It really is quite shocking - i know he is a maverick but seriously...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7585330.stm

Chavez is no friend of the UK or our allies. He regularly tests America's patience and almost brought Latin America to the brink of war.

Not to mention his financial support of FARC. Ken could have beaten Boris in 2012 - what a pity.

Obviously ken can do what he wants - but he cant seriously have political ambition when he is that close to, prima facie, an enemy.   

I am of the persuasion, that there are real differences between New Labour and the Tories, but perhaps not enough.

In my opinion, we constantly need to be New Labour, adapting to the times. I think a slight leftwards shift can allow us to adapt to the times.

But while there may be a tiny gap between us and the Tories, millions live in that gap, and they will suffer if we pretend there are no differences between us.

I today noticed two differences between us and the Tories, one major, and one very minor, but a very accurate protrayal of our differences.

So in the red corner, Labour fights for workers and consumers, and in the blue corner, the Tories for big business.

If you go to our official party website, contrast what many would be earning with and without the minimum wage today. The difference is striking. The wage can be £100, for every £25 that would be earnt without the NMW.

Don't be suprised if the Tories freeze the wage.

It won't be the Tories that protect agency workers. It won't be the Tories which protect waiter's wages. It will be us.

Now to a minor difference. Here's Labour's freedom, and his the Tories' freedom. We want to enhance choice, by allowing poorer people access to healthy foods, and to gain information as to whether the food they're eating is crap. But the Tories say we're "nannying" people with food labels.

Our freedom guarentees security. But the Tories' freedom can end up being the freedom to exploit (I don't think they see it that way). Of course, the Tories would have a point about how pointless it is to say that kebabs are unhealthy. But how many of the rich, even with more access to information, know that cereals can be more unhealthy than a quarter pounder?

Here, the Tories claims of supporting 'Nudge' economics is guff. Food labelling is nudge politics. Here's a clue, Cameron talked about how he didn't want to use regulation to tackle global warming, in an article for the Independent a couple of months ago. Yet he said he looked to the centre right attitudes of Angela Merkel and Arnold Schwarzenegger, yet they use regulation.

No, his 'Nudge' economics comes in here. He wants to bribe oil companies.

Oh, and John Redwood is in charge of deregulation policies, including allowing sub-prime mortgages on high streets. And it's John Redwood who says that global warming is a swindle. And David "Dave" "D" Cameron, says that this is the man who can tell us all whether he is a Tory. Also, he wants to build lots of roads.

And they will rework tax credits into giving middle-class couples £20 a week, on the back of poorer families. We realise that when a security guard and cleaner couple both earn £5.73 an hour, they're poor not because they take heroin, but because they're earning £5.73 an hour.

I'm not Nick Robinson. When Labour introduces legislation, I'm not interested in the mechanics of the politics of the bill. I'm interested in what it is trying to achieve. So when we leave this political world for one moment, we can see what the implications are of getting rid of a Labour government.

I have been watching the American election with great enthusiasm. The American people are FULLY engaged with the politics of their nation and they put us to shame.

McCains attack ads have been very effective. I thought the one with "foreign" right next to Obama's face - and then the word "oil" appearing underneath was clever and subtle - if not slightly racist and gutter level.

Obama seized on McCain forgetting how many houses he owns. Age and elitism both conveyed in equal measure.  

They are fighting to rule the worlds superpower after all. It will get ugly.  

 

 

...and Britishness

Part 1 of 3. A Scientist's view on science politik.

http://waugh.standard.co.uk/2008/08/boris-blows-apa.html

 

"If you believe the politicians, we have a broken society, in which the courage and morals of young people have been sapped by welfarism and poltiical correctness. And if you look at what is happening in the Beijing Olympics you can see what piffle that is."

Its the evening standard - so it must be true ;) Why they would print clearly damaging material for the tories is strange - could they actually be making up for the mayoralty? 

What joy though....the most powerful elected tory dismissing his leaders mantra as "piffle." Which of course it is - its complete, absolute bull.

Please let there be a recording somewhere..... 

 

The Conservatives are hugging us close on domestic policy - they will keep the 20% basic income tax, the independent BoE, the minimum wage, the spending on the NHS, they'll keep all our crime initiatives too, as they've been proven to reduce crime. It's on foreign policy that differences between them and us loom large

What a great week it's been to be British! Our Olympians have done this country proud.

writes former sports minister Richard Caborn

News that the Conservatives have removed three top Tory bloggers from their link list may be a signal that they are planning to emulate Labour's approach towards blogs as they complacently prepare for what they see as inevitable victory in 2010. Labour should do the opposite.

What ever happened to the separation between church and state?

According to an article in the Scotsman, the CATHOLIC CHURCH had a hand in deciding that 30,000 young Scots girls (12-13 years old) were NOT to be given sex education when given the cervical cancer vaccine.

It might be worrying, but it is fact that many are sexually active at this age - but who are we to say whether its right or wrong? Girls this age were married off not so long ago....more information leads to a more informed decision surely.

The church needs to get its dirty little paws off business of the state and for shame on the SNP for bowing to church morality.

This is just another example of the church not knowing its place. It described the Embryology Bill as "monstrous" and "Frankenstein science", when the legislation is the most progressive in a century and could be truly revolutionary.

The Church needs to go back to preaching - preferably things that are ACTUALLY IN THE BIBLE.

Parent's groups are quite rightly not amused. 

 

 

We urge you to lobby MPs and add your signature today!

Barking and Dagenham Councillor Liam Smith, Deputy Leader of the Labour Group, is said to have said to a political rival's mother 'shut up you fucking fat dyke' and 'go back to the farmyard'

 More at PinkNews

**** Hurrah for Vera Baird MP (Redcar), First salvo of the day (FIRST OF MANY?) -  "Exactly the sort of vindictive, anti-northern thinking that led to the widespread industrial decline of swathes of the north under Thatcher. Cameron can distance himself from this all he wants but he needs to explain why his friends have no faith in the North." - Perfect response, tied to Cameron and the mention of the devil itself. ****

 

Today, we see the sheer brass neck of the Policy Exchange thinktank (POLICY DIRECTOR Anthony Brown would be sure to feature in a would-be tory government)

Apparently, great cities like Liverpool and Sunderland have "failed" and that the citizens of said cities should be PAID TO MOVE SOUTH - the situation is apparently that bad.

Anthony Brown is due to be working for Boris. This could be big for the tories if labour grab onto it. Alot of doom and gloom eminating from the tories these days.

"Broken Britain","broken familes", "broken economy" and apparently - "failed cities." - Sounds like a broken record to me. Someone needs to go a cheer up the conservative party - you would think with their poll lead they could be afford to be a little more positive in their policy ideas.  

Just wanted to draw attention to this blog post in the Guardian on this subject

As reported on the front page of The Guardian, leaders from across the progressive community, civil society and from all corners of the UK have today urged every bill payer in the UK to get behind the campaign for a windfall tax on the energy and oil companies in a statement co-ordinated by Compass.

Labour councillor and former mayor of Reading Chris Maskell has been wavering for weeks now on whether to follow his ward colleague Tony Jones out of Labour and into a state of independence.  If he does Labour will cease to be the largest party on the hung council. 

Politicians who wield the knife against their leaders rarely get the chance to succeed that said leader!

THIRD terms are hard for any government. Having won three general elections in a row, the challenge of appearing fresh and relevant to the public is one that any party in Labour’s position would face

Quick questions:

What do we stand for?

And for New Labourites, what does New Labour stand for?

Follow up question, on what areas are New Labourites on here to the left of the government on?

All the press focused on was the Brown v Miliband ratings. But the real story was how we dropped back as soon as the public thought there was going to be a fight within Labour