Friday 5th June. Plaster time.

Those of us who fight the good fight all know the night of June 4th is going to be tough. Whether you're waiting to hear local election results in cold church halls or snuggled up in bed, relatively dubious and still fuming at the behaviour of a minority of members, the result of crumbling political faith will come home to roost and hit us all on the morning of June 5th. It'll be painful. Especially painful for many Labourites, who see the party as much more than a political body -it's almost a religion, which makes defeat, and perhaps more importantly distrust from the public, all the more crushing. Compare these elections to those of November 4th 2008 and you'll feel yourself deflate. Next Friday is last chance saloon for Labour. We may have no chance for the general election. Let's face it, we probably don't, but we should have. And Friday is D-Day. Decisions must be made and agendas formed. The results of these elections will be shockers. But, as Polly Toynbee has said in today's Guardian, shockers must result in change otherwise disaffection will spread even more fiercely than it has done so far.

Pounding the East Bristolian streets for the past couple of weeks, the public response has been rocky. The first weekend of Telegraph revelations brought wry smiles and occassional disapproving frowns. Come the weekend after, there was anger, anger which has not dissapated. Yet the people of East Bristol care that their homes are safe, their new schools are maintained and their communities are strengthened. That is where the faith comes back into politics. Not when people can see Chameleon grinning on BBC news 24, happy with his plans for the most unimpressive, bourgeois revolution of Westminster. Not then. But when things change around them. When they feel slighlty safer and slightly more secure. This is the message I've been hearing. Labour have been hurt by this scandal, and by others, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, as David Miliband pointed out today, schoolkids in Bristol are ALL going to new or newly refurbished schools. Every one of them. That is the function of government. And that is what Labour is for, if we forget that, and forget to remind people of that, then we're finished. And deserve to be.

It's going to be a tough week. What's new? I'm not looking at polls, it's too depressing. Friday is plaster time. The PLP may need to go through some short sharp pain just to show people we're listening. There is a reason why Labour has won three terms of government. There is a reason why places like East Bristol return a (very fine!) Labour MP. Thursday may be a lost cause. Disaster put down to exceptionally horrific circumstances. Yet come Friday we have no excuse. Remind people of Labour's reason, if that means fresh faces at the top then so be it. We haven't the luxury of pride. People like those I've met recently won't forgive inertia. Friday the 5th June, make or break.

I keep faith* (in some of you)

What would a Labour cabinet, sturdy and strong enough to lead us into the next election, look like? Even if you're from the school of thought that Labour have indeed no chance of getting anywhere near government come 2010 (a school I'm resisting going to with every fibre of my being), surely some improvements in cabinet could ensure Labour secure key reforms that may make eventual Tory years slightly more manageable. I think there are some members who are going great guns, Mr Johnson in particular, but it would be difficult to argue that changes couldn't be made to improve our chances. I'm also well aware many may come back with the witty reposte of 'none of 'em, hang the lot. OK. But revolution, and indeed immediate general elections aside, can we pick a fantasy cabinet and give no.10, who obviously refresh this blog hourly, some top tips for winning ways...

Let me suggest a few I'd go for:

RIGHT (H)ON:
Harriet Harman - stay. Equality Bill linked her inextricably to her job. Recently showed leadership as Leader of the House. Lot more to be done though, think she can oversee modernisation as she has emerged relatively cleanly from expenses scandal.
Alan Johnson - stay. Health dept. needs our best hitter. Heavyweight till the end. 2010 may bring promotion, ya never know.
Hilary Benn and Ed Miliband - stay. Pretty solid (and both emerged as clean as carbon capturing from expenses scandal).


TAXI TIME:
James Purnell - go, go, go. We'll shut our eyes and you can cross the floor. No one will know, I promise. Plus in it deep re capital gains tax
John Hutton - don't look him directly in the eyes. Many could do better, including Des Browne.
Hazel Blears - can't really come back from this and, although she didn't, it seems like she's undermining Gordo. Bad PR. Hazel should do more work within Labour party, inspiring action. Her call to arms at Labour conference was pretty impressive.
Geoff Hoon - Heathrow. 'nuff said. Expenses trouble.

Any suggestions? Or abuse? whichever.

*inspired by Mr. Bragg at weekend

Them and Us

"We're all middle class now", not on your nelly. Blair's dream for a chocolate box, middle class, meritocratic England was exposed for what it is this week, from Westminster. Crap.

For any New Labourite or Compassionate Conservative who comforted themselves with the thought that centre ground politics had rid itself of the notion of a class war, this week proves otherwise. Moats, mole killers, light bulb changers, helipads, swimming pools and servants quarters (yes, that's what Sky news named one claim as)- all evidence for the distinct cultural divide that separates our two main parties . Here and now. It may be uncomfortable for those who squealed with glee at Blair's infamous declaration, but class in politics is as prevalent as ever. Labour MPs aren't faultless, in fact those who have cheated the system are probably worse. We should be above reproach. The upbringing of many a Labour MP , amongst the constituents they represent, should teach humility and a sense of right and wrong. They don't feature on the Eton Curriculum.

So many in the Tory party are, as much today as ever before, used to a level of decadence, where employing someone to change their light bulbs is normal. For anyone to believe, in all seriousness, that they can represent the entirety of this country is deluded. Prescott's claim for two toilet seats, and Shahid's claim for a telly emphasises the point, does it not? These are pretty mundane items. Cheeky, yet almost (and again, I say almost) endearing. Too far? ok.

Many working class commentators and voices, like Prescott, are mocked for seeming hard done by, bitter and twisted. With these revelations, and a peek through the letterbox of many of the Opposition, is it any surprise? The class struggle is as biting and bitter as ever, and that's where this public anger comes from. The age of austerity promoted by the Tory Party is more sickening than ever. How dare they. Austerity presumably would rule out a tax funded mole murderer?

I'm not saying that the rich shouldn't be in politics. Not at all. Yet surely the strength of the Labour Party is the diversity of its representatives...from Tony Benn and Harriet Haman to John Prescott and Alan Johnson, each one brings a slice of the British cake to the table. There is no such range in the Tory party, a range so necessary for a government to have. So, in a week where Tory MPs call for an 'opt out' of the minimum wage from their tennis courts, can we take a moment to digest the audacity, and then respectfully decline.

*I know Labour MPs have repaid more and probably quantitavely claimed more, I'm talking about the actual items though, and the culture they represent.*

When I grow up, I want to be...

Just a quickie.... Had an interesting conversation with a young man today, we were discussing prospective careers after university and he asked me what I wanted to go 'into'. When I said politics, he looked at me with what I can only describe as utter contempt. It was as if I had said I'd quite like to go 'into' child trafficing. He promptly asked which party I was part of and my response seemed to tip him over the edge. His disgust turned to sympathy. He treated me as if I was slightly slow and perhaps mentally troubled. Once I'd proved my relative (and I say relative) sanity, it soon switched back to disgust.
Incidentally he declared a desire to go into investment banking, to make a fast buck, which he saw as veritably noble in comparison. Jesus.

These elections are about more than politics...our morality is at stake

During a bit of a political weekend, there was one moment when, and it sounds cliché I admit, but time kind of stood still.
It was on Saturday afternoon and I was in the centre of Bristol at a Hope not Hate rally. An organisation set up to campaign against the BNP, trying to mobilise voters for the EU elections (not the most exciting I grant you), to keep fascism out of mainstream politics. The moment came when I read a quote from London BNP candidate Nick Eriksen, it is as follows:

"Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal. To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that force feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched."

I think I'll leave it there. Suffice to say, that they may not be the most exciting elections in the world, but the price of apathy is incomprehensible.
June 4th - don't let that be the day this country was tarred, with this most dispicable brush, forever.

20 point lead? That has it's price...

Brown bashing, possibly, turned a corner this week. I think PMQs did it. It had all gone too far. Bear bating of the PM, with some justified points I admit, leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. It must approaching bullying mustn't it? Yes he's the PM but, as even Cameron admitted this week, no one doubts Brown came into politics for the right reasons. No one would sign up for this. No one should have to. We are undoubtedly laying the foundations for the type of leader I certainly don't want.

What I don't understand, and the point of this blog, is why Cameron has had it so easy? Even the left leaning papers don't seem intent on exposing his lack of substance. A McBride-ite agenda shouldn't be pursued. I'm not talking about personal attacks at all. But if this 'chap' really is on the verge of leading our country (I'm crossing anything I can while writing this sentence) shouldn't the media be exposing his lack of policy? The 20 point lead has a price of accountbility, or should do anyway. Shouldn't the hypocrisy of his 'age of austerity' while he sits comfortably in his million pound + home in Notting Hill be staring us in the face? (It's very nice by the way...my school was round the corner)

If the threat of a Tory government is imminent, then the media should be asking pressing questions of Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne., and doing so now. Would they keep SureStart? Would they maintain similar levels of investment in the NHS? Would they keep the Apprentices scheme? (No, no, no-by the way)An age of austerity will have victims. Surely we have the right to know who they'd be.

Cameron said he had recently recognised the greatness of the NHS because of his son's treatment. That worried me. I'm sure a lot of the Tory cabinet use private healthcare... If Ivan Cameron had been born a healthy baby boy, would his father not have recognised the value of our national service on which the vast majority of us rely? I have relied on the NHS in the past 5 or so years, having two episodes of meningitis and a heart operation - I think I'm what you would call a 'drain on the system'. However, I recognised the necessity and value of the service before relying on it. That is the strength, I feel, of the Labour movement. A lot of Labour MPs will never be hard up, look at Tony Benn for goodness sake, but they recognise the need to provide for those who are. I think it's something called socialism.

The media aren't on Labour's side, The People has even turned away, and it's not surprising after 12 years. But they'll all surely be complaining when Tory cuts mean public services are whittled away.The Mirror and The Guardian do their bit, but surely the vast majority of the press should see it as their duty to scrutinise those on the edge of power? In doing so, they may be pushed ever so slightly further away.

Thank Gord for that...

At last a message from on high. What are Labour doing in recession? This...
Policy, Policy, Policy. Nice.