Scotland, continue the fight for a better society

Many people woke up last friday to the news the No side had won and felt all their efforts were in vain. Here i try to explain we must not let peoples hopes which have been dashed turn in on themselves and to keep up the fight for a fairer society. "71% of 16 and 17-year olds voted for an independent Scotland, which means that almost three-quarters of the 16 and 17 year olds in Scotland have just witnessed their dreams of a better future snatched away from them predominantly by the voting habits of older generations. This referendum was the first opportunity the UK has ever given people aged 16 to have a democratic say over their own future, and they have proved that they should not be patronised by ‘adults’ who believe that young people cannot be trusted to handle politics. The defeat felt by many teenagers in Scotland right now is crushing: keeping young people engaged, treating them with respect and allowing them to keep having a say in their own future is the only way we can ensure we don’t end up with a generation lost to a pessimistic apathy. I was absolutely fascinated and taken in by the debate and discussions going on up in Scotland in the last few months. The way people talked about politics in ways we thought were long forgotten talkign in pubs in taxi's and in the workplace the idea of what future Scotland do you want to live in inspired many to come out and vote. But crucially it engaged people and shows people will flock to a campaign if they feel it matters to them and they do have a voice this time the Yes to independence campaign lost but for all those who have been through this experience young and old will have learnt a valuable lesson. Yes, there are a lot of angry and upset yes voters in Scotland right now. But there are also a lot of no voters who are already watching in horror as Westminster reneges on its last-minute devolution promises. No longer having to split people into two camps is not a bad thing, and I would personally be wary of any movement that tries to maintain a division between groups of the population depending on how they voted on 18 September. Since the referendum, there has been no shortage of writing from throughout the UK on the broken state of the Union and Westminster-based politics. People across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are calling for more control over their lives and their futures. New alliances can be formed between grassroots activists challenging the status quo, and in a post-referendum society this is only going to be easier. Leave behind the grudges – show people that the fight can continue, and it can benefit everybody. With the official turnout in the independence referendum at 85% this is above the normal turnout for elections and quite possibly was the biggest turnout for any election in post war Britain in Scotland. When was the last time you can remember that an entire nation was engaged with political debate, and people felt like they had the right to comment on issues and envisage a better society no matter what their background was? When was the last time that the Westminster establishment ran so scared that Gordon Brown was forced to help out a struggling David Cameron? When was the last time that people really felt like they might be able to stick it to the power? We can still do this – we can still make them run – and the yes campaign has shown that the way to achieve this is through grassroots engagement, collaboration across campaign groups, linking up the issues and refusing to give in to lies and scaremongering. We’ve spent the last two years imagining a better Scotland – and we don’t need to live in an independent state to start making it happen." with quotes and extracts from this brilliant novara media article by Miriam Dobson http://wire.novaramedia.com/2014/09/yesscotland-5-ways-to-continue-the-fight/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Plot to oust Gordon brown hosted at Hariot Harmans house

we learn today in the times that Hariot harmans house was used as the location for secret meetings with several other high ranked labour MP's before the genearl election to oust Gordon Brown before the election came around.

reading http://www.labourlist.org/plot-to-oust-brown-hatched-at-harmans-home

certain labou members should bear this in mind when defending her after she came under attack at the last PLP meeting where she was hammered for attacking Phil Woolas and making it impossible for him to return to the party even before a appeal had been heard to remove him as a MP.

I personally think Hariot Harman is a good MP and speaks very well but sometimes her actions can be a bit of a liability.

I dont know and havent heard too much of her and Ed milibands relationship but you always get the feeling she is up to something behind peoples backs as this times article highlights.

I just think we should be careful as labour members if you are one reading this to be careful before openly defending people like Hariot despite their great work. Trying to under mine the then PM is a serious thing. Lets not underestimate how serious that is and how destructive that could have been.

Their line was they didnt feel Gordon brown could win the next election. Well are they not making it twice as hard for him by trying to upset the apple cart ?

Just think its a bit wrong.

the liberal democrats in the coalition

Hello and welcome to another blog post. This post may sound like a bit of a attak on the liberals and i'm sorry if you ar a supporter of such, i'd love to take you up on a debate about your principles and the future of your party.

From waht seems to me a lot of liberal voters and supporters are blinded by power and the chance to get their beloved party into government.

The main question i want to ask you from this post is, is it all worth it ?

I really do believe despite waht the liberals say they have well and truely sold themselves out to the conservatives.
I recieved a responce to my email to Simon Hughes MP earlier and he was saying why he thinks this budget is liberal and fair. well i'm sorry simon i think you are sorely mistaken, is a rise in VAT a good thing for all, is it fair to all ? no it isnt it is a regressive tax which hits the poorer in our society the hardest.They can blame labour all they want but at the end of the day these are just excuses shooting over your shoulder at the last government to make the public feel its right what you are doing. In reality the polls suggest the liberals have taken a right battering. In some polls it shows them with just 13 points and labour just 2 points behind the tories.

As labour are the only party truely national with seats and major representation in all parts of the United Kingdom i think they are right to stand by their principles and be the true party for fairness.

Yes we made a few mistakes here and there but the recession was caused by the banks and them lending too much which people couldnt pay back. There was a credit crunch and they had no idea how to get out of it so ended up coming to the government to ask for help.

Like any good government they tried to help as much as they can to avoid a complete collapse of the banking sector. So in affect the bankers are the luckiest proportion of people i stil think. Even today they are still giving eachother ridiculous bonus's even though it is frowned on now.

Vince cables idea of the carrot and the stick approach of threatening the banks to start lending again is just complete foolishness in my view. The banks have no confidence and feel that they are treading on egg shells all the time with customers. Untill they can see the econemy starting to grow again and people starting to spend its no use Vice having a pop at them over not spending when they are being heavily scrutinised.

In my view it was the banks that got us into this situation in the first place so should be the ones who should foot the majority of the bill for getting us out of this mess. It was not labours fault or Gordon browns fault at all as leading tories would have yuo believe. they only tried to remedy the problem. This is a global crisis started in America and swept around the globe, You simply cant pin all of this mess on labour and Gordon brown i'm sorry i rather think Gordon did a excellent job despite what people say, we could have been in a far worse position if he hadnt done waht he had done. Even today he still regrets not spotting the signs sooner but who in say 2005 could have seen this coming ? i know i certainly couldnt.

So please dont believe the tories old mantra that we are just as bad as greece and all this scare mongering tactics, which in my view is a very dirty ugly form of politics, to scare your electorat into voting you in to get these barbaric cuts through. If the lib dems have any form of principles left inside their weak wet souls i suggest they try harder and work closer with labour on certain things, i know this may upset the coalition apple cart slightly but would they rather stand up for true fairness and progressive futures in this country or hang on to their limo's and fancy job titles in the government where in my view they shouldnt even be with just 52 seats it still doesnt seem right to me.