Now is the time to Kiple.

Graham Watson's weekly newsletter reminds us all to remember Kipling and "...meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same..." Here's the rest.

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

What a pity ministers don't read Liberator !

I read in the Evening Standard that one of our ministers has said, "It's going to be liberating to take a private dialogue and make it public. We need to demonstrate that we're different from the Tories, not just competent partners. If the process is more public, it'll look less as if we went into a locked room and lost our heart and soul. It won't be a slanging match, but we won't have to pretend we agree on everything. I think people will be able to cope with that.".

Last August four local Liberal Democrats in Yeovil met to discuss our feelings about the coalition. In September Shirley Williams put it in a nutshell when asked how she felt about being in bed with the Tories, "Not one bed, two beds". In November Liberator published my article "Separate Beds" in which I wrote, "The voters need to see that we have a clear vision and we need to be seen to argue before agreement is reached. This is not the tradition of British cabinet government and civil servants will have advised ministers against it – “Not in front of the children”. This is NOT a traditional government and we must stop infantilising the electorate. Otherwise Liberal Democrat Ministers defending government policies which we have always opposed will appear dishonest and weak. They have to demonstrate tough negotiation and the necessary virtue of constructive difference... Liberal Democrats in the government cannot implement all our policies but they must deliver some and be seen to do so."

Somebody give Nick Clegg a subscription. He can read that edition and other old ones here.

I agree with Nick !

No, not that one. Nick Thornsby has concluded that there is no progressive majority in Britain.

As a party we have spent years becoming diligent on local issues, helpful on personal problems and brilliant on targetting tactics but we have not changed minds. Like every other party we have abandoned ideology and when our leadership makes strategic errors, our fair-weather voters melt away leaving us with that small core which always agreed with us from the beginning.

Now is the time to learn from our mistakes. In the long run we cannot change and keep votes unless we first change minds. We have lost our reputation for being honest. We have lost our radicalism (if not our disgruntlement). Working hard will not be enough. Now we have to persuade people that we are also right.

Wisdom from 1908

FM Cornford's MICROCOSMOGRAPHIA ACADEMICA published in 1908 explains academic politics and has some truth for the wider world and the AV debate in particular. He says there is only one reason for doing something - because it's right - whereas there are many reasons for NOT doing something.

He also gives the following definitions of two kinds of academic politicians:
"A Conservative Liberal is a broad-minded man, who thinks that something ought to be done, only not anything that anyone now desires, but something which was not done in 1881-82.

A Liberal Conservative is a broad-minded man, who thinks that something ought to be done, only not anything that anyone now desires; and that most things which were done in 1881-82 ought to be undone."

I hope we have moved on.

How to run a coalition ( or wag the dog)

Interesting article by Julian Astle in his Daily Telegraph blog. Broadly he says there's the Clegg approach so far - we own everything the government does -, the Toryphobic approach - we hate everything the government does - or there's Chris Huhne's third way - critical support. He warns that this approach must not damage the good reputation of coalition politics. We must break the perceived link between coalitions and weak, fractious, ineffective government.

I doubt that this perception exists among voters in the UK today. Nobody remembers what coalitions are like. The last one, Churchill's wartime coalition was unpopular at the time but seen as strong and indeed victorious in retrospect. The problem is deeper than any hazy preconceptions of coalition. Voters want various contradictory things from politicians, e.g. good quality services AND low taxes. They also want politicians to be honest AND not to bicker. Perhaps this is not impossible if the arguments are about the product - the policies - instead of the usual political row about the process - who said what to whom and when and you did this, you said this etc.

The morning after the morning after the night before

What people think after not so cool reflection. A small selection.

Matthew Taylor (Chief Executive of the RSA not the ex-MP) analyses why the YES campaign got it wrong.

Tom King noted on Facebook that ‎32% voted Yes, but 35% voted Labour in 2005, and they got a 66-seat majority. Explains why Labour loves the unfair FPTP.

David Allen Green asks in his New Statesman blof, "What the Liberal Democrats should do next". As he says, "The party has to be distinct. As this blog has said previously, the blurring of lines between Tories and Liberal Democrats makes one want to adapt the ending of Animal Farm:

"The voters outside looked from Tory to Clegg, and from Clegg to Tory, and from Tory to Clegg again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."

I ask, "In the seats we lost in the south of England, did Labour supporters who would normally vote for us stay at home ? Alternatively did more right-wing voters who normally vote for us switch to the Tories ? Can anyone tell me ? I ask because it's obvious why we lost seats to Labour in the north of England but not why we lost seats to Tories in the south."

Sandy Walkington suggest on Facebook that the referendum increased Tory turnout in the council elections ! How ironic that we held the referendum on the same day as the council elections to increase turnout in the referendum. Massive mistake.

Nick Clegg has asked us to move on. Then he asked us for money. Was it too much to expect the slightest admission that maybe he got it wrong ?

Arrow's impossibility theorem

A little maths to lighten the gloom.

How strange that the Tories and Labour NOs did not quote Arrow's Impossibility Theorem, which proves mathematically that no voting system can meet three criteria of fairness (see extract above).

No, I don't understand it either.

"Never glad confident morning again" ?

Nick Clegg has made two historic errors.

Firstly, the referendum on AV should never have been held simultaneously with council elections. I always thought this was a mistake and hoped the House of Lords might succeed in forcing a delay. This vital issue was subsumed into the party political battle. Voting "No" became a way of punishing the Liberal Democrats. Campaigners' efforts were diverted from the referendum to local elections. The only material on AV delivered where I live was council election leaflets with a Tory footnote NO and a Lib Dem footnote YES.

The second error was as bad. The identity of the Liberal Democrats has vanished. Voters cannot discern what makes Liberal Democrats different from Conservatives. It is whistling in the dark to cite the shopping list of policies which are supposed to form 75% of our manifesto. They do not amount to a visible Liberal Democrat narrative. They weigh as nothing against the two policies which were not in the manifesto - raising tuition fees and rapid, unfair deficit reduction risking a double-dip recession.

At our special conference to ratify the coalition agreement, I asked if our reaction should be "Never glad confident morning again". I don't know if anyone recognised the poem by Robert Browning. It is called "The lost leader" and mourns the desertion of William Wordsworth to the conservative cause. Read it here.

Time now to show that we are different. Coalition -yes, Cosmetic for the Tories - No.

Never confuse Labour with a progressive party !

This is the proud boast of the Labour NO to AV campaign. So we know that their manifesto promise was a lie. So we know that they prefer the system that has put Tories in power for generations. So we know that their commitment to democracy is threadbare. So we know that they are happy to see 1.6% of the electorate (less than 500,000 voters) decide who governs Britain. So we know that they don't care that MPs are elected by a minority.

NEVER CONFUSE LABOUR WITH A PROGRESSIVE PARTY, NEVER AGAIN !

Yes or no ? Is that democracy ?

The BBC has this graphic for its summing up of the arguments on the AV Referendum. Clearly the pencil has more than two faces but only two are available to the voter - yes or no. The graphic so neatly sums up the problem with First Past the Post that I'm surprised the Director-General Mark Thomson didn't ban it as the BBC banned the use of the word "Reform".

Caroline Lucas was of course right in seeking to amend the referendum into a preferendum with a choice of voting systems. She was wrong to blame Liberal Democrat MPs for not supporting her, as she know that the combined weight of the Tory and Labour dinosaurs would not have permitted such a choice to the electorate. LibDem MPs were confined to the AV option by the coalition agreement. Could we have got more from the Tories ? I wonder. What about Labour ? With the exception of Ed Miliband (who gave a remarkably honest interview to the trivial, point-scoring, ever interrupting Humphries this morning) and a few other Labour politicians, the Labour Party has once again shown itself dishonest and opportunistic. Blair's first broken promise was his refusal to put the Jenkins Commission's report to a referendum. Now many Labour politicians led by the despicable Reid, Prescott, Blunkett and Beckett are campaigning against AV, which they promised in their own General Election manifesto. Make no mistake. If the answer tomorrow is "NO" they will bear the blame as much as any self-seeking Tory.

The conclusion: you can't trust politicians to set the rules by which we are governed. The UK needs a Constitutional Convention, just as the Scots had before.

Responsibility to Protect

I lost a debate last night. Not so terrible, you might think. We all lose arguments and perhaps I was wrong. I was defending the intervention in Libya by the USA, UK and France under UNSC 1973. My argument was based on the development of the Responsibility to Protect. I am disappointed not that I failed to persuade people that this intervention is a good, practical example of the doctrine, which is arguable. No, I am downhearted that radical, peace-loving people rejected the whole concept. Some went so far as to say that national sovereignty is essential to democracy ! As Lord Lothian proclaimed in 1935, "Pacifism is not enough". I am convinced that national sovereignty is the root cause of war. There is nothing surprising about right-wing opposition to the evolution of supranational democracy and international law. Those like Murdoch who wield global commercial might will always resist it as it constrains and regulates them. I remain astonished at left-wing opposition. How do people who recognise the dangers of concentrated private economic power propose to challenge it if they will not support the construction of supranational governance and if they insist on the untrammelled sovereignty of nation-states ?

BBC promotes bias against ECHR

Tonight's Report on Radio 4's Six O’Clock News on the subject of the European Court of Human Rights and Prisoners’ Right to Vote was a model of tabloid bias and I have told them so.

Both the headline and the full report on the ECHR decision to refuse an appeal today was inaccurate and descended to tabloid levels, saying that the ECHR had demanded that prisoners must have the right to vote. The Court did NOT. It ruled that barring convicted prisoners in detention pursued a legitimate aim, but that a blanket ban was not proportionate. The Court acknowledged that the right to vote was not absolute and that states had to be given a margin of appreciation - a broad discretion- to decide what limitations on that right would be proportionate.

You can find more in the House of Commons’ library's publication.

This is not a question of getting the emphasis slightly wrong or simplifying to fit the constraints of time in the broadcast. By reporting the court’s judgement wrongly, the BBC fuelled the rampant xenophobia displayed by the tabloids and indeed the MPs who took part in the Commons debate on the subject. The BBC's error is not minor. It has political import and should be corrected.

The bias of their report was clear; they referred to the clash between MPs' "opinions" and the court's "demands", which they had misreported.

Global action against military spending day

Today is Global Action Against Military Spending Day promoted by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that in 2010 global military expenditure was $1,630 billion. Globally it would cost $10 billion to provide universal primary education, $30 billion to eradicate world hunger, $30 billion to provide clean water to everyone without it. Which is the better investment ?
Take a look here for more information and do look at the video.

Liberals in literature and films (13)

I am very grateful to Malcolm Baines for the following information.


"Despite being a Tory MP from 1927 to 1935, Buchan has sympathetic portraits of Liberals in quite a few of his books and short stories. In "Castle Gay" for example, published in 1930, there is a thinly disguised Lloyd George renamed as Foss Jones. In "The Gap in the Curtain" from 1932, the 5 major characters are all able to look a year ahead to the then copy of "The Times". Whilst two of them see their own obituaries, another, a leading Labour politician, sees that the leader of the small Liberal Party has become PM. He spends the next year working out how this could happen and getting it spectacularly wrong, leading in the process to the ruin of his own political career. The Liberal leader combines some of the characteristics of Gladstone, Grey and Campbell-Bannerman - not always the most appealing ones!"

Will the Liberal Democrats disappear ? NO !

Someone asked me: "Do you think that the Liberal Democrats are being drawn into things they do not want but have to accept in order to continue to have a say in what is being proposed. Are they being sucked so far in that they will disappear?"

The difference between government and opposition is this. In opposition as the third party we could only propose amendments to proposals by the government. Sometimes the Speaker did not call our amendments and they were not even debated. If debated, they were nearly always defeated. In government, actually with fewer MPs, we help to write the proposals which then are passed by parliament. Each proposal is of course a compromise. I accept that. It's what happens in coalition. I think that Nick Clegg has been too keen to present the government as united so the public believes the compromises are what Lib Dems wanted all along. At Spring Conference in Sheffield, Nick and other ministers repeatedly said, "We didn't win the election. This is the policy we wanted. That is the policy we got." Nick even said that a Lib Dem majority government would cut tuition fees. I want the public to get this message and reward us for the changes we have made instead of punishing us for the changes we could not stop. We may have bad council results in May. We may even lose the referendum but the Liberal Democrats will never disappear. Liberals survived a party split in the '30s. We survived the'50s when we had only 4 MPs. We must stand for Liberal ideas in government or out. With apologies to Tennyson, "For men may come and men may go, but we go on for ever."

Liberals in literature and films (12)

Crichton-Potter shuddered. Larry Boot-Heath had once talked to him for three and a half hours about land taxation. Admittedly the party was in favour of land taxation, but Crichton-Potter had never had the faintest idea what it was or where he stood on the issue He knew exactly where he stood, however, on the question of people who talked to him for three and a half hours about any aspect of policy.

Thus Mark Tavener described the views of the leader of the Reform Party (for which read Liberal Party) in his first novel "In the Red" later produced as a serial on BBC. Mark himself had worked for the BBC, oh let's be honest, "worked" is too strong a word, spent days at Broadcasting House or at least in a pub nearby.

Liberals in literature and films (11)

"Some Tory MPs spend the week in their clubs, camping out in attic bedrooms but lounging in some of the more elegant of London's drawing rooms...Labour MPs shared digs, Dennis Skinner and John Prescott being seen as the People's Party answer to that other 'odd couple', Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. One Welsh Liberal MP even lived in the regent's Palace Hotel."

Thus, Julian Critchley's view of how MPs spent their allowances in his novel "Hung Parliament".

Did Skinner and Prescott really share digs ? Who was the Welsh Liberal MP ?
Answers on a postcard...

Liberals in literature and films (10)

Liberal: "I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honour"

So said Matt Santos in the final series of the West Wing. It turns out that Martin Sheen who played Josiah Bartlett is a real-life liberal too. Listen to him on Desert Island Discs.

Does identity require hate ?

The picture shows a guide to voting on the basis not of what you like or value but of whom you hate. Historians maintain that nobody really felt English until the Hundred Years' War against France. I have seen a set of football scarves and hats which proclaim "Love Team A, Hate Team B". You can fill in A or B yourselves - I hate all soccer and would rather listen to Colin Rosenstiel explaining STV...well maybe not. Which would be harder to sleep through ?

Can we only establish our identity in distinction from other people's - not just distinction, but contempt, loathing and even violence ? I do hope not. I am indubitably and proudly British, I never miss the Last Night of the Proms, but I do wish the Census Form had allowed me to describe myself as more than one thing - British and European would have done for me.

P.S. (OK,I know there's no signature)I don't hate the Labour Party but if I have to listen or watch Caroline Flint sneering again, I might begin to. As for the Tories, when seeking selection I was asked if I hated them and I replied that we should follow the advice of the Church of England: Hate the sin and love the sinner !

Liberals in literature and films (9)

Quiz No.2:
Which play has the following exchange and who wrote it ?

DOTTY:Archie says it was a coup d'etat not a general election.
GEORGE: Glib nonsense. It is unthinkable that the Radical Liberal Party could manipulate the democratic process...Furthermore I had a vote.
DOTTY:It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting.

Liberals in literature and film (8)

The Old Liberals
by John Betjeman (Picture shows statue outside St. Pancras)

Pale green of the English Hymnal! Yattendon hymns
Played on the hautbois by a lady dress'd in blue
Her white-hair'd father accompanying her thereto
On tenor or bass-recorder. Daylight swims
On sectional bookcase, delicate cup and plate
And William de Morgan tiles around the grate
And many the silver birches the pearly light shines through.

I think such a running together of woodwind sound,
Such painstaking piping high on a Berkshire hill,
Is sad as an English autumn heavy and still,
Sad as a country silence, tractor-drowned;
For deep in the hearts of the man and the woman playing
The rose of a world that was not has withered away.
Where are the wains with garlanded swathes a-swaying?
Where are the swains to wend through the lanes a-maying?
Where are the blithe and jocund to ted the hay?
Where are the free folk of England? Where are they?

Ask of the Abingdon bus with full load creeping
Down into denser suburbs. The birch lets go
But one brown leaf upon browner bracken below.
Ask of the cinema manager. Night airs die
To still, ripe scent of the fungus and wet woods weeping.
Ask at the fish and chips in the Market Square.
Here amid firs and a final sunset flare
Recorder and hautbois only moan at a mouldering sky.

Sack Simon Harwood !

How can we have confidence in policing as long as Simon Harwood remains a policeman ? This bully has form. He had been investigated twice for violent behaviour before he struck Ian Tomlinson. He had left the Metropolitan Police on "medical grounds" with a disciplinary charge hanging over him. He later joined the Surrey Police and then the Met again. Children's authors need a CRB check to talk to a class of children with their teacher present but the Met's vetting procedure is so feeble it let Harwood return and use force on behalf of the state. Today at the inquest he cried crocodile tears for Ian Tomlinson. He's suspended on full pay. Here's a simple public expenditure cut. Sack him now !

Liberals in literature and films (7)

Firstly, the answer to Liberals in literature and films (6) was "Trouble with Lichen" by John Wyndham.

Now the new one. "He was Asquith's new blood in the Home Office"..."A man by the name of Strafford. But that's literally all I know of him - a few years of office, then nothing..." I hope that phrase won't be heard again.

This comes from the opening pages of Robert Goddard's "Past Caring", the first novel by John Major's favourite author, which goes on to explore what happened to Strafford.

Is Baroness Ashton the problem ?

Excellent article by Joan Marc Simon in the New Federalist. Joan Marc says the problem with EU Common Foreign Policy isn't the High Representative herself but the impossible role of that office.

I agree with Joan Marc's general point but still think that Baroness Ashton could achieve more. Her background and her approach are managerial where what is needed is something a little tougher, a little more imaginative. The High Representative's job is impossible so she needs to enlarge the area of possibility, to push the envelope, to take a risk, to challenge the national leaders. This calls for political instinct not technocratic competence.

Liberals in literature and films (6)

"A rumour raced round the market that a certain Q.C. had been heard to state in the National Liberal Club the previous evening that as it was already an important part of a doctor's function to extend lives threatened with extinction, and one that was practised daily, he entirely failed to see that any question should arise."

Liberals in literature and films (5)

In the film of "The Hireling" chauffeur Ledbetter (Robert Shaw)invites his employer Lady Helen Franklin (Sarah Miles) to come to his boxing club where she will meet Captain Hugh Cantrip (Peter Egan). She asks, "Isn't he a Liberal ?". Ledbetter replies "Well, his politics may be a bit funny but he's a good bloke" or words to that effect. I don't have L.P.Hartley's book so I can't say if this is the original dialogue.

Talking of dinosaurs...

Here's another one who opposes both electoral reform and reforming the House of Lords, which he now belongs to, none other than the former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, John Prescott.

Chris Davies explains the deficit and the cuts

Excellent explanation by Chris who, as we all know, cannot be described as an Orange-Booker !

Liberals in literature and films (4)

The importance of being Liberal

Lady Bracknell: What are your politics ?
Jack: Well, I am afraid I really have none. I am a Liberal Unionist.
Lady Bracknell: Oh, they count as Tories. They dine with us. Or come in the evening at any rate.

Can I remain a member of the Liberal Democrats ?

As the Sturdyblog points out the real problem is a deficit in humanity. My personal problem is "Can I remain a member of the Liberal Democrats ?"

Liberals in literature and films (3)

"It must have been a week or so after the departure of Claude and Eustace that I ran into young Bingo Little in the smoking-room of the Senior Liberal Club. He was lying back in an armchair with his mouth open and a goofy expression in his eyes, while a grey-bearded cove in the middle distance watched him with so much dislike that I concluded that Bingo had pinched his favourite seat. That's the worst of being in a strange club -- absolutely without intending it, you find yourself constantly trampling upon the vested interests of the Oldest Inhabitants.

'Hello, face,' I said.

'Cheerio, ugly,' said young Bingo, and we settled down to have a small one before lunch.

Once a year the committee of the Drones decides that the old club could do with a wash and brush-up, so they shoo us out and dump us down for a few weeks at some other institution. This time we were roosting at the Senior Liberal, and personally I had found the strain pretty fearful. I mean, when you have got used to a club where everything's nice and cheery, and where, if you want to attract a chappie's attention, you heave a bit of bread at him, it kind of damps you to come to a place where the youngest member is about eighty-seven and it isn't considered good form to talk to anyone unless you and he were through the Peninsula War together."

"This club," I said, "is the limit."

"It is the eel's eyebrows" agreed young Bingo.

The Inimitable Jeeves, Chapter 17.

Hannay was in Galloway

Iain Brodie Brown has pointed out that Hannay was in Galloway, not the Highlands. I've checked the chapter called "The adventure of the radical candidate". The meeting was in a town called Brattleburn, described as "an infernal Tory stronghold". It doesn't appear to be on the map but there is a Brattleburn bothy just North-West of Moffat pictured above.

Liberals in literature and films (2)

"There was never a by-election like it, Tom, there was never any election like it. We are born, we get married, we divorce, we die. But somewhere along the way, if we get the chance, we should also stand as Liberal Candidate for...Gulworth North..."

Thus begins Chapter 11 of John le Carré's A Perfect Spy. As far as I recollect the BBC version with Ray McAnally as Rick Pym, the candidate, based upon le Carré's own father does not mention his political allegiance.

Liberals in literature and films (1)

Those of us who have spoken on behalf of the Liberals from time to time may have some sympathy with Richard Hannay on the run in John Buchan's 39 Steps, when he finds himself unexpectedly addressing a Liberal meeting in the Highlands. The book makes it clear that it's a Liberal meeting but Hitchcock's film (1m 25s in) does not whereas the BBC's recent version does. Whilst one can see that the Czech stage version does indeed feature the candidate Mr Macorquodale, whether or not it makes clear that he's a Liberal I cannot tell as I don't speak Czech.

Please sign to help this woman

Last Saturday, a young woman lawyer named Iman al-Obeidi burst into a Tripoli hotel and pleaded with foreign journalists for help, showing bruises and crying that she had just been gang-raped by 15 of Qaddafi's men. She screamed as she was dragged away by Libyan agents and has not been seen since.

Whether or not you agree with the UK's military involvement in Libya, please sign this petition which may help to save a woman's life.

To sign, go to Avaaz website.

Bush and his fellow schmucks

As Obama said, "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible...". If there is anyone out there who still doubts that George W Bush and his coterie were not the biggest bunch of schmucks ever elected to run a democratic country, consider the case of Valerie Plame Wilson, who appeared on Radio 4's On the ropes today. The story is also told in the film Fair Game. This is the woman who was exposed as a CIA agent, not by the Russians, not by Osama Bin Laden, no, by her own government. She was not exposed for betraying her country, nor for incompetence nor for corruption (practices not unknown to her exposers). She was exposed because her husband, Joe Wilson revealed that he found no evidence in Niger in 2002 for the suggestion made by Bush, Blair and Jack Straw that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium there.

Whether or not you agreed with the Iraq War, whether or not you accept that Joe Wilson should have published the truth, there can be and is no justification for a government that exposes its own agent because of what her husband has done. This is the morality of a gangster. We all know that Bush has blood on his hands. This story tells us how his mind worked.

University of Chard welcomes new police project !

Somerset and Avon Police have announced a surprising and possibly doomed project: to increase intelligence in Chard. I note that TESCO is already in on the act. We at the University of Chard of course welcome any opportunity to get our hands on public money, ahem, I mean to increase the educational opportunities in South Somerset. It won't cost you £9,000 to get a degree here !

Not very taxing !

Much public disgust at Bob Diamond's bonus. In a free society, government can't start dictating incomes for particularly industries. Apostles of the market usually argue that competition brings down costs, but not when it comes to bankers' incomes. The solutions shouldn't be too taxing for the First Lord of the Treasury nor all the politicians and civil servants who report to him, with their 1st class degrees in PPE or just economics.

Firstly, bring real competition into banking by breaking the banks up into smaller units. If that damages their ability to compete with foreign giants in the money markets, first bring back the old split between merchant banks and clearing banks, then split up the clearing banks.

Secondly, as society develops some people's labour becomes increasingly more productive as they control more and more capital whereas most people's productivity lags far behind. Thus we get an ever-growing gap between rich and poor, which distorts the ability of markets to allocate resources because the rich minority's demand is so much more effective than the poor majority's. Again the solution is well-known - tax higher incomes (whether bankers' incomes or anyone else's) at higher rates. British income tax levels are pretty low. Even modest increases would raise revenue which would help to reduce the deficit and would be fairer than cuts which hit the poorer. Why ever not ? The constraint is political. Since the 1992 General Election it has become accepted wisdom than raising taxes is unpopular and will be punished by the electorate. This is a clear constraint on the Labour Party but what is to stop the Coalition Government raising Income Tax ? Surely our leaders don't fear that the voters will desert to the Labour Party because of higher taxes ?

"Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon"

When Mordecai Vanunu told the world that Israel had nuclear weapons, the Israeli authorities locked him up in Shikma Prison in Ashkelon for more than 17 years. Israel still refuses to admit to nuclear weapons and the UK and the USA still refuse to challenge that deceit. They are too busy worrying about Iran which doesn't have them yet. How does this bias look to the rest of the world ?

It seems that like the Israelis, we still follow the words of 2 Samuel 1:20:
"Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
Or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice,
The daughters of the uncircumcised will exult."

I was going to suggest listening again to Radio 4's play broadcast today, "Vanunu: a time to be heard" but the website says it won't be available. Apparently that time has passed. Why ?

It is available now on I-Player.

Changing the world takes a little longer

I came across the campaign Climate Rush when a member of my family (nearly) took part in singing re-written carols in Central Lobby in the Palace of Westminster at Christmas to highlight climate change. Searching I found the campaign had done many good things which I do admire. Here comes the but. They are, however, a little too please with themselves. The film "Deeds not words" tells the story of a few weeks of preparation for a rush on parliament 100 years after the suffragettes did it. Climate Rush mobilised a 1,000 people to demonstrate. Their motivation and organisation were excellent but the result was NOT historic as they seem to think. Many of us have found that it takes years and years of activity to change almost anything in society. It's called politics and, yes, it can be boring, it can be disheartening but as Bernard Crick wrote "Politics and love are the only forms of constraint possible between free people".

I too demonstrate. Sometimes you just have to. You have to bear witness. You have to show your disgust, your anger, your demand for change. Yet I cannot honestly say that any demonstration I have taken part in has changed the world. The minor changes I have contributed to in environmental policy I did by the old-fashioned ways of politics and lobbying. So, yes, let's demonstrate when we must but let's do the long-term grind as well.

"Even a worm will turn, just as a sausage will if you keep it long enough."

Great quote by Peter Wrigley, Keynesian Liberal, commenting on Jeremy Hunt's decision on Murdoch. Peter doesn't call for the coalition to end but for Liberal Democrats to stand up for their beliefs.

Barnsley: What's the Lib Dem message ?

The dreadful Barnsley bye-election result must hammer home the need for the Liberal Democrats to have their own message and to express it clearly. As long as we are seen as little Sir Echo to the Tories, why would anybody vote for us ?

Stop Murdoch !

I have just sent this message to Nick Clegg and other ministers. Please send one yourself here directly or using the Avaaz website.

Dear Prime Minister Cameron,
Dear Deputy Prime Minister Clegg,
Dear Ministers,

It is astonishing to me that the United States has stronger laws to prevent concentration of media ownership than we do in Britain. Tony Blair failed to stand up to Murdoch when he had a huge majority. Please show us all that this government cares about competition and diversity, particularly in the media.

Granting Rupert Murdoch controlling ownership of BSkyB would make a mockery of our already weak media ownership laws and damage our democracy. No one person should be permitted to control nearly half our country's mass media, certainly not someone with such a clear record of abuse of media power for political influence and personal gain. Opinion polls show that opponents of the Murdoch bid outnumber supporters 9 to 1. We strongly oppose any deal made with Murdoch, and pledge to hold you accountable for this crucial decision for the future of our democracy.  

Nick, I nominated you for leader. Show me I was right.

Kebab, black cat and Sudan

I stopped for a kebab on my way home from Becky Tinsley's passionate and horrifying account of life and death in Sudan. I disturbed a black cat in the road which retreated to a wall and yelled at me. I could do nothing to help it. I guess I used up my luck just by being born in Britain and not Sudan.

If you want to know more, go to Becky's campaign, Waging Peace.

Simon Jenkins thinks it's moles

After William Hague's announcement (2:20:40 in) on the Today programme that Britain does not sell arms for use in internal repression or regional or international conflicts, I asked if they were for killing rabbits. In an excellent article in the Guardian today,"Britain can push democracy or weapons – but not both" Simon Jenkins wonders if it's for killing moles.

All together now

How did Lawrence Dallaglio avoid becoming popular in Irish pubs ? By being named Lawrence and not Edward Ian.

Prisoners' right to vote (2)

David Kessler commented on my post about prisoners' right to vote.

He noted that I offered no evidence that removing the vote lacks penal value. The point about human rights is that the presumption must be that everyone gets them, not just people of whom we approve. If anyone wishes to remove someone's human rights they have to rebut that presumption; THEY have to produce the evidence. I heard none in the Commons debate.

The logic of his and Tory and Labour MPs' and the Sun's and the Mail's and the Telegraph's argument about democracy is that there can be no binding international conventions. The logic of mine is that if you sign them you should abide by them or leave them.

He made an interesting argument about compensation. Passing over his revealing expression "criminal-friendly judiciary", I despise the government's fear of compensation payments. We should obey the court's judgements because we are a law-abiding country and have freely signed up to this legal system. Many MPs made the argument, "If you break the law, you shouldn't make the law". Voters don't make the law, they elect law-makers. MPs DO make the law and these same fools voted last week to break the law so by their own logic I expect them all to resign.

What do we sell arms for ?

William Hague outlined government policy on arms sales this morning (Today programme). He says we don't sell arms for internal repression nor where they will be used in regional or international conflicts. Apart from the fact that this will come as news to Israel and, of course, the Bahreini government, what the hell do we sell them for ? Hunting rabbits ?

Today programme avoids the dread word "Reform"

Fascinating to listen to the Today programme presenters dancing carefully around the banned word Reform as they discussed the referendum on AV this morning.

Interesting also to hear William Hague's defence of First Past the Post. Responding to the point that 2/3 of MPs were not elected by a majority of their constituents, he commented that many were elected by just under 50%. Shall we then apply this startling approach to legislation and allow Bills to be passed by just under 50% of MPs voting ?

Prisoners' Right to Vote: Roll of Honour

Most MPs should hang their heads in shame for yesterday's display of scorn for human rights, ignorance of their meaning and sheer zenophobia. Let them all from Jack Straw downwards (Can one go lower than Jack Straw ?) go and work for Murdoch and the gutter press. I honour the 26 who voted against the resolution including Alan Beith, Tom Brake, Lorely Burt, Don Foster, Duncan Hames, Simon Hughes, Julian Huppert, Tessa Munt, Alan Reid, Stephen Williams. I honour especially Tom Brake, Lorely Burt and Kate Green for their unpopular but principled speeches.

I ask Mike Hancock, John Pugh and Bob Russell who supported the motion what they think they are doing in a Liberal party ? I ask the majority of MPs especially amongst them my MP David Laws, our party leader Nick Clegg and many other Liberal Democrats why they could not even be bothered to attend or vote in this debate on a question which should be meat and drink to a Liberal. There is always room for argument on economic policies but if we can't get these questions right, we serve no purpose in the British political scene.

I suppose I should not be surprised by the stupidity and ignorance of the majority of MPs on this subject. Some still confuse the European Court of Human Rights with the EU, perhaps deliberately. There is nothing undemocratic about accepting its judgements any more than those of any other court. The court derives its power in the UK from a treaty voluntarily signed by the UK government and ratified by the UK parliament. This case is about honouring our commitments. If we wish to resile from the European Convention, there are procedures for doing so but it would be a great loss to our country and our freedoms. Removing the right to vote has no value in penal policy. It neither punishes nor deters nor rehabilitates.

The Iceman and the nations

I went to see a man who lived 5,000 years ago today. I had heard of Otzi, the Iceman, whose mummy was discovered high in the Alps in 1991 but I didn't know he was in Bolzano. In his own way, he too has played a part in the rivalry of Austria and Italy in the Sud-Tirol / Alto Adige, although neither country existed when he lived. His body was flown to Innsbruck but the Italians claimed him and careful surveying revealed that his mountain grave was 101 yards inside the Italian border. It's a great museum.

Mussolini saves Berlusconi

This fascist frieze on the public finance office in Bolzano/Bozen has played a recent role in keeping Silvio Berlosconi in office. The embattled Italian PM needed every vote to survive a no confidence vote. The frieze displaying Mussolini's achievements in Roman style and carrying the slogan, "Believe, obey, fight" is offensive to the German speakers of the Sud Tirol and they want it removed, whereas Italian speakers want to keep it. Berlusconi bought the votes of local MPs by offering to arrange a compromise - covering it up. Covering up would appear to be his special skill, except where young female vistors are concerned.

Bolzano

I am in Bolzano for the Winter School of EURAC. Beautiful sunny flight from Gatwick to Venice - the hedgebound fields of England, the widening Thames estuary, the open French countryside, the broken landscape of the Alps topped with cream down to the Italian coast, peaks shining like islands as the valleys filled with mist. Venice itself was fogbound like Somerset when I left this morning. Italian trains clean, comfortable and on time without Mussolini. Strange to walk through an Italian town in the evening where everyone is speaking German. Europe remains a wealthy continent. If only we could spread it around a bit more and make better use of it.