Gordon Brown makes more sense...

Well its official. There are two factors making Gordon more interesting than the other chap Cameron. His wife likes him and the sun isn't supporting him. On balance the fact that the sun doesn't want to support Gordon makes him more electable. The sun claims to have 7 million readers (abuse of the word I think as looking at dirty pictures does not constitute reading?) anyway the fact remains that Gordon is, under the circumstances, more reliable than any of the others on offer. I just hope that Miliband and co keep away and don't scare the electorate. Gordon Brown will, in my opinion, do a John Major and surprise us all including the United Left who think that this might be the time for mass rebellion? I feel they got that one wrong. I fear that the emergence of another 23 versions of the left in the last 12 years isn't going to help the turn around to true socialism. So lets just stick with Labour??

Return of Mandy..

Well I have been away for a week so haven't had the time to put anything on this blog. Apologies to the thousands of readers who did not write asking when I am coming back? So what's been happening in the real world whilst I was away? Well the Queen is still on the throne ( the real one) Prince Charles's ears are getting bigger and Gordon Brown is about to have a major come back. Mandlelson has clearly been able to convince an influential part of the media that the Tories are as experienced in running the economy as I am in knitting jumpers! So it will appear that the better the devil you know syndrome could win Labour the next election. That is indeed my prediction! So lets see how it all develops!

TUC Conference 2009

Our great leaders have gathered in Liverpool to take part in this years annual TUC conference. Those of us who may wish to follow the great events and the exciting speeches aimed at making Gordon Brown feel more wanted can follow the TUC link 'Congress Voices' http://www.congressvoices.org/

Lambeth Unison the question around succession

The question of succession - in others words who will be replacing the Branch Secretary in the near future - is something that can only be decided by the AGM. The democratic process will be followed and the Branch will ultimately make the final decision. Some people have naturally asked me and Jon as to when we are both planning to vacate the 'position' and the answer to that has been soon we both hope. The plan has been to identify and encourage the person or people we think can do the job and try to get them involved with training. It will be wrong for me to state on here as to whether I think someone is ready right now but there has been some encouraging signs and I feel one young activists in the Branch can, with some more training over say a 2 year period, be ready to take on the task. He will need a lot of support from those around him and would have to be able to command the respect of the wider membership and the Convenors. The Convenors team are a key to this as they are the chief activists on the ground that hold the fort on a daily basis. The Secretary is the person who will need to unify and inspire the confidence and respect of the 2,300 members of the Branch which includes some 380 members outside Lambeth Council a key factor that has been ignored when looking at the equation in the past. No one should think for a minute that either myself or Jon want to hold on to the position of BS for ever but we have declared our intention to hold on until we are near the point of knowing that whoever replaces us is able to do the job and can deal with the pressure. Some will see that as pure arrogance I see it as taking on the responsibility of the office seriously.

Lambeth Council people

I was approached by someone asking me whether I knew much about the newly elected Speaker of the House of Commons. He was. of course, a Lambeth Councillor and served in Lambeth until 1992. I wasn't that active at the time but I have found from asking around that he was not known to be a nice person. That is what I have been told. So maybe his decision to hire a PR manager paid for by me and you is a wise one. There have been many others going through Lambeth like Ken Livingstone and John Major and others. If anyone reading this blog knows more of the Councillor who became the Speaker then let me know?

Lambeth Council

I referred to Lambeth Council before as the Levitan and a number of people I know have been critical of this description saying that I am reinforcing the stereotyping of an organisation that is striving to improve. Well those who have jumped on that wagon should also see that I stated on many occasions that it is the machine that is meant to be making Lambeth work that I was focusing on. The Borough and its people are second to none and the area, which includes my favorite Vauxhall and Clapham areas are a successful story for excitement and diversity mixed together.

But I will continue talking about how the Levitan sometimes does not work and will be dealing with themes and issues that people do not know about. The famous Blackberry incident was one thing that highlighted how a vast organisation is incapable of coordinating activity between different departments or sections. There are things that are wrong with Lambeth and some that are brilliant and fantastic. The constant obsession with reorganising, for example, in order to reinvent the wheel is a practice that we will suffer from in the months to come and any idiotic decisions around that will be exposed by me!

Police time

I was talking to a friend of a friend who is a police officer. She was telling me that she spends a lot of her time having to fill in reports and do stats around 30% of her time is spend on that. I do not, unlike others I know of, think the police are by nature bad. I also think they do a very difficult job and like Ken Livingstone I am of the opinion that if we could see more of them walking around and more frequently that would reduce crime on the streets. So whilst I accept that the right information should be recorded whenever an arrest is made there are different ways of saving time. A special unit, for example, could be set up with the specific task of taking voice activated statements from a police officer. A report can then be prepared for the officer to sign. This simple step would save police officer time. I am a firm believer that simple solutions are always the best way to improve service delivery. So why don't they invest time and resources in setting up a voice recognition system to record incidents? Have more officers on the street I say and train them well. An inclusive diverse police force doing the walks is the best way to reduce crime whilst the arm chair sociologists can spend more time coming up with text books telling us what is wrong with society!

Big Brother comes to an end tonight

I just very much hope that the BB craze has come to an end and it never comes back on our screens again. This year it has been more disappointing than others and it has shown that the trend has come to sudden death. I am hoping BB 10 is the last one and as I said previously I am also hoping that no one of the finalists win and they are all evicted. On the other hand if there is going to be a 'winner' then Sophie is the only one who deserves it she is also supported by the United Left so lets vote for her!

The Lockerbie affair...

I am not looking to get involved with this argument and haven't done enough research to have all the facts in front of me but based on reading a few articles here and there and listening to comments in the media I would think that the guy who was convicted for this hideous crime against humanity could not have been the actual person responsible for what happened. Now if that is the case or if there is any reasonable doubt that he wasn't then there is no way he should be in jail for the rest of his life and releasing him from prison for a crime he may not have committed is indeed the right thing to do. As for the reaction from the US well they should sort themselves out before they tell us what to do. No one should ever be put in prison for ever unless there is no question their guilt. That is natural justice. And of course the media here will soon move on to another subject when they get bored with this one so its a temporary skidmark that can be washed away.

Will a United Europe ever work?

I haven't been able to do much over the weekend as I spend a lot of time with friends who were over here from Holland. There was a point where we had 7 different states represented in my garden on Monday afternoon which was nice. We didn't talk much about politics but at one stage a discussion started about the benefits of having a United Europe. My English guests were, as expected ( a bit of a stereotype there) against any idea of integrating more whereas the rest of us were very much into the concept. Of course no one can draw any decisive conclusions from a conversation based on what a number of people were thinking on a Monday afternoon in a garden in South London but the one thing that stays in my mind is the fact that there are a lot of people making decisions based on incorrect information. It is my view that whatever the argument against a United Europe are the fact that it will guarantee fewer wars between us is good enough reason to continue the quest. I am also convinced that the little Englander mentality is still at large in this country and it is just being played down by the media. Either that or the fact that the Franco German alliance doesn't park well in the English drive way may be the reason as to why my English friends (including my English partner) are so anti Europe! This is sad but at the same time knowing that historical evolution cannot be stopped makes me feel that these minor objections will not prevent greater integration and achieve the ultimate goal of a United Europe. I look forward to the day when we have a European President with real powers (hopefully someone from Spain) and instead of having local Prime Ministers we have Governors something on the lines of what was predicted in that famous book 'Kleintown' a few years ago.