At some point, hopefully very soon, we'll need to sort out our issues with Putin and form an alliance. In this respect I would rather have Trump in the White House than Hillary.
Le Monde is running an extraordinary editorial at the moment warning about the risk of democracy leading to parties trying to outbid each other on dealing with terrorism. Instead they propose to 'listen to the experts' and hold a commission to look at the organisation of the security services. The French establishment is dangerously out of touch.
Sounds like they are cribbing from Plato's Republic
Permit me a bit of space to make a few points and hopefully illuminate a bit of light as a lowly Labour activist/officer/organiser:
The second is a man who says those things but does very few of them and the ones he does do are ineffectual. A man who appoints shadow ministers to a broad tent then ignores them whilst making policy up on the hoof over his head. Who refuses to protect NEC members threatened with violence with a secret ballot.
The Labour Party faces a basic and deadly problem. We have had an explosion in membership - a very good thing. But a large proportion of those people believe in the first Corbyn. Those people who have actually met him and tried to work with him know the first Corbyn is a cartoon character, a poster slogan, a meme utterly disconnected from reality.
Not only that, but this mythical man has become Kim Jong Un. Venerated. Unchallengable. To question him is to out yourself as a BLAIRITE and we all know that BLAIRITES are TORIES. Anyone with a rational mind looks at these examples from the likes of Lillian Greenwood with horror. Multiple sources of evidence documenting different occasions and scenarios but all illustrating the same problem - the absolute inability of the leader to do politics.
For the people invested in the cartoon Jeremy all these MPs are liars. Deluded. Plotters in the Chicken Coup. "They all tell one side of the story". And they need to be deselected because How Dare They say a word against our Leader with his Mandate. Then we come to Tom Watson. Also elected with a substantial mandate. The difference being that we should ignore his mandate and have him DESELECTED as well apparently. The "fat disloyal bastard".
And its not just the MPs. The NEC are in on it. They voted for a freeze date (mandated in rules) AFTER JEREMY LEFT. And it wasn't on the agenda apparently, despite Momentum-supported Ann Black posting a lengthy report from the meeting proving it was.
And so here we are. The membership are blindly supporting a person who doesn't actually exist. Anyone who isn't Corbyn or 100% loyal is a Tory. We in the Labour Party can't trust the MPs the NEC or the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party but once Corbyn is re-elected we will persuade voters to not only trust the Labour Party but to elect us in a landslide.
We are, to put it bluntly, fucked.
I fully expect May to call an election this November and win a majority of 150. At which point the angry mob will no doubt denounce the electorate.
I don't think May will want to acquire the label of 'barefaced liar' quite so soon during her period in office - which would certainly happen given her repeated denial of any intent to call an early election. Labour would also be unlikely to play ball if she wanted such a Dissolution which would mean having to engineer a Vote of No Confidence.
For a man apparently almost ousted at the weekend by a "small cabal" of the army he seems very much in control trying to purge thousands of people across the military judiciary media and education. Anyone would think he had a plan ready to remove all those opposed to him...
Corbyn cannot win a GE, neither can Eagle.. its a question of least worst and that's Eagle.. Cant stand her shrill voice personally, but at least she isn't bonkers like Corbyn
Corbyn isn't bonkers. Or hard left. Or half the things people say he is. But the list of things he isn't also includes a leader and collegiate and competent. Its Corbyn's supporters who are bonkers.
I don't think Eagle would do the job half as well as Owen Smith - she is of a generation tainted by the touch of Blair. So if she becomes the "unity" candidate it gets all that much harder.
Agree with this. Smith is the only one with any chance, and that is a small one.
What will be interesting will be to see the ways in which the Corbynistas justify not voting for him. I guess it will be Trident.
Any chance of what though? Winning a GE? Or ousting Corbyn? Not the same thing; and only one has to be the priority right now.
Labour will not win the next GE. The priority has to be choosing a leader who will prevent a split that means it can never win another GE. It's a slim chance, but it is worth having a go.
Gove making a lot of interventions in today's education debate in parliament - I think they are all supportive of the government's existing policies ie no turning back.
For a man apparently almost ousted at the weekend by a "small cabal" of the army he seems very much in control trying to purge thousands of people across the military judiciary media and education. Anyone would think he had a plan ready to remove all those opposed to him...
Best theory I've heard was that the plotters had wind of a purge in the offing and went off half-cocked.
A Moroccan man has just stabbed an eight year old girl, her two sisters and their mother at a French Alps holiday resort. He wasn't happy with the way they were dressed.
Nuts.
These random attacks by individual Islamists are going to do more damage to community relations and cause more grief for individual Muslims than the big attacks by some AQ mastermind.
Sean T won't be the only one.
This is what I fear. I'll be fine tho I can go to Dubai etc other Muslims not so much....
Remember - Islam has nothing to do with Islam!
Do u plan in posting anything meaningful or just be like Scott_and paste?
Corbyn cannot win a GE, neither can Eagle.. its a question of least worst and that's Eagle.. Cant stand her shrill voice personally, but at least she isn't bonkers like Corbyn
Corbyn isn't bonkers. Or hard left. Or half the things people say he is. But the list of things he isn't also includes a leader and collegiate and competent. Its Corbyn's supporters who are bonkers.
I don't think Eagle would do the job half as well as Owen Smith - she is of a generation tainted by the touch of Blair. So if she becomes the "unity" candidate it gets all that much harder.
Agree with this. Smith is the only one with any chance, and that is a small one.
What will be interesting will be to see the ways in which the Corbynistas justify not voting for him. I guess it will be Trident.
I guess I might be seen as a corbynista but will probably vote for smith if he continues to talk about actual policy in his current vein.
Trident is obviously an issue for a number of people; it's not unreasonable to regard it as important but probably it's only salient to 20-25pc of Corbyn supporters. For many of the others I think Smith's rather variable backstory on (for example) NHS privatisation is likely to make it hard to take his newfound lefty zeal as convincing as Jezza's. If he performs well and Corbyn performs badly it may still be enough.
I would definitely vote for Smith. On back stories, why is it easier to forgive/forget Corbyn's support for the IRA and Hamas than it is to forgive/forget that Smith once worked for Pfizer?
A Moroccan man has just stabbed an eight year old girl, her two sisters and their mother at a French Alps holiday resort. He wasn't happy with the way they were dressed.
Nuts.
These random attacks by individual Islamists are going to do more damage to community relations and cause more grief for individual Muslims than the big attacks by some AQ mastermind.
Sean T won't be the only one.
This is what I fear. I'll be fine tho I can go to Dubai etc other Muslims not so much....
Remember - Islam has nothing to do with Islam!
Do u plan in posting anything meaningful or just be like Scott_and paste?
Methinks Labour moans too much. IPSOS Mori poll last week Cons 36, Labour 35, Lib Dems 11 and UKIP 8. Labour percentage up on the 2015 result, would give them more seats. They might be better advised to get on with it and stop reading the media.
I would definitely vote for Smith. On back stories, why is it easier to forgive/forget Corbyn's support for the IRA and Hamas than it is to forgive/forget that Smith once worked for Pfizer?
Because Corbyn is a Golden God and Smith is a Tory
Corbyn cannot win a GE, neither can Eagle.. its a question of least worst and that's Eagle.. Cant stand her shrill voice personally, but at least she isn't bonkers like Corbyn
Corbyn isn't bonkers. Or hard left. Or half the things people say he is. But the list of things he isn't also includes a leader and collegiate and competent. Its Corbyn's supporters who are bonkers.
I don't think Eagle would do the job half as well as Owen Smith - she is of a generation tainted by the touch of Blair. So if she becomes the "unity" candidate it gets all that much harder.
Agree with this. Smith is the only one with any chance, and that is a small one.
What will be interesting will be to see the ways in which the Corbynistas justify not voting for him. I guess it will be Trident.
I guess I might be seen as a corbynista but will probably vote for smith if he continues to talk about actual policy in his current vein.
Trident is obviously an issue for a number of people; it's not unreasonable to regard it as important but probably it's only salient to 20-25pc of Corbyn supporters. For many of the others I think Smith's rather variable backstory on (for example) NHS privatisation is likely to make it hard to take his newfound lefty zeal as convincing as Jezza's. If he performs well and Corbyn performs badly it may still be enough.
I would definitely vote for Smith. On back stories, why is it easier to forgive/forget Corbyn's support for the IRA and Hamas than it is to forgive/forget that Smith once worked for Pfizer?
You could forgive Owen Smith for working at Pfizer but not for working in Public Relations.
I would definitely vote for Smith. On back stories, why is it easier to forgive/forget Corbyn's support for the IRA and Hamas than it is to forgive/forget that Smith once worked for Pfizer?
That is an excellent post. You truly have my deepest sympathies. It's pious, but worth saying, our political system only works when there is a functioning opposition. The Tories were ineffectual in the early naughties, and Labour are now. That is so unhealthy. Only the most blinkered partisans can applaud the current situation. The Labour party is literally hateful.
Boo-fucking-hoo. No sympathy from me.
Even a majority of 150 would be less than the humiliation we had to endure in 1997 and 2001. 'things can only get better' when you're in the boss seat, but 'fucked' when the boot is on the other foot, is it? Don't dish it out if you can't take it.
We've been waiting quietly and patiently to get even for many years now. In our minds it's still about finally wiping the triumphalist smiles off the Blairites faces. I'd love to see a Tory majority of 200 and with the help of the insane Trot wing of the Labour party we might just come close to that.
Go Corbyn! Go Blinkered Partisanship! Go Hate!
Yes, and some of us remember what a fiasco the Blair and Brown governments were. The corruption, the greed, the disastrous foreign policy towards Europe and the Middle East, the incessant spending of money on mindless frivolities like BSF or the M6 Toll to enrich their backers in big business at everyone else's expense, the protection of special interest groups and the public sector to the detriment of everyone else, the spin, the failure.
And I never want to go back to the era of complacency and all the evils that sprang from it that was engendered by the lack of a strong opposition.
I think it was more the overwhelming mandate from the electorate rather than who was standing up at the dispatch box against them. Don't forget Lab had forgotten how to govern so of course they did some bonkers, work-in-theory stuff.
In 2010, the Cons would have been the same, save for the fact that they had on-site auditors and logic checks courtesy of the LibDems.
Tony Blair's mandate was smaller than Major's, in terms of the popular vote. If the seats had been allocated for Labour as they were for the Conservatives in '92, he would have had an overall majority of around 30 and would have had to behave himself.
Labour had a higher share of the GB vote in 1997 than Major managed in 1992 though turnout was lower
Permit me a bit of space to make a few points and hopefully illuminate a bit of light as a lowly Labour activist/officer/organiser:
There are two Jeremy Corbyns.
The first is a man who has fought a principled battle his whole life. A man with both the strength and conviction to lead both the party and then the country in a leftward realignment. A man who is collegiate and consensual who absolutely does not allow abuse or factionalism of any kind.
The second is a man who says those things but does very few of them and the ones he does do are ineffectual. A man who appoints shadow ministers to a broad tent then ignores them whilst making policy up on the hoof over his head. Who refuses to protect NEC members threatened with violence with a secret ballot.
The Labour Party faces a basic and deadly problem. We have had an explosion in membership - a very good thing. But a large proportion of those people believe in the first Corbyn. Those people who have actually met him and tried to work with him know the first Corbyn is a cartoon character, a poster slogan, a meme utterly disconnected from reality.
Not only that, but this mythical man has become Kim Jong Un. Venerated. Unchallengable. To question him is to out yourself as a BLAIRITE and we all know that BLAIRITES are TORIES. Anyone with a rational mind looks at these examples from the likes of Lillian Greenwood with horror. Multiple sources of evidence documenting different occasions and scenarios but all illustrating the same problem - the absolute inability of the leader to do politics.
For the people invested in the cartoon Jeremy all these MPs are liars. Deluded. Plotters in the Chicken Coup. "They all tell one side of the story". And they need to be deselected because How Dare They say a word against our Leader with his Mandate. Then we come to Tom Watson. Also elected with a substantial mandate. The difference being that we should ignore his mandate and have him DESELECTED as well apparently. The "fat disloyal bastard".
And its not just the MPs. The NEC are in on it. They voted for a freeze date (mandated in rules) AFTER JEREMY LEFT. And it wasn't on the agenda apparently, despite Momentum-supported Ann Black posting a lengthy report from the meeting proving it was.
And so here we are. The membership are blindly supporting a person who doesn't actually exist. Anyone who isn't Corbyn or 100% loyal is a Tory. We in the Labour Party can't trust the MPs the NEC or the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party but once Corbyn is re-elected we will persuade voters to not only trust the Labour Party but to elect us in a landslide.
We are, to put it bluntly, fucked.
I fully expect May to call an election this November and win a majority of 150. At which point the angry mob will no doubt denounce the electorate.
Corbyn cannot win a GE, neither can Eagle.. its a question of least worst and that's Eagle.. Cant stand her shrill voice personally, but at least she isn't bonkers like Corbyn
Corbyn isn't bonkers. Or hard left. Or half the things people say he is. But the list of things he isn't also includes a leader and collegiate and competent. Its Corbyn's supporters who are bonkers.
I don't think Eagle would do the job half as well as Owen Smith - she is of a generation tainted by the touch of Blair. So if she becomes the "unity" candidate it gets all that much harder.
Agree with this. Smith is the only one with any chance, and that is a small one.
What will be interesting will be to see the ways in which the Corbynistas justify not voting for him. I guess it will be Trident.
I guess I might be seen as a corbynista but will probably vote for smith if he continues to talk about actual policy in his current vein.
Trident is obviously an issue for a number of people; it's not unreasonable to regard it as important but probably it's only salient to 20-25pc of Corbyn supporters. For many of the others I think Smith's rather variable backstory on (for example) NHS privatisation is likely to make it hard to take his newfound lefty zeal as convincing as Jezza's. If he performs well and Corbyn performs badly it may still be enough.
I would definitely vote for Smith. On back stories, why is it easier to forgive/forget Corbyn's support for the IRA and Hamas than it is to forgive/forget that Smith once worked for Pfizer?
OH MY GOD PFIZER once INSINUATED that there was a PLACE for the PRIVATE SECTOR in the GLORIOUS NHS. It is UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED that this is WORSE THAN TERRORISM.
Please, SO, I shouldn't have to keep explaining these things to you. I hope I've got the slightly deranged tone about right. Feedback welcome. Fuck, it really is hot.
Corbyn cannot win a GE, neither can Eagle.. its a question of least worst and that's Eagle.. Cant stand her shrill voice personally, but at least she isn't bonkers like Corbyn
Corbyn isn't bonkers. Or hard left. Or half the things people say he is. But the list of things he isn't also includes a leader and collegiate and competent. Its Corbyn's supporters who are bonkers.
I don't think Eagle would do the job half as well as Owen Smith - she is of a generation tainted by the touch of Blair. So if she becomes the "unity" candidate it gets all that much harder.
Agree with this. Smith is the only one with any chance, and that is a small one.
What will be interesting will be to see the ways in which the Corbynistas justify not voting for him. I guess it will be Trident.
I guess I might be seen as a corbynista but will probably vote for smith if he continues to talk about actual policy in his current vein.
Trident is obviously an issue for a number of people; it's not unreasonable to regard it as important but probably it's only salient to 20-25pc of Corbyn supporters. For many of the others I think Smith's rather variable backstory on (for example) NHS privatisation is likely to make it hard to take his newfound lefty zeal as convincing as Jezza's. If he performs well and Corbyn performs badly it may still be enough.
I would definitely vote for Smith. On back stories, why is it easier to forgive/forget Corbyn's support for the IRA and Hamas than it is to forgive/forget that Smith once worked for Pfizer?
OH MY GOD PFIZER once INSINUATED that there was a PLACE for the PRIVATE SECTOR in the GLORIOUS NHS. It is UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED that this is WORSE THAN TERRORISM.
Please, SO, I shouldn't have to keep explaining these things to you. I hope I've got the slightly deranged tone about right. Feedback welcome. Fuck, it really is hot.
Some interesting advice from William Hague to Boris in today's Telegraph, paraphrasing only a little:
- go abroad a lot, they will like you - keep quiet about your budget having been cut less than most - forget that our past interventions have been disasters and be ready to intervene - sort Turkey out because no other country can - annoy the EU by meddling in Cyprus and the Balkans - pray that Trump is not elected President - go to America and try and persuade them that the UK is still sane - DFID is your friend - don't fall out with Liam and David - remember you are important. Or remember to pretend that you are.
Mr. SE, that sounds a bit odd given how pro-EU Farron has been.
Edited extra bit: Mr. M, souring relations does sound horrendous (although the notion anyone could best my all-seeing octo-lemur or my elite enormo-haddock bodyguards is clearly madness).
I'm assuming that since it's widely asserted that many Corbynistas are middle class ponces, the £25 membership thing won't make a fig's worth of difference to the vote.
''Mr. M, maybe. But wouldn't the top priority be topping Erdogan? ''
Why this man is so popular in Turkey is a mystery to me. Don;t they want prosperity, progress, equality, etc??
I'm sure they want prosperity and a version of progress, as they see it at the least. Erdogan doesn't seem a subtle sort, his goals seem clear, and he keeps getting freely elected - so it would seem he is what the people of Turkey want.
@PickardJE: Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is returning to the Liberal Democrat front bench as the party’s European Union spokesperson.
Honestly, I like Clegg, but what is the point of that? Are they expecting in the event of a downturn in fortunes there will be a mass realisation that he was right all along about everything, and so be in a good place to attract votes? In my experience, when people are wrong, they don't end up thanking the person who told them in the first place.
A Moroccan man has just stabbed an eight year old girl, her two sisters and their mother at a French Alps holiday resort. He wasn't happy with the way they were dressed.
Nuts.
These random attacks by individual Islamists are going to do more damage to community relations and cause more grief for individual Muslims than the big attacks by some AQ mastermind.
Sean T won't be the only one.
This is what I fear. I'll be fine tho I can go to Dubai etc other Muslims not so much....
Remember - Islam has nothing to do with Islam!
Do u plan in posting anything meaningful or just be like Scott_and paste?
Methinks Labour moans too much. IPSOS Mori poll last week Cons 36, Labour 35, Lib Dems 11 and UKIP 8. Labour percentage up on the 2015 result, would give them more seats. They might be better advised to get on with it and stop reading the media.
and Ed Miliband is PM.
Did we not all learn this lesson hard just a while ago?
Corbyn cannot win a GE, neither can Eagle.. its a question of least worst and that's Eagle.. Cant stand her shrill voice personally, but at least she isn't bonkers like Corbyn
Corbyn isn't bonkers. Or hard left. Or half the things people say he is. But the list of things he isn't also includes a leader and collegiate and competent. Its Corbyn's supporters who are bonkers.
I don't think Eagle would do the job half as well as Owen Smith - she is of a generation tainted by the touch of Blair. So if she becomes the "unity" candidate it gets all that much harder.
If Corbyn isn't 'hard left', who is? There's 30 years of history to be put to those who claim he's really just a misunderstood moderate.
Or the present, where he's passively colluding with the entryism that's both bolstering his own position and creating an intimidating atmosphere for those who are half-sensible.
Mr. kle4, elected, yes. Not 'freely'. Democracy requires more than just votes, it requires the absence of the state taking over or closing independent media, and the absence of arresting people with the temerity to disagree.
''Mr. M, maybe. But wouldn't the top priority be topping Erdogan? '' Why this man is so popular in Turkey is a mystery to me. Don;t they want prosperity, progress, equality, etc??
Deconstructing kemalism and reconstructing islamism.
Disclosure: this is all the fault of the author's godfather
Fine as far as it goes, though as you say optimistic even in that aspect. What he fails to consider is what then happens in elections, with the two parties standing against each other.
Her interests include: - 'Justice/law policy type. Also feminism & Labour.- Big fan of Twitter debates, held reasonably. Pizza is my constant torment.'
Mr. kle4, elected, yes. Not 'freely'. Democracy requires more than just votes, it requires the absence of the state taking over or closing independent media, and the absence of arresting people with the temerity to disagree.
He won elections before he started doing that. And he'd probably win if he never had. The Turkish military seems to have a history of coups because the people keep electing the wrong people. Well, they did it again, and apparently will keep on doing it. Erdogan is therefore a problem, but not really the main one.
The trouble with claiming there was no coup is... you know... that there was! And it was pretty obvious.... widely reported in papers, organized mass-resignation, attempt to keep Corbyn off the ballot etc.
That doesn't make it illegitimate.
You're right it doesn't. But it does make it tricky to argue that it was Corbyn who trashed the big tent...
Not if he did it first.
If he did what first?
My understanding is that Corbyn heard Benn was organizing a coup/plot/movement against him. They spoke and Benn admitted this and said he had lost faith in him. Corbyn fired Benn. Then half the shadow cabinet resigned.
In what world is that Jeremy Corbyn abandoning the big tent? Should he have said- well I understand that you have no confidence in me- but I'd really rather like you to stay!? Benn has said on tv he understands why he was fired.
I'm not saying they're wrong to trigger a leadership election. I'm not saying I would vote for Corbyn again. But to suggest that Corbyn has instigated this leadership election?
Maybe I've misunderstood...
Corbyn abandoned the big tent long before the Benn plot. His behaviour over the Syria debate last year was the start of it; the revenge attacks that came after offering a 'free vote'.
@PickardJE: Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is returning to the Liberal Democrat front bench as the party’s European Union spokesperson.
Perhaps Clegg can make some sense out of the Lib Dem leaders intention to re-join the EU after Brexit.
The EU looks grim at the moment no denying it. But it isn't doomed to be this way forever. There may come a time when joining the Euro makes economic sense. Until recently the Lib Dems still supported euro membership, so rejoining as a warts-and-all member wouldn't be a problem for them.
Realistically I don't think this is a long-term policy. Come recession or not, once we leave the EU it would be decades before we would think to rejoin, and centuries before the EU would trust us enough to let us back in!!
I wonder how many relatively moderate Labour MPs may look at seats they have recently taken off the Lib Dems and conclude that a rosette switch might prove wise where the Lib Dems were still functioning and able to put up a good showing.
There really aren't very many seats in that category though. Cambridge, Brent Central, Hornsey and Wood Green, that Leicester seat the LDs took in a by election... struggling to think of any others...
Burnley is the 2nd most vulnerable ex LD seat and needs a bit over 4% swing
LDs are in a bad place. Even if they get a 5% swing against the tories they win back only 10 seats on UNS. And they won't get a 5% swing...
If swings involving the LibDems were uniform, they wouldn't have won those seats in the first place.
That is a fair point.
But boundary changes (if the election is 2020) will screw up their local organisation and they will be starting again in building up a local activist base etc
And I stand by my assertion that the LDs are in a bad place :-)
Ministers have a civil service to support them and an opposition, backbenchers and select committees (and ministerial colleagues) to hold them to account. If they're not up to it, they'll get found out.
Darling might have had little direct experience of economics but he'd had 10 years' experience of running government departments, which is at least as relevant.
Mr. Herdson, I'll be brief, not least because Herself is due home any moment and that will cut my posting time short. So I'll skip the arguments, especially over the so called checks and balances that you mention, but which, in my experience, often do not actually work, and cut to the chase.
A directly elected PM, who can appoint whoever he/she wants to a cabinet/ministerial post, all of who are answerable to parliament (via the bar of the houses) and the Crown.
So the US constitution with a couple of tweaks then?
Or a French Constitution with a couple of tweaks. Take your pick. However, we would only be electing a head of government not a Head of State, some big differences in those tweaks.
Disclosure: this is all the fault of the author's godfather
Fine as far as it goes, though as you say optimistic even in that aspect. What he fails to consider is what then happens in elections, with the two parties standing against each other.
Mr. kle4, elected, yes. Not 'freely'. Democracy requires more than just votes, it requires the absence of the state taking over or closing independent media, and the absence of arresting people with the temerity to disagree.
He won elections before he started doing that. And he'd probably win if he never had. The Turkish military seems to have a history of coups because the people keep electing the wrong people. Well, they did it again, and apparently will keep on doing it. Erdogan is therefore a problem, but not really the main one.
I suspect Erdogan could be the main problem. Any attack on democracy must be resisted,but it's not clear who is initiating the coup against whom in this case.
@PickardJE: Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is returning to the Liberal Democrat front bench as the party’s European Union spokesperson.
Perhaps Clegg can make some sense out of the Lib Dem leaders intention to re-join the EU after Brexit.
Come recession or not, once we leave the EU it would be decades before we would think to rejoin, and centuries before the EU would trust us enough to let us back in!!
Indeed - it's a hard path the LDs are going for, with no guarantee of success either at home with the electorate or with the EU, but it does make sense for them to try it.
There is a passionate if somewhat naive article in today's Indy that illustrates the Perspective of a new pro-Corbyn member and her frustration with the fixing attempts by the MPs
So, in summary, when we all thought that nothing on this earth could be devised to make Labour's situation worse, it looks as though the 'moderates' might have found a way: resign on mass from the Shadow cabinet and hold a motion in which a large majority of MPs express no confidence in the leader in the hope of dislodging him, fail to dislodge him leaving the PLP at war with the party, spend weeks dithering about it whilst the Conservative Party chooses a new leader and unites in double-quick time, finally decide they need a unity candidate to challenge Corbyn, squabble over who the unity candidate should be eventually putting forward two unity candidates both of whom are duffers, in the meantime transparently try to rig the rules so Corbyn can't stand, ignominiously fail to rig the rules so Corbyn can't stand, end up with a bizarre mess on who is qualified to vote in the contest, fail to bring the unions with them - all this working towards the grand finale of Corbyn being re-selected and the party even more disunited and chaotic than it was to start with.
Mr. kle4, elected, yes. Not 'freely'. Democracy requires more than just votes, it requires the absence of the state taking over or closing independent media, and the absence of arresting people with the temerity to disagree.
Yes - democracy is more than the mechanics of how governments are chosen. It is a state of mind, a belief that there is a difference between the state and society and a difference between the government and the state, a belief that it is legitimate to disagree and that laws are man-made and can be changed, an understanding that governments need to be held to account by the opposition and by other social / cultural centres of power (e.g the press) and by a belief that governments are subject to the rule of law and not merely the source of it and that therefore the law and the judiciary play a crucial role.
How far Erdogan believes all this who can say. But it's not looking great, based on what appears to be coming out of Turkey.
Corbyn cannot win a GE, neither can Eagle.. its a question of least worst and that's Eagle.. Cant stand her shrill voice personally, but at least she isn't bonkers like Corbyn
Corbyn isn't bonkers. Or hard left. Or half the things people say he is. But the list of things he isn't also includes a leader and collegiate and competent. Its Corbyn's supporters who are bonkers.
I don't think Eagle would do the job half as well as Owen Smith - she is of a generation tainted by the touch of Blair. So if she becomes the "unity" candidate it gets all that much harder.
If Corbyn isn't 'hard left', who is? There's 30 years of history to be put to those who claim he's really just a misunderstood moderate.
Or the present, where he's passively colluding with the entryism that's both bolstering his own position and creating an intimidating atmosphere for those who are half-sensible.
Corbyn sees politics as issues. Many of which I agree with and I don't see myself as at all left wing. eg the Diego Garcia Islanders got a bad deal; the world would be better for more allotments; Trident is a waste of money.
The problem is he doesn't have policies. I mean a programme of practical actions that inspires people, that they can get behind and which can realistically be done. Nor does he actually lead people in a coherent and competent way.
So there you have it: a politician without policies and a leader that doesn't lead.
@PickardJE: Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is returning to the Liberal Democrat front bench as the party’s European Union spokesperson.
Perhaps Clegg can make some sense out of the Lib Dem leaders intention to re-join the EU after Brexit.
Come recession or not, once we leave the EU it would be decades before we would think to rejoin, and centuries before the EU would trust us enough to let us back in!!
Indeed - it's a hard path the LDs are going for, with no guarantee of success either at home with the electorate or with the EU, but it does make sense for them to try it.
So, in summary, when we all thought that nothing on this earth could be devised to make Labour's situation worse, it looks as though the 'moderates' might have found a way: resign on mass from the Shadow cabinet and hold a motion in which a large majority of MPs express no confidence in the leader in the hope of dislodging him, fail to dislodge him leaving the PLP at war with the party, spend weeks dithering about it whilst the Conservative Party chooses a new leader and unites in double-quick time, finally decide they need a unity candidate to challenge Corbyn, squabble over who the unity candidate should be eventually putting forward two unity candidates both of whom are duffers, in the meantime transparently try to rig the rules so Corbyn can't stand, ignominiously fail to rig the rules so Corbyn can't stand, end up with a bizarre mess on who is qualified to vote in the contest, fail to bring the unions with them - all this working towards the grand finale of Corbyn being re-selected and the party even more disunited and chaotic than it was to start with.
Have I missed anything?
Mandatory reselection.
...and imminent de-selections of non-Jeremy acolytes...
The trouble with claiming there was no coup is... you know... that there was! And it was pretty obvious.... widely reported in papers, organized mass-resignation, attempt to keep Corbyn off the ballot etc.
That doesn't make it illegitimate.
You're right it doesn't. But it does make it tricky to argue that it was Corbyn who trashed the big tent...
Not if he did it first.
If he did what first?
My understanding is that Corbyn heard Benn was organizing a coup/plot/movement against him. They spoke and Benn admitted this and said he had lost faith in him. Corbyn fired Benn. Then half the shadow cabinet resigned.
In what world is that Jeremy Corbyn abandoning the big tent? Should he have said- well I understand that you have no confidence in me- but I'd really rather like you to stay!? Benn has said on tv he understands why he was fired.
I'm not saying they're wrong to trigger a leadership election. I'm not saying I would vote for Corbyn again. But to suggest that Corbyn has instigated this leadership election?
Maybe I've misunderstood...
Corbyn abandoned the big tent long before the Benn plot. His behaviour over the Syria debate last year was the start of it; the revenge attacks that came after offering a 'free vote'.
You see allowing a free vote as evidence that he abandoned a big tent approach? I'm sure he didn't want a free vote... but he conceded it when he saw the strength of opposition to his position.
He then condemned the attacks made on MPs who voted the other way on Syria. Sorry but you're not convincing me at all that Corbyn abandoned this big tent approach. Why would he? It was probably his only hope of doing well.
As an aside- I think all votes to go to war/for military action should be free votes. Otherwise you are effectively saying- I want to pressure people who think are in favour/against a war to vote a different way out of party loyalty and a hope of a better job.
I think we can guess at why house prices are a problem. ttps://twitter.com/montie/status/755413874975903744
Has Monty considered that the worst recession in our lifetime may have had something to do with that?
Also there's only so much of London &SE that is still OK to build on once you've excluded the Green Belt.
My local town is still the same size as it was during the 80s when I was growing up despite huge population increase. It hasn't seen anything like the expansion and development that occurred in the 60s and 70s, probably due to nimbyism.
To be honest, most towns could expand onto the next row of farmers fields around their fringes and provide hundreds of new decent homes in so doing.
Mr. Tonda, the EU may crumble into dust before it 'makes sense'* to join the single currency.
*I don't foresee any circumstances where it's sensible to give foreign powers the ability to set our interest rates. It's just mad.
I suppose the whole point of the EU is that those setting the interest rates are not a foreign power but the EU government. The nation state is no more - other than as a description of a geographical area where a particular language is spoken. Isn't that what "ever closer union" ultimately means?
Corbyn cannot win a GE, neither can Eagle.. its a question of least worst and that's Eagle.. Cant stand her shrill voice personally, but at least she isn't bonkers like Corbyn
Corbyn isn't bonkers. Or hard left. Or half the things people say he is. But the list of things he isn't also includes a leader and collegiate and competent. Its Corbyn's supporters who are bonkers.
I don't think Eagle would do the job half as well as Owen Smith - she is of a generation tainted by the touch of Blair. So if she becomes the "unity" candidate it gets all that much harder.
If Corbyn isn't 'hard left', who is? There's 30 years of history to be put to those who claim he's really just a misunderstood moderate.
Or the present, where he's passively colluding with the entryism that's both bolstering his own position and creating an intimidating atmosphere for those who are half-sensible.
Corbyn sees politics as issues. Many of which I agree with and I don't see myself as at all left wing. eg the Diego Garcia Islanders got a bad deal; the world would be better for more allotments; I'm not keen on Trident.
The problem is he doesn't have policies. I mean a programme of practical actions that inspires people, that they can get behind and which can realistically be done. Nor does he actually lead people in a coherent and competent wau.
So there you have it: a politician without policies and a leader that doesn't lead.
Corbyn's style of class-struggle "workers! rise up against your oppressors" type of politics isn't relevant to the UK in the 21st century. Hence why he is so eager to go round the world looking for places where his political perspective still has some relevance. This is so much easier for him than adapting his outlook to the modern world.
Corbyn cannot win a GE, neither can Eagle.. its a question of least worst and that's Eagle.. Cant stand her shrill voice personally, but at least she isn't bonkers like Corbyn
Corbyn isn't bonkers. Or hard left. Or half the things people say he is. But the list of things he isn't also includes a leader and collegiate and competent. Its Corbyn's supporters who are bonkers.
I don't think Eagle would do the job half as well as Owen Smith - she is of a generation tainted by the touch of Blair. So if she becomes the "unity" candidate it gets all that much harder.
If Corbyn isn't 'hard left', who is? There's 30 years of history to be put to those who claim he's really just a misunderstood moderate.
Or the present, where he's passively colluding with the entryism that's both bolstering his own position and creating an intimidating atmosphere for those who are half-sensible.
Corbyn sees politics as issues. Many of which I agree with and I don't see myself as at all left wing. eg the Diego Garcia Islanders got a bad deal; the world would be better for more allotments; I'm not keen on Trident.
The problem is he doesn't have policies. I mean a programme of practical actions that inspires people, that they can get behind and which can realistically be done. Nor does he actually lead people in a coherent and competent wau.
So there you have it: a politician without policies and a leader that doesn't lead.
If you believe that it is through mass protest that the path to power lies you don't need policies you need slogans and push points. Corbyn is so classicly of the hard left he is a walking talking cliché.
Mr. Tonda, the EU may crumble into dust before it 'makes sense'* to join the single currency.
*I don't foresee any circumstances where it's sensible to give foreign powers the ability to set our interest rates. It's just mad.
I suppose the whole point of the EU is that those setting the interest rates are not a foreign power but the EU government. The nation state is no more - other than as a description of a geographical area where a particular language is spoken. Isn't that what "ever closer union" ultimately means?
I think we can guess at why house prices are a problem. ttps://twitter.com/montie/status/755413874975903744
Has Monty considered that the worst recession in our lifetime may have had something to do with that?
Also there's only so much of London &SE that is still OK to build on once you've excluded the Green Belt.
My local town is still the same size as it was during the 80s when I was growing up despite huge population increase. It hasn't seen anything like the expansion and development that occurred in the 60s and 70s, probably due to nimbyism.
To be honest, most towns could expand onto the next row of farmers fields around their fringes and provide hundreds of new decent homes in so doing.
Thousands. But no, houses should always be built 'someplace else', usually on brownfield sites, which are the housing equivalent of banker's bonuses or the international development budget - to opponents, it seems that you can fund everything just by taking away those few things, and can meet all demand just by building on brownfield.
I think we can guess at why house prices are a problem. ttps://twitter.com/montie/status/755413874975903744
Has Monty considered that the worst recession in our lifetime may have had something to do with that?
Also there's only so much of London &SE that is still OK to build on once you've excluded the Green Belt.
My local town is still the same size as it was during the 80s when I was growing up despite huge population increase. It hasn't seen anything like the expansion and development that occurred in the 60s and 70s, probably due to nimbyism.
To be honest, most towns could expand onto the next row of farmers fields around their fringes and provide hundreds of new decent homes in so doing.
People don't want to live in the provinces though. There are ~90k people in all of Monmouthshire. Bags of room for new houses. Not that much demand. House price inflation is running at ~3%.
Saw this at Captain Capitalism blog (via Instapundit):
And then there’s leftist religions.
Like a zealot or religious fanatic, leftist fanatics worship and use their made-up religions to fill the hole of nothingness that is otherwise known as their life. This is why you NEVER see the captain of the football team with a 3.8GPA join the “anarchist/marxist/minarchist” trench-coat wearing, movie-theater-shooting, nerd crowd. Or the studious Asian engineering major block the interstate near campus. They have lives. They have meaning. They have purpose. They have agency. They have value to the rest of society.
But again, those things require work, effort, rigor, math, and intellectual honesty.
Ergo, why do all that hard stuff when you can just claim a religion?
You’re a feminist! You’re going green! You eat only organic/non-GMO/gluten-free/whateverthefrickthey’llcomeupwithnextweek! You’re fighting racism! You’re helping the poor! You’re a pacifist! You have a ADDHDHHDH Autism or Aspergers are bi-polar or whatever you want to tell yourself.
You can claim allegiance to any one of an increasing number of bogus leftist religions and simply wear that trait on your sleeve like a badge of honor. And the best thing about it, so AWESOME in fact that leftists masturbate to it, is…
you didn’t have to expend one calorie of energy on work to get it. You simply “declared” you had this trait or believed this religion. And now, not only does your worthless life have faux-worth. You are a more intelligent, superior person to those troglodytes who don’t understand “intersectionality.”
This seems to me to sum up Corbyn and his band of wankers to a tee.
Mr. kle4, elected, yes. Not 'freely'. Democracy requires more than just votes, it requires the absence of the state taking over or closing independent media, and the absence of arresting people with the temerity to disagree.
He won elections before he started doing that. And he'd probably win if he never had. The Turkish military seems to have a history of coups because the people keep electing the wrong people. Well, they did it again, and apparently will keep on doing it. Erdogan is therefore a problem, but not really the main one.
I suspect Erdogan could be the main problem. Any attack on democracy must be resisted,but it's not clear who is initiating the coup against whom in this case.
"Any attack on democracy must be resisted" What everywhere in every circumstances? I can think of one country I have lived in, which was and still is very much not a democracy, though there were mechanisms to give "the little people" a voice (probably better than in the UK), and yet the ruler was genuinely popular, the GDP/per head has consistently grown over 40 odd years and the wealth and welfare of the native peoples was the prime goal of government, after ensuring the safety of the state.
Actually universal suffrage democracy may not actually be the ideal solution.
I think we can guess at why house prices are a problem. ttps://twitter.com/montie/status/755413874975903744
Has Monty considered that the worst recession in our lifetime may have had something to do with that?
Also there's only so much of London &SE that is still OK to build on once you've excluded the Green Belt.
My local town is still the same size as it was during the 80s when I was growing up despite huge population increase. It hasn't seen anything like the expansion and development that occurred in the 60s and 70s, probably due to nimbyism.
To be honest, most towns could expand onto the next row of farmers fields around their fringes and provide hundreds of new decent homes in so doing.
Thousands. But no, houses should always be built 'someplace else', usually on brownfield sites, which are the housing equivalent of banker's bonuses or the international development budget - to opponents, it seems that you can fund everything just by taking away those few things, and can meet all demand just by building on brownfield.
What always surprises me is the number of people who, despite all evidence, still support localism. It is clear that absolutely nothing good ever comes from localism, the tiny number of people who actual vote in local elections are almost wholly consumed with Nimbyism.
Mr. Tonda, the EU may crumble into dust before it 'makes sense'* to join the single currency.
*I don't foresee any circumstances where it's sensible to give foreign powers the ability to set our interest rates. It's just mad.
The nation state is no more - other than as a description of a geographical area where a particular language is spoken.
They'll have to adjust my favourite map of an equal population split EU (though Carpathia has been questioned as how it meets the population requirement)
I wonder how many relatively moderate Labour MPs may look at seats they have recently taken off the Lib Dems and conclude that a rosette switch might prove wise where the Lib Dems were still functioning and able to put up a good showing.
There really aren't very many seats in that category though. Cambridge, Brent Central, Hornsey and Wood Green, that Leicester seat the LDs took in a by election... struggling to think of any others...
Burnley is the 2nd most vulnerable ex LD seat and needs a bit over 4% swing
LDs are in a bad place. Even if they get a 5% swing against the tories they win back only 10 seats on UNS. And they won't get a 5% swing...
It's worse than that, in that the boundary revisions remove a couple of seats.
The only good news for the LibDems is that if the Holyrood elections got repeated, the LibDems would regain Edinburgh West from the SNP and would be 50/50 retake their Fife seat.
Mr. Tonda, the EU may crumble into dust before it 'makes sense'* to join the single currency.
*I don't foresee any circumstances where it's sensible to give foreign powers the ability to set our interest rates. It's just mad.
I suppose the whole point of the EU is that those setting the interest rates are not a foreign power but the EU government. The nation state is no more - other than as a description of a geographical area where a particular language is spoken. Isn't that what "ever closer union" ultimately means?
Anyway all academic for us now.
If you go to the US you find that most people are passionately 'nationalistic' about their own state, and if you dig a bit into politics there you will find that the majority of issues that affect the everyday lives of Americans are decided at state, or more local, level.
It was never unrealistic to see Europe heading in the same direction. Certainly, they haven't gone about it in the most sensible way and, arguably, the single currency was introduced way ahead of many of the other changes that were needed first. I think they thought that the Euro would 'jump-start' the other aspects of a federal Europe whereas, once the 2008 crisis hit, it has actually exacerbated the divisions and tensions within the EU.
Anyhow, as far as we are concerned, what is done is done. If the EU falls apart, as UKIP hopes, we can be pretty sure that the UK won't escape the fallout, in or out. If it holds together and becomes more federal, we will for the first time in our history be deprived of any influence over how events pan out on the other side of the Channel.
"The change campaign needs two strands: the promotion of the values and leadership skills of whoever emerges as unity candidate and the exposure of Corbyn’s incompetence and failure as a leader by those who worked for him and gave up in despair."
hy.
It seems to me that post-1989 - other than the execrable Third Way - there has been no serious thinking on the social democratic left about what it should be about in a world where socialism/communism has effectively been defeated. That total gap where thought should be has meant that, other than spending tax revenues paid by bankers (and that particular golden goose is not really an option in the way that it was), the only thing on the Labour menu is a version of reheated socialism peddled by people like Corbyn and Milne coupled with some post-colonial sucking up to oppressed non-white people.
The Left has got out of the habit of thinking about ideas and it needs to relearn the habit, fast. I could provide them with a reading list, if that would help. In fact, if I can be bothered, I may even try and come up with some ideas for them. They certainly need all the help they can get.
There are so many obvious things. Our education system condemns millions of our fellow citizens to a life of relative poverty whilst the privately educated become ever more dominant in our public life. Even half of the pop stars had the advantage of being taught music at private school these days. But it is Gove that took up that chalice, not Labour.
We have a situation where wage differentials grow ever more obscene and we don't have a party willing to make the case for more distributive taxes.
We have an economy which is ever more focussed on London. Recent trips on holiday around southern England including a visit to Bluewater are a revelation. There is plenty of wealth in this country but it is becoming ever more focussed in terms of class and geography. Surely a centre left party could find plenty to chew on in this.
Mr. L., With full respect it is not only Labour that needs to have a rethink about wealth distribution and ownership. From time to time we see, on here, firm adherents of the Conservative Party, very gently, acknowledging this.
At some stage, I suspect in the not too distant future now that we have dumped the chumocracy, thinking about ownership, responsibility and distribution will become mainstream topics.
I agree. Southern England is now an entirely different country with little in common with the rest of us.
I think we can guess at why house prices are a problem. ttps://twitter.com/montie/status/755413874975903744
Has Monty considered that the worst recession in our lifetime may have had something to do with that?
Also there's only so much of London &SE that is still OK to build on once you've excluded the Green Belt.
My local town is still the same size as it was during the 80s when I was growing up despite huge population increase. It hasn't seen anything like the expansion and development that occurred in the 60s and 70s, probably due to nimbyism.
To be honest, most towns could expand onto the next row of farmers fields around their fringes and provide hundreds of new decent homes in so doing.
Thousands. But no, houses should always be built 'someplace else', usually on brownfield sites, which are the housing equivalent of banker's bonuses or the international development budget - to opponents, it seems that you can fund everything just by taking away those few things, and can meet all demand just by building on brownfield.
Yes, the people living on the outskirts of towns (next to open countryside) are also the least likely to be happy with other development or buildings around them, and that's exactly why they bought a property there.
They will also tend to be wealthier, more educated and more influential too.
I think we can guess at why house prices are a problem. ttps://twitter.com/montie/status/755413874975903744
Has Monty considered that the worst recession in our lifetime may have had something to do with that?
Also there's only so much of London &SE that is still OK to build on once you've excluded the Green Belt.
My local town is still the same size as it was during the 80s when I was growing up despite huge population increase. It hasn't seen anything like the expansion and development that occurred in the 60s and 70s, probably due to nimbyism.
To be honest, most towns could expand onto the next row of farmers fields around their fringes and provide hundreds of new decent homes in so doing.
People don't want to live in the provinces though. There are ~90k people in all of Monmouthshire. Bags of room for new houses. Not that much demand. House price inflation is running at ~3%.
Comments
Mr. Rabbit, few with so much power, though.
Well, that's disconcerting. Are they technically US weapons?
Edited extra bit: cheers, Mr. M [regarding nukes].
Why this man is so popular in Turkey is a mystery to me. Don;t they want prosperity, progress, equality, etc??
@PolhomeEditor: I'm told that suggestions there will be a unity candidate to take on Corbyn by 5pm today are "absolute rubbish".
I know it can be done (Erdogan himself has shut down Twitter in Turkey for a time), just wondering about the practicalities of doing it.
Mr. Taffys, as well as appealing to the more religious types, it sounds like he's been spraying money their way.
Glad to hear Eagle won't be backing out.
Please, SO, I shouldn't have to keep explaining these things to you. I hope I've got the slightly deranged tone about right. Feedback welcome. Fuck, it really is hot.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/what-would-happen-if-labour-splits-a7144666.html
Disclosure: this is all the fault of the author's godfather
- go abroad a lot, they will like you
- keep quiet about your budget having been cut less than most
- forget that our past interventions have been disasters and be ready to intervene
- sort Turkey out because no other country can
- annoy the EU by meddling in Cyprus and the Balkans
- pray that Trump is not elected President
- go to America and try and persuade them that the UK is still sane
- DFID is your friend
- don't fall out with Liam and David
- remember you are important. Or remember to pretend that you are.
Edited extra bit: Mr. M, souring relations does sound horrendous (although the notion anyone could best my all-seeing octo-lemur or my elite enormo-haddock bodyguards is clearly madness).
But he does know about Europe.
I'm assuming that since it's widely asserted that many Corbynistas are middle class ponces, the £25 membership thing won't make a fig's worth of difference to the vote.
https://twitter.com/EllieCumbo/status/755400992380821506
Bad News! We're going to get reamed by the Tories
Not always a joke regrettably.
When did we start having more than one april fool's day? That's ok, if that happens, no doubt there will be another leadership contest, and another collection of funds to rebuild!
Did we not all learn this lesson hard just a while ago?
Or the present, where he's passively colluding with the entryism that's both bolstering his own position and creating an intimidating atmosphere for those who are half-sensible.
Such a culturally rich country too - very sad
In other words a total air head.
Realistically I don't think this is a long-term policy. Come recession or not, once we leave the EU it would be decades before we would think to rejoin, and centuries before the EU would trust us enough to let us back in!!
But boundary changes (if the election is 2020) will screw up their local organisation and they will be starting again in building up a local activist base etc
And I stand by my assertion that the LDs are in a bad place :-)
https://twitter.com/montie/status/755413874975903744
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeremy-corbyns-labour-party-entryist-supporters-are-not-a-threat-a7142876.html
Mr. Pulpstar, the rot set in when Byzantium fell. Bloody Fourth Crusade.
To be honest, I can't see any potential use for B-61s other than to fall prey to terrorists or rogue governments.
*I don't foresee any circumstances where it's sensible to give foreign powers the ability to set our interest rates. It's just mad.
How far Erdogan believes all this who can say. But it's not looking great, based on what appears to be coming out of Turkey.
The problem is he doesn't have policies. I mean a programme of practical actions that inspires people, that they can get behind and which can realistically be done. Nor does he actually lead people in a coherent and competent way.
So there you have it: a politician without policies and a leader that doesn't lead.
(Maximum Brexit 15%,
Nothing Happens 30%
Non-Brexit Brexit 55%)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3_I2rfApYk
I'm sure he didn't want a free vote... but he conceded it when he saw the strength of opposition to his position.
He then condemned the attacks made on MPs who voted the other way on Syria.
Sorry but you're not convincing me at all that Corbyn abandoned this big tent approach. Why would he? It was probably his only hope of doing well.
As an aside- I think all votes to go to war/for military action should be free votes. Otherwise you are effectively saying- I want to pressure people who think are in favour/against a war to vote a different way out of party loyalty and a hope of a better job.
To be honest, most towns could expand onto the next row of farmers fields around their fringes and provide hundreds of new decent homes in so doing.
Anyway all academic for us now.
No champagne for me until we're actually out.
And then there’s leftist religions.
Like a zealot or religious fanatic, leftist fanatics worship and use their made-up religions to fill the hole of nothingness that is otherwise known as their life. This is why you NEVER see the captain of the football team with a 3.8GPA join the “anarchist/marxist/minarchist” trench-coat wearing, movie-theater-shooting, nerd crowd. Or the studious Asian engineering major block the interstate near campus. They have lives. They have meaning. They have purpose. They have agency. They have value to the rest of society.
But again, those things require work, effort, rigor, math, and intellectual honesty.
Ergo, why do all that hard stuff when you can just claim a religion?
You’re a feminist!
You’re going green!
You eat only organic/non-GMO/gluten-free/whateverthefrickthey’llcomeupwithnextweek!
You’re fighting racism!
You’re helping the poor!
You’re a pacifist!
You have a ADDHDHHDH Autism or Aspergers are bi-polar or whatever you want to tell yourself.
You can claim allegiance to any one of an increasing number of bogus leftist religions and simply wear that trait on your sleeve like a badge of honor. And the best thing about it, so AWESOME in fact that leftists masturbate to it, is…
you didn’t have to expend one calorie of energy on work to get it. You simply “declared” you had this trait or believed this religion. And now, not only does your worthless life have faux-worth. You are a more intelligent, superior person to those troglodytes who don’t understand “intersectionality.”
This seems to me to sum up Corbyn and his band of wankers to a tee.
Actually universal suffrage democracy may not actually be the ideal solution.
http://brilliantmaps.com/eu-28-equal/
Well, I shan't be popping corks whatever happens, but I'll believe we're out when we're out.
The only good news for the LibDems is that if the Holyrood elections got repeated, the LibDems would regain Edinburgh West from the SNP and would be 50/50 retake their Fife seat.
It was never unrealistic to see Europe heading in the same direction. Certainly, they haven't gone about it in the most sensible way and, arguably, the single currency was introduced way ahead of many of the other changes that were needed first. I think they thought that the Euro would 'jump-start' the other aspects of a federal Europe whereas, once the 2008 crisis hit, it has actually exacerbated the divisions and tensions within the EU.
Anyhow, as far as we are concerned, what is done is done. If the EU falls apart, as UKIP hopes, we can be pretty sure that the UK won't escape the fallout, in or out. If it holds together and becomes more federal, we will for the first time in our history be deprived of any influence over how events pan out on the other side of the Channel.
They will also tend to be wealthier, more educated and more influential too.