The Trials & Tribulations of a Liberal Renegade

Constitutional Reform

2007-07-04T23:12:00.000+01:00

Once again, apologies for no post yesterday. I've been busy packing to go home at the weekend. Due to this, I am shattered and therefore have decided to copy my recent post from the LDYS Forums on my thoughts about the constitutional reforms announced by Gordon Brown today

Give MPs power to decide whether to wage war
MPs represent the people, and it should be up to the people to decided whether to put the nation into a war. Therefore, this lets the fate of the nation be put back into the hands of those who are this nation, via their elected representatives.

Setting up national security council
Isn't this what the Joint Intelligence Committee do already? And how will it be organised? Who will be on it? Will it be independent of the Government? Who will it answer to?

Parliament to ratify international treaties
Interesting one, in principle it should work, as it gives those treaties more weight and approval. However, I have a feeling it'll backfire in practice.

Commons committees for each English region
What a waste of MPs time!! If i was an MP, I'd never attend. I'd rather solve the prison crisis or end world poverty than sit on a committee discussing some county fair etc

New ministerial code
Well, there has always been one, just needs updating and for ministers to adhere to it.

PM no longer to choose Church of England bishops
Needs to go further, a full separation of Church & state. Though clearly Brown anticipates David Miliband succeeding him, as it would be interesting to see how people would have dealt with a Jewish PM choose C of E bishops.

Elections moving from Thursday to weekends
Make election day a bank holiday and then connect it to voter turnout. If turnout is lower than 65-70%, then there will be no bank holiday for the next election day.

MPs to hold hearings on key public appointments
Which key public appointments? and shouldn't these be separate from any political influence, including that from MPs

People to be consulted on possible 'bill of rights'
Depends on what the rights are, especially in they contradict the ECHR.

Potential lowering of voting age to 16
Hallelujah! finally. however, think politics lessons would need to be given in schools first.

'Floods are God's Wrath because of Gay Rights' - Bishop of Carlisle

2007-07-02T22:06:00.001+01:00

Apparently, the recent floods in the north of England are because God is angry at the erosion of traditional family and gay rights. This is according to the Bishop of Carlisle, quoted in a Daily Telegraph article.

Now where do we start pulling that one apart then?

Actually, I don't want to even give this bigot the time of day. What I will say is this though, I bet you he will not get punished. If he was in any other job, he'd be fired. If he was a member of a political party, he'd be thrown out. But will the C of E reprimand him? I sincerely doubt it.

'Cameron faces Tory split' - Observer

2007-07-01T21:19:00.000+01:00

According to an article in today's Observer, David Cameron is facing a split within the Conservative Party between those who wish to modernise and make the party progressive; and those tradtionalists who believe in core Tory values and fear change will turn them in to an unelectable version of the Labour Party.

This isn't anything new. Ever since Cameron was elected leader, there has been talk of major divisions over the fact that he wants to try and take on Labour, and originally Tony Blair, at their own game. Earlier in the day, after I read the article, I started a topic on the LDYS Forums about it. My response to it on there was this:

"David Cameron wants to modernise the party. He recognises that the last ten years under Labour has change the political playing field into a more centerist one, in which you have to govern the country for the sake of everyone, regardless of who they are and what their beliefs maybe. The old guard within the party don't like this idea. They believe that Tory voters and traditional Tory values should be put first, ahead of what is truly good for the nation and would reverse any progress that the changes the Labour rule of the past decade have made. If they got in, given half the chance, they'd repeal most of the legislation introduced by Labour just for the sake of it and/or its progessively liberal. Luckily, these sort of Tories are in a minority as they are dying out....literally. Hopefully, as the article believes, Cameron will bring in
younger, more moderate MPs into the Shadow Cabinet so that foward thinking debate and progessive Parliament-based government can emerge."

As long as these divisons exsist, the Conservatives can say goodbye to any chance of succeed in the next general election, and if they don't modernise, they may never get back into power or be the same party again. Swing voters want progress and continutiy, not to revert back ten years and be subjected to traditonal Tory values in every part of lifeTo quote my forum posts again:

"Cameron is basically stuck between a rock and a hard place. Does he a) stick to tradtion and keep the old guard happy, thus losing any chance of getting a decent majority or b) adopt more progressive policies, alienating the traditionalists but gaining those crucial swing voters."

Either way, I see a split in the Conservative Party inevitable, and little chance in them winning the next general election.

Split Personalities

2007-06-30T22:09:00.000+01:00

I've jus finshed watching the latest episode of Jekyll, a contemporary take on Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring James Nesbitt as Dr Tom Jackman and his alter ego, Hyde.

Now, aside from the fact that it is a superb piece of drama written by Steven Moffat, it has got me thinking about identity and what it means to be me, us, ourselves or however you want to put it and how that relates to the perceptions others make about us. This is particualry relevent in the political arena, as the whole field of politics is based on the way you and your policies appear to others. Bascially, I'm asking if its possible to have two sets of views, especially ones which contradict each other.

For example, I believe in a free education system, one which allows anyone and everyone to go into it, at any age and at any stage, from any ethnic; social or financial background. However, I do not believe that everyone should be in full time education. I do not believe that going to secondary school should be compulsory. Why? Because I believe that not everyone is cut out for education. I'm not calling people thick, just that some are better suited to academia than others. Insted, I would like to see pupils giving a choice between going to school or taking an apprenticeship. One or the other, compulsory still, but a choice.

Another example is my stance on nuclear proliferation. I do not believe in nuclear weapons, especially when a country like the U.S has enough several hundred times over, but doesn't like anyone else having any. If you're going to have nuclear arms, at least let every country have one and just one. In contrast, I believe that eneed to have more nuclear power, as viable alternative to fossil fuels. Yes, there are issues over it causing cancer, but the climate is in such a state that the only way to reduce emissions fast enough before its too late is to invest in nuclear power.

Then you have the conflicts with the local electorate. As I have dicussed in the LDYS Forums, it is hard to maintain certain liberal views if the electorate are not in favour of it. How for instance is a Lib Dem going to get elected in an area where the locals blame everything on immigrants and as such are slightly racist?

Its a simple as this: Do you have a contradiction in your politics? Is there a darkside?

Shuffle and Shift

2007-06-29T19:32:00.000+01:00

I must start with an apology, I'm sorry for not posting yesterday. My reason for doing so is that with the ever changing and updating news with regards to the Cabinet and the floods up North, I wanted to wait until today so that I could have time to read the papers and analyse the re-shuffle properly rather than reacting on spur of the moment to breaking news, especially if its constantly updating or changing as I go.

Now, I'm not going to do a repeat of my last post where I take areas and list bulletpoints as that would be repeative and in regards to 22 Cabinet Secretaries of State and all the other ministers, tedious. Instead I will take the appoinment that I believe very well thought through, as well as looking as those Lib Dem peers that have been brought in.

The Cabinet appointment that I think is progressive is that of David Miliband , Member of Parliament for South Shields, as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Mr. Miliband, who at 41 the youngest Foreign Secretary since David Owen in 1977. With this appointment, Gordon Brown is clearly trying to distance himself from the foreign policies of Tony Blair though maintaining some form of continuity in giving the job to a man who was considered a serious Blairite contender for the leadership. The key aspect of Miliband's views that signal a policy shift is that he was doubtful over the Iraq War, which fits in with the current plans for phased withdrawl of troops. He is known to be pro-Europe/EU and his intellectualism was greatly acknowledeged in his previous post as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs where he oversaw policy on climate change and global warming, a topic which has now risen to the forefront of international politics since Miliband first entered Parliament in 2001. I throughly believe that he has the qualities to be a success in his new office, with the right credentials to be able to control foreign policy with minimal inteference for No.10. If he plays his cards right, he could firmly cement his place as Gordon Brown's sucessor as Labour leader (because we know Brown would only stand down when they lose a General Election :p ).

David Miliband is also Jewish. Now that shouldn't usually be an issue, but it is in this capacity as he'll be the first Jewish Foreign Secretary and therefore be able to criticise any action taken by Israel which he and this nation is unhappy without be considered anti-semetic/

In regards to the Lib Dem peers, we have Lord Lester who has been brought in as an adviser on constitutional reforms. To me, this signals that Gordon Brown is considering a written British Constitution and/or Bill of Rights as Lord Lester, as his lordship was one of the key instigators of the Human Rights Act of 1998 through his 30 years of campaigning for it. Also brought it was Baroness Neuberger, put in charge of promoting volunteering, which she has been involved in throughout her work as a rabbi.

Other 'outsiders' joining the government include Lord Stevens as an adviser on international security, former First Sea Lord Sir Alan West as another security adviser and ex-CBI boss Sir Digby Jones who gets a trade and industry brief.

Thats all for now. See you when I see you

An Historic Day

2007-06-27T20:46:00.000+01:00

I write this coming to what is the end of probably one of THE political events of my life so far, the end of Tony Blair's Premiership.

Now all things said and done, to me Blair is, or should that be was, one of the best Prime Minister's this country has ever said. To quote Lord Ashdown from the recent Channel 4 documentary 'The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair', 'He was one of the best Prime Minister's of the last 100 years, but he had the potential to be the greatest.'

Ok, yes he is a man who took us into an unjust war in Iraq, yes he has slowly eroded our human rights and civil liberties with under the auspices of anti-terror legislation, but to be fair that has only been the last three years or so. Let us look at his successes, using the age old method of bullet points as I'm to knackered to form coherent sentences at this time of night.

Education:

Massive financial investment, currently £1.2bn is spent on education PER WEEK!
Enabled the training of more teachers, by providing better funding for training and raising the average wage.
Leading to more teachers, and therefore a reduction in class sizes.
Exam results increasing year upon year (they are not easier, its just the teachers are better and the pupils cleverer).
More people continuing education on to university level, and many more of them working class too, regardless of tuition fees being brought in.

The NHS:

Waiting lists reduced on a national level, with the waiting time for non-emergency surgery no longer than six months.
NHS budget increased threefold since 1997.
Better relationship with private sector.

Economics:

Gordon Brown's first act as Chancellor of Exchequer is to give the Bank of England independence and the power to set interest rates.
Economic growth is 2.4% per capita annually, with average overall growth at 2.8%.
Record employment levels.
Sterling is stronger than under any other Prime Minister
Freedom of trade, movement and employment.
Reliance on finite manufacturing replaced by booming financial sector, attracting more lucrative investment from home and abroad.
As such, recent polls and research has shown Blair has lead Britain to be the only current major economic power that will benefit from China becoming the world's largest economy.

International Relations and Foreign Policy:

Progress towards an end to poverty in the developing world.
Intervention to prevent genocide in Kosovo and Sierra Leone
The signing of the Kyoto Protocols and an ambition to be at the forefront of the global fight against climate change
Supporting and nurturing the ambitions of growing powers such as China and India
Above all else, peace in Northern Ireland.

Culture and Sport:

Free entry to all national & public museums for everyone
Arts funding increased
Re-birth of the British film industry
Digital TV being rolled out nationwide
The 2012 Olympics

And that is where I leave it, for there is too many things too list and I'm sure some stuff people would argue shouldn't be on there.

In 1997, when Blair and Labour came to power, I was 9. In a little over two months time, I turn 20. I've spent the last ten years under Blair, I barely remember any other Prime Minister. Those ten years were my most formative, and I doubt I would be the person that I am not growing up under him. I certainly would not have had the chances and opportunities I've had or done the things I've done without the welfare reforms and changes to the education system he made.

Even though I'm a committed Lib Dem I end on this last note

Tony Blair, I salute you. You turned this country around from the mess that the Conservative governments before you made and left us in, and for that the nation it truly grateful. Goodnight and Good Luck.

My First Blog Post

2007-06-26T18:06:00.000+01:00

Here it is! My first post on my shiny new blog!

Now to business of blogging....the business of politics and opinion, for that is the aim of this blog. Somewhere for me to unleash my views upon the world and discuss the issues that affect our country, the world and society as a whole.

I'm a Liberal Democrat, have been all my life though only been an actual member of the party for three months now. I class myself as a social liberal, in that I believe in both the freedom of indvidiuality, but also the fact that the state does have to intefere with the economy and sometimes, even our everyday lives for the good of society and the safety of its citizens, especially in order to protect fundamental rights.

Alongside my Liberal Democrat membership, I am also a member of Amnesty International and the United Nations Association, as well as been a keen supporter of Greenpeace and Liberty (I haven't become a member of either of them as I can't afford to at the moment).

My other political views include being pro-EU, anti-Iraq War, support for animal rights and the combatting of climate change. These and many other views will emerge in future posts, I can't be bothered to list everything now.

I hope this was enlightening and that you will read my blog avidly and regularly.

Ciao, James