I knew Andrew Fisher before he was famous. I even attended one of his book launches, which may have been his only ever book launch. We are the Left Behind, cut adrift by Corbynism for the sake of the EU and the money markets, of identity politics and Greenery, of NATO and Netanyahu. But we remember.
My old friend Jonathan Ashworth has been a loyal and faithful servant of all four of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn. This afternoon, his announcement that he would make England a normal developed country and a normal part of the United Kingdom by abolishing prescription charges signalled his firm intention to move up from servant to master. A Durham man as Prime Minister may be a terrifying prospect, but the nation could do a lot worse than Jonathan. The nation is doing a lot worse than Jonathan.
Of course, there will be other candidates. The National Education Service proposed by Angela Rayner is, with the Build It In Britain programme, the National Investment Bank, the Regional Development Banks, and the Universal Basic Income, pretty much my dream policy. In Angela's inspiring words to the 2017 Labour Party Conference:
"The sum of human knowledge is the fruit of thousands of years of human labour. The discoveries of maths and science; the great works of literature and art; the arc of human and natural history itself; and so much more that there is to learn. All of it should be our common inheritance. Because knowledge belongs to the many, not the few [or, as I would put it, knowledge belongs to everyone]. This is our historic purpose as a movement. Not just to be a voice for the voiceless. But to give them a voice of their own."
If today's motion on commercial schools had been put before a Labour Party Conference in the Blair years, then it would have passed. It would never have made it into a General Election manifesto, but it is still not going to do that.
And these days, traditional conservatives would not mind too much if it came to pass. Those schools have long since priced them out in favour of a deracinated global elite, and the three most prominent politicians to have come out of those schools in the last 25 years have been Tony Blair, the David Cameron whom they despise, and the Boris Johnson on whom they are still reserving judgement.
"The sum of human knowledge is the fruit of thousands of years of human labour. The discoveries of maths and science; the great works of literature and art; the arc of human and natural history itself; and so much more that there is to learn. All of it should be our common inheritance. Because knowledge belongs to the many, not the few [or, as I would put it, knowledge belongs to everyone]. This is our historic purpose as a movement. Not just to be a voice for the voiceless. But to give them a voice of their own."
If today's motion on commercial schools had been put before a Labour Party Conference in the Blair years, then it would have passed. It would never have made it into a General Election manifesto, but it is still not going to do that.
And these days, traditional conservatives would not mind too much if it came to pass. Those schools have long since priced them out in favour of a deracinated global elite, and the three most prominent politicians to have come out of those schools in the last 25 years have been Tony Blair, the David Cameron whom they despise, and the Boris Johnson on whom they are still reserving judgement.
Commercial schools have moved from merely being better at an examination system that was rubbish anyway, to openly following an academically inferior examination system of their own while frankly selling social connections as their premium product.
Therefore, the condition of a commercial school's continuing charitable status should be its having been adjudged good or better by the same means as a state school, using the same criteria as for a state school, with the report published, and with the value-added measure applied, thereby requiring that school to have demonstrated how it had improved pupils' abilities.
Therefore, the condition of a commercial school's continuing charitable status should be its having been adjudged good or better by the same means as a state school, using the same criteria as for a state school, with the report published, and with the value-added measure applied, thereby requiring that school to have demonstrated how it had improved pupils' abilities.
And commercial schools do regularly provide left-wing figures with a platform that they are seldom or never afforded by the schools of the municipal Labour Right. Jeremy Corbyn no doubt turns down numerous invitations. George Galloway regularly accepts them. As would I.
While we are seeking to make the world better, then we still have to live in it as it is. It is not hypocritical to do so as best we can. The hypocrites are the highly activist, usually Conservative, Education Ministers who buy their own children out of the practical application and implications of their policies. Their hypocrisy is never, ever called out. Well, it would certainly be called out by me.
The Left and the working class, and perhaps especially the rural working class, need to bypass both the municipal Labour Right and the Liberal Establishment both in education and in the media. The EU referendum result has confirmed that the workers, and not the liberal bourgeoisie, are now the key swing voters who deserve direct representation on local public bodies, on national public bodies, in the media, and at the intersection of the public and media sectors.
Another hung Parliament is coming, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. A new party is now in the process of registration. After nearly 30 years of suggestion, speculation, and even a sort of preparation, I will stand for Parliament here at North West Durham. The crowdfunding page is here, and buy the book here. Please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
Another hung Parliament is coming, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. A new party is now in the process of registration. After nearly 30 years of suggestion, speculation, and even a sort of preparation, I will stand for Parliament here at North West Durham. The crowdfunding page is here, and buy the book here. Please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
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