Friday, January 4, 2013
(Opinion) Labour Party: Once Again, Labour Disappoints
"Britain
needs welfare reform that is tough, fair and that works, not divisive, nasty
and misleading smears from an out of touch and failing government”[1].
(Ed Balls)
Once a check of the excesses of
capital on the square mile and a bulwark against counterproductive tax cuts
proposed by the conservative, The British Labour party is now showing insecurity
about the poor. You would think it would be easy to sell classic Labour
policies in an economic climate by offering some security in an age where there
is little but, typical of the party, it manages to show its insecurity over
backing the poor.
For a party that has done more
than most to build Britain’s social safety net, it now seems keen to join the
conservatives in their goal to rip it to shreds. It was reported in The Guardian
today that Labour, typical of recent form, is proposing conservative friendly
welfare reforms with plans in the works to make sure that “every adult aged
over 25 and out of work for more than two years should be obliged to take up a
government-provided job for six months, or lose benefits”[2].
Labour have fallen heavily for
the simple but effective dichotomy presented by conservatives that portray people
on benefits as work shy and parasitic as opposed to those in employment who
work hard. Labour are way too eager to targets the unemployed in reaction to
this frame as quite simply for some time, Labour has done its best to
disentangle itself from its past and all the arguments in favour of working
people.
This is why you rarely hear
arguments against cuts other than they’re too fast or they are badly timed
rather than argument based on who they may hurt or leave at an disadvantage. The
Conservatives win welfare arguments simply because they know how to divide
opinion better than Labour ever did. When conservatives make simple but deceptive
comparison between the benefits claiming unemployed and people in work, they try
to build resentment by those in work against benefit claimants, who have been
painted as villains of a rhetorical gambit.
This is best illustrated by the
coalition government cleverly noting that the wage of workers has been “growing
less quickly than prices since 2007, while out-of-work benefits have been
rising faster”[3].
Labour’s response to this rhetorical flourish is insecurity and badly thought
proposal that attacks the unemployed. It’s really galling to see Labour to
propose classic carrot and stick polices to the unemployed and have nothing
written down in response to the still relatively deregulated financial banks
and speculators.
In sum, Labour may be working
people only viable channel for political representation, but what they may ask
is what the party really represents when they agree with conservative policies
and don’t even bother to at least cloak the Tory like language.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
(sports) sport 2013: The editor’s five predictions for the sporting year of 2013
I claim to be no Nostradamus but here are my five predictions for the sporting year of 2013.
1 Man Utd
to win the league
While some may say this is an
easy prediction to make, Manchester United is not immune to losing leads. Man
Utd lost the title on the last day of last season despite holding a substantial
lead for some time. However this year, Manchester City appears really shaky and
have been run close or beaten convincingly in matches they would breezed
through last season. Some may see a late run by Chelsea but I believe it’s not
wise to look past united as they when they dominate, they usually win, and
when, tellingly, they start badly, they know how to stay in the game long
enough to take their chances.
2 Mancini out, Guardiola in
I know the first part of this
prediction is a no brainer but the second has some risk of being way off.
Mancini will leave at the season as he has failed to improve Man City’s
fortunes in the Champions League and the increasing number of lacklustre performances
in the league. While most of us don’t have an inside track to the Man City
dressing room, it is clear to say that Mancini’s management and press skill
have dazzled no one as the Tevez debacle and on-going Balotelli circus have shown.
The appointment of Txiki Begiristain
shows City’s intention to acquire the services to the trophy laden former Barcelona
coach as Begiristain recommended Guardiola
to takeover from frank Rijkaard over Jose Mourinho back in 2008. Guardiola has
not revealed his plan for the future with regards to which club he plan to join
in 2013 but the man city does look an attractive position with financial
backing and a large and talented squad.
3 Amir
Khan to win light-welterweight title
This prediction is risky as the
often cited but irrefutable fact of boxing is that reputations are built and
destroyed by one punch. 2012 was a year to forget for Amir Khan as he lost his
WBA and IBF belts to a controversial points loss to Lamont Peterson and suffered
a devastating defeat at the hands of Danny Garcia. However, 2013 will be a
kinder year to Khan as under the tutelage of the wise and impressive Virgil
Hunter, khan is set to make his way to the top.
Under Virgil Hunter, Khan has
worked on his defensive skills that cost him his belts and his pride in brutal fashion.
However, the Molina fight at the back end of 2012 showed that training sessions
with Hunter are paying off as he used his quick hand speed, reach and footwork
to see off Molina as Khan dominated all rounds. While the competition is
hotting up in his weight class, Amir Khan reach and speed is arguably the best
in the division and adding a defensive component to his game is only going to
help him win honours this year.
4 Aston
Villa Going Down
This is the easiest prediction
I’ve made so far as Aston Villa look like a team doomed to play in the
championship next season. They lack quality and experience in key areas (defence
and midfield especially), get outclassed by teams they should beat (last match
against Wigan a case in point).
One of the problem that see them go down is
that the manager doesn’t seem to have any idea in how to halt the slide as
Aston Villa take one beating after the next. Aston Villa Manger Paul Lambert
has made some poor signings across the board with the only success being
striker Christian Benteke. Messrs Lowton,
Holman and El Ahmadi have not covered themselves but neither has the manager
whose policy of buying young energetic players has failed badly.
5 Andy
Murray to win a grand slam
This prediction is based pretty
simply on the fact that Andy Murray now knows that he can win a major title
rather than just believe it as he did before. While his competition is still
stiff with Federer, Djokovic and Nadal all gunning for major honours this year,
Murray can take of the fact that he can beat all three mentioned as he has in
the past. Whether he will win the grand slam that matters the most (Wimbledon)
remains to be seen but be sure to watch Murray this year as he goes into the
major competition knowing he can best the best.
Agree or disagree with these
predictions or have some of your own? Share
your thoughts below and comment.
(Video) Predatory Lending: Why Bankers Rival Congressmen In Hate
The Young Turks give their take on a predatory lending story where bankers reveal what they really think about the people they predatory mortgage loans to.
(Opinion) Fake YouTube and Twitter Views : Why You Shouldn’t Be Shocked
There really shouldn’t be much surprise upon hearing
that a lot of views and follows amongst
billion dollar companies and celebrities on YouTube and Twitter, as for the
most part , both YouTube and Twitter are both corporate entities whose interest
in social communication and the building of authentic networks come a distant
second to excessive self-promotion and the deception of millions of people.
Thanks to a crackdown by YouTube and Google (owners of
YouTube), we have seen that a lot of views, especially music labels, have had
fake view counts going into the billions as music industry behemoth Universal
Music Group “los 1 billion of its 7 billion views” which is nothing compared
to the monumental losses of views experienced by Sony “who lost 850 million
views”[1].
The surprise about this story
is not that so many views were fake but why Google waited for so long to audit
the views of its users. It’s no shock that prominent YouTube channels would use
fake views in a bid fool YouTube viewers that they are more popular than they actually are in reality. While the channels who saw the biggest cull in viewership are
billion dollar companies, there is an air of fraud about the whole affair as advertisers have been fooled confirming the skepticism among ad
men that using the internet is the best way to waste an ad budget.This growing skepticism affects
other YouTube channels ad revenue as they get tarred with the same brush.
However this debacle hasn’t affected everybody as breakout hits like ‘Gangnam Style’
“is still dancing along at 1 billion views, a YouTube record”[2].
While YouTube have decided to
crack down on the use of fake view counts, celebrities on twitter have been
less than honest about the views generated on their twitter accounts. Fake views
building on twitter is so perverse that even the United States President’s
twitter account has been accused of using fake followers[3].
Forbes compiled a list of celebrities and public figures with fake followers with
the list dominated by musicians with superstars Rihanna, Justin Timberlake,
Katy Perry and Justin Bieber making an appearance[4].
The use of fake accounts on
twitter is ridiculous that even twitter’s own account features on the list[5].
However, this is no shock as twitter doesn’t monitor or get rid of accounts
which are clearly fake. Typical of capitalism, this is all being driven by a
growing industry benefiting from the laziness of celebrities to build real
social networks which offer to build well followed twitter account and fast at
a price.
In sum, the growth of fake
YouTube and Twitter viewers and followers is perverse as it affects those users
who have built their following or viewers organically by reducing ad revenue as
it adds more evidence to the suggestion that social media sites are bad platforms
to promote a product. However this has become systemic as both YouTube and twitter
have done very little to combat the growth of fake views and followers.
[1]
Huffington Post, 2012, Fake YouTube Views Cut By 2 Billion As Google Audit
Record Companies Video Channels, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/29/fake-youtube-views-cut-google-audit_n_2380848.html
[2]
Ibid
[3] J.
Greathouse, 2012, Celebrities With The Most
(Allegedly) Fake Twitter Followers, http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngreathouse/2012/08/27/celebrities-with-the-most-allegedly-fake-twitter-followers/
[4] Ibid
[5]
Ibid
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