Dear Mrs May..

SKWAWKBOX

Dear Mrs May,

Jeremy Corbyn and yourself have agreed to halt campaigning for the General Election today as a mark of respect for the victims of last night’s bombing. In solidarity, the SKWAWKBOX will do the same for today.

But this is not a political post, except inasmuch as everything is politics. Anyone who reads this blog will know what opinion it holds of your politics and behaviour. No, this is just a human post, with a few human questions that won’t wait.

Dear Mrs May, why did we have to wait almost four hours for a statement from you about the events last night at the Manchester arena. We know when a tragedy like this happens there are meetings, and briefings, and chaos. But people were worried, afraid, sad – and not a word from you. For almost four hours. Not even a tweet from Number 10. Conservative…

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Hammond’s ‘Abbott moment’ – but far worse (audio)

SKWAWKBOX

It’s not hard to understand why the Tories daren’t debate. Apply the slightest pressure and they go into full-blown meltdown.

This morning, on Radio 4’s Today programme, John Humphrys challenged Philip Hammond’s transparently false attack on Labour’s fully-costed manifesto – and Hammond went into a funk so profound that, while it’s tempting to call it his ‘Abbott moment’, it would be more fair to consider renaming Abbott’s interview to her ‘Hammond moment’.

Easily confused: Philip Hammond

Hammond attempted to portray Labour’s spending commitments as having a ‘£58 billion hole’ in them, but Humphrys pointed out that to reach that conclusion he had to conflate Labour’s ‘running costs’ and investment plans – which is something Hammond and his party don’t do about their own spending.

Hammond started to stammer – clearly with no clue how to proceed when things weren’t going to script except to fall back on his pre-scripted attack…

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Did you know homeless people can register to vote? Here’s how. #GE17

Even I did not know this and was under the believe you had to have a fixed UK Address so our homeless citizens which include those living in temporary accommodation have a direct route to justice by heading straight to councils and ensuring they are registered and vote Labour Party as it is the best chance right now of permanent residency.

SKWAWKBOX

You might not have known it, but homeless people can register to vote. The SKWAWKBOX didn’t until contacted by the @Homeless_vote Twitter account with a request to publicise their drive to get as many homeless people to register as possible.

The form for registering to vote if you have no fixed address

It’s vital, as disenfranchisement is far more widespread among homeless people. And if you are a Labour supporter, you have even more reason to support the push, as it’s unlikely many homeless people – who have increased vastly in number under the Tories (over 120,000children were homeless last Christmas) – will vote for the Conservatives.

As the government’s site on voter registration makes clear, homelessness is no bar to the right to vote:

Who is eligible to register to vote? You can register to vote in the UK if you are:
• resident (usually live in the…

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Huge Tax increases? Don’t believe the lies

As the title of this blog says Don’t believe the lies of Press and Media and remember they have a motive to spread such dogma and downright bullshit.

As many readers of my blog know I am a Stroke Survivor but even I have the foresight and inclination to see what is going on here, yes their will be some rises in taxation that we can understand and welcome for the changes this nation desperately needs to level the balance of inequality, Justice and bring about an end to austerity in which so many citizens have suffered.

But the very important point I wish to get across is this, the efficiency saving factor that none of the press and media talk about we all know that austerity and failed Tory policy and legislation has cost dear and continues to do so until the changes that are needed are enacted.

This wastage will be factored into Labour costings making many of there policies cost neutral they could even go as far as making a saving over what our Govt is spending.

Ill take one department as an example as it has affected me greatly and that is the Department of Works and Pensions it has over the past 7 years had a catalogue of wasteful expenditure from needless tribunals of some of the most disabled and ill citizens a work capability assessment that is just not working and costing a fortune in wasteful contracts a failed universal credit programme that is still not fully implemented and was subject to not one but two failed I.T Systems that cost a mint.

This wastefulness is spread across all departments and needs stopping so that the money can be properly and thoughtfully used in better ways.

So whilst corporations will be asked to pay a bit more lets remember the billions they have not paid and the benefits they will get in paying a bit more surely a skilled workforce brought about via free education for all is a price work paying in the longer term.

Surely those earning over £80 thousand per annum and of which some of these people will not even feel it due to the astronomical amounts they earn is a price worth paying due to the better services they will get from it.

We have got it into our heads that taxation is bad when in fact I see it as a good and part of being a part of society and sharing to bring about the well financed services we all enjoy day in day out.

The press and media as far as I am concerned need a good kicking as they too should bloody well pay there dues in taxation and why they report so anti over Jeremy Corbyn’s Manifesto.

We have a great chance in front of us which only comes around once ever 5 years just one day when power transfers to us lets not waste it and use it to good effect just as labour party will on policy and legislation for the many and not the few.

Tory media just won #GE17 – for Labour – with leaked #LabourManifesto

SKWAWKBOX

So, just as Corbyn’s team were playing an extremely clever game by making the media wait for an official announcement on tuition fees and letting speculation build anticipation, someone at Labour HQ decided to leak Labour’s entire manifesto.

Well, not quite. What they released is an early draft, but one which contains the bones of Labour’s vision under Corbyn.

And the right-wing media have just committed a colossal mistake – shot themselves in the foot, in fact – by going huge on it.

Because it’s fantastic.

It captures the scale and boldness of vision that has crowds like this turning out even in Tory cities:

Of course the Torygraph (T) and the right-wing ticks still embedded in Labour are sneering at the document and assuming it will be damaging – bears s**t in the woods, it’s what they do.

But all they’re achieving is showing how incredibly out of…

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Jury decided this Labour MP’s election expense charges. Why NOT Tories? #GE17

An absolute disgrace of justice

SKWAWKBOX

As the SKWAWKBOX covered this morning, the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) has decided not to prosecute some 28 Tory MPs, candidates and their election agents over alleged breaches of electoral law on local campaign spending. A spokesperson for the CPS apparently told the BBC that, for charges to be brought, it had to be proven beyond reasonable doubt that those accused knew they were signing false declarations – and that because they were supposedly told that the expenses were national expenses, this was impossible.

This is deeply problematic for at least two reasons. Firstly, it’s not the job of the CPS to decide ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’. The CPS’ ‘Code for Crown Prosecutors‘ does not give ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ as a basis for the decision to prosecute. It gives ‘more likely than not’:

‘Beyond reasonable doubt’ is for a jury to decide, not the CPS. The CPS has…

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#Torycampaignfraud: no prosecutions, no surprise

SKWAWKBOX

The CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) has announced that no charges will be brought in all but one of the cases of Tory election expense fraud. This should surprise no one – it was always likely to be an Establishment-friendly decision, especially once Theresa May called a General Election.

That doesn’t make it any less scandalous. The Tories have already been fined the maximum £70,000 that the Electoral Commission (EC) could impose – and the head of the EC said she would have fined them far more had she been able to – so the fact that false declarations were made is established.

It is what it is – every Labour supporter knows that we are fighting an Establishment that tends to close ranks to protect itself.

We must make sure the electorate doesn’t mistake the decision not to prosecute as a declaration of innocence – the EC fine is proof…

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Energy Huff and Puff

We have all heard the Huff and Puff from various political parties of what they will do to curb the steep Energy Prices, it usually comes to the fore around election time and this General Election is no exception with the Tories proposing a price cap.

Given that the Tories are the party of Business and in particular Big Business Corporations we can safely take this promise with a pinch of salt as in true Tory form it will amount to nothing that you can guarantee.

So lets move on and discuss what is actually need for the energy market to operate fairly with transparency and restore the trust in the market that has been lost.

It does not need half baked prices freezes or price caps, this are just temporary measures and will not go far enough, what it actually needs is a wide spread investigation and review across all energy types including nuclear and green.

It needs not be an investigation of just the suppliers as we always get from Tories the none listening party but consumers too including the issues they face in paying, shoddy service and those caught in the prepay trap who are penalised for paying early.

We have all heard the great answer is to shop around and switch but even that may not necessarily get you the best price, indeed those on prepay do not have these options strange that, given they are early payers but lets remember price comparison sites do not always give you best price as they are their to make money too so will promote the suppliers who pay them best commissions and bonuses.

This is all why I believe the correct answer is hand the whole shoddy energy market over to select committee and let them carry out the far reaching investigation and review the market desperately needs even if it takes a year to do as I for one will absorb prices for a year to get the right end result and an energy market that can be trusted and truly works for all.

This is the approach the Labour Party must take and blow Tory party half baked ideas out of the water.

Political polls and propaganda: the writing on the wall

Politics and Insights

The Mail on Sunday columnist, christian and Burkean Conservative, Peter Hitchens, has said:

“Opinion polls are a device for influencing public opinion, not a device for measuring it. Crack that, and it all makes sense.”

I don’t agree with Hitchens on very much, but he is right about this.

In his book The Broken Compass, Hitchens informs us that opinion polls are actually a device for influencing public opinion. He says that the establishment and the media are responsible for this manipulation, based on the misuse of statistics. The overall purpose is to “bring about the thing it claims is already happening”. 

The author cites contemporary examples of the media attacking Gordon Brown and the “predicted” win of the Conservative Party at the 2010 general election, although Hitchens also described Brown, as a “dismal Marxoid“. Hitchens’ comments are based on his time as a reporter…

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