Nick Cohen
Although dwindling by day Euston Maniefesto co-author and Observer journalist Nick Cohen still has some fans outside of what is known, both with pride by its members and as a criticism by others, the "Decent Left"*. Today's column might see those disappear however**.His first piece is on the capitulation of the authorities to the Super-Rich, who Nick believes should be taxed more, instead of the middle-classes (this bit might be personal) who are paying more. Boom! There goes the right-wing supporters. However as if he realises he has offended most of his online readers, he then sticks in the usual attack on the Lib Dems for abandoning their policy of higher taxes on the rich, and being 'on the right' of the Tories. Here is the story in Nick's own newspaper about the Lib Dem policies, titled 'Lib-Dems target super-rich in tax review'.
The second piece shows us how far Nick has moved on civil-liberties. He argues against notions such as 'Suspects can't be deported to countries where they may face torture' and 'Nor can they be interned in Belmarsh-style prisons'. This remember is in a week where two Police suspects apparently were innocent. He also adds that 'in our case, the only way the split in what we used to call 'the establishment' will be resolved is if there is a terrible massacre', which shows you a little of what's going on in his head. This paragraph also contains a mild version of Nick's amnesia over who was taking Al-Qaeda seriously after 9/11 and who wasn't.
Finally he talks about the killing of al-Zarqawi, and his upset at the lack of overt cheering by the "liberal-left" (I don't know how he measured this - did he open his window in Islington and hear just the normal sirens and traffic?) and finally comes out and says what we have concluded for some time,
"Frankly, I prefer [to the liberal-left] Galloway; at least he makes a commitment".
* For a great example, see this piece by Alan Johnson, another Euston co-author - "Fundamentally I believe that we need what I call a decent left."
** This paragraph has been written like this as I was told by a reader the site was getting incomprehensible with its continual references to groups no-one outside of my mind has heard of.
posted by Matthew @ 6/11/2006 09:11:00 AM
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