General Election – Campaign News
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ALB wrote:The first Thursday one is this Thursday (9 April) in Broad Street.
http://www.meetup.com/The-Socialist-Party-of-Great-Britain/events/221511466/Then afterwards this CPRE hustings in Cardigan Street. Oxford OX2 6BG, which is going to be filmed by a local TV station.http://www.meetup.com/The-Socialist-Party-of-Great-Britain/events/220975781/
Vauxhall nomination papers and deposit handed in and accepted today. That means only Easington left. They'll be handed in tomorrow (but have already been checked by the returning officer and are in order). So, we're off, all ten constituencies.Meanwhile the "election communications" that Royal Mail will distribute in the 10 constituencies, totally 500,000 in all, have been sent to them for vetting.
Great opportunity to quote the end of the division between town and countryside at this CPRE hustings…I suggest the candidate or the socialists in the audience swots up on a few appropriate ecology quotes from Marx and Engels…i love the one where they explain that capitalism is so inefficient it can't even use all the shit it produces as fertiliser.
A reply sent in response to FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments) in answer to the following"would like to ask you, as a parliamentary candidate in the forthcoming General Election, to consider including the question of alternatives to animal testing in your campaign." Dear Sir or Madam,In reply to your email, I would ask you to consider this;Are you really that surprised that a society, Capitalism, which holds "Human Life" so cheaply and with such disregard, should treat other "animal" lives so poorly?Approximately 40,000 children under 5, die of starvation or directly attributable disease, every single day. Hundreds of millions have no access to sanitation, or clean water. Approximately 2 billion people go to be hungry every single night, in a world that can provide us all, every man woman and child, with a more than adequate level of nutrition.With statistics like these, do you really imagine that the tiny fraction of one per cent of the population who own the world and everything in and on it, will be swayed by any argument that can be made, in this profit before need orientated world, we so obviously inhabit? The answer is, and can only be, a resounding "no".The "only" answer to the problem above, as with every other problem engendered by Capitalism, by its very existence is, to replace the production for profit system with one, where the things we, as humans need to live, are produced for direct human use. Where the world and everything in and on it, belong to us all, equally.This is why The Socialist Party GB exist, to facilitate this change.When humans live in a world that treats people with respect and dignity then, and only then, can we have a world that treats other species, in a likeminded way.Capitalism can never fulfil this expectation. Only a system in which we all have an equal say and stake, can do this. This is exactly the world the SPGB are advocating. If you agree, then The Socialist Party is the Party that needs "your" "conscious" support. If you prefer to continue to support the plethora of Political Party's that support Capitalism, then you can only expect the lack of respect that the vast majority of life receives, to continue, Ad Infinitum!!! Steve Colborn,The Socialist Party of Great Britain,Easington Constituency,Parliamentary Candidate.
Easington Nomination papers and deposit handed in and accepted this morning.
Our candidate in Brighton Pavilion attended a hustings last night organised by the Brighton Argus newspaper.
Howard Pilott wrote:Turned out not to be a normal hustings in that those on the podium were from all brighton constituencies. When I arrived I was told other candidates could occupy the front row and the chair was aware of us and would call us to make our case. This of course didn't happen and I had to sort of barge in on the pretext of asking a question to address the hall so I got about 90 seconds [which was however better than all the other non podium candidates] to make the case but being constantly pushed to ask a question of the panel. Not sure how useful but I did get several back slaps and hands shaken afterwards, and two engaged in more meaningful chat – hopefully tonight will be more useful: I'm actually on the bandstandTonight is a 'Civil Liberties' hustings.https://meetyournextmp.com/event/437-civil-liberties-hustings-for-brighton-pavilion
And from the other end of the Kent & Sussex catchment area:
Rob Cox wrote:Max had his Council nomination accepted and Andy did very well at his very busy Hustings today – at least that was what I was told.Unfortunately I only got there at the end having been delayed, because the council refused one the assenters Max had because she had gone and signed other nominations. We had to go out door knocking and then take it back.It was fortunate that the council had a quiet afternoon, as I didn’t expect they would be offering to informally check them – a lucky shave there!Afterwards Andy went off for an interview with a local magazine.Here's another of the template replies being used, this time to reply to those concerned about the future of the NHS:
Quote:Dear Brighton Voter,1] Issues and questions like this appear as if they address something important but they simply skate over the surface. Politicians could commit to a free NHS but then it excludes a range of treatments [some places I understand already do not offer hernia or varicose vein treatment]. You could have an arrangement that meant when you are admitted, any state benefits you receive are transferred to the hospital – no charges as such, merely an accounting arrangement. It could be that the level of social care within your local area is so reduced that the hospital is completely overburdened and, yes it is free but the waits are months and months. The real issue is whether the level of health care freely available in our society matches the needs of the population and already that is not the case. For almost 10% of attendees, A&E waits are over 4 hours.During the banking crisis the banks were handed literally billions and billions of pounds with no strings attached: just to keep them from going under. Two were nationalised at great public expense. Why? Because their precarious position seriously jeopardised the wealth of big corporations and rich people. You and I are still paying for it. If there were another banking crisis, the same would happen again: because they are held by our Government to be more important than we are. Unless we tackle this unbalanced system of power and privilege, commitments to free NHS care at the point of use are simply platitudes. What is the point of free health care if you cannot afford somewhere decent to live? If you cannot feed your children healthy food? After the banking crisis we were promised reforms in the financial sector, since which we have had LIBOR scandal, drugs money laundering, tax avoidance scams, PPI fiddles…the list goes on despite more huge bonuses [and how many prosecutions?]. We were also promised no top-down NHS reorganisation, but we got that. You can see plainly where loyalties lie. The Government is there to serve the rich and powerful, and until that changes anything else is window dressing. They will promise anything and mean nothing. The answer? Kick them all out and take power ourselves in a democratic revolution that changes things for good. Vote socialist on May 7.2] Yes health care would be free in socialism because everything would be free – we advocate a money-less society. We really believe money is the root of much evil and we can do without it pretty well, actually. I know it sounds strange and off beat but a few minutes reflection and perhaps it is not such a bad idea after all. There are plenty of cash less relationships in the world and there is no reason why we can’t generalise these further.3] You may not agree with everything I have said; you may find something hard to accept. But if I have made any connections, if there are resonances with some of the things I’ve said, get in touch, come and talk to us. In this party everyone is equal and has an equal say: there is no leader. This is a truly bottom up movement aimed at creating a bottom up society. If you share our beliefs you can show this by voting socialist on May 7.Kind regardsHoward PilottProspective Parliamentary CandidateThe Socialist Party of Great Britainhttp://spgb.net/brStreet stall in Brighton April 18, details: http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/event/brighton-election-stall-12-noonRob Cox wrote:Afterwards Andy went off for an interview with a local magazine.The interview turned out to be with a local radio station (Academy FM) and should be broadcast tomorrow. They’ll email Andy with the broadcast slot in the morning.
Editorial from the Abingdon Herald (1 April):
Quote:The Greens, the Labour Party, the National Health Action Party and the Great British Socialist Party are all fielding candidates for the same "ultra-marginal" seat.Unfortunately, it wasn't an April fool.
At least it offers an opportunity for our candidate to get a letter published in this local paper correcting the mistake and providing a brief history and background to the Great British Socialist Party which the editor cannot really refuse …although he may consider he was actually factually correct…We are British and we are the Socialist Party and we are great !!!
ALB wrote:Editorial from the Abingdon Herald (1 April):Quote:The Greens, the Labour Party, the National Health Action Party and the Great British Socialist Party are all fielding candidates for the same "ultra-marginal" seat.Just the sort of crap one would expect from a Tory rag.However, something far more positive from Brighton:
Howard Pilott wrote:Just a reflection from two events I've attended: the party's message is having an influence on the nature of the debate.First one organised by local press was not really a local hustings as all 3 Brighton constituencies were involved; I wasn't on the podium and had to fight to get a chance to say something which had to be shaped into a question [this was after a few questions about the usual dog whistle stuff: EU, immigration, ISIS]. My question ended up as what will they meaningfully do about the disparity between rich and poor. A heated discussion about this ensued contesting the impact of austerity which then translated into the papers headlines the following day. Also several coming up after the event and engaging me about our message; 'tell me more' etc. Last night first hustings with a civil liberties spin. I pushed the line that the issue was about power which would never be addressed until we changed the system. I was amazed at the amount of 'I agree with Howard' – I think again and again the line resonated with the audience and the panel sensed this and felt compelled to engage. The lesson for me is that this candidacy has been a really useful exercise for us as it pushed the whole focus of debate more in our direction.
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