Inside « Labour Uncut

The Muslamic Raygun megamix

11/04/2011, 01:30:02 PM

You’ve seen the riot, now buy the record. Muslamic Rayguns, the YouTube sensation featuring a tired and emotional EDL supporter eloquently explaining his support for everyone’s favorite anti-Islamic movement is going vinyl.

Or whatever the modern equivalent is.

Labour Uncut can exclusively reveal that a super-mega remix will soon be hitting our airwaves and clubs after music producer, Alex Ross, confirmed that he is in negotiation with Press TV to secure the rights to their now legendary interview.

For those who have missed this internet phenom, an unofficial and unnamed EDL spokesman, now elegantly dubbed, begins by explaining how he is, “going on a march because I want Britain to be back British”. At least, that’s what Uncut thinks he says. On first hearing it comes across as a plea for Britain to be “black British”, but given the source, that seems unlikely.

He then explains the perils of “interacial law, and the Muslamic infidel”, along with his belief that “they’re trying to get their law over our country”. Having identified additional Muslamic plots to take over “other countries”, which in the emotion of the moment he struggles to name, our intrepid English lion then comes out with the revelation for which he has become rightly famous.

The Muslims have ray-guns*. Yes, ray-guns. Somewhere in the mountains of Torra Borra, Bin-Laden has conquered anti-matter.

So before the Muslamic Ray guns lay waste to western civilization, get out there. Party. Cut a few shapes.

And get yourself a copy of the EDL rap. Appropriate ignorance and hate. Such a quintessentially English thing to do.

*Yes we realise what he’s actually saying

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How much does the government love the NHS?

11/04/2011, 10:35:33 AM

In an attempt to save themselves from the hands of voters, nurses, Norman Lamb, the BMA… Cameron, Lansley and Clegg have begun a desperate “listening exercise”. Just in case the cynical public weren’t sure they were really listening -and began to question if they really could trust big Dave with the NHS – they’ve published a pamphlet alongside the photo calls: Working together for a stronger NHS.

And just to make absolutely certain we didn’t get confused into thinking their rushed, ill thought out reforms were ideologically driven, the introduction tells us that they “love” the NHS. Four times. Four. That’s how much they love it.

“We love the NHS. The NHS is our most precious national asset. Every second hundreds of people walk through its doors. Every week it saves thousands of lives. Every year millions of us rely on it. We love the NHS because its there when the people we love fall ill. Because its there all the time. Because whoever you are, wherever you are from, however much money you have got in the bank, theres somewhere to go to get looked after. And because that says amazing things about our country. That’s why we love the NHS”

John Healey has written to the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, to question the political nature of the cringe worthy photo calls and the “synthetic sentimentalism” of the sickening love letter.

John Healey – Gus O’Donnell

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News International statement

08/04/2011, 03:58:09 PM

News International statement with regard to voicemail interception at the News of the World during 2004-2006:

Following an extensive internal investigation and disclosures through civil legal cases, News International has decided to approach some civil litigants with an unreserved apology and an admission of liability in cases meeting specific criteria.

We have also asked our lawyers to establish a compensation scheme with a view to dealing with justifiable claims fairly and efficiently.

This will begin the process of bringing these cases to a fair resolution with damages appropriate to the extent of the intrusion.

We will, however, continue to contest cases that we believe are without merit or where we are not responsible.

That said, past behaviour at the News of the World in relation to voicemail interception is a matter of genuine regret. It is now apparent that our previous inquiries failed to uncover important evidence and we acknowledge our actions then were not sufficiently robust.

We continue to co-operate fully with the Metropolitan Police. It was our discovery and voluntary disclosure of this evidence in January that led to the re-opening of the police investigation.

With that investigation on going, we cannot comment further until its completion.

News International’s commitment to our readers and pride in our award-winning journalism remains undiminished.

We will continue to engage with and challenge those who attempt to restrict our industry’s freedom to undertake responsible investigative reporting in the public interest.

ENDS

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Labour party general secretary: some tips for hopeful applicants

07/04/2011, 07:00:16 AM

by Peter Watt

Last week the party finally decided to set a timetable for the selection of a new general secretary. Not before time. Ray Collins has been a good general secretary. But once he had announced his departure and taken his seat in the Lords the timetable should have been set. The delay will, inevitably, have been destabilising for the party organisation.

To hold office as the general secretary of the party that created the NHS, established a minimum wage, legislated for civil partnerships and created the open university is a tremendous responsibility and enormous privilege. It is also incredibly hard and demanding work.

So I thought, having been there, that I’d try and give some inside tips to those thinking of applying.

My first tip is to be prepared to sacrifice any semblance of work-life balance. You will be in demand seven days a week, often for 16 hours a day. It’s one of those jobs where if someone wants to speak to you, then they want to speak to you right now. If you are unavailable it will be seen as a personal snub. It doesn’t matter why you were unavailable. You weren’t available when they wanted you; and people with egos remember snubs. (more…)

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New letter from the director of public prosecutions discredits Met police testimony on phone hacking

05/04/2011, 10:30:15 AM

by Tom Watson

Parliament is peeling away at the phone hacking scandal and getting nearer to the facts. The comprehensive analysis submitted by the director of public prosecutions, published for the first time today, completely debunks the argument put forward by some officers of the metropolitan police that they could only prove that there were a tiny number of victims. For those who haven’t followed the byzantine twists and turns in the scandal, these are the key points to look for in the letter, the full text of which is hyperlinked at the bottom of this post.

What seems to emerge is that Starmer himself did not really focus on the question in 2009. I can understand this – after all he wasn’t involved in the previous investigation and would be reliant on others to draft responses. We have all been there, with multiple questions and very limited time. In any event, as he points out, his 2009 statement was based on a misunderstanding of the view of prosecuting counsel.

But the killer point for Starmer and against the Met is the indictment. It contained charges for which there was no evidence of prior interception. So this contemporaneous document demonstrates that the before/after question was considered irrelevant by counsel when drafting the indictment.

And not only by counsel. Had the police thought at the time that the only messages which counted were those which had not been listened to, they would certainly have queried the indictment as soon as they saw it. They would have pointed out that they had no evidence of prior interception in relation to a number of the charges.

Had they genuinely believed that prior interception was an essential element they had to prove, there is no way they would have neglected to warn prosecuting counsel. Equally, counsel would never have framed the indictment like that had they believed that only prior interception was an offence.

That indictment is clear contemporaneous evidence of the state of mind of the police and counsel at the time of the prosecution, namely that before/after did not matter.

The “only before” point has been dreamt up later by the Met on the basis of a bit of speculation by one of the lawyers during the investigation. It was never formal legal advice, indeed it was not advice at all, and to try to pretend it was, and that it “permeated” the entire investigation, is disingenuous.

John Yates has some big questions to answer today.

Here is the full letter from the DPP: Keir Starmer QC CPS 01 04 11.

Tom Watson is Labour MP for West Bromwich East.

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The March shadow cabinet league table

01/04/2011, 07:00:01 AM

by Atul Hatwal

Murphy surges into second in Uncut Shadow Cabinet work-rate league as Alexander remains on top

Khan climbs from sixth to third while overall work-rate across the shadow cabinet rises 36%

Douglas Alexander remains top of the league as the total shadow cabinet work-rate went up 36% in March compared to February.

(more…)

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£150m cut from schools standards grant at zero notice

29/03/2011, 04:00:17 PM

Michael Gove is acquiring the reputation as the most “accident prone” member of the government. A reputation that has been enhanced by a letter received by schools and local authorities last week, which has come into Uncut’s possession. The letter, which could win the Sir Humphrey Appleby award for lack of clarity, explains that the government is not paying councils the last instalment of the school standards grant before it is abolished at the end of the financial year and the money merged into school’s mainstream funding.

The letter reads:

“we recognise these developments may cause an accounting issue for local authorities”.

What “these developments” actually do is cut, at zero notice, £150 million from a grant dedicated to raise standards in education.

The school standards fund is paid to councils, who then hand it on to schools to pay for a range of work to, as the name suggests, improve standards.

These range from providing extra staff for pupils who need the support, meeting the costs of running homework clubs after school, recruiting advance skills teachers and a whole lot more. At a time when schools budgets are being cut in real terms across the country, this sudden loss of money will have a significant effect. The impact of the cut is exaggerated by its suddenness, giving local authorities and schools no time at all to plan for its impact.

Over 100 local authorities have protested to Michael Gove about this change, which many local councillors and head teachers are calling a “stealth cut”. Either this cut was planned for some time and simply not announced or, rumours suggest, the department for education is struggling to balance the books at the end of the year and looking for quick ways of saving money.

If so, it adds to the weight of evidence that the government’s cuts package cannot actually be delivered in reality.

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Today’s growth figures vindicate Labour’s economic stimulus

22/03/2011, 07:00:53 PM

Borrowing figures published today: £123.5bn borrowed April to February 2010-11 versus £136.6bn April to February 2009-10.

As we head into tomorrow’s budget, there is clear evidence of the effect of growth on reducing borrowing. Last year, predictions were ratcheted higher on growth, and that on borrowing ratcheted lower as we went through the year. The supply side of the economy in particular surprised, with the result that the highest quarterly growth this century in Q2 2010 and the highest half year growth of the past 10 years allowed the supply side to respond and generate tax receipts that will grow over the financial year by 7.7%.

This has meant that the primary budget deficit has been slashed by a massive 33%. From last year’s 9.1% of GDP to 6.2% GDP, the growth in the economy has closed the gap in the deficit, supported by the government’s focus on growth-supportive spending. Getting the primary deficit down is the first step to paying off the deficit. The reason the budget deficit itself has not fallen by the same amount is that the interest on the government’s inflation-linked debt has risen considerably, because the Bank of England has failed to keep inflation under control.

As we head into a period of retrenchment and possibly another recession as a result of the cuts, it is instructive to look at the effects of the stimulus from research published by the OBR’s counterpart in the US, the Congressional budget office. It has published estimates of how the stimulus package has created growth in the USA:

Full time equivalent is a better measure of maintenance of living standards – estimating both the maintenance of jobs together with the maintenance of full time employment that would have become part time. Clearly, the stimulus kept things going both over in the US and here in the UK. The rise in tax receipts is probably the best evidence we have for how much UK productive capacity the stimulus kept alive.

Alas, as we look at where the current government is cutting taxes in their neo-Ricardian view on growth over the rest of the parliament, it’s useful to see what the CBO estimates are of the growth multipliers on different policy effects:

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Government rides roughshod over civil service rulebook

02/03/2011, 10:34:44 AM

by Tom Watson

New answers to FoI requests released to me this week, show that the cabinet office has breached the civil service recruitment principles 30 times to make appointments, using an exemption to the rules aimed at helping the unemployed.

Exception one of the civil service code has been used to appoint people like Katharine Davidson, Michael Lynas, Kris Murrin and Rishi Saha, who formerly held political posts in the Tory and Lib Dem parties.

Rishi Saha is head of the government’s “digital communications”. How can the interests of the civil service be served by allowing a post like this to be filled without a trawl of the very best digital specialists in the country?

More importantly, how could cabinet secretary, Gus O’Donnell, have allowed his appointment to take place? It’s a clear breach, one where the interest of government is not served by making a political appointment to a non-political job.

Civil servants will feel very uncomfortable reading the new figures. The cabinet office refused to give me the names of 30 people on the list but I have a hunch that a number of them are also former staffers from the political parties. (more…)

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Did Gordon snub Steve?

01/03/2011, 08:39:42 PM

The team at Uncut isn’t the most tech savvy operation on the web, but we take a keen interest. Some of us have got apples, some of us have got androids. We might not know how to use ‘em – but we’ve got ‘em.

So perusing tech news earlier today, we spotted an article from the tech correspondent at the Telegraph claiming that big Gordon blocked a knighthood for Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. Being mac “fanboys” (and girls) we were shocked.

The story quotes an unnamed ex Labour MP saying that GB blocked an honorary knighthood for Jobs in 2009 as revenge for Jobs snubbing an invitation from the ex-PM to speak at Labour party conference. Could this be right – and if so should we be cross with GB for snubbing Steve, or with Steve for snubbing our beloved party? Bemused and confused we made a call.

“The story is completely untrue”, our source close to GB told us. “Mr Jobs wasn’t invited to speak, so he couldn’t have turned it down. The claim that Gordon blocked an attempt to award Steve Jobs an honorary knighthood is a load of rubbish”.

Phew. Turns out this question is one for John Rentoul’s series.

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