POLITICS CORNER

[Tardis]

Today suggested that Vince the Cable was out voted 50-2 at the pre-conference conference that the Lib Dems held in Milton Keynes. Sounds a lot like taking your ball home and refusing to play

[Tardis]

Politicians joking about sexual harassment, surely not whilst your party is being investigated and there are rumours abounding that it is still being ignored?

Nice of the Lib Dems to email their spin advice to all the media, saving them the bother of having to ask the questions

http://www.cityam.com/blog/1379326626/l ... views-full

[Stanley]

Have a look at this LINK for evidence of the effects of the 'bedroom tax'. I wonder if these people share the optimism about the 'economic recovery'. Two nations politics.

[Tardis]

Inconvenient truth for the BBC:

Barnet Council suggest the impact of the policy in causing people to switch from welfare to work has already been very significant. On the National Housing Federation's estimate there are 2,000 households in that borough affected. Barnet Council tells me that "the number of cases that were affected by the under occupancy charge as at 01 April 13 and who are not now in receipt of Housing Benefit is 228 cases."

It is right that there should be some transitional relief to allow people time to make the adjustments and Local Council's have money allocated for that purpose. If there isn't sufficient housing stock, then it's not like there's a magic wand but Councils have the power of control over planning to fit within their "Core Strategy"

[Stanley]

So that's all right then......

[Tardis]

McPoison once more resurrects Smeargate and the major in fighting within the Bliar/Brown camps. Even Polly Toynbee said that she knew on Today. So why didn't she report it?

[Tardis]

So that's all right then......

What we really need are the comparison figures for when Labour introduced the Spare Room Subsidy for those on benefit within the private rented sector, and then ask why they singled out private rent only. Could it be that Social Housing might be run by Councils where their core vote lived?

[plaques]

Am I missing something. Is the suggestion that all those on benefit in private rentals voted Tory while the ones in council housing voted Labour.
As I understand it the withdrawal of this subsidy is to encourage those on benefit to make up the difference by rushing out and get a job. Why don’t we make it a real incentive and stop benefits altogether.

[Stanley]

The real tragedy of politics today is that secretly the Tories would love to do just that. After all, there were no benefits in the 19th century and look how well we did then!
Nigel had a bad hair day yesterday. He started by advocating ring-fencing for taxes on fracked gas but evidently forgot that Wedgie Benn made the same suggestion for windfall North Sea profits many years ago. It sank like a stone then because of Treasury opposition and would no doubt do the same now. They hate homologated taxes....
Then his 'friend' dropped the Slutbomb. (LINK)

[hartley353]

I don't know what class of people you include in the we were doing well, my history books suggest it was the few. I wouldn,t want to live in a society without a welfare system. Even with our benefit system the void between the haves and have nots is massive, though the workers strive as hard at each end.

[David Whipp]

Irony alert.

[Tardis]

Quite a marked difference in the debate on BBC's Any Questions, I recommend it. Martin the money saving guru really did cut the other positions down

[Stanley]

Nice one David...... Anyone who took that seriously has evidently not been assimilating my posts on the subject!

[Stanley]

Thinking about the dreadful McBride and looking at the spoiling news in the media about the conferences reminds me that the black art of political denigration is still alive and well.
I listened to a UKIP MP on the news last night saying that Slutgate was over-egged and was really not so bad 'because everybody laughed'. Really? Including the women who were called sluts? I fear they have a lot to learn about communications.

[Tripps]

A few days ago Iain Dale the publisher said -
"Royalties from sales of the book will be split between Damian McBride’s current employers, CAFOD (the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), and the appeal by his former employers"
Last night on Newsnight, McBride said, (from memory), that he left his former employment with nothing; now had considerable debt , and would be using the income derived from the book to repay this debt. Once a spinner - always a spinner.
I was going to call all politicians reptiles - but that would be insulting to many innocent crocodiles.

[Stanley]

Agreed David. I would not like him as a house guest....
Predictable howls of outrage from Right wing press after Ed's speech yesterday 'Red Ed' revived! They complain about going back to the politics of the 1970s, pity we can't go back to 1945!
As for the energy companies waving the threat of power cuts, forget it. Two years standstill on prices will hit shareholders not long term plans. Mind you, if they slip up and there are cuts due to non-replacement of worn out plant they could always blame Labour! I'd like to see him propose reform in other areas, massive subsidies to rail which do not lower prices but protect dividends. Tax credits which protect companies from paying a living wage. PFI scams to massage the on the books debt but which impoverish our children. Tax policies as incentives to foreign investment by companies who immediately export profits off-shore. Make your own list.
His most telling point is his reference to Cameron as presiding on a 'race to the bottom'. The first target of 19th century laisser faire policies was always the price of labour. As Ed says, we can't compete in that race against other countries paying pennies to our pounds. This is the election strategy to pursue and for all their protestations the Tories know it's in tune with the electorate.
Before you start arguing, ask yourself where the general swing away from democratic socialism has got us over the last 40 years.....
On a broader front, at least Ed has given us clear blue water between the right and the left. Time we had some principled fire in policies.

[plaques]

Monopolies or industries approaching monopolies are generally bad news. Why should such an industry compete against itself by creating excess capacity? Far better to keep things ticking over at a level that pays a reasonable dividend and bonuses but is always in a position to demand a government subsidy / relaxation should anything big crop up. Just look at what is happening in energy, transport and building, with each one virtually holding the country to ransom.

[Stanley]

P. it struck me when I was thinking about this yesterday that one way that might make a difference is if the government owned one sector of a monopolistic industry. Like one energy company, one rail franchise etc. That way they would know what the internal economics of the business was and could better assess the fairness of prices. That led me to think about the rage the word 'nationalisation' provokes and that led me to thinking about the way nationalised electricity generation and transmission changed Britain after WW2. Remember the national grid and the way we led the world in large turbine/generator sets? Remember tha massive task of changing gas production from coal gas to natural? The dreaded central control model worked.
Milliband under increasing attack, even Peter Mandelson has joined in, after energy company shares fell yesterday. Say what you like but he has got their attention and being less 'industry friendly' could be a good thing. Be Voter friendly instead. I can't see anything wrong with that!
Incidentally, remember that there is a well understood management strategy called 'running interference'. In simple terms you send a flying wedge down the field to create confusion and use this situation to gain advantage in other ways that weren't at first clear. Don't underestimate Milliband and his advisers.

[Tizer]

Have you heard that a Chinese think tank has asked Mandelson to advise them on how to update their politics? It was in The Times recently.

[Tardis]

I'm hoping that Ed does open up the debate on energy. After all he was a minister in that very department when the prices rose so stonkingly. Helpfully there are now graphs appearing showing that the UK is not even in the top 10 for energy costs across the EU, and Bliar has refused to comment on the policy

Av 2012 Gas bill was £1,189 made up of £49 gas profit and £112 green tax (introduced by Ed Miliband under Labour )

Will he remove those green taxes?

That's a profitability of 4% (available to shareholders)

[plaques]

S. I can see where you are going with the “monopoly + nationalised” argument. Would it work? Just possibly, under the right framework. But you would have to buy up one of the existing industries. Not something that could be done with the state of the current finances. However, we are already in that position with the banks. The sad thing is that as soon as they become profitable we sell them off again. This leads to the thinking that it could be possible after all.

[Stanley]

P. My generation sorted it out 1945 onwards.... We had efficient energy supplies, social housing, less subsidy to rail in real terms and regulated banks. Wage councils for various low paid essential industries. Economic situation was worse then but we did it and introduced the NHS as well. Now it has all changed. Over to the present generation, go and read the history! We controlled the commanding heights of the economy.
(That's why I am so angry about the present situation....)
I hear that William Hague is to announce further changes to benefits in that the long term fit unemployed will be forced to do 'community work' as they can't expect the State to pay them for sitting about doing nothing. This is a re-run of the old Manpower Services Commission in many ways and he should be aware of some of the consequences. The first is that they can't be used in any job which will displace regular employees. In the 1980s this meant that they started by doing what were seen as non-jobs, cleaning up garage sites, waste land and even in one case, an estuary. This led to a lot of criticism and gradually the scheme morphed into being the biggest subsidy the heritage industry ever had. I ran Ellenroad Project off the back of MSC workers and it was wonderful. In order to 'manufacture' the jobs materials and plant had to be subsidised and this was shared between the government, the .local councils and in some cases charitable donations. I doubt if these sources of funding will be available and I suspect that he might soon find that there was a shortage of these 'community' jobs. The temptation to use them as cheap labour will be almost irresistible and I forecast a wave of opposition from many quarters. I wonder if they have thought this through? Remember the iron law of unforeseen consequences. It would be very easy for this policy to actually manufacture unemployed workers as they are displaced by cheap/free labour. This is a slippery slope!

[PanBiker]

Not been in touch with any news over the last week but heard on the radio this morning that the shares in Royal Mail are expected to be between £2.60 and £3.30 I think. It's not the price of the shares but the statement from some Tory or another that the Government expected the sale to be completed by the 15th October. He quantified this by saying such a date would not give the unions any time to organise! Very democratic, especially for a business that has had billions poured into it to streamline and modernise (all paid for one way or the other by us), and now shows increasing profits each year. Bloody National disgrace is what I call it!

[Stanley]

News of the first conversation between the Presidents of Iran and the US for 33 years is heartening. Early days but I wish them both well. Jaw jaw is good!

[Stanley]

Watching US playing politics over the credit card limit.... And Italy playing silly buggers again with Berlusconi at the heart. Followinmg Greece?
Remember Macmillan and outside events dear boy.
Cameron tries to outdo Milliband by offering bribes to married couples and house buyers. Is it really a good idea to stoke a housing recovery or even boom? What happens when interest rates eventually rise?