Mutterings at Conference:- Tory Woe?

Having spent the previous week in Manchester, at the infamous disengaged and divided Labour Party Conference of 2008, i return back home to take a rest. However it was only disengaged and divided if your a press hack scrapping for the smallest discourse of anger.

I believe Labour are united and a small Brown bounce in several polls will have pleased the Labour party faithful. Come this week the Tories expected to regain the small bounce however with the news of another bank being nationalised and the economy in it's most direst since the 1930's, the Tories have changed tack.

At the beginning of the week a headline grabbing mention of a freeze on council tax was overshadowed by the events over the pond as $700 billion dollars were not handed other and the stock market started to slowly plunder before close.

Will this affect the Tories? Well their rather offensive stance by a lesbian PPC that "Homosexuals have a duty to vote Conservative" will probably evade most except LGBT groups on both sides. It's offensive firstly due to the argument used, i very much doubt Homosexuals outnumber the amount of people without Children and with the civil partnership laws it allows for homosexuals to become couples.

Secondary this is mostly the same party that voted against Civil Partnerships and against the removal of Section 28 this includes their leader David Cameron, so no Margot James if any group of people should vote against the Tories it is homosexual men and women another contagious issue that came up only earlier this year with the Human Fertilisation Bill.

Saying all that i don't feel it will affect them, not like the economy could and measures by David Cameron today have changed Tory policy on the economy, a more supportive Tory led opposition will be born, however with a catch that the party will not be giving Labour any "Blank Cheques".

That is one duty Cameron and all the parties should be doing, in times of economic crisis we need constructive debate and action not bickering arrogance and above all "We are change, We Have Changed" slogans because judging by Yougov figures this hasn't quite worked.

Crime Falls......Again

Sometimes you have to wonder at the sheer hypocriticalness of some in society, when crime figures fall they are reported to rise when crime figures rise they are reported to be out of control.

Figures reported today show almost all crime offences have fallen by over 7% and yet we are awash with "crime Britain", highlighted most recently by knife crime.

"Who To Blame"

I think the media sensationalising is a massive problem in a democracy such as Britain, you can't have Britain dictated to by hyperbole. Ok i agree there does seem to be a problem with knife crime, but the problem has been going in this country since the war.

The reason it seems that knife crime finally took precedent was due to the murder of a boy who was linked to a celebrity, the papers who had remained on the back burner over a number of poor kids suddenly jumped on Ben Kinsella's death.

And yet crime falls, violent crime has fallen by 12% and the most serious by 8%, i have rarely been a victim of crime.

"Celebrity Death"

So do deaths of a celebrity or a celebrity link prove more important than your average Joe, i would hazard a guess and say yes. For a paper like the Sun to preach against violence when they employ a couple of reporters who have been arrested and convicted of violent crimes and an editor who beat several shades of blue out of her husband (or ex not sure what the case is at the moment) i think it shows high hypocrisy, they've encouraged tighter laws on paedophilia, whilst at the same time they show young 17 year old girls in partial nudity for the pleasure of their dwindling readership, I'm glad to have such a bastion of truth on our newsstands every day.

"Tackling Crime"

So what's the best way in tackling crime, one of the figures shown were crime rose was drug offences, i have serious misgivings about sending people who take drugs to prison. I believe it's the last place any right thinking society should send anyone on drugs. However the alternatives are few and this is a direct indictment of this country's attitude towards deviance since Victorian times.

And a direct culprit of crime is poverty, poverty is the biggest issue this world faces going into the 21st century and yet it was the same entering the the 20th and 19th centuries and as far back as you want to go.

So what should Government do?

Well the increase in poverty is a failure of Labour, and it's the one issue that the main opposition tend to avoid. To them the Poor can help themselves and this has been stable Tory policy for years. Labour should of made this their main priority or otherwise Labour means nothing.

Someone asked me what good was a Labour party in a country that classes themselves mostly middle class, and i said it's to fight poverty as many may kid themselves out of the poorer end of society but they are still working for a wage that will not move them on and they therefore are very working class but not at all proud of it.

Labour have failed on this, hopefully they still have fight enough to battle on after election defeat, this country needs a re-shaped modern Labour party, not new and not old just one that fights on the key principles on which it was built which one was to help the poor.

As for crime....well it's getting better ALL the time.

Who Governs.... Labour and The Lost Voters

1) Who Governs? Landscape & Local government in 10 years

With a heavy heart i say this, i believe that the country should be given the chance to vote. The situation seems to be getting worse by the day and show elections such as Mr Davis in Haltemprice and Howden near Hull will only carry on a farce.

The expectation which i believe quite rightly is that David Cameron will return the Tories to power with a hefty majority, i believe the political landscape though will change with it.

This is several pieces that i will write on the future of this country, including it's services and it's welfare issues, this one will attempt to set the scene for how government will look.

A New Era?
I think politics will enter a substantial and new era, i think gone now are the days of parties leading a nation for over ten years, this Cameron term will prove if the economy continues to stutter to be a small term. He unlike previous primeminsters is one of the Blair mould, a good manager but not a reformer. Progression will continue to be put on hold, as it has since that terrible day in September 2001. If this blog is wrong and Cameron does take a sustained position of time in power i will be surprised, with the Davis announcement and the unease that the Tory party showed before Brown's infamous election rebuke the party seemed to show a divided line, a line that's impossible to sustain through disagreement, the Tories are still a party fractured and Cameron will have to have his "Clause IV" moment.

But for the time being nothing that Gordon Brown says and does is correct, and no mistakes that Mr Cameron makes are damaging, this changes once you enter the Primeminsteral role.

So how about the Landscape of Politics?

Local Government
I believe the current situation for local government and governance in general is dire, a reform in every area needs to be undertaken. The power has slowly been eroded from the local and devoured back in nationally, this of course is not the case in Wales and Scotland which i believe will slowly become disfranchised from England, and Plaid Cyrmu and SNP will become the national party of choice. Do i feel once the Union is devolved that parties such as Labour and The Lib Dems will gain back a foothold? Yes i do the Scottish Labour Party will be able to fight it's own battle separate from Westminster and the party will become more effective through this.

So when will the Union disappear? I think a gradual process over the next ten years, the children being born in Scotland today will know little of a Union and will be possibly less patriotic because of it, i doubt country borders will be implemented though and it will be more of a power agreement than a complete separation, Wales will remain in it's current state it's ties with England will remain, however an increase in the amount of power will be provided to the welsh assembley

So where does that leave England? the myth is that if Labour lost Wales and Scotland that they would never regain Parliament and government, to a certain extent it would become more difficult but either way i believe the shift towards the SNP will provide this anyhow.

Localisation of services will be the cornerstone, a Mayor for most cities is what i predict by 2020, i believe the more active localisation in politics happens, the better managed a country will become. The down sides can be seen through expenditure differing across the board but this can appear more relevant in time and could lead to a better system of voting where people actually can see the difference between the areas.

Voting System

I expect the call from the majority of the country to become louder in the pursuing years for a form of fairer voting. With the splits i have suggested in local governance i think it will be important for whoever governs to make this a key target. The Liberal Democrats will remain the smaller party unless a drastic erosion of power happens, which i think is unlikely but expect within a year of Cameron taking office, Local government will swap back to Liberal and Labour power.

The second part of these will be a discussion about fringe parties and i will go further into how they will make an impact in the next 10 years, and how this will effect policy and debate.

Yes, England are out

Some months ago, between dissertation hell and my duties of democracy i managed to scrape myself to the nearest pub to watch England fail to qualify for the European Championships of 2008, like most at first i thought it would dull my appetite for an event that after all we were not part of.

I've been proven wrong.... In fact i would state that England should avoid every future major event if this is how good it gets.

It started with the excellent displays of Holland and Spain and continues to shock and surprise, Turkey yesterday evening put pay to my dark horses and sweep choice Croatia, mind you with Holland around and Italy scraping through i reckon this may still prove to be the best Euros in living memory.

So what of England, apart from the odd show from Capello who i believe is a brilliant choice and will get England to the World Cup in two years, the name of England has gradually disappeared and that can only be a good thing, after all who cares we were woeful and needed one point from two games we failed and we deserve not to be there, as for the Ronaldo saga, lets hope for the sake of Fantasy Football that he leaves.... Only kidding Manchester Utd fans

You've been reading the unwritten word.... It's now been written.

Sharp Focus - January's Albums & Singles

So yes, the first month of 2008 is over, a year that promises so much and has delivered tit bits of excitement so far.

Lightspeed Champion was the first band to release something of note (if you dismiss the actual release of Radiohead which i will for purposes of this blogs reputation: see albums of the year). Songs to kill to, songs to lie to and strangely songs to love to, Dev Hynes is a modern day tale teller of quirky sorts and his album sort of delves in to the less fanciable places of society, ironically for Hynes he delves far too deeply but it's wondrous to know the failures in such a beautiful creation....

Another band that entertained us in January was the strangely adaptive These New Puritians, i could possibly spill the usual bullshit journalist jargon about them being from stella Southend (Yes stella is spelt that way due to it being mostly full of stella lager drinkers), but no the album speaks for itself, it speaks largely in tongues but its quality. From Swords in Truth almost a nod to all those similar sounding hip hop records, but hell its out of tune English white kids to the almost brilliantness of Colours and yes they improve music ten fold.

January also said hello to Vampire Weekend with a collection of fun filled frolics, Cat Power singing a load of covers and Sons and Daughters releasing something extreme in delight.

February kicked in with Lupen Crooks latest effort, not only is it on par with his brilliant debut its almost too little, the Murderbirds have added a spike that was missing but it needs more yet still best to leave the audience as such. As for the Morrissey best of, please hardly a best of at least the two extra tracks nod interestingly at the new album due later this year.

Singles

Little has really excited me on the single front as of yet, except the odd gem. Firstly we had the dull affair of One Night Only, frankly one album only is too much for these Keane sounding chancers. Laura Marling's been kicking about but she's frankly too annoying to like and Biffy release another record of their latest sham fest, what a god awful record it was. Still Los Campesinos are as chirpy as they were in 2008 and it bodes well for the forthcoming album. Attic Lights seem capable of smashing into the music mind in 2008, and Blood Red Shoes build up to what surely will be a contender for album of the year with the latest single You Bring Me Down.

So finally this brings me to the chirpy almost ludicrously brilliant Hot Chip, Ready to a Floor betters anything on the debut and though I’ve not heard the record yet, if the single precludes the album in anyway then Hot Chip have finally arrived.......Fuck me Over & Over isn't a patch on this.

A Letter From America - Clinton Washout

I sit here with a coffee cup verging on empty and a Clinton Campaign verging on imploding, only yesterday many were expecting the sometimes fraught Clinton campaign to finally start to make inroads. But Super Tuesday followed by Obama's Super Saturday, and then defying the Clinton Camp in Maine to take a comfortable victory has left a solitary Hilary Rodham (Clinton) in crisis.

Young Man's Game

These elections are fantastic for the rhetorical student among us (Me) and Obama's message of "Change" is one that has got young America voting. In fact to many that is Obama's real difference and yet when politics is discussed with young people over here in Britain some will comment on it being the old man's game. Obama incidentally is 46 (47 when or if he enters the White House) and surely could be classed as an old man himself, but when the Clinton name has taken a battering and the media have destroyed the very essence of Bill by some labelling him a racist, the matter of age and association become blurred. This campaign for some is being viewed as a campaign between the young and old, Clinton the last of the 60's baby boomers and Obama the fresh faced Senator who is way before his time, yet it's not a suprise such a idea has been discussed for if Hilary was to take two terms 40% of Americans would have only ever seen a Clinton & Bush as president.

Clinton Comeback

So how Clinton come back, money is evaporating fast, and though the euphoria of “Super Tuesday” has now fizzled out into a black distant memory of celebration for Clinton she is far from finished.
Clinton has debates to come, something the campaign will rely on, they need trip the Obama train up, and policy is the issue they feel most certain on.

For all Obama's rhetoric it will probably come down to a battle for the mind rather than the heart. Obama could sweep all before him by taking Ohio or/and Texas, but if Clinton steals the states then we she could be back.......Will she? Who knows? My fair prediction is it's a race Clinton has to lose, but day by day Clinton's hope of taking the House is falling from view.

For the winner......a battle it seems with McCain.

Letter From America returns later this week.