After The Storm: Vince Cable at Durham Book Festival 2015

Image: Liberal Democrats via Flickr.

The Conservative Party’s origin story of the financial crisis has always been that the Labour Party had a significant role to play. Speaking with Chris Mullin at the Durham Book Festival sell-out event at Durham Town Hall on Saturday, Vince Cable was quick to dispute this myth. “It is not true that the Labour Party grossly mismanaged finances up to the crisis of 2008,” he claims. Rather, the Conservatives’ claim was swept up by the right-wing media and soon became the “established story” of the crisis.

The event was organised to discuss Dr Cable’s new book, ‘After The Storm’, which looks back at the financial crisis seven years on. In discussing the crisis, he was keen to emphasise his high regard for Gordon Brown, complimenting his “basic integrity” in the face of public scrutiny. He praised Mr Brown’s passionate concern for the economy in Europe, claiming that his good work has been largely forgotten in the UK. The former prime minister’s first two terms, he maintained, “did create a framework of stability” that has led to a highly-regarded reputation abroad that continues to this day.

Asked about the 2010 coalition government, Dr Cable said that the collaboration was inevitable. “We were propelled by parliamentary numbers and a sense that this was where the national interest lay.” Meanwhile, he said, the Labour Party made it clear that they had “no trust” in the coalition, and instead wanted to “get back into opposition and sort themselves out.”

Turning to his new book, a sequel to his 2009 bestseller ‘The Storm’, Dr Cable made it clear that it is not a memoir, but rather “an attempt to be serious about the economy.” He commented on the importance of reviewing the 2008 financial crisis at a greater distance: “The shock that we had back in 2008 was much more profound than any politician has looked at in the short term.”

With the focus of the interview turning to the current Conservative government, Dr Cable was critical of George Osbourne’s upcoming financial decisions. Commenting on the growing housing crisis, he said: “When you’ve got a fire blazing out of control, you stop putting fuel on it.” Asked whether he would halt the sale of council houses, he expressed his anxiety about the loss of affordable housing, calling it a “great tragedy”. He told Mullin that the sales are missed opportunities – that if councils were given the freedom to operate, they could be building more affordable housing to counter the growing housing emergency, particularly in the South East.

He was also critical of the spending cuts planned by Osbourne and the Conservative Party. In 2011 and 2012, some of the planned cuts were wiped off by Osbourne after extensive Liberal Democrat opposition. Now, without the balancing force of a coalition to restrain them, Dr Cable expressed his concern for the severity of future cuts, stating that Osbourne has “redefined what the deficit is in a much more extreme way” than what was originally planned under the coalition government.

For the last fifteen minutes of the session, Chris Mullin opened up the floor for questions. Inevitably, the issue of tuition fees was raised. Dr Cable expressed his unhappiness of being faced with such a decision. “Any government was going to be faced with that problem,” he said. He was tasked with making 25% cuts to the sector, and to take funding away from universities would have had an “absolutely crippling effect” on the quality of university teaching. “What we created”, he suggested, “was a more progressive system.”

One of the final questions of the evening was whether Dr Cable could see his party returning to popularity in the future. He offered a hopeful reply, suggesting that the movement of the left to a more radical space under Corbyn, and the potential movement further right under a new Conservative leader, could leave an “enormous space” in the centre with a chance to expand into it. Already, Newcastle has a “changing mood” under the new government, and Dr Cable expressed his belief that his party’s local government base will be restored. Although there is hope, he said, “it’s not going to be easy”.

Review: Chris Mullin, 'The Art of Political Leadership', Durham Book Festival 2015

In his sell-out event at Durham Town Hall, ex-Labour MP and Minister Chris Mullin told his audience: “One thing you should know about life in the stratosphere is that it is rarefied.”
The former Labour Minister and South Sunderland MP delivered his touring talk, The Art of Political Leadership, at the venue for Durham Book Festival on Saturday afternoon.
He began the session with a few well-received jokes about the refined life of a politician, before talking about the key attributes needed to be a successful politician.
 Drawing from examples of leaders such as Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and Clement Attlee, Mr Mullin shared what he had learned from his years in politics, beginning with his first lesson: “No matter how high you rise, keep your head on the ground.”
He also emphasised the importance of clear vision, citing Mr Blair as an example of this: “He had a capacity, which he never lost, to think strategically.”
Mr Mullin served in Tony Blair’s government, and his admiration for the leader’s early governing actions was apparent in the talk. Blair, he said, was ‘young, dynamic, brave, and most of all moderate.” He added: “His aim was to drag the Labour Party to the foreground of British politics, and to keep it there.” 
Mr Mullin also discussed Clement Attlee in his speech. He said that while Attlee was “utterly lacking in many of the qualities required for political leadership”, he “helped to get results and to get the best out of his colleagues.”
Mr Mullin was, however, more critical of Margaret Thatcher, claiming that “the longer she was in office, the more imperious she became.”
After the 30-minute talk, Mr Mullin opened the floor for questions. As expected, the recent election of Jeremy Corbyn to Labour leadership gained attention in the context of Mullin’s 1982 novel ‘A Very British Coup’, the plot of which is very similar to Corbyn’s surprise appointment.
Commenting on Corbyn’s leadership skills, Mr Mullin said that while he is a “lovely fellow”, he is “a man utterly lacking in many of the basic skills for political leadership.” 
Asked whether he thought Corbyn could become Prime Minister in four years, Mr Mullin said: “Jeremy has inhabited a small, fairly dark corner of British politics for many years.” He added: “The jury’s still out.”

Corbyn reaction has reached "near hysteria" claims former MP

Image: The Northern Echo

THE author of a novel portraying a fictional coup staged against a left-wing British Prime Minister says the media response to the election of Jeremy Corbyn has reached “near hysteria”.
Former MP and minister Chris Mullin said the reaction of the media to the unexpected election of the new Labour leader mirrors that predicted in his 1982 novel A Very British Coup.
Mr Mullin is to give a sell-out talk on The Art Of Political Leadership, examining the careers of 20th Century political leaders, on Saturday as part of the Durham Book Festival.
He said that he expects Mr Corbyn’s name to be mentioned when he answers questions from the audience after his talk.
A Very British Coup centres on the surprise election of left-wing Labour candidate Harry Perkins and the attempt of MI5, the City and the press to bring him down.
Mr Mullin said: “The reaction of much of the media to the Corbyn leadership has been more or less along the lines predicted in my novel, written 35 years ago – near hysteria.
“Some of the military are behaving predictably, too”.
Asked whether there is a difference between a good political leader for the north and one for the south, Mr Mullin told The Northern Echo: “The fates of the north and the south are linked.
“When the south catches a cold, we get flu up here.”
He added: “Actually, the north has done a good job of reinventing itself since the disappearance of our traditional industries.
“Nissan in Sunderland has been a particular success. 
“The recent arrival of Hitachi, fitting out railway carriages in Newton Aycliffe, is also good news.”
Chris Mullin will speak at Durham Town Hall on Saturday at 3pm. He will also interview Vince Cable in the Town Hall at 7.30pm the same day.

Originally published in The Northern Echo.

Children's author gets region's biggest book festival underway

Image: Tom Banks

THE biggest book festival in the North East opened a new chapter today with a talk by a children’s book author and illustrator.
Students from Hardwick Primary School, Bowburn School and Shincliffe Primary School attended the opening event of Durham Book Festival, which was hosted by Durham Johnston School.
Writer Simon Bartram began the session by reading from his first book, Man on the Moon, and looking at the illustrations with the children.
He then went on to read from his second book, Bob’s Best Ever Friend.
The session was interactive, with the author asking questions and engaging his audience with each turn of the page.
Afterwards, Mr Bartram said: “It was really good fun. It always is with the kids.
“I try to create a bit of a pantomime. You find that kids are a good audience wherever you go.”
A theatre adaption of his book is touring the north of England until the end of October.
The tour runs from September 26 to October 31 and stars Matthew Gundel as Bob, the Man on the Moon.
It will include newly-adapted songs and music to accompany the story as it is brought to life on stage.
Commenting on the tour, Mr Bartram said: “I just saw it, actually. It’s really brilliant.
“The music and songs were all really good, and the kids loved that as well.”
Durham Johnston School hosted two other events today by Pip Jones and Linda Newbery.
Durham Book Festival runs until October 17 and will feature popular authors such as Bill Bryson and Philip Pullman.

Originally published in The Northern Echo (under Tony Kearney, News Editor and work experience supervisor). Also in print.

Linda Grant at the Durham Book Festival 2014

Linda Grant’s conversation with Caroline Beck at Durham Book Festival is far beyond a simple discussion of Grant’s newest novel, Upstairs at the Party. It is, instead, a funny and thoughtful insight into some of the most radical ideas of the early to mid-seventies.  Grant talks of this era as a time when students were “lab rats in an experimental pool” – given total liberty, free of adult interference and support – at a campus that is quite clearly the University of York, in all but name. Beneath this freedom, however, is a darker assessment of the profound impact university life can have on its students. In the hour Grant has with the audience, she addresses themes such as responsibility, blame and mental illness to highlight student issues in the seventies that clearly resonate strongly with her own experiences.

Photograph: Durham Book Festival, via Palatinate

Humorous, casual and perceptive, Grant’s talk is littered with anecdotes of her own time at university: telling familiar stories of the horrors of student accommodation, the struggle to define oneself in a new environment, and the importance of strong friendships. But between these stories, Grant voices her opinion on a number of sensitive topics.

Her novel is focused around a defining point in the narrative where something happens ‘upstairs at the party’ that will stay with the characters for their whole lives. She does not make clear what this event is, but her focus throughout the evening on the issues of mental illness and an unsupportive university system allows audience members to make an educated guess. Her novel’s narrator, Adele, looks back on this crucial moment with mixed feelings of responsibility, guilt, and blame, and Grant uses this narrative device to highlight her own memories of her university years: as she tells the audience, “there is nothing so distant as the recent past.”

A funny and thoughtful insight into some of the most radical ideas of the early to mid-seventies

Grant appeared to be looking towards her characters’ futures, highlighting some of the issues prevalent in an era that exists only as an implied future in her novel – namely, the 1980s and 1990s, where AIDS was becoming a widespread problem. Adele meets several advocates of sexual experimentation during her time as a student, not least an openly gay character called Bobby. Whilst Bobby appears to embody the freedom given to students to choose and express their individual identities, Grant was well aware of the AIDs epidemic about to overwhelm the gay community. She tells the audience that her time at university was one where “nothing could harm us”; Bobby’s sexual freedom, however, serves by implication as a powerful reminder of the potentially dangerous lifestyle he would later be exposed to.

Upstairs at the Party isn’t just a vivid and vibrant dialogue about student life in the seventies but also a reminder that issues such as mental health and the struggle for a definitive identity are dangers that all young people face, whatever their generation. Grant ends the discussion on a poignant note when she states that “every generation finds a new set of problems,” and perhaps this is why Upstairs at the Party has been greeted with such promising reviews: it is a funny, saddening and reflective novel inviting empathy from readers of all generations.

Originally published at Palatinate Online.