Having recently blogged about why I think the coalition is most likely going to last the best part of a whole term of Parliament. It is now time for the companion piece about why I am not even sure it would be desirable to bring down the government quickly. On balance, I really want to see the back of the coalition as soon as possible and if they fail quickly, proving my last blog wrong then I would be delighted. But if that doesn’t happen here are a few reasons
Continue reading Some silver linings if the coalition does last.
A significant trick will have been missed by the left if we focus all or our ire with the coalition on the Liberal Democrats. The sense of almost visceral hatred, at the alleged betrayal is for my money misplaced and is meaning that the left are missing a trick in respect of who the enemy really are.
For my money the Liberal Democrats really didn’t have too much choice after the election given the mathematics of the parliament. There really wasn’t a credible possibility of a workable Lib/Lab coalition and for
Continue reading Time to stop wasting time hating the Lib Dems.
As I come from Plymouth in the sleepy Westcountry it is very unlikely that I will be able to attend a Labour Leader hustings in person. This in of itself is a concern; Plymouth is a reasonably big city in an area of the country where Labour did appallingly at the election. There are two key marginals here we lost one, and narrowly held the other. I kinda think that a party keen on learning lessons would come here….
That aside the fact that I probably won’t get an opportunity to
Continue reading My take on the Labour Leader TV hustings last night.
Whatever hopes and dreams people may have for a “new politics” or for a different pluralist model in a world after electoral reform, the Truth is there is only one option now for those who oppose government. That is the Labour Party, if the Tories are not the principal party in Government after the next election then they won’t be replaced by Lib Dems, Greens, or one of the plethora of Left Wing Parties. That is the realpolitik.
What should be the questions for Trade Unions and the left is:-
What kind
Continue reading What next for the Labour Party?
Providing the Con-Dem coalition doesn’t volcanically explode in only a few months due to falling outs and fundamental incompatibility then there is every chance that for good or for bad the coalition will re-shape, and re-mould British politics and it could end up having a profound effect on our party structure. Particularly if voting reform happens.
I am massively in favour of voting reform, I think changing “the rules of the game” will have a massive impact on how the game is played. And a proper pluralism in our Party system,
Continue reading Some idle speculation about the future for Political Parties.
Let’s be honest, Labour losing the election and the Tories getting the keys to number 10 is not, and cannot be considered a good thing. Hard times will come for the country, and the trade union movement, and working people in general. But despite this I think there are some reasons to be cautiously optimistic that this may not be quite as bad as we had feared.
1. The Tories didn’t win.
This election was there for them, the Labour party had been in power for 13 years was becoming deeply unpopular.
Continue reading Five reasons to be optimistic despite the Con-Dem Government.
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