Diane Abbott defends David Davis

I’m just watching “This Week” on which Diane Abbott defended David Davis’ decision to resign over the Civil Liberties issue.

Also, Kelvin MacKenzie stated that if Labour did not field a pro-42 days candidate he would, with the financial backing of Rupert Murdoch, do so himself.

One final thing, Diane Abbott made a spectacular speech in the lower house on 42 days which was highlighted on “This Week”. I recommend that you watch it.

Interesting stuff….

Wow indeed

Niall Paterson has summed it up nicely… “WOW”.

David Davis has today as, has already been blooged and you will undoubtedly otherwise know, resigned from, not only the job of Shadow Home Secretary, but also as a Member of Parliament. He has done so to challenge the Government in it’s decision of passing the 42 days detention bill and many other curtailments on British Civil Liberties which Mr. Davis has long objected to. As can be seen above his decision has completely blacked out most other political news today and has, to be frank, shocked both Westminster and the lobby in doing so.

It’s D.D. for me

A man of principle

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, has just resigned his seat in Parliament in order to fight the by-election on the issue of Civil Liberties. Davis is a good man, I voted for him in the 2005 leadership contest and I am pleased to see that he is willing to stand up and say a categorical no to the stance which the Government is taking on Civil Liberties.

The only issue is whether Davis cleared this with D.C. prior to his resignation. I didn’t see the start of the statement so I don’t know whether he did or did not. If he did not. as Nick Robinson said, it could lead to souring of relations between the two. This would be something which nobody in the party would want.

This was the moment?

I’m watching Barack Obama making his pitch to the American people. He is proposing jobs, health care and education, he acknowledges his limits. He attacks McCain for going to Iraq and not the cities and towns which have been hit by the economic problems. It is inspiring and it is impressive stuff. The issue is that Obama is very good on rhetoric on the podium, phrases like “we may be Democrats and we may be Republicans, but we are Americans first”, he talks about working with “friends in the other party”, he is attacking McCain on his own ground, he is trying to appeal to so called Obama Republicans as Reagan appealed to Democrat’s in the 1980’s. I can see why people are lapping this up, the problem is though, the British people lapped it up off Blair and co. in the early 90’s, now we know better, rhetoric often delivers bad policy and a lack of value for money. We are perhaps cynical because of this, and perhaps this cynicism is not justified in Obama but it is pervasive and it is real and I simply don’t believe Obama can follow through on his promises.

One last thing, the Beeb just cut Clinton off during her concession speech to replace her with Ceefax… how useful, I could have just hit the teletext button for it, instead it is forced upon me and others who don’t have the luxury of Digital TV (I live in a digital blackspot - no cable, no digital tv, no DAB radio).

and so, it begins

We have all (who are interested in politics, the US and our own general welfare) watched and waited for the results. John McCain came through early,in relation to the Democrats, in the primary race seeing off my original favourite Rudolph Giuliani with ease, then Mitt Romney and finally without much fan-fayre Mike Huckerbee. The Democratic party has however made us wait for their choice , I wanted to wait a bit longer but hey, and now it is here; the golden boy, the Junior Senator from Illinois, the man who launched his campaign in the same town Abe Lincoln did, Sen. Barack Obama.

We therefore have a contest between a war veteran of indisputable bravery, a Washington veteran who is willing to work with whomever he needs to achieve his goals against a young charismatic lawyer with a genuinely incredible gift with rhetoric on the podium.

I have some friends in the States, some are hardened Republicans, one or two are not overly happy with McCain as their candidate but all of them determined to prevent the Democrats retaking the White House, in this aim John McCain has a united party. I also have many friends who are of the Democrat leanings; most of them are pro-Obama, citing his youth, his charisma, his outside view of Washington and his perceived lack of culpability over the Iraq War, he wants to get out of there and so do my friends. Something that one of these friends, a wonderful lady oringally from Illinois herself, said to me earlier today was that she wanted a black man to be in the White House and that she couldn’t bear the thought of another stupid white man taking up the post. As much as I love her, this saddens me. Surely it should be about who is best for the job, if I believed Obama was then I would extol the virtues of Senator Barack Obama, however I do not. I believe that Sen. John McCain is the best choice for America and indeed the world in November, let’s not fool ourselves the result affects us too. Let’s hope he can put his case forward well enough and that he has enough cash to be able to do so. A real danger for McCain is that he will be massively outspent by Obama and will lose out on valuable coverage as a result.

Daniel’s dream seems to be coming undone

Barack Obama is, according to almost every news source going, this evening on the verge of claiming the Democratic Party’s nomination for President. I was, as has been said here previously, really hoping that the Dem fight would go to the convention. The race has been long (Clinton and Obama starting in early 2007), and messy; the question is now whether the Democrats can unite for November to prevent 12 years of a Republican White House. If Hilary rallies round and supports Obama, perhaps they can, but this depends on what Obama is willing to give in order to ensure this and also what Clinton is willing to take. I doubt she would want the VP slot, perhaps the promise of the position of Secretary of State if Obama wins the General Election. There is also the issue of Clinton’s campaign debts, which she will become liable for if/when she drops out of the race (according to C4 news, I am no expert on American election law).

In a McCain vs Obama race I will of course still be supporting (as a non-voting Brit) John McCain. Why, you ask? His Foreign Policy and Pro-Free Trade stances appeal to me and I honestly believe he is the better man for the job. Obama could do a lot worse than come second in the coming General Election and then run again in eight years time, by which time perhaps he will, hopefully, see Foreign policy issues slightly differently and crucially with more experience.

Uber-tired

Having worked 11 hours behind the bar today (Saturday) and as I am scheduled for another 9 tomorrow (Sunday) I am going to have a shower and get some good sleep. Last night I had around four hours so hopefully I should get a good few hours of shut eye before I return to the bar.

The French are… in this case very dim

A friend on mine from Uni who is French, but shall remain nameless, has just text messaged me saying that he has just been to see the new Indy film and that it was “f***ing fantastic”… Those who read my post on having said film will know my opinion on this monstrosity of a film. If there were an equation it would look something like this:

B + M x P = I

Values:

Barbwire = B

Mission to Mars = M

Police academy 9 = P

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull = I

My brother is the family mathematician not me, so I don’t know if that makes any sense, but needless to say I hold the latest Indiana Jones film in utter contempt and hatred.

Elect a Dem, or else…. Susan Sarandon will up sticks

Shock news from the lair of uber-Dem Susan Sarandon; if John McCain gets elected in November she’s going to quit the US to to take up residence in either Italy or Canada. Does anyone care, past her fellow Democrat husband Tim Robbins (whom she presumably consulted before telling everyone), enough for it to be a viable threat? I’m going to risk the wrath of the Holiday Liberal elite and say no. Considering the story came at the foot of a piece in the New York Post on the late Sydney Pollack I don’t think anyone cares and if they do the threat will likely as not result in a cross within McCain’s box come November.

The choices Italy and Canada are interesting, Italy have just re-elected the great Conservative showman Silvio, and the Canadians are increasing their oil exports neither of which are exactly in line with the ideals of messyrs Sarandon, Robbins and Gore.