I shared a train carriage down to Brighton today with Peter Tatchell, veteran Labour activist, Tribune contributor and now Green Party PPC for Oxford East. He was applying the finishing touches to his speech at tonight’s New Statesman fringe meeting to discuss “Do Politicians Still Matter?” Peter will be berating the politicians over the cash-for-peerages [...]
Archive for September, 2009
By Tribune Web Editor /Sunday, September 27th, 2009
Battered and bruised MPs are in for another drubbing when they get back from the absurdly long summer recess. Commons authorities have discovered a £50 million shortfall in the parliamentary pension scheme and although MPs have already agreed to stump up an extra £62 a month to help fill it that has been deemed insufficient. [...]
By Tribune Web Editor /Sunday, September 27th, 2009
David Cameron really should try to refrain from his habit of preaching “do as I say, not as I do”. He recently put his name to a leaflet urging his constituents in Witney, Oxfordshire, to trade locally in order to shore up the local economy in these difficult times. But the document – four pages, [...]
Ian Williams: US emulation will lead to Labour self-immolation
By Tribune Web Editor /Sunday, September 27th, 2009Considering primary-style elections to select Labour candidates is just the latest episode in the recent sordid history of unthinking emulation of the United States. The American political system is bogged in complete unwillingness to catch up with the rest of the world in healthcare and it is worth remembering why Congress is gridlocked – or rather lobby-locked. Primary elections are the primary cause of that.
Paul Routledge: Gordon to survive or I’ll eat the Maastricht Treaty
By Tribune Web Editor /Sunday, September 27th, 2009Gordon Brown must be shaking in his boots at the prospect of Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman ousting Tony Lloyd from the chairmanship of the Parliamentary Labour Party. The notion is being touted up ’ere as a move that “could put the Prime Minister’s job in peril”.
Joy Johnson: Incorrect questions produce wrong answers
By Tribune Web Editor /Saturday, September 26th, 2009Vindication emanates from microphones in insulated televison and radio studios. There is glee among directors and chief executives in cushioned boardrooms. The retreat has been sounded from the Cabinet, where too many of the places at the table are still occupied by advocates of neo-liberalism.
By Tribune Web Editor /Saturday, September 26th, 2009
So Margaret Hodge is to return to the Government as Gordon Brown’s new tourism minister. Has the tourist industry not suffered enough thanks to the recession?
Securing Labour’s future
By Tribune Web Editor /Saturday, September 26th, 2009Ann Black identifies the priorities for Labour in the time remaining before the general election
Labour needs a cultural revolution
By Tribune Web Editor /Saturday, September 26th, 2009Unless the leadership gives more than lip service to the members, Labour renewal will stall, writes Robin Pettitt
Cameron the chancer
By Tribune Web Editor /Saturday, September 26th, 2009It’s easier for the Tory leader to be sanctimonious about other people’s finances, says Marjorie Smith: he’s a millionaire