And Stay Out

Jean-Pierre Djimbonge is one of those odd fellows who goes on holiday on his own. As a senior lecturer at a Congolese University he lives pretty well and travels to Europe once or twice a year.

Last month, he landed at Belfast airport as part of his tour of the UK. Eventhough he had all the necessary travel documents, those honourable men at the UK Border Agency cuffed him and threw him in a police cell. After a couple of days, without access to a lawyer, he was transferred by boat to Dungavel immigration centre in Scotland. Thence began a two-week journey to another detention establishment near Heathrow, onto another near Cambridge and then back up to Scotland.
UKBA allege he was planning on entering Eire illegally, a charge they later dropped. I'm not sure that is our business in any case, more for the Irish authorities. In any event, this casual brutality meeted out on this visitor to this country is a disgrace, borne of institutional racism.
Naturally we would condemn, out of hand, any country who treated a British citizen similarly. UKBA said without irony this was an "intelligence-led operation" and in the same breath referred to stopping the movement of "drugs and weapons" thereby smearing Mr Djimbonge's good name.

Unsuprisingly, the Immigration Agency feels it is struggling to get good PR these days and so over the summer embarked a series of roadshows (I'm not making this up). The problem, they perceived was the public didn't think they were being tough enough.

So UKBA set up several displays at county fairs across England where pensioners could learn what it felt like to be handcuffed, children were fingerprinted and whole familes locked into the cold steel of a detention vehicle. Although this may sound like a satirical sketch, but UKBA really believe the tyrannical and pitiless treatment of people can be treated like some attraction at a leisure park.

I am sure Mr Djimbonge will not be returning any time soon to enjoy this country's idea of hospitality and fun.

Nation Shall Rant Unto Nation

Rupert Murdoch's long telegraphed decision to transfer the allegiance of the Sun newspaper to the Conservative Party was not the death knell of Labour's chances of electoral victory. It was merely symptomatic of Labour's steep popular decline and Murdoch's huge projected ego.

Senior Labour figures tried to appear relaxed about the decision and doubted its significance but they didn't half go on about it. Alistair Campbell, on the Daily Politics, expressed the simple truism that newspapapers do not have the same clout they had even 15 years ago. Harriet Harman added, "The press does not decide who will govern this country. The people do."

It is undeniable the printed word holds less popular sway as digital communications have begun to revolutionise opinion forming. Newspapers are but one medium; the power bases are media groups like MGN and Associated but they are still owned by the same tyrants. If we look to US to see how the revolution is progressing, we are confronted with a chilling image of the future of news broadcasting.

Murdoch has a hugely powerful media group in Fox. Its US News channel has massive reach and has formed the main bulwark against Obama, exerting more opposition force than the entire Republican party.

It is a different kind of journalism; one where adherence to the truth is hardly the main consideration and sometimes a source of intense irritation. That old BBC hack, Richard Dimbleby (above) would have thought it was some kind of tawdry satire and could not possibly be considered news reporting.

Obama's progressive agenda has rolled over these celebrity broadcasters at Fox and they have screamed back in collective hysteria. Here is Fox favourite, Glenn Beck, reviewing with Bill O'Reilly his 'beyond-apoplexy' rebuff of a supporter of a public healthcare.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if3wVXSMw4M

Of course we don't have anything like this nonsense in UK. Broadly speaking BBC, ITN and Sky are fairly balanced and maintain journalistic integrity. But yet Murdoch appears to have persuaded Cameron of the need to break up this cosy cartel of news gathering and bring our own version of Fox News to these shores.

Tomorrow belongs to them.

So I'm Pleased to Announce...

In the early to mid '90s, when John Major's Government defined what a clapped-out administration looked like, Cabinet Ministers would save up 'juicy' policy announcements for their Party Conference speeches. Senior Labour figures, Prescott in particular, were scathing about this pointless attempt at titilating the public and were suitably dismissive of its likely effect on voting intentions.

Now we fast-forward 12-15 years, we find Labour playing exactly the same game. Brown's speech on Tuesday was a catalogue of tears; national care service, more child nurseries and help for single-mums. Some new policies, like electoral reform, had not even been discussed with the relevant Ministers. (It may have sounded initially progressive of him but Brown blew the only chance to lock the Tories out of power. Polly Toynbee in the Guardian summarised this gross error with her sparkling prose, "forever triangulating, his vapid promise of a referendum in the manifesto offering only AV, was as meaningless as he meant it to be. How bitterly Labour will come to regret this folly.")

Brown was obviously feeling pretty pumped about his policy anouncements. He did a round of interviews next morning (above) and felt he had earned the right to talk about the issues of his choice and which did not include his leadership, the allegiance of the Sun newspaper nor the inevitable public service cuts. Such is the fragility of his confidence, the PM began to interupt questions from Sian Williams (BBC) and Adam Boulton (Sky) when he didn't like their direction.

Even old Jim Hacker from Yes Minister could handle interviews better than this. Jim would have advised; ignore the question, answer your own, don't get rattled, if necessary put the interviewer down mildly and always show good humour. Brown then sealed his embarrassment when he tried to storm off, forgetting he was still electronically attached.

It seems likely Gordon will agree to the request to hold 1,2 or 3 Presidential style debates with Cameron and perhaps Clegg. He clearly feels it is policy and substance which count not presentation and soundbites. Well on TV with two minutes per question, slick superficiality looks favourite to triumph. I would never liken Cameron to Jack Kennedy but it's not hard to place sweaty old Gord into the guise of Nixon.

One can but hope he doesn't use the occassion to offer new policy bribes to the voters at the same time. Just don't bet on it.

I Don't Feel Your Pain

Andrew Marr's been in the trade of journalism for almost 30 years and certainly understands the nature of the 'news beast'. His interview with Gordon Brown yesterday, overlooking the shimmering English Channel from Brighton's Grand Hotel, was a mostly plodding affair. Then Andy switched suddenly from the grand picture of the economy, Brown's leadership and prospects for next year's election to a highly personal point.

"I wanted to ask about something everybody has been talking about in the Westminster village, he said pausing, "a lot of people in this country use prescription painkillers and pills to help them get through. Are you one of them?'

Beyond the word "no," Brown would not be drawn and waffled on about his rugby injury as if were the same point, on his eyesight, asked by Brian Williams of MSNBC last week. His refusal to even normalise the tone, by admitting the odd asprin, could be put down to Brown's notorious Presbytarian stiffness. But as the denials and counter-claims begin filing the blogosphere, the story begins to gain some little credence.

This news cycle is somewhat reminiscent of the Charles Kennedy's boozing rumours. So far there is no real evidence but all the early tracks point to Marr elucidating what many others daren't. But he also calculated his question would unleash a hundred different and very unhelpful phrases, as journalists sought to find new ways of saying the same thing.

"I'm not on drugs, says Gordon," was the Express's take. " Brown furiously denies popping pills," said the Sun. Curiously the Guardian switched from referring to painkillers to anti-depressants. Can one imagine Gordon taking Prozac?

Peter Mandelson put up a spirited defence on the GMTV sofa denying Gordon's "addiction." Of course, the best attack would be to demand Andrew Marr probes Davis Cameron about his drug use. Although his were illegal, at least Dave would able to say it was all in the distant past.

The Biter Bit

Any Government minister's improper action resulting in a £5,000 fine would usually be such a serious offence, there would be no debate about whether to resign or not - they would just get the bullet.

But our Attorney-General, Patricia Scotland, has survived in post because this huge fine is not tied to a criminal offence. Her minor misdemenour/appalling behaviour was to employ a cleaner for a few hours a week and not to photocopy her documentation.

When the Daily Mail uncovered the cleaner, Ms Tapui, was an illegal with a false passport, this oversight became a front-page story. Tories and Lib-Dems made miserable attempts to claim her untenability but when Nick Clegg was asked if it were possible he had employed an illegal himself, he just said, "of course." He rather shot his own fox with that remark.

It is only such a significant story because of this massive fine. The reason it is so ludicrously disproportionate to the 'offence' is Labour ministers' pandering to pressure from papers like the Daily Mail to be insanely tough on rules surrounding all migration.

Pat Scotland is a first rate AG, her decision to appeal against several judge's lenient sentences has really riled the old men in wigs. Her political antennae are not so acute; she may have been technically correct in saying the "administrative penalty was like the congestion charge, " in illustrating its legal difference to a criminal fine. But it allowed the same papers to portray her as aloof and unapolagetic.

Brown was quite right not to force her out, although it is rather disheartening to think his best decision recently is not to sack a highly competent minister.

I Warn You Not to Be Sick

Tory policy commitments are almost as rare as Gordon Brown jokes. But slowly Conservative thinking is emerging on various policy areas including education and defence. Rising star of the party, Daniel Hannan (left) Conservative MEP has proven to be an intellectual influence on various right-wing elements of the party through ideas set out in his book 'The Plan' which he penned with MP Douglas Carswell.

Hannan's articulate attack on Brown in the European Parliament was quite a Youtube hit among the Silver Surfers. But Danny rather urinated on his own slippers by appearing on Fox News in US and putting the boot into the NHS, calling it "a 60 year-old mistake" and claiming it commonplace for old people to starve to death on trolleys. Hannan's march to the front bench may have stalled a bit but his views on benefits are solidifying into Tory policy on decentralisation.

Under Danny's plan, the Conservative Sec of State for Work and Pensions would simply send to each County Council a lump sum for benefits and it would be up to them how they allocate it. There would no national framework or agreed minimums, benefits would be vulnerable to every prejudice against any particular group.

Senior Tory peer, Lord Hanningfield, said,"The cost of living is far higher in Essex, say, than it is in Cornwall, so people do not need the same level of benefit," he said. "And someone who is 17 does not need the same amount as someone who is 30."

How does he know? Levels of benefits are determined by a large amount of criteria depending on an individual's circumstances and so to be fair to all, is set centrally. One would assume Tories aren't expecting each county to establish its own standards and systems, thereby losing all economies of scale. Perhaps they are, Hannan/Carswell's book sources US as a shining example of how to cut benefits though decentralising from Federal to State level.

I hope it hasn't escaped David Cameron's notice but the UK does not have a federal system and counties do not have the same level of autonomy as American States. Clearly Hannan is something of a zealot. The fact that his crackpot ideas are gaining credence in the party should be a warning to all those who blithely wish for PM Cameron as it is simply, 'time for a change'.

Heal Thyself

The furore over President Obama's healthcare plans in the US has unexpectantly compelled the British public to make an objective view of our NHS. And it has been reassuring to see the overwelming response has been in defence of our non-discriminatory, free-at-the-point-of-use system.

The Insurance lobby in the US has established an effective propaganda programme unashamedly using maliciously false information about the NHS, such as anyone over 59 cannot get treatment for heart disease. The liberals made their usual mistake of thinking the arguments should be self-evident. They should be but that's not how American politics works. Sometimes the loudest guy wins the debate.

The healthcare row has re-energised the right, just at the point they were looking only relevant to gun-toting nuts and conspiracy loons. But their problem is they have to keep lieing and telling bigger lies. Sarah Palin ex-Governor of Alaska and prospective Republican candidate for 2012/6 said Obama's plan would include establishing 'death panels' where disability and infirmity would disqualify people from living any longer.

Fox News has been banging the drum for the (billion dollar profit) insurance companies simply because they detect some vulnerability for Obama. Sometimes it is difficult to remember these presenters of barefaced lies about healthcare reform actually claim to be journalists, offering a "fair and balanced" critique.

Glenn Beck (above) and Sean Hannity are the most rabid and hysterical of all Fox broadcasters. Beck has leapt in support of the Palin's preposterous and sickening assertions about nazism. Here he reads out quotes of people who have tenuous connections with the White House while simultaneously waving posters from 1930s Germany.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDUXl1W7aG8&feature=relate

Beck's has shouted long and hard about America having the "best health system in the world". Putting aside the 46 million with no coverage, there are also a million bankruptcies a year caused by their coverage running out. Beck himself underwent surgery in 2007 and made several features about how terrible the health system was, even for a millionaire like him.

Eventually Beck's huge gob tripped him up when he said, on a separate issue, Obama was a racist who held a "deep-seated hatred of white people." Several sponsors didn't take kindly to his insulting of the office of the President and withdrew their contracts with Fox. So it look like the skids are under Beck but only indirectly for what he actually said. As is often the case in the US, it is the buck which comes before integrity.