TMP Online

Seema Malhotra, Director of the Fabian Women’s Network, says that “our [British] political systems does – inadvertently if not deliberately – support the selection and election of men and white women”.

Writing in the current issue of Tribune Magazine, Malhotra argues that Sri Lanka and India have been blazing a trail in terms of female representation globally for several years now but Britain has been lagging behind. Pratibha Patil became the first female President of India in July last year, whilst the late Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka was the world’s first female prime minister, holding the post three times between 1960 and 2000.

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Senator John Kerry, the U.S. Democratic Party’s nominee in the 2004 presidential election, has come out for fellow Senator Barack Obama.  More to follow on this story here soon.

TMP editor, Chuka Umunna, reflects on last night’s television debate between those vying for the Mayoralty of the Capital. 

The first television face-off between the London mayoral candidates on Wednesday started so jovially. Before the cameras got rolling, Boris Johnson wondered aloud whether they should form a joint administration, with the other two “working under” him. Ken Livingstone’s retort that “too many people already have” provoked much laughter. They were joking, of course, but things got more heated later, in what turned out to be a quite angry affair.

Much has been said about the blandness of our British politicians in the wake of the excitement which the US Democratic presidential race is generating. That may be true of our national political operatives but here in London, while the protagonists may not be as slick and well-groomed as their US counterparts, bland they are not.

You have the Labour incumbent, the cheeky chappy “Ken”, with his slight cockney twang and trademark grin. There is Tory boy, “Boris”, Bullingdon club alumni – a man who carries the look and demeanour of someone straight off the set of a Richard Curtis film. Two characters miles apart. And then there is the Liberal Democrat policeman, former Commander Brian Paddick, who has something of the school head boy about him. So worried was Paddick about being eclipsed by the other two challengers at the outset, that he insisted on sitting between them in the pre-debate photo, lest the national press cut him out of the resulting shots.

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Labour London Mayor Ken Livingstone will go face to face with his Tory challenger, Boris Johnson, in a television debate to be aired at 11pm on ITV1 in London on Thursday. They will be joined by Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick and the debate will be chaired by former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq.

Johnson, who was recently described as a “clown” by Paddick, has been accused of running scared from such a debate and this will be the first time that the candidates for the May 2008 London Mayoral election will debate together.

Commenting on the debate, Livingstone said,
“It’s the first time I’ve been able to pin Boris Johnson down to one. I’m really looking forward to it and I’m sure Londoners are looking forward to it.
“I would have thought radio and broadcasters would have set aside two or three slots a week for the candidates to debate. It’s very cheap TV and it gives Londoners a chance to ring in and ask questions.” (continue reading…)

It’s a draw in the race to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for the U.S presidential elections in November, after Senator Hillary Clinton managed to stage a come back in New Hampshire over night. Clinton won 39% of the vote against her main challenger, Senator Barack Obama, who won 36% of the vote. Former Vice Presidential candidate, John Edwards, continues to trail in third place, winning 17% vote.

It is thought that Clinton’s show of emotion at a diner when asked what it was like running in the tough race helped win women voters back over to her after Obama had picked substantially more women’s votes in Iowa. Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, has been noticeably more low key over the last few days, perhaps suggesting his wife’s team recognise the dangers of being linked with the past, given the success of Obama’s “change” message.

The next big test for the Democratic candidates is in the South Carolina primary on 26 January in a just over a fortnight’s time. Obama is presently averaging a 13 point lead over Clinton there and it remains to be seen what affect the New Hampshire result will have in that state.

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Our centralised power system is massively wasteful, so lets stop arguing about nuclear or non-nuclear and start to open our market to the full range of competitive alternatives says TMP environmental columnist, Hugh Goulbourne.

It has been disappointing to read recent articles by ‘green energy campaigners’ criticising the Government and civil service for their over-commitment to nuclear power. As a keen advocate of all forms of low-CO2 energy and energy efficiency, I am of course sympathetic to the argument that the UK needs to do more to support sustainable forms of energy. However, the debate must move beyond endless criticism of the Government’s review of nuclear and instead focus on how the industry and Government can together deliver the 20% of renewables, 20% reduction of CO2 emissions and eradication of fuel poverty within the next decade.

Contrary to much speculation, the government has now firmly committed itself to going most of the way towards meeting the UK’s 2020 EU target for a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions and an increase to 20% of energy (heat, power and transport) from renewables. A new generation of nuclear power plants will not be able to contribute to any of these targets. The planned redevelopment will only replace existing capacity and, therefore, cannot supplement either the CO2 or the renewables target (even if as has been suggested it were to be re-categorised as a renewable source). Furthermore, they will not come online before 2025, this according to figures supplied by the DBERR in the 2006 Energy Review.

All of us in the ‘green energy movement, should therefore recognise this as a moment in which government is keen to engage and find solutions to its pressing targets. Key to this is identifying the reforms of the regulatory and fiscal structures that provide the DNA to our energy market and generating systems.

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Senator Barack Obama appears to be leading in the battle of hearts and minds in the New Hampshire primary, the next stage of the contest to win the Democratic Party’s 2008 U.S. presidential nomination.

In the latest CNN/WMUR poll conducted after the Iowa caucus, he has a 10 point lead (on 39%) over Senator Hillary Clinton (on 29%) with former Vice Presidential candidate, John Edwards on 16%. Another recent USA Today/Gallup poll gave Obama a 13 point lead.

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News is awaited of the post Iowa caucus polling from Hew Hampshire. Supporters will want to see whether Senator Barack Obama has benefited from a bounce there after his victory in Iowa on Thursday, the first test in the race to win the Democratic Party’s 2008 presidential nomination. Meanwhile, the commentariat has been busy analysing the results:

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This week the Economist publishes an in depth report into global migration, an introduction to which can be listened to below.  The report argues that migration has been good for countries receiving and sending immigrants and points to the role that migrant remittances have been playing in aid flows to developing and third world countries (echoing arguments made on this site by Jon Cruddas MP and Murad Qureshi AM.

TMP editor, Chuka Umunna (left), reports on a remarkable victory for the junior Senator from Illinois.

Senator Barack Obama has won the Democratic caucuses in Iowa giving him that crucial momentum – the big “mo” – to help carry him through to the next stages of the race to win the U.S. Democratic Party’s presidential nomination for the November presidential election.

Obama (below) won 37.6% of the vote to John Edwards’ 29.7%, with Hillary Clinton trailing in third place on 29.5%. Of the other contenders, Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd have now bowed out of the Democratic race having failed to make an impact.

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