Media Mourns Loss Of Pin-Up Purnell

The media is in mourning after the 'shock' departure of Blairite pin-up boy Purnell, quitting at the election and seemingly leaving a Party in shock. The Orange Party's glad to see the back of him.

With his boyish looks and Blair credentials, Purnell's shock resignation has sent shockwaves through stunned media classes hoping for a reincarnation of born-again-Blair.

Another expenses rat jumping the sinking ship? Even that isn't shocking.

Many in a deeply tribal Labour party have quite a different take, giving the fly in the ointment a flea in the ear.

The 'shock' departure of the very ex-cabinet minister is a welcome relief as much as if perma-tanned 'Liberal' Hain finally decided to quit.

Labour's tribal politics are at their best during cat fights and tearing itself apart. The Party is fighting a general election and hoping to win back at least a few deposits.

Borrowing Brown's spin over recovery is in overdrive moving into top gear with a little help from pals at the BBC.

The last thing they want is for a snivelling little oik to steal Brown's thunder and highlight the all too obvious divisions in the party. As Labour MP Bob Piper blogs: "Bloody good riddance".

The mere mention of the name Purnell leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of many who have not forgotten nor forgiven him for his resignation stunt last year coming hard on the heels of the local and Euro wipeout.

The chattering classes may miss Purnell, but for many Labour activists this was an unforgivable attempt to destabilise their precious cosy government.

Purnell was cast adrift in parliament. Trying to forge a joke 'dream' ticket with left-winger Cruddas fizzled out before it has started, leaving Purnell to wander about in his dreams. A hard place to be for any politician who craves attention.

The Party had its fun with the usual knockabout comedy of Brown coups, knocked on the head by Mandy. Now for a Party so close to an election, loyalty is everything.

Blair-boy's weak comeback to Tory co-ops fell flat on its face. Too much uber-Blairite claptrap.

But you cannot keep a young Blair dog down. He's at it again inflicting damage just as the election bandwagon moves up a gear for Bunkered Brown's Big Day.

For many in the grassroots Party, Purnell represents everything which is wrong with Labour - another Blair prop along with Johnson.

Purnell belongs to the breed of social democrats who hijacked a Party which died with Smith. No wonder media luvvies love him. Now the pin-up boy is set to be airbrushed out of history - along with his fake photograph.

And what of the future? He could always morph into a LibDem, as Piper suggests. Or Owen's social democrats. Or join up with Cameron's conservatives.

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Brown's Jobs Sham Raises False Hopes

Government ministers, who've never had a proper job, have gone into jobs overload, raising false hopes with the sham of jobs to dig themselves out of a hole, as the economy crumbles round their ears. 

With unemployment rife, the government knows the election will be fought on the battle ground of the economy. But time and again these much vaunted 'jobs' are nothing of the sort - just a sham to capture headlines, raising false hopes for people desperately struggling to make ends meet and anxious about the bleak future.

The economic recession depression should be a golden opportunity for the government to dust itself down, pick itself up and start all over again. But after a decade of spin and deceit, the only solution Brown can come up with is still more of the same.

The Orange Party is starting to lose track as the government goes into jobs announcements overload, none of which stand up to close scrutiny and none of them cut any ice with voters who are fed up with being Brown beaten by the spin.

A quick look trawl through Brown's BBC and Downing Street websites reveal the true extent of this deliberate electioneering campaign to hit on jobs, jobs, jobs as the government founders and flannels its way along.

Today we learn ministers are considering plans to guarantee reportedly up to £20 billion of loans to small businesses by insuring banks against firms defaulting on their loan payments. The devil is in the detail due to be announced tomorrow but what is clear is that kind of cash is a drop in the ocean and seems like more cash is just being thrown at the banks.

Yesterday it was the three amigos, Mandelson, Purnell and Brown promising to lift the country out of recession with the 'creation' of 500,000 new jobs with grants of £2,500 each to employers. But the figures didn't stack up and rapidly fell apart when Purnell revealed the scheme was going to cost a mere £500 million - or just £1,000 per head and only kick in after six months unemployment.

Brown promised to 'create' 100,000 new jobs, when that was actually only 'up to' 100,000 jobs and he meant protecting existing jobs. Then we had the announcement of 35,000 apprenticeships. But no one seemed to know if these were 'new' apprenticeships. 

He did cheer everyone up in Liverpool,  unveiling £35 million extra to help business start-ups. But then it transpires this wasn't new money after all. 

And so it goes on. There's clearly a well-planned election strategy at work here. Travelling round, looking busy doing something, creating great false expectations with commitments which cannot be delivered. It may look good on Brown's websites - but that's all. 

Time and again companies state the bleedin' obvious. Bogus job creation schemes are a waste of space if banks won't lend them money, preferring instead to squirrel away all that taxpayer's cash. 

But the government is good at creating non-jobs particularly in the public sector. None of these jobs have any connection with the real economy. What's the big deal about New Deal apart from fiddling the dole figures with useless job creation schemes and disillusioned workers? 

The recession should be a time for opportunity, to wipe the slate clean and start all over again. Cut out the waste in Whitehall and local government. Put an end to the squandered billions and hair-brained fancy white elephant schemes. 

Create a culture and climate away from debt which allows firms to flourish and create genuine jobs. Real jobs for real people is a fine mantra. It just needs a government that will put its mouth where our money is. 

Picture: Tractor Stats

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Bevan Will Be Turning In His Grave

The welfare state is being dismantled by a heartless government bent on using a big stick to beat the weak and vulnerable, with a raft of cock-eyed draconian plans.

Harsh, misguided measures of social control will replace the benefits culture with Orwellian anti-social insecurity, ripping Bevan's In Place of Fear to shreds.

After more than a decade of lulling people into a false sense of security, creating a soft benefit culture, that same government now turns round with plans to pull the rug from under the feet of those who have come to rely on state handouts as a way of life.

It took a decade to create this dependence on a benefits culture, it should take a decade to remove it.

The government created the benefits culture, wasting billions of pounds on half-baked job creation schemes to keep down the dole queues and spin the stats. Scrapping the New Deal sham and creating real jobs would be of more benefit, as Labour MP Frank Field has suggested today.

Welfare reforms are needed. But this shameful move to use the big stick of penalties and community service to force people into work, smacks of social control and rips the heart out of the welfare state.

Wielding a big stick needs an army of enforcers made up of petty pen-pushing officials or more likely contracted out to a private army of uncaring, disinterested contractors, forcing people to jump through hoops for a crust of bread and a roof over their head.

The welfare state was created as a safety net so no-one would be left out in the cold to suffer the hardship of illness, homelessness and starvation. It gave people in desperate times the insurance of food in their belly and a sense of security. It was never meant as an alternative to work but equally it was never meant as an agent of social control.

The government made welfare reform a centrepiece of the Queen's Speech under the joke title of 'fairness'. But sinister plans by Blairite work and pensions minister, James Purnell, include penalties for people who turn down job offers or interviews, including the loss of benefits so the kids go hungry, or mandatory community service forcing claimants to clean up other people's crap.

Plans to get the jobless back to work, or cut their benefits have already been slammed by a senior government adviser who warned the new measures may push people into poverty and should be delayed.

For those with their roots in the Labour movement, the cruel and heartless plans are nothing short of heresy with some backbench left-wingers threatening revolt.

That action is laudable. There just aren't the jobs out there anymore. With the country facing a grave economic crisis, the move will do nothing to help the millions caught up in the poverty trap of spiralling debt and despair.

Once again, it's innocent children who will suffer, struggling parents will be forced onto the streets, picking up a menial and degrading job while scratching around for childcare.

But just what did they expect? Time and again New Labour has been exposed as a smug, arrogant bunch with no heart and no soul. Any pretence ministers had to care for the traditions of a welfare state or the less fortunate were ripped to shreds a long time ago.

In 1952 Nye Bevan published In Place of Fear, a landmark in socialist literature. Today he'll be turning in his grave.

The Orange Party would be happy to man the barricades of socialism. But the true Labour Party had its chance over the summer to kick out the New Labour usurpers. They blew it, preferring instead the power, influence and privileges of government.

It's a bit rich now coming over all sanctimonious - just where have they been hiding for the last ten years?

The dependence on a benefits culture must end but reforms need to be brought in with a caring heart and compassion, not bulldozed through as a cheap trick to plug Brown's borrowing gap on the slippery slope of social control.

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Quick Reforms Rip Heart Out Of Welfare

Shameful moves to force the weak and vulnerable into work rips the heart out of the welfare state. Now these cruel and heartless plans have been rounded on by a senior government adviser who warns the new measures may push people into poverty. 

Any pretence ministers had to care for the traditions of a welfare state or the less fortunate in society have been ripped to shreds with government adviser, Sir Richard Tilt, warning plans to get the jobless back to work, or cut their benefits, should be delayed.

The government move should be seen for what it is. These plans have nothing to do with creating a fairer welfare benefit system and everything to do with an obsession with unemployment targets and spending cutbacks on the needy. A shameful way of bringing down the unemployment figures set to hit 3m by the end of next year. 

And they come at a time when the country is facing a grave economic crisis. The move will do nothing to help the millions caught up in the poverty trap of spiralling debt and despair. 

Calls to rethink or delay plans to force lone parents, disabled people and the long-term jobless to seek work should be welcomed as unemployment spirals out of control.

Sir Richard rightly points out that benefit rates are relatively low and if you reduce benefit for a few weeks by 40%, you are pushing people much closer to poverty. 

But work and pensions secretary, James Purnell's, callous Blairite reply claims the plans would offer support to the jobless, not penalise them and it was more vital than ever to help the jobless seek employment.

Once again, it's innocent children who will suffer as they are forced to turn into latchkey kids. The struggling parent is forced onto the streets, picking up a menial and degrading job while scratching around for childcare. 

Lone parents often stay at home often for good reason. Pushing the parent into work is not the way to go about it. 

No-one would deny welfare reforms are much needed but now is neither the time nor the way to bring in these draconian measures. Reforms need to be brought in with a caring heart and compassion, not bulldozed through to save on benefits payments and massage unemployment figures. 

Government claims that there are over half a million jobs out there for the taking are a lie. 

Most would require the huge upheaval of a long move to another part of the country. Most are very poorly paid menial jobs, tantamount to slave labour, in appalling conditions, which nobody wants.

From March 2009, parents of 14 and 15-year-olds will no longer be able to claim income support and from July 2009, the change will extend to parents of 12 and 13-year-olds. Then, by October 2010, lone parents with children aged seven and over will be required to look for work in order to get benefits.

These "welfare to work" reforms will end up as another shambles with people left frantic with worry over how they're going to make ends meet. 

The Orange Party despised the Thatcher years when everyone was in for themselves, leaving the poor, weak and vulnerable out in the cold and at the mercy of predators. 

Now New Labour and its Blairite policies have been exposed, once again, as a smug bunch of neo -Thatcherites with no heart and no soul. Bevan will be turning in his grave.

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