I wouldn't build an entire country's economy on one commodity which fluctuates as much as oil, and nor on which would I choose my government.
After much consideration and also a bit of wishful thinking from my good self, I have come to the conclusion that Labour worrying about the next election is the last thing we should be doing.
I took the liberty of looking up some stats on the SNP's success in recent years. Obviously the most recent breakthrough in the polls has been the fact that voting intentions indicated an SNP lead over Labour (YouGov for Daily Telegraph, 33% to 29%). While it was rather... emm.... 'annoying'... it also did just remind me how short term polls can be. Labour were of course ahead in Scottish Westminster voting intentions a year ago (YouGov for Sunday Times, 40% to 31%), and we had strong long-term sustainable policies which weren't as 'headline grabbing'. They were tougher and less glamorous, and were not strategically put in place to serve another purpose.
This boom and potential bust of the polls made me feel this was symbolic of the politics each party represents.
SNP= like a pop song- catchy, cheap and cheerful. Like your sister's Spice Girls CD you listen to when she's not in. (Or is that just me...?)
Labour= we actually built schools and hospitals. It wasn't as catchy and took longer, but we did it because we didn't just have one political aim. Social justice is like walking around the world- you never come to the end, even if you have to go back to the beginning.
The polls are up for the SNP, but their politics is like the commodity they talk too much about- oil. It is finite and is completely unsustainable. I wouldn't rest a whole economy on any one thing as unstable as oil, in the same way I wouldn't leave a pop song on repeat, even if it's good to listen to once in a while.
Yesterday my friend Carla had a moan to me about no schools being rebuilt.
The political stagnation we're living in will catch up with the SNP sooner or later. The boom and bust politics will make way for a renewed Labour Party of stability and growth.
I just pray that day comes before a referendum on independence.
7 comments:
I have to hand it to you Matt - a Labourite that still has the brass neck to mention the words "boom" and "bust" in the same sentence.
I'm sad though to see that you exhibit that all too familiar Scottish Labour trait of thinking power is your natural right, and the lemmings will automatically come flocking back when Salmond's Pied Piper act fades.
I note that you have yet to express any preference for a leadership candidate. I admit they are a fairly uninspiring bunch, but I can't help thinking that your blogging time would be better spent in some actual thought and reflection on the direction of your party - rather than the comfort blanket of another dig at Salmond/the SNP. Or are you waiting to see which bandwagon to jump on?
And finally, if the SNP are akin to the commodity of oil, does that make Labour akin to its beloved nuclear power - ruinously expensive, potentially dangerous, and if you put the wrong guy in charge it takes years for someone else to clean up the mess?
"we did it because we didn't just have one political aim".
I'm not an SNP hack so you can't tar me with that brush, but you can't really be so blind as a party to use such a line and mean it.
The SNP, yes, have one very significant and important to them, aim, aspiration, target, whatever you want to call it. But securing cheaper energy costs for all the public sector - that's separate to their aim of independence, it's good governance.
ALL the day to day matters of Governemnt that they deal with, Health, Justice, Housing etc, these are not conducted purely on the basis of 'This is our vision for independence'.
You really think when they talk about ASBOs, it's in the context of independence as that's all a Nat can think about?
Ridiculous words Matt. Even if they lost the referendum, are you sure Labour aren't just so worried about the possibility that SNP may win even then?
And Labour themselves only have one aim...WINNING. Not winning with the right policies, not winning by inspiring people by their talent, skill and leadership, but winning at all costs, including a union with the Tories?
Desparation smacks there of.
Professional,
I can't stand people who believe that power is their natural right. I don't need to remind you that it's something people have to work very long and hard for, and is no 'end' in itself, but indeed only the beginning of the change and opportunity you want to bring people.
As for leadership... emm.... not sure... I will let you know when I've made up my mind.
When you say 'blogging time would be better spent on some actual reflection', you obviously don't get what I am saying. It is absolutely right to criticise the SNP, and I will continue to do it, because they are in power.
Are you telling me that criticising the opposition is more worthwhile than criticising the government???
In that case, I think you better rethink what you blog.
Politicical Disuasion.
I believe there have been a range of policies introduced by the SNP to make independence more appealing, not because it's the right thing to do in it's own right.
Let me give an example- council tax freeze.
Cut tax and then cut front line services. What's louder?- the voice of the masses paying council tax, or the voice of those families who every week go to the Dimentia project in Edinburgh to get a bit of respite? Because their funding has been cut.
The more bloggers go on about politics, the more I am convinced of the values and fundamental policies of the Labour Party.
Keep it up!
Are you telling me that criticising the opposition is more worthwhile than criticising the government???
No - I'm telling you that if you have any serious aspirations to be the government again then it's not enough just to Nat-bash for the next three years.
Too many Labour people are making the arrogant presumption that as soon as people get a wee bit bored of the SNP they'll come trooping back to an unreconstucted Labour party. I dare say some might, but the awful truth for Labour is that once the "Vote Red" habit is broken once, it's a great deal easier to break it again. That's why "minor" parties throw so much energy into election campaigns they cannot possibly win - they know that once a voter has supported them once, they'll be more inclined to again in the future. It's a long game that has to be played.
For the first time in decades Labour might actually have to earn support in Scotland, rather than being able to take it for granted. That can only be a good thing for everyone.
This leadership election is a time when Scottish Labour really should be asking itself some serious questions about where it has all gone wrong, and how best to put it right - yet I struggle to find any mention of the leadership election in your blog at all. When you do talk about what you think you stand for it's generally in the most bland and trite phrases ("Stability and growth")
Care to show me a party in Britain that stands for instability and recession?
It's one thing to love your party and believe in it, but the danger then is that you love it in the same way a toddler loves his mother - unconditionally and uncritically. Real, grown up, love is sometimes about acknowledging where there are flaws and striving to put them right. It looks a lot like it will take another election defeat or two before Labour makes that leap.
Professional,
I have made many critizisms of the Labour Patry in my blog, and am more than aware of the fact that whatever we do is going to get bad publicity, which isn't the Labour Party's fault.
I have not simply 'Nat-bashed', and have critizised the fact that the Labour Party has without presenting its own case. But this is our leadership election, a chance of not only selecting a new leader but of having a debate in what our party should stand for and do.
It's much easier to be a Nat than Labour. What you aim to do is simplistic and uncoditional. The Labour Party is not the same. It requires thought and process.
Don't think I've loved this party unconditionally, because I don't.
The problem we face as a Party, and indeed as a nation, is that although it's got nothing to do with us, the worse we do in the polls, the more likely it is that the SNP will win a vote on independence.
Usually losing means the other team wins. But this time round, and in the next few years to come, the future of our country for generations to come is at risk. That's what I was trying to put forward. It's not just 'four more years' that's at stake here, it's a lot more important.
I wish it didn't matter about the state of the Labour Party when it comes to independence, but it does, and an independent Scotland will damage all of us for years and years to come.
It's much easier to be a Nat than Labour. What you aim to do is simplistic and unconditional. The Labour Party is not the same. It requires thought and process.
There you go again making the (incorrect) assumption that I'm a Nat.
Then you compound that with the breathtakingly arrogant notion that Nats are simple wee souls who don't need to burden themselves too much with thought, unlike the intellectual giants of Labour.
Exactly whose fault is it then if Labour gets bad publicity? You're surely not trying to make out that the Scottish media is anti-Labour/pro-SNP?
Personally I'm undecided on independence, but I'm not scared of it if it comes. Personally I can't see how a referendum could be won in the next decade or so, no matter how badly Labour performs. If the SNP get their referendum bill through (and who knows what the Labour policy is on that subject this week?) then they will certainly lose the vote and I would suspect Salmond himself knows that full well.
What Salmond has done brilliantly is to disconnect the link in the publics mind between voting SNP and automatic independence, and that's a real problem for Labour going forward - particularly after a lost referendum for the SNP. I've argued before that far from destroying the SNP, a lost referendum could actually make it much stronger electorally - as it would remove altogether the "fear" of independence for a generation.
That fear factor has already largely gone and a minority SNP government has shown themselves to be at least as competent as the Labour/LD coalition ever were. I'm just not convinced that Labour has yet to come to terms with that reality.
Professional,
Do you have your own blog?
I'd like to read it- you seem to spend quite a lot of time on mine...
Now I don't think that all Nats are 'simple wee souls'. Just most of them.
Feel free to wish me a happy birthday at any point...
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