Barry’s Mission – The Main Man

Over the weekend, a little more has emerged on the spat between the White House and Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse). Senior advisor David Axelrod has been unequivocal in his assessment: “It’s not really news”. But the man to watch in these exchanges was on CNN, and that was Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. And it’s Emanuel who is the main man, bar none.

He worked tirelessly for Bill Clinton, and his confirmation in office by Barack Obama was not greeted with universal enthusiasm – well, not by supporters of the GOP, anyway: Emanuel is regarded as tribal and partisan, but in reality he’s very good at what he does, and has no hesitation in saying what he thinks. And what he thinks right now is that the time has come to face down Rupe’s shock troops at Fox.

Emanuel is a straightforward operator, and he is smiling and courteous, but with him there are basic rules: you don’t screw with him, and you sure as hell don’t screw with his boss. What we are seeing is that he’s decided that Fox are in the latter camp, and he isn’t going to let them off lightly.

As far as is known, Emanuel doesn’t vary those rules, not even if your name is Rupert Murdoch. Fox should be careful: Emanuel will have thought it all through before making his move.

One to watch.

And Well Done Jenson

Some time ago I posted that every point could count in this year’s Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship, and yesterday at Interlagos Jenson Button proved the point by tigering his way to four more of them and thereby keeping a lead of more than ten points over his nearest challenger – who is now Sebastian Vettel – to ensure he is World Champion for 2009. His team, Brawn GP, also won the Constructors’ Championship by ensuring that they are more than 18 points (a one-two finish) ahead of the competition, which is headed by Vettel’s team, Red Bull Racing.

Button’s six wins netted him sixty points, but all those bits-and-bats finishes have put more than another twenty on top of that, and that has made the difference. He has needed to keep chipping away as the opposition has caught up on Brawn’s early season advantage.

The Beeb’s coverage pointed out that Brawn were the first team to net the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships in their first season, which is correct, but the real parallel is with Ken Tyrrell’s team in 1971. Tyrrell had entered his own team in 1970 – he and Jackie Stewart had little choice, as their previous Matra chassis was no longer available with the engine they wanted – but with the solid yet increasingly uncompetitive March 701. They didn’t field their own car until the end of the season, and in their first full season with their own machinery, they won seven Grands Prix.

That might not seem a lot nowadays, but in 1971 there were only eleven races in the season. Tyrrell were way ahead of the opposition, but it was to be their only Constructors’ crown. Will that be the fate of Ross Brawn?

Well Done Beth

Something for folks in Crewe to celebrate: local lass Beth Tweddle has just scored a gold medal in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (at London’s O2 Arena) today – and in the Floor exercises, which isn’t her favourite discipline.

Why the Beeb refers to her as being from Liverpool I don’t know. Perhaps Crewe isn’t a famous enough place for someone to hail from. And she’s relatively old for someone in this kind of sport, so how old is that?

24.

Out Of Order – 2

There was a mention during the Andy Marr Show paper review this morning, as I thought there would be yesterday, about reaction to the Daily Mail’s singularly nasty hatchet job on the memory of the unfortunate Stephen Gately. Pity there wasn’t a bit more time spent on it, but the point was made.

The tenor of most of the follow up coverage has been that the condition that caused Gately’s death had nothing to do with his being gay, together with a general adverse reaction to Jan Moir’s use of innuendo, and nudge-nudge attitude, towards people in same sex relationships.

Whether the Mail and its legendarily foul mouthed editor, Paul Dacre, eventually understand that it’s no longer acceptable to sneer at homosexuals is not yet certain – and this is a paper that is rather quicker to scream for apologies than it is to give them. Perhaps Dacre could listen to the one word assessment of the Moir article by Marr’s paper reviewer Dan Snow.

Shocking.

Barry’s Mission Continues

For those in the UK who might have thought that all had gone quiet on the healthcare debate Stateside: it hasn’t. There have been several TV adverts placed by insurance companies trying to frighten folks off anything coming from the Obama administration, backed up by attacks from in and around the GOP, and in the meantime there has been much activity on Capitol Hill.

Today, in his weekly radio address, Barack Obama has come out fighting, and he has the insurance lobby in his sights. His key soundbite: “National interest versus special interests”. It’s warming up nicely: it will be interesting to see whether Obama can make progress where Bill Clinton – and others – were defeated.

The serving of the public purpose in the USA is once again less than straightforward.

Out Of Order

The Daily Mail, under the less than benign editorship of the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre, has a straightforward formula: serve up a diet of stories that matches the readers’ view of the world. Dacre and his hacks have decided that their readership does not approve of same sex relationships, and there have been a whole slew of catty and sniping pieces about homosexuals over the recent past. Some, like the appalling Peter McKay (aka Peter McLie, or the “World’s Worst Columnist”), who is behind the pisspoor Ephraim Hardcastle column, have made it their more or less sole calling.

So when Boyzone star Stephen Gately died suddenly last week at his holiday home in Mallorca, it was only a matter of time before the nudge-nudge brigade at the Mail went into action. Gately was gay, and was on holiday with his long time partner, but so what? Ah well.

Friday saw the Mail put the boot into Gately’s memory, the chosen hack being Jan Moir. The article has been discussed enough over the past day for me not to need to quote from it – it was snide, sniping, complete with an overlay of innuendo, and put directly, it was bang out of order. Except to those in the Mail bunker, who have given the impression that they’ve been the victims of a wicked and orchestrated campaign: they just don’t get it.

The Tabloid Watch blog has been on the case (as one would expect), and so, in characteristic style, has Big Al, who detests the Mail already. Not sure how he’s going to broach this with Pa Broon, who is on surprisingly good terms with Paul Dacre.

Tabloid Watch has compared the Mail’s behaviour here to its crowing at the Beeb over what became known as Sachsgate. Will we get to see an apology? Any apology? The Mail, at least, must have realised they’ve loused up – perhaps one good thing to come out of the sorry business will be an engagement of brain before laying into gays in future.

Expect to see this one mentioned during the paper review on tomorrow’s Andy Marr Show. Hopefully not by Amanda Platell.

The Republican Wrong – The Reason Why

Comments on blogs or news website posts can be tedious and repetitive, but once in a while you get a worthwhile one. And today, deep down a comment thread on an item posted on The Huffington Post, I found such a comment.

It summed up the reason for the attitude of the Right thus: “the Prez is Barack Obama, the Secretary of State is Hillary Clinton and the House Speaker is Nancy Pelosi – the three most powerful people in the USA are a black guy and two women ... no wonder the GOP is so upset.”

Got it in one, I suspect.

Bring Me Sunlight – 2

The Sunlight Centre for Open Politics has published a report which they hope will stop abuse of the Parliamentary expenses system. The foreword has been written by Douglas Carswell MP. Who he?

Carswell is one of the 2005 intake of Tory newcomers, and sits for the constituency of Harwich and Clacton. With a majority of less than a thousand, you might think that he would be diligent (which he certainly appears to be) and non-controversial (which he certainly is not). He has co-authored a book called The Plan, which modestly claims the strapline “Twelve months to renew Britain”, with our friend Dan, Dan the Oratory Man. He’s into “localism”, but whether that influence can work on a Cameron Government is unclear: letting go of power has not, in recent years, come easily to either party when elected.

So what kind of opinions does Doug have on offer? We can get a good sample by looking in on his blog, which he updates regularly. And three strands are quickly made apparent.

Doug doesn’t like the EU. Moreover, he doesn’t want folks to become knowledgeable about it: he’s dead set against the idea of children being taught about it, and has labelled an MEP who has put forward the idea an “extremist”. I find it fascinating how those who are most screamingly anti-EU are also hell bent on folks not getting any kind of information about it. What’s he frightened of?

Whatever. Let’s plough on. Home education. Doug’s hot on that. He gets lots of flattering comments on the subject, but I’m not sure. Part of going to school is that you learn to interact with others, and experience the outside world, and all the good, bad and indifferent things it has to offer. Cramming kids at home to pass a range of exams doesn’t equip them for figuring out anything beyond the front door.

But you have to be a little more persistent to get to the real pearl of Carswell wisdom, which is climate change. He doesn’t believe in it – well, not the man made variety, anyhow. Brave bloke, given the area he represents. Which part of receding Arctic ice, increased frequency of Thames Barrier raising, and changing climate patterns he doesn’t understand I don’t know, but one thing I do: it’s the BBC’s fault.

So, in summary, this warrior for greater transparency doesn’t want it to extend to finding out about the EU, doesn’t want views on the environment put forward unless their balance has his approval, and wants children to have an alternative to the real world.

Yeah, right.

He’s Back – Sort Of Official

And there I was, looking to switch off the TV and get a moderately early night. Yesterday evening, the Beeb’s North West snippets following the main “Ten O’Clock” bulletin (we do love our twelve hour clock) featured a visit to the area by Pa Broon, who was then shown taking part in a radio phone-in. There were predictable answers: the Brown family sit down to the X-Factor on Saturday evenings, so get the updates on Strictly Come Dancing from Baron Mandelson of Indeterminate Guacamole, for instance. Then came the Blackburn versus Burnley derby.

Jack Straw is a Blackburn fan – we know that. And there was their example Burnley fan, Alastair Campbell. I didn’t catch the first part of the title: the complete moniker was either Senior Strategist or Chief Strategist. Either way, the impression was given that he was now part of the Labour team – by Brown himself.

So there it is – sort of officially: Big Al is back on board. That’ll give the Tories and Lib Dems something to think about, not to mention an array of less than Labour friendly bloggers.

Meanwhile, I’ll sit back and enjoy yet more excellent spectator sport.

A Stroll Across The Astroturf – 6

As promised a few days ago, I’ve been looking more closely at the hangers on from the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance, the Astroturf group which enjoys the support of a whopping 0.064% of UK taxpayers, and in particular at the bloggings of Mike Denham – oops, Wat Tyler – who I see is credited by the TPA as being a “research fellow”.

Mike – oops, sorry, I mean Wat – had a go yesterday at something called the Grun, which is Mike’s (or is that Wat’s?) hilariously clever nickname for the Guardian (so those wacky TPA folks really do have a sense of humour – perhaps). He asserts that the Guardian “accuses the TPA of being a front for the Tory Party ... “, but anyone following the link helpfully provided can see that the assertion is wrong.

The Guardian article notes that there are those who accuse the TPA of being a Tory front organisation, but then gives the TPA’s own view, which counters the accusation. This is known as balanced journalism: that Denham – oops, Tyler – cannot or will not take this on board is noted, and I will leave others to make their own conclusions.

This inability to recall accurately does not dismay me: on the contrary, I consider it singularly instructive. Anyone going on to read anything posted by the TPA’s “research fellow” will have at the back of their mind Denham’s lapse in interpretation – deliberate or otherwise – and may therefore give his writings less credence than they might otherwise have done.

Put simply, Mike Denham – oops, Wat Tyler – has demonstrated superbly how to spray on his own firework.

Crikey Readers, More Dosh Required!

Earlier this week, Dave Hill decided to stick his neck out and wager a tenner that Mayor of London Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson would increase the city’s Congestion Charge from eight quid a day to ten. By yesterday, following Mayor’s Question Time (MQT), Hill was sufficiently convinced that the increase was imminent that he was volunteering a variety of goods as parts of an enhanced wager offer.

And so it came to pass: the C-Charge is indeed increasing to a tenner a day, but it isn’t the only price hike. Tube fares are also rising, by just under 4%, but it’s the 12.7% rise in bus fares that has started the ruckus. And the seven day bus pass will go up by a shade over 20%. There has been a predictable amount of Ken bashing by the Johnson administration to try and deflect blame.

And one item in the announcement hints at a possible, but so far strenuously denied, about turn: Johnson is said to be “minded” to carry on with abandoning the western extension to the C-Charge zone, which was a manifesto commitment. If he has to make the U-turn, it’s likely to come at a time not unadjacent to the next General Election.

Yikes!

The Czech’s not for Bouncing

I’ve been perusing a few blogs from the right-leaning and libertarian part of the spectrum this morning – well, someone has to do it – and have found a strange absence in the coverage of one story: that the Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, has decided to dig his heels in and not ratify the Lisbon Treaty.

And neither could I find the story in a quick trawl of the Beeb website, although I’ll pass on the conspiracy theory angle so beloved of the froth merchants. But, once again, I digress. The Irish have now ratified Lisbon, following the recent second Referendum, and the Poles have followed suit. So the only country left on the ratification roadshow is the Czech Republic.

Klaus, whatever his intentions, is clearly playing hard to get, not returning calls and otherwise being out of town. But in his country, the President has to say yes, even though Lisbon has been through the legislature and signed off. What pressure may be being brought to bear on him within his own country and from elsewhere in the EU will bring hours of harmless fun for those of a conspiracy theory bent.

And where better to start than with one blogger who is on the case? Step forward Dan, Dan the Oratory Man, who has penned a priceless post on the matter. Hannan, in characteristic style, tells of dark plotting – though on this we have to take him at his word – and then goes off into ranting and name-calling. If only he were to put his argument calmly and rationally, laying out the facts, he might be credible away from his fan base.

Meanwhile, Klaus is still not returning calls. But, of course, the stand-off cannot carry on indefinitely: expect push to come to shove by the end of the month.

Potentially Bumpy Journey of the Number 88

Strangely, the news reached me not via the Beeb – and, after all, it’s their programme – but the Guardian (once more). The edition of Question Time due to be broadcast a week tomorrow (that’s the 22nd), and which will feature BNP Oberscheissenführer Nick Griffin as well as Justice Secretary Jack Straw, will also have on its panel the playwright Bonnie Greer.

Griffin may not be fussed about this detail, but he should: Ms Greer is as sharp an intellect as any in the literary world. If Griffin thinks that getting past the potential demonstrations is his only worry, he should think again. This programme is shaping up to be like shooting fish in a barrel.

And Griffin is going to be the fish. Bang.

The Republican Wrong – It’s Over Here

The Obama Administration’s refusal to include Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse) in the Prez’ interview schedule recently, and the subsequent war of words between the two, has now caught the eye of the Guardian. Fox commentators, like Bill O’Reilly, continue to insist that they’re taking a balanced view, but for many, the channel is a partisan attack dog.

Not least among the attackers is Glenn Beck, who today has topped his assertions that Barack Obama is a racist, and a communist, by characterising the approach of the Administration towards Fox as being in the same vein as the Nazi treatment of the Jews. It’s desperate, it’s unnecessary, and it’s, well, dirty.

At times like this, I recall words attributed to Lyndon Johnson, much of whose scatological humour was, as J K Galbraith put it, “lost in the laundry for public consumption”. I commend them to the Democratic Party.

"Never get into a pissing competition with a skunk"

Death Spiral

It isn’t often that we hear from those who have graced the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). When we do, they demonstrate a range of independent thought: while there may be the view expressed that one or more of the banks should have been allowed to go to the wall, there is also the occasional trenchant pro-Euro member, such as Willem Buiter.

Now, economist David Blanchflower, who has served three years on the MPC, has made his views plain on the cuts debate. And the parallels he draws are interesting: the 80s recession, induced and made worse by the Thatcher Government’s brief love affair with Friedmanism, is one. The other is that of 1930s USA, when recovery from the Depression had started, but had not taken hold, before there was a move to balance the budget.

In the latter case, the response to urges from mainstream economists to move to a balanced budget can be forgiven: the conclusions that Keynes made in The General Theory Of Employment Interest And Money were not widely known, and not yet accepted. Moreover, whatever his politics, Franklin Roosevelt was reluctant to run a deficit.

But today, we have the lesson from the 30s in the USA, and its later reinforcement in early 80s UK. So the Government, whatever its stripe, should not go on a cutting spree until recovery is not only under way, but well established.

Unless it wants to re-learn the lesson one more time.

Barry’s On Another Mission

Peace prize or no, the Washington Post has found that Barack Obama has authorised another 13,000 troops for the conflict in Afghanistan – over and above previously announced levels. One reason for the deployment is, apparently, that these are mainly support forces, like engineers and medics. But they are troops all the same.

Maybe this deployment is part of an overarching strategy that will see numbers reduce over the longer term. But Afghanistan is one country that has, over the decades, resisted a succession of attempts to pacify it, and as I mentioned recently, will ultimately make its own decisions, and its own way. The steadily increased involvement brings echoes of Vietnam, as I touched upon last month, and the lesson for Obama is stark.

For Vietnam was what brought low another Democrat, that being Lyndon Johnson, who was, rather than JFK, the one who carried the torch of liberalism from the era of Franklin Roosevelt.

It would be a terrible lesson for any of his successors to have to re-learn.

Bring Me Sunlight

It’s all about transparency – to use the Internet to foster openness in Government. This is the message from the Sunlight Foundation, a non partisan body working out of Washington DC. Sunlight is hot on lobby influence, as you can see from their projects list, and right now they’re focusing on the healthcare lobby and its influence on the US Congress.

But we in the UK need not feel left out, as there is now an organisation here called the Sunlight Centre for Open Politics, which says it is “ ... inspired by and based on the ... Sunlight Foundation”. Sounds promising. So you might think that it, too, would be hot on the trail of the lobbyists.

Ah well. Look down the list of links, and there is the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance (Yes, them. Again), a lobby group which, rather than practising the transparency it demands of others, is showing a reluctance to publish its accounts. Not a good sign.

So who is behind the Sunlight Centre? Two of its faces will be familiar to many: Chris Galley, who achieved a brief notoriety as the whistleblower behind Damian Green MP and his immigration campaign, and was then sacked from the Civil Service for his trouble, and Paul Staines, best known as the author of the Guido Fawkes blog.

The latter name may be the more influential: one of the current campaigns of the Sunlight Centre is the pursuit of Baroness Scotland, who is still in post although she was given a civil fine of 5,000 notes after failing to check that her housekeeper was legally in the UK. That same pursuit has featured in the Guido Fawkes blog extensively in recent weeks.

Exactly how this will enhance the transparency of politics, rather than bolster Staines’ attempt to score another political scalp, is not clear. Nor is there, as yet, any sign of who is backing the Sunlight Centre, although I’m sure its founder will rectify the omission in due course.

After all, it’s all about transparency.

A Stroll Across The Astroturf – 5

The so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance, a group with grassroots support that extends to 0.064% of UK taxpayers, not only has its own website, but garners support from the blogosphere. Most ardent TPA supporter in this area, bar none, is the Burning Our Money blog, which is penned by someone who goes under the alias of Wat Tyler. The spiel includes a sentence starting “We the peasants demand ... “ which would be all the more credible if its author had taken the trouble to run successfully for elective office.

What can we deduce from this blog about the author otherwise known as Wat Tyler? Well, he’s hot on immigration, on the case of “benefit scroungers” (thus ticking boxes with the Daily Mail, Express, Sun and Star), and is pro capital punishment. But who is he?

Fortunately, the TPA comes to the rescue here: it too has a Burning Our Money section on its website (all the better to demonise Government), and the top post there right now is titled “A tax cut to cut Borrowing”. The BOM blog has an identical post – except for the title, which in the latter case is “Having a Laff” – by Wat Tyler, naturally. The TPA version is credited to Mike Denham. You can even see his photo here (scroll down to October 2).

Glad we cleared that up, Mike.

And, by the way, any chance that you folks will be publishing your accounts soon?

A Stroll Across The Astroturf - 4

We are at long last seeing some light shed on the finances of the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance: they now admit to an annual income, apparently from donations, of more than a million pounds, and that their office space has been effectively donated, at an annual cost of over 100k.

And, in a piece in the Guardian, there is some idea of the kinds of people who support this lobby group, their views, and potential influences. The TPA now has a membership up from 20,000 to around 32,000. Wow. So that’s an increase from 0.04% of all tax payers to a whopping 0.064%. Save the drivel about this being a grass roots organisation – it’s another Astroturf group.

But it’s a well funded and, I would argue, malign force where any kind of Government is concerned. Typical of TPA supporters’ views is that voiced by David Wall, secretary of the Midlands Industrial Council (MIC), a group that has donated a million and a half quid to the Tories since 2003. Here’s his take on Government spending:

“ ... vast amounts of public money are being spent and we don’t get value for that money” [nothing is quoted in example to back this up]

“Our members’ tax money is being wasted ... “ [nothing to back this up either]

David Alberto, who has donated the TPA’s office suite, is another with forthright views on Government spending:

“It is wrong to be spending a greater and greater proportion of GDP on central Government” he says, without letting us know whether he means the Government itself, or public spending as a whole. And he, too, provides no figures or other backup for his assertion.

But the TPA does provide figures and analysis from time to time, as I noted a while back. Trouble is, the sums they did on that occasion didn’t stack up, and nor did their spokesman do better than attempt to bluster his skewerer off the ball.

Some argue that the TPA is a Tory front group, and “Shagger” Prescott (“traditional misbehaviour in a modern setting”) has added his voice to this group today. My take is as before: it’s just a load of very well off people who want to keep hold of their money. Whether it’s the Tories, or some other party, that assists them in this particular endeavour will not concern them overmuch.

I’ll return to the TPA and their hangers-on later.

Patient (non) Confidential

Health rumour time again, and again it’s Pa Broon: as the Beeb has described, the Prime Minister has been to Moorfields Eye Hospital, one of three centres of excellence in the UK, for his vision to be checked.

Having been a regular visitor to one of the other two centres (in my case, the Royal Liverpool), there’s one worrying thought that occurs following this rumour, and the previous one about the PM’s supposed medication.

And it’s this: Patient Confidentiality. Either someone outside the healthcare system is doing the leaking, or it’s coming from inside. And if it’s the latter, whether the information is about someone with a high public profile or merely Joe or Joanne Public is immaterial.

In any instance, breaching patient confidentiality is out of order.