Monthly Archives: March 2010
New “Elsewhere on the Web”: Guest Blogging at FACT (7)
Yesterday I wrote a quick piece on the Chechen conflict for the MyWar blog at FACT, in response to the Moscow metro bombings. They’ve posted it this morning, and you can see it here.
As a question of terrorist tactics, the Chechen conflict is interesting for the combination of suicide fighters and hostage taking. While non-explosive suicide attacks are seen elsewhere – notably in Mumbai in November 2008 – it is an approach that the Chechen insurgents have made their own. The mixture of hostages and suicide fighters – as the Russian authorities have found – is extremely potent. Another relatively unusual element is the extensive use of female suicide fighters and bombers (the so-called “Black Widows”), something which has been relatively rare even in other Islamic insurgencies.
New “Elsewhere on the Web” – House of Twits
I wrote a blog post for House of Twits yesterday, arguing against Alan Johnson’s knee jerk decision to push through a ban on mephedrone.
You can read my post here. I’ve also responded to some comments this morning (scroll to the bottom of the page).
On a side note, Charon QC took a brief and biting look at this story under the headline “Home Office to ban Meow Meow within days when knees stop jerking“, with one of his wonderful little photoshopped images.
Let them eat crisps, or Free Vend for AND
This one’s about art, but if you’re one of my political readers I think you’ll appreciate it.
BBC Two’s The Bubble is a news quiz with a difference: the guest have been deliberately isolated from the week’s news, and are shown a selection of real and false news reports. Can they spot the difference? One item on this week’s show deserves a mention. Had an artist really constructed a vending machine which dispensed free packets of crisps when the Chancellor used certain negative words in his Budget speech?
Yes – and until 10 April it’s on show in the bar at The Dukes performing arts centre in Lancaster, as part of the Abandon Normal Devices Festival
Artist Ellie Harrison explains the thinking behind the work:
A rundown but functional old vending machine stands alone…every now and again, without warning, it springs into life – spewing out free packets of crisps for gallery visitors. The machine has been modified…Its new nervous system is a networked computer. Hidden out of view and running special software, it continually scans the news on the BBC News RSS feed – commanding the machine only to release snacks when words relating to the recession make the headlines.
Whilst seemingly an act of generosity – gifting free food at moments when further doom and gloom is reported – the Vending Machine also hints towards a time in the future when our access to food may literally be determined by wider political or environmental events.
Here’s her own video from an April 2009 installation of the work.
Given that any Budget delivered in the run up to the General Election is inevitably scrutinised for give aways, there’s something peculiarly appropriate about the work responding to the Budget speech. idea. Government generally, and the governing political party in particular, is all too often enticed into using “give aways” to distract from the reality of our daily lives. Vending Machine makes that relationship express.
VENDING MACHINE, by Ellie Harrison
The Dukes Bar, Lancaster until 10 April
Mon – Sat: 10am -11pm, Sun: 7pm – 11pm
BBC Comedy: One Good, one bad
Quick plugs for two BBC comedy series – one to watch, and one to to wince at.
The one to watch is “Shelfstackers”, a one-off comedy which was filmed as five shorts for BBC Switch, and is now available as a 25 minute omnibus shown on BBC Two. Following a day in the surreal life of the staff of Grogan’s Supermarket, it’s gently funny and (as anyone who’s had much to do with retail will know) painfully well observed in places. There’s also a companion website with extra videos and cartoons. Given the cast is largely comprised of young actors making their first TV appearance, this is an impressive effort. If this turned up again as a full series, I’d certainly watch. Given BBC Three picked up the purile – if sometimes hilarious – Coming of Age, it’s to be hoped they look at expanding “Shelfstackers”.
The one to wince at is “Above Their Station”, a one-off (?pilot?) on BBC Three. A comedy about the lives of three plastic plod (Police Community Support Officers) and their relationship with the “real” police at their station, it boasts both Dudley Sutton and Denis Lawson in supporting roles. But it falls flat – horribly flat – largely because it seemed to have decided to turn everything up to 11. Nothing was too zany, apparently. I’m not sure what the normally reliable Lawson was told to do, but his manic performance stops being funny within minutes, and while Sutton has some great gags, he’s otherwise wasted. Of the ostensible leads Luke Gell, Ashley Madekwe, and Rhys Thomas, only Madekw managed to raise a smile; the other two (Thomas also wrote it) came across as alternately annoying and disinterested. If it is going to be made into a series, I hope it gets a lot of reworking!
Just in case there’s any doubt, Above Their Station is better than The Persuasionists – which, given the way the BBC buried later episodes in the broadcast schedules, probably won’t be coming back.
New “Elsewhere on the Web”: Guest Blogging at FACT (6)
This is a little bit late: on Friday my guest blog post at FACT was a response to Ziad Doueiri’s West Beirut.
Also check out the post which preceded the screening, dealing with the events leading up to the Lebanese Civil War.
The Straight Choice, or Comparison Shopping Election Publicity
Having spent a fair bit of time delivering Conservative election leaflets in the past few weeks, I’m always interested to see what other parties are pushing through letterboxes.
Previously, the only way to find out was to see what came through your front door, or those of your party’s supporters in other areas – or, interestingly often, finding other party’s leaflets discarded on the pavement!
But in line with the increased use of online techniques in the upcoming General Election, and the Local Elections planned for May 6th, you can now have a nose at what other parties are doing from your desk.
The Straight Choice is a website which hosts uploaded scans of election materials. Sorted by constituency and party, and often with detailed tags, you can browse a wide selection of leaflets and letters from around the country.
Liverpool Constituencies:
(Currently, only Liverpool Riverside and Liverpool Wavertree have coverage.)
Have a look around – you might find out something interesting about your local campaigns.
Caborn’s Caper, or Better reasons to remember Butterfill
Labour ex-ministers are having a bad week of it. After Stephen Byers, Geoff Hoon, and Patricia Hewitt did their best to upstage the budget, it now turns out that Adam Ingram and Richard Caborn, respectively former Armed Services and former Sports minister, were also secretly taped by the Sunday Times/Dispatches team. If you’ve not already read it, John Humphrey’s comment following the first round of allegations is well worth a look.
Although various Conservative MPs were approached, only Sir John Butterfill actually took the bait. With five Labour ex-ministers and one MP (Margaret Moran) weighed against him, this makes the lobbying issue a party political one – any call for an investigation into claims by Stephen Byers that he had influenced policy, for example, becomes a call for an inquiry which could politically damage the Labour party.
Let’s be clear, an inquiry is needed into what Byers et al may have done in the past, not their behaviour when talking to the undercover journalists. If these people have influenced government policy in the way they claimed, this is a serious issue. It is even more serious if, as Richard Caborn is quoted in the Observer suggesting, civil servants’ decisions have been effectively suborned.
An inquiry is needed, and I struggle to understand the logic of Brown’s blanket refusal. Any properly conducted inquiry couldn’t hope to report before May 6, so any fall out from its findings would occur after the election. Moreover, having an inquiry will prevent Cameron and Clegg from making further mileage from the issue – since they’d be pre-judging the results, prejudicing the outcome, preventing a proper investigation, etc., etc. The refusal feels like a mistake, and will start to look like a serious error if further revelations drip out over the next week or so.
My immediate response to this story last week was that Brown’s position within the Labour had actually been strengthened by this story, given it was prominent Blairites who were being exposed. I still think that’s true, but that will change if his refusal to hold an inquiry develops from mistake to serious error.
On a side note, there’s a real irony in Sir John Butterfill being the only Tory on the list, given the Labour movement probably has more reason to respect him than any of the Blairite ex-ministers exposed by the undercover investigation. Last year, Sir John was responsible for the Building Societies (Funding) and Mutual Societies (Transfers) Act, which he introduced as a private member’s bill (the Financial Mutuals Arrangements Bill). The Act makes it possible for mutual societies to merge – something which improves the prospects of survival for co-operatives and mutuals – and made the Britannia Building Society’s merge with Co-operative Financial Services possible. It’s a real shame that he may now be remembered for a tawdry lobbying scandal, rather his private members bill.
Tax has to be taxing, or Warrant-less searches by post!
Earlier I was writing about the relative liberalism – or lack thereof – of Liverpool’s Labour MPs.
Given their pretty woeful track record on standing up for their constituents’ civil liberties, would anyone care to guess how they might to vote on proposals to expand HMRC’s ability to conduct warrant-less searches?
Henry Porter wrote an excellent piece this morning about the Government’s plans, comparing them to the powers of the Stasi in the GDR.
Ahead of a General Election is one of the few times that a parliamentary democracy is particularly democratic. It’s time to start asking our MPs – and those people vying to be our MPs after May 6 – how they’ll vote on these proposals.
For Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, opposing these plans is wholly in keeping with our platforms. The Conservatives have already committed to rolling back the “surveillance state” and reforming RIPA so as to prevent the widespread use – and frankly, abuse – for petty issues. I see opposing these latest plans are a logical development. If HMRC have evidence, they should be able to go before a judge and get a warrant. If they haven’t, then why are they wanting to open post in the first place?
But what about Labour? The party that brought you a DNA database that breaches your human rights, the party that wanted to lock people up for 42 days without trial, the party that says it’s proud of having done these things and built a surveillance state besides?
Try asking your local MPs. If you’re in Liverpool Riverside, you can contact Louise Ellman here. If you’re in Garston and Halewood, you can’t contact Maria Eagle here – as her website seems to be down, so try this instead.
Anywhere else, try writetothem.com, which makes finding and contacting your local representatives simple and straight forward.
Ask your PPCs when they come to hustings, or turn up on your doorsteps. Don’t let them avoid the question, either – make them tell you what they’d do.
Once every five years we live in a democracy. It’s time we started behaving like it.
Liberty in Liverpool, or Just what do we get for our votes
Liberal Democrat Voice – a yellow tinged version of ConHome – has a tool which lets you check out how authoritarian or libertarian MPs are.
Let’s be clear: it’s not the final word, just a rule of thumb, and it relies on the way MPs voted on the following issues:
- Freedom of Speech
- ID Cards
- 90 days detention
- Abolition of Parliament Bill
- Trial without a Jury
- MPs’ Expenses (FOI exemption)
- Control Orders
- Extradition Act 2003
- Government intervention in collection of evidence
- DNA database
It’s also – as you’d expect with the LibDems, heavily slanted towards social liberalism, rather than economic liberalism.
With these limitations noted, the results are interesting:
| Party Leader | Authoritarian % | Missed Votes |
|---|---|---|
| Gordon Brown | 55% | Six |
| David Cameron | 12% | Five |
| Nick Clegg | 9% | Four |
Even allowing for the slight difference in the number of missed votes, the result is telling. That big clunking fist is significantly more authoritarian than either Cameron or Clegg.
Now, let’s have a little look at Liverpool’s MPs. They’re all Labour (yes, even Bob Wareing – he’s only an independent since he was deselected in 2007), so you might expect them to be much of a muchness.
You’d be wrong.
| Constituency | MP | Authoritarian % | Missed votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garston and Halewood | Maria Eagle | 100% | None |
| Liverpool Riverside | Louise Ellman | 90% | One |
| Liverpool Walton | Peter Kilfoyle | 56% | Three |
| Liverpool Wavertree | Jane Kennedy | 83% | Two |
| Liverpool West Derby | Bob Wareing | 13% | Two |
It makes pretty depressing reading. Eagle, Ellman, and Kennedy are particularly bad – loyalist to the core, they’ve consistently put their party’s dictates ahead of their constituents rights, voting with the government to infringe the civil liberties. Both Ellman and Kennedy missed votes, so their scores would be even worse if they’d gone through the lobbies on those issue.
Frankly, they should be ashamed of the fact that ‘Serbian’ Bob Wareing is more liberal than them. Realistically, I doubt they care – and I suspect they’re the kind who view it as a badge of pride that they’re more “loyal” than him.
In democracies, even the kind of titular democracy represented by parliamentary systems, the real problem is not authoritarian leaders, but the “useful idiots” who give them legitimacy and support.
In Liverpool, we have three useful idiots as sitting MPs, and one more (Peter Kilfoyle) who’s not far behind. Eagle and Ellman are both up for re-election, and it would be nice to think that people might actually consider their voting records when they go to the polls. If you vote for these people, you compromise the right to complain about the infringements of your civil liberties, because you have enabled them.
