I complain as much as anyone about The Guardian. But over on Comment is Free at this moment you can and you should read Seamus Milne on Mali as the fastest blowback in the history of The War Against Terror (which my erstwhile housemate who is now Head of Research for the Labour Party used to say 10 and more years ago ought to be known by its acronym), Sir Nick Harvey MP on how Trident does not and will not protect us, Sir Simon Jenkins on Afghanistan, and Ricky Tomlinson on Shrewsbury, which comes next on the list after Hillsborough and Orgreave.
Alas, then, for John Monks. Are trade unionists really satisfied with whatever can secure the approval of every Government represented in the Council of Ministers at the given time? Manifestly not: in Britain alone, there exist the Socialist Labour Party, No2EU - Yes to Democracy, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, the Campaign Against European Federalism, the Labour Euro Safeguards Campaign, and many more besides. Never heard of them? Oh, they are not allowed on the radio or the television. Obviously.
What (little) the EU gives, the EU can take away. The place for these debates and for these decisions is the Parliament of the United Kingdom. After 2015, it once again will be.
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ReplyDeleteWere you at Durham with Lady Harvey?
ReplyDeleteWe just missed each other. But we have mutual friends, through whom we met a few times many years ago. On one of those occasions, I also met Sir Nick, as he now is. But he wouldn't remember me.
ReplyDeleteMilne is a Stalinist.
ReplyDeleteNo, he is not.
ReplyDeleteHe did used to be a Trotskyist. So, very obviously, did you. Or, rather, you very obviously still are one.