Minister backs "primaries"

Now, we're not often in favour of anything that aims to make Britain more like the USA because it's very obvious that we have a far better way of doing things over here - for example: no death penalty, TV that's only 98% rubbish, ginger beer, Marmite, real cheese instead of yellowish stuff in an aerosol can and so on; while they have corndogs, the KKK, Kid Rock and Sarah Palin. No contest really, is there?

David Miliband. Despite appearances, he is not in fact 13 years old and is fully eligible to act as Foreign Secretary.
Copyright-free image from Wikipedia.

But, every now and again you come across an American idea that seems to make a lot of sense and you can't help but wonder if we ought to copy it (not least of all because everything we copy from them we also make a lot better - ie, rock and roll, techno, graphic novels and...erm...other things). One example is the primary election, whereby constituents get to choose from a list of prospective candidates from each party who will then contest the coming election; instead of only being able to vote for a candidate chosen by the party as is currently the case.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, has come out in favour and praised the US Democrats for the way in which they involve people who are not party members in the decision making process. However, any system which allows non-party members to take such an active role is likely to attract limited support from many politicians as it might lead to a fall in numbers of people who bother to join, a good source of party income: Labour's membership list numbers some 166,247 people, so with current membership renewal fees standing at £19 for the unwaged or £38 for those lucky enough to have hung on to their jobs in Brown's Britain, this equals a minimum of £3,158,693 for the party's coffers even if they all paid the reduced rate (in 1997, membership stood at 405,000 - which would have been £15,390,000). You can be sure of one thing - they ain't gonna be keen on losing over three million quid.

The Conservatives have been playing with the idea, which is unsurprising as they're doing their best to look as different as possible from Labour just so they can appeal to those voters who don't follow politics particularly closely but want to give their support to anyone but Gordon - it's surely significant that the recent "Totnes Primary," in which Tory Dr. Sarah Wollaston was chosen as candidate by the constituents, came so soon after the Norwich North by-election in which Labour's decision to rid themselves of popular MP Ian Gibson proved misguided when the Tory candidate won twice as many votes as the Labour candidate, a disaster for the party which has been partially blamed on Labour supporters choosing not to vote for a party-picked candidate they didn't want.

Neal Lawson, of left-wing group Compass, is not in favour and attacked Mr. Miliband who, we says, is one of those responsible for driving the party "to its death." He added, "This would be the death knell of the party." We can understand Mr. Lawson's wish to keep the party alive, of course - after all, he obviously loves it enough to have allowed it to become a very large and important part of his life.

It would be a little sad to see Labour die - just like it's sad when an elderly relative dies. After all, when it was performing at its best, Labour was undeniably a great institution which achieved an enormous amount in its efforts to improve daily life for a vast percentage of the population. But when you know dear old Great Aunt Maude has been fed up to the back teeth for the last twenty years since her legs gave up the ghost and put her in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, severely limiting her opportunities to go out on the piss with her mates, don't you feel that, despite the sadness of her passing, just a little happier knowing that she's gone to a better place where she'll suffer no longer? Maybe it's time to put Labour out to grass too, let it spend its last few years peacefully dozing in the sun. It might seem unfair that it cannot keep soldiering on forever; but new parties, spawned in response to the new needs of the modern world, will arise with new ways of doing things. That's just the natural order of things.

Whatever. Increasing constituents' participation in this way, by allowing them to choose for themselves who they want to represent them in Parliament, is quite simply more democratic. The cost to any particular party - be it a reduction in funds or even a threat to their very existence - is of very little importance in comparison. Anything that increases democracy and gives citizens more say in the way that their country is run is worthwhile.

Bernie Ecclestone? Shut up...

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has declared his preference for totalitarian regimes over democracies in a bizarre Times interview that appears to demonstrate his admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Attacking today's politicians, who he says are too concerned with winning elections, he said: "Apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people, able to get things done. In the end he got lost, so he wasn’t a very good dictator because either he had all these things and knew what was going on and insisted, or he just went along with it . . . so either way he wasn’t a dictator."

Ecclestone - not an anti-semite, just an idiot.
Copyright-free image from Wikipedia.

Ecclestone also said that F1 fans who painted their faces to emulate Lewis Hamilton were acting in what he seems to believe to be an unintentionally racist manner (it should be pointed out that many were fans of the driver in particular). Recently he claimed that F1 needed a "black, Jewish woman who, if possible, wins some races." That he is neither racist nor anti-semitic seems obvious, so why say anything so ridiculously stupid?

A Board of Deputies of British Jews spokesperson replied, saying: "Mr Ecclestone’s comments regarding Hitler, female, black and Jewish racing drivers, and dictatorships are quite bizarre. He says, ‘Politics is not for me’, and we are inclined to agree." Denis MacShane MP condemned the 78 year-old billionaire's comments, as did the editor of the Jewish Chronicle newspaper.

Amongst other things that Hitler got done would be the murder of six million Jews, three million Poles, half a million gypsies, between 5000 and 15,000 homosexuals, between 2500 and 5000 Jehovah's Witnesses and an unknown number of people from other groups deemed undesirable by the Nazis - all in all, around 11,000,000 human beings (and if anyone is thinking about e-mailing us to dispute those figures, don't bother. We're not even going to bother linking them to Wikipedia, because if you do doubt them there's really no hope for you). Let's not forget the forced sterilisation of black people in North Africa, the countless civilians killed during bombing raids and at the hands of Nazi troops and the utter destruction of Germany and suffering of the German people as a direct result of his actions.

Maybe he did get the buses running on time, but I'd rather wait ten minutes at the bus stop than see 11 million people killed. Bernie, seriously - shut the fuck up, you idiot.

BNP may be forced to change admission rules

The British National Party may face a legal injunction over its descriminatory membership policy, which allows only white people of certain ethnic backgrounds to join. The far right organisation, which won two seats in the European Parliament in the recent election, has been contacted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), informing it that changes to bring the admission policy in line with British racial equality law must be made by the 20th of July this year.

Are you happy to see our nation's flag hijacked by fascists?

"There is no place for a political party in this country to have an apartheid constitution and the equality bill will prevent this from being the case," says Harriet Harman MP, leader of the House of Commons. The equality bill aims to consolidate all of Britain's anti-racism laws into one single piece of legislation.

Currently, if you want to join the BNP, you must be white and of European stock. According to the EHRC, "This exclusion is contrary to the Race Relations Act which the party is legally obliged to comply with. The Commission therefore thinks that the BNP may have acted, and be acting, illegally."

But here's an idea: if they are forced to change this policy, how about all those of us who are opposed to them - be we black, white, Asian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, humanist, left wing, right wing libertarian, democrat, anarchist, anti-racist, anti-fascist, native, immigrant or merely a true patriot, all of us with any reason to take issue with what the party stands for and those who simply oppose their policies - join up?

Joining the BNP will cost £30, £15 if you are a senior citizen, unwaged or a student, per year. After your second year of probationary membership, you will be made a voting member, giving you the right to attend the Annual Conference and to vote in decisions that concern party policy and future. We'd need to do this just after elections, so that our memberships fees couldn't be used to help them win more votes. Once we've been accepted, we sit tight, not becoming involved in their activities...apparent silent supporters.

And then, once there's enough of us who have been members for the two years to outnumber those members that really do support them, we all go to the Annual Conference and take over, putting into place a new manifesto prior to disbanding the party?

Anyone know enough about law to comment the feasibility of such a plan? Could it be done, if enough of us tried? Who would be willing to try?

BNP's Nick Griffin once again targeted by protestors

The British National Party leader Nick Griffin, who held a private press conference today after yesterday's attempt was disrupted by egg-throwing anti-fascist protestors, has once again been targeted by campaigners. Interestingly, the BNP Chronicle (which in the interest of fairness we should point out bills itself as "a non-official British National Party website" and as such does not necessarily reflect the views of party members) claims that yesterday's event fell victim to "up to 200" protestors while the mainstream media - including the Daily Telegraph, the BBC and the Times - favour a figure of around 50 to 100 people.

Fascist Nick Griffin - ovaphobic?

Today's conference, during which Mr. Griffin claimed that he planned to represent all constituents "regardless of their creed or colour" - which contrasts with his earlier comments as mentioned by Krishnan Guru-Murthy while interviewing BNP MEP-elect Andrew Brons on Channel 4 News recently that he would not represent ethnic minorities - was held in Manchester's Ace of Diamonds pub, which was surrounded by around 40 protestors (which translates as "80 violent communists", in BNPChroniclespeak) who chanted anti-BNP slogans and played Bob Marley songs.

"I think it's very sad that a hostile mob which is partly paid for by taxpayers and backed by Labour and the Conservatives is allowed to get away with mob violence on the streets of Britain in 2009," said Mr. Griffin. Mob violence? Throwing a few eggs doesn't really count as violence, does it? You could even argue it has a long and honourable history in democratic nations where it is one of the few ways that the public can draw attention to their dislike of politicians. What with the BNP suddenly transforming - or so they like to pretend - into a democratic party, you'd have thought Nick would appreciate that sort of thing...but then he does like it, of course, because despite his claim at today's conference that he wants "to get away from the publicity. It's been fun while it's lasted," he very obviously wants as much publicity as he can possibly get - especially if it's the sort of publicity that gives him an opportunity to paint himself as the victim and actual democrats, who are opposed to fascism, as the aggressors. After yesterday's protest, Mr. Griffin called the incident "disgraceful" and said that he had every right to hold press conferences and voice his opinions - as have those who disagree with him. Let's hope everyone who is not in support of the BNP continues to exercise that right - because they won't have it for long if the party ever wins a General Election.