It’s the Sun Wot Got it Wrong

The furore over Gordon Brown’s letter, generated by the Sun, appears to be turning in favour of the Prime Minister. Most people now know that GB is blind in one eye and largely blind in the other, and they know that he writes personal, handwritten letters to the bereaved.

The fact that the phone call was recorded suggests that he has been set up by the Sun.

Callers to BBC phone in programmes and those who have sent texts and emails, have been “overwhelmingly sympathic” to Gordon Brown. This view is shared by Labour and Toties alike.

It is great to see the tide turning in favour of GB and strongly against the Sun.

Brighton Pavilion and the ‘art of blogging’

Us bloggers are a strange breed.  There is nothing we enjoy more than really getting up people’s noses.  In the last week I have been delighted to get some particularly damning comments about this blog.

“kemptown”, who appears to be a Labour supporter, commented: “You really are a bit odd and this blog is not really very good. Come on do some real blogging for a change”.  I responded that I felt “chastened to the core by this cutting analysis. I’m not sure if I’ll ever recover”.  Well that was last night, this is now the morning after and I feel inspired by the encouragement I have received from “kemptown”.

Nikki Bayley, a Green supporter, writes about me, “The more I read your tweet the more annoying it becomes”. She says that she is “irked” by my blog and accuses me of taking “cheap shots”.  Such recognition is always welcome.  Thank you Nikki. She has commented that she doesn’t like my use of phrases such as “What I hear from …” or “Many say that…” ,  She says that I say things with “absolutely no back up at all”.  She goes on “Fortunately, I benefitted from good editors & was never allowed to crowbar in my own views as those of others and have learnt that doing things like that is awfully lazy (& inaccurate) journalism”.

From what I hear, people seem to like what I post, not because they necessarily agree with what I say.  Indeed, many say that they read it because it isn’t what they believe in.  (Actually, I made the last two sentences up, can’t back up these statements, and was being lazy as these are, in truth, my own views).

The serious point about blogging is that it can be ones own views; it can be opinionated and does not have to pretend to be up to normal journalistic standards.  Love it or loath it, you don’t have to read it and you certainly don’t have to rely on it.  What I try to do through this blog is to comment on political issues and events, mainly local ones.

In Brighton and Hove we have one of the most interesting political fights in decades, between Nancy Platts and Caroline Lucas. I have consistently made my views clear: the prospect of the first ever Green MP is exciting and I want to see it happen.  I fear that Caroline Lucas is not proving to be a good local candidate and the campaign has yet to be ignited.  Nancy Platts on the other hand is a good local candidate who is working hard, but who is standing for the wrong party.  Unless there is a massive swing back to Labour, she will not win.

My fear is that a split vote between a defeated Labour Party and a lacklustre Green campaign that should have, but did not, maintain momentum after the Goldsmid by-election, will allow the Tories to win (and they don’t yet have a candidate, for goodness sake).

What should be the most interesting political fights in decades may yet have the result that Nikki, “kemptown” and I really don’t want.

Terrible medical condition afflicting Labour and Green councillors in Brighton

Many years ago there was a Labour Party activist in Brighton called Chris Stanley whose partner, Hilary Metcalf, was one of the Poll Tax rebel councillors.  In his younger years Chris had been a councillor somewhere in Kent.  He made an observation that there was a medical condition that afflicted decent, ordinary individuals in quite amazing ways.  Their speech would be affected, they gained a sense of their own self-importance, a sense of grandeur. They isolated themseloves from others, tending to socialise only with those afflicted with the same condition.

That condition, according to Chris Stanley, was known as ‘Councilloritis’. Yes, ordinary men and women, who previously showed no symptoms, would be afflicted almost immediately after they had been elected as councillors.  Take speech, if the victim served on the Council’s Planning Committee, where previously they may have said, “Those windows look a little bit pokey”, they would suddenly use a strange language, “I believe the detail of the fenestration on the southern facade requires further examination”. Where they may have once referred to “puddles in the road”, they began talking about “excess surface water on the highway”.

As for their sense of self-importance, they believe themselves to have somehow become superior to the rest of us. A tragic case involved the secretary of the Brghton and Hove Anti-Poll Tax Union who, on the back of his campaigning against the Poll Tax, was elected as a Labour councillor in Moulsecoomb in 1990. The very next day he paid his poll tax.  When challenged on this he repied, “Now I am a leading citizen of the town I have to set the right example”.

What about today’s crop of councillors? I am sad to say that the condition is rife in the ranks of Labour councillors with few, if any, showing signs of normality.  I don’t know many Tories so it is difficult to make any conclusive diagnosis.  The Greens have seen an outbreak amongst their ranks although some appear not to have been afflicted at all, able to live totally normal lives (if you regard the wearing of Stasi-style tabbards as normal, which clearly Green Amy does!).

Other Green councillors, sadly, are showing extreme symptoms and should be witdrawn from public life.  The good news is that one can recover, either through sheer determination or total abstinence from engaging in councillor activities.  But first the inflicted have to acknowlede the condition, and overcoming denial is the hardest part.

Jean Calder would be an asset to the Blogosphere

I’m at risk of being accused of misogyny – not only did I forget to mention Green Amy in my initial review of local political blogs (I realised my mistake straight away), I was rebuked by greenkemptownben for not reviewing the blog of Caroline Lucas (an error I rectified yesterday). Today it was pointed out to me that I missed the blog of a third woman, former Argus columnist, Jean Calder.

In my defence I can point to a link on my Blogroll and the fact that her blog doesn’t appear to have been updated for some time.  Her blog consists mainly (completely?) of her much missed column in the Argus.  Some people say it was the only reason to buy the Argus! While she is not an active blogger, a visit to her site is well worth reading.  If you read this, Jean, make a comeback.  A regular blog from you would be worth reading.

Caroline Lucas, as local as the Isle of Wight

Ben Duncan, or greenkemptownben as he is known to his nearest and dearest, has commented in his blog about my blog about other people’s Brighton blogs (if you follow).  Who said us bloggers are a sad bunch of anoracks (or in the case of Green Amy, tabards)? Anyway, he said that I omitted to review the blog of Caroline Lucas.  He writes: “He’s missing one of the best political blogs though for a local take on national issues, that of Caroline Lucas, local MEP, Green Party Leader, and parliamentary candidate in Brighton Pavilion”.

So I had a look at the blog of the Great Leader (apologies to Andrew Neil).  Of the ten latest posts, how many provided the “local take on national issues” referred to by greenkemptownben of this parish? None, actually.  The nearest we get to Brighton Pavilion is the Isle of Wight.  What she writes about is all good stuff, but the focus does reflect a common view that she is aloof (I know the old joke, the world needs more loofs). There is a feeling, and this is why a Green victory in Brighton Pavilion at the General Election is not certain, that she she sees Brighton Pavilion as the next step in her wonderful career. What a shame when, with a candidate focused on local campaigning (like Labour’s Nancy Platts), the Greens could have made history in Brighton Pavilion.

As for Nancy, wrong Party and the wrong time. As for the Greens, wrong candidate, could have been the right time.

I Forgot Green Amy

How thoughtless of me – I failed to review the Blog of Green councillor, Amy Kennedy, called “They paved paradise, put up a parking lot”. Anyone who likes Joni Mitchell can’t be all bad! Like this blog, Green Amy comes and goes, posts some interesting stuff and then nothing for a week or few. Tends to have a focus on food, biscuits in particular.  A readable blog, preferably while dunking a biscuit in a hot cup of tea!

Review of Brighton Blogs

There are eight regular political blogs in Brighton and Hove.  All are worth a look.  Here is my take on these eight:

Ben Duncan, Green candidate for Brighton Kemptown and councillor in Queens Park Ward, is the most regular political blogger locally. Worth reading each day, although he might like to consider length and should ask himself if everything in each post is worth saying.

Jason Kitcat, Green councillor for Regency Ward, is also a most regular blogger, but of more interst to Green Party members than real people. He can go on, and on, and on about certain subjects, and I am sure he finds it all fascinating. Some of his stuff, however, is spot on.

Mary Mears, Conservative Leader of the City Council, posts weekly, although it mostly lacks politics!  It is as if her entries are drafted by the press office at King’s House. 

Nancy Platts, Labour candidate in Brighton Pavilion, has a cluttered but energetic sight, although without any dates it is difficult to know how up to date it is. She uses photographs well, and demonstrates that she knows where Crabtree Avenue is!

Neil Harding was, until 25th August, the most regular of bloggers but since then, nothing. Is he ok? His blogs are missed.

Andy Richards‘ People’s Republic of Hove is a regular and opinionated blog (both are a good thing).  He is still fighting battles of the 1980’s (not a good thing) and his blog reflects an increasingly marginalised view, but it is still well worth reading. 

Paul Elgood writes the Brunswick Blog but it is as exciting as an out of date edition of Liberal Focus.  If you want to know what letters the 2 Lib Dem councillors have written, and which meeting they have attended, then this is the blog for you.

And finally, there is the Brighton Politics Blog, always wonderful, original, inspirational, and ever so humble.

Is the Brighton Argus in terminal decline?

As a regular (as opposed to an obsessional) reader of the Brighton Argus, I have to say that the standards of journalism and sub-editing seems to be hitting an all time low.  In the past the Argus could boast some exceptional journalists and columnists, but now it appears to be staffed by reporters and subs who know little about Brighton today and less about even its recent history.

I blame the editor and the subs for failing to retain quality journalists and demonstrate an inability to recruit adequate replacements.  Recently, they managed to reduce the brutal murder of a young woman to the appalling headline “Sex Change Prostitute Murdered”.  The Peoples Republic of Hove  blog was right to say that  “the least our local paper can do is show some respect and ditch the prurient sensationalism”.

With ‘journalism’ such as this is it any wonder that the current crop of journalists, forced to work under quite intolerable pressure to produce copy, produces such rubbish,

The sub-editors are no better.  On Friday (30 October) over a story about a local councillor (Les Hamilton) criticising store cards, the headline ran “MP criticises store credit cards”.  Does the Argus employ people who don’t know the difference between Members of Parliament and local councillors?

Having said this, I am a passionate believer in the importance of local papers.  Where else (assuming they are adequately staffed) will local and national politicians, health services, charities and quangos be scrutinised and held to account?  Where do journalists ‘cut their teeth’ and where does investigatory reporting really happen?  Writing in the Guardian earlier this year, Polly Toynbee wrote that one of the biggest threats to democracy was the decline of local and regional papers. I entirely agree.

The blogasphere will never have the resources to do proper and consistent reporting on local politics.  Local papers must be supported.  Local government, rather than printing and distributing its own ‘views sheet’ (as opposed to news sheet), should commit to using and paying for space in local papers, thereby throwing a lifeline to local papers.

I fear, however, that the days of the Argus are numbered.  I hope I am proved wrong, but I would not be surprised if this time next year we will be looking at Latest Homes to provide a brief glimpse of what local authorities are doing.

Narrow, close-minded Tories and Labour

Having been away for a couple of weeks, I have come back to see that the children in the nursery are throwing their toys out of their prams. What I mean is that leading Tory councillor, Ayas Fallon-Khan has attacked Green Ben Duncan as a “cop-watching communist”, and saying that he is unsuitable to be the City’s representative on the Sussex Police Authority. Ben Duncan describes himself as a “proud socialist”.

Coun Fallon-Khan is free to criticise Ben Duncan if he is incompetant (which he isn’t), fails to attend meetings (he has an excellent attendance record) or fails to conduct himself appropriately as a representative of Brighton and Hove (he has my backing and admiration).  

This is typical Tory nonsense.  He is attacking others merely because they have different views to him. Coun Fallon-Khan represents what is nasty about the Tory Party. His approach is the thin edge of the wedge – removing dissidents from any position so that only those with narrow, close-minded attitudes are allowed to serve.  Little wonder that the narrow, close-minded members of the Labour Group are happy to vote with the Tories to restrict the Greens from holding a fair share of positions on Council Scrutiny Committees.

Labour is behaving like bad losers, undemocratic, and close to the Tories

I angered Labour friends during the Goldsmid by-election when I said that Labour activists preferred a Tory win to a victory for the Green candidate, Alex Phillips. Alex’s victory resulted in parity between Labour and the Greens on Brighton and Hove City Council.

Now Labour, once again, are siding with the Tories over the allocation of Committee places.  The Greens asked for, and have every reason to expect, an increased share of positions on scrutiny panels.  But Labour councillors joined with the Tories to denythe Greens the allocation that would reflect the wishes opf the people of Brighton and Hove, expressed through the ballot box.

This action by Labour and their Conservative colleagues is a disgrace.  Green Convenor, Bill Randall, is right when he says that this will not go unnoticed by the people of the City.  Labour is a declining force in Brighton and Hove, and actions such as this will not help the Party in the general election as it comes across as undemocrtatioc, bad losers, and closer to the Tories than to the Greens, a very real and attractive alternative to those on the left.