A busy day for me tomorrow, but there’s some new stuff over at the Anne Milton weblog to tide you over.
Tactical Voting: Backing Blair (updated advice)
Take a look at the changes we’ve made and why.
SEE ALSO – Times – Shhh! It’s the Basil Fawlty election: We mocked the recent US elections but at least they enjoyed a debate centred on the single most important issue of the early 21st century: the desire to export Western democracy by force. Over here, we have become a nation of Basil Fawltys. Don’t mention the war, says Tony Blair. I mentioned it just now but think I got away with it, chirps Michael Howard. And what does Charles Kennedy say? Nothing.
(Also in this edition; a bit of Boris.)
Posted in UK General Election 2005
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Goodbye, Marla Ruzicka
Independent – The senseless death of the woman who fought George Bush: If Marla was dedicated, she was probably also less concerned than she might have been about her safety. While the airport road on which she was travelling is a road that all journalists, aid workers and officials in Iraq must, at some point, travel on, the young woman believed she was somehow protected from the horror of Iraq’s violence because of her work. On Saturday afternoon, it appears she was travelling to visit an injured three-month-old Iraqi girl when the bomber struck, also killing Marla’s driver, 43-year-old Faiz Ali Salim.
And *cue* crocodile tears from Tony Blair in 5, 4, 3….
Also, take a look at who else mourns her passing and why.
Posted in It's War! It's Legal! It's Lovely!
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The Sun rips off Rock The Vote II
The Scum – If you care… VOTE: Music stars were out in force yesterday to back The Sun’s Rock The Vote campaign. Coldplay’s Chris Martin, 28, said our move to get young people to have their say in the General Election was a “great idea.” He added: “I think that by voting you show you care. It’s when politicians don’t think we care that they start doing the craziest things.” He was joined by McFly singer Tom Fletcher, 19. He said: “It’s very important to make your voice heard when decisions are being made about your future.” Blue star Duncan James, 27, said: “Well done, The Sun. I think it’s a fantastic campaign. It’s important young people vote to show they care about what happens to the country.” Pop Idol winner Will Young, 26, also hailed The Sun for its efforts. He said: “We’ve been given the freedom of choice. If you want to be heard and try to make a difference, you must vote.” Soul beauty Beverley Knight, 33, said: “Whatever you do, make sure you vote.” Beverley told Labour supporters at a rally in Birmingham: “You’ve got to do what’s right by exercising what people have fought for.”
Yes, and take a look at the rally she said this at.
1) It’s nice that pop stars are being praised for speaking up. Normally Murdoch goes for their throat if they dare to open their mouths.
2) It’s nice also that The Sun has a new crop of celebrities backing their campaign, so they don’t have to rely on claiming/suggesting that stars like Snoop Dogg and Leonardo DiCaprio are backing their rip-off campaign because they backed the original Rock The Vote, which came from a collective vehemently opposed to Rupert Murdoch and his agenda. If you take a look at the logo they printed yesterday that still appears on their website today, you can see that they’ve even ripped off Rock The Vote’s logo and sloppily slapped a ‘UK’ on it. They even left in that funny little symbol next to the ‘E’ (I’m sure it means something, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what).
I got in touch with Rock The Vote yesterday. They were completely unaware of Rock The Vote UK. I’d imagine they’d now want to take some kind of legal action, but we’ll see what develops. Anyway, let’s get back to The Scum and a final word for today…
The Scum Says – Vote vote vote: Wise words from Coldplay star Chris Martin in our Rock The Vote campaign. Chris warns that it is vital to use your vote because “it’s when politicians don’t think we care that they start doing the craziest things”. He is right. Apathy is the greatest enemy of democracy. Your vote is a precious right for which many have given their lives. Make sure you use it.
I could have sworn that politicians do crazy things even when they know we *do* care – if they can rely on newspapers like The Sun to help them sell a big enough lie.
Posted in Rupert 'The Evil One' Murdoch, UK General Election 2005
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The Job Search
Note – this is a very long post, and probably only of interest to the core-faithful. But curious passers-by are also welcome…
Posted in Updates
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Sedgefield ahoy!
Guardian – Sedgefield aide turns against Blair: An anti-war candidate standing against Tony Blair in Sedgefield won the backing of a senior Labour official in the prime minister’s constituency today. Dave Cattell, a Labour member for 30 years and a member of the executive committee in Sedgefield, announced he was quitting the party to join the campaign staff of independent candidate Reg Keys… His defection came a day after former MI5 officer David Shayler pulled out of the Sedgefield race. Mr Shayler appealed to other parties to withdraw their candidates to give Mr Keys a better chance of deposing Mr Blair.
Posted in UK General Election 2005
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Liars, damn liars, and their statistics
ITV – Opinion polls put Labour in front
Guardian – Opinion polls suggest Labour lead
Bloomberg – Blair Leads Conservatives in Five Out of Five Polls
Now, a few interesting nuggets for you…
Independent – Revealed: Blair deal to hand power to Brown: Under Mr Blair, Labour’s lead remains unchanged since our last poll, just before the election campaign began. If Mr Brown were leader, Labour would go up to 45 per cent, the Conservatives down to 31 per cent and the Liberal Democrats to 16 per cent; 26 per cent of Lib Dem voters say they would switch to Labour if the Chancellor took over.
(I love the ‘deal’ that’s presented here, BTW – where Blair goes but New Labour stays.)
Guardian – War: the great unknown among election issues: In this election, the war is everywhere and nowhere. Officially, it’s nowhere. Last week’s Guardian poll showed a measly 3% of voters citing the Iraq conflict as the main factor in determining their choice. Neither the government nor the opposition talk about it much. In contrast with recent elections in Spain and the United States, the two main parties were on the same side over Iraq. So while Jose Maria Aznar and George Bush were pounded by their electoral challengers over the conflict, Tony Blair enjoys a free pass from his chief rival, Michael Howard. Iraq is not exactly the lead item in any of the main party manifestos. And yet, take a look at the Conservatives’ latest cinema ad. It shows a grainy shot of Mr Blair with Mr Bush, and there is no mistaking the memory that image is meant to evoke. Talk to the candidates themselves, of whatever stripe, and many will testify that Iraq is raised on the doorstep more often, and with greater intensity, than those headline poll figures would suggest.
The UK Today – Begging: Received a very entertaining telephone call from the Labour Party last night… She seemed pleasantly surprised when I said that I’d love to make a significantly larger donation, but her voice fell when I informed her that any such donation was dependant on Tony Blair standing down before polling day. Apparantly I wasn’t the first person to impose such a condition, and I doubt that I’ll be the last.
Europhobia – Tactical Voting: Lest we forget, the best the Tories managed in today’s polls was 1 point behind Labour. But the way the first past the post system and the current make-up of the constituencies work, even if they get an equal share of the popular vote, Labour will still be returned with a majority. The best the Tories have managed to do in the polls so far was a one-off aberration which saw them 5 points ahead about two weeks ago. That’s 7 points less than they need to safely form a government. So can we now please shut up with the scare tactics?
Posted in UK General Election 2005
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Rock The Vote UK (proprietor: Rupert Murdoch)
The Scum – Rock The Vote UK: In January the world watched in awe as eight million Iraqis braved terrorist slaughter to take part in the country’s first general election for a lifetime. In some parts of the ravaged country, turnout was a staggering 90 per cent. Women in tears were determined to have their first-ever say in the greatest event in the democratic calendar. Yet in Britain on May 5, millions will stay home and watch EastEnders or go to the pub rather than decide how – and by whom – their nation is governed. Today The Sun is launching a Rock The Vote campaign to get our readers and every other able-bodied person out on the big day to say who they want in Parliament. Our drive, which mirrors a similar US initiative, is backed by a host of celebrities including rock’s Justin Hawkins and Noel Gallagher, soccer’s Sir Alex Ferguson and athletics’ Dame Kelly Holmes… Tony Blair last night backed The Sun’s Rock the Vote campaign. “The vote is a very precious thing,” he said. “It’s easy for people to be cynical. Easy, but wrong. On May 5 every single voter has the same power in their hands. They should use it.”
Let’s just ignore the fact that it’s easy to be cynical and vote, and move on, shall we?
Take a look at how this is introduced; with the unquestionable glory of democracy brought to Iraq via the miracle of precision bombing. Then take a look at the original Rock The Vote and the core issue it addresses.
Then – even if you disregard snide asides about “George Galloway’s unrespectable Respect” – you need no more than a quick ponder on who benefits most from an increased turnout to see what this hijack is all about.
Apathy isn’t the problem the instigators of this event; activism is. What they want to do is get out a ‘duh’ vote on their terms and associate it with a movement that openly challenged their version of reality.
Yes, let’s reach the youth and empower them.
Hey kids! I just used the word ’empower’… and you know what that means, don’t you? Yes, it’s time for tits!
Today Nikkala (23, from Middlesex) hopes readers will heed The Sun’s Rock The Vote campaign. She says: “If we don’t use our right to vote, the country heads for apathy. Get out there and cast your vote.”
I think there’s scope for a competing event. Brian Eno is my starting point. Emailing in 5, 4, 3, 2…
UPDATE – Brian has bunked off to Canada. Working on other contacts…
Posted in Page 3 - News in Briefs, Rupert 'The Evil One' Murdoch, UK General Election 2005
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Stephen Coleman – the so-called ‘expert’
I tuned into Radio 4 this morning to hear a short piece during Broadcasting House on the subject of protest voting and weblogs. The ‘expert’ they wheeled out to speak about this was Professor Stephen Coleman, often touted as a ‘Professor of E-democracy’.
He insisted – and not for the first time – that weblogs require a lot of work, and therefore would not be of interest/benefit to most MPs.
This opinion comes from a man who does not own, manage or run a weblog himself.
“Perhaps,” I hear you say, “as an academic, he arrived at this judgement via the careful and objective *study* of weblogs.”
Well, I now have one big problem with that theory. And it’s this…
When questioned about protest voting sites (of which there are about 6 running in this election) he clearly referenced two or three of these sites and one “wanting to keep/retain Blair”…
There is only one site that he could possibly be referring to, and that’s BackingBlair.co.uk – or, as Stephen would regard it – BackingBlair.co.uk; because it would appear that he’s made this judgement based on the domain name alone.
(author emails Stephen Coleman via coleman AT netcomuk DOT co DOT uk to see what he has to say for himself)
FFS… Did he not even ask himself why protest votes would be necessary to support the leader of the leading party?
UPDATE – Well, what do you know? The email bounced. The man doesn’t even have a decent level of accessibility.
RELATED – Independent – Pulling voters into the web of Westminster: Communication is key in politics, but how well do MPs perform on the internet? Kathryn Corrick casts her vote. (Cheers to Peter for the heads-up.)
UPDATE – Stephen Coleman appears to have actually made a blog entry after all. It’s one of ten posts, by the looks of things. Boy, no wonder he thinks this blogging lark is such hard work.
Posted in The Political Weblog Movement
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Video IV now live
This pretty much fell out of my head today and – like Political Debate – it is not part of the scheduled range of videos. But it had to be said:
Backing Blair IV – Drawing The Line
Posted in UK General Election 2005
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