Guido and Iain wish Tony Blair a very happy 9th anniversary in power. To celebrate this momentous milestone we're announcing the imminent publication of a new book called
THE LITTLE RED BOOK OF NEW LABOUR SLEAZE
And we're asking for your help. We want the blogging community to help write it - a world publishing first, I believe. We have, with your help, compiled a list of the Top 100 Labour Scandals since 1997. Each one will be included in the book. Have a look at the LIST by clicking HERE and see if you'd like to write up to 400 words on a scandal of your choice. All you need to do is email me and lay a claim to your scandal, then get writing. The deadline is 7pm on Sunday 7 May. Please do not take part if you cannot meet that deadline. The book is being illustrated by Hoby and the cover design is by our friends at Beau Bo D'Or. Publishing a book at such short notice is commercially a very risky thing to do, so the success of the book will depend on how much viral marketing we're able to do throughout the blogging world. I'm willing to take the commercial risk on the production and booktrade marketing of the book, but I am going to launch some sort of appeal to enable us to advertise it properly in national newspapers and the political media. More details on that later.
GUIDANCE FOR CONTRIBUTORS
1. Choose your scandal (feel free to choose more than one) from the list HERE.
2. Immediately email me to claim it iain AT iaindale DOT com - I will email you back by the end of the day
3. Write in an informal style. Make it factual but feel free to use a little humour, satire or comment.
4. Above all, avoid libellous statements
5. Stick to the 400 word limit. If it's a minor scandal try to keep it to 100-200 words
6. If you're unsure if you're on the right track, email me to check
6. Email me your contribution before 7pm on Sunday 7
All contributors will receive free copies of the book and further quantities at 50% discount (plus p&p). Make sure you post details on your own blog. The success of this book will partly depend on how widely publicised the book is through non commercial advertising. You can pre-order copies by clicking HERE. We hope to get the book out within 3-4 weeks.
UPDATE: Someone has just asked if you have to have your own Blog to contribute. No. If you're a reader of blogs, you count as a blogger!
14 comments:
Your final link gopes to a blog. I'll pre-order - give me a link that works!
Corrected. Thanks for pointing it out.
This is just volume one, right?
Published in 3-4 weeks? The way things are going, you might need to do Volume Two by then.
Do you have to be running a blog to contribute, or are readers and commentators welcome to pitch in?
No, you don't have to have your own blog. Blog readers are bloggers to. Sort of!
There is quite an extensive list of media links for NuLab sleaze stories at this website: http://labour-watch.com/sleaze.htm
Also check out the similarly named, yet seperate LABOUR-WATCH, and also The BLiar Party.
The sleaze is all nicely categorised, so take your pick.
No trouble reaching a hundred entries methinks.
http://www.laboursleaze.com
The title needs changing:
"The BIG book of New Labour Sleaze!
I found this list a useful aide-memoire during previous general elections. It includes incompetence and mismanagement as well as sleaze but one or two cases might get some grey cells going:
Council tax skyrockets; NHS waiting lists to get on waiting lists; Peter Mandelson; Endless stealth taxes; TA slashed; VAT on spectacles; End to Assisted Places Scheme; Pandering to terrorists; Chaos on the railways; Massive tax on pensions; NHS winter crises; Over 100 EU vetoes surrendered; The Dome; Royal Navy kept in port due to lack of fuel; Abolishment of Married Couples’ Allowance; Depleted Uranium; Fishermen dumped; Pinochet fiasco; Butcher of Sierra Leone made Minister for Diamond Mines; Broken election pledge card; Lord Chancellor’s wallpaper; 200+ peerages for Tony’s Cronies; Hunting ban; Robin Cook replaces secretary with mistress; Bernie Ecclestone; Keith Vaz and passports; Millions spent to ditch the £; Fuel escalator; Farmers’ livelihoods wrecked; Twelve billion annual cost of business red tape; Crime hike; Sandline; Arms to Eritrea; Badger watching; Blair not bothering to attend Commons; Scottish student fees; CND ministers; Political Correctness; Cherie Blair; Zimbabwe; A Scottish Cabinet; Kosovo and the KLA; Illegal immigration; Ken Livingstone; Bureaucracy for teachers; Peoples’ Peers (originally an April’s Fool joke); Stone of Scone; Cook’s EU pizza logo incident; Treaty of Amsterdam interpretation gaffe; Gibraltar; Open support for foreign pro-EU polls; Denis Macshane links Euroscepticism and Xenophobia; German, Spanish coal subsidies endorsed, not British; Green belt housing; Eurofighter cannon swapped for lump of concrete; Slowdown in youth job creation coincides with New Deal; Corrupt Labour councils; French blockades tolerated; Alistair Campbell; Hairstylists for Cabinet wives; Blair usurping Queen’s role; Government Press releases re-spend same money; Beard bans; Prescott’s scuba holiday; Special advisers; Freebie flights and heli rides; Relaunch of old policies as new ones; September 11 “good day” to bury bad press release; Witholding Tax and City of London; Artists Resale Tax threatens UK auction houses; Open Government muddle; More pensions means testing; Select Committees leak to ministers and press; Labour MEPs vote for EU superstate; Passport queues; Geoffrey Robinson; Support for corrupt EU Commissioners; Gordon Brown thrown out of Euro meeting; Air traffic control sell off; Austrian elections sanctions farce; Tibet protest crushed by police; Civil service politicised, but ignores working time regs; 15 peacekeepers withdrawn for “cost” reasons; Robin Cook Kashmir comments; Increase in school class sizes; Tony’s fake accent; Blind eye in Burma; Hospital superbugs; Bloody Sunday enquiry; EU propaganda in schools; David Blunkett; Blair-Brown strops; Smoking bans; British regiments scrapped; 111 new quangos; School exams standards; East Lothian Question; House arrests; Arms to China; Weapons of Mass Destruction; Cool Britannia parties …
Do the bloggers get any royalties? Or do you and Guido get all those?
You missed the scandal of Nu Labour racially attacking Mr Cameron about his colour ... well colours! Chameleon! That's racist isn't it! ;o)
An anonymous contributor claims "these poor sods are only apprentices in the court of Tory sleaze". What planet is this person living on, and why anonymous?
Is it the same anonymous that overlooks the fact that Labour does not have a mandate from the people of ENGLAND?
Another anonymous (? the same) claims that this lot are better than the Tories. God help us all.
John Reids dealer claims that the Tories are just as culpable for the Iraq war, presumably because they supported the government. So did millions of us, including myself, and I absolutely Hate and despise Tony Blair, but I supported him then because I could not believe that a Prime Minister would take us to war on a lie. The difference is that we can see it now, and are very very angry.
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