A slice of my head

London mayoral election hots up

2008-02-29T09:12:00.002Z

With just two months until the London mayoral election, the campaign trail is picking up pace in the blogosphere.

Earlier in the week, Mike Smithson at Political Betting called the election “by far and away the biggest political betting event in the UK this year is,” despite the lack of polls. But later that day Anthony Walls at UK Polling Report resists the bendy bus analogy to announce: “After waiting months for a proper poll on the London mayoral election, two come along at once.”

The first of the two polls Walls refers to shows Ken Livingstone 5% behind Boris Johnson, and Smithson senses a whiff of politicising with the release of the second. “My understanding is that Labour and Ken knew about the MORI poll almost as soon as it had been completed,” writes Smithson, “but it was deemed to be a deadly secret because of the closeness of the finding.”

The mayoral election also attracted a great deal of interest on these very pages, as NS political editor Martin Bright criticised prominent Lefties for signing a Compass letter in support of Livingstone. Anthony Barnett at Our Kingdom reveals the frank conversation he had with Bright over his decision to sign, while Oliver Kamm offers Bright his support.

Also this week, Commons speaker Michael Martin found himself the subject of the latest sleaze allegations. The Daily Pundit, with tongue firmly in cheek, asks: “What’s a working class Scot who didn’t go to Oxford and knows what a day’s work is when he sees it doing with friends? It’s a disgrace.”

While, The Remittance Man takes a different view: “Michael Martin’s working class origins are not the issue here. Both George Thomas and Betty Boothroyd have been from working class backgrounds and both served the Labour Party prior to election as speaker, yet both managed to perform their tasks with reasonable fairness and retain the respect of MPs of all parties and the public. Martin has singularly failed to do the same.”

It doesn’t make for great reading for Martin at Iain Dale’s blog. In a poll of 1,122 readers – of whom, somewhat tellingly, only 46% are Conservative supporters – 91% believe Martin should step down as speaker, and 82% rate his performance as either poor or dreadful. Betty Boothroyd comes out as the best speaker of the past 30 years, with 49% of votes; Martin comes in with just 1%.

David Osler also joins the debate: “It is unclear if Martin has technically done anything wrong in pocketing the money from such a generous scheme for a property on which there no mortgage; perhaps Peter Mandelson or Tessa Jowell - given their special expertise in the field of how to finance home purchase the New Labour way - could advise?

“But whatever the rulebook says, this action is morally equivalent to housing benefit fraud, without the ability to claim poverty as a mitigating circumstance.” So there.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

So, farewell then Fidel

2008-02-21T23:36:00.003Z

In the week Fidel Castro declared he would not complete his half century as leader of Cuba, the blogosphere said farewell to the longest ever serving communist leader.

Conservative Party Retile, who fears an “endless hagiographic encomia” from the BBC and Channel 4 following the announcement, writes: “Rather like one of his speeches, you rationally knew it would come to an end at some point, but had trouble really believing that it [would].”

Daniel Finkelstein brings together a collection of, what he describes as, some of the best reporting of Cuba under Castro's leadership, including Arthur Miller's account of when he met the bearded one.

Luke Akehurst bids farewell to Castro and looks to Cuba’s future: “Maybe the communists would win, but personally I hope Cubans would choose a third way which kept Cuba's commitment to free healthcare and education while bringing in freedom of speech, political pluralism and an end to the command economy.” Perhaps some sort of utopia will suffice.

Dave Osler uses his experiences of living in Cuba to weigh up the pros and cons of Castro’s regime. He concludes by describing his own dystopia: “We need to stress that a democratic opening is essential if Cuba is to avoid the build up of discontent on the scale of 1980s Eastern Europe, and the eventual introduction of a particularly savage brand of neoliberal capitalism.

“I’d hate to go back in a few years and find that heart-stoppingly beautiful Old Havana had reverted to its former role as one big extended casino-cum-whorehouse theme park for gringos.”

David Miliband’s apology on behalf of the government for cover-ups over US rendition flights was greeted by praise by some unlikely sources. Both Iain Dale and the Daily Mail’s Benedict Brogan showed support, the later writes: “His public performances have been criticised, often justifiably, as too glib or juvenile, but he hit the right note, and it was refreshing to have humility rather than swagger at the despatch box.”

The good will across the political divide extended to Tom Watson’s blog. When John Redwood responded to a Watson post, Ellee Seymour wonders if it marks a turning point in political bogging and if it is the first time an MP has posted a comment on another MP’s blog.

The Labour MP had quoted Redwood’s statement on the Conservatives’ view on the nationalisation of Northern Rock. The interaction was supported by other political bloggers, including Tim Ireland and Curly, for its civility. A far cry from the oft-raucous Commons floor.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

The prince and the departing editor

2008-02-15T10:47:00.002Z

As Prince Charles used his address to the European Parliament to outline the need to act on climate change, it was interesting to note the differing views bloggers took depending on their political allegiance.

The Lib Dems concerned themselves with the content of the speech. Wit and Wisdom picks up with the military lexicon used: “The use of such language seems to be missing a trick, as any politician with a few years under their belts should know, not to mention being ever so slightly dismissive of the numerous wars which are going on around the world, killing, maiming and generally causing misery to millions every year. So why are we still resorting to such ludicrous exaggeration?”

Meanwhile, the Conservatives seemed more distracted by the choice of venue – and the speaker’s seeming endorsement of the EU – than the speech’s content. So strong is The Huntsman’s views, in fact, that he writes: “It would be far better if, in future, His Royal Highness, avoided such partisanship if he wishes there to be a future for the House of Windsor. If he is not able to do so and he continues to express his approbation for the EU this monarchist will, reluctantly, become a republican.”

UKIP’s refusal to stand at the end of the Prince’s speech led Nich Starling to ponder in what direction the party is moving. He writes: “Given that Galloway’s ‘Respect’ is falling apart, perhaps UKIP could become ‘Lack of Respect’.”

As Valentine’s day came along, Sky News produced its annual most fanciable MPs list, whose winners were described thus: “In at the top, a new entry – the shadow culture secretary Jeremy ‘always on the’ Hunt. Not sign of his opposite number, Andy ‘so hot I’ Burnham, much to the chagrin of certain colleagues in the Sky office.”

Iain Dale goes one better, assessing the most fanciable political hacks. Cathy Newman of Channel4 comes top, with the NS represented by Kevin McGuire in 20th place.

Finally, as NS editor John Kampfner steps down, Dale is moved to writes the following words: “It’s a real shame as the magazine under Kampfner’s editorship has experienced something of a revival. The redesign has been popular and circulation has increased.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

The see of blog

2008-02-08T12:12:00.000Z

The best way to unify the blogosphere against you, it would seem, is to come out in favour of shariah laws in Britain, as Rowan Williams did this week.

In a thoughtful piece on the subject, Cranmer concludes: “God forbid that Britain should ever return to the days when religious leaders should determine guilt or innocence, or legislate on matters of crime and punishment. For some of us, those memories are all too acute and dreadfully painful.”

The news brought a swathe of imaginative post titles. Iain Dale comes up with “Who will rid us of this idiotic priest?” Chris Paul responds: “Archbishop: who will rid us of this ID-iotic blogger?”, while Obsolete’s contribution is titled “Opening your mind so much that your brain falls out”.

In one of the few posts that supports Williams’s position, Brian Sloan writes: “It is an issue that calls for informed debate if we are to have a genuinely pluralistic society, and I admire the Archbishop for raising it. Given the ill-informed and immature reactions of some, such a debate seems a long way off.”

Apparently there have been some elections over the pond. At Harry’s Place, Gene serves up some Super Tuesday afterthoughts, including praise of John McCain: “Although I can't help liking McCain (if it wasn't such an insult in certain circles, I'd call him a decent man), I'm quite aware that on many of the social and economic issues I care about, he's far to the right of me. I actually was moved last night when he referred, non-sarcastically, to ‘our friends’ on the Democratic side.”

Danny Finkelstein calls the caucus voting system “ludicrously undemocratic”, highlighting some of the winning margins (e.g. Mitt Romney winning 25 seats in Montana on the back of 625 votes, while Mike Huckerbee needed 120,776 votes in order to win just 26 Arkansas delegates).

While acknowledging it may appear hypocritical judging American democracy as a Brit, Finkelstein states: “Romney, Huckabee and Obama all gained delegates as a result of this system that they otherwise might not have won. Caucuses (and state conventions) clearly favour the choice and enthusiasm of activists over those of ordinary voters.”

And finally, on the 90th anniversary of women winning the right to vote, Jon Bright at Our Kingdom assesses how far we have come in terms of equality of political power between both sexes. He concludes: “I hope that in another 90 years we are able to celebrate the equal access of men and women to positions of power, whilst also celebrating the anniversary of when change first began. Sadly, even today, this is a hope rather than a certainty.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Conning his way through the blogosphere

2008-02-01T11:52:00.000Z

As the parliamentary sleaze-fest continued, with Labour passing the baton to the Tories over monetary irregularities, the blogosphere was quick to pounce. Bloggers from all quarters united in their condemnation of the Derek Conway & Sons revelations.

But Iain Dale outlined his reasons for not commenting on the Conway affair, and received a barrage of rebuttals from posters and bloggers alike. He writes: “I have no hesitation in telling you that Derek Conway is a friend of mine. Anything I have to say about his conduct, I will say to his face.”

Labour stalwart Phil Dilks sees hypocrisy in Dale’s stance: “Only a few days ago, Iain was quite happy to personally lead ‘the baying mob’ attacking Peter Hain for late reporting of private donations to fund an internal Labour Party election.”

Dizzy Thinks warns the financial misdemeanours of both parties could have murkier permutations: “Parties like the BNP will use these incidents and point out that they are not tainted by such things. You may think that people won’t vote in droves for the bigots and that is probably true, but the more they see the non-bigots acting so appallingly the more they will ponder of spoiling their ballots or protesting.”

While Chris Paul seeks to dispel any comparisons made over sleeze between Labour and the Tories.

Recess Monkey has dug up a three-year-old Daily Telegraph article on Conway Junior mk 2 and his extravagant taste in clothing. He concludes: “I can’t help feeling pity for the boy unable to buy £2,000 suits. Perhaps he should have asked his boss for a pay rise?”

Paul Walters highlights the lack of sleaze on the PMQ agenda over recent weeks, with Labour and the Conservatives avoiding the issue for fear of what skeletons may lurk within their own party’s cupboards: “The parliamentary equivalent of dancing round the handbags or ‘don’t mention the war’. The three party ‘beasts’ have bitten so many chunks out of each other than there is now an uneasy truce.”

Finally, Nich Starling reflects on the Conservatives’ former criticism of student grants because they saw students being subsidised to earn a higher income at tax payers’ expense. He comments: “It is perhaps a real throwback that Derek Conway also appears to me to see his parliamentary allowance as a means of subsiding students, even if they are his sons.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Hain today, gone tomorrow

2008-01-25T10:51:00.000Z

In the week Peter Hain finally fell on his sword, Iain Dale salutes his fellow blogfather, Guido Fawkes, for breaking and persisting with the funding scandal story: “Bloggers do not exist to get political scalps. But when a blogger reveals possible law breaking and drives the media debate, as Guido has done, let’s recognise that as a good thing and give him the credit he is due.”

Dale was joined in his blog back slapping by scores of posters on Guido’s blog.

Reflecting on Guido's self-congratulation, Cicero revisits the blog v mainstream media debate. Somewhat stoically, he points out: "Perhaps it is fair to say that people are also recognising the limits of blogs. They do not change the world, they may not be very influential, they are merely a medium."

With William Hill having taken 7-1 that Hain would be out of the cabinet before the end of January, and 2-1 he would be the first to leave the cabinet, plenty of political punters were pleased to see the back of him, according to Political Betting. Five-to-one to see him return by the end of 2008 anyone?

Expecting a heady sense of panic in Westminster, Benedict Borgan is surprised to find: "The MPs, Cabinet ministers, junior ministers and political advisers I've spoken to all afternoon report the same thing: regret for Mr Hain, a sense of inevitability about his departure, and confidence in Mr Brown’s integrity. The political markets seem to have discounted this event."

Former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray takes a nostalgic look back at the anti-apartheid campaigner who inspired him. While, Paul Flynn MP makes a case for Hain’s defence. This is derided by Nich Starling.

Mirror hack James Lyons expands on what he terms the "Welsh Cabinet curse". Where once Ron Davies fell foul of Clapham Common, read Hain of Scotland Yard. Maguire also reveals: “Now [Hain’s successor as Wales secretary Paul] Murphy is being tipped to head a new department for regions and nations when Gordon Brown carries out a full reshuffle in the summer.”

The cutest line of the day comes from David Lindsay: “We all know that [Hain] stands no chance of being prosecuted. But just to be certain, he should now call for the police to be paid in full.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Blogospherical musings

2008-01-17T23:25:00.000Z

As the dust begins to settle on the party funding fiasco, other matters are chewed over in the blogosphere.

Over at Burning Our Money, Wat Tyler is firmly behind the government’s plans to go nuclear. A comprehensive, if partial, evaluation of the wind power concludes: “The bottom line is that windmills may be a highly seductive idea from a distance, but once you get up close all you find is another giant dollop of wishful thinking.”

As if in response, Rupert Read, a Green Party councillor from Norfolk and EU candidate, blogs a compendium of his anti-nuclear arguments. He also speaks out against biofuels, claiming the craze for them is destroying rainforests when other sources of fuel are less damaging. He hails Biofulewatch, and calls on Greens to: “Firmly resist the biofuels bubble.”

Cassilis looks back on the persistent party funding revelations and says: “I really, really struggle to see why this should be such a big political issue. It reeks of the sort of problem that 100% of the non-political classes could agree on in five minutes but politicians are determined to offer a multitude of ifs and buts and pretend it’s more complicated than it is.”

Hot Ginger Dynamite takes an interesting look at the reportage of the Russian government closing British Council offices. Western journalists – he states – are feeling nostalgic for the Cold War compared to today’s faceless terrorist enemy. He writes: “Our decades of hostility with the Russians provided a wealth of artistic and romantic allusions, which with each passing year become harder to separate from the reality of years at the brink of horrifying mutual destruction.”

As BA pilots are praised for saving scores of lives, Nick Robinson blogs while being hauled up with the PM’s entourage at Heathrow watching the crashed plane on the runway.

And finally, on the tenth anniversary of Matt Drudge’s web revelations of the Clinton-Lewinksy affair, Guido Fawkes pays homage to the act he feels began to turn the tables on the mainstream media (MSM), leading to the rise of the blogosphere: “Conventional journalists in the MSM have shifted from sneering to fearing, from deriding to envying. Technology means that any talented trouble maker with a modem can achieve Karl Marx’s dream: ownership of the means of production and distribution.” How romantic.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Funding and games

2008-01-13T23:18:00.000Z

Following a proud week for the NS as Derek Pasquill was cleared of breaching the Official Secrets Act, messages of congratulations were posted at Harry’s Place. But the case leads Spyblog to query: “What other politically embarrassing revelations are [the government] keeping secret from the British public?”

While, Obsolete believes the case highlights the injustice of last year’s leaked al-Jazeera memo trial.

In case you’ve missed Peter Hain’s week from Hell, Mark Pack supplies an overview.

Alex Hilton at Labourhome makes a case for the Labour Party to learn from the funding scandals and puts forward a list of eight suggestions for the party to adopt if it is to avoid getting into similar scrapes.

Guido Fawkes suggests the blame goes right to the top. Having received donations totalling £215,705, Gordon Brown must - under Labour Party rules - pay 15% (or £32,335) into central party funds. This he hasn’t yet done, according to the Electoral Commission. Fawkes states this is why Brown has offered his support to Hain, Harriet Harman and Wendy Alexander.

The accusations against Brown mounted. Dizzy Thinks believes he has stumbled upon another failure on Brown’s part to reveal non-cash donations to the Electoral Commission for a website registration and domain name. All of which is angrily refuted by Chris Paul.

As reports emerged of a potential Tory funding scandal, Kerron Cross is quick to drew comparisons between the two parties, for which he is criticised by posters on his own blog.

Anthony Wells at UK Polling Report chronicles the past month in the polls, which makes depressing reading for Labour.

Meanwhile, Hain’s opposite number, Chris Grayling, has been receiving praise from unexpected quarters. Paul Walter at Liberal Burbling notes: “Grayling is the only Conservative politician who does not send me into a rage-fuelled high blood pressure crisis. I actually feel the man might actually be talking some sense and that he's not just saying what he says because he thinks he ought to.

"And of course, he is a member of the organisation of which I am the proud Life Patron - the BOGS (Bald Old Gits' Society).”

A rotten week indeed for the secretary of state for works and pensions.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

A class A conundrum

2008-01-04T11:36:00.000Z

The new year began with furore splashed over the middle market front pages over reiterated comments made by the chief constable of North Wales Police, Richard Brunstrom, promoting the legalising of class A drugs. The debate spilled over onto the blogosphere.

Lib Dem AM Peter Black believes it is right to bring the debate to the fore as he also argues drugs are as big a blight as Brunstrom states, but he does not go along with Brunstrom’s methods. He concludes: “My view is that the debate on drugs policy is long overdue but we cannot have it in isolation ... Unless we can argue on the facts and put personalities to one side then we will never make any progress.”

Nick Colbourne, the Labour Wrexham councillor, finds fault with the way Brunstrom calculates ecstasy as less dangerous than aspirin. He argues, if you judge danger based on number of deaths without adding the total usage to the equation, “one could argue that BASE jumping is safer than cycling, given the tragic number of deaths each year. Well of course that’s not true, but then neither is his ridiculous claim.”

Jon Bright at OurKingdom links to a Daily Mail article which attracted a large volume of responses, mainly calling for Brunstrom’s resignation. The more important issue, Bright argues, is not the classification of drugs, but how the public’s perception of democracy is interfering with public debate. He writes: “My point is not necessarily that legalisation would definitely be a positive move - though this is my opinion - but rather that the extension of democracy into the problem of drug use serves to suffocate debate about this issue.”

Meanwhile, as David Cameron announced he would make the Tories the party of the NHS, the next day he came out and declared Andrew Lansley would be Health Secretary of he wins the next general election. As is pointed out at ConservativeHome, Lansley joins George Osborne as the only Tory frontbencher to be publicly offered a job in any future Cabinet. This led to suspicions at UK Daily Pundit that Lansley had threatened to resign were he not offered a top job.

Finally, over at Comment is Free, Rupa Huq chronicles the demise of the word “respect” from the lexicon of razzle-dazzle politics over the past two years. She concludes: “'Respect’ always sounded like a word more suited to an Ali G monologue than a serious political agenda. Today it is a thoroughly discredited term. Like flared trousers, Take That and the Mini Cooper, it may well experience a revival but for now it looks like a prize turkey.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

The cost of a psalm and a Clegg

2007-12-21T10:44:00.000Z

The week’s political web-based discussions revolved around the result of the Liberal Democrat leadership contest. With Nick Clegg beating Chris Huhne by just 511 votes, in an election that had fewer votes than the one which saw Ming Campbell come to power, many questioned the strength of Clegg’s mandate.

Adam Boulton has a novel resolution to the conundrum: “As the vote was so close, it is only right that Messrs Clegg and Huhne should power-share, perhaps representing the Liberal-Dems on alternate weeks, or better still to co-write their speeches, create a double act and talk in unison. The Tweedle and Tweedle Show.”

With Clegg seen to be more of the Cameron ilk than Brown, Paul Linford warns Lib Dems to be aware of courting from the Right, referring to an Iain Dale post: “Nothing would please me more than top see a majority Conservative government and the Liberal Democrats reduced to a rump. But electoral arithmetic shows that a hung parliament is a real possibility - and the Conservatives and LibDems now have two years to work out how they would deal with it. I certainly don’t expect them to do it in public, but do it they must.”

Cicero is also opposed to a love-in with the Tories: “We should go toe-to-toe with the Cameroons and demonstrate why our commitment to Liberalism is deeper and better than the skin-deep ‘Liberal-Conservatism’ of David Cameron’s party. That will be what makes us a party that is genuinely national, genuinely radical and able to appeal to the whole of the United Kingdom.”

Within hours of assuming the role as party leader, Clegg was quizzed on his religious views. His admission to being an atheist led to concern from Linford.

This prompted Bob Piper to write: “Why on earth do Christians like Paul Linford have to be concerned about someone’s private religious beliefs, or lack of them? Should I be concerned if Clegg is a meat eater? I just don’t get it. If Clegg had just been elected Pope and declared he didn't believe in God then Christians might have cause for concern, but is Clegg’s crime of being a non-believer going to influence his opinions on the single European currency, devolution, or the war in Afghanistan? I don’t think so.”

Clegg’s first few days also saw a frontbench reshuffle, of which James Graham provides a useful guide.

Finally, there’s an interesting yarn over at Political Betting, where Mike Smithson feels he is £500 out of pocket by a senior Lib Dem.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Does it get any easier?

2007-12-14T12:43:00.000Z

A relatively quite week for the government, in the context of the past couple of months: only threatened police strikes, a contentious EU treaty and a tricky international climate change deal to negotiate.

Jacqui Smith’s decision not to backdate a 2.5% pay rise for police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, prompted Lenin’s Tomb to write: “While public sector workers are ‘valued’ in a sentimental fashion, the general implication is that union leaders should shut their mouths and accept a period of belt-tightening in order to keep Brown's ‘Miracle Gro’ economy afloat.”

Less sympathy can be found at A Tangle Web: “I say the police should damn the law and strike. It’s not as if we’ll miss them if they withold their labour. We learn today that they are on the beat for one hour in seven - as much as that, eh? Ministers often make the claim that there are more police officers than ever before and they speak the truth. There are more officers than at any other time, yet the police has never been less visible to Britons.”

This hyperbole is perhaps explained when the post later reveals: “Yesterday a turd in a police uniform stepped from behind a bush and recorded me driving at 38mph whilst leaving a 30mph zone on my way out of a small rural town.”

Daniel Finkelstein queries Brown’s defence that the decision was made to keep inflation low: “The deal isn’t big enough to cause inflation by forcing the government to borrow. So he can only mean that a large amount being paid to police would encourage other large pay increases. Fair enough. Except that the headline amount, the permanent part of the increase, is the one that will drive other wage claims and any increases based on comparability. If inflation was the issue it would have been better, surely, to have offered a smaller headline figure and then backdated it. So it seems more likely that public.”

With Eurosceptics among the most conspicuous in the blogosphere, the signing of the Lisbon Treaty did not go unnoticed. For The Huntsman, it was “surely one of the most dishonourable and dishonest acts by a British Prime Minister since the early hours of 30th September 1938 when Chamberlain effectively signed away Czechoslovak independence to Germany.”

While, Cranmer writes: “Nations tend to get the leaders of which they are worthy, and there is little doubt that the people of the United Kingdom deserve this - for their apathy, ignorance, and indifference. The reality is that so few care because so few understand, and so few understand because they are more absorbed by Big Brother, X Factor, Come Dancing and the National Lottery, than they are by matters spiritual and political.”

As environmental concerns took centre stage in Bali, despite the US and Canada holding out on agreeing to emission cuts, John Redwood manages to lay the blame at the EU's feet: “The EU should grow up, and learn that if the world is to reduce its carbon output it requires goodwill and understanding on all sides, not a combination of bullying and vain posturing. We will not cure the world’s CO2 problem unless India and China, Japan and Russia are involved as well as the USA.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Don't cry for me Venezuela

2007-12-07T10:34:00.000Z

With Vince Cable’s Mr Bean jibe still ringing in many MPs’ ears, PMQs provided the PM with an opportunity to bite back. Adam Boulton describes the scene: “Vince Cable got lost with lacklustre questions on Northern Rock. Brown got his own back for Mr Bean suggesting Cable was ‘better at jokes than economics’. No pretty footwork but the prime minister was still on his feet at the end of the half hour.”

As the Labour Party funding fiasco continues to niggle the government, Luke Akehurst took offence to a Yasmin Alibhai-Brown article in the Independent which suggested the Labour Friends of Israel were somehow involved. Akehurst describes the article as “winner of most idiotic and unhelpful contribution to the debate on Party funding”, and concludes: “I cannot understand what, other than anti-Semitism, would motivate someone to write a whole column whose only hook was the shared ethnicity of David Abrahams and Jonny Mendelsohn.”

Over in Venezuela, President Chavez narrowly lost a controversial vote that would have changed the constitution to allow him to be re-elected. The condemnation of his attempt, and rejoice at the outcome of the vote, was widespread across the UK political blogosphere.

David T at Harry’s Place writes: “I think Chavez is more of a fool than a monster. Perhaps he is not as bad as some of his strongest critics hold. Nevertheless, I find the adulation heaped upon this rather comic man - more of a Peron than an Allende - in some parts of the Left difficult to understand. … This result illustrates that Venezuelans have an affection for a robust democracy, and prefer to keep their leaders on an electoral leash to government by coup.”

While Lenin’s Tomb is more sympathetic, seeing the result not so much as anti-Chavez as more pro-democracy: “The reality is probably that Chavez’s supporters were simply unwilling to turn out to vote for a constitution among whose main priorities was to enhance executive power. This was always the most problematic aspect of Chavez’s reforms. Unfortunately, this result will probably strengthen the rightist opposition, despite the continuing popularity of Chavez and his other reforms.”

Finally, on Monday Iain Dale announced he would be leaving 18 Doughty Street to concentrate on launching a new political magazine and write a book. Let’s hope it does not interfere with his blogging duties.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

That was the week that was

2007-11-23T12:59:00.000Z

The blogosphere observed a week in Britain which started with calamity for the Lib Dems and ended with disaster for the government, via oblivion for the national football teams.

The plodding Lib Dem leadership race experienced its first jolt in the spotlight at the beginning of the week as it emerged during a debate on the Politics Show that Chris Huhne’s team had circulated a dossier on Nick Clegg entitled “Calamity Clegg”. The cringeworthy scene can be viewed here.

Despite many feeling the Calamity tag would stick to Clegg, Nich Starling believes Huhne came off the worse: “This sort of rubbish is an absolute gift for our political opposition and sadly shows that some people in Huhne’s team really are not fit for senior positions. If they can produce this rubbish, seemingly without Chris’ knowledge then it says a lot for those who surround Chris and Chris himself.”

Though the document was hastily withdrawn, a copy can be found on the devious-as-ever Guido Fawkes's blog. Political Hack UK runs through the document and concludes both candidates are as hypocritical as each other. The post is titled: “Bald men still fighting over comb.”

Though many in the blogosphere have summarised the Politics Show tussle in the context of the Lib Dems plight, the best analysis can be found courtesy of Martin Bright: “This has been a peculiarly Lib Dem kind of spat: essentially an argument to establish how much the two candidates agree with each other. It’s a row all right, and it has even become quite spicy at times, but it’s hardly Blair-Brown territory, or even Cameron-Davis. Liberal Democrats just aren't like that.”

The Lib Dem hierarchy would have been overjoyed with the week’s later unravelings, in what has been dubbed Labour’s winter of disc-ontent. The announcement of the amount of money which has so far been spent on Northern Rock was soon followed by the HM Revenue & Customs data loss debacle. The email trail which was so embarrassing for HMRC and the Treasury can be downloaded here.

Just as to blame 22-year-old Scott Carson for England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008 would be incredibly short sighted, so too would it be to posit the data loss blame on the unnamed 23-year-old official’s shoulders. There is an interesting dissection of HMRC’s Annual Report at Burning our Money, which states: “The problem goes beyond a simple matter of staff cuts. Just like at the RPA [Rural Payments Agency], there are also new IT systems, and there are new ‘lean production’ work patterns being imposed- less case working, and more specialisation (aka dumbed-down production line jobs). It’s a toxic combination, and staff morale is rock bottom.”

With polls now putting Labour up to nine points behind the Tories, a week is certainly a long time in politics.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Home Office hotting up

2007-11-16T12:44:00.000Z

In a torrid week for the Home Office, Jacqui Smith found herself the hot topic in the blogosphere. A tip off emerged over on The UK Daily Pundit: “Preparations are said to be underway in Downing Street to replace Jacqui Smith as Home Secretary should she fail to quell the ongoing media onslaught over her alleged role in the latest blunder by the Home Office and the subsequent cover-up that followed. If she does resign, Des Browne is expected to move to the Home Office and Ed Miliband is being tipped for the Defence Secretary’s job.”

While, Mike Smithson at Political Betting finds Smith’s chances of surviving until the 2009/10 election “slim” and weighs up possible replacements based on the latest Betfair odds: “I quite fancy Edward Miliband but 4/1 seems far from generous. Alan Johnson (2/1 favourite) could be asked to switch - he’d probably be a safe pair of hands and could give a bit of stability to a post that has become Labour’s poison chalice.”

As the two Lib Dem leadership candidates went tête-à-tête on Question Time this week their verbal bout drew rave reviews across the net. The Liberal Democrat Rumble in the Jungle is reviewed by Bernard Salmon and condensed to: “My scores on the doors were: Vision - Clegg 7, Huhne 8; Detail - Clegg 8, Huhne 9; Charisma - Clegg 8, Huhne 7; Passion/forcefulness - Clegg 7, Huhne 8; Pressure - Clegg 6, Huhne 9. Totals: Clegg 36, Huhne 41.”

For Nich Starling, Hunhe “just edges it”, while Linda Jack believes “Clegg [drew] first blood”. As for Chris Paul’s verdict: “Goodness me these two are big pants.”

Over at Lenin’s Tomb, the tale of Iran’s Blogfather, Hossein Derakshan, is recounted. Derakshan is the subject of a $2m law suite from a pro-Washington Iranian commentator, Mehdi Kalaji, over comments he made on his blog. Derakshan has also faced a backlash from his peers for removing criticism of the Iranian regime from the English section of his blog in retaliation of the West’s demonisation of Iran.

Lenin concludes: “I think it would be a pity if some neocon theologian was able to silence Derakshan’s blog. There is a huge wealth of background information on it that Western leftists would do well to get acquainted with.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

What's in a speech?

2007-11-09T13:03:00.000Z

The Queen’s Speech was widely seen as the biggest non-event in the British political calendar across the blogosphere this week. But the list of – mainly expected – bills and draft bills and the pomp of the occassion offered enough material to be picked apart at length.

An interesting debate ensured over at Dave’s Part on the subject of a bill which will allow unions to exclude members based on their political activism. Its origins lie in the instance of Aslef being unable to kick out a BNP activist. David Osler starts the debate by asking: “Could we see a situation where general secretaries are allowed bureaucratically to exclude internal opponents who belong to Marxist groups, for instance? And if so, shouldn't we flatly oppose the bill?”

As part of Kerron Cross’s sideways look at the proceedings, he notes: “Then into the House itself where BBC correspondent Huw Edwards pretended not to understand Dennis Skinner’s heckle to Black Rod about ‘who shot the harriers?!’ before pithily saying ‘well, some of those efforts work and some of them...clearly don’t’, which bizarrely was much the same thought I had had about the BBC decision to replace David Dimbleby with the clearly disinterested Edwards.”

A number of bloggers followed up a BBC/UK Gold list of the more bizarre British laws already in existence. Henry North London wonders why the Queen’s Speech could not have been used to remove some of them. Among the list: “1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament” and “6. In the UK a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman’s helmet.”

In an entertaining eulogy of Brown’s political vision, As a Dodo concludes: “Gordon Brown’s political vision will be scattered by a light breeze. Mourners are asked to send donations to offshore tax havens.”

A new left-wing blog launched this week, mischievously named the Liberal Conspiracy. Sunny Hundal catalogues how it was received across the blogosphere, and concludes with a rallying call: “For now it’s important we nail our colours to the mast, get conversations going and talk about issues the MSM is ignoring. That liberal conspiracy they keep saying is all-powerful, we actually need to build one.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Non-elections, elections and libel

2007-11-02T11:04:00.000Z

With last Thursday pencilled in as the possible date for a national election, the significance of the day was not missed in the blogosphere.

Over at Politicalbetting, Mike Smithson ponders the implications of the Observer’s decision not to splash with an Ipsos-Mori poll which showed Labour 13 points ahead on the first day of the Conservative party conference. He concludes: “In years to come political nerds will produce lots of counter-factuals about the November 1st general election that wasn’t. I’m convinced that it was the Observer that did it for Dave.”

One election has, however, been confirmed this week. As Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne plan to go head-to-head for the Lib Dem leadership, bloggers began pitching camps. Mark Valladares and Jonathan Calder have both sided with Huhne because of his proposal to scrap Trident missiles, while Huhne may have lost Liberty Alone’s vote due to his favour for bureaucracy.

This Sunday morning Politicalbetting will host a live online hustings with Huhne, with a similar event with Clegg to follow. Other hustings are published on Colin Ross’s blog.

The week also saw King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia come to Britain, which led to a spate of furious blogging. Vince Cable’s decision to shun the visitor, whose regime has been criticised on human rights violations, met with much support from his own party and beyond.

But Dizzy Thinks finds the Lib Dems’ actions hypocritical: “The bizarre part of the argument for me comes in this notion of the rule of law, for it was the rule of law upon which the Lib Dems opposed the overthrow of a totalitarian secretive vicious regime in Iraq. Call me a neocon if you must but how exactly can one oppose a regime in strong moral terms and then equally stand by and say that the same moral argument does not apply to Iraq and Saddam Hussein. The positions seem entirely contradictory to me.”

While many on the Left oppose how welcome King Abdullah was made, Luke Akehurst, a former Labour candidate, defends the government’s decision: “Diplomacy sometimes involves sitting down and establishing common interests with people you would otherwise not want to invite to dinner. You have to do it if you have wider strategic interests that need protecting, or you just need to be in dialogue with your ‘enemy’s enemy’. Unfortunately it’s part of being in government - unlike Vince Cable we can’t indulge in gesture politics.”

Over at Spiked there is a book review with a difference. Five authors of banned books on terrorism detail what UK audiences are missing out on thanks to our libel laws. According to Private Eye, the story of the banning of these books has been kept out of British mainstream media due to the publications’ fear of being taken through the courts themselves.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Polls apart

2007-10-26T11:11:00.000Z

Anthony Wells gives a detailed analysis of the latest YouGov poll putting the Tories three points in the lead. He describes the results as “horrid” for Brown, though says it is not great reading for the Conservatives either: “The past month may have improved the Conservatives’ polling position in voting intentions, but these underlying problems haven’t gone - 65% agree they don’t really know what Cameron in power would be like, 60% say it is hard to know if there is any substance behind his words.”

Iain Dale offers a typically partisan review of Brown’s performance at PMQs at Comment is Free, which he begins: “When the Guardian rings you up and asks you to write about Gordon Brown's performances at prime minister’s questions, you know the PM must be in trouble.”

He goes on to sum up various leaders’ performance in the weekly debate, noting: “Yes it can be a bearpit, yes it can be shrill and yes it can be unproductive. But it’s a wonderful way of exposing the political weaknesses of a politician, whether they are prime minister, leader of the opposition or leader of the Liberal Democrats.”

Following Brown’s speech on civil liberties and Jack Straw’s deliberations on a prospective bill of rights, Obsolete observes: “To go with a cliche, you wait ages for a decent speech on policy and then two come along at once.”

In a summation of both, Obsolete believes they have compromised with the tabloids. But concludes: “Overall though, this was a good start, and an encouraging break from the past 10 years of hardly hidden contempt for the ‘civil liberties brigade’. These words however must precipitate action, otherwise Brown will fall even further into the currently deserved sobriquet of bottling it.”

All is not well behind the scenes in Westminster. Kerron Cross tells of an encounter with Bill Cash MP over a lift, while Tom Watson has infuriated an eminent doctor by hogging the computers in a Whitehall library.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

The future's bright; the future's orange?

2007-10-18T23:29:00.000Z

A month ago, Dizzy Thinks speculated Nick Clegg and his Sheffield Hallam predecessor, Richard Allen, had registered the nickclegg.com domain as part of an early coup against Ming Campbell. Shane Greer furthered the allegation this week when Clegg’s leadership website was launched.

While political bloggers weighed up Machiavellian theories of Lib Dem backstabbing, Iain Rubie Dale unveiled what he believed to be a major factor behind Ming’s departure: “It occurred to me today that perhaps Ming's leadership didn't last as it broke the sequence of Scot, non Scot leaders we have had back as far as 1935.”

The Norfolk Blogger was invited to appear on PMi, the podcast which supports Radio 4’s PM show. He was accused – as a practicing blogger – of playing a key role in Ming’s demise. He said: “I do feel, and made clear a number of times to the interviewer, that bloggers are more of a litmus test for the party, and whilst we didn't fire the shots, we might be guilty sometimes of loading the weapon.”

Man in a Shed assessed the chances of the two pretenders to Ming’s crown, which made painful reading for Lib Dems: “The problem for Lib Dem MPs is that most of them are either facing Labour or Conservative threats, not both. If the Lib Dem message heads right (elect Nick Clegg as leader) then they will haemorrhage support to Labour, if the head to the left (elect Chris Huhne as leader) then they can't stop the Conservatives.”

Iain Dale revealed rumblings within the party suggest there may be a third candidate on the horizon: “The candidate who may set the contest alight is the 29-year-old Julia Goldsworthy. It may seem ridiculously sublime to go from a 66-year-old to a 29-year-old but I gather Ming wants her to stand – not because she will win (she won't) but so she can put a marker down for the future. She’d certainly liven things up.”

Towards the end of the week, Chris Huhne launched his campaign website. Bloggers questioned his curious choice of slogan: “People in charge”. Thunder Dragoon asked: “Who the hell does he think has been running the Liberal Democrats? Little green men from Mars? Pod people? The Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe (aka Max)?”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Brown's fall from bounce

2007-10-12T12:03:00.000Z

With Brown dropping from the heights of his bounce, PMQs was a popular topic for many in the blogging community. As the mainstream media focussed on the agitated PM, Patriccus felt Brown did not come out the worst: “I actually thought that he gave the squeaking Ming Campbell a fairly easy ride, considering the fact that it has been the latter’s weak leadership that has led to the haemorrhaging of support from the Lib Dems to the Conservatives. The House of Commons has always needed a resident runt, and that is one job for which Ming seems eminently qualified.”

For Labour councillor Louise Baldcock, none of the interlocutors came out of the debate with any respectability. She described it as: “Extremely unedifying, put me in mind of [a] bear pit. How much of a coincidence is it that all the key players are men?”

At first, Iain Dale was taken by the reaction of the media to the debate. He wrote: “‘Pulverised’ was a word being used by many. I suspect the media relished their chance to kick Brown when he was down, after two weeks of being spun to in the most duplicitous way. Cameron was right when he said that Brown was taking the electorate for fools. But it was the media who felt they were being taken for fools too. And they, at least, had the chance to hit back.”

But Dale later changed his tune when the debate did not get enough press attention as he would have liked: “A mole who was at yesterday’s editorial meeting at the Mail says that Dacre became extremely angry about criticisms of Brown. How long until the Mail’s owner, Lord Rothermere, decides he’d like David Cameron to get fairer treatment from his paper?”

Chris Paul reacted by suggesting Dale’s mole may not be anonymous for too much longer due to the amount of times it is mentioned on Dale’s blog. Paul also felt there were good reasons for the press to help put the issue to bed: “The Mail and Telegraph do not want to over-state some horrendous Punch and Judy yahhing and booing from the man who said he'd consigned that to history.”

But not all eyes were on the debate on Wednesday afternoon, as Tory MP Nadine Dorries revealed: “I sat behind David Cameron at PMQs today; I was the bright pink jacket. Worn for a specific reason, constituents are always saying to me ‘we never see you at PMQs’. I thought that today I would make sure they noticed me!”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Over to you Mr Cameron

2007-10-05T12:45:00.000Z

And so to the final political conference of the season (with the exception of UKIP’s)…

As if anyone ever doubted Steven Green of The Daily Referendum’s partisan credentials they should look no further to his summation on the morning of the conference’s second day: “There will be more excellent policies announced during today’s conference: all of which will make life a little brighter and a little fairer for us all.”

David Cameron’s big speech was generally well received among right-leaning bloggers. One of many glowing reviews was written by Tory councillor Tony Sharp: “Cameron demonstrated there is no need for a fight for the soul of the party, because it is where it belongs. Traditional Conservative values remain, with individual responsibility still being encouraged, while policing, education and healthcare will be spared the heavy hand of intrusive bureaucracy that detracts from the services that should be provided.”

Benedict Brogan gave an insight into the media’s reaction to Cameron’s speech: “In the press room it was impossible to escape the feeling that the story has now turned against the all-powerful Gordon Brown. During the speech and immediately afterwards you could sense journalists willing Mr Cameron to make a success of it and provide us with an alternative to the relentless onward march of Brown.”

But Obsolete was as unimpressed with Cameron’s “bladder pressurizingly lengthy” speech as he was with Brown’s effort: “Both had no overall theme, a pedestrian stroll through their respective policies, without anything to draw it all together. Cameron's, if it's possible, is even more soporific.”

Over on NS columnist Kevin Maguire’s Daily Mirror blog, he believes he has uncovered the impromptu nature of the speech may not have been all it seemed. He tells of how a man was seen at Euston station taxi rank being congratulated by returning Tories on having written a “great speech”. He asks: “Anyone know him? He looked in his 30s, fairish hair, dark suit. chequed shirt and a tie with an emblem or motif from a university or club.” The plot thickens.

Finally, as Guido Fawkes points out, Thatcher is not the only eighties throwback to benefit from a surge of Tory popularity of late. A video shown at the conference has a distinctly acid house backing track.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

When Gordon, when?

2007-09-28T10:06:00.000Z

The dilemma of when Gordon Brown should call an election dominated the Labour party conference this week. In hotel bars and function rooms debates raged on to the strengths of 8 November compared to May 2009.

The debate was no less informed and eloquent on the blogosphere, especially at Harry’s Place.

As news broke that Labour were recruiting election staff on full time contracts, speculation grew that Brown will announce the date of the election next Wednesday after he has seen Cameron in action in Blackpool.

The Norfolk Blogger assessed the timing of the announcement and its likely impact on all three main political parties. He concluded: “In my opinion the best time to call the election would be on Monday morning. Whilst thousands of Tories are in hotels that they will have to pay for, many will be hundreds of miles from their constituencies, and suddenly the Representation of the People's Act will cut in meaning that equal coverage will go to all the parties.”

Kerron Cross suggests one blogger who would presumably want a delay to the election. Tony Benn’s granddaughter, Emily, is to stand in the next election for Worthing East and Shoreham, where she must overturn a Tory majority of more than 8,000 in her bid to become the youngest ever MP and the fifth generation Benn. But there is one snag: “She is 17 - so if Gordon were to call the election this week then electoral law would prevent her from standing. She's not 18 for another two weeks, so I guess she must be counting down the days to her 18th birthday for several reasons!”

Concerned at the amount of corporate sponsorship at the conference – or trade fair as he describes it – John McDonnell MP paused to reflect on its relevance in the outside world: “The scenes of Buddhist monks in Burma losing their lives in a struggle for democracy are a stark reminder that democratic politics should be about more than developing subtler forms of spin and party game-playing.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

The Lib Dem blogfest

2007-09-21T12:57:00.000Z

With so much mainstream media attention at the Lib Dem conference focussed on Ming’s leadership, you would be forgiven for thinking there was not a word spoken on policy. This prompted Richard Huzzey to write: “It’s a sad indictment of the media that a week-long conference discussing the pressing issues of the day hinges on whether a man says ‘there’s no vacancy’ or ‘I probably would’.”

But a trawl through the blogosphere reveals a fascinating insight into the day-to-day activity of a party political conference.

If political commentators were seeking a barometer as to popularity of likely leadership candidates, Stephen Tall may have come up with an alternative to YouGov: “Mugs with Steve [Webb]’s face on them are the top sellers at this year’s conference.”

In a Q&A session between Ming and Sandi Toksvig, many wondered why the photos turned out so bad. Jonathon Calder has a suggestion: “The stools had been carefully adjusted and positioned to show Ming to best advantage. Unfortunately, though, when the two of them went out on to the stage they sat the wrong way round.”

The sole topic of conversation among attendees was not – as the mainstream media imparted – Ming’s future, as Alex Foster states: “Talk in the conference bar reveals that some delegates have been rather disappointed with the quality of their hotels.”

As a testament to how highly-regarded the blog has become to politics, the Lib Dems’ annual blog awards was a key event of the conference. James Graham’s Quaequam blog won the award for best blog and best blog post for his repost to Simon Jenkins’s question of what the Lib Dems were for.

Jonny Wright’s Hug a Hoodie won best new blog, Mary Reid scooped best blog by an elected representative and best designed blog, while Liberal Mafia won best humourous blog. As best blog for an elected representative nominee Peter Black tells in our conference blog section, Liberal Mafia was unable to attend, though he sent a horse head in his stead.

But not all Lib Dem bloggers are so enthusiastic about the benefits of blogging. While pontificating about how to solve the infighting the blogosphere creates in political parties, Paul Walter wrote: “A vast amount of keypad bashing in the world is completely pointless. If only some people would actually just talk to each other, then endless millions of words written wouldn’t be necessary.” So there.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

An unholy alliance?

2007-09-14T11:03:00.000Z

As news broke this week that Margaret Thatcher was returning to Downing Street to take tea with the present incumbent, Benedict Brogan wondered – in the light of Gordon Brown’s recent appointments – whether there was an ulterior motive: “Mr Brown has already riled the Tories by claiming that he – and not David Cameron – is a conviction politician of the Iron Lady mold. Might he go one step further today and find a task force for her to chair?”

While, The Huntsman wondered if the meeting of minds was not for a simpler reason: “Perhaps he is asking what he should do with those pesky unions as he faces his very own ‘Winter of Discontent’.”

The cosying-up of Thatcher and Brown was variously seen by the Right as a rallying call to a damning indictment of Cameron. Many on the Left saw it as a betrayal of Old Labour by Brown, but Snowflake5 was more philosophical: “Some in Labour will raise eyebrows at this, given the hurt she inflicted on the country in the early 80s. But we’re comfortably in power now, and vengeance isn’t part of the Labour character. We can afford to be magnanimous and kind to a very old lady who is clearly still upset at events of the past.”

In an interesting analysis of the political tactics at the heart of the meeting between the two “conviction politicians”, Dizzy Thinks began: “The master strategist and tactician Brown does it again and has turned the lady who was not for turning they say. Brown has played Cameron for the pygmy chump that he is.”

But concluded: “Gordon Brown may very well be a master strategist and tactician, but yesterday his ego and overriding desire to destabilise Cameron exposed his flank, and a superior master of the game exploited it savagely.”

In a two-pronged attack on the Conservatives on the day they launched the Blueprint for a Green Economy, Labour announced they would be hiring Saatchi & Saatchi (of “Labour isn’t working” fame) for their election campaign.

Guido Fawkes saw the move as a cynical reaction to the perception of modern politics: “The Times reports Populus research which shows that Brown is perceived by voters to have moved to the right and Cameron’s Conservatives are perceived to have moved to the left. So with increasingly little difference between the brands, it may all come down to marketing.”

Meanwhile, Will Howells has suggested a couple of failed Saatchi & Saatchi campaigns which may have been taken to LDHQ (“Not merciless, just Ming”) and CCHQ (“Not anything really. Just Dave”).

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Galloway and the Tory accountants

2007-09-05T22:45:00.001Z

In a week where Gordon Brown stood legs akimbo across the centre ground and declared his admiration for Margaret Thatcher, stalwarts from both sides of the political spectrum let off time bombs within their own ranks.

George Galloway began by sending out a document to Respect’s National Congress members which argued for “re-evaluating” the party’s relationship with the SWP. It can be read in full here.

This sparked a series of debates on the comments boards of various blogs. David Osler began one debate by asking: “Why has the SWP made all this public at such an early stage, instead of trying to keep word of the document under wraps? Does this indicate that this is more than a minor spat?”

In another, John Gray stated: “I reckon that Galloway is gambling that the SWP will back down and let him run the show. The present leadership of the SWP have invested heavily in Respect. Also, frankly there is nowhere else for them to go.”

On to the Right side. Following Patrick Mercer and John Bercow’s decision to accept advisory posts offered by Gordon Brown, former Tory deputy and chairman Michael Ancram launched an attack on the modern party which drew outrage from the Young Turks.

Anthony Little was livid with the trio (Mercer, Bercow and Ancram – which Mike Ion pointed out sounds like an accountancy firm): “Don't they see that they are been used as a stage-managed tool by the Brown government (in the case of Bercow and Mercer) or just giving ammunition to our opponents (Ancram ... who should know better). Activists up and down the country must have their heads in their hands.”

While, Caroline Hunt sees the problem as being endemic within Conservative ranks: “I have learnt in the last year that a vast number of Tory party members would rather live under a Labour government indefinitely and instead stick the knife into their own party rather than attack this woefully dishonest and inept government.”

Over at Our Kingdom, Anthony Barnett has written a neat piece about what he sees as a class war within the Tory party. This, he states, is the reason for much of the backlash against Ancram’s open letter.

This was partly based on criticism from Iain Dale, who asked for contributions for the top ten reasons why Michael Ancram should be taken outside and shot (which Dale was keen to stress – for those lacking a sense of humour – was “done in the style of David Letterman's Top Ten Lists, which are funny, sardonic and often ironic”). The pick of the bunch were: “Number 10: So he knows how the grouse feel; Number 9: Because we need to discourage the aristocracy from overbreeding; and Number 1: Because shooting him inside would mean that you'd have to repaint the walls.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

The Tory school of East Anglian diplomacy

2007-08-24T09:23:00.000Z

In an unprecedented turn of events, the blogosphere was focused on East Anglia for much of this week.

Recent reports of identity thieves finding a rich resource on Facebook were highlighted in the ongoing saga involving the profile on the social networking site of Lib Dem shadow health secretary Norman Lamb. A brief history of which is covered at Lib Dem Voice.

The same IP address was shown to be responsible for tampering with Lamb’s Wikipedia entry and also uploading an anti-Lib Dem video on YouTube. Various Conservative comments have been made from the same IP address across the internet and there have also been 12 comments from eight “different” people on Lib Dem Voice.

After much digging around in the murky world of internet fakery, Mark Pack believes he has found the culprit.

The permutations of the affair rippled across the blogosphere. The Bloggerheads blog pointed the finger at an unspecified Tory. While, Iain Dale, Lamb’s North Norfolk opponent in the 2005 general election, was keen to condemn the culprit and distance himself from the debacle.

As Duncan Barrowman and the Norfolk Blogger stepped up the hunt for the illusive 82.118.116.193, Nich Starling concluded: “It is in everyone’s interests that whoever is behind this is exposed.”

Lamb had had to apologise last week to Norfolk and Norwich hospital after his claims about kitchen hygiene turned out to be unfounded. He was not the only MP apologising for false accusations about Norfolk’s hospitals. On the first day of David Cameron’s fight back he published a list of 29 district hospitals which would have to close their maternity wards due to funding cuts.

One of which was in fellow Tory MP Henry Bellingham’s Kings Lynn constituency. Bellingham then claimed the allegation was false and apologised “unreservedly” to staff at the hospital. In Nich Starling’s post about the incident he backs up Bellingham’s claims despite Cameron reiterating his original statement.

Following the incident, which has been termed the “Dodgy Hospital Dossier”, Mike Ion lists the various responses from hospitals refuting Cameron’s claims.

A week I’m sure the Tories would like to forget as they came out less popular in East Anglia than Alan Partridge following his comments about farmers.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Delving into devolution

2007-08-16T21:19:00.000Z

Three weeks into the August lull of political activity, and the UK blogosphere finally has something to get excited/agitated about. Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, produced a white paper proposing full-scale devolution. An electronic debate ensued.

If the suggestion seemed a kick in the teeth to Gordon Brown, Elliot Joseph was none too sympathetic: “Over its 300 years a number of enemy powers have countenanced the overthrow of the United Kingdom. Until Tony Blair and Gordon Brown took power in 1997, however, it looked most unlikely that anyone would accomplish it.

“As he steers the country masterfully from one crisis to the next, it will be amusing to watch Brown try to forestall the consequences of his own disastrous policy.”

What rattled Scottish Labour activist Kezia Dugdale’s cage was the way the SNP went about the debate. And rattle it, it did. Her advice to Salmond: “Do the right thing, take a policy to parliament, debate it, seek the cross-party support that you need to do something about it and pursue it.

“Do not create a website devoted to a National Conversation where you set the boundaries of the conversation you’re prepared to take part - whilst also allowing the CyberNATs to inflict their ignorant, narrow-minded venom on the rest of us.”

What seemed to anger Unionists most was not the fact the subject had been broached, more the way it had been. The Thunder Dragon wrote: “I am a Unionist, but the debate over Scottish independence seems that it needs to be had - and sooner is better than later. Opinion polls are showing that the majority of Scottish voters do not favour independence from the United Kingdom.

“They should have this referendum, held with a caveat that this decision would be final if the vote came out against independence.”

The issue of Scottish independence is a thorny one for Labour, and especially for Gordon Brown. Mike Smithson at Political Betting highlights how Brown should learn from his predecessors: “There’s also a general election dimension here. Would Gord go to the country just at the time when this is developing as an issue? The last thing he wants, surely, is for a campaign to be dominated by EVEL [English Votes for English Laws]?

“People often forgot that it was the Scottish devolution issue, not the so called ‘winter of discontent’, that brought Jim Callaghan’s Labour government down in 1979. Gord knows he has to tread carefully.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

August's dearth of news

2007-08-10T11:19:00.000Z

The silly season is well and truly upon us. Here is a collection of some of the more vapid themes across the UK’s political blogs:

Democracy is an odd thing. Dictators throughout history have warned of giving too much power to the masses and it was only a matter of time before the web – the most democratic platform to date – offered strength to that argument. This week, Tim Ireland started a petition on the 10 Downing Street website calling for Gordon Brown to stand on his head and juggle ice-cream. More than 5,000 people have so far signed up.

Ever wanted to see a band of four MPs rocking out to Teenage Kicks with Feargel Sharkey? No? Well the web is full of wondrous things and you can see that footage courtesy of former whip Ian Cawsey’s Myspace page. Dizzy Thinks discovered this and other gems on the Brigg and Goole MP’s page, including apparently secretly-filmed videos of Bair’s last Parliamentary Labour Party meeting and the last meeting of the former whips.

The West Country often gets stick for not being as sexy as rest of the country, but the region’s residents must be pleased that at last political bloggers are addressing the real issues and giving them some publicity. Kevin Davis, a Conservative parliamentary hopeful in Yeovil, has begun his own campaign aimed at increasing the amount of public toilets. As a rallying call, Davis declares: “Wherever you go in the country it appears that the Lib Dems have something against public toilets. In Kingston they closed them and in Yeovil they are refusing to open them.”

Apparently Ming Campbell has more than 2,000 friends. Who’d have thought? This figure could swell with the announcement by Lib Dem councillor Jonathan Wallace that he will only join Facebook when there are 100 people in the “Get Jonathan Wallace onto Facebook” group – so far there are 56. When he signs up he will join the largest political group on the social networking site, according to reports this week.

Steve Webb MP is using his recess time wisely and has found the Lib Dems are leading the way on Facebook. He concludes: “It is no surprise that it is Lib Dems who have taken social networking the most seriously. Lib Dem philosophy and our way of doing politics sits well with the Facebook ethos of being accessible, removing barriers to communication and reaching out to young people. As the figures show, it’s clearly not an exclusively Lib Dem thing, but it’s good to see our party leading the way.”

However, a closer inspection of the stats reveals Webb’s skewed form of proportional representation – typically Lib Dem – where he has reached his conclusions based on proportion of MPs signed up (Lib – 40%, Lab – 13%, Cons – 12%) rather than actual totals (Lab – 47, Lib – 25, Cons – 24).

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Silly season and blogger back slapping

2007-08-03T10:35:00.000Z

With Parliament now in recess and middle England migrating to France for August, traditional media enters the silly season as news editors look to fill column inches. This period of wild rumours has found a natural home on the blogosphere.

The British blogging scene were salivating for a few hours at the possibility of a triumvirate of big political personalities clashing for the post of London Mayor with the rumour Lembit Opik had put his name in the hat.

With the thought of such a celebrity-driven election, The Daily Referendum suggested: "Maybe Simon Cowell can be signed up to run some kind of 'The Mayor Factor' competition for TV?"

In an interview on ePolitix.com, Ed Davey proclaimed: "Lembit is a good friend of mine, I share an office with him, and if he decided to run he would certainly make one of the most interesting candidates in the race. Would Lembit make a good mayor? I think that Lembit would make a much better mayor than Boris Johnson or Ken Livingstone."

This was picked up by Welsh blogger Matt Withers, who concluded: "Sounds pretty definite to me. Ken v Boris v Lembit, eh? This could get interesting..."

When Lembit finally denied he would be running, it prompted accusations of storms in teacups. Not least from Peter Black AM: "What puzzled me was why Lembit did not kill the rumour stone dead immediately, but then he has always enjoyed the spotlight and clearly wanted to drag his denial out as long as possible."

The summer recess also brings on a bout of annual blog back slapping. In the Witanagemot awards there were more categories than bloggers. Some of the more outlandish categories were "Blogger you’d most like to shag" (won by Rachel from North London) and "Blogger most likely to vote for a donkey if you slapped the correct colour rosette on it" (Iain Dale).

In fact, Dale swept the awards, including the award for most deserving of a book deal. Which is just as well seeing as he is compiling his annual top 100 list for the 2007 Guide to Political Blogging in the UK. This year he is relying on contributions from readers, which you can add to here.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Bouncing Gordon the Tory scourge

2007-07-27T09:20:00.000Z

As MPs parted discussing plans for summer freebies and parliament broke up for the summer recess, the Tories were still suffering the Brown bounce.

A beleaguered David Cameron, freshly-returned from Rwanada, took a beating from Gordon Brown in the last PMQs and the Tories were further behind Labour in the opinion polls. Iain Dale, who had accompanied Cameron on his African adventure, felt compelled to speak up for his travel buddy. The root of recent Conservative poor performance was not Cameron but his Shadow Cabinet.

He said: “Andy Coulson’s challenge is to educate Shadow Ministers and CCHQ on ways to get press coverage over and above the normal press release. Some Shadow Ministers will find this an easier process than others to adapt to. If you’ve been doing it in the same way for ten years change is not an easy process.”

It was part of a wave of comment to the effect that the Conservative frontbenchers are lazy and unenlightening, from The Sun’s Trevor Kavanagh to Matthew d’Ancona. Benedict Brogan lists the Shadow Cabinet’s outside interests and concludes 13 out of 29 are part-timers.

However, An Englishman’s Castle believes it is not the fact the shadow ministers spend too much time outside parliament, it’s that they spend too much time in: “The curse of modern politics are professional politicians who know nothing outside the Westminster bubble. We were far better governed when it was done by amateurs.”

One of the most salient points in Obsolete’s lengthy and interesting dissection of the proposed increased terrorism legislation is as follows: “Huge amount of data to shift through, links across the globe, 200 mobile phones, 400 computers, blah blah etc. As before, this isn’t in any way a good enough excuse or justification for those being held to be held longer, it's an argument for the police to be given more resources, or to actually use those they already have, such as to demand encryption keys.”

While, Tim Worstall points out: “Given that as yet no such suspect has had to be released after 28 days of questioning, it’s a little hard for them to come up with a justification.”

As a Liberal Democrat, the Norfolk Blogger, aka Nich Starling, fully expects to be criticised for his support of the case 56 day imprisonment: “Across Europe, in societies that we are supposed to marvel at for their liberal sensitivities, the police have powers that far outstrip our own police when it comes to questions suspects in terrorism cases. If these societies can be liberal and have such policies, why can't we?”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Electoral fraud and cannabis - another week in UK politics

2007-07-20T09:11:00.000Z

One of the big political news stories of the week was yet again broken on the blogosphere. A Jonathon Isaby post at the Telegraph.co.uk gave out the results of the Ealing by-election postal votes, with the help of a breach of electoral law on behalf of the Conservatives.

Before it was taken offline, Political Penguin flagged it up and was the first to note its importance. There’s still a screen grab (with appropriate smudging) there.

Cicero was so dismayed at the turn of events in Ealing he proclaimed: “I hope never to see such an unprincipled and unscrupulous campaign ever again.”

Mike Smithson at Political Betting assessed the result of the by-election in terms of how each leader fared. He wrote: “Goodish for Gordon but not good enough for him to risk a general election…

“The only reason Cameron has been able to steer his party in a different direction has been because he has been seen as an election winner. Once that perception goes he could be in for a testing time. By October/November the polls need to have got better…

“There have been repeated murmurings against Ming Campbell and some in the party were suggesting that his leadership could be on the line if the party did badly. That did not happen and Ming is probably safe.”

In a week where politicians were pushed into revealing if they had indulged in illegal substances, the blogging community felt the need to lend their opinions to the debate, with a few feeling the need to clarify their personal drug experiences.

Iain Dale (who hasn’t and never will) called for an end to the drug taking witchhunt. He asked: “Does having smoked a joint at university impair a politician's judgement 25 years later? Of course not. Tony McNulty's abilities as Police Minister can be judged on his performance today - not by what he may have done 25 years ago.”

Peter Risdon (who has, on and off, for 30 years) took the opportunity to expand on some of his own position towards drug criminalisation: “The drug prohibition laws are tyrannical, stupid and destructive, and I’m not going to dignify them by pretending I will take the slightest notice of them.”

Anyone shocked by this week’s revelations should check out Daniel Finkelstein's top five political youthful indiscretions, which include shooting a child dead and participating in orgies – though not necessarily at the same time.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

The Blogosphere ignores Campbell while Browne usurps the Queen

2007-07-12T09:12:00.000Z

In a week dominated by the publication of Alastair Campbell’s diaries, it is perhaps fitting to see how the electronic political diarists – or bloggers to you and me – viewed his revelations. Given AC is said to have condensed two million words to a fraction of that amount, below I have condensed a similar volume of words to just a few hundred.

NR (aka Nick Robinson) is quick to point out the reason he is not interested in the book is not because his sole mention is being named as a “jerk” but because it lacks authenticity: “The give away is in the book's title which speaks of ‘extracts’ from Campbell's diaries. The key point is that the extracts were chosen not by a publisher or an editor but by Campbell for political reasons. They give a partial and, therefore, misleading view of recent history unlike the best diaries which show the author and those close to him warts and all.”

Sky News veteran Adam Boulton is philosophical about being described variably from “a total c***” to “pretty sour as ever”. He writes: “All fair comment, all very interesting to me, and all for the viewers to make their mind up on, if they care.”

Meanwhile, Rob Fenwick gives a brief history of mobile phone use in Britain and uses it to assess the validity of the now infamous anecdote of how Gordon Brown was rescued from a locked toilet by Tony Blair.

By Wednesday there was a marked decrease number of mentions of Campbell or his diaries on blogs. This may have had something to do with a Tim Ireland post entitled “Tell Alastair Campbell to go f**k himself”. It proposed a fortnight blogosphere boycott of all things Campbell to counteract the mainstreme media’s coverage of the diaries.

It’s guiding principles were: “1. Pledge not to buy the book. After all, nothing really juicy went into it, anything halfway-juicy was taken out of it, and any halfway-decent scraps that are left will be repeated in newspapers anyway.
2. Don't blog about the book beyond your decision not to blog about it and/or not to bother buying it.
3. Place this handy button to one side of your weblog for the next fortnight so readers know why you're not blogging about Cherie Blair's knicker drawer.”

Wednesday also saw Gordon Brown announce his draft Queen’s speech: 20-odd proposed bills that have been condensed down to increased housing and a perceived rejection of super casinos in PMQs.

Dave Osler provides an interesting analysis of the benefits of creating public sector housing stock. While Matt Davies ponders whether the Queen will feel annoyed that Brown has stolen her thunder: “She doesn't get to do much exciting as our head of state (aside from all the taxpayer funded fun, of course), the Queen's Speech is about the only time she gets to feel special. When he saw her at the palace, I bet Gordon didn't tell her he was going to make even that a waste of time.”

As long as he doesn’t ask her to remove her crown I’m sure she’ll be fine.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Bloggers react to Ming's 'joke' and 'Mayor' Boris

2007-07-05T17:35:00.000Z

Gordon Brown’s first week – or should that be five days – in charge of the country were nothing if not eventful. It culminated with is first PMQs under the media, and blogging community’s, watchful gaze.

For Waking Hereward, it was car crash TV. He wrote: “And so Gordon, the man with the supposed intellect as big as Ben Nevis, a mind as sharp as William Wallace’s Claymore and a brain as logical as Mr McSpock, (Mr Spock’s cleverer and more logical Scottish half-brother), floundered like a beached haddock.”

While Guido Fawkes saw the new Prime Minister’s first performance as being “slapped down” by Ming Campbell. For many, Mr Campbell emerged from the debate with the upper hand.

However, Iain Dale saw it differently: “Ming Campbell's performance was lamentable and Gordon Brown lost no time in sticking the knife in, saying his ‘door is always open to the Right Honourable Gentleman’. This provoked guffaws from everyone apart from the LibDem benches, who looked as though they were about to throw up. Brown gave Ming the opportunity for a funny follow-up, but the old barrister in him couldn’t summon up the killer line and muttered that his door was ‘more like a trap door’.”

Discussing Ming’s jibe, Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone admitted: “It doesn’t quite come over in print - but it rocked the House with laughter - the right sort of laughter."

As Brown bungled in Parliament, a known bungler was announced as the new Tory London Mayoral candidate. The Norfolk Blogger’s post, entitled ‘Wanted, loud mouth infamous self publicising politician to beat same - Enter Boris Johnson’ read: “Whilst Ken is prone to putting his foot in it, it tends to be in a premeditated way. He knows what he is saying and the effect he wants to have whilst Boris, with his oafish Billy Bunter style blustering gives the impression of not being in control of his own trousers, let alone his mouth.

“Yes, he may make a contest of it, it ought to say much about Tory prospects in the capital that he is even being considered.”

Theo Spark made a helpful image of what Mayor Boris may look like which was widely circulated around the web. While Guido ran a poll which reflected extremely favourably for the Henley MP.

Guido also set out the case for Boris: “1. He is high profile and likeable. He has name and face recognition that matches Ken Livingstone. Very few people outside the Conservative activist base know any of the other candidates. 2. He would be the popular grassroots choice with his own party activists. 3. He reaches out to those not usually interested in politics. 4. He is a talented media performer and campaigner. 5. He can win.”

Finally, Kerron Cross, writing at 18 Dougherty Street, wrote: “A popular, messy-haired, blonde bombshell with idiot tendencies. I would suggest if those were the qualifications than perhaps David Cameron should have approached a Page 3 stunner from The Sun newspaper to take on the role – but considering the Conservatives named Zoe, 25, from London, as their Environmental Campaigner of the Year last year, I’d better not tempt fate on this matter.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

The reshuffle shuffle

2007-06-29T16:00:00.000Z

In the first week of any new job there is always a lot to sort out, which could perhaps explain the new deputy leader of the Labour party’s lack of blogging. Harriet Harman’s last blog entry begins: “The polls for Labour’s deputy leadership election close in one hour.”

With the other big announcement of the week being Brown’s first cabinet, the BBC’s Nick Robinson could be heard on any number of bullets declaring it the biggest post-war cabinet shake-up. He even analysed the two cabinets in figures.

But Robinson’s view of such an upheaval has been dismissed as hyperbole in many quarters. Burning Our Money starts by highlighting the consistencies between the two cabinets at the Treasury, in health, children, schools, families and works and pensions. He then concludes: “You know, I was going to go through the whole lot, but I'm now so depressed I think I'll have a large shot of absinthe.

“Never in the history of Big Government has so much blood been spilled on so many ministerial carpets for so few benefits.”

Fountain has dissected the new cabinet in terms of what each member did before they went into politics. The list basically consists of public sector workers, trades unionists, layers and charity workers with a few hacks thrown in the mix. The selection has been criticised for lacking anyone from the private sector, outside the lawyers and journalists, and for not representing a cross-section of the population.

Bill Jones sees the reshuffle as representative of Brown’s new Government in eight symbols: continuity with Blair; women; education; sooth feelings in NHS; Iraq; rewarding loyalists; youthful energy; and what he describes as ‘all talents’. He concludes: “All in all a clever and well planned reshuffle, contrasting favourably with Blair's chaotic efforts.”

For Tom Clougherty at the Adam Institute the most striking aspect of the cabinet reshuffle wasn’t the personnel, but the reorganisation of Government departments. The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI – often called the Deterrent to Trade and Industry), has been renamed the Department for Business, Enterprise, and Regulatory Reform. Watch this space for blogging wags to come up for an alternative for the DBERR acronym.

In a week of new jobs, I would like to take this opportunity to say farewell to my fellow blog reviewer, Adam Haigh, who has decided to dedicate more time to his new job at Bloomberg. Best of luck.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Rushdie and Manning

2007-06-21T11:48:00.000Z

In the Queen’s honours list, Reactionary Snob noted: “If you listened very carefully you could actually hear Blair pulling out the pin of the hand grenade last week... this was going to cause a shitstorm, and a shitstorm it has caused.”

He was of course highlighting the decision to honour Salman Rushdie. Reactionary Snob goes on to discuss take apart Pakistan’s religious affairs minister’s condemnation of the honour in language too graphic to be repeated here, though still worth a look.

Over at Times Online, Daniel Finkelstein called the decision to knight Rushdie was a “bold and correct one” and has sent a petition off to the Number 10 Downing Street website. He said: “I think it is important that we show that we are not prepared to be cowed by this sort of threat.”

The petition will be put up as soon as it is accepted and reads: “We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to accept our congratulations for recommending to the Queen that Salman Rushdie receive a knighthood.”

Iain Dale’s reaction to the furore was entitled “Salman Rushdie Does Not Deserve a Knighthood But He Must Keep It” and concluded with a bold statement: “Perhaps our response should be to cut off all our millions of pounds of aid to Pakistan until this minister is sacked from the Pakistani government.”

Another controversial figure made blog discussion boards this week. Bernard Manning, who wrote in his own obituary he was pleased we was not going to the same place as “the po-faced, politically-correct brigade”, died on Monday.

Obsolete wrote: “On hearing of the sad news, the Pakistani parliament immediately adjourned the session and called for a motion on declaring an official day of mourning, which was passed unanimously. The Pakistan religious affairs minister, Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, was one of the first to eulogise about Manning's demise:

‘He may have been politically incorrect, but at least he didn't BLASPHEME like that bastard Rushdie. I call for any suicide bombers who might have thought of targeting Manning's funeral to instead hold their laughter.’”

David Milliband launched Defra’s Carbon Calculator this week, with a short movie explaining how it was done. He also honestly provided us with his results: “My individual footprint (for personal not ministerial energy, electrical appliances and transport) came out at a respectable 3 tonnes, though when the rest of the family were included we were a bit above average thanks to a couple of long haul flights.”

Unfortunately, Defra seem to have underestimated the amount of interest in carbon calculation as too many people tried to use it and the server crashed. I wonder if it can calculate just how much energy was wasted by PCs trying to access the site.

Alun Davies AM has been recruiting Welsh politicians for the annual Parliamentary Shield – a football match played between political representatives of the Home Nations, sponsored by McDonalds. Check out Blamerbell’s fantasy Welsh team here.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Arms dealing, grammar schools and pink day-glo pigs' abortions

2007-06-07T19:23:00.000Z

After an exclusive in the Guardian followed up by some BBC exposure, the BAE curruption scandal is back in the spotlight.

The payments given to a Saudi prince, which were in the full knowledge of the Ministry of defence, contravened anti-corruption legislation brought in by the current administration. The flouting of such laws angered many in the blogosphere.

Tim Worstall said: “It’s said that the definition of a diplomat is someone sent abroad to lie for his country. We do not accept said diplomat lying to us here. As with this story: I care not that foreigners have grubbed for bribes, I care not that we have offered them to foreigners. I care a very great deal that having changed the law, those in power continued to do so.”

Meanwhile, Craig Murray, the former Ambassador to Uzbekistan who hit the headlines when he denounced the Uzbek’s poor record on human rights, was equally dismayed.

He said: “Bin Laden and most of the 9/11 team came from Saudi Arabia. In response we keep invading other countries by mistake.

“The so-called Attorney-General ordered the Serious Fraud Office to stop the investigation into BAE's massive bribery payments to Saudi Arabia because of ‘national security’. By this, he meant that the Saudis might stop giving us ‘intelligence’ from their torture chambers if we persisted.”

While Tom Griffin reflects on the parallels with Thatcher’s Government who relied on defence exports to such an extent Britain was forced to support some particularly shadey regimes.

He said: “The fallout from this expansion, in the shape of the Arms-to-Iraq affair, helped to bring down the last Conservative government, so you might have expected a Labour government to try and wean Britain from this dependency.

“Instead, it has blocked the SFO's [Serious Fraud Office] investigation into the Al-Yamamah deal. In the wake of the latest reports, there will be renewed calls for that investigation to be re-opened.”

It was not plain sailing for David Cameron this week after the fallout from another grammar school row. Nick Robinson announced the end of the Tory leader’s honeymoon period.

While Conservative Party Reptile said: “I think it would have been better if David Willetts had kept his grammar school ideas firmly under wraps. This could yet prove to be one of the biggest mistakes in DC's leadership.”

Over in West Lancashire, occasional-New Statesman blogger David Sudworth said: “The Conservatives have to be careful or this will turn into another Europe, an issue which made sure they came completely unelectable from 1992 onwards.

“David Cameron must regain a tight grip of his party because if there's one thing voters hate, it’s the political chattering classes indulging in protracted bouts of navel-gazing and infighting, something the national Tories have mastered down to a fine art in recent years.”

The new Olympic logo has been giving the blogging community a bit of light relief this week. It has been described as “pink day-glo pig's abortion”, “the logo for the Annual Rabbit Shagging Championships” and the Fun House logo.

There have also been comparisons made to Lisa Simpson performing an illicit act. For anyone who lacks the imagination to envisage what this may look like, Theo Spark has made a couple of helpful gif files.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Sexist bloggers and the farce of Assembly negotiations

2007-05-24T17:33:00.000Z

Sexist blogging has reared its ugly head over the past couple of weeks. The chief recipient was Telegraph hack Melissa Kite after writing a blog on the Spectator website attacking the Tory blogosphere.

The responses she got were straight out of a builders handbook, as she divulged in her Telegraph.co.uk article on Sunday: “All I want to say is that a week ago I speculated about the shadow cabinet. Tory blogger-boys responded by speculating about whether they would like to sleep with me. The same people are online right now demanding that David Cameron change his policies. I now speculate that the Tory leader knows exactly what he is dealing with and will completely ignore them.”

On 18 Doughty Street, Shane Greer pontificates on the dark presence of sexism in the male-dominated blogosphere. He concludes: “The question then is this, what is it about the blogosphere that leads some men to act in a manner they would, presumably, never countenance in the real world?”

One of the people whose reaction to Melissa’s original article attracted vitriolic sexist comments, Iain Dale, recently reopened the debate.

With the Westminster and Scottish leadership issues all sewn up, the Assembly negotiations are far from complete.

The Lib Dems walked out of the expected ‘rainbow coalition’ negotiations on Wednesday night. Leading Welsh blogger and Lib Dem AM Peter Black wrote: “What happened last night was a surprise. I fully expected to see the National Executive endorse the package and refer it to Conference. That they did not do so was something that nobody foresaw.” He then goes on to offer some insight into the Lib Dems reasons.

While Bethan Jenkins, one of Plaid’s hardline Gang of Four, said: “The Lib dems have some serious issues to address- leadership being its main priority. I must say, having seen how the Lib dems have acted, a Rainbow coalition would have been far from stable from the outset. I don't think Peter Black could stomach giving Mike German a Ministerial position, which is one of the reasons, (or the only reason?) why I believe that they are in this mess right now.”

In an amusing sketch paralleling the trials and tribulations of the negotiations with Goldie Locks and the Three Bears, Glyn Davies concludes: “At this point Hans Christian Andersen abandoned this fairy story as being so utterly preposterous and unbelievable that no-one would ever believe it or read it. So it was never published until today.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

How to anger Lib Dems

2007-05-10T19:58:00.000Z

Simon Jenkins used his column in Wednesday’s Guardian to opine: “It is surely time for the Lib Dems to fold their tent and go.”

Jenkins’s charge, that Lib Dems are “both hopeless and nice”, was fiercely contested by key Lib Dem bloggers. As if to rebut this vignette, they responded in a fashion that was anything but.

Cicero describes the attack as a “bleat of pain from that section of the British establishment that no longer understands the modern world.”

He goes on to say: “The fact that Simon Jenkins rant was published in the The Guardian- the most consistently anti-Liberal newspaper in the UK- simply reminds us that revolutionaries have few friends amongst the self-appointed philosopher kings of the left, or right.”

While Stephen Tall asks: “What is Simon Jenkins for?”: “Mr Jenkins may feel this compromise results in ‘a susurration of platitudes’. Certainly that’s the risk, one which applies to all other parties. The alternative is to sit on the sidelines, safely pontificating from the berth of a well-upholstered desk in Faringdon Road or Wapping, and never troubling to get your hands dirty.”

But for Russell Eagling the comments have become a call for arms: “This means the Lib Dem's leadership of the third party needs to evangelise a coherent Lib Dem vision - hammering home a liberal vision of 21st century Britain.”

The debate challenges the traditional bipolar view of politics. In this world of free market socialists and hug-a-hoodie Tories do you sometimes wonder which side of the political fence you sit? Well help is at hand. A Very British Dude has a foolproof system of sorting your Rights from your Lefts: “Here's a working definition: If you hear the phrase ‘Social Justice’ and you feel the urge to lay about the speaker with a claw-hammer, you're right-wing. If you think you know what the phrase ‘Social Justice’ means, and use it to explain your philosophy you're a lefty (and should be killed with a claw-hammer).

“Who said political semantics was tricky.”

With the creation of the Orwellian-sounding Ministry of Justice this week it may be of some use to be able to spot an “agent”. Fortunately, Andrew Brown provides an insight into their wallets.

Meanwhile, Dizzy Thinks is also suspicious of this new Ministry. For what reason, he asks, could they possibly be using an outdated server? The plot thickens.

For some reason, John Reid chose Thursday to announce the cost of ID cards would be increasing. He complemented this with an article on Guardian Unlimited’s Comment is Free section. But after seeing the volume of negative feedback posts the article recieved, Reid must be wishing the comment wasn’t so free – the funds raised could have filled the plug in the spiraling costs for ID cards.

Oh, and apparently Tony Blair has announced his departure date.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Wayward umbrellas and poor hand-writing - the election trail continues

2007-04-27T10:17:00.000Z

My promised second part of a council, Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliamentary election-focused blog has morphed into its own feature. But there's still room for the sideways glance - riddled with exposed hypocrisy and campaign blundering - that follows.

A war of words has flared up in the Liverpool ward of Kensington and Fairfield. Labour councillor Louise Baldcock accused the Lib Dems of gutter politics, wasting money and poor hand-writing. She later goads an anonymous poster over the content of the Lib Dems leaflets.

More leafletting troubles in Bristol where Guido Fawkes believes he has exposed a Labour candidate's photoshopped attempt at claiming he was on an anti-Iraq demo to boost his anti-war credentials.

For anyone interested in the minutiae of a council candidate’s campaign trail look no further than Richard Baum, Lib Dem candidate for St Mary's Ward, Bury. Hear how Richard confronts rain and must borrow a wayward umbrella from a councillor. Gasp as he tells of his opinions on luxury flats. And bite your lip along with Richard as he recounts his tale of frustration with Orange customer services.

Over in Wales, I found the true identity of one of Welsh politics' top bloggers is someone I regularly play football with. When I found out I told Blamerbell Briefs it was like discovering the true identity of Superman, while he compared it to discovering your father plays battle games in the attic.

He discovered Education Secretary Alan Johnson had sent a message of good luck to Plaid candidate Carolyn Evans. While it may be put down to an email blunder, it has been suggested a Lab-Plaid coalition may be more certain than political commentators have hitherto revealed.

North of the border, Richard Havers offers a witty overview of the "torrent, flood, surge, and veritable plethora of pamphlets from the political parties" he was confronted with when returning from a couple of days away.

The SNP rounded up 100 business types to agree an independent Scotland would be a more financially stable Scotland. In response, an advert appeared in The Scotsman with a trumping 151 signatures warning against Scottish independence which some have traced back to Gordon Brown.

There is nothing new in political parties seeking endorsement from celebrities and prominent members of society. But sometimes, as Kerron Cross discusses, parties go that extra mile: what would Jesus do?

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Local elections for local people

2007-04-19T23:30:00.000Z

While Greg Dyke flirts with Labour’s enemies and commentators debate whether David Milliband’s last denial he would stand in the Labour leadership contest really was last, you could be forgiven for forgetting there are local, Welsh Assembly and Scottish parliamentary elections within two weeks.

As these are the first UK elections in which blogs will have a significant influence, this blog review will take a break from Westminster politics for the next two weeks and concentrate on the grassroots.

Thousands of blogs will be preaching party manifestoes. No doubt interested parties can locate them. But here we show what blogs do best: expose incompetence and/or negligence.

Bad news this week for Lib Dems in Darlington as Labour councilor Nick Wallis reports: “For reasons not yet explained, Cllr. Jones signed the nomination papers of BNP candidate Daniel Brown, who is also standing in the town's North Road ward. As Cllr. Jones also signed the nomination papers of fellow LibDem candidates Mike Barker and Fred Lawton, he was effectively placing his own candidacy in a very curious position!”

Meanwhile, in West Aberdeenshire, A Big Stick and a Small Carrot has done a bit of research and found holes in a local Labour candidate’s campaign.

It was reported the ‘green’ Conservatives scored 0/10 in a Scottish Friends of the Earth green test. Kerron Cross offers his view on the matter: “A cynic would be forgiven for thinking that the Tories' words about caring for the environment are just another cheap gimmick, but I am prepared to be more charitable. But that is probably because I, like everyone else, know the Tories will get very few votes in Scotland whatever they say to us!”

Not only will Shrewsbury be hosting the Shrewsbury cartoon festival this weekend, but as Dizzy discusses, it will also be trialing a new way of increasing voter turnout: “Have just heard that the first electronic console polling station in this year’s local elections will be open on Saturday in a shopping centre in Shrewsbury. Let's hope the system is neither overloaded or loses data.

“Apparently Shrewsbury will also be having text message voting and Internet voting as well. Wonder how long it will take for someone to make allegations of electoral fraud after the results?”

Finally, a chance to see how another of a blog’s best qualities can be used in these elections. Welsh blogger Blambell Briefs has invited questions that he will pass on to four Welsh politicians in a feature he is calling Honest John.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

The fall of Guido; the rise of Milliband

2007-03-29T18:07:00.000Z

For those who missed it, a battle of wits ensued on Newsnight on Wednesday night where representatives from the three main mediums of political debate locked horns. In the red corner sat Jeremy Paxman, chairing a debate on the strengths of political bloggers. On his left was The Guardian’s associate editor, Michael White, while on the screen opposite, shrouded in darkness, sat the blogosphere’s representative, Guido Fawkes.

Guido, whose rise from anonymous agitator to mainstream dissident has been rapid, had made a video on blogging where he interviewed the likes of Adam Boulton and Nick Robinson. Both of whom bring their broadcast professionalism to the web – an exception to the blogospherical rule. Robinson’s retort to Guido’s film was simple: “Grow up.”

YouTube links for the interesting interview and entertaining discussion can be found over at Chicken Soup, who comments: “He makes some good points and asks worthy questions. It’s just a shame it was Guido asking them. It’s like Prince Harry lecturing someone about their drinking.”

The live discussion should act as a warning to any blogger looking to leave the comfort of the keyboard and sit in front of a television camera and trade blows with television and newspapers’ finest. Bill Jones believes Guido’s first mistake was being blacked out and appearing like an IRA terrorist. While Paul Walter thought Guido was made to look like a “clot”: “The moment any bloggers become pretentious and think they are serious ‘professionals’ is the moment they deserve being publicly humiliated by Michael White, as Guido was.”

Minutes after the show ended, Guido admitted regrets: “Well the live interview was definitely a mistake and against my better judgement, as was the in-the-shadows idea of the Newsnight editor, but nice to have Sir Michael White go to full-frontal-abuse.”

The debate continues at the BBC.

John Reid’s plans to split the Home Office have been slowly picked up by a few bloggers. Despite agreeing with the changes, Andrew McCann angrily states: “This episode once again shows the contempt Labour has for the concept of Executive accountability. This is not some third-rate office we're talking about. It should have been opened up to full scrutiny and a vote then taken.”

While Benedict Brogan offers some inside info: “However happy Mr Reid is today, the structures he announces are all eminently portable. And I'm told that the Chancellor, who has talked at length about his belief that national security is a matter for the Prime Minister alone, will happily pick them up and take them with him to Number 10 and the Cabinet Office when he takes over.”

Despite being initially coy about challenging Gordon Brown for the leadership contest, David Milliband has this week penned a couple of articles (for the Daily Telegraph and New Statesman) that are seen as adjusting this stance. What this space…

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Journalists and sportspeople: sleeping with the enemy

2007-03-26T16:59:00.000Z

King Kong and Lord of the Rings fans at Cardiff Journalism School might have been disappointed to be greeted by the doyen of rugby journalism Peter Jackson this week. But my fellow trainee journalists and I were treated to 80 minutes of anecdotes and advice from a career spanning both rugby and football English World Cup victories, and Cardiff City’s heady days in Europe.

Among Jackson’s arsenal were stories of losing relationships with longstanding friends over articles he had published and questions he had asked them. Many of whom were prominent sports figures. Jackson said: “Probably when you are offending all the people all the time, that is when you are doing a good job.” For a man who has stayed at the top of British sports journalism for so many years and still has one of the biggest contact books in the business, this is very good advice.

This sentiment was echoed in Peter Preston’s article in yesterday’s Observer on the problems which arise when journalists are too cosy with sportspeople. There are probably about three or four journalists who have Alex Ferguson’s home phone number – but they will only occasionally get a story worth printing. Whereas Steve Tucker, the Western Mail’s Cardiff City correspondent, is regularly ostracised from the Ninian Park press conference room for asking the wrong questions – or more precisely, the questions City fans want answering.

British political blog round-up 8/03/2007

2007-03-08T21:09:00.000Z

This week one of the most innovative sides of British politics (blogs) looked towards one of the most ailing – the House of Lords.

With the debates centring on what percentage of MPs voted for what percentage of Lords should be voted for, there was much understandable confusion.

Iain Dale saw the fact that the 95 Labour MPs who voted no to 80% but yes to 100% were either voting on principle or doing it to ”bugger up the whole process, as they knew it would then produce a lengthy Mexican stand-off with the House of Lords.”

While Chris Paul saw another opportunity to calls Dale’s analyses “twaddle”. He was certainly in the camp seeing those Labour MPs as voting on principle. He also produces some analysis of his own: “Only 28% of Tories backed the 100% option, which Iain says he favours, while 63% of Labour MPs did so. Time to cross the chamber?”

If British political blogs can be seen as an indicator of public opinion then it would appear a re-evaluation of the House of Lords could not come soon enough. Most Lib Dem and Labour aligned bloggers could hardly contain their joy at a democratic second chamber.

In thundering raptures Kerron Cross proclaimed: “Some of us in this country have waited years for this historic moment; MPs from across the parties have voted by a clear majority to make the Upper Chamber fully elected; and, whatever the unelected Lords say, it is time the Upper Chamber was made electable and accountable.”

While Gavin Ayling took a more considered view: “I am half delighted and half apprehensive about the MP's decision last night.

“Delighted because it is a step away from archane pre-democracy and apprehensive because of the mess this government has made of previous constitutional reform. Let us hope that this reform results in a substantially different second house.”

And in a more cautious response, Peter Black AM noted: “We also have to take account of the fact that the Lords in particular are experts in defending an entrenched position. Still, at least we are on the right path and moving forwards.”

And just when you though the blogosphere would break out in one harmonious cheer at the democracisation of the House of Lords, along comes Man on the street: “Personally, I think the hereditary system was the best. It may not have been perfect but at least it worked.”

For anyone who missed the photo of a young Michael Crick making a rude gesture on Newsnight last week, Jonathan Calder has kindly come up with the goods.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

British political blog round-up 16/02/2007

2007-02-16T16:21:00.000Z

In the week of Valentine’s Day, a blogwar has broken out seeing some of the major political bloggers taking shots at each other and threatening legal action.

At its centre was – who else? – Guido Fawkes. On Monday, following an outing on a Radio 4 documentary over the weekend, Guido let on for the first time about his true identity: “The name of the person channeling the ghost of Guido Fawkes onto the internet has only been a secret to those who were lacking in the wit to Google ‘Who is Guido Fawkes?’”

On Sunday, a number of prominent bloggers published a 20-year-old Guardian article focussed on Guido’s alter-ego, Paul Staines, from his student days at Hull University. Shortly after, they all received emails from Guido issuing a legal notice to take the article off due to defamation. The original article, it was suggested, had been retracted.

Guido’s defensive position angered many who made accusations of hypocrisy. Clive from The UK Today said: “Here is a man who, when the going gets tough, reaches not for his Libertarian principles, but rather for his lawyer and his wallet. If this whole affair has shown one incontrovertible truth, it is that Paul can give it, but can't take it.”

While Tim Ireland added: “I personally found the reaction to the content to be far more illuminating than the content itself.”

Ministry of Truth, Chicken Yoghurt and Pickled Politics also took the opportunity to take their own shots at Guido. But a cry to peace came from another bloglord, Iain Dale: “Blogwars have broken out between various parties which have made us all appear like obsessive school children who have nothing better to do with our time than flame each other. It's developed into a pitch battle between left and right and emerged out of the investigations into the Smith Institute. It's time to call a halt to this before it all gets out of hand and writs are issued.”

In other news, it was confirmed on Conservative Home that Cameron and co are preparing a new line of attack. As Mike Ion wrote:” Yes, finally the Tories have begun the hard and difficult task of preparing for Government. The policy think tanks have been working over-time and the latest policy initiative has been announced. The Tories will - wait for it - do away with... Rosettes!”

Though ridiculed by opponents, the Tories’ new accessory was welcomed in some quarters. Iain Dale quoted Derek Conway MP about his feelings to the old rosettes: “I always feel a bit of prat when I'm wearing one. The only time I wore one at the last election was at the count and I was worried it gives an aiming point to the disgruntled.”

On Valentine’s Day, Adam Boulton produced his annual list of the top 10 most fanciable MPs. In at number seven was the Liberal Democrat’s Lynne Featherstone. Here is how she took the news: “When I was a just a young lass and burning my bra - a wolf-whistle from a workman was to be reviled, put down and spat back - let alone appearing in a 'top totty' poll. However, age has mellowed me. Now - I am just grateful!”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

British political blog round-up 01/02/2007

2007-02-01T18:58:00.000Z

The decision not to award the super casino licence to Anschutz Entertainment Group had Iain Dale eating his hat this week. With his tongue firmly in cheek, he added: “I now realise I was completely wrong and would like to make clear that this government is a 'pretty straight kinda government' and is 'whiter than white'.”

As a Dodo was sparing a thought for Manchester’s Lancashire neighbours: “The people of Blackpool are today jumping up and down on their "Kiss Me Quick" hats and snapping their little sticks of Blackpool rock in two as they remember their dreams of building a new Las Vegas on the shores of the Irish Sea.”

While many in the blogging community were scratching their heads at the decision, Blair Watch put it down to Blackpool being the epitome of Old Labour with Manchester representing New Labour. Nick Barlow suggested because Manchester had been the 16-1 outsider, the Government were sending out a warning to gamblers that favourites don’t always win.

When it was revealed Tony Blair had been secretly interviewed by the police last Friday it prompted many bloggers to, yet again, predict his departure date. Paul Linford admitted even dreaming about it while Guido Fawkes went for July. Prague Tory has even created a sleazewatch sidebar on his blog as he is having trouble keeping up.

With so much coverage in the national press on the Birmingham terrorist plot, and so little devoted to an exposed BNP bomber, Chris Paul asks: “Are the British Press institutionally racist?”

Meanwhile, in response to the Government’s proposal to change PE in school to tackle obesity, Dizzy Thinks ponders how much fat does learning about obesity burn off?

Finally, A Big Stick and a Small Carrot has got sick and tired with the bitchiness and point-scoring of the blogosphere. He summed it up thus: “I'm inclined to believe that it wasn't a great day for standards of openness and transparency in political life on the interwebs. I am, rather, inclined to think about pots and kettles, glass houses and dirty tricks.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Huw Edwards returns to Cardiff University

2007-01-31T11:09:00.000Z

“Cardiff and this man were made for each other,” proclaims the animated BBC Ten O’Clock News presenter.

Huw Edwards is describing his first day as a student at Cardiff University when it rained, and how, coming from Caerphilly, he felt right at home.

Last Thursady Edwards was back at the same university where he gained a first class degree in French 24 years ago to receive an Honorary Professorship. Since then he has worked his way up to be one of the biggest names in British news.

His first media job was at the radio station Swansea Sound where, due to him being bilingual, producers believed they were getting "two for the price of one". He then moved up the BBC and in 2002 was given his present role, the most coveted in BBC news.

The lecture nearly starts late because, as it turns out, Edwards was busy rehearsing. For a man who addresses up to eight million people each night you would think he’d be used to making important speeches. But tonight he is facing a crowd of his peers, his former lecturers, his parents and, of course, he has no autocue.

But Edwards is a showman and he confidently strolls around the lecture theatre letting his undulating welsh tones reverberate around. In fact, his native accent is much more pronounced than when he appears on the News. I later ask him if he believes welsh presenters such as himself and John Humphrys are favoured because they sound more authoritative.

He says: “It doesn’t matter if you’re a Scouser, a Brummie or a Yorkshireman. The BBC should reflect its audience.

“It’s only a problem if you cannot be understood.”

Edwards recalls his time as a student in Cardiff as being "absolutely brilliant" and he still splits his time between Cardiff and London. He adds: “I would feel that a big part of my life would be missing if I was not in Cardiff.”

He has done a lot of work for BBC Wales and S4C, such as presenting programmes on the Welsh language and a tribute to Lloyd George. He said: “It is very important for me that I do stuff for the Welsh audience. They give me as much pleasure as doing the News.”

As Edwards leaves the lecture theatre he is overheard talking to his parents in Welsh; no doubt discussing the likelihood of rain. A Welshman through and through.

British political blog round-up 18/01/2007

2007-01-18T19:50:00.000Z

As with the physical world, the blogosphere was alive with the sound of racist Celebrity Big Brother comments this week. Sunny on Pickled Politics wrote: “I believe such examples of bullying (by Jade Goody) and subtle racism (by the other two) should be exposed and aired so people can see that even in 2007 such ignorant attitudes exist and should be condemned.”

The UK Daily Pundit queried why, with Channel 4’s Undercover Mosque exposing extremist Islamic preachers operating in London, so much debate in parliament centred on “Two slappers and a Scouser.”

While Tom Harris MP cut through the debate by offering: “It isn’t about race or bullying at all - it’s about ratings.”

The Daily Mail’s Benedict Brogan, who is accompanying Gordon Brown on his trip to India, gave an insight into the Chancellor’s view of CBB: “In private the Chancellor leaves little doubt that he doesn't think much of BB, which he's watched over the past few days. The voyeuristic thrill can't make up for the glaring deficiencies of the English education system. He prefers the aspirational approach of the X-factor.”

In the same week the Royal Mint launched a two pound coin to celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of the Union between England and Scotland, political bloggers were putting in their two pence worth over its future.

The Campaign for and English Parliament and Richard Bailey saw it as a good time for restricting Scottish and Welsh MPs to only vote on Scottish and Welsh issues. While A Conservative’s blog described it as: “The anniversary for a couple about to divorce.”

Northern Ireland and Wales Secretary Peter Hain, whose recent interview in the New Statesman heavily criticised the Bush administration, has taken a battering this week.

The Daily’s review: “It just smacks a little of cynical opportunism, as he attempts to position himself as an anti-war critic inside the cabinet. The gap between the rhetoric and reality of Hain’s politics is increasingly marked.” While, Paul Linford submitted a post entitled ‘Hain rediscovers his balls. A pity he mislaid them in 2003’. Speculation abounds as to whether Hains’ new found voice of protest is due to his interest in the party deputy leadership.

Last week we reported Hillary Benn was launching his deputy leadership campaign online and this week saw one of his running-buddies doing the same. Harriet Harman can count on the vote of Cardiff North MP Julie Morgan.

In her first entry, Harman asks why men sleep with prostitutes. Kerron Cross helps her out: “It's because those men want sex.”

Finally, David Davies tells of an amusing story of when a hotel in mid-Wales double-booked a Conservative conference with a biker gang get-together: “I am told that this led to some unlikely scenes in the bar in the early hours with leather clad bikers and besuited Conservative activists putting the world to rights over a few ales.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Kim Hollamby lecture

2006-12-08T15:25:00.000Z

Kim Hollamby is Head of Electronic Media of IPC, which is responsible for its more than 100 magazine sites. He is the last lecturer in JOMEC's 2006 online lecture programme.

Mr Hallamby’s lecture – though stimulating and entertaining – was aimed at magazine journalists and so I did not garner much from it. However, it was interesting to note how paranoid he seemed about the fact that whatever he said could be read on the web by his employers within hours – not, of course, that he said anything that would compromise his position!

When asked about future developments at IPC, he said: “I can’t tell you at the moment because I’d be shot.” A little later, he added: “Can I tell you anymore? No, because I’d have to shoot you.” Not, of course, that he was actually threatening murder.

Mr Hallamby admitted – as have many revisiting lectures – he checked-up on last year’s blogs for reviews of his lecture.

This has made me see the strength of these blogs, and the weight of us diploma students blogging en mass. Our comments – fair or unjust – will appear near the top of Google and Technorati name-searches of the guest lecturers. This has the potential to seriously affect some of their reputations.

Once again, I must reiterate, Mr Hallaby did not say anything that would cause his employers concern, nor did he threaten murder.

Assignment idea

2006-11-23T17:13:00.000Z

When Peter Preston recently visited JOMEC he said the future of the local and regional press would not be damaged by the internet, but defined by it. People such as Peter Clifton and Richard Burton have also come and told us that the web journalists of the future will need core news-gathering and storytelling skills in their armoury, the very skills we are being taught at the moment.

By using NewburyToday as a focus, and talking to people such as Simon Reynolds of the Lancashire Evening Post (who are launching Johnson Press websites with the aid of UCLAN) and Keith Perch of Northcliffe Electronic Publishing, I will look at how local and regional titles will be defined by the net.

Sarah Radford lecture

2006-11-23T16:27:00.000Z

Sarah Radford, who graduated from JOMEC in 2004 (see picture to the right), is an online journalist with The Newbury Weekly News, whose website, NewburyToday, won last month’s Newspaper Society's "Best Weekly Newspaper Internet Site" award. She is the eighth lecturer in JOMEC’s online lecture programme.

The lion’s share of a local newspaper’s income is from advertising. At £1 a word to propose to the love of your life in the local paper, it’s not surprising you see the occasional: “B, mari me? F”. So it was interesting to hear Ms Radford say the directors of The Newbury Weekly News were looking to have the website pay for itself in advertising revenue within two to three years.

NewburyToday reminded me of a website I have done some work for, the official Crystal Palace FC site, which is a Premium TV site. They produce a similar multimedia product as NewburyToday but it is funded by a yearly subscription.

The BBC is considering selling advertising space on its website to foreign users (aka non-licence fee payers). It would be interesting to see, in a few years time, what percentage of the average local paper’s income is net-generated. If papers stay in their present form, will the net be seen as the more important medium in terms of advertising revenue like a supplement?

Richard Burton discussed picture galleries and the fact that every new click creates a new page impression. This is gold when selling advertising space. As more local newspaper websites start using these, and similar devices, a more profitable future could be sooner than expected.

*Pete Clifton lecture

2006-11-16T14:06:00.000Z

Pete Clifton is Head of BBC News Interactive and the latest speaker in JOMEC’s online lecture programme.

A common concern among us high-fee-paying trainees is there will not be a place for the trained journalist in the new world of user-generated content. But why? For the last three weeks in a row a succession of highly credible new media maestros has come to tell us that it is ok, our role is indispensable – as long as we adapt.

Today Pete Clifton described an evolving online world which is very much based on some of the key principles of local journalism:

Sources - Mr Clifton said: “User-generated content is not a new phenomenon.” He likened it to his experiences as a journalist on local papers in Northampton where he would rely on tip-offs from members of the public. “What’s really changed over the last few years or so is the ability to send stuff over their mobile phones.”

Accountability – Veteran hacks (Richard Burton included) often extol the virtues of the accountability of the local press, where if a member of the public is aggrieved with a story they can easily find and confront the responsible journalist. Mr Clifton said Nick Robinson’s blog enabled him to: “nip in the bud criticism in a sharp way before it gets out-of-hand.” He added: “Our ambition is to be the most open and accountable news organsiation in the world.”

Local knowledge – After problems with accuracy in the 2005 General Election constituency profiles, Mr Clifton said the BBC may experiment with user generated content as a basis of the next profiles they do.

Well, if Mr Clifton is interested, I have a cracking ward profile of Rumney in east Cardiff if he wants it – according to David English, it’s “not bad.”

Daniel Meadows lecture

2006-11-13T14:13:00.000Z

Dr Daniel Meadows is a lecturer at JOMEC, having recently left his role at BBC Wales Digital Stories, a website dedicated to broadcasting users’ tales. He is the latest speaker in JOMEC’s lecture online programme.

Yesterday’s Sunday Times exposed a Loch Ness hotelier who promoted his hotel with a glowing online review. The article also revealed the current issue of the RAC hotel guide will be the last because the publishing company are going into liquidation due to competition from the web.

In Dr Meadows’s terminology, ‘newsers’ (users who generate news) are becoming a credible, if not-too-soon overpowering, force in online journalism.

So how do we, as future journalists, win back ground from the anarchic wilderness of the web? And how to we stop digital exclusion becoming an issue?

“The age of telling stories is over,” Dr Meadows says. “Journalists will need to have to tell other people’s stories, not just their own.”

Richard Burton lecture

2006-11-03T14:03:00.000Z

Richard Burton, the latest guest speaker in JOMEC’s online lecture programme, was a regional news reporter for over twenty years before editing telegraph.co.uk, Europe’s first web-based newspaper. He has recently left that position and is currently acting as a consultant and lecturer.

To blog or not to blog.

Why read this blog? Why do I even write this blog? If I’m honest, the answer to the second question is because it is part of my course assessment. I’ll know the answer to first when it has been assessed.

Mr Burton’s long and colourful career in journalism has led him to a similar view to my own regarding blogging. Why do it? What is the point? And who wants to read the ramblings of a trainee journalist anyway?

Mr Burton said: “No one’s interested in your view unless you’re a known quantity. Forget about what you have to say, only about the commodity of the story, not an opinion.”

The internet is flooded with nobodies expressing their opinions. At times looking for my weekly blog of the week can seem like shuffling through a massive pub full of opinionated pissheads.

I don’t care if people are angry because of dog breeds or because of what Erin Davis did.

Mr Burton added: “People are more interested in what Chantelle from Big Brother thinks than me, because she’s a known quantity.”

Here I would disagree with him. After listening for over an hour to the raconteur regale us with journo anecdotes about getting a Hitler moustache from an angry mechanic and leaping fences while being chased out of a one-man country, his experiences certainly have commodity.

Read him call JOMEC "probably the best media school in the land" on his blog.

a BAD blog

2006-10-26T12:42:00.000Z

This
is
an
xample
of
a
BAAAD
blog
whch
is
influancd
by
todays'
INHOUSE
lecter
on
craft
&
design.

websitse should be clera and easy to read, this means thinking about font size and clour. other thingsa to tconsider are your page layout, payoing attention to the Eyetrack III findings. if you were expecting an easy linkt to geh findongs, you are out of luck. keep serching. u should have different paragrafs for diferent ideas. u shud overcrowd pages as it can be too confising for the reader. so keep things clear, and DONT MAKE TO MANY THINGS STAND OUT, and don't underline, it looks messi. the user cannot look at everything at once.

apparently images aren't that important so...

for mor info go here, here and here.

Blog of the Week 23/10/2006

2006-10-25T15:26:00.000Z

Downingsteetsays.org is an example of the democratising effect of the web. The lobby system was formally a private gathering of specially invited journos who, by their very definition, became the PM's cronies. This blog keeps the "little guy" (Iain Dale) in direct contact with major Government procedure.

*Iain Dale lecture

2006-10-20T12:52:00.000Z

Iain Dale, the renowned right-wing blogger and a presenter on 18 Doughty Street, was the second guest speaker in JOMEC’s online lecture programme.

Media-savvy v. New Media-savvy

What first struck me in Mr Dale’s talk was how few British politicians have actually engaged with new media technology. Interestingly, it is not the Tories who have the Luddite-mentality, but Labour, according to Dale. Where David Cameron has embraced blog-technology (albeit embarrassingly), ‘media-savvy’ New Labour are lagging way behind.

This suggests that Labour have for too long sat too comfortably with the traditional media and let the brave new world of the net pass them by. What illustrated this best was the breaking of John Prescott’s infidelity on blogs. People in the traditional media had known about it for a number of years but didn't publish.

Mr Dale spoke of blogging as being a “marvellous research tool” because you can get instant feedback from potential voters. He also said: “The problem with parties is that they speak at people, not to them. There is no place for feedback.” This is an argument often levelled against Tony Blair’s spin-happy New Labour.

It remains to be seen if Mr Cameron’s flirt with the net will prove successful.

For a brief discussion of some of the points raised in the talk read Mr Dale's recent article on Guardian Unlimited .

Amanda Powell lecture

2006-10-19T13:24:00.000Z

The first guest speaker in JOMEC’s online lecture programmewas BBCi Wales Editor Amanda Powell.Ms Powell discussed the fallout of the Neil Report, which was the BBC’s internal response to the Hutton enquiry. The report set accuracy and precision as the BBC’s paramount concern. Ms Powell said: “It must be robust and tested evidence and reinforced but note-taking.”

This was of special importance to BBCi because the web is more intransient than broadcast or print. Where newspapers are tomorrow’s chip wrappers, a web page can be accessed forever, and therefore a journalist can be accountable for lack of accuracy years down the line.

What I found interesting was when Ms Powell said even edited and removed material can be subject to defamation claims. If a claimant can produce a printed article, even if it has since been removed or doctored, the evidence will stand up on court.

This has major implications for rolling stories. For example, with the Jean Charles de Menezes case, if the BBC had reported ‘a terrorist has been shot’, rather than ‘a suspected terrorist has been shot’, the de Menezes family could have sued for defamation.

This also has legal implications for blogs. I therefore hope I have not misrepresented Ms Powell.

Blog of the Week 16/10/06

2006-10-18T14:55:00.000Z

Handshaking Article

This week's blog of the week is from Interesting Thing of the Day on the etiquette of hand-shaking. It gives a brief history of the act, as well as offering a useful guide for avoiding awkwad hand-shaking scenarios.

First blog - tester

2006-10-18T13:55:00.000Z