Brown Strikes Football and PR

A bit of a random post this- a far from inclusive summary of things that have been on my mind since my last post.

Firstly just a cursory message of support for those public sector workers on the picket lines last week. If the prospect of being laid off in these grim times (still grim even if not still an official recession) were not bad enough- the prospect of being laid off for considerably less than was previously agreed contractually is even more grim. I would like to know what the governments official stance is on large employers trying to renegotiate redundancy terms before cutbacks? It is a bit like offering workers an umbrella on a rainy day then, as it clouds over, replacing it with a cocktail stick parasol. (albeit a cocktail parasol worth up to £60,000 or the equivalent of three years service whatever is lower).

The principle issue of the strike however is not really the detail of the redundancy package- but the fact that the government should make such explicit preparations to lay off so many public sector workers. bakers create the crisis, the public carry the cost, and public servants pay off the debt. It is hardly fair, and fairness is what we should demand of our politicians. Besides, in order for the government's fresh redundancy proposals to be necessary a significant proportion of public sector works face the prospect of the dole queue. With that in mind the strike deserves our support.

Secondly Brown. Poor old Gordon Brown. No sooner has he finished his tete a tete with Piers Morgan than he tries to elbow in next to Adrian Chiles onMatch of the Day. One would hope Brown had more significant things on his mind than Theo Walcott's disappointing form in world cup year. Although his take on Portsmouth's current financial woes would be genuinely interesting.

Brown's PR problems are well documented. It seems the paparazzi cannot resist snapping his face in midst contortion. Brown initially tried to improve his public image by taking smiling classes, and wearing a maniacal grin as false a Tony Blair's. He overlooked the fact the public did not take to Blair's grin- we always knew it was false. We were subdued by the inscrutable control of his emotions- Blair only ever had/has two expressions. Manic false smile or mock grave concern. As false as these expressions are they were somehow more convincing than Brown's tutored emoting. No matter how many prime time shows Brown appears on he just lacks the charm to play the part of man of the people. And charm just can't be learned on the lap of PR gurus.

This is the principle difference between the Brown and Blair. Charm. And there ability to sound and look plausible and likeable when falsifying. There was never a gaping ideological gulf between them. Put simply Blair was just a more convincing liar than Brown. He tricked more voters (this one back in 1997) with his lies and media-spun truths than Brown can and will. It was merely a flagrant abuse of his talent for partial truths/lies which led to Blair's political demise. Brown's will most probably come as result of being a less convincing liar at than either Blair or Cameron.

This is the soul of cynicism at the heart of my political engagement. Overall it is probably healthier to assume our politicians are misleading us and to let them prove otherwise. To do this requires that the electorate demonstrate greater faith in the political process than we currently have (not trust in the politicians but faith in the process!). And with that faith comes greater expectation, and subsequent accountability on the side of those elected. We need to expect more from our leaders- and they need to be held up to account more rigourously. This requires a level of dialogue and engagement that can't be attained through PR channels- MoTd, This Morning, the Piers Morgan show, or any tabloid newspaper. We do not need our leaders to have greater visibility- we do not need to feel that we 'know' them. Power itself needs to be disseminated from the centre to the people, and in order for this to be meaningful we need a devolved government with proper powers. Hence Plaid in Wales innit.

Tory's show their form (again)

As this sorry sagademonstrates somethings never change. If it is not George Osbourne languishing on billionaire's yachts it is the whole damn tory party whoring the already dubious British 'honours' system, in exchange for some tax exempt cash to bolster their election campaign.

Cameron may well claim the tories are some latter day party of the people, but only if those people are wheeling heads of industry, who have been dodging taxes in one of the poorer countries of Central America for years. To quote the Belize Prime Minister on Ashcrofts supposed tax dodging there.

"Ashcroft is an extremely powerful man. His net worth may well be equal to Belize's entire GDP. He is nobody to cross."

Ashcroft's reluctance to contribute in eglatarian fashion should have come as no surprise to the Tories. And their pleads of ignorance in this case reflect either incompetence or corruption- or most probably both.

The fantastic 4?

4 labour councillors have announced their resignation over the fact that a probable lameduck candidate (maybe tamsin dunwoody) is being parachuted into Islwyn now Don Touhig is resigning. I like parachuted in- it conjures up images of Tasmin Dunwoody making her way from Crewe on a Mary Poppins style umbrella.

Aside from the issues of in-fighting there is something peculiar about these resignations.

Presumably the 4 councillors are worried about the new candidate lacking independence from central office. This is to neatly overlook the fact that Don, bless his hypocritical reversible coloured socks (red outside blue inside) has pretty much towed the labour party whipping line since the outset. There is already no independence of mind or conscience in the Islwyn labour party. He even contrived to vote against laws to stop climate change, like only Labour MPs in safe seats can.

Clearly a vote for Steffan Lewis, Plaid's candidate in Islwyn, can be the only way to ensure a vote in the Westminster elections will be a vote for an independent minded candidate. Accordingly I would hope (but not expect) the labour 4 to be joining the plaid ranks soon *doesn't hold breath*.