Word of the Day Fraternally

Yeah what a way to end a letter, calling for fratricide, or regime change.

Well anyway Geoff and Pat signed off their letter which included the phrase:

"Whatever the outcome the whole of the party could then go forward, knowing that this matter had been sorted out once and for all."

It has led to a need for LabourList to conjure up a pledge of party unity, hattip to Yousuf. I personally don't think they have had a good start to the new year. The Tories even if they couldn't get their message straight were doing better, and Nick Clegg has been all over the media getting across the Lib Dem's four key points, and the greatest of these is fairness (I'm sounding a bit biblical for Nick there, hope he doesn't mind).

Indeed I'm going back to look at where else we are within striking distance of Labour in Scotland I think that in present circumstances the four seats of Edinburgh South, Edinburgh North & Leith, Aberdeen South and Glasgow North are just the tip of the iceberg.

Yours fraternally

Stephen

PS Eric Joyce MP has a rather good take on the whole thing.

Mary Honeyball, are you aware of what reform is or aren't you?

Maybe Mary Honeyball MEP wants a nice cosy soundbite, like wot Gordon gave her in Brighton last week, when she wrote for LabourList 'Nick, are you committed to reform or aren't you?'. Too busy to read all 92 pages of Nick's pamphlet the Liberal Moment.

Maybe she was too busy trying to get elected to hear Nick Clegg calling for deep and serious reform before the summer recess. A far deeper reform than her dear leader was willing to offer in the speech that apparently was changing key themes up to 1:30 on the morning it was made.

Maybe, most worryingly, she doesn't know that reform is, this history of her own party to fail to deliver, or maybe like so many in the Labour Party she just doesn't get it.

To save you time Mary all you need to read to see that Nick is pages 45-49 of the Liberal Moment. Or maybe look at what the Lib Dems did in Scotland delivering on electoral reform into the programme of Government after only 4 years as a minor partner to a larger party. When after 12 years of a large majority Labor has failed to meet its 1997 pledges to bring about a fully elected House of Lords or the promise of electoral reform.

Nick outlines what true reform is, in those few short pages. He points out that the only more centralised Government system is Europe is in a place with fewer people than the Borough of Croydon, and that being Malta. Yet 16 years ago the great Labour hope, no not Blair but John Smith said:

"I want to see a fundamental shift in the balance of power between the citizen and te state - a shift away from an overpowering state to a citizens' democracy where the people have rights and powers and where they are served by accountable and responsive government."

So much for the road not taken. Nick does admit that Labour did start on some of the reforms that Robin Cook and Bob Maclennan sought to push forward, but before them Roy Jenkins. But they have failed on the big things and some of the delivery. Labour have refused to cap donations. Refuse to listen to their own members but bow to the union paymasters.

Jenkins wanted power dispersed from an overbearing executive and given back to Parliament, yet Labour have just closed in, trying to control the Internet, the media and the voters from a war room in Whitehall. He lists the lack of transparency and scrutiny that led to the expenses scandal being so blown up, as nobody had any idea what some of their MPs were up to, and then when they did Parliament over did it with the redacting.

But Mary one of the final paragraphs answers your question fully. Nick writes:

"Finally, but fundamentally, we need to give people a proper say in who governs the country with fair votes. No government should be able to secure total power with the support of just one out of five people. Political reform might seem obscure sometimes, but it underpins real change. As I have outlined, it is our very system of election that confines the scope of our governments to create a fairer, freer society that Liberal Democrats have always championed."

So why then Mary asks are we bowing to the Conservatives, did you miss it Mary. Nick wants to be Prime Minister. We already have Labour on the run. We are looking to target the Conservatives and we'll put up a stronger fight that Labour are doing at present. Recent opinion polls after our conference showed clear inroads into the Conservative support, with a little bit more chipped off a faltering Labour Party.

We're taking the fight to both of you, a message of real change and real reform that neither of the other parties have delivered despite having the votes to.

Nick's Coup with that Post on LabourList

There has been a lot of discussion about why the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg posted his piece on gay rights on LabourList rather than say Lib Dem Voice. My good friend Caron says that we wouldn't allow an opposition politician house room on any Lib Dem election leaflet, and quite right too. But then doesn't LDV allow guest posts from politicians and commentators from different hues. Jennie doesn't hold back on the language [so minors are warned got that Mr Leslie ;)] when she point's out her outrage at what she sees as the glorious leader shooting himself in the foot.

But if you look at the thrust of what he is saying he is saying is not preaching to the choir. Us Lib Dems would all largely agree with exactly what he is saying, indeed I said so this morning. But Nick is merely pointed out the way still to go like my take on what Tony Blair said to Attitude in April. Indeed the fact is that if I had of written that on LabourList, as Irfan says he'd have no problems with, would people have given it as much attention both in our party and in Labours. I don't think so.

It's a message that needs to get out there. It has been put out there on a day when gay people are proud to be out.

Get this. Nick has become the first public leader to endorse equal marriage rights. Yes he has done it on a Government supporting website, but he has laid down the gauntlet on London Pride day, on Labour's turf, in such a public way.

I hope the Fail on Sunday leads with a headline 'Clegg Wants Gay Marriage', or something, I really do. This is the greatest fillip for the Equal Marriage Campaign. By Nick coming out and saying this in the way he has may just be the kick that this issue needs, we shall see how the MSM and indeed the Government and Tories run with it from here.

Pride in Nick Clegg

The Lib Dem leader has given me cause to return to Labour List for the first time since the early days of whatshisface. On Pride Saturday for the Sassenach gay fraternity he is speaking about gay rights and how far we have come since his University day when Thatcher brought in Section 28. However, he notes:

'however, the inequalities that persist are frustrating. It is ludicrous, for example, that there is still a blanket ban on gay men donating blood, irrespective of whether they practice safe sex or if they have tested negative for HIV. Plus, although civil partnerships have been a step forward, until same sex marriage is permitted it is impossible to claim gay and straight couples are treated equally. And in school playgrounds ‘gay’ is still used as a four letter word.'

So as the Euro Tories take a step back to those days by aligning themselves with European Homophobes. And Ben Bradshaw recently added that a deep vein of homophobia still reaches right through the Tory establishment to the front benches. I'm proud of our leader, our party, our Liberal Youth for their stance against homophobia wherever they find it.

A Leaky Chanter: SNP Attempt to Tartanise Smeargate Failure

Well The Times is running a story today about A Leaky Chanter being the Red Rag of Scotland. it even quotes a week old post by Iain Dale which calls them attack blogs.



But the Times is showing a bit off sloppy journalism when it says, "The respected Labour blogger Tom Harris MP has a link to A Leaky Chanter on his site" as if that was damning evidence that it was Labour run. But hang on a second thinks I the Scottish blogosphere is very incestuous when it comes to links so I checked out some of last years top Scottish Blogs in the Iain Dale love in. Well Jeff as top ranked SNP blog links there is his blogroll as do I. The Scottish Roundup will refer to it including this snigger at the Scottish Tories. So hang on if Leaky Chanter is meant only to be an attack blog against the Nats what is that story doing there. Admittedly most of the posts are anti-SNP but they are in Government.



But hang on Angus MacNeil, the SNP’s Scotland Office spokesman, said:

"With a senior blogger linking Leaky Chanter to Scottish Labour, and Welsh Labour finding themselves red-faced over the Aneurin Glyndwr blog, Labour must reveal who is running Leaky Chanter and what its relationship is to Labour’s blogging operations.

"There is a place for humour but we have Labour-linked blogs in Scotland branding neutral civil servants as SNP staff, making inaccurate allegations claiming ‘phantom houses’ and running fake sites as the First Minister — this is a dangerous path for any organisation to take."

Pardon? How does having a link to another blog link that to your own party. Tom Harris also links to Iain Dale, Guido and ConservativeHome does that make them Labour. Personally I agree with Tom's tweet that this is a pathetic attempt by the Nats to tartanise Smeargate.





There are a number of addition reasons that this rant from MacNeil is ill judged, first it comes so late in the day it cries out of attempting to steal some of the thunder. Although if he'd seen some of the polls at the weekend he may have seen that staying clear of the issue was the best course of action. Also Leaky Chanter does not fit into the modus operandi of a Labour backed attack blog, it is on blogspot not a purchased domain. It could be any manner of types that run it.

• A disillusioned floating voter not necessarily pro-independence that voted SNP in 2007 and is sick of seeing broken promise after broken promise


• It may be a disillusioned former Nat (there are a few of these one even sits in Holyrood)


• Of course it may be a Labour sympathiser doing it off their own bat. Particular seeing the number of Nat propagating blogs out there.

So as well as being ill informed MacNeil's comments are also terribly blinkered as a Labour spokesperson correctly points out at least 12 anonymous pro-Nationalist and anti-Labour websites operating (some of them will also be found on my blogroll). "Angus MacNeil and the SNP need to take a long hard look at the actions of people associated with their own party . . . before making baseless allegations against others."

One thing that MacNeil's misunderstanding of the blogoshere does do in linking him to smeargate is that like Draper and McBride he doesn't get the concept, thinks he can just jump in and make statements without full understanding, grasp of the facts or checking his own house first.

Smeargate: The Depths

With Peter Brookes on Holiday Morten Moreland provides the above in this morning's Times.

Says it all really.

However, looking at some of the things that Damian McBride thought he could use against the Tories shows how stupid and grasping at straws Labour have become. Or at least some people in Labour as Alistair Campbell is startlingly the voice of reason.

A visit to a sexual health clinic by a single man in the late 1980's should be looked at in the context of the time. We were being feed the advertising 'Don't Die of Ignorance' at the start of the HIV/AIDS health awareness push. The fact that a heterosexual young man decided to go and get tested is not a sign that he had any sexually transmitted disease merely that he wanted to be sure possibly for that current partner or possibly after a previous partner of his own personal sexual MOT. Personally I think such an act should have been applauded not lowered to some level of there is something sleazy going on. If only more sexually active individuals followed that approach on a regular basis.

As for the emotional strains on someone close to the political fray I don't think that sort of scenario is something that any of us involved in politics are ever very far away from. The next 13 months are going to be a tough time on anybody seeking election and those around them. The time commitments to move into General Election mode are higher than those already felt by the elected representatives and it also gets manifest on those who are candidates and their teams as well. There will be fall out across the parties on all sorts of level after the elections. Those who are suddenly out of office, those who fought hard came close and just lost, those whose partners don't fully understand the demands of this period etc.

The dark arts have been part of this Downing Street for 12 years now. This time they have been exposed for just how treacherous they are. Far from being ludicrous and juvenile as the phrase was on Saturday these were being seriously aired as a strategy to win a fourth term. Clearly the sign of a Government not trusting being able to attack a party that is policy-lite with their own policies.

Inappropriate and Immaturity Leads to Resignation

***Breaking News*** Damian McBride the advisor who has sent the immature and juvenile emails to Derek Draper has resigned.

The blogosphere has hit the main news headlines today over the news that Damian McBride had sent inappropriate and juvenile emails to Derek Draper to set up a new attack blog called Red Rag which looks like Draper was planning to set up the Sport type of blog to attack the Tories.

Derek Draper has since tried his best to distance himself from soliciting this sort of email, earlier today saying he had not received emails from McBride. However, even his apology throws up pre-meditation and others apart from him and Damian McBride appear to have sensibly steered clear of this:

"But I felt strongly that such gossip wasn´t suitable for LabourList and kicked around the idea of setting up another blog, Red Rag, where such stories might be published.

"I mentioned this idea to a few friends asking if they knew of any good gossip that was doing the rounds. Some of them said they weren't interested, but one of them, who works in Downing Street, responded by sending back some details of stories that were being gossiped about in Westminster."

Apparently the Prime Minister's Office has issued a statement saying there is "no space in politics for dissemination or publication of material of this kind".

Derek Draper has also just said on Sky that is a disgrace that anybody should wanted to read other people's emails. Maybe he should have a word with Jacqui Smith as surely this is exactly Labour policy. But maybe the point should be that you shouldn't be looking to receive such emails even if it is for an idea that fails to take off.

Sadly since Draper has come into the blogosphere the way his has acted means that this is not out of character. The fact that he has thus far failed to take this further doesn't mean that he may not in the future.

Derek Draper along with Damian McBride should be charged with attempting to bring the political blogosphere into disrepute. Yes in the past we have always had differences in political ideology but we largely had a friendly co-existence. In the post-Draper period there is sadly a new sense of suspicion in certain circles. The fact that today the blogosphere is dominating the news for all the wrong reasons is evidence of that.

Hung By His Own Petard: RIP Derek Draper's Blogging Career

Oh dear, oh dear.

You'd have thought that having that what with brandishing the racist tag at all an sundry one would be more careful oneself. Even if such comments came from commenters (Guido), or where made in attacks against hypocrisy of one rule for one not applying to a star name (Iain Dale), that Derek Draper would be careful in his own use of language. Not so.

Over the weekend while some of us had more pressing engagements he used a derogatory term for the mentally challenged. This has forced an editor's apology on LabourList. But hang on a second isn't Draper the editor of LabourList? Isn't this the man who demanded a personal apology from Iain Dale?

Now there is a personal apology on his own site, but that was not where he made the statement. Now surely not knowing the entomology is not an excuse for using a term you are not familiar with especially if you are blogging about pretending to be holier than though. It took me all of 2 seconds to look up the term in question.

Now let's look at what Derek Draper has stipulated should be done in such cases of what he has branded "vicious sites".

1. They should apologise personally on the site.
2. Progressive political bloggers should delete their link to them (as I already don't link to LabourList how do I do that?)
3. We should disassociate from all who associate with them* (even allegedly making threatening phone calls [at least inciting others to do so] to any who do get along)

I trust that Derek Draper would expect the same discretion of the Blogophere to be used against vicious slurs against the disabled or other disadvantaged and targeted groups. To do anything else would be "doublespeak" surely.

*Link to Guido's advertisers and LabourList black list strangely missing (more bad blogiquette) Sorry my err0r just couldn't find it amongst all the dross.

He's Blogging Around

First we had Prezza, then the return of Kezia and now in tribute to the latest heavyweight Labour blogger I give you this musical interlude.*



I'm sorry Alastair but every time I've hit the dance floor to this song I have some bizarre image of you and the Lord Voldemort of Hartlepool and Foy as Kylie's backing dancers.

One thing I thing we may find is that Mister Campbell will be a better, more well rounded and more humorous read than Mister Draper, even if he does hit out at other political persuasions.

*As promised on Iain Dale's comments on Facebook

Labour's Bitch

I've been sort of watching Derek Draper's Twit Bitch at Iain Dale this morning starting here. It doesn't surprise me too much as Draper seem woefully unable to remain civil in the blogosphere and his blogiquette is atrocious.

It started with the statement:

LabourList has suspended Iain Dale from our blogroll until he clears up
remarks he has made about "Golliwog" being an acceptable term.

Actually if you Iain's original post you find that he was actually pointing out inconsistencies in the BBC's policy over racist comments. He cited Chris Moyles as an example who got away with it not once but twice. While the daughter of the former Prime Minister, Carol Thatcher upset Brummie man of the people Adrian Chiles, Moyles upset Oscar royalty in the form of Halle Berry. Iain was under the assumption until earlier this morning that the hair in question belonged to Andrew Murray, as white as the snow that is cover so much of the UK south of Dunblane.

Now in past with Mr. Dale and other bloggers that I read I will point out an error, asking them to correct it, if after giving adequate time for a correction to be made nothing is forthcoming I may consider other action. Not so with Mr Draper ignorer of Blogiquette extraordinaire. His hissy fit a suspending of Iain's blog came after Dale had struck through his comments thus

And the tennis player concerned is allegedly the hideously white Andy
Murray.

See Derek Iain know that if a blogger is found to be in error transparency of that error is what counts. It's what the audience expects. You see another example last night where Iain posted John Prescott's video response to his own error of assumption.

Sadly LabourList like so many of the Labour blogs seems to think that political blogging can exist without referring to the rest of the rainbow of Political opinion. One thing Iain Dale despite his own right wing leanings can never be accused of. Labour need to lighten up in the Blogosphere and engage with others constructively, sadly as the approach of Mr Draper seems to so they seem to think they can control it. Tough that got out of the bag too long ago.