How do you win a General Election?

Last night I ended up watching this fascinating programme on the BBC’s iPlayer about how television fundamentally changed the way politicians fought General Elections from the 50s. I’m a sucker for old election footage but the thing that really struck me was how politicians latched on to the belief all you had to do to win the election was to win the TV war – the electorate would follow.

Harold Wilson - the UK media politician?

It doesn’t seem so simple anymore.

You might think that New Media is the new TV but then you face the fact you’ll miss the 16 per cent of the population that have never been online. If you’re thinking that advertisement, TV and radio will win then remember – only 13 per cent of people trust politicians to tell the truth.

Even if you do get the average voters attention then you have to face up to the fact that 72 per cent think all the political parties are all the same. And even taking all that into account you’re faced with the hard reality that even if you’ve managed to get their attention and convince them that you’re telling the truth then you still have to get them to vote – almost 39 per decided it wasn’t event worth voting.

So the question for both parties still stands- In 2010 how do you actually win a General Election?

London Young Labour will be getting together tonight at the George (on the Strand) to have a good look at the issue and they’ve brought together three candidates that I think have a particularly interesting view of what the answer might be.

For an incumbent MP like Karen Buck this election is going to be a street by street battle in her constituency of Westminster North.  Despite a strong personal vote she is facing an opponent with huge resources and voters who are being constantly encouraged to ‘Vote for Change’.

The young candidate for Woking, Tom Miller, faces a very different challenge. How do you call for change locally but Labour nationally? How do you combat people’s apathy to politics and young people in general whilst still focusing on a campaign that is about policies and not just personalities?

Finally for a local candidate in Barking like Sam Tarry, who is also a Hope Not Hate organiser, what do you do if your main opponent isn’t the Tories but the BNP who are making Barking and Dagenham their battleground.

Douglas Alexander, Labour’s General Election Co-ordinator, has said that Labour should make this election it’s ‘word of mouth’ election.

“The Conservatives are fighting a broadcast election in a networked age. What we are going to offer is not a one-way communication, but one-to-one communication.”

The most important thing in a political campaign?

So the most important thing in campaigning is once again the campaigner: the activist on the doorstep, the person the voters actually get to meet face to face. But not all campaigning is the same, some are better than others.

That is why the Young Fabians are teaming up with the best election candidates and campaigners across London to learn the skills and get a proper insight into what makes a great campaign.

Our first session will be with PPC Stella Creasy and council candidate Mark Rusling this Saturday in Walthamstow.

If you are interested in joining us on the campaign trail, want to learn more about Young Fabian Campaign Sessions across London, or get details for this Saturday then contact Vincenzo Rampulla, vrampulla@youngfabians.org.uk

Lord Kinnock: voters will back experience and continuity like they did in 1992

Last night Lord Kinnock spoke to Oona King, former diversity adviser to the Prime Minister, and the Young Fabians at an event in Portcullis House, Westminster.

Lord Kinnock spoke about a wide range of topics including reflecting on his own experience of the 1992 general election and the parallels with the forthcoming national poll.

In the video above, Lord Kinnock says that he believes as we get closer to the election, voters will back experience and continuity and this make a Labour victory more likely. He also praises the way Gordon Brown handled the economic crisis.

Young Fabians Networks go live…

On Thursday last week, we launched our Fabians ‘Technology and Society’ and ‘Future of Finance’ Networks at a reception in the heart of the City of London.

We were delighted that so many young financiers, scientists and academics – many of whom had not been involved in the work of the Young Fabians before – packed the room to hear our guest speakers spell out their visions for the potential role the Networks could play.

Lord Drayson, Minister for Science and Innovation, spoke about the power of politics and the opportunity for young people with expertise and enthusiasm to make a difference in politics. On science, technology and finance, Lord Drayson talked about the pride he had in the UK’s leadership role and called on young people in those sectors to put their expertise forward to help government continue to support jobs and investment for the future.

Rachel Rachel Reeves, PPC for Leeds West and former Bank of England Economist, called on the Networks to bring fresh energy to debates around financial transaction taxes, to principled banking and to end Casino banking. Huw Evans, ABI Director of Communications, talked about the value of a more sophisticated understanding of financial services on the left and set out the role of insurance in the UK economy. He saw the Networks helping in the effort to respond positively and effectively to public concerns about the financial industry, with ideas and actions.

Our aim in hosting the Networks is to provide a forum for socially minded professionals to meet and discuss ideas and to bring sector expertise to progressive debates. Our speakers underlined that there was great value in hosting the Network and that now was the time when ideas and insights would have real influence.

But the hard work starts now. People have noticed the Networks exist and expectations are high. Now we need to see what they can deliver. If you’re interested in joining either the Future of Finance or the Technology and Society Network – it’s simple – just visit the website and join up. You don’t have to be a Young Fabian member to take part in the Networks.  If you want to take a more active role, come to the steering group meetings and put your ideas for the Network into action.

To see a taster of the discussion the Networks are hosting, see Chris Calland’s response to the Chancellor’s debate on the Future of Finance Network or see what Chris Jones had to say about the launch event.

Thanks for all the hard work that went into the launch event and I look forward to seeing what you all have to say on the Networks.

Nick Maxwell

The nasty party is back: Pro-hunting, anti-gay and getting personal

The increasingly desperate, deeply personal attack on Gordon Brown launched by the Conservatives is a stark reminder, if ever it were needed, that the old-style nasties never went away, they just kept quiet, hoping to con the public into believing they had changed. They’re back, and as unpleasant as ever.

The new poster campaign, derided as a “waste of money” for being old-hat, ineffective and simply “bad” by Paul Richards on Labour List (and already parodied on the excellent mydavidcameron.com website), may please the salivating hordes of Brown-hating nihilists on the Tory blogosphere, but will do little to appeal to ordinary voters, the kind of people in swing seats who the Tories need to win round to gain a majority.

Taken aback by the collapse of their poll lead, it seems more to do with pacifying their base – a worrying trend of late.

On Tuesday, David Cameron floundered badly in an interview with Gay Times, broadcast on Channel Four News. In it, he failed to commit to supporting the Alli amendment in the Lords which would allow civil partnership ceremonies to be performed on religious premises. He also, as Sunder Katwala blogged on Next Left, defended the Tories’ far-Right allies in the European parliament. Watch it:

Last week also saw Cameron’s European parliament front bench spokesman on international development speak out against the Tobin tax, the tax on bankers that would give billions to tackle poverty and climate change, in Britain and abroad, raising hundreds of billions each year, saying:

“What did we go and do just now, we voted for a Tobin tax to hammer already weakener financial institutions in the west and give money to a whole bunch of people who will probably steal it.”

And today, The Independent revealed details of a highly secretive, kept-under-wraps underhand campaign by bloodthirsty hunters to target anti-hunt Labour MPs and candidates, spurred into action by Cameron’s promise of a vote on the repeal of the Hunting Act. The Indy reports that:

“Hundreds of hunt supporters are under orders to ride into action in key marginal seats within hours of a general election being called, in the knowledge that David Cameron will allow a return to hunting with dogs if he gets to Downing Street. Documents seen by The Independent show that hunt masters have been rounding up supporters and sending them to the most fiercely contested seats, ahead of a big push planned for the first 72 hours of campaigning…

“Members of the Heythrop Hunt, which operates in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, have been organised to help Richard Graham, a businessman who recently gave up his job to be a full-time Conservative candidate in Gloucester, where the Labour MP Parmjit Dhanda is defending a 4,271 majority… The East Kent Hunt, operating south of Canterbury, urged its supporters to “do everything in their power” to help the Conservative candidate in Dover, Charlie Elphicke, unseat the Labour MP, Gwyn Prosser, who has a 4,941 majority to defend.

“Nicky Sadler, of Vote-OK… said: ‘We are helping some Liberal Democrat and Plaid Cymru candidates, but no Labour. The majority are Conservatives, because the Conservatives are the only party that has repeatedly said they will repeal the Hunting Act.’”

In many ways, these events serve only to remind us of what we already knew, and hopefully act as a warning sign to those conned by Cameron into thinking the Tories had changed. The most damning indictment is that, despite calling for an election ever since Brown took office, they still have nothing to say on the big issues, no plan for the economy, no eye-catching policies, save for the proposals to give 3,000 of the richest estates an inheritance tax cut while the rest of us endure “austerity”…

They’re running scared. Cameron and Osborne know that if it’s a straight fight over policy, fairness and the future, they’ll lose hands down, so they’ve dragged the campaign into the gutter, just as they did in 1992 and 97, it’s where they feel at home, it’s the only place they feel they can win. I mean, who needs policies when you’ve got bugles, bloodthirsty hounds and posters on your side?! Tally ho!

Pledge Card Launches #labpledge

Yobs, mosquitos and pink lights

In Britain we don’t really like children and teenagers. Just think about it – children and teenagers get a bad press. The media love to call them ‘yobs’, ‘thugs’ and ‘feral’. It wouldn’t be acceptable for mosquitos (a device that emits a high-pitched piercing sound that can’t be heard beyond the age of 25) to be used against any other section of the population to keep them away from a public place. The latest invention is a pink light that shows up acne to embarrass teenagers into vacating public areas. In short, children and teenagers are, more often than not, treated as a nuisance by society, or portrayed as something to be scared of. Yet when we think about equality we usually forget to talk about how young people are treated.

I recently told a friend that I was running a consultation event to gather young people’s opinions on things that affect them. He laughed and said “do they just grunt?”. I retorted a little defensively “If they did just grunt I would be doing a very bad job at facilitation”. The reality is so different to his perception. The young people I’m in contact with through my work have really good, practical ideas. They’re straight to the point, quick-thinking and solution-focused. They’re creative and they remind you about important, obvious things that adults have forgotten. They’re not interested in things being slick, instead they want to know whether you really care. And they’re willing to work with you even when things aren’t perfect. Most of all they bring enthusiasm, humour and energy.

The group of young people I’m talking about don’t come from easy backgrounds. They’ve got a dad in prison, or a mum they’ve been taken away from, or a dad who is heroin addict, or a family who have lived with domestic violence. And yet they show incredible resilience. We have to listen to children and teenagers and respect them, not only because they’re the future but because they are the here and now, because they’re equal citizens even though they can’t vote, and because they have so much to contribute, if only we would let them.

My first hustings…

The starting gun has been fired for the General Election campaign in Cheltenham. We may not know the date of the election yet. But as the students who attended the recent hustings at Gloucestershire University saw, the parties are very much in campaign mode. There were the party political sideswipes and top lines clear to hear. But what was most exciting about the discussion was that it didn’t descend into party political point scoring. The debate was most successful in that it offered an open and honest appraisal of the different parties’ policy positions.

On higher education we were all agreed on the need to prioritise investment (though I remain unconvinced to say the least about whether the Tories would put their money where their mouth is). Where we disagreed was on Labour’s aspiration to see 50% of young people choose university. Both of the other candidates viewed this as an unrealistic goal and the Liberal went as far as saying that it was undesirable. My response. They may not believe in Labour’s aspiration, but over 50% of young people from every socio economic group do. These people want to go to university. We should ensure that they can.

A woman in the audience put the argument best when she said, “because of this government my children were the first in our family to go to university. I am incredibly proud of them.” A point well made.

The discussion continued in a similar vein throughout the night. Thrust and counter thrust, each candidate jostled for position. But I felt throughout the debate that I had one weapon in my arsenal that they couldn’t match. Labour’s record in government.

When a resident raised the issue of crime I could tell him that crime was down by a third and that Labour had invested at record levels to ensure he had a dedicated police team in his area.

When a member of the audience talked about the challenges of his disability I could point to the Disability Discrimination Act and Labour’s work driving through the most comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation in the world.

When a student asked about higher education I could tell him that investment was up 25%, research activity had doubled and that students were responding with their feet with 300,000 more in university since 1997.

It was my first hustings and at times I felt like I was on the high wire without a net. But it was a great experience and one that offered me the opportunity to make the case for Labour in Cheltenham loud and clear.

James Green is Anticipations Editor and Labour PPC for Cheltenham. He blogs at www.jamesgreen.org.uk.

GUEST POST: Alastair Campbell on mental health

Alastair Campbell is the former Communications Director at No 10. Here he writes about his mental health problems and his decision to speak openly about them.

When I started working as Tony Blair’s press secretary, I knew that the ‘skeletons’ would probably come out, so I never hid the fact I’d had a nervous breakdown. I’d always been very open about it, calling it my ‘mad period’. There’s no point pretending I wasn’t mad, because I was, probably for some time up to my breakdown, and then it took quite a while to recover. I think people are disarmed when you’re up front about it.

It happened in 1986 when I was 29. I was doing a piece on Neil Kinnock in Scotland, and ended up being arrested for my own safety. After a spell in hospital, I slowly rebuilt myself with help from family and friends, and a wonderful GP. Although I might have a few grounds for complaint about the way the media have reported on me on a few occasions, I feel in relation to mental illness, I have had a pretty fair deal from them. Not everyone can say that of course. The constant linking between mental illness and violence in the media is a problem .. the mentally ill are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence.

I do understand people’s reservations about being open. People worry their job or their prospects might be badly affected. And it would take quite a brave politician to stand up at election time and say oh by the way, I sometimes hear voices, or I tend to get addicted to things, or I may sometimes go missing with depression. But I do think it would help if people in positions of leadership and authority were more open. When I first got involved with the Time to Change campaign, we did a report called ‘A World Without’ in which we focussed on great historical figures who had what today would be defined as mental illnesses. Churchill with his black dog. Abraham Lincoln was routinely described as melancholic. Marie Curie. Charles Darwin. Florence Nightingale. Imagine if any of those people had not been able to do the work they did. But even today people with mental health problems will tell you that sometimes the stigma and the discrimination it leads to are worse than the symptoms.

One of the reasons I’ve wanted to be open about it is that I know from my own recovery that it is possible to take strength and hope from the experience of others who’ve gone to what feels like hell and back and lived to tell the tale. I have written a novel, All In The Mind, based in part on my experiences of depression and psychosis, and have also done a documentary, Cracking Up, which can be seen on my website and I have been really pleased with the response to both. Barely a day has passed since when someone has not come up to me and said that something that happened to me, or one of the characters in the book, was something they could relate to directly because of their own experience, or that of a relative or friend. If it is true that One in Four will directly suffer a mental health problem, that means we all know someone who will, even if we don’t ourselves. If anything I think One in Four is an underestimate.

I think attitudes are changing slowly and I hope I have been able to help in that. I am very glad that the Young Fabians have decided to take up this topic. I know that a lot of young people are struggling with mental health issues, and although my advice to them would be to be open and honest, the truth is stigma and discrimination still exist, and openness might be the thing that leads to someone being rejected. But I still feel it is the best approach. We need to get to a situation where people can feel as open about saying they have mental health issues as they are about saying they have cancer or a broken leg. We are a long way off that, but I am confident that one day we will get there. It is in many ways the last great taboo. But racism, sexism, homophobia have all been challenged and to a great extent eroded because of people taking up the issues and campaigning on them.

We can do the same for the stigma and taboo surrounding mental illness, and I wish Good Luck to the Young Fabians in their role in that great cause.

Fabianism in bed with offshore financial centres?

Has the Young Fabians lost its marbles? Their new ‘Networks’ projects launch event is sponsored by none other than Jersey Finance, a representative body for financial services in the island of Jersey. An outrage? An abandonment of the socialist fraternity on the very day that the Treasury is briefing that the Chancellor will use the Budget to double the maximum penalty for offshore tax evaders?

Far from it. On Thursday, in the heart of the City of London, the Young Fabians are launching two new innovative projects – the ‘Future of Finance’ and the ‘Technology and Society’ Networks. These networks, collectively, aim to bring young people and young leaders from the worlds of finance, technology, science and engineering together with progressive politics in order to help bring insight, imagination and energy to the broader progressive fight and to respond to our shared economic, social and environmental challenges.

These networks, in the true spirit of Fabianism, are open access and inclusive. They are founded on the belief that there are swathes of socially minded people working at the front edge of finance, research, academia, science and technology who have so much to offer the progressive movement, but perhaps have struggled to find a home in the Left. The networks aim to provide a forum that allows people to combine professional expertise with a social conscience, and – in the process – help the progressive movement become more sophisticated, more aware and more responsive to the realities of the marketplace and the broader environment.

Our inclusivity is our strength. Greater nuanced understanding of a complicated world and dialogue with all actors maybe held in horror and disgust by the revolutionaries, but they are the hallmarks of Fabian gradualism and the foundation of effective real reform towards social and progressive ends.

That’s why we’re delighted that Jersey Finance, alongside the TUC and Prospect Magazine, are supporting the launch of the Young Fabian Networks and that’s we are so keen to embrace those who support our ends, regardless of their place of work. Both Young Fabians members and progressives who aren’t members are very welcome at the launch event and in the Networks themselves. If you’re interested, please click through and RSVP.

Harassment of disabled people is a scourge on society and a key challenge

I was recently at a social care event when I was reminded of the horrific murder of Steve Hoskin, a Cornish man with learning disabilities. Having dealt with loneliness and isolation he befriended a couple who tormented him, eventually forcing him to take his own life by jumping off a bridge. A few weeks later I read that a man in Manchester , David Askew, also with learning disabilties had died of a heart attack after confronting people who were harassing him on his doorstep. He had suffered 17 years of abuse. This was also on the back of the case of Fiona Pilkington which gained significant public attention in 2007, as she took her own life and that of her learning disabled daughter after sustaining years of torment.

It was on the back of the Pilkington case that the Equality and Human Rights Commission initiated an inquiry into the safety and security of disabled people. In their research so far, they have concluded that the basic human rights of being able to live free from persecution and torture is denied to many disabled people. This is something that most people would find shocking and equate with oppressive regimes in distant lands as opposed to British Society – but in many cases, for people with mental health problems and learning disablilities in particular, it is an everyday truth.

In defining the key challenges we face to make a more equal society, surely this is a key one. In each of these tragic cases there must have been public servants, local officials and communities who knew of the harassment of these people and thus were in some way complicit in it. As a society we must all take responsibility, not only for turning a blind eye but also, in the case of Steve Hoskin, and certainly many others, being complicit in the isolation which lead him to seek solace in people who intended to manipulate this vulnerability.

What is clear is that a society we still regard disabled people as being intrinsically vulnerable – however these deaths illustrate that their vulnerability is not inherent. It is a function of a society that permits people to prey on those who are the weakest. In the fight for gender equality and against racism there must also be a battle cry for equal dignity and respect for disabled people.

The response to disability hate crime cannot be a return to protectionism, segregation and paternalism however. Instead, we must examine ourselves, our prejudices and behaviours whilst ensuring that disabled people are able to make their own choices and control their lives. And where there are dangers to disabled people and their freedom restricted the Police, Housing and other services must act swiftly to both diagnose and respond to disability hate crime. It is good news that this week the Crown Prosecution Service pledged to identify and prosecute such crimes.