The Centre Left has come by the following confidential letter, apparently written in the early hours of this morning following yesterday’s local elections: 10 DOWNING STREET LONDON SW1A 2AA THE PRIME MINISTER 06 May 2011 Dear Nick, Just a quick note: I really wanted to say how sorry I am about the election results. Gutted… Continue reading To my favourite lightning conductor
Author: robert.marchant
New Labour is dead. New Britain, still worth fighting for
After the weekend’s national outpouring of sentiment, I want to take you back to another, earlier one. Almost exactly fourteen years to the day, on the 2nd May, 1997, a new dawn had broken – had it not? – at the foot of Millbank Tower. It was a day when, no matter in which pew… Continue reading New Labour is dead. New Britain, still worth fighting for
Observations on “A Journey” I: Economics and Gordon
I have now – finally – finished “A Journey”. You can love the man or you can hate him, but if you don’t understand where he’s coming from, you can’t really hope to understand Labour politics of the last 20 years. Over the next couple of weeks I shall do an occasional post on things which… Continue reading Observations on “A Journey” I: Economics and Gordon
One last word on Chávez (I promise)
Further to my letter to the TUC, the response to it and my own response to that, I just wanted to add a final thought from Denis MacShane MP, the former Minister of State at the Foreign Office, who you might imagine to be well-informed on such matters (in 2002, he had a long meeting… Continue reading One last word on Chávez (I promise)
Cameron: I’m loving your election campaign, Labour
In the Labour Party, we’re very excited about the Alternative Vote referendum. In Westminster, of course, it’s easily crowding out debate on the (not unimportant) Scotland, Wales, Northern Irish and English local elections. Ooh, the Yeses. The Noes. It’s all that analytical, wonkish, procedural stuff that we love to debate. We seem to have spent… Continue reading Cameron: I’m loving your election campaign, Labour
Chávez and the TUC – further correspondence
Further to my open letter to the TUC published here last Thursday, there was a response published on Easter Sunday at LabourList by Jennie Bremner, Chair of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (and Assistant General Secretary, I understand, of Unite: The Union). So as not to subject LabourList readers to “Venezuela overkill”, I have written my response… Continue reading Chávez and the TUC – further correspondence
An open letter to TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber
Dear Brendan, I am proud of much of the work that the union movement has done in the international sphere over the years, including its support of the anti-apartheid movement and supporting fledgling unions in new democracies. So I write, first of all, to applaud that work. I’m also writing to you to highlight something you… Continue reading An open letter to TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber
Two cheers for Ed and Yvette on the one-trick pony
Cameron does rabble-rousing speech to Tory Party faithful about immigration, pressing all the right buttons. Business as usual in the run-up to the locals. Ah, it must be nearly May, then? Or was it a little more clever than that? And are we, at last, learning to be clever back? Yes and yes. First, I… Continue reading Two cheers for Ed and Yvette on the one-trick pony
That high risk economic policy again: ours
Recess. Time for us all to reflect on where we’re at before the elections are upon us. And what will people be wanting to hear on the doorstep this month? That the cuts are awful, and that we’re with them. Right? Probably. The idea that we might be taking a risk with this line seems… Continue reading That high risk economic policy again: ours
Two views on nuclear power and the green lobby
Two independent views I’ve heard this week from people whose worldview couldn’t be more different. Firstly all power to green campaigner George Monbiot, whose astonishing revelations in the Guardian (thoroughly recommend the whole article) on the abuse of scientific argument by senior anti-nuclear campaigner Dr Helen Caldicott went against much of what he once believed, as… Continue reading Two views on nuclear power and the green lobby