Past The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Tune in to BBC Two at nine o'clock for a very thing indeed.

Albeit recorded, and not live as in the past, Laura Kuenssberg will be on air.

That has not happened in weeks.

And after tonight, will it ever happen again?

To Make An Informed Decision

Here:

Allowing immigration to overshadow the EU referendum debate is not only bad for community relations — it’s bad for those who want the public to make an informed decision on June 23.

EU membership should be about much more than how many people can or should enter Britain every year, however important that question is.

Thus the Morning Star makes no apology for asking other important questions: how and in whose interests does the EU function? What does this mean for people’s jobs, living standards and quality of life?

Does EU membership help or hinder strategies to develop a balanced, sustainable economy that serves the interests of working people, their families and communities? 

We have condemned the neoliberal, free market and monetarist economics cemented into the basic treaties of the EU. 

As the late Tony Benn once pointed out: “The EU has the only constitution in the world committed to capitalism … it destroys the prospect of socialism anywhere in Europe, making capitalism a constitutional requirement of that set-up.” 

Such a set-up also requires that enormous powers lie in the lap of unelected and — in practice where not in law — unaccountable bodies, namely, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the European Court of Justice. 

Remain campaigners point to the powers of our own unelected Civil Service, Bank of England, House of Lords, Supreme Court and monarchy. 

But the crucial difference is this: in Britain, these institutions are not constitutionally beyond the reach of our elected representatives. They can be reformed and even abolished. 

The recent Queen’s Speech raised the prospect of Britain having a Bill of Rights in the near future, drafted by this Tory government. 

What if this Bill were to specify that Britain shall have a “competitive market economy” based on the free movement of capital, goods and services? 

Any steps towards a planned economy would, in effect, be unlawful. 

Neither the Westminster, Edinburgh or Cardiff legislatures would be allowed to direct or impede the movement of capital in, out or within the countries of Britain. 

What if clauses in the Bill made it unconstitutional for elected governments to run an “excessive deficit” in their public finances, or to subsidise public or private enterprises for strategic economic, social or environmental reasons? 

What if another clause banned governments from using our central bank to fund investment projects through the purchase of public-sector bonds (what shadow chancellor John McDonnell calls “people’s quantitative easing”)? 

Indeed, the Bill would make clear that the central bank must be independent of Parliament and government altogether, guaranteed by a constitution that can only be changed by near unanimous agreement. 

Furthermore, this Tory draft Bill would also grant sweeping new powers to the Civil Service, including the sole right to propose legislation, draft the national budget and monitor the compliance of the British, Scottish and Welsh governments with strict limits on their borrowing and debt.

The Civil Service would also have the right to intervene in the legislative process, address MPs on its own insistence and prevent the establishment of a parliamentary committee of inquiry.

Henceforth, too, as a matter of constitutional imperative rather than government policy, security and defence policy would have to be compatible with Nato policy.

Indeed, it must “contribute to the vitality of a renewed Atlantic alliance.” 

Who on the left in Britain would vote for such a Bill of Rights?

Yet such clauses are to be found in the two basic treaties of the EU and apply to all member states.

This is what socialists and trade unionists will be endorsing on June 23 if they vote to remain in the EU.

To Think Beyond

Nick Dearden writes: 

As the great powers gathered in Japan for last week’s G7 summit, a series of massive trade deals were under attack from all sides. 

And yet, from Donald Trump to Jeremy Corbyn, there is a recognition that “trade” has become little more than a synonym for big business to take ever more control of society. 

The US-Europe deal TTIP (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) is the best known of these so-called “new generation” trade deals and has inspired a movement.

More than 3 million Europeans have signed Europe’s biggest petition to oppose TTIP, while 250,000 Germans took to the streets of Berlin last autumn to try to bring this deal down. 

A new opinion poll shows only 18% of Americans and 17% of Germans support TTIP, down from 53% and 55% just two years ago.

But TTIP is not alone.

Its smaller sister deal between the EU and Canada is called Ceta (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement). 

Ceta is just as dangerous as TTIP; indeed it’s in the vanguard of TTIP-style deals, because it’s already been signed by the European commission and the Canadian government. 

It now awaits ratification over the next 12 months. 

The one positive thing about Ceta is that it has already been signed and that means that we’re allowed to see it. 

Its 1,500 pages show us that it’s a threat to not only our food standards, but also the battle against climate change, our ability to regulate big banks to prevent another crash and our power to renationalise industries. 

Like the US deal, Ceta contains a new legal system, open only to foreign corporations and investors. 

Should the British government make a decision, say, to outlaw dangerous chemicals, improve food safety or put cigarettes in plain packaging, a Canadian company can sue the British government for “unfairness”. 

And by unfairness this simply means they can’t make as much profit as they expected.

The “trial” would be held as a special tribunal, overseen by corporate lawyers. The European commission has made changes to this “corporate court” system that it believes makes it fairer. 

But researchers have found it would make no difference to the dozens of cases that have been brought against countries in recent years under similar systems. 

Canada itself has fought and lost numerous cases from US corporations under the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) – for example, for outlawing carcinogenic chemicals in petrol, reinvesting in local communities and halting the devastation of quarries. Under Ceta, such cases are on their way here. 

The whole purpose of Ceta is to reduce regulation on business, the idea being that it will make it easier to export. 

But it will do far more than that. 

Through the pleasant-sounding “regulatory cooperation”, standards would be reduced across the board on the basis that they are “obstacles to trade”. 

That could include food safety, workers’ rights and environmental regulation. 

Just consider financial regulation. The ability of governments to control banks and financial markets would be further impaired. 

Limiting the growth of banks that have become “too big to fail” could land a government in a secret tribunal. 

Indeed the onslaught has already started.

Tar sands oil is one of the most environmentally destructive fossil fuels in the world, and the majority of this oil is extracted in Alberta, Canada. 

There is currently little tar sands in use in the EU, but that’s changing. 

When the EU proposed prohibitive new regulations to effectively stop tar sands flowing into Europe, Canada used Ceta as a bargaining chip to block the proposal. If Ceta passes, that decision will be locked in – a disaster for climate change. 

Finally, through something called a “ratchet clause”, current levels of privatisation would be “locked in” on any services not specifically exempted. 

If Canadian or EU governments want to bring certain services back into public ownership, they could be breaking the terms of the agreement. 

So why have so few people heard of Ceta?

Largely because Canadians and Europeans think they’re quite alike. They don’t fear the takeover of their economy in the way they do when signing a trade deal with the US. 

But this is a big mistake, because these trade deals are not about Europeans versus Americans or Canadians. 

They are about big business versus citizens.

If you needed proof that modern trade agreements are actually nothing more than an excuse to hand big business power at our expense, you need look no further than Ceta. 

No wonder the public outcry is growing, and opposition to TTIP is spilling over to the Canadian deal.

When Ceta goes to the EU council (of all EU governments) for ratification in late June, Romania – which is in dispute with Canada over visa issues – has threatened to veto it.

The Walloon parliament voted a critical motion on this deal that could tie the hands of the Belgian government and force its abstention.

The Dutch parliament has also passed a motion rejecting provisional application of the deal, which would allow it to be implemented before parliament had a chance to vote on it.

David Cameron takes the most aggressive position on Ceta – not only supporting it entirely but pushing for provisional application in the UK.

On this basis, Ceta could take effect in Britain early next year without a Westminster vote. 

In fact, even if the British parliament voted Ceta down, the corporate court system would still stay in effect for three years.

Cameron’s Brexit rebels are not going to like that much.

The G7’s problems show that many of us have recognised that trade deals have made the world a playground for the super-rich – they are part of our staggeringly unequal economy. 

But the G7 is unable to think beyond the interests of the world’s elite.

It’s up to us to reclaim our democracy as citizens, and the movements against TTIP and Ceta are the frontline.

Where There's Life, There's Hope

And where there isn't, there isn't.

The American pro-life organisations have played no small part in bringing America to its present, sorry pass. 

They need to be made answerable for that.

Whatever the views of Bernie Sanders on abortion, there would be less of it under his economic arrangements.

Nor is he in favour of every other way of killing people ever devised, as, for example, Ted Cruz is.

Clinton and Trump are, of course, in favour of every such way, including abortion.

They're Fired

If you want to see quite the extent to which Donald Trump's supporters are in a world of their own, then consider that they prize the endorsement of the National Rifle Association.

For being disliked by everyone who was not in it, the NRA now rivals the Ku Klux Klan.

No Presidential candidate whom it has even vaguely supported has been elected in 12 years. And counting.

Like the not unrelated practice of capital punishment in the United States, the American thing with guns is on the way out. That is just a fact.

Stab In The Front

The right wings of both main parties are now effectively separate parties in themselves.

Each owes allegiance to a former Prime Minister. One of those Prime Ministers is dead. The other is the living dead.

The opinion polls were right. If last year's General Election had been conducted according to electoral law, then there would indeed have been a hung Parliament.

In 2020, there will be a hung Parliament, or (not very probably) a Conservative overall majority on paper but dwarfed by the size of that Thatchobite Party, or a Labour overall majority on paper but severely tested by the size of that Blairobite Party.

In any of those circumstances, even one MP could exercise very considerable influence. If that MP were of sufficiently definite views and character.

The Crooked Trail

It is now possible to walk from Land's End to the Scottish Border without ever leaving an area where the Police were investigating electoral fraud by the party whose Leader was the Prime Minister.