Following up on the housing scandal revealed by Cllr Mike Leddy last week, the Cabinet member for housing, John Lines has made a response.

“I will be the first to criticise the disgraceful allocations policy of the previous administration of which Cllr Leddy was part of, which gave someone leaving prison the same priority as someone leaving the armed forces. This is no longer the case. Cllr Leddy should hang his head in shame.”

The Stirrer had reported that Cllr Lines rubbished these claims.

However if you turn to the actual report here you will see that Leddy’s initial claims seem to be true.

Cllr Mike Leddy originally pointed out that: “If somebody is discharged from prison, they get 140 housing points and it was confirmed that this could be increased to 200 points at the discretion of a housing officer. An ex-serviceman coming out of the Forces starts at 75 and a woman with a young child gets 110 or 120.”

Leddy first raised these concerns in May before highlighting them again to the Scrutiny Committee in September. It seems John Lines failed to take these criticisms on board.

A damning Sutton Trust Report today has brought to light the extent to which state schools which defy govornment legislation by socially selecting their pupils.

It hilights the fact that while 12% of children nationally receive free school meals, only 2% of those in grammar schools do. The report also found that half of the country’s most socially selective institutions were faith schools.

If the Department for Children, Schools, Families is serious about its opposition to selection at eleven, I sincerely hope it will take heed of this report and take measures to make the abolition of grammar schools easier than it is at present. In the present league table and Ofsted driven culture there are far too many incentives for schools to aim for a middle class intake, and this pressure needs to be addressed and reduced. Methods of back door selection, such as the level of freedom given to religious and specialist schools, need to be quashed. If we’re not going to get serious about tackling inequalities and economic apartheid at the age of eleven, how are we going to be effective at tackling it later in their lives?

In a Republican Rally this week an audience member was given the microphone, and told John McCain that she couldn’t support Barack Obama as “he was an arab”.

McCain’s response was, “No ma’am, he is a decent family man who I happen to disagree with.”

It sounds an awful lot like Mr McCain is implying that the states of being Arabic and a “decent family man” are mutually exclusive?

But I thought it was sweet…

How many gates have their been since Watergate? 

Anywho, it has been found out that Sarah Palin did abuse her position as Governor of Alaska.  The uber-conservative is guilty of trying to get her ex-brother-in-law sacked from his job as a State Trooper whilst he was going through a nasty divorce with Palin’s younger sister.  It all started when Mrs. Palin sacked Alaska’s public safety commisioner for refusing to dismiss her former brother-in-law.

Does this show a lack of judgement on John McCain’s part to choose a running-mate who was caught in the middle of a competence investigation?  I’ll let him off though as he only met her twice before making his decision.

You know they’re getting desperate when they produce crap like this.

At a club meeting last night in the Guild, Dora Meredith was elected to become the society’s new Vice Chair.  Dora was elected on a platform of increasing participation and advertising the blog more whilst also making it more versatile for members.

In other news, Chris Blewitt has pledged his desire to go out and campaign every day from now until the next General Election.  BULS salutes both Chris and Dora.

BUCF chair, Dan O’Doherty, famously more Thatcherite than the witch herself has made a bit of a booboo.  DOD recently made light of the ‘credit crunch’ that is affecting millions of British people by making a series of tasteless remarks about Japan. 

I was recently told I was good at the funny by Brigid Jones so it’s ok I can judge other peoples attempts at humour.  So here it goes, not funny Dan, not funny.

The architect of the Bush victories in 2000 and 2004 now believes that Obama is going to be the next US president.

It also seems neither candidate is working too hard.

Under a new ‘points based’ system outlined by Cllr John Lines, former prison inmates including paedophiles will get access to housing ahead of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Cllr Mike Leddy has pointed out that prisoners will get 140 housing points when they are released compared to 75 for a married soldier after serving eight years. 

On the Stirrer Leddy said: “Even a woman with a baby escaping a domestic violence situation only qualifies for 110 points.  The system is just criminal.”

Cllr Lines is yet to reply on this issue.

1. The state maths is in his favour

First imagine that Obama holds every state that Kerry won in 2004. Then add Iowa, Colorado and New Mexico to his tally, three states he has been consistently leading in. Guess what… he just won the election. Obama has demonstrated that the Democrats do not need to win Ohio or Florida to win the White House. Luckily he is competitive in those states too. Add to that he is striking into safe Republican territory: Virginia, North Carolina and Nevada are all in play in this election.

McCain’s strategy has been to hold on to the Bush states and put Obama on to the back foot by attempting to win Michigan and Pennsylvania. Unfortunately the McCain camp pulled out of Michigan last week and have a mountain to overcome in Pennsylvania. Things are not good for the McCain camp who are now shifting almost all of their TV ads into negative ads about Obama.

2. Obama is more trusted by the voters on the economy

Clinton famously coined the phrase: “It’s all about the economy, stupid” and that is undoubtedly true in this election. Obama is more trusted by voters on this critical issue and this is cementing his polling lead. Add to that the concerns voters have about Iraq and healthcare, two more issues where Obama is more in touch with the majority opinion, and you realise he has a commanding lead in this election. The fact that McCain and Palin are attempting to brand themselves as ‘mavericks’ is a response to the powerful call for ‘Change’ that Obama is marketing.

3. Democrats are more enthusiastic about this election

After 8 years of Bush the average Democrat is ready for this election. On the other hand the Republican base is demoralised hence the enthusiasm gap. What does this mean for the election? Simply Obama will have a small army marching around every town in the United States on November 4th. McCain will not be able mobilise the evangelical Christians who campaigned for Bush in the same way. This enthusiasm gap will be crucial in mobilising every last Democratic voter on election day. McCain simply cannot rely on this level of support from his base.

Now Palin calls Obama a terrorist…

Alex Wright is former Guild of Students LGBT Officer.

I’d like to refer those reading this to this article from the BBC.

Margot James, an out and proud lesbian, who will be contending for the marginal Stourbridge seat in the next General Election has gone on about Gays having a duty to vote Tory. Why? Well, two things. Firstly becasue we are now assured that the Tories no longer hate us, with frontbench figure such as Nick Herbert and more LGB candidates for the next election she has a valid point about her party’s attitude becoming more modern. About a decade after everyone else, it’s certainly been a long time coming but it does deserve some kudos. Secondly “because gay people are paying in, through their taxes and actually using far less of the NHS because they tend not to have families, less of the education system for the same reason and all the more reason to be angry with this government for the waste of their taxes.”

Out and Tory at Brighton Gay Pride

OK, so lets look at both of these rather surprising ideas. As for voting for Tories simply because they have an increased amount of LGB candidates, I don’t care. Honestly. Not at all. The community has the overwhelming majority of the law it needs to function in society without discrimination. Yes there are still things to achieve but most of these are societal, simply voting for gay Tories, or gay MPs from any party for that matter, won’t make the largest amount of change. For the most part its a cieling that is being cracked and will soon enough be broken. The change needed is in schools, in communities and within faith groups, not Whitehall. Even Margot admits that she has yet to find another openly lesbian Tory but makes reference to an “amazing number of gay men.” Lovely for a night out, but a problem politically. Lesbian issues often in common with gay and bisexual ones but some are different, such as problems in terms of access to appropriate sexual health provisions. One lesbian tory is certainly not a duty on any lesbians to vote conservative due to large numbers of gay men. This isn’t a call to arms for the so-called LGBTory, it’s a stark admission of failure.

And as for tax-payments, what she’s saying is simply not on. The party that lost its head over gay adoption is now saying that we should vote for them becasue we should be paying less tax as we don’t have families. What? Really? C’mon! Making this sort of point just labours over the differences and injustices that do exist. There are an increasing number of gay families and gay parents and that’s fantastic, hopefully one day this can be the norm. The LGBT community deserve to be welcomed into state service provisions, we don’t need to be told ‘this doesn’t apply to you in all likelihood and therefore you don’t need to pay for it.’ Sod that, I want to help fund the NHS. The amount of GUM clinics providign free services catered to the LGBT community is vastly increased and more accessible under the last decade of Labour. Civil partnerships, well they’re not perfect but they’re certainly good. Repeal of Section 28, necessary. Making LGB discrimination and hatred an offence, fantastic, The Gender Recognition Act, brilliant. Labour has done more for LGBT rights than any political party in the UK: Fact.

I loathe the concept of single-issue politics and being told I have a duty to vote Conservative simply because of how many gay candidates they have beggars belief. What’s more is it’s highly duplicitous. As much as I can believe that the current Tory party has changed its stance on some issues and has, to an extent, become more modern and moderate I cannot forget or forgive its utter failings for the LGBTQ community nor will pandering for my vote on the shared experience of a non-mainstream sexuality make me.

If you’re interested in writing a blog for the site send your idea to blog@buls.org submissions are not edited by the committee and we welcome contributions from all readers.

The Sun predictably lowers the tone, with its pictures of “Top Tory Totty”. Apparently they have already covered the “Lib Dem Ladies” and “Labour Lovelies”.

For fuck’s sake, when will they take women in politics seriously?

Oh a side note, one of the security guards at Toryfest08 was overheard by one of the feminist protesters on Sunday, rating female delegates out of ten with his colleague.

You will have heard about the Tories and how they want all their delegates at their conference to go to nearby Gentlemen’s lapdancing club, The Rocket Club.  On its way to protest against Tories being tories BULS spotted this advertising hoarding outside said venue.

Early on Wednesday morning, BULS travelled to Birmingham town centre to protest at the Tory conference.  We were joning Unite the Union who were raising the sleaze behind Tory donations.  Did you know that if you pay £50 000 to the Tories you get to have a private dinner with David Cameron?  What is being discussed at these dinners?  Who are the donors invited?  Is DC really listening to the people or just a small group of rich people trying to impress their rich mates?

Readers may be forgiven for thinking I am sex obsessed, or atleast obsessed with the sex lives of Tories, yet recently there has just been an abundance of material I just need to share with the people!  It is not my fault that the Tories want their delegates at conference to go to gentlemen’s clubs, or that two councillors in Wolves ran a brothel in their home, and it is certainly not my fault that Mark Clarke (former Tory Future Chair and Tooting PPC) is being accused of certain caddish activities.

His ex-girlfriend, who incidentally has nothing to gain or lose, has told the Mail that he’s not fit to be an MP, I would have thought being a Tory would confirm such allegations but she provides some good reasons as well.  One of the most striking allegations is that he was once given a night with a prostitute as a present by an ex-girlfriend.  This is strange as it contradicts his own personal campaign to oust prostitution in Tooting.  Reference to this campaign has been removed from his website, except for this press release. 

There have been suggestions for Clarke to stand down, I think this would be highly damaging to the red team.  Having typical Tories like Mark is good for Labour and the country.  It is vitally important that we consistently remind people just who the Tories really are behind all their rhetoric of change and hope!

The latest figures from Electoral Calculus fell into my inbox today. In the last month, the Tory lead appears to have halved. It’s not quite as nice as the 84 seat lead Labour enjoyed a year ago, but then I suppose it shows just how fickle the dear electorate can be.

Anything can happen, and we have a long way to go before the next poll…

This afternoon I joined a group of feminists from Birmingham and London to flyer the Tory conference in Birmingham. We were raising awareness of EDM 1375, which calls for a loophole in licensing law to be closed so that lap dance clubs are no longer classed in the same catagory as coffee shops. One of our main bugbears was that while the Conservatives have publically condemned the loophole, only five of them have actually bothered to sign up to it.

What struck me was… the costumes! Everyone was in suits- everyone! I don’t think I saw a single pair of jeans walk through the entrance hall that afternoon. As it got colder and later a fair few delegates appeared rather drunk- especially the young woman who told us loudly that she’d “rarther be a lapdancer than work in a coffee shorp!” before running away when we asked her why. One man didn’t see the need for any regulation whatsoever and seemed unconvinced that sex trafficking was any sort of problem.

But on the whole the response was ok, although there was none of the buzz of factions and pressure groups you get at anything vaguely left wing… and I wonder how many delegates made use of their Rocket Club vouchers?

I have been meaning to do a post on this topic for sometime.

The last Liberal Democrat conference explicitly demonstrated the dividing lines between the contending interests within the third party. Guido Fawkes recently commented on a report by LiberalVision, a Lib Dem pressure group, arguing that the Lib Dems faced a wipe out at the next election to Cameron’s Conservatives. The report speculated that the party could loose two-thirds of its seats. The answer for the Lib Dems therefore is to tack right and promote tax cuts, something the Liberal conference subsequently resolved.

However this seemingly contradicts other events. During both Liberal and Labour conference a fringe was organised by the Fabian Society on the subject of a realignment of the left and closer interaction between the two parties. Iain Dale reported on the fringe at the Lib Dem conference. Vince Cable seemed to suggest that the left should stand together against a resurgent Conservative Party, something that has already been squashed by Nick Clegg.

The Lib Dems now need to decide whether they will be a party of the right or the left, regardless of the embarrising Obama-style rhetoric (”bring Change to Westminister”) which they are using.

It seems the Tories have been benefitting from short-selling. Can we trust Cameron and Osborne to really bring Change?

Labourhome have a post commenting on the likely shifts in a Cabinet reshuffle to supplement the ‘Brown fightback’ that is currently underway. With Hoon off to Europe and Kelly spending more time with the kids there is the potential to promote rising stars such as Liam Byrne and Jim Murphy.

The first question is how to deal with the challenging position of Chancellor. Alastair Darling can be seen as an unfortunate choice. He has something very John Major-esqu about him; slightly graying, perfectly nice but also a little dull. With the economy and global stability at the forefront of voters minds we need to reassure the public that Brown/Darling are a better combination then Cameron/Osborne. Moving Darling from this position would be a vote of no-confidence by Brown, and undermine the government’s own reputation at a critical time.

Miliband will also be on Brown’s mind. In all reality the young pretender has probably never wanted a leadership contest against the prime minister despite the pleas of the more desperate Blairites. It is taken as given that Miliband will be a contender in the next leadership contest and the foreign office is a very suitable brief. If Labour Party members want to see whether Miliband has the substance to be our prime minister what better position to give him to demonstrate his international stateman-like qualities.

One of the current under-utilised talents is Hazel Blears. My opinion of her has improved greatly since the deputy leadership contest when I placed her sixth in my vote. Her assured performance on Question Time last Thursday demostrates her ability to attack the Cameron Conservatives with fire and wit. Also, after chatting to her at Spring Conference in Birmingham last year I found she is incredibly engaging and charming. She would be a useful recruit to a top-position in the Cabinet. John Denham is another contender who should not be overlooked. A good performer on television and importantly an MP for a southern English seat, he can bring balance to the publics perception of the Brown team and, along with hazel, dispel any myths of a Labour McMafia.   

There is speculation currently that the reshuffle will be announced at a time to steal headlines from Cameron’s speech to the Tory Party conference. If this would be true the reshuffle would be exposed as nothing more then a headline-grabbing gimmick and be derided for that reason. It would do nothing to demonstrate to the public that Brown is ‘getting on with the job’ and not attempting to score points. My advice would be to wait until after Tory conference and use the reshuffle to retake the initative.

Whilst hundreds of Labour activists enjoyed the excesses of conference, BULS was hard at work recruiting and welcoming new members into our movement.  We were not alone though in our efforts,  MP for Hall Green and Government Whip Steve McCabe stopped by to say hello to some of our new recruits as well as our older members.

This week on campus we have been campaigning to make the minimum wage fairer, by calling on the Government to provide the higher rate to people between 18 and 21.  Our petition has had over 350 signatures and we’ll be spreading the message out to halls next week and in the next couple of months.

Another highlight of our stall has been our political compass.  We took the idea from the popular website and asked people to guess where they might put themselves on the spectrum.  We managed to put a few famous people on as well, including our own Guild President Jen Larbie and local Thatcherite Daniel O’Doherty.

I’m really looking forward to the year, we’ve got some great events planned which I hope all of our new members can enjoy!  Can’t wait to get to know you all!

A Catholic school has banned the cervical cancer vaccine from being given on its premises. It cites possible side effects as its reason.

I don’t believe that for one minute. How can they justify denying young women access to life saving vaccinations? That doesn’t sound very Christian to me.

Welcome Back!
 
I wanted to let you know our whereabouts this week at freshers.  Please come and see us if you would like to renew your membership or find out more information about our club.
 
We have stalls at;
 
The Change your World Fair on Tuesday in the Deb Hall (1st Floor in the Guild), 10am - 4pm.
 
The Societies Fair on Thursday in the Marquee (behind the Guild), 11am - 4pm.
 
The Societies Fair on Friday in the Marquee (behind the Guild), 11am - 3pm.
 
DATE FOR YOUR DIARY:
 
Wednesday 1st October.  We will be collecting signatures for our minimum wage petition, meeting outside the Guild at 4pm making our way back to Joes for a complimentary drink (for campaigners only!) at 5.30pm, then we shall go for our annual freshers curry at Chamon for 7pm.  Come to as much or as little as you want - we will welcome you with open arms of socialism!
 
We have many more exciting things planned this year so make sure you stay tuned to the blog.  Hopefully this term we will be playing football against the Tories on campus as well as going to Labour Students political weekend.
 
Hope to see you soon! 
 
All the best,
 
Tom

Good old JK Rowling I’ve been a fan of hers almost as long as I have been the Labour party, having been given the Philosophers Stone for Christmas in 1997. It’s a welcome reminder to the public that the Tories still pose a threat, and that they really don’t have the interest of real, vulnerable people at heart. As a self made millionaire she could so easily be a poster girl for the bizzare Conservative “You can get it if you really want” campaign; but she has her head screwed on, and isn’t about to forget where she came from and how difficult it was to get where she was. She has hinted before that her Potter stories were an allergoy for the Thatcher years, and I’m delighted that the policy she most hates of the Tories is their clueless policy on married tax breaks.

Critics have suggested that if she were serious about child poverty she’d have given her money to another charity; but it comes back to the debate as to who should look after needy causes, the state or the charitable sector? Rowling has clearly chosen the state, and has recognised that keeping Labour in power will secure not just one million pounds to fight child poverty; it will mean a lot, lot more.

As the Tories prepare to “mix it with the midlanders” Uncle Dave may be regretting his decision to visit the region after two councilors in Wolves were found to be running a brothel from their home.

The Tory sex-kittens resigned from the party following publication of the allegations in the Sunday Mirror last week.  However, it has been confirmed today that they have also resigned from the council. 

This follows our breaking news in the week that the Tories will be gathering in the raunchy lap-dancing joint the Rocket Club, during their time in Brum.

This has escaped the press’ notice today, but I found it of interest.  Maria Eagle, Minister at the Justice Department has released a statement on the law governing the existence and use of websites that assist suicide.

Such websites are busy promoting and often encouraging methods of suicide and often target young teens.  Although the existing law does not need to be changed, the language will be simplified using statutory instruments (wanted to show off my geeky knowledge).

This means that the law that prevents the “attempt to aid, abet, counsel or procure a suicide or suicide attempt” in an offline environment will also prevent it online.  So the law will soon apply online as much as it does offline.

Students are not exempt from feeling the pinch in the current economic downturn.  That’s why I thought it would be useful link to some money comparison sites.  Sometimes it can be stressful to deal with bills for the first time, but spending a few minutes answering some questions could save you and your housemates hundreds of pounds.  As I found this summer when I switched from Npower to British Gas.

http://www.comparethemarket.com/

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/

http://www.confused.com/

Two blogs have caught my eye this week, both featuring controversial women.

The first, no regular user of WordPress can have failed to notice; having been little mentioned in the press, the Alaska Women Reject Palin Rally is hearteningly reported on the Mudflats blog, and details the protest which saw over a thousand Alaskan women picket Sarah Palin’s post convention homecoming. How bitterly disappointing it is that the woman with the best chance of making the White House perhaps ever has such retrograde views on both human rights and scientific fact; and how intensely frustrating that the world doesn’t seem to mind.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Harriet Harman holds the equivalent job to that which Palin is vying for, but the contrast could not be greater. A champion of womens rights, with her head firmly screwed on, Harman is Palin’s political opposite. Harman is no stranger to being slagged off in the British press for her feminist policies, and the blog I came across yesterday sadly reflects how a lot of British men feel about her. It is written by an angry conspiracy theorist, but the views expressed on it are far form isolated; they are just a slightly less eloquent regurgitation of the views routinely expressed about her by the right wing press.

Palin is feted by a stunned British media; even the Guardian, opposed to her politically, saw her as a curiosity and gave her far more coverage than she deserved. The amount of over exposure is illustrated by a quick Googlefight; Sarah Palin gets nearly twice as many hits as her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden. The contrast between the coverage she and Harman receive is exemplified in The Sun article comparing her to “that boot-faced robot of political correctness Harriet Harperson”.

Why is our homegrown womens champion routinely belittled while this Alaskan medievalist is so celebrated? I worry it is a question of glitz and glamour as much as it is one of politics. Harman is neither dour nor unattractive, but inhabits the drab world of UK politics, and is unlikely to send women rushing to the shops to buy her glasses or have them copying her hairstyle. Harman is upfront and unashamed of her feminism, while Palin hides behind her super-woman exterior a set of downright dangerous policies that could set back the fight for womens equality in America by decades. That the UK is so transfixed by this woman and so unappreciative of Harman means either the press is inheritently shallow, sexist or both. While I would like to think it is the former, I fear that sexism has rather a lot more to do with it than we would like to admit.