As the dust settles, and the vile reality sinks in, that we have been conned into a Tory Government, the runners and riders are starting to emerge for Labour Leader.
I'm not sure the news that Charlie Falconer and John Hutton ( who?) are backing David Miliband will exactly boost his chances. But yes at this stage he's favourite to win
However, I have been reading some of the testimonies from people who have re-joined Labour after being hoodwinked by the Liberal Democrats.
Most have expressed their disillusion and disbelief at the duplicity of MPs like Clegg and supposed "leftie" Huhne, saying a perfunctory goodbye to his anti-nuclear power and anti-Trident position and waving hello to a fat salary and limo.
In recent years, many voters were understandably seduced by the Party's holier-than-thou presentation of itself as to the left of Labour. Many, understandably given New Labour's appalling record on civil liberties, believed it. They fthought us foolish for staying put and sticking with it despute being in the minority.
But now the leaders of their Party have done a disgusting volte face and with jaw-dropping arrogance and lack of judgment expect their own not to be dismayed.
Which is why 10,000 more people ( most Lib Dem supporters) are Labour Party members one week on from May 6. Welcome to all - however, it's just not enough to take the subs and carry on with the status quo.
The Party - from top to bottom - must recognise that its policy agenda and the way it treats its membership has to change if any gains from LibDem anger are to be permanent. Because let's face it one of the reasons we lost was so many things could have been so different.
Labour, too, had its cuts agenda. Threre is no point in pretending otherwise
But there is now the chance to start building an alternative.socialist policy platform
The savage and immediate £6 billion in cuts coming from the loved-up CamClegg hypocrites must be opposed and we must defend with all our might the frontline services which now are going to be attacked. Trade union rights must be defended and jobs defended.
That kind of radical change cannot possibly hapen with a Leader still signed up to cuts and privatisation, a Leader tainted by support for war in Iraq, and above all a Leader who is the elite's agreed heir to Blair. They may be nailing their coliors firmly to the mast. It is our job as ordinary activists to burst the David Miliband bubble.
Friday, 14 May 2010
WHY IT CAN'T BE DAVID MILIBAND...
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10 comments:
Susan, forgive me if I speak bluntly but when you write foolish things like:
" The savage and immediate £6 billion in cuts coming from the loved-up CamClegg hypocrites must be opposed
it is necessary to spell out the reality which you are obviously ignoring.
We're broke, skint, our credit card is maxed-out, we lack even a pot to piss in!
"governments bailed out the banks. But who bailed out the governments who bailed out the banks? The banks bailed them out, by buying their paper. That is why banks that hold large amounts of weaker sovereign paper may go bankrupt all over again. The stronger governments therefore will support the weaker governments. But there is a limit to how long the charade can continue."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/LE11Dj04.html
You, perhaps better than most, know at first hand what it is like to live on the financial edge - it is necessary to cut your expenditure to match your income. If in the past you have over-spent and your credit card is maxed-out, then you have to cut. Dare I say, 'There Is No Alternative'! A socialist government would not have the money to nationalise anything, and I assume you are not advocating that a Labour government would simply steal company's assets because virtually everyone's pension depends on them.
Your party promised £5bn cuts, compared to the Tories' £6bn, and they both did it in the absolutely certain knowledge that it was going to need a hell of a lot more than that to begin to balance the books and to assuage our money lenders who are crucial to our very financial existence for the next few years.
I'm sorry to say this but whilst there is an argument to be had about where the cuts should fall, there is absolutely no argument that there must be cuts. So stop being silly and writing the sort of childish nonsense normally reserved for placards! And I strongly urge you to read the link, particularly the bits on our aging population.
David Duff
It's The Rich Wot Gets The Pleasure.it's The Poor Wot Gets The Blame.
Actually, what this indicates is that the capitalist system is not sustainable as it is currently organised, and that globalisation is going to implode.
On the subject of the Milibands. Its interesting that two campaign group members are supporting Ed Miliband - including Linda Riordan in Halifax, who as a Yorkshire MP may well know him.
Hi D & N,
don't forgive me if I speak bluntly. Gordon Brown managed the economy at the point of recesssion that stopped it becoming a depression. His timely keynesian intervention saved the banks and also therefore saved millions of jobs, viable firms going under and people losing their homes. For this he recieved zero credit not unnaturally from the right wing press but also from the liberal commentariat of Guardian writers and newsnight self-publicists.
The free market consensus which preceded the recession was a consensus of all the political mainstream partys and the media (including dear old Vince Cable.)Labour at least moved on at the instant it was nescessary to move on (the only instand that matters in politics. Cameron and Osborne being economic illiterates had nothing but opposition to the Labour Government's actions. If your Party had been in power the welfare of working people would not have been the priority. As your Chancellor said of unemployment 'it's a price worth paying'....only of course because people like Nigel Lawson or David Cameron or George Osborne never have to pay it and they lack the political imagination to grasp the reality of it's effects.
There was a choice: a massive deficit, subsequently properly managed or we can stand in the ruins and admire the view. Foreign politicians and commentators have been able to see this and cannot understand why Brown got so much grief not to say character assassination.
Dave Draycott
'Dave', I forgive you!
But whilst I have no wish to spoil the pleasant dreamland you inhabit I can't help thinking that you are a little ahead of "events, dear boy, events"!
You wrote: " Gordon Brown managed the economy at the point of recesssion that stopped it becoming a depression. His timely keynesian intervention saved the banks and also therefore saved millions of jobs, viable firms going under and people losing their homes" and I must assume that you think it's all over, done and dusted, just a little cut here, a bitmore tax there, and we can all go home. Dream on!
I can only repeat the quote I provided for Susan and suggest to you very strongly that you read the link in full:
"governments bailed out the banks. But who bailed out the governments who bailed out the banks? The banks bailed them out, by buying their paper. That is why banks that hold large amounts of weaker sovereign paper may go bankrupt all over again. The stronger governments therefore will support the weaker governments. But there is a limit to how long the charade can continue."
To quote a phrase "You ain't seen anythin' yet!"
And we have yet to see the details of the Brown/Balls Ponzi scheme in unfunded pension obligations and PFI contracts, off-book accountancy practices that would see a company director in jail.
David Duff
Indeed, David, but you fail to understand that this is a fundamental problem with the design of the globalised capitalist system. It cannot sustain as it is. There needs to be significant change, which you probably cannot envisage. I would suggest the first step is total nationalisation of all financial institutions without compensation (and it can be done....though 'The Markets' may not like it). Tough. The second step will be import controls, preferably at European level. Fortress Europe , not free-trade Europe.
I cannot envisage? Don't be silly, Mike, I lived most of my life watching that in operation, it was called - hang on, it'll come back to me in a minute - what was it/ - oh yes, the Soviet Union.
Whatever happened to that, by the way?
David Duff
Eh? To be honest, what you think doesn't matter as you are a right wing Tory, and so we are not aiming to appeal to you.
You mean I'm a non-person.
Now where have I heard that before?
David Duff
Hi D n N,
loved the spin old thing ( and you are not a non-person to me....just a Tory with all the wrong ideas....but I'm willing to debate.....doesn't that give you a warm fuzzy glow.)
I was not suggesting it was all over. I said that Brown took action to prevent a recession becoming a depression. That implies that....we are in a recession. In fact we are just edging out of a recession. Even heard this confirmed by one of your Libcon Ministers last night on Newsnight (suspect he wouldn't have been so up beat a few weeks ago.)The steps your mates in Government are about to take risk pushing us into a double dip depression (which will then be blamed on the previous Labour Government.) However I am not alone in this: ask economists all over the world and Will Hutton and David Blanchflower.
The untrammelled free market is an unmitigated disaster. At the other end of the spectrum so is the scenario suggested by Merseymike: turbo charged protectionism landed us in a mess in the 30's and would do the same in the 2010's.
Regulation,government intervention, remutualistion just some of the steps needed.
Dave Draycott
PS I will read the link in full when I get a minute.
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