The end of an era

On Tuesday of this week I stood down as Constituency Secretary of the Northampton South Labour Party.

I always thought that it would be a difficult decision but in the circumstances was quite easy.

The decision of the National Party to exclude Anjona and Geoff at the weekend made it quite clear that enthusiasm, determination and sheer hard work count for nothing when the party has a bee in its bonnet.

We all fought hard for the party in the New Duston campaign and would have done the same if on a political Groundhog Day we started all over again.

The intent of the leaflet in question was clear, to win votes for Labour. I stand by this so I have had stepped down in solidarity with my colleagues.

It is now up to Clyde and his supporters to run the campaign to the General Election as they see fit and prove their point.

Where does this take us?

Is this a good thing in the run up to a General Election?

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/Labour-Party-suspends-political-group.5638628.jp

Michael Jackson

It is with great sorrow to me that Michael Jackson is dead.

Here was an exceptional talent as a singer, dancer and general entertainer that is lost to us.

Clearly the poor man had no real childhood, harsh disciplinarian father and masses of hangers on that saw him as a route to personal wealth.

He will be missed.

Minimum Wage

So when it came to the crunch the Tories bottled it and pulled their bill to allow opt outs of the minimum wage.

This campaign was led by Labour with the redoubtable John Prescott in the lead.

It seems quite amazing that this should be still an issue so long after the original battle was fought and won.

I guess it goes to show that the Tories instincts are always the same.

MP's Expenses

Is part of the problem the emergence of more career politicians who have moved from university to the Commons via Political Researcher or some other party apparatchik role.

Therefore their approach is to maximise their income much as employees do by working for benefits such as overtime and expenses.

Historically particularly on the Labour side have been miners and railwaymen who have seen entry to the commons as a privilege and an honour rather than promotion to a better paid job.

Blood Donors

I am donating blood this evening.

Isn't it time you did.

Just an hour of your time and someone's life could be saved.

Just do it.

Remember the Bomb?

A long time ago people on the left and right argued endlessly about nuclear weapons and whether or not it made any difference if the UK had it or not.

This issue is now so much more relevant now that President Obama is now actively planning weapons reductions with his counterpart in Russia.

So where does that leave us?

Have we benefitted from having our self styled independent deterrent even though the ability to use in without approval of the US administration was non existent?

Should we seize this opportunity to dispose of our remaining missiles and save the expenditure on replacing the four Trident submarines with something that is more meaningful to our lives?

NHS

So the Tories real agenda on the NHS is exposed. They want to close it! http://tinyurl.com/d7ules

Is Cameron so sure of victory that he is now quite careless of the activities of his lieutenants in the field?

Following on from the G20 leaving the Tories wrong footed on the economy and the unexpected good news about the rising house sales as well as low inflation suddenly it all looks so much better for Labour

G20

Certainly the G20 has been a great success as far as the publicity and photo opportunities were concerned but what of the substance.

Clearly there has been an acceptance of the Brown/Obama approach to use government money to refloat the world economy.

It is noticeable that there are some signs of returning confidence in the UK. House prices rising again, more lending by the banks and some upswing in the stock markets.

Are Gordons efforts about to be rewarded?

Lets hope so.

Aneurin Bevan

It was good to watch the programme recounting the life of arguably the the perfect socialist.

In the current day it is quite easy to forget what the Labour movement was created to deal with and the kind of issues that have largely gone yet are within the living memory of many of our elder comrades.

Particularly as a Health and Safety specialist I get bad feelings over the poor Chinese cockle pickers that went to their deaths in Morecambe Bay. How on earth in 21st century Britain can such a tragedy happen? This showed a callous lack of respect for human life every bit as bad as the cruel pit owners that fired Bevans crusading zeal and drove him from such humble beginnings to being a Minister of State that not only delivered the National Health Service but also, as Minister of Housing, started the delivery of real homes for the heroes of the Second World War. Seeing the prefabs being erected and the standard of finish that was light years from the miserable Victorian slum terraces that many of the heroes had emerged from and indeed himself.

I wonder who of the present crop of Ministers, will be remembered as fondly by the left as this giant of a man?

Sunday at Sally's

It was nice to be invited to Sally Keeble's house for a Sunday Lunch get together.

It was quite informal with no speeches and formal stuff. Winston and his wife Janice also attended from the Northampton South Labour Party.

I was good to catch up with friends from several constituencies and sample South African dishes.

There is a lot said about alleged divisions between the Labour parties in Northampton.

On the basis of this it is wishful thinking that serves some peoples purposes and something that if it really existed at all, is very much past tense now.

Congrats

I know this is asking for trouble but may I congratulate East Midlands Trains for keeping their service running all this week.

White Hell

Having made it from home to Wellingborough by car and then from there, courtesy of East Midlands Trains to St Pancras I then found that there were no buses and few tubes to get on to the office in Southwark.

It seems amazing that the capital city cannot cope with with a bit of snow.

I guess that Ken Livingstone is glad this did not take place on his watch.

Boris Johnson says he will do nothing as if it does not happen again for another 20 years he will be long gone by then.

I would have thought it was essential that our capital city performs well under any circumstances.

Would he have been so complacent if David Cameron was Prime Minister? I think not.

Gaza Appeal

Having followed the story and watched the appeal on ITV I cannto fathom what the Leadership of the BBC and Sky can be thinking about by not screening it.

New Duston By election

Looking back on the by election we can take a few positives from the result.

The campaign was well fought on the day and we got a good team together to make all happen.

The leaflets and preparation was superbly organised by Anjona and Kathy and Phyll was good host in letting us use her house as a base and keeping us well fed and watered to sustain us during campaign.

At the count the body language was a treat. The Liberals keeping in a huddle by themselves whilst the others being prepared to socialise as the council officers performed their task.

So we are still in the game and looking forward to the next election.

Fabian Event

Todays Fabian event was very good.

Ed Miliband did the keynote address with just a few jokes about being mistaken for his brother and addressing the theme of fairness which was the aim of the event.

The discussions flowed over the crisis that capitalism had found itself during the credit crunch and that there was a rising wave of anger about the huge bonuses in the city and the totally unreal lifestyles of the super rich.

The credit crunch was seen as a seismic event that would shake the system comparable to the rise of Thatcherism and the consensus that evolved post war which led to Butskellism.

Watch with interest!

Canvassing Wednesday

The canvass went well with plenty of reaction to the events on Monday.

The voters seem impressed with Geoff and he is gaining plenty of endorsements from leading figures. Today Fitzy from the market gave Geoff his support which is very welcome.

Who next? All will be revealed soon!

Liberal let down

At the big meeting last night the Liberals showed stunning leadership by refusing to attend the event and therefore maximising the wrath of the attendees particularly those from the market traders, Cobblers and the Arts Collective.

They had all had the benefit of the Liberals listening to them (and maybe featuring in numerous focus leaflets) then finding out that the ruling administration then did whatever they liked!

It was particularly pleasing that the meeting recognised the achievements of Geoff Howes in defending the market in his previous years on the council.

Sundays campaigning in New Duston

I think that this by elections best kept secret will be that the Liberal Democrats are pro the Cobblers and pro the market.

Their newest leaflets do their best to reveal this to the voters but somehow they do not seem to be be taken in. No doubt they can try again tomorrow when there is a meeting about the Cobblers and they can say again why delaying development of the stadium area until 2026 is such a good idea and really in everyones best interest.

Meanwhile the Labour campaign in New Duston gathers pace and with more and more supporters lending a hand to get Geoff Howes elected and Clyde Loakes the parliamentary candidate playing his part.

New Duston

It was not the most ideal day to canvass for the by election.

It was cold, below freezing and very grey.

It was good to have Jan the new member joining in so hopefully she got a good impression of campaigning.

The vote seems to be polarising between ourselves and the Tories and our messages are getting through.

Hi Guys

Having seen others especially Anjona doing it I have decided to give this a go.

I want to share my view of the political scene and other things of interest to me.