A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left. Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.
Thoughts from me and Linda about fighting the Greens (this is the kind of thing we chat about at home), from the new edition of Progress magazine:
posted by Luke Akehurst at 3:10 pm
Labour MP for North Durham since 2024. Labour Party activist since 1988 - firmly on the moderate wing of the party. Member of Labour’s NEC 2010-2012 and since 2020. National Secretary of Labour Students 1995-6. Parliamentary candidate for Aldershot (2001) and Castle Point (2005). Hackney Councillor (Chatham Ward) 2002-2014, Labour Group Chief Whip 2002-09, Chair of Health Scrutiny 2010-2014. Dad. Unite and GMB union member. All views expressed in a personal capacity. The rest will become evident from reading the blog.
6 Comments:
Greenie commentators claim to be outraged by spending cuts; which is a bit rich, considering that many of the Greenie leftie intelligentsia have been agitating for austerity for years.
Time and again, the Greenies have told us that we must learn to live with less "stuff", for the sake of our own sanity and for the good of the people-plagued planet.
These austerity hypocrites have short memories. the Guardian's George Monbiot wrote an angry piece about the cuts;this is the same Monbiot who wrote a piece in 2007 titled 'Bring on the recession'.
"I hope that the recession now being forecast by some economists materialises", he said, because only a recession could give us "the time we need to prevent runaway climate change".
A recession would hurt poor people, he acknowledged - but that was a price worth paying to halt out-of-control economic growth.
11:24 pm, September 21, 2011
"and impose authoritarian measures on your daily life in the name of environmentalism"
I cannot believe that such a staunch supporter of the last Labour government has got the nerve to accuse another political party of authoritarianism.
Identity cards and a huge database, attempts to abolish jury trial, massive increases in detention powers, retaining the DNA of innocent people and even, in some cases, where there has not been a crime. And then there are things like fingerprinting school- children and control orders, secret inquests etc.
Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention the time that an octogenarian refugee from Nazi Germany was assaulted by a bunch of thugs at Labour's conference and threatened with arrest under anti-terrorism laws if he dared to try to re-enter the hall!
1:01 pm, September 22, 2011
Very strange this 'Greens aren't Labour therefore must be evil analysis'
They list some of our supposed more affluent wards to chracterise our voters as a bunch of shallow muesli eating middle class lefties but conveniently don't mention our seats in Kirklees, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Solihull probably because it doesn't fit the case you make.
I don't know who they're referring to about our candidates moving into ex Right to Buy properties to engage with the working class but it sounds highly specific and probably only refers to one person and makes a huge assumption about their motivations.
Where they have an opportunity to go into Coalition it is 'invariably as part of an anti-Labour pact' - this has not been true in Kirklees where we have worked with all parties including Labour, or Leeds who have worked both in an anti Labour grouping and have more recently supported a minority Labour administration. Our support varies according to local circumstances and the best option to forward what we believe in.
A disappointing posting that doesn't recognise the benefits of pluralism in politics.
3:15 pm, September 24, 2011
"Motions calling for council pension fund disinvestment from arms companies (which is illegal)"
It is not illegal. Trustees have an obligation to serve the beneficiaries' best interests, which "requires consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues with the potential to effect financial returns."
See http://www.fairpensions.org.uk/fiduciaryduty
11:34 am, September 26, 2011
Personally I think it is extremely ethical and socially responsible for public bodies to invest pension funds in companies which equip another set of public bodies, the armed forces, and thereby play a part in defending our country (relevant interest as a former consultant to defence industry companies proudly declared).
5:33 pm, September 26, 2011
The link has changed. It's now: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2011/09/22/green-haze/
10:03 am, September 30, 2011
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