Anticipations The Journal of the

BabeBabe RuthRuth PartyParty ConferenceConference EditionEdition GeneralGeneral ElectionElection 20012001 Round-upRound-up JimJim McAuslanMcAuslan onon PublicPublic ServiceService ReformReform Volume 5 Issue 3 Autumn 2001 £2.50 Join the Young Fabians for only £5.00 The Young Fabians is the under-31 section of the , Labour’s senior think-tank. We were set up in 1960 and remain the only run by and for young people. We are affiliated to the Labour Party and are formally represented on Young Labour National Committee. As well as our policy and education work, the Young Fabians are the net- work for young professionals within the Labour Party. Young Fabians pro- vided the volunteers for both ’s leadership campaign in 1994 and the New Clause IV campaign in 1995. All the young MPs elected in 1997 are members of the Young Fabians, and there are more Fabian MPs than all the Tory MPs put together. As well as pamphlets we produce a quarter- ly magazine: ‘Anticipations’, and organise regular political events, confer- ences, trips abroad, residential summer schools, and social events. Recently we have established a Young Fabian debating team which competes with the Bow Group, and in national competitions. £5 membership also covers membership of the Fabian Society which includes a copy of Fabian Review every quarter, and at least five pamphlets a year, as well as discounts to numerous conferences and social events.

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Public or Private? 2 Work/Life....What? 11 o one can have failed to be Jim McAuslan goes in search of There’s such a long Nhorrified by the brutality of the public sector ethos. way to go, says Neill the disaster which struck the United Harvey-Smith States on Tuesday 11th September. Putting the Tories out of At this time, as Young Fabians, we their misery 4 have a role not just to support the Labour movement, but also to con- Janan Ganesh looks back at the last tinually force Labour’s agenda for- election Interview with super- ward. Never before has this duty woman Ruth Turner 12 been so important as now in the Offline 5 birth of this new world conflict. In Andrew Stevens warns us of the Young Fabian order to achieve real social justice deeper problems with electronic Candidate Reports 14 and equality we can’t just focus on governance Mari Williams talks problems at home. If anything, this to Young Fabian horror has shown us how imperitive Yoof’ Culture 6 candidates about it is to concern ourselves with how David Floyd peruses the sudden their experiences on the Labour Government and other interest in young people’s views the doorstep Western can strive to facilitate international social harmo- ny. We must not turn a blind eye to Where are you now Whipped 16 our responsibilities as world leaders. Germaine Greer? 7 Greg Rosen’s inevitable rummage Through the development of the down the back of history’s sofa International Group, the Young appeals to the all- Fabians hope to encourage better women shortlist 17 understanding of world affairs, doubters among you since it is only through education Letter from Shanghai 18 that we can begin to understand the complex issues which rest on our It’s the end of agriculture View from the House 19 doorstep. as we know it, Jim 8 In this issue Young Fabians John Wrathmell spells yet more Book Reviews 20 analyse the lessons from General Election 2001; Janan Ganesh looks gloom for the farming industry at the reasons for Labour’s victory, The Scottish Column 22 while Ami Ibitson mourns the lack A solution to apathy? 9 of turnout and suggests a radical Ami Ibitson argues that people Young Fabian solution. Following that theme, six should be forced to vote Summer Snaps 23 Young Fabians talk to Mari Williams about life as a parliamen- Family affairs 10 Chair’s Columns 24 tary candidate. In the main inter- Joe Bord investigates the commodi- view Ruth Turner talks about the tisation of children Obituary: Dom McElroy 25 goverment’s record on social entr- preneurialism.Leading up to , Jim McAuslan, Anticipations, like all publications of the Fabian Society, or the Young Fabians, writes about the challenge that faces represents not the collective view of the Society, but only the views of the individ- the Government over its plans to uals who prepared it. The reponsibility of the Society is limited to approving its introduce more private sector publications as worthy of consideration within the Labour movement. involvement in our public services. Don’t miss regular col -umns such Published by The Fabian Society, 11 Dartmouth Street, London, SW1H 9BN. as The New Machiavelli, View from the Tel: 0207 227 4900 Fax: 0207 976 7153 Website: www.fabian-society.org.uk House, and Letter from Shanghai. ISSN 0967-666X Any articles, or comment? Send it through to me at jessica_asato Printed by Premier Printers, 25-31 Violet Road, London, E3 3QQ @hotmail.com. Thanks to: Howard , Editor

Anticipations Autumn 2001 1 Public Services Public Works

Jim McAuslan argues that we can find balance between the roles of the public & private sector, but need to climb out of our silos first.

hen I sat on the Fabian has not been thought through and the The change invariably leads to lots of W Commission on Taxation and ‘P’ word is thought to provide a quick activity that doesn’t deliver an iota of Citizenship it was clear from the survey fix. The government is the worst culprit. extra service. More change is then built work that our country wanted better But the ‘P’ word does not provide a on change and before you know where public services. Our fellow citizens, quick fix - I don’t believe anything will you are everyone has lost track of what fresh from their continental holidays, provide a quick fix. And really, is the they are meant to be delivering. judged ‘UK plc’ as inferior in every ‘quick fix’ the best fix? Surely it is only We need to understand more of the respect; from the performance of our by addressing some basic issues that we situation - the essentials of the public health service to the tidiness of our can find the solutions to long term sector ethos need to be understood. cities. Fertile ground for the left per- problems. Too many involved in PPPs know the haps, but there was a sting in the tail. For instance, why do we never cele- cost of everything and the value of The public did not believe that they brate success? When Tony Blair was nothing. Too many resisting PPPs trot were getting value from the taxes they elected he said that public servants must the slogan ‘public sector ethos’ without currently paid and that public services be less risk averse. Yet whenever some- knowing what it is. There needs to be a were in a permanent decline that no thing goes wrong someone’s head is far better culture map of what makes amount of extra taxation would stop. called for. Our whole parliamentary sys- people tick and what motivates them. This should have been a time for the tem works that way. When did you last If we listened to those who have to Left to come together in a national pro- hear of a select committee analysing deliver we would have a far better prod- gramme of renewal and for public sec- something that has gone well and draw- uct. tor unions, after years of negotiating ing lessons? When did the BBC last fea- People would be more committed to redundancies, it could have given and ture a success story on public servants? change because they owned it. I would- agenda of growth and hope. Yet six Why does change always seem a n’t pretend that everyone is bursting months later, and on the back of a pret- threat? Using the ‘P’ word as a threat with ideas for improvement or that ty shallow debate on PPPs, we all seem may change behaviour but it will not change is embraced wholeheartedly, but to be back in our bunkers. We have release creativity or commitment. It will by understanding the blocks you will slipped in too easily, after all we spent breed resentment whether the individ- improve the chance of delivering 18 years there and it’s quite comfort- ual worker stays in the public sector or improvements. able. We are all off the hook. moves into the private sector. The We are all operating in silos. The post The trouble is that the ‘P’ word experiments in health where workers election redrawing of Whitehall may changes everything. Whether it’s remain as public servants, even though give better focus and the regional Privatisation, PFI or PPP it generates the operation is run by the private sec- dimension to delivery is encouraging fear amongst public servants. The tor, may provide alternative approaches. but things are still the same on the minute the ‘P’ word is used it changes More safety and less fear is needed. ground. There are some interesting attitudes, people close up and change is Fundamentally, we need to build a things happening with delivery in something to be resisted. Too many commitment to change. Most public Scotland and . Devolution was the public sector managers use the threat of servants are up to their back teeth in big risk, and the big success, of the first the word to compel staff to accept change. It is never explained and, if it is, term and we should milk the lessons for changes they cannot otherwise convince it is usually in some mid-Atlantic con- all they are worth. them are sensible. Too often the change sultant speak that no-one understands. We need to understand that targets

2 Anticipations Autumn 2001 Public Services

contort behaviour. Public servants strong points! the headlines you find that most staff became more business focused under Let’s look for a new management agree that poor performance should be Heseltine and the rest, but a whole new model. Lets have more cross training tackled by managers, not that good per- industry grew up around these targets. with managers from all corners of the formance should be given extra League tables developed and public ser- management profession, coming rewards. vants became experts at producing sta- together in a UK academy for man- Finally, public sector ethos. There I’ve tistics that kept top shop off their agers. said it. To me it means when the public, backs. It didn’t actually produce any Let’s invest in the tools that workers or consumer as the current language extra output so why don’t we stick to need to do their jobs to the best of their would have it, looks into the eyes of a some key vision type targets rather than ability. I think there is much to be said public servant they see someone who trying to reduce them to sprockets? for throwing out all public service IT judges their need as a fellow citizen and Then there is the workplace trinity: systems and starting from scratch with who treats them with equality and fair- management performance can be poor; one that is built around the citizen and ness. This is not to be critical of some- IT systems can be cumbersome, slow not each of the service providers. The one who works in the private sector, and prone to go down, and there is an trouble is that contracting out and pri- after all I shop at Sainsbury and not the obsession with bringing private sector vatization has meant there are lots of IT Co-op, but to recognise the differences. HR into the public sector. providers. When that truth is realised and celebrat- There are some poor managers but And stop thinking that private sector ed we can get on with delivering....who too many blame the nation’s woes on HR systems are a panacea. Take per- knows it may even re-establish some poor public service managers. If you formance related pay - it causes anger trust between citizen and state. had spent 18 years of managing decline and jealousy. Advocates point to sur- Jim McAuslan is the Deputy and still needed to watch your back then veys that suggest that staff agree with General Secretary of the Public risk taking may not be one of your the principle but when you get below & Commercial Services Union

Young Fabian Conference on the future of Secondary Education

The Comprehensive - an ideal too far?

Key Note Speaker: Minister for Education, Stephen Timms MP

Kindly hosted by the Institute of Education, Bedford Way, London, WC1

Saturday October 20th 2001

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Anticipations Autumn 2001 3 Election 2001 Electile Dysfunction Fighting the Tories is a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent says Janan Ganesh he general election campaign’s ous focus on tax and Europe, instead of Tories’ policies Tmain success was in further expos- the polls, which showed that this strat- would fall apart under serious scrutiny ing the existing weaknesses of the two egy had no influence on most voters. but, as the media were refusing to con- main parties. Over the past two years, a The Tories’ lack of confidence in template a Tory victory, no such scruti- combination of public frustration and their own policies was illustrated by ny was forthcoming. So, just as the Lib Labour rhetoric has ensured that the their barren manifesto which outlined Dems could make uncosted spending improvement of public services has vague objectives while omitting policy commitments in the knowledge that replaced tax reduction as the central detail, and their conspicuous scarcity of they need never fulfil them, the Tories concern of the people. The Conserv- press conferences at Tory HQ. While too produced ill-considered policy pro- atives’ failure to engage constructively Labour put forward a line-up of high posals (such as their risible pledge to on this issue cost them the votes of profile figures to face journalists in the renegotiate the Nice treaty) and got centrist swing voters. That William Millbank media bunker almost every away with it. Hague only managed a token visit to morning during the campaign, the No analysis of the campaign could one school and one hospital during the Tories managed only brief, infrequent omit a mention of the outstanding suc- four-week campaign, whilst finding and often ill-tempered affairs which cess of the Lib Dems, who were wide- ample time to promote his promise of created the (largely accurate) impres- ly expected to lose seats. By positioning a 6p-a-litre cut in petrol tax, was indica- sion of a party uncertain of its own his party to the left of Labour, Charles tive of his party’s ultimately fatal neg- policy agenda. Kennedy made it more tempting for lect of this key issue. The most notorious breakdown of natural Labour voters to vote Lib Dem Similarly, ’s long- the Tory campaign occurred with in marginal constituencies where standing failure to specify how he Oliver Letwin’s clumsy admission to Labour stood no chance of winning. It intended to fund his projected spend- the FT that his party’s spending cuts was this astute strategy of oiling the ing rises after 2004 caused Labour its may reach £20bn over a parliament. wheels of tactical voting that resulted most serious trouble of the campaign. The reactions of the two parties to this in the Lib Dems increasing their sup- The Tories, brandishing a corroborat- event revealed much about their respec- port in the south west, the most con- ing report from the Institute for Fiscal tive campaigns. Labour went on the servative and anti-European part of the Studies, alleged that the Chancellor’s attack with unforgiving alacrity and country. plans contained a “£10bn black hole” kept the issue in the news for over a In no other British general election and, to fill it, either stealth taxes or the week using stunts and gimmicks (which have the opinion polls changed so little National Insurance ceiling would rise. involved your correspondent and other during the course of the campaign, Consequently, Labour was on the earnest Young Fabians waving “Free thus confirming the theory that defensive after only three days of the Letwin” placards outside Tory Central Labour’s 1997 victory was essentially a campaign. Office). Whereas the Tories, rather than two term endorsement which the elec- However, Brown’s mistake had no defend Lewtin’s proposal (which was torate would only revoke in circum- effect on the polls which highlights the certainly possible), retreated and did stances of extreme government failure, growing gap between media consensus not even assert their general ideological such as another devaluation or reces- and public opinion. Indeed, it was support for such cuts. This craven sion. However, while it was never real- ’s failure to distinguish timidity contrasts sharply with the neo- istic for the Tories to win in 2001, they between these two variables that led to liberal zeal that the Tories showed dur- would surely have expected to signifi- his downfall. Bob Shrum, the leading ing Thatcher’s election campaigns, and cantly reduce the huge majority that US pollster stationed at Millbank supports Douglas Alexander’s con- Labour secured in 1997. Their failure to throughout the campaign, observed tention that they are now “intellectually do so attests to the misguided priorities that, after the first week, the Tories defenceless”. and intellectual cowardice of their cam- made the fatal error of believing the The main frustration of Millbank’s paign, as well as to the well-focused and press, which commended their vigor- Policy Unit was that they knew the confident efficiency of Labour’s.

4 Anticipations Autumn 2001 Reducing InequalitiesPledges

Access Denied

t was always the case that the first ness head on. The second challenge is Icasualties of the dotcom revolution to address the antipathy towards politics would be those who were never part of amongst many young people. It is not it. Yet the prophesies of retailers such as surprising that the highest concentra- Waterstones disappearing as new com- tion of Internet usage is by young peo- panies like Amazon seized the initiative ple and it is entirely conceivable that have not been realised. Whilst there are those at university now, who e-mail their plenty of critics who regard e-com- friends at other campuses and engage renovated and donated to those who merce and the internet as yesterday’s with lecturers on departmental websites, would not otherwise be able to afford it. news, growth in internet use continues will see the net as their main communi- Obviously not everyone wants comput- to accelerate. cation channel in years to come. Yet er hardware in their home so imagina- The political world has been relatively quite often it is this section of society tive schemes could be considered that slow to catch up to developments in that will be the most likely to turn off as allow for digital networking for entire information technology but there have soon as politics is mentioned. The web streets through one main PC with been some notable advances. There was development by political parties incentives for e-community leaders to actually more supply than demand in assumes that net users are actually inter- act on behalf of others. terms of Internet activity in the US ested in what they have to say, there is Digital should not howev- elections last year. The Internet made no outreach or attempts to justify both er, be seen as the replacement of repre- some impact in the recent General existence and relevance. The initiative is sentative democracy in a fashion advo- Election this side of the pond but it is being taken by those outside of the con- cated by some. Conservatives the world questionable whether sites such as tacti- ventional political process, however, over are keen to reduce public participa- calvoter.net made any difference to the such as the political social entrepreneurs tion in politics and downplay the role of result. It is clear that the Internet has behind tacticalvoter.net. citizens in the political arena. Yet, only extended political debate in this coun- The digital divide is already identified too aware of populist tendencies, many try, with activist resources and chat sites as a key aspect of social exclusion. on the right advocate a plebiscitory providing a useful outlet for political Quite often it is the unemployed and Internet. Such a system would encour- energies and challenging the traditional the less well-off who require the most age a society in which those with access forums of politics. interaction with agencies of the state. In to the time and technological capability The most the com- to research the issues and vote have interesting mercial more of a say than others. Do we really work has world want a society in which the person with been on how new the fastest modem has the most power? citizens can products Recent Internet polls have shown engage with are being support of the reintroduction of the government devel- death penalty, outlawing of abortion, via the net. oped all retention of hunting with dogs and Sites such as yougov.com and upmys- the time, for instance a fridge with inter- withdrawal from the EU. Luckily, in a treet.com enable local citizens to trans- net access is almost at the production society still dominated by conventional act their business with local authorities stage - it will be able to tell when you news media such polls can be shown to in a way that would be unthinkable ten, run out of orange juice and order it be unrepresentative. By all means, our maybe even five, years ago. The automatically from your supermarket. elected representatives should be Government’s expectation is that local The customers of public services will accountable to their electors through authorities will be able to provide all expect the same level of service from means such as the Internet and maybe their services online by 2005. the state. even elected over it. But at all times this There remain two challenges for e- It is the first rule of public services in should be seen as something that com- government. First of all to go beyond the modern age that they must do more plements traditional forms of democra- what is currently envisaged (the techno- with fewer resources. Therefore there is cy rather than replacing them. logical extension of existing interaction a role for increased corporate philan- Andrew Stevens worked on e-cam- with government) and to actually use thropy as firms are constantly ridding paigns for the Labour Party in the the internet to renew the political themselves of hardware that although General Election and formerly for process by tackling apathy and remote- obsolete for their own needs could be OFSTED on ICT in Schools

Anticipations Autumn 2001 5 InterviewYoung People & Politics Generation X-Cluded

David Floyd tells us why everyone wants to talk to young people

ew Labour is the party of consul- Executive. A group of young people tation is just one part of a process. Ntation. Whether it’s referenda on were given the chance to question all the Once young people in Seven Sisters devolution, questionnaires about the candidates for the job and make their have been asked what they want they NHS, ballots for grammar schools or recommendations. In fact the person need to see action. even the much maligned Philip Gould who ended up getting the job was the The government’s approach makes focus groups, asking people what they overwhelming choice of the young peo- sense. If you’re genuinely trying to pro- think seems to be the Blairite way. ple’s panel. There is also going to be vide a decent service for someone and Young people as a group are being young people on local Connexions you ask them what they want before you consulted more than ever before. management boards and a shadow do it. You might have a better chance of Across the country local authorities and youth management to help administer providing them with what they want or voluntary sector organisations are the whole plan. need. In the case of young people it also falling over themselves to send out The problem is that running gigantic draws us into the democratic process. If questionnaires and holding forums to services for young people is highly tech- young people get used to the idea that ask young people what they want. The nical and mostly mind-numbingly bor- their views are being taken seriously and government itself has created a ing. Management board meetings are acted upon by the people in power, they Children and Young People’s unit generally conducted in a jargonistic are ultimately more likely to vote and which, amongst other things, will co- double-speak which would be incom- maybe even get actively involved in pol- ordinate a forum of young people from prehensible, not only to young people itics. around the country who will advise but to many educated adults who are The problem is the potential for the ministers on policy. not schooled in machinations of local reverse. If young people give their views As with all policy fads the big ques- government. and the people in power nod, smile and tions are why all of a sudden has this While it is important to hear young proceed to take no notice whatsoever. started? Is it a good thing? peoples views, it is less important to Then this will only lead to another gen- A major focus for youth consultation drag us deep into the unwieldy bureau- eration of people growing up cynical is the new Connexions scheme. cratic morass that is local authority deci- about the political system. Connexions involves the amalgamation sion making. It’s a good idea to ask It is also important to avoid overkill. of existing career’s services with parts young people where a personal advisor Most young people don’t want to spend of youth services, linked to various vol- should be stationed and what they their whole lives than filling in question- untary sector youth organisations. The should advise on. However, it’s a very naires and attending discussion forums. main practical outcome is that careers bad idea to expect young people to sit Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll are all consid- advisors have or will be replaced by new through 2 hour discussions on budget erably more interesting than tick boxes ‘personal advisors’ who will help 13-19 percentages, especially when everyone and committees. It would be sensible year olds with different aspects of their else at the meeting is being paid to be for some groups to pool their research lives when they don’t have the answers there. rather than replicating it. and ‘connect’ them with an organisation Like Connexions, the New Deal for The consultation explosion is on bal- which does. Communities (NDC) sounds great in ance a good thing. Under the Tories the This is sensible and long overdue, principle. NDC involves small deprived general approach in providing services mainly because provision by careers and areas getting a massive cash injection was for professionals to make decisions youth services in some are currently on (up to £50million) from central govern- and for young people to like them or the dark side of dismal. The govern- ment provided that groups of local peo- lump them. The approach ment has stipulated that a factor in mak- ple play a major role in how the money is to ask young people what they want. ing Connexions work has to be the par- is spent. In the Bridge NDC area in The question is are they going to be able ticipation of the young people it is Seven Sisters, north London, young to deliver it? The jury’s still out. going to serve. people aged under 25 make up around In the North London Connexions 40% of the population, so they’re a David Floyd is editor of area, young people were involved in the major interest group who have to be Exposure magazine (www.expo- process of interviewing the Chief consulted. The problem is that consul- sure.org.uk) and a Young Fabian.

6 Anticipations Autumn 2001 Women & Politics What Women Want Rachel Reeves reminds Labour’s dinasours that meritocracy only works when you have equality of opportunity

omen – “they’ve got it all”, selecting the women candidates we so engage people, they need to ensure that Wit states at the top of the Fawcett need. the representatives of the people are in society leaflet. Below there is a picture But, this battle is not won yet. There tune with their needs, fears and aspira- of a mum pushing her kid in a buggy, are lots of men (and some women) who tions. with her daughter walking along side. will oppose this with an awful lot of Now, it has been put to me that At the bottom: “Fawcett, working for energy. I want to give a couple of good women-only short lists are unfair and women who haven’t.” reasons for why men, and why socialists that they explicitly rule out some very There are those who claim that should support women only short lists. good men. But, we are only talking women now have it pretty damn good, A quick recap on why we need more about temporary measures to up the and certainly as good as men. But the female MPs. Firstly, parliament is sup- number of women in parliament. We facts don’t bear witness to this. Women posed to be representing the country as are only having to take radical action earn less than men, there are fewer of us a whole. There are some experiences because for too long women have been in the board room, we are more likely to that are distinctly female. Just look at implicitly ruled out of the contest. By be in poverty in retirement, one in four things like childcare. I am willing to bet men selecting other men who may be of us will have an abortion at some members of their trade union, or who point in our life, because contraception have held positions on the GC or on the is still so unreliable, we have some of council for years and years. Women are the worst childcare facilities in Europe, often unable to take on these sorts of and then there’s politics. roles. It is still women who take on most In the 2001 General Election, the of the caring roles in the home. And number of women in parliament fell for women are less likely to be part of the the first time since 1979. I heard equivalent of golf clubs in the business Germaine Greer speak about 3 years world. They often do not fit in with the ago, she started off by saying people laddish or macho cultures which often often asked her what she gets angry exist, however unintentional, in political about now. Unsurprisingly, there are an spheres. Women are not networked in awful lot of things that continued to the way men are. grate her. Well, if you are going to get Socialists should know, and remem- angry about one thing in the name of ber, that an injustice to one is an injus- women, I think that this is worth it. Our that if we had a more representative tice to all. Men should support women very own Labour Party managed to parliament we would have a half-way only short lists because as a group, select only 149 women out of 641 can- decent childcare strategy. women have been over looked in the didates (24%). Of our 50 target seats we And, look at public perceptions Labour Party. Eighty three years after only selected women in 11 of them. towards our politicians. Ask someone to getting the franchise women are still Better than the other parties, yes. describe a politician, and chances are intolerably under-represented in parlia- Abysmal, most definitely. they will describe a white, middle class, ment, and it is about time we put right But, instead of getting angry, we middle aged man. Not a bad characteri- that wrong. A system that systematically could do something. And, it looks like sation really. Just look round the House fails women is not a system we should that is what campaigners for women of Commons and you’ll see it fits too tolerate any longer. To put right years of have managed to persuade the Labour many of them. Women make up more discrimination, it is our duty to put Party to do. In the Queen’s speech it was than half the electorate, and if you read some of the excellent women we have announced that we would introduce leg- ’s excellent Fabian pam- in our party, and in our communities, in islation to allow women-only short lists. phlet, you’ll see that the profile of the parliament. At last it looks like the party is waking House of Commons is a huge turnoff up to the fact that the present selection for women (and men). If the Labour Rachel Reeves is on the Young process is not bringing forward and Party and politicians in general want to Fabian Executive

Anticipations Autumn 2001 7 SecondFarming Term Thinking Reap What you Sow It’s time for our ailing farming industry to have an injection of reality, says John Wrathmell

he Foot and Mouth Crisis is nearly and probably impossible. It would also farms would be found not to be eco- Tover. In some farming communi- mean that an increasing proportion of nomically viable and would be sub- ties cases continue, causing anxiety, Britain’s food would have to be import- sumed by larger farms. Our rural land- depression and despair, but the worst is ed. scape would change dramatically as past. However, for most farmers Foot Second, the farming industry could those large farms used the most eco- and Mouth was only the most publi- be opened up to the rigours of the free nomically efficient practices, resulting cised disaster in a long period of market. Food prices would fall and tax- in, for example, the tearing up of decline. Market prices have made farm- payers’ money could be diverted to hedges and the levelling of walls to cre- ing no longer a viable way of life: by other areas. This would not only be a ate larger areas for cultivation. 1997 the price of lambs at auction in moral victory for neo-liberals; it would Parallels exist to removal of subsidies North Yorkshire had dropped below also be welcomed as a great benefit for from declining industries, although not £1.00 per kilo - barely covering the cost developing nations. As pointed out by very comfortable ones for a Labour of the animal’s feed. This has resulted in Her Excellency Cheryl Carolus, the government. ’s many young farmers taking the chance South African High Commissioner, in destruction of the mining and manufac- to abandon their families’ traditional her lecture to the Fabian Society, agri- turing base in the 1980s uprooted com- role. culture is the one area in which devel- munities in a similar way. A crucial dif- Farmers are not alone in seeing the ference would be that rural areas have status quo as unfeasible. Taxpayers are already diversified in a way which indus- becoming increasingly uneasy at subsi- trial and mining towns found, and still dising a minority activity. Consumers find, very difficult. Few people in rural are voting with their credit cards and towns are physically engaged in agricul- their demands for lower prices in the tural production, even if they strongly supermarkets are causing the farmers to sympathise with the difficulties of the be squeezed further. Both Europhiles farmers. and Eurosceptics agree that the Government policies could help to Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is make the change less traumatic. in dire need of reform, especially with Subsidies would have to be reduced the prospect of Eastern European gradually to give farmers a chance to farmers joining the common market. If oping nations have an edge over the adjust. Training schemes could be put in the present position is impossible, developed. OECD countries spend place which would encourage specialisa- indeed harmful, to maintain, then there more on subsidising their farmers than tion in particular agricultural tasks - are two possible alternatives. the combined GDP of all African workers who contract themselves and First, subsidies could continue with nations. On the one hand these nations their machinery out to larger farmers farmers becoming countryside man- are encouraged to bring down their tar- are already becoming common. Public agers. Proud and independent farmers iffs and allow Western goods to pene- transport, non-existent in many rural would vigorously oppose the role of trate their markets, on the other they are areas, would have to be improved to “glorified park keepers”, but they may restricted in the one market in which allow the labour force to become more have little choice. Tourism already they would have an advantage. mobile. forms a much larger proportion of This course could have disastrous The rural economy has reached a GDP than farming: according to the consequences. A truly free (and unregu- dividing of the ways and the govern- value added figures for 1999 tourism lated) market would harm animal wel- ment is going to need a radical solution. made up between 2.8 and 3.9%, farming fare and the environment. The trans- Opening up the industry to more com- just 0.9%. Reducing tariffs on imports port of animals over long distances to petition would be the more progressive to the EU would mean that consumers find the best price is one of the reasons solution, as long as sufficient regulation could have their cheaper prices, even if for the rapid spread of diseases and- was in place to curb the environmental a significant proportion of spending would become increasingly common. effects and preparations were made for would have to be used for subsidies. Farmers would be forced into ever the social consequences. The danger is that trying to freeze it at a more intensive practices as they tried to John Wrathmell is a Young certain point would be short-sighted compete with cheap imports. Small Fabian

8 Anticipations Autumn 2001 Compulsory Voting

We threw an Election Ami Ibitson says we can’t risk more low- and nobody came turnout elections

n Thursday June 7th (or rather the an interest in politics and take time to ities felt that making voting a legal Oearly hours of June 8th ) political decide which party they identify with. requirement would greatly reduce voter history was made as the Labour Party But would this actually achieve the apathy – voters would simply have to secured a ‘historic second term’ as the desired results? Elections for the decide which party they identified with party of government. There was jubila- European Parliament, Welsh and and which to vote for. Could this work tion, there was celebration; but in the Scottish Assemblies using PR failed to in Britain? midst of our delight, something was achieve particularly high turnouts. The major argument against compul- casting a blight over the proceedings. Maybe this could be different with a sory voting is of course, one of liberty. The fact that 41% of the British popu- higher media profile General Election? Just as one has the right to vote, then lation had not turned out to the polling Or maybe not. It is difficult to say. one surely also must have to right not station. Or, after all this, could it simply be to? This could be overcome fairly sim- Turnout in the 2001 General Election that the electorate cannot be bothered ply, for example, the electorate in 2001 was statistically the lowest in Britain for to vote? Is it really possible that such a was given the option of applying for a 83 years. Since that election, debate has large number of the population are so postal vote on request (a ploy which raged about the cause and cure for the disillusioned and unengaged with the clearly failed spectacularly in its aim to growing problem of voter apathy. Lack political parties that they all stayed away improve turnout by making voting more of political engagement and identifica- on polling day in principle? Or did some convenient). Those wishing to exercise tion? Disillusionment with the political of them just ‘not get round to it’ or their right not to vote could simply parties on offer perhaps? Or could decided they’d rather watch EastEnders complete and send in a form stating sheer laziness be more to blame than instead? If so, surely this is an outrage? this, to avoid any fine for non appear- anyone would care to consider? ance at the polling station, and of Indeed, parties such as the Socialist course there is always the option of the Alliance would claim that they are the spoiled ballot. only ones offering voters a real ‘alterna- This issue is complex, and space here tive’ as New Labour’s centre left policies does not permit discussion of matters mean that the choice between Tory and such as resources to determine the gen- Labour becomes slimmer. But the polls uineness of voters claiming to be prove that this argument does not fol- unable to vote. But the fact remains that low, since few Socialist candidates even something needs to be done about voter Compulsory voting is legal down under managed to secure their deposits, along apathy and compulsory voting, along with many (though not all) candidates People around the world have fought with electoral reform, party policy and from other minority/extremist parties. and died for the right to vote, including the rest, should not be dismissed as an However, another result, that of Wyre women in this country (and not all that option. Forest in Worcestershire, proved that long ago). Should British citizens be We owe it to those who died in order mass action can achieve results. David allowed to eschew this fundamental for us to have the right to vote to ensure Lock the sitting Labour MP and right, because it is too inconvenient for that as many people as possible recog- Minister was ousted by an independent them to pop out to the polling station nise the importance of doing so. single issue candidate, who promised to for five minutes? Should we look at Perhaps what the Wyre Forest result save the local hospital. If so many vot- making voting compulsory? does show is that voters are more inter- ers are ‘disillusioned’ by the mainstream Over twenty countries have some ested in issues which affect them than parties, why did not enough of them form of compulsory voting, perhaps party politics. One thing which compul- vote to elect a few Socialist MP’s? most famously Australia. Before laws sory voting would do is allow parties Electoral reformers claim that an making voting compulsory were passed and their activists to concentrate on overhaul of the voting system is neces- in 1924, voter turnout in Australia had issues rather than spending a large sary to reduce numbers of ‘safe’ seats been as low as 47% - similar to the amount of time identifying and ‘getting and make voters feel that their vote can turnout in some British constituencies the vote out.’ actually decide the result. In theory this in 2001. Since then the proportion of Ami Ibitson will also ‘engage’ the electorate, in par- Australians voting has hovered at Greenwich ticular young and female voters, to take around 94-96%. The Australian author- & Lewisham Fabians

Anticipations Autumn 2001 9 MemoThe Family Keeping it in the family Joe Bord delves into the changing world of childhood

may be sixty-two and my brother the means to a sordid end, and therefore between adult and junior worlds has Ififty-two, but we are better able to morally abused. become more blurred than ever. This bring up children than a couple of drug That the most important thing about may account for our special anxiety over addicts with a kid who are living off children is their welfare and happiness is sexuality, one of the few areas in which welfare. Why judge us and not them?” universally accepted. As the Catholic the authentic child can be defended. In This question was posed by a retired Church points out, judgements about the past, the young became full adults teacher from Frejus, in a case that the welfare of unwanted babies frame sooner: now we have strange syntheses, shocked France (Le Monde called it our understanding of issues such as such as the ‘kidult’. ‘mind-boggling and nauseating’). The abortion and contraception. The most The merging of adult and childhood woman concerned had borne the child execrated crime today, with the possible roles is accompanied by the attenuation of her brother and an egg donor. The exception of child murder, is the sexual of conventional family structures. There siblings had deceived staff in a US abuse of the young. Some of these atti- is a parallel here with the erosion of Fertility Clinic by posing as husband and tudes are relatively recent. Child abuse gender differences. Friedrich Engels wife. The French press speculated that has always been detested, but the once argued that the family was a basic the motive for conception was bound boundaries of vulnerability have been mechanism of capitalist accumulation. up in the $2 million family inheritance drawn very differently. In traditional But now, in a market society based on and gleefully reported a family history societies, puberty has more commonly consumption, the differentiation of of infighting. Nevertheless, the octage- been seen as the demarcation of adult- producer roles in the household has narian matriarch of the clan insisted hood. The forms of ultimate transgres- become much less important. Similarly, that brother and sister were looking for- sion have also changed: heresy, witch- children enter the market as consumers, ward to bringing up their boy. craft and treason have all been regarded and are targeted by advertisers in much The case is striking because it exposes as the most abominable of crimes. the same way as their parents. This kind types of thinking about children that None of this is to say that the moral of market individualism complements have become prevalent in western soci- scale of our own mature capitalist soci- the increasing degree of legal person- eties. Assumptions about the right of ety is necessarily wrong. But it does sug- hood bestowed on the young. personal choice underpinned the deter- gest that there is room for dispassionate Thus the deception practised by the mination of the pair. They wanted a inquiry into the grounds of our beliefs. couple from Frejus is not only morally child, as they might have wanted any Harm to the young is felt to be par- objectionable, but anachronistic. The other commodity, and had both the ticularly iniquitous because they are primary accusation against them is that technological and financial means to defenceless and innocent. The maxim the individual rights of the child have acquire one. But this commodification ‘no rights without responsibilities’ is been ignored. The couple seek to argue was not the way in which they justified seen as inappropriate with respect to their case by showing that their boy will their subterfuge. Instead, their argument young children because they have not be able to consume a higher standard of was based on individual welfare: we can learnt to gauge the consequences of living than other children. They are in provide better security than many others their actions. Where this assumption is turn condemned by people who think in society, why should we not have a challenged, as in the Bulger case, we are that the individual identity of the child child? Television pictures showed a lov- intensely disturbed. The trend in Britain will be radically undermined by the con- ing and indulgent birth mother has been to push the age of criminal fusion of emotional and biological ties. (although the father was nowhere to be responsibility downward, with the aboli- They could be defended by liberals, who seen) and a spacious house. Conversely, tion of the rule that no child under 10 often speak up for unconventional rela- the disgusted reaction of the public was may be prosecuted. At the same time, tionships, were it not for the fact that also rationalised in terms of welfare. A the legal personality of the child has brother and sister are suspected of child whose father is his uncle, whose been sharpened with the adoption of using new techniques for the old-fash- mother is his aunt, and whose family cir- specific children’s rights by UN conven- ioned purpose of keeping accumulated cle is both elderly and tumultuous, can- tion and domestic law. In effect, the dynastic capital. Our own contemporary not possibly be happy. A child who was agency of children has been confirmed norms are relative to our state of histor- perhaps brought into the world to trans- at the same time as their special capaci- ical development, and are quite as pre- mit the property and genealogy of a ty to experience harm has been re- scriptive as those of other societies. A family line has already been treated as emphasised. The cultural frontier good thing too.

10 Anticipations Autumn 2001 Tidying up the workplace On the Job

Labour has a lot of unfinished business in the workplace, according to Neill Harvey-Smith

any of the Labour government’s In the US, which has pursued liberalisa- ing has risen faster over the last 20 years Mproudest achievements are in tion more ruthlessly, three quarters of in “inefficient” Europe than the labour market reform. The New Deal, Americans have weathered two decades “dynamic” United States. Britain’s rise in minimum wage and working families’ of stagnant earnings; though household unit labour costs over the same period tax credit have cut unemployment and income has climbed 10% over the last far outstrips our European partners, reduced in-work poverty. Trade union fifteen years, a staggering 97% of that despite twenty years of supposed cost- and part-time workers’ rights have been gain has been claimed by the richest cutting. Levels of private investment are enhanced, maternity leave extended and fifth of the population. This growing still higher abroad. A poorly paid, over- a 48-hour week enacted. Yet labour inequality should be deplored, not for worked and domestically dysfunctional market inequalities continue to grow as its geometric asymmetry, but for its workforce will not close the enormous British families and communities bear social consequences. , productivity gap which remains between the strain of one-way flexibility, long largesse at the top provides the means Britain and her competitors, nor will it hours and low wages. for the fortunate to opt out of public operate at the cutting edge of the Since the Conservatives’ deregulation services, providing their families with knowledge economy. in the 1980s, the British people have the private schooling which will ensure Government should examine institu- worked the longest hours in Europe. their place in the elite of the future tional means to counter the short-ter- This continues despite the incorpora- labour market. This is not a recipe for a mism endemic in British industry and tion of the Working Time Directive. one-nation Britain. counter the power of giant financial Under the Conservatives, British work- A second concerning consequence is institutions over business. Facilitating ers became the cheapest in Europe to the current work/life balance experi- and encouraging the growth of dismiss. Workers must not price them- enced by Britain’s workers. Not only do Employee Share Ownership Prog- selves out of employment through we work the longest hours in the EU, rammes will give workers a real stake in excessive wage demands, time off or but we take the shortest holidays. their future. So will improving manage- inflexible contracts; otherwise, capital Women suffer disproportionately from ment accountability by ensuring greater will migrate to where labour is cheaper the overwhelming demands of modern scrutiny of executive pay increases at and our competitors will reap the life. Despite comprising over half the the company AGM and shaking up the reward. Job insecurity is the price we pay current workforce, they are still the pri- banking system to provide business with for full employment; the government mary carers in the vast majority of fam- an alternative source of affordable capi- should ensure that everyone has access ilies and only one in ten company direc- tal. Greater time autonomy will remove to a job, make work pay and retain high tors is female. The growth of the serv- an important barrier to women’s incentives at the top to attract talented ice industry, trends in retailing and the , but so would an expansion of entrepreneurs. proliferation of call centres has led nursery places, better drafted tax relief Even if one accepts the economic many part-timers, mainly women, to on company-provided childcare and the analysis, its results are troubling for any- work unusual hours, including Sundays. introduction of transferable parental one who maintains Labour’s new Clause So far, flexibility has been largely one- leave. IV, that wealth should be in the hands of sided, encouraging workers to respond The welfare to work agenda was the the many. A recent Management Today to the demands of a 24/7 economy. priority of the first term. Now a new report revealed that Britain’s manufac- In the 1980s, Europe’s record on debate is needed on the nature of how turing workers earn the least in the growth and unemployment was superior we harness flexibility to serve business industrialised world: £20,000 compared to that of Britain or America. Since and workers, halt growing inequalties in to £23,000 in Sweden, £24,000 in German unification and the tighter fis- income and give people the security they France and £36,000 in Japan. By con- cal policy forced on Europe by their need to raise families. Enterprise and trast, the average remuneration of Chief rush to a single currency, unemploy- fairness really must go hand-in-hand. Executives has risen by 29% in the last ment has recently been higher on the Neill was a Human Resource two years and now stands at over half a continent. The Right has been quick to Manager at Procter & Gamble. He is million pounds, which is £100,000 more announce the death of the European now studying towards a PhD in generous than anywhere else in Europe. model. But productivity in manufactur- Politics at Edinburgh University.

Anticipations Autumn 2001 11 Interview Turner’s Prize

At 30, Ruth Turner has achieved more than most will achieve in a lifetime. She talks to Jessica Asato about her work and inspiration......

o-founder of the Big Issue in the regeneration, modernising local govern- inventions, or who are writing a book, CNorth, as well as research company ment and democracy work, and we work creating a piece of art or whatever their Vision 21, she was named Young with hard to reach groups. discipline is. It’s an extraordinarily Mancunian of the Year and has won We try to work in a way where it’s enlightened funding programme numerous other awards for her social more than just getting people to tick because it’s not making grants it’s mak- and business work. She now works for boxes, it’s actually trying to get them ing investments in people and taking a her own company Vision 21 and for the much more involved in shaping their stake. NESTA have asked me to help National Endowment for Science, own lives. One of the things we’ve them find good people, ideas and proj- Technology and the Arts. She has found found is that there is so much talent ects in the North West. time to run for the European Parliament inside people which needs to be There’s lots of organisations like and to sit as a Constituency representa- unleashed. It was through speaking banks and business advice centres pro- tive on Labour’s NEC. Jessica Asato about those kinds of things at confer- viding support and advice to people spoke to her about her big issues. ences that I became aware of the who’ve got good ideas, but most of Jessica Asato: Why did you start the National Endowment for Science them are simply focused on helping Big Issue in the North? Technology and the Arts (NESTA) who people set up businesses. They are all Ruth Turner: I had a really clear idea were coming at it from a completely dif- coming across people with good ideas that we’re only here for a short while. If ferent perspective through the search but don’t quite know where to send you want to see things change them. So we are able to get then you have to find the most people through those effective and practical way of routes. We also go out to making things change. For us universities, arts boards, that was by doing business cultural industries, to small with a difference and it was companies, to science very important for us that we parks, to business parks, were seen to be running a suc- and to museums. Each cessful business as well as a person you meet will then good social project, because as tell you give other people it well as trying to provide home- would be good to go and less people with work we were see, and so the word also trying to say you can actu- spreads. ally be very successful and be a We use the media too; profit making business, even though we for excellence, innovation and creativity. last week we had an article in the didn’t take any profits. That’s why we nevertheless there were some themes Manchester Evening News, and over put ourselves in for all sorts of business that were sharedwhich were about dis- the course of the next couple of days I awards in the Chamber of Commerce - covering and pursuing talented individu- had 38 phone calls from individuals and won a lot too. als. not just for their benefit, but for the with good ideas. There are more per- JA: How did you end up as the North benefit of the UK as a whole. sonal routes: the other day I had to have West “talent scout” for NESTA? NESTA is made up of £200m of some new sockets put in my house. I RT: Since I left the Big Issue, Anne National Lottery money put into a fund made the electrician a cup of tea and he and myself and an ex member of staff, which then makes between £10m-12m said “I’ve got a good idea”, and he start- Simon Danczuck, set up a reasearch a year. That money is used to back cre- ed telling me about it, so I told him to company called Vision 21. The main ative and talented individuals in the get in touch with NESTA who would be areas we work in are social research, fields of science, technology and the able to put him in touch with the engi- community consultation, housing work, arts. It goes to people who have new neering department at John

12 Anticipations Autumn 2001 Interview

Moores University and develop his idea government is that if we have low ambi- a genuine partner and as a way of reach- further. tions then we’ll have referenda with very ing into communities and allowing peo- I meet a whole load of interesting low turnout, and then elections with ple to do things for themselves, rather people, tell them that there may be even lower turnouts, and it would be a than having something done to them. some money they can apply for, and complete disaster for politics altogether. The difficulty is that you’ve got public then the rest of my job is them telling I don’t think there is an easy answer to service structures that have been set up me about the amazing things they have this. We’ve just had the general election for decades, centrally delivered, and it’s thought of and the amazing things they for example which was probably more very difficult to change. Also there is a have achieved. It’s an enormous privi- historic than another other Labour vic- worry that if we tinker with public serv- lege. I meet a whole load of interesting tory. And yet, there was a very low ices then we are tinkering with some- people, tell them that there may be turnout, and if we’re not worried about thing that’s very precious to us. Both my some money they can apply for, and the that then I don’t know why we are in Mum and Dad work in the public sec- rest of it is listening to the amazing politics. tor, it’s not because they are stupid or things they have thought of. It doesn’t If we just try to do the same old “pol- unimaginative, it’s because they gen- feel like work at all! itics as usual,” it’s going to get worse uinely believe that the public deserve JA: Why are you staying in the North and rightly people are going to get fed quality services. I can see why there’s a West? up with seeing complacency. One of the worry that if you change that and have RT: I’m not actually from the North reasons I wanted to stand for the NEC different forms of ownership then that West, I’m from Bristol. But Manchester was that I was disappointed that the really precious, intangible feeling might is a really welcoming city with a real most imaginative, inclusive, effective go. I think it won’t, but it’s a job of per- buzz about it. The North West is big suasion. You can’t force people into enough to be a country on its own with “If we just try to do the wanting to do things for themselves, a population of nearly 7 million, which same old “politics as you can stimulate that spark, but the is more than the population of Scotland desire has to be there first. and Wales put together. It’s got two usual”, it’s going to get JA: You mentioned low turnout at the amazingly sparkling cities in Manchester worse and rightly people election - it was particularly low for and Liverpool, the Lake District, it’s got younger people - do you have any great towns, great history, it’s got every- are going to get fed up thoughts on how to engage younger thing you need. When we were at the with seeing complacency.” voters? Big Issue we had a tremendous sense of RT: I’ve been to a lot of Labour Northern pride. I liked the idea of ways of achieving social change were Party meetings where people ask: “how working with people to set up national- coming from the social entrepreneurs, do we get young people involved?.” ly significant intiatives based in the and the people on the ground, not from Every constituency has the same prob- North West to attempt to stop the brain the politicians. It was worse than that, lem, that there’s only one or two young and enterprise drain. politicians weren’t even recognising members and they’ve tried everything London is a great city, but when it these achievements when they saw and there’s this gloom that tends to set- forgets that it’s just a capital city and them. There were too many social entr- tle. This huge gulf has developed starts thinking of itself as the whole preneurs that I knew with immense tal- between those of us who are politically nation then we’re all in trouble. It’s not ents, and an enormous desire to protect obsessed and everyone else who’s just in London’s interest let alone the rest of and develop the public sphere. Yet I getting on with their life. There’s a dan- the country’s interest for us all to pre- found they were banging their heads ger that we’re becoming so daunted by tend that the only new or exciting or against our own structures and politi- that task that we’re not going to get clever things happen in London, it’s just cians. A little voice inside of me was started on it. While we don’t know all of not true. I firmly believe that we have to saying; “you can’t opt out of this, you’re the answers we can start by learning les- push for the right model of directly an active member of the Labour Party. sons from elsewhere. We already know elected regional government, even You have to at least try to make some how to excite people about taking con- though there’s a lot of persuading to be kind of bridge.” trol of their own lives, about working done before we go there. JA: Has the Labour Government together, about criticising those in A lot of decisions are already made in made any progress in this area? charge. But anyone who really cares the English regions but they are made RT: The government has undoubted- about politics, who want to get voter by health authorities and by govern- ly made good progress in supporting turnouts up just for a start, is going to ment offices. The line of accountability social entrepreneurs. Things such as the face a lot of hard work. We can’t just sit is so obscure sometimes, it means noth- tax credits for community investments back and wait for some genuis with a ing in practice to most people and yet will start making a huge difference over magic wand to show the way. We just some very important decisions are the next few years. There is an increas- have to eat away at it little by little, and made by these bodies. ing willingness to look at the third sec- isn’t that a very Fabian method! The problem with another layer of tor, not as a second rate provider but as

Anticipations Autumn 2001 13 Feature

Luke Akehurst Judith Begg at Howard former 22 was Labour’s Dawber, for- National youngest candi- mer Chair of Secretary of date. She repre- the Young Labour sented the party Fabians, was Students and in the Tory the Labour can- agent for heartland of didate for Holborn and St Christ church Cheadle, one of Pancras fought and East the few con- the Liberal Democrats for second place Dorset. She is founder of the Fabian stituencies which changed hands from in the Tory stronghold of Aldershot. Women’s Network. Tory to Lib Dem in the election. Out for the Count! ari Williams, Young Fabian Chair, Luke: Fun, if you enjoy getting sun- pleasantly surprised with a lack of cyni- Mspoke to six Young Fabians about burnt! It is a great feeling knowing you cism about politics - most people were their experience representing the have inspired some people to vote genuinely pleased to meet political can- Labour Party in the General Election. Labour for the first time. vassers and put their views across. Still buzzing from the adrenaline of the Judith: It was a bit scary knowing the Judith: I was surprised by how will- campaign they describe a far from apa- buck stops with you., but also great to ing people were to have a chat, not just thetic public and a deeply demoralised have the opportunity to talk to so many on the doorstep, but in the pub or wher- Tory opposition. people, and to really state Labour’s case. ever. I’m not convinced by the whole How did you first get involved in It’s brought home to me the importance apathy thing, most people have issues the Labour Party and the Young of the Constituency side of an MP’s that they really care about, it’s just a Fabians? role. question of asking them what they are Luke: I joined the Party in 1988 aged Howard: It was scary after all those interested in and really listening. 16. I was from a Labour activist house- years of campaigning for other people Howard: The most amazing thing hold but the main reason was because I to realise that when people talked about was how little animosity there was wanted to help get rid of the candidate they meant you. But I got towards the Labour government and unilateralism! a great sense of achievement from help- how friendly people were on the Judith: At Edinburgh university ing solve people’s problems on the doorstep. Almost everyone agreed that Howard: I joined at 16 because of doorstep. One of the nicest things was things weren’t so bad under Labour. what the Tory government was doing to working with local party members who Michael: The Tories hate everything the North West; destroying public serv- were committed to running a dynamic we stand for and every moment that ices and abolishing Greater Manchester campaign. they’re not in power. I feel that if a lot County Council. I joined the YFs Michael: Very funny. The most of very rich Tories in the Yorkshire because I wanted to help develop policy important event in the diary of the CLP Dales are complaining about the Labour ideas for a future Labour Government. was not the General Election but the Government, then we must be doing Michael: I joined the Don Valley Annual Dinner. something right. Labour Party in South Yorkshire when I Chris: A great experience and a Chris: I was amazed about the num- was 15. I joined the Fabian Society tremendous responsibility. ber of people who were coming over to when I was at university and thought I Isabel: One of the most fulfilling Labour for the first time. was clever. experiences of my life. I had the rare Isabel: The greatest shock was the Chris: I was brought up in a Christian opportunity to fight for what I believe antagonism directed towards me from Socialist household in Rotherham, in and help raise the profile of the Party members of the public who clearly did South Yorkshire. I was lucky enough to - it was all worth it. not feel there should be a Labour be at Cambridge when Anthony What surprised you most on the Government. Perhaps the greatest disa- Giddens was there and his thoughts on campaign trail? pointment was the disinterest in the the “Third Way” were crystallising. Luke: Most people I met were totally political process particularly amongst Isabel: As far back as I remember I uninterested in the national campaign as young people. have been delivering Labour Party reported in the media. They were What was the opposition like? leaflets! instead keenly interested in very local, Luke: The Lib Dems were terrified What was it like being a candi- practical issues like car parking and we would supplant them and take sec- date? town centre regeneration. I was also ond place - their entire campaign was

14 Anticipations Autumn 2001 Feature

Michael Chris Naylor Isabel Owen Dugher stood stood for works for Glyn in the North Epping Forest Ford MEP and Yorkshire Tory Steven Norris’ flew the Labour stronghold of former seat. flag in the Skipton and His opponent South West Ripon. He is a Eleanor Lang, Tory strong- Special Advisor was the Conse- hold of at the Depart- rvative spokes- Tiverton & ment for Transport, Local Government woman on Constitutional Affairs. He Honiton and the Regions. currently works at the IDEA. about trying (and failing) to squeeze the Howard: People were surprisingly Isabel: Interestingly the issues on the Labour vote. The Tories just went on positive about Labour’s first term and doorstep were rarely health, education, and on about Europe. were happy to see Blair as Prime the economy, but hunting, foot and Howard: The Conservative was quite Minister. The only problem was that mouth and “that europe thing”. But an honourable and likeable man, despite many natural Labour supporters then the Tories did increase their vote! the fact that I disagreed with almost thought that voting Lib Dem was the What advice would you give to everything he believed in. In policy best way to secure a Labour victory. aspiring candidates? terms, the Liberal Democrats were clos- Michael: The political backdrop to Luke: Enjoy yourself - although elec- er to Labour, but I found their candi- our campaign was the foot and mouth tions have a serious aim they are sup- date arrogant and out of touch. The crisis which, as luck would have it, posed to be fun to take part in. local Lib Dems were horrified to find broke out in the constituency on the day Judith: It’s a really big committment, Labour running a high profile campaign the election was called. I tried to be and you should only do it if you are in Cheadle, and got very nasty. On the sympathetic - particularly to the poor going to get stuck in and do it properly. night before the election our campaign hill farmers who suffer genuine hard- I would love to see more women stand- office had all the locks superglued shut, ing, as a young woman I got a really and we had to call the police to get back positive reception from people who in ! were fed up seeing the same old iden- Michael: My Conservative opponent tikit politicians. If you are thinking was known for his pro-European views about standing, get in touch with the so not entirely at ease with Hague’s Tory Labour Women’s Network who can give Party. The Lib Dem candidate was typi- you a lot of advice about the selection cally all over the place, refusing to dis- process. cuss or defend Lib Dem policy. I also- Howard: The party desperately had quite a bit of opposition from local needs young, creative, and enthusiastic Labour members who were rather dis- candidates. So don’t listen to anyone appointed when I wouldn’t have the slo- who says you’re too young, or inexperi- gan ‘ban the bomb’ on my election enced. If you take the trouble to talk to address. people on the doorstep you can always Chris: Eleanor Lang was pleasant on win them round. a personal one to one basis but I was Chris: Work hard and fight to win - Howard Dawber’s ‘Hello’ style Rose disappointed that she fought a very neg- do what you think is right – be positive ative campaign. ship - but at the end of the day the and be yourself. Isabel: Misguided. farmers wanted someone to blame. I Michael: Have a thick skin and enjoy What was the reaction to Labour tried to explain that agriculture gets yourself. Most importantly you should on the doorstep/on the street? more subsidy than any other industry try to use the campaign to build up the Luke: People in this part of the put together and doubled, but I nearly party organisation and recruit more world are a lot politer than the people got pitch forked. members. I’m used to canvassing in inner London Chris: People were more willing to Isabel: The most important thing is elections. There was a tiny minority of have a full and frank discussion about to enjoy it. It is hard work but it is also racists and xenophobes who seemed politics and policy than ever before. I rewarding. Pick a constituency where quite shocked that anyone disagreed certainly didn’t find that people were you feel comfortable and have a good with their views and I felt were mainly apathetic. There was however disillu- rapport with the activists. Make sure it is motivated by fear of change and the sionment with the current process and more than just a career move - you may unknown. practice of politics. not win!

Anticipations Autumn 2001 15 Corduroy Column

Greg Rosen finds history is littered with the political corpses of those who fell foul of the whips.

his summer’s furore over the bers of the Whips Office. The Whips essential to avoid the image of an inde- Tappointment of Commons Select Office under the last Labour govern- cisive government that can be diverted Committee chairs was held by many in ment had a reputation for being partic- from its course by backbench pres- the media to crystalise the emasculation ularly tough-minded, one whip earning sures.” of traditional backbench independence notoriety for apparently banging the Labour’s majority is now rather larger, and power. That New Labour, via the intravenous drip of a dying Labour but otherwise little has changed. The dark machinations of the whips office, Parliamentarian who had had to be complaints about previous govern- might try and influence whether the leg- wheeled into Westminster on his hospi- ments were not that they interfered with endary “battling butterball” Gwyneth tal trolley to maintain the government’s the choice of Select Committee chairs Dunwoody and the veteran loyalist majority, in order to prove to doubting but that they either opposed the cre- Donald Anderson should continue as Tories that he was still alive. ation of Select Committees in the first chairs of the Transport and Foreign But it would be wrong to assume that place or shut down the few pilot com- Affairs Select Committees was seen as the MP mentioned above came to mittees that Dick Crossman got going breaking new ground in “control-freak- Westminster on his hospital trolley in during the 1960s in his brief but ery”. terror of the Whips. It was his loyalty to reforming period as Leader of the But was it? The handling of the issue the Labour movement, the same loyalty House of Commons. It was not until by the Whips Office was certainly not as that led Mackintosh, when he himself 1979 that Norman St. John Stevas cre- deft as it might have been. But the was dying in an Edinburgh hospital in ated Commons Select Committees on a involvement of the Whips Office in July 1978 to write a letter to his whip systematic basis. Thatcher sacked him deciding the composition of select asking that the seriousness of his ‘flu’ (it for his pains in her first reshuffle. Not committee’s was not new. It is in the was in fact a heart tumour) be kept only that but the Tory Whips regularly fine tradition of the Mother of secret for fear it might warn the Tories interfered with Parliamentary commit- Parliaments. The Whips Office was of the likelihood of an impending by- tee composition and sought to depose involved in the decision to put both election. chairs of whom they disapproved, such Anderson and Dunwoody on their Indeed, just as it is absurd to attribute as the pro-European Heathite Geoffrey select committees in the first place. It is loyalty to the government amongst Rippon, who was deposed from his for- the Whips Offices of all the parties that Labour backbenchers as being either a eign affairs role in 1981. operate the conventions that give a cer- new phenomenon or due to some form Indeed, perhaps the most tangible tain number of select committee chairs of New Labour Millbank mind-control, aspect of the Dunwoody/Anderson to each party, decide the relative repre- it is a delusion to believe that before the furore was the fact that, far from being sentation of each party on the various 1990s there was some sort of ‘golden intimidated by the Whips, Labour back- select committees and indeed provide age’ of backbench power. There have benchers proved more than capable of for representation of minority parties been few Parliamentarians with as long making their own minds up. Just as and minority views. Without their an experience of the Commons as late some were quick to applaud this evi- involvement there would have been no George Strauss, who became a senior dence of free-thinking, it would be guarantee, for example, that the Minister under Attlee and eventually refreshing if some would be slower to Conservatives would have let Frank Father of the House before his retire- condemn these same Labour back- Field chair the Social Security Select ment as Labour MP for Vauxhall in benchers for being unthinking Whips Committee in the Major years. 1979. His considered view in 1965 does Office “drones”: it might just be that That is not to say that the Whips not indicate the existence of some gold- they happen to agree with the Whips Office cannot be heavy handed, some- en age of backbench independence that government policy, the manifesto times counterproductively so. However which New Labour has stolen away. He on which they stood, is actually worth that is not new. John P. Mackintosh, for wrote: “With Labour in government the supporting. To be a free-thinker does example, a determined and articulate influence of the backbencher on policy not mean you have rebel against what Labour MP who did more to bring is small. Decisions are made in the you freely believe just because others about the creation of Commons select secrecy of the Cabinet. Prior consulta- believe it too. committees than arguably any other tion with backbenchers is impossible backbencher, was himself kept off one and subsequent rejection politically Greg is Young Fabian Vice of the pilot select committees he had impracticable, particularly when the Chair and President of London persuaded the then Wilson government government has a tiny majority. The Young Fabians to create by the enmity of certain mem- possibility of an early election makes it

16 Anticipations Autumn 2001 The New Machiavelli

The New Machiavelli Ship of Fools Labour MP for Dorset South, to veter- also favours higher income tax and he Fabian founders would be spin- ans and MP. scrapping tuition fees: is Seddon’s Tning in their graves if they knew In the sweltering heat of the Attlee defection to the Lib Dems on the cards? the venue of the Fabian Gala Dinner. Suite in the new Portculis House, the On the cards The Society founded to fight for peace Fabian audience discovered that the There’s been a hoax chain mail letter and brotherhood held its fundraiser astronomical cost for the new building doing the rounds for years, asking for onboard HMS Belfast. In amongst the didn’t extend to air conditioning. people to send their business cards to a torpedo tubes and paintings of great The heat had obviously got to Frank little boy dying of cancer who is trying naval battles, those willing to fork out Dobson. When asked about young peo- to get into the Guinness Book of £50 a ticket got to listen to Roy ple not voting, he said young people Records. The ‘little boy’ is now in his Hattersley attack the Prime Minister, have never voted and reducing the age twenties and cured, but millions of just for a change. of voting from 21 to 18 merely business cards continue to arrive from Hattersley’s case is that meritocracy – increased the number of people not all over the world. The hoax has been Tony Blair’s driving value – simply voting. On the summer riots in the exposed in radio, tv and newspapers. So redistributes inequality. He may be right northern mill towns, he offered the imagine Howard Dawber’s surprise – but until we have a meritocracy we view that the people behind the riots when a copy of the letter arrived on his won’t know. So instead of attacking sys- where as bad as the IRA – controlling desk having been passed on via estab- tems which don’t exist, we should con- their turf and selling drugs. The person lishment figures such as Mo Mowlam, centrate on doing away with the class next to me muttered ‘sounds like Gordon Brown, Jonathan Dimbleby, barriers, educational inequalities and Norman Tebbitt’. and David Yelland. Isn’t it slighly wor- poverty which prevent people getting Progress to where? rying that the people running the coun- on in life. It reminds me of Fabian To the TUC headquarters for the try can be so easily hoaxed? Society member Mahatma Ghandi’s Progress conference. Or was it? With And Finally... response to the question ‘what do you speakers including , The publishing sensation of the think of British civilisation?’ He replied Mark Seddon, and Unison’s Dave decade is about to hit the streets. The ‘I think it would be a good idea.’ Prentice it seemed at times more like the Dictionary of Labour Biography is On yer bike... Tribune Rally. Progress is obviously try- Greg Rosen’s opus magni – a huge work There was an impressive turnout ing to be more ecumenical in its out- detailing the lives of every prominent from Fabian Local Societies members look. The only revelation of the day was Labour politician and figure for one for the Local Societies meeting and tea Tribune editor Mark Seddon coming hundred years. With a cast of thousands at the House of Commons in July. Over out for proportional representation. being bullied and badgered by Greg to 100 Fabians heard prospects for Tribune backed tactical voting for the write the entries, this might be the first Labour’s second term from MPs old Liberal Democrats at the last election book to have more authors than read- and new – from Jim Knight, the new and now its editor has backed PR. He ers... America Mourns, attack undermine the logic for National for such dialogue been greater. A World Awaits Missile Defence and therefore British On December 6th we will kick off eflecting on the aftermath of an participation with the scheme? How with an event at the Chinese Embassy in Runsuccessful Irish uprising against does Britain as a close partner of the US London. Present will be the Chinese the British in 1916, contemporary poet act as a key European Union player in Ambassador to the UK, Labour politi- Yeats remarked, “all has changed, shaping a global response to terrorism? cians and of course Young Fabian changed utterly. A terrible beauty is All of a sudden these questions have members. As elections in Zimbabwe born.” It is almost impossible to view been lifted from theoretical debate to draw near I will also be organising a the scenes of untold carnage in lower issues that stand to mean the difference conference looking at what may be a Manhattan and not be moved to similar between life or death for thousands of seismic democratic event – or not. observations of momentous change. people in Britain and beyond. If you would like to have any details The 21st Century is here. The Young Fabian International about the above planned events please As a world awaits America’s response Group was established in 2000 to exam- contact me at Dartmouth Street or at in collaboration with it’s allies in NATO ine these issues through a series of underwoodchris @yahoo.com. I look and beyond, questions no one ever receptions, events and publications forward to hearing from you! wanted to have to answer are being laid focussing on the foreign policy chal- Chris Underwood before policy maker’s doors. Does this lenges of our time. Never has the time International Group Co-ordinator

Anticipations Autumn 2001 17 Letter from Shanghai Lifting the bamboo curtain

In the last of his columns from Shanghai, Tim Sharp reveals a country coming to terms with both its history and its future.

ne of the most successful classes were awarded to Beijing. The jubilation The concern of the Chinese govern- OI have taught at my school was a of the young people there scotches the ment about its international status has lesson on stereotypes. It was in the claims in some of the Western press become increasing evident. During the aftermath of the US spy plane furore that interest in the bid did not extend spy plane affair supportive comments and the 16 and 17 year olds were in their beyond the capital. from foreign press and governments element. Americans are fat, bullying and It also has its negative side. Although were used to justify the Chinese stance. blonde. The French are dark and the recent collision between a US spy The recent meeting of the Shanghai 5 romantic. The British are gentlemen, plane and a Chinese fighter was handled grouping of China, Russia and some have big noses or, my favourite, are sensitively by China’s “quality” papers, Central Asian states proves that China is “cool - like Mr Sharp.” there was an outpouring of anti-US vit- seeking links abroad and is prepared to I told them that many people in the riol in the tabloid press and in internet make the running. In time, this may UK thought that the Chinese all looked chatrooms such as that run by the become an alliance which causes the the same, wore straw hats and were Communist Party’s “People’s Daily” West some worry. experts in martial arts. They were not newspaper. Some steps are being taken by the amused. The people of the Middle Attitudes towards the Japanese are West to engage with China and vice Kingdom do have a certain conception even more disturbing. They are the versa. An increasing number of foreign of themselves as at the centre of the biggest ex-pat group in the city yet companies and joint ventures are locat- universe. There is some justifcation for Shanghainese are almost unanimous in ing here. Their requirements are a chal- this. A quarter of the world’s population their hatred of their Asian neighbours. lenge to the tradition-bound Chinese lives in China. Even in cosmopolitan Despite positive initiatives like school educational system. Shanghai, few people have regular con- exchanges, even official attitudes are At my school, the foreign teachers tact with foreigners. Therefore it is not bordering on xenophobic. In nearby have helped to develop the school’s surprising that the kids hold hackneyed Nanjing there is an enormous memorial links with the UK. Assisted by the views of the outside world. to the horrific massacre of civilians by British Council, an initial video confer- Despite this, Chinese people are Japanese troops there in the 1930s. ence exchange with a UK school has extraordinarily welcoming towards for- Each plaque ends with a call to all become a full-blown partnership com- eigners. A train journey may provoke Chinese to build up the motherland to prising e-mail exchanges and reciprocal stares but will also attract friendly ques- prevent any future aggression. Referen- visits. A football match between the tions about your nationality, job and of ces to the Japanese verge on the racist. teachers and the British Consulate- course, opinion of Chinese food. In the Foreign countries have to accept their General further allowed students and midst of a fraught discussion with a share of the blame for such attitudes. staff to improve their linguistic confi- ticket seller more often than not an George W. Bush’s demotion of China dence and interact with non-Chinese. English-speaker will step forward to from partner to competitor, the sale of In the international sphere China can your rescue. arms to Taiwan, and his proposed mis- appear intimidating. One of the last There is clearly a resurgence of sile defence shield are designed to be communist states, its population of 1.6 national pride which is taking the place insulting. Japan’s cack-handed approval billion dwarfs everyone else and for of Marxism as a unifying force in the of a school history textbook that gloss- much of the 20th Century the country country. The Sydney Olympics attracted es over war-time atrocities in Asia is showed little interest in playing a posi- enormous attention from audiences similarly provocative. tive role in the international communi- pleased to see their country’s domina- There is evidence that friendly ty. The resurgence of national pride has tion of events such as badminton, table engagement can have an impact on the both its good and its bad aspects. It is tennis and gymnastics. It can also be issues important to the West. Remar- the responsibility of both China and the seen in the fierce reaction of the kably, the Chinese delegation bidding international community to ensure that Chinese government towards measures for the 2008 Olympics cited potential the former wins out and China takes its taken by the Japanese to restrict certain progress on human rights as an argu- place as a partner of the West on the imports. I was in a bar in Shanghai the ment for the Games to be given to global stage. And you can’t get more night that the 2008 Olympic Games Beijing. international than the Olympic Games.

18 Anticipations Autumn 2001 View from the House Split personalities

Too much consensus will lead to a victory for the far right, says Ben Leapman

olitical journalists love splits. For a and Michael Portillo unsafe. In a sign that Mr Brown is rat- Pdecade the Conservative Party has by branding them forever ‘disloyal’. tled, his friends have started putting it been our meat and drink, as grandees Hence the regular stories of rows about that the PPP is championed by pop up to denounce the leader of the between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Number 10 and the Department of day. Today Labour is at a turning point Mr Brown, we are told, is a closet “Old Transport, not the Treasury. But it is too in terms of where the party stands. I Labour” supporter. His budgets, while late. If a Tube train crashes under the hear that Tony Blair even dropped the pleasing Middle England, were secretly new regime, Mr Brown’s career crashes phrase “centre-left” at a recent meeting redistributed. He has more time for with it. of the National Executive Committee. unions and backbench MPs. He is mar- MPs are still wringing their hands He claimed to be leading a party of the ginally more cautious on Europe. about the low election turnout. Many “centre”. Most Labour members would This is a pale imitation of a split. Yes, fear that the vacuum will be filled by disagree. Mr Brown would like to be Prime extremists, particularly the far right. The split comes to a head over the Minister. Yes, there are camps of Blair Their response is to ignore the problem. Government’s plans to involve private and Brown supporters in Government. Labour election leaflets attack the companies in running public services. But on most issues you cannot slip cig- Tories and Lib Dems, but do not men- Yet while the Prime Minister and his arette paper between the positions of tion the British National Party. reshaped Cabinet are lined up on Journalists prefer not to speak to one side of this divide, the rebels such groups. After this summer’s have no effective leader. The Left riots in Oldham, Jeremy Paxman in Parliament ranges from has- broke with custom by interviewing, beens like Lord Hattersley to on BBC2’s , BNP leader who-he’s like Alan Simpson. Nick Griffin, who polled 16 per Inside Mr Blair’s big tent, demot- cent in the town. On TV he came ed lacks the personal across as exactly what he is, a ques- popularity to be a credible rival, tion-dodging politician whose while left-wing ministers such as views are distasteful to most Peter Hain are too junior. Trade unions’ the two men who were, in opposition, Britons. People who vote for the BNP opposition is thwarted by their poor the architects of New Labour. do so because they feel ignored. Lack of public image and anonymous leader- If there were no rivalry at all, one media coverage fuels that suspicion. So ship. would have to be invented - and backed do election rules in Scotland and In desperation, we journalists lionize up with ‘evidence’ based on word-by- London which say that parties polling such unlikely figures as stubborn old word analysis of speeches, particularly less than five per cent get no seats. In Gwyneth Dunwoody, sacked as chair of when they happen to be delivered on London the threshold was set explicitly the Transport Select Committee then the same day. The ‘Brown-as-Old- to exclude the far right. reinstated in the biggest rebellion of Labour’ theory is about to run up In his Tribune column in 1945, Labour MPs since 1997. This autumn, against its biggest test. The Treasury is George Orwell wrote: “Even those who she and other select committee chairs the driving force behind privatisation. declare themselves to be in favour of will set the agenda with investigations Much of the may be com- freedom of opinion generally drop their into creeping privatisation throughout ing from the mandarins, but Mr Brown claim when it is their own adversaries Britain’s public services. Yet overall, is nominally in charge, and the blame who are being persecuted.” Democracy Tony Blair is lucky to have no single, will fall on him. The blame for refusing wins by confronting its enemies, not strong, charismatic rival. Which brings to renationalise Railtrack. The blame for ignoring them. The more people see of us back to journalists and splits. firms making profits out of state the BNP, the less they will like it. So let We all have a special love for feuding schools and NHS hospitals. The blame us lift the media and political boycotts. at the heart of Government, potential for the unpopular public-private part- Then, when the far right fails to successors plotting against their bosses. nership on the , progress beyond the fringe, it will have Such stories killed the careers of which Mayor Ken Livingstone claims is only its unpopularity to blame.

Anticipations Autumn 2001 19 Book Reviews Book Reviews

‘No Logo’ By Naomi Klein

his book has been described as one of the most effec- tions that expect young people to spend their summers Ttive critiques of the marketing industry since the 1950s, working for nothing or just travel expenses in order to gain and I certainly found it interesting and thought provoking. “experience”. Obviously, the only people who can afford to The main hypothesis of the book is that the more people do this have affluent parents who can support them. If work find out about the brand names, their outrage will fuel the needs to be done, especially when it comes to administrative next political movement, a vast wave of opposition squarely tasks, then I think that young people deserve to be paid targeting transnational organisations, particularly those with properly for it. Klein makes the point, rightly in my opinion, very high brand name recognition. Brands are attacked for that as employers come to expect to see placements on CVs, taking up public space with their images, for censoring out the position of the privileged who can afford to work for images that do not fit in with their “pro family” image, and nothing will be enhanced. for causing job losses in the West and the creation of sweat- As I read the book I was struck by two thoughts. I think shop jobs in the Third World. Klein overestimates the awareness of the general public to Klein’s first attack on brands involves the education sys- the issues she is raising, especially over production process- tem, which was previously an “unbranded space”. She es in the Third World. She praises “culture jammers” who bemoans the incursion of brands into universities, and deface advertising bill boards and the protestors who occu- sights examples of corporations stifling protests and influ- py public space to reclaim it from brands, yet I do not think encing academic research. these strategies get their message across effectively. Many Interestingly, she suggests that the preoccupation with members of the public associate anti-globalisation protests “political correctness” and equality issues in the 1980s dis- more with violence and carnage, rather than the arguments tracted from the bigger issues of the increasing presence of of the protestors. I would have thought that using the main- global corporations on campuses. Indeed, she compares it to stream media to make their case would be a more effective “rearranging the furniture while the house burnt down”. I strategy than painting graffiti on posters or trashing cities think I would take it as read that she would not be an enthu- around the world. siast for Labour’s proposals for more private sector partner- I think that Klein’s own suggestions for the way forward ships in our schools! miss the potential of branded products. She criticises brand I found one of the most shocking parts of the book the names that have set up “codes of conduct” to improve con- anecdotes from sweatshops in the developing world, where ditions in their factories, suggesting that the workers should allegedly many of the branded outfits we wear are produced. solve the problems themselves. In addition, she calls for a As jobs have been lost in the West in textiles, she argues that new type of world where we should become a “globally new ones have been created in the Third World which are far minded society, including not just global capital, but also more temporary and transient. She paints a picture of vast global citizens, global rights and global responsibilities.” This factories, employing young women, who work for managers all sounds very utopian to me – and in actual fact I would who are often abusive. She regards the notion of “trickle suggest that brands are actually the most credible route to down theory”, where wealth seeps from foreign investment improving conditions in the developing countries. If a con- to the local people, as a “cruel hoax”, because the foreign sumer wants to support ethical production processes, then brands put little or nothing back into the local economy. I the best way is to buy a brand that is known to follow best imagine that if we were to approach the specific brands she practise. In a world of unbranded products, how could the accuses that they would have a different interpretation on consumer have an impact? The brands that succeed in the their activities, but I think she effectively undermines the future may well be those that add something to society and argument that any type of job is better than none at all. create the sort of world and conditions that Klein believes Klein also suggests that brands have had a deleterious in. effect on the developing world, by destroying jobs in Western factories. I felt that one of her most valid criticisms By James Connal, referred to the “blossoming of unpaid work” in corpora- Secretary of the Young Fabians.

20 Anticipations Autumn 2001 Comment

ful and fascinating account of the circumstances surround- Tom Driberg, ing Driberg’s life. Driberg would not have had an indistin- The Soul of Indiscretion, guishable life anyhow as former MP for Maldon 1942-1955, by Francis Wheen, Chairman of the Labour Party and peer of the realm (Lord Reviewed by Andrew Stevens Bradwell of Bradwell-juxta-Mare). But Driberg was also fiercely off-message before the term ever fell off Peter he headline ‘Young Fabian praises Francis Wheen’ Mandelson’s lips (before was even born Twould raise a few eyebrows in fashionably left-wing cir- almost) and certainly refused to adhere to the rigidities and cles so I’ll reserve that for later. However, the timely re- moral codes of polite British society as would have been release in paperback of Wheen’s excellent biography of the expected of him as a Labour MP. Now famously associated controversial former party chair and MP Tom Driberg, The with frowned upon homosexuality and allegedly receiving Soul of Indiscretion, paints a tale, amusing and sad in turns, Moscow Gold as a suspected KGB agent, Tom Driberg’s life of one of the most flamboyant and colourful persons to is given a decent appraisal. Like so many others before and pass through the doors of Parliament. The subjects of after him, it seems that a figure like Driberg is almost inher- Wheen’s biographies so far (Driberg in 1990 and Karl Marx ently bound to draw criticism from a Labour Party that val- in 1999) have proved to immense in scope for salacious ues conformism and social respectability above the ability to commentary and anecdotal recollection but his mighty tome stand out and shine brilliantly and a quick look around Karl Marx read in parts like an airport novel, although such today’s Labour Party displays few, if any, characters of such a popular subject would require a new theme to be worthy a flamboyant and bon vivant nature. But Francis Wheen’s of analysis. The Soul of Indiscretion however, reads bril- excellent book goes some way towards keeping on record liantly and oozes wit and charm from every page. Instead of the life and times of such a larger than life figure who the dry regurgitation of a political career, as is common in refrained from what was expected of him at times, especial- many a political biography, the reader is treat to an insight- ly paying the bills.

A Curious Incident nerships are a dangerous socialistic plot.’ This was most aving spent a little time at the National Gallery, I confusing. Was my new acquaintance referring to the gov- Hwalked down Whitehall towards Westminster, in order ernment scheme to draft in private capital and management to admire the Palace. Whereupon the heavens opened, and into our public services? Indeed, it appeared that he was. I found myself sharing an umbrella with a significant man. Staring into my eyes, he intoned ‘Everyone knows that He was rather taller than I, and as he stooped slightly, I Gordon Brown is a communist’. Quite possibly, I reflected, caught a clear view of his balding and greying head. The the government could be made to look left- gentleman was pin-striped, and seemed to have a military wing besides this person, even as it set mien. He had too many teeth for comfort, and his mono- about spinning Bevan in his grave. grammed cufflink bore the initials ‘IDS’. The classics As the rain continued to drum down, a master at a minor public school, or perhaps a gaggle of soaked tourists struggled past. civil servant below the very first rank. A couple of them attempted to ‘Horrible weather’ I tentatively approach our doorway. My new remarked. He looked at me. ‘Most of friend shook his umbrella at them it has come over from Europe’, he threateningly. Surprised, they attempt- replied, with an air of conspiracy, ‘But ed to slip him a couple of coins, out of sym- we’ll soon fix that. The Americans enjoy pathy. My interlocutor shook with uncontrollable atmospheric conditions that are far in rage: ‘Euros!’ he hissed, ‘I’ll show them how to treat the advance of ours’. There was now a gleam in gnomes of Frankfurt!’ He hurled the pennies into the traf- his eye. ‘I am especially keen on missile fic, causing a bicyclist to crash. ‘If only we still had hanging’, defences and the voucher system of private education sub- he remarked wistfully, ‘and corporal punishment for sidies’. While I considered this, he went on. ‘In fact, there thieves’. Despite the downpour, I began slowly edging away. exists only one fat impediment between me and my plans’. ‘Don’t go’ he implored, ‘I’m a normal family man with a Surely, I murmured, there was more than one obstacle. number of healthy children, none of whom, to the best of ‘There is only one obstacle that I care about!’ A pause fol- my knowledge, are homosexuals.’ At that moment, a limou- lowed, during which I tried to work it all out. ‘This is all sine slowed in front of us, and the darkened window slowly beyond my ken’ I confessed. ‘Exactly!’ he enthused: slid down. I heard a sepulchral female voice issuing forth. ‘Nobody has truly grasped the implications of my final vic- ‘Step inside, Iain, my son and spiritual heir. There Is No tory. I am prepared to go where even Sir Alternative. You will Not Be For Turning. The Mummy Has feared to tread. With my policies to savour, the people of Returned For The Last Time’. Like any sane individual, I ran this country will realise that that Mr. Blair’s so-called part- like hell.

Anticipations Autumn 2001 21 Scotland

Silver linings have clouds too

Despite Labour’s decisive general election victory in Scotland, Judith Begg warns of the perils of complacency.

unning the first post-devolution General Election cam- that the central Party is attempting to impose its will on sec- Rpaign was never going to be easy, with Labour focusing tions of its own structure raises questions about the ethics nationally on schools and hospitals, what was there for of the Party, which will taint not only the centre, but will to talk about? spread throughout its body. The answer was to wait for the other parties to stick their Internal conflict is a gift to the Party’s opponents, espe- heads above the parapet, then machine gun them – and it cially, as in Scotland’s case, when the main opposition party worked. Both the SNP and the Scottish Tories produced has a separatist agenda. To portray diversions from UK pol- manifestos which were inappropriate for a Westminster icy as a victory of Holyrood over a bullying Westminster, election, add to this that they were uncosted and impracti- can only help those whose aim is the break-up of Britain. It cal, and Scottish Labour was laughing. does not have the intended result of increasing the popular- Not only did we retain every seat won in ’97, we also saw ity of the governing party in the devolved institution, but a tiny swing from the Tories to Labour, compared to a rather decreases the popularity of the central institution, national swing away from us. Similarly, there was a swing to thereby bolstering the separatist case. us from the SNP. What is worrying though, was the swing Obviously there’s no problem with diverging from UK of 6.8% from the SNP to Labour based on the results of policy, after all, why have a Parliament if we planned to the 1999 Scottish Parliament elections. Now that may seem change nothing? But it is dangerous to take the moral high like an odd thing to say, but not if you consider the implica- ground. Why not simply say that we’ve made different tions for the next Holyrood elections. Opinion Polls in no choices on how to spend our budget? It’s not a miraculous way indicate that sort of swing away from feat of death-defying economics, it’s a the SNP at Holyrood, so how can we “Poverty, ignorance, budgetary choice. Money which would account for this anomaly? squalor, disease, and have been spent one way will now be It would seem that many people see spent another, and we’re only storing up voting SNP in a Westminster election as a want are the enemies, trouble for ourselves by pretending any wasted vote, whilst this would not be true not the Government in different. Devolved administrations have in a Holyrood election. Many SNP voters the right to make their own budgetary appear to have either stayed at home or Westminster” choices. Holyrood is perfectly entitled to voted tactically. They would seem to be holding their fire. introduce free personal care for the elderly – but lets not The problem that Labour faces in Holyrood is this; peo- pretend that we haven’t cut money from the Social Justice ple do not make a distinction between the Labour-led budget to pay for it. Scottish Executive and the Parliament itself; therefore, the It must also be remembered that the Scottish electorate achievements of the Executive are seen as achievements of are not the only audience of the Executive. The competing the Parliament as an institution. We are caught in a vicious demands of different parts of the country are likely to cause circle – the more Labour delivers at Holyrood, the more this ever greater friction with the establishment of English is perceived as the Parliament delivering, the more the SNP Regional Assemblies, and it is vital for national stability that can claim that a Parliament which was entirely independent all parts of the nation are at ease with the constitutional and could deliver even more. budgetary settlement. This situation is exacerbated by our coalition partners, We should absolutely be proud of what Labour is achiev- who during the election seemed only too happy to take cred- ing in Scotland, but we can’t allow the SNP to highjack those it for the achievements of the Executive, whilst pointing the achievements, or allow our natural patriotic pride to be finger at Labour on anything that they felt they could make defined in conflict with Westminster. The Labour capital out of. If we are honest, some of the messages com- Government at Westminster is not the enemy – poverty, ing out of the Executive haven’t helped. ignorance, squalor, disease and want are the enemies, and Any federal wing of a national Party has to perfect a dif- the Nats obviously. Westminster and Holyrood share the ficult balance in its relationship with the centre. It is count- same vision and aims, divergences in means to achieving er-productive to portray divergence in policy as the devolved these must not be allowed to obstruct our view of the end administration ‘standing up’ to the central body. To imply goal.

22 Anticipations Autumn 2001 Photo Diary

Young Fabians at Alvescot 2001

Young Fabians trip to Uncle Tony’s house

Alun Michael at the first YF Wales event

Kevin, Ellie, and Johnny Sparkle

Mari with her shades at Alvescot

Gareth Thomas MP Thanks for a great year Mari!

Lucy, Rachel, and Andy, at the Young Fabian Boat Party, July 2001

Anticipations Autumn 2001 23 Roger Lyons, MSF Union Rachel, Nicci, and the Editor YF News Chairs’ Columns

ear Young Fabian. The Comprehensive?’ Roy Young Fabians. Look out for ously this is a new venture Dsummer has seen a Hattersley has unfortunately his book A Dictionary of for the SYF committee and frenzy of Young Fabian withdrawn and in his place Labour Biography appearing we would hope it was reflec- activity and to quote Gordon Francis Beckett will be in all good bookshops soon! tive of the views of our Brown and the Carpenters, defending the comprehen- I look forward to seeing members, so if you have any “We’ve only just begun”. sive against Stephen Pollard you at one of our Autumn burning ideas or topics you The Young Fabians held co-author of ‘A Class Act’. events. would like to write an article its first event in Wales with a (5pm Brighton Media Mari Williams on, please send them to me lecture by Alun Michael. In Centre). Our Annual Chair, Young Fabians for consideration in the next July the London Young Reception to be addressed by issue. Fabian Fabians organised the David Lammy will be on Scottish Young SYF Executive Elections Annual Boat Party on the Wednesday 3rd October in Fabians In a break with tradition the Thames this year a sell out. the Sussex Arts Club. SYF Executive committee The incriminating photo- Chinese Embassy Hey folks, Following on elections will this year be graphs appear on page 23. In Reception London from the success of previous held by ballot. This was a August 20 lucky members December 6th events held by the SYFs this move agreed by the present went on tour of Ten The Young Fabian year there are plans to hold executive committee, in the Downing Street whilst James Excellent programme pres- an MSP’s reception at the (provisional) adoption of a Connal organised the first ents a reception at the start of October where new constitution, which will Young Fabian Tennis Chinese Embassy. If you members can come along, be voted on at the AGM. I Tournament. Our annual would like to attend email meet the Exec and quiz a few hope you will agree that this Summer School was held in underwoodchris members of the Scottish is a progressive step for the Alvescot. Speakers included @yahoo.com Parliament at the same time! SYFs and I would call on Ruth Turner, Paul Richards Young Fabian Annual Details for this are being everyone to use their vote. and . General Meeting London finalised and will be sent out Anyone who is a member of Time to get out your diary. Saturday November 17th to you as soon as they are the Scottish Young Fabians Education Conference We have invited columnist available. can stand for election and London October 20 and author Jonathan The SYF summer school is you will be notified of the ‘The Comprehensive an Freedland as our guest also being organised at the timetable for election in the ideal too far?’ is the topic for speaker. moment and will take place second edition of ‘Talking the Young Fabian Education Coming soon: a three at the end of October. As Point’. Meanwhile if you Conference. Stephen Timms night trip to the European always it will be cram-packed, need further information will be our key note speaker. Parliament. To be first to full of debate on issues of about standing please get in The event is being hosted by hear join our email list. the day. There will be speak- touch with me on the num- the Institute of Education in Email: subscribe-youngfabi- ers from all sections of polit- ber/e-mail listed below. London. To register email Ra [email protected] ical life - MPs, MSPs, party Lastly I would like to per- [email protected] As this is my last letter as officials, journalists and aca- sonally thank all of the mem- Labour Party Conference chair I would like to take the demics. The AGM will also bers of my executive com- Brighton September 30th opportunity to say a huge take place this weekend and mittee for their hard work Young Fabians will be thank you to the other mem- the results of the SYF Exec and dedication throughout organising two fringes: ‘Can’t bers of the executive who elections announced, so do the year, their continued Stand the Heat - Get back to have made this year both come along and have your commitment has meant that the kitchen?’ Has Labour successful and fun. The say. Whether you are a new we have had an excellent year failed to tackle the work/life Young Fabians are only as member or an avid confer- so far. Thank you guys! balance? Amongst our good as the time, effort and ence goer, you will find Looking forward to seeing speakers will be Tess enthusiasm of the team. I something in it for you. As you all in the near future, Kingham who left the have thoroughly enjoyed soon as details are finalised Commons claiming it was a working with you all. Greg they will be sent out to you. Johanna Baxter, ‘gentleman¹s club’. (1pm Rosen will be stepping down You will shortly receive Chair, The Scottish Brighton Media Centre) Our from the executive this year I your second edition of Young Fabians second fringe is ‘Selection: would like to recognise con- ‘Talking Point’, the SYF 07811 450410 The End of the tribution he has made to the newsletter. As stated previ- [email protected]

24 Anticipations Autumn 2001 A Tribute to Dominic McElroy

ominic McElroy, the Labour Party organiser for paigning, organising and motivating others. As Tom DLeeds, died suddenly on 12 August while on holiday Watson has observed: “While others were furthering in Greece. He was just 26. Michael Dugher and Joe their careers, Dom was rolling up his sleeves. Never McGowan, two of his closest friends pay their tribute to afraid of hard work, he was a natural party organiser”. him. Dom went on to be the 1997 general election organis- Dom would have found it funny to be appearing in er for David Lock in Wyre Forest. He played a key role in Anticipations, the journal of the Young Fabians. He was, delivering that seat for Labour and he made many life- albeit sometimes tongue-in-cheek, a class warrior and he long friends in Kidderminster. He spent a year in London would have dismissed the Young Fabians as a bunch of working for Ian Coleman MP becoming active in Tooting middle class kids in London who like “talking” about CLP, so much so that he stood as a Wandsworth council- . lor. But, again to quote Tom Watson, “neither the beer or Dom was a Yorkshireman through and through. Born the back-biting were to his liking and he returned to his and bred in Halifax, he was straightforward, hard work- beloved Yorkshire”. ing and deeply loyal. Often blunt, occasionally indiscreet, Dominic joined the staff of the Yorkshire Regional Dominic was no diplomat. But he nevertheless had a Labour Party as European information officer in the run- heart of solid gold and he was as honest as the day is up to the 1999 European elections. By the 2001 general long. As one of his friends in Leeds has said “Dominic election, he was the party’s organiser for Leeds and able spoke as he found and he loved nothing more than argu- to see more of his close family and friends. ing the toss”. In spite of this, he was genuinely inclusive Many of us will remember Dom as a true friend. His in his political friends. Dom was a great social mixer. humour, kindness and sheer humanity were a great com- Dominic joined the Labour Party in his Halifax aged fort to anyone who needed cheering up. He was one of 15. His commitment to the party was unquestionable. His the loudest people you could ever meet and he was also politics were a combination of old Yorkshire common one of the most fun people to be with. sense and new Labour loyalties. He wasn’t on board with Dom was always the life and soul of any party. He had the ‘project’ - if such a thing really exists - and he had no a great affection for Irish music - reflecting, as it did, his time for the abstract political fantasies indulged in by ancestry - and several of us recall Dominic singing the Labour’s metropolitan elites. Fields of Athenry down his mobile phone on Christmas Dom was fiercely practical in his socialism. He backed Day. He would take little encouragement in a busy pub to the Labour Government to the hilt because he knew that launch into a chorus of the Wild Rover, often amending millions of ordinary people in this country depended on the lyrics to echo the sounds of the terraces at his having one. He was an official of the party and therefore beloved Burnley Football Club. Another abiding memo- couldn’t be seen to criticise senior figures in the ry of Dom that his friends share is the endless renditions Government, but when he wanted to vent his spleen he of Ilkley Moor Ba’ Tat. It may be the Yorkshire National often wrote letters to under the name ‘Paul Anthem, but to many of us it will always be Dom’s song. Elliot’. Dominic packed so much into his short life and he Dom’s politics were the product of his background. knew he had to. He never wasted a minute. Dom under- He joined the party not because he read about it in a stood better than most that - to quote the lyrics of John book at university or because he wanted to be an MP, but Lennon - “life is what happens to you while you’re busy because he saw at first hand the inequality and lack of making other plans”. He will be missed by the Labour opportunity that affected many of the people he grew up party as one of its great servants and most tireless cam- with. Dom had great empathy for people and a real pas- paigners. And he will be missed by his family and friends sion for social justice. Unlike some of the intellectuals because he was a truly loveable individual. and groupies that New Labour attracts, Dom felt the One thing is for sure: heaven will be a much noisier Labour Party in his bones. Labour was a lifelong com- place with Dominic there, but it will also be a lot more mitment for Dominic and not a passing fashion or polit- fun. ical experiment. Dominic was also a real grafter. After leaving Halifax to Michael Dugher and Joe McGowan were study for a degree at Nene College, Dom joined Labour Labour parliamentary candidates at the 2001 Students. He was elected to the National Committee as General Election. publicity officer in 1995 and he had a real talent for cam-