Kite non-runner
- 7 Feb 08, 04:51 PM
If ministerial careers depended on their popularity amongst Labour backbenchers, then Gordon Brown鈥檚 new housing minister Caroline Flint would be in deep, deep trouble.
There has been an outcry amongst Labour MPs in the last 48 hours about Ms Flint鈥檚 suggesting that people who live in council houses could be evicted if they don鈥檛 actively look for jobs.
This idea went down extremely badly with Ms Flint's colleagues, even though many of them accept 鈥 as Jackie Long reported on Newsnight 鈥 that this was merely a kite flying exercise.
鈥淭here are four kinds of policies in politics,鈥 a former Labour cabinet minister told me (barely able to hide his disbelief at what Ms Flint had said), 鈥渢he best policies are those which both make sense and are popular. Then you鈥檝e got policies that don鈥檛 make sense but which are popular, and then there are policies which make sense but are unpopular. The worst of all are policies like this - which are neither sensible nor popular.鈥
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JAW JAW
It is no accident that Caroline Flint has a Jutting Jaw. Flint by Name and Flint by nature. But what does it say about the corporate intelligence of government that they passed this stunt? If they are that stupid, any time now they will want to send kids to Auschwitz!
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The borough council of which I am a Member, doesn't have any 'council houses'; so 'Flint's Law' can't be enforced anyway. The unanswerered question is: where do they live once evicted? Do tell, Caroline.
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'The worst of all are policies like this - which are neither sensible nor popular.'
So, having tried, with the connivance of a mostly compliant media, to write off all from the last 10 years that 'weren't me, guv', it seems there is still some trouble for the latest bunch with 'turning over new leaves'... or should it be 'stirring rancid pots'?
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Am I the only one to be reminded of Donald Rumsfeld's "Unknown Unknowns" by the quote above?
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The 5th kind are policies from the opposition that look popular and sensible, that then become your policies.
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The 5th kind are policies from the opposition that look popular and sensible, that then become your policies.
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So a few backbench labour MPs representing mass-income benefit claiming constituencies and in hock to the unions denounce her perfectly sensible (and long-overdue) idea. Why concentrate on their views? What about the fact that this would surely be immensely popular amongst the public? I honestly do not understand this. The same people who denounce ideas like Ms Flint's will typically turn around 5 minutes later to explain how mass immigration from Poland is necessary because the natives are inately lazy.
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This just a part of nulabour Orwellian hate week sabre rattling.
They know that when push comes to shove, far too many people know that unemployment is part of government economic policy. If anyone was actually made to work for benefits or evicted from their house, there would be an uproar.
If you really believe in dole scrounging, why was there no dole scrounging in the 1960's - because there was full employment.
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So a few backbench labour MPs representing mass-income benefit claiming constituencies and in hock to the unions denounce her perfectly sensible (and long-overdue) idea. Why concentrate on their views? What about the fact that this would surely be immensely popular amongst the public? I honestly do not understand this. The same people who denounce ideas like Ms Flint's will typically turn around 5 minutes later to explain how mass immigration from Poland is necessary because the natives are inately lazy.
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