JEREMY CORBYN AND LABOUR'S 10 PLEDGES FOR THE 2020 ELECTION - PART 2

Three pledges examined yesterday, four more today.

We Pledge:

A secure National Health and Social Care Service 

We will end the neoliberal ideologically-driven privatisation and bring services into a secure publicly-provided NHS. We will integrate the NHS and social care for older and disabled people. Dignity will be a premium value. We will  ensure parity for mental health services.

In short, there will be a decent and proper framework for a healthy nation based on need and prevention and not, in any shape or form, profit.

Banner headlines at Heartlands - the Corbyn rally last Saturday in Cornwall - (all pictures from the 'West Briton') 

We Pledge:

A free National Educational Service, an NES, open to all throughout their lives

We will create universal public childcare to give all children a good start in life, allowing greater sharing of caring responsibilities and removing barriers for those women who want to participate in the labour market. We will restore free education for all. We will guarantee quality apprenticeships and adult skills training.

In short, there will be a service that recognises the needs and rights of the people to enjoy learning

JEREMY CORBYN AND LABOUR'S 10 PLEDGES FOR THE 2020 ELECTION - PART ONE

This blog is designed as a thoughtful response - in three parts - to the 10 Pledges that Jeremy Corbyn and his team have drawn up as a central part of the leadership campaign that has been forced upon them by the attempted coup against JC within the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). In a smart and admirable political move, Jeremy and his team have turned the leadership challenge to advantage - these 10 Pledges serve as a strong statement outlining the policies that will underpin the 2020 general election campaign or any earlier general election that the new prime minister, Theresa May, may call.

I listened to the disputed leader of the Labour Party, in person, speaking at a rally in the Heartlands Mining Heritage site in Pool, Cornwall, on Saturday afternoon. He was my kind of leader - articulate, caring, well-informed, convincing, honest, inspirational, kind ... What else would anyone want? He highlighted several of these ten pledges in his  address. I want to cover three in this blog; four in the next; and three in the last in the series. But before I look at these promises I'd just like quickly to

Jeremy Corbyn at Heartlands in Cornwall last Saturday - (all photos from the 'West Briton') 

sketch the contributions of some of the earlier speakers at the rally last Saturday who described their experiences in living in a state diminished by the application of neoliberalism  ...

The mother on housing benefit who described the reality of being at the mercy of landlords in an under-regulated  rental market that offers little security to the tenant ... the distress of her children who never know when the roof over their head is going to change its shape yet again, or which school they will move to ... the frustration of the disabled man in a wheelchair who is told by the woman at the job centre that it will probably be best if he omits the fact he is a wheelchair user when writing an application - and is later told by the same official that she understands what it must be like to be disabled because her brother is disabled too ... the inspirational primary school teacher of ten years service who rages against the conformity and inanity of a curriculum that has become distorted by the meaningless demand for testing and evaluation ...

And then Jeremy. The crowd of around 4,000 - spanning the generations - were uplifted. We had a glimpse of a better future. A socialist vision.

We Pledge:         An economy that works for all

We will create a million good quality jobs across our regions and nations and guarantee a decent job for all.

How?

By investing £500 billion in infrastructure, manufacturing and new industries backed by a publicly-owned National Investment Bank and regional banks.

Where will the money come from? Running a national economy is not the same as planning a household budget. Quantitative Easing (QE) - creating new money - has been a key element in both Tory and Labour government responses to managing an economy in crisis. It can and will continue to be so. Redistribution of income but even more importantly redistribution of wealth will be a critical means to make the economy healthier and society fairer and more just.

Heartlands, Pool, Cornwall - Saturday afternoon 6 August 2016 - the people gather

We Pledge: Secure homes for all 

We will build a million new homes in five years, with at least half a million council homes, through a public investment strategy. We will end insecurity for private renters by introducing rent controls, secure tenancies and a charter of  private tenants' rights, and increase access to affordable home ownership.

Where there is the political will, there is always a way. Remember the Labour government's achievements between 1945 and 1951 in war-torn Britain ...

We Pledge: Security at work

We will give people stronger employment rights from day one in a job, end the exploitation of zero-hour contracts and create new collective bargaining rights, including mandatory collective bargaining for companies with 250 or more employees. We will create new employment and trade union rights to bring better security to the workplace and win better pay and conditions for everyone. We will act against the undercutting of pay and conditions through the exploitation of migrant labour.

Early seats at the rally for Jeremy Corbyn and all the people - 6 August 2016

This is government for the people, by the people - and in the interests of the people. Democracy in a word. Who wouldn't want to vote for such policies?  Corbyn and his policies, unelectable? His enemies - our enemies - are running scared.

RUNNING TO REDISCOVER THE PORTALS OF OXFORD - PART 4

Sunday October 9 is the date this year for the Oxford Half Marathon. I couldn't resist the challenge when I realised that Oxford now had a half marathon instead of the 10 k I loved so much back in 2010 when I finished in 64:16. I must have been caught up in the emotion of it all; the year before I had completed the Wymondham New Year's Day 10k in 59:40 and two years later in 2012 I managed a Broome 10K in 61:19. But who cares about times when you're running past portals into your own life - three years an undergraduate (1967-70), six years a resident (1980-86). I remember being so weary when I reached the University Parks at the end of that 10K in 2010. For over an hour I had been revisiting some of the most formative experiences of my whole life.

University Parks Oxford - 10K finish - 2010

Well, I'm doing it all again in 2016! I love going back to Oxford for college gaudies every five years or so and now I have another excuse. The first picture on this blog shows a very weary me striving for the finishing line in the Parks in 2010 and the second picture reveals the route this year in 2016. I shall enjoy blogging about the Oxford run in October after I return - and keeping anyone interested up-to-date about my training for the London Marathon in April 2017 now I have secured a gold bond place to run for the Salvation Army and raise money for their drug rehabilitation/addiction services. That prospect is so exciting!

Today, the last day of July, I started my serious training for Oxford (and of course London) by completing two circuits of my local 3.5 mile up and down hill run - 7 miles in 74 minutes. Not too bad for starters; the body and mind were working in gentle harmony without too much resistance. Next Sunday, 8 miles; the Sunday after, 3 circuits (10.5 miles); the Sunday after that, 11.5 miles - and the final Sunday in August, 4 circuits (14 miles). Plus two additional one circuit runs and one gym session in each of these four weeks. Then it's off to Greece and the island of Patmos for the best part

LABOUR LEADERSHIP CONTEST BECOMES 2020 GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN - JEREMY CORBYN'S MASTERSTROKE

Louise was upstairs watching TV as she quilted and alerted me to the press conference. Our leader was launching his leadership campaign. That feels oxymoronic ... Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader last year so why is he having another leadership campaign? Well, the Parliamentary Labour Party - more precisely, the majority of the Labour MPs in the House of Commons - has passed a vote of no confidence in his leadership. You probably know much of the rest of the story. My point here is to say how impressive and how confident Jeremy appeared in this fifteen minute launch - and to explain why I and hundreds and thousands others will be returning him to his rightful place as our leader, our figurehead for our beliefs about how this nation of ours should be governed. Do listen over the coming weeks as he spells out what Labour will be doing in government to rescue this stricken land from a decade of nasty Tory misgovernment.

Let me address a key accusation against JC. He has not been, is not, and never will be, a good leader.

Jeremy Corbyn - leader of the Labour Party

I'll begin by referencing the political point that we anti-neoliberals will always return to: governmental oversight of a national economy is very different from family management of a household economy. Keynesian assumptions bind us together on this matter; sound economics blend beautifully with our humane and civilised beliefs that people matter and should never be sacrificed on the altar of rugged individualism and trickle-down falsehoods. We can and we should borrow and even create the money that will drive the wheels of industry, trade and commerce.

Now, imagine a family-run business making ice-cream that has expanded successfully, employs over one hundred people and whose management board is filled by three generations of the same family and a healthy representation of non-family members with varying expertise. The board also includes a handful of members of the workforce. Word has spread; this precious institution has become a byword for good management practice and social scientists are queuing up to study their management strategies and leadership styles. People reference this ice-cream dream business as a text book illustration for good leadership.

Then imagine, there is a tragic air crash and all the family members of the board are wiped out in a single moment. A distant cousin who has never gained access to the higher reaches of the firm before now finds herself, as the sole surviving family member left in the business, the managing director.

JEREMY CORBYN - THE PEOPLE'S CHAMPION - AKA THE POLITICAL AND MEDIA ELITE'S NIGHTMARE

They really want to see the back of him, don't they?

The majority of  the Parliamentary Labour Party allowed themselves to be manipulated into supporting a carefully planned coup against Jeremy, their democratically elected leader, in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. The revolt was designed to satisfy the political ambitions of a few and restore the tried and failed recipes for political purpose and action that have been the undoing of the Labour movement for the best part of a decade.

Jeremy Corbyn - leader of the Labour Party and our next Prime Minister

But how dumb can you be? Jeremy was never going to be bullied or coerced into resignation. He would never abandon his own principles that have seen him through decades of opposition to mainstream Labour politics and now form the backbone of the real Labour movement and Party that has taken shape outside parliament. I am talking of the real Labour movement that was responsible for his landslide election victory as the national leader of the Party.

So much for the Labour political elite - but what of the media elite? Even my beloved Channel 4 News was guilty tonight of systemic and systematic rubbishing of the elected leader of Labour. Unchallenged assertions that at nearly 70 the strain was getting to him and his family and he was no longer willing to continue. Behind closed doors, he was considering his position. The Labour Party was unelectable with him at the helm; that was the message from the doorsteps of the country. Corbyn's lacklustre performance was the reason for the Brexit vote. The BBC is of course much worse.

TAKING STATISTICAL STOCK

Two weeks have elapsed since my last post - have I lost the blogging touch?

No way.

Let me explain. My website presents three of my personae in some detail: the academic, the teacher, and the runner. The website itself was set up to help stimulate interest in the forthcoming publication of my book, The Road to Corbyn. There is, therefore, a fourth persona: the author. However, at this time of the year, for around two months, yet another persona emerges - and has done, regularly, since 1972 with a break of only five years back in the early 80s: the examiner. Being an examiner for national exam boards has its own satisfactions. If you can do a job well enough and you know young people benefit from the exercise of your skills, that feels good. But let's be honest. We needed the extra income. Now the need is less, but I wasn't prepared to say no to the opportunity to examine just yet. But the business of marking is demanding on time and I simply have not found the space to produce a blog - until now.

I thought those of you who read these blogs would be interested in discovering the popularity pattern revealed by the viewing figures for the 24 blogs I have published since mid-January this year.

Way out in the lead with 183 views is my second Jago Stone blog where I raise, inter alia, issues of misogyny and sexism in order to exclude Jago from these charges. My first Jago blog had 43 views, my third Jago post that featured Merlin Porter the artist, Jago's youngest son, had 64 - and my fourth Jago blog that returned to the issues of misogyny and sexism in order to clarify has 47 to date. My fifth Jago post in which I examine his views on prison reform has 33 at the present time. This collection of Jago blogs is a dynamic entity. The viewing figures increase week by week for all five blogs.

The second most popular blog I have produced must owe much to its cunning title: 'Rough Sex in St  Ives'. That has scored 98 to date. Other St Ives' posts have done less well. 'St Ives Says No to Second Homes' has 33 at present. 'Under the Surface of  St Ives - mining in the past and politics today' comes in at 40. And that is a good cue to show this photo that appeared in the St Ives Times and Echo recently. I look out of my window here where I am working towards this very location. The past is truly a different country.

The line of view from my study window is almost directly towards this location.

Those blogs that focus on my running have proved popular. Running to find the Zone - Part 2 comes in third, overall, at 70 views. My first Running to find the Zone clocked 30 and my last: Running to keep Running has 41 to date.

JAGO STONE - PART 5 - THE PRISONER AND THE NEED FOR PRISON REFORM

This blog ends with an extract from the conclusion of Jago Stone's autobiography: The Burglar's Bedside Companion (1975) - see my website for further details of this remarkable book. Jago was a fine writer as well as a talented artist and as you will discover by reading to the end of this blog he makes a powerful case for prison reform.

Let me make my position clear. I think the state of our prisons and our prison system is a disgrace. Forty and more years have passed since Jago wrote his heartfelt critique and matters have only worsened. A nation should be judged in good measure on the quality of its penal system when assessing its degree of civilisation. We emerge from such accounting as semi-barbarians. There is something rotten in the state of Britain and it is our prisons. No political party seems willing to risk losing votes by taking the lid off this scandal. We are locking up more and more people and many of  these prisoners should never be in jail in the first place. I say 'we' and although I understand  these penal actions are not directly ours I do not hear cries of protest. Collectively, we would rather avert our attention from this scandal. But we shouldn't. If we do, our society is diminished.

Behind Bars

A former colleague of mine has now served around three years of his sixteen years sentence. This is not the place or time to discuss the particulars of his case. He was an acquaintance at work for whom I had respect. After I had left that field of work I discovered that he was on trial and after his sentencing and imprisonment decided to write to him in jail. I assumed his guilt and I wanted to extend the hand of my friendship. Sixteen years deprived of liberty is a tough punishment.

Nearly forty letters, fifteen emails and one prison visit later, I am better appraised of the consequences of locking people up in overcrowded jails with prison staff suffering from stress and