Vote For Us

In connection with the Compass project "How To Live In The 21st Century", two submissions have been made by the Dronfield Labour Party Discussion Group. These can be found on the appropriate Compass web-site if you click onto the following - "Political Education, Political Education, Political Education" and "Integrated Transport"

COMPASS MEMBERS CAN VOTE FOR THESE SUBMISSIONS AS WINNERS - Never mind the width, feel the quality.

Background explanations on our two sets of proposals are provided below -


On "Political Education, Political Education, Political Education"

A vibrant and intelligent political culture requires issues to be debated openly (but not violently) within the context of widespread commitments to civil liberties, including those of free expression. In the modern Labour Party and often in the wider Labour Movement, a past tradition of considering practical political alternatives in the light of the concepts of social equality, collectivism and democratic participation has tended to be sidelined. This is not an argument for the adoption of a political dogma by today's movement; for core values themselves need to be under continual testing and re-examination and to be attuned to changing circumstances. But unfortunately in today's movement too often core values tend to have withered away, rather than being re-assessed and updated.

The Labour Party in particular needs to encourage and facilitate internal debate and discussion about our times. A key avenue to achieve such an approach is the establishment of a political education programme to stimulate debate and discussion amongst what could then become a growing and active membership.

Such an approach is likely to require a serious publications' avenue which the Labour Party membership could contribute to. This would require moves towards a weekly Labour Party newspaper, the establishment of a theoretical journal, the publication of discussion pamphlets, the running of discussion groups and study courses; plus the use of web-sites and other avenues of more modern technology. The Labour Party itself should aim at running such provisions, building upon the efforts (amongst others) of Tribune, Chartist, the Fabian Society and Compass.

Such forms of Political Education will, however, only achieve a living impact when the internal structure of the Labour Party is openly democratised - yet political education could also encourage such a development.

The TUC, individual Trade Unions and the Co-operative Movement form essential parts of our Movement. They have their own traditions of providing their own internal educational programmes. The focus of such activities are often centred around the practical needs of health and safety representatives, shop stewards and equivalents. These programmes need to be leavened with fuller investigations around the historical, political and core values of the Labour Movement.

Ways and means of re-establishing a pre-Thatcherite tradition of working class education centred on the earlier practices of Colleges such as Ruskin, Coleg Harlech, the Northern College and Newbattle Abbey need to be explored.


On "Integrated Transport"


A programme to move towards the effective use of an integrated public transport system; involving the establishment of a variety of forms of social ownership for the operations of buses, trams, taxis, aeroplanes, ships and lorries. In order to reduce congestion on our roads, priority will be given to public forms of transport over the use of private cars. A full use of an expanded rail network would be employed for the movement of goods as well as passengers. To maximize the use of public transport facilities, cheap and free fares would be extended, based on need. Current free and concessionary travel facilities for pensioners and others would provide a model for such schemes. Publicly run (or supported) taxi services, buses, trams, planes and ships would be linked whenever possible at bus and tram terminals, airports and ports. Entitlement to air travel would balance the needs of travellers with carbon footprint considerations.

When considering integrated transport policies, account should be taken of how transport effects climate change, and any decisions regarding integrated transport should include plans to reduce carbon emissions from future forms of transport. Consideration must therefore be given to future plans to convert the existing rail network to a completely electrical system of rail transport. An expanded rail network should also be fully electrified. An integrated transport policy should also include plans to develop road transport vehicles with greatly reduced carbon emissions. Types of electrically driven vehicles, which satisfy future transport requirements, will therefore have to be developed if this objective is to be realised. Electrifying the rail network and the provision of road vehicles, which depend on electrical power, will transfer demand from fossil fuels to electrical power and will place greater demands on the electricity supply industry. An integrated transport policy should therefore include plans to increase the amount of electricity produced by renewable sources and plans to replace the current generation of aging power stations with power stations with low carbon emissions.

The role of railways in an integrated transport system would require a curb being placed on the need for the use of heavy road transport with limits being placed on the use of lorries and huge pantechnicons. Their operations would need to be restricted, especially where alternative rail services are available. This could be achieved through the licencing of the giants of the road.

Whilst cheap public transport would attract many away from private car usage, it is likely that a programme of restraints on private car usage will need to be introduced to relieve major avenues of congestion. This will need to be done via a programme of restrictions rather than via a market policy involving the use of congestion charges.

Last Chance Saloon

Today and tomorrow are the last opportunities to join in Dronfield Blather's debates on Political Education and Integrated Transport ,before they are finalised and submitted to Compass. Check these to see the latest suggestions.

In Memory Of My Mother

Today is the 100th anniversary of my mother's birth. She died in 1999 and was buried on my 63rd birthday.

She was born at Sunniside in an area that was then the South West Durham Coalfield. She was christened Betsy Gray, although she became known as Betty.

Her parents John and Elizabeth (Lizzy) Gray moved to Sunniside on their marriage in 1898, with John working at the local pit throughout their married life. My grandparents had eight children, two of whom died as youngsters. John Gray himself died in 1920 when he was only 49. The harsh conditions of that time are shown here.

The six surviving children were obliged to leave school at 14. although my mother was always top girl of her class which is shown here. The two boys found work in the local pit, whilst three of the four girls went into domestic service. Only the youngest child, Alice was kept at home because of the poor state of her health.

My mother went into domestic service at Oldham alongside her elder sister Bella. The above photo was taken the month after the 1926 General Strike when she was 17 and she was still working at Oldham. She later worked in domestic service in other places such as Whitby (her favourite) and Seaton Carew.

When her mother moved the family home to one of the new Council Houses at Easington Colliery, my mother temporarily packed up work when she received a description of the Council House which had been acquired. The house had gardens around three sides, a proper bath, a flush toilet, plastered walls and even a landing window. It was a complete transformation to the family home back in Sunniside which was a back-to-back terraced house, with a midden across the street. Even the weather was milder, as Sunniside is exposed at the highest point in County Durham and Easington is next to the sea.

My mother was to be based in Easington for the remaining seven decades of her life. In 1933 she married my father, who was a miner at its pit. The 100th anniversary of his birth is something which I will record in just over 3 months time. The photograph below was taken in Sunderland around 1946, when my mother and father would have been 37 or so and I would be about 9 or 10.
My mother retained the closest of links with her side of the family in particular, which was aided by the fact that during my school days we lived only four doors away from her mother and her unmarried brother, Bill.

With her brothers and sisters she had attended the Sunniside Methodist Sunday School and was married at the Easington Bourne Methodist Chapel, where I was then christened. When she was 40 she once more started to attend Chapel and became fully involved in its activities and in the social life around it. She became Secretary for the Women's Meetings, undertook Overseas Mission work and took a leading role in acting in the plays it produced.

Although she did not find paid work during her married life, apart from her own housework she looked after her mother's home as Granny was always frail. Then she often cared for others, as when my Aunt Alice developed cancer.

She was bright, lively, friendly and popular. She regularly visited the local library and read three modern but serious novels per week, until Alzheimers finally caught up with her in her mid 80s.

She ended her days in a nursing home, which had been the Colliery Manager's house, being visited by my father for long periods each day. My wife and I told her about my father's death, but it did not register with her until on a later visit she said to us "Joe doesn't come to see me any more." He was the last person she remembered. She couldn't come to terms with the idea that the man in his 60s in front of her could be her only child. She had a long, tough, active and happy life - helping others. Her immediate family being at the top of the long list, which was completed when I married Ann and then her two beloved grandchildren arrived.

The photograph of my mother above was taken when she was in her early 80s, but before the onset of Alzheimers. The photograph below is taken at Christmas 1979, when she and my father were 70. Her grandchildren are Joanne (7) and Stephen (11)

Not Dead - Only Fired

Kerron Cross keeps placing this photo of me on his blog. It was taken nearly 22 years ago. I don't, however, ever remember being fired. In fact I had just been elected as an MP at the time. I didn't even have the whip taken away from me when in the Parliamentary Labour Party, although I tried hard enough. When I wrote a lengthy letter to my Regional Whip to explain why I would be voting against the Labour Government on yet a further issue, he merely told me that I had won that week's Booker Prize.

Confirmation - I Am Not Actually Dead Yet

I am pleased to see that although Kerron Cross has issued Andrew Gwynne MP with the HARRY BARNES MEMORIAL AWARD, Kerron believes that I am not actually dead yet. To test his latter theory out, I will have to carry on blogging.

The State Of The Franchise : A Democratic Disgrace

Chartists For Male Suffrage, 1848: Suffraggettes For Female Suffrage, Released From Prison 1909


Here is a potted history of the growth of the right to vote in this country since 1832. It is generally assumed that the journey towards a full franchise has been completed, apart perhaps for those who argue for votes for 16 and 17 year olds. Unfortunately, too few notice the huge gaps which still need to be filled. They include -

1. Some 2 million people who are entitled to be registered to vote, but whose names are missing. The numbers missing are heavily concentrated amongst the poor, racial minorities, those living in bed-sitter land and those who are otherwise rootless and move about from one address to another, including those suffering from homelessness. As the missing millions are not spread equally throughout society, this has the knock-on consequence of seriously distorting our electoral boundaries.

2. Residents in this country from overseas, other than those who already qualify to vote because they come from the Republic of Ireland or from Commonwealth nations. (The other side of this coin is that British citizens overseas should be registered to vote in the country whose laws they are then subject to and not in this country.)

3. Those who are imprisoned. Yet this is a group of fellow human beings who could not be more clearly subject to the laws of the land. The paradox is that the large numbers of people who are never caught or convicted for their crimes, retain their franchise rights. If prisoners were registed to vote in the Constituencies in which they were imprisoned then it would give strong reasons for their local MP and candidates to pay attention to their interests. That is what accountability is supposed to be about. (This issue is regularly pursued on Jailhouse Lawyer's Blog.)

4. The case for votes for 16 and 17 year olds is that the teenagers concerned could initially be registered to vote via their schools as 15 year old "attainers". Not only would their names not be missed from registers, but schools could be obliged to run classes on the development of the franchise, its importance and its usage.

5. To overcome the problem raised in (1) above about under-registration, it would be possible for registration officers to be given the means to trace the movements of people once they are on registers (as in 4 above) to ensure that their voting rights were automatically transferred. There is a case here for the democratic usage of a compulsory ID card system.

In addition polling cards could be issued as soon as formal electoral procedures start, with widespead publicity given to their issue. This needs to be done so that those who don't receive cards can become aware they may not be registered. They can then be given the opportunity to register as long as they were present in the area concerned when the relevant electoral proceedure commenced.

6. Many of our legislative powers have been passed over to the European Union (EU), yet it does not operate under a proper parliamentary system. The EU has a huge democratic deficit which can only be overcome by its transformation in a fully democratic, social and federal structure.

Unfortuneately, we have halted the process of the advance of the franchise. Its current shortcomings are nothing less than a democratic disgrace.

Iraqi Democracy?

This is the start of Jim Muir's report this morning for the BBC from Baghdad.

History may look back on the provincial elections held on the last day of January this year and see them as the point at which it could be said that Iraq had turned a corner and was heading towards a stable, democratic future.

Here is the rest of report. Let us hope he is correct.

Purple Pride

The purple fingers belong to a group who voted in the recent elections in Baghdad. Dr Mohammed a 25 year old dentist tells us that his friends in the photo are Sunnis, Shiites and a Kurd. Dr Mohammed blog is called Last-of-Iraqis and he is my favourite Iraqi Blogger. He is no wild optimist as is shown in the item he posts, but he gives us hope. In part he states -

I woke up with hope, hope for Iraq to be taken along the correct path by its sons. I woke to the noises voters were making in the street. As I dressed I was thinking about how different this election would be. Most of the people I know were not voting based on sects, but on sense. We are sick to death of corruption and sectarianism, and desperate for a change.....With the sparse crowds, I had only a short wait before the employee found my name in the list and gave me my voting paper. I took it to the booth and chose what I believed was best for Baghdad, then I painted my finger purple — it might look ugly, but I like it and I’m proud of it. At the same time, a child reached the table and insisted on painting his finger, too; everybody smiled because he was so happy about it.....On my way home I developed an obsession of looking at the fingertips of every man and woman I passed. Too many had no ink. I hope the electoral committee does its part better than we did. I hope the election will not be fraudulent and the winners will not let us down. And I hope the people who didn’t vote this time will do so next time, and a real democracy will be achieved in the land where the first laws of the human race were set.

Better still go to his blog here.

A Good Day For Thinking About Transport

If you are stuck at home because of the snow, why not join this debate about the future of transport? Should we phase out our addiction to the use of the private car?

A Labour Friend Of Iraq

Anyone interested in improving conditions for the Iraqi people should read this speech by Ann Clwyd (see photo) in the Commons on 14 January. Not only is she the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Human Rights in Iraq, but she identifies strongly with the important work of Labour Friends of Iraq (LFIQ).

When Labour Friends of Iraq (LFIQ) was founded in 2004, the initial Joint Presidents were Ann Clwyd and myself. She had been as vigorous in her support of the 2003 invasion of Iraq as I had been in opposition to it. Neither of us have changed our minds about the issue since then. But we both felt that whatever people's views in the Labour Movement had been about the invasion, a situation had arisen which meant that the clear priority for Labour should be to try to aid the people of Iraq by giving support, assistance and encouragement to those Iraqis who were trying to meet the basic needs of their people in terms of security, living standards, civil rights and democratic opportunities. In particular we believed in working with our Labour Movement equivalents in Iraq; especially those within the Trade Union Movements in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. Both these movements are interconnected and see each other as being close brothers and sisters.

After I retired from Parliament, I gave up the position of Joint President of LFIQ as I felt that it would be more helpful to have that position filled by a serving Member of Parliament. Dave Anderson was then a newly elected MP for Blaydon and he shared LFIQ's approach. Like me he had also been an opponent of the invasion. When he replaced me as Joint President this retained what for LFIQ was a meaningful pattern of having Joint Presidents who came initially from different camps. They might still disagree about the past, by they shared the LFIQ horizon on the priority of furthering the immediate and basic needs of the Iraqi people.

For old times sake, I was made Vice-President and I am still proud to retained that position, along with honorary membership of the Iraqi Trade Union Movement. I recommend a close study of Ann's speech.

Hat Tip : LFIQ

This Land Is Your Land

This is a photo of 89 year old Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen at the celebrations for the inauguration of Barack Obama as President. They are leading the massive crowds outside the Lincoln Memorial singing Woody Guthrie's greatest-ever song (and my favourite) "This Land Is Your Land". Better still here is the link* (see comment at end) to the You Tube video of this unbelievable inaugural event.

In his book "Woody Guthrie : A Life" Joe Klein describes a left-wing hootenanny in 1946 with "a thousand people singing This Land Is Your Land in four-part harmony, Pete directing with one arm and plucking his banjo with another". 63 years later he now performs a similar role at the highest level in America. I doubt whether it comes as any surprise to Pete who has always been a political optimist. He probably expected that it would have happened long ago. But he teaches us never to give up on our dreams.

In 1997 Bruce Springsteen recorded "We Shall Overcome" for Where Have All The Flowers Gone : The Songs Of Pete Seeger and in 2006 he came out with a CD and DVD which was entitled "We Shall Overcome : The Seeger Sessions" with what became known as the Sessions Band. They then toured Britain and Ireland with a programme built upon their 2006 production and published another CD/DVD set entitled "Live In Dublin" . It is not to be missed.

There could be nothing better than a Woody Guthrie. Pete Seeger and
Bruce Springsteen harmony to usher in (and direct) the hopes placed in Barack Obama.

Hat Tip : Bob Piper

* = Update 7 February : This link has now been removed, seemingly for commercial reasons. So "This Land Isn't Yet Your Land", but it could be some day.

Update 16 February : Restored - THIS LINK IS OUR LINK

We Have Lift Off

I have been Political Education Officer for my local Labour Party in Dronfield for almost three years now. My major activity has been to arrange what is normally a monthly discussion meeting. Given that other commitments can sometimes clash, we have been meeting nine or ten times a year. The meetings are held on a Sunday evening and are separate from the normal branch meetings.

One of our regular attenders calls it our "blather". This is because after the meeting numbers of us retire to the Lounge Bar to carry on our discussions or to argue about other political matters directed towards saving the Labour Party, Britain, the World or the Universe.

We seem, however, to have made a quantum leap recently thanks to two innovations.

First of all; whilst we still make use of our main formula of getting a speaker to open up a debate, we came to realise that we can also have a worthwhile discussion without having a speaker. All that we need is a meaningful question to apply our minds to. This is also likely to raise the question of what we should do next about the ideas we have been discussing.

Then secondly: we decided to provide a blog which can be used by those who participate in our meetings and by anyone else who is interested in the topics we pursue. We have called it Dronfield Blather. In this we are fortunate to have an active member who set the blog up, fully participates in it and goes under the handle of Blogger Brader. Apart from words, a good blog needs a good photographer and in that we have Dave Hill.

It helps that Blogger Brader, Dave Hill and myself also meet regularly to support Sheffield FC. But I personally must apologize for letting politics get in the way of soccer, for I have failed to report on the last two Sheffield FC games I attended. But I will make amends.

The Case For Political Education

See here

The Case For Integrated Transport

SEE HERE

Hadi Saleh

Hadi Saleh
Eric Lee of Labour Start has circulated this telling email -

It has now been four years since the murder of Hadi Saleh, the
international officer of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions.

I had the honor of meeting Hadi not long before his death when he
visited Britain. We discussed the trade unions in Iraq and ways in
which we could give them support and solidarity.

Not long after Hadi was killed, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in
Britain published a book in his honor entitled "Hadi Never Died".

"On January 4, 2005," it began, "masked assassins broke into his home,
bound his feet and hands, and blindfolded him. Then they tortured and
burned his body and, finally, strangled him with an electric cord. A
life of idealism and selflessness, filled with solidarity and love for
his family, country and the labour movement, came to this terrible,
pain-filled end."

The book does much more than describe Hadi's murder. It tells the story
of death and re-birth of the Iraqi trade union movement.

"Hadi Never Died" is a large format, full-color paperback and
LabourStart is pleased to be able to offer it to our readers for £10.00
(about US$14.50) -- with free shipping to anywhere in the world.

Please order multiple copies for yourselves, your co-workers and other
members of your union.

To order "Hadi Never Died" securely go here:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2049459

Thank you.

Eric Lee


I can confirm the importance of everything that Eric says, having chaired two meetings which Hadi Saleh addressed in the Commons. He was as fine a person as it has been my privilege to meet. I was honoured to be one of the speakers at the remembrance service held in his memory at the TUC's Congress House on 13 February 2005. There is no better way to repay our debt to his work than to give support to the Iraqi Trade Union Movement. The book "Hadi Never Died" explains both why and how. For more details on the book click here and to my post here for the day I became threescoreyearsandten.

A Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year

It is the same card as last year, but it is more appropriate than ever.

Iraq And Trade Unionism

The TUC Publication On Iraqi Trade Unions

Iraqi Kurdistan has an active and influential Trade Union movement. Here is a valuable contribution on the role played by women in their Trade Union structure.

I visited Iraqi Kurdistan with Labour Friends of Iraq and fellow Trade Unionists in April 2006 and on the anniversary of the visit a year later I came up with the following lessons. Which I have taken from here -

(1) Iraqi Trade Unionists deserve and need our understanding and practical support.

Sue Rodgers the Chair of the TUC's Iraq Solidarity Committee was part of our delegation. The TUC provides a clear avenue through which people can help - numbers of these developed out of our visit. Specific Trade Unions such as UNISON have their own linked programmes of assistance.

(2) The Iraqi Government needs the continued pressure of the world's Trade Union Movement to repeal two major pieces of anti-Trade Union legislation.

First, Saddam Hussein's decree 150 is still operative in banning the operation of Trade Unions in the major public sector. Secondly, there is a post Saddam Hussein decree 8750 which sequests Trade Union Funds until such time as the State decide who it will recognise as registered Trade Unions. Neither of these decrees are, however, operative in Iraqi Kurdistan.

(3) Iraqi Trade Unionists (mainly those outside of Iraqi Kurdistan) face persistent terrorist activity, with occasional harassment from American and Iraqi forces.

Activists in the wider Trade Union and Labour Movement in the UK should not turn a blind eye to this when determining which actors to support and criticise within Iraq.

(4) Whilst Iraqi Kurdistan is not free from its own strains and stresses, it is important in its own right as an area of growth, development and democratisation. It is also important as an example and as a link to the rest of Iraq.

The Kurdistan Workers' Federation, their Teachers' Union and the professional Trade Unions we met have important links with their equivalents in the Arab areas of Iraq, as well as internationally.

(5) The economic development of Iraq is a key to its future.

In Iraqi Kurdistan there is a wide acceptance of the need for inward investment (even by their Communist Party) and for the democratisation of their form of command economy. They don't, however, wish to be taken over by a form of turbo capitalism and look for formulas in which public controls can direct private involvement. This is relevant to the development of the rest of Iraq. Democratic socialists throughout the world can fruitfully apply their minds to the development of such a project.

(6) Iraq, of all places, does not act in a vacuum.

In addition to the pressures of Coalition Forces and their Governments, we need to be aware of the complex range of interests coming from neighbouring Middle East Governments and internal groupings in their countries. These impact on legitimate and illegitimate trade, provide military problems and create diplomatic and religious/political pressures - including the impact of imported forms of terrorism.

(7) The complex nature of an often fractured Iraq is to a large extent a consequence of economic collapse over a period of more than three decades.

The Iraq-Iran war, the invasion of Kuwait, the Gulf War, smashed Shia and Kurdish uprisings, the hideous actions by Saddam Hussein in pursuing his shifting strategies, UN sanctions and the Coalitions invasion and subsequent insurgencies and mass acts of terrorism have had massive economic and social costs. Ethnic, tribal and religious divisions have been built upon in years of brutalisation under Saddam Hussein.

There are wide but battered elements in Iraq who have an alternative vision of peace, secularism, co-operation and democratisation. Their problem is that they have to operate in circumstances where many can not look far beyond than their daily needs of survival. Yet these people are part of a brave tradition within Iraq. They have shown their love for education, cultural development, urbanised communal values and solidarity. Helping to allow these elements of Iraq to come to the fore in association with those who bravely lead the struggle for such values (as did the late Najim Abd-Jasem) is the best task we can apply our minds to.

These lessons seem to me to have survived the test of time. Although the harassment from American forces (in 3 above)was essentially confined to the earlier period

Hat Tip - Iraqi Federation Of Trade Unions.

Better In Basra

Today's Basra
Having spent most of my National Service at Basra in Iraq back in 1955 and 1956, I am particularly pleased to see that it has now started to overcome some of its recent problems. In today's Daily Telegraph, Thomas Harding states that -

Basra was among the most liberated, secular and artistic cities in the Arab world, and it seems that with (Jaish al Madhdi militia HB.) JAM's strict Islamic stranglehold gone, better times have arrived. Couples can walk the streets holding hands, women have replaced face veils with liberal coatings of make-up and shops openly sell curvaceous evening gowns. On Thursday evening, the start of the Muslim weekend, the streets and restaurants were filled with people keen to enjoy nights now free from bomb blasts and gunfire. Two floating restaurants have even taken station on Basra’s famous cornice, where couples and families happily wander to the fairground.

Oliver Postgate

Oliver Postgate the creator of the Clangers (see photo) and of other children's (and adult) favourites died yesterday at the age of 83. He fitted into a famous background.

His maternal grandfather was George Lansbury the noted pacifist who was leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935, whilst his father Raymond was a leading social historian and mystery writer. His father's sister, Margaret married GDH Cole who was a leading socialist theorist, historian, academic and a prolific writer. Oliver's father Raymond also worked in 1938 with GDH to produced a classic about British working class history entitled "The Common People".

Margaret Cole and her husband wrote over 30 detective stories together, whilst she was also a significant socialist activist and writer. Angela Lansbury the actress is George Lansbury's grandchild and Oliver's cousin. She is still seen on our TV screens in repeats of the long running detective series "Murder, She Wrote".

Oliver Postgate was a conscientious objector during the second world war, as his father had been during the first world war. GDH Cole had the closest possible links with the New Statesman and Oliver came to blog for them in his later years.

It is good to find such a close family resemblance in the arts of creativity and socialism. Perhaps it is why the Clangers have always been favourites of mine.

The Global Paradox

Here is a BBC News item of some 2,000 words by Robert Preston (see photo) in which he makes claims about what is likely to arise out of the current global economic collapse. He states that - "A New Capitalism is likely to emerge from the rubble. And although it's impossible to be precise about how the reconstructed economy will operate, parts of its outline are taking shape.....For many, the New Capitalism may well seem fairer and less alienating than the model of the past 30 years, in that the system's salvation may require it to be kinder, gentler, less divisive, less of a casino in which the winner takes all.....(however) the return to equilibrium, to a more balanced global economy, is happening in a horribly painful way that's impoverishing millions of people."

He essentially examines the way in which economic trends are likely to effect the UK and other developed economies. This leaves two important factors out of the equation. What impact will the global economic collapse have upon the world's poorest nations and what political consequences will flow from the current turmoil?

Paul Collier's book "The Bottom Billion : Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It" has recently been updated and published in paperback. But it was written prior to the global economic collapse. So the terrible conditions he describes are likely to worsen and the solutions he suggests (which were gaining a hearing in significant places) are now likely to be placed upon the back burner.

In situations of economic deprivation (whether in poor or developed nations), political extremism is likely to be given a further boost as political and military leaders offer brands of racial, ethnic, fundamentalist religious and other ideological panaceas as answers to the plight people find themselves in.

To both humanise economic re-construction and tackle modern brands of fascism, there is also now an opening for the spread of countervailing democratic socialist understandings, which are needed on an international scale. As the late Royden Harrison once said "Never have the objective circumstances for socialism been greater, yet never have the subjective circumstances for socialism been worse". Socialists now have a desperate opening to show that a new world is possible.

Yet whilst the current crisis cries out for the spread of democratic socialist understandings, we also need to be aware and beware of simple minded solutions which can lead us into looking for Stalinist-style shortcuts.

The paradox is that we might not even reach the limited objectives of Robert Preston's New Capitalism without significant pressures for a New World of Socialism. For capitalists don't give ground unless they are pushed.

Act Immediately - Updates

UPDATE 1 DECEMBER : See Labour Start, link to 28 November.

INITIALLY POSTED 26 NOVEMBER : Iranian Trade Unionist Farzad Kamanger is to be executed today - your urgent help is needed to attempt to prevent this. See here.

Further information here and here.

NOTE - 27 NOVEMBER : News is still awaited about the intended execution. Unfortunately 10 other executions took place yesterday, but Farzad may still be alive.

NOTE - 28 NOVEMBER : Farzad is still alive, but remains under death sentence. Nationally and internationally Labour, Trade Union and Human Rights Organisations are pressing the Iranian authorities in efforts to protect Farzad. Your support is still needed via the early links.

FURTHER UPDATE - 1 DECEMBER : Press TV, the Iranian state-funded station has today started broadcasting on Sky on Channel 515. If anyone comes across any mention of Farzad Kamanger (in say a question which manages to find its way onto the George Galloway programme), please let me know. Or even if this case makes main- line British TV.

In A Fog

Following an 8 week spell in which I hadn't attended a football match, I turned up yesterday for the 5th time in 11 days at Sheffield FC's ground.

The freezing fog of the morning had burnt away and the sun was shining although it was still bitter cold. A hundred or so boys and girls in football kit and sportswear provided a guard of honour as the teams ran onto the pitch and later engaged in a half-time penalty contest. This is a great form of community involvement. It also boosts the size of the crowd as parents also turn up. I suspect that they are allowed in free, but it is likely to have a future spin-off at the turn-styles.

The game against Lincoln United was going well. There was some good play, except that both sides were given to hoofing the ball in the air. At half-time Sheffield FC had the edge due to a goal by Goddard.

The fog was rolling back in by half-time as Martin and I made our way to the Coach and Horses pub. It got worse as we looked at the half-time League score on their telly - but as luck had it, it hadn't got into the pub! We returned to the ground to find out that the match was abandoned.

Sheffield FC are now into a bit of chaos over their league fixtures. Although that are level pegging in the league with 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats; they are third from bottom in the league with 6 games in hand of the team above them and between 3 and 9 games in hand of everyone else.

The main problem has been cup runs. We have played 14 cup games, 10 league games plus yesterday's abandoned match. Yet our cup runs have mainly come to nought. We have been in 5 competitions and have been knocked out of 4 of these. We remain in the Unibond League Cup and had a worthwhile and lucrative run in the FA Cup, just failing to make it to the first round proper.

When I made it back home, I picked up on the news from the Premiership. My team Sunderland lost 4-1 at home to Bolton. Our half-time fog had been in the wrong place.

Welcome The Iraqi Referendum

The Iraqi Parliament has agreed to a plan that would see the withdrawal of US troops from their country by the end of 2011 and their removal from the streets by the end of June, 2009. It leaves open the question of whether the US will then obtain future bases in their country. And whilst a referendum will be held about the current decision, this will not take place until July 2009 after US troops have been returned to their barracks. A rejection of the plan would then speed up troop departures and would probably create a political situation in which the US would find it more difficult to establish permanent bases in Iraq.

Western Security Contractors (such as Blackwater) also become subject to Iraqi law.

Whatever the shortcomings are about the referendum and its timing, it does give the Iraqi people a voice in the changed situation that has developed since their last General Election. It will need to be democratic and open, with its decision being honoured. It opens up the prospect of the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by around the end of 2009 (instead of 2 years later) by a decision of the Iraqi people themselves. We need a democratic decision with the Iraqi people deciding what they want on this matter - one way or the other.

A Twist From Chimbonda

Here is a another picture of Pascal Chimbonda in Sunderland's change strip. He will be found seated on the hallowed turf of local Sheffield FC's ground. The incident occurred yesterday evening when he did one of his trade mark 180 degree turns and twisted his ankle.

He hobbled on for a period and seemingly recovered, but he was subsituted after 60 minutes. I'm not sure whether he was being rested for a place in Sunderland's first team on Saturday or whether he is now on the injured list.

He was playing in central defence in a cup game between Sheffield United Reserves and Sunderland Reserves. The Blades are currently playing their 2nd XI home games on Sheffield FC's ground.

Although Chimbonda played well, I am not sure why Roy Keane (who was at the match) was trying him out in central defence - where his qualities are known. I would have liked to see how he can play in the midfield. For when he plays at right-back, his strength is coming forward into attack rather than blocking opponents.

Chimbonda was a regular in Sunderland's first team at the start of the season, but for some unknown reason he has recently been dropped entirely from the first team squad.

In yesterday's game, Sunderland Reserves dominated the proceedings and won 3-0. From a Sunderland perspective (which I share) there is a fine report here.

I agree entirely with the writer (whom I chatted to twice at the match) that El-Hadji Diouf and Daryl Murphy had poor games. Yet they both came on as substitutes in Sunderland's last premiership game. I had finally come to the conclusion that they should both be substituted this time, when Keane did exactly that. I just hope that his motive was the same as mine and that he wasn't saving them for the next Premiership game.

Due praise is given to numbers of Sunderland's regular reserves in the report I have linked to above. I would, however, also add left-back Nathan Luscombe to the list. He was particularly creative in the second half.

For a Sunderland supporter it was a good night out. Especially as I used my free bus pass to travel the short distance too and from the ground and then only paid a £1 concessionary entrance fee. It wouldn't even pay for the time it took Chimbonda to twist his ankle.

Margaret : Your Chance Has Arrived

Given that Gordon Brown and Margaret Beckett are reported as looking for means to boost house building, is there still hope that we can move towards a major Council House building programme?

Margaret Beckett as the Minister for Houing has a final chance to go out in a blaze of glory on this one and retrieve her past reputation for being a socialist.

Thumbs Up

Yesterday evening Sheffield FC were at home to North Ferriby United in a Unibond League Cup game. We expected the worst as our opponents play in a higher Unibond Division to ours and are pressing for promotion. Furthermore our team experienced a humiliating defeat on Saturday from the bottom team Brigg Town, who had been without a league victory until they turned us over 2-0.

But you can't apply logic to football. We were transformed and outplayed our opponents from the start with a smart passing game. Admittedly things went wrong at some stage. A defensive blunder enabled our opponents to take the lead via Alex Davidson in the 32 Minute. We also had two goals disallowed and when a North Ferriby defender belted the ball into the crowd it nearly burst my thumb. The pain only made the subsequent gain more enjoyable.

Once Dave slipped out just before half-time to get the drinks in for Martin and me, we scored two quick goals from two of our stars Steve Woolley and Scott Partridge. It is a pity that we haven't a bar like the one at Gresley which overlooks the ground. But we are working on that one.

The start of the second half was delayed as a substitute linesman had to be found. Once in action again we pressed on. But again a defensive error cut across our efforts. Peter Davidson put the scores level after 58 Minutes. But with Smudge (Paul Smith) marshalling our forces from the left-back position with free kicks, corners, centres and defence splitting passes, we felt that justice would emerge.

After duties at the County Council at Matlock. Janet turned up for the last 20 minutes of the game. Just in time to see us run riot. Scott Partridge ran onto through passes in the 73 and 88 minutes. Each time you knew that he would not miss the net. He had added a hat-trick to the 4 he had scored in the first round of the cup. Then on 90 Minutes, Daz Winter scored a well deserved 5th goal.

So whilst Dave only saw us win 3-2, Janet his wife saw us win 3-0. It was Martin and myself who saw the full 5-2 victory. And it wasn't until we got back to the Coach and Horses at the end of the game that I noticed the swollen state of my thumb. But it was a small price to pay for a fine evening.

Lost - Our Political Opinions

For a UK political blogger, the most helpful link I know has been "Political Opinions" run by Grant.

Unfortunately, his site seems to be facing its third crisis.

First of all in September 2007, Grant decided to pack it in. Numbers of us helped to pursued him to continue with his vital service.

Then this September, the site was highjacked for a period before Grant was able to restore it.

And now (unless Grant is in transition to a new service provider) he seems to have been hijacked again, this time by 1&1 Internet.

I hope that Grant is back soon - you can check here to see if he is now back or this is still 1&1.

The history of my past comments on this saga can be found via the label below.

Spend And Tax - Update Added

Tomorrow's Pre-Budget Statement should seek (a) to stimulate demand in the economy, (b) with the knowledge that monies will need to be paid back at some stage - although if the package works and demand grows then some of the payment for it will be self-financing. I will judge what is proposed by Alistair Darling to the extent that it fits in with the following pattern. But I won't be holding my breath.

To Increase Economic Demand

1. Increase Pensions and other Benefits.

2. Increase Expenditure on Social Provisions in areas such as Health, Social Welfare and Education.

3. Finance a Council House Building Programme.

4. Take over houses that have been repossessed and rent these out to their former owners.

5. Raise the Income Tax Threshold, without allowing the wealthy to benefit from this.



To Pay For This Programme

A. A Wealth Tax.

B. Windfall Taxes on Super Profits and Bonuses.

C. Raise Income Tax on the Top Earners.

D. Corporation Tax Increases.

E. Work also for International Taxes on currency and other forms of speculation. With the proceeds being used to overcome third world poverty.



POST BUDGET AFTERWORD, Monday November 24

On moves to increase demand in the economy, Alistair Darling produced thin versions of the points I made in 1,2,3 and 4 above - although he covered a wider and more problematic range of issues. Whilst there was nothing about a specific Council House building programme (my point 3), social housing was included in the capital spending that is to be brought forward from 2010-11. So perhaps I should be half satisfied with this half of his equation.

On moves to pay for his programme, Alistair included none of my points A,B,D or E. He did include the much trawled and future promise of an extra 5% income tax band for those earning over £150,000. Whilst this is a mild version of my point C, I am aware of the significance of such a change of principle. I once asked Tony Blair if we could not move towards a more progressive element at the top end of the income tax scale. To which he said that we could not go into a general election promising an income tax increase. Gordon Brown answered the same question by saying that nothing was set in concrete. It is nice to see that we are now out of the concrete, even if I did ask my questions over ten years ago!

Frozen, Teetotal And Defeated

Yesterday afternoon everything looked set for Sheffield FC to record a thumping home victory.

Their opponents, Brigg Town were without a League win all season, having drawn only 3 games and lost 13. Earlier in the season Sheffield FC had recorded a 5-0 win at Brigg's ground and only last Tuesday they had seen off high flying Durham City with an impressive performance.

But it turned out to be a pretty miserable afternoon. It was freezing cold and I was on medication which ruled out a half-time pint. Worse still Sheffield FC suffered a shock 2-0 defeat.

We conceded two sloppy goals, nothing went right for us when we put the pressure on and we finally resorted to hopeful and unimpressive long range punts at goal in the final 20 minutes.

At half time we were 1-0 down and I then dashed to the Coach and Horses for warmth and companionship. I was with Dave and Martin who had pints in front of them. When Tom joined us with his drink he was astonished to see that I was abstaining. I pointed out that my medication did not permit alcohol and that the instructions went on to say the tablets' side effects could lead to constipation and a lowered sex drive, but unfortunately they did not lower my urge for alcohol when the temptation was all around me in a pub.

I soon decided it was time for me to return to the ground. For once I was back in time for the second half kick off. Brigg went straight up the field and scored their second goal.

Once the dismissal game was over, Martin and I dashed for the bus to get away from things. I was hardly going back into the pub to watch others drown their sorrows.

I can only hope that the weather, my medical condition and the football pick up for Tuesday evening's game.

King Charles - The Last

Here is Johann Hari at his best in today's Independent.

Watch Your Back, John

At long last I made it to a football match at Sheffield FC's ground. This was on Tuesday evening and it was 8 weeks since I had attended. On the surface it looked as if we were in for a drubbing.

It was the second round of the Unibond League Cup. Our opponents, Durham City play in a parallel league. Although they are in fifth position, they are unbeaten and have sufficient games in hand of the teams above them to readily take over the top spot.

In contrast, Sheffield FC have a middling league record and have suffered so many injuries that when the teams ran out onto the pitch I only recognised five of our players - two of whom used to occupy the substitutes bench.

But my fears were soon put to rest. After 13 minutes we had established a two goal lead and were pouring on the pressure. We were three up after 63 minutes and seemed to be coasting it.

Jez Mitchell, a new signing had provided the assist for Mick Goddard's opening goal and added the two other goals. In the first half he had three carefully placed shots which just crept past the Durham post. Then a Durham defender made a dramatic save by blasting the ball against his own post.

Next to me Dave was busy on his mobile, letting the absent Martin know when each goal whizzed in. Near the end, however, the tide turned with Adam Johnson (73 Minutes) and Tommy English (83 Minutes) putting Durham back in the game. But it was only just that we held on for a 3-2 victory as we had dominated most of the game.

Events were enlivened when the Sheffield FC supporters heard the referee regularly shout out to the Durham captain Stephen Harrison, calling him "Steve". A series of wisecracks came from the terraces on the assumption that Steve was the ref's son. If we hadn't gone on to win, I think that there would have been calls for a steward's enquiry.

When Dave, Janet and I settled into the Coach and Horses pub after the match, it was time for chats with the visitors. I originate from Easington which is just eight miles east of Durham, so I was keen to find out what gossip I could.

I came across two Durham supporters. One was from Shiney Row and the other was from Murton Colliery. John Cummings (photo above) whom I know well, is the MP for the Easington Constituency and he worked at the pit at Murton. When I mentioned this the reply came back "why I, I used to wash his back for him at the pithead baths".

I next talked to the Durham City goalkeeper Craig Turns, as the programme said that he was born at Easington. It turned out that he had been born at the maternity hospital at Littlethorpe, Easington Village and that he really originated from nearby Seaham. But that was fine as our son was born in the same "baby farm" and the first job I ever had as a railway clerk was at Seaham.

The programme notes also said that Tommy English a Durham goalscorer was born at Easington. But he had left the crowded pub before I could discover whether he was another product of the baby farm. I had shouted at him from the touch line about his Easington connection, but I didn't hear what he shouted back. Perhaps I incensed him that much that he ran up the field and scored!

Four of the Durham team had been on Sunderland's books at some time (including "Steve" and Craig the goalkeeper), whilst two others were born in Sunderland. But although (like John above) I am a Sunderland supporter, this did not undermine my support for Sheffield FC. My chance to support Sunderland from the terraces will come on 26 November when Sheffield FC host a match between Sheffield United Reserves and Sunderland Reserves. There is only once that I ever supported a team playing against Sunderland Reserves and that was when they played Easington Colliery Welfare. I am hardly going to desert the lads to support a bunch from Bramall Lane.

A Lot Of Harlots ?

The economic downturn does not stop for breath. Financial and business decisions are made which circulate the world in an instant. Each loss of confidence, spreads its own momentum. So the answer for some politicians is to seek to re-establish growth (and hence confidence) via measures such as interest rate cuts, tax cuts, co-ordination and Bretton Woods-style regulations.


But they have a job on their hands. Not least because free media outlets also have their own worldwide momentum. They feel obliged to probe and undermine each fresh statistic or other piece of news, even if their new concern is diametrically opposed to what they argued yesterday.

So when our dangerously high rate of inflation falls back somewhat mainly due to a fall in petrol prices, then we are presented with the danger of our moving into a form of deflation on the style of inter-war years. This "news" will probably sap financial and business confidence even further and help bring about just what the media is "predicting".

So does this mean that I favour a State controlled media? No, but it would help if we had commentators with a mixture of intelligent and individually consistent outlooks. Instead, we find that Rudyard Kipling, Stanley Baldwin and John Lloyd were near the mark in seeing the mainline press (et al) as "exercising power without responsibility - the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages."

The Problem With Gordon

This is from today's Guardian -

"Gordon Brown tonight called on the world's most powerful industrial nations to agree a programme of immediate and coordinated tax cuts to prevent the global economy sliding deeper into recession."

If the world economy is moving into a deflationary position, there is a problem with a co-ordinated programme of tax cuts. In a deflationary situation and with instability, there is an interest in people hording any newly found money from income tax or VAT-style cuts, which can be done by holding it in banks at even low interest rates as well as keeping it in their purses and wallets. For if money will be seen as increasing its value, people will wish to keep hold of it as some form of protection for the future. It will then only be via a growth in unemployment and the possibility of cuts in wages and benefits that the newly impovished will be obliged to spend the bits they have.

Tax cuts for the poor makes sense as the poor have little option but to spend the bit they have (and the world is full of poor people), but in other areas would it not be better for Governments to increase their own expenditure rather than to give across the board tax cuts? The building of Council Housing and its equivalent being an alternative.

The problems with a move to increased Government expenditure is that (a) it might get bogged down in long term capital programmes which would not do what is needed to stimulate demand in the short-run and (b) numbers of Governments throughout the world are corrupt and would misuse such a programme. So Governments would need to use their expenditure to provide people with consumer type goods. In a world that has wide areas of poverty this is by no means an incorrect approach - although international co-ordination would be essential to the tackle corruption problems.

Housing Crisis - Council Housing Solution

Austin Mitchell the Chair of the Housing Group of MPs had this fine letter in "The Times" on Tuesday. Here is an extract -

".....your lead story (“Council homes for life ‘to be scrapped’ ”, Nov 10) isn’t a forecast of the Green Paper on social housing, but a last-ditch attempt by a tiny group of ideologically motivated barm-pots, some of them in Communities & Local Government, to achieve their longstanding aim of destroying council housing.....Yet....the idea..... foisted on an embarrassed Chartered Institute of Housing (not the other way round, as your article implied) in an attempt to push it on our new Housing Minister, Margaret Beckett.....won’t work. The Labour Party won’t wear it. Nor will the councils. Margaret is a Labour minister, not a Blairite, and she’ll give it the short shrift it deserves because she recognises, as we do, that the only answer to the acute shortage of public housing for rent is to build more. Indeed, the only way to get more housing built in a credit crisis is to finance the councils to put builders back to work and to regenerate estates so they’re not ghettos."

It is over to you Margaret.

A Little More History

I remember purchasing a copy of the Pelican edition of H.G.Wells' "Short History Of The World" in my mid-teens when I was making my way to a football match at Sunderland's former ground at Roker Park. It was a fine day and as I arrived at the ground early, I sat on the terraces at the Roker End to start reading. I was soon absorbed by its short early chapters with titles such as "The World In Space","The World In Time" and "The Beginning of Life."

I was so taken by the book that when I later arrived in Iraq in 1955 as a National Serviceman without my small library, I purchased a second copy. It is stamped "Coronet Book Shop, Rashid Street, Baghdad", although I suspect that I purchased it in Basra where I was stationed.

Now over half a century later, the excitement I felt when reading Wells' history has now been re-experienced thanks to my reading the book shown above. It is Ernst Gombrich's "A Little History Of The World" which has recently been published in English in a paperback edition (Yale University Press, 2008, £6.99p).

Whilst Gombrich wrote this book for children, adults will find it a delight. Especially, if they have an inquisitive child or grandchild to read it to - gradually, short chapter by short chapter.

The first edition was published in 1936 (the year I was born) in Vienna and it is, therefore, targeted at a mid-European audience. But this itself helps to broaden English reader's horizons - be they old or young.

In Britain, parents and grandparents will always be able to take an excited child to the British Museum, especially to follow up the fine sections on Antiquity.

I would have liked to have seen a chapter on Sub-Saharan Africa and the nature and impact of the Slave Trade, which included the base it provided for much of the initial industrialisation in Britain. And I am also concerned that young girls might be unable to identify with Gombrich's historical sweep as women are sidelined in his history. Why this is so could fruitfully have been faced and more could have been made of the role of women such as Cleopatra, Joan of Arc and Elizabeth I.

But Gombrich's book is to be absorbed and enjoyed, rather than criticised. The final edition includes a chapter based on his own experiences from the end of the First World War when he was 9, up to the fall of the Berlin Wall. This rounds his work off for us. It also has an extra relevance for me in that I was myself approaching 9 at the end the Second World War.

It will also encourage me to return to H.G.Wells. For his own short history is drawn from his larger work entitled "The Outline Of History" which I went on to buy second hand at 8 Shillings and 6 Pence in the days of old money, but which I have only used for reference purposes to date.

But above all it will lead me on to Gombrich. For after he produced the original edition of his little history (which has 40 chapters!), he went on to become the leading art historian of his generation. So I at last need to get hold of a copy of his international bestseller "The Story Of Art" - it has sold 6 million copies to date!

Bloggers And Blears

In a talk to the Hansard Society, Hazel Blears (left, but not politically) has made the following attack on political bloggers.

"Perhaps because of the nature of the technology, there is a tendency for political blogs to have a 'Samizdat' style. The most popular blogs are rightwing, ranging from the considered Tory views of Iain Dale, to the vicious nihilism of Guido Fawkes. Perhaps this is simply anti-establishment. Blogs have only existed under a Labour government. Perhaps if there was a Tory government, all the leading blogs would be left-of-centre?

But mostly, political blogs are written by people with disdain for the political system and politicians, who see their function as unearthing scandals, conspiracies and perceived hypocrisy.

Until political blogging 'adds value' to our political culture, by allowing new voices, ideas and legitimate protest and challenge, and until the mainstream media reports politics in a calmer, more responsible manner, it will continue to fuel a culture of cynicism and despair" (I suppose a quote is Samizdat!)

If she wishes to look for an alternative set of political blogs to those she attacks, then she should examine the links in the column to my right. Not to mention my Archives which cover 400 entries on top of this one (although some are about football and not politics - as are a few of my links).

To attack political bloggers on Hazel's basis is like being rude to those who talk politics in pubs and clubs, on buses and trains and even at organised political meetings. Just because numbers of people talk crap, it does not mean that they all do. Nor that their chosen avenue of expression should be damned.

If she wishes to raise the standard of political blogging, then she should join in as numbers of her parliamentary colleagues do. On second thoughts, I haven't came across anything yet to indicate that Hazel has anything to offer in raising the standard of debate whatever avenue she decides to use - certainly nothing she says from the green benches. But there I go again fueling cynicism and despair.

The Pain Of McCain

Perhaps I am becoming an old cynic, but the BBC's current euphoria over the election of Barack Obama reminds me of its 1997 enthusiasm over the election of Tony Blair. But I do have higher hopes for Barack.

For one thing, he will be obliged to shift US foreign policy. For otherwise he will come to be known as Barack O'Bomber.

My interest in John McCain (above) is that he is my age. This means, of course, that we have always been the same age. So I can follow the dramatic events in his life and remember the more mundane things I was doing when he was going through the traumas of being a POW or was engaged in the excitements of his high level political career in the USA. (I was, however, around 38 days before he was born. But I don't remember that much. It might, however, give me the edge on gravitas.)

What can he now do? Well like all of us at 72, he can keep on reminiscing. Better still, he could get himself a personal blog and click into my comment box now and again.

Congo - We Need More Than Bandages

..... the debate about Congo in the West – when it exists at all – focuses on our inability to provide a decent bandage, without mentioning that we are causing the wound. It’s true the 17,000 UN forces in the country are abysmally failing to protect the civilian population, and urgently need to be super-charged. But it is even more important to stop fuelling the war in the first place by buying blood-soaked natural resources. Nkunda only has enough guns and grenades to take on the Congolese army and the UN because we buy his loot. We need to prosecute the corporations buying them for abetting Crimes Against Humanity, and introduce a global coltan-tax to pay for a substantial peace-keeping force. To get there, we need to build an international system that values the lives of black people more than it values profit.

The above is from Johann Hari's Column in the Independent on Thursday.

UPDATE. 4 NOVEMBER.....Here is a serious contribution on the situation in the Congo from "The Bickerstaffe Record" entitled "Is Tanzania the DR Congo Solution?" . One of my greatest regrets is that when I was in Tanzania in 1998 at the time of the Al Qaeda attack on the American Embassy in Dar es Salaam, a meeting that I had fixed up with the late and great Julius Nyerere was cancelled. What Nyerere helped to achieve in Tanzania is rightfully praised and is seen as an example for the Congo in the above thread.

Atheism And Politics

UK Polling Report, under the heading "WOULD YOU VOTE FOR AN ATHEIST" concludes -

"In the US survey, the most electoral objectionable group was atheists, with 53% of Americans saying they would not vote for an otherwise well-qualified Presidential candidate who was an atheist. One would expect that figure to be much lower in the UK, but actually it is still surprisingly high at 20%. One might not have guessed it, but not believing in God would appear to be almost as much of an electoral handicap for a potential leader in the UK as being Muslim or gay."

I appreciate that becoming President or Prime Minster is somewhat different from being a back-bench MP. But I was an MP for 18 years and an atheist. No constituent ever asked me what my religion was. I went to Civic Services and Church/Chapel Funerals as part of what I saw as being my civic (or personal) duty. On the other hand I attended meetings of the Humanist Society in Parliament. I neither hid nor pushed my atheism. I was fully involved in the politics of Northern Ireland, but no-one even raised religion with me - not even to ask if I was a Catholic Atheist or a Protestant Atheist. Politicians (and others) who beat the religious or anti-religious drum worry me. It is, for instance, possible to oppose faith schools without being anti-religious. Politicians should neither do God nor Anti-God. There are plenty of other things to get on with.

Hat Tip NightHawk

A Reluctant Review

I am reluctant to review Mohsin Hamid's book "The Reluctant Fundamentalist". It is a short novel of under 45,000 words which many will devour at a single sitting. I wish to encourage others to read it, but it would be inappropriate for me to undermine that experience by analysing and therebye describing in detail what it is about or how the subject matter is handled. Yet it would be great to discuss this work with others who had already read it.

In my review of "The Islamist" by Ed Husain, I argued that people like myself who had been brought up to discuss ideas within the Western Political Tradition now needed quickly to get up to speed on a whole range of ideas and understandings within Islam. Mohsin Hamid shows what can happen to an intelligent and able young man with an Islamic background when he comes to absorb both the attractions and complexities of life in the West. It seems to me to provide understandings which help to put some of the tomes I have recently been studying into a clearer perspective.

If I encourage anyone to take up this book and they then come to judge that I have exaggerated my case, then at least I will feel justified in persuading them to have turned to what is by any standards a good read.

Is It Time For A Negative Interest Rate?

FACE TO FACE WITH A NEGATIVE INTEREST RATE.

In 1960 I was 24 and a fairly new full-time student at Ruskin College when I was set an essay by my economic theory tutor on the likely impact of a negative interest rate. Unfortunately I could find no reference to anything called a "negative interest rate" in the reading list which he had supplied, nor could any of my fellow novice students enlighten me on the meaning of the term.

So when it came to the tutorial, I read out what I had thought through for myself. My tutor kept correcting me until it dawned on him that I had persistently got hold of the wrong end of the stick. He then heard me out in silence.

I had ignored the notion that changes can occur in the value of money due to inflation or deflation. Instead I dreamt up a situation in which real values were static, but any savings which people deposited would receive a cut when retrieved. Save, say £100 and get £95 in return.

Even such an odd theory gives some limited scope for intellectual gymnastics and my tutors end-of-term comments obviously looked back on this incident. He reported that I "showed a distinct ability to think for myself, but at a superficial level" ! It is a position which is, no doubt, reflected regularly in this blog.

A POSITIVE RETURN TO A NEGATIVE INTEREST RATE.

The likely impact of a negative interest rate is, however, a key contemporary issue. For it refers to a situation in which the rate of interest could feasibly be outmatched by the rate of inflation. The basic rate of interest fell to 4.5% on 8th October, yet in September the rate of inflation had already reached the higher figure of 5.2%. In practice many available rates of interest still exceed the 4.5% figure, but the inflation and interest rates are fast closing in upon one another.

Ken Livingstone is amongst those calling for a further cut in interest rates to boost investment. In real terms this would produce a negative interest rate for savers.

The case for doing this is made in today's Morning Star by Jerry Jones. He states that the government should "drastically reduce interest rates to around 2% and bring in regulations last seen in the 1950s and 1960s to ensure that the banks pass on the lower rate.....(to) ease the situation of those heavily in debt and (so) people would have more to spend. This would increase overall economic demand. These measures would make it cheaper for individuals and businesses to take on loans, which would help to boost economic demand, investment and employment. Fewer people would be in danger of losing their homes through getting in arrears.....(the) downside of slashing interest rates whilst inflation stands over 5% is that interest rates would be negative in real terms (my emphasis HB) so savers would lose out.However, cuts would act as an incentive to invest and spend, which would help to stimulate the economy".

TWO EXTRA FACTORS

Given that I first stumbled into negative interest rates 48 years ago, I will add two extra factors to Jerry Jone's powerful analysis.

First, savings are also used for investment purposes when banks and other financial institutions are obliged to act sensibly. Money withheld from savings needs to be invested or spent to create growth. However, money kept in purses and wallets does less than money properly saved.

Secondly, if the Government are to adjust interest rates in order to influence economic activity then (although they hold reserve powers), they need to reclaim the power to do this from the Bank of England. Those of us who came to learn about negative interest rates the hard way, knew that Gordon Brown made a great blunder in his first act as Chancellor of the Exchequer when he tied his hands behind his back.

Prioritising Peccadilloes

I fulfilled my commitment (made in the thread below this one) by keeping away from blogging for 24 days.

In any case, little happened in my absence apart from (1) the collapse of capitalism, (2) Gordon Brown's moving from zero to hero, (3) Barack Obama surging ahead in the race for the White House and (4) Sheffield FC winning two FA Cup Qualifying Games. Rather more important was my wife's birthday.

Over the time of my absence, I undertook a detailed study of the 121 Reports I had issued to the General Commmittee of the North East Derbyshire Labour Party in my 18 years as their MP - along with associated Hansard extracts and newspaper cuttings.

I made a lengthy analysis of all this stuff.

But I pushed it all to one side for the meeting I addressed in Dronfield yesterday evening which was entitled "That Was Parliament That Was". Instead I concentrated on the politicians' peccadilloes which I had observed during my 18 years in the Palace of Varieties.

The turgid stuff is intended for a book I am writing. On the other hand, if I am looking for a commercial success then perhaps I should stick with the peccadilloes.

Announcement

PEEL CENTRE'S ANNUAL DRONFIELD LECTURE


Speaker..................Harry Barnes

Subject...................That Was Parliament, That Was

Time.......................7.30 pm

Date........................Friday, 17 October

Venue.....................Peel Centre, High Street, Dronfield

Entrance Fee...........£5 (including wine and refreshments)

A talk on my life as the local MP from 1987-2005


BLOGGING ANNOUNCEMENT

At the moment I am attempting to write my political autobiography, in which I hope to draw political lessons for the future. Blogging interferes with this project. I will use the opportunity provided by my giving the above talk, to do some research into my period in parliament. I do not particularly need to do this for the purpose of my talk, but it is a useful discipline for the purposes of the book which I have already started writing. I will, therefore stay away from blogging until after 17 October and I have hidden all comments until then. But I will then return to blogging and reopen my comment boxes - although my own blogging activities may only then emerge in fits and starts for some time.

Give Us A Goole

In The End Goole Are Cut Down To Size

Sheffield FC have averaged home league crowds of 417. But yesterday evening in the first round of something called the President's Cup the attendance dropped to 211. It didn't help that the Club's web site and match programme told us nothing about the nature of the bauble that was at stake. From the teams playing in the cup that night, it seems to be a contest involving the teams in both the North and South Leagues of the Unibond First Division.

As this is a sort of Unibond Carling Cup for the lower leagues; Sheffield rested their goalkeeper Leigh Walker, full-back Gavin Smith, mid-fielder Asa Ingall and striker Scott Partridge. That's almost the guts of the team. They did not even have a substitute goalkeeper on the bench.

Sheffield still spent most of the match weaving towards the visitors goal. They were playing Goole AFC, but I have no idea how many reserves Goole were playing. Sheffield missed chance after chance, desperate defenders bodies got in the way of goal bound shots and two of the Goole players almost scored spectacular own goals.

Yet it was Goole that grabbed the lead in the 7th minute, when our goalkeeper failed to stretch out his hand far enough when he dived at a shot from Nicky Darker. He made amends in the second half with a fine tip over the bar. Which was just as well as we were still 1-0 down.

Yet it was nearly all attack, attack, attack from Sheffield. Man of the match, Martin Goddard won ball after ball in the air, controlled through balls and set up his colleagues. It was justice when he got the eventual winner. But this did not arrive until the 84th minute. Andy Gascoigne coming on as substitute having vollied a fine equaliser in to the back of the net after 73 minutes.

But we had trailed for over an hour in a game that we were dominating. Our only problem was that we were so extended in attack that some of our reserve defenders were in danger of falling to the odd sucker punch from the Goole attack.

Yet when the deserved victory finally arrived it meant that Dave, Janet and myself could then reflect on the good things in this non-event when we finally retreated to the Coach and Horses bar. Its a pity that the President's Cup doesn't provide a backdoor into a European Cup Competition.