Lets Get Serious

Simon Heffer (DT) was saying to day what I have been saying ever since the quite outstanding Boris piece on the boundary commission ..Brown may go early . We may in fact be in an election year. If this is the case , and it is as likely as not , the question of what `we` must do is somewhat more urgent than it might appear. My advice I `m afraid is rather boring but its getting time to be serious. .


Dear David
Please do not be tempted into making hard policy decisions , all the time you do not the enemy only make one criticism. If Brown seeks to bounce the electorate into an endorsement, this will provide you with cover. Don't fret about the Neo Cons and UKIP defectors, they are playing at rebellion . Remember this must be a game of reaction not pro-action if we are to win . Control and discipline is all leave showboating to the bloggers.
You appreciate that Brown will try to put right what he sees as the major obstacle to a Nu lab victory. You know roughly what these are. The leaked memo said ,"we have been outflanked on patriotism , been assailed for broken promises and spin ...the New labour Brand has been contaminated" You also know Brown is highly sensitive to the iniquitous Scottish dispensation . Dennis McShane put his likely strategy well ..." to catch the Tories bathing and walk off with most of their clothes." This was in an article entitled Brown knows he has to cut taxes". Worth reading David
You have taken the centre and Brown will try to grab it back .Moreover he will portray himself as the man of substance who will deliver the New labour Agenda ..the spin and lies will be Tony`s fault He will say you can have low taxes , reformed public services, reduced red tape and yet maintain social justice , the NHS and a caring smile. Don`t write policies ,prepare your arguments and take up the weapon he has left...............

Tell them every day that Labour said all of this ten years ago.

Mention Frank Field , told to think the unthinkable , reform the disastrous benefits system ,eliminate the poverty trap and the dependency culture. Remind them it was the back bench opposition and in particular the opposition of Gordon Brown that derailed the supposed Blair project. . Constantly entangle brown in his past and suggest he cannot be trusted.
Be prepared for a flashy gesture like ditching inheritance tax. . On 30% ( ICM) he has nothing to lose. You must be quick to smile at him him as a man who will promise anything but whose political constituency will pull left.

Never forget to say . "You've had ten years and now you admit you were wrong ?"

Keep you nerve you are getting it right . Steer clear of Iraq ,steer clear of "immigration" the EU even ( hard I know) just match the Brown moves . Keep the focus on what Blair promised ten years ago and what has happened since.

Give the Conservative Party a friendly splash of cold water they have forgotten we could lose.

Demand their support quietly we must appear unified against the certain factionalism that will erupt after president Blair. Drop the A list (Its work is done ) and throw out afew hints . They are Conservatives , they will knuckle downAt the moment the Labour party is wrestler on the mat . We have to keep them where they are ,they move , we move , nothing risky but instincts and caution are the watchwords. Play out the time and we will win . You political instincts have been supernatural , they know they picked a winner and they know they will have to grow up.

David, there is a lot to do to get this country back to where it should be but the constituency of agreement for a reforming agenda comes after victory not before . Remember this in 1979 Margaret Thatcher was highly conciliatory to the centre ground . I believe you have the talent to be one of the great Conservatives and with the economy's wheels squeaking you might just get the support for a radical agenda sooner than you think. When that happens ;don't let us down .

Yours Sincerely

Newmania

Am I bovvered ?

Following the just execution of the dreadful Saddam Hussein I have been trying to organise my feelings on the death penalty which I support

Justice is a word for rightness and has no meaning outside system of belief including right and wrong. Such a system may have religious underpinning but it is not necessary. The wish for and sense of good is in our hearts whether or not God put it there .An injustice or crime , imbalances the "Scales of Justice ". Our wish for goodness makes us want to correct this balance and the meaning of the traditional Scales is the difficulty of weighing and measuring this response . It does not mean it is easy to decide ; quite the reverse . If we do not allow this model though , we are left with "convenience ". In that case all those I dislike may expect to be bagged up and fed to the pigs by tomorrow . Why not , if there is no such thing as justice ?
Justice cannot be disassociated from revenge although the distaste for it is a real problem( the "deeds creature" problem of Hamlet). In the case of murder it is the revenge taken by the living in behalf of the dead. Like all revenge it is prompted by love and respect for the victim. I have a parable ..(it was only a matter of time .......)

Hundreds of years ago in the Village of Blogham nestled in loamy Blog shire a good man lived and by his work acquired a small cottage . A bad man seeing this thought that the world would suit him better rearranged a little . He killed Good man and occupied his house .The villager's first instinct was to drag him from his bed and after public torture and humiliation, so all should know ,dispatch him to hell. Bad man was a clever arguer though .He made suggestions that troubled them ." Retribution , he sneered , why ? I have done you no personal harm and Good man cannot be revived by this means ""Listen " he said as a pitchfork approached his temple "In order to have done this I must surely be mad .I am not responsible and as for deterrent , well it is unlikely anyone else is as mad as me . I can't see what you gain by any of this ?"Perhaps it was he screaming of good man's wife and children ..who knows but still the villagers advance upon bad man...now he began to panic "Wait wait he pleads at about this time Ghengis Khan is spending happy weeks killing and torturing hundreds of thousands ...I mean compared to him I `m really astonishingly moral "
The villagers appear to agree that this would be convenient , it is after all quite confusing and aside from the growing stench of Goodman's corpse life would certainly be easier if they forgot about him entirely. As Bad man breathed a sigh of relief however they laughed telling him that it was only a cruel joke and that his soon to be over life held nothing but pain. They did this because they loved and still love Goodman and they cannot abide the injustice.

In real life we do not know who is Good and who is bad and we resolve this by Jurisprudence in which we seek to recreate impersonal justice in the world . Some things seem clear to me . Death may very well be justice and as such should be available. We are right to worry about weighing the scales and our limited view of what justice is .We are wrong to be so bamboozled that we forget the point and create complexity when there is none . We are wrong to give to much weight to what the murderer has to say because it is "easier".

It has rarely been easier to see that justice has been done