Intelligent Post Alert!

Okay, I know I don't do this often. In fact, even this post amounts to nothing more than a shameless stealing back of my comment on someone else's blog. But I was impressed by the relative smarts displayed in my comment to feel it warranted reproducing here. And I quite like the blog it is on, so you can take this as being my feeble attempt to apologise for not linking with it by (hopefully) sending some traffic its way. To understand the context of my comment you'll have to read the original post anwyay. :-P

My comment:
"although, if we want to be accurate about it, that great reformist government of 1945 were merely implementing that great liberal reformist Beveridge's ideas from 1942. and while it ought to be noted that the NHS turned out much better under Labour than it would have done under the Conservatives (and the national government during the war did attempt to implement in 1944 but failed due to BMA rejection of their proposals), it was actually more Nye Bevan's strength and persistence which resulted in the NHS as we now know it to be. the rest of the government were less averse to introducing charges on 'extra' services - this was the premis pon which Bevan later resigned from Cabinet (although other factors did, arguably, play a role).

technically, historically, it can be claimed that Clarke is not, therefore, out ofsync with the party. I still think it a bit of a dumb comment though. Even from a purely economic point of view, intrducing charges for rehab will mean less people opt for it. they will likely then experience further medical ailments which the NHS will then have to remedy. in terms of admin staff coping with readmissions and the cost of providing this care, it seems plausible to suggest that Clarke's suggestion would be economically unjustifiable. That said, I've not researched the costs sufficiently to answer on this with any certainty, this is just my observation.

why i don't post like this on my own blog baffles me."

Now, I'm gonna go back to reading a brilliant essay by Jun'ichiro Tanasaki.

Blogroll Update!

I must give myself several lashings for utterly failing to link to Tygerland earlier as the blog is one of my daily reads, and well worth my readers taking a look at.

I am also considering removing the link to John Denham's blog since it never seems to get updated and I think his aims would be better served by posting his thoughts on policy issues on his website as articles. That's what his neighbour across the constituency boundary, Alan Whitehead MP, does and it works quite well. Which brings me to promoting his site and the articles therein as being well worth a read - my particular fave is the stuff on communitarianism, which are pitched slightly higher than your average magazine article but slightly lower than an academic journal entry - a good balance, IMO.

I also want to link to Freemania another worthy blog. I particularly like his recent fisking of D-Cam's comments on calling a snap election if Brown becomes Prime Minister.

Unite and lead? I'd bet on Jon. (Cruddas Conference Call)

Last night saw Jon Cruddas’ inaugural telephone conference as deputy leadership candidate. 6pm rolled around and Labour bloggers began calling in and logging on, stating their names to the accompaniment of classical music. It was all pretty civil, with people introducing themselves and giving fellow bloggers the chance to speak and ask questions in the debating session which followed Jon outlining how he thought the campaign had been going thus far.

I’ll kick off my discussion of the conference with the caveat that all “quotes” are not word for word what Jon said but, rather, taken from my rough notes. I do feel a little wrong about publishing this, because of that, without having it checked first. But Jon is a member of the blogging community so I’m sure either he or one of his team can drop by and correct me/develop their arguments more/request that I remove said quotes, should they feel them to be inaccurate. (Scrybe nervously awaits an angry bellowing from Jon).


Jon was, as usual*, very down-to-earth and relaxed, as well as being pretty frank in discussing the issues which came up – unusual for a politician. There is, I think, something about him which allows you to take what he says at face value and trust him. He began by talking about the campaign, and about blogging in particular, saying that he is “interested in the whole phenomena [of blogging] but wary of the language used,” recounting a tale (published) about Tony Blair allegedly trying to sound cool and it failing (circa 1997). He also thought that there is “really effective, lateral, quick communication available here,” describing the blogging world as being “vibrant,” and stating that he was very interested in using it not only for his current campaign, but also as part of renewing a general debate within and about the party, and for future elections. He said, “I’m really interested in blogging as a key component of the party, and its campaigns and debates, un the future.”

He informed us that he did at one stage wonder whether we could rebuild the grassroots of the party when all the indices show us in freefall, and whether the deputy campaign could engender this – a solid reason for not abandoning the election, as some politicians have suggested.

One of his staff mentioned visiting the Democrats and how they had found blogging to be very useful, but that they also found it difficult to link that in with the grassroots campaigning, something which is currently being addressed by several Labour bloggers I could name. Cruddas outlined two different conceptions of the role of blogging, one being to view it as an end in itself, supplanting traditional campaigning methods, the other being to view as one component of a much wider campaign, taking the latter view.

When asked about whether he thought politicians’ could allow the public to appropriate their message, to have a sense of ‘ownership’ of that message by being involved in the creative process, something which blogging, facebook, and similar phenomena tends to do, Jon was very honest, saying “its quite exposed, quite a vulnerable position to be in, when you do it right…that goes against the gain of the standard psychology of politicians.” That said, Jon is no standard politician, and he does seem willing to embrace and adapt to the new forms of campaigning which are now becoming more and more prevalent in British politics.

Others have noted his comments regarding his decision not to accept the deputy prime ministership, should he be successful, so I would be a knave not to mention it. He was pretty clear that he could (constitutionally) and would want to be in the Cabinet, in order to be a spokesperson there for the party, and he would accept the principle of collective responsibility in so doing. He also intimated that we should abolish the post of Chair of the party, since the line of agency did not stretch so far as having an influence on Cabinet sessions (perhaps that point is my own and not Jons? Hopefully he’ll see this, so we can find out) and the post is not democratically decided, hardly in keeping with the idea of having a democratic party. He also said of having the deputy leader fulfilling the role he has outlined, “it signals a much more deliberative method of policy formulation with the party included at an earlier stage,” thus hopefully preventing the party feeling policies are simply dropped on it, like top-up fees.

Throughout he was polite, and generally calmly spoken, except for the occasional betrayal of what seemed a genuine excitement on his part to be discussing these issues with his fellow Labour members and supporters. Having had the opportunity to have met him, I can attest to this affability being an integral part of who he is, a good sign for one who aims to be the link between the party at large and the PLP. It shouldn't worry readers that these traits might make him a weak link, since he can also be quite outspoken and, as I've said previously, formidable in debates. When called upon to describe him, I am reminded of the latter part of a quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which I have mutated to form the title of this post, "Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one." The only question which remains to eb answered, is whether the party give him the chance to demonstrate this in practise, as our Deputy Leader.

Okay, that’s it. My report of the conference, in all its glory. Well, almost. There are a couply of other things I could say, but I am just working from my notes and would feel more comfortable about posting the remaining titbits of information after having checked that doing so would be okay. There’s nothing controversial, I just want to check the accuracy of my notes. Enjoy!


Oh, and do head over to his site and read his posts. But go easy on him, he's only just got into this blogging experience, so I'm sure he'd appreciate the occasional kind word of encouragement. He was also very interested to hear our suggestions for how to develop his campaign, so feel free to post any ideas you might have.

* Based on the accounts those who have had the chance to speak to him, or hear him debate/give a speech.

Required Reading (1).

I'm going to make an effort to promote posts on other blogs that I think are particularly well written, give our mainly British and mainly Labour readership a perspective they may not be regularly exposed to, or are generally worth a read and unlikely to be spotted by my readership (for various reasons). Sometimes this series shall drift away from blog posts onto articles in other sources, and maybe even the odd book review.

Today, however, the inaugral post shall be in keeping with the rules laid out above. The reading suggestion comes from Tom Watson's blog. No, not the MP! The other one, the one who happens to reside on the other side of the Antlatic, and who has been a jounralist there for over 20 years. Hell, the guy even has a taste for Warren Zevon, so he clearly gets the kewl vote. His post is on the American critic Maureen Dowd and a particularly lame effort she has recently produced. And it fulfills every one of the three criteria stipulated by me for this series. Suggestions for future additions to the series are most welcome.

Rather than copy the whole thing into my post, I urge you to click the linnk and read on. But here are some select literary excerpts to whet your appetite for this laudable post by an esteemed journo*.

"Leaving aside the clueless racism in today's column - her apparent understanding of black American "perplexity" is less nuanced than a comic book - Dowd's continued attacks on Hillary Clinton deserve further commentary"

"Dowd conveniently ignores that fact that once declared, Hillary Clinton wore those pumps out working every back-road and strip mall in New York State - that she didn't do the fainting couch routine against the younger, handsome Republican Rick Lazio, but outworked his Long Island machine ass in every facet of that campaign. Watching her roll up John Spencer this year like a piece of used chewing gum, while spending lavish sums and her own time to help fellow Democrats, I never sensed that she was struggling with her sexual planets."


* I sincerely hope that TW doesn't mind me posting excerpts (Ive not checked) and that I haven't breached copyright or anything (again, I havent checked). In my defence, may I just say that I hope this posts leads to my readership peeping his page, thus it falls under the banner of a charitable donation, and you can't sue me for that, surely! Not at Christmas! ;-)

Jon Cruddas on the Phone... Web Exclusive.

Jon Cruddas MP for Barking and Dagenham, and also one of the candidates for the deputy leadership, has announced that he will be holding a conference early next week for bloggers and members of the facebook group.

Participants will be able to speak to Jon about his campaign plans, and there will be a Q&A session as part of the event. From what I hear, it will take place by phone, although I am yet to receive the full details.

This is a fantastic opportunity for bloggers to probe the mind of one of the most interesting deputy leadership candidates standing so far. It is also a web-exclusive, since there will be no mainstream media people involved (to the best of my knowledge).

I'm definitely going to particiate, and shall be blogging about it afterwards. It is a shame none of the other candidates have considered this a worthy way of interacting with the grassroots supporters, as it would have been brilliant to be able to do a blogging-interview series, of sorts. But Jon has made the decision to get involved, so I'll be supporting that, and hoping that the other candidates start to realise how useful such endeavours could be.

If you have any questions that you would like me to ask him, don't hesitate to post them here, and I'll do my best to get them asked. If you are a fellow blogger or facebooker, perhaps you would prefer to join the event yourself. Anyone can sign up to faceboook, and the Cruddas group is called "Cruddas for Deputy" - you can search for it once you have joined. The details of how to become involved were released there first, so its really worth joining if you want to stay ahead of the rest when it comes to knwoing what's going on, Marvin Gaye would say.

I may update this post over the weekend a I get more information about it.

Blogging and Campaigning: Notice Board. MUST READ!!

Okay, I posted about an event recently and some of us thought that it would be useful if there was some level of Labour organisation when it came to publicising events. I went away and did plenty of thinking (okay, about ten minutes while at work today), and I cam up with this:

A New Blog (No, this one isn't closing down, it will be another blog), inventively titled "The Notice Board."

I'll set up an email account to which anyone can send their events. It will be checked at certain points during the day, and events listed. This way, in addition to being advertised on individual blogs, there will be a blog-format one stop shop for all events. They can be campaigning events, CLP events, think tank events, anything Labour related (even in the most tenuous of ways - all charities, etc., also welcome).

Posts will be tagged with their topic, and region, and the region name will follow the format given by B4L for ease of use.

It would, of course, be useful if other bloggers volunteered some time to sustain this project - the more we have, the less time will be taken up for each of us. Since you would have access to the email address people send events to, I would have to require that you are first listed on B4L as 'proof' of your legitimacy.

I'm hereby calling upon NewerLabour and Parburypolitica to do their fair bit. Mainly because the latter suggested the idea, and the former is a student. Being a student entails (a) having a lot of time, and (b) thinking ideas like this are worth doing. Taken together, (a) and (b) entail (c) signing up to help. Any other volunteers are more than welcome.

I suggest people email and include links by simply posting the url before the word(s) they want used as the link. If it is more than one word, please indicate using quotation marks (or something similar. We can then perfrom the requisite actions vis a vis inserting code.

Please post your comments regarding this idea. If it is supported, I shall personally set up the new blog, an email account for it, and pledge to email all Labour MPs and thinktanks (over the next month or two, given that its Christmas), informing them of this new and wonderful service. But please post, even if its only a "yes, I agree" post, so I have some idea of the level of support for it. Any suggestions for how to develop it (bear in mind my lack of IT skills beyond simple blogging), would be welcomed, too.