Derek McMillan Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 I would like to say to any members of the Labour Party reading this forum that I am sorry. I am not apologising. Just sorry. I am sorry for you. I am sorry for Labour, sorry for the country and sorry for the millions who believed. Twenty years ago I was a member of the Labour Party campaigning for peace, public ownership and social justice. I don't remember a memo from head office saying we had reversed those policies to become the party of war, privatisation and corruption. The union leaders are deluding themselves or trying to delude us if they think Brown is any better than Blair. He may be a bit shamefaced about academies but he is going full steam ahead with prostituting public services to private profit. Whereas Blair's supporters are still looking for those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; (They will find them any day now) Brown's people are looking to the future rather than the past. Forget about the pack of lies we told you in the past. We have bigger and better lies to tell you in the future </RANT> http://www.cnwp.org.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Twenty years ago I was a member of the Labour Party campaigning for peace, public ownership and social justice. I don't remember a memo from head office saying we had reversed those policies to become the party of war, privatisation and corruption. I was a member 40 years ago. I left when Blair became leader. I feel especially angry about the tax loopholes they have refused to close allowing foreign born billionnaires from avoiding paying any tax. These are the very people who supplied the funds for "New Labour". According to leaks from Scotland Yard the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will not be bringing charges against Lord Levy, Tony Blair’s former fundraiser, and Ruth Turner, the former director of government relations. The man who led the investigation, Assistant Commissioner John Yates, is furious about this but it seems the CPS is unwilling to prosecute members of the government. It seems they really are “above the law”. Another example of how we do not live in a democracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek McMillan Posted July 16, 2007 Author Share Posted July 16, 2007 The founding conference of the National Stop Stewards Network took place on Saturday 7 July. It was addressed and supported by the president of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) Janice Godrich, the general secretaries of the PCS and RMT (rail) unions, Mark Serwotka and Bob Crow, as well as a number of trade union national executive members. Bob Crow argued that an "alternative political party" to the present three main parties is also needed. He raised the possibility of the RMT initiating "a little political party" to contest the next London mayoral and assembly elections and said that this could be a step towards a new workers' party in a few years' time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 This article on the BBC website illustrates the legacy of Tony Blair and New Labour: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/your_money/6901147.stm The gap between rich and poor in the UK is as wide as it has been for 40 years, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has said in a report. The JRF found that households in already wealthy areas had become "disproportionately" richer compared to society as a whole. But the number of "poor" households has risen over the past 15 years. Since the 1980s, wealthier people have moved to the suburbs while the poor remain in inner cities, the JRF added. Looking at wealth patterns over the past four decades, the JRF found that the gap between rich and poor actually narrowed in the 1970s. But during the 1980s and 1990s inequality had increased as a "polarisation" in British society had occurred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek McMillan Posted August 2, 2007 Author Share Posted August 2, 2007 Brown's leadership seems to be a classic illustration of New Labour's modus operandi. Every effort is being made to indicate that this is "different" and "new" whereas in practice it seems to be more of the same. One wonders exactly how bonkers American foreign policy would have to be before New Labour would actually oppose it *in practice* rather than make a few minor verbal exceptions before going along with it. Trotsky said that in trying to create an empire the US would build into its foundations all the combustible material on the planet. So not such a clever project to go along with perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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