grimmerupnorth

There are journalists - and there are writers. Some exceptional talents manage to be both. Last night I sat up reading till 3am as I was unable to stop perusing Engleby, by one of my favourite writers Sebastian Faulks.
It was a bit of a parallel universe experience as it's about a working-class kid who goes to Cambridge in the 1970's as a bit of an outsider and later falls into journalism, interviewing the rich and famous.Unlike the protagonist, I'm not violently psychotic nor likely to end up in an institution but there were some remarkable episodes which mirrored my own life.
One is an encounter with Ken Livingstone. Faulks used to work on the Independent and clearly uses a real-life encounter with the former GLC Leader which was uncannily similar to mine in the late 1980's. Like me, he did the homework and was pretty keen to make a good impression. Like me, he fell foul of Ken's (understandable) suspicion of journalists and found it all a difficult and rather surly encounter. One which I have to say has rathered coloured my view of the man ever since. Incidentally, there is also a name-check for my LRC National Committee comrade Ted Knight !
The places I used to eat in a a student ( the Whim, the Mitre) and many of the campaigns we were involved in politically also feature in what is a brilliant tour de force from one of my favourite writers.
Engleby himself may be a weirdo but the book also manages to be a brilliant evocation of the last 30 years of political life.It is also extremely funny despite its more harrowing elements. This morning, I feel pretty exhausted and I'm off to a meeting in a bit but it was worth staying up for. As for Livingstone, well since his demise the Socialist Campaign Group News he part-funded has closed down and he's off on another trajectory which suits his chameleon-like ability to survive the slings and arrows of political life.And I'm sure eventually there will be a by-election.......

Posted by susan press at 11:35 0 comments  

Labels: reading matter

A week ago things were getting quite feverish as the papers - and Number 10 - spun talk of a snap election. A new poll for the Guardian, giving the Tories a 15 per cent lead, is likely to end all the speculation. Other polls suggest things aren't quite so bad but don't expect an election any time soon.

Posted by susan press at 22:15 0 comments  

Labels: LEAP, New Labour policy, Opinion polls

At the LRC Conference, a resolution in support of plans for a Convention Of The Left in Brighton next year was overwhelmingly passed. No tine to blog at length today but I have posted something on it here

Posted by susan press at 11:40 0 comments  

Labels: COL, LRC AGM

Someone ( it may even have been the man himself) once said of Robert Kilroy Silk that he was too handsome ever to have been the Leader of the Labour Party. Close observers of his most recent TV antics might wager there were more valid reasons why he never made it to the top flight of Labour politics.

Posted by susan press at 15:29 0 comments  

Labels: tossers

Like most on the left. I'm a bit of a fan of the co-op and at the beginning of this year I was pleased to join the newly invigorated local society and eagerly looked forward to my "divi" at the end of the year. I had already decided it would be spent on luxuries like cava and smoked salmon so imagine my excitement when on getting back from London this afternoon the long-awaited letter was on the mat. However what a sad disapointment to discover my share of the profits for 2008 will be....... £3.74. Just about enough to buy a discounted bottle of plonk - or scrabble together a breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. Commiserations to others in Calder Valley similarly disappointed......

Posted by susan press at 22:40 0 comments  

Labels: co-op divi

Monday was an unprecedented day for this blog. I had 398 hits and I wish I could say three times as many people as usual had had a Damascene moment and logged on to Grimmerupnorth. The fact is I had a link from the BBC after comments made on the pre-Budget report. Still, all grist to the mill and so was last night's real time meeting at Westminster where we launched what will hopefully be a New Left Media forum for those of us on the left who want to garner support for all kinds of initiatives in the months ahead.
I re-met Stroppy Blog, Dave Osler , David Semple who writes the excellent Though Cowards Flinch and, encouragingly, other younger bloggers and IT experts. We are having another meeting in December. More news of it anon.

Posted by susan press at 22:21 2 comments  

Labels: blogging, internet

Assiduously been listening to the bulletins etc on the
Government's U-turn on the economy. It's a step in the right direction but not exactly grounds for hoisting the Red Flag from my front door.
LRC Chair John McDonnell MP has today been explaining what the Labour left's take is and the link to his Comment Is Free piece is below.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/24/pre-budget-report-taxandspending

Posted by susan press at 20:05 2 comments  

Labels: economy, John McDonnell, LEAP

For over 11 years Labour Governments have refused to increase direct taxes - that's all changed with the current economic crisis we face. Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced an increase to 45 pence in the pound for high earners - and an immediate cut in VAT. As far as the VAT goes, the reduction is a small one which won't make a huge amount of difference to people facing hard economic times this Christmas. There are other caveats which mean the news is not quite so dramatic as it might be. The higher taxes won't be until the next Parliament which means they will only happen if Labour win. What is actually needed is a far more profound redistribution of wealth and a more progressive tax system as outlined here.
However, the fact that the Government is at least prepared to open up a clear divide between Labour and the Tories and use taxation as an election battleground is to be welcomed. Thanks to BBC News for the plug......... which has already tripled the number of hits I normally get . And counting.....http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7740897.stm

Posted by susan press at 09:37 8 comments  

Labels: Chancellor, taxpayers' money, VAT

Christmas is pretty picturesque in Hebden Bridge. I could pretend this picture is me and fellow Labour councillor Janet Oosthuysen talking politics but in fact the two of us joined forces to switch on the Christmas lights in town yesterday. In my hand is a microphone ( which didn't work) and carol sheet . Janet did an excellent job handing out the swets and satsumas to the kids ( guess which went first....) The weather was freezing but we had a brass band in Victorian dress, the square was packed and it was all very jolly.
Those of you who live locally note that a week tonight is my fund-raising night for Overgate Hospice at Il Mulino and tickets are now on sale at the Town Council offices....More pics on the Hebweb.....

Posted by susan press at 21:16 0 comments  

Labels: Hebden bridge, local events

Harpymarx ( aka Louise W) has an excellent post re the punitive welfare reforms backed by James Purnell - some of which are effective from Monday. And why they must be opposed....

Posted by susan press at 13:31 2 comments  

Labels: New Labour policy

A week today Saturday November 29 the West Yorkshire LRC will meet at the Irish Centre, Huddersfield , a few minutes walk from the railway station. The meeting starts at 2pm and , aside from the usual routine business, Alice Mahon and I will be talking about the National Conference and the need to take serious steps to regionalise the LRC and how we should go about it. Ed Doveton, who narrowly failed to get onto the National Committee, will be contributing too.

Posted by susan press at 11:06 0 comments  

Labels: West Yorkshire LRC

I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong and I couldn't have been more so about the trajectory for Gordon Brown. In September, it looked as though he would be out by Christmas but politics is a volatile game, his stock has risen over the Government's handling of the economy and today the pundits are yet again predicting a snap General Election in June.
Which means Downing Street is seriously considering the scenario.
They did so of course in September 2007 when a snap GE was called off at the last minute. Brown lived to rue the consequences but now things superficially seem to have turned around. That superficiality would IMHO be a reason for deterring.
If Brown has re-gained public confidence that could easily dissipate if he is seen once more as an opportunist
Thousands of jobs are going down the tubes, repossessions are rising every day and we are on the cusp of the depths of winter with many too scared to turn their central heating on in case they can't afford the bills. Frankly, the Government should be concentrating on thise issues rather than encouraging more election speculation. UPDATE: Gordon Brown now "vehemently" denying the rumours. I hope that's true as a snap election just might rebound on him.

Posted by susan press at 12:36 2 comments  

Labels: General Election, Gordon brown

Tonight I'm off to see Calder Valley Youth Theatre perform their version of Les Miserables. It will be the third time I have seen the show. The first time was at a press premiere in Manchester in 1992 only days after Labour had lost the General Election so the songs had a certain political redolence. Sadly for the audience, the barricades on-stage broke down halfway through and the show was postponed to another date. Meanwhile, we all decamped to a hotel opposite the Palace Theatre where impresario Cameron Mackintosh had laid on the most lavish of buffets. So gutted was I by the election debacle that I spent several champagne-fuelled hours droning on about it to the then Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council as everyone else wolfed down vast quantities of food.

Posted by susan press at 10:00 0 comments  

Labels: LesMiserables, political nostalgia

Occasionally, I like to depart from the strictly political and venture into other arenas.

Posted by susan press at 23:39 0 comments  

Labels: feminism, sexism

This afternoon like many on the left I was forwarded the link to the list of BNP members. Many of my NUJ colleagues who have bravely taken the BNP head-on have found themselves on the vile Redwatch website -targetted as people to be intimidated . So once I get back from tonight's council meeting, I will be scouring that list closely.
Update: According to last night's Newsnight, a fair proportion of BNP membership is based around Blackburn and Halifax - both towns on my doorstep and both extremely vulnerable to being targetted by the BNP due to high levels of unemployment and deprivation.It's depressing news but hardly unexpected to anyone living in this corner of England. Burnley, just 10 miles away, is also BNP heartland. Though the heartening news is that groups like UNITE have won successful battles to see off most of the BNP councillors elected in recent years. Apparently, police are now perusing the list to see if any of their officers are signed up . The list also stretches into the teaching profession. I'm sad to report that it's common knowledge round here that one local teacher told a pupil who espoused interest in the Labour Party that she would "rather vote BNP."
Coupled with the recent glossy PR campaign being conducted by these right-wing scum, the truth is we have to take them head-on and defeat their foul racism. Once confined to the very fringes of political society, they are now mainstream

Posted by susan press at 19:05 1 comments  

Labels: BNP, Redwatch

I may no longer spend most of my days in a newsroom but good to know have not lost my political nous. Newsnight led tonight on the Tories abandonment of triangulation and the aparent divide opening up between Labour and the Tories. They also interviewed Graham Turner, one of the advisors to the Labour Left. Before you start singing the Red Flag, it might be helpful to take a look at the new Red Papers which have been produced by the Left Economics Advisory Panel. They are here

Posted by susan press at 22:46 1 comments  

Labels: crisis of capitalism, LEAP

David Cameron has just announced an end to Tory-lite - and abandoned plans to stick to Labour's spending plans. Is this a panic move as opinion polls continue to cut a swathe in his lead? Could it also be that he is returning to the Party's comfort zone in a bid to woo back diehards appalled at his tiuchy-feely brand of Toryism.
Whatever, political pundits seem to be hailing the Government's neo-Keynesian plans to restore health to the economy as a move back to traditional Labour ground.
Coupled with the recent ( part) nationalisation of the banks. this seems an attractive scenario - and at least the unalloyed New Labour worship of neo-liberalism and market forces as panacea seems to be on hold.
But let's not forget the Government is still demonising immigrants (Phil Woolas) paying for huge ad campaigns on benefit fraud ( no I don't condone it but let's start attacking the real thieves in the City of London) and supporting ever more punitive welfare benefits. #
And just to dclare a persobnal interest here time and again the low-paid and single are forgotten in whatever tax breaks and means-tested credits are handed out to "hard working families." .
Inflation may be falling but repossessions are on the up with Shelter predicting 45,000 this year.Unemployment is also rising - a piece in yesterday's Media Guardian was a depressing read for journalists like me currently facing challenging - no let's be honest - difficult times economically. 5.4 million households live in fuel poverty.
So glad though we are that the Tories have revealed their true colours, there is no room for complacency. No more fudging which sounds nice. We need clear red water between us and the Conservatives . And we need it fast. It is time for the trade union and labour movement to mobilise on behalf of the low-paid and everyone about to feel the impact of the coming recession.

Posted by susan press at 13:22 2 comments  

Labels: Conservative policy, Labour Party

I got home tonight after a six-hour journey - plenty of chance to mull things over on the bus.
Including this blog. I've had nearly 80,000 readers since it started in 2007 which is hardly hits of the Iain Dale variety but as Labour Left blogs go it's one of the most popularAnd I really appreciate all the positive comments and support I have had along the way.
Yesterday's LRC Conference was an extremely successful one. More people than last year. More input from the regions. Great speeches from all the platform. But still not enough representation from outside London on the National Committee or indeed in the audience. Those two issues need addressing in the coming year.
I was particularly pleased to learn LRC Scotland will be launched early in 2009 and I intend to be there in Glasgow and meet many of the people who were unable to make the journey south yesterday. I was also pleased that our resolution supporting plans for another Convention Of The Left was overwhelmingly supported .
The message yesterday from LRC Chair John McDonnell was clear - the LRC must work within and outside Labour if it is to fulfil its role as a focal point for campaigns and positive strategies to combat New Labour. And we cannot afford, as LRC Secretary Simeon Andrews so rightly said, to stay in the "comfort zone" of purely Labour Party activity.
Before heading back this afternoon I attended a meeting of the NUJ Left at which several LRC members were present. We are already planning for a conference in the spring.
But conferences and meetings are not enough.
It's fairly easy to attend these events if you're a seasoned activist but the really hard bit is getting out on the front line and building the contacts and respect only earned by hard campaigning graft. Comrades in Manchester, for example, are regularly picketing outside Northern Rock, newly nationalised but repossessing homes at a scandalous rate. I would like to see the LRC involved in more campaigns of this kind.
My commiserations go to the comrades from the north and other parts of the country who did not get elected. Perhaps we need to look at how the NC elections are structured to give them a fairer chance but that's an issue for another day.
Congratulations due to Alice Mahon, though, who got a huge amount of support - she will be a tremendous asset to the National Committee.
Above all, I hope we can all work together in a positive and constructive way to build the LRC. We have done well in West Yorkshire but I acknowledge there is a long long way to go.
I hope that the election of a Vice-Chair from outside London will send a message of solidarity to the comrades in places like Newcastle , Sheffield and Liverpool that their voices are just as important. And it should also be acknowledged that their task , so far from London, is that much harder. I do not think this is always appreciated by those who live south of Watford Gap.
Finally, a heartfelt thankyou to all those who helped me get elected.

Posted by susan press at 22:17 7 comments  

Labels: LRC conference, regional representation

A quick thankyou to all who voted for me yesterday at the LRC AGM. I was delighted to be elected joint Vice-Chair of the LRC with Maria Exall and I hope that together with the rest of the officers and National Committee we can help build LRC membership and get involved in lots of campaigning over the next 12 months. As I said in my supporting statement, I regard it as an absolute priority to visit as many LRC regional groups and constituemcies as possible.It's also vital we get more regional representation and events/campaigns outside the capital. I promise to help make that happen,

Posted by susan press at 10:54 4 comments  

Labels: LRC elections

Today I'm going down to London for the LRC AGM and I will be standing for one of two posts as Vice-Chair of the LRC.
Firstly, thanks for the nominations received, which include Socialist Youth Network, Greater London LRC and West Yorkshire LRC. Thanks too to Alice Mahon, one of the best socialist Labour MPs we have ever had. Alice is standing for a seat on the LRC National Committee and I urge everyone to vote for her - we need more Northern commonense! The West Yprkshire line-up is completed by Patrick Hall of leeds campaign Group and Ed Doveton from Colne Valley CLP
I have been a Labour Party member for over 30 years and an NUJ activist for 24 years. I have held many officer positions within the Party, and am currently Branch Secretary of my local Party and a member of the Calder Valley constituency executive.
For the past five years I have served as a Town Councillor , and am currently Hebden Royd Council Chair and Town Mayor. I have also stood as a candidate for the Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council and am Chair of the Calderdale NUJ.
In recent years I have actively campaigned on a national basis for the Labour Left. Until last year I was a National Committee member of Save The Labour Party and support the Grassroots Umbrella network, which brings together all left groups within the Party at Conference. I have also been an active supporter of the Campaign For Labour Party Democracy . In May, I was elected to the Editorial Board of Labour Briefing and I am a regular contributor.
Last year I organised a successful launch conference in Hebden Bridge which was a springboard for all the regional LRCs and I have just been re-elected Secretary of the West Yorkshire LRC, which is now one of the biggest regional groups in the country. But the plain fact is that much more needs to be done to build the LRC into a truly national organisation.
One of the key tasks when the LRC was founded was to try and re-claim the Labour Party for socialist values. That is still a task which I regard as absolutely fundamental. As I have said many times on this blog, I do not believe anything can be achieved by leaving the Party other than political oblivion.
But I also strongly believe we must build bridges with those who stay outside the Party for reasons of disaffection and disillusion. That's why I got involved in the Convention Of The Left - a coalition of socialists who managed to forget faction-fighting and organise a tremendously successful event in Manchester to counter the official Labour Conference.
What divides left activists inside and outside Labour ? The truth is very very little. We can stand shoulder to shoulder with them on issues ranging from the economy, trade union rights, climate change , and peace . That work must go on.
We need an active Vice-Chair who puts in the work required over the next 12 months to build the LRC and raise its profile . If elected, I promise to do that. Within the Labour Party but also outside it in the wider labour movement. We also urgently need to ensure that comrades outside London get their voices heard. If you are going to be there on Saturday, and if you want the LRC to reach out nationally and get the message across there are still thousands fighting for socialism within the Labour Party, vote for us.

Posted by susan press at 00:01 1 comments  

Labels: LRC elections, socialism, West Yorkshire LRC

I've been a bit more measured in my blogging of late. This could change after watching Channel 4 News and the smug visage of Employment Minister Tony McNulty pontificating like a hard-line Thatcherite
Basically, as unemployment reaches its highest levels for 11 years, how dare a Minister earning approx £180,000 a year lecture the unemployed and talk about financial "welfare traps" when the topic is raised by the TUC of extra money in benefits to help the jobless . According to McNulty, this cannot be countenanced. I daresay he left the TV studio and spent more on his dinner than the average jobseeker gets in a week.
Such rhetoric, though we've heard it all before from the likes of James Purnell, is still shocking and unacceptable. In fact, I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing. But we should be used to it by now. Clearly, only "hard working families" are going to be helped by New Labour.
Jobless folk must either find work, or somehow manage on below-breadline benefits. They will be bringing back the workhouse next.

Posted by susan press at 19:22 2 comments  

Labels: unemployment, welfare benefits

Last night an inquorate Branch meeting. By way of contrast a friend of mine in West London went the other night to a packed meeting in Ealing called by the Convention Of The Left. Around 60 people were there and speakers were John McDonnell MP and Andrew Fisher from LEAP. You can read a detailed account of the evening from Andrew on the blog.
On Saturday, I will be moving a resolution at the LRC Conference urging support for another Convention Of The Left in Brighton 2009. This is NOT to replace Labour Party activity. We must continue to build the LRC as much as we can across the country and I'm committed to devoting as much time to that as I can. But the harsh fact is that the Labour Left within the Party is currently pretty demoralised
Im West Yorkshire, we have been fortunate enough to build an LRC which I hope will contiunue to grow - but it can be utterly soul-destroying being the only leftie in a constituency. By meeting other like minds, not all necessarily in the Labour Party, we can at least discuss issues and plan joint campaigns, without handing in our Party cards. We also pass on the vital message there are still socialists within Labour and even persuade others to join us.
The Manchester COL group meets Monday night at the Friends Meeting House 7pm. And there is a Recall Conference now re-scheduled to Saturday January 24 2009. Post to go up shortly explaining all about that.

Posted by susan press at 10:56 0 comments  

Labels: COL, LRC

Owing to dire financial circumstances, I have just had to cancel my on-line subscription to the Morning Star. So it's good news that the only left daily paper in the UK is apparently to be free on the internet come January.

Posted by susan press at 15:35 17 comments  

Labels: internet, left media

Tuesday marks the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day. The end of the "war to end all wars" in which both my grandfathers fought and in which they were among the lucky ones who survived.
I spent most of yesterday at church services and parades in Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd where many people gathered to remember the war dead - military and civilians. As we braved filthy rain and cold one of the local Vicars remarked it was appropriate weather to pay tribute to those who had endured unimaginable horrors in the trenches. That was putting it mildly.
Ninety years on the killing goes on .
Today, the BBC reports that at least 28 people have been killed by three bombs that exploded just moments apart in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
The first two blasts were car bombs and then a suicide bomber detonated his charges in the crowd that had gathered to help.Another 68 people were injured in the blasts, which took place during morning rush hour in the Shia area of Kasra.
Over the weekend, there were reports that troops could be out of Iraq by April . With the advent of Obama in the White House, one can only hope there is soon a prospect of bringing the troops home - all of them.

Posted by susan press at 12:13 6 comments  

Labels: Armistice Day, Iraq

Late home from a council meeting just caught back end of Newsnight re Obama and found myself watching the Prescott documentary on class. I say "documentary." It was of course an utter stitch-up designed to make the man look ridiculous and more fool him for agreeing to take part.

Posted by susan press at 00:17 4 comments  

Labels: class traitors, John Prescott

Only a churl of the most curmudgeonly variety could fail to be pleased that Barack Obama is to be next President of the United States. I did not stay up to watch as probably I should have done however good to get to the computer this morning and see McCain wiped out .

Posted by susan press at 10:24 2 comments  

Labels: Barrack Obama, US elections

This is happening tonight in the House Of Commons so good luck to the trade unions and MPs who have lobbied for so long to overturn the worst aspects of Tory anti trade union laws. Guardian today reported only 36 Labour MPs were set to rebel and try and tighten up the legislation so that strikers are protected and fascists expelled from union branches. Last year the Trade Union Freedom Bill was of course filibustered out in the House Of Commons so let's a hope a similar fate does not befall the amendments backed by Labour MPs like Dennis Skinner, John McDonnell, Jon Cruddas and Andrew Dismore as well as unions like UNITE, RMT and the Bakers' Union. And apologies for the earlier inertia .

Posted by susan press at 18:43 1 comments  

Labels: Employment Bill, rights, Trade Union Freedom Bill

Tonight I realised with some astonishment that it is FIVE years, not the four I had somehow morphed it into, since George Bush came to the UK on a State Visit that had hundreds of thousands of us on the streets of London protesting.
It was one of those many days in 2003 in which one felt deeply ashamed at what the Government and in particular our then Prime Minister Tony Blair had done in our name in Iraq - but such events bring the consolation of solidarity with others and many of the people I met on that cold November day in 2003 have since become good friends.
We all marched behind the Labour Against The War banner and I remember someone burning a US flag as we marched down Whitehall and into Trafalgar Square. I also remember talking to someone who was a civil servant and hiding his face from the TV cameras.
At the time, I was working for the Government 's press office in Manchester and not supposed to be politically active. So I made up some excuse as to why I would not be in work that day. But as I recall it people in the office just exchanged wry smiles ( well, the ones who knew me well). And now the Bush era is almost at an end .
In 24 hours' time America chooses a new President. Chances are it will be Obama. At least I hope so. Because whatever the shortcomings of the Democrats in the US, it will be the end of the George W years - and that has to be for the good. One can only hope that a change in the White House will bring some resolution to the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan - where five years down the line the killing goes on.

Posted by susan press at 22:43 0 comments  

Labels: George Bush, Iraq, US Presidency

A couple of years ago I spent a week in Tuscany Driving back from Florence on a baking hot day, we noticed a sign for a war cemetery where hundreds of young men who had fought on the often forgotten Italian front lay buried. We stopped off to pay tribute to those lives lost in battle. Most were in their early twenties - most from the UK, Canada, the US and Australia. It was a sad and sobering experience.
The Second World War was just round the corner for most of my generation. Our parents had all fought in the War, endured the horrors of the Blitz, terrible family losses and of course the advent of the nuclear age, with its prospect of an horrific Armageddon for all of us.
In 1989 I was part of an official delegation who were taken to is a war cemetery near St Petersburg where the thousands who had died in the Leningrad Siege against the Nazis lay buried in mass graves - each one marked not with names but with the year they had died. Auschwitz and Birkenau, where no-one remains, are equally terrible testaments to man's inhumanity to man.
Today, we're faced with genocide in the Congo , and needless deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. The suffering goes on.
Which is why next Sunday I will be laying wreaths at two Cenotaphs in the locality - and attending the memorial services afterwards. And I will also be wearing a red poppy. Not to glorify war, but to remember its tragic consequences. And hope that at some point in the future the killing will stop.

Posted by susan press at 12:29 3 comments  

Labels: Remembrance Sunday

My sympathies still go to the AWL comrades seemingly expelled from the Labour Party without the chance to make their case. My understanding always was that the AWL was a sect, not a Party. However it seems I was wrong. Apparently, AWL is registered as a political Party and that means of course skating on extremely thin ice which could see all its membership being expelled from the Labour Party
I therefore note with some concern ( and I really did NOT want to go here again) that the AWL has a motion - the same tired old motion - to this year's LRC Conference calling for support for non-Labour candidates.
Let's be clear. This hasn't got a cat in hell's of being passed. Why? Because the LRC is not into self-immolation and as we all know support for non-Labour candidates is a GUARANTEE of expulsion. Spontaneous political combustion. To be blunt, you just cannot have it both ways, ie be in the Labour Party and also part of another Party. But what you can do is work with comrades outside towards a common goal of socialism
The West Yorkshire LRC resolution urges support for working with conrades outside Labour but NOT in an electoral way. We hope it will be possible to have another Convention Of The Left in Brighton next year and that the LRC will play a significant role in that .
Unlike AWL, supporters of the Convention ( which is NOT an organisation) are not resolutionisisng about new parties. But what we are doing is working together on campaigns, protests and radicalisation of people through a positive dialogue and events to build bridges between the Labour and non-Labour Left. That dialogue will continue at the Recall Conference in Manchester on November 29. And it breaks no Labour Party rules.
I know and like several comrades in the AWL and would hate to see any of them expelled but by advocating what they are advocating they really are in severe danger of being kicked out of the Labour Party. Because the rules are quite clear. I'm sorry comrades but the vast majority of us in the LRC prefer to stick to them and continue to fight our corner with a Labour Party membership card. In short, guys, your resolution is utter madness. I urge you to withdraw it.

Posted by susan press at 10:29 7 comments  

Labels: AWL, LRC

Vince Cable gets front page billing in today's Guardian ( which probably means someone on the Labour Left told him about it originally)
The Libs' finance spokesman rails at the fact that the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is being bailed out with £20bn of taxpayers' money, has signalled it is preparing to pay bonuses to thousands of staff despite government pledges to crack down on City pay.
The bank has apparently set aside £1.79bn to cover "staff costs" - including discretionary bonuses - at its investment banking division .
The government had demanded that boardroom directors at RBS should not receive bonuses this year and the chief executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, is walking away without a pay-off. But below boardroom level, RBS and other groups are preparing to pay bonuses to investment bankers who continue to generate profits.
This is a nonsense - we need controls , regulation and representation for the taxpayers whose hard-earned cash is paying for these people to carry on laughing all the way to the partly-but-not-properly nationalised bank.

Posted by susan press at 10:21 1 comments  

Labels: banks, Vince Cable