Bob Piper has been a Labour Councillor for the Abbey
Ward in Sandwell, West Midlands, for 10 years. He is a lifelong supporter of Aston Villa Football Club and a follower of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
The views expressed here are mine in a personal capacity, not those of the Labour Party, Sandwell MBC, Aston Villa or Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Get it! Mine... just mine!
Iain Dale introduces the new Total Politics website... and I have to admit, despite its heavy right-of-centre bias, it ain't half bad. With a lot of pro-Cameroons on board it will inevitably have a pro-Tory outlook, and there doesn't appear to be any 'left' influence on their editorial board, despite their claim to have "drawn together a team of people from across the political world to offer advice and guidance." Still, I suppose it depends how far to the right you stand when making the claim... but two new Labour MPs as representatives of the left? I think not somehow.
I wouldn't condemn it out of hand, but the whole thing has a feel of the New Labour-New Conservative consensus mush politics about it.
Bob, I just can't work out how you can say the Editorial Board is biased. Denis MacShane, Andrew Mackinlay (new labour, huh?!!!), Brian Brivati, Angus Macneil, Caroline Lucas are all obviously on the left. Shami Chakrabarti, Paddy Ashdown and Chris Huhne would say they were broadly left. David Trimble, Simon Milton and David Davis are all on the right. God knows where you place Guto Harri.
And please explain how the content of the magazine is biased towards the right.
Iain... no, I haven't... so I didn't actually comment on the magazine. Macshame is probably to the right of New Labour and his disgraceful little diatribe praising Thatcher, calling for tax cuts and public spending cuts was worse than most Tories. As I said, it depends where your centre is if you think Ashdown and Chakrabati are 'left' because they certainly are not from where I stand.
God knows where you place Guto Harri???? Boris Johnson's Director of Communications? are you taking the piss?
Gary Elsby said:
June 24, 2008 12:55 PM | permalink
A Labour rebel needs to be on board and then I will be satisfied. That doesn't mean I sign up to rebels, it just means they say what they say and say it out loud.
June 22, 2008 12:52 PM | permalink
Total Bollocks.