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No confidence

by maxattacks

This is just a quick post before bed (IMF, economists and the wider economy tomorrow, don’t worry). But unless I have been completely mislead, the Universities Minister, David Willetts has suffered a motion of ‘No confidence’ against him in Guild Council today.

Oh no! Not the University of Birmingham Guild of Students (ever so slightly sarcastically) you might say. But, do not underestimate the power of collective action. Moves against Willetts are happening all over the county with even his former University tutor following suit. So here we have it, a year into the Tory-lead Coalition and already two Ministers of suffered votes of ‘No confidence’ from influential organisations (correct me if I’m wrong on that particular point) with Willetts soon to follow.

It seems Vince Cable was right, the Coalition is clearly being too Moaist.

Max

Something we can agree upon

by maxattacks

It’s not exactly a secret that us in BULS have our, ahem, tad differences with David Cameron. But I personally like to make a point of mentioning areas and events we can agree on (and that is a rather event) and Cameron’s defence of the safeguarding of the international aid spending against the own right of his party particularly that of Defence Secretary, Liam Fox. Never should we balance the books on the back of the poorest people in the world, it is morally wrong and completely unjustifiable. To say other wise is a completely vile idea particularly when Liam Fox advocates this simply as ‘common sense’ which is nothing less than disgusting.

I also welcome Cameron’s pledge for immunisation 243 million children to keep with the millennium development child mortality goal. Far, far too often are third world deaths completely and utterly preventable and especially by such quick and easy means.

We should not be afraid to accept our similarities when they arise and so on this exceptionally rare occasion (and I mean exceptionally rare), thank you Cameron.

Max

BUCF AGM

by maxattacks

FYI

As I guess most people who read this blog wont pay much attention to our Tory opposites, BUCF who had their AGM yesterday.

The full results are as follows:

President: Rosie Anne Hatch

Vice-President: Emily Hidditch

Secretary: Christopher James

Treasurer: Edward Trafford

Publicity Officer: Owen V. Williams

Apart from Owen, this a completely brand new committee in the sense that none of them had had previous committee experience (not saying that’s a good or bad thing at all as the current BULS was in a similar position when we started back in January). On behalf of BULS I congratulate the new committee as we look forward to working with them particularly with the potential return of the inter-partisan pub crawl and BULS vs. the Coalition football match in the new academic year.

Max

Old news

by maxattacks

Right this had to be cleared up. As you probably know the Telegraph recently published leaked documents on Ed Balls’ role in the Gordon Brown’s camps attempt to oust Blair. It seems from the documents that Balls was a primary agitator in the attempts to demand a leaving date from Blair and presenting Brown as a Prime Minister in waiting……..well is any of this new? Of course not! Will it effect his ability to do his job as Shadow Chancellor? Again, of course not! Will it mean Balls will follow a similar path to his former master, Brown and attempt to oust Ed Miliband? Of course not as unlike Blair and Brown, Balls and Miliband actually ran against each other in the leadership election which was conclusively resolved (if you exclude disgruntled sore-loser supporters of David Miliband). And frankly, Labour is far beyond the petty squabbles of the Blair-Brown and is a largely united force unlike after losing power in the 1950s and 1980s. So all of this is totally irrelevant, we have moved on.

There’s also accusations that Balls alongside Brown ignored warnings and continued spending increases well above inflation and so further created a deficit before the crash of 2008. Come off it! These claims were directed around the year of 2006….when Balls was merely a back-bench MP. Of course you have to remember this is coming from the Telegraph and these claims have jumped on by particularly Michael Gove. This is all very well, but Gove fails to mention that Gideon was committed rigorously to Labour’s spending plans up until the 2008 crash and that on the eve of the 2008 crash Brown had a lower deficit than he had inherited back in 1997 as Chancellor.

Max

The Chav is the word.

by maxattacks

First off, incredibly sorry for the lack of blogging lately. Exams and all that are finally over for nearly of all of us in BULS so normal blogging is now commencing.

Anyway, sorry if you’re not her biggest fan but Poly Toynbee did probably a brilliant article on the rise of the Chav. She points out that this in fact a derogatory term, a term of class-hate and despite the hate it ensues it is an acceptable word unlike other hate terms such as “paki”, “nigger” and “faggot”. Now this disregard for the supposed “under-class” has been going on for around thirty years unchecked (thank you Maggie) and is probably best symbolised through the rise of the “benefit-scrounger”. But benefit fraud is a major threat to society isn’t it though? No, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) latest figures shows that benefit fraud (including so-called “benefit scrounging”) costs the tax payers £1.6 billion. Now not only does this merely account to 0.7% of the benefits bill but it is literally a drop in the ocean compared to the estimated £70 billion which is lost each year through tax avoidance (mainly through the financial sector). It’s only when you realise this that it becomes apparent that despite what the Daily Mail and Express and the Jeremy Kyle show might say it, “benefit scroungers” are the very least of our worries.

So when ever you hear the word Chav being used please don’t accept the term and be critical as yes, there has always been a problem with benefit fraud throughout the Welfare state’s history. But when it becomes apparent that the problems have been shifted on to a comparatively non-issue, you know we’ve got deeper problems.

Max

A congratulations is in order

by maxattacks

Justine and Ed Miliband

Now sorry for the lack of blogging lately, we have all been massively pre-occupied with exams and the like. I myself will commence normal blogging levels after the 3rd June or so.

But anyway, I’m sure everyone in BULS and the wider political spectrum wishes Ed and Justine the very best in their marriage and wish that they have a long and happy life together.

Max

You know what they say about blokes with big guns

by maxattacks

Hey ho! Just a quick blog as a break from revision (how committed am I!).

Anyways, today was announced that the Trident renewal is to go ahead, which if you know me well enough is the biggest waste of money since Chelsea bought Torres for £50 million (still only scored a single goal for those who are not that football literate). This is not the Cold-war era; there are no two major rival super-powers. And for those who claim that we cannot know the future, well if you distrust the future, if you treat nation-states with suspicion, then distrust and suspicion is what you’ll receive.

Yes, the nuclear arms have acted as a deterrent for now, but you know what’s a far far better deterrent? Not having the means to deter either side in the first place. Here’s another way of putting it, I’ve never had crack cocaine for breakfast, one because I would never take crack cocaine, but more importantly, I don’t keep it in my fridge. Equally, my slaves have never initiated a violent and bloody uprising by simply not having slaves.  It’s like a deterrent, only safer and a hell of a lot cheaper.

One problem I also have with the whole deterrent idea is that if one nation does launch its missiles, there’s no one all. If one side launches their missiles, what will you gain by indiscriminately achieve by killing millions of people you’ve never met?

Trident is political not military tool as expressed by most high ranking Generals. And you know what they say about blokes with big guns…….I’ll leave those thoughts with you.

Max

The AV result

by maxattacks

02.05.2011: Martin Rowson on the electoral reform vote

First off. I’d like to point that I respect the decision of the people of Britain in a resounding ‘No’ vote to AV. It’s a shame further electoral reform has been buried for a century, but I’m not a Lib Dem so I’ll get over it. But, I would like to explain why ‘No’ won.

The primary reason for a ‘No’ victory was Clegg’s insistence in holding the referendum on the same day as local elections across England, the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Irish Assembly elections. Because of this the people regarded the referendum as one on Clegg rather than a change to the voting system, consequently, due to Clegg’s unpopularity the referendum could have never been won. The coinciding with the local elections was further capitalised on by the ‘No to AV’ campaign, blatantly spreading personal attacks on the Lib Dems and more specifically Clegg himself. Admittedly, I myself am not the Lib Dems biggest fan any more and the ‘Yes’ side was not perfect either in the campaigning, but the Tories completely refusing to discredit the personal attacks which only gave them legitimacy.

This was because the ‘No to AV’ campaign, despite all the publicity of its Labour supporters, was in effect another Tory ‘No to AV’ group and any attempt to deny this is just misguided. The ‘No to AV’ group was 90% funded by Conservative donors and famously in areas of London ‘Labour No to AV’ leaflets had to be withdrawn because of printing at the bottom that read “produced by the Conservative party”. The ‘No to AV’ campaign went even further down the line than merely personal attacks, they also went on a blatant lying spree with famously the £250 million and vote counting machines claim. The reason why we now no this was a blatant lie was because prominent Labour supporter of ‘No to AV’, David Blunket, actually admitted that the £250 million claim was a figure they plucked out of the air. Now while it was a blatant lie (coupled with the “If you vote Yes this baby/soldier will die” lie) it was an effective lie.

This then leads finally onto the effectiveness of the ‘Yes’ campaign which was nothing less than a shambles. There was no coherent and simple message to sell to the British people and their entire campaign group was made up of Lib Dems and a number of charities, with the former being only good at localised, targeted campaigns.

But anyway, electoral reform is now buried for another century, it was good while it lasted, but it’s time to move on.

Max

The pains of my inner Scot

by maxattacks

If you’re confused by the title of this blog, my last name is Ramsay, the same as famous Scot, Gordon Ramsay. But anyway to say that the Labour result in Scotland was nothing less than disastrous is completely misplaced. It’s not the fact that we did badly that bothers me personally, it’s rather the fact that around 9 months ago Labour was well placed to re-establish themselves as the largest party in Holyrood.

This is primarily the fault of Ian Gray and without a doubt, he will have to go as leader by the end of the week. But, we must not leave out the Scottish and National Labour party. We were complacent, I know I certainly was, everyone assumed we would easily win back Edinburgh, but we didn’t count on the effectiveness of Salmond’s SNP campaign which did strike a progressive and positive tone. This is in stark contrast to Scottish Labour’s negativity.

If there’s one thing we can learn from Scotland, negative, attacking politics doesn’t work. The only time Labour succeeds electorally (1945, 1964 and 1997 nationally and 1999 in Scotland and Wales) so this is something we will need to replicate nation-wide.

Max

Vote Labour and Yes

by maxattacks

Today you have a chance to achieve two significant outcomes. First, if you believe the First Past The Post voting system no longer works and is completely indefensible then please vote ‘Yes’ in the referendum today for fairer votes and an end to tactical voting and wasted votes. Please do not base the AV referendum on petty party politics of Clegg/Cameron/Miliband.  Please leave that for the local elections, the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament elections as that is true place to tell the Coalition that they are cutting too far and too fast and to give you a voice in tough times through the Labour party.

Max

The problem with listening

by maxattacks

Chris Riddell 10 April 2011

If there’s one thing politicians need to do above all else is listen. Listen to experts, listen to other opinions irrespective of political allegiance and most importantly of all, listen to the people. Naturally then, I do welcome the pause in the break to the NHS reforms to allow Ministers to listen. Now, I’m not going to go onto the NHS reforms themselves as I’ve mentioned them enough on previous blogs. But, what I will blog about is the listening exercise itself.

After the Royal College of Nurses voted in favour in a vote of no confidence on Andrew Lansley a few days ago, the Health Minister claimed “I’m sorry if what I’m setting out to do hasn’t communicated itself…Listening to the vote this morning, if I’ve not got that message across then I apologise.”. Usually, I welcome apologises. Rather than showing a sign of ‘weakness’ they actually show a sign of humility and maturity. However, this so-called ‘failure to communicate’ is nothing less than patronising. What this is really saying is that we have failed to simplify the argument enough for you to understand, but we are still right and you are completely wrong. This don’t forget was just after 99% of delegates at the Royal College of Nurses conference deciding to vote in favour in a motion of no confidence in Lansley.

If the Health Minister is truly arrogant enough to believe that the Royal College of Nurses are too stupid enough to understand his proposals, he really has another thing coming.

Max

So much to talk about

by maxattacks

Apologises for the lack of  blogging lately. Been rather busy with essays, football match against BUCF (kinda) and general stuff back up north. Anyway, in that time there have been HUGE events in which I’d like to focus on. The NHS reforms (naturally), Portugal bail-out (naturally again) and University Minister, David Willetts, on Feminism.

First off, all I have to say on the NHS reforms is, thank god! No one wants these reforms. The BMA opposes it, the Lib Dems oppose it, 60% of GPs oppose the reforms and none other than Lord Tebbit opposes the reforms. If your too right-wing for Lord Tebbit, you know your policies have huge issues. Ian Duncan-Smith (IDS) even admitted that waiting times were already rising due to real term cuts to the NHS. Lansley has been hung out to dry by Cameron, lets only hope his reforms can also, permanently.

Now, naturally with the announcement of the bail-out for Portugal, Gideon jumped on the austerity bandwagon to claim that the cuts were right to prevent a similar situation occurring here in the UK. But if you stop, think and compare us, Portugal and other nation-states that have been bailed out you’ll see that this isn’t the case. For one thing, it’s important to note that prior to the bail-out, Portugal had had two austerity measures and three rises in VAT. Similarly, Ireland had been praised by the IMF in 2008 for “courageous” action for its austerity measures in an attempt to deal with its deficit. This naturally says something more about the problems of austerity than the problems of deficit/debt. For another thing, to say that Britain’s economy is anyway similar to Portugal’s/Ireland’s/Greece’s is absolutely ludicrous. We for one have a far, far larger economy than that of those countries, we have far more time to pay back our debts and most plainly of all, we’re not in the Euro so we can devalue our currency raise and lower interest rates. So please Gideon, don’t jump on the scaremongering bandwagon.

Finally, probably the least well known of the issues I’m focusing on is David Willetts’ comments on Feminism. Now, if you’ve been living in a cave the last couple of weeks what he said was that feminism was the “single biggest factor” for the lack of social mobility in Britain, as women who would otherwise have been housewives had taken university places and well-paid jobs that could have gone to ambitious working-class men. Now this is wrong and completely degrading on so many levels. Don’t get me wrong, Labour really didn’t do enough to tackle social mobility while in government. But feminism is in no way the cause of the problem. The true problem is the lack of aspiration from schools and deprived regions of the country to want young people to aim higher and also the problems of money that entail that. These comments also leave a more distasteful message. It is the assumption that women are out there, taking men’s jobs. Willets’ idea that women’s primary place is in the domestic household represents nothing less than a subliminal form of sexism. This is only exacerbated when he went onto excuse his comments with “It is not that I am against feminism,”.

This hasn’t been a good couple of weeks for the coalition.

Max

Yes to fairer votes!

by maxattacks

It’s official, Birmingham University Labour Students (BULS) has decided to support “Yes” in the upcoming AV referendum. Yes, our priority will still be the local elections, but BULS will provide information for those wishing to support ‘Yes to fairer votes’. Obviously, we can’t stop BULS campaigning for a “No” vote on a personal level.

But either way, onward to fairer votes!

Max

Just a very quick note

by maxattacks

Just a very quick break from my essay to indulge you with a little bit of information.

The BBC’s Stephanie Flanders has discovered that the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) is barred from testing alternative scenarios, so the government hopes no one will find out.

Is the Coalition scared of the OBR proving them wrong? From this it seems so…and now back to essay.

Oh and the best of luck for those going on the ‘March for the Alternative’ tomorrow in London! Do BULS proud!

Max

Bring it

by maxattacks

I don’t often blog on events, never mind upcoming ones. But, given this is literally a complete and utter first, I thought I’d just like to mention that the University of Birmingham will play host to its first ever Inter Partisan Pub Crawl. That’s right, BULS will be pitted against BUCF, UBLDY (Lib Dem Youth) and Take back Parliament Society (well it is a Lib Dem organised event after all). The event can be found here (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168183629896915). We will be meeting at Joe’s for 8pm.

If you want to psyche yourself up for the big occasion, here’s a little inspiration:

Don’t forget to wear your finest red as BULS fights for pride as the new political society for students.

Max

Hold on a minute

by maxattacks

Anyone who knows me knows that I have (at least until recently) taken very little interest in regards to the inner workings of the Guild and Guild Council. But unfortunately, becoming Vice-Chair of a prominent student society means that you kind of have to take an interest. Consequently, I have come across two totally obscene motions for Guild Council this Tuesday.

Before I get onto them, anyone who knows me well enough knows that I don’t take a particular side on the whole Israel-Palestine conflict, I’m equally not a friend of Israel as I’m not a Friend of Palestine. Consequently, I’m very glad the Guild of Students has a motion to renew its policy on not having a position on the whole conflict, so before I become quite peed off, there’s a note of positivism.

The first is a motion to fund £600 of Guild money to send off 3 delegates to attend a Holocaust Education Trust trip to Auschwitz each year. Now don’t get me wrong, the Holocaust is an event in history that should never be forgotten, it signifies the very essence of contempt and hatred for other races and different people literally on an industrial scale. I also humbly attended the Holocaust memorial day in January which I give much credit to Joseph Moses for organising. But consequently, why are we not paying for delegates to go to Rwanda, Armenia, Assyria, Greece, Dersim and Burundi? They are just as equally as significant are they not? This is not to mention £600 at a time when the Guild budget will probably be cut, that means, not only services at the Guild will be cut but also wider Societies will loose out. Yes, the Holocaust is important and should be remembered, but shouldn’t every other in genocide in turn?

The second and far more worrying motion is one that is without a doubt, a knee-jerk reaction to the events last January with Mike  Prynser. This was something that was raised a huge amount at the last Campaigning and Political Mini-Forum in which myself and Oli Cosentino attended. Effectively, if a speaker is approved by the Guild and the University itself (including our very own Vice-Chancellor, David Eastwood) with the full background checks by the respective society, the Guild and University, but, then essentially gos hay-wire (so to speak), the respective society will take the blame. Now, don’t forget, background checks are made sufficiently and they prove to be ok it is given the total go ahead. But, if something does go wrong, consequently, through no fault of its own, the society will be the scapegoat. This will mean a major loss of trust between societies and the wider Guild if this goes through.

I urge Guild Councillors to vote against these two particular motions!

Max

The deficit blame game

by maxattacks

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the biggest fan of the Head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, but I do recognise he still know (at the very least) a fair bit about the economy. Now one of the reasons why there has been such little apathy or support for the cuts so far is that the Coalition has been always been able to simply say “Well we are just cleaning up the mess left by the previous Labour government.” which I can say if repeated as often as they do say, does make an impact and it does stick with you. But, that may well about to change.

Although he supports the Coalition’s current policies to cut the deficit (which I’ll disagree with, rightly so), he also over last weekend during the Tory’s spring conference in Wales stated that the real reason for the deficit was in fact not because of the last Labour government. Rather, like what we have been saying for the past two and a half years it was the fault of the banks and more stingingly of all that the action taken to address the financial crisis, in 2008 and 2009, “prevented a repetition of the Great Depression”.

Yes that’s right, the Governor of the Bank of England stated that 1. the deficit is not the fault of the last Labour government and 2. the economic stimulus was the right thing to do. If you’ve watched Question Time result over the last few weeks, the ‘deficit blame game’ is really not working.

Max

Use your vote!

by maxattacks

Voting has opened and will be open until 4pm this Friday for all 7 Sabbatical and 8 Non-Sabbatical Officer positions. You can view each candidates’ manifesto www.guildofstudents.com/elections . We wish all the candidates the best of luck and more importantly, use your vote!! All it takes is to go to www.my.bham.ac.uk and then follow the link, simples!

Max

Barnsley result

by maxattacks

Dan Jarvis reacts to victory

It was without a doubt Labour was going to win the Barnsley Central by-election, but what wasn’t known was the margin and the performance of the other parties. The results are as follows for those who don’t know:

Labour-60.8% (47.3% in 2010)

UKIP-12.19% (4.7%)

Conservative-8.25% (17.3%)

BNP-6.04% (8.9%)

Independent (Tony Devoy)-5.23% (1.6%)

Liberal Democrat-4.18% (17.3%)

This represents nothing less than a whitewash for the Lib Dems, second place to sixth and losing their deposit is nothing less than humiliating. The Tories fared little better losing around half of their support. Yes, Labour was always going to win this seat, but what we have here is resoundingly bloody brilliant win as public opinion ever so gradually begins to swing against the Coalition.

Max

The case for AV

by maxattacks

As I noticed on the BUCF blog today, they have made their position clear on the upcoming referendum, no guesses what side. Now this is the first nation-wide referendum since the 1975 referendum on whether the UK should stay in the EEC, but, BULS officially doesn’t have an opinion on the matter. Now unlike the Lib Dems Youth Society and BUCF, BULS is a far broader church in regards to electoral reform with all forms of voting being supported by individual members, FPTP, AV, AV+ and STV. However, I’m pleased to officially announce that this may well change, as on (probably) the 24th March BULS will have an internal debate and vote on the direction of support for the referendum with “Yes”, “No” and “Neither” being BULS’ final decision on the referendum (ironically using an AV system). This blog is where I’ll put the case for a “Yes” vote for BULS.

One of the great myths of AV is that it fails to produce strong and stable governments. If you look to Australia  and its AV system since 1910 there have been only two hung Parliaments, 1940 and 2010. Comparing this to the UK’s FPTP system where we have had hung Parliaments twice in 1910, 1929, February 1974 and 2010, not to forget almost hung Parliaments in 1950, 1964 and October 1974. While in Canada where they also use FPTP, there are more less permanent hung Parliaments.

The second is that people who vote for minor parties get two votes, which simply fails to acknowledge one of the simple aspects of AV. Candidates who are eliminated also have any first preference votes they received eliminated also. So no, people can’t vote twice.

And thirdly is that AV is not tried and tested unlike FPTP. For those in the “No” camp from the Tory party who fail to remember that AV (or at least a similar form of it) was used in the 2005 leadership election and if FPTP had been used, David Davis would have been elected leader of the Conservative party. AV is also used to elect people in charities, businesses, trade unions and even MPs electing their speaker. Hypocrisy is consequently laid bare for some politicians and political party members who oppose the referendum.

AV represents a change to end tactical voting, MPs appealing to a narrow section of their constituents and wasted votes. I’ll be voting “Yes” on March the 24th and May the 5th, I hope you can do the same on at least the latter.

Max

p.s. This is my 200th blog(!) making ‘Ramsay’s F Word’ the largest single category on the BULS website!

AV? To you sir – I say ‘Meh’

by maxattacks

Meh. This is what I think to AV. After much consideration, I can’t help but feel a simple shrug of the shoulders is the best option.  I can see both the attractions and the downsides of changing the system but at the end of the day, for me, the timing is just wrong and promises about the new system could end up falling flat. A more proportional system is a great idea, but i say meh for two reasons.

One is the fact that, for once, Nick Clegg was in fact right when he called AV a ‘measly little compromise’. Why bother if you’re not going to go the whole hog? I actually don’t think AV will change our ‘culture of politics’ that much, still tending to leave us with a majority Labour or Conservative government, with the Lib Dems maybe being in with more of a shout at entering government  but with other small parties still essentially  not really factoring into it. The Electoral Reform Society has demonstrated how the election would have worked out had it been done under an AV system and, well, the result would have essentially been the same (http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/blog/?p=36) only fewer seat for the Tories and more for Labour and the Lib Dems.

Also, declaring that it will change politics is dangerous as when it doesn’t, politicians will only have disappointed us and it will simply be chalked up as yet another false promise from politicians to the people and do MPs really need another one of those?

Another thing is, well, isn’t the UK already going through enough of a transformation without adding this onto it? This is the main reason I am slightly meh towards it – now is not the time. The main debate is still on the economy and Conservative led cuts, which is where it ought to stay. Right now, people are far more concerned about the state of the economy and how secure their jobs are to be interested in the arguments regarding the way we vote; by the way I’m not saying people can’t cope with it, I’m saying people don’t want to hear it, big difference.

Labour need to be showing that there’s an alternative in the economic argument; we now have a shadow Chancellor that even I can see, being in another country, the Tories are scared of and when the Conservative- led government have already been in power for 9 months (yes it really has been that long …) and are STILL using the argument that problems with the economy are all Labours fault, people will quickly begin to tire of this and want action, looking to Labour to provide new and fresh policies which prove we are on their side, not to a party bickering about the voting system.

So, yeah. Meh to AV.

By Hannah Johnson, BULS member

New BULS logo

by maxattacks

Today, Birmingham University Labour Students (BULS) decided upon a new logo. And this is it. Designed by the new Secretary Oliver Cosentino it is a huge improvement over the old badge. This will give (hopefully) a more cutting edge and modern image to BULS.

Now there are going to be a number of variations of this logo. On the right of the website, we have the white background alternative which suits the website better, we have the enlarged rose one used on our twitter page and of course a banner style version of the logo which we’ll show as soon as we can.

It’s also worthwhile noting that today the new committee was signed up (quite literally). With a new generation taking charge of BULS and a new dawn breaking (you get the rest), I’m very pleased to say…..the best is still yet to come.

Max

Stagflation?

by maxattacks

Growth stalling, inflation rising and unemployment rising, for all the Tories comparison themselves and 1979 coming in “to clean up Labour’s mess”, it seems this government more reflects the 1970s than did Labour. Now, in BULS we’re wise enough to recognise that this ‘stagflation’ is not due to the cuts (as they are still yet to take fully effect yet) but rather the ending of Darling’s economic stimulus.

Up until the growth figures came out last month I personally very much doubted that the UK would actually slip into a full blown double-dip recession, but rather ‘bump along the bottom’. Since these figures have been produced, I fear there is a very good chance now. If this continues and even if worsens when the cuts bite (which I have a feeling they will do) Labour will have the sad duty of saying “don’t say we didn’t warn you” as throughout the election we campaigned to keep investment in the economy until 2011. But, I hope for the sake of the people of Britain, that day never comes.

Max

Wolverhampton Labour

by maxattacks

It was only very recently brought to my attention that the West Midlands Labour Students region has the honour of welcoming another Labour Students Club to its ranks. The University of Wolverhampton (or Wolverhampton University, not sure which) Labour Students. This brand spanking new society has already received under a 100(!) new members even though only being set up in December. That is nothing less that phenomenal work.

WULS (like BULS, a shortened name) like us has set up their own website (http://wolveslabourstudents.wordpress.com/) which we as the only Labour Students blog to reach the Top 100 Total Politics Labour blogs of 2010 will encourage and nurture. Ultimately, recent ties we have made will help create the great ‘West Midlands Network’ Chair-elect, Dan Harrison, is so keen to create with the already advertising event of an International Women’s day event in early March (me thinks) at Wolverhampton University.

We wish them best of luck and hope to work closely alongside our comrades in Wolverhampton.

Max

Not another CRB check

by maxattacks

As being someone who has regularly worked with and volunteered for children organisations (Beaver Scouts, Young Amateur Swimming Clubs, etc) you would have thought I’d be over the moon with the Coalition’s plan to reduce checks to child workers. But what you’ll find is something rather mixed.

After completing countless CRB clearances for numerous organisations I do recognise the sheer scale of requirements needed, at times it really is just excessive. But, as much as I like the idea of removing so-called “red-tape” I’m equally aware of the present dangers this entails. Unlike buisnesses that complain about “red tape”, the importance of this “red tape” everyone should hold in a much higher importance given the potential dangers of child abuse.

It’s like when you go through security at an airport, yes it’s tedious, yes it takes forever and yes bits here and there are a tad unnecessary, but you feel a lot safer once you are in the air. The same is for CRB checks, yes bits are a bit unnecessary, but overall as the old saying says “It’s better to be safe than sorry.”.

Max

Beginning to see the light

by maxattacks

Like most in BULS, I for one have lost a lot of respect for the Liberal Democrats for numerous reasons. But as of yesterday, some faith has been restored. Nothing short of 90 Liberal Democrat Councillors of which 18 are leaders of local authorities wrote into the Times criticising the Coalition of the pace of the cuts.

Lib Dem Communities Minister Andrew Stunell had the cheek to urge his party members not to “fall out” over “pointless debate”. A “pointless debate”! There is nothing “pointless” about the Governments austerity programme. You may believe it is the right course of action, but this is so far from “pointless”.

This also feeds into a wider reality of Coalition of hypocrisy, the creation of the “Big Society” (however much a nice idea it may be) amongst a deep austerity programme. This is most symbolised in the scrapping of many libraries up and down the country which are bastions of localism.

Today my faith in one section of the Coalition was (ever so) partially restored; the same can probably never be said for the other section.

Max

Granted it’s a slight improvement

by maxattacks

Now here in BULS we are willing to give credit where credit is due, however slight it is. The Coalition has recently decided to raise the bank levy to £2.5 billion, up by £800 million. However, this is still not enough despite the improvement as the banks still face a tax cut of around a £1 billion when compared to the bankers bonus tax last year and that’s not even including the cut in corporation tax which means even with the bank levy the banks break even.

I’d also like to tackle the issue or argument that if you tax the banks too much they will move abroad. Well if you make it explicitly clear that this levy is just merely for the Parliament, even if the corporation tax cut doesn’t include the banks and the levy is higher, banks are not going to move abroad given they know it’s just for one Parliament, i.e. five years. So need to get into a big fuss.

Max

Lib Dems

by maxattacks

FYI:

Lib Dem AGM was held this evening and the results are as follows:

Chair- Will Mieville-Hawkins (carrying on from last year)

Vice-Chair- David Franklin

Secretary- Matthew Key

Treasurer- Oliver Ingamells

BULS hopes to work with the new Lib Dem committee, particularly with the upcoming football tournament.

Hope endures

by maxattacks

It was never going to win, but an attempt to repeal Obama’s healthcare reforms passed last year have been squandered in the Senate. This has to be Obama’s pivotal piece of legislation, whatever its flaws it represented a true change in the American Health Care system which over the past few decades its cost has spiral out of control with Insurance companies dictating more and more over who is granted such care. Despite all their attacks that this would sap any resources the Federal Reserves might have left, it is important to note that prior to the legislation, America was spending twice as much on Healthcare as a percentage of GDP than we do, any move towards a system more like the NHS, theoretically at least, is going to be cheaper.

I do hope one day Republicans will look back and have the humility to accept their dogged attempts to prevent around 40 million Americans receiving proper healthcare was nothing less than disgraceful.

Max

Come off it Dave

by maxattacks

This is an issue that’s very close to our hearts and many hearts of those in Birmingham University. It was revealed by the Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8274663/Row-over-hike-in-university-vice-chancellors-pay.html)  that the University of Birmingham’s very own Vice-Chancellor, David Eastwood, was, including pension contributions, paid £392,000 last year. That’s right, nearly £400,000 a year! Not only that, this is (I think) twice as much as the Prime Minister is paid and it is also a 11% rise on the year before. 11%!! Now after proposing the new fees system that makes 77% of students worse off (that’s official numbers coming from the Institute of Fiscal Studies after much “number crunching”), he is has the audacity to award this astronomical pay rise. This is in contrary to budget cuts the University has made even long before the Browne Review in the Humanities departments and many of the lower paid staff (correct me if I’m wrong on this one) receiving a 1% pay rise. But with inflation rising this equates to a rather substantial cut.

Now I accept Eastwood can’t stop the imminent cuts coming from the government to the Higher Education budget and I accept Vice-Chancellors should be paid a decent wage (so to speak) for their job. But at least have the grace to truly be “all in this together” and stop this obscene display of out-of-touchness (if you get what I mean) with the rest of the student population at whole. It won’t stop the cuts either way, but the message is blatantly and strikingly clear David Eastwood. Make your choice for 2011.

Max Ramsay, Vice-Chair-elect

MP numbers

by maxattacks

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for reducing the expense of Parliament, or in fact any government funded institution as long it is not to the detriment of it’s ability to provide the service, except under special circumstances. So originally during the general election campaign last year one of the few things Cameron argued for that I could agree with was cutting the number of MPs by 10%. However, after a few months of thought and all this talk of the “new” politics that I began to have my own doubts over the issue. To establish a “new” politics is not to change the institutions and systems of government (although I’d like to see that as well), but rather the mannerisms, tone and attitude that it is carried out in.

The peak of this was without doubt the expenses scandal, which after years of gradual erosion of trust for politics the public were finally convinced of politics’ corruption and inabilities. However, the expenses scandal was merely just the final heavy straw on years of building perception that MPs were not engaging with their constituents and their general over the top behaviour in the House of Commons. Now don’t get me wrong, their are many MPs that do in fact engage with constituents to voice their opinions and grievances such as, Gisela Stuart in Edgbaston, Steve McCabe in Selly Oak, my own home MP, Lindsay Hoyle in Chorley and I’m sure many more MPs whatever their political party allegiance. But many MPs in safe seats don’t pull their weight.

So to get to the point, cutting MP numbers will actually rather create a “new” politics will result in a more out of touch politics. People need to see their MPs at local events, at local surgery’s and most importantly, on their doorstep and cutting the number is not going to help that one bit.

By Max Ramsay, Vice-Chair-elect

AGM result

by maxattacks

The positions are as follows:

Chair-elect: Dan Harrison

Vice-Chair-elect: Max Ramsay

Secretary-elect: Oliver Cosentino

Treasurer-elect: Kieran O’Halloran

Website Editor-elect: Simon Furse

Communications Officer-elect: Luke Jones

Editor of Social Resources’ roles and responsibilities will be distributed between Website Editor and Communications Officer. The caucus’ for Women’s, LGBTQ, Disabled and BME Officers will be held at a later date.

Now hopefully the new committee can get BULS going again and congratulations to all!

Double dip?

by maxattacks

I’ve never studied economics before

Now, I’ve never really been one for thinking that the government’s austerity programme would actually throw the UK back into a double dip recession. What was always my belief, and the belief of many others is that the economy would merely ‘bump along the bottom’ and have only a bit of growth and then begin to take off a few years down the line. What has happened and very unfortunately is that growth in the final quarter of 2010 actually contracted by 0.5%. That’s right, the economy shrank by 0.5%.

Now unlike the Tories during the recession in 2008 and 2009 I accept there is more to this than merely blaming the government of the day. The global economy is still in a very fragile state (something we argued during the general election) and the severe weather during December will have played it’s part. But, this is where my sympathy falls short. One of the biggest contributor’s to the contraction was the construction industry, shrinking by 3.3%(!). And why is this you may ask? Well, of course one of the major reasons was the ‘Emergency Budget’ and the scrapping of the Building Schools for the Future.

It seems the Tory-led Coalition seems completely incapable of realising the links between the public and private sector. If you cancel contracts, it will hit the private sector. If you do little to tackle the slowly rising unemployment, then where will the demand for the private sector come from? And if you think this is the end of if, you’re in for a disappointment, as soon the true effects of the savage cuts of the Comprehensive Spending Review will begin the to bite the real economy.

Britain is still not fully in recession yet, as two quarters of contraction are needed for that. But, if a full recession comes to pass next April then the Coalition will have no option to change course and re-think it’s economic strategy. While we in BULS and Labour as a whole will have the sad duty of saying “We told you so.”. But let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.

Max

Labour now has the Balls

by maxattacks

Chris Riddell 23 January 2011

Now, I’m not going to focus on Alan Johnson, Suzy has already dealt with that, but I just like to say he’ll be surely missed from the front-line politics.

Anyway, we move onto Johnson’s successor, Ed Balls. Now to many Tories, they will regard this as a late Christmas present. The well oiled Tory party machine has already been making well-directed attacks towards Gordon Brown’s former chief economic’s adviser and playing at his past which was so intertwined with the Blair-Brown feud. Yes, Balls was a major figure during the feuds, but as a wise Baboon once said “Oh yes, de past can hurt. But the way I see it you can either run from it, or learn from it.” (the wise Baboon being Rafiki from the Lion King……..BULS draws wisdom from many walks of life). Yes, Balls’ part in the feud was far from his finest hour and many of the economic policies did contribute to the financial crisis (will come back to the latter part later). But, this is a time for Balls in particular to shape his own image and reputation. As Shadow Chancellor, with his deep knowledge of economics, he will be able to establish at least a broad thinking idea of Labour’s alternative and most likely rip Gideon to shreds in the process (I particularly like the idea of the latter).

With growth beginning to slow, inflation and unemployment rising, there has been no better time to be an “attack dog”. But the Tory-led Coalition is quick point out the failures of economic policy Labour made. We did make great progress under ‘New’ Labour, but we also made grave mistakes. But, to counter the Tory-party machine, we do need strong responses in order as well as humility about our record. When Cameron (or indeed anyone) criticises Labour failing to regulate the banks, quote back Gideon and Cameron’s years of calling for further de-regulation. And when Cameron claims Labour’s spending caused the deficit, don’t forget to remind them that Conservative spending policies before the 2008 crash would have rigidly stuck to Labour’s. The Tory-lead Coalition’s deceit cannot last forever and hopefully, Ed Balls can dispel the rhetoric as soon as.

Max

AGM update

by maxattacks

Just so you’ll have no excuses, the 2011 Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held in the Amos Room of the Guild Building on this Tuesday (25th) at 5pm. It is reported that BULS will go for  traditional curry (and most likely drinks after…at the Goose).

The roles and their duties can be found on the “Future Events” section. Here is a list of all the positions and the people who have publicly announced their intent to stand so far (there are few others, but they have not publicly announced so BULS respects their right not to be revealed).

Chair:

  • Dan Harrison

Vice-Chair:

  • Max Ramsay

Secretary:

  • Oliver Cosentino

Treasurer:

  • Kieran O’Halloran

Communications Officer:

  • Luke Jones

Website Editor:

Editor of Social Resources:

Women’s Officer:

LGBTQ Officer:

Disabled Officer:

BME Officer:

Hope to see as many of you as possible there!

Adios EMA

by maxattacks

And so it has now been confirmed after a final last ditch attempt in the House of Commons this evening, EMA is to be axed. Another broken promise from Cam/Clegg putting another nail in the nearly sealed coffin of the aspirations of the young people in this country. Already, the tripling of tuition fees will mean that those from poorer backgrounds won’t be able to go to university. Now, after the scrapping of EMA, those in this same group who may have been unsure if they could afford the cost of university won’t even be able to afford to stay on and learn at college or sixth form. It’s nothing short of disgraceful that the futures of our younger generation have been shot down in this way in just over 8 months. The good work of the last Labour government undone so quickly and with such little consideration as to the consequences it will have for them, the future of this country.

One of the reasons I’m Labour is that I recognise that the initiatives set up such as EMA and Aimhigher meant that I was able to go to this great university. I honestly don’t think I’d be here without them. I received EMA while I was studying my A-Levels a few years ago. I had no choice but to go to an inner city college 4 miles away from my house. My school’s sixth form closed down while I was there because the demand was so low for it. I was left with the cost of transport to pay, which was about £40 a month. I had the other expenditures such as stationery and food to consider on top of that which soon adds up, trust me! The argument by this government, that somehow this money is being wasted by students, just doesn’t wash with me I’m afraid. There was very little left over for to be spent on ‘social costs’ or whatever else they want to think it is spent on. I understand this may not be the case for everyone receiving EMA but the vast majority of students need this money to stay on and study. For me, and like with so many others, the simple fact was my parents wouldn’t have been able to help me out financially. So to put it bluntly, I would have been a bit buggered. Come the summer, so many will now be.

And on today of all days, the final decision comes: on the same day that the worst 16-17 unemployment figures are released since records began. A staggering 1/3 of young people in this age group are out of work, with the story being far gloomier in certain parts of the country. The shocking reality is that this will only get worse thanks to the abolishment of EMA coupled with the tuition fee rise. More young people will be condemned to the dole queue with such low prospects for the future. This is not how the government should be treating the next set of workers and great contributors to our economy. Labour gave the younger generation like me a leg up but, sadly, today this Tory-led government have decided to push them all back down to the ground.

Oliver Cosentino

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it

by maxattacks

Now, I’m not usually one for using conservative language, but in regards to the new NHS reforms, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Now of course we all remember the famous airbrushed poster of DC and his pledge for a real terms increase in the NHS budget and no top down reorganisations which were both broken. Now if you thought this was bad enough, this bill coming into parliament is something more deeply disturbing.

For a start, shifting the £80 billion budget onto GPs is just something clompletely ludicrous, no patient wants their GP to be distracted from their real task of helping their patients. But, sadly enough, it goes deeper than that. For the first time in it’s entire existance, the NHS will be subject to EU competition law, that’s right, subject to competition law. The NHS is a service, it is literally in the name, nothing less. When it comes to people lives and health it´s intrinsically wrong to have price competition to ordain which sevices live or die.

Labour made huge improvements in the NHS over 13 years in government. Yes, it is still far from perfect, but these reforms could well destroy the Coalition. But this is what can happen when you gamble with people’s lives and health.

Max

Oldham results

by maxattacks

Ed Miliband out campaigning with victorious Labour candidate Debbie Abrahams

Well the results are in and yes, the most important point of the night, Labour has kept Oldham red. With a 48% turnout (down on May’s 61%) the results are as follows:

Labour – 42.1% of the vote (31.9% in May)

Liberal Democrats – 31.9% (31.6%)

Conservatives – 12.8% (26.4%)

UKIP – 5.8% (3.9%)

BNP – 4.8% (5.7%)

So the first good result you can see (apart from Labour winning) is that the BNP lost its deposit, always a good thing. But without a doubt the most notable result of the night was the complete collapse of the Conservative vote, yes, third parties are always squeezed, especially in by-elections, but not to this extent. A 14% slump in the vote is rather unheard of, leading to a 11% swing from Tory to Labour (a swing I could very easily get used to). It seems that a combination of tactical voting and a half-hearted campaign by CCHQ, despite insistence otherwise, is going to mean DC will have some stuff questions to answered by from his backbenchers.

Also, great to note that Labour’s majority in Oldham (3558) is now higher than it was in 1997, during Labour’s peak.

Max

Bankers bonuses

by maxattacks

I’m not going to delve too much into the Coalition’s U-turn on restricting bankers bonuses (literally found in first paragraph of Coalition agreement) as I ironically have a conservatism essay to do. So I though I’d let this video explain that in fact, bonuses, of any kind (except for ones which people’s income depend upon) just don’t work. Much to my surprise as well.

Max

AGM 2011

by maxattacks

Now confirmed to be Tuesday 25th January 5-7pm (unless there’s any change), every Committee position bar Fresher’s Officer and Guild Mini-Forum Representative will be up for grabs. This will hopefully be held in the Guild Council Chambers unless said other wise.

Anyone is encouraged to stand for any position and please feel free to contact us atcommittee@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! If you can’t physically  make the meeting and wish to stand for a position, email us at the above email address and someone will read it out on your behalf.

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.

Oldham thoughts

by maxattacks

Given I’m one of BULS’s token few Northerners, I though it would be appropriate to have a blog on the upcoming by-election. Cautious confidence is probably the best way to describe Oldham East and Saddleworth. Already we have seen a number of polls from ICM and Populus showing Labour having a around 17% lead over the Lib Dems (with a surprising slump in support for the Tories). However, another  polling company, Survation, has recorded the Labour leader being 1&(!!). Labour are the bookies favourite to win, but, I cannot stress any less without doubt, not to slacked the momentum. This is the first time in years that the Lib Dems wont be all masterful in by-elections.

Throughout the entire campaign the Lib Dem candidate and Cleggy have been emphasising that this by-election is about selecting a new local MP. I’d have to agree that this is what it ought to be about, but since when have by-elections ever been about local issues?

Max

Riding high

by maxattacks

Have you ever heard of the magazine Total Politics? Well if you haven’t, they are essentially what they say they are on the tin, a magazine that covers (and quite a good one in my opinion) politics. Now back in September (yes I know this is a bit behind the times), Total Politics published a “Top 100 Labour blogs” for 2010 (http://www.totalpolitics.com/blogs/index.php/2010/09/07/top-100-labour-blogs-1), in which there are some HUGE blog names up there, Labourlist, Next Left, Alastair Campbell, Political Scrapbook, LabourHome, Progress and any many more. Now, it may not sound like much but, given last year we weren’t even on the list, bulsonline is now listed as the 90th best Labour blog in the country!! Yes, wow, 90th, you may say, but think about how many Labour blogs there are out there (there’s at least 230 Labour blog links on the Total Politics website) and also, bar BULS there is not a single Labour Student blog on the list! Because of this the BULS blog is featured in the Total Politics Guide to Political Blogging 2010-11.

So congratulations to the whole bulsonline team!

Max

Lost Archives?

by maxattacks

Just a quick note to all BULSONLINE site viewers

Since BULS established it’s own website back in the December of 2006 (over 4 years now….and probably in response to BUCF’s blog being established, safe to say we’ve quite surpassed them now) there have been around 850….ish blog posts. These have come from a variety of different people; myself, Suzy, Kieran, Brigid, Tom, Tom, Chris, Josh, Ben, Dave, Jake, Oliver, Sam and many more. So you may have noticed (if you’re as sad as me) that the first seven months in 2007 has had most of it’s blog posts removed. Now, this is because Tom Marley (Former BULS Chair, 2007-2008 and the BULS site’s biggest contributor to date) has gone to work for the Regional Labour Party. Naturally, he has requested that we “private” his blog posts, which we have agreed to. Hopefully one day these posts can be republished, one day.

Max

Labour’s year

by maxattacks

2010 has been one hell of a hectic year for Labour, nationally and locally. So here’s my review of the year.

So in early 2010 we began with a very slowly (and I mean slowly) improving position (the polls were very slowly narrowing and Brown was beginning to perform a bit better at PMQs). People were beginning to actually question and analyse Tory policy (much to the latter’s own shock).

Gordon Brown

But of course, we remember the attempted Coup on Brown (http://bulsonline.org/2010/01/06/coup-dstupid/), the less said about that final attempted revolt the better. But apart from that the majority of the first few months of 2010 were focused upon the Tories incomplete and ill thought out policies which were actually being looked at now (again, much to the Tory’s shock). Unfortunately though, Labour failed to properly capitalise upon DC’s inconsistency over marriage-tax breaks, the level of the cuts and even the Lord Ashcroft scandal, etc.

Now I’m not going to lie, despite not exactly being an expert at election campaigns, Labour’s performance in the 2010 campaign was not exactly brilliant. Admittedly, we  didn’t have an Ashcroft of our own, but a daily press conference chaired by Peter Mandelson is not a way to woo the public. Moving onto the leadership debates, apart from the first one, Brown’s performances could have been much worse. He undoubtedly was the most policy detailed, but unfortunately, you need more than sound policy to win Televised debates.

The result that followed was no where near as anyone might have expected a year or two ago. Don’t be deluded though, in terms of share of the vote, Labour’s result was far from satisfactory, with our second worse result since the 1920s. In terms of seats we didn’t do too badly though. But, given that a year or two ago we were literally facing oblivion on a Tory 1997 scale (regularly behind in the polls by 20%+ in 2008 and 10%+ leads in 2009) was nothing less than a complete and utter failure on the part of the Conservatives. Labour locally also managed to retain Selly Oak and most surprising of all, Edgbaston, much to everyone shock (including my own if I’m being honest). Labour also made significant gains in the local elections nationally and slashing the Tory-Lib Dem Coalition in Birmingham Council to a wafer thin majority.

But ultimately, we couldn’t hold onto power, the numbers didn’t add up and the Lib Dems had already decided that they were moving to the Tories. And so ended 13 years of ‘New’ Labour. But, life had to move on and so began the process to replace Gordon Brown. I’m not going to lie, to the wider public, the election wasn’t the most inspiring and enthralling one ever seen and I personally had no love for any of the candidates at the start.

Of course, we all know what happened next. Probably one of the biggest political upsets of the past few years. After being tipped as Brown’s obvious future successor, David Miliband or Miliband the Elder, was pipped by his brother at what seemed to be the final post (quite literally, Miliband the younger became favourite on the very last day). This seems what happens when you underestimate Miliband the younger, you in the end regret you ever did. One of the definite features of Miliband the elder not winning was that the era ‘New’ Labour was finally brought to a close with most notably the Iraq war being deemed wrong. Of course, there has been apparent glee from the Tory ranks that ‘Red-Ed’ is a godsend. But, as mentioned before, be careful not to underestimate your opponents.

But of course, what now you may ask? Without a shred of doubt, Labour does need to formalise a coherent and well though out plan for it’s vision. But, we should be careful not to make the mistakes DC made when he became Tory leader. While DC did a lot to detoxify the image of the Conservative party (hug a hoody, huskies in Norway, etc), he very much failed to change the nature of the Conservative party, which ultimately cost him a landslide victory. Consequently, it’s the long and apparently slow road of renewal for Labour. But come 2015, get ready for the real change and the true optimists of British politics!

Max

A not so “Big Society”

by maxattacks

David Robinson, co-founder of Community Links

First off. Hope you all had a great Christmas. I’m finally back (kinda) and will tomorrow, Sunday or Monday be conducting a review of the last year for Labour and for BULS.

Anyway, on to more immediate matters. The “Big Society” as an idea is nice enough, naturally I have my doubts and certainly retain the right to be a bit sceptical. But, against the backdrop of a looming age of austerity those doubts can turn rather easily into downright scepticism. It also doesn’t help when you have the co-founder of the highly influential Community Links charity, David Robinson, arguing that the looming age of austerity could become a ‘Hurricane Katrina moment’ and destroy any chance of a potential ‘Big Society’.

Now this is coming from someone who supports the ‘Big Society’ idea. And to regard it as ”Forcing an unsustainable pace on a barrage of uncoordinated cuts that hit the poorest hardest” puts myself personally in a rather downbeat mood over the true outcome over DC’s ‘Big Society’. With nearly a quarter of  all charities being subsidised by the government and 13% relying on state funding relying on state funding for more than half their income, Robinson’s words really do hit home.

Max

Merry Christmas from all of us at BULS!

by maxattacks

Leader Christmas Cards: Ed Milliband's Christmas card

As the title says, Merry Christmas to everyone out there (whatever your political allegiance) on behalf on everyone in Birmingham University Labour Students (BULS). Hope you can make it through the snow to your destination, wherever that may be!

This will by my own last post for a few days (busy Christmas Eve, needs not be said for Christmas day, going away 26th to 29th and then working a bit on the 30th). So again, have a great Christmas!

Max

Doesn’t it seem that everything happens when you’re away

by maxattacks

Sorry on behalf on all of the bulsonline team for the lack of activity lately. The end of term shenanigans have kept us all busy these past few weeks and I personally have been away in Edinburgh for the past few days.

Anyway, first thing on my blogging list to write about is, yes you guessed it, the Cable incident. In some ways, like potentially many Lib Dem grass-root members, I’m quite glad that Cable is fighting his own corner for the Lib Dems (it sure is a better alternative to the other option). In some respects, I can sympathise with Cable. Like I said on the whole Mervyn King incident via the wikileaks, people often let slip their own personal view points, we are human after all. However, that is where my sympathy stops. A Business Secretary has to rule on each case on the facts and evidence, you can’t go in with a pre-existing views. This applies to every case, despite the idea that “declaring war on Mr Murdoch” is something I very strongly sympathise with. It is a direct breach of the ministerial code and should result in nothing less than resignation. This is where the double standards come in.

I’ve always been rather sceptical about the Coalition claiming to “come together in the national interest” (naturally). But, it certainly seems in this one case that what happened was that DC’s decision not to sack Cable was in the Coalition’s interest rather than “the nation’s interest”. It’s blatantly clear, if this had been a Tory Minister, they would have been left out to dry long ago. What is also interesting is that Cable described the Coalition as “Maoist”, given that he believed they were trying to push through too many radical changes at once, many of which he disagreed with. Which neatly leads onto the next event I missed.

Apart from taping Cable’s views on the Coalition, the Daily Telegraph also recorded Scottish Secretary Michael Moore, Business Minister Ed Davey and Pensions Minister Steve Webb doubts over the Coalition’s claim to “fairness”. They criticised Child Tax Credit reforms and the Trebling of fees. Now rather than criticising the Lib Dems as a whole for supporting these measures, we should be working to encourage not only Lib Dem MPs, but party members and voters to think again about the Coalition and whether it is truly taking the right direction (although with the latter part, little needs to be done there). This is why I welcome Ed Miliband’s move to start calling the Coalition a “Conservative-led Coalition”. Also, I welcome (more or less) the reduction party membership fees for Young Labour members (15-27…ish) from the already ridiculously low £1 to 1p(!!). I know if Labour wants to increase membership amongst the younger generations sound policies are far more important, but you can’t say it wont help a bit.

Finally, on a completely different note. Yet even more genuine change has come to America. The old “don’t ask don’t tell” policy on banning gay people in the armed forces in the USA has finally, been repealed! Now some may say this won’t be good for the army as it’ll stir up homophobia, but if it is stirred up because of this at least it’s tackling homophobia. Consequently, because of this logic, not repealing this ban would have meant homophobia culture would have gone unchecked and unchallenged in the US armed forces.

Overall though, a rather good few days….shame I missed it all.

Max

Hey Burt!

by maxattacks

Last week, in a slight moment of procrastination I decided to email one of the local Lib Dem MPs. Lorely Burt had claimed to be wavering on the tuition fee vote so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try and give her a push. Clearly, I wasted my time as she in the end decided to abstain on the all so crucial vote on Thursday. When I heard the news I wasn’t happy. She said in a letter to the guild of students last week that she did not agree with the proposals. So why could she not do the decent thing? Why could she not honour her promise she made to the NUS, the student population and future generations of children when she felt this way?

Even worse was the other local Lib Dem MP, John Hemming. The man who is not exactly whiter than white has proven this even more so by voting WITH the government to push through the rise of fees to £9000. Now, just a few days before the vote, a group of students from this University decided to occupy and shut down his office in Yardley. And his response, on national radio…  was to blame those individuals for now wanting to vote FOR the rise. When I first heard this, I thought he can’t be serious! But it would once again seem that he was. It is absolutely shameful.

Because I don’t think he ever had any intention of not voting against or even abstaining in the vote. And so to blame his decision on this minority of students, well it just doesn’t wash with me and I’m sure it doesn’t with you. It stinks of deceit and distaste.

For two MPs who don’t exactly have the largest of majorities, and find themselves not too far away from 3 large universities including our own, I find it ridiculous that they had the audacity to take this action. I wouldn’t mind having a bet that both of them will have a fight to keep their seats at the next election. That is if Hemming hasn’t turned blue by then…

Oliver Cosentino, BULS Member

Coastguards and Lib Dems

by maxattacks

It’s always easy to kick someone when they’re down. We all know it and we’ve all done it, metaphorically. Before, it was Gordon Brown and before that it could be argued it was John Prescott. But it seems now it’s the Lib Dems, or more specifically, Nick Clegg (Cleggy). And yes, the 90% of the population (approximately) agree with the “kicking”. Like John Denham (Shadow Business Secretary and now boss of former-BULS Chair, Tom Guise, well done on the job), we should rise above this natural instinct to further lambast Lib Dem MPs and supporters and resist being a “tribal” party. For this is what the true “new” politics, rising above petty point scoring and reaching out to disenchanted voters and MPs in a hope to win them round. On Thursday, the Lib Dem elite threw away any chance of being progressive. With 70% of Lib Dem party members regarding themselves to be on the left, this could not be a more opportune time build a broad progressive church to argue against the real enemy (so to speak).

Now that optimistic note is out of the way, I can now return to being generally p****d off with the government on the whole. How better than to point out cuts to the number of coastguard control centres. A report recently stated that half of the 19 centres could close. That’s right, half of the centres!! The necessity for deep cuts can be argued for (though I’d have to disagree), but cuts to services that literally save lives is downright disgraceful. These centres probably save hundreds of lives every year in some of the harshest conditions known to man (and woman) kind. So to almost half the number of centres is nothing less than a travesty.

I only hope to god that the Coalition rethinks this particular policy.

Max