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618  3 February 2003   

Stop the War Coalition  
London Saturday 15 February 2003

I will not be marching up the Mall, on 15 February.  My reasons are partly practical, partly not.  I am organising a long-planned Fabian Conference in Llandudno, on that chosen day, and I have decided to go ahead with it.  But I do have another reason.  For the "March against War" is not wholly what it seems.

Opposition to the war in Iraq has been taken up as a popular cause by the old IS, the Socialist Workers- Party, former Marxist Left - part-anarchist as they are, part-revolutionary, always disruptive, always mischief-making, wishing no good to any corner of "the Establishment", least of all the Labour Party.  They are the ones placing the advertisements, providing the March marshals, printing and distributing the "standard" placards.  They were the dominant presence last September, although they may be cleverer at concealing their role next week.

On the Left, it has always been necessary to forge uncomfortable coalitions.  In great causes, one must sometimes swallow ones organisational loyalties, and make a personal stand. The situation is now more complex, because faced with such comprehensive political defeat in the 1990s, these devious revolutionaries have wheedled their way into other organisations, and are making mischief from there.  And the Stop the War Coalition is essentially a mask worn by the revolutionary Left.  Study the nameless, faceless placards, the anonymous leaflets, and draw your own conclusions. Take a close look at who is doing the printing, the organising, the shouting.

Why should this bother me?  Surely, we share the same message? Yes, we do, on this occasion.  But these guys do not wish social democracy well, or any democracy.  They are not on my side.  They are still trying to trigger their long-sought "crisis of capitalism", a cataclysmic systemic collapse that will bring the structures of European and American institutions crashing down about our heads, like a pack of cards.  This is the continuing vacuous message of Red Pepper and the Morning Star, each a mouthpiece for these negative, destructive forces.

  • I wish the March well, and do not mean to cast any doubt upon the hundreds of thousands of good, conscientious people who will join it, to give practical expression to deeply held views. 
  • But I will be content to to travel to Llandudno, and advocate the Fabian cause of gradualist reform.

Do you share any of my concerns?  If so, please me a line

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619   3 February 2003

Good Sense from Sterling

The Local Government Chronicle is regular reading for me.  This week Keith Yates, Chief Executive of Stirling Council cried out against the constraints placed by the Scottish Parliament upon his authority, and the blame heaped upon local government for "failing to deliver" good governance of the towns and cities in their charge.  It was all too much for Keith...

  • "Experts contend that governance is the exclusive preserve of central government, and criticise local government for failing to invest in the physical environment of the cities.  Roads and public transport investment, they say, has fallen 42% over the past six years.  We are chastised for failing to give sufficient priority to the public realm, or city centre investment.
  • "But this was a period when local government expenditure dropped from 41% of Scottish public expenditure 33%, and when much of this was "ring-fenced" for central government priorities.  There has been no acknowledgment of the need for stronger local accountability.  And proposals are being made to extend the "City Partnerships" - to include a burgeoning circle of agencies, to produce a "city vision" within the next three months.
  • "Surely it is time for a bit of whistle-blowing?  The reason we do not have the same confident vision as 19th century Glasgow, or the newly-confident cities of Sydney or Barcelona, is that we have severed the link between cities and business by "centralising" the Business Rates. And we have created a whirligig of agencies who have lines of accountability that follow the purse-strings of Holyrood.  They do not have the citizens or businesses of the cities as their key stakeholders. 
  • "As long as we have multi-channel micro-management, we are destined to have more visions of straw.  According to the American author Arthur Herman, Scotland invented the modern world.  The Scottish enlightenment involved scientists, artists, philosophers and city partners vigorously pursuing a vision for the future.  It was untrammelled by Government interference and delivery mechanisms were locally accountable.

Regular readers will know that I agree with Keith Yates - we should re-empower our city regions.  I hope Scottish Labour will sit up and take notice of him too, and of the plight of their Scottish cities. The Scottish experience is mirrored, with variations, in both England and Wales.  The writing is on the wall.   

What do you think?  Drop me a line

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