ALB
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Our candidates were invited to put over our/their case in 30 seconds. Here's three who took up the offer (filmed at Head Office over Conference using the same basic text):https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SZTmCcxrCQEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=btxMpZ3c63Ahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=H5L2njvcaQ4
gnome wrote:BTW, an email has been sent to the organisers of the Botley hustings advising of them of their error in describing us as the SWPGB.Yes of course. That was done straightaway.
Oh dear! Now we're the SWP:http://botleyhinksey.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Which-way-to-vote.pdfNot as bad as last night, at a hustings in the Marston part of Oxford, where our candidate was introduced as from the "National Socialist Party". Whatever the nostalgics here for using the full name all the time might think, the arguments for calling ourselves (except in legal, historial and ceremonial contexts) the Socialist Party are just as valid today as they were when the party voted for this at the end of the 1980s. "Great Britain" does have natiinalistic connotations, whatever people say.Apart from that the hustings was one of the best as the candidates were allowed five minutes to make their case and the questions were about world rather than parochial affairs (despite being in a church — packed with 80 people, no doubt more than they get on a Sunday).Another two this evening, one at Oxford Brookes University and the other in the Guildhall in Abingdon.
And here's what happened next ….http://www.marxist.net/namechange/mainframe.htm
Steve has posted this on the North East branch section but it's of general relevance too (including the exchange of comments):http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/election2015/north_east_election_news/12881415.Breaking_down_the_stereotypes/?action=success#comments
robbo203 wrote:I don't know if Jeremy Rifkin's ideas have been discussed on this forum. He is a bestselling futurist writer somewhat in the style of Alvin Toffler and has written numerous books the most recent one being The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism (NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).Actually, there was a bit of a discussion on this here about a year ago:http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/zero-marginal-cost-society
Another hustings last night in Oxford, this time in Cowley in Oxford East. These are becoming run-of-the-mill affairs now with some of the candidates making the same speeches, that is, those who turn up themselves and don't just send a representative. We've never seen either the LibDem or Tory candidates (the Tory is vice-chair of nextdoor Cherwell council). We did see the Independent candidate, Artwell, this time wearing his controversial golliwog (see Daily Mail report here). He is calling for "Interest Free Loans from the Banks to the Treasury to End Austerity and Bring Us Prosperity" as a payback for having been bailed out. He doesn't explain where the banks are to get this money from but is probably one of those who mistakenly think that banks can simply create money out of thin air. Which they can't, one reason why his plan won't work or even get off the ground. But his is only slightly less realistic than those of the other parties who think they can make the capitalist economy operate for the benefit of all.Before the meeting we held a stall at the nearby Cowley shopping centre and distributed a few hundred leaflets, also to the 50 people at the hustings.
He's definitely not standing for Kensington:https://yournextmp.com/upload_document/584/It's against the law to stand in two places, so (assuming that he's not that much of a firebrand anarchist as to break the law here and risk going to prison for perjury), we must assume that he's only standing in Lewisham West & Penge.
He must have decided to stand at the last moment since he doesn't include this constituency in those he lists in that interview. Maybe there are others too? We'll have to wait for the final list of all candidates everywhere.
As predictable (and predicted) Class War are only standing 9 candidates in the end:http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/election-2015-meet-class-war-party-standing-because-all-other-candidates-are-scum-1495040Ian Bone is not even standing himself but here's some of what he says:
Quote:As a party, what are your top three priorities?Mansion tax, 50%. Abolition of public schools. And double all benefits.Okay… Could you explain why you've chosen those things?We want to make the rich pay rather than the poor pay for austerity. So unlike all the other parties who are running scare stories on benefits, we'd double all benefits including pensions. A 50% mansion tax would go hand in hand with a 90% top rate income tax, and that would pay for improved social services, affordable housing and a great increase in benefits for working class people.It's not clear whether he is (a) being serious; (b) taking the piss out of the trots and their extravagant demands; or (c) trying to be like the Monster Raving Looney Party.Whichever, I don't think he succeeds in any of them.
SocialistPunk wrote:I was wondering if any examples exist to show that tax cuts for the working class lead to direct wage reductions. Examples of this would be very helpful in explaining this idea, as simply saying it without any examples proves little.The situation is complicated by the fact that, with inflation, nominal wages are rising along with other prices while income tax levels remain fixed. These are eventually raised, allowing the government to claim that it has reduced taxes whereas in fact it is merely restoring a previous position. Also, the changes in tax levels are not nearly as high as those mentioned in the article you are quoted from (high figures being used to simplify the maths).So, what we're talking about is not so much a cut in nominal wages but these still rising but not as much as the general price level.For instance, I got an email from my local LibDem candidate a couple of days ago, which says:
Quote:An £825 tax cut for 53,100 local people because the Lib Dems have raised the 'personal allowance'This week, the personal allowance went up again to £10,600. This is £4000 higher than under Labour in 2010, representing a tax cut since then of £825 for 53,100 tax payers in Richmond Park (and 27 million people across the country). In addition, the 3,800 lowest paid workers in our constituency have been taken out of paying income tax altogether thanks to this Lib Dem change to our tax system.A month from now, the country goes to the polls again. And the Lib Dems have a clear message on tax cuts for working people: we want to go further. We want to raise the personal allowance again, this time to £12,500. This is a significant level because it would mean that no one on the minimum wage would pay income tax.What they are saying is that if the personal allowance had remained at its 2010 level of £6400 people would be paying £825 more tax today. Not quite the same thing as an actual cut in tax paid. What they don't say either is that the general price level has risen almost 12% since then, so £825 today is not the same in real terms as £825 in 2010. In any event, it is unlikely that the level would have remained at £6400.Talking of the minumum wage, the Labour Party has promised to increase it to £8 an hour by 2020.from its present £6.50 an hour. With a continually rising general price level over the next 5 years it will probably be near that level by then anyway. It certainly won't amount to a real increase of 23%.
ALB wrote:Our candidate in Oxford East was not invited to a hustings in Headington organised by the local churches. This was in effect a selective hustings as only 5 of the 9 declared candidates were invited, the fig-leaf selection criteria being parties which had had MPs.Comment received from someone who stayed for the whole meeting:
Quote:It was a complete farce, I'm so sorry I wasted your time by telling you about it.The chair was a Labour Party member and made sure he didn't give Artwell and James any chance to speak.There were only two candidates and three substitutes and they'd all rehearsed endless platitudes.Ten candidates in Vauxhall. Besides the Whigs and Pirates there's also the Cannabis party:http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/ec-vauxhall-candidates-and-notice-of-poll-2015.pdf
