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Saturday, March 19, 2005

Responses

I hate to ask you this Peter but as Diane Abbott is always rubbishing her colleagues and the Government why should the constituents believe you when you "play up the Labour achievements"?

The future of my blog and decisions about my future political activity are now under review! I am seriously demob happy  - so watch this space!

Where next for our troops Dan? Well you could recognise the continuing good job including in places like Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan etc. Or don't these fit the theory? The world will continue to need intervention. The way we do it and the circumstances are important but if all the developed nations walk away from the world's problems then you won't see peace and prosperity in your lifetime.

Andrew Slaughter will answer your queries - I don't think a retiring MP should answer for their successor.

I note your comments Des and hope things got sorted out but don't vote for me because I'm not standing!

Dan, the point is that the Home Office do refuse to deal with the dodgy advisers/lawyers but you can't pass a law stopping people from going to the person of their choice especially if they are paying for them.

I think we are much better at getting good representations now but if you hear of bad ones you can write to: The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner. http://www.oisc.gov.uk They are the regulators and also prosecute those operating outside the law but they always need more information. 

"Diane Abbott is always rubbishing her colleagues and the Government"
Perhaps they need to be rubbished. I think the Labour Party would lose a sizeable chunk of its membership if people like her did not voice their opinions.

Yes, Kosovo is great. Its status is still unresolved, while Serbs are too afraid to live in this Serbian province. So much for bringing stability and security to Kosovo! And Afghanistan? Unless you are deluded that General Dostum is a democrat and unless you think that record heroin production - and all the criminality that brings in Europe - is a great achievement, then you'd realise that Afghanistan is barely better than it was under the Taliban. Except now it is no longer a pariah state but a failed state. And Al-Qaeda are still at large. So the objectives of Blair's wars - an end to ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, the destruction of the global Islamist terrorist network and the disarming of Saddam Hussein's WMDs - have not been achieved. But, of course, when Blair gets it wrong, the objectives change. Now the Afghanistan war was about giving votes to women, the Iraq War was about liberating the Kurds and Shias (except those in Turkey and Iran) and Kosovo is simply forgotten.

I am just glad that there are some MPs who question the Blairite "War First, Questions Later" policies. No-one is suggesting walking away from the problem, but many have serious reservations about using military intervention as a first resort when dealing with security issues. I think it will be very hard for Blair to have another of his wars, given the level of public disquiet with his aggressive foreign policy.

Clive - I'm deeply shocked that you should talk about you colleague, Diane Abbott, in such disparaging terms. You obviously don't follow her punditry on BBC's This Week, her regular columns in the local paper, or her reports to Labour Party members or the CLP GC. When her voting record in the House of Commons compiled by chief whip, Hilary Armstrong, was circulated prior for CLP branch reselection meetings the most commonly heard complaint was why had she not rebelled more often.

Better to see her as a critical, but loyal party member. We need more Labour MPs like her.

Which brings me back to whither Labour after the Election. News Friday of a government re-think on local government pensions came as welcome relief to us hard pressed agents wondering how we got into that unfortunate situation in the first place. We now need to know whether news of the spat between No 10 and the Treasury over NHS funding of private health treatments will result in NHS money being spent more prudently inside the NHS, rather than the private sector.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=621781

Hi Peter Kenyon,

I am (faux) deeply shocked that you are deeply shocked that a politician should talk about another politician in disparaging terms - you should get out more? ;-)

Regarding the 'This Week' program, I find Diane and Michael to be very good couch potatoes, and enjoy the program (apart from when Diane flirts so obviously with Michael, can you tell her to stop that please).

Regs, Shaggy

What I like about Diane Abbott is her candour and honesty. She speaks her mind. People don't like lackies. She also deserves some admiration for breaking the mould of British politics by becoming the UK's first black female MP. It's a shame that the Blairite junta that currently controls the party machinery has repeatedly tried to oust Diane, who represents the views of a large proportion of Britain's ethnic minorities.

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