Browse > Home / Archive: November 2015

| Subcribe via RSS



Corbyn’s Conversations Are Not Statecraft

By Guest
November 23rd, 2015 at 11:24 am | 2 Comments | Posted in Labour

Judging from the social media and blog feeds over the weekend. There is a Momentum campaign in operation to try and paint attacks on Jeremy Corbyn’s unconvincing posturing as a vast media conspiracy. Even the BBC is being roped into the usual anti-Daily Mail and Murdoch rants as ‘wilfully not seeing, as the public does, the deep integrity and morality behind his position’.

The problem for this analysis, is that the public largely does see Corbyn for what it is, and they don’t much care for it. While many people have deep and sincere concerns about military ventures in far-off lands. And deep suspicions about the need for action, particularly as articulated by Government. They can also see Islamic State for what it is, and accept ‘no action’ in Syria has not been a wild success for peace and security, either here or in the region. People are dying either way, and the long and bloody Syrian civil war shows no sign of concluding soon.

They expect their wannabe Leaders to have a clear position on such things, backed up by a credible plan. Not beard-stroking incoherence, or a sense that whatever the Government does, he is against it, while having no Plan B.

Corbyn is not a liberal pacifist. Largely he’s an observer and oppositionalist on matters of state. He correctly sees the resolution of most conflicts as being based on dialogue not bombs. But incorrectly presumes that dialogue is always an option. Or an option right now. It should be self-evident but apparently isn’t to him that a death cult, with a moral vision based on bringing about a final conflict between civilisations is not a prime candidate for having a chat. If there is any prospect of that whatsoever it will require a radical change of vision, leadership and personnel in IS. This in turn will largely require beating them militarily. Some people do just want to kill you. And will if you let them.

However the even less attractive aspect of Corbyn’s statecraft is the manner he which does engage in dialogue when he can. His relationship with the IRA at the height of the Troubles was not admirable. Rather than coming across as the work of a sincere peacemaker, ahead of his time, he seemed to be wallowing in the association with those who would slaughter his political opponents at home. Feeding on grievances, not resolving them.

With Hamas, there is a line between a sincere desire to defend the rights of Palestinians – by questioning the decisions of the Israeli state. And apologism for acts of murderous aggression against Israeli citizens – by ignoring or excusing them. It is hard to see how the thinly veiled anti-Semitism of his fellow-travellers on the hard Left – or their aggressive relativism against Israel, is the former, not the latter. Hatred and wilful ignorance of one side’s concerns is a poor catalyst for facilitating peace.

And so it goes on. Corbyn’s preference is to be the man sitting on the sidelines preaching about how everyone else made mistakes, and how much better life would be if only some utopian peace plan had been allowed to succeed. That and pretending to be neutral while actually being ruthlessly partisan. That preference is not compatible with a job application to run the affairs of a member of the UN Security Council.

British Prime Ministers have to take tough decisions, often without any path being clear or right, and live with the consequences. They cannot just hope for a better conversation. The public can see that. Many Labour MPs can see that. The question is how long it will take Labour’s new intake to reach the same conclusion.

'

Is Feminism Dead In The LibDems?

By Sara Scarlett
November 17th, 2015 at 8:55 pm | Comments Off on Is Feminism Dead In The LibDems? | Posted in Liberal Democrats

I really think the LibDems Lords must be missing a large portion of their collective brain cells. The fact that they not only defend Chris Rennard but thought him a suitable candidate to represent them at the FE just defies belief. Even as a mere horrified witness to the distress of women close to me, I am still livid at this whole sorry chapter in Liberal history. Lord Rennard may not belong in prison but the fact that anyone thinks he deserves power after he abused it in such a serious way is worthy of the highest scorn.

In the Liberal Democrats, the “broadly credible” voices of several women, who included trusted LibDem party officials, party staff and candidates, are worth less than the voice of one powerful man. As others have rightly pointed out, this would be more than enough for any organisation in the private sphere to sack someone. Why should any woman work in a party that offers them less protection than the private sector?

If this is a woman-friendly party then I’d hate to see what isn’t. I still need a lot of convincing that feminism isn’t dead in the LibDems.

 

Rennard: I Was Cyberbullied…

By Sara Scarlett
November 17th, 2015 at 2:07 pm | Comments Off on Rennard: I Was Cyberbullied… | Posted in Liberal Democrats

normal_PDVD_171

Sir Norman Fry: “The fact that both my hands were on both her breasts was simply an accidental happenstance…”

Sic semper tyrannis!

By Sara Scarlett
November 17th, 2015 at 11:51 am | Comments Off on Sic semper tyrannis! | Posted in Liberal Democrats

CUAtQ-nWoAAoKxl.jpg_large

Hat Tip: Ben Mathis

LDV Comment Section Winner

By Sara Scarlett
November 17th, 2015 at 8:50 am | Comments Off on LDV Comment Section Winner | Posted in Uncategorized

Usually blog comment sections are a place where nobody wins. I have decided to make an exception… The winner of the LDV comments section as far as I’m concerned is Rob:

Chris Rennard is to the Lib Dems what Lance Armstrong is to cycling. He is an embarrassment to the Liberal Democrats and his continued involvement demeans the party.

For people saying that Lord Rennard has been found not guilty, you are incorrect. The Lib Dems are not a judicial institution so the Guilty/Not Guilty analogy is an inappropriate comparison to make. The burden of proof (which for a non judicial institution was ludicrously high) was not met, but Alisdair Webber said the complaints were “broadly credible”. In most of other institutions this would have been more than enough for expulsion. Sadly our disciplinary processes were not up to scratch (a fact that pretty much everyone on all sides accepts). This has left the party in a difficult position. Especially since Lord Rennard has only offered a pretty substandard apology.

For those saying we should respect the democracy of the Lords in holding a properly constituted election, I say the Lords should accept the properly constituted decision of a greater number of members who disagree with their decision. This matter can be resolved by Lord Rennard standing down from the FE.

As a party we must do all we can to make sure that the Liberal Democrats is a safe place for women. The involvement of Lord Rennard in the internal running of the party would send a message that runs contrary to this vital responsibility.

This issue has been rumbling on for years and I am sick and tired of the party losing good and longstanding members who feel, understandably that they cannot remain in a party that commits to protecting women from sexual harassment publically, while apparently failing to act on credible allegations internally.

We must now act to deal with this issue. And this is the Ideal time to deal with this matter. The media pretty much pay no attention to us, we are 4 and half years from a General Election and most of the public are ignoring politics post General Election. If we don’t take actions now it could explode again as an issue during say an important and winnable by-election.

We spent five years in Government making compromises and look where it got us, we can’t afford to make compromises with regards to gender equality, its what we preach, it’s what we stand for and it is not good enough not to have our own house in order over this matter.