Mid-week

Here in South East London, few items of news trump the triumphant re-opening of the East London Line, but here are some things which are jostling at the edge of my consciousness.


Life in London under the Con/Dems

Oona King, of whom I'm a bit of a fan, is challenging Ken Livingstone for the Labour nomination for London - should be interesting. More from Adam Bienkov.

Meanwhile, it seems as if Nick Griffin is standing down from the BNP leadership. It's hard to see any other contender consolidating the transformation of the BNP from a large small party to a small large party.

Part of the Labour Party's response to the BNP's shift to being a small large party has been to re-brand itself as an anti-immigration party, a policy started by Phil Woolas in response to the rise of the BNP in the Northwest and then taken up by Margaret Hodge in her bid to keep her Barking seat. In other words, the BNP helped drive Labour Party policy, and this looks set to deepen with Ed Balls, Andy Burnham and Alan Johnson, for example, talking tough on immigration. Will Straw has a good post on this.

Israel-hatred

Ben Gidley on what are not the reasons the British left hates Israel (see also Engage).
Eric Lee on UNISON's disgraceful banning of TUFI from its conference.

Other miscellanies

At Engage, Poumista, Antigerman Translation, New Politics Review.
 
Bob's beats

The theme tune meme is making slow progress, but Flesh is Grass, Jams and Modernity have all come up with some great responses.

Filed under "Jewish music" - Jim D on jazz legend Artie Shaw.

Musical accompaniment from Mira Awad.

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