100 days of the reign of steady eddy!

 As many remarked yesterday, Ed miliband has reigned on the labour throne for 100 days. My god, i can’t believe its been that long since the conference. He’s had high points, he’s had low points, however I’ve been more impressed with him in the last 2 days, providing what I consider effective opposition leadership, such as his speech in Oldham denouncing the VAT rise. 

If I am completely honest, a trait I pride myself on always being, I have had mixed feelings about Ed as leader, partly stemming from my strong support for David, who I’m still proud to call a friend and an inspiration, and partly the fact that thus far we are far from having a clear direction, as many have remarked. However, I have given him a chance, one as I think now should be the time for unity, and also as my emails and conversations with him have been quite warm and perhaps the fact he respects my writing may help too. Though he may not be a golden messiah for us, the last couple of days have seen him really step up to the plate and show leadership. I hope this will set the tone for the next 100 days to come- VIVAT EDWARDI REX!

Edwardi rex

A new dawn rose, a new king crowned,

Yet sceptical I was, loyal to my mentor i was,

 

I lacked the faith.

 

Was he strong enough, a new hercules, a new moses to lead us to the promised land,

 

I was unsure,

 

Vaguery descended,

 

No great revelation from high,

 

No golden sunshine from the sky.

 

Yet growing into the golden throne, the awesome robes is he,

 

Speak out with a loud voice in the silence did he.

 

Won me over with a message of hope did he.

Lab 10 – the adventures of Liza and moi!

Sorry i havent done a blog for a few days but seems an eternity but being at the conference has been busy work! I must start by stating what a brilliant experience it has been, there was an electrictiy in the air that I have never felt before and for 4 days now, I have been hooked! I appreciate that all of you will know about the big events of the conference so I won’t insult your intelligence by recounting it all. What I will do however is try to bring to life my and Liza’s personal encounters.

On the first day before we checked in, David Miliband and Louise bumped into us and chatted to us. He seemd really serene yet a bit subdued, yet as always seemed pleased to see us. I must say that that was the only time we really saw David as later events would sort of explain. Liza managed to squeeze herself to get a hug from David after the result to which he said to her “It will be fine Liza, I’ll be out to see you later”, and with that we never saw him again.

Later that night, as part of our VIP prize, we met Ed Miliband at the leadership reception and we confessed that we were David supporters but we would unite behind him, which Ed seemed really humbled and grateful for.

Other happier encounters involved Sally Bercow, the twitter queen who laughed at our shameless hobnobbing, and Lord Prescott who chatted to us many times and who brilinatly extolled the virtues of social networking at the tweetup! Andy Burnham in our various encounters lifted our spirits and stated that the leadership contest was great for getting people involved in politics.

I conclude this brief summary from my heart. Understandably as a supporter of David I was gutted with the result and even more gutted that we never got to see him again. However, I realise that we must united behind Ed now, as he is our leader and thus should be given a chance to prove himself. However speculation has been rife as to what David decides to do afterwards and he must come to a decision ON HIS OWN, however I hope he doesnt leave frontline politics as I think this would be a waste of talent.

On saturday night, to offer an olive branch, I wrote Ed a poem congratulating him, to wish he said he was greatful for and in awe of someone who could express themselves in such a way. I hope you enjoy aswell, and I hope he can unify the party. United we can stand against the Coalition!

VIVAT REX

The bells chime,

Enthroned, he is crowned.

He seeks change, a new start like the rising of the sun,

A new dawn, its light piercing through the dark clouds before us.

Ding dong, those golden bells ring,

Vivat Rex, long live our new king!

The guns fall silent…..

Today after long months of toil, volunteering, hustings, numerous rumours of rifts played out in the media, the Labour leadership campaign has effectively ended tonight when the deadline for voting approached. Now I feel we can come together finally. Not matter our differences of opinion, we all supported who we supported with vigour and we should all be proud of this. On saturday evening in my home city, a leader will be announced. Whoever wins, let them unite us all in common purpose. Let them be the light to guide us through the stormy seas that engulf us.  

Silence descends,

The debate is over,

A debate not a war,

We conduct ourselves in civilised manner.

 Words our most lethal weapon.

We are of one heart, one family.

We may quarrel as all families do, yet love remains,

Many leaves, many petals, but in this rose we are ONE!

Speech for the future!

The time is fast approaching my comrades,

I see the glint of armour in the distant sunlight,

I hear the thunder of hooves,

Our knight is marching to us, ready to reveal himself.

The knight approaches....

Yes, the conference is fast approaching when the new leader of the party is finally announced, after a long, and some would say too long, slog over the summer. The campaign has reached out to thousnads of people, allowing them to get involved. It has more importantly allowed the party to debate what we did right when in government, where we went wrong and more importantly, what are the ideas for us to move on.

For a bit of fun and for the purposes of flexing my writing muscles, I wrote a bit of a speech for whoever wins the leadership. It may never get vocalised however, I felt that at least you, my blog reading public get to see it! Enjoy!

Today my brothers, my sisters, we have a new leader and a new start. During this long summer we have reflected upon ourselves. What we have done right over the past 13 years, such as the minimum wage, investment in education, what mistakes we made and how we lost the trust of people who felt we were no longer fighting for them. More importantly, we have also debated how we feel as a party we can learn from this, how we can learn from our history and not be doomed to repeat it.

Today, we pull together for this new start for us all. I say we need a new guidebook- put the old one in the museum, we need to remember our past and learn from it, not just throw it away like garbage.Yet we need to move on.

The future is ours, I say lets grab it. Let’s grab this chalice together, let us drink from the cup of hope, this cup filled to the brim with our shared values, the shared avlues of fairness and equal opportunity that bind us together as a family. The future begins today ladies and gentlemen! Let us explore this new frontier together, let us chart a course through the stormy seas together Let us write the future for ourselves, TOGETHER!

The final battle

Today, me, Liza and Gurpreet did battle over the phones for the last time at the Manchester David Miliband phonebank. This has been a great journey for me where I have learned a lot about campaigning and as such, I feel the Leadership campaign has been great, despite the negative headlines as it has enthused a great number of people new to the party like myself and initiated us into what campaigning is like.

I’d like to thank foremost David himself, you have united so many people, such as my new friends, in common purpose and for that I am truly grateful. I’d also like to thank the other candidates on the behalf of my fellow tweeps as you have also allowed an outlet for people to get involved in your campiagns. In a weeks time, in Manchester, a new leader will be announced. Whoever it may be, I hope that you keep this outreach agenda in force and reach out to the millions of people who WANT to get involved in campiagning, who WANT to make a difference.

I conclude with a poem dedicated to my Mcr Phonebank brethren, Liza Harding and Gurpreet Atwal and all the other phonebank brethren across the country, regardless of who you phonebank for. PHONEBANKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!! 

The Final battle

The final battle,

The guns fall silent now,

Gone is the sound of the heavy bombardment,

Relentless, deafening, on-going.

 

We fought well,

Leading the charge,

Deploying words in the ear,

The charm offensive, fought hard,

Now ceases into silence.

 

The battlefield empty,

We await a new dawn breaking through the mist.

Anticipation grips us,

We did all in our power,

In Elohim’s lap the verdict is,

Cometh the man, cometh the hour!

 

"His phone army" - Me and the rest of the Manchester phonebank with David

Yom Kippur- day of atonement

Yom Kippur has come. For those of my comrades who arent jewish or may not know, Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is a really holy day in the Jewish calendar, where Jews purify themselves through fasting and atone for their sins, which is linked to the earlier festival of Rosh Hashanah.

Talking of times of atoning for past sins, on Question Time last night, when the issue of Iraq was raised, David Miliband adopted a very sombre tone while discussing Iraq and the middle east. He says if he’d known then what he knows now he’d not have voted for war. In a show of brotherly loyalty, Ed Miliband states that hes not criticising his brothers view about Iraq, saying he wasnt a key decision maker on the Iraq war. In another statement, Ed Mili stated that the party had taken working-class voters for granted and would not win again without “profound change”.

I think this leadership debate has been a good thing, as it has provided a debate on examining what went wrong when Labour were in government, why they lost the election and how to move on. Thus as a party, this is our Yom Kippur if you like, a time we reflect on what went wrong and attempt to move on from it.

G’mar chatimah tovah to all my comrades and leadership candidates aand may we atone and begin the fightback under whoever wins!

Yom Kippur

His decision finalized,

We atoned our sins,

Recognised our mistakes,

Made them visible, lit like the many candles,

We lost our way,

Trust was a currnecy we squandered,

Taking it for granted,

slipping like sand thorugh our fingers.

G’mar chatimah tovah,

A second chance given,

A new day will dawn, hope rising with the sun on a new day!

Time to purify ourselves,

Pride cometh before a fall, EM???

Today, according to the BBC, Ed Miliband has said that he is “increasingly confident” of victory in the race for the Labour leadership and that his aides say they are hopeful of a clean sweep win across each of the sections of the party’s electorate – MPs and MEPs, unions and party members.

However, what evidence does he have for this? Ed, do you have the psychic ability to know peoples votes before they are cast?

And how does he reconcile his clear belief in victory with a comres poll of 1500 people that state that David Miliband is the preferred choice of 26 per cent of Labour voters, compared to 11 per cent for his brother; 8 per cent for Diane Abbott; 7 per  cent for  Ed Balls and 5 per  cent for Andy Burnham? I’m not being insulting to Ed, but it seems hubris to belive he has it all sown up, much less say it publically. And despite this poll in his favour, David hasd not come out thinking he has it in the bag. This is why I like him, he doesnt take things for granted and is willing to wait and see till the real result is announced.

Again this is NOT MEANT as an attack on Ed himself, but an attack on the sheer arrogance that this displays! Be careful Ed, this hubris may have the opposite effect of what you want. No one likes arrogance and they always say, “Pride cometh before a fall!!”

PRIDE

He is sure of himself,

He thinks it so easy to win,

That victory will fall into his hand like a ripe fruit,

No effort required, no time required.

He rushes ahead with haste,

No patience, he readies his robe for the coronation.

Watch out, people are yet to make their choice,

Watch out, hurdles still on the track,

Beware, pride cometh before the fall!

Everyone, lets wait until the result is announced to see whos winning!

Now not the time for amnesia!

Today, Lord Prescott has written an intersting blog, his message stating that “Candidates MUST defend our record not trash it“

http://prezza.labourhome.org/2010/09/13/candidates-must-defend-our-record-not-trash-it/

In the blog, Przza said “

It’s true that all candidates acknowledged our mistakes and made calls for change, consistent with traditional values in a modern setting.

 

“But whoever is elected leader to hold the Lib Con Coalition government to account and lead our party back to Government, will need to highlight Labour’s achievements alongside their new progressive policy agenda and campaign hard to promote both.

 

“On this occasion, it seems the clearest defence of the Labour Government’s real achievements over 13 years came from David Miliband.

 

“David said: “We have to defend it with an absolute passion because if we trash our record no-one’s going to believe us in the future.”

John has a point here- Labour achived many good things while in office, such as the minimum wage, greater equality for Homosexuals, massive investment in education. While I agree we must change, I think we should build on the achievements of the past, use the record as a foundation in oder to build a house that is more secure, not disregard it!

We seek to change,

renew the leaves that have fallen,

We need the tree to grow anew,

Yet we need our roots intact,

A strong trunk built over 13 years,

The tree needs to bloom again,

the rotten leaves removed,

The roots, trunk and new leaves as one,

A tree not to be cut down, not by our own hand!

Shana Tovah- Rosh Hashanah 2010!

The shofar or horn that is used to herald Rosh Hashanah

To all of my jewish readers and friends, Shana Tovah! Yes, Rosh Hashanah or Jewish New Year to lay people is upon us. David Miliband, in yet another example of him reaching out to all peoples in our nation, posted a Rosh Hashanah greeting on his website, stating that “

Rosh Hashanah is an opportunity to look forward to the coming year, and also a period of reflection and soul searching.

The Jewish New Year is a good time for us all to focus on the peace talks in the Middle East.

There are those who want to knock the talks off course, often violently. We must hope that this year, peaceful talks will bring a peaceful settlement.”

http://www.davidmiliband.net/2010/09/07/rosh-hashanah-greetings/comment-page-1/#comment-3736

Whilst I see the wisdom of concentrating on the Middle east peace process at such a symbolic time, I also as a non-Jew also see that everyone can take the message of soul searching and renwal and attach it to the context of the leadership debate. This leadership debate that is happening around the time of Rosh Hashanah marks a time where we as a party can do some soul searching and reflection, discover what we stand for and stand against, and can renew our party . Shana Tovah, David, Ed Mili, my close friends and to everyone, Jewish and non jewish alike, may we all reflect and renew together.

Shana Tovah comrades

The shofar is blown,

Time to reflect, reflect on what we did wrong,

Reflect on why we were judged harshly,

Eviction from power our punishment for sin.

We pass before Him for judgement,

Like a flock before a shepherd, we pass,

A time for renewal where we can atone,

Renew what we stand for, begin again,

Renew the wilted bush so that a new Rose blooms.

Shana Tovah my brothers,

May we be inscribed in the book of life,

May the book be sealed so we can live again,

Shana Tovah v’hatima tovah!

The DM for DM!!!

Mirror Mirror on the wall, who the fairest of the all?

 On the day when ballots for the leadership election start to drop, The Mirror has spectacularly come out in support of David Miliband as their choice for labour Leader, with a massive front page appearance.

The paper states that they believe “he has the intellect, talent and experience to take on the Tories – and eventually become PM.”

They add that they ”firmly believe David Miliband is the man to steer Labour to this recovery. His experience at the highest level of government is invaluable. He has a capacity to find new solutions to old questions. He is the one candidate the Tories fear.”
This comes in addition to  11 senior shadow Cabinet members last night  throwing their weight behind David Miliband, including  Alan Johnson, who describes DM as “the special one”. I for one am delighted as after what seemed a phase of Dave-bashing and it seeming not to be fashionable to support him, David finally has the recognision he deserves for his vision, him reaching out with his movement for change and his willingness to see new ideas to problems! Well done David!

Todays the day!

Todays the day you get recognision,

You gain the support of the messenger,

Your talents finally exposed,

Your genius finally revealed to the masses.

 

Todays the day you turn the corner,

You finally get to discuss your ideas, your vision,

You rise above this Cain and Abel struggle- continually narrated,

You finally get to chart your course, our course!