tony blair « Talking Bollocks

Posts Tagged ‘tony blair

Jul

Balls talks bollocks

Categories: Bollocks, Conservative, Economics, Finance, Labour, News, Politics, democracy and new labour
Tags: . “has to be pushed”, Alistair Campbell, Andrew Rawnsley, asset price bubble, “Blair is never going to go”, “Confess the heinous sin of heresy”, “it's all in place”, “it's going to happen”, “it's too late”, “reject the works of the ungodly”, “you mustn't be weak”, “You've been weak for too long”, cheap money, chuck them out, debt, economy, Ed Balls, financial, financial crisis, Gordon Brown, hatchet men, infighting, inflation, interests rates, interview, iraq, John Humphries, Mandelson's diaries, Monty Python, new labour, peter mandelson, punish governments, rewarding incompetence, Shadow Education Secretary, Spanish Inquisition, talking bollocks, The Evening Standard, tony blair

Balls' Balls - Banquets and Balls

This morning I listened to John Humphries interview the Shadow Education Secretary, Ed Balls, on BBC Radio 4′s Today program. Yes, I know, I should move on from ranting about the inadequacies of New Labour and start ranting about the Tories and Lib Dems but hang on.

Following the publication of Mandelson’s diaries and a book by Andrew Rawnsley both documenting the infighting within the New Labour cabinet between Blair and Brown, Humprys was trying to pin down Balls on his association with the infighting through his association with Brown. Mandy had called the infighting an insurgency and Humphries said that Andrew Rawnsley’s book claims Mr. Brown was vacillating before a planned “coup” in 2006 and Ed Balls told Mr Brown: “It’s too late. It’s all in place. It’s going to happen.”. Adn article in The Evening Standard claimed Balls also said: “Blair is never going to go. He has to be pushed. You mustn’t be weak. You’ve been weak for too long.”

So Mr. Balls waffled and said the book was full of inaccuracies but, tellingly, did not deny the specific incident.

Humphries drew attention to Labour’s part in the financial crisis and a McKinsey document stating the UK’s horrendous debt. Mr. Balls waffled, saying “interests rates were low” and “inflation was low” and went on to say that the crisis was global, implying that nobody is to blame at all.

This tosh is like a second rate rehash of Gordon Brown’s interview technique and shows that Balls, like Brown, does not understand the linkage between cheap money (low interest rates), the asset price bubble and the financial crisis. I am reading the diaries of Tony Benn – “More Time For Politics” at the moment and he wrote something which goes to the heart of New Labour spin. He said: “….I no longer feel that I am required to believe what I am told by (new Labour) ministers”.

It occurred to me that the feud between Brown and Blair may have contributed, in a very substantial way, to the prevalence of manipulators, bullshitters and bullies surrounding the New Labour government. Both Blair and Brown would have needed hatchet men and this need would have driven out any wise, thoughtful or competent advise. Leading on from this one can speculate on the whole nature of the New Labour years without the likes of Campbell, Mandelson and Balls. If wiser heads had prevailed might Blair have remained relatively sane and not led the UK into Iraq? Might Brown have had more time for the economy and avoided the worst of the financial crisis? We shall never know.

Several people have commented to me that the Tories would have screwed things up just as bad as Labour. Maybe. But of course they didn’t did they. It was Labour and you have to punish governments who screw up by chucking them out otherwise you are just rewarding incompetence.

No doubt the Tory/LibDem coalition will draw my attention in time, though right now I just find the absence of Mandy bullshit a refreshing change and with the remnants of New Labour still voluminously TALKING BOLLOCKS it is easy to get distracted.

The Labour party wont move on until it faces up to its mistakes and rejects the unsavoury characters from the New Labour years. If it doesn’t then, once the Tories have fallen out of favour, we will be faced with another Labour government wastin ti’s time on spin rather than achieving objectives. In the words of Monty Python’s Spanish Inquisition the Labour party need to “Confess the heinous sin of heresy”and “reject the works of the ungodly”. ie admit that they screwed up and chuck out the likes of Balls.

Jul

Labour’s disgusting self riotousness

By jonesxxx 2 Comments

I am getting really irritated by Labour in opposition. Their outrageous self riotous indignation is disgusting. From Roy Hattersley arrogant assumption that the Lib Dems should ally with Labour to
Harriet Harman winging that Lib Dem voters did not vote for the current policies.

Hey Harriet! I am a Liberal Democrat voter, don’t tell me what I think!

This week Tom Watson, Labour MP for West Bromwich East became almost hysterical in the House of Commons and shouted that the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, was a “miserable pipsqueak”. This abuse from a member of a party which led the UK into war under the leadership of such miserable frauds as Mandelson, Campbell and Blair!

Labour backbenchers have still not faced up to fact that their acquiescence to being led by charlatans and incompetence for the past 13 years has cost them power and cost the country dear. Labour should wake up and smell the coffee. They knowingly allowed a bunch of frauds to lead them in order to win the election. This is an open secret. Even Tony Benn has admitted it publicly. They sacrificed their principles for power, they screwed the economy, they lost the election.

When Mr. Watson uses the term pipsqueak, I suggest that he is projecting. Today he swaggers around insulting people like a drunken bouncer but why did he not have enough courage to speak out when Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were shafting Labour and the country? Could it be that Mr. Watson is a miserable pipsqueak?

May

Champagne to bankruptcy – Thanks Tony

By jonesxxx Leave a Comment

Categories: Con/Lib Coalition, Economics, Labour, News, Politics and new labour
Tags: tony blair, Labour, champagne, bankruptcy, Treasury Secretary, Liam Byrne, there's no money left, John Major

The TV is burbling about how the ex-Treasury Secretary, Labour’s Liam Byrne, left a note for his sucessor which said: ‘Dear chief secretary, I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left.”

Apparently this is in contrast to the previous Tory leader, John Major, who left a note for the incoming Prime Minister, Tony Blair, along with a bottle of champagne.

Champagne to bankruptcy. That about sum up the past 13 years!

May

What now?

By jonesxxx Leave a Comment

Since this blog started in January 2008 it has been mainly polemic. Polemic, I believe, justly targeting hypocrisy. Two commons targets have been Israel for continuing a racist policy of settlement building while branding all criticism of this policy as racist (anti-semitic) and New Labour for spending most of their energy on marketing a supposedly prudent economic policy while wasting huge amounts of money, dragging the UK into massive debt and achieving very little.

Tony Blair is now gone, Gordon Brown is out of government and, while the spectre of Peter Mandelson lingers like a fart in the House of Lords the nightmare of New Labour is finally over.

So what now? Who will I complain about now? Nothing new is happening in Palestine / Israel and I don’t see a resolution to that problem in the near future. So who can compete with the ghastly liars and frauds that comprised the upper echelons of New Labour? Who can match Blair when it comes to grinning like a crazed muppet while lying through his teeth?

It’s true that New Labour Next Generation are even as I write manoeuvring for position. The Millbands appear in public shaking hands and chirpily angling for advantage. Perhaps the Labour Party will resist being pushed into an early leadership election with just Pinky and Perky but I am not counting on it.

Probably Labour are out of power for a few years yet so the question is: Are the golden days of railing against hypocrisy and incompetence over? Will the Tory/Lib Dem coalition deliver fair and efficient government? Should I be searching for a new domain name. Talking Sense perhaps?

Somehow I don’t think I’ll need to.

May

Labour lost, it’s called democracy – get over it

By jonesxxx Leave a Comment

Categories: Labour, News, Politics, democracy and new labour
Tags: betrayal, cheated of power, coalition, coalition government, Conservative, democracy, disgraced, Gordon Brown, Labour, Labour lost, Labour party, Liberal Democrats, peter mandelson, spin, tony blair

Labour lost - get over it

Supporters of Labour in the United Kingdom appear incensed that they are no longer the party of government and are condemning the Liberal Democrats for forming a coalition with the Conservatives. Words such as despicable, treachery and deceit have been used.

Labour suffered a massive drop in support and polled far fewer votes than the Conservatives. The Labour party, Gordon Brown and the rag tag bunch of nobodies that formed the last cabinet are widely disliked throughout the country yet they now behave as if they have been cheated of power.

“I fear the lady doth protest too much”! Their allegations of betrayal and despicable conduct should be directed at their own leadership. Gordon Brown’s decision to bring the twice disgraced Peter Mandelson back into government placed the Brown premiership firmly in the “spin over substance” camp of Tony Blair.

Let’s just list the reasons why they are out of power:

No party gained an overall majority.
All parties are free to negotiate alliances as they see fit. The Liberals Democrats are an independent party and are not obliged to side with Labour.
A Labour / Liberal Democrat coalition would not have achieved a majority and would therefore have no more right to govern than the Conservatives alone.

Labour lost, it’s called democracy – get over it.

Apr

Nemocracy in the UK – government by nobodies

By jonesxxx Leave a Comment

Me? Secretary of State for International Development? With my reputation?

How did Douglas Alexander get to be Secretary of State for International Development?

Consider his Curriculum Vitae: Born in 1967, Mr. Alexander studied politics and modern history, worked on the American Presidential Election campaign in 1988, was a speech-writer and researcher for the shadow Trade and Industry Secretary, studied law and then worked for six months as a solicitor. Nothing there screams “International Development”.

On April 9th Tribune Magazine highlighted a back door route into government with a story showing how the Labour party waives its candidate selection process at the behest of Peter Mandelson.

The latest case involves journalist Tristram Hunt who has been picked by Mr. Mandelson for Stoke Central. Mick Williams, a party member since 1964, claims the selection was “obviously rigged” and has resigned in protest. This follows a row over the selection of Jonathan Reynolds who had not been included in the short list drawn up by the Stalybridge Labour Party members but whose name was added after an intervention by Mr Mandelson.

The popular perception of a British Member of Parliament used to be a local person fired by a sense of injustice working for a party nomination, fighting and winning an election, spending years on the backbenches and only after proving their effectiveness in parliament might they be promoted to a cabinet position. You’d need to look hard to find anyone like that in the current cabinet.

In the 21st Century British cabinet members appear as if out of nowhere. Like Star Trek’s Mr. Spock, Peter Mandelson fiddles with the controls and yet another cloned version of himself shimmers into life. Another yes man who can “send the right message” but not “do the right thing”.

A review of the education and work experience of cabinet ministers is enlightening. Unsurprisingly few of the cabinet are “doers”. Most have worked in occupations such as Think Tanks, Public Relations, Lobby Group or Advertising and many of the senior cabinet figures have previously worked for an incumbent MP.

The background of successful cabinet members is strikingly similar. The typical New Labour apparatchik starts by studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at university (known as PPE). After graduation they rattle around in law or journalism for a while before landing a job as a researcher for an incumbent cabinet minister. If they keep their heads down, control the media agenda and impress their boss then they may be shuffled onto the candidate list of a Labour safe seat over the heads of local party members and with the nod that this candidate has the favour of senior ministers. Bob’s your uncle they are members of parliament and on their way to cabinet.

Consider the potted Curriculum Vitae of a handful of New Labour apparatchiks

David Miliband	Ed Balls	Ed Milliband	David Balls?

David Milliband worked for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the IPPR’s Commission on Social Justice and then became Tony Blair’s Head of Policy.
Ed Balls worked for the Financial Times and then became economic adviser to the then shadow chancellor Gordon Brown.
Ed Miliband has a brief career in television journalism before becoming a speech writer and researcher for Harriet Harman.

These men have no reputation within the Labour movement and no experience in the workplace. Shoe-horned into power, they are equipped only with theoretical knowledge combined with an arrogant self riotousness born from ambition. They may know a lot but they understand nothing. They have no feel for the issues which they discuss because they have never engaged with the world in any real way. When they debate a workers rights or a company’s bottom line they do not understand the obstacles faced by a working man or the imperatives of business. Everything is an abstraction to be air brushed away by some glib sound byte or grand scheme masterminded by a theorist and managed by a consultant.

There are honourable exceptions. Alan Johnston started out as a postman, tried his hand as a pop musician before going on to be a branch official for the Union of Communication Workers and Jack Straw appears to have performed honourable work as a barrister but, I ask again, how did Douglas Alexander become an MP let alone Secretary of State for International Development?

As always it’s not what you know but who you know. The shadow Trade and Industry Secretary for whom Mr. Alexander worked was none other than Gordon Brown though his friendship with Tony Blair did him no harm.

There is a place in politics for people who understand the media but that place is not making policy and if parties continue to allow ministers to choose their successors then we shall become the worlds first nemocracy – A nation ruled by nobodies.

Apr

Saturday Night from Speakers Corner

By jonesxxx 2 Comments

The North Eastern part of London’s Hyde Park close to Marble Arch known as Speakers Corner is world famous as a forum for radicals and eccentrics of every hue. The forum for anyone and everyone to speak freely in public came into being around 1855 proved so popular it continues nearly 150 years later.

Visiting Speakers Corner on any Sunday in 2010 one sees communists, cheek by jowl with radical Muslims, Christians or simply free thinkers expounding their own personal world view, usually encouraging radical change and always being heckled by a random collection of passers by. As such Speakers Corner has become a British institution, a symbol the rights of free speech.

But it is an institution that has become an anachronism according to the London Development Agency (LDA) and Peter Mandelson’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). This blog has learnt that senior managers at the LDA have been working closely with Peter Mandelson to renovate and revive the area in readiness for the expected tide of tourism generated by the Olympics.

Speakers Corner has been criticised in the past for being shabby, noisy and lacking facilities but now, according to our source, the area is due for a face lift costing up to £330 million. A facelift to make it fit for the 21st Century!

The plans provide for an area of around half a mile in the north east corner of Hyde Park to be paved and cordoned off from the rest of Hyde Park. Covered seating will be installed to make the venue a year round attraction and a new exit will be built for Marble Arch underground station. The new development will improve access from the west end of Oxford Street and wheel chair access and toilets will be provided.
The area west of Speakers Corner has been allocated for parking and a visitors centre containing shops and restaurants is to be constructed along the east side of Hyde Park running down Park Lane.

It is an ambitious project but our source claims that the tax payers will not have to fork out a penny. The project is to be run by a public private partnership headed by Alan Sugar and there are no plans, at this stage, to charge entrance fees though planning permission has been given for billboards around Marble Arch which will generate part of the necessary advertising revenue. Star Bucks and Tesco have both expressed interest in sponsorship.

The most exciting feature is that the main source of funds will be from rights to a new TV show with the working title “Saturday Night from Speakers Corner” to be hosted by Davina Mccall.

The program will be hosted live from Speakers Corner and provide a platform for celebrity speakers to promulgate their own personal ideologies. The program is planned to be around three hours long and cover a range of styles from stand up comedy to heavy weight politics. Tony Blair and Jeremy Paxman have already expressed interest and talks are underway with the Oxford Union Debating Society to provide mediation and advise.

The opening night is intended to be during the London Olympics some time in summer 2012 and it is hoped that big name bands such as the Arctic Monkeys will play on the opening night. The show will be broadcast simultaneously by BBC 2 and online via BBC iPlayer. Twitter and Facebook feeds are also promised.

It’s rumoured that the National Lottery results announcements may be moved to the new show as audience figures for the current show are flagging. A share of profits would be donated to good causes.

This is an exciting story and we’d welcome comments from readers.

Mar

How bad do Labour and the Tories have to get before you vote Liberal?

By jonesxxx Leave a Comment

Categories: Bollocks, Labour, Politics, democracy and new labour
Tags: Asquith, British pragmatism, expenses, Labour, liberal, liberal democrat, Lloyd George, Margaret Thatcher, non-domicile, non-doms, religious convert, Sir William Harcourt, talking bollocks, tony blair, Tories, Tory, Vince Cable, Vote Liberal, Whig

Gordon doesn't come close

In the past, when people discuss which party they will vote for in Great Britain they often consider voting Liberal but then dismiss this as a wasted vote. The logic is that they quite like the Liberals but that they wont get in. A similar argument is made that the Liberals are “too nice” and so will not have the ability to get into government.

These people are TALKING BOLLOCKS!

Twenty years ago The United Kingdom had two main parties plus the Liberals and a smattering of others. The two main parties had opposing ideologies and the vote was broadly split between them. However, Tony Blair transformed the Labour Party from a left leaning semi socialist party into a Tory convert. Margaret Thatcher believed in privatisation because she thought that nationalised industries naturally inclined to inefficiency and that the power of the market keeps private enterprise on it’s toes.
Tony Blair believed in privatisation because he had seen that this strategy had worked for Thatcher. Tony Blair understood nothing. He believed fanatically in privatisation the same way that a convert becomes bound up with the rules and not the spirit of their chosen religion. The same way that ex-patriots fein obsession with the minutia of their home county.

The result is that we now have two capitalist parties fighting over the same vote.

Both Labour and the Tories have shown themselves to be corrupt and despicable and Labour have shown themselves to be incompetent.

Of course Liberal MPs have been involved in the expenses scandal and, I believe, do receive financial contributions from non doms. But I believe that in general the Liberals have been more honest and principled than either Labour or the Tories.

The Liberal Democrats were formed from the old Liberal party which in turn was formed from the old Whigs. During the 18th and 19th century the Whigs along with the Tories were the main party of government. The prominent Liberal, Sir William Harcourt said this of the Liberals:

“Liberty does not consist in making others do what you think right. The difference between a free Government and a Government which is not free is principally this—that a Government which is not free interferes with everything it can, and a free Government interferes with nothing except what it must. A despotic Government tries to make everybody do what it wishes, a Liberal Government tries, so far as the safety of society will permit, to allow everybody to do what he wishes. It has been the function of the Liberal Party consistently to maintain the doctrine of individual liberty. It is because they have done so that England is the country where people can do more what they please than in any country in the world.”

The Liberals have stuck to their principles. Their policies are not driven by ideology but by traditional British pragmatism. Though they stand for broadly free market economics it was the Liberals who were responsible for creating the welfare state under Asquith and his Lloyd George.

We should also remember that Vince Cable appears to be the only MP who understands economics and has the best chance of digging the UK out of the current mess.

So now, when we go to vote, will we once again vacillate between the two options which you loathe or, will you do what your heart always told you should do: Vote Liberal Democrat.