Sam's Weekly Political Digest - 17th-24th October 2020

I was really inspired to start doing this sort of ‘Weekly Digest’ – other than by just how much spare time I have because of unemployment – by the elections that took place last week in New Zealand, and Bolivia. I thought bringing a level of personal interest to complex matters in a digestible format would be a nice way to keep myself occupied and potentially entertain/inform anyone who wants to understand global politics a bit more. I thought that I would include UK matters, of course I would, but I’d maybe prioritise stuff that has happened elsewhere.

And then, as always, Boris directed another great week on Normal Island.

UK

If you haven’t heard because you choose not to subject yourself to the Hieronymous Bosch scene that is ‘The News’ (in which case, being here is a questionable choice), an amendment to a bill was selected that would have extended the Free School Meals scheme over the Christmas and Easter holidays, as well as the October and February half-terms. The opposition, as it was their motion, supported this, whilst the Government opposed it on the ground that they are ‘already doing enough’ to ensure no child goes hungry over the half term. Some things the government cited included raising the base rate of tax to start at £12,500 (which was done in 2018, so doesn’t affect relative poverty figures now) and their £20-a-week increase to Universal Credit (which is obviously exclusively for food and if you even think about spending it on bills or transport or toiletries Iain Duncan Smith will come to your house and repossess your grandma). 321 Conservative MPs then decided to vote against this amendment, ensuring that Free School Meal schemes were not extended over the school holidays this year.

The 5 Conservative MPs to vote for the bill were Caroline Ansell, Robert Halfon, Jason McCartney, Anne Marie Morris, and Holly Mumby-Croft. They’re Tories so they’re still almost definitely bellends, but I thought this was worth pointing out. They were joined by 193 Labour MPs, 9 Lib Dems, and 46 SNP reps.

I’m truly not sure the Government anticipated this level of backlash or media coverage of this issue. It’s obviously a very emotive point which can essentially be boiled down to ‘should we feed poor children or not?’, and this decision is not only not a good look for the Tories but is definitively immoral. Any and all credibility around this issue – the classically smooth party lines that I noted above – were then all but obliterated when Ben Bradley, Conservative MP for Mansfield, decided to directly attack Marcus Rashford about it, saying that the government also needs to focus on ‘balancing the books’, that ‘freebies are a sticking plaster not a solution’ to the relative poverty that has increased under a Conservative government, and chose to focus on parents who ‘prioritise other things ahead of their kids’. These are all ideological points and, whilst reprehensible, at least have a basis in political theory.

Bradley then decided to tweet out that Free School Meal vouchers in the summer ‘effectively gave £20 directly to a crack den and a brothel’ in Mansfield because two children at a school in his constituency live in the aforementioned establishments. However thin the argument was on the theoretical, ideological base beforehand, Bradley exposed himself as a truly nasty, classist wrongun who would rather prove a point to parents than actually ensure children have food to eat.

Look, there’s not much I can say about this anymore that hasn’t already been said. If children have parents who don’t look after them, that’s just as much incentive to ensure they get fed than children whose parents are acting in good faith but struggling to make ends meet. No child deserves to be hungry. There are many fantastic initiatives happening all around the country to provide lunches to kids during the school holidays this week and next week. Have a google, and get involved.

USA

Jesus fucking Christ.

From the creators of ‘Normal Island’, we bring to you ‘Normal Entire Subcontinent’.

If I keep doing these digests, I imagine this will take top priority next week. Tuesday 3rd November is US Election day. I’ll be honest, there were moments where I thought we’d never get here, but Lady Time stops for no one, as much as we may try.

President Donald Trump and former-Vice President Joe Biden met in the second and final Presidential debate. Trump appeared to be making a concerted effort to be as reserved as is possible for him, trying to present points clearly and rationally. No doubt he saw the negative press that surrounded the first clusterfuck debate and, ever a man with his finger on the pulse, went for a calmer tactic. Until he said it was ‘good’ that Mexican children were being separated from their families and put in cages on the border, of course. And also when Joe Biden jokingly called him ‘Abraham Lincoln’ because of his claim no-one had ever done more for black Americans, to which Trump responded ‘I’m not Abraham Lincoln’.

It’s probably no surprise that Biden’s prep and his overall machine is quite well oiled, give his near-50 years in the politics game. He had some slick, well-rehearsed lines such as ‘the President says we’re learning to live with [coronavirus], no, we’re learning to die with it.’ And ‘I don’t look at them as red states or blue states, we’re the United States’.

I’m not willing to spend any more time on this fucking election, that’s what next week and the one after is for. Biden’s leading polls more or less everywhere that matters. The leads appear to be large in the unimaginably important swing states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida. The traditionally-Republican states of North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Texas have all been declared ‘toss-ups’ by major polling companies, meaning that they are far too close to reasonably predict at this stage. It’s also worth keeping an eye on the House and Senate elections too; it’s assumed that the House of Representatives is going to keep its Democrat majority, but if the Democrats manage to win 4 of the Republican seats, that will change the course of America’s trajectory no matter the Presidential outcome.

For all Trump’s blustering about how we ‘may not know the results for months’, if Texas goes blue on election night, Joe Biden will be President-elect before your mam even picks up her sparklers.

New Zealand

In much, much brighter news, New Zealand held a general election on Saturday 17th and, for the first time under their electoral system, a party received a majority of seats in Parliament.

For context: New Zealand has one House of legislature (as opposed to us having the Commons and the Lords, or the US having the House of Representatives and the Senate). Their electoral system is what’s known as a ‘Mixed Member Proportional’ (MMP) system. Out of the 120 seats, 60 are decided in constituencies much like here in the UK, whilst the other 60 are decided based on voting directly for a party, and allocated in accordance with what percentage of the vote that party got. For example, if the New Zealand Labour Party got 50% of the party vote, they would receive 50% of those seats (which is 30). Labour would then have already made a last of 60 candidates, and the first 30 from that list would become MP’s. You following? What this system allows for is a greater ability to express your satisfaction with parties and their policies. You may live in a constituency that usually returns a National MP (New Zealand’s centre-right/right-wing party), and so vote Labour in your constituency because that’s the best chance you have of defeating the Nationals. But in the party vote, you could then vote for the Green Party, because you like their policies and want to see more representation from them in Parliament. This system usually results in a hung parliament, because getting a majority when the party vote is spread pretty evenly is quite difficult, and results in a coalition government.

The MMP system was first introduced for the 1996 general election, and so consistently in line with 2020’s unprecedented nature, Labour managed to accrue the first ever majority under MMP. Jacinda Ardern’s party returned 64 seats (43 constituencies, 21 party list) with a staggering 49.15% of the overall vote. The National Party, on the other hand, returned their worst result since 2002, forming the official opposition with only 35 of the 120 available seats (26 constituencies, 9 party list). This performance is particularly bad when you consider that they received as many MPs from the party list as the minor ACT and Green parties (who each won 1 constituency and 9 party list MPs).

ACT – a classical liberal/libertarian party – seemed to gain support from previous voters of the nationalist, populist NZ First party. NZ First held 9 seats and were in coalition government with Labour since 2017, but lost every single one of their MPs this time around, including their leader Winston Peters. Winston was a true old custodian of New Zealand politics, having been first elected as MP in 1979, twice serving as Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, and perhaps the most pertinent example in global north politics of the phrase ‘shit floats’.

It was maybe the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand that were the second biggest winners on the night, however, as Chloe Swarbrick managed to win the Auckland Central constituency for what is the Green’s second-ever constituency win (and first since 1999). If you haven’t gathered by now, I’m a rather left-wing fella, so Swarbrick’s win represents a changing electorate base and the way that young, passionate progressives are truly tapping into the needs and worries of those based in cities. The Greens are a much more active, impassioned version of what we have here in the UK, committed to socialist politics and indigenous rights in a way no other party in New Zealand really does. Whilst not leader, Swarbrick as a young, queer, innovative politician is the true figurehead of what the future of New Zealand politics can be.

It’s still unknown whether Jacinda Ardern will choose to govern solely through the Labour majority (no one else would even have a sniff if I’d just won the first majority in history) or whether she’ll collaborate with the Green Party on issues more suited to their expertise, such as climate change. A brief flick through Labour’s manifesto shows a bright, progressive party who are definitely going to benefit both the country and the world, but with some caveats.

Firstly, they’re proposing to move the top rate of income tax to 39% for every dollar over $180,000 (equivalent to around £90,000). This is insane in my eyes, seeing as the top rate of income tax here in the UK is 45% for everything over £150,000, and is 40% for everything under down to £37,500. 39% still seems too little for those extortionate earners in my eyes, as you’ll remember the 2019 UK Labour Party manifesto proposed raising to 45% for everything between £80k-£123k and 50% for every pound over £123,000. The level of funding required for the national budget would be a lot smaller in a country of 5 million people, though.

They’re also committed to increased te reo Maori integration and teaching in schools, which is nothing but a good thing, as well as restarting a refugee quota and reviewing immigration criteria to allow a broader range of workers into the country. The most striking commitment, however, is nuclear disarmament. For a ‘developed’, ‘western’ country within the global north to be fully committing to this is both admirable and fascinating. These positive policies, however, are somewhat offset by manifesto points such as ‘Labour will regulate property managers to protect landlords and tenants’. The phrase ‘Labour will protect landlords’ is hilariously oxymoronic.

What that manifesto shows is a Labour Party committed to progressive politics whilst still ensuring that they don’t lose the support of the middle of the country. It worked better than it has ever worked before, and I will be very interested to chart this government’s work until their next vote in 2023.

Quick Rest of the World Round-Up

Bolivia elected Luis Arce, from the Movement for Socialism Party, as its new President. This followed on from the political turmoil that came from the last election in 2019, which Movement for Socialism’s Evo Morales won before subsequently resigning due to calls from the army, police et. al. citing irregularities in the vote. These irregularities came from reports by both the Organisation of American States, and the EU, before analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research suggested the irregularity reports were fabricated – made by a programming error, if you’d believe – in order to oust Morales.

With this newest election showing no signs of irregularity and a 55% vote count for Arce, it seems like democracy has truly been restored for the Bolivian people.

On Sunday night, meanwhile, the people of Chile voted overwhelmingly to draft a new constitution, and for this to be done by a constitutional convention whose attendees are also elected. This is significant news for all left-leaning thinkers – the current constitution was created and ratified by General Pinochet, the CIA’s chosen dictator who ousted the democratically elected President, Salvador Allende, in the 70s. Allende was the first ever self-declared Marxist to be democratically elected, and I truly feel sadness every time I think of how he was murdered because of this.

A new constitution should be a positive thing for the world. The current one enshrines free market neoliberalism into Chile’s institutions, whereas a new one should be able to provide more scope for more left-leaning economics.

Personal

For all my London friends, I went to Draughts in Waterloo’s Arches this weekend. It’s a board game café/restaurant with a bloody eclectic range of tabletop and card games. It’s £6 per head (they don’t seem to advertise this on their website) and the food is pretty expensive, but you’re not getting shit stuff. It’s good for both dates and to take a large group of friends (only 6 for now, you pricks) but actually choosing a game is a nightmare. More or less never heard of any of them, but that can be part of the fun if you have the time.

All the best for the week, you lot. Didn’t even manage to mention Andy Burnham tearing the entire government a new one, fucking hell. Independent Northern England time?