Wednesday 9 September 2015

Guest Blog 45

‘How Very Dare They!’ Me, New Labour and Jeremy Corbyn

When Jeremy Corbyn hit the scene, I was pretty excited, to say the least. Here was someone I had always admired from afar, best friend of our best friend in Probation, John McDonnel and one of only a handful of genuine socialists left in the Labour Party. I watched the first hustings on TV, and my husband and I kept saying to each other, ‘look how he is getting most of the applause!’. You could feel the excitement even then, though perhaps you’d have needed a crystal ball to imagine what has followed…

After that, along with thousands of others, I became more and more excited, signed up to volunteer, and dragged my husband to a Q & A in Coventry, where we arrived late and stood at the back on tiptoe to see the great man greeted as a rock star. After we got back, John told the children that I had shouted out ‘we love you, Jez!’ and screamed like a teeny bopper when he made his entrance (much like I was once overheard shouting ‘we love you, Bob’ at a Dylan concert, but that’s another story…). Rather worryingly, my kids shrugged wearily and clearly believed every word. Obviously, I was becoming a slightly crazed groupie.

Anyhow, needless to say, I paid my £3 supporter’s fee at the first possible opportunity and, rather naively as it turned out, put my reason for becoming a supporter down as not only to vote for Corbyn but to contribute to the great political revolution of re-nationalisation, redistribution, fairness, less inequality, scrapping of tuition fees, scrapping of Trident and above all wresting the Probation Service out of the clutches of greedy, incompetent and psychopathically run private companies.

My first rejection came in an email claiming that the Labour Party could not match me against the electoral register. I tried a further 3 times and I even registered on the electoral register online. But they kept rejecting me on that basis. If I were a suspicious person (heaven forfend), I would think this was a first way of diverting Corbyn voters up a side alley. Certainly, it is interesting that 15% of those ultimately purged were apparently due to electoral register problems, and I’d like to hear about any others…. Eventually, I phoned up, and they found me in seconds: unsurprising considering I have been voting for 30 years. Hmmmm…. But as I say I am not a suspicious person.

But I then received a phone call interrogating me about my membership of other parties, my intentions in becoming a supporter, and whom I voted for in the last election (whose business is that, one wonders, when ballot boxes have curtains). I answered truthfully though, if a little annoyed. Nonetheless, the Labour Party man basically welcomed me back into the fold, or so I thought. But, as you might imagine, I never did receive my welcoming ballot paper. I never even received the rejection others got saying that they did not sufficiently support the ‘aims and values of the Labour Party’.

When I phoned again, I was told I had been blocked now, but was given no explanation. What is clear is that Labour have been scouring the on line profile of voters. Given that the vast majority of my profile has to do with opposing the privatisation of the Probation Service, and re-tweeting types like Caroline Lucas, Owen Jones, and David Graeber, I might have expected some Labour bods to sympathise. Granted, my membership of the Labour Party lapsed after they took us into the Iraq war, but so did many people's. Perhaps also they didn’t like the way I have been affiliated with TUSC (passingly), and the Greens. So anti-privatisation and anti-war, pro unions and the environment – on this basis, clearly, I can have no truck with the values and aims of the Labour Party! At least I am in good company along with Mark Serwotka and Jeremy Hardy.

So, the Labour Party have acted in a stupid and undemocratic way, in my view, and a sinister way too, when you factor in their intrusions into people’s pasts and online profiles, their second-guessing of people’s voting history and intentions, and their self-serving adjudications about who supports the aims and values of the labour party. Monstrously too, they reserve the right to cancel out votes already cast! In short: How dare they (or as that character on TV used to say in outrage: How very dare they!) Where is the democracy and transparency one wonders in all of this? And how are people to identify with a party that can stoop to the sort of stuff Labour have stooped to in attempting to engineer this result?

After all, any child could point out that surely democracy is about allowing people to make a choice, and so to recruit new people once they have changed their minds if they want to? Above all, where are the socialist aims and values of the Labour Party? Not in the hollowed-out remnants of New Labour, that is for sure. But perhaps we don’t have to look too far for those values, and maybe that is the point. Clearly a lot of these blustering keepers of the Blairite flame are very worried that all those people who are turning out to vote for Corbyn might be those who actually see what the aims and values of the Labour Party really have always been, and can be again.

Annoyingly, my husband did get a vote which has led him to remind me on a daily basis (and I quote) ‘Jez, I can, Jez you can’t!’


Joanna Hughes

75 comments:

  1. I have had terrible trouble getting my ballot out of the Labour party like so many others. Four calls, numerous emails (none of which were answered) all of which confirmed no problems but ballot never arrived so filed a formal complaint with the Electoral Reform Commission who are handling the ballots and it produced a result! So would recommend people skip trying to get Labour to resolve any issues and go to the Electoral Reform Commission direct.

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  2. Your experience demonstrates one (of the many) reasons why socialism is abhorrent, namely that it prioritises control by the state (or in this case, the party) over the rights and freedom of the individual to express themselves. Ironically, it's the socialist supporters of Corbyn who are losing out on this occasion.

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    1. Hear hear! These loony lefties conveniently forget these sorts of issues...Still time left for them to help vote Labour into fringe irrelevance though - then the fun can really begin! Vote Corbyn! :-D

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    2. And the Tories give everyone the freedom to shit on the little guy. Your bias is obvious.

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    3. Actually no, Tories give people the right to be in charge of their own destinies.Funny how the socialists aren't keen on that!

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    4. Agreed. It always makes me laugh how Socialists try and shout everybody else down. I'm a PO and a Conservative. I also know many colleagues who share my political views and who also advocate lower taxes, reduced welfare expenditure and stronger defence.

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    5. They have just made 500 of us 'in charge of our destinies' against our will. You are astonishingly naive if you cannot see that the 'choices' offered by the Tories are denied far more citizens than they are given. And what choices? Dentist OR optician? Feed the kids pr clothe them? Yeah, some choice.

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    6. The Tories and Right leaning New Labour have all but destroyed public services and the CJS in particular. Of you can see ANY merit in what they have done, then you do not belong in human services. The incompetence is criminal.

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    7. If you lower taxes then people will have a choice about what to spend their money on. Individuals are far better at spending money than governments are. Socialism is about restricting freedom and continually monitoring and spying on citizens. Cuba, China, North Korea, etc.

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    8. Rich people have more choice you mean. Minimum wage and zero hours does not give you much choice about health care. My stepbrother was living the American dream until he had a stroke during surgery on an aneurysm. Needless to say, his healthcare ran out and his family went from riches to rags in the relatively short time he was kept alive by life support. He died and they lost everything. You can live that dream if you want to but leave the rest of us out.

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    9. The problem with raving righties is that they arrogantly dismiss any alternative opinions, and only care about money. I've never met a poor rightwinger...

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    10. In a minute Anon 18:50 will post something along the lines of "the problem with socialism is that you run out of other people's money", and then I'll have a full house in "right wing nutjob bingo".

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    11. @Anon 19:21 - you are right, but you also forgot that the rabid right are intellectually lazy, as shown by Anon 18:50's crass, simplistic equation of socialism with repressive regimes - clearly no effort made to understand the wide range of left wing thought. Probably because it's all a little bit too difficult to think about other people for a change.

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    12. 1928 - thank you! Nutjob bingo has made my day and made me laugh - something all too rare at the moment!

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    13. Mock all you like, but anon 18:50 is bang in the money! Socialists don't understand the difference between the way the world works, and the way they wish it did!

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    14. "bang in the money" - what a telling slip of the tongue (keyboard)... Just can't get your head out of your bank balance, can you?

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    15. Ah, pouncing on a typo - the last refuge of the incompetent... Tell me, since we're on the subject, how does Corbyn think he's going to pay for his policies? He's admitted even he hasn't actually gotten around to costing them,so perhaps he'd appreciate your advice!

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    16. And p.s. anon 21:40, you don't need to be rich to be financially responsible,another thing the loonies overlook! Vote Corbyn!

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    17. Anon 22:03 get a brain transplant for gods sake. Or start reading a decent newspaper.

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    18. Sorry,didn't mean to subject Corbyn to any kind of rational thinking - I can understand why his supporters want to steer clear of this debate.Obviously the idea is just to crank up the printing presses and just print money to buy things with. Ingenious! Can't think why this hasn't been tried before.... Funny,but most of the media seems to share my opinionof this man.Read the latest (on the bbc , no less)? Even his aides are telling him that the jokes over and time to stop.Not sure if they'll carry this story in the Morning Star or whatever your sort read though!

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    19. Oh well done 00:15 - "lefties get their opinions from the Morning Star", haha I've not heard that one before. I'm surprised you didn't mention the "Soviet Central Committee" too - I get all my ideas from them each morning in a handy pdf.

      How has George Osborne's financial responsibility worked out, by the way? Is that pesky national debt gone? What, higher than ever you say? Well, what about the deficit then? I know that Mr Cameron sometimes pretends not to know the difference so he can make dubious claims at election times. What, that's not gone in 5 years like George said it would be? They've only cut it by a third? What about all that quantitative easing they did for the banks a few years back? Wasn't that just printing money? Oh, the banks just kept it on their balance sheets and didn't lend it out like they were supposed to? I can't think why George didn't see that coming, he seems so on top of everything otherwise. He must have accidentally read the Morning Star instead of the Telegraph on the days when he decided to sell Royal Mail and RBS shares for billions of pounds than they were worth. And there must be a leftie infiltrator in 11 Downing Street messing around with his figures, because he can find money to give away to his rich mates in cuts to corporation and income tax when he's so clearly failing to balance the books otherwise.

      Corbyn's ideas really aren't all that radical when you actually look at what he's saying, rather than just read the headline in the Daily Mail (granted, unilateral nuclear disarmament and withdrawal from Nato would represent a pretty big change, but why shouldn't we at least be having the discussion about it?) When stripped of all the hysterical coverage (which Anon 00:15, 22:07, 22:03 et al appear to have swallowed whole), his ideas actually poll pretty well, too. What they do represent is a challenge to the cosy neoliberal consensus of the last 30 years that has helped a few people do very very well but left many, many others struggling. Funny, but most of the media seems to share your opinion because most of the media is run by the sort of people who stand to lose out - and probably only a little bit, but for some reason that still terrifies them - if Jeremy Corbyn gets elected.

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  3. That's not all what socialism is about. I voted and have canvessed for Jeremy . I really hope he wins

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    1. Never voted Labour but will if Jeremy becomes leader. Good old fashioned fair values.

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  4. This is the moment our society starts to re balance

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  5. Is. Dynamic really Chris Grayling?

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  6. NEXT! ( ... let's just move on shall we). Get - back onto all things PROBATION maybe.

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    1. I bet you were the one complaining the other day about how we all moaned about the same things over and over again, right?

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  7. TTG is the best thing since sliced bread

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    1. I don't like sliced bread - I'd much rather slice my own. And to bake my own as well, as it happens.

      I reckon Dynamic probably thinks the same.

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    2. Sliced bread goes off quickly - is full of harmful additives and is basically lazy. How that can possibly relate to the huge potential of ttg for real rehabilitation is beyond me.

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    3. It also needs lots of packaging to avoid going off within a couple of days, causing a bad smell. I think there's the parallel we were looking for.

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  8. Loads of money to be made selling work. We're cash kings. Thank you Grayling

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    1. "Get yer interventions 'ere!! Twenny-five a paahhnd!! Fank you very much madam, one TSP an' one alcohol treatment, there you go my darlin'. Don't ask too many questions though love, ok? Nods as good as a wink, an' all that. Guarantee? Woss a guarantee?"

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  9. Blimey guys, the level of discussion has deteriorated somewhat of late. Is this the best you can do?

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    1. Based on day to day experience, sadly it would seem to be the case.
      Perhaps people would like to find, or set up a chat room or similar and go there to meet like minded others

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    2. Yes, heaven forfend any differences of opinion!

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    3. I take your point, Jim, but there is a lot of mania around at the moment, in both NPS and CRCs. People are reaching breaking point and rational debate seems to be getting them nowhere. The temptation to vent is overwhelming.

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  10. it was once said that, sodexo bake bread inside ofyour head...its coming true i tell ya.

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  11. Probation has become a crock of poo .

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  12. No it hasn't - tomorrow morning there will be thousands of people waking up, preparing for their days and heading to work. That work will involve dealing with clients, dealing with their issues, assessing their risks, ensuring all relevant agencies from social services to the courts and prisons are communicated with and that the client is either on the path of rehabilitation or his/her risks are being managed effectively. We, who work in probation, know that what we do is always for the greater good - whether that be the client, their family, their community or the public as a whole. We protect the public and we reduce re - offending and we have the date to prove it. We know there are massive problems with TR and the whole agenda around it but at the bottom line we go to work because we know we are making a difference on a daily and sometimes even hourly basis. Victim prevention should be our mantra as that is what we do - we can't measure it or prove it but we know that the work we do prevents the creation of victims and what finer thing is that. Sod TR, sod targets, sod the crap - if we are enabled to do what we know and understand then we know we are helping create a better world. For those facing the horrors of VS etc etc I feel truly sorry as this is a denial of not only your employment but also your morality and ethos and wherever we sit we should never forget that.

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  13. Data - not date - sorry!

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  14. Im currently looking into the legal implications of naming and shaming senior managers re some of their more 'bizarre' decisions and the more I look the more others are willing to share their stories of incredible incompetance bordering on the fringes of lunacy....a sort of Probation Dark Justice......

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    1. I tell you what lets do it. However only if we can also name and shame incompetent others of all grades. And no, I am not a Senior Manager, nor do I work for Sodexo. I do however know of colleagues who would'nt know what a proper days worked like if it smacked them in the face.

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    2. Sadly, have to agree with you there, and I too am neither Sodexo, or Senior Management.

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  15. Shut up 5.50. Get a grip fool. Senior managers are not the cause of anything going wrong. In fact there is a lot that is right.

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    1. "Senior managers are not the cause of anything going wrong. In fact there is a lot that is right." Do please expand......

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    2. "Shut up 5.50. Get a grip fool."

      Did you learn that motivational technique on a management training course, or was that the answer to one of the interview questions?

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    3. There is a huge problem with Senior Managers. They speak about leadership, yet so few have any skill or even comprehension of what that actually involves. This is not about management bashing , resistance to change, laziness or pique , it's a fact. TR is now over 12 months in and the NPS are still faffing about trying to work out how to develop a coherent and national set of practice, policy and processes.For goodness sake, just identify what needs to be done and work out how best to achieve it, it's not rocket science. For ages they seem to have been faffing about with E3, apparently Effectiveness,Efficiency and Excellence or similar. This appears to need senior managers to be getting together monthly, and 'considering' all the different practices that have been around and trying to put together the best of all, good idea but how long do they need ?!!!! it's easy to imagine, the egos, our way is better than your way, we could modify this and incorporate that, but of most importance whose names go on the bottom. They are spending time selecting Champions, fgs,That just goes to prove they haven't got the faintest clue how to lead and communicate, good leaders do they do it easily and don't need champions.They also come out of hiding , ask questions and listen...
      There has been no evidence of review, consideration of what is actually possible . The IT systems hamper, hinder and are not even close to what would be an efficient and effective tool. Senior Managers need to be held to account.

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  16. Has nobody seen Harry's tweet from yesterday? He's predicting the imminent AP review will say night cover to be sold off and hostel staff to be downgraded. WTF! New thread required please Jim

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    1. Na mate. There will be no new thread. Jim and his bloggers only likes bashing the unions so that is today's topic :)

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    2. "Na mate. There will be no new thread. Jim and his bloggers only likes bashing the unions so that is today's topic :)"

      Well why don't you write it?

      Harry Fletcher tweet - "Hostels review Predict - Night staff to be sold off and day shifts to be regraded down. What price then for public safety?"

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    3. Too true - it all hinges on what you think you are employed to do (with the commensurate wages) and what you end up being asked to do. A few years ago my brother worked for a security company and was seconded to a probation AP in the home counties (can't remember where) for a considerable placement (think abt 3 months) to provide waking night security cover for the hostel. He phoned me shortly after starting very worried as he was being asked to do drug testing. He has never been trained in drug testing; its not usually a requirement for shopping centre night security staff!! I confirmed with him what he had been employed to do (which was, to provide security for the building, not as a hostel keyworker) and told him to refuse to do the testing. Shortly afterwards he was asked to assist in informing a resident he was to be evicted; the manager was concerned the resident would kick off. My brother refused; again pointing out to the manager this was not part of his job description. He found himself a different job very quickly...
      In my view my brother should never have been employed by the hostel in the first place - they clearly wanted a different skill set, altho happy to pay the wage level of a security guard.

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    4. Forgot to say - above post 19:33 was from me.
      Deb

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  17. Nigel Huddleston Conservative, Mid Worcestershire
    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on the future of Just Solutions International.

    Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 9 September 2015, cW)

    Andrew Selous Assistant Whip (HM Treasury), The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice

    Just Solutions international (JSi) was established in the previous parliament as the internal commercial brand of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS).

    Given our ambitious justice reform programme and the need to focus departmental resources on domestic priorities, the Justice Secretary has decided that JSi should cease to operate. NOMS will therefore not pursue any new projects with international partners through JSi.

    One project led by NOMS through JSi is sufficiently far advanced that the Government has decided withdrawing at this late stage would be detrimental to HMG’s wider interests. Under the JSi brand, NOMS submitted an initial bid to the Saudi Arabian authorities in August 2014 to conduct a training needs analysis for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia prison service staff, via ELM, an executive agency of the Saudi Ministry of Finance. Following the submission of a final bid in April 2015, NOMS is now liable for financial penalties should the bid be withdrawn. NOMS’s bid was signed off through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) process, and was supported by UKTI and the British Embassy in Riyadh.

    NOMS will therefore honour this outstanding bid and enter into a contract subject to the final decisions of ELM. All work relating to this project will be completed within 6 months of starting.

    My Department will continue to promote the rule of law, good governance and judicial reform internationally, working with FCO, DFID and other Government Departments as required. In future, any support will be provided on a cost recovery rather than a commercial basis.

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    1. Isn't JSi one of Mr Grayling's businesses ?

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  18. From the TUCs Going to Work Website: -

    "Our MPs will soon get their first chance to debate the government's controversial trade union bill, as it receives its second reading in the Commons. It's an important chance to raise early objections to this divisive legislation. "

    http://goingtowork.org.uk/

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  19. Hatton and Brown stay on topic. Stop deflecting. I expect this from Hatton but not you Jim :/

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  20. Pray how does Anon 13:02 (lacking the nouse to even construct a pseudonym) by drawing attention to what s/he considers a 'deflection' aid the advancement of Guest Blogger 45's topic by drawing attention to the 'diversion' when s/he might alternatively have said such as; GBs comments were confirming one's suspicion of the integrity of those in control of The Labour Party's organisation?

    It seems that if Corbyn is elected leader he will face persistent rubbishing by those who profess to be friends of True Labour who are little more than cronies of Blairism.

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  21. perhaps a focus on E3 could be good. This agenda is going to change a lot of our jobs but nobody appears to understand it.
    There have been meetings but nothing is cascading down, has anybody any knowledge they can share?

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    1. Good idea. I don't know anything about E3, despite (unless my manager was joking) being nominated as a local 'champion' for it.

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  22. Corbyn is the only way to save probation. Socialism is a hot topic again and austerity is for fools. People need more money to spend this is the only way to increase demand, the bankers and their political stooges only think in the short term. The world is in meltdown this move to the Left in the West is fantastic, support Corbyn. Support Socialism and fight neoliberalism's wars and economy.

    papa

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    1. What twaddle! Socialism is a hot topic only because people are being reminded how dreadful it is. In reality,you're witnessing the death of the Labour party, spin it how you might. A win for Corbyn will mean a conservative landslide come the next General election -the electorate aren't the gullible dreamers the left hope they are! Enjoy your irrelevance, I certainly shall!

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    2. Do you think rehabilitation was the brainchild of conservatives who think of community penalties as 'non punishments?'. Then enjoy your redundancy, I certainly shall!. Top muppetry 22:19!.

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  23. I love a good delusional rant - thank you 2219 - fear is great and that is all your post shows. The reality is that there is a massive electoral pool who can and will support a sensible left wing approach. It is a few years until the next election and the groundswell will grow. Be afraid, be very afraid - just look at what happened in Scotland a few months ago.

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  24. "A sensible left wing approach" - we haven't seen much of that! Printing money, scrapping NATO, pure swivel-eyes nonsense - do you think that's why even the MPs that put him on the ballot are performing a hasty back-and-fill? Why even his own aides advised him to quit? Even today a member of Labour referred to him as an 80s tribute act!

    Ifyou think I'm displaying fear then I hope your day job doesn't involve judging people's moods! I can't wait for him to be elected, the fallout will be hilarious... How many of the current shadow cabinet say they won't serve with him? 8 or so?

    Vote Hasbyn - sorry - Corbyn! :-D

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    1. By the way,remember what else happened in Scotland a few months ago -push came to shove and they lined up to vote AGAINST the SNP's core reason for existing - interesting, that! EVEN in red Labour's socialist 80's heyday they couldn't manage a win, and that was against their bète noir, Thatcher. Why do you think that happened? I'm genuinely curious! Hasbyn's policies are pretty much the same, so what do you think the outcome will be this time?

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    2. I find it astonishing in all this discussion that nobody talks about the electoral system and the fact that it does not deliver a democratic result. More people voted against Thatcher during her 'landslide' years than voted for her - but that's democracy right?

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    3. It was Jon Cruddas who said that Labour as a whole, not Corbyn specifically, risked turning "an early 80s tribute act, a Trotskyist tribute act". As a former policy adviser for Tony Blair, you'd hardly expect him to be unbiased on this point (although he was one of those who lent their nominations to Corbyn). But if you look beyond the hysterical headlines, Cruddas actually went on to say that he has been enthused by the debate and the energy this has generated. Sure, it looks a bit messy, but having a wider range of views expressed is democracy in action.

      George Osborne is also noticing this, and he's worried. For all his incompetence as Chancellor of the Exchequer (he's borrowed more money than all Labour Chancellors in history put together, let's remember, and took an economy which was recovering in 2010 back into recession), he's a fairly shrewd reader of the political landscape (which is probably what makes him such a bad Chancellor - he goes for short term political wins rather than what will actually help the economy). If Osborne thought Anon 23:48's rabid reactionary right wing take on the situation was accurate, he would be quietly letting Labour get on with having its own argument. Instead, Osborne knows that the Tory party is about to have its own internal scrap over Europe, and he's frantically trying to tack left again (although he's calling it 'occupying the centre ground'). He's starting to offer policies like the National Living Wage (not a living wage, but let's ignore that for the moment) which appeal to people outside the normal Tory core. If Kendall/Cooper/Burnham were to win and continued to pursue Tory-lite policies, George would be sticking where he's most comfortable on the right.

      Politics is what happens every day, not just once every five years. A Labour Party chasing right wing votes until 2020, assuming its core members aren't going to switch to other parties as a protest, is no good to anyone. A Labour Party which recognises that politics is not the same as in the 1980s, but has also changed since the 1990s and 2000s, and that it probably has to start thinking about building a broader coalition rather than aspiring to a majority (and like Jim hints, gives some serious thought to electoral reform) might be useful.

      So, Anon 23:48, keep taking the pills - you might be in for one hell of a headache.

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  25. Oh and 'Papa'... Regarding "Corbyn being the only way to save probation" - perhaps you could clue us all in on all the pronouncements he's made regarding his policy on justice please?

    (*tumbleweed blows across thread/crickets chirping*)

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    1. Get some sleep. Calm down dear.

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    2. You're probably right (oh and +1 for the Michael Winner reference)

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    3. or more recently, david cameron ;)

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  26. I think some people on here have forgotten how they got their terms and conditions and nice middle-class life. How anyone can still vote Tory who works for probation is beyond me.

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    1. I suspect Anon 23:48 does not work for probation. Her/his comments are stylistically very similar to someone who used to post on her a year or so ago, who had a Union Jack avatar - I forget his name but his Blogger bio revealed he was a stockbroker. I suspect he's back (if he was ever away) but now posting anonymously instead.

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  27. Jim How about something about the Tax problem?

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