David Miliband missed the point

A tiny chink of “real world” broke through my welfare-drenched reality on Thursday.

David Miliband was back – and positioning himself for evil right wing Blairite power! The lowlife had written a weighty tome kicking his unfortunate, nasal brother in the cojones, it was said.

Game on! Gloves off! Labour’s getting sparky!

I read David’s musings, when I finally found a few moments to stop irritating the DWP.

The first thing I realised was – I would need more than a few moments. Never one to say something in 5 words when 500 will do, David did not disappoint on verbosity.

I like David. I campaigned for him to win the leadership. I don’t for one second subscribe to the “Neo-Liberal-Thatcherite-Bastard-Just-Waiting-in-the-Wings-to-sell-UKPLC-to-highest-bidder” claptrap. I think he is inherently collectivist, deeply committed to mutual and co-operative ideals and passionate about education and Britain’s place in the world.

I have a small confession to make. I read D-Mili’s Keir Hardy speech, made just before the 2010 general election, 16 times. I know, I know, 16 times. You see, I was looking for signs of what Ed’s supporter’s assured me was there, plain as the nose on your face. I hate missing something, or being mis-informed. I read the speech over and over, but all I found was a thoughtful man, who if anything (and if the label is even a contemporary one any more) was slightly to the left of his brother. Not in soundbites you understand, in his heart.

Why would I be surprised to find that David doesn’t attack Ed at all? That in fact the New Statesman article could be a cut-and-paste of a few wishy-washy, blue/black/purple Labour brain-dumps from the last 18 months? Why (I must have been distracted by the true evil of Dunky-Smith) would I think that David had thrown a public gauntlet? He didn’t even manage to throw one at Gordy, though some may say he went as far as digging a gauntlet out of the bottom of the boot-box and looking at it for a bit.

And, why (this is the point of my article now, honest, I always get there in the end) didn’t he say anything? Why in 3,000 words – ticking off 20 minutes I will never get back – didn’t he talk about stuff people care about??

“Relationship between state and individual, blah, modernising the party, navel-gazing, localism, more blah, fiscal credibility, zzzzzzzz, competing demands of liberty justice and equality….”  nope, I’ve lost the will to live, sorry

I am a little in awe of David’s intellect, so feel slightly shaky about this next line, but not only has he missed the point, he’s missed it so badly, you can still see it jumping up and down in the distance shouting “Oi, I’m point! Here I am. Over here!!!”

If I read one more local-article for local- Labour people I might scream.

People/The Squeezed Middle/Alarm Clock Britain/ Mondeo Man/ Worcester Woman want to know if Labour can provide any – even the most microscopic – glimmer of hope that their lives didn’t just become un-ending grinds of austerity hell, pounding the treadmill of doom to “pay back the man” for decades.

They want to hear that all is not lost. That Labour can find a better way of getting us out of this black-hole-of-misery than the coalition. They are sick to death of hearing about what Labour did wrong and how awfully angst ridden they are about it.  They want to hear that we would never put disabled children and dying patients in the path of on-coming RBS trucks. That we would not privatise the NHS and sell it the highest bidder. That no matter how hard times get, we will strive to educate all of our children in centres of excellence. That we would look everywhere to save a few pounds before we trebled tuitions fees. That we will commit shamelessly to a living-wage and more affordable housing.

They want to hear that under Labour, fewer jobs will be lost, more jobs will be created, young people will have a future and the sick and disabled won’t be shipped off to Bute and left to freeze to death.

That’s all. It is not beyond our combined talents to shut up, stop waffling on about stuff no-one else gives even the tiniest hoot about, and show that we can oppose, suggest and re-design.

Reassurance Labour? Well Yuh-Huh! But the right kind of reassurance. Reassurance that all is not lost, that someone out there, somewhere, cares about their lives even a tiny bit.

And David? I came on your Movement for Change training. At the end, the trainer tried to “close” us. Get a firm commitment from us on how many people we would meet, how many meetings we would hold, how many actions we would carry out in the community. I didn’t even know how to answer the question.

“I will do whatever it takes, hold as many meetings, make as many phone calls, speak to as many people as I possibly can until I win” was my answer.

And I did. I started my blog. I opposed nasty welfare details because no-one else was prepared to. I built a community. Every day I spoke to more and more people, every day I changed things and every day, I made a difference. I spoke to decision makers and forced them into compromises, just as your training recommended. (Oh boy, did I!)

Why do I mention this? If you want localism, activism and change, you don’t get to proscribe in which form it comes. You have to stop pontificating and nurture that localism, nurture that change. Not sneer at it from the remote uplands of Westminster-Ville. See that’s the trouble with all this “localism” and “empowerment” and “citizen engagement” you have to just support it, not control it. You have to…erm… empower people and erm… engage with them.

As yet, I haven’t actually found any  politicians who actually like the reality of that very much at all.