So it begins – with a large pinch of salt

Armando Iannucci’s description of politicians as, “Crap little people, really bad at their jobs, trying not to be found out,” has been less true recently following the Daily Telegraph’s exposure of their expenses racket. Unfortunately the mass media mainly collude with them. The dodgy doings of the ‘scoundrels, vagabonds, thieves, and fleecers,’ of the Westminster/City of London bubble went largely unreported for years. Their paymasters expect nothing less.

Noam Chomsky writing in ‘Media Control’ defined two versions of democracy. One would figure in most dictionaries, “The public has the means to participate in some meaningful way in the management of their own affairs and the means of information are open and free. The other sounds extreme, “The public must be barred from managing their own affairs and the means of information must be kept narrowly and rigidly controlled.” This is the definition Chomsky believes is accurate.

On the web this week was a leaked video showing gung-ho US military personnel using a helicopter gunship to blast at least 12 civilians to death in Bagdhad back in 2007. Unfortunately for the military, there were 2 Reuters journalists among the killed. What is appalling is how the affair was covered up. Reading the statements from senior officers alongside the images is a sobering and provocative experience. These people are our allies in Afghanistan. How many similar incidents remain unreported in the western media because no journalists died?

There are also many issues where transparency from our own government would be welcome. These range from the obvious e.g. the decision to go to war in Iraq; Torture; Rendition; Baling out the Banks; dropping the BAE bribery case etc etc; to others less obvious e.g. the use of offshore tax havens; why PFI is kept off the public balance sheets; the death of Dr Kelly and the influence of lobbyists.

And what daily diet does the great majority of the great British electorate get? Celebs, gossip, X-Factor, sex and football. Makes you proud to have a ‘free’ press.

Wikileaks, the estimable organisation that obtained the video from a whistleblower is under attack from the government machinery in the US. They also are under attack from many other governments of all persuasions for exposing truths they would rather see buried. This implies they are doing things right. They need supporting to help us keep informed. Go to Wikileaks.org

Reform or Bullshit?

The case for the wholesale reform of Parliament and our political system is overwhelming. The belated attempts by New Labour to introduce reform have been too little too late and seem deeply patronising to an electorate tired of spin and bullshit. The Tories are no better. They love the undemocratic ‘first past the post system’ and most of what they have said about reform is bullshit too. To be fair to the LibDems, they have been banging on about electoral reform for years. How far they support the wide-ranging changes necessary to bring about an effective new democracy is still open to question.

‘The Times’ made reform one of the planks of the election in their leader article on Tuesday.

“Voters have lost trust in their elected representatives. This is perhaps the strongest motivation behind the desire for an election and the mood for change.

Removing MPs who have transgressed will help. So will changing many of the rules governing conduct (can it really be within the rules for an MP to be a paid lobbyist for a private company?). But by themselves they will not do the job.

The British Parliament has too many MPs of indifferent quality, too many laws poorly drafted and scrutinised, too many party whips and too little independence. A bold political leader would reshape Parliament. There should be open primaries for selection contests, the ability to recall MPs, fewer but better-paid representatives and a modern Parliament that is controlled by its members and is better understood by the voters.”  Times 06/04/2010

 A modern Parliament would also do away with arcane and asinine rules, which act as a barrier to involvement. The installation of electronic voting would, at a stroke, get rid of the awful lobby method of voting, diminish the power of the whips, reduce bullying  and be massively more efficient and effective.

“Change means not only procedural reforms. It means changing politics itself.”(ibid)

Quite.

Goodbye and good riddance to bad rubbish

The following extracts are from an article written by Chris Moncrief, a journalist who has been covering the Commons for almost 50 years. He eloquently states what so many of us think about this rotten Parliament.

“There will be no weeping, wailing or gnashing of teeth when this Parliament finally croaks its last. Nor will there be any mourners around its death-bed. Rarely - if ever before - in this nation's history has a Parliament earned so much contempt and scorn from the people it is supposed to represent. I have been reporting at Westminster for just a few months short of half a century and never, during that time, has there been such a backlash of fury from the British voting public.

For this Parliament has been unmasked as the home of an ugly mob of scoundrels, vagabonds, thieves, fleecers, spendthrifts (of other people's money, of course) and Artful Dodgers. And on top of the expenses outrage, we now have the far-from-pretty spectacle of former Cabinet ministers - like cabs for hire, as one of them put it - grubbing around for money to use their 'influence', such as it is, on current and future ministers.

The rate at which some Members spent taxpayers' money, as if there was no tomorrow, on luxuries and frivolities was simply breathtaking. What made it even worse was that when they were buying their dog food, bath plugs and sandwiches at our expense, they said, so often, that they were acting within the rules. Well, perhaps they were, but didn't they feel an ever-so-slight twinge of the conscience as they called in the tree surgeons and ordered their garden manure, while expecting us to pick up the tab?

And then, when they realised the game was up they despicably tried to amend their own Freedom Of Information Act so they would be immune from its provisions. How honourable is that? A long-standing cliche about politicians is that 'they're all at it'. Well, as we have discovered, that may not be so far from the truth after all.

And then, of course, there were the inevitable cries of woe when MPs were told they could no longer, in future, claim for first-class rail travel, as a right, except in certain specific circumstances. The Tories' Ann Widdecombe said that it was much easier to work in first-class and that, poor darling, she doesn't have to break off from her toils to queue up with the hoi polloi for a cup of tea at the bar. You get table service in first-class, she says. Whatever the merits of that argument - and I would say they are pretty slim - she also says, foolishly thinking she is reinforcing her point, that she has written two novels while travelling first-class.

I simply assume that when she did this, she was paying her own first-class fare.

After all, the taxpayer 'slumming it' in standard class would not take kindly to having to fork out extra cash to enable MPs to undertake their private enterprise activities in extra luxury.

But it is not just the MPs who are the villains of the piece. House of Commons officials, in the now much-discredited Fees Office, approved the sorts of claim - including those of an MP who was effectively bulk-buying lavatory seats - that would make your hair stand on end. Indeed, some Members claimed that the Fees Office was actually encouraging them to 'go for it', as though outlandish expenses claims were their legitimate right. Indeed, one of the worst offenders, Labour's Harry Cohen, who is having to repay thousands of pounds, has insisted throughout (as have many others) that his claims were all approved by the Commons authorities and that he regarded all this as 'part of my salary'.

Some MPs have resorted to blatant rudeness about their expenses claims. Ann Keen, who along with her husband and fellow Labour MP Alan became known as 'Mr and Mrs Expenses', told a reporter who approached her to 'get stuffed'. How very ladylike!

Mrs Keen and others seem to affect ignorance of the fact that we, the taxpayers, are their paymaster and we have every right to know how they are spending our money whether wisely or, more likely, recklessly.

 The poet Robert Louis Stevenson once said: 'We all know what Parliament is - and we are all ashamed of it.'

His words would certainly have been more trenchant if he had lived to see this now-dying Parliament in action.” D. Mail 06/04/2010

Over 140 MPs have already said they are standing down. There are others, over 65 years old, described as ‘bed blockers’ in this mornings Times, who are having pressure put on them by their parties to step down and let new blood in. There is concern about the need for by-elections in a tight Parliament you see!  

Others may well have second thoughts when they meet the fury on the doorstep and shopping centres.

Those still standing will have among them some of the ‘vagabonds, thieves and fleecers’ – it is going to be fascinating to see how the likes of McNulty and Kauffman fare.

Remember the 'Portillo Moment' from 1997?

Screws International

Hold your nose and read on. This is a story you will not read in any national paper other than the Guardian. It is easy to see why the Murdoch stable (Sun, Times, Screws of the World) will not cover it. There seems to be a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ among the rest (Mail, Express etc) not to cover the wrongdoings of a rival. Probably because they all have skeletons hidden away. A mud-throwing contest would be bad for business. The story is the one about the phone tapping of celebrities, royals and other notables. This was portrayed as the work of a ‘rogue element’ who was sent to jail, yet still received a very generous payoff from News International, which in no way could be construed as hush money.

In court papers obtained by the Guardian a disturbing picture of the influence and corrosive power of News International emerges, including what appears to be the corruption of the police.

“While Scotland Yard's public position remains that it did all that its resources and the law permitted, some police sources admit privately that they failed to fully investigate the case, that decisions may have been distorted by a fear of upsetting Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, and that it was "unfortunate" that the officer in charge of the inquiry, assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, subsequently left the police to work for News International  as a columnist.

The emerging picture of the scale of Mulcaire's criminal activities is also potentially embarrassing for Conservative leader David Cameron's media adviser, Andy Coulson, who edited the paper at the time of the offences and who says he does not remember any illegal act.” The Guardian 05/04/2010

What a co-incidence! The officer in charge of the investigation offers up a handful of further incidents and with the apparent collusion of others, ‘ring-fences’ hundreds of cases of phone tapping. A classic example of a damage limitation exercise. He then gets a job with News International.

Pass the sick bag.

And these buggers will lecture us on the probity or otherwise of our prospective leaders over the next few weeks. Should the Tories win, they have promised to abolish OFCOM who intend reducing BSKY B’s profits from their sports coverage.

And who owns BSKY B?

And who has come out for the Tories? 

Make that a very big sick bag.

Turnout

The last two elections produced well below average turnouts (59% in 2001 and 65% in 2005). There is concern that the next election will be lower. Disgust at the behaviour of many politicians in the Commons and Lords has left disenchanted electors very disgruntled.

A poll reported on Radio 4 today gave a more optimistic prediction for a higher turnout citing 1992 as an example. The theory goes that when there is uncertainty as to which party will win the election, more people vote. John Major’s Tory win had a higher number of Tory voters than Mrs Thatcher ever achieved. The past two elections were not seen as contests hence the low turnout.

The contrary view is that disgust will keep a significant number at home. Also the proportion of young voters actually voting at the last election was the lowest ever. There is evidence to suggest that when people vote young, they tend to vote all their lives. When they do not vote young, they then rarely vote and some never vote. This could mean the turnout will be even less.

There are several weeks to go yet the campaign has clearly begun in everything but name. Voter fatigue could be an issue. Chuck in vitriolic campaigning and dirty tricks and the outcome could be even more alienation.

Why does this matter? New Labour won the last election with just over 21% of the electorate’s backing. Hitler attained power in 1933 with 33% of the vote.

Shameless

Are you suffering from ‘Recession Rage’? Are you livid with the bankers and politicians who colluded with madness and legitimised greed? We are being asked to take all the pain while they take all the gain. It stinks, and like a fish, it stinks from the head.

Are you totally appalled by New Labour’s dalliance with the rich and the mega-rich? Remember what the Tories stand for and despise them? (Yes, that means you, Mrs Thatcher, and your ‘greed is good’ approach, supported by Blair, Brown and Mandelson). Feel uncertain about the LibDems? Feel really frustrated at our pitiful political class? Deeply concerned and unhappy at where we are? And you know that UKIP and the BNP are emphatically not the answer.

Then what the hell are you going to do?

Doing nothing is the lazy, easy and cowardly way out. Get off your backsides and make your frustrations heard loud and clear across the land. Talk to your friends. Talk to your neighbours. Talk to your families. Talk to people in the pub. And especially, talk to candidates and their helpers whenever and wherever you meet them.

When some party activist rings you up, let them know exactly what you feel. Ask searching questions about the candidate they’re pushing. What is their background? Do they support the wholesale reform of the Commons and the Lords? Do they support the ‘recall’ proposal? Are they honest?

We want better politics and we want it now.

Broken Britain

Much Tory talk about ‘Broken Britain’ citing sink estates and benefit fraud. No sign of them looking in the mirror.

The problems in our society exist at its heart in the Westminster and City Bubble. This area contains most of our venal, arrogant, smug, stupid and criminally short-sighted citizens within a very small area.

As Deborah Orr put it in yesterdays Guardian, “The reality is that Broken Britain can be found right in the middle of London, where the political process and the economic process are both too highly concentrated. Their denizens live in a fool’s paradise where everyone is rich, everyone is greedy for more and no one thinks there is anything wrong with it.”

The prospect of a hung Parliament alarms these staunch defenders of privilege. Uncertainty! The City does not like it. Their bonuses are at risk. The Political Class does not like it. Their career plans are at risk. The media are not too happy either, as their largely cosy relationship with the bubble would be rattled and making sense of a new reality would entail much hard work and many less liquid lunches.

Bring it on!