tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post5834845444964057145..comments2024-03-29T10:44:12.904+00:00Comments on David Lindsay: Country Roads, Take Me HomeDavid Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06839882674758833524noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-34008454368026285992009-06-26T16:32:13.928+01:002009-06-26T16:32:13.928+01:00Apparently so. These goods are from the developing...Apparently so. These goods are from the developing world, not the EU.David Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06839882674758833524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-30488725780448122422009-06-25T19:48:42.504+01:002009-06-25T19:48:42.504+01:00"And he is responsible for a scheme to pay su...<i>"And he is responsible for a scheme to pay supermarkets to import foreign food instead of using readily available domestic produce."</i><br /><br />But would that even be legal?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-74856898126793139742009-06-25T18:47:49.099+01:002009-06-25T18:47:49.099+01:00Which is very recent, and wrong.
Whereas agricult...Which is very recent, and wrong.<br /><br />Whereas agricultural subsidies are long-established, and right.<br /><br />While they exist, they are a standing contradiction of neoloberal economics. Thatcher never squared that circle, and nor can anyone else.David Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06839882674758833524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-18363891861427299382009-06-25T18:38:47.832+01:002009-06-25T18:38:47.832+01:00Farmers dont like any political party.
They buy in...Farmers dont like any political party.<br />They buy into the myth of the independent yeoman stock. Of course they are the most heavily subsidised sector....apart of course from the friends of Labour in the City.JohnJGMooneynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-42928633228716597022009-06-25T18:04:50.884+01:002009-06-25T18:04:50.884+01:00Which shires? Nottinghamshire? Derbyshire? Yorkshi...Which shires? Nottinghamshire? Derbyshire? Yorkshire? Lancashire? They were returning Labour MPs long before almost anywhere in the cities. And yes, I do mean their rural areas.<br /><br />Farmers don't like the Tories either, really. But in any case, their interests could not be further from those of the City. Agriculture is, rightly and necessarily, for all practical purposes a nationalised industry. It has been so at least since the War, and it is a very good example of why state action in the economy is both necessary and beneficial.David Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06839882674758833524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-33726671684640451262009-06-25T17:59:05.544+01:002009-06-25T17:59:05.544+01:00Id forgotten Gavin Strang.....in Edinburgh, he is ...Id forgotten Gavin Strang.....in Edinburgh, he is a farmers son.<br />While the Celtic fringe (and I include Cumbria)is not entirely anti Labour, the same cannot be said for the shires.<br />Any Labour politician getting the Agriculture brief or portfolio has drawn the short straw. <br />Why should Labour court the farmers. Whiney malcontents.<br />Farmers and Labour (the Party praised by Simon Jenkins) just dont mix.<br />The City of London bankers and Labour dont mix either.<br />The flirtation between "new" Labour and the City has been a disaster for Labour.<br />Having any rapport with Farmers would be equally disasterous.JohnJGMooneynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-69269180013922119452009-06-25T17:50:04.147+01:002009-06-25T17:50:04.147+01:00No indeed, Stack, he's far too pro-EU for that...No indeed, Stack, he's far too pro-EU for that.<br /><br />Preema, the single seat of Cambridgeshire was Labour in its day, and very nearly so for decades before that.David Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06839882674758833524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-24844741039988472562009-06-25T17:47:54.095+01:002009-06-25T17:47:54.095+01:00Quentin Davies is a farmer. Whatever you think of ...Quentin Davies is a farmer. Whatever you think of him, Old Labour he ain't.Stacknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-35012571070164562312009-06-25T17:46:19.928+01:002009-06-25T17:46:19.928+01:00Oh, I see, so you're attacking Blairism for fa...Oh, I see, so you're attacking Blairism for failing to capture the rural bits of Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Devon and so on, are you, Anonymous 17.41. Well, fair enough, but I don't think Old Labour's record was great there either.Premanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-92100051913456506852009-06-25T17:41:41.682+01:002009-06-25T17:41:41.682+01:00Where is he now? He died of cancer about two years...Where is he now? He died of cancer about two years ago. I really don't think this is New Labour's fault.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-15024177866308856802009-06-25T17:41:28.029+01:002009-06-25T17:41:28.029+01:00North West Durham, Workington, West Lancashire, Ba...North West Durham, Workington, West Lancashire, Bassetlaw, Copeland, all Labour seats anyway Preema. Nothing to do with Blairism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-20637719248039293532009-06-25T17:40:02.832+01:002009-06-25T17:40:02.832+01:00And where is he now? Where will he be when Gareth ...And where is he now? Where will he be when Gareth Thomas has paid the supermarkets (great friends of New Labour, but not of the farmers) to refuse to buy his produce?David Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06839882674758833524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-58909798653769194502009-06-25T17:37:24.165+01:002009-06-25T17:37:24.165+01:00Lord Carter, Tony Blair's first Lords Chief Wh...Lord Carter, Tony Blair's first Lords Chief Whip, was a farmer.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-72509652546612667482009-06-25T17:29:03.228+01:002009-06-25T17:29:03.228+01:00"Harrow has been as rural as Labour (New or O..."Harrow has been as rural as Labour (New or Old) ever got"<br /><br />That simply isn't true, and is an old, old Tory myth contrary to the plain facts of the matter. Harrow is in London, for goodness sake.<br /><br />Anonymous, quite so. In fact, Jim Callaghan had a farm. Attlee's Agriculture Minister (whose name escapes me - it'll come back in a minute) was possibly the only occupant of the office ever to be well-liked by the farmers. And so on.David Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06839882674758833524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-39562639118434574272009-06-25T17:25:50.427+01:002009-06-25T17:25:50.427+01:00How many of those seats is NuLab going to keep, Pr...How many of those seats is NuLab going to keep, Prema? At least Old Labour never deliberately set out to bankrupt the countryside.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-82797440715519147582009-06-25T17:25:03.778+01:002009-06-25T17:25:03.778+01:00Harrow has been as rural as Labour (New or Old) ev...Harrow has been as rural as Labour (New or Old) ever got.<br />Agriculture spokesmen have traditionally come from areas where Labour MPs hada swathe of countryside in their constituency.<br /><br />The afore-mentioned Brynmor John. The risible Fred Peart in I believe Workington and "Dr" Jack Cunningham (son of Andrew of infamy) in the same general area.JohnJGMooneynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-4285884093861174492009-06-25T17:23:37.010+01:002009-06-25T17:23:37.010+01:00You know what I mean.You know what I mean.David Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06839882674758833524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-75974090183231459002009-06-25T17:17:40.515+01:002009-06-25T17:17:40.515+01:00Obviously New Labour has never been dominant in ru...Obviously New Labour has never been dominant in rural areas, but it gets more rural than Harrow. What about Stroud? Or Sedgefield? Or North West Durham? Or Workington? Or West Lancashire? Or Bassetlaw? Or Copeland? Or Dorset South? I could go on...Premanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-19164013545592373582009-06-25T17:12:37.093+01:002009-06-25T17:12:37.093+01:00You didn't get as far as the second paragraph,...You didn't get as far as the second paragraph, then.<br /><br />Harrow is as rural as New Labour gets.David Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06839882674758833524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-64515074178651247932009-06-25T17:10:50.623+01:002009-06-25T17:10:50.623+01:00This piece starts off with a mention of Gareth Tho...This piece starts off with a mention of Gareth Thomas, but then changes the subject. Why bring him up? And why would he think that Harrow is in the countryside, given that he knows Harrow far better than you or I do?Premanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-46495026691372526392009-06-25T17:10:24.800+01:002009-06-25T17:10:24.800+01:00Labour only ever had a minority of the farming vot...Labour only ever had a minority of the farming vote, but it was historically an influential minority. And, as you say, there is a lot more to rural Britain than the farmers, anyway.<br /><br />Manchester hasn't produced the Guardian for quite a while now. And I have only just noticed, but all four of the cities listed in this post now have non-Labour councils. Whereas Labour still runs County Durham, the first council that it ever won, and which it has never lost since.<br /><br />By contrast, alleged strongholds like Newcastle (Lib Dem-run now, anyway) and Glasgow had Tory councils into the Seventies, in Glasgow's case well into the Seventies.<br /><br />But New Labour never seems to notice. It inhabits a Golden Triangle of upmarket Edinburgh, upmarket Glasgow and upmarket London. And its roots are on the sectarian Left, not in the Labour Movement.David Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06839882674758833524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25656996.post-12551672475651882272009-06-25T17:00:25.144+01:002009-06-25T17:00:25.144+01:00Youre absolutely right about Liverpool. And indeed...Youre absolutely right about Liverpool. And indeed Labour has only occasionally controlled the City Council.<br />Of course a century ago Liverpool elected an MP who was an Irish Nationalist.<br />This orange-green split in Liverpool has only recently waned. Liverpool being a more intolerant City (despite all those lovable scally scousers) than Manchester (liberal and Guardian producing).<br /><br />Somewhat inevitable that Labours internal divisions in 1931 would have had a demoralising and losing effect on its potential industrial northern heartland.<br /><br />I can see absolutely no redeeming features in the people living in the English countryside. <br />The antipathy towards them by Labour is understandable. I am old enough to remember a pre-election poll Farmers (admittedly not the entire countryside) commissioned for BBCs Farming programme circa 1983 or 1987 which stated that exactly ZERO % supported the Labour Party (much to the chagrin of the party agriculture spokesman who was a Welshman Brymor John I believeJohnJGMooneynoreply@blogger.com