London Fields # 91
First published Inpress (Issue # 1172), Melbourne on 4 May 2011, and Drum Media (Issue # 1058), Sydney on 3 May 2011
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here
Were you aware than six out of ten Australians want to change their current electoral voting system to the one used in the UK? Neither was I, but this has been a key claim of the “No” campaign for the upcoming UK referendum. Saturation media coverage of a certain London event may have overshadowed it, but this has the potential to have far greater and longer-reaching effects on the future of the United Kingdom than the wedding of a possible future monarch. May 5th marks only the second national referendum in British history, on a potential change to the voting system. Currently British elections use First Past The Post (FPTP), a system where the candidate who receives the highest number of primary votes is elected, regardless of how few votes they receive. After the last indecisive UK election, the Tories and Liberal Democrats spent days trying to reach a compromise to form a coalition government, and voting reform was a key discussion. The LibDems wanted Proportional Representation (PR), but had to settle for a referendum to change from FPTP to AV (Alternative Vote). AV, also known as preferential voting, is very similar to what is used in Australia, except under AV you don’t have to rank all the candidates (single transferable vote).
It’s been a nasty campaign, full of disinformation. The “six out of ten Australians” figure came from a leading question put to 1202 people in a single survey conducted over three days last October. The “No” side points out only Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Australia use preferential voting and seem to imply that perhaps it is not quite democratic. They claim that AV will led to every government being a coalition, and that the change from FPTP would mean the end of “one person, one vote”. In truth AV allows you to vote for who you want to win the seat (rather than tactically vote against who you might want to keep out) so it’s closer to “one person, one meaningful vote“. The “No” campaign have also claimed AV would make it easier for the ultra right (and ultra white) BNP (British National Party) to gain seats, when the converse in actually true. The votes for any party other than the BNP would weigh more heavily under AV meaning they’d have to win 50% of the primary vote to get in. No wonder BNP supremo Nick Griffin has come out in favour of the “No” campaign, but they’re not trumpeting that.
There’s another Nick who’s not really wanted by either side - that’s Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the LibDems Nick Clegg. Clegg’s record of broken promises on issues such as tuition fees has seen him used as a reason against a “Yes” vote by the “No” side. The strangest thing in the campaign has been the weird cross-party partnerships it has set up - former Labour Home Secretary John Reid with the PM on one side, and the government’s Business Secretary Vince Cable with the leader of the opposition on the other. Yet as an Australian I find it galling to see aspersions cast on a democratic system that has only failed once (when the monarch’s representative interfered in 1975), as though it was a rigged system of a backward and corrupt banana republic. In the UK David Cameron has created an unprecedented 117 new peers for the House of Lords in his first year in office (Tony Blair averaged out at 37 a year, and Gordon Brown a mere 12), which amounts to gerrymandering on a grand scale. Instead of criticising the Australian system, they should instead be learning from it; a system where the upper house is elected by the people, and elections take place on weekends, rather than during the week, to make it easier for working people to vote.
David Cameron has variously described AV as undemocratic, obscure, unfair and crazy. We’re told that it’s too complicated and expensive, and a bit hard for us to understand. In one speech he quoted Winston Churchill who saw it as a system where “the most worthless votes go to the most worthless candidate”. Yet it’s how he became party leader! David Davis received the largest number of votes in the first round of the last Conservative Party leadership contest in 2005, so under FPTP he might be the PM now. What the “No” campaign has failed to tell us is that they want us to keep a system which the parties don’t want or use themselves. Sadly the largest vote next Thursday is likely to be apathy, and then the possibility of positive change will disappear for many years to come.
© James McGalliard 2011
Inpress: Published on page 44
Drum: Published on page 48
Showing posts with label BNP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BNP. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Electioneering
London Fields # 78
First published Inpress, Melbourne on 19 May 2010
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here
Watching the media coverage of the recent UK General Election, I was reminded of a 1970’s student film called (something like) ”Fraser Opens Monash Toilets“ (although I couldn‘t find reference to it on Google). Anyway, the film in question features reportage from the front line of a student protest against Malcolm Fraser’s campus visit - the violent camera shakes indicating a thronging mass seemingly on the verge of riot. That is until you see the long shot which shows that all the fracas and pushing is actually the TV cameramen jostling each other to make it appear as though they were at the centre of a mêlée. Certainly I’ve never seen an election where the depiction of the situation varied so dramatically depending on the source which was providing the information.
Electoral reform had been a major issue throughout the campaigns and the end results seemed to make the need for an overhaul of the current system even clearer. As the saga unfolded, everything else became muddier; an election with no clear winner, talk of minority governments, rainbow coalitions, and possible stalemates which would lead to another election. There was much that made it feel like a US Presidential election, with leaders rather than parties being the focus, and three live 90 minute televised debates between these three leaders (of the main English parties, much to the annoyance of Welsh and Scottish parties who were not offered a part). Catchphrases from the Obama campaign crept in as well, and on the election day itself, The Sun featured a reworking Shepard Fairey’s iconic poster as its cover with Obama replaced by an image of David Cameron.
Yet there was no landmark victory. With no clear winner, Gordon Brown remained as Prime Minister, while the only clear losers were the British National Party who were comprehensively trounced in their attempt to gain a seat in Barking, and in the local elections for Barking and Dagenham Council, all 12 BNP councillors lost their seats. The only decisive victory came in Brighton, where the Green Party won their first ever seat. In London, Labour actually did well - my seat recorded a swing of over 5% swing in their favour, and they gained control of eight more councils in the local elections. After five days and much horse bartering, Brown resigned and a coalition government was formed between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. And while it seemed that the nation as a whole has been more politicised by the live debates and ongoing saga of the hung parliament, it didn’t stop a large number of viewers contacting the BBC to complain that they had bumped popular soaps EastEnders and Holby City off their schedules to show these historic events live. The next morning saw The Sun relegate it Page Three girl to page 15 (well it had lots of photos of other types of tit to put on the preceding pages).
Amongst all the mess, one thing remains abundantly clear: no one got the government for which they had voted. Perhaps this will be a good thing? Certainly the scrapping of the ID card seems to be a good start, but I fear for the future of the BBC, and worry about the changes in the no confidence rules tied into the new fixed five year parliamentary terms. The other certainty is that the mother of all parliaments is desperately in need of renovation. This last election saw the largest voter turnout since the Blair Labour government came to power, but still only 65.1% of those on the roll bothered to make their voices heard (although in a travesty of democratic process, some hundreds of voters were left unable to vote due to understaffed polling stations). The UK system of first past the post even lead to a council seat being decided on a coin toss as both candidates had received exactly the same number of votes. It seems likely that there will be a move to Alternative Vote (like the Australian preferential vote) with other possibilities of reform (proportional representation) going to committee and perhaps referendum, and an elected upper house even further away. The Liberal Democrats offered themselves to the voting public as an alternative to the two major parties, and now find themselves actively aligned in government with one of them. Only time will tell if those who voted for them this time around may find themselves humming The Who‘s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” in 2015.
© James McGalliard 2010
First published Inpress, Melbourne on 19 May 2010
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here
Watching the media coverage of the recent UK General Election, I was reminded of a 1970’s student film called (something like) ”Fraser Opens Monash Toilets“ (although I couldn‘t find reference to it on Google). Anyway, the film in question features reportage from the front line of a student protest against Malcolm Fraser’s campus visit - the violent camera shakes indicating a thronging mass seemingly on the verge of riot. That is until you see the long shot which shows that all the fracas and pushing is actually the TV cameramen jostling each other to make it appear as though they were at the centre of a mêlée. Certainly I’ve never seen an election where the depiction of the situation varied so dramatically depending on the source which was providing the information.
Electoral reform had been a major issue throughout the campaigns and the end results seemed to make the need for an overhaul of the current system even clearer. As the saga unfolded, everything else became muddier; an election with no clear winner, talk of minority governments, rainbow coalitions, and possible stalemates which would lead to another election. There was much that made it feel like a US Presidential election, with leaders rather than parties being the focus, and three live 90 minute televised debates between these three leaders (of the main English parties, much to the annoyance of Welsh and Scottish parties who were not offered a part). Catchphrases from the Obama campaign crept in as well, and on the election day itself, The Sun featured a reworking Shepard Fairey’s iconic poster as its cover with Obama replaced by an image of David Cameron.
Yet there was no landmark victory. With no clear winner, Gordon Brown remained as Prime Minister, while the only clear losers were the British National Party who were comprehensively trounced in their attempt to gain a seat in Barking, and in the local elections for Barking and Dagenham Council, all 12 BNP councillors lost their seats. The only decisive victory came in Brighton, where the Green Party won their first ever seat. In London, Labour actually did well - my seat recorded a swing of over 5% swing in their favour, and they gained control of eight more councils in the local elections. After five days and much horse bartering, Brown resigned and a coalition government was formed between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. And while it seemed that the nation as a whole has been more politicised by the live debates and ongoing saga of the hung parliament, it didn’t stop a large number of viewers contacting the BBC to complain that they had bumped popular soaps EastEnders and Holby City off their schedules to show these historic events live. The next morning saw The Sun relegate it Page Three girl to page 15 (well it had lots of photos of other types of tit to put on the preceding pages).
Amongst all the mess, one thing remains abundantly clear: no one got the government for which they had voted. Perhaps this will be a good thing? Certainly the scrapping of the ID card seems to be a good start, but I fear for the future of the BBC, and worry about the changes in the no confidence rules tied into the new fixed five year parliamentary terms. The other certainty is that the mother of all parliaments is desperately in need of renovation. This last election saw the largest voter turnout since the Blair Labour government came to power, but still only 65.1% of those on the roll bothered to make their voices heard (although in a travesty of democratic process, some hundreds of voters were left unable to vote due to understaffed polling stations). The UK system of first past the post even lead to a council seat being decided on a coin toss as both candidates had received exactly the same number of votes. It seems likely that there will be a move to Alternative Vote (like the Australian preferential vote) with other possibilities of reform (proportional representation) going to committee and perhaps referendum, and an elected upper house even further away. The Liberal Democrats offered themselves to the voting public as an alternative to the two major parties, and now find themselves actively aligned in government with one of them. Only time will tell if those who voted for them this time around may find themselves humming The Who‘s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” in 2015.
© James McGalliard 2010
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
State Of The Nation
London Fields # 71
First published Inpress, Melbourne on 11 November 2009
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here
Overhead there’s an explosion every few seconds as rockets and mortars light up the night skies. It feels like a siege is underway, and the view outside is reminiscent of the CNN footage at the beginning of the 1991 Gulf War. But the barrage is actually the height of the annual firework season; where every man sets something alight, and his every dog (or cat) hides behind the sofa. While Guy Fawkes Night can be seen as a celebration of over 400 years of religious persecution (certainly more traditional events, such as Lewes, centre on anti-Popery), for me it serves to illustrate an ongoing conflict between the forces of reform and reactionary change which lie at the heart of a conflicted nation.
Remembrance Sunday this year saw attention focused on current British military actions, particularly those in Afghanistan. As the death toll (in hostile actions there) passed 200, it came to light that Prime Minister Gordon Brown had misspelled the surname of one of the fallen in his handwritten condolence letter to the soldier’s mother. It could be argued that this was a failing of his support staff by not noticing that their partially sighted boss had confused ‘m’ and ‘n’, but instead the whole thing felt like a rejected script from satire The Thick Of It, and just seemed to reinforce the general lack of confidence his premiership inspires.
The pound is excessively weak, and Britain is about the only country in Europe that is yet to emerge from recession. Inflation may be low, but unemployment is steadily rising, and with banks collapsing, redundancies and last year’s real estate crash, folks fear for their futures. This has led to the rise of the staycation – a holiday in the only country where a £ is still worth a £. For tourists coming to Britain, the cheap pound is great news. But once they arrive, they may find things a little more difficult. Ongoing upgrading of technical systems on the London Underground is seeing widespread line closures, particularly at weekends, making the city damn hard to get around. Next year we are promised further closures and huge fare rises, as well as a general reduction in buses and late night tube services.
But what will the relatively low value of the currency mean to traditional Aussie backpackers? Why work in the UK for pounds when Euros are available to earn in Ireland and throughout Europe? The money they save here will no longer be that nest egg for when they return home, nor will it go far in those European escapes. Meanwhile you may find it tempting to internet shop while prices for Australian consumers are so comparatively low, but with the recent rolling strike action by Royal Mail employees, who knows when your purchases may arrive? I ask a local postie if he thinks the current strike action is just handing the government over to the Tories. As far as he’s concerned, that battle’s already lost, and the only hope of a continuing living wage for postal staff is industrial action now.
The parallels with the winter of discontent and the Britain Isn’t Working campaign which led to the election of Thatcher and all that followed are striking. The only thing missing is the power blackouts (which, we are told will come in the next few decades unless a lot more nuclear power plants are built). This climate of fear is leading to a rise in popularity of far right groups, perhaps most visibly by the British National Party (BNP), which was the centre of a recent furore when invited to appear on flagship current affairs show Question Time. Even those tabloids which make it their passing trade to engender distrust and fear, pilloried BNP leader Nick Griffin on their front pages, thus giving him the chance to claim bias and attempting a form of martyrdom. Yet selecting such a specific target misses a bigger picture – the empty promise of a return to a nostalgic world which never actually existed.
The daily news is filled with stories of random acts of senseless violence, and am saddened as I watch things slide. Meanwhile, out to the east, the building of the facilities for the 2012 London Olympics continues regardless.
© James McGalliard 2009
First published Inpress, Melbourne on 11 November 2009
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here
Overhead there’s an explosion every few seconds as rockets and mortars light up the night skies. It feels like a siege is underway, and the view outside is reminiscent of the CNN footage at the beginning of the 1991 Gulf War. But the barrage is actually the height of the annual firework season; where every man sets something alight, and his every dog (or cat) hides behind the sofa. While Guy Fawkes Night can be seen as a celebration of over 400 years of religious persecution (certainly more traditional events, such as Lewes, centre on anti-Popery), for me it serves to illustrate an ongoing conflict between the forces of reform and reactionary change which lie at the heart of a conflicted nation.
Remembrance Sunday this year saw attention focused on current British military actions, particularly those in Afghanistan. As the death toll (in hostile actions there) passed 200, it came to light that Prime Minister Gordon Brown had misspelled the surname of one of the fallen in his handwritten condolence letter to the soldier’s mother. It could be argued that this was a failing of his support staff by not noticing that their partially sighted boss had confused ‘m’ and ‘n’, but instead the whole thing felt like a rejected script from satire The Thick Of It, and just seemed to reinforce the general lack of confidence his premiership inspires.
The pound is excessively weak, and Britain is about the only country in Europe that is yet to emerge from recession. Inflation may be low, but unemployment is steadily rising, and with banks collapsing, redundancies and last year’s real estate crash, folks fear for their futures. This has led to the rise of the staycation – a holiday in the only country where a £ is still worth a £. For tourists coming to Britain, the cheap pound is great news. But once they arrive, they may find things a little more difficult. Ongoing upgrading of technical systems on the London Underground is seeing widespread line closures, particularly at weekends, making the city damn hard to get around. Next year we are promised further closures and huge fare rises, as well as a general reduction in buses and late night tube services.
But what will the relatively low value of the currency mean to traditional Aussie backpackers? Why work in the UK for pounds when Euros are available to earn in Ireland and throughout Europe? The money they save here will no longer be that nest egg for when they return home, nor will it go far in those European escapes. Meanwhile you may find it tempting to internet shop while prices for Australian consumers are so comparatively low, but with the recent rolling strike action by Royal Mail employees, who knows when your purchases may arrive? I ask a local postie if he thinks the current strike action is just handing the government over to the Tories. As far as he’s concerned, that battle’s already lost, and the only hope of a continuing living wage for postal staff is industrial action now.
The parallels with the winter of discontent and the Britain Isn’t Working campaign which led to the election of Thatcher and all that followed are striking. The only thing missing is the power blackouts (which, we are told will come in the next few decades unless a lot more nuclear power plants are built). This climate of fear is leading to a rise in popularity of far right groups, perhaps most visibly by the British National Party (BNP), which was the centre of a recent furore when invited to appear on flagship current affairs show Question Time. Even those tabloids which make it their passing trade to engender distrust and fear, pilloried BNP leader Nick Griffin on their front pages, thus giving him the chance to claim bias and attempting a form of martyrdom. Yet selecting such a specific target misses a bigger picture – the empty promise of a return to a nostalgic world which never actually existed.
The daily news is filled with stories of random acts of senseless violence, and am saddened as I watch things slide. Meanwhile, out to the east, the building of the facilities for the 2012 London Olympics continues regardless.
© James McGalliard 2009
Wednesday, 16 June 2004
Flying The Flag
London Fields # 2
First published Inpress, Melbourne on 16 June 2004
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here
“Mixing pop and politics, they ask me what the use is”
More than ever, national identity has become a key issue in the UK today. In the lead up to Euro 2004, there are St George’s cross flags EVERYWHERE – pubs, fronts of houses, flying from cars. This ties into the debate over the call for official recognition of St George’s Day. But who was St George? No-one can be sure of any facts, but it appears England’s patron saint was born in Turkey in the third century, lived in Palestine and fought in the Roman army.
In a strange way the debate can be seen in recent events at XFM, where Breakfast DJ Christian O'Connell decided to put out his own football song, inspired by the rumour that the Football Association [FA] were going to have Blazing Squad record the official anthem. A competition ensued where listeners submitted songs for approval. The winner was ‘Born In England’, by The Wheatleys. Under the moniker of Twisted X, this was re-recorded featuring Bernard Butler, members of Delays, The Libertines and Supergrass, as well as 500 listeners of the Breakfast Show, with profits to go to the charity ‘Help a Local Child’.
XFM was hoping to get the FA’s official sanction for their song. The FA wouldn’t grant it, and released a new version of The Farm’s 'All Together Now'. So how does all this tie in? Well, personally, I think that the FA were wary of being seen to support a song that could be taken as a nationalist anthem at a time when the BNP are trying to make their presence felt. Now, I’m not for a second suggesting that ‘Born In England’ was guilty of any such thing; yet people are terrified of being misconstrued in a time of mistrust and doubt. It’s these very sentiments that feed the paranoia that are a part of the Little Britain mentality, and used by anti-European fearmongers.
It’s worth relating the story of the Unity Festival, part of the ongoing campaign by the Anti-Nazi League. Love Music Hate Racism was due to be a free event held in Finsbury Park two weeks ago, headlined by The Libertines. When Police then insisted that a fence be placed around the area; this made the event financially unfeasible, forcing it to be scaled down and moved indoors to the Hammersmith Apollo. To cover their new costs, they then needed a minimum donation of £5 per person to pay venue hire costs. Then, with Pete Doherty in rehab in France, the whole thing fell though, and had to be cancelled.
With events like this being buried, and then disappearing, most people I know did felt that they had to bother to vote this time around. With non-compulsory voting, the turn-up was around 36% - still this was amongst the best in Europe. The thing was that their votes were always against something; the majority of people I spoke to just wanted the BNP to be stomped on, but also to register their feelings over the continuing situation in Iraq.
In May, Morrissey returned to the charts singing
In case you’re wondering, here are the final scores:
Charts: “Born In England” at #9, “All Together Now” at # 5, “Come On England” at # 2
Euro 2004: France 2 England 1
Vote 2004: BNP 5%, UKIP 17.7 % {9 % gain}
© James McGalliard 2004
First published Inpress, Melbourne on 16 June 2004
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here
“Mixing pop and politics, they ask me what the use is”
Billy Bragg – Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards
It wasn’t until I’d been living here a while that I came to appreciate the differences between England and Britain. Yet the question of nationality has been fuelling debates for months, and couldn’t have been more apparent over the last few weeks. Is a political awakening of the masses behind this sea change? Partially. It’s a response to Iraq, the rise of the British National Party [BNP – think of a nastier One Nation] and the build up to the Euro 2004 Football Tournament.More than ever, national identity has become a key issue in the UK today. In the lead up to Euro 2004, there are St George’s cross flags EVERYWHERE – pubs, fronts of houses, flying from cars. This ties into the debate over the call for official recognition of St George’s Day. But who was St George? No-one can be sure of any facts, but it appears England’s patron saint was born in Turkey in the third century, lived in Palestine and fought in the Roman army.
In a strange way the debate can be seen in recent events at XFM, where Breakfast DJ Christian O'Connell decided to put out his own football song, inspired by the rumour that the Football Association [FA] were going to have Blazing Squad record the official anthem. A competition ensued where listeners submitted songs for approval. The winner was ‘Born In England’, by The Wheatleys. Under the moniker of Twisted X, this was re-recorded featuring Bernard Butler, members of Delays, The Libertines and Supergrass, as well as 500 listeners of the Breakfast Show, with profits to go to the charity ‘Help a Local Child’.
XFM was hoping to get the FA’s official sanction for their song. The FA wouldn’t grant it, and released a new version of The Farm’s 'All Together Now'. So how does all this tie in? Well, personally, I think that the FA were wary of being seen to support a song that could be taken as a nationalist anthem at a time when the BNP are trying to make their presence felt. Now, I’m not for a second suggesting that ‘Born In England’ was guilty of any such thing; yet people are terrified of being misconstrued in a time of mistrust and doubt. It’s these very sentiments that feed the paranoia that are a part of the Little Britain mentality, and used by anti-European fearmongers.
It’s worth relating the story of the Unity Festival, part of the ongoing campaign by the Anti-Nazi League. Love Music Hate Racism was due to be a free event held in Finsbury Park two weeks ago, headlined by The Libertines. When Police then insisted that a fence be placed around the area; this made the event financially unfeasible, forcing it to be scaled down and moved indoors to the Hammersmith Apollo. To cover their new costs, they then needed a minimum donation of £5 per person to pay venue hire costs. Then, with Pete Doherty in rehab in France, the whole thing fell though, and had to be cancelled.
With events like this being buried, and then disappearing, most people I know did felt that they had to bother to vote this time around. With non-compulsory voting, the turn-up was around 36% - still this was amongst the best in Europe. The thing was that their votes were always against something; the majority of people I spoke to just wanted the BNP to be stomped on, but also to register their feelings over the continuing situation in Iraq.
In May, Morrissey returned to the charts singing
“I’ve been dreaming of a time when to be English is not to be banefulThen last weekend in Dublin he commented on the death of Ronald Reagan, saying that the wrong President had died. He may well find that the Americans are far less tolerant of criticism of their country, than is the case with the UK’s reaction to his mythical Little Britain sentiments that he writes of from his Hollywood home.
To be standing by the flag not feeling shameful, racist or partial”
In case you’re wondering, here are the final scores:
Charts: “Born In England” at #9, “All Together Now” at # 5, “Come On England” at # 2
Euro 2004: France 2 England 1
Vote 2004: BNP 5%, UKIP 17.7 % {9 % gain}
© James McGalliard 2004
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