Agenda 2019

 The Daily Mail exceeds all limits of decency and responsible news coverage. The "vile" Daily Mail.  This front page, taken from today's Daily Mail, rates amongst the most despicable and reprehensible excesses of British newspaper "reporting", standing alongside and arguably exceeding the Hillsborough coverage by the Sun. For any "Newspaper" to suggest that a criminal act of such evil motivation and tragic outcome, is a consequence of a welfare state established to protect the health and well-being of its citizens, especially those in financial or social need, is an insult to to the ideal of the system and every single person reliant on it. True there are those people, such as Mick Philpott who abuse the system, but that does not excuse or justify the warped logic of the Daily Mail to imply that all benefit claimants are of the same inclination. The Daily Mail abuses its position to make snide political points, as their contribution to the o...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/mar/02/spirit-45-ken-loach-nhs-history Ken Loach documentary about Labour's programme of nationalisation following the second world war, and the subsequent media vilification of union workers Clement Attlee in Limehouse, in July 1945, ahead of Labour's victory.   The Clement Attlee government of Nye Bevan, Manny Shinwell, Herbert Morrison and the rest, has usually been considered as the achievement of the Labour Party vision for society in Britain. Throughout my career in the Labour Party and the broader labour movement, it has been my view that the 1945 government should have been the starting point for social change in this country, not the limit of working peoples ambitions for themselves and their families. Over the years since then, we have witnessed a relentless dismantling of the welfare state and a rejection of the concept of public (not private) good in social and economic matters. This  descent has accelerated dr...

  http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/02/05/gay-marriage-mps-vote-in-favour_n_2621431.html?1360091772&utm_hp_ref=uk MPs Vote In Favour Of Gay Marriage, As Debate Exposes Deep Tory Divisions    The prime minister, who did not attend the debate despite being the driving force behind the Bill,      said in a statement that allowing gay people to marry would "make our society stronger".   This "story" has dominated the news media and television for weeks if not months. From all the available evidence it would appear that the vast majority of the gay and lesbian community have no great support for these proposals, and are content with the present civil partnership measures, and the vast majority of heterosexuals have the same view. It seems that the only passionate interest in "Gay Marriage" lies in the Chambers and corridors of the Houses of Parliament and in the councils of the Church. Now that this "debate" seems to...