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  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    edited January 2020
    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    kicorse said:

    I apologise for contributing to the longevity of the reaction. Unfortunately it was new to me, and I didn't know how much people had been going on about it.

    No problem at all. But, yes, they have been "going on about it" forever. Whenever Pidcock is mentioned that remark of hers - "I won't be friends with a tory" - crops up with the same inevitability as the featured couple on Escape To The Country saying that they don't want a separate dining room ,they want a large kitchen diner which will be the "heart of the home" where everyone can sit and chat.
    Or indeed The Sainted Margaret's no such thing as society quote taken out of context as it usually is by leftist types; I'm delighted we can put that behind us and no longer use it to prove any kind of point.
    What context was it it taken out of as a matter of interest?
    “they never quoted the rest. I went on to say: There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then to look after our neighbour. My meaning, clear at the time but subsequently distorted beyond recognition, was that society was not an abstraction, separate from the men and women who composed it, but a living structure of individuals, families, neighbours and voluntary associations.“

    https://iea.org.uk/blog/there-is-no-such-thing-as-society
    Yes, she was clearly saying the exact, diametric opposite of what the Left, with spectacular dishonesty, accuse her of having meant. Yet, despite this being incontrovertibly the case, I don't think I have seen a single person apologise for misrepresenting her, or indeed acknowledge that they did so. Instead they keep repeating the lie.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231
    TOPPING said:

    Or indeed The Sainted Margaret's no such thing as society quote taken out of context as it usually is by leftist types; I'm delighted we can put that behind us and no longer use it to prove any kind of point.

    Funnily enough that one sprang to mind. It's not a heinous or ridiculous sentiment, it's just the standard "small state" aspiration of the standard Tory mindset expressed in a striking way. But not so sure about "out of context". The remark can validly be used to attack Thatcher and Toryism without distortion.

    "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours."

    See? It's very very debatable.
  • TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    kicorse said:

    I apologise for contributing to the longevity of the reaction. Unfortunately it was new to me, and I didn't know how much people had been going on about it.

    No problem at all. But, yes, they have been "going on about it" forever. Whenever Pidcock is mentioned that remark of hers - "I won't be friends with a tory" - crops up with the same inevitability as the featured couple on Escape To The Country saying that they don't want a separate dining room ,they want a large kitchen diner which will be the "heart of the home" where everyone can sit and chat.
    Or indeed The Sainted Margaret's no such thing as society quote taken out of context as it usually is by leftist types; I'm delighted we can put that behind us and no longer use it to prove any kind of point.
    What context was it it taken out of as a matter of interest?
    “they never quoted the rest. I went on to say: There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then to look after our neighbour. My meaning, clear at the time but subsequently distorted beyond recognition, was that society was not an abstraction, separate from the men and women who composed it, but a living structure of individuals, families, neighbours and voluntary associations.“

    https://iea.org.uk/blog/there-is-no-such-thing-as-society
    Wd for allowing Magrit some post hoc fudging from beyond the grave.

    'People must look to themselves first' and 'It’s our duty to look after ourselves' are really putting 'And, you know, there's no such thing as society' into context.
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    edited January 2020

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    kicorse said:

    I apologise for contributing to the longevity of the reaction. Unfortunately it was new to me, and I didn't know how much people had been going on about it.

    No problem at all. But, yes, they have been "going on about it" forever. Whenever Pidcock is mentioned that remark of hers - "I won't be friends with a tory" - crops up with the same inevitability as the featured couple on Escape To The Country saying that they don't want a separate dining room ,they want a large kitchen diner which will be the "heart of the home" where everyone can sit and chat.
    Or indeed The Sainted Margaret's no such thing as society quote taken out of context as it usually is by leftist types; I'm delighted we can put that behind us and no longer use it to prove any kind of point.
    What context was it it taken out of as a matter of interest?
    “they never quoted the rest. I went on to say: There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then to look after our neighbour. My meaning, clear at the time but subsequently distorted beyond recognition, was that society was not an abstraction, separate from the men and women who composed it, but a living structure of individuals, families, neighbours and voluntary associations.“

    https://iea.org.uk/blog/there-is-no-such-thing-as-society
    Wd for allowing Magrit some post hoc fudging from beyond the grave.

    'People must look to themselves first' and 'It’s our duty to look after ourselves' are really putting 'And, you know, there's no such thing as society' into context.
    A perfect example of the misrepresentation. I find it staggering that anyone has the gall to be so unambiguously dishonest, when the full text is available for anyone to find.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992
    kinabalu said:

    TOPPING said:

    Or indeed The Sainted Margaret's no such thing as society quote taken out of context as it usually is by leftist types; I'm delighted we can put that behind us and no longer use it to prove any kind of point.

    Funnily enough that one sprang to mind. It's not a heinous or ridiculous sentiment, it's just the standard "small state" aspiration of the standard Tory mindset expressed in a striking way. But not so sure about "out of context". The remark can validly be used to attack Thatcher and Toryism without distortion.

    "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours."

    See? It's very very debatable.
    No it's not. She was saying that the abstract concept of society was just that. Whereas people exist.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231

    Just goes to prove any billionaire loser can fight back against the odds to achieve greatness.

    Warms the cockles....

    A scandal of the highest order. I wonder what Johnson's new friends in the North make of it? Will they say it's just Boris being Boris?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231
    edited January 2020
    TOPPING said:

    No it's not. She was saying that the abstract concept of society was just that. Whereas people exist.

    In which case it is rather banal. Which was unlike her.
  • MJWMJW Posts: 1,728
    What totally wrong-footed Long Bailey I think was the scale of the defeat. The assumption among Corbynistas was that even on a bad night they'd lose at most 20-30 seats and could largely (if wrongly) blame defeat on Brexit, and run a campaign that was largely based on loyalty to Corbyn and support for policies in the manifesto, while only really differentiating on style and criticising indirectly in ways that implicitly placed blame elsewhere - tougher on antisemitism processes, promising to take on the dreaded media better. However, losing 60 seats in the way they did made that approach pretty laughable, even to many Corbyn supporters. Unless you're a fully paid up crank, or genuinely don't care about the risk the party is in existential trouble, you know some pretty big things need to change. Starmer being the early beneficiary being the most ready made and cost free change for floating left-wingers.

    I think Pidcock would likely have been in the same boat. The scale of defeat would've totally undercut her likely message of saying the same things, but louder in the voice of a northern woman and hoping Brexit would fade as an issue.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231
    edited January 2020
    Deleted.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992
    kinabalu said:

    Ooops sorry.

    There is no need to apologise. Many people aren't able to understand the concepts behind the quote and hence take it out of context.
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    edited January 2020
    MJW said:

    What totally wrong-footed Long Bailey I think was the scale of the defeat. The assumption among Corbynistas was that even on a bad night they'd lose at most 20-30 seats and could largely (if wrongly) blame defeat on Brexit, and run a campaign that was largely based on loyalty to Corbyn and support for policies in the manifesto, while only really differentiating on style and criticising indirectly in ways that implicitly placed blame elsewhere - tougher on antisemitism processes, promising to take on the dreaded media better. However, losing 60 seats in the way they did made that approach pretty laughable, even to many Corbyn supporters. Unless you're a fully paid up crank, or genuinely don't care about the risk the party is in existential trouble, you know some pretty big things need to change. Starmer being the early beneficiary being the most ready made and cost free change for floating left-wingers.

    I think Pidcock would likely have been in the same boat. The scale of defeat would've totally undercut her likely message of saying the same things, but louder in the voice of a northern woman and hoping Brexit would fade as an issue.

    That's probably right.

    Mind you, there's still a long way to go. It's a long process and perhaps Momentum and others of a similar persuasion, and RLB herself, will recover their mojo and get organised.
  • kicorsekicorse Posts: 435

    TOPPING said:


    “they never quoted the rest. I went on to say: There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then to look after our neighbour. My meaning, clear at the time but subsequently distorted beyond recognition, was that society was not an abstraction, separate from the men and women who composed it, but a living structure of individuals, families, neighbours and voluntary associations.“

    https://iea.org.uk/blog/there-is-no-such-thing-as-society

    Wd for allowing Magrit some post hoc fudging from beyond the grave.

    'People must look to themselves first' and 'It’s our duty to look after ourselves' are really putting 'And, you know, there's no such thing as society' into context.
    Yeah, that context is fairly consistent with what I always assumed "there's no such thing as society" meant.

    I can see how you could try to spin it as a sort of communitarian "charity begins at home" message, but the phrase "people must look to themselves first" is at best a truism, and is at worst a justification for prioritising a tiny increment in your own wellbeing over a life-and-death issue affecting someone else.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231
    edited January 2020
    TOPPING said:

    There is no need to apologise. Many people aren't able to understand the concepts behind the quote and hence take it out of context.

    Oi! Uncivic technique.

    The concept underlying the quote is the one I described - small state.
  • TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    kicorse said:

    I apologise for contributing to the longevity of the reaction. Unfortunately it was new to me, and I didn't know how much people had been going on about it.

    No problem at all. But, yes, they have been "going on about it" forever. Whenever Pidcock is mentioned that remark of hers - "I won't be friends with a tory" - crops up with the same inevitability as the featured couple on Escape To The Country saying that they don't want a separate dining room ,they want a large kitchen diner which will be the "heart of the home" where everyone can sit and chat.
    Or indeed The Sainted Margaret's no such thing as society quote taken out of context as it usually is by leftist types; I'm delighted we can put that behind us and no longer use it to prove any kind of point.
    What context was it it taken out of as a matter of interest?
    “they never quoted the rest. I went on to say: There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then to look after our neighbour. My meaning, clear at the time but subsequently distorted beyond recognition, was that society was not an abstraction, separate from the men and women who composed it, but a living structure of individuals, families, neighbours and voluntary associations.“

    https://iea.org.uk/blog/there-is-no-such-thing-as-society
    Wd for allowing Magrit some post hoc fudging from beyond the grave.

    'People must look to themselves first' and 'It’s our duty to look after ourselves' are really putting 'And, you know, there's no such thing as society' into context.
    A perfect example of the misrepresentation. I find it staggering that anyone has the gall to be so unambiguously dishonest, when the full text is available for anyone to find.
    I'm perfectly aware of the full quote (below) from where those snippets came, however that wasn't what was offered, instead a mealy mouthed defence from Magrit. 'I know I said that but it didn't come out right, what I really meant was' said no one with zinger of a point ever.

    "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours."
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    edited January 2020
    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    Ooops sorry.

    There is no need to apologise. Many people aren't able to understand the concepts behind the quote and hence take it out of context.
    It's not that they can't understand it, it's that they refuse to understand that she wasn't saying what they insist she must have been saying. (And in almost all cases they haven't actually read the full interview anyway, which of course makes it easier to wilfully misrepresent it).
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,992
    edited January 2020
    kinabalu said:

    TOPPING said:

    There is no need to apologise. Many people aren't able to understand the concepts behind the quote and hence take it out of context.

    Oi! Uncivic technique.

    The concept underlying the quote is the one I described - small state.
    It says precisely nothing about the size of the state.

    Edit: And @Richard_Nabavi QED about people not being able/wanting to understanding it.
  • The next steps of labour leader election.

    14-16 January: Application period for registered supporters.

    15 January - 14 February: Second stage of nominations from Constituency Labour Parties (CLP) and affiliates, including unions.

    20 January: Freeze date for voting eligibility for new members and affiliated supporters.
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    edited January 2020

    I'm perfectly aware of the full quote (below) from where those snippets came, however that wasn't what was offered, instead a mealy mouthed defence from Magrit. 'I know I said that but it didn't come out right, what I really meant was' said no one with zinger of a point ever.

    "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours."

    That is very far from the 'full quote'. The full quote is quite long, so I won't repeat it, but you missed some crucial bits, such as "There is no such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate." - as you will admit, if you are vaguely honest, the exact opposite of what she is accused of saying.

    The full text is here:

    https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689

  • big if.

  • GallowgateGallowgate Posts: 19,468
    Still waiting for my Labour membership card...
  • I'm perfectly aware of the full quote (below) from where those snippets came, however that wasn't what was offered, instead a mealy mouthed defence from Magrit. 'I know I said that but it didn't come out right, what I really meant was' said no one with zinger of a point ever.

    "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours."

    That is very far from the 'full quote'. The full quote is quite long, so I won't repeat it, but you missed some crucial bits, such as "There is no such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate." - as you will admit, if you are vaguely honest, the exact opposite of what she is accused of saying.

    The full text is here:

    https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689

    That's the most awful sugary rubbish, it's hard to discern anything in that gloop. Probably best for all concerned that it hasn't had wider coverage.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609

    That's a lot of stoats that had to die for one weasel.
    "Ermine the money....."

    Except it is just chump-change to Zac.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231
    edited January 2020
    TOPPING said:

    It says precisely nothing about the size of the state.

    It says nothing about very much at all unless you extrapolate to what you think she was driving at. And what EYE think she was driving at is that people are first and foremost responsible for themselves and their families. And also the reverse, that the person most responsible for the welfare of a person and their family is that person. Do not look to "society" for answers to questions, for help with hardship, for solutions to problems. Part of "society" in this context is government. It therefore maps to small state. The only way it doesn't is if all she was really bemoaning is the tendency of a certain type of person to "blame society" for their woes rather than get on their bike and improve their lot. In which case her comment is one of extreme banality. Pub bore talk. Which it might be, but I suspect not, given who we are talking about.
  • CatManCatMan Posts: 3,060
    I see Johnson is still lying about checks between GB & NI.
  • I'm perfectly aware of the full quote (below) from where those snippets came, however that wasn't what was offered, instead a mealy mouthed defence from Magrit. 'I know I said that but it didn't come out right, what I really meant was' said no one with zinger of a point ever.

    "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours."

    That is very far from the 'full quote'. The full quote is quite long, so I won't repeat it, but you missed some crucial bits, such as "There is no such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate." - as you will admit, if you are vaguely honest, the exact opposite of what she is accused of saying.

    The full text is here:

    https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689

    That's the most awful sugary rubbish, it's hard to discern anything in that gloop. Probably best for all concerned that it hasn't had wider coverage.
    How about:

    "There is no such thing as a living tapestry of men and women."
  • I'm perfectly aware of the full quote (below) from where those snippets came, however that wasn't what was offered, instead a mealy mouthed defence from Magrit. 'I know I said that but it didn't come out right, what I really meant was' said no one with zinger of a point ever.

    "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours."

    That is very far from the 'full quote'. The full quote is quite long, so I won't repeat it, but you missed some crucial bits, such as "There is no such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate." - as you will admit, if you are vaguely honest, the exact opposite of what she is accused of saying.

    The full text is here:

    https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689

    That's the most awful sugary rubbish, it's hard to discern anything in that gloop. Probably best for all concerned that it hasn't had wider coverage.
    Well it was an interview with Woman's Own magazine in 1987!
  • kinabalu said:

    Anorak said:

    Removal of a child from their parents and into the loving arms of a state nursery then school seems the logical way to ensure absolute fairness. Not sure that would lead to the most well-adjusted generation, however.

    Given the outrage at the "class war" notion of private schools being not charities, I would give this proposal very little chance indeed.
    Are they really 'private' if they are operated on a not for profit basis?
    The whole concept of the status of charitable organisations historically in law come from the provision of education. The act of teaching was in itself a charitable and noble endeavour.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,038

    On thread, just a moment to think how sick as a parrot Pidcock must be feeling about now....

    *singing*

    "Should have been me........"

    She has the consolation of being able to blame Blair for the loss of her seat.

    Apparently that is what she was hearing on the doorsteps...
  • MJWMJW Posts: 1,728

    MJW said:

    What totally wrong-footed Long Bailey I think was the scale of the defeat. The assumption among Corbynistas was that even on a bad night they'd lose at most 20-30 seats and could largely (if wrongly) blame defeat on Brexit, and run a campaign that was largely based on loyalty to Corbyn and support for policies in the manifesto, while only really differentiating on style and criticising indirectly in ways that implicitly placed blame elsewhere - tougher on antisemitism processes, promising to take on the dreaded media better. However, losing 60 seats in the way they did made that approach pretty laughable, even to many Corbyn supporters. Unless you're a fully paid up crank, or genuinely don't care about the risk the party is in existential trouble, you know some pretty big things need to change. Starmer being the early beneficiary being the most ready made and cost free change for floating left-wingers.

    I think Pidcock would likely have been in the same boat. The scale of defeat would've totally undercut her likely message of saying the same things, but louder in the voice of a northern woman and hoping Brexit would fade as an issue.

    That's probably right.

    Mind you, there's still a long way to go. It's a long process and perhaps Momentum and others of a similar persuasion, and RLB herself, will recover their mojo and get organised.
    Oh yes, certainly. I might even be a buy on Long Bailey given how far she's drifted. But it does mean they will have to regroup and be more creative rather than re-running a version of Corbyn's 2016 campaign of blaming any failures on external factors and the disloyal, sticking hard to Corbynism and attacking rivals as nefarious Blairites only adopting any left-wing rhetoric or positions to trick them. She will have to come up with a pitch that explains how she and her politics differ from his, and what it'll mean next time.

    Just that any candidate from the left would have this issue, including Pidcock if she'd clung on, and probably wouldn't have been able to come flying out of the traps as happened when their control of the party was last under threat.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609

    On thread, just a moment to think how sick as a parrot Pidcock must be feeling about now....

    *singing*

    "Should have been me........"

    She has the consolation of being able to blame Blair for the loss of her seat.

    Apparently that is what she was hearing on the doorsteps...
    A tragic loss to the Conser, er, Labour Party.......
  • Cory Booker withdraws from the Presidential race.

    Not surprising given polling numbers, though I am a bit surprised he never had a moment. His debate performances, when he was making the debates, were solid, and he looked like a credible candidate.

    I wonder if he might yet be on the ticket in November, though. Towards the end, he did look a bit like he was running for VP.
  • Laura Pidcock can take David M's role and be inexplicably 19/1 for the Labour leadership for years, despite not being an MP.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,405
    CatMan said:

    I see Johnson is still lying about checks between GB & NI.

    You see lying - I just see someone who is ignorant / ignoring the details.

    Boris isn't a details person that's for others.
  • kinabalu said:

    Not sure on that one. 21st century socialism sounds as oxymoronic as compassionate fascism.

    Socialism is a highly outdated and discredited creed. It is a word that Labour politicians would best remember was greatly favoured by the team that brought them the worst ever defeat against a highly flawed and divided Tory Party. They should quietly drop it again.

    The single biggest determinant of life outcome is birth circumstances. This has always been true and will forever be true. Of all the roles of government the most important is to enact policy which mitigates against this. Makes it less true than it otherwise would be - even though still true. Such policy to reflect the times we live in not times gone by. This is "socialism" and as such it will never be outdated.
    I was born in a homeless shelter....
    Get the hankies everyone...
  • On thread, just a moment to think how sick as a parrot Pidcock must be feeling about now....

    *singing*

    "Should have been me........"

    She has the consolation of being able to blame Blair for the loss of her seat.

    Apparently that is what she was hearing on the doorsteps...
    What did Blair do ?
  • Cory Booker withdraws from the Presidential race.

    Not surprising given polling numbers, though I am a bit surprised he never had a moment. His debate performances, when he was making the debates, were solid, and he looked like a credible candidate.

    I wonder if he might yet be on the ticket in November, though. Towards the end, he did look a bit like he was running for VP.

    Booker had a lot of establishment endorsements, so be careful about using these as a metric.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,770

    On thread, just a moment to think how sick as a parrot Pidcock must be feeling about now....

    *singing*

    "Should have been me........"

    She has the consolation of being able to blame Blair for the loss of her seat.

    Apparently that is what she was hearing on the doorsteps...
    She was probably mishearing.

    More likely the voters were saying "where the f*ck is Tony Blair?"
  • ralphmalphralphmalph Posts: 2,201
    CatMan said:

    I see Johnson is still lying about checks between GB & NI.

    Why has he lied? He said that there would be no checks NI to GB and minimal checks GB to NI.
  • eek said:

    CatMan said:

    I see Johnson is still lying about checks between GB & NI.

    You see lying - I just see someone who is ignorant / ignoring the details.

    Boris isn't a details person that's for others.
    I suppose he would be telling the truth on this if he in fact intends to submit the UK to full dynamic alignment with the Single Market rules.

    After all, we know he's going to have to shaft some group or other. Perhaps it's the ERG.
  • mattmatt Posts: 3,789
    edited January 2020

    On thread, just a moment to think how sick as a parrot Pidcock must be feeling about now....

    *singing*

    "Should have been me........"

    She has the consolation of being able to blame Blair for the loss of her seat.

    Apparently that is what she was hearing on the doorsteps...
    What did Blair do ?
    Exist.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,405
    edited January 2020

    On thread, just a moment to think how sick as a parrot Pidcock must be feeling about now....

    *singing*

    "Should have been me........"

    She has the consolation of being able to blame Blair for the loss of her seat.

    Apparently that is what she was hearing on the doorsteps...
    What did Blair do ?
    I think a lot of doorstep conversations went I could vote for Blair but can't vote for Corbyn.

    And she took it to mean the exact opposite.
  • CatManCatMan Posts: 3,060

    CatMan said:

    I see Johnson is still lying about checks between GB & NI.

    Why has he lied? He said that there would be no checks NI to GB and minimal checks GB to NI.
    https://twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1216728122583912450?s=20
  • Cory Booker withdraws from the Presidential race.

    Not surprising given polling numbers, though I am a bit surprised he never had a moment. His debate performances, when he was making the debates, were solid, and he looked like a credible candidate.

    I wonder if he might yet be on the ticket in November, though. Towards the end, he did look a bit like he was running for VP.

    Booker had a lot of establishment endorsements, so be careful about using these as a metric.
    He didn't have many at all outside his home state of New Jersey (a big state with a large Democratic establishment). That sort of thing just says there are quite a few people who might benefit from his endorsement in future.

    Similarly, Klobuchar has a fair number of endorsements in Minnesota, but little if any outside.

    I'd not overstate endorsements, but they do potentially help in terms of building organisation for primaries if they are scattered around the country. However, Booker's problem wasn't lack of a healthy number of potential helpers in New Jersey; it was everywhere else.

  • If they win:
    Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no one will care or take heed. Will overtake the cons at some time in the next year, will hold lead and then will trail off, conservatives will bounce back up as future GE called. Success will be measured by halfing tory majority. Will stabilise the ship and act as a second stage to take charge in 2030.
    RLB - Will be even more Corbyn but will get next to no media coverage, labour will just trundle along at 30-35% for most of the parliament and will end up with a result in that range at the GE. Labour will end up in no better place in 2024/5 than now.
    Lady Nugee- will rally her troops in Remania. Will probably through perpetual angry denouncement peg up labour support. Will make good urban gains at the GE and eat into once safe southern seats, will lose even more seats in the north, and lose remaining scottish seats, and do badly in wales
    Nandy - Thought of as nice and pleasant but loses even more northern seats and keeps her own at the next GE with only three figures.
    Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.

    She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.
  • ralphmalphralphmalph Posts: 2,201
    CatMan said:

    CatMan said:

    I see Johnson is still lying about checks between GB & NI.

    Why has he lied? He said that there would be no checks NI to GB and minimal checks GB to NI.
    https://twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1216728122583912450?s=20
    That does not prove he lied. Your thread states that no checks NI to GB is true and they there will be some checks GB to NI (the extent to be decided).
  • eek said:

    On thread, just a moment to think how sick as a parrot Pidcock must be feeling about now....

    *singing*

    "Should have been me........"

    She has the consolation of being able to blame Blair for the loss of her seat.

    Apparently that is what she was hearing on the doorsteps...
    What did Blair do ?
    I think a lot of doorstep conversations went I could vote for Blair but can't vote for Corbyn.

    And she took it to mean the exact opposite.
    I suspect Labour canvassers do get adverse mentions of Blair on the doorstep sometimes. "You're all the same - look at Blair" is, I'm sure, said.

    But the idea that's the reason for the loss more than a decade after he left Number 10 is ludicrous. Ex-PMs have some fans and some detractors - that's the way it goes.
  • CatManCatMan Posts: 3,060

    CatMan said:

    CatMan said:

    I see Johnson is still lying about checks between GB & NI.

    Why has he lied? He said that there would be no checks NI to GB and minimal checks GB to NI.
    https://twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1216728122583912450?s=20
    That does not prove he lied. Your thread states that no checks NI to GB is true and they there will be some checks GB to NI (the extent to be decided).
    But didn't Johnson say that there wouldn't be any checks at all? I admit I'm not exactly following his every word very closely, so I might be wrong.
  • eekeek Posts: 28,405


    If they win:
    Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no one will care or take heed. Will overtake the cons at some time in the next year, will hold lead and then will trail off, conservatives will bounce back up as future GE called. Success will be measured by halfing tory majority. Will stabilise the ship and act as a second stage to take charge in 2030.
    RLB - Will be even more Corbyn but will get next to no media coverage, labour will just trundle along at 30-35% for most of the parliament and will end up with a result in that range at the GE. Labour will end up in no better place in 2024/5 than now.
    Lady Nugee- will rally her troops in Remania. Will probably through perpetual angry denouncement peg up labour support. Will make good urban gains at the GE and eat into once safe southern seats, will lose even more seats in the north, and lose remaining scottish seats, and do badly in wales
    Nandy - Thought of as nice and pleasant but loses even more northern seats and keeps her own at the next GE with only three figures.
    Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.

    She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.

    So on that basis Starmer now and let Philips and Nandy grow into the role of potential successor over the next few years.

    That result doesn't do my betfair book any good but I'll break even.
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    edited January 2020
    CatMan said:

    CatMan said:

    CatMan said:

    I see Johnson is still lying about checks between GB & NI.

    Why has he lied? He said that there would be no checks NI to GB and minimal checks GB to NI.
    https://twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1216728122583912450?s=20
    That does not prove he lied. Your thread states that no checks NI to GB is true and they there will be some checks GB to NI (the extent to be decided).
    But didn't Johnson say that there wouldn't be any checks at all? I admit I'm not exactly following his every word very closely, so I might be wrong.
    According to the Guardian live blog, his exact words today were:

    The only circumstances in which you could imagine the need for checks coming from GB to NI, as I’ve explained before, is if those goods were going on into Ireland and we had not secured, which I hope and I’m confident we will, a zero tariff, zero quota agreement with our friends and partners in the EU.

    ... which does seem a little economical with the actualité (unless he's going to accept 100% dynamic alignment with EU regulations for goods, animal welfare, and agricultural products).
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231

    Laura Pidcock can take David M's role and be inexplicably 19/1 for the Labour leadership for years, despite not being an MP.

    Yes. If the party ditches its radicalism Pidcock will grow in stature and allure. She will be the Princess in the tower. Laura, Laura, let down your hair.
  • ralphmalphralphmalph Posts: 2,201
    CatMan said:

    CatMan said:

    CatMan said:

    I see Johnson is still lying about checks between GB & NI.

    Why has he lied? He said that there would be no checks NI to GB and minimal checks GB to NI.
    https://twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1216728122583912450?s=20
    That does not prove he lied. Your thread states that no checks NI to GB is true and they there will be some checks GB to NI (the extent to be decided).
    But didn't Johnson say that there wouldn't be any checks at all? I admit I'm not exactly following his every word very closely, so I might be wrong.
    No his exact words were

    "Be in no doubt. We are the government of the United Kingdom. I cannot see any circumstances whatever in which they will be any need for checks on goods going from Northern Ireland to GB. The only circumstances in which you could imagine the need for checks coming from GB to NI, as I’ve explained before, is if those goods were going on into Ireland and we had not secured, which I hope and I’m confident we will, a zero tariff, zero quota agreement with our friends and partners in the EU."

    What he can be accused of is not saying that there are already SPS checks on live animals and other stuff when going from GB to NI (The Island of ||Ireland is a separate entity for food safety to GB). The other thing he can be criticised for is not saying that the EU has not solved the fudge of NI being in both the UK SM/CU and EU SM/CU so at the moment we do not know if the additional checks over what is in place today are only for goods in transit to the RoI or on some goods going to NI only.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609
    edited January 2020


    If they win:
    Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no one will care or take heed. Will overtake the cons at some time in the next year, will hold lead and then will trail off, conservatives will bounce back up as future GE called. Success will be measured by halfing tory majority. Will stabilise the ship and act as a second stage to take charge in 2030.
    RLB - Will be even more Corbyn but will get next to no media coverage, labour will just trundle along at 30-35% for most of the parliament and will end up with a result in that range at the GE. Labour will end up in no better place in 2024/5 than now.
    Lady Nugee- will rally her troops in Remania. Will probably through perpetual angry denouncement peg up labour support. Will make good urban gains at the GE and eat into once safe southern seats, will lose even more seats in the north, and lose remaining scottish seats, and do badly in wales
    Nandy - Thought of as nice and pleasant but loses even more northern seats and keeps her own at the next GE with only three figures.
    Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.

    She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.

    Starmer is going to have to stand there with a blank expression when the ECHR report comes out excoriating the Labour Party under Corbyn and admit, yes I was part of his Shadow Cabinet and no, I did nothing meaningful to prevent it.

    Of course, it's possible over five years he might recover from that. Or more likely, the smell of that very particular stench of shit will follow him around for ever.

  • If they win:
    Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no one will care or take heed. Will overtake the cons at some time in the next year, will hold lead and then will trail off, conservatives will bounce back up as future GE called. Success will be measured by halfing tory majority. Will stabilise the ship and act as a second stage to take charge in 2030.
    RLB - Will be even more Corbyn but will get next to no media coverage, labour will just trundle along at 30-35% for most of the parliament and will end up with a result in that range at the GE. Labour will end up in no better place in 2024/5 than now.
    Lady Nugee- will rally her troops in Remania. Will probably through perpetual angry denouncement peg up labour support. Will make good urban gains at the GE and eat into once safe southern seats, will lose even more seats in the north, and lose remaining scottish seats, and do badly in wales
    Nandy - Thought of as nice and pleasant but loses even more northern seats and keeps her own at the next GE with only three figures.
    Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.

    She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.

    I can't see Phillips has any real chance of winning, because she's been so vocal in her criticism of Corbyn and there are enough people who still like Corbyn in Labour. It may be good for Labour long run to have someone stridently anti-Corbyn to purge the party, but it would feed into a "divided party" narrative. She also benefits now from a "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing from the press, but that will go pretty damned fast if she were to find herself as leader.

    If there's going to be a surprise, it'll come from Nandy. There's a case for saying that she, like Starmer, has been just loyal enough without being too sullied by the Project. And there's a case for saying he feels a bit more like part of the dreaded metropolitan elite.

    RLB is banking on "continuity Corbyn" being a winner in the Party, and it just isn't. I don't really see Thornberry's market - metropolitan Remainers who feel Starmer is too male and moderate? It's far too small a pool to fish in.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231

    Are they really 'private' if they are operated on a not for profit basis?
    The whole concept of the status of charitable organisations historically in law come from the provision of education. The act of teaching was in itself a charitable and noble endeavour.

    They do vastly prefer the moniker "independent". Fine by me. And yes, I suppose there is a reason, going back a bit, why they were deemed to be charities and that one - teaching is inherently noble and altruistic - sounds quite believable. But time to reassess, I rather think.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,149
    edited January 2020
    Good day for the monarchy at last as Clive Lewis has to pull out of the Labour leadership race having failed to get sufficient nominations. Lewis of course wanted a referendum on the monarchy
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,770

    On thread, just a moment to think how sick as a parrot Pidcock must be feeling about now....

    *singing*

    "Should have been me........"

    She has the consolation of being able to blame Blair for the loss of her seat.

    Apparently that is what she was hearing on the doorsteps...
    What did Blair do ?
    Minimum wage, SureStart, funding NHS so waiting times down, new schools, devolution, peace in NI etc etc etc.

    Corbyn and his clown cart have achieved precisely nothing.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,149
    Starmer getting most nomination for leader and Rayner for Deputy looks vaguely like a Blair and Prescott ticket
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,770


    If they win:
    Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no one will care or take heed. Will overtake the cons at some time in the next year, will hold lead and then will trail off, conservatives will bounce back up as future GE called. Success will be measured by halfing tory majority. Will stabilise the ship and act as a second stage to take charge in 2030.
    RLB - Will be even more Corbyn but will get next to no media coverage, labour will just trundle along at 30-35% for most of the parliament and will end up with a result in that range at the GE. Labour will end up in no better place in 2024/5 than now.
    Lady Nugee- will rally her troops in Remania. Will probably through perpetual angry denouncement peg up labour support. Will make good urban gains at the GE and eat into once safe southern seats, will lose even more seats in the north, and lose remaining scottish seats, and do badly in wales
    Nandy - Thought of as nice and pleasant but loses even more northern seats and keeps her own at the next GE with only three figures.
    Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.

    She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.

    I can't see Phillips has any real chance of winning, because she's been so vocal in her criticism of Corbyn and there are enough people who still like Corbyn in Labour. It may be good for Labour long run to have someone stridently anti-Corbyn to purge the party, but it would feed into a "divided party" narrative. She also benefits now from a "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing from the press, but that will go pretty damned fast if she were to find herself as leader.

    If there's going to be a surprise, it'll come from Nandy. There's a case for saying that she, like Starmer, has been just loyal enough without being too sullied by the Project. And there's a case for saying he feels a bit more like part of the dreaded metropolitan elite.

    RLB is banking on "continuity Corbyn" being a winner in the Party, and it just isn't. I don't really see Thornberry's market - metropolitan Remainers who feel Starmer is too male and moderate? It's far too small a pool to fish in.
    So basically the odds are roughly correct at the moment.
  • SirNorfolkPassmoreSirNorfolkPassmore Posts: 7,152
    edited January 2020


    If they win:
    Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no one will care or take heed. Will overtake the cons at some time in the next year, will hold lead and then will trail off, conservatives will bounce back up as future GE called. Success will be measured by halfing tory majority. Will stabilise the ship and act as a second stage to take charge in 2030.
    RLB - Will be even more Corbyn but will get next to no media coverage, labour will just trundle along at 30-35% for most of the parliament and will end up with a result in that range at the GE. Labour will end up in no better place in 2024/5 than now.
    Lady Nugee- will rally her troops in Remania. Will probably through perpetual angry denouncement peg up labour support. Will make good urban gains at the GE and eat into once safe southern seats, will lose even more seats in the north, and lose remaining scottish seats, and do badly in wales
    Nandy - Thought of as nice and pleasant but loses even more northern seats and keeps her own at the next GE with only three figures.
    Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.

    She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.

    Starmer is going to have to stand there with a blank expression when the ECHR report comes out excoriating the Labour Party under Corbyn and admit, yes I was part of his Shadow Cabinet and no, I did nothing meaningful to prevent it.

    Of course, it's possible over five years he might recover from that. Or more likely, the smell of that very particular stench of shit will follow him around for ever.
    In fairness to Starmer, the things that went wrong pretty clearly did so at the level of NEC and Leader's Office, not within the Shadow Cabinet. Unless there's a suggestion he's been hand-wringing in public whilst saying it's a Zionist conspiracy in private, he'll get some discomfort but not fatal damage.

    I'm not clear what you do to "prevent it" within the shadow cabinet beyond saying, "this is toxic, and your cronies and the NEC need to deal with it". They have no decision making role in the process. Of course, one option would have been to resign, but that doesn't actually "prevent it" - it is a signal and no more, and Corbyn was fairly used to people resigning and shrugged it off.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,770
    Spectator:

    "Javid in part secured his position as Chancellor for some time to come by giving Johnson Christmas reading in the shape of an 18-page report on his ideas for levelling up the country."
  • On thread, just a moment to think how sick as a parrot Pidcock must be feeling about now....

    *singing*

    "Should have been me........"

    She has the consolation of being able to blame Blair for the loss of her seat.

    Apparently that is what she was hearing on the doorsteps...
    What did Blair do ?
    Minimum wage, SureStart, funding NHS so waiting times down, new schools, devolution, peace in NI etc etc etc.

    Corbyn and his clown cart have achieved precisely nothing.
    I know that but I was referring to what he done to pidcock.

    Blair was a war monger in Iraq etc, he's done more good that bad though.
  • dodradedodrade Posts: 597
    CatMan said:

    CatMan said:

    I see Johnson is still lying about checks between GB & NI.

    Why has he lied? He said that there would be no checks NI to GB and minimal checks GB to NI.
    https://twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1216728122583912450?s=20
    Surprised Foster stays at the Telegraph given how much he hates Boris and Brexit. It's like having Richard Littlejohn write for the Morning Star.
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    edited January 2020


    If they win:
    Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no one will care or take heed. Will overtake the cons at some time in the next year, will hold lead and then will trail off, conservatives will bounce back up as future GE called. Success will be measured by halfing tory majority. Will stabilise the ship and act as a second stage to take charge in 2030.
    RLB - Will be even more Corbyn but will get next to no media coverage, labour will just trundle along at 30-35% for most of the parliament and will end up with a result in that range at the GE. Labour will end up in no better place in 2024/5 than now.
    Lady Nugee- will rally her troops in Remania. Will probably through perpetual angry denouncement peg up labour support. Will make good urban gains at the GE and eat into once safe southern seats, will lose even more seats in the north, and lose remaining scottish seats, and do badly in wales
    Nandy - Thought of as nice and pleasant but loses even more northern seats and keeps her own at the next GE with only three figures.
    Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.

    She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.

    Starmer is going to have to stand there with a blank expression when the ECHR report comes out excoriating the Labour Party under Corbyn and admit, yes I was part of his Shadow Cabinet and no, I did nothing meaningful to prevent it.

    Of course, it's possible over five years he might recover from that. Or more likely, the smell of that very particular stench of shit will follow him around for ever.
    In fairness to Starmer, the things that went wrong pretty clearly did so at the level of NEC and Leader's Office, not within the Shadow Cabinet. Unless there's a suggestion he's been hand-wringing in public whilst saying it's a Zionist conspiracy in private, he'll get some discomfort but not fatal damage.
    Yes, assuming he becomes leader, I think he'll be fine on the anti-Semitism issue provided he acts swiftly and effectively when (or preferably before) the ECHR report is released. And I'm sure he will do so, to be fair, as would most of the other candidates except perhaps RLB.

  • If they win:
    Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no one will care or take heed. Will overtake the cons at some time in the next year, will hold lead and then will trail off, conservatives will bounce back up as future GE called. Success will be measured by halfing tory majority. Will stabilise the ship and act as a second stage to take charge in 2030.
    RLB - Will be even more Corbyn but will get next to no media coverage, labour will just trundle along at 30-35% for most of the parliament and will end up with a result in that range at the GE. Labour will end up in no better place in 2024/5 than now.
    Lady Nugee- will rally her troops in Remania. Will probably through perpetual angry denouncement peg up labour support. Will make good urban gains at the GE and eat into once safe southern seats, will lose even more seats in the north, and lose remaining scottish seats, and do badly in wales
    Nandy - Thought of as nice and pleasant but loses even more northern seats and keeps her own at the next GE with only three figures.
    Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.

    She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.

    I can't see Phillips has any real chance of winning, because she's been so vocal in her criticism of Corbyn and there are enough people who still like Corbyn in Labour. It may be good for Labour long run to have someone stridently anti-Corbyn to purge the party, but it would feed into a "divided party" narrative. She also benefits now from a "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing from the press, but that will go pretty damned fast if she were to find herself as leader.

    If there's going to be a surprise, it'll come from Nandy. There's a case for saying that she, like Starmer, has been just loyal enough without being too sullied by the Project. And there's a case for saying he feels a bit more like part of the dreaded metropolitan elite.

    RLB is banking on "continuity Corbyn" being a winner in the Party, and it just isn't. I don't really see Thornberry's market - metropolitan Remainers who feel Starmer is too male and moderate? It's far too small a pool to fish in.
    So basically the odds are roughly correct at the moment.
    No - I think Nandy should be shorter and RLB longer.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,770

    On thread, just a moment to think how sick as a parrot Pidcock must be feeling about now....

    *singing*

    "Should have been me........"

    She has the consolation of being able to blame Blair for the loss of her seat.

    Apparently that is what she was hearing on the doorsteps...
    What did Blair do ?
    Minimum wage, SureStart, funding NHS so waiting times down, new schools, devolution, peace in NI etc etc etc.

    Corbyn and his clown cart have achieved precisely nothing.
    I know that but I was referring to what he done to pidcock.

    Blair was a war monger in Iraq etc, he's done more good that bad though.
    Who knows what he has done to Pidcock, she was about 9 years old when he won in 1997.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,770
    HYUFD said:

    Good day for the monarchy at last as Clive Lewis has to pull out of the Labour leadership race having failed to get sufficient nominations. Lewis of course wanted a referendum on the monarchy

    Yes, I am sure down at Sandringham that came as a big relief and allowed them to focus on family breakdown.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231
    HYUFD said:

    Starmer getting most nomination for leader and Rayner for Deputy looks vaguely like a Blair and Prescott ticket

    Meaning you consider Rayner to be Prescott in a skirt?

    OK, that will be the last time I do this. I almost promise.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231

    No - I think Nandy should be shorter and RLB longer.

    I agree. I don't see RLB with much chance at all.
  • nunu2nunu2 Posts: 1,453
    Shit. How much are we paying for it?

    He should be solving knife crime first. Numpty.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,153
    kinabalu said:

    Pidcock was a highly divisive and factional MP. As leader she could only have made the split in the party even worse than it was under Corbyn. And in an age of fluid political allegiances, her much quoted remark that she could never be friends with a Tory summed marked her out as an extremist to her electorate. The swing of over 10% against her was even worse when you consider that she should have had an incumbency advantage as a newly elected MP in 2017.

    Too much is made of this IMO. It reminds me a little of the fuss about Andy Murray's "support anybody against England" remark.
    I disagree. If she believes it she's an arse, if she doesn't believe it it is a very stupid thing to say. It's not like Murray's comment around sport, it is a reflection of something too many people take to heart in political life by pretending they have no common ground with opponents. It's petty and stupid, and unless it was a joke, which doesn't seem to be suggested, its wrong to either believe it or to pretend to believe it on the basis it would gain support.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,118


    If they win:
    Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no one will care or take heed. Will overtake the cons at some time in the next year, will hold lead and then will trail off, conservatives will bounce back up as future GE called. Success will be measured by halfing tory majority. Will stabilise the ship and act as a second stage to take charge in 2030.
    RLB - Will be even more Corbyn but will get next to no media coverage, labour will just trundle along at 30-35% for most of the parliament and will end up with a result in that range at the GE. Labour will end up in no better place in 2024/5 than now.
    Lady Nugee- will rally her troops in Remania. Will probably through perpetual angry denouncement peg up labour support. Will make good urban gains at the GE and eat into once safe southern seats, will lose even more seats in the north, and lose remaining scottish seats, and do badly in wales
    Nandy - Thought of as nice and pleasant but loses even more northern seats and keeps her own at the next GE with only three figures.
    Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.

    She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.

    I can't see Phillips has any real chance of winning, because she's been so vocal in her criticism of Corbyn and there are enough people who still like Corbyn in Labour. It may be good for Labour long run to have someone stridently anti-Corbyn to purge the party, but it would feed into a "divided party" narrative. She also benefits now from a "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing from the press, but that will go pretty damned fast if she were to find herself as leader.

    If there's going to be a surprise, it'll come from Nandy. There's a case for saying that she, like Starmer, has been just loyal enough without being too sullied by the Project. And there's a case for saying he feels a bit more like part of the dreaded metropolitan elite.

    RLB is banking on "continuity Corbyn" being a winner in the Party, and it just isn't. I don't really see Thornberry's market - metropolitan Remainers who feel Starmer is too male and moderate? It's far too small a pool to fish in.
    Aren’t 64% of the membership lefties? RLB is banking on their support in a match with Starmer
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231

    Yes, I am sure down at Sandringham that came as a big relief and allowed them to focus on family breakdown.

    BBC Breaking News - "Transition" agreed for the Sussexes, during which a final settlement and modus operandi for the couple will be worked out. So, worst case scenario could still be "No Deal" and a crash out of the Family to Canada when the transition period ends. Sorry :smile:
  • nunu2nunu2 Posts: 1,453

    Bedford and Canterbury show that Labour don't need to be afraid of the east and the south east. There are plenty of commuter towns filling up with professional emigrés from London. They may well be a lot easier to take or retake than northern towns.

    There aren't enough of them where Labour are second. For every Norwich North's there are many many more Dewsbury's, Sedgefields etc.

    Labour must win back some working class nothern seats in the the medium term because of the dominance of Leave seats.

    Many Labour people seem to keep forgetting the system we have rather than the system they wish we had. Winning back a bunch of heavily Leave seats is a must for the next couple of general elections if Labour want to win back power, unless the libdem vote collapses wholesale to them.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609
    kinabalu said:

    HYUFD said:

    Starmer getting most nomination for leader and Rayner for Deputy looks vaguely like a Blair and Prescott ticket

    Meaning you consider Rayner to be Prescott in a skirt?

    OK, that will be the last time I do this. I almost promise.
    Or that she punches above her weight?
  • BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556
    kle4 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Pidcock was a highly divisive and factional MP. As leader she could only have made the split in the party even worse than it was under Corbyn. And in an age of fluid political allegiances, her much quoted remark that she could never be friends with a Tory summed marked her out as an extremist to her electorate. The swing of over 10% against her was even worse when you consider that she should have had an incumbency advantage as a newly elected MP in 2017.

    Too much is made of this IMO. It reminds me a little of the fuss about Andy Murray's "support anybody against England" remark.
    I disagree. If she believes it she's an arse, if she doesn't believe it it is a very stupid thing to say. It's not like Murray's comment around sport, it is a reflection of something too many people take to heart in political life by pretending they have no common ground with opponents. It's petty and stupid, and unless it was a joke, which doesn't seem to be suggested, its wrong to either believe it or to pretend to believe it on the basis it would gain support.
    Even more than that, I think, Pidcock's attitude encapsulates the reasons for Labour's defeat: the Right seeks converts, whereas the Left seeks heretics. Guess which one produces better results in elections?
  • StuartDicksonStuartDickson Posts: 12,146


    If they win:
    Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no one will care or take heed. Will overtake the cons at some time in the next year, will hold lead and then will trail off, conservatives will bounce back up as future GE called. Success will be measured by halfing tory majority. Will stabilise the ship and act as a second stage to take charge in 2030.
    RLB - Will be even more Corbyn but will get next to no media coverage, labour will just trundle along at 30-35% for most of the parliament and will end up with a result in that range at the GE. Labour will end up in no better place in 2024/5 than now.
    Lady Nugee- will rally her troops in Remania. Will probably through perpetual angry denouncement peg up labour support. Will make good urban gains at the GE and eat into once safe southern seats, will lose even more seats in the north, and lose remaining scottish seats, and do badly in wales
    Nandy - Thought of as nice and pleasant but loses even more northern seats and keeps her own at the next GE with only three figures.
    Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.

    She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.

    Scottish seat. Singular.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,609


    If they win:
    Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no one will care or take heed. Will overtake the cons at some time in the next year, will hold lead and then will trail off, conservatives will bounce back up as future GE called. Success will be measured by halfing tory majority. Will stabilise the ship and act as a second stage to take charge in 2030.
    RLB - Will be even more Corbyn but will get next to no media coverage, labour will just trundle along at 30-35% for most of the parliament and will end up with a result in that range at the GE. Labour will end up in no better place in 2024/5 than now.
    Lady Nugee- will rally her troops in Remania. Will probably through perpetual angry denouncement peg up labour support. Will make good urban gains at the GE and eat into once safe southern seats, will lose even more seats in the north, and lose remaining scottish seats, and do badly in wales
    Nandy - Thought of as nice and pleasant but loses even more northern seats and keeps her own at the next GE with only three figures.
    Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.

    She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.

    Starmer is going to have to stand there with a blank expression when the ECHR report comes out excoriating the Labour Party under Corbyn and admit, yes I was part of his Shadow Cabinet and no, I did nothing meaningful to prevent it.

    Of course, it's possible over five years he might recover from that. Or more likely, the smell of that very particular stench of shit will follow him around for ever.
    In fairness to Starmer, the things that went wrong pretty clearly did so at the level of NEC and Leader's Office, not within the Shadow Cabinet. Unless there's a suggestion he's been hand-wringing in public whilst saying it's a Zionist conspiracy in private, he'll get some discomfort but not fatal damage.
    Yes, assuming he becomes leader, I think he'll be fine on the anti-Semitism issue provided he acts swiftly and effectively when (or preferably before) the ECHR report is released. And I'm sure he will do so, to be fair, as would most of the other candidates except perhaps RLB.
    Depends when the report gets published. If it is before voting has finished.....
  • TheGreenMachineTheGreenMachine Posts: 1,090
    edited January 2020
    @rottenborough

    Keir Bear should be 2-9 mark.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,424
    kinabalu said:

    HYUFD said:

    Starmer getting most nomination for leader and Rayner for Deputy looks vaguely like a Blair and Prescott ticket

    Meaning you consider Rayner to be Prescott in a skirt?
    Surely that was Tracey Temple?
  • On thread, just a moment to think how sick as a parrot Pidcock must be feeling about now....

    *singing*

    "Should have been me........"

    She has the consolation of being able to blame Blair for the loss of her seat.

    Apparently that is what she was hearing on the doorsteps...
    What did Blair do ?
    Minimum wage, SureStart, funding NHS so waiting times down, new schools, devolution, peace in NI etc etc etc.

    Corbyn and his clown cart have achieved precisely nothing.
    I know that but I was referring to what he done to pidcock.

    Blair was a war monger in Iraq etc, he's done more good that bad though.
    Who knows what he has done to Pidcock, she was about 9 years old when he won in 1997.
    God only knows, lol.
  • isam said:



    Aren’t 64% of the membership lefties? RLB is banking on their support in a match with Starmer

    The result in 2016 was basically 60/40. And don't make the mistake of thinking the 60% were all obsessive cultists. Plenty simply looked at the alternative - if the question is "how do we win with Corbyn?" the answer wasn't "with Smith". Others felt he deserved a chance to put his case to the public - which he now has, twice. Others are open-minded enough to admit that Corbyn made mistakes and that the numbers don't lie. Others will defend Corbyn to the end, but accept that RLB isn't Corbyn - he was a consistent (some would say pig-headed) leftie from the prehistoric era, whereas she is a johnny-come-lately.

    RLB has effectively written off the 40%. That's a big chunk to write off and would be worth it if others were writing off the 60%... but they aren't. Starmer, Thornberry and Nandy all had senior roles under Corbyn and cannot be accused of failing to try to make it work. They weren't part of "the Project" but respected the result and have a good case to make to the whole party.

    In other words, RLB is fighting over 60% of the pie, Phillips over 40%, and the rest over 100%. The winner will come from those fighting over 100%.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,231
    kle4 said:

    I disagree. If she believes it she's an arse, if she doesn't believe it it is a very stupid thing to say. It's not like Murray's comment around sport, it is a reflection of something too many people take to heart in political life by pretending they have no common ground with opponents. It's petty and stupid, and unless it was a joke, which doesn't seem to be suggested, its wrong to either believe it or to pretend to believe it on the basis it would gain support.

    Yes, OK. But I find the reaction OTT when you consider that she was a very young MP about to enter parliament and was clearly (to me) mainly trying to stress that she would not be going native. I bet it would be possible for a Tory (of the less reprehensible variety) to befriend her. Hope so anyway. It's healthy. And those "sparks fly" relationships can be very rewarding.
  • @HYUFD & @rottenborough

    Do you think Rayner should be much shorter?

    1-8 maybe?
  • AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    Trigger warning: Royal news
    .
    .
    .
    .
    For all those doubting the markedly different approach by the press to Meghan.
    https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-double-standards-royal
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,868
    That enough Labour MPs were willing to back Burgon for deputy leader defies explanation. Haven’t they ever seen him interviewed on TV?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,153

    He says that like it would be a bad thing...
    You have to remember the fetishisation of the large membership among some, as if that is the most important thing ever. As it is they could lose 100,000 and still be a very very large political party and movement (and most of those who left would vote for them anyway), so its silly.
  • AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    IanB2 said:

    That enough Labour MPs were willing to back Burgon for deputy leader defies explanation. Haven’t they ever seen him interviewed on TV?

    It's like the 2015 leadership election never happened.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,153
    kinabalu said:

    kle4 said:

    I disagree. If she believes it she's an arse, if she doesn't believe it it is a very stupid thing to say. It's not like Murray's comment around sport, it is a reflection of something too many people take to heart in political life by pretending they have no common ground with opponents. It's petty and stupid, and unless it was a joke, which doesn't seem to be suggested, its wrong to either believe it or to pretend to believe it on the basis it would gain support.

    Yes, OK. But I find the reaction OTT when you consider that she was a very young MP about to enter parliament and was clearly (to me) mainly trying to stress that she would not be going native. I bet it would be possible for a Tory (of the less reprehensible variety) to befriend her. Hope so anyway. It's healthy. And those "sparks fly" relationships can be very rewarding.
    Trouble is she hasn't had time to prove it was just posturing words. For all we know she was going to be the big baby Dennis Skinner about it.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,149
    edited January 2020
    kinabalu said:

    Yes, I am sure down at Sandringham that came as a big relief and allowed them to focus on family breakdown.

    BBC Breaking News - "Transition" agreed for the Sussexes, during which a final settlement and modus operandi for the couple will be worked out. So, worst case scenario could still be "No Deal" and a crash out of the Family to Canada when the transition period ends. Sorry :smile:
    Then crash out and cut off without a penny if they don't do any royal duties
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,153
    kinabalu said:

    Yes, I am sure down at Sandringham that came as a big relief and allowed them to focus on family breakdown.

    BBC Breaking News - "Transition" agreed for the Sussexes, during which a final settlement and modus operandi for the couple will be worked out. So, worst case scenario could still be "No Deal" and a crash out of the Family to Canada when the transition period ends. Sorry :smile:
    It's been a dispiriting week for monarchists that's for sure.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,153

    Spectator:

    "Javid in part secured his position as Chancellor for some time to come by giving Johnson Christmas reading in the shape of an 18-page report on his ideas for levelling up the country."

    I'd think Boris was more of a 2 page exec summary kind of man.
  • Northern Ireland Update :

    View From Stormont is on tonight at 22:45pm on UTV. (One hour show)
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,149

    @HYUFD & @rottenborough

    Do you think Rayner should be much shorter?

    1-8 maybe?

    Yes
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 123,149
    edited January 2020
    kle4 said:

    kinabalu said:

    Yes, I am sure down at Sandringham that came as a big relief and allowed them to focus on family breakdown.

    BBC Breaking News - "Transition" agreed for the Sussexes, during which a final settlement and modus operandi for the couple will be worked out. So, worst case scenario could still be "No Deal" and a crash out of the Family to Canada when the transition period ends. Sorry :smile:
    It's been a dispiriting week for monarchists that's for sure.
    Made up for by the excellent news today the only avowed republican in the Labour leadership race, Clive Lewis, who wanted a referendum on the monarchy, has been knocked out
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    edited January 2020

    Depends when the report gets published. If it is before voting has finished.....

    No-one has ever suggested that Keir Starmer is soft on anti-Semitism or soft on the causes of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, so I'm sure the ECHR report won't be a problem for him personally. Assuming I am right, he just needs to make absolutely clear that he's going to clear out the sewer. Which I think he will, to be fair.
  • Anorak said:

    Trigger warning: Royal news
    .
    .
    .
    .
    For all those doubting the markedly different approach by the press to Meghan.
    https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-double-standards-royal

    Obviously the tabs were onto Meghan being a pariah and a betrayer of the country & royal family right from the start (these were literally words used by a bloke on a lunchtime news vox pop).
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,484

    I'm perfectly aware of the full quote (below) from where those snippets came, however that wasn't what was offered, instead a mealy mouthed defence from Magrit. 'I know I said that but it didn't come out right, what I really meant was' said no one with zinger of a point ever.

    "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours."

    That is very far from the 'full quote'. The full quote is quite long, so I won't repeat it, but you missed some crucial bits, such as "There is no such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate." - as you will admit, if you are vaguely honest, the exact opposite of what she is accused of saying.

    The full text is here:

    https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689

    That's the most awful sugary rubbish, it's hard to discern anything in that gloop. Probably best for all concerned that it hasn't had wider coverage.
    It's fairly obvious it's 'ask not for whom the bell tolls' sort of stuff point. It's challenging people not to blame society as a concept when society consists of them.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,153

    Depends when the report gets published. If it is before voting has finished.....

    No-one has ever suggested that Keir Starmer is soft on anti-Semitism or soft on the causes of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, so I'm sure the ECHR report won't be a problem for him personally. Assuming I am right, he just needs to make absolutely clear that he's going to clear out the sewer. Which I think he will, to be fair.
    I just don't know how he can do that without, in some way, forcing a confrontation with Corbyn though - whether one believes Corbyn to be personally anti-semitic or not he's said things close to the line, or associated with those close to or over the line, enough times that being tough on the matter, clearing out the sewer, is going to include a lot of people who are good friends of Corbyns. He managed to divest himself of Williamson and a few others, but if it goes further?
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,470
    kle4 said:

    Spectator:

    "Javid in part secured his position as Chancellor for some time to come by giving Johnson Christmas reading in the shape of an 18-page report on his ideas for levelling up the country."

    I'd think Boris was more of a 2 page exec summary kind of man.
    More like half a side of A4
  • eekeek Posts: 28,405

    kle4 said:

    Spectator:

    "Javid in part secured his position as Chancellor for some time to come by giving Johnson Christmas reading in the shape of an 18-page report on his ideas for levelling up the country."

    I'd think Boris was more of a 2 page exec summary kind of man.
    More like half a side of A4
    He did have 2 whole weeks on the beach to read it.
This discussion has been closed.