Ed Milliband's poll

[biffvernon]

http://www.edspledge.com/eds-pledge-tell-priorities

Your opportunity to send Gordon Brown to Copenhagen.

 

[MdB]

Can we make him stay there?

 

[Penners]

If I were going to cast him into Outer Darkness, I certainly wouldn't send him to Copenhagen.

Mogadishu perhaps....

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Or some deep disused salt mine.

Or Helmand without body armour or on foot patrol.

Or straight to hell (in a handbasket).

Etc, etc, ad infinitum.

 

[Flyfisher]

Absolutely classic! :lol:

Big headline "Tell Me Your Priorities" implying a listening government, involving the nation, democracy in action, blah, blah, followed by a restriction to just three 'priorities', the order of which really doesn't matter at all as they are quite probably going to do all of them anyway, thus 'pleasing' everyone who wastes their time responding.

You couldn't make it up.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Pifflingly awful, and for God's sake don't vote for "more home insulation" because we know where that leads when it isn't qualified by a huge number of ifs and buts, which don't seem to be offered in the black and white world of what passes for political discourse in the immensely more sophisticated than ever before early 21st century...

 

[Penners]

This is one of those "National Debates", isn't it?

As in "We're not actually going to do anything about this, but if we call for a National Debate there's a good chance that the Daily Mail will soon get bored with the topic and move on to something else."

 

[biffvernon]

Good News
Gordon Brown has announced that he is prepared to go to Copenhagen to clinch a deal.
He's the first major world leader to say he'll do so.
As you know, the deal is really hanging in the balance now so I hope that Gordon's announcment will start to create some momentum ahead of the UN General Assembly and the G20 meetings. Gordon and I will be talking to world leaders this week about the deal and I'll report back on where we get to.
At the moment, countries are to be too far apart but I hope that leaders signalling they are ready to come to Copenhagen will help improve the prospects of a deal.

 

[Flyfisher]

Good old Gordon. First he saves the world economy and now he's going to save the world itself. Quite a legacy.

Actually, perhaps there's method in his apparent madness. Wrecking pension schemes, for example, (http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/welfare/brown%27s-legacy-20070225557/) will mean millions of impoverished pensioners in the coming decades - just what will be needed to reduce our carbon emissions.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Good News
Gordon Brown has announced that he is prepared to go to Copenhagen to clinch a deal.
He's the first major world leader to say he'll do so.
As you know, the deal is really hanging in the balance now so I hope that Gordon's announcment will start to create some momentum ahead of the UN General Assembly and the G20 meetings. Gordon and I will be talking to world leaders this week about the deal and I'll report back on where we get to.
At the moment, countries are to be too far apart but I hope that leaders signalling they are ready to come to Copenhagen will help improve the prospects of a deal.

I'm a bit of an old lefty, myself (one reason I don't vote Labour). Am I alone in finding the chummy tone of that missive a bit toe-curling? I wouldn't mind it quite so much if Milliband was my parish councillor and was telling me this in the pub, but from a Minister it seems a bit over familiar. Oh for the days before spin, when a journalist asking "Is there anything you'd like to say, Prime Minister?" could quite reasonably expect to be met with the response, "No".

(Edit) Oh, and he can't spell "announcement", and the early part of the last sentence seems to be missing a verb or something.

 

[biffvernon]

Cynicism certainly seems to rule round here. You guys think the Copenhagen meeting does not warrant the involvement of heads of government?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Not necessarily so Biff - we just happen to think there's not a lot of point our own beloved Gordon going. It's also quite ironic how Millipede illustrates the widely perceived drop in educational standards with his blog post - although to be fair it will have been written by an underling with a string of A* grades.

 

[Flyfisher]

Cynicism aside, heads of government attending Copenhagen will be purely for PR purposes because they, personally, will be able to offer little advice, guidance or suggestions. The real work will be done by their delegations of advisors and diplomats.

Frankly, I'd be surprised if background diplomatic activity hasn't already determined what Copenhagen will achieve. The concept that civilisation-saving plans could be thrashed out and agreed in one week from a standing start doesn't seem very credible to me. The conference itself will just be a huge PR exercise where previously agreed things will be announced. Just like party political conferences and Miliband's 'poll'.

That's not to say PR is not important. After all, the outcome must have have public backing or it will all be largely futile anyway.

 

[biffvernon]

PR is everything at this stage.

The science is sorted and we know what to do but politicians lack the democratic mandate to do what they know is required. That's why Milliband needs our support and Brown needs to be seen to be there.

Biff,

Since Friday, thousands of people have used the Ed's Pledge site to tell me their priorities for tackling climate change. Last night I announced on the site that Gordon Brown was prepared to go to Copenhagen to clinch a deal.

He's the first major world leader to say he'll do so.

At the moment, the deal is really hanging in the balance but I hope that leaders signalling they are ready to come to Copenhagen will help improve prospects of a deal. But we still need voices like yours to help keep up the pressure.

Gordon and I will be talking to world leaders this week about the deal and I'll report back on where we get to.

If you'd like to be first to hear about this kind of announcement - or just want to keep up to date with the latest news - follow me on Twitter

Thanks

Ed

P.S. Forward this email on to your friends and encourage them to add their voices to the campaign at EdsPledge.com

 

[Flyfisher]

Nice of Ed to reply to you Biff.
Nick Clegg and Vince Cable haven't replied to my emails about their outrageously unfair proposal to tax properties worth over £1m.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Funny that FF - I wonder why not? Is it because it's not likely to be very popular?

Property tax is pretty regressive - and not necessarily linked to ability to pay; viz the little old lady/widow who has lived in her house for decades and watched it's value increase to over a £1m... she'll love paying £5k a year extra... particularly as her estate will be charged plenty of death duty in time anyway.

The fairest tax for the "super" rich is a sales tax on luxury goods... harder to avoid (unless not buying the luxury good), or good old fashioned stamp duty on expensive hosues - so doesn't penalise my little old lady above, unless she chooses to move and cash in on the value of her home.

 

[Penners]

The fairest tax for the "super" rich is a sales tax on luxury goods

But isn't the term 'luxury' a subjective one? Who decides what is, and is not, luxurious? For example, is a computer a luxury? What about a car, or a flat panel TV... etc.?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Penners - fair point. I place the threshold slightly above anything I am ever likely to buy!

This still provides plenty of scope to tax executive jets, superyachts and season-tickets to your average Premiership club, whilst enabling me to have a nice TV.

 

[Flyfisher]

Property tax is pretty regressive - and not necessarily linked to ability to pay;

It's not at all linked to ability to pay - that's what income tax is for. People pay tax on their income. People pay tax whenever they spend any of what's left. They pay even more tax if they buy a house. But that's (sort of) ok because they have an income. But how is it fair to pay tax just for owning a property? Especially when people retire and have a much lower income? Council tax is equally insidious because it's also completely unrelated to people's ability to pay, for much the same reasons.

I was with the LibDems on a 50% tax band and a local income tax instead of council tax but they've now gone off the rails as far as I'm concerned. At this rate, I'll have to vote for the green party. :wink:

(perhaps we should avoid politics . . . climate change is bad enough. )

 

[biffvernon]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/sep/21/copenhagen-summit-climate-change