Enough already

LeftrightLeftright Wed Nov 15, 2006 at 02:43:34 PM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Has everyone seen the rather pernicious ads placed in the papers today on party political funding?




Understandably it puts shady business donations and loans up front, but they effectively target the Labour-Union link too, though they do not say so quite so explicitly. Only the word "organisation" is used. And they are completely in favour of state funding.

The other thing they do not say explicitly is who they are. Their website employs that over worked phrase "a collection of individuals" and indicates support for previous Greenpeace Campaigns but no direct link. Why is it ok for these people to organise a professional looking campaign, yet undemocratic when trade unions transparently represent their members do the same - or better?

I also wondered who stumped up the cash. I do not know how many papers they have appeared in but they appear over the bottom of 4 consecutive pages of the Guardian which must run into a few thousand pounds at least.


tags: , (all tags)

Display: Sort:
Enough already | 26 comments (26 topical)

Re: Enough already (#1)

by Anonymous on Wed Nov 15, 2006 at 05:02:09 PM GMT

Funny how they talk about transparency but are not prepared to say who they are!

A quick trace on the web address says it's registered to Research UK, PO Box 310, Epsom KT17 3YY.

It's hosted by donhost.co.uk and is administered by Dean Miller of Hunger Creative, 24 Berkeley Road, Trowbridge, BA14 9DX. This is a web design site.

This is quite clever hiding behind organisations, so whoever it is doesn't want to be found...


Re: Enough already (#17)

by Mark Wadsworth on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 02:58:06 PM GMT

That's very clever, how do you find that out?

If Research UK is a limited company, you can look up the shareholders and directors at Companies House, unless of course they in turn are nominees.


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#24)

by Anonymous on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 07:44:41 PM GMT

DNS lookup. They've got one at demon.net you can use. Just type in the domain, say labour.org, and you SOMETIMES get soome information on the registeree.


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#2)

by Glass House on Wed Nov 15, 2006 at 05:03:04 PM GMT

What do you propose?

We can't stop/limit donations from organisations, but make an exception for TUs

Any kind of limits/capping on donations is going to hit Labour hardest - just because the Tories have supporters with a spare £X,000 to give.


Re: Enough already (#4)

by LeftrightLeftright on Wed Nov 15, 2006 at 11:04:53 PM GMT

Glass House, (how did I know it would be you?), you can't stop limits on donations for one party and not another, I agree.

But you can set national and local spending limits and make them all year round. And you can ensure full transparency (including loans).

That way, everyone knows where a political party's money comes from. And the liberty of both individuals and unions to donate their money to the party of their choice is maintained. Hurrah! You even get a level playing field with spending limits - no party can spend more than another.

So where's the beef? Why, in fact, have Labour not adopted such a proposal, rather than trying to force things down the awkward route you correctly highlight, of having to define TUs differently?


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#5)

by Glass House on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 12:37:08 AM GMT

Why did you know it would be me?


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#6)

by Glass House on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 12:41:02 AM GMT

Not sure why you said "how did I know it would be you?" - I wasn't being critical, I was just asking what you propose

It seems you're in favour of allowing anyone/any organisation to donate/loan as much as they like - so long as all the information is available to the public. And, instead of capping donations, you would cap spending by political parties. This seems like an excellent suggestion - I would fully support it.


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#7)

by Anonymous on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 02:40:33 AM GMT

there is a world of difference between one fat cat saying "here's £100k" and 100,000 public sector workers saying, "I am happy for an extra pound of my union subs to be taken for political spending".  The fact that journalists dont even try to explain that shows how hostile they to real labour still.


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#8)

by Glass House on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 07:25:52 AM GMT

There is a difference. But not as much of a difference as you like to think.


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#11)

by LeftrightLeftright on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 10:12:10 AM GMT

Glass House, I made a mental prediction to myself on the basis of previous policy disagreements we have had here - it wasn't a serious point, just a minor bit of levity. But as you agree with my suggestion about funding, maybe my levity was misplaced...

I'm genuinely perplexed as to why the Labour Party is not putting transparency and spending limits at the top of the party funding agenda but seem at the moment to prefer what will be an inevitably complex and counter-intuitive definition of Trade Unions that will not bolster confidence in party funding mechanisms.


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#18)

by Glass House on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 02:58:51 PM GMT

I worry that people have got totally the wrong impression of me :)


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#3)

by Anonymous on Wed Nov 15, 2006 at 05:28:27 PM GMT

The Daily did an expose of this campaign when these adverts appeared the first time round, though they seem to have got rather more professional since then.

Stories on it here, here and here.


Re: Enough already (#14)

by Anonymous on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 12:50:00 PM GMT

And an update here.


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#9)

by Glass House on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 07:26:59 AM GMT

Lol!
I've just noticed that the advert under the original piece is for the "Enough is Enough" campaign!


Re: Enough already (#10)

by alexhilton on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 10:07:14 AM GMT

:)


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#12)

by Anonymous on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 12:30:13 PM GMT

Peter4Leader


Re: Enough already (#13)

by Anonymous on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 12:34:24 PM GMT

On Peter4Leader see HarryBarnes http://threescoreyearsandten.blogspot.com/          


Re: Enough already (#15)

by LeftrightLeftright on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 01:23:55 PM GMT

Shouldn't that be Peter4DeputyLeader - or are you suggesting he quits the crowded deputy field and challenges Brown instead?


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#25)

by Anonymous on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 08:12:12 PM GMT

Peter4Leader is all revealed on my blog in "Will the real Peter Hain please stand up?"


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#16)

by TrueLabour on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 02:12:31 PM GMT

Shoot the messenger seem to be the favoured tactic of the Leadership.

Why attack an advert for telling the truth about the parties?

The real problem is with Blair and his cronies.


Re: Enough already (#19)

by Glass House on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 03:01:25 PM GMT

True Labour - when has the leadership attacked the "Enough is Enough" campaign?

Or are you still going on about your conspiracy theory that "The Leadership" controls this site.


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#20)

by Anonymous on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 03:05:19 PM GMT

AAAAAAAAAAAgh it's on the blog now. Have they taken over the world.


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#21)

by Glass House on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 03:11:00 PM GMT

Don't worry. I'm sure 'True Labour' will tell us that "The Leadership" who control this site have put the advert up to throw us off the scent of the REAL story - that they're trying to supress the advert!


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#23)

by Anonymous on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 03:48:17 PM GMT

What I said is that this "article" was following the usual tactic of the Leadership which is too shoot the messenger.   BBC/WMD etc.


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#22)

by LeftrightLeftright on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 03:15:10 PM GMT

True Labour, your comment is a bit strange. "Blair and his cronies" v "the leadership" would equate to Maoist self criticism, surely?


[ Parent ]

Re: Enough already (#26)

by Bruce on Sat Nov 18, 2006 at 09:48:08 PM GMT

Anonymous (Nov 16, 2.40)
Would the 100,000 public sector workers have contracted in to paying the extra £1 to the Labour Party ?


Enough already | 26 comments (26 topical)