23 May 2019
Diary of a Corbynista
Government in a moral vacuum
by Don Urquhart
16 May
When politicians of whatever stamp move into “That’s Why” mode you know they are reading from scripts written by those employed to justify evil, sometimes termed “spin doctors”.
Here’s an example reported by Hannah Richardson:
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said children growing up in working households were five times less likely to be in relative poverty, which was why it was supporting families to improve their lives through work.
Statistics show employment is at a joint record high, wages are outstripping inflation and income inequality and absolute poverty are lower than in 2010.
But we recognise some families need more support.
That is why we continue to spend £95 billion a year on working-age benefits and provide free school meals to more than one million of the country’s most disadvantaged children, to ensure every child has the best start in life.
Ms Richardson continues:
About two-thirds of children are living in poverty-hit families in pockets of some large cities, the study for End Child Poverty Coalition estimates.
The research, carried out by Prof Donald Hirsh at the University of Loughborough, found the situation was getting worse in places where child poverty was already at the highest level.
It shows that it was 2010 when child poverty began to rise again, after a long period in which it fell.
Prof Hirsch said:
What’s shocking rather than surprising is that over the previous 12 to 15 years, we had a period when it was going down.
We are now getting close to the time when we will have lost the gains we have made – half of those gains in reductions of child poverty have already been lost.
Meanwhile Andrew Neil continued the BBC’s even-handed coverage on Politics Live. He had MP’s from the Tories and LibDems. For Labour he had some peeress prepared to say her party leader was rubbish. And representing the press a woman from the Telegraph who described Labour economic policy as “following the Venezuelan model”.
17 May
On This Week Andrew Neil kept up the good work showing us a love-in among Labour MP Melanie Onn, former Tory Minister Michael Portillo and Ian Austin a former Labour MP who had just enjoyed criticising the Labour leader at some length.
Then Neal asked George Galloway what he thought of the BBC’s political interviewing. Here’s what he said:
What is brazenly obvious I think in broadcast media is the agenda so anti-Labour, anti-Corbyn that it becomes ridiculous. We had an example of it tonight with somebody who is supposed to be a Labour MP agreeing with somebody that used to be a Labour MP laughing and sniggering and talking down their own leader. That’s the kind of thing that gives television a bad name.
18 May
Theresa May goes to talk to her MPs, is told she is finished, has a little snivel, then returns to her thankless and increasingly pointless role. The mass media talk up a gormless buffoon as her successor. He has charisma. As did many people in history including some we do not mention because it is a cliché in bad taste.
Meanwhile a property developer who has won and lost fortunes with his deal-making is inserting his charisma into the fate of the world sending warships through the Strait of Hormuz because the Iranians are saying provocative things.
He should know that he cannot walk away from the aftermath saying:
You win some, you lose some.
19 May
Andrew Marr interviewed Jeremy Corbyn, asking him several times whether he wanted to remain in the European Union. On each occasion Corbyn’s response was that his party had decided to respect the results of the referendum and obtain a good deal which would be referred back to the people to decide.
Sun columnist Tom Newton Dunn amid a barrage of standard anti-Corbyn stuff on Twitter, concludes:
Jeremy Corbyn unable to tell Marr, despite being asked 6 times, if he wants to leave the EU (or if it doesn’t want to), or if he supports a second referendum (or doesn’t).
Some people believe what Mr Newton Dunn tweets and what he writes in The Sun.
20 May
Katie Razzall reports on a Newsnight investigation of teenagers being dumped in unregulated homes and abandoned to organised crime gangs:
The number of looked-after children aged 16 and over living in unregistered accommodation in England has increased 70% in a decade, Newsnight has found.
She quotes Amy (not her real name):
There was a mattress but no bed sheets, it was freezing cold and I had to use my coat and blanket as a duvet. It made me feel sort of desperate and very alone.
I was hit in the face by one of the staff members.
We’d just get random men off the internet and then sometimes they would come and pick us up at the home and they’d take us places. A lot of them were just strange men who just wanted younger girls and they were very, very dangerous.
They wanted sex and they wanted drugs and because they would buy you alcohol they would think you owed them something.
But it’s OK because Children’s Minister Nadhim Zahawi is on the case:
Semi-independent living can act as a stepping-stone for young people about to come out of care…
Local authorities are required to make sure that children in care and care leavers are given suitable accommodation to meet their needs, including that they are safe and secure which is why I recently wrote to all Directors of Children’s Services to remind them of this obligation.
21 May
I have lost count of the number of talking heads on TV and radio who have told me that Brexit has affected Britain’s standing in the world. I beg to differ. What is making people look at our country with a jaundiced eye is the savage treatment of the poor and vulnerable by this government.
A report by Human Rights Watch :
Nothing Left in the Cupboards: Austerity, Welfare Cuts, and the Right to Food in the UK:
The UK government’s failure to adequately address the growing hunger problem affecting the poorest parts of the population is a result of concrete policy choices to scale back the welfare state.
Brexit has been an excuse and a cloak for the Government’s austerity policies, waved through by Tories of all stripes.
22 May
British Steel is on the verge of administration as it continues to lobby for government backing
Labour has urged the government to nationalise the company in order to protect jobs and the steel industry.
Jeremy Corbyn said the collapse of British Steel would have a “devastating impact” on Scunthorpe.
Greybull Capital bought the company for £1 in 2017.
A Scunthorpe employee says:
Our only hope is a government bailout, but this time it feels different. I don’t think they’ll save us.
Brexiteers tell us that the EU does not permit public ownership.
Nigel Farage tweets:
Come on Jeremy Corbyn, be honest. You can’t renationalise the railways inside the EU.
Here’s a summary of public ownership in 11 of the 27:
Railways/Public Transport
Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
Banks
Austria
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Energy
Austria
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Poland
Spain
Post
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
France
Broadcasting
Belgium
France
Airports
Belgium
France
Netherlands
Brewing
Czech Republic
Germany
Car making
France
Germany
Aeroplane making
France
Road Building
Italy
Insurance
Netherlands
Mining
Poland
Airlines
Poland
Portugal
Shipbuilding
Spain
