Thursday 2 August 2007

Apart From That, Yes

The following anonymous comment appears on a post below:

"David is in the tradition of Tony Crosland rejecting the European Coal and Steel Community because "the Durham miners would never wear it," of Douglas Jay calling it "the blueprint for a federal state" and of Hugh Gaitskell denouncing the Common Market as "the end of a thousand years of history."

Having no Communist or Trotskyite background, David does not need to compensate for being a nuclear pacifist during the Cold War when it mattered by being pro-Trident now when it doesn't matter.

I remember Labour politicians who defended the grammar schools as the ladder of working class advancement. I remember Labour politicians who were tough on crime because most of the victims were poor.

I remember staunchly Unionist Scottish and Welsh Labour MPs. I remember at least one staunchly Unionist Labour Northern Ireland Secretary who treated terrorism as a security problem plain and simple.

I remember Methodist Labour MPs against deregulated drinking and gambling. I remember Catholic Labour MPs against abortion and easier divorce.

And I remember how every last one of them was pro NHS, pro trade unions, pro public sector, pro Welfare State, pro everything Old Labour.

But I thought that I'd never see the like again. Well now I am seeing it.

If all the candidates are like David then all 12 will certainly get in. Many of us have been waiting 30 years and more to have someone like that to vote for again."


Well, I don't like to be pedantic, but the first quotation is from Herbert Morrison (Peter Mandelson's grandfather, of course), not from Tony Crosland. And I wish to put on record my view that nuclear weapons - like radiological, chemical and biological weapons - are immoral no matter what.

But apart from that, yes.

8 comments:

  1. None of them will get in.

    In fact, I will make a prediction here and now, if they stand (which is not certain) all will lose their deposits.

    Incidentally, Neil Herron plans to stand in 2009.

    How sad, never mind, back to the drawing board for David!

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  2. He's dead isn't he? Or was that the other one? Suppose it must have been.

    Anyway he can expect zero publicity beyond the local paper in Sunderland, whereas David and his supporters will be all over the national media. And he can expect a lot of people to say "He's dead isn't he?"

    The boys with the pin-striped suits and the old uni mates in Fleet Street and the BBC are here now. A very localised amateur out to prove a point has no part in what this has become.

    Especially considering that his point has been proved. Why is he still bothering? Why can't he take yes for an answer?

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  3. Shame on him if his vanity scuppers the most important political development in Britain since the emergence of the SDP if not the Labour Party, by keeping the main man out while all the other 11 are elected.

    And Herron could take just enough votes in Sunderland to do that. Nowhere else at all, but in Sunderland all the same. He kept out Ukip in favour of the Lib Dems that way last time. Is he proud of that?

    And is he going to keep out an Old Labour right-winger like himself, but a politician across the board rather than on a single issue, this time? Is the North East going to be the only region without such an MEP?

    Shame on him if he does. He'll just be a silly, spiteful, vain old man. I hope he isn't.

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  4. Are you lot serious about nationwide publicity in the national media?

    I haven't seen any yet, plus i don't expect to see any then.

    Other than what the BBC has to give you simply by standing and the obligatory mention of who else is standing, other than Lib/Lab/Con (and who Max Clifford is promoting!)

    I doubt it will be Kilroy Silk this time!

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  5. Well of course you haven't seen it yet you ridiculous little man! Remarks like that give the North East a bad name.

    Those of us who move in such circles know that David has some level of contact with every national newspaper, including close links to several of the biggest names in the business. The same is true of the braodcast media. And he is well-known on the political blogosphere.

    We also expect all of this to be true of at least some of his other candidates.

    Good for Neil Herron for sticking to his guns over metrication but he's won that one. If he stands again and picks up a local celebrity vote in Sunderland thanks to coverage in the Sunderland Echo (but absolutely nowhere else at all), then he will do to this initiative what he did to UKIP last time.

    In other words, he'll just let in a Lib Dem instead. Is that really what he wants? Is that really what you want?

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  6. Is Neil Herron still pretending to have run the regional assembly No campaign even though he didn't and the recognised No campaign was someone else entirely?

    His only existed in Sunderland. So if he stands against David this is going to be deja vu.

    And yes some of us do remember how he split the UKIP vote and let in a Lib Dem. He surely isn't really going to do that again is he, to David and his nationally high-profile colleagues this time?

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  7. lod gnome....David is well known on the political blogsphere, you are correct -- unfortuantely for him it is as a figure of fun. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

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  8. Oh no it isn't! His pit yakker critics (some with degrees these days, but then everyone has a degree these days) might think that. But they can't be expected to know any better. Some of us do know better. A lot better.

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