They don't give a damn
Sir: I enjoyed Bruce Anderson's excellent article about Glasgow Labour (Politics, 16 August). Perhaps I might add some com- ments. No power on earth seems likely to stop the electors in central Scotland from turning out in their hundreds of thousands to vote for anything with a Labour party label on it. The comrades may squabble among themselves about who gets the label, and the occasional stench of corruption may seep out into the public arena, but none of that seems to matter. Therefore. there is no need for New Labour to worry. The occasional splash of whitewash and sanctimonious twittering about not bringing the party into disrepute will dispose of the issue. After all, alleged links with the Mafia do not seem to harm New Labour's friends the Clintons, and, now that we are good Europeans, Italian and French standards of probity in public life should be adequate.
In central Scotland the Labour party is the establishment. The biggest employers are in the public sector and support for the party is no bar to promotion for the ambi- tious careerist, especially for one with little else to offer.
As an illustration of New Labour atti- tudes, it seems to be acceptable for the pamphlet about the referendum to be issued in all sorts of exotic languages, so that people who cannot be bothered to learn the language of the country should have a say in its future, while on the other hand it is all right for Tam Dalyell to be warned that he had better keep his mouth shut if he knows what is good for him.
What all this boils down to is that Labour voters in central Scotland do not give a damn about corruption, and that unless and until they do (thus abandoning the ingrained habits of many years), nothing will change. They can ignore the rest of the country.
Charles Duncan
16a Stuart House, Burns Road, Cumbernauld, Scotland
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