Developing a new economic common sense

I’ve recently written quite a lot on my own blog about the need to develop a new economic policy narrative, and soon.

I’ve also written about how the now dominant narrative of neoliberalism and money supply control became so dominant; despite the fact that the fundamental assumption of a finite world money supply is flawed, the ‘good housekeeping’ / ‘you cannot spend what you have not got’ narrative has continued to hold sway over public opinion for a generation and more.
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Red Toryism - ignorant and incomprehensible

Philip Blond, the so-called ‘Red Tory’, has just written an article setting out his new Big Idea for reducing poverty, which is about ‘recapitalising the poor’.

These Big Ideas come along quite frequently, and there is quite an easy and quick way to test them out. Simply pick one policy area that you know about and see if the author’s suggestions and analysis suggest they know what they are talking about. If so, read on, if not, bin the rest.

So here is Blond’s ‘Red Tory’ approach to social housing:
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Top Stories - Saturday 4th July

N KOREA FIRES MORE MISSILES

Nationwide
British embassy staff to stand trial over protests
Terror suspect wins battle to leave Britain
Homophobia accusation stokes political row
Fatal flats blaze investigation begins

International
Obama interview risks Russian backlash
Ex-Iranian president seeks to free detainees
Israel and U.S. to hold second meeting
Ban Ki-moon under fire for praising junta

SATURDAY VIDEO

… previous Netcasts

Sarah Palin resigns! (video)

Part 1 (part 2 below)

Weirdest political resignation speech ever? We know that Sarah Palin is intensely ambitious but I can’t see how resigning as governor half-way through the term is a good political move for a future presidency bid. More likely, it feels like Palin knows something in her closet will kill off her leadership bid and rather than put her family through more (evilll librul) media speculation she resigned. The amusing implication from what is a long, rambling, dis-jointed speech, is that her resignation will help the people of Alaska save millions of dollars. This is a sad day for the Democrat re-election cause.
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Tory machine making excuses for second jobs

Second jobs, so we are told, help MPs to stay in touch with the real world and the needs of constituents.

David Cameron was quick to claim he is “relaxed” about more details of his shadow Cabinet’s outside earnings being made public this week under new transparency rules: “I do not think that a chamber full of professional politicians with no outside experience is a good thing,” he said.
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Does your MP really want to end deception in politics ?

a guest article by The Professor

There’s an easy way to find out - ask them if they support a law which enforces it. A cross party coalition of MPs are petitioning the House of Commons to introduce the Elected Representatives (Prohibition of Deception) Bill for debate.

Our film “The Ministry of Truth” charted the birth of the Bill for the BBC in 2007 - it proved to be an incredibly revealing (and very entertaining) exercise.
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Our criminal justice system is in crisis

The Commission on English Prisons Today- presided over by Cherie Booth QC- launched its final report yesterday - with a demand to cut prison numbers and reinvest money in communities.

It is unequivocal. Our criminal justice system is in crisis. A decade and a half of penal excess means that we lock up too many people with too little impact and consequently we are failing make communities safer.
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Top Stories - Friday 3rd July

SWINE FLU UNCONTROLLABLE

Nationwide
Culture minister in Tory homophobia claim
Vodafone agrees to new Carphone deal
‘Get real’ - Darling warns the bankers

International
Green power takes root in a Chinese desert
Vibe Mag, showcase for Hip-Hop and R&B, dies
North Korea test-fires 4 short-range missiles
U.S. ‘hits the pause button’ on aid to Honduras

… previous Netcasts

Can liberalism be illiberal?

Phillip Blond, in response to Sunder Katwala, says:

My main point is a philosophical and historical one that liberty (which I believe in) is not produced from liberalism. Indeed my intellectual argument is that that pure liberalism or liberalism as first philosophy cannot produce liberty - indeed it produces an anarchic individualism that requires a surveillance state.

Thus liberalism produces the very thing it seeks to avoid: an authoritarian individual and an absolutist state. This is a serious point and to have it charactured as anti-liberal is either an inane misreading or an outright misrepresentation. In fact liberalism is not liberal at all.

Phillip Blond is the driver of the ‘Red Toryism’ project and recently left the think-tank Demos to found his own Progressive Conservatism project. So how would you respond to this view?
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George Osborne to be investigated

Sky News is reporting that shadow chancellor George Osborne is to be investigated by the sleaze watchdog over his expenses. A few days ago we asked why, despite his expense claims, Osborne was still part of the shadow cabinet.
(via @AdamBienkov)

Andrew Gilligan - still working for Iranian state television

In an interview with the Guardian last year, the former Evening Standard journalist Andrew Gilligan was quoted as saying:

“But I don’t think [Ken Livingstone] is progressive. Livingstone is the ally of some of the most reactionary forces in this city. I’m thinking of Ian Blair, I’m thinking of property developers he’s in bed with, I’m thinking of City big business.”

But it’s a bit bizarre that this champion of ‘progressives’ is still working for Iranian state television in the UK - Press TV. This is while even more right-wing colleagues such as Nick Ferrari have resigned. Press TV had recently also promoted Holocaust denial. Gilligan refused to say anything then either. Very principled, our Gilligan.

Update: And he’s part of their ad campaign too!

What should be the Minimum Income Standard in 2009?

I wrote last year about a really interesting piece of research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which asked people to decide how much someone living in Britain today needs in order to be able to live on.

They have just released the updated version, Minimum Income Standard 2009. There are some really interesting and important findings:
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Israel and using “apartheid”

Talking about Israeli policies in terms of ‘apartheid’ is nothing new - you can find the claim going back at least 30 years. This kind of description for Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians became increasingly common through the 1980s and ’90s, until now, nine years since the Second Intifada began, ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ is held in dozens of cities worldwide and numerous trade unions, faith groups and politicians use the term routinely.

Nevertheless, to consciously use the ‘apartheid’ framework in critiquing Israeli policies past and present, with the presumed analogy with South African history, is still considered by some to be inappropriate or even completely unacceptable.
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Top Stories - Thursday 2nd July

UNDER INVESTIGATION

Nationwide
Credit card cheques to be banned by govt
£30bn shortfall threatens rail and road plans
CCTV contradicts police, IPCC over death
Defeat for Government over expenses bill

International
Iranian opposition leaders defy ‘unlawful regime’
Keeping the fizz in the journalism biz
U.N. says North Korea food aid has dried up
US tries to retake Afghan valley from Taliban

… previous Netcasts

BBC gets more complaint over Jackson than expenses

A Media Guardian story today uncovers the interesting nugget that the BBC has received more complaints over excessive coverage on Michael Jackson’s death than the expenses of its own senior management.
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It’s better not to support this Labour govt over Tories

Quoting an excellent article by Gary Younge last week, Alex Smith over at LabourList says that disillusioned lefties have little choice but to support Labour or at least get involved in the party to make themselves heard.

Going by the polls, Labour still remains the electoral alternative remain the Tories so it makes sense in one way. But I think there is a strategic reason for not supporting this New Labour administration.
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Legislation that amounts to nothing

One of the more cutting attacks of recent months on the government came not from the Conservatives but from that other continual provider of friendly fire, Frank Field. Writing about government business which was slowly winding its way towards conclusion, he said: “week after week MPs have been turning up but with almost no serious work to do. There is the odd bill to be sure. But there is no legislative programme to speak of … the whole exercise is vacuous.”

This misses the point that it is not the quantity of bills which are passed, and New Labour has in the past been rightly accused of legislative mania, but rather the quality, on which Labour again falls down on. The immediate answer to passing frenzies and quick to evaporate moral panics is always to get something on the statute book, regardless of how those laws will end up being used and the overall effect they will have.
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Top Stories - Wednesday 1st July

LAST RITES READ OUT

Nationwide
Passport details kept despite ID card U-turn
BNP takes advantage of Llanelli’s tensions
Outrage over G20 police imposter theory
‘Queue jumping immigrants’ a myth, says study

International
Franken takes seat, giving Democrats super-majority
Le Pen’s daughter in National Front victory
Ousted president vows to return to Honduras
Iraq marks withdrawal of U.S. troops

… previous Netcasts

Labour MP resigns over expenses; second jobs scandal looms

The Telegraph this morning reports that Labour MP Harry Cohen has announced his decision to quit as an MP by the next election.

The MP had come under heavy criticism for his decision to claim more than £100,000 in second home expenses on a house in his constituency of Leyton and Wanstead, east London, within easy commuting distance of the Commons.

He was able to designate the Leyton property as his second home after registering a house 70 miles away in Colchester, Essex, as his main residence.

Though Tory MPs have paid back over a quarter of a million in expenses so far, Cameron has avoided firing any close friends / shadow cabinet members over their expenses.

But that scandal is likely to be over-shadowed by revelations over second-jobs, details of which are to be disclosed today. The disclosure of outside interests is more likely to affect the Tories. Cameron has already attempted some damage limitation by announcing that senior Tories will have to give up second jobs by the New Year.

But here too, there have been quietly muffled scandals. Last week it emerged that Michael Gove was paid around £1,250 per hour for articles for the Times. It was later revealed that Gove had also breached party rules by accepting money for writing about their policy area. Once exposed, Gove’s office hurriedly stated that he would donate those earnings to charity.

Anonymous job applications – ending discrimination

I have blogged several times about my idea to make use of anonymous job applications - so as to end the subliminal discrimination that creeps in with some applications being discarded because of the names on them.

I floated my idea during the Second Reading of the Equality Bill and it caused quite a hoo ha. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development waded in to support the idea – albeit they didn’t think it should be mandatory. Some Human Resource departments were less happy and thought it a stupid idea. Well – it will be interesting to see what they say in response to the evidence that’s now been gathered.
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