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Wednesday 27 July 2011

ADMIN USE ONLY | 11:28 UK time, Wednesday, 27 July 2011

Tonight, we take another look at the situation in Libya. While Libyan rebels remain locked in battle with pro-Gaddafi forces, the UK steps up the pressure on Col Gaddafi by insisting all Libyan diplomats leave the UK.

Former Labour cabinet minister James Purnell tells Newsnight that one of the reasons the Labour Party lost the last election was that their supporters no longer backed the welfare state. He's live in the studio later to discuss how the welfare system could be transformed.

And could we be seeing the end of scientific testing on monkeys? We'll be discussing the issues.

Join Jeremy Paxman tonight at 10.30pm.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    Interesting for what IS chosen as much as for what is now being moved on from.

    Quickly.

    Next we'll be getting 'watertight oversight' back on stories, for a limited period only.

  • Comment number 2.

    I like Will Self. He reminds me of me, except he's bit of a lefty and is clearly better educated than me -I'm a bit thick but I'm by far better looking (and healthier looking)..other than those little differences, Will Self and myself are like twins, and we certainly call a spade a spade...unlike Tessa Jowell. She can bang-on all day about the positive long term legacy of a crumbling sandcastle while holding a straight face.

    There should be a new olympic event called the 'five minute talking rubbish whilst not breaking out in laughter'. Self delusion would be key in this skill...and Tessa would be a contender for sure, I reckon a possible silver medal winner..Blair would hog the gold spot no doubt. Talking of Blair and legacies..weapons of mass destruction, does anyone remember those glorious times...triple gold.

  • Comment number 3.

    WE ARE NOW THE MONKEYS AND RIGOROUS SCIENCE IS ABSENT

    Big Pharma is in with the political, media, law-n-order cabal. Drugs can always be tested on humans SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD. As for science: results are now constructed much in the way that the 'active molecule' is synthesized.

    You get the drug you pay for, buy some good results, and spend, further, to manipulate the public mind, creating a market. Profit rolls in, and the NHS is kept in work with side-effects.

  • Comment number 4.

    PURNELL PPE POLITICS PLATFORM POWER - PUSHED OFF

    Nuff sed

  • Comment number 5.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 6.

    ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ attempting to re-write or totally ignore historical facts, the subject I mentioned in #5 was in the papers around the time of Purnell's resignation !

  • Comment number 7.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 8.

  • Comment number 9.

    THINK 1984 BRO (#6)

    Dave's cry of "We are all in this together" is 'overt code' for 'resistance is useless'.
    Keep in mind that I have sent the law-breaking Liar Flyer to various members of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ (as well as media generally) but none will engage. That the law has been broken is not in doubt, and that it makes Conservatives and Coalition ILLEGITIMATE, is also not in doubt. You might think that a bit edgy! But No ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ take-up.

    Knowing that media, police and politics (and who else?) are in cahoots, 1984 style, explains avoidance of a major story. It is bound to impinge incongruously on other glaring misdemeanours also.

    Universal deceit is established; all we outsiders can hope for is that the truth we cling to is not 'FOOL'S TRUTH'.

  • Comment number 10.


    Flee to Mars if America commits worst error since 1931



    "However, the 14th Amendment still binds the nation. The US cannot miss a coupon payment on past debt without breaching the nation’s highest law, and without defiling the honour of the United States."

  • Comment number 11.


    Glenn Beck likens Obama administration to the Third Reich




    On Tuesday's edition of his programme, Beck did not address the controversy directly. But after describing both the Obama administration's approach to the present US debt crisis and the early days of the Nazi government in the late 1930s, he said: "I'm telling you – it's the same situation".

  • Comment number 12.


    'And could we be seeing the end of scientific testing on monkeys? We'll be discussing the issues.'


    I'm more interested in when social engineering on homo saps will end!

  • Comment number 13.

    if you cannot beat them on the battlefield.....send the office boys home....wow, how far has her Britannic majesties fallen from grace.....

  • Comment number 14.

    Just watched James Purnell's report on the other page. It seems to me all that Labour are doing is finding a way to line up behind what the current government are doing - most of which was already in the pipeline under the last government - without actually saying so. Trying to look as if they are offering something different when they're not.

    People don't want 'welfare' whatever that is, they want Social Security. Remember Social Security? That meant something to people, you worked and paid in and in return you knew you'd have a home, healthcare, education, a pension. In other words no-one would be left to fall between the cracks.

    There are literally millions of people who need homes today who can't afford to live anywhere, if the plan is we go back to the ideals of 1945 then can we expect to see millions of council houses being built to provide low paid workers with affordable homes?
    Of course not, governments have spent the last 30 years turning housing into a market for the banks.

    This is all about politicians creating a 'story' into which they can weave all the things they want to do over the years ahead while dressing it up as something all of us 'want'.
    Its really about the steady removal of the social safety net, its about creating an argument for using taxpayers money to 'help first-time buyers onto the housing ladder' in order to underwrite house prices for the banks in the knowledge that millions will be left behind who won't qualify for that help. Its not about providing a home for those who need one.
    In other words typical political smoke and mirrors.
    Somewhere down the line voters stopped being seen as people and instead became items on a balance sheet, to be got into as much debt as possible then squeezed like sponges till the day they die. No room for Social Security in a world like that.

  • Comment number 15.


    The Political Theater and the Debt Ceiling Crisis: Are We Being Had?



    One possibility is that the political theater is operating to bring about otherwise politically impossible cuts in the social safety net. If the drama continues to the absolute deadline without a deal, Obama, who perhaps favors cutting the safety net as much as do the Republicans, would have to accept the Republican package in order that the troops are not cut off from supplies, Social Security checks can continue to go out, and the dollar be saved. Having opposed the Republicans to the last minute, Obama can say that he had no other recourse. It would be a perfectly orchestrated scenario for getting rid of the New Deal and the Great Society that use up money that could be spent on wars and bailouts and tax cuts for the rich.

  • Comment number 16.

    "And could we be seeing the end of scientific testing on monkeys? We'll be discussing the issues."

    It's been "10% of cases don't have any scientific or medical justification", all day long. Might there be a widening of the discussion (or 'investigation', Heaven forbid) to the 90% or will it be the usual suspects bleating and condemning?

    I recall, at the time of the 'animal rights' terrorism, the public were revealed to have shifted further in FAVOUR of vivisection - even supporting testing on apes. Will this get a mention?

    Re: Mr. Purnell:
    I wonder if Mr. Purnell will find it as easy to walk all over Mr. Paxman, as Mr. Mandelson did.

  • Comment number 17.

    #15 continued

    Obama, however, might be so well aligned with financial interests that the opportunity he sees is to cut Social Security, Medicare and education loose from the federal budget. Then Wall Street can privatize them.

    Whatever emerges from the debt ceiling impasse, it will not be in the interest of the American people.

  • Comment number 18.

  • Comment number 19.



    Oh! How very, very ironic!


    At/on ......

    19. At 23:26 10th Jun 2011,


    I wrote - in part - the following:


    Here’s the - point blank honest - way for the Labour Party to win the next election. (Whomsoever leads the Party.)

    One simple statement of intent needs to be said by the numero uno - and effectively acted upon by all the party (hanging on) plebs which will need a lot of honesty, will undoubtedly involve considerable strife and will require total and resolute determination to meet the full expectations of it’s - all to willing to listen - audience .....

    ‘The problem is, at it’s most basic, we are full. And I pledge sic that the Labour Party will never again shy away from doing it’s utmost to reverse this situation!’

    The ‘man in the street’ labour supporter has turned it’s back on the suited socialist, cloud cuckoo land, ivory tower, PPE-wise policy makers and advisors. The working classes i.e. those that have a job and those that don’t, are deliberately being suffocated in this ‘modern day real world sic’ and just basically want the PLP to do what the the Cons - covertly - do so very well, namely....


    ‘Look after your own!

    (And then worry about others!)

    --------------

    Perhaps you can ask your guest if he has any thoughts about the above, and about the recent comments by Lord Glasman?



    If nothing else ......

    Viewing the programme tonight will give an indication as to whether the production team ever read the posts on this site .....

    Yup! .....

    I’m holding my breath ......


    No! .... Don’t panic ...... I’m only joshing .....

    ‘til 10.30 anyway!



    266

  • Comment number 20.

    Muggwhump wrote (a good post):

    "Somewhere down the line voters stopped being seen as people and instead became items on a balance sheet, to be got into as much debt as possible then squeezed like sponges till the day they die. No room for Social Security in a world like that."

    Our Birth certificate Numbers are bought and sold..we are stock..we are commodity and future capital gains for western Govts..we have been for years.

    They don't teach that in the schools though do they!

  • Comment number 21.


    An interesting piece…

    Anders Breivik's chilling anti-feminism



    To Anders Breivik, the 'feminisation' of the European male corresponds to the 'feminisation' of Europe itself.

    Now some of us on here know of somebody else who used to write about this.

  • Comment number 22.

  • Comment number 23.

    BREIVIK'S INSANITY (#21 link)

    I suggest an 'INSANITY INDEX' is obtained by multiplying INCOME (a mark of opportunity and influence) by NUMBER KILLED. By this metric, the low ranking zealot, emerges as orders of magnitude LESS MAD than the head of state who chooses to kill multitudes. Quite how doing ones own killing (rather than through proxy mercenaries, 'doing the job they love') modifies my thesis, is beyond all sane assessment.

    THIS IS THE AGE OF PERVERSITY.

  • Comment number 24.

    smart move on libya. WHEN will we found out the full membership of te "transitional concil" though, and when will elections be held?

    natually, Al Jaseera will have full access to the election process?

    AND WHEN WILL THE BOMBING END??????

  • Comment number 25.

    Excellent interview by Jeremy with the new incoming Libyan Ambassador - I wish them well for the future :o)
    James Purnell - snoreworthy. Sorry.

  • Comment number 26.

    at 21 Re feminisation of Europe. Thats Marxist doxy consequence. The engineered break-up of the family unit is nesessary to control the masses. Feminism was also funded by the usual suspects to increase the tax base. Women were always seen by the banking families as an unused asset. The encouragement to unshackle the woman from the kictchen sink, burn their bras and get into the work place was just a clever ploy from the funders of this policy to get them to work, earn money, open bank accounts and pay taxes..a win win for the banksters and the Govt. Today the state has more control over people - dependence of Govt is widespread compared to say 40-50yrs ago. Marxism/communism/socialism has given us a two parent earning household and kids growing up with schools loaded with women teachers, overpriced houses and tax credits for working and middle class families.

    And thats why the numbers of families are down -more singles -and less children and more single parents. The full feminisation of our youth is very noticable; young men are very weak, sickly and unmanly. Also big pharma with their vaccines medicines and food additives have played their part perfectly for this Governing elites long game policy.

  • Comment number 27.

    who is controlling the oil fields/installations, and will the western libyan govt be able to sell its oil? (presumably

    ...

    so the bombing continues.
    but now the TransAuth can sell the oil, and western govts can now sell weapons to the "libyan govt" - the assets of which they already have in their hands.


    the working class were able to be convinced tha "welfare isn't working" because labour supporters have no idea what life would be like WITHOUT the welfare state. And the murdochracy have constantly, *deliberately* undermined it.


    lovely sweet talk/mood music n the beginning - THEN talks about FORCING people to take low paid, kkkorpora jobs.

    note all his talk of "contributions" - they all referred to the POOREST paying in more!!!!

  • Comment number 28.

    James Purnell is giving us lessons on welfare. Oh dear!

  • Comment number 29.

    *PURNELL* is what "people are frightened of", him and his Tory counterparts!!!

    he's talking about forcing people to take crap jobs, so wages can be driven even further down.


    she (the Tory) sounds even worse, she wants to slash benefits so much people are forced to work at the same low rates!!!

    so are they really arguing?

  • Comment number 30.

    :p Purnell was an EPIC FAIL! Jeremy dissected him. Purnell wants to make even bigger cuts and also deprive old age pensioners of their free bus passes and tv licences, not to mention cut off child benefit too. Just as well he's given up politics, because he's not going to get elected anytime soon.

  • Comment number 31.

    Perhaps Purnell is the ideal man to openly propose what would resemble a welfare state exclusively for the feckless !

  • Comment number 32.

    QUASI-DOMICILED BLOOD-CARERS (Purnell wisdom)

    "Free child-care enabling more parents to work."

    No James. FREE CHILDCARE ENABLING THE WORD 'PARENT' TO BE EXPUNGED FROM THE LANGUAGE.

    Hello? The clue is in the name. Maybe we need to re-feminise women.

    Oh brave New World (Order).

  • Comment number 33.

    BRILLIANT ART-MOCKO

    Billy the Spud turned into a Terry Gilliam horror, complete with unnerving eyes, in false-colour splodge on the video wall.

    BRILLIANT ART-JUXTAPO

    A bizarre double image in wackochrome, of Susan Watts, synchronised with her comment on cutting experimental effort WHERE NO CLEAR BENEFIT EMERGED.

    Nuff sed!

  • Comment number 34.

    THE LAND THAT TOOK TONY BLAIR TO ITS BOSOM



    Nuff sed

  • Comment number 35.

    if purnell gets his way, wages will fall, meaning less income tax gets paid - and at the same time, kkkorporates will be paying less business tax. This process would destroy the Welfare State - as will the Tories 'benefits reform'.

    to put this another way, if the Tories and nuLabour formed a Coalition, then they would both agree "changes have to be made", the Tories would argue that cutting benefit rates "makes work more attractive" (instead of starving or freezing to death), whereas nuLabour would argue that everyone unemployed for a certain amount of time could be ordered to take a job - any job at all - and if they refused then their incomes would be stopped (think rapid turnover of staff at McDs/tescos and similar, and those staff's employment rights and wages.).

    as we have all seen, the Coalition would argue about the above a bit (benefit cuts v forced labour), and then probably implement them both, once the intended underlying message that they both agreed on (that Britain's poorest must become poorer) had been repeated enough times through the mass media. In fact, the Welfare State contributes a vast amount more to the UK economy than the *kkkorporates* do, and as the wiser economists have always pointed out, it is better to build demand-side by increasing incomes at the lower scales, rather than cutting taxes at the top. So Purnell, nuLabour and the Tories are pretty much reading off the same script.

    - which is also one thing Purnell missed mentioning about Lord Beveridge - the great Liberal reformer Lord Beveridge believed those with wealth should pay more than their share, and that social advancement was to come more from ability, rather than birth. Even back then, the Class system was seen as a scourge on the UK, and much was done to ameliorate it, even before the end of WW2.

    until one day, a grocer's daughter, and an Australian media tycoon, made a pact.


    vivisection: it was so nice that the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ gave equal weight to all sides in the vivisection debate in the studio, a model of balance. Here's the reality - that "9%" of cases constantly mentioned were the absolute frivolous of the frivolous, where NO possible justification for the torture of these animals could be found, AT ALL.

    which probably means that anything ranging from 30-70% of these experiments are somewhat questionable in any number of ways.

    now, despite wanting to, i wouldn't argue for the FULL ban on the use of animals in experiments (although i hope the Laws of Karma work upon those scientists) - but what i WOULD do, is REQUIRE that before any such experiments are carried out, the paper laying out the reasons, the methodology, the expected results, and the intended benefit, --- are placed out for Public, as well as Peer, preview. The scientist/group will have to argue their case for the right to torture living animals for experiments, and although the Public should not have voting powers, such oversight will guarantee the method will be avoided unless absolutely necessary. And in most current cases, it seems it isn't.


    and i am morbidly certain there are many humans who would have jumped at the chance to be 'experimental monkeys' in the 'robot arm' experiments. The ethics behind *that*, are much more murky.

    has the paper mentioned in the report been openly published for Public consumption?


    will self was excellent, mon night. One thing he forgot: with that £7Bn, instead of 10,000 UK jobs created, we could have bought another 30 merchant banksters instead!! Opportunity loss!!! Still, we could have another go, sell off all the remaining school sports fields, privatise the roads, flog the RAF to Qatar, end unemployment and pension benefits - i reckon we could squeeze another 40 or so bankers into the City!


    and they do bring in EVER so much money into the economy and exchequer!!

  • Comment number 36.

    '6. At 13:49 27th Jul 2011, brossen99 wrote:
    ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ attempting to re-write or totally ignore historical facts'


    If there was the remotest possibility of this, there would a vast enquiry costing tens of thousands, using a totally impartial adjudicator with no past/current links at all, and who, after due deliberation, will, we have learned, in fact say they have not been re-writing or ignoring enough.

    A further 'improved' service will be imposed as soon as possible.

    Piers is lucky he is not blonde, conservative, or edited the wrong paper.

  • Comment number 37.

    LIVING INSIDE THE MOST HEINOUS EXPERIMENT (#35)

    Where would an observing Martian see the greatest torture on this planet? HUMAN on HUMAN torture (especially human on self) is orders of magnitude beyond what we do to primates, battery chickens, and the like. (#34 link relates).

    I am not an advocate of torture - any kind/any life - but until we step outside the lie that we are CIVILISED, and recognise the hell we have built - both physical and psychological - that we are now HABITUATED to - The Age of Perversity will gain momentum.

    Does bombed and buried Johnnie Foreigner not feel tortured? No mention on Newsynighty.

    BRING THE YOUNG TO WISDOM - NOT MAMMON

  • Comment number 38.

    crisis what crisis

    The median pay of chief executives of FTSE 100 companies rose by 32% to £3.5m last year.

  • Comment number 39.

    Purnell??? Why let the side down NN having this guy on?

  • Comment number 40.

    To be fair to James Purnell, linking pensions to years of service is a sensible point. If people know they will get higher pensions in retirement for working longer, they are more likely to carry on working regardless of the kind of jobs available to them. As for women and people with long term health conditions (btw I find it slightly offensive that we are grouped in the same category :-(, the state can build a safety net to protect the most vulnerable, but still encourage the rest to work perhaps on a part time basis.

    I am not so convinced that giving everyone a job is a good idea. Essentially, you are forcing the unemployed to work for the state at the minimum wage. It sounds a bit like the workhouse in Victorian times. :D

  • Comment number 41.

    '39. At 14:24 28th Jul 2011, stevie wrote:
    Purnell??? Why let the side down NN having this guy on?


    Bring back Campbell and Prescott! Or maybe a Piers, once the watertight oversight committee has decided that there may be a case there too worth delving into more.

    We need all the proven competence and moral integrity we can handle.

    We need our 'news' packed with what 'could' or 'may' be and as much bluster as possible until there turns out to be no substance, at which point the circus moves on.

  • Comment number 42.

    a good day to bury bad news.......er, Purnell....imagine him in charge of Hackgate? Nobody would hear anything about anyone.....

  • Comment number 43.

    why not Skinner, Benn or Crow.......you never know we might learn something...try socialism guys, the one ideology nobody has ever tried, the Spanish republic got close in 1935/6 but the so called 'west' i.e. France, the UK etc., watched from the sidelines as a democracy was throttled....obviously the wrong type of er, democracy.....

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