Interviewed in the Catholic Herald, Geraldine Smith makes a valiant effort to defend Labour, admitting that Old Labour's Methodism and Catholicism have given way to New Labour's "metropolitan elite", but claiming that that elite is not typical of the Labour Party.
However, beyond that elite's salons, there hardly is any Labour Party, or Conservative Party, or Liberal Democrats, these days. No one from any other background now stands the slightest chance of being given a first shot at standing for Parliament, never mind of being made the new MP for a safe seat.
The old Communists, Trotskyists and fellow-travellers have entirely supplanted the Labour Party, while their imitators (and erstwhile university drinking mates, drugging mates and mating mates) have entirely supplanted the Tories and the Lib Dems.
On the same page, it is reported that one in six councils (of all parties, I bet) is now cancelling free travel to church schools, in the case of Bradford, at least, in order to pay the taxi fares for pregnant or nursing schoolgirls (of whom, please note, there were supposed to be no more after the 1967 Abortion Act).
Thank God that we have an excellent candidate based in Bradford.
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There have been Marxist parties for ever. Nobody wants to know. What people need is a proper Labour Party, such as you set out.
ReplyDeleteWhat Bill says is spot on. There have always been Trots and the like. Who cares? What NHS did they ever create? What student grants? What slum clearance? We want a proper Labour Party, like you are proposing.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing which surprises me is your belief in a huge rise of teen pregnancies: in fact, during the forty years of legalised abortion, the level of pregnancies has remained roughly steady at 250/p.a. - at least according to Liberal Conspiracy.
ReplyDelete"For under 15s, where the big moral panics tend to arise, the long term trend is, actually a stable one of periodic variations around a mid point of around 250 births a year in total, one that hasn’t changed since the 1960s."
http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2008/05/27/mayor-of-simpleton/
Very interesting indeed.
Well I don't object to there being Marxists in the Labour Party. Some of my best friends are Marxists! No, seriously.
ReplyDeleteBut just I would oppose any witchhunt against Marxists, or more specifically Trotskyists in the Labour Party, I oppose the vicious anti-Catholicism currently gripping certain sections of the party. And I would expect all those who previously opposed the Millie witchhunts of the 80s to be consistent and forthrightly condemn anti-Catholicism in the Labour Party now.
Word is getting out about the party's problem with anti-Catholicism. Conor McGinn has resigned as vice chairman of London Young Labour because of the hostility to Roman Catholics. Among other things, he objected to a recent diatribe written by MEP Mary Venomball on The Graun's CiF, which was the most naked display of anti-Catholic bigotry I've seen in a long time - and that's saying something.
In it, she openly queried whether Roman Catholics should be discriminated against in public life.
It is nothing short of scandalous that Venomball is a Labour MEP. Someone that anti-Catholic can't possibly represent her Roman Catholic constituents.
According to the Catholic Herald article, McGinn emailed her to express his upset at her piece. Unsurprisingly, the insolent baggage didn't even bother to reply to him.
Liam, there were supposed to be none after the 1967 Abortion Act. That was one of its key selling points, along with "every child a wanted child" and that there would in any case be hardly any abortions due to the universal availability of contraceptives.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, everyone knows that huge numbers of underage abortions are never recorded as such, and that many are never recorded at all.
Maria, what a way with words you have. Not least because of the article by "the insolent baggage", London is a very high priority for us. It sometimes surprises people to learn this, but the level of churchgoing in London is in fact higher than that in the country at large.
Please allow me to make one self-correction: the Tories and the Lib Dems have not been supplanted by the New Labour-Old Marxists' "erstwhile university drinking mates, drugging mates and mating mates".
ReplyDeleteRather, it is the New Labour-Old Marxists' ONGOING university drinking mates, drugging mates and mating mates who have supplanted the Tories and the Lib Dems.
Vote for any of the three, and that is what you are voting for. Just say no.