ShiftingGrounds

“We are the party of those in work, his is the party of unlimited welfare.” With these words at last week’s PMQs, the Prime Minister sought to exploit a new line of attack against Labour.

On Tuesday evening November 27th, members of the Fabian Women’s Network met at Parliament to tell Jon Cruddas what they feel Labour should be prioritising for the policy review.

Ed Miliband is not someone who shies away from a challenge. He has demonstrated this admirably since becoming Labour leader. Getting to grips with the thorny issue of immigration is one thing. Getting to grips with his party’s record on the subject is another. This year he has attempted to do both.

At Sundog Pictures, we’re passionately committed to tackling big and controversial topics in an accessible way.  We want to see change.

When you think of Christmas songs, what comes to mind? Woolly-jumpered Cliff Richard with his Mistletoe and Wine? Noddy Holder bellowing: “So here it is…”? Sir Elton insisting that you “Step into Christmas” whether you want to or not?
The chances are that without even trying you’ve been hearing the same old dirge on repeat play in supermarkets, s

‘It is based on the difference between a neo-classical and a neo-aristotelian concept of human nature’
These are the words not of a Harvard professor, nor a professional think-tanker, but of the Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham. Jon Cruddas is a politician unlike any other.

For twenty years, Renewal has provided a space for the British left to engage in deeper debate than is permitted by the short-term horizons and constraints of day-to-day political controversy.

As one of the top ten oil producing nations on the planet, Nigeria has a massive advantage over most of the developing countries in Africa. Coupled with the domestic demand which a population of around 160 million people gives, there is a fundamental strength within the Nigerian economy which offers real potential.

Wars are declared righteous, welfare reforms are presented as fair and legal changes are called abhorrent, but many politicians still claim their job has nothing to do with morality. It is bizarre that although politics and its language is value laden, some politicians seem to think ethics is relegated to the world of churchmen and philosophers.

Over the last year, inequality has been racing up the political agenda. ‘Inequality, as President Obama has put it, ‘is the defining issue of our time`. Yet for all the talk, the income gap – apart from dipping slightly in 2009 – has been rising through the crisis.

Now, some of my best friends are heterosexual – and while the same doesn’t yet apply to gays – I fully support their right to be married in the church. Of course, I’m being sarcastic.

So the Autumn Statement comes and goes with the usual media hype and the typical lack of detail. If you wanted an even briefer summary than the following article it would be: poor economic performance, fudged borrowing targets, mostly ineffective headline-grabbing policies and a lack of demand stimulation.

The Autumn Statement is upon us, though delayed this year well into Advent. The timing may well be more appropriate. In it we expect to see little of Keats’ “mellow fruitfulness”. Rather the British economic outlook fits C.S. Lewis’s words, “Always winter, but never Christmas.

Not much has been said or written about the Occupy movement in Britain since protesters folded away their tents and left the front yard of St. Paul’s Cathedral earlier this year.

Last week, the Treasury spin machine went into overdrive in response to Labour’s push to highlight the cut in the 50p top rate of tax.
The centrepiece of their case was that the 50p tax had reduced the number of millionaires paying tax in the UK by 10,000 from 16,000 to just 6,000.

This has been an incredible week for me. I must first of all express my gratitude to David Clark and Tom Sadler for offering me the opportunity to edit Shifting Grounds for the week, and for giving me the freedom to shape women’s week as I saw fit.
This week we’ve had a true variety of content from a true variety of women.

It was great to be at the first ever Labour Women’s Network conference a couple of Saturdays ago. I was asked to speak to the theme ‘what would a winning offer from Labour look like?’ I was also briefed that I should not feel I needed to restrict myself to ‘women’s issues’.

Ed Miliband offered hope on working class representation at Party conference this year when he called for the party to be rebuilt to look like One Nation. He specifically spoke of ‘redressing the problem of working class representation.

There’s a lot of competing objectives for Labour’s developing economic policy to juggle at the moment. First, winning back our reputation for economic credibility, unfairly but successfully shredded by the Tories in the wake of the financial crisis.

Feelings are mixed after the greatest party on earth.
Certainly over the last few months Newham has had a mother of a hangover. Compared to our Olympics filled summer it is now rainy and grey (who knew winter could descend on THE Park?!).

Right back at the start of my career as a trade union official I remember a colleague once telling me never to gauge the strength of the relationships I had with employers by the number of contacts I had in my Filofax. They were wise words.