I'm quite glad that Parliament is shutting down this week as I've had more than enough of career politicians. "Courageous" Purnell has already landed himself a job with Demos and does nothing but carp about his former boss. Jacqui Smith was on the telly the other night bleating about how she should have had "training" to be Home Secretary. Poor dear....
Certain wisdoms can only be acquired by life experience and the problem is that most of our Cabinet has never faced the daily grind of an ordinary job and an ordinary life. People like Purnell were parachuted into safe seats (I know because his predecessor, Tom Pendry, boasted about it to me during a magazine interview a couple of years ago) They strut around thinking they are demi-gods when in fact they are devoid of any other principle other than self-interest.
MPs on already big salaries think they are perfectly entitled to claim every perk going, including £400 a month EXTRA for food, when most of their constituents are heading off to Lidl and struggling to hang onto their jobs.
The electorate has lost faith in its MPs and during the summer break they should think long and hard about how on earth they are going to re-build confidence and faith. Even the "party faithful" have had enough.
The good news is that in at least one London constituency , Brentford and Isleworth, the CLP is taking active steps to try and remove the gravy trainers. A shame Salford CLP did not take such a stance over Hazel Blears.
At the beginning of this year, I had aspirations to be a PPC. My only aspiration as of now is to try and get more work to pay the bills . I had a frenzied few days this week writing film and book reviews for an internet site only to discover that the average remuneration is about four pence per 250 words, It is not a career option......
When my fortunes improve, I will probably re-discover an enthusiasm for blogging. At the moment, along with millions of others, I'm just trying to survive. And hold together my local Labour Party branch which has almost fallen apart.
Sunday, 19 July 2009
WAITING IN THE WINGS.....
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9 comments:
Hi Susan,
see you make a number of references in recent postings to the War against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Including telling Lee Skevington from Yeovil that most Labour Party members do not support the war.
The editorial cartoon in this weeks Observer makes interesting reading. A member of the Taliban sits crossed legged holding an AK-47. The caption reads:
"The sooner you give up on this war and go home. The sooner we can get back to beheading infidels, stoning women, persecuting school girls, producing heroin and exporting Jihad." In Peace.
Dave Draycott
U'm not entirely sure I agree with you here, Susan. Iy does appear to me that it is strange that an MP should have no specific training to become a minister. Many MP's will have been councillors so will have that experience, but being a minister is something quite different and the way people are expected to move from one department to the next and know a lot about all of the different areas doesn't make sense.
I also don't particularly mind Purnell working with Demos. He has talked about the major problem of the divisiveness of faith schools - its high time that religion and education were kept entirely apart, so I can only hope that Labour will start standing up to the religionists, preferably ensuring they are reduced, as in France, to their proper place in the private sphere.
Jacqui Smith has had an ordinary job. She was a schoolteacher. Alan Johnson was a postman. I agree that there are too many professional politicians, but most normal people don't want to spend half the week away from their partner and family. Because the British public insists on the MP being an unqualified social workers, they have to be prepared to live part of the time in the constituency and part ion London. No wonder that appeals to professional politicos!
It is daft trying to pretend that MP's can be compared to people who have much more mainstream lives. They are best compared with senior management or professionals with two bases and I think you would find expenses there more than generous.
Frankly, its the British public who need to wake up, not the MP's. A pathetic bunch of sheep one minute whinging about expenses they would claim given the chance, the nest sentimentally crying over the deaths of people who have voluntarily enrolled in a job which involves killing people and being killed. If they get killed its simply a hazard of the job. Sad for the individuals involved - bit there are many more people dying every day who didn't choose to become part of a military machine
Sure, there are things which need change, but once again you are displaying this rather unpleasant puritanism which has always made me cynical and wary of the left of the Labour party.
I also have little work lined up - I don't know if there is any online tutoring within your field, which is what I have started doing.
And now that America and Britain are out in this country, have we stopped anything, are they still selling drugs and exporting violence, answer on a post car please.
Dave, when I worked for the Government News Network some years ago people were sent to Afghanistan on a regular basis. The drugs barons ruled it then and they ruled it now.
Has the British presence in the past eight years made any difference to the influence of the Taliban? Has it been worth all the deaths in a war which John Reid said he hoped would end witohut a single military casualty? Perhaps you think it is worth it. I do not. It is not the UK's role to act as policeman of the world.
Being pragmatic, its totally understandable why the Afghanis choose to grow heroin poppies - what else is there for them to do to earn a living?
I fully agree with you on this one. I find it incongruous how we keep being told that 'polls' (in Afghanistan - give me strength...) say the taliban are unpopular yet there is no evidence of this. Sadly, the presence of the US and other troops are the recruiting sergeants they need, and I am no fan of fundamentalist religionists of any creed.
Hi Susan,
when troops first went into Afghanistan there were no demos. I don't remember any real level of opposition.The reason: there were direct links to : Bin Laden's group: there were a number of training camps and you may have heard of something called 9/11. Also there was a UN mandate . Now the US and their western allies may be forgiven for considering the killing of 3000 plus civilians in the twin towers, an attack on their military centre in the Pentagon and the third plane was said to be heading for the Whitehouse to be an act of war!
The Taliban were sheltering and supporting those who carried out these attacks. People in the West realised it was about their own security.
So Merseymikes sneering at troops dying in Afghanistan really is contemptible. They're putting their lives on the line and dying to protect people in this country. And whatever you may think of military organistions surely anyone has to admire their courage. One young guy of 18 was killed as he attempted to carry his comrade to safety. Yeah as you say dying is something that soldiers do.
Also the polls in Afghanistan do indicate support for the coalition (where does the 'give me strength' come from': Afghans aren't capable of giving an opinion like sophisticated westerners such as Merseymike?) Or better still the polls are inevitably a stitch up (there would be no problem of course if the polls said the opposite.) Watch a documentary or two on British Broadcasting media which you might say is not particularly pro the Labour Government.
'No fan of fundamentalist religionists of any creed.' And what would happen if the coalition withdrew in the morning? Why Helmand would be immediately in the hands of 'fundmentalist religionists."And the threat in Pakistan would increase. Your basic argument comes down to 'I don't give a damn.'And I'm well aware the Karzia Government leaves a lot to be desired to put it mildly.
And Susan it's not acting as the World's policeman it's about our own security.
Still I suspect if you had been around in 1945 you would have picketed the Normandy landings as 'acts of Imperialist aggression.'
Dave Draycott
Dave, perhaps if you stopped posting after midnight you would not suggest I would have been pro-fascist in the Second World War.
That is both despioable and stupid.
As I recall, there WAS opposition to troops going into Afghanistan . You may also be surprised to know that in 2001 I , unlike many in my local Labour Party, supported it.So did our MP Chris McCafferty though many MPs, including yours at the time, did not.
Seven years on, what exactly has been achieved? Yes, 3000 people died on 9/11.
That was justified also as a reason for going into Iraq. The excuse I'm afraid is wearing very thin.
As Merseymike said , military occupation has been a recruiting-sergeant for the Taliban. It has also led to the deaths of 170 British troops.
No, Dave, they are NOT dying to protect this country. Not one iota. They are dying because governments have decided that they want to mount an unwinnable war there, and are intent on wasting both lives and money in doing so.
I would respect someone far more for refusing to partake in this charade at all. Not sheep who follow.
Hi Susan,
despite the busy, busy life I lead earning a living and being a Labour Party and Trade Union activist I can assure you I was as mentally alert when I wrote that posting, as when I sprang from my bed in the morning.
And can I state that I was not making the accusation that you would have been pro-fascist in WWII. I was accusing you of being anti-war in all circumstances. In fact opponents of the war in the 40s ranged from pacifists to CPers who had problems with Hitler's oppression which they did not have with Stalin's.
So a little unfair to call me 'despicable and stupid.' The interpretation you put on what I said was wrong.
If you supported the War against the Taliban in 2001 can I ask what's changed?
I expect when John Reid said what he did it was an understandable aspiration rather than a likely expectation. The basic difference between the Iraq and Afghan Wars was that there was a UN mandate in the Afghan War (the lack of a UN mandate was a reason for opposition to the War in Iraq.} Also there was a direct link with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan which did not exist in Iraq. Indeed the Iraqi Baathist secular despotism was hostile to the nasties in Al Qaeda who place themselves on a religious basis. So your comments do not stand up.
Again opposition to this war was limited and the fact that a few on the left opposed it is neither here nor there. There was no mass opposition.
Nothing has been achieved? The fact is we are still in the middle of the war and not near the end. Afghanistan has been denied the Taliban as a state which is a safe haven to build for terrorist attacks and I would hope this can delivered on a permanent basis with peace returning. It is good news that rules of engagement for air strikes have been changed which should reduce civilian casualties. The fact is, though they have to go hand in hand to some extent, it will not be possible to properly deliver development until security is delivered. A good role for progressives would be to push for that development to be delivered in sufficient quantity.
Doing nothing also has its consequences.
Nothing has changed? We are a long way from enough changing in Afghanistan. The fact is the majority of the Afghan people do support the coalition forces. I take it you only accept the majority voice of a people as having any validity when they agree with you. The Afghans clearly value not having the Taliban in Government (for the effects of which please see my earlier posting quoting The Observer. Not to mention the large number of returnees from exile.
Isn't it a pity you did not get as upset by another of your contributors (Merseymike) having contempt for British deaths in Afghanistan as you did for what you decided was a slur against you. Indeed you quote the man.
And Merseymike: British troops are fighting for our security and shouting that they are not does not change that one iota. As I said above doing nothing has consequences. I suspect that you occupy that section of the Left which never makes a decision that has any consequence in the real world leaving you free to rail against the decisions of those who do. In your response you put not one argument. You present not one fact. You glue together a handful if unsubstantiated assertion.
Now I know a lot of people have understandable concerns about this war. That isn't your position however. You simply have the reflex response of some on the Left to any action by western governments as wrong. So who's the sheep? You do not have one grounded argument to put just smug assertion. While others can do the dying to allow you to do that......in peace.
Dave Draycott
PS hope 11.45 isn't too late.
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