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For me, Ed Miliband's "A Better Future" party political broadcast mirrors his last ever hustings at Haverstock Hill
I remember Ed’s last ever hustings on September 5 2010 at Haverstock Hill, for his precise words that politics is not about being a technocrat or being a good manager. I think yesterday’s Conference speech at Manchester in 2012 proves that Ed can surprisingly confound his critics, but that he is genuine leader-material. Ed is concerned about doing the right things, not doing thing rights – Labour lost 5 million voters prior to 2015, and got 29% of the vote in 2010 (the worst performance for Labour since universal suffrage). I did actually vote for Ed, and Andy second. I had a nice chat with Andy on Monday at Manchester Town Hall after the Fabian Question Time Fringe, after Andy had answered my question (stating explicitly he would repeal the Health and Social Act 2012). I physically attended this meeting at Haverstock Hill Comprehensive School, and remember indeed speaking with Frank Dobson MP, Holborn and St Pancras.
Even Ed conceded in this talk that inequality was shocking under Labour’s tenure, and I remember mentioning the lack of coverage of this in Tony Blair’s autobiography in the photo session afterwards with Ed. Ed is incredibly charismatic in real life, and very interesting to talk to. He came across well in this hustings above, and in the conference speech yesterday. I fully support Ed’s ambition for vocational training, low pay, and inequality. Actually, if you listen carefully to this narrative Ed harshly criticises divides in UK, and even criticises the policy of tuition fees in 2010 (before they even went up). He even then goes to elaborate the markets in society, especially in higher education, and its limits in public services. This is of course a major strand in the political philosophy on “the public good” which Ed has shared with Prof Michael Sandel, lecturer of the seminal “Justice” course at Harvard. I genuinely think Ed has commenced a narrative about what sort of society we wish for, and here is the Labour’s Party Political Broadcast being shown tonight.
For me, Ed Miliband's "A Better Future" party political broadcast mirrors his last ever hustings at Haverstock Hill
I remember Ed’s last ever hustings on September 5 2010 at Haverstock Hill, for his precise words that politics is not about being a technocrat or being a good manager. I think yesterday’s Conference speech at Manchester in 2012 proves that Ed can surprisingly confound his critics, but that he is genuine leader-material. Ed is concerned about doing the right things, not doing thing rights – Labour lost 5 million voters prior to 2015, and got 29% of the vote in 2010 (the worst performance for Labour since universal suffrage). I did actually vote for Ed, and Andy second. I had a nice chat with Andy on Monday at Manchester Town Hall after the Fabian Question Time Fringe, after Andy had answered my question (stating explicitly he would repeal the Health and Social Act 2012). I physically attended this meeting at Haverstock Hill Comprehensive School, and remember indeed speaking with Frank Dobson MP, Holborn and St Pancras.
Even Ed conceded in this talk that inequality was shocking under Labour’s tenure, and I remember mentioning the lack of coverage of this in Tony Blair’s autobiography in the photo session afterwards with Ed. Ed is incredibly charismatic in real life, and very interesting to talk to. He came across well in this hustings above, and in the conference speech yesterday. I fully support Ed’s ambition for vocational training, low pay, and inequality. Actually, if you listen carefully to this narrative Ed harshly criticises divides in UK, and even criticises the policy of tuition fees in 2010 (before they even went up). He even then goes to elaborate the markets in society, especially in higher education, and its limits in public services. This is of course a major strand in the political philosophy on “the public good” which Ed has shared with Prof Michael Sandel, lecturer of the seminal “Justice” course at Harvard. I genuinely think Ed has commenced a narrative about what sort of society we wish for, and here is the Labour’s Party Political Broadcast being shown tonight.
I respect Tony Blair, but New Labour was wrong on economics
I respect Tony Blair much. Indeed, he won three impressive election victories for my Party. Indeed, I like him as a person. I find his account of his family in ‘The Journey’ very moving.
However, as Frank Dobson MP points out in the video below, Labour started to lose support in the early 2000s, long before the Iraq War. I am in two minds about Tony Blair’s path to power. I believe it was important that the public were on his side, and you need to have the genuine support of followers to be successfully in power in government rather than to be simply in office. On the other hand, having vivid memories of Thatcherism in his heyday, prior to the Poll Tax, I believe that a donkey could have beaten John Major in 1997. I’m only surprised he won in the first place, which is indeed a tribute to him and the Conservative Party.
However, I firmly believe that New Labour was wrong on economics. The field of behavioural economics provides that there are irrational customers, and that’s all ‘rather complicated’. I am not interested in getting bogged down in an erudite discussion of ‘Nudge’ at this point – I disagree with Nudge too, as it happens.
Whilst it is comforting to think of things in terms of the supply-demand graph, real economics provides that price, cost and value have different definitions in modern economics. Furthermore, the Nobel Prizes for economics in 2001 and 2002 respectively, with Joe Stiglitz and Dan Kahneman, offer a convincing argument for information asymmetry in decision-making and loss aversion in decision-making.
This is particularly relevant now when it is erroneous to compare apples with bananas in the NHS. It’s difficult to compare the costs and value of chronic dementia care with the cost of a hip operation, and it may be dangerous to leave this entirely in the hands of a free market which operates under law to maximise shareholder dividend. If I had to pay for the medical care for my six week coma due to meningitis in 2007, I would owe the private health company millions probably. I think we do need some sort of shared risk/insurance system, but the NHS currently is not paid out of National Insurance to my knowledge. The sooner the Blairites appreciate this the better – otherwise their exercise is being run by shabby marketing people who don’t even understand economics like good marketeers do.
Despite some low points, I am still very proud to be supporting Ed Miliband. I voted for Ed, and indeed this video is of Frank Dobson at his last ever hustings when he was campaigning to be leader of my/our Party. And yes, and I came top in the MBA in economics and marketing last year in case you’re wondering..
