POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

Scottish politics grabbed the attention yesterday. See THIS BBC account of the SNP leadership election.
"Humza Yousaf is to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and Scotland's first minister after a vote of party members. Mr Yousaf defeated rivals Kate Forbes and Ash Regan in a leadership contest that exposed deep divisions within the party. The 37-year-old is the first Muslim to lead a major UK party. He is set to be confirmed as the first ethnic minority leader of a devolved government on Tuesday. Mr Yousaf is currently Scotland's health secretary and was widely assumed to be Ms Sturgeon's preferred successor, although she did not explicitly back any of the candidates in the contest. The leadership election was decided by the Single Transferable Vote system, with 50,490 of the SNP's 72,169 members casting a ballot - the vast majority of them online."
The thing that struck me was how fast the SNP got the job done. Made the Tory leadership elections look antediluvian.
Here in Westminster I see that Sunak's plan for the BofE to have it's own 'non fungible token' have been scrapped. It sounds as though commo0n sense has prevailed.... no doubt aided by the troubles besetting crypt currency operations around the world..
See THIS account of the Labour decision to vote on Jeremy Corbyn's eligibility to stand as a Labour candidate at the next election.
"Labour's governing body is set to vote on proposals to officially ban Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election. Sir Keir Starmer has tabled a motion at Tuesday's meeting of Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) that would prevent the party endorsing Mr Corbyn. Mr Corbyn is suspended from being a Labour MP and sits as an independent following a row over antisemitism. The former Labour leader said he was "not going anywhere". The BBC understands that Jeremy Corbyn is considering running as an independent candidate in Islington North if he is blocked from becoming the Labour candidate. In a statement, Mr Corbyn criticised the the Labour leader, claiming Sir Keir "has broken his commitment to respect the rights of Labour members and denigrated the democratic foundations of our party". "I joined the Labour Party when I was 16 years old because, like millions of others, I believed in a redistribution of wealth and power," he added."
This setting of the Labour Party's rejection of JC in concrete dismays me. Especially when there is so much opposition in Israel to the extreme brand of Zionist politics which was the basis of what JC was objecting to in Israel and the treatment of the Palestinians.
I hold no brief for the extreme brand of what was essentially London based factional socialism that I believe was what was actually at the root of the problems of the Corbyn era and do not believe that they should be allowed to form the basis for a national decision like this.
I am questioning whether the Starmer version of social democracy is one I can support and suspect that there will be many more long term Labour supporters asking the same question. Troubling times for me.......

[plaques]

Sir Keir Starmer has tabled a motion at Tuesday's meeting of Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) that would prevent the party endorsing Mr Corbyn.

Has the right-wing media grown so powerful that allowing Corbyn to stand as a Labour MP would wreck Starmer's chance of winning the next general election? No doubt there will be wall to wall coverage how the tail (Corbyn) is wagging the dog (Starmer). Unfortunately the last election showed that this right-wing approach worked. Corbyn became the bête noire for many of the voters classed as 'old school' with out of date policies. Events have subsequently shown that its the Tories who are turning the clock back with Johnson Truss and Rees-Mogg becoming the leaders of the Museum Party making everyone poorer by the day while blaming it on rubber boat asylum seekers.
I think Starmer is wrong but as a tactician It may well be the correct move. Sad day for true Labour followers.

[Stanley]

If you are correct Ken it is indeed a sad day for those of us who have kept the faith (and paid the subscriptions) despite the internal schisms in the party.
A sign that you could be right is that as far as I can see the decision has hardly caused a ripple in party politics.
Did you hear the rabid Tory supporter ranting on about left wing lawyers this morning? They'll be using 'Marxist' as an epithet again shortly.

[PanBiker]

I to am sorely vexed about the parties stance on anti-Semitism. During the witch hunt a long standing Labour councillor in our borough has been suspended on the same grounds. His appeal has been going on for months with no sign of a resolution. Any right minded person who looks on the government of Israel's stance on Palestine and its recent attack on it's own judiciary should have no doubt of where the majority of the problems are.

The absolute nonsense of JC's suspension is sorely testing my membership status. The only thing that is keeping me in and working in the roles that I have in the party is the belief that you can't change anything from the outside. It's a catch 22 situation.

[Stanley]

I agree totally Ian. I see that the stance against JC has hardened in that he is now barred from standing as any sort of Labour candidate. This action doesn't indicate strength in the leadership but insecurity..... Where do you end the prohibitions. If they expel everyone who sympathises with KC that's half the membership down the tube.
See THIS for a BBC report of the speech by Sunak in which he justifies putting children in “appropriate” holding accommodation. See this for his justification.
"Exempting children arriving in the UK on small boats from detention would create a "pull factor" and would put minors at risk, Rishi Sunak has said. The government's Illegal Migration Bill creates new powers to detain and remove those arriving in the UK illegally. On Tuesday, the prime minister argued these plans must include families so there was no "incentive" for people to bring children with them. He also downplayed suggestions the Rwanda scheme could begin this summer. Asked about the treatment of children at the Liaison Committee, Mr Sunak said: "The intention of this policy is not to detain children. "But it's important that we don't inadvertently create a policy that incentivises people to bring children who wouldn't otherwise come here. "We don't want to create a pull factor to make it more likely that children are making this very perilous journey in conditions that are appalling."
I watched Sunak giving evidence to a Parliamentary Committee on this same subject and he wouldn't commit to any estimate of what was 'appropriate' accommodation, where it would be or when it would be ready.
Benjamin Netanyahu would thoroughly approve of this as will the right wing press. It is a good indicator of where we are in the UK at the moment. At what point does extremism become fascism? I fear we are getting onto very dangerous ground here......
(Compare and contrast with the Kinder Transports....)

[plaques]

See THIS for a BBC report of the speech by Sunak in which he justifies putting children in “appropriate” holding accommodation. See this for his justification.

A slippery slope indeed. Tipping people out hotel accommodation where they may have spent the last year or more under Terresa May's 'Harsh Environment' and into less suitable accommodation is cruel beyond belief. There's even talk of placing them in old cruise ships which is reminiscent of Prison Ships before shipping convicts to Australia. Sunak and his Tories don't have a meaningful plan just a series of ever degrading steps painting immigrants as criminals even before they step on our shores.
Bearing in mind what happens to these immigrants will sooner of later be applied to the general population. Animal Farm all over again.

[Stanley]

What strikes me Ken is that most people don't see anything wrong with treating people like this. One suspects it was the same with the prison hulks on the Thames......

[PanBiker]

I agree totally Ian. I see that the stance against JC has hardened in that he is now barred from standing as any sort of Labour candidate. This action doesn't indicate strength in the leadership but insecurity..... Where do you end the prohibitions. If they expel everyone who sympathises with JC that's half the membership down the tube.

The Labour Party has lost 130,000 members from the Corbyn era peak. these are the ones that have already resigned and does not count the ones still in the party who are sorely challenged.

See this statement from Islington North Labour Party yesterday which makes it plain how two faced he is:

Statement from Islington North CLP Officers 28/03/23:

“Local Party members should select their candidates for every election.”

The officers of Islington North CLP strongly support this statement from Keir Starmer in February 2020.

"We believe in the democratic right of all constituency parties to choose their prospective parliamentary candidate. Therefore, we reject the NEC’s undue interference in Islington North, which
undermines our goal of defeating the Conservatives and working with our communities for social justice".

[Stanley]

Quite right too. Can't we do the same thing? You can count on my vote for it if we do.

[PanBiker]

Quite right too. Can't we do the same thing? You can count on my vote for it if we do.

But you don't go to the monthly All Member Meetings where any such motion would be presented.

[Stanley]

There are other ways of getting the vote of people who can't attend meetings.... It's called a postal ballot.
See THIS BBC report of Robert Jenrick's speech in the Commons yesterday about measures to curb migration. Note what he said.....
Mr Jenrick told the Commons "the sheer number of small boats have overwhelmed the asylum system" and said the government would "not elevate the wellbeing of illegal migrants above the British people". "Accommodation for migrants should meet essential living needs and nothing more, because we cannot risk becoming a magnet for the millions of people who are displaced and seeking better economic prospects," he added.
In other words the hostile environment on which Theresa May relied when she was Home Secretary is alive and well even if you are a babe in arms or a child. Is this what we have come to? Has the Tory immigration plan reached its ultimate cruelty or are there other measures still to be instituted.
In another episode in the House Dominic Raab in his role as Justice minister was berated by Labour's Angela Rayner for overseeing the collapse of prosecutions in rape cases. Caused directly of course by lack of investment in the justice system and shortage of skilled officers. Austerity has a lot to answer for.

[plaques]

Mr Jenrick told the Commons "the sheer number of small boats have overwhelmed the asylum system" and said the government would "not elevate the wellbeing of illegal migrants above the British people". "Accommodation for migrants should meet essential living needs and nothing more, because we cannot risk becoming a magnet for the millions of people who are displaced and seeking better economic prospects," he added.

Amazing really, in one sentence he moved from 'asylum seekers' to migrants (economic being implied) from the current total of all classes of thousands to millions. He must have been watching the cost of living inflation figures.

"Accommodation for migrants should meet essential living needs and nothing more, Our benefit system already sets payments below that of poverty levels. Is he suggesting that these asylum seekers are enjoying a living standard above the poorest of our population? 'Leveling Up' is still one of the big mythical slogans but apparently it only applies to a narrow band at the top of the heap for the rest its 'leveling down' with no floor as to how far you can sink.

[Stanley]

"Accommodation for migrants should meet essential living needs and nothing more,"
This is a very old principle. I first encountered it when I was Studying the Poor Law on my history course at Lancaster. Known as the doctrine of Less eligibility, it was a British government policy passed into law in the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. It stated that conditions in workhouses had to be worse than conditions available outside to the average wage-earner so that there was a deterrence to claiming poor relief. In reality this meant that an individual had to be destitute in order to qualify for poor relief.
(This principle also explains why, as the average wage falls, the level of benefits has to fall in the same proportion so as to maintain the disadvantage of being on the benefit.)

[PanBiker]

There are other ways of getting the vote of people who can't attend meetings.... It's called a postal ballot.

Indeed but that is not the way that it works at constituency party level. A number of years ago we changed the structure of the general meeting from delegated representatives to all members. That allows every member to have their say directly rather than just via a branch delegate. Motions are notified and then presented at the All Member Meetings, they are debated, amended if required then voted on. There may also be more than one motion to be resolved at any given meeting. The All Member Meeting rotate around different venues around the constituency to allow as many people as possible to attend. Tomorrows is at Trawden Community Centre. When they are in Barlick they are normally at St Joseph's

This procedure cannot be done via a postal ballot which are generally reserved for the main electoral system for straightforward X in the box choice ballots whether they be single or multiple choice.

[Stanley]

Despite the dire straits the UK is in there is no politics today, all our representatives will be going home for the weekend. (What would happen if all the workers did the same thing?)

[plaques]

Friday the traditional day for burying bad news but not for Olukemi Olufunto "Kemi" Badenoch Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She has come up with a cunning plan that its to the UK's advantage to join the CPTPP: Asian Trading block. Saying that her own estimates ( Badenock not the Government???) would give a projected deal of 0.08% (ie bugger all) but in perhaps 10- 20- or 50 years time and if other major countries like America, China join then by being in at the ground floor on a start up alliance, and playing our cards right, it could be better than the EU agreement. Badenoch won't enter into any projections of how good it will be because she admits she doesn't know. Of course we would have to join to their rules and have no say in the matter if the rules changed. There will be NO country wide vote or referendum on the matter with the inference that the UK would be stronger as part of a 2500 mile distance alliance than the one we have just left on our doorstep. Strength in numbers, where have I heard that before?

Perhaps Friday was a good day after all to float a dogs dinner of a deal like this on the gullible public.

[Stanley]

Indeed Ken, and read all about it HERE. Tory politics at the moment is being driven by the need to seem to be doing something when actually we are stagnating.
"Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said the agreement was like "buying a start-up". "This is not to replace EU trade, this is in addition. We are still in a free trade agreement with the EU," she told Radio 4's Today programme. "You wouldn't buy a small company like that and expect it to be delivering on the day - we are thinking about the potential," she said, adding that in seven years "40% of the world's middle class is going to come from that region". Ms Badenoch denied there would be any hit to UK agriculture, saying the deal would "create new markets" for farmers."
See THIS report for another example of asprations dressed up as policy.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised a clampdown on potholes, as campaigning for the local elections gets under way. On a visit to Darlington, in north-east England, he said new powers would help ensure firms repair roads properly after carrying out works, through more fines and inspections.
Does he think we are going to believe this? Has he not realised that the cause of potholes is lack of maintenance of roads caused directly by shortage of funding from central government? Fining contractors will do nothing to alter this fact.
In case you hadn't realised, the other major driver is the fact that Local Elections loom large in the political calendar and the Tories are expecting a kicking. Notice also who Sunak was with....
The PM was in Darlington for a campaign visit, alongside Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen and local MP Peter Gibson. The Conservatives are currently the largest party on Darlington Council, after Labour lost control of the council in the 2019 local elections. The area is part of the so-called Red Wall of former Labour strongholds in the north of England and the Midlands, which the Conservatives are keen to retain at the next general election.
Not mentioned is the fact that the area is the site of the largest of Sunak's 'freeports' and anyone who has been watching the situation unfold in the excellent reporting of Private Eye knows that there are some very searching questions being asked about the project and where government funding is going.
This is also said by the fishing community to be the source of whatever is causing the die-back of shellfish stocks. Disturbance of polluted mud by dredging for the freeport quays. Therese Coffey refuses to even contemplate that the fishermen might know what they are talking about, saying that she is disappointed that they are traducing the eminent scientists who conducted her survey and say the mud is not at fault. (It's affecting prawns now and there are signs that Coffey might have to do a reverse ferret.)
Complicated stuff isn't it. Meanwhile Labour offers old fashioned bribes to the voters like freezing Council Tax. How imaginative!

[Stanley]

Later...... I hear that the government has announced unlimited fines for water companies discharging raw sewage into watercourses and the sea.
I can't decide if this is serious or an April Fool spoof. How will the water companies recoup losses on fines? Could it possibly be by putting water charges up?

[Tizer]

I thought this really was an April Fool’s Day Joke when I first saw it on the BBC web site but now I've looked elsewhere it seems to be true. Apparently Russia was taking its turn as president on the day it invaded Ukraine too...
`On April 1, Russia Becomes President of UN Security Council: 'An April Fool’s Day Joke on the World'' Kyiv Post

[Stanley]

I know it's trite Peter but you really couldn't make it up. As well as the invasion of Ukraine Putin is a wanted criminal.....
The Tories have gone into full local election mode and have repeated the attack on the water companies in case we missed it the first time. (LINK) The interactive map is interesting, it enables you to pinpoint individual outflows, for instance it shows that the Barlick sewage works discharged 30 times for 262 hours equivalent to 11 days non stop.
Add the pothole offensive and you start to get the picture. In addition we are told that UK growth in the last 3 months of 2022 is better than was estimated and therefore we have avoided recession. How convenient and what a good sound bite......
I have lost count of the number of times I have heard about campaigns against potholes and foul water discharges whenever local elections come round. It used to be a favourite of the Barlick Tories but they are strangely quiet this year.....

[PanBiker]

They wont mention that the Tory County Council has not allocated any funding for the potholes in any of the roads in Barlick or the wider West Craven area of Pendle.

Cunning Tory plan, (courtesy of the Boundary Commission, (where have we heard that one before?)) for the General Election, Pendle Constituency expands and will include an equal sized chunk of the Ribble Valley and will be called something else!

[plaques]

Suella Braverman insists that the delays for travellers at Dover are nothing to do with Brexit. Given that more people tend to travel during holiday periods there will always some degree of delays. Always has been always will be. This situation is nothing new? Experts say that since leaving the EU we insisted on maximum control of our borders which include checking all our outgoing travellers for passports and other relevant documentation so to claim that its nothing new is misleading. The BBC have thrown their two pennyworth in by saying 'Due to French border controls' implying its someone else's fault. The subliminal drip of bias information continues. Shortly when full biometric passports become mandatory there will be even bigger delays all because the EU want to take stricter control of their borders. Bloody foreigners.

Now what about those pot holes? Must get our priorities right.

[Tripps]

Now what about those pot holes?

I was musing recently that it was about time for a "new miracle pothole repair technique" to surface. (pun intended)

And lo and behold here it is

"The Pothole Pro can fix a pothole is just eight minutes, with a cost of around £30. Traditional repair can take hours and can cost over double the JCB machine."

We're saved - someone tell David Whipp.

[Stanley]

Interesting stuff David and let us not forget that JCB are a Tory Party funder.
I note that the alternative way of repairing potholes 'the traditional way' is used in a derogatory sense.
I have news for the politicians who have never repaired a pothole in their lives. Potholes are a symptom of a road surface that has reached its sell-by date and is crumbling. Mending the holes can't cure the problem and in fact accelerates the deterioration of the road bed around the pothole. The cure is to cut the whole top surface out and relay the road. Expensive but look how long the repair lasts.
The life of the repair and its affect on the existing road is not mentioned in the advertising blurb but is the crucial factor in deciding which repair is cheapest and most efficient.
See THIS for this morning's hot political topic.
"Suella Braverman has insisted Rwanda is a safe country for migrants, despite evidence that 12 Congolese refugees were shot dead by police there in 2018. When asked on BBC One's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme about the shootings, the home secretary said she was "not familiar" with the case. She also refused to commit to a date for achieving the government's goal of stopping small boats crossing the Channel. And it was notable that Ms Braverman would not repeat her previously stated hope of getting legal immigration under 100,000 a year - not least because there is tension in the cabinet over what is realistic.
In case you missed it, the Cabinet Office has been doing its sums and the advisers have warned the politicians that if the immigrant numbers aren't controlled very soon the sensible option for the Tories will be to go for an early election to limit the damage that the failed policy will do to the Party. This is why attention has shifted to Rwanda again and not the present chaos on the channel crossings (The delays are running at 12hours and not coming down as was promised and yes, as Ken pointed out the BBC sneakily blamed the French for the delays).

[Stanley]

The political news is suffused with items aimed to be of use in the local elections and to some extent in a general election. Sunak is sailing very close to the wind in his use of sexual abuse as an election ploy in that he promises to prosecute without any fear of being thought to be racist by attributing crime to ethnicity. See THIS BBC report which details criticism of the ploy...
On a visit to Rochdale the prime minister was asked if the focus by the home secretary on British-Asian men when discussing grooming gangs in parts of northern England was appropriate. Mr Sunak said it wasn't right that cases of victims and whistleblowers had been "often ignored" by social workers, local politicians and the police in areas such as Rochdale, Rotherham and Telford - because of "cultural sensitivity and political correctness". Earlier Sabah Kaiser, ethnic minority ambassador to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), said it was "very, very dangerous" to turn child sexual abuse "into a matter of colour". She told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "Child sexual abuse does not have a skin colour, it doesn't have a religion, it doesn't have a culture. Child sexual abuse does not discriminate."
Similarly, see THIS report attributing cross channel delays to French passport checks. This being preferable to Brexit or our inadequate Border Force being blamed.
We are going to see a lot more of this as we near the local elections and there is even speculation that an early General Election could be on the cards.....