tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17101458.post5734914692318487335..comments2023-10-31T15:14:05.373+00:00Comments on Hagley Road To Ladywood: Where now for Labour?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17101458.post-5337833106486704382010-05-17T08:12:39.490+01:002010-05-17T08:12:39.490+01:00Enjoyed this post.
Fundamentally Labour has to em...Enjoyed this post.<br /><br />Fundamentally Labour has to embrace pluralism for it to survive as a party of Government. <br /><br />This goes further than PR, although that is vital. <br /><br />The problem is that the New Labour project saw positioning things far more important than planting roots in certain values. It is why, as you describe, they will find it hard to act as a progressive bulwark or even supportive opposition to the new administration. <br /><br />By embracing pluralism, Labour may feel it does not have to treat its own left as the enemy. For years New Labour defined itself by whether the left of the party did not like it. As if they were a barometer to what not to do.Plaid Panteghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01245469394371943152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17101458.post-29886719461428925712010-05-16T21:13:46.523+01:002010-05-16T21:13:46.523+01:00I suppose I might as well just say that I am vague...I suppose I might as well just say that I am vaguely supportive of the coalition after hearing its policy statements. (Though obviously prepared to slag them off whenever they deserve it). The worst but probably is the welfare "reform". But I think David Freud's jumping ship, for the sole reason that the Tories were more likely to put their ideas into practice than Labour, says it all about the party "divide". Anyone who in recent years was refused the new ESA, or DLA, overpaid these here tax credits, seeking asylum, denied a means-tested benefit for old timers, single & childless so unable to get tax credits, will be forgiven for wondering whether it could get any worse.<br /><br />I don't hate Labour like some, I want them to really rediscover what they are there for. I am more liberal than socialist so I doubt I'd support them but we need a strong opposition shorn of the authoritarianism that has bedevelled them.<br /><br />Looking at Cruddas' record on They Don't Work For You he has been quite authoritarian on all the issues for which I slagged Blair & Brown off. I have reservations about him unless he truly regrets his earlier role, & where's the evidence that he has shifted on anything other than Iraq?<br /><br />You've seen a fair few of my comments, I also comment on right-wing sites & have kept an editorial line of my own throughout. I am not a ringlicker for anyone. So I am thinking that I want Labour to change, obviously, & then to reassert themselves as the sort of oppsition Tories didn't provide in the late 90s or early 00s, that Democrats couldn't provide when America needed someone to call Bush a cunt, & so on.<br /><br />We are not in a period of endless one-party rule any more. I am glad that the Tory gloaters didn't get what they said was going to happen about this time last year. But the mounting of a strong challenge from opposition, which is what the country needs, I am dubious about Cruddas providing it.<br /><br />PS- We also need to be vigilant for secularism. I don't for one minute think the coalition will promote it, neither party really impressed me on the issue apart from a handful of individuals.asquithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246701347539264295noreply@blogger.com