Second thoughts
I knew what politics was before Iraq: it was why you had to buy the Big Issue but could not have Kit Kats. But it was only 10 years ago this week – when I skipped out my afternoon classes to attend the protest in Trafalgar Square – that I understood what it really meant to be political. To be glued to Question Time. To have to read all the papers. To be fiercely, exhaustingly angry about something All. The. Time. Ten years on from that first march, and the verdict is clear: the anti-war protestors are vindicated, the invaders disgraced. Those of us who stood there and chanted slogans and skipped school or took time off work or staged sit-ins: we were right. The problem is: I am not sure we were. The anti-war script is that Iraq is a bloodbath, a running disaster from which there is no escape. But even if you accept that script as true – and is there anything more distasteful than the paroxysms of delight that some commentators take in shrieking the names of the dead? – it ignores the small matter that that was not why the United Kingdom intervened in Iraq. It was about the risk that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction.
Posted by Stephen Bush on 12 February 2013
Squeezed Britain
The main point to take away from the research by the Resolution Foundation is quite how dynamic Squeezed Britain is. Only 10 per cent of people who are currently officially ‘squeezed’ were in that category for each of the last 15 years. In any one year, around a third of people leave the group, of which two-thirds move up the income scale. People who move down are more likely to have children, not have a job or be a carer. Those who move up are more likely to have a degree, no children, a job and own property. Over a four-year period, around half of all working age people would find themselves in the low-to-middle-income group group for at least a year. This dynamism gives hope. It shows that it can be normal to exit the squeezed part of Britain, and that targeted interventions at vulnerable times can make a big difference to outcomes. It points immediately to the importance of universal, good-quality, affordable childcare; the Resolution Foundation report explains how it currently makes no financial sense for a second earner in a middle-income family with two children under five to work full time.
Posted by Kitty Ussher on 14 February 2013
The Conservatives’ masterstroke …
After two years of the Conservative-led coalition, the 13 years of Labour government might never have been. The Conservatives have become so adept at twisting any and all political machinations to their advantage that they have turned night into day. This is a government which became so incompetent so quickly that it had to stall everything from forest sell-offs to axing milk for five-year-olds. And yet the British public reward it with grudging approval for its ability to effortlessly change their minds. From the economy to phonehacking, the Leveson inquiry, the alternative vote and more besides, none have been the counsel of despair they rightly should have been for the Conservatives. All have presented Labour with the opportunity to show what it stands for. And yet, the Conservatives have triumphed each and every time.
Posted by David Talbot on 18 February 2013
… and the mask slips
‘I regard marriage as an institution that has developed over many centuries, essentially for the provision of a warm and safe environment for the upbringing of children, which is clearly something that two same sex partners can’t do.’ David Jones, the Conservative secretary of state for Wales, steeped himself in controversy by making deeply offensive and pernicious remarks on ITV Wales’ Face to Face programme. Having watched the programme and read the transcript, it is hard not to be struck by the tone in which the statement was delivered, serving to scratch the surface of Jones’ veneer, revealing a rather unpleasant and obnoxious demeanour and proving his courteous and respectable air to be just an act. His remarks were rightly met with anger and calls for him to resign. In response to the outrage he caused, the cabinet member was forced to clarify his comments. Not withdraw them. Not apologise for them. But clarify them – implying that we all simply misunderstood him. David Cameron’s task of dragging his party kicking and screaming into the 21st century seems to grow by the day. In Wales there is only one progressive alternative: Welsh Labour.
Posted by Elliott Perkins on 22 February 2013
Reassurance versus transformation
The biggest visible difference [on health] between the parties is that Labour is opening up discussion on transformational change while Jeremy Hunt is steering away from the issue. Labour’s questions on single budgets, merged health and social care and primary and secondary care too, are good ones but put the party at the forefront of some difficult and controversial issues. The Conservatives support such transformational change in principle but are finding the practice challenging and seem to be following a political strategy of reassurance after all the changes introduced in the Health and Social Care Act.
Posted by Neil Churchill on 13 February 2013
On the case
For many years North-west Leicestershire was a tropical island of red in a sea of blue, the only strong Labour borough in the county and then, in 2007, it all changed. We were down to our last five councillors and in danger of being usurped by the Liberal Democrats as the official opposition. But we did not give up. Every member of our Labour group has dedicated themselves, more than ever, to the central tenet of service. We, like countless Labour members up and down the country, have made casework an absolute priority. In effective casework we are not only able to show we support every part of our community, we are able to determine trends very quickly where the administration is failing. Recently our group has used this technique to capitalise heavily with regional media on a campaign relating to rights of access, a campaign which has shown Labour to be in touch with local people, at the expense of the Tory administration. Roll on 2015 when we know we will make that final breakthrough.
Posted by Leon Spence on 22 February 2013