Posts Tagged "Great Britain"
Speaking up for Languages at Labour Conference 2011
Conference,
Today, Europe celebrates the 10th Annual European Day of Languages, a European Union initiative to appreciate linguistic diversity in Europe and promote language learning.
You might think it a bit of an anorak subject, and perhaps it is, but as a trainee interpreter of French and Spanish, it’s my anorak subject.
Britain cannot afford to lose languages, and it cannot afford to rely on the popular myth that everybody speaks English.
Ironically, it is only because English is widely spoken that we have a responsibility to promote, learn and use foreign languages.
As the party of openness and diversity, this should be a core Labour principle in foreign policy and in British diplomacy.
In the European Union, if a meeting cannot find any available English interpreters, that meeting is cancelled. Delaying the exchange of ideas, slowing down government, and hindering reform.
That’s bad for Europe, and bad for Britain.
In Brussels, Britain is often underrepresented because of a lack of language professionals.
In Business, Britain loses out to foreign enterprise because of a lack of language professionals. That means Labour loses the job creation and economic growth that goes with it.
English may be the lingua franca in many countries, but companies have to speak to customers in their own language.
So the business that do well are the business that go global.
As globalisation continues, languages are an obviously vital tool. Forging friendships, breaking barriers and sealing deals.
The Labour Party must be open to Europe.
Britain in the world needs languages, which is why, on the 10th European Day of Languages, Labour must not let Britain get tongue-tied or lost in translation, but be ready to promote, encourage and develop languages professionals.
Thank you.
Countering the Coalition 2: Why the coalition will go the distance
At the start of the hung parliament, our instincts told us that the coalition would be unstable and probably break down within a year or two. Be it out of No Confidence from parliament or confidence that the Tories could win a majority alone, as Harold Wilson did in 1964. On the contrary, everything we have seen so far suggests that this coalition will be able to continue for the duration of the parliament.
Primarily, coalitions do not break down as easily as we are prone to think they do, and they last for as long as they need to last. Cameron can no longer call an election as it suits him, not least because he would need to include his deputy, who happens to be leader of a different party, it will even be constitutionally unavailable pending the introduction of Fixed-Term parliaments. Given the games the two parties are playing with 55% and 66% and dissolution votes being different from No Confidence votes, the framework is being set to keep the coalition in government for the whole five years.
If the coalition is going to be constitutionally secure, it is also structurally sound. We might have assumed that more Lib Dems would be feel uneasy working with the Tories but there has been little resistance so far, with the exception of a little tantrum over the rise in VAT. There seems to be very little dissent and no defections yet.
However, the VAT rise may be revealing. The parliament is young and the government has yet to face any real stress tests on difficult decisions where there exists a huge canyon between policies. With the exception of the Euro currency crisis, “Europe” as an issue is unlikely to arise as it did over the Maastricht and Lisbon treaties. The economic crisis is over and slowly recovering, giving the government a temporary sense of direction as it aims to reduce the deficit, which will keep the two parties on the same path.
The real pressure will come when by-elections and councils start to swing, but until then we have no effective barometer. Thus far, the Liberal Democrats have shown themselves to be much closer than anyone had expected, and coalitions have gone the distance between much more distant colleagues.
The regional government of the Generalitat in Catalonia has been governed by a coalition of three parties (a ‘tripartit’), and is now just a year away from the end of its mandate. They have been able to stick together despite mutually exclusive policy differences; that is to say, one party is against independence and the other is for it, as we might imagine a Labour-SNP coalition in Holyrood. The tripartit has been relatively successful in implementing and delivering a program. A government with three voices and three leaders gives itself to certain incoherence; the government will spin “normal constructive debate” but it inevitably gives the impression of disunity and confuses the public.
On a national level, it is more appropriate to draw a parallel with cohabitation in France. Cohabitation, where the President was of one party and the Parliament was of another, occurred three times. There was the widespread assumption that the public institutions would halt, and there would be political deadlock until the next election. This never happened because they found a way to work together; in essence power, responsibility, and the realities of government; something with which the Lib Dems are wholly unaccustomed, kept them together.
The Cohabitation governments were inevitable when Presidential terms were seven years and parliamentary terms were five years, but there was a constitutional provision for it but our constitution (or lack thereof) means that on the one hand the Coalition is flying blind. On the other hand, it also means that they are free to move and adapt with little constraint. As constitutional reform is on the agenda, they have even more freedom to set precedents for the future.
The coalition only exists because no party could win a majority. Depending on the effects of tampering with the electoral system, this is not the New Politics, but we are stuck with it for now at least.
David Cameron and the Collaborators
John Prescott made an extremely appropriate, intelligent and articulate comment recently. Whether he knew it or not.*
John Hutton, a former Labour minister who has been appointed as “chair of a new public sector pension commission” joining Labour MP Frank Field’s appointment as a “Povery Tzar”.
Prescott called them both “Collaborators.”
A piece on LabourList (here) did not approve of such language. Au contraire, I respond.
Prescott, not always known for his eloquence, found exactly the right word.
The first note I want to make is that the comment comes just after June 18, the 70th anniversary of the “Appel du 18 juin” where General Charles de Gaulle escaped to London and made his famous speech calling for the French to resist defeat and carry on fighting. More on that later.
Nicolas Sarkozy came over to meet David Cameron to mark the occasion, which brings me on to the French connection:
When Sarkozy was first elected in 2007 as the President of France, he tried the same tactics that Cameron is using now. In a move called ouverture he attracted a few high profile Socialists into the government. Obviously and appropriately, they were expelled from the Parti Socialiste, though that was because they became proper ministers rather than committee-type people.
Although it is in the news now, it ultimately means nothing more than a quick headline grab to cause instability in the Opposition. Popular and welcome Mr Field is in the Parliamentary Labour Party (cough), his sudden change of heart (cough cough) is no great defection.
Just as for a lesson for the future, Eric Besson (a poached-socialist) is one of the most unpopular ministers in the already unpopular French government, and intellectual magazine Le Point was forced on its front page to ask of Sarkozy the question: “Is really he SO crap?”
History is brilliant.
Update: John Prescott responded this evening via Twitter to tell me he did know it.
Politics and Me: I’ll have to sit this one out
The General Election is the 6th of May. I should be out and about in Bath and North East Somerset campaigning like (I hope) my friends are.
Instead, I’m in Spain. I keep reminding people, to their surprise, that I study languages, not politics. Amazingly, students of politics are the least politically engaged people I know, but that’s another story.
So I’ve spent this year, the third year of my degree split between France and Spain. In France I was working for my ideological colleagues, and now friends, in the Parti Socialiste and the Conseil Regional (Regional Government.) There, I fought two elections; the by-election in September, then the Regional Elections in March. It was a small defeat followed by a massive triumph, and as far as memories go, I’ll never forget them or the people there.
I always say that politics is my hobby, which makes people laugh, because in fact it’s so much more than that. I say to all those people who don’t engage in it, that think we’re all the same, or even ask me (with contempt) why I even bother:
I’ll stand up for you even though you won’t stand up for yourself, because someone has to.
I hate, with deadly seriousness, that I can’t be there now for the General Election. Not just for me, but for all those people who don’t understand what’s at stake.
At the risk of repeating that Clinton moment, I just don’t want to see my country fall behind. I can understand if a Tory Government is elected, but what really hurts is that I was unable to do anything about it. I want to make a contribution but I can’t. I feel very helpless.
I just have to sit on the sidelines, watching with intent, with nothing but this website, that everybody ignores, including my friends.
So I say to you all, get out there and campaign for whoever you feel will do the job, make a choice, and stick to it, because we all have to live with the consequences.
Tory PPC falls at the first hurdle
The Prime Minister called the election today, and no doubt the entire every politically engaged person was running around and jumping up and down. I was stuck on BBC News until about 1130 before having to catch a flight.
I couldn’t help notice one little thing though, a press release from my favourite right-wing pinata, Tory Candidate for North East Somerset, Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Now the election is on, it’s going to be a lot harder to hide from the media!
The release is pretty dull and biographical, though Jacob lives down to my expectations and lets us know what he’s really all about in the first paragraph:
Jacob Rees – Mogg was selected as candidate for the newly formed constituency of North East Somerset, (formerly Wansdyke), in 2007 thus fulfilling his ambition to represent the Somerset parliamentary seat in which his family has lived for generations.
So there we have it. He must already be the MP since he has fulfilled his ambition. He’s already won, and may have done so as long ago as 2007!
In fairness, it seems Rees-Mogg didn’t write this one himself (either). A quick look at the properties box of the word document reveals that it was written by someone at Northgate Information Systems. A quick googling suggests that this is a company based in Hemel Hempstead.
Normally I wouldn’t bother with this last bit, though it has caught out our dear JRM before, when he had a politically restricted council press officer to write his releases!
Jacob Rees-Mogg caught out faking the truth in ANOTHER newsletter
A bit of a Christmas Cracker now, from our very own living bad joke.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory PPC for North-East Somerset, really is the comedy Tory gift who keeps on giving. (Giving tax benefits to the super-rich that is, ho ho!)
His latest gaffe, since November, sees him once again faking he truth.
Private Eye picked this one up, and in the Christmas edition explained how he shipped a London-based member of his London-based investment firm staff on a 260 mile (about 420km) round trip to Midsomer Norton to take part in a photo opportunity to illustrate his website.
Here’s a scan of the article:
However, what Private Eye doesn’t tell you is that the very same picture, also appears on the front page of Rees-Mogg’s latest hard copy newsletter which has been circulated across N E Somerset, under the title of “Honesty on the Economy”. Take a look:
If you head over to this page on Rees-Mogg’s London based hedge-fund management company and scroll down to the bottom, in last place you have Fiona Tyrrell. Then, if you head to his political website you’ll see the same picture Private Eye was talking about.
If you still in any doubt, right-click the image and choose “save as” and you’ll find that Rees-Muggins has even named the picture “Fiona”.
In fairness, the caption “Honesty on the Economy. Jacob talking to a lady in Midsomer Norton” is technically true. That is Jacob. Fiona is a lady. The pair of them are in Somerset. Her mouth is presumably moving.
Actually, Jacob isn’t allowed to talk any more. Conservative Central Headquarters issued a gagging order after he told The Scotsman in October 2001:
I gradually realised that whatever I happened to be speaking about, the number of voters in my favour dropped as soon as I opened my mouth.
Looks like there is a theme emerging here from Honesty Mogg. Time to add this one to the list, having been in trouble for plagiarising Trevor Kavanagh from The Sun he now has to fabricate ‘in the constituency with constituents’ pictures to give an impression he’s connected to the community.
I’ll leave you with this thought for Christmas; the Rees-Muggins newsletter was delivered by the Royal Mail. I suppose his crumbling campaign means he has no local volunteers to deliver for him!
Click here to see other classic Ress-Mogg gaffes.
Jan 6th Update: Venue Magazine has also featured the story as their main news article, to supplement other pieces in The Telegraph, in The Daily Mail and a little bit in The Independent. Nothing from The Times, not that that would have anything to do with Rees-Mogg’s father as former editor and columnist, of course.
Finally, can anybody tell me why I published this on December 23rd, yet the Nationals waited until December 28th/29th? Guys, come on, a little credit here.
Badges
