Looking behind David Cameron at the manifesto launch
I hadn’t been to the wreckage of the Battersea Power station before. It is spectacularly wrecked to be sure. One of the great tombstone emblems of the failure of Eighties urban renewal. It last pumped power in 1981. It has defied politicians and money makers alike ever since.
It struck me as a potentially dangerous place to stage the launch of a bid for any kind of power, political or otherwise. Less for the threat of falling masonry, than for the references to all-party political failure that the entire site represents.
When I first saw the setting, I inevitably thought of the Conservative phrase ‘Broken Britain’. So far so good. But I was in the tented arena within the power station in time to watch the ‘backdrop’ evolve.
Swarms of pale blue T shirted individuals moved about. My eye fell upon the familiar face of the articulate erstwhile Labour adviser David Freud – now neatly T shirted and recast as an articulate present Tory adviser.
But it was what was happening behind the speakers’ lectern that intrigued. A clutch of beautifully turned out young women were assembling. Here and there, gaps were left in the tiered seating. Was their event to be so feminised that ALL the faces behind the manifesto launching leader would be female?
Enter ten men and two women to fill the gaps between the eighteen young women – a slice of the shadow cabinet. I was particular struck by the photographic doughnut being established most immediately behind where the leader would stand. A striking young South East Asian woman, another from the Indian subcontinent, and so on.
All three major parties are desperately short of women in credible positions of influence. Does this explain the disporting of ‘leaders’ wives’? Is the feminisation of the backdrop is yet another stunt to try to disguise this truth? Why, so long after emancipation is British politics still so dominated by men?
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There are 21 comments on this post
I couldn’t help noticing Cameron’s failure to mention Pink Floyd’s flying pig – surely the most famous – when he listed all the things that had happened at the power station.
Biology and psychology. Men compete with men to spray their territory. Women traditionally reveal passivity and attractive facets of feminity.This superifical reasoning may seem not fit for 2010, however it does have an essential credibility. Sex sells.; women havn’t learnt how to use it to the same extent as men in a political arena. They compete in male territory,
David Cameron, was convincing yesterday when he talked about 50 years of didactic politicisation .Good point Dai, however are the victims capable of doing any other than a reciprocation of being down trodden and what has been absorbed from the manipultaing fraudsters of the last half century?
Having suffered at the hands of locality , experience tells me that individuals will not make it if the thuggish male and female attitudes alike continue. The privileged will rise above it and have their own way.
“Why, so long after emancipation is British politics still so dominated by men?”
Because Jaqui Smith, Hazel Blears, Harriet Harperson, … are so utterly useless, and have failed so completely.
They’ve set wannabe women politicians back a generation.
You might add to your list , my local politician,Natasha Engels.I have seen her in the commons several times and she comes across as very light weight .It maybe that women have an inferiority complex , yet in reality they can be far stronger than men.There are of course exceptions,but like it or not most women are best at and prefer to bring up a family.It is a natural instinct but gets in the way of many career goals.You only have to look at the farce of the army girl this week,now seeking compensation , because she was not able to do her job properly
A fascinating blog, Jon. The fact that PR people and advisers can slip so easily between labour and conservatives tells us a lot about our politics – can you imagine someone Michael Foot was comfortable with being acceptable to Ted Heath or Mrs T?
On the lack of women, I get the impression that those who are pounding on the glass ceiling are doing so on the basis if being like the men.
Instead of David Cameron’s big society what we need is a society in which feminine values are more dominant. Although it is stereotyping and not completely true, there are ways in which women have traditionally seen the world differently from men. On the whole I tend to think a group of women running the country would do it in a more collegiate way and with different emphases.
But that won’t happen until they have the courage to push their own agenda and not just follow the males in their party.
There’s nothing wrong with stereotyping. One person’s ‘sweeping generalisation’ is another person’s ‘statistical analysis’.
What are feminine values in the 21st century? The kitchen sink is long gone.
The women’s vote in the UK is already more important than men’s. Its a statistical fact that women are far more likely change their voting intentions. Men on the other hand are more likely to vote consistently for the same party – making an ethical judgement.
Saltaire, I bet you’ve never voted Tory in your life, that you learned socialism was a matter of ethics in the cradle – and that you’d consider it morally wrong to vote Tory – typical male voter that you are.
Tom, you are right to an extent. I have never voted tory because they have never stood for the things I agree with. Over the years, they have changed but I could never vote for a party that, for instance, thinks it is just to give an inheritance tax windfall to the wealthiest people in the country, while cutting public services.
That doesn;t automatically make me a labour voter. I was against them when they allowed the unions to run the country, especially Scargill, and I don’t care much for the present lot who are too near to being a conservative party by another name for my taste.
Based on the manifestos, the Lib Dems come closest to my view of society but with our current voting system they have no chance of winning, so at the moment I’m one of the undecided who would quite like a hung parliament to see if we can’t get a concensus. After all, even the tories aren’t wrong all the time!
Males dominate almost everything which in my mind, is totally wrong. Women have always taken a back seat in Politics, Religion, Security Services and the list goes on. It’s the ancient embedded feeling in humans, that man is physically stronger and therefor more capable. I couldn’t disagree more. It all boils down to the lack of human rights. Black, white, hispanic or female.
As for the Battersea power station, well something should have been done to keep it safe long ago, keeping such an iconic British symbol useful. Luckily, it was imortalised by none other than the great Pink Floyd.
adzmundo The Venus Project & CND
…err Adz, where’ve you been ? Ever hear of a woman named Margaret Thatcher ? How about Barbara Castle, or Shirley Williams ? All of whom were formidable women politicians and achieved a great many things between them (some good, some bad, but that’s not the point).
My local Chief Constable is a woman, and Stella Rimmington was the head of MI5 if I’m not mistaken. The BBC is awash with women in senior management.
The problem that women have in politics is that they *have* to be able and capable, which is more than can be said of the most recent batch of drones.
Jaqui Smith : Promoted waaaay beyond her ability.
Hazel Blears : A pointless chipmunk who spouts meaningless platitudes.
Harriet Harperson : It takes real talent to make every man in the country hate you.
Patricia Hewitt : A cab for hire.
Between them they’ve undone a lot of the good that went before them.
ADZ.. do you know where this starts., Oxford. In a class of undergraduates taught by a don from Oxford, I was ostracised, talked down to, left out and told that it was a place for the chaps. I worked like stink and got average marks. The males doodled , didn’t do any work and automatically got 1sts.
We are used and abused.
The female colleges are practically doing the same, but are leaving other females and males out.
These kids think it is their right to abuse.
Springwarm rays, matching aubretia
Pansies, viola, cream and violet
Chime, taking away taking away.
Cooing ring doves nurture their own
A magpie circling white black blue
Tail flashing flyaway, fly away.
The grace in the garden verdant vital
alive potent feminine creative powerful
All taken away, away . astray.
I see how pleasant everyone is. My point yet again underlined. Why should I be upset with this type of moronic mentality. Go rough it up , but don’t be surprised when there isn’t any love in your life. You make your own bed, but I and other females won’t lie in it. Perhaps thats what you want…. well it is a democracy. Enjoy the gruff.
Be interesting to see how Gordon would react to your approach at PMQs, Margaret, instead of Cameron bellowing at him
Could it be, proportionately speaking, that women don’t fancy the hurly burly, trough gouging antics of this formerly male bastion? And yes, the Blears, Harpersons et al of Labour ilk have been very dismal. No wonder women don’t fancy sticking their heads above the parapet.
Adrian .. have sorted it.. one of the many Jons I come into contact with tells me that a tendency to argue sometimes means a deep affection…you always argue..does that mean you have a lora lora luv for the multitudes?
Margaret , you have sussed me out :O I even class Saltaire and Andrew as one of the multitudes
MBJ – sorry, luv, but you’ve totally misunderstood the antipathy.
I think we need to look at why there are few women MPs and the system needs overhauling. Between 1918-1997 there were 168 women elected as MPs. 1997 the number doubled due to Labours new policy but still only 18% of UK MPs are women. It is easier to notice crap women MPs because there are fewer of them but I am sure there is a lot of talent out there.We need to look at what is stopping them – costs of childcare putting them off standing for election, the confrontational yob culture within Parliament, the fact that women earn less so are unable to afford the expenses in running for election and the prejudice among local selection committees to select women meaning that they are often fighting in places where no MP would have much of a chance – the males usually being given the sure-fire seats to fight. Just as the whole system is increasingly being revealed as rotten this male domain is also a rotten bit in it. Women have a lot to bring to the table and have shown this by example bringing domestic violence into the political arena. What ever party gets in will surely have to realise that they may fall if this isn’t one of the areas that needs change.
You’re right the talent’s out there, but wrong if you think positive discrimination and all women shortlists is the way to go. That’s what’s given us the current crop who I think everyone left and right can agree don’t measure up to the likes of Barbara Castle
Hi Tom I am not a believer in postive discrimination and hope my comment didn’t imply I was. I think it has done a lot of damage in working towards providing women with equal opportunities, pay etc. and agree with you it is not the way to go. It is only a quick fix and cover-up plaster that does not heal the wounds and often makes it worse – the issues are far deeper but are not being looked at. Especially in the Arena of Westminister I believe they are deliberately not looked at because it is a chauvinist male club where women are not actually wanted. The few there are token gestures. How to work on the attitudes that create such inequality and genuine ways to create change is the difficult part and seems to be, even in this day and age, a place men do not want to go.
Saltaire, I don’t normally do dialogue, but the notion that the ‘inheritance tax windfall’ is unjust can be argued two ways. Is it ‘just’ that the state takes away from ordinary working people the things they build up over a lifetime of hard graft and wish to pass on to their children? Here in London, house prices regularly exceed £1m on modest homes. If, like my father, you bought your suburban semi for £2000, and struggled for years to pay the mortgage and raise several children in relative poverty, why should you pass your hard won money back to Gordon? Viewed this way, inheritance tax, like stamp duty, is an unfair regional tax on the SouthEast – because in Sunderland your parents are made better able to pass on a useful deposit.
Surely the true injustice here is a housing market artificially sustained by the BuyToLet boom? We should have let it crash – and let thousands back onto the property ladder – particularly the young – denied by socialist policy the ownership of their own home. Yes, if you are 21. ‘bust’ in the housing market is good.