Thursday, 2 July 2009

Great article from yesterday's Guardian...

...by Seumas Milne, one of the few journalists currently working that I have any time for.

His point regarding Milburn's links to Bridgepoint Capital are interesting, if only because they mirror similar points I made here almost exactly a year ago.

It comes as precisely no surprise that New Labour continues to be wedded to PFI, despite its record of failure at huge taxpayer expense.

It is this inflexibility of mindset which will ensure that the effects of the credit crunch and the wider economic downturn will continue to be felt in the UK far longer than those nations who are willing to embrace more state-led means out of the crisis.

Wednesday, 1 July 2009

Shutting the stable door...

Reports in yesterday's Grauniad regarding the independent appointments commission's warning to dear Gordon in the negative impact of Michael Martin's elevation to the HoL demonstrates, if any more evidence were needed, just how out of touch most arms of government (and their various quangos) actually are.

While it's true to say that Martin's elevation does 'diminish' the HoL, I'm querulous as to what there actually is left to diminish, bearing in mind that besides the remaining non-elected peers, the Upper House is full to the gunwales of cronies, sycophants and, in the ultimate disgrace, Jeffrey Archer... sorry, I mean The Honourable (sic) Baron Archer of Belmarsh... sorry... Weston-super-Mare.

Let's not kid ourselves that the HoL is not already 'diminished', regardless of Michael Martin's elevation.

Congratulations are in order...

... to Al Franken, who has successfully won a court battle with Republican incumbent Norm Coleman for the US Senate seat for Minnesota.

Don't be surprised, however, if the GOP decide to contest things further. While the outgoing Coleman has stated he would not pursue the case, if Franken is confirmed soon, it will provide the Democrats with a filibuster-proof majority, which notionally would allow Obama to break the policy inertia he currently finds himself in.

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

Back...

Apols for not blogging regularly in recent times.

One could argue that if one cannot blog now, when can one?

But to be honest, given that I've been oscillating between anger and despair in the revelations over expenses and the 101 other problems that damage our democracy, I've been waiting for an opportunity to post when all the dirty laundry has been aired, so to speak, and try and come to some present some sort of original perspective on these matters.

Suffice is to say, I'm not sure that this has happened, even at this stage. The redacted expense forms hide as much as they show, so it is unclear how deep the troughery goes.

However, one things is very plain - when our supposed political servants are billing us for duck islands or moat cleaning or annexes for their babysitters, they have truly lost all conception of the financial reality faced by most of us today.

Our political 'representatives' are (with few exceptions) as divorced from the majority of us in terms of their moral, ethical and financial standards as are lords from their serfs.

But who is to blame, really?

Should we actually blame the careerist parliamentarians we have in the HoC at present, whose lack of anything approaching principles is seemingly a job requirement, as is toadying to and being in the thrall of business and the attendant sense of privilege?

Or should we blame the inactive populace of the UK, who allow these cretins to ride roughshod over them. As Madeleine Bunting argues in the Grauniad, where is the action alongside the anger? Where is the working for meaningful change from the grassroots in all this indignation?

The answer, at this moment in time, is nowhere. Undoubtedly, people will be saving themselves to belch their ire at the polls at the next election. That is simply not enough. All that will do is allow the politicians to stage manage 'change' while actually preserving many of the perks they have been abusing thus far.

Friday, 27 March 2009

Interesting debate of the future of Labour...

...on the Progress website between Jon Cruddas, MP for Dagenham, and Philip Collins of Demos.

I have been highly critical of Progress on this blog, and having been monitoring their website and e-mailouts while I've been here in Korea, and frankly there appears to have been little change in their pro-market, individualist rhetoric, which is hardly surprising given the organisation's leading lights.

My analysis of the debate is hardly startling, but it is painfully obvious that it will be impossible to heal divisions within the party until the right-wing begin to address the fundamental flaws in the policies they have been pushing since Blair became leader... not in one policy area or another but, as Jon Cruddas argues, with regard to the "really elemental stuff."

Anything else is just tinkering round the edges and will not contribute one iota to resolving the issues that face us today.

Thursday, 26 March 2009

How the economic crisis is being solved...



... according to the creators of South Park. Probably not so far fetched.

Saturday, 14 March 2009

Help spread 'The Spenny Post'...

To be honest, I haven't the first clue how many people visit this blog, so in an attempt to gauge this, I've installed Wikio vote buttons at the bottom of each post in order to try and find out.

I'm not sure 100% how it works, but I think that if you bash the button after reading an article I think it translates into a vote on the Wikio site and helps me find out how many readers the blog has while also help promote it via that blog portal.

It all sounds incredibly self-serving, but honestly, I'm just interested in finding out who is interested in the blog.

Cheers in advance,

John