Ed West

I’ve met people at political events who seem otherwise normal, and then Tony Blair’s name is mentioned and their eyes light up in a way that suggest a chemical reaction has taken place in their brain. Likewise whenever the former Labour prime minister is mentioned online, it’s like a hand grenade has been thrown into the loony pond. Up they all chirp on social media, announcing how the war criminal must be sent to the Hague one day. The most recent case was Tony Blair’s offer to fund Labour candidates at the election, and the decision by two of them to turn it down; in both constituencies, Northampton North and Dundee East, Labour are close behind an incumbent party and really need the money, especially as the election will be the closest in decades.

There was an interesting survey by Chatham House a few weeks back; asked which countries they had good feelings about, the British put the following as their top ten favourite. 1 Australia: 47% favourable 2 Canada: 44% 3  = USA and the Netherlands: 33% 5 Sweden: 28% 6 Norway: 26% 7 Ireland: 24% 8 Germany: 21% 9 Italy and Spain: 20% Their least liked were Russia, North Korea, Israel, Iran, Pakistan and Ukraine, which is not surprising as all are involved in conflict in some way and people are probably sick of hearing about them. Strangely, 1% of Britons feel ‘especially unfavourable’ towards Norway. Are they still bitter about Harald Hardrada’s invasion? Or possibly that commentator from the 1981 game still grates?

Ukip has unveiled its new Aussie-style immigration policy, just a week after the latest bad immigration news for the government. The news was bad only in a sense, as high immigration levels are a symptom of a healthy economy; after all, the Venezuelan government doesn’t break into a sweat every time the immigration figures come in, thanks to the genius of Chavenomics. But it’s all bad news for the Tories because most people would like restrictions on the rate of population growth, and of immigration-led social change, and the government made promises it clearly couldn’t keep.

I was about to shut down my computer last night when I made the mistake of clicking on an article about the Green Party’s manifesto, possibility the scariest thing since Victor from The Returned. Say what you like about the Greens, a party with support now at 11 per cent, but at least they’re not just the same as any other party. None of that ‘neoliberal’ nonsense here. Here are some excerpts from the Daily Telegraph article:   Top-ups [will be] given for people with children or disabilities, or to pay rent and mortgages. No-one will see a reduction in benefits, and most will see a substantial increase. Parents will be entitled to two years’ paid leave from work.

James Blunt, the self-deprecating musician who may or may not have stopped World War III, has written an open letter to Chris Bryant calling him a ‘classist gimp’ after the politician named him among the list of unacceptably posh people who dominate the arts. The (privately-educated) Labour MP complained that the arts were too full of Blunt and his ‘ilk’, which the singer criticised as narrow-minded and self-defeating. Before commenting, I should add here that my parents sent me to a state secondary school, but only so I could win ‘prolier-than-thou’ contests on the internet when I’m older. Blunt has a point.

There are many disheartening aspects to the war on cartoonists, one of which is the way that some people are so caught up in their own culture war that they can’t see the difference between their opponents and enemies. A small number of anti-racism activists still see the power + prejudice formula in a way that misses the woods for the trees, but I’m mainly thinking of Catholics like Bill Donahue who are so obsessed with atheism they’ve lost all sense of proportion. More depressing, though, is the lack of critical thinking that greets discussion of Islam and violence.

I tend to avoid Camden these days as it makes me feel even more like Mark Corrigan than usual, so it’s been a few years since I visited the Proud Gallery. I seem to remember it was for some industry event and there was lots of free beer; it was a nice venue with a view overlooking the area, but I can’t recall whether the place was gay, super-gay or not-very-gay. Someone else was obviously unaware of the bar’s sexual orientation, as they wrote an email to its owner, Alex Proud, enquiring because some of their staff might have religious objections. Mr Proud’s response was to tell them their booking was cancelled and to post the exchange on Twitter.

Wonderful: Labour has a new slogan on immigration, which appears to be the Conservatives’ old slogan from 2005, the one that Labour said was racist. I have far more respect for any Labour politician who actually defends their record on mass immigration – only a fifth of which was from Europe, incidentally, although that gets at least four-fifths of the coverage – than those who goes along with the current fashion. Someone who said that diversity made us more tolerant and kinder and was culturally-enriching; and that the economic benefits, although they are more helpful to the rich than the poor, are worth the downsides.