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The Prime Minister should bestride the political scene today as he addresses the Labour Party conference but the ground is slipping beneath his feet.
His speech has coincided both with another dire poll and with news of the inquest jury's verdict in the case of Fiona Pilkington. This mother of a disabled child was hounded by yobs for a decade until driven to kill herself and her daughter in a burning car. The coroner's account of the failure of councillors, police and social workers to respond despite repeated calls for help has been so devastating that the conference agenda has had to change. Instead of concentrating on the economy, where Gordon Brown has a chance to build on the Chancellor's crowd-pleasing promises of action on bankers' bonuses, he must focus instead on crime and anti-social behaviour. The contrast with Tony Blair's mastery of these issues is unflattering.
Even before 1997, Mr Brown's predecessor showed eloquently that the hardest-hit victims of crime were not middle-class people grumbling about law and order but the worst off, terrorised in densely packed council estates by neighbours from hell. Mr Blair's Anti Social Behaviour Orders, for all their faults, were a genuinely useful innovation that put young thugs on notice to shape up or face prison. It is hard to point to a comparable new idea on Mr Brown's watch.
Of course, the failure in the Pilkington case was that none of the authorities involved used the many powers available to them to intervene until it was too late. The Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, will today warn the police to raise their game. And the Independent Police Complaints Commission is set to launch an inquiry into the case. For his part Mr Brown is expected to promise what he calls “the mainstream middle” Blair-style measures against crime, including drink-related Asbos and a crackdown on 50,000 “chaotic families”. These could lose their tenancies if they refuse to take part. But the family accused by neighbours of spearheading the persecution of Ms Pilkington is still in its council house despite efforts to evict it. The spectre of the Simmonses, owning the streets in a way the mainstream middle do not, will loom over both Mr Johnson and Mr Brown today.
Afghan compromise
President Hamid Karzai is likely to be maintained in power by America and its allies for the next five years, following the White House's apparent decision to accept even a negative verdict of the current investigation into vote-rigging. It is not the democratic progress for which many in the West had hoped when the Taliban was removed from government in 2001. The Karzai government's dubious legitimacy, weakness and corruption may draw some Afghans towards the Taliban insurgency, while fuelling doubts in this country about the value of the operation. That said, a second election round would mean a power vacuum at a dangerous time, when the insurgency is gathering strength. The US National Security Council will today consider Nato commander General McChrystal's request for up to 40,000 more troops.
A genuinely fair election is hard to achieve in a country with low literacy, poor communications and no history of strong central government, where local and tribal loyalties are more important than what Kabul says. There must, however, be terms and conditions for allied support of Mr Karzai. He cannot continue filling key jobs with cronies. And at the very least there must be gestures of reconciliation towards his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah. This outcome is not what anyone wanted. But it is perhaps the least worst option.
Imperial expansion
The Mayor will today open a brand-new station. It is a pity we cannot report that more often, but it is welcome nonetheless that after years of promises, Imperial Wharf will now improve connections between Hammersmith, Fulham and Chelsea and Clapham and Willesden Junctions. And, as this newspaper's Safer Stations campaign has demanded, there will be decent security and a staffed ticket office.
Reader views (1)
Pa McRuin was making his farewell speech. He rallied the Faithful, but the applause at times was rather muted compared with what the Sainted Tony of B'Liar used to receive.
There are definately more political banana skins for McDoom to slip and slide, it all sounded so phoney this afternoon. I got so bored I nearly went off down my local, 'Barf n Bucket' to have ye yard-and-a-half of Mine Hosts Ale & Bacardi Pie.
'SS Titanic Nues Arbeits Partie' is still on the rocks, the crew is becominga ware its sinking, and some are preparing to bail out. Maybe Pa Broone will do likewise early in the New Year. And the date of the General Election - Wednesday 5th of May 2010 maybe.
- Uncle Vanya, East Anglia Area UK, 29/09/2009 22:25
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