Uncut « Labour Uncut

We may not like faith schools, but we should respect those who do

23/02/2011, 12:00:14 PM

by Stephen Smith

There was much about Rob Marchant’s Labour Uncut piece on Monday, “Faith schools: a bad idea just got worse ”, that struck a chord with me. On closer reading, though, I felt a little uneasy about some of it.

The article addressed Michael Gove’s proposal to end the 20% limit on recruitment according to faith for faith schools which become academies. This would mean that an academy would then be able to restrict recruitment only to members of, for example, the Roman Catholic religion, or the Islamic religion.

Rob rightly raises serious concerns about this – it takes away what many would see as a key safeguard which prevents overly sectarian influence in our education system. Let’s not forget either that the proposed changes would also mean that these faith academies could receive 100% of their funding from the state, overriding, for example, the current requirement that voluntary aided schools must have at least 10% capital costs funded by the church. A state-sponsored Reverend Moon Academy doesn’t exactly sound like a vote winner – but let’s hope that it wouldn’t meet the criteria for approval in the first place. (more…)

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Remember Mohamed Bouazizi

23/02/2011, 07:00:29 AM

by Tom Watson

Every man’s pride has its price. In the case of Tarek el-Tayyib Mohamed Ben Bouazizi, it was the right to sell apples in the street. When even that was taken away, he killed himself by self-immolation.

His suicide sparked an uprising the world is still witnessing on the new, internet-enabled channels of the revolution.

Do not forget the name of Mohamed Bouazizi. David Cameron, on his trip to the Middle East, should be announcing a monument to him in London, lest we forget.

The grinding humiliation of Mohamed, inflicted by authoritarian bureaucrats of the Tunisian regime, caused him to take his life in the most gruesome fashion. Mannoubia, his grieving mother, simply said “It got to him deep inside, it hurt his pride”.

Pride is a powerful force, the abuse of which leads to unpredicted consequences. Leaders play with it at their peril. During my short time as a defence minister, I quizzed an official about the death of David Kelly. Norman Baker had been bombarding the MoD with parliamentary questions. It was the first time I’d fully understood the obsessive behaviour of Mr Baker. It will make him a dogmatic, eccentric but possibly effective minister. (more…)

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The drawing-room Jihadists of the “fairer votes” campaign have won

22/02/2011, 12:00:05 PM

by Dan Hodges

Stop all the clocks. Put away the ballot boxes. Shutter the polling stations.

The great AV debate, which has raged across the land for the last couple of months, is over. The gods have spoken. Thou shall vote yes.

It was fun while it lasted. Actually, it wasn’t. I’ve fought Tories, and wrestled power from their cold dead hand. Been head to head with Liberal Democrats who know more dirty tricks than a Watergate burglar. I’ve even gone up against fascists; real honest to goodness, “Adolf, ‘gord bless ‘im, great lad, little misunderstood”, fascists.

But I’ve never witnessed such a wave of self-righteous, intolerant, self-obsessed, moral indignation as that cascading from supporters of the Yes to Fair Votes campaign. In fact, Yes to Fair Votes isn’t a campaign. It is a constitutional Jihad.

Leader of the crusade is a man called Jonathan Bartley. He has been prosecuting it with a messianic fervour. In December, he kicked off by writing the following:

“Once in a while, the church gets a chance to atone for its sins. The referendum on the alternative vote (AV) for Westminster elections is a golden opportunity to demonstrate that, unlike the church of 100 years ago, which opposed the suffragettes, it will back the campaign for a fairer electoral system. The episcopal purple should not be of a notably different hue from that worn either by today’s campaigners, or the women pioneers of the early 20th century. There is a strong theological and ethical rationale for voting for reform”.

Many thought the referendum on AV would be about whether or not we need a new way of counting votes. Nothing so prosaic. According to Yes, whether we put a single preference by an electoral candidate, or rank them in order, is a decision of the same moral magnitude as the emancipation of women. (more…)

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Cameron fails the leadership test

22/02/2011, 07:00:22 AM

by Stefan Stern

One industry that seems likely to be recession-proof is the one that is constantly coming up with new management fads and theories about leadership. The production line of gurus with books to sell and lecture halls to fill never sleeps. With a Twitter feed and a Facebook page we can all be experts now. This may or may not represent progress.

Leadership provokes more guru-fuelled debate than any other topic. The subject is discussed not merely on the business pages, but in the sports sections and of course in political coverage. You are about to get a few more paragraphs on the subject here (leave quietly if you’ve already heard enough). Because it is David Cameron’s particular brand – pun intended – of leadership that lies at the heart of the continuing “big society” debate. The idea will sink or swim thanks to the Cameron approach. That is why I think it is already sinking, if it isn’t quite sunk, yet. (more…)

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The government has declared war on workplace benefits. Labour must save middle England from Picklesian puritanism.

21/02/2011, 04:00:44 PM

by Dan Cooke

I have been having a recurring nightmare lately that I go to work one morning and my boss has been replaced by Eric Pickles.

Maybe it stems from guilt that I let my office pot plant fade from neglect, when there are others not allowed to have them. Or it may be a deeper fear of what could be exposed and corrected. Can it be right that my employer subsidises my lunch every day? What about the free language lessons? And, even more embarrassing, the “Thai head massages at your desk” promised in my offer letter… I never did find out exactly what this meant but I know what Pickles would make of it.

But then I remember: I work in the private sector, so Eric can’t touch me. Thank goodness it’s only on TV that you can get a line manager like that (think The Office).

But a different type of guilt – and a different worry – persists when I ponder the pillorying of public sector “perks” like sandwiches in meetings and a work mobile phone that, in the jobs I’ve had, were simply things provided so you could do the job. Do government employees really deserve such different conditions from those in the private sector for similar work? And can their terms really be attacked without influencing the norms in the private sector as well? (more…)

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Faith schools: a bad idea just got worse

21/02/2011, 12:00:00 PM

by Rob Marchant

God knows (if you’ll forgive the expression) what goes on in Michael Gove’s head. In politics, quotas are rarely a good idea at the best of times, but his removal of the 20% cap on teacher recruitment on grounds of religion has got to be a terrible idea, even for him. In short, he is saying that a school may recruit 100% of its staff according to where they worship or, indeed, if they worship at all.

Making decisions at world leader level is a lot harder than people often give credit for. Ataturk largely saved the modern Turkish nation by his wise decision to keep religion separate from state. And, say what you like about him, but Tony Blair usually had a pretty good nose for decision-making. However, there were undoubtedly the odd times as prime minister when he had clearly had an off-day, a row with Cherie or one too many gin and tonics the night before. Announcing his departure in 2005 but not saying when; the London mayoral elections; and faith schools. Anything involving religion seemed to have the potential to cloud Blair’s judgement, and occasionally cause him to ignore the timeless advice of one A. Campbell: not to “do God”.

So a scheme was cooked up to bolster faith schools, as a way to lock in the perceived positive effect of “specialist” status on academic achievement. Now, I can see the attraction for the Tories – they think they can get good academic performance “for free” – but isn’t there a flip-side to be considered? Why are faith schools such a bad idea? (more…)

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Let’s learn from the Tories and detoxify our brand

21/02/2011, 09:05:51 AM

by Peter Watt

There has been much debate since the general election about whether the toxicity of the Conservative brand led to them falling short of an overall majority. Proponents of this theory hold that while David Cameron had gone some way towards detoxifying the Conservative brand, he had not gone far enough. The result was that, although the public had decided that they certainly didn’t want a Labour government, they hadn’t yet decided that they wanted a Conservative one.

If this was the case, and I suspect that it was, then this latent brand toxicity remains a problem for team Cameron. The government is currently being defined by one (economic) policy – cuts. Everything it does and says is, however unfairly, seen through that prism. Welfare reform – driven by cuts; public service reform – driven by cuts; “big society” – masking cuts. No matter how hard he tries, David Cameron simply can’t seem to get any other story up about what his government is for, or its vision. (more…)

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The Sunday Review: British Sea Power and Race Horses, live in Bristol

20/02/2011, 12:00:03 PM

by Victoria Williams

One of the best things about Bristol, if you are as easily excited as I am, is that half the nightlife there is on boats. You want to go to the pub? There’s one on a boat. To a club? There’s one on a boat. To a gig? On a boat. And so on. With that in mind, it was surely destiny that brought Brighton-based indie rockers, British Sea Power, to town to play a sold-out show. On a boat, naturally.

Popular floating entertainment venue, Thekla, was packed to the rafters – literally, as it’s an old fashioned, wooden ship with a high balcony – by the time support band, Race Horses, took to the stage. Race Horses are a criminally under-hyped four piece from Aberystwyth whose debut album, Goodbye Falkenburg, was released in 2010. Their eclectic mix of bouncy pop, vintage synths and 60s pyschedelia went down a storm with a crowd already merry from sampling Somerset’s finest. (Rumours started circulating halfway through the night that the constantly busy bar had run out of cider. It hadn’t). (more…)

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The attack on DLA is part of a wider assault on the disabled

18/02/2011, 04:54:34 PM

by Julianne Marriott

23 people had left comments on Sally Bercow’s article about DLA by the time Uncut’s moderator went to bed last night. Far more than on any article on AV or even any of Dan Hodges’ controversial pronouncements. This is a real issue that will affect real people. Not other, far away people, but people sat right now at their computers (some using access technology) reading Uncut. People currently living with a disability, and the many more who will become disabled. And it’s an issue that Labour is totally ignoring.

Being disabled is an expensive business. Day in. Day out. Everyday tasks can cost money. Take the kinds of things that non-disabled people see as a minor chore: changing a light bulb, sorting out the junk mail from your bills and doing the shopping. Or, more fundamentally, getting dressed, washing yourself, feeding yourself. For many people with disabilities these are not tasks you can do without help. And often that help has to be paid for.

That’s what disability living allowance (DLA) is for: helping with the costs of being disabled. It certainly doesn’t meet all of the costs and, as Sally Bercow’s article states, it’s not means-tested, and you get it whether or not you work. There is no financial disincentive to work. (more…)

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