Awww bless! Congratulations to David Cameron, who proved that even Tories understand that after three election defeats, you might want to start doing something about it. It’s all very reminiscent of New Labour’s birth – after all, don’t those rectangles (Change to Win – Win for Britain) at the top right of their bright new website look familiar? Or is it just me?
Seriously, having a proper opposition could be a good thing for Labour in the long run. When Gordon Brown takes over (or he doesn’t, and the universe implodes) the party will need to change to present a fresh face to the electorate at the next election. I’m not talking about swinging leftwards, but simply finding new ground for New Labour to explore. A lot of the original battles now been won – a minimum wage, or civil partnerships. When the Conservatives appear to have embraced a bit of investment in our public services, you know it’s time to move forward.
In other political news, Adair Turner has definitely become my new favourite Lord. (Take that, Robert Winston!) Seriously, he rocks socks. Best-Pensions-Commission-Ever. And I mean that. No I’m not just being silly, it really is good, but regurgitating it all now might send you to sleep. Part of the problem is the name NPSS for the new super pension collection thingy. It’s uninspiring. Come on Turner! Call it Free Parking or something, that’ll get people to invest in it.
So, it turns out democracy isn’t so bad after all. 
Parliament did their job, and instead opted for the much more sensible 28 days. Why the government pushed for three months might never be known – they were close to compromise, after all, but backed away at the last minute.
90 days was wrong. Imagine if you were held for 90 days without charge? Not to mention that terrorism is usually about intelligence failure, the point being that you don’t know who will be committing it anyway! This plan wouldn’t have helped stop terrorism, merely make a police state more likely.
Well it’s past midnight, making it the 16th October and Dad’s birthday. Hurrah!
I just caught More4’s repeat of The Deal (huge thanks to Mr X for alerting me to it minutes before!) Great stuff – steeped deep in Labour Party mythology now I think, just as Helestine vs Thatcher is embedded in Tory memories. Watching the scenes of Labour in opposition was quite moving actually. Even if it wasn’t my generation.
I’ve changed my mind about the Tory leadership contest by the way – Cameron would be the best PM of the candidates, and the one Labour should be most worried about. Clarke is yesterday’s man. The drugs question shows Cameron to be principled. He has defended his right to have a private life, and quite rightly. He has also supported drug law reform, sometimes against his own party. I think he shows even the Conservatives can move on from Thatcherism. And what could be more hopeful that, whichever party wins the next election, we will never return to those days?
Daily Show: INdecision 2004
When writing this week’s (late!) DomSez, I considered doing something about petrol. The fact is, however, that there isn’t a lot to say. If there’s high demand, and low supply, the price will be high. Just like anything else. It may be ‘ridiculous’ to you that you have to pay £1 a litre, or whatever, but that’s the price the market will reach.
“But what about petrol duty?”
Yes – of course that’s true. But the underlying problem is that the cost of oil is rising because we’re going to run out of oil. And there’s nothing anyone can do about that in the long term. Apart from maybe buying a bicycle. We’ve got it easy at the moment, the government can reduce duty as a temporary reprieve. See you in 30 years…
(Oh, and hoarding petrol is, of course, counter productive. But if anyone is hoarding a perpetual motion generator, that’d be very nice to have.)
Edit – does road charging, instead of fuel duty, look so stupid now?
Pope Ratty has been busy. Take this simple quiz to see how progressive and forward-thinking the church has become…
What did the Pope warn against on his trip to Germany?
(a) Unchecked greenhouse gas emissions
(b) International terrorism
(c) ‘DIY’ religion
How did he describe the paedophile priest scandal?
(a) “awful and cruel”
(b) “abhorrent and savage”
(c) “wrinkles and shadows”
European multiculturalism is…
(a) “A brave and noble project”
(b) “Both a challenge and an honour”
(c) “Fleeing from what is one’s own”
How is he planning to reform church policy?
(a) Say that condoms aren’t such a bad idea after all
(b) Allow women to become priests
(c) Prevent gay men from becoming priests
If you picked C all the way through – congratulations!
Yes, Ratty’s latest initiative is to try and block gay priests. Why? Because it’s ‘unfair’ and may cause ‘temptation’. Presumably bisexual priests will be breathing a sigh of relief.
For this to work the Church gaydar had better work better than the Church paedophile detector…
Beth E . Dubowe-Lawrence on China, Part 3: Chongqing & Chengdu: “Again an awesome adventure to share this with you” Apr 21, 19:13
