LIBERAL DEMOCRATS TOAST.......

Tonight a Town Council meeting in Hebden Bridge and look forward to passing on to the smug Lib Dems the news they are set to lose around two-thirds of their MPs according to a new IPSOS poll in the New Statesman. Labour are just two per cent behind the Tories at 38 per cent and the Libdems nowhere at 14 per cent.
Clegg may enjoy swanning and strutting and pretending to be a politician of substance. Hold your ire, comrades, because he is set for a serious kicking by an electorate incandescent at voting "progressive" and ending up with Thatcher's sons......climbing Brokeback mountain.


http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/07/puts-labour-poll-tories-mori

And another......

Many thanks to Uxbridge and South Ruislip CLP

MORE NEC nominations

Many thanks to Leeds Central and Cambridge CLP. The tally is now 16 CLPs

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Seventy years ago George Orwell famously commented on the poor diet of the working-class in The Road To Wigan Pier.
Orwell's fly-blown tripe shops may be no more but it seems the gap between life expectancy for the poor and the rich is back to where it was in the 1920's.
Bad nutrition and lifestyle among those with the least money is quoted as key to why people with money are twice as likely to live as their badly-off counterparts past the age of 65.
Teams at the universities of Sheffield and Bristol tracked the total number of deaths before 65 in regions where personal wealth was in the top 10 per cent from Britain , down to areas in the bottom 10 per cent. The figures showed for every 100 people dying under the age of 75 in the best-off areas, 188 were dying in the poorest tenth of areas -apparently the highest relative inequality recorded since at least 1921.
Why so? Last week I wrote a piece on obesity and itys health implications and spoke to a nutritionist in Leeds. She pointed out that these days people with less money are able to eat cheaply - and not feel hungry - but not necessarily well.
The problem is so bad in Yorkshire - second fattest county in the counntry - that Wakefield council is limiting the number of takeaways. Small beer in a world where lager is often cheaper than fizzy mineral water.
The Goverment is also storing up trouble for the NHS by its attitude to preventative health policy. It has just completely axed the £300M-plus budget for the Change4Life programme - launched only last year.
It also refuses to crack down on the bloated food and drink industry - which continues to mislead the public with ambivalent labelling as well as lure them in with loss leader deals on supersized sweets , cheap booze and junk burgers and pizzas.
The ConDems are also determined to cut down on welfare benefits even further so people can afford even less decent stuff to eat.
Ocado on Jobseeker's Allowance? Don't think so. These days, a root vegetable stew costs more to make than a family bucket of KFC.
Yes, people in poorer areas tend to smoke and drink more. They always did.
In the 19th century, gin palaces were said to be "the quickest way out of Salford" We know cigarettes are the number one destroyer of health and smoking is far more prevalent lower down the income scale.
But it is also true that many of the consequences of fags and booze are offset by a good diet and regular exercise.
Moderation may be the watchword of Middle England. It has never been the case amongst the aristocracy who tend to live to ripe old ages despite copious amounts of alcohol ( think Queen Mum and even chain-smoking, whisky-swilling Princess Margaret made it to 72) ) and rich food.
Authors of the recent study say the widening health gap is probably the result of the economic crash of 2008. With the prospect of a double-dip recession, the gap is likely to widen.

PRIORITIES

I've not blogged for a bit. Reason being I'm coming to terms with a very changed life in which me and my only surviving sister are what's left of a family of five.
I don't spend my days disassociated with what's going on politically. Far from it.
Every day brings more bad news about what this wretched Government is doing to dismantle our NHS, the public sector, welfare benefits we have taken for granted over 13 years of a Labour government which , despite its failings, protected the vulnerable and weak.If not enough.
This is a truth ( universally acknowleged) by all the would-be leaders of the Labour Party.Yet I hear the forthcoming Labour Party Conference will be same-old same-old with lots of speeches by ex-Ministers and precious little chance for you and me to have our say.
At the moment, I'm taking pleasure in the very small things of life. Cooking nice meals, drying herbs for winter, reading books (lots) and generally escaping from the facts of a mortality awareness which sometimes threatens to stop one engaging with the immediate.
If I had a time machine I would love to esacape back to the 1980's when death was an impossible. I know now it is an inevitable.
The experience I have had watching my father die has had a profound effect on my life. At 52, I have far more years behind than in front. So it's hard (and frankly pointeless) to get steamed-up about battles which in the long-term, are meaningless.
At the moment. am concentrating my efforts of forthcoming NEC campaign. The last year, though unremittingly bad, has taught me to concentrate on the things which matter. They are: family, friends and principles. I'm taking it all day by day and wish nothing more that in the months to comewe can start to re-build a Labour Party we can be proud of. That still matters enormously. But not as much as putting what's left of my family in order - and ensuring I look after them.

AND ANOTHER...

Thanks to Hyndburn CLP

NEC NOMINATIONS....

thanks to Portsmouth South CLP!

FUTILE, FINISHED AND F........KED

The latest racy instalment of Peter (Ker-ching) Mandelson's memoirs reveal the above slogan was dreamt up by him and the equally droll Alisdair Darling as the rest of the Party gritted its teeth and tried to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. As I said yesterday, Mandelson's spilling of very dirty linen in public is a gross disservice to the Party he claims to love. One can only hope the said slogan applies equally to Mandelson himself.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jul/12/mandelson-brown-labour-party-finished

PETER MANDELSON

I have always found it ironic that the left is blamed for disloyalty to Labour while the likes of Peter Mandelson have been allowed to get away with Machiavellian posturing for years. Now he shows his true colours by publishing a book slagging off Brown, Blair and everyone else who stopped his narcissistic wishes to be Mr High Command of Labour.
The timing of his book, The Third Man, could not be worse for the Labour Party. This clearly does not matter to someone who has pursued rich friends and high places for over two decades.
If he wishes to use Graham Greene -esque titles for his self-indulgent moneygrabbing, I have another suggestion. He is A Burnt Out Case.

THE MARCH OF TIME.......

Saturday's Durham Miner's Gala was a first for me but the 126th "Big Meeting" to be held. It was a great day.

The banners which were once proudly held aloft by local lodges of the NUM are now in the care of their local village communities but the day still serves as a reminder of the endurance and commitment of the socialist movement to building a better world.

I got my spot under the County Hotel balcony at 8.55am and was still there as the march ended at 13.35. Each banner is accompanied by a brass band and they played everything from the Internationale and Red Flag to Sex Bomb and Let Me Entertain You!

Watching from the balcony were stalwarts like Tony Benn , Bob Crow, and Jeremy Corbyn.

Despite advancing years, Tony Benn joined the march in honour of the banner (pictured) which bears his image- along with Nye bevan and Keir Hardie. But what a blip we all are in the march of time.

The most moving part of the day was at Durham Cathedral, where new banners were blessed and the building resounded with the magnificent sound of the bands marching them out. The stirring rendition of Jerusalem at the end moved many, including me, to tears.

Contingents from UNITE, the GMB, PCS and RMT, added their presence also to the march. I hope next year to be back - with the Labour Representation Commitee banner.

ANOTHER NOMINATION....

From Bournemouth West. Thanks comrades......

CASH FOR CANDIDATES

At last week's UNISON leadership hustings in Leeds, Andy Burnham remarked, quite rightly, that it was time to retreat from "the old ways" of parachuting candidates in and the culture of control freakery which for years has disallowed debate and discussion at events like Party Conference. So it's immensely depressing to note that, yet again, money and famous connections are likely to determine the outcome of the Labour leadership election.
David Miliband has received an astonishing £185,000 from pals like Lord Putnam and that geezer from Blur who fancies his chances as an MP.
Ed Balls has a mere £28,000, from novelist Ken Follett, Ed Miliband £15,000 and poor relations Burnham and Abbott have declared nothing.
Maybe I am naive - but I view the fact that money can seemingly buy expensive leaflets, PR machines and ultimately the highest office in the Labour Party as deeply wrong.
This campaign should be about ideas, not who has most friends in high places. There should be a cap on individual donations -or the same amount allocated to all.

THE BIG MEETING.....

This afternoon I'm up to Durham for the annual Miner's Gala, or the "Big Meeting" as it's often dubbed. I'm looking forward to it immensely after a roller-coaster week in which we finally said goodbye to my father - his funeral was on his 90th birthday July 7 but was happily more a celebration of a life well lived than a day to be sad.
I think anyone who has seen loved ones endure months of suffering will concur with me that there is an immense sense of release when they are finally at peace. After a time of great diostress I have no more crying left to do so, as he would have wished, I shall get on with stuff and be as positive as I can. The Miner's Gala is a good start.

PS: Last week I was sent to cover the Labour leadership hustings in Leeds . Completely uninspiring. None of them really has the gravitas required to be Leader. So in the end for many of us it's going to be a case of "Anyone But David Miliband." Sounds like Blair, talks like Blair, but without the charisma.........at least all the others agree we have to undergo a sea change and admit they got stuff wrong. Miliband senior is yesterday's man and yesterday's politics. Ed Miliband is, realistically, the only one with a chance of stopping him. But, compared to previous contenders, ie Michael Foot, Denis Healey, John Smith, Anthony Crosland, Tony benn, they are all lightweights