grimmerupnorth

Tribune describes the Norwich north result as a "cack-handed, futile sacrifice" I could not agree more and the rest of the editorial is below.

http://www.tribunemagazine.co.uk/2009/07/30/the-real-lesson-of-norwich-north/

For some time now I have boycotted the East Coast Line when travelling to London- too expensive, unreliable, and now running out of track as the rail unions protest at its profiteering.
In the autumn, it will be , temporarily we are told, , nationalised. It's blindingly obvious what the answer should be to the execrable track-record of National Express and other private companies.
The only answer, and what a great move electorally it would be for Labour, is to take the railways permanently back into public hands. As the editorial in the Morning Star indicates below.



http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/comment/time_brown_admits_defeat

I''m not blogging much at the moment. Largely because I am embroiled in the utterly selfish business of trying to seek gainful employment and it tends to take priority.
Tonight, some conversations with people re the Iraq inquiry which at least is going to be more transparent than originally envisaged. It remains to be seen what that will mean.
In a month which has been one of the bloodiest yet in Afghanistan, we can only hope that serious questions will be asked. And that they will be answered.
This dismal summer is not one exactly designed to re-charge the batteries but those of you in shouting distance might want to take part in or support the LRC cricket match on Saturday which looks sadly likely to suffer from the deluge we've had in West Yorkshire solidly over the past couple of weeks. It's raising funds for HOPI - Hands Off The People Of Iran.- and even if washed out there's a fund-raiser in the evening. See the new, improved website for details.
Back home, we have a fund-raiser Quiz Night next Thursday August 6 for my local Branch Labour Party at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge. There will be a nuclear hot turkey curry ( made by me) and sundry other dishes to enjoy .

Some people just don't know when to leave the stage and Esther Rantzen is one of them. As a youngster, I could not stand her That's Life programme with lots of smug presenters laughing like drains over singing dogs and suggestive vegetables. They had this slot where Esther, uusally wearing an Abigail's Party-type frock would "investigate" some consumer injustice which was in actuality just an excuse for her to parade her own ego.

There aren't many media channels open to the real Labour Left but one of them is the Guardian's Comment Is Free. For those who missed it the other day, here's John McDonnell's article on the spurious James Purnell and the spurious "Open Left" project. Most doors in the mainstream media may be closed to us but, thanks to the internet, we can still make our voices heard.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/25/labour-party-norwich-left?commentpage=2

PRESS RELEASE from the Socialist PartyIssued: 27th July 2009

Outrageous "racism" charge leads to union ban.

Four members of the public sector union Unison were last week banned from holding positions in their union following two years of investigations and hearings. A leaflet distributed at the 2007 Unison conference criticising the ruling out of resolutions relating to pay and accountability of full-time union officials and financing the Labour Party was found to have given "racist offence to members" for using a cartoon of the Three Wise Monkeys.

Based on this outrageous trumped up charge, the four have been found guilty and sentenced to a ban from office for three years for Glenn Kelly (NEC member and Bromley branch secretary) & Onay Kasab (Greenwich branch secretary), four years for Suzanne Muna (Housing Corporation branch secretary) and five years for Brian Debus (Hackney branch chair)!

To find four members, who have always opposed, fought and campaigned against racism, of effectively being racist themselves is not only outrageous but a terrible accusation for these four unison members to have to bear.
Such a slur is bound to cause difficulties in the future, especially when working and applying for jobs in the public sector. This has provoked anger and outrage both within Unison and in the wider trade union movement.
The priority of every union should be to defend its members from job losses, reduced hours and worse conditions which are being foisted on workers during this recession. However the Unison bureaucracy is instead narrowly focused on silencing any opposition to the Unison leadership, especially socialists with a track record of fighting for their members.

Unison activists and supporters of the four are organising a mass protest outside of Unison head office on Thursday 30th July to make their anger known and warn the leadership of the union that they will not quietly accept this unjust result.Protest outside Unison HQ, 1 Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9AJ on Thursday 30th July at 12noon.

Supporters of the four victimised trade unionists include the comedians Rory Bremner and Mark Thomas who had the following to say about the case:
"On the face of it, Unison are about to make themselves look a laughing stock. They need to be very aware of the widespread ridicule this will attract to their union and its leaders, and think again before the papers get hold of this and make them look foolish and authoritarian. They don't need this distraction"Rory Bremner

"I know Onay Kasab - Kas. I have had the privilege of working with him on the Ilisu Dam Campaign and on the issue of trade unionist deaths in Columbia. To accuse him of being racist is utter stupidity and madness... those who brought this charge need to take a lie down in a quiet room, possibly with whale music playing and get a rest or they need to acknowledge their actions are motivated by other factors."Mark Thomas

Further information and background material can be found at www.stopthewitchhunt.org.uk.

There is an excellent post here on why Labour is in trouble - and why grassroots members should not get the blame. Welcome to my blogroll, Tim Cheetham, who is a councillor in Barnsley

http://cllrtim.blogspot.com/2009/07/5-things-i-hate-about-you.html

I never meant this blog to be a long-term thing but two years on from its original incarnation as a Labour leadership call to arms things have moved on and, although sometimes I'm pretty uninspired, I intend to carry on.
Grimmerupnorth was never going to delight the Labour establishment but the way I see it grassroots members who are utterly fed up with New Labour's "command and control" of Party democracy, Labour Party Conference, selection of PPCs and by-elections need to have a place where they can have their say. And more and more members are aghast at the way things are looking. More and more of them are contacting me personally.
I spoke this morning to someone who loyally trundled up to Norwich to help Chris Ostrowski in what turned out to be a pretty hopeless battle in the constituency. Her tales of bland election leaflets written by Party HQ, control freakery by paid Party officials, constituency members not doing any campaigning as they were so angry at Ian Gibson's treatment, were all horribly familiar. So incensed is she that she is hoping to organise direct action at the Labour Party Conference. As all the old channels have been more or less abolished ie resolutions, speaking from the floor, this seems to me an excellent idea. And let me make it clear.
This is not an LRC member, this is not a hardened leftie hack, this is an out and out Labour loyalist who has been radicalised by personal experience of the mistakes which contonue to be made by a Party machine which chooses favoured sons and daughters over local candidates in any winnable seat, stamps out dissent and most importantly ignores the common sense on policy and strategy from ordinary members whose only wish has been to see Labour succeed. The peson in question happens to be a PPC. She tells me she will write her own election leaflets because she cannot bear the meaningless guff which emanates from the powers-that-be. Unfortunately, and inevitably, she happens to be standing in an unwinnable seat.

Earlier this week Alan Milburn presented a report to Gordon Brown on the future of higher education. I thought the suggestion on free university for stay-at-home students was well meaning, but wrong because it would create a two-tier system. But if today's report in the Sunday Times is anything to go by that is just the tip of the iceberg under plans which would drive an inexorable wedge between rich and poor students.
Apparently, elite universities will be able to charge up to £7000 a year for tuition fees while what is tellingly described as "former polytechnics" ie the less prestigious and less popular establishments which Lord Snooty and his pals would never consider, may offer free degrees.
It's not rocket science to predict that the public scholol alumni will contine to head for Oxbridge, Durham, the old-established redbricks et al ( as they always have) and those from less affluent backgrounds will just have to go for the cheapest option no matter how bright they are. Unless of course they want to cripple themselves with debt for life.
How can Labour even be thinking of backing these proposals This Party was created to make society more equal, not less. No marks whatsoever for this madness.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6727699.ece

Parliament may have broken up for the summer but life in the LRC goes on - and the new website is a welcome development which is a vast improvement on the previous URL and thanks to all involved for their excellent work. The new site includes better access to press releases, campaign news, videos and offers LRC members the opportunity to post their opinions on events as they happen. Today, LRC John McDonnell makes his views known on the Norwich by-election and says it's time for the NEC to apologise.

Ian Gibson stood down in protest after being scapegoated by the NEC. The result is a Tory gain in Norwich North. People in the constituency weren't having it that their MP had done more wrong than others who stay in high office. So Labour has lost.
How many times do the NEC have to ignore the wishes of local constituencies before they accept they have made seriously bad decisions. All Ian Gibson did was sell his home to his daughter at a below market rate. Yes, a mistake but he did not" flip" his home or avoid capital gains tax, make outrageous claims for food and lavish luxuries. Those who did, including Hazel Blears, James Purnell, Shahid Malik, Alisdair Darling were not hauled up in front of the NEC and told they could not be MPs. Why not? The lack of consistency on MPs' expenses, and refusal to listen to grasssroots members, has cost Labour this seat.Bad call, bad mistake, and utterly unfair. Gibson was made a scapegoat for far greater transgressors. The NEC's "star chamber." has been an undemocratic, ineffective , and inconsistent disaster.

Tomorrow night the Trades Club is hosting a debate on the future of the left and how to vote in the General Election to avoid a Tory Government. Platform is Hilary Wainwright (Red Pepper), Pete Lazenby (NUJ activist and Calder Branch Labour Party, our former Labour PPC Janet OOsthuysen and a representative from the Green Party.
I will be there, no doubt incurring the wrath of anarchists and others, by counselling that standing minority candidates only helps the Tories and that people must campaign for Labour , or at least vote Labour, as the best alternative. I will also be flagging up the LRC and urging people to join.
My tussle with the DWP this morning left me somewhat depressed and I got my cosmic comeuppance when my graphic designer got in touch to say he had just found a cheque for £50.00 which he hadn't paid in yet. I decided the only antodote to this further bad news was to resolve not to let the system get me down - and keep on keeping on. Right, off to council meeting........

It is 25 years since I claimed welfare benefits. Today, on the advice of a fellow journalist also facing difficulties, I made enquiries about Working Tax Credits. It was no surprise, really, that I did not qualify. After all, I am a single person. And the fact I have a mortgage, council tax, heating and other utility bills to pay does not seem to register with the DWP.
So an income of £620 a month is deemed sufficient to live on. I've calculated my outgoings (excluding food) are around £550 a month. So that leaves £70 to buy food and survive. Less than £18 a week.
I should be grateful that for most of my working life I have been very far from this position. I should also be grateful that, in time, no doubt things will get better.
But this means-tested system, which offers nothing to single people seriously struggling , is a national disgrace.
Many politicians pay lip service to worrrying about the low-paid and the unemployed. They should try surviving on the breadline for a bit. Next time you hear one of them suggesting our benefits system is a licence to sit around and do nothing, and how generous the tax credits system is, rest assured this is utter rubbish.

I'm too exhausted and fed-up at the moment to blog at length. But a good post on Socialist Unity underlines why, in the run-up to the General Election, we have to gather our strengths, admit our weaknesses and mistakes, and try and stop a Tory Government. And the answer, frankly, is not to abandon the Labour Party
http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=4415#comments

I was rather sad yesterday to read of the death of Frank McCourt, author of bestseller Angela's Ashes. If I spend a lot of time reading Irish writers ( and I do) it's because a crucial part of my psyche is irredeemably steeped in Catholicism, sexual and religious repression and the legacy of my parents, who grew up in a poverty most these days would regard as unspeakable. In 1930's Manchester, it was par for the course if you were working-class.

It's rather rich that James Purnell should attempt to defenestrate Gordon Brown and then start preaching to the rest of us how to "renew" the Labour Party.

It would have been nice if the Halifax Courier had actually contacted me before writing the story below which today appears on its website. As usual, they have just quoted from the blog without ringing for more information. Still, it's largely accurate.
Our Branch, the largest in the constituency, has lost many of its activists as a result of the de-selection of Janet Oosthuysen by the NEC and then the subsequent concerns over the selection of Steph Booth, which were ignored again by the NEC. It is, however, suggested that it is only " a handful" of malcontents who are unhappy at the way things have panned out. This is not so.
My Branch, by far the biggest in the constituency, overwhelmingly supported Janet as our best candidate and later endorsed me and I'm grateful to have had the support of the clear majority of Branch members in the hustings.
As a consequence of what has happened our former Chair resigned from the Party with several others but by affiliating to the LRC, our Branch will be hoping to re-build and recruit new members so that we will continue to have a wide support base in our immediate locality, which will be needed in the period ahead if we are to survive as a campaigning Party.
Let's be clear. This constituency has lost many of its foot soldiers with many more disillusioned , disengaged and disaffected because of bad calls by the NEC. And also because of the "handful" of Party members who did not accept the fact a left PPC won fairly and squarely in the first place. And then launched a personal vendetta which, unfortunately, succeeded.
http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/We39re-hanging-on-by-our.5472373.jp

I'm quite glad that Parliament is shutting down this week as I've had more than enough of career politicians. "Courageous" Purnell has already landed himself a job with Demos and does nothing but carp about his former boss. Jacqui Smith was on the telly the other night bleating about how she should have had "training" to be Home Secretary. Poor dear....
Certain wisdoms can only be acquired by life experience and the problem is that most of our Cabinet has never faced the daily grind of an ordinary job and an ordinary life. People like Purnell were parachuted into safe seats (I know because his predecessor, Tom Pendry, boasted about it to me during a magazine interview a couple of years ago) They strut around thinking they are demi-gods when in fact they are devoid of any other principle other than self-interest.
MPs on already big salaries think they are perfectly entitled to claim every perk going, including £400 a month EXTRA for food, when most of their constituents are heading off to Lidl and struggling to hang onto their jobs.
The electorate has lost faith in its MPs and during the summer break they should think long and hard about how on earth they are going to re-build confidence and faith. Even the "party faithful" have had enough.
The good news is that in at least one London constituency , Brentford and Isleworth, the CLP is taking active steps to try and remove the gravy trainers. A shame Salford CLP did not take such a stance over Hazel Blears.
At the beginning of this year, I had aspirations to be a PPC. My only aspiration as of now is to try and get more work to pay the bills . I had a frenzied few days this week writing film and book reviews for an internet site only to discover that the average remuneration is about four pence per 250 words, It is not a career option......
When my fortunes improve, I will probably re-discover an enthusiasm for blogging. At the moment, along with millions of others, I'm just trying to survive. And hold together my local Labour Party branch which has almost fallen apart.

Last year I had to fight back tears as I watched Henry Allingham struggle heroically to place a wreath on the Cenotaph at the annual Rememberance Day parade.It was clear the old chap knew it was probably the last time he would be there - and he wanted to do his best for his fallen comrades. He died a couple of days ago and the news programmes have been full of tributes to his courage as someone who made it his job in latter years to tell others of the horrors of war.

Today, the Telegraph claims Trident may well be another casualty of the recession and abandoned.
Welcome news, but it could have been a positive announcement from Number 10 instead of a swept under the carpet job.........
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5844275/Gordon-Brown-delays-Trident-work.html

I never watched Charlie's Angel's. But with the help of Carmen rollers in the 1970's along with millions of other teenagers I tried to have hair like Farrah Fawcett. I suppose if I'm honest I always thought she was a bit of a Hollywood airhead but after watching tonight's extremely moving documentary on Channel 4 I'm astounded at her bravery in charting two years on film of invasive and terrifying cancer treatment.

The news that Tony Blair is being endorsed as President of Europe should come as no surprise to anyone who realises where the real power of this Government now resides. Peter Mandelson, plotter-in-chief and one of the most effective politicians of his generation, now effectively holds the strings which are keeping Brown in power. It's only thanks to Mandelson that Brown survived the serious coup attempt of a couple of months ago and, obviously, there was a price to pay.

I don't blame the poor bird who flew into the windscreen at Oxenholme for turning my journey home into a nightmare. That honour goes to the staff at Preston station who tonight refuted the view of the guard at Lancaster that I was entitled to a taxi to get me home after the unfortunate creature had caused me to miss my (last) connection.
Thus a 40-mile journey took three hours, I had to go into Manchester and out again, two hours added to my journey, and it was made clear to me it was a case of like it or lump it.
In pre-privatisation days, British Rail honoured their customer contracts and did their best to get people home at the least inconvenience when things went wrong. The private companies don't give a monkey's.
So" thanks" to Virgin Trains for rendering a previously delightful day at my niece's graduation into an exhausting and unnecessary horror story. Is it any wonder people are reluctant to use public transport? And why we call for re-nationalisation

Tonight affiliated to the LRC. We regard this as an absolutely fundamental step which will help us re-build and recruit more members. It will also enable us to send out a clear message that our Branch, the largest in the Calder Valley constituency, is not signed up to New Labour policy and that we retain the socialist values which we have stood for ever since we campaigned against Iraq, tuition fees, privatisation, and the other policies which the LRC stands for.I urge other Branch Labour Parties to do the same and our next fund-raiser on Thursday August 6 will give part of the proceeds to the LRC.

Politics is a dirty game and after 30-odd years I see no reason why it should change - much as I would like it to. Stitch-ups, treachery and jobs for the boys have always been a part of Labour Party culture which is why in the early 1980's groups like the Campaign For Labour Party Democtacy struck such a chord with activists.
CLPD is still gamely hanging on and trying to reverse measures like the abolition of contemporary resolutions at annual Conference. The results of which we will see at Brighton in a couple of months but that will only happen if the unions come on board. Which, hopefully, they will.
OMOV voting for the National Policy Forums would be another advance , making the NPF more representative and ending the sheep-like mentality of the current set-up which is still overwhelmingly dominated by what's left of New Labour.
The mood locally in my Labour Party Branch is unremittingly bleak folowing the NEC's refusal to listen to us over the Parliamentary selection(s) and several of our keenest activists have resigned. Most members are just apathetic and unwilling to engage - and who can blame them.
As Branch Secretary, I face a Herculean task turning that round but we still have over 100 members and the only way forward is to try and motivate people which is not going to be easy in the current circumstances. In the long term, things can change and with local elections coming up next year we will need candidates in place who our members will campaign for.
If there are any more stitch-ups, or candidates barred for spurious reasons, Calder Branch will be in terminal decline.As things stand, most of us are just hanging on in there by our fingernails.

Earlier this week, the Chancellor was criticised for his failure to adopt stringent regulation on the banks bailed out by US. Today's Mail reports the bonus culture is back......
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1198904/City-banks-reward-staff-mind-blowing-bonuses-months-bringing-world-economy-brink-meltdown.html
The Left Economic Advisory Panel's take is here

I blame the fact that I was force-fed as a (very) premature baby both for a lifelong obsession with food - and a lifelong problem with my metabolism. I'm currently (successfully) managing to eat rather less but note today's CiF thread on a report in the Mail which suggests us Northerners spend far less on fresh produce and eat more junk than our counterparts in the south. Oh, yawn.

It is not Bob Ainsworth's fault that the speaking clock is probably capable of emoting more distress than he is able to in the wake of the news that the death toll in Afghanistan hasnow reached the same total as Iraq.But never was a man less suited to the role of conveying public sorrow at private grief. He talks like an automaton.
That's no doubt why one of the bereaved relatives today accused him of being uncaring about the deaths of so many soldiers in so few days. I am sure that is not really the case.
However, it is surely time for the Government to consider bringing the troops home and ending the carnage.

George Clooney is arguably one of the most handsome men currently on the planet. And, if I were Sarah Brown, I probably wouldn't exactly turn down the chance to meet him either. But I wonder what both were doing at the G8 summit in Italy.
Most of the tabloids coverage of the summit has consisted of blow-by-blow accounts of what the various wives were wearing and who looked the best. Why, exactly, do the wives have to be there? It only adds to the cost of the whole circus and it's rather depressing so little progress has been made and that the world's leaders are still male, middle-aged and parading their partnes around as if it were London Fashion Week rather than a serious political summit. It 's all a bit farcical and, frankly, a distraction from the global changes which desperately need to be addressed. Still, fair play to Carla Bruni for snubbing Berlusconi so she could take George to the opening of a cinema. Given the choice, who wouldn't ........

John Prescott is right to call for an enquiry and it beggars belief that Andy Coulson. as editor of the News Of The World, would not have known what was going on.......

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8141720.stm

The pitifully small rebellion on the 10p tax rate was sadly another indication that the PLP has not learned from the mistakes of the last couple years- and most of all the dreadful results in June. Today, I received the final report from our former MEP Richard Corbett - a decent bloke who did not deserve to lose his seat to the BNP. It was utterly nauseating to hear Nick Griffin on the radio as a bona fide member of the Brussels Parliament being given time on the BBC explaining why he thought boats carrying illegal immigrants should be sunk. Why are we giving oxygen to these scumbags by ignoring the plight of the most vulnerable, and betraying our fundamental values? Reversing the 10p decision would have sent a clear message out that the Govt has listened and learned. Instead, we are, as John McDonnell puts it in the Morning Star article below, sleepwalking to "disaster." And local MPs like Gordon Prentice and Mike Wood, who were brave enough to join the rebellion, are among those most at risk as a result.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/britain/labour_on_the_road_to_disaster

Bear with me for a Dark Ages moment or two. When I left home in 1977 to go to university it was a door into a different world.I met students from a wide range of backgrounds, I was independent, I was an ADULT ( well I thought I was) . The notion of staying at home and going to university would have been absolute anathema.
Today, the news channels report the Govt plans financial incentives - no tuition fees - for students who stay at home.
Some 30 years on my nephew is planning to do exactly that because he does not want to be lumbered with thousands of pounds in debt. And no doubt, in the current climate, he's making a highly sensible decision. But we have to ask ourselves what will happen if this policy, which on the face of it helps thousands of young people, comes to pass.
Effectively, those with least money will choose to stay at home. It will create a two-tier system whereby the rich and affluent will choose universities on the basis of the best place for their courses, enjoy the freedom of three years away from home, and of course the unique experience which university offers in learning how to survive as an adult for the first time ever.
Those with no such resources will study close to Mum and Dad. They will also lose out both intellectually and be the "poor relations" in an unacceptable way . The only answer is for the Govt to re-introduce proper maintenance grants, stop the iniquitous financial burden which students carry, and reform the tax system so that university is open to all. With no worries about debt, tutition fees, or the highly necessary practice of cutting free from the comforts of home.

As the General Election draws nearer, the LRC is drawing up a list of MPs whose track-record in Parliament merits extra support at the General Election. One might have hoped the list of MPs rebelling over the 10p tax rate would have been longer than the 18 who supported Frank Field's bid to stop its abolition. Another opportunity wasted to win back support from the General Public. At present I can't source a list of the rebels on the internet so if anyone can supply it I would be grateful........Update: Gordon Prentice, Peter Kilfoyle, Jeremy Corbyn, Kate Hoey, Mike Wood, John McDonnell, Paul Flynn, Alan Simpson, Dai Havard, Mark Fisher, Kelvin Hopkins, Frank Field, Lynne Jones, Dianne Abbott, Martin Caton,David Drew, Andrew Mackinlay.

It's kind of ironic that this month is designated by the NUJ as Freelance Month as this month is when I cross the Rubicon from scraping by to being seriously skint. Of course, I'm far from being on my own. Which is why the NUJ is highlighting the plight of freelances.

Today is my Dad's 89th birthday and I just want to wish him a good day though truth be known he probably doesn't know what a blog is......last year he gave us a bit of a scare and spent most of the summer in hospital but he's rallied round and defied medical logic once again to be looking forward to attending his grand-daughter's graduation next week. Only the second generation of the Press family , as Kinnock once put it, to go to University.
When he came to MY graduation, 29 years ago, I thought he was knocking on a bit! In fact, he was only 60 but when you are 22 that seems very old indeed.
Born in 1920 to parents who left Northern Ireland after having the gall to fall in love across the religious divide, he was sent back to Portaferry on Strangford Loch for some years when five kids proved to much to fend for in 1920's Manchester .
My well-worn theory is that the fresh air and fresh food he had in his days as "Johnny Manchester, " as the local kids used to call him, are partly responsible for such amazing longevity .
I hope I've inherited his genes and ability to withstand less than abstemious behaviour .....I certainly inherited his interest in politics, trade unionism, and love of an argument over a drink or two. Now counting down to 90...........fingers crossed. Happy Birthday, Dad.He's pictured above with me and my sister at last year's Mayor-making,

I have just had to turn down an invitation, which I would happily have accepted, to speak to the Greater Manchester Fabian Society in November. It clashes with another commitment but I hope they will ask me back at some point as it is always good to engage with others - even if you're not always going to agree. Here in the north, we also don't have the plethora of meetings and discussions which people in London take for granted and are pretty blase about.
The Fabians may not be normal territory for the LRC but let's not forget 'twas they who organised the infamous debate on the Labour Leadership Election that never was and provided the only opportunity for John McDonnell and Michael Meacher to debate with Gordon Brown. As Brown was outflanked completely, he saw both of them off the very next day but that's history.
However, in recent days. John Denham has kicked up a storm with a speech he gave to the Fabian Society claiming Labour should ditch notions of egalitarianism and worry more about "those in the middle". Quite honestly, I was a bit astonished. Wasn't this the very same John Denham who at one point in 2007 was being touted as a possible "left" contender against Brown? . It also shows a bewildering lack of political nous, frankly, for such a senior politician not to be tuning in to the cultural zeitgeist in an economic climate which is very different from the prosperous days of 1997 and 2001.
I fundamentally disagree that people don't care about fairness and social justice and closing the gap between rich and poor. As unemployment rises, and will continue to, more and more will realise the illusions fostered by New Labour that everyone can prosper under capitalism and that it's OK to be "intensely relaxed" about the filthy rich are simply not so.
Young people, in particular, are seeking fairer ways of running the world and campaigning tirelessly on issues like global poverty, climate change and peace.
Denham got it wrong - which is why he has been lambasted by that doyenne of social democracy Roy Hattersley. I trust Denham's views are not representative of the Society as a whole. And I hope to be able to debate with them at some stage......after all I believe Tony Benn is also a member.

One morning soon I expect to wake up and find the top 100 monopolies nationalised.......or something damn close. Because every day now seems to bring another U-turn on New Labour policy.

By any standards, it has been a bad year for the Labour Left in Calder Valley. The PPC who most of us wanted was de-selected, we have another one in place thanks to machinations which many of us in the CLP are still angry about - and which the NEC have ignored.

I've sampled all the above in the past seven days but did not expect to return to a re-nationalised railway line in Yorkshire.
The fiasco over the National Express franchise illustrates perfectly why re-nationalisation of a failing sector should be an urgent priority for the Government.
At a recent public forum, Calder Valley PPC Steph Booth said she was not in favour of the railways once again being in public hands. The news about the East Coast franchise shows how seriously she is out of step with even the Government on this issue - let alone the Labour Left and of course the Labour Party which agreed some years ago it was Party policy. Fares in the UK, the highest in Europe, are a national disgrace.
Today I've travelled from Normandy to Yorkshire. A round trip of over 200 miles on SNCF cost £25. I paid £66.10 on a Virgin Trains Pendolino, where we stormed first class and refused to move as a train had been cancelled and there was nowhere to sit. Eurostar was an eye-watering £122.00 single London to Paris.
Lord Adonis has done right to take the franchise off National Express ( which I never use as it's too expensive) but it's madness to suggest the nationalisation is only until another private consortium can be found. It's time the Govt listened to the rail unions, and the general public who are sick and tired of over-priced, overcrowded trains run only for profit. The fact private companies can just walk away from franchises, leaving the Govt to mop up the damage , is wrong both morally and financially. A Labour PPC taking up the cudgels on behalf of rail users would find that stance a vote-winner. Ignoring the reality, that we've been ripped off for years by the private sector, is frankly, not. More on the RMT and LEAP websites