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Lochaber
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Iain MacWhirter writes the epitaph for the Labour PartyThis article is one of the best-judged comments on what looks to be the coming demise of the Labour Party:
| Iain Macwhirter (Herald, 27 September) wrote: | This Labour conference looks less like a pre-election rally than a funeral.
There will be very little politics as MPs and ministers prepare themselves for opposition and activists pick over the carcass of what was once the greatest social democratic party in the world. Sorry to sound morbid, but there really is precious little to show for the last 13 years – the longest period in office by any Labour government in history. Let’s look at the balance sheet.
Britain is more unequal than 100 years ago. The economy has been handed to a banking kleptocracy which has been awarded immense sums of public money to help them rebuild their financial doomsday machine. The country suffers from a chronic and wholly unnecessary housing shortage. Britain has been pitched into two disastrous wars which have cost billions, ruined the country’s image abroad and killed large numbers British servicemen.
An unexpected by-product of the Afghanistan debacle was the collapse of trust in MPs. The entire expenses-gate saga it turns out – according to The Telegraph – was started by disaffected servicemen, moonlighting in the parliamentary fees office. They were appalled at the scale of expenses fraud in the Commons, when their mates were struggling to buy decent boots. So they leaked with extreme prejudice. No, you could never have made it up. But it was on Gordon’s watch. So were the curbs on civil liberties, Identity cards, CCTV, and the apparatus of the surveillance state.
...This is a government past its sell-by-date, which has run out of ideas, membership and moral credibility. The only bright spot is that there are only a few months of this left. |
Well said that man! For the full article see Labour’s out of ideas, out of credibility ... and out of time (Herald, 27 September)
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Lochaber
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Re: Iain MacWhirter writes the epitaph for the Labour PartyI also like this part:
| Iain Macwhirter (Herald, 27 September) wrote: | ...The puzzle of the Labour decade is why they thought, after the Tories and Thatcherism had been defeated and discredited, that people wanted more of it. Starry-eyed lefty I may be, but back in 1997 there was a very widespread demand for change in Britain – some even called it a “velvet revolution” following the model of the citizens’ initiatives in central and eastern Europe. There was a movement for democratic renewal, for curbing the power of vested interests and challenging neo-liberal economic policies that ended up delivering the 2008 crash.
But instead of less, we got more: more inequality, more financial services, more wars, more plutocrats avoiding tax. This was rather expected of Tony Blair; but what struck at the heart of Labour was that after he finally replaced him as leader, Gordon Brown carried on exactly the same policies and postures. It’s as if something happens when they enter Number 10: perfectly decent politicians are turned into incoherent, emotionally-challenged war-mongering monsters.
Well, it is over now – the Labour Party that is. It won’t be a political force again for at least a decade, possibly more, because there is a great reckoning to be had within the movement about what went wrong during the years of Labour’s Great Opportunity
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For the full article see Labour’s out of ideas, out of credibility ... and out of time (Herald, 27 September)
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Shagpile
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Ponders a while..........
Good article, yet what was in it we didn't already know?
Perhaps Good Summary would be more appropriate.
RIP Labour, yet know this...... I have NEVER voted for you. After years of Tory slease we wanted more, and we got "more".
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October1974
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It must have heartbreaking for those in 1997 thought they were getting an antidote to the Tory Government but ended with this mob. Only 8 months (or less) before the next election.
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Holebender
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<sings> things can only get better... </sings>
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landg
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that journalist is a twit. he writes for the herald/sinday herald. scotlands very agenda driven, PC, yoghurt knitting guardian.
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Reluctant Hero
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| October1974 wrote: | | It must have heartbreaking for those in 1997 thought they were getting an antidote to the Tory Government but ended with this mob. Only 8 months (or less) before the next election. |
Even back then though it was clear that Bliar and his immediate team were Tories in disguise.
However, he may have inadvertently set Scotland of on its path to Independence by putting through the devloution bill.
At least there is one thing to be thankful for over the 12 years.
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Ultra
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| Reluctant Hero wrote: | | October1974 wrote: | | It must have heartbreaking for those in 1997 thought they were getting an antidote to the Tory Government but ended with this mob. Only 8 months (or less) before the next election. |
Even back then though it was clear that Bliar and his immediate team were Tories in disguise.
However, he may have inadvertently set Scotland of on its path to Independence by putting through the devloution bill.
At least there is one thing to be thankful for over the 12 years. |
With devolution Scotland may well get the majority of powers required to help the Scottish people prosper and have a better quality of life.
But more importantly, it gives the Scottish Government experience in handling those powers and being able to demostrate to the people they can in fact run an independent Scotland.
The SNP just need to not be too inpatient and choose their timing a bit more carefully when it comes to referendum votes.
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