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.