Whether in government or in opposition, the policies and positions of British Labour will always be formulated to appeal to or avoid offending the relatively tiny number of voters in England who actually decided elections within the managed democracy of the UK. The very same voters who are foremost in the minds of British Tories as they develop policy. They're both hunting the same beast. So they both use the same bait and the same traps - with different camouflage.
Tag: Labour Party (UK)
Moving on
Just what we needed! Another London-centric politician demonstrating how little he understands Scotland's politics. Or even the fact that Scotland has a politics which is distinct from that in England. Livingstone seem to imagine that it is all a simple matter of degrees of apparent left-winginess. Like many in British Labour's North British branch, he … Continue reading Moving on
Inexorable forces
Labour's railing against David Cameron for supposedly "playing to English nationalism" is rather silly. It highlights their complete failure to recognise the new political reality in the UK. After all, what else was Cameron to do? While he would surely deny it with all the contrived vehemence he might muster, Cameron was implicitly accepting the … Continue reading Inexorable forces
Wiping the smear
When it comes to who forms the next UK Government, at a personal level, I have no preference. In fact, I find the idea that I must choose between British Labour and the Tories somewhat offensive. While I do not subscribe to the simplistic claim that they are both the same, I am aware that … Continue reading Wiping the smear
The real choice facing voters
Labour denounced George Osborne's budget cuts as "extreme".But, asked by the Today programme what he would reverse from Osborne's Budget yesterday, British Labour Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, replied that there was nothing.I've never been entirely comfortable with the "Red Tories" tag now commonly applied to British Labour. Resorting to saying "they're all the same" is … Continue reading The real choice facing voters
Fanning the flames
Let's be clear. Allan Massie is a British nationalist.* Not quite in the spittle-flecked, purple-faced, ranting style of Alan Cochrane. (Although he appears to be competing with Poor Old Cockers in this diatribe.) But a British nationalist nonetheless. As such, he portrays the SNP, not as they are, but as British nationalists would like them … Continue reading Fanning the flames
Monumental hypocrisy
There is something almost magnificent about the monumental hypocrisy involved in British Labour in Scotland claiming a victory on behalf of transparency hot on the heels of their embarrassingly inept efforts to eradicate all traces of their dishonest denigration of NHS Scotland. (Labour claim victory after ministers unveil new website to make Scottish NHS among … Continue reading Monumental hypocrisy
Waking the giant
The unseemly hysteria with which the British establishment responds to pretty much anything Nicola Sturgeon says (Critics accuse Sturgeon of trying to 'bankrupt Britain' over £180bn public spending demand) gives us as a powerful reminder of the terror which is gripping the ruling elites of the British state as they face the very real prospect … Continue reading Waking the giant
Vacuous vows and paltry pledges
Gordon Brown: A bag of wind and pishI see Gordon Brown has made another of his interventions (Labour in pledge to go beyond powers of ‘the vow’). It's all lies and deception, of course. There cannot possibly be a "distinct Scottish Labour manifesto" for the very simple reason that "Scottish Labour" is not a distinct … Continue reading Vacuous vows and paltry pledges
A second chance for Scotland
I had to check the date on this article about Miliband and Murphy performing as an SNP-hating double-act as it could have been from pretty much any UK general election period in the last two or three decades. The message from British Labour in Scotland is always the same. It is never about policy. It … Continue reading A second chance for Scotland
Peter A Bell 