Democracy or Banana Republic or Something Unfortunate else
I fundamentally believe that democracy is the highest form of social order but unfortunately we have had some disastrous headlines this week.
Scotsman 11/05/08 Eddie Barnes article : Brown humiliates Alexander
Scotsman 11/05/08 Gordon Brown: Losing his Grip on Scotland
New Labour "devolved" the United Kingdom under Blair - England, N. Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Unfortunately under a line management strata it has yet to properly devolve England which currently experiences political inequality:
1. The English MPs use Westminster as well as all UK MPs. There needs to be either an English issues only parliament and a UK parliament split between Westminster and the North of England - something needs to be built.
2. Scots, N.Irish and Welsh politicians currently participate in what should be English only politics, yet English MPs cannot participate in Scottish politics, that is fundamentally unfair and political inequality for the English people.
3. The West Lothian issue has been raised, debated and not as far as I aware resolved. The Scots enjoy a greater benefit than say north/middle England, ie the North of Watford Gap issue as the South tends to be relatively affluent in camparison to the north/middle.
4. Then there is the issue of the UK in Europe, as opposed to a devolved Scots, English, N. Irish and Wales in Europe. We need to make our minds up is this devolved or not.
Now Brown claims to be supportive of the UK as a whole (yet there is a devolution issue that remains unbalanced on an apparent line management exercise) but he has a very serious conflict of interest as Wendy Alexander is a "Party in Opposition" in Scotland. The Scots need her to debate the real issues of the day which is her reason for being. It is therefore not sensible for Brown or Wendy Alexander to be in open conflict, nor for Brown to be unsupportive of democracy in Scotland through her - her credibility and integrity must not be denegrated to a political puppet/pawn of Brown (she is a leader in her own right and terms) - if she has done something wrong, then clarify it and sort it out and apologise - but in this case, she is doing her job, so why is she being "humilitated". She does have to challenge the SNP whether Brown likes it or not. As someone living in Scotland, I expect all political parties in Scotland to challenge the SNP on behalf of their electorate because that is DEMOCRACY, not because I like any political party more than another.
We had enough bad headlines under Blair and the cartoonists were never going to be unemployed, but perhaps Brown can stop the nonsense and remember the image in our newspapers is that which we substantively do/give to ourselves around the world, if Brown is truly on the UK ticket, then focus on what is necessary concerning devolution - it was your party's idea - it needs to be completed properly; and have the grace to support a leader who is a party in opposition who must do opposition politics. It is not your personal ambitions/personalities that matter it is what you are elected by the people to do for the people: yes there is a conflict of interest within your party but there are better ways to deal with issues than humilitating members of your own team. Try fairness and equality and a good dose of common sense if not intelligence. It is a long time since I heard any politician use the word "Justice" and Brown recently referred to "Liberty and Security". I know "Justice" is missing from democracy and appreciate some judges are making an effort. But is fairness and equality also currently missing from politics: ie Democracy. We do not need the Blair/Brown smiling knives charade in the form of Brown/Alexander. Also remember Brown/Prescott are not in power so step out from the shadows and start doing politics. Wendy Alexander is doing nothing different than David Cameron: which is there job.
Scotsman 11/05/08 Eddie Barnes article : Brown humiliates Alexander
Scotsman 11/05/08 Gordon Brown: Losing his Grip on Scotland
New Labour "devolved" the United Kingdom under Blair - England, N. Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Unfortunately under a line management strata it has yet to properly devolve England which currently experiences political inequality:
1. The English MPs use Westminster as well as all UK MPs. There needs to be either an English issues only parliament and a UK parliament split between Westminster and the North of England - something needs to be built.
2. Scots, N.Irish and Welsh politicians currently participate in what should be English only politics, yet English MPs cannot participate in Scottish politics, that is fundamentally unfair and political inequality for the English people.
3. The West Lothian issue has been raised, debated and not as far as I aware resolved. The Scots enjoy a greater benefit than say north/middle England, ie the North of Watford Gap issue as the South tends to be relatively affluent in camparison to the north/middle.
4. Then there is the issue of the UK in Europe, as opposed to a devolved Scots, English, N. Irish and Wales in Europe. We need to make our minds up is this devolved or not.
Now Brown claims to be supportive of the UK as a whole (yet there is a devolution issue that remains unbalanced on an apparent line management exercise) but he has a very serious conflict of interest as Wendy Alexander is a "Party in Opposition" in Scotland. The Scots need her to debate the real issues of the day which is her reason for being. It is therefore not sensible for Brown or Wendy Alexander to be in open conflict, nor for Brown to be unsupportive of democracy in Scotland through her - her credibility and integrity must not be denegrated to a political puppet/pawn of Brown (she is a leader in her own right and terms) - if she has done something wrong, then clarify it and sort it out and apologise - but in this case, she is doing her job, so why is she being "humilitated". She does have to challenge the SNP whether Brown likes it or not. As someone living in Scotland, I expect all political parties in Scotland to challenge the SNP on behalf of their electorate because that is DEMOCRACY, not because I like any political party more than another.
We had enough bad headlines under Blair and the cartoonists were never going to be unemployed, but perhaps Brown can stop the nonsense and remember the image in our newspapers is that which we substantively do/give to ourselves around the world, if Brown is truly on the UK ticket, then focus on what is necessary concerning devolution - it was your party's idea - it needs to be completed properly; and have the grace to support a leader who is a party in opposition who must do opposition politics. It is not your personal ambitions/personalities that matter it is what you are elected by the people to do for the people: yes there is a conflict of interest within your party but there are better ways to deal with issues than humilitating members of your own team. Try fairness and equality and a good dose of common sense if not intelligence. It is a long time since I heard any politician use the word "Justice" and Brown recently referred to "Liberty and Security". I know "Justice" is missing from democracy and appreciate some judges are making an effort. But is fairness and equality also currently missing from politics: ie Democracy. We do not need the Blair/Brown smiling knives charade in the form of Brown/Alexander. Also remember Brown/Prescott are not in power so step out from the shadows and start doing politics. Wendy Alexander is doing nothing different than David Cameron: which is there job.
posted by Lesley McDade at 5:07 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home