100 dead..... for what?

Charge of the Helmand Brigade

Tonight's tragic news that the 100th British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan should prompt a re-think.
At the end of 2005, 5 British soldiers had been killed - mostly in accidents. Now there are 100 dead - nearly all in combat. Almost nothing has been achieved in Helmand.  Very little reconstruction has been completed. Drug production is the highest ever and the price of drugs on the street of Britain is the lowest ever. No progress has been made in winning 'hearts and minds.'

The Government hoped that the Helmand Mission would be over in three years 'without a shot being fired'. Four million bullets were fired in 12 months and the mission is expected to last 30 years. In March 2007, I said that invading Helmand would stir up a hornets' nest. I compared the futility of the mission with the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Bush to the right of them,
Blair to the left of them
Hollered and thundered,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die,
Into the Valley of Death,
Into the mouth of Helmand,
Drove the five thousand.

State Funding answer to corruption

Two of my correspondents are aghast at my advocacy of state funding  (yesterday’s blog) for political parties.

Jolly Roger charmingly expresses himself in verse.

Well blow me down and bugger me.
You've made a post and I almost agree.
Of your half a dozen bulleted points,
There's only one that disappoints.
re: National Funding. It's number 4.
I don't want the bill for that at my door.
Why should I pay for your Political Frolics.
If you ask me Paul, it's a load of Bollicks.

Too late Roger, national funding is here. What I am campaigning for is an extension. In the term of this parliament, taxpayers will foot bills for £30 million in Short Money for opposition parties, £12 million from the Electoral Commission, £22 million for free postage and a notional £66 million free broadcasting time. A rough total of £130 million.

The total spent by all parties on the General Election was about £35 million. Already we are 80% there in providing state funding. New reduced election spending limits plus a small expansion of present state funding would cleanse British politics from accusations of dependence on outside funding by those out to buy influence.

The public hate state funding but they also disapprove of political parties' dependence on outside donations.

We still have one of the  cleanest democracies in the world, yet we allow stories of corruption to undermine it. This could dangerously destroy what’s left of the credibility of British politics. The Tory Brown envelope-gate and Labour Ecclestone-gate has besmirched its good name. The now accepted canard that all parties are corrupt dangerously destroys trust in our democracy. The alternative is alarming. Extremists of the right or the left offering ‘a plague on all their houses’ solutions. The elected Hartlepool monkey is real. Elsewhere in Europe politicians with simian characteristics are in Government.

Two thousand years ago, Juvenal and Socrates described dreams of a corruption proof democracy. Both would be pleased by the progress of the mother of parliaments. There have been crooked British MPs recently but no political party has been corrupt since Lloyd George sold off honours.

USA alternative

Former Labour MP John Cryer told the Commons that it would ‘stick in his craw’ if some of his tax money was paid to the Conservative Party. John’s craw is in danger of total blockage when he discovers how much state funding is already paid.

The alternative to no-state funding is a stern warning. American politicians pay their own bills. They are in moral debt to whoever pays the piper. Their lives are dominated by the need for perpetual fund-raising. Electoral success is impossible without vast spending mainly in buying media time. In one recent election the Republican and Democrats spent a billion dollars. Candidates for the Senate had to find more than a million dollars each.

The cash comes from some suspect sources. Lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry seeking a favourable Medicare bill donated 4 million dollars directly to parties and spent another 34 million dollars on election advertising. US electorate is largely bought.

In the 2001 general election the total spent by all parties was £26 million. But there was no correlation between cash spent and votes won. Each Tory vote cost them £1.52, Labour £1.38 and the LibDem bargain hunters spent just 28p per vote. Even better, Dr Richard Taylor's Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern party spent nothing but still managed to get to parliament.

One political party printed 60 million leaflets in the last Euro election. It’s a safe bet that only a few million were delivered and only a tiny fraction of those read. The voters’ antennae of cynicism are permanently deaf to political propaganda. Party campaigning rarely disturbs the surface of settled public opinion. Two issues swung votes in 2001 - belief in the strength of the economy and dislike of the Tory leader.

In order to make state funding more acceptable the present limits on local and national spending could be further slashed. This would cut fears that taxpayers are paying for parties’ profligacy. The mechanism of the Electoral Commission already exists to determine amounts paid to each party on the basis of votes won in previous elections. To avoid public donations to extreme parties a condition of commitment to human rights could by introduced.

This argument has nothing to do with the present financial problems of the party. I have made the same point for 15 years. A minority of politicians has long argued the principled case.

Limiting donations to small amounts and slightly enlarging present state funding could make parties independent of external influence. A model for reform is the Canadian one. Individual contributions are limited to 3,000 dollars. There are tight limits on party spending of 1.3 dollar per elector. The system is working well.

Rebuilding confidence in political probity is an urgent necessity throughout Europe. Timid governments have been inching towards state funding for the past decade. All it will take for a leap forward is a little adult co-operation by all parties plus a dash of courage.

       

Comments

[Will S]

Unless I misremember it was actually the Labour party which blocked any progress in this avenue by refusing to have donations from trade unions counted as a single donation and therefore be limited in the same way as corporate donations. Or was there some other reason? I do distincty remember that there was some communication on this between the parties on this topic. Perhaps you could give your views on that?

[paulflynn]

Negotiations broke down. Each side blamed the other. Yours is the Tory version

[Will S]

Then give the Labour version of why talks failed and I'd be happy to take it onboard. ;)

[Jolly Roger]

I thought that I felt a little moist.
It seemed like I'd had a petard hoist.
But then I looked and all was well.
Not even a trace of a nasty smell.
Your figures, Paul, seem quite concise.
And convey an impression that you're doing quite nice.
But we, in the real world, have seen enough
Of continued snouting in the trough.

I don't have a problem with limited assistance.
If only you could create a resistance,
To the continued misuse of Public Money
On personal ex'es, it's just not funny.
When November comes there'll be some scrutiny.
I half expect a minor mutiny,
Of those who wanted their ex'es hidden.
And public knowledge to be forbidden.

There's plenty of snouting others will expose.
Guido's keeping them all on their toes.
Just how many kitchens and bathrooms have I funded?
Just how many gardens have been floribunded?
Mock Tudor for Prescott, light bulbs for Blair.
You'll be telling me next that it's all quite fair.
You really can't justify such arrogant spending,
Whilst the wolves from our doors we're constantly fending.

I challenge you, Paul, to live on my money.
At the end of the month there's no milk nor honey.
Just going without and making do.
And all of it due to MPs like you.
My meagre pension's just been raided.
My Tax has doubled, I feel invaded.
And now more Tax on my automatic car.
It's gone to the point that's just too far.

I've worked and been taxed for all my life.
I can hardly afford flowers for the grave of my Wife.
I've got medical problems too many to list.
But no benefits for me, I might as well not exist.
Here's a fact that's not fair dinkum.
Your monthly food allowance is two thirds of my income.
I just hope this rant makes you feel better.
As you claim by your 'Rules' and stick to the letter.

[Paul Flynn]

Both sides share the responsibility for the stalemate. Labour believe that the limit proposed by the Tories was designed to disadvantgae Labour becaues we are relianet on hal a dozen big union donors. The Tories have thousands of substantail smaller donations.