ID Cards fail

I'm not a lover of the Daily Mail, but their article today on how easy — and fast — is was to clone and write new data onto the supposedly 'unforgeable' national ID card is just scary. This is the ID card that the Labour Government insist is fully and absolutely secure. This is the ID card that the Labour Government insist will protect us all from terrorists. This is the ID card that the Labour Government insist will stop people accessing services they have no right to access. "Yeah, right."

Re-shuffle?

Surely, to be a reshuffle one must randomise the pack somewhat? I'd always understood that to be the meaning of the word. Anyway, leaving over half of your cabinet in the exact same positions as they were the day before can hardly be called a change, can it. Alistair Darling — stays as Chancellor
David Miliband — stays as Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw — stays as Justice Minister
Lord Mandelson — stays at Business
Ed Balls — stays at Schools
Ed Miliband — keeps with Climate
Shaun Woodward — remains at Northern Ireland
Jim Murphy — stays with Scotland

Brown's Mandate

Repeatedly one hears political commentators exclaiming that Gordon Brown has "no mandate" to be the Prime Minister given that he wasn't the leader of his party at the time of the General Election. A few moments ago William Hague said it again on a television interview on the BBC. Every time I hear this I want to scream out that people should really learn about the form of electoral democracy we have in this country. Unlike the USA or France, for example, we do not directly elect our political leader. We have representational democracy where each constituency elects a representative to the national parliament at Westminster. It is they who appoint a Prime Minister from amongst their number; usually the leader of the largest party. If that individual resigns — like Harold Wilson — or is removed by their colleagues — like Margaret Thatcher — their replacement needs no "new mandate from the country" as they were never elected by 'the country'. The only people who elect the PM are, in one sense, the electorate of their constituency which elected them to Parliament in the first place! Major, Callaghan, and Brown took over as PM by virtue of our political system and had every right to continue in post without 'getting permission' from anyone else, least of all a General election. And being the leader of one's party at the time of an election doesn't always mean getting the top the next day either. The former Greater London Council was a body elected in a similar manner to Westminster on the opposite side of the Thames, yet in the election on 7 May 1981 — which Labour, under the leadership of Andrew McIntosh narrowly won — saw the coming to power of Ken Livingstone as he challenged and beat McIntosh for the leadership the following day! So, whether we like the understudy taking the top job or not, they have the right, and duty, to do that job. Our system precludes any other option.

Is recycling a good thing?

Twenty years ago a political advert appeared on billboards around the UK which went on — allegedly — to win the election a year later for the Conservatives. Now, the BBC and others are reporting that accountants BDO Story Hayward have done some research for the TUC and reckon that one in every 56 UK businesses will fail this year, a 59% rise on 2008. Further, the British Chambers of Commerce last week suggested that UK unemployment could reach 3.2 million — or just over 10% of the workforce — by the second half of next year. I can't help wondering whether the Tories would do well to just recycle the old poster and not spend money on new advertising …