Politics

[threegee]

Mick was the natural choice for NUM president.  The extreme left of the Labour party and union movement hatched a plot to exclude him.  It's those people who should be vilified for the miner's strike disaster not MT.  They unleashed forces they couldn't control, and left the government with no alternative but to break the NUM.  Mick's proud boast was that he never called a strike for political reasons, but only to benefit the membership, and - like Bob Crow - only picked fights he was certain he could win.

 

... One of Mr McGahey's achievements was getting mines to install baths, instead of sending miners home grimy. He campaigned for "self-rescuers”, refuges for miners caught underground in an accident.

 

But getting more money and other benefits for miners was his job. He was regarded as a tough negotiator, but one who kept to agreements. Calling himself a "devout communist” seemed to confirm his reputation for honesty. He believed that, though small in number, the communists had an influence on British politics. He may have had a point. Britain's ruling Labour Party officially shuns communists. But the communists and other ardent leftists are the ones who turn out on a rainy Sunday morning to deliver election leaflets for the local Labour candidate. Anything to beat a Tory.

 

There has been no declared communist in the British Parliament for many years. At the 1997 general election a communist standing in Hackney, a working-class district in London, came near the bottom of the poll with 298 votes. The party itself has changed its name to the Democratic Left: it seems to sound less foreign. Mr McGahey regarded himself as a patriot, especially of Scotland, and he looked forward to its independence. Britain's most notorious communists, Kim Philby and his Cambridge friends who spied for the Russians, were, he believed, opportunists who thought Britain was collapsing. But what could you expect of the upper class?

 

-- from The Economist

 

Now there's a real hero for Adam. Can't see the Labour party going anywhere near that one though!

[Tonyp]

threegee,if Mick had been around when my granda was killed at the doctor pit,he may have survived.....

Instead he became a statistic of the past.

[Malcolm Robinson]

And leaving the Scottish independence question to those best qualified to answer it…..

[threegee]

And leaving the Scottish independence question to those best qualified to answer it…..

 

Ah, you must mean the sixteen-year-old kids who have absolutely no experience of politics or political machinations?  Jihadist suicide bombers come to mind here.  Part of me rather wishes that Salmond gets his crazy way - it would certainly be great for the North East here - but the other part has a lot of sympathy for the entirely sane Scots, who seem to be in the majority! 

[Malcolm Robinson]

Only if Scotland starts at the Tyne GGG !

[threegee]

Only if Scotland starts at the Tyne GGG !

 

Interested to hear your reasoning on this one. Suspect that you could be one of the many (mainly in Scotland) who haven't thought this one through fully.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Well up to now GGG its been called the Barnet Formula, an exercise in quantum financial theory which left anyone south of the Tweed much more worse off financially than anyone living just north of the Tweed. Thought to be around 20% it's actually England subsidising Scotland.

Then we consider health and education and there is only one winner........................................................................................

The Scottish Act 1998 (rev 2012) looks to be an exercise in self-flagellation for England! ...............................................................

So certainly we would have been better off with the boarder on the Tyne. .................................................................................

As for the 'vote'. ..............................................................................................................................................................................................

I am not so enamoured by either Mr Salmond or his supporters to be swayed by their arguments but given the chance to start again I would certainly be grabbing it. A political and societal reboot would outweigh any other considerations.

One proviso….all current politicians would have to be employed painting the Forth Road Bridge with Wor Lass's nail brushes and if any of them utter a single word it's off to Barlinnie with them!......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PS Sorry I can't set out the text better, it's a viral thing!

[John White]

Ah yes the Barnet Formula.

 

I came across this when NCC councillors held a public meeting at County Hall (late 80s) prior to them going to London to plead Northumberland`s case for more money.

 

I video`d the meeting & I somewhere still have the tape. NCC commisioned an AV presentation to support their case.

 

The slide which set out the "Formula`s" formula was unbelievable. 

 

If I remember correctly money is allocated partly using density of population against dimensions of the area in question. That`s where we lost out!

 

Maybe I remember wrongly. Anyway I prefer Sanjeevs explanation...    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-27423110

 

Well it`s either that or cry!

[threegee]

...said to have "no legal standing or democratic justification",^[1] and, being merely a convention, could be changed by the Treasury at will. In recent years, Barnett has called for a review of its long-term viability.

 

Although not subject to the Barnett formula, there are significant variations in identifiable spending between the regions of England:^[5]

• North East £8,177 – 111% of UK average identifiable expenditure
• North West £7,798 – 106%
• Yorkshire and Humberside £8,188 – 115%
• East Midlands £6,491 – 88%
• West Midlands £7,065 – 96%
• Eastern £6,144 – 83%
• London £8,704 – 124%
• South East £6,304 – 86%
• South West £8,677 – 121%

 

Another factor why the East is first to go strongly UKIP then?

Though, I think our case is not so much about to-region distribution, but what happens when it trickles down to town level.  That we put up with constantly being shafted is ample testimony to the combined dumbness and disinterest of local voters.  It's all very well electing a few independents who refuse to join in the establishment conspiracy, but they are neutered unless you deliver a shock to the system at both the regional and national levels.

[Adam Hogg]

UKIP U-Turn on Europe?

 

http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/watch-nigel-farage-comes-out-for-ryder-cup-team/2i6tuq2q

[threegee]

Good find!  I'd heard about that be not seen it.

 

The short answer is that Nigel is a good European, not one of the ones that seek to enslave it.  Ask Kirsten Mehr (n.k.a. Mrs Kirsten Farage).  Ask Italian Bepe Grillo, and the leaders of other European political parties working with UKIP to liberate their own countries and establish an efficient European free trade area. That's "Team Europe" - what the British people voted for, but not what they got!  Europe and federalism only go together in the minds of the the ex-Nazi types who currently control the EU.

[willy j.]

Just a little note on a couple of comments made by Tonyp on 2nd August regarding 'Brown Envelopes'. I have to say that there is some hypocrisy in his comments. As a trade union official/committee member, he of all people should know that the trade union movement actually invented the culture of the 'Brown Envelope' criminality.

 

I speak from experience here, as I was persuaded to put up for election onto the NACODS committee at Eliington Colliery in the early 80's, which duly happened. Thinking I was doing the right thing, being able to look after our members interests against a committee that we all believed were all corrupt. I had many arguments with them in committee meetings, however, after 6 weeks I was called into the union office where a....... yes you guessed it.......a brown envelope was shoved over the desk to me. I asked what it was, and was told it was my wages. I asked 'wages for what exactly, and how much is in it?' I was told it was £45 for attending committee meetings. I was absolutely enraged and disgusted. Apparently they had always paid themselves for meetings, unknown to the members I might add.

 

I pushed the envelope back over the desk and told them they had no right to that money, it belonged to the members and they were a bunch of thieves. I was made aware that all Union committees did this. I resigned on the spot under a cloud of many expletives, I was so annoyed that these people treat their members, honest men, in this way.

 

Anyway, the whole point of this is the mythical brown envelope. I can see how you are aware of it Tonyp, I am sure you'll have had a few yourself.

[Tonyp]

Never!!,,the only thing I've took from the union is petrol expenses driving back & forward from London to Earls Barton,honestly....

[Tonyp]

Forgot I do get a salary from the union as I'm branch secretary....no envelopes though

[Tonyp]

Well well well Ukip got there first seat in Clacton I think I told threegee it was Bnp heartland not many immigrants there

Just lots of Nazi thugs if it was a seat it would win it would be that one....

[threegee]

To associate the good people of Clacton with the BNP is a slur and not worth of you Tony.  Remember this was a solid Labour seat until new focus-group driven Labour took to the stage.  Also remember that immigrants are supporting and joining UKIP, working for the party and even offering themselves as candidates. UKIP isn't anti-immigrant, it's anti uncontrolled immigration.

 

How do you explain that Labour only held on by a whisker in Middleton, one of the safest Labour seats in the country?  And they needed skulduggery even to manage those 600 votes.  Only 300 more Labour switchers and that would be it for Miliband's cosy career (which is slated to end up in a Blair-like EU ambassador role, trousering millions more of people's money for doing precisely nowt!).
 

The smooth operators who control New Labour won't face up to the social problems they have created.  Miliband "forgets" to mention immigration in a hour-plus long speech.  He also "forgets" the weasel words he wrote about the deficit Gordon Brown created. Then he doesn't even mention the EU, because he has no intention of doing anything about that either.  People want government that faces up to issues, not sweeps them under the carpet.  A government that listens.  None of the establishment parties have been listening for a very long time.

[Tonyp]

Haven't seen many Eastern Europeans signing up to Ukip your probably write about lots of unskilled workers coming over..

By the way Bedlington can be very loud with some unruly kids smashed out there boxes but trust me on this one Clacton is 10 times

Worse I've seen that first hand...

[Symptoms]

Of course, as far public perceptions are concerned there appears to be no clear water between the Tories and New Labour on many policy matters.  Even Milllliiiiibbbbeee's dropping of the 'new' bit hasn't fooled anybody.  What's needed are clear policy differences so Joe Public has a real choice at the GE.  Maybe that's why Ukip are doing so well ... they're offering something that's different.  IMO Labour needs to 'move' left more.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Here's some politics for you's

 

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/political-and-constitutional-reform-committee/news/new-inquiry-devolution-after-referendum/