Date archive for November, 2009
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Inheritance tax cut – “a promise to privilege those already privileged”
Andrew Rawnsley’s article today discussing the implications of the Tories’ pledge to cut inheritance tax for the richest estates in Britain perfectly encapsulates the problem that the Conservative party has with this policy.
As discussed here in the past, it represents a tax cut for the few, whilst the many face austerity measures – a longer working life, pay freezes, attacks on their pensions, and cuts to their services.
Though many find Cameron to be likeable they still harbour doubts about his [...] -
Honduras election is a sham – don’t legitimise it
After the leaders of the military-backed coup in Honduras ripped up an agreement with the elected President of the country, Manuel Zelaya, opponents of the coup demanded that forthcoming elections in the country could not be supported. Honduras first needs to be restored to normality so that a democratic election can take place, not a charade. No fair or democratic election can take place in the circumstances that prevail in Honduras at present.
But the elections are being steamrollered through regardless. [...] -
Moonwalking bear necessities
Not much reported, but noteworthy all the same, is the news that Transport for London’s “moonwalking bear” cycling safety ad has won a gold award at the IPA Effectiveness Awards for advertising.
As the judges commented, “Faced with the difficult task of reducing the number of deaths and the number of injuries that cyclists sustain on London’s roads, this campaign moved away from traditional shock tactic strategy and instead tried to understand what is causing these accidents.”
Commissioned during [...] -
How Labour won the Jedward wars
The Conservatives have produced a ‘poster’ portraying Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling as Jedward, who’ve just been voted out of the X-Factor. It’s an answer to Labour’s ad showing Cameron and Osborne as the pop duo with the slogan “you won’t be laughing if they win.”
But unlike some of those hip hop answer tracks that outstrip the original dissing the Tory answer is a mere weak echo. If you don’t take it to another level, forget about it. Labour’s ad [...] -
Be careful with polls…but the Tories have cause for concern
One poll in the Observer today, showing Labour only six points behind the Tories, does not – as Kevin Maguire points out – make a Labour spring. Moreover, it’s not always the best policy to provide running commentary on opinion polls. So we should be careful. But, still, as this blog has previously argued, the Tories are not really where they ought to be to justify their apparent confidence.
We have seen polling over the last period that has put the [...] -
Boris Johnson’s policies blamed for bus and tube disputes
Last week I wrote that industrial relations on London’s transport system were being allowed to drift. Bus workers in East London (members of the Unite union) were on strike, whilst talks aimed at resolving the longstanding tube pay dispute appeared to be unravelling, with the TSSA union withdrawing its acceptance of London Underground’s offer – a very unusual development.
Events today suggest that the prognosis was right, with Unite warning that the mayor’s transport policies are worsening the situation across public [...] -
Conservatives vulnerable over ‘government by the rich, for the rich’
Two articles today put a view of the Conservative party that refuses to go away and which Labour clearly belives has potentially deep resonance with the electorate – that Cameron’s Tories represent government by the rich for the rich. Whilst Cameron himself has made inroads with the electorate the same cannot be said of his party as a whole.
Kevin Maguire in the Mirror reports Denis MacShane being pulled up by the Deputy Speaker for calling Tory front bencher a millionaire. “Highlighting how out-of-touch the [...] -
Stuck in the Olympic slow lane
Greens are more than unhappy today at the announcement of BMW as the official sponsor of the London 2012 Games. Darren Johnson AM is disappointed that the Games will not be used to showcase the latest clean vehicle technology. He says: “The Mayor wants London to be the electric vehicle capital of Europe, so why not ensure that all the cars and coaches are part of that future? It is disappointing that most of the Olympic vehicles will be no [...]
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Trevor Kavanagh’s justified chutzpah
The Sun’s former political editor Trevor Kavanagh was interviewed this afternoon on the BBC’s news channel on the subject of his paper’s fortieth birthday.
With great chutzpah he argued that The Sun sets the agenda for broadcasters – what would broadcasters like the BBC do without The Sun’s agenda-setting coverage to report in the mornings and evenings? Kavanagh’s audacity in sitting with two BBC presenters and telling them that his paper sets their agenda was, in a sense, brilliant, largely because [...] -
A good result in Glasgow North East
The Glasgow North East byelection can only be seen as a good result for the Labour party. It will of course be dismissed as saying nothing about the forthcoming general election. But let us pause for one second and consider what would be said if Labour had lost, or even done badly. In that scenario the knives would be out for Gordon Brown again. All the coup plotters would be back. The media and Conservative bloggers would be saying that this showed [...]
