Cable invents a new kind of new politics

Why are the LibDems so hopeless.  One reason amongst many is that they haven't fought an election before with promises that in their wildest dreams they thought they would have to keep. Another is that its in their genes.  Take a look at their past in the early reaches of the 20th century

Now, after succumbing to the temptations of power they are finding that it takes more than a leader who looks good on a one night stand. 

Cable is now behaving more like Mr Bean than Gordon Brown ever did, The totally bizarre and unprecedented prospect of him being the first cabinet minister ever to formulate legislation  only to abstain from voting for it,  is truly a new kind of politics, but not the one Clegg and Cameron promised.

What is all this about?  Party unity where there is none, face saving when the stage is well past where this is a possibility.

Whatever they do will make the party's position untenable.  For those LibDems who vote against there may be a brief respite from the ire of the ever increasingly angry students.

Looking at the polls and the anxieties of LibDem members and activists, this is only the beginning of their troubles as members of a party whose only rationale is to prop up a Tory government that couldn't win an election at a time when Labour were at its lowest ebb for decades.

History tells us that when Liberals start messing with Tories the Liberals always lose out or split.

LibDem councillors are sitting as  independents.  How long before this happens in Parliament which would inevitably lead to a split. 

Of course the in the history of  20th century British politics the various Liberal splits and alliances (primarily with the Tories) is a running footnote that continues to this day.  Come on Charlie Kennedy how about it.

Wales shows it cares about Higher Education

Welsh students will not have to pay increased tuition fees.  Leighton Andrews Education Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government announced today that: "…. the increase in fees for Welsh domiciled students, whether they study in England or Wales or Scotland or Northern Ireland, will be paid by the Welsh Assembly Government.

In Wales, like England basic tuition fees will rise to between £6,000 and  £9,000. The Welsh government will meet the cost of extra fees for students domiciled in Wales attending any UK university. Top-slicing the teaching grant for Welsh universities is paying for the subsidy.

Higher education should be on the basis of the individual's potential to benefit, and not on the basis of what they can afford to pay. This is a 'Made in Wales' policy which demonstrates the benefits of devolution. We are preserving the principle that the state will subsidise higher education and maintain opportunities for all.

Welsh domiciled students will continue to be eligible for subsidised loans to meet the costs of the current level of tuition fee, £3290 per annum, plus inflation in future years.

Tories prepare for the May local elections

The controversal housing benefit cap is to be postponed until January 2012

The official reason given is that councils have not had time to prepare for possible exodus of tenants from high-rent areas such as central London.   Councils in London estimate 18,645 households in London will be adversely affected by the  caps,   of which 14,661 are households with  children.

A related housing benefit cut will be brought forward more quickly for new tenants than the planned start date of October.

However the real reason is that the government does not want to be overwhelmed by  stories of pensioners being forced to leave their homes unable to pay rent due to cuts in housing benefit in the run up to the May local elections. 

And now the June estimate of 490,000 public sector job cuts, following the government's October spending review has now been downgraded to  330,000  job losses 

George Osborne seems to think that this is because he has cut welfare bills rather than cutting public services.That's strange as the welfare cuts  aren't operative yet.  Of course he's gambling,   when he also says  "private sector job creation will far outweigh the reduction in public sector employment."

It could be of course, as has been widely reported,  that  ministers are telling him that savage manpower cuts to their ministries are plain impossible. 

LibDem activists are not happy

The BBC reports at  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11860155  a group of LibDems including a significant proportion of defeated parliamentary candadates are calling on all LibDem MPs to vote against the rise in tuition fees.

It seems that this  press release appeared on Derek Deedman's, a LibDem West Sussex County Councillor, website  http://derekdeedman.mycouncillor.org.uk/      but is only just being picked up by the media.

How many other groups of LibDem activists around the country feel the same.  Speak up now and support the students!

PRESS RELEASE ON BEHALF OF 104 LIBERAL DEMOCRATS PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES

November 19th, 2010 by derekdeedman
Comment?

‘No to tuition higher tuition fees, yes to Liberal Democrat integrity’
A petition, calling on all Liberal Democrat MPs to vote against the proposed rise in tuition fees when this is debated in Parliament before Christmas, has been sent to all the 57 Liberal Democrat MPs.
This petition has been established in opposition to the coalition government’s current proposed policy on tuition fees and has been signed by 104 of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidates at the 2010 General Election (over 15% of the total Lib Dem candidates).
The petition was conceived and produced by Craig Bichard, with the support of Derek Deedman, the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Arundel & South Downs at the 2010 General Election. Craig is a 19-year-old student and passionate member of the Arundel & South Downs Liberal Democrats, and it is his ambition to become a Liberal Democrat MP in the future.
Both Craig and Derek feel very strongly that unlike manifesto policies, which are aspirations to be delivered by an overall majority government or used as a basis for a compromise agreement in a coalition situation, the unconditional pledge made by Liberal Democrat Candidates to vote against any rise in tuition fees is a promise which must be kept – and 103 other Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidates at the 2010 General Election agree and have signed the petition. All agree that this is a red line issue and the provision in the Coalition Agreement for Liberal Democrat MPs to abstain is not sufficient.
Go to the link on the left to read the full petition.

Your Hospital

Today the Observer headlines  19 Hospitals have high death rates, and  NHS 'failing patients' on crucial care.   Inside are two articles;  one that puts a human face on what it calls a catalogue of human errors, and an article by health minister Andrew Landsley. 

These are timed to coincide with the publication of The Dr Foster Hospital Guide which can be downloaded at www.drfosterhealth.co.uk

Please don't panic, to get some good info about your local Royal Devon and Exeter Hostpital Trust's performance in the form of a report card go to  http://www.drfosterhealth.co.uk/quality-reports/trust.aspx?otype=2&id=42

However does the inevitable drift towards privatisation and the introduction of a profit motive , which must occur  when as Landsley writes..."Soon GPs will be responsible for designing and paying for local health".  as described in  our blog The Biggest Threat to the NHS Yet  which has a link to Unite's website where the dangers of  Landsley's policies are explained in detail.

New Politics. Fresh Ideas

Today The Labour National Policy Forum is launching a a Policy Consultation under the coordination of Liam Byrne. 

Go to        http://www2.labour.org.uk/uploads/627be4a0-3840-24f4-51aa- 6bf6bab434eb.pdf

Hear Ed Miliband's speech at  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11854088

Where does all the money come from?

About 80 to 100 thousand  people are demonstrating in Dublin against the austerity measures.  Many are saying that the government has no mandate for the cuts.  One man, who works in finance interviewed by the BBC said, while holding his young child, that Ireland should default and that the consequences would not be  catastrophic, and that government bond holders  should take some of the loss.  Argentina defaulted in 2001. 

Read about it and a comparison with Greece  Argentina: Life after Default by Richard Lim  at    http://www.soundsandcolours.com/articles/argentina/argentina-lessons-learnt-from-the-aftermath-of-default/

The coalition  is prepared to lend over  £7bn  to Ireland, which has upset some of the euro sceptic wing of Osbourne's party.  Hold on, where does this money come from?   Its borrowed of course. We are told that because Britain pays much less than Ireland to borrow...by the way Ireland's bonds are now officially classified as "junk".... Britain, by charging a higher rate of interest, will make a profit. However,  we are continually told that the deficit is costing an arm and a leg each day, surely borrowing more for Ireland doesn't make sense. The trouble is Ireland is not only our most important trading partner, but our banks have lent so much to Ireland's banks, who are the main cause of Ireland's misery,  that we can't afford to let them fail. Labour agrees, but it just shows you how far removed international finance is from that of the electorate.

But away from Ireland, commuters in London and the South East  have been promised £8bn to reduce commuter crush by buying more carriages and electrification schemes. At the same time Cameron is keeping plans for a £17bn high speed rail link between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. More borrowing, more interest payments, more deficit?

Devon students occupy Plymouth University in protest against fees

Plymouth students like others in the country are occupying a part of the University. Below is their statement.

Dear University of Plymouth Staff, faculty and students,
 
We would like to state this is a non-violent and peaceful
occupation protest of the cuts and proposed rise of Tuition fees for
Further and Higher Education by the coalition government. 
 
We have the following demands to the University of Plymouth and
request a written statement in response to the following before we
agree a satisfactory end of the occupation.
 
WE DEMAND:
 
i. The University to condemn the cuts and support the
student body and lecturers and oppose the proposed
higher tuition fees for Higher and Further education.
ii. The protection of Widening Participation at the University
of Plymouth.
iii. That the University of Plymouth Student Union receives
no cuts to it’s budget due to changes in the block grant
allocation, so it can continue to represent the rights of the
student body at maximum ability.
iv. We demand that a Student Union Representative is
present at future meetings concerning budgets that
directly effect students.
v. We demand that the University states its intentions and
plans for Arts and Humanities. The response should
include: lecturing staff, undergraduate, postgraduate and
research of all areas.
vi. We demand that there be no redundancies to any staff,
ancillary or sub-contracted staff.
vii. We demand financial cuts to senior staff salaries of
£100,000 and over.
viii. We demand that any rise in fees to be reflected with a rise
in bursaries, hardship and access funds for low income
students and families and those with disabilities. 
ix. We demand the University re-dress the balance of
education over enterprise.
x. We demand that the University agree to make a
statement in support for solidarity of the victimisation of
the Millbank Protesters of 10/11/10.
xi. We demand that the University states it will take no
disciplinary action to any participants or supporters of the
occupation and support our actions.
  
We will only accept a written response to these demands and will
remain until we agree that the demands have been met
satisfactorily and assurances that they will be upheld.
 

Our intention is not to interrupt the studies of fellow students or
lecturers and welcome support from those who wish to join us or
join the rally. We will be planning informational events, debates
and visual material during the occupation.
These will be listed on facebook-
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Plymouth-Students-Against- Cuts/142291359155295?ref=ts&v=wall  with updates.  

We Invite students, staff, interested parties to join us and express
your support by making a statement for us to display, there will be
a petition for support to be sent to Downing Street.
 
We would like to state that Universities are places of education
and should not be privatised and are not businesses. This would
be detrimental to the cultural fabric and structure of communities
nationwide. 

 In solidarity we unite...
 
The University of Plymouth Occupation Group (UPOG)

Student protests: Both students and markets are upending the case for cuts.

This article by Seumas Milne in today's Guardian is a must read. Do it now!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/24/students-and-markets-undermine-case-for-cuts

A cheer for Ed Miliband

Yesterday's PMQ was very instructive. While commentators focused on the fact that Ed Miliband split his 6 questions into two groups ( just like Michel Howard, but unlike Tony, we are told) nothing seems to have been noted about his effectiveness beyond a grudging, he was OK. 

If you have a chance to reprise the event and make a closer analysis, note how Cameron's responses, when he is pressed for an answer, quickly turn to a form of repetitive and bullying attack. There is no doubt that Cameron, if things are not going to plan, is always prepared to turn any encounter into a form of verbal barrage in an attempt to unsettle his opponent and to embed some sound bites into journalist's copy. He did this very effectively with Gordon Brown. The latter portrayed as a bully himself was mercilessly bullied by Cameron at every opportunity. 

But of course Cameron is only using a public relations script delivered at top voice. In this way Cameron hides his ignorance of detail. Douglas Alexander Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said following Prime Minister's Questions yesterday,  how Cameron, after a word in his ear from his Chancellor, got it flat wrong at yesterdays PMQ.  

“He was asked about his own government’s plans to cut mobility support for people in care homes but confused it with separate reforms he is proposing to the Disability Living Allowance. “It is clear that neither the Chancellor or the Prime Minister understand either the detail of their own plans or the impact of these changes."He also depends on Tory stooges who set him up for the delivery of scripted soundbites.

Miliband did very well asking sharp questions about school sports provision and banker's salaries. However, given the opportunity, he could have responded to one Cameron jibe about his role with Gordon Brown, with more force and clarity about Cameron's own role as a political adviser at Norman Lamont's side throughout Black Wednesday in 1992, which saw the pound crash out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. 

It is time that the discontents in Labour's  parliamentary party take more responsibility and focus on the real enemy. It is not the time to deliver policy statements only to feed Tory soundbites but to reveal simply and directly the story that this government is writing, and the market driven ideology that underpins, and is a cloak for, the cuts and changes in health, education and welfare.  Read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein to get the full flavour.


Cameron is not worth listening to because he has nothing to say. Osbourne, Gove, Landsley have a free hand and Cameron is their PR. Treat him as such, an  front man, irrelevant to the real issues and attack the neo-conservatives in Government who are doing the real damage. Maybe there are some LibDems who feel the same, but Simon Hughes is your party really worth saving while everything worth having is fed to the lions of privatisation?

Gove is more dangerous than you know

Michael Gove on the radio this morning.  What an ego. The interview littered with lines prefaced with “in my judgement” with little to justify his pronouncements in terms of research, notions of best practice or breath of experience. What is this man’s background?

What justification is there for ex service officers receiving free teacher training?  I suppose Gove thinks by playing the patriotic card and sending military team leaders into under performing schools the Tories will mop up the Daily Mail readers of Wooton Basset.

So the best schools, presumably designated by Ofsted inspections will become the centres of teacher training on the job, regardless of Ofsted themselves claiming that the existing system within HE is best in delivering a desirable balance between theory and practice. When this was questioned, the only response he could give was again prefaced with “in my judgement”.

This man is dangerous.  He seems to think he is some kind of intellectual but his thinking is based on a patchwork of neo- conservative ideology and what could only be described as the outcome of some sort of personal trauma

The biggest threat to the NHS yet

The future of the NHS will be the next great issue. What is at stake?  

Without a mention in any manifesto the Coalition plans to replace Primary Care Trusts with GP Consortiums.

Family doctors will have greater autonomy and influence over their patients' treatment through control of £80bn of the NHS budget  All hospital trusts will become semi-independent foundation trusts.

\

65% of GPs do not want the government’s plan, think they should not be compelled to take part and that the plans are potentially damaging. They do not want to take on the huge responsibilities. 

These untried and untested plans, expose the NHS to an unacceptably high level of financial and clinical risk. and doctors consider the proposals are not a good use of public money when the NHS has to save £15bn-£20bn.

Over 50% of GPs think the government’s timetable for change is unrealistic and unachievable.  

Trust in GPs could be undermined as almost total control of finances means that practices must  consider financial concerns alongside clinical ones. which may lead to some patients losing access to vital services.

Neighbouring GP consortiums could vary in the level and type of service available.

Overspending consortiums will not be bailed out. Will patients get particular treatments if their consortium is in deficit?

Given the novelty of the new system for most GPs,  doctors will need a great deal of organisational support.

The new system will increase the role of the private sector as GP consortiums will be free to buy in  support from private companies.

David Furness of the Social Market Foundation, quoted in The Guardian, “Private health firms scent big opportunity in NHS outsourcing plans”, 17 July 2010.

Visit Unite at www.unitetheunion.org/unite4ournhs 

Devon's Tory MPs are too busy

A friend...see photo...who is a very active  campaigning member of the   Devon Pensioner's Action Forum told me that when members requested a meeting with their MPs they were universally told that they were too busy.  Hands up the photogenic Mel Stride, newly elected MP for Central Devon, who  didn't even have the courtesy to reply until an email was sent to his agent Mike Knucky.  Neil Parrish, Honiton and Tiverton and Hugo Squire, East Devon were likewise too busy.  At least they got a nice piece in the Western Morning News, although rather less word count than Mel Stride contributes to local rags in his constituency. Perhaps he was too busy writing a column.

Lord Young blurts out what the Coalition really thinks

Lord Young Cameron's enterprise guru told the Daily Telegraph that low interest rates meant home-owners were actually better off thanks to the "so-called recession” and that people had never had it so good.

He also dismissed the 400,000 plus job cuts expected in the public sector as being "within the margin of error” and that complaints about spending cuts came from "people who think they have a right for the State to support them".

Sorry Dave, better stick with Huskies they're more reliable.  

LibDems' Cable doesn't do promises

In a BBC interview on Sunday 21 Nov Vince Cable, displaying tricky footwork insisted

• The pre-election pledge to oppose any rise in tuition fees was not binding;
• That the coalition's plans to increase fees did not make the Lib Dems' untrustworthy;
• That the Lib Dems "haven't betrayed anybody";
• The LibDems didn’t break a promise; 
• It is simply a matter of political judgment.

Why then had Clegg  said before the Election raising tuition fees would be a "disaster". 

Cable thinks a lot of the protesters don't understand the proposals, and anyway they only affect people who start going to university in a couple of years' time.

So, if it doesn't affect you shut up. So much for principles!