NO HOMES TO GO TO

IF I am a little tetchy these days it is because every day brings another vile bit of policy making from the Coalition Con-Dem cabal now running the country.
Not only do they cheer on £83 billion worth of cuts which will profoundly hurt the most vulnerable, they tell lies about housing benefit.
This latest twist in the tale of total betrayal by the Liberal Democrats may well return to bite them.
Previously spineless MPs like Simon Hughes and George Russell are reeling in disbelief at the fact their True Blue leader Nick " Marlboro Man" Clegg supports chucking people out of their homes and punishing millions of people for the fact of being ill or disabled
The lies which have been told on this issue are admirably highlighted by Don Paskini and I refer you to his blog for some salient points which may come in handy as Labour gets set to fight the changes.

DISGUSTING VOYEURISM

THE ghoulish nature of the Fourth Estate is nothing new. But the worldwide syndication of pictures of a gravely ill Michael Douglas represents a new low in the dark arts of the paparazzi.
I was so incensed at this gross intrusion on the man's privacy that , along with hundreds of others, I posted a response late last night on the Mail's website. Oddly enough , all those remarks which castigated the paper for publishing them were this morning removed. Perhaps they shamed the powers that be . But not enough to stop publication
I think anyone who has witnessed first-hand the obscene ravages which cancer inflicts on their loved ones would agree it's time to call a halt to this ghoulish and distasteful way of selling papers. As I said in my comment, the man is clearly dying. Leave him and his family alone.

TIME TO CALL MPs TO ACCOUNT

As a recent convert to Twitter I was interested to note that Ben Bradshaw MP today enjoyed a chat with the Federation of Small Businesses. I know their concens are valid and I wish them well in these difficult times but Ben Bradshaw clearly preferred talking to small businesses than backing the Lawful Industrial Action Bill which today fell in the House of Commons.
Given the Conservative majority and the conduct of lickspittle, anti trade union Lib Dems the Bill's chances of succeeding were always slight.
However the least one could have expected was solidarity from the PLP for tihis very modest piece of legislation which would have stopped companies like the one I work for vetoing LAWFUL srike action.
Ed Miliband was not there - anxious obviously to ditch association with the unions. And only Diane Abbott of the Shadow Cabinet showed support.
In all, 87 MPs supported the Bill. Not Labour's "new generation." But such redoubtable lefties as David Blunkett, Gerald Kaufman, Jack Dromey and Stephen Twigg.
Tony Lloyd, PLP chairman. was also there . The reach extended far beyond the Campaign Group and thanks for that.
But where was Chuka Umuna, Jon Trickett, and other so-called champions of trade unionism.
I suggest that anyone who has a union-sponsored MP holds them accountable for their disgraceful actions today and asks themselves why they should support an MP who cannot even muster support for the most basic of trade union rights.
Labour had a chance today to come out fighting. They blew it. The only thing one can say is that no other Party , apart from the Green MP Carolne Lucas, even considered support.
Honourable mentions though for new MPs Teresa Pearce, Luciana Berger, Ian Lavery, and Graeme Morrice.

LABOUR MPS WHO BACKED RIGHT TO STRIKE

........And the others should hang their heads in shame.
Abbott, Ms Diane
Alexander, Heidi
Barron, rh Mr Kevin
Berger, Luciana
Blenkinsop, Tom
Blunkett, rh Mr David
Bone, Mr Peter
Brown, Lyn
Brown, rh Mr Nicholas
Campbell, Mr Ronnie
Clark, Katy
Connarty, Michael
Crausby, Mr David
Creasy, Stella
Cruddas, Jon
Cryer, John
Dobbin, Jim
Doran, Mr Frank
Dowd, Jim
Dromey, Jack
Dugher, Michael
Elliott, Julie
Farrelly, Paul
Fitzpatrick, Jim
Flello, Robert
Flynn, Paul
Fovargue, Yvonne
Gapes, Mike
Gilmore, Sheila
Glass, Pat
Glindon, Mrs Mary
Godsiff, Mr Roger
Greenwood, Lilian
Griffith, Nia
Gwynne, Andrew
Havard, Mr Dai
Hilling, Julie
Hodgson, Mrs Sharon
Hoey, Kate
Hollobone, Mr Philip
Irranca-Davies, Huw
Jackson, Glenda
Jamieson, Cathy
Jones, Susan Elan
Kaufman, rh Sir Gerald
Keen, Alan
Lammy, rh Mr David
Lavery, Ian
Lazarowicz, Mark
Lloyd, Tony
Love, Mr Andrew
Lucas, Caroline
MacNeil, Mr Angus Brendan
Mactaggart, Fiona
McCarthy, Kerry
McDonnell, John
McGovern, Alison
McGovern, Jim
Meacher, rh Mr Michael
Mearns, Ian
Michael, rh Alun
Miller, Andrew
Mitchell, Austin
Morrice, Graeme (Livingston)
Morris, Grahame M. (Easington)
Mudie, Mr George
Pearce, Teresa
Pound, Stephen
Riordan, Mrs Linda
Rotheram, Steve
Sharma, Mr Virendra
Sheridan, Jim
Skinner, Mr Dennis
Slaughter, Mr Andy
Smith, rh Mr Andrew
Spellar, rh Mr John
Sutcliffe, Mr Gerry
Thornberry, Emily
Timms, rh Stephen
Turner, Karl
Twigg, Stephen
Walley, Joan
Wicks, rh Malcolm
Williams, Hywel
Wilson, Phil
Winnick, Mr David
Wood, Mike
Tellers for the Ayes:
Jeremy Corbyn and
Kelvin Hopkins

LABOUR'S CHANCE TO COME OUT FIGHTING

LABOUR'S high command in the Shadow Cabinet has ordained that tomorrow there will be a free vote on John McDonnell's Lawful Industrial Action Bill. It is progress of a sort as my guess is previous regimes would have hauled in the Whips.
That there should be any equivocation at all is both extraordinary and pretty depressing.
100 Labour MPs need to be there voting tomorrow to get this Bill through to its second reading. Plain sailing, no?
In fact some at the top who should know better are already running scared of being branded as trade union fodder and using Shadow Cabinet collectivity to excuse not being there to support this modest , reasonable piece of legislation which would stop companies vetoining strikes for spurious arcane reasons.
It's not militant, it's not extreme, it is basic trade union ABC and backed a by all the general secrtearies. If Labour MPs can't rustle up the numbers tomorrow it's not only a missed opportunity, it is a disgrace which many howling in anguish after yesterday's CSR will not forgive them for.

A LONG TIME IN POLITICS..........

This time a vote for the Liberal Democrats can really change Britain
I want a Britain that's different. A Britain where we have more police on our streets to keep us safe. A ...Britain where ordinary people aren't taxed to the hilt while millionaires can dodge taxes altogether.In many parts of Britain, Labour are out of the race.We've seen what the Conservatives are like-they won't stand up for ordinary people.Only a vote in the ballot box for the Liberal Democrats can beat the Conservatives this time.
I believe that it's time to do things differently in Britain. Please put your trust in us and we can put decades of failed politics behind us and deliver real change.
Thanks and best wishesNick Clegg
PS - Don't forget, in many parts of Britain Labour can't win. Only a vote for the Liberal Democrats can stop the Conservatives.
Nick Clegg- May 2010

11 PER CENT....AND FALLING

An opinion poll out tomorrow will reveal that support for the Liberal Democrats is now at 11 per cent. My guess is it wil be single figures before the year is out.
Yesterday I attended a full house TUC rally in London and heard speaker after speaker outline how they would suffer as a result of the obscene cuts announced today by this wretched government.
It's not surprising the Tories have inflicted the worst cuts in living memory on the poor and vulnerable n our society. They have always done that. What is unspeakable is the way they try to label it "fair." What is even more unspeakable is to see, as we did tonight, Danny Alexander and "left" Lib Dem Simon Hughes defend the indefensible. That they will be annihilated at the next elections is small comfort to those of us now forced to work till we are 66, see welfare benefits cut by £18billion , and live with the awful reality of job cuts on a massive scale.
They now how to protest in France. The Govt is currently harbouring the illusion that their destruction of the welfare state will go unopposed. It will not.
It is the job of every person involved in the labour movement to fight with every sinew to expose these cuts for what they are - ideologically driven, grossly unfair, and totally unnecessary.
One of the most angry speakers yesterday was not a usual suspect an expert from the Institute of Chartered Accountants who pointed out some £42billion a year is lost in tax avoidance.
That job cuts will lead to more job cuts. And that we face the biggest attack ever on basic principles of social justice we have taken for granted.
No more new schools. No more social housing. No more secure tenancies for those lucky enough to have a council house. Sky-high rents, disability benefits slashed, The list is endless.
Shame on the Liberal Democrats for colluding in this .And time to nail the lie it is inevitable

LOWER THAN VERMIN......

Tomorrow I am heading out on the early train from Halifax so I can join in the TUC rally against the cuts coming up on Wednesday. Around £84 billion of them so I believe.
While millions of workers face the prospect of pay cuts and redundancy, our local Liberal Democrats are fighting another battle.
On Friday, they held a public debate on the issue of AV. AV - Alternative Vote - was only months ago described as a "miserable little conpromise" by the despicable Nick Clegg. Now it is touted as the first importnat step towards a "fairer" democracy.
I was asked to fight Labour's corner at the debate and - to be honest - AV is not an issue I wouls lay m y life down for. It's not PR. It gives no greater voice to the smaller parties. It means even more gound is likelyt o be ceded to the centre. But my word the local Lib dems were burning with righteous zeal. Extraordinary, really.
Extraordinary that a Party which has reneged on almost every election pledge, which has sold its soul to get in bed with Cameron, has backed marketisation of our universities and NHS, has sold millions of voters down the river, has the brass neck to bleat about "fairness."
At the last election AV would have delivered 20-odd more Lib dems and 20-odd less Tories. Safe Labour seats would stay Labour and most constiteuncy MPs are elected on an average 47 per cent of the vote. In short it makes naff all difference and no way Jose are the Tories going to allow a vote on PR.
Strangely, NOT ONE Liberal Democrat backed an amendment by Green MP Caroline Lucas to allow PR as an option in the forthcoming referendum. So how dare they lecture the rest of us.
Like most people on the left of centre, I am incandescent with rage at the conduct of the Lib Dems. They deserve annihilation at the next local elections. Judging at the rate at which people are coming back to Labour, they are going to get it. Deservedly so.

TIME FOR LABOUR MPs TO UNITE -AND WIN!

From yesterday's Morning Star....

Labour movement activists urged MPs today to take a small step towards resisting the Tories' vicious anti-union onslaught next week.
Lobbyists swooped on Parliament in a bid to persuade at least 100 Labour MPs to turn up and support a private member's Bill introduced by left MP John McDonnell.
The Bill, designed to stop unscrupulous bosses from sabotaging strike ballots, is due for a second reading in the Commons on Friday October 22.
It is a simple measure which would deter employers from rushing to the courts to block strikes because of small mistakes in the conduct of ballots on industrial action.
But 100 Labour MPs will need to turn up to prevent wildcat anti-union Tory MPs from using arcane parliamentary procedures to crush Mr McDonnell's Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill.
Mr McDonnell was loudly applauded in a packed Commons committee room as he declared: "This Bill will be a small step forward. And by god we need a few victories at the moment."
He added: "We can win on this one" but warned that, if 100 Labour MPs failed to turn up and the Bill did not pass its second reading, "then the Tories will laugh at us."
Lobbyists carried a colourful array of banners and placards as they gathered on College Green opposite Parliament, reinforced by a big contingent from rail union RMT branches and regions.
Activists urged Labour's front bench to give strong and active support to the Bill and not just make sympathetic noises.
BA cabin crew, rail workers, bus workers and journalists have all fallen foul of the courts recently.
Mr McDonnell's Bill would change the law to protect unions which have shown "substantial compliance" with balloting procedures.
It would make it much more difficult for bosses to pick on trivial errors, such as the "failure" of BA cabin crew union Unite to announce that 11 members had spoiled their ballot papers out of 10,000 who voted.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow insisted that Labour MPs must turn up in force on Friday week to give trade unions a "golden opportunity" to resist growing attacks by "having a go back." Prison officers' union POA general secretary Steve Gillan said Mr McDonnell's Bill was a "very simple amendment to the law" but touched on "the very fabric of human rights."
Among MPs joining the lobbyers were Dennis Skinner (Bolsover), Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley), Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North), John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead), Julie Hilling (Bolton West), Ian Lavery (Wansbeck), Grahame Morris (Easington) and Jim Sheridan (Paisley). Mr Skinner protested that "the judges have been creating havoc for the trade unions by forcing ballot after ballot after ballot."
And Ms Hilling said she felt so strongly about the issue that she would travel back to Bolton next Thursday for a long-standing constituency engagement but would return early on Friday to support Mr McDonnell's Bill.
Among leading trade unionists at today's Commons rally were Unite joint general secretary Tony Woodley, firefighters' union FBU general secretary Matt Wrack and journalists' union NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear.

THE SHAME OF THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

On Friday night I am going to be debating the AV system with local Tory MP Craig Whitaker and local Lib Dem councillor Nader Frekri.
My guess is Calder Valley's Conservative MP Craig will be against it and our Orange Tory in favour. I haven't quite ddecided how I am going to play it. But one thing I know is this.
That if I were still a member of the Liberal Democrats after abandoning every single decent pledge made in the last election camopaign I would hang my head in shame.
The U-turn on tuition fees will be the final nail in the coffin for many voters already disgusted with the Party's binning of of everything from commitment to child benefit to scrapping Trident. in their desperation for power.

THE X FACTOR

I wonder whether blogging is in serious decline with the advent of Twitter. my guess is Yes.
As a recent arrivee in the twitosphere it was fascinating to jon in the virtual conversation as Labour twitters waited for news of the Shadow Cabinet appointments.
The collective gasp of horror as it became clear AJ was to be SC happened in real time - and it was what the internet is about. Increasingly.
I try not to tweet about what I had for breakfast but I love the challenge of encapsulating something in 140 words. Too many bloggers on the left write reams and reams which no-one is going to read . Twitter proves that less can be more which is why so many are getting involved.
It also gives you immediate access to all kinds of people - you just keep on adding.
This week is an important one. It's Ed Miliband's first PMQs and there will be no mercy from a media hell-bent on political destruction.
It also sees the debate in Parliament of John McDonnell's trade union Bill and a major TUC lobby at Westminster. I will be following all these events with interest.
It is now clear the real Shadow Chancellor will be ...Ed Miliband.
He is to share an office with Johnson who is basically a front-man. How, given his lack of economic skills, could he be anything else.
Most i know in the Labour Party were very disappointed by the appointment however, in Machiavellian terms, it makes some sense.
Despite the doe eyes, Ed M is a ruthless operator and the Tories will be threatened by a Shadow Cabinet which reflects far more a broader spectrum in terms of gender and race than they could dream of.Politically, it is very similar to what went before
However, Diane Abbott has been given a Junion Ministerla post in Public Health and I hear there may be jobs for Emily Thornberry and Karen Buck.No doubt I will find out quickest on Twitter.
In the meantime it is a glorious Sunday afternoon in West Yorkshire and I am off for a walk down the canal to enjoy the autumn sunshine and a Sunday lunch with friends.

WRONG CALL, ED

Alan Johnson should not be Shadow Chancellor. Fact. he knows about as much on economics as I do and has already confessed he needs a "primer" to even comment on matters money-like.
I was hoping Ed Balls would get the job. I thought Yvette would be great, too.
The appointment of Johnson is a slap in the face for the optimnistic ranks of Labour activists who wanted to see an alternative to the Tories draconian approach to the deficit.
As the shock subsides, one can only assume he will be acting on the directive of Those Who Understand how we launch an opposition to Osborne. It is impossible to think Ed Miliband appointed him for any other reason than to keep friends close, and enemies closer......days before the leadership election AJ rubbished Ed and my word he has a great reward for doing so

THE YORKSHIRE MAFIA......

Greetings from Yorkshire which is now the nerve-centre of the Opposition.
With nine out of 19 Shadow Cabinet members, including Labour Leader, now based north of Watford, the White Rose county seriously holds sway in Labour's future.
The fact that in Opposition Labour's Cabinet is elected made for some interesting results.
Ex-Tory Shaun Woodward and uber-Blairite Ben Bradshaw failed to make the cut along with Pat McFadden and Fiona McTaggart. But Liam Byrne scraped in one vote ahead of Islington South's Emily Thornberry , which is a shame.
I also think it reprehensible that Diane Abbott got nowhere near the Cabinet - despite being a leadership candidate.
My view on Abbott's candidacy was always that it was tokenist and purely an expedient to keep John McDonnell off the ballot. Borne out by the fact that all the blah from Davids Lammy, Miliband et al about "inclusivity " and "broad churches" disappears the minute Cabinet elections are on the horizon. Whatever, it was a gross discourtesy to Diane by a PLP which is now way to the right of the Party. But we are where we are.
Ed Miliband has a Cabinet which is not of his choice and with a few people I suspect would not be there if it were. I hope he does not bow to pressure and deny Ed Balls the job of Shadow Chancellor - Balls is by far the best person to come out fighting against Osborne. And Yvette Cooper would be a great oppo to Theresa May as Home Secretary

WE ARE THE RADICALS NOW

Let anyone listening to David Cameron's speech be in any doubt. The nasty party is back with a vengeance. Determined to dismantle the welfare speech, reward the "winners", tear apart the NHS and make the poor pay for the mistakes of the rich.
The triumphalist tone of Cameron's speech should shame every single Liberal Democrat MP who continues to collude in this right-wing, punitive Government which today brought Thatcher back from the dead and next week will celebrate her 85th birthday in Downing Street.
At the Tory Party Conference, Tories quaffed wine costing £1200 a bottle - roughly the same as a year's child benefit. Compassionate Conservatism? I think not.
i haven't blogged much this past week as I have been ill with flu'. Today I'm ill listening to rhetoric which throws us back to the 1980's - and which Labour must fight with all its might in the coming period.
Today Neil Kinnock was scoffed at by the man who many misguidedly thought represented a kinder kind of Tory. There is no such animal.
We should be glad , as Kinnock said, that we do "have our Party back" and that Labour has a renewed sense of purpose. We have one enemy - the Coalition.
And we have a Leader who has pledged to be different to Blair - he will have to be.
New schools are being abandoned, libraries and council facilities closing down. Public sector workers facing an attack which on October 20 must be opposed full-on by the Labour Party.
Osborne's utter misreading of the child benefit furore shows just how much the Tories are out of touch. It is merely the start of a full-scale onslaught of the state with £15billion worth of welfare cuts on the way. Attacks on trade unions, attacks on pensioners.We are all in it together. For all the talk of the "new kind of politics" it is the same old enemy. And time to fight back