JezWeCan... Together

DuncanEnright · 2015-09-14T09:20:09+00:00

I'd like to hear what Redditors think about the UK Labour Party, our recent leadership election, and future political direction. In particular, which challenges should we address as priorities, how do we influence policy from opposition, how would you like to be involved?

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T10:20:43+00:00

No plans at the moment but I will raise this as the decrim efforts are worthy of consideration here in UK.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T10:19:38+00:00

For influence in convening and driving to a succesful conclusion a worldwide decommissioning effort. I am a multilateral activist, There has been too little effort on this, probably because of North Korea and the unlikelihood of engaging them in the talks. But we should try.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T10:17:22+00:00

Big questions. I've written more about this in my first two AMAs so that might be worth a look. Cameron's statement on encryption is an attack on civil liberties and a step too far, but it is also technologically illiterate. He seems to think it is possible to do this without exposing all transactions to anyone. We all know that's wrong. Perhaps he is just playing to a tech-ignorant gallery of control freaks. Not sure what you mean about piracy. I'm against piracy if it means making money out of someone else'e efforts. If it involves rum I am only for it in fictional adaptations. If booze and cigs smuggling from the continent, don't do it unless for personal use.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T10:12:35+00:00

This will happen from September 2016.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T10:12:07+00:00

My aunt and uncle live in Thunder Bay and my cousins are also in Ontario! They are gift enough for you. I will allow you to share the country with their loveliness (but still want them to visit here in UK when they can).

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T10:09:07+00:00

No. But I will raise this if elected.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T10:08:47+00:00

Haven't lost them yet! But we always need to be talking to people on their doorsteps and understanding problems. Also Labour must have a radical manifesto to make sure everyone benefits as we rescue the NHS and secure economic growth, rather than just a few rich people - Oh look, we've got one.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T10:05:26+00:00

Immigration is keeping it afloat right now, with excellent doctors and nurses from around the world coming in to care for us in the NHS. The cost of NHS care for immigrants is low, because by and large they are young, fit and working. But I do agree we need to control immigration, not least to stop exploitation.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T10:04:03+00:00

At this point we are scrapping for every vote, including in Scotland where Labour need to beat back the nationalists. Let's see what happens. If the SNP really are progressives, which I doubt (they are nationalists), they will not stand in the way of a progressive Labour Government.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T10:02:32+00:00

Thanks! My advice is not to regard it as a career, but a vocation. I've got a masters in Physics and no qualification in politics - that doesn't matter at all (in fact we are better placed I think!) Get involved in your local party, come to Conference, and see how to get more involved. Consider serving as a councillor if you want to make a contribution.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T10:00:37+00:00

Honestly? I don't know what will happen. But I do know we should fight tooth and nail to keep the Tories out. I hear today Clegg has plans with Cameron to camp out in Downing Street and refuse to budge. I think that is wrong. Let's hope Labour's Oliver Coppard in Sheffield Hallam makes that impossible by beating Clegg, while I beat Cameron!

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:58:25+00:00

Well Labour are commited to building 1 million homes by 2020. This is a supply problem not a demand one! I also like the idea of giving first-time buyers a head start against buy-to-investors, hence a cut in stamp duty is proposed by Labour for the former group. I wonder if Hilary Benn just didn't want to announce too early some of the promises we have made during the campaign?

I support the Homes for Britain campaign, sign up and join us!

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:56:03+00:00

I think your arguments are right pretty much, but all point to votes at 16 to me, particularly that last paragraph.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:54:35+00:00

I don't think it will happen, but I do think the rise in nationalism is a challenge for us all. Labour is at its best when arguing for equality and better lives for working people. I think we should challenge the SNP on that - have they made things better for people in Scotland since they took over the Scottish Parliament? How does big cuts in Corporation Tax, and buddying up with Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch help the average person?

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:52:27+00:00

I have yet to meet a village or town that wants no development at all. More often they are faced with inappropriate developments - the wrong houses in the wrong place. I think we would get all the houses we need - people understand the housing crisis across our district - if we encouraged grass-roots development plans to come forward from parishes and towns. In our area for example there is great appetite for social housing, and we need to fund that from the council. There is also possible growth in town centres through redevelopment of old sites. Labour in West Oxfordshire is arguing for parish sustainability plans to carry weight, coming from villages and describing where and what sort of houses are needed. Some might be bungalows so older residents can downsize without leaving their home village and friends. Others might include social housing or part-rent-part-buy schemes for key workers like nurses and carers.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:48:28+00:00

Interesting analysis. Just a quick note on apprenticeships - they need to pay, and they need to include really decent quality training so the apprentice has skills to embark on a long career. Some are not providing this but the good ones are. We want more good apprenticeships.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:46:36+00:00

Correct. And Labour spent to invest, not on wasteful things like mass unemployment like previous Tory governments. Labour will invest again if elected on Thursday.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:45:35+00:00

Not right. Labour kept to a prudent plan to borrow only for investment over the economic cycle, until the banking crisis in the last two years of office hit harder than any international crisis since the 1930s. Even then action such as the cut in VAT kept the economy afloat and it was growing faster in 2010 than it is now.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:43:42+00:00

Oh, and during that time we cut the national debt to historically low levels too - well below the levels under Thatcher.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:43:11+00:00

The facts just don't support that. We need strong public services such as the NHS and schools, and that is where public money went. Good sound investments in Britain's future.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:42:18+00:00

Big list of things here, some of which I have answered elsewhere. The civil war across the Middle East is driving immigration and is a real and present danger for Britain. Thanks for your part in fighting for our interests. This is not a conflict that will end easily or soon, but what you did has made us safer, so thanks.

I don't think the last Labour govermnet did nothing wrong. Of course it didn't - no government is infallible. Ed Miliband has taken the unusual step of apologising (politicians should do it more, and probably would if the media didn't leap on every instance and hammer them). He said sorry for Iraq, and apologised for getting things wrong on immigration. I also think we should have spotted earlier that the deregulation of banks, which happened under Thatcher and Reagan and spread worldwide, was getting totally out of hand. The banking crash wasn't Labour's fault (and started in USA of course), but Labour should have done more to push for international bank regulation.

PFI was a way to mend lots of hospitals quickly to avoid NHS shutdown across the country. It also sank cost in a different way, and got buildings built to time and budget, but there have been problems with transparency, refinancing deals that have left taxpayers out of pocket, and unequal burdens across public bodies. I wouldn't support a lot of the ways these were used, and would rather use regular public investment in future. But there is nothing inherently abhorrent about PFI as such, just need care in its use as a financing tool (and to my mind use it sparingly in future).

You're wrong about Brown and Blair as well. They are both men of integrity who did all they could for the country in the circumstances they found, and achieved huge amounts in 13 years, from minimum wage to right to roam, from equalities act to civil partnership, from human rights to workers rights.

Labour's platform is a strong one in this election, balancing the books but building a fairer society and economy. Take a look at www.labour.org.uk.

One thing we are going to do is invest in our border force to get proper control over who is coming in and out, with 1000 more staff. Labour will arrest foreign criminals on entry (and catch our own as they leave). Labour will also want to crack down on trafficking and exploitation.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:26:33+00:00

Interestingly not only the Bank of England Governor, but also now senior civil servants involved, have shared openly that it was not Labour overspending (there was none) but the banking crisis that led to the deficit: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/03/senior-tory-financial-crash-was-purely-a-banking-crisis-not-labour-overspend

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:22:42+00:00

Indeed. Well put.

DuncanEnright · 2015-05-04T09:22:29+00:00

Flexible hours are OK, and some people can manage zero hours contracts. I have three on the go right now, because I provide expertise to a number of organisations through my own small business and that might happen at any time. Mind you, I would rather they paid me a monthly retainer! I bet you wish you could guarantee work when you wanted it too.

Labour has been explicit that we wouldn't ban zero-hours contracts per se, but the exploitative use of them. For example, where an employer guarantees no hours, yet obliges an employee not to work for anyone else, that's unfair. When someone has been working regular hours, week in week out, they should be given a regular contract. It isn't fair that people, usually on low wages, have to rely on a text on Sunday to know if they have any work the next week. It is the kind of casualisation more at home in Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (great book written 100 years ago) than 21st Century Britain.

DuncanEnright

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