maxattacks

Archive for 2010

The future is in your hands

In Labour Affiliated Organistions, Labour Party, Labour Students, Left Wing Politics, Legend MPs, Ramsay's F Word on 1 September, 2010 at 11:18 pm

Yesterday saw the sending out ballot papers to all Labour MPs, MEPs, Party Members and affiliated Society Members. Who will it be as Labour’s next leader, Abbott, Balls, Burnham, Miliband the Elder or Miliband the Younger? This blog is not here to suggest who you should vote for *cough* Ed Miliband *cough*, but rather to think long and hard, as we are now the sole progressive party with any chance of power in Britain (the Lib Dems are now a bigger sell out than “New” Labour with the coalition agreement and the Tories….well, just ask the IFS) and your vote will count to shaping the future of true British progressiveness (if that’s even a word).

Max

That didn’t take long

In Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, National Politics, Opinion polls, Ramsay's F Word, The Coalition on 30 August, 2010 at 11:23 pm

I know it’s a bit late but it’s worth noting that that last week the coalition’s approval ratings entered negative for the first time yet (-2, 39 approve, 41 disapprove) in a YouGov Daily Tracker poll (http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/2786). Admittedly this may be a fluke result and also there are evidently a lot of “don’t knows”.  But, given the government have still yet to enact any spending cuts, things are going to get very bad, electorally, for the coalition soon. It’s safe to say this is a rather quick fall from grace and probably the first of many many more negative ratings to come.

Max

Middle Britain

In Labour Party, Left Wing Politics, Liberal Democrats, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word on 28 August, 2010 at 7:25 pm

It is regarded as the key electoral necessity to winning any general election. Ever since the mid-1980s, “Middle Britain” has been the focus point for most political parties. “Middle Britain” was certainly the focus of ‘New’ Labour throughout its existence, 1997 and 2001 were victories brought upon this wave. Now this does lead onto somewhere if you bear with me….in this case the Labour leadership contest.As George (BULS Treasurer) pointed out in a previous post, the race is indeed between the two Miliband brothers each of which are offering different alternatives on what the Labour party should reach out to. D. Miliband has argued for this aforementioned “Middle Britain” pointing out the lack of Labour seats in the south outside London, while E. Miliband has proposed to reach out to a centre-left coalition. Out of the two, it is D. Miliband that has David Cameron (DC) the most worried http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/27/cameron-david-miliband-labour-leadership. 

However, since 1997 Labour has lost 5 million voters, but only a million to the Tories, the rest didn’t bother to vote, turned to minor parties or primarily, the Liberal Democrats. What happened in the 2010 general election was that Labour allowed the Lib Dems to represent (and in some cases even become) the radical left/progressives of British politics. While yes, this ethos has been quite destroyed by the coalition with Cleggy abandoning near enough all the policies the Lib Dems stood for at the election, but, there were many areas where people turned to them due to an apparent progressive dominance. Primarily, ID cards, scrapping SATS, scrapping Trident, opposing Iraq War and raising the tax threshold to £10k (which is a policy Labour should’ve introduced years ago). 

Logically (almost), it can be seen that Britain does retain a left leaning tendency, while certainly not socialist or social democratic, but rather Britain can be seen as at least on the whole, progressive. Logically (again), it is E. Miliband’s form of electoral base that would be best suited to bringing back those 4 million voters who left Labour for the Lib Dems and apathy. 

Max

The lady doth protest too much

In Ethics, Suzy's News, Women, World news on 25 August, 2010 at 3:18 pm

Wearing a headscarf can and has been construed in many ways. Here in İstanbul, as in Birmingham, women can receive a lot of unwanted attention from lascivious observers for venturing out without one, especially in some areas of the city, and especially at night. In terms of keeping conservative parents happy, covering the hair seems a small concession to make for many teenage girls. For casual muslims, it`s nice to be ready to pop into mosque whenever the mood takes them.

So for scarved women who date, or have close male friends, or don`t fast during ramadan, or wear sexy underwear for their husbands, it`s a blow to be labelled hypocrites as lightly as they often are. The visibility of the scarf makes it impossible to disguise seemingly contradictory behaviour, and the woman in question must resign herself to even more unwanted attention. As with nuns and priests, people find it funny to catch scarved women out.

There is another problem with this attitude, that casual hypocrites like myself  notice – as imperfect humankind can never hope to follow all the rules all of the time, isn`t it better to at least try to adhere some of the rules laid down by whichever holy book you profess to follow? And is it really unethical to put a scarf to start with just because it`s the most obvious symbol?

Suzy 

Royal approval

In Blogroll, Britishness, Europe, International Politics, Left Wing Politics, Opinion polls, Suzy's News on 25 August, 2010 at 2:41 pm

The swedish royal family is significantly less extensive, overfunded and ridden with controversy than our own. Hoever the recent opinion polls from the SOM institute show support decreasing to an overall low of 56 % despite the recent bounce in popularity created by the wedding of Crown Princess (and 197th in line to the British throne) Victoria.

The opposition is well-organised and highly politicised, with most left-wing parties and groups featuring desposing the royal family on their agendas, and the Republican Association growing in membership.

The Daily Mail, perhaps in an effort to undermine the republican movement, or perhaps in an effort to feature lots of pictures of women in gowns, focussed chiefly on Stockholm joining in the fun of the wedding, relegating campaigners to outsider status.  

The New York Times took a different approach, ending by speculating on the fate of the king if a Swedish republic is ever declared.

Could this be the start of a European-wide (or world-wide, if we`re including Australasia) movement to oust the royals?

Suzy

Need we say more…

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Economy, Liberal Democrats, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word on 25 August, 2010 at 9:05 am

Chancellor George Osborne speaking at Bloomberg headquarters 17/08/2010

Boy George (Osborne), DC (Cameron) and Cleggy have all ardently claimed that the recent “emergency budget” was hardwired into being a “progressive” budget and that the poor would be shielded from the upcoming years of austerity and that in the words of DC, “we are all in this together”…….what he forgot to add was “…unless you’re rich but you’re particularly in if you’re poor”.

A recent report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), Britain’s leading independent tax organisations completely destroyed the coalitions claims that the budget is “progressive” but rather describing it as “clearly regressive as, on average, they hit the poorest households more than those in the upper middle of the income distribution in cash, let alone percentage, terms.”. Yes, you read the quote correctly; it hits the poorest harder in cash never mind percentage terms!

The IFS also said the poorest 10% of families would lose over 5% of their income as a result of the budget compared with a loss of less than 1% for non-pensioner households without children in the richest 10% of households. It added that the budget contrasted with the “progressive” plans for 2010-14 inherited from Labour, under which the richest 10% of households bore the brunt of the cuts.

Leaving aside whether it is a right or wrong descision to attempt to remove the structural deficit within 5 years, I can assure you know that the coalition will turn round and you use one of the oldest tricks in the books, blame the predecessors. Well let me say, don’t you even dare, don’t even dare, this is now totally the coalition’s doing. This is what happens when you have severe changes to housing benefit, disability allowances, tax credits and a deficit reduction plan that is totally out of balance in terms of cuts to taxation.

We all knew the Tories where bulling when DC stated that “we are all in this together” and that the Lib Dems had sold themselves out on economic policy, but now we have conclusive proof from a well respected independent body, all we can say now is, need we say more…

Max

A-levels and beyond

In Education, Ramsay's F Word on 16 August, 2010 at 11:03 pm

This coming Thursday will see the first A-level results to feature the newly added A* grade. I noticed in the Observer the other day (sorry Sean but I don’t choose what newspaper we get while at home) that if the A* grade had been in place last year the Independent Schools Council (ISC) said 16.5% of Private school A-level entries would achieved an A* compared to a mere 5% with state school candidates.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are certainly a fair few BULS members from Private Schools so I state my opinion with the greatest degree of respect (and caution), but given that the Private sector receives a mere 7% of all the pupils this is clearly is a disproportionate imbalance. This clearly noticeable at Birmingham Uni where I have yet to meet a substantial number of students from non-grammar state schools. This all leads into background of the pupil given that bright children from the poorest homes are seven times less likely to go to a top university than their richer peers, according to the Office for Fair Access (Offa), an education watchdog.

Now don’t get me wrong, Labour in 13 years did have some great achievements with education, but redressing the balance between the private and state sectors is something we did not do enough of. It’s just a matter of time now to see what difference the new A* grade makes.

Max

Guess the caption

In Cameron, Ramsay's F Word on 12 August, 2010 at 9:58 am

As it’s been a while. Enjoy.

Max

Cain or Abel

In Labour Affiliated Organistions, Labour Party, Labour Students, Legend MPs on 7 August, 2010 at 4:30 pm

The  Labour leadership campaign has entered its final month before voting commences yet I can predict with 100% certainty the background of the winner of the contest – a forty something white male who read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Corpus Christi College with the surname Miliband. I am not so confident in predicting whether it will be David or Ed.

The latest YouGov poll in The Sun shows that overall college support between the two brothers as being 54% for David and 46% for Ed after unsuccessful candidates’ votes have been redistributed. The possibility of a Miliband split was predicted long  before the General Election but is still disappointing to see it come to pass that the future leader of a political party will be decided from a two horse race of the narrowest possible of social backgrounds, that of the same household.

David strikes me as a more pragmatic candidate. He is at ease with the lexicon of political and economic jargon and uses the skills he learned from his years as Foreign Secretary to micromanage solutions to our national problems and to enhance our international relations. Ed is more of a visionary than David. Ed talks at length about his vision of greater income equality and a fairer, more equitable Britain but he doesn’t explain how he will do this. The issues he talks about have perplexed policy makers and politicians for decades and either he does not know how to build the society he wants or he does not believe the policies he believes are necessary will be popular with the electorate at large.

What of the other candidates? Andy Burnham suffered from a slow start and has been unable to pick up the pace. Diane Abbot despite all of her tremendous energy and charisma has been unable to win over supporters to her ideology or perhaps more importantly to bring her views closer in line to that of the average politically minded voter. Ed Balls despite his miraculous transformation from a tribal heavyweight into a likeable underdog since the beginning of the campaign will still leave this contest in fifth place.

The battle between Blair’s and Brown’s protégés will be dangerous for the party long after the contest has finished. Will there still be room for two Miliband’s in the shadow cabinet if the result of the contest is close? Instead, could we have two Miliband’s in senior positions whilst being able to ignore the cries of nepotism that were spared so long as a non-family member held the reigns of power? When the new leader commits his first major faux pas do we look nervously to his brother, waiting for his chance to lead a coup?

It is for these reasons that whoever is victorious, the two brothers will need to find a way to forgive the sins of their political fathers so that the bitter feud of personalities which plagued our party for the past 13 years ends on September 25.

By George Arnold, BULS Treasurer

In Praise of Gordon Brown

In Legend MPs on 7 August, 2010 at 4:28 pm

Sorry these two blogs were not up sooner, the committee email accounts password has been changed, Max.

The Shakespearean tragedy that was the premiership of Gordon Brown was both frustrating and depressing for many a Labour member. The return of the Prince of Darkness; the eerily coincidental timing of Gordon’s entry into number ten, almost exactly at the moment the Western economy went tumbling off a cliff; the cringe-worthy youtube attempt at reaching out to ordinary voters; the desperate Hoon-Hewitt plot and, of course, Bigotgate. All of these made me want to hug our leader and offer him warm words of encouragement, but also simultaneously slap him on the back and say “Hey, Gordon, do you think maybe this just isn’t your day?”
 
So I was uplifted and proud when I came across an interview with Gordon by Christina Patterson in The Independent on Monday which showed him to be a dignified, modest man who can see his own faults but is also proud of his roots and his values, and has the neediest and poorest in society in mind - both home and abroad - now that he is a full time constituency MP.
 
He seemed to be on a non-stop tour of Kirkaldy and Cowdenbeath, leaving the reporter breathless as he dashed between an industrial estate, a youth project and the home of his beloved Raith Rovers football club. He seemed disappointed but resolute when discussing both his future and the shameful termination of the Future Jobs Fund by the Coalition government (apparently all of these people will magically gain new jobs in the resurgent and dynamic voluntary and private sectors, which the government hopes will bounce back within five years at a similar rate to China or India). Although he would not be drawn on his intimate feelings on no longer being in charge, was evasive on domestic issues, and seemed to want to give a history lecture (which betrayed his forensic knowledge of Fife), he proved that he is determined to stand up for both those from the declining industries of this working class constituency in the face of savage Thatcherite cuts and the ‘Big Society’, and those in far away lands who have probably never even heard of him. The recent announcement that the proceeds from his next book will go to charities bears a stark contrast with the arrogant and self-indulgent memoirs of Mandelson and Blair.
 
Gordon Brown re-enforces the belief in me that you need to know what it is like to live in these forgotten but resolute communities with high unemployment and derelict industry in order to deliver the best policies for them. He re-enforces the belief in me that although we are all far from perfect we can make small but significant improvements to ordinary people’s lives by intervening, even in the depths of recession. He re-enforces in me the belief that years from now he may not be regarded by historians as one of the best PMs but that his greatest achievement amongst many was saving the economy both in Britain and globally from a 1930s-style catastrophe.
 
It is no wonder that in some cases the disregarded communities of Britain feel compelled to apathy, extremist politics or even in extreme circumstances sympathy for those who have ‘defied the authorities’ like the murderer Raoul Moat. Let us not be too hasty in rejecting the previous leader of the Labour party and everything about his style and policies as we elect the next one.
 
By Luke Jones, BULS member

Ideological dogma, and nothing less

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Economy, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 3 August, 2010 at 9:19 pm

19.07.2010: Martin Rowson on the Tory spending cut sideshow

David Cameron (DC) was today in none other than good ol’ Brum at a “PM direct” session (where I think BCF where present). Reading in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/03/david-cameron-public-sector-cuts-permanent (sorry Sean but I saw it on Facebook) recently DC pledged at the session that once the deficit has been dealt with, funding will not be restored to public services.

Now to put this in perspective, DC (and recently Cleggy) have been arguing that the savage cuts they are going to make to the public sector are apparently “necessary”, leaving aside whether the ideas are right or wrong it is this key argument of “necessity” that has prevailed through. What we have seen here from DC is that no, the rate in which they are cutting is not in fact necessary but rather a pre-text for petty ideological goals and dogma.Essentially, what DC is saying is that once the deficit has been dealt with, the state will not return to help those in need, it won’t increase investment in the primary areas of the NHS, Police (which protect the health, safety and wellbeing of people) and Education which are three most important tiers of the public sector and social benefits to those truly in need them in any future troubles will also be stuck at their austerity levels.DC states that “How can we do things differently and better to give value for money?” which is understandably fair enough, if you’re going to spend money, it has to be at the best value for money, but there is a distinct line between “value for money” and downright underinvestment. I hope DC will have the humility one day to feel remorse for the pain he is about to cause for mere ideological dogma.

Max

“making headlines”

In Cameron, International Politics, Ramsay's F Word, World news on 31 July, 2010 at 10:00 pm

“making headlines” was David Miliband’s take upon David Cameron’s (DC) accusation at Pakistan apparently exporting terror to Afghanistan. Consequently because of DC’s “frankness” Pakistani intelligence officials have cancelled a visit to the UK while opposition politicians in Pakistan urged their President, Mr Zardari to call off his trip, while demonstrators burnt an effigy of DC on the streets of Karachi. It seems that DC has still yet to make the transition from politician to statesman.

It’s as David Miliband pointed out, while yes aspects of Pakistan have exported terrorism DC seems to forget that not only do Pakistan officials play a major role in the stemming of terrorism but Pakistan and its people have been victims of terrorism coming from Afghanistan. International diplomacy is all about making friends so you can influence your friends. Yes, stand up for your values but there is a fine line between “frankness” and making enemies. Thankfully though President Zardari is still set to visit the UK but the Pakistan intelligence service cancelled their visit in direct response to DC inability to understand both sides of the story.

Max

153, jellyfish, Trident, dolphins and a seal

In Conservative Party, Defence, Education, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 30 July, 2010 at 11:30 pm

Chris Riddell 11.07.2010

Firstly, apologies for the lack of blogging recently. Been away in north Wales for the past week surrounded by a seal, dolphins (yes you heard me actual dolphins in north Wales!) and what seemed to be the world’s largest gathering of jellyfish, but that unfortunately is a different story.

Moving on swiftly, Education Secretary Michael Gove promised one of the greatest revolutionary reforms to the education system of all time. This was hoped to be achieved through the expansion of the academy programme which was started by Tony Blair’s Labour government. The Academy school programme was initially targeted at underperforming areas, now I don’t know if they were successful or not, but it seemed a good….ish idea at the time.

But now Gove has began rushing through legislation to allow any school the right to become an academy, independent from the local council (even though they already hold a large degree of autonomy). Gove claimed that around a 1100 schools had already signed up to become academies within a week, however, it was recently revealed a mere 153 have done so since the coalition took office. 153! Ed Balls has accused Gove of railroading the bill given only a mere 10% of the claimed schools have applied. Personally, I’m really not well aware of the pros and cons of the academy programme, but for a coalition that is supposed to represent “new” politics, it certainly shows a lot of the “old” brand by preventing Parliament from doing their job of proper scrutiny of bills.

Moving on again, it has been revealed that there is an apparent schism between the MoD and the Treasury over who should foot the bill for the renewal of Trident. The renewal of Trident is predicted to cost around £20 billion, the MoD budget is £40 billion and there is a large budget deficit, already you can see a slight problem. Personally, I’d love to see the back of Trident, but in the name of compromise here’s an idea that will kill two birds with one stone. How about keeping Trident but not renewing until the deficit is well and truly dealt with? Britain’s nuclear defence system is still very capable of wiping out numerous major cities across the globe, a slight upgrade that would increase the range of the submarines and the blast radius of the missiles a bit would surely not go to miss if its lifespan is prolonged. Just a thought.

Max

London Calling

In Britishness, Elections, Labour Party, Legend MPs, London, London Mayor, Suzy's News on 29 July, 2010 at 2:40 pm

Soundbites from BULS members on leadership:

Ken Livingstone wants to push through money-making and environmental reforms that local councils across the country could benefit from.

I don`t live in London, so I don`t care as long as the mayor is Labour. (thanks Ben)

Oona King is a faux labour, über Blairite, war supporting opportunist. And being a Blairite IS a bad thing because he`s a war criminal and didn`t stay true to Labour`s values.

King is the Labour of the future, Ken is the past. Blair never lost an election, and you can`t get anywhere on ideology alone (see: the 1980s). Also let`s wait for the report to conclude on whether or not he`s a criminal.

Blair had a time and place, but now the public want a fresh, more ideological Labour. Go Ed Miliband!

Suzy

It`s all relative

In Britishness, Ethics, Europe, International Politics, Suzy's News, USA, Women, World news, media on 25 July, 2010 at 9:51 am

Yesterday evening an unknown man was buzzed into our building, entered our apartment through the door we often leave open and offered my flatmate money for sex. After a clear refusal in Turkish, English and Spanish, a violent struggle and threats to call the police he eventually went home, and we were left feeling terrified and dirty.  

The consensus about the event among my Turkish friends is as follows: that it is known in the neighbourhood that our apartment is occupied by young foreign women, who are probably not Muslim and definitely without the support of a large family bent on avenging insults to its women. Our brothers, fathers and uncles are far away, and we probably act like the American women in gossip magazines anyway, so will welcome advances. And if we don`t like it we can go back to where we came from.

Other things I find difficult to adjust to in İstanbul are the poor record on women`s liberation, the high birthrates, the tradition of the hostess never sitting down during a meal but continuing to serve throughout, the constant and indiscriminate leering by men of all ages and the incredible statistic that only 10% of Turkish women are in employment.   

It all makes the Ed/Yvette leadership issue look very, very trivial.

Suzy

The last gift of the Labour government

In Economy, Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word on 23 July, 2010 at 9:25 pm

In the second quarter of 2010 the UK economy grew by 1.1%. This is clearly the result of the actions taken by the Labour government in their final months and it would’ve been higher were it not for the Volcanic Ash cloud.

However, to say “oh, economy already back on track, it’s clearly secure to swiftly slash the deficit” is wrong! The Chancellor, Boy George, summed it up himself “Today’s figures show the private sector contributing all but 0.1% of the growth in the second quarter,” which consequently means that if you are going to “cut” your way out of the deficit that remaining 1% is going to disappear rather quickly. Add this to the fact that most economists are saying that the recovery is not secured meaning that to savage public services rather than a carefully planned programmed to halve the deficit in 4 years would plunge the country back into deep recession and this time, there will be no plan B.

Max

Before we miss the sparkly bandwagon…

In Education, Ethics, Suzy's News, USA, World news, media on 20 July, 2010 at 1:53 pm

Stephanie Meyer`s Twilight Saga, heaven knows, gets its fair bit of exposure. Precisely because of this I want to give it some space on our own venerable blog. The amount of impressionable people worldwide hopelessly in love with its characters or  ideas make it worth taking seriously.

The ”twilight is sexist” debate can be argued convincingly from either side. While Bella replaces her absent mother in exclusively performing traditionally female chores for her father, suffers from a lack of professional ambition in terms of a career outside the home, is perpetually in need of rescuing and puts up with an emotionally abusive boyfriend who also supervises her every move 24/7, bruises her during sex and prevents her from seeing her friends; there is plenty of objectification of the male characters to counterbalance it, from lingering descriptions of male beauty in the books to many many minutes dedicated to the sight of muscly topless men in the films. By the fourth book Bella is strong enough to stand up for herself, and becomes a protector instead of a victim, albeit mainly in the role of a wife and mother. Also the author, screenplay writer and director are all women, the audience is predominantly female and there is some attempt at a reversal of the Adam and Eve story in terms of who is tempting whom into sexual maturity.

So much for gender.

What I`m concerned with is the heteronormativity of it all.

In the world of Twilight borderline inter-species sexuality, necrophilia, paedophilia and sado-masochism are allowable and more or less practised. Nothing is off limits but the same sex. Werewolves undergo a process of “imprinting” when they find their soulmate, and whenever it is discussed the subject is represented as “he” and the object as “she”. Vampires never seem to bite a human of the same gender, and following in the footsteps of Buffy there is a certain devotion developed towards to the one who changed you. There is no exploration of sexual identity, all the characters are introduced in ready-made boy-girl pairings, in fact there is no possibility, in this world of societal outcasts, counter-culture and misunderstood teenagers, of any LGBT experience.

Suzy

Why nobody, not even on the left, should read the Guardian

In Elections, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, media on 14 July, 2010 at 7:56 am

I write this, as you all by now are probaby well aware, as a left of centre, card carrying member of the Labour party. And I write this because I am, quite frankly, sick of fellow minded folks trusting this diabolical rag despite it being a paper that is inconsistent, hypocritical and simply, makes no sense whatsoever. Let me take the liberty to explain this to you.

This is, after all, a paper, that after years of supporting the Labour Party decided a week before the last election to support the Liberal Democrats. This it did citing as its motive the Liberal Democrats support for proportional representation (P.R). Yet immediately after the formation of the Con-Dem coalition, some ten days later, this ‘news’paper decides to renounce that support.

That to me does not make sense. Firstly and most simplistically, why drop a party immediately after it gains power for the first time in 60 years, just because it goes into coalition with a party you don’t like. Moreover, The Guardian’s switch is more staggering considering its support for PR (which as I said earlier, was the reason it publically gave for switching its allegiance from Labour to the Lib Dems.) Proportional Representation almost universally leads to the formation of coalitions, so for The Guardian to declare its support for the Lib Dems because of their support for PR, then weeks later to renounce that support because of the Lib Dems going into a coalition, which would be more, not less, likely to occur with PR, is frankly bonkers logic. If the Guardian’s support for the Lib Dems was based on them winning the election outright then it did so contrary to the vast majority of the evidence from polls, most political analysis and was reliant upon a swing that was unlikely even to the most ardent and politically naive Liberal Democrat.

I say this not because I am annoyed at the Guardian switching its support from Labour to the Lib Dems. That genuinely is not my problem. My problem is that the Guardian is repeatedly held up and used by members of the Labour Party or people on the left or in the centre as this beacon for sensible left of centre reporting and analysis. But in reality, this paper is just as unprincipled and flippy floppy in its nature, as any of the red tops or Murdoch press engine. But at least the red tops do not pretend to be sensible.

I don’t like the coalition. I dislike most of its policies, I don’t trust its underlying (largely Conservative) principles and I also don’t believe it is actually as stable and unified in purpose and compromise as is said (though I do not, myself, think this will become apparent for a number of years). But these are politically based, and I would argue very rational reservations for the coalition. My reasoning, even if you do not agree with it, is consistent. The Guardian’s scepticism of the coalition is not sound, consistent or based on anything other than rather politically naive and ill-considered malice. Yet despite this people on the left continue to quote it and rely upon it ad nauseum, believing, as I said, it to be a principled and consistent proponent of the ‘progressive’ wing of politics.

So I implore any self-respecting left or centrist person with an interest in political journalism which is not sensationalist but fair, sensible not senseless, to read the Independent, not the Guardian. Even the Telegraph, though a right-wing paper with which I have many disagreements, is at least consistent and sensible in what it says, even if I disagree with it. If you want a challenge, rather than mindless spouting, read that. But do not quote the Guardian pretending that it is anything other than TWADDLE!

By Sean Woodcock

Lord Mandy

In Campaigns, Elections, Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word on 11 July, 2010 at 9:52 pm

Lord Mandelson speaks 

In BULS, we’re mature enough to dole out criticism and praise where it is due and with the recent release of Lord Mandelson’s Memoirs “The Third Man”, it seems both are present here to one of the founding architectures of ‘New’ Labour. As business secretary, I personally believe Mandy did a brilliant job, the car scrappage scheme was one of the most successful parts of the economic stimulus package brought in after the wake of the financial crisis. His emphasis on a new high tech industries and manufacturing and his ardent support of the Regional Development Agency were just what the country needed in times of economic hardship.

However, Brown’s former adviser Charlie Whelan said “Peter ran the worst general campaign in Labour’s history,” Whelan told the Sunday Telegraph, “Nobody knew what the message was at all. It was a disaster from beginning to end.”. In this instance, how right he was. Now admittedly, I haven’t paid much attention to previous election campaigns, but the 2010 campaign was abysmal. Yes, we were just emerging from a recession and had a leader with a “radio face”, but frankly the campaign did not help. The press-conferences completely lacked any excitement and it seemed Brown was held back by Mandy. The latter we know given Brown’s firebrand speech near the end of the campaign, after Mandy was relinquished of some duties.

To be frank, there was no clear message, let us hope this is not the case in 2015. 

Max

This time for Africa?

In Europe, International Politics, Suzy's News, World news on 4 July, 2010 at 11:07 am

It`s been a disappointing world cup, and I don`t just mean for England. The 2004 announcement of South Africa winning the bid to host led to predictions of a massive leap forward for the whole continent, as the World Cup was expected to raise Africa`s profile, increase levels of tourism, bring in revenue in prize money and foreign currency, provide investment and give it a greater sense of pride and identity.

Six years and sixty (?) matches later we have two anthems sung by a Somali-Canadian and a Columbian, a tournament dominated by European teams with Ghana the sole African representative past the group stage, inter-African xenophobia in Johannesburg… Time will tell but I think it`s already safe to say that hosting the World Cup was not South Africa`s holy grail.

Suzy

Two cents…

In Suzy's News, World news on 3 July, 2010 at 6:24 pm

Having a bad feminist time of it in Turkey in terms of female employment,  roles in the home and freedom of clothing, but am really thrilled about Gillard! A bit of progressive news in traditional times ^_^

Interestingly it is forbidden for Turkish women to be scarved at uni, as it damages the precious separation of church and state. The really orthodox wear wigs to hide their hair all the same.

Thought I’d understand Islam more after a fortnight living in Istanbul, but the variety of practice here is bewildering! Hope to educated myself over the next few months and I’ll blog if I can think of anything good.

Suzy

How to lose a PM in 30 days

In Blogroll, Immigration, Labour Affiliated Organistions, Legend MPs, Trade Unions, Women, World news on 3 July, 2010 at 6:08 pm

Observing recent political events in West Island from across the ditch, I have been struck by both the swiftness and the apparent brutality of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s removal by his own party in favour of his second-in-command Julia Gillard. The justification for his removal apparently a decline in Labor support in the polls during an election year; for which he as leader was deemed responsible. To a UK political observer the initial comparison is inevitable (and Martin Kettle at the Guardian milks it for all its worth).

But UK Labour is not Australian Labor, and we should be glad of this. Firstly Australian Labor is institutionally factionalised in a way which makes Blairite-Brownite “rifts” look like trivial squabbles over soccer team affiliation. Rudd had no core faction behind him, hence when the challenge came they swung behind Gillard. In addition, Rudd had probably alienated the powerful union factors with miner membership though his proposals for a new supertax on mining profits. The plan to reinvest these profits to the benefit of all Australians is in principle a sound idea, but one which threatened the interests of mine workers. Consequent hostile advertising from this sector likely cost a few points in the opinion polls and encouraged Rudd’s colleagues (with union backing) to act. Some of us in English circles may smile wryly at the thought that there is somewhere in the west where miners can still bring down a PM.

It is also much easier to stage a coup when only MPs have a say in their party’s choice of leader. Much of the action happened overnight in this time zone – talk of speculation coming around midnight followed by the news of Rudd’s resignation when I woke up on the floor the next morning. By teatime Gillard was meeting the Governor-General. Had Milliband, D. ever followed through on his many threats to stick the knife in we’d have gone through the whole nominations, campaigning, and membership ballots palaver. Arguably this grants the incumbent a significant advantage, but if it saves us the undignified spectacle of a brutal internal coup whilst being notionally more democratic then I for one am grateful.

Rudd had been in office for just under two and a half years, after a landslide victory in ’07. He had brought the Labor party back into power after 13 years of opposition. He’d initially taken a bold stand on global warming in a country with a deeply sceptical (and Murdoch-tainted) media, and at least attempted to redress historical grievances with the indigenous peoples. Until a matter of months ago he had polled as the 2nd most popular Australian PM in history – now he becomes the only to be ousted from office in a single term. 3-year term limits mean that an election was likely before the end of this year; with a change at the top it will likely come about even sooner (as Gillard herself has stated). We shall see if the Labor party’s gamble pays off. If it does, there may well be many a forlorn “what-if?” in the Milliband camp (though Labor’s defeat is not as likely, let alone as certain, as ours appeared in ‘09). I’m not sure which reflects worse on a party – regicide against a successful election winner, or the prospect of changing leaders twice in one term. “Unelected Prime Minister” rhetoric is disingenuous yet potent amongst the electorate, especially when there is very little to hide the naked ambition of those who make it to the top. I’ve seen identity politics used already to justify the outcome; a seemingly desperate spin. On this note it may be worth considering the success of other welsh redheaded Labo(u)r leaders.

I’m glad this undignified spectacle never befell Gordon. Rudd gave a gracious albeit tearful resignation speech, worth watching if only for his parting joke of “I’m still Prime Minister for another 30 minutes… I’m no longer leader of the Labor Party but I am Prime Minister… anything could happen folks”. To an outsider he seems a decent, honourable and principled man – I only hope his party don’t wind up regretting what they’ve done.

Comrade Nash

- BULS Southern Hemisphere correspondent

Who would you like to see as the next leader of the Labour party?

In Elections, Labour Party, Opinion polls, Ramsay's F Word on 28 June, 2010 at 9:53 pm

Poor poor Vince

In Conservative Party, Economy, Liberal Democrats, National Politics, Opinion polls, Ramsay's F Word on 28 June, 2010 at 9:35 pm

Chris Riddell on Nick Clegg

I was watching question time last Thursday (yes I know this might be a bit late) and was pained to see none other than Vince Cable (the only Liberal Democrat I have a great degree of respect for) being effectively made to eat his own words from the general election campaign. It was quite clear that he hated every moment on the show and half of what he said he obviously did not personally believe.

Now the coalition was the best option open for the Liberal Democrats after the election, better to influence events on the inside than shout from the sidelines. But, one of their major failings is that they have for the time being, failed to give the coalition a distinct progressive edge. They failed to shift the burden of the Tory cuts onto the rich but rather onto the poor as argued by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fuk%2F2010%2Fjun%2F23%2Fbudget-welfare-poor-ifs-report&h=94854p2-JAX6pOiaLB95ROte4HA and humiliatingly had to u-turn over a rise of VAT which topped the Tories era of austerity.

These failures are being noticed by the electorate, with support in a YouGov poll on the 5th May at a high 28%, while on the 25th June it was shown to have been decimated to a mere 16%. Another poll showed that 48% of people who voted for the Liberal Democrats at the last election are less inclined to do so again, primarily over the rise in VAT.

The future doesn’t look bright for Vince and his fellow Liberal Democrats, if the coalition does succeed the Tories will gain credit, being the dominant partner and if it fails, the Liberal Democrats will never again be able to regard themselves as a progressive force.

Max

To George

In Broken Britain, Conservative Party, George Osborne, Tories on 23 June, 2010 at 2:06 am

I’d like to dedicate this next song to George Osborne, his policies as Chancellor and also to the “Broken Britain” theory he holds so dear.  Let’s have a round of applause for Mr Osborne!

Oli

[title redacted]

The axe falls

In Conservative Party, Economy, Liberal Democrats, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 22 June, 2010 at 4:32 pm

Chris Riddell 20.06.10

Today saw George Osborne’s first ever budget as Chancellor in which Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats showed how much they had sold themselves out. Despite accusing Cameron of threatening to raise VAT with a re-run of the famous Tory poster of “Labour’s tax bombshell” have now agreed with their coalition partners to indeed raise VAT to 20% in which the house was in uproar! The thing with the VAT is that it is generic, it targets no specific group, so in other words, rather than taxing higher earners, it is those on middle to lower incomes who will suffer from this “tax bombshell”. Here is a rundown of the main aspects of the budget:

  1. VAT will rise from 17.5% to 20% from January 4, 2011 (already touched upon but still rather ironic)
  2. Councils which propose low council tax increases will be offered extra funds to allow them to freeze the tax for one year from April 2011 (would be great if we had the money)
  3. Capital Gains Tax remains at 18% for low and middle-income savers but from midnight, higher rate taxpayers will pay 28% (now that I can agree with)
  4. The capital gains tax “entrepreneurs relief” rate of 10% on the first £2m of gains will be extended to the first £5m (frankly if they earn that much they deserve a level of taxation, especially now)
  5. No raise to alcohol, cigarettes and fuel (pity it wasn’t raised on cigarettes)
  6. Low income families will get more Child Tax Credit – the amount per child will rise by £150 above the rate of inflation next year (again, I can agree with that)
  7. Sure Start maternity grant will be restricted to the first child (kind of stupid, better have it the other way around as you will have more mouths to feed)
  8. Corporation Tax will be cut next year to 27%, and by 1% annually for the next three years, until it reaches 24% (should be raised for bigger businesses in my eyes)
  9. Average real terms budget cuts of 25% over four years – except for health and international aid (there goes my local bobby and half of the state sector teachers
  10. Personal income tax allowance to be increased by £1,000 in April to £7,475 – worth £170 a year to basic rate taxpayers (the sole thing in this budget I would commend, obviously the Lib Dems managed to get A concession out).

VAT rise which will hit the poorest hardest and corporation tax cuts…….in the words of J. K. Rowling, “I’ve never voted Tory before, and they keep reminding me why.”

Max

The End of the Affair

In BULSInside, Birmingham, Blogroll, Guild Council, Labour Students, NUS, Suzy's News, Young Labour on 15 June, 2010 at 4:32 pm

After a very long final session of Guild Council, in the immortal words of Fabian, I’ll try to keep this brief…

Each of the officers made a leaving speech looking back on the year and offering advice to the new team. These are some of the highlights.

VPSAD Emma “pacman” Packham has effectively showcased student groups to the Uni administration (the Vice Chancellor’s dad nows wants to join BUDS  dance soc) and worked hard to make herself known and approachable. She said that despite the Guild’s under resourcing, few staff and erstwhile joke status among the students it achieves incredible things. She made the point that professional relationships are crucial; and gratitude and banter are useful to grease the cogs.

VPEA Brigid “remarkable” Jones: widely regarded as a model representative of students due to her commitment and dedication she was yesterday awarded honorary life membership of the Guild. Fabian asserted that this “girl, sorry, woman” has been patronised by the bigwigs up at the Uni during her massive campaign against the closure of the sociology department.

VPHC Ed “the smallest man that I look up to” Sparkes has worked hard to calm the housing terrors among first years by making everyone feel included in halls and pushing back the housing rush til after Christmas. He thinks that fun is the most important element in life, and that we should all change something if we’re not having enough of it, and to that end he’s run for nearly every position possible within the Guild.

VPW Johnny “idiotic but popular” Davis is the first ever re-elected officer, he’s determined, innovative to the point of requesting a condom cannon and a penis-shaped bucking bronco for AIDS awareness, and wants to encourage anyone who doesn’t think they’re “political” enough to get involved anyway, because all you really need is the desire to make things better. He’s proud of U of B’s record of supporting student parents, the “hidden gems” of our community, and is excited about carrying on next year, reminding us all to protect our welfare with a Johnny.

VPS Katie “fordy fail” Ford had a hard time splitting commitments and was initially a guild outsider, but has managed to conquer the laddish element of the Sports teams with tact and skill and embed the Guild in the minds of our sportspeople. The Lion sports pull-out in RedBrick, a successful healthy living campaign, a brilliant Sports Ball, increased involvement in Sports Forums and inclusion of Sports RAs are just some of her many achievements.

VPDR Tom “comrade” Guise has come a long way but never forgotten his BULS roots, wearing a rose on his lanyard at all times. He’s delivered Joe’s Bar, not on time but on budget, and been a supportive friend to the rest of the team. He also had a serious message of support for everyone involved in student politics and a warning for the naysayers who ignore the historic importance of our institutions.

President Fabian “that geeky Austrian guy” Neuner has managed to develop from an inexperienced cynical outsider into a positive, passionate, diplomatic, reliable and genuine leader. Following a jibe from Lynne Jones he’s been spending a lot of time convincing outsiders that students do care about politics, has been active in the Vote4Students campaign and wishes to further reform the Guild Council procedure to improve transparency. Among his many other achievements he recently won a game of Lash of the Titans, wearing Johnny Davis’ underwear on his head in victory.

The motion to express GC support for wheelchair ramps in the law library was passed unanimously, which is apparently a first!

Further…

Everyone decried the lack of recognition given to the non-sabb team and then carried on ignoring them…shout outs and praise were given to the guild staff, housemates and girlfriends, Carnival Rag, RedBrick, the notorious Ed Bauer, Tom Marley and Wes Streeting as well as all of the new officers…there used to be an official bar crawl called “Chamberlain Chunderfest”… that once you’ve been elected you have to do your best both for those who elected you but also for your rivals…the library WILL be open longer next year…Ed Sparkes is the best person to bring you tea when you’ve fallen asleep on your desk…

Apologies and Gaza flotilla thoughts

In International Politics, Ramsay's F Word, World news on 8 June, 2010 at 9:57 pm

First of all can I say that sorry for the lack of blogs lately, exams have been a pain in the rear backside and then last few days been working all day, but anyways as Lawsgate had already been tackled I thought it’d be good to tackle the Gaza flotilla incident.

 Chris Riddell cartoon, 04.01.09

I can easily understand and to a degree, sympathise with Israel’s position, quite evidently if you are attacked with knives and chairs you would naturally defend yourself, though killing around 10 activists kind of shows that the soldiers acted disproportionately to the situation. There are also numerous eye witness accounts from the activists that many were shot with non-lethal rubber bullets or physically assaulted if they were slow to follow Israeli orders. Israel also stormed the ship in international waters which in my view is down-right piracy in itself.

It is also important to note that some activists did indeed assault Israeli soldiers but frankly if you are confronted with a potentially dangerous situation, humans usually choose one of two options. Either, hide in a corner in fear (probably what I would do) or fight back and in this case some did. In some eye witness accounts the activists were the violent aggressors which certainly cannot be condoned.

I can understand the reasoning behind Israel’s blockade of Gaza, a militant regime is dangerous thing to have on your border, but whether you are a friend of Israel or Palestine it is clear that the blockade is clearly strengthening Hamas’ grip. The blockade also prevents fertiliser from being imported, which when basic commodities as mentioned are unavailable it is no doubt that Gaza’s economy is in ruins leaving many to a life of destitute, or the alternative of joining Hamas to throw off the “hated Israelis”. It is hugely aggravating to the world community who wish to see an end to the conflict when Israel rejects an international inquiry into the incident despite it taking place in international waters and the flotilla having a multi-national ship, does Israel have something to hide?

However, while Israel’s actions are disproportionate, I can very easily understand their intent, surrounded by hostile nations they have been at war on and off for the past 50 years it is clear the Israelis are a little jittery. A movement that wishes to eradicate Israel, such as Hamas, is obviously going incite more fear in Israel, but, it does not excuse their actions.

Max

Lawsgate – some thoughts

In Ethics, LGBT, Liberal Democrats, National Politics, Suzy's News, Uncategorized on 4 June, 2010 at 1:01 pm

Paraphrased from a facebook conversation between Sean Woodcock and Oliver Jackson:

SW: Whilst I can sympathise with him having issues regarding his Catholic family it does not justify using taxpayers money to hide his sexuality. I don’t think he did it out of greed (he is already a millionaire) and I don’t think it necessarily makes him a bad person. But what he did was wrong and he absolutely deserved to go. Not to mention that he was naive to assume that he would not be found out for it.

OJ: He was one of the best men for the job, and his transgression was not by any stretch of the imagination the most serious offence in the whole sorry episode of the expenses scandal. “Had he been just another MP, his position would surely have been secure. Sympathy for the awkwardness he clearly felt about his sexuality would have overridden anger at the breach of the rules.” However, he had an exceptionally important position in the new government, a government wishing to at least be seen to be breaking away from the “old politics” in a position that would necessitate him having to explain harsh and deeply divisive austerity measures where not a shade of scandal can be had.

The other issue of course is the Telegraph itself, a newspaper not particularly interested in the public good but in sensationalism, controversy and making the greatest possible profits. If they had any significant level of decency they would not have published the story. But of course with the self serving Press Complaints Commission (we should have learned by now that self regulation doesn’t work!) there is no chance of even the beginnings of a discussion into whether or not the story should have been allowed. A story that came dangerously close to forcing a man out of his job because he felt himself unable to reveal his sexuality. The fact that people are still forced to think this way is a highly disturbing indictment on our society, though that is a slightly separate issue. His privacy has been shattered and he’s been pushed out of the highest position of his life for which was eminently qualified for. And for what? Very little good has come out of all of this. And why now? Why didn’t the Telegraph reveal Laws’ expenses with all the rest a year ago? I sense malevolent intent here…
SW: The only party that claimed to be whiter than white during the election were the Liberal Democrats, as David Cameron (in one of his highlights) told Clegg off for in the TV debates. It is not ideal that he came out in this way, but he has been living with this man for over 5 years. I would argue that if David Laws had made the (admittedly difficult) decision to come out earlier, then this issue would not have arisen. It shows poor judgement on his part. I also think a lot of gay people will find it insulting to hear a politician justifying doing something improper by saying he did it because of difficulty regarding coming out. This is not about homosexuality or homophobia and should not be made out to be an issue as such. I feel that he is being unfairly lauded as massive loss to the country despite the fact that up until 18 days ago he was a virtual unknown in a fairly minor (in terms of Parliamentary influence) political party.
When you stand for power, you do not lose a right to privacy, but you at the same time must expect that you will be under public scrutiny. In assuming that he would not be, he was at best naive. His defence, also confuses me – ‘My motive throughout has not been to maximise profit but to protect our privacy”
If he had followed procedure, he would not have been outed in the way he has been by the Telegraph. It is as simple as that. At the end of the day, you can’t avoid the conclusion that without the fraudulent claim, there would have been no story.

Jim Garner

In Elections, Labour Party, Legend MPs, Race, Suzy's News on 1 June, 2010 at 10:54 am

Recently elected to the new constituency of South Luxton and Wetfield,  Jim Garner is the latest candidate to join the Labour leadership race.

He’s running a hi-tech grass-roots campaign, with a website, twitter and facebook groups already up and running.

Jim brushes aside those who question his maturity and experience, saying that he is “Secretary of State for Understanding Normal People in the Cabinet of Life”.

Without criticising the others who are running he declares himself to be the “choice candidate”, on friendly terms with Ed Balls but disagreeing with David Miliband over favourite snacks.

Thanks to Jim the contest should be getting a whole lot more interesting.

Suzy

All time high

In BULSInside, Blogroll, Ramsay's F Word on 1 June, 2010 at 10:39 am

As I realised I haven’t done a blog in nearly 2 weeks but am still revising for my last 2 exams, I thought it’d be good to point out (with little time spent) that the BULS website has seen its highest number of views since February 2009, a 16 month high! I’ll be properly back into blogging over the summer from about the 6th!

Max

Islam, women and FGM

In Ethics, International Politics, Race, Suzy's News, Women, World news on 28 May, 2010 at 9:32 pm

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been making the news recently, as a Muslim woman who ran away from home in Somalia in order to escape an arrange marriage. She has since become an atheist and an outspoken critic of Islam.

“Here are a number of principles within your religion [Islam] which are not compatible with liberalism and democracy”

“To extremist Muslims it is not acceptable that Jews now have their own homeland”

She is impatient of moral relativism, and decrys the tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation by the Western world as “just one of those cultural things”. She says that these are the real issues of feminism, and that feminism in Europe and North America is just a luxury.

The levels of oppression women suffer in Britain do seem laughably small in comparison with the situations in countries like Burkina Faso. If cliteral reconstructive surgery was given to all those who have undergone FGM in Burkina Faso alone the total cost would be 23 billion euros.

http://clitoraid.org/

Suzy

BCF AGM

In Conservative Party, Ramsay's F Word, Student Politics on 18 May, 2010 at 8:41 pm

For those of you who don’t know, Birmingham Conservative Future (BCF) held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) today. I don’t have all the results but here we are:

President: Sophie Shrubsole

Vice-President: Adam Jenner (Internal) & Tim Hasker (External)

Blog Editor: Max Genoni

Publicity Officer: Owen V. Williams

We congratulate everyone who stood and welcome the new committee and hope BCF will rejoin the Guild and become BUCF once more!

Max

Lest we forget

In Labour Party, Legend MPs, Ramsay's F Word on 17 May, 2010 at 11:02 pm

David Miliband said the ‘New’ Labour era is over. This may well be true and I know a few BULS members are glad of it, but we shall never forget ‘New’ Labour’s achievements and should never fail to build upon them, so I’ll leave you with a section from Gordon Brown’s final conference speech.

Max

Guess the caption

In Ramsay's F Word on 17 May, 2010 at 9:24 pm

As it’s been a while, enjoy!

George Osborne 
 

Max

Where have all the women gone?

In Elections, Labour Affiliated Organistions, Labour Party, Race, Suzy's News, Women on 17 May, 2010 at 6:21 pm

The new ConDem cabinet is 26% female. I didn’t really expect any better, especially since Gordon Brown’s cabinet after the expenses cull was reduced to the same poor proportions.

But why are no women running for the Labour leadership?

Yvette Cooper recently stated her intention not to stand due to the demands of juggling such a responsible job with the demands of a young family of three children.

Q. Where is the father of these children?

A. Running for leadership

I think the women in the party could learn a thing or two from BULS, and especially from Louise, Dora, Pippa and Brigid. Maybe things will change when we get to Westminster in a couple of years time!

In the meantime, I’ll not be supporting Ed Balls.

Suzy

Silver lining

In Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Ramsay's F Word on 12 May, 2010 at 12:08 pm

Some good news, bar the local election results. In the past 24 hours or so, some 3,000 people have joined the Labour party, so much so that the website actually crashed for a brief while! I’m suspecting quite a lot of disenchanted Lib Dems were among them.

Max

Goodbye Brown

In Britishness, Conservative Party, Elections, Labour Party, Legend MPs on 12 May, 2010 at 12:16 am

Bowing to the judgement of the electorate, and in a dignified and timely manner, Gordon Brown has resigned as PM. As he refused to back a candidate for the Party leadership, so he refused to mention Clegg or Cameron, instead telling the waiting cameras how much he has enjoyed the opportunity to do good that his job has offered, and how much he’s looking forward to focussing on being a husband and father.

BULS pays tribute to his many years of devoted service, his economic prowess and his honest and heartfelt efforts to improve the lot of the British people and the world’s poorest.

As for the new coalition government, my feelings are summed up in this pithy poem:

Roses are red,

Labour are too

We were right when we warned them

Vote yellow get blue

But here’s to making the most of opposition. Here’s to laughing in the face of compromise and putting our Labour values first. Here’s to spending more time and effort in constituencies and local government. Here’s to doing everything we can to make this time count. And here’s to getting back in as soon as the electorate deems us worthy.

Suzy

Something else to be proud of…

In Birmingham, Birmingham politics, Conservative Party, Elections, Labour Party, Legend MPs, Women on 9 May, 2010 at 9:57 pm

Labour had 191 women PPCs prior to this election, which has translated into 81 women MPs – 31% of Labour MPs.

For comparison:

Labour had 101 women MPs in 1997, 24% of the total.

And the tories in 2010?

48 women MPs. 15% of the total.

Labour have also provided parliament with its first 3 muslim women MPs – Rushanara Ali of Bethnal Green and Bow, Yasmin Qureshi of Bolton South East and Shabana Mahmood of our very own Birmingham Ladywood!

And 12 other black or ethnic minority MPs – Diane Abbott kept Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Keith Vaz kept Leicester East, Marsha Singh of Bradford West, Sharma Virendra of Ealing Southall, Gavin Shuker of Luton South, Khalid Mahmood of our own Birmingham Perry Barr, the great David Lammy of Tottenham, Sadiq Khan of “yes we Khan” fame and Tooting, Mark Hendrick of Preston, Anas Sarwar of Glasgow Central, Chuka Umunna of Streatham and Dr Chinyelu Susan Onwurah of Newcastle Central.

That’s 5.8% of Labour MPs. We’re almost there on representation, at least as regards sex and ethnicity!

So proud to be Labour. Our party prioritises equality. You can’t say fairer than that.

Suzy

The result

In Elections, Labour Party, Labour Students, Ramsay's F Word on 7 May, 2010 at 5:34 pm

Last night saw many BULS members watching the results as they came in the new Joe’s Bar. Whatever you thought of the results, it was a great atmosphere. BUCF were nowhere to be found, but it was heard they were in a Suite in the Radisson Hotel, down with the students of course.

Anyways, the results were rather mixed as BULS members were met with as many disappointments as well as reliefs. Unfortunately, the likes of Jacqui Smith, Charles Clark and that Labour is no longer the single largest party were disappointments, but the fact that no seat in Birmingham turned blue and the likes of Ed Balls didn’t lose his seat is a huge conciliation. Yes, it’s not Labour best night but with so many local MPs staying red and given 9 months ago the Tories were heading for a landslide meant that this hung Parliament was a huge improvement.

BULS can also draw comfort from Wales where Labour only lost a handful of seats, in Scotland Labour’s share of the vote even rose by 3%, loosing not a single seat and containing the Tories to their sole seat and Labour has marge large gains in the local elections that were held on the same day.

In other words, disappointing but it could have been far worse.

Max

Vote Labour!

In Elections, Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word on 6 May, 2010 at 2:31 pm

This is it, the final crunch…and push. If you wish to secure the recovery, protect frontline services and clean up politics, vote Labour. If you want dangerous dogma to cause a double dip recession, a DIY public service system and a slashing of the schools budget and police numbers, then vote Tory. So please today, don’t be swayed by flashy posters and airbrushed leaders, vote for substance and experience with Labour and together we can fight for your future.

Max

About time Brown

In Labour Party, Legend MPs, Ramsay's F Word on 3 May, 2010 at 9:29 pm

A firebrand speech by Brown, it’s been a while in the making but bar the heckler, it’s bloody brilliant

Max

Philippa Stroud Summarised

In Uncategorized on 3 May, 2010 at 12:37 pm

That post is pretty long >

So for those of you with more curiosity than time:

Philippa Stroud, a Tory PPC, has been accused of Christian extremism and homophobia following claims she tried to “pray away the gay” of vulnerable LGBT people.

Her views on women’s liberation have also been called into question due to her church’s advice for “joyful female submission” in marriage.

The tories and the media are all congratulating themselves on how well it’s all been hushed up. If you don’t believe me google “Gillian Duffy” and see how many hits come up, then google “Philippa Stroud”.

#RightWingMediaFail

Philippa Stroud

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Elections, Far right, LGBT, London, Tories, Women, media on 3 May, 2010 at 12:16 pm

Firstly I’d like to thank BULS for electing me to the post of director of social media. Otherwise I would never have joined Twitter and therefore never have been made aware of who Philippa Stroud is and what she stands for. 36 hours after the story broke on the front page of the Observer all other major papers (apart from the Telegraph which played it down) and even the BBC have maintained a deafening silence on the issue. Ken Livingstone raised the issue on the Daily Politics show and was hushed up by the presenters.

But it’s been trending #1 on Uk twitter for 24 hours, the facebook event “Lets help Philippa Stroud get better” has 62 members and the facebook group “If Cameron cares an ounce about LGBT people, he’ll sack Philippa Stroud” has 1,544 members and counting.

This is big news, and it’s simply not being reported by the Murdoch press. The silence of the BBC, to whom, according to Stonewall UK the LGBT community contribute £190 million annually in license fees on this issue is shameful.

So what has Philippa Stroud done?

Having stood as a Conservative PPC in Ladywood Birmingham in 2005 she is now standing for Sutton and Cheam in South London. In 1989 she founded the King’s Arms Project – a Christian night shelter offering counselling to drug addicts, alcoholics, and LGBT people. She believed homosexuality was caused by demons, and could be cured by prayer and exorcism.

There has been no statement of apology or explanation from the Conservative party or David Cameron, Philippa Stroud herself having issued a statement which leaves lots of questions unanswered: ”I make no apology for being a committed Christian. However, it is categorically untrue that I believe homosexuality to be an illness and I am deeply offended that The Observer has suggested otherwise. I have spent 20 years working with disturbed people who society have turned their back on and are not often supported by state agencies; drug addicts, alcoholics, the mentally ill and the homeless that I and my charitable friends in the public sector have tried to help over the years. The idea that I am prejudiced against gay people is both false and insulting.“

She refused to comment on whether she believes LGBT people can be cured by the power of prayer, and whether she includes them under her definition of “disturbed people” or the “mentally ill”. She may not be prejudiced against the LGBT community in that she would treat them the same as anyone else suffering from demon possession, but is clearly not pro-liberation.

As a member of the New Frontiers Church of which her husband is a minister she has also pledged to: “be subservient to the wishes of my husband in all things” and submit to “male servant leadership and joyful female submission” – a remarkable attitude for a prospective female MP. I wonder what her views on abortion, same-sex civil partnerships and LGBT adoption are?  And when it became OK for the state and religion to cross over in this manner?

For a full briefing of the recent LGBT gaffes committed by the Tories see http://issacgreaves.eu/attackoftheclones/

The public have a right to demand proper coverage, proper investigation and a proper apology or some heads on plates. Instead we have 768 google hits for Gillian Duffy , and only 9 for Philippa Stroud.

My only comfort is that she probably won’t get elected because the constituency in which she’s standing has a strong and popular Lib Dem MP Paul Burstow who is standing for re-election.

Suzy

BUCF de-recognised

In Ramsay's F Word, Student Politics on 3 May, 2010 at 10:22 am

While I know this is a bit late but hey. If you aren’t aware already, Birmingham University Conservative Future (BUCF) has been de-recognised by the Guild of Students, I personally have no idea when or exactly how this happened. But, it has been heard that one of the reasons was over the fiasco of BUCF’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) which was an understandable grievance though I doubt this could have been the sole reason.

Many in BULS still don’t know the full details so it would be great if someone from BUCF could clarify. While no one in BULS is making a judgement now, we do wonder the fact that everyone else manages to deal with the Guild’s regulation and rules.

Max

Round 3

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Elections, Labour Party, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word, media on 2 May, 2010 at 10:41 pm

Nick Clegg, David Cameron, Gordon Brown

I would’ve blogged on this sooner, but been busy lately. Well the final debate went rather well. Being held in the Aston Webb building at the very University of Birmingham meant that many BULS members were interviewed by news companies on TV and radio, including BBC West Midlands, Sky News (shudder) and famously a group of us had one with Channel 4 (unfortunately, only 20 seconds and only Michael Brownlee and George Arnold spoke in it).

On the actual debate itself, while I personally think Brown didn’t do AS well as last week. On the upside though, there were two locations for watching the debate on campus, Joe’s Bar (where BUCF were giving out their goody bags, despite not actually being allowed to do) and a screen on the Rugby Pitch and there was a hugely ANTI-Cameron feeling with a HIGHLY pro-Brown and to a lesser extent pro-Clegg feeling. And my Brown did well; Clegg was still spouting his criticisms of Brown and Cameron as the “other two” and the “old parties” which while worked in the first debate is a huge bore and turn off in the debate and Cameron completely failed to justify why he would give a £200,000 give a way to the 3000 richest families while cutting child tax credits for those earning £20,000 a year.

Also, Brown was interviewed by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight and he did extremely well I personally think. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8655562.stm

Max

15 Minutes

In Campaigns, Elections, Labour Party, media on 1 May, 2010 at 10:41 am

BULS was on the news following the unveiling of the new posters in Birmingham, Ladywood constituency.

We met and shook hands with much of the cabinet. Tom Duffy even got a thumbs up from the dark lord Mandy himself.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007mplc

Skip to 2 minutes 40 seconds in.

Gotta remember tho – it’s not all about grabbing the headlines and meeting the most powerful people in Britain. The hard graft starts now! And we’re back out on the doorstep. 6 days people!

Suzy

Labour Doorstep Times!

In Campaigns, Elections on 29 April, 2010 at 10:53 pm

Borrowed from the Audacity of Pope:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AudacityPope#p/u/8/lDs-WyaQNRo

Brilliant.

Good effort today BULS – 35 door to door contacts and many more leaflets out in Edgbaston, some real troopers (Kieran, Max and Luke I’m looking at you) stayed til the bitter end on the phone! Well done everyone!

Lucky we’ve all got election fever given this weather ;)

Suzy

Brown and ‘Bigots’

In Elections, Labour Party, media on 29 April, 2010 at 2:17 pm

As someone on the BBC website said regarding the ‘Bigoted woman’ comment:

“My guess is that 9 out of 10 politicians say things like Mr Brown said once they believe they no longer on air.

We say that we want politicians to be more honest and say what they really believe, but they all know that if they did so, they would never win an election. Politicians are immersed in politics and have a much deeper understanding than the average member of the public, and almost all must be frustrated on occasions, by the naivety of the some members of the public, especially those that rely on the “red top” press for their information.”

—

Absolutely.

It was an embarassing outburst but I think all of the leaders will have said something unpleasant about people they have met in this campaign. The only difference is that they have not been caught.

Can I ask why people are surprised about a politician saying one thing about someone then another the next minute? A Politician, two faced? Fancy that! Next you will be telling me the world is spherical… Hardly news really is it? It comes with the job, and is sometimes, quite frankly necessary. Do you expect Gordon Brown or David Cameron or Nick Clegg to say what they really think next time they meet an Iranian leader or the head of some banana republic with no human rights? No, of course not. They all have to act smooth and cozy up to people, pretending they like them when in reality they dislike and disdain them, and this almost certainly applies to the public as much as other leaders.

 As any experienced political canvasser will tell you, you often encounter people on the doorstep who are, quite frankly, idiots. But no political canvasser ever tells them. In fact, how often does a canvasser stand and talk to someone, feigning to agree or listen to them despite long before thinking that they know absolutely nothing. I would wager, more often than they care to admit.

Gordon Brown is almost certainly no different to Clegg and Cameron in that regard. The only difference is, he got caught doing it.

May I ask how often do some of these very journalists who are now criticising Brown write about the general public in a way that is condescending and demeaning whether talking about reality tv shows, football crowds or voter apathy? I very rarely see these people apologising for things they say, yet Brown does and is still jumped on for it.

To these people who say that Brown can’t stand people who have a different opinion to himself can I ask: who genuinely doesn’t resent other people having different opinions to them? We all do, even if only a little bit. It’s a perfectly human reaction. The difference with Brown is, he gets more emotional about it than other people do, and, again, he got caught. If Gordon Brown could not work or cope with people of a different opinion to himself, I don’t think he would have got anywhere in politics or anywhere else for that matter.

Hence I believe it was the outburst of a tired, man who is low on confidence and who was frustrated at not being able to talk to someone as he wanted to and who thought he would look bad as a result. It does not justify what he said about the lady at all, and he absolutely should have apologised for it, but it can explain it.

Cameron and Clegg are naturally more appealing and better at dealing with ordinary members of the public in a way that Gordon Brown is not. I think Gordon knows he is not good at that sort of thing and so I think that is why his campaign previously was focused on him in more controlled circumstances. I think the debates have shown he can win arguments, but he struggles to win debates, because he is not necessarily the warmest or most congenial of people. I think when he is with people of a different opinion, he is not good at off the cuff debates and in discussions with people. He is better with facts and figures in hand persuading people by the force of argument and by substance. Cameron and Clegg win hands down on charisma and people skills. But being congenial and good with people is not the only aspect to being a good leader.

I think he acted the way he did because it was a situation which he is not comfortable in and which he as a result felt nervous about. He then, for whatever reason, assume dit had gone badly because he knows it is not his strength. Hence where the outburst came from.

To use an example from the world of sport, Sir Alex Ferguson (and Brian Clough) both have been reported as having severe problems in expressing their opinions and acting in haste when angry. They are, however, two of the most successful managers in history. To use the example of history Winston Churchill had terrible anger problems, disagreed with people left right and centre and hated people who disagreed with him. He is also widely reputed to have treated his staff terribly. He was also naturally shy, stammered, had a lisp and did, on occasion, fall out with members of the public. Adolf Hitler bought his staff flowers and cake and was regarded as a kindly boss. He was one of the most brilliant speakers the world has ever seen and was beloved by virtually all who came across him to the extent that many of his closest aides continued to worship him after his death and died for him.

That is what I am trying to highlight. There is more to a leader than how they are with the public and with their staff. There is their principles, their judgement and their politics and that is what I hope people will judge them on.

By Sean Woodcock

A nightmare on your street

In Conservative Party, Elections, Labour Party, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word, media on 27 April, 2010 at 4:11 pm

Labour’s first attack ad of the campaign with three poignant points: Scrapping most child tax credits and baby bonds and what I personally find disgusting, scrapping your right to see a cancer specialist within two weeks.

Max

Round 2

In Elections, Ramsay's F Word, media on 23 April, 2010 at 9:24 am

Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron

Last night saw the second ever televised Leaders Debate which was held in Bristol on Sky News. What can be said that from the polls it was a tight result with most putting Clegg narrowly ahead. However, a more specific ICM poll that asked ‘Who would you consider the best potential PM of the three?’  put Brown at 35%, Cameron 33% and Clegg 26%. Brown is also regarded the most decisive figure at 38%, Cameron on 33% and Clegg 25%. Finally, Brown again is regarded as the most respected global figure on 44%, Cameron on 34% and Clegg on 20%, so quite evidently a definite improvement on Brown’s performance.

Personally, Clegg did perform well but unlike the first debate he never had the opportunity to distance himself from the other two and come across as the only one answering the questions. This is clearly due to both Brown and Cameron learning from their mistakes from the last debate. Again, the less said about Cameron the better, he literally re-wrote his manifesto when it came to eye tests, but also if you were to ever watch Cameron at any campaign event he does (while obviously lacking substance) have a way with connecting with the audience, but over the last two debates he has completely failed to use this strength.

Max

Keep smiling!

In Uncategorized on 21 April, 2010 at 12:52 pm

We’re a party with big ideas. We care about the important things. We’re down to earth and have our finger on the pulse more than any other party. We’re out on the doorstep and people are saying “thanks for what you’ve done so far.”

On the doorstep I’ve had rude people, angry people, disillusioned people and apathetic people. But I’ve also had lots of smiles and responses “nice one with the hospitals and schools” or “I voted for Thatcher cos she was a woman, but I’ve since realised that Labour are the only party actually putting women out there” or “I know what it’s like to be on the dole so I’m not about to vote for Tory cuts”.

Gordon’s right, the polls aren’t everything and honeymoons fade. We’ve got the solid experience to move Britain forward.

It’s all to play for!

History in the making…

In Cameron, Campaigns, Conservative Party, Elections, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Ramsay's F Word, media on 16 April, 2010 at 2:03 pm

Hand gestures

Last night saw history in the making in British politics, the first ever televised leaders debate was held on ITV. The main focus of the debate was on domestic affairs covering immigration, cleaning up politics, crime, education and the NHS.

Now in terms of answering the questions, connecting with audience (whether in studio or at home) and expressing his views, the debate was easily won by Nick Clegg. It would have been highly surprising if Brown had won on those particular areas, given his ‘radio face’. However, when it came to substance and detail, Brown was the clear winner as reflected on the likes of Facebook and Question that followed the debate on BBC1 and simply the fact that detail is Brown’s strength.

The less said about Dave the better who mentioned his token ‘black person’ friend, regarded China as dangerous as Iran and completely failed to answer Brown’s questions on comittment to spending on law and order and education.

The next debate is to be held on Thursday the 22nd April on Sky News, which will focus upon International Affairs. I personally will be looking forward to watching Dave receive questions on his allies in the European Parliament.

Max

Just to remind everyone…

In Campaigns, Elections, Labour Party, Suzy's News on 13 April, 2010 at 5:40 pm

For the newbies and the forgetful:

- The Midlands is historically the main battle-ground of the general election,  many of the constituencies are swing seats.

- You, yes YOU! Are probably living in either the Edgbaston or Selly Oak constituencies right now!

- This election is likely to prove very tough for Gisela Stuart, who is campaigning for her fourth term in a traditionally Tory area

- UofB’s very own Brigid Jones is campaigning hard for election as a local councillor in Selly Oak

- Steve Mccabe is the other big name to be watching people! PPC for Selly Oak :)

- If you can spare time for any of these wondeful candidates then do it! Voter canvassing and leaflet delivering is going on at this very moment!

- Only 23 days to go til the election!

Let’s go fourth!

The best political party video ever?

In Elections, Labour Party, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word on 12 April, 2010 at 7:11 pm

The new Labour party manifesto video. Almost as good as http://bulsonline.org/2010/03/11/the-worlds-greatest-political-party-broadcast/ me thinks.

Max

Britain at a cross roads

In Campaigns, Elections, Labour Party, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word on 11 April, 2010 at 10:16 pm

This is Labour’s first party election broadcast of the 2010 general election. Now while I think the message may be a tad on the negative (don’t change at such a fragile moment, which is fair enough though) but does reflect how effectively the collective efforts that have been implemented across the world, supported by most economists and major independent financial bodies (such as the IMF and the CBI) where seemingly opposed by the likes of the Conservatives in such a crucial time. Judgement is a fundamental aspect of government and in the words of Alistair Darling on George Osborne in an interview in the Guardian not too long ago (more or less), “George’s judgement is rather poor. You would have thought a shadow Chancellor would get something right.”

Max

Radicals? Really?

In Cameron, Conservative Party, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 10 April, 2010 at 11:17 am

I was surprised yesterday to see Dave have a column in the comments section of the Guardian where he claimed the Tories were the true radicals and that Labour were now the reactionaries. A more or less response was published in todays Guardian from Polly Toynbee which effectively ripped Dave to shreds-http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/10/beware-radical-tories-reality-terrifying

In short this was little points of the modern Tory party:

  • Dave and Boy George are advocating cuts to public services, benefits, borrowing and letting unemployment rip
  • When this last happened child poverty shot up from 1 in every 7 children to 1 in every 3
  • “tax credits, better benefits and Sure Start lifted 500,000 out of poverty”
  • “a marriage bribe of £150 that leaves out the lowest paid married couples and deserted wives.”
  • “In the wash-up Cameron stopped a referendum on the voting system and House of Lords reform.”
  • “He blocked sex education and one-to-one tuition for slow readers.”
  • “His shadow home secretary repudiated protection for gay people, while his MEPs voted for homophobia with their weird new party.”
  • “A Financial Times survey of Tory candidates this week pointed to the scale of climate change denial in the party.”
  • “Most resist a cap on bankers’ bonuses and want less financial regulation: many come from the financial sector, others from PR and marketing, and they want the 50p top tax scrapped.”
  • “Conservativehome.com finds them rabidly Eurosceptic.”
  • “The national insurance rise they oppose costs £4 a week per employee – not, says James Caan of Dragons’ Den, a sum that deters hiring.”
  • “he will cap public officials’ pay at 20 times their lowest paid staff. Reasonable enough, but Income Data Services says only some 100 people would be affected.”
  • “Voters know that the big market destroyed the economy, while the big state rescued it.”
  • “Cameron offers tax cuts that will require double the depth of spending cuts and probably mean double the job losses.”
  • Would scrap the regional development agency
  • “ Cameron would increase unemployment: the Small Business Federation says “the jewel in the crown” of Labour’s Keynesian borrowing is the £5bn of tax postponed for 200,000 small businesses, saving many of them and their 1.4m jobs. But Cameron says all such borrowing “must stop instantly”. Unemployment is much lower than expected, but Cameron would send it back to the 1980s.”
  • “Most wicked would be Cameron’s plan to cut Sure Start back to its origins, with maybe 500 of 3,500 centres surviving in skeleton: so much for his concern about “social mobility stalling”.”
  • “School budgets, not ringfenced, would get a £1.7bn cut, the Institute for Fiscal Studies reckons, before paying for new parent-run schools.”

So evidently, he is in fact radical, but not in the way he makes himself out to be.

Max

‘Efficiency’ savings

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Economy, Flip-flopping, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 9 April, 2010 at 11:34 pm

Two little things pointed out today on the BBC I found rather funny on the ensuing national insurance rise/Tory ‘efficiency’ savings.

  1. Alistair Darling today pointed out that this morning Dave admitted that his proposed ‘efficiency’ savings would not be enough to fund all his proposed tax breaks but then declined to say where the money would come from to fund the rest.
  2. And on BBC news amongst Tories promising to extend a stopping of benefits if an individual is caught committing benefit fraud 3 times to (I think) 3 years; they failed to point out that not a single person last year got caught committing benefit fraud 3 times.

A little on the side, tax breaks for married couples, while still lacking full detail (how original) the Tories will be going ahead with it. I’m sorry but you could really spend that money elsewhere on far better causes like rejuvenating deprived areas, creating a more environmentally friendly economy or simply paying off the deficit.

Max

Just a thought…

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Economy, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 9 April, 2010 at 8:33 pm

With the campaign well under way, many have begun to question Dave’s consistency on cutting the deficit. Labour wishes to cut the deficit in half in 4 years, the Tories say they will do it faster. However, there is one little nagging issue for the Tories as they have made similar pledges to cut certain taxes, namely:

  • Most of the national insurance rise
  • Inheritance tax for the 3000 richest families
  • Marriage tax breaks
  • Council tax

Now frankly during decent economic periods these would actually be realistic arguments and policies, but when the UK has only just emerged from recession (I read somewhere today that the UK has in fact avoided a double-dip recession with growth at 0.4% for the first quarter) and a substantial budget deficit. So where will this money come from to fund millionaires? Yep, you guessed it, front line services with Boy George (Osborne) saying that it would cost 44,000 public sector jobs. There has been an apparent efficiency savings but even IF they managed to cough up the aforementioned amount of money it still would not be enough to cover all the tax cuts.

Max

So it begins, a fight for a future fair for all

In Campaigns, Elections, Ramsay's F Word on 6 April, 2010 at 4:36 pm

 Gordon Brown announces the election, surrounded by cabinet ministers

 Today, PM Gordon Brown went to see HM Queen Elizabeth II to request a dissolution of Parliament which she consented to. So begins probably the most important election in a generation. Substance will be pitted against style and judgement against opportunism. Personally, I found it rather fitting that Brown announced the election alongside his cabinet stating he is “not a team of one, but one of a team.” which is in stark contrast to Dave’s oh so modest posters of his airbrushed self.

This has to be one of the most exciting times to be a Labour activist. BULS I can tell is keen to get stuck in with many key constituencies in the West Midlands. Our two local candidates are Giesla Stuart (Edgbaston) and Steve McCabe (Selly Oak).

There are few BULS members still in Brum so if you ever want to help out with BULS just email into committee@bulsonline.org or if you can’t, get out there and get involved in your local CLP!

Max

Lest we forget 2

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Economy, Flip-flopping, Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 5 April, 2010 at 10:43 pm

2. Tory political oppurtunism at the worst possible time

Chris Riddell: The broken society ...

The second blog in this series I was going to save for last but as it is the biggest issue I personally have against Dave and the Tories, I thought it’d be better to get it out of the way now. The cartoon above is taken from my favourite political cartoonist, Chris Riddell, from the Observer. This was done just after the Tories 2008 party conference and virtually the start of the financial crisis were the banks were on the edge of collapse.

If you drift your memories back to Labour’s 2008 conference Gordon Brown famously stated in the midst of the banking crisis, “this is no time for a novice”. This was followed by Dave at the Tory party conference who pledged Brown a degree of support to bail-out the banks. 10 days later Dave changed tack in PMQs and attacking Brown for the likes of reckless spending and so ending the temporary political truce. Evidently Dave’s made a big issue out of this since which, but what about those 10 days?

Brown was jetting around Europe organising an international effort during those 10 days and obviously he got a tad of media coverage, which was inevitable given the circumstances.

So it can be seen that Dave did realise that this at the time was the right course of action but once again his need to appear different to the Government (and somehow a better option) prevailed. But, this is something we cannot allow the public to forget or to forgive!

Max

Lest we forget 1

In Conservative Party, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 28 March, 2010 at 4:22 pm

In response to BUC”F”s Daniel Cole’s “Lest we forget” blogs on the BUC”F” site I thought in the name of balance, point out what is so dearly wrong with the Tories and why they should not be allowed to govern. This will hopefully come in weekly instalments.

1. Tory dogma and opposition to real change

  • 1998, the Tories opposed the introduction of the minimum wage, which until previously wages such as £2 per hour were common place and legal
  • 1997-8, the Tories opposed devolution to Scotland (only to later accept it)
  • Plan to cut child tax credits
  • Plan to scrap many Sure Star centres for those on modest incomes
  • Voted against the compulsory 5 year jail sentence for carrying a gun
  • David Cameron voted against granting gay couples the right to adopt
  • Plan to scrap patient’s right to see a specialist within two weeks if your GP suspects you have cancer (which I frankly find disgusting)
  • 2002, the Tories opposed the ban on hunting Foxes with dogs (and wish to overturn the ban still)
  • David Cameron voted against the NHS Foundation Trust in 2003
  • David Cameron voted to keep Section 28 in 2003
  • The Tories are against the proposed AV system and making the House of Lords an elected chamber

 Tory dogma, once again. More to come next week and every week until the election

Max

It’s the little victories that count

In Campaigns, Conservative Party, Labour Students, Ramsay's F Word, Student Politics, Tories on 26 March, 2010 at 12:52 pm

Today saw Boy George (George Osborne) going to the business school on campus today. BULS was planning to have a protest, but unfortunately, not enough people turned up (only me, Dan and Maise with Kieran and Jake turning up after he had gone). Thankfully though, we did manage to get a little victory, which made our day. After covertly sneaking in, acquiring some discarded name badges as effective disguises (I was called Tom), past BUCF who were wearing suits (again) and managed to catch Osborne himself, where Dan managed to get a photo with him.

Enjoy

Max

There is nothing wrong with Guild Council that cannot be cured by what is right with Guild Council

In Birmingham politics, Blogroll, Guild Council, NUS, Student Politics, Suzy's News on 25 March, 2010 at 8:17 pm

My comrades….let’s get down to business

The whole incumbent officer team have volunteered to have wet sponges thrown at them for Kids Adventure on Friday 7th May.

After prompting the President acknowledged Debating Society’s achievement of a well balanced and well attended though controversial “Free Palestine” debate. He also announced his intention of establishing better provision for colour printing.

The VP Housing and Community was commended and reported that discussions about the proposals to turn Aitken Wing into Post Grad halls are taking place tomorrow. He also warned GC that a spate of non-violent night time muggings against lone girls is ongoing in Selly Oak, but that police have been liaised with and the culprit will probably soon be caught.

The Disabled Students Officer was also commended and the VP Student Activities and Development was commended twice! Suggestions were made both to censure and commend the VP Democracy and Resources but both were rejected. However he extended his thanks to all who got involved in the Officer Elections and reiterated the improved turnout and how much he himself enjoyed it.

The VP Welfare was commended and answered questions about the reported Hunter Court suicide by stating that a student died over the weekend but the investigation is ongoing. Everyone affected has been offered help.

Motions were passed to: 1. Implement a new streamlined and accessible student group constitution 2. Increase disabled students’ involvement in Guild nights by improving wheelchair access and access for the partially sighted and increasing awareness of disabled issues within the Guild 3. Make the housing process easier for students by improving information to prevent the November “rush”, improve and enlarge the SHAC and promote the positive impact of students on the local community 4. Open Joes for Election watching in May following the success of a similar event in 2008 where the bar was kept open for the US Presidential elections and food and drink were served.

The next Guild Council will happen on Tuesday 4th May. Do go along, unless you can’t spare the time from the Labour Party that close to the election!

Suzy

Darling’s D-Day.

In Economy, National Politics on 24 March, 2010 at 4:37 pm 


Alistair Darling outside No. 11 Downing Street.

I’d like to thank Max for his hard work, and look forward to his future posts in ‘Ramsay’s F Word’.

Now the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has delivered the 2010 budget which could significantly affect the result of 6th May and indeed the future of our nation.

Briefly the key points to reduce the deficit, and help the British people:

  • The deficit is not as severe as 2009/10 predictions state- £167 billion rather than £178 billion
  • Fuel duty to rise by a penny in April followed by a further 1p rise in October.
  • Stamp duty threshold for first-time buyers in increased- this will greatly ease the strain for those starting out on the property ladder!
  • Stamp duty will be increased by 5% for properties over £1 million from April, a prospect which will most probably anger Conservatives.
  • No-one under 24 will need to be unemployed for longer than six months without being offered jobs or training.
  • Perhaps the most disappointing move by Mr Darling is the increase of 10% on the price of cider which could equate to an extra 27p for a pint. Not exactly ideal for the average student.
  • Annual investment allowance for small businesses doubled to £100,000, which means greater help for struggling businesses who provide a strong foundation to our economy. There is also a £2.5 billion package to stimulate new innovation.
  • Duty on beer, wine and spirits will increase as planned from midnight on Sunday. Alcohol duties will also increase by 2% above inflation for two further years from 2013.
  • Tobacco duty will rise today by 1% above inflation and then increase by 2% in real terms each year until 2014.
  • Business rates will be cut for one year from October which brings a tax reduction for over 500,000 small businesses.
  • The government has also suggested that there will be 20,000 new places for decent university subjects.

The blueprint for a successful recovery through sensible and pragmatic initiatives has been proposed by Alistair Darling. It’s now our job to campaign not just for the preservation of the current and effective administration, but also fight for the future of our country. With ‘Airbrushed’ Dave and his sidekick at the helm, we could descend into a nation of bitter discontent.

Kieran

The end and the 100th blog

In BULSInside, Blogroll, Labour Students, Ramsay's F Word on 23 March, 2010 at 3:02 pm

Well this is it, the end, the finale. If you remember going back through the BULS archives that I said I was standing down at the end of the month following the AGM. Well I thought it would be fitting to finish my tenure on the 100th blog(!) of ‘Ramsay’s F Word’.

And what a 6 months it has been since I took over from Chris in late October. To be quite frank over the summer of 2009 the website was essentially dead in the water. We had had our original domain name stripped from us, website hits were at the lowest we have ever seen and well we weren’t exactly blogging in the quantity that we had used to.

This is where I will extend my thanks to Josh, as with him, we essentially revamped the website. More info was brought to Committee section, a more streamlined layout, the society constitution available for all to see and well, regular blogging. Because of the changes me and Josh made, bulsonline is thriving with recent months seeing the highest blog hits since May 2009.

I am going to miss being Website Editor, it is the one outlet I have been able to vent any political frustrations I might have had at the time and I do believe it will have great significance in the upcoming General election. It has great honour and privilege to have been in charge of Birmingham University’s leading political website and probably the most active and vibrant Labour Students blog in the country.

So anyway, I wish Kieran (my successor and as of now new Website Editor) all the luck in the world as he steers the website onto May 6th and beyond.

Thank you.

Oh and don’t worry, I will keep up the blogging.

By Max Ramsay, (as of now) former BULS Website Editor

Better than expected

In Economy, Ramsay's F Word on 23 March, 2010 at 1:10 pm

 It was revealed that in February that inflation fell 0.5% to 3%. Now this is actually a greater fall than expected which I think is something of a recurring theme throughout the recovery, it is always greater than predicted. Unemployment at the start of the recession was predicted to hit 3 million within a few months, but it is still under 2.5 million. Thankfully the action that was taken did lessen the impact of the recession that did hit all countries, as this is the only thing a government could do in the midst of a global recession rather than, oh, let it run its course.

Oh and not to mention http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8574018.stm borrowing in February was less than expected.

Max

Genuine Change has come to America.

In Health, Ramsay's F Word, US politics, USA on 22 March, 2010 at 1:08 pm

Pro-reform protestors in the US Capitol in Washington, 21 March 2010

 Well it’s taken some time but finally, the end is now in sight. The House of Representatives narrowly passed the Healthcare reform bill last night meaning the President should sign the bill by Tuesday. President Obama has delivered on his campaign promise, Change HAS come to America.

Whatever your view on the actual contents of the bill you have to give it to Obama, given the system of governance (with separation of powers), the sheer dogmatic (and often wholly ignorant) opposition from the American right and the fact that so many of his Democrat predecessors have failed (Roosevelt, Clinton, etc) shows how successful Obama has been in the given context. This presents the biggest reform to American healthcare since the introduction of Medicare in the mid-1960s. Personally, I think (not that I’m anyway biased at all, lol) think his proposals are brilliant as this will now extend cover to 32 million Americans, that’s a phenomenal number and I hope the Republicans will have the dignity to apologize one day for denying full health care to around 40 million Americans!

Yes we can and yes we did!

Max

More political opportunism

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Labour Party, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies, unions on 21 March, 2010 at 10:06 am

BA plane

 It was revealed yesterday that the Tories have seized on strikes by British Airways and on the railways to claim Britain is facing a “spring of discontent” because of Labour. Now I’m sorry, whatever your views on the individual strikes taking place at the moment, you can hardly compare this to the ‘winter of discontent’, the circumstances are entirely different, for a start Unions are nowhere near as powerful and influential as they once were. It just seems to me that Dave’s using this opportunity to 1. Distract media attention from his Lord Ashcroft scandal, 2. Try and give Brown another blow and 3. Similarly, trying to take a swipe at the Unions because of his party’s dogmatic view. Political opportunism at its best.

Max

Next Tory party conference?

In Conservative Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 19 March, 2010 at 9:59 pm

Could this be at the next Tory conference if they win the general election? And yes in the final days of my tenure I’m hardly finding serious stuff, lol!

Max

Twitter

In BULSInside, Blogroll, Labour Students, Suzy's News on 19 March, 2010 at 9:08 pm

Just to keep everyone updated…

We now have 58 followees (people we’re stalking/subscribing to), 68 followers (people who’re stalking/subscribing to us) and 114 tweets, which isn’t bad considering we’ve only had the account since November. Long way to go though – Sarah Brown has 2423 tweets and 1,117,983 followers!

Suzy

‘snooping state’

In Law and Order, Liberal Democrats, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word on 19 March, 2010 at 9:32 am

Now personally, I don’t particularly mind the Lib Dems, except when it comes to civil liberties, as unfortunately they are as insecure as the Tories. Nick Clegg’s speech in London said he wanted the people to “to take their privacy back” against ID cards, DNA databases and CCTV cameras. Now I’ve done a similar rant on this in a previous blog but that was restrained to the DNA database, but really come on Clegg(y), I accept there is somewhat of an argument behind ID cards but he’s kinda forgetting they’re intended for foreign nationals.

CCTV cameras hardly ‘invade your privacy’, they’re in the streets to keep an eye out for criminals, they’re not exactly in your houses are they as well that would be a breach of privacy, but people can’t stand it not knowing who’s watching you at the other end, i.e. fear of the unknown. And finally, DNA databases, the biggest insecurity of them all, I’m all for the state to keep a record of everyone’s DNA from birth as what they going to do? Take mine find out I’ve got hay fever then send me a bunch of flowers?

Rant over

Max

Redbrick stuff

In Labour Party, Labour Students, Ramsay's F Word on 17 March, 2010 at 7:06 pm

I recently learnt that none other than Louise Suen (Chair-elect) and Callum Anderson (Vice-Chair-elect) were interviewed for last friday’s redbrick newspaper on behalf of BULS. A rather low key interview if you ask me, didn’t find out until today, lol! http://www.redbrickonline.co.uk/features/student-politics-part-2-the-labour-party/

Max

Unemployment falls, again!

In Economy, Ramsay's F Word on 17 March, 2010 at 12:05 pm

Job centre

In the last quarter of 2009, unemployment fell by 33,000 to 2.45 million, this is the 2nd or 3rd quarter it has done this (may be totally wrong on that point) and the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by 32,300 to 1.59 million in February. Now this in itself is quite an achievement, in past recessions unemployment had always risen still after the economy has re-entered growth. Back in the autumn of 2008, during the dire banking crisis and the fiscal stimulus that followed an extra £5 billion was pumped into job centre plus, this has then resulted in 10,000 new jobs being found per DAY! Of course, one particular party opposed such measures to help ease the recession, no guesses who.

Obviously, we are not out of the woods yet, there is still a bit of pain left to endure, but never again will we endure unemployment at a staggering 3 million.

Max

Ashok Kumar

In Labour Party, Legend MPs, Ramsay's F Word on 15 March, 2010 at 4:21 pm

Labour MP Ashok Kumar

It was revealed today that Labour MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Ashok Kumar, 53, has suffered a “sudden accidental” death at his home. This is a man that won his seat in 1991 through a by-election but then went onto to narrowly lose it in the 1992 election, but then to stay on and then win back his seat in 1997 and the subsequent elections after is quite an achievement. He was regarded as “a fine politician who served his constituency and his constituents with diligence and unswerving commitment.” Our thoughts are with his family, friends and constituents.

Max

“eyes up ladies!”

In Suzy's News, Women, equality on 15 March, 2010 at 12:54 pm

Disclaimer: this blog relates only to the *look but don’t touch* principle. Men, women, the media or juries seeking to excuse abuse by claiming that the victim was “asking for it” by their choice of clothing reaches beyond the realm of fairness, freedom and human common sense, thus I will not address it here, where my readers are comrades in liberality and moderate views.

Objectification. It’s an interesting word.

Last week I took part in the annual Birmingham University Dance Society show; two fun hours of a variety of dances performed by 95% women pulled together by narrators and a brilliant tech and lighting team. “I rated each dance for sexiness, number 3 got 8 out of 10 for slutty costumes” said one male observer, and “there were definitely some whales in that last one. They really shouldn’t be wearing hotpants” said a female.

6 male dancers took part in a topless ballet dance in the second act. The eyes of everyone in the vicinity were drawn to their chests, and an outraged man was heard to say “Ladies, please! My face is up here!”

Nudity sells to men and women. I saw two men modeling underwear in a shop window in London a couple of weeks ago, and the crowd was enormous.

Sisters, let’s not victimise ourselves. The harshest criticisms and greediest glances come from heterosexual women. Neither the Burka nor “forehead tittaes” are strictly necessary. Let’s get a couple more guys to walk around scantily clad and redress the balance by giving as good as you get.  Oh wait – summer’s on the way!

Suzy

Liam Byrne delivers the figures!

In Economy, Labour Party on 13 March, 2010 at 12:52 am

In an interview with Andrew Neil, Liam Byrne MP (Chief Secretary to the Treasury) set the record straight in announcing that the government needed to half the deficit by £82 billion, and stated that the £19 billion that is currently accrued by taxes, is sufficient enough and that no further increase in tax is necessary. He spelled out that the remainder of the deficit will be cut through economic growth (£25 billion) and cuts in public spending. With a cool head he did not shy away from telling how tough it might be, and made a media-hyped sour pill a somewhat sweeter one to swallow indeed!

Liam Byrne on Thursday’s Daily Politics:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/dailypolitics/andrewneil/2010/03/byrne_set_tongues_wagging.html

Kieran

The world’s greatest party political broadcast?

In Elections, Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word on 11 March, 2010 at 10:50 am

Found probably on youtube the funniest and most ridiculous party political broadcast ever. But oh so brilliant!

Max

Ok, just ignore my last blog

In Birmingham politics, Conservative Party, Guild Council, Ramsay's F Word, Student Politics on 10 March, 2010 at 1:43 pm

Ok, just spoken to Sahar (BUCF President), BUCF has NOT been derecognised (yet anyway). What is happening is that they are effectively beginning that process and Sahar is to appear before the Guild Council on March 25th to essentially ‘explain herself’.

Max

BUCF derecognised, again

In Conservative Party, Ramsay's F Word, Student Politics, Tories on 10 March, 2010 at 11:59 am

BREAKING NEWS!

It was recently learnt that the Birmingham University Conservative Future (BUCF) was derecognised yesterday. This isn’t the first time the BUCF has been derecognised (http://bulsonline.org/2008/12/06/buls-inside-i-didnt-recognise-bucf/). However, this time little is known (on my part at least) what were the reasons for this. From what I know directly from BUCF members is that they received an email of constitutional breaches (not sure if it was the Guild’s or their own constitution though) and not to mention the ongoing fiasco over their AGM. I do know from a particular source in BUCF that they had been considering voluntarily derecognising for some time as they haven’t received a grant from the Guild in a couple of years.

Whatever the reasons, I’m sure they’re far better than last time (essentially no one was sent to a Guild Council meeting for months on end). Obviously, the full story so far is not known so this presumption may well be wrong, but every other society manages to get the grant, why not BUCF? I sincerely wish they could sort out their problems and get back into the Guild, but whatever happens, we wish them the best of luck. And if anyone from BUCF wants to fill in the details it would be much appreciated.

Max

Neck and neck

In Cameron, Campaigns, Conservative Party, Elections, Flip-flopping, Labour Party, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 9 March, 2010 at 3:58 pm

As this article shows (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7054655.ece), polling in the key marginal seats is essentially, neck and neck with occasionally Labour pulling ahead to a o.6% margin, while this is certainly not much it is far better than it was about 6 months ago.

But what has gone wrong for the Tories, throughout most of 2009 they were often polling around a 15% lead, this has been drastically slashed to around 6% now and because the FPTP system heavily favours Labour (the great irony of Tory opposition to the proposed AV system) it would mean the Tories would only just be the largest party in a hung Parliament by 3 or so seats. There are a number of reasons I believe for this decline:

Obviously, these past 2 months for Dave have not been his best, Ashcroft non-dom revelation, changing tack on spending cuts, 3 times getting the statistics wrong (crime, teenage pregnancy rates and the number of votes cast at the last election). But, I personally think there is one simple reason, they have got complacent, the Tories believe they will be able to just waltz into No. 10 and in doing so have not made the policies bomb-proof (so to speak) for when the spotlight was turned upon them. Back in 1997, New Labour feared Major and the government and so they ran a highly tight campaign, not leaving room for error. This is the Tory’s greatest failure, underestimating Labour.

Max

International Women’s Day

In Suzy's News, Women, equality on 9 March, 2010 at 8:59 am

“Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all” – the theme for 201o

I’m proud to be a Labour woman, in the mighty tradition of Caroline Selina Ganley (1879-1966) and the Rt Hon Margaret Bondfield (1873 – 1953).

Child tax credit, Sure Start centres, National Childcare Strategy, the Equality Act, Civil Partnerships, increasing the number of women in parliament, Minimum Wage, support for flexible working, pension reforms and an increase in Maternity and Paternity Leave show us that Labour is still dedicated to equality and liberation.

Go fourth!

Suzy

Tory campaign receives a not so welcome boost

In Cameron, Conservative Party, International Politics, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, World news on 6 March, 2010 at 10:03 am

It was recently revealed yesterday that none other than Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe has endorsed Dave and the Tories. Maybe they share similar policies?

Max

Alan Johnson

In Labour Party, Legend MPs, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word on 5 March, 2010 at 1:50 pm

Yesterday 5 BULS members were privileged enough to go and see the Home Secretary speak and take questions. Now I myself until then had been unsure what to make of the man since he took office, but after that afternoon I was thoroughly reassured. Admittedly, he was presented with quite a friendly audience but he was very easily able to answer everyone’s question (bar my own as Dan Harrison, who was sitting next to me, asked a question near the start so he kind of ignored that area every time) rather than just diverting or rambling on about something else (like Dave). Unfortunately, we were only able to get the one photo as evidence we were there and that is currently on Dan’s phone which will take about 3 years to download, but we’ll have proof soon enough.

Max

Lib Dem AGM

In Liberal Democrats, Ramsay's F Word, Student Politics on 5 March, 2010 at 12:45 am

Breaking news!

The UB Lib Dems have held their AGM not too long ago, the only result we have heard about is that of their Chair, first year Will Miéville-Hawkins beating RON (who gets around a lot) into second place. To be fair, the Lib Dems are going to be a lot more vocal, with an actually active blog and the distinct possibility of a hung parliament, this is going to be an important year for UB Lib Dems.

Max

Took their time

In Liberal Democrats, Ramsay's F Word, Student Politics on 4 March, 2010 at 12:48 am

BULS and BUCF have had their blogs/websites since near the end of 2006 and have proved vital in cross-party discussions (sorta). Fast forward over 3 years down the line, University of Birmingham Liberal Democrats have FINALLY followed suit (sorta). It literally is just a blog and nothing else but it’s certainly better than nothing.

http://bhamlibdems.livejournal.com/

Max

Michael Foot

In Labour Party, Legend MPs, Ramsay's F Word on 3 March, 2010 at 5:59 pm

 Michael Foot, former MP for Plymouth Devonport (1945-55) and Blaenau Gwent (1960-92), Secretary of State for Employment (1974-76), Deputy PM and Leader of the Commons (1976-79) and most famously Leader of the Opposition (1980-83), has died today. Whatever your personal opinion on his values and ideas, it undeniable he was one of the giants of the Labour party in the post-war period. Being born in 1913 meant he witnessed a lot through the changing and often turbulent 20th Century, the First World War, the Great Depression, the Second World War, Labour’s first true ascension to power, the 1950s, the “swinging” 60s, the turbulent 70s, the Thatcher years and despite retiring in 1992, beyond that as well.

Unfortunately for Foot, he is most remembered for the disastrous election defeat Labour suffered in 1983, but, the circumstances of events can often be over looked. Though Foot is considered by many a failure as Labour leader, his biographer Mervyn Jones strongly makes the case that no one else could have held Labour together at the time, particularly in the face of the strength of Militant tendency and the splinter SDP movement. He was indeed a man of strong principles (a staunch Republican, he had always rejected honours from the Queen and the government, including a knighthood and a peerage, on more than one occasion) and often unafraid to support his political opponents when he believed the cause was just, as seen with the Falkland’s war.

I myself would have disagreed with him on a number of issues, but when it comes to a man with such strong beliefs, right or wrong, it does command a high degree of respect.

Max

Lord almighty Ashcroft

In Conservative Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 2 March, 2010 at 5:00 pm

A recent take on the Lord Ashcroft scandal which has shook the Tories from good old mydavidcameron.

Easier just to buy them

Poor Dave, it’s not been a good 2 months for him has it?

Max

Official Approval!

In BULSInside, Blogroll, National Politics, Suzy's News on 1 March, 2010 at 1:30 pm

Hi BULS :)

Just to let everyone know, the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) is now following us on twitter, as of this morning!

If anyone wants anything tweeted comment on this or message me on facebook, all suggestions appreciated.

Suzy

“oh, i don’t really *get* the news, can’t we watch britain’s next top model?”

In Suzy's News, World news, equality on 1 March, 2010 at 1:23 pm

In the same way that Young Money’s inclusion one female rapper in “Bed Rock” does not prevent the overall tone from being misogynist, the inclusion of 126 women MPs in parliament has, according to Caroline Flint at least, not done a great deal to shake up the status quo.

If the main political parties fail to catch the attention of young women they are at risk of losing them, not to the BNP or UKIP, but to ostensibly “private” rather than “public” organisations such as the fashion and beauty industry.

Like female rappers, female politicians worldwide are pioneers. In a country in which all-male shortlists have been the norm for a very long time, our Labour Party is imposing all-women shortlists on many secure seats in the Midlands. These will ensure greater representation in two ways: firstly having women actually present in parliament is a step towards equality, and secondly: women who are willing to be included in all female shortlists are more likely to be feminist sympathisers who really want to serve other women.

The idea of greater merit is often used to justify successful selection for PPC, but it is naïve to suggest that merit is the sole factor involved. If the woman PPC selected is incompetent the electorate will soon let us know!

Suzy

Website transition

In BULSInside, Blogroll, Ramsay's F Word on 26 February, 2010 at 1:38 pm

Hey fellow bloggers,

As you may know, the AGM was held last Wednesday and a new Website Editor has been elected, Kieran O’Halloran, he was set up and introduced to the ins and outs of the website today and so gradually will take over my role. Essentially this is the beginning of the end for my tenure. But, it has been a huge honour and pleasure serving this role, I do stand by that Website Editor is one of the most enjoyable (and easiest) roles on the committee and when the day finally comes when I hand over the baton to Kieran, it will be good to know that in my 6 month tenure the BULS website has effectively been revived (with the abysmal activity over the 2009 summer), with some of the highest viewing hits since May 2009 and I wish Kieran the best of luck.

I don’t intend to stop blogging quite yet though, even after the hand over, ‘Ramsay’s F Word’ will live on!

Max

Just that bit better

In Economy, Ramsay's F Word on 26 February, 2010 at 10:01 am

Good news! The revision of the economic growth of the last quatre is in and it has been bumped up to o.3% from o.1%. Always a good thing

Max

Not quite yet Alex

In Britishness, Constitutional Reform, Ramsay's F Word on 25 February, 2010 at 11:15 am

Alex Salmond

The First Minister for the Scottish Parliament, Alex Salmond, has published a draft bill for a referendum on Scottish independence. Voters will have the choice between greater powers or keeping the statues-quo and independence or staying apart of the UK.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe if Scotland can economically survive on its own and the Government wants to push through a referendum on independence fair enough, that’s for the Scottish people to decide. But, this should only come when we are clearly out of the woods

Max

Cameron exposed

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 25 February, 2010 at 1:22 am

Been finding funny things rather than serious stuff recently, but meah.

Max

AGM results

In BULSInside on 25 February, 2010 at 12:41 am

Well the votes have been counted and the results for the committee-elect for 2010/2011 are in:

Chair 2010/2011-Louise Suen

Vice-Chair-Callum Anderson

Secretary-Jake Lambert

Treasurer-George Arnold

Website Editor-Kieran O’Halloran

Communications Officer-Oliver Jackson

Editor of Social Resources-Suzannah Robinson

Women’s Officer-Maise Meredith

Well done for all who stood! The new committee will come into effect at the end of March. Suzannah Robinson and Daniel Harrison retain Guild Council Rep and Fresher’s Officer positions respectively until summer.

Getting there slowly and AGM

In Ramsay's F Word on 24 February, 2010 at 10:28 am

Welcome news was released today, the number of teenage pregnancies in England and Wales has fallen by 4%, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Now while this is set to fall short of halving the number from 1998 you have to remember something like this takes time, as is the case with informing and educating, but it will win out. Now while their maybe a perception of a “Broken” Britain, the statistics do really show otherwise.

Don’t forget the Annual General Meeting (AGM) is being held today at 6.30pm in the Thompson Training Suite in the Guild Building. All the positions are up for grabs bar Fresher’s Officer and Guild Council Rep. If you can’t make it and wish to stand for something you may email in you speech to committee@bulsonline.org and the incumbent will stand in your place.

Max

BULSInsider Special Report: Further Sleaze Exposed Within Labour Society Inner Circle!

In BULSInside on 22 February, 2010 at 8:13 am

Maxwell Ramsay was today arrested on suspicion of perversion and gross misconduct after a local newspaper leaked photographs of the seemingly respectable BULS Website Editor entering a Fetish Society meeting several months ago.  Ramsay (62) is due to appear before Guild Court Marshall later this week.  Earlier in the day, however, an obviously intoxicated Ramsay had this to say:

“The photographical evidence that the Guild received is an extreme and deliberate misrepresentation of my character.  I am a decent, God fearing, family man, who doesn’t care to be insulted in such a manner.  I can say for certain that I have the full support of my wife and daughters, friends and, most importantly, all the Society’s committee members not currently in enforced exile.  Good day.”

It should come as little surprise that Maximo Ramsay has turned to drink and the strain of the past week, which culminating in his ultimate arrest, clearly showed.  In fact, today’s disastrous statement was just one of a series of gaffs that have plagued the aspiring salad chef and politician since his election.  A now famous incident involved Mr Ramsay being ejected by local Tesco Supermarket security for sleepwalking (barefooted and wearing pajamas) into the store, being just one of many.  New Guild Chairman, Tom Guise, who was recently catapulted into power through a well orchestrated, but highly secretive, coup had this to say:

“Maximilian Ramsay is a disgrace to entire Guild community.  It is vital we remain united if we are to survive the coming war!  The weak shall perish at our hands and through our common endeavour we shall achieve victory!  We must join together in solidarity to give each of us the means to reach our full potential.  We shall live together, freely, in unity and in strength!  Maximilian has put rancours in the vessel of our peace, a cup clos’d in my true love’s hand, it is the poison’d cup, but not yet too late!  For we shall destroy him, he who is so full of sound and fury, signifying nothing and so nothing will come of nothing to be nothing for he is nothing!  Thank you very much.”

Despite the muted applause following Guise’s statement, the political future of Maxim Ramsay is certainly uncertain.  Many have speculated that his chances of success in the impeding elections are low, while mutterings have also been heard of sabotage and a bookstore fronting a money laundering operation.  Perhaps the truth of this strange affair will never be truly uncovered…

OJ.

Economics for Dummies

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Economy, Elections, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 21 February, 2010 at 11:17 pm

 

More from our favourite mydavidcameron website. Found this one particulary amusing.

Max

So much for a “good clean fight”

In Conservative Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 20 February, 2010 at 11:45 pm

Well it wasn’t just DOD. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/Conservative-Party-Headquarters-Call-On-Conservative-Future-To-Disrupt-Browns-Election-Speech/Article/201002315553150?lpos=Politics_First_Poilitics_Article_Teaser_Regi_4&lid=ARTICLE_15553150_Conservative_Party_Headquarters_Call_On_Conservative_Future_To_Disrupt_Browns_Election_Speech

Seems like some people like to fight dirty. “In a leaked email to members, chairwoman Sophie Shrubsole said: “CCHQ (Conservative headquarters) have requested that Conservative Future members from across the country gather in Warwick to form our own publicity stunt. This will be a sign to the Prime Minister and the Labour Party as a whole, that as Conservatives we are ready for the General Election. It will no doubt act as a demoralising element to Gordon Brown’s trip. Ms Shrubsole told members: “This will not appear as a Facebook event, as we are trying to keep our preparations as low-key as possible.”…Now while Sophie is not the “chairwoman”, I do personally think that BUC”F” has sunk to a new low.

From what I’ve heard it was regarded as rather amusing at the conference. Pity the Tories are having to resort to this, no one was there at the opening of the airbrushed Dave posters, admittadely they were vandalised a bit later on, but your kind of asking for it when they’re that bad.

Max

A future fair for all

In Campaigns, Elections, Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word on 20 February, 2010 at 11:31 pm

Well, it’s begun, for Labour now at least. The slogan “A future fair for all” has come under criticisms that it’s a recycled slogan, but well if you come from the right, “A year for change” is certainly not linked to anything any other political candidate has used in the past oh let’s say…2 years.

A number of BULS made the trip to Coventry to see Brown make his speech (it’s also been heard good old former BUC”F” president DOD was there to heckle the PM) in which undoubtedly they will come back with a greater resolve, particularly given the recent poll narrowing. Brown also said Labour’s “secret weapon” would be its “beliefs” and the election would be won not on “who has the best PR” but on “values”, well hopefully this will be the case as we are certainly the PR “underdogs”.

Max

What’s the story in Guild-a-Council, wouldn’t you like to know?

In Guild Council, Student Politics, Suzy's News on 19 February, 2010 at 12:35 am

The fifth Guild Council of the academic year was the worst attended so far, probably because of the snow and it being reading week.

Communications were made to the effect that: a Food Action Group has been set up for interested students, that security for certain speakers and certain rooms in the university can cost from £100 and the ways to avoid these costs, that a “Homophobia is Gay” bar crawl has been organised by the LGBTQ association for the 26th February, that next week is Student Volunteering Week and that the Guild Awards will take place on Sunday 21st March.

All motions were passed without discussion, including a motion to advertise the hearing loop in the Guild Council Chambers so that deaf students feel confident attending, to increase the publicity of jobs suitable for disabled students and ensure that disabled students are supported more generally, to disallow balloon launches on guild property in lieu of the environmental concerns, to lobby Spar and educate students on the issue of animal testing and to increase the number of companies from which the Guild will buy condoms in order to cut costs.

A review of the democratic structures has returned the recommendation that Guild Council meet only once a term and with fewer delegates, that the Student Groups Megaforums will deal with more issues, and that more referendums will take place to involve more students.

As West Midlands representative to the Student Loans Company Johnny Davis (Welfare Officer) consulted with the Student Loans Company and reported back about the problems earlier this academic year. The Hopkins Review has made recommendations for improvements to the service this year, including greater publicity for deadlines and working alongside UCAS. Meanwhile 36,000 disabled students are still without their full loan.

The President, EEO, LGBTQ Officer, Welfare Officer, VPSAD and Ethnic Minorities Officer were all commended.

The next one is on 25th March, come along if you think you’re hard enough

Suzy

The Doctor’s most fearsome and terrifying foe yet….Mrs Thatcher

In Race to the Whitehouse, media, thatcher's legacy on 17 February, 2010 at 9:28 am

Something I found on the BBC website about Dr Who in the late 1980s showing a slight political bias against Maggie and while this is not allowed under BBC impartiality rules, personally, fair enough on Sylvester McCoy (7th Doctor)!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8518011.stm

Max

3rd time lucky?…maybe not

In Conservative Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies, Women on 15 February, 2010 at 8:38 pm

Well frankly, the last month and a half have been a bit of a sham for the Tories. Twice in recent weeks they have come out with false statistics (the first being the level of violent crime and the second being the number of votes at the last general election and so why we shouldn’t switch to AV-http://bulsonline.org/2010/02/09/deja-vu/). While the crime figures have some context due to the changing of the system in 2002 but this-http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8515798.stm is a tad over the top. The 10 poorest areas of the country have 54% of 18 year old girls pregnant or have had a baby? Nope, somewhat like 5.4% (down on 1998 at 6%), somewhat missed a decimal place there in an attempted to bash the “broken” Britain! Even the Liberal Democrats’ chief of staff, Danny Alexander, saying: “The Tories seem to think that half our teenagers are pregnant, our cities are like The Wire and that people will get married for a few extra quid.”

Well chosen words

Max

Well I can’t say it isn’t a little bit better

In Britishness, Far right, Ramsay's F Word on 14 February, 2010 at 8:05 pm

After weeks of speculation the BNP have finally amended their party’s constitution to allow black and asian members in. D/Nick Griffin said “We recognise legal reality… they can’t call us racist anymore”….well, I wouldn’t go that far. A Times journalist was also kicked out for his paper telling “lies” about the BNP, a little sense of hypocrisy must be involved there, as haven’t the BNP always been complaining that their right to free speech has been infringed? Seems like someone can’t handle bad press, which is saying something given that, well, it’s the BNP.

Max

Robin Hood Tax

In Economy, Ramsay's F Word on 12 February, 2010 at 11:00 pm

I personally think the guy talking to Bill Nighy sounds like David Dimbelby….ish

Max

The twisting of the evidence

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Economy, Europe, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 12 February, 2010 at 10:35 am

Like most people at BULS, up until the UK emerged from recession I was beginning to find it rather boring of Dave and Osborne attacking the government for lagging behind in recession while the “world left us behind”. But, this has been showed by recent figures that this well is not going to happen just yet.  Europe’s biggest economy, Germany failed to grow at all in the last quarter of 2009 while other countries such as Spain, Italy (who’s also apart of the G20) and Greece are still in recession. This shows that no Dave, we weren’t being left behind, and drastic cuts will plunge UK and then potentially parts of Europe back into recession also.

Mini-rant over

Max

I thought the Tories were supposed to be good at PR

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Elections, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 10 February, 2010 at 10:41 am

A new poster was revealed yesterday (I think) by the Conservative headquatres. While Cameron wisely after the fiasco of his last poster stood out this time the new poster does reveal a new level of hypocracy.

Personally, I like the fact that they skimmed over their own inheritance tax cuts. Here’s two improved posters.

RIP Tory Marketing Strategy 2009-10

Come on Dave, Labour hasn’t even started their campaign yet, pull yourself together!

Max

What really matters in public life?

In Suzy's News, Women on 10 February, 2010 at 2:23 am

A google search of “Yulia Tymoshenko” produces nine results, and without even following the links I learn from three of them that she is Yushchenko’s “glamorous lieutenant”, the “sexiest head of state” and “beautiful, classy and sweet”.

Whatever our views on the Orange Revolution and failure thereof, surely holding Forbe’s former third most powerful woman to a standard of beauty and sexiness over and above her economic and political capabilities is ridiculous.

I hope for the best for the people of Ukraine, and for democracies everywhere to elect premiers for reasons other than their looks.

http://hottestheadsofstate.wordpress.com/about/

Suzy

Deja vu

In Conservative Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 9 February, 2010 at 10:55 pm

Well, I recently found this on the Tories main website with good ol’ Eric Pickles talking about Tory opposition to the proposed AV system (which while he’s denying plurality to the British people he indeed does have the right to oppose), but when it gets to 0.50 in, quite a blatant factual flaw arises (I wonder if he got the statistics from Chris Grayling).

Now, there is blatant proof other wise from this source (http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2005/RP05-033.pdf) if there’s any doubt, just go to page 8 which even though doesn’t have the exact number of votes, the percentage itself is pretty clear. Keep the statistics right Eric!

Max

Just another Labour week..or so

In Elections, Health, Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word on 9 February, 2010 at 5:03 pm
  • A cancer guarantee to see a specialist within 2 weeks of referral by a GP and to receive all cancer test results within 1 week.
  • A waiting times guarantee, that all patients will be offered hospital treatment within no more than 18 weeks of seeing their GP.
  • A GP access guarantee, that all patients will be able to register with a GP open into evenings and weekends.
  • A guarantee of a regular health check on the NHS for everyone over 40. 
  • In the care system, a guarantee that all those with the highest needs being looked after in their own homes will receive free personal care.
  • Not to mention a promise of a fairer and pluralistic AV system

Just another Labour week…ish.

Max

Delegates

In BULSInside, Labour Students, Ramsay's F Word on 8 February, 2010 at 6:11 pm

After highly and hotly contested delegate selection (sorta) for the National Labour Students Conference to be held at the end of this month in Glasgow. They are:

  • George Arnold
  • Callum Anderson
  • Daniel Harrison 
  • James Wickett-Whyte

There are regional hustings for the candidates of the national committee this friday, 5.15pm in the Guild Council Chambers.

We will also discuss motions to be put forward and who we should vote for at the national committee elections as well at the Annual General Meeting (24th).

Max

No price on a life

In Conservative Party, Economy, Health, Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 8 February, 2010 at 2:22 pm

Gordon Brown today pledged to offer free, one-to-one home care by specialist nurses to those suffering from Cancer. This in turn would save £2.5 billion a year by reducing hospital admissions. However, some people seem to not get the message, Andrew Lansley the Shadow health secretary said that “Gordon Brown needs to make clear to patients which other schemes he plans to cut” and claims that this will in fact cost £100m. I’m sorry, but so much for “I’ll cut the deficit, not the NHS” and also, I personally think that if it leaves £100 million more in debt but saves lives (which it will) it is money well spent.

Max

‘Skin-deep’ localism

In Conservative Party, Education, Health, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 8 February, 2010 at 12:17 pm

A school classroom

This frankly is rightly so, if you decentralise administration too much of any governmental department it will lead down the road of blatant inequality on the part (in this case schools) of the ones using the service. This is very much similar to the NHS checklist, where the Tories quite frankly oppose a measure (theoretically at least) that grants a minimum standard to all patients who are admitted. Now this is the same again, some schools will be put in the most ridiculous locations and so degrading the minimum standard which should be guaranteed to everyone, not just to help a small privileged few.

It has recently been revealed that if they won the general election, the Conservatives would in effect; treat new schools like major infrastructure projects. But Schools Minister Vernon Coaker said, “With no planning restrictions schools will be able to open in pre-fabricated buildings and rented office blocks, as they do in Sweden, without the sort of decent facilities all children should have like places to play and do sport outside.”.

Max

I’ll ave that…

In Health, Ramsay's F Word on 7 February, 2010 at 12:26 am

 I just recently received my organ donor card and I remembered this sketch from Monty Python, hopefully this doesn’t happen! (Warning! If you’re little big squeemish don’t watch)

Moving onto something more relevant, it is a shame that more people don’t register to the card, there are far too many people who do end up waiting for the call that a donor has become available (can’t remember the exact figure). There was talk a couple of years ago of introducing a system whereby everyone would be viable to donate their organs once unless they specifically asked not to be which personally would be ideal (well actually personally I take David Mitchell’s idea on Mock the Week that all bodies should revert to the ownership of the state after death, but humans can be insecure creatures at times).

Max

It’s for your own good…

In Health, Ramsay's F Word, US politics, USA on 5 February, 2010 at 10:44 am

 A recent article written by Political scientist Dr David Runciman on the BBC really got me thinking. Why do so many Americans oppose such motions (such as the current health-care reform bill) that will in fact improve the well being of their lives? One of the many reasons this may be so is as Oli pointed out, “strangely irrational fear of – “socialism”…well, that’s the Cold War for you.”. However, while this is certainly evident, it can’t be applied to all Americans. In Texas where 1/3 of the population are without health insurance and a 1/5 of children are without it also, still 87% oppose the reforms. But, national polls show that the number who think the reforms go too far while nearly matching it are those who say it doesn’t go far enough.

Another idea pointed out by Dr David Runciman, is that its stories rather than facts that means the right wins out. He uses the example of one the Presidential debates during the 2000 election between Bush and Gore with saying, 

Gore: “Under the governor’s plan, if you kept the same fee for service that you have now under Medicare, your premiums would go up by between 18% and 47%, and that is the study of the Congressional plan that he’s modelled his proposal on by the Medicare actuaries.” but then Bush intellectually (as ever) replied with, “Look, this is a man who has great numbers. He talks about numbers. I’m beginning to think not only did he invent the internet, but he invented the calculator. It’s fuzzy math. It’s trying to scare people in the voting booth.” (not that this was a hint of things to come or anything) but Bush won the Debate.

Thomas Frank, the author of the best-selling book What’s The Matter with Kansas and he argues that, ”You vote to strike a blow against elitism and you receive a social order in which wealth is more concentrated than ever before in our lifetimes, workers have been stripped of power, and CEOs are rewarded in a manner that is beyond imagining. It’s like a French Revolution in reverse in which the workers come pouring down the street screaming more power to the aristocracy.” the “elitism” being the ‘snobbish’ democrats.

It is a pity that such a large group of the American people believe such trash and so easily, despite the US being a country founded upon tolerance.

Max

Poor Dave…

In Cameron, Flip-flopping, Ramsay's F Word on 3 February, 2010 at 2:19 pm

I would have blogged on this sooner but I only just realised this articles existence literally an hour ago.

To be honest really, January 2010 hasn’t Dave’s best month: incoherence over tax breaks and spending u-turns. I then managed to find this brilliant article from the Guardian ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/02/david-cameron-conservatives-wobble) which argues the simple fact….why is the media really not picking up on this, really? Now Brown has been accused of u-turns (fair enough) in the past but it’s like Dave just can’t wait to do it in office so he has to be incoherent on policy NOW!

Come on Dave, sort your act out before “ some time around 2023 watching former prime minister Cameron giving evidence before an inquiry into some policy disaster, and we will wonder why he was not submitted to serious scrutiny before he was handed the keys to No 10.”!

Max

A nation of conservatives?…Nah!

In Conservative Party, Elections, Labour Party, Opinion polls, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 3 February, 2010 at 10:16 am

  There’s recently been a lot of talk that apparently the only thing 13 years of Labour governments has achieved is that we are all now conservative. Well, to be frank, this is ain’t true. A recent poll conducted by Comres and published yesterday in the Independent (the one that shows that also shows the Tory lead has shrunk to a mere 7 points) shows that more people identify themselves as Labour rather than Tory (37-31 in fact-http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/02/more-people-identify-as-labour-as-public-remain-sceptical-of-tory-economic-policy/). Personally, from seeing these figures, it shows that the most Dave can achieve at the next general election, the very most, is a small Conservative majority (around 20 or so).

Britain, well and truly progressive since 1964! 

Max

A new politics?

In Conservative Party, Constitutional Reform, Elections, Liberal Democrats, Ramsay's F Word on 2 February, 2010 at 9:41 pm

In the wake of the expenses scandal, all the major parties claimed they would re-invent British politics. Here is one such action that well frankly, is quite brilliant. Electoral reform by changing the old FPTP system to an AV system. Now personally I think this is a brilliant idea, to sum it up quite simply, the new system will not only retain MP’s strong links to their constituencies but they will for the first time all achieve over 50% of the vote (sort of) through a system preference making, vis-a-vis (that’s probably not the right context but hey, lol) better representation.

While the Lib Dems welcomed this is as a start (which is fair enough) the Tory’s were the helpful selves again with Conservative chairman Eric Pickles said, “Gordon Brown avoided a leadership election, bottled a general election and now wants to fiddle the electoral system,” (yawn).

Max

Equality and religion in Britain

In equality on 2 February, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Pope Benedict XVI has attacked the Government’s Equalities Bill and has urged all Catholic Bishops in England and Wales to oppose it with “Missionary zeal.” The Pontiff told the Catholic bishops of England and Wales gathered in Rome: “Your country is well-known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet, as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs.”
It is thought that part 5 is the part of the bill which the Vatican most vehemently opposes as they place restrictions on employers and public bodies from discriminating against applicants on the basis of race, faith, sex, age or disability. The Pope is worried that Catholic Churches will be forced to appoint staff (such as cleaners) who are homosexual or even may be forced to accept gay clergy. Part 3 also prevents the harassing or victimisation of a person for any of the categories outlined, which Catholics argue may stop them being able to preach that homosexuality is wrong.
Now, personally having read the details of the bill, I think that it is on the mark. Due and sensible exceptions are made to allow exceptions to the law for issues related to national security, educational appointments and charitable bequests and donations in part 14. The Bill makes no specific mention to religious institutions let alone the Catholic Church.

What does worry me, and at the risk of sounding unpopular on this blog, is that the furore generated by the media regarding this bill (its placement of the Pope vs the British Government) is the latest attempt at generating anti-Christian feeling inherrent within some parts of the public domain. I myself am absolutely not a Catholic, nor am I particularly religious. I briefly flirted with atheism, but have since come round to realise that in my eyes, thing are far from certain. If push came to shove, I would probably call myself a very lapsed Christian, bordering on agnostic. I firmly believe in the separation of Church and State. I am a keen advocate of the disestablishment of the Church of England, the removal of Bishops and all clergy from the House of Lords as well as, naturally, being inclined towards harmony and toleration among and between the very diverse elements within British society. I also agreed with Nick Clegg when he said that publicly funded state schools should not be allowed to preach messages which are contrary to maintenance of public order and good. He was targetting Catholic schools preaching that homosexuality is wrong in particular. Yet I remain worried about the extent to which the established authorities, and many people advocate policies which are secular to the point of anti-religion. The case of the British Airways worker who was dismissed for wearing a cross, the renaming of Christmas to Winterval by certain local authorities are two other examples where secularism has, in my view, gone too far. As much as I admire the intellectual brilliance of Richard Dawkins, I find his bleeting about loud and forceful Christian preachers extremely hypocritical, considering the fact that he has paid for buses to advertise “There is no God” on their advertising boards. Militant atheism is, to me, as bad as militant fundamentalist preaching. How can attempting to force people to not believe something be considered any better than attempting to force people to believe something?

Unlike the United States, the overwhelming majority of Christians (of all denominations) are moderate, sensible and do not cause the establishment any trouble. If one will draw a comparison with Islam. Again the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful, moderate and seek only to live a peaceful life. Yet it seems that because terrorist attacks have been seemingly, however falsely, made in the name of Islam people in the public arena seem to bounce between outright hostility to Islam and being scared of it. I am thus concerned that Christians are considered an easy target for people who criticise religion, because there is not the shame cloud of fear over Christians as currently permeates around Islam, it seems to me that many people including Mr Dawkins, treat Christianity as something that can be routinely and constantly castigated, and the religion’s followers can be looked down upon with scorn and disregard because they do not make a fuss. That in my eyes is discriminating people by their faith, because you are treating them differently.

Of course religions should be open to scrutiny. We would not be where we are now if people did not question what was taught to them by the clerics. Religious people should be able to accept thorough and detailed questioning of their faith. And people should be allowed to believe what they like, including in there being no God, or a giant turtle carrying elephants carrying disc shaped world if they like. But it should also be seen by atheists and others who I believe take secularism too far, that in the same way one cannot be forced to believe in God, someone should not be forced to NOT believe in it either. Sometimes hearing people very loudly and very violently shouting about the fact that there is no God, can be just as uncomfortable as hearing someone preaching that there is a deity. In conclusion, let us all believe what we like to believe and not worry about other people. To me, that is how British people, truly are.

By Sean Woodcock, BULS member

Contentious

In Health, Ramsay's F Word on 1 February, 2010 at 5:53 pm

Now this is undoubtedly going to be a contentious issue. A recent poll conducted by Comres (http://www.comres.co.uk/systems/file_download.aspx?pg=545&ver=1) for Panorama shows that 74% of people support the right for those who are terminally ill to be granted the choice of assisted suicide. Now personally, I do think this is a good thing, obviously it should not be extended to anyone, but if you are severely suffering you should be granted that choice to end the pain a torment which is not only inflicted upon yourself but also those loved ones around you.

Max

“Iron Lady” to “Flip-flop” Dave…Oh dear, oh dear

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Economy, Flip-flopping, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies, thatcher's legacy on 31 January, 2010 at 10:47 pm

It was announced on the 15th January, George Osborne was telling us that the Tories would bring in an emergency budget within 50 days of taking office. Now this was all very fine (except for of course, it is the wrong measure to take), but Dave himself today said that a Conservative government would not make “swingeing cuts” to public spending during its first year.

Now, in all due fairness, credit has to be given to Dave, he’s finally beginning to see sense, but this is a far flung shot from the Tory’s “Glory Days” under Maggie herself with the famous, “You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning”. Pity for Cameron he somewhat fails to live up to her.

Max

‘Broken Society’ an excuse to batter Britain.

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Law and Order, Tories, Tories' Porkies, media on 29 January, 2010 at 10:55 am
I do not like to use isolated incidents for point scoring. So I think David Cameron’s use of the Doncaster killings is no better than populist electioneering. Tony Blair used the Bulger killings in a similar way. Not to say that these killings are not newsworthy. Truly they are horrific. But the reason that they are newsworthy must surely be because they are so shocking? If our society was broken, to the extent that David Cameron says, why would this sort of incident not occur more often. But if we take the Bulger killing in Liverpool and this latest one in Doncaster, we can see that the killings took place in similar areas. Liverpool, in 1993, was a wreckage of a place slowly struggling out of the depressing circumstances of the 1980s when its main industries were closed, communities uprooted and many families livelihoods threatened. Type into google ‘the Toxteth riots’ for an indication of how bad it was. In 1993 then, Liverpool was a down and out place, not the resurgent and confident city that it has began to be rebuilt into in recent years. Doncaster similarly is an area that had its main industry (mining) torn out from under it in the 1980s. It has had similar problems with unemployment, uprooted communities and crime. Hence we see the parallels between the two places.
Clearly there are problems when crimes such as the Bulger and Doncaster killings take place. As I said, I think it is unfair for anyone, Labour or Conservative, to use one crime for political purposes. Just as I think attributing such crimes to a “broken society” as Mr Cameron does, when these killings have taken place in communities that have been broken by a Conservative government, which David Cameron largely intends on reciprocating, and whose leader Mrs Thatcher stated “There is no such thing as society.” The angry public reaction to these killings, suggests, in my view, that while there is certainly evidence of problems within our society, it is very much in existence and is still far from broken.
 
Sean Woodcock, BULS Member

What a bunch of tossers….

In Guild Council, Student Politics, Suzy's News on 29 January, 2010 at 5:13 am

My fellow Labour Students….

Guild Council tonight censured the President and VP Democracy and Resources for insufficient blogging, while the VP Welfare Johnny Davis refused to accept a commendation unless Ed Sparkes the VP Housing and Community was also commended,consequently both were rewarded.

The title of my post refers to the censuring of the Ethical and Environmental Officer Ed Bauer, proposed by a representative of the Law school in response to a blog written by the EEO which brought Guild Council into disrepute. After an interesting debate Ed Bauer was censured but did not receive a “no confidence” vote. Among others he was defended by Dora Meredith, who praised his enthusiam, engagement and hard work.

The motions I mentioned in my last post were passed with the exception of the National Covention Against Fees and Cuts motion, which was removed from the agenda.

Joseph Chamberlain was the first chancellor of the Univeristy of Birmingham, and gave his name not only to “Old Joe”, the clock tower, but also to our beloved Guild bar. Following a student vote Joe’s Bar will maintain its name.

The NUS’s VP for higher education Aaron Porter urged the Council to vote in the general election, but only for PPCs who pledge to maintain the cap on tuition fees. In 2005 only 35% of 18-25 year olds voted, compared to 63% in the wider population. With 7 million students in the UK we can and should have a much louder voice in the upcoming election.

Divers other issues were discussed, such as poor Virgin Media provision in Selly Oak, muddy car parks, access to exam and essay results on WebCT off site and Residential Association committees being distanced from excessive money handling and nightclub culture.

Snacks were provided as ever, the independent chairs were helpful and friendly, and there was plenty of passion, discussion and democracy.

Suzy (Guild Councillor)

My fellow Americans…

In Economy, Ramsay's F Word, US politics, USA, equality on 28 January, 2010 at 4:23 pm

Barack Obama delivers speech

Last night saw President Obama give his first State of the Union speech to Congress. His main emphasis was upon tackling the unemployment figures which have now reached around 10% (at least 2.5% higher than here in the UK), but, three sentences some up to me personally Obama’s first year in Office and the condition of the financial crisis worldwide, “If we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today. More businesses would certainly have closed. More homes would have surely been lost.”.

 One area that certainly caught my attention was that of Obama saying “This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.”. It is such a shame that a law discriminative has been able to stay in force in country that is prided on its tolerance and now progressivism will hopefully win through against conservative dogma.

 Max

Upcoming events including…the AGM 2010

In Events, Labour Students on 27 January, 2010 at 4:24 pm

Informal General meeting

Meeting befor the Michael Cashman talk on civil liberties at this Friday 4pm Mandela Room in the Guild with snacks! We need to discuss the term ahead, and if there are any particular things we’d like to work on/improve
National Labour Students conference is at the end of February and we have 4 delegate spaces which we think we should hold an election for (It is in Glasgow so I also think we need some serious talk about subsidising tickets/rail fare!!!) We also need to talk about if we want to submit any motions etc…

 

Michael Cashman talk on civil liberties

Labour MEP, Michael Cashmon for the West Midlands is coming to give a talk on civil liberties. This is a joint event with the Joint event with the LGBTQ society and after which we will probably go for a drink after. The talk will be held in the Mandela Room in the Guild of Students Building at 5pm on the 29th January.

 

AGM 2010 (Annual General Meeting)

Now confirmed to be Wednesday 24th February 6.30-8pmevery Committee position bar Fresher’s Officer and Guild Council Representative will be up for grabs. This should be held in the Guild Council Chambers unless said other wise. We also have the positions of women’s officer, bme officer, lgbtq officer and disabled officer but these really need to be held in caucuses which if possible, we will hold in side rooms but if not we can hold at a later date.

Anyone is encouraged to stand for any position and please feel free to contact us at committee@bulsonline.org if they have any questions. We would recommend writing a short speech to read and if anyone wants flyers or manifestos printing then send them to the BULS account and we’ll sort it. However, this is optional and we would want to reiterate that we encourage anyone to stand and get more involved!

Preliminary position descriptions:

Chair

The chair liases with the National Organisation of Labour Students as well as the Guild of Students.  Organises events and chairs committee meetings and full member meetings.  Organises speakers and writes speaker-request forms.

The Chair is a financial signatory on the clubs accounts.

Vice-chair

Assists chair in organising events. Organises transport for all events necessary, eg. Trains to national events. Assumes duties of the chair if the chair is temporarily unable to carry out his or her duties or if a complaint is made against them until it is resolved.

The Vice-chair is a financial signatory on the clubs accounts.

Secretary

This Secretary takes charge of the organisational side of the club and, along with other members of the committee, helps to organise events.  Assumes duties of the chair if the chair and vice-chair are temporarily unable to carry out their duties or if a complaint is made against them until it is resolved. Also writes the minutes for full member meetings and committee meetings.  Writes the risk assessments for events.

The Secretary is also a financial signatory on the club’s accounts.

Treasurer

Has full-responsibility for the management of accounts.  Decides on levels of subsidies when appropriate.  Organises fundraising and Workers Beer Company summer work.

The Treasurer is a financial signatory on the clubs accounts.

Communications Officer

Writes weekly email, to be sent to all members.  Uploads member email address onto email account at start of term (with assistance if needed).

Website Editor

Has editorial responsibility over the website; http://www.bulsonline.org also jointly responsible for updating the pages on the website along with the Editor of Social Resources.

Editor of Social Resources

In charge of regularly updating the facebook group and twitter account. Has joint responsibility for updating the website, along with the Website Editor.

Women’s Officer

Elected in a seperate caucus (i.e. chosen by Women only). The Women’s Officer has the job of liaising the views and grievances of all Women of the BULS ot the committee. The Women’s officer is also encouraged to organise campaigns on women’s issues such as eqaulity in the workplace, maternity leave, etc.

Black and Ethnic Minorities (BEM) Officer

Elected in a seperate caucus (i.e. chosen by Black and Ethnic Minorities only). The BEM’s Officer has the job of liaising the views and grievances of all Black and Ethnic Minorities of the BULS ot the committee. The BEM’s Officer is also encouraged to organise campaigns on Black and Ethnic Minority issues such as rascism, equality, etc.

LGBTQ Officer

Elected in a seperate caucus (i.e. chosen by LGBTQs only). The LGBTQ’s Officer has the job of liaising the views and grievances of all LGBTQ of the BULS ot the committee. The LGBTQ Officer is also encouraged to organise campaigns on LGBTQ issues such as discrimination, right to marry same sex marriages, etc.

Disabled Officer

Elected in a seperate caucus (i.e. chosen by Disabled only). The Disabled Officer has the job of liaising the views and grievances of all Disabled members of the BULS ot the committee. The Disabled Officer is also encouraged to organise campaigns on Disabled issues such as discrimination, etc.

Max

Oh, what’s occurring at Guild Council?

In Birmingham politics, Guild Council, Labour Students, Student Politics, Suzy's News on 25 January, 2010 at 6:03 pm

Here are the motions which are coming up at Guild Council on Thursday:

a) For the February National Convention against tuition fees and cuts to higher education to be advertised and transport organised within the Guild and on my.bham, and for Brigid Jones and other members of the council to attend and report back.

b) To sign the pledge against sourcing minerals from the Congo and lobby the University and electronics firms to do the same. For more on the ratinale behind this see http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/conflictminerals_pledge This motion may prove controversial with students who are hoping for a career in electronics, or those who consider global conflict issues to be outside our remit.

c) For Fairtrade Fortnight 22nd February – 7th March to be observed this year and every year by the Guild, through quizzes, events and  promotion of fairtrade drinks in Joes.

d) For fairtrade products to be promoted to a greater extent in general.

e) For mitigations to be extended to those who have trouble attending their classes at Birmingham University due to visa delays.

f) For the student body to have a say on the democratic structures within the Guild through a referendum.

I have the option to star any of them (ask to have them discussed), and essentially vote yes or no. I can also make speeches in favour or in opposition oif any, and submit my own motions. I’m there on behalf of you guys, so let me know what you want me to do!

Suzy (BULS Guild Councillor)

Welcome news

In Conservative Party, Economy, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 23 January, 2010 at 9:26 pm

Unemployment recently fell by 7000, making this recession the quickest to see a rise in employment. Correct me if I’m wrong but this seems to be something the Tories are skimming over…..who are we to judge. This has now left unemployment figures back under 2.46 million. Yes there is the good chance it may start to increase again, but it is forecast (albeit not by the Met office) to peak at a mere 2.8 million which 1. is half a million lower than the previous two recessions and due to population growth, far proportionally lower than either of the past two recessions. There is also the interesting fact that we are dealing with long term unemployment, rather than leaving a generation on the dole with over the past year, 70% of claimants have come off benefits within six months, compared with 63% in the downturn of the early 1990s and 60% in the recession of the early 1980s.

Money well spent don’t you think?

Max

Ironic…

In Conservative Party, Economy, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies, US politics on 21 January, 2010 at 9:35 pm

In the wake of Obama proposing new curbs on banks, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, (Boy) George Osbourne has quickly followed suit. Now this is all very…very…..nice, correct me if I’m wrong though, but around about 3 years ago didn’t (Boy) George call for greater deregulation? He also recently stated that “This is a welcome move by President Obama that accords very much with our thinking,”….well, despite that Obama supported helping the economy when it was in dire trouble, but surprisingly enough, he didn’t. It seems…just seems that (Boy) George is trying to cuddle up to “Mr President” (don’t believe me, check the BUC”F”s blog on the “special relationship” between Britain and America at the moment)…..just a thought.

Max

Bad luck Dave

In Cameron, Elections, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 20 January, 2010 at 11:23 pm

Recently the BUC”F”, well a while ago, posted on the recent revealing of Cameron’s new poster, he’s an article from the (Tory)graph also has a sounding verdict on Dave’s airbrush http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/david-cameron/6997940/Do-David-Camerons-new-posters-work.html

Max

Teachers are for all students, not just for high achievers

In Conservative Party, Education, Suzy's News, Tories on 20 January, 2010 at 10:29 am

As a recent school finisher with two teachers for parents I would like to take issue with recently announced Conservative plans to limit PGCE funding to those with a second class degree or higher on two particular points:

1. Academic achievement is no indication of charisma, sensitivity or ability to engage with young people.

2. Teachers are hugely important as role models, and as such must have a certain amount in common with students or at least an understanding of pupils’ different backgrounds. As people from predominantly privileged and caucasian backgrounds are more likely than others to receive an upper second or first from a Russell Group university, make teaching a “prestigious” occupation by limiting funding will not encourage mutual understanding between teachers and pupils. Male teachers particularly may serve as father figures in areas with few male role models, and can be treated as confidants by pupils.

Borderline students who are uncertain of their desire to enter further education, observing a dichotomy between unemployed, low achieving adults in the community, and high achieving Russell Group graduates at school, may fail to identify with either, wishing to become employable but uncertain as to how this is to be done without getting  three As at A level, as the evident message will be: “go to one of the top 20 universities, or don’t bother at all”.

3. Another way to increase the prestige of teaching without limiting applicants to a certain demographic is to raise wages and increase schools funding, as Labour have already done and the Conservatives are threatening to reverse.

Suzy, BULS Guild Council Rep

Dave’s real speeches

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 20 January, 2010 at 12:46 am

2 quite funny videos I found on Youtube

Max

A year for change?…the change has been here for 13 years Dave

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Elections, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 19 January, 2010 at 11:55 pm

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for over a year you will have somewhat have guessed that the Tories logo has been “Year for Change”, now in all due fairness, very original idea there Dave, there hasn’t been any other politicians that have used “Change” as part of their campaign, especially not across the Atlantic.

In response though, Lord Mandelson at a speech to the Fabian Society coined something a slogan in return ““Change for good, change with Labour”, well personally I think could be interpreted wrong, but either way, it shows where the real change is. This can be told by the fact that well, the Conservative and Unionist Party, unlike Labour in the mid and late 1980s, had no radical internal struggle between the old and rising new factions from within the party. All it seems that Dave’s done is slap new logo on (which frankly looks like it was drawn by a 7 year old), hug a few hoodies and ironically branded a totally contradictory slogan.

Mini rant over!

Max

Earthquake Disaster

In Suzy's News, World news on 18 January, 2010 at 1:45 am

I think I can speak for BULS in expressing sympathy for the people of Haiti, admiration for the aid workers, belief that Gordon Brown will deliver on his promises of assistance, and hope that the people of Haiti can not only rebuild their lives but eventually benefit from a country stabilised by international efforts.

I also hope that aid will be given intelligently in a sustainable manner, and that the emotional trauma undergone by survivors will be attended to. A small first step would be to allow families to view the bodies of loved ones and be involved in their burial in marked graves.

Suzy, BULS Guild Council Rep

Airbrushed for change

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 17 January, 2010 at 11:49 pm

Just found this spoof of the recent Tory poster funny.

To see more go to http://mydavidcameron.com/index.html

Max

So we’re not the only ones…

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Europe, Far right, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 16 January, 2010 at 4:37 pm

Just to show we’re not the only ones who think the Tories have aligned themselves with extremists in Europe. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8460940.stm

Max

A peek into the future

In Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word on 16 January, 2010 at 12:26 am

I was talking to fellow BULS member, George Arnold, in the Goose after the first meeting of the new semester last Wednesday and he struck up an interesting point. If Labour looses the next election and is forced into opposition for let’s say, 10 years, what is the party’s ideological future? Will then be a revert back to “Old” Labour or break with the “Old”/”New” and Blairite/Brownite divisions?

 Obviously, if the election is lost by a substantial margin, Brown will be out and so effectively ending the Blairite/Brownite divide, however, this could still potentially lead to a Miliband divide, now that would be something in British politics.

Ideologically though, I do believe Labour would initially move back to its roots, as did the Tories in the last three elections. But, there would be a break with the “Old” and the “New”, from there on, it would be hard to tell. Many would try to establish a break from the two sides. Personally, in this potential eventuality, Labour should move to somewhere between the ideological grounds, more to help those down trodden in society while retaining electoral effectiveness.

Max

Guess the caption…

In Conservative Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 15 January, 2010 at 10:20 am

As we haven’t done this in a while here we go.

Max

Society Constitution

In BULSInside, Labour Students, Ramsay's F Word, Student Politics on 14 January, 2010 at 12:04 pm

Now, I wouldn’t normally blog on a change to the format to the Website, but in the name of transparency (and due to the fact barely anyone will have seen it), I have finally, after 3 and a half months put the Society’s Constitution (well, its most up to date form since the People’s Revolution of ’86) up under the new heading “About us and Society Constitution”.

Try to enjoy,
Max, Website Editor

The grill

In International Politics, Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word, World news on 14 January, 2010 at 12:58 am

Putting aside the Iraq War and Tuition Fees, I have always seen (contrare to many BUC”F” blogs) Blair as quite a good PM. However, these two issues have been so dominant, particularly (and even more so in recent months) Iraq’s legitamity. Now before any Tories pop up and start hurling abuse, don’t forget your party supported it as well (and still do).

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former communications chief, told the inquiry he would defend “every single word” of the 2002 dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, Lt Gen Sir Richard Shirreff said the British Army was effectively providing “no security at all” in the southern Iraqi city of Basra by mid-2006, Peter Watkins from the Ministry of Defence said that one lesson learnt was that the coalition allies should have sought a single agreement with the Iraqis, etc.

But more importantly what’s your take on all this?

Max

Coming events

In BULSInside, Blogroll, Events on 12 January, 2010 at 4:36 pm

Canvassing on the Vale with local MP, Gisela Stuart

As a part of the BULS BIG CAMPAIGN PUSH for this term we have a target of making 500 contacts on the Vale by canvassing with Labour MP for Edgbaston, Gisela Stuart. We will be canvassing on two seperate occasions, Tuesday from 5pm where we will meet outside the Guild where there will be a chance of a Curry after and Wednesday afternoon from 1pm. If you live on the Vale, you can meet up with us then to save walking to the Guild, call Dora (Chair of BULS) on 07958327889 and she will let you know where we are. So whether it’s 20mins or and hour, we’d love all of you to come along and give us a hand in the build up to the general election.

Michael Cashman talk on civil liberties

Labour MEP, Michael Cashmon for the West Midlands is coming to give a talk on civil liberties. Other societies have been invited including Warwick Labour Club and after which we will probably go for a drink after. The talk will be held in the Mandela Room in the Guild of Students Building at 5pm on the 29th January.

AGM 2010 (Annual General Meeting)

Suspected to be around the end of February, all Committee positions bar Fresher’s Officer and Guild Council Representative are up for grabs, more info to come soon.

Preliminary position descriptions:

Chair

 The chair liases with the National Organisation of Labour Students as well as the Guild of Students.  Organises events and chairs committee meetings and full member meetings.  Organises speakers and writes speaker-request forms.

The Chair is a financial signatory on the clubs accounts.

Vice-chair

 Assists chair in organising events. Organises transport for all events necessary, eg. Trains to national events. Assumes duties of the chair if the chair is temporarily unable to carry out his or her duties or if a complaint is made against them until it is resolved.

The Vice-chair is a financial signatory on the clubs accounts.

Secretary

This Secretary takes charge of the organisational side of the club and, along with other members of the committee, helps to organise events.  Also writes the minutes for full member meetings and committee meetings.  Writes the risk assessments for events.

The Secretary is also a financial signatory on the club’s accounts.

Treasurer

 Has full-responsibility for the management of accounts.  Decides on levels of subsidies when appropriate.  Organises fundraising and Workers Beer Company summer work.

 The Treasurer is a financial signatory on the clubs accounts.

Communications Officer

 Writes weekly email, to be sent to all members.  Uploads member email address onto email account at start of term (with assistance if needed).

 Website Editor

 Has editorial responsibility over the website; http://www.bulsonline.org also jointly responsible for updating the pages on the website along with the Editor of Social Resources.

Editor of Social Resources

In charge of regularly updating the facebook group and twitter account. Has joint responsibility for updating the website, along with the Website Editor.

In the balance

In International Politics, Ramsay's F Word, US politics, USA, equality on 11 January, 2010 at 9:10 pm

Today is the day when the US Supreme Court begins to hear the case on whether states have the constitutional right to deny their citizens the right to same-sex marriages. If the ruling is passed in favour of Gay Rights, every state will have to allow same-sex marriages. This is in the balance and we can only hope the Court sides with progression and tolerance.

Max

Response to the “Blair rich project”

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 11 January, 2010 at 4:30 pm

Recently the BUC”F” had a blog published on their website called the “Blair rich project” (http://bucf.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/the-blair-rich-project/) somehow making Blair’s career success (£12 million earned after 2007) after resigning as PM a political issue.

Now yes he’s done well for himself, but lest you forget that according to the Sunday Times Rich List, David and Samantha Cameron’s combined family wealth is more than £30 million. Doesn’t that say something against “compassionate” Dave? Osborne also has a similar “excess” of money with many Tory MPs holding second jobs on the side at some point in their political careers.

The post then went onto say that:

“Presiding over an unprecedented taxing, borrowing and spending binge which has achieved paltry improvements to the public services and left the country in the worst position of almost any industrialised nation to face the global economic downturn”…Correction, the UK prior to the financial crisis had the second lowest level of borrowing in the G7, most independent financial organisations (CBI and IMF) supported the fiscal stimulus which without would have seen the banks collapse and unemployment skyrocket and even now the UK is under the EU average for proportional budget deficit.

“Taking us to war on a lie – something which he has now all but admitted”….Whether or not it was “a lie” it was “a lie” the Tories supported and still do

“Allowing an unprecedented increase in immigration “swamping” communities and leading to a further erosion of British identity”….Sound like anyone in particular?

“Fostering the breakdown of society, family and marriage”….Yet we fail to hear a coherent policy on marriage tax breaks which also is highly discriminative against same sex civil-partners

“Bringing parliament and politics in to total and utter disrepute by presiding over the worst scandal to grip the Commons in living memory in the form of parliamentary expenses”….Funny, didn’t the Tories claim for outrageous expenses as well?

Rant over now, lol!

Max

Hug a hoody still?

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Elections, Ramsay's F Word on 9 January, 2010 at 11:30 pm

Just found this picture, thought it was hilarious, total respect to whoever did this!

Max

Why haven’t we done that yet?

In International Politics, LGBT, Ramsay's F Word, equality on 9 January, 2010 at 6:48 pm

It was in today’s Gaurdian that same-sex marriages are soon to be legalised in Portugal, a deeply Catholic country. Now what gets me is that not only Portugal but South Africa, Spain, Holland, several South American countries and six US states have also done the same, why are we not joining them already?! Granted Civil Partnerships was a great start, but more is needed, we are the party for progress and equality after all.

Max

No thanks Dave…

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Flip-flopping, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 7 January, 2010 at 3:11 pm

As you probably will have heard, the Tories have recently “promised” tax breaks for married couples. Obviously this is supposed to be an incentive for people to marry and stay married, but, correct me if I’m wrong, don’t you marry someone because you love them? Another shortfalling (not including whether or not these plans are going to be proposed or not) is that it discriminates quite explicitly against couples in same-sex civil partnerships and not to mention unmarried couples who well, might not like the idea of marriage.

But this also confuses me, doesn’t Cameron whant to rapidly cut the deficit rather than promise more tax cuts?

There’s a better way to this than tax breaks Dave!

Max

Was that it…?

In Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word on 7 January, 2010 at 1:20 pm

Well in the wake of yesterday’s “grand” Coup d’etait, well, nothing really has changed. Brown himself called the plot a “storm in teacup” and quite rightly so. The plot would’ve been understandable if it had been in the wake of disasterous local or by-election results, but at time when Labour’s fortunes  are (albeit slowly) improving just shows where some people’s priorities. It is a huge pity as for at least the next week the media will be focused on the “grand” plot rather than policy announcements on either side of the political divide.

Max

Coup d’stupid

In Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word on 6 January, 2010 at 1:26 pm

Gordon Brown

Breaking News!

Here we go again. Despite the recent narrowing of the polls, the PMs improving performance since the party conference in PMQs and the Lord Mandelson coming out in favour of the government’s measures, two former Cabinet Ministers, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon have written to Labour MPs calling for the leadership issue to be sorted out “once and for all” and for a secret ballot to be held.

Well I’m sorry, but this is completely ridiculous, I was watching Politics Today (as I’d just heard the news) and a BBC reporter in Westminster was asking respective Labour MPs and even those who would rather see Brown hung drawn and quatred admitted that the “dynamic duo” didn’t have enough support with also the blatant fact that Brown wont go out without a fight will just reverse all our gains we have achieved over the past few months.

Stop this stupidity before it really is to late!

Max

Return of the BULS

In BULSInside, Elections, Events, Labour Students, Ramsay's F Word on 6 January, 2010 at 11:05 am

A long time ago, in a University far far…..nah, lol!

The BULS is returning (obviosuly when you return to University as well) on Wednesday the 13th January….2010. We will be meeting in the Thompson Training Suite at the Guild of Students building at 7pm for a couple of hours to discuss plans for this terms and effectively our campaign action in the build up to the General election this coming spring. All are welcome! Hope to see lots of you there!

Require any more info, email us at committee@bulsonline.org

Max

Living up to our stereotypes

In Conservative Party, Labour Party, Labour Students, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 6 January, 2010 at 2:04 am

This blog would’ve been a bit funnier (and more eye catching) if I had a couple of particular photos, however, I can’t, not pointing my fingure at anyone though! Oh and please, don’t take this the wrong way it’s all (hopefully) in good humour.

Well, it’s something that was pointed to me (by I think Pippa) on my first “do” with the BULS. In the backdrop of this apparent “class-war”, eton jibe, I just realised, even at our level, we do play into those stereotypes (well our side of the “class-war” respectively). I joke about this to a friend who is also a member of the BUC”F”, but they do love to dress up don’t they. You have to give the BUC”F” credit though, black bow-ties in a night club in Sheffield (after William Hague’s dinner speech a couple of months back), I’ve still yet to see a BULS member wear a tie yet.

On the other side of the “class-war” rift, BULS lack the grand sophisticated settings the BUCF regulary accounters, being regulars at the Chamon curry house on Bristol Road (fresh from the pits, of course) and often having dead rats pointed out to them by local kids (Redditch for you there Dan!) while campaigning.

Ultimately, this is what I find brilliant about student life, you do sometimes, meet your own narrow-minded pre-conceptions of people and organisations…..though most of the time you are in fact, proved wrong.

Max

Good ol’ Nick

In Conservative Party, Elections, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, National Politics, Ramsay's F Word, Tories' Porkies on 5 January, 2010 at 11:11 am

Nick Clegg

 

Recent talks of what the Lib Dems would do in the event of a hung Parliament have got me thinking, what would we allow the Lib Dems in the event of a minority Labour Government following the general election next spring? Cetainly there will be greater and faster constitutional reform (as the Tories would probably not grant that part) and Nick Clegg and Vince Cable (at least) will be given Cabinet positions. But what else? Cameron’s claims that the two parties are more similar than ever is obviously utter rubbish really, I don’t mind the Lib Dems too much and cetainly think we are closer to them ideologically than the Tories.

So, what else do you think would they want in return for their support?

Max

The challenges and responsibilities that face the Labour Party over the next decade

In Conservative Party, Elections, Labour Party, National Politics on 5 January, 2010 at 12:59 am

Over the next decade the United Kingdom faces challenges of an extraordinary magnitude. Slowly, but surely limping out of the worst recession in living memory, this country must continue to modernise itself, as it has always done, in order to make itself fit for its time. In the spring of 2010 the people of the Britain will have a choice; whether to retain the Labour Party as their government, or to change to the Conservative government, a party whose ideals and policies deserve to remain where they belong – the past. It is our party’s duty to challenge the tried and failed dogma that the Conservative government so readily presents to the electorate.

However the manner in which the Labour Party goes about this will be vitally important to the future of our country. For I believe that to pursue the policy of mindless partisanship and class war against the Conservative Party will not only serve unsuccessfully for our party, but more importantly for the country. It is our duty to offer the citizens of this country a choice. We must continue to stand by the liberal, progressive principles on which the Labour Party is established on.

Robert Kennedy once said, ‘Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.’ I believe that it is these words that should drive and motivate us, as young people to deliver change and hope to a nation, which has suffered years of partisanship between the two main parties, and scores of broken promises. But we can be the generation that alters this status quo. I am convinced that there are many talented individuals from all racial, religious and economic backgrounds who can come together and make change happen, thus writing another illustrious chapter in the history of our country. Change can only happen if we embrace each other’s differences, celebrate the values we share. If we can do this, we will be able to create the sort of country we want.

The responsibility that we have is the direction that our country intends to move in the next decade. We must be ready to offer not only rhetoric, but solid policies to the British people. Progressive tax systems, a national care system for the elderly; education reforms, including raising the age of starting formal education to seven years old, and doing away with up-front fees for university students, replacing it with a graduate tax – these are just are some of the possible policies that the Labour Party should be presenting to the electorate. Only progressive, radical thinking will show the British people that we remain restless and eager for change. That although we are the party of the NHS, the minimum wage, equality legislation for minority groups, as well as so many other successes, we also seek to continue the reforms that we have often initiated. The work of the progressive liberal is never complete. We must not tire to challenge those who believe that change cannot happen.

Our country needs a political party who will stand up for people who think that all is lost. Whether they are Black, White, Indian, Pakistani; man, woman; young, old; poor or more affluent; gay, straight; disabled or not disabled; whether from England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, we need to show the people that we are the party of equality. That we are the party of diversity and fairness and ambition, and all the other inspirational values that this country shares. As was highly publicised last year, the expenses scandal affected British politics deeply; it is the job of all the main political parties to begin to rebuild the trust with the electorate. Never again should the House of Commons be so hideously undermined. This institution should be the foundations on which our democracy is built upon. It is essential that we make our politicians realise how much damage they have inflicted on our political system; we, in the Labour Party, must spearhead a decade of democratic empowerment to all our citizens, but especially those who feel they have already been forgotten – ethnic minorities, the working classes and young people.

However it is a mighty task, one that cannot be solved by any one person or programme, but by a collective and common effort. Our lives are too short; this should not be the time for hopelessness or austerity. This should not be the time for division and conservatism. What we need in this country is hope, a desire for change; Britain needs a government who is determined to all that is possible to make life better for its people. We, in the Labour Party, must be the bastions of the progressive and liberal advancement that our country will undoubtedly need, if it is to keep its place in the world.

BULS member, Callum Anderson

The gap of…credibility

In Conservative Party, Economy, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 5 January, 2010 at 12:38 am

Chancellor Darling’s £34bn “credibility gap” attack on the Tories. Blatant class war, spin or a dire warning to the British people (personally think the latter, lol).

Discuss.

Max

2009 economics summed up, quite brilliantly

In Conservative Party, Economy, Flip-flopping, Labour Party, Ramsay's F Word, Tories on 3 January, 2010 at 10:18 pm

I was reading through the Observer today and found an article from Will Hutton, that essentially summed up 2009 economically (find the main article here http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/03/uk-economic-recovery). The main points being if you can’t be bothered reading:

  • A booming stock market at the end of the year
  • The quickest ever unemployment fall in post-war history
  • Unemployment half a million less than it would’ve been under the Conservatives
  • Labour giving £5bn to Jobcentre Plus Network meaning 10,000 vacancies were found per day
  • The bank bail out and subsequent deficit being the only choice available at the time
  • With a potential Bank collapse had the Tory’s been in power

Max

So it begins….well for some

In Cameron, Conservative Party, Elections, Liberal Democrats, Ramsay's F Word, Tories, Tories' Porkies on 3 January, 2010 at 12:16 pm

Chris Riddell 03.01.10

Within a few days I know at least the Conservatives will be firing up their campaign for the 2010 election. There will be soon a vast forray of PR and soundbites from the blue camp, nothing new there. But we need to remember, as always, that this is a mask, despite pledges of NHS cash boost for most deprived areas and a “War Cabinet” (which pointed out by the Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw, would be rather pointless as Ministers often inform their shadows of events), there is always the same Tory party as also argued by  Liberal Democrat frontbencher Danny Alexander who said Mr Cameron “needs to be honest with people about his real priorities rather than simply parroting lines from spin doctors”.

How do we know this? Yes, there’s all the contradictory policies like the cartoon shows, but there is also the clear fact that, there never was any internal party upheval when “change” was implemented to the Conservative and Unionist Party, no internal struggles between the old and new factions. So take heed of this, only constant reminders can help the British public see though the smokescreen of PR.

Max