Rupa Huq's Blog

Got an interesting comment to this site yesterday at the “about” page with a link for anyone wishing to further investigate the phenomenon of the OKasional cafe(s) of Manchester. Click here for more. The whole site capturing the city’s radical history (which some have banged on about for years) is worth a gander. It invites contributors to add their own testimonies. Existing contents include:

It is only the last one I can claim “I woz there” for. A decade or so ago, the incarnation opposite the side door of the BBC was the first venue to give little old me a Saturday night residency as DJ playing my thumping tunes of Lata sings Bengali crossed with with NTM, allowing me to craft my esoteric IndianFilmSoundtrack’n'FrenchHipHop mash ups in public to a full house of well meaning mashed up overgrown student revolutionary types who largely lived on the infamous Redbricks estate. Before that what was KroBar when I last looked performed the same function and after I remember reviewing another OK cafe around Hulme somewhere for the defunct Time Out equivalent City Life, fondly known as “shitty life”.

Among other bits and pieces you can click on the radical history the site on are tours – mostly hosted by Urbis. Radical history is surely befitting of walking and talking experience as is Manchester Music. Click here to see how Manchester Music is commemorated in happenings run by manchestermusictours.com the brainchild of ex-Insipral Carpets drummer Craig Gill.

When in New York last year I went on a walking tour hosted by an outfit called the Big Onion on hidden history of the big apple’s lower east side. The subtext was immigrant trajectories and we took in orthodox churches, a synagogue and a strip of curry eateries that consituted a “little India”. When I asked though whether the establishments were run by Bangladeshis (as in Brick Lane), Pakistanis (cf Rusholme) or Punjabis (Southall) sadly the tour guide had no idea. Let’s hope those showing people around rainy city (radical historians and pop culturalists alike) are better informed and erm… know their onions.

Was at the Fabian conference on Saturday – where else? The mood was upbeat and you’ll have heard by now that the morning turn billed as “Senior Cabinet Minister TBC” on the advance publicity turned out to be Gordon Brown.  For a minute I thought his section about how Labour supports aspiration for ”a bigger house, foreign holiday, new car” sounded like the opening passage from the film Trainspotting* but it was all good stuff. New Labour was always as much about middle England and economic efficiency as well as social justice and the natural Labour heartlands. Away from the  PM’s speech (which you can watch here), comments made at the “future of the left” session were most memorable.

There seemed to be a recognition that although the Tories are ahead in the polls Cameron has not sealed the deal yet and that in the glare of the media debates he could collapse compared to the heavyweight PM whose thing is policy detail. There is not the same 1997 tide of enthusisam for what was essentially a “one man band” Conservative campaign – NB Cameron’s vomit-inducing 15 foot mugshot on the approach to the Chiswick roundabout has fianally been removed as of this morning I am happy to report.

Mary Ridell of the Torygraph got the biggest cheer for remarking “Labour is nothing if not a party of the poor and dispossessed”. Professor John Curtice seemed to be worrying that if Brown’s middle class appeal was followed through to its logical conclusion, of the class that the Labour party was founded on would wither and die. Perhaps it’s fairer to say it is changing. I saw no cloth caps and whippets on Satrurday; not that I was expecting to. Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw was asked whether the middle class strategy was what was extracted from Brown by the non-core vote approach cabinet members in return for them not backing the “lost the plot” aborted coup the other day? He denied that there were two factions in government and gave an alternative answer: “perhaps it was because he was talking to the Fabian Society?”

* PS Cannot find Trainspotting intro in English but here it is in French. He’s saying: Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life.

Nuff said.

Tragically the airbrushed poster of David Cameron I ‘ve had to pass on my daily route for nearly 2 weeks is still there after all the inclement climes and flack that’s been chucked at it sending a shiver down my spine twice a day. It provided a top punch landed on Cam the Sham by Gordon Brown at yesterday’s PMQs which has had the traditionally fanatically pro-Tory Evening Standard declaring “From Triumph to Tears” in claiming that Cameron is flopping at Prime Minister’s Questions of late with GB regularly wiping the floor with him. It all provides reasons to be cheerful for the televised debates that many have predicted willl define the next election campaign. Bring it on I say.

The legacy of George Orwell (1903 – 1950) aka Eric Arthur Blair, great socialist and in his time Tribune literary editor amongst other things lives on in the contemporary multimedia world in the Orwell blogging prize. The deadline for this years gong is imminent. Here is what I know about it:

The Orwell Prize, Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing, is inviting entries for a Blog Prize for a second year.

To enter, you need to submit 10 URLs you’ve written in 2009. They do not have to be from the same blog, but they should all be written by you – the prize is self-nominating.

The entry form can be found at http://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/blogprize2010.aspx, with full rules and regulations at http://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/the-award/how-to-enter.aspx. The entry deadline is 20^th January 2010. 

The winner of the prize receives £3000 and an Orwell Prize plaque. Richard Horton (Jack Night) and Oona King are the judges of this year’s Blog Prize. Entries are also being invited for the Book Prize and Journalism Prize.

Not sure if I’ll be entering myself – blame my lightnes of posting and/or general lowbrowness but for anyone who does want to click on http://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/blogprize2010.aspx to do so.

While there’s been minute-by-minute on our 24 hour news channels of fallout from the Hewitt/ Hoon email urging a secret ballot on the Labour leadership, if we extract the facts from the froth on the matter, this is not the cabinet coup predicted by the Evening Standard’s Paul Waugh and much linked to yesterday. It’s a couple of ex-ministers (some might say has-beens) venting their dissatisfaction in a way that will only please the Tories. Indeed the hastily unveiled Conservative poster featuring the two overexaggerates the importance of a couple that most of the general public that billboards are aimed at will have never heard of. This illuminating post here from Political Scrapbook demonstrates the resentment by other Labour MPs against this pair. In it Diane Abbott, a one-time John McDonnell supporter accuses Hoon of having taken leave of his senses.

Let’s hope that this misguided move has now been halted and it’s the last we hear of it. It has not only allowed its perpetrators to spread their poison in tv studios from lunchtime to Newsnight but its audacity in soliciting the views of the Parliamentary Labour Party alone displays utter contempt for all the other sections of the Labour movement who have a constitutional say in the party leadership: unions, members, socialist societies etc. As for the media’s obsession in demanding that the cabinet queue up instantly to swear oaths of loyalty, to be fair they do have a country to run.

New year and there’s a general election looming with the phoney war already on. I had a fright on the way to work after happening upon a creepy billboard image of David Cameron spotted at the side of the A4 Great West Road in one of the target seat of Brentford and Isleworth. Ended the working day by being quoted on Channel 4 News’ website alongside others including Guido Fawkes and Progress’ Jessica Asato pontificating on the importance of the web to the election. More here. For my money the web is an additional campaigning tool but it’s bread and butter issues that’ll decide the outcome.

Talking of Progress, the esteemed centre-left think tank has been collecting opinions from various folk including Labour List’s Alex Smith, the Fabians’ Sunder Katwala and… erm me on what Gordon Brown should do between now and the election. Results are here. I was told to limit myself to 20 words but failed less miserably than some. Looks like top blogger/ Hackney dynamo Luke Akehurst was the only one who did the task properly – he also did a post on the subject yesterday. As Luke says “Close elections are won as much organisationally as by policies. Gordon must motivate Labour members to get out campaigning.” Can’t say fairer than that.

PS: Couldn’t find a link to the Mighty Wah version of the song in the title of this post so have the Three Degrees (from the Cliff Richard tv show natch) instead.

1. Have had a thing co-written with the blogger and ex-Labour PPC Will Parbury (the wonders of email attachments) up at the Good Society debate at the website of Social Europe Journal. It’s called “Time to Reboot Politics”  and discusses the present widespread disillusion with UK politics.  The whole site is worth a gander – it includes videos of the ponderings of Ken Livingstone and Jon Cruddas among others. Talking of Cruddas…

2. I’ve been asked to give Philosophy Football’s Xmas bash in conjunction with Compass a plug. It’s this Fri. Here are details:

News from across the pond: legal guardianship of Courtney Love and the late Kurt Cobain’s daughter Frances Bean has been granted to his mum. To see what the girl who was two when her dad died looks like now click here.

Apparently:

“The court filing does not mention Love or give a reason for the guardianship [however] in recent months, Love, former frontwoman of the band Hole, has been criticized for rambling online postings that have attacked a former bandmate and others. A fashion designer sued Love in Los Angeles earlier this year over some of the posts, claiming they were libelous.”

A cautionary tale? To see what the dollar-chasing baby Spencer Eldon looks like now click here.

I’m not a big fan of acroynms but I heard a load on Tuesday at the Prevent 09 conference focused on PVE (Preventing Violent Extremism), a joined up government policy shared by the Home Office, DCLG (Department for Communities and Local Government), DSCF (Schools, Children and Families) and FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office).

The big step change in policy announced was that PVE, which was basically been anti-terror initiatives to stop militant Muslims carrying out atrocities in a 7/7 vein, is now being broadened out so those within its remit potentially include far right activity too or, as it was put in the breakout session I was at, DE (domestic extremism) as well as AQ (Al Quaeda). This includes far left, UAF (Unite Against Fascism) and animal rights although the “threat level” seems to be defined as greatest with the AQ. I’m not sure it’s a great idea to get into a competition about all this but when did CPGB or SWSS ever kill anyone? Other groups are more active in peddling hate but don’t seem to be demonised in the press in the same way as Muslims (extremist or not) are. Interestingly Gerry Gable from Searchlight spoke about how the nailbomber Copeland was always talked about as a lone wolf whereas actually he had been a member of the BNP.

An interesting day all round. Quite unlike the average sociology conference, lots more people of BME (black and minority ethnic) origin than you see on the academic circuit and lots of people from the police, local and central government.

Faux pas of the day: the moment when someone from the podium in the plenary was getting animated about how we must stop another 7-11. I thought most people found convenience stores quite handy but there you go. Of course Asian corner-shop proprieters pioneered that concept before such establishments arrived in the UK from across the pond. Pictured are John Denham (DCLG) and Samira Ahmed (C4 News), neither of whom comitted this error.

See post at Progress here. Explains how in the same week the Swiss banned minarets Brown threw open the doors of Number 10 to British Muslims to celebrate Eid. I even managed to broach the biscuit question…

In answer to Miles’ comment below, I have posted at OBV the following: 

As Brown circled the room, I told him I’d been asked to find out what biscuits he kept there. “Chocolate digestive”, he replied quick as a flash. Solid, dependable, wholesome; like the PM and his government. As for the Swiss… they’re taking the biscuit.