Weekly Roundup | Weeks 20–21 | 18th–24th May 2017
Tragedy in Manchester, “Dementia tax” & Democracy for sale
Manchester terrorist attack | Labour gains ground | Young voters register in huge numbers | Conservatives target the elderly | Donations buy “democracy”
Welcome to Weekly Roundup, a summary of the most significant recent UK/global sociopolitical developments, environmental issues & other topics that affect your life. Read more about FuturePolitics here.
This week: • Tragedy in Manchester & the hate speech that has followed • Election update, including voter registration, the “dementia tax” & Labour’s growing supporter base • Donations buy “democracy”
Tragedy in Manchester
A cowardly nail-bomb attack at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena resulted in the death of 22 people, including several children, injuring 59 more on Monday evening. So-called “Islamic State” has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, believed to have been committed by 22-year old Salman Abedi. The device was detonated in the foyer of the venue, just as the concert had ended and people were exiting. The UK terror alert status has been raised to “critical” — the highest level — meaning “an attack is expected imminently”. Soldiers have been deployed in place of armed police. Click here for rolling coverage of the latest updates.
The attack has inevitably led to division. The next day during a vigil in Birmingham, a man — thought to be suffering from mental health issues — was arrested after brandishing an axe. Online, members of hate group Britain First have been spreading their neo-Nazi ideology.
There are, however, stories of hope. People standing up to condemn a protest by fascist group the English Defence League. People opening their homes and businesses to stranded victims. People coming from outside Manchester to help. People donating over £700,000 towards helping support the families of the victims, within the first day. A homeless man putting aside his own suffering and caring for the injured. Dave Waghorn writes:
“But underneath the headline is a lot of good news: people travelling from other cities to come and help; homeowners and businesses opening their accommodation to those who need it; friends and families working with one another to find their missing loved ones. These are acts of kindness, and kindness give us all hope.”
Meanwhile, Paul St. Davis recognises the need to band together, rather than direct blame towards a religious community that as a whole abhors the actions of terrorists.
“This isn’t about Left or Right anymore. This isn’t about whose religion will overthrow a devilish ideology. I mean, for crying out loud, we’ve been having this debate for centuries. It’s about what can WE do, as a society, as everyday men and women, to drive out evil from this world.”
This sentiment is echoed in Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s statement on the attack. Have you ever seen such a calm, caring and measured response to a terrorist attack in your life? Instead of the usual sabre-rattling drivel parroted by politicians, Corbyn showed strong and empathetic leadership in his statement on the attack. The only way we can stop such attacks happening in future is by stopping our exploitative interference in foreign affairs that has radicalised so many against “us” (our governments). That is something Corbyn has worked towards throughout his entire career.
I send my sympathy from where I live in Tampere — known as the Manchester of Finland — to the real Manchester.
Nevertheless, bigoted Daily Mail columnist and oxygen thief Katie Hopkins continued her campaign of hate speech, previously discussed here, with a tweet that implies advocation for a “final solution” — a reference to the Nazi plan to exterminate Jews — offending not only the Muslims it refers to, but also the Jews it callously disrespects. Hopkins is now the subject of yet another police investigation into her incitement of racial hatred.
What can you do to minimise hate speech? Here’s a three-step action plan:
- Boycott the purveyors of hate speech. That includes not just the individuals, but also the platforms that give them a voice, such as radio and TV channels, newspapers and websites where their opinions are published.
- Lobby those platforms. Ask them to stop spreading hatred. That includes contacting companies that facilitate the existence of the platforms, such as those that use them to advertise. Stop Funding Hate has made great progress in forcing companies to remove their adverts from publications that spread hatred.
- Talk to your friends and family or write an article. Help to inform people about the facts, make them aware of the alternatives and encourage them to boycott and lobby the platforms that spread hatred.
Election update
Read our quick summary of Labour & Conservative manifesto policies — illustrated with memes:
We start with some positive news: people — especially the younger generation — engaging with democracy. Over 1.3 million people registered to vote during the last week of the election, including 622,000 people on the last day. This included 538,000 under-25s and 442,000 people aged 25–34 years old. If, as predicted, voter turnout amongst the younger demographic increases from its 2015 level of just 43% for under-24s (compared to 78% of those aged 65+), it is expected to have a significant impact on the result of this election. Now we just need to encourage their attendance at the polling booths on election day.
The Conservative’s manifesto policy regarding social care for the elderly has been dubbed the “dementia tax”, since it would disproportionately affect the physically and mentally unwell. To briefly summarise: if implemented, it would mean that an elderly person would retroactively pay for their own social care via deductions from their assets — including the value of their home — following their death, despite having already paid into the social care system their whole life. The Conservatives suffered several embarrassments this week relating to this issue. First the party was forced to u-turn — a not-so-proud Conservative tradition — as they realised the deep unpopularity of the policy. They then developed the policy into an even more unfair one. Later that day, they were caught buying Google adverts that, when clicked, direct readers to the Conservative Party’s website in an attempt to deceive them into thinking the policy was justified. Labour later played them at their own game, reaching first position on Google for the term “dementia tax” with this link, which explains the real effects of the policy. May also struggled to defend her various policies in interviews before and after the u-turn.
“I condemn all the bombing by both loyalists and the IRA”
Meanwhile, despite continuing deceptive propaganda from Conservatives — including a tweet claiming that Corbyn refused to condemn the IRA during a television interview, despite him having said “I condemn all the bombing by both loyalists and the IRA” — the dementia tax has helped boost a steady increase in support for Labour.
Conservatives also mocked the Scottish National Party plan for Scotland to leave their “biggest marketplace” as potential for “economic chaos” — without realising the irony that May is embarking on withdrawing the entire UK from the EU, which is the world’s largest trading block!
The Labour Party surged 16% to a 10% lead against the Conservatives in the Labour heartland of Wales, having previously been 6% behind. They have also been catching up nationally in the polls, closing the gap to between 9 and 13%, compared to 20% at the beginning of the election campaign. This is thought to be due to a combination of their strong, progressive and fully costed manifesto, Conservative’s weak, regressive and totally un-costed manifesto, the negativity of the dementia tax in particular and an increase in voter registration amongst 18–34 year olds.
Labour also announced that it would already apply its manifesto pledge to scrap university tuition fees this year, if elected — welcome news for many young voters and progressives.
In a terrible week for wildlife, May has announced her support for fox hunting — she will offer a parliamentary vote on the lifting of the ban. She has also been persuaded to drop the ban on imports of ivory. This follows an unjustifiable and cruelly enacted cull of almost £15,000 badgers, overseen by David Cameron.
The electorate is waking up to Labour’s shift back to the left under Cobryn’s leadership and beginning to recognise May’s appalling policies, her reliance on rhetoric and inability as a politician.
Against all the odds, there is once again hope that the British government could be led by someone working in the interests of the average voter.
Donations buy “democracy”
It has been revealed that prior to the election campaign, the Conservative Party had received £5.46 million worth of donations between January and March, an increase of £1.85 million compared to the previous quarter and over double the £2.65 million received by Labour. The largest individual contribution of £317,000 came from Conservative Party treasurer and mining company executive Michael Davis, who gave the party £317,000.
Since May has been leader of the party, oil company executives — including two that have been fined for or interviewed on suspicion of corruption within the last year — have donated £390,000. The Conservative manifesto repays them by offering unprecedented government support for the oil and gas industry, at a time when we should be scrapping fossil fuel subsidies, divesting from oil and gas and investing in renewables.
Yesterday we reported that so far since the announcement of the election, the Conservatives had declared £4.1 million worth of donations to the Electoral Commission. They came from 10 companies and 46 individuals, only 5 of whom were female and most of whom are business people. Some came from prominent Conservative MPs, such as Michael Gove. Meanwhile, Labour had received and declared £2.7 million worth of donations, coming from four trade unions — non-profit organisations that work to protect your rights as a worker — and two individuals.
The Conservatives have vested interests in business and their policies are heavily influenced by lobbying. Labour’s main donors are trade unions that have a positive impact on social policy.
It’s time to take big money out of politics.
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