PERHAPS the most surreal moment during Barack Obama’s inauguration was straight after Joseph Biden had been sworn in. He was very briefly George Bush’s Vice-President.
Archive for January, 2009
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 23rd, 2009
THE labour movement might be in despair over the economic crisis, but don’t worry – the “Magnificent Seven” are riding to the rescue. No, not Yul Brynner and his band of hired guns, but the seven trade unions which launched the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group in Parliament on Wednesday to co-ordinate campaigning on key issues. [...]
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 23rd, 2009
LABOURLIST, the “independent grassroots e-network” (in other words, a blogging website run by Gordon Brown’s new best friends) has become the butt of jokes across the internet community before its own official launch date of February 12. Not only has website editor Derek Draper got himself into slanging matches with more experienced bloggers who took [...]
Ian Aitken: Up the creek without a paddle but with three grounds for hope
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 23rd, 2009WHAT is it about Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling? Were their mothers frightened by Trotskyists when they were in the womb? Why do they have this blind terror of doing anything that might be seen by the Daily Mail as socialism? There they are, sousing the bankers in taxpayers’ money as if with a fire-hose, yet they continue to insist that they have no wish to engage in running the banks directly.
Peter Tatchell: Destiny awaits Obama and now here’s how he can deliver
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 23rd, 2009In an open letter to the new President, the veteran human rights campaigner has some suggestions to help the leader of the free world live up to the massive expectations he has engendered
Ed Balls: We raise school standards, the Tories prefer a lottery
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 23rd, 2009EDUCATION has been one of Labour’s great success stories of the past decade. We’re all familiar with the list of our achievements: extra investment, more teachers and support staff, and new school buildings all leading to rising standards.
Paul Anderson: Glimmer of green shoots of recovery for Brown in 2010
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 23rd, 2009SOMETIMES it seems that everything in Britain these days is doom and gloom. The banking crisis has dragged on and on and the credit famine is now having a devastating effect on consumer confidence, the housing market and employment. Every day there are announcements of new redundancies and business failures. Forecasts of collapsing house prices, negative growth and exploding unemployment range from the deeply depressing to the terrifying. Slump is upon us.
Peter Hain: Spine of our society must have the right backing
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 23rd, 2009WHEN I worked for the Communication Workers’ Union before becoming an MP, my excellent local postman used to pull my leg about his trade union contributions helping pay my wages.
Denis MacShane: Kill the fatted calf, but ask questions
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 23rd, 2009WELCOME back, Kenneth Clarke. As a pro-European, I rejoice at his return to frontline politics. A fortnight ago, William Hague elbowed aside George Osborne to use the word “never” about our membership of the single currency. The Shadow Chancellor is nominally in charge of opposition policy on matters to do with sterling. However, so dominant is Hague’s position in the increasingly anti-Europe Tory Party that he felt able to pronounce on Britain and the euro.
Kate Hudson: Obama gives us reasons to be cheerful about missile shield
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 23rd, 2009Ahead of a special conference next weekend, CND chair Kate Hudson explains why Europe may have turned the corner on missile defence