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November 30th strikes were the most important event for Labour in 2011

January 5, 2012 5:53 pm

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2011

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What was the biggest political event of the year for the Labour Party? According to LabourList readers the November 30th strikes were the most significant event for the party in 2011, edging past phone hacking, the budget and the Euro crisis. You can see how LabourList ranked some of the other significant political events of the year below.

Stay tuned to LabourList tomorrow to find out who your Labour MP of the year in 2011 was

743 people voted in our end of year survey between December 23rd and January 2nd – thanks to everyone who took part.

derek

And Unite has rejected the governments final pension offer.
Glynnparry

why is this survey of labour members being published in small parts .will you be telling us how the party thought ed had done ??????as it was on the survey
Sionhopes

Oh ed, how you got that one wrong, eh?
jaime taurosangastre candelas

It’s odd, the conclusion of this article. I don’t know if Labour List represents Labour as a national political party, or merely some Labour voters and a few others. Whatever, the national political party appeared to completely run away from making any stand on the 30th November strikes, but the readers of LL were mostly very concerned about them. Phone hacking, a bubble story of little enduring importance (and that mostly occurred under a Labour Government) was a matter of concern – or publicity – to both the national party and to LL readers, but yet the Euro crisis, an existentialist event for our nation that continues to play out received little concern from either the national party or LL readers.

The Labour Party and LL reader opinions strike me as two beheaded chickens running around in the farmyard dust and occasionally colliding and arguing, but neither of any enduring importance. Maybe one day there’ll be a politician in the Labour Party of national stature whose first task will be to shake the Party’s supporters by the throat and shout “Stop being so self-indulgent, wake up and focus on what is important!”
- derek
  
  O’ dear down on the farm the chicken run is very deceptive, rightly so because lurking behind the chicken fence is no other than that nasty muglle blood fox, “Mr Jaime Fox” and his rather large fangs!……to be continued?
  - jaime taurosangastre candelas
    
    Derek, as ever, you speak in riddles that may or may not be monstrously clever (I’m not clever enough to know which). I’m not sure I’d cast myself as a fox though, an actor part of the drama. Perhaps a butterfly watching it all from a fence-post.
    
    That said, I am just about to go an get from the oven a joint of locally-reared beef, given as a thank you to my wife by a local farmer after she sorted out his daughter’s pony after our Christmas drinks party (she left to go and sort out the wretched beast while I was doing the washing up). It is being cooked to my taste, so will still be mostly dripping with blood.
    
    Happy New Year.
    - derek
      
      Just a harmless piece of fun Jaime, I’ll flag it? but the chickens may have teeth!, if you knew a bit about engineering you’d also know that to get to the problem “brain storming” the issue, with loads of perspectives is a normal course, I’d say a bit like the party and LL posters, foe ever locking horns but in the end there will be some kind of consensus.
      A butterfly with red meated taste….LoL!!! don’t you mean you just put the dishes in the dish washer?
      - derek
        
        Jeez! Rooster say’s LoL!!!
      - jaime taurosangastre candelas
        
        Derek,
        
        I’m not sure why your earlier post is flagged. I thought it amusing and not at all offensive. Anyway, the joint was very good, there’s enough for lunchtime sandwiches over the weekend when I’m working, and enough left over vegetables for both soup and bubble and squeak. Happy days.
        
        It was a bit of a funny evening though, our Christmas drinks party. It’s one of a few annual occasions when my wife really glams up and puts on a skirt, all of the scent and so on. She looked beautiful, until she was asked to go and sort out the ruddy little pony about ten o’clock. She came back around midnight with muck all over her coveralls and stinking of horse, having left me to do the washing up for 30 guests. Not very romantic, so the joint (in addition to her fee) was well received.
      - Anonymous
        
        And of course every engineer knows the secret of getting to the bottom of anything is the dam Manual.
        
        Problem for Labour of course if it brain storms anything it might come to the conclusion that it’s actually a Tory party and give up.
- Daniel Speight
  
  Phone hacking, a bubble story of little enduring importance…
  
  And yet this bubble story as you call it is the one that poses the most danger to Cameron. Will Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson start to sing like canaries when they feel the possibility of a spell in prison coming closer? If they do will they repeat conversations they had with Cameron and Osborne? Then of course what was promised to Murdoch may also become public. The fact that Blair and Brown did similar doesn’t really matter as they are long gone, but Cameron and Osborne are there now.
  - Anonymous
    
    Since phone hacking happened long before Cameron became PM.. and before Coulson worked for him – the only damage is through association in conversations.
    
    You think:”The fact that Blair and Brown did similar doesn’t really matter as they are long gone“.
    
    Others may think differently.
    May I suggest a sense of proportion. Tony Blair survived far worst crises when he was clearly guilty: see cash for honours.
    - http://twitter.com/Newsbot9 Newsbot9
      
      So if you hire a criminal, knowing what he did, you’re immune from the consequences? Well of course, the One True Party can do no wrong!
  - Anonymous
    
    If the Murdoch’s go to Jail will Blair have to help to look after his god children, listen what ever the Tories have done I suspect we will find Labour has been just as bad.
- Anonymous
  
  Re your last paragraph, this goes beyond the “strikes.”
  
  It is about the future of public and community services in this country,
  and who will be there to advocate on behalf of the public/defend services.
  
  Also- support of workers and professionals; morale of the workforce.
  
  All of the above issues are of great importance,
  but this is also about what Labour stands for.
  
  You have stated before non member/supporter of the party and complete antipathy towards “unions” in general; so the flavour of your comments do not surprise me.
  
  What would be remiss is sitting on the sidelines watching passively whilst public services are dismantled, largely because of ideological intent to “roll back the state.”
  
  J
- http://twitter.com/Newsbot9 Newsbot9
  
  Ah right, you want use killing death and violence as your benchmarks and suggestions once more.
  
  Funny that!
Anonymous

Excellent Mark; it would also be interesting to know the factors behind the thinking.

Good to know still very high polling and level of readership on LL.

Jo
- derek
  
  Aint it telling in the polls when the alternative message is strong.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Barker/1546990341 Paul Barker

This tells us a lot, THE most important event of the year for Labour Activists was something most Voters didnt even notice, a complete non-event.
Anonymous

I didn’t complete this particular survey so I don’t know how the question was phrased.

But I am appalled that the NHS Bill isn’t even mentioned in the list of top events for Labour.

Have Labour completely given up on the NHS?

I just checked Andy Burnham’s web page. A completely limp New Year’s message directing people to E-Petitions.

How many signatures, you reckon? 22K. Utterly, utterly pathetic.
Anonymous

The survey is being published across the week. The first post was on how Ed did – it’s here http://labourlist.org/2012/01/average-at-best-from-miliband-in-2011/
Celia Ruth Kelly

For heaven’s sake where’s the Health and Social care bill – where’s Labour’s opposition to it – what on earth is going to happen to our NHS if this bill goes through?

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