Christmas is meant to be a time of goodwill, of thankfulness, of family and most of all contentment. My niece however, was not content last week, when her favourite television programme was followed by the six ‘o’ clock news. But it was not the end of her favourite programme that bothered her, but the appearance on the screen of a very white, very chubby and sickeningly smug David Cameron. I have never seen a six year old child so frightened and sob so much. To most of us it beggars belief; how is it even possible that someone with as much charisma as Harold Shipman, for whom smoking cannabis in his youth was probably his peak of rational thought, is likely to be the next prime minister?
And yet in the same week as the Tory election launch former health secretary Patricia Hewitt and former defence minister and current war criminal Geoff Hoon demanded a vote on Gordon Brown’s leadership in what was termed ‘the snowstorm mutiny’. Indeed, like a snowstorm the point of the demand was lost quite quickly and out of the flurry emerged Hewitt and Hoon looking battered and miserable. What they neglected to realise is that Labour’s success or defeat at the polls no longer rests on Gordon Brown. The antipathy that most people in this country now feel towards the party they elected in a landslide 13 years ago is much broader based than that. It rests on 13 years of feelings of betrayal by ordinary working class people who remember benefit cuts, the introduction of tuition fees, privatisation of the NHS though foundation hospitals, the invasion and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and the continuing onslaught of attacks on the poorest during a recession caused by the rich.
A new report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission last week detailed the effects of the recession on the most vulnerable in Britain. Unemployment for Britain’s African Caribbean community has seen the highest surge since 2008 from 13.2 percent to 20.1 percent. The study pointed out that the trend has become more marked over the past six months – giving lie to the claim that the crisis is easing. Similarly youth unemployment has risen from to 16.2 percent to 12 percent for the same period last year. Yet again and again we are told by parts of the media and some trade union leaders that we should not try to resist cuts or attacks on wages out of fear of ‘letting the Tories in’. In fact Gordon Brown recognised the need to crucially sure up Labour’s traditional support base last month when he declared Conservative strategy was “dreamt up on the playing fields of Eton”. Unsurprisingly he was quickly encouraged by Labour whips to dismiss the remarks as a joke.
The reasons for a Labour loss at the next election are straightforward. Their continuation of Conservative neoliberal policies has had an entirely predictable effect. Slashing taxes on the rich, smashing unions, privatising public services and kowtowing to corporate power has widened inequality, lowered class mobility and working class living standards—and allowed for a bonanza for the tiny minority at the top of society. The result has been a decade marked by the restoration of ruling class privilege. We cannot trust Labour to defend working class people amidst one of the worst global recessions. I desperately hope that the Tories do not win the next election, but fear of such a scenario should not stop us organising the grassroots organic resistance that is needed to protect the poorest in Britain from attacks now.
In the meantime the Conservative election campaign consists of plastering the country with over 1,000 posters branded with David Cameron’s face. As I searched through my room for the biggest black marker pens with which to scrawl ‘Tory Scum’ across his smug face, I thank you David Cameron. Christmas 2010 has come early.
No related posts.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 08:44 and is filed under Comment.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The January Snowplot
by Estelle Cooch on 12 Jan 2010 in Comment
Christmas is meant to be a time of goodwill, of thankfulness, of family and most of all contentment. My niece however, was not content last week, when her favourite television programme was followed by the six ‘o’ clock news. But it was not the end of her favourite programme that bothered her, but the appearance on the screen of a very white, very chubby and sickeningly smug David Cameron. I have never seen a six year old child so frightened and sob so much. To most of us it beggars belief; how is it even possible that someone with as much charisma as Harold Shipman, for whom smoking cannabis in his youth was probably his peak of rational thought, is likely to be the next prime minister?
And yet in the same week as the Tory election launch former health secretary Patricia Hewitt and former defence minister and current war criminal Geoff Hoon demanded a vote on Gordon Brown’s leadership in what was termed ‘the snowstorm mutiny’. Indeed, like a snowstorm the point of the demand was lost quite quickly and out of the flurry emerged Hewitt and Hoon looking battered and miserable. What they neglected to realise is that Labour’s success or defeat at the polls no longer rests on Gordon Brown. The antipathy that most people in this country now feel towards the party they elected in a landslide 13 years ago is much broader based than that. It rests on 13 years of feelings of betrayal by ordinary working class people who remember benefit cuts, the introduction of tuition fees, privatisation of the NHS though foundation hospitals, the invasion and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and the continuing onslaught of attacks on the poorest during a recession caused by the rich.
A new report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission last week detailed the effects of the recession on the most vulnerable in Britain. Unemployment for Britain’s African Caribbean community has seen the highest surge since 2008 from 13.2 percent to 20.1 percent. The study pointed out that the trend has become more marked over the past six months – giving lie to the claim that the crisis is easing. Similarly youth unemployment has risen from to 16.2 percent to 12 percent for the same period last year. Yet again and again we are told by parts of the media and some trade union leaders that we should not try to resist cuts or attacks on wages out of fear of ‘letting the Tories in’. In fact Gordon Brown recognised the need to crucially sure up Labour’s traditional support base last month when he declared Conservative strategy was “dreamt up on the playing fields of Eton”. Unsurprisingly he was quickly encouraged by Labour whips to dismiss the remarks as a joke.
The reasons for a Labour loss at the next election are straightforward. Their continuation of Conservative neoliberal policies has had an entirely predictable effect. Slashing taxes on the rich, smashing unions, privatising public services and kowtowing to corporate power has widened inequality, lowered class mobility and working class living standards—and allowed for a bonanza for the tiny minority at the top of society. The result has been a decade marked by the restoration of ruling class privilege. We cannot trust Labour to defend working class people amidst one of the worst global recessions. I desperately hope that the Tories do not win the next election, but fear of such a scenario should not stop us organising the grassroots organic resistance that is needed to protect the poorest in Britain from attacks now.
In the meantime the Conservative election campaign consists of plastering the country with over 1,000 posters branded with David Cameron’s face. As I searched through my room for the biggest black marker pens with which to scrawl ‘Tory Scum’ across his smug face, I thank you David Cameron. Christmas 2010 has come early.
No related posts.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 08:44 and is filed under Comment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.