Spring in Bradford?

There are two choices how us Labour activists should react to the George Gallaway result

1) hang our heads, wring our hands, and wail in despair
2) move on

Don’t know about you but whilst I have had plenty of practice at 1) finally at long last, after years playing this ridiculously unfair game of politics, when the rules change daily, as if you ever knew them in the first place, these days even after a hefty blow I find I can actually pick myself up again pretty fast. And looking at this ‘hefty blow’ rationally :

- it’s a mid term result, maybe we should have worried if we HAD won!
- being a seasoned politician I suspect either he went round saying ‘ex’ very quietly and ‘Labour’ at the top of his voice or he made himself out to be the innocent party and that Labour had maliciously accused him of wrongdoing before kicking him out of the party

So 2) it is, then. OK, have a bit of a wail first if you need to but for God’s sake don’t take too long over it!

Les

Where there is hope, Tories bring despair ...

These days I feel a mixture of anger & jubilation.

Every passing day this government is being shown in its true colours. In the Budget last week, David Cameron and George Osborne gave 14,000 millionaires a tax cut worth £40,000 - while asking 4.5 million pensioners to pay more. In addition millions of families will be worse off because their tax credits are being cut.
But at the same time the Government has returned £1.6bn to people earning over £150,000 in additional tax relief on their pensions.

They are without doubt a bunch of arrogant, greedy, dishonest, self-preserving group of elitists, intent on making the divide between rich and poor such a chasm that (they hope) will never be bridged. They are the wealthy overlords and the rest of us are expected to survive on any scraps they deign to throw down.

Anger? They have done incalcuable damage so far – the absolute disgrace of the Risk Register not being made published in order to con MPs and the Lords into passing the loathed NHS Bill just about sums up their deceit. Even a report on last summers’ rioters recognises that whilst no excuse, the reason that so many resorted to looting & violence is that they have no hope for the future. And if the deficit is so bad that everyone else has to suffer further deprivation then surely instead of reducing it to 45% for highest earners he should have INCREASED the tax threshold!

Jubilation? I believe – I hope – that at last the cracks are coming all too clear and all too often so that they no longer be ignored even by the Tory faithful – the latest VAT slapped on bakers being a corker of an own goal.

But another two years of them? That almost makes me despair but of course they’d love that so instead I’ll carry on fighting.

Les

PS A bit of light relief - quote from yesterday’s Mirror in the light of Dave Cameron’s cash-for-access scandal. Labour MP Steve Rotheram has called No10 Dodgy Dave’s Downing Street Diner – try saying that after a few pints!

NHS – MEDICATION NOT MUTILATION!

There’s nothing wrong with the concept of the NHS – free health care for all. Even if it needs a radical overhaul there’s no reason why this cannot be done whilst keeping to that premise. Indeed, we must do so to ensure we avoid going backwards to pre 1948.

And there are those that might argue that no services are better run privately. Whilst I might not necessarily agree with this across the board I resoundingly support that mantra when it comes to health. Come to think of it, also when it comes to water, gas, electricity, buses, railways …

But I have noticed over the past couple of years more than ever before how the current government (or incompetent, inefficient, divisive & destructive set of bastards as I prefer to call them!) whether by design or accident have managed to divide & rule public & private sector workers. Notice how they used this tactic over pensions, constantly citing that people with private pensions were worse off – at best a red herring and at worst often not even true!

And it would be damn easy to fall into the same trap, only the other way round by stating ‘when it comes to health the private sector are only in it to make money’. That statement is true but you can’t blame the thousands of workers who are employed in that sector – most of them are just simply doing their job. Trouble is their job means they have to play by the rules, most important being ‘no results, no money’.

I've had two hearing tests recently, both carried out very competently & professionally. But the private sector supplier was required to try and sell me a hearing aid, whereas the NHS concentrated totally on helping with the problem, what would be best for me.

That's why it is absolutely vital the government's terrible health bill doesn't get through. In private hands, whether nice caring people or not, they are there to sell a service not provide one.

STOP PRESS!!!

Not content with wanting to dismantle the NHS I hear today that they are intent on withdrawing funding from Remploy, the company who specialises in providing employment for people who have some form of disability.

So why is the government doing this? They say it’s because they want these people ‘integrated’ into the mainstream workforce. But I say that as it’s extremely unlikely that they would be able to get a job outside Remploy then this is a complete & utter lie to disguise yet another of the government’s despicable cuts!