28 September 2017

Silly Season Diary of a Corbynista

All roads lead to Brighton

6 September

A document turns up in the Guardian offices.  It claims to be a leaked Home Office immigration strategy.  The nub of it is closing the doors to unskilled labour on the day we leave the European Union.  It has the furriness and futility of a dead cat landing on the table on the very day that David Davis reports to Parliament on his failure to achieve progress with Barnier.  For the Remainers, Soubry and Clarke blamed the Labour Party for changing tack.  For the other lot Rees-Mogg, Cash and Jenkin blamed the Labour Party for changing tack.  Disarray does not start to describe it.

7 September

The EU has published proposals for Northern Ireland to enjoy a different Brexit from the rest of the United Kingdom.  It’s hard to see how it would work, but it has more substance to it than the British proposals.  When I try to get my mind around Brexit I realise why so many people go into brain surgery or become astronauts rather than joining the Civil Service.  Right now working in the Brexit department can only be possible in an anti-depressant haze supported by therapy.

8 September

David Lammy MP has undertaken a review of the treatment of BAME (Black and Minority Ethnic) people in the criminal justice system.  For example there are proportionally more BAME people than non-BAME people in prison.  He makes recommendations for improving this situation and also points to the problem’s roots in dysfunctional families and inadequate support of deprived young people.  When Sarah Champion highlighted the fact that the Newcastle paedophiles were largely of Pakistani heritage she would have done well to highlight also the heritage of their victims who were white girls lacking support from their families and the community in general.

9 September

Gordon Marsden is the Shadow Universities Minister.  He highlights the difficulties facing the Student Loans Company (SLC).  In 2015-16,  86,000 people had overpaid their debts.  This is not a new phenomenon, but it is getting worse.  The Chief Executive, Steve Lamey was suspended in July with no reason given.  This is yet another public service being privatised without adequate regulation.

11 September

We have “independent” pay review bodies for the various public services.  This has to be something of a sinecure, given the constraints imposed by Government.  For the last 7 years they have been asked to adjudicate between ha’pence and a whole penny.  Now, in respect of police and prison officers, the Treasury urges them to consider recruitment and retention.  You wonder what they have been considering for the last 7 years.

12 September

The EU Withdrawal Bill vote tells us that there are 7 hard Brexiteers in the PLP.   I think the Labour Party is struggling with the rationale of their opposition – the Henry VIII powers which will allow the Government to make legislative changes without consulting Parliament.  Nevertheless they have put down a marker and can now make ready with a “told you so” response should the Government be caught out in some scrutiny avoidance.  Tory remainers are hoping to amend the bill to include a parliamentary vote on the final terms.

13 September

Dany Cotton is the Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade.  She advocates the installation of sprinklers in all high rise flats.  Housing Minister Alok Sharma says: “It is the landlord’s responsibility to ensure people are safe, and cost considerations should not get in the way of this.”  He was wheeled out to be the whipping boy after Grenfell.  Brandon Lewis and Gavin Barwell were the previous housing ministers who had sat on the Lakanal House recommendations.  Barwell lost his Croydon seat at the Election. This borough is now spending £10 million to install sprinklers in all 25 council blocks.

14 September

Justine Greening announced an update to the fair funding formula, which explicitly aims to rob Peter to pay Paul.  She highlighted the big difference between the per pupil allocations in Plymouth and Coventry.   The teaching profession regards the new funding plan as inadequate.  They see teachers being dismissed and replaced by teaching assistants and/or see teaching assistants being dismissed.  Parents are being asked to make up the funding deficit via direct appeals from the schools.  The headmaster of Winston Churchill’s old school, Harrow reports that his school is broke so bad financial news across the spectrum.

15 September

Kim Jong-Un fired another missile over Japan.  After 9/11, the US Government felt entitled to avenge the atrocity through whatever means were available.  Hence the devastation of Iraq and Afghanistan, climaxing in the execution of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.  Pretty much from the left to right and top to bottom of society Americans feel entitled to intervene in other countries so that they can feel better about themselves.  It is therefore difficult to concede to them the moral high ground when they are outraged by North Korea’s development of weapons to deter aggression by the USA and its acolytes.

17 September

The National Association for RE Teachers (NATRE) has discovered that more than a quarter of state schools do not offer religious education as a subject.  A Department of Education spokesman said the government firmly believed in the subject’s importance.  Perhaps as they firmly believe in building regulations being followed in the construction of social housing?

19 September

David Orr of the National Housing Federation confirms what any fule know – that housing benefits are going through the roof as claimants are paying the high rents required by private landlords.  Social housing has not been built and a broad class of rentiers has been created by favourable buy to rent conditions and Osborne’s loosening of pensions so that you can take your pot without buying an annuity.

20 September

Tata Steel and Thyssenkrupp are planning to merge their European steel operations.  This will lead to 4000 redundancies in Port Talbot.  Not surprisingly the unions want more detail.   Could this be a candidate for nationalisation by Jeremy Corbyn?

22 September

Theresa May speaks in Florence today.  Everything about it is surreal.  Why Florence?  A lovely place but might as well be Oz to Theresa’s Dorothy.  It is trailed that she will offer €20 billion to allow us to stay in the single market and customs union for a two year transition period.  This does not start to address the priorities expressed months ago by Michel Barnier and reinforced by every single spokesperson on that side of the negotiations.  There is also the problem of the Prime Minister’s personal standing.  Unless she delivers something sensational in Florence she will reinforce her status as a national embarrassment and might not survive the upcoming Tory Party conference.  Only fear of Corbyn keeps her in office.

23 September

The Parent Teacher Association UK reports that 40% of state school parents are being asked for funds to keep schools running.  The Department for Education issues a standard “nothing to do with us guv” statement: “No parent is required to make a contribution to their child’s education.”

24 September

40 “senior” Labour Party figures including 30 MP’s have written to the editor of The Observer urging Jeremy Corbyn to commit to the single market following Brexit.  Official Labour Party policy is to stay within the single market for a transitional period after we leave the EU in March 2019.   Sir Keir Starmer has often said that we should aim to retain the benefits of the single market and the customs union.  So what is the point of the letter to The Observer?  What would it mean for Corbyn to “commit” to the single market?  Is this not just the usual suspects wishing Corbyn away?

 

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