the time of his or her resignation may also be asked by the Sovereign for a recommendation on who can best command the confidence of the House of Commons in his or her place.”</b></blockquote>
<br />
…but the current Prime Monster in Name Only, Theresa Maybe Not, is NOT a person who is as good as their word. Far from it, she promised many times that she would not hold a snap election… then held a snap election. She promised many times that we would leave the EU on March 29th … and then didn’t leave the EU on March the 29th. <br />
<br />
More to the point, the story goes that when she lost the Conservatory majority in 2017, she allegedly lied to Mrs the Queen saying straight-up that she had the support of the DUP when in fact the billion-pound deal was only secured a week later. The Palace, it is said, were furious.<br />
<br />
But again there’s your problem, right there. No action has been taken. <br />
<br />
In order not to be SEEN to be political, the Palace lets fibbing in the dark go unpunished. There’s no one to bring them into the light of day.<br />
<br />
Take also the case of the Sun’s “Queen Backs Brexit” headline, which was more than a little calculated to turn a few votes in the Referendum. Their source was a Cabinet Minister, widely believed to be Michael Gove, then leader of the Leave campaign. Surely a clear case of drawing the Crown in to politics. <br />
<br />
If the convention had ANY teeth, the Referendum would have been voided there and then. The Sun would have been fined the full cost of mounting the process. Michael Gove, if indeed it was he, would have been summarily dismissed as an MP and never allowed to stand again. None of this happened.<br />
<br />
It is transparently safe for the wicked to flout convention.<br />
<br />
To paraphrase Sir Desmond Glazebrook, of Yes Minister, the whole system relies on good chaps behaving as good chaps, and a good chap can never accuse another good chap of not being a good chap because that’s not the behaviour of a good chap, and well, that’s where it all falls over.<br />
<br />
<br />
I think this government, and with a new PM in charge the next government, will try to carry on as though it has 100% of the power, even though it has none of the right.<br />
<br />
Remember those RESTRICTIONS on what government can do when the ability to command a majority is in doubt?<br />
<br />
Those restrictions start with:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>2.27 While the government retains its responsibility to govern and ministers remain in charge of their departments, governments are expected by convention to observe discretion in initiating any new action of a continuing or long-term character in the period immediately preceding an election, immediately afterwards if the result is unclear, and following the loss of a vote of confidence. In all three circumstances essential business must be allowed to continue.</b></blockquote>
<br />
And I think that means that until Boris or whoever is confirmed as the new PM by a Vote of Confidence, they should not be allowed to make a major change of policy like leaving the EU with no deal (in contravention of everything the current incarnation of this government has tried and failed to do, and against the repeated expressed will of Parliament). <br />
<br />
But short of yet another date with the SUPREMES in Court, who is going to ENFORCE this?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So, here’s what I say:<br />
<br />
An aspiring Prime Minister should be OBLIGED to bring a Motion of Confidence to the House of Commons, laying out their plan for government, so that it can be debated and voted on, BEFORE they can become PM.<br />
<br />
Whether their Party is in a majority (when they shouldn’t have a problem with that), or planning to run a coalition (and their coalition partners would probably like to know), or trying to run a minority government (as is the current case), then Parliament should be able to pin them down and hold them to account.<br />
<br />
The policy statement wouldn’t be enforceable, as such, but breaking it in some way – like saying you will try to do a new deal with the EU and then going for a “no deal” crash out – would obviously be grounds for a No Confidence vote.<br />
<br />
And it needs to be in an Act of Parliament, because then people will NOTICE it, and especially JOURNALISTS will notice it, and EXPECT IT TO BE DONE. <br />
<br />
Think this is unnecessary? Ask yourself: how many people are considering this Constitutional nicety right now? Answer: NONE. Everyone EXPECTS that whoever wins the Tory Leadership WILL BE Prime Monster.<br />
<br />
It is so much easier to dodge these bits of the Constitution that only exist in papers, conventions and precedents. Look how this government HAS DONE THAT.<br />
<br />
We are Liberals. It is OUR JOB to stop people just GRABBING power. We should not accept this. And we need to say so.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-12148408807960685302019-06-15T14:26:00.000+01:002019-06-15T14:26:42.990+01:00Day 6739: Polls ApartFriday:<br />
<br />
<br />
It is three weeks since the European Elections changed everything and there’s really only one story in town. It’s just not the one you think it is.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsg6q6b_Eyae0pG0aVU5nfs601mgldYZNwV2nwIXfGtzJxh7Ic8jxEXwbWIjKynayJbYCHsyDRJfKQQm1Ed3EREt0MSnXPSO-t-8qzNAD3KoahizoOz6GG4iUsUzagZpJZ19fGzA/s1600/Lib_Dems_win_in_london.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsg6q6b_Eyae0pG0aVU5nfs601mgldYZNwV2nwIXfGtzJxh7Ic8jxEXwbWIjKynayJbYCHsyDRJfKQQm1Ed3EREt0MSnXPSO-t-8qzNAD3KoahizoOz6GG4iUsUzagZpJZ19fGzA/s400/Lib_Dems_win_in_london.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>With 3 MEPS Lib Dems topped the poll in London</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Obviously, the news cycles are dominated by the Conservatory leadership. After all, Game of Thrones is over now, and the audience needs a new hit of blood, guts and sexposition…<br />
<br />
But whether the idiot in the clown-car is now a shoe in for the Iron Throne or might still get removed by an unexpected twist, what’s less obvious is that the entire debate is framed by the real confrontation: Liberals versus Fascists.<br />
<br />
Liberals. Standing up to the Fascists. Who’d have guessed?!<br />
<br />
Brexit has always, always been about choosing whether we are a closed off, inward-looking Little England trying to recapture a past that never was, or an outward, embracing, forward-facing Great Britain working with the family of nations for a freer fairer future. <br />
<br />
The failure of Theresa Maybe Not to get a Brexit that was Brexity enough for the Mogglodytes meant we got to take part in the HUGE democratic exercise that is the European Elections.<br />
<br />
Which lead to the ENTIRELY PREDICTABLE comeback of Nigel Farrago and his Kippers 2.0. No policies. Just an overweening ego and a betrayal narrative.<br />
<br />
(“oh but we all know what Nigel stands for” – well on the evidence, stealing his constituents’ money to spend on propaganda so he can continue to not do his job and fail to defend Britain’s interests. How’s THAT for a betrayal narrative?”)<br />
<br />
What was less predictable – in the sense that it was predicted by absolutely no one up to and including Professor Sir Not-Richard Curtis while he was reporting the actual actual figures on local election night and still saying “well this is going to be a good night for the Greens” as the Lib Dems soared passed 700 gains – was that the Liberal Democrats would be the clear opposition.<br />
<br />
Liberals. Standing up to the Fascists. Who’d have guessed?!<br />
<br />
A simple, clear message. “Stop Brexit”. We changed our story, and changed the national story. <br />
<br />
We stood up for our values. Liberal , not “centrist”. No more standing in the middle, apologetically getting hit by cars coming in either direction. Taking a stand – like we did on Iraq, like we did on I.D. cards. Not necessarily the popular choice, or the easy choice. But the right choice. <br />
<br />
And that was all it took, for us to win London. To break Nasty Nige’s claims to be the “winner”.<br />
<br />
Parties that favour Remain outnumbered the Quitlings on election night, and a big big part of that is the Liberal Democrats. We might not quite have managed to form a Remain Alliance, but together the Liberal voices and Green voices and Scottish and Welsh Voices are more and better than the Brexit Party.<br />
<br />
Liberals. Standing up to the Fascists. Who’d have guessed?!<br />
<br />
<br />
So the polls – I mean never mind the polls, but the actual vote on Euro-election night put us second, beating Hard Labour’s wilting rose and the Conservatory’s burning tree; the actual votes in Peterborough show us quadrupling our vote in Brexit central – but since then polls have shown us well up, including one having us tops.<br />
<br />
What can all this mean?<br />
<br />
It means two things. First, there is no limit to what we can achieve, and there should be no limit to the ambitions of our next leader, whoever SHE is.<br />
<br />
(What? What! Oh go on, vote for Jo!)<br />
<br />
But second it means we must embrace that clear Liberal message. When we speak with our fluffy hearts, when we are clear, when we are Liberal we win.<br />
<br />
This country needs healing. So much. And we will offer hope for everyone. But we cannot try to offer something that will satisfy everyone. We cannot try to straddle that divide. Look at what happened to Labour. They said they were trying to bring the country together. They were – rightly – seen as trying to say one thing to Remainers and the opposite to Quitlings. If you speak with two faces, soon people start to think of you as two-faced. <br />
<br />
The nearest comparison is Northern Ireland. It’s a bit artificial, because there are artificial rules there that mean you have to have Unionist and Nationalist power-sharing. But when the brakes were taken off after the Good Friday agreement, the votes didn’t go to the middle of the road Parties, they went to the ones who said what they meant. <br />
<br />
That’s happening in the rest of Britain. Liberal Democrats on the one side. Brexits on the other. No longer right and left. Right and Wrong. <br />
<br />
Liberals. Standing up to the Fascists. Who’d have guessed?!<br />
<br />
If there was a time when the gulf could have been crossed, it was in the weeks after the Referendum, when a Prime Minister of vision could have brought together people from different sides to find a solution that saw us leave but remain close. It would have cost a bit for both sides, but Remainers would have been soothed, and Quitters would have had their departure.<br />
<br />
But instead, the Quitlings went berserk. Seizing their waffer-thin victory, cobbled together by promising a different Brexit to almost every different voter, and claiming that it was a mandate for whatever mad scheme entered their heads: abolish human rights – will of the people, Empire 2.0 – will of the people! Denounce the judges – will of the people., General Election to Crush the Saboteurs – will of the pe… oh fluff, look how that collision with reality worked out.<br />
<br />
Last week, <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/06/everything-you-think-you-know-about-leavers-and-remainers-wrong" target="_blank">there was research showing</a> that the soon-to-be-former Prime Monster’s three years of promising No Deal because it’s better than a Bad Deal right up to the point of sitting down and being show just how very much WORSE it was has not been completely successful in bringing the country back together either.<br />
<br />
In fact, if you want to piss off 90% of the people, just pick a Brexit. Any Brexit.<br />
<br />
TMPM’s catalogue of cluelessness has hardened opinions all round so much so that each different Brexit tribe is now so utterly convinced of their own deluded version of Brexit (no migration Brexit, sovereignty Brexit, take back our laws Brexit, Singapore on Stilts Brexit, Red White and Blue Brexit, In Out Shake it All About Brexit and every other Magic Unicorn Brexit) and utterly so convinced that any other Brexit would be a BETRAYAL™ that they would all rather we Remain than get the WRONG BREXIT™.<br />
<br />
And the 48%, who might well have accepted with a few British grumbles that they lost in 2016, are more pissed than ever that they’ve not only not been listened to, and called traitors up and down the country by that fatuous fag-smoking former banker in the affected Barbour Jacket, that they are now more than willing to say, you know what, we were actually bloody RIGHT in that Referendum and we damn well don’t want to put up with this Brexit nonsense any more.<br />
<br />
Everything has changed.<br />
<br />
The old parties tried to ride Farrage’s tiger and it’s turned on them and eaten them. <br />
<br />
There is only one path to healing.<br />
<br />
And that is Stop Brexit. Bollocks to Brexit. We are better than this. And when we say so, we win.<br />
<br />
Liberals. Standing up to the Fascists. Damn right. And about time too!<br />
<br />Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-51286757842995682472019-04-24T18:18:00.001+01:002019-04-24T18:18:41.446+01:00Day 6688: The Second WiddecomingWednesday:<br />
<br />
<br />
With apologies to Mr Yeats:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>“The best lack all conviction, while the worst</b><br />
<b>“Are full of passionate intensity…</b><br />
<b>“…And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,</b><br />
<b>“Slouches towards the Euro Elections to make a fast buck?”</b></blockquote>
Oh look. Here is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48034732" target="_blank">Ms Ann Widdecombe</a> saying: “Britain is an international laughing stock.”<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQ7sZnct8u08mh5M_WNTvJzFm3vtsMV6das-Ervu6yIZ0l1nxN0htiwcfNHRxsrUxSUY7P_zly2Dpc5JiPwu0Ez1dFRMnOaixn0pze6kh8zWdWaL9FnO3lZ9BcHwWnNX3YPPxVQ/s1600/The+Widde+Witch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="456" data-original-width="685" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQ7sZnct8u08mh5M_WNTvJzFm3vtsMV6das-Ervu6yIZ0l1nxN0htiwcfNHRxsrUxSUY7P_zly2Dpc5JiPwu0Ez1dFRMnOaixn0pze6kh8zWdWaL9FnO3lZ9BcHwWnNX3YPPxVQ/s400/The+Widde+Witch.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Definitely not a laughing stock</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Ms Widdecombe is the homophobic dinosaur who as a Home Office minister chained pregnant women to their maternity beds while they gave birth yet, imponderably, by describing her boss, Michael Howard, as “something of the night” – thus scuppering his (first) bid to lead the Conservatory Party – and through a dose of self-humiliation via the medium of ballroom dance somehow gained a measure of cleaned-up public reputation. <br />
<br />
And now she is up for Mr Farrago’s Breakfast Club. Dancing to Nasty Nige’s tune.<br />
<br />
Yes, she’s been on a JOURNEY, just like that other darling of the far-right fash, Mr Neil “not the musical” Hamilton, the disgraced former MP for Tatton, guilty of cash for questions, who also tripped off to join a (different) Farrago vehicle.<br />
<br />
In the old days, you used to get caught in a scandal and went away to do GOOD WORKS. <br />
<br />
But now it seems that appearing “game” on “reality TV” – easy enough for people who HAVE NO SHAME; it’s not like they’re not eating testicles ANYWAY – is a new and so-much-easier way to receive the INDULGENCE of the British voting public. <br />
<br />
“Britain is an international laughing stock,” says Ms Widdecombe. Because CLEARLY some implausibly-frocked ballroom bigotry is what the nation needs to restore a proper sense of decorum and self-respect. Dancing discrimination. Cha-cha-cha-ing chauvinism. A rhumba of racism. A foxtrot of fash.<br />
<br />
Obviously she’s forgetting that we’re a laughing stock BECAUSE OF BREXIT. <br />
<br />
It’s the UTTER FAILURE of Brextreemists like her that have wrecked [I think you mean wreaked, says Daddy. I know what I mean!] this position upon the rest of us. <br />
<br />
People like Ms W and her new best mate, the private jet and gold elevator-flying Farrago, promised rainbows and unicorns and then immediately did a runner the moment it looked like they might have to DELIVER on their promises and lies.<br />
<br />
This is hardly NEW. Remember that, thanks to the so-called leadership of the Quitting Quitling, Mr Farrago’s last vanity project YouQuit (formerly Kippers) lost, fired, mislaid or disgraced all but 3 of the 24 MEPs elected under their flag in 2014, including the Less-than-glorious Leader himself. Not that you would notice the difference, since aside from grandstanding in the odd debate they rarely bothered to turn up, or represent for the people who elected them, preferring to trouser the money and run. <br />
<br />
So no one was actually SURPRISED that within 48 hours of “winning” the deeply compromised 2016 referendum, La Faux-rage was away to spend more time kissing the orange bottom of that other over-inflated ass, the then presidential-candidate Trump.<br />
<br />
What MIGHT raise a Mr Roger-Moorish eyebrow is all the cries of “Brexit has been BETRAYED!” Sure it has, Mr F… BY YOU!<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, in a WEIRD (possibly Fearful) SYMMETRY the “Remain Alliance” (formerly the ChUKles (formerly the TIGgers)) are ALSO performing a reverse-Big Brother reveal of the FAMOUS FACES they’ve lined up/picked out of a hat to be their candidates by series of Press Launches, mirroring the Farrego-trip even down to Mr Gavin Esler telling us that “Britain is a laughing stock”.<br />
<br />
On a SERIOUS note, it’s really not right that the chance of gaining MEP seats (and, not to prejudge the polls, but for some parties those are basically the GIFT of an all-expenses paid trip to Brussels) are being handed out to BESTIES. <br />
<br />
It’s not just IRONIC, it is WRONG that the very people who complain that the EU is “undemocratic” are being so… undemocratic!<br />
<br />
This is actually the fault of Hard Labour’s Sinister Minister, Mr Jack Straw who, when Europe told Britain that using First Pass the Port for Euro elections wasn’t properly democratic, went out of his way to choose the LEAST democratic way for us to bring in a Proportional (ish) voting system.<br />
<br />
Which is why instead of using the British Proportional Representation that we ALREADY used for elections in Northern Ireland, he went for the de HONK method, both because it favours BIG parties like his over small ones (and alliances) and because it’s a CLOSED Party List – one where the public don’t get to choose who is on the list, or who is top of the list and most likely to get the seat.<br />
<br />
(I know, who would have expected one of Lord Blairimort’s ministers to try and skew the system in favour of Labour!)<br />
<br />
Well, we notice that it’s not just the fly-by-night parties but also the supposed grown-ups in Conservatory and Hard Labour who are handing out the gift of an MEP seat to their chosen favourites.<br />
<br />
Hooray then for the Liberal Democrats managing to not only hold a proper ballot of members in the very short time between Mrs May’s U-Turn on there definitely NOT being Euro elections and the start of campaigning for those Euro elections we’re not having, but also on the members picking a hugely diverse range of candidates (even when the Party’s well-meaning if flawed efforts to fabricate-in diversity fell flat)!<br />
<br />
<br />
Anyway, here is the late Ms Victoria Wood. (Warning: may contain SINGING!)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PhfbYtbpNxY/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PhfbYtbpNxY?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-7697093523679469912019-04-12T19:44:00.000+01:002019-04-15T14:36:11.501+01:00Day 6676: Europe: The Final Countdown. Again.<a href="https://www.libdemvoice.org/top-of-the-blogs-the-lib-dem-golden-dozen-546-60532.html"><img src="https://www.libdemvoice.org/images/golden-dozen.png" width="200" height="57" alt="Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice" title="Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice" /></a><br />
<br />
Friday:<br />
<br />
Happy STILL IN the European Union Day. Again. They come around so quickly, don’t they!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPIJMfyoMHvZM1-mI3jJXK2v3SsWGNc-HTmcxuWFAy5yPSLd0yMB8uILTxyz0HfT3QXGxKlUQGTwYw7VZid1oS2VX30EQVoVNjcQ1d1g4N2qjQPCCBH9vBxWe7AshEEfibNQy3pg/s1600/ONE+VOICE+-+Heal.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1291" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPIJMfyoMHvZM1-mI3jJXK2v3SsWGNc-HTmcxuWFAy5yPSLd0yMB8uILTxyz0HfT3QXGxKlUQGTwYw7VZid1oS2VX30EQVoVNjcQ1d1g4N2qjQPCCBH9vBxWe7AshEEfibNQy3pg/s400/ONE+VOICE+-+Heal.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
People keep asking me “What is going to happen about Brexit?”<br />
<br />
To which the correct answer is “How should I know, I’m a stuffed elephant!”<br />
<br />
But let’s give it a go.<br />
<br />
There was exactly ONE moment when Brexit could happen, and that was 23:00 on 29 March 2019. <br />
<br />
And it didn’t.<br />
<br />
Entirely thanks to the ineptitude of Brexiters in and formerly-in the Cabinet demanding more unicorns and less reality in their Brexit and through the religious intransigence of Brexiters outside the Cabinet insisting that this Brexit wasn’t Brexity enough, they missed the exit.<br />
<br />
This is undeniably good news. <br />
<br />
Parliament, and to an extent even the Prime Monster, have looked twice into the ABYSS of “no deal” and said “no thank you very much, matey” to the death and disaster that likely would follow.<br />
<br />
So what do we do instead. <br />
<br />
Well, Parliament is already off on its Easter hols…<br />
<br />
No, that’s super UNFAIR – they’ve all been working absurdly hard to try and agree on nothing, and taking time away from the bubble might clear heads and let some fresh thoughts in.<br />
<br />
But still, this extension actually takes all the pressure OFF The Prime Monster to get her agreement signed. And equally OFF of MPs to come to any agreement for it or any other deal. <br />
<br />
And we have seen for the last six months that if there is an option to kick the can down the road, Mrs May will punt it into the longest deepest grass she can find.<br />
<br />
Which unfortunately gives them all time to think about doing something else instead.<br />
<br />
The WORST that could happen would be European Parliament Elections AND a General Election AND a referendum.<br />
<br />
So you can bet that that’s EXACTLY what’s going to happen.<br />
<br />
With the Conservatory Party visibly self-destructing before our button eyes, it will not be long before they do something… rather rash.<br />
<br />
Pundits saying that the Prime Monster is safe until December because of the rules of the 1922 Committee… are overlooking that the 1922 Committee can just change the rules. We’ve already had the suggestion of “Indicative Votes of No Confidence”, which would be just as lethal as the real thing if lost.<br />
<br />
Of course, Mrs May is a past master of seeming to promise to go, only to indefinitely defer the deadline – before the 2022 election, once the agreement is passed, when the stars are right. However, the even-by-their-standards frothingly outraged reaction of her Party to having to fight the European elections suggests time is very much reaching its fullness and the appropriates of her juncture is fast approaching.<br />
<br />
The time limit that the Prime Monster has set herself is the 30th of June, though a calamitous showing at the now-inevitable Euro elections could truncate her tenure even further.<br />
<br />
And to be fair, not a moment too soon. She has been absolutely the worst Prime Monster since, er, the last one, who is really to blame for all this mess. But Mrs May should have gone after the unnecessary election that she lost and only the unique combination of personal mulishness and no one else wanting to be left holding the ticking timebomb let her stay. Alas for Theresa, proving that she would rather defer Brexit forever than be holding it at the moment of detonation has removed her last purpose, that of fall guy.<br />
<br />
I actually have this notion of Theresa May that, should she be ousted either by some confected 1922 Committee mechanism internal to the Tory Party or by a Parliamentary vote of no confidence in her government… she will still be Prime Minister long enough to send a Revoke letter to the EU. <br />
<br />
It would be a final act of petty revenge, but she’d finally be doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons.<br />
<br />
And she would tell us, from her Downing Street podium, that – entirely correctly – she was justified in this by the House having repeatedly voted down no deal and there simply being no time to reach agreement to do anything else.<br />
<br />
She could literally save the country to spite the ERG.<br />
<br />
But alas, that’s really too bold, to daringly pro-active for the Theresa we’ve come to know.<br />
<br />
Most like she’ll just slink away to her field of wheat. Or what blasted heath is left of it.<br />
<br />
<br />
So the Conservatories will need a new lunatic to take over the asylum. And the chances are they will replace the current one with the egomaniac second only to Mr Balloon in the annals of BLAME, Boris Johnson.<br />
<br />
Not to say they won’t move heaven and earth – more like hell and earth – to stop him getting to the final two, because if he goes before the members he will win on a manifesto of bluster blubber and betrayal.<br />
<br />
The alternatives though are not many. Either one of the swivel-eyed band of Mogglodytes, possibly Moggy himself. If Johnson gets it, he’ll split the party in a week. If one of the ERG lot get it, they’ll split the party in under a day.<br />
<br />
Or there are the “moderates” – the deeply unlovely betrayer of human rights, Sajid Javid or the incarnation of the Banality of Evil, Jeremy the former Hulture Secretary. Either or both hoping to play the “John Major” of this scenario – winning from out of the bland – though neither have the shining charisma or raw sexual magnetism of a John Major. And that’s saying something. They are tainted with the Remain vote, though, for all the effort they’ve put into being more right-wing-than-thou. (Which, actually, was Mr Major’s problem too – he had to out-Thatcher Thatcher, hence all the insanity from railway privatisation to Back to Bedsocks, but that was last century's Tory tragedy.)<br />
<br />
Obviously it would be a LOT better for all of us if they decided to look for fresh blood (no, not in the Zombie Apocalypse sense) and went to a fresher face, who could actually negotiate with Europe and build a national consensus again… no, I don’t see it happening either.<br />
<br />
They’re going to pick another loony.<br />
<br />
And then between two and twenty of the centreerists of the Dominic Grieve flavour will cross to the TIGgers (now renamed ChUKles) and the government will fall. In fact, a SMART Tory leader would jump before pushed, calling an immediate election rather than be humiliated into one.<br />
<br />
Which would leave us with Boris Johnson versus Jeremy Corbyn. Which Johnson would win. <br />
<br />
That’s not to underestimate Mr Corbyn. But against a robot with a manifesto that promised a death tax on her own core vote, Mr Corbyn still only managed to drag back Labour’s performance to really very awful. He’s not going to win back the forty seats in Scotland from the SNP that he needs to be anywhere like in contention for a majority. And his equivocation on supporting a People’s Vote or a Revoke Article 50 mean he’s frittered away a lot of the goodwill of the young people who believed Magic Grandpa was playing Seven-dimensional chess to stop Brexit.<br />
<br />
<br />
The first thing to remember is that TMPM doesn’t actually HAVE a “deal” as such at all. <br />
<br />
What she’s got is a Withdrawal Agreement, an acknowledgement of what we need to do to settle our existing obligations – mainly pensions for UK civil servants and MEPs, and projects that we signed up to and that went ahead on the understanding we were going to contribute – so we can settle our bills on the way out the door.<br />
<br />
The Johnsonian notion that we can walk away from the Withdrawal and let the EU “go whistle” is obviously nonsense on stilts. <br />
<br />
The first thing we would do after quitting with “no deal” is to go to Europe to sort out our customs, defence, security, common air-travel, fisheries etc etc agreements…<br />
<br />
And the SECOND thing we would have to do is eat copious HUMBLE PIE as they wave the Withdrawal Agreement at us with an air of “What about paying for those dumplings you had, then?”<br />
<br />
The real “deal” is the Future Trading Relationship, whether we are in the Single Market, in the Customs Union, in a Free Trade agreement or in the DO-DO of a no deal scenario.<br />
<br />
“No deal” is the utter severance that is yearned for by the ardent Brextremists who laugh off the fears of “experts” and warmly welcome the notion of “trading under World Trade Organisation terms”. <br />
<br />
This is because they do not know – or care – what that really means. Or worse, they do know and plan to make a killing by shorting the pound against the collapsing British economy. What it means is tariffs, schedules and border checks. Oh my.<br />
<br />
Tariffs are actually the LEAST of our worries. The Government laid out its plans for a lot of zero INBOUND tariffs, which might seem good for people buying things, but they cannot fix the OUTBOUND tariffs that will make selling things to other countries HARDER, and with zero tariffs in place give us nothing to negotiate with when we try to change that. Disgraced former Defence Secretary Fantastic Dr Fox will remain a useless adornment to the government. So it’s not all bad news.<br />
<br />
The schedules, though, are a very complicated set of lists and quotas that say how much of a thing we can import at a low tariff rate, how much has to be at a high rate, or how much we cannot import at all. Britain’s are all tied up with Europe’s, so expect a big fight over what our share of the EU schedule actually is. Which will obviously be helped HUGELY by having just TICKED OFF the rest of the EU by not agreeing the Withdrawal Agreement.<br />
<br />
But the border checks are the MOST complicated, because under WTO rules you need to prove where the things you are taking across a border came from. And not just the whole finished product, but all the bits that made it up. And all the raw materials that the bits were made from first. And you have to stop lorries and boats and planes and check the paperworks. Which takes a LONG time. At the moment, in the Single Market, we get a lorry though the port of Dover every TEN SECONDS. Just how much of a delay do you think it will need to be before those lorries start backing up along the M20? Hello carpark-Kent. Hello food shortages and soon food riots. Hello people starting to DIE from lack of medicines.<br />
<br />
And of course any country in the World – including the twenty-seven we’ve just magnificently flicked the V’s at; including Argentina who still want the Falklands – can start a trade dispute with you. Several already have, including the biggest economies in the World, China and our supposed best buds the Americans (make that trade deal great again, the Donald). You need teams of "experts" to provide "evidence" and agree "compromise" - all the things the Quitlings hate. Your free trade quickly gets very sticky, tying you up in knots for years.<br />
<br />
One thing we DO know about Boris, though, is that he DOESN’T LIKE HARD WORK. Work like fiddly negotiations or difficult compromises or learning a brief when a woman’s life depends on it.<br />
<br />
So why not try this for a Boris lark. He arrives in Downing Street victorious and announces, with another turning on a dime volte-face, that Britain clearly needs to choose its destiny again and there will be another referendum. He will rise magisterially above the fray. And with that vanishes inside Number Ten to make away with the silver and the secretaries.<br />
<br />
And with one voice the nation cries:<br />
<br />
JUST MAKE IT STOP<br />
<br />
And so the nightmare is over. As long as Boris remembers to send the Revoke letter.<br />
<br />
Brexit is dead. Or undead. At least until Halloween.<br />
<br />
Now we just have to find a way to undo all the massive harms they’ve done getting us to this absolutely dead end.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, here is some Dr Woo…<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0aa5OBFLHAw/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0aa5OBFLHAw?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br />
Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-18070175168629974702019-02-18T17:00:00.001+00:002019-02-18T17:01:56.602+00:00Day 6623: Trigger the TIGgers<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monday<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Apparently, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47278902" target="_blank">there’s a new political absolutely-not-a-Party-unless-you-ask-them-nicely on the block</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hilariously, their website gives a list of their value, and
only gives you the option to agree with all of them. Which, as I understand it,
was their problem with Mr Corbyn. But there you go. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s have a look anyway, and see what they believe in and
see if we agree to tick any boxes, shall we?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Number 1:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ours is a great country of which
people are rightly proud, where the first duty of government must be to defend
its people and do whatever it takes to safeguard Britain’s national security.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is not a good start.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leaning heavily into the nationalist, jingoist language of
the Leave campaign, and subsequent government opposition love-in, and putting
authoritarian “protection” as their first duty.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s a bizarre choice to open their manifesto rejecting Mr
Corbyn’s pandering to the presumed category of “Labour-supporting white working
class leave voter”… with a direct appeal to that same category.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Number 2:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Britain works best as a
diverse, mixed social market economy, in which well-regulated private
enterprise can reward aspiration and drive economic progress and where
government has the responsibility to ensure the sound stewardship of taxpayer’s
money and a stable, fair and balanced economy.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So we’re starting to see what they are doing here, which is
if you want to look at the positive fluffy foot, picking and choosing values
they agree with from across the political spectrum, and if you want the cynical
negative fluffy foot, trying to have something that will appeal to everyone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In this case, a typical wet centrist Tory. Wonder who they
could be trying to recruit?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Number 3:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A strong economy means we can
invest in our public services. We believe the collective provision of
public services and the NHS can be delivered through government action,
improving health and educational life chances, protecting the public,
safeguarding the vulnerable, ensuring dignity at every stage of life and
placing individuals at the heart of decision-making.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now we are flashing back to core Labour belief in big
government shall provide. We really are touring all the Parties, aren’t we.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Number 4:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The people of this country have
the ability to create fairer, more prosperous communities for present and
future generations. We believe that this creativity is best realised in a
society which fosters individual freedom and supports all families</i></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And so, if it wasn’t for all that had come before, and the
fact that obviously it’s OUR TURN, then this might be interesting – trust in
people, and expressing belief in creativity through freedom. This is written to
appeal to orange book Liberals<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Number 5:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The barriers of poverty,
prejudice and discrimination facing individuals should be removed and
advancement occur on the basis of merit, with inequalities reduced through the
extension of opportunity, giving individuals the skills and means to open
new doors and fulfil their ambitions.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And this is a Coalition-era Cleggity interpretation of “no
one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity”. Or if you prefer “allowing
everyone to get on in life”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Number 6:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Individuals are capable of
taking responsibility if opportunities are offered to them, everybody
can and should make a contribution to society and that contribution should be
recognised. Paid work should be secure and pay should be fair.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is, to me, a weirdly Labour view of what Liberalism is
about – note that people “SHOULD” make a contribution, and the insistence on fixing
paid work. This is more derivative of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his
Protestant work ethic, than anything truly Liberal, in spite of the language
trying to nod at freedom from poverty.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Number 7:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Our free media, the rule of law,
and our open, tolerant and respectful democratic society should be
cherished and renewed.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Begging the question “but how?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These values are the bedrock and necessary foundation for a
functioning democracy. The fact is we DON’T have a free media and the rule of
law has been and continues to be flouted by the Leave Campaign and the May government.
Tolerance and respect are not words that could describe the current political
climate either. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So how do we cherish what is failing and dead?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Number 8:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We believe that our parliamentary
democracy in which our elected representatives deliberate, decide and
provide leadership, held accountable by their whole electorate is the best
system of representing the views of the British people.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And not any more referendums!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Which is fair actually. Asserting the primacy of
representative democracy really is a necessary starting point to rowing back
the anything goes interpreting of the referendum outcome and Willa Thepeople populism.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But it’s not enough, given they are standing under a big
slogan of “Politics is Broken. Let’s Change it”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If the answer is “change it back to what it was before we
uncorked the genii of promising millions of people their voices would be
listened to” then this lot are going to make things EVEN WORSE.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Number 9:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In order to face the challenges
and opportunities presented by globalisation, migration and technological
advances, we believe the multilateral, international rules-based order must
be strengthened and reformed. We believe in maintaining strong alliances with
our closest European and international allies on trade, regulation, defence,
security and counter-terrorism<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Again begging the question “but how?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is membership of the EU are prerequisite? An option? An extra?
Or ruled out?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Number 10:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As part of the global community
we have a responsibility to future generations to protect our environment, safeguard
the planet, plan development sustainably and to act on the urgency of climate
change.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are back to them picking up the agenda of other Parties. Just
to cover their bases with any green voters they can attract<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And Number 11:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Power should be devolved to
the most appropriate level, trusting and involving local communities. More
powers and representation should be given to local government to act in the
best interests of their communities.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And so we end (on an odd number of values) with coming again
to an authoritarian/Labour-eye view of what they think Liberal devolution is
about.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’d prefer to see *decisions* devolved to local government and
the power given to *local people* to hold their councils accountable.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Labour has always thought they had the answers, and that
anyone who questions that is a “Tory” or a “Class Traitor” or some other reason
to reject having their homework marked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what does all this MEAN?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, probably NOTHING. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s just another flash in the pan of the febrile
post-referendum, pre-Brexit fustercluck that is British politics continuing to
implode under the pressure of doing something impossibly stupid in an
impossibly stupid way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The great cry of the referendum – if you can ask me to do
something as moronic as to try to sum up all of the different yearnings that
the vote to leave really meant – was “NOT LIKE THIS”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(So it really should be no surprise that the only thing the
House of Commons can agree on is the ridiculous Brady Amendment that says “we agree
the Prime Minister’s Deal except not like this”!)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And there is just a CHANCE that BOTH Labour and Tory Parties
might break up under the Brexit collapse, and that more than anything would
give us the chance to change British Politics in a truly transformative way,
with proportional representation and breaking up the Tory and Labour fiefdoms
that mean safe seats can be given to favoured sons (and daughters, though it’s usually
sons).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
IF that happens, change can finally come.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
THIS, though, this is not “not like THIS”. This is MORE THIS
and extra custard!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is continuity-Blairism, or more Tory-lite (all of the same
policies, but you can still feel good about yourself). Tony Blair MP as anagram
of I’m Tory Plan B<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What it ISN’T is Liberal – there is nothing at all in their
values about holding government accountable or speaking truth to power. In
fact, several of them read as “power would be quite nice, thank you”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am happy to welcome more diversity on the political scene.
But Liberal Democrats should be looking for a VERY LONG SPOON if they plan on
supping with these devils.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
PS, <a href="https://miss-s-b.dreamwidth.org/2029040.html" target="_blank">Auntie Jennie has more along these lines here</a>…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-5980609529700646482018-11-07T10:45:00.000+00:002018-11-07T10:45:27.274+00:00Day 6517: DOCTOR WHO: How Many Family Dramas can you pack into one spaceship? And then eat it?Sunday:<br />
<br />
Mr Chibbers is continuing his high concept drama of “let’s prove we can do trad Doctor Who using Russell’s model.”<br />
<br />
Russell set the standard for his revived series with present, future, past and back to the present stories. And didn’t much vary from that for four years.<br />
<br />
So after three weeks of cracking Dr Who episodes… <br />
<br />
the “look what effects we can do now” one, <br />
the “moving historical” one <br />
and the “Holy Freekin’ Giant Spiders scary” one<br />
<br />
…the model says we should be on to the “this year’s Dalek one” one.<br />
<br />
Oh. We’ve skipped to “The Long Game” instead.<br />
<br />
I guess I picked the wrong week to give up not reviewing Doctor Woo...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbNRjz_bXYfi5elrgUmh8eeGzGo_iDerfkWP_dytICufoVY4M0gjQx59cw_kFBj1EC6CcuebpJCdpC7flDT5cTCaMvVRLC0sqjVzEzSLaGLy632hlB4WMQMkDoR6o6p2Y5YynNMw/s1600/Beep+the+Meep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="400" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbNRjz_bXYfi5elrgUmh8eeGzGo_iDerfkWP_dytICufoVY4M0gjQx59cw_kFBj1EC6CcuebpJCdpC7flDT5cTCaMvVRLC0sqjVzEzSLaGLy632hlB4WMQMkDoR6o6p2Y5YynNMw/s400/Beep+the+Meep.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>No relation...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Actually I liked this. The design, the direction, the acting were all really good. The regulars gave us more reasons to love them. I love that the Doctor got taken down a peg for acting selfishly and took it like a woman. There was more of the Ryan/Ryan’s father backstory, nicely used, and more bonding with Graham. Yas uses a staser, drop-kicks a Pting and <em>still</em> somehow hasn’t had the scenes that I think she deserves. <br />
<br />
This wasn’t <em>outstanding</em>. <br />
<br />
But Doctor Who can’t always be outstanding. And already this year we’ve had the beautiful direction in “The Ghost Monument”, and the scariest scary spiders ever, in “Arachnids” and all of “Rosa”. And spellbinding writing – if not always plotting – every week. I think we can cut “average” a decent break this episode.<br />
<br />
So, Millennium is being a bit harsh comparing “the Tsuranga Conundrum” to 2005’s under-loved “The Long Game”. <br />
<br />
But it probably is fair to say that this is Chris Chibnall trying to show he can do Russell Davies-style “relationships” writing, in a space setting, only with a plot that actually resolves itself properly rather than pulling a deus ex machina out of its hat.<br />
<br />
(In as much as the two perils established are the monstrous cute Pting and the remote explosion of the ship, and each turns out to be the solution to the other.)<br />
<br />
We have:<br />
<br />
The brother and sister who cannot tell each other they love each other because their pride is getting in the way. Complicated by the weird alien android/clone consort.<br />
<br />
The young man having to face up to fatherhood when he thinks he’s not ready. Complicated by weird alien – and to a certain value of “hilarious” – “hilarious” biology.<br />
<br />
The junior medic thrust into being in charge by the death of her superior, the only person who trusted her.<br />
<br />
What we have linking them here is people doubting each other, underlined by the severe lack of trust shown by Tsuranga’s Rhesus Station who would rather kill everyone on board than risk an uncontrolled danger reaching them, and by the mentions of “dark times” in the tricky middle of the sixty-seventh century.<br />
<br />
We also see everyone falling into worrying about their own troubles even in the face of the Pting, which is pretty much the definition of an environmental catastrophe, particularly in the confined space of the ship.<br />
<br />
It’s a subtler metaphor for our times than last week’s Trump-lite. <br />
<br />
<br />
As usual in Doctor Who, hard science is first to be blown out of the airlock.<br />
<br />
You <em>could</em> use anti-matter for a power source, because matter + anti-matter makes a lot of boom.<br />
<br />
But you certainly wouldn’t make it <em>on board</em>. Not even in a miniature CERN. In fact <em>especially</em> not in a miniature CERN.<br />
<br />
Because whatever you are using to power your atom smasher must be putting at least as much power <em>in</em> as you’d get <em>out</em> from the anti-matter it creates – that’s just what E=mc2 means! – so why not just plug that directly into the drive and cut out the middle positron?<br />
<br />
(Or, Mr Writer, you say that the anti-matter is being created from a portable rift into an anti-matter universe – and incredibly dangerous way of doing it, but one that gets you your anti-matter “for free” to fuel the matter/anti-matter reaction for the drive.)<br />
<br />
Of course, it’s <em>very</em> trad Doctor Who, going right back to the years of Ian and Barbara for us to take a moment to say “so, Ian, we’re in the future, so what is this week’s science spot?”. Not to mention all those black holes, and the pop-science-inspired stories of the Seventies, from artificial intelligence to body language, and that’s just Leela’s first two adventures.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the Pting appears to be able to fly through space, overtake a ship travelling (we presume from the maps) faster than the speed of light, penetrate the shields and hull, without any visible means of propulsion. <br />
<br />
Yes, it looks a bit “Slitheen” – do not go there.<br />
<br />
(It also appears to be bigger on the inside, from the way it swallows objects its own body size. Which suggests some seriously fan-baiting possibilities for its origins.)<br />
<br />
But we better hope that it’s seriously blissed out from the bomb it swallowed, because booting it out an airlock (and not very far outside the Rhesus station) is not going to stop it if it can do all that.<br />
<br />
What we do see is another example of season 37’s “villain walks away” syndrome – getting so obvious even the <em>RadioTimes</em> <a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-11-06/doctor-who-series-11-villains-will-they-be-back/" target="_blank">has commented on it</a>.<br />
<br />
Much speculation abounds that we are going to see someone from this list return as “big bad” for the season (or all of them in an Alliance of B-List Monsters to rival Moffat’s “Big Bang”!). Maybe we will.<br />
<br />
But I’d like to suggest an alternative reading. <br />
<br />
The Doctor’s faced adventures this year that are, more than even is usual, stamped with great big metaphors: if we skip “The Woman Who Fell to Earth”, we get “Selfishness”, “Racism”, “Corruption”, and this week “Doubt” or you might prefer “the System”.<br />
<br />
Most often in Doctor Who, the Doctor will deal with a baddie (monsters or villain) who will get their comeuppance. <br />
<br />
But dealing with the “big issue” problems, that can be the trite answer. <br />
<br />
By leaving our villains this year to walk away, we could be saying that look the big problem remains whether we have some false closure with this little bad guy or not. So, let’s not pretend we’ve solved something as difficult as “racism” by making sure that Rosa Parks is remembered for where she was sitting when she rode the bus.<br />
<br />
Overall, a moderate Doctor Who episode is actually nice. It’s nice to see a TARDIS crew who are happy being there, doing what they’re doing. And a Doctor who’s enjoying <em>being</em> the Doctor. “That chapter in the book of celebrants. More of a volume, really.”<br />
<br />
It’s like a return to the days of Tom Baker, when the Doctor bestrode the universe, dealing with diabolical masterminds for breakfast and just having fun with best-friend Sarah, Leela and the tin dog, or Romana. It’s like the joy is back.<br />
<br />
<strong>Next time:</strong> we’ve seen segregation in America. Let’s try partition in India. And with more of Yas’s family, will she finally get to shine? </blockquote>
Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-54290416602446895152018-11-04T11:03:00.000+00:002018-11-04T22:29:16.588+00:00Day 6516: Making the Case (Richard the Third)Saturday:<br />
<br />
We’ve been looking at Daddy Richard’s campaign to be the Lib Dem candidate in Cheadle, with his <a href="https://millenniumelephant.blogspot.com/2018/11/day-6514-making-case-part-one.html" target="_blank">speech</a> and <a href="https://millenniumelephant.blogspot.com/2018/11/day-6515-making-case-part-deux.html" target="_blank">literature</a>.<br />
<br />
But this is the MODERN age of Internets and newfanglery.<br />
<br />
There are new ways to talk directly to the members and voters.<br />
<br />
So, because of the low spending limit, we cut our campaign to the cloth allowed, and instead of producing a second colour leaflet, turned it into an email manifesto.<br />
<br />
Let’s be honest, it’s a bit too long to be an email. It makes a rather better blog post… which gives me a really good idea!<br />
<br />
Read on…<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Dear Dave,<br />
<br />
In seven words:<br />
<br />
<b><u>"Freedom, Fairness, Future. Our Shared Liberal Values."</u></b><br />
<br />
More and more people are agreeing with me that we need a campaign built on principles not just potholes.<br />
<br />
I've been talking with members of Cheadle Liberal Democrats about our Liberal Values, members who joined us because we took a stand, from Iraq to I.D. cards, from climate change to Brexit - and when we take a stand our values stand out.<br />
<br />
Let me give you seven words about Cheadle that show how our values connect to people.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKS0E8AQL7-otuJMrK9d_PNg3RAmmvLboQFmpvznXbE3Vwv0uH61rW55ypbV5EW1qcNGAGO2a4u5wGzJsL6e8SV8m5UIRGORHwVDoF46iAwww38guDwG9Qe09rSwAX77M-pa9HQ/s1600/7+Words+00+all+seven.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="105" data-original-width="747" height="44" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKS0E8AQL7-otuJMrK9d_PNg3RAmmvLboQFmpvznXbE3Vwv0uH61rW55ypbV5EW1qcNGAGO2a4u5wGzJsL6e8SV8m5UIRGORHwVDoF46iAwww38guDwG9Qe09rSwAX77M-pa9HQ/s320/7+Words+00+all+seven.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdzwrydi5l1T4nyZVDvhg8wXs2rHLJMFOyOEEGCF778l3AyxpGu-yeigC7DCamuaHKZ86UjEosIB3kxyY0NSeHUIi1DPD2A5Y0x1AZ0Hn-YvferbwbdZ1IfTU2xM6b0hrvpsEqg/s1600/7+Words+01+Caring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="485" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdzwrydi5l1T4nyZVDvhg8wXs2rHLJMFOyOEEGCF778l3AyxpGu-yeigC7DCamuaHKZ86UjEosIB3kxyY0NSeHUIi1DPD2A5Y0x1AZ0Hn-YvferbwbdZ1IfTU2xM6b0hrvpsEqg/s320/7+Words+01+Caring.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
<b>Freedom from illness. Fair treatment for everyone, free at the point of need, including mental health treatment. And fair taxes to pay for a Future for the NHS and social care.</b><br />
<br />
This is Stepping Hill. My husband Alex was born here. I've talked with nursing staff, they are some of the most caring and dedicated people I've ever met.<br />
<br />
But the NHS is in constant crisis and reports show Stepping Hill is failing because of short-staffing.<br />
<br />
Stockport Together is going to be one of the first trials of bringing health and social care together. But the Care Quality Commission say that the project has been left in confusion since Labour took over. And the Labour Council have cut over £700,000 from mental health care in Stockport.<br />
<br />
This is why it’s so important that Liberal Democrats take back control of the council.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLJ-qe8H8MiXI4tgiNteHKbJ3VJue_lUTQPur5SdxT-_Y9GvrtUbspkT_zYHtwfXl8nNkI9gbGoCcpvBSAuHpbJVGmQqHUuXkUKqWdwCU5ogfA9UUt6TcqNOrIwE6y0jjk94zUQ/s1600/7+Words+02+Home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="485" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLJ-qe8H8MiXI4tgiNteHKbJ3VJue_lUTQPur5SdxT-_Y9GvrtUbspkT_zYHtwfXl8nNkI9gbGoCcpvBSAuHpbJVGmQqHUuXkUKqWdwCU5ogfA9UUt6TcqNOrIwE6y0jjk94zUQ/s320/7+Words+02+Home.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
<b>The Freedom of living in your own home, building a Future for your family. The Fairness of affordable homes to rent or buy.</b><br />
<br />
I grew up round here, moved to London for work, and came back to make a home with my husband. Four years ago this week we got married at Stockport Town Hall. That’s a very personal way that the Liberal Democrats made my life better, by changing the law so I could marry the man I love in the town we love.<br />
<br />
Everyone should have that chance to enjoy the quality of life in the North.<br />
<br />
But Stockport is under pressure to build new homes, pressure from the long-delayed Greater Manchester Spatial Plan and from Tory-run Cheshire East’s plans at Handforth Dean, which I've campaigned on in Bramhall. We have to talk about the Green Belt too; it so important to protect access to green spaces.<br />
<br />
We need new solutions, new towns and green corridors. We need to build sustainable communities. And we need to build the schools, shops and services to support them.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYa8mp2aO9bz0UmHYMc3RuO8oIpe5E6-Bzvan6wBbqDMp5RcXj3coMyR96Wc1UQjHgiPwMQJKkw_NfjTcdFLdZoJEJ_a4Dc7o2s0hCT-q6dkGMDn0SxWWpCAuPuWHDRbVI2PvVmQ/s1600/7+Words+03+Education.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="485" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYa8mp2aO9bz0UmHYMc3RuO8oIpe5E6-Bzvan6wBbqDMp5RcXj3coMyR96Wc1UQjHgiPwMQJKkw_NfjTcdFLdZoJEJ_a4Dc7o2s0hCT-q6dkGMDn0SxWWpCAuPuWHDRbVI2PvVmQ/s320/7+Words+03+Education.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
<b>A better Future grounded in the opportunity learning gives. A Fair deal for schools to teach and pupils to learn. Freedom to learn for life not just for tests.</b><br />
<br />
I went to school here. I know Stockport has some of the best schools in the country but they’re not getting a fair share from the government’s funding formula.<br />
<br />
Head teachers having to send out appeals for cash, teaching assistant places lost, parents having to pay for equipment. We need to fight for a fairer share.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKQpMXUDSybS52P7vlnAUKNv3u8xR3BwoJiGCvSWEaiyK14GnHwUQXStEg19YhVysO10Ethrqmh_9ffo-LI1oTB4q51vRcWyTmVuwoDb1AzqQkJXH-xO_Ui1tuvoZLK3gwW8s3jg/s1600/7+Words+04+Aspiration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="485" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKQpMXUDSybS52P7vlnAUKNv3u8xR3BwoJiGCvSWEaiyK14GnHwUQXStEg19YhVysO10Ethrqmh_9ffo-LI1oTB4q51vRcWyTmVuwoDb1AzqQkJXH-xO_Ui1tuvoZLK3gwW8s3jg/s320/7+Words+04+Aspiration.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
<b>Building a real Northern Power House for the Future where people are Free from poverty and work supports the lives they choose to live.Fair taxes that will pay for the services to support a growing creative economy.</b><br />
<br />
Cheadle’s links to Stockport, Manchester and the airport give us a vibrant modern economy. But since the crash of 2008, Britain’s economy has been broken. People have been hit with inflation while wages have stagnated, and Brexit is only going to make it worse.<br />
<br />
We should be looking to the future, thinking about the creative economy and the green economy. How we will enable people to switch to clean electric cars, where that electricity will come from, and how Stockport to take a lead in achieving a Zero Carbon Britain.<br />
<br />
Liberals have had a great story on the economy, from free trade to the People’s Budget. Now we have to develop a new Liberal economic story, based on shared ownership and co-operation, that will give people hope for a better future.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB3qdlDupMdA8TDawo1qWtK1LZAdGJpihPiCQ6cv78nCabTr97A4VkEby9zQHYtnPh2ZEIVFHdSbWNAfuxBvpK0Vuux5nVLhyphenhyphen-dXh0JZyxBDMJWmFw64V33RmGMYL7SCAEHKAikQ/s1600/7+Words+05+Diverse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="485" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB3qdlDupMdA8TDawo1qWtK1LZAdGJpihPiCQ6cv78nCabTr97A4VkEby9zQHYtnPh2ZEIVFHdSbWNAfuxBvpK0Vuux5nVLhyphenhyphen-dXh0JZyxBDMJWmFw64V33RmGMYL7SCAEHKAikQ/s320/7+Words+05+Diverse.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
<b>Freedom to be who you want to be. Fairness in equal treatment in work, in law, in life. A Future where no one is enslaved by conformity.</b><br />
<br />
This is Stockport's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (or just LGBT) Pride, with my friend Holly who helped me organise the Lib Dem presence there. As a member of LGBT+ Lib Dems exec, I’ve been so proud of the work the Lib Dems here have done, from attending Stockport Pride to passing a motion in council of support for Bi-Visibility Day.<br />
<br />
Liberal Democrats are great at community politics, and that's why Cheadle has such a wide range of communities: from Zumba classes to the scouts and cadets. From local businesses to neighbourhood watch. Mosque and synagogue, temple and church. Our work can help them all.<br />
<br />
But Britain has never felt more divided, with populist politicians blaming migration for the outcome of their own years of neglect.<br />
<br />
I remember the way gay people were targeted in the 1980’s, with Section 28 and James Anderton, then Manchester's Chief Constable, treating gay people shamefully. Now the Jewish community, Muslims and trans people are all under attack. That’s why I’ll speak up, to stop it happening again.<br />
<br />
We need to work with our community to come together and heal the divisions, so that people once again feel proud of the rights and freedoms that come with being British.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ8J2PZ_F6QGUFjqDcmO3X8htExMplt7rDlhUDwTquxX2knvyhbqiC9OU31S0P8HyO_YqnMmGKMDmjo4L9eNmRIwqWJg_eZ3iSiTuv8WXT5If6JbyCEVr2rk86tmyraAEszgspwg/s1600/7+Words+06+Liberal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="485" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ8J2PZ_F6QGUFjqDcmO3X8htExMplt7rDlhUDwTquxX2knvyhbqiC9OU31S0P8HyO_YqnMmGKMDmjo4L9eNmRIwqWJg_eZ3iSiTuv8WXT5If6JbyCEVr2rk86tmyraAEszgspwg/s320/7+Words+06+Liberal.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
<b>The Freedom to enjoy our shared spaces and shared activities. A Fair sharing of jobs between council and country and continent. A Future that everyone can enjoy in their own way.</b><br />
<br />
Liberal Democrats have made a difference here. It's worth mentioning that we do get the potholes fixed. Just ask anyone the difference between Stockport's roads and Manchester's.<br />
<br />
We need to be in the Council to make people's lives better in the streets where they live. Whether it's a stolen bin or a question about a home care plan or the smell from Adswood tip. (And I've helped people with all those things.)<br />
<br />
We need to be in Parliament too, to tackle the national issues, like the economy, like crime, like Brexit too.<br />
<br />
And we need to be in Europe if we're going to deal with the global challenges of climate change and globalisation.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRFtFGntLgQIShVRv19YjSsIxwvd6g3-BDyuMzjz9Z_j7Q__y3tMCaCpT-SGpXtAzG1Ie44ECgInhHYnpTPMcgtR87W4qROu9bdAFnpJSRu_c09KIZ-SYtqAuaQCf-pSGYo5lddA/s1600/7+Words+07+European.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="485" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRFtFGntLgQIShVRv19YjSsIxwvd6g3-BDyuMzjz9Z_j7Q__y3tMCaCpT-SGpXtAzG1Ie44ECgInhHYnpTPMcgtR87W4qROu9bdAFnpJSRu_c09KIZ-SYtqAuaQCf-pSGYo5lddA/s320/7+Words+07+European.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
<b>Defending the Freedoms that we won through being in Europe. Demanding Fairness for both 52% and 48%. Looking to the Future of the country beyond Brexit.</b><br />
<br />
We still believe that the freedom to trade and travel, to live, learn and love make membership of the EU something we should embrace.<br />
<br />
Democracy depends on people speaking out, it’s why we have an Opposition whose job is supposed to be to do that. That's why Labour are letting the country down. That's why Lib Dems need to stand up for our values.<br />
Cheadle voted to remain in the EU so we have a democratic duty to represent those voices.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwjOO9P24QJbhI0rF72AFtVVDjJbpNts_ESc67hwx6zY2T3ESK1tmoXJien5LRaHAwjPGzjU5vUHb5881UEw4a_sS_-iDeTDwln9oAZZLP7V-ceEh5VQON3OiCeoP_Grg88RoJwQ/s1600/7+Words+00+all+seven.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="105" data-original-width="747" height="44" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwjOO9P24QJbhI0rF72AFtVVDjJbpNts_ESc67hwx6zY2T3ESK1tmoXJien5LRaHAwjPGzjU5vUHb5881UEw4a_sS_-iDeTDwln9oAZZLP7V-ceEh5VQON3OiCeoP_Grg88RoJwQ/s320/7+Words+00+all+seven.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Cheadle has seven letters and seven wards. Over the last three years, I have canvassed and delivered in all seven wards in Cheadle constituency, including Heald Green, where I've delivered rounds, knocked doors and spent time with members of the Cheadle Muslim Association.<br />
<br />
I have campaigned with Graham and Iain and Keith in Cheadle and Gatley. With Claire in Cheadle Hulme North. With Grace in Stepping Hill. I have canvassed with Helen and Suzanne and Mark and delivered up and down Turves Road in Cheadle Hulme South. On top of that I am Chair of the Bramhall Branch and alongside Jeremy have driven the campaigning in Bramhall North and Bramhall South.<br />
<br />
And I've helped out in Manchester Gorton, and I stood in Macclesfield - and that is how I was able to bring people back to Cheadle to help here.<br />
<br />
I believe we cannot just fall back on defending the wards we hold. Only working in silos. We need a 7-ward strategy. Or given the possible boundary changes a 10-ward strategy - and we should be campaigning all the way from Bramhall to Heaton Moor.<br />
<br />
We are Liberal Democrats. We believe in reaching outward. That makes us stronger.<br />
<br />
I believe, if we talk about our values, we can win here again.<br />
<br />
If you believe too, please give me your 1st Preference to be your next Lib Dem MP.<br />
<br />
Thank you<br />
<br />
Richard<br />
<br />
<br />
Remember: your chance to hear from the candidates and have your say on who will be Cheadle’s next Lib Dem MP will be<br />
<br />
<b>October 29, 7:00 pm</b><br />
<br />
<b>Ford’s Lane Evangelical Church,</b><br />
<b>11a Ford’s Lane,</b><br />
<b>Bramhall</b><br />
<b>SK7 1DQ</b><br />
<br />
I hope to see you there.<br />
<br /></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
As I say, that’s too long REALLY. And would have been better as a series, or as pages on our website or Facebook page.<br />
<br />
If you live in London – or even just know any of our potential candidates there – you’ll have seen the EXTENSIVE use of the SOCIAL MEDIA that is being made, so it might be a surprise to you to learn that for Cheadle we were told we couldn’t use it. Or rather we couldn’t use it for anything that identified us as a candidate in the selection, but could for “ordinary political activity”.<br />
<br />
And for direct communication, we were allowed a whole TWO emails to the members, which we had to send to the RO first to send them out via the local party’s Nation Builder. We were not to email anyone ourselves unless they emailed us first. <br />
<br />
Anyone who has read any Mark Pack will know that this is going to lose you sight of important ways to interact with your correspondents – who opens the email, who clicks on any links and who you can feed back to with more info if they want.<br />
<br />
So I think that our selection rules – or the interpretation of them – are going to need some updating here, because we have seen how our rival Parties, particularly in Labour, have made a huge use of Internet campaigning, with HootTube videos and Faceache pages. If our selections are preventing potential candidates showing they are good at these things, we are going to end up being left behind by the votes as Internet dinosaurs.<br />
<br />
If you DO find yourself in a selection, DO make sure of your RO’s interpretation of the rules, and press them to make definitive statements at the beginning. Because there is nothing more DERAILING than having to deal with rulings two or three weeks into a campaign demanding you take down parts of your campaign in order to level the playing field with people who haven’t produced material for the modern age. <br />
<br />
Labour and Tories are not give us that kind of break. We need to “demand better” from our selection campaigns.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-54174097868914639922018-11-02T15:59:00.001+00:002018-11-02T15:59:55.674+00:00Day 6515: Making the Case (part deux)Friday:<br />
<br />
I believe that it is VITAL that the Liberal Democrats make the case for a LIBERAL BRITAIN.<br />
<br />
(You would think that was obvious, but apparently not.)<br />
<br />
Particularly in these days when Sir Vince wants to make us a movement, I think we need a REASON to MOVE people, and if we don’t talk about our VALUES, they will move somewhere else.<br />
<br />
That is what Daddy Richard stands for.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://millenniumelephant.blogspot.com/2018/11/day-6514-making-case-part-one.html" target="_blank">Yesterday</a>, I shared daddy’s hustings speech from the END of the Cheadle selection. Today, let’s go back and look at some of the written material we put out from the START.<br />
<br />
We wanted to hit the ground running with a hand-addressed “cream envelope” letter, delivered to all members on day one of the campaign.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHA8pCQNhB3rL6qAea5vPpJ4FD9R7ZMSLBIPvBU8G16HNCk_TYd1gXoX6UCeV_VpRKSMfn4-o82qx1zE_VGAqZi_VuCnDXsgE93snxCoJ46lwL5MsfciY4EgiQMusG2VEriEUgng/s1600/Handwritten+pages.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="1240" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHA8pCQNhB3rL6qAea5vPpJ4FD9R7ZMSLBIPvBU8G16HNCk_TYd1gXoX6UCeV_VpRKSMfn4-o82qx1zE_VGAqZi_VuCnDXsgE93snxCoJ46lwL5MsfciY4EgiQMusG2VEriEUgng/s400/Handwritten+pages.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A letter to the members</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Here’s what it said:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
9th October 2018<br />
<br />
Dear Dave,<br />
<br />
Cheadle needs a Liberal voice. Britain needs a Liberal voice, now more than ever. <br />
<br />
We’ve had some dark times since 2015. We lost the EU referendum. Extremists on left and right are setting the agenda. Immigrants and other minorities are living in fear. But we were barely heard in the 2017 General Election.<br />
<br />
Yet I still have hope. I was knocking on doors in Cheadle Hulme, near where I live, when I spoke with a local nurse, worried about the short-staffing at Stepping Hill because of Tory cuts, and she said: “This has always been a Liberal town”. She’s right. And that gives me hope. <br />
<br />
I want to give you hope too. <br />
<br />
So let’s talk about my vision.<br />
<br />
I absolutely believe that Cheadle can be a beacon of Liberalism, shining a light that shows how our policies do work for people, and that there is a better future.<br />
<br />
We need someone who will speak up for Cheadle, to say we need a fair share for schools; an economy for opportunity and jobs; and cleaner air and less congestion. I grew up here, I live here, I’ve got the local story to do that.<br />
<br />
We need someone who will speak up for Liberalism as well, to say that schools set people free from ignorance; that jobs and a welfare state together set people free from poverty; and to make a positive case for freedom of movement and Europe because we all benefit from diversity, not conformity.<br />
<br />
Because above all we need to give people reasons to want to vote Liberal Democrat again. We need to speak with a Liberal voice so people hear how we are the Party for freedom, for fairness, for the future.<br />
<br />
With your help, we can restore Britain’s Liberal voice. So please give me your 1st preference to be Cheadle’s next Lib Dem MP.<br />
<br />
Thank you<br />
<br />
Richard<br />
<br />
PS: add your voice to mine. Together we will win.</blockquote>
<br />
Friends and family helped address the envelopes, and we were able to produce the letters in the period between close of applications and start of campaigning.<br />
<br />
That delivery target proved optimistic, though. 250 deliveries is an hour’s work when they are all in one road. When they are scattered over 7 wards… not so much. As with so many Lib Dem things, more deliverers would have been key.<br />
<br />
We didn’t manage day one, but we DID get them done by the end of the first weekend.<br />
<br />
We then went on to door-knocking, combined with delivering a colour leaflet.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvkx06N54Pskn5Y-Iws-XWgsz_5s5PIbICkYFVEo_p3l5EbR_yFDuVvwSkManZ8oD_cFK2htmnMjg5jcKG_Y-qSZxWuMKZx7tTtlUFj_0lYHgDJYNLnMW8pz8XezDH_UhBHdm3cw/s1600/Our+Voice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="1240" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvkx06N54Pskn5Y-Iws-XWgsz_5s5PIbICkYFVEo_p3l5EbR_yFDuVvwSkManZ8oD_cFK2htmnMjg5jcKG_Y-qSZxWuMKZx7tTtlUFj_0lYHgDJYNLnMW8pz8XezDH_UhBHdm3cw/s400/Our+Voice.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Our Voice leaflet</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The original plan for the three week campaign had been, obviously, three pieces of literature:<br />
<br />
Day 1: the hand-addressed letter<br />
Week 2: a full-colour leaflet<br />
Week 3: a 4-page tabloid<br />
<br />
But that was based on an estimated budget of £500. <br />
<br />
When the spending limit of just £250 was announced (which I still think is too small for a target seat where candidates are supposed to show their talent in a wide range of campaigning), it meant cutting the campaign and the tabloid had to go.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pMTX96A1K3TC0Whdh_V-0TPJU8EkarGd40aQLB02BQL49mUC0CQM7lIqAyFxNImYUaWx9NtF-egvTLgeQL79-dCjCeUT4MdNloanngV8TxAm04caAFQo8fxsR5tTJZDVUPERHQ/s1600/Cheadle+Resident.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="1240" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pMTX96A1K3TC0Whdh_V-0TPJU8EkarGd40aQLB02BQL49mUC0CQM7lIqAyFxNImYUaWx9NtF-egvTLgeQL79-dCjCeUT4MdNloanngV8TxAm04caAFQo8fxsR5tTJZDVUPERHQ/s400/Cheadle+Resident.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Just for you - the Unseen Tabloid</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
We shuffled the more local tone from the tabloid into the colour leaflet, which had been more values/philosophical based. And that was probably an improvement, anyway.<br />
<br />
The last piece of literature, we saved for the night of the hustings, a striking 10” square – based on the Lib Dem diamond.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZphilWdj6e3zZSDsLNEAq3uiBKZB_ESu-S0QJaoGDiAEYjhR4zm3lW0j9S2FSghjVGwhNJ-DEcvooWZAWNpL9rqXmw8JDzeF-94_SLCIRu5en9PcX5Ifz29OBioR2xiFto8Vulw/s1600/Hustings+Square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="1240" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZphilWdj6e3zZSDsLNEAq3uiBKZB_ESu-S0QJaoGDiAEYjhR4zm3lW0j9S2FSghjVGwhNJ-DEcvooWZAWNpL9rqXmw8JDzeF-94_SLCIRu5en9PcX5Ifz29OBioR2xiFto8Vulw/s400/Hustings+Square.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A square splash!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
By this point the campaign had, unfortunately, probably already been decided. But it was worth going out on a high!<br />
<br />
One tip – if you’re ever thinking of doing this yourself – start taking round a book of “permission slips” so that you can get everyone in every photo to give their permission for use. A returning officer saying they would want to see a signed approval from everyone in all your photos can be quite a shock starting the campaign.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow, we can talk about the modern internets and email communications!Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-80983396782467261802018-11-01T12:00:00.000+00:002018-11-04T22:34:01.912+00:00Day 6514: Making the Case (part one)Thursday:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.libdemvoice.org/top-of-the-blogs-the-lib-dem-golden-dozen-533-2-59047.html"><img alt="Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice" height="57" src="https://www.libdemvoice.org/images/golden-dozen.png" title="Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
One day the tale of the Cheadle selection will be told. But not today. <br />
<br />
The short version is: when Mark Hunter lost the seat in 2015, we stepped up to try to win it back. We fought a positive, honest, values-driven Liberal campaign… but they chose someone else.<br />
<br />
No regrets. That’s democracy. We had a fun ride along the way.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc86gpbo9DR7910XY3pzClS1ZL1eBoVBo8zKpImXYz7UvGJZsgaWdr0hxJr6YNf0px4cxoMYzNBqg7hAOEi7_-hbyetVrPGCjxboL-iKjGuBdR4VwIA_ddX53auiyV1ZPIhJxW6w/s1600/Team+Richard+small+group.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc86gpbo9DR7910XY3pzClS1ZL1eBoVBo8zKpImXYz7UvGJZsgaWdr0hxJr6YNf0px4cxoMYzNBqg7hAOEi7_-hbyetVrPGCjxboL-iKjGuBdR4VwIA_ddX53auiyV1ZPIhJxW6w/s400/Team+Richard+small+group.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks to Dave, Holly, Andrew and Daddy Alex</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
But we DO want to keep on taking a stand for Liberal Values and giving Britain a Liberal Voice.<br />
<br />
Because Britain NEEDS to hear Liberal Voice.<br />
<br />
Perhaps it’s best is I let Daddy Ricard explain, with his hustings speech:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Good evening. <br />
<br />
I’m really pleased to see so many people here. <br />
<br />
Because tonight is important, for our future, our community, even our country. <br />
<br />
We need a Liberal Voice and we need that voice to be heard.<br />
<br />
Throughout this campaign, I’ve been talking about our Liberal values. <br />
<br />
About how Britain needs to hear those values again, <br />
<br />
About how we need to connect to people through those values we share. <br />
Our values should never be an add-on, an extra, an afterthought. They should be driving what we do.<br />
<br />
Values that speak to our supporters, like:<br />
<br />
Equality and social justice. Environmentalism.<br />
<br />
Free trade, free movement of people and multiculturalism.<br />
<br />
A Britain that’s open and welcoming instead of nationalist.<br />
<br />
In short: Freedom. Fairness. The Future.<br />
<br />
But we need to go further. To reach out to people who don’t support us yet, but who share values, like:<br />
<br />
compassion, workers’ rights and animal welfare<br />
<br />
aspiration, rewarding work, and social mobility <br />
<br />
pro-business, pro-environment, pro-diversity<br />
<br />
Freedom. Fairness. The Future. can reach those people too. <br />
<br />
Above all, we need to offer hope for a better future.<br />
<br />
So, let’s talk about Cheadle.<br />
<br />
Cheadle voted to remain. People here are outward looking, forward looking, persuaded that it’s better to be a part of a common goal that helps everyone.<br />
<br />
We share those values.<br />
<br />
Stockport had a Lib Dem Council for more than a decade. And it shows. This town feels cared for, optimistic, friendly. <br />
<br />
We share those values.<br />
<br />
Cheadle has a liberal legacy we should be proud to inherit and uphold. From Michael Winstanley, back in the day, to Patsy, who we miss so much, to Mark, who was an exemplary local MP. <br />
<br />
Cheadle’s values are our values.<br />
<br />
We should be winning here.<br />
<br />
But we’re not.<br />
<br />
As our party’s new slogan says, people should Demand Better. And that starts with demanding better of ourselves.<br />
<br />
Many of you have campaigned here all your lives. And you’re brilliant.<br />
<br />
But we’re not winning here. <br />
<br />
So we need to do something more, something different. We need to demand better.<br />
<br />
I have a good local story to tell. I grew up here. Went to school here. Went to London for work. Came back to get married here. My husband was born in Stepping Hill. We’ve made a home here. <br />
<br />
But that is just the start of the story.<br />
<br />
Anyone can tell a local story. We know that Labour do it. Even Mary Robinson, the invisible MP, does it. <br />
<br />
If we are going to win, we need to do more. And different. And better.<br />
<br />
That is why I talk about our values.<br />
<br />
The Tories and Labour have the advantage. Their messages are easy. Vote Labour for fear of Tory austerity, or vote Tory for fear of Jeremy Corbyn.<br />
<br />
We need to change the story, make it: "who represents your values?".<br />
<br />
We must always campaign on the bedrock of our local story.<br />
<br />
But we must build on that with our values in order to win.<br />
<br />
My local story is the start of a conversation about our great schools in Cheadle not getting a fair deal. But it’s our values that say why schools are important for opportunity and social mobility.<br />
<br />
My local story is the start of a conversation about housing and traffic on the A6 and A34. But it’s our values that say it’s about defending the environment for the future and building sustainable communities.<br />
<br />
And it’s our values that have driven me to add national experience to my story too. <br />
<br />
With Lib Dem Immigrants, I’ve changed party policy for the better, for fairness. <br />
<br />
During the coalition, I brought together a group that changed Nick Clegg’s mind on the Snooper’s Charter, for freedom.<br />
<br />
And through LGBT+ Liberal Democrats we got the biggest win of our time in government, for me anyway, the right to marry my husband four years ago this week at Stockport Town Hall and make our future together.<br />
<br />
And when we lost most of our MPs we lost all our diversity. <br />
<br />
Not just all our women, but all our gay and bi MPs too. <br />
<br />
Last year we won back four women MPs. We have an ethnic minority MP for the first time in a decade. We have an MP with a disability. <br />
<br />
Our Parliamentary Party should represent the face of Britain, and deserves to have LGBT representation again too.<br />
<br />
It’s our values that mean I have made a difference.<br />
<br />
For freedom and fairness and the future.<br />
<br />
<br />
And I’m still learning.<br />
<br />
One thing I’ve learned talking to so many of you, is that there is always much more to learn. There is so much wisdom among our members.<br />
<br />
So please demand better of me. <br />
<br />
But never doubt I will try to deliver.<br />
<br />
I never thought of becoming an MP. <br />
<br />
I spent twenty years working at an ordinary job. <br />
<br />
But like a lot of you, I got more involved because I could see that something had to be done and no-one else was doing it. <br />
<br />
When we lost in here in 2015, I stepped up to try to win us back seats on the Council, working in Cheadle Hulme, standing in Bramhall.<br />
<br />
When Macclesfield Lib Dems needed a candidate last year just weeks before the General Election, I stepped up. And I found I was good at it – as well as bringing their team to campaign here where they could make more of a difference.<br />
<br />
<br />
So when I look at the state of our country and the voices on the political stage right now, I know that I have to step up again.<br />
<br />
Listen to the division, the anger and the hurt blighting our politics, and you will hear a country that needs Liberal values.<br />
<br />
That is why I want to be your MP. <br />
<br />
Because Britain needs people like me to be MPs. <br />
<br />
To be a local champion – giving us a national voice – with a positive Liberal message.<br />
<br />
To win back this seat, we need to get organised. <br />
<br />
We need to raise a lot of money. <br />
<br />
Above all we need to talk to people, more people than we’ve talked to in years.<br />
<br />
And it is talking about our values that will enthuse people, recruit new members, and give people a positive reason to vote Liberal Democrat.<br />
<br />
In 2017, we lost here because Labour took that message of hope, even though it was fantasy. <br />
<br />
We cannot let that happen again. <br />
<br />
We have to tell people that if they want a better future, it’s got to be the Liberal Democrats.<br />
<br />
I know it’s going to be hard work – I’m not afraid of hard work. <br />
<br />
I <u>will</u> give Cheadle a positive Liberal reason to want to vote Liberal Democrat.<br />
<br />
I <u>will</u> deliver every street, canvass every ward, speak with every voter that I can.<br />
<br />
And I <u>will</u> give a voice to our Liberal values on a local and a national stage because Britain needs to hear a Liberal Voice.<br />
<br />
And you’re all going to need to play your part. We will all need to speak up. Because winning means making our voices heard together.<br />
<br />
And we have to start right now.<br />
<br />
Because Brexit is happening right now.<br />
<br />
No one is speaking for the majority in Cheadle who voted Remain.<br />
<br />
The two Brexit parties Tory and Labour have abandoned them. <br />
<br />
Tories are telling business to … "go away"; Jeremy Corbyn is backing the biggest job killer of all time. <br />
<br />
But our values can speak to them and speak for them.<br />
<br />
We must speak up as the only party whose values are pro-business, pro-jobs and pro-rights at work.<br />
<br />
We must be positive for Remain: we say “Exit from Brexit” because we are for a better Britain in a better Europe.<br />
<br />
<br />
All my adult life, I’ve been campaigning, talking with people for liberal causes. <br />
If you’ll have me, Cheadle will be all of my life.<br />
<br />
Friends, Liberal Democrats… let me be your voice.<br />
<br />
A local champion giving us a national voice – and with something to say.<br />
<br />
Speak up for Cheadle.<br />
<br />
Speak up for Britain.<br />
<br />
Speak for Liberal Values, the Values that made you join the Liberal Democrats. <br />
<br />
Speak up for winning this seat back. And together we will win. <br />
<br />
Please, tonight, give me your first preference.<br />
<br />
Thank you.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
In Part Two (found <a href="https://millenniumelephant.blogspot.com/2018/11/day-6515-making-case-part-deux.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>) we’ll share some of the literature we sent out.<br />
<br />
And in Part Three (link <a href="https://millenniumelephant.blogspot.com/2018/11/day-6516-making-case-richard-third.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>) we'll show you our email manifesto.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
We’re going to take a break from the frontlines for a little while – good news! Daddy can do my diary more! – but we will take stock and be back.<br />
<br />
And in the meantime, if there’s a constituency out there who want to fight a positive campaign for Liberal values, and you’re looking for a top-notch candidate… well, get in touch.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-69243820027177475292018-10-08T16:05:00.000+01:002018-10-08T16:08:13.874+01:00Day 6489: DOCTOR WHO: The Woman Who Rose to the Challenge<div class="tr_bq">Sunday:</div><br />
The name is Bond… Jane Bond!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxOPBIF7qxlIDyWlX4j-Jxtse52x41qRvqiY-05FsxHG0Bj0Rp6702ZHO2mtDagpuMH7XQUfpYNpTi0Q5uq5jYXS7im2FOwfDQaso4B3LkeFHIFw8hZsNkeJbLlvaphcstaf-CMw/s1600/gillian-anderson-jane-bond-poster-fake-ftr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxOPBIF7qxlIDyWlX4j-Jxtse52x41qRvqiY-05FsxHG0Bj0Rp6702ZHO2mtDagpuMH7XQUfpYNpTi0Q5uq5jYXS7im2FOwfDQaso4B3LkeFHIFw8hZsNkeJbLlvaphcstaf-CMw/s320/gillian-anderson-jane-bond-poster-fake-ftr.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Don’t knock it. This week Doctor Who went where no man has gone before. And about time. And she did it in “Casino Royale” style with a little more of the WooWho theme added each time she stepped closer to remembering just Who she fully was. <br />
<br />
Fearless confrontation with aliens… build a new sonic… heroic action sequence… turn their own weapons against them… never cruel, never cowardly, always there to help… and you’re really going to wear that?<br />
<br />
The Doctor’s back baby, she’s back.<br />
<br />
And so are we. Here’s Daddy’s new Who review.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJvKzksOtTdzyJNEfEDpm07XLzspMVlaNjE-ZXrO8yx_fvf8DxlGRJOOHYqRrVhrYm-mFkUZRgQRZ4hb_Nprk3tnRce9Fi1K1M-jql_WlgBb6jrJvhfwO5xxG5kfJMPGHxhm11g/s1600/s11e01+The+Woman+Who+Fell+to+Earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1169" data-original-width="827" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJvKzksOtTdzyJNEfEDpm07XLzspMVlaNjE-ZXrO8yx_fvf8DxlGRJOOHYqRrVhrYm-mFkUZRgQRZ4hb_Nprk3tnRce9Fi1K1M-jql_WlgBb6jrJvhfwO5xxG5kfJMPGHxhm11g/s320/s11e01+The+Woman+Who+Fell+to+Earth.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
<h3>“All of this is new to you, and new can be scary.”</h3><br />
The first impression was that this was very new. The cinematography was more sweeping. The pacing was more measured. The focus more on the ensemble cast – like the opening of “Rose" but paced like Broadchurch not a pop video. The music was less frenetic. The colour palette was more naturalistic, at least for the daytime work.<br />
<br />
Let’s hope that “naturalistic” means “grim up north and dark” for one episode only, and that alien planets will be different. The posters for this season have been so vibrant and colourful, and Doctor Who should look different to anything else on TV (again!).<br />
<br />
There are clearly two ways to handle the transition from Doctor to Doctor: the companions to hold your hand approach as you experience their shock, bewilderment and acceptance with them – “Power of the Daleks”, naturally, but also “Robot” or “Deep Breath”; and the all-change method, where the whole team are new and you experience the Doctor brand new for the first time all over again: “The Eleventh Hour”, “Rose” or “Spearhead from Space” or even arguably “An Unearthly Child”.<br />
<br />
But in a lot of ways this was also a step back to something hugely “trad” – not exactly 20th Century Who, but what that might have evolved into along the lines of other British drama.<br />
<br />
We’ve had ten seasons of New Who with emphasis on the “New”, both Russell Davies era of fast-cutting, high octane, high contrast based on American series like “Buffy”, and the Steven Moffat’s puzzle-box genre, in darkness and actinic blues. Right now, something old-school is the radical departure.<br />
<br />
And I’m reminded of Sir Humphrey’s advice in “Yes, Prime Minister” – if you’re going to do something really radical, Prime Minister, announce it from the most traditional wood-panelled library with leather chair and mahogany desk. Everything you can do to comfort people and tell them it’ll all be fine.<br />
<br />
Because holy crap the Doctor is a woman and half the Internet have lost their minds.<br />
<br />
<h3>“I’m looking for a doctor”</h3><br />
Which of course is absurd, because the Doctor is still the Doctor and Jodie Whittaker is brilliant.<br />
<br />
(Mind you, for a series that defines itself by change, we are talking about a fanbase that has difficulty recognising “the Welsh series”, who thought “The Deadly Assassin” was the death of the magic, that colour was maybe a step too far, or that it was all downhill once those two schoolteachers appeared…)<br />
<br />
Of course, it’s early days, and we’ve got the excuse of post-regenerative discombobulation to handwave any cuts and trims as writers and actor find the performance. But what we saw on the first night was, let’s quote the trail, glorious.<br />
<br />
We acknowledge the gender swap with “Why are you calling me madam?” but it makes no difference to the Doctor taking charge like she owns the place, same as the Doctor has always done.<br />
<br />
A defining scene was aboard the train, as Yas tries to assert her authority as a police officer (or cadet PCSO), and the Doctor effortlessly takes charge, not by bullying or physical threat but by posing the pertinent questions and showing she’s the one with the answers.<br />
<br />
Jodie’s performance gave me a bit of Tom in, say, the “that nap did me the world of good”, and some lovely squidgy-faced expressions as emotive as Sylv, but most reminded me of Matt, with the physical discoordinations and the eccentric distractedness. And the complete confidence in the dress-sense. Which is also very Colin.<br />
<br />
But played, and I think quite rightly, with an absolute confidence in her own authority, not arrogance, but certainty.<br />
<br />
And kindness.<br />
<br />
The seventh Doctor went to the funeral in “Remembrance of the Daleks” but only the thirteenth would stay.<br />
<br />
And thankfully after the “am I a good man” gloom that beset the twelfth Doctor, Jodie felt like a Doctor unburdened. Able to offer a helping hand and stand up for fair play because she’s – literally – got the spoons now to do so.<br />
<br />
<h3>“There’s echoes of who I was, and a sort of call towards who I am.”</h3><br />
Possibly unsurprising given that this is Chibnall, he’s chosen to sample some of his favourite Who moments, made a montage from some of the series’ quintessential touchstones: the Doctor’s speech about family from “Tomb of the Cybermen”; the forging of the new sonic – from spoons and a bit of alien spacepod – harking back to the third Doctor’s gadget building, if way more epic; the crane reminiscent of Sarah Jane climbing the Thal rocket in “Genesis of the Daleks”, or the Doctor and friends teleporting between adventures as in “The Ark in Space” or again from the end of “Genesis…” with added floating in space effect; the Doctor looking for “a doctor” as Peter Davison was in “Castrovalva”; possibly a nod to David Tennant in “The Christmas Invasion” as the Doctor recovers on the sofa exhaling artron energy; even the first glimpse of the new female companion is in police uniform like Amy (thank god this time she’s not really a stripper!). “Will he ever call me grandad” was a line given to Graham, but was planting a flag for the series’ roots right back to “An Unearthly Child”.<br />
But Chibnall wasn’t afraid to subvert the expectations either: two aliens arrive – one tentacle-y one in armour – the Doctor guesses two alien races at war… immediately I’m thinking Sontarrans vs Rutans… but no, he’s not afraid for the Doctor to guess wrong, and the aliens – on the same side after all – turn out to be the Jem’Hadar… no, sorry the Stenza.<br />
<br />
Well, there’s a whole new meaning to “toothy grin”, that Terrance Dicks can’t have thought of. Possibly Chibnall has been studying too many serial killers for writing “Broadchurch” (yes, I know they didn’t actually do serial killer) with their gruesome souvenir-collecting habits.<br />
<br />
The tentacle-y thing, meanwhile, was wonderfully Cthuloid. We wondered if it had assembled itself a form from train cabling, incidentally, and might it have build different, more industrial bodies later at the crane site.<br />
<br />
And as an aside, I thought it was good that Ryan was able to own his mistake in “granting access” too.<br />
<br />
<h3>The Woman Who Fell</h3><br />
So, let’s look at the supporting cast, who I thought were great.<br />
<br />
Of the non-Time Lord regulars, it’s interesting that Ryan (Tosin Cole) is clearly the audience identification figure, starting from his vlog as we do. That also makes him the voice of the author for part of the story. And it’s his action that incites the incident.<br />
<br />
I’m slightly less sold on Bradley Walsh’s Graham yet. He’s no Wilf. But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt if only for the gleeful expression as he detonates an explosion in the season’s trailer.<br />
<br />
But of the three, I’m favouring Yas as the stand-out, Mandip Gill bringing a bright intelligence and curiosity to the role. Though something that makes Yas a Moffat-style companion (something else other than she’s wearing a police uniform – she’s earned that uniform!): she knew Ryan in childhood and suddenly finds him again because of the weird stuff he shows her and she doesn’t believe!<br />
<br />
Not joining us on voyage, Karl Brian Wright, crane operator and “valuable person” was sweet in his own way, and I liked that he said thank you and left (yes, like Derek from “Survival”), though the plot demanded that – like, Alex tells me, the book of “Survival” – the monsters come after him in the end. Nice that the Doctor gave him a ticking off for booting the beaten villain off a crane (though not the full Harriet Jones destroy his life!).<br />
<br />
But my favourite was Grace, for all that – curse you the spoilers of pre-publicity – knowing she wasn’t a series regular was as good as hanging a “doomed” sign around her neck. She was funny and brave and curious and had as much character as the other three put together. Basically, she’d have been a great companion in the Evelyn Smythe tradition. Several times, I thought she was about to buy the farm, so making it to the last act was almost an achievement, but then it was “No Graham, let me go sticking the probulator into the electric death-ball up the crane”, and fate was sealed.<br />
<br />
Grace’s fall give the episode title poignant double meaning – in retrospect highlighted by Ryan from the beginning telling us that the woman we think this is about isn’t the woman who this is about.<br />
<br />
Chibnall here strikes a balance between Russell, having people challenge the Doctor afterwards on consequences, and Moffat saying if you wish hard enough there are no consequences at all, (so if you die you just can’t have been special enough); he’s learnt from writing a long and harrowing detective show (and maybe from reading some PD James) that when people die it has a massive effect on other people, rarely beneficial, sometimes catastrophic, because every person is the centre of their own story with their own web of connections and consequences.<br />
<br />
And if Grace is the point of the first episode, is this an author’s nod to the US remake of his Broadchurch called Gracepoint?<br />
<br />
<h3>Next Time</h3><br />
The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy tells us that the probability of being rescued from the vacuum of space is 2 to the power of 276,709 to 1 against, which as we all know was a telephone number in Islington in the late ’Seventies. So will someone with an Infinite Improbability Drive be along in a half a minute to rescue our heroes?<br />
<br />
And looking longer term, are we going for a “quest for the TARDIS” season story-arc (what, the show-runner might have fibbed about all separate stories?!)<br />
<br />
And the big question: Will we get a title sequence?</blockquote>Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-64219545487540888182018-09-07T00:02:00.000+01:002018-09-07T00:02:04.531+01:00Day 6459: Movement PieFriday:<br />
<br />
<br />
Once Upon a Time, the people of the United Kingdom of England and Scotland decided that their king had got too uppity and chopped his head off.<br />
<br />
And then, being very British about it, decided that what they really wanted was another king again, thank you very much.<br />
<br />
And some MPs thought that things should go back to just how they were, with the King having absolute power over everything. <br />
<br />
But some other MPs said, isn’t that what caused all the bother in the first place, and maybe unfair power is something we should do something about.<br />
<br />
And so, in the end, Liberalism was born. <br />
<br />
<br />
Mr Dr Vince “the Power” Cable, isn’t king of the Lib Dems. But he might want to be a bit more cautious about sticking his neck out…<br />
<br />
<a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/liberal-democrats-expect-centrist-alliance-with-conservative-and-labour-mps-in-next-six-months-2018-9" target="_blank">Today he is making a few suggestions</a> about how to turn the Party into a Movement. And, like the “Movement Pie” in TV’s “The Preventers” it is… “strangely unappetising”.<br />
<br />
Captain Paddy used to have what was called the “Bungee Squad”, so that when he leapt off a cliff with a new notion, they could reel him back in. This press launch of a proposal to bounce the Party into following is more Lemming Squad – take the leap and expect all the rest of us to follow.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
What is behind this is Brexit – obviously – and the cowardice of MPs in government and opposition. The Tory Rebels don’t want to split the Tory Party. The Labour moderates don’t want to split the Labour Party. Their tribalism is what is preventing Parliament coming together to stop Brexit. But that is on THEM not on US. <br />
<br />
But creating a “safe space” for disenfranchised members of OTHER PARTIES – at the further expense of our own identity – doesn’t do us any good. Or in the long run the country any good. Last time we behaved like the only adults in the room, we agreed to a coalition and were annihilated for our pains. We no longer have the political capital to do that again! And look what has happened without Liberal voices being heard in Parliament?<br />
<br />
I WANT more Liberal voices. So I WANT people to be Liberals, to support and join the Liberal Democrats.<br />
<br />
But I’m actually pretty AMBIVALENT about a “supporters scheme”.<br />
<br />
On the one fluffy foot, the more the merrier. On the other fluffy foot, this is wasting a lot of time and potentially money (especially if the Leader want’s his own Special Conference to make the changes) on PROCESS when we could be spending that time and money on telling people how GREAT Liberalism is. It looks an awful lot like the Politician’s Syllogism (“Yes, Minister”): we must do SOMETHING – THIS is something – we must do THIS! <br />
<br />
(And didn’t we say One Member One Vote would get the members more involved? Now that that’s not worked we want to get the not-even-members more involved?)<br />
<br />
We’re not in politics just to be a bigger club for people who like being in The Politics Club. Liberals are in politics to do something DIFFERENT, or we’d just have done the easy thing and joined one of the bigger clubs in the first place. <br />
<br />
And that’s why this Movement Pie is the wrong way round. It starts from the idea of being welcoming – which is GOOD – but offers nothing different once everybody gets there. Worse it’s more “None of the Above”<br />
<br />
For better or worse – usually worse – that’s why the likes of Brexit or Corbyn are brilliant recruiters: because they have something exciting that appeals to converts. <br />
<br />
Liberal Democrats need to be bolder in offering something different, something that ENTHUSES people into signing up. Liberal ideas are a beacon that inspire people, and Liberals should always welcome aboard all the new people inspired by Liberalism. <br />
<br />
If your only big idea is to say you’ll welcome as many people as you can find but only for more of the same (but not EVIL!), you may well find that not many people will be very interested in tucking into your biggest pie ever…! <br />
<br />
Because it’s a Pie with no FILLING.<br />
<br />
Oh it may be EYE-CATCHING. So is any SPECTACULAR BELLY-FLOP. But is it the right answer? Is it even answering the right question?<br />
<br />
Because the Liberal Democrats have had, let’s be honest, bit of a problem for a bit of a while now: post-joining the Coalition, no one knows what the Party stands for. <br />
<br />
To most people The Tories stood for the people with money, Labour stood for the people without and the Lib Dems USED to stand for “the None of the Above” Party. And then we were in government and we weren’t none of the above any more.<br />
<br />
To possibly too many of our MPs and members, we were the “Nice Moderate in the Middle Party”, not to profligate not too evil, just right. The kind of people who thought John Major was too exciting a shade of grey. And while, in the current political climate, you can see the attraction of being the “we’re not nutters” Party, it’s also heavily contributing to the belief that we are the “We stand in the middle, we’ll stand with anyone, not for anything” Party.<br />
<br />
Saying we will welcome all and sundry, no need to sign up to our values, and we will have any leader you like so long as you like them… if ANYTHING that is MORE OF THE SAME PROBLEM.<br />
<br />
And THIS fluffy elephant says FLUFF OFF to that!<br />
<br />
I am a LIBERAL and I want to see my Party doing LIBERAL THINGS – taking part in Europe, cleaning up our air, standing up for people who are a bit different, challenging the RIGHT-WING consensus of Labour and Tory Parties that immigrants are bad and big government is good.<br />
<br />
Liberalism started off by being about taking power away from central control and giving it away. It started with the biggest centre of power of them all, the divinely appointed King. But it also became about taking away the power of other bullies over people.<br />
<br />
We talk about Human Rights, which are to protect you from a bullying government, and about workers rights which are to protect you from a bullying employer, or about protection for minorities which are to protect you from a bullying mob.<br />
<br />
Socialists might talk about seizing power from the capitalists; conservatives might talk about protecting the status quo. But they are just arguing about who has the power. Only Liberalism wants to abolish the idea of there being someone in power.<br />
<br />
How we give power and freedom to people are big big questions: how do we – for example – free people from poverty? Lloyd George answered that with a People’s Budget and pensions; Beverage answered it with the Welfare State; today maybe a British dividend or universal basic income might be the answer.<br />
<br />
But the question is still relevant.<br />
<br />
Which means Liberalism is still relevant.<br />
<br />
Which means WE need to have an answer to prove that WE are relevant!Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-70599483647026454632017-12-23T11:16:00.000+00:002017-12-23T11:16:06.910+00:00Day 6200: The Triumph of the Dark. The Victory of the LightFriday:<br />
<br />
<br />
The shortest day. The blackest night. <br />
<br />
The Tories tearing the country apart almost as fast as they tear each other apart. The Labour Opposition slavishly not opposing. The Lib Dems going nowhere.<br />
<br />
Winter is here. <a href="https://twitter.com/richarddflowers/status/944007994743885824" target="_blank">Even your passport is turning as BLUE as a White Walker</a>.<br />
<br />
Seems like things have got pretty DARK recently, doesn’t it? <br />
<br />
So, disguising myself as a BB9-E-for-Elephant droid, I got the Daddies to smuggle me into Stockport’s new cinema, The Light – half Hipster Cornflake Bar; half Interior Star Destroyer, but they do a decent hotdog – in (first) order to watch the new STAR WARS movie.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga47i3AIqwtcmYCJKW7eHDbU3dnF1q7PfoYgZu_-7FFvAUlPR3HW0eNt6DHS0R0CwRI7o51tu1OKHOICCZ89oN683NRHTUqIv1d8icouPABq_xlJwfDfm1_-hyGf_eEVfz-NdRlg/s1600/BB9E.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="380" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga47i3AIqwtcmYCJKW7eHDbU3dnF1q7PfoYgZu_-7FFvAUlPR3HW0eNt6DHS0R0CwRI7o51tu1OKHOICCZ89oN683NRHTUqIv1d8icouPABq_xlJwfDfm1_-hyGf_eEVfz-NdRlg/s320/BB9E.png" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BB9-E</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzodyfv2bsNq6bG0X1G9nfB6q7HgQ08gyICOL4DqO3IU6HwvG2LHuGTFglwO1RGe2VQtO1RyvTAFpA0V8fhnQxk8bLTh7n-d4uKSWGKv14Z_0nEC2uU5ed3gbwRaVmeAgVwavGvw/s1600/BB9MM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzodyfv2bsNq6bG0X1G9nfB6q7HgQ08gyICOL4DqO3IU6HwvG2LHuGTFglwO1RGe2VQtO1RyvTAFpA0V8fhnQxk8bLTh7n-d4uKSWGKv14Z_0nEC2uU5ed3gbwRaVmeAgVwavGvw/s320/BB9MM.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BB9-Esque</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Which was very excellent, but about as CHEERING as Emo Kylo Ren watching a double bill of The Empire Strikes Back and The Empire Strikes Back AGAIN (it’s his favourite).<br />
<br />
<br />
Non-spoilery review:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It’s a wonderfully faithful examining of the original ideas about “The Force of Relations” that really hasn’t been attempted at all by these movies yet.<br />
<br />
At the same time, it completely upends what you thought it meant to be a Star Wars story, by deliberately throwing away the tropes and clichés of Campbell that have been the lynchpin of Lucas from the very beginning in part IV (if you see what I mean).<br />
<br />
The first great twist comes in the title crawl, pointing out that actually the First Order WON halfway through The Force Awakens, but you might have missed it what with the second half of Episode VII covering a bigger remake of A New Hope. Again. Then Luke does [THAT THING] with [THAT THING].<br />
<br />
Rey finds new ways to be feisty while learning the ways of the Force. Finn makes a new friend and learns to be braver. Captain Poe gets to double-check with BB8 about “naked Finn” before learning lessons in leadership from a lady with purple hair who is PROBABLY AUNTIE JENNIE. And Emo Kylo Ren pouts gloriously as he trembles between the Dark Side and the Light. Then HE does [THAT THING] with the [THAT THING]. Which is awesome.<br />
<br />
So, if The Force Awakes was a reverent remake of A New Hope, then The Last Jedi is very much doing the The Empire Strikes Back Thing (yes, down to the “let us do [THAT THING] together as [THAT RELATIONSHIP] and [THAT RELATIONSHIP]”) but by DOING ITS OWN THING. <br />
<br />
Also Green Milk. <br />
<br />
Also you can still apparently get doughnuts once you’ve become one with the Force, as the appearance and sugar-rush of [THAT PERSON] clearly demonstrate.<br />
<br />
On the DOWN side: the giant AT-M6 Walkers are apparently called “Gorilla Walkers” even though they are much BIGGER than the AT-ATs. (Evil metal war elephants are STILL elephants and should still be the BEST!)</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Later in the week we saw an article in the Grauniad asserting that Star Wars: The Last Jedi is “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/19/last-jedi-left-wing-jeremy-corbyn-star-wars-champion-grassroots" target="_blank">as left-wing as Jeremy Corbyn</a>”.<br />
<br />
Now it’s EASY enough to think that MAYBE our columnist has been indulging a wee bit much on the EGG NOG at the Graun’s Winterval Cheese and Wine Do.<br />
<br />
But perhaps he’s not ENTRIELY without a point as – mild spoilers for the STAR WARS – the BADDIES are the SPACE NAZIS.<br />
<br />
But it’s more than just that. And, to get a teeny bit more spoilery, actually there IS a bit of a flavour of the “99%” movement about the film, both in the side-arc where some of our working-class heroes visit the casino-planet of Cantor Bight where the ultra-rich of the galaxy gamble with their ill-gotten gains or watch the races like it’s Space Ascot, and even more so in the way the narrative explicitly rejects the “Chosen One” narratives of the Prequel Trilogy for an egalitarian “The Force is for Everyone” theme.<br />
<br />
But is that REALLY “lefty” in the Jez-We-Can Kenobi cult of personality Chosen One sort of way?<br />
<br />
A lot of “fans” I understand are a bit Emo Kylo Ren about Luke Skywalker (of all people) saying it’s time for the Jedi to end. (That’s not a spoiler: he says it in the TRAILER. And also, that is the START of his character arc in the film, so I do recommend you go see it to see where that arc is going to take him.)<br />
<br />
But, he IS right that that the Jedi Order was WRONG. Not because of the JEDI. Because of the ORDER.<br />
<br />
The Jedi had decided that they would do GOOD by RULING THE GALAXY. Which is where Mr Corbyn comes in. And which isn’t that different from what the SITH wanted.<br />
<br />
I mean, the REAL lesson of the Prequels – apart from “Don’t Let George Lucas loose with too much money and a CGI paintbox” – is beware of overthrowing your democracy for the nice kindly-seeming man who promises to solve all your problems for you by taking you back to a time that seemed simpler.<br />
<br />
Daddy Richard was asked recently: “If you want to be an MP, why don’t you just join the Labour Party?”<br />
<br />
To which the FLIPPANT answer is: “Have you SEEN the Labour Party?”<br />
<br />
But, more seriously, if you REALLY HAVE SEEN the Labour Party when they get into unchallenged power, like in places like Tower Hamlets, you see how quickly power corrupts them absolutely, but also when you see that candidates like the missing-in-action MP for Sheffield Hallam are not, in fact, unusual, but products of Labour’s SYSTEM of rewarding the people who do not THINK but JUST do what the Party tells them (and behave HOWEVER the heck they want outside those parameters), then you do not want ANYTHING to do with them.<br />
<br />
But, most seriously, this comes down to a VERY FUNDAMENTAL difference of philosophy between Socialism and Liberalism.<br />
<br />
Socialism believes that they are doing good and will do good to you WHETHER YOU WANT THEM TO OR NOT.<br />
<br />
Liberalism, informed by JS Mill and Harriet Taylor on the HARM PRINCIPLE, says that “doing someone good” is NOT good enough reason to override their freedom to choose; only stopping them harming someone else is reason enough to do that.<br />
<br />
It is why Labour feel able to promise you everything you want – and rainbows and unicorns – because they will give you what THEY decide is good, regardless of whether you want it. Or even whether it really IS good. (see also, Iraq War.)<br />
<br />
And why Liberals have to think VERY HARD before making promises like that, and by and large ASK MORE from people. We TRUST people. So we EXPECT BETTER of them.<br />
<br />
Liberals are the real rebels.<br />
<br />
Socialism, and the Labour Party, are just another kindly Senator Palpatine, ready to turn into the Evil Emperor, ready to bring peace and justice to the galaxy with Sith lightning and a red lightsabre. (see also, Iraq War.)<br />
<br />
It is, as the saying goes, a DARK TIME for the galaxy, when the Conservatories are being absolutely terrible, but the alternative is not much better and not really much alternative. And the Lib Dems still on single-digit polling.<br />
<br />
Those polling figures, I am SURE – and I mean this from TALKING to REAL people – are NOT a sign of huge love for EITHER big, establishment Party.<br />
<br />
I mean it hardly seems likely that there is a huge wave of Love for Mrs Mayhem in the country. Pity, yes. Love, cough cough, I think not, actually.<br />
<br />
And although there ARE a lot of people in love with Mr Jeremy – or at least their IDEA of Mr Jeremy, which is rather not the same thing at all – I think not 40% of the population.<br />
<br />
No, those polls to me are more a sign of FEAR. <br />
<br />
40% of people are absolutely terrified of getting a Labour government, after what the last one did to the economy; 40% of the people are absolutely horrified at the idea of the Tory government continuing after what they’ve done with austerity.<br />
<br />
And FEAR is, as we all know by now, the path to the DARK SIDE.<br />
<br />
Hope is thin on the ground. And the Liberal Democrats are the Party of hope. Of Freedom and the Future, which depend on hope.<br />
<br />
So why do we do this? Why do we carry on, when it’s at its darkest and it’s so, so hard?<br />
<br />
A brief swerve to paraphrase Dr Woo from his (soon to be her) recent adventure down a black hole: “We don’t do this for the rewards. We don’t do this because it’s fun. We do this because it’s right, it’s necessary and above all because it’s kind.”<br />
<br />
But to return to the Star Wars movie (and this is in the trailer too):<br />
<br />
“We are the spark. That will light the flame. That will return freedom to the galaxy!”<br />
<br />
The Dark Side has taken control from the very beginning, from halfway through last time even if you didn’t notice. But they cannot extinguish the last of the Light. And that is why, in the end the Light will win.<br />
<br />
May 2018 be with you.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-64158668235959549102017-11-07T10:18:00.000+00:002017-11-07T10:18:34.700+00:00Day 6154: Time to Tear Down This Institution Before It Falls DownMonday:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Parliament is crumbling, and that isn’t just a metaphor. <br />
<br />
We should all be concerned for the physical safety of the thousands of people who have to work in the enormous Westminster folly, built on a swamp, a firetrap with miles of wiring and gas pipes, which is absolutely falling to bits.<br />
<br />
But we should worry much more about the safety of our democracy.<br />
<br />
It’s the day after Bonfire Night and too many people are saying Guy Fawkes had the right idea. But it’s not the PEOPLE who want to be EXPLODED, it’s the building that traps them in a democracy time-warp.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaaFf4cgw61E-ntjYn8QFx1cHkzAA-8deuW-uQeEt28MYMyXkDTGQKNcccHm5do-LFijfsx9B03dPuuUDyKAgMLXl16ik71urfCSF0qMOYvU_gIKJpuLZ0TBbBzqTDUuBJSy9rA/s1600/Private+Eye+Cover+2017+11+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Private Eye cover headline says House of Commons to relocate over picture of Soho sex shop" border="0" data-original-height="1155" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaaFf4cgw61E-ntjYn8QFx1cHkzAA-8deuW-uQeEt28MYMyXkDTGQKNcccHm5do-LFijfsx9B03dPuuUDyKAgMLXl16ik71urfCSF0qMOYvU_gIKJpuLZ0TBbBzqTDUuBJSy9rA/s320/Private+Eye+Cover+2017+11+03.jpg" title="" width="221" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://www.private-eye.co.uk/current-issue" target="_blank">Private Eye</a>, even less subtle about the state of Parliament</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The way we run Parliament is as gothic and arcane as the building itself. <br />
<br />
Last week saw another attempt to bring the voting age down to 16 defeated by a process called “talking out”. The Deputy Speaker even refused a request to call a vote because the issue was so important but had only had an hour and twenty minutes debate. So important, then, that it will be shoved to the back of the queue and probably never talked about again, at least not for this backbench bill. <br />
<br />
This makes Parliament look ridiculous, and impotent, and deliberately opposed to the issues of young people. <br />
<br />
And it happens time and time again. This rule makes no sense to the public, and give a ridiculous amount of power to a certain group of Tory backbenchers who, because they have been gifted with safe seats and so do not need to bother going back to their constituencies on Fridays, can spend their time shooting down legislation basically on a whim. This isn’t democracy. It’s as bad and corrupt as the Rotten Boroughs.<br />
<br />
Last week the House of Lords, Nick Clegg’s efforts to reform it having been sunk by the unholy alliance of Tory backbenchers and the Labour Party, proposed measures to voluntarily reduce the size of the World’s second-largest unelected chamber. If all Parties agree – and if the Prime Minister agrees to stop stuffing the place with more Tory peers, itself unlikely given that that power of patronage is one of the few levers remaining to her in her weakened condition – then the upper chamber will diminish from over 800 peers to merely around 600 by 2029. <br />
<br />
Asked why not just introduce a mandatory retirement age, the response comes no that would be unfair because Labour Lords tend to be so very much older than Liberal Democrats and so would have an unfair outcome. Well okay, what about retiring people on the basis of attendance, or lack thereof? No, that would be unfair also, because it would seem, Liberal Democrats peers have a much better attendance record than other lords and ladies also. <br />
<br />
And what if Lord Tarquin decides he doesn’t want to give up the ermine? Well, hope the reformers, we might not come to that. <br />
<br />
Theresa May’s Government, hardly the most legitimate having lost her majority and bought a billion-pound lifeline from the DUP, has adopted a policy of ignoring Opposition Day motions, and not even turning up to vote.<br />
<br />
Last week we saw the Opposition resorting to the manoeuvre of “An Humble Address to Her Majesty” in order to force the Government to disclose the assessments of the impact of Brexit on 58 sectors of the economy.<br />
<br />
How can Parliament do its job without transparency? <br />
<br />
But what good holding a government to account if that government just ignores you? And the government gets away with holding Parliament in contempt because the people hold Parliament in contempt. <br />
<br />
What do people think when they think of Parliament? They think expenses scandal, they now think harassing younger women, and they think Prime Minister’s Questions.<br />
<br />
Week in week out we see the grotesque spectacle that is the bear pit of Prime Minister’s Questions. Never Prime Minister’s Answers, of course. Deflect, obscure, quote irrelevant statistics, pass the buck, blame the opposition. And bonus points for titillating the sketch writers. MPs always assure us that this half hour of jeering and name-calling is not typical of the House. And yet it is the bit of the House’s week that is most seen by the public and the bit that is most attended by MPs. <br />
<br />
And the chamber and building itself are physically designed, confrontational, oppositional, and too small to hold all the members, to drive PMQs – or any important debate – to be an angry shouting match.<br />
<br />
PMQs is not an aberration. It’s merely the most obvious sign that the Houses of Parliament are toxic to democracy.<br />
<br />
In a building that is by equal parts Public School, Gentleman’s (with emphasis on the “man’s”) Club and Retirement Home, where the people in charge of keeping order are called “whips”, merging the brutal with the downright kinky, is it really any surprise that bullying and harassment run rampant? <br />
<br />
There is a solution. Just get out. Not for the duration of repair, get out forever. Move Parliament out of Westminster. Out of London. <br />
<br />
And move the Treasury, the Cabinet Office, the Home Office and the Office of the Prime Minister with them. Probably the Foreign Office and the spending departments too, but at very least those.<br />
<br />
Move them to the “Northern Powerhouse” and maybe they’ll take it seriously.<br />
<br />
Make big changes to stop the new Parliament being an Old Boys’ Club.<br />
<br />
Now’t wrong with being Old unless it’s ONLY for the Old, so make it better with votes at 16. <br />
<br />
Now’t wrong with being Boys unless it’s ONLY for the Boys, so make it better with action on gender equality and harassment so it’s a place where people of all genders want to work. <br />
<br />
And now’t wrong with being… actually there’s quite a LOT wrong with it being a Club. A Club is for the special members who know the secret handshakes. Westminster is a Palace for nobs; we need a Parliament for people. <br />
<br />
Make every vote count. Elect MPs by a proportional system. Of course it should be PR. And British PR at that – multi-member seats and ranking candidates by preference, giving the power to the people.<br />
<br />
Make every lawmaker accountable to the people. Replace the Lords with 200 elected senators. Maybe, if you really really must, with 50 appointed cross-benchers – they could speak but not vote. If clashing mandates really really worry you, adopt the Cap’n Clegg solution of electing senators by thirds for fifteen-year terms.<br />
<br />
Make MPs subject to a right of recall. Fire them if they are guilty of crimes. It’s no good saying you cannot fire an MP. Right now, an MP will lose their seat if they go bankrupt. Parliament should have the power to suspend for a week, or a month or fire altogether.<br />
<br />
Make every vote of the House matter. The government ignores Opposition motions, the Opposition uses them for stunts. Neither is good for democracy. Change the rules so that all Bills before the House are taken in order and debated until they are voted on. And if there aren’t enough members in the House on Friday, carry the debate over to Monday. Ditch the ritual. The Speaker doesn’t need to wear tights. And if people want to say prayers before legislating, let them go to church or mosque or temple*.<br />
<br />
(*other places also available.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But more than anything make it a modern building with proper sized offices and proper IT and proper air-conditioning and enough loos for everyone. <br />
<br />
And don’t forget to make room for an HR department.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-31149330832097248462017-09-08T13:52:00.000+01:002017-09-08T13:52:09.488+01:00Day 6095: British Democracy is a ShamblesFriday:<br />
<br />
<br />
People think voting systems and constitutions are “boring”. <br />
<br />
But it’s our unfair and antique voting system that has got us where we’ve got.<br />
<br />
<br />
It goes back a long long loooog way. <br />
<br />
Maybe to the 2015 election that took Liberal voices out of our politics. <br />
<br />
Or to the Coalition years where Hard Labour and Conservatory combined to scupper reform of voting and Lords. <br />
<br />
Or to the Coalition agreement when people lost their faith in the Liberal Democrats. <br />
<br />
Or to Lord Blairimort. <br />
<br />
Or even to the SDP who tried to break the mould but got broken by the voting system instead.<br />
<br />
But we’ve got to start somewhere, so let’s start with that Referendum…<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfh9E2OQPCstXyaGHaRyXQGOhIL7YFRjHRzMF0HyE4NGW3bQMsGjeZxteV1vFfFWuvzNfgYjxBWBlJtjNYMHiv2A78hbQwirQ91gWuhx3ISstN7ymng1YU4vsRC5MFiGX9jgWx8A/s1600/The_Shambles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfh9E2OQPCstXyaGHaRyXQGOhIL7YFRjHRzMF0HyE4NGW3bQMsGjeZxteV1vFfFWuvzNfgYjxBWBlJtjNYMHiv2A78hbQwirQ91gWuhx3ISstN7ymng1YU4vsRC5MFiGX9jgWx8A/s400/The_Shambles.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Shambles, yesterday</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
[Previously published, yes, I have tried my fluffy foot at an Twitter thread: <span style="background-color: #e6ecf0; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">https://twitter.com/millenniumdome/status/906127927292690433]</span><br />
<br />
The Prime Monster, Mr Balloon, calls referendum on a whim, putting his personal interests and Tory Party internal differences ahead of the country.<br />
<br />
Parliament fails to set proper rules on the assurance that it’s “only advisory”.<br />
<br />
Shocking bias from media controlled by half-a-dozen billionaire’s who don’t even live in Britain.<br />
<br />
Apart from the nepotist-ocracy of the Grauniad of course (how DID Polly “I have no qualifications apart from my relatives and defender of Tory slime” Toynbee get her job?).<br />
<br />
Vote Leave campaign outright lies – and they admit it – and get away with it.<br />
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/vote-leave-director-admits-won-lied-public/08/02/<br />
<br />
Mr Balloon resigns in a huff. New Prime Monster, Mrs Mayhem, anointed without an election as all other candidates shoot one another (or themselves!) in the back.<br />
<br />
Unelected clique of hard-right Brexiteers seize control.<br />
<br />
Wafer thin majority for leave is translated into “people voted for…” insert “hardest possible Brexit”, or “stopping immigration” or “an end to rule of law” as appropriate.<br />
<br />
Any question raised over Brexit shouted down as “against the will of the people”.<br />
<br />
Government tries to snatch control of Article 50 process – has to be told by Supreme Court that Parliament must have a say.<br />
<br />
Opposition MPs (no, not including ours) give PM exactly what she wants anyway.<br />
<br />
Prime Monster Mayhem repeatedly promises not to call a general election. Calls a general election anyway on a whim.<br />
<br />
Opposition MPs (yes, including ours this time) give PM exactly what she wants anyway.<br />
<br />
Shocking bias from media controlled by half-a-dozen billionaire’s who don’t even live in Britain.<br />
<br />
Apart from the nepotist-ocracy of the Grauniad of course (how DID Owen “former intern for John McDonald and what’s my lifelong opinion this week?” Jones get his job?).<br />
<br />
In spite of this, Prime Monster loses election – but carries on squatting in Downing Street.<br />
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/10/the-snap-theresa-may-still-prime-minister-but-for-how-long<br />
<br />
Apparently intending to lead the Conservatories to their next election defeat too<br />
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-41100661/theresa-may-to-lead-conservatives-into-next-general-election<br />
<br />
Government avoids scrutiny by not appointing standing committees.<br />
<br />
As most important negotiation in our post-War history begin… Parliament goes on holiday for two months, leaving David Davis with no scrutiny at all.<br />
<br />
Shocking bias from media leads to unaccountable misprint of “homophobic misogynist expelled from Tory Party” rendered as “touted as Tory leader”.<br />
<br />
Government returns to introduce Bill to repeal European Communities Act 1974. Uses it to make grab for unprecedented unaccountable power.<br />
<br />
Parliament’s own constitution committee says of the Withdrawal Bill that it “raises a series of profound, wide-ranging and inter-locking constitutional concerns”.<br />
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/constitution-committee/news-parliament-2017/eu-withdrawal-bill-interim-report/<br />
<br />
Worst of all, clause one of the Bill gives power to make “exit day” ““such day as a Minister of the Crown may by regulations appoint.” <br />
https://waitingfortax.com/2017/08/31/what-happens-if-the-talks-break-down/<br />
<br />
Effectively cutting Parliament out of scrutiny if David “Brexit Bulldog” Davies fails and walks away from negotiations. <br />
<br />
Or if Liam “disgraced former Defence Secretary” Fox gets bored of waiting for having a real job. <br />
<br />
Or if Bojo “Punishment Beatings” Johnson is short of a publicity stunt one afternoon.<br />
<br />
Government tries to continue avoiding scrutiny by still not appointing standing committees – has to be told to “stop faffing about” by the Speaker of the House.<br />
https://goo.gl/ahrpqP<br />
<br />
Government announces that – by a simple motion – “the government will have a majority on standing committees”.<br />
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-rigging-parliament-committee-of-selection-standing-committees_uk_59b1a514e4b0dfaafcf68a04?utm_hp_ref=uk&utm_hp_ref=uk&-ukThe%20Waugh%20Zone%20080917<br />
<br />
Open Democracy reports that Tory MPs have diverted tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayer-funded “expenses” to the Hard Brexit “Party-within-a-Party” European Research Group.<br />
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/brexitinc/james-cusick-adam-ramsay-crina-boros/revealed-tory-mps-using-taxpayers-cash-to-fund-sec<br />
<br />
People think voting systems and constitutions are “boring”.<br />
<br />
Our “boring” systems and constitution allow Tories (and Labour) to get away with stealing your democracy.<br />
<br />
Democracy in the UK is a shambles.<br />
<br />
Post script: <br />
Shambles: historically – butchery. Same as the French word MASSACRE.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnXNlVrWBufERvlgSGLZV2-fazJSXdJ5bq1iWjAGZVG-Yv-S0eCxWm1il41iqbXTj4lsdytNXaQfBaidoTg7ECpipInT1IqTtiVSHDrDY5g6xrrjgEIsLX3YPefKR1HBBOBo3RQ/s1600/Doctor_Who_The_Massacre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="300" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnXNlVrWBufERvlgSGLZV2-fazJSXdJ5bq1iWjAGZVG-Yv-S0eCxWm1il41iqbXTj4lsdytNXaQfBaidoTg7ECpipInT1IqTtiVSHDrDY5g6xrrjgEIsLX3YPefKR1HBBOBo3RQ/s400/Doctor_Who_The_Massacre.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Massacre, yesterday</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-29031345189646327922017-08-02T17:22:00.000+01:002017-08-02T17:22:21.055+01:00Day 6058: Brexit - Optimism Bias for the WinWednesday<br />
<br />
As a fluffy elephant, I’ve noticed you monkeys are in the habit of being bang-up sure things are going to turn out well. Even when they’re not.<br />
<br />
It’s called OPTIMISM BIAS.<br />
<br />
It CAN be useful. Having evolved the ability to imagine the FUTURE, you’d all be plunged into clinical depression without it. <br />
<br />
(And I’m not making this up: people with low optimism bias tend to suffer with depression.)<br />
<br />
But it also leads to assuming that WARNING SIGNS don’t apply to you: <br />
<br />
Government Health Warning – I won’t get cancer. <br />
Speed limits – I’m a safe driver!<br />
Brexit cliff-edge ahead – Project Fear!!!!<br />
<br />
<br />
So, a year into this Brexit shambles, and with the government making an art form of “masterly inactivity”, leaving things till WAY after the last minute, some Quitlings* are taking “nothing is happening” as a SIGN that really – really! – things are working out OK after all. <br />
<br />
(*© <span class="username u-dir" dir="ltr" style="background: rgb(230 , 236 , 240); color: #657786; direction: ltr; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a class="ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav" href="https://twitter.com/HickeyWriter" style="background: rgb(230, 236, 240); color: #657786; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none !important;">@<span class="u-linkComplex-target" style="font-weight: normal;">HickeyWriter</span></a></span>)<br />
<br />
This, as they say, is FINE.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4VezUKkdVkc7VzCjz_hFRJTxYmEv6qgim9KHHHQkL7zGxPDGwUHDXQquVytHclr8uoPbtNu933xTLYf2kDt_h5Yju-GZKCBpGGoFSSmjB2ZkqIiNdzmOgxb7CH-Gll7Vr0jbJA/s1600/This+Is+Fine.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="580" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4VezUKkdVkc7VzCjz_hFRJTxYmEv6qgim9KHHHQkL7zGxPDGwUHDXQquVytHclr8uoPbtNu933xTLYf2kDt_h5Yju-GZKCBpGGoFSSmjB2ZkqIiNdzmOgxb7CH-Gll7Vr0jbJA/s400/This+Is+Fine.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>originally from K.C. Green’s Gunshow comic #648</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The leading lights (in the moth to flame sense) of the Vote Leave campaign are of necessity becoming adept at PIVOTING their arguments.<br />
<br />
“a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way” (farrage) was swiftly transformed into “the will of the people”.<br />
<br />
“No one is talking about leaving the Single Market” (hannan) has become “Everyone knew we would leave the Single Market”.<br />
<br />
And now “We will be better off” is being rebranded as “We all knew there would be a period of adjustment” with a view to ending up at “Everyone accepted there was a price worth paying” (especially since we expect our kids to be paying it long after we’re gone).<br />
<br />
This is particularly evident with <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-latest-leave-voters-uk-economy-damage-yougov-older-pensioners-losing-jobs-income-taxes-a7870871.html" target="_blank">this YouGov polling in the Indepretendent</a><br />
<br />
<b>“71 per cent of over-65s would accept a big economic hit – and half are willing for family members to lose their jobs”</b><br />
<br />
That is – notice – RETIRED Quitlings saying they “accept” one of their family who is still working to PAY FOR THEIR BADWORD can lose their job to satisfy their ideological fix.<br />
<br />
Nice.<br />
<br />
But in spite of being thrown under the bus by Generation Baby Boom(and Bust)er, we still see responses of DENIAL from people who are just too OPTIMISTIC to see the warning signs. <br />
<br />
Millie says: “So far there has not been any damage, quite the opposite.”<br />
<br />
Ross adds: “Who says the economy will be ruined?? I'm not seeing a problem.”<br />
<br />
It’s the sort of thing that might provoke an EPIC RANT… oh look, here’s Daddy Richard:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<br />
No damage? Not noticed anything?<br />
<br />
Do you notice your electricity price?<br />
<br />
British Gas are putting up prices by 12%. You can link that directly to the fall in the £, because energy is priced in $ so our costs have shot up.<br />
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40787555<br />
<br />
Do you notice your food?<br />
<br />
Those “great” trade deals on the table – well, it appears accepting American food hygiene standards means washing chicken in bleach because they don’t have the animal welfare standards that Europe does, and just try to kill all the bugs at the end of the process.<br />
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4742712/Why-chickens-washed-chlorine.html<br />
<br />
Do you notice your holidays?<br />
<br />
People going on holiday seeing four hour delays to enter Europe. That’s just a taster for what happens when we close our borders. That “taking back control” goes both ways.<br />
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4748182/EU-border-checks-leave-UK-tourists-queuing-FOUR-hours.html<br />
<br />
Do you notice the big picture?<br />
<br />
Growth is down to a puny 0.3% - we’ve gone from the strongest economy in Europe to the weakest. So much for Europe “holding Britain back”.<br />
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40726833<br />
<br />
Thousands maybe tens of thousands of jobs going from the city to Paris and Frankfurt. Oh they’re only bankers. But highly paid bankers who contribute a lot in taxes to paying for our services.<br />
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/negotiations-not-banks-leaving-london/<br />
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-latest-jobs-jp-morgan-us-bank-moving-staff-eu-a7836366.html<br />
<br />
The Chancellor has a £25 billion hole in his budget. (says independent IFS report) That’s bigger than £350 million a week… no sign of that for the NHS yet either by the way.<br />
http://news.sky.com/story/hammond-facing-25bn-budget-black-hole-ifs-study-10649553<br />
<br />
Do you notice the NHS is in crisis?<br />
<br />
40,000 shortfall in numbers of nurses because – surprise – the nurses from Europe took those people saying “go home” seriously.<br />
http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/12/nhs-facing-major-crisis-after-brexit-leaves-hospitals-40000-nurses-short-6704236/<br />
<br />
Do you notice that no one knows how to solve the problem of the border with Ireland?<br />
<br />
Because it’s impossible. You simply cannot have a hard border with the EU and soft border with the Republic at the same time because the Iris border IS the EU border. <br />
https://www.irishcentral.com/homepage/brexit-border-battle-about-to-change-irish-british-relationship-forever<br />
<br />
Expecting the Irish to implement expensive and dubious electronic tracking to make it easy for us to leave, or worse telling the Irish that we will put British customs points in their ports (as though there hasn’t been 300+ years of conflict over exactly that sort of behaviour) is not approaching a solution. It’s making things worse.<br />
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40750999<br />
<br />
Speaking as someone who was in Manchester when the Arndale was blown up AND in Canary Wharf the day THAT was blown up, I’d really like us not to mess up the peace process.<br />
<br />
Did you notice that our power and influence in the world has evaporated?<br />
<br />
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/uk-defeated-in-united-nations-vote-on-ownership-of-chagos-islands-a3571901.html<br />
We lost that vote because the EU members who we have just rebuffed all abstained.<br />
<br />
Did you notice Cornwall got shafted?<br />
<br />
Don’t count on those promises that subsidies would be replaced like-for-like. Leave-voting Cornwall was getting £60 million in EU regional development fund money. They asked the government to guarantee it would be replaced. The government just flat refused to say that they’d be making sure regions didn’t lose out when we leave Europe. <br />
<br />
George Osbourne was promising money to Cornwall in his last budget saying “when the South West votes blue, their voice is heard”. Maybe not so much these days.<br />
<br />
And if they’ll do that to Cornwall…<br />
<br />
Did you notice that the government just FORGOT Gibraltar?<br />
<br />
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4370054/Spain-handed-right-BLOCK-Gibraltar-Brexit-deal.html<br />
<br />
<br />
And last, do you notice anyone, anyone at all taking charge?<br />
<br />
http://news.sky.com/story/cabinet-rift-over-free-movement-deal-post-brexit-10967163<br />
<br />
We’ve wasted a year, had a pointless general election that left the country even more confused and divided. And the Prime Minister’s gone on a walking holiday – or taken a hike – while the Cabinet are all fighting each other. <br />
<br />
This is a total disaster. An utter dog’s breakfast of a Brexit.<br />
<br />
REALLY what is your excuse for not noticing?<br />
<br /></blockquote>
<br />
The answer to Daddy’s question is these people are EMOTIONALLY invested in their vote. <br />
<br />
FACTS that say this was a BAD CHOICE are personally HURTFUL. <br />
<br />
Nearly HALF of Leave voters say that DO NOT WANT to pay a price for leaving.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYvIAlWz8SkVISE2tEsLJAyyxlZKQFIpLUQKCEQYs6dH3oWpDoy84-th62mzOC2nYan8OpMoquIxNwSx3KbDPPiPQ1l2-roKUmAs51aT7K6dqYXVHZ7rWBmGUH37HwNgoZfgWLRw/s1600/Sacrifice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYvIAlWz8SkVISE2tEsLJAyyxlZKQFIpLUQKCEQYs6dH3oWpDoy84-th62mzOC2nYan8OpMoquIxNwSx3KbDPPiPQ1l2-roKUmAs51aT7K6dqYXVHZ7rWBmGUH37HwNgoZfgWLRw/s400/Sacrifice.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Offer them something for nothing; give them nothing for something</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The only way to square that circle is to avoid the evidence altogether.<br />
<br />
So they protect themselves from getting hurt by NOT NOTICING.<br />
<br />
It’s an EXPLANATION. But not an EXCUSE.<br />
<br />
Democracy – REAL Democracy – requires active and, more importantly, INFORMED participation.<br />
<br />
But people don't WANT to be informed. As we've seen, people don't LIKE facts when the facts are painful. So they get NEW facts that agree with their decisions. That's why most people are so widlly MISinformed about Europe and the EU.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5lnfRfgwLxYagfMjg7WqS5i0IuM__IdqbPWS4N3ZWAq4-w-k4MlLvAsMK9L7Dn2k1rls68lETRlIAueMFBsmvYDpJTWrtxg2CxRsdm5y1SQuIjsyz8VZoSwm8jPMeeVo7O_yEQ/s1600/Misinformed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="600" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5lnfRfgwLxYagfMjg7WqS5i0IuM__IdqbPWS4N3ZWAq4-w-k4MlLvAsMK9L7Dn2k1rls68lETRlIAueMFBsmvYDpJTWrtxg2CxRsdm5y1SQuIjsyz8VZoSwm8jPMeeVo7O_yEQ/s400/Misinformed.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><i>You would think journalism as a profession would seek to correct this, wouldn't you</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
That's why the referendum we were given was a SHAM, bodged together as a fix-all for the Conservatory Party by Mr Balloon, and now taken as an excuse to escalate her personal grudge against the European Court of Justice by Mrs Mayhem.<br />
<br />
If we are going to fix this – and MY optimism bias says we CAN fix this – we are going to need to turn our arguments around, show people that the BETTER Way is now clearly to make up with Europe, retake our place IN the community with our FRIENDS.<br />
<br />
We need to win the OPTIMISM and then we will WIN.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-83728915964944863982017-04-28T12:08:00.001+01:002017-04-28T12:08:48.043+01:00Day 5961: The Tories: Wrong. Unstable. No Leadership.Thursday:<br />
<br />
<br />
Theresa Mayhem says that she needs to win a General Election to be a “strong leader”. <br />
<br />
Well, if she’s not strong enough to cope with a Parliament that will only back her 522 to 13, then she’s really pretty WEAK indeed.<br />
<br />
She wants you to believe that she thinks the polls are wrong and that Hard Labour have a chance of winning. Which is about as credible as a promise written on the side of a bus.<br />
<br />
This election ISN’T about picking who’s the Prime Monster. It’s about picking a PARLIAMENT that is able to HOLD HER TO ACCOUNT.<br />
<br />
After five years when the Coalition was starting to put Britain back on the right path, when inequality actually fell, and jobs and wages were coming back, we have had a Tory Government that has been all U-Turns, broken promises and backstabbing.<br />
<br />
How is THAT “stability”?<br />
<br />
And there was a lot of fuss over a poll saying that now people thought that the referendum got the answer wrong by 44% to 42% - missing the BIG picture that the country remains MASSIVELY SPLIT, right down the middle. And that Mrs Mayhem and the extreme Brexiteers are MAKING IT WORSE.<br />
<br />
How is THAT “leadership”?<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWqsGQaD_NfdkqwwXMmm_qqRh8T6pYydMuGiTlmA5CvLjbc6zNLmdeB_bciMMNs2qB49i5ZTTlhJHSH2bDcA5C0KMqsOFz1Ixicr0FrpSgqE80s68Zj_G7nuKXr1tpxsUsZdCsg/s1600/coalition+of+chaos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWqsGQaD_NfdkqwwXMmm_qqRh8T6pYydMuGiTlmA5CvLjbc6zNLmdeB_bciMMNs2qB49i5ZTTlhJHSH2bDcA5C0KMqsOFz1Ixicr0FrpSgqE80s68Zj_G7nuKXr1tpxsUsZdCsg/s400/coalition+of+chaos.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Do you want to give a BLANK CHEQUE to the Tories?<br />
<br />
I mean it’s a good job Mrs Mayhem doesn’t have a record of saying one thing and then doing the other.<br />
<br />
Except for her U-Turn on not holding a General Election before 2020<br />
Except for her U-Turn on remaining in Europe<br />
Except for her U-Turn on not raising the National Insurance Tax<br />
Except for her U-Turn on raising the National Insurance Tax<br />
Except for the Tory U-Turn on PIP payments for the disabled<br />
Except for the Tory U-Turn on working tax credits<br />
Except now she wants to break the triple lock on pensions<br />
<br />
A STRONG leader needs a STRONG Parliament to make sure that the KEEP THEIR STRONG PROMISES.<br />
<br />
Mrs Mayhem has caved in, again and again, to the wishes of her Extreme Right-wing backbenches, and to the whims of a handful of billionaire tax-exiles who control – unaccountably – the right-wing newspapers.<br />
<br />
And what about that DEAL with the European Union?<br />
<br />
How is Mrs Mayhem going to cope when negotiating with the European leaders, who are a bit less likely to roll over than Uncle “strong message here” Jezza and the supine Labour Party? <br />
<br />
So far, in fact, it’s Mrs Mayhem who has caved in on every issue she’s tried to force: settling the rights of British Citizens in Europe before trigging article 50 (non); parallel trade negotiations (nein); Gibraltar (viva España). This does not bode well for her “deal making”. <br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Bojo “Punishment Beatings” Johnson has been made the Old English labradoodle of President Trump: told to “sit and stay” when he was supposed to be off to Moscow; admitting that it would be “very hard not to join in” if the US wanted to fire off another volley of high-explosives into the Syrian war zone. And for all the hand-holding and the fawning Gove, Britain still got bumped to the back of the queue – sorry “line” – for the Americans to make a trade deal with the EU first.<br />
<br />
“Take Back Control” turns out to mean “Do what Donald says (and like it)”.<br />
<br />
If Parliament’s “meaningful vote” on the final deal is going to be, well, meaningful, it needs a Parliament that is strong and unafraid to ask questions, to speak up for ALL the different views, Remain and Leave, and the different ideas and then try and bring us back together.<br />
<br />
That’s why you need to vote for the LIBERAL DEMOCRATS.<br />
<br />
Liberal Democrats believe in a Parliament that represents ALL opinions – even ones we don’t agree with. Liberal Democrats believe in a democracy that means ALL voices can be heard – not silencing people we don’t agree with, not “Crushing” the Opposition. And one that trusts the people, not taking them for granted. <br />
<br />
Weak leaders are afraid of questions.<br />
Weak leaders are afraid of TV debates.<br />
Weak leaders are afraid of Parliament.<br />
<br />
Don’t give in to weakness. Don’t give Mrs Mayhem a blank cheque. Vote for a Parliament that is STRONG and hold the Tories to account for their promises.<br />
<br />
If you want DEMOCRACY to MEAN SOMETHING: support the LIBERAL DEMOCRATS.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-58503402370589871102017-04-03T19:38:00.000+01:002017-04-03T19:38:06.232+01:00Day 5932: The Firebird and the DragonB-Day:<br />
<br />
So it has happened. Theresa May has sent the “dear John” to Donald Tusk (good elephant name, just sayin’) to let him know we are all shooting ourselves in all of our flappy feet by triggering Article 50. <br />
<br />
Remember, if we all get BEHIND the Prime Monster, then when SHE goes over the cliff… we DON’T have to follow!<br />
<br />
The Brex Maniacs tell us to be optimistic. So I’ll tell you what I am optimistic about: we CAN turn this around. We can FIX this. WE CAN WIN.<br />
<br />
Let me put it in a story:<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Never upon a time… the Island of Briton was without magic or stories. And the people were sad and angry.<br />
<br />
So the King and the Queen put up a proclamation and asked: who among the free citizens will go to faraway lands to return with a magical animal to bring stories to the people.<br />
<br />
From the people who stepped forward, the King chose a rich country squire, who spoke with clever words how he knew better than anyone what the people needed. But the Queen picked a stable lass who came from the city with a lot of pluck and a cheeky wink.<br />
<br />
So each went out on a boat.<br />
<br />
The rich man, who was very old and very wise, sailed off to the lands of iron and gold and returned with a Dragon. And the maid who was younger but some would say wiser, set her boat towards the sun and returned with a golden Firebird.<br />
<br />
And the King said to the Queen, the Dragon is very large, and very cunning and very very strong: it can protect us from all of our enemies and they will fear and respect us. What good is your songbird, then?<br />
<br />
And the Queen said to the King: what use is a land ravaged by your Dragon. My Firebird will sing and give people hope.<br />
<br />
And the Dragon was just as large and just as cunning and even stronger than the King had said, but it was also envious, and avaricious, and gluttonous, and full of angry fire. And it ravaged the land from end to end, eating many of the people and stealing all of their money, before crawling into a deep cave and coiling up to sleep on its huge hoard of stolen gold in the dark heart of its dungeon lair.<br />
<br />
And the people heard phoenix song and had hope.<br />
<br />
The Dragon woke up angry and afraid. It didn’t like this at all. And it flew out of its cave in a fury to find the Firebird and burn it to ashes.<br />
<br />
But from the ashes, the Firebird was reborn to sing its song again.<br />
<br />
This made the Dragon even more afraid and even more angry and it came and burned the Phoenix to ashes again. And stomped on the ashes for good measure.<br />
<br />
But you cannot kill a song like that. And the Firebird was reborn to sing once again.<br />
<br />
Time after time the Dragon burned the Firebird. And time after time, the Firebird came back. Hope born again and again, in spite of every defeat.<br />
<br />
And seeing all this, the people started to sing the Phoenix song. Just a few at first. But more and more. And this made the Dragon so frightened that it went away and hid.<br />
<br />
And the people were able to live in hope and happiness, at least for a while, until enough of them might give in to greed, or fear, or envy and the Dragon might come back.<br />
<br />
Because Dragons live forever. But hope never dies.<br />
<br />
We are the Firebird, the Bird of Freedom; however much they burn us, we keep coming back. And we can beat the Dragon of fear and anger. With hope.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
As a fluffy elephant, inheritor of the WOOLLY MAMMOTHS, I might just have a better claim to be a NATIVE Briton that any of you monkey-people who wandered here over the Doggerland in the last Ice Age or the many peoples, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Normans, and all the rest who migrated here since.<br />
<br />
I am English, and like most English I am a bit of a MONGREL. I’ve been a Londoner, an East-Ender; my Daddies are from Stockport; one is half-Scottish half-American; the other is of Yorkshire stock; we are from ALL OVER.<br />
<br />
But Europe is my home and my family, a family that has spent my entire life – and my DADDIES’ entire lives (which is AGES!) – working for peace and prosperity, through art and science, through learning and living together as much as through trade. We make each other so much better off in so many more ways than just money. We show the World that there is another way, a better way, than wars and dictators.<br />
<br />
The Leave campaign – never fact based – placed its great emotional appeal on two weapons: the grass is always greener and nostalgia for a better past. <br />
<br />
Well BOTH OF THOSE ARE ON OUR SIDE NOW.<br />
<br />
I want people to remember the great days, the glory days when stopped being the SICK MAN of Europe and started to get better off, when we could AFFORD an NHS that treated people on time, when we could HALVE child poverty, when we could SAVE Bosnia AND protect the Falklands, when we could confidently INTRODUCE Human Rights and Freedom of Information, when we could feel we were good. <br />
<br />
I want to them to remember ECONOMIC MIRACLES and COOL BRITANIA and remember that they happened WHEN WE WERE IN THE EU.<br />
<br />
But this doesn’t need to be just nostalgia.<br />
<br />
Europe will evolve without us, they have to, and hopefully they will become both a stronger economy and a fairer democracy. We have forfeited our right to be part of leading that change. But that does not mean we cannot continue to engage, to listen to what Europe wants, learn from them, help if we are able, if we are asked. Europe will be the green and pleasant land 21 miles away across the Channel. <br />
<br />
The Tories have such a NARROW and PETTY vision of Britain, not a Great Britain but a GREY Britain, a cold offshore tax haven, under the choke of the Dragon. <br />
<br />
But we can be BETTER THAN THAT. We WILL be better than that.<br />
<br />
Tell the story of a Britain that listens to HOPE, not to FEARS, and takes our place again among the family of nations. The story of a people who are look bravely outward to new challenges, not inward to past failures. The story of how we can become again that Great Nation that leads in Europe, no need to cower away. <br />
<br />
Tell them we ARE the Firebird. And we can SING.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-17913407178894736062017-03-08T19:00:00.002+00:002017-03-08T19:02:30.982+00:00Day 5909: Mr John Humphrys in Muddy WatersMonday:<br />
<br />
<br />
Today’s lesson: when @BBCR4Feedback call an hour early and say they can call back in an hour… they aren’t going to call back.<br />
<br />
How did we get to there? Well, the usual start to the week – listening to Daddy Richard shout at the radio – was interrupted by a moment of shocked silence when, <a href="https://twitter.com/richarddflowers/status/838656080662102016" target="_blank">as he tweeted</a>, THIS happened:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Jaw dropping moment as John Humphreys asks: doesn't it muddy the waters if we call far right terrorist murder of Jo Cox "terrorism" #r4today”</blockquote>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvhtNtFhf0oP7Iluy10yfGNALq4M-wbx5Qx0TCEw2jTIpXUX8ONWWhXokRzjZAdpRpxoPRs_4GuL7cQCPw2wrKc8zzC9Hsdbm1xTJO4gvFSBD5LVdoxbadTkX_xcK01ELrvfgqxg/s1600/PondWater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvhtNtFhf0oP7Iluy10yfGNALq4M-wbx5Qx0TCEw2jTIpXUX8ONWWhXokRzjZAdpRpxoPRs_4GuL7cQCPw2wrKc8zzC9Hsdbm1xTJO4gvFSBD5LVdoxbadTkX_xcK01ELrvfgqxg/s400/PondWater.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Life in the Today Programme goldfish bowl...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
That generated… a fair number of retweets and replies, one of which said we should make it a proper complaint to the BBC. So that’s what we did, and posted it up on the Facebook too:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“After a jawdropping moment on this morning's Today programme, I have submitted this complaint to the BBC, via http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/<br />
<br />
During an interview with Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, in charge of Counter Terrorism, Mr Rowley warned the public should not forget the terrorist threat from right-wing extremists, and cited the murder of MP Jo Cox.<br />
John Humphreys responded by asking "didn't that muddy the waters" and suggesting that the murderer Thomas Mair was mentally ill.<br />
The judge, sentencing Thomas Mair, said: "There is no doubt this murder was done for the purpose of advancing a political, racial and ideological cause namely that of violent white supremacism and exclusive nationalism most associated with Nazism and its modern forms."<br />
Dismissing genuine terrorism as actions of "lone mentally ill person" is factually wrong and dangerous to public safety. And the implication that terrorism is something done only be foreigners / non-white people / Muslims is dangerously close to accepting the premise of the racists that Thomas Mair represents.<br />
If the police are describing the Jo Cox murder as terrorism, the BBC should not be questioning that, but asking itself serious questions about the climate of right-wing hate that has been allowed foment in the UK, for which the BBC by airing or repeating (as here) the views of these people bears some responsibility.</blockquote>
<br />
And THAT generated another lot of traffic and clearly a LOT of other people were quite cross too, because that was when the Radio FEEDBACK programme got in touch and asked if they could talk about that Tweet and the reaction to what Mr Humphrys said. <br />
<br />
So they said that they would call between 10am and 1pm, Wednesday. Actually they called at 9.15, just as we were getting on the Jubilee line. <br />
<br />
So, IF this ever happens to you, do not let them say: “it’s fine we will call you back in an hour”. No! You say “I WILL TALK TO YOU NOW”!<br />
<br />
Anyway, here is what we WOULD have said:<br />
<br />
Why was I so taken about by John Humphrys suggestion that calling the murder of MP Jo Cox terrorism was “muddying the waters”?<br />
<br />
<br />
1. <br />
<b>The Facts</b> – the police, the crown prosecution service, the sentencing judge all agreed that this was a politically motivated terrorist murder. These are not liberal snowflakes, they are serious people. Jo Cox’s killer, Thomas Mair, was psychiatrically examined and found to be in his own mind and fit to stand trial for his actions. <br />
<br />
This is the BBC’s own report of the sentencing judge’s remarks: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38076755">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38076755</a> - note the emphasis on the high degree of planning and premeditation, as well as the political motivation. This was not the random act of a “madman”.<br />
<br />
The right wing press – who have an agenda – might question this. But I expect very senior BBC journalists to know the facts and not repeat propaganda.<br />
<br />
2. <br />
<b>The Context</b> – the interview was with Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley asking the public to contact the police with information if they are worried or suspicious about their neighbours. And as a Liberal, I’m not 100% happy with his “be afraid and inform on your neighbours” agenda here. So actually, I was giving him some credit when he was reminding people that there is far right political terrorism to watch out for as well. When Mr Humphrys interrupted. But if anything is going to “muddy the waters” it is the suggestion from the interviewer that some terrorism isn’t as worth while contacting the police about because it is a fascist rather than ISIS who is threatening people’s lives. <br />
<br />
And I think you could tell that the Assistant Commissioner was somewhat taken aback by this sudden derailing of the interview, too.<br />
<br />
3. <br />
<b>The Narrative</b> – because it’s all very familiar to hear white terrorists described as “a lone wolf” or “mentally ill”. These excuses get repeated whenever a white person commits an atrocity like this. Anders Breivek who killed all those children in Sweden; Timothy McVeigh the Oklahoma bomber; Dylann Roof, the man who shot nine black churchgoers at a service in Charleston Carolina; the list goes on, back to the Unabomber and earlier. <br />
<br />
The message is “white people don’t commit terrorism; only brown people do terrorism”. <br />
<br />
And it’s wrong. <br />
<br />
We don’t hear people challenging the idea that the murder of Lee Rigby was terrorism. We don’t hear people suggesting that the shoe bomber Richard Reid was mentally ill. And it’s not like we have no experience of white sectarian terrorism in this country. <br />
<br />
The BBC has a responsibility not to perpetuate this myth, which leads to…<br />
<br />
4. <br />
<b>The hate crimes</b> – we’ve seen a surge in attacks against women and minorities, particularly people who are immigrants or even just perceived as immigrants, fuelled by the xenophobic language of the Leave campaign and UKIP and now even the more right-wing elements of the government. The murder of Jo Cox happened at the height of the most horribly divisive and racially charged referendum campaign and on very the day Nigel Farage was unveiling his Nazi-imagery-evoking “Breaking Point” poster. <br />
<br />
And people want to deny there is a connection.<br />
<br />
The right wing, the nationalists, want people to think that only foreigners can be terrorists. They want people to be afraid. But they don’t want it to come back on them. And they won’t take responsibility. They want to deny that there are extremist views on their side, and that among those extremists are some people who use violence and murder for their political ends. <br />
<br />
I do not expect senior BBC journalists to be giving support to these people.<br />
<br />
5. <br />
<b>The excuse</b> – the excuse given in reply to my complaint was that John was just putting a challenging question. Well, firstly, it wasn’t a question. It might have had the form of a question, but it was just an assertion. It was not posed as a question, more a muttered aside. And it presupposes that Jo Cox murder could not be terrorism if the “question” put is whether that statement muddies the waters.<br />
<br />
But also, if you’re going to ask challenging questions, why start at that point? Why not challenge the Assistant Commissioner over why the terror alert is still at the second highest level after years and years, and doesn’t that make it a bit pointless? Or challenge him on the threats that the police say that they’ve defeated – what sort of threats are we talking about: knife attacks, anthrax letters or something on the scale of 7/7? That would give the public a genuine insight into the threat level, in a way that questioning whether Jo Cox murder was terrorism would not.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Farage agenda gets far too much of a free ride from the BBC already, with UKIP – or their proxies in the Tory Party – on the air far more often than their support however you count it would justify. But this was a particularly poor interview – unquestioning of the authoritarian agenda at the start and then then tossing in this unjustified assertion that would not have been out of place in the Daily Mail. <br />
<br />
John Humphrys has a reputation to live up to. We should expect more of him.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-85159377821093690952017-02-07T18:44:00.000+00:002017-02-07T18:44:20.741+00:00Day 5882: The ProphecyTuesday:<br />
<br />
<br />
This is a version of my entry to the “Britain in 2030” essay competition run by “<a href="http://liberalbritain.org/" target="_blank">Your Liberal Britain</a>”. But because of their 500-word limit you lucky readers get about 50% more stuff!<br />
<br />
Congratulations to winner, Lee Howgate, and all the runners up.<br />
<br />
Now… I feel a vision coming on…<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It is 2030 and Tim Farron’s Liberal Democrat-led government is seeking re-election after a remarkable if turbulent five years.<br />
<br />
Sal Brinton, elected as presiding officer of the new Senate of the Commonwealth of British States and Nations, reflects on the three outstanding achievements of the Lib Dem Prime Minister.<br />
<br />
First is the rescue of the economy from the disastrous protectionist experiment – the so-called “Trump Slump”. Freedom to trade and travel across 35 countries of the European Union has seen a flourishing of new ideas and new jobs. The young people who had felt their future torn away by “Brexit” rediscovered a new global sprit of Britain. The older generation have remembered that they actually liked going to Europe. True, the end of the pound was a high price to pay for readmission, and the process nearly foundered because of it, but the huge boost given to the economy by joining the Euro at such an advantageous rate has left many wondering at the “Project Fear” scare stories of the discredited Brexiteers.<br />
<br />
Second was the healing brought about through the “Big British Conversation”, inspired by the way that new members of the Liberal Democrats in 2015 came up with new ways for the Party to review its goals and policies, which was the starting point for the constitutional reforms. For the first time people across Britain had felt that their ideas were being listened to, that they were in control of the outcome. Not everyone got what they wanted, but almost everyone felt the outcome was fair enough. The conversation has even been such a success that Ambassador Clegg is now being asked to help the Union roll out a similar process to rebuild the institutions of Europe.<br />
<br />
Agreeing the framework for government devolution, instead of the haphazard approach that had resulted in a wildly differing powers from Scotland’s Parliament to London’s Mayor, gave people back the feeling they were all of equal importance to the country. Regional identities such as Cornwall, Wessex, Mercia, Yorkshire and Northumbria re-emerged when, after years of nationalist demands for an English identity, it turned out that there wasn’t one.<br />
<br />
No one had expected Prince William to decline the throne, but no one was surprised when Kate Middleton-Windsor beat Tony Blair by a landslide to become our first elected Queen. Sean Bean had modestly laughed off moves to make him hereditary King of the North.<br />
<br />
The axis of politics had shifted, from the old, backward-looking workers v capital left-right of the Twentieth Century, to the Twenty-First Century “Outward or Inward” of Liberal Internationalists versus Protectionists. The old two-party system had finally admitted it couldn’t cope, leading at long last to fair votes. While the right-wing Tories struggled on in alliance with former-Faragists in the newly-merged United Kingdom Conservative Party, some places saw up to four candidates competing for the label True Labour. Jeremy Corbyn remains leader of one of them. No one is sure which.<br />
<br />
(As for Mr Farage, he was unable to take up the peerage offered him in the resignation honours of the last Tory Prime Minister as the House of Lords was abolished while he was still away on a six-month junket in America.)<br />
<br />
Third, and in many ways most important, are the foundations laid for a future of opportunity.<br />
<br />
Today, the Secretary of State for Sustainable Development Sarah Olney is at the ceremony to break ground on the first of four new fusion reactors, while Environment Secretary Liz Leffman cuts the ribbon on the latest tidal lagoon power plant and is able to announce that the Zero Carbon Britain target has been achieved. Health Secretary Norman Lamb will welcome the completion of the National Health and Care Service, and Home Secretary Caroline Lucas is widely praised for the latest figures that show implementing Liberal Democrat reforms to the drugs law has both cut crime and the number of people sent to prison.<br />
<br />
On the World stage, Foreign Secretary Alistair Carmichael is at the United Nations getting them to agree to establishing no-fly zones and safe havens that will protect civilians threatened with war. He was right to resist calls to join further American military adventures, and instead we have pioneered the use of drone aircraft for delivering humanitarian aid not bombs. Meanwhile our forces in the Joint European Defence Initiative, led by Lord Ashdown, have now participated in four UN Peacekeeping Actions and rescued more than a million refugees from the Mediterranean.<br />
<br />
Britain is getting back to work. British-made Jaguar-Tesla self-driving electric autocars are driving themselves to France, Germany, Italy and Poland. West Country Hemp is already established as a world leading brand. ARM holdings has bought out the remains of Apple, and are planning to launch a “retro” ZX iPhone. British and international cast and crew are filming Star Wars Episode XII at Elstree. People are working fewer hours but producing more, and Chancellor Ed Balls (International Labour) will announce the increase of the Citizens’ Income, sharing the growth in GDP.<br />
<br />
We will build our success on openness to bold new ideas, to sharing our wealth, and on being part of the ever-wider family. This is now a Liberal Britain.</blockquote>
<br />
Alas, it’s only just over a month later, and this already seems shockingly naïve. The notion that we might somehow swerve and avoid the worst of Brexit and Trump Presidency has been shown to be hollow in the light of Theresa May’s Lancaster House speech setting out her 12-point plan for a hard-as-nails cliff-edge Brexit and a first fortnight from the new Administration in Washington that has seen a blizzard of executive orders and Constitution-baiting and plumbed new depths of deceit, from illusory crowd sizes to invisible walls to imaginary massacres.<br />
<br />
Theresa May makes her plans if not clearer at least fractionally less opaque – and they are plans for a cold and cheerless tax haven Britain, lowest common denominator Britain without social care and a rundown NHS, where the Fat Cats can protect their assets and the just about managing just about can’t. <br />
<br />
Now firmly in the claws of the Brextreemists, they drag her further and further to the exploitation right, seeming almost gleefully to desire the failure of our exit negotiations so they can go buccaneeringly alone, quite wilfully ignorant to the fact that we can’t just “adopt WTO tariffs” without the agreement of the WTO’s 169 members, one of whom is the EU.<br />
<br />
And our non-opposition Opposition of Jeremy Corbyn is three-line-whipping his Labour rabble to support the Tories as Theresa takes her suicide-leap into the arms of the odious Trump. <br />
<br />
And as Boris “punishment beatings” Johnson tells us that it trivialises the holocaust to compare Theresa’s fawning love-in with the man who has placed an actual White Supremacist in charge of America’s security with the rise to power of the 30’s iteration of Fascism, satire lies weeping and bleeding.<br />
<br />
So what use is a fluffy little homespun future, when all about us the darkness gathers and the very worst of human spirit is in ascendance? All the use in the world, if it gives you hope.<br />
<br />
Find hope where you can.<br />
<br />
History sometime rhymes in odd ways. After the Scottish Independence Referendum, the Nationalists were galvanised and swept to stunning victories in Holyrood and Westminster elections. I think a lot of people assumed the EU Referendum would be the same. Except the SNP lost that Referendum, whereas the Farragist Nationalists won on Brexit. And as in Scotland, oddly rhyming, it is the losing side that is now winning. <br />
<br />
Support is coming back to the Liberal Democrats. Sometimes in very surprising places. We understand the big swings to the Gold Party in Remain areas like Witney and sensationally Richmond Park, but there are some even bigger swings in those Labour/Leave heartlands of Sunderland and Rotherham. This cannot just be a surge of Remainiac votes; there’s got to be some change of mind behind this.<br />
<br />
Perhaps what united and energised the people in Scotland wasn’t crude “nationalism”; it was a sense of a bright future ripped away. <br />
<br />
Perhaps what’s behind this change of mind, is a sense that this is not the change people voted for.<br />
<br />
Find hope where you can.<br />
<br />
Stay strong, my fluffy lovelies, stay safe. Resist the urge to fight hate with hate. Though the darkness closes around us, there is still a hope of light. We will build that Liberal Britain. One day.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-63563959720799915062016-12-24T14:00:00.000+00:002016-12-24T13:48:46.565+00:00Day 6202: DOCTOR WHO: Steven Moffat’s The Abominable BrideChristmas<br />
<br />
<br />
Last Christmas… was the Doctor Who Christmas Special from two years ago, but <i>last Christmas</i> we got “The Husbands of River Snog”, and this year – to save you from tears – I’m going to review the Special from last Christmas. Which isn’t “Last Christmas”. Are you with me so far?<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
Time can be rewritten. And so can Doctor Who Christmas Specials. The human colony of Mendorax Dellora, as charming and Christmassy a redressing of the sets from “Face the Raven” as you could ask for, feels a lot like a return to earlier Moffat Christmases, whether Sardiktown in “A Christmas Carol” or the town of Christmas in (shudders) “The Time of the Doctor”; the crashing spaceship is reminiscent of the also-meteor-struck Titanic in “Voyage of the Damned” or more apropos the crash of the Byzantium in “The Time of Angels” or Amy and Rory’s honeymoon liner in (again!) “A Christmas Carol”. Crashing spaceships are the new “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day”. You start to get the feeling Mr Moffat’s doing this deliberately.<br />
<br />
<br />
Steven Moffat, the Grand Moff, has always treated the story of Doctor Who as a palimpsest, even his own works, going back again and again to re-write and over-write what has been before. And always, it seems, to reject closure. He’s never happy to just live with things that end. Even his most famous killer monsters, the Weeping Angels don’t <i>kill</i> – they send you back in time for <i>more</i> life. He’s going to be inconsolable when he has to finally hand over to Chibnall. He’s forever reaching for that get-out clause, to – as the Eighth Doctor might put it – hold back death. Whether it’s rewriting the end of the Time War to save Gallifrey, or going literally to the end of all the Worlds to snatch an endlessly extended extra moment from Clara’s death.<br />
<br />
This time he even has his own creation, River Song, accuse him of doing it:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
“There’s always a loophole. You wait until the last minute and then you spring it on me. […] <br />
But you will. You'll wait until I've given up hope. All will be lost, and you'll do that smug little smile and then you'll save the day. You always do.”</blockquote>
<br />
The life of River Song was always bounded by the fact that it ended where it began back at the Library. Even then, he wouldn’t let her go, giving her a cyber-heaven to inhabit. OR even come back from, in “The Name of the Doctor”.<br />
<br />
And he does the same thing again here, giving River and the Doctor one last night together, at the Singing Towers on Darillium… and then teasing it out to twenty-four years. Eventually we’ll have to stop renewing and just return!<br />
<br />
In a way, though, it is very Doctor-ish, to keep cheating death, tricking his way out of death.<br />
<br />
But you only get a commendation for reprogramming the Kobayahi Maru the first time. <br />
<br />
<br />
Having said all that, the opportunity to do a screwball comedy across time and space with two of the finest actors working today, written by an author with genuine talent for farce, does kind of make the exercise worthwhile. <br />
<br />
All the time they are on the screen together is delightful. Their timing, their chemistry, their obvious enjoyment of the fun they are having. <br />
<br />
The supporting cast – makes shrugging gesture – mm, less so.<br />
<br />
I’ve never been that taken with Greg Davies, nor the brand of shouty acting that he’s been asked to deliver for the role of King Hydroflax here. Like someone who’s seen Brian Blessed but not understood the subtlety of menace that he can bring to, say, Caesar Augustus, a role that Hydroflax ought to resemble. But, he’s actually there as a slapstick prop, a head-in-a-bag to be tossed about like the quips that Capaldi and Kingston exchange, so I was still laughing out loud at pretty much every scene he was in.<br />
<br />
More distressingly, Matt Lucas’s as Nardole was quickly quite irritating: whiny and snivelling and just not given very funny things to do or say. Which is a shame as he’s the one returning this year, though thankfully he appears to have – somehow – got his body back. <br />
<br />
I did, however, enjoy the outrageously oleaginous Maître D’, Flemming, played by Rowan Polonski. It’s through his delicious banality of evil that we understand that the passengers of the starship <i>Harmony and Redemption</i> – arrived at in a sudden plot swerve halfway through – don’t believe in harmony and don’t deserve redemption.<br />
<br />
And Mr Scratch, River Song’s buyer – not <i>quite</i> Doctor Who versus Scratchman, but whose flip-top head seems very lifted from the New Adventure “All-Consuming Fire” – was very nicely sinister, in a Colony Sarf sort of a way.<br />
<br />
But Kingston and Capaldi make a glorious double act. For him, it’s a joy to see the Doctor laughing and grinning his way through the adventure, getting to be the companion, enjoy doing the “bigger on the inside” right, <i>and</i> be the one who knows more than River, just this once. For her, there’s such a range of new and different facets of the character to portray: the lies within lies, or perhaps it’s not lies, it’s acting. When we first meet her, she’s playing Darth Vader, sweeping down the boarding ramp in flowing cloak; then she’s role-playing devoted wife – and so over the top we’re sure she’s not very good at it; then it’s the cold assassin, plotting a decapitation with whom she assumes is a pliantly complicit barber-surgeon; then she’s heroically angry with Hydroflax the butcher for his theft from the Halassi of the diamond that’s stuck in his cranium… and that’s all in the five minutes on board the joyfully retro flying saucer (nice that King Hydroflax can accessorise his spaceship and his robot body, by the way – though I suppose he does have plenty of cash…)<br />
<br />
What River’s acting does – and the Doctor notes this when he asks “Is this what you’re like when I’m not about?” – is to flag up the way this story is about different <i>perspectives</i>. <br />
<br />
Hydroflax, for example, on the one hand he’s worshipped by millions; on the other he’s loathed as a monster; or the Doctor just thinks he’s a moron; and in the end his own robot body decides he’s just rotting meat. <br />
<br />
The passengers on the <i>Harmony and Redemption</i>: are they innocent travellers, as we at first assume? Or are they killers and planet burners, as River tells us? Or are they a cult of Hydroflax followers as they reveal themselves to be?<br />
<br />
Even the diamond, the Halassi Androvar, the McGuffin that drives the plot, to the Doctor it’s just downpayment on a dinner date.<br />
<br />
And so River herself. Which perspective of her do we take away? Hero or villain? Archaeologist or thief? Righteous or rogue? Warrior or wife? As many faces as, well, as she has husbands.<br />
<br />
And what about Moffat? Does he keep coming back and rewriting or is he still trying to capture different perspectives on the same ideas? When – like Big Finish – he inserts more and more stories into tinier and tinier gaps, when he gives Clara immortality in her last heartbeat, is he fishing from an infinitely tiny well or like a fractal unfolding discovering infinite regress within the snowflakes?<br />
<br />
Does it even matter so long as it’s fun?<br />
<br />
<br />
“Happy ever after” doesn’t mean forever, River tells us, just for some time. Perhaps it would be better put as “they lived ever happy after”. But some things even Moffat cannot rewrite.<br />
<br />
Merry Christmas.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-54296377152194466222016-10-17T18:00:00.000+01:002016-10-17T17:42:15.596+01:00Day 5769: Marmite Wars are Merely the BeginningMonday:<br />
<br />
<br />
Today Captain Clegg launched <a href="http://www.libdems.org.uk/brexit-challenge-fooddrink-paper" target="_blank">his third pamphlet on the challenges facing the UK due to Brexit</a>. This one is about food and drink. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nick Clegg at the National Liberal Club</td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
If you’re still watching POLDARK on the BBC you will know it’s a tale of noble-but-impoverished workers of mine and land, ground down by the machinations of sinister bankers who manipulate the laws and the local dimwit Tory MP for their own ends, and so must turn to smuggling to get goods past the exorbitant import tariffs. <br />
<br />
What you might NOT realise is that this is a BOLD sci-fi drama set in the DISTOPIAN post-Brexit FUTURE! With occasional topless scything.<br />
<br />
And the reaction was basically terrifying. (To Brexit, not the topless scything!)<br />
<br />
That’s not the position of Captain Clegg – who was at pains to point out that we should definitely be trying to save people from their fears by at least agreeing a Norway-style EEA agreement that maintains our trading links. <br />
<br />
No, the fear was present in the questions arising, questions from small farms, from small retailers – corner shops and newsagents – who are all already staring down the barrel of disaster as the collapse in the pound sees their prices soar; the sort of everyday working folk whose concerns for their businesses and livelihoods and families are dismissed from the ivory towers of Conservatories like Jacob Rees-Mogg who’s never had to do a day’s work in his life and puts down the questions of ordinary people as “just more Project Fear”.<br />
<br />
And another very good question came from the Commonwealth countries who can see their gateway deals to the EU via the UK collapsing and WTO trade tariffs of 40% on chocolate or 50-60% on beef and lamb being imposed by the careless diktat of Liam “Fantastic Dr” Fox, disgraced former Defence Minister and not-yet-disgraced (‘96 days and counting’) International Trade Minister.<br />
<br />
Across the continent, the papers are not full – as Cap’s Nick put it – of the cunning of Mr Fox, the honesty of David Davis or the diplomacy of Boris Johnson. No, our friends and allies are instead AGHAST at the language and occasional downright xenophobia coming out of this chaotic Tory government, particularly things like the conference speech of the “Go Home” Secretary, Ms Green Amber Rudd. Less of a dog whistle; more of a traffic light stuck on stop!<br />
<br />
<br />
Prime Monster Theresa May (or May Not) holds out against delivering ANY answers beyond Brexit means Brexit means a slap on the wrist for ministers who dare to speak the unspeakable, but insists that she has the power to Invoke Article 50 without taking a vote in Parliament. Talk about “taking back control!” Will those Tories – David Davis, John Deadwood, Peter Bone, Rees-Moggy? – who made such a BIG THING of Parliamentary Sovereignty call her to account? Or will they sell their principles in a heartbeat?<br />
<br />
MPs were EXPRESSLY told that the Referendum would be only ADVISORY – or else they might have voted for more stringent checks, such as a two-thirds majority, or other thresholds – and those Brexiteers who are trying to say that in passing the referendum BILL Parliament has already voted on Brexit are clearly trying to take away the democratic and sovereign rights of Parliament.<br />
<br />
Noted thinker <a href="http://acgrayling.com/new-letter-to-mps" target="_blank">A. C Grayling is writing to every MP</a> to ask them why they are allowing this, and that they should demand a debate AND VOTE on the issue.<br />
<br />
It is, after all, their DUTY to “take back control”.<br />
<br />
It is clear that unchecked, Mrs Maybe’s unelected administration will see us BOUNCED into the most CHAOTIC TORY BREXIT!<br />
<br />
Unilever and Tesco may have come to an accommodation that sees the Marmite back on our shelves, but that’s far from the end of it. <br />
<br />
We currently SELL more than £18 billion of food abroad, one of our biggest export industries, and two thirds of that goes to the EU. Tariff and other barriers, like regulations or defining chocolate to be only high cocoa solids, that would exclude British chocolate altogether, will more than eliminate any benefits of the cheaper pound. And THEN we have to compete with the highly subsidised EU food production because THEY’LL still have the much-derided Common Agricultural Policy that WAS pouring billions into OUR farms.<br />
<br />
But also we EAT more than we can GROW, so we have to BUY IN more than 25% of the food we need, and more than 70% of that is from Europe. <br />
<br />
Companies importing food are going to face a choice of three options: put up prices – difficult in a cutthroat market with discounters already at their heels; cut into their own profits – which are already very tight, especially for small firms that import ingredients to make into prepared foods; or stop stocking certain lines altogether – the Marmite option.<br />
<br />
For the moment, big importers will have their prices protected – either by long-term agreements with their suppliers or by insurance (called “hedging”) that will cover the higher cost of buying stuff with a pound that is worth up to 18% less. <br />
<br />
But small companies who can’t afford big insurance are being hit with those choices already.<br />
<br />
And even the bigger companies, their contracts will run out and, as Tesco discovered, new agreements will need to be made; those insurance policies are to smooth out short-term the ups and downs of the currency markets, not to protect long-term from a major devaluation. And then the higher prices will have to be paid. <br />
<br />
In the next year to two years we will see a (first) big spike in food inflation, and that will hit the least well off the hardest. <br />
<br />
We need to work RIGHT NOW to protect against an even bigger hit from collapsing out of the Single Market.<br />
<br />
As Master Yoda so very nearly said of Bojo’s foreign policy: Victory? There was no victory. Begun, this clown war has.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve Bell in the Grauniad</td></tr>
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<br />Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-79291756303816912522016-08-27T08:13:00.000+01:002016-08-27T08:13:55.376+01:00Day 5714: Brexit Means Batshit or Brexit means BullshitTuesday:<br />
<br />
<br />
“Brexit means Brexit,” says Prime Minister Theresa May. But what does Brexit means Brexit really mean? You might as well say Wiff Waff means Wiff Waff, for all the facts it tells us.<br />
<br />
The dilemma… or trilemma or quadlemma… that faces Mrs May is: how does she satisfy all the different Leaver’s different reasons? And of course she can’t. They’re utterly irreconcilable.<br />
<br />
The real choice facing the Prime Minister is whether she faces down that section of the voters who will scream betrayal most loudly or she accepts trashing the economy to satisfy people who voted for magic unicorns.<br />
<br />
<br />
Look, either you can determine all your own rules. And no one will do business with you. Or you can compromise and have trade.<br />
<br />
So either you are batshit crazy. Or you were bullshitting when you said we would “take back control”.<br />
<br />
Here’s why:<br />
<br />
People who voted Leave will give you one of a dozen different reasons for why they voted – almost all variations on the cry of “*I’m* not a racist!”. <br />
<br />
(This refusal to admit that immigration was the big driving force of the Leave Campaign that is the sort of reprehensible moral cowardice that sees Labour’s Gisela Stewart happy to parrot the lies of Farage and Gove and then wring her hands at the entirely predictable (and indeed predicted) outcome.)<br />
<br />
“We have valid reasons,” they say. <br />
<br />
…Actually they mean “we have morally acceptable arguments” (not like the racists). <br />
<br />
For an argument to be valid is has to be true:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“Europe stops us barring foreigners from entering the country” is true, but morally reprehensible.</li>
<li>“Europe is holding us back from free trade” is invalid because it’s nonsense.</li>
<li>“Europe prevents us from cutting workers’ holidays and doubling their working hours” is true but repugnant, and not the sort of thing that wins public support for your buccaneering free marketers.</li>
<li>“We should be making our own laws” is invalid because the law needs to be the same for everyone if it’s going to work.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
“We should make our own laws”, is one of those big assertions that Leave say won them the campaign. It gained a lot of traction in the referendum. And it’s total nonsense. <br />
<br />
The law must apply equally to both sides in any agreement. Like, say, a trade treaty. If one side is going to say they can change the law (possibly on a whim) what is in it for the other side?<br />
<br />
Suppose your next door neighbour says that they should make up the laws that govern their house. And they decide they don’t agree with those pesky laws about noise after midnight. Or fly tipping. Or that property is theft?<br />
<br />
That’s just the same as when we get, say, UKIP’s Suzanne Evans (on Radio 4’s Westminster Hour) saying we don’t need follow the rules in Article 50 at all; we should just change the law in our own Parliament to leave. Reneging on the Lisbon Treaty would mean that no country on Earth would trust us with those “free trade agreements” that the likes of Ms Evans say it will be so easy to make. <br />
<br />
There’s a section of the Leave vote who might be completely happy with that, with no trade with Europe at all. For them, the only satisfactory outcome will be to slam the door to the EU on our way out. <br />
<br />
It’s probably not a large section, but you can bet it’s going to be a very, very noisy one.<br />
<br />
And they are never going to be satisfied. Because that sort of isolationism is not going to be acceptable to anyone who wants to be able to buy bananas or avocados or for that matter petrol.<br />
<br />
For absolutely anyone else, anyone who wants to be able to buy things from abroad and sell our stuff there too, then you are going to have to compromise. Starting by agreeing on the law – the rules – for your treaty. <br />
<br />
What you cannot get is the completely disconnected from reality version where we want lots of trade with everyone… but they all agree to follow our rules, the sort of magic thinking represented in the Cabinet by “Fantastic” Dr Fox, the man already picking a fight with the empty room that is Boris Johnson’s Foreign Office.<br />
<br />
<br />
Two months have passed since THAT vote. The Prime Minister has been able to take a holiday. Labour continue to stage their what can hardly be called leadership election. And thankfully, neither the World nor the British economy have ended in the meantime. In fact we have had positive economic figures for July: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37116279" target="_blank">retail sales are up</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37105028" target="_blank">unemployment is down</a>.<br />
<br />
But it’s early days. We haven’t actually done anything irreversible yet. It’s still difficult to see how we will not get a spike in inflation caused by the fall in the value of the pound – particularly once fuel bills start to go up in winter. And it’s an awkward question but where is the investment in jobs and trade going to come from, now that companies are looking more to the continental mainland for their European bases?<br />
<br />
So far, Theresa May is Wile E. Coyote, running on empty air. We need to know whether what she’s got in her handbag is a parachute… or an anvil. Ideally before she looks down and notices the economic gravity.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
We don’t <i>want </i>a recession. So what are the government doing to prevent a bump in the road turning into a shock to the system? Things have changed (or the vote was meaningless Miranda Hart look) so the government needs to say what changes it will make in response. Complacency and inertia won’t look so good with hindsight if things do go pear-shaped.<br />
<br />
Putting off telling us what “Brexit” will mean stops the government telling us what actions they will take. “Brexit means Brexit” is actually damaging. <br />
<br />Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-23891468914513012872016-07-03T09:11:00.001+01:002016-07-03T09:13:39.022+01:00Day 5662: Messages for Cheadle #4 - March for EuropeSaturday:<br />
<br />
Not in Cheadle, but joining <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36692990" target="_blank">many thousands marching on Parliament</a> to show support for the European Union, and to remind people that democracy means listening to the minority not just doing what the victors demand.<br />
<br />
Liberal Democrats will give the 48% a voice that will not be silenced.<br />
<br />
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<br />
I’m marching today with thousands of others for a better future and a better Britain than we’ve seen in the last few weeks. Because standing together is better than splitting apart.<br />
<br />
I’m marching because the best of British means never giving up. When you’ve taken a knock, to get up and try again. Because Brits aren’t quitters. Even in the rain! [assuming it’s raining]<br />
<br />
I've seen a lot of reactions to the referendum. Anger. Grief. Despair. Denial. People who've lost their opportunities to travel, learn and work. People who feel they've had their future ripped away. I've felt those things too. <br />
<br />
The country is split down the middle. People who feel left behind. People who feel they've been had by a leave campaign that's already weaselling out of every promise they made. And they just want the 48% to shut up. That's not democracy.<br />
<br />
I've seen leaders of Tory and Labour Party panic. Fall into infighting. That's not leadership.<br />
<br />
What we need now is hope.<br />
<br />
Tim Farron has shown real leadership in this crisis. We accept the result of the referendum. But we're not going to stop making the case for an open, outward-looking Britain that remains a part of the EU.<br />
<br />
The Liberal Democrats exist to build a free and fair society. One where no one is left behind. One that doesn't put the blame on migrants. One where there is a better future. For everyone.<br />
<br />
Britain is better than this.<br />
<br />
12000 people have joined us since the referendum, because they want to hope again.<br />
<br />
Join us, and we can bring hope to a new generation.<br />
<br />
If you want a better Britain that gets stuck in and doesn't quit, join us.<br />
If you want a better Britain that stands for hope not hate, join us.<br />
Most of all, if you want a fairer, better future for all of us, join the Liberal Democrats.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-28253906081063094922016-06-28T11:35:00.000+01:002016-06-28T11:35:35.919+01:00Day 5657: Where Do We Go From HereMonday:<br />
<br />
Over the weekend, the Vote Leave campaign have revealed that they genuinely have no plan for what to do now they’ve torn everything down. And Labour have chosen absolutely the worst moment to hit the self-destruct button.<br />
<br />
The first observation is that if the vote were to be held this week, after the last 72 hours of the most vigorous rowing backwards, it seems unlikely that the Leave Campaign could win a referendum on the sun coming up tomorrow, so shot is their credibility.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/four-things-brexit-campaigners-have-already-uturned-on--W1OT88vaNZ" target="_blank">All the promises of the Leave Campaign have been thoroughly trashed… by the Leave Campaign</a>. <br />
<br />
<br />
Farage was pooh-poohing the promise of £350 million a week for the NHS within minutes of the final result, and IDS denied thrice before cockcrow he’d ever said it on Marr on Sunday, leading to a flurry of photos of him stood in front of the Boris Bus saying exactly that.<br />
<br />
Johnson, Gove and Hannan have all made it very clear that they don’t really want to leave the single market, or even end the free movement of people that proved such a decisive part of the campaign they ran.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRe8mQY9zJLN_3zuJxtxysUg49_K2NotLQTQnoLvPt9Dr9cywGrHgYy6Lk3sED5YzlOfvCBgb6zLuHpOOP4iJQy_Bxl4sQ_Mr4rWgVguYF_CdNQWEul5U6y-ICJNqQ60Sy03Fc2Q/s1600/we+didnt+mean+cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRe8mQY9zJLN_3zuJxtxysUg49_K2NotLQTQnoLvPt9Dr9cywGrHgYy6Lk3sED5YzlOfvCBgb6zLuHpOOP4iJQy_Bxl4sQ_Mr4rWgVguYF_CdNQWEul5U6y-ICJNqQ60Sy03Fc2Q/s640/we+didnt+mean+cartoon.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Morten Morland, via Times Red Box</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Indeed <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/26/i-cannot-stress-too-much-that-britain-is-part-of-europe--and-alw/" target="_blank">Johnson’s pusillanimous piece in the Telegraph</a> seems very much more like saying we’ll be staying entirely IN, give or take some legal fiddlings – this is just more of his policy of pro-having cake AND pro-eating it. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/27/brussels-rejects-boris-johnson-pipe-dream-over-single-market-access" target="_blank">And Brussels has already rubbished it</a>. <br />
<br />
Alas, Boris, to govern is to choose. If you want the job…<br />
<br />
And this is only going to get worse before it gets better. <br />
<br />
For too many, the World carries on merrily in its own little way, so all must be all right for everyone and ignore the rise in hate crimes and the fall of the markets. The bomb has dropped, but no one has noticed yet.<br />
<br />
48% of the country are appalled by what has happened. But the 52% who voted Leave last Thursday are only going to be disappointed. <br />
<br />
Many thousands apparently are disappointed already, shocked that what they thought was a protest vote has ramifications that are suddenly horribly real. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://metro.co.uk/2016/06/26/mysticclegg-people-are-freaking-out-about-how-accurate-nick-cleggs-post-brexit-predictions-were-5967787/" target="_blank">Many people are amazed at the speed with which the “Mystic Clegg” predictions are coming true</a>.<br />
<br />
Many more are only now reading the “What Brexit Means for You” columns in <a href="http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/the-mail-has-explained-what-brexit-means-and-its-readers-seem-shocked--Z1772TI4aNW" target="_blank">Mail</a> and <a href="http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/the-sun-has-also-got-around-to-telling-its-readers-what-brexit-will-mean-and-they-are-not-happy--WySvafrAVZ" target="_blank">Sun</a> and howling with betrayed outrage that the very papers that instructed them to vote Leave didn’t warn them of these consequences before. <br />
<br />
But many of the others currently still celebrating are going to get frustrated and angry at the kind of Brexit or semi-Brexit or Neverexit that is delivered.<br />
<br />
Prime Minister (in name only, now) Cameron’s decision to pass the buck to his successor was a typical act of “why should I” entitlement, but it has served to skewer the Leavers on their own contradictions, even while it leaves the EU infuriated by being left hanging in the wind over when or even if we are actually going to start the Brexit machine going.<br />
<br />
And at the same moment, struck by terror that a new Tory leader might precipitate a snap general election this year while they’re still stuck with Corbyn as leader, the Labour front bench have chosen this moment to stage an Ides of March-style attempted assassination. And after two days the Shadow Cabinet’s clown car is still disgorging resignees.<br />
<br />
Consequently, we have neither Government nor Opposition and are neither in nor out of the European Union.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg64YW9jkcfHJz-7QFWQhkMSdhKPCJPEIQ0mqw6O5PrNVml92kr6bip6vIrfoXPYSMkeLlymijvEssJWX6tNOw0M8krNcmLXoe6Mw1T3Ig6pp4uze5f82y3C3cWQd68PlsU4owyMw/s1600/metro+monday+fornt+page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg64YW9jkcfHJz-7QFWQhkMSdhKPCJPEIQ0mqw6O5PrNVml92kr6bip6vIrfoXPYSMkeLlymijvEssJWX6tNOw0M8krNcmLXoe6Mw1T3Ig6pp4uze5f82y3C3cWQd68PlsU4owyMw/s400/metro+monday+fornt+page.jpg" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>London Metro, Monday 27 June - sums it up</i></td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
<h3>
Will There Be a General Election?</h3>
<br />
Given that they fought the referendum on the grounds of “democracy” it would be a bit of a sore point if the Brexiteers then allowed a new PM to be installed without the British people having a say.<br />
<br />
Having said that, they’ve abandoned the rest of their platform so swiftly, it would hardly be a surprise.<br />
<br />
The PM cannot trigger Article 50 on a whim. It’s a bit legalistic, but because it would be – effectively – repealing the European Communities Act he cannot just use the (so democratic) Royal Prerogative. He needs to pass it through Parliament, and Parliament has a huge majority against leaving the EU and is not particularly minded to give the Tories an easy ride. It only takes the few remaining Europhile Tories to play the same game that the Maastricht rebels played for it to fall at the first hurdle. <br />
<br />
And that’s without reminding you it’s got to get through the Lords too. All those Leavers banging on about the sovereignty of Parliament ought to remember that more than half of Parliament is the unelected Peers – without a manifesto pledge to Brexit, the Lords will be well within their rights to block any Article 50 notification.<br />
<br />
All of which is a strong case for a pro-Brexit Tory Prime Minister to go to the country.<br />
<br />
But there are downsides for the cautious punter to consider.<br />
<br />
The timetable that Mr Cameron wanted to set in place meant that there would be no new Tory leader until at least the first week of October. (I say “at least” because in fact, Liam Fox was pushing on Monday morning’s Today Programme for the contest to <i>begin</i> at the Tory Party Conference to “allow all the candidates to parade their wares” – code for “give me time to put my candidacy in order”.) <br />
<br />
The shortest possible election campaign is about three weeks, placing polling day no earlier than Thursday 3rd November. November, being cold and wet, is not a well-starred month for elections. Certainly if the Tories do drag out their contest even longer, then any election would have to be next spring.<br />
<br />
The 1922 Committee (the people who run the Tory Party’s business) have recommended a shorter timetable, with the new leader elected by 2 September.<br />
<br />
This could in theory allow for an earlier election, but only if the Tories don’t mind bulldozing the conference season and can persuade Parliament to go for it. Because although there <i>are</i> ways of fudging the Fixed Term Parliament Act, Parliament needs to be in session to vote itself out. Labour – probably still in the middle of their own leadership crisis – are going to be disinclined to play ball in early September. No confidence-ing their own government out of existence is hardly the most auspicious start to an election campaign, and there’s still a two week cooling off period, which leaves them basically back where they started.<br />
<br />
But why go to the country at all when you’ve got a working, if small, majority and the only way is down.<br />
<br />
A general election would be difficult for the Liberal Democrats, despite being the most united party, and with a clear message to stand up for the 48%. Many of our local parties are still traumatised by the punishing 2015 election. Bouncing back to our pre-coalition highs of 50+ seats looks unlikely. But that’s not to say that there are not seats that we lost in 2015 that would not swing back to the gold column, particularly in those Metropolitan boroughs and University Towns that voted remain, now that they’ve seen the alternative is an ever-more unfettered right-wing Tory government. Eight MPs might seem like a joke, but doubling that, to sixteen to twenty would make us relevant again. And would deprive Prime Minister May or Johnson of their slender majority. <br />
<br />
But the real threat to the Tory hegemony is UKIP.<br />
<br />
With his article today, Johnson essentially cedes all advantage to Farage’s mob. In any snap general election, Nigel will campaign on a “we didn’t vote for THAT” ticket (the “stab in the back” narrative) and with Labour in such total disarray, might actually mop up large numbers of seats in the North whose grievance will only have been fuelled by “Boris the Betrayer” (“he stabbed his mate Dave in the back and now he’s sold us out on immigration, the elitist old-Etonian, London so and so”).<br />
<br />
I’m inclined to think that if buccaneering Boris gets in, he probably will want his own mandate. Though whether the “men in grey suits” would let him, is another matter. Theresa May is more likely to be content with being PM for four years and seeing if things get better for her prospects of re-election.<br />
<br />
And yet only a general election offers us a way out of our current cleft fork.<br />
<br />
I do not believe that Vote Remain should be trying to tactics or legalism to get this current Parliament to ignore or thwart the will of the people for Brexit. <br />
<br />
But it appears that the leadership of Vote Leave… do NOT want us to leave. <br />
<br />
And so new leadership is called for.<br />
<br />
What is needed is either electing a pro-Brexit government with a mandate to do the difficult business of unwinding our laws and negotiating new treaties, or giving victory to a pro-Remain government that would certainly be a popular mandate for saying the people had thought again about the referendum result. Or more reasonably, it would be a case for asking the question again.<br />
<br />
I’m proud of my Party sticking to its pro-EU guns. (After all, no one would expect UKIP to turn all Europhile if the Remain Campaign had won 52:48. In fact, Farage said as much, up to and even after the polls closed, when he thought he was going to lose.) And we should do everything in our democratic power to keep making that positive case for IN.<br />
<br />
And the Lib Dems sweeping to a majority on a pro-Remain ticket would be the clearest possible sign that the public had looked into the Leave abyss and thought better of it after all.Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.com6