It’s not the despair Ed, it’s the hope

So, a week in which, to the great surprise of practically everyone, last week the two Eds came up with a set of policy announcements – or at least, position statements – to “get their retaliation in first” in advance of the government’s spending review. U-turning on a range of issues which they previously stood up for since January 2010 when they first formed their leadership tag team. This could just have been the week when history will remember that it all changed.

Could, not necessarily will, as we shall see.

But good things: child benefit, for example, where Balls has finally accepted the self-evident reality that if he does grant it to rich people, he will have to find a couple of billion from somewhere else, something which will hurt much more. Or the pretty-much-confirmation, by Ed Balls to Andrew Neil, of adherence to Tory spending limits, something which, ahem, Labour Uncut suggested two years ago.

Erdogan's democracy bus ride

As a little footnote to my piece on the Turkish protests, a little nugget I have just discovered (h/t: Harry's Place). In what seems now like quite a prescient interview earlier this year, King Abdullah of Jordan is quoted as saying the following:

''Erdogan once said that democracy for him is a bus ride,'' Abdullah told the Atlantic. ''Once I get to my stop, I'm getting off."

In the context of the reaction to the protests, and the frustrating comments of many that he is a "moderate", I find these words particularly chilling.

Unite: there be something stirring in the woodshed

Just a little snippet which may be rather significant: the Guardian's Patrick Wintour reports that:

Steve Hart, Unite political director, is on a new project, and replaced by Jenny Fornby. He tweeted he was told he was too close to Labour.
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) June 10, 2013

This follows the reports a couple of weeks ago that the non-affiliated PCS, a union led by Mark Serwotka, no supporter of the Labour Party, had given the green light to merger talks.

Given that Serwotka, who would very likely one day end up head of the merged union, is generally thought to be to the left even of Unite's current leader Len McCluskey, whom Miliband has recently shown willingness to stand up to over budget cuts, this surely means a rift is looking increasingly likely, as we warned here. Disaffiliation may not necessarily happen this side of an election, but open warfare of a 1980s variety certainly looks a strong possibility.

All in all, none of this is terribly good news for Labour.

Young Turks: don’t stop now

The original, modest protest over the redevelopment of Istanbul’s Gezi Park has – largely due to a foolishly heavy-handed police response – mushroomed into a much wider manifestation of discontent. This discontent is not just economic and it certainly seems to have very little to do with the revolutions of the Arab Spring. It is something else again: a democracy which sees itself slipping backwards, its gains in freedom and human rights being reversed. And that is something which should concern all of us.

It is not just the brutal way the regime has suppressed the demonstrators with liberal use of tear gas and water cannons, although that is something in itself; the Turkish doctors’ association said that at least six protesters had lost eyes through the police throwing of tear gas canisters.

No, it is as if the country’s youth has suddenly woken up to what is currently going on, and they don’t like it. It is early days still, but it seems symbolic of a latent battle for the soul of modern Turkey which has been going on for some years.

Who said “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”?

No, it wasn’t Tony Blair, although it might as well have been and, given his enthusiasm for guitar axemen, he may just have later subconsciously paraphrased it:

If [Gaddafi] had been left in power while the west was willing to see President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt deposed, "the damage to the west's reputation, credibility and stature would have been not just massive but potentially irreparable. That's what I mean by saying inaction is also a decision.

By the way, the bit about credibility is particularly poignant, now the West's lies in tatters over Obama's "red lines" in Syria for precisely the same reason.

So, to wonderful, whiny-voiced Geddy Lee of Rush (in the UK this week, as it happens): you may not realise it but, in 1977, in some small way you were New Labour before there even was New Labour.

The full song, "Freewill", in a rather decent live version, is here.


FOOTNOTE: to be strictly accurate, the lyric was written by drummer Neil Peart. @christophe_read tells me it is a paraphrasing of Sartre, which sounds convincing. But for me it will always be sung in that whiny voice.