A dip into the parties - by Richard... Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A dip into the parties - by Richard... Tuesday, November 22, 2011

It is a long time since I looked at any party political polls, which is perhaps a reflection of how little the parties seem to matter any more.

In this, The Guardian talks about the Spanish government being largely powerless to influence events, but much the same applies here. MPs in particular, have written themselves out of the script, not least because they so rarely seem to represent the needs or aspirations of their constituents.

For what it is worth, therefore, the latest Guardian/ICM poll gives Labour a lead of 38 percent, against 36 percent for the Tories, 14 percent for the Lib-Dims and 12 percent for the "others", which include UKIP.

Whether any of these figures can be real is debatable for, however loathsome might be The Boy, even he looks a towering figure compared with Ed Miliband. Never in a million years could he convince that he has the makings of a credible prime minister (not that The Boy has yet succeeded, or ever will).

More likely, then, the poll results reflect not so much the fruits of any principled choice as tribal loyalties and a more general indifference to the charms of the candidates. One suspects that, should a credible Labour prime ministerial candidate emerge over the next few years, the electoral calculus could change dramatically.

Of more short-term interest, perhaps, is economic sentiment, with 38 percent of the electorate believing that ministers should concentrate on avoiding the collapse of the euro, with its harmful effect on British trade, while only 32 percent seek to minimise Britain's financial contributions to eurozone bailouts.

But demonstrating their lack of coherence when offered poorly-rehearsed issues, only 25 percent of the electorate, rising to 35 percent of Tory supporters, see a priority as being to reclaim powers from the EU.

Here, either the voters do not believe that repatriation is likely to happen – which would be unsurprising, given The Boy's track record - and/or that the benefits of repatriation have not been spelled out, which is indeed the case.

The Guardian opines that this result "highlights the dangers for Cameron of being seen to divert too much energy into battling Brussels instead of concentrating of the economic dangers of families facing the [economic] pinch".

What it might also highlight is that, even where the political classes raise the temperature of an EU isse, it by no means automatically translates into a measurable electoral advantage in the polls. It could also suggest that, without significant campaigning, the merits of repatriating powers (and in leaving the EU) are not immediately apparent to the electorate.

With only 42 percent of voters reporting confidence in the economy, it would seem that work must be done on linking economic prosperity with departure from the EU (and, possibly, a new political paradigm), before EU issues have a serious impact on electoral politics and we could be sure of a referendum going the right way.

Nicey-nicey does it - by Richard... Monday, November 21, 2011

An odd thing about human psychology is that it is sometimes more difficult to deal with praise than criticism. And when you come across something like this - a review of Ian Milne's "Time to Say No" - it looks a bit suss when I say how brilliant it is. You will see what I mean when you read it.

Interestingly, I have not reviewed Milne's pamphlet. I am not going to buy it just for that purpose and I would not read it for any other. If Milne wanted me to review it, all he had to do was send me a copy – he knows where I live. That fact that he has not – dare not? – says more about Milne than it does me.

Chances are, though, I would find exactly the same as Sean Gabb. He finds the main scenario "absurd".

This country is not ultimately governed from Brussels, says Gabb. We are not victims of foreign control. It is a false belief that our own liberal and therefore benign institutions have been checked by the European Commission, and that leaving the EU will have much the same effect as removing a stone from a horse's hoof.

The truth is, adds Gabb, that, just as before 1973, this country is governed from London, and by our own ruling class. All that EU membership has achieved is to help make the exercise of power by this ruling class less accountable.

We thus reach the same conclusion independently, and it is better for it. As I did observe earlier, Milne isn't even past first base. Or, as Witterings from Witney puts it, it's not just the EU people.

Another odd thing about this whole issue, therefore, is that who gets asked to write what depends less on what you know, and more on whether you are house trained. Be the latter and, even if you really know diddly-squat, you will get plenty of invitations. Run the premier independent EU-critical blog, called EU Referendum, and you are on your own.

Nicey-nicey in this game is more important than being righty-righty. The little Tory Boys (mainly) don't like their brains being disturbed.

An entitlement culture - by Richard...

Of all the people in this world to come up with this, Peter Soulsby is possibly the last man with any justification. This is the low-grade slime who most recently wangled himself a pay rise from £56,000 to £100,000 – a man with a history of being extremely liberal when it comes to rewarding himself and his own from the public purse.

That this man, without so much as a blush, can then turn round and accuse taxpayers of "theft" when they show less than enthusiasm for lining his pockets is more than a little staggering – although entirely typical of the breed.

Imbued in public officials such as these is an entirely unrestrained sense of entitlement, a conviction that because they decide – with application of force of dubious provenance – that we owe them a living, we should roll over and pay them what they consider theirs, without demurral.

For sure, it is the case that, should a significant number of people refuse to pay, or otherwise avoid paying, then the burden of taxation then falls heavier on those who are unable to evade payment, but that is hardly a justification for the grand larceny that has become local taxation.

What people like Soulsby so blithely ignore is that they lack mandate and thus any democratic legitimacy for the imposts which they routinely and so easily levy on their taxpayers. That makes their taxes nothing more than legitimised theft. Refusing to succumb to attempts at theft can hardly itself be considered theft.

Soulsby is in fact lucky that we are largely a compliant nation, and tolerate taxation levels for a lack of service which would have other communities out in the streets rioting. Notably, though, when it comes to actually collecting the money, Soulsby relies on his bailiffs and licensed thugs. One would like perhaps, to see him going door-to-door personally, to collect his bunce. It would be interesting to see how far he got.