Image Issues: Miliband's big speech

We will be exploring the issue of image in politics, how reportage and perception of personality can predominate, leaving actual policy as a secondary matter.

Here's how (traditionally pro-Labour, left-wing) The Guardian's cartoonist Steve Bell reflected Miliband's September 2014 Labour Party Conference speech - seen as a key step on the way to the 2015 general election:

C4 News produced multiple packages to reflect his speech. This one is relatively 'unvarnished', and presents Miliband's 6 policy pledges in a fairly straightforward fashion:


This second C4 News package precedes any word from Miliband with correspondent commentary which frames Miliband and his speech in a largely negative light, which continues with the manner in which his actual speech is presented. It is worth reflecting on the point that while newspapers are not prohibited from being biased (although their own self-regulation Editor's Code includes a clause on 'Accuracy'), it is strictly illegal for broadcast news media to be biased. OfCom can remove the license to broadcast from offenders - and indeed has done just that to some cable/satellite news stations:


According to these young writers, Milliband appeals to young voters.

GitBo

We will watch this video at the end of the lesson:


Some links:

For any picture galleries, you may have to skip through ads; do not click on any ads.
Q+A or GENERAL GUIDES:
BBC (2013)
The Wiki.
Guardian (2008) [quality UK newspaper]

LATEST NEWS STORIES:
Guardian (quality UK newspaper)
VIDEO: C4 News 2013 report (7mins)

PICTURE GALLERY:
Daily Telegraph (UK quality newspaper). 20+ images.
New York Post (USA tabloid), a pro-GitBo view?
Huffington Post (a major politics blog). It may be easier to copy pictures from this one.
Time magazine (global news mag.)
BBC.

YOUNG ADULT NOVEL:
Guantanomo Boy [Amazon link]: you can read the brief description and user reviews, but you can also click LOOK INSIDE and read the start of the book! Can you find the quote from Gandhi?
Publisher description.

STUDENT PROTEST:
Daily News (US college students)

DEFENDING G. BAY: ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR:
Guardian (UK quality newspaper) report on US government defence.

HOW YOUNG/OLD ARE PRISONERS?
Guardian (UK quality newspaper) report. NB: the video with this story is disturbing.

THE BRITISH PRISONERS:
Guardian interview with inmate [please don't watch the video; we will watch it together later]
VIDEO: Moazzem Begg speaks about his experience as a detainee

HUMAN RIGHTS VIEW:
AUDIO: UK lawyer Clive Stafford Smith puts forward the human rights argument against G.Bay
UN condemns G.Bay practices (Guardian report)

COMEDIAN ON HUNGER STRIKE:
Daily Mail: (UK mid-market/tabloid; may be blocked) Frankie Boyle pledges to use libel award to campaign for last UK GitBo prisoner
Guardian (UK quality newspaper) report: Boyle goes on hunger strike and tweets updates.
Huffington Post (major US right-wing politics blog) on Boyle's hunger strike tweets.
Digital Spy (celebrity blog): short report on Boyle's hunger strike.
Wiki on Shaker Aamer.

US PRESIDENT OBAMA ON G.BAY:
VIDEO: I will close it...
VIDEO: Woman heckles Obama over failing to close G.Bay

The Hackgate Scandal

Your task today is to produce a briefing on one of the recent major media/politics stories:
(1) the so-called 'Hackgate' scandal that has lead to the convictions of some prominent media figures, and difficult questions being asked of the Prime Minister, David Cameron

We'll watch the short Newsround report on the Hackgate trial, 


You/your group will get a stamp for every informative section you include on elements such as...

• who is Andy Coulson; what jobs has he had? [Guardian articles] [Wiki]
• what is his link to the PM? [BBC, with video of PMQs] [Guardian] [Daily Mail: Piers Morgan]
• who is Rebecca Brooks and why was she on trial? [Guardian articles] [Wiki]
• who is Rupert Murdoch and what does he have to do with this? [Wiki] [Guardian articles]
• what UK media does Murdoch own? [21st Century Fox companies] [News Corp companies]
• what media does he own in the USA and elsewhere? [21st Century Fox companies] [News Corp companies]
• what is 'Hackgate'? [Wiki]
• what was the Leveson inquiry? [Wiki] [BBC guide]
• who are 'Hacked Off' and what is their viewpoint? [Wiki]
• what is IPSO? [Wiki]

You can easily find informtaion with searches including some of the following:
Hackgate, phone hacking, News International, News of the World closure, Milly Dowler hacking, Hacked Off Hugh Grant, News International court case, Rebecca Brooks Andy Coulson trial, Rupert Murdoch hacking questions (etc)

Some sample links are contained in the list above, but here are a few more:
the Wiki;
BBC timeline (up to 2012);
CNN facts guide;
Guardian newspaper articles on phone hacking;
the prosecution case (BBC summary);
the main players (BBC guide);
2014 who's who (updated BBC guide).

Facts and figures on UK population

Some links to help you better explore this:
Government's Office of National Statistics (ONS) report that 1 in 8 of UK population were born abroad.
More ONS links.
Guardian table with ethnic breakdown for each council area in Eng + Wales.
Wiki figures for UK and Eng + Wales.
Bar charts showing ehtnic breakdown.

One of the data charts in the Oxford Uni source.

Oxford Uni tables and pie charts (scroll down for pie chart, Figure 2, see the screenshot in this post).

MPs getting rowdy in the Commons

An example of the (Deputy) Speaker trying to assert control over a rowdy House of Commons:

The rules on the behaviour of MPs are rather strict - when speaking in the House of Commons you are not permitted to accuse another MP of lying, no matter how strong the evidence may be. That would be 'unparliamentary language'.

MPs can be ejected from the Commons chamber for breaking the rules, and this has happened to the likes of George Galloway and Ian Paisley over the years. In most cases 'the Speaker' will intervene, an MP who doesn't take part in votes and basically puts aside his/her loyalty to their own party to see that the Commons runs smoothly: they decide who gets to speak, in what order, for how long, whether they have broken any rules, and oversees the scheduling of debates - which bills get a chance of a first/second/third reading.

Here's an example of an MP doing what 'Tarzan' (the nickname given to Tory MP, later a powerful government minister, Michael Heseltine) did back in 1976 - swinging the mace that lies between the two front benches.

By the way, did you know that the gap between the benches is measured in sword lengths, to avoid conflict?!
Below the line: several videos showing MPs misbehaving!

Darth Vader for President?

This brings to mind the growing protest over the census form (every 10 years the government sends out compulsory forms to track the demographics of the UK, including sections for religion) which has seen 'Jedi' become the 4th biggest 'religion' in the UK, rivalled by The Flying Spaghetti Monster. We also have the Pirate Party in the UK, dedicated to overturning digital copyright laws.
At the very end of the article, there is a sense of some seious politics amidst the theatrics:

The UIP was registered in 2010 and aims to create an electronic government in Ukraine, transition to digital media and offer free computer courses to all citizens.

Read the full article here.

Would e-voting encourage the young to vote?

In the light of the March 2014 budget, I recently blogged on the potential impact of pensions reforms - something that a typical young person is highly unlikely to have ever thought about - on the lifetime earnings and tax deductions faced by the young generation whose wages (through income tax) are going to pay for this.

KEY STAT: 76% of pensioners vote, only 44% of under-25s vote

I mentioned the common analysis that this reform, brought in by the Conservative and Lib Dem coalition BUT eventually backed by Labour too, reflected the much higher priority the main parties give to older voters because they are so much more likely to actually cast their vote than the young. The 'grey vote' was a much used term.

Now comes news that the organisation which advises the government on how well or otherwise our democracy's voting system is functioning, the Electoral Commission, has also stated that we need reforms to close this growing voting gap between young and old: 76% v 44% respectively.

Here's the Guardian article in full:

The UK should consider allowing internet voting in elections because the current system risks appearing alien and outdated to an increasingly disenfranchised younger generation, the election watchdog has said.
Launching a review of modern voting, the head of the Electoral Commission, Jenny Watson, warned that the state of the electoral system was "not an issue that can stay on the slow track any longer".The long-term trend of falling voter turnout was particularly marked among young people, she said.
Watson said the election watchdog would examine a range of ways to make voting more accessible, including the "radical" option of internet voting and US-style same-day registration for those not on the electoral roll.
"Whether it is the ability to register to vote on the day of the election, or voters being able to use any polling station in their constituency, or the introduction of advance voting, or even more radical options such as e-voting, we plan to look at a variety of options, assessing how they will help citizens engage more effectively," she said.
Watson said online registration was welcome but did not add up to an ambitious, comprehensive modernisation strategy.
With some polls showing 76% of pensioners voting compared with 44% of eligible under-25s, the Electoral Commission said more could be done to make the system more reflective of wider society.
"By doing so we could by proxy help address some of the issues with turnout, particular amongst an increasingly disenfranchised younger generation," Watson said. "Unless our electoral system keeps pace with the way many voters live the rest of their lives – where the way they bank and the way they shop has been transformed – it risks being seen as increasingly alien and outdated, particularly to young voters as they use it for the first time."
She said critics should not see change as a move towards making the electoral system like The X Factor, as society must make sure voting was seen as a "serious and important civic act".
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "The government is always looking at how our electoral system can modernise – that's why we are bringing in online registration and introducing individual electoral registration this summer.
"Technology changes fast and there is always more that can be done to make voting accessible, but it is the government's primary concern to ensure the effective delivery of elections."

What do you think? Would YOU be more likely to vote if you could do it online? Remember, 16 year-olds have been given the right to vote in the Scottish referendum in 2015, and one of the big three parties (Labour) has said it would look at extending this for general elections too, so the issue of voting might not be so distant after all...