I did wonder what Newsnight would make of Milibandism (30 mins) as they had Rafael Behr, the New Statesman’s political editor, on to explain the new political force in the land and the ideas behind it.
What I saw was a slick, well produced party political broadcast….and I’m sure it will be immortalized on You Tube as such…..Behr did manage to get a dig in at Cameron…though sacrificing Brown to do so by saying that next to Thatcher and Blair others like Brown, Major and Cameron are intellectual also-rans……(possibly true)
Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your outlook, what happened next was what could well be the future for Milibandism….a polished presentation followed by a shambolic reality….as indeed admitted by Behr when he said the best thing that could happen to the Tories might be to lose the next election and allow Miliband to win….when the wheels will fall off his bandwagon.
After the film was shown it was back to the studio and Rafael Behr was up against Phil Collins, a speech writer for Blair and now writing for The Times….with Paxman sitting back with a grin on his face letting them set to.
Behr put up a weak defense of ‘Milibandism’, which is odd as he has written a long article in the Staggers about it and produced this lovely film…so had time to think about it and work out a good line…..unfortunately he couldn’t and as mentioned, seemed to doubt Milibandism could even work on the ground….saying he could end up in No. 10 by accident rather than it being his policies winning the vote.
Collins, despite his past associations, put the boot in completely destroying Labour’s, Miliband’s, approach…..saying he had no policies….he said the problem with the Left is that they have no answer to what ‘they’ are for now…..asking ‘What are you for if you don’t have the money to spend?’…..Miliband has no policies on schools, the NHS, crime or welfare…..and he has no policy to reform the State.
Behr himself damns Miliband by replying that Miliband thinks voters aren’t concerned with that…..in other words Miliband is going for shallow, eye catching policies that don’t have any substance rather than committing to the boring, grown up statesmanlike policies that deal with real problems such as the way government actually works and structural problems such as the shape of the NHS and welfare….let’s face it even his own MP’s don’t think he is a man of substance:
So how did Newsnight do? The film was as I said a bit of a classic, and one Labourites will no doubt link to at every chance…however the actual policies of Miliband got a sound kicking from Collins…and by Behr himself ironically as he was battered into submission by Collins.
Paxman didn’t feel the need to intervene…which was fair enough…the discussion seemed pretty comprehensive with only the occasional nudge from him……
However as the film will have a separate life of its own and is so pro-Miliband, and produced by someone who is so clearly of the ‘Left’, it was probably an error of judgement for a politically neutral BBC to air such a one sided film that promoted Miliband and his ideas so slickly.
All good fun…but how often do you hear that type of critical analysis by Collins of Miliband’s ‘policies’ from BBC journos? What we get from John Pienaar is ‘the boy done good…he’s making the narrative’…but little, if any, examination of the substance.
First with Falkirk and now the Co-Op scandal, I have been patiently waiting for Miliband to use the phrase “Full judge-led inquiry.”
The current tally, by Miliband is: 0.
Watch this space.
Surely by now, even the conservatives should know, that the BBC is ideologically and politically part of Labour. As such, I find it difficult to understand why the Conservatives have not taken the axe to the BBC.
Of course the BBC will scream blue murder, but there are ways to bring this socialist/progressivist/.marxist organisation to heel.
It can be done “in the best possible taste”.
One way to shake up the BBC, is to use the time honoured tactic of “modernisation”. The “modernisation” tactic in this instance would use two primary reasons.
1. In these times of austerity, it is necessary to streamline the BBC to get more effective use of taxpayers money.
2. An information revolution is ongoing, where the public has access to a greater variety of information outlets. The BBC has to be modernised, its management structure, news and views, to reflect the greater variety (Diversity) in society, as well as information outlets.
Under these two guises, one can do virtually anything. The Conservatives are the only ones who can do this. In fact, for their very political survival, as well as offering the public a choice of sorts, it is absolutely necessary.
Any opposition from BBC or its fellow apparatchiks, can be dismissed as Luddite, resistant to change, old fashioned, Oxbridge elitist, or whatever comes to mind.
If the Tories try anything the Corporation and its print arm the Guardian will claim bore us on it for the next decade. It is imploding fine on its own.
‘an error of judgement for a politically neutral BBC to air such a one sided film’
Given that seems to describe most of their output from ‘news’ to ‘comedy’, they may be forgiven for being unable to recognise such a thing even if it arrived in a red canister with a hammer & sickle.
I agree with DP111 on all points, BUT how to kill the beast is another thing, it has keen survival instincts withb trade routes into European Socialism (ever since John Birt ‘redefined’ it’s role as pro Labour donkey). It should have died long ago but is useful for (hopeful) successive governments for cheap propaganda of popular policies. Popular ‘electioneering’ of the type Cameron is embarking on will be a foolish ‘appeasement’ towards the the BBC with the promise (we shall see) of an extended charter on the run up to the general election. Meanwhile it is not unpredictable that the BBC it will be on steroids to get Millipeed elected. Cameron is an idiot to think otherwise, (if he cannot control the beast now, it won’t get any easier once the BBC can smell victory). The BBC is too powerful voice when it has taxpayers money, it is the lobby group we could do without.
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