+Writing in the New Statesman Andrew Marr is keen to take a balanced view on the Labour government’s performance to date, citing a great expenditure on fixing potholes, on breakfast clubs and what it seems is a somewhat pared down version of Sure Start. Perhaps to his list we could add the potential recognition of a Palestinian state, albeit with conditionalities which will affix responsibility for that on Netanyahu’s shoulders in a kind of diplomatic swerve. At least there must be a small amount of satisfaction to be had in Starmer’s recognition that there may be a problem with the UK’s stance so far on the Palestinian issue, even if it doesn’t interfere with our military support for the Israeli fascist regime. However, what Marr does not say is that despite the good things the government is doing nothing it is doing is seeking any fundamental change to the system. Let’s remember that Thatcher and her neo-cons friends DID change the system, freeing up the financial ‘masters of the universe’ to wreak havoc wherever they roamed. Thus it came to pass that after New Labour left office, many things it sought to achieve, notably a better start for kids and families through Sure Start could easily be abandoned by the Tories. The change was not embedded, the culture wasn’t changed. I don’t see that this government has the appetite for that. Quite the opposite.
 
+Marr makes the point that modern life is perhaps full of little irritations which can affect people’s mood for the worse, like coping with potholes. Here’s another: online booking fees. You do the work and you pay for the privilege. It’s curious how this practice is not universal. LNER and Transpennine Express for example do not charge you for the work you put in to booking your own rail travel, although Trainline does. I came across an egregious example of the practice today, receiving a brochure advertising events in Hull city council-owned entertainment venues, it’s theatre and city hall. You do all the work online and they will charge you a £1.50 booking fee + £2.50 ’facility fee’ and if you want the tickets posting out to you, you will pay the postage plus another £1.20 ‘admin charge.’ Such extras are maybe justified on the grounds that the council is strapped for cash, but the phenomenon is rife and it must be one of those things to be considered ’very irritating’ about modern life. No wonder people feel they’re fighting a constant battle against being screwed. 

+I have long thought it must be time for Rupert Murdoch to join the fate of the News of the World and depart this life, but now I feel he (age 94) should press on, and trounce the upstart Trump in his vanity libel action over the Epstein stuff. If Trump's libel action ever gets to court (doubtful) it may reveal more about the actual relationship Trump had with Epstein than he would rather have known.  MAGA! (Make America Murdoch Again)

The North East has been set alight with news that the Turner Prize will be held in Teesside next year in the Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA). This celebration of Any Old Rubbish spreads growth, opportunity and fortune wherever it goes – or so you would believe reading the local mayors’ reponses:

‘Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “The announcement of the Turner Prize in Middlesbrough is a major coup which underlines our commitment to building this sector – one that plays an important role in driving economic growth.
"An event of this stature bolsters our growing reputation for attracting major UK events to Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool. Bringing the Turner Prize here will bring investment, visitors, and opportunity – supporting our drive to transform our region.”
Middlesbrough Mayor Chris Cooke said: “Hosting the Turner Prize is a massive win for Middlesbrough.
“We’ve been working hard on a mission to be the Most Creative Town and welcoming new visitors will help us change perceptions and highlight the brilliant things that happen here every day.
“We’re thrilled to be supporting MIMA and Teesside University in putting on a show that will attract headlines around the arts world.”’

A consensus! The arts are good for the economy! Rachel Reeves take note: even crap art generates growth. Just think what good art would do for the economy. So no more cuts please.
​
(And note to MIMA: How about holding a post-grad degree show from 2020, aborted due to Covid. I know for sure that there would be some exceptionally brilliant pieces on display)

+In Scotland last week. At the V&A Dundee I was impressed by an extravagant display of Palestinian tatreez, highly elaborate and decorative women's gowns, which judging by the captions are part of a centuries old tradition. How is this possible? Haven't we been told by Israeli propagandists that there's no such thing as 'Palestinians' which must mean of course that there's no such thing as Palestinian culture? The V&A's captions referenced things like the Israeli occupation and violence. How come this provocative exhibition is still open to the public? On Palestine, Starmer and his acolytes are once again shedding crocodile tears, but resisting the recognition of a Palestinian state. Apparently this can wait until the conditions are right. Like perhaps when all the messianic Jewish settlers retire from the West Bank. Starmer knows this is not going to happen, so why does he persist in waiting for the miraculous ‘two state’ solution to emerge? He takes us all for fools.
 
+Talking of culture, the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh has a picture whose caption tells us that two brothers called Scott in the nineteenth century concocted a fraud which they claimed showed that Scottish tartans and their clan based patterns were first iterated in a document from the fifteenth century which they had discovered. Their fraud was unmasked by another Scott - Sir Walter - but by then the tartan myth had been truly ingrained in Scottish culture. It was a recent invention. By way of contrast, what is the great English sartorial tradition composed of? Bear skin hats? Or straw hats, clogs and little bells around the knees? 
 
+The new Corbyn/Sultana left party has been officially launched, it was originally reported that it was called 'Your Party' but this has subsequently been denied by Sultana. Sounds like it's already a mess even before it's filled its first nappy. Is the idea of discipline so anathema to any left-wing party that it can't even convey a single message about what it may be called? To be associated with Monty Python this early on does not inspire confidence. Still, it seems to be attracting a lot of attention, and it is said more people have signed up to it than Reform has members. This doesn’t mean much I’m afraid. Whilst I was still a member of the Labour Party, under Corbyn membership of my constituency party tripled. Sadly that did not translate into door knocking activists. I think the Momentum crowd had different ideas about political activism. Now I hear that a former Labour PM’s constituency meeting can’t even attract half a dozen members. Needless to say, the central party is seeking more rule changes to further diminish the role of members in decision making.
 
+A message from a friend with a deep interest in climate change informs me that global temperature rises are running ahead of predictions, which is to say they have begun rising faster than a straight relationship which the rise in CO2 emissions would suggest. In other words, feedback mechanisms are kicking in – such as the Albedo effect of melting ice caps – and a host of other chaotic responses to warmer temperatures. The solution is simple: deny it is happening. Or start a nuclear winter.

It is somewhat satisfying to see Trump, a wee bit exasperatedly asking his MAGA numpties to forget about Jeffrey Epstein and whether he features in one of Epstein’s client lists (Trump’s professed attitude towards women doesn’t help here). Trump is keen to shut down the suggestions that would naturally accompany this conspiracist tale. It all could of course be a complete non-story, but once a conspiracy emerges amidst the MAGA crowd it’s bound not to lie down anytime soon. This is partly because the denial of a conspiracy in some people’s heads is copper-bottomed proof of its existence. In these ‘fake news’ times the MAGA numpties will have to rely increasingly on the algorithm selected feeds which bolster their engagement with whatever ‘social media’ platforms they follow. They enthusiastically invite the virus into their fogged but receptive heads. The problem here is that it is very hard to believe that somewhere within the US government there are no files, as yet unrevealed relating to Epstein. The whole episode has the feel of a classic establishment hush-up in which various people, ostensibly politically opposed nevertheless shared some of the same sexual peccadillos. Kompromat all round! Has Putin got hold of it?

Neil Kinnock told Sky News that a new political party in the Corbyn mould could be named the ‘Farage Assistance Party.’ Not so fast, Neil! Starmer is already leading that party. The new Corbynite party, as yet without a name seems to be getting off to a shaky start, which clearly is not a good omen. Zarah Sultana MP suggested she and Jeremy were launching it, which appears to be news to Jeremy. It also suggests that Jeremy’s legendary indeterminate leadership style has not developed into something more . . . determinate. Once again, we may find the whole 'left party' still born, like so many antecedents. If it does emerge, its first challenge will be to ‘unite the left,’ a rallying cry which will fall on a thousand deaf ears and the question ‘What is to be done?’ will remain unanswered.

“What has been the real reason for the show’s success? It is not so much the way it mocks the hypocrisies, the lies that are organised so grossly and blatantly (which is putting it mildly) by the constituted organs of the State and by the functionaries who serve them (judges, police chiefs, prefects, undersecretaries and ministers); it has been above all the way it deals with social democracy and its crocodile tears, the indignation which can be relieved by a little burp in the form of scandal; scandal as a liberating catharsis of the system. A burp which liberates itself precisely through the scandal that explodes, when it is discovered that massacres, giant frauds and murders are undertaken by the organs of power, but that at the same time, from within the powers that be, other organs, perhaps pushed by an enraged public opinion, denounce them and unmask them. The indignation of the good democratic citizen grows and threatens to suffocate him. But he has a sense of satisfaction when he sees, in the end, these same organs of this rotten and corrupt society, pointing the finger at this self-same society, at its own ‘unhealthy parts,’ and this gives him a sense of freedom throughout his whole being. With his spirit suitably decongested, he shouts: ‘Long live this bastard shit society, because at least it always wipes its bum with soft, perfumed paper, and when it burps it has the good manners to put its hand in front of its mouth.’”

The ‘show’ introduced in the first sentence here refers to Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist and this is Fo himself writing a postscript to the publication of the play in 1974.* Yes, maybe the play was set in Italy at a time when Europe still had dictatorships, chaotic politics and coups, but is his analysis any less relevant now? In our social democracies we still have agencies lying to the courts (e.g. MI5 re: one of its neo-Nazi sources), to courts being packed (e.g. the US Supreme Court) to an endless litany of anti-democratic behaviour in Hungary, Poland and elsewhere – is Fo out of date? Least of all with his analysis of how we’re collectively bought off with scandals, some of which do indeed compromise the State but never threaten it? Give ‘em a bit of theatre to maintain a pretence . . .

Accidental Death of an Anarchist by the way was written in response to the Italian state’s initial blaming of the left for a bombing in Milan which killed 16 people; it turned out later that state organs themselves, working with right wing people had carried out the attack. Well, around the same time we had our own killing fields in Northern Ireland and such co-operations worked well there too, didn’t they?

So, what’s improved over the last 50 years? We’ll know when they tell us.

In an interview on the Beeb this morning with former MP Kevan Jones, now Lord Beamish, chair of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee we learn that 75% of apprehended terrorist plots are Islamic in origin and 25% are far right. Not much space left there for left wing terrorism is there? – but you wouldn’t guess it if you followed, e.g. the antics of the Met police or indeed this government.

*Methuen, reprinted 2024 p.78

So a year has passed since Starmer's regime came to power, and it's slightly longer since I resigned my 40-year membership of the Labour Party. Did I make the right decision? One has to balance anything good the Party has done in power with what one considers its errors. The balance is firmly in the red. Economic choices have been driven by a firm City/Treasury hegemony, leading to attacks on the weaker elements of society, whilst leaving the wealthiest virtually untouched. Little need to recap the economic disasters and u-turns  delivered by the Starmer/Reeves show. In addition we've seen the foreign aid budget further slashed (a real Tory policy) in order to pay for extra on defence, whilst not at the same time tackling the enormous expenditure on the Trident replacement. We've seen one backtrack after another on Labour's 'green agenda,' with nuclear energy likely to soak up government investment, with 'GB Energy' something of a misnomer. Foreign policy in itself merits despair. Supporting genocide is a disgrace beyond words, and one wonders why Starmer is so wedded to the Israeli regime. Our PM, like most of his predecessors is quite unable to confront the US president and does not seem to recognize quite how much he appears the lackey. If that's the basis of the 'special relationship' it is very familiar. Labour always touts its NHS credentials of course, but we must await further analysis to determine how much of Streeting's 10 year plan means more privatisation and dismemberment, facilitated in part by US companies like Palantir who look set to scoop up all our precious bodily data. Then we have the crackdown on dissent, partly through the abuse of anti-terrorist laws. Lastly (for now) the industrial-scale destruction of democracy inside the Labour Party signifies the mindset of those in power, who would not be ashamed if they started winning internal elections with 99.9% of the vote. Where votes are allowed that is - many MPs were selected without one.
 
Now let's turn to the big successes: on this side of the balance sheet one could look at improvements in workers’ rights but I think the employment picture is very mixed. Where’s the big crackdown on the gig economy? Tariff agreements have been touted around quite a bit, but once again there’s very much a ‘wait and see’ air about them, as to who will benefit most. The great planning reset is yet to happen so it’s also wait and see what will happen on the massive house building front. On that score I was in Cambridge over the weekend and saw an article in the Cambridge Independent which really exposed one of the barriers to all this new housebuilding (tens of thousands in the Cambridge area). Two words sum it up: water and sewage. Where’s the capacity? Water companies aren’t keeping up, and in our more drought-prone times I haven’t seen much evidence the government is getting to grips with the issue. Oh dear, my positives seem to be turning a bit negative! At least the government is trying to kick out the hereditary peers from the House of Lords, but I don’t think that will affect the pound in your pocket. A lot now depends on whose pockets the Chancellor will extract new taxes from and whether such crucial decisions develop a narrative that this government really is on ‘your side.’ On past performance I’m not holding my breath.

What a day for Keir Starmer. His drifting ship of government if it is being steered at all is destined for the rocks. Labour MPs must be wondering what great trick he has up his sleeve to save them from doom, and I am sure that many will be telling themselves that they do still have four more years to turn things round. I think that it would be fair to compare Starmer’s fate to that of John Major’s, whose ‘Black Wednesday’ crashing out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism sealed his fate, even though he plodded on for a full term. Starmer’s qualifications for leadership have been tested and despite his attempts at global statespersonship he has clearly miscalculated the strength of his base, perhaps led astray by the size of his parliamentary majority as if that was evidence of his popularity. What has become very clear is that the man is not cut out for politics (not least because he doesn’t seem to stand for anything or have any sustainable convictions). Should he resign? Probably. Who then do we end up with, Wes Streeting or Angela Rayner, both of whom are scarred by their prominence in Starmer’s government? With so many Labour MPs to chose from, why do no alternative great hopes emerge? According to Alan Johnson on the radio yesterday, the present intake of Labour MPs can be considered the brightest ever (maybe Al’s after a gong). Perhaps new potential leaders will now emerge as Labour MPs discover they have been liberated from the discipline fetish that overtook the party in recent years (with its fixed selections, parachutists and all-round control freakery). Good luck to them. July1st 2025 will be remembered as Starmer’s ‘Black Tuesday.’