Gordon Brown, dead PM walking
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“We are not done yet.” Who writes Gordon Brown’s lines? Someone who hates him? Is there anyone who doesn’t, at the moment, the poor bugger? But given that everyone sees him as Monty Python’s black knight (“it’s just a flesh wound!”) why hammer it home? Brown addressed the Labour Party conference with his party trailing around 19 points in the opinion polls. An eight per cent swing to the Tories is needed for them to take power, and though FPP elections can sometimes do funny things, it is hard to see how they will not win. God knows what Brown could promise that would swing things in his favour — but there was nothing in the speech that would do so. Everything was geared to staunching the loss, and trying to maintain a connection to parts of the south-eastern middle classes that choose the government. Thus there was a commitment to a cap on public spending, and new initiatives — such as free home-based social care for the elderly poor — is being funded by cuts elsewhere, such as subsidies for work-based childcare. Social commitments include greater powers for local councils to close down whole areas of 24 hour drinking — Labour, for reasons best known to itself went from a dour system of 11pm closing, to an open-slather system of licensing which seemed designed to make a gradual transition to slower, steadier drinking (as opposed to the frantic pint-necking Brits have become accustomed to) impossible — and a whole new range of anti-social behaviour measures, directed at a small number of “chaotic” families — the 50,000 worst families in Britain as one headline had it. That will be accompanied by a revival of “ASBOs” the anti-social behaviour orders, that are increasingly tailored to specific malfeasance, such as “drinks ASBOs” for people who are arseholes outside pubs etc etc. The get tough response is in response to polling suggesting that people are still fed up with anti-social behaviour, or to put it in less dry terms, that post-Thatcherite UK is still a rude, gobby, angry, dirty, frustrated, menacing place for tens of millions of urban residents. There’s an obvious reason for that — in 12 years the Labour government hasn’t done anything significant to increase opportunity, class mobility, rewards from intitiative for the lowest 20%. In that decade, opportunity has become worse, and society more unequal than it was under John Major. Instead, new Labour took the social liberal philosophy of John Rawls, which suggested that social policy should be used to strive for maximum aid for the worst off, rather than equality per se, and used it as a justification for cementing inequality and hopelessness. It then went off and pursued two futile pointless and massively expensive wars in former colonies (or one colony and one buffer state). Rather than solve the problem of anti-social behaviour by atatcking it at its root — ie that you’re anti-social if society is anti-you, if it excludes you, scorns you, denies you even the possibility of opportunity — new Labour then treated citizens as behavioural units, to be shaped, prodded, nudged and manipulated into good behaviour. “ASBOs will give us a society where we don’t need ASBOs,” one Labour grandee said. Surprise, surprise, 12 years down the track we need … more ASBOs. Brown has also added a whole series of measures Labour should have put through years ago — abolition of the 97 hereditary peers who amazingly continue to rule on the laws passed by an elected parliament … in 2009! … after 12 years of a Labour government! There was also a commitment to not bringing in ID cards, and a referendum on preferential voting, Labour’s preferred option — not, it would seem multi-member proportional electorates the genuinely democratic option. Too little, too late, too bad. God knows what the Tories will be like when they rip off the one-Britain mask after they regain power — but for electoral reasons I suspect they won’t be signficantly worse. David Cameron knows that he has a chance only because the public are convinced that the ghost of Thatcher and Major has gone for ever, and that the Tories have moved to the centre. If their most recent announcement — a commitment to roll back the spread of CCTVs, databases, and to support privacy legislation — is sincere, then their election would be a net gain. Labour can go to opposition, and the sinister crowd who gave us war, ASBOs and endelssly lowered expectations can be tracked down and clubbed like rats, in the decade or so as a genuine Labour party, both progressive, reformist and electable, re-organises itself. The only draw back is that we’ll get all the new Labour refuse here, burrowing into the Rudd government. Brown ended his speech by quoting Goethe apparently. Some then suggested that a Faustian pact was his curse. If only. Faust got something out of his deal. What Labour supporters and the UK got was less Faustian pact than Porgy pie — plenty of nothing. |
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11 Comments
Even in his death throes he still can’t help the spin and double-talk.
As unless i’m mistaken, the COMPULSORY identity card won’t be introduced ‘in the next parliament’, and is not cancelled altogether.
Even more pathetically, the actual national database of identities will still be going ahead as planned.
Sadly for the Brits, I believe that all major UK parties including UKIP are owned by the oligarchy. It doesn’t make any difference what they do. The people will need to vote independent to get any change of the status quo. If the Cameron crowd get in, it will be bombing, bailouts and backhanders as usual in my humble opinion. The only difference will be that the people will have to deal with a new group of misappropriators of truth.
“Rather than solve the problem of anti-social behaviour by atatcking it at its root — ie that you’re anti-social if society is anti-you, if it excludes you, scorns you, denies you even the possibility of opportunity — new Labour then treated citizens as behavioural units, to be shaped, prodded, nudged and manipulated into good behaviour.”
I think one of the problems in the past few years has been the rise of the “chav” culture - not the actual chav culture itself (we’ve always had working classes) but the actual phenomenon of majority of people/media sneering down at these people thus marginalising them even more. Its like we can’t laugh at blacks or pakis anymore so lets laugh at white trash. Its a disturbing trend and one noticeable in Australia recently with the increasing use of “bogan” as an insult (and even ironic “fauxgan” found in trendy sydney/melbourne suburbs). Witness Magda Szbanski in the recent “Who Is Australia’s Biggest Bogan” type show on Channel 10 (and Magda should know all about pillorying after the recent Klye attacks). What is this? Now John Howard has gone and were not racist any more, the only people we can mock are those who are poorer than us? What happened to the “great mates” and “fair go” for all?
GUY RUNDLE: Excellent-as usual-article. However, I have one or two qualms about it.
“local councils to close down whole areas of 24 hour drinking”. What a gem of an idea!
So, increased opportunity, class mobility, rewards from initiative for the lowest 20% make for a better behaved young pissant? You have to be kidding. Oz children who beat up other people, who cast fear and trepidation to passers by, kids who thrash the s/hit out of people people on racist grounds and who epitomize everything that is delivered in that excellent word ‘Hoon’. Are you trying to tell us that Oz kids are also suffering from this class conscience thingo? I don’t think so. After all, we produce a lot better educated class of hoons in Australia.
To excuse ‘youwths’ who behave so appallingly on the basis they haven’t had a fair go, is nothing short of bulls/hit. You cannot be serious. There is always a lower class in every society. No community can be without a lower class, a middle class, and an upper middle-class and to think otherwise is shockingly naïve and does no-one any favours. This is politically correct madness.
I would have to ask you if political correctness has delivered a certain high-mindedness in our society, humanity, if you prefer, or has it produced a society of second-guessers, blamers on every front and certifiably witless and self-righteous bigots? (Look up ‘home birthing’ if you want confirmation of what I’m saying).
MATHEW DAVIES: “sneering down at these people”. If people behave like s/hit they should have to learn to live as s/hit.
RICHARD WILSON: I agree with you totally and utterly.
And the national debt, that statistic that makes the nation stand out like a lighthouse????
Bit unfair to John Rawls, Guy?
Interestingly it has been revealed that while the ID card in the UK will not be compulsory per se, the home office will require any British citizen who wishes to return from travel in the EU to the UK to have one, anyone who has a passport will be required to have one, and anyone with a drivers licence. So unless you are happy to spend your entire life in the UK and not drive a car, they will actually be compulsory.
Nice election promise Gordon Brown!
Venise: so when you have Princes William & Harry attending “chavs” parties and mocking the poor - thats acceptable?
MATTHEW DAVIES: As a member of the Republican Party, I refuse to answer your question as I deem it to be beneath my dignity. However, doubtless you would be prepared to walk down the Queens Street anytime after midnight and before 5am in the morning and be forgiving of the way a gang of these teenaged hoons as they beat the shit out of you. And when you wake up in the emergency ward of The Alfred Hospital, if they haven’t punched out your lights and your eyes, you will be handing out petitions to raise money for them to learn acceptable behaviour. Oh yeah?
Of course, if you really wanted to do some good you would wait for two or three days and nights at your nearest multi-cinema complex-the Jam Factory is an ideal spot. There you would see parents disgorging their twelve to fourteen year old boys from the family car before giving them a $50 note each and saying “When you’ve spent this come home”. Naturally these kids bored witless, join up
with other juvenile rejects. They form gangs and they graduate to beating the bejesus out of anyone who catches their eye.
This of course, is nothing to do with education and all the other goodies these kids apparently need. FACT: What they do need are responsible parents. It is the stupid neglect of parents and the desire to earn the admiration of their peer groups which are the determining factors.
If you are going to argue the toss with anyone who has different views to you, it is always a good idea to do some research. You see, I did do the research, and I gave number plates IDs to the local constabulary. Who could not have cared less.
Venise my point is that media has demonised a whole new class of people which wouldnt be acceptable if these people were of a certain race or ethnic background. I can point to lots of evidence of this phenomenon i.e opinion pieces, TV shows, websites that look down on chavs/bogans and give them a hard time.
Can you show me your “research” please ?
Matthew, my research was done in person. At the time I was living in Charles Street in Prahran, Victoria. Shortly after arriving there Stonnington Council suddenly declared us to be living in a tourist area.
All too soon legions of young hoons started appearing on our streets, not that they were particularly badly behaved. If you came across them before they reached all the nightclubs which had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They were quite polite. In fact-this sounds a bit rambling but the point may be germane. David Flint had made a particularly fatuous, even by his standards, comment that today’s youth were all in favour of remaining a monarchy.
Fascinated/non- believing of this c/rap, I armed myself with a large notebook and went out to ask them their opinions in person. I soon knew David Flint was lying after receiving questions such as “What’s a monarchy?” “What’s it to us?” “Who’s the idiot who reckons an old bird in England runs Oz, ‘cause I don’t.” . WTF are yer talkin’ about?” These kids weren’t illiterate, they spoke with reasonable voices, and the only things they did which were objectionable was to toss their syringes into everyones gardens, pee into our gardens, have loud doof doof music belting out of their cars, and using the street as a drag strip.
Everyone in the neighbourhood who went to the cinema knew about the parents who dropped off their kids at The Jam Factory, gave them -usually a fifty dollar
note-and told them to make their own way home after they’d spent it all. Saturdays were a good time to see the very young kids who were hanging out together. They had gone from being kids on their own to small groups of individuals. Being from suburbs like Bon Beach, Frankston, Brighton, etc, they began to arrive with friends from the same area. How did I know these things? Because I used to talk to them and ask them questions. On Saturdays you could see a small group of them hanging around outside Coles bottle shop in Chapel Street, hoping to find a tall kid to buy them a packet of cigarettes. Or trying to get past the bouncers at clubs like Evolution. Although not all that many of them smoked-or this is how I seem to remember it.
I lived in Charles Street for ten years and having been a photographer I tended to remember faces, bodies, ways of dressing. I did try collecting number plates of cars driven by their parents who dropped them off to spend their money and come home when it was gone. I did try to interest the police. But the area is big and the numbers of police thin on the ground.
In the shift to my present address lots of my stuff was lost in transit. Including heaps of research stretching back to my days at Uni. A great and deep loss. All I have to give you is my conclusions, based on a fair bit of effort.(You try being a woman armed with a clip-board and a pen on a Saturday night in the heart of nightclub land. It’s not the most comfortable of situations, and being good-looking I spent a lot of my time trying to convince men I wasn’t for rent.
I’ve done my best for you. You are the one to decide if it is the truth that I speak.