I was reading various blogs and other things last night on the subject of police accreditation for Liberal Democrat Conference, and I was struck by the fact that several people I saw on the other side of the debate to me were using the ‘why get upset about it, there are more important things to worry about’ argument. I was reminded of that today, when Jennie Rigg wrote this after receiving a similar response from someone else:
Yesterday, someone I care about a lot told me that while this decision was deplorable, the other stuff I was posting about yesterday, the economic stuff, was more important, and I should “get a sense of perspective”. The fact that the adoption of this process means that people I care about will literally be risking their lives if they want to come to conference apparently needs to be put in perspective with the fact that Vince Cable said a thing…
Of course, the use of ‘there are more important things’ isn’t just limited to Lib Dem bloggers arguing about Conference. We’ve seen it being deployed recently by the Tory backbenches as though it’s a compelling argument against House of Lords reform, equal marriage or whatever else they’re in outrage about at the moment.
I’m quite sure I’ve probably used the same argument myself at some point, but I do find it a very weak argument, so I hope my uses of it have been light-hearted rather than as a sole objection. In and of itself, though, it’s a very weak argument. The main problem with it is that it’s presupposing that there’s some grand mutually-agreed list of Stuff In Order Of Importance that will prove that the person deploying the argument is right, and the person supposedly wasting their time on the things that aren’t as important will agree that they’ve been focusing their attention on the wrong subject.
Human beings really don’t work like that, and what’s high on one person’s list may rank pretty low on someone else’s. There’s also the question of the effect an individual can have. Yes, the economy’s a mess and we need to do more to create jobs, but how much effect on the economy are me, Jennie or anyone else going to have writing about it on the internet? On the other hand, as party members and activists, we can have a direct influence on the accreditation at Conference issue, so isn’t it better to quickly nod and say ‘well done Vince’ then divert your attention to something where you as an individual really can make a difference?
It also forgets that human beings are capable of paying attention to more than one issue, and that when you get a large group of them together – say, into a Government – they’re capable of doing more than one thing at the same time. It’s why the Tory backbenchers arguing against Lords reform or equal marriage just seemed rather silly to me in their belief that this would occupy all the Government’s time. I can’t quite see why anyone in the Treasury, BIS or Transport (to pick three departments that have an effect on the economy) would find themselves distracted from their job because of an entirely different part of the Government putting forward proposals that don’t affect them.
In the same manner, when one joins a political party, part of the reason for that is to spread the effort involved amongst a number of people. The fact that some of us want to use our position in the Liberal Democrats to stand up for some actual liberalism doesn’t stop anyone else from getting on with doing whatever they want to do in the party, and it’s only their urge to sneer ‘don’t you have something better to do with your time?’ that helps to reveal those who’d like to use their time to get rid of those pesky liberals who keep messing up their plans.
And I’m sure you had better things to do with your time than read this post – didn’t you know that there are people starving elsewhere in the world? That climate change could render huge swathes of land uninhabitable? That the sun will expand and destroy the entire planet in a few billion years? What are you doing about any of those, eh? – but thanks for doing it, anyway.
Chateau Sucker – Fascinating article from New York magazine about fraud amongst high-end wine connoiseurs. (via)
Angela’s Choice – Jason O’Mahony posits that the history of the next fifty years will be determined by what Angela Merkel decides Germany’s path through the Euro crisis will be.
Colchester’s Tipping Point – A perspective on town centre regeneration and the cultural sector in this town from Marc De’Ath
The corruption at the heart of our political system – Sometimes we all need to be reminded that our system is a long, long, way from being clean.
No, I will not “grow a pair” – Steven Baxter in the New Statesmen on the pressure to be a ‘man’s man’.
May 22nd, 2012 in
Colchester,
Links | tags:
angela merkel,
corruption,
Europe,
fraud,
jason o'mahony,
marc de'ath,
regeneration,
steven baxter,
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So, despite Federal Conference – supposedly the decision-making body of the party – deciding it wanted nothing to do with it, you’ll now have to get the approval of the police to be able to attend Liberal Democrat Conference. Apparently, it’s all well and good for Conference to decide it wants to be liberal, but when it comes down to it, the alphabet soup of party committees will always be happy to trade liberty for a bit of security theatre.
(See also these posts by Caron Lindsay and Gareth Epps on the issue) (Update: Also see Zoe O’Connell’s post on it)
Still, conference representatives do still have some powers they can exercise without having to have them cleared by the police, and even if we’re not at Conference, we can still vote in the elections for the Federal Executive and Federal Conference Committee, amongst others, and also ensure that there are candidates for those committees who will fight for the liberal position.
I made this pledge earlier on Twitter, and I’ll make it here again – as an elected Conference representative of my local party, I’ll happily nominate any anti-accreditation candidate for these committees. Checking the rules in the party constitution, I see candidates only need two nominators each, so I expect most would be able to find them locally. However, I think it’s important to make this stand – and I’d encourage others to do it – as even if I can’t stand myself for the federal committees (I don’t have the time for it), it shows how many people are willing to stand up for an important principle of the party. That’s especially important, given the absurdity of the election rules that make it almost impossible to campaign for candidates on blogs, Twitter etc when the campaign is actually running. So who else is willing to stand up and be counted?
(An attempt at satire. Contains spoilers for the first couple of novels in A Song Of Ice And Fire and the Game of Thrones TV series until the middle of series two)
The politics of Westeros are currently dominated by the actions of the great noble Houses. On the surface, these Houses seem to have existed in their current form for hundreds of years, but closer examination reveals that they have all moved great distances from the lands they originally occupied, even if they have renamed places within their new lands with old names to present some form of continuity with the past. All of course covet the mythical ‘centre ground’, though none know exactly where it lies.
Currently dominant, though not in absolute power, are House Lannistory, renowned for the folk saying ‘a Lannistory always gets someone else to pay his debts’. Led by Lord Camwin, they currently hold power thanks to their alliance with House Libertheon, though some are dissatisfied by the compromises this has entailed. Camwin is obsessed with his legacy and with berating subordinates for not following his orders. He has sent the impish Lord Borion to rule King’s Landing in his stead, but now wonders if that is a good idea, as Borion appears to be building his own power base there. Lord Camwin has tried to replace the House sigil with a tree, but many think it should remain a roaring (and very British) lion.
House Libertheon, known for it’s sigil of a black animal on a yellow background, can point back centuries to when its ancestors were kings, though they tend to mumble a lot when asked about what happened in between. They share power with House Lannistory, though some question whether young King Nicholas has any Libertheon blood in him, or if he is actually a complete Lannistory. House loyalists have rallied around Lord Visionis with his claim to represent pure Libertheonism and the Orange Heart of the Lord of Liberal Reform. Others look to the younger Lord Socially, and his belief that the House should work closer with House Toiler.
House Toiler are well known by their red rose sigil, and were the dominant power of the land before their overthrow by the Lannistories. They are known for their occasionally progressive attitudes towards minority groups, but also for their ability to get involved in many different wars in support of their allies. Internal Toiler politics are complex, with brother often turning upon brother – currently, one of the Maceband brothers leads the House – while other lords jockey for position.
Elsewhere, the North is ruled by House Scot, whose King Alex (his sigil a salmon on a D-shaped shield) has declared its independence, but he knows he must come south to win many battles before that is recognised. In the West, the Greylloys sometimes proclaim the independence of the Iron Islands, though some feel they should merely accept a better position in service to the rest of Westeros. The Iron Islands are known as a very wet place, whose inhabitants follow the Soaked God and proclaim that ‘what is dead may never Dai’.
Someone’s started up a petition on the Number 10 website to introduce STV in local elections in England. I’ve long thought that this would be a decent step to improving local democracy and accountability, so if you feel the same, why not go and sign it?
And instead of four tons of glitter, have five links instead:
How Common Is Your Birthday? – An interesting diagram showing which days of the year see the most and fewest births (data from the US only, though). Interesting to note the troughs around certain holidays and the 13th of the month.
If the younger generation won’t bother to vote, it’s no wonder the policies don’t favour them – A quite honest assessment of the situation from the Tory Reform Group blog.
Why Sacha Baron Cohen Deserves The Nobel Prize – It’s a somewhat eclectic position to take, but Gavin Polone sets out an interesting argument as to why.
Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is – I think just about everyone else has linked to this John Scalzi piece by now, but if you’re the on person left who hasn’t read it, then you probably should.
An open letter to Michael Gove – A PGCE student asks the Education Secretary exactly what he thinks he’s doing.
As I’ve seen other councillors around the country doing this, I thought I’d give it a try. As a councillor, I get automatic notification of consultations on planning applications lodged in my ward, so it seems a good idea to share them with my local readers. All the links take you to the full application on the Council’s website, where you can read it and comment on it as you wish. I’ll likely post these at the weekend to cover all the applications made during that week.
Application 120689: Listed building application to repair of damaged tie-beam in loft area of bar in main restaurant area. Red Lion Hotel, High Street.
Application 120884: Signage on construction hoarding, Greyfriars.
Please note that I am set to be a member of the Council’s Planning Committee for the next municipal year. This means that I’m required to act in a ‘quasi-judicial’ manner with regard to applications before the Committee and as such, can’t make comments in favour or against planning applications as I may then have pre-judged them before they come to Committee. I can give advice on planning issues and what to do if you have a comment or objection. However, my ward colleagues Bill Frame and Jo Hayes aren’t members of the Committee, so they’re free to comment as they wish.
Because they have headlines like this in their local paper:
Former wife of lion tamer was running brothel
There’s a huge story there, but I’m not sure if it’s for a supporting character in the Fenland version of Northern Exposure, or the central character in a magic realist novel.
I wrote last week about the odd situation in Gwynedd, where a lack of candidates forced a non-election in one ward, and that ward turned out to be crucial for overall control of the Council.
Nominations for the ensuing by-election have now closed, and the electors of Bryncrug/Llanfihangel sadly haven’t shown a continued spirit of anarchism by refusing to nominate anyone again. Instead, having not been able to find a single candidate a few weeks, this time they’ve found five, including three different independents.
However, it looks like the election won’t be as crucial as originally thought, as Plaid Cymru have now done a deal with Labour to run the Council. I’ll keep an eye out for other updates as this campaign rolls on, though.
To go one better than Jonathan Calder, and as a reminder that this blog will be reaching its tenth anniversary next year. Here’s what I was writing about on or about the 16th May in previous years:
18th May, 2011: Maths, Hanningfield Style proved that Essex is not larger than Croatia.
16th May 2010: I was about to head to the Birmingham NEC for the Liberal Democrat Special Conference.
15th May 2009: Poem: In search of a gilded benefactor found me singing the ironic praises of Hazel Blears.
10th May 2008: Some fly, some sleep with the fishes as I find an amusing line in a BBC News report.
12th May 2007: Just a simple question about Eurovision generates a huge nine comments!
15th May 2006: Where the road leads reveals the route I’ll be taking on my walk from John O’Groats to Land’s End
14th May 2005: The sins of the father is my review of the Doctor Who episode ‘Father’s Day’.
16th May 2004: We’re back to a Blogger-produced site with Dude, where’s my taste? In which I thought the US had scraped the bottom of the reality TV barrel with a series in which two men pretended to be gay. Oh, such innocent times.
16th May 2003: It was so long ago, posts made with Blogger didn’t have titles. In this post, I talk about PR in European elections and some of the disingenuous arguments around it. Of course, if I’d done this exercise yesterday, I’d have linked to this post about London bidding for the Olympics to show how nothing’s really changed in nine years.
See you again for the next version of this exercise in 2021!
