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  • Newsnight
  • 27 Nov 07, 10:16 AM

Funding
brown_cbi203x100.jpgLots of interesting areas to chase, David Abrahams himself and his planning applications, who knew how much and when, donations to Harriet Harman's deputy leadership campaign. And Gordon Brown's monthly presser is at 12.00. Let's discuss angles, guests and treatments at the meeting.

Annapolis
Peter Marshall is there and will do a piece on the progress that has been made and what needs to happen next. Let's try and get an interview with one of the players.

Ecuador
We have an interesting film from Greg Pallast on how a group of Indians in Ecuador are suing Chevron/Texaco. They allege that the oil company has caused environmental damage to the rainforest and led to an increase in cancer cases and other health problems amongst the local people.

Any other stories you are interested in?
Paris riots, CGT, MI6 recruiting...

Comments  Post your comment

  • 1.
  • At 12:05 PM on 27 Nov 2007,
  • Adrienne wrote:

Newsnight Team: What happened to this one?


/blogs/newsnight/2007/11/well_well_welfare_reform.html

You could ask (say Richard Lynn and/or Chris Brand as studio guests) what happens when you breed (and/or import) a population with short legs but keep saying you are raising the high-jump bar.

Cattell warned about all of this in the 1930s. Even Chruchill and the Lors looked into it in the early 40s. At the end of his life Cattell was treated by the American Psychological Asssociation much like James Watson was recently. Isn't it time this denial stopped or is the idea to breed and reinforce a nation of idiots?

You could even contrast the Brown-Balls New Labour aspirational expectation-management' TALK to the February 2007 report from the USA Education Testing Service (the largest education research body in the world) on 'America's Perfect Storm' (oddly, not a peep from our press about this - see the video):

and our own UK Leitch Report, those of the OECD, and make the link to our rising levels of street/school disorder, our increasing rate of cusodial and community sentencing (and whilst you are at it, look into why we were pulled from the OECD PISA figures for 2000 and 2003).

The figures show that we have gone downhill ever since the end of WWII. Were we punished along with Germany or did their fate just leak our way?

  • 2.
  • At 12:14 PM on 27 Nov 2007,
  • Adrienne wrote:

Newsnight Team: What happened to this one?


/blogs/newsnight/2007/11/well_well_welfare_reform.html

You could ask (say Richard Lynn and/or Chris Brand as studio guests) what happens when you breed (and/or import) a population with short legs but keep saying you are raising the high-jump bar.

Cattell warned about all of this in the 1930s. Churchill and the Lords looked into its roots (birth rates) in the early 40s. Yet at the end of his life, Cattell's treatment by the American Psychological Association was much like James Watson's treatment by other public bodies. Isn't it time this denial/Lysenkoism stopped and diversity was properly recognised for its genetic, immutable basis, or is the idea to breed and reinforce a nation of idiots?

You could contrast the Brown-Balls New Labour aspirational/expectation-management' TALK with the February 2007 report from the USA Education Testing Service (the largest education research body in the world) entitled 'America's Perfect Storm' (oddly, there's not been a peep from our press about this - see the video):

and our own UK Leitch Report, those of the OECD, and perhaps draw attention to our rising levels of street/school disorder, our increasing rate of custodial and community sentencing (and whilst you are at it, look into why we were pulled from the OECD PISA figures for 2000 and 2003). Hint, why is there a 3 point correction in transformation between the NFER CAT3 and CAT2e (these are used to predict Key Stage 3 and 4)?

The figures seem to show that we, as a nation, have gone downhill ever since the end of WWII. Were we punished along with Germany, or did their fate just leak across the channel somehow?

I've suggested elsewhere how this has been engineered. It certainly produces lots more non-discerning consumers.

DONATIONS AND PARTY GAMES

Dodgy donations are a consequence of dodgy parties.
Do you remember when all the washing powders used to advertise against one another, at vast cost, with no advantage accruing to the punter? Now they no longer play that game, our clothes are still clean. It is the same with party donations 鈥 they largely cancel each other out. Parties contribute nothing to good governance (sound management). SPOIL PARTY GAMES. Elect local candidates who will take no whip and who are dedicated to constituency and country. (The Queen, methinks, can look after herself.)

Barrie,

I'm in total agreement.

refers,

And as to party finance, why do they need it? To pay for expensive PR and advertising campaigns? Why? And why should the public/state be expected to stump up for such?

We need strict, very low limits on expenditure - national (party), and local (constituency) - and these to be strictly enforced. There would then be no need for any more support than can be provided by 'ordinary' interested folk like those who support the local church or golf club.

Parties (and 'majorities') are the biggest impediments to true democracy, but if (as seems likely) we must have them, the more and more disparate, the better. The result of introducing a degree of PR into the Scottish system is very encouraging.


(again)

Slainte

ed

Cynic, n.:
A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

  • 5.
  • At 02:25 PM on 27 Nov 2007,
  • Rob wrote:

UK population may double by 2081

Gulp.

Hopefully you'll be putting somebody on the spot about the above, at some point.

What about Peter 'All I can go on is what the economy needs,' Hain?

Rob (5),

Every day dawns on 212,000 more hungry mouths - a Tsunami's worth every day, and a new million and a half every week...

Slainte
ed

Death has been proven to be 99% fatal in laboratory rats.

  • 7.
  • At 03:24 PM on 27 Nov 2007,
  • Simon Shaw wrote:

Labour as the governing party is dedicated in principle to transparency for political donations and has passed legislation for that purpose. But various individuals within the Labour party seem intent on doing everything they can to subvert this intention and hide the identities of donors. First by taking loans instead of donations and then by taking donations through an intermediary. Whether this is legal or illegal, it is against the intention to be open and honest about where money funding political parties is sourced and no member of the Labour party involved in fund raising should even be considering exploiting a possible loophole.

The 主播大秀 has responded to problems with viewer deception by introducing a compulsory course in ethics for its staff to reinforce the standards that are expected by the institution. In the light of the Labour party's repeated inability to adhere to its own standards, is it time to introduce such a compulsory course for its own party officials and MPs? Or maybe all MPs?

It would be interesting to hear this angle put to any guests discussing the donations issue.

  • 8.
  • At 05:11 PM on 27 Nov 2007,
  • Bob Goodall wrote:

ask to see a copy of Harriet Harmans hand written letter to the labour party donor?

HARMAN MEETS FREUD

How revealing that Harriet should say, regarding the search for money to fund her campaign: "We had clear rules that - (1) we would stay within the letter and spirit of the law" (or similar wording). When you need rules to behave decently in high office, you really should not be there. It would make it hard to find politicians I know, but the Belgians are rapidly realising they are better off without them!

  • 10.
  • At 05:37 PM on 27 Nov 2007,
  • wrote:

POWER CORRUPTS 鈥 MONEY ABSOLUTELY

Lord Haskins says: 鈥淧erfectly normal that political parties should listen more to people who give them money鈥. True 鈥 but isn鈥檛 it called bribery?

  • 11.
  • At 05:56 PM on 27 Nov 2007,
  • PR can be Pants wrote:

Some Belgians are preparing to sleep on the pavement on Thursday night to try and secure their child a secondary school place as the system of allocating places has broken down and 'first come, first served' now prevails.

It's a bit silly to assume you can speak for a whole country, really. Particularly when you don't have to live there.

  • 12.
  • At 06:39 PM on 27 Nov 2007,
  • Adrienne wrote:

Barry (#10) Another problem is that politicians have, over the last couple of decades especially, all but destroyed the British Civil Service. The Civil Service used to keep politicians in check. It did so by creating jobs for life rewarded on the of a combination of integrity, demonstable adherence to an honour code, loyalty and meritocracy. Sadly, over the years (especially since Thatcher) Civil Servants have been progressively replaced by hoards of 'press officers' and fast-tracked over-promoted revolving-door incompetents with the ethics of the Private Sector. They aren't up to the job for what should be obvious reasons, but no longer is sadly.

This was done intentionally in order to reduce 'Big Government'. We are now seeing the cost which has been good for business as a direct function of the demise of all those 'control-freakish' regulators ('Vogons'). Sadly, whilst good for business, in the longer run, this will be relatively short-lived (as asset-stipping always is).

A cue for the NN team which lamentably appears to be turning into 'What The Papers Say':

  • 13.
  • At 07:48 PM on 27 Nov 2007,
  • wrote:

STUFFED TURKEYS

Hi Adrienne 鈥 your cogency and pith know no bounds. I found the Ed Murrow clip chilling. Poignantly, when I offered a 鈥渧isionary鈥 ray of hope to Rowntree (not taken up) in 1995 I, like Murrow, stressed the two faces of TV:

鈥淭o turn the Idiot Box, with its deserved reputation for damaging output, into a magic Box and even a Box of Delights. To offer thereby to children, just as soon as they can absorb it, a gentle understanding of self and others, wrapped in fun, so that they might break the mould and grow to mature adults and parents.鈥

I always read your pieces with interest 鈥 and some delight 鈥 but confess to not always following ALL those myriad links! Are we stuffed or do you have a plan?

Have you read any Robert Ardrey? He called us the 鈥淏ad Weather Animal鈥. If we manage to bring on the bad weather, it might just save us. And we can go back to being good at barely surviving in small numbers.

  • 14.
  • At 07:50 PM on 27 Nov 2007,
  • Timothy Mullen wrote:

Ed #4:

If you had ever had any involvement with an election campaign you would know that the reason they need money is because candidates seeking election are always being told by their electorate that they are never seen except at election time, that they (the electorate) don't know what the candidate or his/her Party stand for, and so on and so on.

If we are to have an educated electorate, then all Parties have to have the opportunity to present their message, and that doesn't come at no expense. In my area we try and deliver a leaflet to every household in the constituency at least once a quarter seeking electors views on issues of the day, be they national and/or local. The cost of this has to be met from somewhere.

The debate in the US about whether the McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform act infringes on a person's right to freedom of expression (on which the Supreme Court will rule shortly) is just as relevant here, despite our lack of a written constitution.

In my opinion, as someone who has been involved in election campaigns since the 1987 General Election, we need a strict limit on the amount of money that can be spent, both locally and nationally, at all times, not just at election time, and that money should be provided through State funding of political parties based on the percentage of the vote they received at the previous General Election.

  • 15.
  • At 11:37 PM on 27 Nov 2007,
  • wrote:

ANY OTHER STORIES?

Yes. Aaronovich鈥檚 Blair 3-parter. Having seen the look of adoration on IDS鈥檚 face as he praised Blair鈥檚 magnificence in the run-up to war, I realised that Iraq really belongs to IDS! One pathetic wannabe threw his lot in with a Charismatic delusional, and we went to war.
Also a priceless quote from Blair: 鈥淭he people we are fighting, are fighting back!鈥 But most telling was the end of part 2 where a clearly emotional Blair was desperately concerned with what he would appear to see as the 鈥淔inal Battle鈥 鈥 the end of days. It is proceeding without his Arthurian leadership. We, the Forces of Good, led by an inferior, might fail and be taken down into unspeakable torment by the Forces of Evil.
While the fuss continues over the need to screen donors, we miss the more serious need to make sure that 鈥渘utters鈥 do not gain office in British government. Take a hard look at your MP.

  • 16.
  • At 12:04 AM on 28 Nov 2007,
  • wrote:

Timothy (13),

"we need a strict limit on the amount of money that can be spent, both locally and nationally, at all times, not just at election time, "

Hear! Hear!

"and that money should be provided through State funding of political parties based on the percentage of the vote they received at the previous General Election."

Parties as instruments of the state? Fossilising the status quo ante? I think not.

Your first paragraph is patronising waffle. By 1987, I had been involved in and a keen observer of politics and elections for more than three decades, and I have watched the process become ever more of a channel to entrenching power for the very rich, both corporate and individual, a goldmine for advertising and PR and ever less a means towards a truly informed electorate.

Salaam/Shalom/Shanthi/Dorood/Peace
Namaste -ed

It is exactly because a man cannot do a thing that he is a proper judge of it.
-- Oscar Wilde

  • 17.
  • At 02:12 AM on 28 Nov 2007,
  • Robert Griffiths wrote:

Labours Dodgy Dealings.
Dodgy dealings and Labour have sadly for many years now gone hand in hand in the North East of England. The kind of place where as my late father would say, "if you put a red rosette on a pig with the word Labour around it's neck, the people would happily vote for it". Could this be why they baled out Northern Rock, with it being so much a part of their North East ,England heartland? Who would a Labour M.P. NOT take a donation from if they thought they could get away with it?

  • 18.
  • At 08:09 PM on 28 Nov 2007,
  • Adrienne wrote:

Barrie (#13) I reckon we're stuffed (but not as stuffed as the USA which has been taken further down this self-destructive route than we have). The so called 'Islamo-fascists' have been trying to send us a (largely) benevolent wake up call as I see it, but their enemies have been striving to make us ignore it.

Unless there's radical social/political change we will continue to insidiously bring about our own destruction.

What I have to say is, I hasten to add, sadly, descriptive and data driven (see our demographics). Yet here in this blog one will still readily find dissenting folk naively contributing to our collective demise. The sad irony is that it's almost always with the very best of intentions.

'The path to hell is paved with good intentions' as many have said. Sadly, women are the worst offenders here as natural, although usually unwitting, anarcho-capitalists/Trotskyites.

  • 19.
  • At 12:15 AM on 29 Nov 2007,
  • wrote:

Adrienne,

"I reckon we're stuffed (but not as stuffed as the USA"

The illusion of separate destinies. We're ALL stuffed! Stuffed is no more subject to comparatives than fatality.

Salaam/Shalom/Shanthi/Dorood/Peace
Namaste -ed

If you do not think about the future, you cannot have one.
-- John Galsworthy

  • 20.
  • At 03:26 PM on 29 Nov 2007,
  • Adrienne wrote:

Ed (#19) It was really just a reference to dysgenesis in the USA (see the Feb. 2007 ETS report/video referenced elsewhere). Some of us over here in the UK have been 'banging on' about this for somewhat longer.

  • 21.
  • At 05:07 PM on 29 Nov 2007,
  • wrote:

Adrienne,

We're all 'stuffed' simply because there are too many of us and 212,000 more today than yesterday. Your 'dysgenesis' worry is an irrelevancy, especially given the operative timescale.

Nine billion Mensas will(are) actually 'stuff(ing)' our survival chances faster than nine billion Epsilons ever could.

Nature was doing fine until we came along, and she'll do fine when we're gone, no matter how clever (or stupid) we manage to get.

Sage & Onion or garlic?
Salaaaami
ed

Modern man is the missing link between apes and human beings.

  • 22.
  • At 06:57 PM on 29 Nov 2007,
  • Adrienne wrote:

Ed. Look up the populations of:

a) England
b) Nigeria
c) Pakistan

for 1950, 1960, 1970, 1990, 1990, 2000.

What do you notice?

Consider cows' contribution to GHGs and global betterment of the planet.

THEN consider my other finer points which you consider 'irrelevent'.

We won't improve matters by mass Seppuku, it just takes the post war generation's solipsism/denial/abrogation to a new level of absurdity ;-)

PS. Look upon Wu-Wei as an early form of bovine pacification of the masses.

  • 23.
  • At 12:50 AM on 30 Nov 2007,
  • wrote:

Adrienne,

"We won't improve matters"

Right.

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