PURNELL BACKS YET MORE PRIVATISATION

Unctuous Minister James Purnell is proving his worth as a zealot for yet mre privatisation.
On Thursday, he nnounced 12,000 job losses at the Department for Work and Pensions just after giving the green light to plans to hand over Britain's welfare system to the private sector.
Private contractors have been promised up to £75 billion to deliver employment services and other welfare. They will be paid £50,000 for everyone who is found a job.
"For the providers, the rewards will be high, with longer contracts and a growing market," Purnell enthused at a conference in central London.
However, he made no mention of course of the job losses among his own staff during his speech.
The man who recently signed off plans to close dozens of Remploy factories - reneging utterly on a deal promised by his predecessor Peter Hain - will expect private contractors to target people on incapacity benefits.
In revoltingly Blairite language, he declared that he wanted a "step change" in the benefits system, giving private and voluntary groups more freedom to "personalise" the employment service.
The benefits privatisation plan is based on recommendations from wealthy investment banker David Freud, who believes that he can force two million people off incapacity benefits. What a disgrace. It would give me great pleasure to see Purnell out of a job - along with all the other pro-privatisation members of this Government.

AN EVENING OF HORRIBLE CONTRASTS.....

Tonight I attended a concert hosted by Calderdale's Music Service in Halifax. Young people from all over the borough. Primary school children, older kids. It was great. I was particularly touched by a multi-cultural choir singing theuir hearts out in Urdu and English. Their sheer happiness in singing was self-evident - likewise a special needs choir . All led by someone who is clearly a truly inspirational teacher and musician. Stopped off for a glass of wine in Hebden Bridge - where confronted by people giving it large about asylum-seekers and basically coming out with racist crap. These were not your classic BNP stereotypes but supposedly "decent" middle-class people. I sometimes despair. I also think that this Government's obsession with the notion of "Britishness" and closing our borders at every opportunity is fuelling such bile. And that it must be countered at every opportunity.

NO MORE FRIENDS OF BIG BUSINESS......

Tribune is rallying support for AMICUS senior official Mike Griffiths as new General Secretary and, as far as I can see, he's a far better bet than the opposition. I am not , to use the Mandelson phrase "intensely relaxed" about rich City businessmen having key roles in this Party and I would hope that would be the view of a majority of grassroots activists. Including those who represent the "grassroots" on the NEC.

AN ATTEMPT by Gordon Brown to impose a City whiz-kid as Labour’s new general secretary has opened a battle of wills between the unions and Downing Street.
Support is rallying behind the former party chair and Amicus/Unite senior official Mike Griffiths in a bid to ensure the job goes to an experienced Labour insider.
Mr Brown’s favoured candidate was Paul Myners, a London businessman and chair of the Guardian Media Group and the Low Pay Commission. Mr Myners, whose career has included top jobs at Marks and Spencer and PowerGen and who also chairs the Tate Gallery, donated £9,700 to Mr Brown’s uncontested leadership campaign.
But Mr Myners is understood to have turned down the offer and Mr Brown has turned to another City figure, David Pitt-Watson, the former assistant general secretary of the Labour Party from 1997-99. Mr Pitt-Watson is the founder and chair of Hermes Equity Ownership and previous chief executive of its asset management team.

LET'S GET THE RAILWAYS BACK ON TRACK

The last time I travelled to London it took a miserable five hours ( two to get to Leeds 25 miles away) and it was fortunate I was staying overnight with friends and had a chance to recuperate after a gruellingjourney. Weekend journeys all over the country are systematically made difficult by enginerring works. Some is necessary, some unavoidable. But it's simply appalling that Network Rail can't get its act together sufficiently to avoid the £14 million fine imposed by Ofrail for its failure to deliver in the New Year.
Ironically, the decision comes on the day that the NR chairman, Sir Ian McAllister - who stayed at home during the crisis, saying he would only get in the way if he went in to work - is officially knighted at Buckingham Palace. You couldn't, as they say, make it up.

I SLEPT THROUGH AN EARTHQUAKE.....

Not much blogging for the past two days as have been teaching . So tired last night due to mental endeavours that I even slept through an earthquake! Today, rest and relaxation ordained i took some friends out to lunch and now face three hours of council meetings. On the agency workers issue, fear the unions are about to do their usual. The mood music from Brendan Barber is the usual pap. Hope I'm wrong. But not holding my breath. Expect to be back blogging in earnest tomorrow.

FEARLESS GREENPEACE FLYI NG HIGH....

When it comes to getting their point across, members of Greenpeace get the prize for being fearless. Indeed a friend of mine who is a freelance photographer spent several weeks in a US jail after one particularly tricky protest. So well done the Heathrow protestors hitting the headlines today after raising the baners against climate change on top of a jet which had landed at Heathrow from Manchester. I await with interest more news .........

TIME FOR UNION LEADERS TO STAND FIRM

The trade union bureaucrats have not exactly been inspirational in the last 12 months. When push comes to shove, on almost every issue important to the left, they have rolled over and died . But let's hope that the massive vote in favour of Andrew Miller's Bill on Friday will give them a bit of backbone today when the meet Gordon Brown.
Brown, of course, will be aiming for a fudge so that the proposals to give equal rights to temmporary and agency workers can go into the long grass for a bit longer via a spurious "Commission." That just won't wash - given the amount of support for the Bill in the House of Commons on Friday. As Halifax MP Linda Riordan said to me on saturday, it made you remeber why you had jouned the Labour Party in the first place.
So let's hope that Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, sticks to his belief that the Commons vote has "quashed" the idea of a commission.
He says, "The evidence of the need for legislation now is overwhelming and we will not accept the promise of jam tomorrow."

SPRING AND SUMMER PLANS

A good meeting yesterday with Linda Riordan MP where West Yorkshire LRC established links with three more constituencies (Dewsbury, Shipley and Harrogate and Knaresborough) and laid plans for events around May Day weekend in Leeds, a music festival in the summer and of course the day-to-day grind of campaigning in the constituencies. Our numbers are growing slowly but steadily and fortunately we have the support of grassroots MPs like Linda, who prvided us with lots of useful background on Northern Rock, the Agency Workers Bill, and threats to funding for women victims of abuse.

OPERATION GAUNT SHADOW......

I was really pleased with the vote yesterday in the House of Commons ( also backed by Ian McCartney and tacitly by John Prescott) now comes the difficult bit. 800 words on this and other low pay issues following an interview with USDAW General Secretary John Hannett.

I also have a lighter piece to write on restaurants - and a meeting at 3pm. Why do I do this ?

I actually woke at 6.15 and lay awake for two hours pondering going for a walk, getting a paper, healthy breakfast and three hours writing before lunchtime. Did none of those things, fell back asleep and this is the consequence.

There is also the business of Operation Gaunt Shadow to contemplate......In 10 weeks time or so I will possibly ( but not inevitably) become Mayor of Hebden Royd which will entail many functions and photo opps. As, obviously, I want to look my best I need to lose some weight - fast. The plan is a vegan diet for several weeks, no organic cider and halving alcohol intake. Usually does the trick. Unfortunately, I do this about three times a year, lose half a stone, and then put it all back on again. So much so that "Operation Gaunt Shadow" has in fact become a joke among my little circle. Anyway, need to stop displacement blogging and start writing.....

THIS BILL WAS SUPPORTED BY 136 MPs FROM ALL WINGS OF PARTY -NO WAY OUT OF THIS ONE GORDON!

I think that's what you call a result..... by 147 votes to 11, Labour MPs have backed Andrew Miller's bid to end the two-tier workfirce and give equal rights to agency workers. Which will make it very, very difficult for the Government to listen to the hysterical voices of the CBI and try and weasel its way out of ensuring that the growing number of temporary and agency workers enjoy the same rights as permanent staff. We don't need a "Commission", we just need this long overdue legislation to be implemented ASAP. And here's the full list of MPs who backed it , which I notice includes Peter Hain......Alun Michael, Fiona MacTaggart and EVEN Sion Simon.
Our three neighbouring MPs, Chris McCafferty, Linda Riordan and Mike Wood are all on the roll of honour. Well done, all . The message couldn't be clearer......


Diane Abbott (Hackney North & Stoke Newington)
David Anderson (Blaydon)
Janet Anderson (Rossendale & Darwen)
John Austin (Erith & Thamesmead)
John Battle (Leeds West)
Hugh Bayley (York, City of)
Anne Begg (Aberdeen South)
Sir Stuart Bell (Middlesbrough)
Joe Benton (Bootle)
Roger Berry (Kingswood)
Clive Betts (Sheffield Attercliffe)
David Borrow (South Ribble)
Russell Brown (Dumfries & Galloway)
Richard Burden (Birmingham Northfield)
Colin Burgon (Elmet)
Martin Caton (Gower)
Colin Challen (Morley & Rothwell)
Ben Chapman (Wirral South)
David Chaytor (Bury North)
Katy Clark (Ayrshire North & Arran)
David Clelland (Tyne Bridge)
Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley)
Harry Cohen (Leyton & Wanstead)
Michael Connarty (Linlithgow & Falkirk East)
Frank Cook (Stockton North)
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North)
Jim Cousins (Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
David Crausby (Bolton North East)
Jonathan Cruddas (Dagenham)
Ann Cryer (Keighley)
John Cummings (Easington)
Jim Cunningham (Coventry South)
Ian Davidson (Glasgow South West)
Jim Devine (Livingston)
Jim Dobbin (Heywood & Middleton)
Frank Dobson (Holborn & St Pancras)
Frank Doran (Aberdeen North)
Jim Dowd (Lewisham West)
David Drew (Stroud)
Gwyneth Dunwoody (Crewe & Nantwich)
Clive Efford (Eltham)
Natascha Engel (Derbyshire North East)
Frank Field (Birkenhead)
Mark Fisher (Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South)
Paul Flynn (Newport West)
Michael Jabez Foster (Hastings & Rye)
Dr Hywel Francis (Aberavon)
Mike Gapes (Ilford South)
John Grogan (Selby)
Peter Hain (Neath)
Mike Hall (Weaver Vale)
David Hamilton (Midlothian)
Fabian Hamilton (Leeds North East)
Dai Havard (Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney)
Doug Henderson (Newcastle upon Tyne North)
David Heyes (Ashton under Lyne)
Sharon Hodgson (Gateshead East & Washington West)
Kate Hoey (Vauxhall)
Jimmy Hood (Lanark & Hamilton East)
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North)
George Howarth (Knowsley North & Sefton East)
Lindsay Hoyle (Chorley)
Joan Humble (Blackpool North & Fleetwood)
Dr Brian Iddon (Bolton South East)
Eric Illsley (Barnsley Central)
Glenda Jackson (Hampstead & Highgate)
Sian James (Swansea East)
Martyn Jones (Clwyd South)
Fraser Kemp (Houghton & Washington East)
Peter Kilfoyle (Liverpool Walton)
Dr Ashok Kumar (Middlesbrough South & Cleveland East)
Dr Stephen Ladyman (Thanet South)
Bob Laxton (Derby North)
Tom Levitt (High Peak)
Martin Linton (Battersea)
Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central)
Andy Love (Edmonton)
Christine McCafferty (Calder Valley)
Ian McCartney (Makerfield)
John McDonnell (Hayes & Harlington)
Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes)
Ann McKechin (Glasgow North)
Fiona Mactaggart (Slough)
Khalid Mahmood (Birmingham Perry Barr)
John Mann (Bassetlaw)
Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South)
David Marshall (Glasgow East)
Michael Meacher (Oldham West & Royton)
Alun Michael (Cardiff South & Penarth)
Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port & Neston)
Anne Moffat (East Lothian)
Margaret Moran (Luton South)
Julie Morgan (Cardiff North)
George Mudie (Leeds East)
Chris Mullin (Sunderland South)
Denis Murphy (Wansbeck)
Dr Doug Naysmith (Bristol North West)
Bill Olner (Nuneaton)
Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock)
Albert Owen (Ynys Mon)
Greg Pope (Hyndburn)
Stephen Pound (Ealing North)
Gordon Prentice (Pendle)
Gwyn Prosser (Dover)
Ken Purchase (Wolverhampton North East)
Linda Riordan (Halifax)
John Robertson (Glasgow North West)
Geoffrey Robinson (Coventry North West)
Terry Rooney (Bradford North)
Virendra Sharma (Ealing Southall)
Jimmy Sheridan (Paisley & Renfrewshire North)
Sion Simon (Birmingham Erdington)
Marsha Singh (Bradford West)
Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)
Andrew Smith (Oxford East)
John Smith (Vale of Glamorgan)
Helen Southworth (Warrington South)
John Spellar (Warley)
Phyllis Starkey (Milton Keynes South West)
Ian Stewart (Eccles), Gavin Strang (Edinburgh East)
Graham Stringer (Manchester Blackley)
Dari Taylor (Stockton South)
David Taylor (Leicestershire North West)
Emily Thornberry (Islington South & Finsbury)
Jon Trickett (Hemsworth)
Dr Desmond Turner (Brighton Kemptown)
Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North)
Lynda Waltho (Stourbridge)
Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton Test)
Alan Williams (Swansea West)
Phil Wilson (Sedgefield)
David Winnick (Walsall North)
Mike Wood (Batley & Spen)
Anthony Wright (Great Yarmouth).

END THE TWO-TIER WORKFORCE!

Today sees the second reading of a Private Members ' Bill demanding equal rights for
Britain's 1.4 million agency workers.
Andrew Miller's Bill would give temporary workers the same employment rights as those enjoyed by permanent, directly employed staff. It's predictably opposed by the CBI and, shamefully , many in the Government. Yesterday I spoke to the very moderate General Secretary of USDAW, who are backing the Bill 100 per cent.
The problem is, as ever, will there be enough Labour MPs willing to support these very modest measures which are on the statute book elsewehere in Europe .
As TULO - Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation chairman Tony Dubbins points out "threats by the CBI about job cuts should hold no sway with the government, as their dire warnings about job losses as a result of the minimum wage or equal pay for part-time workers have never come to pass."
Dubbins predicts in the Morning Star that that the 100 Labour MPs needed to move the Bill forward will be in the Commons today to send a "clear message" that there is widespread abuse of agency workers. If they are not , it absolutely undermined the credibility of the Labour Party when it comes to fighting low pay.
As UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis says: "Temporary and agency workers are not currently equal under the law. They routinely put up with less pay - the TUC put this figure at £110 per week. They also receive only statutory sick pay and holidays, no pension or training,"

GRANITE ISSUE WON'T GO AWAY....

It's quite extraordinary how the media airbrushes the Labour left out of the equation when it comes to coverage of key issues. Having made this the subject of my General Studies A Level essay 30 years ago i suppose I should no longer be surprised. But here we are again. Vince Cable may have got the credit from the BBC but the gaping £40billion Granite hole in the Northern Rock nationalisation was actually uncovered in the Commons the other day by John McDonnell MP. The details of the Hansard debate ( nothing more objective than Hansard...) are on Union Futures. John has now gone on to explain why the Granite issue is so important and it now looks likely it will be investigated further as the Lords have demanded key amendments to the nationalisation legislation.

TELL NEW LABOUR WHAT YOU THINK....

If you are a Party member, you will just have received one of those irritating round robins asking for our views on Labour's "Top 50 Achievements" Well , I suggest we all reply. Politely, of course.

My suggestions include ending what is now a punitive approach to immigration under the guise of "citizenship" , not wasting millions on PFI projects, and bringing the troops home from Iraq. I'm sure many of you will have lots more ideas.

HELLO AND GOODBYE

Blogs come and go - for reasons best known to bloggers. It's an uphill struggle unless you have absolutely nothing else to do or are suffering from OCD. This week, frankly, I have been too tired to put full energies into things. And as last night I" relaxed " a little too much and had one more bottle of organic cider than I should have done, my creativity is somewhat askew. However as promised I will add A Very Public Sociologist to my blogroll. But it's a sad goodbye to JRD168 ( once a very keen blogger) and Tony In Cragg Vale.And I'm off to buy some Nurofen.........

STOP BLAIR!

If the thought of Tony Blair re-appearing in our lives as the President of the EU brings you out in a sweat then now is your chance to sign this petition - and pass it on !

http://www.stopblair.eu/

BBC GETS IT WRONG. ON LATEST NORTHERN ROCK CONTROVERSY

Earlier today the BBC was claiming it was the Liberal Democrats' Vince Cable who had exposed the gaping - GRANITE - hole in the Government's plans to nationalise Northern Rock . Not so. Who actuually landed the "Exocet" in the middle of the House of Commons ???? See Marsha Jane's blog and well yes I daresay you have guessed it already.......

CITIZENSHIP- OR RACISM ?

The BBC reported the Government's latest , disgraceful, proposals on earned citizenship yesterday. A transcript is below. These outrageous measures have now been condemned by many Labour Mps, including Bradford's Marsha Singh, Keith Vaz and even former Home Office Minister Fiona Mactaggart.At the risk of repeating myself ad nauseam, what in God's ame is a labour Governmentdoing coming out with these draconian, appallingly right-wing, discriminatory policies. Let's hope they are kicked out of the Commons.

Immigrants who want to become British and settle permanently in the UK will need to pass more tests to "prove their worth" to the country under new plans.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said migrants would need to demonstrate their contribution to society beyond simply working and paying taxes.
Some migrants may also have to pay into a fund towards public services and have a period of "probationary citizenship".
Unveiling the proposals, Ms Smith said reforming how people become citizens was the unfinished business of the UK's migration system.
She said that future migrants would need to "earn" citizenship. Ms Smith said migrants from outside the EEA would no longer have an option of living in the UK without becoming more committed to society over time.
In the future, she said, they would be encouraged to "move on" through a system that leads to citizenship - or choose ultimately to leave the country. And she's proposing......
Raising visa fees for a special "transitional impact" fund
More English language testing ahead of nationality
Requirements to prove integration into communities
Increasing how long it takes to become British
The system could see migrants with children or elderly relatives expected to pay higher application fees. Migrants would find their route to citizenship and full access to benefits, such as higher education, accelerated if they can prove they are "active" citizens.
This would include proof of charity work, involvement in the local community and letters from referees.

JOHN MCDONNELL'S TAKE ON CUBA

This is taken from the New Statesman on-line http://www.newstatesman.com/

"There can be no dispute that Fidel Castro’s coming to power in Cuba in 1959 was a progressive revolution – heroically led by Castro and his allies. It replaced a barbaric regime under Batista in which the island economy served the US business elite and mafia. The 26th July movement, led by Castro and Che Guevara, swept to power on a wave of popular support.
Neither can there be any dispute that there have been immense achievements in terms of healthcare, poverty reduction and education. As a poor country, Cuba now has levels of healthcare that rival some of the wealthiest countries in the world and exports its doctors across Latin America and other parts of the developing world – with over 20,000 Cuban doctors working abroad – demonstrating the internationalism of the revolution.
These achievements have been made in the most arduous circumstances – with the US embargo, invasions, acts of sabotage, assassination attempts and threats that have kept the country in a state of permanent siege.
This has almost inevitably meant a more tightly controlled society – but unlike Stalin’s Russia there have never been any Cuban gulags. The one camp in Cuba that holds political prisoners without charge or hope of a fair trial is in Guantanamo Bay – an illegally occupied part of Cuba, in which the US still holds hundreds. It is an irony that some may criticise Castro, yet forget that many countries the UK government cosies up to – from the US and Israel to Saudi Arabia and China – commit grotesque human rights abuses with barely a peep from the Government or media.
Some argue that the revolution has not yet gone far enough in terms of a thoroughgoing democracy based upon fundamental civil rights, but this revolution is a work in progress. The transfer of wealth and power from a corrupt elite to a situation in which every Cuban has the right to free healthcare and education, to secure housing, to subsidised food and travel is a massive advance in social rights. Unlike many Latin American countries, abortion in Cuba is free on demand, and maternity leave is one year on full pay.
Cuba’s achievements have also been phenomenal in democratising access to sport and the arts – the reason Cuba excels in these fields is because everyone is encouraged to develop their talents all regardless of wealth.
People rightly ask could the Cuban revolution have gone further? Of course, and undoubtedly will in a new climate in Latin America where popularly elected leaders such as Chavez in Venezuela and Morales in Bolivia have bolstered the regional forces in support of socialism.
With the potential of change in Washington too, there is an opportunity for the US to reject its outdated Cold War policy towards Cuba. There is a role for the UK and European partners to mediate a new relationship between the US, Cuba and Europe.
This must not be done in a patronising way but recognising that when it comes to creating a more equal, a more environmentally sustainable, and a more engaged society, we can learn a lot from Cuba and Castro’s achievements.
Cuba serves as a beacon to many socialists because it shows in the most difficult circumstances – isolated, bullied and victimised – what can be done in a society where people’s living standards are put above the rights of a few to be filthy rich. Next time you hear a UK politician tell you that free prescriptions, free care for the elderly, free university education is all unaffordable – ask them how a poor tiny island nation can manage it, yet the fifth richest country in the world can’t.

RIGHT BACK WHERE I STARTED FROM ........

I find myself currently in a rather curious "Groundhog Day" situation. After 22 years as a journalist ( which I hope to continue) I am back part-time teaching, which I last did 24 years ago under ILEA (Inner London Education Authority) .
And it's great. Why? Because actually it's a serious positive to have the adrenaline rush of being kept on my intellectual toes and , to use the modern phrase ,"engaging" young people and challenging them.
And, after a lot of years going down the pragmatist route politically, I firmly believe that the left now has to stop apologising and start explaining why the solutions some of us embraced when we were young are still the best ones possible.
I'm no longer interested in conniving to instigate dodgy "deals" with those who remain determined to cosy up to the business community. As socialists, we should stand firm and take no prisoners. That means standing up for the working-class, defending trade union rights, and ultimately deciding which side we are on in the fight against capitalism. A plague on the neo-cons, we should be 100 per cent against globalisation and its wicked consequences,.Most of which are about to become apparent in the first worldwide slump for many a long year.
I'm one of the lucky ones. I was lucky to benefit from a vaguely social democrat world in which kids like me were able to get a decent education, live an independent life and not have to worry about mountainous amounts of debt which had to be paid back because the Govt would not tax those that could afford it.
So don't ask me to be enthusiastic about a New Labour Government, don't ask me to water down my beliefs. The only way in which we are really going to bring back a younger generation uncowed by 20 years of Thatcherism is, yes, to be idealistic, not to be kow-towing to the CBI, stand firm and yes to be embracing values of peace, social justice, and universal welfare care for all those that need it. In short, socialism.
Those are the values which inspired my parents and grandparents in times a damn sight harder for working people than they are now. And God knows they are still hard enough for millions in this country.
If anyone asks me what truly matters then what we have to do is start addressing what kind of world we want for the generations which follow us .That means re-building the left - not diluting it.

ADIOS FIDEL.....

There was I blethering on like an idiot about my reading glasses while the rest of the world was agog at the news that Castro has just announced he is stepping down. For years, I said I must go to Cuba ( ie while Castro was still in charge) and now it's too late. Time waits for no man, not even the legendary Fidel whose health has been a subject of speculation for nigh on two years. Let's hope Bush doesn't use this as an excuse for more gung-ho militarism. And that the transition to a new Cuba is a peaceful one. Viva socialismo!

Update: And Gordon Brown is already talking about steering Cuba towards a more "pluralist democracy" ie no doubt he has visions of the neo-cons in the US and the free market muscling in . To which I say "El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido" ...........the workers united shall never be defeated ...........

THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY.....

In the last 12 months, I have got through about 12 pairs of reading glasses.Lost, variously, in Manchester ( anti-war demo) Bournemouth (Labour Party Conference) , the Trades Club and Fox and Goose (Hebden Bridge) and so on. Superdrug and Boots are laughing all the way to the bank but I am getting to the stage where I'm going to have to wear them round my neck like Miss Marple.
Sheer vanity ordains don't want to wear them all the time so usually end up with them perched on my head - and looking like a slightly batty owl. This morning I managed to lose a pair in between standing at the bus-stop for a lift and getting into the car. Several days ago I sat on another pair after losing them in my coat-lining. Two pairs lost/ destroyed in one week. A record........

THE COMMANDING HEIGHTS.......

I can't help smiling at the headlines pointing out that Gordon Brown has spent much of the past 24 hours defending his decision ( and it was HIS decision) to nationalise Northern Rock.
It must really have hurt this "evangelist for globalisation" to have to take control of a busted private sector flush back into public ownership - to protect taxpayers and the shareholders.
To a New Labour generation for whom the very idea of nationalisation is probably as abhorrent as necrophilia, this will be terrible news.
For the left, I believe this is a golden opportunity for us to show that the free market cannot protect people from the iniquities of capitalism - and that sometimes the state must - and should - intervene. "Nationalisation" does not have to mean state-run shibboleths - it can actually mean , er , the public good. And there are many forms of public ownership...... just waiting to happen.
Ex Marxism Today guru Martin Jaques, one of those basically responsible for New Labour, certainly thinks this could be a seminal moment. His was the brain which coined the phrase "The Project" to describe what eventually turned out to be the end of the social democratic consensus. In latter years, he has recanted his enthusiasm for the Third Way.
Casting round the internet, I was interested to note that by 1998 Jaques and his erstwhile comrades were already begininng to realise that in discarding their leftism and embracing Blairism they might have made a tiny wincy, er, mistake.
As journalist Decca Aitkenhead reported : "It seems more likely that they are feeling a little guilty. Like a teenager, Marxism Today neglected the basics of the left, imagining that things like equality would survive just fine. As all teenagers discover to their cost, they're a little sorry when it's too late."
Ten years down the New Labour line, Jaques is clearly hopeful that the tide is about to turn back towards the left. Let's hope so.....

NORTHERN ROCK NATIONALISED!

Comrades, come rally. Can scarcely believe this but Telegraph is reporting that Northern Rock has been taken into public ownership after the high-profile Virgin bid was judged to be "out of the ballpark" in terms of value to the taxpayer.
Apparently, in an "acrimonious "conversation this afternoon with Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, broke the news that the entrepreneur's demands were impossible for the Government to accept.
As late as Saturday, Mr Darling and the Prime Minister had hoped a private-sector deal to rescue the troubled bank could still be achieved without compromising public funds. But by Sunday morning, it came apparent that Sir Richard's offer, and a second bid from the Rock's board, the only deals still on the table, involved far too great a public subsidy, with limited returns to the taxpayer.The announcement that Northern Rock would, despite Gordon Brown's increasingly desperate efforts to secure a private sector deal, be nationalised after all came after a weekend of hurried phone calls, cancelled holidays and rushed meetings. About, er , bloody time.......The bad news ,of course, is that the nationalisation is only "temporary."

WOMEN WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE.......

What a pampered age we live in..... have just been doing some research for a piece on International Women's Day for Labour Briefing. Inspiring stuff about the women garment workers in New York and the IWW. A fascinating piece of American socialist history and one I would love to know more about.

One of the sad things about getting older is the realisation that you are running out of time to read all the books you want to. But I shall definitely be mugging up on a particularly intriguing woman called Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the "Rebel Girl" commemorated in a song by Joe Hill. She was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, a place I visited on a whim 18 years ago (on the rather vacuous basis that I had also been born in Manchester !) so there is definitely a bit of a connection there......

"SCOUSE GIT" SOUNDS OFF AGAIN.......

When I think of Tony Booth (which isn't often) there are two words which spring to mind. One is loose. And the other one is cannon. He now lives locally and it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I watched him arrive at our John McDonnell leadership campaign meeting a year or so ago.
I have to say that despite my concerns he behaved impeccably and nodded sagely on more than one occasion during John's speech ( even if his resolutely Blairite wife claimed they had gone there "by accident" afterwards) .
Anyway, after a period of relative quiet Booth is at it again in today's Mail On Sunday calling Gordon Brown a "shit" ( excuse the language) and generally badmouthing him. Even more embarrassingly for his ex son-in-law, Booth reveals he took his grandson Euan Blair to the red light district in Amsterdam because he "wanted to see it." Sounds like Euan iks a chip off the old block as anyone who has read TB's memoirs will be aware, his past is more than a little chequered. I have the first edition ( someone gave it to me) in which he talks in rather graphic detail about his "crumpeteering" days. I'm sure those are now over. But if i were Labour candidate in Todmorden , which Booth's fourth wife is, then I would tell him to keep quiet.

A LIFE OF CONTRASTS.....

Have been working all day.....first a restaurant review which I should have finished two weeks ago. Then a reluctant 90 minutes jawing on about the joys of organic make-up for a lifestyle magazine ( it pays the bills) . And have just spent the last hour trawling the internet for a piece I'm doing to mark the 100th anniversary of the first International Women's Day in 1908. As this requires rather more thought than the previous two, I think it's time I clocked off ........

"ST" DELIA'S HALO SLIPS.....

In a world where grown men turn to jelly at the sight of Nigella Lawson licking spoons and whatever else happens to take her fancy, I have always felt a bit sorry for Delia Smith. Until now. You would seriously think this schoolmarmy , definitely unsexy, cook ( she was never a chef) would have earned quite enough cash from her sundry books and TV programmes to keep Norwich City going to the next millennium. But no. She has come up with a wizard new wheeze - which is a new book called "How To Cheat At Cooking." Except that, er, it isn't a new book at all.

Many many years ago, I bought a copy of the very same title as a young woman setting up home with A N Other. The man has long gone and so has the book but I remember its reliance on Smash potato, tinned mince, Campbells mushroom soups and other such horrors for lashing up store cupboard meals in a dire emergency. Delia has now re-jigged it for a more sophosticated age. So the mash is from the freezer cabinet and the food M and S rather than cheap and cheerful. But the principle remains the same. What is she on......

Having spent years extolling the virtues of fresh food it's now back to ersatz dinners for those "too busy to cook." All I can conclude is that Delia is a very greedy woman indeed.... and I'm not talking about food.

DIANA APPLEYARD - THE TRUTH!

A favourite saying of mine is that if you sit by the river long enough then you will see the bodies of your enemies float by....well I can't say I'm surprised to see my ex colleague Diana Appleyard "outed" on Labour Home as a xenophobic, reactionary hack plying rubbish for the Daily Mail.

A leaked e-mail now doing the rounds on the net reveals that she was looking for " anonymous horror stories"of people who have employed Eastern European staff, only for them to steal from them, disappear, or have lied about their resident status - with £100 upfront for the privilege of taking part (Diana by the way will get about £1000 for this trash) .

I worked with Diana 20 years ago as a young cub reporter - in fact I owed my job to the fact she was leaving. AmI grateful? No. She comes from one of those privileged Lancashire families who live in the Forest of Bowland and go riding ie the "county set." She slummed it for a bit in Manchester but, as anyone who has read her rubbish in the Mail will testify, soon moved back into the world of ponies and privilege. I think, when I knew her, she was a member of the NUJ. If she still is ( which I doubt) then frankly she should be kicked out. The agenda she is pursuing breaks every rule in the NUJ Code of Conduct - indeed I think I shall quote it to my media ethics students on Monday morning. Absolutely shameful stuff.....

LEFT WOMEN'S NETWORK LAUNCHED ON WEB

Can I alert readers of this blog to a new website launched this week by t women's section of the LRC. The Left Women's Network had its first meeting at the LRC Conference in November and plans are already afoot for a conference in July. The website features a pic of my friend and comrade Alice Mahon, chair of the West Yorkshire LRC and other splendid women socialists. It will also act as a noticeboard for important issues and events and the permanent link is on the right

NO EASY WAY FORWARD

The defection in London of a RESPECT councillor to the Tories might seem , on the face of it, stupefyingly strange. But I always regarded the Party born basically from George Galloway's eviction from the Labour Party as a bizarre one-issue bandwagon which would run out of road very very quickly. Split into two via a spat which has had the ultra-left at each other's throats for months, it at least quells any thoughts some might have had that RESPECT was some sort of alternative to Labour.The fact is there are no quick fixes. I wish there were but the reality is that only patient work within the community and trade unions will begin to change the status quo.Have done my bit this week via three-hour council meeting, Branch meeting and trip down to London for LRC National Committee. Could explain why feel pretty much uninspired to do much beyond slump in front of TV and contemplate mountain of work waiting to be done over weekend.

THE "LINE" ON VALENTINE'S DAY

Tonight I am off to a Valentine's Day fashion show at Todmorden Town Hall. Am I interested in fashion? Not particularly but it's a charity do. Did I get any Valentines. Sadly, no. The last time I got an actual Valentine's card was in 1978 which isn't quite so tragic as it sounds. For most of my life I have had relationships with lefty men who have eschewed February 14 as a capitalist ploy to get money out of gullible men who feel obliged to take their girlfriends out for dinner etc. This is of course absolutely true. It is also a convenient excuse.........especially in Yorkshire where men are as they say round here "careful" with their money. Off to the catwalk.....

CHRISTINE SHAWCROFT 4 NOTTINGHAM SOUTH

I read with interest on Labour Home that the NEC's Christine Shawcroft looks likely to be shortlisted for Nottingham South. It would be a travesty if she weren't. Like others on the left ( her erstwhile NEC colleague Mark Seddon is another) Christine has been blocked at every turn in previous bids to be a PPC. And she's worked hard and long to have a chance as an MP .But ominously, there is already talk that the NEC would somehow block her candidature if she were to be selected. The plotters would do well to remember that this seat is currently held by Alan Simpson, founder of Labour Against The War and tireless campaigner against the Government's disgraceful foreign policy and on environmental issues. One of the reasons Alan's majority is so large is because of his commitment to socialist values and record as an independently-minded left-winger. Replacing a decent socialist MP with a New Labour yes-person would hardly be good strategy. A similar trick was tried in my neighbouring constituency, Halifax. Linda Riordan won out on the day - despite all kinds of disgraceful manoevring. Go Christine!

LABOUR 4 CALDER!

Modern political campaigning requires modern political tools so congratulations to the comrades who have put together the campaign website for Janet Oosthuysen who is standing as candidate for Calder in the forthcoming local elections. Janet is an LRC member fighting a community-based campaign which means lots of slog in the far from glamorous arena of wheelie bins, dog dirt, and fighting unwanted development in the Calder valley. Janet's also fighting for fair wages and plans to take the campaign on to fight for more council and affordable housing . For IT skills alone, she deserves to win!

SAVE THE CIRCUS!

Complete digression from politics but have just finished a nostalgia piece on Manchester pubs and clubs for the University's alumni magazine. In the course of my research discovered that one of the city's best pubs is under threat. The Circus, on Portland Street, is currently run by "Greek George" who in the 1970's ran a late-night dive called The Conti (nental) where you could drink late, meet unsuitable people and eat unspeakable burgers and chips. For some years he has run The Circus complete with free crisps and pork pie on Fridays but is about to retire. This place is an institution . A tiny tiny place it is little changed from the 1930's and it MUST NOT DIE. I introduced it to some soft southerners up for Labour Party Conference a couple of years ago and hope to be able to do the same in September. Next time NUJ friends insist on opting for the far inferior place next door I will drag them in.......

LAWSON FINDS HIS MORAL COMPASS

Absolutely excellent piece by Neal Lawson in today's Guardian on how New Labour acquiesced to capitalism and the interests of big business. As he points out, he should know. Being one of the most gung-ho advocates for Bliarism ( that was actually a typo which I'm not going to change). But no I'm not going to be dismissive or holier than thou.
I would like to say this.
What is happening with this Government cannot go on. There are daily announcements on everything from punishing council tenants to demonising Asians or coming up with McDegrees in burger studies. Every day there is something to be ashamed of if you are a Labour Party member and all of these pronouncements share a common denominator. They have absolutely nothing to do with what Lawson and Compass would probably call the "good society" and those a little further left would call socialism. Whatever.
I don't hold out much hope for Gordon Brown or the rest of the Cabinet ( a Cabinet now so far to the right as to make Blair's in 1997 look positively lefty) but I do feel that surely there must be sufficient decent MPs of the left of centre to wake up, smell the coffee and start working together to change this Government's course. The bad decisions which are being taken and the betrayals of our basic values mean that if the PLP doesn't get its collective head out of the sand then we are treading an inevitable path to a Tory Government. I hope groups like Compass and the LRC can come up with a common narrative which will salvage something from this wreckage of the Labour Party.
Lawson's piece is here:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/neal_lawson/2008/02/the_unacceptable_face_of_new_l.html

LIFE ON MARS......

Have spent most of the evening watching one of the most iconic films of the 1970's. Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man! is now a fascinating period piece. A vision of a world now vanished - in some respects. The empty motorways, grimy East End, and naff suits and haircuts may be no more ( albeit still surviving in Hebden Bridge!) but much remains relevant. The Third World ( as it was then known ) is still being violated for profit, the rich are still getting richer, and the same lot remain in charge of the Establishment. Director Lindsay Anderson was a left-wing intellectual and also gay in a world which still had to wake up to tackling homophobia and sexism. Some of it would today make the liberal left wince. But, taken as a film of its time, it remains a telling indictment of capitalism. And, also, a wonderful nostalgia trip for my generation.The cast - Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Ralph Richardson, Arthur Lowe - is to die for.

FUELLING RACISM IN WEST YORKSHIRE

Ann Cryer should be ashamed of herself for lending credence to statements about the Pakistani community by Phil Woolas. Oldham MP Woolas, an erstwhile leftie so I'm told, said inbreeding was to blame for birth defects in Asian children. So Cryer chipped in with claims that Pakistani culture was "medieval." It's not the first time she has come out with claptrap more suited to the BNP . Not, for a minute, that I'm suggesting she is racist. But the comments were ill-judged , wrong-headed , insulting and a gift to the far right. Not impressed, Ann.

WILL BROWN LISTEN TO WOODLEY'S PLEA FOR JOBS?

I was in London at the weekend.Back in Liverpool there was an angry demonstration over plans to axe 200 Rolls Royce jobs on Merseyside.
Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, says in the Liverpool Post that he has asked Gordon Brown to “personally intervene” to stop the factory in Bootle being shut.
After the rally, Unite’s regional officer Debbie Brennan, said: “I’m amazed by the turnout. This shows the people of Merseyside are not accepting the exploitation of our jobs. This is winnable.”
But is it? Woodley is good at talking the talk and he says Whitehall needs to get involved because Rolls-Royce management is not listening and remains determined to keep jobs in the US at the expense of Liverpool. I don't doubt he is right. But I will be astonished if he gets the intervention he is expecting from the Prime Minister. Any more than he got the Remploy "deal" which he trumpeted at Labour Party Conference as the reason for allowing the abolition of contemporary motions. Let's hope I'm wrong.

BAN THE BOMB REMEMBERED

There is a lovely interview with Walter Wolfgang in today's Independent recalling the heady days of the first Aldermaston marches and the founding of CND in 1958. Not something i recall, being only one year old at the time. But in my youth I went to Greenham Common and various events , inclufing a "die-in" at Barrow In Furness and the big anti Cruise Missile marches ofthe 1980's. In the days before e-mail, CND had "telephone trees" which involved letting each other know of the movements of nuclear convoys and events at Greenham. I lived in a house where the phone was clearly tapped by MI5.

Labour, in those days, was of course unilateralist. As were people like Gordon Brown.

Now the world has changed. But that does not makes nuclear war LESS likely, indeed it's far more possible now than it ever was.At 84, Walter Wolfgang may not be standing again for the NEC. But he's proudly marching on under the CND banner. Here

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/walter-wolfgang-we-saved-the-world-780418.html

PUBLIC TRANSPORT- WHY BOTHER?

Have just had the weekend from hell transportwise thanks to Northern Rail/ London Underground. Took me five hours to get to London yesterday thanks to points failures aand engineering works. Then.......last night the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow ( I was staying with a friend in Ealing) was closed so ended up on bus from Hammersmith and being picked up in Acton Town. 90 minutes to travel 10 miles (approx) Then same carry-on on way home to Yorkshire. Is it any wonder people don't choose to travel by public transport. As I don't drive , no choice. Had I a car, yes of course in those circumstances would have.

GRIMMER DOWN SOUTH

am in london over weekend-reporting back.......

COMRADES, COME (TO A) RALLY.......

Depressing details in this week's Tribune re Gordon Brown's plans to make this year's "Conference " even more of a US -style rally . Having abolished voting, Gordon now wants the whole thing to revolve around him. So the entire (non) event will now build up to a "crescendo" of excitement with the final Leader's speech being delivered on the Wednesday afternoon - not as was previously the case on Tuesday.

This, of course, was news to various people on the NEC. Not to mention people like myself who diligently helped book accommodation MONTHS ago on the grounds that hotels in Manchester get booked up ages in advance. Even back in October, it took many phone calls before I was able to find a block booking - and spare rooms - at a price people could even begin to afford. But we managed to book it from the Saturday night to the Thursday. That's just as well. because anyone now trying to get a hotel for what's now the first night of Conference simply won't be able to ( unless they go miles out of the city). But we will still have to re-negotiate what to do about the Wednesday night ( when everyone will now go home) It's ludicrous and, as usual , has been done without any consultation.

The biggest laugh of all is that this has apparently been bounced through on the grounds that the leadership is concerned the conference Hall is normally less and less packed as the week progresses. Well I have news for them. That's not because everything is an anti-climax after the Dear Leader's speech.

It is because Labour Party Conference, minus the resolutions and the input from ordinary members, has become one big yawn. And the thought that everyone will be agog till the Wednesday afternoon until they hear Gordon's speech is risible .Ironically, Blair might have got away with such showbiz shenanigans, because of his skills as an orator. Brown, a dull speaker in the best of worlds, has not a hope in hell.

And, by the way, doesn't that mean the traditional farewell from the Deputy Leader has also been consigned to history I increasingly wonder what that contest was for ........ poor old Harriet has been utterly downgraded.

FLINT NOT SKINT.....

I hear that Housing Minister Caroline Flint, aka Mrs Bumble the Beadle's wife, is apparently going to be a VIP guest at a fund-raising dinner for the Labour Party tomorrow night in Bradford.The £30 a head bash is at the Cedar Court Hotel . It would serve her right if she is heckled for her vile pronouncements earlier this week on council housing. Just a thought.........

NOT ON THIS TEAM.......

Is it just me or does anyone else find those patronising e-mail communications from New Labour HQ utterly irritating and insulting. Like thousands of other members , I have just had notice of a national "Campaign Day " on Saturday apparently designed to help activists and MPs in marginal seats like this one.

Actually, we do have a campaign day planned this weekend - focussing on local issues like social and affordable housing and low pay. Not vacuous New Labour guff.

And, no, it's not under the vile Americanised umbrella of " Team Labour." Whatever that is supposed to mean.

What is the matter with these New Labour apparatchiks? I am not impressed with bland rubbish saying we're not "like the other lot." so hey let's get out on the doorstep and be thankful.

The last few days have seen appalling policy pronouncements from Caroline Flint , tax breaks for business from Alistair Darling, and a TV expose of the plight of pensioners who can't afford to heat their homes. As one EX Labour Party member said to me this morning, "We are getting deeper and deeper into the mire." Not, I hasten to add, the fault of grassroots members. But the awful lot who are in charge.......

HEART OF FLINT......

Thanks to an ex Labour Party member for alerting me to the outrageous proposals being touted by Housing Minister Caroline Flint today.The cunning plan is that people lucky enough to get social housing to have to sign "commitment contracts" to look for work - or face losing their homes.
Unbelievable! But I'm afraid it is true. Just when you think New Labour could not get any worse out comes another headline-grabbing (in the Daily Mail) idea which shames our Party's history.
Flint, I'm glad to say, has been lambasted by a host of charities, including Shelter director Adam Sampson, who says, "The government wants to return Britain's unemployed to the workhouse by throwing them onto the streets. What is being proposed would destroy families and communities and add to the thousands who are already homeless.
"Making people homeless means they do not have an address, which makes it even more difficult to find work."
John McDonnell today also issued a press release condemning Flint's proposal and the fact that so many pensioners are now living in fuel poverty ( as revealed last night on Dispatches)
We are heading back to the 19th century age of the "deserving poor" and all its evils. Gordon Brown is increasingly beginning to resemble one of those Dickensian characters who advocate hard work and gruel as the antidote to everything. Which makes Flint Mrs Bumble....

NOT TOO TIRED TO PROTEST..

I have just watched what was a shameful - and profoundly distressing - indictment of this Government's (lack of) commitment to our elderly. The scenes in tonight's Dispatches programme veered from Dickensian squalor to poignant expressions of the lengths to which people will go to to keep their loved ones at home .
Friends and neighbours should not have to take the place of professional carers who can ease the acute distress which they must feel at seeing their lifetime partners suffering indignity on a 24-hour basis. Why? Because we just don't fund the care of our elderly properly . As the programme harrowingly showed, many pensioners are simply too frail or too bewildered to claim the credits which may be their due. Many more do try - and don't qualify. Never mind Middle England and the middle-classes. Never mind the means-testing. It's high time we had a humane and properly-funded welfare system.
The Dispatches programme showed in vivid, horrifying detail that this isn't happening. However much Gordon Brown claims the opposite.
My father is 87 years old. he's one of the lucky ones. Still mobile, still able to go out and have a life. There are clearly millions out there not so fortunate. I found their plight deeply shocking. I suspect I was not alone .

TOO TIRED TO PROTEST.....

Just got home after day teaching ..... far too shattered to blog about anything significant. No doubt my radical fervour will recover on Wednesday when I'm working at home. There's also a young people's meeting on Wednesday night 6.30pm at Trades Club to discuss our Fair Wage campaign. One or two old gits like me will be there to observe........ and Thursday night is truly revolutionary comrades as we are swapping our usual Labour Party curry night and quiz for a Scouse Night devoted to the Capital of Culture.

The food will be a homage to that great Liverpudlian dish, Scouse, which for the unitiated is cheap cuts of beef or lamb, carrots, spuds and onion . And that's it.

Much difficulty explaining to those of different social class it does not involve ANY herbs or spices (other than salt and white pepper) but am determined to convince them this quintessential staple can still taste good. Have also taken pity on the veggies by supplying them with recipe for "Blind Scouse." ( ie without meat...) Can a mere Mancunian compete with my rival chef from Liverpool. We shall see.........

BRAHMS AND LISZT.....

Today I am quoted (inaccurately) in the Halifax Copurier for pouring scorn on the notion that we should put up a plaque in mmeory of the late, great Franz Liszt, who stayed for one night at the White Lion in Hebden Bridge many moonlight concertos ago. Don't get me wrong. Nothing against the great composer. But if we put plaques up to every musician or artist who has been here there would be a public outcry at the expense and you would not be able to move for blue plaques. Ray Davies, for example, visited a cafe-bar here a couple of years ago. A plaque for him? And all the other world musicians /rock artists who have traipsed the streets with glass ( or whatever ) in hand. The one place there SHOULD be a plaque is the Stubbing Wharf pub . Our local Bard, Ted Hughes, wrote a poem in its honour. That is something worth commemorating.......

WE NEED TO GET OUT THERE.....

Tonight (last night technically) to Climate Change evening at the Trades Club. There were about 70 people there ( and about two members of the Labour Party). An impressive turn-out.
This is an issue which clearly excites the imagination of many. Far more than attend boring Branch meetings etc.
In this neck of the woods, they are holding monthly meetings from now on. Loads of people to meet and discuss stuff with. At the moment, not focussed on party politics. If we are to seriously change the agenda of this country - and the Government -need to get out of the bubble and face some tough questions. And provide some answers.......

BATTLES OF THE PAST

Yesterday to Nantwich where, by a strange quirk of fate, I ended up staying at a farm B and B which is sited on the exact site of one of the last battles of the English Civil War - equidistant between a Royalist enclave and the Roundheads ' stronghold in the town a mile away. Was I haunted by the ghosts of dead Parliamentarians whose bones were scattered deep in the ground below?In a word,no. Still,made a change from worrying about the living ones........

SNOW BOUND....

First snow of the winter and from my window the hills are alive with lots of sunshine bringing that special, magic light into my house. Unfortunately, I have to leave this pleasant scene and head for Crewe , the land of Gwyneth Dunwoody, to review a restaurant. Staying overnight at a farm deep in the countryside. Hope I don't get snowed in.....

AN IDEAL COUPLE......

Sad today to read of the death of Ruth Frow.Her passing marks the end of one of the most intriguing stories in working-class history. Ruth and her husband Eddie, who I had the privilege to meet on several occasions, met. fell in love and founded what is now the Working Class Library.

Today, it's housed in a purpose-built facility in Salford. For years, it was sited in their home and open to students of socialism from all over the globe.

Now run by an independent trust, it comprises tens of thousands of pamphlets, books and artefacts, dating from the days of Tom Paine and William Cobbett to more recent battles in which the Frows themselves played their part. It's recognised as one of the outstanding collections of its kind, in Britain and internationally.
Ruth campaigned for Labour in the 1945 general election, but later joined the Communist party at the same time! She was secretary of Teachers for Peace and the Manchester Peace Committee, and cofounder, and first chair, of Manchester CND.
She met Eddie Frow, a Manchester shop steward, at a Communist party school in Sussex in 1953. And they stayed loyal to the CP, though always working in a comradely fashion with Labour Party activists and trade unionists in the north-west. Both rightly saw in the knowledge of working people's history an argument for socialism . Academics were always welcome to their library, and their friends included many eminent historians. But they took special pride in the union and community activists who visited the library. The library moved to new premises in The Crescent, Salford in the late 1980's and the couple moved there with their books. In 1989, Ruth was there to welcome a group of visitors ( including me) under the auspices of the British Soviet Friendship Society. Eddie died in 1997 and Ruth rang me to thank me for a piece I wrote about him for the Manchester Evening News. Which I was very touched by.

Two days before she died, she was apparently there as usual, attending the library committee. A wonderful woman......

PROGRESS? I THINK NOT....

Don't you just love the way Progress gets what is basically a discussion paper on the front page of the Guardian. It would be rather nice if think-tanks on the left got equal billing and column inches but then we don't have so many dinner party guests in the media. Horrific to think they are urging Brown to be even MORE New labour and I also love the way they are referred to as "modernisers." They are a bunch of sodding Tories.....and I am utterly sick of this small and unrepresentative clique setting the agenda because of their friends in high places. .

LOW PAY CAMPAIGN IN HEBDEN BRIDGE

I spend a fair amount of my time getting upset ( too much maybe) at the iniquities of Government. Locally, Labour has much to be proud of. At the moment, we are running a campaign to highlight the fact that several employers in Hebden Bridge are flouting the minimum wage legislation. We are hoping to persuade them otherwise - and signing up young people to our campaign to stop this practice.

Next Wednesday, Calderdale election candidate Janet Oosthuysen (pictured in the toown square last weekend collecting signatures for a petition) is organising a young people's public forum on low pay. We're calling for a Living Wage in the longer-term and will be linking this in to hopefully raise awareness of the work already underway in the COFUP initiative launched by the Socialist Youth network. Janet, I should point out, is a splendid candidate and a member of the LRC. I took the photograph!