Well, Boris won the Mayoral Election. The best thing you can say for him is that he is opposed to ID cards.
Furthermore, the BNP got a seat in the GLA.
On the plus side, the Greens took the 3rd seat in Highgate ward. Lab came second and the Cons third. The Greens took two seats on the GLA (same as in 04)and Sian Berry (who I found out on Wed night drinks bitter, after an evening getting soaked leafletting letter boxes in Archway) came fourth in the first round of the Mayoral contest. Furthermore, the Greens did pretty well in most of the constituency contests.
Respect (apart from 15% in City and East) and Left Luggage, sorry Left List, did extremely badly. It seems the last hope of the English Left is the Green Party. However, how more disasters it will take for the message to get home to all those wanting to re-stage Sergei Eisenstein's October?
Will blog more Sunday night/Monday morning here. I saw Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine going dirt cheap in a bookshop yesterday so I'm going to splash out and read it in the park this afternoon, either trying to get a suntan or rust...
Update: Early Hours of Monday 5th: Just finished Shock Doctrine. It is even better than No Logo. The book it complements is Greg Palast's Armed Madhouse (I need to look hard in the footnotes to see if NK cites him). I want to review it at length, or at least use it as a starting point for other posts. For instance, surely there is a viable political way between grovelling to Corporate Capitalism on one side and pandering to RORO (Racially Or Religiously Obsessed) types on the other? I'm tired and I digress...
There has been talk over the weekend that there may be a challenge to Gordon Brown's leadership of the Labour Party at some point in the coming months if things don't impove. There seems to be hopes on the Labour Left that NuLab can be defeated at last, but I'm pretty sure NuLab will find someone else to lead them all on the Forward Path to Reform and Modernisation if GB fails. The Tories seem to think the next General Election is all over bar the shooting, sorry shouting, but I still think we will have a hung Parliament in 2009-10 and a National Government of "Reformers" and "Modernisers" will form in the aftermath. We will see...
2 comments:
You missed out the Communist Party's "Unity for Peace and Socialism" which, since it didn't unite with others... You get the picture.
Of course, what we need is a unified yet pluralist workers' party not several squabbling groups who are in agreement over most things but are irrationally arguing over minor details or past disputes. Won't be easy getting the movers and shakers of various groups to see the bigger picture, mind.
I must say Noel, given that for unions thinking of breaking from New Labour (like the GMB, at the moment) the Greens are the only show in town in England (Plaid and the SNP may benefit elsewhere in Ukania) - you might just be right.
I note well that Dr Wall appeared at conferences of both Respect Renewal and Respect (Left List). Might we see a debate in the pages of the Morning Star on what happens next?
And if New Labour resists bringing in pro-worker and green policies, perhaps defections to the Green Party would make the most sense?
The left in the form of the SWP have had ten years to build the movement. All they've done is destroy morale and glimmer of hope: Socialist Alliance, Solidarity, and Respect.
And now we have a Tory mayor and the likelihood that the next government will be blue also.
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