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, Continue reading “On Labour’s NEC”
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 some notes. Continue reading “Brexit, Month One”
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 here. Johnson is thought of less well than Starmer but seems to be closing the gap. Continue reading “Starmer vs Johnson, Winter 2020/1”
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 problem. Mind you, they could pay more attention to what HMG is doing too. I read it once, and made some diigo notes, which I reproduce below/overleaf. … Continue reading “The EU’s democratic deficit.”
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 then. He thought not, but those of us for whom it’s life time project need to consider what our response is to what’s happening. The fact is that leaving is a disaster, here are my notes. Continue reading “How to rejoin the EU”
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. … Continue reading “Brexit, the next deadlines”
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 and acronyms. Enjoy! Continue reading “Labour Party, a Glossary”
Martin Thomas (of the AWL) together with Peter Thomas has produced a pamphlet/book on the Life and thoughts of Gramsci. I might read it some time, but not today. Their landing page which hosts the .pdf is called Gramsci in Context. I also found this, from Socialist Appeal which argues that many Communists and Social Democrats have adopted and distorted Gramsci’s insights into hegemony and propaganda. I have no further notes on this item.
Mmmh. Ancient Woodlands. Are there any in Lewisham? It would seem the answer is yes, possibly several sites. Do you think we could introduce some Bears? Here are my notes … Continue reading “Local Woodland”
Is this a redefinition of ‘responsible opposition’? Starmer’s new year message, Here are my notes … Continue reading “Responsible Opposition”
The GMB’s annual congress, except when pandemics occur is defined by rule., Rule 8. It consists of one delegate per 1500 members and the delegates are appointed by the regions, 90% elected by the membership within Regions and 10% appointed by the Regional Committees, which are themselves indirectly elected bodies. This means that at the moment, Congress is about ~420 delegates.
Do we have enough or do we have too many politicians? This is a quantity not quality issue. Here are my notes … Continue reading “Do we have enough politicians?”
I decided to ‘mirror’ the nomination statements for the Div III NEC elections in 2020. There is nothing overleaf.
Open Labour won one seat in Labour’s NEC CLPs division elections in 2020. They clearly have an attraction to many members and MPs but their record of actions makes me question how left they are. Here are my notes. Continue reading “Open Labour? What’s it doing?”
I am too interested in too much. Here are my notes. Continue reading “Labour’s all women short lists”