The Euston Manifesto

As an active member of the Labour Party who is increasingly questioning his postion in the party, I was very interested to hear about the emergence of the Euston Manifesto and excited about what it might mean for the left. 

I am rather disappointed.  For those without time to read the whole manifesto, here is a summary:


-    We like democracy, freedom of ideas, internationalism, human
rights, equality, Trade Unions, historical truth, and Americans



-    We don’t like tyranny, racism, terrorism, or environmental
degradation



-    We want a two-state solution, economic development for all,
and open source software.



And, errr, that's about it.  To call it a broadly cast document is an understatement.  It would be very difficult for many people on the right of politics to disagree with most of it, and references to Stalin and Mao just reek of old-style left-wing theoretical introspection.  I may be being unduly harsh here, so take a look for yourself.  It is at least an attempt to raise the game of online political discourse.
7.5.06 17:03


Con-petitions?

Two things I rarely do: respond to a government initiative that is (cynically ?) designed to hit the Sunday papers, and sign up to petitions.  Last Sunday, however, I found myself doing both.

Tony Blair's signing of the People's Petition is interesting in itself.  As many others have pointed out, PM's are usually the recipients of petitions rather than their signatories.  But it also sufficiently raised my interest and off I went to hunt it down.  I signed it without hesitation.  I'd sign it on behalf of my dog, but he doesn't have an email for verification purposes.

I also wondered how many other 'People's Petitions' existed, so had a quick Google.  They're clearly very popular.  Would Tony have signed these?

The Chartists' version of 1838, demanding annual parliaments - unlikely (especially as this is still a favourite of Tony Benn)

A rabidly Anti-European petition, handed to the Queen by the barking Norris McWhirter in 2004 - highly unlikely
 
The American version currently doing the rounds, demanding troops out of Iraq - now you're getting silly.


 
15.5.06 20:00


More on the Euston Manifesto

I like words, and I like statistics.  So I ran the Euston Manifesto through a word counting programme.  Here are some thought-provoking points to mull over:

Only the Middle East matters - words mentioned include Abu Ghraib, Jihadist, Iraqis, Baathist, Israeli, Palestinian, and many more

Bang up to date - old school leftie words include gulag, communist, Stalinism, and Maoism


Relevance to real issues - words that don't appear at all: economy, taxation, Africa (or parts thereof),
European Union (or countries therein), education, health, business, housing
15.5.06 20:38


Access to a Government Minister

A brief mention of David Miliband's Blog - whatever you may think of the youngster, it is refreshing to see ministers do this sort of thing.  He seems to be using it at present to float a few ideas about the environment - no bad thing - although some of it is a little old hat, like the cost of keeping little red standby lights on your TV overnight.  Still, it's early days for him at the department.

I look forward to seeing if/whether he puts anything up on nuclear power.
16.5.06 17:44


The People's Petition Revisted

An interesting little debate on this can be found on Bloggers4Labour.  Slightly too high-brow for a new starter like me - worth a read.
16.5.06 21:14