A week is indeed a long time in politics....

By any stretch of the imagination, the past seven days has been an extraordinary week for international and domestic politics.

I wonder if Iceland's volcanic ash plume would have so effectively grounded North Western Europe had the pilot of Poland's ill-fated presidential plane followed Russian air traffic advice and diverted from Smolensk to Minsk last weekend ?

Meanwhile financier and philanthropist George Soros has warned of the possible break-up of the European Union if Germany and other countries fail to support the financial rescue of Greece and similar failing economies more wholeheartedly.

Sounding a positive note, the Washington summit on nuclear arms control earlier this week has been widely hailed as a success.

On the domestic front, I listened to yesterday's first live broadcast "debate" between the leaders of Britain's three main political parties on the radio, which conveys a rather different impression to television.

I have to say that there was something about the format of this event which wasn't entirely satisfactory, although I agree with the general view that Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg emerged as the "winner".

As I missed the end of the broadcast, I'm not sure whether environmental issues were discussed. However, I have to say that the silent skies outside more than made up for this !

ANOTHER TWILIGHT OF THE GODS ?

The serious consequences for British airspace of ash fallout from the eruption of Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajoekull - a name to strike fear into Anglo-Saxon pronunciation - recalls again "The Twilight of the Gods" myth, or Ragnarok.

Coming as it does on the day the Green Party launch their election manifesto, one cannot but help be reminded of the power of nature to disrupt human affairs.

Technocrats, in particular, should take note. Similar previous events - before humans took to the skies in such droves - did not cause widespread disruption.

I hope environmental issues receive some serious attention when the leaders of our three main political parties make their joint appearance on television this evening.

Co-incidentally, I last blogged on the subject of Ragnarok during the height of the Icelandic banking crisis in 2008, when an economic catastrophe arising from a "Twilight of the Banks" threatened our horizons.

The Next Most Dangerous Man In Britain ?

Hearing a banker describe Liberal-Democrat Treasury Spokesman Vince Cable at "dangerous" on the radio this lunchtime brought a smile to my own and a few other faces, I imagine. Such use of the "dangerous" word reminded me of the days when Ken Livingstone was Leader of the Greater London Council, and this epithet was regularly used to describe GLC policies, many of which turned out to be very sensible, and were later adopted by other political parties.

Please also see my posts on "Will Hutton & The Economics of Fairy Dust" @ http://witchofworcester.wordpress.com and "The New Battle for Britain" @ http://janetmackinnon.wordpress.com

My Image Problem...& That Of Others

Like quite a number of other Blogger.com users, I have found that the images have mysteriously disappeared from my posts.

However, after "reading" yesterday's Guardian newspaper - a rare occurrence these days - I have to confess that this personal image problem may be just the right reminder that image is too much relied upon these days. For amidst a display of pictures recalling "Hello" Magazine, was poor Samantha Cameron on the political campaign trail being railed for her unsartorial attire.

So, dear readers, there won't be any more image-bearing posts from me for the time being, I shall, instead, focus on content !

Nevertheless, for those who like pictures, my other blog http://janetmackinnon.wordpress.com/ still has these !

GORDON BROWN AS NICK BOTTOM

Given the interest generated by the New Labour Government's campaign poster of opposition leader David Cameron depicted as the hero of "Ashes to Ashes", I've decided to cast Gordon Brown in the role of the ass-headed Bottom (shown here), a figure of fun in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Bottom temporarily becomes the love object of Queen of the Fairies (analogous to women voting for New Labour ?), due to a work of enchantment, in this case perhaps by Peter Mandelson. All in the end is put to right.

Importance of Herd Matriarch in Politics

The Bank Holiday weekend has shown just what a "Boys's Game" British politics has become. Gordon Brown deserves to lose the General Election because, like the ass-headed character of Bottom, his comparisons are often odious. I'm thinking of his latest podcast which compares economic recovery with the convalescence of footballer Wayne Rooney from minor injury (a sprained ankle).

Therefore, let us all rejoice, as Mrs Thatcher might have said, that the Prime Minister will today ask the Queen (image courtesy of Wikipedia) for the dissolution of Parliament. The burden is already lifting as far as I'm concerned !

However, Her Majesty aside, British politics is short of "Herd Matriarchs" these days and much the worse for this. In New Labour's case, they appear to have been pretty much "Folletted". Barbara Follett - yes She of the recent expenses scandal despite being married to a millionaire - some may remember was creator of the so-called "Blaire Babe", a sort of political Barbie Doll, now unfortunately somewhat the worse for wear !

Where is the Angela Merkel or Nancy Pelosi of British politics I ask myself ? There are undoubtedly women of talent in all the main political parties, and the Greens have a very able female leader, but I don't seen the New Mrs Thatcher on our political horizon. Quite the opposite in fact, when David Cameron described himself as "probably not" a feminist, I think we all knew that this meant. Personally, I don't look to the New Politics for a resurgence of feminism, as all our male party leaders would be easily upstaged by a serious female contender for power, and will, therefore, do their utmost to ensure that such a woman does not emerge.

In the meantime, British politics has become a "Boys's Game" from which mature women are significantly sidelined, albeit that some younger "cheer leaders" are allowed centre stage from time to time to help rally the crowd, along with the leaders's wives, of course. The media have been their prime allies in this, with market research apparently conveying the view that Jo Public does not like to see women of a certain age on screen, and only then when they have been heavily made over to look like the "Living Dolls" identified by contemporary feminists.

How did this New Old Lad Culture, with its odious comparison of footballer Wayne Rooney's injury to the parlous state of the British economy , arise ? I partly blame New Labour's State Nannies like Harriett Harman and Tessa Jowell, who have eschewed Herd Matriarchy for male approval and the Living Doll look themselves. However, the problem goes much deeper than this, and the "feminised" contemporary British Man with his football joke and similar comfort blankets, has ultimately turned out to be the main obstacle to modern feminism and the substantial exclusion of the Herd Matriarch from British politics. Just look at the sorry state of play we're in as a consequence !

The Battle for Tristramgrad (aka Stoke-on-Trent)

This is the coat of arms of the city of Engels (Saratov Oblast) in the Russian Federation, evoking sentiments surrounding hard-working labour symbolised in the bull bearing his heavy load. Enter the Hon Tristram Hunt, recent biographer of Engels, undisputed pretty boy of the academic media set, and now the Labour Party's candidate for the apparently safe seat of Stoke-on-Trent Central. I'm not a fan, incidentally, and nor, apparently, are many Labour supporters in Stoke, according to the secretary of the local party, who intends to stand as an independent candidate. However, the selection of Tristram Hunt does raise some interesting issues.

Stoke-on-Trent, like Liverpool under the Thatcher Governments of the 1980s, has been the victim of New Labour policies in the noughties. These have included the imposition of education programmes and demolition of much perfectly good housing and other building stock. There has been a loss of population and employment, and, most significantly, a pervasive loss of confidence in the area both amongst its own residents and external interests, notably the very central government whose policies have exacerbated problems arising largely from industrial restructuring within Stoke and its surrounding sub-region in the North Midlands. In the midst of all this, Stoke and other parts of the North Midlands have fallen victim to another political problem, headed by another Cambridge historian, albeit not one so pretty as Tristram Hunt: Nick Griffin of the British National Party.

The question now is whether New Labour "Patrician Socialism" of the kind embodied in Hunt (an apparent favourite of Lord Mandelson) can deliver the kind of transformation required in Stoke-on-Trent, or whether the Labour Party needs to recast itself post General Election as a party of (as distinct from for) the people again. Peter Mandelson aside, Tristram Hunt does have a number of attributes in his favour, including a wide ranging knowledge of the kind of historical developments which contributed to the rise of cities like Stoke, or Five Towns, during the Victorian period. The real possibility that Hunt is the right man to preside over a new renaissance of the North Staffordshire Conurbation cannot, therefore, be overlooked. Against this, is a real danger that any renaissance will still leave many people behind, contributing further to a disaffected rump of voters who will opt for the BNP. With all this in prospect, Labour supporters of Stoke-on-Trent may choose a local independent candidate, something which may in turn split the vote in favour of the not-so-pretty Mr Griffin.

Whatever the outcome, "The Battle for Tristramgrad" has the makings of drama to which many a nineteenth century novelist would have aspired : a dashing hero with dubious connections, an ugly rival with even more dubious connections, and a hitherto unknown man of the people, deeply connected to the local community, but without the right connections to make him New Labour's candidate and perhaps, therefore, without the connections to deliver the modern regeneration which has hitherto eluded Stoke.

A TROIKA OF WISE MEN

The bombing of Moscow railway stations this morning is a sad reminder of the common terrorist threat now facing countries like Russia, Britain and the United States, coming as it does on the heels of a historic agreement on post "Cold War" nuclear arms reduction.

However, the "New Order" which has replaced earlier international hostility has created a set of problems of its own, as my previous post indicates.

Asked by an interviewer whom he would most like to meet, one of the authors of "Londongrad" cites a group of oligarchs and Russian Prime Minister Putin.

My own preferred grouping would be Gorbachev, Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa, suggested to me by an account in Havel's own memoirs, "To the Castle and Back".

Closer to home, and as an antidote to accounts of oligarch excess, I've just started to read Vince Cable's "The Storm",about the causes and consequences of the global financial crisis. I'll include the good Mr Cable in my "Troika" of wise men.

A CITY WITHOUT PEERS...OR TOO MANY ?

Image: Wikipedia Commons

The outing this week of three former New Labour Cabinet members for touting business might have stole some of the thunder from the Budget, had it contained any.

As it happens, I've been reading "Londongrad: from Russia with Cash" by Mark Hollingsworth and Andrew Lansley, a book drawn to my attention by a 2009 Channel 4 Dispatches programme about the influence of oligarch money over peers of all parties.

"Londongrad" draws attention to the impact of Russian oligarchs on the Capital and hinterlands, re-inforcing the City's role as the world's premiere financial centre in the noughties, and contributing to the domination of the UK economy by a small number of geographically concentrated business sectors.

In short, the book draws attention to some fundamental failures of governance, most notably in the former Soviet Union itself, but facilitated by the international community and particularly by Britain.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated story. For whilst the "Londongrad" phenomenum undoubtedly provides one of the most sensational perspectives on the world's "laundry of choice"*, as one African commentator describes some of the Capital's financial and property services, many other countries have lost out to Britain's failures of governance, as well as their own.

Indeed, this might very well be described as "The New British Problem", and there is little evidence that any of the nation's main parties have the wherewithal to tackle it, as last year's Dispatches programme illustrated very well.

For the inconvenient truth is that the British economy is now dependent on its role as the world's "laundry of choice", and it is notable that the Chancellor has postponed the introduction of a higher rate of stamp duty on properties over £1 million until next year, something which will undoubtedly encourage a flurry of international purchases in the meantime.

* BBC Radio 4 "File on 4" 31.10.2006

THE MEN (& Women) WITH NO BRAIN

The hero - or anti-hero - of "The Dollar Trilogy" is "The Man with No Name", and I shall return to him in a future post, but today I want to focus on "The Men with No Brain". Now I'm aware that this expression sounds sexist, so I'd just say that women are included here, but they play a smaller, albeit not insignificant, role.

"No Brainer" - something which requires little or no mental effort - is a term whose usage has become widespread in recent years, along with an apparently insatiable interest in zombies etc. For my own part, I've long suspected an android conspiracy whereby key sections of the UK corporate world, public and private, have been infiltrated by automatons.

My evidence for the presence of these, admittedly high-functioning, drones is their incapacity for individual thought and apparent dependency on some collective "super-brain", possibly located in the United States, but more probably in China. The implications of the global financial crisis would seem to bear out my suspicions.

I also suspect that there may be a hierarchy of such collective brains, with a superior one in London, albeit subservient to more powerful forces elsewhere, and lesser ones operating across the English regions, at County and District level. My own feeling is that the intellectual professions, including many academics, are particularly prey to this collective intelligence.

Fortunately, many other people seem to have a natural immunity to the "No Brainer" virus, and I very much hope that their vote will determine the outcome of the next UK General Election when "The Man with No Name", for his identity is still unclear, will restore this nation's strong tradition of collectivist individualism.

Please also see http://janetmackinnon.wordpress.com - Planners's "Ivory Towers" targeted by Conservative MP

THE DOLLAR TRILOGY OF NEW LABOUR

I began to reflect yesterday on the legacy of New Labour, and it struck me that "The Dollar Trilogy" might provide an alternative narrative for the Blair-Brown years as follows :

1997 to 2001

A Fistful of Dollars

2001 to 2005

For a Few Dollars More

2005 to 2010

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

I refer, of course, to the dominance of "The Special Relationship" between the US and the UK for the past 13 years, the positive aspects of this and its serious consequences.

It must be remembered that New Labour came to power amidst the strong expectation that it would oversee Britain's entry into the Eurozone, although I thought at the time that this was unlikely.

However, the pervasiveness of "The Special Relationship" did not become entirely clear until after the UK joined forces with the US in Iraq, thereby calling into question not only external relations with other key members of United Nations and the European Union, but also within this country's own government.

This has had a very high price indeed, not least because both the US and UK governments clearly had their eyes off the ball from the mid-noughties on economic issues, and most notably in failing to intervene in the global speculative bubble from which the economies of both countries are still reeling.

DEFICITS - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

News this morning that the European Commission wants Britain to cut the national deficit faster than proposed by the present government has put the issue with which most UK voters are most concerned - the economy stupid - firmly centre stage again, thank goodness !

However, it is not just New Labour and the Liberal Democrats who favour a more softly softly approach to tackling the financial deficit, so do many bankers. The Conservatives, on the other hand, have declared firmly that they do not intend to be dictated to by the money markets.

Meanwhile, the public need to understand the implications of different approaches to dealing the deficit so voters can make an informed choice at the ballot box. What is clear is that the consequences will be serious and far reaching whatever approach is taken.

In short, we can look forward to "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" - to continue my analogy to "The Dollars Trilogy"* - whoever wins the Election.

The real choice is between a short, sharp shock of the kind favoured by the Conservatives - or economic shock therapy too far for some - and pain management from the other main parties, which may not in the end deliver an economic cure.

* A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More (see below) and The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The Wild West of UK Financial Services

The wish expressed in my previous post that UK politics might be re-cast as a Spaghetti Western in the run-up to the Budget and General Election seems to have been in part granted by the latest revelations on the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Lack of robust action by the Financial Services Authority on the bank's UK operations is now being cited by the United States Treasury Department as a contributory factor in the bank's demise, according to BBC Radio this morning. HSBC are also credited with playing a significant role in the collapse of Lehman Brothers, although it is auditors Ernst & Young who come in for most blame. However, whilst one is certainly left with the impression that the "Big Guns" are out for bounty, precisely who will be ingloriously dispatched at the end of the day is still rather less clear.

BUDGET FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE

Like many folks probably, I'm starting to tire of a too long run up to the British General Election. Usually thought-provoking, Channel 4's Dispatches programme on Monday about David Cameron's Conservatives was just plain boring, and I decided to have a bath in order to watch "For A Few Dollars More" on Five later on. If only British politics could be recast in the form of a low budget Spaghetti Western, we could then all look forward to a much more exciting Budget on 24 March, and opposition party response.

"British Politics....murky, obfuscatory, opaque"

This was Mathew Engel's description of The Iraq Inquiry on Friday as Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave evidence, in the weekend edition of the Financial Times. Engel's sketch laments a lack of robust cross-examination, only adding "...one panel member, Sir Roderic Lyne, did show a sharper edge. As ambassador to Moscow in Boris Yelsin's time, he is used to dealing with exasperatingly obtuse leaders."

Michael Foot - The Old & New Politics

Today's announcement of Michael Foot's death is, paradoxically, both a reminder of the Old and New Politics. For whilst he is synonymous with the British Labour Party's "Wilderness Years", which co-incided with the Thatcher Governments of the 1980s, Michael Foot is also strongly associated with progressive liberal and socialist politics which survive in movements like the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and other contemporary anti-militarist campaigns. It should also be remembered that whilst the 1983 Labour Manifesto proposal to nationalise banks was regarded as unthinkable by many people at the time, this is effectively what has happened under New Labour.

GENERAL ELECTION ON LADY DAY ?

In addition to being shared by Basil Fawlty's wife and Alistair Darling's cat, the name Sybil also belongs to creatures from classical mythology endowed with the power of prophesy.

March 25 - known as Lady Day* - was forecast as the date of the 2010 UK General Election earlier in the year.

Could this be one forecast which proves correct ?

*Also New Year's Day until 1752

IS DARLING LABOUR'S NEW STALKING CAT ?

This is a charming picture of Sybil Darling, the present feline incumbent of No 10 Downing Street : the Chancellor of the Exchequer's place of residence, I understand, since Cherie Blair requisitioned the larger premises of No 11 and "got rid of" previous feline incumbent Humphrey during the early years of the New Labour Regime.

Now we learn in today's Guardian newspaper that the Chancellor's wife, Maggie, has referred to the Prime Minister's attack dogs - or "the forces of hell" - as "those fxxxxxx cxxxs" who "are trying to stitch up Alistair", although Mr Darling can't remember his wife using these words.

Is this latest attack on the New Labour leadership made with a a view to ousting Gordon Brown, I wonder ? Mr Darling himself is reported to be in league with "Prince of of Darkness" Lord Mandelson.

THE GOVERNANCE OF BRITAIN

Below - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and United States President Barack Obama. Right - Mr Brown and Russian Prime Minister (erstwhile and perhaps future president) Vladimir Putin.

Back at the beginning of 2007 I wrote a blog entitled "Gordon's Gang and Labour's New Politics of the Playground". News that the Prime Minister - along with former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott - may be regarded as a bully by some of his colleagues comes as no surprise.

However, I am surprised that this information should have caused such a furore in the British media. Indeed, I find myself in rare agreement with Mr Prescott's successor as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Ms Harriett Harman, who has pointed out that there are much more important matters at home and abroad.

It is with these important matters that I'd like to deal today, under the umbrella title of "The Governance of Britain", not to be confused with the UK Government's own publication of that name, whose implementation is indeed very confusing.

Now Britain has been described as a "Mini Super Power", although it is unclear who recognises this particular status internationally - I suspect not the United States and China - and whether the title reflects the reality of current geopolitics, or is really a historical aspiration. Certainly Gordon Brown and former Prime Minister Blair, especially, have aspirations to be world leaders on economic, social and environmental issues.

However, it is widely felt in this country that these aspirations and the "Faustian Pacts" which have gone with them have undermined Britain's status in the world rather than enhanced it. This disenchantment has highlighted a wide range of governance issues, not only within government itself but across the public and private corporate sectors.

In short, the British brand has been damaged and the prospect of Lord Bell of Belgravia* and his likes returning to repair it - particularly at a time when the discovery of new oil reserves may re-ignite conflict over the Falkland Islands - is by no means an attractive one. This is precisely why so many people are hoping for a coalition government for national unity after the general election later this year.

*Lord Bell's connections with the Russian oligarch community are well known (see below)

FOR WHOM THE BELL CHIMES

Citing a famous Russian Meerkat amongst his 1000 clients, Big Beast of the PR jungle Lord (Tim) Bell of Belgravia put a couple of lesser creatures firmly in their places on this week's Radio 4 "The Bottom Line" programme, repeated at 5.30pm today for anyone who didn't catch it.

Needless to say, the accompanying squabble amongst the programme guests was worthy of a group of meerkats.

Lord Bell distinguished public relations, no doubt another of the world's oldest professions, from the kind of spin practiced by people like Alastair Campbell (see my previous post). His firm, Chime Communications, advises the government of Iraq and will, I strongly suspect, be amongst the beneficiaries of Regime Change closer to home.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.