Blunkett's End

Let’s tell it like it is.  David Blunkett garnered the most enormous goodwill, for having overcome his blindness.  Nothing will ever deprive him of that astonishing accolade.   

But his is a barren, bleak personality, powered by the bruising ego which enabled him to overcome his disability.  He lacks ordinary sensitivities, to the point of believing his crudeness to be a virtue in itself.  He is a thug, a bully, tough and uncompromising.  He claimed to embody the values of the “working-class” from which he came, but he represented only their lowest common denominator.  He failed to reflect the higher sense of justice and fair play, the innate sense of equality, which also characterise and ennoble such communities.  He made the awesome mistake of believing that any liberal belief in human rights was muddle-headed, a middle-class conceit, not for the likes of him and his ilk.   

His roughness and toughness bolstered his standing with the insubstantial Tony Blair, who had had no close personal contact with “working-class” communities and their “values”.  Blunkett lent to Blair and to the Government a distinctive class legitimacy. 

But Blunkett’s relentless pursuit of his love-child, against the wishes of the mother, was not an act of selfless commitment: it was sheer, obsessive selfishness, a breath-taking disregard for the privacy of both mother and child, which blinded him and clouded his judgment.  He was brought low precisely by the lack of generosity and liberal insight which he displayed in his exercise of power.  He did not have the breadth of character, or the human understanding, to realise where his own faults lay.   

Finally, I do not trust a man who considers himself to be driven by “honesty”.  That that is the ultimate hubris, self-deceit.  Like George Dubya Bush, his failings made him a dangerous man to exercise political power.  I am glad that he has gone.   

• He must not come back.

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Eastern
Promise

I have just experienced acupuncture treatment, for the first time. Having this week entered my 70th year, my need is to reduce my weight, to match the declining strengths of an ageing frame, in particular to relieve growing shortness of breath.  My wife Elizabeth has benefited decisively from acupuncture and its related philosophies.  I am attracted by the image of bodily energy flows, although I confess the "evidence" is pretty flimsy.

"Western" medicine remains cautious: see the 1997 Declaration by the US medical establishment.  But the broad philosophical context of Chinese medicine is attractive, and I am persuaded to experiment.

• Have you tried acupuncture?  What did you think?  Drop me a line

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Sign of the Times

Another sign of my mood is that I have, for the first time in my life, taken out a subscription to New Scientist.  I am consciously, almost self-consciously, disillusioned with the capacity of the European political journals to inspire new radical thinking, new directions.  I am deliberately exposing myself to new perspectives.  I suspect that there are new political perceptions about "the human condition" to be found from quite new sources...

What do you think?  

Drop me a line

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Cities Resurgent

Political interest is turning again to the empowerment of our great city regions.  The BBC transfer to Manchester (< this is Manchester City Hall) is a brilliant and perceptive move, a trailblazer.  And I make no apology for republishing for you, my own proposals for city regional government, made in 1996. 

Labour deserves great credit, in my book, for having started the devolution process.  But sadly adhoccery ruled, justified by the absurd concept of "asymmetrical devolution", a ready-made recipe for popular discontent.  Labour's devolution initiative was never informed by any coherent constitutional theory or strategy: even the Scottish measure is flawed, and those fault-lines will continue to weaken the Scottish settlement. And now Labour's plans for England have been, with entire justification, comprehensively trashed by the electorate.

• For constitutional aficionados, I give you, after eight years in the political wilderness - Building a New Britain.  It makes the case for powerful city regional government. Its best days are still to come.

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Famous Victory

I am delighted that George won.  Way back in May 2003, I was deeply shocked at the Labour Party's action in expelling George  Galloway, triggered by the Daily Telegraph saga.  Now that he has triumphed over the Telegraph, there will clearly be no reversal of that expulsion.  The Party has lost a fearless and principled politician.  Labour is much the poorer, for his loss.

No performance this year

That was me, last year at this time, playing Santa at Green Park Station, Bath.  Life has moved on, and I no longer work at promoting Sainsbury's Green Park Station.  I arranged for the beautiful 19th century Station to be handed over to a local charitable preservation trust, and my best seasonal wishes go to them.  Raise your glasses to that excellent Trust  Envolve.

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One Year Ago 
8 December 2003

In Defence of
Individualism

Labour activists seem to find difficulty in getting to grips with the "individualism" of current public and political discourse.  Having been schooled in the political advantages of  collective action, they run the risk of rejecting the immanent individualism of the rising generations.  They mistake individualism for selfishness.   Worthwhile reforms, they seem to say, must always proceed from the collective principles of social justice and equality.

• But individualism is here to stay.

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Two Years Ago 
12 December 2002

The power
of poverty

Personal poverty could be the making of Internet freedom.  Where everyone is wealthy, poverty can be a strength.  The private litigants in the famous McLibel case kept that legal action going for years, while living on social security benefits, draining the resources of the giant corporation.  And the Australian High Court has just opened up the possibility that Internet will confer greater freedom of thought and expression on the poor than on the rich.

• Read the Strange Case of Nahum Goldrick

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Never miss Steve Bell! His cartoons, from The Guardian - his wit and perception illuminate the absurdities of the political scene... Our political life is diminished by the absence, in mainstream politics. of leaders with capacity to deliver the same punch.

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I enjoy dipping into informed US West Coast chat, always up to the minute, which can be found at www.metafilter.co

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Activists' Update
December 2004

Three of my four pet reform projects are decidedly "alive", but the fourth is floundering, and will probably have to go onto the back-burner.  The weakling is "Labour Party Reform", in spite of the evidence from Brighton that radical reform is needed, if political Parties are to survive as viable political institutions. 

(a) Company Reform Coalition  In this, I am targeting the stimulation of a new UN treaty - nothing less!

Drop me a line

(b) Questors - there is growing official interest in the the birth of a new "citizens' advisory" profession, as the lawyers continue to price themselves out of the market - it is clear (a) that there is constitutional/legal space for such a creation and (b) that there would be no legal or institutional obstacles to its emergence - this leaves the ball unambiguously in my court, and I need allies.. .

Drop me a line

(c) Charitable Public Loos - my new charity Hygeia continues to make progress, and I think and believe that we are nearing a breakthrough in public toilet provision, although all our discussions are at this stage strictly confidential.  But we would welcome contributions from those of you who share our concern at the disappearance of the public loo...  

Drop me a line

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(d) Labour Links - the Brighton Labour Conference decisively underlined the  case for Party Reform - my latest attempt was in Cardiff in mid-June with the Fabians - but "Party reform" will face the implacable resistance of the professional salariat, and that makes it highly problematical.