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:The Post-2015 Process: Inequality Is Not the New Poverty
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If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
All the main parties are nervous about the politics of immigration, and figures in YouGov's latest poll for the Sunday Times suggest why. Few of us think that immigrants generally play a positive role in British life. The incessant, and often badly-informed stories, year after year, about crimes committed by black offenders, migrant families who 'jump the housing list' and 'welfare tourists' who come here to hoover up generous benefits - they have taken their toll.
Women in Wales have little to celebrate at the moment, particularly those on lower incomes. Over the years, women have won better maternity rights and there is recognition that a family needs support at the birth of a child. It is a time of great joy, but also places considerable strain on the family finances.
We have made progress at work, in education and public services, and in pensions and child care, but we seem to have gone backwards in the public portrayal of women and the impact that is having on our self-esteem and the way men treat us.
Our elected politicians won't, or perhaps can't, say this but the fact is that the public doesn't have a clue about immigration. Why then should we base our immigration policies on public opinion, and people's "concerns", when those very same people are so woefully uninformed and ignorant about the true levels of immigration into the UK? The levels of benefits that migrants receive? Their proficiency with the English language?
The bottom line is that only 134,000 people - 0.3% of the total population - don't speak English at all. Even in Newham, where well over half the population was born abroad, and the Sun seems to think that people "simply don't want to integrate", fewer than 1 in 10 of the population can't speak English well.
Nigel Farage was quipping that the Tories split the UKIP vote in Eastleigh - ouch. With the recent decline of the BNP and soon to be expired incarceration of the EDL leader Stephen Lennon - their masses of frustrated followers have found their mouthpiece in Farrage.
Welcome to the world of Click Here politics. It's a world in which to win, you need first to gather your supporters online, then analyse who they are and what makes them tick, and -- most crucially -- tailor a message that fits their profile.
Ukip opposes any kind of aspiration-killing policy, such as Labour's oft repeated dream of punitive taxation, because it does not drive people to want to better themselves, thus killing social mobility and innovation. Ukip wants people from all backgrounds to have the chance to be more socially mobile.
To remove Ed Balls from the post of shadow chancellor would deprive the opposition of its most accomplished macroeconomist - and its fiercest attack dog. It would also be an act of supreme cowardice, not strength, on the part of Ed Miliband. Like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown before him, the Labour leader would be dancing to the tunes of the right-wing media echo chamber - the Dacres, the Desmonds, the Murdochs.
Eastleigh is the place to settle if you can't stand the pace in Budleigh Salterton and Winchester seems like the future. Without the benefit of actually going there, I can tell you that it is as conservative as an antimacassar sales convention. You'd think that it would also be Conservative but that would be to underestimate the appeal of the Why-can't-things-be like-they-used-to-be Party.
Today's Conservative party bungles and flounders in the centre ground, it bends over backwards to appeal to a largely liberal middle class, and is currently failing spectacularly in the process.
It's time for Labour to ditch the blue and take up its old red colours once again.
A Labour Party gig is unlike any other. There is respect for the comic and little interest in racist or misogynist jokes, nor 'gags' about disability or 'chavs', which have become sadly common material in many comedy clubs. And when a performer is not getting great laughs, there is compassion.
Politicians are increasingly individuals who dwell in the political bubble away from the day to day struggles of ordinary families and speak a different language.
The result entirely changes the public perception of Ukip. You have to be bold and you have to be brave to fight from the sidelines and come out swinging. The media, hugely loyal to their party of choice, will seek to destroy you. All the other parties will not hesitate to club together to attack. The underdog became a threat to them all.
The left has moved so far to the centre we have three parties of professional politicians who have little emotional or intellectual connection with the electorate. The electorate have very few options.
