A rather evasive performance by the PM at his campaign start setpiece interview on Radio 4 Today. He tended to make talking points rather than answer the short and direct questions. Thought Humphreys interviewed well and didn’t lose his temper. It feels like an opportunity for Cameron at his interview tomorrow.
New work at The Devil’s Guide to iT. The back story to these weekly dark tales is available at that link…
A friend and long term commuter to London town rings to say in a carriage full (72 persons) only one observed reading something as quaint as a newspaper.
While the attractions of ‘volume’ trump investment in production of ‘quality’ (for which people will pay) things will not improve for the old trade.
From the sketchbook on the management of the Catholic Church.
Sometimes politicians write perfect political cartoons in the form of soundbites. I think this means communication which zings from one mind to another with the least possible interference. The Lib Dems shadow chancellor Vince Cable delivered one last night at Channel 4‘s Ask the Chancellors Debate when he was talking about the behaviour of some investment banks since receiving the UK taxpayer bailout. It reminded me of my drawing about over-powerful institutions facing the end-of-their-road. I’ve edited this piece to take account of Cable’s observation.
In all the sound and fury of the next few weeks in ‘party’ politics, several more important debates will be going on about issues which more directly impact working people’s lives.
One of the these is the hopelessly inadequate provision of affordable public housing. This issue probably more than any other has helped promote the agenda of extreme right wing authoritarian politics. In the UK this means the fascist British National Party. BNP party leader Nick Griffin and his associates have been able to successfully exploit an existing and understandable fear of losing access to what little public resource is available, based on race hate.
My colleague Mark Hillary has made this mash-up video about the BNP – and if you are interested in why he did it, you can read his reasoning here at the more info box. I like what he has made, even if he has broken Godwin’s Law.
The Budget today could politely be described as a ‘holding operation’ until the general election is over. Only then will the consequences of the financial bailout of the insolvent banks and financial institutions start to unwind in the public sphere. Whoever leads the government, it will be messy.
A nod to Chancellor Alastair Darling who is likely to be standing up for the last time, his hair and eyebrows are holding up remarkably well bearing in mind the events of the past three years.
Dispatches and The Sunday Times. You can follow the digital public reaction at #Dispatches.
Red-Handed fat cat political donor UK party political donations © Matt Buck Hack Cartoons
Hack Cartoons archive illustration on what political party fundraising types (of all sorts) tend to do.
Caution: Contextual information down below.
>>>>>
Politics is about interests of groups and individuals. The expression of disagreement about these interests comes out in political thought and action and in the UK it is channelled through the established political parties, Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat.
Clashes of interest are usually over distribution of resources and this tends to occur between working people, who generally provide work or labour in return for wages, and owners, who possess assets which may include the offer of a job. It is this basic relationship which provided the platform for the eventual establishment of the three major political parties in the UK.
If you add time and money and mix, you produce entertaining and informative results. These often include enlightening observations about human behaviour in pursuit of power and a free lunch.
This may help explain some of the recent news obsession with Lord Michael Ashcroft and the Unite union because both of them are the major paymasters for the Conservative and Labour parties.
Reading: BBC Q&A on party political funding
Reading: Wikipedia on party political funding
Reading: Sir Hayden Phillips Review of UK party political funding
