British Politics: Not a Game of Cricket

Whilst the world of cricket may be fretting about the latest match-fixing allegations, "No Balls" has been good for British politics in recent months as far as I'm concerned.

I refer, of course, to the Ed Balls campaign for the Labour Party leadership. Mr Balls basically wants a return to the days of "Spend, Spend, Spend" government on the back of the Blair-Brown speculative bubble, and he's advocating the kind of economic "match-fixing" policies which brought us to the current state we're in.

With that opening spin, I'd like to set out my wider views on the forthcoming Labour Party leadership elections and, indeed, my own political perspective at the present time.

To adopt a biblical reference and deal with the last first, I'm not so much interested in the particular political party species these days: with the possible exception of the lizard-like Ken Livingstone, who has, incidentally, thrown his balls in with Ed. It is the wider ecology of politics which concerns me, including the sustainability of the habitat generally known as "Centre-Left".

Now, it seems to be that the other Ed - Miliband that is - and Diane Abbott are the creatures best evolved to occupy this territory, Mr Miliband probably having the superior intellect, and Ms Abbott more common sense.

With regard to the wider political landscape, my guess is that at some future time socio-economic climate change may be accompanied by a shift in the tectonic plates of party politics, to borrow a favourite phrase of Lord Prescott, and a new social democratic grouping may emerge comprising some former Labour and Liberal-Democrat Members or Parliament.

However, such a "Rainbow Coalition" is not quite yet on the horizon; and whether the present terrain turns out to be "Brokeback Politics" or something more lofty has I think for most people yet to be determined.

Postscript : As an "old environmentalist", I would strongly caution against the creation of a "New Green Movement" based upon the development of GONGOS - Government-Organised Non-Government Organisations - of the kind found in China, for instance.