tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20557295861714302322024-03-13T20:55:56.748+00:00Against Tory CutsThis blog is a compilation of news, opinion and analysis of the Tory's attack on the public sector, both nationally, and locally in Suffolk.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger155125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-20919745879416565772019-12-09T16:02:00.002+00:002020-01-15T08:37:58.009+00:00Ecological socialismGuardian letter:<br />
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/08/dont-write-labour-off-there-is-still-hope-for-a-fairer-britain">https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/08/dont-write-labour-off-there-is-still-hope-for-a-fairer-britain</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/15/tresspass-trap-law-land-travelling-people-rights" target="_blank">The trespass trap: this new law could make us strangers in our own land</a></span></h1>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-55748922280340085532019-12-01T15:52:00.001+00:002019-12-01T15:52:15.046+00:00Labour, antisemitism and the chief rabbi by Michael Rosen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; letter-spacing: inherit; margin: inherit; padding: inherit;">Thursday, 28 November 2019</span></h2>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="1725744809313391186"></a><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
I'm Jewish. I'm voting Labour.</h3>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />1. I've met people who think that there are no Jews left in the Labour Party.<br />2. I've met people who think that the Chief Rabbi is in some way or another in charge of, or a representative of all Jews in Britain.<br /><br />Neither of these statements is true or anything like true.<br /><br />There are several Jewish candidates for the Labour Party. There are thousands of Labour Party members who are Jewish. Several times in the media people have said how it's impossible or 'not safe' for Jews to stay in the Labour Party. It's not impossible. If the media had wanted to, they could have asked Jewish MPs, Jewish candidates in this election 'Is it impossible or unsafe for you to be in the Labour Party?' It has been dishonest of them to have not done that.<br /><br />There are also Rabbis who have either said that they will vote Labour and/or have expressed great concern over the way Jewish religious leaders (Rabbi Romain and the Chief Rabbi) have intervened in this election. You can read about these Rabbis in the Jewish Chronicle online: Rabbi Danny Rich and Rabbi Howard Cooper.</span></div>
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To see full article click <b><a href="see: https://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com/2019/11/im-jewish-im-voting-labour.html" target="_blank">here</a></b><div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-15694810746902654872019-12-01T15:35:00.000+00:002019-12-01T15:35:47.752+00:00Labour, antisemitism and the chief rabbiThe Guardian Letters: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/nov/27/labour-antisemitism-and-the-chief-rabbi">https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/nov/27/labour-antisemitism-and-the-chief-rabbi</a><br />
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The chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, refers to “the Jewish community” as if British Jews were a single bloc and he speaks as our representative. British Jews are diverse: socially, religiously, politically. There are close to 300,000 Jews living in the UK, of whom no more than 25% belong to Rabbi Mirvis’s denomination; and I doubt whether he speaks for them all. Many Jews do not belong to any synagogue. In short, there is no single Jewish community, and he is not our spokesperson.</div>
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There is, however, a set of ethical values that Jews in general share. If, instead of attacking <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/jeremy-corbyn" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #e05e00; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Jeremy Corbyn</a>, he had issued a statement critical of both main parties, of antisemitism and Islamophobia, from left and right; had he proclaimed the dire need for policies resolving the shocking state of poverty and deprivation in our society; then I would have recognised him as speaking for me. As it is, I do not.<br />
<strong>Dr Brian Klug</strong><br />
<em>London</em></div>
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<span class="bullet" style="color: transparent; font-size: 0.00625rem; line-height: 0.00625rem;">•</span> We are both active Jewish members of Labour – one in the constituency with the largest Labour party membership in the country and the other in Jeremy Corbyn’s constituency. Neither of us have seen or heard any antisemitism in our local parties. What we have seen are progressive policies designed to raise the living standards and rights of so many people without any discrimination or racism, and that is why we have been campaigning for <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/labour" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #e05e00; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Labour</a> in this general election and will continue to do so.</div>
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While Labour has a progressive manifesto designed to protect and enhance the rights of us all, the Conservative party’s implicitly states that human rights in the UK will be restricted beyond their current state.<br />
<strong>Nigel Leskin and Sonia Routledge</strong><br />
<em>London</em></div>
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<span class="bullet" style="color: transparent; font-size: 0.00625rem; line-height: 0.00625rem;">•</span> In the welter of depressing coverage about antisemitism and Labour, I was heartened by a couple of paragraphs in your article (<a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/26/it-reflects-despair-chief-rabbi-criticism-of-labour-strikes-a-chord" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #e05e00; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;" title="">‘It reflects the despair’: Chief rabbi’s criticism of Corbyn strikes a chord</a>, 27 November). At long last a reporter has started to balance the coverage of antisemitism accusations with quotes from Jewish Voice for Labour, which has consistently repudiated the claims made against Corbyn and the party. On Tuesday JVL <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/smoke-without-fire-the-myth-of-a-labour-antisemitism-crisis/" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #e05e00; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;" title="">published a detailed report</a> on what it describes as the myths of Corbyn’s and his party’s antisemitism. It should be read by anyone who wishes to provide a balanced and informed account of this ongoing issue.<br />
<strong>Phillip Cooper</strong><br />
<em>Surbiton, </em><em>London</em></div>
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<span class="bullet" style="color: transparent; font-size: 0.00625rem; line-height: 0.00625rem;">•</span> It is devastating to witness a party, offering the most comprehensive programme of social justice in generations, being undermined by the antisemitic views of a tiny minority of its members. We must recognise that thousands of British Jews are genuinely afraid of a Corbyn government, but let us be in no doubt that millions of disadvantaged people of all faiths and none have every reason to be petrified at the prospect of a Johnson one.<br />
<strong>Ian Richardson</strong><br />
<em>Beverley, East Yorkshire</em></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-10377264263166516032019-11-12T06:41:00.001+00:002019-11-12T06:41:21.991+00:00Smears about Jeremy Corbyn and Labour<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/11/putting-fear-of-corbyns-labour-in-perspective">https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/11/putting-fear-of-corbyns-labour-in-perspective</a><br />
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Putting fear of Corbyn’s Labour in perspective</h1>
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Readers respond to a piece by Jonathan Freedland in which he asked how Jews can vote for the Labour leader</div>
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Letters</div>
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<picture><source media="(min-width: 980px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 980px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)" sizes="620px" srcset="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/203f8460e787c3a8471fbd25872b8a8cf696e847/0_43_2184_1310/master/2184.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d1620acbe8b52d5b8e1138f9504422f3 1240w"></source><source media="(min-width: 980px)" sizes="620px" srcset="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/203f8460e787c3a8471fbd25872b8a8cf696e847/0_43_2184_1310/master/2184.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=415ebf6e8ae24372b4ad587d71db7853 620w"></source><source media="(min-width: 740px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 740px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)" sizes="700px" srcset="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/203f8460e787c3a8471fbd25872b8a8cf696e847/0_43_2184_1310/master/2184.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=f02e18e3680f792447fd64159cc3a1c2 1400w"></source><source media="(min-width: 740px)" sizes="700px" srcset="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/203f8460e787c3a8471fbd25872b8a8cf696e847/0_43_2184_1310/master/2184.jpg?width=700&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=44b8034639c71aa0e51816104a7400be 700w"></source><source media="(min-width: 660px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 660px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)" sizes="620px" srcset="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/203f8460e787c3a8471fbd25872b8a8cf696e847/0_43_2184_1310/master/2184.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d1620acbe8b52d5b8e1138f9504422f3 1240w"></source><source media="(min-width: 660px)" sizes="620px" srcset="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/203f8460e787c3a8471fbd25872b8a8cf696e847/0_43_2184_1310/master/2184.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=415ebf6e8ae24372b4ad587d71db7853 620w"></source><source media="(min-width: 480px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 480px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)" sizes="645px" srcset="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/203f8460e787c3a8471fbd25872b8a8cf696e847/0_43_2184_1310/master/2184.jpg?width=645&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=31a77397524ffe506e24160d530d0925 1290w"></source><source media="(min-width: 480px)" sizes="645px" srcset="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/203f8460e787c3a8471fbd25872b8a8cf696e847/0_43_2184_1310/master/2184.jpg?width=645&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=81cc36e08894eae910938cf5bbfafd4a 645w"></source><source media="(min-width: 0px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 0px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)" sizes="465px" srcset="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/203f8460e787c3a8471fbd25872b8a8cf696e847/0_43_2184_1310/master/2184.jpg?width=465&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=42d93928c2d638d3164eb0917d344349 930w"></source><source media="(min-width: 0px)" sizes="465px" srcset="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/203f8460e787c3a8471fbd25872b8a8cf696e847/0_43_2184_1310/master/2184.jpg?width=465&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=0390992b764b32d8ab47ba2be8dca48f 465w"></source><img alt="Jeremy Corbyn" class="maxed responsive-img" itemprop="contentUrl" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/203f8460e787c3a8471fbd25872b8a8cf696e847/0_43_2184_1310/master/2184.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=03973489a884c9a89bd395ac63624e22" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: 371.875px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 620px;" /></picture></div>
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Jonathan Freedland is incorrect to depict our parliamentary elections as a presidential contest (<a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/09/jews-brexit-boris-johnson-jeremy-corbyn" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #e05e00; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;" title="">Many Jews oppose Brexit, but how can we vote for Corbyn?</a>, 9 November). Neither is he justified in assuming that Jews should be treated as a single homogeneous entity in considering which way to vote, despite his acknowledgement that views are not uniform.</div>
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The accusations against Jeremy Corbyn are well known. His long history as a defender of Palestinian rights has undoubtedly involved association with people with unacceptable views about Jews. But that does not make him antisemitic and, <a class="u-underline" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/jeremy-corbyn-what-i-m-doing-to-banish-antisemitism-from-the-labour-party-a3821961.html" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #e05e00; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;" title="">as he has stated</a>, a line must be drawn when opposition to Israel’s government is based on antisemitic ideas or involves comparison with the Nazis.</div>
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Freedland might also have mentioned Corbyn’s long-term support for Jewish causes such as the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, condemnation of the persecution of Jews in Iran and Yemen, and terrorist attacks against Jewish schools and synagogues, as well as support for Jewish communal institutions in the UK.</div>
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Nevertheless, more must be done to reassure many in the Jewish community that their fears are taken seriously. Corbyn needs to take a clear lead in showing progress in the <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/labour" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #e05e00; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Labour</a> party’s internal procedures, including no tolerance for antisemitic views among prospective candidates and providing regular aggregate reports on the outcome of disciplinary processes.</div>
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However, nothing justifies Freedland in invoking the spectre of the Holocaust as a deterrent to those who wish to oppose what he calls “a hard <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/eu-referendum" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #e05e00; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Brexit</a> enforced by an Islamophobe”, not to mention more than nine years of austerity. It is to be hoped that he will reconsider embracing this dangerous form of identity politics.<br /><strong>Dr Anthony Isaacs</strong><br /><em>London</em></div>
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<span class="bullet" style="color: transparent; font-size: 0.00625rem; line-height: 0.00625rem;">•</span> Whenever I read Jonathan Freedland writing about his fear of antisemitism, part of me wants to weep. My mother was a Jewish refugee who became a Quaker, so I became familiar with the Jewish practices of friends and family, as well as the open listening and acceptance of Quakers. The narratives we tell ourselves about the world, and our place in it, have a deep impact on our beliefs and actions. I have just re-read William Blake’s The Angel, in which the writer loses touch with her angel because she is afraid and so she arms herself with shields and spears to protect herself. She has lost the capacity to approach the world with love. When we teach ourselves to see hatred and suspicion in every corner, we will indeed see it everywhere. When we reach out in order to understand one another, we see each other’s hopes and fears, what guides and motivates us, what brings us grief and joy. However hard it may be, we all need to do this.</div>
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I hear antisemitic comments with horror and I am concerned that the policies of the far right will divide people even more. I long for a government whose policies will heal those divides. I think <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/jeremy-corbyn" style="background: transparent; border-bottom: 0.0625rem solid rgb(220, 220, 220); color: #e05e00; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none !important; touch-action: manipulation; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">Jeremy Corbyn</a> is aware of that need, and I am deeply sorry that many Jews do not believe him. He does not deserve to be a focus of fear. I cannot understand why he gets the blame for every misdeed in the party. He is not perfect, any more than the rest of us, yet he stands for the fairer, greener society that we are crying out for. Please, Jonathan, believe that a kinder world is possible and help to make it happen.<br /><strong>Ruth Tod</strong><br /><em>Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire</em></div>
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<span class="bullet" style="color: transparent; font-size: 0.00625rem; line-height: 0.00625rem;">•</span> This article by Jonathan Freedland, a man whose journalism I generally admire, has disappointed me. He wheels out the old tropes in a most un-Guardian like way. To give one example: that Jeremy Corbyn consorts with terrorists. To truly seek peace in any situation, you have to talk to both sides in any conflict. Tony Blair succeeded by talking to Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. Not to have done so would have been remiss.</div>
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I am a secular Jew, all of whose Polish maternal family of origin perished in Auschwitz, and whose French paternal grandfather was picked up in Paris and died in Drancy holding camp. I too am perhaps oversensitive. To quote Freedland’s words: “I am afraid that Jewish history has made us that way, prone to imagining the worst.” Despite that, I categorically refute that either Jeremy Corbyn or the Labour party are antisemitic. They are, like me, against the government and spirit of Netanyahu, and its imperialist (and internationally unlawful) actions in Palestine. A world of difference intentionally ignored by the smear press, and seemingly by Freedland as well.<br /><strong>Andy Stelman</strong><br /><em>Bishops Castle, Shropshire</em></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-40762480799677801742019-11-10T06:56:00.002+00:002019-11-10T07:01:25.019+00:00Who is living in cloud cuckoo land?<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<b>Letter to <i>Suffolk Free Press</i></b></div>
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Dear Editor</div>
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Steve Britt (SFP, 7 Nov 2019) yet again summarises his utopia of free trade, minimal state intervention and low taxes. But he is describing a system that has already failed and which is completely inappropriate with dealing with the crises facing society, from the prevalence of gross inequality to the challenges of global heating.</div>
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Every day we witness stagnating real wages, indifferent public services, companies adrift, rampaging private equity, grotesque monopoly, a growth in food banks and rough sleeping and the degradation of the environment. Addressing these issues requires real change not the continuation of out-dated forms of capitalism.</div>
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The role of government is to encourage enterprise through the provision of appropriate infrastructures so that businesses can thrive. But governments also need to set up vigorous regulatory frameworks that attack monopoly, promote competition and outlaw noxious practices. They also need to empower countervailing forces, such as trade unions and public agencies which support high-risk new technologies, and engage in a revived social contract where healthcare, pensions and education are given the priority they deserve.</div>
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Talk of taxation as theft turns out to be a variation on the egotistical tendency to see one’s success in splendid isolation, ignoring the contribution of past generations, current colleagues, and the supportive welfare agencies provided by governments. </div>
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Steve Britt needs to recognise that the state is not just a spender but an investor and risk taker. He ignores the value created by government, such as an educated workforce, human capital, and the technology that ends up in our smart products. He should stop talking about the public sector interfering with the private sector. He should instead be arguing that the two sectors should nourish and reinforce each other in the pursuit of common goals and wealth creation.</div>
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Just one more point: Steve Britt declares that his panacea of unilateral free trade will involve “a minimal amount of bureaucracy”. The <i>Financial Times</i> has pointed out that customs paperwork alone, is set to cost business £15bn in a no-deal Brexit. Who is living in cloud cuckoo land?</div>
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Yours sincerely</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-18626466045676597992019-10-25T17:36:00.000+01:002019-10-25T17:37:22.529+01:00Is there such a person as a compassionate Tory?<b>Letter to Suffolk Free Press</b><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Dear Editor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">“Complacency” is the word that shines throughout James Cartlidge’s
article (SFP, ‘Outlay owes debt to austerity’, 17 Oct 2019).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Austerity was always a political choice driven by the Tory ideology of
minimising the support provided by the State in the name of reducing the
allegedly “bloated welfare bill”. What he fails to acknowledge is that
austerity measures fell disproportionally on the poor and vulnerable and,
especially, the disabled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If the Tories were put in the dock they would be found guilty of the
destruction of the rights, dignity, independence and mental health of too many
of Britain’s 14 million disabled citizens. Last year, 4 million disabled
people were living below the breadline.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Mr Cartlidge boasts of the latest Tory largesse outlined in the recent
budget but fails to say that these paltry measures hardly blunt the deep cuts
that his party have made over the last ten years. For example, since
2010, social security benefits will have been cut by £35bn a year. Meanwhile
Tory tax cuts will cost the Treasury £47bn per year by 2021-2. Lucky rich
people!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The poor and vulnerable are entitled to better lives in a more humane,
compassionate society than that which we currently have under a Tory
government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Yours sincerely<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-64388254163835215642019-10-06T18:28:00.002+01:002019-10-06T18:29:24.135+01:00Rampant neoliberalism<b><br /></b>
<b>Letter to the Suffolk Free Press</b><br />
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Dear Editor<o:p></o:p></div>
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Steve Britt takes a well-aimed swipe at the Lib Dems for
their arrogant and cynical policy of revoking Article 50.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(SFP, 3 Oct 2019).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, as an extreme Brexiter, his no-deal approach
is far more dangerous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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Right wing austerity measures over the last ten years have
devastated many of our communities and severely damaged the lives of at least 10%
of the population who felt most ‘left behind’ by the cuts on welfare provision
and public services. Putting aside the question of whether their response was
rational or not, these are the people who voted Leave in protest at the cuts at
the time of the 2016 Referendum and probably tipped the balance against staying
in the EU.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Austerity was the result of the approach favoured by Steve
Britt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had its origins in right wing
thinking which believes that public action is self-defeating, that only
business in free markets can deliver the best results and that we are all
individuals whose sole responsibility is to ourselves. It tends to know the
price of everything and the value of nothing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Steve Britt places himself in the tradition of ‘classical
liberalism’ but this is a mere diversionary tactic. Nowadays, we are more used
to the description ‘neoliberalism’ which is an insidious doctrine adopted by
the Thatcher government which over the decades has made the rich richer and
the poor poorer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib6jyX-a-7zaPk_U39ZFs8R-noE3kmY5AI_gRz6cgcZtZYD79FowoX0c0iER8RvOpl2gv1_Ka5Wulic1AaVMVC-Pd_Ke2GiMsZn1MZo3f_5oQ3y-h19R4mMv07Oz41O52fF08Lv_Kz0G4/s1600/sorry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="186" data-original-width="137" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib6jyX-a-7zaPk_U39ZFs8R-noE3kmY5AI_gRz6cgcZtZYD79FowoX0c0iER8RvOpl2gv1_Ka5Wulic1AaVMVC-Pd_Ke2GiMsZn1MZo3f_5oQ3y-h19R4mMv07Oz41O52fF08Lv_Kz0G4/s200/sorry.jpg" width="146" /></a></div>
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The freedom espoused by neoliberal Steve Britt is illusory
for most working people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Freedom from
trade unions and collective bargaining means the freedom to suppress
wages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Freedom from regulation means the
freedom to poison rivers, to endanger workers, to charge iniquitous rates of
interest and to design more and more exotic financial methods to avoid paying
tax.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But freedom from tax means freedom
from the fair distribution of wealth that lifts people out of poverty.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The neoliberal project has failed and it is time to provide
a long overdue corrective which can only be supplied by the Labour Party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the forthcoming General Election, there
will either be a government led by an anti-austerity Labour Party committed to
a referendum with remain on the ballot paper, or a hard-right Tory party
committed to the hardest of Brexits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Labour will let the people decide, not the politicians.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Under a Labour government, the vote would be a choice
between remain and a Brexit deal that doesn’t blow up the economy and destroy
hard-won rights – with ‘no deal’ permanently taken off the table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would also have a prime minister who isn’t
deliberately polarising the country but someone who is making every effort to
heal divisions and enable the country to move forward.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yours sincerely<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-67999762596136540632019-10-01T07:21:00.002+01:002019-10-01T07:21:30.136+01:00Is Mr Cartlidge, MP for the South Suffolk Constituency , a reasonable, honourable and courageous Member of Parliament?<b>Letter published in the Suffolk Free Press a couple of weeks ago:</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px;">Dear Editor</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px;">In the face of Johnson’s unconstitutional suspension of Parliament at a time of national crisis how can we evaluate the response of our local MP, Mr Cartlidge? How reasonable, honourable and courageous is his stance?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px;">1. Is he a reasonable man? Synonyms: sensible, rational, open to reason, full of common sense, logical, fair, fair-<wbr></wbr>minded, just, equitable, <wbr></wbr>decent. On the basis of his recent ‘round robin’ letter to concerned constituents we must answer YES. All his letters show he is a sensitive and communicative man who can certainly be classed as a “good local MP”. He has approached the arguments with regard to prorogation in a balanced way weighing up the pros and cons very ably. However, his conclusion is faulty. He fails to acknowledge the constitutional reality that a referendum can only be consultative with parliament delegating to itself <b>how</b> the result should be put into effect. That the PM’s actions are constitutionally outrageous are beyond doubt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px;">2. Is he an honourable man? Synonyms:</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px;"> honest, moral, ethical, principled, right-minded, full of integrity. The answer must be YES but with reservations. Since the “expenses scandal”, the provocateurs concentrated in the rabid right-wing press that makes up over 85% of our national newspapers, have labelled MPs as corrupt, entitled people who should be paid as little as possible. Now, with the Brexit crisis they have had a field day in bullying MPs who are faced with an impossible job. It needs to be stressed that MPs are not delegates but representatives bring their own informed opinions to the debate. Mr Cartlidge’s problem is that, like all the Suffolk MPs he started off supporting staying in the EU with all its massive benefits, to a position today where he appears to be entertaining the possibility of a no-deal scenario with unknown consequences on our jobs and living standards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px;">3. Is he a courageous man? Synonyms: brave, fearless, valiant, intrepid, heroic. The answer must be NO. Has he like his colleagues, Hancock, Rudd and Javid, been more interested in furthering his own political career? Is he really going to support the irresponsible chancers that make up the Johnson cabinet? A courageous man would resign or, at least, vote against this closing of Parliament. To give him some credit, Mr Cartlidge has many reservations about prorogation but despite his call for compromise, it should not be done by trashing our Parliamentary democracy. After all it was the Leavers who have made great noise about returning sovereignty to Parliament and now they want to send it packing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px;">There is no doubt in my mind, that the 2016 Referendum was all about the survival of the Tory Party above all else. In concluding his ‘round robin’ letter, our MP says that we need to “move on as a nation” and that “we must hold our nerve as a nation”. When you replace the word “nation” with “Tory Party”, I think we are getting nearer to the truth.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-8581709566633925722019-08-24T09:38:00.003+01:002019-08-24T09:42:28.884+01:00Steve Britt, proto-fascist, talks "poppycock"<br />
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Letter to SFP</div>
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Dear Editor<o:p></o:p></div>
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Considering his past pronouncements, Mr Britt’s warm welcome
(SFP 8 Aug 2019) for Mr Johnson and his cabinet of hard right ideologues, is
not surprising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To emphasize his joy he
indulges in the usual ant-EU tropes that he has dished up for the edification
of SFP readers many times before: “throw off the shackles”, “cunning elite”,
and “unelected bureaucrats”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
poppycock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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The EU is no more lacking in democracy than the UK with its
unwritten constitution and 'not fit for purpose' voting system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In general, the EU has been a force for
stability and peace over many decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now that the Tory right are in the ascendancy what can we look forward
to?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr Johnson’s bluster and false
promises, recession and massive economic uncertainty?<o:p></o:p></div>
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The cabinet that Mr Britt admires so much all voted for the
worst features of a harsh Tory austerity which, it has been estimated, has been
responsible for 130,000 ‘preventable’ UK deaths over the last six years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Furthermore, this month we have been told
that 4.5 million people are waiting for NHS operations, while people are having
to wait, on average, two weeks to get an appointment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is Mr Britt’s vision of a future utopia of
free trade and the burning of regulations going to help the ordinary person
dependent on a supportive welfare?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No
way.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you want to know what sort of country we have become
under Tory austerity, ask a disabled person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A recent UN report has found that disabled people have been <span style="background: #fef9f5; color: #121212;">“driven to breaking point” by
cuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A broken benefits system has seen
thousands of people dying after </span><span style="background: #FEF9F5;">being
found “fit for work”<span style="color: #121212;">. Food banks are full with
people battling </span>mental and physical health problems<span style="color: #121212;">. The threadbare social care system is leaving disabled
people trapped in their homes, in some cases waiting 14 hours without access to
their toilet.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: #FEF9F5;"><span style="color: #121212;"><br /></span></span></div>
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The solution to these problems is not to be found in the new
government’s pre-General Election splurges funded by mysterious “money trees”
but in a long term strategy operated by a stable and caring government
committed to our state welfare system.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: #fef9f5; color: #121212;">The most
effective way to tackle the inequality faced by disabled people is to think
about it in the round, looking at issues of housing, employment, social
security and social care, and offering a coordinated strategy that is not only
morally right but also speaks to common sense. Invest in accessible homes, care
packages and benefits, and NHS bills go down and tax revenue up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #fef9f5; color: #121212;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: #fef9f5; color: #121212;">Yours
sincerely<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: #fef9f5; color: #121212;">Christopher
Bornett<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background: #fef9f5; color: #121212;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: #fef9f5; color: #121212;">Thanks to Frances Ryan, The Guardian</span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-89502340883110178282019-05-01T07:14:00.002+01:002019-05-01T07:14:24.285+01:00James Cartlidge MP adopts the language of Brexiters and UKIP<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
Dear Mr Cartlidge</div>
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Thank you very much for your recent briefing on the Brexit situation. It is good to read a coherent summary of Tory views when so many of your colleagues are running around like headless chickens.</div>
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However, I must take issue with your paragraph beginning “In essence….”, where you seem to have swallowed UKIP hype and jargon ‘hook, line and sinker’.</div>
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Let’s take so-called “sovereignty” for fisheries as a starter: </div>
<div class="m_-9215136893473627604gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Fishing represents 0.05% of the economy</div>
<div class="m_-9215136893473627604gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;">
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #121212;">Tariff-free and easy exports for British fish and shellfish are more important to large parts of the British fisheries industry than the right to increased quotas.</span></div>
<div class="m_-9215136893473627604gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt;">
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #121212;">Britain exports the majority of the fish that it catches and imports most of the fish that it eats. Many of the “fragile” UK coastal communities (including Suffolk’s) that are supposed to benefit from Brexit depend on harvesting shellfish, of which 90% is exported to the continent. We also sell the greatest part of our herring and mackerel to other EU countries.</span></div>
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Then there are your misconceptions and contradictions about migrant labour as a main course:</div>
<div class="m_-9215136893473627604gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #404040;">Current research suggests there was a small, negative impact on the wages of low-skilled workers, which was outweighed by other factors such as the impact of the financial crisis and rises in the minimum wage.</span></div>
<div class="m_-9215136893473627604gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt;">
<span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #281e1e;">Migrants from the EU contribute £2,300 more to the exchequer each year in net terms than the average adult, the analysis for the government has found. And, over their lifetimes, they pay in £78,000 more than they take out in public services and benefits - while the average UK citizen’s net lifetime contribution is zero. Oxford Economics, which carried out the assessment, said this meant the value </span>of <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">EU citizens</span> <span style="color: #281e1e;">to the economy was the equivalent of slapping 5p on income tax rates.</span></div>
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For dessert you hope we will swallow your sweet words about the contribution of EU citizens to our health and care systems:</div>
<div class="m_-9215136893473627604gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">63,000 NHS staff in England are EU nationals - 5.6% of all staff</span></div>
<div class="m_-9215136893473627604gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #141414;">Across NHS trusts there is currently a shortage of more than 100,000 staff (representing 1 in 11 posts), severely affecting some key groups of essential staff, including nurses, many types of doctors, allied health professionals, and care staff. Vacancies in adult social care are rising, currently totally 110,000, with around 1 in 10 social worker and 1 in 11 care worker roles unfilled.</span></div>
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<span style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">I know that you definitely belong to the “Caring Conservative Camp” but your party seems to have been taken over by people like Liam Fox whose use of the word “sovereignty” is highly selective. </span><span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245); color: #121212;">These people appear to hate much of what others love about this country: the NHS, our public broadcasters, our social safety net, the protection of the countryside, the notion that power resides in the people rather than in corporations and their shadowy lobbyists.</span></div>
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<span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245); color: #121212;">There are malefactors in our midst, who would rip down our most treasured institutions on behalf of sometimes dubious private companies, and transnational organisations (like Huawei, which is ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party!), and frequently anonymous off-shore finance companies.</span></div>
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<span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245); color: #121212;">Is this what you mean by “sovereignty”? Are we not being duped by the simplistic and populist slogan of “taking back control” disseminated by the likes of Farage.</span></div>
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<span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245); color: #121212;">Yours sincerely</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-63597696303352585152019-04-23T06:19:00.000+01:002019-04-23T06:19:20.769+01:00Suffolk Free Press still publishes articles promoting right wing economicsLetter to SFP 6 April 2019<br />
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Dear Editor</div>
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Whether you agree with him or not, you could never accuse Mr Britt of being boring – that is, until last week (“Vote would not heal issues”).</div>
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His rehearsal of the familiar and tendentious anti-EU arguments was both repetitive and tedious. If he made a visit to the EU Parliament in Brussels he would find a healthy and representative democracy working for the good of the whole of Europe.</div>
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Mr Britt’s list of the ‘crocks of gold’ lying at the end of the Brexit rainbow are pure fantasy. His approach to the economy will result in less trade, less inward investment and less growth, while our capacity to work with other countries to confront common challenges such as climate change and security, will be seriously reduced. </div>
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His trashing of the public sector, the civil service, politicians and constitutional experts generally has all the hall marks of the populist rhetoric now raised to a new art form by the likes of Farage, Trump and the assorted right wing extremists that are beginning to re-assert themselves across the world.</div>
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Mr Britt and his fellow right-wingers continually denigrate the popular public welfare institutions such as the NHS that have been established since the 1940s. Their approach degrades the social values of mutual help and respect that we in Britain hold dear. If we are not careful we will become more inward looking, more intolerant and more mean-spirited in ways that have been well documented in the media since the referendum. </div>
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Many of us detest the free market ideas that Britt endlessly expounds and which has messed up our society since the days of Thatcher. We do not believe in capitalism red in tooth and claw. We see the case for stakeholder capitalism, for the regulation of finance and for utilising state power to encourage competition and research. We recognise the role of trade unions and emphasize the importance of worker’s rights.</div>
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These are moderate European values that will not be advanced one iota with Brexit.</div>
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Currently, the politics of Brexit is wrecking the Conservative party because it has exposed diametrically opposing beliefs: nationalists against internationalists, and modernists against nostalgists. According to recent reports, more and more MPs are suffering mental health problems. This is hardly surprising when you realise so many Remain MPs are now being asked to enforce policies that they know in their heart of hearts are wrong.</div>
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Staying in the EU is the best solution, but if that is not possible, we must <b>insist</b> on a public vote to endorse any deal that is put on the table. Crashing out is not an option. That would be the ultimate betrayal.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-18185134669095313002019-03-18T05:46:00.003+00:002019-03-26T21:09:00.668+00:00Will Hutton on enlightenment values in the UK todaySee:<br />
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/17/until-brexit-is-a-done-deal-lets-continue-to-resist-our-economy-and-values-at-stake">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/17/until-brexit-is-a-done-deal-lets-continue-to-resist-our-economy-and-values-at-stake</a><br />
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Let’s continue to resist Brexit. Our economy and values are at stake</h1>
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<span style="background-color: #fef9f5; color: #121212; font-family: "guardian egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 20px;">The current focus is all about the potential damage to national wealth. But other riches are threatened.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fef9f5; color: #121212; font-family: "guardian egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 20px;">"... </span><span style="background-color: #fef9f5; color: #121212; font-family: "guardian text egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 17px;">Propounding EU membership is thus a civilisational proposition. It does not mean that you regard every aspect of the EU – its unsigned-off accounts or the intricacies of the common agricultural policy – as perfect. But then neither is every aspect of the UK. But it does mean that you sign up for a set of interlocking propositions, shared by other Europeans, which better allow people to live lives they have reason to value...."</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-17522839061118526162019-03-12T20:54:00.001+00:002019-03-12T20:58:27.679+00:00Suffolk Free Press and its support for right wing economics<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Letter to SFP</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Dear Editor</span></div>
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Britt’s battle cry is “Charity”. But his shrink-the-state-rhetoric (“How to stop state thievery”) is a recipe for social chaos. <span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245);">The Tory’s anarchical policy of keeping taxes low for the rich and pretending that the hit-and-miss efforts of charity can plug the gaps will always hit the majority of citizens hardest.</span></div>
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<span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245);">Giving to charity is obviously of huge social benefit whether people offer money, time or good neighbourliness. But it is no substitute for a well-resourced state system receiving money raised by progressive taxation. Democratically accountable governments have to justify their priorities and are far more likely to spend according to real social need than mere ad hoc charitable giving.</span></div>
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<span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245);">If you don’t fund state services properly through taxation you end up with a fragile, broken and insecure society. Take, for example, the government’s austerity policies which have been closely scrutinised recently because of the increase in knife crime. </span></div>
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<span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245);">A short-fall in police numbers is no doubt an important factor, but if</span> you also drastically reduce funding for youth services and sixth-form education, treat children in the care system badly, turn away hundreds of children a day from mental health services, close schools in some areas early on a Friday because you can’t pay teachers for the full week, routinely reject children who are eligible for special educational needs support because you have no resources, then you are creating a serious social crisis.<span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245);"></span></div>
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One day, hopefully sooner rather than later, the Tories’ economic and social mis-management through ill-conceived tax cuts and tax relief for the rich, will be exposed.</div>
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<span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245);">Mr Britt’s mention of <i>Forbes</i> magazine is significant. This magazine’s <i>raison d’etre</i> is to make the super-rich look generous through philanthropic donations whilst advising them on how to make far more money through exploiting tax loopholes and using tax havens to hide their immense wealth. The real crime here is ‘tax avoidance thievery’ not ‘state thievery’. The Treasury estimates that about £3 billion is lost through tax avoidance every year.</span></div>
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<span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245);">As a self-styled Brexiteer, Mr Britt should be celebrating that Sir James Dyson paid £127.8 million in taxes last year. Dyson doesn’t carp on about paying tax because he knows that there’s something deeply positive about the idea that we each pay in tax collectively to support one another and build something greater than we could alone through mere charity.</span></div>
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<span style="background: rgb(254, 249, 245);">Yours sincerely</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-63690794883070621302019-02-24T07:09:00.003+00:002019-02-24T07:09:39.766+00:00The Tories try to brand Labour's moderate and reasonable proposals as extreme and hard left. Puzzled?<span style="font-size: large;">My letter to the EADT published 23 February 2019:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dear Editor</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Conservative candidate for Ipswich makes wild and unsubstantiated claims about Labour's policies describing them as far-Left, Marxist, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps he would like to explain how and why he thinks <b>the ten main points from Labour's 2017 manifesto</b> are extreme. Here they are:</span></div>
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<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;">Scrap student tuition fees </span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nationalisation of England's nine water companies. </span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;">Re-introduce the 50p rate of tax on the highest earners (above £123,000) </span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;">Income tax rate 45p on £80,000 and above </span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;">More free childcare, expanding free provisions for two, three and four year olds </span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;">Guarantee triple lock for pensioner incomes </span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;">End to zero hours contracts </span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hire 10,000 new police officers, 3,000 new firefighters </span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;">Moves to charge companies a levy on salaries above £330,000 </span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Deliver rail electrification "including in Wales and the South West".</span> </span></li>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One might quibble about details but all these policies are moderate and reasonable. It is only because the Tory Party has moved so far to the right that such obviously middle of the road, social democratic policies, common throughout Europe can be branded as extreme. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I doubt this Tory candidate has much in common with the three MPs who have just left the Conservative Party because it has been hi-jacked by the far-right in the form of ERG.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-42248323389998494272018-01-09T07:15:00.003+00:002018-01-09T07:15:25.508+00:00Protect the NHS from the ToriesExcellent letter in The Guardian today. Lots of interesting facts: did you know NHS hospitals pay business rates when private hospitals do not?<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">"The divide between medical and social care is very vague. Medical care is available 24 hours a day seven days a week and is free; social care is largely only available 9 to 5, Monday to Friday and is means tested. Breaking up the system through outsourcing and privatisation only complicates matters. Basically both need to be provided by government and be taxpayer-funded. Expensive? Why not have a levy of 5% on all inheritance over £100,000, including trusts. The rich who would benefit most in life would pay more in the end."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">See all the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/08/the-rich-benefit-most-let-them-pay-more-tax" target="_blank">letter</a> at </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Guardian Text Egyptian Web, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/08/the-rich-benefit-most-let-them-pay-more-tax</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Guardian Text Egyptian Web, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-3398465549315418302017-11-19T09:06:00.003+00:002017-11-19T09:07:38.281+00:00The Big 4 are at the heart of tax haven abuse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-b1SpRMrNpKz2T_7BBIgT4f0A1aLZ-fJiq15GSbdGG5bfbhbd036Ko8nif4a7s42oRCx52YnFHA4IsTDRWhDDIVAaI9okEaHUhSpEqirZduuX6sTr_iA3UwOp5hV0v6xlbsJPtn9BkKY/s1600/PinstripeSuit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="800" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-b1SpRMrNpKz2T_7BBIgT4f0A1aLZ-fJiq15GSbdGG5bfbhbd036Ko8nif4a7s42oRCx52YnFHA4IsTDRWhDDIVAaI9okEaHUhSpEqirZduuX6sTr_iA3UwOp5hV0v6xlbsJPtn9BkKY/s320/PinstripeSuit.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26.88px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Leading estimates show that profit shifting by multinational companies is responsible for tax revenue losses globally of $500 billion or more each year. Various document leaks, including the Paradise Papers and earlier LuxLeaks, have shown anecdotally the central role of the ‘big four’ accounting firms – Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC. Now our research published today in a top tier, peer-reviewed academic journal shows the systematic nature of the Big Four’s role.</span></span></span></h4>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26.88px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>See: <a href="https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/11/13/big-four-accounting-firms-arekey-drivers-tax-haven-use-new-research-says/" target="_blank">TAX JUSTICE NETWORK</a> for more information.</b></span></span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-74135008677205543712016-10-17T08:43:00.003+01:002016-10-17T08:43:39.576+01:00"Citizens of the world" arise<h1 class="headline__title" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: ProximaNovaCond-Extrabld, NotoKufiArabic-Bold, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.625rem; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: -0.02em; line-height: 1.1em; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; max-width: 900px; padding: 0px; visibility: visible; word-wrap: break-word;">
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-mays-citizen-of-the-world-speech-comment_uk_57fbae0de4b04e1174a53cdf" target="_blank">Theresa May’s ‘Citizen Of The World’ View Blasted By Financial Times Reader</a></h1>
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Extract:</div>
<span style="color: #757575; font-family: NotoNashkArabic, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic;">“Anybody with an ounce of intelligence understands that climate change, pollution or epidemics know no frontiers, that extreme poverty in one region has stability implications for the whole world; that terrorism is a global problem with global solutions; are not started by citizens of the world but narrow-minded people with a blind belief of their superiority, that some of the greatest minds in any society are descendants of immigrants and refugees.”</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-10585055959968332832016-08-05T17:02:00.001+01:002016-08-05T17:02:18.542+01:00We may be seeing the end of the Tory attack on our society: Jeremy Corbyn<br />
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Guardian Egyptian Web", "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 1.6875rem 0px 0.0625rem;">
Labour leader's 10 pledges</h2>
<ol style="background-color: white; color: #333333; counter-reset: li 0; font-family: "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; list-style: none; margin: 0.8em 0px 1rem; padding: 0px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.8em; position: relative;">Full employment and an economy that works for all: based around a £500bn public investment via the planned national investment bank.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.8em; position: relative;">A secure homes guarantee: building 1m new homes in five years, at least half of them council homes. Also rent controls and secure tenancies.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.8em; position: relative;">Security at work: includes stronger employment rights, an end to zero hours contracts and mandatory collective bargaining for companies with 250 or more employees.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.8em; position: relative;">Secure our NHS and social care: end health service privatisation and bring services into a “secure, publicly-provided NHS”.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.8em; position: relative;">A national education service: includes universal public childcare, the “progressive restoration” of free education, and quality apprenticeships.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.8em; position: relative;">Action to secure our environment: includes keeping to Paris climate agreement, and moving to a “low-carbon economy” and green industries, in part via national investment bank.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.8em; position: relative;">Put the public back into our economy and services: includes renationalising railways and bringing private bus, leisure and sports facilities back into local government control.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.8em; position: relative;">Cut income and wealth inequality: make a progressive tax system so highest earners are “fairly taxed”, shrink the gap between the highest and lowest paid.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.8em; position: relative;">Action to secure an equal society: includes action to combat violence against women, as well as discrimination based on race, sexuality or disability, and defend the Human Rights Act.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.8em; position: relative;"> Peace and justice at the heart of foreign policy: aims to put conflict resolution and human rights “at the heart of foreign policy”.</li>
</ol>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-69715409616995784072015-11-14T10:07:00.001+00:002015-11-14T10:09:04.815+00:00Solar is the future, yet the government appears determined to throw it into the industrial dustbinConvincing article by Patrick Collinson on the Money pages of the Guardian today:<br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2015/nov/14/solar-power-feed-in-tariffs-cut">http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2015/nov/14/solar-power-feed-in-tariffs-cut</a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h4>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "guardian text egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21.8182px;">....Cut the subsidy, by all means. Halve it, even. Set a date for its complete removal. The industry will innovate and survive. But slicing it by 87% in one go is plain absurd.....</span></h4>
</blockquote>
<img alt="Jo Churchill MP" src="http://assets3.parliament.uk/ext/mnis-bio-person/www.dodspeople.com/photos/136478.jpg.jpg" height="200" width="132" /><br />
<br />
My local MP, Jo Churchill, is very confused. How does she equate the continued subsidy of nuclear power with her statement that:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I believe that Government support should help low-cost, low-carbon technologies to stand on their own two feet, rather than create dependence on public subsidies. Indeed, the global transformation we need in energy will only happen if low-carbon options become cheaper without subsidy than the alternative. My personl opinion is we should reduce the number of years as we drive down subsidy reduction." [Letter to me, 13/11/2015]</blockquote>
In this last garbled sentence she appears to be arguing for an even faster reduction in subsidies. How short-sighted can you get?<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I </blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-12753056965097325502015-11-11T18:05:00.002+00:002015-11-11T18:06:33.275+00:00George Monbiot: "Have you ever wondered how the prime minister sleeps at night?"The "cuts" chickens have come home to roost in wealthy Oxfordshire:<br />
<br />
<br />
<img alt="Illustration by Andrzej Krauze" height="192" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a6a2d19f4257f764ef0b8f95fc197f6cafaf1703/206_0_3261_1959/master/3261.jpg?w=300&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=f4b5b01549adceb5737f7dc36cec4e52" width="320" /><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "guardian text egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21.8182px;">In leaked correspondence with the Conservative leader of Oxfordshire county council (which covers his own constituency), </span><a class=" u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/davidcameron" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; color: #005689; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.8182px; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">David Cameron</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "guardian text egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21.8182px;">expresses his horror at the cuts being made to local services. This is the point at which you realise that he has no conception of what he has done.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "guardian text egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21.8182px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "guardian text egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21.8182px;">See:<a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_692849013"> </a></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "guardian text egyptian web" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.8182px;"><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/11/david-cameron-letter-cuts-oxfordshire">http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/11/david-cameron-letter-cuts-oxfordshire</a></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-66019747343488659002015-11-10T18:47:00.000+00:002015-11-10T18:47:02.300+00:00My local Suffolk Labour heroEddie is so succinct:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.8182px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
In setting the scene for <a class=" u-underline" data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/06/the-guardian-view-on-labour-grudges-nursed-lessons-unlearned" style="background: transparent; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;" title="">your editorial on Labour</a> (7 November) you perpetuate a narrow assessment of the Corbyn phenomenon: “Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign energised enthusiastic young supporters with the promise of a new type of politics.” In truth, also “energised” was a wide range of people of all ages, members and ex-members, non-members, supporters and ex-supporters (unregistered), all despairing of what the party had become under Tony Blair, crucially over Iraq.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.8182px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
A band of malcontents in the parliamentary <a class=" u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/labour" style="background: transparent; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">Labour</a> party, notably those who refused to serve under Corbyn and who abstained on the tax-credits vote, have a hatred of Corbyn that trumps defence of some of the poorest working people, and they should be ashamed of themselves. But these “moderates” are feted and their apocalyptic electoral predictions enthusiastically aired.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.8182px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
The editorial goes on to tread a well-worn path: “Now that the novelty has worn off, another decent performance at prime minister’s questions – which Mr Corbyn again managed this week – cannot compete for media attention with tales of fear and loathing.”</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.8182px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
Of course it can’t when you and the bulk of the news media are ensuring the propagation of stories in line with your own predilections.<br /><strong>Eddie Dougall</strong><br /><em>Walsham le Willows, Suffolk</em></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/09/labour-moderates-are-merely-malcontents"> http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/09/labour-moderates-are-merely-malcontents</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-8556019991658601212015-11-03T17:22:00.000+00:002015-11-03T17:22:07.473+00:00THE JOY OF TAXPolly Toynbee back on form:<br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/03/joy-tax-scandanavian-services-us-tax-rates">http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/03/joy-tax-scandanavian-services-us-tax-rates</a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.8182px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
Osborne is dragging us across the Atlantic, away from the European social and Christian democrat model, to turn us into a tax-and-spend nation even lower than the wild west, sink-or-swim United States. Where about 42% to 45% of GDP is the European norm, Osborne will plunge us permanently to just 35%, a place he has never described, a country Britain will not recognise.</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
*** </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.8182px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
“Efficiency” and “reform” are their charlatan promises to bridge the impossible funding gap between tax and spend. But watch the result as the NHS erupts with debt and growing waiting times expose Osborne’s promised £22bn “efficiency saving” as a fraud. To be sure, the price of good public services is eternal vigilance on value for money – but that rarely produces big savings. Voters deserve to be told what they know already: you get what you pay for, in public services as in shops.</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
*** </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.8182px;">People may never love tax, but they are about to find out what a low-tax, low-spend country feels like. Osborne will be cutting police, social care, child protection, schools, health, local government and much else at a rate not seen in our lifetime. Or he may fail in the face of protest from many on his side, including the old who voted him in. The tax credit fiasco may be just a foretaste of the omnishambles to come.</span> </blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-56958515187357039202015-10-25T05:47:00.001+00:002015-10-25T05:47:25.349+00:00This HARD RIGHT Tory Government<img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/8/24/1251116365423/Kevin-McKenna140x140.jpg?w=140&h=140&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=3d2f92d567cb1248a90e695295d4622e" /><br />
<br />
Kevin McKenna forcefully putting his views on the Tory hard right Government's response to the plight of the steel workers:<br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/25/scottish-steelworkers-nationalising-industry">http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/25/scottish-steelworkers-nationalising-industry</a><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.8182px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
Perhaps if the steelworkers had been farmers they might have expected some government intervention. In 2001, the government spent almost £1bn compensating farmers following the foot and mouth disease and made <a class=" u-underline" data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/aug/07/politics.footandmouth" style="background: transparent; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;" title="">37 of them overnight millionaires</a> amid claims from within the National Farmers’ Union itself that the compensation system had been rigged. Nor were some in the farming community brought to book for many of the questionable and risky feeding practices that partly contributed to foot and mouth.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 21.8182px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
The steelworkers, though, are a different breed: they are expendable and, just like the miners and the shipbuilders, when their time comes, the rest of us are told that they didn’t upskill enough and were hostile to change management. They were working in a dying industry. Yet the last time I looked the world was still using lots of coal, many people were still using ships to sail the seas and steel is still used in the construction of bridges and buildings. And if demand ever wanes then we can get the Americans, supported by us, of course, to start a wee war somewhere.</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-52697777825278457432015-09-20T11:22:00.005+01:002015-09-20T11:24:22.326+01:00"Modern capitalism needs an opponent. It needs Jeremy Corbyn"<b>Some excellent articles in the Observer today:</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Jeremy Corbyn outlined plans for a publicly owned railway at King’s Cross, London in August." src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/25977c9635b045e957dfb8d8bbff3586d0b08c24/0_14_3000_1799/master/3000.jpg?w=300&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=08b30fb83d58ed3cd74d5a458efc8f1e" /></div>
<br />
* <b>William Kegan on Corbyn and his opposition to nasty neo-Conservatism:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/20/jeremy-corbyn-modern-capitalism-needs-opponent">http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/20/jeremy-corbyn-modern-capitalism-needs-opponent</a><br />
<br />
* <b>Jeremy Corbyn and the new policy bringing railways back into public ownership:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/20/jeremy-corbyn-rail-nationalisation-policy-labour-conference">http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/20/jeremy-corbyn-rail-nationalisation-policy-labour-conference</a><br />
<br />
* <b>John McDonnell attacks George Osborne's immoral policies:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/19/john-mcdonnell-george-osborne-immoral-policies">http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/19/john-mcdonnell-george-osborne-immoral-policies </a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055729586171430232.post-10969348697082781082015-09-16T20:30:00.003+01:002015-09-16T20:38:37.481+01:00Corbyn was right not to sing the national anthem.<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/62ce60a459007ea4bfc332c06f0b97df9cec5285/2306_85_980_588/980.jpg?w=700&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=dfd61da1c2e20e68e66b6b85b9cb9e04" /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Excellent letters in The Guardian today:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 26.6667px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">I don’t think Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to sing the national anthem is a sign of disloyalty to the country or disrespect to those who served in the war (<a class=" u-underline" data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/15/jeremy-corbyn-silent-during-national-anthem-battle-of-britain-service" style="background: transparent; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;" title="">Silence for God Save the Queen</a>, 16 September). I have two insurmountable problems with God Save the Queen. As far as I know, very few – if any – democracies have an anthem that celebrates a head of state rather than the country itself. (Even North Korea’s anthem avoids any mention of a “glorious leader” etc.) As a republican I, like Mr Corbyn, would be a hypocrite to sing this. I am also an atheist. If I don’t believe in a god – and I am assuming here that all gods favour Queen Elizabeth, an assumption that might make for an interesting theological debate – how can I appeal to that god to save my Queen?</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<a class="rich-link__link" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; cursor: pointer;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Jeremy Corbyn puts voters' questions to David Cameron at PMQs - Politics live</span></a><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including Jeremy Corbyn’s first PMQs as Labour leader</span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Read more</span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Great emphasis has been placed on the Churchill/second world war connection. The Battle of Britain was about a dire need to save the nation from the immediate threat of invasion, an act of desperate and courageous heroism. But, more broadly, it was also about defeating Hitler and his totalitarian state. No doubt all Germans under Hitler were expected to sing Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Alles on pain of public criticism if they did not. I would have thought that part of the democracy the soldiers, sailors and airforce personnel fought for was the freedom not to be forced to sing our anthem – an irony that seems lost on Nicholas Soames, his friends in the media and, sadly, some of Mr Corbyn’s colleagues.</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 26.6667px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Also, in terms of the people who served in the war, many were atheists or republicans, or both. If they did not sing the national anthem with the required gusto would Mr Soames castigate them?</span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">There are lots of politicians and people in public life who would always sing the anthem. Some have fiddled expenses, lied in court, abused children, broken promises, failed to pay taxes on huge incomes. But they always sang the anthem. Mr Corbyn wanted to be true to himself – what a nice change in a leading politician. Perhaps he should have mimed it?</span><span style="line-height: 26.6667px;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<strong><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Alex Wood </span></strong><em style="line-height: 26.6667px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Northampton</span></em></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 26.6667px; margin-bottom: 1rem; padding: 0px;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">******************************</span></em><em><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></em><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span class="bullet" style="font-size: 0.00625rem; line-height: 0.00625rem;">•</span><span style="line-height: 26.6667px;"> People are dying as a result of being sanctioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, the government has executed two British citizens by drone without trial, cuts to tax credits mean the poor are getting poorer and the rich richer, unions are being attacked, the government wants to repeal the Human Rights Act, there’s a GP recruitment crisis, there’s a teacher recruitment crisis, there’s a massive shortage of school places, there’s a crisis in A&E, magistrates are resigning at the injustice of the justice system, lawyers are on strike over cuts to legal aid, a disabled man is forced to bath in a paddling pool due to the bedroom tax, we have the lowest housebuilding starts since the second world war, manufacturing is declining, exports are declining, billions are being wasted on HS2 and free schools. And yet we allow ourselves to be sucked into faux outrage by rightwing newspaper owners who avoid paying millions in tax over whether who did or did not sing the national anthem.</span></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<strong style="line-height: 26.6667px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Simon Gosden</span></strong><em style="line-height: 26.6667px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Rayleigh, Essex</span></em></blockquote>
</div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0