Posts Tagged politics

QT and BNP

22 October, 2009 at 11:54 pm · Filed under Campaigns, Movies, media, music & culture ·Tagged , , , , ,

Tonight we had a good campaign session in Holloway; all sorts of people, from pensioners to young professionals are switching to the Lib Dems.

One woman, an NHS midwife, told us how hard life was, working long hours and coming home to high bills, with Government action like abolishing the 10p tax rate just making things worse. She won’t be voting Labour again.

Then there was the BNP voter. One of my colleagues (like the midwife, British born of Asian parents) got an earful. Just the one BNP voter, but one too many for our liking. I’m proud of my diverse campaign team, and it’s unacceptable when they get abuse, not for their policies, ideas or allegiance, but for who they are.

Most people don’t vote BNP. And most of those who do are doing it as a protest rather than a deliberate choice. Like a youth I canvassed during the Euro elections; “I probably won’t vote. Or I might vote BNP. Yeah, BNP. Or Green.”

The BNP is an evil organisation, led by nasty people, who exploit anxiety to grow prejudice. They sell fear in place of hope, despair in place of faith, hate in place of love. They are illiberal, unChristian and unBritish. Their core ideas are racism based on lies. And the best way to defeat them is to expose them.

I hope that tonight’s Question Time did just that. Certainly Nick Griffin got a deservedly rough ride, caught out by his own words, uniting the other parties against him. The protesters outside the BBC, however passionate their anti-fascism, are wrong. We cannot defeat the evil BNP by shouting them down or banning them; those are the tactics fascists themselves use. We defeat them by winning the argument, by showing the truth about the BNP, by building support from all communities for mainstream parties, by defending human rights, and by working to help British residents of all backgrounds feel socially and economically secure.

We live on a small planet where more of the world speaks the same language, uses the same technology, where we can travel round the world in a weekend; I live in a country whose people practically invented the idea of travelling the world for experience or gain, and where our best loved institutions from the NHS to Premier League football would collapse without migrant labour.

In Islington we are celebrating Black History Month – and encouraging people to register to vote.

Nick Griffin gets a platform because people elected him. As one commenter, Pete from Hertford, says on the BBC’s discussion board, “I sincerely hope that everyone who has turned up to protest outside TV Centre actually voted in the last European Election. If not, they’re just as complicit in handing the BNP a mandate”.

So tomorrow we’ll be out on the campaign trail again.

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Political prats of the week…

5 October, 2009 at 11:43 am · Filed under Movies, media, music & culture ·Tagged , ,

… are Harriet Harman and David Amess, according to Jack Bremer of the First Post.

To quite him in full: “Two contestants for political prat of the week. Labour’s Harriet Harman is alleged to have driven into a parked car while on her mobile, and then taken off, saying: “I’m Harriet Harman – You know where you can get hold of me.” Tory MP David Amess told a Virgin airline check-in staff that his bags had been packed by Osama Bin Laden. Once at Dulles airport, he threw up at the Immigration desk. It was travel sickness, he insisted, not booze.”

Of course this is all before the Conservative Conference gets underway :-)

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Eve of conference

17 September, 2009 at 11:07 pm · Filed under Liberal Democrats ·Tagged , , , , ,

Tomorrow I’ll be travelling to join thousands of Lib Dems from across the country in Bournemouth for our party conference.

Last night, Islington Lib Dems previewed the conference debates at our latest Pizza & Politics evening.

The Liberal Democrat party conference is unusual among the 3 main parties in that we do actually set party policy; it’s not just a rally for the faithful. That means ordinary members can shape the policy of the party; and it also means that occasionally we have a row. Or if not a row exactly, a genuine debate.

On most issues, unsurprisingly, Lib Dems tend to agree with each other, even on issues that are divisive between the parties (and within other parties). We’re generally against ID cards, against Heathrow expansion, and pro Europe, to pick three examples. So what’s there to debate?

Well, the media will no doubt try to talk up a potential row over the Fresh Start paper. In fact, it’s a clear and in my view unconcentious statement of Lib Dem priorities for the General Election manifesto. (The most dodgy aspect is the Somerfield-type colour scheme. And don’t they have a ‘fresh’ slogan too?)

The agenda has lots of heavyweight debates, on globalisation, climate change, civil liberties – big issues, but no big rows.

So last night we teased out three smaller issues where we might have a bit of a barney in Bournemouth.

The first is whether the Advertising Standards Authority should have rules requiring that airbrushed images are identified as such: and whether such images should be banned in publications aimed at young people. The former is not a problem – it’s recently become the rule for those mascara ads that showcase false eyelashes – but the latter caused a real debate. Yes, young people’s self-image is fragile: but is it right to censor pictures in response? And is this really the biggest issue we face? We remain divided on that one.

The second is whether employers should adopt the practice of blanking out the names of job applicants to weed out sexist and racist judgements. Generally we saw no harm in that, although there was some scepticism as to whether it would do much good. Attending a a girls’ school or being on the committee of your local mosque could also be a bit of a giveaway.

Both these proposals are part of a package of ideas in the Real Women policy paper.

Then there are Mosquitos, the machines that generate a highpitched sound causing distress, and possibly damage, to younger eardrums. Should they be banned? Although Islington Council has tried it once – and decided against it in future – I think using Mosquitos is a terrible idea. And I’m not alone.

My own home has been under siege from groups of youths in the past, and we’ve often had the neighbourhood police on speed-dial, so I don’t deny there’s an issue; but I just don’t think indiscriminate torture techniques are the answer.

Other communities have found that shining pink light or playing Mozart is just as effective, and a considerably more humane way to discourage young people from hanging around. Not that hanging around in a public place is necessarily a problem in itself – as long as they are not a nuisance to others.

I think it’s another symptom of the current obsession with the idea that technology can solve essentially human problems. It’s not things that help people, or change people; it’s other people. It’s not mosquitos we need but bluebottles.

What mosquitos and air-brushing have in common, of course, is that they are at the crunch point where protection and freedom conflict. They also show some of the very mixed messages that our society sends young people. We’ll protect your eyes while assaulting your ears. Should be an interesting conference….

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Top Lib Dem blogs

4 September, 2009 at 2:00 pm · Filed under Liberal Democrats ·Tagged , ,

There has been a flurry of excitement in the Lib Dem blogosphere and beyond about this year’s Total Politics listing of the top Lib Dem blogs.

Last year I was just in the top 50. This year they’ve listed the top 75 and I’m not (except as part of the collective Lib Dem Blogs). This is, I hasten to add, a good thing, reflecting the growth in the quantity and quality of Lib Dem blogging over the last year. Mark Valladares is kind enough to mark my passing!

Among the bright new bloggers are the new no 1 Charlotte Gore; and Mark Thompson, whose MarkReckons blog is deservedly straight in at no 5. My PPC buddy Katy Gordon is there too.

If Mark V is an old friend, Mark R is a new one after he came to interview me in Islington last weekend. He squeezed in the interview over lunch – and in between joining in two door-knocking sessions – on one of our campaign days. I respect his blogging all the more now I know he takes his politics beyond the keyboard.

Honourable mention to another established top 10 blogger, James Graham, who helps with leaflet deliveries in Islington. Other bloggers are naturally also welcome to emulate the master…..

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Euros aftermath

12 June, 2009 at 11:44 am · Filed under Campaigns ·Tagged , , ,

I’ve been busy phoning round people in Islington, getting feedback on the European elections.

Two thirds of people who could vote, didn’t. Some were away or unwell; some abstained on principle, as an expression of their Euro-scepticism. Others simply don’t think the Euros matter. And some who would normally vote didn’t this time, as a protest against the expenses row.

Many of those who did, voted for minority parties as a protest. Or because the electoral system used in the Euros means that there are no ‘wasted’ votes. On one evening, I spoke to a former Labour voter who voted Green, a former Conservative who voted Green, and a former Lib Dem who voted UKIP; none of them will necessarily vote the same way in future.

Danny Finkelstein in the Times cites James Stimson’s analysis of voters as ‘passionate’, ‘uninvolved’ or ’scorekeepers’. Passionate voters like me stick with their party; the uninvolved opt out; so the scorekeepers tend to decide elections.

In the midst of all this analysis, some interesting facts emerge:

Nationally, it was the Labour party’s worst performance in a century.

Here in London, just 110 extra votes per Parliamentary constituency would have seen Jonathan Fryer elected as London’s 2nd Lib Dem MEP.

And the Socialist Labour Party polled lower than Christian Party. As one Twitterer commented, “Official – God more popular than Arthur Scargill!”

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Islington’s Euro election results

7 June, 2009 at 10:53 pm · Filed under Campaigns, Liberal Democrats ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

I’m back home from Islington’s Euro count after the declaration just after 9pm.

In fact the count had been over, and the result had shared with agents and ready to declare for about 20 minutes by then, but could not be revealed until the Euro polls closed at 9pm. So we had the surreal scene of the counters all gone, the tables and chairs cleared, and just the returning officer, a couple of staff, and a dozen party activists standing around – plus the caretaker jangling his keys – as we awaited the declaration.

The main Islington borough numbers are as follows:
Labour 12,428
Green 8,551
LibDem 8,167
Cons 6,170
UKIP 2,639
BNP 1,488

I won’t enumerate all the other minor parties and independents!

These numbers are borough-wide. Our ‘box counts’ sampling individual polling districts show that Lib Dems came second to Labour in the Islington South and Finsbury constituency, with Greens doing particularly well in Islington North where they have their councillor.

The Greens are up, UKIP are down, and BNP did badly; but the main party percentages (and the turnout) are largely unchanged from the last Euro results in Islington. Labour will no doubt be delighted to have held their own, given their very poor results in other parts of the country.

The Greens have the most to celebrate, so it’s ironic they were not at the count to witness it. In our canavssing, we picked up a lot of Green votes who wanted to vote for a non-Westminster party this time, because of the expenses scandal. And of course the Greens benefitted from the PR voting system for Europe – no ‘wasted’ votes this time.

As I’ve been writing this, Labour’s Lord Adonis (himself an Islington resident) has been on the TV saying that the non-Westminster parties have benefitted from protest votes at this election but will lose ground to the three main parties when the General election comes.

Being the most pro-EU of the main parties, has sadly not always served the Lib Dems well. I can remember Euro counts when we came 5th… this time I canvassed many people who are normally Lib Dem voters who said they were voting UKIP or abstaining this time because they are Euro-sceptics, but will vote Lib Dem in the next election: so we’re actually pleased with the result which confirms we are the challengers to Labour in my constituency.

I don’t know what expectations the Conservatives had of the Islington results, but they don’t seem to have benefitted from the upsurge in Tory support elsewhere. The results certainly nails Labour’s lies that the electoral battle in Islington is between Labour and Conservatives.

Now Islington’s numbers go into the London-wide pot for the capital’s Euro results. We should certainly see Sarah Ludford re-elected, although it’s not yet clear whether or not we have got Jonathan Fryer in as a 2nd London Lib Dem MEP. Watch this space…..

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A Women’s Agenda in a time of sleaze and recession

1 June, 2009 at 5:44 pm · Filed under Campaigns ·Tagged , , ,

I’ve received the following message worth sharing:

A Women’s Agenda in a time of sleaze and recession – June 2009

Just over a year ago we ran a quick survey to find out your thoughts on voting in the local and Mayoral elections of May 2008. A year later some of us have the opportunity to cast our votes in local elections as well as in the European elections. So we thought we would re-run the survey to see how, if at all, your political concerns and priorities have changed.

And because in the past 12 months little has changed in relation to funding women’s core services such as rape crisis we want to ask that question again as well – see http://womensgrid.freecharity.org.uk/?p=2309.

However in the intervening 12 months we have all had to face the reality of the recession, banking practices creating a crisis in our financial systems and more recently revelations of sleaze in our Parliamentary system.

So we thought we would ask some additional questions on how any of these have impacted on you personally and on your voting intentions and faith in politics as practiced in the UK.

We realise that not everyone will be having local elections but either way please do add your opinions to help us create a picture of women’s political priorities across the country.

The survey will stay open until 10pm on Tuesday 2nd June and we hope to get the results published the following evening, ie Wednesday 3rd June.

You can complete the survey online at
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/140114/survey-for-european-and-local-elections-june-2009

If you have any problems with this online survey because of accessibility issues we can send you a version as a word document. Please contact us – post@womeninlondon.org.uk – thanks!

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My date with David van Day

1 June, 2009 at 12:59 pm · Filed under Campaigns, Movies, media, music & culture ·Tagged , , , , , ,

A rather surreal Sunday morning yesterday.

It all started on Saturday night with an urgent call from the Lib Dem press office. Could I do an interview with Radio 5 Live tomorrow morning? Yes, OK. A few minutes later the call came through from 5 Live: they were planning a panel discussion to take place on Sunday for broadcast on Monday night (5 not so live).

I’d be on with my regular sparring partner, Labour’s Chuka Umanna, and a yet-to-be indentified Tory, and we were on for 11am in Westminster. A couple of hours later a text came through: time had changed to 12 noon, and the third panellist was celeb candidate David van Day. He’s considering standing in mid-Bedfordshire, having been outraged by Nadine Dorries’ demands for sympathy for persecuted MPs.

Cut to Sunday, and there are five of us (Dino our interviewer, Chuka, me, David van Day and Conservative candidate Tim Archer) sitting in glorious sunshine in the park near the House of Lords, debating MPs expenses, electoral reform and celebrity candidates, while in the middle distance families played frisbee and tourists took photos. All we were missing was the picnic.

Of course, each of us put forward our own party’s solutions – I promoted the Lib Dem proposals for recalls and fair votes as a solution to the corruption coming from safe seats, while Tim is a fan of primaries; but there was also a lot of consensus on the need for wide-ranging reform and more ‘real’ people in politics.

Which brings us to David van Day… He was extremely friendly, un-celebby and enthusiastic, although his approach to expenses (he wouldn’t claim any but would blag support off local businesses instead) raised a few eyebrows. He was also frank that he might not be into the casework side of being an MP. But anything that gets people interested in democracy, and willing to use their vote, is good – so fair play to him.

Our chat should be on Up All Night tonight (or strictly speaking, tomorrow). I’ll post the link when I have it. Then it was back to Islington to join the campaign team out in St Peter’s ward. From Up All Night to out all day…

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Back the Fuel Poverty Bill

19 March, 2009 at 6:46 pm · Filed under Campaigns, Going green ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

The Government has admitted that unemployment is now over the 2 million mark.

To quote Work & Pensions Minister (and former Islington councillor) James Purnell, “these are bad figures. There is no gloss that anyone is going to try and put on them.”

It’s hard to take in the scale of the figures – the latest rise, an extra 165,000 unemployed at the end of last year, is roughly equal to the population of Islington.

Just this week, I spoke to three different friends who are affected by this: one is preparing to reapply for his job, one is doing voluntary work while she’s job hunting and another is worried about his partner’s job in a round of redundancies. These are uncertain times.

The Government could and should take a bold stand and tackle the economic and the climate change crisis together: by creating jobs in the work that needs to be done insulating our homes, developing renewable energy, producing more food and goods locally, and providing better public transport.

Tomorrow sees the 2nd reading of David Heath’s Fuel Poverty Bill. By calling for major energy efficiency programme, to bring existing homes up to the current energy efficiency levels enjoyed by modern homes, it could tackle both unemployment and the impact of climate change.

I hope that for once, Emily Thornberry, Islington South’s Labour MP, will swallow her partisan pride and back this excellent Bill. Watch this space.

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Harrogate day 3: from faith to hope

8 March, 2009 at 8:19 pm · Filed under Liberal Democrats ·Tagged , , , ,

I’m back home, feet up, and reflecting on Nick Clegg’s speech.

A typical leader’s speech slags off the other parties, makes a few jokes, ticks some policy boxes, and ends with some feelgood promises and election-ready tub-thumping. Nothing wrong with that. But this was something different.

No jokes. This a brave move. In a leader’s speech, jokes aren’t so much the icing on the cake as the sugar on the pill – they keep the audience entertained as well as thoughtful, and they give the journalists an easy hook for their story. No jokes means we all have to work harder. This may have been Sunday morning, but it wasn’t easy. Nick was embodying the message: serious responses for serious times.

No easy answers. Nick did outline our policy highlights: but he made it clear that things will get worse before they get better. We have tough times ahead and we need to be clear-sighted and tough-minded to get through them. He challenged us to see the recession as a challenge and a chance to rebuild, like rebuilding London after the Great Fire.

No short-termism. Politicians are normally short-term – not our fault, the electoral cycle gives its rhythm to public policy – but Nick was thinking long-term. This is partly the impact of his paternity leave: he’s looking on the world as the place his precious children will live their lives, not some policy-testing ground.

No policy boxes. Politicians are great at putting policies in boxes so we can tick them. Again, not entirely our fault, it’s the way government departments, council services, the media, parcel things up. But Nick made connections: between the Government’s attitude to borrowing and the failure to tackle climate change, between a partisan electoral system and a failed economic regime.

No unrealistic promises. Getting out of Westminster, on his visits and his paternity leave, has kept Nick grounded: “the people I’ve met don’t want handouts. They don’t imagine government is the answer to all of their problems. They just need a break.They just want someone to take a little of the weight off their shoulders. It’s the difference between a burden you can carry with your head held high and one that brings you to your knees. It’s the difference the Liberal Democrats will make.”

No partisanship. Nick rightly attacked the other parties on their records and their policy errors. But he spent remarkably little time talking about them at all. Instead he looked beyond party and national divides, calling on people to work together in Britain, and in Europe.

A year ago, I wrote about how Nick evoked faith.

Today, it was hope: “We are the only party that will put money into people’s pockets with fair tax cuts. The only party to offer universal childcare and smaller classes in our primary schools. The only party that will use Gordon Brown’s wasted billions to create thousands of jobs today by investing in homes, hospitals, schools and public transport to build the green economy of tomorrow. The only party that will rebuild the jobs, homes and hopes this recession has destroyed. So don’t believe the doubters, the nay-sayers, the professional cynics. This time it can be different.”

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