Political DVD and CD Online Shop

I've just created an online shop, courtesy of Amazon, for political DVDs and CDs, which you can visit HERE. There are about 80 DVDs and CDs to browse. If you think I have missed any, do let me know in the comments. I'll keep it updated with new releases.

By the way, at long last THE THICK OF IT is being released in April. You can preorder it HERE.

Blair Must Stand Up to the Iranian Terrorists

Our government is being remarkably controlled in its reaction to the seizure of fifteen members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces by Iran. I assume they have a plan and don't want to inflame a very dangerous situation. Wars have started over far less.

However, the Iranians must be left in no doubt as to the seriousness of their actions. Merely calling in their Ambassador is not enough. It's clear this was a calculated action from the Iranians and intended to have consequences. I assume what they want is for us to look weak in the face of adversity. The Iranian leadership is looking fragile and what they need is a little 'foreign' episode to unite their people with them.

I am, however, slightly puzzled by the fact that HMS Cornwall did not intervene and go after the abductors. What other US or UK naval forces were in the area at the time? Surely they would have had every right to enter Iranian waters to respond to what was an illegal kidnapping?

One thing is for sure. If a certain Iron Lady had been PM we would have heard slightly more from her than we have from Mr Blair, who called the Iranian action "unjustified and wrong". No shit, Sherlock.

So, while I do not advocate going over the top in the use of bellicose rhetoric, I do hope that the stance which is being taken privately is far more hardline than that being taken in public.

Chris Whiteside Reselected for Copeland

I'm delighted to report that my old university friend Chris Whiteside has been selected for the redrawn seat of Copeland. He fought the seat last time and moved his family there and has shown a real commitment to the area. He's also got a very good BLOG.

John Rentoul Needs to Get Out More

John Rentoul is a talented man. His biography of Tony Blair was masterful, although as Private Eye might say, it did reak a bit of arslikhan. But his column in today's Independent on Sunday is beyond parody. He seriously believes that the Brown budget was a triumph. The article is headline THE BUDGET...ADVANTAGE BROWN.

Give Brown the credit, then, for grasping the historical significance of this moment. His was not a pre-election Budget, but for him it was as important: it was a pre-succession Budget. He had to redefine himself before the personal Tory attacks did it for him. And so here he is: a reforming, pro-business, moderately green social democrat.

It is not enough to turn round a bad run of opinion polls, but it lays the foundations. Who knows what the effect of Blair's departure will be on public opinion? Not the opinion polls: people are notoriously bad at predicting to pollsters how their attitudes will change. The importance of the Budget is that it shows that Brown learns from history, and escapes George Santayana's warning: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

No, John. The importance of this budget is that the country has seen through it. They have seen through the con, the manipulation, the fact that poor people will now be paying more tax. Time after the time over the last few days I have have overheard people (real people, outside the Westminster bubble) talking about the budget in less than complimentary terms. Last night when I was out to dinner with my parents in a small village pub I heard someone say...

"But why has he taken money off poor people?"

Why indeed. John Rentoul might be New Labour's foremost cheerleader in the national newspapers, but if he believes the country likes this budget he needs to get out more.

How to Deal With an Obnoxious Interviewer

Dan Hannan did a John Nott the other day and walked out of a TV interview. Read his account HERE. I must say I have often wondered why politicians do not do this more often. If you are constantly being abused by an interviewer, why on earth would you put up with it? Perhaps it's time interviewees turned the tables a little more.

One trick I have learned in interviews is that the best way to unsettle an interviewer who is being obstreperous is to turn the question back on them and ask them to justify the assertion they have just made. Just say "what do you mean by that" or even just "explain what you mean".

It often has the effect of turning them into goldfish, opening their mouths with very little of consequence coming out. Interviewees are usually in the driving seat. They usually know more about the subject of the interview than the interviewer and should capitalise on that.

How Miliband Can Make His Intentions clear

More and more people believe David Miliband is becoming more and more interested in the idea of challenging Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership. His public protests that he supports Gordon Brown are starting to wear a little thin. Today's Observer front page asserts that Blair wants Miliband to run.

Whenever he's asked the question he fakes frustration and says he has made his position quite clear. The fact is that his position is as clear as the picture on the BBC's downloadable Watch Again programmes.

This is the question I would put to Miliband were I ever given the chance...

"General Sherman once said: 'If drafted I will not run. If nominated I will not accept. If elected I will not serve'. Lyndon Johnson said something similar: 'I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my Party...' Do these quotes sum up your position vis a vis the Labour Party leadership?"

It really is a simple 'yes' or 'no'. Any equivocation and we can take it as read that he really does want to run. In my opinion it would actually be a good thing if he did... A good thing for Labour or the Conservatives? I'll let you make up your own mind which I mean!

Cherie Plumbs the Depths

The Mail on Sunday reveals tomorrow that Cherie Blair trousered £30,000 from the bin Laden family for a five hour trip to Saudi Arabia to make a single speech. What more can one say?

An Evening with the Parentals

It's my Mum's 76th birthday on Tuesday so I am now off to the wilds of North Essex to take her and my Dad out to dinner at The Three Hills pub in Bartlow this evening. Somehow I don't really think of my parents as being in their late seventies.

I spent many a happy evening in the Three Hills in my misspent youth. It's just reopened after a long period of closure so it will be interesting to see if the food is as good as it used to be.

I shall also tape the Israel v England game. My Dad always delights in telling me the score of a game I have taped. Well, to be more accurate, he doesn't tell me the score he drops hints which are as subtle as a brick. "Lampard had a good game," he'll say, or "you want to watch out for Gerrard,". Nice one Dad.

Factoid of the Day No 1

In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb".

Things Can Only Get... Or Lest We Forget

I found this on Youtube this morning. Quite a powerful denunciation of New Labour, even if you don't agree with all of its content.

Keeping Gio in Dog Biscuits

I have added a Google Search box a few inches down the left hand column so you can now search the site properly for the first time. I've also added a Google AdSense facility.

I don't really like the look of Google Ads but Tim Worstall reckons I could make a good few hundred pounds a month from them, so why the hell not! I have to keep young Gio in dog biscuits, after all. I should say that I take no responsibility for what appears in that box... I suspect a lot of adverts for Ming Campbell underwear will emerge...

Golden Arrow Public Affairs: Instalment 6

Before I go on, let's recap the story so far...

Last Sunday the Sunday Times exposed the relationship between lobbying firm Golden Arrow and two Labour Ministers. See HERE and HERE. The next day I wrote about how Golden Arrow goes about attracting clients HERE. A PIECE followed on Ivan Henderson, the former Labour MP for Harwich, who fronts their lobbying efforts and had a Parliamentary pass which gave him the run of the Commons. I then showed how Golden Arrow deploys its 'pet' Minister Gerry Sutcliffe to impress their clients HERE and then WROTE about Lord Hanningfield's PQ on their activities. The spotlight then fell on Golden Arrow's former Transport Minister consultant David Jamieson HERE.

Today, let's look at the Golden Arrow team which services its non declared clients...

ANDREW SHARP is Golden Arrow's MD. He's a former Labour Party regional organiser and
when he worked for the Labour Party at HQ he was responsible for doing all the work on the post Nolan bill on political contributions and specifically was responsible for drafting the clauses which required PLC's to have approval from their shareholders to give political contributions of 5k and above. This will have come in useful when his client National Express made financial contributions to the Labour Party.

IAN WOODRCROFT is a research executive who used to work for .... oh, what's this? Tony Wright MP, the very same Labour MP who gave Golden Arrow's Ivan Henderson his parliamentary researcher's pass.

ANDREW PAKES is described on the Golden Arrow website as a is a specialist in political messaging and campaign management. He is a Southwark councillor and a former NUS President.

So with David Jamieson and Ivan Henderson this is the entire Golden Arrow team. Their contacts in the Labour Party are clearly excellent, and that's how they win their business - entirely based on who they know, rather what they know. Their clients are dazzled by their address book rather than their skills as strategic consultants - or should I say those clients who are too stupid to read between the lines.

So who are their clients? As they do not belong to the professional organisation for public affairs consultants, the APPC, they are not required to reveal their client list. So far, I have been able to ascertain that the following companies and organisations are clients of Golden Arrow...

Port of Felixstowe
Hutchison Whampoa
National Express
Passenger Transport Executive Group
Nexus PTE
Warwickshire County Council
GNER

I know that Golden Arrow are closely monitoring what I write on this site about them. So come on chaps. Let us know your client list. Isn't it the ethical thing to do? Your silence on this matter speaks volumes. And if you won't let us know, perhaps my blog readers will help compile the list.

Mandy's a Quitter Not a Fighter

The news that the Prince of Darkness is to leave his £200,000 a year post as Britain's EU Commissioner in 2009 and not seek reappointment will come as a relief to many Tories as well as Gordon Brown. Alan Duncan, the Conservative Shadow Trade & Industry spokesman had unbelievably floated the idea that a Cameron government would consider leaving him in his post. That really could have been a Clause 4 moment. The trouble is it might have caused the resignation of half of David Cameron's front bench.




Mandelson's feud with Gordon Brown is still in full flow and I doubt whether the phonelines between Downing Street and Brussels will be buzzing when (or if) Brown takes over. They could of course email each other to save any verbal disagreement. Mind you, we all know people tend to be rather more aggressive in emails than in conversations. I think Gordon Brown would be most interested in Peter Mandelson's private email address, which contains the word 'demon'. How singularly appropriate.

When he took his Commissioner's Oath he promised to leave party politics behind him. As we all knew, Mandelson has found it almost impossible to do that. Every few months he is pictured at a Labour Party event. Every so often he makes a statement about how awful Gordon Brown is. And today he shares with us his view that it would be far healthier for the Labour Party to have a proper leadership contest. I happen to agree with him, but as an EU Commissioner he really should be keeping it zipped. I do not recall his two immediate predecessors Neil Kinnock and Chris Patten indulging themselves in this manner. I suspect he does it to remind us that he still exists.

The next controversy regarding Peter Mandelson will come in Tony Blair's Resignation Honours List, where he is almost certain to make Mandelson a Life Peer. Let's face it, if Blair doesn't, Brown is hardly likely to.

Attention must now turn to Mandelson's replacement. If there is no election before 2009 it will fall to Gordon Brown to make the appointment. This is a tricky one. In theory he should appoint a Conservative, although there is no convention that says he must do so. Indeed, he is much more of a party political animal than Tony Blair was (oops, past tense already!) so I would not be surprised if he appointed one of his own Cabinet. Of course, he could surprise us all and appoint a Liberal Democrat.

Step forward Charles Peter Kennedy.

This appointment would have many advantages for Brown. Kennedy is popular in the country, Brown would be seen to be non-partisan and if Cameron won power he would be saddled with a pro-European, federalist British EU Commissioner.

18 Doughty Street Highlights This Week

I thought I'd give you a quick rundown of some programmes we showed on 18 Doughty Street this week, which you might want to dip into if you're having a quiet weekend.

Interview with Ken Wales, producer of Amazing Grace

Interview with Humfrey Malins MP on drug rehabilitation

Interview with Robin Harris, author of Talleyrand

Interview with Ruth Lea, Director of Global Vision

Andrew Mitchell's report from Burma

Wolmar's World - Christian Wolmar & Guests

Talking with Tatchell - Peter Tatchell on Solar Power

Interview with Brian Monteith MSP

Budget Special with Nick Palmer MP, Mark Francois MP and Lord Newby

Blogger TV

Ralph Harris Memorial Service

End of the Day Show - 'The 'Airplane' Special

World View - The End of Mugabe?

Culture Clash - Amazing Grace & 300

50 Reasons to Love & Hate the EU

As Tony Blair goes to Berlin this weekend to sign away even more of our sovereignty to celebrate 50 years of the EU, Trixy comes up with 50 reasons why the EU has been a bad thing HERE. She responds to the Independent's 50 reasons to love the EU HERE. I'll leave you to judge which list I most agreed with...

Donal Blaney has critiqued the Independent's list HERE.

UPDATE: An Englishman's Castle is creating a 50 Reasons to Love America list HERE but needs your help.

UPDATE: Someone has suggested I should start a 50 Reasons to Love France list. I think they may have been joking!

Ming Should Put His Own House in Order Before Attacking the Police

Ming Campbell has said that the Police are alienating ethnic minority communities by over-using stop and search powers.

Does he not think that ethnic minority communities might take him more seriously if his Party had a single black or Asian MP? I'm not saying the Conservative Party has covered itself in glory in this area, but we do at least have several black and Asian MPs in safe seats in rural areas - something the LibDems can only dream about.

I'm not actually meaning to make a great party political point here but I am genuinely perplexed by the fact that the LibDems do so badly in selecting ethnic minority candidates in winnable seats.

8 Facts About Zimbabwe

37 Life expectancy at birth in Zimbabwe

60 Average life expectancy in 1990

81 The infant mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births), compared with 53 in 1990

$340 The national income, per person, compared with $4,960 in South Africa

5.5m Zimbabweans live with HIV

1.1 m Children have been orphaned by Aids

6 People out of every 100 have a phone, compared with 47 in South Africa

56% Of the population earn less than $1 a day, compared with 11% of South Africans

Courtesy of Mask of Anarchy and UNICEF

Quotes of the Day

"There is one thing the Europeans do rather better than we do. The lack of drinking at lunchtimes in this country is appalling" - Nigel Farage, MEP, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party.
"David Cameron's parting is first on the right, then effortlessly on the left, then nowhere at all. In other words, all over the place, wherever it suits on that day. So clearly it is following his deepest convictions" - Writer Frederick Forsyth.
"I am one of 12 and folks would ask if Mom and Dad were Catholics. I'd say, nope, just horny hillbillies" - Dolly Parton.
"I do not consider myself to be completely French, more European. A bit like Tony Blair, perhaps, who is not entirely English, in my opinion" - French actor Gerard Depardieu.
"The obsession with targets and the enforcers appointed to set and monitor them are not all that different from systems in the old Soviet Union" - Tory peer Lord Deedes, on the state of the National Health Service.
"Most of us lead lives of blameless bourgeois domesticity" - Tory MP Boris Johnson.

Why John Bird Isn't Fit to Run London

Adam Macqueen used to work for me at Politico's. He's now a journalist on Private Eye but spent three years working for John Bird at The Big Issue. He's posted an article he wrote about Bird's management style on his new blog HERE. And this man wants to be Mayor of London. I think not.

One of Many?

Hello Mr Dale,
I read and enjoy your web page every day. Just a comment on the Budget. I am a retired BT field engineer (62) on a BT pension of just over £9000. At a rough calculation the abolition of the 10p Income tax band will make me about £180 pa the poorer when it is scrapped. One of many reasons I will be voting Conservative at the next Election and any more I live see after that.

A R