The BBC and corporate media coalesce around an extremely narrow consensus of political thought, and ensure that anybody who steps outside that consensus is ridiculed and marginalised. That consensus has got narrower and narrower. I was delighted during the general election to be able to listen to Nicola Sturgeon during the leaders’ debate argue for anti-austerity policies and for the scrapping of Trident. I had not heard anyone on broadcast media argue for the scrapping of Trident for a decade – it is one of those views which though widely held the establishment gatekeepers do not view as respectable.
The media are working overtime to marginalise Jeremy Corbyn as a Labour leadership candidate on the grounds that he is left wing and therefore weird and unelectable. But they face the undeniable fact that, Scottish independence aside, there are very few political differences between Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon. On issues including austerity, nuclear weapons, welfare and Palestine both Sturgeon and Corbyn are really very similar. They have huge areas of agreement that stand equally outside the establishment consensus. Indeed Nicola is more radical than Jeremy, who wants to keep the United Kingdom.
The establishment’s great difficulty is this. Given that the SNP had just slaughtered the Labour Party – and the Tories and Lib Dems – by being a genuine left wing alternative, how can the media consensus continue to insist that the left are unelectable? The answer is of course that they claim Scotland is different. Yet precisely the same establishment consensus denies that Scotland has a separate political culture when it comes to the independence debate. So which is it? They cannot have it both ways.
If Scotland is an integral part of the UK, Jeremy Corbyn’s policies cannot be unelectable.
Nicola Sturgeon won the UK wide leaders debate in the whole of the United Kingdom, despite the disadvantage of representing a party not standing in 90% of it by population. She won not just because she is clever and genuine, but because people all across the UK liked the left wing policies she articulated.
A Daily Mirror opinion poll following a BBC televised Labour leadership candidates’ debate this week had Jeremy Corbyn as the clear winner, with twice the support of anyone else. The media ridicule level has picked up since. This policy of marginalisation works. I was saddened by readers’ comments under a Guardian report of that debate, in which Labour supporter after Labour supporter posted comment to the effect “I would like to vote for Jeremy Corbyn because he believes in the same things I do, but we need a more right wing leader to have a chance of winning.”
There are two answers to that. The first is no, you don’t need to be right wing to win. Look at the SNP. The second is what the bloody hell are you in politics for anyway? Do you just want your team to win like it was football? Is there any point at all in being elected just so you can carry out the same policies as your opponents? The problem is, of course, that for so many in the Labour Party, especially but not just the MPs, they want to win for personal career advantage not actually to promote particular policies.
The media message of the need to be right wing to be elected is based on reinforced by a mythologizing of Tony Blair and Michael Foot as the ultimate example of the Good and Bad leader. These figures are constantly used to reinforce the consensus. Let us examine their myths.
Tony Blair is mythologised as an electoral superstar, a celebrity politician who achieved unprecedented personal popularity with the public, and that he achieved this by adopting right wing policies. Let us examine the truth of this myth. First that public popularity. The best measure of public enthusiasm is the percentage of those entitled to vote, who cast their ballot for that party at the general election. This table may surprise you.
Percentage of Eligible Voters
1992 John Major 32.5%
1997 Tony Blair 30.8%
2001 Tony Blair 24.1%
2005 Tony Blair 21.6%
2010 David Cameron 23.5%
2015 David Cameron 24.4%
There was only any public enthusiasm for Blair in 97 – and to put that in perspective, it was less than the public enthusiasm for John Major in 1992.
More importantly, this public enthusiasm was not based on the policies now known as Blairite. The 1997 Labour Manifesto was not full of right wing policies and did not indicate what Blair was going to do.
The Labour Party manifesto of 1997 did not mention Academy schools, Private Finance Initiative, Tuition Fees, NHS privatisation, financial sector deregulation or any of the right wing policies Blair was to usher in. Labour actually presented quite a left wing image, and figures like Robin Cook and Clare Short were prominent in the campaign. There was certainly no mention of military invasions.
It was only once Labour were in power that Blair shaped his cabinet and his policies on an ineluctably right wing course and Mandelson started to become dominant. As people discovered that New Labour were “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich”, to quote Mandelson, their popular support plummeted. “The great communicator” Blair for 90% of his Prime Ministership was no more popular than David Cameron is now. 79% of the electorate did not vote for him by his third election
Michael Foot consistently led Margaret Thatcher in opinion polls – by a wide margin – until the Falklands War. He was defeated in a victory election by the most appalling and intensive wave of popular war jingoism and militarism, the nostalgia of a fast declining power for its imperial past, an emotional outburst of popular relief that Britain could still notch up a military victory over foreigners in its colonies. It was the most unedifying political climate imaginable. The tabloid demonization of Foot as the antithesis of the military and imperial theme was the first real exhibition of the power of Rupert Murdoch. Few serious commentators at the time doubted that Thatcher might have been defeated were it not for the Falklands War – which in part explains her lack of interest in a peaceful solution. Michael Foot’s position in the demonology ignores these facts.
The facts about Blair and about Foot are very different from the media mythology.
The stupid stunt by Tories of signing up to the Labour Party to vote for Corbyn to ridicule him, is exactly the kind of device the establishment consensus uses to marginalise those whose views they fear. Sturgeon is living proof left wing views are electable. The “left unelectable” meme will intensify. I expect Jeremy Corbyn’s biggest problem will be quiet exclusion. I wish him well.
Ishmael
I’m afraid we do need austerity. The government is still spending £75 billion more than it takes in.
Lord Palmerston
“Scotland voted for the “genuine left wing alternative” precisely
because they knew it would have no consequences. They did not vote for
independence because they knew that independence would have drastic consequences.
The SNP’s success in the general election represents Scotland’s
embracing of its victimhood while it continues to take English money.
A Union with this whiny and selfish country is of dubious value; like
Mr Murray, I look forward to Scotland’s departure, though for rather
different reasons.”
+53 million for your comment. Sadly I think the day of departure will never come and we will be lumped with them forever. Which is why England must be given the vote on Scotch independence.
Wars cost trillions. Just scrapping trident, let alone the whole sinking con of the money system.
Your pathological sinking lairs, even to yourselves. And your filthy shit stinking lies degrade us all.
RE: ‘Lord Palmerston’ and ‘Anon1’, and most people don’t believe me when I say that we now live in a dystopia. Also, check out media coverage of today’s demos, and the reader comment sections, which have been invaded by an army of trolls, all trying to con the public into believing that black is white and down is up.
How dystopian and mad does it have to get before the general public finally wake-up?
Suhayl Saadi; “Macky, that kind of statement has absolutely no basis in reality”
Sorry Mr Saadi, but stupid as stupid does, and Technicolour tends to do rather a lot !
I guess that it’s your “humour” to complain about misrepresentations, whilst making misrepresentations about me; “anyone and everyone” apparently means “don’t be nasty to my your buddies”, but Suhayl Saddi buddy or not, if somebody posts something that I feel needs responding to, I will respond. You can certainly judge a person by his enemies, so allow me to thank you ! 😀
I guess that there isn’t any handy anti-Muslim war propaganda for you to inadvertently “fall for” & propagate at the moment, hence your annoyance, so why don’t you have a nice cup of time to cool off instead !
Scrapping the trident replacement would be a good start, anon1. Take back all the privatised industries we have given away to the already stinking rich. Train subsidies alone would save £6 billion.
Cease interfering in other countries affairs. The cost of the Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan interventions would pay a large chunk of the debt off.
Yep, I noticed them on youtube RobG. RT comments on the live-stream.
I felt physically sick. Never seen so many people trying to obfuscate or degrading “the left” Ie the people. Everyone was generally nice, i’m just looking at ordinary people marching, then masses of bile in the comments…Also tying to insight racism etc..
But then, all the FB, Youtube users have sold their life to total surveillance, i’d not expect them to know what dignity or self respect is.
Ishmael
20 Jun, 2015 – 8:39 pm
‘Wars cost trillions. Just scrapping trident, let alone the whole sinking con of the money system.
Your pathological sinking lairs, even to yourselves. And your filthy shit stinking lies degrade us all.’
__________
Ishmael,
Agree with the sentiments of your first sentence. On the the latter, it doesn’t pay to be cynical; it only fucks up one’s own mental state. From your writings I glean you have a tough life, perhaps tougher than some on here. Life deals us challenges so we may learn from those experiences and further they bring spiritual and moral growth. Observe the ‘what is’ in total awareness, let go of bitterness, leave the windows open and let the breeze in. Stay well and mentally strong.
PS Since you’re into poetry too, pick up a copy of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet for a taste of Beauty and Truth.
‘Dignity has never been photographed’ — Bob Dylan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5NbvGJJ3tM
Dylan’s lyrics at their best
Villager. Don’t lecture me on mental or spiritual growth. I’m really not that degraded, as those who degrade others less criminally privileged, and need it to maintain some perverted notion of betterment. At the expense of all.
“… anti-Muslim war propaganda…” Macky.
There you go again, Macky. Gross misrepresentation of people’s views.
And what exactly makes you feel that you can pose as the defender of the faith? Are you Muslim? If not, then why so you attack any Muslims who do not subscribe to views which you think all Muslims ought to subscribe to? Are Muslims not permitted to disagree with one another about this and that? Given that most Muslims in the UK happen to not be white, might it not be argued that that view of yours is effectively imperialist essentialising of a subaltern group and thence possibly also racist? You have called me, “Rushdie” on this blog. Why Rushdie and not, say, Irvine Welsh, or Amin Malouf, or Rabia al Basri, or or Hugh MacDiarmid, or Naguib Mahfouz, Adonis, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Alasdair Gray, Kishvar Naheed or Shahid Nadeem? Do you even know who these people are/were? Perhaps you would gain much, and lose nothing, by reading/watching their works.
“Sorry Mr Saadi, but stupid as stupid does, and Technicolour tends to do rather a lot !”
Really, Macky, you haven’t a clue …
Ever since I said you weren’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, you’ve been throwing “stupid”, “dim” and “dopey” around like confetti at a wedding. But you know, calling other folk “dim” won’t make you any brighter. So why don’t you just calm down.
Ishmael,
I don’t pretend to understand you. Stop pretending you understand your self. Get down to the hard work. Not lecturing you, you arse. Sharing compassion — don’t want it, don’t need it, can’t use it? Then you’re not human. I don’t care — its your life my friend.
Here’s the lyrics anyway (sound appropriate for no-Austerity Day):
Fat man lookin’ in a blade of steel
Thin man lookin’ at his last meal
Hollow man lookin’ in a cottonfield
For dignity
Wise man lookin’ in a blade of grass
Young man lookin’ in the shadows that pass
Poor man lookin’ through painted glass
For dignity
Somebody got murdered on New Year’s Eve
Somebody said dignity was the first to leave
I went into the city, went into the town
Went into the land of the midnight sun
Searchin’ high, searchin’ low
Searchin’ everywhere I know
Askin’ the cops wherever I go
Have you seen dignity?
Blind man breakin’ out of a trance
Puts both his hands in the pockets of chance
Hopin’ to find one circumstance
Of dignity
I went to the wedding of Mary Lou
She said, “I don’t want nobody see me talkin’ to you”
Said she could get killed if she told me what she knew
About dignity
I went down where the vultures feed
I would’ve gone deeper, but there wasn’t any need
Heard the tongues of angels and the tongues of men
Wasn’t any difference to me
Chilly wind sharp as a razor blade
House on fire, debts unpaid
Gonna stand at the window, gonna ask the maid
Have you seen dignity?
Drinkin’ man listens to the voice he hears
In a crowded room full of covered-up mirrors
Lookin’ into the lost forgotten years
For dignity
Met Prince Phillip at the home of the blues
Said he’d give me information if his name wasn’t used
He wanted money up front, said he was abused
By dignity
Footprints runnin’ ’cross the silver sand
Steps goin’ down into tattoo land
I met the sons of darkness and the sons of light
In the bordertowns of despair
Got no place to fade, got no coat
I’m on the rollin’ river in a jerkin’ boat
Tryin’ to read a note somebody wrote
About dignity
Sick man lookin’ for the doctor’s cure
Lookin’ at his hands for the lines that were
And into every masterpiece of literature
For dignity
Englishman stranded in the blackheart wind
Combin’ his hair back, his future looks thin
Bites the bullet and he looks within
For dignity
Someone showed me a picture and I just laughed
Dignity never been photographed
I went into the red, went into the black
Into the valley of dry bone dreams
So many roads, so much at stake
So many dead ends, I’m at the edge of the lake
Sometimes I wonder what it’s gonna take
To find dignity
Copyright © 1991 by Special Rider Music
Read more: http://www.bobdylan.com/ca/node/26361#ixzz3ddQQirVx
BBC News have resolutely led all day on the death of a three week old baby caused by a dog attack.
The march gets No 3 billing on their website.
Thousands at anti-austerity rallies
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33210014
They have altered their page 12 times throughout the day. The number of protesters was put at 250,000 at the start. Couldn’t have that said could we? It’s now ‘tens of thousands’.
http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/973737/diff/11/12
‘It never happened, etc etc’ Harold Pinter
“Ishmael, I don’t pretend to understand you. Stop pretending you understand your self.”
I stopped reading there, *sigh* all that wasted typing.
Excellent. Keep your head buried in the sand and keep weathering the storm. You won’t know grace if it hit you between the eyes. Sing-along Dylan’s Its alright Ma, I’m only bleeding!
Former IDF chief faces possible arrest upon landing in London
06.20.15,
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4670605,00.html
Former IDF Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz, who is currently en route to London, faces possible arrest upon landing after all efforts to secure him diplomatic immunity failed due to his current civilian status.
Mofaz is meant to land in London in the next hour, and is not the first Israeli politician to face arrest in the UK. Former Justice Minister and current MK Tzipi Livni needed the UK Foreign Office to officially invite her, in order to avoid arrest last week. Livni was the Foreign Minister during operation Cast Lead, and has had arrest warrants filed against her in the UK by Pro- Palestinian groups on multiple occasions.
The embassy fears that like other Israel officials in the past, Mofaz will be pursued by pro-Palestinian groups, who use UK courts to file for arrest warrants.
According to channel 2 news, all efforts to secure diplomatic immunity for Mofaz failed, and the UK foreign office was unable to guarantee his immunity due to his current status as a private citizen.
Mofaz is London in order to attend the “Jewish News” conference Monday. The Israeli Foreign Ministry, the embassy in London, and the local Jewish community pressured local officials to allow his arrival without delay, however no guarantees where made.
Former high ranking Israeli officers and officials have largely avoided travel to the UK for the last decade, out of fear that arrest warrants would be issued against them.
An arrest warrant was issued for former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in 2009 over her ‘involvement’ in Operation Cast Lead.
Major General Doron Almog was forced to wait on board an ELAL plane at Heathrow in 2005, after he was alerted to the presence of police officers at the gate with an arrest warrant in his name. Almog was in London to raise money for the ‘Alleh’ organization, which houses children with mental illness.
Former Defense Minister Mofaz and MK Amir Peretz where evacuated from London during a visit, when information came about that an arrest warrant was issued for them.
Some of the former and current officials who have avoided the UK are; former Shin Bet head Avi Dichter, Moshe Ya’alon, Dan Meridor, and Netanyahu’s Military attaché Yochanan Loker- who served as head of the air force directorate during cast lead.
The law which allowed pro-Palestinian groups to seek arrest warrants for Israeli officials was changed in 2011. The new amendment is meant to prevent frivolous use of the UK’s legal system for political gains against Israel.
The Foreign Ministry in response: ” Two diplomats from the London embassy are on the way to great Shaul Mofaz at the airport. We are ready to deal with any devolopments.”
~~~~
19 February 2008
Police feared ‘airport stand-off’
Major General Doron Almog refused to leave the plane at Heathrow
An Israeli general wanted for alleged war crimes escaped arrest in the UK because British police feared an armed confrontation at Heathrow airport.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7251954.stm
“Excellent. Keep your head buried in the sand”
If you say so.
Man you’re stuck in a rut. At least there’s one factor, you’re with the 95% in.
Excellent perspicacious analysis Macky, for too long the buddy system has been operating under the covers in the shadows, with the snipers at the ready to come out and fire at will as and when the buddies are taken to task.
I enjoy your understanding of the modus operandi of vehement anti Muslim bile that goes unnoticed and is an almost accepted matter of fact “facts” the need not to be challenged, in this blog as elsewhere.
All the while any perceived impunity upon the sacred cows is immediately responded to and the culprit set in Stocks and pelted with all manner of nasties and posts and threads deleted.
There again with the likes of anthony glees around, one has to be careful about what one says and whom one supports. This is Germany 1933 all over, but this time it is the Muslims and not the other minority.
Interesting how history repeats itself? Or should it be interesting that the plutocrats have not moved far from their ancient tactics and they are using the same techniques this time around in the twenty first century in a kind of retro racism if you will.
One of the dimness points of the colourful technical was she could not discern the block quotation, from the texts in the comments. Surprisingly this was/is the case for the other copious green ink “contributor” of this blog; could not discern these too!
Suhayl : It’s very good to see you’re posting regularly again. I trust things are well with you?
“Man you’re stuck in a rut”
lol
Israel, the “Neighborhood Bully”: Deconstructing the Lyrics of Bob Dylan in the Light of the Gaza Crisis
By Adeyinka Makinde
July 28, 2014
The ongoing assault conducted by the armed forces of the state of Israel on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza has, yet again, brought stark images to the world of the devastating capabilities of the awesome military machinery at the disposal of the 66-year old Jewish state.
As occurred in Lebanon back in 1982 and more recently in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead of 2009, Israel, while insisting that it is acting in justifiable self-defence and for the preservation of the safety of its citizens, has mounted a military response which has wrought quite devastating consequences.
Bombs and missiles unleashed from the ground, the skies and the sea have reigned in on Gaza destroying swathes of buildings, wiping out whole families and permanently scarring the overwhelmingly non-combatant victims.
[..]
Dylan had long supported the cause of Israel and this support may have played a part in his break with the political Left in the 1960s. He is said to have reproved the ‘Black Panther’ Revolutionary Huey Newton for his opposition to Israel, and his famous ‘comeback tour’ of 1974 was rumoured to have substantially contributed to the coffers of the Israel Emergency Fund.
Played in a rockabilly mode and sang with heavy irony, Dylan sets out Israel’s case amid the accusations of its iron-fisted dealings with its Arab neighbours. It is a song which is said to be particularly popular with the Likudniks as an after-party conference boogie-down number, and, according to the Jerusalem Post, “a favourite among Dylan-loving residents of the (Israeli-occupied) territories”.
The year before the release of Infidels, tired of border incursions and other acts of terror directed at settlements on its northern border, Israel had invaded Lebanon in an attempt to destroy the Palestinian militias who were based in that country.
A grand slaughter of thousands ensued as the Israeli Defence Force advanced through the country and bombs reigned in on the capital city of Beirut where Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Liberation Organisation eventually became besieged.[..]
http://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-the-neighborhood-bully-deconstructing-the-lyrics-of-bob-dylan-in-the-light-of-the-gaza-crisis/5393652
Thanks very much, Glenn. I’m fine. Good to see you too! Hope all’s well with you and yours.
Jamin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE1ct5yEuVY
@Suhayl Saadi Yes I’ve called you “the Salman Rushdie of this Blog”, and I often used your name with the prefix of “Sly”, and your comments here confirm the appropriateness of both. You try to portray both my sword crossing with people who express Islamophobia, and my pulling-up of your buddies for their bad behavior, as somehow magically transforming into “posing as defender of the faith” ! In addition you slyly & shamelessly try to play the inverse race card ! Who exactly is doing the misrepresentations here ?!
Dreoilin; “calling other folk “dim” won’t make you any brighter”
More to the point, unfortunately for you it won’t make you any less stupid, but I persevere in the hope you eventually gain some self-realisation, and stop making a fool of yourself so often.
Mind you, the trolls are pure comedy genious. Guardian comments have been absolutely infested with them today. Here’s an example:
I’ve been to three supermarkets today, the butchers, the garden centre, Sports Direct (the biggest in England) and several other shops. All were heaving . I’ve seen loads of fat (not exaggerating, some of them are like balloons) benefit scrounging women with their brats with full trolleys paid for by the tax payer. I see all the new and nearly new cars parked on my estate. I see loads of pedigree dogs being walked. And this is a working class area.
WHAT AUSTERITY????
http://discussion.theguardian.com/comment-permalink/54160270
Dr Goebbels would be proud of Britain in the 21st century.
Macky brays as the-Jenny-donkey does. Including with her gaping mouth, but who would want to stuff it? (Cringe)
Who’s street? MY STREET.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLhN__oEHaw