HYUFD said:

Danny565 said:

For what it's worth, as a Labour member who voted Corbyn last year (though not originally in 2015), my choice would be Yvette Cooper in the next contest.

She's not great, but in terms of political positioning, she's just about tolerable (unlike the ridiculous hardcore Blairite stuff that Kendall/Chuka/Tristram and the like were coming out with in the aftermath of the 2015 election), and although she hardly set the world alight with her media performances as Shadow Home Secretary in the last parliament, she atleast showed she has some basic political and presentational skills.

The newbies like Lisa Nandy, Dan Jarvis, Clive Lewis, Angela Rayner et al are nowhere close to being ready for the big time. And I barely noticed this Heidi Alexander in all the time that she was (allegedly) Labour's health spokesperson.

This would be the same Yvette who got just 17% in the 2015 Labour leadership contest from the Labour membership and came not just miles behind Corbyn but was also beaten by Burnham too

Danny565 said:

HYUFD said:

Danny565 said:

For what it's worth, as a Labour member who voted Corbyn last year (though not originally in 2015), my choice would be Yvette Cooper in the next contest.

She's not great, but in terms of political positioning, she's just about tolerable (unlike the ridiculous hardcore Blairite stuff that Kendall/Chuka/Tristram and the like were coming out with in the aftermath of the 2015 election), and although she hardly set the world alight with her media performances as Shadow Home Secretary in the last parliament, she atleast showed she has some basic political and presentational skills.

The newbies like Lisa Nandy, Dan Jarvis, Clive Lewis, Angela Rayner et al are nowhere close to being ready for the big time. And I barely noticed this Heidi Alexander in all the time that she was (allegedly) Labour's health spokesperson.

This would be the same Yvette who got just 17% in the 2015 Labour leadership contest from the Labour membership and came not just miles behind Corbyn but was also beaten by Burnham too

All the same, I think she's the least-worst option for Labour right now.

She won't win the 2020 election for Labour, but she would keep the party on the road - something which sadly is in doubt with Corbyn, and, I think, with some of the "favourites" to replace him.

TheScreamingEagles said:

TudorRose said:

I see that Ladbrokes have got a book on the hereditary peers by-election... anyone got any ideas which of their noble lordships has the edge?

Earl Alexander of Tunis.

MonikerDiCanio said:

SNP almost entirely publicly funded. Who'd have guessed that SNP supporters were less than open-handed ?

Theuniondivvie said:

MonikerDiCanio said:

SNP almost entirely publicly funded. Who'd have guessed that SNP supporters were less than open-handed ?

I suppose £3m a year in membership fees from 120k plus members does count as public funding.

dr_spyn said:

Northern Ireland polling report on possible outcomes.

http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/9812

Theuniondivvie said:

MonikerDiCanio said:

SNP almost entirely publicly funded. Who'd have guessed that SNP supporters were less than open-handed ?

I suppose £3m a year in membership fees from 120k plus members does count as public funding.

rcs1000 said:

Charles said:

Cookie said:

SeanT said:

MarqueeMark said:

SeanT said:

Vulgar boasting alert: just got offer for a new book deal which involved the word "million".

To be fair, a fraction thereof, but a hefty fraction.

I LOVE offers that include the word "million"

At the cost of what fraction of your soul?

Zero. I have no soul left. I sold out to Mammon years ago. It's very liberating. I used to worry about prizes and reviews and all that posterity shit. Now I don't give a picayune fucklet.

All that matters is lots of readers and LOTS of lovely moolah.

On the subject of 'literature':
I was reflecting last night that Julia Donaldson is a genius. She has a good claim to be our greatest living poet.
Due to having a ridiculous number of young children, there must be at least 15 of her books that I have read, out loud, over 100 times, and still find them fun. That's more than just popular. Peppa Pig is popular (and justifiably so) but try reading it out loud and see how you find it. You need to do more than just tell a story to write stories that can be read, and read, and read again. You need to be able to make the language sing.
And she can do it all in a way that three-year-olds can understand.
No Booker Prize winner, no poet laureate, has a better mastery of the language.

I hate "chocolate mousse for greedy goose"! (but do quite like Zog the Dragon)

Zog was my son's favourite story for about three months.

It's sad that my two children have now grown out of JD :-(

rcs1000 said:

Charles said:

Cookie said:

SeanT said:

MarqueeMark said:

SeanT said:

Vulgar boasting alert: just got offer for a new book deal which involved the word "million".

To be fair, a fraction thereof, but a hefty fraction.

I LOVE offers that include the word "million"

At the cost of what fraction of your soul?

Zero. I have no soul left. I sold out to Mammon years ago. It's very liberating. I used to worry about prizes and reviews and all that posterity shit. Now I don't give a picayune fucklet.

All that matters is lots of readers and LOTS of lovely moolah.

On the subject of 'literature':
I was reflecting last night that Julia Donaldson is a genius. She has a good claim to be our greatest living poet.
Due to having a ridiculous number of young children, there must be at least 15 of her books that I have read, out loud, over 100 times, and still find them fun. That's more than just popular. Peppa Pig is popular (and justifiably so) but try reading it out loud and see how you find it. You need to do more than just tell a story to write stories that can be read, and read, and read again. You need to be able to make the language sing.
And she can do it all in a way that three-year-olds can understand.
No Booker Prize winner, no poet laureate, has a better mastery of the language.

I hate "chocolate mousse for greedy goose"! (but do quite like Zog the Dragon)

Zog was my son's favourite story for about three months.

It's sad that my two children have now grown out of JD :-(

SeanT said:

Well, if we're back to talking about classic literature....

https://twitter.com/thomasknox/status/837392219506106368

NEW THREAD

MarqueeMark said:

surbiton said:

AlastairMeeks said:

Tissue_Price said:

AlastairMeeks said:

Tissue_Price said:

This is a splendid piece from Atul Hatwal on the Labour leadership, thinking just like a political punter should:

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2017/03/02/how-labours-potential-leadership-candidates-measure-up-against-member-priorities/#more-21396

Very good in terms of how to look at the problem, I'm less convinced by the conclusions (though Heidi Alexander would be a better than par outcome for me).

My thoughts too - I still like Nandy best. Though Stephen Bush let slip earlier that "the influential Tribune WhatsApp group of MPs is largely unified around Keir Starmer at the next leadership election, and they think they are well-placed to win it."

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2017/03/labour-leadership-why-jeremy-corbyn-wont-be-listening-owen-jones

NB members here, notably not including Nandy: http://www.labourtribunemps.org/members

Sir Keir looks like the Yvette Cooper candidate next time: all the attributes that make him the obvious winner except two - any form of charisma and any particular message to convey.

Keir will win hands down. We need someone with gravitas. He has that in spades.

I know plenty of my Labour chums invest a lot of hope in Keir. To my mind, he walks a tightrope between gravitas and terminally dull. And falls off.

Bojabob said:

HYUFD said:

Danny565 said:

HYUFD said:

Danny565 said:

For what it's worth, as a Labour member who voted Corbyn last year (though not originally in 2015), my choice would be Yvette Cooper in the next contest.

She's not great, but in terms of political positioning, she's just about tolerable (unlike the ridiculous hardcore Blairite stuff that Kendall/Chuka/Tristram and the like were coming out with in the aftermath of the 2015 election), and although she hardly set the world alight with her media performances as Shadow Home Secretary in the last parliament, she atleast showed she has some basic political and presentational skills.

The newbies like Lisa Nandy, Dan Jarvis, Clive Lewis, Angela Rayner et al are nowhere close to being ready for the big time. And I barely noticed this Heidi Alexander in all the time that she was (allegedly) Labour's health spokesperson.

This would be the same Yvette who got just 17% in the 2015 Labour leadership contest from the Labour membership and came not just miles behind Corbyn but was also beaten by Burnham too

All the same, I think she's the least-worst option for Labour right now.

She won't win the 2020 election for Labour, but she would keep the party on the road - something which sadly is in doubt with Corbyn, and, I think, with some of the "favourites" to replace him.

All very well but until the Labour membership show any sign of returning to sanity this is all entirely hypothetical, Corbyn even increased his victory margin just 6 months ago.

If Labour are going to replace Corbyn pre 2020 that probably requires him to agree to go which at the moment looks unlikely and it will have to be with someone of the same ideological bent but more competent, similar to how the Tories replaced IDS with Michael Howard in 2003

You might be right but I do suspect you of wishful thinking at times re: Corbyn staying until GE2020, which is odd because you are only just a Tory, ideologically. In his post, Hatwal lays out very compellingly why Corbyn will be gone by 2018, if not before.