Changing the State

Analysing Starmerism as new Fabianism is becoming popular, at least at least at a very public sociologist | all that is solid. I recently debated with one of Starmer’s supporters who among other things argued that grass roots campaigning didn’t help achieve power. In the attached video, Ed Miliband explains why so-called single issue campaigning…

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Labour’s 2019 campaign

Considering Labour’s IT led me to this at the Common Knowledge Coop. I was considering ISC2’s Vendor Management policies and how Labour measures up to good practice. Their report on the 2019 General Election Campaign looks at strategy, organisation and digital campaigning. I have not finished the reading yet, but it’s compelling stuff. Here are…

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The NI protocol

The Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP) of the Withdrawal Agreement signed by Boris Johnson after a partisan vote in the House of Commons, introduces a customs border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Now that the Unionists inc. the remaining paramilitary fronts have caught up with what the deal means, they are…

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What is to be done? (About Brexit)

It’s turning pear shaped, that Brexit, not as easy as they thought, and maybe worse than Remainers predicted. Here are some notes that I made for the AEIP National Committee meeting. I quote from blog articles of mine and other sources, and will try and turn this into a blog article later in the week….

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On Labour’s NEC

The Labour Party NEC doesn’t report on its business to the members. It leaves it to the individual members. Things are quite exciting at the moment and for various reasons it’s wise to read more than one. Here are my notes,

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Brexit, Month One

The post brexit deal, one month on. It’s not going well, both trade, which is down, some say by 68%, due to the economic consequences of non-tariff barriers to entry, mainly paper work, and the consequences of agreeing a border in the Irish Sea are placing massive strains on the Good Friday agreement. Here are…

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Starmer vs Johnson, Winter 2020/1

I wrote a piece on my blog, about Boris and Starmer’s polling numbers. I observe that the score seems to be different depending if one’s seeking to determine approval or suitability for the top job. I made a charts  from yougov data but didn’t use it in my part II, and so I present them…

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The EU’s democratic deficit.

Some notes based on the ERS’ document, “Close the Gap: Tackling Europe’s Democratic Deficit”. They have 12 proposals, seven of which suggest actions for the UK Parliament, two for political parties (other than Labour) and one each for the Council, Commission and Parliament. So not so much an EU deficit, more a UK paying attention…

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How to rejoin the EU

That Brexit: it’s falling apart faster than I thought, what with the fishing fuck up and the closure i.e. suspension of one of the Nissan production lines. I was ruing my new blue passport when a friend told me he had seven years on his burgundy one and I said, we’d be back in by…

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Brexit, the next deadlines

Brexit is not done. Here are the new and next deadlines starting with Finance and Data. Also note that negotiation on agri-business documentation is incomplete and has a very short term deadline. Here are my notes and the IFG info-graphic. …

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Labour Party, a Glossary

The perennial question asked by new Labour members, or old hacks pretending to be concerned, is about jargon. Here is a guide, I took it from Cheltenham Labour’s site, but that itself is informed by the Labour Party’s own page on jargon. This page below/overleaf explains some of the most commonly used Labour Party terms…

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